Thursday, October 03, 2013

Thu Oct 3rd Todays News

Obama knew of the shutdown in advance .. he knew what he would, and would not accept. So his closing of a veteran pilgrimage brings to mind the Canterbury tales. Or, more precisely, Thomas Becket who had been made a saint. Thomas began his career as a friend of a man who would be king Henry II. Thomas was religious, and as Archbishop of Canterbury ruled against things King Henry wanted. Some of Henry's followers suggested Thomas wanted power, or was getting rich by being a stumbling block to the king. An exasperated King Henry said aloud "Won't someone rid me of this meddlesome priest" but made no order of it. Some knights took it upon themselves to rid Henry of Thomas, and breaking into the cathedral, they found Thomas praying, and cut him down, and rode away. The slaying of Thomas may have gone down as just a political power struggle, but for the fact that Thomas' body was found to be wearing a hair shirt. There is only one reason to wear a hair shirt, mortification of the flesh. A sign of submission to God. Thomas had not prospered in power or money from being an honest broker before God, and he didn't brag about his faith. Thomas was faithful, and his friend had misunderstood the decisions being made. Later, Thomas was made a saint and people would journey far to see Canterbury Cathedral on faith journeys.
This relates to Obama, who does not seem to understand why it is that Congress isn't allowing him to spend beyond the US debt limit of $17 trillion without a plan to cut back. Obama has shamefully manipulated so as to make the WW2 vets appear in opposition to sensible government. A rare example of money issues being placed in a moral category.
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Teena NganCynthia Lee and Ron StitzingerBorn on the same day, across the years, along with
1610 – Gabriel Lalemant, French-Canadian missionary (d. 1649)

1804 – Allan Kardec, French founder of spiritism (d. 1869)
1916 – James Herriot, English surgeon and author (d. 1995)
1925 – Gore Vidal, American author, screenwriter, and actor (d. 2012)
1941 – Chubby Checker, American singer-songwriter
1954 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1990)
1996 – Adair Tishler, American actress and singer
Matches
2333 BC – The kingdom of Gojoseon is founded on what is now known as the Korean Peninsula.
52 BC – Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls, surrenders to the Romans under Julius Caesar, ending the siege and Battle of Alesia.
42 BC – First Battle of PhilippiTriumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight a decisive battle with Caesar's assassins Brutus andCassius.
382 – Emperor Theodosius I concludes a peace treaty with the Goths and settles them in the Balkans in exchange for military service
1283 – Dafydd ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd in Wales, becomes the first nobleman executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered
1778 – British Captain James Cook anchors in Alaska.
1789 – George Washington makes the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America.
1849 – American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances; it is the last time he is seen in public before his death.
1872 – Bloomingdale brothers opened their first store at 938 Third Avenue, New York City.
1873 – Captain Jack and companions are hanged for their part in the Modoc War.
1942 – Spaceflight: The first successful launch of a V-2 /A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. It is the first man-made object to reach space.
1950 – Korean War: The First Battle of Maryang San, primarily pitting Australian and British forces against communist China, begins.
1951 – The "Shot Heard 'Round the World", one of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history, occurs when the New York GiantsBobby Thomson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.
1955 – The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on ABC.
1957 – Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems is ruled not obscene.
1961 – The Dick Van Dyke Show premieres on CBS-TV in the United States.
1964 – First Buffalo Wings are made at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York.
1990 – Re-unification of Germany. The German Democratic Republic ceases to exist and its territory becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. East German citizens became part of the European Community, which later became the European Union. Now celebrated as German Unity Day.
1993 – Battle of Mogadishu: In an attempt to capture officials of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's organisation in Mogadishu, Somalia, 18 US soldiers and about 1,000 Somalis are killed in heavy fighting.
Despatches
900 – Muhammad ibn Zayd, Emir of Tabaristan
1226 – Francis of Assisi, Italian friar and saint (b. 1181)
1867 – Elias Howe, American inventor and engineer, invented the sewing machine (b. 1819)
1967 – Woody Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Almanac Singers) (b. 1912)
1986 – Vince DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1912)
2005 – Ronnie Barker, English actor (b. 1929)
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Another media academic wanting sceptics silenced, even though they are right

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (11:18am)

David Holmes is a senior lecturer in Communications and Media Studies at Monash University but teaches that balanced reporting is wicked when it comes to global warming - an issue he luridly imagines is corrupted by Big Oil barons paying people like me to spread lies:
In some forms of media, the climate deniers – who work for thinktanks, funded by big oil gas and coal companies (or are paid directly by these companies) – have the upper-hand as they jump on any news outlet that attempts to even deal with climate....
In Britain and Australia however, the BBC and ABC have been covering climate change in depth for many years. However, there are signs that they too maybe be surrendering to the media-industrial-political complex of climate denial.
It is not that the BBC and ABC are afraid of mentioning climate change; it is that they are buying into the issue as if it were a debate that required “balanced reporting"…
Reform, if it is to happen, should be demanded of journalistic standards for news reporting in general, and science reporting in particular.
Note, by the way, how the Left’s favorite bogey of last century - the “military industrial complex” - has morphed seamlessly into “the media-industrial-political complex”.
Holmes is against “balanced reporting”, by which he means the media occasionally noting the views of sceptics - people Holmes writes off as corrupt to a man. No evidence is offered for this smear, which relieves this academic of the tiresome burden of having to counter arguments with actual evidence.
But as one of these sceptics Holmes wishes silenced, I ask him to consider this. As a sceptic, I warned for years there was a pause in global warming which climate models had not predicted. I noted we were not getting the extra cyclones which many alarmists predicted. I questioned the ”permanent drought” which leading warmists predicted. I scoffed at the warnings of never-again-filled dams that Tim Flannery predicted.
In those cases I and some fellow sceptics have been proved right and the warmists wrong. Is Holmes seriously arguing that such sceptics should have been silenced on the grounds that the majority was the majority, even though it was wrong?
And this man teaches media studies. The Left is an embarrassment, and a menace to free speech.
Oh, sorry, Holmes in comments claims he really isn’t against free speech. He just wants ... er, he does not dare say what, exactly, but it sounds awfully like a contradiction:

I am not suggesting restricting the freedom of the press.
There are two kinds of rights relevant here, the right of the press to be free from political interference, but also the rights of audiences to be informed by news and current affairs that is in their interest…
... often this ‘debate’ is between those who are really defending private interests (antiquated methods of generating energy) and those defending the interests of future generations.
So who gets to decide the “news and current affairs that us in [our] interest”? I thought it was best left to the consumers of that news and current affairs. Holmes seems to have some other people in mind. People much like, well, him.
UPDATE
By the way, Holmes’ illiberal article was brought to you by The Conversation, a taxpayer-funded outlet that pumps out endless global warming propaganda with all the contempt for debate that Holmes could wish:

image
UPDATE
David Holmes, this lecturer on the media, claims in his comments thread:
But perhaps Mr Bolt has taken no notice of the science at all as there seems to be cracks appearing in the gallery of columnists at News Ltd around climate change. Some like Bjorn Lomborg appear to be accepting the science, whilst Mr Bolt is adamant that it is fundamentally flawed and that global warming has halted…
Lomborg’s who once proclaimed climate change a myth, today is accepting the science.. There is no space here for a considered analysis of Mr Lomborg’s arguments, which will have to await another day, but I only note that there is not much consensus between these star columnists at News Ltd about matters of fact, rather than opinion. Has global warming halted or hasn’t it?
A lecturer on the media should know that Professor Lomborg is not one of the “star columnists at News Ltd” but an academic whose articles sometimes gets run in The Australian.
Moreover, Lomborg has not changed his mind. For as long as I’ve heard of him, and ever since I first met him, he has accepted the world is warming and man’s gases play a significant role. He’s simply argued that the costs of trying to “stop” that warming are far too great, especially when warming may not really bring all the catastrophes some alarmists have claimed. An academic purporting to be expert in the reporting of global warming should know this, or at least look it up.
Further, the divide isn’t between those who accept the science and those who don’t. Science does not speak with one voice on this matter, although the consensus now is that sceptical positions I’ve argued have indeed proved correct - on the warming pause, cyclones, Antarctic ice spread and more. It seems to me it’s actually been the warmists who have not “accepted the science” in these matters.
Finally, the writers for News Corp publications disagree signifies nothing but a tolerance of debate that Holmes lacks. There is no unanimity of view that has now developed “cracks” - although I should point out it was actually our corporate position to “give the planet the benefit of the doubt”. If Holmes now detects “cracks”, it might actually be in that warmist position.
But I’m now puzzled. Where is this difference that Holmes claims to detect in the way Lomborg responded to the latest IPCC report and the way I did?
Lomborg:

On Friday, the U.N. climate panel, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), produced its first overview in six years. It wasn’t about panic and catastrophe, which unfortunately has dominated our climate debate, leading to expensive but ineffective policies.
The IPCC is now extremely certain that more than half of the past six decades’ temperature rise was caused by man. But it does not support the scary scenarios of temperature rises of 9°F or more bandied about by activists — the likely rise over the 21st century is about 1.8°F to 6.7°F. Similarly it makes short shrift of alarmist claims that sea levels will rise 3 ft. to 6 ft. In reality, the IPCC estimates the rise by the end of the century at 1.5 ft. to 2 ft.

Moreover, little or no temperature rise in the past 15 to 20 years reinforces this moderate message. Since 1980, the average of all the current climate models have overestimated the actual temperature rise by 71% to 159%. This does not mean that there is not some global warming, but it makes the worst scenarios ever more implausible.
Me:
Fact is, the IPCC showed it’s got a lot less to be confident about. Global warming is turning from imminent catastrophe to merely a problem — or less…
[This] latest IPCC “summary for policymakers” admits there was an unexpected 15-year pause in warming.
As it says: “The rate of warming over the past 15 years (0.05 degrees per decade) ... is smaller than the rate calculated since 1951 (0.12 degrees per decade)”.
Oh, and those sea level rises? The ones the ABC’s chief science presenter, Robyn Williams, said could drown our cities under 100m of sea by 2100?
Relax. The median sea level rises now tipped under the four IPCC emissions scenarios are between just 26cm and 30cm by 2100, with an extreme possible limit of 82cm.
Gone from this summary are earlier IPCC scares, such as Himalayan glaciers vanishing by 2035 (a mistake) and cyclones getting more powerful (not so sure now).
Gone, too, is the IPCC’s apocalyptic warning that temperatures could soar more than 6 degrees this century.
It now predicts as little as 0.3 degrees of warming or 4.8 at most. Anything under 2 degrees would actually be good for us, meaning more rain and better crops — not that the IPCC mentions reassuring news.
So, Lomborg is not a News Ltd columnist. He has not changed his mind. There are no “cracks” in a News Corp position. Neither Lomborg nor I “deny” the science. There is little difference in our opinion on the latest IPCC report. The IPCC report actually confirmed our scepticism.
So why did Holmes suggest the opposite of all the above? Confirmation bias? 

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How the ABC frames Tony Abbott

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (10:40am)

Boat people policy, How the Left hates, Media
Prime Minister Tony Abbott never promised or threatened to “tow back” boats to Indonesia, a dangerous manouvre which, if done without Indonesian permission , would also breach Indonesian sovereignity.
So why have so many journalists claimed this was indeed his policy, and that he’s backing away from it?
Abbott on Tuesday tried again to correct this misreporting, which you almost suspect was driven by a desire to cause trouble:

Can I just scotch this idea that the Coalition’s policy is or ever has been tow-backs. Our policy, which we have repeated till we are blue in the face, is that we reserve the right to turn boats around where it is safe to do so. There is a world of difference between turning boats around in Australian waters and the Australian Navy towing them back to Indonesia. There is just a world of difference and if I may say so, there has been a tendency of people to put to other people what is not the Coalition’s policy in an attempt to, I think, generate a headline rather than constructively address this issue.
Yet even that was not enough to stop the misrepresentation on the ABC’s 7.30 last night of Abbott’s policy - a misrepresentation that allowed the ABC to both portray Abbott as both a blunderer and in retreat. Most extraordinary is that even when the ABC actually quotes Abbott denying he ever promised “tow backs”, the reporter and her guest carry on as if he had:

HEATHER EWART, REPORTER: For months the Coalition has been telling Australians it will not only stop the boats, it will turn them back to Indonesia if necessary. The realities of government mean a different story and different language, especially when the red carpet is rolled out in Jakarta… So, on Tony Abbott’s first prime ministerial overseas visit, suddenly the rhetoric on towing back boats is toned right down.
TONY ABBOTT: Can I just scotch this idea that the Coalition’s policy is or ever has been tow-backs. Our policy, which we’ve repeated till we’re blue in the face, is that we reserve the right to turn boats around where it’s safe to do so.
TONY BURKE, OPP. IMMIGRATION SPOKESMAN: He made an election political call that was never going to be able to be delivered…
DAVE MCRAE, LOWY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY: The tow-back policy was a policy perhaps more suited to winning an election than to achieving policy outcomes… I think it was up to Prime Minister Abbott how big an issue he wanted to make of tow-backs… I think the best way for the Coalition government to proceed would be to quietly drop the tow-back policy now. One way they could do it would be, for instance, to appoint a panel that might set very stringent requirements for towing back boats that would effectively mean they would never happen.
Astonishing.
Nor was that the only misrepresentation.
Ewart also sneeringly accused Abbott of having “toned down” a policy he never actually had in the first place - not as she described it - and, again, ignored his direct contradiction the day before of that falsehood:
HEATHER EWART: And in the spirit of good atmospherics, Tony Abbott also toned down his campaign pledge to buy back boats in Indonesia and fund payments to informants in villages. In fact, he didn’t want to talk about it much at all anymore.
TONY ABBOTT: Everything is done in cooperation with Indonesia. We do nothing in Indonesia other than in cooperation with Indonesians…
HEATHER EWART: ...  As for Australians, fed a regular diet of “stop the boats” slogans from Tony Abbott, they’re now left with confusing signals that the Opposition has pounced on.
TONY BURKE: We’ve got this bizarre situation where to Australians, Tony Abbott claims he’ll implement these stupid policies like boat buybacks. To Indonesia, he says that, “We’ll respect your sovereignty.” Well, both cannot be true…
HEATHER EWART: In that climate, back on home soil, Tony Abbott was tonight talking tough again. Some language never changes.
TONY ABBOTT: I don’t think anyone in Indonesia is under any illusions about Australia’s resolve to stop the boats. This must happen. The boats must stop.

Abbott on Tuesday - and still on Indonesian soil - explained he was saying nothing on boat buy-backs he hadn’t said before. No retreat:
QUESTION:
... Can I ask about the policy you took to the election about buying back boats and paying locals for information on people smugglers. Do you stand by those? Are you open to amending, negotiating the detail?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, of course we stand by our policies but above all else we want to work effectively to stop the boats… On the particular policy David that you have mentioned I know it has been characterised in a certain way but it was simply the establishment of some money that could be used by Indonesian officials working cooperatively with their Australian counterparts to ensure that as far as we can we have got people working with us rather than against us.
Other Leftist journalists have also claimed that Abbott in stressing the buy-backs would be done only with Indonesian officials involved was a backdown, From Fairfax:

He also appeared to waver on other parts of his contentious policy, saying that village spies and buy-backs of fishing boats were nothing more than a pot of money available to local Indonesian officials “working cooperatively with their Australian counterparts to ensure as far as we can we’ve got people working with us rather than against us”.
In fact, Abbott said even before the election the policy involved working cooperatively with Indonesians in spending that money:

Mr Abbott says roughly $20 million has been allocated to the “village watch” activities, but would not give a figure for what the Government would pay for boats or for information that led to arrests.
This is the kind of thing that will be left to the discretion of our people on the ground acting in close cooperation with the Indonesians,” he said.
So here’s how the game works with the ABC and Fairfax: first exaggerate and distort Abbott’s policies, and then accuse him of caving in when he sticks to the reasonable ones he always proposed. 

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A climate catastrophism we should all support

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (10:15am)

Global warming - propaganda
image
A perfect example of Darwinism at work, and one we can only hope more climate catastrophists follow:

A meteorologist who has covered weather for the Wall Street Journal tweeted that he has decided not to have children in order to leave a lighter carbon footprint, and is considering having a vasectomy.
Wow:

image
(Thanks to reader Joel B1.) 

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The joy of plump

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (9:10am)


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So where is Abbott’s war with Indonesia?

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (8:53am)

Boat people policy, Media, Politics - federal
JOURNALISTS are stunned. Tony Abbott went to Jakarta and didn’t actually start a war with Indonesia.
The man Kevin Rudd claimed had no “temperament” for diplomacy and would cause a “konfrontasi” wasn’t even slapped around by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
There was no sign of the “rocky” and “tense” relationship countless reports had claimed to detect between Indonesia and the new Abbott Government over Abbott’s boat people policy.
In fact, the very opposite. Prime Minister Abbott got a deal on boat people that Yudhoyono refused to Prime Minister Rudd in July - a deal that could be a breakthrough.
When Rudd went begging to Yudhoyono for his help to stop the boats he himself had lured by, as Yudhoyono put it, putting “sugar on the table” he was fobbed off with yet another round of talks with countries from Iran to New Zealand.
Those talks predictably went nowhere. Some countries didn’t even bother turning up.
(Read full article here.) 

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The High Court resists the New Racism

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (8:50am)

From the report in The Age, you might conclude the New Racism is becoming even further entrenched in law, offering added inducement to identify as Aboriginal:

Judges will need to consider the Aboriginal background of an offender when sentencing them after a landmark High Court decision ruled that the effects of profound disadvantage do not diminish over time.
The High Court ruled for the first time on Wednesday that a person’s Aboriginal background may reduce their sentence if they come from a deprived or disadvantaged background…
‘’I’m not expecting indigenous people to get really light sentences but I’m expecting that that trajectory of sentences getting harsher will be brought back a bit,’’ Dr [Thalia] Anthony said.
But the two relevant judgments handed down by the High Court this week suggest there is less to fear.
The High Court on its Munda decision:

While it was relevant to take into con sideration an offender’s circumstances of severe social disadvantage, the High Court held that the same sentencing principles must be applied in every case irrespective of an offender’s identity or his or her membership of an ethnic or other group.
The High Court says the same in its Bugmy decision:
The High Court also held that the same sentencing principles apply irrespective of the identity of a particular offender or his or her membership of an ethnic or other group. Additionally, the joint reasons held that the effects upon an offender of profound deprivation do not diminish over time and should be given full weight when sentencing the offender. However, those effects do not necessarily serve to mitigate an offender’s sent ence given the conflicting purposes of punishment, such as rehabilitation and personal and general deterrence, which must be balanced in each individual case.
Mind you, the possibility remains for judges in lower courts to take a wide definition of “background” and to treat offenders less as individuals than representatives of some “race” or tribe. 

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Abbott has a Senate he can work with

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (8:01am)

Clive Palmer has too much influence in the Senate for a buffoon. We can only hope his three senators will think for themselves. That said, the new Senate is far more workable than Tony Abbott would have feared, with the Greens and Labor losing their lock:
CLIVE Palmer’s bid to secure a third Senate seat and a crucial role in the balance of power hit a roadblock yesterday when West Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam requested a recount after narrowly losing his seat to the ... Palmer United Party’s Zhenya Wang ...
Mr Wang, a ... Chinese-born mining executive [and] managing director of Perth-based Australasian Resources, described Mr Palmer, his party boss and key business associate, as an “inspirational” and “entertaining” leader…
The Coalition will have one less senator after July 1 next year, but the ALP is the big loser, with five fewer seats.
The new configuration will see the government with 33 senators, which means it needs six of the eight crossbenchers to support its legislation - if Labor and the Greens oppose it.
Such a scenario would require at least one PUP candidate to support the government for a bill to pass.
While Mr Palmer has conservative leanings, particularly on economic issues, his party’s stance on certain social issues could be at loggerheads with the government…
Should the Western Australian appeals be dismissed, from July 1 next year there will be three PUP senators, one Family First member, one Liberal Democrat and the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party’s Mr Muir.
The crossbench includes continuing DLP senator John Madigan and independent Nick Xenophon.
UPDATE
The election of just the second Chinese-born Australian to Parliament would normally be worth celebrating as a sign of our inclusiveness:

image
But Wang is not just a member of Clive Palmer’s party. He heads a company of which Palmer is a major shareholder, and is therefore is to some extent financially dependent on him:
Australasian Resources (ASX: ARH) has secured a $500,000 working capital loan from Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy.
Palmer, an Australian businessman, is most widely known as the owner of Mineralogy… Mineralogy and Palmer are a major shareholder of Australasian Resources.
Is it healthy for an MP to be beholden commercially to the leader of his party? Is Palmer’s shareholding not potentially an implied inducement? 

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Feeling so enriched we’d better call the cops

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (7:44am)

The Greens share the shiny-eyed view of mass immigration that it’s now time to challenge:

Australia’s cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity should be celebrated for greatly enriching our society...
Queensland is is now celebratiing the enrichment brought by our immigration policy:

Meanwhile Peter Sidirourgos, a convicted amphetamine manufacturer who has a Hells Angel tattoo on his neck, is said to be the leader of a group of 16 bikies from Sydney, mainly of Middle Eastern descent, who are flexing their muscle with the new chapter.

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How SBS spread a sheik’s dangerous smear

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (7:31am)

IT’S bad enough our immigration program leaves us exposed to extremists. Worse is SBS geeing them up.
We already have 15 jihadists in Australian jails for terrorism offences, and this week yet another Australian-raised jihadist in New York was given eight years for aiding al-Qaida.
(Read full article here.) 

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Prisoners of their caricature

Andrew Bolt October 03 2013 (7:13am)

How sure were Fairfax journalists that Tony Abbott would stumble in Jakarta?
UPDATE
Greg Sheridan:

TONY Abbott has had an extraordinarily successful first trip to Indonesia as Prime Minister. But it’s only the beginning of his adventures with Jakarta…
So what did we finally get? A commitment by Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Abbott to “new bilateral co-operation” under the framework of the Bali process. That’s very Indonesian, bilateral and multilateral, whatever you want it to be.
Abbott’s “turn back the boats” policy had apparently been the most disagreeable unilateral action in Natalegawa’s view. Now, Natalegawa says, it’s merely a “technical issue”.
Perhaps the most important statement came from the Indonesian President, who said: “Australia and Indonesia are both victims of people-smugglers… We would like to work together with Australia, with effective co-operation and good co-operation. There needs to be bilateral co-operation between Australia and Indonesia. We will continue to grow to overcome this issue.”
That, surely, was as good, and as important, a statement on people-smuggling from the Indonesian President as any Australian PM could have hoped for. It’s a tribute to SBY, but it is also a tribute to Abbott’s effectiveness as Prime Minister.

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No, it wasn’t Abbott who promised “tow backs”

Andrew Bolt October 02 2013 (8:01pm)

How to spot an “expert” on Tony Abbott’s boats policy who doesn’t actually know what the hell he’s talking about (and will be interviewed on the ABC’s 7.30 for saying the “right” thing).
Easy: they claim that Abbott promised to “tow back” boats.
Example:

Dave McRae, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute, ...  this gave the Abbott government the chance to ‘’come up with a technical reason as to why tow backs would in fact not occur in practice‘’.
Again:

Dr McRae said neither side wanted to be locked into a row over border protection. “There are bigger things to achieve and talk about in the Australian-Indonesia relationship. The Abbott government would be best to find a quiet way to climb down from this tow-back policy so that it can focus on the bigger picture.”
On the ABC’s 7.30 tonight McRae said several times the Coalition had a “tow back” policy.
In fact, as Tony Abbott explained, the Coalition never had a policy to “tow back” boats - a highly dangerous maonouvre:

He said reporting of some of the Coalition’s policies had been overblown - scotching suggestions the Coalition had ever intended to tow back asylum-seeker boats to Indonesia. “Our policy, which we have repeated until we are blue in the face, is that we reserve the right to turn boats around where it’s safe to do so. There is a lot of difference between turning boats around in Australian waters and the Australian navy towing them back to Indonesia.
“There is just a world of difference and, if I may say so, there has been a tendency of people to put to other people what is not the Coalition’s policy in an attempt to, I think, generate a headline rather than constructively address this issue.
But check how many journalists repeated the “tow back” claim. It’s like they wanted Indonesia to get its back up or something.
UPDATE
Reader A Happy Little Debunker tried to correct the ABC and McRae hours earlier:


It might seem like silly semantics - until you do a simple search for what was said and by whom.
In addition to this august contributer, no mention of the ‘tow back the boats’ policy existed until September 30th. The 2 mastheads that have featured this semantic policy are considered to be left leaning in politics.
The social commentariate are replete with mentions, from the Conversation through to the Guardian, again firmly left leaning.

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WHICH ONE IS YOU? Look at the tree and choose the one that is immediately most appealing to you.
Don’t think about it too long, just choose, and find out
what your choice says about your personality. write down your choice in the comments.

The results!

1. You are a generous and moral (not to confuse with moralizing) person. You always work on self-improvement. You are very ambitious and have very high standards. People might think that communicating with you is difficult, but for you, it isn't easy to be who you are. You work very hard but you are not in the least selfish. You work because you want to improve the world. You have a great capacity to love people until they hurt you. But even after they do, you keep loving. Very few people can appreciate everything you do as well as you deserve.

2. You are a fun, honest person. You are very responsible and like taking care of others. You believe in putting in an honest day's work and accept many work-related responsibilities. You have a very good personality and people come to trust you easily. You are bright, witty and fast-thinking. You always have an interesting story to tell.

3.You are a smart and thoughtful person. You are a great thinker. Your thoughts and ideas are the most important. You like to think about your theories and views alone. You are an introvert. You get along with those who likes to think and learn. You spend a lot of time, thinking about morality. You are trying to do what is right, even if the majority of society does not agree with you.

4. You are perceptive and philosophical person. You are unique, one soul of your kind. Next to you there's no one even slightly similar to you. You are intuitive and a bit quirky. You are often misunderstood, and it hurts you. You need personal space. Your creativity needs to be developed, it requires respect of others. You are a person who clearly sees the light and dark sides of life. You are very emotional.

5. You are self-assured and in charge. You are very independent. Your guiding principle in life is "I'll do it my way". You are very self-reliant and know how to stay strong for yourself and the people you love. You know exactly what you want and are not afraid of pursuing your dreams. The only thing you demand from people is honesty. You are strong enough to accept the truth.

6. You are kind and sensitive. People relate to you very well. You have many friends and you love helping them. You have this warm and bright aura that makes people feel good when they are around you. Every day, you think about what you can do to improve yourself. You want to be interesting, insightful and unique. More than anybody else in the world, you need to love. You are even ready to love those who don't love you back.

7. You are happy and unflappable. You are a very sensitive and understanding person. You are a great listener who know how to be non-judgmental. You believe that everybody has their own journey in life. You are open to new people and events. You are highly resistant to stress and rarely worry. Normally, you are very relaxed. You always manage to have a good time and never lose your way.

8. You are charming and energetic. You are a fun person who knows how to make people laugh. You live in a state of harmony with the universe. You are spontaneous and enthusiastic. You never say no to an adventure. Often, you end up surprising and even shocking people. But that's just how you are, you always remain true to yourself. You have many interests and if something proves of interest to you, you will not rest until you acquire a profound knowledge of this area.

9. You are optimistic and lucky. You believe that life is a gift and you try to achieve as much as possible and put this gift to the best use possible. You are very proud of your achievements. You are ready to stick by the people you care about through thick and thin. You have a very healthy approach to life. The glass is always at least half full for you. You use any opportunity to forgive, learn, and grow because you believe that life is too short to do otherwise.

===

On Sept. 28, the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center, a jihadist media unit tied to the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, released posters for five Palestinians and an Israeli Arab killed fighting in Syria between July 28, 2012 and Sept. 17, 2013.
Nidal Khalid al 'AshiAl 'Ashi, a former fighter in Jaish al Islam (Army of Islam), was killed fighting in Aleppo in late July 2012. A statement announcing his death from Jaish al Islam said that 'Ashi became a Salafist and "rose as a mujahid against the Jews and Christians after he had been friendly with them before." He then was imprisoned by Hamas "after he had destroyed the tenets of Christian missionary work, including societies, churches, universities, and schools." He fled to Syria "when his methods were restricted," and supported "his monotheist brothers in their war against the tyrants."
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2013/10/jihadist_media_unit_releases_p.php#ixzz2gdnJBJg3
===

Damn backpacking tourists blocking a perfectly good looking sunset.

  • Karen Stahl I believe they're enjoying the sunset!!! 
  • Daniel Katz ...A typical girly comment. What really happened was they climbed to the summit. He proposed and kissed her before she could reply thereby saving her life if she had said no.

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#auspol stream just need a little gentle prodding with hashtags like #AbbottisPM and#ClimateChangeCommissionAxed and they're ready to spontaneously combust these days. Why? Why?>

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/abbotts-battle-with-the-twittersphere/story-fn59niix-1226731039159

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Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is taking a hardline approach compared to her previous Labor counterpart.

AS Schapelle Corby awaits final approval for parole and members of the Bali 9 face the death penalty, Australia's new Foreign Minister has taken a hard line approach to Australians breaking the law overseas.
Speaking about consular affairs for the first time since taking over the portfolio, Julie Bishop urged Australians travelling overseas they need to take responsibility for their own actions.
"There are circumstances where Australians must take responsibility for their own conduct overseas,'' she said.
Ms Bishop said the government has a responsibility to help Aussies when they're caught up in disasters or political turmoil abroad. But she warned Australians cannot count on the Federal Government to bail them out if they get into trouble.
"There are circumstances where Australians must take responsibility for their own conduct overseas,'' she said.

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#relaxedandcomfortable #stoptheboats
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has got a deal on boat people.

JOURNALISTS are stunned. Tony Abbott went to Jakarta and didn't actually start a war with Indonesia.
The man Kevin Rudd claimed had no "temperament" for diplomacy and would cause a "konfrontasi" wasn't even slapped around by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. There was no sign of the "rocky" and "tense" relationship countless reports had claimed to detect between Indonesia and the new Abbott Government over Abbott's boat people policy. In fact, the very opposite. Prime Minister Abbott got a deal on boat people that Yudhoyono refused to Prime Minister Rudd in July - a deal that could be a breakthrough.
When Rudd went begging to Yudhoyono for his help to stop the boats he himself had lured by, as Yudhoyono put it, putting "sugar on the table" he was fobbed off with yet another round of talks with countries from Iran to New Zealand.
Those talks predictably went nowhere. Some countries didn't even bother turning up.
But when Abbott came calling Yudhoyono immediately promised him the one-on-one deal - Indonesia and Australia - critical to stopping the boats.
"Indonesia has striven to overcome this issue, but it would be much better if the co-operation was at the bilateral level," Yudhoyono announced. Even Fairfax newspapers had to admit this was a "significant concession".
Just what that deal will involve is yet to be worked out and unlikely to be shouted out. But get the hint that most commentators still won't take: two boatloads of asylum seekers were last week returned to Indonesia - something Labor managed just twice over the past couple of years.
This co-operation is likely to deepen, at least in the year Yudhoyono has left to serve, with Australian naval ships handing over boat people picked up in Indonesian waters to Indonesian vessels, rather than ferrying them to Christmas Island.

===
Aperture Academy's ApCab being turned away from the Grand Teton National Park gates due to the government shutdown. A sad day when people who love mother nature are not allowed to enjoy the pristine beauty that we pay every day to protect.

The good news is that we'll be back because we are winners and when handed lemons (and limes)...we make margaritas!

Photo Credit -- Ellie Stone and Scott Donschikowski
 — at Grand Teton National Park.

 tantrums and closing down our National Parks. Ellie Stone caught it well. It's strange to know that we pay to keep these places protected and now can't go in to enjoy them, all because of partisanship by self centered greedy politicians who do not have the best interest of their country foremost and first on their minds...

...but I really don't have an opinion.>

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Lunch time! I know what I want - Amasya's staggeringly excellent small meal of the day. Yes, "small" is a relative term. http://footscrayfoodblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/amasya-kebab-house.html
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(Reprinted from our April 15, 2004 issue)
One day Abby called me with an odd story. She had gotten a telephone call from an American Jew who refused to give his name. He would only say that he lived in a settlement in the territories and had an astounding document to show her. It had been given to him by a friend who worked in the Foreign Ministry and it contained the secret plan for the implementation of the Oslo Agreement, which had been signed several months previously — a plan that revealed the Rabin government's true intentions. These were, contrary to everything that was being said publicly, to establish a Palestinian state, withdraw to the 1967 borders, evacuate all the settlements, and return all of east Jerusalem to Arab rule. It was all in the document, which the anonymous caller wanted us to publish in order to bare the shocking truth.
Quite sensibly, Abby asked him why he was coming to the Forward with it. Why not The New York Times or some other big-time newspaper?
"I've tried The Times," the caller told her. He had gone to other prominent dailies too. None of them would touch the story, because, since he could not divulge his Foreign Ministry source, there was no way for them to corroborate it. The Forward was a last resort.
That much honesty appealed to me. I told Abby to arrange for the two of us to meet the man in a hotel in Jerusalem. The rules we agreed on were simple. He would bring us a copy of the document and we would read it in his presence and ask him anything about it that we wanted, except for his name or his friend's. After that we could do what we wished, but we were not to contact him again.

===
The original essay Muslims in America was published in 2001 on the site of Victorious America and received so much acclaim at the time I thought with the anniversary of the attack on the World Trade center this was a good to repost it. Johnhouk put it on his blog on 2011 to showcase my words in support of Cong. Peter King. Below is the full text of this communication.

I received an interesting email from Israpundit relating to the Rep. Peter King hearings on radical Islam in America. The email was sent by Ted Belman but was authored by Stanley Zir. Zir writes that there should be an immense amount of support for the hearings investigating radical Islam in America.

If a majority of Muslim-Americans are indeed in the camp of moderate decrying the cruel parts of Sharia Law, Muslim-Americans should be getting in line behind Rep. Peter King to shine the light on the Muslims who are radical thereby validating that most of Islam in America is not a revolutionary group of people hell-bent on terminating America's Constitutional Rights. If a significant amount of Muslims support radical Islam which is intolerant and hateful toward non-Muslims and Jews in particular, then Americans of all political and religious persuasions need to know where the hotbeds of hatred from Muslims are located.
===
The best way to fight anti-Israel propaganda is not to ban it but to forcefully restore the truth, and spread it as widely as possible. In Vancouver, Canada, a group of Palestinian organizations intend to post an advertisement on Vancouver buses. The same combination of maps in the ad appeared in an article posted in March 2010 by Prof. Juan Cole, a professor of history at the University of Michigan. Major Jewish organizations opposed the posting of this ad. I believe there is a better way to counter the falsehoods contained in this ad, and that is with solid factual evidence rather than oppose its posting - a move that would be criticized, as usual, as an effort to curtail "freedom of speech." - See more at: http://newsblaze.com/story/20130912195438nurg.nb/topstory.html#sthash.0vynaXny.1AxvVWf2.dpuf
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...Abbas, of course, also ignored the fact that nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured in Syria in the past two years. He did not, however, forget to mention in his speech that 27 Palestinians were killed by the Israel Defense Forces since the beginning of the year.===

No. 597    September-October 2013
  • Israel, a liberal democracy caught between tyrannies and sectarian violence, is increasingly perceived as uniquely evil.
  • In the struggle for hearts and minds, feelings trump facts. Imagery and accusations that automatically trigger public compassion are incomparably more compelling than dry, defensive argumentation. We are “wired” by evolution to support those we perceive as innocent victims in distress, even when the facts do not mandate such support.
  • The portrayal of Palestinians as innocent victims in distress has been the key to Palestinian propaganda’s popular success. Through the mass-production of heartrending imagery centered on children, staged “news,” manipulative rhetoric, and rigid censorship, Palestinian propaganda has successfully used the media to recast Palestinians as entirely blameless victims.
  • Moreover, a number of prominent journalists for international news agencies have concurrently been salaried employees of Palestinian administrations. Both Agence France Presse and the Associated Press have employed journalists with close ties to the Palestinian Authority.
  • Israelis have long tried to win minds with a multitude of defensive arguments and legal justifications, and have lost. Israel will have to define itself to the world in a way that is at least as emotionally appealing as the Palestinians’ saga of victimhood.
  • Rather than fighting spurious accusations with impersonal facts, Israel must fight Palestinian propaganda’s exploitation of public compassion with a touching but morally correct narrative of its own.
Blaise Pascal once observed that “people…arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof, but on the basis of what they find attractive.”1 Today this is confirmed by science, and it explains why Palestinians have won the media war.
In 2011 – an age of abundant and verifiable information – opinion polls found that as many as 40-60 percent of Europeans believed that “Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians.”2 That so many Westerners baselessly accuse Israel of genocide is all the more baffling when one considers that it is Israel that is regularly threatened with annihilation.3Those poll results are not peculiar to Europe: similar worrying trends have been noted among American youth, liberals, and minorities.4 Israel, a liberal democracy caught between tyrannies and sectarian violence, is increasingly perceived as uniquely evil.5 Tired refrains can no longer obfuscate the truth: the success of the Palestinians in generating such widespread hostility towards Israel has been earned, and in fact can be scientifically explained.
- See more at: http://jcpa.org/article/manufacturing-exploiting-compassion-abuse-media-palestinian-propaganda/#sthash.OcyGJ7uz.dpuf
===

The events this week in Washington have made it all too clear that the time has come for conservatives across the nation to rise up. No battle was ever won on defense, and we must start our offense in our local communities. Join me and American Majority in Philadelphia, PA on October 11 & 12 for a New Leaders Summit. Learn how you can help change the course of our nation. For more info: http://bit.ly/1dB2Q4v
===

Bibi Netanyahu is the noise a balloon makes when passing air.

Iran still has a bomb and Israelis are still being attacked by Arabs with no fear of retribution.
I feel he is more substantial than that .. Replace him with someone who isn't aware of what they are doing and things get worse for Israel. He isn't like Moshe Dayan giving away Jerusalem because Moshe didn't feel it mattered. Bibi is engaged with hostile figures he can't dismiss. - ed===

Obama” Iran does not believe in nuclear weapons”
WHITE HOUSE STANDS BY ALLEGED ANTI -NUKE FATWA IN IRAN
Oren Dorell, October 1, 2013
www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/01/iran-fatwa-against-nukes-text-mystery/2903789/
===

Congressmen Demand US Investigate UNRWA
--
Dear friends,
The US remains the largest single state donor to the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency (UNRWA), the dangerous UN program that has cultivated, encouraged and radicalized the so-called Palestinian refugee problem. Created in 1948 to assist Arabs who alleged that they lost their homes and livelihoods in the 1948 Israeli Independence War, this short-term program was mandated to address the plight of a only few hundred thousand individuals. Instead of acting to resettle displaced persons, UNRWA has spent the ensuing 4 generations since 1948, nurturing and facilitating those Arabs who claim they want to destroy Israel and return to their former homes inside of Tel-Aviv and Haifa. Today UNRWA proudly boasts that it provides services to over 5 million Palestinian refugees!
--
While the Arab League and the Islamic states annually ignore their pledges to fund UNRWA, the US and the EU continue to financially perpetuate UNRWA's $650 million budget. On June 18, 2013, the US announced a donation of $123 million to UNRWA.
--
In addition to prolonging the Palestinian refugee issue, UNRWA has allowed the camps, facilities and schools it administers in the Palestinian Authority and neighboring Arab states to become hotbeds of Palestinian terrorist training and anti-Semitic incitement. Indeed, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, the PLO and Hezbollah all continually utilize UNRWA facilities to advance their criminal operations.
--
Recently, four US Congressmen sent a powerful letter to Secretary of State John Kerry demanding that the US investigate and monitor this rogue UN program. House members Gerlach, Dent, Meehan and Fitzpatrick warned Kerry that funding UNRWA was harming the US and promoting racist hatred as well as religious extremism in the Middle East: "We cannot continue to support the provision of US taxpayer dollars to organizations, which seek to undermind US foreign policy and our efforts to bring peace and stability abroad. There is simply no justification for US taxpayers to support organizations that encourage the dissemination of hatred, violence and anti-Semitism."

The Congressional letter, linked here:http://bit.ly/1dWqmJ9, needs to be read and widely circulated.

===

===

Washington goes dark, ObamaCare sputters and Iran rattles the world. But even if Armageddon is just around the corner, we’ll always have the Clintons.
Like Zelig on steroids, Bill & Hill are photo-bombing America.
Her retirement as secretary of state lasted about 30 seconds before she started rolling out the rollout of her 2016 campaign.
The breathless teases about will she or won’t she can be ignored because of course she will. Fish gotta swim and a Clinton’s gotta run.
Besides, they can’t play their favorite sport — raising money from rich people — unless they have a cause. And the Clintons long ago decided there is no better cause than self-promotion.
To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist.

Doormat goes everywhere - ed
===

Mr. President and members of Congress, I respect you, care about you, and I pray for you. 
The Bible instructs all of us to pray for our leaders. I sincerely pray that you are able to live as successful and wise public servants.  “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. “ – Micah 6:8
The prophet Micah was urging Israel’s leaders to be mindful of their high calling of service. He made the urgent plea to address the fact that leaders were governing with injustice, unkindness and pride.
Certainly, the failure to reach an agreement to avert a partial government shutdown is not indicative of humble and servant leadership. 

===

Over the last four decades, only two people were able to make wide swaths of the American public really care about the importance of guarding against our nation’s enemies. One was Ronald Reagan. The other was Tom Clancy. The Gipper died in 2004, aged 93. Clancy died Tuesday in Baltimore, just 66 years old.
Despite their age difference, Reagan and Clancy had a lot in common. They loved this country more than anything. They most admired those who put service to nation above service to self. And both were gifted story tellers. Best of all, the stories each man told revealed large and necessary truths.
They say write about what you know and love. Clancy did that from his first book, "The Hunt for Red October.
As FoxNews.com reports in its Clancy obituary, "By a stroke of luck, President Reagan got 'Red October' as a Christmas gift and quipped at a dinner that he was losing sleep because he couldn't put the book down, a statement Clancy later said helped put him on the New York Times best-seller list."

===
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is blaming Republicans for the National Institutes of Health turning away cancer patients. But when asked why the Senate wouldn't try to help "one child who has cancer" by approving a mini-spending bill, he shot back: "Why would we want to do that?"

The tense exchange occurred Wednesday, as Senate Democrats tried to lambaste Republicans ahead of a vote where the House ultimately approved funding the NIH and other agencies -- a bid to ease the pain amid the budget stand-off.

Reid has opposed the measures, saying that if Republicans want to end the government suspension they'll have to simply approve a "clean" budget bill -- devoid of any provision that would hurt ObamaCare.

But Reid was challenged at a Democratic press conference by CNN's Dana Bash about why the Senate wouldn't consider the NIH bill.

"If you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn't you do it?" she asked.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quietly asked, "Why pit one against the other?"

And Reid immediately chimed in: "Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own." ===

Desaleen was the sole survivor of a drunk-driving accident two years ago, and admits she still drives with people who have been drinking. Dr. Phil has one question: “Do you have a death wish?”http://bit.ly/DrP1022013
===

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Amazing Rainbow Mineral Stone !!
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Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו
I feel deeply honored and privileged to stand here before you today representing the citizens of the State of Israel.
===

C. H. Spurgeon
Light thoughts of sin breed light thoughts of the Saviour.

===


Britain is finalizing the details of military assistance that will see 30 high-ranking officers in the Burma Army receive specially tailored training, including instruction on how to operate within the rule of law, the head of a UK training center said.
During an official visit to London by President Thein Sein in July, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the country would begin engaging with the Burma Army. The aim of cooperation, Hague said at the time, was to try to foster accountability and respect for human rights in the Burmese military, which only handed power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011 but remains influential.
The 30 officers of the Burma Army, known as the Tatmadaw, are set to attend a course in January. The training is jointly run by Cranfield University and the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, and will take place in Burma.
Laura Cleary, the head of the Centre of International Security and Resilience at Cranfield University, is in charge of the course.
“The request came from Aung San Suu Kyi for education to be delivered for the security forces within Burma. The decision was taken within the UK government to deliver this particular course,” Cleary told the Irrawaddy.
The course, entitled “Managing Defence in the Wider Security Context,” has been running since the early 2000s, she said. Since then more than 4,200 military personnel from 147 countries have received the training, which is run 12 times a year abroad and once a year in the UK.
“The target audience has been and will remain states that are post-conflict or post-authoritarian,” Cleary said. “We are working with countries that are making that difficult transition to democracy and undergoing security sector reform.”
The course for the Tatmadaw will be made up of two-weeks of bespoke training for the officers, taught through Burmese-speaking translators.

===
Sean Hannity did not hold back when challenging Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez (IL) over ObamaCare tonight on his show. On Tuesday, the United States shut down as a consequence of the fight in Congress to delay the law.
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Nice package
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Day 2 of the federal government down. Who is still going to get paid? The ones that caused this problem in the first place. That is not acceptable. They need to return to kindergarten to learn how to play well with others.
===

===
Five dead in violence against Myanmar's Muslims

Buddhist rioters have killed four men and a 94-year-old woman and burnt down over 70 Muslim homes in Myanmar's northern state of Arakhan after a reported dispute between a Buddhist and Muslim, according to local police.
Police said clashes broke out in Thabyachaing village, about 12 miles north of the coastal town of Thandwe, on Tuesday afternoon. They said the 94-year-old woman, Aye Kyi, died of stab wounds and that between 70 and 80 houses were set on fire.
The recent trouble came after a Muslim shop owner told a Buddhist taxi driver that he could not park outside his shop. The Buddhist man then claimed that the Muslim shopkeeper had insulted Buddhism.  News spread quickly and the Muslim man was arrested but released without charge.  A mob gathered and attacked his home and a curfew was imposed after Rakhine Buddhist mobs burnt homes in villages near Thandwe.
However, according to an Anadolu Agency source in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan, the death toll is much higher but there is no way of further verifying the number as casualty reports from the region are very poor and difficult.  In the past, the initial numbers of those killed in violence provided by authorities have been very conservative.
This is not the first time that minority Muslims have been targeted in Myanmar.  Earlier this year, Buddhist mobs murdered over 40 people in the central Myanmar town of Meiktila and burnt down Muslims businesses and mosques. Muslims are still unable to return to Meiktila and are forced to live in camps.
In Arakan state the Rohingya Muslims have been the main target of Buddhist groups.  Last year, hundreds were killed and over 120,000 displaced after Arakanese groups attacked the Rohingya Muslims.
According to Human Rights Watch, Burmese authorities “committed crimes against humanity in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims.”
Responding to recent violence, Executive Director of Fortify Rights Matthew Smith told Anadolu Agency, “This is a continuation of what we have seen for over a year in Rakhine State. The attackers appear to be using the same brutal tactics amidst a familiar lack of security for the Muslim population.”
Fortify Rights works in Myanmar on human rights issues as well as documenting abuses. 
Smith added, “The lack of security is indefensible at this point and raises serious questions about the state and national authorities' role and responsibility for what is happening. Fortify Rights is concerned about the citizens of Thandwe and more than 150,000 people who are displaced throughout the state, many of whom still lack adequate aid despite that it has been over one year since they were displaced.”

===
Atlanta person wrote: s ago when I reached 18 months of service I was paying 100% of my premium as a pre-tax payroll deduction so I know exactly what I was paying (employer is now paying 50% of the bronze cost). So when I was paying 100% my premium that was pre-tax $494.94. After tax and excluding subsidies, if I chose similar coverage from Cigna (a PPO) the monthly premium is $413.19. As an IT contractor with a pre-existing condition who does have some uncertainty year to year, this is good to know.
And that's the point unless you are subsidy eligible and want the subsidy there's both on the exchange and off the exchange. And off the exchange (and I assume insurance brokers too) your pre-existing conditions don't matter either anymore. Nobody said you have to go to a "government run exchange".>

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Which would you choose for your healthcare, Obamacare or the coverage available through the Affordable Care Act? (We realize that most Blaze readers know that they are the same thing, but does the average person know that?)
===

"Put God first and everything else will follow." -Jesus
===
Barry-cades confirmed: Park Service says Obama admin ordered closure of World War II Memorial ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/10/02/barry-cades-confirmed-park-service-says-obama-admin-ordered-closure-of-world-war-ii-memorial/
===

Sarah Palin
My Call For Civil Disobedience Around The “Barrycades” 

It’s beyond shameful to see Barack Obama disrespect and mistreat our World War II veterans so blatantly. Obama’s political stunt to “shut down” their memorial by barricade is to elicit an angry response to generate bad publicity for people the president uses in his continual blame game.

Don’t believe me? Look at the “barricade” at the World War I Memorial:

https://twitter.com/McCormackJohn/status/385388192465031168/photo/1

The difference is obvious. There aren’t any World War I veterans alive today to mistreat in a shameful political stunt. He’s deployed more guards to bar our World War II heroes from their memorial than he sent to Benghazi when our consulate was under attack.

The President is treating our veterans the same way he treated school kids when he cancelled their White House tours. When times called for obvious government belt-tightening, he took it out on kids rather than look for anything that would affect him personally. And while our vets are barricaded from the memorial they built with their heroism, the government “slim down” won’t affect Obama’s golf game or his family’s White House chefs.

Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are attempting to fund the Veterans Administration and other essential functions, but Democrats are blocking them because they want to make any slim down look as awful as possible in order to deflect from what this whole slim down thing is about, which is their Obamacare train wreck.

Good Congressmen are fighting for average middle class Americans to get the same breaks that Obama gave Congress, his pals, union bosses, and crony corporations who financed his campaign and snookered the media into putting him in office.

It is a sad day when We the People have to go cap in hand to the president begging him to give us the same relief he gave his friends by fiat. Thank God we have bold leaders willing to fight for those who can’t afford to pay powerful lobbyists to make Obama and Harry Reid listen.

Want to know why this whole thing happened? Look at what Obamacare is already doing to our country with health care costs skyrocketing, workers laid off or kicked to part-time, employers shutting down projects, and debt still soaring. See the article linked below. This is what America is up against.

And Obama employees who know in your hearts and souls that punishing our veterans is wrong, know that we have your backs when you say “enough is enough” and then allow our vets to gaze upon our memorials that honor America’s finest. This simple act of civil disobedience will galvanize our nation against atrocious political games, and I promise you’ll sleep well tonight.

- Sarah Palin

Article on the consequences of Obamacare:
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/359861/print

Todd Starnes’ column today about our vets being barred from their memorial:
http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2013/10/01/elderly-veterans-banned-from-ww-ii-memorial-n1714080

Obama deployed more guards to block World War II vets from their memorial than he sent to save our people in Benghazi:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/10/02/confirmed-obama-admin-deployed-more-guards-at-the-wwii-memorial-than-benghazi/

===

Pastor Rick Warren
God doesn't expect me to know it all, have it all, or do it all. He just wants me to trust him through it all.

===

===
Recorded in our home studios from San Francisco to Chicago
, Frank Severino and I added some spit and vinegar to an old classic. Enjoy!>===

"Turn around, princess!"
===

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's forceful speech in the United Nations Tuesday has caused the influential New York Times to push back on it in a prominent front page editorial.
The editorial called the speech "aggressive," and noted that Netanyahu used "sarcasm" and "combative words" to portray Iran's president Hassan Rouhani as a "charlatan."
While conceding that Israel, the US and the other powers involved innegotiations with Iran have "legitimate reasons to be wary" and "skeptical" regarding Iranian overtures," the newspaper warned that "it could be disastrous if Mr. Netanyahu and his supporters in Congress were so blinded by distrust of Iran that they exaggerate the threat, block President Obama from taking advantage of new diplomatic openings and sabotage the best chance to establish a new relationship since the 1979 Iranian revolution sent American-Iranian relations into the deep freeze."
The Times editorial admitted that Iran hid its nuclear program from United Nations inspectors for nearly 20 years, is enriching uranium to a level that would make it possible to produce bomb-grade nuclear material more quickly, and has been developing high-voltage detonators and building missiles that experts believe could only have nuclear weapons-related uses.
And yet, it insisted, Netanyahu has hinted so often of taking military action that "he seems eager for a fight." It noted, in particular, Netanyahu's statement that if it deemed that Iran was close to producing nuclear weapons, "Israel will have no choice but to defend itself.”
The Times advised President Barack Obama that his correct path of action, in order not torpedo the newly-warmed relations with Iran, is "working closely with Israel and helping Mr. Netanyahu see that sabotaging diplomacy, especially before Iran is tested, only makes having to use force more likely."
The government shutdown crisis has largely eclipsed coverage of Netanyahu's speech in the US media. There was some positive reaction to it as well, however. Writing in the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin opined: "What is so refreshing about Netanyahu is that he leaves no wiggle room, no equivocation. He will not, he is saying, be the prime minister on whose watch the Jewish state let down her guard."

===

Opposition leader MK Shelly Yachimovich was critical ofPrime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, saying that he presented the correct facts but chose the wrong way to do it.
“We must not let it be implied among the international community as though the Iranianproblem is exclusively an Israeli problem, and it is wrong to present a horrific vision of an existential threat to Israel,” said Yachimovich.
“The future of the Jewish people and the future of the State of Israel will not be determined by the Iranians. The way to deal with Iran is through a U.S.-led international campaign and not by emphasizing Israel’s isolation,” she added.
“The U.S. must lead the efforts with the Iranians, a diplomatic effort accompanied by sanctions with all options on the table including the military option. I prefer the tone taken by the Prime Minister at the White House during his meeting with President Obama, who was explicit about the U.S. commitment to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and who explicitly mentioned the military option,” said Yachimovich.
In his speech, Netanyahu urged the world to maintain pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, saying that diplomacy can work, but only if the international community takes a firm stance.
If all else fails, he hinted, Israel may attack Iran without international support. "If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone," said Netanyahu.
Opposition leaders .. need also be constructive .. merely being oppositional is stupid. - ed

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Jews living east of the 1949 armistice line may be denied access to land records.

In a move that has caused upset in Knesset, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is seeking to bar Israelis living north of Jerusalem from finding out who owns neighboring land.
His campaign has angered MK Motti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi), head of a Foreign Affairs and Defense subcommittee, who on Tuesday slammed Weinstein’s intervention as “outrageous.”
The controversy began when a group of residents from the Israeli Jewish community of Psagot, in the Binyamin region, asked to see the landregistry (Tabu) in order to find out who owns the land nearby.
The community is interested in expanding, and would like to purchase nearby tracts of land. However, in light of past cases in which Jews purchased land in Judea and Samaria (Shomron) from Arabs, only to have other Arabs appear and claim to be the real owners, Psagot residents were cautious. They want to be sure that any land they buy will be purchased from the real owner – and that imposters will not later be able to claim ownership.
Their request for information was permitted by the Jerusalem District Court under the Freedom of Information law.
However, Weinstein then announced plans to appeal the court’s ruling at the Supreme Court. He argues that the Freedom of Information law should not apply due to the sensitive nature of land purchases in Judea and Samaria.
The growth of Israeli communities in the region is widely termed “settlement expansion” in the international community, and is frequently criticized by the United States and Europe as unhelpful to diplomatic talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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community channel
my firstborn is gonna get pretty upset when they realise I've offered them up for things like ice creams or chairs to sit on when I'm tired
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In typical Labor fashion Bill Shorten neglected to mention merit or ability as important characteristics when he made his recent calls for quotas. More in this week's blog https://www.corybernardi.com/2013/10/02/ticking-wrong-boxes/
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It is not the church's fault we live in a "new, secular, urban, industrialized, science-oriented, media-driven, multi-cultural world".
Not all progress is wrong. Christ has won the victory, as true today as it was then. But the path is perilous even for the faithful. My father's sister became a born again Christian at the age of 15. Her lapsed Jewish mother humoured her, and she encouraged my father and his brother to become Christian too. They were apparently youth group leaders and faithful, for a time. From age 15 to 21, my dad walked in grace. But, he married on his 21st birthday a woman who was hurt, and wasn't Christian, and he lost his faith. I was raised by him as an atheist, but discovered God on Sydney University campus at age 18. I wish I'd known what I do now, when my father was alive. Faith is a blessing, and although it is not the church's fault that faith and testimony cover two thousand years of struggle, it is her glory. - ed
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The Obamacare exchanges are now open for business. And to open the radio show this morning, Glenn decided to give Healthcare.gov – your one stop shop for everything Obamacare related – a try. Sadly, the experience was not without its problems.
“This is exciting because you’re just about to take advantage of the incredible healthcare system,” Pat said excitedly.
But the excitement did not last long. When Glenn attempted to access the site, he was promptly greeted with the Internet equivalent of a “hold button.”
“I’m here, and I don’t know if you can get a shot of this… but I just went to Healthcare.gov and I’m on this exciting page right now: ‘Health insurance marketplace, please wait. We have a lot of visitors on our site right now and we’re working to make your experience here better. Please wait here until we send you to the login page. Thanks for your patience.’”
Below is a screenshot of the message:


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BREAKING: WWII Veterans just stormed the gates at the WWII Memorial in D.C. - despite the Democrats shutting it, and the government, down last night. 

Show your support for the Greatest Generation! -> http://bit.ly/1c0Xkds
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend(James 2:23, NIV)
The all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe wants to be your friend today. He wants to walk with you, talk with you and simply share your life with you.What are you waiting for? That’s why He created you, first and foremost, for His fellowship. It’s as simple as opening your heart of faith to Him just like Abraham did.

What an honor and privilege it is to be called God’s friend. Let that sink down into your heart today. The next time the enemy tries to tell you that you are alone in this world, or no one understands what you are going through, just say out loud, “I am a friend of God.” With God as your friend, He’ll lead you and walk with you down the path of victory.He will never leave you. He will never forsake you.God bless you.
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Heavenly Father,I submit my mind, will and emotions to You. I choose to align myself with Your Word. Thank You for filling me with Your Holy Spirit and empowering me to live the life of victory.I thank You for being my friend today. Thank You for loving me and being faithful to me. Help me understand Your friendship so that I can be a better friend to those around me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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Who's your favourite Where's Wally? character?#woof #wizardwhitebeard #wally #wenda #odlaw
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Facebook icon Twitter icon Forward icon
Recent cases of anti-Israel bias have crossed the line. Demonization of Israel is recognized as a form of anti-Semitism in both the U.S. State Department and European Union Working Definitions of Anti-Semitism.
It's time for the media to adopt these recognized and considered definitions of anti-Semitism. Sign our petition and demand that the media do so. 


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HonestReporting's Israel Daily News Stream: Everything You Need to Know About Media Coverage of Israel and the MidEast

Today's Top Stories

• PA literally spins lack of news on Arafat inquiry.
• Islamic Movement in Israel plays with fire to stay relevant.
• Russia moving to fill US power vacuum in Mideast.

Hot Content from HonestReporting

5 Reasons Bibi’s UN Speech Called Out the NY Times: A reminder that the papers influencing public opinion are also fumbling the story. Read more . . .

Iran Learns the Language of the West: “Even while the U.S. has now started to engage with Iran, it is Rouhani’s change in “tone” that is referred to. After all, very little has changed on the substance.” Read more . . .

Welcome to the Israel Daily News Stream

The IDNS is a daily roundup of everything you need to know about how the media is covering Israel, all in one place for easy reference, delivered directly to your inbox every morning. Want to receive weekly Bias Alerts? Manage your subscriptions. Please tell your friends to learn more and sign up here.

Tired of Seeing Israel Slammed in the Media?

Join more than 150,000 people demanding fair media coverage. HonestReporting was formed in 2000 to respond to unfair coverage against Israel in the wake of the second Intifada. Since then, it's prompted hundreds of corrections and retractions. Stay informed on all media issues by signing up to HR's weekly bias alert emails.

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Over 13,000 Rockets have been fired into Israel in the last 12 years, deliberately targeting innocent civilians. The result: chaos, destruction and death. An entire generation of children has been traumatized by ongoing rocket attacks. Fear of a chemical weapons attack has made matters much worse.

As the enemies of Israel increase their deadly supply of rockets, this is a war on terror that needs your support. Last fall we all witnessed the terrifying mini-war with Hamas in which major Israeli population centers were targeted.

We would like to share the story of a brave Israeli artist who is fighting terror with beauty. That's right - he's fighting back with beautiful art!
It's truly an incredible story - very inspiring...

Learn more --> http://www.rocketsintoroses.com/

Yaron Bob, an Israeli artist who understands what it means to live in the shadow of terror, has found a unique way to transform objects of war into expressions of peace. He creates 'rocket-art' that blossoms with hope. A portion of the proceeds will help to build bomb shelters for Israelis living under fire.

Hand-sculpted roses, candlesticks and menorahs crafted from actual rockets that landed in Israel, symbolize the perseverance of the people of Israel. They are living symbols of Israel's endurance in the face of Islamic terror.

You can purchase these unique pieces of art, jewelry and judaica, made from the remains of destructive missiles, and become part of a modern day fulfillment of biblical prophesy: "Beating swords into plowshares" (Isaiah 2:4).

Click below to see the magnificent artwork:
http://www.rocketsintoroses.com

We cannot think of a more meaningful gift from Israel. Besides owning a unique piece of history with a powerful, eternal message, your purchase will help to protect the citizens of Israel from future attacks.

The people of Israel thank you for your support of Israel in the face of terror. Together, we pray for real peace in the Middle East and all around the world.

With Blessings from Israel,

The 'United with Israel' Family

Click below to visit the 'Rockets into Roses' website:
http://www.rocketsintoroses.com/

To update your contact information or unsubscribe, please click on the link below:
https://unitedwithisrael.infusionsoft.com/app/optOut/12/e7a04143382445e1/107315185/0893b85d7aeac3cc

United with Israel
8/19 Maor St.
Box 71530
Bet Shemesh, HaDarom 99623
Israel
+972-2-533-7841

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Why Evangelism Should Focus On Receptive People
This is not a marketing principle. It’s a basic New Testament principle. Jesus told it in the parable of the sower. When you sow seed, some of it falls on rocky ground, some on stony ground, some on hard ground, and some on good soil. Wouldn’t it be great if you knew what the good soil was and sowed all your seed there? Why waste seed, time, effort, energy and money? It’s God’s job to prepare the soil. It’s our job to sow the seed. You don’t do the soil preparation. God uses all kinds of sovereign things like divorce, crises, death, economic problems, government shutdowns, being out-of-work, a new baby, and a new job to prepare the soil. But God uses you to sow.
The fact is, receptiveness to the Gospel varies widely at different times of people’s lives. Sometimes people are very open to the Gospel and sometimes they’re very closed. And receptivity doesn’t last forever. Jesus knew this very well, and so He said, “Go to the people who will listen”.
  
How to Open Your Church to Your Community
By Charles Arn
Every church has a metaphorical “front door”— referring to the people who visit on Sunday, some of whom like the church and stay. Then, of course, every church has a “back door”— those people who leave through transfer, inactivity, or death. “Side doors” add a positive new aspect to the “people flow” equation of a local church, and provide a tremendous opportunity to increase the number who become part of their faith community.
  

More Stories
from Pastors.com

Eating Men Alive - Powerful Men, Common Fears
By Kenny Luck

5 Commitments that Propel and Sustain a Thriving Small Group Ministry
By Mark Howell

5 Ways to Prepare for Any Conference or Networking Event
By Justin Lathrop

Congregation Sells Building to Invest In New Church Plant
By Baptist Press

New Word: Evange-cipleship
By Greg Stier

6 Traits of Effective Interim Pastors
By Bud Brown
So many are miserable because they think happiness come from self-gratification. It actually comes from self-sacrifice.

- Rick Warren, via Twitter

Good Links From 
Around the Web

7 Reasons for the Death of Sunday Evening Worship
By Jesse Johnson

How to Create a Church Culture of Generosity
By Lance LeBlanc

The Anatomy of a Servant's Heart
By Paul Chappell

People Flow: Moving People Forward
By Bob Logan

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Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for October 2nd. Enjoy!

From the Blog

Seedco: Obamacare’s fraud-stained navigators

Welcome to ObamaWreck!

Good news: Supreme Court agrees to hear Harris v. Quinn (families battling SEIU over thuggish home invasion scheme)

Back in June, I reminded you about the case of Harris v. Quinn — the class-action lawsuit challenging Illinois Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn’s SEIU-pandering executive order to allow union recruiters into the homes of families who provide in-residence care for their developmentally disabled loved ones...

Sebelius: Obamacare sign-up glitches a ‘great problem to have’

Glitch-fest 2013 got under way yesterday morning...

More From the Right Side of the Web

Special Stop Common Core Announcement

On October 3, Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute and Emmett McGroarty of the American Principles Project will be debating two staunch proponents of Common Core. D.C.-area residents can attend live, and viewers can also watch the online broadcast.
For more information, click here. Do not miss this important forum!

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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"Scum" is so nice, he used it twice!

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October 3National Day in Iraq (1932); National Foundation Day in South Korea
Boris III of Bulgaria

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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]


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“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.”Proverbs 29:25 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The hope which is laid up for you in heaven."
Colossians 1:5
Our hope in Christ for the future is the mainspring and the mainstay of our joy here. It will animate our hearts to think often of heaven, for all that we can desire is promised there. Here we are weary and toilworn, but yonder is the land of rest where the sweat of labour shall no more bedew the worker's brow, and fatigue shall be forever banished. To those who are weary and spent, the word "rest" is full of heaven. We are always in the field of battle; we are so tempted within, and so molested by foes without, that we have little or no peace; but in heaven we shall enjoy the victory, when the banner shall be waved aloft in triumph, and the sword shall be sheathed, and we shall hear our Captain say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." We have suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are going to the land of the immortal where graves are unknown things. Here sin is a constant grief to us, but there we shall be perfectly holy, for there shall by no means enter into that kingdom anything which defileth. Hemlock springs not up in the furrows of celestial fields. Oh! is it not joy, that you are not to be in banishment forever, that you are not to dwell eternally in this wilderness, but shall soon inherit Canaan? Nevertheless let it never be said of us, that we are dreaming about the future and forgetting the present, let the future sanctify the present to highest uses. Through the Spirit of God the hope of heaven is the most potent force for the product of virtue; it is a fountain of joyous effort, it is the corner stone of cheerful holiness. The man who has this hope in him goes about his work with vigour, for the joy of the Lord is his strength. He fights against temptation with ardour, for the hope of the next world repels the fiery darts of the adversary. He can labour without present reward, for he looks for a reward in the world to come.

Evening

"A man greatly beloved."
Daniel 10:11
Child of God, do you hesitate to appropriate this title? Ah! has your unbelief made you forget that you are greatly beloved too? Must you not have been greatly beloved, to have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot? When God smote his only begotten Son for you, what was this but being greatly beloved? You lived in sin, and rioted in it, must you not have been greatly beloved for God to have borne so patiently with you? You were called by grace and led to a Saviour, and made a child of God and an heir of heaven. All this proves, does it not, a very great and superabounding love? Since that time, whether your path has been rough with troubles, or smooth with mercies, it has been full of proofs that you are a man greatly beloved. If the Lord has chastened you, yet not in anger; if he has made you poor, yet in grace you have been rich. The more unworthy you feel yourself to be, the more evidence have you that nothing but unspeakable love could have led the Lord Jesus to save such a soul as yours. The more demerit you feel, the clearer is the display of the abounding love of God in having chosen you, and called you, and made you an heir of bliss. Now, if there be such love between God and us let us live in the influence and sweetness of it, and use the privilege of our position. Do not let us approach our Lord as though we were strangers, or as though he were unwilling to hear us--for we are greatly beloved by our loving Father. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Come boldly, O believer, for despite the whisperings of Satan and the doubtings of thine own heart, thou art greatly beloved. Meditate on the exceeding greatness and faithfulness of divine love this evening, and so go to thy bed in peace.
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Today's reading: Isaiah 14-16, Ephesians 5:1-16 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Isaiah 14-16

1 The LORD will have compassion on Jacob;
once again he will choose Israel
and will settle them in their own land.
Foreigners will join them
and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
2 Nations will take them
and bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take possession of the nations
and make them male and female servants in the LORD’s land.
They will make captives of their captors
and rule over their oppressors.
3 On the day the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, 4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has come to an end!
How his fury has ended!
5 The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
6 which in anger struck down peoples
with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations
with relentless aggression.
7 All the lands are at rest and at peace;
they break into singing.
8 Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon
gloat over you and say,
“Now that you have been laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.”

Today's New Testament reading: Ephesians 5:1-16

1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them....
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