Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Wed Jul 9th Todays News

Love is a motivating thing. And while one may brag that love motivates them more than another, that is not sufficient to explain how Germany managed to thrash Brazil 7-1. The score had been 7-0 for a time. And the broken hearted supporters of Brazil had no explanation, and attention turned to their defender who was also captain. It is true that the Brazil Captain was caught short for six of the seven goals, but that is soccer. according to scoring theory, 7-1 is better for a losing team than 6-0. But, it is home turf for Brazil. Brazil can't rely on distance from the fans and claim they were robbed. They were outplayed by German precision which was merciless. It will take more than a few steins of the finest lager to make those canary sing joyfully. The next big unanswered question is can Argentina win silver, or will they be denied by the Netherlands? 

The press are cheering anything that might look like a setback to government policy. Ricky Muir in the senate has decided to delay a vote ending the carbon dioxide tax. The High Court has decided to stay a return of victims of people smugglers. The policy program making cuts to spending is quite thin, and if none of those cuts are passed, it will make effective government hard. But the truth is cutting spending is the only way to prosperity, and failing to do so will result in poverty. Remember that when you next hear the ALP leader fail to have a policy that includes cutting spending. 

Words are powerful, they define what we think of, and how we behave. George Washington ordered that the declaration of Independence be read to his troops on this day in 1776. In 1793, Canada passed an act against slavery. In 1868, the fourteenth amendment guaranteed African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the US due process. In 1900, Queen Victoria gave assent to the creation of the state of Australia. In 1922, Johnny Weissmuller heard the word 'minute' and broke it for the 100m by timing 58.6 seconds. The latest world record is 44.94 seconds. 

Bertrand Russell prided himself on his intellect. He was highly lauded. And ridiculed by those that knew him. Like Maynard Keynes. It is an interesting study in personality to think on how Keynes and Russell described each other. Russell said of Keynes he was a moody genius, and all eyes in a room would be drawn to him as he entered it. Keynes said of Russell he was a nice guy, who liked nice things and wondered why not everything around him was nice. On this day in 1955, Russell published the nice thought despairing of the future of humanity in a world with nuclear power. Russell was the Al Gore of his day, a highly lauded imbecile. He got Einstein to sign the declaration in the days before Einstein died. Only it is a scare campaign that opposed nuclear power in major states like the US, but encouraged buttressed expansion among states like the Soviet Union. It was little different than GMO or Global cooling or warming campaigns which followed. In 1958, the largest recorded wave of 524m hit Lituya bay. 1962, Andy Warhol showed his Campbell Soup can picture. 1979, ODESSA claimed responsibility for blowing up a car of Nazi hunters. 1981, Donkey Kong was released, unleashing Mario. Born on this day, 1932, Donald Rumsfeld, 1938 Brian Dennehy (Gorky Park), 1946 Bon Scott (AC/DC), 1947 OJ Simpson, 1956 Tom Hanks, 1957 Tim Kring and 1987 Amanda Knox. 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may;
I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, & with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David & take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.netwhich will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Andrew Bollom and Whiskey Tees. Argentina Independence Day. In 1572, Nineteen Catholic friars and clerics were hanged in Gorkum during the 16th century religious wars in the Low Countries. In 1745, War of the Austrian Succession: The French victory in the Battle of Melle made their subsequent capture of Ghent possible. In 1868, The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, including the Citizenship Clause and the Equal Protection Clause, was ratified by the minimum required twenty-eight U.S. states. In 1943, World War II: The Allies began their invasion of Sicily, a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. In 1981, Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong, which featured the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video game history. Celebrate your independence, but avoid Gorkum. You will get Ghent. Be confident, the minimum is still sufficient. If the US hadn't taken Sicily, we might not now have Catch - 22. Today, you are Mario.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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Bob Carr: no danger in sending back the Tamils

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (4:43pm)

Will Labor at least hear it from their former foreign minister?
LABOR’S last foreign minister, Bob Carr, has ridiculed refugee advocates’ “urban mythology” about endemic persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka, saying the previous government “couldn’t find a single case” of returned asylum-seekers being abused by authorities. 

Mr Carr ... rejected former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser’s likening of the Abbott government’s policy to returning Jews to Nazi Germany…

“The idea that there is entrenched apartheid in the country like old South Africa or the West Bank just cannot be sustained.
“You’ve got 12 per cent of the population of Sri Lanka of Tamil background and they are heavily represented in the leadership of the country. You’ve got Tamil political parties sitting in the parliament, Tamil judges, Tamil doctors and engineers, a Tamil business leadership.
“There’s a great danger in this that we accept one side in this narrative … It’s not just a Tamil Tigers’ narrative; it’s a narrative about a complex society rebuilding itself after 35 years of vicious violence and not doing badly.” ...
Mr Carr said the Labor government returned a boatload of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers about August 2012, none of whom were treated inhumanely…

“This is a country that recovered from three-and-a-half decades of the most vicious civil war. If the Tamil Tigers had won, if they’d carved out their own republic in the north of Sri Lanka, there are good reasons for thinking … it would have ended up being very similar to Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. It would have been bloodthirsty…
“The country is recovering from three-and-a-half decades of a vicious civil war and it’s not going to be a perfect exercise, and it isn’t, and we should keep our eye on human rights abuses. But I’ve got to say a lot of progress has been made.”
In fact, Labor once boasted how it sent back Tamils, too. From last June:
Australia announced the return of 22 more Sri Lankan irregular maritime arrivals who had failed to meet the country’s international obligations…
Their return takes the number of Sri Lankans sent home to 1,270 – 1,057 of them involuntarily since August 2012.
Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Brendan O’Connor, said returning the group to Sri Lankans sends a powerful message.
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This Senate can’t stop spending

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (4:32pm)

More holes blown in the Budget by a Senate that seems unable to save:
Rookie senator Ricky Muir has hammered out a deal with the Palmer United Party senators that will save the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The $2.5 billion agency, which was set up to fund emerging renewable energy technology and research, was to be axed as part of the federal budget…
But the PUP has agreed to back Senator Muir’s call to retain the agency even as the carbon tax is dissolved.
The senators will vote against abolishing the agency, however funding cuts contained in the carbon tax repeal bills will go through…
As a result, the carbon tax repeal will cut the agency’s budget by $435 million and will enact a previously announced deferral of $370 million in funding by the former Labor government
It will leave the ARENA with only about $100 million over the next four years for new projects, but blows a $1.3 billion dollar hole in the government’s savings attempts with that money due to be committed to ARENA beyond the forward estimates.
And this:

THE Senate has punched another $2 billion hole in Tony Abbott’s budget by rejecting a bid to repeal a second round of income tax cuts linked to the carbon tax. 

NSW Senator David Leyonhjelm led the move to block the repeal.

Labor in government had wanted to scrap the second round of tax cuts but supported Senator Leyonhjelm’s move to block the repeal…
The cuts, which will raise the tax free threshold from $18,200 to $19,400 from July 1 next year, were planned to compensate for a carbon price of $29. 
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Muir splits from Palmer on vote

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (11:42am)

Already a fracture in the Palmer vote, and - predictably - against the national interest:
THE Coalition has lost a bid to force the fast-tracking of a vote on its carbon tax repeal bills in the Senate. 

The government this morning moved an urgency motion which would have brought on the debate.

However the vote tied 36-36 when Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir split from the Palmer United Party to vote against the motion.
Under the Senate rules, a tied vote on a procedural motion is lost… Unless the government moves again to gag debate it faces the prospect of the issue dragging on at least into tomorrow.
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The Internet lures The Age into a far-Left alley

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (11:32am)

Media

How the Internet is turning The Age into a niche publication, pitched at Abbott haters and inner-city moral preeners of the far Left:
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Tax rises to come, thanks to Labor, Greens and Palmer

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (7:50am)

Terry McCrann says the Budget didn’t cut much spending to start with, so it’s not a disaster - yet - that the Senate is blocking what cuts there are:
WHATEVER the Senate does to Joe Hockey’s Budget might be of huge political significance, but quite frankly the economic impact won’t be that large.
The one big thing the Government does not have to ask the Senate to approve is the huge increase in personal income tax that is going to take place over the next four years, hitting people earning roughly $50,000 and higher, as a consequence of “bracket creep"…
If the Senate gave Hockey everything he asked for back in May, the mix of legislated tax rises and spending cuts would shave $37 billion off the total budget deficit over the four years to 2017-18.
But the great bulk of those savings — $28 billion — only come in the last two years; and indeed nearly half of the four-year total, or $17 billion, is in the furthest year, 2017-18…
What these numbers also mean is that if Hockey got everything he wanted, the total of deficits over those four years would be reduced from around $98 billion to $61 billion. And again, note that most of the cut is in the last year.
Equally, if Hockey gets nothing, we would enter the 2018-19 year with net debt of a little over $300 billion and still rising, instead of the $264 billion and falling that the Budget projects…
But the direction and the build-up of savings is critical to the longer-term state of play. The Government is aiming to basically balance the budget in 2017-18; it would make a huge — negative — difference if instead it was still $20 billion in deficit. 
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The people we sent back speak: after jobs, not safety

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (7:28am)

Boat people policy

The Greens say the 41 Sri Lankan boat people returned this week by the Abbott Government were “persecuted”:
CHRISTINE MILNE: Sri Lankan asylum seekers have been returned to Sri Lanka: the persecuted to the persecutor.
Milne is deceiving the public.
In fact, every passenger I’ve seen interviewed so far say nothing about having been “persecuted”, with just one vague exception. All have said they were on their way to Australia or New Zealand to search for work:
Anthony Fernando:

“Australian authorities have ill-treated us. They have given expired food, which had a date of May 22,” a tearful Anthony Fernando, 38, told the Anadolu Agency, joining the queue outside the court. “I have gone to Australia by boat to find employment, and later take my family to join me.”
Manushika Sandamali, wife of passenger:
“My husband went to Australia to get a job. He was a driver before he embarked on a boat journey. We have lost the savings, and dignity,” Manushika Sandamali told the Anadolu Agency...
Punchi Banda Podinilame, speaking for 11 passengers:
Another man, Punchi Banda Podinilame, said he had one son, two sons-in-law and seven other relatives on the boat. He said they had all gone to Australia to find employment.
Unidentified passengers interviewed by AFP:
Some of the migrants, most of whom were from Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese community, told AFP they had been trying to get to New Zealand rather than Australia where they hoped they could find work.
Bhamith Caldera:

Migrant Bhamith Caldera said he would “complain to the UN” over his treatment and denied that he had been screened as a possible asylum seeker.
“They never asked any questions. They just wanted us to go back,” he said, declining to answer if he believed he had a case for asylum.
Unidentified passengers, interviewed by the ABC:
This man says his son and other relatives were just trying to get work.
Sujeewa Saparamadu:
Sujeewa Saparamadu told Fairfax Media that it was her husband Rajnith who was accused by Sri Lankan authorities of masterminding the whole enterprise, and that the Special Task Force commando was a man named Mahesh Indika… When asked why Mr Indika was fleeing Sri Lanka, she said: “He has a political problem."…
Mrs Saparamadu said that after she gave an interview to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2012 or 2013, she said she was harassed by Sri Lankan authorities and that her family had decided that their best option was to go to another country like New Zealand that offered better economic circumstances.
M.G. Sumanadasa:
Another passenger, M.G. Sumanadasa, 59, a stonemason, said he was told he was going to New Zealand.
“I got on board to earn more money and to have a family house in New Zealand. I didn’t pay any money, I was told I could pay it back after I got to New Zealand.”
Kasun Hemantha Jayasekara:

One of Mr Fernando’s friends was 21-year-old Kasun Hemantha Jayasekara, also a driver. “I’m very happy to be back in Sri Lanka, because we were told that the alternative was an island prison,” Mr Jayasekara said.
And what of that interview with the ABC in 2012 or 2013 that Sujeewa Saparamadu suggests created political problems for her family? Here it is - an interview given after the then Gillard Government returned her husband’s four brothers to Sri Lanka, and suggesting that they tried to leave for economic reasons, not political:
CHRIS UHLMANN, PRESENTER: ... But this year boat arrivals from Sri Lanka spiked to more than a thousand a month and many are from the majority Sinhalese community coming in search of jobs and money…
MICHAEL EDWARDS, REPORTER: These are the men who didn’t make it. On the day 7.30 went to Negombo Prison, 40 kilometres north of Colombo, 41 Sri Lankans long had been sent home from Christmas Island…
23-year-old Ranjith Saparamadu has four brothers inside the jail. All have been sent back after paying people smugglers thousands of dollars to get to Australia.
RANJITH SAPARAMADU (voiceover translation): They went there almost one month and they said actually they need a human right or (inaudible) a lawyer or Red Cross. But Australian Immigration said they don’t want to give and they say they will give back - they ask them to wait, but they never. My mother and my sister, my niece all are there, but my brothers all they sent back.
MICHAEL EDWARDS: These people represent an emerging trend in asylum seekers coming to Australia. They’re from Sri Lanka’s majority Singhalese community.
In Singhalese towns and villages the people smugglers’ sales pitch is simple: go to Australia and you’ll get jobs and money.
Pocus Fernando, a Singhalese fishermen from a small village just north of Negombo, believed the promises.
POCUS FERNANDO (voiceover translation): I wanted to go to Australia for a job to earn money. I have a wife and three daughters to look after. I heard the Australian Government was giving people jobs…
DAYANI HINDAWITARANA (voiceover translation): My husband is a fisherman. Fishing did not give us sufficient income. We have three children. The Australian Government is known to be generous and to look after people…
JUDE (voiceover translation): There’s nothing much to do here in Sri Lanka. Therefore I thought of going to Australia to find a job.
UPDATE
These were refugees? The very poor? The oppressed? The grateful?
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Hamas fires rockets at Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (6:58am)

Hamas has vowed to destroy Israel and kill the Jews. It now has rockets which can reach Tel Aviv:
For second time on Tuesday evening, Gaza terrorists launch rocket at central Israel; air raid sirens sounds in Jerusalem, central Israel; Tel Aviv opens public bomb shelters; no injuries reported. More than 40 rockets were fired into Israel in the biggest ever salvo of long-range fire from Gaza
During the salvo of rockets from Gaza, Iron Dome battery intercepted a projectile over the greater Tel Aviv area for the second time on Tuesday evening… According to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld none of the rockets fired from Gaza landed directly in the city of Jerusalem, although two rockets likely landed just outside the city.
Hamas is fast becoming a mortal threat to Israel - the kind of threat no country could tolerate. 
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Don’t reform the Senate. Do you really want the Greens, not Palmer?

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (6:57am)

Clive Palmer is a joke, but still safer than the Greens, says Terry McCrann. So say no to Senate reform:
...a Senate in which Labor and the Greens do not have a majority, or a Senate in which the Greens do not hold the balance of power on their own, is immeasurably better for the Government and for the Prime Minister in particular, and better for the country…
At the most basic level, as this crazy quilt of eight assorted odds and sods enables Tony Abbott to abolish the carbon tax either this week or next, he should be asking himself: why on earth would I trade this for the certainty of continuous rejection from a Labor-Green Senate majority?
That would be the consequence of “reforming” the Senate voting method to end the chances of people like Ricky Muir, David Leyonhjelm, Bob Day and John Madigan being elected through complex preference deals and above-the-line voting, after starting with a handful of first-preference votes....
A Labor-Greens majority is disastrous when Labor is in government; it ticks through bad and irresponsible policy. Indeed, exactly such a majority after the 2010 election gave us this very, disastrous, carbon tax.
Similarly and just as disastrously, a Labor-Greens Senate majority operates as a roadblock to good policy when the Coalition is in government. As we have been seeing right now and will continue to see with Clive’s three+one PUPpets…
Now sure, the best thing that can be said about Palmer — whose three+one PUPpets hold the ultimate balance of power in the Senate so far as Abbott is concerned — is that he is populist, completely unprincipled and totally unpredictable. He’s certainly no reliable ally of the Government, far less the PM. But at least he’s not the completely cynical, irresponsible Opposition or the Greens with their proprietary mix of absolutism, stupidity and hypocrisy. 
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Palmer promised not to do what he did with the missing $12 million

Andrew Bolt July 09 2014 (5:11am)

It is hard for me to accept the unsupported word of Clive Palmer on anything to do with his business activities, which seem to be troubled, to say the least:

CLIVE Palmer personally signed off on documents that explicitly state that money in an administrative fund could only be used in the administration of a port, contradicting his claim that the money in the account was his to use as he pleased. 

Mr Palmer told the National Press Club on Monday that some $2.167 million paid to Brisbane-based Media Circus Network from an administrative account funded by China’s Citic Pacific was probably spent on advertising during the Palmer United Party’s federal election campaign, but claimed his private company Mineralogy had “got the right to do that”.

But a facilities deed signed by Mr Palmer on behalf of his company Mineralogy over the development of a port at Cape Preston in Western Australia clearly spells out that the administrative fund could only be used by Mineralogy for “the day-to-day expenses of operating, maintaining and repairing” the port.
The agreement is part of documents submitted to the Federal Court by Citic as it attempts to determine whether Mr Palmer wrongfully siphoned more than $12m of its money out of the port administrative fund to help fund his election campaign.
The dispute over the funds is at the heart of an ongoing arbitration process in Queensland between Citic and Mineralogy led by retired Supreme Court judge Richard Chesterman QC. Asked by reporters on Monday whether he was authorised to spend the money in the administrative fund, Mr Palmer said “of course I was”.
“It was my money. The money was paid to our companies,” he said.
UPDATE
In fact, I wouldn’t trust Palmer’s unsupported word on anything:
CLIVE Palmer on April 21:  
WE can’t see any reason to vote for “direct action”. We think it’s hopeless. It’s goodbye direct action. It’s gone.
Palmer media statement, June 25:

DIRECT action is a waste of money at a time when families, pensioners, young Australians, stay at home mums, single parents and our indigenous communities are facing unfair measures in the budget.
Clive Palmer on Lateline, June 25:

TONY Jones: You very clearly said today you reject the direct action policies of the government.
Palmer: That’s — absolutely.
Jones: So you won’t make your repeal of the carbon tax bill in any way contingent on that?
Palmer: No.
Palmer at the National Press Club yesterday.

PALMER: Our support for direct action is contingent upon the ETS being introduced.
Phil Coorey: It is? So I just want to clarify … If the government comes at the ETS, your ETS, you’ll support direct action?
Palmer: That’s correct, yeah. Yes.
Palmer on ABC News 24 yesterday:
LYNDALL Curtis: If the government does not support your ETS, will you vote direct action down?
Palmer: Well, I think there’s a high likelihood of that. 
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if you missed the first half of the game, this is what happened
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=== Posts from last year ===
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the politicians spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases. 

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. 

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. 

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion Dollars ago was only 13 hours and 12 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it!

Stamp Duty
Tobacco Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Income Tax
Council Tax
Unemployment Tax
Fishing License Tax
Petrol/Diesel Tax
Inheritance Tax
(tax on top of tax)
Alcohol Tax
G.S.T.
Property Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Vehicle License / Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Carbon Dioxide Tax

Not one of these taxes existed 60 years ago and our nation was one of the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt. We had the largest middle class in the world. Mum stayed home to raise the kids. Dad and teachers were allowed to discipline kids. A criminals life was uncomfortable. Boat people were simply kids sailing on the harbour.

What the hell happened?

Political Correctness or Politicians or both?

You can't tax your way to prosperity - ed
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In Nevada.
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The top 12 ways Israel Feeds the World
From drip irrigation to natural pesticides, Israeli innovations are helping to fill hungry bellies everywhere, but particularly in the developing world.
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Something less desert like... it was a beautiful trip over the Tioga Pass on the way to the east side and eventually Nevada. The clouds convinced me to pull over... well, that and Miguel... — at Tioga Pass Road.
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Life is duty poem, by Ellen Stugis Hooper, recited by Kathryn Hepburn in Rooster Cogburn
- Film Clip -

At this link:
http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/life-is-duty-poem-by-ellen-stugis-hooper-recited-by-kathryn-hepburn-in-rooster-cogburn/
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The top 12 ways Israel Feeds the World
From drip irrigation to natural pesticides, Israeli innovations are helping to fill hungry bellies everywhere, but particularly in the developing world.
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It is my birthday and I had to let go my secretary .. It started off well .. I woke early feeling great. My wife was tired and sleepy and the children had a late start, so I left for work without disturbing them. But I felt a little let down .. they might have said something. Still, off to work! My young secretary seemed really happy to see me. "Boss! Happy birthday!" and she got me my papers and a cup of coffee that I really like. A few work issues arose which made things really tight, but my secretary was a trooper, working through lunch. An hour before work was to finish, and no one else seemed to be coming into the business for the day. My secretary pointed out we had skipped lunch and deserved an early mark. I called home, but no one answered. My secretary said "Boss, it is your birthday .. I know this really nice place .. I think we should go there." I agreed. She said she needed to change, and her home was on the way. She said she wouldn't take long, and invited me in. So I went into her unit with her. I seated myself on her couch while she said something about freshening up. It took a few minutes, but finally she came back to the room. With her were my wife and children, carrying a cake with lit candles for each year of my life. And I was seated on the couch. Naked. - ed
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"The death toll from clashes in Cairo between Egyptian security forces and supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood has risen to 51, with 435 others injured, according to Health Ministry official Khaled al Khatib.

It is unclear if this death toll includes two security personnel whose deaths were reported on state television.

Witnesses said the military and police fired as protesters took a break from holding a vigil at the Republican Guard headquarters to say their dawn prayers. Morsy was reportedly detained in the building after his arrest Wednesday. But Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif and army spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said security forces were under attack. Ali said "an armed group" used bombs, rocks and bullets to attack the area and the people safeguarding the headquarters building." - CNN Breaking News
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Our soldiers always look past the dust to see the goal in the distance. 
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You'll get promoted, if you stick with it.
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C. H. Spurgeon
Idle people tempt the devil to tempt them.
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Sarcasm alert: Monica Crowley ‘psyched’ for IRS to take over health care ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/07/08/sarcasm-alert-monica-crowley-psyched-for-irs-to-take-over-health-care/?utm_source=autotweet&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter
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Amanda Bynes says the Obamas are ugly; Think Progress blogger: ‘That’s racist’ ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/07/08/amanda-bynes-says-the-obamas-are-ugly-think-progress-blogger-thats-racist/
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Looking for the perfect treat to combat the summer heat? This Peanut Butter Cup Lover's Ice Cream Sundae is the way to go!http://reeses.me/Yzknmy
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"Politicians never accuse you of 'greed' for wanting other people's money – only for wanting to keep your own money." - Joseph Sobran
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Democrats are finally starting to realize that Obamacare will be detrimental to their electoral chances. Sign the petition to hold them accountable! http://bit.ly/14Yv97T
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"You know, I hear everybody talking about the generation gap. Frankly, sometimes I don't know what they're talking about. Heck, by now I should know a little bit about it, if I'm ever going to. I have seven kids and 18 grandkids and I don't seem to have any trouble talking to any of them. Never have had, and I don't intend to start now." 
JOHN WAYNE
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Under the Huge Shelf Cloud... I vacated this spot right after I took this picture... booking off the other direction at a high rate of speed. I'm not much one for large hail... even in a rental. — inNewcastle, OK.
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William Jennings Bryan
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“I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame.” Psalm 138:2 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Tell me I pray thee wherein thy great strength lieth."
Judges 16:6
Where lies the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is--an emanation of divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God; and faith says, "My God could not have given this promise, except from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain his Word will be fulfilled." Then faith thinketh, "Who gave this promise?" It considereth not so much its greatness, as, "Who is the author of it?" She remembers that it is God who cannot lie--God omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the promise must be fulfilled; and forward she advances in this firm conviction. She remembereth,why the promise was given,--namely, for God's glory, and she feels perfectly sure that God's glory is safe, that he will never stain his own escutcheon, nor mar the lustre of his own crown; and therefore the promise must and will stand. Then faith also considereth the amazing work of Christ as being a clear proof of the Father's intention to fulfil his word. "He that spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Moreover faith looks back upon the past, for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. She remembers that God never has failed her; nay, that he never did once fail any of his children. She recollecteth times of great peril, when deliverance came; hours of awful need, when as her day her strength was found, and she cries, "No, I never will be led to think that he can change and leave his servant now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and he will help me still." Thus faith views each promise in its connection with the promise-giver, and, because she does so, can with assurance say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!"

Evening

"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day."
Psalm 25:5
When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord's school: four times over in two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits. "For thou art the God of my salvation." The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation to his people. Reader, is he the God of your salvation? Do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial. "On thee do I wait all the day." Patience is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously he once waited for us.
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Today's reading: Job 36-37, Acts 15:22-41 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Job 36-37

1 Elihu continued:
"Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
that there is more to be said in God's behalf.
3 I get my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Be assured that my words are not false;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
5 "God is mighty, but despises no one;
he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
but gives the afflicted their rights.
7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
he enthrones them with kings
and exalts them forever....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 15:22-41

The Council's Letter to Gentile Believers
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ....
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Jeremiah, Jeremy, Jeremias

[Jĕre mī'ah] - jehovah is high orexalted of god.
  1. An inhabitant of Libnah whose daughter, Hamutal, was the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18; Jer. 52:1).
  2. A Manassehite and head of a family (1 Chron. 5:24).
  3. A Benjamite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. 12:4)
  4. A Gadite who also joined David (1 Chron. 12:10).
  5. Another Gadite who did the same (1 Chron. 12:13).
  6. Son of Hilkiah, the prophet from Anathoth in the days of Josiah and who was of the line of Abiathar (2 Chron. 35:25; 36:12, 21, 22; Jer. 1:1).

The Man of Inconsolable Grief

This man who was born a priest but became a prophet by the divine call of God comes before us as one of the grandest men of Old Testament history. He was called to the prophetic office through a vision (Jer. 1:1, 4-16) and labored for some forty years. The book Jeremiah wrote gives us more details of his life, methods and work, as an Old Testament prophet, than of any other prophet. He is referred to as a son of Hilkiah, not only to distinguish him from others of the same name, but to prove that he was of priestly origin. He came from the priestly town of Anathoth, a name meaning, "answered prayers."
His call antedated his birth ( Jer. 1:5), and he was consecrated to God before his birth. He was distinguished by his humility and native modesty. He felt he was a child and not mature enough to function as a prophet. With Browning he could say:
I was not born
Informed and fearless from the first, but shrank
From aught which marked me out apart from men:
I would have lived their life, and died their death
Lost in their ranks, eluding destiny.
But Jeremiah could not elude destiny. So we have:
I. His equipment for a God-appointed task (Jer. 1:7-9).
II. His sufferings. What sorrow and anguish were his (Lam. 1:12; 3:1). He was not permitted to marry (Jer. 16:2). Solitude was at once his penalty and greatness. Then we have his sad antagonisms (Jer. 1:18; 15:16, 17, 20; 20:1-18).
III. His persecutions. These came to him from many quarters (Jer. 11:18-20; 12:6; 20:6263738:13-28; 43:6). Bitter, however, were his denunciations of his foes (Jer. 11:20; 15:18; 17:18; 18:21-23).
IV. His death. Tradition has it that he was stoned to death in Egypt by the Jews, and that when Alexander entered Egypt he rescued his bones from obscurity and buried them in Alexandria. See Hebrews 11:37.
Jeremiah's ministry was an intensely sad one and his song is in the minor key. His was a divine melancholy that made his head "waters" and his eyes a fountain of tears. The truths he had to proclaim were unwelcome and brought him enemies, but he carried out his task without fear or favor. In these days of national apostasy and international strife, the preacher could not do better than live near the Book of Jeremiah, which has, as its dominant note, true religion in heart and life, in church and nation.
7. A priest who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. 10:2; 12:1, 12, 34).
8. A descendant of Jonadab , son of Rechab (Jer. 35:3).
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