Friday, January 09, 2015

Fri Jan 9th Todays News

Haters have no sense of humour. After the Charlie Hebdo assault, an Israeli MLK wrote 
"My condolences to the families of those killed in the Paris terror attack.More importantly, this attack only underscores the need for France to immediately engage in negotiations with French Muslims that will result in the creation of two states for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security, with Paris as a shared capital...I suggest the Israeli Knesset vote on this resolution."
The words of the joke have been shared far and wide. In one site with strong patronage of the Australian Defence League, some of the haters took the suggestion seriously, expressing anger and saying it would never work. A bit like their brains. Very recently, the world has made the same demand of Israel, and it was not a joke. 

 Charlie Hebdo were staunchly socialist and not all agreed with them all the time. Jihadists are Islamic by name, and disturbingly, responsible Islamic leaders do not distance themselves from terrorists. Consider the tweets of some who claim that Charlie Hebdo insulted their prophet, but consider the policeman, who was Islamic, should not have been killed. Charlie Hebdo did not insult the prophet. It is hard for impotent Islamic leaders to understand it, but the magazine did not insult the prophet. The magazine published comics showing comics of Mohamed in compromised positions: Kissing a man; using a bomb; being foolish. Also, believers are depicted in extraordinary ways which resembled the activity of some Islamic peoples. Even so, it is no insult to any living God. And there is the rub. It isn't that Charlie insulted Allah and deserved to die. It is that faithless jihadis don't want to be embarrassed. They don't believe in Allah. They believe in appearances. And so they bring Islam into disrepute and their impotent leaders don't call them out. The policeman deserved a long, blessed life. So did the other victims. And Islamic peoples who don't recognise that, are bringing Islam into disrepute. 

 Bigotry tends to begin for a reason. Usually, a bad reason. In 681 the Twelfth Council of Toledo issued diverse measures against Jews in Spain. The reason for it is not known, but may be guessed at. Presiding King was Erwig of the Visigoths. He was really weak because of how he got the throne, and the Bishop of Toledo was a staunch anti semite. Erwig had come to the throne after the previous king had joined a monastery and named Erwig as successor. The previous king had thought he was dying, but recuperated. Then was poisoned to death. The speed with which Erwig assumed the throne suggests a coup. So a weak king went to a council and the bigot ran free. The restrictions placed on Jewry did not benefit the kingdom. Six years later, Erwig fell ill, retired to a monastery and named his son in law, Ergica, as successor king. 

 In 1349 in Basel, Jews were massacred. They were accused of being behind the Black Death because they had had a lower mortality rate. The city fathers of Basel tried to protect the Jews, but local guilds demanded they be handed over. They were shackled and locked in a barn, on the Rhine, which was set on fire. The few survivors, orphans, were converted to Christianity. Then it was decreed no Jew should enter Basel for the next two hundred years. Possibly that was to protect them. 
2014
In the aftermath of the Harding v Kerrigan assault, where Harding's ex contracted a guy to hit talented figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan' knee. It worked, Kerrigan did not win gold at the '94 olympics. But it backfired too, with Harding's first place in US championships denied by decree. Things were hysterical, with one wag announcing that NATO air strikes had been approved against Harding. The sad element of that joke was the vacillating President Clinton who had effortlessly achieved a million deaths in Rwanda, and was wondering how to bomb people in former Yugoslavia. One might question the commitment of left wing peoples to their espoused causes. History shows us that NATO hit a Serbian command tent. It was empty at the time, as NATO had told the Serbian terrorist command what they were going to do. And so justice is blind. Which is helpful when looking at what the compassionate middle class person does in sponsoring a World Vision child. 

The children, World Vision collect money for, need it and benefit from it, but not as much as World Vision benefits from it. There are options World Vision offers to ensure payments go to the sponsored child, but it does not seem to be encouraged. The cost of feeling good. 

What does one have to spend to feel good about their past? I am a bitsa. Bits from China, Ireland, Russia, Jew, Scotland, England, Netherlands, Aboriginal Australian .. and I was born in the US. I like the 1788 landing and what has happened since. I like 1901's start with Australia as a federation. But there is a lobby of hate claiming to represent my bits. They use emotive words like 'invasion' to frame the  founding of Sydney. But cultural pluralism gave my mother her maiden name, Shying. No where else in the world had that name, it began in Sydney, thanks to '88. Those that claim '88 was bad weren't there. They don't know, or care. It is unsporting, like a strike to the knee of a figure skating rival. 
Historical perspectives on this day
In 475, Byzantine Emperor Zeno was forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gained control of the empire. 681, Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiated a council in which he implemented diverse measures against the Jews in Spain. 1127, Jin–Song wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin Dynasty besieged and sacked Bianjing(Kaifeng), the capital of the Song Dynasty of China, and abducted Emperor Qinzong and others, ending the Northern Song Dynasty. 1150, Prince Hailing of Jin and other court officials murdered Emperor Xizong of Jin. Hailing succeeds him as emperor. 1349, the Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, was rounded up and incinerated. 1431, Judges' investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc began in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government. 1760, Afghans defeated Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat. 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to be admitted to the United States. 1793, Jean-Pierre Blanchard became the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States. 1799, British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.

 In 1806, Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson received a state funeral and was interred in St Paul's Cathedral. 1816, Sir Humphry Davy tested his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery. 1822, the Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decided to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process. 1839, the French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process. 1857, the Fort Tejon earthquake struck California, registering an estimated magnitude of 7.9. 1858, Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, committed suicide. 1861 American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurred near Charleston, South Carolina. It was considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War". Also 1861,  Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War. 1863, American Civil War: the Battle of Fort Hindman began in Arkansas. 1878, Umberto I became King of Italy. 1880, the Great Gale of 1880 devastated parts of Oregon and Washington with high winds and heavy snow. 1894, New England Telephone and Telegraph installed the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.

 In 1903, Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, became the second Governor-General of Australia. 1909, Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, planted the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time. 1914, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University, was founded. 1916, World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concluded with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces were evacuated from the peninsula. 1917, World War I: the Battle of Rafa was fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine. 1918, Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars. 1921, Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, began near Eskişehir in Anatolia. 1923, Juan de la Cierva made the first autogyro flight. Also 1923, Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebelled against the League of Nations' decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control. 1927, a fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, killed 78 children.

 In 1938, Paul of Greece married Frederica of Hanover in Athens. 1941, World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster. Also 1941, World War II: The Greek Triton (Y-5) sank the Italian submarine Neghelli in Otranto. 1945, World War II: The United States invaded Luzon in the Philippines. 1947, Elizabeth "Betty" Short, the Black Dahlia, was last seen alive. 1957, British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigned from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty. 1960, President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opened construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile. 1964, Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths tried to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians. 1965, the Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

 In 1991, Representatives from the United States and Iraq met at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. 1992, the Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia. 1996, First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launched a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turned into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians. 2004, an inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalled near the Karaburun Peninsula while on the way to Brindisi, Italy; exposure to the elements killed 28. 2005, Mahmoud Abbas won the election to replace Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority. He replaced interim president Rawhi Fattouh. Also 2005, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War. 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. 2011, Iran Air Flight 277 crashed near Orumiyeh in the northeast of the country, killing 77 people. 2013, a SeaStreak ferry traveling to lower Manhattan, New York City, crashed into the dock, injuring 85 people. 2014, an explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, killed at least five people and injured 17 others.
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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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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406 or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Samuel Ball, Andrew Mussell, Lynda Ly, Vu Tran and Natalie Tran. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
January 9: St. Stephen's Day (Eastern Christianity)
Mahmoud Abbas
There is a paradox that forced us to flee. The earth moved. We fight the big league. We won't be fired. We replace terrorism. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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PARIS UNDER FIRE - DAY TWO

Tim Blair – Friday, January 09, 2015 (1:17am)

Further French horror: 
A female police officer has been killed in a second shooting in Paris, French media reports.
Automatic gunfire was reported at Montrouge, a southwestern suburb of the capital, this morning. Gunmen fled the scene via the metro. 
One gunman has since been arrested. No connection has been established between this killing and the previous day’s Charlie Hebdo slaughter. Speaking of which: 
The Charlie Hebdo attack suspects are believed to have stolen food and petrol at gunpoint from this service station in Villers-Cotteret, Picardy – around 50 miles northeast of Paris – before driving off in the direction of the capital.
They are said to be on the RN2 motorway back into Paris - still in the same grey Renault Clio that was hijacked after the shootings yesterday. Its number-plates are apparently blacked out. 
According to other reports, the pair are holed up in a village 60km from Paris.
UPDATE. A puzzling post-massacre decision from AP: 
The Associated Press has removed an image of Andres Serrano’s 1987 photograph “Piss Christ” from its image library following Wednesday’s attack against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. 
Serrano’s image has long been problematic for shallow media types. Via Iowahawk, whose Charlie Hebdo coverage predictions are now coming true: 

image 

UPDATE II. Savage Islamic terrorists: 
We have killed Charlie Hebdo! 
Maybe not: 
Charlie Hebdo magazine will publish as scheduled next week, according to some of its surviving employees. The newspaper’s lawyer, Richard Malka, said one million copies would be printed instead of the normal 60,000 because of the worldwide attention. 
Jeannette Bougrab, long-time partner of Charlie Hebdo editor-in-chief Stéphane Charbonnier: 
I have been to Pakistan, I have been to the Afghan border, I went near the Taliban, I went to Yemen, I went to the north of Kenya while in the Congo where there was al-Shaabab, and I went to the ill side. Nothing happened to me. Nothing happened to me, I spent 17 days in Pakistan and nothing happened to me. And today, in France, where we give lessons to the whole world, well my partner is dead, murdered because he drew in a magazine. 
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Post by David Daniel Ball.

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Post by Supporting Premier Campbell Newman and LNP.

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Post by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

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“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Post by Diamond Imports.

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=== Posts from last year ===

OBVIOUS QUESTIONS

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (5:42am)

Further on the mystery of my 17-year-old World Vision sponsorship kid who draws like a pre-schooler. Here’s World Vision director Matt Davis:  
We share your concern about the recent report you have received from Obvious and we have requested an immediate response from our team in Zimbabwe. We are yet to hear back and will let you know as soon as we do.
I can assure you there are some really encouraging things happening ?in Obvious’s community and we are committed to ensuring you receive an appropriate explanation as to what has been happening with his development. 
Also on the case: Radio 2UE summer drive host Mike Jeffreys, who interviewed Davis and me.
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1788 HATE

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (5:40am)

Leftoid Twitter folk shut down a supermarket’s t-shirt sale: 
Aldi has pulled a portion of its Australia Day clothing from shelves following social media pressure over a “racist” design. 
The alleged racism was a logo reading: “AUSTRALIA EST 1788”. Seriously. 
Twitter users have called for the range to be pulled from shelves, including Sunshine Coast University lecturer Matt Mason.
“This is historically wrong and racist,” Mr Mason posted.
“Remove them from sale.”
Others users have described the range as “sickening”. 
Just as well the frightening logo wasn’t printed on a packet of crisps.
(Via Waxing Gibberish)
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THE UNENDING, INESCAPABLE HORROR OF A WARMER PLANET

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (5:38am)

It’s happening, people: 
The effects of climate change could hinder sea snails’ extraordinary ability to leap away from predators on one foot, Queensland researchers have found. 
Add this to the list.
(Via reader fidens, who emails: “I feel so helpless.")
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SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (5:21am)

Following interest from Australian media, the tiny island of Nauru applies a modest increase to the cost of journalist visas.
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AWESOME OF THE ANTARCTIC

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (5:15am)

Mark Steyn reviews the ice-tastic performance of Professor Chris Turney and his academic Antarcticians: 
You’d have to have a heart as cold and unmovable as Commonwealth Bay ice not to be howling with laughter at the exquisite symbolic perfection of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition ‘stuck in our own experiment’, as they put it. I confess I was hoping it might all drag on a bit longer and the cultists of the ecopalypse would find themselves drawing straws as to which of their number would be first on the roasting spit.
On Douglas Mawson’s original voyage, he and his surviving comrade wound up having to eat their dogs. I’m not sure there were any on this expedition, so they’d probably have to make do with the Guardian reporters. Forced to wait a year to be rescued, Sir Douglas later recalled, ‘Several of my toes commenced to blacken and fester near the tips.’ Now there’s a man who’s serious about reducing his footprint. 
Do read on. Meanwhile, the length of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition’s enforced stay is matched only by thebrevity of a subsequent legal dispute.
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ALLAH HAS WAN AT NEVER

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (5:05am)

John Tiedemann updates a classic Australian ad:

image

Further on Australian booze issues from James Morrow, who addresses the new prohibitionist mood encouraged by – among many others – anti-alcohol campaigner Tony Trimingham: 
Reduction and regulation of advertising has been effective in countries such as France, Norway, Ukraine, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Sweden, Kenya, Hong Kong and most Muslim countries. 
You don’t say.
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I WORK WITH GOOD PEOPLE

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (4:56am)

At the close of work yesterday I emailed a very senior Daily Telegraph identity to make sure all of the opinion pages were complete. His (censored) reply: 
Go ---- yourself you ----. 
Followed immediately by: 
Sorry. Predictive text! 
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OLD CHOPPERS

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (4:53am)

Texan shark cuddler Carey Barlow-Heyden – who received ABC applause for her opposition to Western Australian shark killing – turned out to have an interesting jewellery hobby, making decorations from: 
Shark teeth, Arrowheads, Anything fun, colorful and unique 
Ms Barlow-Heyden has since amended her list of preferred materials: 
Fossilized Sharks Teeth, Arrowheads, Anything fun, colorful and unique 
(Via J.F. Beck)
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THEY COULD’VE JUST RIPPED UP THE PAMPHLET

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (4:39am)

An old-fashioned book burning in Lebanon: 
“Unknown assailants torched the Saeh Library in Tripoli, destroying two thirds of some 80,000 booksand manuscripts housed there,” said the source, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity …
The attack came a day after “a pamphlet was discovered inside one of the books at the library that was insulting to Islam and the prophet Mohammad,” said the source. 
I blame Presbyterians.
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FREEDOM BOOT

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (4:11am)

Trapped in your car? Not a problem. Just use your feet, as one of Peter Brock’s mechanics demonstrated at Bathurst in 1985. (From 2:00 at the link. Under race rules, if a damaged windscreen is removed the rear glass must also be removed. Doesn’t take long.)
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OUT OF THE ASHES

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (2:56am)

A rare but priceless win: 
England cricketers Matt Prior and Stuart Broad have been credited with helping prevent a suicidal man from jumping off a bridge in Darling Harbour.
Prior is said to have pulled the man – who was saying he wanted to drown – away from the edge of a foot bridge in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Prior and Broad, who had been attending a Barmy Army charity event nearby, talked to the man for nearly an hour before police arrived. 
Impressive, especially because star power wasn’t in play. Although the man is believed to be British, he did not recognise either player.
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Teen Reported to Police After Finding Security Hole in Website | Threat Level | Wired.com
www.wired.com
A teenager in Australia who thought he was doing a good deed by reporting a security vulnerability in a government web site that allowed attackers to steal the sensitive information of public transit riders was reported to the police.
Reporting to police is not a punishment .. they need to know if there was culpability. Reporting to the Age is irresponsible. - ed
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Remember just a few months ago when LABOR declared the Coalition's policy of turning back asylum-seeker boats was "entirely dead".

Labor Shadow Immigration Minister Mr. Marles proclaimed ; “Turning back the boats was always a furphy.”

Mr Marles is now wiping egg off his face, as today we hear that the head of Indonesia's military General Moeldoko has confirmed he has reached an agreement with the Chief of the Australian Defence Force to accept boat turn-backs and said late on Tuesday that boat turn-backs by Australia were ''justifiable''.>

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/indonesian-military-head-says-boats-turned-back-will-be-accepted-20140108-30hmj.html#ixzz2pohWPhTW
Indonesian military head says boats turned back will be accepted
www.smh.com.au
The head of Indonesia's military says he reached a private agreement with the Chief of the Australian Defence Force to accept boat turn-backs as a way to defuse the diplomatic row over the policy.
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Group of Arizona Republicans to vote to censure Senator John McCain
www.glennbeck.com
“Wouldn’t that be nice if that would pass? That is what needs to be done, I think, on all of them.”
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UAW sets up organizing committee at Tesla's Fremont factory
green.autoblog.com
UAW president Bob King lets it be known that the union is thinking about organizing at Tesla's Fremont factory,
Parasites find host - ed
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MSNBC's idiotic idea to 'end poverty' destroyed in one word [pic]
twitchy.com
Shameful, but oh-so-predictable! The MSNBC Twitter feed offered up this idiocy on Wednesday: Heavy and fed-up sigh. Heh. Blogger Melissa Clouthier offers up a one-word answer that destroys MSNBC's …
Jobs - ed
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Young girls indecently assaulted in a Sydney park toilet
WWW.NEWS.COM.AU
TWO young girls on a family picnic at a popular western Sydney park have been sexually assaulted inside a public toilet block just 30 metres from where their family was enjoying lunch.
Where was Sheik Cat's meat? - ed
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NYC Artist Shows Us What Famous Celebrities Would Look Like as Normal People - TechEBlog
www.techeblog.com
Thanks to the power of Photoshop and the skill of artist Danny Evans, we get to see what some famous celebrities would look like if they didn't take the Hollywood career path.
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Malaysia's 'Allah' controversy
stream.aljazeera.com
Is limiting the use of the Arabic word for God a sign of growing intolerance towards minorities?
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Hit and run car revealed: police appeal for information
www.canberratimes.com.au
ACT Policing have released a photo of a suspected hit and run in Canberra on New Years' Eve, hoping it may prompt members of the public to come forward with further information on the incident.
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Anytime you're sad just look at this cat
9gag.com
Click to see the pic and write a comment...
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<The Wonder Workers
"The love of money is the root of all evil." Unfortunately too many rabbis have been put on pedestals until we finally realize they are just as human as the rest of us. This does not negate the fact that there have always been Gedolai HaDor, rabbis who truly care about the sanctity of Jewish life and our relationship with Hashem and His wonders. It is these corrupt few who not only commit a chilul Hashem, but shame us all.>
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“Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.” -Amos 5:14-15
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Charles Spurgeon morning and evening
January 8: Morning
"The iniquity of the holy things." - Exodus 28:38
What a veil is lifted up by these words, and what a disclosure is made! It will be humbling and profitable for us to pause awhile and see this sad sight. The iniquities of our public worship, its hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness, irreverence, wandering of heart and forgetfulness of God, what a full measure have we there! Our work for the Lord, its emulation, selfishness, carelessness, slackness, unbelief, what a mass of defilement is there! Our private devotions, their laxity, coldness, neglect, sleepiness, and vanity, what a mountain of dead earth is there! If we looked more carefully we should find this iniquity to be far greater than appears at first sight. Dr. Payson, writing to his brother, says, "My parish, as well as my heart, very much resembles the garden of the sluggard; and what is worse, I find that very many of my desires for the melioration of both, proceed either from pride or vanity or indolence. I look at the weeds which overspread my garden, and breathe out an earnest wish that they were eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? It may be that I may walk out and say to myself, In what fine order is my garden kept!' This is pride. Or, it may be that my neighbours may look over the wall and say, How finely your garden flourishes!' This is vanity. Or I may wish for the destruction of the weeds, because I am weary of pulling them up. This is indolence." So that even our desires after holiness may be polluted by ill motives. Under the greenest sods worms hide themselves; we need not look long to discover them. How cheering is the thought, that when the High Priest bore the iniquity of the holy things he wore upon his brow the words, "Holiness to the Lord:" and even so while Jesus bears our sin, he presents before his Father's face not our unholiness, but his own holiness. O for grace to view our great High Priest by the eye of faith!
Evening
"Thy love is better than wine." - Song of Solomon 1:2
Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ. He has enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life, he can be glad both in God's gifts and God's works; but in all these separately, yea, and in all of them added together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in the matchless person of his Lord Jesus. He has wine which no vineyard on earth ever yielded; he has bread which all the corn-fields of Egypt could never bring forth. Where can such sweetness be found as we have tasted in communion with our Beloved? In our esteem, the joys of earth are little better than husks for swine compared with Jesus, the heavenly manna. We would rather have one mouthful of Christ's love, and a sip of his fellowship, than a whole world full of carnal delights. What is the chaff to the wheat? What is the sparkling paste to the true diamond? What is a dream to the glorious reality? What is time's mirth, in its best trim, compared to our Lord Jesus in his most despised estate? If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess that our highest, purest, and most enduring joys must be the fruit of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. No spring yields such sweet water as that well of God which was digged with the soldier's spear. All earthly bliss is of the earth earthy, but the comforts of Christ's presence are like himself, heavenly. We can review our communion with Jesus, and find no regrets of emptiness therein; there are no dregs in this wine, no dead flies in this ointment. The joy of the Lord is solid and enduring. Vanity hath not looked upon it, but discretion and prudence testify that it abideth the test of years, and is in time and in eternity worthy to be called "the only true delight." For nourishment, consolation, exhilaration, and refreshment, no wine can rival the love of Jesus. Let us drink to the full this evening.
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Today's reading: Genesis 20-22, Matthew 6:19-34 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Genesis 20-22

Abraham and Abimelech
1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman...."

Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 6:19-34

Treasures in Heaven
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money....

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