Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Tue Jul 29th Todays News

Some people are so annoying, so self absorbed, so entitled in their outlook in life that nothing can be done for them. And there have been many such pairs of people and even nations. Examples include Rudd and Gillard, but consider the two post Soviet Union nations of Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine exploiting the deaths of nearly three hundred civilians on MH17 are shelling the evidence and making incursions on Russian separatists. Ukraine have got Washington DC to coordinate sanctions against Russia at the same time, preventing military aid to get to the separatists. Maybe there is evidence incriminating Russia, but maybe it incriminates Ukraine. And the prevention of Australian and Dutch police from getting to the crash site should be treated as a war crime. But nothing is new in history. On this day, in 238, two inept bickering Ceasers were being derelict in their duty. Rome was threatened by Maximinus Thrax who had killed the two previous Ceasers and was marching on Rome. Come the time, comes the man, and Rome called on the newly crowned Ceasers of Pupienus and Balbinus to defend Rome. Pupienus had had military success. But the two argued like an unhappy married couple. Finally, on this day, the Praetorian Guard, bodyguards of the Ceasers who had a duty to Rome, stormed the imperial palace, killed the two idiots and gave the throne to a the grandson of the Ceaser killed by Maximinus. It was too late. Maximinus would be Ceaser for three years and it was the beginning of very bad, unhappy leadership of Rome in the third century. 

 Such stupidity is rife in history. In the late '80s, an unsuccessful ALP Premier, Unsworth, suggested an enormous and expensive birthday cake sculpture for Paddington. Today, an equally inept Mayor Clover Moore has proposed $9 million in sculptures, including a big piece outside the Town Hall. But a particularly dumb thing in Ireland during the potato famine parallels this foolishness. It is called the Tipperary Revolt and it highlights how weak  leadership inspires idiots. It happened in 1848, a year in which revolutions were rocking Europe and some Irish got the idea that a revolution like the French one would be grand. The idiot Young Irish revolutionaries gathered, and police were despatched to arrest them. Only the townsfolk thought it clever to make it difficult, and gathered on the road with weapons. The police sidestepped the townsfolk but were seen and pursued by them to a townhouse. The desperate police took the family of the house hostage and pointed their weapons in defence of the house against the chasing townspeople. The parents were with the crowd and begged for their children to be given back to them. One of the townsfolk thought they would walk up to the house and negotiate. But, when a weapon was discharged the police fired out of the house and the outraged townsfolk fired in. People were hurt and killed. There was a stand off, and it would later be written that the townsfolk were outraged that their peaceful gathering had come to this. Police reinforcements arrived and the townsfolk dispersed. Who knew that a French Style revolution could turn bloody? Who knows that it is wrong for a city to go into debt for non infrastructure art work? Some of the revolutionaries were transported to Australia. Ned Kelly was the son of a convict. But the West has a tradition of grace and kindness when dealing with fools. One such idiot was a Confederate Spy in 1864, a young woman named Belle Boyd. Her father was a confederate soldier. Some Union sympathisers marked her house as being confederate in sympathy, and so she killed one of them. The law let her have that, but she was watched and she cultivated as a lover a Union Captain and obtained secrets from him she tried to get to her Confederate friends. The secrets were intercepted on this day in 1864, and he was detained for a time, but lived and died free. 

 Also on this day the great Palenque King Pakal arose to the throne age 12 in 615. His mummy has been found. In 1565, Mary Queen of Scots married Henry Stuart. In 1567, James Stuart, her son, was made King of Scotland. In 1588, Spanish Armada was spanked at the Battle of Gravelines. In 1793, John Graves Simcoe decided Toronto was a nice place for a fort and settlement near the bay. In 1836 the Arc de Triomphe was built to commemorate those who died in service to France during the revolution and Napoleonic wars. In 1899, the first Hague convention was signed. In 1900, an Anarchist killed the Italian King. In 1907, Sir Robert Baden Powell set up the first scout camp. In 1921, Hitler became NAZI leader. In 1948, the Olympic Games resume after a twelve year hiatus. In 1959 the first congressional elections were held in Hawaii, sometimes mistaken for Kenya. In 1976, Son of Sam killed an innocent victim. In 1981, hundreds of millions watched a young woman marry a jaded older Prince of Wales who never really loved her. 
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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 Wendy Ta, Tracy Truong and David Som. Born on the same day, across the years. Along with Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington (1860), Dag Hammarskjöld (1905) and Ken Burns (1953). 
1148 – The Siege of Damascus ended in a decisive crusader defeat, leading to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
1858 – Japan reluctantly signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, an unequal treaty giving the United States various commercial and diplomatic privileges.
1899 – The first Hague Convention, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in international law, was signed.
1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law, establishing a new federal non-military space agency known as NASA.
1987 – Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to resolve the ongoing Sri Lankan Civil War. The Sri Lankan civil war is over. NASA is mandated. You know what war crimes are. You have a treaty of amity and commerce. The crusade is over. Enjoy your lamingtons and film your success.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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William Calcraft
William Calcraft (1800–1879) was the most famous English hangman of the 19th century. One of the most prolific British executioners of all time, it is estimated that he carried out 450 executions during his 45-year career. A cobbler by trade, Calcraft was initially recruited to flog juvenile offenders after meeting the City of London's hangman, John Foxton, while selling meat pies near Newgate Prison. He succeeded Foxton, but his controversial use of the short-drop method of hanging, in which the victims were strangled rather than had their vertebrae broken by the fall when the trapdoor on the gallows was released, caused some to consider him incompetent. Many took several minutes to die, and to hasten their deaths Calcraft sometimes pulled on their legs, or even climbed on their shoulders in an attempt to break their necks. Calcraft's antics may have been intended to entertain the crowds of more than 30,000 that sometimes attended his executions before a change in the law in 1868 meant that executions could only take place in prisons. Among his victims were Marie and Frederick Manning, the first husband and wife to be hanged together since 1700. (Full article...)
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WAR ON TERRIERS

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (3:48pm)

Malaysian Muslims are angry about little Scottish terriers: 
The use of Scottish terrier dogs as mascots at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow has been branded “shameful” and “offensive” …

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An offensive Scottish shamehound

Mohamad Sabu, deputy president of Malaysia’s opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said: “Malaysia and all Islamic countries deserve an apology from the organiser.
“This is just so disrespectful to Malaysia and Muslims – especially as it happened during Ramadan. Muslims are not allowed to touch dogs, so the organiser should have been more aware and sensitive on this issue.
“It is hoped this incident can teach other Western countries to be more respectful in the future.”
Dato Ibrahim Bin Ali, founder the even more extreme Perkasa movement, added: “I think it is unbecoming. The hosts have not been sensitive enough – especially in a so-called knowledgeable and civilised society like Britain.
“It is shameful and has offended not only Malaysia as a Muslim country, but Muslims around the world.” 
Reader quiz: what breed of dog does Dato Ibrahim Bin Ali most closely resemble?
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ARC DE STUPID

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (12:15pm)

You want pretentious and witless 70s-style public art? You got it: 
A wacky $3.5 million cloud-shaped arch towering 50m above George St is the centrepiece of Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s ambitious public art plan revealed today.

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The giant sculpture by Japanese artist Junya Ishigami is one of three artworks announced today as part of a $9 million public art splurge in the CBD. 
Read on to learn about Tracey Emin’s $2.1 million bronze birds, which certainly won’t be stolen as soon as they are installed. Not at all.
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OBEY THE TORSO

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (3:19pm)

It isn’t a genuine protest movement until the clothes come off:

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Our protest gal is Australian model Robyn Lawley 
Proving she has both model looks and brains, the 25-year-old wrote the direct words on her toned stomach with bright red lipstick in a bid to gain the attention of Australian politicians. 

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SUFFICIENT PROMINENCE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (4:36am)

Margo Kingston was offended by earlier Daily Telegraph coverage of Peter Slipper’s legal issues: 
The Press Council has considered a complaint about an article in The Daily Telegraph on 13 December 2012, headed “Court rejects Slipper case”. The article reported a Federal Court decision on the previous day to dismiss as an abuse of process a legal action for sexual harassment brought against Peter Slipper MP by James Ashby. It appeared on page 17 of the newspaper and on the publication’s website.
Margo Kingston complained that the report of the dismissal on page 17 did not give it sufficient prominence… 
To make up for that lapse, today’s Daily Telegraph devotes its front page to Slipper’s latest courtroom drama. There is also an editorial. Curiously, ethical Margo hasn’t yet mentioned these developments herself.
UPDATE. Margo catches up.
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ONE WORD

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (4:01am)

Along with “so what?”, the question “why?” is always useful: 
The High Court case launched by 157 asylum seekers against the federal government has collapsed with a full bench hearing abandoned because of the government’s move to bring them to the mainland.
But lawyers acting for the Sri Lankan Tamils, mostly residents of India, have changed their case mid-stream, flagging the possibility of a new case to claim compensation against the government for keeping them at sea in a Customs vessel for three weeks …
Representing the asylum-seekers, Ronald Merkel, QC, told the court he wanted the statement of claim amended to include “damages for unlawful detention”.
His case sparked a flurry of questioning by Justice Kenneth Hayne, who asked “why?” 
As it happens, “so what?” and “why?” are also remarkably effective in demolishing global warming arguments.
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BEARS, CLOWNS, METH LABS

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (3:22am)

According to this chart, our friend Dave Burge is moving from the 17th scariest state in the US to the third scariest.
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FRIGHTBAT PROTOTYPE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 29, 2014 (3:18am)

Long before several of today’s frightbats had gained their wings, the way forward was shown by American screecherMaryscott O’Connor.
FRIGHTBAT POLL UPDATE. Lead change! Clementine Ford has restored her poll advantage. According to the latest figures, Cankles McBabystopper is now ahead of Margo Kingston by 5085 votes to 5076.
Under Australian Electoral Commission regulations, this may call for a bat-off.
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On 2GB tonight - mad sculptures for Sydney. And the rise again of Jew-hatred

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (4:56pm)

On with Steve Price from 8pm. Listen live here. Talkback:  131 873. 
Listen to all past shows here. 
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Mike Carlton: didn’t the Holocaust teach the Jews a lesson? UPDATE: Jew-hatred rising

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (2:25pm)

Many Jewish friends are alarmed by the vilification of Israel and of Jews. They are scared of the increased threats to Jews around the world. They are distressed by grotesque and sinister historical analogies with the Holocaust that seem driven by a wish to vilify Jews today or even to diminish the genocide of Jews yesterday.
And then along come a Mike Carlton, sneering and jeering:
Mike Carlton, The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday: 
IT is a breathtaking irony that these atrocities (in Gaza) can be committed by a people ... who hold the Warsaw Ghetto and the six million dead of the Holocaust at the centre of their race memory. 
Howard Jacobson, The Independent, February 18, 2009:
WHAT do we ... think we are doing when we call the Israelis Nazis and liken Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto? ... In the early 1940s some 100,000 Jews and Romanis died of engineered starvation and disease in the Warsaw Ghetto, another quarter of a million were transported to the death camps, and when the Ghetto rose up it was liquidated, the last 50,000 residents being either shot on the spot or ... murdered ... in Treblinka. Don’t mistake me: every Palestinian killed in Gaza is a Palestinian too many, but there is not the remotest similarity, either in intention or in deed — even in the most grossly misreported deed — between Gaza and Warsaw.
UPDATE
What is it about Islam that some of its most influential preachers urge others to kill? How safe is such a faith in the pluralistic West?
An imam in Berlin has been filmed praying for the annihilation of the Jews, asking Allah “not to spare a single one of them” during a sermon at a mosque.
MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, released the video of Sheik Abu Bilal Ismail giving his Friday sermon at the Al-Nur Mosque ...
After accusing Arab leaders of conspiring against the people of Gaza, which he praised as “the land of Jihad (holy war),” he said the Gazans were facing “the strongest war machine, the Zionist Jews, these criminals, these slayers of prophets, those who shed blood, those who kill children, those who turn women into widows.”
The film clip then jumps to another part of his sermon. “Oh Allah, destroy the Zionist Jews. They are no challenge for you,” the subtitles read. “Count them and kill them to the very last one. Don’t spare a single one of them. Shake the ground beneath their feet. Make them suffer terribly.”
The West’s intelligentsia can’t keep ignoring this kind of thing or excusing it as the natural reaction to “oppression”, whether of the West or the Jews - the usual scapegoats.
In Germany. the land of the Holocaust, the hatred has started again - but this time the slogans are usually in the mouths of the immigrants:
In Berlin: “Jew Jew cowardly pig, come outside and fight on your own!’”
Berlin: “Jews, sons of whores.”
Gelsenkirchen, at 4:55: “Hamas, Hamas, gas the Jews.”

UPDATE
Maybe some of the less irrational Greens will finally realise their party is playing with an implacable fire:
[The pro-Palestinian] Brisbane rally, also on Saturday, ... proved to be the most heated… and somewhat of a public relations disaster for the Greens.
Jake Schoermer, a young Green’s Candidate for the Queensland electorate of Indooroopilly in the 2015 state election, spoke at the rally.
He was not only drowned out by protestors, but had a shoe thrown at him after refusing to hand over the microphone…

“I’d like to note that Hamas’ actions in the recent conflict were also condemned by the UN,” Schoermer said, before being drowned out by protestors…
“But it should also be noted that I don’t believe Hamas’ actions speak for all Palestinians,” Schoermer yelled back at protestors.
It drew even louder boos from the crowd. And yet Schoermer ploughed on… As the crowd grew angrier, an organiser tried to step in and take the microphone…
That’s the point where Schoermer’s speech can no longer be heard above the crowd… followed shortly after by organisers turning off his microphone.
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Journalism academic Jenna Price is sick of seeing Abbott do so well

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (12:26pm)

Jenna Price is the undergraduate coordinator in the journalism school of the University of Technology, Sydney.

Attention, journalism students. Observe how a journalism academic observes the profession’s standards in her latest wild and error-riddled Abbott-bash:
But for 10 days now, Tony Abbott has focused just on those 39 [who died in MH17]. He’s done the job a politician ought to have done. And now he needs to turn to the rest of us.
It is not too soon for Abbott to pay attention to the 23 million, and it creeps me out every time I read or hear a commentator say how statesmanlike Abbott has become over this period.
Oh, did I mention Price really, really hates Tony Abbott? No wonder she is creeped out to hear him praised.
Because, the task of standing up for those who’ve died at the hands of terrorism is what could be described as a set piece.
This is what responsible adults do… Show me a world leader who wouldn’t have done precisely what Abbott did. Even the gormless ones made an attempt.
Er, false. Abbott actually set the lead for the other leaders. Dutch journalists were criticising their own Prime Minister for not being as strong. And note the tribute paid by the Dutch Foreign Minister to Julie Bishop, sent by Abbott to New York to whip the stragglers in behind a UN Security Council motion demanding an investigation and access to the crime scene: “Especially the personal commitment of Julie Bishop who made this possible. Without her, the resolution would not be carried today and adopted by the Security Council.”

Now, Prime Minister, let me speak to you privately for a moment. I absolutely applaud your achievements, but it is time to move on.
Note: Price doesn’t offer this advice because she really wants Abbott to do well. God, no. She offers this advice because he’s doing so well that she’s creeped out and wants him to “move on”. In fact, Price herself is desperate to move on to calling Abbott a murderer:
Not sure if you noticed the Galaxy polls. Most Australians say you have shown more leadership in response to the shooting down of MH17 than other leaders. Better than President Obama. Better than Prime Minister Cameron. You’ve been awesome in your opposition to murder (in the particular instance of murder for which you can’t be held responsible. You are not so awesome when responding to the murder of Reza Barati).
And now Price enters fantasy land - and contradiction country:
Even though you’ve done good work (not that I’d be sending more Australians into a war zone, really I wouldn’t), Australians still don’t think you would do a good job representing our interests overseas. They think Bill Shorten would do a better job.
Wait. Didn’t Price just say any world leader would have done “precisely what Abbott did” and that she “applauds” it? Yet now she suggests Abbott is going too far in sending our police and soldiers into a war zone. Yes, but no. Bob each way.
And it seems that Price isn’t speaking for the rest of Australia, to judge by today’s Newspoll, which has Abbott even with Shorten as preferred leader.
And even quiet old Bill is beating you now. Bill has been tilling the field, just hanging out at home, speaking to his party and the people of Australia. And he is so many points in front of you, I’m imagining you are finding it alarming.
Pardon? Bill Shorten has not “just being hanging out at home”. He actually spent last week in the United States on a leadership dialogue, speaking to Americans. It was Abbott who stayed home, not Shorten.
And, as I said, Newspoll has the two men now even.
It strikes me that Price consulted nothing but her prejudices is writing this. And she’s a journalism academic. How comfortable would conservatives students feel in the journalism school which employs her and the likes of fellow UTS journalism academic Wendy Bacon?
(Thanks to reader Paul.) 
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Reith: Bishop for PM

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (11:36am)

Peter Reith sells the leadership qualities of Julie Bishop:
The Coalition has not yet elected a female parliamentary leader but the day will come and it would not surprise me if it were Julie Bishop. But it would not be because she is female, nor because someone has written a book of her life story, but because she is a class act.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop have not only done a good job handling the tragedy of MH17 but have enhanced Australia’s standing in the world…
Needless to say, Tony Abbott has set the right tone and provided the leadership that was so needed given the reluctance in Europe and elsewhere. But the role taken by Julie Bishop may have repercussions not yet fully appreciated. Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, who has been respected around the world for his comments to the Security Council, paid our Foreign Minister this compliment in noting how Australia had taken the initiative for the successful MH17 resolution: “Especially the personal commitment of Julie Bishop who made this possible. Without her, the resolution would not be carried today and adopted by the Security Council.”
What is now evident is that Bishop is a totally professional and assured foreign minister. She is already on par internationally with Gareth Evans and, more recently, Alexander Downer. The first thing to say is that she has not put a foot wrong from day one. She started with more than her fair share of tricky problems but she did a good job managing Australian relations with Indonesia, especially at a time of tension following revelations of Labor’s spying on the Indonesians and the thorny matter of asylum boats.
Bishop has some good qualities. She is consultative. She does not have too high an opinion of herself – a common flaw in politics. She can be feisty in her own polite way. A reliable source recounted to me that when, still in opposition, Tony Abbott announced on the ABC’s 7.30, without any consultation with the shadow cabinet, that the Coalition would abandon its support for individual contracts, she was the first person to Abbott’s office to confront him when he got back from the studio. She gave it to him with both barrels for his failure to consult and for abandoning a long-standing Coalition policy.
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Breivik, sceptics - warmist Anne Manne draws the links

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (10:51am)

Global warming - propaganda

A madman slaughtering 77 people and sceptics “denying” apocalyptic man-made warming - you get the obvious connection:
IN the wake of the 2011 Norway massacre, in which Anders Breivik killed 77 people (69 of them on the island of Utoya), a small and unseemly argument broke out among the commentariat about whether the killer’s actions constituted terrorism…

For Melbourne writer Anne Manne, author of The Life of I, this debate now has a general resonance. Before standing trial, Breivik was diagnosed with concurrent narcissistic personality disorder and anti-social personality disorder. Since all the evidence appears to suggest narcissism is on the rise, especially among American youths, it is thus a matter of some urgency to explore the relationship between psychology and culture as it plays itself out in this particular arena…
In her final chapter, Manne suggests that narcissism is even mapped into the debate on climate change and that a failure to put the needs of others on a par with our own is a calamity in progress. As she puts it: “The omnipresent danger, the implication of a more narcissistic society, is that rather than change direction, questioning the way we live now, we will prefer a technological fix consistent with preserving the life of the consumer.”
Wow.
(Thanks to reader Richard.) 
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Daniel Andrews pleads astonishing ignorance

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (8:31am)

Amazing. It seems everyone but the boss himself had their fingers on the stolen recording or its transcript:
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has denied any role in the theft or leaking of the stolen Age recordings, despite admitting that his own chief of staff and senior Labor officials listened to, copied and then destroyed the original dictaphone audio…

On Monday, ALP Assistant Secretary Kosmos Samaras admitted to listening to the tape after it was handed into lost property at the Labor state conference in May…
After he listened to it, copies were made and played to Mr Andrews’ chief of staff John McLindon and ALP state secretary Noah Carroll. Mr Andrews’ press secretary Chris Reilly ferried a copy of the audio to Mr McLindon but did not listen to it.
After seeking legal advice from Slater and Gordon, it was decided not to release the tapes. A decision was later made to destroy the audio and recorder.
How strange. How convenient.
His chief of staff did not tell Daniel Andrews about the tape.
His press secretary did not tell Daniel Andrews about the tape.
His party’s secretary did not tell Daniel Andrews about the tape.
His party’s assistant secretary did not tell Daniel Andrews about the tape.
His party’s lawyers did not tell Daniel Andrews about the tape.
Is Daniel Andrews telling the truth, or does he really not have a clue what his team does when he’s not in the room? 
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Abbott soars in poll, but Labor still way ahead

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (8:13am)

Tony Abbott has shown he’s a leader abroad. But Newspoll confirms voters need to see him leading at home:
The 12-point leap in the Prime Minister’s net satisfaction rating is short of John Howard’s record gains after the September 11 and Bali bombing terror attacks, but has given Mr Abbott his best personal poll results since April…
There has been virtually no change in the standing of the parties in the past fortnight, with the Coalition and Labor both recording a primary vote of 36 per cent, the Greens on 12 per cent and others and independents, including Clive Palmer’s party, at 16 per cent. The two-party-preferred vote is unchanged, with Labor holding its commanding lead of 54 per cent to 46 per cent.
The sample is small, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if the gap were actually a little narrower.
I’d suggest Abbott quietly negotiate some kind of compromise on the Budget with the crossbenchers, strip down his ambit claims and just get a deal done.  Then move on to governing. Do it fast, when it seems of a piece with this problem-solving Abbott. 
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Will Mark Butler be monstered as was Tony Abbott, or was the “calm down” fuss the stunt it seemed?

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (7:41am)

Remember the cynical beat up of Tony Abbott’s response to heckling from Guardian journalist Bridie Jabour?
QUESTION:
You just repeated your lines over and over again to me you haven’t answered any questions.
TONY ABBOTT:
Calm down. Gary Gray looked at this matter two years ago. He said there’s nothing to see here. Ok. Next question.
Ho hum:
Complaints about Abbott’s language? Thousands.
Jabour ‘s #calmdownbridie hashtag was blitzed by tweeters and Labor shrills. The usual suspects in the Canberra press gallery filed chin-stroking reports on this latest example of Abbott’s alleged sexism.
Reader Steve was watching Q&A last night and is waiting for the same outrage to be hurled at Labors’ environment spokesman, Mark Butler:
Mark Butler told Madonna King to ‘settle down’.
Will he be branded a misogynist?
Will the ABC go into meltdown for a week?
Will Sarah Sea Patrol call him a creep?
Will Tania Havasulk suggest he is not fit to govern?
Crickets chirping.
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End this RET rort now

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (7:35am)

Nick Cater on the great renewable energy target rip-off:
Wind farms may be ugly but they are certainly not cheap, nor is the electricity that trickles from them. No one in their right minds would buy one if they had to sell power for $30 to $40 a megawatt hour, the going rate for conventional producers.
But since the retailers are forced to buy a proportion of renewable power, the windmill mafia can charge two to three times that price, a practice that in any other market would be known as price gouging.
As if a $60 premium were not reward enough, the transaction is further sweetened with a renewable energy certificate that they can sell to energy producers who insist on generating power in a more disreputable manner.
The going rate of $40 a megawatt hour means the total income per megawatt for wind farms is three to five times that of conventional power, and unless the government changes the scheme that return is only going to get better.
In an act of rent-seeking genius, the renewable lobby managed to persuade the Rudd government to set the 2020 target as a quantity — 41 terawatt hours — rather than 20 per cent of overall power as originally proposed.
Since the target was set, the energy generation forecast for 2020 has fallen substantially, meaning the locked-in renewable target is now more like 28 per cent.
That will send conventional producers scrambling for certificates, pushing up their price beyond $100. It’s a mouth-watering prospect for the merchant bankers and venture capitalists who were smart enough to jump on board, ... but of little or any benefit to the planet.
The cost of this speculative ­financial picnic will be about $17 billion by 2030 or thereabouts, ­according to Deloitte, which produced a report on the messy business last week.
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Driving miners overseas will cripple us

Andrew Bolt July 29 2014 (7:19am)

My bet is that the warning and the facts will be ignored, the sledging will resume and we will be left with less wealth and fewer jobs:
MINING magnate Gina Rinehart says the high cost of doing business in Australia is driving some multinational companies to pursue overseas projects that have the potential to further damage the country’s export revenue…
“For instance, Rio Tinto, which has been in Australia for decades, and made most of its revenue from Australia, is now arranging multi-billions of dollars of investment for a major resource project with substantial infrastructure in ­Guinea in Africa.

“When that’s operating, it will bring billions of tonnes of ore on to the market to compete against Australia, and push down commodity prices. Too few seem to recognise the impact this will have when we are competing with lower-cost countries and how it will hurt Australia for decades.”
Mrs Rinehart said Rio Tinto, Hancock’s partner in the giant Hope Downs iron ore project in Western Australia, should not be singled out, saying the nation must do more “to lower its costs and compete for investment”.
McKinsey & Co analysis released yesterday by the Business Council Australia ranked mining and energy as one of only three sectors of the economy where Australia enjoys an international competitive advantage.
However, the BCA warned the competitiveness of the nation’s resources sector had “declined over the last decade … soaring costs of inputs, relatively low labour productivity and regulatory delays have caused capital costs to blow out and projects to be delayed,” the council says in a landmark ­report, Building Australia’s comparative advantages, released ­yesterday.
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she can see how I see her


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It makes sense the burial was hidden near a known plot - ed
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even without the harassment, getting drunk and passing out is a sad indication of elevated risk of childhood death. - ed
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An election nears .. otherwise this tired issue would never be raised - ed
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Chilling headline missing substantive detail which would make it less sinister
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Hard to hide talent
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PHOTOGRAPHY business PixiFoto will sack more than 300 of its workers after its parent company plunged into administration late last week.
Sad, I liked that business .. they took good school photos - ed
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SF Cable Car Spin — at Powell Street Cable Car Turn Around.
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Australian Prime Minister Amazingly ignorant on Climate Matters

In the campaign leading up to his first incarnation as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described "Climate Change" as ""the greatest moral, economic and social challenge of our time." Why is it, then that he is so ignorant on "climate change." In an interview with Andrew Bolt, he displayed amazing ignorance on 'climate change.' Interview link.
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ITAMAR SLAUGHTERS :: Release of Fogel Family Killers (VIDEO)
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/07/28/israel-cabinet-approves-prisoner-release-plan-pm-netanyahu-says-tough-decision-as-citizens-protest-and-minister-warns-of-release-of-fogel-family-killers-video/
Why did Obama want them released? - ed
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It’s one thing to re-write history, but quite another to pretend as if a major historical event – involving a well-documented case of ethnic cleansing – never occurred.
A July 25th edition of the Guardian’s Data Blog, edited by Mona Chalabi, was titled ‘What happened to history’s refugees?‘  Here’s the strapline:
People have been forced to leave their countries since the very notion of a country was created. We take a look at some of the largest human movements in history to find out why people left their homes, where they went and what became of them.
This ambitious project includes Israelites: Canaan (740 BC), Edict of Fontainebleau (France 1685), Muhacirs (Ottoman Empire 1783), Pogroms (Russia 1881), WWI (Europe 1914), WWII (Europe 1945), Nakba (Palestine 1948), and others.
Regarding the “Nakba”, here’s their remarkably skewed narrative:
Nowhere are numbers on refugees more contentious than the 1948 Palestinian exodus. An attack by a Zionist military group on an Arab village realised the Palestinians’ worst fears and combined with Zionist expulsion orders, military advances, virtually non-existent Palestinian leadership and unwillingness to live under Jewish control on their homeland. The result was a mass exodus of around 80% of Arabs on the land that was to become Israel. Later absentees property law in Israel would prevent the return of those Arabs. Nakba, meaning “catastrophe” is commemorated on 15 May each year. The UN set up a special agency, UNRWA, to deal with the enormous numbers of refugees requiring assistance that now number around 5 million.
There are so many omissions, misleading and flatly untrue claims about their tale of the flight of Palestinians, but, suffice to say that, in reading the summary, you could be forgiven for not knowing that there was even an Arab-Israel War in the first place – a war of aggression against the nascent Jewish state without which there wouldn’t have been a refugee problem.  However, this isn’t at all the most egregious historical error in the piece.
The Guardian then proceeds, from the “Nakba”, to the next refugee crisis: Idi Amin’s Order (Uganda 1972).omission
Did you notice an historical omission?  
The Guardian completely whitewashed the expulsion of hundreds of thousands ofJews from Arab lands between 1948 and 1972.

Jews expelled from Jordan
Jewish Refugees, 1948
As the site of JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) explains:
…under the heavy weight of Anti-Jewish governments and policy, nearly one million Jews [beginning in 1948] from the Middle East and North Africa had their property confiscated, basic human rights stripped, and were systematically persecuted and victimized. Ultimately these Jews were forced to flee their homes and surrender their nationalities, becoming the “Forgotten Refugees” of the Middle East and North Africa.
Revisionist history of the Middle East conveniently excludes the fact that over half of Israel’s Jewish population live there not because European atrocities during World War II, but because of Anti-Jewish Arab governments who dispossessed and displaced their native Jewish populations following the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Adopted narratives of the Arab-Israeli conflict fail to address the fact that Israel was the largest refugee camp in the Middle East, providing safe haven to…dispossessed Middle Eastern and North African Jewish refugees whose ancestors had a continuous presence in the region for over 3,000 years.
JIMENA reminds us that, though “UN Resolution 242 asserted that Jews fleeing Arab countries were ‘bona fide’ refugees” the international community, the media and educational systems have continuously ignored their plight.
Of the 800,000 or so Jewish refugees between 1948 and 1972, more than 200,000 found refuge in Europe and North America while 586,000 were resettled in Israel, ”without any compensation from the Arab governments who had confiscated their possessions.” Further, unlike Palestinian refugees who were displaced by war, a definitive report, co-authored by Irwin Cotler, concluded  that Jews’ expulsion was part of an intentional and coordinated effort by Arab rulers:
These massive human rights violations were not events that occurred coincidently or haphazardly; nor were they the result only of state-sanctioned patterns of repression in each of the Arab countries, though this would be bad enough; rather, as the evidence discloses, they were the result of an international criminal conspiracy by the League of Arab States to target and persecute the Jewish populations in their respective countries.
It’s one thing to parrot the Palestinian narrative of the “Nakba”, but what the Guardian did was to completely erase from the historical record the well-documented (and completely undisputed) forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews.
The Guardian’s ideologically inspired animosity towards the Jewish state has crossed a line, and the paper’s editors need to be held accountable for such completely ahistorical propaganda.
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Published on Jul 17, 2013
It is generally thought that the systematic diplomatic attacks against Israel in international institutions, many times through outright lies, are unfortunate, but they are really Israel's problem. However, ultimately over time they erode the credibility of bodies like the UN, which often embrace these false charges, only to find later that they are baseless. In the meantime, other, more pressing, international conflicts are completely ignored. This video graphically presents the problem.

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Good news for a change about ISRAEL'S FUTURE –

GAS - Israel's recent discovery of mega gas fields titled Tamar and Leviathan are located off the Israeli coast from Haifa. These massive discoveries will soon transform Israel as they will adequately look after Israel's domestic needs forever and thereafter to supply foreign markets. A number of countries are pursuing involvement in these finds. Among them are Russia, China, Europe and South Korea. Putin was in Israel two months ago pursuing a contractual relationship with Israel on its gas development projects. Nothing has been signed yet. Tamar is due to come online sometime in 2013 and Leviathan to follow in early 2014. Additional target areas are being explored all the way down the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The likelihood is that a pipeline from the gas discovery area will be built to Cyprus and on to Greece. This will help Greece with some of its financial troubles. It is expected there will be a plant built to liquefy the gas at the Greek end of the underwater pipeline.

OIL - geologists have recently completed a large mapping of most of southern Israel and preliminary findings indicate there are vast amounts of oil trapped in rock layers under about 15% of the State of Israel. This shale oil is technically difficult to extract but Israel and the companies involved are becoming very familiar with the methodology to extract this oil called ‘fracking’. Retired Canadian experts in this system are now resident in Israel working on this huge project.

The World Energy Council and Israel Energy Initiatives have completed a detailed study and presented it to the government on their estimates of Israel's shale oil potential. They estimate that Israel's shale reserves could contain as much as 250 billion barrels of potentially recoverable oil. This would be putting Israel on a par with Saudi Arabia in terms of its oil reserves!

Israeli planners believe that if the gas and oil finds reach the levels that the potential indicates, Israel's current group of allies, trading partners and opponents could drastically change. Israel's geo-political standing in the world will also change. It’s amazing what friends can be made when you have oil and gas to export!

MED-RED RAILWAY -China is in very serious negotiation (contracts have been exchanged) - the Chinese will build and finance most of a high speed railway from Eilat to Ashdod. This would allow tankers and freighters to avoid the Suez Canal as well as cut the time frame from canal usage in half, by using the railway. This is a huge development for Israel as it will open up the Negev, which was always the dream of David Ben Gurion. It would not be surprising that a major announcement on this development with all its details, should be expected by mid 2013.

CHINESE INVESTMENT IN ISRAEL - The Chinese Government, while they are negotiating the Med-Red Railway, have made it clear to Israel that they have a multi-billion dollar fund that they would put to use, to fund Israeli hi-tech start-ups and companies needing mezzanine financing. The Israeli Government is very amenable to this opportunity, and the Chinese have already agreed to the stringent conditions that Israel wants to apply on any of the investments. Look for an announcement on this in 2013.

You should be aware that the Israeli Government and various Agrarian companies are extremely busy today in China - assisting the Chinese with their need to get much more production out of their land, while following the Israeli system of water economy. Further, the Chinese are learning every possible method Israel has on how to maximize milk production, and other elements necessary for the Chinese to raise the level of feeding their huge population.This relationship is being very well received by the Chinese and its government.

ALIYAH - Numerous European countries are seeing their Jewish populations diminishing because of a resurgence of anti-Semitism and violence against their Jewish communities. Islam is on the march in many of the European countries. In particular, sizable numbers of French, British and smaller numbers of Jews from other EU countries, have left or are in the process of going to Israel. The Jewish Agency for Israel is planning for a significant aliyah to continue as well as increase over time with Jews leaving Ukraine and Russia.

Again the planning of the Jewish Agency indicates that Ben Gurion’s dream of large communities in the Negev is now nearer to realization than ever before. Hi-tech companies are being offered significant inducements by the government to establish their campuses and their R&D facilities in communities being formed in the Negev. Currently the hi-tech campuses are extremely crowded in an area south of Tel Aviv. Bear in mind that nothing is far in Israel.

EMP (Electromagnetic impulses) - The magnitude of this enormous devastating project is hard to fathom. Whoever develops this will have a commanding position facing any adversary. EMP could cripple a country by shutting down its electronics. It uses non-lethal gamma energy to react with the magnetic field and produces a powerful shock wave that can devastate any power grid and communications system. Although I tried, I could not get any kind of comment regarding an Israeli involvement. All I got were small, relatively short smiles.

CONCLUSION - The problems of Iran and the Palestinian State and a horrible neighbourhood need to be dealt with Israeli resolve. Assuming all of the things described previously like oil, gas, Chinese investment, Med-Red Railway, as well as things still to be developed, the future for Israel is extremely bright. The IDF, the IAF, the MOSSAD, the SHIN-BET, the AMAN, are amongst the best of their kind in the world and will do their utmost to safeguard the State of Israel and the Jewish people wherever they are to be found.
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Nevada
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The processing centre at Christmas Island is being manipulated by corrupt Iranian and Afghani interpreters who advise the army deserters to say they are lowly farmers.
Australian Officials, suspicious of their claims, have been jetting these dodgy detainees in their hundreds to the infamous Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia.
The Centre, described as the "Hell Hole" is in a remote area 2,000, kilometres north of Perth.
Designed to hold 1400 of the most violent and suspect detainees, it was recently all but vacated after the disease Guillain-Barré syndrome broke out affecting locals.
In April 2010, the Rudd government decided to reopen the "horror centre" for what he termed "single male asylum seekers", and those who fall within the category of, "do not process".
In charge of security is Serco Plc, a UK publicly listed company, the Asia-Pacific arm of which has been contracted to the Australian Government.
It has each Australian employee on signed confidentiality agreements.
Serco has usurped billions of Australian taxpayer funds, mostly wasted on renting material and white goods that could be purchased outright for the cost of one week’s rent.
Marquees and air conditioning units are ready and rented at $10,000 per week in lots of ten to cater for the expected overflow from Christmas Island.
At least three passenger airliners are chartered permanently to shuffle detainees between centres. As few as three detainees at a time are flown into the Curtin Centre, claimed one employee.
Describing their company Serco Plc said: "We provide catering, recreation, education and excursions, manage accommodation, facilities, maintenance, transport and logistics, security, training and procurement. Our employees look after thousands of people in locations all over Australia, responding to their cultural, religious and individual needs." Mmmm.
Of most concern is the whereabouts of the 1,000 unprocessed illegal Curtin detainees who have now been dispersed to Australian cities.
"These blokes are rock-hard fit and looking for trouble", said one Curtin employee.
Sam (not her real name) is a small part Aboriginal girl once employed by Serco.
She is too frightened to talk but an angry relative explained that Sam’s job was to escort groups of these men to Canberra and Melbourne.
They were taken to holding centres before being given bridging visas and were then dispersed into the community, legally unable to work.
After six trips Sam resigned because of the sexual abuse she suffered. Traumatised, she is now living back with her family in Derby.
Enquires from Derby to Broome, including Police stations have been met with a terse "no comment."
"Waste is rampant", said one local. "Tradespeople are charging up to $10 a kilometre to drive to and from the Centre to fix a washer on a tap.
"I was charging $2 a kilometre until I found out what the other guys were charging, so I put my bill in at $10 per kilometre and they never said a word, they seem to just pay whatever you invoice them for.
"If one (of the detainees) gets a toothache or anything, someone has to come out from Derby and take them back for treatment. It’s often hours waiting before they are ready to go back."
"We are not allowed phones there", said another ex-employee, "but I tested the phones available to the detainees and I could phone anywhere in the world."
Another informant said that the local Derby refrigeration store, Lindsay Howard, was robbed of thousands of dollars of equipment which somehow found its way to the Curtin Centre on rental agreements. "Nothing came of it", he said.
"It seems this Serco mob spends more time covering stuff up than doing their job here."
So us Aussies can look forward to another tranche of thousands of Islamic Afghani army deserters soon to be scattered unprocessed throughout our communities.
Meanwhile, the Gillard Government equivocates over whether legitimate Afghani interpreters, currently risking their lives to assist our army in Afghanistan, should be allowed entry.
They are marked men once we leave.
Bloody good eh?
Asylum seekers, my arse! - Larry Pickering
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Even accepting his claims .. his story is ugly. He is 8 years older than the minor he impregnated and he was beating her because he 'had' to? - ed
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Me: Dad, the blanket is too pink, why did she buy her step son a really plush, yet pink blanket?
Dad: She's trying to impress you Sam, use it... now!
Me: But it looks... well... Gay... ish
Dad: what's gay?
Me: Nevermind.
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Battle of Kleidion
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 3:14 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee."
Psalm 73:22
Remember this is the confession of the man after God's own heart; and in telling us his inner life, he writes, "So foolish was I, and ignorant." The word "foolish," here, means more than it signifies in ordinary language. David, in a former verse of the Psalm, writes, "I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," which shows that the folly he intended had sin in it. He puts himself down as being thus "foolish," and adds a word which is to give intensity to it; "so foolish was I." How foolish he could not tell. It was a sinful folly, a folly which was not to be excused by frailty, but to be condemned because of its perverseness and wilful ignorance, for he had been envious of the present prosperity of the ungodly, forgetful of the dreadful end awaiting all such. And are we better than David that we should call ourselves wise! Do we profess that we have attained perfection, or to have been so chastened that the rod has taken all our wilfulness out of us? Ah, this were pride indeed! If David was foolish, how foolish should we be in our own esteem if we could but see ourselves! Look back, believer: think of your doubting God when he has been so faithful to you--think of your foolish outcry of "Not so, my Father," when he crossed his hands in affliction to give you the larger blessing; think of the many times when you have read his providences in the dark, misinterpreted his dispensations, and groaned out, "All these things are against me," when they are all working together for your good! Think how often you have chosen sin because of its pleasure, when indeed, that pleasure was a root of bitterness to you! Surely if we know our own heart we must plead guilty to the indictment of a sinful folly; and conscious of this "foolishness," we must make David's consequent resolve our own--"Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel."

Evening

"Who went about doing good."
Acts 10:38
Few words, but yet an exquisite miniature of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are not many touches, but they are the strokes of a master's pencil. Of the Saviour and only of the Saviour is it true in the fullest, broadest, and most unqualified sense. "He went about doing good." From this description it is evident that he did good personally. The evangelists constantly tell us that he touched the leper with his own finger, that he anointed the eyes of the blind, and that in cases where he was asked to speak the word only at a distance, he did not usually comply, but went himself to the sick bed, and there personally wrought the cure. A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word, will enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his soul; your loving appeal will have more influence than a whole library of tracts. Our Lord's mode of doing good sets forth his incessant activity! He did not only the good which came close to hand, but he "went about" on his errands of mercy. Throughout the whole land of Judea there was scarcely a village or a hamlet which was not gladdened by the sight of him. How this reproves the creeping, loitering manner, in which many professors serve the Lord. Let us gird up the loins of our mind, and be not weary in well doing. Does not the text imply that Jesus Christ went out of his way to do good? "He went about doing good." He was never deterred by danger or difficulty. He sought out the objects of his gracious intentions. So must we. If old plans will not answer, we must try new ones, for fresh experiments sometimes achieve more than regular methods. Christ's perseverance, and the unity of his purpose, are also hinted at, and the practical application of the subject may be summed up in the words, "He hath left us an example that we should follow in his steps."
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Today's reading: Psalm 46-48, Acts 28 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 46-48

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 28

Paul Ashore on Malta
1 Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live." 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god....
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Gad

[Găd] - good fortune, a troop or a seer.
1. The seventh son of Jacob, first-born of Zilpah, Leah's maid, and full brother of Asher. A tribe also sprang from Gad (Gen. 30:11; 35:26; 46:16; 49:19; Exod. 1:4; 1 Chron. 5:11; 12:14).

The Man of Enlargement

No name in all the twelve tribes of Israel is so much played upon in Jacob's blessing as the name of Gad, meaning "a troop." Invaders and robbers might try to plunder Gad but victory would be his with resultant enlargement. Jacob predicted for the tribe of Gad a time of sore conflict, yet of final conquest. "He shall overcome at last." God enabled Gad to discomfit and defeat his foes (1 Chron. 5:18-22).
The men of Gad had faces like "the faces of lions," and when David needed help, the Gadites of lion-like character befriended the fugitive king. "They put to flight all them of the valleys, both of the east and of the west." These Gadite helpers of David "executed the justice of the Lord, and His judgments with Israel." Jephthah the Gileadite, of the tribe of Gad, judged Israel six years after delivering the nation from Ammonite oppression.
How fortunate Gad was to have God to enlarge him! "The place where we dwell... is too strait for us." Such an energetic, aggressive tribe could not remain static, so their inheritance was extended beyond its original limits until it covered the whole of Gilead. How loathe we are to possess our spiritual possessions! May ours be the enlargements of heart David prayed for (Ps. 119:32)! May ours also be the constant victorious Christian experience!
2. The prophet who joined David when in "the hold," and through whose advice he left it for the forest of Hareth ( 1 Sam. 22:5; 2 Sam. 24:11-19; 1 Chron. 21:9-19; 2 Chron. 29:25). Gad, "the king's seer," announced God's judgment upon David for numbering the people. "The arm of flesh will fail us, we dare not trust our own." Gad the prophet advised the erection of the altar, and is also before us as an associate of the prophet Nathan.
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