Sunday, February 08, 2015

Sun Feb 8th Todays News

On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome.  
===
A rumour doing the rounds has it that Malcolm Turnbull is close to Clive Palmer and as treasurer or leader could deliver the PUP support needed to pass legislation. Were that true it would be a staggering indictment against the Communications Minister for failing to do so previously. It highlights the worthless nature of Turnbull's assertion he has been loyal to the Liberal Party. Turnbull's apparent subversive behaviour has cost Liberals government in South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and in '07 and '10 federally. If the rumour is not true, Turnbull would be useless as leader or treasurer too. The Liberal Party does not need a spill motion on Monday morning, they need a resignation from the Member of Wentworth. Maybe Turnbull feels that if he were leader then no one would leak against him? If so, then he does not understand the press. 

 There is a possibility that two Bali 9 inmates scheduled for execution won't be executed. Andrew Chan's and Myuran Sukumaran's former lawyer, who had been the one present when they were sentenced to be executed, has given testimony that the sentences were politically influenced. If this is true then the sentence has to be overturned because a judge is supposed to be unbiased. But then the news is supposed to be unbiased too. The Indonesian ambassador has downplayed the possibility, saying that the various appeals had been heard at the highest levels of Indonesian government. But then that is the allegation too. 

 Kayla Jean Mueller, an aid worker, 26, from Arizona working in Syria, had been kidnapped by ISIL death cult. She had been working for Spanish Doctors Without Borders. Held in captivity for eighteen months, the terrorists are claiming she was killed by a Jordanian air strike. Presumably that means her jailers were killed too. 
2014
For a journalist, words are tools of trade. It goes to credibility if they don't write what they mean, as failure suggests they don't mean what they write. Andrew Bolt makes a good point about the ABC being savaged over a single issue by conservatives. The issue is either far wider, or it isn't an issue. I believe bias is a serious issue that needs to be addressed by the ABC. It colours their reporting in all aspects they have reach, which were it a privately owned corporation would be illegal. The reach of the ABC extends from foreigners hearing bias from international broadcasts through to children being inducted to hate conservatives. Political reporting is mere barracking on the ABC and it isn't out of place to hear, during an election where the ALP lose a seat to a conservative "We've lost another one." The issue extends to criminal justice where corruption is excused by those they support. People die from bad policy, but the ABC hold firm to those they favour. There are lots of ways it can improve, but those that apologise for ABC incompetence have only recently gotten past denial to acknowledge it is a serious issue. 

It won't be hard to change the ABC, but it is inconceivable that current management won't change. Highly paid senior journalists who offer their opinion aren't necessary, and actually devalue the ABC. Better would be less experienced journalists held to a standard that is higher than it has been. Dame Leonie Kramer did some magnificent work in the early '80s. That could be a template for moving forward. First there needs to be acknowledgement of fault. The ABC has a long history, but not a proud one. The ABC was founded in hope that a fierce independent broadcaster could improve Australian politics. It never has (I recognise the bald statement, and welcome counter examples). It will take time. Let the work begin.
Historical perspectives on this day 
In 421, Constantius III became co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 1238, the Mongols burned the Russian city of Vladimir. 1250, Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engaged Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah. 1347, the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 ended with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos. 1575, Universiteit Leiden was founded, and given the motto Praesidium Libertatis. 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. 1601, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebelled against Queen Elizabeth I – the revolt was quickly crushed. 1693, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia was granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II. 1726, the Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.

 In 1807, Battle of Eylau – Napoleon defeated Russians under General Bennigsen and the Prussians under L'Estocq 1817, Las Heras crossed the Andes with an army to join San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain. 1837, Richard Johnson became the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate. 1855, the Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon. 1856, Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbei abolished slavery in Wallachia. 1865, in the United States, Delaware voters rejected the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and voted to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratified the amendment on February 12, 1901.) 1879, Sandford Fleming first proposed adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute. Also 1879, the England cricket team led by Lord Harris was attacked during a riot during a match in Sydney. 1885, the first government-approved Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii. 1887, the Dawes Act authorised the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.

 In 1904, Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China started the Russo-Japanese War. 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated by William D. Boyce. 1915, D.W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premiered in Los Angeles. 1922, President Warren G. Harding introduced the first radio in the White House. 1924, Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber took place in Nevada. 1942, World War II: Japan invaded Singapore. 1945, World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada commenced Operation Veritable to occupy the west bank of the Rhine. 1946, the first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, was published. 1948, the formal creation of the Korean People's Army of North Korea was announced. 1949, Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary was sentenced for treason. 1950, the Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, was established. 1952, Elizabeth II was proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom. 1955, the Government of Sindh, Pakistan, abolished the Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres (4000 km2) of land thus acquired was to be distributed among the landless peasants.

 In 1960, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants would take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor". Also 1960, the first eight brass star plaques were installed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1962, Charonne massacre. Nine trade unionists were killed by French police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Paris Prefecture of Police. 1963, travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba were made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration. 1963, the First full Colour Television program in the World, publicly advertised, was broadcast in Mexico City by XHGC-TV, Channel 5, due to technical breakthrough advances made by Mexican Engineer Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena. Also 1963, the regime of Prime Minister of Iraq, Brigadier General Abdul-Karim Qassem was overthrown by the Ba'ath Party. 1965, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and exploded, killing everyone aboard. 1968, American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who were protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley, left three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina. 1969, Allende meteorite fell near Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico. 1971, the NASDAQ stock market index opened for the first time. Also 1971, South Vietnamese ground troops launched an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration. 1974, after 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returned to Earth. Also 1974, Military coup in Upper Volta. 1978, proceedings of the United States Senate were broadcast on radio for the first time.

 In 1981, twenty-one association football spectators were trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens FC. 1983, the Melbourne dust storm hit Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud enveloped the city, turning day to night. 1986, Hinton train collision: Twenty-three people were killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collided with a 118-car Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, west of Edmonton. It is the worst rail accident in Canada until the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec derailment in 2013 which killed forty-seven people. 1993, General Motors sued NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigged two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups could easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settled the lawsuit the next day. 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Communications Decency Act. Also 1996, the massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" took place. 2010, a freak storm in the Hindukush mountains of Afghanistan triggered a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travellers. 2013,  A blizzard disrupted transportation and left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada. 2014, a hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia killed 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 also injured.
===
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.
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406, October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more. 
===
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 Mark Koch, Julie Huynh, Sokunthea Ing and Hoang Thanh Hai. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
February 8: Prešeren Day in Slovenia
Theatrical poster for The Birth of a Nation
Now that Mary has gone, we've seen the end of that line. It is about time we made the decision. The Nation has been born. Have a safe flight. Don't just feel the earth move, revel in it. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
===
2015
===

It’s a decisive time for Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Piers Akerman – Saturday, February 07, 2015 (11:50pm)

TONY Abbott’s political life is on a knife edge. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'It’s a decisive time for Prime Minister Tony Abbott'
===

Why the Jitterati need to stick with the PM

Miranda Devine – Saturday, February 07, 2015 (11:52pm)

ONE of the tragedies of Tony Abbott’s current predicament is that if he’d had a Peter Costello as treasurer and an Arthur Sinodinos as chief of staff he could have been riding high. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Why the Jitterati need to stick with the PM'
===

ABC quotes some pet troll to attack Abbott

Andrew Bolt February 08 2015 (7:14pm)

How low can the ABC go? In tonight’s main TV news bulletin it quoted anonymous twitter abuse of Tony Abbott by someone known only as “JS”.
No one knows who this anonymous person is, or why their opinion is worth more than that of any other Australian. The reporter just fished the comment out of the sewer to attack Abbott.
Would the ABC have ever quoted anonymous Twitter abuse of Julia Gillard?
This is not reporting but editorialising by proxy. 
===

Turnbull vs Abbott - which is the more likely to change?

Andrew Bolt February 08 2015 (4:43pm)

How Malcolm Turnbull could lead the Liberals to victory: by being less like the real Malcolm Turnbull. You know - arrogant, headstrong, contemptuous of critics, embarrassed by the Liberal base.
How Tony Abbott could lead the Liberals to victory: by being more like the real Tony Abbott. You know - humble, honest, respectful of critics, loyal to the Liberal base.
Which is more likely?
More on this in tomorrow’s column. 
===

The polls six years ago also said Turnbull was more popular than Abbott

Andrew Bolt February 08 2015 (4:03pm)

Remember when the polls last warned the Liberals not to choose the “unelectable” Tony Abbott.
It was 2009:
The parliamentary members of the Liberal Party had just chosen to elect a leader that most of them considered to be unelectable.
Now they had replaced Turnbull, a man nominated as preferred Liberal leader by 32 per cent of voters in the Herald’s Nielsen poll, with a man preferred by only 20 per cent.
The polls would have had the Liberals stick with a leader who’d destroy them.
And note: at least Abbott had the guts then to resign and put his job on the line before challenging:

MP Sophie Mirabella’s resignation followed senior Liberal Tony Abbott’s decision to resign from the shadow ministry, sparking a new round of leadership speculation.
===

Compare Abbott’s “captain’s call” to Turnbull’s

Andrew Bolt February 08 2015 (3:41pm)

Tony Abbott makes a perfectly understandable call - to hold the vote to spill leadership positions tomorrow rather than Tuesday, so Labor doesn’t make the government a laughing stock in Parliament.
Malcolm Turnbull jeers:
It is the Prime Minister’s decision to hold the meeting on Tuesday — he’s the Prime Minister he’s made a captains call and changed the date of the meeting…

But Malcolm Turnbull made his own captain’s call as Liberal leader in 2009:
At the close of business last night, asked whether a majority of his colleagues opposed the deal with the Government on emissions trading, Turnbull responded: ’‘I’m the leader, I’ve made the call.”
Abbott’s captain’s call saves the Liberals embarrassment. Turnbull’s captain’s call would have destroyed the Liberals - and cost the country millions.
(Thanks to reader Alan RM Jones.) 
===

Turnbull calls for secret ballot. Makes clear he will stand. Mocks Abbott

Andrew Bolt February 08 2015 (7:59am)

Malcolm Turnbull calls for a secret ballot on the leadership spill. This - incidentally - means there is no way of checking whether ministers do what the rules say they must and vote against a spill.
Turnbull also doesn’t want the spill motion brought forward to tomorrow. This - incidentally - means Tony Abbott would be left a sitting duck in Parliament and vulnerable to the Newspoll expected on Tuesday. [NOTE: Newspoll is being brought forward to tomorrow, in The Australian.]
But Turnbull still won’t resign and announce a challenge.
UPDATE
Abbott brings forward the spill motion to tomorrow.
Next challenge: to ensure there’s a vote in which ministers are seen to fulfill their duty to vote against a spill.
UPDATE
Turnbull, to shore up support, makes clear this morning he will stand for election as leader if the spill motion is passed. He does this by noting even ministers are free to stand for election as leader if the spill motion tomorrow is passed, and he is ringing colleagues.
He mocks Abbott’s decision to move the ballot to tomorrow as another “captain’s call”.
Given Turnbull doesn’t want to be seen as a plotter, his comments suggest he feels he needs more votes on his side.
That said, it is noticeable that Abbott has been given very little public support by female frontbenchers and members of the Mitch Fifield/Kelly O’Dwyer grouping.
UPDATE
Now Turnbull goes for a stroll in the street with Julie Bishop at a fundraiser. Side by side.
UPDATE
I’m told I’m unfair to single out Fifield and co. Many others are in the same boat. 
===

Galaxy poll: Turnbull still wouldn’t lead Liberals to a win

Andrew Bolt February 08 2015 (6:01am)

This confuses the picture for Liberals considering a switch to Malcolm Turnbull, thinking he’s their savior:
An exclusive Galaxy poll shows Mr Turnbull as prime minister would probably save the Liberal party seats, but would not guarantee them an election win…
(T)he poll found 55 per cent of voters thought the Prime Minister should stand down… [and] 35 per cent ... believe Mr Abbott should stay on.
But the poll also found the Coalition would still trail Labor even if Mr Turnbull was installed as Australia’s 29th prime minister ... with a 49:51 two-party preferred vote…
Support for the Prime Minister remained ­unchanged from last week’s Galaxy poll and would deliver a crushing 57:43 Labor victory if an election was held now…
The two-party preferred vote if [Julie] Bishop was leader was 53:47.
Of course, this poll puts a hypothetical and is only the roughest of guides.
But consider: it measures Turnbull when he’s at his mint-fresh best and Abbott after his cripplingly worst week as PM. But it suggests Turnbull would still put the Liberals behind Labor (and therefore can’t expect much of a honeymoon before the onslaught) and that Abbott has been strong enough this past week not to let the destabilisation destroy him.
And then there’s Bishop. Could Turnbull be gazumped?

So is this a sign of Turnbull getting nervous, or of yet more misinformation? From Sam Maiden and Simon Benson:
MALCOLM Turnbull is prepared to serve as treasurer — if asked — to avert a divisive leadership spill…
But it would mean Tony Abbott cutting loose his friend Joe ­Hockey, whom colleagues believe has failed to sell the Budget....
A source close to Mr ­Turnbull said that as of last week he was prepared to cut a deal for the Treasury portfolio and as of late Friday night, it was still a live option.
“That is still an option available to the PM,” a source close to Mr Turnbull said. “It could be the ­circuit-breaker.”
Turnbull replacing Hockey would seem a no-brainer for many in the Abbott camp, especially if it guarantees some peace for a while.  Turnbull would probably be better in the job and the move could be sold as a convincing sign of unity after all this destruction. But it would be high stakes for Turnbull. Success in the job would make him the natural successor to Abbott, but would delay that succession, too. Failure could bring him down and open the way for the next generation - a Scott Morrison, say.
But is this just an attempt to split Abbott from Hockey, one of his big defenders?
UPDATE
If Turnbull or Bishop are truly serious about needing to replace Abbott they should resign their positions and announce a challenge. Staying on as ministers requires them to vote against the leadership spill and also suggests they aren’t quite sure or serious enough to risk their jobs.
Signs of panic:
Worried Liberals are urging Malcolm Turnbull to declare his intention to challenge Tony Abbott before Tuesday’s proposed leadership spill, to give the party a clear choice between staying with the Prime Minister or opting for a new direction.
“Malcolm needs to step forward, sending out hints isn’t going to cut it when the stakes for everyone else are this high,” said one MP…
“We could be going through all of this for nothing,” said one MP, who complained it was impossible to count the numbers in the absence of a candidate.
“What’s the plan, just to leave Tony more wounded?” said another, “that’s crazy, and it won’t go down well with members.”
UPDATE
image
Many Liberal MPs will surely have been left a little uneasy by footage in last night’s news bulletins of a brusque Lucy Turnbull shutting the great iron gates of Turnbull’s massive Point Piper mansion and telling reporters to go away. How would the Turnbulls go in campaigning in the critical western Sydney marginal seats?
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and Paul.)     
===

Conservative commentators have backed a principle, not a side

Andrew Bolt February 08 2015 (5:30am)

Judith Sloan says Tony Abbott shouldn’t feel betrayed by conservative commentators who don’t cheer Liberals as Leftist commentators cheer Labor:
(N)o matter how bad the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government was, the friendly press gallery and its mates in the ABC/Fairfax never really had a rude word to say about their policies…
[W]ho can’t remember [Laura Tingle’s] endorsement of Gillard’s Medicare Gold policy at the 2004 election as an idea of pure genius that was likely to lead to Labor winning the election?
And who also can’t remember the Press Gallery’s unqualified endorsement of Labor’s carbon tax package...?
And then there was the almost hysterical endorsement of Gonski even though none of the political journalists had the faintest clue of how it would work…
Of course, the [allegedly pro-Liberal] ‘friends’ in the press of which I am thinking quite rightly don’t regard themselves as ‘friends’, but rather as defenders of good policy, small government, freedom of speech, freedom of contract and the like.
Any party that delivers good policy along these lines is fine by them. They do belong to a tribe, it’s just that the tribe is not defined as Labor or Liberal. I’m not sure this is a point that the Liberal Party quite understands.
There is no doubt that very many commentators (and Coalition supporters) peeled away when Abbott cowardly backed away from his promise to amend 18C… When it is illegal to offend someone, we are in real trouble when it comes to civil liberties in this country.
And what was all that rhetoric about the Budget (and the ongoing ludicrous claim that the Coalition has shaved some $170 billion off Labor debt – hmmm)? The Budget settings were as soft as blancmange but Hockey seemed to be happy with the description that it was tough … again, hmmm…
GP co-payments could have been sold, but in the context of the ridiculous Future Medical Research Future Fund … again, more peeling off of commentators. Higher education reforms – too complex…
(T)here is no sense that Abbott and his team should feel betrayed by commentators in the press. They always knew that that very many [leftists] in the commentariat would never be impressed, irrespective of the policies…
But the other commentators have just been looking for principles-based policies and clear explanations… If Tony is looking for people to blame for his current predicament , just don’t go looking at your ‘friends’ in the press.
But Peter of Bellevue Hills objects:
To be fair, has the government blamed its ‘friends’ in the press?  In his NPC address, the PM did touch on one of the most significant media issue facing the government: outlets publishing Labor’s talking points without proper critique:

I know that whatever we say or do Labor will run a scare campaign – I know that. And ... your job, if I may say so, is not to just run the scare campaign. Your job is to hold all politicians and all political parties to the same standard of accountability.
As you mentioned yesterday, what has been surprising is that the government has ignored the warnings and critiques provided by conservative commentators since its earliest days in office. It has also been quite startling how aggressively the progressive media has co-opted the criticisms of conservative commentators into their attacks on the government.
True, I’ve been surprised - and left feeling a bit guilty - by the hay the ABC gleefully made over my own criticisms. From Media Watch:
And how come the thoughts of one of Murdoch’s scribes then got to be first story on ABC Radio News next morning?

JOHN LOGAN: Leading this bulletin, right wing commentator Andrew Bolt delivers a jolt to the Prime Minister in the ... continuing row over a knighthood for Prince Philip. — ABC, Radio National, 29th January, 2015
ABC Online also ran Bolt’s jolt as its lead story, while News 24 devoted almost 25 minutes to his comments in just 3 hours between 6 and 9 am.
I don’t mind attention, but that was simply absurd. 
===

Post by Climatologia Geográfica.

===

Post by The Lord is my Shephard I shall not Want -Psalm23:1.

People aren't disposable, but some don't value themselves
===

Post by True Activist.

I lose .. I fought God .. and surrendered .. to His love
===

===

===

===

=== Posts from last year ===

ISABELLE’S ABC INVESTMENT

Tim Blair – Saturday, February 08, 2014 (5:43am)

Mark Scott this week accepted a $40 cheque from six-year-old Isabelle to help fund his $1.2 billion tax-financed media operation. The ABC’s managing director must now properly invest this windfall. Let’s help him out.
Thank you for voting!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Total Votes: 2,405
Return To PollCreate Your Own Poll 

(Salary calculations based on 46 38-hour weeks per year)
===

SOURCES TELL

Tim Blair – Saturday, February 08, 2014 (5:16am)

SMH columnist Mike Carlton’s good points – not history’s longest list – include his appreciation of and contacts within the Royal Australian Navy: 
Here’s what my navy sources tell me about those refugees with the burnt hands. Somewhere north of Christmas Island, a party of sailors from the frigate HMAS Parramatta boarded an Indonesian fishing boat.
Some went below to secure the engine-room and were accosted by angry male passengers who were trying to disable the engine. A scuffle broke out. One man apparently set fire to a fuel-soaked rag. A sailor used pepper spray to subdue them. In the uproar, blinded by the fumes, two panicked asylum seekers grabbed hold of hot engine pipes.
The refugees have another story, but I accept this one. Deliberate torture would be impossible to keep secret in the confines of a naval vessel. Such an episode would have got out eventually. It just didn’t happen. 
Meanwhile, from the it so did happen branch of Australia’s left: 
“It’s time for an Australian investigation into this incident,” the party’s Immigration spokeswoman Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters in Adelaide.
“It is the government’s obsession with secrecy that is tarnishing the navy’s reputation,” she claimed.
“It falls squarely at the feet of Tony Abbott and his Minister.” 
Sarah Hanson-Young is the ideal person to lead that investigation. 
===

HELPING YOUNG PEOPLE WITH LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES

Tim Blair – Saturday, February 08, 2014 (4:54am)

The phrase is one fell swoop. Comes from Macbeth, you know.
===

HIT AGAIN

Tim Blair – Saturday, February 08, 2014 (3:22am)

CNN’s Piers Morgan endures yet another karmic moment, following his delightful smiting in Melbourne:



Ian Chappell’s five-word summary should serve as an alert to all of Morgan’s interviewees.
===

DYNING OUT

Tim Blair – Saturday, February 08, 2014 (1:23am)

Excellent travel advice from Piers Akerman: 
Have a tortilla for me at Mi Tierra in San Antonio. I was once eating there when a woman at the next table collapsed and died.
Then they took my order.
Whatever she didn’t have. 
In other travel news, Mark Steyn will return to Australia this year. Further details shortly. 
===

Verballing Johnston

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (12:15pm)

Tony Wright of The Age scoffs at the Defence Minister:
And when confronted with Fairfax’s report of an extensive interview with the asylum seeker who acted as interpreter on the boat in question, and who insisted he’d seen with his own eyes the alleged mistreatment, Senator Johnston dismissed the claims as a ‘’small number of misbehaviours’’.
False. A journalist uses that phrase “a small number of misbehaviours” (from around 3:50 ofthe video) and Johnston repeats the phrase with disdain before telling the journalists to be more careful is using such loaded language:
“Small number of misbehaviours”. Misbehaviours? Let’s be a bit careful about what we say here, please.
(Thanks to reader Barbara.) 
===

“Absolutely no evidence” is rather strong

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (11:43am)

Jacqueline Maley in today’s Sydney Morning Herald: 
Gillard was then damaged by historic allegations against her from her time working as a solicitor for the Australian Workers Union. There was absolutely no evidence Gillard had done anything wrong,
Michael Smith in The Australian in December:
On May 15 ... detectives from the major fraud squad visited the Melbourne Magistrates Court to give sworn evidence in an application for a warrant to search and seize documents from Slater & Gordon. Magistrate Lance Martin heard their evidence and duly issued the warrant… Before Martin could issue the warrant, he - not police - had to believe on reasonable grounds that a serious crime had occurred and that the things he specified in the warrant would afford evidence of that crime. 
We know Martin’s warrant directed police to seize all documents held by Slater & Gordon relating to Wilson, Blewitt, Gillard, the AWU Workplace Reform Association (the slush fund) and a property at 1/85 Kerr Street, Fitzroy, bought with the slush fund’s money by Wilson, who attended the auction with Gillard, and put in Blewitt’s name.
The warrant described further evidence: Gillard’s personnel files; her invoices/billings, time sheets and travel records; personnel files in the name of her former secretary; and any record of the exit interview conducted by Peter Gordon with Gillard on September 11, 1995… Martin included documents pertaining to Gillard and the AWU, the conveyance and mortgage file relating to the $150,000 loan advanced to Blewitt for the purchase of 1/85 Kerr Street and deed registers involving the AWU.
By May 17, police had seized the documents set out in the warrant, leaving the Slater & Gordon premises with boxes of material…
On September 2, Victorian Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen heard Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell’s application for the remaining 360 documents to be handed to the custody of police… During the proceedings, Lauritsen granted The Australian’s request for the release of Mitchell’s written application. That document included the details of the search warrant clearly naming Gillard. It closes by saying that, should Wilson make a claim of privilege, police will argue the claim should be rejected because the documents seized from Gillard’s former office “were made in the furtherance of fraud”.
Gillard insists she did nothing wrong. She says she did not know what her boyfriend did with the slush fund she helped him to set up.
Yet for a star it is certainly arguable that Gillard at the very minimum should not have acted as solicitor for her boyfriend, should not have kept her partners in ignorance of that work, and should not have kept the firm’s big client - the AWU - in ignorance of the work she was doing on her boyfriend’s Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association.
Also unresolved is the allegation of client Ralph Blewitt that Gillard did not witness his power of attorney in favor of her boyfriend in Blewitt’s presence, used by Wilson to purchase a house for himself with his slush fund’s cash.
Again. Gillard insists she did nothing improper. 
===

Corby inspires our tribes of bogans

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (11:37am)

The hullabaloo here over Schapelle Corby’s release on parole should help Indonesians think we really are the barbarians we seemed on her arrest. 
===

Putting a ruler through another alarmist

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (11:24am)

Two men armed with a ruler expose the deceit of White House science advisor John Holdren, who presented a wild graph showing runaway warming.
UPDATE
More cheating.
(Thanks to readers Anna C and Barney.) 
===

Palmer turns a 650-workers business into a 90-worker one

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (8:59am)

Clive Palmer’s credentials as a man who knows how to run an economy are looking suspect:
THE Sunshine Coast golf resort and dinosaur park controlled by federal politician Clive Palmer was hit with up to 90 job cuts yesterday amid community and staff concerns that the iconic destination will be shut to stem its rising financial losses… 
Insiders said that as many as 90 staff were being made redundant, leaving about 90 people still employed there, compared with more than 650 when Mr Palmer acquired the resort three years ago… Investigations by The Weekend Australian have previously highlighted serious financial problems and mounting losses in Mr Palmer’s key companies and businesses, many of which are not profitable.  
Not what Palmer promised last November:
LEIGH SALES: Let me also ask you: does your Coolum resort in Queensland operate at a profit? 
CLIVE PALMER: No, it’s where I live and where I enjoy myself and that’s - I keep people employed at a great subsidy ‘cause I love the Sunshine Coast and I love spending my money to keep people employed in the greatest state in Australia.
LEIGH SALES: And how long are you prepared to sustain that loss? CLIVE PALMER: Well probably until I die.
===

The vanity of the ABC’s apologists

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (8:29am)

Lisa Wilkinson says we pay the ABC to be Left to balance censorious and unnatural Right-wingers:
WILKINSON: If you look at media in this country ... a lot of media that leans towards the Right. So if the ABC balances things a bit, I think that’s a darn good thing.
Glover: That’s not the ABC’s view though ... that’s not the charter, that you’re there to make up for others’ errors, the idea is you’re there in the middle of things, that you’re unbiased. Wilkinson: Which I tend to think is something that leans more towards the Left than to the Right because it’s about free speech, and it’s about natural conversation ...
This is part of the conceit of Leftists to which former ABC host David Marr gave such memorable voice:
The natural culture of journalism is a kind of vaguely soft left inquiry, sceptical of authority. I mean, that’s just the world out of which journalists come.  If they don’t come out of this world, they really can’t be reporters.  I mean, if you are not sceptical of authority – find another job.  You know, just find another job.
Odd thing, though. When I had my own free speech taken away by a court it was to the cheers of the Left. When laws were proposed to puts newspapers under state supervision of “bias”, they were drafted by a Labor Government and again cheered by the Left. When the need was urgent to be sceptical of the authorities who swore the world was warming fast and dangerously, the Left refused to challenge the scare and even howled down those who did.
Fact: the ABC is not funded to “balance” the Right-wing media any more than it is funded to “balance” the Left-wing Fairfax media, SBS,  Guardian Australia, Canberra press gallery, Lisa Wilkinson, Laurie Oakes, The Project, 2UE, FM hosts,, The Conversation, Crikey, The Monthly and the rest.
Fact: if you want a “natural” conversation, go out into our city streets and towns. What you will hear will make the ABC’s obsessions with boat people, same sex marriage and global warming sound most unnatural.
Fact: the Left has not been the defender of free speech but the enemy.
Still, it’s good that the ABC’s apologists are abandoning the deceitful “ABC isn’t biased” stand, and retreating to the “yes but”. 
===

Damn that click-bait Blair

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (8:18am)

I don’t know what Tim Blair is paying Owen to be his new publicist, but he’s worth every cent despite his struggles with English:

image
===

Importing this kind of ignorance does not seem wise

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (8:11am)

The question then is how wise we are to import people not just so ignorant about Australia, but so tolerant of grown men marrying girls just 13:
FORCED marriages of underage girls might be commonplace in certain communities in Sydney, according to the NSW Minister for Community Services, Pru Goward, who spoke yesterday following the arrest of a 26-year-old man charged with 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl… 
Police claim the man and child were married in a religious ceremony last month. Appearing in court yesterday speaking through an Arabic-language interpreter, he made no application for bail, which was formally refused… Eman Sharobeem from the Immigrant Women’s Health Service ...  said new-immigrant communities were often ignorant of local laws and customs.
What other “local laws and customs” as fundamental as these are they ignorant of and likely to breach?
Oh, and why this coyness about “certain communities”? Why no mention in the report of Islam?
(Thanks to reader Ian.) 
===

Sheridan vs Tingle: claims “foolish”, “untrue”, “infantile” and “almost deranged”

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (7:55am)

I share Greg Sheridan’s astonishment at Laura Tingle’s extraordinary bias, which leads her to write the most ill-informed slop:
The question is whether the political and commentator class is capable of analysing and responding to a policy disagreement between Australia and Indonesia with anything approaching calmness, rationality, balance, a sense of proportion and some basic knowledge. 
By far the most foolish analysis, important only because it is representative, was written by Laura Tingle in The Australian Financial Review. She wrote that: “The Indonesian navy is now not patrolling looking for asylum-seeker boats but for the Australian navy.”
This is completely untrue and was never true at any point.
Tingle went on: “Indonesia watchers also warn of even darker currents. They point out that China has already provided naval patrol assistance to both Fiji and Vanuatu. An overstretched and very pissed-off Indonesia might be prepared to consider also accepting some assistance.” To compare the strategic outlook of Indonesia with that of Vanuatu is almost deranged. But to think that a disagreement with Canberra over boatpeople would lead to a fundamental pro-Chinese strategic realignment by Jakarta, or that sovereignty-obsessed Indonesia would allow the Chinese to take over patrolling duties in its coastal waters, is beyond absurdity. That a senior member of the Canberra press gallery could print such infantile nonsense, which could only emerge from a complete lack of knowledge about anything to do with Indonesia’s strategic culture, demonstrates how extremely ill-equipped many mainstream commentators are to deal with anything related to Indonesia at all. 
===

Tim Flannery is as accurate about me as he is about the climate

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (6:57am)

Another false claim from warmist Tim Flannery, who has said so much that turned out wrong:
Flannery says he does not like to talk much about his living arrangements, as the famously temperate broadcaster Ray Hadley revealed the location of Flannery’s house on the Hawkesbury River, and News Ltd’s mild-mannered columnist Andrew Bolt published details of his mortgage.
I have never published details of Flannery’s mortgage and, what’s more, do not know anyone who has, although a  Daily Telegraph reporter once mentioned only that the mortgage on Flannery former home was held by the ANZ Bank . I have no idea how Flannery could even begin to justify that slur, but I have some idea why The Sydney Morning Herald would believe such an unlikely thing and publish it without checking its truth.. 
===

Yes, the ABC is biased. But Liberals need more than one contested story to prove it

Andrew Bolt February 08 2014 (6:32am)

There is a danger in basing the case against the ABC’s bias exclusively on the ABC’s eager reporting of the “torture” claims, given those claims cannot be entirely ruled out on the evidence before us.
Rather, the fury of so many Liberals should be explained by making explicit the long history of ABC bias, coupled with the ABC’s extraordinary and dangerous size:
TONY Abbott faces a push from within his cabinet to call a wide-ranging inquiry into the ABC’s editorial standards, after his Defence Minister launched an extraordinary attack on the broadcaster for airing unsubstantiated claims that navy personnel physically abused asylum-seekers. 
Venting his anger, David Johnston accused the ABC yesterday of having “maliciously maligned” the navy and said he was dissatisfied with “weasel words of apology” from senior management.
The minister’s comments ... reflect widespread sentiment in the Abbott government that the ABC’s news and current affairs coverage has a left-wing bias against Coalition policy, and should be reined in.
The Prime Minister shares the concerns of his colleagues about the ABC’s balance, after declaring that it too often took the side of others and not Australia, although he declined yesterday to lend his support to a wider inquiry into standards at the government-funded broadcaster…
Senator Johnston said yesterday he was “absolutely sick to the stomach” that the ABC would attack the navy in the way it had… In a separate interview with The Weekend Australian, Senator Johnston stepped up his attack on the ABC, saying that a review of editorial standards should focus on the organisation’s annual budget, which he believed was “too big”, and its inclination to “make the news” rather than report it.
But to really expose ABC bias, Liberal MPs would have to speak frankly about the ABC’s global warming catastrophism. Are they up for that fight?
UPDATE
Same brawl now in Britain:
THE BBC has a “cultural leaning to the left” and needs to work on its impartiality, a British cabinet minister says. 
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said the BBC did things that were not “right and proper” for a public broadcaster, saying the problems were not just confined to current affairs programs but also affected entertainment shows. “I think there’s still an inclination to cover issues in a way that is very much about the culture of a slightly left-leaning, metropolitan group of people who are disproportionately represented there,” he said.
UPDATE
Yes to inquiry:
Border Protection officials will make fresh inquiries into claims that its sailors deliberately burned the hands of asylum seekers after a witness gave Fairfax Media a detailed account of the alleged abuse.
No to inquiry: 
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that the government had no intention of investigating further the veracity of claims about navy brutality against asylum-seekers ...
UPDATE
Even Mike Carlton: 
So here’s what my navy sources tell me about those refugees with the burnt hands. Somewhere north of Christmas Island, a party of sailors from the frigate HMAS Parramatta boarded an Indonesian fishing boat. 
Some went below to secure the engine-room and were accosted by angry male passengers who were trying to disable the engine. A scuffle broke out. One man apparently set fire to a fuel-soaked rag. A sailor used pepper spray to subdue them. In the uproar, blinded by the fumes, two panicked asylum seekers grabbed hold of hot engine pipes.
(Thanks to readers Leigh, Uncle Quentin and Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
===

John Butler on, um, how great leaders, you know, er, kind of Green or stuff

Andrew Bolt February 07 2014 (7:56pm)

ABC News 24’s One Plus One seeks the views of musician John Butler on leadership, on the apparent assumption there were insights to gain:
Like all things in life, it’s a balancing act. And, ummm, to be a good leader I think you have to be on the same level as the people that you’re leading. I think the minute you, you, hear of, you there’s a hierarchy that takes place where you can’t be told that you’re being a jerk or that, nah, you’re a bit off, I think you’re wrong, I think this is a bit [sic]. “I don’t think you’re listening to me John, or I don’t feel like I’m being respected or heard”. If I don’t have that kind of two way street of dialogue and respect, I feel that you’re then not being a good leader. 
At the same time, yeah, I am the leader of this thing and I should be – If it’s something I think about, if it’s something I get anxious about and think about too much, is offending people and how to kind of lead in a way that doesn’t disenfranchise people and doesn’t disempower people. But, you know, doesn’t step on their toes. And we live in a country that the the tall poppy [sic]. So like, you know, lead but not too much because then they will hate you. Uumm, ummm, so, you know, I think leadership is an amazing thing. Someone told me the other day, which was really great, a leadership is not being a delegator of all the information. It’s about being a visionary. It’s about having the big ideas and then having the great people around you that you respect and you trust and you [sic] can do things that you can’t do to help dedicate that and help bring that to life.
Hmm. Sounds like a Green. You know, irrational, unformed, undisciplined in thought. Evelating feelings above reason.
But Butler doesn’t like being typecast as the caricature of a Green - you know, like he, um, sort of,like, is:
Jane Hutcheon : In your view in Australia, who is a good leader, who’s a visionary?
John Butler: I think there’s a great senator, a great Greens’ senator called Scott Ludlam, he’s a great visionary. I think people like Tim Winton are great visionaries.
Jane Hutcheon : Any of our politicians?
John Butler: Umm, I think, I think, I think Peter Garrett actually is a very brave and, um, powerful visionary. Somebody who’s, he was happy to put everything on the line in what he believed in. So, I, I, I, admire bravery – and bravery to throw reputation to the wind almost in a way because you believe in a cause. So, um, Christine Milne I think she stands for – I think Bob Brown is great. I mean, I think all the viewers are going to go “Oh classic Greenie” here. But two-party, two-party politics in this country or America is a joke. It’s an absolute joke. I think Labor and Liberal are exactly the same thing and I think Tony Abbott, is, is, is an embarrassment to have as a leader, personally.
===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
Post by David Daniel Ball.

===
“Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” - Psalm 97:10
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
February 7: Morning
"Arise, and depart." - Micah 2:10
The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as it comes to all--"Arise, and go forth from the home in which thou hast dwelt, from the city in which thou hast done thy business, from thy family, from thy friends. Arise, and take thy last journey." And what know we of the journey? And what know we of the country to which we are bound? A little we have read thereof, and somewhat has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but how little do we know of the realms of the future! We know that there is a black and stormy river called "Death." God bids us cross it, promising to be with us. And, after death, what cometh? What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight? What scene of glory will be unfolded to our view? No traveller has ever returned to tell. But we know enough of the heavenly land to make us welcome our summons thither with joy and gladness. The journey of death may be dark, but we may go forth on it fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through the gloomy valley, and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall be departing from all we have known and loved here, but we shall be going to our Father's house--to our Father's home, where Jesus is--to that royal "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." This shall be our last removal, to dwell forever with him we love, in the midst of his people, in the presence of God. Christian, meditate much on heaven, it will help thee to press on, and to forget the toil of the way. This vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: this world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

"Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
For thy bright courts on high;
Then bid our spirits rise, and join
The chorus of the sky."
Evening
"And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither." - Revelation 11:12
Without considering these words in their prophetical connection, let us regard them as the invitation of our great Forerunner to his sanctified people. In due time there shall be heard "a great voice from heaven" to every believer, saying, "Come up hither." This should be to the saints the subject of joyful anticipation. Instead of dreading the time when we shall leave this world to go unto the Father, we should be panting for the hour of our emancipation. Our song should be--

"My heart is with him on his throne,
And ill can brook delay;
Each moment listening for the voice,
Rise up and come away.'"

We are not called down to the grave, but up to the skies. Our heaven-born spirits should long for their native air. Yet should the celestial summons be the object of patient waiting. Our God knows best when to bid us "Come up hither." We must not wish to antedate the period of our departure. I know that strong love will make us cry,

"O Lord of Hosts, the waves divide,
And land us all in heaven;"

but patience must have her perfect work. God ordains with accurate wisdom the most fitting time for the redeemed to abide below. Surely, if there could be regrets in heaven, the saints might mourn that they did not live longer here to do more good. Oh, for more sheaves for my Lord's garner! m
ore jewels for his crown! But how, unless there be more work? True, there is the other side of it, that, living so briefly, our sins are the fewer; but oh! when we are fully serving God, and he is giving us to scatter precious seed, and reap a hundredfold, we would even say it is well for us to abide where we are. Whether our Master shall say "go," or "stay," let us be equally well pleased so long as he indulges us with his presence.
===
Jehoshaphat 
[Jēhŏsh'aphăt] - jehovah is judge.
1. A recorder during the reigns of David and Solomon (2 Sam. 8:16; 1 Kings 4:3; 1 Chron. 18:15).
2. One of Solomon's purveyors (1 Kings 4:17).
3. A son of Asa, king of Judah, who succeeded his father (1 Kings 15:24; 22).
The Man with a Good Record
Because he carried out the religious reforms of his father, history gives Jehoshaphat a good name. What a beautiful expression that is " . . .he walked in the first ways of his father David" - meaning in the former or earlier ways of David, as contrasted with his later conduct. Because of his godward bent, "the Lord was with Jehoshaphat." Negatively, he "sought not after Baalim."
Here was a man who in every point was equally strong, a man of foresight, a man of reverence, a man of an honest heart, a man who felt that idolatry and true worship could not coexist in the same breast. He did not concern himself with "the doings of Israel." His was a blessed, spiritual singularity. He laid down a clear program for himself, and followed it out with patient and faithful endeavor. He did not seek riches and honor. No wonder the Lord "established the kingdom in his hand"! Points for the preacher to develop are:
I. He was one of the best kings of Judah (1 Kings 15:24).
II. He had a godly father whose example he emulated (2 Chron. 14:2).
III. He developed a system of religious instruction for the people (2 Chron. 17:7-9).
IV. He commanded the judges to be just (2 Chron. 19:6-9).
V. He trusted God for victory in a crisis (2 Chron. 20).
VI. He manifested weakness in his alliance with wicked kings (1 Kings 22:1-36).
4. Son of Nimshi and father of Jehu, who conspired against Joram, son of king Ahab (2 Kings 9:2, 14).
5. One of the priests who assisted in bringing up the Ark from Obed-edom (1 Chron. 15:24). Also the name of a valley east of Jerusalem which figures in coming judgment (Joel 3:2, 12). See also Josaphat.
===
Dinah
The Woman Whose Sightseeing Had Fatal Results
Scripture Reference: Genesis 34
Name Meaning: Dinah means "justice" or "one who judges," and was doubtless given her as a token of her parents' belief in divine justice.
Family Connections: She was a daughter of Jacob and Leah, and as a member of a family under covenant blessing should have been more careful regarding her personal obligation in maintaining the honor of her home and nation.
Dinah's love for sight-seeing set off a train of tragic consequences. Young and daring, and curious to know something of the world outside, she stole away one day from the drab tents of her father, to see how the girls in their gorgeous Oriental trappings fared in nearby Shechem. Roaming around, the eyes of Prince Shechem, son of Hamor lighted upon her. He saw her means he lusted after her (see Job 31:1), and then as the record puts it, "he took her, lay with her, and defiled her" (Genesis 34:2 ). Although Dinah's vanity was flattered at Shechem's attention so that she went to his palace, she never meant to go so far. Took her implies he forced her, and although she may have resisted his advances, resistance was futile and she was seduced.
Had Dinah been content to remain a "keeper at home" (Titus 2:5), a terrible massacre would have been averted, but her desire for novelty and forbidden company spelled disaster. Josephus tells us that Dinah went to the Canaanite annual festival of nature worship (Numbers 25:2) - a forbidden association for an Israelite. Sin, shame and death came to Dinah and Shechem through the windows of their eyes and ears (seeGenesis 39:7 ). The young prince offered the usual reparation for his seduction of Dinah - marriage and a payment to her father which was sufficient according to Hebrew law (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). Evidently there was more than lustful desire on the part of Shechem, for we read - "His soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto her." When Hamor went to Jacob and his sons to discuss the matter of marriage between his son and Dinah, he said, "The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter. I pray you give her him to wife."
The sons of Jacob, angry over the shame brought to their sister and nation, said that such a thing "ought not to be done." By what Dinah had become - a seduced woman - she caused her father to be a "stink among the inhabitants of the land."
Seeming to acquiesce in Hamor's suggestion that his son and Dinah should marry and that there should be established a friendlier association between the Israelites and Shechemites, the sons of Jacob, particularly Simeon and Levi, said that they would agree to Hamor's proposition on one condition. The condition was that all the male Shechemites submit to the rite of circumcision - an act of priestly consecration. When the pain of the operation was at its height and movement was difficult, on the third day, Simeon and Levi attacked and slew all the males in the city, including young Shechem himself. For centuries, among the Arabs, seduction was punishable by death, the judgment being generally inflicted by the brothers of the one seduced. For their crime, Simeon and Levi received a curse instead of a blessing from Jacob their father, as he came to die.
One salutary effect of this tragedy was the reconsecration of Jacob who had lapsed somewhat as the result of his settlement near Shechem (Genesis 33:17-20). Remembering his vow to make an altar at Bethel to God who had appeared to him while fleeing from Esau years before, his family surrendered their strange gods and purified themselves, and at Bethel the forgotten covenant was fulfilled. In this way God overruled evil for good (Genesis 35:1-5).
How many young Dinahs there are today captivated by the glitter and glamor of the world, and, tired of life at home, leave without warning, and become lost in the whirl of a large city. There is an alarming increase in the numbers of girls who, anxious for change and wanting to see something of the world, turn aside from the shelter of a good home and are never heard of again. Many of them end up in sin, crime and degradation. May we never cease to pray for those who try to seek out and restore the lost, young womanhood of our day!
===

Today's reading: Leviticus 1-3, Matthew 24:1-28 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Leviticus 1-3

The Burnt Offering
1 The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When anyone among you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.
3 "'If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD....

Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 24:1-28

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

at

No comments:

Post a Comment