Wed Nov 12th Todays News

Drugging children

The drug issue with those wishing to make it available to children is prevalent, more so because the ALP are no longer in government and so can promise anything as they have done in the past. The conservative view is that zero tolerance is the best, most compassionate way of dealing with drugs. Addictive, brain shrinking drugs kill users and ruin their lives. They have no beneficial side effects. Rudd acted quickly when elected in '07 to put forward the alternative of harm minimisation for users. The Harm minimisation theory has it that people will take drugs anyway and so greater knowledge and experience of drugs will mean that the damage done by drugs will be made smaller. But drugs and drug dealers don't work that way. Drug dealers are really keen to legalise Marijuana at the moment, but they take no responsibility for the damage done. One argument is related to medical marijuana, which is a separate issue. Basically, dealers want to make money. They will not pay for associated damage to the lives of users. Recently, a 19 year old university student, Georgina, took one and a half ecstasy tablets and died from the drugs. She was at a party where the drugs were prevalent. Harm minimisation infrastructure was available and acted quickly. Somewhere, some time, the lessons learned and taught regarding zero tolerance have been sidelined. Hopefully Georgina's life will speak so that others do not die this way. 

The ABC and the Left

The ABC is left wing and very politically charged. They campaign for the ALP and Greens and often are disgustingly rude to any conservative politician. They aren't supposed to be biased, according to their charter they are supposed to be balanced. But how dare they attack victims of MH17 as part of an unhinged attack on Mr Abbott. Mr Abbott had said he would 'shirtfront' Mr Putin. He had indicated he would squarely face Mr Putin and remind him of Russia's involvement with the shooting down of the airline. ABC chose instead to believe that Mr Abbott would attempt an AFL style tackle on Mr Putin. They claimed it was very confusing for them. But Mr Abbott was as good as his word, and he faced Mr Putin and got the correct reply too. Putin didn't point to that, which would be undiplomatic, but Ukraine has questions to answer over the tragedy. But all that mattered to the ABC, despite the grief of suffering loved ones who want answers, is that they had a joke. Thirty eight Australians died on MH17, and clearly Australia has a vested interest in a resolution to the tragedy caused by the Ukraine and Russian separatists fighting on Washington's behalf. So Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is asked what he would say to Mr Putin about the issue. "Nothing" Mr Shorten replied. Maybe he didn't wish to fall for the joke. 

Meanwhile the ABC is exhorting activists to riot to the right tune in Brisbane. They have already managed to cheer on a man to punching a female security guard in the face. He has successfully made his voice heard. 

International nut houses

Washington National Cathedral will host an Islamic prayer service sponsored by two organisations supporting Sharia Law. 

Obama promises China to weaken the US, but probably doesn't have congressional support. Obama's plan is to allow China to raise emissions for 16 years while restricting US emissions. Meanwhile St Cloud Minnesota beat a record set in 1898 with 13.2 inches of snow in one day. 

Local nut houses

Racing horses is dangerous, but racing frightbats? Frightbats are far more colourful than horses and very outspoken about the dangers they face in everyday life. It could revive a sport suffering from having to deal with animals that the public is sympathetic to. 

Sarah Hanson Young has not always been a well remunerated backer of drowning boat people. Back in her university days, she vociferously spoke her mind. Apparently she didn't think a lot about the opinions she gave, back then. 

Australian of the year Adam Goodes apparently does not like Australia. He feels that Australia is built on lies and subjugation of minorities. With respect, he is wrong, but his education is so bad as a result of what is taught. He was clearly a good student but a lousy judge of character. But Goodes is no fool, the Myth of a stolen generation is everywhere. Spread by those who hate those who love. Those who praise dysfunction would condemn children to the current state of 19.48% experiencing child sexual abuse. Although the percentage is probably an understated figure.

Historical perspective on this day

In 1028, future Byzantine empress Zoe took the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros. In 1330, Battle of Posada, Wallachian Voievode Basarab I defeated the Hungarian army in an ambush. In 1439, Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament. In 1555, the English Parliament re-established Catholicism. In 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno landed at and named San Diego, California. In 1793, Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, was guillotined.

In 1892, William "Pudge" Heffelfinger became the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association. In 1893, the treaty of the Durand Line delineating the border between present day Pakistan and Afghanistan was signed by Sir Mortimer Durand, a British diplomat in British India, and the Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan; the Durand Line has gained international recognition as an international border between the two nations. In 1905, Norway holds a referendum in favor of monarchy over republic. In 1912, King George I of Greece made a triumphal entry into Thessaloniki after its liberation from 482 years of Ottoman rule. Also in 1912, the frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. In 1918, Austria became a republic. In 1920, Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo. In 1927,  Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union. In 1928, SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned. In 1933, Hugh Gray took the first known photos alleged to be of the Loch Ness Monster. In 1936, in California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic.In 1940, World War II: The Battle of Gabon ends as Free French Forces take Libreville, Gabon, and all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy French forces.Also in 1940, World War II: Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrives in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers. In 1941, World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C as the Soviet Union launched ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city. Also in 1941, World War II: The Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina was destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol. In 1942, World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasted for three days and ended with an American victory. In 1944, World War II: The Royal Air Force launched 29 Avro Lancaster bombers, which sank the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway. In 1945, Sudirman is elected the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces. In 1948, in Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentenced seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.

In 1956,  Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations. Also in 1956, in the midst of the Suez Crisis, Palestinian refugees are shot dead in the village of Rafah by Israeli soldiers following the invasion of the Gaza Strip. In 1958, a team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completed the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. In 1968, Equatorial Guinea joined the United Nations. In 1969, Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre – Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the My Lai story. In 1970, the Oregon Highway Division attempted to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident. Also in 1970, the 1970 Bhola cyclone made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history. In 1971, Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, US President Richard Nixon set February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam. In 1975, the Comoros joined the United Nations. In 1978, Pope John Paul II took possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, as the Bishop of Rome. In 1979,  Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter ordered a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran. In 1980, the NASA space probe Voyager I made its closest approach to Saturn and took the first images of its rings. In 1981,  Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marked the first time a manned spacecraft was launched into space twice. In 1982, in the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov became the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.

In 1990, Crown Prince Akihito was formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch. Also in 1990, Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for the World Wide Web. In 1991, Santa Cruz massacre: Indonesian forces open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor. In 1993, the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, UFC 1, was held in Denver, Colorado. In 1996, a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349. The deadliest mid-air collision to date. In 1997, Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In 1999, the Düzce earthquake struck Turkey with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale. In 2001, in New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashed minutes after take-off from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground. Also in 2001, Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandoned Kabul, Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops. In 2003, Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base. In 2003,  Shanghai Transrapid set a new world speed record (501 kilometres per hour (311 mph)) for commercial railway systems, which remain the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles. In 2011, Silvio Berlusconi tendered his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the European sovereign debt crisis.

from 2013

ALP are big on abuse and excuse. 'Electricity' Bill Shorten today said the Abbott government had inflamed a diplomatic incident with Indonesia. Fact checkers at the ABC will be slow off the mark. They note Abbott referred to Gillard's corrupt activity. But they won't notice the foreign policy debacles that Shorten's ALP oversaw and created under Gillard and Rudd. From Rudd's beginning in late '07, when he nearly caused the assassination and kidnap of Timorise leaders. Or antagonising India, Japan, US, Malaysia, Indonesia and many others on a host of issues. But it suggests Abbott has antagonised Indonesia .. which isn't even true. Indonesia has appropriately been reminded of its duty. Nothing wrong with that. If Indonesia don't want the responsibility, they shouldn't be in government. 
One wonders at the artistic use Assange applies to the word 'Consent.' Only the incompetent penis knows. A real artist knows the value of words .. and threats. One wonders how many Fairfax journalists earn generous four figure salaries? Not many. In fact I don't think anyone outside the ALP typing pool does. 
Clive Palmer shows himself to be a buffoon. Relating a Kennedy speech on Marxism. Only death prevented Kennedy from being recognised as a worse President than Carter. A death related to an accident from his secret service firing a dum-dum into Kennedy's fragile brain. But what can be said of Pliberseck being paid to visit her constituents with her family at a pleasure resort? In a word, 'rort.'
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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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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

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR

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.
===

Happy birthday and many happy returns to those born on this day, across the years, along with

• 1528 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
• 1817 – Bahá'u'lláh, Persian spiritual leader, founded the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1892)
• 1840 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor, created The Thinker (d. 1917)
• 1889 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader's Digest (d. 1981)
• 1929 – Grace Kelly, American actress (d. 1982)
• 1945 – Neil Young, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Squires,The Mynah Birds, Northern Lights, and The Ducks)
• 1979 – Cote de Pablo, Chilean actress
• 1980 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor and singer (Dead Man's Bones)
• 1982 – Anne Hathaway, American actress
• 1994 – Anna Khnychenkova, Ukrainian figure skater

November 12: Birth of Bahá'u'lláh, a holy day in the Bahá'í Faith

• 1330 – Led by voivode Basarab I, Wallachian forces defeated the Hungarian army in an ambush at the Battle of Posada.
• 1892 – William Heffelfinger (pictured) was paid $525 by the Allegheny Athletic Association, becoming the first professional American football player on record.
• 1944 – Second World War: The Royal Air Force sank the German battleship Tirpitz on the ninth attempt, resulting in about 1,000 deaths of the sailors on board.
• 1996 – A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakhstan Airlines cargo plane collided in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349 people.
• 2006 – Although the Georgian government declared it illegal, South Ossetia held a referendum on independence, with about 99 percent of voters supporting, to preserve the region's status as a de facto independent state.

The hungry army was defeated. We are professionals. It is sunk. Meetings should be avoided. We voted independence. Let's party. 
Matches

• 1028 – Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros.
• 1330 – Battle of Posada, Wallachian Voievode Basarab I defeats the Hungarian army in an ambush.
• 1439 – Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
• 1555 – The English Parliament re-establishes Catholicism.
• 1602 – Sebastián Vizcaíno lands at and names San Diego, California.
• 1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is guillotined.
• 1892 – William "Pudge" Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
• 1893 – The treaty of the Durand Line delineating the border between present day Pakistan and Afghanistan is signed by Sir Mortimer Durand, a British diplomat in British India, and the Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan; the Durand Line has gained international recognition as an international border between the two nations.
• 1905 – Norway holds a referendum in favor of monarchy over republic.
• 1912 – King George I of Greece makes a triumphal entry into Thessaloniki after its liberation from 482 years of Ottoman rule.
• 1912 – The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
• 1918 – Austria becomes a republic.
• 1920 – Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
• 1927 – Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
• 1928 – SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.
• 1933 – Hugh Gray takes the first known photos alleged to be of the Loch Ness Monster.
• 1936 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
• 1940 – World War II: The Battle of Gabon ends as Free French Forces take Libreville, Gabon, and all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy French forces.
• 1940 – World War II: Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrives in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers.
• 1941 – World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
• 1941 – World War II: The Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.
• 1942 – World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days and ends with an American victory.
• 1944 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers, which sink the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway.
• 1945 – Sudirman is elected the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces.
• 1948 – In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
• 1956 – Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.
• 1956 – In the midst of the Suez Crisis, Palestinian refugees are shot dead in the village of Rafah by Israeli soldiers following the invasion of the Gaza Strip.
• 1958 – A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
• 1968 – Equatorial Guinea joins the United Nations.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre – Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
• 1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.
• 1970 – The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
• 1971 – Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, US President Richard Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
• 1975 – The Comoros joins the United Nations.
• 1978 – Pope John Paul II takes possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, as the Bishop of Rome.
• 1979 – Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
• 1980 – The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
• 1981 – Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a manned spacecraft is launched into space twice.
• 1982 – In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.
• 1990 – Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
• 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
• 1991 – Santa Cruz massacre: Indonesian forces open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
• 1993 – The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, UFC 1, is held in Denver, Colorado.
• 1996 – A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349. The deadliest mid-air collision to date.
• 1997 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
• 1999 – The Düzce earthquake strikes Turkey with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale.
• 2001 – In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
• 2001 – Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
• 2003 – Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
• 2003 – Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record (501 kilometres per hour (311 mph)) for commercial railway systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
• 2011 – Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the European sovereign debt crisis.

Hatches

• 1528 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
• 1547 – Claude of Valois (d. 1575)
• 1606 – Jeanne Mance, French-Canadian nurse, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (d. 1673)
• 1615 – Richard Baxter, English clergyman, poet, and theologian (d. 1691)
• 1651 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican nun, poet, and scholar (d. 1695)
• 1684 – Edward Vernon, English admiral and politician (d. 1757)
• 1729 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French admiral and explorer (d. 1811)
• 1755 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War (d. 1813)
• 1780 – Pieter Mauritz Retief, South African Boer leader (d.1838)
• 1790 – Letitia Christian Tyler, American wife of John Tyler, 11th First Lady of the United States (d. 1842)
• 1793 – Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, Livonian physician and botanist (d. 1831)
• 1795 – Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist (d. 1856)
• 1815 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American activist (d. 1902)
• 1817 – Bahá'u'lláh, Persian spiritual leader, founded the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1892)
• 1833 – Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and chemist (d. 1887)
• 1840 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor, created The Thinker (d. 1917)
• 1842 – John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
• 1848 – Eduard Müller, Swiss politician, 51st President of Switzerland (d. 1919)
• 1850 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (d. 1908)
• 1866 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese physician and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (d. 1925)
• 1872 – William Fay, Irish actor and producer (d. 1947)
• 1881 – Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (d. 1948)
• 1881 – Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (d. 1954)
• 1886 – Günther Dyhrenfurth, German geologist and mountaineer (d. 1975)
• 1886 – Ben Travers, English author and playwright (d. 1980)
• 1889 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader's Digest (d. 1981)
• 1890 – Lily Kronberger, Hungarian figure skater (d. 1974)
• 1892 – Tudor Davies, Welsh tenor (d. 1958)
• 1896 – Salim Ali, Indian ornithologist and author (d. 1987)
• 1896 – Nima Yooshij, Iranian poet (d. 1960)
• 1897 – Karl Marx, German composer and conductor (d. 1985)
• 1898 – Leon Štukelj, Slovenian gymnast (d. 1999)
• 1901 – James Luther Adams, American minister and theologian (d. 1994)
• 1903 – Jack Oakie, American actor and singer (d. 1978)
• 1905 – Louise Thaden, American pilot (d. 1979)
• 1906 – George Dillon, American poet (d. 1968)
• 1908 – Harry Blackmun, American judge and educator (d. 1999)
• 1910 – Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer (d. 1981)
• 1911 – Buck Clayton, American trumpet player and academic (d. 1991)
• 1915 – Roland Barthes, French philosopher, theorist, and critic (d. 1980)
• 1916 – Rogelio de la Rosa, Filipino actor and politician (d. 1986)
• 1916 – Paul Emery, English race car driver (d. 1993)
• 1916 – Jean Papineau-Couture, Canadian composer and academic (d. 2000)
• 1917 – Jo Stafford, American singer and actress (d. 2008)
• 1919 – Jackie Washington, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
• 1920 – Richard Quine, American actor, singer, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
• 1922 – Peggy Fenner, English politician (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002)
• 1923 – Ian Graham, English archaeologist and explorer
• 1923 – Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Vicco von Bülow, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
• 1924 – Sam Jones, American bassist, cellist, and composer (d. 1981)
• 1926 – Robert Goff, British judge
• 1927 – František Šťastný, Czech motorcycle racer (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Yutaka Taniyama, Japanese mathematician and theorist (d. 1958)
• 1928 – Bob Holness, English radio and television host (d. 2012)
• 1928 – Marjorie W. Sharmat, American author
• 1929 – Anthony di Bonaventura, American pianist and academic (d. 2012)
• 1929 – Michael Ende, German anthroposophist and author (d. 1995)
• 1929 – Grace Kelly, American-Monacan actress and singer (d. 1982)
• 1930 – Bob Crewe, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2014)
• 1933 – Jalal Talabani, Iraqi politician, 6th President of Iraq
• 1934 – Ann Flood, American actress
• 1934 – Charles Manson, American cult leader and murderer
• 1934 – John McGahern, Irish author (d. 2006)
• 1936 – Mills Lane, American boxer, referee, lawyer, and judge
• 1936 – Mort Shuman, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1991)
• 1937 – Ina Balin, American actress (d. 1990)
• 1937 – Jack Betts, American actor
• 1937 – Richard H. Truly, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut
• 1938 – Denis DeJordy, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1938 – Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzanian journalist and politician, 3rd President of Tanzania
• 1939 – Ruby Nash Garnett, American singer (Ruby & the Romantics)
• 1939 – Terry McDonald, English footballer
• 1939 – Lucia Popp, Slovak soprano (d. 1993)
• 1940 – Michel Audet, Canadian economist and politician
• 1940 – Jürgen Todenhöfer, German politician and author
• 1941 – Carol Gluck, American historian, author, and academic
• 1943 – Julie Ege, Norwegian model and actress (d. 2008)
• 1943 – Brian Hyland, American singer and guitarist
• 1943 – Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
• 1943 – Björn Waldegård, Swedish race car driver (d. 2014)
• 1943 – John Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Walker Brothers) (d. 2011)
• 1944 – Booker T. Jones, American pianist, saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (Booker T. & the M.G.'s and The Mar-Keys)
• 1944 – Al Michaels, American sportscaster
• 1944 – Jennifer Page, English businesswoman
• 1945 – Michael Bishop, American author and educator
• 1945 – Tracy Kidder, American journalist and author
• 1945 – Neil Young, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Squires, The Mynah Birds, Northern Lights, and The Ducks)
• 1946 – Alexandra Charles, Swedish nightclub owner
• 1946 – Krister Henriksson, Swedish actor
• 1947 – Ron Bryant, American baseball player
• 1947 – Buck Dharma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Blue Öyster Cult)
• 1947 – Patrice Leconte, French director and screenwriter
• 1948 – Errol Brown, Jamaican-English singer-songwriter (Hot Chocolate)
• 1948 – Cliff Harris, American football player
• 1948 – Hassan Rouhani, Iranian lawyer and politician, 7th President of Iran
• 1949 – Ron Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1992)
• 1949 – Jack Reed, American soldier and politician
• 1950 – Barbara Fairchild, American singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Urmas Lõoke, Estonian architect
• 1952 – Ronald Burkle, American businessman, co-founded the Yucaipa Companies
• 1952 – Max Grodénchik, American actor
• 1953 – Vasilis Karras, Greek singer
• 1953 – Baaba Maal, Senegalese singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1954 – Rob Lytle, American football player (d. 2010)
• 1954 – Rhonda Shear, American model and actress, Miss Louisiana USA 1975
• 1955 – Louan Gideon, American actress (d. 2014)
• 1955 – Les McKeown, Scottish singer (Bay City Rollers)
• 1955 – Katharine Weber, American author
• 1957 – Paul Dennis Reid, American murderer (d. 2013)
• 1957 – Tim Samaras, American engineer and storm chaser (d. 2013)
• 1958 – Megan Mullally, American actress and singer
• 1958 – Nick Stellino, Italian-American chef and author
• 1959 – Vincent Irizarry, American actor
• 1959 – Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer
• 1960 – Maurane, Belgian singer
• 1960 – Ismo Alanko, Finnish singer-songwriter (Hassisen Kone, Sielun Veljet, and Ismo Alanko Säätiö)
• 1961 – Nadia Comăneci, Romanian gymnast
• 1961 – Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
• 1961 – Michaela Paetsch, American violinist
• 1962 – Mariella Frostrup, Norwegian journalist
• 1962 – Mark Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
• 1962 – Neal Shusterman, American author
• 1962 – Brix Smith, American singer and guitarist (The Fall and The Adult Net)
• 1962 – Naomi Wolf, American author and activist
• 1963 – Sam Lloyd, American actor and singer (The Blanks)
• 1963 – Michael Rogers, American journalist, blogger, and activist
• 1963 – Susumu Terajima, Japanese actor
• 1964 – Vic Chesnutt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (brute. and The Undertow Orchestra) (d. 2009)
• 1964 – David Ellefson, American bass player and songwriter (Megadeth, Avian, F5, Killing Machine)
• 1964 – Wang Kuang-hui, Taiwanese baseball player and coach
• 1965 – Lex Lang, American voice actor and producer
• 1965 – Eddie Mair, Scottish journalist
• 1967 – Iryna Khalip, Belarusian journalist
• 1967 – Michael Moorer, American boxer
• 1967 – Grant Nicholas, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Feeder and Raindancer)
• 1967 – Mihhail Rõtšagov, Estonian chess player
• 1968 – Kathleen Hanna, American singer-songwriter (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and The Julie Ruin)
• 1968 – Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1968 – Disco Inferno, American wrestler
• 1968 – Sharon Shannon, Irish accordion player and fiddler
• 1968 – Sammy Sosa, Dominican-American baseball player
• 1968 – Aaron Stainthorpe, English-German singer-songwriter (My Dying Bride)
• 1968 – Nick D'Virgilio, American drummer (Big Big Train and Spock's Beard)
• 1969 – Ian Bremmer, American political scientist and author
• 1969 – Jason Cundy, English footballer and sportscaster
• 1969 – Johnny Gosch, American kidnap victim
• 1970 – Elektra, American wrestler, model, and dancer
• 1970 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater
• 1970 – Sarah Harmer, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Weeping Tile and The Saddletramps)
• 1970 – Craig Parker, Fijian-New Zealand actor
• 1970 – Harvey Spencer Stephens, English actor
• 1971 – Chen Guangcheng, Chinese-American lawyer and activist
• 1972 – Vassilios Tsiartas, Greek footballer
• 1973 – Mayte Garcia, American singer, dancer, and actress (The New Power Generation)
• 1973 – Radha Mitchell, Australian actress
• 1973 – Ethan Zohn, American soccer player
• 1974 – Tamala Jones, American actress
• 1975 – Nina Brosh, Israeli model and actress
• 1975 – Dario Šimić, Croatian footballer
• 1975 – Katherine Grainger, Scottish-English rower
• 1975 – Jason Lezak, American swimmer
• 1975 – Angela Watson, American actress
• 1976 – Tevin Campbell, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1976 – Judith Holofernes, German singer-songwriter and guitarist (Wir sind Helden)
• 1976 – Richelle Mead, American author
• 1976 – Mirosław Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
• 1977 – Dalene Kurtis, American model
• 1977 – Benni McCarthy, South African footballer
• 1977 – Lee Murray, English mixed martial artist
• 1978 – Aaron Heilman, American baseball player
• 1978 – Alexandra Maria Lara, Romanian-German actress
• 1978 – Ashley Williams, American actress
• 1978 – Lena Yada, American actress, model, surfer and wrestler
• 1979 – Matt Cappotelli, American wrestler
• 1979 – Cote de Pablo, Chilean-American actress and singer
• 1979 – Lucas Glover, American golfer
• 1979 – Corey Maggette, American basketball player
• 1979 – Matt Stevic, Australian footballer and umpire
• 1980 – Trent Acid, American wrestler (d. 2010)
• 1980 – Shaun Cooper, American bass player (Taking Back Sunday, Straylight Run, and Destry)
• 1980 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian-American actor, singer, and producer (Dead Man's Bones)
• 1980 – Charlie Hodgson, English rugby player
• 1980 – Ricky Sinz, American porn actor
• 1981 – Annika Becker, German pole vaulter
• 1981 – DJ Campbell, English footballer
• 1981 – Sergio Floccari, Italian footballer
• 1982 – Anne Hathaway, American actress and singer
• 1982 – Mikele Leigertwood, English footballer
• 1983 – Carlton Cole, English footballer
• 1983 – Charlie Morton, American baseball player
• 1984 – Omarion, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor (B2K)
• 1984 – Sepp De Roover, Belgian footballer
• 1984 – Benjamin Okolski, American figure skater
• 1984 – Sandara Park, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (2NE1)
• 1984 – Conrad Rautenbach, Zimbabwean race car driver
• 1984 – Zi Yan, Chinese tennis player
• 1985 – Arianny Celeste, American model and actress
• 1985 – Adlène Guedioura, French-Algerian footballer
• 1986 – Robert Müller, German footballer
• 1986 – Nedum Onuoha, English footballer
• 1986 – Ignazio Abate, Italian footballer
• 1986 – Evan Yo, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
• 1987 – Bryan Little, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 – Alistair Brammer, English actor and singer
• 1988 – Russell Westbrook, American basketball player
• 1990 – Farahnaz Amirsoleymani, American author and illustrator
• 1990 – Florent Manaudou, French swimmer
• 1990 – Harmeet Singh, Norwegian footballer
• 1990 – Siim-Sander Vene, Estonian basketball player
• 1992 – Giulietta, Australian singer-songwriter
• 1992 – Trey Burke, American basketball player
• 1992 – Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1994 – Anna Khnychenkova, Ukrainian figure skater

Despatches

• 607 – Pope Boniface III
• 1035 – Cnut the Great, Danish-English king (b. 985)
• 1094 – Duncan II of Scotland (b. 1060)
• 1434 – Louis III of Naples (b. 1403)
• 1555 – Stephen Gardiner, English bishop (b. 1497)
• 1567 – Anne de Montmorency, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1493)
• 1595 – John Hawkins, English admiral and shipbuilder (b. 1532)
• 1667 – Hans Nansen, Danish politician (b. 1598)
• 1671 – Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general and politician (b. 1612)
• 1742 – Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
• 1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer, mathematician, and politician, 1st Mayor of Paris (b. 1736)
• 1836 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentinian general and politician, 6th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (b. 1773)
• 1865 – Elizabeth Gaskell, English author (b. 1810)
• 1902 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (b. 1812)
• 1916 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer, mathematician, and author (b. 1855)
• 1933 – John Cady, American golfer (b. 1866)
• 1933 – F. Holland Day, American photographer and publisher (b. 1864)
• 1939 – Norman Bethune, Canadian physician and humanitarian (b. 1890)
• 1941 – Abe Reles, American mobster (b. 1907)
• 1945 – Jaro Fürth, Czech-Austrian actor (b. 1871)
• 1946 – Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer and pilot (b. 1875)
• 1946 – Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian academic and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (b. 1861)
• 1948 – Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
• 1950 – Lesley Ashburner, American hurdler (b. 1883)
• 1950 – Julia Marlowe, American actress (b. 1865)
• 1955 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect (b. 1878)
• 1958 – Gustaf Söderström, Swedish tug of war competitor (b. 1865)
• 1965 – Taher Saifuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 51st Da'i al-Mutlaq (b. 1888)
• 1969 – Liu Shaoqi, Chinese politician, 2nd Chairman of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
• 1972 – Rudolf Friml, Czech-American pianist and composer (b. 1879)
• 1976 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer, co-founded Mikoyan (b. 1893)
• 1976 – Walter Piston, American composer and academic (b. 1894)
• 1981 – William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1984 – Chester Himes, American-French author (b. 1909)
• 1987 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (b. 1937)
• 1990 – Eve Arden, American actress and singer (b. 1908)
• 1993 – H. R. Haldeman, American diplomat, 4th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1926)
• 1994 – Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter (b. 1940)
• 1997 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish-American composer and conductor (b. 1915)
• 1998 – Roy Hollis, English footballer (b. 1925)
• 2000 – Franck Pourcel, French conductor (b. 1913)
• 2000 – Leah Rabin, Russian-Israeli wife of Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1928)
• 2001 – Albert Hague, German-American actor and composer (b. 1920)
• 2001 – Tony Miles, English chess player (b. 1955)
• 2003 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
• 2003 – Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (b. 1986)
• 2003 – Kay E. Kuter, American actor (b. 1925)
• 2003 – Penny Singleton, American actress and singer (b. 1908)
• 2003 – Tony Thompson, American drummer (Chic and Power Station) (b. 1954)
• 2005 – William G. Adams, Canadian politician (b. 1923)
• 2006 – Jacob E. Smart, American general (b. 1909)
• 2007 – Khanmohammad Ibrahim, Indian cricketer (b. 1919)
• 2007 – Ira Levin, American author and playwright (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Catherine Baker Knoll, American educator and politician, 30th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1930)
• 2008 – Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Riot Squad, The Dirty Mac, and Ramatam) (b. 1947)
• 2010 – Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (b. 1933)
• 2010 – Karl Plutus, Estonian lawyer and jurist (b. 1904)
• 2012 – Anthony di Bonaventura, American pianist and academic (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Angela Cropper, Trinidadian diplomat (b. 1946)
• 2012 – Bob French, American drummer and radio host (b. 1928)
• 2012 – Hans Hammarskiöld, Swedish photographer (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Michel Hrynchyshyn, Canadian-French bishop (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Sergio Oliva, Cuban-American bodybuilder (b. 1941)
• 2012 – Fred Ridgeway, Irish-English actor (b. 1953)
• 2012 – Daniel Stern, American psychologist and theorist (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Ronald Stretton, English-Canadian cyclist (b. 1930)
• 2012 – John Winter, English architect (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Giuseppe Casari, Italian footballer (b. 1922)
• 2013 – Erik Dyreborg, Danish footballer (b. 1940)
• 2013 – Katherine Hagedorn, American musicologist and academic (b. 1961)
• 2013 – Mavis Kelsey, American physician (b. 1912)
• 2013 – Steve Rexe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Konrad Rudnicki, Polish astronomer and academic (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Al Ruscio, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Aleksandr Serebrov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1944)
• 2013 – John Tavener, English composer (b. 1944)
• 2013 – Kurt Trampedach, Danish painter and sculptor (b. 1943)
• 2013 – Antigone Valakou, Greek actress (b. 1930)

===
2014

• World Pneumonia Day (United Nations)
• Birth of Bahá'u'lláh, celebration started at sunset the day before. (Bahá'í Faith)
• Birth of Sun Yat-Sen, also Doctors' Day and Cultural Renaissance Day. (Republic of China)
• Christian feast day:
  • Cumméne Fota
  • Emilian of Cogolla
  • Josaphat Kuntsevych
  • Nilus of Sinai
  • Patiens
  • Arsatius
  • November 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Constitution Day (Azerbaijan)

===

Abbott-hating ABC makes a sick joke of grieving families’ heartache

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (1:06am)

LAST night’s 7.30 program ran a tawdry comedy skit that was so insensitive to the victims of the MH17 disaster it’s hard to believe it went to air.

 Continue reading 'Abbott-hating ABC makes a sick joke of grieving families’ heartache'

===

We are losing the war on drugs

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (1:03am)

AS they grieve the death of their beautiful, vivacious daughter Georgina last weekend, I hope the Bartter family isn’t harassed by the vultures of the drug legalisation lobby.

 Continue reading 'We are losing the war on drugs'

===

BILL SHHH-ORTEN

Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (1:56pm)

No risk of a shirtfront from Silent Bill: 

Speaking at a media conference in Melbourne, Mr Shorten was asked what he would say to Mr Putin if he met him at the G20 in Brisbane this weekend.

“Nothing," Mr Shorten responded. 

In July, 38 Australians were murdered by Russian-backed forces in the Ukraine. And Shorten would say nothing to the Russian leader? Perhaps he’d speak up if Putin ran a pie shop.

===

LET’S RACE FRIGHTBATS INSTEAD

Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (1:36pm)

Rita Panahi reviews reaction to last week’s Melbourne Cup, which offed a couple of horses: 

It wasn’t long before every miserable killjoy on social media had joined in the condemnation of an industry that employs thousands and pumps $2.8 billion into the Victorian economy every year. Curiously, the feminists of the frightbat variety were particularly scornful of the Cup and racing in general; perhaps it’s the happiness and frivolity that enrages them. 

Fast-forward to 2:08. Elaine Benes never let the occasional dead horse ruin her Festivus. 

===

IT’S OUR SENATE

Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (1:24pm)

Sweary Sarah Hanson-Young lashes out during her student days:



(Via Elle)

===

TAXES ON THE MARCH

Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (11:56am)

The ABC, home of the eternal undergraduate, encourages dumb G20 protests:



(Via A.R.M. Jones)

UPDATE. Sing along, ABC: 

A man has punched and hurled plants at a security guard on duty for the G20 summit at Brisbane’s South Bank precinct.

Police say the man knocked a car park boom gate off its hinges at South Bank’s cultural centre on Tuesday, before damaging nearby gardens.

When a female security guard on G20 duties approached him, the man allegedly threw plants at her before punching her in the face. 

===

Why was Goodes given this honour?

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (6:05pm)

Adam Goodes is entitled to his views, however ill-informed or unfair. But why was a man that contemptuous of his country named Australian of the Year?

During a recent interview with the BBC, the AFL star said some Australian policies had resulted in the suppression of indigenous people and other minorities and called for better education about the country’s history.
”The history of our country is built on so much lies and racial policies, and things that have suppressed my people and lots of minorities in this country, so you can’t blame people for having the views that they have,” he said.

I admired Adam Gilchrist as a cricketer but I think his judgement as chief selector here was way off.
But what with the Australian the Year, anyway? It seems increasingly to be a position held by scolds pushing a Leftist agenda. 

===

Church submits

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (4:59pm)

One faith doesn’t apologise for itself. The other just hands over the keys:

The ... Washington National Cathedral will host a Muslim prayer service this Friday. The cathedral, part of the Episcopal Church, has long been the site of important services, including memorial services for presidents, some of whom are buried there. But the Cathedral has never before been used for Muslim services.

Strange enough even without this:

Deep into the Post’s story we learn that among the organizations sponsoring the prayer event are the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The Post does not mention it, but both ISNA and CAIR are Islamist advocates of sharia law with a history of supporting terrorism.

===

Climate deal: Barack Obama agrees with China to weaken the US

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (4:51pm)

China gets a good deal: permission to keep raising emissions for 16 years while the US - its great strategic rival - promises to make its electricity even dearer quicker:

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Obama struck a deal Wednesday to limit greenhouse gases, with China committing for the first time to cap carbon emissions and Obama unveiling a plan for deeper U.S. emissions reductions through 2025.
China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, pledged in the far-reaching agreement to cap its rapidly growing carbon emissions by 2030, or earlier if possible. It also set a daunting goal of increasing the share of non-fossil fuels to 20 percent of the country’s energy mix by 2030.
Obama announced a target to cut U.S. emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, the first time the president has set a goal beyond the existing 17 percent target by 2020.

Meanwhile in the US:

St. Cloud, Minn., got 13.2 inches of snow Monday, breaking the all-time November calendar-day record of 12 inches set on Nov. 21, 1898.

UPDATE
Does the Labor/Greens response mean a Labor/Greens Government, if elected in 2016, will give us the carbon tax again?

[Opposition leader Bill] Shorten said on Wednesday the “historic and ambitious” agreement showed global leadership from the US and China.
“At the G20 this week, Australia will hold the embarrassing title of being the only nation going backwards on climate change...”

And Greens leader Christine Milne said the deal should be a “massive wake-up call to Tony Abbott. His continued climate denial and his destruction of the environment is reckless.”
Senator Milne lashed Mr Abbott for unwinding climate policies such as the carbon tax ...

===

Shorten won’t say boo to Putin

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (4:40pm)

Pardon?

Speaking at a media conference in Melbourne, Mr Shorten was asked what he would say to Mr Putin if he met him at the G20 in Brisbane this weekend.
“Nothing,” Mr Shorten responded.
“Putin has massive popular support in his own country. He I don’t think, frankly, cares about what Australia thinks,” Mr Shorten added.

Oh. Is there someone else in Labor prepared to shirtfront the man supporting the rebels who murdered 38 Australians? 

===

Condemning child savers as child stealers: the poison of the “stolen generations” myth

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (6:11am)

The "stolen generations"

No politician or education bureaucrat dares question the “stolen generations” myth, even though no one can name even 10 children stolen by the state simply because they were Aborigines.
No politician or education bureaucrat dares question the myth even though it’s become toxic, persuading some welfare officials to leave Aboriginal children in dangers they’d never tolerate if those children were white.
And it’s allowed activists to praise the kind of child-rearing they should condemn, and to attack those who rescue rather than those who abuse. It’s also allowed the new racists to peddle a dangerous victimhood while overlooking the real victims - the broken children:
For instance:

Call answered. Raise children in our cultural way! Marissa Calligeros, Brisbane Times, yesterday:

THE first protest march ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit has been held in Brisbane. About 100 members and supporters of the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy gathered for the “Stop Stealing Our Children” rally ... they made their way through the CBD yelling, “What do we want? Our children back. When do we want it? Now.” ... They said, like the Stolen Generations, indigenous children were still being taken from their families, with about 14,000 children living in out-of-home care in Australia. Aunty Hazel told 612 ABC Brisbane protesters called upon the government to entrust indigenous Australians with the responsibility of raising their own children. “How we parent is different and that needs to be acknowledged,” she said. “We want control of the care and protection of our families, our children and our communities ... We want solid ground to stand on, to raise our children in our cultural way.” Aunty Rhonda said the Department of Child Safety too readily removed indigenous children from their families. “They need to acknowledge ... that we have wisdom and knowledge to rear our children up in the best way possible and they need to leave them alone and leave them there,” Aunty Rhonda told 612 ABC Brisbane.

Raise children in our cultural way? Jennifer Macey, ABC’s The World Today, July 25 last year:

INDIGENOUS children are four times more likely to experience child sexual abuse than other Australian children. The figures represented 19.48 per cent of substantiated child abuse reports in Australia, compared to indigenous children only representing 4.7 per cent of the 0-17 age bracket of the Australian population ... the Little Children are Sacred report released in 2007 concluded child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities had reached crisis level ... But the new figures still do not represent an accurate picture of the reality of widespread child sexual abuse, according to Dr (Kylie) Cripps ..."So many still are unreported. It’s very much the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

===

Labor is lying to itself. Pity us if we believe those lies, too

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (6:00am)

Paul Kelly warns that Labor is selling snake oil - first to itself:

The risk for Labor in 2016 is looking too similar to the Rudd-Gillard party, with climate change being the prime exhibit, and underestimating Tony Abbott’s ability to sink the ALP by this branding…

Much of the media gives [Bill] Shorten high marks as Opposition Leader for only one reason — opinion polls. No assessment is made of Labor’s policy or direction…
Shorten has staged the most comprehensive assault on a budget since Malcolm Fraser’s very different decision in 1975 to reject Labor’s budget and force an election. This will have long-run dangers for the nation.
The forces driving Labor’s tactics are the belief that Rudd-Gillard Labor has nothing for which to apologise, the myth that Labor in office got a raw deal and that Abbott must get a dose of his own medicine, and the judgment that the natural cycle for governments has got shorter…
Labor believes the notion that it left a serious budget repair job is a fraud. This delusion is now embraced as a faith by senior ALP figures.
The party opposes any further increase in the pension age or indexation reform, rejects the principle of a Medicare co-payment, rejects the principle of university fee deregulation, dismisses petrol excise indexation, rejects any industrial relations liberalisation, opposes the move to the one-stop shop to streamline resource sector approvals, opposes in relation to asylum-seekers any boat turn-back policy by pretending it had no impact and rejects any tax reform involving GST changes with an irrational insistence the tax must be frozen thereby putting more of the burden on personal income tax.
Labor had a choice. It could frame policy based on verified fiscal truth — the tax base cannot sustain the social benefits Labor loaded on to the budget.
It has chosen, instead, to intensify the hoax it perpetrated in ­office and pretend Australians can enjoy the current and projected social benefits consistent with a responsible fiscal outcome and without serious and painful policy adjustment.

Labor could win election peddling this lie. The cost will be terrible. 

===

No jobs in the desert, so why keep the towns?

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (5:44am)

The Left must accept that tiny bush towns with no jobs, few services and tiny schools cannot produce the living standards they demand for Aborigines:

INDIGENOUS Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has acknowledged there may be no future for some remote indigenous communities in Western Australia as Premier Colin Barnett yesterday revealed he plans to close up to 150 of the state’s 274 tiny settlements.

In the end, the only viable future - or “sustainable” future, in the Left’s jargon - for generations of Aboriginal children will be integration, not life as a museum exhibit.
But the forces of reaction will be hard to shift:

Fraser government indigenous affairs minister Fred Chaney has sent an open letter to Mr Barnett, Senator Scullion and Tony Abbott warning that if governments simply “let things rip” by withdrawing services and driving people out of remote communities without careful preparation, the outcomes for indigenous Australians “will be shameful”.

Actually “shameful” is what we’ve had for years. 

===

The ABC shames itself, clowning around over 38 dead Australians

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (5:14am)

Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin about the murder of 38 Australians by Russian backed forces using a weapon believed to have been supplied by Russia and now hidden by Russia.
Yet the ABC’s flagship current affairs show, 7.30, treats this like one big joke:

KIRSTEN DRYSDALE, REPORTER: It was supposed to be the showdown of the century.
(male voiceover): Tony “Tough Talk” Abbott versus “Virile” Vladimir Putin. How much macho can you take?
TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER: I’m going to shirtfront Mr Putin. You bet you are - you bet I am.
KIRSTEN DRYSDALE: Two great men with a phobia of fabric and a penchant for pectoral promenading set to meet face to face in the world’s grandest car park, the G20.
(male voiceover imitating Vladimir Putin): Shirtfront? What does that even mean?
CNN PRESENTER: Shirtfronting, the phrase Mr Abbott used, is an Australian sports term for a forceful challenge.
JULIE BISHOP, FOREIGN MINISTER: Since the phrase shirtfront was used, I understand it’s now entered the diplomatic lexicon of many countries.
KIRSTEN DRYSDALE: Just not the countries that really mattered.
EMMA ALBERICI, JOURNALIST: Can I ask you what was your reaction when you heard the news that our Prime Minister had declared that he intends to shirtfront your President when he’s here next month for the G20 meeting?
VYACHESLAV NIKONOV, RUSSIAN MP: Well, it’s not much of a news.
KIRSTEN DRYSDALE: Nonetheless, the world’s most powerful people were cheering from the front row.
BARACK OBAMA, US PRESIDENT: Tony personally has expressed his extraordinary commitment to battling foreign fighters.
TONY ABBOTT: That’s what the world needs.
???: This is obviously quite unusual for the diplomatic practice to go this personal and we may say this physical.
KIRSTEN DRYSDALE: Oh, come on now, it’s not that unusual.
Those tussles were just curtain-raisers for the main event. Our very own cyclist taking on a bear-riding, sports-fishing, gun-toting, judo-wrestling, tiger-slaying, dolphin-wrangling former KGB spy. And while some speculated Putin’s magnificent biceps would give him an advantage, ...
BARACK OBAMA: Inevitably, they are going to have influence and exert a certain gravitational pull just by dint of size.
KIRSTEN DRYSDALE: ... Abbott expressed great faith in his own physical prowess.
TONY ABBOTT: It’s a body that no one country can unilaterally control.

And on and on.
At the end of it, the “reporter” and host Leigh Sales even add some deceptive Kremlin spin to belittle Abbott:

KIRSTEN DRYSDALE: So that’s it. Even with the valiant efforts of a first-class troll behind the scenes repeatedly bringing Abbott and Putin together for a rumble, this was as close as it got. Just two dudes who finally had a meeting behind closed doors away from the cameras, almost like grownups. Well, there’s always an upside.
BARACK OBAMA: I think our primary message has been to make sure that violence is avoided.
LEIGH SALES: Kirsten Drysdale there. And the Kremlin has released a statement. Asked if Tony Abbott managed to shirtfront the Russian leader, a spokesman replied, “It appears that he did not try.”

False.
Indeed, in the briefest of postscripts, Sales then wipes the smirk from her face and adds the actual news - that despite the ABC’s mockery and the ABC’s sneers Abbott did indeed shirtfront Putin and demand justice for the families of the 298 dead, not least the 38 Australians:

There is of course a serious side to this story. Late today the Prime Minister’s office said that during a brief meeting, Mr Abbott told Mr Putin that Australia has information suggesting that MH-17 was downed in Eastern Ukraine by a missile from a launcher that came out of Russia, and that if true, this was a very serious matter. He urged Mr Putin to co-operate fully with the investigation into the disaster and to consider an apology.

How on earth, given what actually happened and given how serious the issues can the ABC treat it all as a big joke in which Abbott played the clown?
In fact, Abbott didn’t just say the missile launcher seemed to have come from Russia but that it had been returned there. He didn’t just request an apology but compensation for the families of the dead. After weeks of the ABC suggesting Abbott would be too weak to deliver his shirtfront threat, 7.30 couldn’t even bring itself to report exactly how vehement Abbott had been.
This is not just the ABC yet again showing bias and misrepresenting the truth. This is also the ABC being utterly tasteless and trivialising not just a great crime but the ABC’s most serious current affairs show.
Would the ABC clown around like this if we were talking not about the murder of 38 Australians but the murder of 38 boat people?
Shame on the ABC. When will the board pull managing director Mark Scott into line?
UPDATE
Many Canberra journalists seemed to determined to believe the worst of Tony Abbott even when evidence directly contradicts their prejudices. For instance, Channel 10 news last night falsely reported that Abbott had shirked the shirtfront, preferring to wave to the TV cameras.
So all credit to Fairfax’s Mark Kenny, who, while also firmly of the Left, presented the facts rather than the fantasy:

During a sharp 15 minutes, Mr Abbott pointed out that when the US had inadvertently shot down an airliner, it had apologised and paid financial compensation…
And living up to his “shirtfront” threat, he revealed directly to Mr Putin that Australia was in possession of information suggesting that MH17 was destroyed by a missile from a launcher that had come out of Russia, was fired from inside Eastern Ukraine and then returned to Russia.

UPDATE
Chris Uhlmann is better than this. Here is how he started this morning’s AM:

In the end there was no shirtfront.

Is Uhlmann seriously suggesting Abbott wasn’t using a metaphor with “shirtfront”? If not, can he explain how Abbott’s confrontation of Putin yesterday fell short of what he’d vowed to do?
AM then gives us an item from Moscow summing up the Russian propaganda and insults, including false claims that Abbott had actually threatened to physically “beat” Putin, and asserting that Russians weren’t paying Abbott any attention. This was the sole item on yesterday’s confrontation, and Putin couldn’t have been more delighted with it. Australia’s state broadcaster was mocking the Australian PM for confronting the Russia president with evidence that his weaponry had been used by his militia to kill 38 Australians, and literally recycling Russian propaganda.
This is shameful. The ABC board should meet on this and on the wider ABC bias and demand the ABC adhere to its own stated standards.  

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Blanchett should have thanked the workers for her degree

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (5:01am)

Associate Professor Greg Melleuish:

IN her eulogy to Gough Whitlam at the celebration of his life, Cate Blanchett said: “The loss I felt came down to something very deep and very simple. I am the beneficiary of free tertiary education.
“ It is odd to say one feels a loss for a person because that person once gave them something. It does not strike me as “something very deep"…
I looked up Blanchett and discovered that she had attended Methodist Ladies College, Melbourne…
I attended a government high school where only 20 per cent of those starting high school actually completed it…
I began university in 1972 on a commonwealth scholarship. At that time nearly everyone who attended university, at least from my school, had a commonwealth scholarship or a teacher’s college scholarship from the NSW government. To receive a commonwealth scholarship you needed to be pretty good.
When free tertiary education was introduced I recall being somewhat miffed. After all, I had worked hard during high school and had been rewarded. Now that reward was being extended to those who had not done so well. Even better, it was being extended to the less able students at schools such as MLC… Of course, what they never appreciated is that it was the taxes of the people with whom I went to school, ­people who did not complete high school, who paid for their good time at university.

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Up the creek with Labor and the Greens hiding the paddles

Andrew Bolt November 12 2014 (4:53am)

We are in strife, but Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer keep voting like it’s Christmas. Indeed, even the Abbott Government still wants it to seem like Christmas:

JOE Hockey has conceded that his budget is in trouble, with revenue again failing to meet Treasury forecasts but he says he is not going to try to plug the blowout in the deficit with fresh spending cuts for fear of damaging business and consumer confidence…
“We are not going to turn our mid-year budget into a mini-budget,” he said. “We are not going to go down the path of trying to make up lost ground immediately.” ...
He said he wanted to maintain economic momentum during the Christmas period and beyond…
Mr Hockey said that while the mid-year budget update would show the deficit had deteriorated, it would not be as severe as the $52 billion increase over four years predicted by consulting firm Macroeconomics in its budget review released this week…
The Macroeconomics forecast included the impact of budget measures blocked in the Senate.
Although Mr Hockey said that these were now costing the budget a total of $28bn, the government was expected to retain the spending cuts in areas such as unemployment benefits, higher edu­cation and family benefits in the mid-year budget update.

Remember when Labor and the Greens thought they could stick up the miners at any time for more of the billions they needed for their mad plans?

THE value of iron ore, Australia’s major export earner, is set to plunge by more than half next year, with as much as $US54 billion ($63bn) to be wiped from the industry’s revenue compared with what could have been received had last year’s elevated prices prevailed.
The revenue punch — it would also mean the federal government misses out on more than $US15bn in tax receipts — is fast becoming a fait accompli in response to iron ore’s 44 per cent price crash so far this year to $US75.50 a tonne, and an increasing line-up of forecasters predicting iron ore will go lower still next year…
The bottom-line impact on the iron ore producers is already clear. Share price falls of more than 80 per cent since the start of the year are common among the smaller and higher-cost producers… The more diversified earnings streams of Rio and BHP see them down by 11 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, while Fortescue’s total reliance on iron ore has seen its value plunge 48 per cent this year.

When you are deep in debt and losing even more income you would normally cut spending and work smarter.
Abnormally, the Senate is refusing to cut spending and the Government is keeping its expensive parental leave scheme. The Government also refuses to impose workplace reforms, which the Senate would probably block anyway.
But don’t just blame the politicians. Where is the public demand for the reforms to save us? 

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Post by Matt Granz.

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Post by Architecture & Design.

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Post by DJ Reminise.

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Post by The LAD Bible.

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Post by Latika M Bourke.

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Post by New Scientist.

Of course it's a myth.. it may even make you fat and concentrate better - JT
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Post by Matt Granz.

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Post by Street FX Motorsport & Graphics.

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Titanium and diamond studs: the loopy world of high-end credit cards | @millsswift http://t.co/FAwmWwWaTQ via @spectator
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 12, 2014

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Photo: reportagebygettyimages: YPRES, BELGIUM -  A preserved World War One trench at Sanctuary Wood near... http://t.co/kZGyAVphLO
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 12, 2014

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Photo: latimes: How Clayton Kershaw’s pitching sets him apart. http://t.co/HOwQ6lrBwV
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 12, 2014

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"Well, I’m a shooting guard that’s played 19 years." - Kobe Bryant, on becoming the NBA’s all-time... http://t.co/W92TmWXaTI
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 12, 2014

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Flight MH17: Tony Abbott confronts Vladimir Putin at APEC summit http://t.co/GjkWRpXWad via @theage
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 12, 2014

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It’s long been one of the Fairfield region’s worst roads now the government has stumped up the cash to fix it http://t.co/WpMEfMw6lx
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 12, 2014

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Millennials' Political Views Don't Make Any Sense http://t.co/NJEdCgEVov
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 12, 2014

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Science Says Lasting Relationships Come Down To 2 Basic Traits http://t.co/c6j2g76xZN via @bi_contributors
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 11, 2014

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Personality test: what job would make you happiest? http://t.co/w1NxMOfnwW
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 11, 2014

Your scores: (Writer)
Hands-on: 8
Your ideal work is mainly about engaging with the physical world, for example building, cooking, craft, DIY, working with animals, plants and machines, sports and hands-on therapy. Example jobs include: sports coach, physiotherapist, engineer, LGV driver, builder, mechanic, veterinary nurse.
Information and research, processes and systems: 17
Your ideal work is mainly about researching or managing information. This will include analysis, cataloguing and database management, but may include investigating topics in depth, IT, science, maths, quality control, systems and regulations. Example jobs include: accountant, scientific researcher, investigative journalist, legal assistant, book-keeper, health and safety officer, purchasing professional.
Influencing, negotiating, communicating: 11
Your ideal work is mainly about persuading other people to do something, buy something or believe in your cause. This includes driving others, influencing, persuading, lobbying, motivating, selling. Example jobs include: sales person, recruiter, fundraiser, event manager, estate agent, public speaker.
Creative use of ideas, materials or situations: 18
Your ideal work is mainly about working imaginatively with ideas or designs. This includes jobs in the arts, performing, creative writing, and also visual design, lateral thinking, business creativity, adapting or coming up with new ideas, working in situations where no rulebook exists. Example jobs include: graphic designer, training consultant, wedding planner, public relations.
Supporting people: 6
Your ideal work is mainly about working with people, with their wellbeing and development as the main focus of your work. Example jobs include: teacher, life coach, therapist, nurse, learning and development, career coach.
Making new things happen: 10
Your ideal work is mainly about achieving things with and through other people. This may involve organisational change, planning, managing projects, leadership, creating a new business, shaping teams, getting results. Example jobs include: project manager, team leader, operations manager, sales manager, business developer.
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New Holocaust Memoir Recounts Nazis Using Boy for Target Practice http://t.co/JG5XDDdIbX via @BreitbartNews
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 11, 2014

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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it think. http://t.co/NcGVq7t0LN
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 11, 2014

=== Posts from last year ===

Larry Pickering
A piece from the pickeringpost.com by correspondent Bernard Gaynor that was well worth the read:

RUGBY LEAGUE AND AUSTRALIA'S FIRST SUICIDE BOMBER

It’s only a matter of time. There will be an Islamic All Stars Rugby League round. For those, like me, who have a sense of humour, it will probably be squashed in between the Gay Appreciation week and Sorry For Anything That Christianity Has Ever Done decade.

It’s the NRL’s new direction. Give up the alcohol-fuelled binges (not such a bad thing) and bend over to Mecca (not such a good thing).

Anthony Mundine started it. Sonny Bill Williams joined in. Then followed Blake Ferguson and before we knew it, the entire Sydney Roosters were raising funds for new mosques in Logan.

Logan, south of Brisbane, has the dubious distinction of being home to Australia’s first suicide bomber.

You can watch his fiery demise to chants of “Allahu Akbar!” here http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-12/new-video-man-australia-syria-suicide-bomber/5084664 or go to pickeringpost.com

For those who struggle with Arabic, “Allahu Akbar!” means “God is the Greatest”.

Hence the reason Abu Asmar left his family behind in Australia to drive an explosive-laden truck to his death in Syria. And just before it all ended, he urged others to do the same.

With guys like Abu doing the marketing and the NRL boys providing the financial support, before you know it suicide bombing will be as dinky-di Aussie as throwing down a VB at a backyard barbeque.

Oops. I better take that last part out. There’s no such thing as halal beer, as Mr Ferguson is about to find out. Because Islam is a religion of extremes. No beer and way over the top punishment for those who partake.

And that’s without even delving into the suicide bombing or call for global jihad.

Considering that Logan is home to Australia’s first suicide bomber and that an imam has admitted on 4BC radio that South East Queensland mosques are raising funds to send Aussie Muslims to Syria, I’d suggest that the last thing the area needs is a new jihad ops centre.

And that’s exactly what mosques are. You didn’t really think it was all tambourines and hand-clapping did you?

Mosques preach violence. In fact, there is a direct correlation between the size of the audience and the violence being preached.

More violent preaching equals more peaceful worshippers on a Friday afternoon.

Given that Australia has by far the largest per capita Western involvement in the war in Syria, it would appear likely that peace is not that high on the agenda here either.

Mosques are the command and control centres for the spread of Islam. In fact the late King of Saudi Arabia stated that their purpose was to prevent Muslims from assimilating into the Western world.

From there, they could become a fifth column to bring total victory against the infidels.

And he probably believed what he said because since 1970, Saudi officials have spent somewhere between $70 billion and $90 billion exporting their strict Wahabbi view of Islam. That’s a lot of mosques and religious advertising – including about $120 million worth in Australia.

And all of this from a country that bans the construction of churches. That’s pretty intolerant. But it is smart.
Unlike us, who are tolerant and stupid.

Islam is not compatible with Christian traditions. And it has even more contempt for the atheistic sludge that’s replaced it.

And when the championship Rugby League team is working to build a new mosque in Logan, a month after this city gave Australia its first Islamic suicide ‘martyr’, you know that Australia is asleep in the face of this virulent and violent threat.

Do you get the feeling we are sleepwalking to destruction.
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Larry Pickering
TWO BISHOPS, AN ABBOTT AND THE DEVIL

Bronwyn Bishop, today elected as Speaker of the House, is one of the more respected MPs with a history of dedicated service and an angelic grandma persona. 

When nominations were called for Speaker a certain Member for Porn, Graham Perrett (God only knows how they re-elected him) decided to second a Labor nomination for the coveted position. 

A fatuous exercise designed to allow Perrett to let go with a tirade of abuse of Bronwyn Bishop.

Perrett, best known for his schoolboy porn books that describe in detail how best to make him ejaculate, blasted the about-to-be-elected Speaker for standing in front of a sign that screamed, “DITCH THE WITCH”. Tony Abbott, at the time, was also caught up in the fracas.

Abbott and Bishop had begun speaking at a Parliament House rally when some of the more offensive signs had been placed behind them. It was obvious they were unaware of the signs.

Perrett would have been aware they were both oblivious to the signs but it gave “super grub” the opportunity to lambast the integrity of Bishop in an unprecedented display of confected anger.

Abbott squirmed and the other Bishop shifted in her seat at the vituperative outburst.

I hope Bronwyn Bishop has the Member for Porn’s name indelibly written in her little black book.
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“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 NIV

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Underneath are the everlasting arms."
Deuteronomy 33:27

God--the eternal God--is himself our support at all times, and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble. There are seasons when the Christian sinks very low in humiliation. Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before God till he scarcely knows how to pray, because he appears, in his own sight, so worthless. Well, child of God, remember that when thou art at thy worst and lowest, yet "underneath" thee "are everlasting arms." Sin may drag thee ever so low, but Christ's great atonement is still under all. You may have descended into the deeps, but you cannot have fallen so low as "the uttermost;" and to the uttermost he saves. Again, the Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trial from without. Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still underneath him are "the everlasting arms." He cannot fall so deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may be sinking under trouble from within through fierce conflict, but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be beyond the reach of the "everlasting arms"--they are underneath him; and, while thus sustained, all Satan's efforts to harm him avail nothing.

This assurance of support is a comfort to any weary but earnest worker in the service of God. It implies a promise of strength for each day, grace for each need, and power for each duty. And, further, when death comes, the promise shall still hold good. When we stand in the midst of Jordan, we shall be able to say with David, "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." We shall descend into the grave, but we shall go no lower, for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All through life, and at its close, we shall be upheld by the "everlasting arms"--arms that neither flag nor lose their strength, for "the everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary."

Evening

"He shall choose our inheritance for us."
Psalm 47:4

Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask, "Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?" His answer would be, "Because I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did not keep to the deep channel." So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows." Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!

"Trials must and will befall--

But with humble faith to see

Love inscribed upon them all;

This is happiness to me."

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Today's reading: Jeremiah 50, Hebrews 8 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 50

A Message About Babylon

¹ This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:

² “Announce and proclaim among the nations,
lift up a banner and proclaim it;
keep nothing back, but say,
‘Babylon will be captured;
Bel will be put to shame,
Marduk filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
and her idols filled with terror.’
³ A nation from the north will attack her
and lay waste her land.
No one will live in it;
both people and animals will flee away.

⁴ “In those days, at that time,”
declares the LORD,
“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.
⁵ They will ask the way to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and bind themselves to the LORD
in an everlasting covenant
that will not be forgotten....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: Hebrews 8

The High Priest of a New Covenant

¹ Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

³ Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. ⁴ If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵ They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

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Haggai

[Hăg'gaī] - festal or born of a festival day. The tenth of the Minor Prophets, and the first of those to prophesy after the captivity (Ezra 5:1; 6:14).

The Man Who Was a Messenger

All we know of Haggai is told us in the first verse of his book, where we have a description of himself and his message, which gives us a key to the whole of his ministry. Haggai was "The Lord's messenger in the Lord's message." We reject the legend that he was an angel incarnate.

His name is suggestive and may imply that he was born on a Feast Day. Another meaning is "Jehovah hath quieted." As a prophet, he was contemporary with Zechariah (Hag. 1:1; 2:1, 20; Zech. 1:1 ). He prophesied in the second year of the reign of Darius Hystaspes, King of Persia, sixteen years after Cyrus'decree permitting the rebuilding of the Temple. Compare Zechariah 1:1-11 with Ezra 4:24 and 5:1.

As a prophet, he preached righteousness and predicted the future. As a man, he was simple, strong in faith and bold in hope. He urged the people to work and be strong (Hag. 2:4), assuring them that when they began to build the Temple, God would begin to bless them.

The first message was one of stern rebuke (Hag. 1:1-11).

The second message was one of comfort and commendation (Hag. 1:12-15).

The third message was a cheering one of encouragement (Hag. 2:1-9).

The fourth message was an assuring one concerning cleansing and blessing (Hag. 2:10-19).

The fifth message was a steadying one associated with safety ( Hag. 2:20-23 ).

Dr. Stuart Holden suggests that these five lessons can be gathered from Haggai:

I. Danger of lapsing into self-content, even after honest and sincere beginnings in the work of Christ.

II. That the time for blessing is always at hand. The people said: "The time has not come." God said: "My time is an eternal now."; The only hindrance to blessing lies in His people.

III. In the will of God for His people - particularly in respect to the great work of building His Temple - there is always a conjunction of precept and power, of duty and dynamic . The promises of God are "Yea and Amen" to those who are in Christ Jesus, walking in Him, and living in Him.

IV. The greatest of all mistakes is to leave God out in His own work. To live in the light of His presence is to build for eternity.

V. In the work to which we pledge ourselves as God's children,the greatest need of all is for patience. We shall be opposed if our work is worth opposing; but the opposition of the Evil One is the opportunity to express our faith and loyalty toward God. "Our God is marching on. The best is yet to be; and we may reckon upon God."

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