Injustice is profound and has a lasting effect. The political divide cares nothing for the individual unto death. This is why a pedophile with two convictions and ongoing allegations is free to kill. It has ever been thus. Eight Athenian generals against the odds were successful against a Spartan force on water. But on their return home, they are executed by democracy. They had had to choose between rescuing drowning sailors and chasing fleeing forces. They divided their force to do both, but achieved neither objective when a storm hit. Relatives of the drowned voted to kill the generals, one of whom was the bastard son of Pericles.
Sometimes, choices are made in the heat of the moment. Good decisions which are costly. Lieutenant Baker Phillips in 1745 was on board an English vessel. His captain failed to prepare the ship for action. A french broadside killed the captain, leaving a defenceless ship. Lieutenant Phillips surrendered. At the subsequent court martial, the negligent behaviour of the captain was noted and the court martial recommended mercy, but the sentence of death was approved by the Lord Justices of Appeal. The resulting anger of the nation for the injustice resulted in the articles of war being written which declared all officers would equally be given death for failing to do their utmost in battle or pursuit.
Vice Admiral John Byng had a depleted fleet in need of repair and was unable to come to the aid of Minorca in 1756. He was subsequently promoted to Admiral and sentenced to death for his failure. The Prime Minister of the day, Pitt, tried to intercede with King George II, but the King would not listen. The lower house voted for clemency, but the house of Lords rejected it. And so, on this day in 1757, Admiral Bing was shot by firing squad. He gave the order to fire while kneeling, and dropping a handkerchief.
Byng's execution was satirized by Voltaire in his novel Candide. In Portsmouth, Candide witnesses the execution of an officer by firing squad; and is told that "in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others" (Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres).
Such policy considerations were no comfort to the family of their victim. Admiral Byng's epitaph at the family vault in All Saints Church, in Southill, Bedfordshire, expresses their view and the view of much of the country:
To the perpetual Disgrace
of PUBLICK JUSTICE
The Honble. JOHN BYNG Esqr
Admiral of the Blue
Fell a MARTYR to
POLITICAL PERSECUTION
March 14th in the year 1757 when
BRAVERY and LOYALTY
were Insufficient Securities
For the
Life and Honour
of a
NAVAL OFFICER
Happy birthday and many happy returns Jackie Fong, Nicholas Syris and Pi. Pi celebrates its birthday on March 14 (3.14) Some people wait until 1:59 .. My jokes have come full circle. We reach to the opposite side .. full diameter .. remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
- 1638 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710)
- 1681 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (d. 1767)
- 1790 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (d. 1863)
- 1804 – Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer (d. 1849)
- 1833 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor, American dentist (d. 1910)
- 1835 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (d. 1910)
- 1854 – John Lane, English publisher, co-founded The Bodley Head (d. 1925)
- 1874 – Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (d. 1951)
- 1879 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1882 – Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician (d. 1969)
- 1887 – Sylvia Beach, American-French publisher, founded Shakespeare and Company (d. 1962)
- 1908 – Philip Conrad Vincent, English businessman, founded Vincent Motorcycles (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese origamist (d. 2005)
- 1914 – Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (The Weavers) (d. 1981)
- 1921 – S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A
- 1923 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971)
- 1933 – Quincy Jones, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer
- 1943 – Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, American singer, guitarist, and producer (Ohio Players) (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist (Chicago)
- 1947 – Jona Lewie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs and Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts)
- 1948 – Billy Crystal, American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1951 – Jerry Greenfield, American businessman, co-founded Ben & Jerry's
- 1994 – Ansel Elgort, American actor
Matches
- 44 BC – Casca and Cassius decide, on the night before the Assassination of Julius Caesar, that Mark Antony should stay alive.
- 313 – Emperor Jin Huidi is executed by Liu Cong, ruler of the Xiongnu state (Han Zhao).
- 1489 – The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
- 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne during the French Wars of Religion.
- 1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana.
- 1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
- 1885 – The Mikado, a light opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, receives its first public performance in London.
- 1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing United States currency on the gold standard.
- 1903 – The Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is established by US President Theodore Roosevelt.
- 1910 – Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well gusher near Bakersfield, California, vents to atmosphere.
- 1915 – World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser SMS Dresden is abandoned and scuttled by her crew.
- 1931 – Alam Ara, India's first talking film, is released.
- 1936 – The first all-sound film version of Show Boat opens at Radio City Music Hall. (There had been a part-talkie, part-silent version of Show Boat in 1929.)
- 1942 – Orvan Hess and John Bumstead became the first in the United States successfully to treat a patient, Anne Miller, using penicillin.
- 1945 – World War II: The R.A.F.'s first operational use of the Grand Slam bomb, Bielefeld, Germany.
- 1951 – Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
- 1964 – A jury in Dallas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy.
- 1984 – Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast.
- 1994 – Timeline of Linux development: Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released.
- 1995 – Space Exploration: Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle.
Despatches
- 313 – Emperor Huai of Jin (b. 284)
- 968 – Matilda of Ringelheim (b. 895)
- 1757 – John Byng, English admiral (b. 1704)
- 1823 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral (b. 1735)
- 1883 – Karl Marx, German philosopher and theorist (b. 1818)
- 1933 – Balto, American sled dog (b. 1919)
ABC chairman should quit
Piers Akerman – Friday, March 14, 2014 (4:56am)
PART-TIME ABC chairman Jim Spigelman should resign. His commentary on in-house reviews of the ABC’s treatment of illegal boat arrivals and interviews with Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott during the 2013 election campaign was fanciful in the extreme.
Billed as “independent”, the reviews were in fact conducted by former ABC staffers whose career history would indicate they are wedded to the ABC’s cultural and political leanings.
A former reporter for the ABC’s This Day Tonight (the forerunner to 7.30) and more latterly a 60 Minutes producer, Gerald Stone, found no evidence of “systemic bias” though four stories, including three by Lateline, “raised concerns”.
Andrea Willis, a former BBC journalist who has been involved with the ABC, found no bias or inappropriate interviewing when she examined ABC radio’s election coverage.
The best Spigelman could do was to repeat the message he delivered at the National Press Club last December when he acknowledged that members of the ABC collective should “broaden their range of contacts and of people they approach for advice, as well as broadening the range of material they consume”.
“Journalists — all of you, not just those at the ABC — tend to have a social and educational background, perhaps particularly in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, that may make them more interested in, say, gay marriage than, say, electricity prices,” he said.
“As a public broadcaster we must endeavour to engage with those sections of our community who are most concerned with the latter (issue).”
And, the subject of the next “independent” audit will examine, according to Spigelman speaking to the ABC on Wednesday: “the subject matters we deal with, rather than trying to assess their impartiality”.
Having recently subjected myself to prolonged exposure of ABC radio during a drive from Melbourne to Sydney last Saturday, I would describe the experience as akin to listening to readings from the Green-Left Weekly. I don’t think it was unusual, either. An early riser, I listen to ABC radio most mornings before going to the commercial radio networks.
The ABC staff do reflect, as Spigelman seems to be saying, the views of people who are fascinated by homosexual marriage, not electricity prices.
I would go further. Early morning news and opinion, particularly at weekends, appears fixated with forthcoming protest meetings, demonstrations and so on.
The Spigelman approach dances around the real issue that was on display on Q&A Monday night, when my colleague Andrew Bolt was subjected to a torrent of abuse from academic Marcia Langton, who falsely claimed he was a “fool” who believed in “race theories” and had subjected one of her colleagues to “foul abuse … simply racial abuse”, arguing that the colleague “had no right to claim that she was Aboriginal” and that he had hurt this colleague to such a degree that she “withdrew from public life”.
Langton apologised to Bolt.
No apology to Bolt had been posted on Q&A’s website when I checked yesterday.
When the ABC’s Leftists thought I might have offended prime minister Julia Gillard by stating the obvious about press gallery gossip about her relationship with Tim Mathieson after the topic was introduced by Insider host Barrie Cassidy, the ABC removed the segment from its website and sent out letters to viewers casting doubt on my professionalism.
Can we expect the ABC to respond similarly? Of course not, and that’s why Spigelman should offer his resignation.
He is defending the indefensible, just as surely as the ABC is defending the indefensible by spending taxpayers’ money trying to justify its disgusting vilification of The Australian’s columnist Chris Kenny.
The ABC will in all probability soon lose the contract to run the Australian Network, because of that network’s perceived failure to operate in the national interest. Spigelman, a former chief justice of NSW, would be well aware of the utterly abhorrent manner in which the ABC was awarded the contract by the former Labor government. I believe he should have spoken out about the ABC’s willingness to embrace Labor’s stinking bequest.
Instead, by his silence, he has demonstrated nothing but acquiescence. He has, like so many previous chairmen of “our” ABC, become a captive of the asylum’s inmates and succumbed to the political and cultural Stockholm syndrome that operates across the organisation. He can’t bring CEO Mark Scott to heel, so he should admit failure in the face of the entrenched ideology and resign rather than hang around wallpapering over the cracks in the facade.
WHITE BAN
Tim Blair – Friday, March 14, 2014 (12:57pm)
This is perfect:
An event meant to celebrate diversity and combat racism at a Washington state community college has been cancelled after a flier emailed to guests said white people weren’t invited.
MARCHY MARCH MARCHNESS
Tim Blair – Friday, March 14, 2014 (3:55am)
Leftists love forming committees almost as much as they love spending your money. Even the least consequential leftist movement inevitably produces a hellspawn of useless committees devoted to various pointless missions. Occupy Sydney, for example, featured eight committees and 11 working groups – meaning they had more committees and groups than actual Occupants.
This weekend’s March in March demonstrations, being held now because there isn’t a month called Stupid Whiny Bitching, have also generated the usual number of committees and such. So far as I can tell, these protests are driven by leftist rage over the recent lack of asylum seeker deaths and the government’s failure to provide handouts for multinational businesses. Here’s a partial committee count:
What started from very humble beginnings, almost as a thought bubble on Twitter, has grown to a large group of volunteers now being organised by a national administration committee …This committee has the support, at each march location, of a sub-committee responsible for the organisation of their march …The committee of six in Brisbane consists of a broad range of people who represent and understand the needs of many diverse community members …The National Administration Committee has ensured that all the local committees have the appropriate permits and permissions in place.
Well done, National Administrative Committee, sub-committees and committees of six. Still, they haven’t quite managed to quell the standard leftist impulse for infighting and backstabbing, probably because of not enough committees. Let’s help them out:
NOT THE BEST CAMPAIGN
Tim Blair – Friday, March 14, 2014 (3:42am)
A lopsided print war in Sydney:
The marketing team for The Saturday Paper has been taking time out from their arts degrees to paper over inner-city hoardings in Sydney and Melbourne with street posters for the new, left-leaning weekly organ.“A newspaper but with stories,” one poster proclaimed. “Not the Daily Telegraph,” announced another …Telegraph editor Paul Whittaker was unperturbed. “We’re a newspaper but with readers,” Whittaker said.“As for not being the Daily Telegraph, I’d be more offended if they claimed they were the Daily Telegraph.”
PRANKSTER PUNCHED
Tim Blair – Friday, March 14, 2014 (2:21am)
Wrong question: so Abbott is right and the experts wrong
Andrew Bolt March 14 2014 (6:06am)
I detest arguments being put this way:
Well. no. I believe Abbott has the better answer to the right question. What is the cheapest of the two ways to make no difference to the climate.
The carbon tax will cost billions to make no difference. Abbott, having capped the cost, will spend billions less to make the same no-difference.
He is right, the experts wrong.
===Tony Abbott or Ken Henry, Bernie Fraser and Ross Garnaut - who do you believe?The proper response to any such question is not “I’ll go with the many against the one”. Were that your principle you would have sided with the 100 authors against Einstein:
And, no, I’m not saying Abbott is an Einstein. I’m saying we should ask to look at the argument, not at a show of hands:
Case in point: The book Hundert Autoren Gegen Einstein (A Hundred Authors Against Einstein), a collection of various criticisms of Einstein’s theory of relativity. ...
When asked about the book, Einstein retorted by saying “Why 100 authors? If I were wrong, then one would have been enough!”
Ken Henry, Bernie Fraser and Ross Garnaut are lions of Australian economics. They carry more intellectual and institutional weight then most of us mere mortals put together.They say the carbon price is the cheapest way to do so. So Abbott is wrong, right?
So if they broadly agree on any course of action we should all probably sit up and listen, right?
In the past seven days all three have, in different ways, supported a price on carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet…
And all three men are serious, economically minded people. Ignore them at your peril.
Well. no. I believe Abbott has the better answer to the right question. What is the cheapest of the two ways to make no difference to the climate.
The carbon tax will cost billions to make no difference. Abbott, having capped the cost, will spend billions less to make the same no-difference.
He is right, the experts wrong.
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=== Posts from Last Year ===
Tyrants, and temporary PMs, fear a free press
Piers Akerman – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (7:33pm)
LABOR has not only lost its way (again), it has jettisoned any claim to be a party of principle.
Gov attack on free press must be fought
Piers Akerman – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (7:14am)
THE Gillard government’s despotic attempt to strangle the media and particularly News Ltd, the publisher of The Daily Telegraph and my employer, justify every criticism that has ever been made by any of its journalists.
If anything, I and my colleagues have been far too forgiving.
Last night on Lateline, News Limited CEO Kim Williams was interrogated by the totally biased Tony Jones on the ABC’s Lateline program.
Jones presented the ABC point of view – that is, he ran the government line that this new crackdown on media was no big deal.
Jones even cited the totally discredited Left-winger Margaret Simons, notorious for having collaborated with former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser on a grotesquely inaccurate version of his memoirs, as some sort of authority.
Simons is to journalism what graffito is to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Williams demolished Jones’ spurious argument and made a number of significant points.
He pointed out that Communications Minister Stephen Conroy had introduced his threaten with no detail and had set a deadline for its passage – next Thursday.
Jones appeared nonplussed but even Conroy’s Cabinet colleagues acknowledge that there has been almost no discussion about this despotic bill.
Williams also made the point that the government is claiming to be supportive of media diversity when it is actually limiting television ownership in the same piece of legislation.
This move is the greatest threat to Australian democracy to come from a government in its history since Robert Menzies attempted to outlaw the Communist Party in 1950.
He managed to get the legislation passed but it was deemed unlawful by the High Court.
The same fate may well befall any legislation Conroy passes – if he gets the support of the lily-livered Independents.
Australians must stand up for their free press before it is gagged.
PUNISHERS AND STRAIGHTENERS
Tim Blair – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (11:46am)
A precise summary from Chris Kenny of events leading to Labor’s war against freedom, which is supported by the love media:
Confronted with the greatest government intrusion into media regulation this nation has ever known, the ABC has lined up where? On the side of Big Brother. For Leigh Sales to attack The Daily Telegraph’s thundering front page on media regulation instead of a government seeking to have the last say on media standards is the ultimate inversion of reality for the left. We only have to ask ourselves one question. Imagine if the Howard government had still been in power and communications minister Richard Alston had proposed a public interest media advocate to oversee media regulation. What stand would the ABC have taken then?We all know the answer.
Various academics are also lining up behind the government. Read this and be amazed that the fellow is a journalism professor. The writing is abysmal.
UPDATE. An apology from the Daily Telegraph:
Yesterday we ran a picture of Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy depicted as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.It has since been pointed out that this was a grossly unfair and insulting comparison to make. And so we would just like to say: We’re sorry, Joe.
Michael Smith’s speech shouldn’t be free
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(5:15pm)
Michael Smith is rattling the tin. A good cause. Click and keep the blog going. Don’t let him be silenced after his dumping.
UPDATE
Not “dumping” but “resigning under pressure”. After asking “unauthorised questions” of the Prime Minister.
The pompous one loses
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(4:40pm)
No contest, not least because one of the two once again has trouble with maths.
Why did I think Craig Thomson was ethical?
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(4:26pm)
Labor MP Craig Thomson’s opposition to Labor’s bill for more controls on the media seems to be just a lousy trick, after all.
It;s not principle, but politics - designed to try to “embarrass” the Opposition over its refusal to accept his vote without actually stopping the media crackdown:
THE Coalition will refuse to accept independent MP Craig Thomson’s “tainted vote” on Labor’s media reforms, in a surprise twist that gives the Gillard government a glimmer of hope it can turn its plans into law.The former Labor MP’s opposition to the media reforms bills had threatened their passage through federal parliament’s lower house.However manager of opposition business Christopher Pyne’s office has confirmed Mr Thomson will be paired with an opposition MP if he votes with the Coalition as flagged, cancelling out his vote.The Coalition has vowed to resist curbs on press freedom. But a spokesman for Mr Pyne said the opposition had to be consistent with its previous position in rejecting Mr Thomson’s vote.
For a moment I admit thinking well of Thomson. “Three cheers for Craig Thomson,” I even said on 2GB today.
I should have known better.
Climategate hero speaks; releases email cache
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(4:05pm)
The hero who leaked the Climategate and Climategate II emails has revealed his motives - and released to selected climate science bloggers the password to further emails for them to assess.
This may lead to more revelations of the groupthinking, bullying and manipulation of evidence than were exposed by the original leaking of emails of the scientists most involved in devising the great warming scare,
From the email (click the above link for the whole text):
Releasing the encrypted archive was a mere practicality. I didn’t want to keep the emails lying around.I prepared CG1 & 2 alone. Even skimming through all 220.000 emails would have taken several more months of work in an increasingly unfavorable environment.Dumping them all into the public domain would be the last resort. Majority of the emails are irrelevant, some of them probably sensitive and socially damaging.To get the remaining scientifically (or otherwise) relevant emails out, I ask you to pass this on to any motivated and responsible individuals who could volunteer some time to sift through the material for eventual release…I don’t expect these remaining emails to hold big surprises. Yet it’s possible that the most important pieces are among them. Nobody on the planet has held the archive in plaintext since CG2.That’s right; no conspiracy, no paid hackers, no Big Oil. The Republicans didn’t plot this. USA politics is alien to me, neither am I from the UK. There is life outside the Anglo-American sphere.If someone is still wondering why anyone would take these risks, or sees only a breach of privacy here, a few words…The first glimpses I got behind the scenes did little to garner my trust in the state of climate science—on the contrary. I found myself in front of a choice that just might have a global impact.Briefly put, when I had to balance the interests of my own safety, privacy\career of a few scientists, and the well-being of billions of people living in the coming several decades, the first two weren’t the decisive concern.It was me or nobody, now or never. Combination of several rather improbable prerequisites just wouldn’t occur again for anyone else in the foreseeable future. The circus was about to arrive in Copenhagen. Later on it could be too late… We’re dealing with $trillions and potentially drastic influence on practically everyone…We can’t pour trillions in this massive hole-digging-and-filling-up endeavor and pretend it’s not away from something and someone else.If the economy of a region, a country, a city, etc. deteriorates, what happens among the poorest? Does that usually improve their prospects? No, they will take the hardest hit. No amount of magical climate thinking can turn this one upside-down.It’s easy for many of us in the western world to accept a tiny green inconvenience and then wallow in that righteous feeling, surrounded by our “clean” technology and energy that is only slightly more expensive if adequately subsidized.Those millions and billions already struggling with malnutrition, sickness, violence, illiteracy, etc. don’t have that luxury. The price of “climate protection” with its cumulative and collateral effects is bound to destroy and debilitate in great numbers, for decades and generations…Even if I have it all wrong and these scientists had some good reason to mislead us (instead of making a strong case with real data) I think disseminating the truth is still the safest bet by far.
Read the front page while it’s still legal
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(11:21am)
This front page has flushed out the totalitarian instincts of the politicians planning more controls over what Australians choose to read:
Don’t read it. Especially before criticising it. ABC News Radio yesterday:MARIUS Benson: Can I start with The Daily Telegraph’s front page today, which reads: “These despots believe in controlling the press.” There is a large photo of you with an expression of you deliberately chosen to make you look dopey. And you are bracketed with the despots Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong-un, Ahmadinejad. Does that front page pass the public interest in your mind?Conroy: It’ll be (laughs) ... I think I said the News Limited reaction will be hysterical; this morning just proves it yet again. But I’ve said for some time that people in Sydney should read The Daily Telegraph for its sport and back pages because the sort of commentary you see like this morning’s is just, it does a disservice to journalism and a disservice to (News Limited).Benson: But is it grounds for complaint, for official complaint, for an official arbiter?Conroy: Look, I haven’t actually seen the story yet ... Whether or not it’s breached any laws or any standards, ah, it certainly breaches a bad taste standard. Whether it breaches others, I’d have to take advice and have a look. But I haven’t actually seen the full copy yet.
That front page has also flushed out the censorious instincts of Labor’s media friends:
LEIGH SALES: So tabloid newspapers don’t have to adhere to the same standards of fairness and accuracy as other newspapers?CAMPBELL REID: Um… this is provocative… I reject that it’s unfair, and I reject that it’s inaccurate.LEIGH SALES: Has News Limited…CAMPBELL REID: There’s a difference between provocation and inaccuracy and unfairness, and if we’re thinking that really what we need in Australian society is a tort of politeness, and a shut-down media where you’re not allowed to be provocative, you’re not allowed to be interesting, you’re not allowed to be…LEIGH SALES: You can be provocative and interesting; you just can’t be blatantly unfair… Aren’t you doing all of us in the media a disservice by running something like this because it gives critics an opportunity to say, “Well, there you go, that’s why the media needs more oversight”.CAMPBELL REID: So… so, under provocation the media has to be very quietly… oh, please don’t offend that nice Mr Conroy…LEIGH SALES: Well, I think fairness and impartiality are a pretty good standard...
An astonishing pre-emptive cringe. Depressing. An ABC host suggesting we be nice to the Government to avoid media curbs.
Can’t she hear what’s she’s saying - about this Government and about herself?
UPDATE
The self-righteous bloviating from press interests, and the shrill coverage from News Ltd papers in particular, leads to the suspicion that Senator Conroy can’t be far wrong with his tiny package of media reforms.
Ackland strikes me as another of the partisan Left who are very strong on the right to free speech of everyone except those with whom they disagree.
UPDATE
Reader Malcolm Colless, a distinguished former journalist, writes:
Your call to arms to journalists on the Conroy censorship policy on Sydney radio tonight was spot on. They cannot be called reforms because they are not making anything better-in fact quite the contrary.The working press should be particularly outraged at the Government’s decision to appoint an overlord to set and administer media standards.Labor spin implies that this legislation is needed to pull media management into line and this is what gives comfort to the Left who want a critical media and News Ltd in particular shackled.
UPDATE
The Daily Telegraph apologises for its satire, which risks being unlawful under this authoritarian government:
UPDATE
Utterly astonishing. Another ABC presenter accuses the Daily Telegraph of “supporting the Government’s argument in their hysterical and silly way that they’ve responded” - of supporting, that is, the case for censorship of satire when that satire is directed at this Labor Government.
You may find it impossible to believe this presenter is actually supporting my own argument that this vindictive government is out to muzzle criticism of itself and its causes, to the cheers of the Left, but read for yourself:
BARRIE CASSIDY/JON FAINE
ABC 774 MELBOURNE
JON FAINE:
So why pick a fight with the Murdoch papers right now?BARRIE CASSIDY:Therefore why should we be critical of them for taking it on?JON FAINE:Well I’m not being critical, I’m wondering what’s going on. I don’t understand. Because the response was utterly, I mean it’s over the top, but you knew you’d get some form of strident response.BARRIE CASSIDY:
Of course but I think they’ve played into their hands in a sense by being as hysterical as they have been because the Telegraph for example probably is supporting the Government’s argument in their hysterical and silly way that they’ve responded to the issue.JON FAINE:Now, my understanding is that the editor of The Australian and the editor of The Daily Telegraph have got some sort of internal competition to see who can most claim to bring the Gillard Government down as they fight each other over the ‘it was me that brought them down,’ ‘No, no, no, it was me that brought the government down’. That’s the sort of internal competition that they’ve got going.
It is? To Faine’s conspiracy theory I have no polite reply.
Christians “unsafe” at Muslim conference
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(8:03am)
A Christian writes about the Islamic “peace” conference in Melbourne that invited a bunch ofhate-preachers:
Some Christians who had approval to hire a stall giving away Bibles at the Islamic ‘Peace Conference’ at the Melbourne Showgrounds this weekend have had this approval withdrawn. The Christians, from various churches around Melbourne, had been offered a 6 x 3 metre stall for $600. The Islamic Research and Educational Academy (IREA) contacted them last night and said that the Bible stall could not go ahead because it would be “unsafe”.
The Christians were told that, due to expected anti-Islamic protests outside the Showgrounds, IREA “could not guarantee your safety.” An IREA spokesman, who identified himself as ‘Sami’, was concerned about radical elements among the Muslim attendees “taking it out” on the Christians, and said that IREA security personnel “could not protect the Christians”. IREA claimed they had consulted Victoria Police about security and had come to this decision. Another Christian group was told last night that all the stalls had been allocated and there was no room left. According to the IREA website, there are over 200 stalls available, but their stall map shows that only 44 stalls have been hired so far.
A plan to stop you reading stuff like this
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(7:54am)
I NEVER dreamed - never feared - Australia would have a government plotting to control journalists it didn’t like.
Do not trust a word Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says about needing a new government supercop to check what’s published and by whom.
Why do Leftist schemes always cost so much?
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(7:12am)
The answer, though, is not to tame financial markets through the socialization of equity, but to cut them down to size. A prerequisite for any positive program is a comprehensive attack on the power of financial markets, including the breakup of all “too big to fail” institutions, taxes on high-volume financial transactions, stringent restrictions on the creation of new financial instruments, and reductions in the share of national income going to the profits of financial enterprises. That’s a radical program, but (unlike Ackerman’s) every element of it is on the table right now, and commands support well beyond the Left.
All spin, no substance
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(7:01am)
HOST: You and the Minister have said that these visas have been abused, but we haven’t been given any examples. Can you give us an example of where a 457 visa has been abused?PM: Around the country, I and members of parliament in the Labor team do hear concerns from people about them being ready to take a job and with the appropriate qualifications, and not getting a go…HOST: Feedback and anecdotal evidence – can you understand why people see this as kneejerk reaction? We haven’t been given an example of where 457 visas have been abused.PM: We make policy based on evidence, but community concern is there. People have raised examples, and of course, when we get that kind of feedback we should respond.
JOURNALIST: Can you give us an example of self-regulation where it hasn’t worked?PM: Well, I think when you look across – I am not pursuing a personal case here so you would need to ask people who have taken up something with the press council and who have thought that there wasn’t a satisfactory dealing with it.I think you would be aware that because there obviously have been some concerns in the past about the operation of the press council, that there has been a move over the last few years to increasing rigour in the press council.
Media controls from a government that treats its own ministers like mushrooms
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(6:12am)
Cabinet sources revealed that most ministers were denied time to properly read Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s proposed media reform rules before they were rubber stamped…A small number of ministers are believed to have been kept in the loop, including Treasurer Wayne Swan and Prime Minister Julia Gillard.But other key cabinet ministers said they had been given no notice of what was to come before the Tuesday meeting, nor were they given sufficient time to digest the document before it was agreed to.
Conroy, who boasted he could force telco bosses to wear red underpants on their heads,forces Cabinet colleagues to wear a sell-out of free speech:
AT Tuesday morning’s snap cabinet meeting to consider Stephen Conroy’s proposed media laws, there were a number of empty seats around the oval table.A Qantas flight from Sydney with three cabinet ministers on board - Tanya Plibersek, Bob Carr and Peter Garrett, as well as cabinet secretary Jason Clare - was delayed and then cancelled…Those who were there, ostensibly to discuss the new policy on coal-seam gas exploration from Tony Burke, were given the impression no further discussion would be brooked. The Communications Minister’s policy and strategy were to be endorsed quickly on a crash or crash-through basis.They were told a number of ministers were trapped in Sydney, the meeting would proceed without them and that the cabinet “decision” was to be announced within two hours.
None of those objecting had the guts to protest?
Labor MPs are treated with the same contemptuous we-know-best authoritarianism that lies behind this whole sinister attempt to further control the media. Henry Ergas:
ARROGANCE is the curse of those long on power and short on wisdom. Little wonder, then, that Stephen Conroy has announced his media reforms as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, giving parliament no time to consider, much less amend, legislation it has not yet seen and will not see until the last moment… Yet, from the few details he has disclosed, his proposals seem unfounded on evidence, poorly designed in practice and deeply at odds with democratic principles.
More arrogance from those presuming to control the media. The Government wants a commissar whose pronouncements on what you are allowed to read and from whom cannot be appealed:
The reform details make it clear that the public interest media advocate will be appointed by the communications minister unilaterally, although there is a requirement to consult the opposition…The advocate will have unfettered power to rule on the facts of a case, exposed only to appeals on judicial process rather than the fundamental merits of his or her decision. “A decision by the public interest media advocate will be subject to the general administrative review but will not be subject to merits review,” the paper said.
Shameful. The independents are being bribed to swap our free press for food:
The government is planning a crackdown on big supermarkets to help Australian grocery suppliers in a move that acts on some of the independents’ concerns and could smooth the ground for media legislation to be introduced into parliament today.
UPDATE
How impressive has Malcolm Turnbull been recently?
Flannery’s heat wave vs a reader’s snow
Andrew BoltMARCH142013(6:04am)
What we’re seeing is a whole slew of new records, new territory, new climatic territory, which we’re seeing in Australia and the US and in the Arctic. And that’s part of a longer trend...
Reader Andrew challenges Flannery:
Here I am stuck in Germany , in Worms actually, and I am snowbound.I cannot leave my hotel. All this in mid March (I am particularly annoyed as I am stuck in a rather dreary hotel here.Now I am very serious about this. I will donate $5000.00 to Prof Tim Flannery if he, on behalf of the Climate Commission, will fly to England and explain to them at a public meeting his proof that the world is warming, (If you or he doubt my bona fides then I will pay that sum into a bank account to be paid to him when he agrees).I am sure he would be a big hit in England where it has had the coldest March day in 26 years.
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ACT 4 her .. a beautiful image===
WHO VOTED FOR A DOUBLING OF ELECTRICITY PRICES ?
Thanks Julia. Thanks Kevin. Thanks Labor.
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ALP campaign poster, found in gutter in Carramar
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Teresa, I agree. Michael, without dismissing any of your arguments as merely historical, I would point out that the way to address the issue of culture is to praise it. There isn't enough money to do everything that is a good idea, and not all ideas are good. Utilising resources and optimising that use allows progress. Nothing is optimal in education. You don't have to agree with Thatcher policy or religious fervour to recognise that truth that Jesus isn't recognised as being great for his compromises, but for his adherence to principle. We know how to recognise who can add or subtract with or without a calculator. That isn't cultural. But a cultural argument can be mounted for how it is examined. I am reminded of a year 7 boy I met at a selective school in Sydney. It was an agricultural boarding school, and the boy, Hamidur Rahman (I can use his name now) was Indian ethnic and despised support but was proud of his Hindu heritage. The school was gung ho with Rugby. This boy didn't fit in, but he was willing to work to excel. He had a peanut allergy, as he told me one evening over dinner. I told my supervisors about the serious issue and was assured the issue would be addressed. I left the school soon after. The following year, the boy was at a year 8 school camp. He had successfully completed an activity involved with running, and the teacher had run out of rewards so, thinking outside the box, said the student's reward was to lick peanut butter from a spoon. The teacher was not aware of the allergy as my supervisors hadn't told them, although the boy had been hazed for trying to let people know. So the student, in front of his year group, did as he was told, and died in seconds. The school and education department went into damage protection mode and the Principal retired soon after, claiming no one had told him. Coroner investigated and said it was an accident, criticising the parents for not telling the school of the allergy. I was targeted by the Department following and instructed not to speak on the issue .. I resigned to speak out six years ago and have had no work since.
My point is that there are cultural issues that need to be addressed, but those aren't academic tests where anyone can quibble over nothing. Hamidur was doing well in a hostile environment. Some students do. Some don't. Our tests don't need to be culturally sensitive. We do. No student of mine who cannot speak English well is going to be encouraged by me to study English literature at university. Instead, I would suggest they might try to improve their own language and bilingual skills. A new push is on by local Anglican researchers promoting the concept of cultural assets. Culture is not a weakness, but a strength which needs to be buttressed from those that devalue it and promoted so as to improve outcomes for all.
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- 1757 – British Royal Navy Admiral John Byng was court-martialled and executed by firing squad when he failed to "do his utmost" during the Battle of Minorca at the start of the Seven Years' War.
- 1885 – The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan's most frequently performed Savoy opera, debuted at the Savoy Theatre inLondon.
- 1910 – Oil prospectors in Kern County, California, drilled into a pressurized oil deposit, resulting in the largest accidental oil spill (pictured) in history.
- 1945 – The British Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000 lb(9.98 t) earthquake bomb, on a strategic railroad viaduct in Bielefeld, Germany.
- 1988 – China defeated Vietnam in a naval battle as the former attempted to establish oceanographic observation posts on the Spratly Islands.
Events[edit]
- 44 BC – Casca and Cassius decide, on the night before the Assassination of Julius Caesar, that Mark Antony should stay alive.
- 313 – Emperor Jin Huidi is executed by Liu Cong, ruler of the Xiongnu state (Han Zhao).
- 1381 – Chioggia concludes an alliance with Zadar and Trogir against Venice, which becomes changed in 1412 in Šibenik.
- 1489 – The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
- 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne during the French Wars of Religion.
- 1647 – Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.
- 1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana.
- 1782 – Battle of Wuchale: Emperor Tekle Giyorgis pacifies a group of Oromo near Wuchale.
- 1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
- 1885 – The Mikado, a light opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, receives its first public performance in London.
- 1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing United States currency on the gold standard.
- 1903 – The Hay–Herrán Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate would later reject the treaty.
- 1903 – The Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is established by US President Theodore Roosevelt.
- 1910 – Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well gusher near Bakersfield, California, vents to atmosphere.
- 1915 – World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser SMS Dresden is abandoned and scuttled by her crew.
- 1926 – El Virilla train accident, Costa Rica: A train falls off a bridge over the Río Virilla between Heredia and Tibás. 248 are killed and 93 wounded.
- 1931 – Alam Ara, India's first talking film, is released.
- 1936 – The first all-sound film version of Show Boat opens at Radio City Music Hall. (There had been a part-talkie, part-silent version of Show Boat in 1929.)
- 1939 – Slovakia declares independence under German pressure.
- 1942 – Orvan Hess and John Bumstead became the first in the United States successfully to treat a patient, Anne Miller, using penicillin.
- 1943 – World War II: The Kraków Ghetto is "liquidated".
- 1945 – World War II: The R.A.F.'s first operational use of the Grand Slam bomb, Bielefeld, Germany.
- 1951 – Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
- 1964 – A jury in Dallas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy.
- 1967 – The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1972 – Italian publisher and former partisan Giangiacomo Feltrinelli is killed by an explosion near Segrate.
- 1978 – The Israeli Defense Force invades and occupies southern Lebanon, in Operation Litani.
- 1979 – In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
- 1980 – In Poland, a plane crashes during final approach near Warsaw, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.
- 1984 – Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast.
- 1988 – Johnson South Reef Skirmish: Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in Johnson South Reef, disputed Spratly Islands.
- 1994 – Timeline of Linux development: Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released.
- 1995 – Space Exploration: Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle.
- 2006 – Members of the Chadian military fail in an attempted coup d'état.
- 2007 – The Left Front government of West Bengal sends at least 3,000 police to Nandigram in an attempt to break Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee resistance there; the resulting clash leaves 14 dead.
- 2008 – A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and elsewhere in Tibet.
Births[edit]
- 1638 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710)
- 1681 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (d. 1767)
- 1790 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (d. 1863)
- 1801 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (d. 1822)
- 1804 – Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer (d. 1849)
- 1807 – Josephine of Leuchtenberg (d. 1876)
- 1813 – Joseph P. Bradley, American jurist (d. 1892)
- 1820 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (d. 1878)
- 1822 – Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (d. 1889)
- 1823 – Théodore de Banville, French poet (d. 1891)
- 1833 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor, American dentist (d. 1910)
- 1835 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (d. 1910)
- 1837 – Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (d. 1903)
- 1844 – Umberto I of Italy, (d. 1900)
- 1844 – Arthur O'Shaughnessy, English poet (d. 1881)
- 1853 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918)
- 1854 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1915)
- 1854 – John Lane, English publisher, co-founded The Bodley Head (d. 1925)
- 1854 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian author and poet (d. 1920)
- 1854 – Thomas R. Marshall, American politician, 28th Vice President of the United States of America (d. 1925)
- 1862 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (d. 1951)
- 1863 – Casey Jones, American engineer (d. 1900)
- 1866 – Alexey Troitsky, Russian composer and author (d. 1942)
- 1868 – Emily Murphy, Canadian jurist, author, and activist (d. 1933)
- 1869 – Algernon Blackwood, English author (d. 1951)
- 1874 – Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (d. 1951)
- 1879 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1880 – Princess Thyra of Denmark (d. 1945)
- 1882 – Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician (d. 1969)
- 1885 – Raoul Lufbery, French-American pilot (d. 1918)
- 1886 – Edward Dierkes, American soccer player (d. 1955)
- 1886 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (d. 1964)
- 1887 – Sylvia Beach, American-French publisher, founded Shakespeare and Company (d. 1962)
- 1887 – Charles Reisner, American actor and director (d. 1962)
- 1888 – Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Canadian painter (d. 1970)
- 1894 – Osa Johnson, American director and explorer (d. 1953)
- 1898 – Arnold Chikobava, Georgian linguist (d. 1985)
- 1899 – K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman, founded Irving Oil (d. 1992)
- 1899 – Ada Kramm, Norwegian actress (d. 1981)
- 1903 – Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (d. 1979)
- 1903 – Adolph Gottlieb, American painter (d. 1974)
- 1904 – Doris Eaton Travis, American actress and dancer (d. 2010)
- 1905 – Raymond Aron, French journalist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1983)
- 1908 – Ed Heinemann, American engineer (d. 1991)
- 1908 – C. X. Martyn, Sri Lankan Tamil politician
- 1908 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher (d. 1961)
- 1908 – Philip Conrad Vincent, English businessman, founded Vincent Motorcycles (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese origamist (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Cliff Bastin, English footballer (d. 1991)
- 1912 – Les Brown, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2001)
- 1912 – W. Graham Claytor, Jr. American lawyer and navy officer, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Charles Van Acker, Belgian race car driver (d. 1998)
- 1912 – W. Willard Wirtz, American lawyer and politician, 10th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (The Weavers) (d. 1981)
- 1914 – Bill Owen, English actor and songwriter (d. 1999)
- 1914 – Lee Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000)
- 1915 – Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, conductor, and composer (d. 2005)
- 1916 – Horton Foote, American author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- 1917 – Alan Smith, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Dennis Patrick, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1919 – Max Shulman, American author (d. 1988)
- 1920 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
- 1921 – S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A
- 1921 – Ada Louise Huxtable, American author and critic (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971)
- 1924 – Jacques Antoine, French game show producer, created The Crystal Maze and Fort Boyard (d. 2012)
- 1925 – William Clay Ford, Sr., American businessman (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Francis A. Marzen, American priest (d. 2004)
- 1925 – Joseph A. Unanue, American sergeant and businessman (d. 2013)
- 1926 – François Morel, Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, and educator
- 1926 – Phil Phillips, American singer-songwriter
- 1927 – Philippe Lemaire, French actor (d. 2004)
- 1928 – Frank Borman, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1928 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (d. 1980)
- 1932 – Naina Yeltsina, Russian wife of Boris Yeltsin, First Lady of Russia
- 1933 – Michael Caine, English actor and author
- 1933 – René Felber, Swiss politician
- 1933 – Quincy Jones, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer
- 1934 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
- 1934 – Paul Rader, American 15th General of The Salvation Army
- 1936 – Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer
- 1937 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Pilar Bardem, Spanish actress
- 1939 – Raymond J. Barry, American actor
- 1939 – Bertrand Blier, French director and screenwriter
- 1939 – Yves Boisset, French director and screenwriter
- 1939 – Stavros Xarchakos, Greek composer, conductor, and politician
- 1941 – Wolfgang Petersen, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1942 – Rita Tushingham, English actress
- 1943 – Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, American singer, guitarist, and producer (Ohio Players) (d. 2013)
- 1943 – Anita Morris, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1994)
- 1944 – Boris Brott, Canadian composer and conductor
- 1944 – Václav Nedomanský, Czech ice hockey player and manager
- 1944 – Bobby Smith, English footballer and manager
- 1944 – Tom Stannage, Australian historian and academic (d. 2012)
- 1945 – Jasper Carrott, English comedian and actor
- 1945 – Michael Martin Murphey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1945 – Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist (Chicago)
- 1945 – Herman van Veen, Dutch singer-songwriter and actor
- 1946 – Steve Kanaly, American actor
- 1946 – Wes Unseld, American basketball player, coach, and manager
- 1947 – Pam Ayres, English comedian, actor, and poet
- 1947 – Roy Budd, English pianist and composer (d. 1993)
- 1947 – William J. Jefferson, American politician
- 1947 – Jona Lewie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs and Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts)
- 1948 – Tom Coburn, American physician and politician
- 1948 – Billy Crystal, American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1948 – Theo Jansen, Dutch sculptor
- 1949 – Helle Meri, Estonian actress, 2nd First Lady of Estonia
- 1950 – Rick Dees, American actor and radio host
- 1951 – Jerry Greenfield, American businessman, co-founded Ben & Jerry's
- 1953 – Nick Keir, Scottish singer-songwriter (The McCalmans) (d. 2013)
- 1954 – Jann Browne, American singer (Asleep at the Wheel)
- 1955 – Helen Atkinson-Wood, English actress
- 1955 – Jonathan Kaufer, American director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1956 – Colin Ayre, English footballer
- 1956 – Johnny Dusbaba, Dutch footballer
- 1956 – Toine Manders, Dutch politician
- 1956 – Butch Wynegar, American baseball player and coach
- 1957 – Steve Lake, American baseball player
- 1957 – Jean van de Velde, Dutch director and screenwriter
- 1957 – Tad Williams, American author
- 1958 – Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- 1959 – Laila Robins, American actress
- 1959 – Tamara Tunie, American actress, director, and producer
- 1959 – Brian Whitfield, South African cricketer
- 1960 – Kirby Puckett, American baseball player (d. 2006)
- 1961 – Greg Anderson, American race car driver
- 1961 – Gary Dell'Abate, American radio producer
- 1961 – Penny Johnson Jerald, American actress
- 1961 – Hiro Matsushita, Japanese race car driver
- 1961 – Rey Washam, American drummer (Scratch Acid, The Didjits, Big Boys, and Rapeman)
- 1962 – Narumi Tsunoda, Japanese voice actress
- 1963 – Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
- 1964 – Dario Bisso, Italian conductor and composer
- 1965 – Kevin Brown, American baseball player
- 1965 – Aamir Khan, Indian actor, director, and producer
- 1965 – Kiana Tom, American actress, television host, and author
- 1965 – Kevin Williamson, American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1965 – Billy Sherwood, American musician, record producer, and engineer
- 1966 – Jonas Elmer, Danish actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Elise Neal, American actress
- 1966 – Gary Anthony Williams, American actor
- 1967 – Melissa Reeves, American actress
- 1968 – Megan Follows, Canadian actress
- 1969 – Michael Bland, American drummer (The New Power Generation, Nick Jonas & the Administration, Dr. Mambo's Combo, and Soul Asylum)
- 1969 – Des Coleman, English actor
- 1969 – Larry Johnson, American basketball player
- 1970 – Kristian Bush, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Sugarland and Billy Pilgrim)
- 1970 – Ebru Kavaklıoğlu, Russian runner
- 1970 – Meredith Salenger, American actress
- 1973 – Rohit Shetty, Indian actor, director, and cinematographer
- 1974 – Grace Park, American-Canadian actress
- 1974 – Patrick Traverse, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Stephen Harper, English footballer
- 1975 – Johan Paulik, Slovak porn actor
- 1975 – Rico Yan, Filipino actor (d. 2002)
- 1976 – Daniel Gillies, Canadian-New Zealand actor
- 1976 – Merlin Santana, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1977 – Zé António, Portuguese footballer
- 1977 – Vadims Fjodorovs, Latvian footballer and coach
- 1977 – Aki Hoshino, Japanese model and author
- 1977 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (d. 2011)
- 1978 – Carlo Giuliani, Italian anarchist (d. 2001)
- 1978 – Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer
- 1979 – Nicolas Anelka, French footballer
- 1979 – Arsénio Sebastião Cabungula, Angolan footballer
- 1979 – Santino Marella, Canadian wrestler
- 1979 – Chris Klein, American actor
- 1979 – Sead Ramović, German-Bosnian footballer
- 1980 – Aaron Brown, English footballer
- 1980 – Matteo Grassotto, Italian race car driver
- 1980 – Ben Herring, New Zealand rugby player
- 1980 – Mercedes McNab, Canadian model and actress
- 1981 – Bobby Jenks, American baseball player
- 1981 – Mei-Ting Sun, Chinese-American pianist
- 1981 – George Wilson, American football player
- 1982 – Kate Maberly, English actress and singer
- 1982 – Carlos Marinelli, Argentinian footballer
- 1982 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (d. 2008)
- 1983 – Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer
- 1983 – Taylor Hanson, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Hanson and Tinted Windows)
- 1984 – Aric Almirola, American race car driver
- 1984 – Liesel Pritzker Simmons, American actress
- 1985 – Idaira, Spanish singer
- 1985 – Eva Angelina, American porn actress and model
- 1985 – Brianna Love, American porn actress
- 1985 – Ariel Rebel, Canadian porn actress and model
- 1986 – Jamie Bell, English actor
- 1986 – Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1986 – Andy Taylor, English footballer
- 1987 – Robert Clark, American actor
- 1988 – Stephen Curry, American basketball player
- 1988 – Rico Freimuth, German decathlete
- 1988 – Sasha Grey, American porn actress and singer (ATelecine)
- 1989 – Kevin Lacroix, Canadian race car driver
- 1989 – Colby O'Donis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1990 – Joe Allen, Welsh footballer
- 1990 – Tamás Kádár, Hungarian footballer
- 1990 – Triin Ojaste, Estonian skier
- 1990 – Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, Icelandic footballer
- 1991 – László Szűcs, Hungarian footballer
- 1991 – Steven Zellner, German footballer
- 1992 – Jasmine Murray, American singer
- 1993 – Philipp Ziereis, German footballer
- 1994 – Ansel Elgort, American actor
Deaths[edit]
- 313 – Emperor Huai of Jin (b. 284)
- 968 – Matilda of Ringelheim (b. 895)
- 1457 – Jingtai Emperor of China (b. 1428)
- 1471 – Thomas Malory, English author (b. 1405)
- 1647 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (b. 1584)
- 1648 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general and politician (b. 1584)
- 1680 – René Le Bossu, French critic (b. 1631)
- 1682 – Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael, Dutch painter (b. 1628)
- 1696 – Jean Domat, French jurist (b. 1625)
- 1698 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish politician (b. 1622)
- 1748 – George Wade, Irish field marshal (b. 1673)
- 1757 – John Byng, English admiral (b. 1704)
- 1765 – Ayagawa Gorōji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 2nd Yokozuna (b. 1703)
- 1791 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and critic (b. 1725)
- 1803 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (b. 1724)
- 1805 – Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, Polish-Lithuanian general (b. 1753)
- 1811 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1735)
- 1823 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general (b. 1739)
- 1823 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral (b. 1735)
- 1860 – Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (b. 1802)
- 1883 – Karl Marx, German philosopher and theorist (b. 1818)
- 1884 – Quintino Sella, Italian financier and politician (b. 1827)
- 1921 – Larry McLean, Canadian-American baseball player (b. 1881)
- 1932 – George Eastman, American inventor and businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (b. 1854)
- 1933 – Balto, American sled dog (b. 1919)
- 1942 – René Bull, Irish illustrator (b. 1872)
- 1946 – Werner von Blomberg, German field marshal (b. 1878)
- 1949 – John Callan O'Laughlin, American journalist and politician (b. 1873)
- 1957 – Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot activist (b. 1938)
- 1960 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (b. 1884)
- 1965 – Marion Jones Farquhar, American tennis player (b. 1879)
- 1969 – Clement Deykin, English rugby player (b. 1877)
- 1973 – Howard H. Aiken, American computer scientist (b. 1900)
- 1973 – Rafael Godoy, Colombian composer (b. 1907)
- 1973 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
- 1974 – Günther Reindorff, Estonian graphic designer (b. 1899)
- 1975 – Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)
- 1976 – Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895)
- 1977 – Fannie Lou Hamer, American activist (b. 1917)
- 1980 – Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian politician, 1st Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1902)
- 1980 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (b. 1928)
- 1983 – Maurice Ronet, French actor and director (b. 1927)
- 1984 – Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet (b. 1915)
- 1989 – Edward Abbey, American author and activist (b. 1927)
- 1989 – Happy Humphrey, American wrestler (b. 1926)
- 1991 – Howard Ashman, American playwright and composer (b. 1950)
- 1991 – Doc Pomus, American singer-songwriter (b. 1925)
- 1991 – Margery Sharp, English author (b. 1905)
- 1992 – Jean Poiret, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 1995 – William Alfred Fowler, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1997 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Kirk Alyn, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1999 – John Broome, American author (b. 1913)
- 2000 – C. Jérôme, French singer (b. 1946)
- 2002 – Cherry Wilder, New Zealand author (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Jack Goldstein, Canadian-American painter (b. 1945)
- 2003 – Jean-Luc Lagardère, French engineer and businessman (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Ann Calvello, American roller derby racer (b. 1929)
- 2006 – Lennart Meri, Estonian director and politician, 2nd President of Estonia (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Lucie Aubrac, French educator and activist (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Gareth Hunt, English actor (b. 1943)
- 2008 – Chiara Lubich, Italian activist, co-founded the Focolare Movement (b. 1920)
- 2009 – Alain Bashung, French singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1947)
- 2009 – Altovise Davis, American actress and dancer (b. 1943)
- 2010 – Peter Graves, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2010 – Janet Simpson, English sprinter (b. 1944)
- 2012 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese politician, 4th President of Malta (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Walt Buck, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Norman Collier, English comedian and actor (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Jack Greene, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Mirja Hietamies, Finnish skier (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Scott Kennedy, American comedian (b. 1965)
- 2013 – Harry Coleman McGehee, Jr., American bishop (b. 1923)
- 2013 – François Narmon, Belgian businessman (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Thomas Rhoad, Jr., American politician (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Paul Rose, Canadian murderer (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Aramais Sahakyan, Armenian poet and author (b. 1936)
- 2013 – Ieng Sary, Vietnamese-Cambodian politician, co-founded the Khmer Rouge (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Harry Thomson, Scottish footballer (b. 1940)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Constitution Day (Andorra)
- Earliest day on which Lazarus Saturday can fall, while April 17 is the latest; observed on the day before Palm Sunday. (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Heroes' Day (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
- Mother Tongue Day (Estonia)
- Nanakshahi New Year, first day of the month of Chet (Sikhism)
- Pi Day, also see July 22--"Pi Approximation Day"
- Second Equirria (Roman Empire)
- Spring Day (Albania)
- White Day, complementary day of Valentine's Day when men give gifts to women. (Japan and Korea)
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” - Romans 8:28
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
March 13: Morning
"Why sit we here until we die?" - 2 Kings 7:3
Dear reader, this little book was mainly intended for the edification of believers, but if you are yet unsaved, our heart yearns over you: and we would fain say a word which may be blessed to you. Open your Bible, and read the story of the lepers, and mark their position, which was much the same as yours. If you remain where you are you must perish; if you go to Jesus you can but die. "Nothing venture, nothing win," is the old proverb, and in your case the venture is no great one. If you sit still in sullen despair, no one can pity you when your ruin comes; but if you die with mercy sought, if such a thing were possible, you would be the object of universal sympathy. None escape who refuse to look to Jesus; but you know that, at any rate, some are saved who believe in him, for certain of your own acquaintances have received mercy: then why not you? The Ninevites said, "Who can tell?" Act upon the same hope, and try the Lord's mercy. To perish is so awful, that if there were but a straw to catch at, the instinct of self-preservation should lead you to stretch out your hand. We have thus been talking to you on your own unbelieving ground, we would now assure you, as from the Lord, that if you seek him he will be found of you. Jesus casts out none who come unto him. You shall not perish if you trust him; on the contrary, you shall find treasure far richer than the poor lepers gathered in Syria's deserted camp. May the Holy Spirit embolden you to go at once, and you shall not believe in vain. When you are saved yourself, publish the good news to others. Hold not your peace; tell the King's household first, and unite with them in fellowship; let the porter of the city, the minister, be informed of your discovery, and then proclaim the good news in every place. The Lord save thee ere the sun goes down this day.
Evening
"Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark." - Genesis 8:9
Wearied out with her wanderings, the dove returns at length to the ark as her only resting place. How heavily she flies--she will drop--she will never reach the ark! But she struggles on. Noah has been looking out for his dove all day long, and is ready to receive her. She has just strength to reach the edge of the ark, she can hardly alight upon it, and is ready to drop, when Noah puts forth his hand and pulls her in unto him. Mark that: "pulled her in unto him." She did not fly right in herself, but was too fearful, or too weary to do so. She flew as far as she could, and then he put forth his hand and pulled her in unto him. This act of mercy was shown to the wandering dove, and she was not chidden for her wanderings. Just as she was she was pulled into the ark. So you, seeking sinner, with all your sin, will be received. "Only return"--those are God's two gracious words--"only return." What! nothing else? No, "only return." She had no olive branch in her mouth this time, nothing at all but just herself and her wanderings; but it is "only return," and she does return, and Noah pulls her in. Fly, thou wanderer; fly thou fainting one, dove as thou art, though thou thinkest thyself to be black as the raven with the mire of sin, back, back to the Saviour. Every moment thou waitest does but increase thy misery; thine attempts to plume thyself and make thyself fit for Jesus are all vanity. Come thou to him just as thou art. "Return, thou backsliding Israel." He does not say, "Return, thou repenting Israel" (there is such an invitation doubtless), but "thou backsliding one," as a backslider with all thy backslidings about thee, Return, return, return! Jesus is waiting for thee! He will stretch forth his hand and "pull thee in"--in to himself, thy heart's true home.
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Today's reading: Deuteronomy 19-21, Mark 13:21-37 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Deuteronomy 19-21
Cities of Refuge
1 When the LORD your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, 2 then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3 Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities....
Today's New Testament reading: Mark 13:21-37
21 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24 "But in those days, following that distress,
"'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
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There is no new Lent reading today; today is a catch-up day. If you've kept up with the daily readings so far, congratulations! If you've fallen behind, here are the readings from the last week in case you want to go back and catch up:
Wednesday: Matthew 1-3
Thursday: Matthew 4-6
Friday: Matthew 7-9
Saturday: Matthew 10-12
Have a blessed Sunday!
Wednesday: Matthew 1-3
Thursday: Matthew 4-6
Friday: Matthew 7-9
Saturday: Matthew 10-12
Have a blessed Sunday!
n.b. I am always a day behind in postings.
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