Happy birthday and many happy returns Peter Collier, Joel Watson and William Quach. Born on the same day across the years. Each with their own talents .. Peter shines brightly as an excellent Education Minister in WA. Remember, birthdays are good for you. If you have a lot, you probably get to be long lived ..
===
February 25: Shushan Purim in Jerusalem and Susa (Judaism, 2013); Soviet Occupation Day in Georgia (1921); National Day in Kuwait (1950); EDSA Revolution Anniversary in the Philippines (1986)
- 1570 – Pope Pius V issued the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis toexcommunicate Queen Elizabeth I and her followers in the Church of England.
- 1901 – U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation and once the world's largest producer of steel, was incorporated by industrialist J. P. Morgan.
- 1933 – USS Ranger, the first ship of the United States Navy constructed as anaircraft carrier, was launched.
- 1986 – In the Philippines, the non-violent People Power Revolution culminated with the removal of Ferdinand Marcos from power and the inauguration of Corazon Aquino (pictured) as the nation's first female President.
- 2009 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles mutinied at its headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths.
===
Events
- 138 – The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor.
- 493 – Odoacer surrenders Ravenna after a 3-year siege and agrees to a mediated peace with Theodoric the Great.
- 1336 – 4,000 defenders of Pilėnai commit a mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights.
- 1570 – Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England.
- 1631 – François de Bassompierre, a French courtier, arrested by Richelieu's orders.
- 1797 – Colonel William Tate and his force of 1000-1500 soldiers surrender after the Last Invasion of Britain.
- 1831 – Battle of Olszynka Grochowska, part of Polish November Uprising against Russian Empire.
- 1836 – Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.
- 1843 – Provisional Cession of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands established by Lord George Paulet.
- 1848 – Provisional government in revolutionary France, by Louis Blanc's motion, guarantees workers right.
- 1856 – A Peace conference opened in Paris after Crimean War.
- 1866 – Miners in Calaveras County, California, discover what is now called the Calaveras Skull, human remains that supposedly indicated that man, mastodons, andelephants had co-existed.
- 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.
- 1875 – Guangxu Emperor of China began his reign, under Empress Dowager Cixi's regency.
- 1901 – J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
- 1912 – Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.
- 1916 – Germans captured Fort Douaumont during Battle of Verdun.
- 1919 – Oregon places a 1 cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
- 1921 – Tbilisi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
- 1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.
- 1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.
- 1933 – The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier.
- 1941 – February Strike: In occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis.
- 1945 – World War II: Turkey declares war on Germany.
- 1947 – The State of Prussia ceases to exist.
- 1948 – The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia and the period of the Third Republic ends.
- 1951 – The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1954 – Gamal Abdul Nasser is made premier of Egypt.
- 1956 – In his speech On the Personality Cult and its Consequences Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.
- 1964 – North Korean Prime Minister Kim Il-sung calls for the removal of feudalistic land ownership aimed at turning all cooperative farms into state-run ones.
- 1964 – Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, Ali took the title.
- 1964 – U.S. Air Force launches a satellite employing a US Air Force Atlas/Agena combination from Point Arguello (LC-2-3) in California and from Cape Kennedy in Florida.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: 135 unarmed citizens of Ha My village in South Vietnam's Quảng Nam Province are killed and buried en masse by South Korean troops in what would come to be known as the Ha My massacre.
- 1971 – The first unit of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, the first commercial nuclear power station in Canada, goes online.
- 1980 – The Suriname government is overthrown by a military coup which is initiated with the bombing of the police station from an army ship off the coast of the nation's capital, Paramaribo
- 1983 – Statute of Autonomy approved for the Balearic Islands.
- 1986 – People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first woman president.
- 1988 – Roh Tae-woo became president of South Korea.
- 1990 – Violeta Chamorro wins presidential elections in Nicaragua, against Daniel Ortega.
- 1991 – Gulf War: An Iraqi scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 U.S. Army Reservists from Pennsylvania.
- 1991 – The Warsaw Pact is declared disbanded.
- 1992 – Khojaly massacre: about 613 civilians are killed by Armenian armed forces during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
- 1994 – Mosque of Abraham massacre: In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers and injuring 125 more before being subdued and beaten to death by survivors.
- 2001 – Non-reformed communists win the elections in Moldova.
- 2009 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including more than 50 army officials.
- 2011 – In the Irish general election, the Fianna Fáil-led government suffers the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state in 1921.
[edit]Births
- 1398 – Emperor Xuande of China (d. 1435)
- 1591 – Friedrich von Spee, German writer (d. 1635)
- 1643 – Ahmed II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1695)
- 1651 – Johann Philipp Krieger, German Baroque composer and organist (d. 1725)
- 1663 – Pierre Antoine Motteux, French-born English dramatist (d. 1718)
- 1682 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (d. 1771)
- 1692 – Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and writer (d. 1775)
- 1707 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian writer (d. 1793)
- 1708 – Felix Benda, Bohemian composer and organist (d. 1768)
- 1714 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France (d. 1792)
- 1714 – Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet, British admiral (d. 1782)
- 1725 – Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet (d. 1798)
- 1727 – Armand-Louis Couperin, French composer (d. 1789)
- 1728 – John Wood, the Younger, English architect (d. 1782)
- 1752 – John Graves Simcoe, English-Canadian politician (d. 1806)
- 1755 – François René Mallarmé, French politician (d. 1835)
- 1778 – Don José de San Martín, Argentine military commander (d. 1850)
- 1812 – Carl Christian Hall, Danish statesman (d. 1888)
- 1816 – Giovanni Morelli, Italian art critic and political figure (d. 1891)
- 1833 – John St. John (Governor of Kansas) (d. 1916)
- 1841 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (d. 1919)
- 1842 – Karl May, German writer (d. 1912)
- 1845 – George Reid, Australian politician (d. 1918)
- 1855 – George Bonnor, Australian cricketer (d. 1912)
- 1855 – Cesário Verde, Portuguese poet (d. 1886)
- 1856 – Mathias Zdarsky, ski pioneer and instructor (d. 1940)
- 1856 – Karl Gotthard Lamprecht, German historian (d. 1915)
- 1857 – Robert Bond, Canadian politician (d. 1927)
- 1860 – Sir William Ashley, English historian (d. 1927)
- 1861 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher and educator (d. 1925)
- 1865 – Zoravar Andranik Armenian general and activist (d. 1927)
- 1866 – Benedetto Croce, Italian philosopher (d. 1952)
- 1869 – Phoebus Levene, Russian-American biochemist (d. 1940)
- 1871 – Lesya Ukrainka, Ukrainian poet (d.1913)
- 1873 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (d. 1921)
- 1877 – Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian musicologist (d. 1935)
- 1881 – William Z. Foster, American party leader (d. 1961)
- 1881 – Alexei Rykov, Soviet politician (d. 1938)
- 1883 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (d. 1981)
- 1885 – Princess Alice of Battenberg (d. 1969)
- 1885 – Sylvia Brett, English socialite (d. 1971)
- 1888 – John Foster Dulles, American politician (d. 1959)
- 1889 – Homer S. Ferguson, American politician (d. 1982)
- 1890 – Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (d. 1965)
- 1894 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual figure (d. 1969)
- 1895 – Lew Andreas, American basketball coach (d. 1984)
- 1897 – Peter Llewelyn Davies, English namesake of Peter Pan (d. 1960)
- 1901 – Zeppo Marx, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1903 – King Clancy, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
- 1905 – Harald Lander, Danish dancer and choreographer (d. 1971)
- 1906 – Boris Papandopulo, Croatian composer and conductor (d. 1991)
- 1906 – Domingo Ortega, Spanish matador (d. 1988)
- 1908 – Frank G. Slaughter, American novelist (d. 2001)
- 1910 – Millicent Fenwick, American fashion editor and politician (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Brenda Joyce, American actress (d. 2009)
- 1913 – Jim Backus, American actor (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Gert Fröbe, German actor (d. 1988)
- 1914 – John Arlott, English cricket journalist (d. 1991)
- 1916 – Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (d. 1991)
- 1917 – Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
- 1917 – Brenda Joyce, American film actress (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Barney Ewell, American athlete (d. 1996)
- 1918 – Rena Kyriakou, Greek pianist (d. 1994)
- 1918 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)
- 1919 – Monte Irvin, American baseball player
- 1919 – Karl H. Pribram, Austrian neuroscientist
- 1920 – Gérard Bessette, Canadian author (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Philip Habib, American diplomat (d. 1992)
- 1920 – Sun Myung Moon, Korean religious leader, founder of Unification Church (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (d. 1970)
- 1921 – Andy Pafko, American baseball player
- 1923 – Takeo Kajiwara, Japanese Go player (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Hugh Huxley, British biologist
- 1927 – Dickie Jones, American actor
- 1927 – Ralph Stanley, American musician (Stanley Brothers)
- 1928 – Larry Gelbart, American comedy writer (d. 2009)
- 1928 – Paul Elvstrøm, Danish yachtsman
- 1928 – Richard G. Stern, American author and educator (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Christopher George, American actor (d. 1983)
- 1929 – Tommy Newsom, American bandleader (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Sister Wendy Beckett, South African-born British art connoisseur
- 1932 – Tony Brooks, English race car driver
- 1932 – Faron Young, American singer (d. 1996)
- 1934 – Bernard Bresslaw, English actor (d. 1993)
- 1934 – Tony Lema, American golfer (d. 1966)
- 1935 – Sally Jessy Raphaël, American talk show host
- 1936 – Jiří Černý, Czech music critic
- 1937 – Tom Courtenay, English actor
- 1937 – Barbara Piasecka Johnson, widow of John Seward Johnson I
- 1937 – Bob Schieffer, American broadcast journalist
- 1938 – Diane Baker, American actress
- 1938 – Herb Elliott, Australian runner
- 1940 – Danny Cater, American baseball player
- 1940 – Billy Packer, American sports broadcaster
- 1940 – Monica Proietti, Canadian bank robber (d. 1967)
- 1940 – Ron Santo, American baseball player and broadcaster (d. 2010)
- 1942 – Karen Grassle, American actress
- 1942 – John Saul, American author
- 1943 – George Harrison, English singer and guitarist, member of The Beatles (d. 2001)
- 1943 – Wilson da Silva Piazza, Brazilian footballer
- 1944 – Matt Guokas, American basketball player & head coach
- 1945 – Elkie Brooks, English singer (Vinegar Joe)
- 1945 – Herbert Léonard, French singer
- 1946 – Franz Xaver Kroetz, German dramatist
- 1946 – Jean Todt, French Formula One executive
- 1946 – Pete Wernick, American musician
- 1947 – Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence
- 1947 – Lee Evans, American athlete
- 1947 – Richard French, Canadian politician
- 1947 – Marc Sautet, French writer, teacher and philosopher (d. 1998)
- 1947 – Doug Yule, American bass guitarist (The Velvet Underground and American Flyer)
- 1948 – Aldo Busi, Italian writer
- 1948 – Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
- 1949 – Ric Flair, American professional wrestler
- 1949 – Jack Handey, American humorist
- 1949 – Amin Maalouf, Lebanese writer
- 1950 – Neil Jordan, Irish director
- 1950 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentine politician (d. 2010)
- 1950 – Francisco Fernández Ochoa, Spanish alpine skier (d. 2006)
- 1950 – Emitt Rhodes, American singer/songwriter
- 1951 – James Brown, American sportscaster
- 1951 – César Cedeño, Dominican baseball player
- 1951 – Don Quarrie, Jamaican runner
- 1952 – Jerry Chamberlain, American musician (Daniel Amos and The Swirling Eddies)
- 1952 – Joey Dunlop, Irish motorcycle racer (d. 2000)
- 1952 – Inger Segelström, Swedish politician
- 1953 – José María Aznar, Spanish politician
- 1953 – Kim Yeong-cheol, South Korean actor
- 1954 – John Doe, American musician (X)
- 1954 – Gerardo Pelusso, Uruguayan football manager
- 1955 – Camille Thériault, Canadian politician, 29th Premier of New Brunswick
- 1957 – Sérgio Marques, Portuguese politician
- 1957 – Chuck Strahl, Canadian politician
- 1957 – Martin Zobel, Estonian ecologist
- 1958 – Panagiotis Beglitis, Greek politician
- 1958 – Jeff Fisher, American football coach
- 1958 – Kevin Gray, American actor (d. 2013)
- 1958 – Kurt Rambis, American basketball player and coach
- 1959 – Carl Marotte, Canadian actor
- 1959 – Mike Peters, Welsh musician (The Alarm and Big Country)
- 1960 – Stefan Blöcher, German field hockey player
- 1961 – Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
- 1961 – Todd Blackledge, American football player
- 1961 – Chris Pitman, American keyboardist (Guns N' Roses)
- 1962 – Birgit Fischer, German kayaker
- 1962 – Foster Sylvers, American singer, (The Sylvers)
- 1962 – Faron Moller, Canadian-born British computer scientist
- 1963 – Joseph E. Duncan III, American convicted serial killer and sex offender
- 1963 – Paul O'Neill, American baseball player
- 1964 – Lee Evans, English comedian
- 1964 – Don Majkowski, American football player
- 1964 – Luigi Troiani, Italian rugby player
- 1965 – Brian Baker, American guitarist (Minor Threat and Bad Religion)
- 1965 – Maricel Soriano, Filipina actress
- 1965 – Veronica Webb, American supermodel and actress
- 1965 – Carrot Top, American comedian
- 1966 – Alexis Denisof, American actor
- 1966 – Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete (d. 2003)
- 1966 – Téa Leoni, American actress
- 1966 – Nancy O'Dell, American television personality
- 1966 – Samantha Phillips, American actress
- 1968 – Evridiki, Greek Cypriot singer
- 1968 – Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress
- 1969 – Paul Trimboli, Australian soccer player
- 1970 – Julie Hesmondhalgh, English actress
- 1971 – Sean Astin, American actor
- 1971 – Dave Harris, American disc jockey
- 1971 – Daniel Powter, Canadian musician
- 1973 – Julio Iglesias, Jr., Spanish singer
- 1973 – Anson Mount, American actor
- 1973 – Normann Stadler, German triathlete
- 1974 – Divya Bharti, Indian actress
- 1974 – Kevin Skinner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1975 – Chelsea Handler, American comedian, author, and actress
- 1975 – Mandingo, Pornographic actor
- 1976 – Rashida Jones, American actress
- 1976 – Samaki Walker, American basketball player
- 1977 – Niña Corpuz, Filipino journalist
- 1977 – Sarah Jezebel Deva, English singer (Angtoria and Cradle of Filth)
- 1977 – Josh Wolff, American footballer
- 1979 – Jennifer Ferrin, American actress
- 1979 – David Hoflin, Swedish-born Australian actor
- 1980 – Antonio Burks, American basketball player
- 1980 – Christy Knowings, American actress
- 1981 – Park Ji-Sung, South Korean footballer
- 1981 – Shahid Kapoor, Indian actor
- 1981 – Jamie Lynn, American porn actress
- 1981 – Duc Nguyen, Vietnamese conjoined twin
- 1981 – Viet Nguyen, Vietnamese conjoined twin (d. 2007)
- 1982 – Chris Baird, Irish footballer
- 1982 – Kimberly Caldwell, American singer and actress
- 1982 – Han Ga-in, South Korean actress
- 1982 – Maria Kanellis, American model and wrestler
- 1982 – Bert McCracken, American singer-songwriter (The Used)
- 1982 – Flavia Pennetta, Italian tennis player
- 1982 – Anton Volchenkov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Tara Wilson, Canadian actress
- 1983 – Eduardo da Silva, Brazilian-Croatian footballer
- 1984 – Logan Leistikow, American filmmaker and comedian
- 1984 – Lovefoxxx, Brazilian singer (CSS)
- 1984 – Craig Mackail-Smith, Scottish footballer
- 1984 – João Pereira, Portuguese footballer
- 1984 – Dane Swan, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Benji Marshall, New Zealand rugby league footballer
- 1985 – Joakim Noah, American basketball player
- 1986 – Justin Berfield, American actor
- 1986 – James and Oliver Phelps, English actors
- 1986 – Danny Saucedo, Swedish singer (E.M.D.)
- 1986 – James Starks, American football player
- 1987 – Justin Abdelkader, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – Eva Avila, Canadian singer
- 1987 – Mevlüt Erdinç, Turkish footballer
- 1987 – Andrew Poje, Canadian figure skater
- 1987 – Adrián López Rodríguez, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Sören Ludolph, German athlete
- 1988 – Luca Di Matteo, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Jimmy Monaghan, Irish musician (Music for Dead Birds)
- 1989 – Jimmer Fredette, American basketball player
- 1989 – Kana Hanazawa, Japanese voice actress
- 1989 – E'Twaun Moore, American basketball player
- 1990 – Alejandra Andreu, Spanish pageant contestant
- 1990 – Jefferson Alves Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- 1991 – Gerran Howell, Welsh actor
- 1993 – Christina Kirkman, American actress
- 1993 – Mohammed Milon, Bangladeshi archer
- 1994 – Eugenie Bouchard, Canadian tennis player
- 1997 – Isabelle Fuhrman, American actress
- 1998 – Brendon Baerg, American actor
[edit]Deaths
- 1246 – Dafydd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd
- 1522 – William Lilye, English classical scholar
- 1536 – Berthold Haller, German-born reformer (b. 1492)
- 1553 – Hirate Masahide, Japanese diplomat and tutor of Oda Nobunaga (b. 1492)
- 1558 – Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (b. 1498)
- 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, English politician (b. 1566)
- 1634 – Albrecht von Wallenstein, Austrian general (b. 1583)
- 1643 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (b. 1582)
- 1655 – Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar (b. 1580)
- 1682 – Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (b. 1639)
- 1710 – Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, French soldier and explorer (b. c. 1639)
- 1713 – King Frederick I of Prussia (b. 1657)
- 1715 – Pu Songling, Chinese writer (b. 1640)
- 1723 – Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (b. 1632)
- 1756 – Eliza Haywood, English actress and writer (b. 1693)
- 1796 – Samuel Seabury, first American Episcopal bishop (b. 1729)
- 1798 – Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernais, French diplomat and writer (b. 1716)
- 1801 – Benedikt Stojković, Croatian churchman and philosopher (b. 1714)
- 1805 – Thomas Pownall, British colonial statesman (b. 1722)
- 1815 – Stanoje Glavaš, Serbian revolution warrior (b. 1763)
- 1819 – Francisco Manoel de Nascimento, Portuguese poet (b. 1734)
- 1822 – William Pinkney, American statesman and diplomat (b. 1764)
- 1831 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (b. 1752)
- 1841 – Philip Pendleton Barbour, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court (b. 1783)
- 1850 – Daoguang, Emperor of China (b. 1782)
- 1852 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet (b. 1779)
- 1860 – Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman, educator, and lexicographer (b. 1790)
- 1864 – Anna Harrison, American First Lady (b. 1775)
- 1865 – Otto Ludwig, German writer (b. 1813)
- 1870 – Henrik Hertz, Danish poet (b. 1797)
- 1877 – Jang Bahadur Rana, Nepalese ruler (b. 1816)
- 1878 – Townsend Harris, American diplomat (b. 1804)
- 1888 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist of Croatian descent (b. 1814)
- 1894 – Steele MacKaye, American playwright, actor, inventor (b. 1842)
- 1899 – Paul Julius Reuter, German-born journalist (b. 1816)
- 1906 – Anton Arensky, Russian composer (b. 1861)
- 1910 – Worthington Whittredge, American artist (b. 1820)
- 1911 – Friedrich Spielhagen, German novelist (b. 1829)
- 1912 – Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1852)
- 1914 – John Tenniel, British illustrator (b. 1820)
- 1915 – Charles Edwin Bessey, American botanist (b. 1845)
- 1919 – Josef Christiaens, Belgian racing driver (b. 1879)
- 1920 – Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy, French archaeologist (b. 1844)
- 1922 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (b. 1869)
- 1928 – Gyula Kakas, Hungarian gymnast (b. 1876)
- 1928 – William O'Brien, Irish author, journalist and politician (M.P.) (b. 1852)
- 1934 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (b. 1873)
- 1934 – Elizabeth Gertrude Britton, American botanist (b. 1857)
- 1940 – Mary Mills Patrick, American author (b. 1850)
- 1945 – Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer and photographer (b. 1893)
- 1950 – George Minot, American physician, Nobel laureate (b. 1885)
- 1953 – Sergei Winogradsky, Russian scientist (b. 1856)
- 1954 – Auguste Perret, French architect (b. 1874)
- 1957 – Mark Aldanov, Russian emigrant writer
- 1957 – Bugs Moran, American gangster (b. 1893)
- 1963 – Melville J. Herskovits, American anthropologist (b. 1895)
- 1964 – Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist (b. 1887)
- 1964 – Johnny Burke, American lyricist (b. 1908)
- 1964 – Mariano Jesús Cuenco, Filipino Cebuano politician and writer (b. 1888)
- 1964 – Maurice Farman, French Grand Prix motor racing champion (b. 1877)
- 1964 – David Logan, British politician (b. 1871)
- 1964 – Hinrich Lohse, Nazi German politician (b. 1896)
- 1964 – Grace Metalious, American writer (b. 1924)
- 1964 – Kenneth Lee Spencer, American opera singer and actor (b. 1913)
- 1966 – James D. Norris, American sports businessman (b. 1906)
- 1970 – Walter Koch, German astrologer (b. 1895)
- 1970 – Mark Rothko, Latvian-born American painter (b. 1903)
- 1971 – Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1884)
- 1975 – Elijah Muhammad, American Black Muslim leader (b. 1897)
- 1978 – Daniel "Chappie" James Jr., American general (b. 1920)
- 1980 – Robert Hayden, American poet (b. 1913)
- 1983 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright (b. 1911)
- 1983 – John Cowles, Sr., American publisher (b. 1898)
- 1987 – James Coco, American actor (b. 1930)
- 1991 – André Turp, Canadian tenor (b. 1925)
- 1993 – Eddie Constantine, American-born actor and singer (b. 1917)
- 1993 – Mary Walter, Filipino actress (b. 1912)
- 1994 – Baruch Goldstein, American-born mass murderer (b. 1956)
- 1994 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (b. 1914)
- 1996 – Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian-born actor (b. 1940)
- 1997 – Cal Abrams, American major league baseball outfielder (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Andrei Sinyavsky, Russian writer and dissident (b. 1925)
- 1998 – Celestine Tate Harrington, quadriplegic street musician and writer (b. 1956)
- 1998 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian writer (b. 1914)
- 1999 – Margaret Meagher, Canadian diplomat (b. 1911)
- 1999 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1912)
- 2000 – Luce Maced Martinique supercentenarian (b. 1886)
- 2001 – A. R. Ammons, American poet (b. 1926)
- 2001 – Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)
- 2001 – Norbert Glanzberg, French composer (b. 1910)
- 2001 – Sigurd Raschèr, American saxophonist of German birth (b. 1907)
- 2001 – Margaret Tafoya, American potter (b. 1904)
- 2001 – L. R. Wright, Canadian writer (b. 1939)
- 2003 – Tom O'Higgins, Irish Chief Justice (b. 1916)
- 2003 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor (b. 1920)
- 2004 – Albert Chartier, Canadian cartoonist (b. 1912)
- 2004 – Donald Hings, Canadian inventor (b. 1907)
- 2005 – Peter Benenson, English founder of Amnesty International (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Ben Bowen, Brain Cancer victim (b. 2002)
- 2005 – Leo Labine, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Edward Patten, American singer (Gladys Knight & the Pips) (b. 1939)
- 2006 – Thomas Koppel, Danish musician (Savage Rose) (b. 1944)
- 2006 – Darren McGavin, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2006 – Charlie Wayman, English footballer (b. 1922)
- 2007 – William R. Anderson, American Naval Officer and Congressman (b. 1921)
- 2007 – Mark Spoelstra, American singer/songwriter (b. 1940)
- 2008 – Charles Chan, father of Jackie Chan (b. 1914)
- 2008 – Ashley Cooper, Australian race car driver (b. 1980)
- 2008 – Static Major, American singer (b. 1974)
- 2008 – Hans Raj Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India (b. 1912)
- 2009 – Philip José Farmer, American novelist (b. 1918)
- 2010 – İhsan Doğramacı, Turkish academic and the founder of YÖK (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Buck Compton, American judge, lawyer, and member of the Band Of Brothers in the 101st Airborn in WW2 (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Erland Josephson, Swedish actor, author and film director (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Maurice André, French trumpet master (b. 1933)
[edit]Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Kitano Baika-sai or "Plum Blossom Festival" (Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, Kyoto)
- Memorial Day for the Victims of the Communist Dictatorships (Hungary)
- National Day (Kuwait)
- People Power Day (Philippines)
- Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)
===
Shut the book Gillard stunt
Piers Akerman – Monday, February 25, 2013 (4:57am)
WATCHING the new new (or is that the old before the renewed appeared) Julia Gillard in her school mum mode reading to a captive audience of young children at the Lodge puts political stunts on a new level.
Shameless is not in it.
Gillard can barely pronounce some of the most common words in the English language and strangles the language with an accent that is neither Australian nor Welsh.
Her hyper-bowl knows no bounds.
Looming like Lurch in the background was Education Minister Peter Garrett, a figure so frightening that small children should be warned whenever he staggers into view – or is that just his attempt at popular dance?
Gillard wanted everyone to ignore the fact that yesterday marked the second anniversary of her breach of her solemn promise on carbon tax.
Staging a cuddly event was the best she could come up with, even as pollsters were on the phone to tap into the national psyche for the next round of opinion surveys.
Thus far she has been playing to union crowds where she knows she is on a winner.
She is owned by the trade union movement, as the pictures from last week’s AWU conference demonstrated in humiliating fashion.
The teachers union also wants its share and it has been promised the Gonski reforms.
But first the facts. The federal government does not employ any school teachers. It disburses money to the States for their education systems.
Because Labor is constantly trying to promote its own politically correct social agenda it needs to work with the teachers and they are among the most politically active of all public servants – and they are from the Left.
The key to Gonski is cash, truckloads of it, for teachers, oh, and small class sizes.
There is no evidence to demonstrate that higher paid teachers are better in the classroom and there is nothing to suggest that smaller class sizes have an effect on the quality of education.
Quite the opposite.
The Sunday stunt was about making Gillard, the political assassin, the shrieking parliamentary harpy, appear softer and more family friendly.
As she lacks children of her own and famously grimaced when she was asked to hold a baby during an early campaign, the photo opportunity was an attempt to address a perceived flaw in her makeup.
It was also about giving the teachers union a wink and a nod, and letting the thousands of teachers across the nation know that she wants them to start indoctrinating their charges with her political message – give a Gonski.
She wants you to think that the Gonski reforms are valuable. They are not.
They are expensive, so expensive in fact that Gillard cannot tell us how she intends to pay for them.
As stunts go, yesterday’s was a practical lesson in political humbug.
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SIGHT FLIGHT
Tim Blair – Monday, February 25, 2013 (4:43pm)
The Prime Minister’s glasses are a hit – but who paid for them to be flown to Canberra?
Albert Park optical stylist Sue Feldy has been inundated with phone calls after she was exposed as the woman behind Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s new glasses …Mrs Feldy was sworn to secrecy over her role in shaping Ms Gillard’s new look, but gained official permission to speak after being contacted by a radio station.“I think I knew it would cause a bit of a stir,” Mrs Feldy said.“We have to keep getting them in, the stockist can’t keep up!”Mrs Feldy flew to Canberra with 100 pairs for Ms Gillard to browse.
This item suggests that taxpayers picked up the tab:
Feldy has been given the nod from Canberra to say she’s partly responsible for the prime ministerial spectacles having their own Twitter account after her connections in styling high-profile people led her to being flown to The Lodge for an appointment with the busy electioneering Gillard.
Calls are in. Should have an answer soon. Either way, those glasses have an impressive carbon footprint. Meanwhile:
In launching a new school literacy program the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, appears to have committed a statistical howler.
Tomorrow could be fun.
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KILL THE ATHEISTS
Tim Blair – Monday, February 25, 2013 (4:13pm)
Lenin said “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”Islam has gone the Commies one better: The modern western welfare state gives them the money to buy the rope with which they will hang us.
They’re a little more proactive in Bangladesh:
Bangladesh police fired live rounds in clashes with Islamists demanding the execution of bloggers they accuse of blasphemy, killing at least three protesters and injuring dozens …Mizanur Rahman, deputy police chief of Manikganj, said clashes broke out after up to 3,000 protesters, including students from religious schools known as madrassas and supporters of the main opposition party, barricaded a highway.“They attacked us with machetes, sticks, bricks and firearms from three sides when we tried to clear the barricade. We fired back in self-defence,” he told AFP, adding that at least 40 people were injured.“The imam of the local mosque used a loudspeaker to rally the protesters. They were shouting slogans for the execution of the bloggers, accusing them of being non-believers and atheists,” Rahman said …Tensions have risen over allegedly anti-Islamic blog posts by Ahmed Rajib Haider, who washacked to death last week near his home in Dhaka.
Australia’s online atheist community will be right on to this as soon as they can find a Catholic angle.
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THE UNICORN IS SHOCKED
Tim Blair – Monday, February 25, 2013 (3:39pm)
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PARADISE ON EARTH
Tim Blair – Monday, February 25, 2013 (3:19pm)
Attention, Greens! Here’s your 2013 election ad:
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Who flew in Julia’s glasses, and did we pay?
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(7:11pm)
If so, who paid?
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Essential Media: Labor 44 to Coalition 56
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(3:08pm)
The Essential Media poll today lines up with the latest Newspoll and Nielsen figures: Labor 44 to Coalition 56. Yet somehow the inconsistent Newspoll figures are treated as the real ones. So tomorrow’s Newspoll, if there’s any lift in Gillard’s support, will once again be seen as giving her breathing room.
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My own words can be quoted, but not by me
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(12:36pm)
I am not allowed to republish two columns I wrote on choosing Aboriginal identity. As the judge declared:
I will make orders prohibiting the republication of the newspaper articles.
Yet people identifying as Aboriginal seem quite free to republish bits of my columns, no doubt feeling they are licenced to do so by their officially correct view of the issue I tried to raise:
FOR the past few years, a short play about Aboriginal identity has been burning a hole in Andrea James’s pocket.It’s a work that draws on unlikely sources—a notorious column by Andrew Bolt and the SBS miniseries Women of the Sun—for a story that confronts sensitive topics in indigenous Australia.“That whole question of our identity and our skin colour is probably one of the burning issues of the last decade,” James said.“It’s something that really continues to be an issue and a challenge for the community."…In her work, James bases one character on artist Bindi Cole, one of the Aboriginal people who sued Bolt for racial discrimination. The resulting story draws on the controversy surrounding Bolt’s column, with his words quoted in the script, in a play that asks deep questions about Aboriginal identity.
Bizarre. James can quote me, but I cannot quote myself.
And James - third from the left in the picture of the play’s cast and crew - can discuss certain aspects of Aboriginal identification that I on legal advice dare not.
(No comments.)
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Turning off Britain’s lights
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(12:21pm)
Alistair Buchanan, retiring head of the energy regulator Ofgem, [warned] that next month we will see the closure of five major coal-fired power stations that between them contribute nearly a sixth of the UK’s average electricity needs.Over the next few years, Mr Buchanan feared, we will be dangerously close to not having enough power in the grid to keep Britain’s lights on…Tony Blair signed us up to an energy policy centred on building thousands of windmills, already fully aware that we would be losing many of our coal-fired power stations due to an EU anti-pollution directive…Around lunchtime last Monday, for instance, National Grid was showing that all our 4,300 wind turbines put together were providing barely a thousandth of the power we were using, 0.1 per cent, or a paltry 31MW (as compared with the 2,200MW we can get from a single gas-fired plant).The harsh fact is that successive governments in the past 10 years have staked our national future on two utterly suicidal gambles. First, they have fallen for the delusion that we can depend for nearly a third of our future power on those useless and unreliable windmills – which will require a dozen or more new gas-fired power stations just to provide back-up for when the wind is not blowing.Yet, at the same time, by devices such as the increasingly punitive “carbon tax” due to come into force on April 1, they plan to double the cost of the electricity we get from grown-up power stations, which can only have the effect in the coming years of doubling our electricity bills, driving millions more households into fuel poverty.
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Why is Flannery still Climate Commissioner?
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(9:47am)
I’ll keep highlighting this 2007 prediction while warming alarmist Tim Flannery remains the Chief Climate Commissioner:
So even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems, and that’s a real worry for the people in the bush.
And I’ll keep reminding readers of this 2005 Flannery prediction, too:
But since 1998 particularly, we’ve seen just drought, drought, drought, and particularly regions like Sydney and the Warragamba catchment - if you look at the Warragamba catchment figures, since ‘98, the water has been in virtual freefall, and they’ve got about two years of supply left, but something will need to change in order to see the catchment start accumulating water again....So when the models start confirming what you’re observing on the ground, then there’s some fairly strong basis for believing that we’re understanding what’s causing these weather shifts and these rainfall declines, and they do seem to be of a permanent nature…Well, the worst-case scenario for Sydney is that the climate that’s existed for the last seven years continues for another two years. In that case, Sydney will be facing extreme difficulties with water.
This 2007 claim of Flannery’s should also be remembered:
Over the past 50 years southern Australia has lost about 20 per cent of its rainfall, and one cause is almost certainly global warming. Similar losses have been experienced in eastern Australia, and although the science is less certain it is probable that global warming is behind these losses too. But by far the most dangerous trend is the decline in the flow of Australian rivers: it has fallen by around 70 per cent in recent decades, so dams no longer fill even when it does rain ...
In Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, water supplies are so low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months.
WESTERN Sydney could be in for minor flooding after Warragamba Dam spilled over following a weekend of heavy rain.
Why is Flannery still the Chief Climate Commissioner?
UPDATE
I was prompted to write this post by the daughter of a friend who confidently assured me that global warming was causing more droughts, and this was a double problem because the world also faced huge population pressures.When presented with the empirical evidence that, at least in Australia, this was wrong, I was told that “Ms P (her teacher) had done a lot of study in this area, so must be right…” and that she didn’t want to be confused for her exam and lose marks.
Yes, having the right opinion now counts for more than having the right facts.
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On daring to hear Wilders, and on simply smearing him
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(8:22am)
Reader kw:
Hi Andrew
I want to share my experience of attending the Geert Wilders’ talk last Friday evening in Liverpool NSW. I hope that you will share this with other readers of your blog.
I drove to Liverpool at 6.00pm on Friday with a friend, after receiving that morning an email notification of the venue (which was withheld till the last moment, as a security precaution). I admit that I was worried about attending the talk, given that Geert Wilders’ talk in Melbourne in the previous week had been disrupted by some violent protests.
When we arrived at the venue, there was a group of protestors (about 30 or so in number) in the street, who were chanting ‘anti-racist’ slogans and expressing their objection to Geert Wilders’ tour. Some of the protestors actually shouted abuse at people who were trying to enter the talk venue, but there was no violence. The NSW Police were superb in the way that they handled the situation, ensuring the safety of those attending the talk; the police were present in large numbers, with general duty officers, public order and riot squad officers, and mounted police officers. I also noted the presence of a number of high ranking police officers. The NSW Police deserve to be congratulated on the way that they carried out their duty on this occasion, which is “to serve and protect” the community.
When we arrived at the entrance to the venue, we commenced a process of the most remarkable and thorough security check/s that I have ever experienced in my 66 years. All those attending the talk were required to:• produce photo ID and their email ticket(on three separate occasions)
• have their bags physically searched
• go through a metal detector
• undergo an individual body scan
• have their names marked off a roll, and
• have an identification tag placed on their wrist.The venue was bristling with private security guards and, I presume, plain clothes police. While the security arrangements were superb, and I felt reasonably safe, I was saddened in the realisation that all of this was now necessary in our Australian society. What have we become, that Australians should feel afraid to go out to listen to someone express his views in a peaceful way?
kw’s full letter is in the comments thread. He says he found Wilders to be not at all the far-Right racist portrayed by so many media outlets.
UPDATE
Typical of the lazy smearing of Wilders is this effort in The Age by Tim Soutphommasane, political philosopher at the University of Sydney and member of the Australian Multicultural Council:
To put it plainly, we have to put up with things [in a liberal democracy] we may find repugnant. We have to tolerate the intolerable.For the vast majority of us, Wilders’ views belong to this category.
Define “us” who find Wilders “repugnant”. Is it Age readers? Academics? Professional multiculturalists?
[Wilders] believes Islam is‘’a dangerous totalitarian ideology’’ that is incompatible with liberal freedom. The prophet Muhammad was, he argues,‘’a warlord, terrorist and paedophile’’.According to Wilders, Australia should cease accepting Muslim immigrants. While we’re at it, we should ban the Koran and the building of mosques. Any accommodation of Islam will ultimately deprive us of ‘’our freedom, our identity, our democracy, our rule of law, and all our liberties’’.It doesn’t take too much thought to understand that Wilders’ message is one of hate and division.
That depends on your view of Islam. If you believe Islam preaches hatred of Jews, a shunning of unbelievers, the execution of gays and the subjugation of women, you could well argue that opposing such an ideology is not to preach “hate and division” but oppose it. Soutphommasane is simply begging the question and shooting the messenger - not disproving him.
Short of Wilders breaking laws or inciting violence, the proper response wasn’t to keep him out or expel him - it was to demonstrate the falsehood of his views.
There is an evasion here. Soutphommasane fails to note the Gillard Government indeed managed to keep out Wilders last year by stalling for two months on his visa, causing his original speaking tour to be postponed.
As for Soutphommasane declaring the real challenge lies in “disproving” Wilders, nowhere in his article does he do so. Nowhere does he disprove what he lists as evidence of Wilders being “repugnant” - Wilders’ claim that Islam is ‘’a dangerous totalitarian ideology’’ incompatible with liberal freedom and that Muhammad was “‘a warlord, terrorist and paedophile’’.
The Wilders visit has presented, if anything, an occasion for us to reaffirm the success of multicultural Australia. Somewhat ironically, the past week has been a good demonstration of how Muslim communities in this country have exercised that liberal virtue of tolerating the intolerable. Contrary to type, there were no burnings of effigies, no local fatwahs issued.
“Contrary to type”? Is Soutphommasane indeed noting just the intolerance of free speech Wilders warns against, so vividly demonstrated by the violent protests against the videoInnocence of Muslims, the fatwa against writer Salman Rushie, the murder plots against the Danish cartoonists, the attempted shooting this week of Swedish historian Lars Hedegaard, the murder of director Theo van Gogh and the death threats against Wilders’ himself?
Soutphommasane is right to note there was no local fatwahs issued against Wilders. But he is very wrong to claim all Muslims here showed “that liberal virtue of tolerating the intolerable”. Muslims were among the protesters who violently picketed Wilders’ Melbourne speech, and some of the people posting vile attacks and threats on the Facebook site of the venue had Arabic names. Fear of protests drove 30 venues to cancel bookings for the Wilders tour. Musilm students (as well as Leftist protesters) were broadcast vilifying Wilders as a racist and hate-preacher.
This does not strike me as a demonstration of “tolerating the intolerable”. On the contrary, Soutphommasane’s absurd praise reads to me more like a sigh at having escaped a reaction he feared would be worse.
Not nearly enough has been said about our liberal toleration of Wilders. For all the predictable complaints about political correctness shutting down free speech, our Dutch guest enjoyed a broad national audience. There have been interviews and news reports on television, radio and newspapers (not to mention social media). At the time of writing, the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has received not one complaint about his visit to Melbourne. So much for any alleged multicultural censorship.
Much of the coverage of Wilders was to damn him. What was to complain of? No politician, even Wilders supporters, dared to meet him. The WA Premier boasted of having helped to deny Wilders any venue in Perth. Fear of lawfare no doubt deterred public expressions of support for Wilders’ message, of which there were remarkably few. And it is a fallacy to suggest that censorship does not exist if a single person is found who is not censored.
For all of their talk about liberal freedoms, Wilders and his ilk are profoundly illiberal. They endorse free speech, but fail to accept this means those who disagree with them have the freedom to denounce them too.
I’ve spoken to Wilders. I have heard him say the very opposite of what Soutphommasane claims. He does not deny the right of anyone to denounce or debate him. Indeed, he would welcome a debate. Soutphommasane’s allegation is simply false.
They speak highly of a free society, yet forget that a liberal state must not dictate its citizens’ religious convictions.
That’s largely false. Wilders does not want government to dictate the faith of its citizens. What is wants is the state to curb immigration from Islamic countries. Soutphommasane may well find that offensive, but he should not mischaracterise Wilders’ message. I would go only with Soutphommasane only on this: Wilders has said both that we wants to ban the Koran and that he doesn;t - and banning the Koran is an illiberal act that the state has no business making. I am also against Wilders’ call to ban outright the building of mosques.
Let’s not mince words. Wilders and his local Q Society supporters are proponents of a thinly veiled form of racism.
What racism? Also on Wilders’ tour, speaking with him, was a former Muslim. Wilders is not against a race but an ideology. Again, Soutphommasane misrepresents what Wilders says in order to smear him.
It’s the sort you hear from the sly bigot who says he hates Asians or Jews or Muslims - but only in the abstract. It’s the sort that results in someone being judged not on their deeds or character, but on something else.
This is simply incoherent. Wilders does not say he hates Muslims in the abstract. He says the opposite - that he does not hate Muslims, but opposes the Muslim ideology. Again, Soutphommasane misrepresents Wilders in order to smear him.
It is true that the Netherlands, like many countries in Europe, has had its difficulties with migrant integration. In the case of the Dutch, their governments believed that the ‘’pillarisation’’ model they traditionally used to deal with religious and social differences would work with cultural diversity. They never put in place policies to ensure new arrivals would be equipped to participate in Dutch life. They were too diffident in asserting the importance of a unifying Dutch national identity.
Finally, a very muted admission that there may be some truth in some things Wilders says, although the fault is found more with Holland for allegedly not doing more to “equip” Muslims with what’s needed to “participate in Dutch life”. Just why Muslims above any other group needs this equipment provided is not explained. Just what other equipment the Dutch should supply - apart from free schooling, freedom of speech, free medical care for the poor, Dutch classes and lots of welfare - is not discussed. Also not noted is that Dutch-born Muslim youths are wildly overrepresented in crime rates. What “equipment” do they lack?
In Australia, however, we have struck the right balance between solidarity and diversity, between rights and responsibilities. Where a cultural practice is inconsistent with parliamentary democracy, the rule of law or individual liberties, we are bound to decline to endorse it.
Soutphommasane may be right, although this criticism suggests Wilders is simply wrong about Australia and is not the racist Soutphommasane claims. But Wilders might well argue in return that Australia nevertheless does have problems with its Muslim minority, as demonstrated by the fact - for instance - that almost everyone convicted here of terrorism is Muslim. He might further point out that Australia’s relative success might have something to do with Muslims here representing 2.2 per cent of the population, while Holland’s comprisesnearly 6 per cent.
It’s as simple as that. Official multiculturalism has never meant cultural relativism.
This is debatable. And it ignores what Muslims, among other religious or ethnic groups, take multiculturalism to mean. The real question is whether Australia is now tribalising, with newcomers especially retreating into ethnic enclaves. This is the real issue, and, again, Soutphommasane dodges it. A brisk walk through Lakemba might help.
And engaging with what Wilders actually says might help even more. Wilders may be wrong, but Soutphommasane has not proved it. To resort to smears, evasions and misrepresentations suggests Soutphommasane actually has trouble disputing what Wilders came here to discuss.
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NBN wonders if it’s actually doing the right thing
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(8:13am)
They want a study now, four years after starting the $37 billion NBN without even a cost-benefit analysis?
Construction has been underway on the NBN for more than two years but there is still debate over which technology should be used.The NBN Co is using a technology called ‘fibre to the premises’, which goes all the way to a home, to build most of the network.But the Coalition wants to use ‘fibre to the node’.It says this method is faster and cheaper, but it will come with slower speeds.NBN boss Mike Quigley ... says he supports a proposed study by the Communications Alliance into the pros and cons of a range of technologies to see which is best.
Some support for this radical idea of deciding what might actually work best before blowing $37 billion:
FORMER Telstra managing director Ted Pretty says parts of the National Broadband Network should be “reconsidered”, as the company building the network seeks a review of broadband technologies used in the rollout.Mr Pretty, who oversaw Telstra’s technology and innovation division during his eight years with the telco, said the NBN project warranted further attention.“There needs to be more public scrutiny of the nature of the spend and the quantum of the spend and where it is being applied,” he said. “I don’t think that analysis has been done."…Mr Pretty, now chief executive of Hills Holdings, said better use of wireless technology might be appropriate. But the solution was not a “binary” choice between the policies of Labor or the Coalition.
(Thanks to reader Geoff and Peter.)
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The new racism paradigm
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(8:02am)
These are only allegations at this stage, and we do not know the truth of this tragedy. But I suspect this story from Britain would command a lot more attention if the missing word of the following sentence was “white”:
The parents of a nine-year-old boy who was found hanged in his bedroom have claimed that their son killed himself because of racist taunts from .... bullies.
(Thanks to reader Ombudsman. If you’re under 25 and need some help, ring Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.)
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Throwing our athletes to the wolves
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(7:17am)
THREE weeks after the Gillard Government announced Australian sport was riddled with drug-taking, we finally see the first guilty men.
Step forward the boys of the Australian men’s 100m freestyle relay team.
(Subscription required to read full column.)
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Wilders’ cowardly critics must explain this conference
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(7:09am)
IF Geert Wilders is wrong, let his critics explain next month’s “Islamic Peace Conference” at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
I’ve checked what huge billboards around Melbourne claim is the “largest ever Islamic Conference in the history of Australia”, at which 20,000 people are expected.
(Subscription required to read full article.)
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O’Connor’s memory taxed
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(7:06am)
Brendan O’Connor, Ten Network’s Meet the Press yesterday:PEOPLE said we weren’t going to price carbon and bring in a very important market-based approach to reducing carbon emissions; it was done.Which people? Wayne Swan on Meet The Press, August 15, 2010:WHAT we rejected is this hysterical allegation that somehow we are moving towards a carbon tax from the Liberals in their advertising.Wayne Swan, August 15, 2010:PM Julia Gillard, Channel 10, August 16, 2010:NO, it’s not possible that we’re bringing in the carbon tax. That is a hysterically inaccurate claim being made by the Coalition…THERE will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.
Also at the link, a little reminder to Dr Karl and Trade Minister Craig Emerson that they should retract and apologise.
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Combet sells $6 billion of bull
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(6:24am)
A desperate government is selling lies. Henry Ergas on the Gillard Government’s latest jobs plan, an unbelievable favor for its union masters:
Even Greg Combet must have found it challenging to present the proposal to “embed” public servants in major resource projects without breaking into guffaws. No wonder he ignored the obvious questions: how could Canberra’s “local content champions” know more about sourcing options than the supply specialists who run purchasing for those projects? Would the project managers have the right to sack these uninvited guests if they proved incompetent, a nuisance or worse? ...
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On these, Combet had nothing to say… The requirements imposed on major projects, he said, would shift ”up to $6.4 billion of extra work per year to the Australian economy.”No evidence was released to support Combet’s assertion. And that too is unsurprising. For it verges on the unbelievable…...increasing domestic sourcing by $6bn annually would require a more than 40 per cent reduction in the import content of spending on major resource projects by 2015/16—a degree of import substitution not even achieved by South African mining projects during sanctions.Moreover, the pipeline is nearing its peak; it phases down rapidly as of next year. For the $6bn a year shift to be sustained out of a shrinking total, import substitution would need to rise steadily, approaching 100 per cent in six years’ time.To add impossibility to implausibility, Combet asserted import substitution on that scale could be secured at no cost.
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ABC leans to the Left, by more than three to one
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(6:15am)
To detect bias, listeners have to know the alternative arguments. That makes it easier for the ABC to fool listeners listening with half an ear, yet still:
Research released today shows while most people do not believe political bias is widespread at the ABC, perceptions of bias are closely linked to voting history and voting intent.
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NSW Labor still in the crypt
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY252013(6:11am)
I’m surprised NSW Labor still has any support at all, after so many scandals:
According to the latest Newspoll - conducted exclusively for The Australian in January and this month - primary support for state Labor is at 27 per cent, two points down on the poll conducted in November and December last year.Support for the O’Farrell Coalition government is up one percentage point, at 46 per cent, leading to a massive 60-40 split in favour of the Coalition in two-party-preferred terms.
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Green Government policy results
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Register your interest for the Joseph Prince Ministries - Power of Right Believing USA tour. Happening November 2013.
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Some thoughtful questions were put to me and Warren Entsch MP at a community breakfast in Cairns today.
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In 1970, JOHN WAYNE was presented the Academy Award for Best Actor in " True Grit (1969)!" Watch him accept his Oscar http://bit.ly/UYZDVX
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EDUCATE THE KIDS, Ms GILLARD?... Larry Pickering
first you need to educate the teachers
We languish in the bottom half of the World’s best educated kids and this disastrous problem won’t be solved by reading Bunyip stories to kids for the benefit of film crews.
Illiterate teachers are the problem. Teachers who are the product of another delinquent Labor PM, Gough Whitlam.
Our kids are now suffering a basic inadequacy in literacy and there is no-one there to correct it.
The Whitlam legacy of illiteracy was imbedded in the same kids who are now the teachers of kids.
In the early 70s, the power of the Left feminist dominated Teachers’ Union joined with Whitlam’s obsession for phonetic spelling to produce a generation of illiterate graduates.
That sort of madness is not easy to reverse.
How many adults know how to spell? Have a look on any blog thread to see how often “their” “there” and “they’re” are misused.
They are phonetically the same said the Teachers’ union and Whitlam, so who cares?
Why waste time with English composition, Latin derivation or spelling when that time can be better spent teaching kids Green ecology, the evils of conservatism, how to save the Barrier Reef, how to fill in dole forms correctly and how to grow up to good little Labor voters?
We used to accept newspapers as the bible of spelling, newscasters as the acme of grammar but they can no longer be relied on.
They too are victims of spell-check and calculators but spell-check doesn’t know your meaning and calculators don’t supplant the times tables.
To lose the entire basis of the English language and its Latin roots in one generation is a sin we are now paying for and a sin Whitlam can never be forgiven for.
Has the integrity of millennia of English evolution been “underminded” by Labor fools or is mine an exercise in mere “hyperbowl”?
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Like a 1872 Google Street View, the Holtermann photos reveal gold boom Australia===
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Footage of driver behind wheel of crashed car telling Victoria Police he's 'waiting for a mate' goes viral
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Have you noticed that your cost of living is increasing?
Under Labor, your costs are soaring and it's hurting everyday Australians. http://lbr.al/t7if
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We're very sad to post that Ray Cusick, who designed the Daleks, has passed away. Thank you Ray for giving us one of the most iconic Doctor Who monsters ever.
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Pray in tongues regularly and let God’s rest and peace saturate your entire being! Check out today's devotional. Be sure to click "like" to help spread the word! Thanks, all! http://bit.ly/X6a72Q
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Long before you have a need, God sees it and sends His supply. And His supply is always right on time and more than enough for you!
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Would you step out of being self-conscious and self-occupied, and be Christ-occupied today? Each time you find yourself looking at your flaws, weaknesses and mistakes, instead of asking yourself, “Am I accepted before God?”, ask, “Is Christ accepted before God?” Instead of asking, “Am I pleasing to God?”, ask, “Is Christ pleasing to God?”
The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:17 that as Christ is, so are you in this world! This means that today, God sees you in Christ, holy, perfect and blameless. Not in your flaws, weaknesses and mistakes. So, beloved, keep your eyes on Jesus and in Him you’ll find the power to effortlessly overcome any weakness in your life!http://josephprince.com/
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The more you partake of the Holy Communion in faith, the healthier and stronger you become! Check out today's devotional. Be sure to click "like" to help spread the word! Thanks, all! http://bit.ly/WjapVR
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Just took part in another community forum in Townsville with our local MP Ewen Jones. Thanks to the 180 people who attended and asked some good questions, raised concerns and provided some of their ideas. We talked about cost of living, the carbon tax, small business, mental health, education, infrastructure and volunteering among other important topics. It was a good chance to promote our Real Solutions plan that will help provide a strong and more prosperous economy for North QLD and all of Australia.
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Canberra sunsets are cool.
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4 TMN
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Hugh Jackman from Les Miserables missed out to Daniel Day Lewis with Lincoln, but to be fair, there won't be a sequel to Lincoln. - ed
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Another week in the office and nutting out Ägents of Change Project
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