Saturday, January 02, 2016

Sat Jan 2nd Todays News

Bad administration dithers. In the ancient sense of the word, to dither is tremble. It is a reaction, not controlled by thought or purpose. Malcolm Turnbull has an opportunity to give unions the leadership they deserve, and prevent the widespread endemic corruption which has sustained the ALP for decades. But will he do it? Maybe the union members want corrupt leadership? Maybe the poorest workers of the land want to be exploited by corrupt overlords. It is hard for Turnbull to know what to do. Maybe if Turnbull acts he will be criticised. The words used by the ALP in defence of corruption sound mean and strong. Turnbull promised to explain his actions. He never promised to explain inaction. Maybe an April election will save him from making a decision. Malcolm needs to look decisive. If only there was an issue that he could be decisive with and look good. 

 For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2014 ===
The Greste case has changed direction with an Egyptian court giving him a retrial. They have decided that some of the evidence leading to his conviction of propaganda favouring the Muslim Brotherhood included personal photos and reports from other news agencies. Those pictures and reports were salient to his his guilt of propagandising .. he had been present in places where he misleading reported what was not news. But the charge resting specifically to him has been decided to be only for those reports he made with his news organisation. The problem is that news organisations have been lying in the Middle East for a long time. The world is ignorant of Israeli affairs, even as it is widely reported, for many reasons, which at times looks anti semitic. And so Greste doesn't have much room to stand, even as he has worked with good intentions. In Australia, unprofessionalism is accepted in journalism. But in Egypt people are upset that press lies have gotten people killed. Greste does not deserve the persecution. But he doesn't deserve to be called a journalist either. It is similar to a soldier who retires and takes up service with a third party security organisation. He is exposed and professionally compromised. He should be sent home. But then so should Jonathan Pollard. And while Egypt is faced with a question of statesmanship, so is the US. 

A bad ALP government tried to control the economy and superheated it, resulting in interest rates for home loans approaching twenty percent, resulting in real wage cuts of over twenty four percent over twelve years, resulting in shifting control of superannuation from responsible bodies to corrupt unions. That was a better government to the last ALP government which, over six years, trashed the Australian economy and left a debt legacy that our children will struggle to pay. The ALP is blocking needed reform which would address their irresponsible government activity. Shorten has made promises on becoming leader of how he would behave. He claimed he would make decisions based on national interest. But he hasn't. He has caved into populism. In the short term, he is getting kudos for strangling the government in the senate. But that will be shown to be illusory as an election nears when even the independents who vote ALP will risk voting to be reelected instead. Shorten has offered no alternatives to the policy he has blocked. He hasn't negotiated. Just as he failed to address Gillard's corrupt support for Slipper by declaring he hadn't heard what Gillard had said, he supported it, before knifing her and installing Rudd, Shorten again fails to act responsibly, preferring to hope that press kudos will cover up his policy free agenda. 

There is a reason why big spending ALP is policy free. It has to do with their electorates which are welfare rich zones of poverty. And if ALP government had its' way, everyone would be poor. According to journalists who are partisan in following the ALP, the reason why AirAsia flight 8501 crashed was global warming. The fact is it is safer to fly now than in previous years and fewer storms, so, how did global warming do the deed? France had fewer New Year car-b-ques than in previous years. Possibly because many of the responsible youths are playing in ISIL territory this year. Or, possibly because Gaia was wrath-ing upon an airplane instead. Sad, because the ALP could have really cornered those youth votes. 
From 2013
Over regulation seems to have had a driver fined with travelling 1 km/h over the limit. Their fine was quashed on examination. What would have happened had the conscientious police man not tried to match speed? What accident might have resulted at 61, which would not have happened at 60? What if drivers decided collectively they couldn't travel at the limit, but slower than the limit? It happened in Queensland, so maybe there was more to it. Maybe 'Butch' Cassidy worked for Clive Palmer and was trying to escape a ravenous dinosaur? I know what I dread more. 

A prominent former cricketer on ABC1 assures the viewer in a pre show advert that he would run through brick walls if Ricky Ponting had asked him. Neither play for Australia anymore, but it is doubtful the athletic achievement of running through brick walls would have done much for either career outside of a circus. Not even Gillard could have used that type of loyalty. But it is probable she demanded it. But it is that kind of loyalty which impresses about AGW believers. And one can only imagine what those brick walls have done to their minds. Al Gore has not helped those researchers stuck on ice, who will be unable to report on the warming world because they are stuck on ice. As is their rescuers. One thing is certain, it isn't leftists picking up the rubbish once the ship moves on.
Historical perspective on this day
In 366, the Alemanni crossed the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire. 533, Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy. 1492, Reconquista: the Emirate of Granada, the last Moorishstronghold in Spain, surrendered. 1777,  American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey. 1788, Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution. 1791, Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.

In 1818, the British Institution of Civil Engineers was founded. 1833, Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. 1860, the discovery of the planet Vulcan was announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. 1865, Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ended as Brazilian and Coloradanscaptured Paysandú, Uruguay. 1871, Amadeus I became King of Spain. 1900, American statesman and diplomat John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China. 1905, Russo-Japanese War: The Russian garrison surrendered at Port Arthur, China. 1911, a gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home SecretaryWinston Churchill. 1920, the second Palmer Raidtook place with another 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial. These raids took place in several U.S. cities. 1927, angered by the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, Catholic rebels in Mexico rebelled against the government.

In 1935, Bruno Hauptmann went on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh. 1941, World War II: German bombing severely damaged the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. 1942, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convicted 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring. Also 1942, World War II: Manila, Philippines was captured by Japanese forces. 1945, World War II: Nuremberg, Germany (in German, Nürnberg) was severely bombed by Allied forces. 1949, Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. 1955, Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera was assassinated. 1959, Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, was launched by the Soviet Union. 1963, Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory in the Battle of Ap Bac. 1967, Ronald Reagan sworn in as Governor of California

In 1971, the second Ibrox disaster killed 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football(soccer) match. 1974, United States President Richard Nixon signed a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo. 1975, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounded Minister of Railways Lalit Narayan Mishra. Also 1975, Bangladeshi Marxist leader Siraj Sikder was arrested and died while in police custody. 1976, the Gale of January 1976 began, which resulted in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, resulting in at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage. 1981, one of the largest investigations by a British police force ended when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", was arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. 1992, leaders of armed opposition declare the President Zviad Gamsakhurdia deposed during a military coup in Georgia. 1993, Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy killed 35-100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon. 1999, a brutal snowstorm smashed into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, where temperatures plunged to -13 °F (-25 °C); 68 deaths were reported. 2004, Stardust successfully flew past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that were returned to Earth. 2006, an explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia trapped and killed 12 miners, while leaving one miner in critical condition.
=== 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, September, October, 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 a free kindle version.

List of available items at Create Space
===
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 Pamela Huynh and Xin Ha. Born on the same day, across the years, along with 
January 2: Feast Day of Gregory of Nazianzus (Roman Catholic Church)
A. Mitchell Palmer
We raided the enemy, successfully. We landed our boys. We have firm footing. We got the little ripper. The rest is star dust. Let's party. 
Deaths
===

THEY WERE FINE AT THE TIME

Tim Blair – Saturday, January 02, 2016 (2:13pm)

Because he wants to be loved by everybody, including supporters of corrupt unions, Malcolm Turnbull is characterising proposed workplace reform legislation as his generous attempt to make the union movement “much stronger”. Turnbull previously said he wouldn’t wage war with unions. Judging by this press conference, even that conciliatory line now seems too strong for mild Mal: 
QUESTION: When you say that you’re not wanting – when you said that you weren’t wanting to wage war on the unions, does that mean you are prepared to wage war on the union leadership if they want to fight these changes?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I’m not really interested in – all of these military metaphors are fine, but let’s just ...
QUESTION: [Indistinct].
PRIME MINISTER: Okay, right well they were fine at the time. But the point – the simple point that we’re making is that what we’re seeking to do is to protect the interests of the members. That’s what this is all about. 
Listen carefully to this clip and you’ll pick up the question described as “indistinct” in Turnbull’s transcript:



“They were your words.” And he used them just a few months ago.
(Via this site’s much-appreciated video contributor Jill.)
===

EVE OF DESTRUCTION

Tim Blair – Saturday, January 02, 2016 (1:25pm)

New Year’s Eve fireworks were cancelled in Brussels, Paris and upstate New York due to terrorism concerns. Moscow’s Red Square was closed and Munich shut down two major railway stations. Police in Ankara arrested two alleged Islamic State supporters over plans to attack Kizilay Square.
But the crappiest New Year’s Eve of them all might have been in Gaza, where Hamas banned celebrations in restaurants, hotels and cafes: 
Police spokesman Ayman al-Batniji explained that the ban was “meant to minimize as far as possible phenomena that contravene the heritage, customs, values and directives of Islam” and also to demonstrate solidarity with the martyrs of the “Al-Quds intifada” by avoiding celebrations.
He condemned those who “are planning new year celebrations at a time when the Palestinian people are enduring hardship, a suffocating siege, and the death of martyrs in the intifada.”
Gaza restaurateurs expressed displeasure at the ban due to the financial loss it will cause them, especially considering that Hamas recently raised taxes on restaurants.
The ban also evoked harsh criticism from Gaza residents, who voiced their complaints on social media, and also from public figures, such as a member of the Palestinian People’s Party who advised the Hamas members to put aside their cars and start riding donkeys instead. 
Good call. It is possible, however, that Gaza TV provided better NYE coverage than the ABC.
(Via Dan L.)
===

DOUBLE BILL

Tim Blair – Saturday, January 02, 2016 (1:19pm)

Mark Steyn compares Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton – one of them charged with rape and the other formerly America’s rapist in charge. There’s also this recollection from Clinton’s impeachment: 
I found it interesting that, among “liberals” in the US, the only two journalists who were prepared to speak out against the “sociopathic gangster” were both old Fleet Street hands – Hitchens and Alexander Cockburn. By contrast, on the eve of the impeachment trial in Washington, David Frum and I had a cup of tea with a prominent American media leftie and, after a bit of chit-chat about the latest damning revelations, David asked him why he and the rest of the press were sticking with Clinton. “Well,” he said, ”in the end he’s our guy.” Hitchens quite rightly despised that. 
As he should. “Their guy” was a predator.
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PRIORITIES, PEOPLE

Tim Blair – Saturday, January 02, 2016 (1:14am)

The Guardian reports: 
If 2014 was a year that set a grisly new record in the number of casualties inflicted by terrorist attacks – 33,000 people were killed, almost double the year before – then 2015 appears to have been worse.
Few expect 2016 to be much better. Alert levels are high all across the west. The European and US counter-terrorist community is no longer asking “if” there will be further loss of life but how, where and when. 
But the real problem is climate change.
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PATTERN OBSERVED

Tim Blair – Saturday, January 02, 2016 (1:05am)

An eloquent, anonymous response to the witless brutality of toxic social justice warriors: 
That’s the arrogant core of it. You do the same evil, in the same pattern, as so many before you, because mob justice, punishing dissent, and repression of others is just fine and dandy so long as the “right” people are doing it to the “wrong” people. 
There’s plenty more where that came from.
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LIFE’S TOUGH IN BANDANA MANOR

Tim Blair – Friday, January 01, 2016 (11:33pm)

Millionaire republican and man of the people Peter FitzSimons: 
How many times have I had a three-course lunch at Machiavelli’s, washed down by a couple of Big Macs, and then wondered why I had turned into a Fatty Boomka? 
I remember the phrase as “fatty boomba”. Maybe this is a Victoria-NSW language thing. In any case, if newly sugar-free and sober Peter wanted a shorter route to making himself look less ridiculous, he could’ve simply removed his pirate costume.
UPDATE. Search Google for “fatty boomka” and this turns up:

image

Peter never gets anything right. 
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CAN’T ASK FOR MORE THAN THAT

Tim Blair – Friday, January 01, 2016 (11:01pm)

A beautiful line from a typically informative UK Telegraph obituary for late Motorhead singer Lemmy: 
“I didn’t have a really important life,” he admitted, “but at least it’s been funny.” 
Importance is massively overrated. So, as H. L. Mencken once pointed out, is money.
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ASHAMED TO BE HUNGARIAN

Tim Blair – Friday, January 01, 2016 (10:38pm)

Within a few years, this may become a standard Christmas salutation across Europe: 
The little fir tree was chosen and tied up, ready to be carried home and decorated for Christmas Eve.
“Merry Christmas,” said the market trader, “and a Happy New Year, without migrants.”
“I was totally taken aback,” said the woman buying the tree. “What a terrible thing to say, and in the season of goodwill. The awful thing was he assumed I would agree with him. It makes me ashamed to be Hungarian.” 
She doesn’t know how lucky she is. At least the story has a happy ending: 
She nevertheless took the tree because she’d paid for it. 
===

ART OF THE DONALD

Tim Blair – Friday, January 01, 2016 (10:31pm)

Donald Trump’s campaign success – to date, at least – elegantly explained by Scott Adams.
(Via Instapundit.)
===

Labor’s long decline from glory to gutless

Piers Akerman – Thursday, January 01, 2015 (5:41pm)

It’s Day Two of Year Two for the Abbott Coalition government but there is no indication that the motley collection of senate crossbenchers or even the once-grand Labor Party has any intention of letting the government govern.
It might seem incredible to most intelligent people but Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said last May there was no budget emergency.
He is, of course, capable of extraordinary stupidity, having once gone resolutely on the record saying in 2012 of his then leader prime minister Julia Gillard: “I haven’t seen what she said, but let me say I support what it is that she’s said.” 
Right. As it happens, Gillard was in Turkey talking about whether her hand-picked speaker, Peter Slipper, should return to the speaker’s throne while remaining the subject of civil claims of sexual harassment. 
It mattered nought for Shorten. He was behind Gillard, on her side, in her pocket, whatever the issue was and no matter what she thought. 
It is easy then to understand why an individual of such vacuity might — after being part of a series of dysfunctional governments that repeatedly promised budget surpluses and failed to deliver anything but deficits — hold such an irrational view of the state of the economy. 
Of course Shorten, having stated that there was no budget emergency, did not stop there. Like most fools, he went further, saying: “Australia is fundamentally strong, and so is the legacy Labor left behind.” 
Having the effrontery to claim that the smoking ruin of an economy Labor left in its wake was “fundamentally strong” was funnier than any of the gags in this year’s Christmas crackers. It’s just a pity that the line was so tragically wrong. 
Re-reading Shorten’s Budget reply speech now, seven months on, is soul-destroying but it’s worth revisiting in the light of comments made by the last three responsible former prime ministers coinciding with the release of cabinet papers from 1988 and 1989. 
Having experienced the blighted Labor leadership of Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and now Bill Shorten, it is difficult to contemplate a time when Labor was actually led by individuals who accepted that they were accountable for their deeds and policies. 
Shorten, who said last April that he subscribed to “thoughtful responsibility” and was cognisant of “what needs to done and going about the job of doing it” has done just the opposite — unlike prime ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard. 
Throughout last year — and with increasing frequency as his term as treasury secretary came to an end last month — Martin Parkinson sounded the alarm about Labor’s lack of budgetary strategy. 
He warned that Australia was living beyond its means, with too much government spending on health, welfare and education.
He called for “politically tough decisions” like those in the 1980s to ­address the “structural problem at the heart of the budget”. 
What a difference 25 years has made to the Labor Party.
In the 1980s, when Hawke was PM and Keating the treasurer, the Labor government picked up the challenge of reform which had begun even earlier when Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser and his treasurer John Howard commissioned the ground-breaking Campbell Report into the nation’s financial system. 
When Labor began implementing some of the report’s important recommendations, the opposition, under Howard, gave the government its political backing and ensured those measures were put in place. 
Recalling those times in an interview with The Australian, Howard said: “The lesson is that at crucial times you do need an acceptance on both sides … that bipartisanship around measures that are clearly in the ­nation’s long-term interest is essential if the long-term interest is to be promoted. 
“There was only one sustained period — and even then not on everything — of bipartisanship ­between government and opposition on economics and that was the period we’ve been talking about (the 80s). 
“Most of the reforms they undertook I supported (such as) tariff reform, financial deregulation and most of Labor’s fiscal consolidation … I did argue that Hawke should have gone further on reform in some areas. 
“So, politically, adopting that (bipartisan) position made it easier for the government of the day.”
Former treasurer and prime minister Keating endorsed that bipartisanship and agreed that the ­opposition should support the government’s program, provided it was credible and in the national interest. 
Australia needed to address the underlying structural problem in the Budget as spending in some areas had become unsustainable, he said. This required a vision, political courage, and the capacity to make a compelling ­argument to voters. 
“Policy ambition and urgency, that’s the lesson for today,” he told The Australian.
“Without policy ambition, and without the core of the government believing changes are absolutely necessary and competently selling them, and doing it with urgency, then these sorts of tasks can’t be undertaken.” 
Hawke said there was a need to educate the electorate about the economic challenges facing the country and to convince voters of the need for reform. 
He said the deteriorating budget bottom line had to be addressed ­because governments “can’t just keep pushing up taxes”.
Somewhere over the past quarter of a century the Labor Party has lost all the residual wisdom displayed during the Hawke-Keating era. 
===

FIND THE CHAMPION CLAIMANTS

Tim Blair – Friday, January 02, 2015 (12:37pm)

Here’s a handy seat-by-seat guide to welfare recipient numbers across Australia. Readers with some spare time may enjoy working out which seats have the greatest percentage of disability pensioners.
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GAIA STRIKES AGAIN

Tim Blair – Friday, January 02, 2015 (2:52am)

According to Fairfax, AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes has blamed climate change for the crash of flight 8501: 
Without giving details, he steered blame towards the weather, saying his airline would continue business as usual, but suggesting that climate change was making weather worse and flying riskier, particularly in the tropics. 
As it happens, 2014 saw the lowest number of aircraft accidents since 1927. The total number of air travel fatalities was 1326 – down from a peak of 3346 in 1972.
(Via Peter B., who emails: “I assumed that some activist idiot would quickly blame the AirAsia tragedy on global warming/climate change, but I didn’t expect it to be an airline executive!")
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STREET-LEVEL FRENCH FIREWORKS

Tim Blair – Friday, January 02, 2015 (12:34am)

On New Year’s Eve in 2013, 1193 vehicles were torched during France’s annual car-b-que. Last year the number was down to 1067 – a “positive result”, according to interior minister Manuel Valls.
The official total for the 2014 car-b-que is yet to be announced, but various flame-happy “revellers”, “youths” and “fully-integrated multicultural success stories” were again at play. Click here for images, videos and regional stats. Given that some of France’s more active “youths” may be otherwise occupied in Syria and Iraq, I’m tipping a sub-1000 figure.
UPDATE. The official count is in: 
France’s Interior Ministry says 940 cars were set alight by revelers ringing in the New Year – 12 per cent fewer than the 1,067 set aflame last year.
The figures issued on Thursday show that, despite the dip, setting fire to parked cars remains a firmly entrenched way for some French to send out the old and ring in the new. 
Those crazy “revellers”!
===
Worth thinking about .. I disagree, but am curious as to how others feel. I like service .. but not serving myself. I want to serve God because that is timeless.
John Serpa
(My annual NYD post, been doing this since 2009. It was written by Michael Josephson in 2003).
What Will Matter?
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,
not what you got but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.
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4 her, so she can see how I see her
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For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.”
– T. S. Eliot
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===
David Bowles
Happy New Year to every one of you! Here's a little gift, one of the very few existing pre-Colombian Mayan poems, a song describing the welcoming of a new year.
Songs of Dzitbalché #12
Dowsing Old Man Fire on the Mountaintop
(A song for greeting the new year)
The sun is snatched by the smoking star
There in the west at the rim of the sky.
The tunkul drums begin to thrum,
The conch horn shrilly sounds,
The zacatan tattoos a beat,
While the gourd pipe
Sings a melody
So that everyone
Who hears the tune
Will come assemble here.
Running and jumping
They arrive before the popolna,
The meeting house of the town
Where the Lord Serpent Bishop waits.
There, too, are the governor and rain priests,
The chief of the town and his aides.
Expectant stand the musicians,
The singers, actors, dancers,
Contortionists, and acrobats,
Hunchbacked dwarves
And spectators.
Everyone has come following
The Lord Serpent Bishop,
Eager to be entertained
By the grand spectacle
That will soon take place
In the very center
Of our town square.
As the sun is pulled down
Past the rim of the sky,
The ceremony begins.
Copal incense fills the air—
The Lord of Heaven
Draws the smoke from the fire,
Using it to darken the face
Of our Father, the Sun.
Let us go! Let us go to the trunk
Of the holy ceiba tree!
Let us leave an offering there
To greet the new year!
We made it!
The five poisonous days
Have come and gone.
Let us join together
In the town,
And then at its eastern edge
Let us lift the wooden pole
Upon the ridge
In honor of Old Man Fire.
Bring out the new,
Throw out the old.
Father God permits us
To pass the black days
At the end of the year
Together here in town,
For there will come other days,
Other months,
Other years,
Other generations.
At the entrance to the town
Let us place a new end stone.
Let us look for a pure white stone
To mark the passing
Of another year. 
--from Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry
translated from the Yucatec Maya by David Bowles
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ACADEMIC SELF-ESTEEM

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 02, 2014 (4:45pm)

Sing along with trapped climate change activists aboard the SS Stupid:

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ENTIRE PLANET DOOMED BY AUSTRALIANS

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 02, 2014 (5:29am)

Former Fairfax senior writer and frequent ABC commentator Margo Kingston predicts: 
Our climate change denial govt will lie to destroy the planet. 
Let’s hope so. These slow news days lately are really getting me down.
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CHRIS CRISPY

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 02, 2014 (4:59am)

Antarctic resident Chris Turney reports that it’s been “warm all day” in his ice-barricaded, penguin-surroundedsouthern sea dwelling. Here’s Chris looking tanned and toasty:

image

Interestingly, media descriptions of climate change professor Turney have changed since he became trapped by ice during a voyage intended to reveal the extent of climate change. Following several days of enforced ice observation for Turney and his pals, the ABC now avoids any mention of their climate change quest. Also interesting is that one of those on board thinks warming might be a good thing for penguins: 
These birds feed on the seashore, which has moved some 70km thanks to ice around Cape Denison. Every extra kilometre the penguins have to walk reduces the energy available for rearing young. Until iceberg B09B melts and the fast ice dissipates and returns open water to Cape Denison, penguin numbers will continue to drop. 
So might numbers of Antarctic “tourists”, whose situation is now compared to previous mockery:

image

For the latest hilarious overview of events aboard the Academik Stuck-a-lotski, please read Roger Franklin.
(Photo links via Maurie S.)
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TAKING OUT THE TRASH

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 02, 2014 (4:15am)

Under cover of night I began my shameful mission. Dark clothing offered concealment from householders and authorities. Soft shoes made little sound as I paced through Sydney’s streets.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'TAKING OUT THE TRASH'
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PIZZAS AND PICNICS

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 02, 2014 (4:04am)

Nigel Roebuck, possibly the world’s best sports writer, turns his mind to the benefits and disadvantages of social media.
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POWER OF ONE

Tim Blair – Thursday, January 02, 2014 (3:56am)

Speeding penalty – $146: 
Jake Cassidy, 21, was pulled over on December 23 and accused of clocking 61km/h in a 60km/h zone …
The police officer did not use a speed gun to catch Mr Cassidy but measured the speed by driving behind him. 
The fine was subsequently cancelled following media attention. Just as well, otherwise Iowahawk’s planned 2014 Australian visit would bankrupt him before he’d completed the rental drive from the airport.
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Socialists and greens don’t pick up rubbish

Andrew Bolt January 02 2014 (8:33am)

Fitzroy is a “progressive” area, filled with people with a “social conscience” particularly when it comes to the environment. Its council reflects this, comprising three Greens, one socialist, three Labor members and two independents. Fitzroy’s federal member is Adam Bandt, the sole Green in the House of Representatives.
And when 15,000 people in one of the country’s most progressive and green areas hold a party in the local Edinburgh Gardens, they naturally leave the park looking like this:
image
Rubbish is for Big Government to pick up. 
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Fairfax attacks Abbott for breaking promises one day in the future, maybe

Andrew Bolt January 02 2014 (8:04am)

Fairfax newspapers are so mad with Abbott-hate that they accuse Tony Abbott of breaking promises long before he’s even had a chance to keep them.
Yesterday’s Fairfax headline:
Broken vows pile up as Coalition’s pledge of 1 million new jobs refuted
In fact, as the report’s first paragraph admits, this isn’t a broken vow but a projection of failure five years from now:
The Abbott government faces further pressure over broken promises with a new analysis showing it will fall well short of its pledge to create 1 million jobs over five years.
Last week’s Fairfax headline:
Tony Abbott ‘breaks pension pledge’ on Disability Support Pension
Once again, Fairfax describes as a broken promise something that has not even happened and may not ever. Its claim is based on the claim of a single person - a woman on the disability pension: 
The Abbott government appears hell-bent on breaking its pledge, made six days out from the September 7 election, not to change the pension arrangements, a Canberra multiple sclerosis sufferer says. Jacqui White, of Symonston, considers the breach of faith is on a par with Julia Gillard’s broken ‘’no carbon tax under a government I lead’’ pledge and ‘’probably worse’’, given Mr Abbott did not have to form a minority government. 
Fairfax’s political coverage since the election has been utterly shameful. This meme about Abbott’s broken promises comes from a news organisation that did its best to excuse a real and brazen broken promise from Julia Gillard on the carbon tax.
(Thanks to reader Matt.) 
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What’s the big secret?

Andrew Bolt January 02 2014 (7:42am)

My guess is that the secret destination wasn’t Europe:
A Sydney father has been charged by police over the alleged genital mutilation of his infant daughter while they were holidaying overseas… 
Police would not say which country the family was holidaying in at the time of the alleged incident.
Are police worried we might jump to some right conclusions? 
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ABC whitewash: don’t mention warmists are on board the ice-bound ship

Andrew Bolt January 02 2014 (5:29am)

Global warming - general, Global warming - propaganda

The ABC’s 7.30 last night filed an astonishing report on the ship load of warmist scientists and journalists trapped by ice as they tried to prove global warming was melting Antarctica.
What was astonishing was that not once in that report did the ABC mention “global warming” or “climate change” or even “climate scientists”. It did everything humanly possible to cover up the most embarrassing PR disaster in years for the global warming movement.
How different it was last November, when the ABC in a two-part report eagerly presented Professor Chris Turney’s Antarctic expedition as a serious scientific quest to prove how global warming was damaging Antarctica. Back then it couldn’t mention climate change enough:
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: A modern-day scientist adventurer is about to undertake one of the largest Australian science expeditions to the Antarctic. Professor Chris Turney from the University of New South Wales and an 85-person team will spend two months trying to answer questions about how climate change in the frozen continent might already be shifting weather patterns in Australia… 
MARGOT O’NEILL [reporter]: The research stakes are high. Antarctica is one of the great engines driving the world’s oceans, winds and weather, especially in Australia. But there’s ominous signs of climate change…
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: Professor Turney and his co-leader Dr Chris Fogwell are selecting PhD students for the expedition to help record thousands of measurements, assessing signs of climate change on the frozen continent… 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.
But last night - with Turney’s ship of warmist scientists and journalists embarrassingly stuck in ice for more than a week - the ABC’s 7.30 filed a report which no longer sold Turney’s team as “one of the largest Australian science expeditions to Antarctic” on a mission to “answer questions about ... climate change”.
This time it sold them as merely “tourists” and a few unspecified scientists. This time it did not mention “climate change” once. Indeed, Turney, who the ABC in November identified as a professor from the Climate Change Research Centre of the University of NSW, was this time identified merely as “expedition leader”. Not once did 7.30 last night report the real story and the real joke - that a ship carrying warmist scientists and journalists, plus a Greens politician, was trapped in thick ice that those on board had insisted was melting away:
TRACY BOWDEN, PRESENTER: Since Christmas Eve, 74 people, including 26 tourists, have been stuck in the Antarctic ice on board a scientific expedition ship… 
CHRIS TURNEY, EXPEDITION LEADER: Things happen sometimes that you just can’t plan for. You try and mitigate them and, unfortunately, we’re extremely unlucky. Bad location, bad time. LISA WHITEHEAD, REPORTER: Professor Chris Turney’s luck ran out on Christmas Eve. 
Later in the report the ABC discussed the scientists - but this time it was no longer eager to tell us they were warmists out to prove there was global warming. And this time it shrank what it last November hyped as an “85-person team” studying “climate change” to just 22 scientists doing unspecified “measurements”:
After 16 days exploring the frozen continent conducting scientific tests and taking samples, his team of 22 scientists aboard the Russian-flagged ship the Akademik Shokalskiy found themselves trapped in sea ice… The $1.5 million Australasian Antarctic Expedition left New Zealand on 8th December. Its mission was to repeat the scientific measurements made by explorer Sir Douglas Mawson and his team 100 years ago.
You see, if the ABC mentioned these were actually warmist scientists, some parts of the report might make a laughing stock of them. Like this:
JAN LEISER: The additional trouble in that region at the moment is a very thick snow load. If the snow cover on sea ice is sufficiently thick enough, it actually acts as super glue with the ship’s hull. 
LISA WHITEHEAD: On Saturday the passengers’ hopes rose when they spotted the Chinese ship Snow Dragon on the horizon. But it was unable to break through the thick sea ice and had to turn back. Two days later, the ice-breaker Aurora Australis was also driven back by 30-knot winds and driving snow.
True, the ABC did near the end of its report finally mention Turney’s team wanted to measure “changes” to the region - but it did not let on that the changes Turney sought to measure were allegedly caused by man-made warming:
LISA WHITEHEAD: A century ago, Sir Douglas Mawson and his men spent three years making observations, keeping meticulous records. The current Australasian expedition is using this unique scientific archive to compare to the changes seen today. 
CHRIS TURNEY (on Skype): One of the things that they absolutely adored were the local Adelie penguins, which are about 30 centimetres tall, wonderfully inquisitive creatures. And some of the early reports talk about almost not being able to hear yourself speak because of the noise and the chatter. And the census of the birds 100 years ago estimated more than 10,000 rookery - 10,000 of them breeding there. But one of the immediate things that was apparent was just how silent it was. There are penguins there, but the population is crashing and it’s a fifth of what it was a century ago.
LISA WHITEHEAD: Professor Chris Turney says the impacts over the next century are likely to be some of the most significant anywhere on our planet and could have global consequences. CHRIS TURNEY (on Skype): And one of the arguments we’ve had, which is one we’ve come to test, is the idea that as the westerly winds are shifting away from Australia in those mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, they’re driving pole-wards and they’re changing the ocean circulation across - around the Southern Ocean, bringing up warmer water down below. ... And it’s a very complicated system, but effectively, these are big changes taking place.
Absolutely astonishing. Not a single mention this time of global warming or climate change. Not one.
This is not reporting but covering up.
UPDATE
Turney made perfectly clear this expedition was to prompt a discussion about global warming. So why isn’t the ABC discussing it?
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Professional warmist attacks amateur sceptic for being on the take

Andrew Bolt January 02 2014 (12:39am)

David Karoly’s salary depends on him being a warmist. He is Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Melbourne and a member of the Climate Change Authority.
Today he attacks sceptic Maurice Newman, the former ABC chairman and now head of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council, who is paid not a cent to point out - correctly - that the world has not warmed as alarmists predicted and the carbon tax wouldn’t prevent it anyway. Says Karoly of Newman:
As Upton Sinclair wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
Is Karoly at all aware of how stupid he looks?   
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It is a fine ad. I want to buy what they sell .. what do they sell? - ed
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Sometimes people get it fast, sometimes slow.

Some people even take the douchebag way and steal other parking spots, or just as bad, DOUBLE PARK! 

Some people may wait patiently, but you may not know if you'll be missing out on better parking spots!

Maybe some people find some reason to park illegally just because they can... And somehow get away with it (in Malaysia at least :p)

Or maybe after a long long tiring search people might give up one day and decide to use valet service!

Let's not forget to mention about the vvip parking!! On behalf of the rest of the community, screw u!!

... ...

But in the end, what really matters is that I should really stop comparing relationships to parking. The end.> from Timmy Lingy .. public transport in Sibu is not that good .. the article here seems funny as a match
Scorned husband in jealous spray
www.news.com.au
A FURIOUS husband has taken public revenge on his wife's admirer in an unlikely place -- his rival's garage door.

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<#Comedyoferrors

fter the Chinese ice-breaker Xue Long itself became stuck in pack ice, west of the Mertz Glacier.

It is the second vessel to become trapped in the region in less than two weeks.>>
Helicopter rescue delayed as second ship trapped in ice
www.smh.com.au
Plans to rescue 52 passengers trapped on the stricken Russian research ship Akademik Shokalskiy have been thrown into disarray after the Chinese ice-breaker Xue Long itself became stuck in pack ice, west of the Mertz Glacier.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-incidents/helicopter-rescue-delayed-as-second-ship-trapped-in-ice-20140102-306yj.html
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HuffPo: Climate change will make Earth “unlivable” by 2050
www.andysrant.com
If you believe this HuffPo blog, the world will end in 36 years’ time so don’t bother paying off the credit card and the mortgage. Via Huffington Post The many scientific links in this comprehensive article about global warming, by Dahr Jamail, on December 22nd, make clear that climate change...
AGW believers are welcome to migrate to their habitable zones .. cost should not be a problem .. what price is survival? - ed
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Our enemy is not global warming. In Britain, people are dying of the cold
www.spectator.co.uk
Fanciful predictions of all the deaths that will result from climate change, decades into the future, are regularly thrown into public debate. Less attention has been given to a real…

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Sydney father charged over baby's genital mutilation
www.news.com.au
A Sydney father has been charged with organising the female genital mutilation of his baby daughter overseas.
If his religion permits an eye for an eye .. ed
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Woman raped by monster on lonely shore of beach at Puckeys Estate
www.news.com.au
DRAG marks through the sand on an isolated beach south of Sydney were an eerie reminder yesterday of the terror of a woman raped in that spot just hours before.

find the monster .. and rehabilitate them .. in prison .. ed
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AP photographer Dave Martin takes amazing picture then dies
www.news.com.au
DAVE Martin, a longtime Associated Press photographer based in Montgomery, Alabama, died after collapsing on the Georgia Dome field after a college football game on New Year's Eve night.

Not a bad way to go .. wife might differ .. ed
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How can the USA with close to USD$18 trillion in debt, 7% unemployment,a bankrupt Detroit and filled with homeless citizens in every city give aid to Arab countries that hate them ?

None of this money will ever reach the poor bastards it is meant for.

Instead it will feather the nest of corrupt Arab leadership and flow into off shore bank accounts.>
Obama To Give PA $440 Million in 2014
www.israelnationalnews.com
PLO rep. in Washington reports growth in US financial aid PA requests joint committee with US on political and financial issues.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/175803#.UsS4-64fDEM
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Miracle man Grahame 'Conny' Conlon died for two hours during massive heart attack
www.dailytelegraph.com.au
HE'S the miracle man doctors didn't expect to live to December, let alone into 2014.

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Melbourne Star Observation Wheel cabin out of action amid WorkSafe probe
www.theage.com.au
One of the cabins on the Melbourne Star observation wheel has been taken out of commission while Victoria's workplace safety authority investigates complaints.
http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/melbourne-star-observation-wheel-cabin-out-of-action-amid-worksafe-probe-20140102-306lj.html
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Two burglars in Los Angeles ask a homeowner to tie them up in world's stupidest getaway plan
www.news.com.au
TWO burglars caught in the act had the not-so-bright idea of making the homeowner tie them up so they could pretend to arriving police they were victims.

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ABC put on notice over foreign TV
www.theaustralian.com.au
FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has expressed concerns that the ABC is not meeting the terms of its $223 million Australia Network contract, after receiving negative feedback from its target audience.

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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."
Joshua 5:12
Israel's weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall begin to be "forever with the Lord."
A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year's text should not still be true. "We who have believed do enter into rest." The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; he gives us "glory begun below." In heaven they are secure, and so are we preserved in Christ Jesus; there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they rest in his love, and we have perfect peace in him: they hymn his praise, and it is our privilege to bless him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels' food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this year!

Evening

"We will be glad and rejoice in thee."
Song of Solomon 1:4
We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will not open the gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy, and the high sounding cymbals of gladness. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation." We, the called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs, and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah's bitter pool, with joy will magnify the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in which thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and blessing the name of Jesus. We will, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have the crown of our heart's delight; we will not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in his presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem. We will be glad and rejoice: two words with one sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? Do not men of grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven itself? We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. That last word is the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, aye, and every drop of their fulness in him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, thou art the present portion of thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus.
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Today's reading: Genesis 1-3, Matthew 1 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Genesis 1

The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Genesis 3

The Fall
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Matthew 1

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
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