Sunday, July 27, 2014

Sun Jul 27th Todays News

A senior ALP politician in Victoria is alleged to have obtained a journalist's voice recorded notes, copied them, and given them to the press claiming to be a senior Liberal politician. It included background material essential for journalists to be able to write nuanced pieces, but highly prejudicial in the public domain. The Journalist worked for the Age and the Age carried on with the charade for many months, accusing the Liberal party of division with months leading up to an election. Only, the party is not divided, merely functioning transparently, as the ALP cannot. And the ALP leader has not distanced himself from the allegation, which if true should see him resign from public office. 

ABC News tonight reported that they feel the Abbott government has not kept election promises. They feel that the promise to cut the number of illegal boats may not have been met, only time will tell. Two boats in six months compared to a boat a day and the ABC don't feel there is a difference. Also, the budget surplus effort is stymied by the opposition not passing cuts. The truth is, that if you don't want the ALP messing up government you have to vote LNP and no one else. The ALP don't realise they must reform and cannot continue to be corrupt. And the ABC are too biased to realise that their support for the ALP is part of the problem. 

On this day in 1916 Germany executed a civilian captain of a civilian vessel. The captain had been chased by a U-Boat trying to torpedo her the year before. An extraordinary act of seamanship had the vessel escape by travelling faster than its' specifications. Charles Algernon Fryatt would later that year try to ram a u-boat that surfaced to torpedo him. He was given a gold watch for his effort, inscribed with detail. When his boat was surrounded and captured by German vessels in 1916, he was court martial-ed and sentenced to death based on the details of the inscription. The German command was aware he had not sunk the U-Boat, as it was fighting elsewhere. There was international outrage at Germany's action. 

Also on this day, Burnam wood came to Dunsinane for Macbeth in 1054. Georgia defeated Rum in 1202. Xavier made it to Japan in 1549. In 1663, England seems to have legalised piracy by passing the second Navigation Act which insisted ships to America had to come from English ports and be English vessels. In 1794, Robespierre was executed for crimes against humanity. In 1865 Chubut, Argentina, Welsh settlers arrived, which is why people from Chubut today can sing and dance. In 1866, the first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable was laid. In 1890 Vincent Van Gogh shot himself, dying two days later. In 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II compared Germans to Huns. In 1919 Chicago erupted in race riots for five days between Irish ethnics and African Americans. In 1921, Insulin is shown to regulate blood sugar. In 1929, the Geneva Convention is signed by 53 nations, dealing with POWs. In 1940, Bugs bunny appeared in Wild Hare. 
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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

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.netwhich 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 Janine Nguyen  and May Wa Leng. Born on the same day as Johann Bernoulli (1667), Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824), Hilaire Belloc (1870), Geoffrey de Havilland (1882), Jerry Van Dyke (1931), Gary Gygax (1938), Donnie Yen (1963) and Max Power (1993). 1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria, led an invasion of Scotland and defeated Macbeth, King of Scotland, in a battle north of the Firth of Forth.
1694 – A Royal Charter was granted to the Bank of England as the English Government's banker.
1789 – The U.S. State Department, then known as the Department of Foreign Affairs, became the first federal agency created under the U.S. Constitution.
1916 – British mariner Charles Fryatt was executed at Bruges, Belgium, after a court-martial found him to be a franc-tireur.
1953 – An armistice was signed to end hostilities in the Korean War, officially making the Division of Korea indefinite by creating an approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) wide demilitarized zone across the Korean Peninsula. Burnham wood has come to Dunsinane, You have your royal charter. And your Department of State. You have your franc-tireur. The armistice is signed. You know what to do.
Matches

Hatches
Despatches
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Australia’s focus should be on Hockeyroos not Treasurer Joe Hockey’s new book

Piers Akerman – Saturday, July 26, 2014 (11:37pm)

ONLY three events have even come close to nudging the shooting down of MH17 from the headlines, the opening of the Commonwealth Games, the launch of Joe Hockey’s premature biography and Jacqui Lambie’s gross remarks about her sexual needs.
Predictably, our sports team has been doing well though the gold has not always fallen to those who were expected to shine.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Australia’s focus should be on Hockeyroos not Treasurer Joe Hockey’s new book'
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Being a bloke is now a crime except in the oasis of sport

Miranda Devine – Saturday, July 26, 2014 (11:35pm)

“POLICE were patrolling Rawson Park on Friday night when they spotted two teenage males standing in the darkness at about 10.30pm. Police deemed it to be suspicious and thought they may have been there to consume alcohol or drugs.
“The 18-year-olds stated they were just hanging out and eating lollies. After a search nothing was found but red frogs in their pockets. The pair were moved on ... by officers.”
The red frog crime wave in Mosman was reported in my local newspaper a couple of months ago. It is an amusing snapshot, but it is also a symptom of a terrible ailment in our culture: a concerted attempt to criminalise masculinity. Men and boys are always suspect.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Being a bloke is now a crime except in the oasis of sport'
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PODIUM

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 27, 2014 (10:47am)

Australia finishes third in an international IQ test:

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BACK FROM THE BACK OF THE FRONT

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 27, 2014 (9:49am)

Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio returned to Australia last week after bravely fighting in Syria – from the unusual location of the Philippines
Mr Cerantonio was detained for questioning by the AFP, and likely ASIO, for more than two-and-a-half hours before clearing customs, after arriving on an overnight flight from Manilla.

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Musa demonstrates his 1000-yard combat stare

He remained silent and expressionless as he was pursued by media while being escorted by police from the international arrivals gate to his father’s waiting car. 
And then they drove to Melbourne. Or maybe Mosul. Musa can’t really tell the difference.
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Shorten plays the tatty class war card he only yesterday condemned

Andrew Bolt July 27 2014 (5:53am)

Bill Shorten first married a multi-millionaire oil man’s daughter. He received the patronage of Australia’s then richest man, Richard Pratt. He then married the Governor-General’s daughter.
And now this man, of all people, has the hide to indulge in the cheapest of class war smears - the very tactic Labor declared was a mistake of the Gillard Government?
FEDERAL Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will attack Joe Hockey as an “arrogant, cigar-chomping Treasurer’’ in a speech to ALP delegates today where he will argue his personal wealth is to blame for his heartless budget.
The Labor leader’s declaration of a new class war attack on Mr Hockey will be outlined in his pitch to ALP members at the NSW state conference…
“This arrogant, cigar-chomping Treasurer’s hopeless biography reveals that it took Tony Abbott to block him from deeper, harder cuts,’’ Mr Shorten says.
“Seriously. If it’s up to Tony Abbott to tell you that you’ve gone too far, you’ve really gone too far. This is a budget brought to you by a conservative prime minister who doesn’t see it as his duty to care for everyone, by a conservative Treasurer whose personal comfort in life has robbed him of charity. And, I might say, judgment.’’
Sleazy. And hypocritical. 26 April:

BILL Shorten ... said the party must turn its back on class warfare rhetoric and policies, and described an “us versus them” approach to politics as unhealthy.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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The Bolt Report today, July 27

Andrew Bolt July 27 2014 (5:51am)

On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial: How far will Tony Abbott push Russia, the nuclear superpower?
My guest:  Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on grim new developments in the search for the MH17 bodies - and for justice.
The panel: Grahame Morris and Cassandra Wilkinson.
NewsWatch:  The great Rowan Dean.  On his menu - why is the ABC TV showing us two hours a day of the news service of a Middle Eastern regime?
Plus a lot more, including why can’t the lovely Asher Keddie play a conservative instead?:
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
I know, I know - Frank Underwood in the US version of House of Cards is a Democrat. I ran out of time to show the tape we prepared earlier.
UPDATE
Behind the scenes today:
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UPDATE
Transcript:
ANDREW BOLT: How far we will push Russia to get back the bodies of our dead and to find out who exactly shot down MH17. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been instrumental in organising a coalition of the five countries who suffered the most in this tragedy including Holland and Britain. It is a coalition that wants to send police and some soldiers to the crime scene in a part of Ukraine actually held by Russian-backed rebels. Julie Bishop joins me now from Amsterdam. Foreign Minister, thank you so much for your time. When will Ukraine let our police and soldiers go to the crime scene?
JULIE BISHOP Andrew, our police can go to the crime scene when we negotiate access with the Russian backed separatists and we’re doing that through the OSCE, this organisation that is helping broker our access with the separatists. So it will take some time, and of course if we bring in arms then, for self-defence, then it has to be ratified by the Ukraine parliament. That has been the delay over this weekend. The Ukraine government has been very supportive of what we’re seeking to do. They have agreed to handover the leadership of the investigation to the Dutch, they have agreed to allow Australia to bring in police and logistical support including arms to ensure that we can safely access this site but there was a delay on Friday. We now have to wait until next week in order to get the ratification from the parliament and that is why the Dutch Foreign Minister Timmermans and I are going back to Ukraine tomorrow to secure that agreement to ensure that we can get the parliament of Ukraine to ratify our deployment agreement.
BOLT: If Ukraine refuses to ratify that, will we still go in?
JULIE BISHOP We have every expectation that they will ratify it. We had an agreement with the President that we obtained last Thursday. I signed our deployment agreement with their foreign minister at about 2am on Friday morning. They wanted to put it into the parliament on Friday but then they had a crisis within their parliament. Their Prime Minister resigned and there were a lot of internal domestic issues that had to be addressed and then their parliament went into recess. They tell us that they will bring the parliament back for a special sitting next Thursday. We think that is too late, and so the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands and I will be urging for the parliament to be recalled earlier this week, hopefully Tuesday.
BOLT: What guarantees have you had from Russia that our police, this force, most of whom will be unarmed and in a war zone, will be safe?
JULIE BISHOP Prime Minister Abbott has been speaking to President Putin, on a number of occasions, and on each occasion President Putin has noted the need for our people to get in there so that we can retrieve the remains of those still on the site and he’s acknowledged that. And unarmed police are obviously no threat to Russia or to anybody else but we are still trying to negotiate with the separatists who are Russian-backed and owe their allegiance to Russia, to bring in some sort of defence, some sort of protection for our people on the site. And as Prime Minister Abbott has repeated time and time again, this is a humanitarian mission. All we want to do is secure the site, so that we can inspect it thoroughly and bring back any remains that are on that site. And of course we want to allow the investigation to begin that will be led by the Dutch so that we can find the answers as to how this happened.
BOLT: How many people in this coalition force going there will be armed to protect our people?
JULIE BISHOP A number, I won’t go into the operational aspects of it. But the main focus is on having police investigators, those who are expert in body identification and those who are expert in investigations, Dutch and Australian at this stage. We expect a number of other countries who have been affected to also offer resources and personnel. Indeed I have a phone call with a number of other countries’ foreign ministers lined up for tomorrow. So we are getting offers from elsewhere, as you would imagine, other countries affected by this. But our focus is very much on getting onto the site, finding the remains, collecting personal belongings and bringing them out to the Netherlands.
Andrew, we’ve got to understand the level of complexity. This commercial aeroplane was shot down over a war zone, where the Ukraine military is in daily conflict with separatists who owe their allegiance to Russia and are wanting to de-stabilise the Ukraine government. We can’t inspect the site without the agreement of these separatists and unlike any other airline crash we have to take the evidence and bodies away from the country in which it occurred to another country, in this case the Netherlands. So it’s extraordinarily complex and it’s painstaking work but we are determined to see it through, and we are determined, of achieving our goals of bringing our loved ones home. That’s the way the Netherlands government feels about it, that’s the way that the Australian government feels about it and we are absolutely united in our resolve to bring our people home.
BOLT: The Prime Minister called the shooting down of MH17 a crime rather than a terrible accident. What exactly was the crime and who is the main suspect?
JULIE BISHOP I have had significant intelligence briefings in Washington, our own intelligence community is working very hard to determine the cause of this. The investigation should conclude who is responsible. Already we have a lot of evidence that has been brought together. But we did, through the United Nations Security Council resolution, agree that there will be an open, thorough, transparent, independent, impartial investigation. That’s why it is being led by the Dutch and all credit to the Ukrainian government for agreeing to transfer the leadership of the investigation to the Netherlands government. Ukraine has the responsibility under international aviation law to carry out the investigation but because of the pressure from Russia they have agreed to hand it over to the Dutch so there can be no question that this is an impartial investigation.
BOLT: Has Russia allowed or agreed to let the investigators interview key witnesses such as Strelkhov, the rebel forces commander in chief and allegedly a Russian agent, where is he?
JULIE BISHOP These are all matters that the investigation will have to determine. Andrew, the point is we have got a unanimous UN Security Council resolution backing this investigation. All 15 countries signed up to that, plus it was co-sponsored by all the other countries that were affected by this crash. So we have international support for an independent investigation, that’s why we’re so determined to get access to the site so that it can begin. And it would be scandalous if any political leaders sought to use this tragedy for political gain.
BOLT:  The weapon was obviously a missile launcher. Do you know where it is and have you asked the investigators to find it?

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today, July 27'
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10 reasons for leaving the Left

Andrew Bolt July 27 2014 (5:48am)

Danusha V. Goska on the ”10 reasons I am no longer a Leftist”, in descending order:
10) Huffiness…
9) Selective Outrage…
8.) It’s the thought that counts…
7) Leftists hate my people…
6) I believe in God…

5 & 4) Straw men and “In order to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs."…
2 & 3) It doesn’t work.  Other approaches work better…

1) Hate…
Read on.
(Thanks to reader Doubting Thomas.) 
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Why is ‘refugee’ Daniel Koum competing for the country he says he had to flee?

Andrew Bolt July 27 2014 (5:35am)

How typically stupid we were to believe weightlifter Daniel Koum:
Arriving in Australia, he had a sports visa that was valid for one month and allowed him to compete in the [Melbourne Commonwealth] games. However, seeking to put the hardship of life that encompasses Cameroonians behind him, he spoke with the Red Cross, in order to gain assistance in claiming asylum and remaining in Australia.... From there he spoke with Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre in Fitzroy and they provided him with a free migration officer, who assisted in having him placed on a bridging visa… After 2 years as an asylum seeker, under a permanent residency visa, he was granted full citizenship.
Today he’s competing for the very country he says he had to flee for his life:
Koum’s protracted and bitter falling out with the Australian Weightlifting Federation saw him compete for his native Cameroon in Glasgow instead of Australia…
“In January I put in my application to represent Australia and it was rejected. I immediately contacted Cameroon to say I am available and had been released by the Commonwealth Games Association so I was free to compete. I’m originally from Cameroon so it was easier for me to represent them again,” he said.
If we’d just given him a temporary protection visa we could now ship him right back to Cameroon.  
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Why can’t Daniel Andrews just deny this damaging allegation?

Andrew Bolt July 27 2014 (5:16am)

“No” is such an easy thing to say, so why didn’t - or couldn’t - Daniel Andrews say it?
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has refused to say whether his chief of staff listened to a stolen recording of Ted Baillieu only weeks before the damning conversation was leaked in a bid to destabilise the Napthine government…
The issue came to a head on Friday when The Age revealed that a senior ALP official took a Fairfax journalist’s missing dictaphone, which was handed to lost property by security at Labor’s state conference in May and ended up at the party’s Docklands head office.
The official then made a copy of an off-the-record conversation between former premier Baillieu and the journalist and discussed with Labor figures, including Mr Andrews’ senior strategists, whether to release it.
Mr Andrews’ chief of staff, John McLindon, was named in the Herald Sun on Saturday as one of the people who had listened to the tape before it ended up in Liberal hands.
But Mr Andrews - who on Friday said ‘’I don’t accept for a moment that any of my staff are implicated in this’’ - on Saturday dodged a series of questions, including whether his staff had listened to the taped conversation or were briefed on its contents. ‘’Any allegation that opposition staff were in any way involved in the theft or dissemination of this material is wrong and defamatory,’’ he said through a spokesman.
Very grubby, if true. As Premier Daniel Andrews would be privy to lots of confidential information. So would his staff. I think we need assurances about how they would handle such information. 
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Someone unidentified and uninformed is a good enough source for Fairfax

Andrew Bolt July 27 2014 (5:01am)

Strange story from Fairfax. What “defence figure”? Why not put his name to this warning? Does he have any real knowledge of the issue, when he says “what I’ve heard is”?  Why presume this multinational force will go in without some security assurances from Moscow?
Australian Defence Force personnel will be walking unprepared into a volatile situation at the MH17 crash site in Ukraine, a senior defence figure has warned.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcement of Australia’s intention to send 190 armed Australian Federal Police and an unknown number of ADF personnel to help recover bodies and evidence from the site has been met with incredulity in some parts of Europe, with one analyst branding it ‘’nuts’’.
The senior defence figure, who did not wish to be named, said it was a poor idea for Australia.
‘’They can’t secure the site,’’ he said. ‘’It’s kilometres long and wide. They could escort Australian officials and provide close protection, but this is a civil task rather than a military task and it’s a terribly volatile area.
‘’We don’t have the language skills or knowledge of the area.
‘’For any military deployment, you have to look at a status of forces agreement with the government and, given the area the aircraft is in, I don’t think there is anyone to make that agreement with. What I’ve heard is the rebels don’t want more than 30 investigators there.’’
Yes, there are security concerns with this mission, but it is dumb to assume those planning it don’t know this. It is also pusillanimous to assume that any risk is unacceptable.
UPDATE
Fairfax really has has enough of Abbott handling the MH17 disaster with compassion and strength.  Paul Malone is furious - and cheap::
Prime Minister Tony Abbott must have believed he’d found his nine/eleven moment when he fronted the media immediately after the Malaysian airliner tragedy…
Howard was rescued from the depths of the polls by his anti-boat people policy and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which enabled him to rally support around his pledge of solidarity with the United States… Abbott too could do with a cause to rally the troops. So a confrontation where he could classify the combatants as goodies and baddies ... suited him down to the ground.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she may see how I see her

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Pastor Rick Warren
'We show we are servants of God by pure lives, understanding, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit and true love." 2 Cor.6:6
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Pastor Rick Warren
"God says 'My power works best in your weakness' therefore I brag about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may work through me!" 2 Cor. 12:9
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The article isn't wrong. Nathan Reese may well be a stand up bloke, although I know of no evidence to suggest that to be true. He was chief of staff to Milton. The witness to blow the whistle on Milton was treated appallingly because others looked away - ed
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There are so many words in the English language that it’s not surprising that the definitions for some of them have gotten mixed up over the years. It’s possible that you’ve gone your entire life without realizing your mistakes. I’m sure people have noticed. One day, you were probably walking down the street, casually chatting with an old friend, and one of these words slipped out of your mouth. Before you can move on to your story about how Mufasa would actually make a very attractive human, your friend stops to correct your error, and suddenly, your whole life starts to feel like one giant lie. How long have you been using that word incorrectly,
Phil Box Add decimate and bugger to that list. Most have no clue as to what these two words mean. Even professional news casters get decimate wrong.
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And then you realize it was shot 300km inside the Arctic circle...

Photo by Stian Klo - 
http://500px.com/photo/41198398

‪#‎arctic‬ ‪#‎landscape‬ ‪#‎norway‬
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Clint Eastwood: Obama Is ‘Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated On The American People’

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/clint-eastwood-obama-is-greatest-hoax-ever-perpetrated-on-the-american-people/

“I had three points I wanted to make,” Eastwood said. “That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who’s not doing a good job. But I didn’t make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it.”
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You rest, we'll take it from here. The ‪#‎IDF‬ wishes you a Shabbat Shalom.
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First, last Friday the EU announced it is imposing economic sanctions on Israel. The sanctions deny EU funds to Israeli entities with an address beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines. They also deny EU funds to Israeli entities countrywide that carry out activities beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines.

The areas beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines delineated by the EU directive include the Gaza Strip, which Israel abandoned eight years ago; the Golan Heights, which has been under Israeli sovereignty since 1981; eastern, northern and southern Jerusalem, which have been under Israeli sovereignty since 1967; and Judea and Samaria, over which Israel has shared governance with the PLO since 1994 in accordance with signed agreements witnessed by EU representatives.
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The EU's decision to initiate an economic war against the Jewish state forces Israel to abandon its long-held illusions. Israel has options for responding forcefully to Europe's aggression. If judiciously and firmly employed, these responses can diminish the Europeans' interest in escalating this economic war, by denying them the political victory they seek.
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This week on the Tribal Update, the weekly satirical newscast produced by Latma, we bring you a behind the scenes look at the woes of Palestinian prisoners, and Bibi's Plan B in the event that the upcoming round of talks with the PLO don't bring peace.
Enjoy! 
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Help us keep Israel strong, both militarily and spiritually! Click here to sign up for our newsletter: http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0012iKnLLe-neLol20fuUr86w%3D%3D
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Bibi is fighting intelligently and desperately against the Obama administration while still remaining an ally of the US .. it is heart breaking. I am sure that there is back ground that prevents him from getting more .. but he isn't able to discuss it. - ed
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Kerry isn't even in control of his own tongue. - ed
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It is ok to disagree. I get your frustration, but a point of difference in our philosophy, which is apparently expressed more broadly is my belief in wealth creation. Your analysis works under the assumption that all the factors are external. "Nothing we can do but make the most of what we have" is the adage of those unions and political mates. They have no responsibility for their failure. "There just wasn't enough." There is no need to demolish the city and begin again. All that needs to happen is to let the adults run the shop for awhile. I do not believe 700,000 US peoples have not got sufficient to be able to take care of themselves. It isn't a war zone. - ed
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He is wrong to believe soThe US is defending itself against terrorists whose claims to Islam are questionable. This particular terrorist killed vulnerable people for no sensible reason. - ed
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So much money in exploiting workers by unions .. no wonder they wriggle .. ed
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The issues are real and substantiated - ed
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Yes .. and a comic book treatment of the Bible would be easy to animate in in small, ground breaking ways .. ed
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July 27José Celso Barbosa Day in Puerto RicoParents' Day in the United States (2014)
Iglesia ni Cristo Central Temple, Quezon City
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”Hebrews 11:1 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge, etc."
2 Peter 1:5-6
If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit's influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, "Give diligence." Take care that thy faith is of the right kind--that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage. Plead with God that he would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to confirm faith. Try to understand God's Word; let it dwell in thy heart richly.
When thou hast done this, "Add to thy knowledge temperance." Take heed to thy body: be temperate without. Take heed to thy soul: be temperate within. Get temperance of lip, life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God's Holy Spirit, patience; ask him to give thee that patience which endureth affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold. Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur nor be depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won look to godliness. Godliness is something more than religion. Make God's glory your object in life; live in his sight; dwell close to him; seek for fellowship with him; and thou hast "godliness"; and to that add brotherly love. Have a love to all the saints: and add to that a charity, which openeth its arms to all men, and loves their souls. When you are adorned with these jewels, and just in proportion as you practise these heavenly virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence "your calling and election." "Give diligence," if you would get assurance, for lukewarmness and doubting very naturally go hand in hand.

Evening

"That he may set him with princes."
Psalm 113:8
Our spiritual privileges are of the highest order. "Among princes" is the place of select society. "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." Speak of select society, there is none like this! "We are a chosen generation, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood." "We are come unto the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven." The saints have courtly audience: princes have admittance to royalty when common people must stand afar off. The child of God has free access to the inner courts of heaven. "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." "Let us come boldly," says the apostle, "to the throne of the heavenly grace." Among princes there is abundant wealth, but what is the abundance of princes compared with the riches of believers? for "all things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Princes have peculiar power. A prince of heaven's empire has great influence: he wields a sceptre in his own domain; he sits upon Jesus' throne, for "He hath made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign forever and ever." We reign over the united kingdom of time and eternity. Princes, again, have special honour. We may look down upon all earth-born dignity from the eminence upon which grace has placed us. For what is human grandeur to this, "He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"? We share the honour of Christ, and compared with this, earthly splendours are not worth a thought. Communion with Jesus is a richer gem than ever glittered in imperial diadem. Union with the Lord is a coronet of beauty outshining all the blaze of imperial pomp.
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Today's reading: Psalm 40-42, Acts 27:1-26 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 40-42

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him....

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

Paul Sails for Rome
1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment. 2 We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.
3 The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, in kindness to Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs. 4From there we put out to sea again and passed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us. 5 When we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.7 We made slow headway for many days and had difficulty arriving off Cnidus. When the wind did not allow us to hold our course, we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone. 8 We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea....
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Nabal

[Nā'bal] - prominence or foolishA wealthy but churlish sheepmaster of Maon whose business was in Carmel (1 Sam. 25; 2 Sam. 2:2).

The Man Who Was a Fool by Name and Nature

Nabal is a striking illustration of a man with a name indicative of his nature. When David came to Nabal asking food for his hungry men, this churlish man refused. David set out to kill Nabal but Abigail, his beautiful wife, pled for the life of her unworthy husband. What a contrast they afford! Abigail so beautiful and Nabal so bestial - The Beauty and the Beast. Pleading for Nabal's life, Abigail said to David, "As is his name, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him." In effect, she said, "Pay no attention to my churlish husband. He's a fool by name and a fool by nature."
After his drunken orgy, Nabal was told of David's threat to take his life and he died of fright. David afterwards married Abigail, a woman of good understanding and who, as Edith Deen tells us in her most valuable handbook, All the Women of the Bible, was "the greatest influence for good and helped David to remember that he was God's anointed into whose keeping the kingdom of Israel had been entrusted."
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