Sat 30th Mar Todays News

UNDERPERFORMERS

Tim Blair – Saturday, March 30, 2013 (1:37pm)

“Australians are the funniest people on earth,” observes an English mate. “So why are all your comedians so dreadful?” That’s a big call; some of our comedians are brilliant. But in the service of tormenting the insecure, it’s time to ask:

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102 DAYS UNTIL THE FIRST ASHES TEST

Tim Blair – Saturday, March 30, 2013 (1:02pm)

Ian Chappell writes: 

Australia may never again produce Test match batting talent on the level of Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke … 

Don’t need ‘em. We’ve got Lil, seen here demonstrating her defensive technique.

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ISSUE THE SALMON

Tim Blair – Saturday, March 30, 2013 (12:46pm)

Actor Richard Griffiths dies at 65, leaving a great legacy of work and this excellent advice: 

“Everybody my age should be issued with a 2lb fresh salmon,” he told an interviewer ...

“If you see someone young, beautiful and happy, you should slap them as hard as you can with it. When they ask, ‘Why did you do that?’, you say, ‘Because, you lucky young bastard, you don’t know how fortunate you are.’ And they don’t ...” 

Griffiths also advocated innovative rehabilitation methods: 

“I’d feed all paedophiles into a tree-shredder,” he told interviewers. “One minute with a tree shredder. Anything left the police can have.” 

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ENDLESS HATE

Tim Blair – Saturday, March 30, 2013 (12:29pm)

The smearing of Cardinal George Pell.

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END THE TAX, STOP THE WARMING

Tim Blair – Saturday, March 30, 2013 (12:11pm)

Australia has a carbon tax and hot weather. The US has no carbon tax and ...

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By his daughters we know Abbott isn’t what Labor claimsNo apology

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (3:29pm)

It strikes me as not just bizarre but evil that the Labor Party is trying to smear a man with such daughters as a woman-hating religious bigot and authoritarian.
UPDATE
So, how utterly vile can some on the Left be?  Here’s one prolific tweeter, Ash Ghebranious, licensed by a feeling of moral virtue to act like a moral cretin towards Abbott’s daughters. A true misogynist.  And some still say the arts and a steady diet of ABC moralising makes you a finer person…
No apology either, just a further foul reference to “pimping”. Although the truly disgusting tweet seems to have been quietly removed.
(Thanks to reader Rita.) 

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Stolen? Or saved?

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (2:40pm)

A brave and principled insistence on the truth by singer Maroochy Barambah forces this correction from the National Indigenous Times - a correction which suggests we are inching our way, very slowly, towards an honest discussion of the ”Stolen Generations”:

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What Labor? This is the Orange Party

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (2:18pm)

Dacka’s Razor finds a lot of senior Labor figures no longer announce they are Labor MPs on their mastheads - and some refuse even to use Labor’s traditional colors.
Just one of the examples presented:

Another example:

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A coarse man’s movie, I discover to my shame

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (2:01pm)

I actually enjoyed the movie - unlike my wife, who, it turns out, had sounder instincts for the (moral) truth as I now discover, to my shame:

Yet even that is a gauzier view of our 32nd president than the one we see in “Hyde Park on Hudson,” a grubby little movie about a shallow little man. Never has crude behavior been more attractively lit.
Set at Roosevelt’s home in Hyde Park, N.Y., on the 1939 weekend when the king and queen of England came to secure the United States’ friendship before World War II, we are meant, I think, to be charmed by old Franklin. The film’s narrator, the president’s spinster cousin Daisy Suckley, played by Laura Linney, seems to think we should be as thrilled as she is by his attentions to her.
That’s impossible, though, because the Franklin Roosevelt of this movie is less concerned with Hitler than with juggling women he treats like hookers. In the film’s defining scene, on a Hudson Valley hilltop, the moves he puts on Daisy make Bill Clinton’s treatment of Monica Lewinsky look almost gallant.
Could the president who brought us Social Security have been such a moral runt? ...
In fact, the historian Geoffrey C. Ward, who edited Daisy Suckley’s papers, told me that although he hasn’t seen the movie, he’s appalled by all he has read and heard about how it depicts her friendship with FDR.
“His relationship with her was an extremely old-fashioned, very decorous sort of 19th century — they wrote each other letters and may have kissed once, in a car on a hilltop. It was the delight of her life to be the friend of Franklin Roosevelt.” Having read every word of the letters and diaries the film is supposed to be based on, he says, his impression is that she never had sex with anyone, and would be humiliated by such a coarse presentation of their connection…
“...I feel so guilty,” he said, for even agreeing to edit the papers that led to the movie project.
Jonathan Alter, author of “The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope,” also thinks the view of FDR as one creepy cousin is mistaken: “He loved women — liked hanging out with women and hearing their banter; the idea of him treating them as people to service him I don’t think is right.”

I’m now a bit down on myself for having liked the wretched thing. 

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Half the debt and half the picture

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (12:09pm)

Laurie Oakes note the success Treasurer Wayne Swan, seemingly now his prime contact, has had in pushing out spin about his debt:

Reflecting what will be a crucial part of the economic debate in the run-up to the September 14 election, a Sydney newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, ran a prominent report about government debt levels under the headline “Julia’s gift to Australia is massive and growing debt”.
Knowing it was coming, and with the Coalition pushing the issue hard as well, staff in Treasurer Wayne Swan’s office prepared a counter-attack - a graph showing how Australia’s current government debt compared with that of 22 other countries as a percentage of GDP.
Australia was the third-lowest, our debt level very small compared with that of countries such as Austria, Germany, Belgium, Britain, France, the US, Japan, and - of course - Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Greece…
The graph was put on the ALP’s Facebook page and, to the surprise of almost everyone, it took off. In the first 2 1/2 days there were 10,482 “shares” - people putting the graph on their own page.
By tracking “likes”, the ALP’s Digital Team was able to determine that it had been seen by 815,360 people in that time… Since readership of The Daily Telegraph is just over 780,000, Labor is claiming that its own version of the debt story reached more people than the newspaper’s. That would certainly be a milestone.

But Terry McCrann takes on the apologists pooh-poohing Labor’s debt:

In short, the total debt position of all levels of government in Australia in 2006-07 was pretty much at zero in net terms.
Since then it has risen sharply. The federal budget estimated that net federal debt would peak at $145bn in 2013-14.
But that was on the basis of small surpluses in 2012-13, this year, and 2013-14. We know that in fact we are going to get a deficit of perhaps as much as $20bn this year. So the net debt could actually reach $165bn or so, heading into whatever red ink there is to be in 2013-14 and beyond.
State borrowings have risen by almost as much since 2007-08… That is to say, total net government debt in Australia will have increased from zero in 2007-08 to at least $330bn this year.
This is why the argument over the size of the federal debt misses the point. Yes, even at the $165 million level, it will be “only” about 11 per cent of gross domestic product. This is clearly, dramatically better than almost every other developed country, where net debt levels are 50 per cent of GDP and higher.
But few of those comparisons have our significant state element. Add that, and our total net government debt is more like 22 per cent of GDP.
Yes, that’s still relatively modest, and I stress the word relatively. But look how quickly it got there from zero: in just five, admittedly turbulent, years.

A rapid increase in debt that has bought us what? An increase that will stop when? And built on high prices for our minerals which will stay high for how long?
So when are we allowed to demand a turnaround - now, or when we really are like Greece?
UPDATE
Reader harry:

Someone should point out that debt levels need to also reflect the repayment terms.
While Swan et al are keen to portray our debt levels as small compared to “basketcases” like the US. It should be pointed out that we pay 3% on 2 year Government bonds, the US pay .25%, 12 times less.So if the US is a basket case, why does repaying our debt account for more of our GDP than the US?

Also missing from the calculations: the $37 billion NBN, treated as an “investment”. 

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No, we’re just not buying what Labor’s selling

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (11:26am)

Paul Kelly says Labor and its media mates are kidding themselves:

The idea that Labor’s primary vote is stuck in the 30-34 per cent zone because of bad PR, a few mishaps and Kevin Rudd’s celebrity status is ludicrous.
Yet this argument or excuse has enjoyed currency within the party and, incredibly, within wide sections of a gullible media for a couple of years.

It’s not the sales pitch that’s the problem. It’s the content:

Taking recent weeks, if Labor had a coherent governing strategy it would never have adopted its media package based on the flawed idea of greater state powers over newspapers.
It would never have run the foreign worker 457 visa scare based on short-term electoral gains by sacrificing its economic credentials.
It would never have offered a litany of concessions to the unions, week after week, that merely reinforce a one-dimensional pro-union, anti-business image that is electorally disastrous.
And it would not have sanctioned a three-month feeding frenzy over its plans to impose new superannuation taxes that has unnerved superannuation holders and the industry.

All over the shop:

It believed in business but was pro-union. It was pledged to action on climate change but horrified when it realised such action might be unpopular.
It abolished with moral flair John Howard’s punitive boat policy without realising the boats might return. It replaced a mining tax that was too onerous with a mining tax that was too soft.

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The problem isn’t Palestine

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (11:06am)

The problem isn’t Jews hating Palestinians. It’s Muslims hating Jews and Christians - even those helping Palestinians. Or Libyans. Or any other Muslims:

Three British women bringing humanitarian aid through Libya were reported yesterday to have been raped by men in military uniforms after being kidnapped at a checkpoint near Benghazi.
They were taking medicines, books and toys overland from Britain to the Gaza Strip in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade.
Awad al-Bassari, the Libyan deputy prime minister, told a TV station that he had visited the victims in hospital and they were in “very bad shape"…
One convoy member, Keith Darkin, who had already returned to Britain for health reasons, told The Times: “There is a lot of anti-British feeling in Libya.”
The women were with a fleet of ten vehicles which set off last month on a 4,000-mile journey aiming for the besieged Palestinians. At the border with Egypt they were refused entry and were stuck for 12 days, running out of supplies. 

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Labour’s next media inquiry: how papers are controlled by Jews?

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (10:50am)

Labour politicians in Britain wants tough new laws on the media to stop it printing terrible and hurtful things. One of those Labour politicians wanting more government control of newspapers is Nazir Ahmed, upset by media coverage of how he’d killed a woman with his reckless driving:

Pakistan-born Nazir Ahmed was suspended from the opposition Labour party when the comments, made to a Pakistani television station, were published in The Times newspaper earlier this month.
Speaking in Urdu, the 55-year-old had attributed a judge’s decision to jail him for dangerous driving four years ago to pressure from Jews “who own newspapers and TV channels” …
He struggled to explain why he made the remarks, saying: “It must have been a twisted mind that said those things.”
When he saw the video on The Times website, “I could not believe that this was me,” Ahmed said, adding: “I cannot honestly say why.”

That video should finish Ahmed in politics. He should also lose his peerage - not just for killing a woman while driving and texting, but for using his position to foment hatred of Jews and the West.
Lord Ahmed has previous form for denouncing newspaper reports on his anti-Western tirades:

Fight state control of your media. 

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Which fool approved $30,000 for a public servant’s back rubs?

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (10:27am)

Astonishing. Would a company that paid its own bills - rather than pass on costs to taxpayers - ever tolerate such a mad culture of complaint and entitlement?

A federal government review of the $1.2 billion Comcare insurance scheme has urged sweeping reform to reduce the number of dubious claims for psychological injuries, payouts for dodgy therapies, doctor shopping and outright fraud…
The taxpayer-funded insurer lost more than $500 million in the 2011-2012 financial year as the number of claims for psychological injuries in the public sector - many related to accusations of bullying and harassment - increased…
The review, ordered last year by Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten, cited a case of taxpayers paying nearly $30,000 for massage therapy that had “no curative effect” and another of a bureaucrat in Brisbane who was flown to a Buddhist meditation retreat in Alice Springs to treat his anxiety disorder.

How the hell were those two “treatments” approved? We need the names of the officials who ticked off on them.
(Thanks to reader AP.) 

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Gillard now hopes Queenslanders shut up about Newman

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (9:41am)

Julia Gillard last year wanted Queenslanders to tell the rest of us what they thought of Premier Campbell Newman, who was ending years of Labor waste and the spending of borrowed billions:

Speaking at the Queensland Labor Party Conference at Brisbane’s Mercure Hotel today, Julia Gillard labelled the human cost of last week’s Queensland budget “dreadful"…
‘’Understand this: Tony Abbott and Campbell Newman are following the same game plan, every hour, every day,’’ she said.
‘‘...You are the sentries who can tell Australians what’s at risk, what could be coming”
“You’ve seen it.  Tell your story.  Make sure they know.’’

Today I think Gillard hopes Queenslanders actually keep their mouths shut about Newman:

Newspoll’s latest quarterly result for state voting intention in Queensland, covering 1130 respondents from January through March, suggest the gains Labor made amid last year’s budget cuts have faded away, returning them to the territory of last year’s disastrous election result. The primary votes of 27% for Labor and 49% for the LNP closely reflect the election figures of 26.7% and 49.7%…
The two-party preferred score of 62-38 compares with 62.8-37.2 at the election and 56-44 in the last Newspoll… Newman’s lead as preferred premier is out from 45-29 to 53-21.
ReachTEL also published its latest monthly automated phone poll for Channel Seven last week… This had the LNP up 0.7% to 47.8%, Labor up 1.3% to 30.2%, KAP down 1.4% to 10.1% and the Greens up 0.1% to 8.0%. On my reading of two-party preferred, Labor made a rounding-assisted one point gain on the previous month’s poll, putting it 59-41 behind rather than 60-40.

Bang goes one of Labor’s big hopes - that Newman would poison the Coalition’s vote in Queensland by making the necessary Budget cuts, so eagerly condemned by the Courier Mail.
Instead, Newman’s virtue is rewarded now that he has many of the worst cuts behind him. I suspect Tony Abbott is watching very closely.
Incidentally, I’m surprised the Courier Mail has found no space - at least on-line - to mention this good news for Newman. And for Queensland.
(Thanks to reader Bill of Cleveland.)
UPDATE
A whole Labor strategy just went bung:

Queensland-based Wayne Swan has spearheaded the attack, telling the Australian Workers Union national conference last month: “Tony Abbott will be Campbell Newman on a national scale.”
The Treasurer claimed last week in parliament that an incoming Abbott government would “do the same as Campbell Newman”.
“They will get out there and slash and burn when it comes to the social safety net. They will take an axe to jobs. They will never, ever support Australian workers. They will take an axe to jobs and they will go back to Work Choices,” Mr Swan said.
But the findings of today’s Newspoll suggest the federal strategy of trying to link the two leaders to warn the Newman government is a curtain-raiser for an Abbott-led government is misguided.

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Predictions rise, temperatures don’t

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (9:13am)

Global warming - dud predictions, Global warming - propaganda

It is a bizarre divergence. The less the world warms, the more warmists say it will.
Observe. A warming pause:

DEBATE about the reality of a two-decade pause in global warming and what it means has made its way from the sceptical fringe to the mainstream…
Another paper published by leading climate scientist James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, says the lower than expected temperature rise between 2000 and the present could be explained by increased emissions from burning coal…
Research by Ed Hawkins of University of Reading shows surface temperatures since 2005 are already at the low end of the range projections derived from 20 climate models and if they remain flat, they will fall outside the models’ range within a few years.
“The global temperature standstill shows that climate models are diverging from observations,” says David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation…
The Economist says the world has added roughly 100 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2010, about one-quarter of all the carbon dioxide put there by humans since 1750. This mismatch between rising greenhouse gas emissions and not-rising temperatures is among the biggest puzzles in climate science just now, The Economist article says.

But although temperatures are no longer rising, the alarming predictions are:

There are now a number of studies that predict future temperature rises as a result of man-made carbon dioxide emissions at well below the IPCC best estimate of about 3C over the century.
The upcoming IPCC report is expected to lift the maximum possible temperature increase to 6C.

Mad. 

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It’s a bit awkward to admit you support babies being killed

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (8:54am)

The new morality

From the video, it seems the Planned Parenthood representative either is struggling with her conscience or with her fear of seeming evil if she spelled out exactly what her organisation’s stand means to a baby born alive in a botched abortion:

Florida legislators considering a bill to require abortionists to provide medical care to an infant who survives an abortion were shocked during a committee hearing this week when a Planned Parenthood official endorsed a right to post-birth abortion.
Alisa LaPolt Snow, the lobbyist representing the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, testified that her organization believes the decision to kill an infant who survives a failed abortion should be left up to the woman seeking an abortion and her abortion doctor.
“So, um, it is just really hard for me to even ask you this question because I’m almost in disbelief,” said Rep. Jim Boyd. “If a baby is born on a table as a result of a botched abortion, what would Planned Parenthood want to have happen to that child that is struggling for life?”
“We believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician,” said Planned Parenthood lobbyist Snow.
Rep. Daniel Davis then asked Snow, “What happens in a situation where a baby is alive, breathing on a table, moving. What do your physicians do at that point?”
“I do not have that information,” Snow replied. “I am not a physician, I am not an abortion provider. So I do not have that information.”

Poor woman. It’s not easy to admit you’re a shill for people who want to kill even healthy babies born alive.
Babies like these, from Australia.

(Thanks to reader Kathleen A.) 

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Saying sorry to Pell now the damage is done twice over

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (8:25am)

The new morality

The Fairfax papers viciously smeared Cardinal George Pell just before the vote for Pope, and apologise only after it’s all over:

On 11 March 2013, the online edition of The Sydney Morning Herald published an article “Tainted Pell out of race after lobbying” by journalist Barney Zwartz. A shortened version of this article titled “Pell has no chance of top job” also appeared in the print and online editions of The Sydney Morning Herald on 11 March 2013.
Our description of the outcome of the 2002 investigation by retired Victorian Supreme Court Judge A.J. Southwell into allegations against Cardinal George Pell did not fully set out his findings about Cardinal Pell. Soon after Mr Southwell made his findings in 2002, The Age published an article describing the findings as “a just result” and The Sydney Morning Herald accepts and agrees with this conclusion. As we said in an article published on 14 June 2010, this independent investigation cleared the Cardinal.
The Sydney Morning Herald apologises sincerely to Cardinal Pell for any suggestion to the contrary and for any adverse reflections on him in our 11 March articles.

The story has been pulled from the Fairfax site.
The apology comes only after the smear helped to do its job. The Age and Sydney Morning Herald last month teamed up with vindictive activists to knock Pell out of the running as Pope, falsely suggesting he still had questions to answer despite the collapse years earlier of a disgraceful attempt to lynch him. As I wrote of that lynch attempt at the time:

But after reading key bits of the evidence, I’m not surprised X refused to go to the police about Pell, as church officials had urged. I can’t imagine them thinking the case, on this material, was worth prosecuting.
Yet we’ve now had Pell’s name dragged though the garbage tip, thanks to claims dragged out of an apparently reluctant ``victim’’ in part by an outfit he claims tempted him with huge dollars, and then helped to arrange publicity that could only hurt Pell.

Yet earlier this month The Age and Sydney Morning Herald had the hide to help smear Pell all over again with the same discredited slop:

Cardinal George Pell, tainted by sex abuse scandals, has no chance of becoming the 266th pope after Australian critics campaigned to publicise allegations that have long dogged him to Italian media and voting cardinals....

Shame on them all. The immoral tearing down the moral.
UPDATE
One of the usual suspects quoted by The Age, former priest Paul Collins, a Leftist, also apologises:

Cardinal Pell has received an apology from Dr Paul Collins in relation to comments quoted in an article published in the Fairfax press on 11 March 2013. Dr Collins has stated:

“A number of media outlets have carried a report quoting comments that I made in an interview with Fairfax journalist Mr Barney Zwartz about Cardinal Pell. I acknowledge that my words as quoted were false and grossly unfair.
These remarks should never have been made and I therefore apologise unreservedly to Cardinal Pell for the hurt that my comments have caused.”

Cardinal Pell has accepted Dr Collins’ apology.

Collins has long been the go-to guy of the ABC and Fairfax for criticism of the Catholic Church, much as commercial radio and television goes to Father Bob for more of those biscuits. Given what Collins has done this time, I suggest he never be heeded again.
As Cardinal Pell noted at the time of the smear:

Fairfax media today carried a story, repeated by other media outlets, alleging that Cardinal George Pell is “tainted by sex abuse scandals” and “long dogged” by allegations of sexual abuse against him.
These statements are utterly false and seriously defamatory. They have no basis in fact and deliberately misrepresent the outcome of a 2002 inquiry by a retired Victorian Supreme Court judge which completely exonerated Cardinal Pell of allegations made against him.

I suspect the Cardinal will not now sue. While I defend free speech, I wish he would sue in this instance or otherwise force Fairfax and Collins to make a substantial donation to the Catholic charities whose fundraising capacities have almost certainly been harmed by years of such vicious attacks on their faith and their priests.
(Thanks to reader Rompetdin.)
UPDATE
Incredibly, yet more defamatory smears:

Cardinal Pell, the Sydney Archbishop, again rejected claims by Melbourne lawyer Vivian Waller that he was present in 1969 when a child described being raped to another priest. Cardinal Pell attacked the claims as ‘’seriously defamatory’’ and possibly a contempt of Parliament and professional misconduct. ..
Dr Waller told the [Victorian parliamentary] inquiry that Cardinal Pell refused to listen to a boy who was raped in Ballarat in 1969, and that Cardinal Pell was in the room when the victim told another priest what had happened.
Cardinal Pell said he was not in Australia when the boy was raped and did not go to Ballarat until 1971. Ms Waller replied that although the rape was in 1969, she did not say when the victim tried to tell him. Cardinal Pell went to court in November to get the transcript of the trial of the rapist, Brother Robert Best.
The statement posted on Thursday by Cardinal Pell’s media director Katrina Lee says the court transcript shows the victim did try to complain in 1969, when Cardinal Pell was overseas.
‘’It is of some concern that Dr Waller made these false allegations against Cardinal Pell and then failed to retract them when it became apparent to her that they could not have been true,’’ Ms Lee says. ‘’False accusations such as this are not only seriously defamatory but can (in certain circumstances) amount to a contempt of Parliament and professional misconduct. At the very least, the inquiry, the media and the public has been seriously misled.’’
Dr Waller said she would respond to the inquiry after talking to her client. ‘’If the archdiocese of Sydney believe I have engaged in professional misconduct I invite them to bring a formal complaint,’’ she said.

I smell a witchhunt, in which the wildest smears are permitted - even encouraged - because the accused is already assumed to be horribly evil. 

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Thousands killed by the global warming scare

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (8:06am)

Britons are being killed by global warming policies, not global warming itself.  Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph on green schemes to make heating too expensive:

No one seems upset that in modern Britain, old people are freezing to death as hidden taxes make fuel more expensive…

Each year, an official estimate is made of the “excess winter mortality” – that is, the number of people dying of cold-related illnesses. Last winter was relatively mild, and still 24,000 perished. The indications are that this winter, which has dragged on so long and with such brutality, will claim 30,000 lives, making it one of the biggest killers in the country…
It is horribly clear that we have been focusing on the wrong enemy. Instead of making sure energy was affordable, ministers have been trying to make it more expensive, with carbon price floors and emissions trading schemes. Fuel prices have doubled over seven years, forcing millions to choose between heat and food – and government has found itself a major part of the problem…
This is slowly beginning to dawn on Ed Davey, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. He has tried to point the finger at energy companies, but his own department let the truth slip out in the small print of a report released on Wednesday. The average annual fuel bill is expected to have risen by £76 by 2020, it says. But take out Davey’s hidden taxes (carbon price floor, emissions trading scheme, etc) and we’d be paying an average £123 less.

And all that to “stop” a warming which, if it resumes, is likely to save lives:

By now, the Energy Secretary will also have realised another inconvenient truth – that, for Britain, global warming is likely to save far more lives then it threatens. Delve deep enough into the Government’s forecasts, and they speculate that global warming will lead to 6,000 fewer deaths a year, on average, by the end of the decade. This is the supposed threat facing us: children would be less likely to have snow to play in at Christmas, but more likely to have grandparents to visit over Easter. Not a bad trade-off. 

(Thanks to readers Nick, Andrew, fulchrum and others.) 

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Breeding a feral underclass

Andrew Bolt March 30 2013 (7:48am)

Ewan Crawford has seen closer up than most of us the rise of the new underclass, bred to fail:

RETIRING Chief Justice Ewan Crawford has warned of a growing underclass of people who will never have the chance of a normal life.
After almost 25 years on [Tasmania"s] Supreme Court bench, Justice Crawford ... noted the work of the court had changed dramatically in his time…
“There is ample evidence of a serious increase in offending by juveniles,” he said.
”I see a growing underclass of young people who from the day of their births have never had a hope of turning into respectable citizens. Raised in an environment of alcohol and illicit drug use, violence, unemployment and poverty, they are accustomed to these things by the time they are teenagers.
“It is a problem that won’t go away and one that governments must confront as best they can.”

That is not just the work of governments but of us all. We all can help to change a culture that is formed as much by personal example as the passing of laws.
Here is an extract from a recent judgement from Victoria’s Supreme Court to illustrate Crawford’s warning of the breeding of an underclass:

You have a formidable and serious list of prior offending for a young person. All of your prior appearances have been in the Childrens’ Court. Your first appearance was when you were 12 years old. I think you have about 19 discrete court appearances for about 140 charges…
The predominant amount of your offending has been for dishonesty and driving, but you also have a number of prior convictions for the intentional destruction of property, particularly around the ages of 14 and 15…
Your background has been a very difficult one. Your parents divorced, having separated when you were six years of age. You have two younger brothers aged 19 and 14. You do not have contact with your mother or the older of those brothers. You have a number of half brothers and sisters, both of your parents have repartnered at some stage and you did not get on with either of those partners… At various times you have lived with either your mother or father, but your father was very violent towards you and your mother provided little or no discipline.

(Thanks to reader Tassie Rooster.)
UPDATE
Reader The Loaded Dog:

I can assure you (as an operational front line cop of 21 years) the problem is far worse than most people imagine.
Juvenile crime is on the rise and one of the biggest contributors to its rise in my opinion, and most if not all of my colleagues, is the soft approach championed by the clueless of the “Victim Industry”.  When a juvenile is more concerned/inconvenienced by his or her bail conditions, such as a night curfew, than actually facing Court you may be able to imagine what we are up against as a society.
To add to the problem, I have seen recidivist juvenile car thieves, graffiti and break and enter merchant juveniles actually smiling in their watchouse mugshots. This is astounding to me. There is absolutely NO fear of the law. ZERO!! Getting charged to them is a badge of honour that they can brag about all over their facebook statuses and get “street cred” for. I have personally witnessed these statuses and how juvenile criminals become minor celebrities due to their dealings with police at a criminal level.
And the problem is only set to get worse exponentially, as while they’re out there running around at all hours of the night committing offences, they are they are also out there having sex and breeding. Try to imagine what it’s going to be like in about 5 years at this rate.

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The Garden of Morning Calm, Gapyeong, South Korea ?
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Eastern Yellow Robin just visiting our back yard on a beautiful Autumn afternoon in Springwood.— at Springwood Country Retreat.
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Japanese Maple Tree. The original colours of mother nature.
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I want you to wear leathers and helmet if you take it anywhere .. and shoes .. ambulance people call bike riders 'organ donors' for a reason. Good lord, have fun too .. that looks great! - ed===

4 her
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.. & this was the Prime part about the Royal Easter Show, oh if only I could take you home. Happy Easter Everyone!
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Scientists say they may have discovered the first meteorite from Mercury. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3fx5

The rock was found in Morocco last year and a new study suggests it came from Mercury, or a smaller Mercury-like body, and not an asteroid or Mars.
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My sole concern regarding gay marriage, as a practicing Christian, is that the churches will be forced to act against collective conscience. None of the counter examples illustrate that. One way to nullify the issue is to remove state regulation of marriage. It isn't necessary. Christians don't feel ecstasy that Ceaser approves their conduct. As things stand, civil union seems the best compromise. So which is it? Are people campaigning for states to run churches?

I have run as a legislator twice and been hit by lobbyists over this issue. Many of the lobbyists seem to be gay, but they don't seem to care about gay rights at all, this seems to be about entangling church and state.

Civil unions are possible for almost all peoples around the world. The word 'Marriage' has religious overtones and is regulated by them. State regulation of marriage dates back to 1758 in England. Before then, it was solely a religious issue. The state issue of cohabiting and legal protections for inheritance are are separate issues to marriage. The issue of gays is, imho, a mistake by Christians defending their faith against those who don't share it. A Christian has no religious right to judge gays.

As for collective conscience, the collective faithful are allowed to protect their cultural assets. This doesn't mean people can't be wrong headed and is not well defined in a legal sense, but very well understood in social terms. - edDavid Bowles One doesn't get a license for a civil union, one gets a marriage license. From a non-Christian perspective, marriage is a social contract, one made between two people and their community. I do not like the idea of ceding the word to religions, whatever etymology is cited, just like I would rather they didn't corner the market on "morality."
I've been encouraged by Scott M. Roberts to not simply post clever Internet memes about same-sex marriage, but to actually write my perspective. So here goes nothing. In our society, we have many religious groups that adhere to norms that run contrary to popular behavior. Certain groups avoid particular foods. Others shun blood transfusions. Some people avoid work on particular days, and still others shun dancing or particular clothes, even advanced technology. We permit them, as a society, to set those norms for themselves. We don't interfere (unless the norms hurt the defenseless or violate their Constitutional rights).

The proscription of homosexual relationships is just such a norm, a religious stance like eating kosher.

Of course, what complicates the matter is the fact that multiple religions share the same norm, so that Muslims and Christians alike, for example, tend to frown on the LGBT members of their communities. Nonetheless, the proscription is strictly religious. Just as I would speak out against the use of sharia to guide legal decisions, I am firmly against the use of Christianity's rejection of a gay lifestyle as springboard for restrictions on that lifestyle in the broader, secular society to which we all belong.

My Christian and Muslim friends, I respect you. I understand your religion appears to say that Muslims and Christians cannot be gay. I realize that those of you who interpret your scriptures literally will allow yourselves to be guided by those principles. However, I will not be silent when you mistakenly believe that our country should ape the strictures of your faith. You are free to frown on gays and not allow them to marry in your places of worship. But our society will decide as a whole whether in Constitutional terms, social terms, legal terms, same-sex marriage must or must not be permitted.

I suspect that you will soon understand how extreme Orthodox Jews, the Amish, conservative Mustlims and other groups feel, because it seems very likely that within the next five years or so, same-sex marriage will be legal at a national level. But that's okay, guys. It doesn't interfere with your ability to practice your religion and believe that homosexuality is wrong or abominable or whatever. Just relax.
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Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the SEAL Team Six member who died last night during a training accident. A grateful nation will never forget the sacrifices he and his fellow Team members made for all of us.

- Sarah Palin
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True Story of Miss India 2009 - an inspiring story for everyone..!!

---(Miss India 2009 - Pooja Chopra) ---
--- Neera Chopra is her mother. This is her story.---

...Neera Chopra lived through abuse, poverty and some tough choices to make her once-unwanted girl child, Pooja Chopra,

--- Neera Chopras story:---

"I don’t know where to begin... they were terrible times. My husband was well-placed, but the marriage had begun to sink almost as soon as it began. Like most women do, I tried to work against all the odds .
My in-laws insisted everything would be alright if I had a son. My first child was a daughter, and that didn’t do me any good... but I couldn’t walk out. I had lost my father, my brother was in a not-so-senior position in Bata. I didn’t want to be a burden on my family and continued to live in my marital home in Kolkata.

I looked after my mother-inlaw, who was suffering from cancer, and while bathing her, I would tell myself she would bless me and put things right.

I don’t know how I tolerated it all. The least a man can do, if he must philander, is to not flaunt his women in his wife’s face. Then began the manhandling. I still wanted my marriage to survive. I was a pure vegetarian and learnt to cook non-vegetarian delicacies thinking it would please him.

Then, I was pregnant again. When Pooja was eight months in my womb, my husband brought a girl to the house and announced he would marry her. I thought of killing myself. I hung on the slight hope that if the baby was a boy, my marriage could be saved.

When Pooja was born a girl, for three days, nobody came to the hospital. There was a squadron leader’s wife on the opposite bed, who was kind enough to give me baby clothes for Pooja to wear. When she was 20 days old, I had to make a choice. I left the house with my girls ‘ Pooja and Shubra, who was seven then. I haven’t seen my husband since. I promised myself, even if we had just one roti, we would share it, but together.

I began life in Mumbai with the support of my mother, brother, who was by then married. It wasn’t the ideal situation, especially when he had children - space, money, everything was short. I began work at the Taj Colaba and got my own place. How did I manage? Truth be told, I would put a chatai on the floor, leave two glasses of milk and some food, and bolt the door from outside before going to work. I would leave the key with the neighbours and tell the kids to shout out to them when it was time to leave for school.

Their tiny hands would do homework on their own, feed themselves on days that I worked late. My elder daughter Shubhra would make Pooja do her corrections... This is how they grew up. At a birthday party, Pooja would not eat her piece of cake, but pack it and bring it home to share with her sister. When Shubhra started working, she would skip lunch and pack a chicken sandwich that she would slip in her sister’s lunchbox the next day.

I used to pray, ‘God, punish me for my karma, but not my innocent little kids. Please let me provide them the basics.’ I used to struggle for shoes, socks, uniforms. I was living in Bangur Nagar, Goregaon. Pooja would walk four bus stops down to the St Thomas
Academy . Then, too little to cross the road, she would ask a passerby to help her. I had to save the bus money to be able to put some milk in their bodies.

Life began to change when I got a job for Rs 6,000 at the then Goa Penta. Mr Chhabra, the owner, and his wife, were kind enough to provide a loan for me. I sent my daughters to my sister’s house in Pune, with my mother as support. I spent four years working in Goa while I saved to buy a small one-bedroom house in Pune (where the family still lives). I would work 16-18 hours a day, not even taking weekly offs to accumulate leave and visit my daughters three or four times a year.

Once I bought my house and found a job in Pune, life began to settle. I worked in Hotel Blue Diamond for a year and then finally joined Mainland China ‘ which changed my life. The consideration of the team and management brought me the stability to bring them up, despite late hours and the travelling a hotelier must do.

Shubhra got a job in Hotel Blue Diamond, being the youngest employee there while still in college, and managed to finish her Masters in commerce and her BBM. Today, she is married to a sweet Catholic boy who is in the Merchant Navy and has a sweet daughter.

I continue to finish my day job and come home and take tuitions, as I have done for all these years. I also do all my household chores myself.

Through the years, Shubhra has been my anchor and Pooja, the rock. Pooja’s tiny hands have wiped away my tears when I broke down. She has stood up for me, when I couldn’t speak for myself. Academically brilliant, she participated in all extra-curricular activities. When she needed high heels to model in, she did odd shows and bought them for herself.

When I saw Pooja give her speech on TV, I knew it came from her heart. I could see the twinkle in her eye. And I thought to myself as she won ‘My God, this is my little girl.’ God was trying to tell me something.

Today, I’ve no regrets. I believe every cloud has a silver lining. As a mother, I’ve done nothing great."

Pantaloons Femina Miss India Pooja Chopra’s mother promised, ‘One day, this girl will make me proud’.

Pooja speaks on fulfilling that promise... "When I was 20 days old, my mother was asked to make a choice. It was either me, a girl child, or her husband. She chose me. As she walked out she turned around and told her husband, ‘One day, this girl will make me proud’. That day has come. Her husband went on to marry a woman who gave him two sons. Today, as I stand here a Miss India, I don’t even know if my father knows that it is me, his daughter, who has set out to conquer the world, a crown on my head.

"Our lives have not been easy, least so for my mother. Financially, emotionally, she struggled to stay afloat, to keep her job and yet allow us to be the best that we could be. I was given only one condition when I started modelling ‘ my grades wouldn’t drop.

"All the girls in the pageant worked hard, but my edge was my mother’s sacrifice, her karma. Today, when people call to congratulate me, it’s not me they pay tribute to, but to her life and her struggle. She’s the true Woman of Substance. She is my light, my mentor, my driving force."
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There's a Feeling I get when I look to the West…

This is a single exposure from 800 I took in trying to make a time lapse. I am time lapse disabled however. I always get it wrong. LOL. In the case of this failure, I set up my cxamera to take in a decent exposure, but of coarse as the light fades, the images go darker and darker and… black.

At least I got one good shot out of the 800.

California Dreamin' y'all... — with Mike Oria atBirds Landing, Ca.
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Beautiful beach in Portugal.
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It might not be, it doesn't really matter. Except a man was crucified, died, buried and he came back from the dead in accordance with scripture. We know how the image was probably made .. by accident .. soaped clean garments reacting with dead flesh. The wounds .. part of an insult, peculiar to Jesus
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General Eisenhower Warned Us.

It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

He did this because he said in words to this effect:
"Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened".

Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet.. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This is in memory of the, six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests Who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated' while many in the world looked the other way!

Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.

How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center 'NEVER HAPPENED' because it offends someone ..
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March 30: Holy Saturday (Western Christianity, 2013); Land Day (Palestinians)

• 1282 – Sicilians began to rebel against the rule of theAngevin King Charles I of Naples, starting the War of the Sicilian Vespers.
• 1822 – The United States merged East Florida and West Florida to create the Florida Territory.
• 1918 – Bolshevik and Dashnak forces suppressed a Muslim revolt in Baku, Azerbaijan, resulting up to 30,000 deaths.
• 1940 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Wang Jingwei was officially installed by Japan as head of a puppet state in China.
• 1950 – Usmar Ismail (pictured) began filming Darah dan Doa, formally recognised as the first Indonesian film.
• 1964 – Jeopardy!, the popular American game show created by Merv Griffin, made its debut on the NBC television network.

===

Events

• 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after theAvaro-Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
• 1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
• 1296 – Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
• 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: Sixth Coalition forces march into Paris.
• 1814 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Declaration which would later inspire Italian Unification.
• 1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
• 1842 – Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.
• 1844 – One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
• 1855 – Origins of the American Civil War: Bleeding Kansas – "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
• 1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
• 1863 – Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
• 1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2 cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
• 1870 – Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.
• 1885 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.
• 1909 – The Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan and Queens.
• 1910 – The Mississippi Legislature founds The University of Southern Mississippi.
• 1912 – Sultan Abdelhafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
• 1918 – Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
• 1939 – The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745km/h).
• 1940 – Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Ching-wei.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
• 1944 – Allied bombing raid on Nuremberg. Along the English eastern coast 795 aircraft are despatched, including 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos. The bombers meet resistance at the coasts of Belgium and the Netherlands from German fighters. In total, 95 bombers are lost, making it the largest Bomber Command loss of World War II.
• 1945 – World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.
• 1949 – A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
• 1954 – The Yonge Street subway line opens in Toronto. It is the first subway in Canada.
• 1961 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the US Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
• 1976 – The first Land Day protests are held in Israel/Palestine.
• 1979 – Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
• 1981 – President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr. Another 2 people were wounded at the same time.
• 1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 Mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
• 2006 – The United Kingdom Terrorism Act 2006 becomes a law.
• 2009 – Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.

[edit]Births

• 1135 – Maimonides, Jewish philosopher (d. 1204)
• 1326 – Ivan II of Russia, Grand Duke of Muscovy (d. 1359)
• 1432 – Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1481)
• 1640 – John Trenchard, English politician (d. 1695)
• 1727 – Tommaso Traetta, Italian composer (d. 1779)
• 1746 – Francisco Goya, Spanish painter (d. 1828)
• 1750 – John Stafford Smith, English composer (d. 1836)
• 1811 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist (d. 1899)
• 1820 – Anna Sewell, British author (d. 1878)
• 1830 – Mihály Zsupánek Slovene writer, poet and soldier
• 1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
• 1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (d. 1890)
• 1857 – Leon Charles Thevenin, French telegraph engineer (d. 1926)
• 1863 – Mary Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1930)
• 1864 – Franz Oppenheimer, German sociologist (d. 1943)
• 1874 – Charles Lightoller, English 2nd Officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)
• 1879 – Coen de Koning, Dutch ice skater (d. 1954)
• 1880 – Sean O'Casey, Irish dramatist (d. 1964)
• 1882 – Melanie Klein, British psychoanalyst (d. 1960)
• 1892 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (d. 1945)
• 1892 – Fortunato Depero, Italian artist (d. 1960)
• 1892 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
• 1892 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and filmmaker (d. 1918)
• 1894 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian aerospace engineer (d. 1977)
• 1895 – Jean Giono, French author (d. 1970)
• 1899 – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Bengali writer (d. 1970)
• 1902 – Brooke Astor, American philanthropist (d. 2007)
• 1902 – Ted Heath, British musician and bandleader (d. 1969)
• 1903 – Countee Cullen, American poet (d. 1946)
• 1903 – Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Ripper Collins, American baseball player (d. 1970)
• 1905 – Albert Pierrepoint, English executioner (d. 1992)
• 1907 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German Luftwaffe Officer (d. 1994)
• 1910 – Józef Marcinkiewicz, Polish mathematician (d. 1940)
• 1912 – Alvin Hamilton, Canadian politician (d. 2004)
• 1913 – Marc Davis, American animator (d. 2000)
• 1913 – Richard Helms, American CIA director (d. 2002)
• 1913 – Frankie Laine, American singer, songwriter, and actor (d. 2007)
• 1913 – Censu Tabone, Maltaian minister and nationalist, 4th President of Malta (d. 2012)
• 1914 – Sonny Boy Williamson I, American harmonica player and singer (d. 1948)
• 1919 – McGeorge Bundy, American National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
• 1921 – André Fontaine, French historian and journalist (d. 2013)
• 1922 – Turhan Bey, Turkish actor (d. 2012)
• 1923 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet (d. 1986)
• 1924 – Alan Davidson (food writer), British food writer and diplomat (d. 2003)
• 1926 – Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish entrepreneur, founder of IKEA
• 1926 – Peter Marshall, American game show host
• 1926 – Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (d. 1992)
• 1928 – Robert Badinter, French politician
• 1928 – Tom Sharpe, English author
• 1929 – Richard Dysart, American actor
• 1930 – John Astin, American actor
• 1930 – Nicolas Browne-Wilkinson, English Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, Head of the Privy Council and Vice-Chancellor of the High Court
• 1930 – Rolf Harris, Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality
• 1933 – Luis Bacalov, Italian composer
• 1933 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (d. 2007)
• 1933 – George Morfogen, American actor
• 1934 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect
• 1935 – Karl Berger, German musicologist and musician
• 1935 – Willie Galimore, American football player (d. 1964)
• 1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor and director
• 1940 – Jerry Lucas, American basketball player
• 1940 – Hans Ragnemalm, Swedish professor and judge
• 1940 – Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian singer
• 1941 – Graeme Edge, British drummer and songwriter (Moody Blues)
• 1941 – Wasim Sajjad, Pakistan politician, President of Pakistan
• 1941 – Bob Smith, American politician
• 1942 – Ruben Kun, Nauruan politician, President of Nauru
• 1942 – Kenneth Welsh, Canadian actor
• 1943 – Ken Forssi, American musician (The Surfaris and Love) (d. 1998)
• 1943 – Al Goodman, American singer Ray, Goodman & Brown (d. 2010)
• 1945 – Eric Clapton, British guitarist (The Yardbirds and Cream)
• 1945 – Johnnie Walker, British radio disc jockey and broadcaster
• 1947 – Ryszard Kotla, Polish writer and activist
• 1948 – Mervyn King, British economist, Governor of the Bank of England
• 1948 – Eddie Jordan, Irish racing driver, founder and owner of Jordan Grand Prix
• 1949 – Naomi Sims, American model, businesswoman, and author (d. 2009)
• 1949 – Liza Frulla, Quebec politician
• 1949 – Ray Magliozzi, American radio personality
• 1950 – Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor and comedian
• 1951 – Yves Séguin, Quebec politician and actor
• 1951 – Tina Monzon-Palma, Filipina journalist
• 1952 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
• 1955 – Randy VanWarmer, American singer and songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
• 1956 – Bill Butler, Scottish politician
• 1956 – Juanito Oiarzabal, Basque mountaineer
• 1956 – Shahla Sherkat, Iranian journalist
• 1957 – Michael Lehmann, American film and television director
• 1957 – Paul Reiser, American actor
• 1958 – Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor
• 1959 – Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis, New Zealand child care worker and convicted child abuser
• 1959 – Sabine Meyer, German clarinetist
• 1959 – Andrew Bailey, British banker
• 1960 – Christoph M. Ohrt, German actor
• 1961 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
• 1961 – Mike Thackwell, New Zealand Formula One driver
• 1962 – Mark Begich, American Senator
• 1962 – Bil Dwyer, American actor
• 1962 – MC Hammer, American rapper
• 1963 – Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
• 1963 – Panagiotis Tsalouchidis, Greek footballer
• 1964 – Tracy Chapman, American singer-songwriter
• 1964 – Vlado Bozinovski, Australian footballer
• 1964 – Dave Ellett, Canadian hockey player
• 1964 – Ian Ziering, American actor
• 1965 – Piers Morgan, British journalist and television personality
• 1966 – Joey Castillo, American drummer (Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal)
• 1966 – Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess grandmaster and author
• 1967 – Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (d. 2008)
• 1967 – Megumi Hayashibara, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1967 – Richard Hutten, Dutch designer
• 1968 – Donna D'Errico, American actress and model
• 1968 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer
• 1971 – Mark Consuelos, American actor
• 1971 – Mari Holden, American cycle racer
• 1972 – Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
• 1972 – Makoto Nagano, Ninja Warrior Champion
• 1973 – Ali Ahmed Qatari athlete and archer
• 1973 – DJ AM, American DJ, musician, and Businessman (Crazy Town and TRV$DJAM) (d. 2009)
• 1973 – Robin Coleman, American actress and bodybuilder
• 1973 – Jan Koller, Czech footballer
• 1973 – Matthew Pritchard, Welsh stuntman
• 1975 – Paul Griffen, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
• 1975 – Haluk Piyes, Turkish-German actor
• 1975 – Bahar Soomekh, American actress
• 1976 – Jessica Cauffiel, American actress and singer
• 1976 – Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
• 1976 – Matt Doran, Australian actor
• 1976 – Ayako Kawasumi, Japanese voice actress
• 1976 – Mark McClelland, Irish musician (Snow Patrol, Little Doses, and The Reindeer Section)
• 1976 – Obadele Thompson, Barbadian athlete
• 1978 – Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player
• 1979 – Norah Jones, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1979 – Park Kyung-lim, South Korean comedian and actor
• 1979 – Anatoliy Tymoschuk Ukrainian footballer
• 1979 – Simon Webbe, English singer and actor (Blue)
• 1980 – Fiona Gubelmann, American actress
• 1980 – Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
• 1980 – Yalın, Turkish singer and songwriter
• 1981 – Jammal Brown, American football player
• 1981 – Angie Greenup, American comedian and television host
• 1981 – Andrea Masi, Italian rugby player
• 1982 – Jason Dohring, American actor
• 1982 – Mark Hudson, English footballer
• 1982 – Philippe Mexès, French footballer
• 1983 – Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
• 1983 – Zach Gowen, American wrestler
• 1983 – Scott Moffatt, Canadian singer, musician, and model (The Moffatts)
• 1983 – Davis Romero, Panamanian baseball player
• 1983 – Hebe Tien, Taiwanese singer and actress (S.H.E)
• 1984 – Mario Ančić, Croatian tennis player
• 1984 – Anna Nalick, American singer-songwriter
• 1984 – Samantha Stosur, Australian tennis player
• 1986 – Beni, Japanese singer and songwriter
• 1986 – Simon R. Baker, Aboriginal-Canadian actor
• 1986 – Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
• 1987 – Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Canadian hockey player
• 1987 – Trent Barreta, American wrestler
• 1988 – Capri Anderson, American pornographic actress
• 1988 – Thanasis Papazoglou, Greek footballer
• 1989 – Chris Sale, American baseball player
• 1990 – Allie Gonino, American actress
• 1990 – Cassie Scerbo, American actress
• 1990 – Ádám Simon, Hungarian footballer
• 1990 – Lee Gi Kwang, Korean singer and dancer (BEAST)
• 1990 – Rodney Strasser, Sierra Leonean footballer
• 1991 – Kim Grajdek, German tennis player
• 1994 – Haruka Shimazaki, Japanese singer (AKB48)
• 1994 – Sarah Solovay, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1994 – Jetro Willems, Dutch footballer

[edit]Deaths

• 365 – Jin Aidi, emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (b. 341)
• 987 – Arnulf II of Flanders
• 1202 – Joachim of Fiore
• 1486 – Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1526 – Konrad Mutian, German humanist (b. 1471)
• 1540 – Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, German statesman and Archbishop of Salzburg (b. 1469)
• 1559 – Adam Ries, German mathematician (b. 1492)
• 1587 – Ralph Sadler, English statesman (b. 1507)
• 1662 – François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet (b. 1592)
• 1707 – Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, French architect (b. 1633)
• 1764 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian composer (b. 1695)
• 1783 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (b. 1718)
• 1804 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, French aristocrat and soldier, Marshal of France (b. 1718)
• 1806 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (b. 1757)
• 1830 – Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden (b. 1763)
• 1840 – Beau Brummell, English fashion arbiter (b. 1778)
• 1842 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (b. 1755)
• 1864 – Louis Schindelmeisser, German clarinetist, conductor and composer (b. 1811)
• 1873 – Bénédict Morel, French physician (b. 1809)
• 1879 – Thomas Couture, French painter and teacher (b. 1815)
• 1886 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, French Canadian politician (b. 1838)
• 1896 – Charilaos Trikoupis, Greek politician, seven times prime minister (b. 1832)
• 1908 – Chester Gillette, American convicted murderer of Grace Brown (b. 1883)
• 1912 – Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
• 1925 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (b. 1861)
• 1935 – Romanos Melikian, Armenian composer (b. 1883)
• 1936 – Conchita Supervía, Spanish opera singer (b. 1895)
• 1940 – Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet Scottish politician (b. 1876)
• 1943 – Jan Bytnar, Polish activist (b. 1921)
• 1943 – Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski, Polish activist (b. 1920)
• 1945 – Béla Balogh, Hungarian film director (b. 1885)
• 1949 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
• 1950 – Léon Blum, French prime minister (b. 1872)
• 1952 – Jigme Wangchuck, Bhutan King (b. 1905)
• 1954 – Pauline Brunius, Swedish stage and film actress, theatre and film director (b. 1881)
• 1955 – Harl McDonald, American composer, conductor, pianist and teacher (b. 1899)
• 1956 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English novelist and humorist, inventor of the clerihew (b. 1875)
• 1959 – Daniil Andreev, Russian writer and mystic (b. 1906)
• 1959 – Riccardo Zanella, Italian-Slovenen politician, president of Free State of Fiume (b. 1875)
• 1960 – Joseph Haas, German composer and teacher (b. 1879)
• 1960 – Fritz Klimsch, German sculptor (b. 1870)
• 1961 – Philibert Jacques Melotte, British astronomer (b. 1880)
• 1963 – Aleksandr Gauk, Russian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
• 1965 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
• 1966 – Erwin Piscator, German director and producer (b. 1893)
• 1966 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
• 1966 – Newbold Morris, American politician (b. 1902)
• 1967 – Jean Toomer, American writer (b. 1894)
• 1968 – Bobby Driscoll, American actor (b. 1937)
• 1969 – Lucien Bianchi, Belgian racing driver (b. 1934)
• 1970 – Heinrich Brüning, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
• 1971 – Selmer Jackson, American actor (b. 1888)
• 1972 – Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
• 1972 – Peter Whitney, American actor (b. 1916)
• 1973 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish aviator (b. 1903)
• 1975 – Peter Bamm, German writer (b. 1897)
• 1977 – Abdel Halim Hafez, Egyptian singer and actor (b. 1929)
• 1977 – Levko Revutsky, Ukrainian composer, teacher, and activist (b. 1889)
• 1978 – George Paine, English cricketer (b. 1908)
• 1979 – Airey Neave, British politician (b.1916)
• 1979 – Ray Ventura, French jazz bandleader (b. 1908)
• 1981 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher (b. 1889)
• 1983 – Pál Kadosa, Hungarian composer (b. 1903)
• 1984 – Karl Rahner, German theologian (b. 1904)
• 1985 – Harold Peary, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
• 1986 – James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
• 1986 – John Ciardi, American poet, translator, and etymologist (b. 1916)
• 1988 – Edgar Faure, French politician (b. 1908)
• 1990 – Harry Bridges, Australian-American union leader (b. 1901)
• 1992 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archeologist and professor (b. 1919)
• 1993 – Richard Diebenkorn, American painter (b. 1922)
• 1994 – Sid Weiss, American jazz double-bassist (b. 1914)
• 1995 – Rozelle Claxton, American jazz pianist (b. 1913)
• 1995 – Tony Lock, English cricketer (b. 1929)
• 1995 – Paul A. Rothchild, American music producer (b. 1935)
• 1996 – Hugh Falkus, British writer, film maker, World War II pilot and angler (b. 1917)
• 1996 – Ryoei Saito, Japanese businessman (b. 1916)
• 1999 – Gary Morton, American producer (b. 1924)
• 2000 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian politician, President of Austria (b. 1915)
• 2002 – Anand Bakshi, Indian lyricist (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
• 2003 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
• 2003 – Valentin Pavlov, Soviet politician (b. 1937)
• 2004 – Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (b. 1908)
• 2004 – Hubert Gregg, British broadcaster (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Michael King, New Zealand historian (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Timi Yuro, American singer (b. 1940)
• 2005 – Robert Creeley, American poet (b. 1926)
• 2005 – Emil Dimitrov, Bulgarian singer (b. 1940)
• 2005 – Milton Green, American athlete (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (b. 1968)
• 2005 – Fred Korematsu, American civil rights activist (b. 1919)
• 2005 – Derrick Plourde, American drummer (Lagwagon, Bad Astronaut, The Ataris, Mad Caddies, and Rich Kids on LSD) (b. 1971)
• 2005 – Don Rose, American radio personality (b. 1934)
• 2005 – Chrysanthos Theodoridis, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1934)
• 2005 – O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and cartoonist (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Red Hickey, American football coach (b. 1917)
• 2006 – John McGahern, Irish novelist (b. 1934)
• 2007 – John Roberts, Canadian politician (b. 1933)
• 2008 – Dith Pran, Cambodian photographer (b. 1942)
• 2008 – David Leslie, British race car driver (b. 1953)
• 2008 – Richard Lloyd, British race car driver (b. 1945)
• 2010 – Jaime Escalante, Bolivian educator (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Morris R. Jeppson, American second lieutenant and assistant weaponeer on the Enola Gay (b. 1922)
• 2010 – Martin Sandberger, German military officer (b. 1911)
• 2012 – Robert R. Beezer, American federal judge (b. 1928)
• 2012 – Ron Gaunt, Australian cricketer (b. 1934)

[edit]Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Blessed Amadeus IX of Savoy
  • John Climacus
  • Mamertinus of Auxerre
  • Quirinus of Neuss
  • Tola of Clonard
  • March 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Festival of Salus (Roman Empire)
• Land Day commemoration (Palestine / Israel)
• National Doctors' Day (United States)
• Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago)

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Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for March 29th. Enjoy! From the Blog The bloody company Hollywood keeps Bleeding-heart liberal Robert Redford is already the subject of early Oscar buzz... Please click here to read the rest The offensiveness of corrupt, old GOP Beltway barnacle Don Young Longtime readers know my contempt for GOP Rep. Don Young goes back to the very beginning days of this blog... Please click here to read the rest Government grant of the day: Feds give $880,000 for study of snail sex First came news of a $400,000 grant to Yale to study duck genitalia (with taxpayers getting stuck with the bill), and now it’s time to double down... Please click here to read the rest More From the Right Side of the Web The Daily Caller: Texas school backs off teaching 9/11 was America's fault Hot Air: New Obama gas initiative could force rise in gas prices Dana Loesch: Piers Morgan admits truth behind magazine restrictions Twitchy: GOP senators unmoved by president’s ‘shame on us’ campaign for gun control Twitchy: Hilarious: On final ‘Starting Point,’ Special Snowflake Soledad O’Brien says, ‘Facts matter’ Michelle's Top Tweets And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day Schmuck.

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Know God’s heart of love and believe that He wants you blessed more than you want to be blessed! Check out today's devotional. Be sure to click "like" to help spread the word! Thanks, all! http://bit.ly/ZHdaQj
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Blessed by Joseph Prince's messages? Now you can hear the latest messages by Joseph that very week via iTunes!

Check out Joseph Prince on iTunes!
http://bit.ly/VhhVD7
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Believe that Jesus is working all things together for your good today, even when it doesn’t seem like anything is happening.
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This week's audio and video podcasts are now available! Subscribe to or download Joseph Prince's podcasts today!http://www.josephprince.org/podcast/
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Today, let us be conscious of how Jesus willingly suffered and laid down His life for us at the cross, so that we can have an abundant life today, and for all eternity. Through His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus has completely defeated the powers of darkness. And because He rose again, we have Jesus’ resurrection power in us. The very same power that conquered disease, darkness and death, is in you!
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Come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace to help in your time of need! Check out today's devotional. Be sure to click "like" to help spread the word! Thanks, all! http://bit.ly/ZI6KTf
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Beloved, step into a greater measure of Jesus’ grace and peace when you see Him as your loving Savior who has forgiven all your sins through His finished work at the cross!

Click below to watch a short clip of this uplifting message. Be sure to click 'Like' and share this with your friends! Amen!
http://bit.ly/10jI5T6
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In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 4:10).
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To experience God’s goodness every day, stop trying to earn it. Focus on God’s love for you, and how His grace has made you righteous and accepted in His eyes to receive His blessings freely.

Declare this over yourself today: “Because of Jesus’ finished work, God gives me what Christ deserves, not what I deserve. I’m expecting good things to happen to me this week because God loves me! He has great plans for me!” 
http://josephprince.com/