Saturday, February 15, 2014

Sat Feb 15th Todays News

There are many reasons to love and learn from history. But one doesn't learn from closing their mind to parts of it. To get the most, one needs to be open. On this day in 1925, Nome Alaska got a serum they needed for an epidemic of diphtheria. Diptheria is largely eradicated through vaccination in most developed nations. It is a highly contagious respiratory illness and is fatal between 5% and 10% of cases for fit people, but in children or those aged over 40, may be 20%. In 1925, Alaska had telephone contact with the world but were isolated and the best route was by dog sled. The lead dog in this instance was Balto, causing Balto to become more famous in 1925, through radio broadcasts of his progress, than Rin Tin Tin. Worth considering when some selfish anti vaccination advocate spreads their poison, or when some unvaccinated third world people choose to break laws and migrate at the expense of refugees. 

On this day in 1493, Christopher Columbus, on board Niña  wrote a letter about his discoveries in the New World. He had not sailed to India, where cargo of spice may have made him rich, but thanks to his letter, we have things like a potato, chocolate and corn. And the Americas got horses. And herpes. The resulting trade has not been fair, but an extraordinary blessing which has seen the world grow smaller and much, much richer. Anyone born on that day might have witnessed some terrible things. But all of them would be dead today. And anyone born today anywhere in the world will experience comfort and joys unimaginable to Christopher as he wrote his letter. Worth thinking about as some neo-Nazi socialist protectionist opposes free trade, freedom of the press (with the commensurate opposition to removing bias) and conservative, libertarian economic values.

Also born on this day, 1820, was Susan B Anthony. She opposed Slavery, supported Temperance of alcohol and votes for women. She was a criminal for voting for U.S. Grant for President. Nowadays, Democrats show more respect and use dead people to vote for whom they want elected, but back then, Susan was more honest .. and GOP. These days, we may wonder when it was that things changed, and progressive policy left conservative politics. In the US, the black vote is overwhelmingly Democrat. It comes back to a highly lauded huckster FDR who exploited white Democrat supporters who had used guns to remove aid from black peoples following a hurricane in Louisiana that Hoover had helped. FDR denounced Hoover for giving aid to black peoples and the southern white press lapped it up. The result was black institutions began backing Democrats for their political clout. During the Civil Rights years, JFK ordered a Democrat to let Black kids go to school. FDR was the Democrat exception and did nothing to change Democrat culture. 
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Hatches
Matches
Despatches
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Palmer pursued

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (12:02pm)

How much financial strife is MP Clive Palmer in?

MINING magnate Clive Palmer is being pursued for $8.4 million for flouting the law on carbon emissions after failing to pay the Clean Energy Regulator carbon tax since it became law…
Mr Palmer’s nickel refinery was hit with a further carbon charge of $2.3m yesterday after he failed to pay a $6.1m charge the federal regulator imposed last June.
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No boats but no sorries

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (8:18am)

No boats for eight weeks, and no sorries from those who misled us.
Chris Kenny:
After Labor relaxed the regime, 820 boats arrived carrying 51,870 asylum-seekers and more than 1200 others (that we know of) drowned at sea…

“You know that Tony Abbott’s policy of turning the boats back won’t work,” said soon-to-be immigration minister Chris Bowen before the 2010 election.

Then prime minister Julia Gillard said: “In his own policy document (Tony Abbott) says that the so-called turnaround of boats would only happen, and I quote - ‘where circumstances permit’ - this is an admission that it won’t work.”

Said then defence minister Stephen Smith: “Seven boats were turned back under John Howard and everyone knows it’s not a practical way forward. They are trying to pretend and trick the Australian public into believing that there is a magical solution to these very difficult problems caused by enormous conflict in countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.”

Said Bowen in 2012: “All the advice to us, all the evidence to us from navy and other government agencies, is that it’s completely impractical to turn boats around. Indonesia has said very clearly and repeatedly that they will not accept boat turnarounds, they just won’t co-operate with it and so the big problem with Tony Abbott’s plan is it just doesn’t work.”

Former Labor adviser John Menadue picked up the theme on the ABC’s The Drum website: “It is clear to most people who look beyond the one-liners that Nauru, turning the boats back and temporary protection visas are not viable policies.”

In The Age, Michelle Grattan wrote about the clear dangers. “Asking Australian sailors to risk their own lives and the lives of others in this way does not have to be part of a tough border-protection policy,” she wrote, “and, on the evidence that we have, should not be.”

Then attorney-general Nicola Roxon said that it was “fraught” legally. “We have the operational staff saying they couldn’t do it,” she said in 2012. “I really do think that this is a serious problem.”

When Tony Burke took immigration, he derided Abbott’s “slogans” about boat turn-backs. “By the time we came to government, we recognised it wasn’t able to be done,” he told the ABC last year…

Another minister, Brendan O’Connor, refused to consider turn-backs. “The ‘turn back the boats’ policy is an element of the ‘stop the boats’ fraud,” he told parliament in early 2012. “Their ‘turn back the boats’ policy does not exist except in the minds of those opposite.”

Even after losing government, Bill Shorten held the line. In November, he said the Coalition was “in trouble” with its boats policy. “They said before the election they would turn back the boats,” he told the ABC. “Now we are seeing that not only are they not turning back the boats, but they are hiding behind Australia’s military when they do press conferences, they’re not answering questions about what is really happening."…

More of those nay-sayers from an ABC piece last year quoting only people predicting failure:
Dr Khalid Koser, from Switzerland’s Geneva Centre for Security Policy, says. “I think we have to recognise boat arrivals will continue at some number,”

Author Robin De Crespigny, “If you want to stop people smuggling you’ve got to stop the thing that causes people to flee their country,” she says. “They’ll keep running if they continue to be persecuted.”

Caz Coleman from the Minister’s Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention says Australia will have to make some difficult decisions in the next few years. “I think we do need to think seriously about whether we need to accept there will be a higher rate of arrivals into Australia,”

(Thanks to readers James and Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Hockey speaks for the Abduls watching the big guys holding out their hand

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (7:40am)

Treasurer Joe Hockey, of Palestinian background, keeps it very real in explaining why he won’t give handouts to big, rich car makers and canneries:

Abdul the kebab maker in Parramatta mall, to quote [former Liberal MP] Ross Cameron, is not asking for a new oven… We want to encourage enterprise, not entitlement.
The ABC’s business editor, the excellent Peter Ryan, visits Abdul the kebab maker in Surry Hills:

PETER RYAN: ... So ... would [you] consider seeking government help if [your] business ever got into strife?…
ABDUL GHAZEL: Well, I don’t think so. I don’t think so they’ll give me anything. You know they just say go and get it yourself! ... Yeah, .... they’re not going to help me with the fridge or with the freezer or with the kebab machines or with the griller. You know you have to pay your own, you have to buy your own.
PETER RYAN: How do you think you stand? You’re a small business and you have a lot of loyal clients, but where do you think you rank in the Government’s eyes compared to Qantas or SPC Ardmona?
ABDUL GHAZEL: Very, very small. They can’t see anyway. They can’t see me…
PETER RYAN: You run a late night business, you’re open on weekends. Mr Hockey is looking at the whole area of entitlements and that would include penalty rates and overtime. How do those factors affect a business like yours?
ABDUL GHAZEL: It put a lot of pressure. Sometimes, you know, you’re not busy so you have to pay from the pocket and you can’t tell the workers, “Go, I don’t have any work”.
Well done to not just Hockey but to Ryan, giving a voice to those who usually watch on, unnoticed and unconsulted, as the connected help themselves to the public’s cash.
(Thanks to reader Anthony.) 
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Why rape suspects should be identified even if they are refugees

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (6:10am)

Siv Parker in The Guardian would rather police didn’t describe the alleged pack rapists they were asking the public to help catch:
But can we make our society safer without demonising people of colour? The alleged gang rape of a a 14-year-old girl in a western Sydney suburb has been almost entirely framed in terms of race. The girl has been described as being of Pacific Islander descent, while her attackers were “men of African appearance”. One of them, a 16-year-old, was arrested and charged yesterday.
Assuming that no-one talking about someone of African appearance is talking about a white person from Africa, what was the effective call to action here, other than “keep an eye out for black men”? And what was the subliminal message, other than “black men are dangerous”?
Parker should, by that reasoning, also worry that men were being singled out. Were police sending the subliminal message,that “men are dangerous”?
For the issuing of a physical description of an alleged perpetrator to be helpful, it must be accurate and detailed.
Dear Ms Parker: police were asking for help from anyone who might have seen or known of the alleged rapists and were giving an accurate detail that helpfully excluded 99 per cent of the population. Get it?
Otherwise, the very real consequence is the feeding of stereotypes that themselves damage our society… As I write, media reports about the suspected attacker include statements such as “Court papers show the teen’s country of birth as Sudan”. One assumes the writer attaches some significance or relevance to this fact. But because it is unspoken, we are left unhelpfully to connect the dots.
The dots have actually been often excluded or rubbed out by police, politicians and press. The fact is that refugee groups from Africa have a high rate of arrest and imprisonment. This is not a “stereotype” but a statistical fact. What damages our society - and some unfortunate victims of crime - is that we have refused to properly discuss the wisdom of bringing in groups which would struggle, on average, to fit in. Now we read of long-standing tensions between the two ethnic groups involved in this latest alleged crime. I don’t think this is healthy.
Parker wishes such things not be revealed and discussed. I disagree. I suspect Parker is actually protecting her politics rather than people. 
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
He said,“Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed.” —Isaiah 49:23.
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PRAY,
Father,I thank You for choosing and equipping me to fulfill my destiny. I receive Your promises by faith knowing that You who began a good work will be faithful to complete it in my life. Thank You for Your peace and guidance in every step of the way in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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You Can Dream It, Believe It,Live It!
The Scripture says that,“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”(Philippians 1:6, NIV).

Learning to walk in the destiny God has for you is a process. The first step is to get a vision, a clear picture from God that you can see. The next step is to trust Him — to believe in faith that it will happen. And then finally, you take a step of faith and live out what God has promised no matter what your circumstances or people around you have to say.You can dream it,believe it and live it.First you dream it, than you believe it, and then you live it. Every dream I’ve ever received from God has followed this same pattern. We see in scripture that even the great men and women of the Bible walked through this process. They had to overcome doubts, they struggled on their journey, but they held fast to what God said knowing that He is faithful to complete what He started in us.

Don’t empower doubt with your words. Instead, keep declaring that He who promised is faithful. Keep the vision in front of you knowing that it is for an appointed time. Dream it and believe it because it won’t be long until you are living the blessed life God has prepared for you.God bless you.
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PRAY.
Father, today I uproot any bad seeds I have sown by repenting and acknowledging You. I ask that You destroy any negative crop in my life. I choose to speak words of faith and life so that I can partake of the fruit of victory You have in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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You Can Eat the Fruit Of Your Tongue.
The Scripture says,Proverbs 18:21 that Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Today I tell you that if you are ready to change your situation, then it’s time to change what you are saying about your situation. If you want a different harvest in your life, you have to change the seeds you are sowing. Start sowing words of faith and victory. Let your attitude be, “This may be the way it’s been in the past, but this is not the way it’s staying. I’m coming up higher. I may feel weak, but my declaration is that “I am strong.” When you sow seeds of life, you will reap life and move forward into the victory the Lord has in store for you.
If you aren’t where you want to be in life today, could it be because of the words you’ve spoken in the past? Have you said things like, “I’ll never rise any higher; I’ve gone as far as I can go?” Or maybe you’ve said, “I’ll never break this addiction. I’ve had it too long. It’s too hard.” And now you are eating the fruit of your words. You’re still in the same place.Use your tongue to change your situation.God bless you.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Not only is Kay, my wife of 38 years, my amazing Valentine, but so is her 90 year old mom, Bobbie. A truly godly woman. Thanks to my dear mother-in-love for giving birth to Kay, giving me the love of my life. My mom, another godly woman, is celebrating in heaven.
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Saint Valentine was a pastor martyred by Caesar in 269 AD for defending marriage against a Roman government decree.
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What you flirt with, you’ll fall for. It's stupid since there's always a hook.
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Leadership is an action, not a position.
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Vision isn't the ability to predict the future but seeing opportunities in your current circumstances. 

"Forget the former things, and do not dwell on the past. 
LOOK! I am creating a brand new thing! It is springing up right in front of you. Do you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:18-19

God is always doing new things. We just aren't watching.
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Wreckage of the USS Maine
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Events[edit]

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Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”” - John 13:34-35
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

February 14: Morning
"And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life." - 2 Kings 25:30
Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case is ours, we have a sure portion, a portion given us of the king, a gracious portion, and a perpetual portion. Here is surely ground for thankfulness.

Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace you need a daily supply. You have no store of strength. Day by day must you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that a daily portion is provided for you. In the word, through the ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God you shall receive renewed strength. In Jesus all needful things are laid up for you. Then enjoy your continual allowance. Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.
Evening
"She was healed immediately." - Luke 8:47
One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour's miracles is before us tonight. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without his knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the generosity of Jesus' character, or she would not have gone behind to steal the cure which he was so ready to bestow. Misery should always place itself right in the face of mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus' heart, she would have said, "I have but to put myself where he can see me--his omniscience will teach him my case, and his love at once will work my cure." We admire her faith, but we marvel at her ignorance. After she had obtained the cure, she rejoiced with trembling: glad was she that the divine virtue had wrought a marvel in her; but she feared lest Christ should retract the blessing, and put a negative upon the grant of his grace: little did she comprehend the fulness of his love! We have not so clear a view of him as we could wish; we know not the heights and depths of his love; but we know of a surety that he is too good to withdraw from a trembling soul the gift which it has been able to obtain. But here is the marvel of it: little as was her knowledge, her faith, because it was real faith, saved her, and saved her at once. There was no tedious delay--faith's miracle was instantaneous. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, salvation is our present and eternal possession. If in the list of the Lord's children we are written as the feeblest of the family, yet, being heirs through faith, no power, human or devilish, can eject us from salvation. If we dare not lean our heads upon his bosom with John, yet if we can venture in the press behind him, and touch the hem of his garment, we are made whole. Courage, timid one! thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God."
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Apphia
Scripture Reference: Philemon 1:2
Name Meaning: That which is fruitful
This believer, belonging to Colossae, the ancient Phrygian city now a part of Turkey, is spoken of as our "dearly beloved" and "our sister" (rv, margin). It is likely that she lived out the significance of her name by being a fruitful branch of the Vine. Apphia is believed to have been the wife of Philemon and either the mother or sister of Archippus who was evidently a close member of the family. She must have been closely associated with Philemon, otherwise she would not have been mentioned in connection with a domestic matter (Philemon 1:2 ). Tradition has it that Philemon, Apphia, Archippus and Onesimus were stoned to death during the reign of Nero. It was Onesimus who went to Colossae with a message for the Philemon household.
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Abiel 
[Ăbī'el] - father of strength.
1. Son of Zeror and father of Ner and of Kish and grandfather of Saul, Israel's first king (1 Sam. 9:1; 14:51).
2. One of David's heroes from Beth-arabah (1 Chron. 11:32). Called Abi-albon in 2 Sam. 23:31.
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Today's reading: Leviticus 15-16, Matthew 27:1-26 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Leviticus 15-16

The Day of Atonement
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the LORD. 2 The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover....

Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 27:1-26

Judas Hangs Himself
1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."
"What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility...."



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