===
===
Dads don't get a lot of credit for being the soothing, nurturing types. But if you ask most dads, you'll find that, out of love and sheer necessity, they have indeed developed their own special ways to soothe their babies.
Feel your baby's pain
Humming your baby’s favourite nursery rhyme will not stop her being hungry, nor will changing her nappy help if she’s teething. In other words, before you do anything else, you need to find the real reason your baby is crying. Yes, this seems almost too logical, but when your baby’s screaming is bringing the house down, it can be hard to think straight.Try the pinky
If you're not sure what's causing the problem, wash your hands then whip out your little finger and offer it to your baby to suck on. This could be a much better alternative to the "handing-baby-back-to-partner" technique. The key is to insert your finger upside down, so that you don't scratch the roof of your baby's mouth with your fingernail.Get a drink
For your baby, we mean. Try offering your little one a warm bottle of expressed breastmilkor formula.Rock and swing
Babies love movement and what better way to swing around than in daddy’s strong arms? It can double up as an effective exercise routine for you, too.Tiny dancer
Try this little move to calm an agitated baby. Hold your baby up to your shoulder and wrap her arms around your neck. Then, dance gently, rocking slowly back and forth, with a gentle spin or two thrown in for good measure. Tap the floor with your foot and try chanting. It doesn't really matter what you chant, as long as it's repetitive and matches the beat of your dance. Gradually lower your voice as your baby begins to settle.Practice embarrassing personal stunts
Bodily function noises. Horrific contorted faces. Spontaneous belly flops onto the nearest hard surface. Finally, there is an appreciative audience for the physical gags you've practiced since childhood. It’s a great way to turn your baby’s cries into stares and giggles. Repeat until boredom (baby's) sets in. This may take some time.Wear your baby
Place your baby in a sling. Between the warmth of your body, the rhythmic beating of your heart, the rise and fall of your breathing, and the gentle swaying motion as you walk, at least one of you should be asleep in minutes.Wait it out
Mums may view this as a decidedly detached and therefore "male" approach, but sometimes, babies are just going to cry, and sometimes what they want is for you to listen. If your baby's not in pain, she's not hungry, tired or wet, and she doesn't want to be jiggled or rocked, then stay close by and let her cry.===
January 2: Perihelion of the Earth (04:38 UTC, 2013); Feast Day of Gregory of Nazianzus (Roman Catholic Church)
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
- 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín (pictured) became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory in the Battle of Ap Bac.
- 1981 – English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", was arrested in Sheffield, ending one of the largest police investigations in British history.
- 2004 – The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.
- 2006 – An explosion at a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia, US, trapped 13 miners for nearly two days, leaving only one survivor.
===
Events
- 366 – The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
- 533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
- 1492 – Reconquista: the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
- 1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
- 1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded.
- 1833 – Re-establishment of British rule on the Falkland Islands.
- 1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.
- 1865 – Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as Brazilian and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay.
- 1871 – Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
- 1900 – John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
- 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian garrison surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
- 1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
- 1920 – The second Palmer Raid takes place with another 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial. These raids take place in several U.S. cities.
- 1927 – Angered by the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, Catholic rebels in Mexico rebelled against the government.
- 1935 – Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
- 1941 – World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
- 1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convicts 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring.
- 1942 – World War II: Manila, Philippines is captured by Japanese forces.
- 1945 – World War II: Nuremberg, Germany (in German, Nürnberg) is severely bombed by Allied forces.
- 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1955 – Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera is assassinated.
- 1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
- 1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory in the Battle of Ap Bac.
- 1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match.
- 1974 – President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
- 1975 – A bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Minister of Railways Lalit Narayan Mishra.
- 1975 – Bangladeshi Marxist leader Siraj Sikder is arrested and dies while in police custody.
- 1976 – The Gale of January 1976 begins, which results in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, resulting in at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
- 1981 – One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
- 1992 – Leaders of armed opposition declare the President Zviad Gamsakhurdia deposed during a military coup in Georgia.
- 1999 – A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, Illinois, where temperatures plunge to -13 °F (-25 °C); 68 deaths are reported.
- 2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
- 2006 – An explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia traps and kills 12 miners, while leaving one miner in critical condition.
[edit]Births
- 1642 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1693)
- 1647 – Nathaniel Bacon, English-born American colonist (d. 1676)
- 1699 – Osman III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1757)
- 1713 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
- 1719 – Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder (d. 1797)
- 1727 – James Wolfe, British general (d. 1759)
- 1732 – František Brixi, Czech classical composer (d. 1771)
- 1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
- 1822 – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (d. 1888)
- 1827 – Peter Semenov of Tian Shan, Russian explorer (d. 1914)
- 1833 – Frederick A. Johnson, American politician (d. 1893)
- 1836 – Queen Emma of Hawaii, Consort of King Kamehameha IV (d. 1885)
- 1836 – Mendele Moykher Sforim, Jewish writer (d. 1917)
- 1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (d. 1910)
- 1857 – Martha Carey Thomas, American educator, suffragist, and second President of Bryn Mawr College (d. 1935)
- 1860 – William Corless Mills, American museum curator (d. 1928)
- 1860 – Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian pioneer (d. 1931)
- 1866 – Prof. Gilbert Murray, Australian classical scholar (d. 1957)
- 1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor (d. 1938)
- 1873 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French Roman Catholic nun (d. 1897)
- 1873 – Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and Marxist theorist (d. 1960)
- 1877 – Slava Raškaj, Croatian painter (d. 1906)
- 1879 – Rudolf Bauer, Hungarian athlete (d. 1932)
- 1882 – Herbert von Petersdorff, German swimmer (d. 1917)
- 1884 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-born Israeli educator, historian and politician (d. 1973)
- 1885 – Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
- 1886 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English Antarctic explorer (d. 1959)
- 1886 – Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (d. 1938)
- 1889 – Sir Bertram Stevens, Premier of New South Wales 1932-39 (d. 1973)
- 1891 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect, urban planner and engraver (d. 1990)
- 1892 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
- 1893 – Lillian Leitzel, German acrobat and strongwoman (d. 1931)
- 1895 – Count Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
- 1896 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d. 1954)
- 1896 – Sir Lawrence Wackett, Australian aircraft engineer (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Jim Londos, Greek wrestler (d. 1975)
- 1901 – Bob Marshall, American conservationist (d. 1939)
- 1902 – Dan Keating, Irish republican (d. 2007)
- 1905 – Lev Schnirelmann, Russian mathematician (d. 1938)
- 1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)
- 1904 – Truus Klapwijk, Dutch diver and freestyle swimmer(d. 1991)
- 1905 – Luigi Zampa, Italian film director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1909 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer (d. 2009)
- 1909 – Barry M. Goldwater, American politician (d. 1998)
- 1913 – Anna Lee, English actress (d. 2004)
- 1914 – Violet Vivian Finlay Stuart Mann, British writer (d. 1986)
- 1916 – Zypora Spaisman, Polish-born American Yiddish theatre actress and producer (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Vera Zorina, German dancer (d. 2003)
- 1918 – Willi Graf, German anti-Nazi activist (d. 1943)
- 1920 – Isaac Asimov, American author and biochemistry professor (d. 1992)
- 1921 – Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Evgenios Spatharis, Greek shadow theatre artist (d. 2009)
- 1925 – William J. Crowe, American admiral and ambassador (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Larry Harmon, American entertainer and TV producer (d. 2008)
- 1926 – Howard Caine, American film and television director (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Grigoris Varfis, Greek politician
- 1928 – Avie Bennett, Canadian philanthropist
- 1928 – Robert Goralski, American journalist (d. 1988)
- 1928 – Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese writer
- 1929 – Lehri, Pakistani actor and comedian (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Julius La Rosa, American singer
- 1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese politician
- 1932 – Peter Redgrove, British poet (d. 2003)
- 1933 – Ed Casey, Australian politician (d. 2006)
- 1933 – On Kawara, Japanese painter
- 1933 – Seiichi Morimura, Japanese author
- 1933 – Richard Riley, American politician
- 1935 – Lolo Soetoro, Indonesian geographer (d. 1987)
- 1936 – Roger Miller, American singer (d. 1992)
- 1938 – Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
- 1938 – Goh Kun, South Korean politician
- 1940 – Susan Wittig Albert, American mystery writer
- 1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- 1940 – S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan, Indian-American mathematician
- 1942 – Dennis Hastert, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- 1942 – Ray Moore, British broadcaster (d. 1989)
- 1942 – Hugh Shelton, 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- 1943 – Barış Manço, Turkish singer and television producer (d. 1999)
- 1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
- 1944 – Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
- 1946 – Richard Cole, English tour manager
- 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist
- 1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player
- 1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, literary critic, and art historian
- 1947 – Valery Shary, Byelorussian Olympic champion weightlifter
- 1948 – Judith Miller, American journalist
- 1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright
- 1949 – Leijn Loevesijn, Dutch cyclist
- 1949 – John Turner, English cricketer (d. 2012)
- 1950 – Débora Duarte, Brazilian actress
- 1950 – Leo van der Goot, Dutch Radio DJ and singer
- 1950 – David Shifrin, American classical clarinetist
- 1951 – Jim Essian, American baseball player
- 1951 – Alexander Pogrebinsky, Russian painter
- 1952 – Jimmy Santiago Baca, American poet and writer
- 1952 – Robbie Ftorek, American ice hockey player
- 1952 – Christine Lavin, American singer-songwriter (Four Bitchin' Babes)
- 1952 – Graeme Strachan, Australian rock singer (Skyhooks) (d. 2001)
- 1953 – Vincent Racaniello American virologist
- 1953 – Jacques Tichelaar, a Dutch politician and trade union leader
- 1953 – Manfred Wittke, German footballer
- 1954 – Henry Bonilla, American politician
- 1954 – Dawn Silva, American singer (The Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk)
- 1955 – Tex Brashear, American voice actor
- 1955 – Vivien Savage, French singer
- 1956 – Lynda Barry, American cartoonist
- 1956 – Jishu Dasgupta, Indian actor and director (d. 2012)
- 1958 – Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist
- 1959 – Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer and politicain
- 1959 – Kim Coates, Canadian actor
- 1960 – Raman Lamba, Indian cricketer (d. 1998)
- 1960 – Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga author
- 1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
- 1961 – IJsbrand Chardon, Dutch equestrian
- 1961 – Todd Haynes, American film director
- 1961 – Craig James, American football player
- 1961 – Robert Wexler, American politician
- 1963 – David Cone, American baseball player
- 1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
- 1964 – Luis d'Antin, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
- 1965 – Greg Swindell, American baseball player
- 1966 – Kate Hodge, American actress
- 1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress
- 1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and mayor of Reykjavík
- 1967 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
- 1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor
- 1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
- 1968 – Evan Parke, Jamaican actor
- 1968 – Goichi Suda, Japanese video game developer
- 1969 – Robby Gordon, American racing driver
- 1969 – Karl-Heinz Grasser, Austrian politician
- 1969 – Patrick Huard, Quebec actor and comedian
- 1969 – Glen Johnson, Jamaican boxer
- 1969 – Tommy Morrison, American boxer
- 1969 – Róbert Švehla, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1969 – Christy Turlington, American model
- 1970 – Royce Clayton, American baseball player
- 1970 – Sanda Ladoşi, Romanian singer
- 1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer
- 1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor
- 1971 – Renee Elise Goldsberry, American actress and singer
- 1971 – Lisa Harrison, American basketball player
- 1971 – Markus Hoffmann, German actor (d. 1997)
- 1971 – Yutaka Takenouchi, Japanese actor
- 1972 – Adam Elliot, Australian animator
- 1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian politician and musician
- 1972 – Hristos Meletoglou, Greek triple jumper
- 1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish professional ice hockey player
- 1974 – Luis Moro, Cuban-American actor and filmmaker
- 1974 – Jason de Vos, Canadian footballer
- 1975 – Chris Cheney, Australian musician (The Living End)
- 1975 – Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
- 1975 – Jeff Suppan, American baseball player
- 1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby union player
- 1976 – Hrysopiyi Devetzi, Greek triple jumper
- 1976 – Danilo Di Luca, Italian cyclist
- 1976 – Mahée Paiement, Canadian actress
- 1976 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- 1977 – Brian Boucher, American professional ice hockey player
- 1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
- 1977 – Ales Pisa, Czech ice hockey player
- 1977 – Nikos Soultanidis, Greek footballer
- 1978 – Karina Smirnoff, Ukrainian-American professional ballroom dancer
- 1978 – Megumi Toyoguchi, Japanese voice actress
- 1980 – Annie Bellemare, Canadian Figure Skater
- 1980 – Mac Danzig, American Mixed martial arts combatant
- 1980 – Melvin Holwijn, Dutch footballer
- 1980 – Jérôme Pineau, French cyclist
- 1981 – Hanno Balitsch, German footballer
- 1981 – Ryan Garko, American baseball player
- 1981 – Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
- 1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
- 1982 – Athanasia Tsoumeleka, Greek race walker
- 1984 – Otacilio, Brazilian footballer, Aviation Professional
- 1986 – Ediz Bahtiyaroğlu, Turkish-Bosnian footballer (d. 2012)
- 1986 – Trombone Shorty, American Musician
- 1988 – Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer
- 1988 – Damien Tussac, French-born German rugby player
- 1989 – Maksims Bogdanovs, Latvian motorcycle racer
- 1989 – Romain Dedola, French footballer
- 1990 – Karel Abraham, Czech motorcycle racer
- 1991 – Davide Santon, Italian footballer
- 1991 – Steele Sidebottom, Australian rules footballer
- 1992 – Anna Arina Marenko, Russian tennis player
[edit]Deaths
- 1512 – Svante Nilsson, regent of Sweden since 1504 (b. 1460)
- 1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and statesman (b. c. 1460)
- 1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter (b. 1494)
- 1664 – George II of Fleckenstein-Dagstuhl, last baron of the house of Fleckenstein (b. 1588)
- 1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (b. 1688)
- 1861 – King Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
- 1892 – George Airy, British Astronomer Royal (b. 1801)
- 1904 – James Longstreet, American Confederate general (b. 1821)
- 1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
- 1915 – Carl Goldmark, Hungarian composer (b. 1830)
- 1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877)
- 1920 – Paul Adam, French novelist (b. 1862)
- 1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English composer and novelist (b. 1834)
- 1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
- 1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-born pianist (b. 1898)
- 1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)
- 1948 – Vicente Huidobro, Chilean poet (b. 1893)
- 1950 – James Dooley, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
- 1950 – Theophrastos Sakellaridis, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1883)
- 1951 – Sir William Campion, Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
- 1959 – Chris van Abkoude, Dutch-born writer and novelist (b. 1880)
- 1960 – Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist (b. 1919)
- 1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian politician (b. 1907)
- 1963 – Jack Carson, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1963 – Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1971 – E. V. Knox, English poet and satirist (b. 1881)
- 1974 – Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1977 – Erroll Garner, American musician (b. 1921)
- 1983 – Dick Emery, English comedian (b. 1915)
- 1986 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1989 – Safdar Hashmi, Indian playwright, author, director, lyricist and theorist (b. 1954)
- 1990 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek politician and author (b. 1910)
- 1994 – Dixy Lee Ray, American politician, 17th Governor of Washington (b. 1914)
- 1994 – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (b. 1915)
- 1995 – Siad Barre, President of Somalia (b. 1919)
- 1996 – Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist (b. 1915)
- 1997 – Randy California, American guitarist & songwriter (Spirit) (b. 1951)
- 1998 – Frank Muir, English writer, raconteur (b. 1920)
- 1999 – Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Rolf Liebermann, Swiss composer (b. 1910)
- 2000 – Patrick O'Brian, British novelist (b. 1914)
- 2000 – Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., American admiral (b. 1920)
- 2001 – William P. Rogers, American politician (b. 1913)
- 2002 – Armi Aavikko, Finnish singer (b. 1958)
- 2005 – Frank Kelly Freas, American artist (b. 1922)
- 2005 – Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, first female Philippine Supreme Court Justice (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Garry Betty, American CEO of Earthlink (b. 1957)
- 2007 – Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian (b. 1941)
- 2007 – Mauno Jokipii, Finnish professor and researcher (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
- 2007 – Paek Nam-sun, North Korean Foreign Affairs minister (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Richard Newton, Australian-born technology pioneer and professor (b. 1951)
- 2007 – David Perkins, American geneticist (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Robert C. Solomon, American scholar of continental philosophy (b. 1942)
- 2008 – Lee S. Dreyfus, American politician (b. 1926)
- 2008 – George MacDonald Fraser, British author (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Martinus Tels, Dutch physicist and chemical engineer (b. 1926)
- 2008 – Galyani Vadhana, Princess of Thailand (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Inger Christensen, Danish poet (b. 1935)
- 2009 – Maria de Jesus, Portuguese supercentenarian (b. 1893)
- 2010 – David R. Ross, Scottish author and historian (b. 1958)
- 2011 – Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930)
- 2011 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (b. 1946)
- 2011 – Szeto Wah, Hong Kong politician and educationalist (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Richard D. Winters, American Army officer (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Ioan Drăgan, Romanian footballer (b. 1965)
- 2012 – Anatoly Kolesov, Russian wrestler (b. 1938)
- 2012 – Helmut Müller-Brühl, German conductor (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Paulo Rodrigues da Silva, Brazilian footballer (b. 1986)
[edit]Holidays and observances
- Ancestry Day (Haiti)
- Berchtold’s Day (Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Alsace)
- Carnival Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
- Christian Feast Day:
- The first day of Blacks and Whites' Carnival, celebrated until January 7. (southern Colombia)
- The first day of the Carnival of Riosucio, celebrated until January 8 every 2 years. (Riosucio)
- The ninth day of Christmas (Western Christianity)
- The second day of New Year (A holiday in Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Mauritius, Montenegro, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine):
- Bank Holiday, if it is a Sunday, the day moves to January 3 (Scotland)
- Kaapse Klopse (Cape Town)
- Victory of Armed Forces Day (Cuba)
===
Back-biting Labor leaders display less loyalty than dogs
Piers Akerman – Wednesday, January 02, 2013 (7:03am)
CABINET documents just released reveal how extraordinarily bitter relations between the former World’s Best Treasurer Paul Keating and Labor’s longest-serving Prime Minister Bob Hawke actually were.
Despite all the praise Keating and Hawke received for their economic reforms – almost entirely based on work done by the Campbell Committee appointed by previous Treasurer John Howard – and their willingness to accept the bouquets, Labor’s dynamic duo was estranged by a hate-filled rivalry.
Throughout 1984 and 1985 Keating made notes on newspaper clippings which display in all their immature ugliness the animosity he felt towards Hawke - long before he challenged him for the leadership.
According to a report in The Australian on New Year’s Day, Keating wrote: “The envious little bastard did everything to destroy it,” on a September 1985 report saying Hawke was concerned about the likely political impact of Keating’s planned tax crackdown and that the prime minister wanted to water it down.
Keating obsessively scanned 10,000 pages of news-clippings he had compiled since 1977 and gave them to the National Archives 10 years ago, but their existence has only just been revealed.
The clippings, complete with references to were released along with extensive cabinet records from 1984 and 1985.
Hawke has told The Australian that Keating’s “envious little bastard” comment was “just absolute bullshit and totally wrong” and that he felt “sorry for the poor bugger”.
Keating, in turn, told The Australian Mr Hawke appeared to lose interest in tax reform after the tax summit in early 1985.
“Bob and I shared many of the same instincts in reform, but when he went into the big attenuated mental fog after the tax summit, he wanted to walk away from the whole tax reform process,” the former treasurer said.
Keating, a lifelong reader of newspapers, made frequent notes in the margins of stories he agreed with or disagreed with strongly.
On a report about Hawke travelling abroad, Keating has written: “Hawke went to Papua New Guinea leaving me to get the tax package not just through cabinet, but the full ministry (of all things) . . . this was a Hawke tactic set up to see the package fail. After the tax summit he completely lost interest in tax reform.”
On a September 1985 story saying a poll indicated that most people supported Labor’s tax changes, Keating circled the key sentence and wrote in capitals: “No thanks to Hawke.”
Keating explained in his interview that he believed Hawke set him up with a cabinet sub-committee that he thought would not let his tax plan through.
“When I got it through, he decided I had to get it through the full ministry, winning the support of avowed leftists for measures such as lowering the top rate of marginal tax and introducing dividend imputation,” Keating said.
“It was like a hurdle race at Ascot where the horses keep having to jump higher.”
Bear this rancour in mind this year when assessing Labor before the election.
These are the elder statesman of yesteryear, bile-filled superannuated has-beens still trying to be the players they once were.
Measure their spiteful remarks against the extraordinary vitriol unleashed by members of the current Labor Cabinet against former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the disgraceful torrent of abuse Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched last year in her notorious smear of Opposition leader Tony Abbott.
This is the real face of what Labor believes is leadership in all its disgusting and repellent revulsion.
The average dog has more statesmanship, diplomacy and loyalty than these curs.
===
Grand Mufti’s agenda not very unifying
Miranda Devine – Wednesday, January 02, 2013 (6:45am)
AUSTRALIA’S Grand Mufti, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, presents himself as a moderate, with the unity of Muslims and non-Muslims as his priority.
But his Christmas vist to the Gaza strip, which he called “the land of jihad”, and his support for Hamas, suggest unity may not be the first thing on his mind.
The visit reportedly was hailed as a publicity “coup” by Hamas, whose militant wing has been listed as a terrorist entity by Australia since 2001.
Mohamed met Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is on record praising Osama Bin Laden as a “Muslim and Arabic warrior”
“We came here in order to learn from Gaza,” Mohamed said.
Learn what?
Egyptian born Mohamed is smoother than his most famous predecessor, Sheikh Taj al-din al-Hilali, who once described women who dressed immodestly as “uncovered meat”.
But, like Hilali, he does not speak English fluently and gives interviews through an interpreter, which tends to cloud his meaning.
Previously he has alluded to the Israel-Palestine conflict as a factor in any potential threat of homegrown terrorism. He has indicated that Australia having troops in Afghanistan might inflame passions in the community. And he has defended Sharia law as misunderstood and wholly consistent with Australian values.
Even interpreted with maximum diplomacy, when seen with his Hamas visit, his agenda looks pushy, and not exactly unifying.
Another worrying sign that Australia’s moderate Muslim community may become less laid back was the fatwa declared against Christmas by the Lakemba mosque.
The fatwa was quickly removed from the Mosque’s Facebook page, a credit to the moderate Muslims who complained about it.
But the fact it appeared at all is troubling, as was the excuse given that it was posted by an overeager “youth worker” who had copied the text from another Islamic website.
The fatwa warned Muslims it is a ‘’sin’’ to wish people Merry Christmas, and followed a lecture by Lakemba’s head imam saying much the same.
Moderate Muslims have always said that Islam sees Jesus as a prophet, born of the virgin Mary, so there should be no inconsistency with Christmas greetings.
But we cannot view our own relatively minor issues in isolation from the radicalisation of Islam elsewhere in the world, and the increasingly dangerous predicament for Christians persecuted in lands where they have lived peacefully with the Muslim majority for generations.
On Christmas Eve, for instance, in Nigeria, the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group, Boko Haram, attacked two churches, including an evangelical church in which people were burned alive.
An upcoming book, Persecuted: the Global Assault on Christians, points out that Christians are the most persecuted group in the world, modern martyrs being murdered for their faith every day in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and former Soviet nations.
We are not immune from the ideological forces sweeping the world, and as a Christian country we should be prepared actively to discriminate in favour of persecuted Christian refugees, who understand the threat of radical Islamism better than most.
===
BRING ON THE BIKE BUTLERS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, January 02, 2013 (3:48pm)
From the same council that brought us musical bike paths:
What could be the nation’s most expensive bike pump, costing ratepayers $4300 because it was “robust”, has broken down.
It lasted on Bourke St for just three months before it began carrying an “out of order” sign urging cyclists not to use it. The model was the first of five stainless steel bike pumps that Sydney City Council bought for $21,500 to save cyclists from getting stuck with flat tyres.
Unforgivably, even when these pumps are working, cyclists are still required to get off their bikes and manually engage them. Where are the valets?
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CARBON ATTACKS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, January 02, 2013 (3:43pm)
Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire byyoung revellers, a much lamented tradition that remained intact this year with 1193 vehicles burned, Interior Minister Manuel Valls says.His announcement on Tuesday was the first time in three years that such figures have been released.The conservative government of former President Nicolas Sarkozy had decided to stop publishing them in a bid to reduce the crime – and not play into the hands of car-torching youthswho try to outdo each other.
But something still isn’t being published. These “youths” and “revellers” … any clues to their background?
Car-torching took a new step in France when it became a way to mark the arrival of the New Year. The practice reportedly began in earnest among youths – often in poor neighbourhoods– in the 1990s in the region around Strasbourg in eastern France.It also became a voice of protest during the fiery unrest by despairing youths from housing projects that swept France in the autumn of 2005. At the time, police counted 8810 vehicles burned in less than three weeks.Yet even then, cars were not burned in big cities like Paris and that remained the case this New Year’s Eve.
Due to a lack of youths, probably.
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LABOR WOMEN SILENCED
Tim Blair – Tuesday, January 01, 2013 (7:43pm)
The only interesting thing Jenny Macklin has ever said, and it gets cut:
Families Minister Jenny Macklin has said she could live on the dole of just $35 a day, but her answer has been omitted from the transcript of a press conference issued by her office.Asked this morning whether she could live on the Newstart allowance of $246 a week, Ms Macklin told reporters ‘‘I could.’’But when Ms Macklin’s office later issued a transcript of the press conference, held at a hospital in the Minister’s Melbourne electorate, both the question and answer were recorded ‘‘inaudible.’’
The same terrible thing happened last year to attorney general Nicola Roxon. Who is silencing these influential women?
UPDATE. The Minister for Inaudibility blames a car:
Last night, her office claimed its recording had been affected by a revving car.
Here’s video. Listen for the arrival of that sound-erasing monster vehicle:
UPDATE II. More Macklin machinations:
UPDATE II. More Macklin machinations:
Families Minister Jenny Macklin’s office is declining to hand over its press conference recording on which an incomplete transcript was based, omitting the minister’s claim that she could survive on the dole …On Tuesday, Ms Macklin’s spokeswoman said the transcript had been written ‘’from a recording done on an iPhone of an outdoor press conference’’ – suggesting there had been some sound interference at the crucial moment.On Wednesday morning, after Fairfax Media asked for the recording, the spokeswoman responded initially by sending via email a generic statement that ‘’the transcript did not intentionally exclude comments from the minister’’.She has not responded to subsequent requests.
Just dub this in and it’ll all be fine.
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Guide cat gives blind dog better lifeSometimes one must look for help outside of family - ed
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Wasted - ed
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Swan prepares to reveal the dire condition of Australia's budget - ed
Fiscal cliff agreement not enough: Swan===
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No charges are anticipated against the motorist. Nobody appreciates an artist - ed
Paparazzo chasing Justin Bieber's Ferrari died after being struck by car===
“HISTORICAL REVISIONISM” - IS WINSTON WORKING FOR THE GILLARD GOVT. ??
The parallels between the Gillard Government and the totalitarian regime in George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ are uncanny. (see the link in the comments for just few previous examples)
In the novel ‘1984’ Winston worked in the Ministry of Truth, where he was responsible for “historical revisionism” - altering documents to rewrite the past to fit with the Party's ever-changing ‘official version’ of history; thus making the government of Oceania seem omniscient.
And today, Families Minister Jenny Macklin when attempting to spin why the Gillard Govt was “clawing back” money from single moms to pay for Labor’s reckless & wasteful spending, said she could live on the dole of just $35 a day.
But in an act of “historical revisionism” her words about living on $35 a day were omitted from the offical transcript of a press conference issued by her office - with both the question and answer recorded ‘‘inaudible.’’
We know we can’t trust a word that this Government says - but now we can’t even trust the transcripts that they issue. Just another reason to vote out Australia's worst ever government come the election.
She will have an opportunity to prove her claim following the next election .. but my bet is she will claim the parliamentary pension. It is funny her office redacted her statement. - ed===
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Former QLD premier Peter Beattie has called for the abolition of the states in Australia, saying they could be replaced by larger councils.
Could this be a good idea? Do you think states should be abolished?
More details: http://bit.ly/YN0RR7
The overinflation you refer to was partly a result of people buying property .. wealth building. Thanks to ALP, fewer people can afford that .. but they still need a roof .. and rent has sky rocketed .. - ed===
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Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossiper, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sarah was impatient, Elijah was depressed, Mosses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old, and Lazarus was dead...
God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the CALLED! Re-post this if you know you are NOT perfect but that God is working in your life anyway...
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Movie with images and glimpses of Community Channel Nat
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Mychal Massie is a respected writer and talk show host in Los Angeles.
The other evening on my twitter, a person asked me why I didn't like the Obama's? Specifically I was asked: "I have to ask, why do you hate the Obama's? It seems personal, not policy related. You even dissed (disrespect) their Christmas family picture."
The truth is I do not like the Obamas, what they represent, their ideology, and I certainly do not like his policies and legislation. I've made no secret of my contempt for the Obamas. As I responded to the person who asked me the aforementioned question, I don't like them because they are committed to the fundamental change of my/our country into what can only be regarded as a Communist state.
I don't hate them per definition, but I condemn them because they are the worst kind of racialists, they are elitist Leninists with contempt for traditional America. They display disrespect for the sanctity of the office he holds, and for those who are willing to admit same, Michelle Obama's raw contempt for white America is transpicuous.
I don't like them because they comport themselves as emperor and empress.
I expect, no I demand respect, for the Office of President and a love of our country and her citizenry from the leader entrusted with the governance of same. President and Mrs. Reagan displayed an unparalleled love for the country and her people.
The Reagan's made Americans feel good about themselves and about what we could accomplish. Obama's arrogance by appointing 32 leftist czars and constantly bypassing congress is impeachable. Eric Holder is probably the MOST incompetent and arrogant DOJ head to ever hold the job. Could you envision President Reagan instructing his Justice Department to act like jack-booted thugs?
Presidents are politicians and all politicians are known and pretty much expected to manipulate the truth, if not outright lie, but even using that low standard, the Obama's have taken lies, dishonesty, deceit, mendacity, subterfuge and obfuscation to new depths. They are verbally abusive to the citizenry, and they display an animus for civility.
I do not like them, because they both display bigotry overtly, as in the case of Harvard Professor Louis Gates, when he accused the Cambridge Police of acting stupidly, and her code speak pursuant to not being able to be proud of America. I view that statement and that mindset as an insult to those who died to provide a country where a Kenyan, his illegal alien relatives, and his alleged progeny, could come and not only live freely, but rise to the highest, most powerful, position in the world.
Michelle Obama is free to hate and disparage whites because Americans of every description paid with their blood to ensure her right to do same.
I have a saying, that "the only reason a person hides things, is because they have something to hide." No president in history has spent millions of dollars to keep his records and his past sealed.
And what the two of them have shared has been proved to be lies. He lied about when and how they met, he lied about his mother's death and problems with insurance, Michelle lied to a crowd pursuant to nearly $500,000 bank stocks they inherited from his family. He has lied about his father's military service, about the civil rights movement, ad nausea. He lied to the world about the Supreme Court in a State of the Union address. He berated and publicly insulted a sitting Congressman. He has surrounded himself with the most rabidly, radical, socialist academicians today.
He opposed rulings that protected women and children that even Planned Parenthood did not seek to support. He is openly hostile to business and aggressively hostile to Israel. His wife treats being the First Lady as her personal American Express Black Card (arguably the most prestigious credit card in the world). I condemn them because, as people are suffering, losing their homes, their jobs, their retirements, he and his family are arrogantly showing off their life of entitlement - as he goes about creating and fomenting class warfare.
I don't like them, and I neither apologize nor retreat from my public condemnation of them and of his policies. We should condemn them for the disrespect they show our people, for his willful and unconstitutional actions pursuant to obeying the Constitutional parameters he is bound by, and his willful disregard for Congressional authority.
Dislike for them has nothing to do with the color of their skin; it has everything to do with their behavior, attitudes, and policies. And I have open scorn for their constantly playing the race card.
It is my intention to do all within my ability to ensure their reign is one term. I could go on, but let me conclude with this. I condemn in the strongest possible terms the media for refusing to investigate them, as they did President Bush and President Clinton, and for refusing to label them for what they truly are. There is no scenario known to man, whereby a white president and his wife could ignore laws, flaunt their position, and lord over the people, as these two are permitted out of fear for their color.
As I wrote in a syndicated column titled, "Nero In The White House" - "Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood...
Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation, and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement - while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed."
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