===
November 21: Armed Forces Day in Bangladesh
- 1918 – Polish troops and civilians began a three-day pogrom against Jews and Ukrainian Christians in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine).
- 1950 – Two trains collided near Valemount, British Columbia, Canada; the subsequent trial catapulted future Prime Minister of Canada John Diefenbaker(pictured) into the political limelight.
- 1974 – Explosives placed in two central pubs in Birmingham, England, killed 21 people and injured 182 others, and eventually led to the arrest and imprisonment of six people who were later exonerated.
- 1980 – Over 83 million people watched the Dallas TV episode "Who Done It" to find out "Who shot J. R.?".
- 2009 – An explosion in a coal mine in Heilongjiang, China, killed 108 miners.
===
Births
- 1495 – John Bale, English churchman (d. 1563)
- 1567 – Anne de Xainctonge, French saint (d. 1621)
- 1643 – René-Robert Cavelier de LaSalle French explorer (d. 1687)
- 1692 – Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (d. 1768)
- 1694 – Voltaire, French philosopher (d. 1778)
- 1718 – Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, German music critic, music-theorist and composer (d. 1795)
- 1729 – Josiah Bartlett, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1795)
- 1760 – Joseph Plumb Martin, Soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (d. 1850)
- 1761 – Dorothea Jordan, British actress (d. 1816)
- 1768 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (d. 1834)
- 1787 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-born shipping magnate (d. 1865)
- 1811 – Zeng Guofan, Chinese military leader (d. 1872)
- 1818 – Lewis H. Morgan, American anthropologist (d. 1881)
- 1835 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman (d. 1916)
- 1840 – Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain and German Empress (d. 1901)
- 1851 – Désiré-Joseph Mercier, Belgian Cardinal (d. 1926)
- 1852 – Francisco Tárrega, father of modern classical guitar (d. 1909)
- 1853 – Hussein Kamal, Sultan of Egypt (d. 1917)
- 1854 – Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922)
- 1861 – Tom Horn, American lawman and convicted murderer (d. 1903)
- 1866 – Sigbjørn Obstfelder, Norwegian writer (d. 1900)
- 1866 – Konishiki Yasokichi I, Japanese sumo wrestler, 17th Yokozuna (d. 1914)
- 1870 – Alexander Berkman, American anarchist and writer (d. 1936)
- 1870 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer (d. 1946)
- 1870 – Sigfrid Edström, Swedish sports official (d. 1964)
- 1876 – Olav Duun, Norwegian writer (d. 1939)
- 1877 – Sigfrid Karg-Elert, German composer (d. 1933)
- 1878 – Gustav Radbruch, German law professor (d. 1949)
- 1882 – Harold Lowe, Welsh 5th Officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1944)
- 1886 – Harold Nicolson, British diplomat (d. 1968)
- 1897 – Mollie Steimer Russian-born American anarchist (d. 1980)
- 1898 – René Magritte, Belgian painter (d. 1967)
- 1899 – Jobyna Ralston, American actress (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Foster Hewitt, Canadian radio pioneer (d. 1985)
- 1902 – Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish American author, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
- 1902 – Mikhail Suslov, Soviet statesman (d. 1982)
- 1904 – Coleman Hawkins, American musician (d. 1969)
- 1908 – Elizabeth George Speare, American author (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (d. 1982)
- 1913 – Roy Boulting, British film director (d. 2001)
- 1914 – Henri Laborit, French physician, writer, and philosopher (d. 1995)
- 1916 – Sid Luckman, American football player (d. 1998)
- 1919 – Steve Brodie, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1920 – Ralph Meeker, American actor (d. 1988)
- 1920 – Stan Musial, American baseball player
- 1921 – Joonas Kokkonen, Finnish composer (d. 1996)
- 1922 – María Casares, Spanish-born actress (d. 1996)
- 1922 – Abe Lemons, American basketball coach (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Veljko Kadijević, Yugoslav general
- 1924 – Milka Planinc, Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (d. 2010)
- 1924 – Christopher Tolkien, British author
- 1925 – Xie Jin, Chinese film director (d. 2008)
- 1926 – Odd Børretzen, Norwegian singer and author (d. 2012)
- 1926 – William Wakefield Baum, American cardinal
- 1927 – Joseph Campanella, American actor
- 1927 – Georgia Frontiere, American professional sports team owner (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Laurier LaPierre, Canadian journalist and politician
- 1929 – Marilyn French, American feminist writer (d. 2009)
- 1930 – Marjan Rožanc, Slovenian writer and essayist (d. 1990)
- 1931 – Lewis Binford, American archaeologist (d. 2011)
- 1931 – Revaz Dogonadze, Georgian scientist (d. 1985)
- 1931 – Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer (d. 2003)
- 1932 – Beryl Bainbridge, British novelist (d. 2010)
- 1933 – Henry Hartsfield, American astronaut
- 1934 – Laurence Luckinbill, American actor
- 1935 – Fairuz, Lebanese singer
- 1936 – Victor Chang, Australian physician (d. 1991)
- 1937 – Ingrid Pitt, Polish-born British actress (d. 2010)
- 1937 – Marlo Thomas, American actress
- 1939 – Budd Dwyer, American politician (d. 1987)
- 1940 – Dr. John, American musician
- 1940 – Richard Marcinko, American author
- 1940 – Freddy Beras Goico, Dominican TV host and comedian (d. 2010)
- 1941 – İdil Biret, Turkish pianist
- 1941 – Juliet Mills, British actress
- 1942 – Afa Anoa'i, Samoan/American wrestler
- 1942 – Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, German politician
- 1943 – Phil Bredesen, American politician and 48th Governor of Tennessee
- 1943 – Jacques Laffite, French racing driver
- 1943 – Larry Mahan, American rodeo cowboy
- 1943 – Viktor Sidjak, Russian fencer
- 1944 – Richard Durbin, American politician
- 1944 – Earl Monroe, American basketball player
- 1944 – Harold Ramis, American actor/director
- 1945 – Goldie Hawn, American actress
- 1946 – Jacky Lafon, Belgian actress
- 1947 – Nickolas Grace, British actor
- 1948 – Alphonse Mouzon, American drummer
- 1948 – Michel Suleiman, President of Lebanon
- 1948 – George Zimmer, American entrepreneur
- 1950 – Stephen Geyer, American film and television composer
- 1952 – Janne Kristiansen, Norwegian jurist
- 1952 – Lorna Luft, American actress and singer, daughter of Judy Garland
- 1954 – Thomas Rothman, American film executive
- 1955 – Cedric Maxwell, American basketball player
- 1958 – David Reivers, American actor
- 1960 – Brian McNamara, American actor
- 1960 – Brian Ritchie, American musician (Violent Femmes)
- 1962 – Steven Curtis Chapman, American musician
- 1962 – Sabine Busch, German athlete
- 1963 – Nicollette Sheridan, British actress
- 1964 – Shane Douglas, American wrestler
- 1964 – Olden Polynice, Haitian basketball player
- 1964 – Liza Tarbuck, British entertainer
- 1965 – Björk, Icelandic musician
- 1965 – Reggie Lewis, American basketball player (d. 1993)
- 1965 – Alexander Siddig, British actor
- 1966 – Troy Aikman, American football player
- 1966 – Evgeny Bareev, Russian chess Grandmaster
- 1967 – Tripp Cromer, American baseball player
- 1967 – Toshihiko Koga, Japanese Judoka
- 1967 – Ken Block, American rally driver
- 1968 – Inka Bause, German actress and singer
- 1968 – Alex James, English bassist (Blur)
- 1968 – Christopher Noxon, American journalist
- 1968 – Sean Schemmel, American voice actor
- 1968 – Antonio Tarver, American boxer
- 1969 – Ken Griffey, Jr., American baseball player
- 1970 – Karen Davila, Filipino journalist
- 1970 – Justin Langer, Australian cricketer
- 1971 – Michael Strahan, American football player
- 1972 – Rain Phoenix, American singer/actress
- 1972 – David Tua, Samoan boxer
- 1973 – Brook Kerr, American actress
- 1973 – Inés Sastre, Spanish model and actress
- 1974 – Karen Rolton, Australian Cricketer
- 1975 – Cherie Johnson, American actress
- 1975 – Chris Moneymaker, American poker player
- 1975 – Aaron Solowoniuk, Canadian drummer
- 1976 – Michael Wilson, Australian rules footballer
- 1976 – Dasha, Czech adult actress
- 1976 – Martin Meichelbeck, German footballer
- 1976 – Daniel Whiston, British ice skater
- 1977 – Bruno Berner, Swiss footballer
- 1977 – Myles Heskett, Australian musician (Wolfmother)
- 1977 – Yolande James, Canadian politician
- 1977 – Jonas Jennings, American football player
- 1977 – Tobias Sammet, German singer (Edguy)
- 1978 – Daniel Bradshaw, Australian rules footballer
- 1978 – Lucía Jiménez, Spanish actress
- 1978 – Sara Tanaka, American actress
- 1979 – Stromile Swift, American basketball player
- 1979 – Vincenzo Iaquinta, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Kim Dong Wan, Korean singer (Shinhwa)
- 1979 – Alex Tanguay, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Hank Blalock, American baseball player
- 1980 – Alec Brownstein, American author, director
- 1980 – Leonardo González, Costa Rican footballer
- 1980 – Elaine Yiu, Hong Kong actress
- 1981 – Wesley Britt, American football player
- 1981 – Jonny Magallón, Mexican footballer
- 1981 – Piet Rinke, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1982 – Georgios Kalogiannidis, Greek archer
- 1982 – Ryan Starr, American singer
- 1983 – Jamie Langley, English rugby player
- 1983 – Brianna Garcia, American professional wrestler
- 1983 – Nicole Garcia, American professional wrestler
- 1984 – Álvaro Bautista, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1984 – Hope Dworaczyk, American model
- 1984 – Jena Malone, American actress
- 1984 – Callum Ferguson, Australian cricketer
- 1984 – Willy Mason, American singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Carly Rae Jepsen, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Jesús Navas, Spanish footballer
- 1985 – Nicola Silvestri, Italian footballer
- 1986 – Ben Bishop, American ice hockey goalie
- 1986 – Jordan Lloyd, American reality television personality
- 1987 – Brian Douwes, Dutch kickboxer and martial artist
- 1987 – Stefan Glarner, Swiss footballer
- 1988 – Len Väljas, Canadian cross-country skier
- 1988 – Preston Zimmerman, American soccer player
- 1989 – Dárvin Chávez, Mexican footballer
- 1989 – Fabian Delph, English footballer
- 1989 – Will Buckley, English footballer
- 1991 – Lewis Dunk, English footballer
- 1992 – Conor Maynard, English musician
- 1992 – Rino Sashihara, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
- 1993 – Elena Myers, American motorcycle racer
- 2001 – Samantha Bailey, American actress
[edit]Deaths
- 496 – Pope Gelasius I
- 1011 – Reizei, Japanese emperor (b. 950)
- 1150 – García Ramírez, King of Navarre
- 1361 – Philip I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1346)
- 1555 – Georg Agricola, German scientist (b. 1490)
- 1566 – Annibale Caro, Italian poet (b. 1507)
- 1579 – Thomas Gresham, English merchant and financier
- 1652 – Jan Brożek, Polish mathematician, physician, and astronomer (b. 1585)
- 1695 – Henry Purcell, English composer
- 1730 – François de Troy, French portrait artist (b. 1645)
- 1775 – John Hill, British writer
- 1782 – Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor and engineer (b. 1709)
- 1811 – Heinrich von Kleist, German writer (b. 1777)
- 1844 – Ivan Krylov, Russian fabulist (b. 1769)
- 1859 – Yoshida Shōin, Japanese intellectual (b. 1830)
- 1861 – Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, French priest and activist (b. 1802)
- 1870 – Karel Jaromír Erben, Czech writer (b. 1811)
- 1874 – Mariano Fortuny, Spanish painter (b. 1838)
- 1881 – Ami Boué, Austrian geologist (b. 1794)
- 1899 – Garret Hobart, Vice President of the United States (b. 1844)
- 1907 – Paula Modersohn-Becker, German painter (b. 1876)
- 1909 – Peder Severin Krøyer, Norwegian-Danish painter (b. 1851
- 1916 – Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (b. 1830)
- 1922 – Ricardo Flores Magón, Mexican anarchist (b. 1874)
- 1924 – Florence Harding, American First Lady (b. 1860)
- 1926 – Edward Cummins, American golfer (b. 1886)
- 1938 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish American pianist (b. 1870)
- 1941 – Henrietta Vinton Davis American activist (b. 1860)
- 1942 – Leopold Graf Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (b. 1863)
- 1942 – J. B. M. Hertzog, South African Prime Minister (b. 1866)
- 1945 – Robert Benchley, American writer and actor (b. 1889)
- 1945 – Alexander Patch, American general (b. 1889)
- 1945 – Al Davis, American boxer (b. 1920)
- 1953 – Larry Shields, American clarinetist (b. 1893)
- 1955 – Edward Dierkes, American soccer player (b. 1886)
- 1957 – Francis Burton Harrison, American politician (b. 1873)
- 1958 – Mel Ott, American baseball player (b. 1909)
- 1959 – Max Baer, American boxer (b. 1909)
- 1963 – Robert Stroud, American criminal and ornithologist (b. 1890)
- 1967 – C. M. Eddy, Jr., American writer (b. 1896)
- 1969 – Mutesa II of Buganda, President of Uganda (b. 1924)
- 1970 – Newsy Lalonde, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)
- 1970 – Sir C. V. Raman, Indian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)
- 1973 – Thomas Pelly, American politician (b. 1902)
- 1974 – John B. Gambling, American radio talk show host (b. 1897)
- 1974 – Frank Martin, Swiss composer (b. 1890)
- 1975 – Gunnar Gunnarsson, Icelandic writer (b. 1889)
- 1980 – Sara García, Mexican actress (b. 1895)
- 1981 – Harry Von Zell, American announcer (b. 1906)
- 1982 – John Hargrave, British advocate (b. 1894)
- 1986 – Marcelino Sanchez, American actor (b. 1957)
- 1986 – Jerry Colonna, American comic (b. 1904)
- 1986 – Dar Robinson, American film stuntman (b. 1947)
- 1988 – Carl Hubbell, American baseball player (b. 1903)
- 1988 – Pál Kalmár, Hungarian singer (b. 1900)
- 1990 – Dean Hart, Canadian wrestler (b. 1954)
- 1991 – Sonny Werblin, American football team owner (b. 1907)
- 1992 – Kaysone Phomvihane, President of Laos (b. 1920)
- 1993 – Bill Bixby, American actor and director (b. 1934)
- 1994 – Willem Jacob Luyten, Dutch American astronomer (b. 1899)
- 1995 – Peter Grant, British rock manager and actor (b. 1935)
- 1995 – Noel Jones, British diplomat (b. 1940)
- 1996 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist and Nobel laureate (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Quentin Crisp, British writer and actor (b. 1908)
- 2000 – Ernest Lluch, Spanish politician (b. 1937)
- 2001 – King Salahuddin of Malaysia (b. 1926)
- 2002 – Hadda Brooks, American singer, pianist, and composer (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Alfred Anderson, Scottish World War I veteran (b. 1896)
- 2005 – Hugh Sidey, American journalist (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Pierre Amine Gemayel, Lebanese statesman (b. 1972)
- 2006 – Hassan Gouled Aptidon, President of Djibouti (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Kathryn Johnston, American police shooting victim (b. 1914)
- 2006 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., American blues guitarist (b. 1915)
- 2007 – Fernando Fernán Gómez, Spanish actor, director and playwright (b. 1921)
- 2007 – Tom Johnson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1928)
- 2007 – Noel McGregor, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1931)
- 2009 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
- 2010 – Norris Church Mailer, American model (b. 1949)
- 2010 – Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, American artist and writer (b. 1917)
- 2010 – David Nolan, American activist (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Ajmal Kasab, Pakistani terrorist (b. 1987)
[edit]Holidays and observances
- Armed Forces Day (Bangladesh)
- Armed Forces Day (Greece)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Day of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika Srpska)
- National Adoption Day (United States)
- No Music Day (Unofficial)
- World Hello Day (Unofficial)
- World Television Day (International)
===
ABC destroys Australia’s Middle East legacy
Piers Akerman – Wednesday, November 21, 2012 (4:08am)
PRO-Palestine broadcaster ABC skips the facts when it covers the Gaza conflict.
Lateline presenter Emma Alberici didn’t mind giving the evil Hamas terrorists a leg-up when she permitted Arab propagandist Rami Khouri to take over her show almost uninterrupted.
Khouri, from the American University of Beirut’s Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs, told blatant untruths - and was unchallenged.
How about this whopper: “The Arabs have given the Israelis a peace plan and accepted to live with a Israeli state as it is now, predominantly a Jewish majority Israeli state.”
How about this whopper: “The Arabs have given the Israelis a peace plan and accepted to live with a Israeli state as it is now, predominantly a Jewish majority Israeli state.”
Totally false as anyone with the slightest interest in Middle East peace would know. The Arabs have not presented any peace plan that would support a predominantly Jewish majority state. Never have since Israel was created by the UN in 1948 only to face continuing Arab hostility.
That doesn’t bother the ABC though.
“We have given them a formal peace plan,” Khouri baldly stated. Total nonsense.
“We accept the legitimacy of an Israeli state.” Absolute garbage.
“We’re willing to live at peace with it.” Another monstrous lie.
“We’re willing to have normal relations with it.” Oh, yeah?
“They have not made that counter gesture to the Palestinians and I think the real political onus is more on the Israelis now than on the Arabs and they try to camouflage that with their exaggerated fears of security and their exaggerated response of militarism.” What utter bull.
As US President Barack Obama said on Monday about the current Gaza-Israel conflict: “Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory.”
“Let’s understand what the precipitating event here was that’s causing the current crisis, and that was an ever-escalating number of missiles. They were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there’s no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.”
“If we’re serious about wanting to resolve this situation and create a genuine peace process, it starts with no more missiles being fired into Israel’s territory, and that then gives us the space to try to deal with these longstanding conflicts that exist.”
As US President Barack Obama said on Monday about the current Gaza-Israel conflict: “Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory.”
“Let’s understand what the precipitating event here was that’s causing the current crisis, and that was an ever-escalating number of missiles. They were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there’s no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.”
“If we’re serious about wanting to resolve this situation and create a genuine peace process, it starts with no more missiles being fired into Israel’s territory, and that then gives us the space to try to deal with these longstanding conflicts that exist.”
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “We call on Hamas again to stop the rocket attacks on Israel. It is Hamas that bears, as, as I’ve said before, the principle responsibility for starting all of this and we would like to see an agreed cease fire, an essential component of which is an end to those rocket attacks.”
How did the ABC miss these world leaders’ views on the attacks, how did they get it so wrong?
No-one should be in any doubt about the real nature of Hamas and its military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
How did the ABC miss these world leaders’ views on the attacks, how did they get it so wrong?
No-one should be in any doubt about the real nature of Hamas and its military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
This is the message Hamas is broadcasting on its Al-Aqsa TV: “From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: The Al-Qassam Brigades love death more than you love life.”
This is the standard taunt of Islamist murderers worldwide.
Up to Monday, more than 1,900 rockets and mortars had been fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza this year. More than three million Israelis live within range of rocket and mortar attacks.
This is the standard taunt of Islamist murderers worldwide.
Up to Monday, more than 1,900 rockets and mortars had been fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza this year. More than three million Israelis live within range of rocket and mortar attacks.
In the area closest to the Gaza border where most rocket attacks occur there are more than 90 schools and 61 kindergartens.
All kindergartens and schools remain closed within a 40-kilometer radius of the Gaza border.
All residents within this area are urged to remain within a maximum 15 seconds from a bomb shelter or protected area – the time residents have to reach shelter once radar detects incoming projectiles and triggers air raid sirens.
Not for the first time, Israel is treating Gaza patients in its hospitals - 19 hospitals are located in the range of Hamas’ rockets.
By midday Monday, Hamas had launched at least 45 rockets into Israel.
More than 880 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense.
Yet our ABC finds it more convenient to repeat the propaganda of a terrorist regime which is holding reporters hostage and hiding its armed forces within a civilian population.
What an utter disgrace - and all funded by the Australian taxpayers!
“Doc” Evatt, the sometimes erratic Labor Foreign Minister who took such pride in working to create the UN, to create Israel and, along the way, support the liberation of Indonesia, would be wondering how Australia’s Middle East legacy has been betrayed.
===
EX-COMMUNICATED
Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 21, 2012 (12:42pm)
In Gaza:
IDF planes on Monday targeted and eliminated another four senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists …In a statement, Hamas said that it could not confirm that the four had been killed by the IDF, and said that they were “out of communication range.”
What a lovely way of putting it. Also “out of communication range” are six Palestinians suspected of being informers.
UPDATE. “Collaborators are a very serious issue in Palestinian society,” says Issam Yousef, director of the Al Mezan Centre for – ahem – Human Rights.
===
SPLITS WEAPONISED
Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 21, 2012 (12:27pm)
If Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky ever go paramilitary – and you know it’s just a matter of time – this would make an ideal troop carrier:
The 1940 Humber Hexonaut GS 6x6 Amphibious Prototype is one of 80 WWII-era vehicles soon to be auctioned by the National Military History Center in Auburn, Indiana.
The 1940 Humber Hexonaut GS 6x6 Amphibious Prototype is one of 80 WWII-era vehicles soon to be auctioned by the National Military History Center in Auburn, Indiana.
===
LANGUAGE, PLEASE
Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 21, 2012 (12:02pm)
Australian warmies are a crude bunch, as Professor Bunyip has observed. He’ll be saddened to learn that gutter talk is a global standard among the climate-concerned classes:
Just as well so few children are listening:
Just as well so few children are listening:
Fifteen per cent of Australian children said they were concerned about climate change, compared with 2 per cent of children in developing countries.
It’s a white kid thing.
===
CHATFEST GREGLESS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, November 21, 2012 (11:40am)
IPCC boss Dr Rajendra Pachauri won’t attend the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Doha, and neither will Greg Combet:
For the first time in several years Australia will not be represented by a minister at a major round of international climate change negotiations, with Greg Combet set to miss talks in Doha starting next week.
May as well cancel the whole thing, then.
===
Will Carr call Gillard dumb, too?
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(5:44pm)
Foreign Minister Bob Carr should either say sorry to Tony Abbott or else call Julia Gillard dumb. Whatever, no reporter should treat his AbbottAbbottAbbott rantings seriously again.
Under a Coalition government, Australia will do what it can to ensure that territorial disputes in the South China Sea are managed peacefully in accordance with international law.
I think it is really dangerously dumb for this country’s interests.
He is now saying that under him, Australia would take a stand in the dispute between China and other nations over the South China Sea…..That is a big and very significant shift… Up til now we very carefully, like the United States, have declined to take a position in the territorial dispute, the competing territorial disputes. And that is a very significant policy shift.
We don’t take a position on the territorial claims but we believe it is in everybody’s interest that issues in the South China Sea are managed in a peaceful way in accordance with international law.
Can Carr now give us some GillardGillardGillard?
===
Crikey concedes: Bolt Report more popular than Insiders
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(3:32pm)
Crikey’s Glenn Dyer clearly believes I’m a knuckle-dragging troglodyte, and has not wished my show well from the very first episode. So give him credit for writing what must hurt:
With only an couple of episodes to go to the end the 2012 TV ratings season, right-wing ranter Andrew Bolt has had a good year. Oztam figures up to last Sunday show there has been a 11%-plus rise in viewing of his program on Sundays (the 10am broadcast and then the 4.30pm repeat) in metro markets. He’s done better this year than Insiders, where he used to feature before he was seduced by Ten to star in The Bolt Report.His program has so far averaged in 2012 a total of 272,000 people in both screenings, up from the 258,000 who watched in 2011, when the program started. The 10am program has seen a near 12% rise in viewers, to 143,000 from 128,000, while there has been a slight fall in the audience for the 4.30pm repeat to 129,000 from 130,000. Insiders total Sunday audience (in three screenings) has fallen to 261,000 this year from 267,000 in 2011.Bolt now attracts more viewers in total than Insiders on ABC TV does.Insiders’ ABC1 audience from 9 to 10am has fallen 11.7% to 173,000 this year (still well ahead of Bolt) from 195,000 in 2011. The News 24 simulcast audience is up more than 21% to 56,000 from 46,000 and the evening repeat on News 24 has up more than 27% to 32,000 from 26,000. On several occasions in the past three months, Bolt’s 10am audience has exceeded that of Insiders which has fallen into a bit of trough since midyear.
I just wish, though, just for the sake of accuracy, that Dyer understood the difference between Right-wing and conservative. I’m no more Right-wing than he is, and probably less.
===
Academic in Age commits inauthentic sliming
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(3:15pm)
Dr Lindy Edwards bases her entire Abbott-bashing opinion piece in The Age on a clear misrepresentation - with the help of a truncated quotation. But who at The Age cares?
AS TONY Abbott dug himself in deeper trying to escape his remarks about ‘’authentic Aborigines’’ last week, his comments were revealing. The way he described Aboriginality had a significance that went beyond rudeness or violating political correctness… As colonisers we argue that the conditions of the people we defeated are due to the internal flaws of the victims.
Even more poignantly, in this framing, if a person gets educated and becomes professionally successful in white terms, they lose their Aboriginality. They are seen as moving away from the traditional way of life and culture. You can be successful in the white world, or you can be Aboriginal. You can’t be both.
Abbott did not distinguish, as Edwards falsely suggests, between “authentic Aborigines” and “inauthentic Aborigines”. He did not say an urban Aborigine was not Aboriginal. He did not say someone who was “successful” was not Aboriginal. And to deny that Wyatt is not living a traditional Central Australian way of life is plainly absurd.
Here is what Abbott actually said, referring to MP Ken Wyatt, an Aborigine also of Indian, English and Irish descent who was raised near Perth:
I think it would be terrific if, as well as having an urban Aboriginal in our parliament, we had an Aboriginal person from central Australia, an authentic representative of the ancient cultures of central Australia in the parliament.
Edwards should apologise. The cause of Aboriginal advancement is not served by misrepresenting and sliming a politician who has done more than most for it, and who proudly leads the party with the first Aboriginal member of the House of Representatives.
As it is, Edwards appears to me as an authentic representative of the modern culture of chatterati Australia, in which seeming counts for more than doing.
UPDATE
Lindy Edwards’ profile at the University of New South Wales website is strangely coy in identifying which political party leader she advised:
Dr Lindy Edwards has worked as an economic adviser in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, a press gallery journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald and has been a senior policy adviser to an Australian political party leader… Dr Edwards is a Fellow of the Australian Prime Ministers Centre, the Centre for Policy Development and is a board member of the think-tank Catalyst.
You guessed Labor? Wrong - but kind of right:
Why didn’t she just say so?
UPDATE
It gets worse.
Edwards turns out to be the replacement for columnist Peter Costello, who didn’t merely advise an Australian Democrats leader but was Australia’s longest serving Treasurer - and is a rather better writer. For one, Costello has never premised a column on a misrepresentation and misleadingly truncated quote.
So The Age has dropped its last conservative columnist (unless you consider Amanda Vanstone conservative) in favor of yet another Leftist.
Really, sometimes I uncharitably wonder if The Age even deserves to survive.
UPDATE
The more I reflect on this piece, the more outrageous it appears. Abbott is well-known for his interest in Aboriginal issues, and for spending part of his holidays working in Aboriginal communities. His party has the only Aborigine to be elected to the House of Representatives, and Abbott has actively tried to recruit more. Very, very few politicians could match the work he’s put in to help improve Aboriginal welfare.
Yet some Leftist academic chooses to slander him as some kind of racist on the basis of a deceptively truncated quotation and a clear misrepresentation.
This is truly disgraceful. Had such a thing been done to a Lefitst by a conservative, the Press Council would be drowned in complaints - and be only too eager to get them. But this is what passes for enlightened moralising among the Left, where the battle is to seem, not do. Expect no word of censure from the thought police, and no apology from The Age.
===
Is Israel allowed to kill anyone at all in a war?
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(1:41pm)
Hamas does not want its leaders killed:
The lifting of the Gaza blockade and international community guarantees for the cessation of targeted killings – these are the conditions Hamas has put forward in exchange for halting its rocket fire at Israel...
Its civilians must not be killed, either:
Could someone please tell Israel who it’s allowed to kill in a war of self-defence? Maybe names and addresses would help.
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2GB, November 21
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(12:01pm)
With Steve Price from 8pm. Listen live here.
Last night’s show: with Chris Merritt. On law changes to reward workplace whingers and gamers. On Hawke and Howard, and the tragedy with Turnbull. And more. Listen here.
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AWU scandal - The bagman returns
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(11:41am)
Good on him. But what Blewitt tells police may take time to leak out:
Mr Blewitt arrived in Melbourne from his home in Malaysia this morning to speak with his lawyers.He then plans to meet with Victoria Police and has vowed to reveal everything he knows about the fraud in exchange for immunity from prosecution.Mr Blewitt has previously admitted he engaged in the fraud with then AWU Victorian secretary Bruce Wilson, issuing bogus invoices and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars…Mr Blewitt would not comment when asked whether Ms Gillard should have any concerns about his potential testimony.“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s going on in Julia Gillard’s head,” he said.
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Government’s admits overwhelmed by boats. So another backflip
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(11:33am)
Three months after announcing the reopening of the detention centre at Manus Island…
THE Australian government has begun transferring asylum seekers to Manus Island, with a first batch of 19 flown to the Pacific island early on Wednesday.
The reopening of Manus and Nauru has been incredibly slow. The result: the solution has been overwhelmed by the boats:
The government acknowledges that since July there has been an average of 2050 asylum seekers, not including crew, arriving each month by boat.
UPDATE
The Government admits it has indeed been overwhelmed by the boats. Solution? Another reversal: to bring back a form of the temporary protection visas it disastrously abolished:
THE Gillard government has admitted its Pacific Solution has been overwhelmed, declaring asylum-seekers arriving since the policy was announced will be allowed to live in the Australian community…Immigration Minister Chris Bowen conceded Nauru and Manus would not be able to accommodate all the asylum-seekers intercepted since the August 13 policy announcement.He said the government’s new “no-advantage” principle would therefore have to be applied to the overflow of unauthorised arrivals brought to Australia…
This suggests that someone landing here could be denied refugee status if their homeland becomes safe over the next, say, five years.
But again, this reversal is too half-hearted, too late and introduced in too piece-meal a fashion. If Labor had announced all its reversals in one big package, it might have made an instant difference. But this crab-walk....
And I guess this means the Gillard Government realises its expert panel’s plan, announced with such fanfare just three months ago, has already failed - delivering us nothing but a big increase in our refugee intake to 20,000 a year:
While it did not back temporary protection visas, it recommended tightening family reunion rights, a key element of TPVs.
Remember how reluctant the Government was to concede a form a temporary protection visa was needed again? How it went the AbbottAbbottAbbott instead?
Ms Gillard rejected calls for temporary protection visas and the turning back of boats, neither of which was supported under current circumstances by Mr Houston’s expert panel.”Tony Abbott is flying in the face of the expert recommendations we’ve got from three eminent Australians,” Ms Gillard told the Nine Network.“They have not recommended temporary protection visas and they’ve said towbacks are not possible in the current circumstances.
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Money gone, now sick must pay
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(11:08am)
Money all blown on handouts and planet-saving, so now the sick must suffer:
PRIVATE hospitals are warning of nationwide cutbacks to chemotherapy services - and one of the nation’s largest regional cancer treatment centres faces closure - over a decision to slash federal government funding for chemotherapy drugs.The Australian Private Hospitals Association has warned that the cost of providing treatment to thousands of cancer patients could rise by up to $100 for every chemotherapy infusion as part of the decision, which will save the federal budget $40 million a year.
UPDATE
From zero in 2007, we are now facing $150bn of net debt and a slowing economy to boot.... We have already spent the proceeds of the recent mining boom. Now it remains to be seen how a less competitive economy in a slower growth environment can turn a structural deficit into a genuine surplus.Australia’s comparative advantage in the world has been its access to cheap energy… This strength has been sacrificed on the altar of global warming.By most accounts Australia’s greenhouse abatement policies are among the world’s most expensive… The climate models we were asked to accept as the gold standard have been found wanting…So, with so much doubt, why has the government chosen policies destined to make Australia less competitive? Why damage our economy when any emissions abatement achieved will be globally inconsequential?
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Guilty anyway, suggests Fairfax reporter
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(10:50am)
Reporters so imbued with Palestinian chic and so keen to denounce Israel for war crimes might care to examine a certain cultural difference. Fairfax’s Ruth Pollard reports:
Militants believed to be from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade publicly executed six men accused of collaborating with Israel, as Israel’s air force stepped up its aerial bombing campaign in one of the deadliest days of its military campaign in Gaza.The corpse of a collaborator [alleged collaborator, please, Ms Pollard] was tied to the back of a motorcycle and dragged through central Gaza City in front of a convoy of bikes, his pants pulled down and his arms splayed behind him.
Witnesses said six men had earlier been taken onto a main street in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City and forced to lay down on the ground, where they were shot to death.
The rest of Pollard’s article seems to treat the dead as guilty, the incident an aberration, the sentiments understandable, and the possibility of Muslim resistance to terrorist Hamas inconceivable - and I wonder if the same leniency would have been extended to Jews shooting “collaborators” and dragging their bodies through the street:
“Some of the names that have been mentioned to me tonight [as collaborators who were killed] had already been charged and sentenced to death. They were not just taken from the street today and shot,” Mr Yousef said.
Charged by whom? Sentenced by whom? Which court ordered the dragging of the bodies?
“Collaborators are a very serious issue in Palestinian society. According to many hundreds of cases there have been extremely serious crimes committed by collaborators, especially in situations like this.”
Is “collaborators” another word for “anti-Hamas”?
“It is the state of Israel targeting civilians and leaders of the resistance – they are doing it with drones but they are also using collaborators,” he said.
Israel is “targetting civilians”? Really?
Indeed the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights notes that collaborators with Israel “are an integral part of the occupation’s structure and one of the most effective weapons used by the Israeli military in maintaining the illegal occupation”.
“Indeed” what, Ruth? And do you really mean “notes” or actually “claims”?
“Collaborators cooperate in, and even carry out, crimes of the Israeli military – crimes which often constitute war crimes as defined under international humanitarian law.”
Oh, “indeed” Israel commits “war crimes” through the use of “collaborators”? It maintains an “occupation”? Makes dragging these criminals through the streets seem too kind.
The Gaza conflict, through the eyes of a Fairfax reporter.
UPDATE
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Their students aren’t just hostages for more pay
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(10:38am)
Teachers without the professionalism or concern for students to fill in the reports don’t deserve the job, let alone the pay rise:
PARENTS are calling for the ban on written comments in end-of-year report cards to be lifted, saying it will impact on children’s education and lead to a loss of support for teachers.Report cards sent home in December will contain a grade and attendance information only as state school teachers escalate their industrial campaign for improved pay and conditions.But the work ban has alienated many parents, who say it will hurt children, especially those who have learning difficulties or are applying to attend another school next year.
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An unreality show about sick leave
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(7:34am)
Can a man really be too sick to work, yet not too sick to appear as a contestant on a national television reality show?
Yes, insists the Federal Magistrates Court, proving I know nothing about the mysteries of the human mind - or of workplace law:
HE WENT on Beauty and the Geek to find his true love. He failed.Worse, Adam Marshall lost his dream job, as a weather observer with the Bureau of Meteorology.Now, after a 16-month court battle, the Federal Magistrates Court has ordered the Bureau of Meteorology to reinstate Mr Marshall.It had sacked him in July last year after he asked, while he was on sick leave for recurring anxiety and stress, to appear on the reality television show.
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Dreaming of Turnbull
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(6:57am)
Malcolm Turnbull isn’t there to be second, but his public conduct cannot be faulted:
For months - and increasingly in recent weeks - Abbott and Turnbull have been in “close and regular personal contact” co-ordinating how to handle the prickly political issues of Abbott’s defeat of Turnbull as Liberal leader, Turnbull’s continuing popular appeal, policy differences over carbon pricing and Julia Gillard’s campaign against Abbott.Labor’s obsessive strategy in attacking Abbott as negative, aggressive, old-fashioned and anti-female, always uses Turnbull’s public profile as a techno-savvy moderate supporting gay marriage to promote speculation that he should be Liberal leader.In Adelaide yesterday, the Opposition Leader declared his communications spokesman’s appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program as “outstanding” - although he said he hadn’t seen it - and produced political lines synchronised with Turnbull’s statements.On Monday night, Turnbull responded to suggestions he and deposed prime minister Kevin Rudd should return to their respective leaderships with a repudiation of the parallel between his experience and Rudd’s removal.“There is a bit of a difference between us, regrettably for him and I think regrettably for his party and for the country. While I won’t be the leader of the Liberal Party and certainly not the next Liberal prime minister, if the Liberal Party is elected to government next time I will be part of the collective leadership that is the Coalition cabinet,” he said.Yesterday Abbott said: “The great thing about the Coalition is that we are a united team. Malcolm Turnbull is in the Coalition’s team, in a way that Kevin Rudd is not in Labor’s team. Malcolm will be a senior minister in the next Coalition government.”
No one should be talked out of their genuinely held principles, but many conservative voters would, I suspect, wish fervently that Turnbull reassess his own. He looks prime ministerial, with a gravitas and an ease that make him seem a natural. Yet his political instincts seem awry - out of sync with the sentiments of many conservative voters. Right vehicle, going wrong way.
It would be a useful discipline or at least an auditing if Turnbull spent the next six months courting conservative radio audiences with the assiduity with which he courts the ABC one. That takes him out of his comfort zone, but that’s exactly the point. He is not comfortable with the very audiences he most needs to give any Opposition campaign passion - and victory. And a sub-set of this audience is exactly the one Labor would target for a campaign to exploit that lack of comfort - by attacking Turnbull as too rich and aloof to understand voters. Not one of us.
I may well be wrong. After all, I’ve met Turnbull precisely once in my life - which tells far more about him than it does about my lack of sociability. But why won’t Turnbull prove people like me wrong? One day, should he again become leader, he will find his ABC support to be as fickle then as it’s mischief-making today. Any conservative roots he puts down will nourish him more surely.
There’s a PS to this: The working relationship between Turnbull and Abbott is presented as a tribute to Turnbull. I’d say it’s to the even greater credit of Abbott. Many leaders in his position would have reacted with a mix of paranoia and triumphalism towards a adversary, rather than reach out a hand. Abbott has far more of the people skills and collegial temperament than many in the media credit.
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Royal commission - promise now, pay later
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(6:49am)
Janet Albrechtsen on the Gillard Government’s rushed plan for a royal commission in sexual abuse of children:
Released on Monday, the government’s consultation paper sets down a ludicrously short consultation period that ends next Monday. The government wants the terms of reference settled by the end of the year.That’s one week to make submissions about awfully complicated questions. What should the terms of reference be? To suggest policy reforms? Or to conduct investigations, as some people clearly prefer? Should the royal commission be a platform for victims to tell their story? How many will do so? If a sample, then how to choose who gets to air their shocking abuse? Which institutions will it cover? All religious ones? All secular ones? Or a sample? Should the commission suggest compensation for past victims? Should it recommend a change of longstanding laws to remove legal obstacles so victims can pursue legal claims? Will the commission recommend a reversal of the onus of proof in line with this worrying trend on other fields of the law? Have we considered the unintended consequences of these transformative changes to our legal system?It is a sign of policy recklessness, and political cunning, that the Gillard government considered none of this before making its announcement. Yet, smart lawyers keen to feast on a compensation cash cow are already advertising for victims of sexual abuse…Gillard’s rush to establish a royal commission into child abuse bears all the hallmarks of a big promise that delivers the government a political sugar hit while the policy pain arising from unfunded promises and ill-conceived policies is deferred until long after she has left the Lodge. Think the national disability insurance scheme, the federal dental scheme and the Gonski education reforms.
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Isn’t there a cheaper way to do nothing about the weather?
Andrew BoltNOVEMBER212012(6:44am)
A very expensive way to do nothing about a global warming that paused 16 years ago anyway:
MORE than $8.9 billion will be spent importing wind turbines because of the blowout in the Gillard government’s renewable energy target, providing few if any benefits to local industry, one of the nation’s biggest electricity generators warns.The Australian can also reveal that a new Frontier Economics analysis commissioned by Macquarie Generation has found that the renewable energy target could slash the value of coal-fired power stations by between $11.3bn and $17.3bn - potentially having a greater impact than the carbon tax, which includes industry compensation.
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LITTLE MISS ANDRIST SHOWS HER TRUE COLOURS... and they are not pretty
No-one should care what the private life of Julia Gillard subsumes. It is none of our business who she beds or what her sexual preferences are. But it IS our business how she represents us internationally.
Her almost comical sensual fascination with Obama, including pictorial accompaniment is fine with me too. So what, if afte
r a few wines, camera amnesia sets in and middle-aged hormones are ignited. Only the camera can comment. Journalists only comment privately.
The latest Asian talkfest on more meaningless, endless trade agreements was merely an opportunity for Gillard to throw millions more of our yet-to-be-earnt money around.
Significant was that her St Vinnie’s range in jackets was left at The Lodge. Her new auburn hair-style and a $30,000 Chanel outfit were set to impress someone other than Hun Sen.
Subservient Timmy was dragged along this time, at McTernan’s suggestion, to dispel the raging scuttlebutt surrounding her very physical liaison with Obama.
All that is okay too. What is not okay is her contemptible lack of courtesy for both Tim and and First Lady, Michelle. It could not be more apparent that she has scant respect for single men and even less for the wives of married men, no matter their station.
Gillard’s politics is one thing but her impulsive lack of hormonal control on the World stage makes a laughing stock of Australians who (ostensibly) elected her.
Gillard said last week that, “women were equal to men”.
Well, Gillard ol’ girl, I’m 20 years older than you and you are certainly not equal to me. Not intellectually, nor in any other field. And I know no man who would publicly treat a woman in that way.
Gillard, you are an embarrassing Bogan. You are out of your depth. You have never been PM material and you arrived there only through the connivance of corrupt union bosses and obnoxious Greens, not the Australian people.
We expect a far better person than you to fill our highest office and I for one want it back as soon as you are finished dishonoring it. - by Larry Pickering
The latest Asian talkfest on more meaningless, endless trade agreements was merely an opportunity for Gillard to throw millions more of our yet-to-be-earnt money around.
Significant was that her St Vinnie’s range in jackets was left at The Lodge. Her new auburn hair-style and a $30,000 Chanel outfit were set to impress someone other than Hun Sen.
Subservient Timmy was dragged along this time, at McTernan’s suggestion, to dispel the raging scuttlebutt surrounding her very physical liaison with Obama.
All that is okay too. What is not okay is her contemptible lack of courtesy for both Tim and and First Lady, Michelle. It could not be more apparent that she has scant respect for single men and even less for the wives of married men, no matter their station.
Gillard’s politics is one thing but her impulsive lack of hormonal control on the World stage makes a laughing stock of Australians who (ostensibly) elected her.
Gillard said last week that, “women were equal to men”.
Well, Gillard ol’ girl, I’m 20 years older than you and you are certainly not equal to me. Not intellectually, nor in any other field. And I know no man who would publicly treat a woman in that way.
Gillard, you are an embarrassing Bogan. You are out of your depth. You have never been PM material and you arrived there only through the connivance of corrupt union bosses and obnoxious Greens, not the Australian people.
We expect a far better person than you to fill our highest office and I for one want it back as soon as you are finished dishonoring it. - by Larry Pickering
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