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

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 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

• 1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland somewhere north of the Firth of Forth.
• 1189 – Friedrich Barbarossa arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja, during the Third Crusade.
• 1202 – Georgian-Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Basian the Kingdom of Georgia defeats the Sultanate of Rum.
• 1214 – Battle of Bouvines: Philip II of France decisively defeats Imperial, English and Flemish armies, effectively ending John of England's Angevin Empire.
• 1549 – The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reaches Japan.
• 1663 – The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
• 1689 – Glorious Revolution: The Battle of Killiecrankie ends.
• 1694 – A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.
• 1789 – The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).
• 1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution".
• 1865 – Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
• 1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart's Content, Newfoundland.
• 1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.
• 1900 – Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, "Hun" would be a disparaging name for Germans.
• 1916 – British mariner Charles Fryatt was executed at Bruges, Belgium, after a court-martial found him to be a franc-tireur.
• 1919 – The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.
• 1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.
• 1928 – Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before the end of July.
• 1929 – The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.
• 1940 – The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
• 1941 – Japanese troops occupy French Indochina.
• 1942 – World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.
• 1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.
• 1953 – Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
• 1976 – Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with theLockheed bribery scandals.
• 1981 – British television: On Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event scoring massive viewer numbers for the show.
• 1983 – Black July: Eighteen Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
• 1990 – The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day is celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence is moved to June 3.
• 1990 – The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying the Trinidad and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet as well as the staff at the television station hostage for six days.
• 1996 – Centennial Olympic Park bombing: In Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. One woman (Alice Hawthorne) is killed, and a cameraman suffers a heart attack fleeing the scene. One hundred eleven are injured.
• 2005 – STS-114: NASA grounds the Space Shuttle, pending an investigation of the continuing problem with the shedding of foam insulation from the external fuel tank. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.
• 2007 – Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Parkin central Phoenix while covering a police chase;

Hatches

• 1452 – Ludovico Sforza, Italian son of Francesco I Sforza (d. 1508)
• 1667 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1748)
• 1741 – François-Hippolyte Barthélémon, French-English violinist and composer (d. 1808)
• 1768 – Charlotte Corday, French assassin of Jean-Paul Marat (d. 1793)
• 1824 – Alexandre Dumas, fils, French author and playwright (d. 1895)
• 1870 – Hilaire Belloc, French-English author and politician (d. 1953)
• 1882 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, founded the de Havilland Aircraft Company (d. 1965)
• 1908 – Joseph Mitchell, American author (d. 1996)
• 1916 – Skippy Williams, American saxophonist and arranger (d. 1994)
• 1929 – Jack Higgins, English author
• 1931 – Jerry Van Dyke, American actor and singer
• 1933 – Nick Reynolds, American bongo player (The Kingston Trio) (d. 2008)
• 1938 – Isabelle Aubret, French singer
• 1938 – Gary Gygax, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (d. 2008)
• 1949 – Maureen McGovern, American singer and actress
• 1955 – Allan Border, Australian cricketer
• 1960 – Jo Durie, English tennis player
• 1960 – Conway Savage, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
• 1963 – Donnie Yen, Chinese-Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
• 1968 – Julian McMahon, Australian actor
• 1969 – Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer and coach
• 1975 – Alex Rodriguez, American baseball player
• 1985 – Aljin Abella, Filipino-Australian actor
• 1989 – Charlotte Arnold, Canadian actress
• 1991 – Rena Matsui, Japanese actress and singer (SKE48 and AKB48)'
• 1993 – Max Power, English footballer
• 1996 – Ashlyn Sanchez, American actress

Despatches

• 1101 – Conrad II of Italy (b. 1074)
• 1759 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1698)
• 1844 – John Dalton, English physicist, meteorologist, and chemist (b. 1776)
• 1946 – Gertrude Stein, American author and poet (b. 1874)
• 1984 – James Mason, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
• 2003 – Bob Hope, English-American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1903)

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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.

 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.

 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.


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:

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?

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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Post by David Daniel Ball.

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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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THIS WEEK the EU took three steps that together prove Europe's ill-intentions toward the Jewish state.

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 so. The 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 27: José Celso Barbosa Day in Puerto Rico; Parents' Day in the United States (2014)

• 1302 – Byzantine–Ottoman Wars: The Ottoman sultanate scored its first major victory against theByzantine Empire in the Battle of Bapheus inBithynia.
• 1789 – The U.S. State Department, then known as the Department of Foreign Affairs, became the first federal agencycreated under the U.S. Constitution.
• 1794 – The National Convention ordered the arrest and execution of Reign of Terror leader Maximilien Robespierre after he encouraged the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of theFrench Revolution".
• 1914 – Felix Manalo established the modern-day Iglesia ni Cristoreligion, an independent, nontrinitarian Christian church, in the Philippines (Iglesia ni Cristo Central Temple pictured).
• 1940 – Bugs Bunny debuted in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare.

===

Events[edit]

• 1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland somewhere north of the Firth of Forth.
• 1189 – Friedrich Barbarossa arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja, during the Third Crusade.
• 1202 – Georgian-Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Basian the Kingdom of Georgia defeats the Sultanate of Rum.
• 1214 – Battle of Bouvines: Philip II of France decisively defeats Imperial, English and Flemish armies, effectively ending John of England's Angevin Empire.
• 1299 – According to Edward Gibbon, Osman I invades the territory of Nicomedia for the first time, usually considered to be the founding day of the Ottoman state.
• 1302 – Battle of Bapheus: Decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithynia for Turkish conquest.
• 1549 – The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reaches Japan.
• 1663 – The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
• 1689 – Glorious Revolution: The Battle of Killiecrankie ends.
• 1694 – A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.
• 1720 – The Battle of Grengam marks the second important victory of the Russian Navy.
• 1778 – American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant – British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
• 1789 – The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).
• 1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution".
• 1862 – Sailing from San Francisco, California to Panama City, Panama, the SS Golden Gate catches fire and sinks off Manzanillo, Mexico, killing 231.
• 1865 – Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
• 1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart's Content, Newfoundland.
• 1880 – Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand – Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand,Afghanistan.
• 1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.
• 1900 – Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, "Hun" would be a disparaging name for Germans.
• 1914 – Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Philippine government.
• 1917 – The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.
• 1919 – The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.
• 1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.
• 1928 – Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before the end of July.
• 1929 – The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.
• 1940 – The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
• 1941 – Japanese troops occupy French Indochina.
• 1942 – World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.
• 1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.
• 1953 – Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
• 1955 – The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: Five thousand more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
• 1974 – Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.
• 1976 – Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with theLockheed bribery scandals.
• 1981 – British television: On Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event scoring massive viewer numbers for the show.
• 1981 – Adam Walsh, 6-year-old son of John Walsh, is kidnapped in Hollywood, Florida and is found murdered two weeks later.
• 1983 – Black July: Eighteen Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
• 1987 – RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
• 1990 – The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day is celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence is moved to June 3.
• 1990 – The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying the Trinidad and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet as well as the staff at the television station hostage for six days.
• 1995 – The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..
• 1996 – Centennial Olympic Park bombing: In Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. One woman (Alice Hawthorne) is killed, and a cameraman suffers a heart attack fleeing the scene. One hundred eleven are injured.
• 1997 – About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
• 1999 – Tony Hawk lands the first 900 on a skateboard (two-and-a-half complete revolutions) at the fifth annual X Games in San Francisco, California.
• 2002 – Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.
• 2005 – STS-114: NASA grounds the Space Shuttle, pending an investigation of the continuing problem with the shedding of foam insulation from the external fuel tank. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.
• 2006 – The Federal Republic of Germany is deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it is illegal to outsource flight surveillance.
• 2007 – Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Parkin central Phoenix while covering a police chase;

Births[edit]

• 1452 – Ludovico Sforza, Italian son of Francesco I Sforza (d. 1508)
• 1667 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1748)
• 1733 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (d. 1779)
• 1740 – Jeanne Baré, French explorer (d. 1803)
• 1741 – François-Hippolyte Barthélémon, French-English violinist and composer (d. 1808)
• 1752 – Samuel Smith, American general and politician (d. 1839)
• 1768 – Charlotte Corday, French assassin of Jean-Paul Marat (d. 1793)
• 1768 – Joseph Anton Koch, Austrian painter (d. 1839)
• 1773 – Jacob Aall, Norwegian economist and politician (d. 1844)
• 1777 – Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet (d. 1844)
• 1777 – Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, English soldier (d. 1853)
• 1781 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1828)
• 1784 – Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (d. 1839)
• 1812 – Thomas Lanier Clingman, American general (d. 1897)
• 1818 – Agostino Roscelli, Italian priest and founder of the Institute of Sisters of the Immaculata (d. 1902)
• 1824 – Alexandre Dumas, fils, French author and playwright (d. 1895)
• 1833 – Thomas George Bonney, English geologist (d. 1923)
• 1835 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
• 1848 – Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist (d. 1919)
• 1848 – Thomas Herbst German painter (d. 1915)
• 1853 – Vladimir Korolenko, Ukrainian journalist, author, and activist (d. 1921)
• 1857 – José Celso Barbosa, Puerto Rican physician, sociologist, and politician (d. 1921)
• 1858 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer (d. 1938)
• 1866 – António José de Almeida, Portuguese politician, 6th President of Portugal (d. 1929)
• 1867 – Enrique Granados, Spanish pianist and composer (d. 1916)
• 1870 – Hilaire Belloc, French-English author and politician (d. 1953)
• 1877 – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1960)
• 1878 – John Henry Lake, American cyclist
• 1879 – Jack Laviolette, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1960)
• 1881 – Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1945)
• 1882 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, founded the de Havilland Aircraft Company (d. 1965)
• 1886 – Ernst May, German architect (d. 1970)
• 1889 – Vera Karalli, Russian ballerina, choreographer, and actress (d. 1972)
• 1890 – Armas Taipale, Finnish discus thrower (d. 1976)
• 1891 – Jacob van der Hoeden, Dutch-Israeli veterinarian (d. 1968)
• 1894 – Mientje Kling, Dutch actress (d. 1966)
• 1896 – Robert George, Scottish air marshal and politician, 24th Governor of South Australia (d. 1967)
• 1896 – Henri Longchambon, French politician (d. 1969)
• 1902 – Eberhard Vogdt, Estonian sailor (d. 1964)
• 1903 – Nikolay Cherkasov, Russian actor (d. 1966)
• 1903 – Michail Stasinopoulos, Greek politician, President of Greece (d. 2002)
• 1905 – Leo Durocher, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
• 1906 – Jerzy Giedroyc, Polish author and activist (d. 2000)
• 1906 – Herbert Jasper, Canadian psychologist and neurologist (d. 1999)
• 1908 – Joseph Mitchell, American author (d. 1996)
• 1910 – Julien Gracq, French author and critic (d. 2007)
• 1910 – Fern Persons, American actress (d. 2012)
• 1910 – Lupita Tovar, Mexican actress
• 1911 – Rayner Heppenstall, English author and poet (d. 1981)
• 1912 – Vernon Elliott, English bassoon player, composer, and conductor (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Gérard Côté, Canadian runner (d. 1993)
• 1913 – George L. Street III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2000)
• 1914 – August Sang, Estonian poet and translator (d. 1969)
• 1915 – Mario Del Monaco, Italian tenor (d. 1982)
• 1915 – Josef Priller, German pilot (d. 1961)
• 1916 – Elizabeth Hardwick, American author and critic (d. 2007)
• 1916 – Skippy Williams, American saxophonist and arranger (d. 1994)
• 1916 – Keenan Wynn, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
• 1917 – Bourvil, French actor and singer (d. 1970)
• 1918 – Leonard Rose, American cellist (d. 1984)
• 1921 – Garry Davis, American pilot and activist, created the World Passport (d. 2013)
• 1921 – Émile Genest, Canadian-American actor (d. 2003)
• 1922 – Adolfo Celi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1986)
• 1922 – Norman Lear, American screenwriter and producer
• 1923 – Mas Oyama, South Korean-Japanese martial artist (d. 1994)
• 1924 – Vincent Canby, American critic (d. 2000)
• 1924 – Otar Taktakishvili, Georgian composer and conductor (d. 1989)
• 1927 – Sat Mahajan, Indian politician (d. 2012)
• 1927 – C. Rajadurai, Sri Lankan politician, 1st Mayor of Batticaloa
• 1927 – John Seigenthaler, American journalist and academic (d. 2014)
• 1928 – Joseph Kittinger, American colonel and pilot
• 1928 – Karloff Lagarde, Mexican wrestler (d. 2007)
• 1929 – Jean Baudrillard, French sociologist and philosopher (d. 2007)
• 1929 – Harvey Fuqua, American singer-songwriter and producer (The Moonglows and New Birth) (d. 2010)
• 1929 – Jack Higgins, English author
• 1929 – Marc Wilkinson, French-Australian composer and conductor
• 1930 – Joy Whitby, English television producer
• 1930 – Shirley Williams, English politician and academic
• 1931 – Khieu Samphan, Cambodian politician, 28th Prime Minister of Cambodia
• 1931 – Jerry Van Dyke, American actor and singer
• 1932 – Forest Able, American basketball player
• 1933 – Nick Reynolds, American bongo player (The Kingston Trio) (d. 2008)
• 1933 – Ted Whitten, Australian footballer and journalist (d. 1995)
• 1935 – Billy McCullough, Irish footballer
• 1936 – J. Robert Hooper, American politician (d. 2008)
• 1937 – Anna Dawson, English actress
• 1937 – Don Galloway, American actor (d. 2009)
• 1938 – Isabelle Aubret, French singer
• 1938 – Gary Gygax, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (d. 2008)
• 1939 – Michael Longley, Irish poet
• 1940 – Pina Bausch, German dancer and choreographer (d. 2009)
• 1941 – Christian Boesch, Austrian opera singer
• 1941 – Johannes Fritsch, German composer (d. 2010)
• 1942 – Édith Butler, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1942 – John Pleshette, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1942 – Dennis Ralston, American tennis player
• 1943 – Jeremy Greenstock, British diplomat
• 1944 – Tony Capstick, English actor and singer (d. 2003)
• 1944 – Bobbie Gentry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1944 – Jean-Marie Leblanc, French cyclist
• 1944 – Barbara Thomson, English saxophonist and composer (Colosseum and New Jazz Orchestra)
• 1946 – Peter Reading, English poet and author (d. 2011)
• 1946 – Rade Šerbedžija, Croatian actor
• 1947 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (d. 2008)
• 1948 – Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
• 1948 – James Munby, British judge
• 1948 – Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1990)
• 1948 – Betty Thomas, American actress, director, and producer
• 1948 – Henny Vrienten, Dutch singer-songwriter and bass player (Doe Maar)
• 1949 – Maury Chaykin, American-Canadian actor (d. 2010)
• 1949 – André Dupont, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1949 – Rory MacDonald, Scottish singer-songwriter and bass player (Runrig and The Band from Rockall)
• 1949 – Maureen McGovern, American singer and actress
• 1949 – Robert Rankin, English author
• 1949 – Susan Gordon, American child actress (d. 2011)
• 1950 – Simon Jones, English actor
• 1951 – Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish politician
• 1951 – Bob Diamond, American banker
• 1951 – Rolf Thung, Dutch tennis player
• 1952 – Hannu-Pekka Hänninen, Finnish sportscaster
• 1952 – Roxanne Hart, American actress
• 1953 – Chung Dong-young, South Korean politician
• 1953 – Yahoo Serious, Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1954 – Philippe Alliot, French race car driver
• 1954 – G. S. Bali, Indian politician
• 1954 – Ricardo Uceda, Peruvian journalist
• 1955 – Cat Bauer, American author
• 1955 – Allan Border, Australian cricketer
• 1955 – John Howell, English politician
• 1955 – Bobby Rondinelli, American rock drummer (Blue Öyster Cult, Rainbow, Quiet Riot and Black Sabbath)
• 1956 – Carol Leifer, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
• 1957 – Bill Engvall, American comedian and actor
• 1957 – Matt Osborne, American wrestler (d. 2013)
• 1957 – Allan Simmons, English Scrabble player
• 1958 – Christopher Dean, English figure skater
• 1959 – Joe DeSa, American baseball player (d. 1986)
• 1959 – Hugh Green, American football player
• 1959 – Yiannos Papantoniou, Greek politician, Greek Minister of Finance
• 1960 – Jo Durie, English tennis player
• 1960 – Gabrielle Glaister, English actress
• 1960 – Conway Savage, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
• 1960 – Emily Thornberry, English politician
• 1962 – Karl Mueller, American bass player (Soul Asylum) (d. 2005)
• 1963 – Karrin Allyson, American singer and pianist
• 1963 – Donnie Yen, Chinese-Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
• 1964 – Rex Brown, American bass player and songwriter (Pantera, Kill Devil Hill, and Down)
• 1965 – José Luis Chilavert, Paraguayan footballer
• 1965 – Wladimir Reznitschenko, Soviet-German fencer
• 1967 – Rahul Bose, Indian actor, screenwriter, director
• 1967 – Juliana Hatfield, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Blake Babies, Some Girls, and The Lemonheads)
• 1967 – Sasha Mitchell, American actor
• 1967 – David Chacón Perez, Venezuelan director and producer
• 1967 – Neil Smith, English cricketer
• 1967 – Kellie Waymire, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1967 – Craig Wolanin, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1968 – Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Italian actress and producer
• 1968 – Cliff Curtis, New Zealand actor and producer
• 1968 – Tom Goodwin, American baseball player and coach
• 1968 – Julian McMahon, Australian actor
• 1968 – Ricardo Rosset, Brazilian race car driver
• 1969 – Triple H, American wrestler and actor
• 1969 – Timo Maas, German DJ and producer
• 1969 – Giannis Milonas, Greek basketball player
• 1969 – Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer and coach
• 1970 – Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Danish actor
• 1970 – David Davies, Welsh politician
• 1972 – Jill Arrington, American sportscaster
• 1972 – Takako Fuji, Japanese actress
• 1972 – Maya Rudolph, American actress and singer
• 1972 – Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Malaysian surgeon and astronaut
• 1973 – Cassandra Clare, American author
• 1973 – Abe Cunningham, American drummer (Deftones and Phallucy)
• 1973 – Erik Nys, Belgian long jumper
• 1973 – Tracy Shaw, English actress and singer
• 1973 – Gorden Tallis, Australian rugby player
• 1974 – Eason Chan, Hong Kong singer, actor, and producer
• 1974 – Pete Yorn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Olms)
• 1975 – Shea Hillenbrand, American baseball player
• 1975 – Elise Laverick, English rower
• 1975 – Fred Mascherino, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Taking Back Sunday, The Color Fred, Terrible Things, and Breaking Pangaea)
• 1975 – Alessandro Pistone, Italian footballer
• 1975 – Alex Rodriguez, American baseball player
• 1976 – Scott Mason, Australian cricketer (d. 2005)
• 1977 – Foo Swee Chin, Singaporean illustrator
• 1977 – Björn Dreyer, German footballer
• 1977 – Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Irish actor
• 1978 – Diarmuid O'Sullivan, Irish hurler
• 1979 – Jorge Arce, Mexican boxer
• 1979 – Sidney Govou, French footballer
• 1979 – Shannon Moore, American wrestler
• 1980 – Allan Davis, Australian cyclist
• 1980 – Dolph Ziggler, American wrestler
• 1981 – Susan King Borchardt, American basketball player
• 1981 – Collins Obuya, Kenyan cricketer
• 1981 – Christopher Weselek, German rugby player
• 1981 – Dash Snow, American artist (d. 2009)
• 1982 – Cascy Beddow, Canadian actor
• 1982 – Neil Harbisson, English-Catalan painter, composer, and activist
• 1983 – Lorik Cana, Albanian footballer
• 1983 – Martijn Maaskant, Dutch cyclist
• 1983 – Goran Pandev, Macedonian footballer
• 1983 – Blair Redford, American actor
• 1983 – Soccor Velho, Indian footballer (d. 2013)
• 1984 – Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Japanese baseball player
• 1984 – Max Scherzer, American baseball player
• 1984 – Taylor Schilling, American actress
• 1984 – Iekeliene Stange, Dutch model
• 1984 – Kenny Wormald, American dancer and actor
• 1985 – Aljin Abella, Filipino-Australian actor
• 1985 – Benedita Pereira, Portuguese actress
• 1985 – Matteo Pratichetti, Italian rugby player
• 1985 – Lou Taylor Pucci, American actor
• 1986 – DeMarre Carroll, American basketball player
• 1986 – Ryan Flaherty, American baseball player
• 1986 – Ryan Griffen, Australian footballer
• 1986 – Courtney Kupets, American gymnast
• 1986 – Nathan Stephenson, Canadian actor
• 1987 – Jacoby Ford, American football player
• 1987 – Marek Hamšík, Slovak footballer
• 1987 – Jordan Hill, American basketball player
• 1987 – Sarah Parsons, American ice hockey player
• 1988 – Adam Biddle, Australian footballer
• 1988 – Ryan Tannehill, American football player
• 1989 – Charlotte Arnold, Canadian actress
• 1989 – Mohamed Bangura, Sierra Leonean footballer
• 1990 – Indiana Evans, Australian actress and singer
• 1990 – Nick Hogan, American actor
• 1990 – Paolo Hurtado, Peruvian footballer
• 1990 – Cheyenne Kimball, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Gloriana)
• 1990 – Stephen Li-Chung Kuo, Taiwanese-American figure skater
• 1991 – Rena Matsui, Japanese actress and singer (SKE48 and AKB48)
• 1993 – Max Power, English footballer
• 1994 – Spencer Achtymichuk, Canadian actor
• 1996 – Ashlyn Sanchez, American actress

Deaths[edit]

• 1101 – Conrad II of Italy (b. 1074)
• 1276 – James I of Aragon (b. 1208)
• 1365 – Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria (b. 1339)
• 1382 – Joanna I of Naples (b. 1326)
• 1656 – Salomo Glassius, German theologian (b. 1593)
• 1675 – Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, French general (b. 1611)
• 1759 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1698)
• 1770 – Robert Dinwiddie, English politician (b. 1693)
• 1841 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian poet and painter (b. 1814)
• 1844 – John Dalton, English physicist, meteorologist, and chemist (b. 1776)
• 1863 – William Lowndes Yancey, American journalist and politician (b. 1813)
• 1875 – Aleksander Kunileid, Estonian composer (b. 1845)
• 1876 – Albertus van Raalte, Dutch-American pastor (b. 1811)
• 1883 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (b. 1813)
• 1916 – Charles Fryatt, British captain (b. 1872)
• 1917 – Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1841)
• 1924 – Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1866)
• 1931 – Auguste Forel, Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, and psychiatrist (b. 1848)
• 1938 – John Exley, American rower (b. 1867)
• 1941 – Alfred Henry O'Keeffe, New Zealand painter (b. 1858)
• 1946 – Gertrude Stein, American author and poet (b. 1874)
• 1948 – Woolf Barnato, English race car driver (b. 1898)
• 1948 – Joe Tinker, American baseball player and manager (b. 1880)
• 1951 – Paul Kogerman, Estonian chemist (b. 1891)
• 1958 – Claire Lee Chennault, American general and pilot (b. 1893)
• 1962 – Richard Aldington, English poet (b. 1892)
• 1962 – James H. Kindelberger, American pilot and businessman (b. 1895)
• 1965 – Daniel-Rops, French historian and author (b. 1901)
• 1968 – Babe Adams, American baseball player (b. 1882)
• 1970 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1889)
• 1971 – Charlie Tully, Irish footballer (b. 1924)
• 1978 – Bob Heffron, New Zealand-Australian politician, 30th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1890)
• 1978 – Willem van Otterloo, Dutch cellist, composer, and conductor (b. 1907)
• 1980 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iranian king (b. 1919)
• 1981 – William Wyler, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1902)
• 1984 – James Mason, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
• 1985 – Smoky Joe Wood, American baseball player (b. 1889)
• 1987 – Travis Jackson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1903)
• 1988 – Frank Zamboni, American inventor and businessman, founded the Zamboni Company (b. 1901)
• 1990 – Bobby Day, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (The Hollywood Flames and Bob & Earl) (b. 1928)
• 1991 – John Friedrich, German-Australian engineer and conman (b. 1950)
• 1992 – Max Dupain, Australian photographer (b. 1911)
• 1992 – Tzeni Karezi, Greek actress (b. 1932)
• 1993 – Reggie Lewis, American basketball player (b. 1965)
• 1994 – Kevin Carter, South African photographer (b. 1960)
• 1995 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-American composer and conductor (b. 1907)
• 1995 – Rick Ferrell, American baseball player and coach (b. 1905)
• 1998 – Binnie Barnes, English-American actress (b. 1903)
• 1999 – Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician, physicist, and mountaineer (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Harry Edison, American trumpet player (Count Basie Orchestra) (b. 1915)
• 2000 – Gordon Solie, American wrestling announcer (b. 1929)
• 2001 – Rhonda Sing, Canadian wrestler (b. 1961)
• 2001 – Leon Wilkeson, American bass player and songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (b. 1952)
• 2003 – Vance Hartke, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1919)
• 2003 – Bob Hope, English-American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1903)
• 2005 – Marten Toonder, Dutch author and illustrator (b. 1912)
• 2006 – Maryann Mahaffey, American politician (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Mariathas Manojanraj, Sri Lankan newspaper deliverer
• 2006 – Elisabeth Volkmann, German actress and voice actor (b. 1936)
• 2007 – Lucky Grills, Australian actor (b. 1928)
• 2007 – James Oyebola, Nigerian-English boxer (b. 1961)
• 2008 – Youssef Chahine, Egyptian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
• 2008 – Horst Stein, German conductor (b. 1928)
• 2008 – Isaac Saba Raffoul, Mexican businessman (b. 1923)
• 2010 – Maury Chaykin, American-Canadian actor (b. 1949)
• 2010 – Jack Tatum, American football player (b. 1948)
• 2011 – Bejaratana Rajasuda, Thai princess (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Norman Alden, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2012 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor and playwright (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Darryl Cotton, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Zoot and Cotton Keays & Morris) (b. 1949)
• 2012 – Geoffrey Hughes, English actor (b. 1944)
• 2012 – Tony Martin, American actor and singer (b. 1913)
• 2012 – Jack Taylor, English footballer and referee (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Carl-Ludwig Wagner, German politician (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Fernando Alonso, Cuban dancer, co-founded the Cuban National Ballet (b. 1914)
• 2013 – Lindy Boggs, American politician and diplomat, 5th United States Ambassador to Holy See (b. 1916)
• 2013 – Sékou Camara, Malian footballer (b. 1985)
• 2013 – Bud Day, American pilot and colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Mick Farren, English singer and journalist (b. 1943)
• 2013 – Herb Kaplow, American journalist (b. 1927)
• 2013 – Kidd Kraddick, American radio host (b. 1959)
• 2013 – Suzanne Krull, American actress (b. 1966)
• 2013 – Jon Leyne, English journalist (b. 1958)
• 2013 – Ilya Segalovich, Russian businessman, co-founded Yandex (b. 1964)

Holidays and observances[edit]

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Aurelius and Natalia and companions of the Martyrs of Córdoba.
  • Pantaleon
  • Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (Roman Martyrology)
  • July 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Iglesia Ni Cristo Day (the Philippines)
• José Celso Barbosa Day (Puerto Rico)
• Martyrs and Wounded Soldiers Day (Vietnam)
• National Sleepy Head Day (Finland)
• Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War (North Korea)

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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....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

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....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

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Nabal

[Nā'bal] - prominence or foolish. A 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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