Mon Jun 17th Todays News

Happy birthday and many happy returns AiPing. Su. On your day in 1579, Explorer Francis Drake landed in a region of present-day California, naming it New Albion and claiming it for England. In 1843, New Zealand Wars: An armed posse of Europeans set out from Nelson to arrest Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha and clashed with Māori, resulting in 26 deaths. In 1900, Boxer Rebellion: Allied naval forces captured the Taku Forts after a brief but bloody battle. In 1972, Five men were arrested for attempted burglary on the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., igniting the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon more than two years later. I don't know what that means for you .. you are adventurous and no doubt careful with rebellious boxes. I think it means prosperity, growth and good tidings. And that is a fine adventure.
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Sexuality rubbish a tawdry affair

Piers Akerman – Sunday, June 16, 2013 (7:37pm)

THE chattering classes whipped themselves into a lather Sunday afternoon claiming that I raised questions about First Bloke Tim Mathieson’s sexuality on the ABC Insiders program that morning.

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THEY LISTEN TO CRAZY PEOPLE

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (3:24pm)

As previously noted, Twitter obsession is hurting the left: 

Julia Gillard’s minders are living in a “bubble world of Twitter delusion”, according to a public relations expert.

Mercer PR principal Lyall Mercer says the prime minister’s office appears to be using social media to plan her political strategy …

“The Twittersphere was quite happy about the blue-tie comments but when you look at the polling that’s come out today, it’s clear they’re on the wrong track.

“If you talk to everyday people, they think the blue-tie attack was ridiculous.” 

Speaking of our favourite fashion accessory …

UPDATE. “That tie is all very well,” comments Simple Simon, “but is he connecting the dots?”

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BLUE TIDE

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (6:28am)

The Prime Minister’s blue tie crying and menu moaning have sent her party crashing to below 30 per cent of primary votes: 

Julia Gillard’s controversial attempt to rescue Labor by claiming Tony Abbott would marginalise women and change abortion rights has backfired, with support among male voters collapsing.

In a finding certain to ratchet up pressure on the Prime Minister’s besieged leadership, the latest Fairfax-Nielsen poll has found Labor’s standing has continued to slide, led entirely by a 7 per cent exodus of men, while failing to lift substantially among female voters …

At 29 per cent, Labor’s primary support has slipped below the 30 per cent barrier for only the second time this year. With the Coalition attracting 47 per cent of first-preference votes, Labor trails by a staggering 18 points on primary votes, putting the overall two party-preferred vote at 43-57 in favour of the Coalition or 42-58 based on how the 1400 respondents said they would allocate preferences. 

But maybe all of that gender warfare was worth it: 

Pollster John Stirton said the swing against Labor occurred only among men. ‘’Labor’s primary vote was down 7 points among men and up 1 point among women.” 

Congrats, Julia. All your hard work has engineered a female vote swing that falls within the margin of error. The Prime Minister will require the hide of a rhinocer … the hide of a rhinocrust … the hide of a rhinotax … the hide of a really hidey thing to ride this out.

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AUSTRALIA’S LEADING PARANOIACS

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (5:49am)

Fear breeds fear. A calm and rational person, sitting at home, might hear a car pull into the driveway and think: “Hey, visitors.” Hearing the same thing, a terrified and paranoid person imagines demons.

The Labor government and its supporters have imagined demons for three years now. One particular demon looms above them all, and is called to Labor minds by almost any stimuli.

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TEAM PLAY

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (5:10am)

Step one: the ABC’s Insiders program lists Howard Sattler’s interview with Julia Gillard as a topic for discussion on Sunday’s show.

Step two: leftoids demand that Insiders guest Piers Akerman be banned for discussing Howard Sattler’s interview with Julia Gillard.

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OUTNUMBERED BY IDIOTS

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (5:08am)

Even after six years in government, Labor is being beaten by carbon children: 

The Youth Climate Coalition has double the membership of the ALP … 

Perhaps the ALP should explore the Youth Climate Coalition’s innovative funding tactics.  They might also adopt the Climate Coalition’s flexible definition of youth.

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GOALS AND POLES

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (4:53am)

Amazing improvisation turns an ordinary soccer match into a magnificent spectacle of competitive multiculturalism:

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NEXT: KATY PERRY ON SYRIA

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (4:47am)

Economics expert and terrorism authority Russell Brand now turns his mind to the NSA scandal. Brought to you by CNN.

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DOLLARS FOR FEATHERS

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (4:06am)

Everything green is expensive and stupid: 

A new analysis of government and industry figures shows that wind turbine owners received £1.2billion in the form of a consumer subsidy, paid by a supplement on electricity bills last year. They employed 12,000 people, to produce an effective £100,000 subsidy on each job. 

Once subsidies are taken out of the equation, alternative energy types don’t have much to fall back on. Then again, asPierre Gosselin points out: 

Not being able to think more than one step ahead is a chronic illness of the Greens. 

While subsidies soar, something else is slowing down: 

The rise in the surface temperature of earth has been markedly slower over the last 15 years than in the 20 years before that. And that lull in warming has occurred even as greenhouse gases have accumulated in the atmosphere at a record pace.

The slowdown is a bit of a mystery to climate scientists. 

Well, these people thought a carbon tax would be popular. They exist in a constant state of puzzlement.

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THEY NEVER STOP TALKING

Tim Blair – Monday, June 17, 2013 (3:35am)

David Thompson’s vision of hell: 

In my nightmare I’m sitting in this audience of socialists and communists, unable to leave, while other socialists and communists – more statusful socialists and communists – spend an hour telling me how “serious” they are, and how important and “dangerous” their ideas are. 

It’s just like my old share house in Carlton, except everyone has grey hair and pension plans. Let the horror continue.

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Shorten would anger his wife if he sacked Gillard

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (5:28pm)

Bill Shorten would not cross his wife, would he? And she does not mind compromising either her husband or mother:

Key minister Bill Shorten’s wife has agreed to lead the Women for Gillard group - as Mr Shorten faces pressure to defect to the Kevin Rudd camp.
Chloe Bryce’s leadership of the new group, set up to campaign for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, would put Mr Shorten in a precarious position if he bowed to public calls for him to support a return to the former prime minister.
Ms Bryce, also the daughter of Governor-General Quentin Bryce, is president of the board of Women for Gillard - modelled after the Women for Obama group that campaigned for Barack Obama in last year’s US presidential election.

What an incestuous group is Labor, with its friends in high places. And so little sense of boundaries. 

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On 2GB tonight - plus Media Watch special

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (4:09pm)

On with Steve Price from 8pm. Listen live here. Talkback:  131 873. 

Plus our Media Watch special - one the ABC Media Watch wouldn’t ever touch.
Listen to all past shows here.     

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Gillard divides and falls: Labor 42 to Coalition 58

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (3:09pm)

Julia Gillard last week asked women to vote for her because she was a woman, too - and the victim of nasty, sexist men.
It worked! Here’s John Stirton on his latest Nielsen poll:

‘’The ALP two-party vote… rose 2 points among women,’’ he said.

Small problem, though. Half the voters aren’t women and don’t appreciate having Gillard play the victim card and don’t want to be led by a Prime Victim:

Labor’s standing has continued to slide, led entirely by a 7 per cent exodus of men…
The poll coincides with the final sittings of the 43rd Parliament and shows that at 29 per cent, Labor’s primary support has slipped below the 30 per cent barrier for only the second time this year ... putting the overall two party-preferred vote at 43-57 in favour of the Coalition or 42-58 based on how the 1400 respondents said they would allocate preferences.

But hope for Labor - of a sort. Switch to Rudd and we could get another minority government just like this one, clinging to the Greens and Tony Windsor for survival:

But the poll also shows that with Kevin Rudd in charge, almost the entire advantage to the Coalition would be wiped out, taking Labor’s primary vote up to 40 per cent, the Coalition’s down to 42 per cent, and the two party-preferred split to a dead-heat 50-50.

I said a year and a half ago Labor should replace Gillard. They might finally have got the message, too late.
I doubt the Rudd transition would be quite that smooth, but the Liberals must worry. Time they prepared some ”guilty party” advertising: Rudd, Gillard - it’s still the same Labor.
UPDATE
Essential Media poll - surprising 46 to 54 split.

UPDATE
Rudd doesn’t want the job if he’ll be undermined like he undermined Gillard:

KEVIN Rudd has privately warned colleagues that unless Bill Shorten and other key ministers were prepared to publicly put their name to a putsch against Julia Gillard, he would resist any calls for a comeback.

UPDATE
Troy Bramston agrees Rudd doesn’t want the job unless he’s given a chance to win:

Last week, AWU national secretary Paul Howes said he would not be directing MPs to support Gillard in any possible future caucus leadership ballot. Howes supports Gillard. But his decision not to actively canvass support for her, like he did publicly and privately in the 2010 coup, is a signal… . It also leaves [Bill] Shorten room to carefully weigh up the option of either sticking with Gillard or switching to Rudd without fear of reprisal from his AWU powerbase....
Rudd, however, is still unlikely to challenge for the leadership. Nor does not he want to inherit a divided party with support from only a small majority. Rudd wants a draft of goodwill that places a premium on unity and a will to fight for electoral victory....
A return to Rudd must also be coupled with the authority to refocus Labor’s political strategy, recast its policies and flag internal party reform. This agenda could include: candidate selection, the party’s union links and the organisation of caucus and conferences.
Rudd Redux, however, comes with great risks. It could be bloody. The cabinet is divided; several ministers won’t serve again in a Rudd government.

Peter Hartcher:

The electoral effect of Gillard’s gender comments is so serious that it will probably deter future political leaders from attempting to divide the sexes for political purposes.
She misjudged the electorate. Thinking the people stupid, prejudiced and exploitable, she made a blatant effort to manipulate voters by dividing them. It was the third social dividing line she has attempted to exploit.
It didn’t work for her when she used ‘’class war’’ rhetoric dividing workers from the wealthy. It didn’t work for her when she used xenophobic rhetoric dividing foreign workers from local. She thought, however, that it would somehow work for her if she tried to foment hostility to ‘’men in blue ties’’ to divide women from men. It has not. Once again, the people have been smarter than the politicians seeking to manipulate them.

UPDATE
Gillard has an uncanny ability to divide Australians but unite her enemies:

GREENS leader Christine Milne and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop have warned against Julia Gillard’s revival of gender politics, calling it an unfair attempt to silence legitimate criticism of her government.
Key independent MP Andrew Wilkie described the Prime Minister’s elevation of abortion as an election issue as “scaremongering” and condemned her claim that female voices would be banished under a Tony Abbott-led government as “patent nonsense”.

UPDATE
Amanda Vanstone:

Quite why Julia Gillard constantly chooses to vacate the high ground to which her office so readily lends itself I cannot imagine. It is as if some type of demon is constantly drawing her downward to the scrappy place usually reserved for desperate leaders of the opposition.

The position of gravitas, the high ground, the prime ministerial perspective, is left vacant for Tony Abbott to occupy. The Prime Minister hands it to him on a plate. Uncontested.

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Why did Malcolm Farr pretend not to have heard the gay rumor?

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (2:04pm)

Malcolm Farr on Insiders yesterday pretended never to have heard of the scurrilous “Tim Mathieson is gay” rumor, and instead hung News Ltd colleague Piers Akerman out to dry:

Fairfax radio host Howard Sattler was sacked last week after asking Ms Gillard whether her partner Tim Mathieson was gay because he was a male hairdresser…
Akerman said Sattler’s behaviour was the “most stupid thing he had ever heard on public broadcasting” and that the rumours had circulated in the Canberra press gallery since 2010.
‘‘A lot of people in the Canberra gallery have been saying the same thing ,’’ he said.
Host Barrie Cassidy criticised the comment.
“You’ve just done precisely what Howard Sattler did and passed on rumours and that’s just as pathetic, quite frankly,’’ he said.
Akerman later denied passing on rumours, saying he was just pointing out how wrong Sattler was to air the rumours when the press gallery had not.

Farr on the show denied having heard the rumor and horse-laughed at Akerman for suggesting it:

Akerman: You’ve never heard that...?
Farr: Hur, hur. Ha, Ha.
Akerman: A lot of people in the Canberra gallery have been saying the same thing…
Farr: Hur, hur. Ha, ha.
Akerman:  Malcolm, you’ve never heard it either?
Farr: No!
Akerman: Oh really?
Farr: Really.  Well, I think you had better name names.

Farr. Malcolm Farr.
Yes, Farr, who two years ago wrote this about the very same rumor:

TWO ABC broadcasters have called Julia Gillard a “whore” and accused boyfriend Tim Mathieson of being gay in blistering Twitter attacks as the Prime Minister prepared to open the ALP national conference today...

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Grace Collier becomes a “right-winger” for criticising Gillard’s cleavage

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (10:52am)

Now the ABC is tying itself into knots with this I’m-more-outraged-about-sexism-than-you game which has already taken a Fairfax scalp:

THE ABC has defended the broadcast of allegations that Prime Minister Julia Gillard was disrespecting the nation by showing cleavage in federal Parliament.
Fairfax columnist and industrial relations consultant Grace Collier told a panel discussion on ABC Radio National on Sunday that it was wrong to show so much flesh during parliamentary sittings as it was an issue of workplace conduct…
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for a Prime Minister to be showing her cleavage in Parliament,” the Australian Financial Review columnist said during the Outsiders panel segment.
“It’s not something I want to see. In my opinion as an industrial relations consultant, it is inappropriate to be in Parliament, it is disrespectful to yourself and to the Australian community and to the parliament to present yourself in a manner that is unprofessional...”
Her comments were immediately howled down by the other people on the show, saying she was a right-winger, a claim Ms Collier denied.

What fun. Love the way Collier, a former union official, is immediately accused of being a right-winger instead, as if no one of the Left has ever criticised the dress sense of the Prime Minister.
In this case, however, I think Collier is simply wrong - on the evidence.
Meanwhile another astonishing beat-up:

The comments come amid Parliament’s gender wars after Fairfax radio host Howard Sattler was sacked last week after asking Ms Gillard whether her partner Tim Mathieson was gay because he was a male hairdresser.
Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman also came under fire yesterday over an appearance on ABC’s Insiders.
Akerman said Sattler’s behaviour was the “most stupid thing he had ever heard on public broadcasting” and that the rumours had circulated in the Canberra press gallery since 2010.
‘‘A lot of people in the Canberra gallery have been saying the same thing ,’’ he said.
Host Barrie Cassidy criticised the comment.
“You’ve just done precisely what Howard Sattler did and passed on rumours and that’s just as pathetic, quite frankly,’’ he said.
Akerman later denied passing on rumours, saying he was just pointing out how wrong Sattler was to air the rumours when the press gallery had not.

What a joke. The ABC itself raises the issue of what Sattler said - stupid, rude and unforgivably intrusive - and a journalist is meant to pretend this very rumor (or one which gave rise to it) was never discussed before by journalists (and was rightly dropped by them as baseless and intrusive)?
Are we also to pretend we don’t know where Sattler’s line of questioning was going - a fact that explains some of the vehemence of our denunciation of him? Are we to keep quiet that the background is the spreading of a vile viral email which used a maliciously doctored document to falsely smear Gillard as lesbian? ("Smear" as in lying about her sexuality.)
In fact, in 2011 ABC staff themselves referred to the “Tim is gay” rumor that ABC staff now denounce - and without a single ABC presenter being sacked:

TWO ABC broadcasters have called Julia Gillard a “whore” and accused boyfriend Tim Mathieson of being gay in blistering Twitter attacks as the Prime Minister prepared to open the ALP national conference today…
“Just because you don’t want to marry your gay boyfriend doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to marry mine,” tweeter Triple J identity and musician Brendan McLean.
Another Triple J broadcaster, Paul Verhoeven, .. wrote “boo you whore” about the Prime Minister but later deleted it, claiming it was merely a reference to to a popular movie.
The Triple J film commentator said the tweet had been taken down “because the ABC were copping complaints from people who clearly haven’t seen Mean Girls,” he said in a later tweet.

Toughen up, people.  Too much panic and hypocrisy.
Piers Akerman replies to the Leftists now using this excuse to try to get him banned from the ABC. 

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Police seize files from Gillard’s former employer, Slater & Gordon

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (10:45am)

The AWU scandal

When was the last time police investigated a sitting Prime Minister?

POLICE from the Victorian Fraud Squad have seized boxes of legal documents from Julia Gillard’s former employer, Slater & Gordon lawyers, as part of an ongoing probe into the AWU slush fund scandal…
Fraud Squad detectives want to examine all legal files related to controversial legal work done by Ms Gillard and the firm for her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson, the allegedly corrupt Australian Workers Union senior official, and his union sidekick, Ralph Blewitt, in the 1990s…
Mr Blewitt has ... admitted to police his role in what he has described as a major fraud with Mr Wilson.
Mr Wilson and Ms Gillard, whose relationship ended over the AWU scandal in 1995, have repeatedly and strenuously denied any wrongdoing, and accused Mr Blewitt of being unreliable and a liar…
The legal work done at Slater & Gordon for the two men includes the Prime Minister’s role in helping Mr Wilson establish the AWU Workplace Reform Association.
Ms Gillard says she provided legal advice to help set up the AWU Workplace Reform Association, which Mr Wilson later used to carry out the alleged fraud. She later described the association as a “slush fund” for the re-election of union officials, but said she had no knowledge of its operations.

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Clive Palmer should concentrate on his business

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (9:36am)

I said from the start Clive Palmer was a political buffoon. The ABC would have howled him down as a clown trying to buy his way into Parliament if it wasn’t for his habit of attacking Tony Abbott and declaring ABC presenters the best in the land:

TONY JONES: Clive Palmer, that’s all we have time for. We thank you very much for coming in with that news and hopefully we’ll find out more in the future.
CLIVE PALMER: Thanks a lot, Tony. You’re the best journalist in Australia. God bless you.

And:

TONY JONES: Just one very quick question: if you did actually end up buying yourself a newspaper in Queensland, what would you call it? The Palmer Times?
CLIVE PALMER: Well, I don’t know what I’d call it, but I know who I’d put there for as editor, if you’d take the job.
TONY JONES: (Laughs). Alright, we’ll just leave that hanging in the air. Thank you very much, Clive Palmer.

And:

CLIVE PALMER: Well we don’t want to give you all the headlines in one night, Tony. We want to come back - even though you’re the best journalist in Australia, we want to ...
TONY JONES: Yes, yes, thankyou very much for that, but let’s actually ask a few questions....
CLIVE PALMER: ... there are five basic things that we differ from the Liberal Party. The first one is that we don’t believe our party officials should be lobbyists. Tony Abbott does. So if you want Tony Abbott’s policies and you want lobbyists, vote for Tony Abbott. But if you think that I do, we need to have better proprietary and not have lobbyist running the government, give us your vote…
TONY JONES: Clive Palmer, a pleasure to talk to you. An interesting day for everybody. You may have changed the nature of politics in Queensland for sure, perhaps around the country. Thankyou very much.

In fact, Palmer isn’t going to change anything at all. He’s so short of credible candidates that he’s signing up relatives, employees and former sports stars.
Now we see that if he ever gets to run the country like he’s running his business…

CLIVE Palmer has told his closest advisers and a major Chinese company that he will have to axe about 1000 Australian jobs from his businesses unless he receives a massive cash injection.
The Australian has obtained a document in which Mr Palmer warns “the livelihood of over 1000 employees (of his) group and associated companies depends upon” receiving an urgent payment from the company, CITIC Pacific.
The warnings in the leaked March 13 document show that the tycoon is desperate for cash as his main businesses, a nickel refinery in Townsville and a Sunshine Coast resort, continue to rack up heavy losses.

UPDATE
Still, he tells good jokes:

Mining magnate and aspiring Prime Minister Clive Palmer says the Australian Labor Party’s latest round of leadership speculation has been sparked by the growing threat of his Palmer United Party.

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Is there a campaign for ABC individualists?

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (9:30am)

The media union should have chosen a better name for its new campaign than one that confirms every suspicion of conservatives:

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No warming, but now signs of cooling instead

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (9:18am)

Global warming - dud predictions, Global warming - general

Professor Judith Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, says the question now is not whether global warming has paused, but whether global cooling has started:

Attention in the public debate seems to be moving away from the 15-17 yr ‘pause’ to the cooling since 2002 (note: I am receiving inquiries about this from journalists).  This period since 2002 is scientifically interesting, since it coincides with the ‘climate shift’ circa 2001/2002 posited by Tsonis and others.  This shift and the subsequent slight cooling trend provides a rationale for inferring a slight cooling trend over the next decade or so, rather than a flat trend from the 15 yr ‘pause’.

To those warmists shouting “I accept the science” we can only respond: “I wish you would.”
Christopher Monckton declares the climate models of warmists are now conclusively broken:

Superimposing the temperature curve and its least-squares linear-regression trend on the statistical insignificance region bounded by the means of the trends on these published uncertainties since January 1996 demonstrates that there has been no statistically-significant warming in 17 years 4 months...

Monckton, too, sees a cooling trend - albeit over a period too short to mean much at all:

It is better to focus on the ever-widening discrepancy between predicted and observed warming rates. The IPCC’s forthcoming Fifth Assessment Report backcasts the interval of 34 models’ global warming projections to 2005, since when the world should have been warming at a rate equivalent to 2.33 Cº/century. Instead, it has been cooling at a rate equivalent to a statistically-insignificant 0.87 Cº/century:

UPDATE
Reader egbert makes the point I failed to:

AB has quoted Lord Monckton, who confirms that the cooling, in and of itself, is statistically insignificant. The real issue is the discrepancy between the “science is settled, the debate is over” climate models and the “inconvenient truth” revealed by the data. The graph above asserts that the difference between models and reality is now statistically significant. 

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Great green rort: $160,000 for every wind power job

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (9:04am)

Global warming - general

Wind power is just a very expensive way to do nothing to stop global warming - but do plenty to make green carpet-baggers rich:

A new analysis of government and industry figures shows that wind turbine owners [in Britain] received £1.2billion in the form of a consumer subsidy, paid by a supplement on electricity bills last year. They employed 12,000 people, to produce an effective £100,000 subsidy on each job.

(Thanks to reader James, Michael and others. UPDATE: Oops. Thanks to the dozens of people who pointed out the typo in the headline.) 

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Coalition right to link boat people policy to our safety

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (8:59am)

Boat people policy

The Coalition yesterday made its most direct link between boat people policy and the safety of Australians – a link too long denied.
It vowed to return even boat people already granted refugee status to their home countries if they broke a law here attracting a jail term of more than a year.
“There is a very direct link between the security of our borders and the safety of our streets,” shadow Attorney-General George Brandis told The Bolt Report.
“If you have come to Australians, you’re not a citizen and you are looking to the generosity of the Australian people to protect you from what you say is persecution overseas then you shouldn’t in the Coalition’s view be in the position to commit serious crimes and expect to be given permanent visas.”
So back go asylum seekers or refugees – even back to the danger they fled, Brandis says – if they’ve proved to be a danger to Australians. And they will have no right of appeal.

Making this link has been for too long dismissed as fear-mongering .
When Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey in 2009 warned some boats could include terrorists - “You insert yourself in a crowd of 100 for which there is great sympathy for the other 99” – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd demanded he be sacked.
But the head of ASIO last month confirmed 58 boat people had since been judged to pose a threat to national security.
But with so many boat people now arriving – more than 100 a day, and 43,000 in all since Labor weakened the border laws – the danger goes beyond a few terrorists.
Many arrivals lack English or marketable skills. An Immigration Department survey showed that even after five years, just nine per cent of Afghans claiming asylum had a job.
We risk importing a mainly Muslim and disaffected underclass. To make things worse, Labor now bans boat people from work, forcing them to survive on benefits of just $220 a week.
Already doctors and police in Melbourne warn marginalised young Afghan boat people are becoming more isolated and are turning to crime and gangs.
“There are specific neighbourhoods where tension has escalated to violence,” South Eastern Melbourne Medicare Local said.

Victoria Police also say Sudanese or Somali-born residents – mostly refugees - in Dandenong are five times more likely to commit a crime than are the wider community.
No doubt there is much more we could do to help boat people settle in. No doubt many boat people want nothing better than to do so.
But there is also no doubt this border shambles is exposing more Australians – usually in poor, outer suburbs – to extra dangers.
This is not smart. Not fair. 

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We’re too wet to waste millions on alarmists who said we’d be dry

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (8:58am)

Global warming - dud predictions

WE’RE broke and we’re wet. It’s time governments cancelled every grant to every global warming alarmist who claimed we faced drought.
Let’s start with Environment Victoria, just made rich with another outrageous handout from the Gillard Government.
These warming preachers helped push the former Bracks Labor government into banning a big, cheap dam on the fast-flowing Mitchell River - or anywhere else.
What was the point of a dam, Environment Victoria scoffed in 2008. Global warming was drying up the rain.
“Climate change caused by humans pumping greenhouse gas pollution into the atmosphere is contributing to the drying out of southeastern Australia. In a drier climate any new dams will fill with hot air faster than water.” 

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Is Garrett in charge of education a “factual incorrection”?

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (8:38am)

Schools minister Peter Garrett coins a new word on ABC 774:

... factual incorrections ... 

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Obama takes sides in an Islamic conflict coming to our suburbs

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (8:19am)

As Alexander Downer warned yesterday, America is getting dragged into a very, very dangerous proxy war - and its allies could soon become its better-armed enemies:

Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East...
For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East.
The Independent on Sunday has learned that a military decision has been taken in Iran – even before last week’s presidential election – to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebellion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in just over two years…
America’s alliance now includes the wealthiest states of the Arab Gulf, the vast Sunni territories between Egypt and Morocco, as well as Turkey and the fragile British-created monarchy in Jordan… Up to 3,000 American ‘advisers’ are now believed to be in Jordan, and the creation of a southern Syria ‘no-fly zone’ – opposed by Syrian-controlled anti-aircraft batteries – will turn a crisis into a ‘hot’ war…
In the Middle East, there is cynical disbelief at the American contention that it can distribute arms – almost certainly including anti-aircraft missiles – only to secular Sunni rebel forces in Syria represented by the so-called Free Syria Army.  The more powerful al-Nusrah Front, allied to al-Qaeda, dominates the battlefield on the rebel side and has been blamed for atrocities including the execution of Syrian government prisoners of war and the murder of a 14-year old boy for blasphemy.  They will be able to take new American weapons from their Free Syria Army comrades with little effort.
From now on, therefore, every suicide bombing in Damascus - every war crime committed by the rebels - will be regarded in the region as Washington’s responsibility. The very Sunni-Wahabi Islamists who killed thousands of Americans on 11th September, 2011 – who are America’s greatest enemies as well as Russia’s – are going to be proxy allies of the Obama administration.

As for America’s enemies in this battle:

Its enemies include the Lebanese Hizballah, the Alawite Shiite regime in Damascus and, of course, Iran. And Iraq, a largely Shiite nation which America ‘liberated’ from Saddam Hussein’s Sunni minority in the hope of balancing the Shiite power of Iran, has – against all US predictions – itself now largely fallen under Tehran’s influence and power.  Iraqi Shiites as well as Hizballah members, have both fought alongside Assad’s forces…
Russia has given its total support to Assad, three times vetoing UN Security Council resolutions that might have allowed the West to intervene directly in the civil war.

And note: most countries in the West now have Shiite and Sunni minorities themselves - thanks to reckless immigration policies. That means they, too, could become part of the battlefield:

Syria’s civil war is playing out in Australia’s suburbs along sectarian lines — with some living in Sydney’s west too scared to speak, after beatings, a shooting and an alleged arson…
Under the weight of such threats, some Shiite families have already fled the Auburn area…
The Global Mail has spoken to several members of Sydney’s Shiite community and of another sect within Shi’ism, the Alawites, who have experienced threats and violence. Across the city, an Alawite man has been shot, a Shiite businessman’s shop was destroyed by fire, there have been several instances of extortion using violence, and one man says he slept with his knife for a week following death threats.
“In some areas of Sydney you can’t say you are Shia — Greenacre, Lakemba and Punchbowl. There are Sunni there from Lebanon and Syria. Some of them are really dangerous.”
Those who spoke to us fear that they are victims of a sectarian campaign, one made all the more frightening because it includes Facebook hate pages glorifying Osama bin Laden and other violent jihadist figures.
After physical intimidation, one building contractor who wants to be known only as “HN” says he avoids certain suburbs, claiming they are becoming “no-go” zones for Shiites.
“In some areas of Sydney you can’t say you are Shia — Greenacre, Lakemba and Punchbowl. There are Sunni there from Lebanon and Syria. Some of them are really dangerous,” says HN.
At heart is the Syrian war, which at its simplest, has Sunni as the main opponents of the Assad regime and Shiites and Alawites as its principal supporters.

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Canberra’s power grab will save dodgy councils

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (8:00am)

Defend local control - your control - over your council:

DODGY local councils will be harder to sack if a $55 million referendum to change the Constitution is approved, says legal advice to the [Victorian] Government…
Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell said she had legal advice that adding the words “a local government body formed by a law of a state” into the Constitution could spell trouble.
“(This is) supported by constitutional law experts Professor Cheryl Saunders and Professor Greg Craven, who state that changes could cause legal uncertainty, blurring the roles and responsibilities between the three tiers of government,” she said.
“If this proposal gets up, the State Government’s ability to intervene into poorly governed councils like Brimbank could be at risk.”

To fight Canberra’s power grab, go here. 

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People smugglers spread word. Now Africans hear our door is open

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (7:39am)

Boat people policy

People smugglers have opened new offices in Africa, as a sideline to their profitable Middle Eastern travel service:

PEOPLE-SMUGGLERS in Kenya and Somalia are telling Somalis seeking asylum they can easily get them to Australia through Malaysia and Indonesia. Australian Somali Association president Abdullahi Farah said he had been expecting an influx of Somalis arriving by boat as the message of an Australian option grew.
It comes as a woman was found dead on an asylum-seeker boat carrying about 60 Africans and people from the Middle East [above] after it was stopped by HMAS Warramunga east-northeast of Christmas Island on Saturday.

How well will they fit in? Sydney’s Auburn City Council prepares:

Most Somalis follow Islam and the majority are Sunni Muslims…
The civil war has fueled clan identity and conflict with Somalis identifying themselves firstly with their clan and then with the Somali people. These divided loyalties have given rise to ongoing conflict within Somali communities who have resettled throughout the world…
The unrest [in Somalia] initially consisted of a series of clashes between various tribalists and the former Government and since the mid-2000s had a strong militant Islamist focus that intended to establish an Islamic State…
Seek information on the cultural practices of the participants to ensure they are accommodated prior to activities taking place… For example, men and women of the Somali community do not often shake hands with the opposite sex…
The asylum seekers group largely came in the mid-1990s following the outbreak of civil war… However, resettlement gaps do exist that have impacted on integration into the broader Australian community with social isolation and family breakdown reported as common experiences of this group. The… group has also reported a range of settlement issues such as lack of access to training and employment, language and cultural barriers, trauma and financial hardship…
Arrivals under the Family Reunion category were mainly immediate family members of Humanitarian Entrants… Whilst this group had the advantage of family support, they were not able to access the same level of settlement support services and were also at risk of domestic violence and social isolation. 

Police in Victoria also warn of very high crime rates among the community:

SUDANESE and Somali-born Victorians are about five times more likely to commit crimes than the wider community, a trend that must be addressed to prevent Cronulla-style social unrest, police warn.

Is the Gillard Government being fair on Australians by leaving the door so wide open? Is it importing tension and strife?  

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What else might Putin steal?

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (7:36am)

There are actually eyewitnesses to the moment Putin trousered the ring (circled) that I would trust above the president:

Russian President Vladimir Putin ... has denied he stole a Super Bowl ring from New England Patriots gridiron team owner Robert Kraft.
“I took out the ring and showed it to (Putin), and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’” Kraft said. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.” He says he tried to get it back, but the White House told him to just “think of it as a gift” and let it go. Mr Putin’s spokesman denied the claim, saying it was ‘weird’ and the ring’s staying in the Kremlin, where it belongs.

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The multiculti game

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (7:04am)

Muslims played Africans at a soccer match this month in delightfully multicultural France.
(Via Tim Blair.) 

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ABC: its stickers tell you what its boss won’t admit

Andrew Bolt June 17 2013 (12:04am)

Reader Paul notices - finally - some truth in advertising at the ABC.
It advertises this truth, revealed in a University of the Sunshine Coast survey:

However, 41.2% of the 34 ABC journalists who declared a voting intention said they would vote for the Greens, followed by 32.4% for Labor and 14.7% for the Coalition.

Remember ABC boss Mark Scott’s denials of bias?

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Good Morning Global Citizens! Time for Makena Monk's Morning Session for The Sun Radio Station!!!! Independent artists from all over the world.. and today it's Experimental time!!!!!! Grab your coffee and get ready for some mind twisting sounds.... Show: 08.00/10.00 UK Time and you can tune in here: http://thesunradio.listen2myradio.com/ Playlist for today is attached!. See ya
Did you know there's a radio station out there that provides you fresh and independent artists from all over the world??? Well you miss out if you didn't!! Try this one: http://thesunradio.listen2myradio.com/ Woot!
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“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” -John Bunyan
The UN are a corrupt, broken body. They are paid to do the work they often do badly. But the work is essential. Many of the employees are good people. It is a tragedy and many victims don't recognise their abusers. - ed
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Rodeo Beach, Saturday Night
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Reflecting on the meaning of the ApCab 1 at the beach... — at Baker Beach.
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Come along on Wednesday June 19 at 11.30am to a special curator led tour of Remember Me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt. Your chance to discover why this Australian soldier is wearing such a fetching sheepskin vest.
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WHY HISTORY WILL RECORD GILLARD AS OUR WORST EVER PRIME MINISTER

“She misjudged the electorate. Thinking the people are stupid, prejudiced and exploitable, she made a blatant effort to manipulate voters by dividing them” 

Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald, 17/6/2013

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/pms-cynical-ploy-fails-to-win-voters-20130616-2ocev.html
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1. Rabin was chief of staff, Dayan was defense minister
2. Defense
3. Weitzman
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Blacktea Candles Australia is now available in our store.
Vintage Rose Boutique Bankstown Centro
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‘Til My John Wayne Comes Along – Shantell Ogden
- Music Video -

At this link:
http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/til-my-john-wayne-comes-along-shantell-ogden/
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5 Herbs That Repel Flies...
====> http://naturehacks.com/herbs/5-herbs-that-repel-flies/
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While procedural knowledge and conceptual understanding are twined, I get the point. Sometimes, looking at measurement material one mistakes that everything is procedural. Teachers work very hard to get kids to follow the procedure and face questions like "Why?" "Aren't there shortcuts" and "Will this be tested?" Good teachers aim for the concept. But, even my shorthand of 'good teachers' obfuscates .. Good teachers require a system that works, students prepared to learn and experience to know how to present and what to present. Of course conceptual teaching is possible and happens today. However, there are impediments to it too. Some schools are dysfunctional as are some communities. It gets really bad when authorities involve themselves in petty games of power play and limit good teachers.
One observation: Good teachers didn't begin that way. They are trained and inducted and acquire resources.
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4 her
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"Israel has the means to achieve energy independence and pave the way for the free world to neutralize the economic power of the Islamic world. Unlike the situation with Better Place, economic laws of supply and demand work in favor of Israel's energy solution. The only force standing in the way is a coalition of radical environmentalists who oppose all oil consumption because they believe that the greatest threat to the world is global warming. They don't want cheap oil." - Caroline Glick
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Pastor Rick Warren

“Our heavenly Father loves us so much us he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!” 1 Jn.3:1 HappyFather's Day

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Roma Downey

"Peace begins with a smile."--Mother Teresa

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Larry Pickering
INSIDERS OFFSIDE AGAIN

The ABC is a rats’ nest of taxpayer-funded, dishonest socialists who fail to hold this disgraceful Prime Minister to account. It starts asking hard questions of this Government only once an outcome is imminent, in fear of Abbott reforming it or justifiably auctioning off its licence.

Watching “The Insiders” today was yet another display of unabashed ABC bias:
Convener and ALP hack, Barrie Cassidy, was joined by two other Gillard supporters, Malcolm Farr and Lenore Taylor along with a token conservative, the politically astute Piers Akerman.

Akerman, in the course of conversation had outed Cassidy as an ex-employee of the ALP

Cassidy did not respond until the subject arose of 6PR’s Howard Sattler’s inappropriate question to the PM: “Is Tim Mathieson gay?”.

Of course the whole thing was roundly condemned by all, including Akerman, who noted that a rumour of Mathieson’s sexuality was “all over” the Press Gallery in Canberra (not to mention the internet).

“Surely you have noticed this rumour?” asked Akerman. “No I haven’t”, was the answer in unison from all three. “Mmmm, ok then”, muttered Akerman. All three were lying of course, unless they live in a concrete cocoon.

Cassidy replied in anger, “You have just done what Howard Sattler did and passed on the rumour and that’s just as pathetic, actually. You’ll have a hard time defending your position!”

Akerman denied the accusation and a blue erupted.

Off camera, during a break, Cassidy demanded Akerman apologise (damned if I know what for) but Akerman did apologise... at the end of the program.

Cassidy is the protector of all things ALP. He even dumped my friend Paul Zanetti from his Insiders program. Why? Well, the odd anti-Gillard cartoon of his was displayed on my web page.

I have never approached the subject of Mathieson's sexuality as I consider it out of bounds. But, courtesy of Cassidy, the rumour lives on.

It lives on because most know that Cassidy is a close friend and companion of Tim Mathieson and he (Cassidy) could have nipped the rumour in the bud simply by saying it was not true, (as Julia Gillard did).

If Cassidy had confirmed the rumour then not only would he have been contradicting Gillard but Cassidy’s own sexuality would have been the new rumour.

He may regret that his idol Julia started this all-in gender war.
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin

Heavenly Father, I come to You today, giving You all that I am. I trust that You have a plan for my good. I invite You to show me Your everlasting love. Reveal Yourself in and through me. Help me to love others the way You do so that my life can be a perfect reflection of You, I trust that You are opening doors that no one can shut. I open myself to You and thank You for filling me with You today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

(Proverbs 28:1, NKJV)

As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are called to live a bold, confident and overcoming life. You don’t have to live under the weight and pressure of fear. You don’t have to live with daily anxiety. Because of Jesus, fear, worry and uncertainty are beneath you. When you rise up in faith, knowing that God is with you and for you, all doubt and fear has to leave your life.

Notice that today’s scripture says that the righteous are as bold as a lion. Righteousness is God’s way of doing things. When you do things His way, when you are submitted to His plan for your life, He will empower you with boldness and strength. He will equip you to walk in His victory.God bless you.

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June 17

• 1579 – Explorer Francis Drake landed in a region of present-day California, naming it New Albion and claiming it for England.
• 1843 – New Zealand Wars: An armed posse of Europeans set out from Nelson to arrest Ngāti Toachief Te Rauparaha and clashed with Māori, resulting in 26 deaths.
• 1900 – Boxer Rebellion: Allied naval forces captured the Taku Fortsafter a brief but bloody battle.
• 1972 – Five men were arrested for attempted burglary on the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex(pictured) in Washington, D.C., igniting the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon more than two years later.
• 1982 – The body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, known as "God's Banker" due to his close association with the Vatican, was found hanging from scaffolding beneath London's Blackfriars Bridge.

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Events[edit]

• 1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.
• 1497 – Battle of Deptford Bridge – forces under King Henry VII defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.
• 1565 – Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
• 1579 – Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.
• 1596 – The Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz discovers the Arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen.
• 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building hermausoleum, the Taj Mahal.
• 1673 – French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.
• 1773 – Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill.
• 1789 – In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.
• 1839 – In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result.
• 1843 – The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers in the New Zealand Wars, takes place.
• 1861 – Battle of Vienna, Virginia in the American Civil War.
• 1863 – Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War.
• 1876 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud – 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek inMontana Territory.
• 1877 – American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon – the Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.
• 1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
• 1898 – The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.
• 1900 – Boxer Rebellion: Allied Western and Japanese forces capture the Taku Forts in Tianjin, China.
• 1901 – The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.
• 1910 – Aurel Vlaicu pilots an A. Vlaicu nr. 1 on its first flight.
• 1930 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law.
• 1932 – Bonus Army: around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
• 1933 – Union Station Massacre: in Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.
• 1939 – Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison
• 1940 – World War II: sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.
• 1940 – World War II: the British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya, Africa from Italian forces.
• 1940 – The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
• 1944 – Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.
• 1948 – A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Airlines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
• 1953 – East Germany Workers Uprising: in East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
• 1958 – The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into theBurrard Inlet killing many of the ironworkers and injuring others.
• 1958 – The wooden roller coaster at Playland, which is in the Pacific National Exhibition, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens. It is still open today.
• 1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km²) of land undervalued at 4 cents/acre in the 1863 treaty.
• 1963 – The United States Supreme Court rules 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer inpublic schools.
• 1963 – A day after South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem announced the Joint Communique to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed.
• 1967 – The People's Republic of China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon.
• 1971 – President Richard Nixon declares the U.S. War on Drugs.
• 1972 – Watergate scandal: five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.
• 1979 – Bhagavatula Naga Raju and Lalitha Kumari get married in Vizianagaram. Due to strike , there were no photographers available, Hence no photographic proof of their marriage.
• 1987 – With the death of the last individual of the species, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.
• 1991 – Apartheid: the South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
• 1992 – A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).
• 1994 – Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

• 1239 – Edward I of England (d. 1307)
• 1268 – Lord Borchard de Herle, English diplomat (d. 1305)
• 1603 – Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (d. 1663)
• 1658 – Diogo de Mendonça Corte-Real, Portuguese diplomat and statesman (d. 1736)
• 1682 – Charles XII of Sweden (d. 1718)
• 1691 – Giovanni Paolo Panini, Italian painter and architect (d. 1765)
• 1693 – Johann Georg Walch, German theologian (d. 1775)
• 1704 – John Kay, English inventor (d. 1780)
• 1714 – Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher (d. 1762)
• 1714 – César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (d. 1784)
• 1718 – George Howard, English field marshal (d. 1796)
• 1742 – William Hooper, American lawyer and politician, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (d. 1790)
• 1808 – Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian poet, playwright, and linguist (d. 1845)
• 1810 – Ferdinand Freiligrath, German writer (d. 1876)
• 1811 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence fighter (d. 1879)
• 1818 – Charles Gounod, French composer (d. 1893)
• 1818 – Sophie of Württemberg (d. 1877)
• 1832 – William Crookes, British chemist and physicist (d. 1919)
• 1839 – Arthur Tooth, English clergyman (d. 1931)
• 1858 – Ebenezer Sumner Draper, American politician, 44th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1914)
• 1861 – Pete Browning, American baseball player (d. 1905)
• 1861 – Omar Bundy, American general (d. 1940)
• 1863 – Charles Michael, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1934)
• 1867 – Flora Finch, English-American actress (d. 1940)
• 1867 – John Robert Gregg, American educator, publisher, and humanitarian, invented the Gregg shorthand (d. 1948)
• 1867 – Henry Lawson, Australian poet (d. 1922)
• 1871 – James Weldon Johnson, American author, politician, diplomat, journalist, and activist (d. 1938)
• 1876 – William Carr, American rower (d. 1942)
• 1880 – Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (d. 1964)
• 1881 – Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer (d. 1955)
• 1882 – Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1918)
• 1882 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (d. 1971)
• 1888 – Heinz Guderian, German general (d. 1954)
• 1898 – M. C. Escher, Dutch illustrator (d. 1972)
• 1898 – Carl Hermann, German physicist (d. 1961)
• 1898 – Harry Patch, British super-centenarian (d. 2009)
• 1900 – Martin Bormann, German Nazi official (d. 1945)
• 1902 – Sammy Fain, American composer (d. 1989)
• 1902 – Alec Hurwood, Australian cricketer (d. 1982)
• 1903 – Ruth Graves Wakefield, American cook and businesswoman, invented the Chocolate chip cookie (d. 1977)
• 1904 – Ralph Bellamy, American actor (d. 1991)
• 1904 – Patrice Tardif, Canadian politician (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Maurice Cloche, French director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
• 1907 – Charles Eames, American designer and architect (d. 1978)
• 1909 – Elmer L. Andersen, American businessman and politician, 30th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2004)
• 1909 – Ralph E. Winters, Canadian film editor (d. 2004)
• 1910 – Red Foley, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (d. 1968)
• 1910 – George Hees, Canadian politician (d. 1996)
• 1914 – John Hersey, American journalist (d. 1993)
• 1915 – David "Stringbean" Akeman, American actor and banjo player (d. 1973)
• 1915 – Marcel Cadieux, Canadian civil servant and diplomat (d. 1981)
• 1915 – Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist (d. 1996)
• 1916 – Terry Gilkyson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer (The Easy Riders) (d. 1999)
• 1918 – Ajahn Chah, Thai Buddhist meditation master (d. 1992)
• 1919 – John Moffat, British pilot
• 1919 – Beryl Reid, British actress (d. 1996)
• 1920 – Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (d. 1981)
• 1920 – Setsuko Hara, Japanese actress
• 1920 – François Jacob, French biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Elroy Hirsch, American football player (d. 2004)
• 1923 – Dale C. Thomson, Canadian professor and historian (d. 1999)
• 1917 – Dufferin Roblin, Canadian politician, Prime minister of Manitoba (d. 2010)

• 1927 – Martin Böttcher, German conductor
• 1927 – Wally Wood, American comic book writer, artist and publisher (d. 1981)
• 1929 – Tigran Petrosian, Armenian chess player (d. 1984)
• 1930 – Brian Statham, British cricketer (d. 2000)
• 1931 – John Baldessari, American painter
• 1932 – Peter Lupus, American actor
• 1932 – John Murtha, American politician (d. 2010)
• 1933 – Harry Browne, American politician (d. 2006)
• 1933 – Christian Ferras, French violinist (d. 1982)
• 1936 – Vern Harper, Canadian tribal leader and activist
• 1936 – Ken Loach, British director
• 1937 – Ted Nelson, American sociologist and philosopher
• 1940 – George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1941 – Nicholas C. Handy, British theoretical chemist (d. 2012)
• 1942 – Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian IAEA director, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1942 – Roger Steffens, American actor, author, photographer, and producer
• 1943 – Newt Gingrich, American politician and author
• 1943 – Barry Manilow, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1943 – Burt Rutan, American engineer
• 1944 – Randy Johnson, American football player (d. 2009)
• 1944 – Bill Rafferty, American comedian and game show host (d. 2012)
• 1944 – Chris Spedding, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Nucleus)
• 1945 – Frank Ashmore, American actor
• 1945 – Art Bell, American broadcaster and author
• 1945 – Tommy Franks, American general
• 1945 – Ken Livingstone, British politician
• 1945 – Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist
• 1946 – Peter Rosei, Austrian writer
• 1947 – Christopher Allport, American actor (d. 2008)
• 1947 – Linda Chavez, American author
• 1947 – George S. Clinton, American composer, songwriter, and musician
• 1947 – Gregg Rolie, American keyboardist, organist and singer (Santana)
• 1947 – Paul Young, English singer and musician (Sad Café and Mike + The Mechanics) (d. 2000)
• 1948 – Dave Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1948 – Aurelio López, Mexican baseball player (d. 1992)
• 1949 – Snakefinger, English singer-songwriter and musician (The Residents and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers) (d. 1987)
• 1950 – Lee Tamahori, New Zealand director
• 1951 – John Garrett, Canadian ice hockey goaltender and television sports commentator
• 1951 – Paul McGuinness manager of U2
• 1951 – Starhawk, American author and activist
• 1951 – Joe Piscopo, American actor
• 1952 – Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach, and executive
• 1954 – Len Davies, English wrestling promoter, founded Real Quality Wrestling
• 1955 – Gail Jones, Australian author
• 1955 – Bob Sauvé, Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender
• 1956 – Iain Milne, Scottish rugby player
• 1956 – Chi-chi Nwanoku, English double bass player
• 1957 – Phil Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer (The Pogues and The Radiators From Space)
• 1957 – Martin Dillon, American tenor and educator (d. 2005)
• 1957 – Jon Gries, American actor
• 1957 – Jack Wouterse, Dutch actor
• 1958 – Jello Biafra, American singer, musician, and activist (Dead Kennedys, The No WTO Combo, and Lard)
• 1958 – Bobby Farrelly, American director
• 1958 – Sam Hamad, Syrian-Canadian politician
• 1958 – Jon Leibowitz, American politician
• 1958 – Daniel McVicar, American actor
• 1958 – Derek Lee Ragin, American tenor
• 1959 – Nikos Stavropoulos, Greek basketball player
• 1960 – Adrián Campos, Spanish race car driver
• 1960 – Thomas Haden Church, American actor
• 1961 – Kōichi Yamadera, Japanese actor
• 1962 – Michael Monroe, Finnish singer-songwriter and musician (Hanoi Rocks and Demolition 23)
• 1963 – Greg Kinnear, American actor
• 1964 – Rinaldo Capello, Italian race car driver
• 1964 – Michael Groß, German swimmer
• 1964 – Erin Murphy, American actress
• 1965 – Kami Cotler, American actress and educator
• 1965 – Dermontti Dawson, American football player
• 1965 – Dan Jansen, American speed skater
• 1965 – Dara O'Kearney, Irish runner and poker player
• 1966 – Christy Canyon, American porn actress
• 1966 – Ken Clark, American football player (d. 2013)
• 1966 – Mohammed Ghazy Al-Akhras, Iraqi writer and journalist
• 1966 – Jason Patric, American actor
• 1967 – Eric Stefani, American keyboardist, songwriter, and animator (No Doubt)
• 1967 – Dorothea Röschmann, German soprano
• 1968 – Minoru Suzuki, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
• 1969 – Paul Tergat, Kenyan runner
• 1970 – Stéphane Fiset, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Will Forte, American actor and writer
• 1970 – Jason Hanson, American football player
• 1970 – Popeye Jones, American basketball player
• 1970 – Michael Showalter, American actor, writer, and director
• 1970 – Sasha Sokol, Mexican singer, composer, and actress
• 1971 – Mildred Fox, Irish politician
• 1971 – Paulina Rubio, Mexican singer and actress
• 1973 – Krayzie Bone, American rapper and producer (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
• 1973 – Christian Claudio, Puerto Rican businessman and author
• 1973 – Louis Leterrier, French director
• 1973 – Leander Paes, Indian tennis player
• 1974 – Evangelia Psarra, Greek archer
• 1975 – Jennifer Irwin, Canadian actress
• 1975 – Chloe Jones, American porn actress (d. 2005)
• 1975 – Joshua Leonard, American actor
• 1976 – Scott Adkins, British actor
• 1976 – Sven Nys, Belgian cyclist
• 1976 – Keisuke Ogihara, Japanese rapper
• 1977 – Tjaša Jezernik, Slovenian tennis player
• 1977 – Mark Tauscher, American football player
• 1977 – Branko Tomovic, Serbian actor
• 1978 – Kumiko Aso, Japanese actress
• 1978 – James Corden, British actor and comedian
• 1978 – Isabelle Delobel, French ice dancer
• 1979 – Nick Rimando, American soccer player
• 1979 – Young Maylay, American rapper, voice actor, and producer
• 1980 – Kimeru, Japanese singer and actor
• 1980 – Jeph Jacques, American illustrator and writer
• 1980 – Venus Williams, American tennis player
• 1981 – Kyle Boller, American football player
• 1981 – Shane Watson, Australian cricketer
• 1982 – Arthur Darvill, English actor
• 1982 – Stanislava Hrozenská, Slovak tennis player
• 1982 – Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Marek Svatoš, Slovak ice hockey player
• 1983 – Connie Fisher, English actress
• 1983 – Vlasis Kazakis, Greek footballer
• 1983 – Kazunari Ninomiya, Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (Arashi)
• 1983 – Lee Ryan, English singer-songwriter and actor (Blue)
• 1984 – John Gallagher, Jr., American actor
• 1985 – Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player
• 1985 – Rafael Sóbis, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Apoula Edel, Armenian footballer
• 1987 – Kendrick Lamar, American rapper and songwriter (Black Hippy)
• 1987 – Nozomi Tsuji, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
• 1988 – Andrew Ogilvy, Australian basketball player
• 1988 – Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer
• 1988 – Drew Ryan Scott, American singer-songwriter and producer (Varsity Fanclub)
• 1989 – Giorgos Tofas, Cypriot footballer
• 1989 – Matthew Gladstone, Riverdance enthusiast
• 1990 – Jordan Henderson, English footballer
• 1990 – Laura Wright, English singer (All Angels)
• 1991 – Jang Min Chul, South Korean gamer
• 1993 – Anna Rüh, German athlete

Deaths[edit]

• 850 – Tachibana no Kachiko, Japanese empress (b. 786)
• 900 – Fulk the Venerable, French Archbishop of Rheims
• 1025 – Bolesław I Chrobry (b. 967)
• 1091 – Dirk V, Count of Holland (b. 1052)
• 1463 – Infanta Catherine of Portugal (b. 1436)
• 1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shogun (b. 1536)
• 1694 – Philip Howard, English cardinal (b. 1629)
• 1696 – John III Sobieski of Poland (b. 1629)
• 1719 – Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (b. 1672)
• 1734 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Duke of Villars (b. 1653)
• 1740 – Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet, English politician (b. 1687)
• 1762 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French writer (b. 1674)
• 1771 – Daskalogiannis, Cretan rebel
• 1775 – John Pitcairn, English military officer (b. 1722)
• 1797 – Mohammad Khan Qajar of Persia (b. 1742)
• 1813 – Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, British naval officer and politician (b. 1726)
• 1821 – Martín Miguel de Güemes, Argentine military leader (b. 1785)
• 1839 – Lord William Bentinck, British soldier and statesman (b. 1774)
• 1898 – Edward Burne-Jones, British artist (b. 1833)
• 1904 – Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov, Russian politician (b. 1839)
• 1939 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player (b. 1893)
• 1940 – Arthur Harden, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
• 1941 – Johan Wagenaar, Dutch composer and organist (b. 1862)
• 1942 – Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian politician (b. 1853)
• 1952 – John Whiteside Parsons, American scientist (b. 1914)
• 1954 – Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (b. 1920)
• 1956 – Paul Rostock, German doctor (b. 1892)
• 1956 – Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (b. 1926)
• 1957 – Dorothy Richardson, British writer (b. 1873)
• 1961 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1963 – Aleksander Kesküla, Estonian politician (b. 1882)
• 1968 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1901)
• 1969 – Rita Abatzi, Greek singer (b. 1914)
• 1974 – Pamela Britton, American actress (b. 1923)
• 1975 – James Phinney Baxter III, American historian (b. 1893)
• 1979 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player (b. 1888)
• 1981 – Richard O'Connor, British army general (b. 1889)
• 1981 – Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (b. 1889)
• 1982 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (b. 1920)
• 1983 – Peter Mennin, American composer and teacher (b. 1923)
• 1984 – Milbourne Christopher, American illusionist (b. 1914)
• 1984 – John Murray, American playwright (b. 1906)
• 1985 – John Boulting, British director, writer, and producer (b. 1913)
• 1986 – Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
• 1987 – Dick Howser, American baseball player and manager (b. 1936)
• 1996 – Thomas Kuhn, American historian and philosopher (b. 1922)
• 1996 – Curt Swan, American comics artist (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Basil Hume, English cardinal, Archbishop of Westminster (b. 1923)
• 2000 – Ismail Mahomed, South African jurist (b. 1931)
• 2001 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
• 2001 – Thomas Winning, Scottish cardinal, Archbishop of Glasgow (b. 1925)
• 2002 – Willie Davenport, American athlete (b. 1943)
• 2002 – Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
• 2004 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
• 2005 – Sam Loeb, American writer and illustrator (b. 1988)
• 2005 – Karl Mueller, American bassist (Soul Asylum) (b. 1962)
• 2006 – Bussunda, Brazilian comedian and actor (b. 1962)
• 2006 – Arthur Franz, American actor (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Gianfranco Ferré, Italian fashion designer (b. 1944)
• 2007 – Serena Wilson, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1933)
• 2008 – Cyd Charisse, American dancer and actress (b. 1922)
• 2008 – Tsutomu Miyazaki, Japanese serial killer (b. 1962)
• 2009 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-English sociologist and politician (b. 1929)
• 2009 – Darrell Powers, American army officer (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Stéphane Brosse, French ski mountaineer (b. 1971))
• 2012 – Chen Din Hwa, Chinese businessman and philanthropist (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Nathan Divinsky, Canadian mathematician and chess player (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Raivo Järvi, Estonian artist and politician (b. 1954)
• 2012 – Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (b. 1965)
• 2012 – R. C. Owens, American football player (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Fauzia Wahab, Pakistani politician (b. 1956)

Holidays and observances[edit]

• Bunker Hill Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Albert Chmielowski
  • Botolph (England)
  • Samuel and Henrietta Barnett(Church of England)
  • Gondulphus of Berry
  • Hervé
  • Hypatius of Bithynia (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches)
  • Rainerius
  • June 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• National Day, celebrates the independence of Iceland from Kingdom of Denmark in 1944.
• Soviet Occupation Day (Latvia)
• West Germany, from 1954 to 1990, the Day of German Unity
• World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (International)
• Zemla Intifada Day (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic)