ABC seem keen to threaten public servants who are effective in fighting crime. They have revealed the location of the home of a person leading the fight against organised crime. One hopes that the ABC News division is part of that target circle. When asked about their decision, ABC blustered, and retroactively obscured some details. One can understand the ABC's antagonism, however, as the spouse of the crime fighter is not the same gender as the crime fighter. ABC apparently stands for Anyone but Conservatives.
Finally, we know why Electoral Office in WA lost votes. It isn't corruption. It is incompetence. Reform of the process, allowing online voting, is possible. And cheaper. As well, removing the stupid laws restricting free speech would not harm minorities. Despite fear mongering. Were there gay marriage in NSW, I would not feel compelled to marry a man. Were there free speech, I still would not feel the need to be crude.
===
Happy birthday and many happy returns to those born on this day, along with
- 521 – Columba, Irish missionary, monk, and saint (d. 597)
- 903 – Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Persian astronomer (d. 986)
- 1545 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1567)
- 1598 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor and painter (d. 1680)
- 1637 – Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (d. 1710)
- 1823 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (d. 1891)
- 1863 – Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (d. 1914)
- 1932 – Ellen Burstyn, American actress
- 1942 – Harry Chapin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
- 1943 – Nick Katz, American mathematician
- 2003 – Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange
Matches
- 43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated.
- 574 – Emperor Justin II retires due to recurring seizures of insanity. He abdicates the throne in favor of his general Tiberius, proclaiming him Caesar.
- 1724 – Tumult of Thorn: Religious unrest is followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Toruń) by Polish authorities.
- 1776 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arranges to enter the American military as a major general.
- 1869 – American outlaw Jesse James commits his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri.
- 1930 – W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts telecasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers. The telecast also includes the first television commercial in the United States, an advertisement for I.J. Fox Furriers, who sponsored the radio show.
- 1936 – Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton becomes the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.
- 1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor – The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleetand its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (For Japan's near-simultaneous attacks on Eastern Hemispheretargets, see December 8.)
- 1946 – A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, kills 119 people, the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.
- 1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave theEarth.
- 1988 – Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
- 2005 – Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 924 who allegedly claimed to have a bomb, is shot and killed by a team of U.S. federal air marshals at Miami International Airport.
Despatches
- 43 BC – Cicero, Roman politician and philosopher (b. 106 BC)
- 1723 – Jan Santini Aichel, Bohemian architect, designed Karlova Koruna Chateau (b. 1677)
- 1817 – William Bligh, English admiral and administrator, 4th Governor of New South Wales (b. 1745)
- 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor:
- Mervyn S. Bennion, American navy captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1887)
- Herbert C. Jones, American navy officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1918)
- Isaac C. Kidd, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1884)
- Thomas James Reeves, American navy officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1895)
- Franklin Van Valkenburgh, American navy captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1888)
MISTAKEN MIKE
Tim Blair – Saturday, December 07, 2013 (5:48pm)
SMH veteran Mike Carlton republishes a claim that British Prime Minister David Cameron once sought Nelson Mandela’s execution:
One small problem: it isn’t true. Carlton has form when it comes to weak research.
One small problem: it isn’t true. Carlton has form when it comes to weak research.
AUSTRALIAN BIKIE CORPORATION
Tim Blair – Saturday, December 07, 2013 (4:15pm)
For no good reason at all, the ABC reveals the location of a crime fighter’s house:
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has accused the ABC of “flippant and irresponsible” coverage of the government’s war on bikie gangs after it broadcast pictures of the house of the man co-ordinating the government’s campaign, and named the suburb and house number.
Andrew Bolt summarises:
The ABC thinks nothing of publishing spying secrets which cause great harm for no gain, but which put pressure on a Liberal prime minister. Now the ABC thinks nothing of showing where a crime fighter and his family live, again potentially causing great harm for no gain, but putting pressure on a Liberal National Party leader.And this from an ABC which goes ballistic when a newspaper merely reveals how much taxpayers are paying its top stars.
By contrast, note how properly cautious is this ABC staffer not to expose his precise address:
When the time came to downsize after 15 years in the large family home in leafy Hawthorn, Radio National presenter and author Jonathan Green and his wife, publisher Sally Heath, were keen for something smaller, closer to the city.
THE MADIBA TEST
Tim Blair – Saturday, December 07, 2013 (5:13am)
Those who refer to Nelson Mandela by his clan name of Madiba are fantastic poseurs.
UPDATE. Meredith Burgmann:
I had long thought about what I would say to Madiba if I was ever to meet him.
My son and I were home in Nashville; the only ones awake early on a Sunday morning. We sat on the couch and watched as Madiba was set free.
A free South Africa at peace with itself. That’s an example to the world, and that’s Madiba’s legacy to the nation that he loved.
UPDATE II. From the Financial Times:
Desmond Tutu, his friend and fellow Nobel peace laureate, was one of the first to question the world’s sanctification of “Madiba” – his clan name and how he liked to be known. Archbishop Tutu appreciated long before it became a commonplace that the cult of Mandela risked blinding people to the colossal problems facing South Africa. “He is only one pebble on the beach, one of thousands,” he said halfway through Mandela’s term in office. “Not an insignificant pebble, I’ll grant you that, but a pebble all the same.”
Stuff-up, not conspiracy in WA vote. An apology from Palmer?
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (9:32am)
It
all seems a bit slack, although not the conspiracy that Clive Palmer
recklessly claimed - a slur for which he should apologise:
===ELECTORAL Commissioner Ed Killesteyn is under pressure to resign after a strongly worded report by former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty lashed “parlous” arrangements that led to the loss of 1375 Senate ballot papers from Western Australia..(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Mr Keelty condemned a “loose planning culture” and a “complacent attitude towards ballot papers”, along with a “lack of detail . . . in the planning and conduct of operations in WA"…
“The loss of the ballots was in all probability the result of a chain of seemingly minor but entirely and easily avoidable errors and omissions.
“Each of these events on its own may or may not have been significant; but taken as a whole they indicate a loose electoral environment in WA in which the loss of ballots was more likely to occur and less likely to be detected.”
Anyone But Conservatives for breakfast
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (7:21am)
Would it really kill Fran Kelly - or the ABC - to let a conservative share her taxpayer-funded pulpit?
UPDATE
Roger Franklin checks the ABC’s charter line-by-line against its performance and wonders who is actually minding the shop.
A must read. You’ll want to sign the petition afterwards.
(Thanks to reader Peter.)
===UPDATE
Roger Franklin checks the ABC’s charter line-by-line against its performance and wonders who is actually minding the shop.
A must read. You’ll want to sign the petition afterwards.
(Thanks to reader Peter.)
The rise of the modern savage
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (7:02am)
I suspect we have been in denial about a feral culture, made more primitive by the social freedoms demanded by the strong:
===In July last year, locals in a quiet valley in south-western NSW were startled to see three police four-wheel drives, a police bus and an ambulance bouncing up an old stock route towards a remote timbered block, tucked away from the road.Read on, but not if you are squeamish.
Police and child protection officers left with 12 children under the age of 16 in what is shaping as one of the most serious child abuse cases in Australia.
The children were malnourished, filthy, could barely talk, had appalling hygiene and had been living without electricity and running water. What emerged is a truly horrific case of child sex abuse and intergenerational incest. As the royal commission on child abuse within institutions gets under way, the events at this farm highlight what many say is a far more serious threat to children: sexual abuse within the family.
Scaring gays into giving up their free speech
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (5:39am)
Diversity Council of Australia CEO Nareen Young has no faith in freedom - or in her fellow citizens:
Like so many modern Leftists, Young has inordinate faith in process and in laws administered by a caste of people just like her for the molding of people not like her. These restrictions are actually called “protections”, even though they involve not protecting your rights but removing them. As I say, the Left want to the virtues due to libertarians even as they act as authoritarians:
No one I know who supports these reforms thinks the insults Young lists are “acceptable”, “OK” or not offensive. What is offensive is the suggestion that this argument about the RDA is about making such insults “OK”. On the contrary, they were not socially acceptable before the law was passed and will not be after.
The truth is that there are many things more powerful - yet more democratic and less chafing - than the law to enforce good manners and I expect they to remain powerful. These are the social sanctions that are present in every healthy community.
Take some recent examples. There is no clear law against calling a female Prime Minister a witch. But see what happened when one protester at a rally against the carbon tax did just that. Fellow protesters told him to remove his sign, which was condemned in Parliament and in countless newspaper articles, TV reports and radio broadcasts. I attacked it, too, and it’s remarkable how rarely similar signs appeared at later rallies.
That collective disapproval of the sign had a far greater effect than a prosecution under the law would have achieved. Had the man with the sign instead been charged the would have become - rightly - a martyr and other citizens would have been absolved of their duty to speak out and robbed of their power to pass judgment. The state would have nationalised morality. The public would have turned from jurors to subjects.
I don’t think that is healthy - and that is without considering the danger of such laws against free speech of the kind Young defends. Do we really trust judges and the political class with a power that lets them impose their particular and sometimes arbitrary sense of morality on everyone else, deciding which of their favorites may speak and which of their bete noirs must be silenced? In this way does a democracy become dictatorial.
No, gays and lesbians have nothing to lose but their chains in this debate. No horde of gay-haters would suddenly feel freer to vilify - and nor would the rest of us be any slower to fight back. Manners, after all, are for us all to defend and decide. All respect to Young, but I’d rather leave that work to the many us than limit it to the few of her.
UPDATE
Tim Wilson makes some highly relevant points in urging other gays and lesbians to stand up for free speech:
===To be clear, I support free speech. I support the right of everyone – in print, in art, in public demonstration and specifically, in public life – to express opinions and participate in community debate. But…But she doesn’t. Ah, the yes-but argument of the modern Leftist, who badly wants a medal for being a defender of free speech even when they want to ban it. They want to be hailed as virtuous while sinning.
Like so many modern Leftists, Young has inordinate faith in process and in laws administered by a caste of people just like her for the molding of people not like her. These restrictions are actually called “protections”, even though they involve not protecting your rights but removing them. As I say, the Left want to the virtues due to libertarians even as they act as authoritarians:
These protections have their legal basis in the various Acts of the Human Rights Commission (and in their state-based equivalents) that protect all of us from being victims of discrimination and harassment at work.Young tries to scare gays and lesbians into believing the Abbott Government’s planned repeal of parts of the Racial Discrimination Act will unleash a torrent of abuse - and against them, too:
If the RDA is amended to remove section 18C that makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people because of their race, does that mean that words like ‘wog’, ‘gook’, ‘slope’, ‘kike’ or ‘coon’ become acceptable in the course of the working day or night?This is almost as obscene as it is absurd.
What next? Will equivalent sections of the Sex Discrimination Act be repealed so that describing a co-worker as a ‘slut’, ‘hag‘, ‘silly cow‘ or ‘bitch’ is not deemed to be offensive?
It is pretty clear where this could be heading for the LGBTI community.... I mean, really, if ‘Abo’, ‘coon’, ‘dago’ or ‘slope’ are ok, the inevitable question from some quarters will be why are ‘the gays’ being so sensitive?
No one I know who supports these reforms thinks the insults Young lists are “acceptable”, “OK” or not offensive. What is offensive is the suggestion that this argument about the RDA is about making such insults “OK”. On the contrary, they were not socially acceptable before the law was passed and will not be after.
The truth is that there are many things more powerful - yet more democratic and less chafing - than the law to enforce good manners and I expect they to remain powerful. These are the social sanctions that are present in every healthy community.
Take some recent examples. There is no clear law against calling a female Prime Minister a witch. But see what happened when one protester at a rally against the carbon tax did just that. Fellow protesters told him to remove his sign, which was condemned in Parliament and in countless newspaper articles, TV reports and radio broadcasts. I attacked it, too, and it’s remarkable how rarely similar signs appeared at later rallies.
That collective disapproval of the sign had a far greater effect than a prosecution under the law would have achieved. Had the man with the sign instead been charged the would have become - rightly - a martyr and other citizens would have been absolved of their duty to speak out and robbed of their power to pass judgment. The state would have nationalised morality. The public would have turned from jurors to subjects.
I don’t think that is healthy - and that is without considering the danger of such laws against free speech of the kind Young defends. Do we really trust judges and the political class with a power that lets them impose their particular and sometimes arbitrary sense of morality on everyone else, deciding which of their favorites may speak and which of their bete noirs must be silenced? In this way does a democracy become dictatorial.
No, gays and lesbians have nothing to lose but their chains in this debate. No horde of gay-haters would suddenly feel freer to vilify - and nor would the rest of us be any slower to fight back. Manners, after all, are for us all to defend and decide. All respect to Young, but I’d rather leave that work to the many us than limit it to the few of her.
UPDATE
Tim Wilson makes some highly relevant points in urging other gays and lesbians to stand up for free speech:
Section 18C represents ‘special’ rights for a certain group of people, not ‘equal’ rights.
The simple reality is that some individuals from different cultural, ethnic or national backgrounds don’t accept people being same-sex attracted, and make it known. If section 18C is allowed to stand they can throw hostile verbal bombs at LGBTI Australians, but retreat to the protections of 18C should LGBTI Australians respond.
Fourth, it fundamentally undermines the human right to free speech… Arguably the most important [right] is free speech, because it is necessary to protect all other human rights… We should preserve the right to speak out, mock them and ridicule them for the stupidity of their comments or the hate in their heart…
As LGBTI Australians know: haters gonna hate. So we should defend our human right to speak out, defend ourselves and ridicule narrow-mindedness without fear.
No Government should help an SPC Ardmona that will not help itself
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (5:26am)
I share Grace Collier’s surprise:
UPDATE
Terry McCrann on another failing business paying high wages which also wants more government help:
===INDUSTRY Minister Ian Macfarlane made an incomprehensible decision this week. After talks with Coca-Cola Amatil, a taxpayer-funded three-person panel was created to advise on a request from SPC Ardmona for assistance. The panel’s charter includes “workplace practices, productivity” and “product range”.As for a Coalition government hiring Greg Combet…
Labor Party heavy and former ACTU secretary Greg Combet is one of the appointees - he is going to advise on enterprise bargains with the unions. No doubt Combet will arrange the visuals of chastened unions announcing Holden-style faux pay cuts as the precursor to subsidies…
Macfarlane foresees the panel helping with other distressed businesses such as Simplot…
The union movement must be laughing its head off…
Enterprise bargaining is the main reason that Holden, Toyota, Simplot and SPC Ardmona are in strife. These companies seek government subsidies because they need money for the inflated wages and conditions they have agreed to pay but cannot afford… Government policy on industry assistance should be this: if a company is paying its workforce more than the award wage, then it must not receive taxpayer assistance under any circumstances.
UPDATE
Terry McCrann on another failing business paying high wages which also wants more government help:
Whatever else happens, Qantas’s international business is ultimately unsustainable… None of this denies the two sets of burdens imposed on Qantas. Its uneconomic operational cost structure, courtesy of the burdens of national carrier and domestic residence, and the Qantas Sale Act limitations on its shareholdings…
In sum and in short, the Qantas Sale Act limitations should go. Qantas international with them.
Jetstar becomes our Australia-Qantas national carrier… Qantas and Virgin can then be left to go at each other in the domestic market.
There was no deal, Demetriou said. The charges weren’t dropped
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (5:19am)
I really don’t see how Andrew Demetriou’s word can be taken seriously again with a record like this, and I suggest he won’t stay much longer as head of the AFL.
===Warmists slapped with a cold sardine
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (4:53am)
Cold sardines? This isn’t what warming alarmists were expecting. The New Scientist reports:
Western Canada’s sardine fleet returned with no fish this month. The loss of the fishery, normally worth CAN$32 million (US$30.7 million), took many by surprise..As far south as California the fishermen are complaining of cold water:
Pacific sardine populations fluctuate with water temperature. Colder water means fewer fish. Temperatures last fell in the 1940s, but heavy fishing continued, devastating the stock and ending fishing until sardines returned when waters warmed in the 1980s.
“We think this is set to happen again,” says Zwolinski, who tracked the population over the past century. He found that sardines have reproduced less since waters cooled in the 1990s.
Federal fisheries managers slashed upcoming West Coast sardine harvests by two-thirds while scientists try to get a better handle on indications the population is significantly dwindling… Populations typically drop when ocean temperatures get colder, as they have lately in conjunction with a climatic condition known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.A bit of warming would do food supplies the world of good.
UPDATE
Michael Fumento in the New York Post:
The 2013 [US] hurricane season just ended as one of the five quietest years since 1960. But don’t expect anyone who pointed to last year’s hurricanes as “proof” of the need to act against global warming to apologize; the warmists don’t work that way.(Thanks to reader Jono and others.)
Warmist claims of a severe increase in hurricane activity go back to 2005 and Hurricane Katrina. The cover of Al Gore’s 2009 book, “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis,” even features a satellite image of the globe with four major hurricanes superimposed.
Yet the evidence to the contrary was there all along. Back in 2005 I and others reviewed the entire hurricane record, which goes back over a century, and found no increase of any kind.
ABC first reveals spy secrets, now shows where crime fighter lives
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (4:37am)
I covered this yesterday, and still can’t believe it actually happened:
There is a pattern here. The ABC thinks nothing of publishing spying secrets which cause great harm for no gain, but which put pressure on a Liberal prime minister. Now the ABC thinks nothing of showing where a crime fighter and his family live, again potentially causing great harm for no gain, but putting pressure on a Liberal National Party leader.
And this from an ABC which goes ballistic when a newspaper merely reveals how much taxpayers are paying its top stars.
The ABC is out of control.
===QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman has accused the ABC of “flippant and irresponsible” coverage of the government’s war on bikie gangs after it broadcast pictures of the house of the man co-ordinating the government’s campaign, and named the suburb and house number.How could Mellor’s address and footage of his house have been remotely relevant in the first place? Do stories about the ABC come with pictures of Mark Scott’s home, street number included? And how much more insane is the ABC’s report when its subject - correction, target - is coordinating a fight against bikie gangs?
After the ABC report on the 7pm news on Thursday night about the appointment of former military officer Bill Mellor to head the government’s anti-bikie Strategic Monitoring Team, Mr Newman ... contacted [ABC boss Mark] Scott directly and he also wrote to Tony Abbott on the matter, claiming in his letter to the Prime Minister that the ABC broadcast “seriously and maliciously undermined the security and safety of a Queensland government employee”.
“The reprehensible actions of ABC employees involved in this incident brought Mrs Mellor to tears and sparked a swift review of the family’s personal security arrangements, including a decision by the Commissioner of Police to immediately provide police protection,” the letter says. “There can be no justification, especially given the ABC’s Code of Practice 2013, for broadcasting details and images of his residence.
“The response that local ABC has provided to this issue underscores my view that they are treating government, police and crime agency concerns about criminal gang activity in a flippant and irresponsible manner.”
By late yesterday the ABC had written back to both Mr Newman and Mr Mellor, and said in the letter they regretted the footage that identified Mr Mellor’s house.
There is a pattern here. The ABC thinks nothing of publishing spying secrets which cause great harm for no gain, but which put pressure on a Liberal prime minister. Now the ABC thinks nothing of showing where a crime fighter and his family live, again potentially causing great harm for no gain, but putting pressure on a Liberal National Party leader.
And this from an ABC which goes ballistic when a newspaper merely reveals how much taxpayers are paying its top stars.
The ABC is out of control.
In defence of Peta Credlin
Andrew Bolt December 07 2013 (4:14am)
I am not saying all the
criticisms of Peta Credlin - or, more properly, the very narrow
concentration of power and advice in the Prime Minister’s office - are
wrong. I’ve said plenty on 2GB about this myself this week.
But Peter van Onselen is right: many of those criticisms are over the top or unbalanced:
===But Peter van Onselen is right: many of those criticisms are over the top or unbalanced:
SINCE the Coalition was elected to government, criticisms of Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, have come thick and fast.I have no problem with a Prime Minister wanting to vet senior staff appointments. I agree this process may undermine the authority of ministers who deserve to be trusted and it should not be quite this draconian. But, then again, I was surprised by one minister’s choice of a very senior staffer, and think the government was well served by the committee - including Credlin - which knocked it back.
Disgruntled MPs upset with demotion (or a lack of promotion) have blamed her. Frontbenchers and backbenchers alike who have had staffing selections knocked back by the infamous “star chamber” have criticised Credlin’s “controlling” ways…
... the criticisms of Credlin should be more accurately targeted at the elected MPs (especially ministers) who either put forward poor suggestions in the first place, or lack the resolve to argue their case to win the day…
Much has been made of Senate leader Eric Abetz failing to win support for his chief of staff in opposition (and long-time senior adviser throughout the Howard years), Chris Fryer, becoming chief of staff in government.... If Abetz seriously believed Fryer should have been appointed, as the third most-senior member of the government he needed to insist on the appointment being made.
That’s what Health Minister Peter Dutton did ..
Before becoming opposition leader, Abbott was well known for his ill-discipline… Credlin’s arrival in Abbott’s political life changed that...
ABC out of control: now showing where a Liberal-appointed crime-fighter lives
Andrew Bolt December 06 2013 (7:46pm)
The ABC is now lured by
its partisan politics into sheer bastardry, showing on TV the home of
the man picked by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to fight criminal
bikie gangs.
Here’s how the story unfolds.
Newman appoints a man he served under at Duntroon 31 years ago:
The ABC, which had little problem with Bligh’s husband, runs with the pack:
Premier Newman has rung the ABC boss, Mark Scott, to protest. A public apology has yet not been issued.
The ABC is out of control.
UPDATE
Absolutely astonishing, and worse than I thought. Reader Rolf:
UPDATE
Reader Michael has checked the tape:
===Here’s how the story unfolds.
Newman appoints a man he served under at Duntroon 31 years ago:
Brigadier Bill Mellor is a “highly decorated officer with an impeccable record” and the right person to lead the government’s war on criminal gangs, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said.Clive Palmer disgraces himself - big surprise - with yet another lunatic conspiracy theory:
The retired Brigadier was transferred from his role as a flood recovery co-ordinator, to head up the government’s Strategic Monitoring Team…
Premier Campbell Newman served under the Brigadier during his time in the armed services, but Brigadier Mellor had distinguished himself post-military through roles such as heading up the southern Queensland flood recovery effort.
Federal MP for Fairfax Clive Palmer told ABC Radio that Brigadier Mellor’s appointment was ”tantamount to a Gestapo”.Mellor has a distinguished record of service:
“Changing legislation, employing ex-Army people to run judicial functions, I think it’s very bad to have military people in police positions in society,” Mr Palmer said.
Brigadier Mellor commanded the Australian Force in Somalia and was a key player in the strategic planning for the Australian intervention in Timor.But Labor and its allies - who thought nothing of having the husband of then Premier Anna Bligh head a government department - sniff a mate-ocracy:
Brigadier Mellor is the Deputy Chairman of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Queensland and a trustee of the General Douglas Macarthur Museum in Queen Street in Brisbane.
The ABC, which had little problem with Bligh’s husband, runs with the pack:
The retired Army officer appointed by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to oversee the state’s controversial crackdown on bikies will be paid more than $200,000 for his year-long appointment.Then on its main 7pm Queensland bulletin last night, the ABC named the suburb Mellor lives in and repeatedly showed the street view of his home. Remember, this is a man appointed to help fight criminal bikie gangs.
Further details emerged about Brigadier Bill Mellor’s role as the Opposition and the head of the Queensland Police Union separately expressed concerns about the appointment and its implications for law enforcement in the state.
“It is very concerning ... it should be the role of the Police Commissioner,” Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk told the ABC.
“[Brigadier Mellor] has been a senior military officer but law enforcement is a completely different ball game.
“We don’t need the military running this state, thank you very much.”..
Ms Palaszczuk said it was a further example of Mr Newman “appointing his mates” to senior positions.
Premier Newman has rung the ABC boss, Mark Scott, to protest. A public apology has yet not been issued.
The ABC is out of control.
UPDATE
Absolutely astonishing, and worse than I thought. Reader Rolf:
And they actually showed the street number, a large brass number on a rendered brick post. I did not notice any pixellation in the shot of his house.Why didn’t the ABC just paint a target on Mellor’s forehead?
UPDATE
Reader Michael has checked the tape:
Andrew, Can confirm that the original ABC news report showed 3 separate shots of Brig Bill Mellor’s house including a close up of the street number on the letter box. At the same time, a voiceover revealed the name of the suburb.
After complaint lodged, the ABC kept the story online but advised that they had pixelated the number on the letterbox and removed the reference to suburb. Now this is the residence of the key public servant tasked with coordinating the effort against criminal motorcycle gangs. The ABC must explain what benefit they hoped to derive from identifying Mr Mellor’s family home, and how they believed doing so would in any way serve the public interest.
Four boats this week, after five in five weeks
Andrew Bolt December 06 2013 (7:39pm)
Four boats this week - not a good one - as the head of Operation Sovereign Borders reveals in today’s press conference:
===In summary, during this reporting period, 162 illegal maritime arrivals, six crew, and 27 people whose status is yet undetermined on four suspected illegal entry vessels were or will shortly be transferred to Department of Immigration and Border Protection Authorities on Christmas Island.That said, the Immigration Minister still notes a steep decline in arrivals:
For weeks we have been warning that smugglers will try to lift their tempo of ventures in this final window before the monsoon, and that is what we have seen in this past week. Conditions have been favourable for such ventures and the Government will not be surprised if further ventures are attempted in the few weeks remaining before the monsoon formally sets in.
Notwithstanding these latest arrivals, the decline in illegal arrivals by boat since Operation Sovereign Borders remain at below 80 per cent of what they were in the previous period following the Regional Resettlement Arrangement under the former Government up until the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders.
Mark Kenny: Abbott simply “heartless” for not giving dying Holden more wasted millions
Andrew Bolt December 06 2013 (7:23pm)
The daily Fairfax
Abbott-hate. If Tony Abbott handed yet more subsidies to Holden, would
Fairfax’s Mark Kenny then attack him for keeping corporate welfare while
slashing everything else?:
Nowhere in the piece, of course, is any argument on how taking taxes from good businesses to prop up a dying one leaves workers and taxpayers better off. Nowhere does Kenny address today’s revelation - that Ministers understand Holden will close its doors regardless, meaning no bailout will work.
Abbott’s just heartless. End of today’s stupid story.
===A doctrinal aversion to industry assistance within the economic power grouping of the Abbott government threatens to make the Prime Minister look not just heartless, but impotent.For Kenny, the argument is all about having a heart, not a brain. And so Abbott is accused not just of looming “heartless”, but of having “glib indifference”, lacking “national leadership” and appearing “cavalier”.
By portraying itself as slave to larger economic and historical forces than it can control when it comes to Holden’s likely closure, the government risks striking the wrong policy responses and the wrong political tone.
Like his translucent “direct action” policy on global warming in which almost nobody can find substance, the Prime Minister appears at best only half-committed to averting a clear and present crisis for thousands of people whose livelihoods derive directly from the automotive sector.
Asked his intentions on Friday, the best Tony Abbott could offer, in an interview with Melbourne’s 3AW, was: “… there’s not going to be any extra money over and above the generous support the taxpayers have been giving the motor industry for a long time...”
Nowhere in the piece, of course, is any argument on how taking taxes from good businesses to prop up a dying one leaves workers and taxpayers better off. Nowhere does Kenny address today’s revelation - that Ministers understand Holden will close its doors regardless, meaning no bailout will work.
Abbott’s just heartless. End of today’s stupid story.
===
Finally, some semblance of reality vs the Mandela "saint" myth. Flaws are great. It shows one is human.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/behind-the-myth-mandela-wore-his-halo-loosely-20131206-hv4p4.html
===
This four-legged bandit was caught by a South Carolina convenience store's security camera shoplifting things like pig ears, beef bones, dog food and treats. See the canine-incriminating footage here:
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Aprille Love
Just in time for tonight. Thanks @marqueesydney for sending me out this membership card! Will put it to good use haha #nickyromero #marquee#poppinbottles #partytonight
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Hey guys tune into 99.3fm at 530! I will be interviewed about the Philippine Typhoon charity benefit next Thursday!
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Desert Sky
Click on Image for full effect...
. — in Arizona.
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Andy Trieu.
===Dana Nuccitelli who, with (UN)Skeptical Science's John Cook wrote a paper on "consensus" that has been torn to shreds, seems on a path of self-destruction with his twitter account.
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/remind-me-dana-nuccitelli-who-are.html
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The world’s most extreme toilet is located in Siberia at the edge of a cliff, 2,600m (over 8,500 feet) above sea level.
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Paws and rest
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Chillin' — at Lavender Bay.
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Depression is a serious illness -- more than just “feeling blue.” Pfizer's Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall explains. http://bit.ly/
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An enormous alien planet — one that is 11 times more massive than Jupiter — was discovered in the most distant orbit yet found around a single parent star.
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David Bowles
http://davidbowles.us/music/bare/
===A fantastic, short piece exploring how protest-related arrests are rising along with foreign investment. These arrests allow the Burmese government to silence those shining a light on the military's influence in Burma's economy and politics.
"[M]any of these charges have targeted individuals and groups whose protests threaten to spotlight highly sensitive issues like the extractives industry, the Kachin conflict, meager salaries and workplace abuse of factory employees, etc – in short, the issues that are most sensitive to the government and military and its close network of business tycoons and prized foreign investors."
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Swish and flick! Swish and flick! Magically control your TV, DVD or music player, or any infrared device.
For this remote control wand and other authentic prop replicas from the world of Harry Potter, visitThe Noble Collection.
Harry Potter Remote Control Wand:http://bit.ly/18bJxA7
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Happy birthday to Hagrid, a half-giant with the most gigantic heart we know!
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Frank Severino
http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2106904,00.html
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http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2013/12/04/a-knight-ninjas-iron-man-batman-and-others-crash-couples-wedding-video/#ri9xyi6cDDIc03yX.01
===Dai Le
At Quán Bụi - Authentic Vietnamese Cuisine. 17A Ngo Van Nam, Ben Nghe Ward, D1.
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Deric Ly
Fresh everyday... Meringue has joined the sweet family…
Sarah Palin'
A big thank you to everyone who joined us today for a very festive “Good Tidings and Great Joy” book event at the Billy Graham Library. It was great to see our old friend Charlie from the ’08 campaign trail. He’s growing up into such a beautiful young man. I’d especially like to thank Franklin and Jane Graham and all the staff and volunteers at the Billy Graham Library. If you’ve never had a chance to visit the library, I really encourage you to take time and do so. It’s a beautiful place dedicated to telling the story of Billy Graham’s amazing life and continuing his work to bring the Christian message of love and hope to the ends of the earth. Next up, we get to visit with volunteers at Samaritan’s Purse and then it’s on to Roanoke, Virginia, and Monroe, Louisiana, tomorrow!
P.S. I had a great time chatting with Bill O’Reilly last night about “Good Tidings and Great Joy.” I had forgotten I wore the same shirt this morning that I did on Fox last night… that is until every other person at the library today mentioned they enjoyed the O’Reilly interview and thought it was cool I was wearing the same clothes! I laughed and explained that this is what happens when you’re living out of a suitcase on the road meeting all these great people!
You can watch the interview here:
Part 1: http://video.foxnews.com/
Part 2: http://video.foxnews.com/
David Bowles
Sometimes spam comments on my website sound positively poetic. So here's one, done up in two stanzas of crazy.
Found Poem (Comment Spam)
We are undecided
when they are ample
to halt a pedicab driver,
but we have not still placed
a great deal of our self-worth
within their fingers.
Online Tutorials—
Let’s facial area it,
a great deal of us:
you should not contain the time
or cash flow
to utilize hair dressers,
official outlets
make-up artists
and stylists
on even an occasional foundation.
Found Poem (Comment Spam)
We are undecided
when they are ample
to halt a pedicab driver,
but we have not still placed
a great deal of our self-worth
within their fingers.
Online Tutorials—
Let’s facial area it,
a great deal of us:
you should not contain the time
or cash flow
to utilize hair dressers,
official outlets
make-up artists
and stylists
on even an occasional foundation.
I clicked on it thinking my dead cousin who left me some money had posted more .. ed
===Michelle Malkin
Can we parody President Ego’s self-parodying Mandela tribute? Yes. We. Can! [Photoshops] ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/ 12/06/ can-we-parody-president-ego s-self-parodying-mandela-t ribute-yes-we-can-photosho ps/
===Frank Severino.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/111898
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From the album: Timeline Photos
By SC Militia-God & Guns
Necklacing.
A favorite method of execution by Mandela's African National Congress where a tire soaked in gasoline would be placed around the body of victim and then set ablaze.
Necklacing sentences were carried out by "people's courts" against victims who were deemed to be whit...See more
A favorite method of execution by Mandela's African National Congress where a tire soaked in gasoline would be placed around the body of victim and then set ablaze.
Necklacing sentences were carried out by "people's courts" against victims who were deemed to be whit...See more
4 her
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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/14199#.UqIZ_zx1ruu.facebook
It was his socialist background .. their bigotry .. he embraced. He was freed thanks to the effort of conservatives he would never recognise. - ed===
So where is this funny guy buried? ed
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G'day,
Here is my tribute cartoon to the man who's name meant "Troublemaker", and wasn't this father of modern South Africa certainly a troublemaker for the forces of tyranny and oppression. He will be missed of course but NEVER FORGOTTEN, especially by the billions on this planet that value FREEDOM above all else.
Godspeed
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist/Caricaturist
0414293765
www.facebook.com/zegtoons
http://
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Aprille Love
#lezzdothis #marquee #nickyromero#partywithmygirls @samsam__xx @contessa_xo
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http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/155973/2013/12/05/
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http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=334125
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© Copyright 2013 United with Israel. All Rights Reserved |
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December 7: Day of the Little Candles in Colombia; Armed Forces Flag Day in India; Pearl Harbor Day in the United States
- 43 BC – Cicero, widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, was killed after having beenproscribed as an enemy of the state.
- 1869 – American outlaw Jesse Jamescommitted his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri.
- 1936 – Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton became the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Testinnings.
- 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The government of theRepublic of China relocated from Mainland China toTaipei (Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall pictured) on the island of Taiwan.
- 1988 – A 6.9 Mw earthquake struck the Spitak region of Armenia, killing at least 25,000 people.
Events[edit]
- 43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated.
- 574 – Emperor Justin II retires due to recurring seizures of insanity. He abdicates the throne in favor of his general Tiberius, proclaiming him Caesar.
- 1724 – Tumult of Thorn: Religious unrest is followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Toruń) by Polish authorities.
- 1732 – The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London, England.
- 1776 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arranges to enter the American military as a major general.
- 1787 – Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas.
- 1869 – American outlaw Jesse James commits his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri.
- 1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1930 – W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts telecasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers. The telecast also includes the first television commercial in the United States, an advertisement for I.J. Fox Furriers, who sponsored the radio show.
- 1936 – Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton becomes the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.
- 1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor – The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleetand its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (For Japan's near-simultaneous attacks on Eastern Hemispheretargets, see December 8.)
- 1946 – A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, kills 119 people, the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.
- 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The government of the Republic of China moves from Nanking to Taipei, Taiwan.
- 1962 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his power to advisory and legislative councils.
- 1963 – Instant replay makes its debut during an American Army–Navy football game.
- 1965 – Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously revoke mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.
- 1971 – Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces the formation of a coalition government with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Deputy Prime Minister.
- 1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave theEarth.
- 1975 – Indonesia invades East Timor.
- 1982 – In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr., becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.
- 1983 – An Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 collides with an Aviaco DC-9 in dense fog while the two airliners are taxiing down the runway at Madrid–Barajas Airport, killing 93 people.
- 1987 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss traveling on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.
- 1988 – Spitak Earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills more than 25,000, injures 30,000 and leaves 500,000 homeless out of a population of 3,500,000.
- 1988 – Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
- 1993 – The Long Island Rail Road massacre: Passenger Colin Ferguson murders six people and injures 19 others on the LIRR in Nassau County, New York.
- 1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.
- 1999 – A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.: The Recording Industry Association of America sues the peer-to-peer file-sharing serviceNapster, alleging copyright infringement.
- 2003 – The Conservative Party of Canada is officially registered, following the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
- 2005 – Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 924 who allegedly claimed to have a bomb, is shot and killed by a team of U.S. federal air marshals at Miami International Airport.
- 2005 – Ante Gotovina, a Croatian army general accused of war crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife, by Spanishpolice.
- 2006 – A tornado strikes Kensal Green, North West London, seriously damaging about 150 properties.
- 2007 – The Hebei Spirit oil spill begins in South Korea after a crane barge that had broken free from a tug collides with the Very Large Crude Carrier, Hebei Spirit.
Births[edit]
- 521 – Columba, Irish missionary, monk, and saint (d. 597)
- 903 – Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Persian astronomer (d. 986)
- 1302 – Azzone Visconti, Italian ruler, founded Milan (d. 1339)
- 1545 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1567)
- 1561 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese daimyo (d. 1625)
- 1598 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor and painter (d. 1680)
- 1643 – Giovanni Battista Falda, Italian architect and printmaker (d. 1678)
- 1637 – Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (d. 1710)
- 1724 – Louise of Great Britain, English wife of Frederick V of Denmark (d. 1751)
- 1764 – Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno, French marshal (d. 1841)
- 1784 – Allan Cunningham, Scottish author and poet (d. 1842)
- 1791 – Ferenc Novák, Hungarian Slovene priest and writer (d. 1836)
- 1792 – Abraham Jacob van der Aa, Dutch author of reference books (d. 1857)
- 1801 – Johann Nestroy, Austrian actor and playwright (d. 1862)
- 1803 – Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, German wife of Ferdinand VII of Spain (d. 1829)
- 1810 – Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist (d. 1894)
- 1810 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (d. 1882)
- 1823 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (d. 1891)
- 1838 – Thomas Bent, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Victoria (d. 1909)
- 1847 – Deacon White, American baseball player (d. 1939)
- 1860 – Joseph Cook, English-Australian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1947)
- 1862 – Paul Adam, French author (d. 1920)
- 1863 – Felix Calonder, Swiss politician, President of the Confederation (d. 1952)
- 1863 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (d. 1945)
- 1863 – Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (d. 1914)
- 1873 – Willa Cather, American author (d. 1947)
- 1879 – Rudolf Friml, Czech-American composer (d. 1972)
- 1885 – Mason Phelps, American golfer (d. 1945)
- 1885 – Peter Sturholdt, American boxer (d. 1919)
- 1887 – Ernst Toch, Austrian composer (d. 1964)
- 1888 – Joyce Cary, Irish author (d. 1957)
- 1888 – Hamilton Fish III, American soldier and politician (d. 1991)
- 1891 – Fay Bainter, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1894 – Freddie Adkins, British cartoonist
- 1902 – Hilda Taba, Estonian architect (d. 1967)
- 1903 – Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician (d. 1987)
- 1904 – Clarence Nash, American voice actor (d. 1985)
- 1904 – Konstantin Sokolsky, Russian singer (d. 1991)
- 1905 – Gerard Kuiper, Dutch-American astronomer (d. 1973)
- 1907 – Fred Rose, Polish-Canadian politician and spy (d. 1983)
- 1909 – Nikola Vaptsarov, Bulgarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1942)
- 1910 – Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (d. 1978)
- 1910 – Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian singer (d. 2011)
- 1912 – Daniel Jones, Welsh composer (d. 1993)
- 1913 – Kersti Merilaas, Estonian author and poet (d. 1986)
- 1915 – Leigh Brackett, American author and screenwriter (d. 1978)
- 1915 – Eli Wallach, American actor
- 1916 – Jean Carignan, Canadian fiddler (d. 1988)
- 1919 – Lis Løwert, Danish actress (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Tatamkulu Afrika, South African poet and author (d. 2002)
- 1920 – Fiorenzo Magni, Italian cyclist (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Walter Nowotny, Austrian pilot (d. 1944)
- 1921 – Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Indian guru and scholar, leader of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha
- 1923 – Intizar Hussain, Pakistani author
- 1923 – Ted Knight, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1924 – John Love, Zimbabwean race car driver (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Mário Soares, Portuguese politician, 17th President of Portugal
- 1925 – Hermano da Silva Ramos, French-Brazilian race car driver
- 1927 – Helen Watts, Welsh opera singer (d. 2009)
- 1928 – Noam Chomsky, American linguist, philosopher and political commentator
- 1930 – Christopher Nicole, Guyanese-British author
- 1930 – Hal Smith, American baseball player
- 1931 – Allan B. Calhamer, American game designer, created Diplomacy (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Ellen Burstyn, American actress
- 1932 – Paul Caponigro, American photographer
- 1932 – Rosemary Rogers, Ceylonese-American author
- 1933 – Krsto Papić, Croatian director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Thad Cochran, American politician, Senator from Mississippi
- 1940 – Stan Boardman, English comedian
- 1940 – Gerry Cheevers, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1941 – Melba Pattillo Beals, American civil rights activist and journalist
- 1942 – Harry Chapin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
- 1942 – Alex Johnson, American baseball player
- 1942 – Peter Tomarken, American game show host (d. 2006)
- 1943 – Susan Isaacs, American author
- 1943 – Nick Katz, American mathematician
- 1943 – Göran Lennmarker, Swedish politician
- 1943 – Bernard C. Parks, American police chief and politician
- 1943 – John Bennett Ramsey, American father of JonBenét Ramsey
- 1944 – Jamiel Chagra, American drug trafficker (d. 2008)
- 1944 – Daniel Chorzempa, American organist
- 1944 – Miroslav Macek, Czech politician
- 1945 – Marion Rung, Finnish singer
- 1947 – Johnny Bench, American baseball player
- 1947 – Tony Thomas, American television and film producer
- 1947 – Garry Unger, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1948 – Gary Morris, American singer and actor
- 1948 – Mads Vinding, Danish double-bassist
- 1949 – Tom Waits, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1950 – Ron Hynes, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1952 – Susan Collins, American politician, Senator from Maine
- 1952 – Georges Corraface, Greek actor
- 1952 – Eckhard Märzke, German footballer
- 1954 – Mary Fallin, American politician, 27th Governor of Oklahoma
- 1954 – Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
- 1954 – Mike Nolan, Irish singer (Bucks Fizz and Brooks)
- 1955 – Priscilla Barnes, American actress
- 1955 – John Watkins, Australian politician, Chancellor of the University of New England
- 1956 – Larry Bird, American basketball player and coach
- 1957 – Tom Winsor, English lawyer, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary
- 1958 – Tim Butler, English bass player and songwriter (The Psychedelic Furs and Love Spit Love)
- 1958 – Rick Rude, American wrestler (d. 1999)
- 1959 – Barbara Wilshere, British actress
- 1960 – Craig Scanlon, English guitarist and songwriter (The Fall)
- 1961 – Mario Miethig, German footballer
- 1962 – Grecia Colmenares, Venezuelan actress
- 1963 – Theo Snelders, Dutch footballer
- 1964 – Roberta Close, Brazilian model
- 1964 – Patrick Fabian, American actor
- 1964 – Peter Laviolette, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1965 – Dorien de Vries, Dutch windsurfer (1992 Olympics)
- 1965 – Colin Hendry, Scottish footballer
- 1965 – Jeffrey Wright, American actor
- 1966 – C. Thomas Howell, American actor and director
- 1966 – Shinichi Ito, Japanese motorcycle racer
- 1966 – Andres Kasekamp, Canadian-Estonian historian and politologist
- 1967 – Tino Martinez, American baseball player
- 1968 – Mark Geyer, Australian rugby player
- 1969 – Andrea Claudio Galluzzo, Italian entrepreneur and historian
- 1969 – Patrice O'Neal, American comedian and actor (d. 2011)
- 1970 – Carmen Campuzano, Mexican actress and model
- 1971 – Vladimir Akopian, Azerbaijani-Armenian chess player
- 1971 – Chasey Lain, American porn actress
- 1972 – Hermann Maier, Austrian skier
- 1972 – Tammy Lynn Sytch, American wrestler and manager
- 1973 – Terrell Owens, American football player
- 1973 – Fabien Pelous, French rugby player
- 1973 – Damien Rice, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Juniper and Bell X1)
- 1973 – Charles Carl Roberts, American murderer (d. 2006)
- 1974 – Nicole Appleton, Canadian singer and actress (All Saints and Appleton)
- 1974 – Kang Full, South Korean illustrator
- 1974 – Panagiotis Liadelis, Greek basketball player
- 1974 – Voldemārs Lūsis, Latvian javelin thrower
- 1975 – Jamie Clapham, English footballer
- 1976 – Alan Faneca, American football player
- 1976 – Ivan Franceschini, Italian footballer
- 1976 – Brent Johnson, Canadian football player
- 1976 – Georges Laraque, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 – Vanessa Lorenzo, Spanish model
- 1977 – Eric Chavez, American baseball player
- 1977 – Dominic Howard, English drummer (Muse)
- 1978 – Shiri Appleby, American actress
- 1978 – Chad Dukes, American radio host
- 1978 – Frankie J, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and producer (Kumbia Kings)
- 1978 – Mr. Porter, American rapper and producer (D12)
- 1979 – Sara Bareilles, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1979 – Jennifer Carpenter, American actress
- 1979 – Lampros Choutos, Greek footballer
- 1979 – Ayako Fujitani, Japanese actress
- 1979 – Derek Ramsay, English-Filipino actor and model
- 1980 – John Terry, English footballer
- 1982 – Chrispa, Greek singer
- 1982 – Jack Huston, English actor
- 1984 – Aaron Gray, American basketball player
- 1984 – Robert Kubica, Polish race car driver
- 1984 – Milan Michálek, Czech ice hockey player
- 1984 – Luca Rigoni, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Dean Ambrose, American wrestler
- 1987 – Aaron Carter, American singer, dancer, and actor
- 1988 – Butsakon Tantiphana, Thai actress
- 1988 – Nathan Adrian, American swimmer
- 1988 – Emily Browning, Australian actress and singer
- 1988 – Asia Ray Smith, American actress
- 1988 – Hayley Williams, American singer
- 1989 – Nicholas Hoult, English actor
- 1989 – Alessandro Marchi, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Urszula Radwańska, Polish tennis player
- 1990 – Yasiel Puig, Cuban baseball player
- 1991 – Dori Sakurada, Japanese actor and singer
- 2003 – Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange
Deaths[edit]
- 43 BC – Cicero, Roman politician and philosopher (b. 106 BC)
- 283 – Pope Eutychian
- 983 – Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 955)
- 1254 – Pope Innocent IV (b. 1195)
- 1279 – Bolesław V the Chaste, Polish husband of Kinga of Poland (b. 1226)
- 1295 – Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, English soldier (b. 1243)
- 1498 – Alexander Hegius von Heek, German poet (b. 1433)
- 1562 – Adrian Willaert, Flemish composer (b. 1490)
- 1649 – Charles Garnier, French missionary (b. 1606)
- 1672 – Richard Bellingham, English-American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1592)
- 1683 – John Oldham, English poet (b. 1653)
- 1683 – Algernon Sidney, English politician (b. 1623)
- 1723 – Jan Santini Aichel, Bohemian architect, designed Karlova Koruna Chateau (b. 1677)
- 1725 – Florent Carton Dancourt, French actor and playwright (b. 1661)
- 1772 – Martín Sarmiento, Spanish scholar and writer (b. 1695)
- 1775 – Charles Saunders, English admiral (b. 1715)
- 1793 – Joseph Bara, French revolutionary soldier (b. 1779)
- 1815 – Michel Ney, French marshall (b. 1769)
- 1817 – William Bligh, English admiral and administrator, 4th Governor of New South Wales (b. 1745)
- 1842 – Thomas Hamilton, Scottish philosopher and author (b. 1789)
- 1874 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German scholar (b. 1815)
- 1879 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence leader, 1st Speaker of the United Althing (b. 1811)
- 1894 – Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat and businessman, co-developed the Suez Canal (b. 1805)
- 1899 – Juan Luna, Filipino painter (b. 1857)
- 1902 – Thomas Nast, German-American cartoonist (b. 1840)
- 1906 – Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
- 1913 – Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian cardinal, Dean of the College of Cardinals (b. 1828)
- 1917 – Ludwig Minkus, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1826)
- 1938 – Anna Marie Hahn, German-American murderer (b. 1906)
- 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor:
- Mervyn S. Bennion, American navy captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1887)
- Herbert C. Jones, American navy officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1918)
- Isaac C. Kidd, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1884)
- Thomas James Reeves, American navy officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1895)
- Franklin Van Valkenburgh, American navy captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1888)
- 1946 – Sada Yacco, Japanese actress and dancer (b. 1871)
- 1947 – Tristan Bernard, French playwright and author (b. 1866)
- 1947 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 1949 – Rex Beach, American author, playwright, and water polo player (b. 1877)
- 1956 – Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887)
- 1960 – Clara Haskil, Swiss pianist (b. 1895)
- 1969 – Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player (b. 1897)
- 1969 – Eric Portman, English actor (b. 1903)
- 1970 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
- 1975 – Thornton Wilder, American playwright and author (b. 1897)
- 1977 – Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-American engineer (b. 1906)
- 1978 – Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist (b. 1886)
- 1980 – Darby Crash, American singer-songwriter (Germs and Darby Crash Band) (b. 1958)
- 1981 – Ava Helen Pauling, American activist (b. 1903)
- 1982 – Will Lee, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Fanny Cano, Mexican actress (b. 1944)
- 1984 – Charles Ray Hatcher, American serial killer (b. 1929)
- 1984 – LeeRoy Yarbrough, American race car driver (b. 1938)
- 1985 – J. R. Eyerman, American photographer and journalist (b. 1906)
- 1985 – Robert Graves, English author and poet (b. 1895)
- 1985 – Potter Stewart, American jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (b. 1915)
- 1989 – William Calhoun, American wrestler and actor (b. 1934)
- 1990 – Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1990 – Dee Clark, American singer (b. 1938)
- 1990 – Jean Duceppe, Canadian actor (b. 1923)
- 1990 – Jean Paul Lemieux, Canadian painter (b. 1904)
- 1993 – Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian politician, 1st President of Ivory Coast (b. 1905)
- 1993 – Wolfgang Paul, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- 1994 – J. C. Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1939)
- 1995 – Kathleen Harrison, English character actress (b. 1892)
- 1997 – Billy Bremner, Scottish footballer (b. 1942)
- 1998 – John Addison, English composer (b. 1920)
- 1998 – Martin Rodbell, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
- 2000 – Vlado Gotovac, Croatian poet and politician (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Carl F. H. Henry American theologian and journalist (b. 1913)
- 2003 – Azie Taylor Morton, American politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (b. 1933)
- 2004 – Frederick Fennell, American conductor (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Jerry Scoggins, American singer (b. 1913)
- 2004 – Jay Van Andel, American businessman, co-founded Amway (b. 1924)
- 2005 – Rigoberto Alpizar, Costa Rican-American shooting victim (b. 1961)
- 2005 – Bud Carson, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Lucy d'Abreu, Indian-British super-centenarian (b. 1892)
- 2006 – Jeane Kirkpatrick, American diplomat, 16th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (b. 1926)
- 2006 – Jay McShann, American singer and pianist (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Marky Cielo, Filipino actor and dancer (b. 1988)
- 2008 – Herbert Hutner, American banker and lawyer (b. 1908)
- 2009 – Mark Ritts, American actor (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Elizabeth Edwards, American lawyer and author, wife of John Edwards (b. 1949)
- 2010 – Gus Mercurio, American-Australian actor (b. 1928)
- 2011 – Harry Morgan, American actor and director (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti, Kuwaiti terrorist (b. 1965)
- 2012 – Ammar El Sherei, Egyptian musician and composer (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Berthold Albrecht, German businessman (b. 1954)
- 2012 – P. J. Carey, American baseball player and manager (b. 1953)
- 2012 – Thomas Cornell, American painter (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Gilbert Durand, French academic (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Denis Houf, Belgian footballer (b. 1932)
- 2012 – William F. House, American physician (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Irene Hughes, American psychic (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Nikola Ilić, Serbian basketball player (b. 1985)
- 2012 – Roelof Kruisinga, Dutch physician and politician (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Jeni Le Gon, American actress and dancer (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Ralph Parr, American pilot (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Marty Reisman, American table tennis player and author (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Saul Steinberg, American businessman (Reliance Insurance Company) (b. 1939)
- 2012 – George Suppiah, Singaporean football referee (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Joseph R. Weisberger, American politician and jurist, 22nd Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (b. 1920)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Armed Forces Flag Day (India)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Eve of the Immaculate Conception-related observances:
- Day of the Little Candles, begins after sunset. (Colombia)
- Quema del Diablo, begins after sunset. (Guatemala)
- International Civil Aviation Day (International)
- National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (United States)
- Spitak Remembrance Day (Armenia)
- Student Day (Iran)
““I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14-15NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly."
1 Corinthians 15:48
1 Corinthians 15:48
The head and members are of one nature, and not like that monstrous image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The head was of fine gold, but the belly and thighs were of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay. Christ's mystical body is no absurd combination of opposites; the members were mortal, and therefore Jesus died; the glorified head is immortal, and therefore the body is immortal too, for thus the record stands, "Because I live, ye shall live also." As is our loving Head, such is the body, and every member in particular. A chosen Head and chosen members; an accepted Head, and accepted members; a living Head, and living members. If the head be pure gold, all the parts of the body are of pure gold also. Thus is there a double union of nature as a basis for the closest communion. Pause here, devout reader, and see if thou canst without ecstatic amazement, contemplate the infinite condescension of the Son of God in thus exalting thy wretchedness into blessed union with his glory. Thou art so mean that in remembrance of thy mortality, thou mayest say to corruption, "Thou art my father," and to the worm, "Thou art my sister"; and yet in Christ thou art so honoured that thou canst say to the Almighty, "Abba, Father," and to the Incarnate God, "Thou art my brother and my husband." Surely if relationships to ancient and noble families make men think highly of themselves, we have whereof to glory over the heads of them all. Let the poorest and most despised believer lay hold upon this privilege; let not a senseless indolence make him negligent to trace his pedigree, and let him suffer no foolish attachment to present vanities to occupy his thoughts to the exclusion of this glorious, this heavenly honour of union with Christ.
Evening
"Girt about the paps with a golden girdle."
Revelation 1:13
Revelation 1:13
"One like unto the Son of Man" appeared to John in Patmos, and the beloved disciple marked that he wore a girdle of gold. A girdle, for Jesus never was ungirt while upon earth, but stood always ready for service, and now before the eternal throne he stays not His holy ministry, but as a priest is girt about with "the curious girdle of the ephod." Well it is for us that he has not ceased to fulfil his offices of love for us, since this is one of our choicest safeguards that he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Jesus is never an idler; his garments are never loose as though his offices were ended; he diligently carries on the cause of his people. A golden girdle, to manifest the superiority of his service, the royalty of his person, the dignity of his state, the glory of his reward. No longer does he cry out of the dust, but he pleads with authority, a King as well as a Priest. Safe enough is our cause in the hands of our enthroned Melchizedek.
Our Lord presents all his people with an example. We must never unbind our girdles. This is not the time for lying down at ease, it is the season of service and warfare. We need to bind the girdle of truth more and more tightly around our loins. It is a golden girdle, and so will be our richest ornament, and we greatly need it, for a heart that is not well braced up with the truth as it is in Jesus, and with the fidelity which is wrought of the Spirit, will be easily entangled with the things of this life, and tripped up by the snares of temptation. It is in vain that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us like a girdle, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole man. If in heaven Jesus unbinds not the girdle, much less may we upon earth. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.
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Today's reading: Daniel 3-4, 1 John 5 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Daniel 3-4
The Image of Gold and the Blazing Furnace
1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. 3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.
4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace....”
Today's New Testament reading: 1 John 5
Faith in the Incarnate Son of God
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life....
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Joseph [Jō'zeph]—may god add orincreaser.
- Poetic description of the descendants of Joseph the son of Jacob (Deut. 33:13).
- The Father of Igal, one of the spies sent by Moses into Canaan (Num. 13:7).
- A son of Asaph ( 1 Chron. 25:2, 9).
- A man of the family of Baniwho had taken a foreign wife (Ezra 10:42).
- A priest of the family of Shebaniah in Joaakim’s time (Neh. 12:14).
- Ancestor of Joseph, Mary’s husband ( Luke 3:24).
- Another ancestor of Joseph in the same line (Luke 3:26).
- A more remote ancestor of Joseph, Mary’s husband (Luke 3:30).
- A disciple nominated with Matthias to take the place of Judas Iscariot among the disciples. Matthias was chosen ( Acts 1:23). This Joseph must have been a commendable Christian since he was nominated as an apostle.
- The eleventh son of Jacob and first of Rachel, and one of the most outstanding men of the Bible, meriting honorable mention (Gen. 30:24, 25).
The Man Whose Dream Came True
The story of this young man who went from pit to palace and from rags to riches, never loses its charm for young and old alike. It would take a book itself to fully portray all the vicissitudes and virtues of Joseph, who kept his record clean. All that we can do in our treatment of him is to suggest a few aspects of his character for development.
Joseph was a youthful dreamer and his dream came true ( Gen. 37:5-9; 41:42-44).
Joseph labored as a slave, but was faithful in hard places (Gen. 39:1-6, 20-23).
Joseph enjoyed the presence of God and won the confidence of his master (Gen. 39:2, 4).
Joseph had physical beauty, but it was never a snare to him (Gen. 39:6).
Joseph resisted temptation. His godless mistress could not seduce him. Grace was his to flee youthful lusts. Thus he did not commit a “great wickedness” (Gen. 39:7-13).
Joseph was silent amid foul accusations and the appearance of guilt and unjust punishment (Gen. 39:14-20).
Joseph was unspoiled by sudden prosperity. When days of honor followed days of humiliation, he did not yield to pride (Gen. 41:14-16).
Joseph the interpreter of dreams proved that “prison walls do not a prison make.” He acknowledged his dependence upon God for illumination, proving that he was not a mere dreamer but an interpreter of dreams (Gen. 40).
Joseph manifested great wisdom, brotherly love, filial devotion and utter submission to God ( Gen. 43:20; 45:8, 14,23; 47:7). He knew how to return good for evil ( Gen. 50:16-21). If we cannot have all the gifts of Joseph, who is a perfect type of Christ, we can certainly covet all his graces. If we cannot have his greatness, we can certainly emulate his goodness.
R. W. Moss says, “A very high place must be given Joseph among the early founders of his race. In strength of right purpose he was second to none, whilst in graces of reverence and kindness, of insight and assurance, he became the type of a faith that is at once personal and national ( Heb. 11:22), and allows neither misery nor a career of triumph to eclipse the sense of Divine destiny.”
11. The husband of Mary, and foster-father of our Lord (Matt. 1:16-24; 2:13; Luke 1:27; 2:4-43; 3:23; 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42).
The Man of Wood and Nails
It is somewhat unique that two Josephs were associated with Christ, one at His birth and the other at His death. Both of these godly men gave Jesus of their best. In this section we think of Joseph the carpenter, who was present at the manger when Jesus was born, even though he was not His father. While Christ came as the Son of Man, He was never a son of a man.
Joseph’s presence at Christ’s birth witnesses to a severe test that had emerged triumphant. Mary was the pure young woman he had fallen in love with, and was about to make his wife. Yet the Child she was about to bear would not be his. Seeing her “great with child,” without fanfare Joseph was minded to put her away. He never acted rashly with his espoused, although he was baffled by her condition. This serves for all time as an example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others.
Bitterly disappointed that Mary had apparently betrayed him, yet believing, he made no haste. As a praying man he waited upon God, and his love for and patience with Mary were rewarded. God understood his mental difficulties and rewarded Joseph’s conscientious attitude toward Mary by revealing His redemptive plan. God never fails those who carry their anxieties to Him. Joseph received a direct and distinct revelation from God, and at once his fears were banished, and his line of duty made clear.
Tenderly he cared for his dear one as if the Child she was bearing were his own. Overawed by the mystery of it all, that his beloved Mary had been chosen as the mother of the Lord he as a devout Jew had eagerly anticipated, we can imagine how he would superintend every detail of the Nativity.
What holy thoughts must have filled the mind of Mary’s guardian. Where suspicion regarding Mary’s purity once lurked, strong faith now reigned as he looked into the lovely face of Mary’s Child. At last God’s promises had been fulfilled and before him was the Babe through whom God’s covenants would be established.
When it became necessary because of Herod’s hatred to flee into Egypt, Joseph cared for Mary and her first-born Son with reverent devotion until tidings came that Herod was dead, and that they could safely return to their own land. While a shroud of secrecy covers the thirty years Christ spent at home, we can be sure of this, that between Jesus and Joseph there was an affection strong and deep.
Briefly stated, we have these glimpses of Joseph:
I. He was “a son of David” and could claim royal or priestly descent (Matt. 1:20).
II. His family belonged to Bethlehem, David’s city.
III. He followed the trade of carpenter, and doubtless taught Christ how to use wood and nails (Matt. 13:55).
IV. He was a pious Israelite, faithful in all the ordinances of the Temple (Luke 2:22-24, 41 , 42).
V. He was a kindly, charitable man, treating Mary gently in her time of need (Matt. 1:19; Luke 2:1-7).
VI. He was faithful in his care of Christ, and deserved to be called His “father” ( Luke 2:33. John 1:45; 6:42).
VII. He never appears in the Gospels after Christ was twelve years of age and became “a son of the Law” (Luke 2:41-51 ), which may suggest that he died during the interval. This would explain why Jesus at His death asked John to care for His mother.
VIII. He died, tradition says, at the age of 111 years, when Jesus was but eighteen years of age.
12. Joseph of Arimathaea, a secret disciple of Jesus, whose unused grave was surrendered to Jesus. Thus the One born in a virgin womb was buried in a virgin tomb (Matt. 27:57-60; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50; John 19:38).
The Man Who Gave His Grave to Jesus
This wealthy and devout Israelite, a member of the Sanhedrin, lived in a city of Jews (Luke 23:51 ). It is to the provision he made for the body of Christ that Isaiah had reference when he said, “He made His grave with the rich” (Isa. 53:9). Of this renowned Joseph we discover:
1. He was an honorable counselor (Mark 15:43). Because of his adherence to the Law and integrity of life he was a member of the governing body known as the Sanhedrin.
II. He looked for the kingdom of God. Immersed in Old Testament Scriptures, he anticipated the reign of the promised Messiah.
III. He was “a good man and just” (Luke 23:50, 51). As the Bible never uses words unnecessarily, there must be a distinction between “good” and “just.” As a “good man” we have his own internal disposition—what he was in himself. As a “just man” we have his external conduct—what he was towards others. His just dealings were the fruit of the root of his goodness. His was the belief that knew how to behave.
IV. He was a secret disciple (John 19:38). Joseph of Arimathaea was similar to Nicodemus in his respect for our Lord as a man, admiration for Him as a teacher, belief in Him as the Christ, and yet, till now, his lack of confessing Him before men. Dreading the hostility of his colleagues on the Sanhedrin, he kept his faith secret.
V. He begged the body of Jesus ( Matt. 27:58). As soon as Jesus was dead, Joseph hastened to Pilate for permission to inter His body. David Smith observes that when the condemnation of Jesus was over—a condemnation in which Joseph took no part—he realized how cowardly a part he had played and, stricken with shame and remorse, plucked up courage and went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. It was common for friends of the crucified to purchase their bodies, which would otherwise have been cast out as refuse, and give them decent burial ( Mark 15:45).
VI. He gave his grave to Christ (Matt. 27:59, 60 ). With lingering reverence Joseph paid his last respects to the One he admired, and in the hour of sorrow helped the friends and not the foes of the righteous Sufferer. Joseph had a garden close to Calvary, where he had hewn a smoothed and polished tomb in the side of the rock as his own last resting place, in which, aided by Nicodemus, he buried the linencovered and perfumed body of Christ.
VII. Joseph, legend tells us, was sent to Britain by Philip the Apostle, and founded the Church of Glastonbury. Medieval chroniclers delighted to tell of the staff Joseph stuck into the ground. The staff supposedly took root, brought forth leaves and flowers and became the parent of all the Glastonbury thorns from that day to this.
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JOSEPH
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. -Matthew 1:18-19
We know so little about Joseph. He is only mentioned in the birth and childhood stories of Jesus. He was named after an ancient patriarch who used his success in Egypt to save his family and a future nation. Joseph was a carpenter who lived in the town of Nazareth. His ancestors were from Bethlehem, so when a Roman ruler, Caesar Augustus, wanted a census, Joseph had to go back to Bethlehem, even though his wife was well along in her pregnancy.
The most important thing we know about Joseph is that when the time called, he displayed great faith and grace. He had found out that the woman he was engaged to be married to was pregnant. While Mary had the benefit of the an angel to explain her unique conception, Joseph had not been visited yet. All he had was Mary's word. So what was that conversation like? No, she hadn't slept with another man. Yes, she was pregnant. And yes, a spiritual being had told her that she would conceive by a unique act of God-and as though that wasn't enough-the child in her womb would be the Savior of the world.
Why did Joseph believe her? Why did he change his first plans to quietly divorce her so as not to expose her to public shame? (Engagements were so serious then, to break one off amounted to a divorce.) Why did he choose instead to take her as his wife-and then abstain from sexual relations with her until the birth of the child? If you were in his shoes, would you have believed Mary?
Here is something for all of us to think about at Christmas. Think of Joseph. Think of him looking into Mary's eyes, hearing her account, knowing in his heart of hearts it was true, and having the courage to act on that faith, even though he may have had doubts. As nonsensical as it seemed, he believed it. As much as the idea of a virginal conception violates both logic and science (even the rudimentary science of millennia ago), he knew it was possible with God. As risky as it was to stay with Mary and be branded by others as the hapless dupe of an immoral woman, Joseph decided to take that leap of faith.
That is true faith. It wasn't just that he trusted Mary; he trusted God. That God could; that God might; that God would.
Prayer for today:
God, give me Joseph's courage and iron-strong faith. Give me faith to believe that, at the birth of Jesus, you really did enter this world-my world-and you are still working powerfully in it.
For the month of December, we’re giving all of our “Everything New” readers a taste of Mel’s Christmas devotional, “Christmas Joy”. Click here to subscribe to this email devotional, which will run the month of December. Or, acquire the entire devotional as an e-book, compatible with your Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, Kindle or Android. All previous posts in this series are available on The Brook Network.
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JOSEPH
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. -Matthew 1:18-19
We know so little about Joseph. He is only mentioned in the birth and childhood stories of Jesus. He was named after an ancient patriarch who used his success in Egypt to save his family and a future nation. Joseph was a carpenter who lived in the town of Nazareth. His ancestors were from Bethlehem, so when a Roman ruler, Caesar Augustus, wanted a census, Joseph had to go back to Bethlehem, even though his wife was well along in her pregnancy.
The most important thing we know about Joseph is that when the time called, he displayed great faith and grace. He had found out that the woman he was engaged to be married to was pregnant. While Mary had the benefit of the an angel to explain her unique conception, Joseph had not been visited yet. All he had was Mary's word. So what was that conversation like? No, she hadn't slept with another man. Yes, she was pregnant. And yes, a spiritual being had told her that she would conceive by a unique act of God-and as though that wasn't enough-the child in her womb would be the Savior of the world.
Why did Joseph believe her? Why did he change his first plans to quietly divorce her so as not to expose her to public shame? (Engagements were so serious then, to break one off amounted to a divorce.) Why did he choose instead to take her as his wife-and then abstain from sexual relations with her until the birth of the child? If you were in his shoes, would you have believed Mary?
Here is something for all of us to think about at Christmas. Think of Joseph. Think of him looking into Mary's eyes, hearing her account, knowing in his heart of hearts it was true, and having the courage to act on that faith, even though he may have had doubts. As nonsensical as it seemed, he believed it. As much as the idea of a virginal conception violates both logic and science (even the rudimentary science of millennia ago), he knew it was possible with God. As risky as it was to stay with Mary and be branded by others as the hapless dupe of an immoral woman, Joseph decided to take that leap of faith.
That is true faith. It wasn't just that he trusted Mary; he trusted God. That God could; that God might; that God would.
Prayer for today:
God, give me Joseph's courage and iron-strong faith. Give me faith to believe that, at the birth of Jesus, you really did enter this world-my world-and you are still working powerfully in it.
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