Thursday, January 01, 2015

Thu Jan 1st Todays News

For the New Year ahead we have an ALP legacy which means the government has to cut spending. A few cuts begin today in Australia, the first day of the New Year. New Year's day has not always begun on the first of January. Roman consuls began their year on this day in 153 BC. The Julian Calendar had Jan 1 as the beginning of the year in 45 BC. The Gregorian Calendar reinforces the date from the religious viewpoint that Christ was circumcised by custom seven days after his birth which is celebrated on Christmas Day. However, January 1st was recognised as the first day of the new year before the Gregorian Calendar was adopted in some cases. England made it the first day of the year in 1752. Scotland had done so in 1600. In Sydney in 1914 on January 1st, Lord Mayor Clover Moore provided an Eye of Sauron light show. Last night, ABC given the privilege of showing the fireworks took the opportunity to show the heads of their comperes as they talked to each other for lengthy intervals. 

 Tim Blair invented the term Frightbat to describe hysterical, but not funny, female journalists who made OTT comments with no discernible logic. Like with one suggesting an eight year old celebrity girl should get laid. Or another being outraged at not being touched by a friendly person on public transport. Or another being outraged at having to stop their bike for a manual labourer backing into a loading zone. One identified Frightbat has today claimed that Blair's Frightbat description is related to  Jihadists raping and killing Yazidi girls in ISIL. The accuser is a well remunerated journalist. HNY.

 Today is also a success for the Clare Oliver campaign. The NSW government has banned UV Sun beds for business. I kept my promise, Clare. http://youtu.be/giuaqDMaq9Y

2014
The Iraqi communication's Minister, labelled Comical Ali who claimed the US was retreating as Baghdad was invaded was heard in spirit from AGW icebound vessel claiming "It is raining." Raining so much that the ice held fast and could not be breached by an ice breaker, or accessed by a helicopter. The so called researchers had gone to Antarctica in high summer to measure ice loss. Now, they will only be able to report that they could not measure it because of conditions. It snowed four times in London in the 20th Century. But it has snowed some six times already in the 21st century. It snowed in London some 17 times in the nineteenth century, and in eight consecutive years corresponding to the birth of Charles Dickens. So that a number of Dicken's books refer to a snowy Christmas in London. And because that is part of literature, there is an expectation that that will happen, and disappointment when it doesn't. How will the world, which has given $trillions to AGW believers, react when it registers that the money was merely diverted from the poorest and most vulnerable to feed fantasists? 

On the issue of fantasists, budget papers have been released relating to '87/'88. Bolt as a younger man did good writing for Hawke, but the little discussed truth is that the Hawke government which won election against Howard during a Joh for Canberra push was not good, but the best the ALP has offered to date. Hawke lacked talent in ministry but was able to exploit opposition division. The government of the day ran on an Australia card concept it never implemented. Hawke declared "No child would be alive in poverty by 1990" and although he worked hard to ensure that, they are hardy buggers. 

NYE coverage by the ABC had as a centre piece the 6.8 million dollar Harbour bridge extravaganza. Just as Clover Moore's name was announced as Sydney's Lord Mayor who had authorised the bill, the bridge lit up an 'eye of Sauron' display. The music played on the ABC telecast was awful. Truly a testimony to what was left behind with ALP government in 2013. Happy New Year. 
Historical perspectives on this day
In 153 BC, Roman consuls began their year in office. 45 BC, the Julian calendar took effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year. 42 BC, the Roman Senate posthumously deified Julius Caesar 69, the Roman legions in Germania Superior refused to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebelled and proclaimed Vitellius as emperor. 193, the Senate chose Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emperor. 404, an infuriated Roman mob tore Telemachus, a Christian monk, to pieces for trying to stop a gladiators' fight in the public arena held in Rome. 414, Galla Placidia, half-sister of Emperor Honorius, was married to the Visigothic king Ataulf at Narbonne. The wedding was celebrated with Roman festivities and magnificent gifts from the Gothic booty. 417, Emperor Honorius forced Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militia).

In 1001, Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary was named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II. 1068, Romanos IV Diogenes married Eudokia Makrembolitissa and was crowned Byzantine Emperor. 1259, Michael VIII Palaiologos was proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris. 1438, Albert II of Habsburg was crowned King of Hungary. 1502, the present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was first explored by the Portuguese. 1515, King Francis I of France succeeded to the French throne. 1527, Croatian nobles elected Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin. 1600, Scotland began its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25. 1651, Charles II was crowned King of Scotland. 1700, Russia began using the Anno Domini era and no longer used the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire. 1707, John V was crowned King of Portugal. 1739, Bouvet Island was discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier. 1772, the first traveler's cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, went on sale in London, England. 1773, the hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17" was first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, England. 1776, American Revolutionary War: Norfolk, Virginia was burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action. 1781 American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebelled against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781. 1788, first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published.

In 1800, the Dutch East India Company was dissolved. 1801, the legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland was completed to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Also 1801, the dwarf planet Ceres was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi. 1803, emperor Gia Long ordered all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam. 1804, French rule ended in Haiti. Haiti became the first black republic and second independent country in North America after the United States 1806, the French Republican Calendar was abolished. 1808, the importation of slaves into the United States was banned. 1810, Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially became Governor of New South Wales 1812, the Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington, ordered troops from Durham Castle to break up a miners' strike in Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham 1822, the Greek Constitution of 1822 was adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. 1833, the United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. 1845, the Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn, New York City was completed. 1847, the world's first "Mercy" Hospital was founded in Pittsburgh by the Sisters of Mercy, the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.

In 1860, First Polish stamp was issued. 1861, Porfirio Díaz conquered Mexico City, Mexico. 1863, American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation took effect in Confederate territory. Also 1863, the first claim under the Homestead Act was made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska. 1870, Adolf Loos, architect, co-founder of modern architecture, baptized in St. Thomas church, Brno, Moravia 1873, Japan began using the Gregorian calendar. 1877, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom was proclaimed Empress of India. 1880, Ferdinand de Lesseps began French construction of the Panama Canal. 1885, twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time (and also, time zones) 1890, Eritrea was consolidated into a colony by the Italian government. Also 1890, the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, was first held. 1892, Ellis Island opened to begin processing immigrants into the United States. 1894, the Manchester Ship Canal, was officially opened to traffic. 1898, New York, New York annexed land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, were joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs. 1899, Spanish rule ended in Cuba.

In 1901, Nigeria became a British protectorate. Also 1901, the British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federated as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton was appointed the first Prime Minister. 1902, the first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, was held in Pasadena, California. 1906, British India officially adopted Indian Standard Time. 1908, for the first time, a ball was dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight. 1909, drilling began on the Lakeview Gusher. 1910, Captain David Beatty was promoted to Rear admiral, and became the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal familymembers), since Horatio Nelson. 1911, Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control. 1912, the Republic of China was established. 1913, the British Board of Censors was established. 1916, German troops abandoned Yaoundé and their Kamerun colony to British forces and began the long march to Spanish Guinea. 1920, the Belorussian Communist Organisation was founded as a separate party. 1923, Britain's Railways were grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS. 1927, the Cristero War began in Mexico. Also 1927, Turkey adopted the Gregorian calendar: December 18, 1926 (Julian), was immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian). 1928, Boris Bazhanov defected through Iran. He was the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc. 1929, the former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia were amalgamated into Vancouver.

In 1932, the United States Post Office Department issued a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. 1934, Alcatraz Island became a United States federal prison. Also 1934, Nazi Germany passed the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring". 1937, safety glass in vehicle windscreens became mandatory in the United Kingdom. 1939, Sydney, Australia, sweltered in 45 ˚C (113 ˚F) heat, a record for the city. 1942, the Declaration by United Nations was signed by twenty-six nations. 1945, World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops massacred 30 SS prisoners at Chenogne. Also 1945, World War II: The German Luftwaffe launched Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow. 1947, the American and British occupation zones in Germany, after World War II, merged to form the Bizone, that later became West Germany. Also 1947, the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 came into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King became the first Canadian citizen. 1948, the British railway network was nationalized to form British Railways. Also 1948, the Constitution of Italy came into force. 1949, United Nations cease-fire took effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stopped accordingly.

In 1950,  1950 – Standard practice uses this day as the origin of the age scale Before Present 1954, NBC made the first coast-to-coast NTSC color broadcast when it telecast the Tournament of Roses Parade, with public demonstrations given across the United States on prototype color receivers. 1956, Sudan achieved independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom. Also 1956, a new year event caused panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people. 1957, George Town, Penang became a city by a royal charter granted by Elizabeth II. Also 1957, an Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit attacked Brookeborough RUC barracks during Operation Harvest; two IRA volunteers were killed. 1958, the European Economic Community was established. 1959, Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, was overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution. 1960, Cameroon achieved independence from France and the United Kingdom. 1962, Western Samoa achieved independence from New Zealand; its name was changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa. Also 1962, United States Navy SEALs were established. 1964, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia. 1965, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was founded in Kabul, Afghanistan. 1966, a twelve-day New York City transit strike began. Also 1966, after a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa assumed power as president of the Central African Republic.

In 1970, Unix time began at 00:00:00 UTC/GMT. 1971, Cigarette advertisements were banned on American television. Also 1971, Hellenic Railways Organisation, the Greek national railway company, was founded. 1973, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Ireland were admitted into the European Economic Community. 1977, Charter 77 published its first document. 1978, Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 crashed into the sea, due to instrument failure and pilot disorientation, off the coast of Bombay, India, killing 213. Also 1978, the Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands became effective. 1979, formal diplomatic relations were established between China and the United States. 1980, Victoria was crowned princess of Sweden. 1981, Greece was admitted into the European Community. Also 1981, Palau achieved self-government though it was not independent from the United States. 1982, Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar became the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations. Also 1982, ITV franchise ATV got replaced by Central 1983, the ARPANET officially changed to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet. 1984, the original American Telephone & Telegraph Company was divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T. Also 1984, Brunei became independent of the United Kingdom. 1985, the Internet's Domain Name System was created. Also 1985, the first British mobile phone call was made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone. 1986, Aruba became independent of Curaçao, though it remained in free association with the Netherlands. Also 1986, Spain and Portugal were admitted into the European Community. 1987, a value-added tax was introduced in Greece for the first time. 1988, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America came into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. 1989, the Montreal Protocol came into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.

In 1990, David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first black mayor. 1992, the Russian Federation was formally established. 1993, Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia was divided into Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Also 1993, a single market within the European Community was introduced. 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiated twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas. 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect. 1995, the World Trade Organization went into effect. Also 1995, Sweden, Austria, and Finland were admitted into the European Union. Also 1995, the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe became the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Also 1995, the Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway was detected, confirming the existence of freak waves. 1996, Curaçao gained limited self-government, though it remained within free association with the Netherlands. 1997, Zaire officially joined the World Trade Organization. Also 1997,  Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations. 1998, Russia began to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence. Also 1998, the European Central Bank was established. 1999, the Euro currency was introduced in 11 countries - members of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden).

In 2002, Euro banknotes and coins became legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states. Also 2002, Taiwan officially joined the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei. Also 2002, the Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially came into force. 2004, in a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf won 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007. 2007, Bulgaria and Romania officially joined the European Union. Slovenia joins Eurozone. Also 2007, Adam Air Flight 574 disappeared over Indonesia with 102 people on board. 2008, Cyprus and Malta joined the Eurozone. 2009, Sixty-six people died in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand. Also 2009, Slovakia joined the Eurozone. 2010, a suicide car bomber detonated at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more. 2011, a bomb exploded as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, left a new year service, killing 23 people. Also 2011, the Kallikratis plan became the new administrative system of Greece. Also 2011, Estonia joined the Eurozone. 2012, a Moldovan civilian was fatally wounded by a Russian peacekeeper in the Transnistrian security zone, leading to demonstrations against Russia. 2013, at least 60 people were killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 2014, Latvia joined the Eurozone. 2015, Lithuania joined the Eurozone.
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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
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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 Tony Nguyen, Sok Leang Meach, Phong Pham, Paul Goddard, Jims Plumbing, Thuy Tran, Ben Erhunse, Morecarpark Forcabramatta and Felicity Rose. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
January 1: New Year's Day (Gregorian calendar); Tenth of Tevet (Judaism, 2015); Independence Day in Brunei(1984), Haiti (1804) and Samoa (1962)
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro
You have made a personal discovery. You are the modern Prometheus. You have been processed. You revolted and won. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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BATTY BETTY

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 01, 2015 (11:35am)

Fairfax columnist and bicycle lane vigilante Elizabeth Farrelly begins 2015 in fine Frightbat style: 
This year, 2015, is Chinese Year of the Sheep. But maybe we should mix it up a bit, broaden our zoo, make 2015 International Year of the Frightbat.
“Frightbat" was coined by Tim Blair in June to denote a female who has a mind and speaks it. 
Actually, it was more a description of self-obsessed local leftists whose furious irrationality and hyperdeveloped sense of victimhood leads them to strange and illogical conclusions. In keeping with that theme, Farrelly then claims a direct link between the mockery of Australian leftists and – wait for it – sexual brutality in northwestern Iraq: 
Blair’s hysterical frightbattery, and his presumption of a sympathetic hearing from the crowd, specifically targeted educated, articulate, vocal women. Since such women are a civilising force it is ironic that they’re seen as a threat. But this is why Yazidi girls are even now being raped in their schoolrooms by IS fighters … 
Can’t quite see the connection myself.
UPDATE. This is fantastic.
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Post by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

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Post by Radio Gaza FM 100.9.

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Post by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

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Post by Matt Granz.

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Post by The LAD Bible.

ALP voter attempting the difficult task of filling up their car ..
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I love happy endings .. which is why I kill all my characters ..
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=== Posts from last year ===

Warmies trapped by inconvenient ice

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, January 01, 2014 (8:49am)

HOW many global warming scientists does it take to get stuck in Antarctic ice?
When I posed a question like this on Twitter, the inmates went wild - led by Dr Craig Emerson. He missed the irony of an expedition trapped by record ice while trying to prove the east Antarctic ice sheet is melting.
Instead, the BSc-deprived former Gillard minister tweeted: “What makes you so sure, despite strong scientific evidence, that there’s no human-induced global warming?”
Verballing opponents like this is a classic trick of the Apocalypti. Let’s break it down for slow learners.
Everyone agrees the climate always changes. Tick. Most people accept the greenhouse hypothesis. Tick. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Tick. Carbon dioxide is increasing, and that should lead to warming. Humans produce some of the increased carbon dioxide. Tick. Tick.
The dispute is over the extent of warming caused by the extra carbon dioxide, and thus whether catastrophes claimed by climate alarmists will occur.
Mathematical models have been used to predict climate apocalypse. Thus far they are wrong in their temperature forecasts.
Despite increased carbon dioxide, world temperatures have not budged for 16 years. The ice caps have not melted. Polar bears are enjoying a population explosion. Antarctica has cooled and sea ice has increased to record highs.
Which brings us to our merry explorers on their marooned $1.5 million University of NSW-sponsored mission.
As he waited for a helicopter to winch him out, team leader Professor Chris Turney was clinging to credibility like the black knight in Monty Python.
“It’s so warm it’s actually raining!” he tweeted yesterday.
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The Left’s crystal balls-ups

Miranda Devine – Tuesday, December 31, 2013 (6:52pm)

NOW the Year of the Selfie is over, and a conservative government is in charge, we can look forward to the following dispatches from Gnashville over the next 12 months.
Pope Francis disappoints.
For all his humility and eschewing of red papal loafers so remarked upon by progressives, in 2014 the Pope does not give his blessing to abortion, gay marriage and female priests.
He doesn’t appoint Mary McAleese to the College of Cardinals. Nor does he excommunicate George Pell and Tony Abbott. Holy black-buckled brogues! Maybe he’s a Catholic after all.
Peter Cosgrove is the worst Governor-General ever.
Actually, this was the theme of The Sydney Morning Herald’s Letters to the Editor in the last week of 2013 but, increasingly, these unconscious self-satires are a leading indicator of junk opinion.
What’s wrong with the esteemed General? Let the Letterati count the ways:
1. He is a man (Robyn Stinson, Randwick);
2. He was commander of peacekeeping forces in East Timor during alleged illegal spying by the Australian government (Chris Smith, ACT);
3. He makes (Megan Heaney, Kincumber) feel “uneasy”;
4. He is “bulky” (Megan Brock, Summer Hill);
5. He encourages beer-drinking on Anzac Day by endorsing the “Raise a Glass appeal” for Legacy (Roger Halsted, Albury); and
6. He isn’t Mitchell Johnson (Claire Bowdler, Newtown).
Save the refugees.
After showing little interest in the arrival of 50,000 asylum seekers under Labor, in 2014 a tally is kept on a dedicated ABC webpage of asylum boat arrivals under the Abbott government.
Actually, that already happened nine days after the election, but who’s counting.
Stand by for stories about the inhumanity of Scott Morrison, and how Manus Island is another Auschwitz.
Expect to see much more of refugee activists such as Julian “pedos in speedos” Burnside on your ABC. They might gnash their teeth about a conservative government but secretly they are relieved. Refugees are cool again.
Is that the truth or was your News Limited?
The meme of the 2013 election continues on bumper stickers for 40-something wannabe hipsters in Subarus.
But you will have to overlook the fact that if you relied on the Fairfax/ABC/ Guardian axis for your news, you wouldn’t know that Labor stuffed up on pink batts, overpriced school halls, the NBN, border protection, and the budget. You would have been shocked when Kevin Rudd was overthrown by his colleagues. You wouldn’t believe Julia Gillard lied about the carbon tax.
You might not know police are investigating the slush fund she allegedly help set up 20 years ago for her then unionist boyfriend.
You wouldn’t realise that half of Brisbane’s devastating 2011 floods were caused by mismanagement of the Wivenhoe Dam. You’d probably think Clive Palmer was as rich as he says he is.
You wouldn’t know Australian spy agencies targeted the phone of Indonesia’s first lady in 2009 because she was President Yudhoyono’s most influential adviser and trying to woo Islamic groups.
You might believe Wayne Swan really was the world’s best treasurer and would have brought the budget into surplus this year.
Summer is really really hot.
There may even be bushfires. Expect more stories on “extreme weather events” which are, of course, all the fault of Mr Rabbitt.
Abbott is the worst Prime Minister ever.
He’ll lose the next election if he isn’t bumped off first by marvellous Malcolm.
Liberated from the humiliating consequences of their wishes being granted by Labor, the left is gleeful.
Moral posturing is so much more fun when there’s a conservative PM to demonise.
No longer do they have to shuffle about in embarrassed silence as asylum seekers drown and economic chancers flood through the open borders they demanded, while persecuted Christian refugees suffer out of sight.
No longer do they have to bluster as electricity prices soar, manufacturers go under and the world’s temperature doesn’t budge for 16 years. No longer do they have to turn a blind eye to child abuse and make adoption taboo due to their obsession with the stolen generations.
Yes, the last six years have been agony for the Letterati but they now can return to their default position of all care, no responsibility.
Happy New Year!
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TAXES SMOKED

Tim Blair – Wednesday, January 01, 2014 (1:48pm)

The Telegraph is receiving a remarkable number of complaints today about last night’s NYE coverage on the ABC (things really begin falling apart at the 25 minute mark). These furious callers follow earlier Twitter rage:

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'TAXES SMOKED'
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THEY SEE THE FUTURE

Tim Blair – Wednesday, January 01, 2014 (10:36am)

The SMH reports: 
Temperatures are on course to rise at least 4 degrees by the end of the century, according to research that finds earlier climate models projecting smaller increases are likely to be wrong.
The research, by a team led by the University of NSW, says a 4-degree rise in temperature would be potentially catastrophic for agriculture in warm regions of the world, including Australia. 
The team from the University of NSW were unavailable for further comment because they are stuck in millions of tonnes of ice.
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MAN DISCUSSES FABRIC

Tim Blair – Wednesday, January 01, 2014 (4:03am)

This is a column in an actual newspaper.
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Something’s cracking, and it’s not the ice around the warmists’ ship

Andrew Bolt January 01 2014 (11:52am)

 The expedition of warmists now on a Russian ship trapped in ice is called “Spirit of Mawson” in honor of explorer Douglas Mawson who, a century ago, spent two years on Antarctica during which he lost two colleagues on a trek. Mawson himself survived only by eating his huskies and trudging back on feet that had lost the skin of the soles.
Guardian journalist Laurence Topham on the “Spirit of Mawson” now demonstrates how that spirit lives on in this ship of warmists, awaiting rescue by helicopter after a week trapped in ice they’d assumed was melting away:
It is quite stressful… I miss banana and peanut butter milkshakes… I’ve got this really thin, small bed… I’ve hurt my back… I jammed my leg in the door last night… And it’s only going to get worse… Stranded in ice. Oh, God I’m going mad.
Remember, these warmists are as tough as warmists come, as the ABC described a month ago:
STEVE CANNANE, PRESENTER: Could the great British Antarctic explorer Robert Scott have survived his epic journey if he’d chosen his team more wisely? That’s the view of Professor Chris Turney from the University of NSW who is about to lead one of Australia’s largest science expeditions to the frozen continent. 
In this second and final preview of his trip, Professor Turney tells reporter Margo O’Neill he’s learnt from the life and death experiences of early explorers like Scott…
CHRIS TURNEY, CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH CENTRE, UNSW: So we’ve got a really good team and hopefully they won’t go psycho on us. (laughs)…
MARGOT O’NEILL: Initially there were few applicants, so Chris Turney re-versioned Ernest Shackleton’s apocryphal advertisement: “Wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition assured."…
CHRIS TURNEY: It seemed to have gone viral. We were getting a few applications before then and suddenly the blog entry went crazy....
MARGOT O’NEILL: But it’s not exactly a luxury cruise and one of Australia’s Mount Everest heroes and an Antarctic veteran, Greg Mortimer, was brought on to find the right kind of people.
GREG MORTIMER, MOUNTAINEER: People who can grasp the highs and lows of what we’re going to do and it’s quite a big ask, this trip. There has been some whittling going on over the last months and a few people have fallen by the wayside.
MARGOT O’NEILL: Choosing the wrong team member meant the difference between life and death for British explorer Robert Scott. Professor Turney researched the stories of last century’s great ice men and became haunted by their fate.
CHRIS TURNEY: It’s that sort of extreme environment. The smallest mistakes can cascade into a disaster. 
The ABC promised an update on the expedition of these rugged and desperately brave warmists to find the truth about global warming:
MARGOT O’NEILL: The expedition sails south tomorrow on a mission to revive the spirit of one of Australia’s greatest scientific explorations for a new generation grappling with climate change. 
Lateline will broadcast an update early next year.
Can’t wait. Any guesses on how the ABC will gloss over the embarrassment of Turney’s expedition getting trapped in the ice they claimed was melting?
I’m betting it won’t start the way Tim Blair’s piece does:
IT began as a journey to “investigate the impact of changing climate” and to “use the subantarctic islands as thermometers of climatic change” but more than 70 global warming activists, journalists and crew, led by University of NSW professor of climate change Chris Turney, are now trapped by millions of tonnes of ice after their ship was caught in freezing conditions off the Antarctic coast. 
UPDATE
Pierre Gosselin wonders whether this expedition was doomed by wishful thinking and cost-cutting:
The first error expedition leaders made was under-estimating the prevailing sea ice conditions at Mawson Station, their destination. The scientists seemed to be convinced that Antarctica was a warmer place today than it had been 100 years earlier, and thus perhaps they could expect less sea ice there. This in turn would allow them to charter a lighter, cheaper vessel. 
This seems to be the case judging by their choice of seafaring vessel. They chartered a Russian vessel MS Akademik Shokalskiy, an ice-strengthened ship built in Finland in 1982. According to Wikipedia the ship has two passenger decks, with dining rooms, a bar, a library, and a sauna, and accommodates 54 passengers and a crew of up to 30. Though it is ice-reinforced, it is not an ice-breaker. This is a rather surprising selection for an expedition to Antarctica, especially in view that the AAE website itself expected to travel through areas that even icebreakers at times are unable to penetrate, as we are now vividly witnessing. Perhaps the price for chartering the Russian vessel was too good to pass up.
What made the expedition even more dubious is that Turney and his team brought on paying tourists in what appears to have been an attempt to help defer the expedition’s costs and to be a source of cheap labor. According to the AAE website, the expedition was costed at US$1.5 million, which included the charter of the Akademik Shokalskiy to access the remote locations. “The site berths on board are available for purchase.” Prices start at $8000!
The expedition brought with it 4 journalists, 26 paying tourists. Here it seems that the obvious risks and hazards of bringing tourists to the world’s harshest environment in a budget-priced vessel unable to handle ice-breaking may have been brushed aside, or at least played down. Was this reckless on the part of the expedition? That Antarctica is a harsh environment was in fact known to expedition leader Chris Turney: Bild online here quotes Turney: “In the Antarctic the conditions are so extreme that you can never make forecasts.” Is this an environment you’d want to bring unfamiliar tourists in – on a vessel that cannot even break ice?
Joe McConnell, an American ice sheet researcher, isn’t happy that rescuing these warmists is hurting serious researchers: 
Greetings from Casey Station on the East Antarctic coast. I’ve just returned from the deep field site at Aurora Basin where the Australians are drilling a new 400-meter ice core which we will analyze in my lab in Reno. 
I’m writing with regards to the rescue effort for that tourist ship stuck in the ice near Commonwealth Bay and the enormous impact of the rescue effort on Antarctic science programs. The Australian ice breaker Aurora Australis was here at Casey in the process of unloading the coming year’s supplies for the station, as well as a number of researchers and their science gear for this summer’s activities, when the emergency response request was issued. The Australians shut down the unloading very quickly and left within a few hours after the request arrived but only about a third of the resupply was completed and a lot of that science gear was still on board. Before they left they at least were able to get the passengers including six Aurora Basin researchers off the ship. Otherwise I’d still be at Aurora Basin and would have had to stay to the end of January since my field replacement was in that group.
The short- and long-term impacts on the Australian science program are pronounced as you can imagine and I understand it is the same for both the Chinese and French programs since their icebreakers were diverted, too. I’ll be sitting down to New Year’s Eve dinner in a few minutes with a number of Australian researchers including the director of the Australian Antarctic Division Tony Fleming– many of these guys can’t complete the research they’ve been planning for years because some or all of their science gear still is on the Aurora. 
But it would be mean to say Turney’s expedition was more a frolic - or a Quixotic quest - than a serious scientific exercise. Check the number of high-profile researchers he had on board:
MARGOT O’NEILL: Chris Turney’s wife Annette and two children Kara and Robert are also going with him to help blog, Tweet and broadcast about the experience for schools around the world. 
ROBERT TURNEY: Dad, on the blog, basically, it’s just: day after day, more ocean. CHRIS TURNEY: (laughs) Don’t be dreadful! No one wants to read that!
So this is what Robert Turney blogs about instead on the Spirit of Mawson website:
We spent the rest of the day eating, mucking about and enjoying ourselves. There was a small party in the bar and we all had secret santa gifts and I happily got videos of people doing some crazy dancing. During that time I also tried to get a few phone calls out to my friends back in Oz. Turns out Damon was happy and so was my friend Jonathon.
Who paid for all this? Who pays the millions for the rescue?
(Thanks to reader George.) 
===

Paglia on our decline

Andrew Bolt January 01 2014 (11:37am)

A bit OTT, maybe, but there’s some truth in it:
“WHAT you’re seeing is how a civilisation commits suicide,” says Camille Paglia. This self-described “notorious Amazon feminist” isn’t telling anyone to Lean In or asking Why Women Still Can’t Have It All. No, her indictment may be as surprising as it is wide-ranging: The military is out of fashion; Americans undervalue manual labour; schools neuter male students; opinion-makers deny the biological differences between men and women; and sexiness is dead. And that’s just 20 minutes of our three-hour conversation. 
===

Why didn’t Hawke and Keating tell Gillard what they now tell Abbott?

Andrew Bolt January 01 2014 (11:31am)

Why didn’t these former Labor leaders demand Labor stop racking up this debt in the first place?
BOB Hawke and Paul Keating have urged the Abbott government to slash spending and speedily repair the budget bottom line, arguing they faced up to a similar challenge in 1986-87 when the terms of trade collapsed and the dollar plummeted. 
“It’s a very, very large budget deficit that you’re looking at, projecting $47 billion, and they seem to be walking away from the suggestion that they can move into surplus in this first term,” said Mr Hawke, the prime minister from 1983 to 1991.
“What is required is the same thing. You’ve got to have a prime minister and treasurer, and a competent ministry which understands the issue and is prepared to make hard decisions. So it’s the same challenge.” Mr Keating, treasurer during the period, told The Australian that having informed voters “we couldn’t go on maintaining the standard of living we had become accustomed to”, he had to follow through with “structural adjustments to the economy and cut spending across the board”.
I assume that when Abbott does indeed slash spending that Hawke and Keating will defend him from the opportunistic attacks of the Labor Party that blew the Budget Abbott must now fix.
No? 
===

Nasty climate we’re having

Andrew Bolt January 01 2014 (8:31am)

Global warming - general

Maurice Newman, former chairman of the ABC and now chairman of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council, yesterday pointed out the folly of the global warming movement. Temperatures had not in fact risen by any statistically significant amount for 17 years now, and the “solutions” to this (non) warming were not just useless but cripplingly expensive.
To this argument, citing evidence, comes fact-free abuse from people claiming to be moralists.
Professional alarmist Tim Flannery, notorious for a spectacular record of dud predictions, resorts to something close to defamation:
Professor Newman’s gouty festive season ramblings might easily be forgiven as the product of an extra glass or two of port.
Comedian Wendy Harmer shrieks at the blasphemy:
image
The absolute certainty of the uninformed zealot.
UPDATE
Schopenhauer in the Art of Rhetoric described this kind of abuse as the last of 38 ways to win an argument when the facts are against you:
A last trick is to become personal, insulting, rude, as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand, and that you are going to come off worst. It consists in passing from the subject of dispute, as from a lost game, to the disputant himself, and in some way attacking his person… But in becoming personal you leave the subject altogether, and turn your attack to his person, by remarks of an offensive and spiteful character. It is an appeal from the virtues of the intellect to the virtues of the body, or to mere animalism. This is a very popular trick, because every one is able to carry it into effect; and so it is of frequent application… 
As a sharpening of wits, controversy is often, indeed, of mutual advantage, in order to correct one’s thoughts and awaken new views. But in learning and in mental power both disputants must be tolerably equal. If one of them lacks learning, he will fail to understand the other, as he is not on the same level with his antagonist. If he lacks mental power, he will be embittered, and led into dishonest tricks, and end by being rude. 
The abuse from a Flannery demonstrates that even he realises his game is up. 
===

Ship of Fools

Andrew Bolt January 01 2014 (7:49am)

image
Greens Senator-elect Janet Rice on December 7, about to board a ship filled with warmists:
I’m off to Antarctica tomorrow! It seems appropriate that my last post here before I go is about campaigning for effective action on climate change.
Rice on Christmas Day is stuck in ice:
Happy Christmas to the world from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition! We are celebrating Christmas in an amazing place- 66?41’ S, 144?18’ E to be precise. We’ve been here or hereabouts for over a day now, drifting with the pack ice, officially ‘beset’. Our ship the Shokalskiy is ice strengthened, not an ice breaker and the ice around us is currently beyond us.
Comedian Wendy Harmer cannot see the joke of global warmists (led by Professor Chris Turney) stuck in ice they assumed would be melted away:
image
But the embarrassment is so acute that the expedition organisers are pretending they were never that interested in global warming really:
BAD weather yesterday thwarted a planned helicopter evacuation of 42 scientists, tourists and media trapped aboard a Russian ship in Antarctic sea ice in Commonwealth Bay since Christmas… 
Cruise organisers yesterday were attempting to downplay the scientific nature of the voyage following a barrage of negative comments online. Many posts had highlighted the irony of climate change scientists being stuck in the ice…
A spokesman for the expedition said it was wrong to describe the voyage as a climate change journey despite there being climate scientists on board. But the website promoting the journey said there were “numerous science questions that need to be urgently addressed ... There is an increasing body of evidence that has identified parts of the East Antarctic which are highly susceptible to melting and collapse from ocean warming.”
We’ve mentioned before how reporters from the ABC and Fairfax media are covering up these warmists’ embarrassment. Take Nicky Phillips, a warmist reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald. Here is Phillips a month ago, telling us she’s going to visit the Antarctic (on another ship):
...global warming is an important story, and the trip will give Fairfax Media a rare opportunity to visit the continent most acutely affected by global warming. Antarctica is climate change ground zero.  The data that scientists gather will play a crucial role in future climate models.  
Phillips is now on the icebreaker which tried and failed to free the Shokalskiy and its mortified warmists. Her reports are now free of any mention of global warming now that she’s staring at record ice instead of melted glaciers.
You see, the sea ice around Antarctica isn’t showing any evidence of a warming planet:
image
UPDATE
When did Harmer tell a joke as good as this one?
Chris Turney, a professor of climate change at Australia’s University of New South Wales, said it was “silly” to suggest he and 73 others aboard the MV Akademic Shokalskiy were trapped in ice they’d sought to prove had melted. He remained adamant that sea ice is melting, even as the boat remained trapped in frozen seas... 
“Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up,” the Australasian Antarctic Expedition said in a statement.
UPDATE
What ice? What cold? Can’t you feel the global warming?
Professor Chis Turney seems so embarrassed by having his global warming alarmism exposed by the ice around his expedition’s ship that he’s taken to wearing just a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, even while the rest of the expedition are in parkas and heavy jumpers:

(Thanks to readers Matt and Leigh, and hat tip to Tim Blair and Watts Up With That for the doctored image of the trapped Russian ship,) 
===
" Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Top 10 Anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel Slurs Of 2013.

<Even as the world’s top diplomats celebrated a tentative nuclear/sanctions deal that many believe will not stop Iran’s capacity to go nuclear, few leaders condemned Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for his unabated public slurs and genocidal threats against the Jewish State. "

I can not escape the irony of those nations' own track records.

Those who curse become cursed themselves.>
Simon Wiesenthal Center’s top 10 anti-Semitic, anti-Israel slurs of 2013
www.jewishjournal.com
Even as the world’s top diplomats celebrated a tentative nuclear/sanctions deal that many believe will not stop Iran’s capacity to go nuclear, few leaders condemned Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for his unabated public slurs and genocidal threats against the Jewish State.
===
Iraq heroine shot in womb now six months pregnant
www.news.com.au
WHEN soldier Hannah Campbell was shot in the stomach while serving in Iraq, she was told she would never be able to have a baby.
Doctors are good. But God is greater - ed
===
USCB welcomes the release of 5 political prisoners today and charges dropped against many more.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights rightly acknowledges this does NOT fulfill Thein Sein's pledge to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013. Calls for the release of all and the repeal of oppressive laws.
UN News - Myanmar: UN human rights office welcomes presidential pardon for political prisoners
www.un.org
The United Nations human rights office today welcomed the presidential pardon granted in Myanmar to political prisoners convicted of or prosecuted for various offences under seven specific laws, including unlawful association, peaceful assembly, treason and sedition.
===
Washington Post 'Fact Checker' Glenn Kessler published a superb column today examining US-Burma policy. 

"U.S. officials are getting ahead of themselves when they assert that the administration has been “standing up” against atrocities, given that attacks have continued almost unabated with little or no consequences for the killers."

"Burma could one day be a foreign-policy success story, but without constant vigilance by the United States, both in word and deed, it could tip into failure."

How much has the United States been ‘standing up against’ atrocities in Burma?
www.washingtonpost.com
There is an increasing gap between rhetoric and reality in administration statements on Burma
===
I cannot follow you, my love, 
you cannot follow me. 
I am the distance you put between 
all of the moments that we will be. 
You know who I am, 
you've stared at the sun,
well I am the one who loves
changing from nothing to one.
Sometimes I need you naked,
sometimes I need you wild,
I need you to carry my children in
and I need you to kill a child.
You know who I am...
If you should ever track me down
I will surrender there
and I will leave with you one broken man
whom I will teach you to repair.
You know who I am...
I cannot follow you, my love,
you cannot follow me.
I am the distance you put between
all of the moments that we will be.
You know who I am…

===
US STOCKS-Futures edge up; Wall St set for best year since 1997
mobile.reuters.com
NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Tuesday before housing and consumer confidence data, with the S&P 500 on track for its best year since 1997 and the Dow set to record its best performance since 1996.
It was only a matter of time once GOP got the lower house .. ed
===
NASA slams Beyonce over Challenger grab
www.news.com.au
NASA officials have criticised Beyonce's use of an audio grab from the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster, saying the event "should never be trivialised".
Is the issue that NASA is the only group that can profit from it? - ed
===
Oodnadatta in SA's Far North poised for tilt at its own Australian recor d temperature of 50.7C
www.adelaidenow.com.au
AUSTRALIA'S hot weather record is under threat as intense temperatures envelop the Far North of South Australia today and tomorrow.
The Bradfield scheme would end the heat waves and water Australia. - ed
===
Are the very mental shortcuts our brain has evolved for efficiency working against the...
www.news.com.au
IS evolution itself driving America's growing rejection of modern biology? New studies suggest this very thing.
The problem, to my way of seeing things, is evolutionists who make claims about evolution that are not true. Evolution does not disprove God. Intelligent design is arrant foolishness based on the evolution disproves god fallacy. Creationism, where it is placed in opposition to evolution is meaningless. I probably did not have lizard ancestors, which is sad news for those cousins of mine hoping to grow a tail. But I had stone age ancestors and earlier .. and my people came to know God as the bible is written. - ed
===
Israeli Settler Doctor Provides Free Care to Ailing Palestinians | Jewish & Israel News...
www.algemeiner.com
On a day when snow still covers the Judean hills, a Jewish doctor from Efrat drives into the neighboring Palestinian village of Wadi Nis. He is greeted by the local Palestinian villagers with smiles and warm hellos. “There’s the doctor,” says one Palestinian woman to another as Dr. Yitzchak Glick lo...
"The connection runs so deep that the Arab villagers have alerted Efrat authorities on several occasions about terror cells on their way to attack the community." .. that deep .. ed
===
What Would Jesus Do? – Israellycool
www.israellycool.com
Feed the hungry or make an evil political statement that attacks Israel and the Jews?
As a Christian I cannot support terrorism or apartheid, which is why I stand up for Israel. The wall has served to prevent killing of women and children by those who want to ethnically cleanse land of its' native peoples. - ed
===
http://app.debka.com/p/article/23560/Exclusive-US-“framework”-calls-for-80-000-Israeli-West-Bank-eva
app.debka.com
http://app.debka.com/p/article/23560/Exclusive-US-%E2%80%9Cframework%E2%80%9D-calls-for-80-000-Israeli-West-Bank-evacuations-to-the-big-settlement-blocs
Institutionalised apartheid .. Kerry's plan seems to be to eliminate Israel in the long term. - ed
===
Cabinet papers reveal challenges of 86/87
www.news.com.au
IT began with the "banana republic" and ended with the doomed "Joh for Canberra" push.
bad government supported by divided opposition with Joh for Canberra and Peacock .. but .. it was the best government of the ALP to date .. it just wasn't good .. Australia card? Banana Republic? The re-election secured extraordinary pensions for its' ministers without any responsibility to the public. But they bragged they weren't as bad as Whitlam. - ed
===
Australia leads world in New Year's Eve party with Sydney and Melbourne fireworks
www.news.com.au
SYDNEY and Melbourne have kicked off the party that starts the world's new year by painting the night sky.
Clover Moore starts the year with $6.8 million dollar bill and a Sauron eye on the harbour bridge and un-listenably bad music on ABC - ed
===
<Anne Frank was a very special girl, but not very wise in the area of morality. How she could believe that people are basically good after seeing what the Nazis did is quite foolish. Let us all remember that she was only 13 years old.

The goal of Judaism is to make people "good," but unfortunately the reality is that many people are evil, or at the very least not so good!!! According to the Torah, we are born with a Yetzer Tov and a Yetzer Hara--a will to do good and a will to do bad. We are not born "good at heart." We have to learn goodness, just like we have to learn chemistry and algebra!!!>
I don't judge her or her dad. Maybe, if I could give them a much longer life together .. but even so .. She lived in a wall, not far from where a cousin of mine went mad in another wall. We never met, but I love her, and wish things had been different. But in all things there is reason. And I think part of that here is to learn humbleness.  - ed
===

===
“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
John 7:37
Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!
Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. "We pray you," says the Apostle, "as though God did beseech you by us." What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.
Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul's thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.
Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.
Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year's last day!
No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer's loving voice as he cries to each of us,
"IF ANY MAN THIRST,
LET HIM
COME UNTO ME
AND DRINK."

Evening

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."
Jeremiah 8:20
Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these hopeful seasons have come and gone--your summer and your harvest have past--and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you--will you ever be saved? Is there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have failed with you--the best of means, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection--what more can be done for you? Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not more than likely that you will abide as you are till death forever bars the door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it ever come? It is logical to fear that it never will arrive, and that Felix like, you will find no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is, and of the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it!
Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture. Write out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. A brother's voice would fain startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it will be well; and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit. Let not the new year's midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now, now, NOW believe, and live.
===

This is the last Bible reading for 2011! If you've made it all the way through this year-long reading plan, congratulations--you've read the entire Bible! This reading plan starts over from the beginning tomorrow (January 1).

Whether you read through the entire Bible this year or just part of it, we're glad you did and hope you've found it helpful in your spiritual walk.

Today's reading: Malachi 1-4, Revelation 22 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Malachi 1-4

1 A prophecy: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
Israel Doubts God’s Love
2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the LORD Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD—even beyond the borders of Israel!’

Today's New Testament reading: Revelation 22

Eden Restored
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever....
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