For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
There is gathering impetus for those questioning the existence of the ICAC. We need them. We need them to be competent.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns to all those born on this day, across the years, along with
- 1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
- 1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
- 1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
- 1622 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh physician, author, and poet (d. 1695)
- 1734 – Taksin, Thai king (d. 1782)
- 1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician (d. 1840)
- 1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
- 1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician (d. 1940)
- 1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
- 1957 – Nick Hornby, English author and screenwriter
- 1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and actress (Spice Girls)
- 1984 – Rosanna Davison, Irish model and actress, Miss World 2003
- 1996 – Dee Dee Davis, American actress
Matches
- 69 – After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.
- 1080 – The King of Denmark Harald III dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonised.
- 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury.
- 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
- 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
- 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
- 1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America.
- 1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
- 1897 – The Aurora, Texas UFO incident
- 1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of theFourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
- 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
- 1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
- 1937 – Daffy Duck's first appearance, in Porky's Duck Hunt.
- 1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
- 1945 – Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German Nazi forces.
- 1949 – At midnight 26 Irish counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.
- 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
- 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
- 1969 – Czechoslovakian Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
- 1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
- 1973 – George Lucas begins writing the treatment for The Star Wars.
- 1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
- 1984 – Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by gunfire from the Libyan People's Bureau (Embassy) in London during a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten others are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
- 1986 – The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends.
- 1986 – Nezar Hindawi's attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv is thwarted.
- 2006 – Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
Despatches
- 485 – Proclus, Greek philosopher (b. 412)
- 617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
- 1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
- 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
- 1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet (b. 1810)
- 1998 – Linda McCartney, American singer-songwriter, photographer, and activist (Wings) (b. 1941)
O’Farrell gambled and lost, so no use whining
Piers Akerman – Wednesday, April 16, 2014 (7:21pm)
SOMETHING smells on Macquarie Street and it does not have the bouquet of a vintage Penfold’s Grange Hermitage. Former premier Barry O’Farrell told ICAC on Tuesday that neither he nor his wife Rosemary remembered receiving a bottle of the 1959 Grange from anyone, let alone AWH boss Nick Di Girolamo.
Continue reading 'O’Farrell gambled and lost, so no use whining'Liberals’ brightest stars line up for the top job
Miranda Devine – Thursday, April 17, 2014 (1:17am)
MIKE Baird, the man most likely to succeed Barry O’Farrell as premier, started the work day at 7.30am Wednesday at a high powered business breakfast at the Shangri-La Hotel with his friend the Prime Minister.
Continue reading 'Liberals’ brightest stars line up for the top job'Steyn on the great shut-up
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:16pm)
In this week’s Spectator, always a must-read, the great Mark Steyn - fighting for a freedom too many Australians won’t defend:
These days, pretty much every story is really the same story:Read it all.
• In Galway, at the National University of Ireland, a speaker who attempts to argue against the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) programme against Israel is shouted down with cries of ‘F..king Zionist, f..king pricks… Get the f..k off our campus.’I heard a lot of that kind of talk during my battles with the Canadian ‘human rights’ commissions a few years ago: of course, we all believe in free speech, but it’s a question of how you ‘strike the balance’, where you ‘draw the line’… which all sounds terribly reasonable and Canadian, and apparently Australian, too. But in reality the point of free speech is for the stuff that’s over the line, and strikingly unbalanced. If free speech is only for polite persons of mild temperament within government-policed parameters, it isn’t free at all. So screw that.
• In California, Mozilla’s chief executive is forced to resign because he once made a political donation in support of the pre-revisionist definition of marriage.
• At Westminster, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee declares that the BBC should seek ‘special clearance’ before it interviews climate sceptics, such as fringe wacko extremists like former Chancellor Nigel Lawson.
• In Massachusetts, Brandeis University withdraws its offer of an honorary degree to a black feminist atheist human rights campaigner from Somalia.
• In London, a multitude of liberal journalists and artists responsible for everything from Monty Python to Downton Abbey sign an open letter in favour of the first state restraints on the British press in three and a quarter centuries.
• And in Canberra the government is planning to repeal Section 18C — whoa, don’t worry, not all of it, just three or four adjectives; or maybe only two, or whatever it’s down to by now, after what Gay Alcorn in the Age described as the ongoing debate about ‘where to strike the balance between free speech in a democracy and protection against racial abuse in a multicultural society’.
But I don’t really think that many people these days are genuinely interested in ‘striking the balance’; they’ve drawn the line and they’re increasingly unashamed about which side of it they stand. What all the above stories have in common, whether nominally about Israel, gay marriage, climate change, Islam, or even freedom of the press, is that one side has cheerfully swapped that apocryphal Voltaire quote about disagreeing with what you say but defending to the death your right to say it for the pithier Ring Lardner line: ‘"Shut up,” he explained.’
A generation ago, progressive opinion at least felt obliged to pay lip service to the Voltaire shtick. These days, nobody’s asking you to defend yourself to the death: a mildly supportive retweet would do. But even that’s further than most of those in the academy, the arts, the media are prepared to go. ...
I’m opposed to the notion of official ideology — not just fascism, Communism and Baathism, but the fluffier ones, too, like ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘climate change’ and ‘marriage equality’. Because the more topics you rule out of discussion — immigration, Islam, ‘gender fluidity’ — the more you delegitimise the political system. As your cynical political consultant sees it, a commitment to abolish Section 18C is more trouble than it’s worth: you’ll just spends weeks getting damned as cobwebbed racists seeking to impose a bigots’ charter when you could be moving the meter with swing voters by announcing a federal programmne of transgendered bathroom construction. But, beyond the shrunken horizons of spinmeisters, the inability to roll back something like 18C says something profound about where we’re headed: a world where real, primal, universal rights — like freedom of expression — come a distant second to the new tribalism of identity-group rights.
And don’t miss this Speccie event:
Joe Hockey, with Spectator publisher Andrew NeilHit the link to book.
The ‘world’s greatest treasurer’ Wayne Swan bequeathed a whopping national debt and federal deficit. How will his successor tackle these challenges in his first budget on May 13?
Join the federal Treasurer Joe Hockey and Andrew Neil, publisher of The Spectator and BBC politics host, on Wednesday 23 April at the Doltone House, Hyde Park , Level 3, 181 Elizabeth Street, Sydney
To all those critics who say Murdoch dominates the media…
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:10pm)
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Remembering O’Farrell’s present-giver
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (8:19am)
Barry O’Farrell didn’t just forget the Grange:
===The obfuscation began early on, when Mr O’Farrell gave the impression that he barely knew Nick Di Girolamo, a big wheel in the Liberal Party, a major fund-raiser and also head of Australian Water Holdings (AWH).Then there are the calls they made to each other, and the thank-you note O’Farrell sent Di Girolamo for the Grange:
Last year ... Mr O’Farrell told the Australian Financial Review he had attended only one meeting with Mr Di Girolamo on AWH, with then finance minister Greg Pearce, in May 2011…
In fact, the Premier had attended three private fund-raising dinners before the election, been photographed with Mr Di Girolamo at an Italian function, attended West Tigers functions with him and it turns out accepted a $3000 bottle of Penfolds Grange.
Soon after the gift, Mr O’Farrell’s chief of staff recommended Mr Di Girolamo be appointed to the board of the government-owned Water Corp. He was also granted a meeting with the Premier and his finance minister, Greg Pearce, to discuss AWH’s contract with Sydney Water…
Nine months later, AWH was awarded a 25-year contract worth $100 million. The awarding was done by Sydney Water, not cabinet.
The note read: “...Thanks for all your support. Kind Regards, Barry and Rosemary.”More to come as ICAC opens another investigation:
By March 2012, Mr Di Girolamo had become a lobbyist for Kores, which owns the highly controversial Wallarah 2 coal mine on the central coast. The project was denied approval by the former Labor government…People who know O’Farrell say he’s as honest as the day is long.
As opposition leader, Mr O’Farrell and his central coast spokesman, Mr Hartcher, had held a rally in 2009 opposing the project. “The next Liberal-National government will ensure mining cannot occur here ... no ifs, no buts. A guarantee,” Mr O’Farrell said.
In January 2012, Kores resubmitted its plans ... Earlier this year, the NSW Department of Planning announced it was recommending the approval of Wallarah 2, subject to strict conditions.
AWH has also been revealed as one of the major contributors to a slush fund, Eight by Five, operated by Mr Koelma [a Hartcher staffer].
O’Farrell quits over gift, Labor frontbenchers don’t
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (7:39am)
Barry O’Farrell resigns as NSW Premier over an undeclared gift worth nearly $3000:
===NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has resigned in the wake of controversy over his appearance at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.Two federal Labor frontbenchers have not resigned over an undeclared gift worth nearly $3000:
Mr O’Farrell revealed during a surprise press conference on Wednesday that a note thanking Liberal fundraiser Nick Di Girolamo for a $3,000 bottle of wine, which he had claimed he never received, would be presented to the corruption watchdog…
It was never declared, as required, on his register of pecuniary interests.
FEDERAL Environment Minister Tony Burke and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy ... received free holiday accommodation from allegedly corrupt former state MP Eddie Obeid.
Both ministers were last night forced to amend their entries in the federal parliamentary pecuniary interests register, following revelations they accepted freebies at the Obeid family lodge at Perisher Valley in the NSW ski fields, on one occasion staying there together…
Apartments at the Stables can cost as much as $2690 for a weekend during peak season. Mr Burke said in a statement last night: “...I declare two separate stays at this accommodation in the period 2004 to 2006...”
Senator Conroy ... volunteered a similar statement, saying he stayed in the apartment once in either 2005 or 2006.
A time for integrity in politics. UPDATE: Baird is Premier
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (7:33am)
Miranda Devine on Mike Baird, the man most likely to succeed Barry O’Farrell as premier:
UPDATE
Mike Baird is the new premier of NSW, elected unanimously.
===Baird, 46, is Liberal party royalty, the blond, sporty, firstborn son of former state Liberal minister Bruce Baird and wife Judy… Baird grew up in Canberra and Bonn, Germany, where his father was assistant trade commissioner…I think voters are desperate for values in politics - and integrity. That Christian thing, and Abbott’s friendship, does it for me.
When Baird was nine his father was posted to New York, and the family settled in bucolic Rye, in Westchester County, where young Mike became a star baseballer who was popular with the girls.
Back in Australia he attended the Kings School… He became involved in Anglican church fellowship, where he met his wife, Kerryn, whom he married at age 21.
After finishing an economics arts degree at Sydney University, he joined the National Australia Bank on a graduate program and specialised in corporate finance.
His investment banking career was flourishing at Deutsche Bank when he began to wonder: “Is that all there is? Should I be just about accumulating money?”
So in 1994 he told Kerryn he wanted to go to Bible college and within a year they were in Vancouver at Regent College, a graduate school of Christian studies. Ironically it was there he realised his true calling was politics. He went back to investment banking and was posted to London with his young family, and then to Hong Kong.
But in 2007 he gave it all up for politics, winning a bruising preselection for Manly, where he forged a friendship with his federal counterpart Tony Abbott. The pair run, surf and bike together…
A year later Baird was NSW shadow treasurer… He worked hard and formed a formidable partnership with NSW Treasury secretary Phil Gaetjens. Within three years the pair had turned around the state economy, adding 127,000 jobs and taking NSW from the slowest economic and jobs growth to the strongest.
UPDATE
Mike Baird is the new premier of NSW, elected unanimously.
In defence of O’Farrell - and against ICAC
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (7:33am)
I have been very critical of NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell for:
Chris Merritt:
Even ICAC is suspicious about how it’s being used:
UPDATE
About Chris Hartcher, in 2012:
===- accepting a $3000 gift from a lobbyist.But others have a more forgiving take, and are more critical of ICAC for trapping O’Farrell:
- not declaring it
- not telling the truth about it, especially under oath.
Chris Merritt:
THE wrong man decided to resign yesterday over the ludicrous investigation into Barry O’Farrell’s recollection about a bottle of wine…Nick Greiner, former NSW Premier:
Geoffrey Watson SC, counsel assisting the Independent Commission Against Corruption… has said there is no suggestion of corrupt conduct by O’Farrell. So, if that is the case, what point did he hope to make by testing O’Farrell’s recollection about whether or not he was given a bottle of Grange?…
Despite Watson’s denials, ICAC did ambush O’Farrell — and it did so over an issue that appears to have no relevance to the commission’s statutory responsibility…
The ICAC Act gives the commission a clear direction that, “when exercising its functions, the commission is, as far as practicable, to direct its attention to serious corrupt conduct and systemic corrupt conduct and is to take into account the responsibility and role other public authorities and public officials have in the prevention of corrupt conduct”.
I accept [O’Farrell’s] recollection of the events. The normal thing would’ve been to send it somewhere and to put it on a register, but I don’t think one should ascribe any great thought or motivation to this. This was a period a week after an election ...Gerard Henderson:
SARAH FERGUSON: It doesn’t really pass the smell test, though, does it? He did know that Nick Di Girolamo and his company were lobbying for a lucrative contract. Would you have accepted a bottle of wine under those circumstances?
NICK GREINER: Yes.
SARAH FERGUSON: You would?
NICK GREINER: Of course. And you would put it on the register and if he’d had an organised office, he would’ve. Look, I think the media and the community can get its knickers in a knot quite unnecessarily about that sort of thing. I mean, this is about a political judgment, a failure of memory. There is not a - there is no scintilla of suggestion that Barry’s corrupt. There’s no scintilla of suggestion that he’s other than very honest. In fact in my personal dealings with him I’d say he was honest to a fault and even beyond a fault.
We’re supposed to be dealing with the Independent Commission Against Corruption. They’ve had two big victims in 25 years. One was an honest reforming premier in Nick Greiner and the other was an honest reforming premier in Barry O’Farrell. This is not a great record of achievement. I mean, the idea that you would lose your job because you accepted and probably drank a bottle of wine, which you didn’t try to sell and you didn’t even try to pawn it, you probably drank it,… is not the idea of campaigning against corruption when the ICAC was set up about a quarter of a century ago…Tony Abbott:
I wouldn’t know the cost of a bottle of Grange. I would have no idea it was worth $3,000. If someone gave it to me, I’d probably drink it and I may or may not forget about it. But what’s ICAC doing with this? ...I’m interested in consequences. Australian Water Holdings got nothing out of the O’Farrell Government… So where’s the corruption?…
We’re having this ridiculous conversation, in my view, where a premier’s gone down who was a reformist, honest premier and a very efficient premier, over a bottle of wine. This is pretty farcical… He’s had a memory failure and everyone’s on him.
A bottle of Grange is pretty special, no doubt about that. But given that premiers and other senior politicians have very crowded, busy lives, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect everything from some years ago to be front of mind.Peter Hartcher:
Even before the O’Farrell bombshell, another federal cabinet minister had said privately to colleagues: “ICAC is a kangaroo court. It’s destroying the lives of innocent people. The moment they’re named in ICAC, they’re finished, even though there is no accusation, no evidence, nothing.”UPDATE
That minister can now rest his case after the accidental political murder of O’Farrell at the hands of the ICAC.
But he will not rest it. The ICAC has created a backlash against itself.
Another member of the federal cabinet said: “It’s just ridiculous. Here’s ICAC pulling down a second completely clean Liberal premier” – Nick Greiner was the first – “and what’s happened to Obeid and Macdonald and the whole cabal of corrupt Labor politicians? Why have no charges been laid against Eddie Obeid?”
Obeid and Ian Macdonald have been disgraced, yet they remain free men, without any charge brought against them. His implication? That the ICAC has failed to produce enough hard evidence for them to be brought to trial in a court…
ICAC has set back its own cause by seeming diverted by trivial pursuit when it should be uprooting serious corruption.
Even ICAC is suspicious about how it’s being used:
The barrister leading the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry has raised questions about whether the information leading to Premier Barry O’Farrell’s resignation was strategically leaked to the media to bring him down…Piers Akerman:
Former Australian Water Holdings chief executive Nick Di Girolamo, a Liberal Party fund-raiser and an associate of the Obeid family, was asked whether he had told the former Liberal energy minister Chris Hartcher about [his] gift of a $3000 bottle of wine…
‘‘Who in the world did you tell that you’d bought Mr O’Farrell the bottle of Grange?’’ counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson, SC, said.
‘‘I don’t believe I told anyone that I’d bought the bottle of Grange, other than [wife] Jodie,’’ he replied.
‘‘Did you tell another politician, a fellow called Hartcher?’’
‘‘I don’t believe so,’’ Mr Di Girolamo replied…
The inquiry has heard allegations that Mr Di Girolamo had arranged for AWH to make ‘‘regular payments’’ to a slush fund linked to Mr Hartcher in exchange for favourable treatment from the minister.
Mr O’Farrell’s resignation followed his unequivocal denial on Tuesday that he had received the $3000 bottle of wine from Mr Di Girolamo shortly after the election.
Overnight, Mr Di Girolamo discovered a thank you note he had received from the Premier… Later in the day, Mr Watson moved to quash speculation that the commission had sat on the note in order to trap Mr O’Farrell, saying the information was received at 9.17am in the morning from Mr Di Girolamo’s barrister.
It seems O’Farrell was brought down in part by Liberals.
The Daily Telegraph’s ace state political roundsman Andrew Clennell was tipped over a month ago there was a definite link between a bottle of Grange and O’Farrell.
One of Clennell’s trusted sources prompted him to ask O’Farrell then whether he had ever received a bottle of Grange at the beginning of his premiership in 2011.
He put the question to O’Farrell in a series of text messages that ricocheted back and forth between him and the then-premier on the afternoon of Thursday, March 6.
“Sorry about this, just one more. Did nick give/send you a bottle of grange when you became premier?” Clennell texted O’Farrell at 12.28pm…
O’Farrell replied: “Confirm no recollection or record of the alleged gift.”
UPDATE
About Chris Hartcher, in 2012:
Premier Barry O’Farrell demanded Mr Hartcher, his energy minister, quit cabinet after his Central Coast and parliamentary offices were raided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption over an investigation into alleged illegal donations…(Thanks to readers Matt, lol and Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
ICAC is understood to be investigating claims tens of thousands of dollars in illegal donations were raised from developers and others for a slush fund by one of Mr Hartcher’s former staffers in a scandal which has drawn in fellow Central Coast Liberal MPs Chris Spence and Darren Webber.
Step forward, the politicians we can trust
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:57am)
WHO can trust our politicians after the humiliating resignation on Wednesday of NSW premier Barry O’Farrell?
Has trust in our political system ever been so low?
Here’s a premier who resigns for misleading corruption investigators about a $3000 bottle of Grange — a dodgy gift from a contract-seeking grafter that he failed to declare and falsely claimed on oath that he never received.
On Wednesday— snap — the trap was shut, with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption revealing O’Farrell had in fact sent the grafter, Liberal fundraiser and Australian Water Holdings head Nick Di Girolamo, a handwritten thank you.
On its own, maybe small beer — or wine — if you buy O’Farrell’s highly improbable claim that he couldn’t remember getting a gift so memorable, a Grange from his birth year.
But what about all the rest?
(Read full column here.)
Mark Scott’s apology is a threat
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:53am)
MARK Scott has apologised for the ABC being too vicious. But how he apologised shows it’s also too big.
Scott, ABC managing director, took seven months to finally realise this week he should apologise to an ABC critic, Australian columnist Chris Kenny.
It should have taken just seven seconds to realise the ABC’s The Hamster Decides last year crossed a line by broadcasting into hundreds of thousands of homes a doctored picture of Kenny sodomising a dog, under a sign: “Chris Kenny, dog-f---er”.
Why Scott has now suddenly said sorry is not explained.
(Read full article here.)
===Scott, ABC managing director, took seven months to finally realise this week he should apologise to an ABC critic, Australian columnist Chris Kenny.
It should have taken just seven seconds to realise the ABC’s The Hamster Decides last year crossed a line by broadcasting into hundreds of thousands of homes a doctored picture of Kenny sodomising a dog, under a sign: “Chris Kenny, dog-f---er”.
Why Scott has now suddenly said sorry is not explained.
(Read full article here.)
What Pratt’s word is worth
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:38am)
Louise Pratt, second on Labor’s WA Senate ticket, on running mate Joe Bullock before the election:
===I’m delighted to be here with my future Senate colleague, Joe Bullock… We’ve got a lot more in common than we would ever have that’s different.Louise Pratt, Pratt, defeated, on running mate Joe Bullock yesterday:
Replaced in the Senate by someone who I have known for many years to be deeply homophobic, to be anti-choice and has recently emerged disloyal to the very party he has been elected to represent.Somehow the more Labor attacks Bullock, the more I warm to him.
But if China trusts the ABC…
Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:08am)
On the face of it, a coup for the ABC:
===The ABC has won permission from the Chinese government to have its Australia Network content made available to the entire Chinese population - the most extensive access afforded to any Western broadcaster…Yes, this “soft diplomacy” could help Australia project itself into China. But I have concerns:
The deal allows the network’s content to be distributed by a web portal and rebroadcast by Chinese television networks…
Britain’s BBC World Service and America’s CNN International are the only other Western broadcasters with landing rights in China. But their rights limit broadcast to certain international hotels and diplomatic compounds.
Australia Network, run by the ABC, has secured rights through Shanghai Media Group, China’s second-biggest media company, to host ABC and other Australian content on a web portal that anyone in China can use.
- China has clearly decided the ABC’s content is no threat. That is not something to boast about.(Thanks to reader Damien.)
- Will the ABC consider China to be one of its audiences, and will that further influence its at times anti-Western flavour?
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=== Posts from Last Year ===
4 her so she knows how I see her
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Lt. Col. Allen West, Michelle Fields and John Phillips close out "Next Generation Today" by sharing their initial thoughts on the tragic explosions at the Boston Marathon:
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While photographing a property yesterday in the foothills of the Sierra mountains a nice little storm hit us. While everyone stayed under shelter I took a stroll. — with Darvin Atkeson in Plymouth, CA.
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An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ''UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''
'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: "I am because we are"
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PERFECT TIMING FOR CAVIAR Larry Pickering
The owners and Peter Moody deserve cigars for what must have been a hard decision. But it was the right one, she has not a thing left to prove.
She will always be known as the best sprinter the World has produced and her record of 25 straight will never be beaten.
Now you can chomp on some yummy green grass and let-down to a prospective beautiful mum for the breeding season.
All I can say is thanks ol’ girl for raising the hair on the back of my neck each time I watched you.
I will never forget you, and your babies will be just as beautiful as you are.
Thankyou.
It used to be said the only foolproof gambling technique was to find the favourite and bet against it. If you lose, double the bet next time, against the favourite. Following that pattern, the gambler would have lost .. big time. - ed
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Sunset over the vasting field of sunflowers - Buenos Aires, Argentina
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The prime minister is currently in London and will shortly be leaving to attend the funeral of Margaret Thatcher. Due to the missile attack on the city of Eilat, the prime minister talked with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and Eilat's Mayor, Meir Yitzhak Halevi. Prior to this he held a security consultation to discuss how to respond to the firing
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I thought "this is a trick, but I won't fall for it. I can see right through it" Then I realised there was pizza behind the picture .. and I fell for it.
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HAMAS SAVAGES NOW ACTIVE IN SOUTH AFRICA !
Pro-terror activists attack and terrorize peaceful Jewish event in Johannesburg.
http://m.news24.com/
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- 1907 – Brazil became the third country in the world to start construction on a dreadnought battleship(pictured), sparking a vastly expensive South American naval arms race.
- 1942 – World War II: Captured French General Henri Giraud escaped from German captivity in theKönigstein Castle.
- 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
- 1975 – The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, ending the Cambodian Civil War, and established Democratic Kampuchea.
- 1984 – British police officer Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed while on duty during a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London's St James's Square, resulting in an eleven-day police siege of the building and a breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
Events[edit]
- 69 – After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.
- 1080 – The King of Denmark Harald III dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
- 1349 – Fall of the Bavand dynasty, and rise of the Afrasiyab dynasty.
- 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury.
- 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
- 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
- 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
- 1555 – After 18 months of siege, Siena surrenders to the Florentine-Imperial army. The Republic of Siena is incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
- 1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America.
- 1797 – Citizens of Verona, Italy, begin an eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces, which will end unsuccessfully.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins – troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins – Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
- 1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
- 1897 – The Aurora, Texas UFO incident
- 1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of theFourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
- 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
- 1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
- 1937 – Daffy Duck's first appearance, in Porky's Duck Hunt.
- 1941 – World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
- 1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
- 1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
- 1945 – Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German Nazi forces.
- 1946 – Syria obtains its Independence from the French occupation.
- 1949 – At midnight 26 Irish counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.
- 1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
- 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
- 1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
- 1964 – Ford Mustang is introduced to the North American market.
- 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
- 1969 – Czechoslovakian Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
- 1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
- 1971 – The People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Mujibnagor.
- 1973 – George Lucas begins writing the treatment for The Star Wars.
- 1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
- 1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d'état in Afghanistan.
- 1982 – Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
- 1984 – Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by gunfire from the Libyan People's Bureau (Embassy) in London during a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten others are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
- 1986 – The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends.
- 1986 – Nezar Hindawi's attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv is thwarted.
- 2006 – Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
- 2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
Births[edit]
- 1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
- 1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
- 1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
- 1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (d. 1671)
- 1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
- 1622 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh physician, author, and poet (d. 1695)
- 1676 – Frederick I of Sweden (d. 1751)
- 1683 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (d. 1729)
- 1710 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (d. 1767)
- 1734 – Taksin, Thai king (d. 1782)
- 1741 – Samuel Chase, American jurist (d. 1811)
- 1750 – François de Neufchâteau, French politician (d. 1828)
- 1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian activist (d. 1805)
- 1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, and politician (d. 1861)
- 1794 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (d. 1868)
- 1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician (d. 1840)
- 1814 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist (d. 1888)
- 1816 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English architect (d. 1876)
- 1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American inventor of Baseball (d. 1892)
- 1833 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, conductor, and composer (d. 1900)
- 1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
- 1842 – Maurice Rouvier, French politician (d. 1911)
- 1849 – William R. Day, American jurist and politician, 36th United States Secretary of State (d. 1923)
- 1852 – Cap Anson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1922)
- 1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (d. 1939)
- 1866 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist (d. 1927)
- 1875 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian commander and politician (d. 1941)
- 1877 – Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (d. 1949)
- 1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American businessman (d. 1961)
- 1882 – Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1951)
- 1884 – Leo Frank, American businessman (d. 1915)
- 1885 – Karen Blixen, Danish author (d. 1962)
- 1885 – Carl Goßler, German rower (d. 1914)
- 1890 – Art Acord, American actor and rodeo rider (d. 1931)
- 1891 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (d. 1965)
- 1895 – Robert Dean Frisbie, American author (d. 1948)
- 1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
- 1897 – Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1981)
- 1897 – Thornton Wilder, American author and playwright (d. 1975)
- 1897 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (d. 1983)
- 1899 – Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete and coach (d. 1958)
- 1902 – Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican politician (d. 1974)
- 1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-American cellist (d. 1976)
- 1903 – Nicolas Nabokov, Russian-American composer (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler (d. 1975)
- 1905 – Louis Jean Heydt, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1906 – Sidney Garfield, American physician (d. 1984)
- 1909 – Alain Poher, French politician, President of France (d. 1996)
- 1910 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek politician and author (d. 1990)
- 1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter and producer (d. 1999)
- 1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer and manager (d. 1997)
- 1911 – Hervé Bazin, French author (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Lester Rodney, American journalist (d. 2009)
- 1912 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
- 1914 – George W. Davis, American art director (d. 1984)
- 1914 – Mac Raboy, American illustrator (d. 1967)
- 1915 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan politician, 6th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 2000)
- 1915 – Regina Ghazaryan, Armenian painter and public figure (d. 1999)
- 1915 – Martin Clemens, Scottish soldier (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Joe Foss, American general and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (d. 2003)
- 1916 – A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan Tamil teacher and politician (d. 1981)
- 1917 – Bill Clements, American politician, 42nd Governor of Texas (d. 2011)
- 1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1919 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
- 1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author
- 1923 – Lindsay Anderson, Indian-English director, screenwriter, and actor (d. 1994)
- 1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player, manager, and coach
- 1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian tenor (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Harry Reasoner, American journalist (d. 1991)
- 1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Erich Göstl, Austrian-German SS officer (d. 1990)
- 1925 – René Moawad, Lebanese politician, 13th President of Lebanon (d. 1989)
- 1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American author
- 1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian fencer
- 1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian politician
- 1929 – Michael Forest, American actor
- 1929 – James Last, German bandleader and composer
- 1929 – Peggy McKercher, Canadian educator
- 1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist
- 1931 – John Barrett, English tennis player, commentator and author
- 1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Howard Honig, American actor
- 1934 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Peter Morris, British organ transplant surgeon
- 1937 – Ronald Hamowy, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2012)
- 1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German engineer and businessman
- 1938 – Ben Barnes, American politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
- 1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American theorist, co-founder of Discordianism (d. 1988)
- 1939 – Robert Miller, American art dealer (d. 2011)
- 1940 – Eric Dancer, British businessman and Lord-Lieutenant of Devon
- 1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1983)
- 1940 – John McCririck, English journalist
- 1940 – Chuck Menville, American television animator and writer (d. 1992)
- 1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano
- 1941 – Lagle Parek, Estonian politician
- 1942 – David Bradley, English actor
- 1943 – Bobby Curtola, Canadian singer
- 1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer and educator
- 1946 – Clare Francis, British novelist and yachtswoman
- 1946 – Henry Kelly, Irish radio and television presenter
- 1947 – George Emslie, Lord Emslie, Scottish judge, Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland
- 1947 – Richard Field, British High Court judge
- 1947 – Linda Martin, Irish singer-songwriter
- 1947 – Paul Thomas, American pornographic actor and director
- 1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, manager, and coach
- 1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech pianist, composer, and producer
- 1948 – Alice Harden, American politician (d. 2012)
- 1949 – Mike Hill, English Anglican bishop, Bishop of Bristol
- 1950 – L. Scott Caldwell, American actress
- 1950 – Bruce McNall, American businessman
- 1951 – Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress
- 1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1952 – Pierre Guité, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1952 – John McColl, British military, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe
- 1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian warlord (d. 2000)
- 1952 – John Robertson, Scottish politician
- 1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
- 1954 – Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler and actor
- 1954 – Michael Sembello, American singer-songwriter
- 1954 – Lester Square, Canadian guitarist (The Monochrome Set and Adam and the Ants)
- 1955 – Todd Lickliter, American basketball player and coach
- 1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Buzzcocks)
- 1955 – Mike Stroud, British physician and explorer
- 1956 – Colin Tyre, Scottish lawyer, Senator of the College of Justice
- 1957 – Teri Austin, Canadian-American actress
- 1957 – Nick Hornby, English author and screenwriter
- 1957 – Julia Macur, British judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales
- 1957 – Susan Roman, Canadian voice actress
- 1958 – Laslo Babits, Canadian javelin thrower (d. 2013)
- 1959 – Sean Bean, English actor
- 1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor leader
- 1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and sportscaster
- 1961 – Bella Freud, British fashion designer
- 1962 – Paul Nicholls, British racehorse trainer
- 1963 – Joel Murray, American actor
- 1963 – Penny Vilagos, Canadian swimmer
- 1963 – Vicky Vilagos, Canadian swimmer
- 1964 – Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter and producer (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Green Jellÿ)
- 1964 – Lela Rochon, American actress
- 1964 – Bart Van den Bossche, Flemish singer and actor (d. 2013)
- 1965 – William Mapother, American actor
- 1966 – Vikram, Indian actor, singer, and producer
- 1967 – Leslie Bega, American actress
- 1967 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-Scottish actor
- 1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress
- 1967 – Timothy Gibbs, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1967 – Marquis Grissom, American baseball player and coach
- 1967 – Liz Phair, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1968 – Graeme Le Saux, British footballer
- 1968 – Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven
- 1970 – Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor (Def Squad and Method Man & Redman)
- 1971 – Andri Kirsima, Estonian architect
- 1971 – Claire Sweeney, English actress
- 1972 – Ruffian, American race horse (d. 1975)
- 1972 – Gary Bennett, American baseball player
- 1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player and sportscaster
- 1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress and producer
- 1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japan footballer and referee
- 1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1972 – Jarkko Wiss, Finnish footballer
- 1973 – Katrin Koov, Estonian architect
- 1973 – Jeff Lewis, American football player (d. 2013)
- 1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player
- 1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player
- 1973 – Kaihō Ryōji, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1974 – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Opeth, Bloodbath, and Katatonia)
- 1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and actress (Spice Girls)
- 1975 – Heidi Alexander, English politician
- 1975 – Gabriel Soto, Mexican actor
- 1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player
- 1976 – Sizzla, Jamaican rapper
- 1976 – Anna Geislerová, Czech actress
- 1976 – Monet Mazur, American actress
- 1976 – Alex Nesic, American actor
- 1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
- 1977 – Phil Jamieson, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Grinspoon)
- 1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish pianist and composer
- 1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress and singer
- 1978 – Loukas Louka, Cypriot footballer
- 1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
- 1979 – Siddharth, Indian actor, singer, and producer
- 1979 – Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Sung Si-kyung, South Korean singer
- 1980 – Nicholas D'Agosto, American actor
- 1980 – Lee Hyun-il, South Korean badminton player
- 1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer and boxer
- 1980 – Fabián Andrés Vargas, Colombian footballer
- 1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player
- 1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer
- 1982 – Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Lee Joon-gi, South Korean actor and singer
- 1982 – Martin Kampmann, Danish mixed martial artist
- 1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Roberto Jiménez, Peruvian footballer
- 1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
- 1984 – Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
- 1984 – Rosanna Davison, Irish model and actress, Miss World 2003
- 1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player
- 1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress
- 1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor
- 1985 – William Snape, English actor
- 1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
- 1986 – Romain Grosjean, French race car driver
- 1987 – Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, Canadian actress and singer
- 1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete
- 1989 – Sunaina, Indian actress
- 1989 – Paraskevi Papachristou, Greek triple jumper
- 1990 – Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer
- 1990 – Gia Mantegna, American actress
- 1991 – Tessa James, Australian actress
- 1992 – Noni Răzvan Ene, Romanian singer
- 1993 – Race Imboden, American fencer
- 1995 – Bel'ange Epako, Congolese footballer (d. 2013)
- 1996 – Dee Dee Davis, American actress
Deaths[edit]
- 485 – Proclus, Greek philosopher (b. 412)
- 617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
- 1080 – Harald III of Denmark (b. 1041)
- 1349 – Hasan II, last ruler of the Bavand dynasty
- 1427 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (b. 1403)
- 1539 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)
- 1574 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar (b. 1500)
- 1669 – Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1605)
- 1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, American saint (b. 1656)
- 1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
- 1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (b. 1626)
- 1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
- 1713 – David Hollatz, Polish pastor (b. 1648)
- 1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)
- 1764 – Johann Mattheson, German lexicographer and composer (b. 1681)
- 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
- 1799 – Richard Jupp, English architect (b. 1728)
- 1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American author (b. 1758)
- 1843 – Samuel Morey, American engineer (b. 1762)
- 1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet (b. 1810)
- 1888 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (b. 1821)
- 1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian soldier, journalist, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
- 1902 – Francis, Duke of Cádiz (b. 1822)
- 1921 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (b. 1860)
- 1923 – Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1852)
- 1930 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter (b. 1863)
- 1933 – Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (b. 1872)
- 1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
- 1937 – Yi Sang, South Korean poet (b. 1910)
- 1941 – Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter and bandleader (b. 1899)
- 1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
- 1944 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (b. 1867)
- 1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (b. 1893)
- 1948 – Suzuki Kantarō, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
- 1954 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian educator, author, and politician (b. 1900)
- 1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
- 1962 – Henricus Tromp, Dutch rower (b. 1878)
- 1967 – Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
- 1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of India (b. 1888)
- 1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1977 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (b. 1913)
- 1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Mountain) (b. 1939)
- 1984 – Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1912)
- 1984 – Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
- 1985 – Takis Miliadis, Greek actor (b. 1922)
- 1985 – Evadne Price, Australian-English author and screenwriter (b. 1896)
- 1987 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (b. 1901)
- 1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1988 – Louise Nevelson, American sculptor (b. 1900)
- 1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (b. 1936)
- 1993 – Turgut Ozal, Turkish politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927)
- 1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- 1995 – Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (b. 1928)
- 1996 – Piet Hein, Danish scientist and mathematician (b. 1905)
- 1997 – Chaim Herzog, Irish-Israeli soldier, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918)
- 1998 – Linda McCartney, American singer-songwriter, photographer, and activist (Wings) (b. 1941)
- 2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930)
- 2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (b. 1936)
- 2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American-English philanthropist (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Earl King, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
- 2003 – Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, Russian conjoined twins (b. 1950)
- 2003 – Yiannis Latsis, Greek businessman (b. 1910)
- 2004 – Soundarya, Indian actress (b. 1971)
- 2004 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (b. 1908)
- 2006 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (b. 1907)
- 2006 – Scott Brazil, American director and producer (b. 1955)
- 2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress and singer (b. 1910)
- 2007 – Gil Dobrică, Romanian singer (b. 1946)
- 2008 – Aimé Césaire, Caribbean-French poet and politician (b. 1913)
- 2008 – Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (E-Street Band) (b. 1950)
- 2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1948)
- 2011 – AJ Perez, Filipino actor (b. 1993)
- 2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Leila Berg, English author (b. 1917)
- 2012 – J. Quinn Brisben, American activist and politician (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Stan Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1912)
- 2012 – Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Stanley Rogers Resor, American army officer and lawyer, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Sita Chan, Hong Kong singer and actress (b. 1987)
- 2013 – Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Kauko Kangasniemi, Finnish weightlifter (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Bi Kidude, Tanzanian singer (b. 1910)
- 2013 – Albert Messiah, French physicist (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (Dance with a Stranger) (b. 1957)
- 2013 – Steuart Pringle, English general (b. 1928)
- 2013 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1934)
- 2013 – T. K. Ramamoorthy, Indian composer (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Paul Ware, English footballer (b. 1970)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Earliest day on which Store Bededag or General Prayer Day can fall, while May 13 is the latest; observed on the 4th Friday after Easter day. (Denmark)
- Evacuation Day, celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
- FAO Day (Iraq)
- Flag Day (American Samoa)
- Women's Day (Gabon)
- World Hemophilia Day (International)
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” - Romans 13:8
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"The precious blood of Christ."
1 Peter 1:19
1 Peter 1:19
Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It is "precious" because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy. By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made one with him. Christ's blood is also "precious" in its cleansing power; it "cleanseth from all sin." "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Through Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving power. We are safe from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same. The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus. And "precious," unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its power!
Evening
"And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun."
Exodus 17:12
Exodus 17:12
So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. So, in the soul's conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses', holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The rod was the emblem of God's working with Moses, the symbol of God's government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the oath of God before him. The Lord cannot deny his own declarations. Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you will.
Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating itself upon the stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and prevail. Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and may the Spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, as he allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to continue with our hands steady "until the going down of the sun;" till the evening of life is over; till we shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed up in praise.
===
Today's reading: 1 Samuel 30-31, Luke 13:23-35 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 30-31
David Destroys the Amalekites
1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.
3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David's two wives had been captured-Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God....
Today's New Testament reading: Luke 13:23-35
23 Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
He said to them, 24 "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
26 "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
27 "But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'
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BOASTING ABOUT THE CROSS
Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised.... May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. (Galatians 6:12-15)
Paul wrote this letter we call “Galatians” to certain Christians who had begun their new spiritual life with faith in Jesus, but then were told by others that Paul’s message was horribly incomplete and probably dangerous. It is not enough to believe in Jesus and follow him, you must also continue to observe those hundreds of regulations in the Old Testament. Even if you are a Gentile, you should still observe the dietary laws, the sacrifices, and circumcision, they said.
Paul saw this as a spiritual emergency and wrote this letter to warn these believers not to be bewitched by those legalists.
There is one way to God. Let things in your life that should die, die. Let strivings die, let legalism die, let love for the world die, let personal spiritual pride die. Resign it all, give it all over, let it be crucified as Jesus let himself be crucified, and then you will be free.
Then we will have something to boast about. We will brag about Jesus Christ. We will shout his name to the world around. We’ll fill up with a pride not in ourselves, but in him. And we will look at his cross and see it as a moment of glory, not of shame.
Ponder This: Are there things you have been boasting about in your life? What needs to happen for you to boast only of Christ?
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Today's Lent reading: John 11-12 (NIV)
View today's Lent reading on Bible GatewayThe Death of Lazarus
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7and then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?"
9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light...."
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