Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tue Oct 15th Todays News

ALP get good advice, will they take it? Anna Burke complains bitterly at ALP unity, as she isn't the one. Williamson pleads guilty .. people will do anything to stay in the ALP. Albanese almost overturned apple cart. Flannery finds ALP support. Shorten might not know where ALP leaders come from. Fingers begin pointing regarding NBN blow outs. 
Candy with pollution? You don't eat it, you sequester it. Senate to vote on pollution before end of the year. Bananas are deadlier than Fukushima? Melting glacier shows world was warmer 1400 years ago
ALP support so far down, now Marxists are marching for ALP causes. 
Palmer losing lots of cash. Disability fraud found, dating from Sydney Olympics.
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Mattia Roland Galliani and Falzaabi Alzaabi. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)
1265 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan-China (d. 1307)
1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist (d. 1647)
1762 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and educator (d. 1820)
1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (d. 1900)
1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer (d. 1918)
1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, English author (d. 1975)
1906 – Hiram Fong, American politician (d. 2004)
1946 – Richard Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and pianist (The Carpenters)
2005 – Prince Christian of Denmark
Matches
1066 – Edgar the Ætheling proclaimed King of England, but never crowned. Reigned until 10 December 1066.
1529 – The Siege of Vienna ends as the Austrians rout the invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
1764 – Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
1783 – The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon marks the first human ascent, by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, (tethered balloon).
1793 – Queen Marie-Antoinette of France is tried and convicted in a swift, pre-determined trial in the Palais de Justice, Paris, and condemned to death the following day.
1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor, Horace L. Hunley.
1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
1880 – Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
1888 – The "From Hell" letter sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.
1928 – The airship, Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
1940 – The President of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, is executed by the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco, making him the only European president to have been executed.
1944 – The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler's NSDAP (Nazi party)) takes power in Hungary.
1945 – World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.
1951 – The first episode of I Love Lucy, an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley, airs on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).
1956 – Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time.
1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL
Despatches
898 – Lambert II of Spoleto (b. 880)
1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Lithuanian-Polish military officer (b. 1746)
1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer (b. 1876)
1964 – Cole Porter, American composer (b. 1891)
1965 – Abraham Fraenkel, Israeli mathematician (b. 1891)
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POSITION EMBRACED

Tim Blair – Tuesday, October 15, 2013 (10:30am)

Sensible advice to his party from Labor’s Bob Carr: 
“If you want to embrace the Greens-Left-Fairfax-ABC position, you are going to go backwards at the next election.” 
Carr was talking specifically about refugees, but his comment applies across the board. Bill Shorten isn’t listening: 
Mr Shorten said Labor believed that carbon pollution “needs a price on it”. His position was backed by three powerful union leaders and Greens leader Christine Milne who “welcomed” Mr Shorten’s position.
“What we are saying, categorically, unequivocally, black and white, completely, is we are determined that there should be a price on carbon pollution,” Mr Shorten said. 
Australia only produces around 1.4 per cent of the planet’s human-generated carbon dioxide. Shorten could tax it at $1 billion per gram and it still wouldn’t make any difference to the global climate. But if it keeps the Greens-Left-Fairfax-ABC happy …
UPDATE. In other Labor developments: 
Former union boss Michael Williamson has pleaded guilty to ripping off the Health Services Union to the tune of almost $1 million.
Mr Williamson was facing more than 50 charges of cheating or defrauding funds as a director, money laundering and recruiting another person to carry out criminal activity. 
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GO ANNA

Tim Blair – Tuesday, October 15, 2013 (9:55am)

Angry Anna Burke lashes out: 
Ms Burke, who missed out on being chief opposition whip, took to the media on Monday to condemn the factional selection process. When the Victorian MP left Labor’s caucus meeting, she was filmed gesticulating, and was visibly upset. She says she was told not to challenge for the position she wanted but she defied her party’s orders.
Mr Shorten’s frontbench selection involved “a couple of blokes sitting around a room carving up the spoils and then telling everybody else what the outcome’s going to be”, Ms Burke said on Monday night. 
According to new Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, Burke is “speaking from a place of disappointment.” This is exactly correct. The Labor MP spoke from Canberra.

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GREEN HALLOWEEN

Tim Blair – Tuesday, October 15, 2013 (9:12am)

Reader Peter K. discovers the perfect treat for any carbon-taxing earth savers who might drop by on October 31:

image

Among the ingredients:

image

You don’t eat this stuff. You sequester it.

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Was this a protest or just the usual Marxist rent-a-crowd? The Age should have said

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (2:55pm)

Relevant facts are omitted from The Age’s report on the latest protest against the East West link tunnel, a project the paper doesn’t support:

Protester Kat Galea, of Heidelberg, was taken to hospital by ambulance. She had been part of the picket line and was shoved to the ground by police.
Galea is actually a member of the hard-line Trotskyite Socialist Party.

About 40 protesters were at the office in Trenerry Crescent, protest leader Anthony Main said about 7.30am.
Main is actually a member and candidate of the Socialist Party.
Protester Tony Murphy confronted the police, telling them they had “failed” to be non-confrontational.
Murphy is actually an organiser of the Marxist Workers World Party.
Another protester, Ben Convey of Collingwood, said he was punched in the head by police.
Convey is actually a Workers Out! official, former Occupy Melbourne spokesman and member of the Socialist Party.
Earlier at the rear stairs of the John Holland building, workers with police tried to push through four protesters, but protester Mel Gregson said they backed away when media photographers arrived.
Mel Gregson is actually a union organiser of the Socialist Party.
I suspect if readers knew that every protesters interviewed by The Age was actually a hard-core Marxist looking for a revolution, they might conclude this was not a community protest at all but just the usual rent-a-crowd getting physical and screaming of police brutality.
So why were these relevant facts omitted? 

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Senate to vote on carbon tax repeal by year’s end

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (2:40pm)

As I argued this morning, a failure to repeal the carbon tax should be hung around Opposition leader Bill Shorten’s neck as fast as possible. Mind you, it is also good for the economy to repeal it this year rather than next:
TONY Abbott says he wants the Senate to vote on axing the carbon tax by the end of the year and expects Labor will ‘’repent’’, allowing the legislation to pass and save households $550 a year.
The Prime Minister said cabinet had today signed off on the legislation to rescind the carbon price, which would ideally occur at the end of the financial year.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will receive extra powers under the legislation to ensure price cuts are passed on to households.
Mr Abbott says the draft will be on the federal government’s website at 4.00pm (AEDT) today.
So will Labor really prevent Abbott from cutting a tax on voters’ power bills? Will he really go to the next election promising to reimpose a form of carbon tax?
Horrible, to see ideology so comprehensively trump sense.
UPDATE
Reader the Village Idiot (Reformed):
Bill the Pieman is an absolute fool. He is gifting an extra $8.64bn to Tony Abbott in the 2014-14 fiscal year. By blocking the abolition of the CO2 tax next financial year, he gives Tony Abbott an extra $6.395bn in revenue that Tony didn’t bank on in his “Budget Costings”. This at no political cost to Tony Abbott’s reputation on his promise to abolish it.
Further, in those budget costings, he highlighted that the government would lose $2.245bn from the “axing” of the CO2 tax and bringing forward the ETS. This amount was recorded in those costings as a loss to revenue. If Shortie doesn’t pass the legislation prior to July 1, 2014, the old CO2 tax will remain in force, not Rudd’s promised early ETS.

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Bananas deadlier than Fukushima

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (12:54pm)

Green scares and the journalists who peddle them.  Ivo Vegter on Fukushima, fracking and even MSG. Beware bananas instead.
Great bit of debunking.
(Thanks to reader Andy.) 

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A Palmer company struggling

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (12:32pm)

Clive Palmer and one of his Senators might soon have much more on their minds than politics. Hedley Thomas on Clive Palmer’s latest business woes:
THE public company majority owned by Clive Palmer and led by his Palmer United Party senator-elect Zhenya Wang is in financial trouble and has been saved from the risk of insolvency in the past three months by cash injections from the resources tycoon totalling $421,000…
Mr Palmer and his private entity, Mineralogy, own 70 per cent of the shares in the company, which needs project funding to develop the iron ore resources in its tenements…
The parlous finances of the public company, which holds undeveloped mining tenements in Western Australia, are revealed in statutory annual accounts released to the Australian Securities Exchange three weeks after the election on September 7. The independent auditors of Australasian Resources, Ernst & Young, have alerted the financial regulator there is “material uncertainty regarding continuation as a going concern” of the company.
Ernst & Young’s partner in Perth, Gavin Buckingham, warned in his auditor’s report that “there is significant uncertainty whether the consolidated entity will continue as a going concern, and therefore whether it will realise its assets and extinguish its liabilities in the normal course of business and at the amounts stated in the financial report"…

Mr Palmer’s ... earlier public claim he receives earnings of $500 million in royalties from Chinese company CITIC Pacific has been shown to be incorrect, as Mr Palmer has not been receiving such royalties. 

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Sports fraud jailed

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (12:22pm)

image
Does a moral disability count?
A former Spanish basketball boss has been found guilty of fraud 13 years after he presided over one of the biggest scandals in sporting history.
Fernando Martin Vicente, the former head of the Spanish Federation for Mentally Handicapped Sports, fielded athletes with no disabilities at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney in order to win the gold medal… Only two of the 12 athletes suffered from disability.
(Thanks to reader Albert.) 

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Michael Williamson pleads guilty

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (12:09pm)

Bill Shorten’s career as Opposition Leaders hasn’t just started with more talk of Labor disunity:
FORMER Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson has pleaded guilty to three fraud charges arising from his alleged corrupt conduct as head of the scandal-plagued union.
Williamson, who entered his plea at Downing Centre Local Court today, had been facing nearly 50 charges relating to alleged corrupt dealings while president of the HSU.
The former HSU and ALP president faces jail after being committed for sentencing on four charges in Sydney’s Downing Centre on Tuesday.
The charges include cheating and defrauding a total of almost $1 million as a director and publishing false invoices.
Williamson is also charged with recruiting others to assist in a criminal activity and hindering a police investigation by destroying Amex statements....
Last year, police brought, in two tranches, 48 charges against Mr Williamson: 15 claimed he dishonestly published statements relating to his wife’s company that he knew to be false; five related to recruiting people to commit criminal acts which would hinder an investigation; 27 were fraud charges relating to more than $600,000 in union funds; and one charge accuses him of money-laundering.
All but six of the charges were withdrawn today.
UPDATE
It seems Williamson has actually pleaded guilty to four charges:

The prosecutor told Chief Magistrate Graham Henson that several offences had been folded into four formal charges that Williamson would plead guilty to.
Williamson admitted funnelling nearly $340,000 into a business called Canme Services, which was registered in his wife Julieanne’s name.
Dozens of cheques were made out to Canme for services that were never provided to the union.
He also admitted to defrauding the union out of $600,000 through a consulting company called Access Focus.
It is believed Williamson received a massive windfall from the company, due to inflated fees billed to the HSU.
The former unionist also pleaded guilty to fabricating invoices to cover his tracks in returns to the union in February last year.
The final guilty plea came in relation to recruiting of other union members to help destroy evidence and hinder a police investigation.
(Thanks to reader Trevor.) 

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Labor shows what “zero tolerance for disunity” means

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (11:23am)

Bill Shorten talks tough:

Mr Shorten said he would have ”zero tolerance for disunity”
So what will he do now?
Anna Burke lashed out at the “faceless men” of Labor after failing to get the chief opposition whip job, saying caucus voted on deals done beforehand rather than on merit.
“Our new leader Bill Shorten may hope for no rancour in the caucus, but the current outcome of the shadow ministry reflects an immediate reversion to the faceless men being firmly in control,” she wrote on the Guardian Australia website.
”Zero tolerance”?

Talented women missed out on senior roles, with rising star and proven performer Kate Lundy punished for breaking ranks with the Left faction to support Mr Shorten rather than Anthony Albanese in last week’s caucus ballot.
NSW MP Laurie Ferguson took to Twitter on Monday to condemn the punishment of Ms Lundy for breaking ranks.
“Magnificent effort by Kate Lundy in Multiculturalism,” he wrote. “Respected and loved in the nations [sic] Settlement communities. Sad collateral payback.”
More of that zero tolerance:
One of the casualties from the deals, former indigenous health minister Warren Snowdon, spoke up at yesterday’s caucus meeting in Canberra to attack the “stitch-ups” that left no room for an open vote on the merits of each candidate.
Mr Snowdon went public last night by lashing out at the “cabal” that determined who deserved a frontbench position.
UPDATE
Zero tolerance for unity under Shorten:
LABOR senator Jacinta Collins has left the Victorian Right faction after it failed to nominate her for a shadow ministry.
The Australian understands Senator Collins, who missed out on a frontbench post yesterday despite serving as senate leader in the previous parliament, will remain a member of the National Right, but will no longer be associated with the faction at a state level.
Happy little campers:

Kate Ellis, the former early childhood minister who retains frontbench status, told the meeting of the national Right yesterday there should have been more women promoted across the faction. Of the 11 on the frontbench, only three are from the Right.
(Thanks to reader Andrew.) 

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Albanese just four votes from a Labor disaster

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (9:11am)

Terry McCrann says Labor was just four votes from disaster:

If just four additional members of the caucus had voted for [Anthony Albanese] instead of Bill Shorten, he would have won.
By such a slim margin, Labor arguably avoided a trainwreck, where a clear majority of the people sitting behind their leader in the house, would actually have voted for someone else… If Shorten had won the caucus vote by a still very decisive 51-35, he would have lost the leadership.

But Shorten now has the jobs he’s long craved:

Well, back in the early 2000s, when Kim Beazley was opposition leader, in meeting Shorten at a Christmas party, I ventured: ``am I shaking the hand of the next Labor prime minister.’’
No, no, he protested vehemently. Kim is going to be our next PM. Then he paused, leaned into me and whispered: ``Actually, I think you’re right.’’

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Not a High Commissioner’s business: Mike Rann promotes Tim Flannery

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (7:44am)

Mike Rann, our High Commissioner in Britain, should be reminded he is the Government’s representative in Britain, and not an activist entitled to public funds for proselytising:
Before the Australian general election Rann and his wife Sasha Carruozzo had asked leading climate change scientist Tim Flannery, then head of the Australian Climate Change Commission (ACCC), to their residence in Hyde Park Gate to “speak about the highlights of his career to date”.
Since invitations went out, Right-winger Tony Abbott has been elected as Australia’s Prime Minister, the ACCC has been disbanded and Flannery has lost his job…
The reception for Flannery was due to be held last Thursday but guests have now been told that “due to unforeseen circumstances” it has been postponed until October 29…
If Rann, who once headed Greenpeace in New Zealand, uses his official residence to promote this cause he will not endear himself to Mr Abbott.  

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Melting glacier reveals frozen forest. See, warmer means greener

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (7:29am)

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Retreating glaciers in Alaska unveil a frozen forest - remnants of a time when the climate was warmer and more human-friendly:

The Mendenhall Glacier’s recession is unveiling the remains of ancient forests that have remained frozen beneath the ice for up to 2,350 years...
The most recent stumps she’s dated emerging from the Mendenhall are between 1,400 and 1,200 years old…
In Glacier Bay, Connor and other researchers have found evidence of ice advances occurring more than 5,000 years ago. They’ve also documented the glacial advance between 1724 and 1794 A.D. that pushed Huna Tlingit off their land, and written a paper incorporating those cultural and geographic histories. In that paper they cite Tlingit histories recorded by Richard and Nora Dauenhauer as saying that glacier was growing and advancing “faster than a running dog.”
(Via Jo Nova. Thanks to reader Rocky.) 

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Labor MPs aren’t all union officials. Some are in fact, um, er

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (6:53am)

Labor Senator Steve Conroy struggles to prove Labor’s gene puddle is wider than it really is:
EMMA ALBERICI: I think the argument is that in the general population now, it’s something between 13 and 16 per cent of workers are now members of unions, so I think if you’re trying to be representative of the general community, having 70 per cent of senators drawn from the union movement doesn’t seem to fit that bill.
STEPHEN CONROY: Yeah, well I’m a little surprised about why you focus purely on one chamber. If you look at the parliamentary party as a whole and you look at the representation that we’ve just elected in the Lower House as well. I mean, Michelle Rowlands who’s just come onto the frontbench; an absolute talent. She won a seat when no-one expected her to win that seat. She’s worked in a law firm, she’s qualified. Clare O’Neill, who’s just come in from Victoria, another qualified, excellent local government activist as well as lawyer. Tim Watts has extensive experience in the private sector. Jim ... ah - who used to work for Wayne Swan, chief-of-staff to the Treasurer. These are excellent candidates with very, very good track records. Lisa Chesters is another candidate, our new member for Bendigo. She’s worked for a union.
Yes, Labor MPs aren’t all union officials. Some actually worked as party officials, too. And as lawyers. And, er, as union officials.
(Thanks to reader Youngfarmer.) 

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Here comes the Shorten tax on power prices

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (6:06am)

The Coalition should waste no time in hanging the carbon tax around Labor leader Bill Shorten’s neck:

Legislation to scrap the carbon tax could be circulated to business as soon as the end of this week and is likely to be introduced into parliament on November 13, setting the scene for a Senate showdown early in the new year.
Shorten should already realise he’s keeping bad company when he commits to a useless and damaging tax on power bills that voters have clearly decided they want gone:
Mr Shorten said Labor believed that carbon pollution “needs a price on it”. His position was backed by three powerful union leaders and Greens leader Christine Milne who “welcomed” Mr Shorten’s position.
“What we are saying, categorically, unequivocally, black and white, completely, is we are determined that there should be a price on carbon pollution,” Mr Shorten said.
The Abbott Government should now bring on that Senate showdown as fast as it can.
If Labor blocks the repeal of a carbon tax (one it actually promised itself to repeal only a few months ago), it will keep power prices higher than they should be. Every power bill to every home from then on will include a Shorten tax. The price of Shorten’s negativity. The Abbott Government should make Shorten responsible for as much of the carbon tax pain as possible.


And if the carbon tax is ultimately repealed next year by the incoming Senate? Will Labor really go to the next election promising to bring back a new carbon tax (in the force of an emissions trading scheme) to raise power prices? It is horribly fascinating to see a major party so blinded by ideology, or so fearful of the religious cranks in its ranks, that it is unable to ditch an irrational and suicidal policy.
UPDATE
Sid Maher:

On day two of his leadership, Shorten is exactly where the Prime Minister wants him. Voting with the Greens, which produced the carbon tax as part of their alliance with Labor in the last parliament, and facing attacks from the Coalition that he is defying the will of the people.
UPDATE
Terry McCrann:
An intelligent Labor opposition would join with the government to vote to abolish the carbon tax AND the successor ETS now…
Labor could seek to make that support conditional on the government agreeing to `reform’ Senate voting to limit the micro-party lottery that has most hurt Labor (and the Greens)…
Assuming Palmer ultimately comes back to earth and votes to abolish the carbon tax after next July, is Shorten seriously going to go to the next election ``promising to bring back the (dirty big) carbon tax/ETS?’’…
If Shorten was smart, he would negotiate with Abbott to abolish the carbon tax/ETS - conditional on the government agreeing to bring it back when and if the world, and especially China, accepts mandatory global emission cuts.
In a word: never.

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Who blew those NBN billions?

Andrew Bolt October 15 2013 (5:51am)

Time to hold accountable those who blew billions on an NBN that is over time, over budget and under subscribed:

FORMER communications minister Stephen Conroy was the “root cause” of Labor’s “abysmal” handling of the National Broadband Network, according to construction industry heavyweight David Chandler.
Mr Chandler, who was the deputy chairman of Labor’s $14 million inquiry into the school buildings stimulus scheme, said Senator Conroy’s attempt to blame NBN delays on contractors was an “awful attempt to rewrite history”.
Addressing an Australian Computer Society event in Sydney on Friday, Senator Conroy cited a “failure of the construction industry to mobilise resources” for the NBN’s woes.
But Mr Chandler said the NBN delays were a result of a lack of skills within the former communications department and an “arrogant indifference” from Senator Conroy’s office regarding solving problems when they arose… He said the NBN was similar to Labor’s $16.2 billion Building the Education Revolution scheme, in that it highlighted the ALP’s inability to effectively implement its “thought bubbles"…
Mr Chandler said he had suggested to one senior NBN executive that a key way to improve the rollout would be to establish program-wide benchmarks to help control contract rates. “The response was, ‘We don’t have time for that’,” he said.
“Through Mr Conroy’s public statements and behaviour it would not be hard to spot the root cause for a culture of arrogant indifference amongst those who dealt with his government’s NBN.”
Nick Cater:

[Labor’s] self-proclaimed historic mission to build the railways of the 21st century has turned into another state-run disaster that is, quite probably, the most expensive folly ever embarked on by the Commonwealth…
When the NBN went awry, Conroy blamed Telstra, installation contractors, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph.
On Friday, however, in what appears to be a breakthrough, Conroy admitted that the NBN’s failure was, in part, attributable to poor government decisions.
“I guess it is fair to say that the construction model could be legitimately criticised,” he conceded. “So if I was doing something different, I would probably, if I could go back in time, and you learn it by hindsight ... “
Conroy cautiously admitted that the government’s insistence that high-speed fibre-optic cable should be rolled into every [Multiple Dwelling Unit] in the country was one of two decisions that had slowed the NBN project.
“I think around the construction area, the model that they pursued in a couple of areas, which was impacted by decisions that we took along the way, would be things I’d look at, and want to have, if I could look back in time, more of an understanding of.” 

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Shorten choses faction bosses, some women. UPDATE: Burke lashes Shorten

Andrew Bolt October 14 2013 (5:49pm)

Faction bosses rise under Bill Shorten, although Stephen Conroy returns from the backbench to be deputy Senate leader, rather than regain the leadership itself:
TANYA Plibersek has been endorsed by the Labor caucus as Deputy Opposition Leader, amid an outbreak of infighting in the party’s Left faction that led to Kate Lundy and Warren Snowdon being dropped from the shadow ministry.
Former deputy Senate leader Jacinta Collins was also a casualty of today’s caucus vote on the party’s new ministerial line-up, after her Victorian Right faction failed to find a spot for her.
New Labor leader Bill Shorten said he was proud his ministerial team included 11 women and six newly-elevated MPs; Andrew Leigh, Shayne Neumann, Michelle Rowland, Doug Cameron, David Feeney and Claire Moore…
Senator Penny Wong has been confirmed as Labor’s Senate leader.
Wong should be shifted from Finance to distance Shorten’s team from the huge deficits she helped to preside over.
UPDATE
Former Speaker Anna Burke is furious, and accuses Shorten of not promoting women (like, um, her):

Does one go from speaker of the House to nothing and think they have been recognised and rewarded by their colleagues for the hard yards and effort, or does one just feel the same old winds of inevitability in a system which, after 15 years, I still cannot fathom?
Having left a room where I must admit the bulk of people – both men and women – didn’t vote for me to get the chief opposition whip job not on the basis of merit or perceived capability but on the numbers and the deals done beforehand, one has to question the newly found “democracy” in the Labor party, and the notion that we all have a say.
Actually, the reason Burke got the job of Speaker is that she wasn’t thought good enough even by Julia Gillard to be on the front bench. And she wasn’t actually a great Speaker, either.
But Burke is bitter:

The problem with women is that they think effort will be rewarded and recognised. They work like girly swots and naively believe that they will get meritorious selection. But there is no meritocracy.
I’m not sure that leaving Burke out proves that, actually.
But this much may be right, in a party in which 18 of Labor’s 26 Senators are former union officials:
Our new leader Bill Shorten may hope for no rancour in the caucus, but the current outcome of the shadow ministry reflects an immediate reversion to the “faceless men” being firmly in control and does little to reflect the genuine hope generated by the rank and file of an inclusive process for all. Caucus voted on factional lines for the leadership and then sub-factional lines for executive positions, so whilst the party has embraced democratic change, the caucus has not.
Yes, I am bitter and disappointed– I declare that upfront – but it does not deflect from the process. Of course, it is wonderful to see both Tanya Plibersek and Penny Wong being awarded such elevated positions within the party, but our process remains one where the most senior women in the Labor party were accorded no positions going forward, and no ability to actually argue their case and demonstrate why they would make the best candidate based on immediate past performance.
After a ballot took place, where the leading contender and indeed winner of the process declared the party must ensure greater diversity and promote women, Indigenous people and people from our LGBTI and non-english speaking background communities, the very same leader has failed to deliver any progress for women in the party… Yes, there are 11 women on the front bench but, yet again, the majority come from the left with no advancement by the right or the new leader.

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Don’t think this warming pause is permanent

Andrew Bolt October 14 2013 (3:53pm)

Dr Roy Spencer, who oversees one of the main measures of global warming, wisely warns those sceptics who assume the 15-year-pause in warming is permanent:

I would remind folks that the NASA AIRS instrument on the Aqua satellite has actually measured the small decrease in IR emission in the infrared bands affected by CO2 absorption, which they use to “retrieve” CO2 concentration from the data. Less energy leaving the climate system means warming under almost any scenario you can think of…
But I’ve been troubled for quite a while by those “skeptics” (you know who you are) who are forecasting cooling in our future. Not that it couldn’t happen, but are you ready to be “debunked” when we see continued slow warming?
The debate will then be about how the skeptics who predicted cooling were wrong. Warming continues. The IPCC was right. There is obvious danger in that becoming the narrative.
Some of us have been trying to explain that there is a big difference between weak (or even modest) warming, and catastrophic warming. The former is probably beneficial, especially when you factor in the benefits of more CO2 on photosynthesis…
Some level of warming can probably be expected, but just how much makes a huge difference. Lindzen and I and a few other researchers in the field think the IPCC models are simply too sensitive, due to positive feedbacks that are either too strong, or even have the wrong sign. But we still believe more CO2 should cause some level of warming.
If the current lack of warming really is due to a natural cooling influence temporarily canceling out CO2-induced warming, what happens when that cooling influence goes away? We are going to see rather rapid warming return…but nowhere near the levels of warming predicted by most of the IPCC climate models…
But sometimes it seems like we global warming moderates are getting drowned out by the extremists.
As I’ve argued, the real sceptical case is this:

The world isn’t warming as much as predicted. The models seem wrong.
The disasters we were warned of aren’t, on the whole, happening as predicted.
Moderate warming could actually be beneficial.
Global warming policies which don’t actually make any discernable change to the temperature are a waste of money.
The costs of trying to “stop” warming in most cases seem to vastly outweigh the benefits.

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RICKY Ponting bares his soul like never before in his soon to be released autobiography, At The Close Of Play.
Here, we present some of the best extracts from the book, including Ponting's thoughts on getting dropped from the one-day side, retiring from Test cricket, and what he really thinks of Michael Clarke's leadership.

An all time great of the game. He retired when, through no fault of his own, the team was weak. - ed
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Pastor Rick Warren
33 years ago, we intentionally set out to become an "All-Nation Congregation." We want out church to look like heaven does. Today, our California members speak 69 languages, and 21,869 of our members have served other churches in 196 countries through the PEACE Plan. Why? Because it is our core conviction that ...
God never made a person he doesn't love,
God never made a person Jesus didn't die for,
God never made a person without a purpose,
God wants EVERYBODY to know him!
If you are a MULTI-cultural church like we are, we'd love to partner with you. Write me PastorRick@saddleback.com. We had planned a conference for Multicultural Churches this year but it got postponed when Matthew died.
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@RickWarren: Tuesday night, I present the 2013#WorshipAlbumOfTheYear award at the 44th GMA Dove Awards ceremony in Nashville.See you friends!
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“All of the promises of God find their ‘YES!!!” in Christ.” 2 Cor. 1:20
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Each new week you either progress or regress.Choose to move forward in faith. Your past is past. 
God says, "Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don't you see it? Isaiah 43:18-19
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PEOPLE don't care what we know unless they know we care.

"I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me... I tell you the truth, anything you did fo the least of my people here, you were doing for me." - Jesus. Matthew 25:36-40
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The Elephant Rock glowing in the post sunset light. — at Valley Of Fire Sate Park Nevada.
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The Hon. Greg Hunt MP
Minister for the Environment
Today, the Government releases the carbon tax repeal bills for public consideration.
In line with our clear election commitment, the Government’s first item of parliamentary business will be the legislation to abolish the carbon tax.
This will lower costs for Australian businesses and manufacturers, boost growth, increase jobs and ease cost of living pressures for households.
On average, households will be around $550 better off in 2014‑15 than they would have been with the carbon tax in place. This is about taking the pressure of electricity and gas bills.
While the carbon tax will be gone, the household assistance already provided will remain to help families with the cost of living.
Mr Shorten and the Labor Party must listen to the clear message that the Australian people sent at the last election.
Every day the Labor Party opposes the repeal of the carbon tax is another day that the Labor Party supports higher electricity prices for Australian families and businesses.
The repeal bills will remove the carbon tax, end the carbon tax on fuels used in shipping, rail and air transport and on synthetic greenhouse gases. The Climate Change Authority will also be abolished.
Abolishing the carbon tax will improve Australia’s international competitiveness, which was being undermined by the unfair hit on business.
The legislation will give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission further powers to take action against businesses that engage in price exploitation following the repeal of the carbon tax.
Carbon tax industry assistance, including the Jobs and Competitiveness Program, will continue until 30 June 2014 to assist affected businesses.
Repeal of the carbon tax represents a major contribution to the Government’s deregulation agenda by removing around 440 pages of legislation and reducing business compliance costs by about $100 million annually.
With the release of the draft repeal bills, businesses have an opportunity to comment on the specific details of the repeal process. Good governments engage in proper consultation, which means that the draft legislation could be further refined before introduction to the Parliament.
Public consultation will be invited until 4 November 2013.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/tony-abbott-readies-draft-laws-to-repeal-carbon-tax/story-e6frg6xf-1226740283930
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HAVE you ever wondered if the way you act makes women cringe? Have you ever worried that your behaviour might be making them run in the other direction?
Just as women are attracted to certain archetypal men, there are other types of men that women go out of their way to avoid.
And this is especially true during the early stages of a relationship, when a woman is trying to gauge a man's personality.
Below are eight types of guys that women consistently stay away from. I have compiled this list from conversations I've had with numerous women regarding the behaviours they dislike in men.

Lol .. they missed a ninth .. Me! I'm a combination of boorish, arrogant, needy .. it is like a recipe for soup .. - ed===

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The State is making a request Monday morning to Israel's Supreme Court, asking that it not be instructed to carry out further evictions at the community of Amona. It will argue that enforcing a petition to do so would damage the national interest.

Amona is a community in central Samaria (Shomron), established by members of the nearby community of Ofra in 1996. Some of its buildings were built on land either not owned or not fully owned by community residents.

Today's request follows an August ruling by Supreme Court judges Asher Grunis, Esther Hayut and Hanan Meltzer that they agreed with Arab and leftist petitioners, claiming that homes in Amona were illegally built and that residents should be evicted. The judges also agreed with them the lawsuit should be expanded to include all of Amona, including private land plots over which there are no claims whatsoever.

The State has since argued that the court's petition is not concretebecause ownership of the property is not totally clear.
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Economics Minister MK Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi/Jewish Home) has reiterated his commitment to planned reforms which would see most hareidi-religious men enlisted into the army, in line with most other Israeli men.
"We are determined to advance the reforms for equalizing the share of the burden," he said in an interview with Army Radio today (Monday).
"It is important to note that 32% of First Graders are hareidim. The State of Israel cannot survive if these children are not integrated into society," he warned.
The second session of the 19th Knesset will commence at 4pm today at a meeting attended by Israel's President Shimon Peres, ending the long summer recess.

===

Here is where we’re at: The Republican establishment — the guys who told us that for a trillion dollars and several thousand American casualties, we could build “Islamic democracies” that would be reliable U.S. allies in the War on Terror — say it is Ted Cruz who is “delusional” and the effort to stave off Obamacare that is “unattainable.”
These self-appointed sages are, of course, the same guys who told us the way to “stabilize” and “democratize” Libya was to help jihadists topple and kill the resident dictator — who, at the time, was a U.S. ally, providing intelligence about the jihadists using his eastern badlands as a springboard for the anti-American terror insurgency in Iraq. That’s probably worth remembering this week, during which some of our new “allies” abducted Libya’s president while others car-bombed Sweden’s consulate in Benghazi — site of the still unavenged terrorist massacre of American ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. officials 13 months ago.

Not to worry, though. So successful do they figure the Libyan escapade was, GOP leaders are backing a reprise in Syria. It is there, we learn from a Human Rights Watch report issued this week, that our new “allies,” the al-Qaeda-rife “rebels,” executed a savage atrocity just two months ago. Sweeping into the coastal village of Latakia, the jihadists slaughtered 190 minority Alawites. As the New York Times details, “at least 67 of the dead appeared to have been shot or stabbed while unarmed or fleeing, including 48 women and 11 children.” More than 200 other civilians were captured and are still being held hostage.
So that’s going well.

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    [..]
    While the concept of a historically non-Jewish Jerusalem is increasing in popularity among the anti-Semitic left, it remains curious that Arabs continue to demand control over Jerusalem, when it’s abundantly clear from the Koran itself that neither Allah nor Mohammed ever intended it for Muslims in the first place. As far as the Koran is concerned, Muslims have no more claim to Jerusalem than Jews have to Medina.
    Jewish authority over Jerusalem should come as no surprise to Islamic scholars. In Surah 2:144-147, the Koran describes Allah’s gift of Mecca to Mohammed. In this passage, we find Mohammed pouting that he had been mocked by the Jews for making use of their city, Jerusalem, as a focus of worship. He didn’t deny Jewish authority over Jerusalem; he simply fumed that Islam had no place of its own — an unfortunate situation that Mohammed (er…I mean Allah!) moved to remedy posthaste.

    From the very beginning, Mohammed appropriated much of Jewish and Christian tradition for inclusion in his new religion, but Islam was not yet complete, as it lacked a “Holy City” — a deficit that spawned a sixth-century version of “keeping up with the Joneses,” if you will.
    According to Islamic tradition, Allah sent the angel Gabriel to “re-orient” Mohammed during prayers, pointing him toward Mecca. From a purely logistical standpoint, early Muslims could count themselves lucky that Mohammed assumed that Allah meant to give them Mecca and not, say, Zanzibar, which lay in the same direction, only a scant two thousand miles farther.
    The point being, not only did Allah and his prophet Mohammed show clear deference for the Jewish claim to Jerusalem, but this reality was confirmed and continued under “Omar the Conqueror,” Mohammed’s successor and the most powerful and influential caliph in Islamic history.
    While Omar is widely known as the conqueror of Jerusalem, what is not so well-known is that after he conquered the city he promptly repopulated Jerusalem with Jews, repatriating them from the Arabian Peninsula, providing an ironic prefiguration of the establishment of the modern state of Israel centuries later.
    Clearly, Omar felt that Jerusalem was a city for the Jews and encouraged their residence in a homeland they hadn’t seen since the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Omar constructed a small mosque in Jerusalem, allowing him the ability to maintain the spiritual health of the Muslim garrisons left to defend Jerusalem from the Romans, but otherwise granted Jews authority over their spiritual and ancestral home. Omar, successor of Mohammed, believed that the Jewish claim to Jerusalem was absolute, transcending five centuries of exile.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/the_latest_in_islamic_revisionism.html#ixzz2hbF7cbvI
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

===

While it is true that some Arabs boycott the municipal elections for ideological reasons, many are afraid, if they go to the ballot box, of being targeted by extremists. The overwhelming majority is still afraid of the radicals.
As Israelis prepare to cast their ballots in the municipal elections next week, tens of thousands of eligible Arab voters in Jerusalem will once again boycott the democratic process.
In the past few days, the Palestinian Liberation Organization [PLO], Hamas and several other Palestinian organizations have called on the Arab residents of Jerusalem to stay away from the ballot boxes.
These organizations maintain that Arab participation in the municipal election would be interpreted as recognition of Israel's decision to annex the eastern part of the city in the aftermath of the 1967 Israeli-Arab war.
As such, the vast majority of the Arab residents have since been boycotting the local election, mainly out of fear of being dubbed "traitors" by various Palestinian organizations.
But if anyone stands to lose from the boycott it is the Arabs themselves.

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Pantry Packers® introduces a bold new concept called Tikkun Olam Tourism® – an exciting 90 minute hands-on opportunity for overseas tourists to pack commodity food staples for Israel’s poorest families.

At the Pantry Packers® production facility in Jerusalem, tourists aged 8-80 are given a brief orientation session that includes watching a short movie, before donning gloves, aprons and caps in order to fill bags of rice, beans and other commodities. These bags, which bear a sticker with the name of the packing group, will later be included in large food baskets destined for needy families throughout the country.
Program participation – which is designed for groups and is free of charge – must be scheduled in advance.

More information and registration: info@pantrypackers.org; 972 2-626-0035

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Jerusalem police arrested 10 Jews who prayed and sang Israel's national anthem "Hatikva" on the Temple Mount on Monday morning. They had come as part of a group of 30 who were divided by police into smaller groups, as part of a host of restrictions imposed upon Jewish visitors.
Following their arrest police closed the site to non-Muslim visitors.
In a video released by activists, the leader of the group addresses the rest of those assembled:
"We are standing here in the holiest place for the nation of Israel. To our regret, at the holiest place for the nation of Israel - as they said to us at the start - it is forbidden to pray. This is something we cannot agree to."
At that point, the group breaks into prayer, with one man producing and waving an Israeli flag.

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For a country often portrayed as isolated and alone in the international arena, Israel sure does seem to have a lot of thriving friendships.
Indeed, notwithstanding efforts by the media and the Left to paint a picture of the Jewish state as solitary and ostracized, Israel's popularity appears to be on the upswing.
In just the past two weeks, the Jewish state has hosted the president of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, as well as an intergovernmental meeting with the entire Greek cabinet.
Meanwhile, President Shimon Peres visited Holland, where he addressed the Dutch parliament and had an audience with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
And Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin is off to South Korea this week on a diplomatic trip.
This flurry of activity came on the heels of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit to the US, where he met with President Barack Obama and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in addition to delivering a speech to the UN General Assembly.
Not bad for lonesome little Israel.

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Jerusalem is one of the most colorful and contentious cities in the world. It is the spiritual heart of the Jewish people. It is a city of never-ending conflict: during its 5,000-year history it has been destroyed twice, besieged, attacked, captured and recaptured over and over again. It is home to a remarkably diverse and frequently antagonistic population of 800,000 Jews, Arabs and Christians. Who could govern such a city?
Nir Barkat, the city’s current mayor, believes he can. On October 22, we’ll find out if Jerusalemites agree when they cast their votes for Jerusalem’s Mayor and City Council.
- See more at: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4852#sthash.dnFlNv8F.E9hOTP9m.dpuf
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So far Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's peace ruse is still bearing some fruit. President Obama was eager to talk with him at the United Nations — only to be reportedly rebuffed, until Obama managed to phone him for the first conversation between heads of state of the two countries since the Iranian storming of the U.S. embassy in 1979.
Rouhani has certainly wowed Western elites with his mellifluous voice, quiet demeanor and denials of wanting a bomb. The media, who ignore the circumstances of Rouhani's three-decade trajectory to power, gush that he is suddenly a “moderate” and “Western educated.”
The implication is that Rouhani is not quite one of those hardline Shiite apocalyptic theocrats like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in the past ranted about the eventual end to the Zionist entity.
Americans are sick and tired of losing blood and treasure in the Middle East. We understandably are desperate for almost any sign of Iranian outreach. Our pundits assure us that either Iran does not need and thus want a bomb, or that Iran at least could be contained if it got one.

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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Be grateful if God answers your prayer. But, be more grateful when God makes you the answer to someone else's prayer.

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Eric Shawn interviews Minister Naftali Bennett
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Roma Downey
"Today will never come again. Be a blessing. Be a friend. Encourage someone. Take time to care. Let your words heal, and not wound." - Uknown
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"God often uses small matches to light great torches. No matter how small we feel in this world, we are always special and great in His eyes." - Unknown

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Larry Pickering
HOW DO YA LIKE THEM LITTLE APPLES, ANNA?
...what really happened in that Party room

“We will have zero tolerance for disunity”, said Bill Shorten with a straight face as Caucus members exited a Party room sporting a number of knives between pairs of shoulder blades. Bill had done his factional homework long before the leadership vote that finally sent Albo and a few other Party faithful to Coventry.

The farcical rank-and-file vote showed just how little respect Shorten has for a democratic grass root Labor.

What happened in that Party room under Shorten’s treacherous tutelage typified all that is despicable about Shorten and all that is repugnant about Labor.

The rank-and-file tried to set Labor a course for reform but it failed because, behind Shorten’s false conciliatory smile of inclusion. lays an obsessive compulsive disorder of political infidelity.

Bill knew the bribes he offered to pull those votes he needed from the Left faction could never be honoured. “If you switch sides and vote for me I will promote you to ...”, promised Bill.

He pulled the necessary turn-coat votes all right but predictably, Albo’s Left faction then refused to put the betrayers on the front bench for portfolio selection.

The Rudd reform that gave the Labor leader the right to choose his team was cunningly replaced by the old AWU and NSW Right factional system that gives Caucus the power to select the front bench.

Then the leader must try to fit square pegs into round holes with “suitable” portfolios. An impossible task because those who may be the most competent are languishing on the back bench under factional punishment for voting the wrong way.

Albo played a straight bat while Shorten was playing the dirtiest game of all... announcing Labor had adopted a new non-factional democracy. It hadn’t! It was still dictated to by Bill’s all-powerful, faceless Right and AWU factions... and those who are now justifiably screaming blue murder are of Albo’s dudded Left faction.

And why are the Left publicly livid with rage? Because they were duped by the master of duplicity, Bill Shorten... he got his votes knowing his bribes would be rendered worthless.

Bill offers a reason for this travesty: “We have such a surfeit of talent we cannot please everyone.” Yeah Bill, whatever.

Shorten is Abbott’s manna from heaven and that’s not good for anyone. Now Labor is irrevocably split with an incandescent hatred that can never heal while Shorten stays.

The evil power-game Shorten plays has mastered his own and his Party’s destiny.
===

Andreas Herrmann
anderes Wort für Oboe? - Krisenstab

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 Sarah Palin
Obama’s Debt Default is on His Shoulders While We Shoulder His Impeachable Offenses

Apparently the president thinks he can furlough reality when talking about the debt limit. To suggest that raising the debt limit doesn’t incur more debt is laughably absurd. The very reason why you raise the debt limit is so that you can incur more debt. Otherwise what’s the point?

It’s also shameful to see him scaremongering the markets with his talk of default. There is no way we can default if we follow the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4, requires that we service our debt first. We currently collect more than enough tax revenue to service our debt if we do that first. However, we don’t have enough money to continue to finance our ever-growing federal government (with our $17 trillion dollar national debt that has increased over 50% since Obama took office). That’s why President Obama wants to increase the debt limit. He doesn’t want to make the tough decisions to rein in government spending. So, he’s scaremongering the markets about default, just as he tries to scaremonger our senior citizens about their Social Security, which, by the way, is funded by the Social Security Trust Fund and is solvent through 2038.

It’s time for the president to be honest with the American people for a change. Defaulting on our national debt is an impeachable offense, and any attempt by President Obama to unilaterally raise the debt limit without Congress is also an impeachable offense. A default would also be a shameful lack of leadership, just as mindlessly increasing our debt without trying to rein in spending is a betrayal of our children and grandchildren who will be stuck with the bill.

- Sarah Palin

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Katie Price


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HonestReporting's Israel Daily News Stream: Everything You Need to Know About Media Coverage of Israel and the MidEast

Today's Top Stories

• PLO, Hamas bully Palestinians to boycott upcoming Jerusalem elections.
• Does Nobel laureate Peter Higgs really support academic boycott of Israel?
• Big Media digs up new details about Gaza terror tunnel.
Read the full roundup here...

Sign our petition against the demonization of Israel

Welcome to the Israel Daily News Stream

The IDNS is a daily roundup of everything you need to know about how the media is covering Israel, all in one place for easy reference, delivered directly to your inbox every morning. Want to receive weekly Bias Alerts? Manage your subscriptions. Please tell your friends to learn more and sign up here.

Tired of Seeing Israel Slammed in the Media?

Join more than 150,000 people demanding fair media coverage. HonestReporting was formed in 2000 to respond to unfair coverage against Israel in the wake of the second Intifada. Since then, it's prompted hundreds of corrections and retractions. Stay informed on all media issues by signing up to HR's weekly bias alert emails.

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Friend,
In two different speeches over the last few weeks, I have focused my efforts on why conservativesneed to change - not our policies - but how we tell the story about those policies.  I reminded folks that we need to be "all in" to change the future of this country not just in the political system but through culture and entertainment. 
If you have a few minutes today, I hope you'll watch these speeches. Click on the different links to watch my Values Voters Summit speech from last Friday and my CPAC St. Louis speech from two weeks ago.    
And here is a quick recap of the media coverage from my Values Voter speech:

From The Hill: "Santorum drew a favorable response from the crowd at the annual VVS with an address that urged conservatives to stand up for their values and continue to focus on social issues, but to change their message.  'Ladies and gentlemen, we are engaged in the battle for the heart and soul of America. And we need to be better and smarter about how we communicate our message,' he said. 'Do not back away one inch from what we believe in.'"

From Politico: "During a speech at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, Santorum sharply pushed back against critics who say Republicans should stay away from those issues in future campaigns. 'I say, you know you guys aren't thinking through this very clearly. You're not thinking through the consequences of throwing overboard all these unpopular social issues,' Santorum said. 'I don't know about you, but as a leader I'm not there to follow the polls, I'm here to shape the polls.'"

From The Washington Times: "Mr. Santorum, said that conservatives must be smarter about how they communicate their message and make sure that they pick 'authentic' messengers who will stand firm for their values.  'We have the truth, why are we playing defense?' Mr. Santorum said. 'I don't want to hear anybody here apologize for standing up for the truth, apologize for standing up for the dignity of life, the sanctity of marriage, the centrality of family.'"
Sincerely,
santorum-signature

Rick Santorum 

Impact Culture by Becoming a Theater Captain!
We've had a tremendous response to our Theater Captain sign-up for The Christmas Candle!  
Our Theater Captains will help pack theaters for opening night on November 22nd!  If you step up to serve as a Theater Captain, we will provide everything you need to be successful.  All we need from you is the belief and passion that it's time to light a candle of hope this Christmas and impact the culture in your own community. So, help us "get out the movie viewer" bysigning up today to be a Theater Captain!    You can learn more by visiting ourTheater Captain Headquarters. 

If you have questions, you can reach out to our National Grassroots Director, Shelley Ahlersmeyer, at:shelley@patriotvoices.com.
Catch up with Patriot Voices Radio 
If you haven't listened to a Patriot Voices Radio show, it's time to tune in!  You can listen to all of our past broadcasts herewww.patriotvoices.com/radio, and please mark your calendar for Tuesday, October 22 at noon ET for our next live show!
Get Connected with Patriot Voices!
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From the PAC
Today we endorsed Walt Rogers for Congress in Iowa's First Congressional district.  Walt is running for the open seat being vacated by Congressman Bruce Braley.  Walt is a committed public servant who will serve the people of Northeast Iowa well.  Donate to Walt's campaignhere and follow him on Twitter and like his Facebook page.   
Stay tuned for an email tomorrow to learn how you can help Ken Cuccinelli become the next Governor of Virginia!
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  Donate Today button

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JensenSutta-Malkin-2
Photo credit: Jensen Sutta Photography
Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for October 14th. Enjoy!

From the Blog

‘Million Vets March’ in DC proves again barricading memorials an exercise in futility

Question: How long did this “Barry-cade” at the World War II Memorial hold up at the start of today’s “Million Vet March” in D.C.?

Senate Dems reject proposal from noted right-wing extremists Susan Collins and Joe Manchin

Obama, Reid and Pelosi will continue to blame the Tea Party wing of the GOP for not cooperating with the “mainstream” members of Congress, such as Democrats Harry Reid and John McCain...

Classic: MSNBC president wants investigation into ‘impossible’ ratings of Fox News

This is pretty funny...

More From the Right Side of the Web

Charles C.W. Cooke: 'Nullification' nonsense

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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Ooo ... klas-SAY!

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October 15: First day of Eid al-Adha (Islam, 2013);Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Canada and the United States
ThrustSSC

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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]


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“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
Philippians 3:8
Spiritual knowledge of Christ will be a personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with him. No, I must know him myself; I must know him on my own account. It will be an intelligent knowledge--I must know him, not as the visionary dreams of him, but as the Word reveals him. I must know his natures, divine and human. I must know his offices--his attributes--his works--his shame--his glory. I must meditate upon him until I "comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." It will be an affectionate knowledge of him; indeed, if I know him at all, I must love him. An ounce of heart knowledge is worth a ton of head learning. Our knowledge of him will be a satisfying knowledge. When I know my Saviour, my mind will be full to the brim--I shall feel that I have that which my spirit panted after. "This is that bread whereof if a man eat he shall never hunger." At the same time it will be an exciting knowledge; the more I know of my Beloved, the more I shall want to know. The higher I climb the loftier will be the summits which invite my eager footsteps. I shall want the more as I get the more. Like the miser's treasure, my gold will make me covet more. To conclude; this knowledge of Christ Jesus will be a most happy one; in fact, so elevating, that sometimes it will completely bear me up above all trials, and doubts, and sorrows; and it will, while I enjoy it, make me something more than "Man that is born of woman, who is of few days, and full of trouble"; for it will fling about me the immortality of the ever living Saviour, and gird me with the golden girdle of his eternal joy. Come, my soul, sit at Jesus's feet and learn of him all this day.

Evening

"And be not conformed to this world."
Romans 12:2
If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian--you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.
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Today's reading: Isaiah 43-44, 1 Thessalonians 2 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Isaiah 43-44

Israel’s Only Savior
1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

Today's New Testament reading: 1 Thessalonians 2

Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica
1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7 Instead, we were like young children among you.
Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory....
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Onesimus

[Ōnĕs'ĭmŭs] - profitable. The slave of Philemon, Paul's convert (Col. 4:7-9; Philemon 10-19). Onesimus ran away from his master and came into contact with Paul, who led him to Christ after they met in Rome. Paul urged him to return to his master and entreated Philemon to receive Onesimus, not as a slave, but as a brother in the Lord. How the apostle approached Onesimus provides us with a beautiful exhibition of Christian Courtesy.
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October 14, 2011
The Broken Way
Today's Truth
Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today ... the LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still (Exodus 14:13-14, NIV).
Friend to Friend
While at a football game of my son Preston's, I had a moving conversation with another team mom. It was the first time we'd ever dialogued beyond socially expected niceties. Between cheers that went up to our football-playing boys, she stumbled upon the fact that I was a Jesus-loving girl and was excited to share about how God has intimately drawn her heart to his over the past five years. How He met her where she was, ministered to her through the hands of others. How He sparked life into her soul through His Son Jesus Christ. She was radiant and she spoke with excitement, joy in every sentence, praise on her tongue for the God who gives her strength and life. This dear lady opened her heart and told me of her grueling battle with an aggressive form of breast cancer.
She was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 35 - as a wife and mother to three small children. Initially, she was angry with God for allowing a disease to ravage her body, furious that her husband and children might have to live without her. Though she fought to understand the "why" of it all, she confidently testifies that God used the pain-filled journey on the broken road of cancer to lead her to saving Grace. She is now grateful for the broken way that God breathed new life into her soul as she battled death in her body. As she spoke, the troubles of my life faded to a humble corner of my heart. Her words reminded me that God really can and should be glorified through each hard place we find ourselves in. I was freshly reminded to trust God.
Life is filled with challenges. The struggles we endure often leave our hearts breaking and our minds aching for reprieve. I've not battled cancer, but I have experienced my fair share of times when I've been crushed by circumstances that are beyond my control ... just like her. As a wife, mother, daughter, and friend, I've learned that hard times are inevitable and that they hurt.
Toward the end of our conversation about her cancer and faith, my new friend confided that fear still tries to invade her days. She said that she constantly has to choose faith and to trust God instead of dwelling on the possibilities of another future diagnosis. Every one of us doubts at times. We all fail to trust. But Scripture assures us that even when we are faithless, God remains faithful. As we walk broken paths that challenge our faith, the truth remains that God does deliver in and through the pain. Though there are struggles that we might take to the grave with us, God is still good. Each hard place is an opportunity for Jesus to show His power in and through our lives.
When we find ourselves on the broken way, we often feel like we are wandering in the wilderness. In Exodus 13:17-14:31, we see a dreary desert drama of the Israelites. Stop here to read the full account now if you can.
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17-18, NIV).
As God moved through the leadership of Moses to bring His people from captivity to freedom, from poverty to inheritance, the Israelites were not led the easy way. They didn't get to take the "paved" road - even though it was shorter. They had to walk through the desert. God led them the harder way because He knew it was best for them in the long run. Sometimes we are led the harder way too. The broken way. Even though our minds conceive an easier solution, He knows what is unknown to us, He sees what is unseen to us, and His ways are trustworthy and best.
By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." (Exodus 17:21-22, NIV)
"Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left (Exodus 14:19-22, NIV).
God has given us his Holy Spirit to lead us by day and by night, to be our Strength, our Power, and our Direction in the deserts of life. Just as God made a way for the Israelites when they called on Him as they faced a seemingly impossible Red Sea situation, He will make a way for you. Call on His name. Trust His plan. Reach for His hand.
Let's Pray
Dear Lord, forgive me for the times when I try to navigate the broken path of life on my own. When my heart is heavy with burdens, please give me Your strength and remind my soul to trust You. I need Your guidance and power today.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn
Do you feel like God has led you through the desert?
Do you trust that He can and will make a way for your broken paths to be made straight when you call on Him?
Grab a journal (if you're a journal girl). Spend a few moments contemplating the circumstances of your harder way. Then lift your eyes from your situation to your Savior. Call on God, and say to your soul: Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today...the LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still (Exodus 14:13-14, NIV).
More from the Girlfriends
I've seen it in my own life. God delights to deliver us from our hard places in and through the pain. Hang in there, friend. He knows each tear you've cried and He has never left your side. In the words of a beloved hymn by Helen Lemmel, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
WALKING ON THE BROKEN WAY? God delights to heal and transform lives ... including your own. In her book,Broken Into Beautiful, Gwen Smith invites you to experience how the unconditional love of Jesus can change your life and bring strength and healing to your heart. He can transform your life into something beautiful. To order the book, go to Amazon or, for a signed copy, order from Gwen's website:www.gwensmith.net.
GOT FACEBOOK? Stop by Gwen's Facebook Music Page atwww.Facebook.com/GwenSmithMusic. While you're there, be sure to listen to a few songs, leave a message on her wall, and add her as a friend!
Seeking God?
Click here to find out more about
how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Girlfriends in God
P.O. Box 725
Matthews, NC 28106
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P31Header
Rachel Olsen
October 14, 2011
A Slice of Cheesecake, or Dirt?
Rachel Olsen
"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts." Proverbs 18:8 (NIV)
Get-togethers with my friends or family typically wind up the same way. The men gather by the grill or TV, and talk about music or sports. Meanwhile, the women congregate in the kitchen for some old-fashioned "girl-talk."
For women, people and relationships tend to be the common ground of conversation. We are the more emotional and relational gender. And of course we gather in the kitchen-it's the heart of the home. Plus, that's where the food is. After all, girl-talk is deliciously enhanced by coffee or cheesecake.
However, there is a side of girl-talk that is dangerous and addictive. It's called gossip.
Why do we gossip? I believe it's the same reason we do other things we know we shouldn't, like flirt with the boss, or gorge ourselves on cheesecake-because it's pleasurable.
In the case of gossiping, we like the feeling of being "in the know." At least for the moment, we can command everyone's attention. Eyes widen and adrenalin pulses as we tell our friends the unbelievable news. They hang on our every word.
Hearing gossip can make us feel almost as good as telling it-like we've been chosen and trusted with a secret. Gossiping feels good to everyone-except those who are the object of it.
When I look inward at my own motives for gossiping, what I see is not appetizing. I see pride, carelessness and judgment. I see a self-serving attitude that likes the feelings gossip brings. Although gossip may taste good at the time, just like too much cheesecake, it can negatively affect my well-being. Gossip goes down into my soul bringing with it the weight of guilt and sin.
I've come to realize that when I dish the dirt, or even listen to it, I'm serving dirt to my own soul.
Next time the girls gather, I've decided I'm going to fast from gossiping. I've pre-decided I'll redirect the conversation, or simply excuse myself to the bathroom when gossip arises. I don't wish to dish or devour dirt. When my heart is sensitive to God's, gossip only gives me a sick feeling later.
I will, however, have a cup of coffee and small serving of dessert. Which would you rather enjoy-a slice of cheesecake, or dirt?
Dear Lord, please forgive me for gossiping. I know that it hurts others and harms me as well. Help me be sensitive to when I'm starting to gossip and give me the courage to hold my tongue or change the subject. Fill me with words of wisdom, discernment and encouragement. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
For her favorite fall cheesecake recipe and a chance to win a copy of her book It's No Secret: Revealing Divine Truths Every Woman Should Know, visit Rachel's blogtoday.
God's Purpose for Every Woman a P31 Devotion book by various P31 authors with General Editors Lysa TerKeurst and Rachel Olsen
When you purchase resources through Proverbs 31 Ministries, you touch eternity because your purchase supports the many areas of hope-giving ministry we provide at no cost. We wish we could, but we simply can't compete with prices offered by huge online warehouses. Therefore, we are extremely grateful for each and every purchase you make with us. Thank you!
Application Steps:
Pray the prayer above and commit to neither dish nor digest gossip today. If you read celebrity gossip online or in magazines, fast from that as well.
Reflections:
Have I ever jumped full force into a gossipy conversation? Have I regretted it later?
If I regretted it, how did I handle that regret? If I didn't regret it, what might that tell me about the condition of my soul?
God is fully able and willing to cleanse us of the dirt we've spoken or ingested.
Power Verses:
Proverbs 11:13, "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret." (NIV)
2 Thessalonians 3:11-12, "Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people's business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living." (NLT)
Psalm 139:4, "Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely." (NIV)
© 2011 by Rachel Olsen. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
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There ARE Christians tortured for their faith
The true story of a pastor, imprisoned and tortured for his faith in Christ
...it will ABSOLUTELY shock you!
And now, the Voice of the Martyrs invites you to request acomplimentary copy of the international bestseller, Tortured for Christ.
Get your free book
Click here to receive your copy, absolutely free of charge.

ALERT: It is highly recommended to preview this resource
before presenting it to children.

Tortured for Christ book
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LeadershipBible-Header

Justin Martyr: Apologist for Pagans

justinmartyr
Quote: "No one who is rightly minded turns from true belief to false." (Justin Martyr)
Unlike many other noted Christians of the early centuries, Justin (100 – 165) was an adult convert to the faith. Reared in a prosperous pagan family in Samaria, he was well educated and he retained his property and his philosopher's gown after his conversion. Indeed, he was convinced that he had found the true philosophy — philosophy discovered only after studying the sterile gospel of the Stoics and Plato, who gave "wings for his soul" but ultimately left him unsatisfied.
Then, around the year 130, a chance meeting with an old man by the sea transforms Justin's life. The man points him not only to the prophets whose words had been fulfilled in Christ but also to Christians who had suffered and died for their faith. "A fire was suddenly kindled in my soul. I fell in love with the prophets and these men who had loved Christ," he writes. "I reflected on all their words and found that this philosophy alone was true and profitable. That is how and why I became a philosopher. And I wish that everyone felt the same way that I do."
So convinced is he that he becomes an evangelist to the educated intellectuals of the ancient world. His debating skills are widely recognized, as are his teachings and writings. He is a Christian apologist who retains his pagan philosophy insisting that the truth of pagan philosophy, particularly Platonism, serves as "a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." Indeed, more than any other prominent Christian apologist of the early centuries, he unabashedly embraces philosophy, much to the chagrin of his critics. Greek philosophy, he believes, is drawn from the Old Testament; and Socrates and Heraclitus are men of true faith, as are Old Testament saints. For Justin, Christ, the Word (Logos), is absolute truth and all truth is thus the truth of Christ.
Justin defends the way of Christ on two fronts: Judaism and paganism. While residing in Ephesus, he debates a Jewish scholar whose arguments are found in Justin's treatise The Dialogue with Trypho. Here he asserts that the old covenant is replaced by the new, even as Gentiles are the new Israel. He later founds a school in Rome, where his focus is on pagan philosophy. In his First Apology , offered "on behalf of men of every nation who are unjustly hated and reviled," he argues that the Christian faith is not a dangerous religion to be feared. Addressing his treatise to the emperor, he insists Christians are the "best helpers and allies in securing good order, convinced as we are that no wicked man . . . can be hidden from God, and that everyone goes to eternal punishment or salvation in accordance with the character of his actions." Written in 155, the Apology is an attempt to justify the faith and show that paganism is an inferior imitation. More importantly, it elucidates the conduct and religious practices of Christians. Their worship is straightforward religious devotion. The emperor has nothing to fear.
But holding high Greek philosophy and making the faith to appear reasonable and rational was not enough to satisfy the Roman authorities. In 165 Justin was arrested. Had he been tempted to buckle under the threat of death, he might have recalled the old man who, on the shore many years earlier, had pointed him to Christ, emphasizing the courage of those who were faithful unto death. Like them, he now refuses to forsake Christ and sacrifice to the gods. "No one who is rightly minded," he tells the prefect, "turns from true belief to false." According to tradition, Justin was martyred in Rome under Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
If you enjoyed the above article, please take a minute to read about the book that it was adapted from:
ParadeofFaith-Bookcover

Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church

by Ruth A. Tucker
Buy the book!
The story of Christianity centers on people whose lives have been transformed by the resurrected Lord. Tucker puts this front and center in a lively overview peppered with sidebars; historical "what if?" questions; sections on everyday life; drawings and illustrations; bibliographies for further reading.

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