One does not need to agree with everything that Caroline Glick writes, but her arguments are compelling. Obama is not stupid, but a virtuoso manager, she writes. But procedure and management do not make a good President or even a good manager. The examples show someone who is bigoted, obstructive and very nasty. Keep in mind that critics are quick to claim Obama is inept. His inability to reign in spending, his inability to address social issues in a Presidential, fair, manner, his poor policies that exacerbate inequity all suggest a poor manager, or something worse.
But when one examines Whitehouse activity one sees a different side. Glick gives two examples, the first being obstructing the Israel Defence Force in finding their soldier taken hostage and killed by Hamas. It would not have been hard or controversial for the US to allow the FBI to give information to Israel to allow them to save the captive, but the Whitehouse put in place managerial blocks. It was later revealed the soldier was dead and Hamas still have the remains and have accessed the soldier's FaceBook account. Secondly, there was an unofficial arms embargo placed on Israel as Hamas was escalating rocket attacks and Israel launched a short defensive insurgence to remove weapons and tunnels for Hamas. The embargo did not deny Israel supplies, but delayed them so that Israel did not have them. Compare that bureaucratic obstruction with the decision of Obama to allow Iran sufficient centrifuges to produce an atomic bomb within a year. These decisions are not the product of a mind devoid of organisation. They are purposeful, wrong and treasonous.
Another highly lauded person has died at a great age. Ben Bradlee was 93 years old, born in 1921, he served in WW2 before becoming a journalist. His time as editor for the Washington post saw the printing of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate story. He was aware of the identity of Felt who was Deep Throat, and wold have been aware of the conflict of interest for Felt which made the witch hunt into Nixon a travesty of justice. It is ok for a journalist to be biased, but they should be honest about it and Ben never was.
In Andrew McMicking's defence, he probably thought he was being jocular, before then deciding he had better temporarily lose his phone. His twitter account had a now deleted posting to someone that 'now their son was dead he had been a grub who deserved it.' McMicking is ALP. Had he been conservative there would be outrage from a lot of silent people who right now must be suspected of approving the depravity.
ALP vs LNP
Albrechtsen contrasts Plibersek and Bishop, noting ALP Plibersek has jumped on empty symbolic bandwagons calling out 'misogyny' and making empty claims for political purposes. Meanwhile Bishop quietly and effectively executes difficult political manoeuvres.
Scott Morrison personally intervenes on migrants by denying a visa, and any possible appeal, on security grounds. Remembering Gough by his achievements and the press are blinded by love. Hate media mourns the death of Whitlam. Miranda Devine, Greg Sheridan and Andrew Bolt separately reveal some of the appalling abuses of Whitlam long forgiven by his hagiographers.
Isolated issues
Pistorius is in jail for an inadequate set time of five years maximum. Possibly less than a year. His sentence is based on the erroneous finding he had not the intent to kill his girlfriend. Steenkamp's family have accepted the verdict, but the prosecutor has a few weeks with which they may lodge an appeal. One suspects Pistorius' sentence would have been longer had he actually shot an intruder and not his brilliant, talented girlfriend. South Africa with Pistorius and without Steenkamp is a much poorer, darker place.
Genius scientist Stephen Hawking has set up a trap with which he claims he can catch a time traveller. Typical of Hawking's thinking there are holes. The idea is to invite the time traveller after the event. If time travel is possible, then we should see them, or tourists. But we don't. The assumption being that they wish to be seen and look familiar. Another assumption is that the intent of wanting a time traveller to appear and the message they should is one and the same. However we all see time travellers all the time .. they just happen to be travelling with us at the same rate.
Royal commission into institutionalised responses to pedophilia has heard a harrowing account of how police returned the victim to abusers on numerous occasions. It sounds familiar. Some children are abused without being raped and have similar stories. The betrayal of a child is never acceptable and turning away is never a good thing, but how does a good person intervene? As the stolen generation myth shows, good intentions can harm everyone, including the child.
Games people play
Giants win first WSB game 7 to 1. San Francisco got three runs in the first innings, and had compiled five before the fifth innings, taking out the Kansas City starting pitcher at a seventy pitch count by the end of the fourth innings. The game was lost early and the second, with a new set of starter pitchers will characterise the series. Kansas City need to tie it up or give a very challenging lead away.
from 2013
Amazingly, a US based AGW alarmist is able to pinpoint the cause of fires in Australia without visiting. She was wrong, however, as the proximate cause of many of them seems to be bored children. But maybe she was right, and the nearing end of the world is causing our bored children to act out. Or something. Bolt makes the discovery one unexplored cure for bushfires would be for the ABC to give up half its' budget. Axing news and current affairs and replaying old episodes would not make much difference for the audience who would love to re-experience the joy of the dismissal.
Mike Carlton could put on some funny voices, but it is not certain if he can be normal or competent as a news reader. But it might be fun to hear Carton on the Incompetent Penis who inexplicably is not as popular as surveys suggest. More boat success as 240 people are retained in Indonesia, having given much to pirates to be detained in Indonesia.
Bush fires are serious, but the PM is condemned for fighting some, when a previous PM was lauded for watching DVDs. Where are Gillard's dragons? According to the ABC, the fires are unprecedented. Having watched the Princess Bride, I am reminded of the observation "I do not feel that word means what you think it does." Or maybe the ABC is wrong? Inconceivable!
Members of a certain faith have bombed a bus. Yet it is clowns which frighten an unknown Briton, causing a circus to be banned from touring her local town until they can produce advertising without clowns. But what if they do, and she goes to that circus .. and clowns are there? The local council had better shut down, just to be safe.
Palmer seems very lucky. Or corrupt.
Murdoch has been blamed for much recently, with the left calling for censorship of the press. But I've observed something different. Murdoch does not seem to have censored anything I'm aware of (Maybe he is that good?) but Today Tonight, and the two local papers Fairfield Advance and Fairfield Champion have contained the newsworthy stories I have brought to their attention. They have never given me a reason. However, I have heard from 2GB and from Bankstown paper journalists that I would be very surprised if I ever found out who was responsible (2GB) and that journalists talk to each other (Bankstown paper) wtf does that mean? Singleton? My hands are clean and I have approached the police and run for parliament twice .. even though the papers have never reported on my issue and have denied voters their constitutional right to be informed who they are voting for.
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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed
Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.
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1071 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 1126)
1734 – Daniel Boone, American explorer and hunter (d. 1820)
1749 – Cornelis van der Aa, Dutch bookseller (d. 1816)
1811 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer (d. 1886)
1844 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (d. 1923)
1913 – Bao Dai, the final Vietnamese emperor (d. 1997)
1917 – Joan Fontaine, Japanese-American actress
1938 – Derek Jacobi, English actor
1942 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1946 – Deepak Chopra, Indian-American physician and author
1973 – Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball player
1992 – Sofia Vassilieva, American actress
- 1633 – Ming Chinese naval forces defeated a Dutch East India Company fleet in the Taiwan Strait, the largest naval encounter between Chinese and European forces before the First Opium War two hundred years later.
- 1707 – In one of the worst maritime disasters in the history of the British Isles, more than 1,400 sailors on four Royal Navy ships were lost in stormy weather off the Isles of Scilly.
- 1879 – Thomas Edison performed a successful test using a carbon filament thread in an incandescent light bulb (pictured), which would become the most successful version of the product.
- 1962 – Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced that Soviet nuclear weapons had been discovered in Cuba and that he had ordered a naval "quarantine" of the island nation.
- 1999 – Vichy France official Maurice Papon was jailed for crimes against humanity committed during World War II.
Matches
- 362 – The temple of Apollo at Daphne, outside Antioch, is destroyed in a mysterious fire.
- 451 – The Council of Chalcedon adopts the Chalcedonian Creed regarding the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ.
- 794 – Emperor Kanmu relocates the Japanese capital to Heiankyo (now Kyoto).
- 1383 – The 1383–85 Crisis in Portugal: King Fernando dies without a male heir to the Portuguese throne, sparking a period of civil war and disorder.
- 1575 – Foundation of Aguascalientes.
- 1633 – Battle of southern Fujian sea: The Ming dynasty defeats the Dutch East India Company.
- 1707 – Scilly naval disaster: four British Royal Navy ships run aground near the Isles of Scilly because of faulty navigation. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and thousands of sailors drown.
- 1730 – Construction of the Ladoga Canal is completed.
- 1746 – The College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) receives its charter.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American defenders of Fort Mercer on the Delaware River repulse repeated Hessian attacks in the Battle of Red Bank.
- 1784 – Russia founds a colony on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
- 1790 – Warriors of the Miami tribe under Chief Little Turtle defeat United States troops under General Josiah Harmar at the site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Northwest Indian War.
- 1797 – André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump from one thousand meters (3,200 feet) above Paris.
- 1836 – Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.
- 1844 – The Great Anticipation: Millerites, followers of William Miller, anticipate the end of the world in conjunction with the Second Advent of Christ. The following day became known as the Great Disappointment.
- 1859 – Spain declares war on Morocco.
- 1866 – A plebiscite ratifies the annexion of Veneto and Mantua to Italy, occurred three days before, on October 19.
- 1875 – First telegraphic connection in Argentina.
- 1877 – The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.
- 1878 – The first rugby match under floodlights takes place in Salford, between Broughton and Swinton.
- 1879 – Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13½ hours before burning out).
- 1883 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City opens with a performance of Gounod's Faust.
- 1895 – In Paris an express train derails after overrunning the buffer stop, crossing almost 30 metres (100 ft) of concourse before crashing through a wall and falling 10 metres (33 ft) to the road below.
- 1907 – Panic of 1907: A run on the stock of the Knickerbocker Trust Company sets events in motion that will lead to a depression.
- 1910 – Dr. Crippen is convicted at the Old Bailey of poisoning his wife and is subsequently hanged at Pentonville Prison in London.
- 1923 – The royalist Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup d'état attempt fails in Greece, discrediting the monarchy and paving the way for the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic.
- 1924 – Toastmasters International is founded.
- 1926 – J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in Montreal, precipitating his death.
- 1927 – Nikola Tesla introduces six new inventions including a motor with onephase electricity
- 1928 – Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity is founded at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.
- 1934 – In East Liverpool, Ohio, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents shoot and kill notorious bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd.
- 1941 – World War II: French resistance member Guy Môquet and 29 other hostages are executed by the Germans in retaliation for the death of a German officer.
- 1943 – World War II: in the Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless.
- 1946 – Soviet Operation Osoaviakhim takes place, recruiting of thousands of military-related technical specialists from the Soviet occupation zone of post-World-War-II Germany for employment in the Soviet Union.
- 1957 – Vietnam War: First United States casualties in Vietnam.
- 1962 – Cuban missile crisis: US President John F. Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval "quarantine" of the Communist nation.
- 1963 – A BAC One-Eleven prototype airliner crashes in UK with the loss of all on board.
- 1964 – Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but turns down the honor.
- 1964 – Canada: A Multi-Party Parliamentary Committee selects the design which becomes the new official flag of Canada.
- 1966 – The Supremes become the first all-female music group to attain a No. 1 selling album (The Supremes A' Go-Go).
- 1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 12.
- 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 7 safely splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean after orbiting the Earth 163 times.
- 1972 – Vietnam War: In Saigon, Henry Kissinger and South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu meet to discuss a proposed cease-fire that had been worked out between Americans and North Vietnamese in Paris.
- 1975 – The Soviet unmanned space mission Venera 9 lands on Venus.
- 1976 – Red Dye No. 4 is banned by the US Food and Drug Administration after it is discovered that it causes tumors in the bladders of dogs. The dye is still used in Canada.
- 1978 – Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II.
- 1981 – The United States Federal Labor Relations Authority votes to decertify the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization for its strike the previous August.
- 1983 – Two correctional officers are killed by inmates at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. The incident inspires the Supermax model of prisons.
- 1999 – Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy France government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.
- 2005 – Tropical Storm Alpha forms in the Atlantic Basin, making the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record with 22 named storms.
- 2006 – A Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a National referendum held in Panama.
- 2007 – Raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base is carried out by 21 Tamil Tiger commandos. All except one died in this attack. Eight Sri Lanka Air Force planes are destroyed and 10 damaged.
- 2008 – India launches its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1.
- 2013 – The Australian Capital Territory becomes the first Australian jurisdiction to legalize same-sex marriage with the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013
Hatches
- 1071 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 1126)
- 1197 – Emperor Juntoku of Japan (d. 1242)
- 1511 – Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1553)
- 1592 – Gustav Horn, Count of Pori, Swedish field marshal and politician (d. 1657)
- 1659 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German chemist and physician (d. 1734)
- 1689 – John V of Portugal (d. 1750)
- 1701 – Maria Amalia of Austria (d. 1756)
- 1729 – Johann Reinhold Forster, German pastor and botanist (d. 1798)
- 1734 – Daniel Boone, American hunter and explorer (d. 1820)
- 1749 – Cornelis van der Aa, Dutch bookseller (d. 1816)
- 1809 – Volney Howard, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, Texas Attorney General (d. 1889)
- 1811 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer (d. 1886)
- 1818 – Leconte de Lisle, French poet and author (d. 1894)
- 1821 – Collis Potter Huntington, American businessman (d. 1900)
- 1844 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (d. 1923)
- 1844 – Louis Riel, Canadian politician (d. 1885)
- 1847 – Koos de la Rey, South African general (d. 1914)
- 1856 – Dominique Gardères, French horse rider
- 1858 – Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1921)
- 1865 – Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter and illustrator (d. 1943)
- 1870 – Ivan Bunin, Russian author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
- 1870 – Alfred Douglas, English author and poet (d. 1945)
- 1873 – Gustaf John Ramstedt, Finnish linguist and diplomat (d. 1950)
- 1873 – Rama Tirtha, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1906)
- 1875 – David van Embden, Dutch politician (d. 1962)
- 1878 – Jaan Lattik, Estonian politician, 9th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1967)
- 1881 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1881 – Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz, German geophysicist (d. 1908)
- 1882 – Géza Kiss, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1952)
- 1882 – Edmund Dulac, French illustrator (d. 1953)
- 1885 – Giovanni Martinelli, Italian tenor (d. 1969)
- 1886 – Erik Bergman, Swedish minister (d. 1970)
- 1887 – John Reed, American journalist and poet (d. 1920)
- 1891 – Parker Fennelly, American comedian and actor (d. 1988)
- 1893 – Ernst Öpik, Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1985)
- 1894 – Mei Lanfang, Chinese opera singer (d. 1961)
- 1896 – Charles Glen King, American biochemist (d. 1988)
- 1900 – Ashfaqulla Khan, Indian activist (d. 1927)
- 1903 – George Wells Beadle, American geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1903 – Curly Howard, American actor and singer (d. 1952)
- 1904 – Constance Bennett, American actress, singer, and producer (d. 1965)
- 1905 – Joseph Kosma, Hungarian-French composer (d. 1969)
- 1906 – Kees van Baaren, Dutch composer and educator (d. 1970)
- 1907 – Jimmie Foxx, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1967)
- 1908 – John Gould, American journalist (d. 2003)
- 1912 – Frances Drake, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1912 – George N. Leighton, American chess player and judge
- 1913 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-American photographer and journalist (d. 1954)
- 1913 – Bảo Đại, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1997)
- 1913 – Tamara Desni, German-English actress (d. 2008)
- 1913 – Hans-Peter Tschudi, Swiss politician, 63rd President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 2002)
- 1915 – Yitzhak Shamir, Belarusian-Israeli politician, 7th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Joan Fontaine, English-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Lou Klein, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1976)
- 1919 – Kathleen Ankers, English-American set designer (d. 2001)
- 1919 – Doris Lessing, Iranian-English author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (d. 1996)
- 1921 – Georges Brassens, French singer-songwriter and poet (d. 1981)
- 1921 – Alexander Kronrod, Russian mathematician and computer scientist (d. 1986)
- 1921 – Harald Nugiseks, Estonian military commander (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Juan Carlos Lorenzo, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 2001)
- 1923 – Bert Trautmann, German footballer and manager (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Slater Martin, American basketball player and coach (d. 2012)
- 1925 – Robert Rauschenberg, American painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Allan Hendrickse, South African minister and politician (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1929 – Dory Previn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (d. 1990)
- 1933 – Helmut Senekowitsch, Austrian footballer and manager (d. 2007)
- 1934 – Rita Sakellariou, Greek singer (d. 1999)
- 1935 – Ann Rule, American author
- 1936 – John Blashford-Snell, English soldier and explorer
- 1936 – Jovan Pavlović, Serbian metropolitan (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Bobby Seale, American activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party
- 1937 – Manos Loizos, Greek musician (d. 1982)
- 1938 – K. Indrapala, Sri Lankan historian and academic
- 1938 – Derek Jacobi, English actor and director
- 1938 – Christopher Lloyd, American actor
- 1938 – Timos Perlegas, Greek actor (d. 1993)
- 1939 – Joaquim Chissano, Mozambican politician, 2nd President of Mozambique
- 1939 – George Cohen, English footballer
- 1939 – Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers, French author and poet
- 1939 – Susumu Kurobe, Japanese actor
- 1939 – Tony Roberts, American actor and singer
- 1941 – Charles Keating, English-American actor (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Count Christian of Rosenborg (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Bobby Fuller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Bobby Fuller Four) (d. 1966)
- 1942 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
- 1943 – Allen Coage, American-Canadian wrestler and coach (d. 2007)
- 1943 – Jan de Bont, Dutch director, producer, and cinematographer
- 1943 – Catherine Deneuve, French actress and singer
- 1943 – Seif Sharif Hamad, Zanzibari politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Zanzibar
- 1943 – Robert Long, Dutch singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2006)
- 1945 – Yvan Ponton, Canadian actor
- 1945 – Buzz Potamkin, American director and producer, founded Buzzco Associates (d. 2012)
- 1945 – Sheila Sherwood, English long jumper
- 1945 – Leslie West, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Mountain, The Vagrants, and West, Bruce and Laing)
- 1946 – Eddie Brigati, American singer-songwriter (The Rascals)
- 1946 – Claude Charron, Canadian educator and politician
- 1946 – Deepak Chopra, Indian-American physician and author
- 1946 – Kelvin MacKenzie, English journalist
- 1946 – Richard McGonagle, American actor
- 1947 – Raymond Bachand, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1947 – Haley Barbour, American politician, 63rd Governor of Mississippi
- 1948 – Lynette Fromme, American attempted assassin of Gerald Ford
- 1948 – Debbie Macomber, American author
- 1949 – Stiv Bators, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (The Dead Boys and The Lords of the New Church) (d. 1990)
- 1949 – Vasilios Magginas, Greek politician
- 1949 – Arsène Wenger, French footballer and manager
- 1951 – William David Sanders, American educator, victim of the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
- 1952 – Julie Dash, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1952 – Jeff Goldblum, American actor
- 1952 – Greg Hawkes, American keyboard player (The Cars)
- 1954 – Graham Joyce, English author and educator (d. 2014)
- 1956 – Frank DiPino, American baseball player and coach
- 1959 – Arto Salminen, Finnish journalist and author (d. 2005)
- 1959 – Marc Shaiman, American composer and songwriter
- 1960 – Darryl Jenifer, American bass player (Bad Brains and The White Mandingos)
- 1960 – Cris Kirkwood, American singer-songwriter and bass player (Meat Puppets)
- 1961 – Robert Torti, American actor and singer
- 1962 – Hüseyin Kenan Aydın, German politician
- 1962 – Bob Odenkirk, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1963 – Brian Boitano, American figure skater
- 1964 – TobyMac, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (DC Talk and The Gotee Brothers)
- 1964 – Dražen Petrović, Croatian basketball player (d. 1993)
- 1965 – Otis Smith, American football player and coach
- 1965 – John Wesley Harding, English singer-songwriter
- 1965 – Piotr Wiwczarek, Polish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Vader)
- 1966 – Yuri Arbachakov, Russian-Japanese boxer
- 1966 – Valeria Golino, Italian actress, singer, and producer
- 1967 – Salvatore Di Vittorio, Italian composer and conductor
- 1967 – Rita Guerra, Portuguese singer
- 1967 – Ulrike Maier, Austrian skier (d. 1994)
- 1967 – Carlos Mencia, Honduran-American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1967 – Ron Tugnutt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1968 – Shaggy, Jamaican-American rapper
- 1968 – Stephanie Cutter, American political consultant
- 1968 – Jay Johnston, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1968 – Shelby Lynne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1968 – Stéphane Quintal, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Héctor Carrasco, Dominican baseball player
- 1969 – Spike Jonze, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Helmut Lotti, Belgian singer-songwriter
- 1970 – Winston Bogarde, Dutch footballer
- 1970 – Amy Redford, American actress, director, and producer
- 1971 – Kornél Dávid, Hungarian basketball player
- 1972 – D'Lo Brown, American wrestler
- 1972 – Saffron Burrows, English actress
- 1973 – Andrés Palop, Spanish footballer
- 1973 – Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball player
- 1973 – Mark van der Zijden, Dutch swimmer
- 1974 – Tim Kinsella, American singer-songwriter (Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owls, Make Believe, and Everyoned)
- 1974 – Giorgos Koltzos, Greek footballer
- 1974 – Jeff McInnis, American basketball player
- 1974 – Miroslav Šatan, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1975 – Martín Cardetti, Argentinian footballer
- 1975 – Jesse Tyler Ferguson, American actor and singer
- 1975 – Míchel Salgado, Spanish footballer
- 1976 – Jon Foreman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Switchfoot and Fiction Family)
- 1976 – Helen Svedin, Swedish model
- 1976 – Laidback Luke, DJ and Producer
- 1978 – Dion Glover, American basketball player
- 1978 – Chaswe Nsofwa, Zambian footballer (d. 2007)
- 1978 – Owais Shah, Pakistani-English cricketer
- 1979 – Doni, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 – Luke O'Donnell, Australian rugby player
- 1981 – Michael Fishman, American actor and producer
- 1981 – Olivier Pla, French race car driver
- 1982 – Robinson Canó, Dominican baseball player
- 1982 – Tim Erfen, German footballer
- 1982 – Heath Miller, American football player
- 1982 – Mark Renshaw, Australian cyclist
- 1983 – Plan B, English rapper, producer, and actor
- 1983 – Anton Müller, German footballer
- 1984 – Aleks Marić, Australian basketball player
- 1985 – Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan keyboard player, DJ, and producer
- 1985 – Mark Bell, American journalist
- 1985 – Zac Hanson, American singer-songwriter and drummer (Hanson)
- 1986 – Kara Lang, Canadian footballer
- 1986 – Ștefan Radu, Romanian footballer
- 1988 – Matt Evans, Filipino actor
- 1988 – Elena Muhhina, Estonian figure skater
- 1988 – Sarah Barrow, English diver
- 1988 – Parineeti Chopra, Indian actress and model
- 1990 – Jonathan Lipnicki, American actor
- 1992 – Sofia Vassilieva, American actress
- 1995 – Stevie Lynn Jones, American actress
Despatches
- 741 – Charles Martel, Frankish military leader and politician (b. 688)
- 1383 – Ferdinand I of Portugal (b. 1345)
- 1565 – Jean Grolier de Servières, French book collector (b. 1479)
- 1625 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese daimyo (b. 1561)
- 1708 – Hermann Witsius, Dutch theologian (b. 1636)
- 1751 – William IV, Prince of Orange (b. 1711)
- 1755 – Elisha Williams, American minister, academic, and jurist (b. 1694)
- 1792 – Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer (b. 1725)
- 1847 – Sahle Selassie, Ethiopian son of Wossen Seged (b. 1795)
- 1853 – Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Uruguayan general and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1784)
- 1859 – Louis Spohr, German violinist and composer (b. 1784)
- 1883 – Thomas Mayne Reid, Irish-American author (b. 1818)
- 1891 – Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow, Austrian physiologist and physician (b. 1846)
- 1906 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (b. 1839)
- 1914 – Konishiki Yasokichi I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 17th Yokozuna (b. 1866)
- 1917 – Bob Fitzsimmons, English-American boxer (b. 1863)
- 1918 – Myrtle Gonzalez, American actress (b. 1891)
- 1927 – Borisav Stanković, Serbian author (b. 1876)
- 1928 – Andrew Fisher, Scottish-Australian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
- 1934 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (b. 1904)
- 1935 – Edward Carson, Baron Carson, Irish-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1854)
- 1941 – Guy Môquet, French militant (b. 1924)
- 1952 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (b. 1874)
- 1954 – Jibanananda Das, Bangladeshi-Indian author and poet (b. 1899)
- 1956 – Hannah Mitchell, English activist (b. 1872)
- 1959 – George Bouzianis, Greek painter (b. 1885)
- 1965 – Muriel George, English singer and actress (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Tommy Edwards, American singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
- 1973 – Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (b. 1876)
- 1979 – Nadia Boulanger, French composer and educator (b. 1887)
- 1985 – Viorica Ursuleac, Romanian soprano (b. 1894)
- 1986 – Jane Dornacker, American actress and singer (b. 1947)
- 1986 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People's Republic of China (b. 1897)
- 1986 – Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian-American physiologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
- 1987 – Lino Ventura, Italian-French actor (b. 1919)
- 1988 – Cynthia Freeman, American author (b. 1915)
- 1989 – Ewan MacColl, English singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and playwright (b. 1915)
- 1990 – Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher (b. 1918)
- 1992 – Red Barber, American sportscaster (b. 1908)
- 1992 – Cleavon Little, American actor and singer (b. 1939)
- 1993 – Innes Ireland, Scottish race car driver (b. 1930)
- 1995 – Kingsley Amis, English author and poet (b. 1922)
- 1997 – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator, director, and screenwriter (b. 1905)
- 1998 – Eric Ambler, English author (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Helmut Krackowizer, Austrian motorcycle racer and journalist (b. 1922)
- 2002 – Richard Helms, American intelligence agent and diplomat, 8th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1913)
- 2002 – Geraldine of Albania (b. 1915)
- 2003 – Tony Renna, American race car driver (b. 1976)
- 2005 – Arman, French-American painter and sculptor (b. 1928)
- 2005 – Tony Adams, Irish-American actor and producer (b. 1953)
- 2005 – Franky Gee, Cuban-American rapper (Captain Jack) (b. 1962)
- 2006 – Arthur Hill, Canadian-American actor (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Ève Curie, French pianist and journalist (b. 1904)
- 2009 – Don Lane, American-Australian actor, singer, and talk show host (b. 1933)
- 2009 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabian prince (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Betty Binns Fletcher, American lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Carolyn Conwell, American actress (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Russell Means, American actor and activist (b. 1939)
- 2012 – Salvatore Merlino, American mobster (b. 1939)
- 2012 – Mike Morris, English journalist (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Shubha Phutela, Indian model and actress (b. 1991)
- 2012 – Gabrielle Roth, American dancer, singer, and author (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Wilson Whineray, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Marylou Dawes, Canadian pianist and educator (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Lajos Für, Hungarian historian and politician, Minister of Defence of Hungary (b. 1930)
- 2013 – William Harrison, American author and screenwriter (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Yanwari Kazama, Japanese illustrator (b. 1977)
- 2013 – James Robinson Risner, American general (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Mark Small, American baseball player (b. 1967)
2014
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which New Zealand's Labour Day can fall, while October 28 is the latest; celebrated on the fourth Monday in October (New Zealand)
- Earliest day on which Make a Difference Day can fall, while October 28 is the latest; celebrated on the fourth Saturday in October (United States)
- Spiritual New Year, in Eckankar
- Fechner Day, celebrated by Psychophysicists
- International Stuttering Awareness Day (International)
- Jidai Matsuri (Kyoto)
- Wombat Day
Gough Whitlam a martyred man of myths
Miranda Devine – Wednesday, October 22, 2014 (1:18am)
GOUGH Whitlam made a much better legend than a prime minister. No sooner had the news broken yesterday of the death of the former Labor prime minister in a Potts Point nursing home at the age of 98, than the ABC airwaves erupted in tearful hyperbole.
Continue reading 'Gough Whitlam a martyred man of myths'
Labor keeps power bills high to pretend to save the planet
Andrew Bolt October 22 2014 (7:16pm)
Labor wants your power
bills to be higher than they could be - just to pretend to “save” the
palent from a warming which stopoped 16 years ago:
===LABOR this afternoon rejected a government move to reduce the Renewable Energy Target but agreed to work to resolve the impasse.
Ahead of negotiations today Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane revealed he had written to Labor offering a compromise deal that would see the large-scale RET cut to around 27,000 gigawatt hours…
Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said Labor wanted the bipartisan RET to remain at 41,000 GWh, but said the opposition would work “constructively” with the government.
Canadian soldier killed by Muslim convert
Andrew Bolt October 22 2014 (7:11pm)
Another unrepresentative member of the same unfairly suspected faith:
===Terrorist ideology inspired a recent convert to Islam to drive his car into two Canadian soldiers, killing one, before he was shot dead by police, authorities said on Tuesday.
Quebec police spokesman Guy Lapointe said the act was deliberate and that one of the two soldiers was in uniform....
The suspect, Martin Couture Rouleau, 25, was known to authorities and recently had his passport seized, police commissioner Bob Paulson said…
Paulson said he was one of 90 suspected extremists in the country who intend to join fights abroad or who have returned to Canada.
The compassion of the Left
Andrew Bolt October 22 2014 (9:07am)
The sheer cruelty of former Labor candidate Andrew McMicking is breathtaking
UPDATE
McMicking blames his friends for using his phone.
(Thanks to readers Jason and Murray.)
===UPDATE
McMicking blames his friends for using his phone.
(Thanks to readers Jason and Murray.)
Plibersek vs Bishop
Andrew Bolt October 22 2014 (7:39am)
Janet Albrechtsen contrasts Foreign Minister Julie Bishop with her opposite number, Labor’s Tanya Plibersek:
===Plibersek has been one of Labor’s faux gender warriors, always cheering Gillard’s empty claims of misogyny for base political purposes. What kind of role model is that for young women?
Eschewing gender games, Bishop is more a “get on and do it” kind of woman. Enough said.
Among the hero worship, these sharp truths about Gough Whitlam
Andrew Bolt October 22 2014 (7:16am)
Among all the adulation, some correctives.
Greg Sheridan:
===Greg Sheridan:
...sentimentality, and the overwhelming power of the Labor myth-making machine, should not blind us to the central fact of Whitlam: he was the worst prime minister in our history…Terry McCrann:
His foreign policy record was appalling, although it is here that the myth-makers have worked hardest because his economic record was even worse.
Whitlam acted with conspicuous cruelty towards the Vietnamese who had worked with Australian forces and Australian diplomats during the war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam.
His foreign minister, Don Willessee, wanted him to bring some of these people to Australia at the fall of Saigon in April 1975. Whitlam told him: “I’m not having these f..king Vietnamese Balts coming into the country with their religious and political prejudices against us."…
More important than what Whitlam said was what he did. Australian transport planes left Saigon with rows of empty seats while those who had helped us there were left to their fate in the vast gulag of re-education camps the communists set up after their victory.
Or they were left to a worse fate.
Whitlam’s myth-makers are so impervious to the facts that they often claim his visit to China as opposition leader was a breakthrough in opening China to the west. In fact for most of the preceding years numerous Western nations in Europe had full diplomatic relations with mainland China.
...the US took some years after de facto recognition to achieve formal recognition. This is because the Americans were tough negotiators and ... would not recognise Beijing in a way that gave it licence to conquer Taiwan, which is de facto independent but which Beijing considers a renegade province.
Harvard scholar Ross Terrill argues that Whitlam badly botched the negotiations with Beijing because he was desperate to afford recognition straight away. As a result he agreed to conditions that were punitive of Australian interests in Taiwan and effectively sold out the interests of Taiwanese people altogether.
Most of Whitlam’s foreign policy decisions were wrong in principle and turned out badly in practice. Entirely gratuitously, he extended formal diplomatic recognition of Soviet sovereignty over the Baltic states…
The two most disgraceful episodes of Whitlam’s leadership concerned the Middle East. Most people remember the loans affair, but an even greater disgrace concerned Whitlam’s efforts to raise election funds for the ALP in 1975 from the Iraqi government.
GOUGH Whitlam was a great — indeed, among the greatest — Australians.
He was also Australia’s worst-ever prime minister — until Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard came along…
Whitlam & Co had come along a decade earlier at exactly the right time at the start of the 1970s.
Again, they presided over more general cultural change in a way that could not have been done by either a Coalition government of the time or the pre-Whitlam Labor Party. This was captured most precisely by his recognition of China…
Across the spectrum from Aboriginal land rights, no-fault divorce and Medibank/Medicare, and on to the massive expansion in government spending (and taxation) and the 25 per cent across-the-board tariff cut — are proof of breathtaking leadership and reform, to supporters, and disastrous financial incompetence and the seeds of social malaise, to critics.
Group hug. Public excluded
Andrew Bolt October 22 2014 (7:02am)
Paul Kelly on a love affair not shared by the audience:
And still some are blinded by love:
===PAUL KELLY, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE AUSTRALIAN & AUTHOR: One was enormously impressed by Gough. Gough was a great figure, a gigantic figure, a very engaging politician and Gough would flatter the media. Gough was very discerning and very selective in his approach to the journalists and there’s no doubt at all both before the 1972 election and in the first 18 months or two years of the Whitlam government he enjoyed a very, very successful media.Not for the first time was the press gallery surprised by the public it purportedly serves.
So to a certain extent I think it’s fair to say there was a love affair between much of the press gallery on the one hand and Gough Whitlam on the other and that was to Gough’s great benefit, of course…
But I think it’s also true to say that the Whitlam magnetic appeal always remained and even when things went bad for the government, particularly in 1975, this was a very polarised, bitter and turbulent period. And the Fraser Opposition contemplated blocking supply and then decided to block supply. Now, that became the divisive issue and many of the journalists in terms of the issue of blocking supply were very much for Whitlam and against Fraser.
And still some are blinded by love:
EMMA ALBERICI: I’ve got one last question for both of you. Gough Whitlam fought five general elections and two half Senate elections. Are we ever likely to see that kind of political endurance in a leader of either persuasion again, Rodney Cavalier.
RODNEY CAVALIER: Well I seem to remember that John Howard was pretty enduring.
Post by PerezHilton.com.
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Post by Gabi Butler.
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Post by Joe Hildebrand.
Greens could ask Him directly, if they wished to
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Ok, but if you are a McCoy ..
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.. how did he die?===
Post by Matt Granz.
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"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is..." http://t.co/lstRlziZXK
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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NSW abuse victims put through legal hell http://t.co/htXnhY9Acp via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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US gushes over 7-foot Aussie hoops phenom http://t.co/SvJGLcgr1Y via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Old recipe has new riches for cooking mum http://t.co/exsD9kz1ZA via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
===
CCC overseer says report misinterpreted http://t.co/HGv0BFuQX6 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Indonesian jets ‘force Australian plane to land’ http://t.co/3itqRKAK1t via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Paralysed man walks after spinal research breakthrough http://t.co/gU2BIyGsRw via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Petite people as strong as bigger peers http://t.co/4J5ASF8T7c via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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The examples show evil .. carolinglick | Obama the virtuoso manager http://t.co/IpkC3hYHYL
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Scott Morrison personally intervenes to block claims for permanent asylum http://t.co/t1CDozIhLs via @guardian
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
===
The American Spectator: Goodbye to Australia’s Worst P.M. http://t.co/aAi50ZKW0W’s-worst-pm
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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ALP obstruct .. 'Real 20%': Abbott government reveals position on renewable energy target http://t.co/QKASMmu9W5 via @canberratimes
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Go Giants! https://t.co/CZjlLJ8Kej
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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This Guy Accidentally Became The Direct Boss of His Bully From School. What He Did Next Is Gold. http://t.co/ehD65igvah
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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An extreme left wing advocate .. Ben Bradlee, Washington Post editor who guided paper through Watergate, dies at 93 | http://t.co/IiHz2EvRmo
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Conditions improve for 2 diagnosed with Ebola | http://t.co/gDRLzkeARE
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Injustice bringing Islam into disrepute.. Pakistani court upholds death sentence woman accused of insulting Islam | http://t.co/czQGLhcAIT
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Parliament to take axe to red tape http://t.co/OOvNPGStfZ via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Killer gets slap on wrist .. World reacts to Pistorius sentence http://t.co/7mlmEShrE3 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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“Virtual autopsy” reveals Pharaoh Tutankhamun was the ugly outcome of incest http://t.co/6wWOSZLuRs via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Genius confuses invitation with intent .. Stephen Hawking in hunt to catch a time traveller http://t.co/wkGo4GZWuG via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Did Plibersek join in? .. Dad stones ‘adulterous’ daughter to death http://t.co/VZOebqtD86 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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‘The idiot has been brainwashed’ http://t.co/rRHlGZvlsd via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Virtual 10-year-old girl ‘Sweetie’ catches Brisbane sex offender in international child sex sting http://t.co/fCQp4Ubfa8 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Love never dies, although the lover passes .. Mum will never meet her baby Kyden http://t.co/CYqSNmiQ47 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 22, 2014
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Photo: G’day. The Left (and even some on the Right) are crying and mourning the loss of this Great... http://t.co/i2gPZDvBht
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 21, 2014
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In Fight to Stop Ebola, Nigeria Got Right Everything America Got Wrong http://t.co/SpbNd8Xk1n
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 21, 2014
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but .. but .. he's a teacher .. Mother wants 'Breaking Bad' figures removed from Toys R Us http://t.co/QxynxpcO6U
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 21, 2014
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Good to think of questions before the kids do .. http://t.co/zxHoPzRw7I
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) October 21, 2014
=== Posts from last year ===
===
Did you know that America leads the world in the highest number of lawnmower deaths? Or that Mexico is the most common place to be struck by lightning? This awesome map shows what each country leads the world in. http://bit.ly/1a1yntY
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CamMie Du
Good luck to all the Year 12s doing their Maths HSC today! #band6
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Whoops! President Infomercial: You guys, just use the phone for Obamacare; Guess what happens ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/
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Philharmonischer Chor München
Rezension über Brittens War Requiem
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An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ''UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''
'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: "I am because we are"
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Philip Tran
"Mentalities cannot be changed by decree, because they are based on memories, which are almost impossible to kill. But it is possible to expand one's horizons, and when that happens, there is less chance that one will go on playing the same old tune for ever and repeating the same mistakes."
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Pastor Rick Warren
Grieving isn't evidence of weakness;
it's evidence of love.
"Jesus wept" John 11:35
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For God to mend your broken heart you must give him ALL the pieces. You can't hold any back.
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From The Purpose Driven Life
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Love the Tenth Doctor? Check out our playlist of some of his top moments over on the #DoctorWhoYouTube channel: http://bit.ly/
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There is a difference between hunting pests and hunting endangered species. An elephant can be a pest. But effective management usually means killing them isn't useful. I still think the meme is OTT regarding BO'F. It is the ALP/Green alliance which has limited sensible hunting and fishing - ed
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Michele Bachmann
No matter how President Obama spins the failed Obamacare rollout, here’s the bottom line:
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James Calore
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"Put God first and everything else will follow." -Jesus
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Can you trust your jeweller and / or diamond vendor to sell you a decent diamond ?
Unfortunately there are to many brick and mortar jewellers who are glorified gift ware specialists purporting to be diamond experts using diamond grading reports as marketing tools giving them a false credibility that unsuspecting diamond buyers accept as gospel. They are NOT diamond specialists.
If you are told the diamond has to be brought in to show you then assume the diamond is not being sold by the owner. The seller is a middleman and you are not buying direct from a genuine wholesaler or diamond dealer.
Always check credentials of the diamond vendor especially those online diamond websites many of whom do not actually carry the diamonds they advertise in stock.
If diamond salesmen have not seen the diamond how then can they comment on it ?
If the diamond sellers do not have the confidence in stocking diamonds then how can you the buyer have the same confidence in buying their " invisible " diamonds ?
Would you buy a home or a car without looking at it first ?
Never pay in advance for a diamond for a diamond from overseas.
You are exposed to the debt and there is no consumer protection.
More information on the pitfalls of buying diamonds from charlatans to follow.
— atDiamond Imports.Unfortunately there are to many brick and mortar jewellers who are glorified gift ware specialists purporting to be diamond experts using diamond grading reports as marketing tools giving them a false credibility that unsuspecting diamond buyers accept as gospel. They are NOT diamond specialists.
If you are told the diamond has to be brought in to show you then assume the diamond is not being sold by the owner. The seller is a middleman and you are not buying direct from a genuine wholesaler or diamond dealer.
Always check credentials of the diamond vendor especially those online diamond websites many of whom do not actually carry the diamonds they advertise in stock.
If diamond salesmen have not seen the diamond how then can they comment on it ?
If the diamond sellers do not have the confidence in stocking diamonds then how can you the buyer have the same confidence in buying their " invisible " diamonds ?
Would you buy a home or a car without looking at it first ?
Never pay in advance for a diamond for a diamond from overseas.
You are exposed to the debt and there is no consumer protection.
More information on the pitfalls of buying diamonds from charlatans to follow.
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Cartier - Dragon
4 her
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Tragedy of the successful .. ed
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At Nonas Kitchens & Joinery Pty Ltd.
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While First Dog On The Moon is hesitant to politicise this politicising of the bushfires, he does have a message for the PM, which we've freed from behind the paywall:
http://ow.ly/q2My5
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/nice-try-being-relevant/story-fnhulhjj-1226744067051#
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Same-sex marriage has passed in the ACT
.. and the world hasn't ended .. Gillard, Rudd, Shorten .. you opposed it .. ed
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The victim was a former marine who has now paid for his service. A math teacher, husband and dad. So much to live for. Died protecting his students. Apparently, the kid who killed him didn't mean to, and killed himself afterwards. I haven't seen what the weapon was, but bet it was an assault rifle, although it might have been a pistol. Kids should know how to use them, but to have one unsupervised? ed
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Autumn along the Sonora Pass
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Obamacare has the worthy goal of bringing healthcare for 10 million people who can't afford it .. by despicably hiring bureaucrats and not one more doctor. It is expensive, inefficient and ultimately unaffordable. Anything that is unaffordable can never be owned. GOP could wave it through, but it would founder eventually anyway, sucking up resources that poor people rely on to survive. - ed===
Frozen Entropy
Ahh...life in a dual star solar system.
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Larry Pickering
HIV ON INCREASE... AGAIN!
The Government-sponsored AIDS debate, along with ‘smoking causes gangrene and blindness’ and global warming hysteria, is the greatest lie ever perpetrated on a receptive public.
AIDS is not and never has been a heterosexual problem. Ask any heterosexual.
The World lost a great man when Dr Fred Hollows died. He restored sight to thousands of people, mostly black and coloured tribes people, who had no money to pay him.
I feel honoured to have known him but I had never discussed the AIDS issue with him. I figured it was not in his area of expertise... but it was.
He told the truth about AIDS to a brainwashed world who did not want to listen.
He boldly said that AIDS was a “homosexual disease” and warned of the disastrous effect on indigenous people. Unfortunately it was a few weeks before his imminent death.
Common sense had told me the same thing and now, thanks to Fred, I was no longer a lone leper pointlessly trying to defend my thesis at dinner parties.
Fred of course was predictably widely vilified (by the homosexual community) over his statement but he didn’t care, he was going to die anyway.
Fred briefly wore the cost of the truth. They would have built statues of Fred had he not said that.
I watched TV each night and had noticed that AIDS sufferers with sunken black eyes and pale patched faces were invariably homosexual males. I read the lying statistics.
I watched those awful misleading TV ads. I wondered at the gullibility of the world, the misuse of public monies, the despicable genius of the intellectual, cashed up, gay male community.
I have no problem with my gays friends, but I do have a problem with irresponsibly promiscuous gay males.
When the AIDS hysteria hit, governments dug deep into our pockets to fund a misleading onslaught of calculated misinformation.
And who were the people who put up their hands to administer such massive budgets?
Those most affected, of course… the gay male juggernaut.
It was they who structured and ran those dishonest campaigns.
Obviously they had the most to lose. This disease would likely be centred on them. Their dream of being an accepted minority was at risk. The possibility of them becoming outcasts and a risk to the community was real.
The dream of gay mardi gras earning them respectability could be shattered.
But, once in control of these massive campaign budgets, they were determined to convince the world that it was a general community problem.
They now had the ability to obfuscate the blame and defray the responsibility. And that is exactly what they did. What a lie we were told!
The three ways you can contract AIDS are dirty needle exchange, blood transfusion and anal sex. (Foetal contraction is caused by the transfer of blood already infected.)
All three necessitate the exchange of blood.
AIDS is a disease of the blood, a severe diminution in the effectiveness of white cells to combat disease. People don’t die from AIDS, they die from viruses and diseases that damaged white cells have no further ability to combat.
When public surveys were conducted among heterosexual couples and singles who had contracted AIDS there was a curious missing three percentage points. They were those heterosexual women who engaged in, and presumably enjoyed, anal sex.
But of course in a public survey not all heterosexual women could be expected to admit to regular anal sex... thus the missing percentage. Three per cent of women lied about it.
So, on the rare occasion a normal heterosexual woman contracted AIDS, the missing percentage was clear. And it was not, as promiscuous gay males insisted we believe, due to normal vaginal sex at all!
Why, Fred asked, is AIDS rampant among the world’s tribal communities? Not hard for Fred to answer, after all, he spent a great part of his life restoring sight to those people. He lived with them.
Indigenous people have been using anal sex as a form of contraceptive for thousands of years. They never had or understood condoms or the pill or any form of contraceptive other than anal sex. And maybe, just maybe, they liked it.
The AIDS virus does not distinguish between a male arse and a female arse, because there is no difference.
Every arse is full of tiny capillaries that continually burst even when you have a crap. So if you want to go rasping away in that un-lubricated black hole, wearing your donger off, there will certainly eventually be an exchange of blood in a bacterial bath.
That’s how gay males contract AIDS and, because of their well-known promiscuity, that’s how they spread it among their own kind.
Hasn’t anyone noticed the preponderance of AIDS sufferers are actually gay males? We don’t seem to ask why!
Hasn’t anyone noticed that San Francisco (the gay paradise of the U.S.) also has the highest incidence of AIDS in North America.
Now, how was this homosexual juggernaut going to convince us that it was a general disease that affected the whole community and not exclusively confined to them? Simple.
1. Spend hundreds of millions of our dollars lying to us that normal couples are at risk of their disease.
2. Get HIV positive victims to give blood at the blood banks and wait for normal people, including babies, to contract the virus. Oh yes, they did do that, before they were caught and stopped!
3. Convince us that AIDS can be contracted from normal vaginal sex. (It can’t.)
4. Coin the word “homophobia” and use it every chance you get… the word is a misnomer, as “homo” does not mean “man” it means “same” and “phobia” means fear. I may have a fear of cunning gay males but I do not fear anyone who is the “same” as me.
How was it possible for the community in general to believe such garbage? But they did and still do believe it!
Doctors, who should know better, believed it, and still do.
The gay males won their battle, the gay mardi gras now has a restrained modicum of validity, even among extreme conservatives.
If AIDS could be contracted through normal sex everyone in the world would contract it within a year because everyone has bonked someone who has bonked someone else at some time.
Seminal fluids do not carry blood any more than does saliva, sweat, tears or damned suncream for that matter.
The old strawberry dip expression; when you bonk a woman who has her period, is still not a dangerous thing to do unless one of you is HIV positive and the male has a donger, red raw and bleeding, from rasping a bloke a chook or a wombat.
AIDS is contracted through anal or homosexual sex. It cannot be contracted through normal vaginal sex. So why were we normal people all told to wear condoms in order to avoid AIDS when having normal sex?
Thank Christ they screen blood donors now and tattooed people can’t donate blood… I wonder why that is.
Whatever the method of contraction, it necessarily requires the exchange of blood. Yet we sustained years of grim reapers and bowling balls knocking over small children and syringes protruding from a thousand conjugal beds of normal couples.
The “It’s not on if it’s not on” condom campaign may have made Ansell a few more billions but did nothing to stem the spread of AIDS.
It did make us falsely believe that normal sex was dangerous.
Neither I nor my mates ever wore a condom during the crazy 60s and 70s and neither they nor I will ever contract AIDS.
The only way I will ever contract AIDS is if I interrupt a mosquito trying to bite me that was formerly interrupted trying to bite a promiscuous HIV positive gay male!
The AIDS campaign budget would have been far more beneficially spent on eradicating mosquitoes.
Why are we collectively so bloody stupid as to believe what we are told simply because it is carried to us by the perceived legitimacy of paid, reactive media?
Oh well, I guess we can be convinced of the most outrageous of nonsense like smoking causes your toes to drop off or man’s emissions causes global warming.
It’s all about the size of the budget.
Fred Hollows wasn’t stupid, Fred Hollows knew the truth and told it. Fred was a good and an honest man.
If there was a heaven, you would be there Fred.
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Aspens — at June Lake Loop.
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Remember this next time you walk up to the ticket window of your local movie theater with $10 in your hand.
The Media (Accidentally?) missed this one!!!! Please read this: The troops oversees would like you to send it to everybody you know. Subject: Denzel Washington, and Brooks Army Medical Center. Don't know whether you heard about this but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center , in San Antonio , Texas, (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States , especially burn victims. There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time. While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his check book out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it. The question is - why do: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise and other Hollywood fluff make front page news with their ridiculous antics and Denzel Washington's Patriotism doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the Local newspaper in San Antonio. A true American and friend to all in uniform!
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"What was sold to the American public as a low-level scandal perpetrated by a few rogue employees – a scandal stopped after senior officials became aware and asserted control – is now (to borrow a Watergate phrase) 'no longer operative.'" -Jay Sekulow>
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Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו
To all the people who wished me a happy birthday - You really moved me. Thank you very much!
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Andreas Herrmann
"Die Schriftsteller können nicht so schnell schreiben, wie die Regierungen Kriege machen; denn das Schreiben verlangt Denkarbeit." Bertold Brecht
" The writer can not write as fast as governments make wars , for the letter requires mental effort . " Bertold Brecht
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Johnny Depp, Robbie Williams und Dieter Bohlen kommen in den Himmel. Dort erwartet sie Petrus und sagt zu ihnen: "Es gibt hier im Himmel eine einzige Regel: Ihr dürft nicht auf die blauen Wolken treten!"
Doch schon bald tritt Johnny Depp auf eine blaue Wolke.
Petrus kommt mit der hässlichsten Frau, die er je gesehen hat, kettet sie aneinander und sagt: "Zur Strafe, dass du auf eine blaue Wolke getreten bist, wirst du den Rest der Ewigkeit an dieses hässliche Weib gekettet verbringen!"
Am nächsten Tag tritt Robbie ebenfalls auf eine blaue Wolke und Petrus kommt sofort mit einer anderen wahnsinnig hässlichen Frau. Er kettet auch sie aneinander.
Dieter Bohlen beobachtet alles und passt auf, daß er nicht auch auf eine blaue Wolke tritt. Eines Tages kommt Petrus zu ihm mit der attraktivsten Frau, die er je gesehen hat: eine große, gebräunte, kurvige sexy Brünette. Petrus kettet sie wortlos aneinander.
Dieter Bohlen meint nur: "Wüsste ja schon gern, womit ich es verdient habe, den Rest der Ewigkeit mit dir verbunden zu werden?"
Die Frau erwidert nur: "Naja, ich bin auf so 'ne scheiß blaue Wolke getreten!"
Johnny Depp , Robbie Williams and Dieter Bohlen go to heaven . There she expects Peter and says to them : "There is one rule here in heaven : You must not step on the blue clouds "Doch schon bald tritt Johnny Depp auf eine blaue Wolke.
Petrus kommt mit der hässlichsten Frau, die er je gesehen hat, kettet sie aneinander und sagt: "Zur Strafe, dass du auf eine blaue Wolke getreten bist, wirst du den Rest der Ewigkeit an dieses hässliche Weib gekettet verbringen!"
Am nächsten Tag tritt Robbie ebenfalls auf eine blaue Wolke und Petrus kommt sofort mit einer anderen wahnsinnig hässlichen Frau. Er kettet auch sie aneinander.
Dieter Bohlen beobachtet alles und passt auf, daß er nicht auch auf eine blaue Wolke tritt. Eines Tages kommt Petrus zu ihm mit der attraktivsten Frau, die er je gesehen hat: eine große, gebräunte, kurvige sexy Brünette. Petrus kettet sie wortlos aneinander.
Dieter Bohlen meint nur: "Wüsste ja schon gern, womit ich es verdient habe, den Rest der Ewigkeit mit dir verbunden zu werden?"
Die Frau erwidert nur: "Naja, ich bin auf so 'ne scheiß blaue Wolke getreten!"
But soon Johnny Depp takes on a blue cloud .
Peter came with the ugliest woman he has ever seen , chains them together and says, " As a punishment that you stepped on a blue cloud , you 'll get the rest of eternity chained to this ugly woman to spend ! "
The next day, Robbie also occurs on a blue cloud and Peter comes immediately with another insanely ugly woman. He chained them together also .
Dieter Bohlen observes everything and take care that it does not occur on a blue cloud . One day Peter came to him with the most attractive woman he has ever seen : a big, tanned , curvy sexy brunette . Peter chains them together without saying a word .
Dieter Bohlen says only : " yes Knew already liked what I 've earned the right to be connected to the rest of eternity with you?"
The woman replied only : " Well, I stepped on so ' ne shit blue cloud! "
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“I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”” Psalm 40:8 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"The love of Christ constraineth us."
2 Corinthians 5:14
2 Corinthians 5:14
How much owest thou unto my Lord? Has he ever done anything for thee? Has he forgiven thy sins? Has he covered thee with a robe of righteousness? Has he set thy feet upon a rock? Has he established thy goings? Has he prepared heaven for thee? Has he prepared thee for heaven? Has he written thy name in his book of life? Has he given thee countless blessings? Has he laid up for thee a store of mercies, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard? Then do something for Jesus worthy of his love. Give not a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your Master comes, if you have to confess that you did nothing for him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing forth to his poor or to his work. Out on such love as that! What do men think of a love which never shows itself in action? Why, they say, "Open rebuke is better than secret love." Who will accept a love so weak that it does not actuate you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, or zeal! Think how he has loved you, and given himself for you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. "For Christ's sake" be this the tongue of fire that shall sit upon you: "for Christ's sake" be this the divine rapture, the heavenly afflatus to bear you aloft from earth, the divine spirit that shall make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service. Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to the arms of labour. Fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolute to honour him with a determination that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with an ardour never to be wearied, let us manifest the constraints of love to Jesus. May the divine loadstone draw us heavenward towards itself.
Evening
"Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?"
Luke 24:38
Luke 24:38
"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?" The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share in his universal providence, but his particular providence is over his saints. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him." "Precious shall their blood be in his sight." "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose." Let the fact that, while he is the Saviour of all men, he is specially the Saviour of them that believe, cheer and comfort you. You are his peculiar care; his regal treasure which he guards as the apple of his eye; his vineyard over which he watches day and night. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." Let the thought of his special love to you be a spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." God says that as much to you as to any saint of old. "Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." We lose much consolation by the habit of reading his promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Think you see him walking on the waters of thy trouble, for he is there, and he is saying, "Fear not, it is I; be not afraid." Oh, those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Ghost make you feel them as spoken to you; forget others for awhile--accept the voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, "Jesus whispers consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under his shadow with great delight."
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Today's reading: Isaiah 62-64, 1 Timothy 1 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Isaiah 62-64
Zion’s New Name
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
2 The nations will see your vindication,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
and your land Beulah;
for the LORD will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
5 As a young man marries a young woman,
so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
2 The nations will see your vindication,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
and your land Beulah;
for the LORD will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
5 As a young man marries a young woman,
so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.
6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest,
7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth....
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest,
7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth....
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Timothy 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk.7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me....
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Cyrus
[Cy'rus] - as miserable or an heir.Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, conquered Babylon and was anointed by God to free the Jews from captivity. The prophets frequently foretold the coming of Cyrus. Isaiah, for example, mentioned him by name two hundred years before he was born (2 Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1-8; 3:7; 4:3-5; 5:13-17; 6:3-14; Isa. 44:28; 45; Dan. 1:21; 6:28; 10:1 ). Classical writers adorn the life and labors of Cyrus with a variety of legendary incidents for which no confirmation can be produced.
[Cy'rus] - as miserable or an heir.Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, conquered Babylon and was anointed by God to free the Jews from captivity. The prophets frequently foretold the coming of Cyrus. Isaiah, for example, mentioned him by name two hundred years before he was born (2 Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1-8; 3:7; 4:3-5; 5:13-17; 6:3-14; Isa. 44:28; 45; Dan. 1:21; 6:28; 10:1 ). Classical writers adorn the life and labors of Cyrus with a variety of legendary incidents for which no confirmation can be produced.
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