Sunday, July 20, 2014

Sun Jul 20th Todays News

George Llewelyn Davies was born on this day, 1893. One of the most loved boys in history thanks to the work of his foster father who had a fascination with a petite actress Maude Adams. The writer, JM Barrie was a scot with wide connections to the greatest of the day. Children were entrusted to his care and there is no evidence he ever betrayed that trust, but rather it inspired him. George's behaviour with his siblings became part of Barrie's work Peter Pan. He once remarked that death would be a remarkable adventure, and that became words of Peter Pan. His father died in 1907, and his mother in 1910, and Barrie became his foster father. George was 21 in 1915, a second lieutenant, fighting in trenches. Shot in the head. Cruelly denied an adulthood. 

 Another well loved boy born on this day 356 BC was Alexander, son of Macedonian King Phillip. Phillip was ambitious and had a tutor for his son, Aristotle. Alexander became king on the assassination of his dad when Alexander was twenty years old. He ruled for thirteen years and conquered the known world and much that was discovered. Thanks to him, Greek philosophy was spread throughout the world and the Pharaoh of Egypt was his family. But he died young, bereft of friendship and prone to drink too much. Some would say the moral lesson was not to kill their friends when drunk. Others would say there was no need to get drunk. Also born on this day was the poet Petrarch (1304), Edmund Hillary (1919), and Diana Rigg (1938, same day as Natalie Wood). Passing on this day was James Garner (2014), Bruce Lee (1973) and the despicable Helen Thomas (2013). 

 Israel defends herself legitimately, but bigots like Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon have lied to incite hatred against Israel, to terrorist supporters. Recently, Rhiannon was filmed at a protest gathering including Hezbollah and Jihad flags where she claimed that Israel was a terrorist state targeting women and children. It is true women and children have been collateral damage to attacks by Israel against Gaza rocket launching sites. However, Israel has met conventions for firing such weapons, phoning and letter dropping in advance their intention. But terrorists for so called Palestinians have used civilians as shields, which is another war crime that has gone un-prosecuted by the world court. Terrorism cannot be allowed to continue, or there becomes unwelcome consequences, as with MH17 being shot down by Ukrainian separatist forces. It has become increasingly clear that Russia is behind the weapon which fired, but the issue of Ukraine encouraging the targeting of the airliner is not being addressed. The Ukraine government is illegitimate, but favours the white house. Until Obama comes clean on his dealings on the issue of the division of Ukraine by Russia, then the blame game will not be productive or conducive to peace. 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may;I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Stephanie Granger, Alexander the Great (356 BC), Gregor Mendel (1822), Hazel Hawke (1929), Diana Rigg (1938) and Terri Irwin (1964). Born on the same magical day, across the years. Friend's day in Argentina. In 1592, During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. 1779, Tekle Giyorgis I began the first of his six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. 1936, The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits was signed in Montreux, Switzerland, allowing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. 1944, Adolf Hitler survived an assassination attempt by German Resistance member Claus von Stauffenberg, who hid a bomb inside a briefcase during a conference at the Wolfsschanze military headquarters in East Prussia. 1969, The Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon six-and-a-half hours later. A day of many augurs. Think your happiest thought, extend your wand and "Expecto Patronum!"
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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Australian members of No. 196 Squadron
The Australian contribution to the Battle of Normandyinvolved more than 3,000 military personnel serving under British command, the majority from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) (Australian members of No. 196 Squadronpictured). Others served with the Royal Navy and British Army. After participating in the Allied landings on 6 June 1944, Australian air force and army personnel fought in the subsequent Battle of Normandy between June and August 1944, and an RAAF fighter squadron operated from airfields in Normandy. Throughout the campaign, Australian airmen provided direct support to the Allied ground forces by attacking German military units and their supply lines, as well as forming part of the force which defended the beachhead from air attack. Australians also indirectly contributed to the campaign by attacking German submarines and ships which posed a threat to the invasion force. Australia's contribution to the fighting in Normandy is commemorated in memorials and cemeteries in London and Normandy. (Full article...)
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It’s the last stop for Russia to avoid pariah status

Piers Akerman – Saturday, July 19, 2014 (10:20pm)

The outrageous response of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the murder of the 298 civilians aboard MH17 shows he is determined to march in the bloody footsteps of his Soviet predecessors.
Having supplied the soldiers and the weapons responsible for bringing down the Malaysian Airlines aircraft, the former KGB officer is now pretending that Russia had no responsibility for the destruction of the airliner.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'It’s the last stop for Russia to avoid pariah status'
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Carbon Tax: Ding dong, the big climate con is dead

Miranda Devine – Saturday, July 19, 2014 (10:17pm)

11.14AM, THURSDAY, July 17, 2014: the moment the tide went out on the climate con.
Australia became the first nation to repeal its unwanted, ill-begotten carbon tax. It won’t be the last.
After all the lies and deception, the game is up. A prime minister who defied the climate shamans was assisted by an average world temperature which has defied alarmist predictions for 16 years.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Carbon Tax: Ding dong, the big climate con is dead'
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The Bolt Report tomorrow

Andrew Bolt July 19 2014 (9:50am)

On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial: Australian blood on Putin’s hands. 
My guest:  Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Russia’s refusal to cooperate in investigating the MH17 tragedy.
The panel: Michael Kroger and former Labor Minister Craig Emerson.
NewsWatch:  The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Blair, master blogger. On how the press gallery warned the Liberals that fighting a carbon tax was suicide.
Plus the dreaded Bolt Question.
The videos of the shows appear here.

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Investigators blocked from crash site. BUK missile launcher smuggled back to Russia?

Andrew Bolt July 19 2014 (9:16am)

Russian-backed separatists do not want us to know the truth about who killed the 298 people on board MH17:
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine fired a warning shot Friday and blocked Organization for Security and Cooperation staff from investigating the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, according to reporters tweeting from Ukraine.
“Shots fired by rebels at international team of investigators (OSCE) in Ukraine as they approach plane wreckage,” Terry Moran, chief foreign correspondent at ABC News, tweeted Friday afternoon.

About 30 OSCE investigators arrived at the crash site on Friday by helicopter, after the United Nations Security Council demanded a thorough and independent international investigation into the crash that killed 298 passengers. Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels accuse each other of shooting down the plane.

According to Guardian reporter Harriet Salem, rebels turned away the OSCE investigators on Friday. But Reuters reported that pro-Russian separatists said they welcomed the investigators and denied reports to the contrary.

Ukrainian photographer Pierre Crom said on Twitter the rebels fired a warning shot into the air.
OSCE confirms its investigators were blocked:
Gunmen prevented monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe from observing the site where a Malaysian airliner crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine on Friday, the rights and security watchdog said.
Calling their behaviour “impolite and unprofessional”, an OSCE spokesman said some gunmen in the area seemed intoxicated while others would not let the team of about 25 observers look at the wreckage of the Boeing 777.
“We had expected unfettered access, that’s the way we work,” Michael Bociurkiw told a news conference.
“Unfortunately the task was made very difficult. Upon arrival at the site ... we encountered armed personnel who acted in a very impolite and unprofessional manner. Some of them even
looked slightly intoxicated.”
He denied that the observers had been fired at by pro-Russian rebels, but said one gunman fired shots into the air, seemingly to scare off some civilians.
Earlier, the OSCE’s permanent council chairman, Thomas Greminger, told Reuters monitors had not been able to secure an access corridor for the crash-site and that investigators had
stayed there for only about 75 minutes before setting off back to Donetsk.
Given this, I cannot see how Australia could possibly welcome Russian president Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Brisbane in November.
UPDATE
If true, sinister:

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry released video purporting to show ... a truck carrying a Buk missile launcher with one of its four missiles apparently missing, rolling toward the Russian border. The ministry said the footage was captured by a police surveillance squad at dawn Friday. There was no way to independently verify that claim.
UPDATE
No, Vladimir Putin cannot be welcomed to Brisbane if this continues:
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says Australia has the right, as a nation, to be “disgusted by the reaction from Russia so far"…
Ms Bishop made the comments when speaking to the Nine Network’s Today program this morning.
She still hasn’t been able to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yet. On Friday night, Ms Bishop told the ABC’s Lateline that she had been advised Mr Lavrov was on holidays.
Bishop is my guest on The Bolt Report tomorrow. 
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One was a great president

Andrew Bolt July 19 2014 (9:02am)

Ronald Reagan when Russia shot down a Korean jet:
Barack Obama when Russian-backed separatists shot down a Malaysian jet:
UPDATE
Charles Krauthammer:
What is the president’s reaction? ... He’s had no reaction. He’s had no reaction to anything that I can tell in the last six months. Look, it isn’t as if we’re going to go to war with Russia, but we’ve denied Ukraine lethal weaponry on the grounds that we don’t want to escalate the conflict. The rebels and the Russians are killing Ukrainians in large numbers, by shooting them out of the sky. The least the president could do is make a damned decision for once in his life and announce that we are now going to supply lethal weapons to assist the Ukrainians to defend themselves and to complete the offensive that is now going on in Eastern Ukraine to actually destroy the rebel insurgents.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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PUP leader: women lack “capacity” to handle arguments

Andrew Bolt July 19 2014 (8:54am)

Clive Palmer’s party seems dominated by misfits, bogans, know-nothings, place-seekers, spend-thrifts and dinosaurs:
STATE Palmer United Party leader Alex Douglas says Clive Palmer was right to storm out of an ABC television interview because women don’t have the “same capacity” to handle themselves during a combative conversation.
The Gold Coast-based state MP said he supported Mr Palmer’s handling of the 7.30 Report July 10 interview, explaining the PUP leader walked out “to be polite” to the show’s host, respected journalist Sarah Ferguson.
“In Australia you are marked severely for being rude to any woman,” Dr Douglas said.
“You have to be able to give them (women) a better chance to represent themselves than you would for a man because a lady does not have the same capacity,” he said.
“It’s a very blokey world. Women do not have an equal chance.

“They have to be given greater capacity. You can’t bully them and you can’t swear at them.”
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Is Clive Palmer really going to save the mining tax he promised to scrap?

Andrew Bolt July 19 2014 (8:30am)

Is Clive Palmer an economic wrecker and a promise-breaker? Is Labor, too, so deaf to its duty?
Paul Kelly:
The focus now falls on the mining tax. The PUP was elected to abolish the tax. This is one of its beliefs. But is it serious? ... Having confused his supporters by grandstanding over the carbon tax repeal, how long will Palmer refuse to abolish the mining tax by insisting that upwards of $9bn of related spending be authorised?
Labor’s mining tax constitutes one of the greatest public policy failures in decades… The first version was supposed to raise $12bn across the first two years; the second version has raised $340 million net in its lifetime. Yet huge multi-billion programs were legislated on the basis they were financed by the tax.
Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann say the government will not accept Senate amendments authorising the linked expenditure....
In the end the PUP must take a decision of sorts. It will align either with the Coalition or with Labor and the Greens.
The contradiction in Palmer’s strategy is apparent: he campaigns against Abbott’s budget yet that means dishonouring some of his central promises, such as mining tax repeal.
UPDATE
Palmer is embarrassable, after all:
It has taken some time, but ... people are now starting to admit that they can now see Clive Palmer for what he really is…
Pivotal to the derobing of the theme park operator and retired miner was the exposure ... on Monday of his treatment of subordinates and staff.
The words of independent senator Nick Xenophon summed up the ­reaction of the parliament to the ­revelation that he had verbally attacked the staff of the senate clerk’s office, who are employed to provide impartial advice to senators in drafting bills and amendments.
“These are the remarks of a bully and a coward and Clive Palmer ought to apologise,” Xenophon said. ...
Palmer’s public response to all this was to abuse those seeking to chastise him. He called senate president Stephen Parry an undertaker and ­described ­Xenophon as “useless”. And rather than apologise, he called on the clerk to quit.
But privately it was a different Palmer who returned to carbon tax negotiations on Monday morning with the government after being ­labelled a human wrecking ball.
“His mood had completely changed after that came out,” one source said. “He was far more ­amenable to negotiations.”
Turnbull to the rescue:

Malcolm Turnbull’s friendship with Clive Palmer was instrumental in the government’s unexpected victory this week in saving its changes to Labor’s financial advice laws…
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann called on Mr Turnbull to facilitate negotiations that led to Mr Palmer’s senators reversing their intention to join Labor and the Greens to veto the laws…
Mr Turnbull spoke to Mr Palmer ­several times over the weekend and presented him with a briefing paper on the Coalition’s changes to the FoFA laws which Senator Cormann had his department prepare.
On Monday morning, Mr Turnbull dropped in on the first meeting between Senator Cormann and Mr Palmer and after that, Mr Palmer and Senator Cormann met on their own about four or five more times…
It is understood Mr Abbott was aware of and approved Mr Turnbull’s involvement.
Excellent. Teamwork.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Sydney produces a suicide bomber

Andrew Bolt July 19 2014 (8:00am)

Sydney’s Muslim Lebanese community is among our most dysfunctional, to judge by some of the people it produces:
A TEENAGE boy from Western Sydney has become Australia’s second suicide bomber, blowing himself up in a brutal terrorist attack which killed at least five people and injured up to 90 in a Baghdad market. 

The Saturday Telegraph has learned the boy was 16 years old when he left Sydney for Iraq late last year to join terrorist insurgents in Syria but had since turned 17.
Intelligence sources have confirmed the boy’s age and that he was from Western Sydney. It is believed he travelled with other young men seeking to join ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) forces fighting in Syria and Iraq, and had family links to the now notorious convicted Sydney terrorist Khaled Sharrouf.
True, most members of that community are law-abiding, and so on. 
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Australian blood is on Russian hands

Andrew Bolt July 19 2014 (6:12am)

We have paid a terrible price for Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
Leonid Petrov:

THE tremors of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict have reached Australia. Passengers of the MH17 paid with their lives for a murky military operation that started as a bloodless annexation of Crimea by the Russian troops in March.
Greg Sheridan:
VLADIMIR Putin, the Russian strong man, has made eastern Ukraine a deadly and savage ungoverned space, which has now reached out in an act of barbarity to claim the lives of 298 innocent people, including 28 Australians. 

Putin has financed, supplied, armed and to a large extent manned the rebellion in eastern Ukraine as a follow up to his swallowing of Ukrainian territory in Crimea. It is overwhelmingly likely that the rebels in eastern Ukraine, essentially a Russian proxy force, have shot down the Malaysian airliner.
Rowan Callick:
The perception has gathered pace within Malaysia and more broadly in Asia, since yesterday dawned with the news of the downing of MH17, that the chief culprit is Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.
He is being viewed as the ultimate architect and arms-supplier of the Ukraine conflict — whoever’s hand hit the button that dispatched the missile.
As Sheridan notes, Western weakness may have contributed to the creation of this deadly lawlessness in this Russian-backed separatist enclave of Ukraine:
But the real weak sisters in the face of Russian aggression have been the Europeans. The Germans want to buy Russian gas; the French want to sell the Russians war ships; and the British like having Russian money in their financial system and London’s real estate market.
The West should have made it clear to Moscow early on just what an enormous price it could expect to pay for its Ukrainian aggression. This needed much more assertive leadership from the US President. This may have tempered Putin’s actions. But probably not.
If there is Western, and specifically American, fault here it comes well before Putin’s Ukrainian operation. It is rather the sense of Western weakness that is encouraging adventurist behaviour by many actors in many parts of the world.
This is partly the story of a sense of US inattention, partial withdrawal or lack of credibility. And that came most starkly from Obama nominating a red line in Syria — the regime’s use of chemical weapons — and then not doing anything when the red line was crossed.
UPDATE
American voters were warned - but many chose to believe Barack Obama instead:
Republican presidential aspirant Mitt Romney on CNN, March 2012: 
(RUSSIA) is without question our ­No 1 geopolitical foe. They fight for every cause for the world’s worst actors. The idea that (Barack Obama) has more flexibility in mind for Russia is very, very troubling indeed.
Romney in Foreign Policy in March 2012:

(MOSCOW) has continued to arm the regime of Syria’s vicious dictator and blocked multilateral efforts to stop the ongoing carnage there. Across the board, it has been a thorn in our side on questions vital to America’s national security. For three years, the sum total of President Obama’s policy toward Russia has been: “We give, Russia gets” … Unfortunately, what (the American people) are getting is a sad replay of Jimmy Carter’s bungling at a moment when the United States needs the backbone and courage of a Ronald Reagan. In his dealings with the Kremlin, as in his dealings with the rest of the world, President Obama has demonstrated breathtaking weakness — and given the word “flexibility” a new and ominous meaning.
Obama debating Romney on October 22, 2012:
THE 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years … When it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s.
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Shameless Russia attacks Abbott. UPDATE: China backs Russia

Andrew Bolt July 18 2014 (11:21pm)

Moscow still won’t take responsibility for the killing of 28 Australians and 270 others by a Russian-made missile most probably supplied by Russia to Russian-backed separatists in a lawless Russian-supported enclave during a Russian-incited war:
Moscow has voiced anger over being blamed by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott for the downing of a Malaysia passenger jet over eastern Ukraine that killed all 298 people on board, calling his comments “unacceptable”.
“Without bothering himself about evidence and operating only on speculation, Mr T. Abbott assigned guilt,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. ”Abbott’s statements are unacceptable.”
Russia and Fairfax have both misrepresented slightly what Abbott actually said, however. He did not categorically blame Russia for downing the jet, although he made clear Russia created the circumstances in which that indeed happened and is furious at its lack of remorse and transparency:
This aircraft didn’t come down through accident. It was shot down. It did not crash, it was downed and it was downed over territory controlled by Russian backed rebels. It was downed by a missile which seems to have been launched by Russian backed rebels. Again, I want to stress that Australia takes a very dim view of countries which are facilitating the killing of Australian citizens. We take a very dim view of this…

Based on what we are hearing from Russia, it is hard to have much confidence that there will be the kind of open and honest and transparent cooperation that you would expect.
This really is a test for Russia. It really is a test for Russia – how transparent and fair dinkum is it going to be? There can be no excuses. No buck-passing. No blame shifting. There has to be absolute full cooperation with an impartial international inquiry…
Anyone who gave such a weapon to people who were absolutely incapable of using it, any country which was inspiring and orchestrating the kind of activity which we are now seeing in Eastern Ukraine, I think has a heavy responsibility, should feel a sense of shame over what has taken place.

If Russia should protest at something “unacceptable” it should be that it created the circumstances for this:
image
Mo, Evie and Otis Maslin crammed a lifetime of cultural experience into their tender years, bouncing from one exotic family holiday to the next.
But the Perth siblings would never return from their latest European escapade­… After a few weeks together in the warmth of a European summer, the trio were farewelled by their parents Rin Norris and Anthony Maslin as their grandfather Nick Norris, who was returning from a stint working in London, brought them back to Perth to return to school.
It was a kind gesture from a devoted grandfather but one resulting in unimaginable horror — their Malaysia Airlines 777-200 was shot out of the sky above war-torn Ukraine.
More of the Australians who have paid the tragic price of Putin’s aggression:
image
UPDATE
As the West declines, a new axis of power reveals itself. Once again, China sides with Russia:
China has warned Western nations against rushing to implicate Russia in the downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine, but said those responsible must be brought to justice for the “intolerable terrorist attack”.
The official Xinhua news agency said in an English-language commentary that officials from the United States, Australia and other Western countries had jumped to conclusions in pointing their fingers at the rebels in eastern Ukraine and for blaming Russia for the escalating violence.

“The accusation was apparently rash when the officials acknowledged they did not know for the time being who is responsible for the attack, while condemning Russia’s military intervention,” Xinhua said.
UPDATE
Abbott is taking his case to the UN. He and his Foreign Minister have talked to a dozen governments to get international action. He has confronted Russia over the aggression in Ukraine that he believes contributes to this disaster.
Yet the Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Hartcher picks this moment, this tragedy, to make a snide political and personal attack that bears no relationship to the facts unfolding before his jaundiced eyes:
Australia can do nothing alone. With an intelligent plan, committed partners and persistent diplomacy, it can help do a great deal.

Tony Abbott might say to this, as he has to ambitious ideas in the past, that these things are “above our station”. Tell that to the grieving Australian families.
Peter, that is contemptible.
(Thanks to reader Liam.) 
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Abbott lashes Russia

Andrew Bolt July 18 2014 (8:29pm)

Very tough talk from Tony Abbott - but not one word too many:
TONY Abbott has lashed Russia’s response to the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet, as he demanded Moscow not stand in the way of a full investigation, or protect those responsible…
Russian Ambassador Vladimir Morozov was today summoned for a meeting in Sydney with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who sought assurances of Moscow’s cooperation in the disaster investigation.
Mr Abbott said the ambassador’s initial response was to blame Ukraine, where the jet came down.

“This was deeply, deeply, unsatisfactory,” said Mr Abbott, who said he was angry that it appeared the jet was shot down and Australians killed by Russian-backed rebels with what could turn out to be Russian-supplied missiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also said Ukraine must bear responsibility.
But Mr Abbott said the idea that Russia could claim it had nothing to do with the disaster because it happened in Ukraine’s air space did not stand up to scrutiny.
The Prime Minister said Russia must not be allowed to stand in the way of an “absolutely comprehensive” investigation.
“No prevarication, no excuses, no blame-shifting, no protecting of people who may be backed by Russia but who may have been involved in this terrible event,” he said.
“It was not an accident, it was a crime, and criminals should not be allowed to get away with what they have done,” Mr Abbott said.
“It did not crash, it was downed. And it was downed over territory controlled by Russian-backed rebels,” Mr Abbott said.
“It was downed by a missile which seems to have been launched by Russian-backed rebels, and again I want to stress that Australia takes a very dim view of countries which are facilitating the killing of Australian citizens.” 
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The Bolt Report today, July 20

Andrew Bolt July 20 2014 (11:55am)

On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial: Australian blood on Putin’s hands.  And has the West been too weak in standing up to him?
My guest:  Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss.
The panel: Michael Kroger and former Labor Minister Craig Emerson.
NewsWatch:  The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Blair, master blogger. On how the press gallery warned the Liberals that fighting a carbon tax was suicide.
Plus what has the ABC got against Israel? Plus the dreaded Bolt Question.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
INTERVIEW WITH WARREN TRUSS
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: We want to know who shot down that Malaysian plane. Who supplied the missiles that could bring down a jet flying at 10,000 metres? We want to know who killed nearly 300 innocent people. Who killed 33 Australians? But when the first European investigators arrived at the crash site they were stopped from searching by Russian-backed rebels.
TRANSLATION: I warn you once, you have security here, whoever crosses the line and does not comply with my order will face the consequences.
ANDREW BOLT: Ukraine has also released video it claims shows a BUK missile system, like the one believed to have brought down the jet, being transported back into Russia with at least one of its missiles missing. Joining me is the Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, who today addresses an AIDS conference in Melbourne - a conference which six of the dead were flying here to join. Thank you for your time.
WARREN TRUSS, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: You’re welcome.
ANDREW BOLT: First some questions about Russian - the Russian cover-up. What do we know about the missile launcher Ukraine claims it saw being towed back into Russia with one of its missiles missing?
WARREN TRUSS: Well, obviously this is another piece of evidence that’s concerning the world. Now we don’t, if we don’t - in the absence of a proper investigation, it’s difficult to confirm whether this was the piece of weaponry that actually fired the missile, but it’s a demonstration that this kind of equipment was in the area. It’s also obvious that a piece of equipment with this level of sophistication could not have been operated by amateur local rebels. It obviously had at least advice from people with greater skills, probably was supplied by a country with much greater military powers, and certainly serviced by someone who had sophisticated knowledge of how those sort of weapons work. And, of course, the finger of blame is rightly, I think, pointed towards Russia.
ANDREW BOLT: Can I also ask - where is the back box?
WARREN TRUSS: Well, I think that’s another important element. While ever there’s no open capacity for an international and fair investigation and access to the site, there will be concerns about how the evidence that’s critical to any kind of investigation is being dealt with; where are the black boxes? Where are - ?
ANDREW BOLT: Do you think they’re in Russian hands?
WARREN TRUSS: Well, that’s a possibility. But, of course, until somebody can get on to the site, we don’t know. But if, in fact, there’s any kind of tampering with the evidence, that would be an appalling, appalling insult to families and – and countries that are already deeply disturbed and very angry about what has happened. It’s important that the Russians cooperate immediately with an open and free investigation; that there’s access to the site for professional investigators so that we can find out absolutely what has happened, and, of course, with the ultimate objective of making sure that something like this never happens again.
ANDREW BOLT: Have you seen any sign of serious cooperation from Russia with any investigation?
WARREN TRUSS: Well, there hasn’t been – there haven’t many positive signs.
ANDREW BOLT: Any?
WARREN TRUSS: Well, there’s -
ANDREW BOLT: Pick one.
WARREN TRUSS: Just - just occasionally there’s been a suggestion that the Russians, for instance, in the United Nations indicated support for an international investigation. That’s encouraging, but they do need to take positive steps that everyone can see that they’re going to cooperate with this and get to the bottom of what’s happened.
ANDREW BOLT: But you can’t actually point to any sign on the ground of cooperation?
Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today, July 20'
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How Kevin Rudd improved a hagiography

Andrew Bolt July 20 2014 (5:59am)

John van Tiggelen, at least, is a man of integrity, as I’ve found in my own dealings with him. But as for some others ...:

Kevin Rudd was always hands on.... When actor Rhys Muldoon, a close friend of Rudd’s, wrote a lengthy feature in 2012 on Rudd’s last days as PM, the piece got some last-minute vetting. The evidence points directly to Rudd’s role in the changes.
Muldoon had written, in a piece for The Monthly, that ‘‘some’’ journalists were so grief stricken at the departure of Rudd in 2010 they cried. That was changed, with some last-minute help, to ‘‘many’’ journalists cried.
A document outlining the Rudd edits has been leaked to Fairfax Media… The edits largely fall in two categories: they either paint Rudd in a far more heroic light or they were disparaging of his foes in Labor.
In that latter vein was the deletion of a reference in Muldoon’s original text to Wayne Swan, his Labor enemy, as ‘‘a generous, decent man’’…
But it was some of the additions to Muldoon’s text where Rudd was truly allowed to shine.
‘‘I felt privileged and amazed to be sitting on the stairs with my friend, the recently toppled leader of Australia,’’ it read. ‘‘His lack of self pity was remarkable, but he was clearly hurting.’’ ...
The edits never made it to print after they were caught by the then Monthly editor John van Tiggelen, who confronted Muldoon before the piece was published in early 2012....
In one email Van Tiggelen wrote to Muldoon: ‘‘I can’t believe you let KR edit it. Either we forget that ever happened, or, if there is any fall-out, I tell the truth. Let’s be really f...ing clear on this. The piece reflects well on Rudd. His attempt at editing of your piece does not.’’
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Abbott pushing for tougher international action on Russia over Ukraine

Andrew Bolt July 20 2014 (5:34am)

Tony Abbott was the first leader to directly link the downing of MH17 to Russian aggression in Ukraine:
In an apparent swipe at Russia, Mr Abbott also told parliament: ”The bullying of small countries by big ones, the trampling of justice and decency in the pursuit of national aggrandisement, and reckless indifference to human life should have no place in our world.”

Barack Obama followed suit - demanding Europe be tougher on Russia (tougher, that is, that the US has been):
“This certainly will be a wake-up call for Europe and the world that there are consequences to an escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine; that it is not going to be localized, it is not going to be contained,” Obama told reporters.
The Dutch now harden up their stance against Russia - a little:
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte ... ”agreed that the EU will need to reconsider its approach to Russia in light of evidence that pro-Russian separatists brought down the plane,” according to a statement from the U.K. government…
“I am shocked by footage of completely disrespectful behavior on this tragic site,” Rutte said at a press conference in The Hague today. “Against all rules of a careful investigation, it turns out there are people messing with personal and recognizable possessions of victims.”

It’s also grave that the investigation is hindered by pro-Russian rebels, Rutte said, even after Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised to fully cooperate in ensuring unfettered access to the area.
“I just had a very intense telephone conversation with the Russian president and told him he is running out of chances to show the world he means that he wants to help,” Rutte said… Rutte said his views are shared by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott…
Getting the West to stand up to Russia is now part of the Government’s diplomatic push. 
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South Korea: plans for carbon scheme ‘flawed’

Andrew Bolt July 20 2014 (5:25am)

The day after the Abbott Government scraps the carbon tax, South Korea gets cold feet:
South Korea’s finance minister has called its impending emissions trading market “flawed in many ways”, hinting that he would pressure other ministries to delay the planned 2015 launch, a local newspaper reported.
Choi Kyung-hwan, who is also deputy prime minister, said problems had been found with the scheme, which is due to start in January, and that the government would review them before deciding whether to delay it, modify it or implement it as planned, The Korea Times reported on Friday.”
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Ukraine: we can prove Russian missile hit MH17

Andrew Bolt July 20 2014 (5:12am)

Ukraine wants international help to push out Russian forces. That said…
“We have proof [the attack] was planned and it was committed with the participation of the Russian Federation, representatives of the Russian Federation,” said Vitaly Nayda, Counter-Intelligence Chief at the Ukraine Security Service…

He showed a photograph which he said was a BUK-M1 system identified on the streets of Donetsk city – near the crash site - on July 17…
Phone calls intercepted by Ukraine revealed the BUK was intended to join a column of separatist fighters. Mr Nayda showed a photograph of the column including a tank and a truck carrying the BUK-M1 system.
He also showed a photograph taken at the time of the plane being hit, showing the missile’s launch plume – allowing them to identify the launch area, near the village of Snizhne and close to the plane’s crash site.
The area was under separatist control at the time, Mr Nayda said…
He showed another photograph of the BUK-M1 system en route to the Russian border soon after the plane was shot down. The photo showed that one missile was missing from the launching pad…

At 4am on Saturday morning three more such trucks moved over the border into Russia. One had a BUK-M1, one was empty, and the third carried a tracking module that runs the system.
“Russia is trying to hide its terrorist activity,” Mr Nayda said…
“We documented negotiations between terrorists that directly told us. We got information directly from those conversations that three Russians, three Russian military personnel came together with BUK-M1 to the territory of Ukraine. It is direct evidence.”
The spy chief also claimed rebel forces had tried to hide bodies:
PRO-Russian separatists have been accused of removing bodies from the Malaysia Airlines crash scene and trying to destroy evidence at the site.
In a statement on Saturday night, the Ukraine Government claimed rebels, helped by specialists with “distinct Russian accents” removed 38 bodies from the crash site in eastern Ukraine, and took them to the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
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Massive swing sends Newman a message

Andrew Bolt July 20 2014 (5:01am)

Campbell Newman is in deep trouble:
CAMPBELL Newman has suffered a humiliating by-election defeat as voters in the Brisbane electorate of Stafford turned en masse against his administration.
In a result that will strike fear throughout the LNP just eight months before the general election, Labor candidate Anthony Lynham cruised to victory on a mammoth swing of 18.6 per cent…
Dr Lynham will become Labor’s ninth MP and now holds the party’s safest seat after securing 61.5 per cent of the two-party preferred vote over the LNP’s Bob Andersen.
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her so she can see how I see her





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Pastor Rick Warren
God uses pressure, heat, and time to create diamonds. In both rocks and people.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Power from being close to power players is fake. Power from being close to God is real.
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Pastor Rick Warren
To stop worrying over what people think about you, just realize they aren't! Like you, they're thinking about themselves.
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Boost your chances of getting a job or passing an exam… by thinking about your ancestors for five minutes

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/boost-chances-job-passing-exam-thinking-ancestors-minutes/

The findings, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, suggest remembering the hardships of grandparents, great grandparents and even long forgotten ancestors, seems to have a direct benefit on the brain’s ability to cope with demands on its intelligence.
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I don't think UNSW has a quality problem. I think they would like to move to a post graduate model and the government won't let them. Exclusivity is a selling point to foreign students with lots of cash. So I guess they want to capture that market.
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Another part of our welfare reforms – in effect from this week. What do you think?”www.national.org.nz/welfare-reforms.aspx
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A friend posted the following which I thought was rather humorous and needed sharing. Many of you would appreciate it. Read the footnote!
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Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin 
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in 
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove 
Dance me to the end of love 
Dance me to the end of love 
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

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Anybody remember being mugged 35 years ago?
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How will Glee make a drug abuser's possible suicide hip and fun?
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This is extraordinary, suggesting that it was the IRS chief counsel’s office, not rogue agents in Ohio, who engineered the key abuses in the targeting scandal, including the extraordinarily-intrusive questionnaires that asked conservative groups for donor lists, Internet login information, social media pages, and even the political and charitable activities of family members.
Hull went on to testify that he had not seen anything like that in almost 50 years of work at the IRS.
To be clear, IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins is a political appointee, appointed by President Obama in 2009 – the top lawyer in the agency. The involvement of his office – as early as 2011 – represents a dramatic escalation of the IRS scandal.
The previous IRS explanation – a bureaucratic mistake, originating in Ohio – was bad enough. This explanation is much worse. With the involvement of the IRS’s top legal office more than two years ago, the questions now become eerily reminiscent of earlier Washington scandals.
What was discussed at the more 100 meetings between the IRS Commissioner and White House meetings?
Why was President Obama’s political operative, Stephanie Cutter, included in meetings with the IRS?
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ABBOTT WILL BACKFLIP ON “I WELCOME RUDD PLAN” 

Tony Abbott prematurely rushed to agree with Rudd’s immigration plan to avoid further “negative” claims. But Rudd’s plan is another “back of the envelope” draft that will sink Australia into further catastrophic debt with little effect.

Kevin Rudd’s problem is that he has never worked outside the Public Service and, having only ever dealt with other politicians and diplomats, he is blinded to the common sense of the common man (oops, and woman).

PNG PM, Peter O’Neill and Kevin Rudd have just gifted themselves a shot at their respective elections at a huge cost to the Aussie taxpayer. We are now financing a PNG election too.

Rudd expects his PNG plan to stem boat arrivals... really Kev? So why is the largesse offered to O’Neill ongoing? It is without any cap and beyond anything we have previously gifted to another nation using borrowed funds?

Abbott’s claim that this, “won’t work under Mr Rudd” is a poorly framed, soft admission that he hasn’t really thought this through yet.

Bishop, Morrison and Abbott will have met with O’Neill by now and will have walked away scratching their heads because it will slowly have dawned on them exactly what a desperate Kevin has agreed to.

Kev is no intellectual, he is not native street-smart and does not have the common dogfuck necessary to deal with tribal jifs like O'Neill.

Kev cannot see past the next shopping mall and his crazy PNG plan is naively simplistic, desperate and hastily contrived for all the wrong reasons: Kevin’s and Peter’s chances at re-election.

These are just some of the reasons the PNG scheme is doomed to failure:

1. It is illegal. It breaches our own Migration Act and the UNHCR Refugees Convention to which we (and PNG) are signatories.

2. There will certainly be successful challenges to the High Court both here and in PNG.

3. Limitless and endless costs of an inept and corrupt PNG legal system will be borne by Aussie taxpayers.

4. An extraordinary PNG infrastructure and services bill, including new police forces and new hospitals to be paid for by us.

5. All invoices associated with immigrant resettlement are to be sent to us.

6. PNG already has massive unemployment and unskilled Islamic immigrants will not find work and will not work for $A0.90c per hour anyway.

7. Unemployed Muslims and territorial tribal savages are a volatile mix. Their underpaid, undermanned police forces are already inept and corrupted.

8. PNG has a malaria and tuberculosis epidemic without a decent hospital.

9. Costs estimates are open-ended, “we don’t know what we will need yet”, say O’Neill and Rudd.

10. There is no housing available in PNG and when a Muslim jumps the queue on a native, look out for an all-in machete and bush knife war.

11 Our costs in Australia will not diminish, they are set to increase.

12 Massive restructuring of Manus Is. is underway to cope with another 7,000 illegal immigrants Rudd has secretly agreed with Indonesia to resettle in exchange for a 25,000 increase in live cattle exports.

This is a home-made, international Rudd catastrophe unfolding before our eyes that Australians will never be able to accept or pay for.

Kev’s message to illegal immigrants is simply this: Keep boarding boats boys because our Navy will be delighted to escort you to Christmas Is. and within two weeks you will be sent to PNG where you will have access to a Westminster court system that will not fail you. Remember, Australia is paying.

You will then be able to legally apply for refugee status directly to Australian Immigration because now you will be able to claim fair dinkum persecution far worse than what you say you escaped from.

You will temporarily be homeless and jobless in lawless PNG (that’s intended) but if our Immigration Dept sits on its hands, it’s just a short row-boat trip from there to Australia.

If you think Rudd’s NBN is a stuff-up, wait ‘til you see this one pan out and eventually we will need billions in more bribes to stop the boats leaving Indonesia anyway, which is what we should be doing now because people smugglers are miles smarter than our Uncle Kev.

Neither O’Neill nor Rudd has any idea what this election campaign thought bubble will cost so let me have a rough conservative guess:

$14 billion so far, and escalating.

PNG bribes, between $15 to $20 billion and ongoing.

Legal aid costs, already approach $1 billion but will now skyrocket.

High Court challenges both here and there, mmmm, maybe $1 billion.

Extra personnel both here, on Manus Is. Nauru, Christmas Is. and in PNG $1.5 billion per annum.

Our taxpayers' gifts to PNG corruptly diverted to politicians’ accounts, I’d say, aw... at least $2 billion.

Our Uncle Kev has actually managed to come up with this kneejerk expensive fiasco and all within 10 days of think music.

Abbott’s statement that he “welcomes” this new Rudd initiative will live to haunt him.

You have to remember this is Kev and Kev already has a rap sheet as long as your arm.
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Duke lacrosse players. Rodney King. Trayvon Martin.

In 5-minutes, you will understand exactly how the mainstream media perpetuates racial division...
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I don't believe in rejecting asylum seekers either. I just don't feel killing them is good policy. Amnesty International differs with me on this. - ed
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Bad News for the Alarmists at the IPCC - Temperature is still cooling.
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A corrupt snake with more heads than members - Democrats
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Madmen in need of asylum?
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Is Obama up for a daring military raid? I don't mean the type labelling his own troops as sexual deviants, but a raid on FARC
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Thank you Obama .. you work in mysterious ways
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I was talking about David and Bathsheba today .. David wrote this after he had her husband killed ..

Psalm 51[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 51:1 In Hebrew texts 51:1-19 is numbered 51:3-21.
  2. Psalm 51:17 Or The sacrifices of God are
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July 20: Friend's Day in Argentina and other Latin American countries;Independence Day in Colombia (1810)
The Niépce brothers' Pyréolophore
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Holidays and observances[edit]

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“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The Lord our God hath shewed us his glory."
Deuteronomy 5:24
God's great design in all his works is the manifestation of his own glory. Any aim less than this were unworthy of himself. But how shall the glory of God be manifested to such fallen creatures as we are? Man's eye is not single, he has ever a side glance towards his own honour, has too high an estimate of his own powers, and so is not qualified to behold the glory of the Lord. It is clear, then, that self must stand out of the way, that there may be room for God to be exalted; and this is the reason why he bringeth his people ofttimes into straits and difficulties, that, being made conscious of their own folly and weakness, they may be fitted to behold the majesty of God when he comes forth to work their deliverance. He whose life is one even and smooth path, will see but little of the glory of the Lord, for he has few occasions of self-emptying, and hence, but little fitness for being filled with the revelation of God. They who navigate little streams and shallow creeks, know but little of the God of tempests; but they who "do business in great waters," these see his "wonders in the deep." Among the huge Atlantic-waves of bereavement, poverty, temptation, and reproach, we learn the power of Jehovah, because we feel the littleness of man. Thank God, then, if you have been led by a rough road: it is this which has given you your experience of God's greatness and lovingkindness. Your troubles have enriched you with a wealth of knowledge to be gained by no other means: your trials have been the cleft of the rock in which Jehovah has set you, as he did his servant Moses, that you might behold his glory as it passed by. Praise God that you have not been left to the darkness and ignorance which continued prosperity might have involved, but that in the great fight of affliction, you have been capacitated for the outshinings of his glory in his wonderful dealings with you.

Evening

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench."
Matthew 12:20
What is weaker than the bruised reed or the smoking flax? A reed that groweth in the fen or marsh, let but the wild duck light upon it, and it snaps; let but the foot of man brush against it, and it is bruised and broken; every wind that flits across the river moves it to and fro. You can conceive of nothing more frail or brittle, or whose existence is more in jeopardy, than a bruised reed. Then look at the smoking flax--what is it? It has a spark within it, it is true, but it is almost smothered; an infant's breath might blow it out; nothing has a more precarious existence than its flame. Weak things are here described, yet Jesus says of them, "The smoking flax I will not quench; the bruised reed I will not break." Some of God's children are made strong to do mighty works for him; God has his Samsons here and there who can pull up Gaza's gates, and carry them to the top of the hill; he has a few mighties who are lion-like men, but the majority of his people are a timid, trembling race. They are like starlings, frightened at every passer by; a little fearful flock. If temptation comes, they are taken like birds in a snare; if trial threatens, they are ready to faint; their frail skiff is tossed up and down by every wave, they are drifted along like a sea bird on the crest of the billows--weak things, without strength, without wisdom, without foresight. Yet, weak as they are, and because they are so weak, they have this promise made specially to them. Herein is grace and graciousness! Herein is love and lovingkindness! How it opens to us the compassion of Jesus--so gentle, tender, considerate! We need never shrink back from his touch. We need never fear a harsh word from him; though he might well chide us for our weakness, he rebuketh not. Bruised reeds shall have no blows from him, and the smoking flax no damping frowns.
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Today's reading: Psalm 23-25, Acts 21:18-40 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 23-25

A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 21:18-40

18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality."
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Titus

 [Tī'tus] - honorable from "i honor."Titus was born of Gentile parents, and was a convert from heathenism. It is more than likely that Paul led him to Christ (Gal. 2:3; Titus 1:4).

The Man Who Refreshed His Master

There seemed to have been a peculiar bond of affection between Paul and his Grecian convert. How Paul loved him and appreciated his trusted companionship (2 Cor. 7:6, 13 )! What an inspiration he was to Paul on several of his journeys (Gal. 2:1, 3)! In 2 Corinthians Paul mentions Titus some nine times. Paul sent Titus to Corinth as his delegate. Paul anxiously awaited the return of Titus, and he refreshed the spirit of the apostle both by his presence and the good news he brought from Corinth (2 Cor. 2:12, 14).
In the precious epistle Paul sent to Titus, we learn more facts about the loving co-operation between these two noble men. When Paul was released from prison, Titus accompanied him on a visit to Crete, Paul leaving him there to assist the Church in a fourfold way:
I. Set in order things that were wanting.
II. Ordain elders in every city.
III. Avoid unprofitable discussion.
IV. Duly assert his authority (Titus 1:5; 2:1; 3:9, 15).
It may be that Paul sent his epistle to Titus by the hands of Zenas and Apollos (3:13 ), to assist him in the difficult task at Crete.
Paul then wanted Titus to join him for the winter in Nicopolis (3:12). Titus was with the apostle during part of his second imprisonment in Rome (2 Tim. 4:10). Both men were sustained in their arduous labors by "the blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).
A godly man of Corinth is spoken of as Titus Justus (Acts 18:7, RV). Titus himself is not mentioned directly in the Acts. Doubtless he was included in the "certain others" in Acts 15:2.
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Greetings from Bible Gateway! We've got a new email devotional launching this week, and a guest post from a beloved Christian author. Let's dive right in:

Get to Know Your Bible Better!

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time--statistically speaking, you probably have at least one copy of the Bible sitting on your bookshelf. Why, then, do so many Christians struggle to actually read and understand Scripture? Christians today increasingly find themselves caught up in a contradiction: we love and revere our Bibles, but we don't know what the Bible actually says.

If that describes your relationship to the Bible, or if it's a problem you see at work in your church, we've got a new email devotional to help: The Heart of the Story with Randy Frazee.

The Heart of the Story marks a new type of email devotional on Bible Gateway. Each weekly email contains a video message from Randy Frazee describing ways that you can truly get to know the Book at the center of your life. If you've always felt intimidated by the Bible, this is the devotional for you.

This new devotional is one that is close to our hearts at Bible Gateway--after all, our driving vision is to make the Word of God accessible to everyone. We hope The Heart of the Storybrings God's Word to life for you in a fresh and exciting way. The first newsletter goes out this week; sign up today!

The Three Obstacles to Bible Reading

What obstacles get in the way of your Bible reading? Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford wanted to find out why people weren't reading their Bibles. After three years of research, they identified three reasons that kept people from engaging with God's Word.

Philip Yancey was gracious enough to write a guest post at the Bible Gateway blog about these three obstacles, which were the impetus behind the creation of the NIV Student Bible and the Insights for Students newsletter. Stop by the blog to read Yancey's insights, and if you want to see how he addressed those obstacles, sign up for the Insights for Students newsletter.

That's all for this week. Thanks, as always, for your continued support of Bible Gateway!

Sincerely,
the Bible Gateway team
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