Nurses union has entered the political arena on same sex marriage. They aren't being helpful. They are opposing a plebiscite and asking for the government to just pass legislation. They claim the plebiscite will be expensive, and in place of a plebiscite, the $158.4 million could support 477 registered nurses for four years. About that, the ALP has created over $500 billion public debt from a surplus base after lifting spending and blocking spending cuts. The money that has been thrown away feeding corruption could have employed some fifty thousand registered nurses for four years. Further, ALP's Penny Wong opposed Gay Marriage when she was in government. But lost over $106 billion as Finance Minister. Even so, let there be a plebiscite, and if the people want it it can proceed.
Being Green means being irresponsible.
Turnbull exploited the issue to get Abbott. As Communication Minister, Turnbull made the case in cabinet that forced Abbott to commit to a smaller agenda focusing on the budget. Then Turnbull made promises he would be different. If Turnbull were to consider supporting free speech, he would be subject to his own criticism. Turnbull is not that dumb. Hubris will keep Turnbull from making a wise decision.
A first class sniveller. Still on the plus side, he didn't eat it as Rudd would.
I am used to hearing ALP go to fantasy land in interviews. "No Whyalla wipe-out?"
Turnbull's best work was bringing down successive Liberal leaders
It is like the government pay argument. A government member, like Penny Wong, will never be worthwhile, no matter how much she is paid. She will never return any of that $106 billion. And someone like Costello you could not pay enough. The Vietnamese community is very good. Those grandparents are also very good at shaming the unruly young. But I saw a video of a Syrian grandmother executed for showing her face. Should we really import that?
Turnbull is appallingly bad as Liberal leader. But he is balanced against Bill Shorten who is appallingly bad as ALP leader.
He (David Morrison) is trying to change the nappies, I hear. By making babies choose gender.
I loved Sherman T Potter
Glad we cleared that up. But, what was the result of the debate regarding AGW? Is man too blame?
Hillary spreads a contagious disease to supporters. They were delusional. They still are. But those closest to her could now also have pneumonia. Her career in recent times has shown eery similarities to Gillard. Both have reputations far exceeding their ability. Both had slush funds. Both lead ugly, licentious lives. So maybe Hillary will be elected head of government by mistake too. Or maybe Hillary left her betrayal too late?
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
None for 2015 .. because of Melbourne promotional trip
From 2014
It is a sad tale which was born in much hope. Democracy in South Africa began twenty years ago. People dancing for joy at the self destruction of the corrupt apartheid regime. It was natural for South Africa to turn to the socialists who had campaigned against the fascists, but not rewarding. Social division still exists. Poverty is ever present and injustice rules. It might have been different had Steve Biko not been murdered in custody. Maybe a more centred pragmatic leader would have addressed the killings better, and the corruption. Recently, the world's eyes were on South Africa as the amoral, over entitled killer Oscar Pistorius faced a murder charge, and just as with the US and OJ Simpson, South Africa's justice system failed. It may well be the law, but the law is an ass. One furphy involved the scream of Pistorius or Reeva which was not exculpatory and was not conclusive. The issue existed, so the prosecution had to raise it, but it didn't suit their case. And because it didn't suit the prosecution's case, the defence lampooned it, but truth is that Oscar silent on firing the gun is damning. And Oscar screaming while firing is equally damning. And Reeva screaming while Oscar fired is damning. It is equivalent to the gloves raised by the prosecution against OJ Simpson. The gloves may well have been irrelevant to the case, but had to be raised because they were present. They weren't exculpatory, but because the prosecution raised them they could be defended and so OJ was acquitted by furphy. By the bye, a furphy is Australian slang for a tall story, probably not based on Australian author Joseph Furphy who died on this day in 1912, but for large water carts owned by his brother, John, who produced large numbers of them marked J Furphy and sons. The reason why all the evidence, even irrelevant items, is part of a prosecution case is because the law demands to know what happened at the event. OJ Obfuscated, as did Oscar. The grieving loved ones are entitled to know what happened. But they do not know, because in testimony, Oscar has lied, and in cross Oscar has failed to account for his actions. Failure to convict Pistorius for murder is a sad conviction of South African justice.
As was hoped last year, Syria was investigated regarding the use of WMD. The source of the WMD may well have been Iraq. It was hoped that the weapons would be investigated and their history made known. That will never happen while Obama is President. Obama has long campaigned on the lie that there were no chemical weapons in Iraq and that Syria hid them after the second Iraq war. Syria has since used them on her own people. We don't know if Assad had ordered the use or if he lost control of them. Neither possibility is acceptable in a head of state. The UN has largely been absent when it matters, They opposed President Bush on almost every proactive international matter he addressed, but now, while Obama is dithering and bombing and organising war, UN is silently cheering.
There are culture wars and jihadis are threatening multiculturalism and cultural diversity. Cartoonist Michael Leunig is fundamentally dishonest with his portrayal of issues, he is after all a comic, and also a coward. But then terrorism is frightening. Bag checks are part of basic security now. Islamic leaders go limp when criticising terrorists who some claim are not really Islamic, but Islamic leaders seem grimly determined to defend. Secular administration is the only thing that has prospered in the age of reason, but the leftwing 'alternative' which despises capitalism and promotes anarchy in many guises is pernicious. Bill Maher attacks religion but mistakes secular administration for an atheist one, which is appealing to some. Tasmanian senator Lambie's has called for race statutes now she has embraced part of her own, publicly. The Age is charging a high premium for people who care about them not reporting on issues. Ted Turner, creator of CNN calls for 'culling people' for the environment. Fairfax boss drives a great car while his employees endure cuts. Meanwhile there is a rush to forgive Gillard for corruption which corrodes the entire ALP and Labour movement. But the worst, most damning of everything in the culture wars is the failure of the Liberal Party as a party galvanised throughout their entire membership, to support free speech. Nothing is more certain to erode the support base for the conservatives and allow the terrible things they would otherwise contain to flower.
MMP produces possible minority government in NZ, cruelling Key's excellent leadership. A timely reminder that only a vote for a conservative produces a responsible government. A man has died, allegedly from donating too much sperm. Nicole Kidman is grieving the loss of her father, he was a great man, greatly blessed.
Had everything worked out as he wanted it, Tostee would have had sex with another stranger and waited for the next. Some girls like that. But the death of one of those girls means that his life needs to be examined. And he is not a good person. He is scum. But is he a murderer? The community needs answers.
As was hoped last year, Syria was investigated regarding the use of WMD. The source of the WMD may well have been Iraq. It was hoped that the weapons would be investigated and their history made known. That will never happen while Obama is President. Obama has long campaigned on the lie that there were no chemical weapons in Iraq and that Syria hid them after the second Iraq war. Syria has since used them on her own people. We don't know if Assad had ordered the use or if he lost control of them. Neither possibility is acceptable in a head of state. The UN has largely been absent when it matters, They opposed President Bush on almost every proactive international matter he addressed, but now, while Obama is dithering and bombing and organising war, UN is silently cheering.
There are culture wars and jihadis are threatening multiculturalism and cultural diversity. Cartoonist Michael Leunig is fundamentally dishonest with his portrayal of issues, he is after all a comic, and also a coward. But then terrorism is frightening. Bag checks are part of basic security now. Islamic leaders go limp when criticising terrorists who some claim are not really Islamic, but Islamic leaders seem grimly determined to defend. Secular administration is the only thing that has prospered in the age of reason, but the leftwing 'alternative' which despises capitalism and promotes anarchy in many guises is pernicious. Bill Maher attacks religion but mistakes secular administration for an atheist one, which is appealing to some. Tasmanian senator Lambie's has called for race statutes now she has embraced part of her own, publicly. The Age is charging a high premium for people who care about them not reporting on issues. Ted Turner, creator of CNN calls for 'culling people' for the environment. Fairfax boss drives a great car while his employees endure cuts. Meanwhile there is a rush to forgive Gillard for corruption which corrodes the entire ALP and Labour movement. But the worst, most damning of everything in the culture wars is the failure of the Liberal Party as a party galvanised throughout their entire membership, to support free speech. Nothing is more certain to erode the support base for the conservatives and allow the terrible things they would otherwise contain to flower.
MMP produces possible minority government in NZ, cruelling Key's excellent leadership. A timely reminder that only a vote for a conservative produces a responsible government. A man has died, allegedly from donating too much sperm. Nicole Kidman is grieving the loss of her father, he was a great man, greatly blessed.
Had everything worked out as he wanted it, Tostee would have had sex with another stranger and waited for the next. Some girls like that. But the death of one of those girls means that his life needs to be examined. And he is not a good person. He is scum. But is he a murderer? The community needs answers.
From 2013
As the day ends and Yom Kippur begins for 2013, Australia has found out she is participating in Syria. An Australian with the Aussie name
Meanwhile, the party that invited many of Abu's country folk to come to Australia uninvited, and call themselves Australian while fighting for their land overseas, is fighting over its' leadership. Albanese saw caucus before announcing he will not change previous policy. Meanwhile, Shorten went straight to the press with the message he would not change any policy. It is strange because the ALP lost the election with unpopular policy underpinning their bad administration, and these two had voted for every dud. Without a leader, nobody knows what the ALP stands for, but one things is certain, regardless of who becomes leader, policy won't change.
There is a call in the US to defund Obamacare. A Democrat Senator is upset with the democratic recall process. California still burns. Two thugs who tried to steal a car mistook a victim who was actually armed. Clearly concealed weapons are a threat to thugs. Still, time for the living to atone.
Abu Asma, along with about 80 others, is fighting in Syria, and Abu performed the traditional terrorist assault with a truck bomb. It is unlikely Abu will atone for this sin. The eighty other participants seem to be delaying their atonement. Meanwhile it appears the Christian friendly Assad has gassed his people again. Maybe he hasn't, maybe it was a release of chemicals he didn't authorise. That can happen. It is unlikely Obama will be able to dither more, but he can dither longer. Putin is the strong man of these times, and he will facilitate talks.
Meanwhile, the party that invited many of Abu's country folk to come to Australia uninvited, and call themselves Australian while fighting for their land overseas, is fighting over its' leadership. Albanese saw caucus before announcing he will not change previous policy. Meanwhile, Shorten went straight to the press with the message he would not change any policy. It is strange because the ALP lost the election with unpopular policy underpinning their bad administration, and these two had voted for every dud. Without a leader, nobody knows what the ALP stands for, but one things is certain, regardless of who becomes leader, policy won't change.
There is a call in the US to defund Obamacare. A Democrat Senator is upset with the democratic recall process. California still burns. Two thugs who tried to steal a car mistook a victim who was actually armed. Clearly concealed weapons are a threat to thugs. Still, time for the living to atone.
Historical perspective on this day
Not done
=== 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.
===
Thanks to Warren for this advice on watching Bolt
Warren Catton Get this for your PC or MAC https://www.foxtel.com.au/foxtelplay/how-it-works/pc-mac.html Once you have installed it start it up and press Live TV you don't need a login to watch Sky News!
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January.
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
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
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWGFrench .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
| Happy birthday and many happy returns Warwick Poulsen and A K Navarro Robles-Encenarial. Born on the same day, across the years as Julia Flavia (64), K'inich Ahkal Mo' Naab' III (678), William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1521), Samuel Wilson (1766), Clara Schumann (1819), Milton S. Hershey (1857), Claudette Colbert (1903), Mae Questel (1908), Roald Dahl (1916), Maurice Jarre (1924), Donald Mackay (1933), Fiona Apple (1977) and Robbie Kay (1995). On your day, Feast Day of Saint John Chrysostom (Western Christianity); Yom Kippur begins at sunset (Judaism, 2013) 1759 – Seven Years' War: British forces defeated the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City, New France, though General James Wolfe was mortally wounded. 1814 – War of 1812: Fort McHenry in Baltimore's Inner Harbor was attacked by British forces during the Battle of Baltimore, later inspiring Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner", which later became the national anthem of the United States. 1933 – Elizabeth McCombs became the first woman elected to the Parliament of New Zealand. 1988 – Hurricane Gilbert reached a minimum pressure of 888 mb (26.22 inHg) with sustained flight-level winds of 185 mph (295 km/h), making it the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time. 2008 – Five synchronised bomb blasts took place within a span of few minutes in Delhi, India, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries. Quebec became forever divided. Bombs bursting in air gave proof, through the night, that our flag was still there. NZ won the gender wars. Gilbert was intense. Radical Islam attacked India, again. With or without robes, enjoy your day.
Deaths
|
Tim Blair
Andrew Bolt
THEY TOOK OUR SUBS
Tim Blair – Saturday, September 13, 2014 (3:23pm)
Shouty Bill Shorten’s latest industrial policy will be familiar to South Park viewers:
Yep. It’s a straight-up derka derr from the Labor leader.
Yep. It’s a straight-up derka derr from the Labor leader.
BAN THEM
Tim Blair – Saturday, September 13, 2014 (3:21pm)
Bicycle lanes are racist.
FIRST WORLD CHARITY
Tim Blair – Saturday, September 13, 2014 (3:18pm)
For only $107 per month or a mere $966 per year, you can become a caring Guardian patron:
The Patron tier is for those who care deeply about the Guardian’s journalism and the impact it has on the world.From campaigning on issues affecting the voices less heard to holding those in power to account, Patrons ensure the Guardian can continue to surface the information and ideas that shape the global conversation.
That’s just great. But what do you get for the best part of a grand per year?
In return for your support, Patrons are given a behind-the-scenes view of how the Guardian operates. For example, tour our newsroom, visit our printing presses or attend a campaign lecture.
Bargain! But Guido isn’t impressed.
BATWORLD
Tim Blair – Saturday, September 13, 2014 (1:27pm)
“I told an 85-year-old relative about Tim Blair and the frightbats today,” writes Correllio. “Even translated ‘frightbats’ into the wog mother tongue. He thought it was hilarious. In fact ‘frightbats’ in wog speak is even more hilarious. He couldn’t stop chuckling all afternoon. Frightbats are now culturally diverse and multilingual. No government-sponsored program required.”
In the further interests of frightbat internationalism, here are additional frightbat translations:
• Spanish: Bate de susto
• French: Chauve-souris de frayeur
• German: Schreck-Fledermaus
• Italian: Pipistrello di spavento
• Portuguese: Morcego de susto
• Danish: Forskraekkelse bat
• Dutch: Fright vleermuis
CULLING BEGINS AT HOME
Tim Blair – Saturday, September 13, 2014 (12:57pm)
Ted Turner in 2008, at the peak of global warming alarmism:
Note the CNN founder’s comments on overpopulation. Turner has five children and 13 grandchildren. At least two of those grandchildren were born after that interview.
Note the CNN founder’s comments on overpopulation. Turner has five children and 13 grandchildren. At least two of those grandchildren were born after that interview.
VICTORY FOR SHUT-INS
Tim Blair – Friday, September 12, 2014 (3:17pm)
Fairfax scored a win today in the latest monthly table of always-volatile Nielsen news rankings. Trouble is, the company struggles to convert clicks into cash. Here’s former Fairfax editor Matt Nicholls:
Some VERY unhappy Fairfax employees have had their leave in October cancelled today … Some Fairfax employees had overseas trips booked next month and have been told to cancel. Be surprised if there wasn’t industrial action … Fairfax keeping employee morale high by giving hundreds of NSW staff three weeks notice that planned annual leave in October can’t be taken.
Fairfax boss Greg Hywood last month purchased a $140,000 Maserati Ghibli.
NO CLASS
Tim Blair – Friday, September 12, 2014 (1:05pm)
University students are annoyed that other people won’t be forced to pay for their education:
Some of the protesters were just sad old commie beardos. That’s your future, kids.
Some of the protesters were just sad old commie beardos. That’s your future, kids.
UPDATE. Free hair gel for all!
On the Bolt Report tomorrow: the terror alert, Gillard and back to war in Iraq
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (9:10am)
On Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial: Obama ignored Bush and Howard, and now we must pay.
My guest: Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.
The panel: Peter Costello and Michael Costa
NewsWatch: Miranda Devine of the Daily Telegraph and 2GB. Is the media protecting Julia Gillard all over again?
The videos of the shows appear here.
===Editorial: Obama ignored Bush and Howard, and now we must pay.
My guest: Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.
The panel: Peter Costello and Michael Costa
NewsWatch: Miranda Devine of the Daily Telegraph and 2GB. Is the media protecting Julia Gillard all over again?
The videos of the shows appear here.
Bill Maher: Christianity is stupid but Islam is worse
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (9:04am)
UPDATE
Qanta Ahmed, associate professor of medicine at the State University of New York:
(Thanks to reader Correllio.)
===Qanta Ahmed, associate professor of medicine at the State University of New York:
As a devout Muslim, the tragedies of recent days have packed an added blow for me. Along with the senseless loss of two promising young lives, I have been forced to confront the fact that the beautiful religion that continues to sustain me – that supports me in my life-giving work as a physician – is increasingly the domain of those who would use it to destroy everything I hold dear.Of course, these radical imposters argue that the likes of Ahmed are the real imposters. And as Maher argues, the problem is that they can quote numerous verses in the Koran in support.
Recent events have left me able to draw only one conclusion: Islamism – the radical impostor form of my religion – has declared war on Islam.
(Thanks to reader Correllio.)
Where is the UN now that Obama is going to war?
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (8:58am)
When George W Bush proposed going into Iraq the Left - Labor included - couldn’t talk enough about needing UN backing.
Why is there absolutely no such talk now that Barack Obama is going into both Iraq and Syria?
Has the UN since exposed itself as utterly irrelevant and weak, the plaything of authoritarian governments? Or is this again an example of how the Left, being essentially tribal, tends to favor a side above a principle?
===Why is there absolutely no such talk now that Barack Obama is going into both Iraq and Syria?
Has the UN since exposed itself as utterly irrelevant and weak, the plaything of authoritarian governments? Or is this again an example of how the Left, being essentially tribal, tends to favor a side above a principle?
Jacqui Lambie, having declared she has Aboriginal ancestry, now wants Aboriginal seats in Parliament
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (8:51am)
This racist idea could guarantee Jacqui Lambie stays in Parliament, given she this month publicly announced she had Aboriginal ancestry, too:
The idea that people like Lambie are so different to the rest of us that they require separate representation is as stupid as it is divisive.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===JACQUI Lambie wants at least five seats in the federal parliament to be dedicated to Aboriginal Australians, declaring “it’s about time we give them that justice"…For a proposal meant to unite us, the proposed referendum to recognise Aborigines in the constitution is prompting an awful lot of dangerous ideas to divide us by “race”.
Senator Lambie told The Weekend Australian she would promote the dedicated seats idea in the next sitting of parliament, and call for a Senate committee to determine how it could be implemented.
She said 3 per cent or 4 per cent of all federal seats should be given to indigenous people, reflecting Aboriginal representation in the general population.That would see at least five Aboriginal representatives in the lower house and two or three in the Senate… “There should be no excuse why this can’t be done for the next election. That’s how fast I want to move on this.”
The idea that people like Lambie are so different to the rest of us that they require separate representation is as stupid as it is divisive.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
A shark will die if it does not swim
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (8:41am)
John Roskam warns that Liberals are hiding from the battle of ideas, which could drag the Abbott Government to the Left:
===The problem for any political party of the centre-right in Australia that attempts to govern from the “centre”, is that the centre of policy and political discussion in this country is moving to the left. There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as border protection – but not many.
The question for the Liberal Party is whether it follows the political centre leftward or whether it tries to swing the centre back to where it once was…
A commitment from public commentators in this country to the importance of freedom of speech and a free press would once have been taken for granted. Now a belief in freedom of speech is regularly labelled as “ideological” and even, bizarrely, as something that’s “right wing”. Both sides of politics now accept that reductions in government spending can only ever be “fair” if taxes on the wealthy are raised at the same time…
(I)t once would have been uncontroversial to argue that a country like Israel, a liberal democracy surrounded by terrorist and authoritarian regimes, would have the right to defend itself if attacked. The urging of some Liberal MPs for Australia to be more “neutral” in what’s rightly been called a battle between civilisation and barbarism reflects how attitudes towards Middle East politics have changed. When it comes to foreign affairs, governing from the centre would require Tony Abbott to abandon the Australian government’s support for Israel… (F)ewer and fewer Liberal MPs are willing to engage in the battle of ideas. Not enough Liberals understand ... that the reason the political left is so keen to describe every effort of the Liberal Party to redress the balance of debate in this country as the reigniting of the “culture war” is that the left has already won that war.
The strange rush to excuse Julia Gillard
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (8:38am)
Grace Collier on the excusing of Julia Gillard by journalists this week:
Gillard says she did not know how this misleadingly named and described association would be used by her then boyfriend, but the fact that it was so misleadingly identified made it a vehicle for a fraud - or, rather, alleged fraud.
To repeat: Gillard says she did nothing wrong and did not even know of anything her then boyfriend was doing that was wrong.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===TWENTY years too late, Julia Gillard is finally being held to account for her role in the ... AWU scandal…I do not believe charges are likely or even possible. But I completely agree that the setting up of the association - with its misleading title and rules - was wrong and Gillard should have known it. This is the elephant in the room that so many journalists are ignoring.
Contrary to the opinions of many, when she stepped off the stand [at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption] it did not mark the end of the matter but an important step in the process of discovery. Gauging by much of the media commentary that followed, people must have thought Gillard was going to fall apart on the stand, make shock concessions or that stunning evidence without notice would emerge and prove “the smoking gun” that Gillard supporters keep demanding to see.
This is an unrealistic expectation of commission protocols and reflective of ignorance of police investigations.
Now that Gillard’s evidence is finally on the record, staff from the royal commission and the Victorian Police can begin the laborious process of matching her version of events to the evidence; to other people’s versions of events and existing documentation…
The accusations Gillard faced can be refined down to three areas. First, Gillard allegedly received dirty money. This allegation falls into the “he said, she said” category. As far as we know, bank statements have not been located and a handful of people contradict each other’s version of events. It is impossible to predict how the commission may view this.
Second, Gillard is accused of improperly witnessing a power-of-attorney document [which she denies]…
Third, Gillard is accused of improperly setting up an association that [Bruce] Wilson used to enact his alleged fraud. Gillard helped apply to set it up and when the application was rejected she wrote to the authorities arguing the case…
People who say Gillard did nothing wrong rely on the premise that she did not know what the association was used for [as Gillard insists] and therefore cannot be blamed.
That may be true, but it entirely misses the point. The allegation is simply that it was wrong of Gillard to help set the association up in the first place. This allegation relies on significant documentation for its basis. Now Gillard’s statement has added to that evidence. In my opinion, this allegation presents a risk for Gillard, both in terms of an adverse finding and possible charges.
Gillard says she did not know how this misleadingly named and described association would be used by her then boyfriend, but the fact that it was so misleadingly identified made it a vehicle for a fraud - or, rather, alleged fraud.
To repeat: Gillard says she did nothing wrong and did not even know of anything her then boyfriend was doing that was wrong.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
How dare Shorten treat our defence like this?
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (7:32am)
The Prime Minister points out that we buy submarines primarily to defend Australians, not employ them:
So Paul Kelly despairs at Labor’s bizarre reaction, and worries that Australia today rewards such demagoguery:
UPDATE
Troy Bramston says Shorten’s reference to World War 2 was not meant to be a dig at Japan. Or so Shorten’s office says:
===The most important thing is to get the best and most capable submarines at a reasonable cost to the Australian taxpayer. We should make decisions based on defence requirements not on the basis of industry policy.The fact that buying, say, 12 Japanese subs rather than 12 Australian subs could perhaps save us more than $20 billion and years of waiting and repairing is not irrelevant, either.
So Paul Kelly despairs at Labor’s bizarre reaction, and worries that Australia today rewards such demagoguery:
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s near hysterical reaction is his latest manifestation of over-reach. It is becoming a Shorten characteristic.The irony is that one reason Australia can’t build subs at a reasonable price is that Labor made sure of it:
Shorten says Abbott’s decision is “dangerous” for national security. He told workers in Adelaide that Abbott was going after “every one of you”, that he was “contracting out the defence of Australia”, that he had allowed the bookkeepers to take over and that he led a “despicable, cynical lying mob” on this issue. This is more than a touch mad.
He said of Abbott when you put “all our eggs in a foreign country’s basket, create jobs in Japanese dockyards” then you are undermining Australian national security. This pitch is one of the oldest and most infamous invocations of protectionism. The xenophobia was scarcely below the surface.
The more Shorten’s claim is scrutinised, the more ludicrous it looks.
The country is uncompetitive to a significant extent, the Rudd-Gillard era imposed new layers of industrial costs, major industries are closing, firms struggle to stay competitive yet Labor parades the need to risk a higher cost submarine for industry policy objectives dressed up as a security imperative.True, the business case must first be made:
Reports suggest the Japanese cost may be as low as $20 billion-$25bn for eight submarines, a bit more than half the likely Australian-build cost. But Davies suggests the more realistic Australian performance goals for the submarine now mean the cost difference may be far less than this.But the decision must be made with the head and not that fake patriotism of the rabble-rousing main-chancer. Should our submarines ever fail to defend this country it would be no excuse to say Australian workers at least built them.
UPDATE
Troy Bramston says Shorten’s reference to World War 2 was not meant to be a dig at Japan. Or so Shorten’s office says:
Shorten’s speech, laced with fear and protectionism, was a shocker…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Standing on the back of a flatbed truck, flanked by several Labor MPs, and looking out to a sea of union flags flapping in the breeze, Shorten yielded to the retrograde views of some in the audience… “Last time we had Jap subs, they were in bloody Sydney Harbour,” one man yelled out, although not while Shorten was speaking. The man was cheered…
Shorten took the low road and did little to discourage his audience’s views. “This is a government with a short memory,” he said. “In the second world war, 366 merchant ships were sunk off Australia.”
Shorten’s point was about a short-sighted decision in the 1930s to privatise ship-building. But the reference to World War II in this context, in front of this crowd, was a mistake. And it didn’t stop there. Shorten rekindled the old Australian fear of invasion. “For goodness sake, Tony Abbott, buy a map of the world,” he said. “We are an island, Tony Abbott, and our navy matters."…
Although Shorten played down his comments and his office flatly denied this critique, the words speak for themselves… Labor MPs quizzed by the media have played down the notion that Shorten deliberately drew on World War II to oppose importing Japanese submarines. Privately, though, MPs are questioning his judgment. Shorten’s speeches have become increasingly opportunistic.
Multicultural Australia today
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (7:01am)
Our life now under the jihadist threat:
===Sweeping bag checks at the turnstiles and the stopping of suspicious individuals were introduced at last night’s South Sydney Rabbitohs finals clash with the Manly Sea Eagles, while extra officers were also on duty at the MCG in Melbourne for last night’s AFL semi-final between Geelong and North Melbourne.I would like Muslim leaders to do a hell of a lot more about this. Instead:
With only a few exceptions, moderate Muslim leaders have not spoken out publicly to condemn the Islamic State and those who want to leave Australia to fight with them.Sure, there are the usual required pieties from our leaders:
Mr Abbott said he wanted people to be reassured that Australia had highly capable security and intelligence services. The decision to raise the terror alert was “about potential crime, not religion’’.Abbott’s pieties are immediately contradicted by Abbott’s facts:
“There are some people who believe that a tolerant, democratic, pluralist society where people are free to worship their god in their own way, to choose whether or not to worship a god … they regard as an abomination, and that’s why I regret to say we are targets, and we would be targets regardless of anything that we did.”Police aren’t kidding themselves about the role religion plays in shaping how some dangerous people behave:
In 2007, the New York City Police Department released a report, Radicalisation in the West: The Homegrown Threat, identifying common pathways and phases in the Muslim radicalisation process…
In the third phase, “indoctrination”, individuals “accept a religious-political worldview that justifies, legitimises, encourages, or supports violence against anything kufr, or un-Islamic, including the West, its citizens, its allies, or other Muslims whose opinions are contrary to the extremist agenda”. The final phase, “jihadisation”, sees them “accept their individual duty to participate in jihad and self-designate themselves as holy warriors or mujaheddin”.
No sale
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (6:47am)
Some young Australians object to paying half the costs of their university education. They want other Australians to donate more to them. But how to persuade us?
Here’s yesterday’s plan.
===Here’s yesterday’s plan.
- Swear at Prime Minister Tony Abbott.Watch the excellent report of Ten’s Candice Wyatt [from 1:34] and wonder whether you should actually be donating a cent of your money to whatever has been educating this violent mob.
- Attack police and push one over.
- Smash a car window.
- Accuse patient police of being violent.
- Claim police attacked you even when you’ve only been pushed out of the the way of a moving car and stopped from being run over.
- Tell a reporter that, sure, you aren’t actually a university student yourself but “I am a student of life at the moment”.
For free speech
Andrew Bolt September 13 2014 (6:15am)
Reader Wozzup:
===A few days ago you were saying that there needs to be some better arguments in favour of free speech. I agree. These all utter a very powerful truth, that restriction on free speech is the beginning of the end of democracy and the start of encroachments that can only end in full blown repression.
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” - George Washington
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” - Benjamin Franklin
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” - George Orwell
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” - Harry S. Truman
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” - James Madison “The moment you say that any idea system is sacred, whether it’s a religious belief system or a secular ideology, the moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.” - Salman Rushdie
Does Michael Leunig have the guts to mock the true death cult?
Andrew Bolt September 12 2014 (4:51pm)
Gerard Henderson is spot on:
What a sneering cartoon by Michael Leunig in this morning’s Age. The Guardian-on-the-Yarra’s Sandalista-in-Chief was at his sectarian best with his drawing of the Catholic Tony Abbott praying in front of Jesus Christ on the Cross declaring: “Dear Jesus – protect us from the weird Muslim death cult"…Has Leunig ever had the courage to criticise Islamists who cut off heads in the way he vilifies Christians who turn the other cheek? Or does he secretly know the difference, after all, betweem Christians and a true death cult?
So how brave is Leunig and The Age’s editor-in-chief Andrew Holden running yet more anti-Catholic sectarianism in The Age? Er, not much. Christians, including Catholics, are expected to accept Leunig’s mockery of their religion – just as Jewish Australians have been expected to accept Leunig’s past moral equivalence on the Holocaust. Moreover, supporters of Prime Minister Abbott do not have a record of cutting off the heads of disagreeable journalists.
But there is another question here. Would Leunig ever draw a cartoon mocking the Muslim faith and/or the Prophet? And would Mr Holden and the Age’s editorial team publish such a drawing? Answer – an emphatic “no”. It’s yet another example of the left’s double standards – as exemplified in The Age.
But that’s not all. According to the New Testament, Christ was executed on the cross. Unlike a few Sunni Islamists of the so-called Islamist State, Christ did not go around cutting throats and parading severed heads. Leunig does not seem to understand that Christ never proclaimed a death cult. IS is a death cult – as its Sh’ia Muslim, Christian and Jewish victims would attest if they were alive.
However, for The Age’s Sandalista-in-Chief, the tragedy in parts of Syria and Iraq provides just another opportunity to sneer at Christians in general and Catholics in particular.
Poseur.
Much more on Henderson’s always-informative Media Watch Dog Blog.
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Anthony Albanese never saw himself as PM, he was happy as chief Left faction poo kicker. But a week is a long time in politics and a few days counting numbers and gazing into the bathroom mirror is all Albo needed to see himself as leader of the Opposition.
Bill Shorten believes his time has come but Caucus doesn’t feel the same way, and for damned good reasons.
Shorten wanted to bypass his Caucus “mates” and stand unopposed but now finds Albo’s epiphany has given him serious competition. If the ALP wants to recover lost ground in Opposition it needs an Albo, certainly not a Shorten.
Let’s face it, Shorten is yesterday’s man and the architect of Labor’s current malaise and he has made many enemies within the Party.
Paul (Piggy) Howes’ lustful expectation of taking Bob Carr’s Senate vacancy is now in doubt and that alone is testament to the Shorten/AWU lack of clout.
As anointed protégé of the AWU’s Big Bill Ludwig, Shorten engineered Rudd’s original demise in favour of Gillard. He continuously swore allegiance to Julia until, 20 minutes before Rudd’s final tilt at PM, he swapped sides carrying with him sufficient votes to bury Gillard.
Make no mistake, it was Shorten, with the backing of the AWU, who reinstalled the ridiculous Rudd as PM. It was Shorten who intended to profit from Rudd’s expected annihilation. It’s just that he figured Gillard would give him less of a team to work with in Opposition.
After the election Shorten expected to mount the dais to thunderous applause, but there has been nothing but silent apprehension... Labor is wary of his treacherous disloyalty.
They understand everything Bill has done has been for Bill, with the help of his corrupt AWU.
The word inside Labor now is that Bill is a gonner so Albo has publicly thrown his hat in the ring. He knows the mood of Caucus better than anyone.
Shorten would bring with him the stench of the past. He is the living symbol of all that is distasteful, corrupt and plain wrong with the Labor Party.
Albo has stayed true to his Labor ethics and his acidic tongue and derisory invective is a formidable kit to carry into Opposition.
Ask Abbott who he would prefer as Opposition leader and without hesitation he will say Bill Shorten.
And that’s why Anthony Albanese should get the job.
===
A United Nations report on global warming has been postponed as the northern ice cap expands by almost one million square miles. An increase of 60 per cent.
Arguably the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on a gullible public by income redistribution proponents is rapidly unravelling as common sense swamps the prophets of doom.
The ABC’s great aunt, Britain’s BBC, confidently claimed in 2007 that the northern ice cap would disappear by 2013.
“Settled science” has become a little unsettling even to professors Flannery and Garnaut (it seems anyone can be a professor these days) as they go to ground rather than face an embarrassing backdown.
Those with even a rudimentary understanding of meteorology have known since the Al Gore outburst that “global warming” (later softened to “climate change”) alarmists were secreting a new world order agenda.
Global warming was their chosen vehicle.
After viewing the original Al Gore movie many years ago I rushed home in anger and wrote a hundred page article explaining why his nonsense claims simply could not be true.
It’s far too boringly complicated to reprint here but a précis is this:
The climate is supposed to change... it has been changing for four billion years and we would not be here if it hadn’t been.
Fraudulent Green climate “scientists” have one problem, they have no concept of time. Somehow they believe their lifespan of 70 or 80 years is significant.
Everything is a renewable resource. Even water, minerals and peat, it’s just a matter of time.
If the earth was only 100 years old, then we have been here for the last half second and during that 100 year period the earth has done, and continues to do, more “damage” to itself than man could ever do to it. Except it’s not damage. We call it “damage” only because we sometimes get in the way.
Of every species that ever lived on earth 99 per cent are now extinct.
Those myriad species died because of a changing climate or changing environment... and we weren’t even here!
Natural selection and rapid genetic mobility have afforded us and our environment a resilience that allows us to survive for that half second and we should be bloody grateful.
I hope Abbott silently harbours global warming scepticism because it’s about time this inexplicable costly fraud was put to bed.
===
Twenty years ago today, Israel's so-called peace process with the PLO was officially ushered in at the White House Rose Garden.
A year or so later, when the death toll of Israeli victims of the massive terror offensive that the PLO organized shortly afterwards reached what then seemed unbearable heights, a popular call went out to "Put the Oslo Criminals on Trial."
Needless to say, with Shimon Peres, the architect and godfather of the so-called peace process now serving as the President of Israel, nothing ever came of the call.
The demand for an accounting was not unprecedented. There was no reason, on the face of things for those who made it to be perceived as anything other than reasonably enraged, and responsible citizens insisting that those responsible for the largest, most destructive strategic error Israel has ever made pay a personal price for their actions.
Twenty years before that ceremony at the White House, Israel suffered the worst military defeat in its history.
Israel did win the Yom Kippur War, in the end. It was a sloppy, painful, tragic and costly win. Victory owed to tactical errors by the Syrians; to the unbelievable heroism, and dogged determination exhibited by the IDF's junior officer corps and line soldiers, particularly on the Golan Heights; and to the emergency resupply of war materiel Israel received midway through the war from the United States.
Just as was the case twenty years later, when Israelis (having been introduced to the suicide bomber), decided their leaders had betrayed them; following the Yom Kippur War, the demobilized soldiers, the bereaved families and the general public demanded an accounting from the senior political leaders and the IDF brass that had led them down the vicious, deadly garden path.
After the Yom Kippur War, their demand was answered. The Agranat Commission was formed. And heads rolled. The prime minister, defense minister and IDF chief of general staff were all booted out. Other senior IDF commanders were relieved of their duties. And they deserved what they got.
And just to make sure we remember how ill-served we were by our leaders forty years ago, every year around Yom Kippur, the media gives an open mike to every maudlin, angry, and indignant story they can find. Every year new documentaries are produced. Every year, new books are published. And for the most part, they are interesting and worthwhile.
Nothing even vaguely resembling the now forty year-long accounting Israel has experienced with regard to the Yom Kippur War has occurred in relation to the so-called peace process with the Palestinians that is now twenty years old. No commission of inquiry was convened. No heads have rolled.
No television station has broadcast a serious documentary explaining the price Israel has paid on any level for a mistake that has cost us so dearly on every level. No one has given belated tribute to the millions of Israelis who foresaw the disaster that would befall us if we recognized the PLO.
And foresee it they did. And oppose it, they did. More than two million Israelis - or nearly half the country's Jewish population in the early 1990s, and a third of the current Jewish population, have actively opposed the so-called Oslo accords and what followed.
As a portion of Israel's population, the number of Israelis who took part in protests against the so-called peace process comprised the largest protest movement in history.
The public foresaw what was eminently foreseeable. Renowned intellectuals and decorated military leaders warned that the PLO was a terrorist organization that had no intention of making peace with Israel. They warned that the PLO would use every inch of land Israel transferred to its control as a forward base for terrorism against Israeli civilians. They warned that Yassir Arafat was a liar, a murderer and a Jew hater who would use all powers granted him to murder and legitimize the murder of Israeli civilians.
They warned that he was not interested in the least in establishing a Palestinian state, rather wanted only to oversee the dismemberment and destruction of our state, the Jewish state.
And for the past twenty years, their warnings were borne out by events every single day.
More than fifteen hundred Israelis have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the past twenty years. Scores of thousands of Israelis have been wounded or suffered the destruction of their families and their lives.
Diplomatically, Israel has paid an immeasurable price for the abject stupidity of our leaders' willful blindness to the rank phoniness of the PLO's commitment to peaceful coexistence with Israel. The glaring obviousness of the danger of accepting the false historical narrative of our sworn enemies on our ability to defend ourselves internationally was so overwhelming that no one even bothered to mention it in the years before the so-called Oslo accord was concluded.
But today, after twenty years of self-induced diplomatic failure has rendered Israeli leaders and representatives incapable of defending the country, it is necessary to explain it.
The PLO falsely claims that the cause for instability and violence in the Middle East is the absence of a Palestinian state in the lands Israel took control over from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Six Day War.
Before the inauguration of the so-called peace process, Israel easily defended itself against this libel. After all, the PLO was established in 1964 - three years before Israel took control over Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Its declared purpose was and remains the destruction of Israel, not the establishment of a Palestinian state on some of the territory Israel controls.
The absence of regional peace has nothing at all to do with Israel. It stems from the virulent Jew hatred that is endemic throughout the Islamic world. Due to this hatred Israel's neighbors seek its destruction. The centrality of their irrational, obsessive desire to seek the eradication of the Jewish people and the Jewish state is the reason there has been no true peace between Israel and its neighbors - including its Palestinian neighbors. And because their hatred is irrational and all-encompassing, there is nothing Israel can do to appease them.
Israel was able to defend itself from the PLO's lies to great effect before it accepted this terrorist organization as a legitimate actor and so accepted the legitimacy of its duplicitous narrative. But since it did, it has been unable to explain its actions, or increasingly, its right to exist at all. Because if the absence of a Palestinian state in Israel's heartland, and its capital city is what stands behind all the bad behavior of the Arab world, then everything that Israel does that impinges even marginally on the establishment of such of state is immoral, destabilizing and dangerous.
This is why even Israel's most skilled diplomats - to the extent they still operate in Israel's PLO-besotted Foreign Ministry -- cannot defend us. This is why a generation of Israeli leaders have zero to show for their efforts to defend this country. They are trapped in a policy discourse that is founded on anti-Israel lies.
Then there is our alliance with the United States. To legitimize the single most destructive action ever undertaken by an Israeli government, the Rabin-Peres government approached the Clinton administration and asked it to sponsor this objectively insane policy, strenuously opposed by half the country.
Bill Clinton was happy to oblige them. But once the Americans were on board, and placed US prestige behind a policy which, based as it was on lies, had no chance of success, Israel could not walk away.
Once the Americans supported a policy that half of the public - and now two-thirds of the public - opposed, Washington necessarily found itself siding with an ever shrinking minority of Israelis against the majority of the public. Consequently for the past twenty years, US decision makers have backed policies that have become progressively more anti-Israel.
From a domestic perspective, the phony peace process has taken an enormous toll on Israeli society and democracy. To defend such a move so strenuously and reasonably opposed by such a large portion of the public it was necessary to marginalize the public. And so we were subjected to a systematic effort to purge and discredit dissident voices from the senior and later junior ranks of the IDF, from the Foreign Ministry, (although Peres had done much of the work pruning responsible voices out of the ministry in the previous decade), and from the Justice Ministry.
Responsible opponents in the public square were castigated as extremists and enemies of peace, little different from terrorists. A new vocabulary to hide reality - like calling terror victims, victims of peace - was invented.
Four times over the past twenty years - in 1994, 1995, 2000 and 2005 - the peace processors brought Israeli society to the brink of collapse. Lawful demonstrators and political activists - including minor children - were criminalized, and often jailed and put on trial for their civil disobedience. The corruption of Israel's legal system, which applies laws unequally to various members of the public, depending on their political views was a direct outcome of Israel's decision twenty years ago to embrace the PLO.
For the past twenty years, the party most responsible for Israel's continued abidance by a strategy that has brought us nothing but disaster is the media. The reason that Peres was elected to the presidency rather than put out to pasture like Golda Meir is because the media lionized him as the greatest statesman of all time.
The reason that once in office non-leftist leaders embrace the positions of the radical Left, ignore the public, block every attempt to correct the damage that the Oslo accords have wrought, and embark on a new path is because they are no match for Channel 2 and all the rest.
Our media outlets run a constant stream of post-Zionist propaganda that has reduced our elected representatives' field of action to the size of a postage stamp. They ignore knowledgeable, well-spoken representatives of the majority. They regularly invite cognitively and aesthetically challenged nationalists to their studios to embarrass into silence the majority of viewers who share their opinions. Zionists are hired to high-profile but powerless positions to make the public feel uncomfortable about complaining that its views have no voice in the media.
Today the Obama administration plumbs the depths of strategic dysfunction. The Arab world empowers the most dangerous elements in country after country. The European Union treats Israel as a greater international outlaw than Iran, North Korea or Syria. Anti-Israel indoctrination is the norm on university campuses throughout the Western world. A new generation is coming of age that has never heard the truth about the Jewish state.
To contend with all this, the single most important step Israel must take is to end our twenty year nightmare with the PLO. As long as it continues, we will remain incapable of defending ourselves.
The left are tribal and don't let examination of their mistakes take place. If they did, serious questions might be asked regarding WW1 reparations, WW2 firebombing of Dresden, or nuking of Japan's civilian populations. Or of Korean war conduct, Vietnam war initiation, Rwanda, Sarajevo, Burma, Khmer Rouge, North Korea, Iran .... Uganda .. South Africa .. Libya .. Egypt .. Lebanon.. - ed
===
Michelle Malkin.
VIDEO: Watch/share/like my shout-out to the 2 million bikers on Fox News tonite...and my battle with Juan Williams over the rodeo clown in the White House who wants to aid and abet jihadists in the name of humanitarian intervention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FujaIwnC6b8&feature=c4-overview&list=UUzzwILIcMrcarpzNwQo6E3g
===
The situation on our southern border is SHOCKING. Ranchers are forced to spend day in and day out watching, guarding, and protecting their property from drug cartels. TheBlaze's Sara Carter gave me an inside look this morning on radio: http://tblz.us/oON7O
More tonight on For The Record, 8:30pm ET on TheBlaze.
===
Know that what happened was not your fault.
http://bit.ly/
===
Pastor Rick Warren
Your deepest life message will come out of your deepest pain.
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JULIA Gillard and a raft of senior Labor figures could face being grilled by a judicial inquiry into the union slush fund scandal involving her former boyfriend.
Senior Coalition figures confirm an Abbott Government would establish a royal commission-style inquiry into the alleged misuse of up to $1 million in funds from the Australian Workers' Union.
It would have powers to compel witnesses to give evidence, with senior Coalition figures naming the former Prime Minister as one of the key political figures who would be required to appear.
Ms Gillard has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Last night, former Attorney-General, Rob McClelland - who helped to reignite the 20-year-old scandal when he gave a statement to parliament in mid-2012 - pledged to "co-operate" with any investigation.
Documents filed in the Melbourne Magistrates Court confirm Ms Gillard is a focus in the ongoing police investigation.
The court issued a search warrant in May 2013 directing police to search Slater & Gordon's Melbourne premises. They seized documents including "personnel files relating to Julia Gillard including her invoices/billings, time sheets and travel records".
They also seized "partnership meeting documents pertaining to Julia Gillard and the (AWU)".
Ms Gillard provided legal advice to her then boyfriend and former AWU official, Bruce Wilson, who was described in court as the "primary subject" of the long running inquiry.
The former PM helped to establish the Australian Workers' Union Workplace Reform Association.
Ms Gillard described this vehicle as a "slush fund" during an exit interview from Slater & Gordon in 1995.
A spokesman for Ms Gillard said she had no comment on the matter.
The former Labor leader has maintained that the allegations against her were a "smear" while Mr Wilson - who now lives on the NSW north coast - has cleared Ms Gillard of any wrongdoing.
Kevin Rudd, campaigning in Tasmania, also declined to comment on the scandal.
"I have nothing to add to this as it is an ongoing investigation," the PM told reporters.
Mr McClelland has returned to work as a partner at law firm Turner Freeman after quitting politics.
In the mid-1990s, he provided legal advice to a former AWU joint national secretary Ian Cambridge as he tried to investigate the alleged misuse of union funds.
Mr McClelland said the law firm had not been asked to hand over any documents relating to the AWU matter.
"But of course, Turner Freeman and I personally would co-operate with any police or other investigation into the matter," he said.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national-news/federal-election/tony-abbott-to-launch-inquiry-into-awu-8216slush-fund8217/story-fnho52ip-1226710059171#ixzz2elnVt2uL
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Union brothers and sisters, demand a full repeal of Obamacare, an immediate defunding, and some resignations.
Sarah Palin
===
Here’s video of Giron’s meltdown. Giron got more pushback from CNN’s Brooke Baldwin than she wanted, and it showed:
Partial transcript:
Giron: What this story really is about, it’s about voter suppression. When Colorado has voted by mail — 70 percent of Coloradans vote by mail — and we didn’t have access to that mail ballot, I mean, I —Host: Forgive me, but I’m going to cut you off right there because if we talk voter suppression, I’ve read reports about a lack of popularity on your behalf, let’s just not go there. Let’s get to the meat of the story, which is this gun control stance…Giron: That is the meat of the story!Host: … That you and your, uh, let’s talk though about the stance that you and your colleague, the head of the Senate, a former police officer, have taken. And here you have mega mega cash from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Mayor Bloomberg, versus this grassroots effort. What happened?Giron: I’m telling you what happened is that you had only 30,000 of the voters who in the last election, um, off-year election, was 45,000. And so the people that are in support of very common sense gun legislation weren’t able to get to the polls. They vote by ballot and they have been doing that for 25 years. I mean, we have to call it for what it is. When I was talking to people at the doors and in their homes it was that, “Oh, this what this is about, because you want universal background checks so you voted for that, and because you’re limiting magazines to 15? I don’t see anything wrong with that, I don’t see any infringement on the Second Amendment.” So, people didn’t know what it was about. There was voter confusion. We didn’t even know what the rules of the game were, this is the United States of America, we didn’t even know what the rules of the game were a week out from the election. Where to vote, how to vote, were you going to get a ballot in the mail? Um, and, so it was just that confusion led to the voices of people in Pueblo County and El Paso County not having their voices heard and yet they’re going to have to pay for this election, the most expensive in the history of these two counties.
Giron still either doesn’t get it or has to force herself to pretend not to get it.
Keep it up, Democrats, and 2014 will be a great year … for the Republicans.===
Quite a few commentators have rightly taken the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, to task for his recent absurd suggestion that the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict represents the root cause of instability in the Middle East.
Fabius’s remarkably myopic understanding of the region prompted Binyamin Netanyahu to point out the obvious: that if peace with the Palestinians were achieved today, the centrifuges won’t stop spinning in Iran, the savage civil war in Syria won’t abate, the instability in Egypt wouldn’t end, and attacks on the West will continue.
However, when I read Laurent’s comments, uttered in Ramallah after he met with Mahmoud Abbas, it reminded me of something the Guardian once claimed at the dawn of what they still were calling the “Arab Spring.” Sure enough:
A Guardian Feb. 2011 official editorial (“The Middle East: People, Power, Politics“) on Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal crackdown against protesters at the dawn of their civil war, and the broader political upheavals in the region, included this risible line:
“the Libyan leader may still be considered too valuable to lose, as US influence in the region decreases. Nowhere is that truer than in the cockpit of the crisis, Palestine.
The Guardian’s surreal editorial, which though dealing with Libya somehow managed to devote 200 of 675 words to the issue of “Palestine,” was indicative of the paper’s shameful misreading of the political upheavals which had occurred, or were to occur, in Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.
Such framing of events in the Middle East – which attributes most political maladies to Israel’s “injurious” effects on the region – represents more than mere hostility to Israel, but is part of a broader political framework which often shows itself impervious to facts, logic, and new information.
Whilst the Guardian’s editorial line no longer seems wedded to this absurd Zionist causality, the fact that their initial response was to draw a line from Tripoli to Jerusalem speaks volumes about the intellectually crippling effects of their far-left ideology.
Visit CIFWatch.
===<Poor Julian Burnside. The election has not been kind on him. Now wants to make Tasmania into a prison colony for asylum-seekers.>
===
Mondays episode's teaser for Four Corners has a man saying he doesn't want to live like this, when told he could live for twenty more years. I get it that ALP supporters feel bad for losing. But the quality of life improves under conservative government. #auspol #youdecide9 - ed
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Two unlucky thugs attempted to carjack a concealed carry permit holder in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday. The miscalculation turned out to be deadly as the would-be victim shot and killed one of the criminals and wounded the other.
After returning a movie at a Redbox kiosk outside of a local McDonald’s, the man was approached by two suspects who attempted to steal his car for the rims, according to police. The suspects also took his cellphone and car keys, KTRK-TV reports.
===Forty years after the Yom Kippur War, an eventually triumphant campaign that cost over 2,500 Israeli lives and left an enduring scar on the national psyche, Israel on Thursday released Prime Minister Golda Meir’s long-classified testimony from the commission of inquiry that investigated the actions of the military before and during the early stages of the war.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Suicide is neither cool, nor funny. Please join me in protesting DC Comic's sick contest: http://www.namicalifornia.org/news.php?page=current-news&lang=eng&id=5044#.UjKRy8ashca …===
Syrian rebels claim that the army of President Bashar Assad again used poison gas in an attack on rebel forces in the Damascus area Thursday, an Israel Radio report said.
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Phillip Jensen
Nowhere in scripture is it said that we should elect our rulers. But we are commanded to pray for them (1 Timothy 2) and submit to them (Romans 13, 1 Peter 2).===
Remember when President Obama promised us, “If you like your current health care plan, you can keep your plan?” That was not true, and his deceptive claim falls in line with all the other lies about Obamacare – like there’d be no health care rationing.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense can understand that if it is cheaper for a company to cancel employees’ health benefits and pay the $2,000 Obamacare fine instead of providing, say, a $10,000 government mandated employee health care plan, then of course that company will choose to pay the much smaller fine.
And if companies don’t have to provide government mandated health care for part time employees, then of course that’s an incentive for them to cut back employees’ hours and make their workforce part time.
This isn’t rocket science. This is Economics 101. And it’s happening right now at companies all over the country.
We saw this coming, and now even President Obama’s union leader friends have finally 'fessed up to Obamacare lies. These union leaders betrayed their own membership by enthusiastically endorsing Obamacare, and now our good union brothers and sisters are at risk of losing the benefits they’ve worked for and counted on their whole lives. Union bosses, you owe your membership an apology, retraction, and resignation.
Union leaders are now scrambling and trying to get special carve-outs exclusively for union members. I sympathize with union members – especially when they’re led by thugs. I always do. But this is the wrong way to go about fixing the enormous train wreck that is Obamacare. More cronyism, select exemptions, and special subsidies make the problem worse.
We need to repeal the whole darn thing, and that starts with defunding it.
Union brothers and sisters, don’t let your incompetent leadership hoodwink you again. Demand a full repeal, an immediate defunding, and some resignations.
- Sarah Palin
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Heavenly Father,I thank You for Your favor, strength and grace at work in my life. I turn my focus on You today. I turn my thoughts on You. I set my heart and love upon You because You are good. Thank You for filling me with might and power to overcome in Jesus’ name! Amen.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Through the days and through the years, through the pain and through the tears, God was there for me.
===Gina Rinehart
Why don't opponents of capitalism boycott Facebook?Because hypocrites forget their reason - ed
===
FACT CHECK :
The claim: Tim Costello says the Coalition's proposed $4.5 billion cuts to foreign aid will result in the loss of 450,000 lives.
The verdict: Mr Costello's claim is not credible
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-12/costello-foreign-aid-cuts-claim-not-credible/4949042
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HISTORY IN THE HEADLINES: This week, a court in Northern Ireland announced its ruling that the 2012 discovery of a metal bracelet was in fact a rare artifact--a Viking arm ring from the 10th century, an item that was of great cultural significance in Viking society. Find out more:http://histv.co/13Tnh9J (Credit: Getty Images)
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Writes historian Abraham Rabinovich, Golda Meir had been prepared to wait 'indefinitely' for peace with Egypt...
She had been sleeping poorly for several nights but this morning she was wakened into her nightmare – a ringing telephone at 3:45 a.m. on Yom Kippur.
John Tran An amazingly tough leader. The suspicions of those on the Inquiry board were the purpose of the "wait", and the cynical reason for letting the enemy strike first.. causing loss of life.
David Daniel Ball The headline overstates things. Egypt and Syria were not being peaceful. The chief problem and obstacle to peace, then and now, is the UN championship of Jordanians calling themselves Palestinians
===
In 1975, Pink Floyd’s much-loved Wish You Were Here album was released. Coming at a time with some degree of strife within the band, Roger Waters noted that "most of us didn't wish we were there at all; we wished we were somewhere else…" Nevertheless, the tension gave a certain edge to the album, and amplified the central theme of absence…
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A few of our Junior warriors busting out in last weeks snake park session!#team9lives #9lives1love #parkour #fairfield
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HISTORY IN THE HEADLINES: Born on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama, track and field athlete Jesse Owens starred in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany. On the centennial of his birth, explore 10 surprising facts about the man who was once the fastest in the world.http://histv.co/16njXVf
===
Ramona Grahammywinningartist.
This song has over 4,000 plays. Cause I'm a genius. Or, more likely because of of a searchbot gone terribly wrong. I'm glad either way, cause I wrote all the music and I write by ear and my ears are notoriously wack. So let weirdness prevail!!!!
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Pastor Rick Warren.
SEVEN WAYS GOD TESTS YOUR FAITHFULNESS. Do you get my weekly Ministry Toolbox? Free subscription: http://bit.ly/1g5fibY
===
- 509 BC – The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Capitoline Hill, the most important temple in Ancient Rome, was dedicated.
- 1541 – After three years of exile, John Calvin returned to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine that came to be known as Calvinism.
- 1848 – An explosion drove an iron rod through the head of railroad foreman Phineas Gage (pictured holding rod), making him an important early case of personality change after brain injury.
- 1971 – Following a failed coup attempt, Mao Zedong's second-in-command Lin Biao died in a plane crash while attempting to flee the People's Republic of China.
- 2006 – Kimveer Gill shot 19 people for unknown reasons, killing one, at Dawson College in Montreal.
- 585 BC – Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia.
- 509 BC – The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September.
- 379 – Yax Nuun Ayiin I is crowned as 15 Ajaw of Tikal
- 533 – Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, North Africa.
- 1229 – Ögedei Khan is proclaimed Khagan of the Mongol Empire in Kodoe Aral, Khentii: Mongolia.
- 1437 – Battle of Tangier: a Portuguese expeditionary force initiates a failed attempt to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier.
- 1501 – Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.
- 1504 – Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue a Royal Warrant for the construction of a Royal Chapel (Capilla Real) to be built.
- 1541 – After three years of exile, John Calvin returns to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine known as Calvinism.
- 1584 – San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid is finished.
- 1609 – Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River.
- 1645 – Battle of Philiphaugh Covenanters win the day over the royalists.
- 1743 – Great Britain, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Worms.
- 1759 – Battle of the Plains of Abraham: the British defeat the French near Quebec City in the Seven Years' War, known in the United States as the French and Indian War.
- 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Franco-Spanish troops launch the unsuccessful "grand assault" during the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
- 1788 – The Philadelphia Convention sets the date for the first presidential election in the United States, and New York City becomes the country's temporary capital.
- 1791 – King Louis XVI of France accepts the new constitution.
- 1808 – Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero.
- 1812 – War of 1812: A supply wagon sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.
- 1814 – In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", which is later set to music and becomes the United States' national anthem.
- 1843 – The Greek Army rebels (OS date: September 3) against the autocratic rule of king Otto of Greece, demanding the granting of a constitution.
- 1847 – Mexican–American War: Six teenage military cadets known as Niños Héroes die defending Chapultepec Castle in the Battle of Chapultepec. American troops under General Winfield Scott capture Mexico City in the Mexican–American War.
- 1848 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives an iron rod 11⁄4 inches (3.2 cm) in diameter being driven through his brain; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions.
- 1850 – First ascent of Piz Bernina, the highest summit of the eastern Alps.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam.
- 1882 – Anglo-Egyptian War: The Battle of Tel el-Kebir is fought.
- 1898 – Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
- 1899 – Henry Bliss is the first person in the United States to be killed in an automobile accident.
- 1899 – Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
- 1900 – Filipino resistance fighters defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine–American War.
- 1906 – First flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe.
- 1914 – World War I: South African troops open hostilities in German south-west Africa (Namibia) with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station.
- 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Aisne begins between Germany and France.
- 1922 – The final act of the Greco-Turkish War, the Great Fire of Smyrna, commences.
- 1923 – Following a military coup in Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over, setting up a dictatorship.
- 1933 – Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament.
- 1935 – Rockslide near Whirlpool Rapids Bridge ends the International Railway (New York–Ontario).
- 1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Edson's Ridge in the Guadalcanal Campaign. U.S. Marines successfully defeated attacks by the Imperial Japanese Army with heavy losses for the Japanese forces.
- 1948 – Deputy Primer Minister of India Vallabhbhai Patel ordered the Army to move into Hyderabad to integrate it with the Indian Union.
- 1948 – Margaret Chase Smith is elected United States senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representativesand the United States Senate.
- 1953 – Nikita Khrushchev is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1956 – The dike around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed.
- 1956 – The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.
- 1964 – South Vietnamese Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức fail in a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh.
- 1968 – Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.
- 1971 – State police and National Guardsmen storm New York's Attica Prison to quell a prison revolt.
- 1971 – Chairman Mao Zedong's second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees the People's Republic of China after the failure of an alleged coup. His plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.
- 1979 – South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
- 1985 – Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games.
- 1987 – Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning.
- 1988 – Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere, later replaced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (based on barometric pressure).
- 1989 – Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu.
- 1993 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
- 2001 – Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11 attacks.
- 2007 – The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
- 2008 – Delhi, India, is hit by a series of bomb blasts, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries.
- 2008 – Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.
- 2013 – Taliban insurgents attack the United States consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, with two members of the Afghan National Police reported dead and about 20 civilians injured.
- 64 – Julia Flavia, Roman daughter of Titus (d. 91)
- 678 – K'inich Ahkal Mo' Naab' III, Mayan ruler (d. 730)
- 1087 – John II Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1143)
- 1475 – Cesare Borgia, Italian cardinal (d. 1507)
- 1502 – John Leland, English poet and historian (d. 1552)
- 1521 – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English academic and politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1598)
- 1583 – Girolamo Frescobaldi, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1643)
- 1594 – Francesco Manelli, Italian theorbo player and composer (d. 1667)
- 1601 – Jan Brueghel the Younger, Flemish painter (d. 1678)
- 1604 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (d. 1661)
- 1676 – Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, French wife of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1741)
- 1755 – Oliver Evans, American inventor, engineer and businessman (d. 1819)
- 1761 – Santō Kyōden, Japanese poet and author (d. 1816)
- 1766 – Samuel Wilson, American meat-packer, namesake of Uncle Sam (d. 1854)
- 1775 – Laura Secord, American-Canadian war heroine (d. 1868)
- 1802 – Arnold Ruge, German philosopher and author (d. 1880)
- 1813 – John Sedgwick, American general and educator (d. 1864)
- 1819 – Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (d. 1896)
- 1830 – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (d. 1916)
- 1842 – John H. Bankhead, American soldier and politician (d. 1920)
- 1851 – Walter Reed, American physician and biologist (d. 1902)
- 1857 – Michał Drzymała, Polish rebel and activist (d. 1937)
- 1857 – Milton S. Hershey, American businessman, founded The Hershey Company (d. 1945)
- 1860 – John J. Pershing, American general and lawyer (d. 1948)
- 1865 – William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, Indian-English field marshal (d. 1951)
- 1872 – Kijūrō Shidehara, Japanese politician and diplomat, 44th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1951)
- 1873 – Constantin Carathéodory, German mathematician and author (d. 1950)
- 1874 – Henry F. Ashurst, American lawyer and politician (d. 1962)
- 1874 – Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer and painter (d. 1951)
- 1876 – Sherwood Anderson, American author and poet (d. 1941)
- 1877 – Wilhelm Filchner, German-Swiss explorer (d. 1957)
- 1877 – Stanley Lord, English captain (d. 1962)
- 1880 – Jesse L. Lasky, American film producer, co-founded Famous Players-Lasky (d. 1958)
- 1882 – Ramón Grau, Cuban physician and politician, 6th President of Cuba (d. 1969)
- 1883 – LeRoy Samse, American pole vaulter (d. 1956)
- 1885 – Wilhelm Blaschke, Austrian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1962)
- 1886 – Amelie Beese, German pilot and sculptor (d. 1925)
- 1886 – Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1887 – Leopold Ružička, Croatian-Swiss biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- 1890 – Antony Noghès, French-Monacan businessman, founded the Monaco Grand Prix (d. 1978)
- 1891 – Max Pruss, German captain and pilot (d. 1960)
- 1893 – Larry Shields, American clarinet player (d. 1953)
- 1894 – J. B. Priestley, English author and playwright (d. 1984)
- 1894 – Julian Tuwim, Polish poet, playwright, and director (d. 1953)
- 1895 – Morris Kirksey, American rugby player and sprinter (d. 1981)
- 1898 – Roger Désormière, French conductor and composer (d. 1963)
- 1898 – C. Sittampalam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1964)
- 1899 – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian politician (d. 1938)
- 1903 – Claudette Colbert, French-American actress (d. 1996)
- 1904 – Gladys George, American actress (d. 1954)
- 1908 – Chu Berry, American saxophonist (d. 1941)
- 1908 – Karolos Koun, Greek director and playwright (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Sicco Mansholt, Dutch farmer and politician, 4th President of the European Commission (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Mae Questel, American actress and vocal artist (d. 1998)
- 1909 – Ray Bowden, English footballer (d. 1998)
- 1909 – Frits Thors, Dutch journalist and radio host (d. 2014)
- 1911 – Bill Monroe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Maurice K. Goddard, American colonel and politician (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Reta Shaw, American actress (d. 1982)
- 1914 – Leonard Feather, English-American pianist, composer, producer, and journalist (d. 1994)
- 1916 – Roald Dahl, Welsh-English author, poet, and screenwriter (d. 1990)
- 1917 – Carol Kendall, American historian and author (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Robert Ward, American soldier, composer, and educator (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (d. 2015)
- 1918 – Dick Haymes, Argentinian actor and singer (d. 1980)
- 1919 – Mary Midgley, English philosopher and author
- 1919 – George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld, Austrian-English journalist, publisher, and philanthropist (d. 2016)
- 1920 – Else Holmelund Minarik, Danish-American journalist and author (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Alexander Schmemann, American priest and educator (d. 1983)
- 1922 – Charles Brown, American singer and pianist (d. 1999)
- 1922 – Caroline Duby Glassman, American lawyer and jurist (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Yma Sumac, Peruvian-American soprano and actress (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Édouard Boubat, French photographer and journalist (d. 1999)
- 1924 – Harold Blair, Australian tenor and educator (d. 1976)
- 1924 – Scott Brady, American actor (d. 1985)
- 1924 – Maurice Jarre, French composer and conductor (d. 2009)
- 1925 – Frank Cashen, American businessman (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Mel Tormé, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)
- 1926 – Andrew Brimmer, American economist and academic (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Emile Francis, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
- 1926 – J. Frank Raley Jr., American soldier and politician (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Tzannis Tzannetakis, Greek soldier and politician, 175th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2010)
- 1928 – Robert Indiana, American painter and sculptor
- 1929 – Nicolai Ghiaurov, Bulgarian-Italian actor and singer (d. 2004)
- 1930 – Robert Gavron, Baron Gavron, English publisher and philanthropist (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Barbara Bain, American actress
- 1931 – Robert Bédard, Canadian tennis player and sportscaster
- 1931 – Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, Australian sprinter and politician, 33rd Governor of South Australia
- 1931 – Rein Maran, Estonian cinematographer
- 1932 – Fernando González Pacheco, Spanish-Colombian journalist and actor (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Radoslav Brzobohatý, Czech actor (d. 2012)
- 1932 – Bengt Hallberg, Swedish pianist and composer (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Eileen Fulton, American actress
- 1933 – Donald Mackay, Australian businessman and activist (d. 1977)
- 1933 – Lewie Steinberg, American bass player (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Tony Pickard, English tennis player and coach
- 1936 – Stefano Delle Chiaie, Italian activist, founded National Vanguard
- 1937 – Don Bluth, American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Sullivan Bluth Studios and Fox Animation Studios
- 1938 – Judith Martin, American journalist and author
- 1938 – John Smith, Scottish lawyer and politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1994)
- 1939 – Arleen Auger, American soprano and educator (d. 1993)
- 1939 – Richard Kiel, American actor (d. 2014)
- 1939 – Guntis Ulmanis, Latvian economist and politician, 5th President of Latvia
- 1939 – Joel-Peter Witkin, American photographer
- 1940 – Óscar Arias, Costa Rican politician, President of Costa Rica, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1940 – Kerry Stokes, Australian businessman
- 1941 – Tadao Ando, Japanese architect and academic, designed Piccadilly Gardens
- 1941 – David Clayton-Thomas, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1941 – Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkish judge and politician, 10th President of the Republic of Turkey
- 1942 – Michel Côté, Canadian businessman and politician
- 1943 – Mildred D. Taylor, American author
- 1944 – Carol Barnes, English journalist (d. 2008)
- 1944 – Jacqueline Bisset, English actress and producer
- 1944 – Peter Cetera, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
- 1944 – Midget Farrelly, Australian surfer (d. 2016)
- 1944 – Leslie Harvey, Scottish guitarist (d. 1972)
- 1945 – Noël Godin, Belgian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1945 – Andres Küng, Swedish journalist and politician (d. 2002)
- 1946 – Frank Marshall, American director and producer
- 1948 – Nell Carter, American actress and singer (d. 2003)
- 1948 – Dimitri Nanopoulos, Greek physicist and academic
- 1948 – Sitiveni Rabuka, Fijian general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Fiji
- 1949 – John W. Henry, American businessman
- 1950 – Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Polish lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Poland
- 1950 – Pat Holland, English footballer and manager
- 1950 – Jeff Lowe, American mountaineer
- 1951 – Anne Devlin, Irish author, playwright, and screenwriter
- 1951 – Jean Smart, American actress
- 1952 – Randy Jones, American singer
- 1952 – Iyanla Vanzant, American author and educator
- 1952 – Don Was, American bass player and producer
- 1954 – Steve Kilbey, English-Australian singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1955 – Colin Moynihan, 4th Baron Moynihan, English rower and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
- 1955 – Joe Morris, American guitarist and composer
- 1956 – Alain Ducasse, French-Moroccan chef
- 1956 – Anne Geddes, Australian-New Zealand photographer and fashion designer
- 1956 – Kim Genelle, American model and actress
- 1956 – Geri Jewell, American actress, stand-up comedian
- 1957 – Judy Blumberg, American ice dancer and sportscaster
- 1957 – Mal Donaghy, Irish footballer and manager
- 1957 – Brad Hooker, English-American philosopher and academic
- 1957 – Eleanor King, English lawyer and judge
- 1957 – John G. Trueschler, American lawyer and politician
- 1957 – Mark Wiebe, American golfer
- 1958 – Bobby Davro, English comedian and actor
- 1958 – Paweł Przytocki, Polish conductor and academic
- 1958 – Kōji Tamaki, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor
- 1959 – Tatyana Mitkova, Russian journalist
- 1961 – Dave Mustaine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1961 – KK Null, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1961 – Peter Roskam, American lawyer and politician
- 1962 – Neal Lancaster, American golfer
- 1963 – Yuri Alexandrov, Russian boxer (d. 2013)
- 1963 – Antony Galione, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford
- 1963 – Theodoros Roussopoulos, Greek journalist and politician
- 1963 – Robin Smith, South African-English cricketer
- 1964 – Tavis Smiley, American talk show host, journalist, and author
- 1965 – Annie Duke, American poker player and author
- 1965 – Jeff Ross, American comedian, director, and author
- 1965 – Zak Starkey, English drummer
- 1966 – Maria Furtwängler, German physician and actress
- 1966 – Brendan Hall, Australian rugby league player
- 1967 – Michael Johnson, American sprinter and journalist
- 1967 – Tim "Ripper" Owens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Stephen Perkins, American drummer and songwriter
- 1968 – Brad Johnson, American football player
- 1968 – Bernie Williams, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and guitarist
- 1969 – Tyler Perry, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Shane Warne, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
- 1970 – Lee Abramson, American bass player and composer (d. 2016)
- 1970 – Martín Herrera, Argentinian footballer
- 1970 – Louise Lombard, English actress
- 1971 – Ben Alexander, Australian rugby league player (d. 1992)
- 1971 – Goran Ivanišević, Croatian tennis player and coach
- 1971 – Stella McCartney, English fashion designer
- 1971 – Manabu Namiki, Japanese pianist and composer
- 1973 – Christine Arron, French runner
- 1973 – Fabio Cannavaro, Italian footballer and manager
- 1973 – Olve Eikemo, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1973 – Carlo Nash, English footballer and photographer
- 1974 – Travis Knight, American basketball player
- 1974 – Éric Lapointe, Canadian football player
- 1974 – Craig Rivet, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Akihiro Asai, Japanese race car driver
- 1975 – Joe Don Rooney, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Craig McMillan, New Zealand cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
- 1976 – Elvis Mihailenko, Latvian boxer, trainer, and sportscaster
- 1976 – José Théodore, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1977 – Fiona Apple, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pianist
- 1977 – Ivan De Battista, Maltese actor, singer, director, and producer
- 1977 – Daisuke Tsuda, Japanese singer-songwriter and drummer
- 1978 – Swizz Beatz, American rapper and producer
- 1978 – Peter Sunde, Swedish businessman, co-founded Flattr and The Pirate Bay
- 1979 – Geike Arnaert, Belgian singer
- 1979 – Tony Henry, English footballer
- 1980 – Andreas Biermann, German footballer (d. 2014)
- 1980 – Han Chae-young, South Korean actress
- 1980 – Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japanese baseball player
- 1980 – Evangelos Nastos, Greek footballer
- 1980 – Viren Rasquinha, Indian field hockey player
- 1980 – Ben Savage, American actor and director
- 1981 – Koldo Fernández, Spanish cyclist
- 1981 – Angelina Love, Canadian-American wrestler
- 1982 – Nenê, Brazilian basketball player
- 1982 – Lloyd Dyer, English footballer
- 1982 – Rickie Weeks, American baseball player
- 1982 – Miha Zupan, Slovenian basketball player
- 1983 – James Bourne, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1983 – Molly Crabapple, American illustrator and journalist
- 1983 – Ryan Del Monte, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Eduard Ratnikov, Estonian footballer
- 1984 – Nabil Abou-Harb, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1984 – Baron Corbin, American wrestler
- 1985 – David Jordan, English singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Australian rugby league player
- 1986 – Steve Colpaert, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Derek Hardman, American football player
- 1986 – Kamui Kobayashi, Japanese race car driver
- 1986 – Sean Williams, American basketball player
- 1987 – Edenilson Bergonsi, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Jonathan de Guzmán, Canadian-Dutch footballer
- 1987 – Luke Fitzgerald, Irish rugby player
- 1987 – Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgarian tennis player
- 1988 – John Park, American singer
- 1988 – Luis Rentería, Panamanian footballer (d. 2014)
- 1988 – Keith Treacy, Irish footballer
- 1989 – Elysée Irié Bi Séhi, Ivorian footballer
- 1989 – Kenny Edwards, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1989 – Jon Mannah, Australian rugby league player (d. 2013)
- 1989 – Thomas Müller, German footballer
- 1989 – William Owusu, Ghanaian footballer
- 1990 – Aoi Nakabeppu, Japanese model and actress
- 1990 – Luciano Narsingh, Dutch footballer
- 1991 – Ksenia Afanasyeva, Russian gymnast
- 1992 – Remy Põld, Estonian basketball player
- 1993 – Niall Horan, Irish singer-songwriter
- 1994 – Cameron Munster, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, Slovak tennis player
- 1995 – Egor Bazin, Russian ice dancer
- 1995 – Robbie Kay, English actor
Births[edit]
- 81 – Titus, Roman emperor (b. 39)
- 1506 – Andrea Mantegna, Italian painter and engraver (b. 1431)
- 1557 – John Cheke, English scholar and politician, Secretary of State for England (b. 1514)
- 1592 – Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and author (b. 1533)
- 1598 – Philip II of Spain (b. 1526)
- 1624 – Ketevan the Martyr, Kakheti wife of David I of Kakheti (b. 1565)
- 1632 – Leopold V, Archduke of Austria (b. 1586)
- 1759 – James Wolfe, English general (b. 1727)
- 1766 – Benjamin Heath, English scholar and author (b. 1704)
- 1800 – Claude Martin, French-English general and explorer (b. 1735)
- 1806 – Charles James Fox, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (b. 1749)
- 1808 – Saverio Bettinelli, Italian poet, playwright, and critic (b. 1718)
- 1813 – Hezqeyas, Ethiopian emperor
- 1815 – Mihály Gáber, Slovene priest and author (b. 1753)
- 1847 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (b. 1767)
- 1871 – İbrahim Şinasi, Turkish journalist, author, and translator (b. 1826)
- 1872 – Ludwig Feuerbach, German anthropologist and philosopher (b. 1804)
- 1881 – Ambrose Burnside, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1824)
- 1885 – Friedrich Kiel, German composer and educator (b. 1821)
- 1894 – Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (b. 1841)
- 1905 – René Goblet, French lawyer and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
- 1910 – Rajanikanta Sen, Bangladeshi poet and composer (b. 1865)
- 1912 – Joseph Furphy, Australian author and poet (b. 1843)
- 1912 – Nogi Maresuke, Japanese general (b. 1849)
- 1913 – Aurel Vlaicu, Romanian pilot and engineer (b. 1882)
- 1915 – Andrew L. Harris, American general and politician, 44th Governor of Ohio (b. 1835)
- 1928 – Italo Svevo, Italian author and playwright (b. 1861)
- 1929 – Jatindra Nath Das, Indian activist (b. 1904)
- 1931 – Lili Elbe, Danish model and painter (b. 1882)
- 1937 – David Robertson, Scottish rugby player and golfer (b. 1869)
- 1941 – Elias Disney, Canadian-American farmer and businessman (b. 1859)
- 1944 – W. Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (b. 1872)
- 1946 – Amon Goeth, Austrian captain (b. 1908)
- 1946 – Eugene Lanceray, Russian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (b. 1875)
- 1946 – William Watt, Australian lawyer and politician, 24th Premier of Victoria (b. 1871)
- 1949 – August Krogh, Danish physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- 1953 – Mary Brewster Hazelton, American painter (b. 1868)
- 1960 – Leó Weiner, Hungarian composer and educator (b. 1885)
- 1967 – Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, Yemeni-Saudi Arabian businessman, founded Saudi Binladin Group (b. 1903)
- 1967 – Robert George, English air marshal and politician, 24th Governor of South Australia (b. 1896)
- 1967 – Leonard Lord, English businessman (b. 1896)
- 1971 – Lin Biao, Chinese general and politician, 2nd Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1907)
- 1973 – Betty Field, American actress (b. 1913)
- 1973 – Sajjad Zaheer, Indian poet and philosopher (b. 1905)
- 1975 – Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer, Indian singer and musicologist (b. 1897)
- 1976 – Armand Mondou, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1905)
- 1976 – Albert Tessier, Canadian priest, historian, and director (b. 1895)
- 1977 – Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (b. 1882)
- 1982 – Reed Crandall, American illustrator (b. 1917)
- 1985 – Dane Rudhyar, French-American astrologer, composer, and author (b. 1895)
- 1987 – Mervyn LeRoy, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1900)
- 1991 – Robert Irving, English soldier and conductor (b. 1913)
- 1991 – Metin Oktay, Turkish footballer and manager (b. 1936)
- 1991 – Joe Pasternak, Hungarian-American production manager and producer (b. 1901)
- 1993 – Carl Voss, American ice hockey player and referee (b. 1907)
- 1996 – Tupac Shakur, American rapper, producer, and actor (b. 1971)
- 1997 – Georges Guétary, Egyptian-French actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1915)
- 1997 – Georgios Mitsibonas, Greek footballer (b. 1962)
- 1998 – Necdet Calp, Turkish civil servant and politician (b. 1922)
- 1998 – Harry Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
- 1998 – Frank Renouf, New Zealand businessman (b. 1918)
- 1998 – George Wallace, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 45th Governor of Alabama (b. 1919)
- 1999 – Benjamin Bloom, American psychologist and academic (b. 1913)
- 2000 – Betty Jeffrey, Australian nurse and author (b. 1908)
- 2001 – Johnny Craig, American sailor and illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2001 – Jaroslav Drobný, Czech-English ice hockey player and tennis player (b. 1921)
- 2002 – George Stanley, Canadian soldier, historian, and author, designed the Flag of Canada (b. 1907)
- 2003 – Frank O'Bannon, American publisher, lawyer, and politician, 47th Governor of Indiana (b. 1930)
- 2004 – Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist, co-invented the birth-control pill (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Toni Fritsch, Austrian footballer (b. 1945)
- 2005 – Julio César Turbay Ayala, Colombian lawyer and politician, 25th President of Colombia (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Ann Richards, American educator and politician, 45th Governor of Texas (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Clare Oliver, Australian activist (b. 1981)
- 2007 – Whakahuihui Vercoe, New Zealand archbishop (b. 1928)
- 2009 – Paul Burke, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Walter Bonatti, Italian mountaineer and journalist (b. 1930)
- 2012 – William Duckworth, American composer and author (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Peter Lougheed, Canadian football player, lawyer, and politician, 10th Premier of Alberta (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Edgar Metcalfe, English-Australian actor and director (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Ranganath Misra, Indian lawyer and jurist, 21st Chief Justice of India (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Olusegun Agagu, Nigerian politician, 15th Governor of Ondo State (b. 1948)
- 2013 – Robert J. Behnke, American biologist and academic (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Rick Casares, American football player (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Luiz Gushiken, Brazilian trade union leader and politician (b. 1950)
- 2013 – Salustiano Sanchez, Spanish-American super-centenarian (b. 1901)
- 2013 – Patti Webster, American minister, publicist, and author (b. 1964)
- 2014 – Benjamin Adekunle, Nigerian general (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Helen Filarski, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Milan Galić, Serbian footballer (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Frank Torre, American baseball player and manager (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Vivinho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1961)
- 2015 – Erma Bergmann, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Brian Close, English cricketer and coach (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Moses Malone, American basketball player and sportscaster (b. 1955)
- 2015 – Gary Richrath, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1949)
Deaths[edit]
- Christian feast day:
- Day of the Programmer, during a non-leap year. (International)
- Día de los Niños Héroes (Mexico)
- Engineer's Day (Mauritius)
- Epulum Jovis, celebrated on the Ides of September, during the Ludi Romani. (Roman Empire)
- International Chocolate Day
Holidays and observances[edit]
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart's love and himself. He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh. He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon him, he is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend--worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, he is displeased, and will chasten us that he may bring us to himself. He is also very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide in him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in him, and enjoy constant fellowship with himself; and many of the trials which he sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon himself. Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if he loves us so much as to care thus about our love we may be sure that he will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from all our enemies. Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!
Evening
"I will sing of mercy and judgment."
Psalm 101:1
Psalm 101:1
Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, with her feet made fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she cries, "I will sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing." Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath. Faith looks up at the cloud, and sees that
"'Tis big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on her head."
There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God towards us. For, first, the trial is not so heavy as it might have been; next, the trouble is not so severe as we deserved to have borne; and our affliction is not so crushing as the burden which others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God's wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, "This is a badge of honour, for the child must feel the rod;" and then she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says Faith, "These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and chanting notes of victory amid the thickest of the fray.
"All I meet I find assists me
In my path to heavenly joy:
Where, though trials now attend me,
Trials never more annoy.
"Blest there with a weight of glory,
Still the path I'll ne'er forget,
But, exulting, cry, it led me
To my blessed Saviour's seat."
===Today's reading: Proverbs 13-15, 2 Corinthians 5 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Proverbs 13-15
1 A wise son heeds his father’s instruction,
but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.
but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.
2 From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things,
but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.
but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.
3 Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,
but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.
but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.
4 A sluggard’s appetite is never filled,
but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
5 The righteous hate what is false,
but the wicked make themselves a stench
and bring shame on themselves.
but the wicked make themselves a stench
and bring shame on themselves.
6 Righteousness guards the person of integrity,
but wickedness overthrows the sinner....
but wickedness overthrows the sinner....
Today's New Testament reading: 2 Corinthians 5
Awaiting the New Body
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come....
Naomi
The Woman Who Tasted the Cup of Bitterness
Scripture Reference - The Book of Ruth
Name Meaning - Naomi means "my joy," "my bliss," or "pleasantness of Jehovah," and is a name suggestive of all that is charming, agreeable, attractive. Until deep sorrow overshadowed her, we can understand Naomi having a nature corresponding to her name. Although her character came to be purged and enhanced by her suffering, Naomi had an innate nobility that gave her personality an irresistible charm.
Family Connections - While both Naomi and Elimelech were staunch members of the Hebrew race, we are told nothing of their genealogy. Elimelech, who married Naomi, is thought to have belonged to one of the outstanding families in Israel, being a brother of Salmon, prince of Judah, who married Rahab. If this was so, then Naomi began her married life in comfortable circumstances. Naomi and Elimelech belonged to Bethlehem-Judah where two sons were born to them, namely, Mahlon and Chilion.
The Book of Ruth, which is one of the most lovely idylls in literature, and has enchanted every age, presents us with two women who are among the best-loved in history and whose story still captivates the world because of their unique devotion. Naomi and Ruth, her daughter-in-law, afford a relief after characters like Tamar, Delilah and Jezebel. In this sketch let us try to delineate the life and experience of Naomi who knew a great deal about "the ringing groove of change," to use Tennyson's phrase. Because of her manifold changes in life, Naomi came to fear God in a deeper way ( Psalm 55:19).
Her Change of Country
During the rule of the Judges, Israel suffered a serious famine which was deemed to be one of the punishments visited upon the people when they had sinned (Leviticus 26:14, 16 ). Driven to consternation, Elimelech the Ephrathite of Bethlehem decided to emigrate with his family to another land where food was more plentiful, and so traveled from Judah and settled in the highlands of Moab. For Naomi such an uprooting from her native home must have constituted a real sacrifice. Sincere in her faith, she loved the people of God and was strongly attached to the wonderful traditions of her race.
In taking the initiative to go to Moab - a foreign country - from Bethlehem, Naomi's husband stepped out of the will of God. If the famine was a judgment upon the nation, Elimelech should have repented, tried to have helped his fellow countrymen back to God, and prayed for the removal of the scourge (Psalm 34:9,10, 17 ). One may argue that Elimelech was wise in taking Naomi and their two sons out of a famine-stricken area to another land where there was sufficient food. But Elimelech was a Hebrew, and as such had the promise, "In the days of famine, thou shalt be satisfied." Elimelech means, "My God is King." Had he truly believed God was his King, he would have stayed in Bethlehem, knowing that need could not throttle God who is able to furnish a table in the desert. But Elimelech belied the name he bore when he left Bethlehem - "the house of bread" - for Moab, meaning "waste" or "nothingness." With his family he went from a place where God was honored to another land so heathen in its ways.
Although the land of Moab may sound remote it was only some 30 miles from Bethlehem-Judah - a long enough journey in those far-off days when they had no transportation. The distance, however, was not one of miles, but ofmind . As H. V. Morton puts it, "Distances in the Bible are not measured from one place to another, but from God. Naomi and her husband felt they were going into a far country because Moab was a land of foreign worship." Thus Bethlehem to Moab measured the distance from God to the alien worship of an alien country. What disturbed feelings Naomi must have had as, with her family, she found herself in a strange land, unknown, and with all the problems of establishing a home in repellant surroundings.
Her Change of Connections
It was not long before Naomi discovered the error in leaving Bethlehem for in the new and heathen land nothing but misfortune dogged her footsteps. Her two sons married women of Moab. Instead of helping to support their mother they took wives of the alien country they were in. The Jewish law forbade marriage outside of the nation. Naomi's husband, Elimelech, died. He had fled to Moab to escape a possible death from famine, and died in the midst of plenty leaving his wife a widow in a land of idolaters. Bereft of her husband, Naomi loses all heart to live on in a land of foreigners.
When the stem dies, the leaf that grew
Out of its heart must perish too.
Naomi became one of the widows whom Paul describes as being "desolate." To add to her desolation and grief, she also lost both of her sons and so Naomi "was left of her two sons and husband." By this time she was old and helpless with her widowed daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, to shelter. As they were not of her people, nor of her faith in God, Moab true to its name, must have been empty, desolate and inhospitable to Naomi's grief-stricken, aching heart. Doubtless, Ruth and Orpah, whose hearts too had been emptied, were a source of comfort to Naomi, even though they knew that their marriage to Mahlon and Chilion was against her religious principles. So, as George Matheson fittingly expresses it -
To all appearance Naomi was desolate. Husband and children were gone - the place of sojourn was a land of strangers - the voices of the old sanctuary were silent. Her heart and spirit were broken, her conscience was up in arms. The God of her fathers, she felt, had deserted her for her desertion of Him. She must retrieve the past - she must go back - back to the old soil, back to the favour of her God.
Bethlehem was Naomi's native land, and all her relatives and friends were there. Thus she left for Bethlehem, not so much because of her cup of sorrow in Moab, but because she had heard that "the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread."
Her Change of Character
Naomi was determined to return to Bethlehem alone, but her daughters-in-law left with her, possibly excited about a new start in a new land. But on the journey back, Naomi paused and pleaded with Ruth and Orpah to return to Moab. She knew what it would mean for them as Moabites to cross the boundary line, stressing the point that in Canaan there would be very little prospect of their finding husbands. What a moment that must have been as those three widows stood there at the parting of the ways. Orpah, without much ado, kissed Naomi, and then went back to her own idolatrous people, but Ruth clave unto Naomi and begged her to take her to Bethlehem (see Ruth).
As Naomi and Ruth entered the city together the thoughts of each must have been different. To Naomi there came flashing back thoughts of a happy youth and of a life at peace with God - thoughts which tended to aggravate her desolation. But for Ruth, there was the novelty and strangeness of a foreign people, a speech not fully understood, and youth's quest for new adventure. Naomi's arrival in the old community created a sensation. Quickly it passed from lip to lip that the well-known, beautiful and pleasant woman who had left ten years before was back, and as all the city met her they cried, "Is this Naomi?" Why the question form of their welcome? Did they detect a radical change in her appearance and demeanor? The repetition of her significant name irritated her as she cried -
Call me not Naomi [pleasant, winsome, agreeable], call meMara [bitter]: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
Naomi could not bear the contradiction between the name she bore, and the person she was. Ten years in Moab with all its anguish, and also the loss of fellowship with God and His people had dried up her finer feelings. Once so sweet, Naomi was now sour, and blamed God for the poverty and desolation she had endured. But why chide God? Was not her cup of bitterness the result of the act of disobedience when, with her husband, she left Bethlehem for Moab? Had she stayed in her own land and maintained her trust in God, in spite of the famine, He would have undertaken for her and her family and brought them through. But the journey to Moab was a journey from God, and consequently her bitterness was the fruit of such an act of disobedience.
Her Change of Circumstances
Naomi was back in Bethlehem as a "returned empty." She went away to Moab with plenty but retraced her steps in poverty. How descriptive of her adverse circumstances is her lament! "I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." Naomi and Ruth, then, clinging to each other, plunge into the poverty and solitariness facing them - but with a different outlook. Both women were widows and sufferers, but suffering old age often yields to hopelessness and despair, whereas suffering youth rebounds and seeks to be responsive to the life that is around. Thus Ruth felt the stir of excitement in her new surroundings. Naomi and she must eat, and knowing that her mother-in-law, whom Ruth surrounded with loving care, was too old to bend her back to work in the fields, Ruth goes out and secures work as a gleaner in the fields of Boaz. Under Jewish law the poor were allowed to glean in any harvest field, and Ruth qualified for the weary, humble task of following the reapers and gathering up the gleanings for Naomi and herself.
Boaz, related to Naomi's husband, was therefore connected by marriage to Ruth, and by Jewish custom, Boaz, as next of kin, could be regarded as Ruth's rightful betrothed. Naomi, with her bitterness now subdued and her former pleasant disposition restored, took a lively interest in the kindness of Boaz to Ruth, and advised her in the steps leading to her marriage to Boaz. The idyllic conclusion was reached as Naomi, through her tender boldness, saw Ruth lifted out of obscurity and poverty into marriage with a godly man, as well as a mighty man of wealth. For Naomi, the winter of desolation was past, and the time of the singing of birds had come. Although her natural hopes had perished, Naomi lived again in the life of her dear, sacrificial daughter-in-law, and there were loud rejoicings when Ruth's first-born, Obed, was carried to Grandma Naomi. Now her daughter-in-law who loved her was better to Naomi "than seven sons." How lovingly she would nurse Ruth's child and bless God because, as Professor R. G. Moulton expressed it -
The family she thought she had seen perish has been restored to the genealogies of Israel; for baby Obed lives to become the father of Jesse, and Jesse is father of the great King David. And in the genealogical tables of Matthew, the Moabitess who left her people for love of Naomi is duly named as an ancestress of the Messiah Himself.
===
Matthew
[Măt'thew] - gift of jehovah.
[Măt'thew] - gift of jehovah.
The Man Who Left All to Follow Christ
This son of Alphaeus was a Hebrew with two names, a common thing in Galilee at that time. Mark and Luke, when recording Matthew's call to discipleship, speak of him as Levi, but Matthew himself uses the name he has been loved by throughout the Christian era. In his despised occupation he was Levi, a name meaning "joined," and joined he was to the world's crooked extortionate ways and mercenary aims. He was also joined by his vocation to a hated foreign power under whose yoke orthodox Jews chafed.
Thus Levi and his craft were so detested that the very namepublican or tax-gatherer was commonly associated withsinner (Luke 15:1). His original name connected him with the tribe of Levi, the priestly house set aside for sanctuary service. But this Levi degraded his holy name. Whether the Lord changed the name to Matthew when He called Levi or whether the new found disciple chose it himself, we do not know. Meaning "the gift of God," Matthew's new name magnified the transforming power of Christ and indicated that Matthew was like the One who called him, a gift to Israel and to the world.
The call to service came when he was sitting at the receipt of custom (Matt. 9:9; Luke 5:27 ) at Capernaum, the first world center, "the Great West Trunk Road from Damascus and the Far East to the Mediterranean Sea." Matthew was a "publican," which is not to be confused with the modern usage of the term as an English innkeeper. "Publican" is from the Latin wordpublicannus , meaning the collector of Roman taxes, the gathering of which was farmed out to minor officials ready to undertake this odious duty among their countrymen. A publican's reward was that he could extort for his own benefit more than was due, so long as the extortion did not lead to revolt. This was why the publicans, as a class, were spoken of as "leeches." They gorged themselves with money in the process of gathering money for the Caesars and consequently were reckoned to be outside the pale of decent society and of the synagogue.
"Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's Son, knew Matthew the publican quite well," says Alexander Whyte. "Perhaps only too well. Jesus and His mother had by this time migrated from Nazareth to Capernaum. He had often been in Matthew's toll-booth with His mother's taxes, with other poor people's taxes." But the outcast was called by Christ to a better occupation, to better wealth than silver and gold, to serve a better King than Caesar. Without hesitation Matthew left all, arose and followed Christ (Luke 5:28).
To celebrate his surrender to Christ, Matthew entertained Christ and others to a feast in his own house ( Matt. 9:10; Luke 5:29). This feast was a token of gratitude for his emancipation from a sordid occupation, and revealed a missionary spirit. Such an "At Home" served a threefold purpose:
I. It was a Jubilee Feast to commemorate his translation into a new life. Matthew wanted all and sundry to know that he was now a new creature in Christ Jesus.
II. It was a Farewell Dinner to declare his determination henceforth to follow and serve his new found King. It was his public confession of surrender to the call of Christ.
III. It was a Conversazione to introduce his old associates and friends to his new found Saviour, that they too might have an opportunity of hearing His wonderful words of life. Matthew sought to make a dinner party an evangelistic service. He knew many would come to his house to meet Christ who would not go to the synagogue to hear Him. Doubtless many publicans and sinners learned that day that Christ did not despise them.
Matthew became not only an apostle but also the writer of the first gospel. He left behind an undying image of his Lord. Matthew has given us The Galilean Gospel -unique in every way. When he rose and left all to follow Christ, the only things Matthew took out of his old life were his pen and ink. It is well for us that he did, since he took them with him for such a good purpose.
Matthew's gospel is striking in that it alone gives us the Parables of the Kingdom. The theme of his book, known as "the Hebrew Porch of the New Testament" is The King and His Kingdom. Some fifty-six times he uses the word "kingdom." In his record of the life and labors of Christ, Matthew has given us the image of Christ as it fell upon his own heart.
Trained to systematic methods and well acquainted with Jewish character and religion, Matthew was fitted to commend Christ to the Jews. He appeals to the student of Old Testament literature. As a writer, he is before us as an eyewitness of the events he describes and as earwitness of the discourses he records. As to his qualifications, Matthew had a love of truth and was sensible of the mercy of God, and the misery of man. In self-effacing humility, he loses sight of himself in adoration of his Hero. It is thus that his book can be divided in this three-fold way:
The early days of the Messiah (Matt. 1-4:16).
The signs and works of the Messiah (Matt. 4:17-16:20).
The passion of the Messiah (Matt. 16:21-28:20).
===
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