Thursday, September 10, 2015

Thu Sep 10th Todays News

None for 2015 .. because of Melbourne promotional trip
=== from 2014 ===
Gillard obfuscates before a royal commission. She says with hindsight she might have behaved differently. It beggars belief that with wisdom or honesty she would not behaved differently. In 1995 she said she could not rule out that some union money might have paid for some renovations on her house. Today she said it was entirely her own money. Which might mean she viewed union money as entirely her own. Her testimony is precise, even when she forgets everything. It is as if she did things wrong, but forgot about it, so isn't responsible for it. Luckily the law is not based on memory. She will never have to face for the over twelve hundred boat people she drowned through bad policy. It was her call. But failure to account for corrupt activity does not excuse it. It doesn't matter if others conveniently forget. The stand over tactics to steal money from business and then divert it from unions is not something that can be ignored or excused. She admits now she organised and founded a socialist union, which she once claimed she was merely a secretary. She later said at the age of thirty she was young and naive. She has also said she has faced questions before on these issues. In fact, she was duplicitous and an accomplished liar. 

Islamic leaders around the world are linking themselves to terrorism. They make claims that are even occasionally at odds with the activity of Islam which excuse the terror. Terrorists are a larger killer of Islamists than they are of others. One terror source is Islamic leadership excusing terror, another is books written to inform so called jihadis. A Queensland bookstore selling jihadi titles has been raided and books seized. The shop was apparently owned by a biological brother of a known suicide bomber. Women read books and women are joining the jihadis. Women join IS not solely for sex with many men .. they are also given duty finding cross dressing men .. and being low paid, veiled and subject to extreme sanction should they become inconvenient. Those books must be impressive beyond fifty shades of grey. One unheralded Islamic leader, or apostate, is Obama. Obama has been refused to play Golf at elite paddocks which is .. petty. His position deserves respect. Let him play golf wherever, whenever he wants to. But, don't trust his political judgement.

Scotland made the UK Great .. now will she leave? A star trek spoof shows how the world could be different under an isolated and irrelevant Scotland. Isolation and division is a hallmark of socialist style politics. At the moment, Clover Moore is hurting Sydney with her bicycle strategy killing main arterial roads and unwary bicyclists. Meanwhile, up to 25 projects worth billions of dollars in Western Australia could be at risk due to a "technical error" in their environmental approval. So, in Queensland there are new state laws designed to prevent most Queenlanders going to the Land Court to object to proposed mining projects. Another proposed law change in Victoria regarding surrogacy and succession. The proposed law change seems sound. There is a risk of wills being hijacked .. Rose Porteus rings a bell .. but the injustice from a bad will exists even if the lawyers get all the money. Let alternative argument make their points. Injustice results in pain and hurt. A family of five suffered greatly after a mum was brain damaged in a car accident in 2012. She worked hard to overcome obstacles and recently returned to nursing while her husband ran their farm. All five have been found dead in what is apparently a murder suicide. 

Federal minister for immigration and border protection Scott Morrison spoke brilliantly at a press club luncheon today so there has been little written about it. He has stopped boat people from drowning, saved thousands from refugee limbo, saved millions of dollars in waste and had to fight the opposition of an ALP bent on retaining her murderous policy favouring piracy. Many of the journalists present wanted Morrison to fail. He was on top of everything. Another brilliant launch was Apple's new iPhone models and an Apple Watch, which wasn't labelled the sniggering iWatch. Beautiful, functional and desirable. Meanwhile, in the shadow of the launch, Snapchat disclosed they were compensating a former employee not previously recognised for creating their timed delete function. Also Tinder let go of a CMO over sex abuse allegations. 

In the business of obfuscation and insight, there are few more capable than Helen Dale who is working as an advisor to Senator David Leyonhjelm. Good luck. A comedian faces an off comment from a Qantas steward regarding inflight chicken. The comedian calls it racist. But if Qantas were worried about the issue of racism they would serve pork. Or advocate for constitutional change, or something. Meanwhile, abstract art has been found in a cave 39000 years old and not made by humans. What distinguishes it from porn or functional, creative art is not described in reports. Had a man done it .. 
From 2013
A throw away line from the US Secretary of State about Syria avoiding being hit by missiles has been seized on by Russia. Syria may now hand over the weapons to the UN. It will be fascinating to find out how Saddam manufactured them, and it would embarrass the international press and Obama. Bring it on. 

Meanwhile, as California burns, arsonists in Australia have seized on a warm spring and many tens of fires burn out of control in NSW. The real burning issue according to Fairfax Press is who will lead the ALP. Rudd won't and no one has put up their hand yet. Fascinatingly, many who lauded Rudd a few days ago say he should never have been called back to lead the party. This may be true, but it is shameful and cynical to admit it only after an election while denying it during. The ABC's Media Watch is still on the offensive, claiming that it is wrong and unbalanced to ever criticise the ALP. The incompetent penis did not win a seat with his Wikileaks party. Apparently the projected 25% of the vote was not enough. On current projections (having achieved an actual 1.25%) Wikileaks will need projected some 225% of the vote. The Age is working overtime to accomplish just that. Sydney is warm. Arctic is cool. It is business as usual in these climate changing times. 
=== Publishing News ===
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.
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406, September https://www.createspace.com/5106914, October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more. 
===
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.
===

Happy birthday and many happy returns Daniel Katz, Eva Oraham and Joven Becus. Born on the same day, across the years as Louis IV of France (920), Thomas Sydenham (1624), Henry Purcell (1659), Isaac K. Funk (1839), K. S. Ranjitsinhji (1872), Israel Abramofsky (1888), Cyril Connolly (1903), Rin Tin Tin (1918), José Feliciano and Gerard Henderson (1945), Bill O'Reilly (1949), Guy Ritchie (1968) and Ayub Masika (1992). On your day, Paryushana begins (Digambar Jains, 2013); National Day in Gibraltar (1967)
1509 – An estimated 10,000 people died in Constantinople due to an earthquake so strong it was known as "the Lesser Judgement Day".
1813 – War of 1812: American forces led by Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British on Lake Erie near Put-in-Bay, Ohio.
1937 – Led by the United Kingdom and France, nine nations met in the Nyon Conference to address international piracy in the Mediterranean Sea.
1960 – Mickey Mantle hit what was originally thought to be the longest home run in major league baseball, an estimated 643 feet (196 m).
2007 – Nawaz Sharif, the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, returned to the country after being ousted in a coup and exiled eight years earlier. The lesser judgement seems harsh. How did Hazard come by his name? Avoid the dread pirate Wesley. Head for home. The exile is over. Savour the day.
Deaths
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Clover’s deluded death wish list for Sydney’s cyclists

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 (1:14am)

IRATE Sydneysiders yesterday launched a last-ditch campaign to stop Lord Mayor Clover Moore desecrating more of our beautiful city with her gridlock-inducing bike paths.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Clover’s deluded death wish list for Sydney’s cyclists'
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Julia Gillard back to face the music

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 (1:13am)

JULIA Gillard’s appearance at the unions royal commission today is the most anticipated political testimony since Bill Clinton swore: “I never had sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Julia Gillard back to face the music'
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WHERE NO HAGGIS HAS GONE BEFORE

Tim Blair – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 (2:56pm)

How Star Trek might look following September 18’s Scottish independence vote:

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SOMETHING USEFUL FROM A UNIVERSITY

Tim Blair – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 (2:55pm)

(Via Jalopnik)
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JUST ANOTHER BOOKSTORE

Tim Blair – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 (2:53pm)

Terrorism arrests in Queensland: 
Two Brisbane men face terrorism charges after Australian Federal Police raided an Islamic bookstore and seven homes on Brisbane’s southside.
It will be alleged the men were involved in recruiting, facilitating and funding people to travel to Syria to engage in hostile activities, the AFP says.
The charges come after an islamic book store and drop-in centre south of Brisbane was raided by the Australian Federal Police this morning. 
The bookstore is believed to be run by the brother of Australia’s first suicide bomber.
===

JULIA’S MONEY

Tim Blair – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 (12:09pm)

Julia Gillard in 1995: 
“I can’t categorically rule out that something at my house didn’t get paid for by the association or something at my house didn’t get paid for by the union or whatever.” 
Julia Gillard today, at the royal commission into unions: 
“All payments made for renovations on my property were from my own money.” 
===

Can’t we just argue about race without running to the courts?

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (7:13pm)

image
Brilliant. A re-run of the stupid case run against me as people squabble over which of them can call themselves Aboriginal.
Senator Jacqui Lambie in her maiden speech claimed to have Aborigine ancestry. A Tasmanian “elder”, Clyde Mansell, claimed this was false.

Now Lambie is threatening to sue him:
“I’ve instructed my staff to collect all comments from Mr Mansell and send them to my solicitor for ­review,” she said. 
“In the meantime I invite Mr Mansell to officially apologise for the defamatory, ill-informed comments he’s made in regards to my Aboriginality. “I will not let anyone attempt to deny and steal my identity or family history.”
“Uncle" Roy to the rescue:
But Tasmanian elder Uncle Roy Maynard told The Australian the Palmer United Party senator should not have to “prove anything” and criticised Mr Mansell for “attacking” her.
The politics of race is one of the most stupid and potentially dangerous.  Yet this is the kind of stuff the Government hopes to get enshrined in the Constitution.   
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How Gillard’s drafting would have fooled a judge

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (6:11pm)

One of the most troubling aspects of the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association that Julia Gillard helped to register is the deceit.
I mean the deceitful title of the slush fund, which actually had nothing to do with the union.  But Gillard said today she did not choose the name (although she conceded she did not check with the union whether it was OK with its name being used like this).
I mean also the deceitful ad claiming the slush fund was actually being created “for the purpose of promoting and encouraging workplace reform for workers”, when Gillard said it was in fact for raising money for union elections. But Gillard said she did not draft or see the ad.
And I mean also the deceitful objects of the association, stating what the slush fund’s purpose was:
image
And this time Gillard could not blame someone else.
Gillard was asked why those articles did not plainly say the purpose of the slush fund was to raise money to fight union elections. She gave no coherent answer, but argued that the objectives were “broadly drawn”, and clause “f” described the fund’s purpose.

Fact is, the more disguised the slush fund’s true purpose was - and the more the fund was made to look like a union entity or a workplace safety or reform body - the more easily it could be used as a vehicle for Wilson’s alleged fraud: to bill bosses for workplace services not delivered. Gillard insists she had no idea what the fund would be used for and no idea how it was then used, either. Indeed, there is no proof or even credible evidence to the contrary.
But to judge how unusual this slush fund was, and how misleading were its objects of association, we need only go to the evidence given yesterday by Justice Bernard Murphy, who was Gillard’s boss at the time at Slater & Gordon.
Here is Murphy being cross-examined by David Galbally:

Q. Bandied around in the Commission here is the 
expression the “slush fund”. A slush fund is or was 
essentially an election fund, isn’t that right? 
A. I’d not heard it called a slush fund. The expression 
I used was election fund… 
Q. So an election fund is made up of a group of unionists 
who contribute to that fund from payroll deductions and the 
money is used for the purposes of elections? 
A. Yes. 
Q. It wouldn’t be possible to register one of an election 
fund per se as an incorporated association, would that be 
the position? 
A. I never tried. I don’t know. 
Q. You’re not aware of any election fund being registered 
as an incorporated association? 
A. I never did… 
Q. ...  but when it is incorporated there is a 
necessity, is there not, to have objectives and rules? 
A. Yes. 
Q. Have you ever read the rules that were registered with 
the Workplace Reform Association? 
A. No. 
Q. Could the witness be shown, Commissioner, just the 
first page of the rules of the Workplace Reform 
Association? ...  I only require you, your Honour, to look at the front 
page of that document. 
A. Yes. 
Q. Do you see, “Objects of the Association”? 
A. Yes. 
Q. Just confirm that you are reading that from “The Rules 
of the Australian Workers’ Union, Workplace Reform 
Association”, at the top? 
A. Yes… 
Q.  . I don’t want to ask you about this 
association, but what I want to ask you about is this: 
there’s no reference in those objects, is there, to 
elections, candidates, bank accounts? There are no key 
words that might apply to an election fund? 
A. It doesn’t refer to elections. 

Q. No. They are aspirational objects, are they not, to 
a welfare entity? 
A. They’re aspirational objects. 
Q. But a reader of these objects would not be able to 
conclude that there was an election fund built into this 
association? 
A. It wasn’t clear to me reading them.
===

Free speech needs a better defence

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (5:47pm)

Professor James Allan:
CONSIDER the following two quotations. “At least one basic teaching of true liberalism is that the essential right of free people is the right to offend, and an essential responsibility of free people is to learn how to cope with being offended … No consequential idea ever failed to offend someone; no consequential person was ever spared great offence.” (Bret ­Stephens, Wall Street Journal, May 19.) 
“People have a right to be bigots you know … In a free country people have rights to say things that other people find offensive or insulting or bigoted.” (George Brandis, Senate, March 24.)
As readers will well know, the latter words caused all sorts of uproar among opposition politicians, among most of the Human Rights Commission (that body that ought to be wound up tomorrow for its reekingly partisan agenda), among whole swathes of the bien pensants in “our” ABC, and with some members of “Team Australia” who don’t seem to have received the memo that they are part of the team. But notice that both quotes are actually saying pretty much exact­ly the same thing. Isn’t it embarrassing to live in a country where Brandis’s words are seen as an own goal; where stating the blunt truth about free speech — that it’s a concept about protecting people to say things that others don’t want to hear — is one of the grounds on which a government caves in, on what is in fact a modest repeal of an awful piece of legislation.
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The new invasion of Europe

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (11:05am)

Europe could drown under the politics of compassion:
Foolishly, last October Italy’s left-wing government became the first European Union country to decriminalise illegal immigration and deploy its navy at huge expense to save ‘illegal’ migrants crossing the narrow Sicilian channel in open boats from North Africa (Libya mainly) in order to bring them to Italy and thus the European Union — where most remain. Few get sent back: sent back where, exactly? … 
The policy change, driven by a perverted mix of human decency and political correctness, was pure folly: it has acted as a green light to wannabe boat people everywhere, whose numbers soar as the chaos in Africa and the Middle East escalates. The result is an exodus of biblical proportions out of Africa into Italy. So far this year, more than 100,000 boat people have arrived in Italy — two thirds of them brought ashore by the Italian navy. That is more than double the number who arrived in 2011, the previous record year. It is estimated that the total by the end of 2014 will surpass 200,000. So far this year Italy has deported only 10,000. Italy is unable to cope. Its few temporary stay identification centres are full to the gunnels and it has been forced to house boat people in hotels and council flats. Each boat person costs Italian taxpayers €43 a day, says the government, which is €4.3 million a day for this year’s 100,000 (so far) alone… Increasingly, the police just dump coachloads of them at big stations such as Milan with no money or documents — and buona notte, arrivederci.
Next: an ugly reaction from the European far-Right as mainstream parties lose control.
UPDATE
The numbers soar:
At ground zero is Italy, by far the largest gateway for migrants into Europe with a record 119,839 people arriving since January, according to the Italian Interior Ministry — already more than double the 42,000 total for 2013.
(Thanks to reader Andrew.) 
===

Julia Gillard at the royal commission

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (10:32am)

image
Julia Gillard testifies at the royal commission into trade union corruption. [Her witness statement here.]
She says:
- became a salaried partner of Slater & Gordon in 1990.
- in 1989 or 1990 Slater & Gordon commenced work for the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers Union.
- Bernard Murphy, her boss, did most of the work.
- part of her salary restructure on promotion was a $40,000 advance. Borrowed another $100,000 from the Commonwealth Bank. That went to buy her Abbottsford property.

- first met Bruce Wilson in April 1991 when in WA on other union business. He needed legal advice for his bid to become WA secretary of the AWU.
- she started her relationship with him in late 1991.
- denies that Bill Telikostiglou - “Bill the Greek” - was Wilson’s “minder”. Says he was an organiser who reported to him.
- in 1992 received instruction from Wilson on forming the Workplace Reform Association. He wanted a fund in WA to support him and his team for an election campaign there.
- fund was for holding “election monies” for him and his “team”.
- doesn’t recall setting up any other incorporated entities like this for other unions, but understood Slater & Gordon “had done such work”. Doesn’t recall which unions it had done this for.
- did “not know anything” of the banking arrangements or “particular” bank accounts of the WRA. She knew there was an intention to set up a bank account. “I had no knowledge of any of the banking arrangements of the Workplace Reform Association”.
- “I provided legal advice.” Had no further contact with the association.
- “I had a file, a manila folder with documents in it” with AWU on it and put it in the filing cabinet but did not open an official file. Says Slater & Gordon was a smaller outfit back then. “It was common to do work without fee for trade unions” in order to get their other legal business.  It was a “judgement call” which of those freebies to put on the system file. This was only a few hours work - “three, four, five hours”.
- she’d admitted to Slater & Gordon it might have been better opening this file on the system. But she had done “more substantial” work for free for other unions.
- she predominantly communicated with Wilson over the AWU WRA.
- had done a similar incorporation for the Socialist Forum.

[Note: Gillard says she incorporated the Socialist Forum. On the ABC in 2007 she pretended she was just a part-time typist at this communist front, claiming “I was a full-time university student and I had a part-time job for an organisation called Socialist Forum, which was a sort of debating society.... I’ve worked in the cleric and administrative work."]
- denies Bernard Murphy, now a judge and then a Slater & Gordon partner, was part of any meeting with Wilson and Ralph Blewitt to set up the AWU WRA.
- can’t recall if advised or drafted advertisement - as required by law - notifying of intention to incorporate the AWU WRA. This advertisement duly appeared. Gillard refuses to say it would have been likely that she advised on this advertisement and refuses to concede the advertisement has language of a legal flavor. “I don’t believe I did draft this advertisement.”
Counsel assisting, Jeremy Stoljar, notes that the advertisement claims the AWU WRA would be for “promoting and encouraging workplace reform”. It does not say anything about elections, which Gillard has now said was its purpose. Gillard denies advising on the ad so can’t explain the discrepancy.
Gillard is asked to look at the objectives of the AWU WRA and say which described the purpose of the association as she’s just described it - “the purpose of the association was to.. regularise arrangements between a team of officials who were intending to run in union elections and to enable them to fund raise to support their campaigning.”
Gillard admits that the objectives are “broadly drawn”, but nominates clause “f”:
image
Stoljar asks Gillard why she didn’t “squarely” say the association was for raising money for elections: “The object was as I think we’ve been discussing, to raise funds for elections and to operate an account where those funds could be collected. Why not just say that?”
Gillard replies:  “I obviously thought it should be broadly drawn” and should describe what the officials were concerned with to “capture all matters which might be relevant to that”. She was operating on instructions from Wilson and Blewitt.

Editorial note: what is established so far is that Gillard’s work for her boyfriend’s slush fund was effectively hidden from her partners, the true purpose of the fund was hidden from the public in the public advertisement, and the true purpose of the fund was obscured from regulators in the articles of association. Gillard’s defence is that her work on the fund was thought too insubstantial to open a file, she did not draft the advertisement and the articles are simply “broadly drawn”.
Hmm.
Back to the evidence.
Gillard says:
- did not ask about who filled the WRA’s positions or what meetings were held. “I did not have some ongoing role...” Just advised on the incorporating of the association, and not on its operation.
- agrees that handwriting on the forms incorporating the AWU WRA is her own.
- denies suggesting that the application of incorporation declare that the AWU WRA was for workplace safety. Would not have suggested name of the association - Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association. Believes that was Wilson’s idea.
- admits she did not check with the Australian Workers Union whether it had authorised this use of its name.

- agrees that the AWU WRA “was not part of the union”.
- had “no cause for concern at that time” about the use of the union’s name. Did not know at the time the association would be used to mislead people.
- had no concern that the name itself was misleading or would cause confusion.  “There was nothing in any of this back at the time which causes me to conclude in any way that the name of the association or anything else about the association would be used to mislead people.”
- asked if she knew the name “could facilitate, potentially, cheques being drawn in favour of the AWU being deposited into the association’s bank account”, responds: “None of us get to go in a time machine and go backwards. Obviously if one got to do the whole thing again you would do things differently given what I know now that I did not know at the time.”

- had no idea that an invoice was issued by the AWU WRA to Thiess before it was incorporated. (Thiess paid $380,000 to the AWU WRA, but didn’t get any work in return, Ralph Blewitt and Bruce Wilson have said.)
- wrote to Office of State Corporate Affairs in May 1992 to respond to its inquiry on the legitimacy of the AWU WRA. Says she would have assured it “this was not a trade union”.
- does not know why she didn’t simply explain to the Office that the AWU WRA was not a union because its purpose was to fight union elections.
- Wilson moved to Melbourne in 1992.
- discussed work with Wilson, but never discussed the association with him. The association has no “particular significance” in her work.
Next topic - the purchase of the Kerr St house…
Gillard says:
- Blewitt wanted an investment property in Melbourne and Wilson would live in it.
- would not have witnessed any documents without the signatory present. (This in relation to the power of attorney that Ralph Blewitt says he signed without Gillard actually present. So Gillard denies Blewitt’s claim that she did not witness the document properly.) The date would have been correct, too: “You put the right date on a document.”
- attended the auction with Wilson.
- referred Blewitt to Slater & Gordon for help in financing.
- conveyancing done by the paralegal, Olive Palmer. “I’ve never done a conveyancing file” although Gillard made “one or two or three” inquiries.
- inquired at firm about interest rates on behalf of Blewitt. Would have reported back to Blewitt or Wilson.
- routine in developing relationships with unions to not charge fees - or to charge reduced fees - on such services.
Post lunch.
Gillard says she:
- did not discuss with Wilson his election campaign or how he was raising money for it.
- did not know of a letter sent by Slater & Gordon to Blewitt in March 1993 asking for $67,000 to settle the Kerr St property purchase.
- did not know about a cheque then paid to Slater & Gordon for that amount, and drawn on the AWU WRA..
- did not know why the $67,000 cheque was recorded in the firm’s trust account ledger as coming from Ralph Blewitt rather than the AWU WRA, the drawer of the cheque.
- did not discuss how Blewitt would find the money, but knew he wanted a mortgage. Did think he had “family funds”, and his wife’s funds to draw on.
On her renovations…
Gillard says:
- Wilson and friends demolished her bathroom when she was on holidays in Queensland. Had no option then but to get her planned renovations done. “I’d been talking about getting the renovations done for quite a period of time. Bruce Wilson obviously thought I should get on with it and created circumstances where I had to get on with it.”
- AWU organiser Jim Collins recommended the tradesmen who did the work.
- denies telling Wilson to fix what he’d started.
- tradesmen worked on kitchen, bathroom, plastering, tiling, ceilings - “I paid them.”
- got work started in the same month she went away.
- didn’t get quotes. Relied on Collins’ recommendations of tradesmen.  Decided to “get on with it”.
- “didn’t sit down and write a budget”. Extended her mortgage.
- “I was the only person who would have had receipts.” (This to clarify what she’d told Slater & Gordon at the time that she had “some of the receipts at home”.)
- asked why she’d also referred to having had receipts for “bits of the work”, she said she then pulled them all together.
- when asked why she now refers to having had invoices when she previously referred only to having had receipts, replies: “I obviously got invoices.” (Royal commissioner corrects Stoljar to note that Gillard had in one statement referred to an invoice from Con Spiridis, the builder.)
- paid for her work by cheque.
- said “it wasn’t my preference, no” that Wilson destroyed her bathroom. 
- said she “took steps” to satisfy herself that she’d paid for everything, looking at all that was done on her place. Denies it was possible that Wilson or Collins paid some of the tradesmen in cash.
- wasn’t sure on the day that Slater & Gordon grilled her on the payments - in 1995, a year later - whether she’d paid for all the work herself. Is now.
- denies telling builder Athol James - as he claimed - that Bruce Wilson was paying for her renovations.
- doesn’t remember Wilson paying $5000 into her bank account. Thinks she’d remember. Dispute Wayne Hem’s evidence that this money was handed over.
- says Hem does not accurately describe her home and there was never the combination of trades people at her home at the time he describes when he told the evidence of going with Bill the Greek to her home to pay the painters. Disputes there was any painting she hadn’t paid for. Got the property wrong, the layout wrong, the combination of tradesmen wrong, given the work was done at different times.
- disputes Blewitt’s evidence that he handed Wilson money that he in turn handed to tradesmen at the property, saying it is “inherently improbable”. It was unlikely that both she and Wilson would be at the property at the same time when both were busy at work.
- talked to Wilson after the “rumors” about the AWU WRA broke, concluded he was “evasive” and broke off the relationship. “I had a discussion with Mr Wilson and he was evasive and I formed the view that I had not been fully in the picture about the nature of his conduct and I took steps to end our relationship.”
- denies having a meeting with Rob Elliot and Kay Darveneza in the 1990s and offering to set up a similar association for them.
Here is what Stoljar has not done:
- caught out Gillard telling a lie.
- established Gillard witnessed Blewitt’s power of attorney without Blewitt present.
- proven Gillard received money from Wilson.
- proven Gillard’s renovations were paid for by Wilson. (This remains a they-said-she-said dispute.)
- established Gillard knew how Wilson was using the slush fund.
- established that Gillard knew of the deceptive wording of a public advertisement declaring an intention to register the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association.
In my opinion, Stoljar has shown:
- the slush fund had a deceptive name with deceptive objectives, and was advertised deceptively as being for workplace reform. It could be argued that a good lawyer should have been alert to all this.
- the AWU was not informed by Gillard of the misuse of its name by the slush fund. It could be argued that a good lawyer should have done so.
- Gillard did not have a convincing argument for not opening a file on her work for Wilson. A good lawyer should have opened that file.
- Gillard did not have a convincing explanation for the objectives of the association not clearly stating it was actually for raising money for elections.
Gillard is excused from giving more evidence. She has escaped serious damage. But she has given her account under oath, always a hazard. I doubt anything serious can be proven against her on the evidence so far. But the creation of that slush fund looks very sleazy and sloppy. 
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Union boss retracts statement about Julia Gillard’s offer of a slush fund for him, too

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (10:23am)

Not a great look all round.
Rob Elliott is a former Health Services Union secretary whose wife Kay Darveneza is a Labor MLC
He wrote this damning statement in 2012:
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In the witness box today, though, he tells the royal commission into trade union corruption that he was completely wrong. Michael Smith reports:
Mr Elliott has declined to adopt these paragraphs in the witness box.  He says he has changed his mind from the time when he made this statement.  He says as a result of discussions with his wife he has now refreshed his memory of events and he now states that his memory as reflected in this statement is a false memory. 
He wishes to place on the record his apology to Ms Gillard. Mr Elliott has not adopted the statement, however he has acknowledged that he wrote the statement and he believed it to be true at the time he wrote it.  
His wife follows Elliott into the witness box and pleads a faulty memory.
Smith again:
Ms Darveneza stated that she has never had a discussion with anyone, no one at all, about any conversation with Ms Gillard about setting up an entity similar to the Workplace Reform Association. 
She now says, “We talked about it, we discussed it but nothing was ever set up.”
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Shorten like lost soldier still fighting World War 2

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (8:56am)

What the hell is Opposition Leader Bill Shorten playing at when using this argument to oppose buying cheaper and better submarines from Japan?
“This is a government with a short memory,” he said. ”In the Second World War, 366 merchant ships were sunk off Australia.”
That is a line you’d expect from a rabble-rousing shop steward and not an alternative prime minister.
UPDATE
Still fighting the revolution, too:
“Why is the Prime Minister placing the interests of nine mining companies over the interests of almost nine million working Australians?” Shorten asked in question time last Wednesday. “Why does the Prime Minister back nine mining companies over nine million people? Why is the Prime Minister placing the interests of one billionaire ahead of the interests of nine million working Australians?” 
It is impossible to imagine Paul Keating, Hawke, Hayden or Chifley framing a question around the naked premise that a business ­accumulates wealth by robbing the workers. 
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Scottish referendum could put British Labour out of business

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (7:59am)

British Conservatives will see a silver lining if Scotland next week votes to be independent. Scotland, being so welfare dependent, is a Labor heartland:
Labour is on course to win the 2015 general election only because of its strong support in Scotland, the poll revealed… 
At present, Labour holds 41 of the 59 Scottish seats at Westminster ... 
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“Nothing going on” with Fairfax, says Rinehart

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (7:23am)

The rumors are now strong enough to demand a denial:
Billionaire miner Gina Rinehart has denied any current plan to join with Rupert Murdoch’s nephew Matthew Handbury in a partial bid or full takeover of Fairfax Media… 
Jason Morrison, spokesman for Mrs Rinehart, said there was “nothing going on with Hancock [Prospecting, Mrs Rinehart’s company] and Fairfax other than maintaining the stake in the company.” 
Interesting that this Fairfax piece omits the usual Fairfax barbs in discussing Rinehart. Is that a sign?
Sharri Markson has more:
While a takeover of Fairfax is still an option being considered by Mrs Rinehart, The Australian understands she has no immediate plans to purchase the company, with or without Handbury. 
Mr Handbury declined to comment on the possibility of buying a shareholding in Fairfax. “I’m not commenting on speculation,’’ he told The Australian…
The Australian understands that a mutual acquaintance of Mr Handbury and Mrs Rinehart ­approached them and conversations took place… In the past week, Fairfax executives, including Mr Corbett and chief executive Greg Hywood, have become increasingly concerned that Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, which has a 14.99 per cent stake in Fairfax, may launch a takeover bid.
I shall enjoy this. 
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Julia Gillard’s word was enough for the judge

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (7:00am)

The AWU scandal

Judge Bernard Murphy was Julia Gillard’s boss at the law firm Slater & Gordon and puts the allegation against her well:
As Murphy bluntly told yesterday’s hearing: “The concern that was conveyed was that Julia Gillard had created an association (union slush fund) which might have been set up corruptly and might have involved corrupt moneys and it involved the firm in the conveyance of these moneys. 
“She was being accused of wrongdoing by others in the firm...”
But Murphy’s evidence to the royal commission yesterday suggests Gillard didn’t have to do much at all to persuade Murphy all was well:
“She assured me there was nothing in it.” 
Like many of Gillard’s supporters, he did not believe it then. Nor, he added, does he believe it now. He told the inquiry that he did no investigations and asked few questions. Gillard assured him she had done nothing wrong… He told how partners were also “very concerned” about Gillard’s role in the conveyancing of a property that would be purchased with money from the slush fund.He said he had also heard the rumours about AWU funds going towards payment for renovations at Gillard’s property. But in the end, her word sealed it.
Yet Murphy can’t help but see that not everything stacks up with what Gillard had said was a fund for fighting union elections:
Murphy would not have meant to make her position more difficult on the eve of her giving evidence, but he didn’t help by volunteering yesterday that he “would have opened a file in those circumstances”, in relation to the work on establishing the association (she didn’t open a file and this meant her partners were in the dark about the slush fund’s existence for three years of its operation). 
Murphy also agreed, as he read the rules and objects of the formal legal entity, that he could see nothing relating to it being an election slush fund.
Still, it’s perhaps natural that Murphy didn’t make further inquiries, given they were such good friends:
They stayed friends while both were estranged from the firm, which they regarded as having dealt with them very unfairly. She went into the political arena and became Australia’s first female prime minister. And in her first 12 months as the nation’s leader, Murphy became the first solicitor from Victoria to be appointed to the Federal Court.
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Battlers’ mate Clive Palmer accused

Andrew Bolt September 10 2014 (6:47am)

Not a good look for a politician now claiming to look after the battlers:
Clive Palmer faces an unfair dismissal claim from a former employee at his Queensland resort who has told the Fair Work Commission that the billionaire MP allegedly referred to him as a “fat c---” just before ordering his sacking in June. 
Peter Yates had worked at the Coolum resort since 1998 and was its assistant food and beverage manager… It is understood that Mr Yates has yet to be paid out his annual leave, long service leave and other entitlements…
In his unfair dismissal application lodged with the Fair Work Commission, Mr Yates claims he was informed that Mr Palmer had allegedly pointed him out to at least two other staff members and said words to the effect of “I want him gone”.
Mr Yates’ application states that when staff accompanying Mr Palmer asked who he was referring to, Mr Palmer allegedly stated: “The one on the forklift. The fat c---"…
Mr Yates states that he was given no reason for his termination. In response to questions from Fairfax Media, Mr Palmer said on Tuesday: “We employ thousands of people throughout Australia and deal with them in accordance with the law.”
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We’re in more danger: ASIO

Andrew Bolt September 09 2014 (8:07pm)

The terror alert level rises:
ASIO director-general David Irvine is seriously considering lifting the level from medium because of the number of people returning from fighting in Iraq and Syria. 
Security agencies were aware of more than 20 people in Australia who had fought in the Middle East and posed a threat to national security, Mr Irvine told the ABC’s 7.30 Report tonight.
He said the threat to Australia was now “a very elevated level of medium”.
“I’m certainly contemplating very seriously the notion of lifting it higher because of the numbers of people that we are having to be concerned about here in Australia,” he said. The “medium” threat rating means a terrorist attack could occur in Australia and the “high” level is used when government and agencies believe an attack is likely.
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Obama Care death panels operating now - ed
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Console yourself
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A generation after many prominent feminists encouraged women to “have it all,” we continue to decry the absence of women in politics, business and other positions of power. At the same time, even though there is more opportunity for women now than ever before in history, some professional women argue that we can’t or shouldn’t want to have it all.
But is it really too much to have a prominent career and a family? Must we make just one choice to tip the balance of power?
I don’t think so — women can have it all, and here is how:
1. Define what “having it all” means to you. Like many women, I didn’t want to work so hard for someone else that I wouldn’t have time for a family. Not only did I want to have a successful career and a family, I wanted the freedom to do the kind of work I pleased.
Yet working for a branding firm in Manhattan, I found myself staying late and coming in on weekends to represent products and companies I didn’t believe in. I was frustrated. I realized that what I wanted most was more control over my hours and over the people, companies and products I worked with.
2. Strike out on your own — gradually, if needed. If you want to avoid what Anne-Marie Slaughter calls the “time macho” of male-dominated corporate culture, why not start a business or a freelance career?
Like any major transition, owning your own business can be a gradual process. After several years of working for a company, I had enough confidence in my work as a graphic designer to strike out on my own and start freelancing. While freelancing, I developed relationships with businesses, potential clients, and other entrepreneurs who wanted to partner with me.
I developed an interest in branding and eventually in how alternative forms of cause marketing could alter the marketplace (and people’s lives). Slowly but surely, I found my way and gradually built a life of freelancing into a business.
3. Make your own rules. Maybe you can accomplish the same amount of work in 50 hours that others can in 90 hours. Maybe you work better from home; maybe you work better at night. Maybe you are more creative if you get enough sleep and spend time with your family. Maybe you want to measure success by results rather than how much time you have logged. Or maybe you think your employees will do better work if you treat them well.
In a world where you set the rules and the measure of success, it is possible to create an alternative culture. It is possible to stop asking to be part of the game (or trying to fit into the game) and start your own game instead.
Over time, I was able to choose clients and associates who shared my vision of a business in which success would be measured by more than revenue, a business that would help make the world a more humane place.
I still work hard, but I choose my own hours, and all my work fuels a vision I have for my new company Maiden Nation — a community devoted to the idea that women can live the lives they imagine for themselves.
You can live the life you imagine, too. The first step is knowing what that looks like.
With degrees in Anthropology from Columbia University and Design from Parsons, Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown represents a brand development vanguard uniting global, technological, and social concerns. She has introduced leading international brands, like Sony Ericsson, into the North American market. Additionally, Elizabeth has founded many sustainable branding initiatives including Choose Haiti and launched this Fall, Maiden Nation. She is the co-founder of Maiden Nation and studioe9.com.
The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

I won't presume to know what women want, but being in love with a good woman, I know what I would like to share. She is a strong, capable independent person. I feel it would be selfish of me to try to make her work and effort easier by making her choose easier options. I want to make her life better. To help her to reach further. To allow her to do more, and be satisfied in doing it that her future, her hopes, are assured of bearing fruit. There are many stages to a life, and to shorten them would not be a loving act. -ed
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PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY:
1. If a person laughs too much, even at stupid things, he is lonely deep inside..
2. If a person sleeps a lot, he is sad..
3. If a person speaks less, but speaks fast, he keeps secrets..
4. If someone can't cry, he is weak..
5. If someone eats in an abnormal manner, he is tense..
6. If someone cries on little things, he is innocent & soft-hearted..
7. If someone becomes angry over silly or petty (small) things, it means he needs love...
Balance. I eat normally, but am often tense. I talk slowly but keep secrets. Laughing too much is subjective. Idi Amin and Stalin laughed often, but had hearts of stone. I find unrequited love uplifting, but wish it returned. There is such a thing as what psychologists say .. but my heart beats for God .. it means little what I say, if it is not what I do. Thomas Moore referred to faith as being like water cupped in the hands of a thirsty man in a desert. Their actions, like their words, must protect that water, or, if they, in a loose moment, unclasp their hands, and lose the water, no amount of scrabbling through the dust will retrieve it. - ed
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Daniel Katz
"With only 1% of world financial assets invested in gold, very few so called investment experts have any understanding of the yellow metal. 

So during the 22 month correction in the gold price, most of the 99% who don’t own gold have all been calling the end of the bull market. What most of these people don’t understand is that gold is not in a bull market. It is paper money going down rather than gold going up. For 5,000 years gold has been the only money that has maintained its purchasing power. Every single currency has been destroyed throughout history in a permanent bear market. Voltaire was so right when he in 1729 said that “Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – ZERO”. "
..John Tran
even as a bad investment, which Perth Mint Gold is .. it has a 30 year delay before it appreciates to profit .. it is a better investment than cash. Thing is, as with all investments, be smart. My great grandfather was independently wealthy through running London movie theaters .. he was a musician who played for silent films .. he invested heavily in airships (not airplanes, but things like the Hindenburg and lost everything .. lessons that are worth remembering .. diversify .. have a plan .. know the limitations .. ed
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She is not yet old enough to see what she is doing. It isn't about her .. but it is her music, her emo mojo. She probably feels this is breakthrough. Her young fans cannot copy her and be unscathed. They don't have her resources. ed
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Victor Hugo wrote both Les Misèrables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in the nude so he wouldn’t be tempted to leave his house. He even had his valet hide his clothes.
Demosthenes shaved half his head so that he would be too embarrassed toleave home until his writing was finished.
Honoré de Balzac would down black coffee so he could write for long stretches—often for more than 48 hours at a time. (Hey, what’s weird about that???)
Ernest Hemingway stood while he met his 500-word-per-day, self-imposed quota. His writing regimen was to be “done by noon and drunk by three.”
Truman Capote, George Orwell, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Winston Churchill, and Marcel Proust all preferred to write while lying in bed.
Charles Dickens would go for walks (20 miles or so every day) and try to get lost in order to spark his creativity.
James Joyce felt that it was a productive day if he composed just three sentences. (How would your manager feel about that?)
Vladimir Nabokov wrote on index cards in no particular order. One of his books consisted of 2,000 index cards.
William Wordsworth would recite his poetry to his dog while taking strolls. If the dog barked or was upset as he read, he would rewrite the draft.
Friedrich Schiller kept a drawerful of rotten apples in his study. His wife claimed that he could not live or work without the awful aroma.
Alexandre Dumas could only write poetry on yellow paper, articles on pink paper, and novels on blue paper.
Edgar Allan Poe’s beloved cat, Catterina, would sit on Poe’s shoulders while he wrote.
French novelist Colette always plucked fleas from her bulldog until she was ready to write.
Gertrude Stein claimed that she wrote best while seated in a parked car.
Agatha Christie wrote while taking baths and eating apples.
For many years, Maya Angelou only worked in the plainest of hotel rooms, solely accompanied by a dictionary, a Bible, a deck of cards, and a bottle of sherry.
Jack Kerouac wrote On The Road on 120 feet of taped-together paper so that his stream-of-consciousness writing style would not be interrupted by the need to add new sheets of paper to the typewriter.
John Steinbeck insisted on writing exclusively in pencil. He used over 300 of them to create The Grapes of Wrath.
T.S. Eliot would tint his face green with powder to look like he was dead.
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Abbott proof area is shrinking

From: The Australian September 10, 2013 12:00AM

BATTLELINES is the self-defining book of ponderance and policy that helped stake out Tony Abbott's claim on the Liberal leadership in 2009. If the Labor Party believes Mr Abbott has achieved his battle plan, and that he will now merely defend his ground, it will be sadly mistaken.

Winning government is surely the crucial prize, but the ultimate aim is to keep it. And to that end Mr Abbott has redrawn his battlelines around a diminishing Labor heartland in western Sydney and other suburbs across the nation. The ALP has pulled back its defences to shrinking inner-city strongholds. Since even before he entered politics, Mr Abbott has sought out the mainstream. Whether it is constitutional change, workplace relations, Medicare or parental leave, he has made it his mission to move among mainstream voters and absorb their sensibilities. This is a politician who understands roads and communities by cycling cross-country on charity rides, comprehends indigenous communities by embedding himself in them, and grasps the ethos of volunteers by fighting fires as one of them. By deriding this "action man" image, Labor has missed the point. The prime minister-elect must get as much from these experiences as he gives. Think of them as political intelligence-gathering operations; his success shows this fact-finding has been put to good use.

This is a Liberal leader who, no less than John Howard before him, is after Labor's core blue-collar constituency. A mere glance at the electoral map shows his inroads. In political terms the ALP's western Sydney has been pinched from the north and south by losing Reid and, for the fist time since its creation in 1949, Banks. It has been squeezed from the west by losing Lindsay. In the suburbs of Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Launceston, more Labor turf has been lost. If naming a ministry and delivering election commitments are Mr Abbott's short and medium-term goals, rest assured his long-term mission is to make sure the Liberals are the party of choice across aspirational Australia.

Policies are important but so is an authentic connection. And one feeds the other. A fortnight ago, introducing himself at the Rooty Hill people's forum, then prime minister Kevin Rudd might have been talking about Birdsville when he said 10 per cent of Australians live "out here". (Just months earlier his predecessor, Julia Gillard, stayed at a Rooty Hill hotel instead of commuting from her official residence in the same city.) Mr Abbott told the forum he had lived at Emu Plains for a year and worked as a concrete plant manager at Silverwater. "I love Sydney," he said, "I respect and appreciate this part of Sydney."

Western Sydney is not another world - it is suburban Australia. Rather than congratulate itself on having to fight desperately to win seats that it has never lost before, such as McMahon, Fowler and Chifley, Labor must consider why it has been losing ground. It shouldn't delude itself about Greenway and Parramatta, which also would have fallen if the Liberals had organised themselves better. The reasons behind Labor's drift are clear and they can't be glossed over by glib references to disunity and messaging. Labor's broken promises, policy priorities, incompetence and doomed alliance with the Greens have been manifestations of a drift away from mainstream values and concerns. Paul Keating has talked about the need for Labor to give voice to the aspirations of working families. This means knowing the primacy of concerns on the cost of living, infrastructure and economic management. It means adopting policies that are focused on those issues, rather than the progressive, post-materialist aims of the green Left. Reforming ALP rules and choosing fresh leadership will be meaningless if they don't lead to broader engagement with mainstream priorities. The union movement and inner-city activists can provide little guidance. Lax borders, labour market re-regulation, a carbon tax, media regulation and UN activism are not the way to improve the living standards of suburban families. They are bound to be interested in opportunities for their children, which is why creating jobs is central. This is the truth Labor must grasp. Because Mr Abbott seems to comprehend it.
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Pastor Rick Warren
The only way to always be relevant is to focus on what's eternal. Everything in style will soon be out of style.
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You get your identity from what you love most.
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
He Is On Your Side.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
(Romans 8:31, NIV)

Joshua chapter six tells the story about how the odds were stacked against Joshua and the people of Israel. They were standing at the massive walls of Jericho that many thought were impenetrable.

I’m sure as he was standing before the well-fortified walls and gates of the city, many around him didn’t think his future was too bright. But you see Joshua had something others overlooked; he had the promise of Almighty God. Joshua had faith because He knew God was on His side, and God had already determined the victory. Sure enough, just as God promised, the people marched around the city for six days, and on the seventh day, they shouted the victory and the walls came tumbling down!

Today, don’t look at the walls in your life; look at the promise of God. He is for you, and if God is for you, nothing can stand against you. Get a vision of victory and don’t let it go. Keep moving forward in faith and obedience knowing that when you do, the Most High God is on your side.God bless you.
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1 Corinthians 10:13(KJV)
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Your trials are a sign of greatness and a proof of the fact that you are alive because,only the living have problems.Your scars will be turned to stars at the right time,for the Lord is a Man of time.
Father God,I thank You for Your Word which fills my heart with faith. I believe that You are good and You are a rewarder of those who seek after You. I seek You today. I acknowledge You and thank You for revealing Yourself to me in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Empress Elisabeth of Austria
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“Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.” Titus 2:2NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
Jeremiah 33:3
There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, "I will shew thee great and fortified things." Another, "Great and reserved things." Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of believers. We have not all the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which he takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as he is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.

Evening

"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment."
Revelation 4:4
These representatives of the saints in heaven are said to be around the throne. In the passage in Canticles, where Solomon sings of the King sitting at his table, some render it "a round table." From this, some expositors, I think, without straining the text, have said, "There is an equality among the saints." That idea is conveyed by the equal nearness of the four and twenty elders. The condition of glorified spirits in heaven is that of nearness to Christ, clear vision of his glory, constant access to his court, and familiar fellowship with his person: nor is there any difference in this respect between one saint and another, but all the people of God, apostles, martyrs, ministers, or private and obscure Christians, shall all be seated near the throne, where they shall forever gaze upon their exalted Lord, and be satisfied with his love. They shall all be near to Christ, all ravished with his love, all eating and drinking at the same table with him, all equally beloved as his favourites and friends even if not all equally rewarded as servants.
Let believers on earth imitate the saints in heaven in their nearness to Christ. Let us on earth be as the elders are in heaven, sitting around the throne. May Christ be the object of our thoughts, the centre of our lives. How can we endure to live at such a distance from our Beloved? Lord Jesus, draw us nearer to thyself. Say unto us, "Abide in me, and I in you"; and permit us to sing, "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me."
O lift me higher, nearer thee,
And as I rise more pure and meet,
O let my soul's humility
Make me lie lower at thy feet;
Less trusting self, the more I prove
The blessed comfort of thy love.
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Today's reading: Proverbs 6-7, 2 Corinthians 2 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Proverbs 3-5

Warnings Against Folly
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands:
Go-to the point of exhaustion-
and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

Today's New Testament reading: 2 Corinthians 1

1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
Forgiveness for the Offender
5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent-not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven-if there was anything to forgive-I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes....
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Gomer

[Gō'mûr] - completion or heat. The first born of Japheth and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. Also the head of many families (Gen. 10:2, 3; 1 Chron. 1:5, 6; Ezek. 38:6 ). The eldest son of Japheth is the father of the ancient Cimmerians or as the Assyrians called them, Gimirra, who settled on the northern shores of the Baltic Sea. The modern and familiar name in English history, Crimea, and the Cimbri of old times are derived from the Cimmerians, the immediate descendants of Gomer. Their original home appears to have been north of the Euxine, but by the seventh century they had completely conquered Cappadocia and settled there.

The Man Who Became a Nation

The Gauls and Celts of ancient times, and of more modern date, the Germans, French and British are descendants of Gomer. In the Talmud , Gomer is spoken of as Germani, that is, Germany. The present divided land of Germany was first called "The Land of Gomer" or Gomerland, and many old maps bear the name of Ashkenaz, one of the sons of Gomer. Other maps carry the name Gomer.
The major portion of Germany was never connected with the old Roman Empire. Although presently divided, with communists controlling the East, and the western powers eager to keep West Germany free from communist control, prophecy declares that "Gomer and all his bands," will be found allied to the Northern Confederacy. Owing to Germany's divided condition, European stability is endangered. With West Germany under intense Soviet pressure to refuse any military alliance with western nations, one wonders how long they can resist the determination of Russia to reunite all Germany under the "Hammer and the Sickle."
Gomer is also the name of Hosea's wife, the daughter of Diblaim, and affords another instance of the same name being used by a man and a woman (Hos. 1:3).
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