Australia has a similar political cycle. Unlike the US, where politicians need call supporters to vote, Australia has compulsory voting and so Australian parties try to encourage votes from the other party through the centre. The Liberal party, being conservative, have been very successful since the party's creation. The much older Australian Labor Party is leftist. The names swap over from foreign understanding but the parties are analogs to the US Republicans and Democrats. Currently we are in an ALP cycle, but they have been so bad that not even the press are supporting them as well as they can. The clumsy attempts to censor the press has only been supported by some media. The ALP still have some support, but not from the centre. Greens have eaten at the ALP left wing. And so the ALP are polling 47 to 53, but it will probably be much, much worse. Still, the Queensland experience, where Anna Bligh asked the electorate not to punish the ALP too much which saw a devastating loss has taught the ALP a lesson. They aren't admitting they are lost yet. They launched their campaign with six days to election. They haven't announced policy, but instead claimed the opposition hadn't.
How will the US respond to Syria? Obama says he will bomb something. Maybe. Many claim Rudd will go on a G20 junket in the last two days prior to election. An admission of loss if he does.
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1529 – Sancti Spiritu, the first European settlement in Argentina, was destroyed by local natives.
1774 – Thomas Gage, royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, ordered soldiers to remove gunpowder from a magazine, causing Patriots to prepare for war.
1880 – The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan was routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, struck the Kantō region of Japan, devastating Tokyo and Yokohama, and killing over an estimated 100,000 people.
1983 – Soviet jet interceptors shot down the civilian airliner Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (artist's rendition pictured) near Sakhalin Island in the North Pacific, killing all 246 passengers and 23 crew on board. The land is sanctified. The order is given. The enemy is routed. Tokyo is shaken. Try and fly straight and true, to avoid tragedy Live long, and prosper.
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Lust for power wrecked Labor’s future
Piers Akerman – Sunday, September 01, 2013 (6:03am)
IN the past six years, Labor has not only trashed its own brand but it has wrought incalculable damage to the Australian political fabric.
Assisted to an enormous degree by the propagandising power of the monolithic state broadcaster, the ABC, Labor, under Kevin Rudd, then Julia Gillard, then Rudd again, has crossed so many lines that it once claimed to respect that it may take decades to re-establish any sense of public trust.
The grotesque claims made by Rudd, flanked by Treasurer Chris Bowen and Finance Minister Penny Wong, about the cost of the Coalition’s policies on Thursday were so staggeringly outrageous that three federal economic agencies - the Departments of Treasury and Finance and the Parliamentary Budget office - took the unprecedented step of publicly rejecting Labor’s falsehoods.
Rudd accused the Coalition of a “$10 billion” fraud but it rapidly became apparent that the real frauds were Rudd, Bowen and Wong.
On cue, the trained sheep at the ABC started bleating a call for the Coalition to release its own costings while, true to form, overlooking the fact that the Coalition has said it will release its costings this week and not at 5pm next Friday as Labor has done to avoid scrutiny before the last two elections.
But while this stupendous lie put out by the increasingly desperate Labor camp is noteworthy because of its sheer brazenness, it is not that singular.
It is part of the pattern of deceit that Labor has engaged in since coming to office in 2007 in an attempt to camouflage its lack of principle and the mediocrity of its leadership.
There are the massive serial lies about the non-existent Budget surpluses and there are the standouts like “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead” but the constant barrage of deception has stripped Australian political life of the essential trust and transparency necessary for democracy to function smoothly.
Ironically, the trend was set in NSW, the State which Rudd effectively told to drop dead during this campaign with his ignorant remarks about Sydney’s need for a second airport and his harebrained scheme to move the naval presence from Sydney Harbour at a cost of upward of 4000 jobs.
Bob Carr, a failed former premier and a lacklustre Foreign Minister, but nevertheless a literary bloke, would well appreciate the Machiavellian crew that he recruited and trained in Macquarie Street and set loose on the federal ALP.
Former Opposition leader Kim Beazley was felled and replaced by Rudd by the NSW thugs who were later called upon to tilt the numbers for Gillard to knife Rudd. She, in turn, was betrayed by the Victorian Bill Shorten.
That Rudd received a momentary rise in popularity when he regained the Lodge was unsurprising - Gillard’s problems with the AWU investigation, her screeching tirade against Opposition leader Tony Abbott, her fostering of the handbag hit squad (whose proclaimed feminist members not only ignored former Speaker Peter Slipper’s disgusting observations on female genitalia but also quickly deserted the nation’s first female PM) - had made herself deeply unpopular.
Rudd’s also received a tick for his backflip on illegal boat arrivals, though that didn’t last either as the PNG Solution proved as phony as the East Timor Solution, and even more importantly, as the public recognised that the “new” Rudd was basically the same monomaniacal psychopath his colleagues had rebelled against three years ago.
The naked lust for power has effectively killed the ambitions of most of the current generation of Labor MPs.
Rudd is certainly finished, no matter whether he holds his seat or not, and he doesn’t deserve to.
The ticket being talked up to take over after the election, assuming that Abbott remains the likely winner is Bowen and Butler, as in Mark Butler, the current Climate Change Minister.
The best argument mounted for this ticket is that they are both grey men, or as one senior Labor figure told me: “They wouldn’t stand out on a Sydney bus.”
The high-flyers who were once touted as future Labor Prime Ministers are either going (like Craig Emerson) or too tarnished by their disloyalty (Shorten) or association with the current or former leadership to be salvageable.
Bowen, who may struggle to hold his seat, despite the ugly smear campaign he has been running against his opponent in McMahon, the respected former police officer Ray King, would still be lumbered with considerable baggage having spent his adult like working within Labor and the union movement.
Labor knows it has lost this one, it doesn’t yet know to build for the future.
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Kevin Rudd can’t even get insults right
Miranda Devine – Sunday, September 01, 2013 (11:00am)
THE Prime Minister has adopted a novel form of political attack in the dying days of the election campaign.
He takes a potent Opposition criticism - that he’s a waffler, or talks too much, or is economically illiterate, or is temperamentally unsuited to high office, or will say anything to get elected - and fires it back at Tony Abbott.
Hence, Kevin Rudd’s claim last week that Abbott was talking “waffle, waffle, waffle and waffle,” even though the last thing you could call the Opposition Leader is a waffler.
His speaking style is more staccato sound bite.
Rudd’s new tactic seems absurd to anyone with half an ear on the news, but somewhere in dirty tricks land there must be a belief it works.
The problem is that insults only sting if they contain a nugget of truth.
“Does this guy ever shut up,” ?was ?devastating ?from Abbott because of Rudd’s unrelenting verbosity.
It doesn’t work on the guy who speaks six minutes less than his opponent during a debate. But it’s no surprise Labor can’t even get its negative messaging right, after its record of the past six years.
Its own shambolic performance is what’s hurting the government, not some imaginary conspiracy involving Rupert Murdoch. If Labor wants to know where it went wrong, it need look no further than the Rooty Hill People’s Forum.
Question after question was a reproach: “How do you combat the perception that the only thing Labor is good at is spending other people’s money?”; “Do you intend to keep on borrowing?”
There was the man who made the point that if his small trucking business didn’t run a modest surplus each year he’d go broke, so why was the government any different.
The woman who asked about Rudd destabilising Julia Gillard: “Do you honestly think people didn’t see through it?”
In Labor’s lost heartland, outside the Canberra bubble of protected jobs and easy money, Abbott’s critique of the government was indistinguishable from the audience’s.
Labor is heading for a wipeout in western Sydney under Rudd, as bad as anything Julia Gillard faced, according to the latest Newspoll, with a swing three? times? worse? than? in national polls and Tony Abbott preferred as prime minister by 46 to 40 per cent.
The Oxonian Rhodes Scholar, who grew up on the affluent north shore, is the candidate who connects with Labor’s heartland.
He likes a drink, he’s a volunteer firefighter and surf club member. He doesn’t wear Zegna suits. He’s been going on holiday on the NSW south coast with the same families for 20 years.
His roots in student politics were in the old Catholic arm of Labor, the DLP, not the toffy Young Liberals. His ordinary rugged blokeyness, and his instinctively moral language, strikes a chord in middle Australia. This is why Labor fears him more than any Liberal, and why character assassination is all that’s left.
But, as the Coalition campaign flicks to positive, voters are glimpsing a man who defies the characterisation of his enemies. They hear the testimony of a survivor of the 2005 Bali bombing who credits Abbott, on holiday with his family at the time, with saving his life.
They see a wholesome wife and daughters give lie to the claim that he is a weird misogynist.
They find his colleagues regard him as a motivating “captain coach” who has led the same cohesive team through three torrid years.
It’s no accident Tony Abbott’s campaign has been heavy on high-visibility vests and factory workers.
If he is coasting to victory this week, it is thanks to the voters the Labor party forgot aren’t mugs.
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APPARENTLY AN ALBO’S SPOKEN TOO LONG
Tim Blair – Sunday, September 01, 2013 (3:44pm)
Kevin Rudd looks at his watch. Sexist.
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IT’S A CONSPIRACY
Tim Blair – Sunday, September 01, 2013 (10:43am)
Fairfax’s Sun-Herald and Sunday Age both endorse the Coalition. Lady pages correspondent Clementine Ford is still holding out, however:
All of this will be pretty much null and void come September 7 and all the joy and happiness is sucked out of the world into the black hole that is the Coalition’s moral centre.Why, just the thought of it makes me want to weep.
UPDATE. Fairfax slams Labor:
On Thursday, the Fairfax-owned national rural weekly The Land carried a front page headline ‘’LABOR’S EPIC FAIL’’, giving the government a ‘’F’’ grade on a range of agricultural issues, based on a survey of 1095 voters in rural areas. It said 49 per cent of people it polled intended to vote for the Liberals, and another 30 per cent would vote for the Nationals. Just 6 per cent would vote Labor, 4 per cent Independent, 3 per cent Greens and 8 per cent ‘’other’’.
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Can you trust a word Palmer says?
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (11:01am)
Clive Palmer today on Meet The Press claimed he didn’t hang up on ABC host Jon Faine. His mobile phone just dropped out.
It would invited tiresome legal reprisals to call Palmer, litigious head of the Palmer United Palmer, a barefaced liar. Instead, I’ll play the tape of his call and invite you to make your own conclusions on the evidence:
It would invited tiresome legal reprisals to call Palmer, litigious head of the Palmer United Palmer, a barefaced liar. Instead, I’ll play the tape of his call and invite you to make your own conclusions on the evidence:
Mr Palmer then said ‘’goodbye’’ and hung up. Faine said that when his producers called Mr Palmer back, he told them to ‘’get stuffed’’.
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The Bolt Report today
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (11:00am)
On The Bolt Report on Channel 10: Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, John Della Bosca and Michael Kroger.
Plus the most stupid stunt of the campaign - drawn from a rich field.
Today at 10am and 4pm.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
UPDATE
Plus the most stupid stunt of the campaign - drawn from a rich field.
Today at 10am and 4pm.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
UPDATE
THE BOLT REPORT
01 SEPTEMBER 2013
INTERVIEW WITH JOEL FITZGIBBON
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: Kevin Rudd had a sudden thought this week - move the Navy base in Sydney to Brisbane. Forget the Navy is against it. Forget telling the New South Wales Premier first.
BARRY O’FARRELL: Morning, Kevin. A phone call would have been helpful. A phone call would have been helpful.
KEVIN RUDD: It’s called a national security, and – and you said-
BARRY O’FARRELL: 4,000 jobs. 4,000 jobs.
KEVIN RUDD: G’day mate.
BARRY O’FARRELL: I’m happy to share.
KEVIN RUDD: Good on you.
BARRY O’FARRELL: Your predecessor could share. You should learn to share.
ANDREW BOLT: At this week’s debate Rudd had another sudden idea - restrict land sales to foreigners.
KEVIN RUDD: I think when it comes to rural land, but land more generally, we perhaps need to adopt a more cautious approach.
ANDREW BOLT: Joel Fitzgibbon is the Agriculture Minister and joins me from Brisbane, where Labor will today launch its campaign. Joel, thanks for joining me. When did Kevin Rudd first tell you he wanted more restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland?
JOEL FITZGIBBON: Can I, first of all, Andrew, thank you for your endorsement – on behalf of the party, thank you for your endorsement this morning. Like the Murdoch papers the only thing that was missing was the AEC authorisation.
ANDREW BOLT: It’s authorised by me, and written by me.
JOEL FITZGIBBON: Who needs enemies when we have friends like you.
ANDREW BOLT: Ah, thank you. But Joel, when did you first get asked - told by Kevin Rudd that what he wanted was more restrictions on farmland?
JOEL FITZGIBBON: We have often had had that conversation, Andrew, believe it or not. He - what he did in the debate is speak his mind. And I think most people would have welcomed that. People are sick of politicians reading from the script. You know
I’ve got a view about that. Kevin expressed a long-held genuine anxiety about foreign investment in agricultural land.
ANDREW BOLT: So what is he doing about it?
JOEL FITZGIBBON: We have some policies – well, we’ve got some policies out there, Andrew, particularly the new register on foreign investment in agricultural land. And that will, for the first time-
ANDREW BOLT: A register doesn’t do anything. It just tells you - it just tells you who owns it. It doesn’t do anything.
JOEL FITZGIBBON: Well, he also – okay, well he also talked about his preferences for joint ventures and a cooperative approach to investment. That means a farmer, for example - I will give you a basic example. A farmer or pastoralist has got a large tract of land. He is looking to the dining boom in Asia, he knows he can lift his profitability by targeting Asia. But he needs about, you know, $3 million to put in some infrastructure and lift the productive capacity of his land. He can only raise half of that, so he invites in a foreign investor to venture with him to raise that profitability. I mean, that’s a perfect example of us being inviting of foreign investment while maintaining some sovereignty over our agricultural land. I think that’s a good thing.
ANDREW BOLT: Yeah, but Joel, you’re talking about actually welcoming more investment. He was talking about closing it. This is what I’m thinking, is, it seems to me a bit that-
JOEL FITZGIBBON: No, no. I don’t think he was.
ANDREW BOLT: He is making up policies as he goes along. Was bringing him back a mistake?
JOEL FITZGIBBON: No. Andrew, that question I assume is premised on the idea that we’re about to lose this election. Now, I know the polling is not fantastic for us at the moment. But they say a day is a long time in politics and a week is an eternity. And we are competitive. And we haven’t given up on this election.
ANDREW BOLT: How many seats do you think you would have lost under Julia Gillard had you not made the switch?
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Wait: who asked Fairfax to join our conspiracy?
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (10:54am)
A Sunday newspaper backs Tony Abbott:
If this newspaper were owned by Rupert Murdoch Labor would scream conspiracy.
One of Mr Abbott’s most potent lines at the Coalition’s campaign launch was: ‘’If the people who’ve worked with Mr Rudd don’t trust him, why should you?’’… Mr Abbott, it must be said, has led a united, disciplined team for three years…
(We) say the Coalition deserves to win.
If this newspaper were owned by Rupert Murdoch Labor would scream conspiracy.
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Climate Sceptics Party warm to Labor
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (6:00am)
The Climate Sceptics Party says it’s against the carbon dioxide tax. Small problem:
Why then does its Senate preference flow to Labor ahead of the Liberal and National parties in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania?
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Labor’s five deadly sins
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (5:48am)
THIS election isn’t really about the economy. That’s not why furious voters will on Saturday bury this miserable government.
It is more about sin.
Yes, sin is an unfashionable word, but no other explains why Labor is so widely despised and distrusted.
Arguments about deficits don’t explain this anger. Labor boasting how it saved us from recession won’t calm it.
Labor’s greatest failing is that has lied and cheated. It has smeared and divided. And when people protested, it grabbed their throats to shut them up.
It is more about sin.
Yes, sin is an unfashionable word, but no other explains why Labor is so widely despised and distrusted.
Arguments about deficits don’t explain this anger. Labor boasting how it saved us from recession won’t calm it.
Labor’s greatest failing is that has lied and cheated. It has smeared and divided. And when people protested, it grabbed their throats to shut them up.
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Galaxy - Coalition heading to a 53-47 win
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (5:31am)
A Galaxy poll confirms
Labor is heading for a heavy defeat - with the possibility of still
worse if the marginal seats swing is indeed worse than the national one:
The two Labor losses originally tipped in Western Australia could be just one:
I’m surprised Labor’s vote isn’t lower, actually.
On a two party preferred basis the Coalition is on track for a 53:47 result and a 3 per cent national swing since the 2010 election…UPDATE
An exclusive analysis of Galaxy polls during the campaign suggests swings of 4 per cent to the Liberals in the marginals polled, delivering a likely majority of up to 90 seats in the 150 seat Parliament…
If the 53:47 Galaxy result was replicated on election day in a uniform national swing it would deliver an 86 seat majority in the 150 seat Parliament.
The two Labor losses originally tipped in Western Australia could be just one:
PERTH’s political iron lady Alannah MacTiernan ... won’t just hold the seat of Perth, she is set to increase Labor’s margin, according to this week’s poll…(Thanks to reader Peter.)
Ms MacTiernan’s primary support - 47 per cent - is almost 7 per cent up on the result secured by Stephen Smith at the 2010 election. Mr Smith, the Defence Minister, is retiring…
The poll ... has federal resources Minister Gary Gray in the fight of his life to retain Brand. Gray is neck and neck with Liberal candidate Donna Gordin in their contest to win WA’s most marginal seat...
I’m surprised Labor’s vote isn’t lower, actually.
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Mundine blasts Rudd’s “lies”
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (5:17am)
Kevin Rudd’s costings
debacle - being called out by the heads of Treasury and Finance for
lying - hasn’t impressed former Labor national president Warren Mundine:
I’m sure Rudd need only ring for more such good advice:
Rudd held up his phone and said Mundine’s number was saved in there. He would “happily” ask him for advice, Rudd said: “The door’s always open to Warren. He’s a good guy and I welcome his contribution to all sides of politics.”
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Pauline Hanson could help deny Tony Abbott Senate control
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (5:11am)
Tony Abbott badly needs
to win the Senate to keep his promise to scrap the carbon tax - without
calling a double dissolution election. But:
The record number of groups with no track record makes the detailed Senate outcome impossible to forecast. But simulations by Fairfax Media and online electoral watchers using ABC analyst Antony Green’s online Senate calculator suggest that:
- One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has a serious chance of defeating the Liberals’ intended finance minister, Senator Arthur Sinodinos, for one of the two final seats in NSW.
- Family First, which won a Senate seat in Victoria in 2004 with 1.9 per cent of the vote, could do it again, with their lead candidate Ashley Fenn rated a 50/50 chance of unseating Liberal senator Helen Kroger.
- The Coalition is odds on to lose a further seat in Queensland, probably to country singer James Blundell of Way Out West fame, running for Bob Katter’s Australia Party, but possibly to the Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party, One Nation or the Australian Christians.
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Rudd cracks, staff claps
Andrew Bolt September 01 2013 (5:08am)
Big surprise. The new, reformed Kevin is just the old one:
UPDATE
The mood is so bad in Labor campaign headquarters that drastic measures are called for:
The Fairfax Media analysis comes as reports emerge of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s behind-the-scenes fury at how events have soured for him. According to several sources, his travelling party has witnessed familiar outbursts of anger and a growing cranky demeanour from the PM, while campaign headquarters in Melbourne is at a low ebb. Staff members who have dared to voice opinions and challenge strategies have been removed, leaving a sense of distrust and insecurity among those remaining.Well, there isn’t if you stupidly think you were brought back to win. There is if you realise you were brought back to minimise the losses. A humble man would know the vital difference.
Frustration is also growing at how Mr Rudd and his pseudo campaign manager, Bruce Hawker, have been freewheeling on strategies and policy. “The mood is so depressed. It’s like there is no reason left to keep fighting,” one insider said.
UPDATE
The mood is so bad in Labor campaign headquarters that drastic measures are called for:
To raise morale, staff at CHQ are encouraged to clap each other. In the event of a daily “win”, staff stand around applauding their colleagues. “It’s happening daily. It’s really weird,’’ one staffer says.But the bosses there are not clapping but filing - keeping their notes for the reckoning to come:
It was CHQ where Defence Minister Stephen Smith was spotted on the day of the PM’s announcement he would move navy facilities on Sydney’s Garden Island to Brisbane.
Campaign staff were aghast the PM chose to announce a plan to screw Sydney - while he was actually in Sydney....
“Emails have started from campaign directors to [Labor campaign chief George Wright] laying an audit trail for the review, outlining the major flaws in communication of messaging out to seats,’’ says a Labor source. “All policy is being made up on the road, with no one wanting to disagree with Bruce or Kevin for fear of being fired.
“The message of the day sent out from CHQ to seat directors never matches what Kevin stands up and says, campaigners end up wasting their day pulling together materials and stand-ups on an incorrect message. The Canberra press office is even worse off, not even CHQ filling them in, press secretaries there are left to wander the gallery with no information on what is happening that day, relying on watching Sky News to piece the day’s message together. It’s a complete shambles.”
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VETERAN broadcaster Sir David Frost has died from a heart attack aged 74, his family says.
Sir David died on Saturday night on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, where he was due to give a speech.
Known for incisive interviews with the leading figures of his time, and perhaps most famously disgraced US president Richard Nixon, Sir David spent more than 50 years as a television star.
British Prime Minister David Cameron was quick to send his condolences and tweeted: "My heart goes out to David Frost's family. He could be - and certainly was with me - both a friend and a fearsome interviewer".
In a statement to BBC News, Sir David's family said: "His family are devastated and ask for privacy at this difficult time. A family funeral will be held in the near future and details of a memorial service will be announced in due course."
His Sunday morning interview program Breakfast with Frost ran on the BBC from January 1993 until May 2005.
In recent years he worked for al-Jazeera English and had recently interviewed F1 driver Lewis Hamilton.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/broadcast-legend-david-frost-dead-at-74/story-e6frfmyi-1226708618465#ixzz2ddqj2Nq4
RIP, I didn't like his attempted assault on Nixon, but appreciated his style. - ed
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“It’s not going to be easy to reverse the forces that have conspired for decades against working Americans.”
Click for details on Obama's holiday weekend address...
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#OnThisDay in 1968: Malcolm Nash to Garry Sobers: 6 6 6 6 6 6 http://es.pn/148wDk9
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BREAKING: Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital.
The 95-year-old anti-apartheid icon will now continue his recovery at his Johannesberg home. Read the statement from The Presidency here:http://bit.ly/15pWbuf
#Madiba #9News
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It's confirmed.
The Sydney Swans will face Hawthorn in a qualifying final at the MCG on Friday night from 7.50pm.
For ticket buying details and FAQs, visit our 2013 finals hub - http://
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And the search is on! #whereswally?
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After the administration spent days laying out the case for a strike against Syria, President Obama decides to wait for congressional authorization.
Tomorrow, Secretary of State John Kerry joins Fox News Sunday to discuss the president's decision. Check your local listings or tune in to Fox News Channel at 2p and 6p ET.
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"The last time the government was knocked off course by Parliament like this was in the 1780s when Parliament accepted that we’d lost the war of American independence and gave up America, so this is a pretty important event."
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A brilliant piece. On why Labor blaming Murdoch for his news coverage is an insult to your intelligence. You don't need to agree with me, you just need to THINK for yourself and exercise your free choice.
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Asking to prove who you are is racist?
That's ridiculous,
http://www.ijreview.com/2013/08/76210-racist-claims-about-voter-id-laws-are-outrageous-here-is-why/
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Vladimir Putin (Владимир Путин): "Claims that the proof exists, but is classified and cannot be presented to anybody are below criticism. This is plain disrespect for their partners."
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Apparently, officials in Jerusalem were said to be unsurprised by Obama’s decision.
Were YOU surprised?
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IRANIAN CHIEF OF STAFF: "The US imagination about limited military intervention in Syria is merely an illusion, as reactions will be coming from beyond Syria’s borders."
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4 her
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Munchausen syndrome patients tell falsehoods about themselves, but in scenarios of Munchausen by proxy, a caregiver invents medical conditions for his or her children, often inducing symptoms in them to better illustrate the lie. Because the condition extends to unknowing minors, Munchausen by proxy is typically considered a severe form of child abuse.
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God’s people may suffer may even be martyred but they are sealed as his. Revelation 6:1-8:5
Phillip Jensen.
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"A friend of my mother's found a tape of me auditioning for Hermione. I wanted to get really, really good at my lines. There was reel after reel, take after take, of me doing the same thing over and over again."
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During a press briefing at the White House Friday morning regarding a possible attack on Syria, Barack Obama referred to the U.S. military as “my military.”
“As I have already said, I have had MY MILITARY and our team look at a wide range of options.”
Of course, Obama sympathizers were quick to defend Dear Leader on social media sites Friday night, many suggesting it was simply a slip of the presidential tongue. Sure it was. The Narcissist-in-Chief has referred to “my government” earlier in his presidency.
“My military” is sure to be a great hit with our proud men and women in uniform. Although – now O’s “I Killed Osama Bin Laden” Victory Tour makes a little more sense, doesn’t it?
Funny how Mr. Obama owns everything. Except his failures. Those always belong to someone else.
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Dr. Phil
You teach people how to treat you.
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Dr. Phil
http://bit.ly/WeightSurvey
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Don’t forget – there's still time to put your Dads of #DoctorWho knowledge to the test with our Father's Day quiz: http://ngx.me/hgv67ayq
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Verily, the TARDIS doth appear to have travelled back to medieval times in this brilliant pic from Who fan Cindi!
Download your own mini-TARDIS and send us photos of it on your very own adventures here. Don’t forget to vote for your favourite photos in our gallery too: http://ngx.me/hhxib358
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Happy Father's Day to Who fans down under!
Celebrate with us with our top 5 Dad's of#DoctorWho: http://bit.ly/17ot1Yn
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Dr. Phil'
Hey All, please go vote to keep Jordan's band Stars In Stereo on the air for Flint, MI's Banana 101.5 Cockfight! It's Stars In Stereo vs. Black Label Society this round. http://banana1015.com/
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C'mon Queenslanders. Don't let me down on Sept 7..nothing worse than letting the "Mexicans" down south beat you at kicking out Labor.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/not-so-sunny-20130831-2sxgz.html
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Matt Granz Photography
Twilight at the Bridge, or dusk, or blue hour... whatever you want to call it, is a favorite time of day... er, or night... to shoot this legendary icon. Tonight was no exception.
If you like this pic, please feel free to share it. It is also available as a print at: http://mattgranz.zenfolio.com/p777575390/h6cbbc7e7#h6cbbc7e7
Because of compression issues here at Facebook, it also looks much better at the provided link above. Check it out!
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4 her
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Wish you a very happy life
Welcome to this world
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Enter here http://bddy.me/1450sgw for your chance to WIN Gold Class movie vouchers for you & 3 friends! Evenings can't come fast enough! Congrats to Nicole, our winner of Round 3, we hope you enjoy your Wagamama feast!
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My new book on the 10 Commandments has just arrived. This is the distillation of 14 years of teaching… http://t.co/rvZjbY0JdB
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Praying with my son Josh as we helicopter to our 5th day of teaching seminars to pastors each morning, advising provincial leaders each afternoon, and leading national thanksgiving rallies each evening in RWANDA's 5 provinces
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Post by Best Vines.
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Allen West
In response to President Obama's empty speech, Sir, you turned your back on Americans in Benghazi, so do not pretend to lecture us about obligation. He is afraid to make a decision so is now setting up Congress for the blame. We should not commit our Military because Obama said something stupid and especially since he does not have a strategic or operational objective. Perhaps if he had not decided to "end the Iraq War" and left a residual force on the Iraq-Syrian border we would not have this situation. I guess this is not so time sensitive, but it is a confirmation of Obama's weakness. NO authorization for military action in Syria.
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It's a tall order: make a material that conducts electricity, stretches like rubber, expands and contracts when hit with electric current, and is clear as glass. There have been many attempts, but they've all fallen short.
Now a Harvard University team has done it by combining a transparent hydrogel with a conductive polymer that behaves like a motor. The work could lead to artificial muscles, transparent loudspeakers and power sources that generate electricity when squeezed or stretched.
The study, led by Zhigang Suo, professor of mechanics and materials, appears in this week's journal Science.
"Suo and his team combined, in a very clever way, two known things," said John Rogers, a materials science professor at the University of Illinois, who has done extensive work on flexible, implantable devices. "The result -- a transparent, artificial muscle -- is something that is new, and potentially important as a technology for noise cancelling windows, haptic display interfaces, tunable optics and others." Rogers was not involved in this study.
Stretchable electronics have been made with networks of ultra-thin metal wires, embedding stiff conductive "islands" of electronic components in stretchable sheets, or by using carbon nanotubes. Some research teams have tried mixing polymers with metals. But none of these approaches has been ideal. They are not as flexible or conductive as materials scientists would like.
The Harvard team managed to make a conducting material that stretches as much as good rubber, up to five times its length.
To make the hydrogel, Suo and his colleagues combined a chemical called polyacrylamide with salt water. In the mixture, the polyacrylamide molecules formed a lattice, and the salt ions, which conduct electricity, occupied the open spaces. One surprise was the conductivity -- it was about as good as a typical touch screen. "Typically an ionic conductor like this is several orders of magnitude lower. They were written off as viable conductors," Suo said.
Next, they put a thin layer of the hydrogel, just 100 microns, on both sides of a piece of elastic adhesive mounting tape.
Essentially what they created was a three-layer "sandwich," with the tape serving as an insulating material sandwiched between the two conducting layers of hydrogel. Next, the researchers attached a copper electrode to each end of the sandwich.
When they ran a current through the electrodes, the sheet expanded and contracted, depending on how much voltage was applied.
This is just the way muscles work; an electrical signal from the nervous system goes to a muscle and causes it to contract or expand. And it's also how speakers make sound. In both cases, current is causing the material to change shape.
In one experiment the scientists attached the other end of the electrodes to a music player and added a current. The rubber sheet vibrated, just like a speaker diaphragm.
If the polymer sheet was squeezed or stretched, either by pinching it or when it vibrated in response to sound, it also generated a small current -- just like some types of condenser or ribbon microphones do.
Suo suggested that the transparent sheet could work as an active noise-cancelling layer on windows. The vibrations from loud noises would make the hydrogel generate an electric current, which could be be used to produce another signal to cancel out the sound.
"We're all, evidently, excited about the possibilities," Rogers said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/08/30/transparent-artificial-muscle-plays-music/?intcmp=obnetwork#ixzz2de0zgvxX
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After being adopted by rocket scientists, manufacturers and doctors for years, three dimensional printing is finally getting to the point where regular people can understand it, and now they are starting to use it in their homes.
With the help of smaller, user-friendly at-home printers and growing awareness, 3D printing is reaching new levels of adoption, allowing people for the first time since the technology's inception to buy personal printers for in-home use to make anything from basketballs and wine glasses to edible pastries.
A report released this week by Citi (C) predicts 3D printing is on the “cusp of seeing much broader adoption” that could more than triple the current $2 billion market by 2017.
The brokerage started coverage on the major publicly-traded 3D makers – 3D Systems (DDD) and Stratasys (SSYS) -- with a “buy,” sending their stocks to new highs on Monday.
“As awareness of the technology’s capabilities evolves, we believe demand for print systems, materials and custom parts will accelerate,” said Kenneth Wong, an analyst at Citi.
President Barack Obama once called 3D printers the future of manufacturing. And now, after years of building parts for jet engines and consumer products like Invisalign (NASA even tested the largest-ever rocket engine component last week and generated a record 20,000 pounds of thrust), 3D printing is starting to make its way into the standard home.
“For the average American consumer, 3D printing is ready for showtime,” Michigan Technological University researcher Joshua Pearce said in an interview with the university, where he serves as an associate professor.
Pearce sees demand surging as real cost savings begin adding up for families that opt to use 3D printers. In a recent study around the cost of making versus buying household items, Pearce says consumers could save anywhere from $300 to $2,000 a year by adopting open-source 3D printers, with the printer paying for itself in a few months to a few years.
“The typical family can already save a great deal of money by making things with a 3D printer instead of buying them off the shelf,” he said.
Attempting to address the growing consumer market, 3D Systems now offers a suite of at-home personal computers that start for $1,399 or as much as $4,399 for more advanced ones capable of printing multiple colors and materials simultaneously.
However, Pearce warns costs will have to come down further for 3D printers to become as ubiquitous as electronic 2D printers that etch ink onto paper.
Brownie on the Spot?
Among some of the initial adaptions of at-home 3D printing will likely be on-the-spot food like pastries or entertainment items like toys, says Hod Lipson, Cornell University’s leading voice on 3D printing and the author of “Fabricated: A New World of 3D Printing.”
He says 3D printing today is equivalent to the state of computers in the early 1980s and has the potential to grow very quickly.
“Will it end up in every person’s home? I think the answer is yes,” Lipson said, though he hedged by saying they’ll likely come in many forms, some plastic, others in the cloud, similar to the way computers have transformed over the last 30 years.
For example, people illiterate in the kitchen may find the printer a necessary tool one day, enabling them to whip up meals like eggs or pastries using edible inks while working off a seemingly endless Rolodex of online recipes.
Of course, there are more than just cost challenges that linger, including educating people on the benefits of 3D printing. Most people, for example, don’t realize Invisalign see-through braces are made at a pace of roughly 50,000 a day using industrial 3D printers, according to Lipson.
In fact, 3D printing is responsible for a vast array of materials and products on the market today.
Other people won’t want to wait the few hours it takes to build something like a cup or bother with the learning curve.
But once consumers begin to understand the real-life capabilities of 3D printing, and as prices decline, printer manufacturers like 3D Systems may be able to tap a new market of designers and entrepreneurs able to think up, design and produce new items in ways they’ve never been able to do before.
“With the exponential growth of free designs and expansion of 3D printing, we are creating enormous potential wealth for everyone,” Pearce said. “It would be a different kind of capitalism, where you don’t need a lot of money to create wealth for yourself or even start a business.”
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/08/29/got-hankering-for-midnight-snack-try-printing-out-brownie/#ixzz2de1fpoOZ
A 3D printer can do that? Wow! I'll have two! ed
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“P. J. O'Rourke famously said that if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free,” said Avik Roy, of the Manhattan Institute. “Once you lard on all these additional things, all these extras that insurers must provide, you have to pay for that."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/31/free-benefits-in-obamacare-come-with-hidden-costs/#ixzz2dcTsr4Og
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DUNKIN' Donuts, an American doughnut company, has apologised for the "insensitivity" of an advertising campaign in Thailand featuring a woman in blackface makeup.
The Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Thailand came under criticism on Friday after Human Rights Watch called the advertisements "bizarre and racist."
The company's chief executive in Thailand initially defended the campaign but the US headquarters quickly followed up with an apology.
"We are working with our Thailand franchisee to immediately pull the ad. DD recognises the insensitivity of this spot" Dunkin' Donuts said in a tweet posted on its official US website after complaints erupted on Twitter, in a variety of blogs and in mainstream American media.
The local franchise launched the advertisement earlier this month to promote its new "Charcoal Donut."
In posters, TV commercials and on Facebook, the campaign shows a smiling woman with blackface makeup, bright pink lipstick and a jet black 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding up a bit black doughnut. The slogan in Thai reads: "Break every rule of deliciousness."
Critics say the image is reminiscent of 19th and early 20th century American stereotypes for black people that are now considered offensive symbols of a racist era.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was shocked to see an American brand name running an advertising campaign that would draw "howls of outrage" if released in the United States.
The campaign hasn't ruffled many in Thailand, where it's common for advertisements to use racial stereotypes.
Hours before the apology was issued by Dunkin' Donuts headquarters, the company's chief executive in Thailand dismissed the criticism as "paranoid American thinking."
"It's absolutely ridiculous," the CEO Nadim Salhani said in a telephone interview.
"We're not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don't get it. What's the big fuss? What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?"
- AP
Racist or harmless? Have your say on Twitter: @newscomauHQ
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/dunkin8217-donuts-faces-backlash-for-8216bizarre-and-racist8217-advertisement-in-thailand/story-e6frfm1i-1226708466277#ixzz2de20vUkf
It isn't racist .. it isn't even in poor taste .. some people are hyper sensitive .. ed
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The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962)
Obama and Assad's Blood Stained Line
A line in the sand is a metaphor with two similar meanings:
- The first meaning is of a point (physical, decisional, etc.) beyond which one will proceed no further.
- The second meaning is that of a point beyond which, once the decision to go beyond it is made, the decision and its resulting consequences are permanently decided and irreversible.
It is generally believed that if someone should “cross the line” than their behavior is wrong and not socially acceptable. The recent use by President Assad of chemical weapons, whose use was banned in warfare by a 1925 international treaty, does indeed cross a line, into a sort of brutality so extreme that the civilized world cannot afford to tolerate it.
President Obama left his proverbial “fly open” by making multiple “Line in the sand” threats to end the civil war in Syria. His lack of immediate response not only embarrassed himself but his has made a mockery of his administration as well. This bloody civil war has been raging for more than two years and has claimed 100,000 casualties, many of them in atrocities that shock the conscience. President Obama’s failure to enact his threats to stop this bloodshed has stained all brave Americans. It is hoped by many American's that after tonight's speech that President Obama has come to the conclusion to never make a threat if you can't carry it out. As President he needs to know that; "When placed in command — take charge." And that "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, do without the strategy."
Like some spoiled grade school kid to the school bully he threatened President Bashar Assad, of "Red Lines" and than he stepped back. The people of the world and the Middle East now know that the US which was once feared by evil leaders as the "most powerful Democracy" is in reality a weak kneed "Paper Lion".
From my own personal experience in life I agree with the words of late Four Star General and Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991 H. NormanSchwarzkopf, Jr. that; “Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar.” And that;
"A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers. All you have to do is hold your first dying soldier in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that his life is flowing out and you can’t do anything about it. Then you understand the horror of war.”
As an Israeli I will reiterate that I personally do not want the US to get involved in Syria because most Americans do not have the faintest idea of what makes up the Middle East .
I stand firmly behind the fact that Americans should not have to sacrifice their kids for either side in the quagmire that the Syrian Civil War has become. What with it’s two warring fractions that I term "Bad" or "Even Worst".
It is my fervent wish; I hope it is yours too, for them to murder each other in droves. The “Pro Assad” "Secular" Baath regime is being backed by the fanatically religious Shi'ite regime of Iran and their Lebanese lackeys the Hezbollah. The rebels are a confused mixture with a new and odious vicious group The Chechnian Al Qaeda.
This particularly vicious radical and fanatical Sunni Moslem religious group is involved in the fighting and they are getting stronger. For the moment they are fighting against the forces of Assad and the Hezbollah. And for once I actually agree withRussian President Vladimir Putkin and with the Ruskies that as long as the Al Qaeda’s Chechen, Caucasian fighters are getting killed and the Hezbollah are being killed we should be immensely thankful! As my Christian Lebanese friend says; “Inshallah may they continue!”
As an American, President Obama is right on the count that he needs to know that at least the US Congress will back him up. When the US Congress reconvenes I think that it is about time that all US voters/taxpayers wipe the smirk smiles off those Arab faces. Use this “Golden Opportunity” to take immediate action to bombard your representatives, congressmen and Senators to wake up and cut off ALL foreign aid to ALL Arab countries, the UN and especially UNWRA!!!
IF the Arabs are “Laughing” at the USA than Let them “foot” the bill LITERALLY. After all the billions if not trillions in US Tax dollars spent on saving the wrong guy in Arab countries over the years. It is time for the Arabs primarily Saudi Arabia -your "US Gas Dollars at work" to police the area. AND the USA should demand repayment! Why should you Americas spend your hard owned tax dollars to protect the lavish lifestyles of the Saudi Princes? And what do YOU the US Taxpayer's have to say to this? Did I hear any of you writing your congressman about cutting US Aid to the Arabs?
I mean wouldn’t it be nice to get back the TRILLIONS wasted on protecting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf State Emirates to pay for America schools, Health Care and aging infrastructure?
American naiveté of the Middle East can be further witnessed in an interview to Al Arabiya, few days after his inauguration, Obama declared: "my job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. President Obama in his infamous "A New Beginning" speech in Cairo in June of 2009 embarrassed himself and the American people by trying to "make up" with Islam. At that time that Egypt was chosen because as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated; "it is a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world.
President Obama and his adviser's fiasco of not comprehending the Middle East is further exasperated in his lauding of the "Election" of the Moslem Brotherhood leadership in President Morsi. In the aftermath of what the imbeciles of the BBC and CNN termed the "Arab Spring" protests in Tahrir Square of the moderate secular middle class youth. And though the Army had supported Mubarak through his decades-long rule, it became increasingly clear that the Moslem Brotherhood had the best political operation and would likely win the popular vote in the elections of 2012 Ever-pragmatic businessmen, the military officers realized that they had to negotiate with their erstwhile enemies, to protect their own institutions, perks, and bank accounts, they would have to step in on the side of the protesters against Mubarak. When Morsi turned autocratic and the Brotherhood subverted the popular will, Egypt received little in support from the U.S. it seemed a clear message from the White House.
The extremely fanatical Islamic fundamentalist group which had been outlawed by the Egyptians, who knew what they were all about, were released from their “Pandora box”. Suddenly they took over as the Nazis did through “Democratic” elections because the Moderate and seculars “thought they had the elections in the bag” did not realize that the Moslem Brotherhood out numbered them. These Sixth Century backward uneducated Islamic religious fanatics began to reverse Egypt , like Iran in 1979.
“Luckily” the secular Egyptian military leadership reversed all this is their coup. And for once it was a military Juanta that took control to bring sanity back to what was once a close ally to the US . But President Obama and his advisors once again have shown their ignorance by siding with the “Democratically Elected” Mohamed Morsi and by ostracizing the Egyptian Military leader General AbdelFattah al-Sisi. As he bluntly told The Washington Post in a rare recent interview: “You turned your back on the Egyptians, and they won’t forget that.” Since the overthrow of the Moslem Brotherhood and Morsi’s, the Sunni royals of the Gulf states have secured billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates , who have their own agenda in Egypt . Because of this slap in the face by President Obama the Egyptian Minister of Defense ordered that “No (US) warship has the right to pass through the Suez Canal to attack Syria ”
I seriously doubt that Americans are aware that Al-Sisi was selected to attend the U.S. Army War College in 2006 during a severely traumatic period in the Middle East —for Americans as well as for Arabs. It was while at the War College , al-Sisi wrote an 11-page academic paper titled “Democracy in the Middle East .” In his paper he pointed out the influence of Christianity and its culture on American government, especially in its early days, drawing a parallel with the role of Islam now in the establishment of nascent Middle Eastern democracies. Al-Sisi wrote that whereas Americans believe in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Islamic cultures cling to principles of “fairness, justice, equality, unity, and charity,” he argued. Americans look to their republic’s Founding Fathers for guidance; Muslims cherish the memory of the ancient caliphate. It is ironic that in this paper he states that “this does not mean a theocracy will be established,” wrote al-Sisi, “rather it means a democracy will be established based on Islamic beliefs.”
And another fact to note is that since the Camp David peace accords 1978 more than $1.4 billion a year from the United States pours into the coffers of the Egyptian military. In order to keep its officers and soldiers loyal the Egyptian military pays out rich dividends to them. The military draws on recruits from throughout Egyptian society, a state habitually plagued by nepotism and corruption. As officers move up the ranks, they move ever-more deeply into a world intentionally isolated from the rest of the country. They have their own apartments, their own clubs, their own schools and stores. The Army has its own manufacturing empire and a vast construction business that frequently shuts out the private sector in bids for contracts with little or no public accountability.
As to the embarrassing fall of our once staunch ally in the United Kingdom . The vote in the English House of Commons shows not only the war weariness of the English people but it is a warning bell to the people of England and Europe of the spread and rise in population of their Moslem constituents and their growing political power from within.
The quagmire we live in today vis a vis the Arab world is a direct outcome of those who still cannot comprehend the hidden agenda and rise of post 9/11 radical Islam.
Since taking office, Obama stated his support for the creation of a "Falestinian" state and announced that he would engage in negotiations with Iran . He also declared he opposed Israeli settlements and wanted to revive "Falestinian" peace talks. Binyamin Netanyahu’s six-year old policy, which was oriented on engendering understanding with Barack Obama, is in ruins as Bibi now has to wipe egg off his face.
And of course yet again we in Israel have been left holding the proverbial bag and have been put in a tight spot on three counts:
1. The hostile Iran-Syrian-Hezbollah bloc comes out strengthened;
2. Tehran can feel free to develop a nuclear bomb without fear of resolute US interference;
3. Hezbollah can celebrate its backing for the winning horse in Damascus .
In the meantime “Wile E. Coyote” aka Bashar Assad and his Iranian partners now have all the time in the world to line up their counter moves. And we will continue to hear the laughter from the whole Arab world of what a total fool and weak leader the US has.
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"Our security and our values demand that we cannot turn away from the massacre of countless civilians with chemical weapons. And our democracy is stronger when the President and the peoples’ representatives stand together. I am ready to act in the face of this outrage.
Today, I am asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation." —President Obama in a statement today on Syria.
Watch —> http://youtu.be/
Hard to reconcile with his actions over Benghazi - ed
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It’s raw sewage!
This is the Kidron “river”, that starts in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and flows through the Judean desert all the way to the Dead Sea.
The Dutch government has told a private firm not to take part in building a sewage treatment facility, because it is “over the green line” (or as Haaretz call it, the 67 border).
The Dutch government has asked the country’s largest engineering company to rethink its participation in a project with the Jerusalem municipality because the project is based on the Palestinian side of the 1967 border. Foreign Ministry officials fear that this will be a trend in Europe, not an isolated incident.The project by Royal HaskoningDHV involves Israeli company Mati, a subsidiary of Hagihon, the municipality’s water and sewage company.In the project, a sewage treatment plant would be built to battle the pollution in the Kidron stream, which runs from the Mount of Olives and the village of Silwan in East Jerusalem toward the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim and the Dead Sea. The plant is to be built in Area C, under full Israeli military and civilian control.According to a senior official in the Foreign Ministry, the municipality told the ministry two weeks ago about problems linked to the project. Royal HaskoningDHV officials told the municipality that the Dutch Foreign Ministry had warned about the possible consequences of carrying out projects for Israeli companies in East Jerusalem or the West Bank.Dutch Foreign Ministry officials told Royal HaskoningDHV that such a project would violate international law, leading the company to consider pulling out of the project to avoid financial, legal and image problems.
The Dutch, as the EU, would rather Palestinians will drink their own shit than tarnish it’s image by having a private Dutch company help the environment and the Palestinians.
Edit: this entry wrongly claimed it was the EU was the one to press the Dutch firm Royal HaskoningDHV. It was the Dutch government. J.D.
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HOUSTON (KTRK) — Houston police have released surveillance photos of the three suspects involved in a deadly robbery at a west Houston Denny’s restaurant. The suspects killed in cold blood a man who was just trying to protect a child, and now that victim’s son is speaking out.
The photos, which were released late Wednesday, show the chaos that unfolded inside the restaurant late Monday night.
A day after Greig Placette was shot and killed during a restaurant robbery, his son Drue is still struggling with the reality of it.
A hate crime? ed
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By Jonathan Tobin
Kula | ||
|
Rant by CLAL's Irwin Kula ranks somewhere between the musings of a Marxist high school sophomore and the product of an Occupy Wall Street tent city seminar conducted in a haze of marijuana smoke
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Absent the ability to make moral distinctions, ethics is a meaningless concept. Indeed, if you can't tell the difference between, say, a despotic theocracy and a genuine if flawed democracy, you are in a poor position to claim any moral authority, let alone speak for a great religious tradition grounded in the Torah and the work of countless generations of Jewish scholars.
Yet that is the position that CLAL—The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership finds itself in today. Founded in 1974 by Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, CLAL's main initial focus was to forge a sense of Jewish unity in an American community divided by bickering denominations and a vast array of political and religious disputes.
If today, 16 years after Greenberg retired and was replaced by Rabbi Irwin Kula, many of its efforts often might be mistaken for a faint shadow of whatever liberal conventional wisdom recently came down the pike, its slogan "The Hebrew word for inclusive" still highlights a brand that is rooted in the idea of bringing together a diverse Jewish community.
Kula has never been mistaken for Greenberg, whose centrism was not just a pose but also a genuine conviction (he was fond of saying that no matter which denomination you belonged to, you had something to be ashamed of).
Rather than tell each segment of American Jewry hard truths, Kula has specialized in telling liberal Jewish audiences what they want to hear. But while there has never been much doubt that he is a figure of the left, something he posted on his official Facebook page on Tuesday that claimed Iran's faux elections are little different from America's democratic system calls into questions not only his judgment, but his moral compass.
The post (hat tip to Alan Luxenberg of the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute) read as follows:
Of course there is a difference and yet there is something strangely parallel how in Iran you have to be vetted by the guardian council of clerics to run for president while in the United States, while you don't have to be vetted by clerics, you have to be vetted by concentrations of private capital. With very rare exceptions unless you pass their filter, you don't enter the political system. I guess one way or another it is always clerics…the only question being just what religion they are peddling, using, distorting? to preserve and expand their power…yes yes yes i would rather live here than in Iran…
While we're glad that Kula prefers to dwell in the American theocracy of "private capital" to the pleasures of life in an Islamist state where Jews are demonized, that is about the only thought here that makes any sense. Suffice it to say that there is nothing remotely analogous about the process by which American politicians seek to raise money from citizens and groups and a system that rules as ineligible for inclusion on a ballot anyone who diverges even a smidge from the ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini.
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Last week, I debated with a friend of mine who claims that Judea and Samaria are occupied territories. I disagreed, of course. Then, I enlisted my expert friend, Roger Froikin
. This is the answer he gave me. I am satisfied with it!
"Bat Zion, easy. International Law is layered. One always looks back to the newest treaties or agreements between parties for guidance as to what Law is. The governing documents are the League of nations Mandate, Parliamentary law in England as to how to handle the mandate, and the 1949 Armistice Agreements. (The UN Partition of 1947 is not a legal biding agreement because there were not two parties signing on as the Arabs refused). So, Under the provisions of the Mandate and Parliamentary Law, Palestine was to be divided along the Jordan River, with a Jewish homeland to the West, an Arab homeland to the East, and exchanges of population. When Britain illegally broke off Eastern Palestine to form Trans-Jordan as a gift to the Al-Husseini tribe, that violated the Mandate and British law (but then King Hussein ibn Talal al-Husseini declared that Jordan was Palestine when he became King). In 1949, after 1 1/2 years of war, the British commanded Jordanian legion and Irai troops controlled parts of Jewish Palestine. An Armistice was signed between all parties which stated that the status of those lands not controlled by Israel, but West of the Jordan, would be negotiated as to final disposition. Jordan would be caretaker of the areas occupied until that point. Jordan, a Foreign nation (at that point) occupied territory, and proceeded to violate the Geneva Conventions (I-V) and the provisions of the Armistice, by expropriating all jewish property, destroying Jewish property, desecrating Jewish sites, and banning Jews, even from jewish holy places, and by periodically firing on Jews in Western jerusalem (including me in 1963). In 1967, Jordan joined a war in which the Arab states threatened in repeated broadcasts was to kill or exclude all the Jews. Israel won. That ended the Armistice Agreement of 1949 because now the only legal sovereign nation in palestine - Israel, controlled all lands that were originally to be part of the "Jewish Homeland" per the Mandate provisions. hereford, Israeli control of Judea and Samaria and all of jerusalem is legal, and repatriating all Jewish property expropriated illegally by Jordan is perfectly legal." >
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The questions that ought to have been answered before any statements were made by the likes of Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel have barely been raised in the public arena. The most important of those questions are: What US interests are at stake in Syria? How should the US go about advancing them? What does Syria’s use of chemical weapons means for the US’s position in the region? How would the planned US military action in Syria impact US deterrent strength, national interests and credibility regionally and worldwide? Syria is not an easy case. Thirty months into the war there, it is clear that the good guys, such as they are, are not in a position to win.
Syria is controlled by Iran and its war is being directed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and by Hezbollah. And arrayed against them are rebel forces dominated by al-Qaida.
As US Sen. Ted Cruz explained this week, “Of nine rebel groups [fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad], seven of them may well have some significant ties to al-Qaida.”
With no good horse to bet on, the US and its allies have three core interests relating to the war. First, they have an interest in preventing Syria’s chemical, biological and ballistic missile arsenals from being used against them either directly by the regime, through its terror proxies or by a successor regime.
Second, the US and its allies have an interest in containing the war as much as possible to Syria itself.
Finally, the US and its allies share an interest in preventing Iran, Moscow or al-Qaida from winning the war or making any strategic gains from their involvement in the war.
For the past two-and-a-half years, Israel has been doing an exemplary job of securing the first interest. According to media reports, the IDF has conducted numerous strikes inside Syria to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry, including missiles from Syria to Hezbollah.
Rather than assist Israel in its efforts that are also vital to US strategic interests, the US has been endangering these Israeli operations. US officials have repeatedly leaked details of Israel’s operations to the media. These leaks have provoked several senior Israeli officials to express acute concern that in providing the media with information regarding these Israeli strikes, the Obama administration is behaving as if it is interested in provoking a war between Israel and Syria. The concerns are rooted in a profound distrust of US intentions, unprecedented in the 50-year history of US-Israeli strategic relations.
The second US interest threatened by the war in Syria is the prospect that the war will not be contained in Syria. Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan specifically are threatened by the carnage. To date, this threat has been checked in Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, US forces along the border have doubtlessly had a deterrent impact in preventing the infiltration of the kingdom by Syrian forces.
In Lebanon, given the huge potential for spillover, the consequences of the war in Syria have been much smaller than could have been reasonably expected. Hezbollah has taken a significant political hit for its involvement in the war in Syria. On the ground, the spillover violence has mainly involved Shi’ite and Shi’ite jihadists targeting one another.
Iraq is the main regional victim of the war in Syria. The war there reignited the war between Sunnis and Shi’ites in Iraq. Violence has reached levels unseen since the US force surge in 2007. The renewed internecine warfare in Iraq redounds directly to President Barack Obama’s decision not to leave a residual US force in the country. In the absence US forces, there is no actor on the ground capable of strengthening the Iraqi government’s ability to withstand Iranian penetration or the resurgence of al-Qaida.
The third interest of the US and its allies that is threatened by the war in Syria is to prevent Iran, Russia or al-Qaida from securing a victory or a tangible benefit from their involvement in the war.
It is important to note that despite the moral depravity of the regime’s use of chemical weapons, none of America’s vital interests is impacted by their use within Syria. Obama’s pledge last year to view the use of chemical weapons as a tripwire that would automatically cause the US to intervene militarily in the war in Syria was made without relation to any specific US interest.
But once Obama made his pledge, other US interests became inextricably linked to US retaliation for such a strike. The interests now on the line are America’s deterrent power and strategic credibility. If Obama responds in a credible way to Syria’s use of chemical weapons, those interests will be advanced. If he does not, US deterrent power will become a laughing stock and US credibility will be destroyed.
Unfortunately, the US doesn’t have many options for responding to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. If it targets the regime in a serious way, Assad could fall, and al-Qaida would then win the war. Conversely, if the US strike is sufficient to cause strategic harm to the regime’s survivability, Iran could order the Syrians or Hezbollah or Hamas, or all of them, to attack Israel. Such an attack would raise the prospect of regional war significantly.
A reasonable response would be for the US to target Syria’s ballistic missile sites. And that could happen. Although the US doesn’t have to get involved in order to produce such an outcome. Israel could destroy Syria’s ballistic missiles without any US involvement while minimizing the risk of a regional conflagration.
There are regime centers and military command and control bases and other strategic sites that it might make sense for the US to target.
Unfortunately, the number of regime and military targets the US has available for targeting has been significantly reduced in recent days. Administration leaks of the US target bank gave the Syrians ample time to move their personnel and equipment.
This brings us to the purpose the Obama administration has assigned to a potential retaliatory strike against the Syrian regime following its use of chemical weapons.
Obama told PBS on Wednesday that US strikes on Syria would be “a shot across the bow.”
But as Charles Krauthammer noted, such a warning is worthless. In the same interview Obama also promised that the attack would be a nonrecurring event. When there are no consequences to ignoring a warning, then the warning will be ignored.
This is a very big problem. Obama’s obvious reluctance to follow through on his pledge to retaliate if Syria used chemical weapons may stem from a belated recognition that he has tethered the US’s strategic credibility to the quality of its response to an action that in itself has little significance to US interests in Syria.
And this brings us to the third vital US interest threatened by the war in Syria – preventing Iran, al-Qaida or Russia from scoring a victory.
Whereas the war going on in Syria pits jihadists against jihadists, the war that concerns the US and its allies is the war the jihadists wage against everyone else. And Iran is the epicenter of that war.
Like US deterrent power and strategic credibility, the US’s interest in preventing Iran from scoring a victory in Damascus is harmed by the obvious unseriousness of the “signal” Obama said he wishes to send Assad through US air strikes.
Speaking on Sunday of the chemical strike in Syria, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned, “Syria has become Iran’s testing ground…. Iran is watching and it wants to see what would be the reaction on the use of chemical weapons.”
The tepid, symbolic response that the US is poised to adopt in response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons represents a clear signal to Iran. Both the planned strikes and the growing possibility that the US will scrap even a symbolic military strike in Syria tell Iran it has nothing to fear from Obama.
Iran achieved a strategic achievement by exposing the US as a paper tiger in Syria. With this accomplishment in hand, the Iranians will feel free to call Obama’s bluff on their nuclear weapons project. Obama’s “shot across the bow” response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons in a mass casualty attack signaled the Iranians that the US will not stop them from developing and deploying a nuclear arsenal.
Policy-makers and commentators who have insisted that we can trust Obama to keep his pledge to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons have based their view on an argument that now lies in tatters. They insisted that by pledging to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, Obama staked his reputation on acting competently to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. To avoid losing face, they said, Obama will keep his pledge.
Obama’s behavior on Syria has rendered this position indefensible. Obama is perfectly content with shooting a couple of pot shots at empty government installations. As far as he is concerned, the conduct of air strikes in Syria is not about Syria, or Iran. They are not the target audience of the strikes. The target audience for US air strikes in Syria is the disengaged, uninformed American public.
Obama believes he can prove his moral and strategic bonafides to the public by declaring his outrage at Syrian barbarism and then launching a few cruise missiles from an aircraft carrier. The computer graphics on the television news will complete the task for him.
The New York Times claimed on Thursday that the administration’s case for striking Syria would not be the “political theater” that characterized the Bush administration’s case for waging war in Iraq. But at least the Bush administration’s political theater ended with the invasion. In Obama’s case, the case for war and the war itself are all political theater.
While for a few days the bread and circuses of the planned strategically useless raid will increase newspaper circulation and raise viewer ratings of network news, it will cause grievous harm to US national interests. As far as US enemies are concerned, the US is an empty suit.
And as far as America’s allies are concerned, the only way to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power is to operate without the knowledge of the United States.
Caroline Glick
Caroline Glick is an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Security Policy. She is also the Senior Contributing Editor of The Jerusalem Post and Director of the Israel Security Project at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. She serves as adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., and is the author of Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad (2008). She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University, served as Assistant Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1997-98, and regularly briefs senior administration officials and members of Congress on issues of joint Israeli-American concern. She lives in Jerusalem. A former officer in the Israel Defense Forces, she was a core member of Israel's negotiating team with the Palestinians and later served as an assistant policy advisor to the prime minister. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the widely-published Glick was an embedded journalist with the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division. She was awarded a distinguished civilian service award from the U.S. Secretary of the Army for her battlefield reporting.
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A few years ago I was desperate. I was certain to lose my home I had no job and no prospects of getting one in the near future. I got myself baptised at Jesus Family Centre Cabramatta, and the very next day my money worries were gone. But that was three years ago. And I face a similar situation again. But I'm not asking for no money worries .. I will go where the Lord sends me. But I want to be younger so that I can start a family. I am 46 and have never dated in my life. Until now. And the Lord is answering my prayer .. I am losing weight and my blood is better than it has been in over 20 years (He operates on me, but I still gotta exercise and eat right). Please pray for me. ed
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God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His… http://t.co/tX8NqG1V7A
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Today is a special Father's Day for us. We could not be more proud of our Dad. You know the public figure Tony Abbott, but we know him as Dad.
Growing up he has always been there for us. He is more than just a politician. He cares passionately about all people and sees the great potential in everyone.
He always taught us to be grateful and kind to all of those in our lives. He taught us the value of hard work and education.
He often volunteers as a firefighter and surf life saver. He doesn't like to bring this up on the campaign, but this is one of the many ways that he enjoys giving back to the community. Take a look at the latest video and hear from people who have worked alongside our Dad.Growing up he has always been there for us. He is more than just a politician. He cares passionately about all people and sees the great potential in everyone.
He always taught us to be grateful and kind to all of those in our lives. He taught us the value of hard work and education.
Our Dad looks out for everyone, and he will look out for you. Please take a minute and watch the new video.
Thanks for your support.
Bridget
Authorised by Brian Loughnane, Cnr Blackall and Macquarie Streets, Barton ACT 2604.
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September 1: Start of the Liturgical year in the Eastern Orthodox Church; Father's Day in Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand (2013); Constitution Day in Slovakia
- 1529 – Sancti Spiritu, the first European settlement in Argentina, was destroyed by local natives.
- 1774 – Thomas Gage, royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, ordered soldiers to remove gunpowder from a magazine, causing Patriots toprepare for war.
- 1880 – The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan was routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
- 1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake, measuring 7.9 on theRichter scale, struck the Kantō region of Japan, devastatingTokyo and Yokohama, and killing over an estimated 100,000 people.
- 1983 – Soviet jet interceptors shot down the civilian airlinerKorean Air Lines Flight 007 (artist's rendition pictured) nearSakhalin Island in the North Pacific, killing all 246 passengers and 23 crew on board.
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Events
- 462 – Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle.
- 1270 – King Stephen V of Hungary writes his walk to the antiquum castellum near Miholjanec, where the Sword of Attila was recently discovered.
- 1355 – King Tvrtko I of Bosnia writes In castro nostro Vizoka vocatum from the old town of Visoki.
- 1449 – Tumu Crisis – Mongolians capture the Emperor of China.
- 1529 – The Spanish fort of Sancti Spiritu, the first one built in modern Argentina, is destroyed by natives.
- 1532 – Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England.
- 1604 – Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was first installed at Harmandir Sahib.
- 1644 – Battle of Tippermuir: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeats the Earl of Wemyss's Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause.
- 1715 – King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years – the longest of any major European monarch.
- 1763 – Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow
- 1772 – The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
- 1774 – Massachusetts Bay colonists rise up in the bloodless Powder Alarm.
- 1804 – Juno, one of the four largest asteroids in the Main Belt, is discovered by the German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.
- 1831 – The high honor of Order of St. Gregory the Great is established by Pope Gregory XVI of the Vatican State to recognize high support for the Vatican or for the Pope, by a man or a woman, and not necessarily a Roman Catholic.
- 1836 – Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly – Confederate Army troops defeat a group of retreating Union Army troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
- 1864 – American Civil War: the Confederate Army General John Bell Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia, ending a four-month siege by General William Tecumseh Sherman.
- 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.
- 1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande.
- 1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.
- 1880 – The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan is routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War
- 1894 – More than 400 people die in the Great Hinckley Fire, a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota.
- 1897 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.
- 1902 – A Trip to the Moon, considered one of the first science fiction films, is released in France.
- 1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.
- 1906 – The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established.
- 1911 – The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship.
- 1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd.
- 1914 – The last Passenger Pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.
- 1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.
- 1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.
- 1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.
- 1934 – SMJK Sam Tet is founded by Father Fourgs from the St. Michael Church, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
- 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.
- 1939 – George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
- 1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date.
- 1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization).
- 1939 – Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people.
- 1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
- 1952 – The Old Man and the Sea, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, is first published.
- 1958 – Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars.
- 1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
- 1967 – The Khmer–Chinese Friendship Association is banned in Cambodia
- 1969 – A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power.
- 1969 – Tran Thien Khiem became Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyen Van Thieu.
- 1970 – Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attacked his motorcade.
- 1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion.
- 1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h).
- 1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi).
- 1980 – Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope ends near Thunder Bay, Ontario.
- 1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.
- 1981 – A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.
- 1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.
- 1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
- 1985 – A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
- 1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union
- 2004 – The Beslan school hostage crisis commences when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage in Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia.
Births
- 1145 – Ibn Jubayr, Muslim geographer and poet (d. 1217)
- 1286 – Elizabeth Richeza of Poland (d. 1335)
- 1453 – Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general (d. 1515)
- 1566 – Edward Alleyn, English actor (d. 1626)
- 1588 – Henry II, Prince of Condé (d. 1646)
- 1651 – Natalya Naryshkina, Russian wife of Alexis of Russia (d. 1694)
- 1653 – Johann Pachelbel, German composer (d. 1706)
- 1689 – Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, Bohemian architect, designed Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral (d. 1751)
- 1711 – William IV, Prince of Orange (d. 1759)
- 1726 – Johann Becker, German organist, teacher, and composer (d. 1803)
- 1795 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr., American publisher, founded the New York Herald (d. 1872)
- 1799 – Ferenc Gyulay, Hungarian-Austrian commander and politician (d. 1868)
- 1818 – José María Castro Madriz, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, 1st President of Costa Rica (d. 1892)
- 1848 – Auguste Forel, Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, and psychiatrist (d. 1931)
- 1851 – John Clum, American journalist and Indian agent (d. 1932)
- 1854 – Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (d. 1921)
- 1855 – Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet (d. 1909)
- 1856 – Sergei Winogradsky, Ukrainian-Russian scientist (d. 1953)
- 1866 – James J. Corbett, American boxer (d. 1933)
- 1867 – John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, British businessman, sailor and politician (d. 1947)
- 1868 – Henri Bourassa, Canadian politician and publisher (d. 1952)
- 1871 – J. Reuben Clark, American attorney, civil servant, and religious leader (d. 1961)
- 1875 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (d. 1950)
- 1876 – Arthur F. Andrews, American cyclist (d. 1930)
- 1876 – Harriet Shaw Weaver, English activist (d. 1961)
- 1877 – Francis William Aston, British chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1945)
- 1877 – Rex Beach, American novelist, playwright and water polo player (d. 1949)
- 1878 – Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1942)
- 1878 – J. F. C. Fuller, British army officer and historian (d. 1966)
- 1883 – Didier Pitre, Canadian ice-hockey player (d. 1934)
- 1884 – Sigurd Wallén, Swedish actor and director (d. 1947)
- 1886 – Othmar Schoeck, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1957)
- 1887 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss author and poet (d. 1961)
- 1888 – Andrija Štampar, Croatian physician (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Leverett Saltonstall, American politician, 55th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1979)
- 1895 – Chembai, Indian singer (d. 1974)
- 1895 – Engelbert Zaschka, German engineer, designer, and inventor, invented the Human-powered aircraft (d. 1955)
- 1896 – A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Indian religious leader, founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (d. 1977)
- 1897 – Andy Kennedy, Irish footballer (d. 1963)
- 1898 – Violet Carson, English actress (d. 1983)
- 1899 – Richard Arlen, American actor (d. 1976)
- 1902 – Kazimierz Dąbrowski, Polish psychiatrist and psychologist (d. 1980)
- 1904 – Johnny Mack Brown, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1905 – Elvera Sanchez, Puerto Rican dancer (d. 2000)
- 1906 – Joaquín Balaguer, Dominican politician, 49th President of the Dominican Republic (d. 2002)
- 1906 – Franz Biebl, German composer (d. 2001)
- 1906 – Eleanor Hibbert English author (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Walter Reuther, American labor union leader, founded United Auto Workers (d. 1970)
- 1907 – Miriam Seegar, American actress (d. 2011)
- 1908 – Amir Elahi, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Lou Kenton, British soldier in the International Brigade and potter (d. 2012)
- 1909 – E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat and historian (d. 1957)
- 1913 – Ludwig Merwart, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1979)
- 1913 – Christian Nyby, American director (d. 1993)
- 1916 – Dorothy Cheney, American tennis player
- 1919 – Ossie Dawson, South African cricketer (d. 2008)
- 1920 – Liz Carpenter, American activist, author, and journalist (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Eduardo J. Corso, Uruguayan lawyer and journalist (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Richard Farnsworth, American actor (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch author (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Madhav Mantri, Indian cricketer
- 1922 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Vittorio Gassman, Italian actor (d. 2000)
- 1923 – Rocky Marciano, American boxer (d. 1969)
- 1923 – Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian businessman and art collector (d. 2006)
- 1925 – Art Pepper, American saxophonist (d. 1982)
- 1926 – Abdur Rahman Biswas, Bangladeshi politician, 10th President of Bangladesh
- 1926 – Gene Colan, American illustrator (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Russell Jones, Australian ice hockey player (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Wyatt Cooper, American author and screenwriter (d. 1978)
- 1927 – Bob DiPietro, American baseball player (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Clifford Lincoln, Canadian politician
- 1928 – George Maharis, American actor
- 1931 – Abdul Haq Ansari, Indian scholar (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Sammy Arena, American singer (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Beano Cook, American sportscaster (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Cecil Parkinson, British politician
- 1931 – Sunny von Bülow, American socialite (d. 2008)
- 1931 – Boxcar Willie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
- 1932 – Derog Gioura, Nauruan politician, 23rd President of Nauru (d. 2008)
- 1933 – Marshall Lytle, American bass player and songwriter (Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars) (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Ann Richards, American politician, 45th Governor of Texas (d. 2006)
- 1933 – T. Thirunavukarasu, Sri Lankan Tamil politician (d. 1982)
- 1933 – Conway Twitty, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1993)
- 1935 – Seiji Ozawa, Japanese conductor
- 1937 – Al Geiberger, American golfer
- 1937 – Ron O'Neal, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1938 – Alan Dershowitz, American attorney and author
- 1938 – Per Kirkeby, Danish painter, sculptor, and poet
- 1939 – Lily Tomlin, American actress, comedian, writer, and producer
- 1941 – Graeme Langlands, Australian rugby player
- 1942 – C. J. Cherryh, American author
- 1943 – Don Stroud, American actor
- 1944 – Archie Bell, American singer-songwriter (Archie Bell & the Drells)
- 1944 – Leonard Slatkin, American conductor and composer
- 1945 – Mustafa Balel, Turkish author
- 1945 – Scott Spencer, American author
- 1946 – Greg Errico, American drummer and producer (Sly & the Family Stone and Weather Report)
- 1946 – Barry Gibb, Manx singer-songwriter and producer (Bee Gees)
- 1946 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean politician, 16th President of South Korea (d. 2009)
- 1946 – Mary Louise Weller, American actress
- 1947 – Al Green, American politician
- 1948 – James Rebhorn, American actor
- 1948 – Józef Życiński, Polish archbishop and philosopher
- 1949 – P. A. Sangma, Indian politician
- 1950 – Phillip Fulmer, American football coach
- 1950 – Phil McGraw, American psychologist, author, and talk show host
- 1950 – Mikhail Fradkov, Russian politician
- 1951 – David Bairstow, English cricketer (d. 1998)
- 1951 – Nicu Ceaușescu, Romanian politician (d. 1996)
- 1952 – Phil Hendrie, American radio host and actor
- 1952 – Jakub Polák, Czech activist (d. 2012)
- 1953 – Beau Billingslea, American actor
- 1953 – Don Blackman, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2013)
- 1953 – Rocco Rock, American wrestler (d. 2002)
- 1954 – Dave Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1955 – Billy Blanks, American martial artist
- 1955 – Bruce Foxton, English bass player (The Jam, Stiff Little Fingers, and Casbah Club)
- 1956 – Vinnie Johnson, American basketball player
- 1956 – Philece Sampler, American actress
- 1956 – Bernie Wagenblast, American publisher and editor, founded the Transportation Communications Newsletter
- 1957 – Gloria Estefan, Cuban-American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1957 – Duško Ivanović, Montenegrin basketball player and coach
- 1958 – Armi Aavikko, Finnish model and singer, Miss Finland 1977 (d. 2002)
- 1959 – Kenny Mayne, American journalist
- 1959 – Joe Jusko, American illustrator and painter
- 1960 – Ralf Außem, German footballer
- 1960 – Karl Mecklenburg, American football player
- 1960 – Joseph Williams, American singer and composer (Toto)
- 1961 – Bam Bam Bigelow, American wrestler (d. 2007)
- 1961 – Christopher Ferguson, American astronaut
- 1962 – Tony Cascarino, Irish footballer
- 1962 – Ruud Gullit, Dutch footballer
- 1962 – Michelle Meyrink, Canadian actress
- 1963 – Stephen Kernahan, Australian footballer
- 1963 – Carola Smit, Dutch singer (BZN)
- 1964 – Brian Bellows, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1964 – Ray D'Arcy, Irish radio and television host
- 1964 – Holly Golightly, American illustrator and writer
- 1964 – Nabeel Rajab, Bahraini activist
- 1964 – Cécilia Rodhe, Swedish model, Miss Sweden 1978
- 1964 – Charlie Robison, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Ľudovít Kaník, Slovak politician
- 1965 – Tibor Simon, Hungarian footballer
- 1966 – Tim Hardaway, American basketball player
- 1967 – Sparky Marcus, American actor
- 1967 – David Whissell, Canadian politician and engineer
- 1968 – Mohamed Atta, Egyptian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001)
- 1969 – Henning Berg, Norwegian footballer
- 1970 – Mitsou, Canadian singer and actress
- 1970 – Vanna, Croatian singer
- 1970 – Hwang Jung-min, South Korean actor
- 1970 – Padma Lakshmi, Indian actress
- 1971 – Lââm, French singer
- 1971 – Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi, Saudi Arabian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1971 – Ricardo Antonio Chavira, American actor
- 1971 – Joe Enochs, American soccer player
- 1971 – Yoshitaka Hirota, Japanese composer
- 1971 – Jimmy Reiher, Jr., American wrestler
- 1971 – Hakan Şükür, Turkish footballer
- 1972 – Doug Williams, English wrestler
- 1973 – J.D. Fortune, Canadian singer-songwriter (INXS)
- 1973 – Ram Kapoor, Indian actor
- 1973 – Zach Thomas, American football player
- 1974 – Burn Gorman, American-British actor
- 1974 – Jason Taylor, American football player
- 1974 – Jhonen Vasquez, American writer, illustrator, voice actor, and director
- 1974 – Yutaka Yamamoto, Japanese cartoonist and director, founded Ordet animation studio
- 1975 – R. Kan Albay, Flemish actor and director
- 1975 – Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Australian singer-songwriter and actress (Rogue Traders)
- 1975 – Nomy Lamm, American singer-songwriter and activist
- 1975 – Cuttino Mobley, American basketball player
- 1975 – Omar Rodríguez-López, Puerto Rican-American musician, songwriter, producer, and actor (The Mars Volta, At the Drive-In, and De Facto)
- 1975 – Scott Speedman, Canadian actor
- 1976 – Babydaddy, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Scissor Sisters)
- 1976 – Marcos Ambrose, Australian race car driver
- 1976 – Clare Connor, English cricketer
- 1976 – Erik Morales, Mexican boxer
- 1976 – Sebastián Rozental, Chilean footballer
- 1976 – Polly Shannon, Canadian actress
- 1977 – David Albelda, Spanish footballer
- 1977 – Aamir Ali, Indian actor
- 1977 – Shoshana Bean, American actress and singer
- 1977 – Raffaele Giammaria, Italian race car driver
- 1977 – Arsalan Iftikhar, American attorney
- 1977 – Aaron Schobel, American football player
- 1978 – Adam Yahiye Gadahn, American terrorist
- 1978 – Max Vieri, Australian-Italian footballer
- 1979 – Neg Dupree, British comedian, writer, and actor
- 1979 – James O'Connor, Irish footballer
- 1980 – Sammy Adjei, Ghanaian footballer
- 1980 – Nigar Jamal, Azerbaijani singer (Ell & Nikki)
- 1980 – Lara Pulver, British actress
- 1980 – Chris Riggott, English footballer
- 1980 – Sean Stewart, American singer-songwriter and model
- 1981 – Michael Adamthwaite, Canadian voice actor
- 1981 – Boyd Holbrook, American model and actor
- 1981 – Matthew McGuire, Australian rower
- 1981 – Clinton Portis, American football player
- 1981 – Adam Quick, Australian basketball player
- 1982 – Jeffrey Buttle, Canadian figure skater
- 1982 – Paul Dumbrell, Australian race car driver
- 1982 – Ryan Gomes, American basketball player
- 1983 – Iñaki Lejarreta, Spanish cyclist (d. 2012)
- 1983 – José Antonio Reyes, Spanish footballer
- 1983 – Jeff Woywitka, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – László Köteles, Hungarian footballer
- 1984 – Nick Noble, American football player
- 1984 – Rod Pelley, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Joe Trohman, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Fall Out Boy, The Damned Things, and Arma Angelus)
- 1985 – Larsen Jensen, American swimmer
- 1985 – Camile Velasco, Filipino-American singer
- 1986 – Anthony Allen, English rugby player
- 1986 – Gaël Monfils, French tennis player
- 1986 – Stella Mwangi, Norwegian-Kenyan singer-songwriter and rapper
- 1986 – Shahar Tzuberi, Israeli windsurfer
- 1987 – Dann Hume, New Zealand singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer (Evermore)
- 1987 – Leonel Suárez, Cuban decathlete
- 1988 – Gabriel Ferrari, American footballer
- 1988 – Vaneza Pitynski, American actress and singer
- 1988 – Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1988 – Simona de Silvestro, Swiss race car driver
- 1989 – Astrid Besser, Italian tennis player
- 1989 – Bill Kaulitz, German singer-songwriter and voice actor (Tokio Hotel)
- 1989 – Tom Kaulitz, German guitarist (Tokio Hotel)
- 1989 – Juliana Lohmann, Brazilian actress
- 1989 – Jefferson Montero, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1989 – Daniel Sturridge, English footballer
- 1990 – Aisling Loftus, English actress
- 1992 – Cristiano Biraghi, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Kirani James, Grenadian sprinter
- 1993 – Alexander Conti, Canadian actor
- 1993 – Ilona Mitrecey, French singer
- 1993 – Louise de los Reyes, Filipino actress
- 1994 – Bianca Ryan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1994 – Anna Smolina, Russian tennis player
- 1995 – Nathan MacKinnon, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1996 – Zendaya, American actress, singer and dancer, finalist of the 16th season of Dancing with the Stars
Deaths
- 1067 – Baldwin V, Count of Flanders (b. 1012)
- 1159 – Pope Adrian IV (b. 1100)
- 1256 – Kujō Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (b. 1218)
- 1414 – William de Ros, 7th Baron de Ros, English lord treasurer (b. 1369)
- 1557 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer (b. 1491)
- 1581 – Guru Ram Das, Pakistani 4th of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism (b. 1534)
- 1600 – Tadeáš Hájek, Czech physician (b. 1525)
- 1615 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer (b. 1529)
- 1648 – Marin Mersenne, French mathematician (b. 1588)
- 1678 – Jan Brueghel the Younger, Flemish painter (b. 1601)
- 1685 – Leoline Jenkins, Welsh lawyer and politician (b. 1625)
- 1687 – Henry More, English philosopher (b. 1614)
- 1715 – Louis XIV of France (b. 1638)
- 1715 – François Girardon, French sculptor (b. 1628)
- 1818 – Robert Calder, British naval officer (b. 1745)
- 1838 – William Clark, American explorer, part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (b. 1770)
- 1839 – Izidor Guzmics, Hungarian theologian (b. 1786)
- 1868 – Ferenc Gyulay, Hungarian-Austrian commander and politician (b. 1799)
- 1922 – Samu Pecz, Hungarian architect and academic (b. 1854)
- 1928 – Elemér Bokor, Hungarian entomologist (b. 1887)
- 1930 – Peeter Põld, Estonian scientist and politician (b. 1878)
- 1943 – Charles Atangana, Cameroonian chief (b. 1880)
- 1947 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American scout and adventurer (b. 1861)
- 1953 – Bernard O'Dowd, Australian poet (b. 1866)
- 1957 – Dennis Brain, British horn player (b. 1921)
- 1964 – Ferenc Joachim, Hungarian painter (b. 1882)
- 1967 – Ilse Koch, German nazi war criminal (b. 1906)
- 1967 – Siegfried Sassoon, English poet (b. 1886)
- 1969 – Drew Pearson, American journalist (b. 1897)
- 1970 – François Mauriac, French author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
- 1977 – Ethel Waters, American singer and actress (b. 1896)
- 1980 – Xavier Thaninayagam, Sri Lankan Tamil academic (b. 1913)
- 1981 – Ann Harding, American actress (b. 1901)
- 1981 – Albert Speer, German architect (b. 1905)
- 1982 – Haskell Curry, American mathematician (b. 1900)
- 1982 – Władysław Gomułka, Polish politician (b. 1905)
- 1983 – Henry M. Jackson, American politician (b. 1912)
- 1983 – Larry McDonald, American physician and politician (b. 1935)
- 1985 – Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (b. 1957)
- 1986 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1988 – Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1989 – A. Bartlett Giamatti, American academic and businessman (b. 1938)
- 1989 – Tadeusz Sendzimir, Polish engineer and inventor (b. 1894)
- 1990 – Seub Nakhasathien, Thai environmentalist (b. 1949)
- 1990 – Edwin O. Reischauer, American educator (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Otl Aicher, German graphic designer (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Boris Malenko, American wrestler (b. 1933)
- 1997 – Zoltán Czibor, Hungarian footballer (b. 1929)
- 1998 – Józef Krupiński, Polish poet (b. 1930)
- 1998 – Cary Middlecoff, American golfer (b. 1921)
- 1999 – W. Richard Stevens, Zambian computer scientist and author (b. 1951)
- 2001 – Sil Austin, American saxophonist (b. 1929)
- 2001 – Brian Moore English sportscaster (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Terry Frost, English artist (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Ahmed Kuftaro, Syrian religious leader, Grand Mufti of Syria (b. 1915)
- 2005 – R. L. Burnside, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Thanos Leivaditis, Greek actor (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Nellie Connally, American wife of John Connally (b. 1919)
- 2006 – György Faludy, Hungarian author and translator (b. 1910)
- 2006 – Warren Mitofsky, American pollster (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Bob O'Connor, American politician, 57th Mayor of Pittsburgh (b. 1944)
- 2006 – Kyffin Williams, Welsh painter (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Roy McKenzie, New Zealand horse breeder, racer, and philanthropist (b. 1922)
- 2008 – Thomas J. Bata, Canadian businessman (b. 1914)
- 2008 – Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (b. 1940)
- 2008 – Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1937)
- 2008 – Oded Schramm, Israeli-American mathematician (b. 1961)
- 2009 – Jang Jin-young, South Korean actress (b. 1974)
- 2010 – Wakanohana Kanji I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 45th Yokozuna (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Hal David, American songwriter and composer (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Bob Johnstone, Canadian journalist and broadcaster (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Sat Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Smarck Michel, Haitian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Haiti (b. 1937)
- 2012 – William Petzäll, Swedish politician (b. 1988)
Holidays and observances
- Anniversary of the Start of the Armed Struggle (Eritrea)
- Beginning of Amerindian Heritage Month (Guyana)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Giles
- The beginning of the new liturgical year (Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Church)
- September 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Slovakia)
- Disaster Prevention Day (Japan)
- Earliest day on which Father's Day can fall, while September 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in September. (Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea)
- Earliest day on which Labor Day can fall, while September 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in September. (United States, Canada,Palau)
- First day of school in many countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uzbekistan from the Soviet Union in 1991.
- Journalist Day (Republic of China)
- Knowledge Day (Russia)
- Teachers' Day (Singapore)
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“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,” Psalm 95:6-7 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"On mine arm shall they trust."
Isaiah 51:5
Isaiah 51:5
In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.
Evening
"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light."
1 John 1:7
1 John 1:7
As he is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as he is whom we call "Our Father," of whom it is written, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all?" Certainly, this is the model which is set before us, for the Saviour himself said, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;" and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to import likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light, as honestly in the light, though we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to his image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp, says, "We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for equality." We are to have the same light, and are as truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with God in his holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.
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Today's reading: Psalm 132-134, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 (NIV)
Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 132-134
1 LORD, remember David
and all his self-denial.
and all his self-denial.
2 He swore an oath to the LORD,
he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 "I will not enter my house
or go to my bed,
4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 till I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."
he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 "I will not enter my house
or go to my bed,
4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 till I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Correcting an Abuse of the Lord's Supper
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
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Methuselah, Mathusala
[Mētho̅o̅'se lah] - a man of the javelinor it shall be sent (deluge). The son of Enoch, and grand-father of Noah, who lived longer than any other man recorded in history (Gen. 5:21-27).
[Mētho̅o̅'se lah] - a man of the javelinor it shall be sent (deluge). The son of Enoch, and grand-father of Noah, who lived longer than any other man recorded in history (Gen. 5:21-27).
The Man Who Lived the Longest
The Bible represents human life as vastly prolonged before the Flood. Afterwards it grew rapidly briefer. The longevity of the antediluvian races proves that the constitution of man was different from what it is today. With the Flood a change took place so that now the duration of human life is rarely over one hundred years. No strength of constitution, temperance or vegetable diet can add years to such a limit. The instructive register of Genesis five shows that the man who lived for the shortest period lived for 365 years, and the one who lived for the longest period lived for 969 years.
The remarkable longevity served a useful purpose in that it made possible the reception and preservation of ancient traditions. Perhaps Adam lived for about 113 years after the birth of Methuselah, and Methuselah could not have been more than 369 years old when his grandson Noah was born. Thus, Noah conversed with one who had conversed with Adam and Enoch had the privilege of conversing with Adam. God knows how to preserve His truth for the guidance and sanctification of succeeding generations.
Although Methuselah, whose name was fitting for a time when the earth was full of violence, lived for almost a millennium, nothing whatever is recorded of his long life save the birth of his children. What an immense influence he could have exerted through the years if only, like his father Enoch, he had walked with God! It is not the length of a life that counts, but thequalityof it.
Why did Methuselah die thirty-one years short of a millennium? Has God reserved the privilege of living for one thousand years for the millennial saints? During our Lord's millennial reign, life is to be prolonged again, so that one hundred years shall be the duration of childhood, and a grown man's ordinary age shall be in the age of a tree (Isa. 65:20, 22).
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