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Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier was a polymath genius. Born 1743, he was rich and well schooled. He became a lawyer, but never practiced. Today, he is remembered as the father of modern chemistry. He was one of the committee of writers who created SI units. And when one is successful, others become jealous. One very bad man was Jean-Paul Marat. Marat was a left wing journalist who denounced Lavoisier as selling adulterated tobacco. Marat was executed soon after by someone who did not sympathise with his rhetoric on human rights, but the smear remained for over a year. On one day, today, in 1794, Lavoisier was branded a traitor, tried, convicted and guillotined. He was guilty of being a genius.
Another injustice was the Jack Cade rebellion of 1450 against Henry VI. Henry was a weak king and wealthy people got upset at being highly taxed, and losing French Normandy. We don't know much about Jack, who died in the rebellion. The upset rebels went to London and began looting there, just as Occupy protestors do today. The civil war that ensued with Yorkists vying for power with Lancastrians was related to the unrest of such Occupy protests. ===
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
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Hatches
Continue reading 'Pain at pump could backfire on Abbott'
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Government is just too big and growing too fast, and I really believed Tony Abbott’s argument before the election:
Treasurer Joe Hockey tries another excuse:
Terry McCrann says he still cannot see the categorical election promise Abbott is meant to be breaking:
Sinclair Davidson fires back:
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Some of the Art on our salon walls. — at Colin Moxey Hairdressing.
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A newly discovered dome-headed, dog-size dinosaur suggests that small dinos were more diverse than paleontologists have realized.http://bit.ly/15nIBGX
Here, a reconstruction of the dome-headed dinosaur Acrotholus audeti, which means "high dome," by Julius Csotonyi.
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The motion to recognise the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek Genocide just passed the house unanimously. The Premier Barry O'Farrell just thankedAndrew Rohan, Liberal for Smithfield for his efforts to have the Genocide recognised. This is a historic day for the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek communities in Australia and world-wide. Thank you Premier Barry O'Farrell. - Zaya Toma
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Celebrate Jerusalem day with us and share the truth with your friends
Today is the anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem from its Jordanian occupiers.
In the 1948 war of Israeli independence, Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan, and its Jewish holy places were desecrated.
The Holy Western Wall became a garbage dump, and for 19 long years, no one was allowed to pray there.
In 1967, in the 6 day war, Israel preempted an attack by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and with the grace of G-d, Jerusalem and the Western Wall was liberated- We pray on this day that it will never be taken from us and desecrated again!
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I love god and praise him by respecting the validity and truth of science. Not Global warming rubbish, but real science which shows the Earths age as billions of years, Dinosaurs existing millions of years ago and which has never disproved God. *shakes head at propaganda of those who deny science and so apparently, despise God* - ed
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It is an unfair comparison. Toddlers grow and become mature. Automated customer service is perverse.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Allan Maurice Taylor, Taylor Rees, Emily Nguyen, Ana Rodas and Carol Lee. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The longer you live, the more you have.
- 1326 – Joan I, Countess of Auvergne (d. 1360)
- 1521 – Peter Canisius, Dutch priest (d. 1597)
- 1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman (d. 1885)
- 1847 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American businessman and composer (d. 1919)
- 1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (d. 1925)
- 1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-English economist and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- 1906 – Esther Hoffe, Israeli mistress of Max Brod (d. 2007)
- 1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1977)
- 1913 – Sid James, South African-English actor (d. 1976)
- 1926 – Don Rickles, American comedian and actor
- 1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 1985)
- 1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer-songwriter (Captain & Tennille)
- 1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith, English bass player and producer (The Yardbirds and Box of Frogs)
- 1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor (Earth, Wind & Fire)
- 1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-American drummer (Van Halen)
- 1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress and director
- 1970 – Michael Bevan, Australian cricketer
- 1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer-songwriter (Savage Garden)
- 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1994 – Ajee' Wilson, American middle-distance runner
Matches
- 453 BC – The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period of China.
- 413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucaniaand Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
- 1450 – Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
- 1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.
- 1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with theFerme Générale, is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
- 1842 – A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
- 1846 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
- 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
- 1901 – The Australian Labour Party is established.
- 1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
- 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
- 1919 – Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation ofRemembrance Day. In the United States it was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
- 1941 – The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby
- 1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1945 – World War II: V-E Day, combat ends in Europe. German forces agree in Reims, France, to an unconditional surrender.
- 1945 – The Halifax Riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax.
- 1946 – Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.
- 1972 – Four Black September fighters hijack Sabena Flight 571. Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos recapture the plane the following day.
- 1980 – The eradication of smallpox is endorsed by the World Health Organization.
- 1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- 1987 – The Loughgall Ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
- 1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history' and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day.
Despatches
- 535 – Pope John II (b. 470)
- 1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (b. 1743)
- 1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
- 1985 – Karl Marx, German conductor and composer (b. 1897)
- 1985 – Theodore Sturgeon, American author and critic (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)
- 2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948)
Pain at pump could backfire on Abbott
Piers Akerman – Thursday, May 08, 2014 (6:16pm)
THE howling outrage over the soon-to-be introduced deficit tax will soon be drowned out if — as seems likely — mums and dads are forced to pay more for petrol after Tuesday’s Budget.
Continue reading 'Pain at pump could backfire on Abbott'
WA in strife after saving us for so long
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (6:39pm)
Once the boom state propping us up, but now another drag on our future - and a warning:
===THE West Australian government’s debt projections show the state sliding deeper into the red, despite revenue raising and cost cutting measures.
The 2014/15 state budget handed down today shows the goal of restoring WA’s AAA credit rating is a long way off, with debt creeping up to $27.5 billion by 2016/17, from $26.9 billion in the midyear economic review.
A whopping $23.7 billion in planned infrastructure projects over the next four years will maintain the need for increased borrowings, Treasurer Mike Nahan told parliament as he delivered his first budget.
Unemployment still below the expected
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (2:42pm)
Could the economy be going the Abbott Government’s way?
===THE unemployment rate has held steady in April against expectations of a rise, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.Labor last year tipped unemployment to rise this year to 6.25 per cent under its policies.
The total number of jobs in Australia rose by 14,200 to a seasonally adjusted 11.573 million in the month, compared to an upwardly revised 11.559 million in March.
The unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 per cent in the month, the same as in March.
Teresa Gambaro vs the Abbott Government
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (11:13am)
Which party is MP Teresa Gambaro actually a member of?
===This may provide context. From last September, when Abbott appointed his ministry:
Abbott has dropped six members of his shadow ministry: Senator Ian MacDonald, Teresa Gambaro, Andrew Southcott, Don Randall, John Cobb and Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who becomes a parliamentary secretary.
Spy chief: Edward Snowden a Russian puppet who will cost lives
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (9:33am)
Edward Snowden is a traitor:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===The longest-serving director of the US National Security Agency says former contractor Edward Snowden has become a Russian puppet and was responsible for the most damaging intelligence breach in history…What a shame Snowden’s leaks didn’t blow the whistle on real threats - like Russia’s plans for Ukraine.
General Keith Alexander told The Australian Financial Review Mr Snowden’s theft and leaking of over 100,000 classified documents meant lives would be lost as a result of adversaries being made aware of intelligence methods, and criticised the award of the Pulitzer Prize to newspapers who published the documents…
“At the end of the day, I believe people’s lives will be lost because of the Snowden leaks because we will not be able to protect them with capabilities that were once effective but are now being rendered ineffective because of these revelations,” he said.
“It’s the greatest damage to our combined nations’ intelligence systems that we have ever suffered. The biggest ever. And it has had a huge impact on our combined ability to protect our nations and defend our people.”
General Alexander ... said only a fraction of the leaks had anything to do with Americans’ civil liberties and that he believes Russian intelligence is now “driving” Mr Snowden.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
If the problem is too much spending, why are taxes going up?
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (9:09am)
Government is just too big and growing too fast, and I really believed Tony Abbott’s argument before the election:
...revenue is up 7 per cent this year, it’ll be up 8 per cent next year. The problem is not a revenue problem, the problem is a spending problem.Yet now:
TONY Abbott is struggling to quell unrest over a “deficit tax” in next week’s budget as his government considers another incendiary revenue proposal: lifting fuel excise for millions of motorists.Locked in:
As Liberal MPs attacked the “virtual confirmation” of the personal tax increase, the government faced mounting fears it would slug families at the fuel pump.
The Australian understands that officials have canvassed making the first increase in fuel excise in more than a decade and that ministers have not ruled out the reform when confronted with industry concerns about the change. Lifting the fuel excise would rank as one of the most substantial “structural” changes to the budget as Joe Hockey talks of making long-term reforms and his colleagues privately warn of unpopular measures that will overshadow the deficit tax.
CABINET has backed Tony Abbott’s plan to slap a controversial tax on high income earners, “locking” the broken election promise into next Tuesday’s budget.UPDATE
Despite an election pledge to cut rather than raise taxes, the Prime Minister will introduce the new tax for workers on annual salaries above $150k-$180k in the hope of easing the former Labor government’s debt and deficit legacy.
Treasurer Joe Hockey tries another excuse:
We went to the last election promising to introduce a levy for PPL so claims that we said we would never introduce new taxes are just wrong.UPDATE
Terry McCrann says he still cannot see the categorical election promise Abbott is meant to be breaking:
Commentator after commentator has screeched “broken promise, broken promise” — mostly, without identifying the supposed promise, or occasionally pointing to a Tony Abbott quote which in fact proved there was no broken promise…UPDATE
The ... normally sensible Sinclair Davidson ... said [Abbott promised] “there will not be any new taxes as part of the Coalition’s policies”.
What Davidson did not point out, was that Abbott had said it, in 2009, before the 2010 election…
The Australian and Sky TV’s Peter van Onselen comes close to equalling Davidson for hysterical idiocy, claiming (yet again) last night that this was the day Abbott “broke his solemn promise that there would be no new taxes”. A “solemn promise” he did not make in the campaign…
But it’s hard to think of a more bizarre shark-jump than Christine Milne and Adam Bandt railing against the outrageous intent of Abbott and Hockey to — temporarily — increase the tax on people earning $300,000, $500,000 and indeed $1 million and more a year…
Then we have idiots like former Liberal leader John Hewson demanding that the Government abandon a proposal that does not break any real election promise — only a Labor-Gallery-crazies mythical one — and substitute instead something that would break a very specific promise. By increasing taxation of superannuation.
Sinclair Davidson fires back:
Straight from the Lewandowsky school of analysis – people who disagree with you on matters of principle must be mentally ill.(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and Craig.)
It shouldn’t be this hard for a terrorism expert to see Boko Harama and say “Muslim”
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (8:34am)
WALEED Aly is the model moderate Muslim, used by the media to persuade us we have little to fear from Islam but our own bigotry.
His rewards have been great. Once the spokesman for the Islamic Council of Victoria, he is now an ABC radio host, a Channel 10 co-presenter and an Age columnist.
He is even a politics lecturer at Monash University’s Global Terrorism Research Centre, despite having no doctorate and having qualified in engineering and law.
This week Aly showed the style that’s made him such a pet of the establishment Left but a worry to me.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram group last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from a boarding school and its leader announced they were “slaves” he would sell. Two are already said to be dead.
As so often when Muslim terrorists strike, Aly was brought on by Channel Ten’s The Project to explain away our fears as “an expert in terrorism”.
“So who is this group exactly?” he was asked.
(Read full article here.)
===His rewards have been great. Once the spokesman for the Islamic Council of Victoria, he is now an ABC radio host, a Channel 10 co-presenter and an Age columnist.
He is even a politics lecturer at Monash University’s Global Terrorism Research Centre, despite having no doctorate and having qualified in engineering and law.
This week Aly showed the style that’s made him such a pet of the establishment Left but a worry to me.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram group last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from a boarding school and its leader announced they were “slaves” he would sell. Two are already said to be dead.
As so often when Muslim terrorists strike, Aly was brought on by Channel Ten’s The Project to explain away our fears as “an expert in terrorism”.
“So who is this group exactly?” he was asked.
(Read full article here.)
Shooting the messenger: Costello under attack
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (8:07am)
Niki Savva on former Treasurer Peter Costello, for whom she once worked:
UPDATE
Reader A. checks the 2006 Budget tax tables and adds:
===What some cabinet ministers did find difficult to stomach was Peter Costello’s column in News Corp tabloids on Tuesday… [H]ere was Costello, the man who they had appointed only a few months before to chair the Future Fund at an annual salary of almost $200,000, publicly criticising government policy…Of course, Costello could have another motive: to get good policy and save the Government from a mistake.
Cabinet ministers slogging away to put the budget together, to do what he did 18 years ago, put the budget back in the black, and in the way he did it, equitably, had one word for the former treasurer… Hypocrite.
For months now, the economic ministers have used Costello’s 1996 budget as a template, particularly one passage that he delivered ... which the Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, quoted in part yesterday, hinting at the anger they felt.
“...The tightening measures have to be fairly shared. “We cannot expect those who rely on pensions and allowances — low-income earners — to bear the cost. So we are asking high-income earners to make a contribution and business to make its contribution, too.”Costello’s former colleagues ... read with dismay his words, which stepped away from his own budget of broken promises while disowning the very measure that symbolised its fairness and gave it its integrity — the superannuation surcharge on higher-income earners.
Inside the government, there was speculation about Costello’s motives: jealousy, ego, relevance deprivation.
UPDATE
Reader A. checks the 2006 Budget tax tables and adds:
Nikki Savva says Peter Costello is a hypocrite for arguing against an increase in the upper marginal tax rates.
Peter Costello cut the top rate from 47% to 45% in the 2006 Budget (see above.) Ms Savva was a Coalition Staffer at the time.
Hypocrisy would be to argue we need a 2% “levy” to reverse that cut. To say rates should stay the same, is called consistency.
Gillard alerted
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (8:05am)
Let’s finally get to the bottom of this:
===THE royal commission into union wrongdoing is alerting Julia Gillard and her one-time boyfriend, disgraced union boss Bruce Wilson, that its hearings will start next week with evidence from a corrupt former AWU official who has confessed to fraud involving a slush fund set up after legal advice from the former prime minister.Gillard and Wilson both deny any wrongdoing.
Notifications are going out to parties who may be adversely mentioned in evidence from Ralph Blewitt, who returned to Australia from his home in Malaysia this week to help the royal commission and an ongoing fraud investigation by Victoria Police.
The notifications are being made by the commission’s lawyers to ensure that people have the chance to seek to be legally represented at public hearings.
Occupy movement cost the 99 per cent
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (7:56am)
Protesters wanting more money for the poor and for the environment have instead fed lawyers and left a mess:
===OCCUPY Melbourne protesters who shut down the city and vandalised buildings have left the public with a million-dollar bill in legal fees and clean-up and other costs.And we actually fund these guys - to help the poor, we thought:
Documents obtained by the Herald Sun under Freedom of Information laws reveal the public cost of protesters suing the city council, police and the State Government in legal action that ultimately failed.
Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said he was outraged authorities had won in court, but the public still had to pay.
The City of Melbourne has paid over $554,000 to Hunt & Hunt Lawyers since 2011 after activists Sara Kerrison and James Muldoon sued, claiming the arrest and eviction of Occupy Melbourne protesters had been illegal.
Council had to spend an extra $71,000 on emergency barricades and to clean up the area and remove graffiti.
Fitzroy Legal Service, The Human Rights Law Centre - both partly government-funded - and top barrister Ron Merkel, QC, took on the case.
Imagine a world led by the socialists who shut down Q&A
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (7:52am)
HERE’S how to judge protesters: what would our country look like if they were in charge?
Conclusion: worry about the ones who shut down the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday.
Want to be led by dictators?
Q&A was again loaded against conservatives from the start. It had just two conservatives against four from the Left, including host Tony Jones.
Jones claimed the studio audience, at least, was balanced, with 47 per cent backing the Coalition, 38 per cent Labor and 9 per cent the Greens.
But the audience vetting had again been rorted. Two of the first three pre-screened audience questions came from members of Socialist Alternative, a fringe Marxist group.
Their aggressive certainty was matched by contempt for those they disagreed with.
(Read full article here.)
===Conclusion: worry about the ones who shut down the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday.
Want to be led by dictators?
Q&A was again loaded against conservatives from the start. It had just two conservatives against four from the Left, including host Tony Jones.
Jones claimed the studio audience, at least, was balanced, with 47 per cent backing the Coalition, 38 per cent Labor and 9 per cent the Greens.
But the audience vetting had again been rorted. Two of the first three pre-screened audience questions came from members of Socialist Alternative, a fringe Marxist group.
Their aggressive certainty was matched by contempt for those they disagreed with.
(Read full article here.)
Langton demonstrates the danger of what she recommends
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (7:08am)
Aboriginal academic Marcia Langton
says she’s against the Abbott Government’s plan to reform the Racial
Discrimination Act because, among other things, it means Australians
could get away with unconsciously being racist:
===[Under the reforms] the point of view of the vilified group is no longer relevant in determining whether an act is reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group if the act is done because of the race, colour, or national or ethnic origin of the other person, or of some or all of the people in the group. The repeal bill proposes to replace the present provisions of the RDA with the wording: “Whether an act is reasonably likely to have the effect specified in sub- section (1)(a) is to be determined by the standards of an ordinary reasonable member of the Australian community, not by the standards of any particular group within the Australian community.’’Here are some Australians who had no idea they were being racist until Langton, a member of a “particular group within the Australian community”, declared they were:
This could allow normative racism to be the standard by which allegations of racial or ethnic vilification are judged. Many Australians are simply not aware of when they are being racist.
It strikes me that Langton is not at all fussy in labeling people as “racist” - a cheap-shot and plain nasty way to dodge arguments. She’s accused Germaine Greer, for instance, of racism:And this is plainly false:
RACISM and the highly evolved strategies that some white Australians use to dismiss, obstruct and trivialise Aboriginal people are like a virus: just when you think you have inoculated yourself against it, another version of the attack hits you when you are unprepared. Germaine Greer’s astonishing attack on me in her slight essay, On Rage, struck me as one of these mutant attacks. It is a cleverly disguised but nonetheless racist attack on Aboriginal people.She’s done it to Tim Flannery:
ABORIGINAL academic Marcia Langton has accused former Australian of the year Tim Flannery of holding a racist belief that indigenous Australians are ‘’enemies of nature’’.How quick she’s been to play the racism card:
[Prominent Labor lawyer Josh] Bornstein tweeted, “Tim Flannery is racist and all black fellas are budding mining magnates. Did I get that right, Marcia Langton?”
Professor Langton replied: “No stupid, you didn’t.”
After he commented on her “mild and unimaginative abuse”, the Melbourne University professor snapped back, “Doodums. Did the nig nog speak back? ...”
Section 18c is not a restriction on the freedom of speech, and has not limited the very robust public debates in Australia.Two of my own articles have actually been banned under that law, as Langton well knows, stifling debate on people of mixed “racial” or ethnic ancestry publicly identifying with just one of those “races”, making them eligible for certain positions, assistance or benefits.
Giving in to class war
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (7:01am)
Judith Sloan on the Abbott Government’s proposed deficit tax:
===What is the government doing? We know that higher-income earners already pay virtually all the income tax. The top 25 per cent pay more than two-thirds of the tax take. The top 10 per cent pay close to 45 per cent. Obviously, the government doesn’t think this heavy lifting is heavy enough.The Government is not waging class war. It is doing the next worse thing: pre-emptively giving in the class war it expects from Labor. It does not want to defend “the rich”.
These top earners — and don’t we want everyone to aspire to be a top earner through education, hard work and risk-taking? — have already suffered through losing the private health insurance rebate. Most top earners send their children to private schools, saving the taxpayer along the way.
They look after themselves and their families with very little assistance from the taxpayer, but somehow it is seen to be fair that they should further shoulder the burden of repairing the budget.
But, let’s face it, the sums of money being quoted by the government are not huge — maybe an extra $2 billion over four years. This is not because the higher marginal tax rate will not slug higher-income earners; it is simply the case that there are not very many of them.
Chinese company claims Palmer used its cash for his campaign
Andrew Bolt May 08 2014 (6:44am)
Clive Palmer spent big
on an election that gave him the balance of power in the Senate. Now
there is a court battle over an alleged source of those funds:
===CLIVE Palmer’s private company Mineralogy has been accused of wrongfully siphoning more than $12 million from his Chinese business partners, with some of the funds allegedly used to cover political expenses for the costly federal election campaign by his Palmer United Party.
The Federal Court in Perth was told yesterday that there were “serious questions” about the unauthorised use of large sums of money that Chinese-backed CITIC Pacific had put aside in a bank account for the operation of a port at its Sino Iron mining project in Western Australia....
Mr Palmer .... did not respond to questions from The Australian about the court proceedings.
The lawyer acting for CITIC, Andrew Bell SC, told the court that some of the money had been used to pay thousands of dollars to a PUP candidate, as well as taxi travel costs for party officials to attend the scrutineering of last year’s Senate vote count…
More than $12m was transferred out of the account in two transactions of $10m and $2.16m last August and September, with Dr Bell saying no invoices or remittance advice had been produced in relation to the two transfers.
The transactions occurred shortly before the federal election, when the PUP was fielding candidates throughout Australia and running a massive advertising campaign. Mr Palmer claims to have spent between $10m and $12m on the federal election…
Among those allegedly being paid with the CITIC funds was Vimal Sharma, a Mineralogy executive who was an unsuccessful candidate for the PUP in the West Australian seat of Cowan…
An affidavit sworn in Brisbane by a solicitor for CITIC, Bruce Wacker, ... stated that two cheques totalling $12,167,065 were described by Mineralogy as “being for purported ‘Port management services’, however, no documentation has been disclosed in support of these payments’’....
The millions of dollars in funds had been set aside by CITIC to cover the day-to-day expenses of operating, maintaining and repairing facilities at the port at Cape Preston used by the Sino Iron project.
But CITIC told the court that Mineralogy did not currently oversee those functions, and questioned how Mineralogy could have accrued more than $20m in administration costs over three years given it was playing no material role at the port.
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G’day fellow tax payers,
The battle in Bondi between the so called “great mates” Packer & Gyngell, was enough to make me really scratched me head and wonder how anyone who would resort to such basic instinct barbarity, could ever have achieved the power & influence that they currently have. Both men are doing a great jobin their businesses in my opinion but I still can’t see how enemies of this ilk let alone GOOD FRIENDS? could ever be involve in a public brawl???
The event did hold a resemblance though to two other close friends having a public brawl just a day later. When Peter Costello so publicly stated that this purposed budget levy was nothing more than politics and would raise no real money to deal with the ALP’s legacy of debt, well it surprised me again. I would have thought that the countries greatest recent Treasurer would have keep such an opinion to himself considering it was his student, from his team, going in with this plan. I guess the old adage is true, “with friends like this who needs enemies.”
I’m not a member of the Libs so I will say this much, I agree entirely with Costello. Regardless of who pays such a tax (it seems likely that it will be geared towards the most wealthy), it just will not raise enough revenue to even barely address the 12 billion dollar annual interest bill, let alone the capital debt,…. SO WHY DO IT?
I will attempt to answer my own question with this point and that is it is better to do something than nothing and as long as it doesn’t lower economic confidence of put strain on the low earning Aussies, it is still a revenue stream. Hmmmm, sure but I am anti TAX and all about less spending, smaller Government and just like my opposition to the needless Abbott PPL scheme, saving money and not wasting it. Encouraging consumer spending and job growth is what I voted for.
It’s early days still and I am confident that the Budget next week will not be as frightening as those on the Left would have you believe but I do think that this Debt Levy will appear is some form and on it’s own it just another useless tax in my humble opinion. The PPL is wasteful welfare (My Mum had three sons with no handouts and she managed to keep her job until retirement, so why now?). If The PM wants to save money then close down the Department of Climate Change, stop wasting money on such generous foreign aid and make public grants much harder to get. Make the States accountable for their GST spending so that they are building more Hospitals, Roads, Schools etc and not another Art Gallery, Wildlife Reserve or bloody bike lane!!!
Politically speaking I am worried about the lack of trust this levy would result in minds of an already cynical public and not just for the Coalition but for all politicians in general.
Godspeed
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist/Caricaturist
0414293765
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she can se how I see her===
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Some of the Art on our salon walls. — at Colin Moxey Hairdressing.
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A newly discovered dome-headed, dog-size dinosaur suggests that small dinos were more diverse than paleontologists have realized.http://bit.ly/15nIBGX
Here, a reconstruction of the dome-headed dinosaur Acrotholus audeti, which means "high dome," by Julius Csotonyi.
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The motion to recognise the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek Genocide just passed the house unanimously. The Premier Barry O'Farrell just thankedAndrew Rohan, Liberal for Smithfield for his efforts to have the Genocide recognised. This is a historic day for the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek communities in Australia and world-wide. Thank you Premier Barry O'Farrell. - Zaya Toma
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I am pleased to stand here today and speak in support of an important motion that was unanimously passed by this House, which recognises the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek Genocide by the Ottoman Empire between 1918 and 1923.
I thank the Premier of New South Wales, the Hon Barry O’Farrell MP for moving this motion. I thank him on behalf of my constituents;
I thank him on behalf of every victim of the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek Genocide and their descendants; and
I thank him on behalf of every activist for Genocide recognition around the world that has demanded history record the truth and that justice be done.
In my inaugural address to this house, I recalled that:
My journey into this place started in the summer of 1918 when my father was just a teenager and my mother a young child.
They and their families were among 90,000 Assyrian Christian refugees fleeing their ancestral homeland to escape persecution.
My parentsand the other refugees were fleeing from the Ottoman Empire to escape what would later be known as the "Armenian, Assyrian and Pontic Greek Genocide".
By the graceof God my parents survived, for the reason they were protected, and protected by none other than an Australian soldier.
LieutenantGeneral Sir Stanley George Savige, KBE, CB, DSO, MC, ED, at that time a28-year-old captain, was selected to join "Dunsterforce", an elite task force assigned to resupplying the Assyrians fighting in Persia.
Unable to complete the task due to the fall of Urmia, he persuaded his British commanderthat he should stay back with the remaining refugees.
For six weeks, Captain Savige used all the means at his disposal to protect the refugees against the perpetual onslaught of the Ottoman forces. Reasoning that the Turkish commander would concentrate on killing him before harming the refugees, he strategically placed his command at the rear of the refugee procession and deliberately drew enemy fire.
By offering his command as a target, even though he was outnumbered one hundred to one, Captain Savige managed to slow the enemy advance long enough for most of the refugees to flee.
This act of courage and self-sacrifice was far beyond what was expected of a junior officer in the field.
Captain Savige was subsequently decorated with the Distinguished Service Order for his efforts.
Australian journalist, historian and official war correspondent, Charles Bean, wrote:
The stand made by Savige and his eight companions that evening and during half of the next day against hundreds of the enemy thirsting like wolves to get at the defenceless throng was as fine as any episode known to the present writer in the history of this war.
My parents survived the Genocide because of the heroic actions of Sir Stanley George Savige and as the Member for Smithfield; I pay tribute to him again today in this House.
During the First World War more than 750,000 Assyrians together with 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Greeks were murdered by the Ottoman Empire forces in an attempt to cleanse the land of all the Christian minorities from Turkey. This was the first genocide of the twentieth century.
Mr Gulseren Celik, the Consul General of the Republic of Turkey, recently wrote to all Members of Parliament to condemn a motion recognising the Assyrian, Armenianand Greek Genocide in the NSW Legislative Council by the Hon. Rev Fred Nile MLC.
Mr Celik doesn’t have to take my word for this account of the Genocide. It comes from the official records of the Australian War Memorial.
I ask Members of this House, why was Stanley George Savige, an Australian soldier given a Distinguished Service Order for protecting refugees from the Ottoman forces?
Why did the refugees need any protection from the Ottoman forces?
Why were the Ottoman forces targeting un-armed, defenseless refugees in the first place?
Madam Speaker, I needed no better reason than this to support the motion, which recognised the Assyrian, Armenian and Pontic Greek Genocide. - Andrew Rohan
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Tomorrow’s hearings on Benghazi will define the Obama presidency if the truth is finally allowed to be told. I encourage everyone to tune in and hear the revelations that are long overdue. We’ll also see whether the president’s reliable lapdog cheerleaders in the media will continue to cover up for him and in so doing disgrace their profession. The following link is to something I posted way back on October 25th of last year asking questions that we should have had answers to long ago.
- Sarah Palin
- Sarah Palin
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Celebrate Jerusalem day with us and share the truth with your friends
Today is the anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem from its Jordanian occupiers.
In the 1948 war of Israeli independence, Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan, and its Jewish holy places were desecrated.
The Holy Western Wall became a garbage dump, and for 19 long years, no one was allowed to pray there.
In 1967, in the 6 day war, Israel preempted an attack by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and with the grace of G-d, Jerusalem and the Western Wall was liberated- We pray on this day that it will never be taken from us and desecrated again!
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I love god and praise him by respecting the validity and truth of science. Not Global warming rubbish, but real science which shows the Earths age as billions of years, Dinosaurs existing millions of years ago and which has never disproved God. *shakes head at propaganda of those who deny science and so apparently, despise God* - ed
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It is an unfair comparison. Toddlers grow and become mature. Automated customer service is perverse.
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May 8: Victory in Europe Day; World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day; Miguel Hidalgo's Birthday in Mexico
- 453 BC – The house of Zhao defeated the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period of China.
- 1886 – In Atlanta, American pharmacist John Pemberton first sold his carbonated beverage Coca-Cola (pictured) as a patent medicine, claiming that it cured a number of diseases.
- 1924 – Lithuania signed the Klaipėda Convention with the nations of the Conference of Ambassadors, taking the Klaipėda Region fromEast Prussia and making it into an autonomous region under unconditional sovereignty of Lithuania.
- 1972 – Four members of Black September hijacked Sabena Flight 571 to demand the release of 315 convicted Palestinian terrorists.
- 1984 – The Soviet Union announced the boycott of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, citing security concerns and stated that "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria [were] being whipped up in the United States".
Events[edit]
- 453 BC – The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period of China.
- 413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucaniaand Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
- 589 – Reccared I summons the Third Council of Toledo.
- 1450 – Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
- 1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.
- 1788 – The French Parlement is suspended to be replaced by the creation of forty-seven new courts.
- 1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with theFerme Générale, is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
- 1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn.
- 1842 – A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
- 1846 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
- 1877 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
- 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
- 1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
- 1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin produced its first play.
- 1901 – The Australian Labour Party is established.
- 1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
- 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
- 1919 – Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation ofRemembrance Day. In the United States it was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
- 1924 – The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
- 1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
- 1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against the British rule in India.
- 1941 – The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navyaircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
- 1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
- 1945 – World War II: V-E Day, combat ends in Europe. German forces agree in Reims, France, to an unconditional surrender.
- 1945 – The Halifax Riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax.
- 1945 – End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
- 1945 – Dissolution and surrender of Nazi Germany and all its forces.
- 1946 – Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.
- 1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
- 1966 – A plane crash at Connellsville, Pennsylvania kills the Pennsylvania Attorney General, his wife, and other state officials.
- 1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
- 1970 – The Hard Hat Riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as blue-collar construction workers clash with demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
- 1972 – Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
- 1972 – Four Black September terrorists hijack Sabena Flight 571. Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos recapture the plane the following day.
- 1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
- 1976 – The rollercoaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
- 1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
- 1980 – The eradication of smallpox is endorsed by the World Health Organization.
- 1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- 1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three and wounding 13. René Jalbert, sergeant-at-arms of the assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
- 1984 – The Thames Barrier is officially opened.
- 1987 – The Loughgall Ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
- 1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history' and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day.
- 1997 – A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.
Births[edit]
- 1326 – Joan I, Countess of Auvergne (d. 1360)
- 1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
- 1521 – Peter Canisius, Dutch priest (d. 1597)
- 1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
- 1622 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish politician (d. 1698)
- 1628 – Angelo Italia, Sicilian Baroque architect (d. 1700)
- 1629 – Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (d. 1697)
- 1632 – Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German marshal (d. 1706)
- 1653 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general and politician, Minister of Defence for France (d. 1734)
- 1670 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (d. 1726)
- 1720 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1764)
- 1735 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (d. 1811)
- 1745 – Carl Stamitz, German composer (d. 1801)
- 1753 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Mexican priest (d. 1811)
- 1786 – John Vianney, French priest and saint (d. 1859)
- 1818 – Samuel Leonard Tilley, Canadian pharmacist and politician (d. 1896)
- 1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman (d. 1885)
- 1825 – George Bruce Malleson, English-Indian colonel (d. 1898)
- 1828 – Henry Dunant, Swiss businessman and activist, co-founded the Red Cross, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
- 1828 – Charbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk and saint (d. 1898)
- 1829 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and composer (d. 1869)
- 1835 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter (d. 1910)
- 1839 – Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Canadian judge, author, and songwriter (d. 1920)
- 1842 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist and mycologist (d. 1909)
- 1847 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American businessman and composer (d. 1919)
- 1850 – Ross Barnes, American baseball player (d. 1915)
- 1853 – Dan Brouthers, American baseball player (d. 1932)
- 1858 – Heinrich Berté, Slovak-Austrian composer (d. 1924)
- 1858 – J. Meade Falkner, English author and poet (d. 1932)
- 1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (d. 1925)
- 1879 – Wesley Coe, American shot putter (d. 1926)
- 1884 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
- 1885 – Thomas B. Costain, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1965)
- 1893 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer (d. 1967)
- 1893 – Edd Roush, American baseball player (d. 1988)
- 1893 – Teddy Wakelam, English rugby player and sportscaster (d. 1963)
- 1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American businessman (d. 1962)
- 1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American archbishop (d. 1979)
- 1895 – Edmund Wilson, American author and critic (d. 1972)
- 1898 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (d. 1960)
- 1899 – Arthur Q. Bryan, American voice actor (d. 1959)
- 1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-English economist and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- 1901 – Turkey Stearnes, American baseball player (d. 1979)
- 1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1903 – Fernandel, French actor and singer (d. 1971)
- 1904 – John Snagge, English journalist (d. 1996)
- 1905 – Red Nichols, American cornet player, composer, and bandleader (The California Ramblers) (d. 1965)
- 1906 – Esther Hoffe, Israeli mistress of Max Brod (d. 2007)
- 1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1977)
- 1910 – Andrew E. Svenson, American author and publisher (d. 1975)
- 1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (d. 1981)
- 1911 – Robert Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1938)
- 1912 – George Woodcock, Canadian author and poet (d. 1995)
- 1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1984)
- 1913 – Sid James, South African-English actor (d. 1976)
- 1914 – Geoffrey Gilbert, English flute player (d. 1989)
- 1915 – John Archer, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1915 – Milton Meltzer, American historian and author (d. 2009)
- 1916 – João Havelange, Brazilian businessman
- 1916 – Chinmayananda Saraswati, Indian spiritual leader and educator (d. 1993)
- 1919 – Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
- 1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director (d. 1996)
- 1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish illustrator (d. 1991)
- 1920 – Sloan Wilson, American author (d. 2003)
- 1920 – Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and educator (d. 2000)
- 1922 – Mary Q. Steele, American naturalist and author (d. 1992)
- 1924 – S. Vithiananthan, Sri Lankan academic (d. 1989)
- 1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzanian politician, 2nd President of Tanzania
- 1926 – David Attenborough, English naturalist, broadcaster and television host
- 1926 – Don Rickles, American comedian and actor
- 1927 – Chumy Chúmez, Spanish director and author (d. 2003)
- 1928 – Robert Conley, American journalist (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Ted Sorensen, American lawyer, 8th White House Counsel (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Claude Castonguay, Canadian politician
- 1929 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress and singer (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Girija Devi, Indian singer
- 1930 – Heather Harper, Irish-English soprano
- 1930 – René Maltête, French photographer and poet (d. 2000)
- 1930 – Gary Snyder, American poet
- 1932 – Julieta Campos, Mexican author (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
- 1934 – Leonard Hoffmann, British judge
- 1934 – Maurice Norman, English footballer
- 1934 – David Williamson, British civil servant
- 1935 – Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland
- 1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer and manager
- 1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark
- 1936 – Kazuo Koike, Japanese author
- 1936 – Haljand Udam, Estonian orientalist and translator (d. 2005)
- 1937 – Bernard Cleary, Canadian politician
- 1937 – Mike Cuellar, Cuban-American baseball player (d. 2010)
- 1937 – Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian lawyer and politician
- 1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American author
- 1938 – Jean Giraud, French author and illustrator (d. 2012)
- 1938 – Javed Burki, Pakistani cricketer
- 1939 – Paul Drayton, American sprinter (d. 2010)
- 1940 – Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (d. 2006)
- 1940 – James Blyth, British businessman
- 1940 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian lawyer and politician, 47th Minister of Justice for Canada
- 1940 – Emilio Delgado, American actor and singer
- 1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 1985)
- 1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer-songwriter (Captain & Tennille)
- 1941 – Mahmoud Ahmed, Ethiopian singer
- 1941 – John Fred, American singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1941 – Bill Lockyer, American politician, 30th Attorney General of California
- 1942 – Norman Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, Scottish politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1942 – Pierre Morency, Canadian poet and playwright
- 1942 – Terry Neill, Irish footballer and manager
- 1943 – Pat Barker, English novelist
- 1943 – Jon Mark, English-New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist (Sweet Thursday)
- 1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith, English bass player and producer (The Yardbirds and Box of Frogs)
- 1944 – Gary Glitter, English singer-songwriter
- 1944 – Bill Legend, English drummer (T. Rex)
- 1945 – Mike German, Welsh politician
- 1945 – Keith Jarrett, American pianist and composer
- 1946 – André Boulerice, Canadian politician
- 1946 – Jonathan Dancy, English philosopher, author, and educator
- 1947 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 – Felicity Lott, British soprano
- 1947 – David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland
- 1947 – John Reid, British politician
- 1948 – Steve Braun, American baseball player
- 1948 – Stephen Stohn, Canadian-American television producer and lawyer
- 1950 – Robert Mugge, American director and producer
- 1950 – Lepo Sumera, Estonian composer (d. 2000)
- 1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor (Earth, Wind & Fire)
- 1951 – Mike D'Antoni, American basketball player and coach
- 1951 – Chris Frantz, American drummer and producer (Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club)
- 1951 – Deborah Harmon, American actress
- 1952 – Peter McNab, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Fleetwood Mac)
- 1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-American drummer (Van Halen)
- 1954 – Pam Arciero, American "Muppeteer" for Sesame Street and voice acttress
- 1954 – David Keith, American actor and director
- 1954 – John Michael Talbot, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Mason Proffit)
- 1954 – Gary Wilmot, English singer, actor and comedian
- 1955 – Stephen Furst, American actor and director
- 1955 – Mladen Markač, Croatian general
- 1955 – Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian politician, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (d. 2012)
- 1956 – Jeff Wincott, Canadian actor
- 1957 – Bill Cowher, American football player and coach
- 1957 – Gary Lunn, Canadian politician
- 1957 – Marie Myriam, French singer
- 1957 – Jeff Wincott, Canadian actor and athlete
- 1958 – Roddy Doyle, Irish author and screenwriter
- 1958 – Jill Evans, Welsh politician
- 1958 – Lovie Smith, American football player and coach
- 1958 – Kevin McCloud, English designer, writer and television presenter
- 1958 – Brooks Newmark, American-born British politician
- 1959 – Simon Lewis, British public relations officer
- 1959 – Ronnie Lott, American football player and sportscaster
- 1960 – Franco Baresi, Italian footballer and coach
- 1960 – Eric Brittingham, American bass player (Cinderella and Naked Beggars)
- 1961 – Janet McTeer, Scottish actress
- 1961 – Vallo Reimaa, Estonian politician
- 1961 – Akira Taue, Japanese wrestler
- 1961 – David Winning, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1962 – Donna Amato, American concert soprano
- 1963 – Terry Christian, English radio and television host
- 1963 – Sylvain Cossette, Canadian singer-songwriter (Paradox)
- 1963 – Anthony Field, Australian guitarist, songwriter, producer, and actor (The Cockroaches and The Wiggles)
- 1963 – Michel Gondry, French director and screenwriter
- 1963 – Robin Jarvis, English author
- 1963 – Izabela Kloc, Polish politician
- 1963 – Aleksandr Kovalenko, Soviet triple jumper
- 1963 – Rick Zombo, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1964 – Päivi Alafrantti, Finnish javelin thrower
- 1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress and director
- 1964 – Bobby Labonte, American race car driver
- 1964 – Nathalie Roy, Canadian politician
- 1964 – Dave Rowntree, English drummer and animator (Blur and The Ailerons)
- 1966 – Marta Sánchez, Spanish singer
- 1966 – Cláudio Taffarel, Brazilian footballer and coach
- 1967 – Viviana Durante, Italian ballet dancer
- 1968 – Teet Kask, Estonian choreographer
- 1968 – Chris Lighty, American talent manager, co-founded Violator Entertainment (d. 2012)
- 1968 – Nathalie Normandeau, Canadian politician
- 1968 – Johan Pehrson, Swedish politician
- 1968 – Jamie Summers, American porn actress
- 1969 – Jonny Searle, British rower
- 1969 – Akebono Tarō, American-Japanese sumo wrestler, the 64th Yokozuna
- 1970 – Luis Enrique Martínez García, Spanish footballer and coach
- 1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist
- 1970 – Michael Bevan, Australian cricketer
- 1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer-songwriter (Savage Garden)
- 1972 – Ray Whitney, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese illustrator
- 1973 – Jesús Arellano, Mexican footballer
- 1973 – Marcus Brigstocke, English comedian and actor
- 1974 – Marge Kõrkjas, Estonian Paralympic swimmer
- 1974 – Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
- 1974 – Jon Tickle, English television host
- 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1975 – Jussi Markkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1975 – Gastón Mazzacane, Argentine race car driver
- 1975 – Dmitri Ustritski, Estonian footballer
- 1976 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Ian "H" Watkins, Welsh singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor (Steps and H & Claire)
- 1977 – Joe Bonamassa, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bloodline and Black Country Communion)
- 1977 – Bad News Brown, Canadian rapper, harmonica player, and actor (d. 2011)
- 1977 – Theodoros Papaloukas, Greek basketball player
- 1977 – Jennifer Walcott, American model and actress
- 1978 – Lúcio, Brazilian footballer
- 1978 – Matthew Davis, American actor
- 1978 – Josie Maran, American model and actress
- 1978 – Jang Woo-hyuk, South Korean rapper and dancer (H.O.T. and jtL)
- 1980 – Keyon Dooling, American basketball player
- 1980 – Panagiotis Kafkis, Greek basketball player
- 1980 – Evgeny Lebedev, British newspaper proprietor
- 1980 – Michelle McManus, Scottish singer-songwriter and actress
- 1980 – Kimberlee Peterson, American actress
- 1980 – Benny Yau, Hong Kong-Canadian actor and singer
- 1981 – Namosh, German singer
- 1981 – Stephen Amell, Canadian actor
- 1981 – Ayesha Antoine, English actress
- 1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Tatyana Dektyareva, Russian hurdler
- 1981 – Björn Dixgård, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Mando Diao)
- 1981 – Manny Gamburyan, Armenian-American mixed martial artist
- 1981 – John Maine, American baseball player
- 1981 – Yasuko Tajima, Japanese swimmer
- 1981 – Elizabeth Whitmere, Canadian actress
- 1982 – Buakaw Banchamek, Thai kickboxer
- 1982 – Christina Cole, English actress
- 1982 – Adrian Gonzalez, American baseball player
- 1982 – Ninja Sarasalo, Finnish model and singer
- 1983 – Elyes Gabel, English actor
- 1983 – Juan Martin Goity, Argentinian-German rugby player
- 1983 – Bershawn Jackson, American hurdler
- 1983 – Lawrence Vickers, American football player
- 1983 – Roberto Vitiello, Italian footballer
- 1983 – Matt Willis, English singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (Busted)
- 1984 – Nadine Chandrawinata, German-Indonesian model, Puteri Indonesia 2005
- 1984 – Martin Compston, Scottish footballer and actor
- 1984 – Mascha Müller, German actress
- 1984 – Cynthia Deyanira Rodríguez Ruiz, Mexican singer
- 1984 – Yara Sofia, Puerto Rican drag queen performer
- 1984 – Julia Whelan, American actress
- 1984 – David King, English pair skater
- 1985 – Tommaso Ciampa, American wrestler
- 1985 – Devon Soltendieck, Canadian journalist
- 1985 – Silvia Stroescu, Romanian gymnast
- 1985 – Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Usama Young, American football player
- 1986 – Pemra Özgen, Turkish tennis player
- 1986 – Galen Rupp, American long-distance runner
- 1986 – Marvell Wynne, American soccer player
- 1987 – Aneurin Barnard, Welsh actor
- 1987 – Felix Jones, American football player
- 1987 – Aarne Nirk, Estonian hurdler
- 1987 – Mark Noble, English footballer
- 1988 – Tanel Kurbas, Estonian basketball player
- 1988 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014)
- 1989 – Liam Bridcutt, English footballer
- 1989 – Lars Eller, Danish ice hockey player
- 1990 – Kemba Walker, American basketball player
- 1991 – Ethan Gage, Canadian soccer player
- 1991 – Anamaria Tămârjan, Romanian gymnast
- 1992 – Ana Mulvoy Ten, English-American actress
- 1993 – Pat Cummins, Australian cricketer
- 1994 – Ajee' Wilson, American middle-distance runner
Deaths[edit]
- 535 – Pope John II (b. 470)
- 685 – Pope Benedict II (b. 635)
- 1192 – Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria (b. 1163)
- 1278 – Emperor Duanzong of Song (b. 1268)
- 1319 – Haakon V of Norway (b. 1270)
- 1473 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
- 1538 – Edward Foxe, English bishop (b. 1496)
- 1668 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nun (b. 1632)
- 1672 – Comte de Troisville, French officer (b. 1598)
- 1766 – Samuel Chandler, English minister (b. 1693)
- 1773 – Ali Bey Al-Kabir, Egyptian sultan (b. 1728)
- 1781 – Richard Jago, English poet (b. 1715)
- 1785 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1719)
- 1785 – Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (b. 1701)
- 1788 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician (b. 1723)
- 1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (b. 1743)
- 1819 – Kamehameha I of Hawaii (b. 1758)
- 1822 – John Stark, American general (b. 1728)
- 1828 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian guitarist, cellist, and composer (b. 1781)
- 1837 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and politician (b. 1770)
- 1842 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, French admiral and explorer (b. 1790)
- 1853 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest, 21st Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1785)
- 1873 – John Stuart Mill, English economist and civil servant (b. 1806)
- 1880 – Gustave Flaubert, French author (b. 1821)
- 1891 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian author (b. 1831)
- 1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
- 1907 – Edmund G. Ross, American politician, 13th Governor of New Mexico Territory (b. 1826)
- 1925 – John Beresford, Irish polo player (b. 1847)
- 1936 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880)
- 1941 – Natalie of Serbia (b. 1859)
- 1941 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (b. 1858)
- 1942 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian military commander (b. 1890)
- 1943 – Mordechai Anielewicz, Polish commander (b. 1919)
- 1944 – Themistoklis Diakidis, Greek high jumper (b. 1882)
- 1945 – Wilhelm Rediess, German SS officer (b. 1900)
- 1945 – Bernhard Rust, German politician (b. 1883)
- 1945 – Josef Terboven, German politician (b. 1898)
- 1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (b. 1858)
- 1948 – U Saw, Burmese politician (b. 1900)
- 1950 – Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician (b. 1865)
- 1952 – William Fox, Austrian businessman, founded Fox Theatres (b. 1879)
- 1959 – John Fraser, Canadian soccer player (b. 1881)
- 1960 – J. H. C. Whitehead, Indian-English mathematician (b. 1904)
- 1965 – Wally Hardinge, English crickter and footballer (b. 1886)
- 1967 – LaVerne Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (b. 1911)
- 1969 – Remington Kellogg, American zoologist (b. 1892)
- 1975 – Avery Brundage,American businessman, 5th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)
- 1981 – Uri Zvi Grinberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896)
- 1982 – Neil Bogart, American record producer, co-founded Casablanca Records (b. 1943)
- 1982 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (b. 1950)
- 1983 – John Fante, American author (b. 1909)
- 1984 – Lila Bell Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader's Digest (b. 1890)
- 1984 – Gino Bianco, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1916)
- 1985 – Karl Marx, German conductor and composer (b. 1897)
- 1985 – Theodore Sturgeon, American author and critic (b. 1918)
- 1985 – Dolph Sweet, American actor (b. 1920)
- 1986 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and author (b. 1922)
- 1987 – Doris Stokes, English psychic (b. 1920)
- 1988 – Robert A. Heinlein, American author (b. 1907)
- 1990 – Luigi Nono, Italian composer (b. 1924)
- 1991 – Jean Langlais, French pianist and composer (b. 1907)
- 1991 – Rudolf Serkin, Czech-Austrian pianist (b. 1903)
- 1992 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (b. 1933)
- 1993 – Avram Davidson, American author (b. 1923)
- 1994 – George Peppard, American actor and producer (b. 1928)
- 1995 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (b. 1953)
- 1996 – Beryl Burton, English cyclist (b. 1937)
- 1996 – Luis Miguel Dominguín, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1926)
- 1996 – Garth Williams, American illustrator (b. 1912)
- 1996 – Larry Levis, American poet (b. 1946)
- 1998 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler (b. 1915)
- 1998 – Charles Rebozo, American banker (b. 1912)
- 1999 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 1999 – Ed Gilbert, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)
- 2000 – Pita Amor, Mexican poet (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Alexander Chislenko, Russian-American theorist (b. 1959)
- 2000 – Dédé Fortin, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Les Colocs) (b. 1962)
- 2000 – Henry Nicols, American activist (b. 1973)
- 2001 – Yosef Ishran, Israeli murder victim (b. 1987)
- 2001 – Koby Mandell, Israeli-American murder victim (b. 1987)
- 2002 – Tim Horshington, Sri Lankan Tamil broadcaster
- 2005 – Jean Carrière, French author (b. 1928)
- 2005 – Nicolás Vuyovich, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1981)
- 2006 – Iain Macmillan, Scottish photographer (b. 1938)
- 2007 – Philip R. Craig, American author (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Carson Whitsett, American keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer (b. 1945)
- 2008 – Eddy Arnold, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1918)
- 2008 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b. 1982)
- 2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917)
- 2009 – Bud Shrake, American journalist and author (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Lau Teng Chuan, Singaporean educator and coach (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Everett Lilly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Lilly Brothers) (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Jerry McMorris, American businessman (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Stacy Robinson, American football player (b. 1962)
- 2012 – Maurice Sendak, American author and illustrator (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Ampon Tangnoppakul, Thai criminal (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (b. 1911)
- 2013 – Dan Adkins, American illustrator (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Jeanne Cooper, American actress (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Bryan Forbes, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Taylor Mead, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Juan José Muñoz, Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
- 2013 – Asaph Schwapp, American football player (b. 1987)
- 2013 – Hugh J. Silverman, American philosopher and theorist (b. 1945)
- 2013 – Géza Vermes, Hungarian-English theologian and scholar (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Ken Whaley, Austrian-English bass player (Help Yourself, Ducks Deluxe, and Man) (b. 1946)
- 2013 – Dallas Willard, American philosopher (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Ernie Winchester, Scottish footballer (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Earliest day on which Father's Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Romania)
- Earliest day on which Mother's Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (United States and others)
- Earliest day on which State Flag and State Emblem Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Belarus)
- Earliest day on which World Fair Trade Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (International)
- Miguel Hidalgo's birthday (Mexico)
- Parents' Day (South Korea)
- Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War, continues to May 9 (International)
- Truman Day (Missouri)
- Victory in Europe Day (Europe)
- White Lotus Day (Theosophy)
- World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (International)
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all."
Matthew 12:15
Matthew 12:15
What a mass of hideous sickness must have thrust itself under the eye of Jesus! Yet we read not that he was disgusted, but patiently waited on every case. What a singular variety of evils must have met at his feet! What sickening ulcers and putrefying sores! Yet he was ready for every new shape of the monster evil, and was victor over it in every form. Let the arrow fly from what quarter it might, he quenched its fiery power. The heat of fever, or the cold of dropsy; the lethargy of palsy, or the rage of madness; the filth of leprosy, or the darkness of ophthalmia--all knew the power of his word, and fled at his command. In every corner of the field he was triumphant over evil, and received the homage of delivered captives. He came, he saw, he conquered everywhere. It is even so this morning. Whatever my own case may be, the beloved Physician can heal me; and whatever may be the state of others whom I may remember at this moment in prayer, I may have hope in Jesus that he will be able to heal them of their sins. My child, my friend, my dearest one, I can have hope for each, for all, when I remember the healing power of my Lord; and on my own account, however severe my struggle with sins and infirmities, I may yet be of good cheer. He who on earth walked the hospitals, still dispenses his grace, and works wonders among the sons of men: let me go to him at once in right earnest.
Let me praise him, this morning, as I remember how he wrought his spiritual cures, which bring him most renown. It was by taking upon himself our sicknesses. "By his stripes we are healed." The Church on earth is full of souls healed by our beloved Physician; and the inhabitants of heaven itself confess that "He healed them all." Come, then, my soul, publish abroad the virtue of his grace, and let it be "to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off."
Evening
"Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."
John 5:8
John 5:8
Like many others, the impotent man had been waiting for a wonder to be wrought, and a sign to be given. Wearily did he watch the pool, but no angel came, or came not for him; yet, thinking it to be his only chance, he waited still, and knew not that there was One near him whose word could heal him in a moment. Many are in the same plight: they are waiting for some singular emotion, remarkable impression, or celestial vision; they wait in vain and watch for nought. Even supposing that, in a few cases, remarkable signs are seen, yet these are rare, and no man has a right to look for them in his own case; no man especially who feels his impotency to avail himself of the moving of the water even if it came. It is a very sad reflection that tens of thousands are now waiting in the use of means, and ordinances, and vows, and resolutions, and have so waited time out of mind, in vain, utterly in vain. Meanwhile these poor souls forget the present Saviour, who bids them look unto him and be saved. He could heal them at once, but they prefer to wait for an angel and a wonder. To trust him is the sure way to every blessing, and he is worthy of the most implicit confidence; but unbelief makes them prefer the cold porches of Bethesda to the warm bosom of his love. O that the Lord may turn his eye upon the multitudes who are in this case tonight; may he forgive the slights which they put upon his divine power, and call them by that sweet constraining voice, to rise from the bed of despair, and in the energy of faith take up their bed and walk. O Lord, hear our prayer for all such at this calm hour of sunset, and ere the day breaketh may they look and live.
Courteous reader, is there anything in this portion for you?
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Today's reading: 2 Kings 1-3, Luke 24:1-35 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 2 Kings 1-3
The LORD's Judgment on Ahaziah
1 After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel. 2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury...."
Today's New Testament reading: Luke 24:1-35
Jesus Has Risen
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8Then they remembered his words....
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