Five years later, and words lost a powerful friend with the passing of Rupert Brooke. He was a young poet who had achieved much in a very short time. He travelled with the fleet to Gallipolli, and died on the journey. He is buried in an olive field in Skyros, Greece. A year earlier he had written himself a deserving epitaph.
V. The Soldier
Rupert, on that final journey, was the man in the arena. His ghost has more wisdom, more life, grace compassion and understanding than President Obama's finest moment. Because, as Roosevelt observed, the man in the arena, not the critic, decides the course of the event.If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
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
===
Happy birthday and many happy returns Jaimee Pham. Born on the same date Charles II was crowned king of England, Ireland and McLand in 1661. I don't believe in accidents.
- 1141 – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
- 1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
- 1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
- 1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
- 1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer (d. 1797)
- 1858 – Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
- 1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1953)
- 1894 – Cow Cow Davenport, American singer and pianist (d. 1955)
- 1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese scientist, inventor of Yakult (d. 1982)
- 1920 – Eric Yarrow, British businessman
- 1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (Traveling Wilburys) (d. 1988)
- 1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
- 1947 – Robert Burgess, British Vice–Chancellor of the University of Leicester
- 1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (Jethro Tull and Paris)
- 1954 – Tony Atlas, American bodybuilder and wrestler
- 1958 – Gene Scheer, American songwriter
- 1997 – Alex Ferris, Canadian actor
Matches
- 215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
- 599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik'nal and sacking the city.
- 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
- 1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as king of England,
- 1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George's Day.
- 1516 – The Bayerische Reinheitsgebot is signed in Ingolstadt.
- 1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1910 – American President Theodore Roosevelt makes his "The Man in the Arena" speech.
- 1914 – First baseball game at Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park in Chicago.
- 1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
- 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
- 1945 – World War II Adolf Hitler's designated successor Hermann Göring sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes Hitler to replace him with Joseph Goebbels and Karl Dönitz.
- 1951 – American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
- 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than 3 months.
- 1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
- 1997 – Omaria massacre in Algeria: Forty-two villagers are killed.
Despatches
- 303 – Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr (b. 275)
- 871 – Æthelred of Wessex (b. 837)
- 1014 – Brian Boru, Irish king (b. 941)
- 1016 – Æthelred the Unready, English son of Edgar the Peaceful (b. 968)
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright and actor (b. 1564)
- 1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet (b. 1770)
- 1915 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
- 2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
The world will never be ready for Rudd to run the UN
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, April 22, 2014 (8:40pm)
STRANGE to tell, but Kevin Rudd’s campaign to become the next UN Secretary-General is gathering steam, at least in his own head. First it was Bob Carr’s endorsement.
Continue reading 'The world will never be ready for Rudd to run the UN'Aggressive dedication to doomsday
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, April 22, 2014 (8:39pm)
Here was Neil Ormerod, Professor of Theology at the Australian Catholic University no less, writing in the Fairfax letters pages: “Free speech for racist bigots, free speech for climate denialists. Where will it end? There is a value in free speech to promote reasoned discussion and deliberation. And then there is obdurate and at times wilful ignorance ...
Continue reading 'Aggressive dedication to doomsday'Loons and ratbags to run Labor
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, April 22, 2014 (8:37pm)
BILL Shorten was right about one thing yesterday. It wasn’t Tony Abbott who threw the Labor Party into opposition, it was the Australian people.
Continue reading 'Loons and ratbags to run Labor'PANEL VAN
Tim Blair – Wednesday, April 23, 2014 (5:20pm)
Australian playwright and Guardian columnist Vanessa Badham joins the panel next week on the ABC’s Q & Aprogram. Let’s see what this young lady gets up to on Twitter …
Continue reading 'PANEL VAN'REACHING OUT TO MODERN YOUTH
Tim Blair – Wednesday, April 23, 2014 (3:44pm)
An email chat yesterday with the editors of Sydney University’s student paper:
Tim: Hi, editors.I’m writing a story for the Daily Telegraph about Honi Soit’s current online survey. Please call me on 0466 --- ---.Thank you,Tim BlairEditors: Hi, Tim.Thanks for your message. If you could email us through any questions we’ll be sure to get back to you ASAP.Kind regards,Honi Eds.Tim: Hi, eds. Thanks for getting back to me.I understand that the list of 50 or so gender choices in the survey is from Facebook in the US. A few questions:What sort of feedback have you received so far from survey respondents and other students? Are they supportive of the list?Was there any debate about using the list? How/when was it first proposed?Was there any concern that students might think the list wasn’t serious?For that matter, was running the list an entirely serious idea?Cheers,TimEditors: Hi Tim,We decided to provide non-binary gender options to make our survey as inclusive as possible for our readers. Most of our respondents have not commented, albeit for a small minority who did not immediately understand terms like “cis”. Several respondents have also privately expressed their appreciation for not prescribing gender-binary options.We hope your slow news day picks up soon. We’ve heard the royals are in town and would imagine you’d be quite a fan.Regards,Honi Eds.Tim: Much obliged, ladies and gentlemen.
As it happens, the royals left Sydney yesterday for the Northern Territory. If only these youngsters paid as much attention to other events as they do to spotting whatever the minute difference is between trans men, trans* males, trans males and trans* men.
ENDLESS RESOURCE
Tim Blair – Wednesday, April 23, 2014 (2:06pm)
“All you ever do,” a friend once told me, “is find idiotic things leftists say and then make fun of them. It’s so lazy.”
He was right, obviously, but I felt the terminology could stand some refinement. “It’s called a business model,” I replied. “I’ve found a way to turn stupid into money.” Which was why I was so delighted with the March in March, and am delighted again with the forthcoming …
March in May. This is it Adelaide! We are doing it again!
This time the valiant marchers have helpfully listed their grievances in advance. At the top of their list:
All of the above
That’s at the top. Which means there is nothing above. Great start, marchies! The list continues:
Social justice and human rights in relation to a number of key issues
Good luck turning that into a chant.
Transparency in Government actions and decisions
Have these people ever tried to report on a Greens conference? Where the media is typically banned?
The end of corporate interference in politics.
I agree. Ban Graeme Wood!
Respect the diversity of Australian families
Seriously? Family diversity is marchworthy now?
The exit of Rupert Murdoch
To where? The UK? The US? Already done, babies.
A NO CONFIDENCE VOTE in our current P.M. & Government
Had your chance last September.
The abolition of capitalism and the state
Hmm. If we’re talking about the state of South Australia, I’m up for further discussion.
(Via Gregoryno6)
SYMPATHY FOR KEVNI
Tim Blair – Wednesday, April 23, 2014 (3:26am)
Some of Kevin Rudd’s hissy fits were understandable. Imagine, for example, receiving a snippy email complaining about asylum seeker policies – from the very person who was the substantive author of those very policies:
An extraordinary email sent by Ms Gillard to Mr Rudd at 9.49am on Monday, June 21, 2010, reveals she was deeply troubled about the government’s performance, even panicked, and expressed “a great deal of anxiety” over asylum-seeker policies. There had been a “loss of control of the borders” resulting in an influx of asylum-seekers that was driving voter support for the government to a new low, she warned the prime minister …“To state the obvious – our primary is in the mid-30s; we can’t win an election with a primary like that and the issue of asylum-seekers is an enormous reason why our primary is at that low level,” Ms Gillard wrote in the email.“It is an issue working on every level – loss of control of the borders feeding into a narrative of a government that is incompetent and out of control. As you know I have been raising this with a great deal of anxiety and I remain desperately concerned about lack of progress.”
Two days later Gillard ended Rudd’s first term as Prime Minister. It would not have helped Rudd’s temper that in subsequent years PM Gillard oversaw even greater increases in asylum seeker arrivals and deaths. Why, it’s almost enough to make you pity the fellow.
UPDATE. Angry Kevni.
A STEYN RETROSPECTIVE
Tim Blair – Wednesday, April 23, 2014 (2:01am)
Happy Earth Day, everybody!
RAINBOW CONNECTION
Tim Blair – Wednesday, April 23, 2014 (1:54am)
As Miranda Devine observes, Labor’s real challenge isn’t severing ties with the unions. It’s severing ties with the Greens.
Ian Plimer eats greens
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (4:08pm)
Ian Plimer’s latest:
Greens may have started as genuine environmentalists. Much of the green movement has now morphed into an unelected extremist political pressure group accountable to no one. Greens create problems, many of which are concocted, and provide no solutions because of a lack of basic knowledge. This book examines green policies in the light of established knowledge and shows that they are unrealistic.Pre-order here.
Policies by greens adopted by supine governments have resulted in rising costs, increased taxes, political instability, energy poverty, decreased longevity and environmental degradation and they don’t achieve their ideological aims. Wind, solar and biomass energy emit more carbon dioxide than they save and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions does nothing to change climate and only empties the pocket. No stainless steel teaspoon could be made using green “alternative energy”.
This book argues that unless the greens live sustainably in caves in the forest and use no trappings of the modern world, then they should be regarded as hypocrites and treated with the disdain they deserve.
Academic claims: soldiers fired up by “invoking their shared ability to sexually degrade women”
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (9:39am)
Dr Lindy Edwards teaches at the Australian Defence Force Academy and claims:
===There is a long tradition of firing up fighting men by invoking their shared ability to sexually degrade women. They tap into an ideal of male sexual power to create a cocktail of ego, aggression and sexual energy that they channel into battle.Dr Edwards receives a letter:
I served with the RAAF in Vietnam while my father served with the RAAF in the Pacific in WWII. Neither of us encountered the phenomenon you referenced. ??Since leaving the RAAF I have further developed my interest in military history but, I cannot find any reference to your claim. Consequently, I would be grateful if you would provide me with examples where commanders have fired up their men using the technique you described.Read on. Not surprisingly, Mr Thomas is not given examples of what Dr Edwards has claimed to observe.
Sincerely,
H R Thomas
The church of global warming
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (9:16am)
I detect that Germans have had enough of paying insane power prices to
pretend to do something about global warming. From Oliver Welke’s Heute
Show on ZDF national TV.
(Thanks to reader handjive.)
===(Thanks to reader handjive.)
Rudd says Gillard welshed on deal
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (9:03am)
A nest of vipers. Not new, but told by Rudd himself for the first time:
===KEVIN Rudd says he offered to stand aside for Julia Gillard to become prime minister at the end of 2010 if the government was facing election defeat — but Ms Gillard welshed on the agreement just minutes after it was made…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill,)
Mr Rudd has spoken on the record about the pivotal meeting with Ms Gillard in the prime minister’s Parliament House office on the evening of June 23, 2010, witnessed by Labor elder John Faulkner.
Mr Rudd said the conditional offer of a leadership transition — without a vote of the Labor caucus — came after a long discussion about the performance of the government and its electoral prospects…
“We had a discussion about her concerns about the government’s direction — a large part of which was news to me,” Mr Rudd said. “I put to her the simple proposition that if by the time the election was due at the end of the year the government was not in a winning position then of course I would not wish to remain as leader.”
Ms Gillard “agreed with that approach” but then took a phone call outside Mr Rudd’s office and returned to say that she had now decided to challenge his position as Labor leader and prime minister…
“I said: ‘So you have just reneged on an agreement with me in front of a witness given only 10 minutes ago?’ To which she said, ‘Yes’...”
Abbott moves on Liberal carpetbaggers
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (8:51am)
Good:
===LIBERAL Party officials who try to privately influence government MPs as “strategic consultants’’ or “legal consultants” without identifying themselves as lobbyists face tough new regulations to limit influence-peddling…
Party officials will be forced to declare they are lobbyists and will have to choose between party positions and trying to exert influence.
The principle of declaration and self-regulation that currently applies to professional lobbyists will be replaced by a decision from the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, who will decide who is a lobbyist and enforce registration and regulation.
The definition of a lobbyist will be expanded to include those who have escaped so far by describing themselves as consultants. There is also likely to be an audit of all the business interests of Liberal Party officials to prevent informal lobbying...
Tony Abbott, who since coming to power in September has already imposed a ban on paid and unpaid party officials acting as lobbyists, remains deeply concerned about the continuing practice of Liberal officials and former MPs trying to covertly influence government decisions without the public declaration or regulations that apply to lobbyists. There is unease about the number of so-called “strategic consultants” or former MPs working for law firms or companies who do not declare they are lobbyists but still seek to raise business interests and affect decisions.
Shorten fights unions when he should fight the greens
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (8:47am)
Bill Shorten wants to rid Labor of the unions when he should be ridding it of greens. Miranda Devine:
Troy Bramston is scathing of Shorten’s speech:
===Delivering what was billed as a historic, reforming speech in Melbourne yesterday the Labor leader declared he was going to rid the party of union domination and open it up to the “grassroots"…UPDATE
That sounds all noble and democratic but what it means in practice is handing the party over to the lunatic Green Left.
For all his talk about a new moral purpose, Shorten was just drawing from the old well of politically correct poison which has brought his party to its knees....
Shorten raised “the rancour over the recent Western Australian process (which) shows that in the future we need a method that provides a local voice.”
That “rancour” between Labor running mates Joe Bullock and Louise Pratt in Western Australia over Labor’s abysmal results in the latest re-run Senate election encapsulates Labor’s dilemma.
Bullock, who won Labor’s only Senate seat in WA, is a socially conservative member of the powerful shoppies union, which is headed by the outgoing right-wing faction leader and social conservative Joe De Bruyn.
Pratt, No. 2 on Labor’s Senate ticket, is an openly lesbian gay rights activist and Labor staffer, backed by the left-aligned United Voice union, who has been involved in Labor politics since her student days.
The pair are typical of the Labor Party’s increasingly schizophrenic nature.
Troy Bramston is scathing of Shorten’s speech:
The Opposition Leader called for a new platform chapter outlining Labor’s “values”, but the spectacularly outdated commitment to “socialism” will remain in the party’s constitution. Nor was there any mention of Labor’s need for new policies or to jettison those from the Rudd-Gillard years, such as the carbon and mining taxes…
It was suggested Shorten’s speech would offer “sweeping”, “significant” and “radical” reform not seen since Gough Whitlam’s time. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The biggest transformative reform Labor can make to empower its members and ditch the powerbroker ethos is to reduce the 50 per cent control unions have over the party’s state conferences.
Unions use their bloc votes to dominate policymaking, appoint party personnel and select candidates. That power remains undiminished.
The rise of the new authoritarians
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (8:35am)
Neil Ormerod, Professor of Theology at the Australian Catholic University, demands an end to free speech:
Professor, do you understand how many people would deny your own right to speak under the standards you set for others?
(Via Miranda Devine.)
UPDATE
My bet is that the writer didn’t for a second consider the Aboriginal ancestry of the surfer he was actually praising, but such are the inflamed sensitivities today:
===Free speech for racist bigots, free speech for climate denialists. Where will it end?… There is a value in free speech to promote reasoned discussion and deliberation. And then there is obdurate and at times wilful ignorance ...Fine, Professor. Then let’s also end the free speech of those who peddle obdurate and wilfully ignorant claims that the first woman was created from the rib of the first man.
Professor, do you understand how many people would deny your own right to speak under the standards you set for others?
(Via Miranda Devine.)
UPDATE
My bet is that the writer didn’t for a second consider the Aboriginal ancestry of the surfer he was actually praising, but such are the inflamed sensitivities today:
AN indigenous surfer is suing a Gold Coast magazine for $200,000 after it wrote an article saying he had an “apeish face”.(Thanks to reader Jimp51.)
Coffs Harbour boardrider Otis Carey has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Burleigh publication Surfing Life for an article in its March edition.
“With his apeish face and cowering hair-curtains, I expect little more than Cro-Magnon grunts from his mouth,” surf writer Nathan Myers wrote.
“I am caught off guard by the clarity and eloquence of his speech.”
Who is the ABC’s Alberici of the right?
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (7:14am)
We all have our biases.
The ABC simply refuses to admit its current affairs presenters have
them, too, and those biases are uniformly to the Left.
Today’s example: Lateline presenter Emma Alberici. Here are questions from just one interview last night - of Maurice Newman, the prime minister’s chief business advisor:
Alberici is misleading when she suggests we consider the past 800,000 years. The IPCC has in fact claimed to detect a strong human signal in global warming only from the 1970s, and 17 years is indeed “an enormous amount of time” in the context of establishing the truth or falsity of global warming theory. Six years ago, NOAA in the State of the Climate 2008 report said the climate models would be falsified at a confidence level of 95% if the warming hiatus lasted 15 years - which it now has:
===Today’s example: Lateline presenter Emma Alberici. Here are questions from just one interview last night - of Maurice Newman, the prime minister’s chief business advisor:
EMMA ALBERICI: It’s no secret that you don’t agree that man-made CO2 is causing global warming. Given there is now consensus among 97 per cent or so of climate scientists across the world that the view - around the view that human activity is responsible for climate change, what would it take to convince you?Bias check: The survey is nonsense, including among the 97 per cent even scientists who protest they are sceptics. Besides, science is never settled by a show of hands.
EMMA ALBERICI: I just want to take you up on that because it would appear that there is strong consensus, at least among - certainly when it comes to the IPCC, that is a group that has brought together under the auspices of the United Nations, the science around the world, it doesn’t actually do science itself, it just collates all the science and puts it forward. Now 195 countries contribute to that. Nineteen academies of science across the world, including I have to say the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO, NASA, the American Academy of Sciences, the British equivalent, the Canadian equivalent, some really reputable bodies around the world are now agreeing that it’s human activity that’s causing climate change. So I’m wondering, who is it that’s influencing you so that is so convincing you otherwise?Bias check: Again, the argument by authority. Note also that Alberici says these bodies are “agreeing that it’s human activity that’s causing climate change”. That misstates the real argument. Many sceptics believe human activity is indeed likely to have a warming effect, but dispute the size of it, the danger of it, and the utility of efforts to “stop” it. And against Alberici’s appeal to count hands is the science, which shows no rise in surface temperatures for some 16 years, contrary to the predictions of the scientists she demands we believe.
EMMA ALBERICI (on Roy Spencer’s evidence that 95 per cent of climate models predicted more warming than we actually got): He was at NASA. His colleagues at NASA disagree with him.Bias check: They do? In fact, even the IPCC Alberici treats as the font of all wisdom last year admitted most climate models had indeed failed to predict the warming pause of at least the past 15 years:
There are, however, differences between simulated and observed trends over periods as short as 10 to 15 years… There may also be a contribution from forcing inadequacies and, in some models, an overestimate of the response to increasing greenhouse gas and other anthropogenic forcing (dominated by the effects of aerosols) ...This pause - or halt - in warming was not predicted. Why even bother to try to deny it?
EMMA ALBERICI: But I’m just going on people with great reputations around the world, including our own Chief Scientist, Greg Hunt, the Environment Minister, Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister. I mean, around the world, there seems to be consensus that it is a man-made phenomena.Bias check: Alberici, never a fan of Abbott, now elevates him to one of the “people with great reputations around the world” who argues that global warming “is a man-made phenomenon”. This is her most desperate use yet of argument by authority. And if Abbott actually privately believes man’s influence on global temperatures has been wildly overstated, will Alberici modify her own warming beliefs?
EMMA ALBERICI: That it’s a pause. I guess that’s what scientists say. It’s a pause. They look back 800,000 years as I understand it, so 17 years in the scheme of things isn’t an enormous amount of time.Bias check: Is this the first time Alberici has conceded the sceptics are right, that there has in fact been no warming for perhaps 17 years? Then why is she so adamant that we listen to the “97 per cent of climate scientists” who a decade or more ago said we’d get warming instead?
Alberici is misleading when she suggests we consider the past 800,000 years. The IPCC has in fact claimed to detect a strong human signal in global warming only from the 1970s, and 17 years is indeed “an enormous amount of time” in the context of establishing the truth or falsity of global warming theory. Six years ago, NOAA in the State of the Climate 2008 report said the climate models would be falsified at a confidence level of 95% if the warming hiatus lasted 15 years - which it now has:
Near-zero and even negative trends are common for intervals of a decade or less in the simulations, due to the model’s internal climate variability. The simulations rule out (at the 95% level) zero trends for intervals of 15 yr or more, suggesting that an observed absence of warming of this duration is needed to create a discrepancy with the expected present-day warming rate.The question really should be on Alberici: how many more years of non-warming would it take for you to admit the alarmists were wrong?
EMMA ALBERICI: I’ll only ask you one more questions on this because I do want to talk about other things, but both Marius Kloppers and his successor at BHP Billiton Andrew McKenzie agree that climate change is human induced. So what if those 97 per cent of climate scientists and all business people across the world, like the likes of Bill Gates and Richard Branson and the miners here in Australia, what if they’re right and you and the scientists you quote are not right.Bias alert: Kloppers, McKenzie and Branson are now climate scientists? Why doesn’t Alberici then cite me as well? And has she considered why coal miners and users of aviation fuel have an interest in these witchhunting times to actually pose as global warming campaigners? For further insights, read The Emperor’s New Clothes.
EMMA ALBERICI: I’m sure there will be scientists lining up to give you that information but we’ll move on.Bias alert: There are also scientists lining up to give Alberici information to counter her own beliefs. It is false to suggest the scientists line up on just one side of this argument.
EMMA ALBERICI: What do you see as the role for the Australia Network and is it, as Tony Abbott suggested previously, supposed to be a kind of cheer squad for the Australian Government?Bias alert: Tony Abbott has never claimed the ABC’s Australia Network is “supposed to be a kind of cheer squad for the Australian Government”. That is a gross misrepresentation of his claim that the ABC generally seemed to have an instinctive hostility to Australian traditions and institutions, lacking a “basic affection for our home team”. Alberici also overlooks the fact that the Australia Network is actually funded by government in a contract overseen by the Department of Foreign Affairs to project a positive image of Australia in Asia. As DFAT notes:
Australia’s federally-funded television service, the Australia Network television service, is an important platform for projecting a positive and accurate image of Australia. While the Australia Network maintains editorial independence, we welcome involvement and interaction by posts on content and possible story ideas. The current Australia Network contract with the ABC is managed by DFAT (PDB).Alberici is entitled to her biases. But the ABC has a duty under its charter to balance them. Who is the ABC’s conservative Alberici?
Joe Hockey: this Budget will hurt. It’s that or it’s Greece
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (6:41pm)
From Treasurer Joe Hockey’s tough and frank speech today at the Spectator briefing - a speech in which he suggests a surplus five years from now:
First, the scale of the problem:
One important cause:
Continue reading 'Joe Hockey: this Budget will hurt. It’s that or it’s Greece'
===First, the scale of the problem:
For as long as deficits continue [without a change of policy], government debt will continue to rise, reaching $667 billion within a decade. It is an extraordinary number that will have a profound impact on the living standards of all Australians…
This year alone we will pay $12 billion in interest charges on our Government debt, about the same as we will spend on higher education.
By 2024, without action, our interest payments are projected to reach around $34 billion. This is larger than the projected spending on Aged Care of $26 billion.
One important cause:
The $40 billion we spend on income support through the Age Pension is much more than we spend on defence, or hospitals, or schools each year. It is our single biggest spending programme. Spending on the Age Pension already takes up 10 per cent of all Commonwealth spending…The case for change:
On top of this, aged care is now the eighth largest category of spending. We spend more on aged care than we do on higher education or child care. And the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is the tenth largest category of spending. Nearly 80 per cent of the Scheme’s expenditure is attributable to concessional recipients…
And demand for the Age Pension will continue to increase as the population ages. In Australia, between 2010 and 2050 the number of people aged 65 to 84 is expected to double, and the number of people 85 and older is expected to quadruple....
Between 2010 and 2050 the percentage of people of working age supporting those over the age of 65 in Australia will almost halve…
Despite spending billions of dollars in taxation benefits for superannuation, by 2050 the ratio of Australians receiving a full or part pension will still be around four out of five.
Budget repair will give us the option to support growth in the event of economic or financial turbulence abroad. The Global Financial Crisis may be over but we can be sure it will not be the last shock that Australia will need to negotiate.Or else ... think Greece:
Budget repair is also about ensuring that future generations do not pay for a standard of living for today’s generation that they themselves will never enjoy. Continued deficit and debt is borrowing from tomorrow to fund our lifestyle today.
We owe it to our children not to leave them with a mortgage that paid for our lifestyle. So if Australians ask themselves of the Budget in May, “what’s in it for me?” my response will be a better future.
This intergenerational aspect to the budget repair challenge has an inescapable moral dimension.The speech:
This is seen most clearly in Southern Europe where the most significant victims of the deep recessions have been young people, with youth unemployment in Greece and Spain close to 60 per cent. It is a hard truth that in many developed countries past and current generations have squandered their childrens’ future.
We cannot allow our nation to fall into this trap.
Continue reading 'Joe Hockey: this Budget will hurt. It’s that or it’s Greece'And thus does the ABC legitimise the slide into barbarianism
Andrew Bolt April 23 2014 (5:51pm)
It seems Q&A once again goes out of its way to reward the potty mouth of a Greens-voting communist anarchist.
(Yes, I know there’s a contradiction in terms there - several terms, in
fact - but if this woman were rational she wouldn’t be any of the
above.)
What is it with the Left and abuse?
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There are different faiths, and so Theists are hard to pin down .. however, Atheists tend to be irrational/spiritual .. believing in luck, ghosts, chance and invisible forces .. open to the unexplained and closed to the present obvious.
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G’day,
I always knew he’d do this. This is nothing more than window dressing in my opinion. The ALP membership will not rise because of this, they have learnt nothing. It will be interesting to see what the hardcore Union Socialists will have to say about what appears to be a betrayal but up until now I have heard nothing but tongue in cheek praise from Union officials. That’s another indication in my mind that this is not reform but political strategy.
Godspeed
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist.
0414293765
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she sees how I see her
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God's love .. ed
the best things in life are hideously expensive and I love them (anon)
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- 1014 – Irish forces led by Brian Boru clashed with theVikings in the Battle of Clontarf.
- 1661 – Charles II, King of England, Ireland, and Scotlandwas crowned at Westminster Abbey.
- 1954 – Batting against Vic Raschi of the St. Louis Cardinals, Hank Aaron (pictured) of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record-setting 755 home runs in Major League Baseball.
- 1968 – Students protesting the Vietnam War at Columbia University inNew York City took over administration buildings and shut down the university.
- 1979 – Activist Blair Peach suffered fatal head injuries when he was knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration inSouthall, London, against a National Front election meeting in the town hall.
Events[edit]
- 215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
- 599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik'nal and sacking the city.
- 711 – Dagobert III is crowned King of the Franks
- 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
- 1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as king of England,
- 1343 – St. George's Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
- 1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George's Day.
- 1516 – The Bayerische Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) is signed in Ingolstadt.
- 1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
- 1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
- 1660 – Treaty of Oliwa is established between Sweden and Poland.
- 1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
- 1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: a second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
- 1910 – American President Theodore Roosevelt makes his "The Man in the Arena" speech.
- 1914 – First baseball game at Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park in Chicago.
- 1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
- 1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara, Turkey. It denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
- 1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
- 1929 – Turkey becomes the first country to celebrate Children's Day as a national holiday.[1]
- 1932 – The 153-year-old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, Netherlands burns down. It is rebuilt and reopens exactly 70 years later.
- 1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
- 1940 – The Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
- 1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
- 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
- 1945 – World War II Adolf Hitler's designated successor Hermann Göring sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes Hitler to replace him with Joseph Goebbels and Karl Dönitz.
- 1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
- 1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
- 1951 – American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
- 1955 – The Canadian Labour Congress is formed by the merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour.
- 1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
- 1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
- 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (nowBangladesh).
- 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than 3 months.
- 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
- 1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
- 1997 – Omaria massacre in Algeria: Forty-two villagers are killed.
Births[edit]
- 1141 – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
- 1185 – Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
- 1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
- 1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
- 1500 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian (d. 1565)
- 1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist (d. 1571)
- 1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
- 1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
- 1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
- 1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer (d. 1797)
- 1720 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi (d. 1797)
- 1746 – Félix Vicq-d'Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
- 1791 – James Buchanan, American politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
- 1792 – John Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
- 1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar (d. 1856)
- 1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher (d. 1879)
- 1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American politician (d. 1861)
- 1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French scholar (d. 1853)
- 1823 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1861)
- 1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
- 1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
- 1858 – Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
- 1858 – Ethel Smyth, English composer (d. 1944)
- 1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal (d. 1936)
- 1861 – John Peltz, American baseball player (d. 1906)
- 1865 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (d. 1943)
- 1867 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
- 1872 – Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, English pianist (d. 1951)
- 1876 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (d. 1925)
- 1880 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1942)
- 1882 – Albert Coates, English conductor and composer (d. 1953)
- 1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
- 1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
- 1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1953)
- 1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
- 1894 – Cow Cow Davenport, American singer and pianist (d. 1955)
- 1895 – Johnny Hyde, Russian-American talent agent (d. 1950)
- 1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
- 1897 – Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- 1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese scientist, inventor of Yakult (d. 1982)
- 1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1959)
- 1900 – Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director (d. 1996)
- 1901 – E. B. Ford, English geneticist (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1903 – Guy Simonds, Canadian general (d. 1974)
- 1904 – Louis Muhlstock, Canadian painter (d. 2001)
- 1904 – Duncan Renaldo, Romanian-American actor (d. 1985)
- 1907 – Lee Miller, American photographer and model (d. 1977)
- 1907 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor, designed the Wotruba Church (d. 1975)
- 1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator (d. 2006)
- 1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
- 1911 – Ronald Neame, English-American cinematographer, producer, screenwriter, and director (d. 2010)
- 1913 – Diosa Costello, Puerto Rician-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
- 1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer, scientist, and businessman (d. 2000)
- 1916 – Yiannis Moralis, Greek painter (d. 2009)
- 1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Maurice Druon, French author (d. 2009)
- 1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963)
- 1920 – Eric Yarrow, British businessman
- 1921 – Cleto Bellucci, Italian archbishop (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Janet Blair, American actress (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
- 1922 – Marjorie Cameron, American actress and occultist (d. 1995)
- 1922 – Jack May, English actor (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Avram Davidson, American author (d. 1993)
- 1923 – Antonino Rocca, Italian-American wrestler (d. 1977)
- 1924 – Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout
- 1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
- 1926 – J. P. Donleavy, Irish-American author and playwright
- 1926 – Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician (d. 1990)
- 1926 – Richard Laws, British, Master of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge
- 1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2014)
- 1929 – George Steiner, French-born American author
- 1930 – Michael Bowen, British RC Archbishop Emeritus of Southwark
- 1930 – Alan Oppenheimer, American actor
- 1932 – Halston, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
- 1932 – Jim Fixx, American runner and author (d. 1984)
- 1934 – George Canseco, Filipino composer (d. 2004)
- 1935 – Bunky Green, American saxophonist and educator
- 1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (Traveling Wilburys) (d. 1988)
- 1937 – Victoria Glendinning, British author and broadcaster
- 1937 – David Mills, English cricketer (d. 2013)
- 1938 – S. Janaki, Indian singer
- 1939 – Jorge Fons, Mexican director and screenwriter
- 1939 – Bill Hagerty, English newspaper editor
- 1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
- 1939 – Ray Peterson, American singer (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Michael Copps, American politician
- 1940 – Dale Houston, American singer (d. 2007)
- 1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
- 1941 – Paavo Lipponen, Finnish journalist and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Finland
- 1941 – Michael Lynne, American film producer, co-founded New Line Cinema
- 1941 – Ed Stewart, English radio and television presenter
- 1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
- 1943 – Gail Goodrich, American basketball player
- 1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager
- 1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
- 1943 – Hervé Villechaize, French-American actor (d. 1993)
- 1944 – Jean-François Stévenin, French actor
- 1946 – Richard Mottram, British senior civil servant
- 1947 – Robert Burgess, British Vice–Chancellor of the University of Leicester
- 1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (Jethro Tull and Paris)
- 1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish politician
- 1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author
- 1948 – Serge Thériault, Canadian comedian and actor
- 1949 – Paul Collier, British economist and academic
- 1949 – David Cross, English violinist (King Crimson)
- 1949 – Joyce DeWitt, American actress
- 1950 – Rowley Leigh, English chef, restaurateur and journalist
- 1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
- 1953 – James Russo, American actor
- 1954 – Tony Atlas, American bodybuilder and wrestler
- 1954 – Stephen Dalton, British Chief of the Air Staff
- 1954 – Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist
- 1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
- 1955 – Fumi Hirano, Japanese voice actress
- 1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
- 1955 – Christopher George Charles Nevill, 6th Marquess of Abergavenny
- 1955 – Urmas Ott, Estonian television and radio journalist (d. 2008)
- 1955 – Mike Smith, English television and radio presenter
- 1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer, and art director
- 1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress
- 1957 – Kenji Kawai, Japanese composer
- 1958 – Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer and producer
- 1958 – Gene Scheer, American songwriter
- 1958 – Ryan Walter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
- 1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist and songwriter (Def Leppard) (d. 1991)
- 1960 – Barry Douglas, British classical pianist and conductor
- 1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Dirk Bach, German actor (d. 2012)
- 1961 – Terry Gordy, American wrestler (d. 2001)
- 1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
- 1961 – Pierluigi Martini, Italian racing driver
- 1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor
- 1962 – Shaun Spiers, British businessman, CPRE
- 1963 – Paul Belmondo, French race car driver
- 1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian conductor laureate, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
- 1965 – Tommy DeCarlo, American singer (Boston)
- 1966 – Matt Freeman, American bass player (Operation Ivy, Rancid, Social Distortion, Basic Radio, Downfall, and Devils Brigade)
- 1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess player (d. 1999)
- 1966 – Jim Stynes, Irish-Australian footballer (d. 2012)
- 1967 – Rheal Cormier, Canadian baseball player
- 1967 – Kim Hee-ae, South Korean actress
- 1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
- 1968 – Princess Aisha bint Al Hussein of Jordan
- 1968 – Princess Zein bint Al Hussein of Jordan
- 1968 – Ken McRae, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, committed the Oklahoma City Bombing (d. 2001)
- 1969 – Martin López-Zubero, American-Spanish swimmer
- 1969 – Arthur Phillips, American author
- 1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
- 1969 – Byron Thames, American actor
- 1969 – Richard Wolstencroft, Australian director and producer
- 1970 – Sadao Abe, Japanese actor and singer (Group Tamashii)
- 1970 – Scott Bairstow, Canadian actor
- 1970 – Dennis Culp, American singer-songwriter and trombonist (Five Iron Frenzy and Brave Saint Saturn)
- 1970 – Andrew Gee, Australian rugby player and manager
- 1970 – Hans Välimäki, Finnish chef
- 1971 – Charmaine Sinclair, English porn actress and model
- 1971 – Uli Herzner, German-American fashion designer
- 1972 – Pierre Labrie, Canadian poet
- 1972 – Patricia Manterola, Mexican singer, actress, and fashion designer
- 1972 – Sonya Smith, American-Venezuelan actress
- 1973 – Patrick Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974 – Carlos Dengler, American bass player (Interpol)
- 1974 – Michael Kerr, New Zealand-German rugby player
- 1974 – Barry Watson, American actor
- 1975 – Jónsi, Icelandic singer-songwriter and guitarist (Sigur Rós and Jónsi & Alex)
- 1975 – Bobby Shaw, American football player
- 1977 – John Cena, American wrestler and actor
- 1977 – Andruw Jones, Curaçaoan baseball player
- 1977 – Willie Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – John Oliver, English-American comedian and actor
- 1977 – Kal Penn, American actor, producer, and civil servant
- 1977 – Lee Young-Pyo, South Korean footballer
- 1979 – Barry Hawkins, English snooker player
- 1979 – Jaime King, American actress
- 1979 – Joanna Krupa, Polish-American model and actress
- 1979 – Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier
- 1979 – Wu Di, Chinese renju player
- 1979 – Lauri Ylönen, Finnish singer-songwriter (The Rasmus)
- 1980 – Yana Gupta, Czech model and actress
- 1981 – Seka Aleksić, Serbian singer, actress, and fashion designer
- 1981 – Sean Henn, American baseball player
- 1981 – Chris Sharma, American rock climber
- 1981 – Lady Gabriella Windsor, British royal family
- 1983 – Daniela Hantuchová, Slovakian tennis player
- 1983 – Aaron Hill, American actor
- 1984 – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
- 1985 – Taio Cruz, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1985 – Angel Locsin, Filipino actress
- 1986 – Sven Kramer, Dutch speed skater
- 1986 – Jessica Stam, Canadian model
- 1987 – John Boye, Ghanaian footballer
- 1987 – Emily Fox, American basketball player and cup stacker
- 1987 – Bo'az Ma'uda, Israeli singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Victor Anichebe, Nigerian footballer
- 1988 – Prince Buaben, Ghanaian footballer
- 1988 – Molly Burnett, American actress and singer
- 1988 – Steph Houghton, English footballer
- 1988 – Erica Mer, American actress
- 1988 – Signe Ronka, Canadian figure skater and actress
- 1988 – Lenka Wienerová, Slovak tennis player
- 1989 – Nicole Vaidišová, Czech tennis player
- 1990 – Dev Patel, English actor
- 1990 – Matthew Underwood, American actor
- 1990 – Pikky Ya France, Namibian cricketer
- 1991 – Nathan Baker, English footballer
- 1992 – Syd tha Kyd, American singer, DJ, and producer (Odd Future and The Internet)
- 1993 – Rina Chikano, Japanese singer (AKB48)
- 1994 – Patrick Olsen, Danish footballer
- 1996 – Charlie Rowe, English actor
- 1997 – Alex Ferris, Canadian actor
Deaths[edit]
- 303 – Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr (b. 275)
- 711 – Childebert III of the Franks (b. 670)
- 725 – Wihtred of Kent (b. 670)
- 871 – Æthelred of Wessex (b. 837)
- 997 – Adalbert of Prague, Czech bishop, missionary, and saint (b. 956)
- 1014 – Brian Boru, Irish king (b. 941)
- 1016 – Æthelred the Unready, English son of Edgar the Peaceful (b. 968)
- 1124 – Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078)
- 1151 – Adeliza of Louvain (b. 1103)
- 1217 – Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
- 1307 – Joan of Acre, English daughter of Edward I of England (b. 1272)
- 1407 – Olivier de Clisson, French soldier (b. 1326)
- 1605 – Boris Godunov of Russia (b. 1551)
- 1616 – Garcilaso de la Vega, Peruvian historian and author (b. 1539)
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright and actor (b. 1564)
- 1625 – Maurice, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
- 1702 – Margaret Fell, English religious leader (b. 1614)
- 1781 – James Abercrombie, Scottish general (b. 1706)
- 1784 – Solomon I of Imereti (b. 1735)
- 1792 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and adventurer (b. 1741)
- 1794 – Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French politician (b. 1721)
- 1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (b. 1780)
- 1839 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French admiral (b. 1768)
- 1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet (b. 1770)
- 1889 – Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, French author (b. 1808)
- 1895 – Carl Ludwig, German physician and physiologist (b. 1815)
- 1905 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1823)
- 1907 – Alferd Packer, American prospector (b. 1842)
- 1915 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
- 1936 – Teresa de la Parra, French-Venezuelan author (b. 1889)
- 1951 – Jules Berry, French actor (b. 1883)
- 1951 – Charles G. Dawes, American banker and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1965 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (b. 1891)
- 1975 – William Hartnell, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1979 – Blair Peach, New Zealand-English activist probably unlawfully killed by the Metropitan Police (b. 1946)
- 1981 – Josep Pla, Catalan journalist and author (b. 1897)
- 1983 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (b. 1908)
- 1984 – Red Garland, American pianist (Miles Davis Quintet) (b. 1923)
- 1985 – Sam Ervin, American lawyer and politician (b. 1896)
- 1986 – Harold Arlen, American composer (b. 1905)
- 1986 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1922)
- 1986 – Otto Preminger, Ukrainian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1906)
- 1990 – Paulette Goddard, American actress and producer (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Johnny Thunders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers) (b. 1952)
- 1992 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 1992 – Tanka Prasad Acharya, Nepalese politician, 27th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
- 1993 – Cesar Chavez, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers (b. 1927)
- 1995 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1895)
- 1995 – Howard Cosell, American lawyer and journalist (b. 1918)
- 1995 – Riho Lahi, Estonian writer and journalist (b. 1904)
- 1995 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (b. 1904)
- 1996 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (b. 1913)
- 1996 – P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (b. 1899)
- 1997 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1918)
- 1998 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician, 172nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1907)
- 1998 – James Earl Ray, American assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1928)
- 1998 – Thanassis Skordalos, Greek singer-songwriter and lyra player (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (b. 1910)
- 2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Robert Farnon, Canadian-English trumpet player, composer, and conductor (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Al Grassby, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1928)
- 2005 – John Mills, English actor (b. 1908)
- 2005 – Romano Scarpa, Italian illustrator (b. 1927)
- 2005 – Earl Wilson, American baseball player, coach, and educator (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Phil Walden, American record producer and manager, co-founded Capricorn Records (b. 1940)
- 2007 – Paul Erdman, Canadian-American economist and author (b. 1932)
- 2007 – David Halberstam, American journalist, historian, and author (b. 1934)
- 2007 – Peter Randall, English sergeant (b. 1930)
- 2007 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Tom King, American guitarist and songwriter (The Outsiders and The Starfires) (b. 1943)
- 2011 – Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, English businessman (b. 1921)
- 2011 – John Sullivan, English screenwriter and producer (b. 1946)
- 2012 – Lillemor Arvidsson, Swedish politician, 34th Governor of Gotland (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Billy Bryans, Canadian drummer, songwriter, and producer (The Parachute Club and Downchild Blues Band) (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Chris Ethridge, American bass player and songwriter (The Flying Burrito Brothers and International Submarine Band) (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Tommy Marth, American saxophonist (b. 1978)
- 2013 – Colonial Affair, American race horse (b. 1990)
- 2013 – Shamshad Begum, Indian singer (b. 1919)
- 2013 – Bob Brozman, American guitarist (R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders) (b. 1954)
- 2013 – Marv Diemer, American businessman and politician (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Robert W. Edgar, American politician (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Tony Grealish, English footballer (b. 1956)
- 2013 – Norman Jones, English actor (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Antonio Maccanico, Italian politician (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Frank W. J. Olver, English-American mathematician and educator (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Kathryn Wasserman Davis, American philanthropist and scholar (b. 1907)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
- National Sovereignty and Children's Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus)
- St George's Day and its related observances:
- Canada Book Day (Canada)
- Latest day on which Good Friday can fall, while March 20 is the earliest; celebrated on Friday before Easter. (Christianity)
- World Book Day
- International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day
- Vinalia urbana, (Roman Empire)
- UN English Language Day (United Nations)
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” - Romans 1:20
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"Him hath God exalted."
Acts 5:31
Acts 5:31
Jesus, our Lord, once crucified, dead and buried, now sits upon the throne of glory. The highest place that heaven affords is his by undisputed right. It is sweet to remember that the exaltation of Christ in heaven is a representative exaltation. He is exalted at the Father's right hand, and though as Jehovah he had eminent glories, in which finite creatures cannot share, yet as the Mediator, the honours which Jesus wears in heaven are the heritage of all the saints. It is delightful to reflect how close is Christ's union with his people. We are actually one with him; we are members of his body; and his exaltation is our exaltation. He will give us to sit upon his throne, even as he has overcome, and is set down with his Father on his throne; he has a crown, and he gives us crowns too; he has a throne, but he is not content with having a throne to himself, on his right hand there must be his queen, arrayed in "gold of Ophir." He cannot be glorified without his bride. Look up, believer, to Jesus now; let the eye of your faith behold him with many crowns upon his head; and remember that you will one day be like him, when you shall see him as he is; you shall not be so great as he is, you shall not be so divine, but still you shall, in a measure, share the same honours, and enjoy the same happiness and the same dignity which he possesses. Be content to live unknown for a little while, and to walk your weary way through the fields of poverty, or up the hills of affliction; for by-and-by you shall reign with Christ, for he has "made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign forever and ever." Oh!, wonderful thought for the children of God! We have Christ for our glorious representative in heaven's courts now, and soon he will come and receive us to himself, to be with him there, to behold his glory, and to share his joy.
Evening
"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night."
Psalm 91:5
Psalm 91:5
What is this terror? It may be the cry of fire, or the noise of thieves, or fancied appearances, or the shriek of sudden sickness or death. We live in the world of death and sorrow, we may therefore look for ills as well in the night-watches as beneath the glare of the broiling sun. Nor should this alarm us, for be the terror what it may, the promise is that the believer shall not be afraid. Why should he? Let us put it more closely, why should we? God our Father is here, and will be here all through the lonely hours; he is an almighty Watcher, a sleepless Guardian, a faithful Friend. Nothing can happen without his direction, for even hell itself is under his control. Darkness is not dark to him. He has promised to be a wall of fire around his people--and who can break through such a barrier? Worldlings may well be afraid, for they have an angry God above them, a guilty conscience within them, and a yawning hell beneath them; but we who rest in Jesus are saved from all these through rich mercy. If we give way to foolish fear we shall dishonour our profession, and lead others to doubt the reality of godliness. We ought to be afraid of being afraid, lest we should vex the Holy Spirit by foolish distrust. Down, then, ye dismal forebodings and groundless apprehensions, God has not forgotten to be gracious, nor shut up his tender mercies; it may be night in the soul, but there need be no terror, for the God of love changes not. Children of light may walk in darkness, but they are not therefore cast away, nay, they are now enabled to prove their adoption by trusting in their heavenly Father as hypocrites cannot do.
"Though the night be dark and dreary,
Darkness cannot hide from thee;
Thou art he, who, never weary,
Watchest where thy people be."
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Tertullus
[Tûrtŭl'lus] - derived from Tertius, and meaning, liar or impostor.
A Roman advocate employed by the Jewish authorities to prosecute Paul before Felix, the Roman Governor or Procurator (Acts 24:1, 2; 25:8).
The style of his rhetorical address or brief was common to Roman advocates. With his power of glib eloquence as well as knowledge of Roman laws, the orator Tertullus sought to impress the mind of the judge. With the trick of his class, he began with flattery of the judge. All of the flattering epithets of the hired orator, however, stand out in striking contrast with "the righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," Paul later spoke about to the same ruler.
From flattery of the judge, Tertullus passed to invective against the defendant, charging him with crimes he never committed. Paul in his defense presented a marked difference between his own frank manliness and the advocate's servile flattery. Tertullus could not rouse the conscience of Felix as Paul did. "Felix trembled," as Paul pressed home the truth of the Gospel and sent for him "the oftener," we read. What a tragedy it was that Felix did not follow his Spirit-impressed conscience!
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Today's reading: 2 Samuel 14-15, Luke 17:1-19 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 2 Samuel 14-15
Absalom Returns to Jerusalem
1 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom. 2 So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, "Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don't use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead. 3 Then go to the king and speak these words to him." And Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, "Help me, Your Majesty!"
Today's New Testament reading: Luke 17:1-19
Sin, Faith, Duty
1 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves.
"If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying 'I repent,' you must forgive them."
5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you....
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THE CRUCIFIXION
They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. (Matthew 27:33-37)
Now came time for the clash between good and evil, heaven and hell. The crucifixion of Jesus is both the most horrific moment in human history and humanity’s only hope. That’s why we call the Friday before Easter Good Friday.
Jesus’ followers were still too weak to understand and so they scattered. The religious elite played out their plot; the political leaders passed the buck and in the end discarded Jesus for the sake of convenience. The crowds gawked. Two thieves hung on either side of a man whose crime was hard to comprehend. The placard above his head announcing with biting sarcasm “King of the Jews,” must have attracted some attention.
We know of seven things Jesus said from that cross including a pronouncement of forgiveness for soldiers, provision for the care of his mother, a plea for something to wet his parched mouth. But the last words on that last day of his natural human life were the most important: “It is finished!”
That was not a cry of resignation, not capitulation or surrender. It was the shout of victory that all that God-Father, Son, and Spirit-had planned for the restoration of sinful human beings was accomplished. Now there could be justification! Redemption! Reconciliation! All that needed to be done for the debt and scar of sin had been done. Now forgiveness was free. All that remained was for Jesus to step out from the shadow of death, which he would easily do after a couple of days. But first, disciples had time to search their hearts for how something good could be seen in something so bad, while the enemies of God disappeared into the darkness of their own duplicity.
Ponder This: How does the crucifixion of Jesus most powerfully impact you?
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Today's Lent reading: John 21 (NIV)
View today's Lent reading on Bible GatewayJesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.
6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish....
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