Bairnsdale Conservative: Fri Apr 17th Todays News

On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome.
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Dank has been cleared of 24 of 34 charges by AFL Anti Doping Tribunal. He isn't guilty of supplying to AFL players. Ten charges have been upheld related to trafficking and supply to AFL support staff at Essendon, Gold Coast, Carlton and in Baseball. The ten charges may be appealed because it appears to be an over reach to charge Dank with an offence unrelated to players of the sport. Considering what MLB did to A-Rod, one feels they can take care of themselves. But the entire situation has been manufactured by ASADA to protect the ALP desperate for a distraction over a year ago.

The missing 3 yo child, William Tyrrell, may have been taken by a pedophile ring. There seems to be no other explanation. He didn't wander off, he disappeared while under parental supervision. He lived in a remote country area. So any abductor was probably known by him. There can be nothing more heartbreaking for his parents.

Greens are claiming success for things they have obstructed or have no hand in. Just as when the ALP trumpeted success for ending the Pacific Solution and claiming they were more compassionate than the conservatives. It was not true, but still the claim is made despite all the evidence.

It is important to care for the environment. That is why home energy should be from coal, and cars should be powered by petrol. Because it is efficient. And if industry has a role in saving the environment, it will be because it was profitable.

In 1397, Geoffrey Chaucer, a writer and public servant, told his Canterbury Tales for the first time. It was an unfinished work, because Chaucer died before completing it, but he had written enough to show the scope of the work. The tales related to the then custom of visiting Canterbury Cathedral for similar reasons Islamic People go to Mecca. It was religious, but also a party. Canterbury Cathedral is where Thomas Becket was martyred. Thomas had resisted his friend's, the king's (Henry II), desire to do things which were a-religious. Some claimed Becket was greedy and spending church money on himself. An exasperated king asked aloud "Won't someone rid me of this meddlesome priest?" and some knights took it upon themselves to kill Becket. They did, in Canterbury Cathedral, but in cutting down the figure of Becket while he was praying to God, the discovery was made Becket wore a hair shirt. Nobody wore a hair shirt for comfort. It was a terrible material which was too warm and subject to lice. Called mortification of the flesh, Becket wore it without telling anyone so as to be devoted to God without bragging. He had been faithful to God, and murdered by order of his King and friend. The killers fled to Rome, and the Pope ordered they serve penance by serving in the Holy Land, thus forming the order of the Knights of St Thomas.

In 1492, Columbus signed an agreement to go to Asia and collect spices. He was diverted. In 1521, Martin Luther was asked to answer specific charges. He asked for time to consider them, and was given one night. In 1895, Japan and China signed for peace. Within fifty years, neither side had a government party to the signing. In 1897, the first UFO incident occurred, and the first hoax in Texas. In 1937, Daffy Duck first appeared in Porky's Duck Hunt. In 1945, Brazilian forces liberated the Italian town called Montese from the NAZIS. In 1961, Bay of Pigs disaster in Cuba was made worse by JFK. In 1969, Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of killing Bobby Kennedy. In 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth safely. In 1973, George Lucas began writing a preparation for Star Wars. In 1984, a policeman in London was killed by a gun fired from a Libyan embassy.

2014

I sent my petition to Mr Abbott's office yesterday after Barry O'Farrell resigned. I got an immediate reply which passed responsibility to the Australian Minister for Justice. So, I looked to get in touch with that department. I need to send them a fax. I will do it .. maybe on Good Friday. A reminder that my blog is every day of the year. I'm proud of that, although I don't profit from it yet. I once got three payments of $12 US in 2008 and so started a business with what the insane call encouragement of Centerlink. Mr O'Farrell is copping some criticism, but the truth is he ran an effective and clean government. Mr Baird has big shoes to fill, but I believe he can do it. The entire conservative team has more honour individually than the ALP collectively.

There is gathering impetus for those questioning the existence of the ICAC. We need them. We need them to be competent.

Historical perspectives on this day

In 1080, the King of Denmark Harald III died and was succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonised. 1349, Fall of the Bavand dynasty, and rise of the Afrasiyab dynasty. 1397, Geoffrey Chaucer told The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury. 1492, Spain and Christopher Columbus signed the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices. 1521, trial of Martin Luther over his teachings began during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asked for time to reflect before answering and was given a stay of one day. 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano reached New York harbor. 1555, after 18 months of siege, Siena surrenders to the Florentine-Imperial army. The Republic of Siena was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. 1797, Sir Ralph Abercromby attacked San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America. Also 1797, citizens of Verona, Italy, began an eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces, which would end unsuccessfully.

In 1861, the state of Virginia's secession convention voted to secede from the United States, becoming the 8th state to join the Confederate States of America. 1863, American Civil War: Grierson's Raid began – troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attacked central Mississippi. 1864, American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth began – Confederate forces attacked Plymouth, North Carolina. 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan was signed. This marked the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire was forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan. 1897, the Aurora, Texas UFO incident

In 1905, The Supreme Court of the United States decided Lochner v. New York, which held that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. 1907, the Ellis Island immigration centre processed 11,747 people, more than on any other day. 1912, Russian troops openned fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150. 1937, Daffy Duck's first appearance, in Porky's Duck Hunt. 1941, World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany. 1942, French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escaped from his castle prison in Festung Königstein. 1944, forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attacked the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrendered. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros was murdered. 1945, World War II: Brazilian forces liberated the town of Montese, Italy, from Nazi forces. 1946, Syria obtained its independence from the French occupation. 1949, at midnight 26 Irish counties officially left the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushered in the Republic of Ireland.

In 1951, the Peak District became the United Kingdom's first National Park. 1961, Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. 1964, Jerrie Mock became the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air. Also 1964, Ford Mustang was introduced to the North American market. 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy. Also 1969, Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček was deposed. 1970, Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returned to Earth safely. 1971, the People's Republic of Bangladesh formed, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Mujibnagor. 1973, George Lucas began writing the treatment for The Star Wars. 1975, the Cambodian Civil War ended. The Khmer Rouge captured the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrendered. 1978, Mir Akbar Khyber was assassinated, provoking a communist coup d'état in Afghanistan.

In 1982, Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. 1984, police Constable Yvonne Fletcher was killed by gunfire from the Libyan People's Bureau (Embassy) in London during a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten others were wounded. The events led to an 11-day siege of the building. 1986, the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ended. Also 1986, Nezar Hindawi's attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv was thwarted. 2006, Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonated an explosive device in Tel Aviv, killing 11 people and injuring 70. 2013, An explosion at a fertiliser plant in the city of West, Texas, killed 15 people and injured 160 others. 2014, NASA's Kepler confirmed the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.

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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406, September https://www.createspace.com/5106914, October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4 The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more.

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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

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR

Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.

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Happy birthday and many happy returns to all those born on this day, across the years, along with

1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
1622 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh physician, author, and poet (d. 1695)
1734 – Taksin, Thai king (d. 1782)
1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician (d. 1840)
1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician (d. 1940)
1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
1957 – Nick Hornby, English author and screenwriter
1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and actress (Spice Girls)
1984 – Rosanna Davison, Irish model and actress, Miss World 2003
1996 – Dee Dee Davis, American actress

Deaths

485 – Proclus, Greek philosopher (b. 412)
617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet (b. 1810)
1998 – Linda McCartney, American singer-songwriter, photographer, and activist (Wings) (b. 1941)

April 17: Evacuation Day in Syria (1946)

1080 – On the death of his brother Harald III, Canute IV, who later became the first Dane to be canonized, became King of Denmark.
1907 – Brazil became the third country in the world to start construction on a dreadnought battleship (pictured), sparking a vastly expensive South American naval arms race.
1951 – The Peak District was designated the first national park in the United Kingdom.
1975 – The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, ending the Cambodian Civil War, and established Democratic Kampuchea.
2013 – An ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at a fertilizer company facility in West, Texas, US, killing 15 people and injuring 160 others.

We can hold back the waves. If we rush at them. Brazil has built a dreadnought. Our park is national. The liars won. The bang was unexpected. Let's party.

Matches

1080 – The King of Denmark Harald III dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
1349 – Fall of the Bavand dynasty, and rise of the Afrasiyab dynasty.
1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury.
1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
1555 – After 18 months of siege, Siena surrenders to the Florentine-Imperial army. The Republic of Siena is incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America.
1797 – Citizens of Verona, Italy, begin an eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces, which will end unsuccessfully.
1861 – The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States, becoming the 8th state to join the Confederate States of America.
1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins – troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins – Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
1897 – The Aurora, Texas UFO incident
1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
1937 – Daffy Duck's first appearance, in Porky's Duck Hunt.
1941 – World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberationresistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
1945 – World War II: Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from Nazi forces.
1946 – Syria obtains its independence from the French occupation.
1949 – At midnight 26 Irish counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.
1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
1964 – Ford Mustang is introduced to the North American market.
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 – Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
1971 – The People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Mujibnagor.
1973 – George Lucas begins writing the treatment for The Star Wars.
1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forcessurrender.
1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d'état in Afghanistan.
1982 – Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
1984 – Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by gunfire from the Libyan People's Bureau (Embassy) in London during a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten others are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
1986 – The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends.
1986 – Nezar Hindawi's attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv is thwarted.

2006 – Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
2014 – NASA's Kepler confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

Hatches

1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (d. 1671)
1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
1622 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh physician, author, and poet (d. 1695)
1676 – Frederick I of Sweden (d. 1751)
1683 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (d. 1729)
1710 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (d. 1767)
1734 – Taksin, Thai king (d. 1782)
1741 – Samuel Chase, American jurist (d. 1811)
1750 – François de Neufchâteau, French academic and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1828)
1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian activist (d. 1805)
1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, and politician (d. 1861)
1794 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (d. 1868)
1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician (d. 1840)
1814 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist and academic (d. 1888)
1816 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English architect (d. 1876)
1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter, invented Baseball (d. 1892)
1833 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1900)
1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
1842 – Maurice Rouvier, French politician, 53rd Prime Minister of France (d. 1911)
1849 – William R. Day, American jurist and politician, 36th United States Secretary of State (d. 1923)
1852 – Cap Anson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1922)
1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician (d. 1940)
1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (d. 1939)
1866 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (d. 1927)
1875 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1941)
1877 – Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (d. 1949)
1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American businessman (d. 1961)
1879 – Henri Tauzin, French athlete (d. 1918)
1882 – Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1951)
1884 – Leo Frank, American businessman (d. 1915)
1885 – Karen Blixen, Danish author (d. 1962)
1885 – Carl Goßler, German rower (d. 1914)
1888 – Herms Niel, German composer (d. 1954)
1890 – Art Acord, American actor and rodeo rider (d. 1931)
1891 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (d. 1965)
1895 – Robert Dean Frisbie, American author (d. 1948)
1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
1897 – Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1981)
1897 – Thornton Wilder, American author and playwright (d. 1975)
1897 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (d. 1983)
1899 – Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete and coach (d. 1958)
1899 – Dimitris Poulianos, Greek artist (d. 1972)
1902 – Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican politician (d. 1974)
1903 – Nicolas Nabokov, Russian-American composer and educator (d. 1978)
1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (d. 1976)
1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler (d. 1975)
1905 – Louis Jean Heydt, American actor (d. 1960)
1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (d. 1987)
1906 – Sidney Garfield, American physician (d. 1984)
1909 – Alain Poher, French politician, President of France (d. 1996)
1910 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek politician, Greek Minister of Defence (d. 1990)
1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter and producer (d. 1999)
1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer and manager (d. 1997)
1911 – Hervé Bazin, French author (d. 1996)
1911 – Lester Rodney, American journalist (d. 2009)
1912 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1914 – George W. Davis, American art director (d. 1984)
1914 – Mac Raboy, American illustrator (d. 1967)
1915 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan politician, 6th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 2000)
1915 – Martin Clemens, Scottish soldier (d. 2009)
1915 – Joe Foss, American general and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (d. 2003)
1915 – Regina Ghazaryan, Armenian painter (d. 1999)
1916 – A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan educator and politician (d. 1981)
1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
1919 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2012)
1920 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author
1923 – Lindsay Anderson, Indian-English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1923 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (d. 2014)
1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian tenor (d. 2008)
1923 – Harry Reasoner, American journalist (d. 1991)
1924 – Kenneth Norman Jones, Australian public servant
1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (d. 2013)
1925 – Erich Göstl, Austrian-German SS officer (d. 1990)
1925 – René Moawad, Lebanese politician, 13th President of Lebanon (d. 1989)
1926 – Joan Lorring, Hong Kong-American actress (d. 2014)
1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American author
1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian fencer
1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian politician
1928 – Victor Lownes, American film producer and executive for HMH Publishing
1929 – Michael Forest, American actor
1929 – James Last, German bassist, composer, and bandleader
1929 – Peggy McKercher, Canadian academic
1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist and bandleader
1931 – John Barrett, English tennis player and sportscaster
1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (d. 2012)
1931 – Howard Honig, American actor
1934 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1934 – Peter Morris, Australian-English surgeon
1935 – Bud Paxson, American broadcaster, founded Home Shopping Network and Pax TV (d. 2015)
1937 – Ronald Hamowy, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2012)
1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German engineer and businessman
1938 – Ben Barnes, American politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 41st Canadian Minister of Justice
1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American theorist, co-founder of Discordianism (d. 1988)
1939 – Robert Miller, American art dealer (d. 2011)
1940 – Eric Dancer, British businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon
1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1983)
1940 – John McCririck, English journalist
1940 – Chuck Menville, American animator and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano
1941 – Lagle Parek, Estonian politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
1942 – David Bradley, English actor
1943 – Bobby Curtola, Canadian singer
1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer and educator
1946 – Clare Francis, English sailor and author
1946 – Henry Kelly, Irish radio and television host
1947 – George Emslie, Lord Emslie, Scottish judge
1947 – Richard Field, English judge
1947 – Sherrie Levine, American artist
1947 – Linda Martin, Irish singer-songwriter
1947 – Paul Thomas, American porn actor and director
1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, coach, and manager
1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech pianist, composer, and producer
1948 – Alice Harden, American politician (d. 2012)
1948 – Pekka Vasala, Finnish middle-distance runner
1949 – Mike Hill, English bishop
1950 – L. Scott Caldwell, American actress
1950 – Bruce McNall, American businessman
1951 – Olivia Hussey, British actress of Argentinian and English descent
1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player
1952 – Pierre Guité, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – John McColl, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian commander (d. 2000)
1952 – John Robertson, Scottish politician
1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
1954 – Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler and actor
1954 – Michael Sembello, American singer-songwriter
1954 – Lester Square, Canadian guitarist (The Monochrome Set and Adam and the Ants)
1955 – Todd Lickliter, American basketball player and coach
1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Buzzcocks)
1955 – Mike Stroud, English physician and explorer
1956 – Colin Tyre, Lord Tyre, Scottish lawyer and judge
1957 – Teri Austin, Canadian actress
1957 – Nick Hornby, English author and screenwriter
1957 – Julia Macur, English lawyer and judge
1957 – Susan Roman, Canadian voice actress
1958 – Laslo Babits, Canadian javelin thrower (d. 2013)
1959 – Sean Bean, English actor
1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player
1959 – Li Meisu, Chinese shot putter
1960 – Vladimir Polyakov, Russian pole vaulter
1961 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor leader
1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and sportscaster
1961 – Bella Freud, English fashion designer
1962 – Marianna Efstratiou, Greek singer
1962 – Paul Nicholls, English jockey and trainer
1963 – Joel Murray, American actor
1963 – Penny Vilagos, Canadian swimmer
1963 – Vicky Vilagos, Canadian swimmer
1964 – Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter and producer (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Green Jellÿ)
1964 – Lela Rochon, American actress
1964 – Bart Van den Bossche, Flemish singer and actor (d. 2013)
1965 – William Mapother, American actor
1966 – Vikram, Indian actor, singer, and producer
1967 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-Scottish actor
1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress
1967 – Timothy Gibbs, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1967 – Marquis Grissom, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Liz Phair, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer
1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1968 – Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven
1968 – Richie Woodhall, English boxer
1970 – Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor (Def Squad and Method Man & Redman)
1971 – Andri Kirsima, Estonian architect
1971 – Claire Sweeney, English actress and singer
1972 – Ruffian, American race horse (d. 1975)
1972 – Gary Bennett, American baseball player
1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player and sportscaster
1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress and producer
1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japan footballer and referee
1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 – Jarkko Wiss, Finnish footballer
1973 – Katrin Koov, Estonian architect
1973 – Jeff Lewis, American football player (d. 2013)
1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player
1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player
1973 – Kaihō Ryōji, Japanese sumo wrestler
1974 – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Opeth, Bloodbath, and Katatonia)
1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer, actress, and fashion designer (Spice Girls)
1975 – Heidi Alexander, English politician
1975 – Gabriel Soto, Mexican actor
1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player
1976 – Sizzla, Jamaican rapper
1976 – Anna Geislerová, Czech actress
1976 – Monet Mazur, American actress
1976 – Alex Nesic, American actor
1976 – Maurice Wignall, Jamaican hurdler
1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
1977 – Phil Jamieson, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Grinspoon)
1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish pianist and composer
1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress and singer
1978 – Loukas Louka, Cypriot footballer
1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
1979 – Siddharth, Indian actor, singer, and producer
1979 – Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Marija Šestak, Serbian-Slovenian triple jumper
1979 – Sung Si-kyung, South Korean singer
1980 – Nicholas D'Agosto, American actor
1980 – Lee Hyun-il, South Korean badminton player
1980 – Fabián Vargas, Colombian footballer
1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer, boxer, and manager
1981 – Jenny Meadows, English middle-distance runner
1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player
1981 – Chris Thompson, English long-distance runner
1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer
1982 – Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Lee Joon-gi, South Korean actor and singer
1982 – Martin Kampmann, Danish mixed martial artist
1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Roberto Jiménez, Peruvian footballer
1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
1984 – Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
1984 – Rosanna Davison, Irish model and actress, Miss World 2003
1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player
1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer
1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress
1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor
1985 – William Snape, English actor
1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
1986 – Romain Grosjean, French race car driver
1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete
1987 – Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, Canadian actress and singer
1988 – Takahiro Morita, Japanese singer, lyricist, one Ok Rock
1989 – Sunaina, Indian actress
1989 – Paraskevi Papachristou, Greek triple jumper
1989 – Zara Aldana, Filipino model, Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia Pacific 2007
1990 – Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer
1990 – Gia Mantegna, American actress
1991 – Tessa James, Australian actress
1992 – Noni Răzvan Ene, Romanian singer
1993 – Race Imboden, American fencer
1995 – Bel'ange Epako, Congolese footballer (d. 2013)
1996 – Dee Dee Davis, American actress
2004 – Solwhit, French-Irish race horse (d. 2014)

Despatches

485 – Proclus, Greek philosopher (b. 412)
617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
744 – Al-Walid II, Muslim caliph (b. 706)
1080 – Harald III of Denmark (b. 1041)
1427 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (b. 1403)
1539 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)
1574 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar (b. 1500)
1669 – Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1605)
1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, American saint (b. 1656)
1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (b. 1626)
1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
1713 – David Hollatz, Polish pastor (b. 1648)
1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)
1764 – Johann Mattheson, German lexicographer and composer (b. 1681)
1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
1799 – Richard Jupp, English architect (b. 1728)
1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American author (b. 1758)
1843 – Samuel Morey, American engineer (b. 1762)
1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet (b. 1810)
1888 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (b. 1821)
1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian journalist and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
1902 – Francis, Duke of Cádiz (b. 1822)
1921 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (b. 1860)
1923 – Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1852)
1930 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter (b. 1863)
1933 – Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (b. 1872)
1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
1937 – Yi Sang, South Korean poet (b. 1910)
1941 – Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter and bandleader (b. 1899)
1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
1944 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (b. 1867)
1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (b. 1893)
1948 – Suzuki Kantarō, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
1954 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician (b. 1900)
1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
1962 – Henricus Tromp, Dutch rower (b. 1878)
1967 – Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of India (b. 1888)
1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
1977 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (b. 1913)
1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Mountain) (b. 1939)
1984 – Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1912)
1984 – Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
1985 – Takis Miliadis, Greek actor (b. 1922)
1985 – Evadne Price, Australian-British writer, actress and astrologer (b. 1888)
1987 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (b. 1901)
1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor (b. 1923)
1988 – Louise Nevelson, American sculptor (b. 1900)
1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (b. 1936)
1993 – Turgut Ozal, Turkish politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927)
1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
1995 – Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (b. 1928)
1996 – Piet Hein, Danish poet and mathematician (b. 1905)
1997 – Chaim Herzog, Irish-born Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918)
1998 – Linda McCartney, American singer-songwriter, photographer, and activist (Wings) (b. 1941)
2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930)
2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (b. 1936)
2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American-English philanthropist (b. 1932)
2003 – Earl King, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
2003 – Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, Russian conjoined twins (b. 1950)
2003 – Yiannis Latsis, Greek businessman (b. 1910)
2004 – Soundarya, Indian actress (b. 1971)
2004 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (b. 1908)
2006 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (b. 1907)
2006 – Scott Brazil, American director and producer (b. 1955)
2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress and singer (b. 1910)
2007 – Gil Dobrică, Romanian singer (b. 1946)
2008 – Aimé Césaire, Caribbean-French poet and politician (b. 1913)
2008 – Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (E-Street Band) (b. 1950)
2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
2011 – Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1948)
2011 – AJ Perez, Filipino actor (b. 1993)
2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (b. 1940)
2012 – Leila Berg, English author (b. 1917)
2012 – J. Quinn Brisben, American activist and politician (b. 1934)
2012 – Stan Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1937)
2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (b. 1948)
2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1912)
2012 – Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (b. 1942)
2012 – Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (b. 1917)
2013 – Sita Chan, Hong Kong singer and actress (b. 1987)
2013 – Gerino Gerini, Italian racing driver (b. 1928)
2013 – Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (b. 1931)
2013 – Bi Kidude, Zanzibari-Tanzanian singer (b. 1910)
2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (Dance with a Stranger) (b. 1957)
2013 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1934)
2013 – T. K. Ramamoorthy, Indian composer (b. 1922)
2013 – Paul Ware, English footballer (b. 1970)
2014 – Cheo Feliciano, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter (Fania All-Stars) (b. 1935)
2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
2014 – Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (b. 1922)
2014 – Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (b. 1938)
2014 – Karl Meiler, German tennis player (b. 1949)
2014 – L. Jay Oliva, American-Irish academic (b. 1933)
2014 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (b. 1940)

===
2015

Christian Feast Day:
Earliest day on which Store Bededag or General Prayer Day can fall, while May 13 is the latest; observed on the 4th Friday after Easter. (Denmark)
Evacuation Day, celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
FAO Day (Iraq)
Flag Day (American Samoa)
Women's Day (Gabon)
World Hemophilia Day (International observance)

===

State funding: All’s fair in luvvies and war

Piers Akerman – Friday, April 17, 2015 (1:02am)

WHEN the state premiers meet in Canberra this morning it is fair to say the word fairness will get a thorough workout. It’s a fair guess the Canberra press corps will also be arguing for a fair go as well.

Continue reading 'State funding: All’s fair in luvvies and war'

===

WALEED REALLY CARES

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (5:06am)

Waleed Aly, who believes Islamic terrorism is only an irritant, becomes rather more agitated when discussing renewable energy:

He was further frustrated by the reality that the Australian Government and the audience watching his segment “don’t even care” about the issue.

“The truth is, no one cares,” he said.

At which point he resigned from all of his high-paying media roles until they are powered entirely by renewable energy. Kidding! Click here for video, which shows Waleed behaving like the outcome of a gene-splicing experiment involving Jon Stewart, a lemur and any typical Q & A panellist.

UPDATE. Further from Andrew Bolt. And Dan L. writes:

Waleed Aly claimed Australia was “having its arse handed to us” by Sweden at (according to him) 61% renewable energy.

What he omitted to mention is that Sweden has 10 nuclear power reactors which allow them to engage in such dreamchasing.

As for his reference to Costa Rica’s 100%:

===

SUPERVAN II

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (4:39am)

Day two of this site’s Seven Days of Supervan features the first appearance of Supervan itself – a solar-powered wonder wagon capable of revolutionising personal transport worldwide. Except that it was really powered by a common 318 cubic inch iron-block Dodge V8:

It may strike some as surprising that Supervan’s inventor was prepared to allow his priceless prototype to be driven away in the quest for a mere $5000 custom van award, but that’s just one of this movie’s charming plotline quirks. We also meet T.B. Trenton, president of Mid-American Motors, about whom we will shortly discover more. For example, like any good plutocrat, he is an enormous fan of miniature railroads.

===

ONE LESS REASON TO VISIT ADELAIDE

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (3:56am)

Adelaide’s beautiful Stag Hotel has closed:

The heritage-listed pub’s management took to Facebook to say it was with a “heavy heart” that it had decided to close.

It’s not entirely clear why The Stag is closing – in response to questions on Facebook, the hotel said the decision was made by “powers higher than the management”.

Readers may recall that the Stag once hosted a wonderful Kevin Rudd moment. In other Adelaide closure news, the Australian Democrats are gone:

The Australian Democrats were yesterday formally deregistered as a federal political party after suffering the indignity of failing to prove a minimum of 500 members …

Founded in 1977 by former Liberal minister Don Chipp, the centrist party’s senators vetted government legislation for nearly 40 years and aimed to “keep the bastards honest”.

The party drifted ever leftward following foundation, finally reaching this high point in 1998.

===

THEY DID IT

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (2:16am)

The Greens are prone to claiming credit where perhaps it isn’t due, so here’s a Facebook site celebrating the party’s stunning history of over-achievement:

Meanwhile, in the UK, Rod Liddle speculates about a possible electoral wipeout for the “staggeringly witless, almost mentally infirm, Greens”:

The Greens are likely to have no MPs whatsoever after the next election – even the country’s most achingly hip electorate, right-on Brighton, has had enough of them.

Interestingly, Liddle intends to vote Labour.

===

On The Bolt Report on Sunday, April 19

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (9:40am)

On the The Bolt Report on Channel 10 on Sunday at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: Mad moves to divide us by race. Why don’t politicians say no?
Guest: Employment Minister Eric Abetz. Footage that tells him Labor’s pandering to goons.
The panel: IPA boss John Roskam and Sean Kelly, former media adviser to Julia Gillard.
NewsWatch: Australian media editor Sharri Markson. Which idiot chose Dr Karl? And the “peace journalism” academic who claimed a little 73-year-old lady kicked him between the legs. Twice.
On taxes, halal certification, dangerous Dan Andrews, soldiers in Iraq and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.

===

ABC bored with $420 million of Labor waste

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (9:05am)

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews this week decided to waste an incredible $420 million of taxpayers’ money- at least - by cancelling a contract and halting all further work on a much-needed East West road link.
Sabra Lane of the ABC’s 7.30 then sits him down for you might expect is a grilling on this monstrous waste. Here are her questions:

SABRA LANE: Tomorrow’s meeting will discuss reform of the federation and tax. Premier Andrews won’t countenance a broadening of the GST or lifting of the rate, even though all governments are searching for more money to fund programs…
SABRA LANE: Then what’s the other option then, other taxes?…
SABRA LANE: So where does the money come from?…

SABRA LANE: One issue the federation is united on is tackling domestic violence. Victoria’s set up a Royal commission into it. The Prime Minister has established up a taskforce too and [you say] a new approach is critical to save lives....

What the hell is with the ABC? A Labor Premier deliberately wastes $420 million - a third of the annual taxpayer contribution to the ABC - and all the ABC can ask is polite questions about how to raise even more taxes like the ones just flushed down the toilet?

UPDATE
Complete the following sentence:

There is plenty of blame to be laid over the East West Link debacle, but no one deserves more condemnation in this than ,..

. Now see who The Age managed to blame.
Laughable.
(Thanks to reader Brian.)

===

Judith Curry: how much warming are we really causing? And what’s the point of cutting emissions?

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (8:40am)

Professor Judith Curry before the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing this week:

Recent data and research supports the importance of natural climate variability and calls into question the conclusion that humans are the dominant cause of recent climate change. This includes

- The slow down in global warming since 1998 - Reduced estimates of the sensitivity of climate to carbon dioxide
- Climate models that are predicting much more warming than has been observed so far in the 21st century
While there are substantial uncertainties in our understanding of climate change, it is clear that humans are influencing climate in the direction of warming. However this simple truth is essentially meaningless in itself in terms of alarm, and does not mandate a particular policy response.
We have made some questionable choices in defining the problem of climate change and its solution:

- The definition of ‘dangerous’ climate change is ambiguous, and hypothesized catastrophic tipping points are regarded as very or extremely unlikely in the 21st century
- Efforts to link dangerous impacts of extreme weather events to human-caused warming are misleading and unsupported by evidence…

- It has been estimated that the U.S. national commitments to the UN to reduce emissions by 28% will prevent three hundredths of a degree centigrade in warming by 2100.

UPDATE
Plain sense like that drives warmists to extremes of abuse and hyperbole:

“I found myself deeply troubled by Dr. Curry’s written and oral testimony,” Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, said during a hearing Thursday… “… In almost total conflict with anything I’ve read over the last 15 years...”
But Curry wasn’t about to let Beyer lambaste her testimony and responded to the Democrat’s confused rebuttal....
“[C]limate is always changing and it’s going to change in the future, the issue is how much of the change is caused by humans,” Curry said....
“… [I]t seems to me very much sticking your head in the sand,” Beyer retorted, adding that debating over which year is the hottest was “silly” since 10 of the last 15 years were record warm years.
“The climate has been warming since the 1700s, okay, since the end of the ‘Little Ice Age,’” Curry explained. “We don’t know what’s causing that warming in the 18th Century, in the 19th Century — it’s not attributed to humans.”
“So there are other things going on in the climate system that have been contributing to warming over several centuries,” Curry said. “We can’t blame all of this on humans, and we don’t know how all this is going to play out in the 21st Century. We just don’t know.”
Beyer then ...compared Democrats’ advocacy for carbon dioxide regulations to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s arguing for the use of “enhanced interrogation” on the “one percent chance” it could prevent al-Qaida from getting a nuclear weapon.
“And are we going to do nothing because there’s a greater than one percent chance climate change…” Beyer said before being interrupted by Curry.
“There is nothing in my testimony that says we do nothing,” Curry said. “What is being proposed is ineffective, it’s not going to do anything even if the U.S. is successful at meeting 80 percent reductions by 2050 this is going to reduce warming by about a tenth of a degree centigrade. It’s not going to do anything.”

(Thanks to readers mem, fulchrum and bolt from the blue.)

===

WA is ripped off. Hockey to the rescue - but, please, not with more cash

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (8:37am)

Yes, Western Australia is being ripped off. No, this is no time to just sling more taxpayers’ cash into the pot.
Judith Sloan says Joe Hockey should crack a whip:

Here is another issue that the government has completely stuffed up. The Treasurer should have realised that the issue of the GST distribution was heading towards the rocks when WA’s share fell to 0.38 this year.
If the government follows the CGC [Commonwealth Grants Commission] recommendation, the WA share will be 0.29999 next financial year. This is completely unacceptable, particularly given the rapidly declining price of iron ore.
The reality is that the way in which the CGC goes about deciding the GST distribution is complex, impenetrable tosh - most of it makes no sense at all…
But ... under the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations, it is the Treasurer alone who makes the final decision on the GST distribution.... So come on, Joe: this is the time to show leadership ... Freeze the distribution of this financial year’s relativities and work towards are fairer and more transparent system quickly.
And don’t even think about giving WA a one-off payment; this would just be borrowed money and Australia can’t afford it.

(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)

===

Three basic facts ignored by warming Waleed

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (7:48am)

Global warming - propaganda

Three very basic facts that Waleed Aly failed to mention in his abusive rant defending renewable energy, which is meant to “save” us from global warming:

1. Our renewable energy target will at the very most, according to an IPCC alarmist, reduce the world’s temperature by 0.0038 degrees by 2100, presuming the IPCC hasn’t actually exaggerated CO2 sensitivity.
2. Green power actually costs a fortune. Without change, the renewable energy target will cost us another $22 billion in 15 years, making electricity too expensive for the poor and some businesses.
3. The world’s atmosphere has not actually warmed for some 17 years.

Why were these critical details not mentioned? Add them and the picture changes completely: we are actually paying a fortune to make no difference to a warming that has been wildly exaggerated and may have stopped.
UPDATE
Waleed Aly would be against India’s plan to use coal to lift millions out of poverty:

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signaled on Monday he would not bow to foreign pressure to commit to cuts in carbon emissions…
“The world guides us on climate change and we follow them? The world sets the parameters and we follow them? It is not like that,” Modi said at an event in Delhi. . .
The Indian government has said it needs to emit more to industrialize and lift millions out of poverty…

Modi’s government aims to double Indian coal production to 1.5 billion tons by 2020. India needs more fuel to meet rapidly growing demand for electricity.

(Thanks to reader bolt from the blue.)

===

Rudd seeks world domination

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (7:21am)

He hasn’t caused enough damage with his meddling?

Kevin Rudd is campaigning for the post of United Nations secretary-general, according to friends, analysts and former Labor party colleagues of the former prime minister…
In an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media, Mr Rudd did not deny his interest in the job but said he took the “utterly pragmatic” position that it was Eastern Europe’s turn to take over leadership of the United Nations when Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon steps down on December 31, 2016.

Strange ambitions for a man who managed as Prime Minister to offend Indonesia, Japan, China, India and George Bush. But it is exactly as I warned, given how Rudd distorted our foreign policy in order to curry favor. From the start, it seemed Rudd was treating the job of Prime Minister of Australia merely as a stepping stone to leadership of the world.
My tip in 2008:

Kevin Rudd was the only world leader (other than the host) who bothered to go to the United Nations’ Bali summit on climate change. Now he’s the only Australian leader to ever bother to go to a NATO summit, during the extended trip overseas he’s taking from tomorrow… During this trip, his fourth overseas already, Rudd will also make sure he introduces himself to someone close to his heart:

While in the US, Mr Rudd will make a quick side trip to New York to meet United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, in keeping with Labor’s strategy of a more multilateral approach to foreign policy.
All of which I add to his signing of Kyoto, his kowtowing to China, his opposition to Iraq’s liberation and his ratification of the absurd UN declaration on indigenous rights - to come up with this bold prediction:
Kevin Rudd’s real ambition is be Secretary General of the United Nations.

My warning in 2010:

It’s widely suspected he has long coveted an international position, probably the secretary-generalship of the United Nations, and has skewed our foreign policy to win support.
This latest trip to Indonesia, the Middle East and South America tends to confirm it. Nowhere in his itinerary is there business of substance, in our urgent interest.
In Indonesia, for instance, Rudd talked at some “democracy summit”. In Jordan, he chatted generally with the King and Queen and handed out three grants, almost as a tip.
He seems instead to be fluffing his feathers, and currying favour with the Arab bloc controlling so many UN votes.
That fits with what he’s said, and, just as damningly, did not say.
Rudd said nothing to Egypt about this month’s rigged parliamentary elections, which the US has criticised.
But he’s let fly against democratic Israel, telling it to stop building settlements and let international inspectors check its nuclear plants.
No wonder Israeli Foreign Ministry officials consider Rudd a sellout, pandering for Arab votes.

And remember his desperation in 2013 to push his job application?

KEVIN Rudd has left open the possibility that he may spend his final days of the election campaign attending the G20 summit in Russia to deal with the Syrian chemical weapons crisis.

===

The economy stirs

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (7:08am)

Do we dare hope that recovery is on the way?:

The economy appears to be shrugging off the collapse in iron ore prices and has posted the best run of jobs growth for more than four years, raising hopes that unemployment may have passed its peak…
The good news on the economy comes as ... Joe Hockey, who is in the US for G20 meetings, dismisses pessimistic views of Australia’s economy for ignoring the benefit of rising Asian demand…
The unemployment rate dropped to a three-month low of 6.1 per cent in March, from 6.2 per cent in February… About 153,000 mainly full-time jobs have been created over the six months to March — more than 25,000 a month, on average. This is the fastest growth over any equivalent period since late 2010 ...

===

Muslim boat people allegedly murder 12 Christians

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (6:54am)

On board a boat to Christian Italy:

Italian police on Thursday said they had arrested 15 African migrants after witnesses said they had thrown 12 passengers overboard following a brawl between Muslims and Christians on a boat heading to Italy.
The victims were “of Christian faith, compared to their attackers who were of Muslim faith,” police in the Sicilian city of Palermo said in a statement, saying the 15 people were arrested on suspicion of “multiple aggravated murder motivated by religious hate”.

Italians may well wonder what this portends for their own future:

Italy is coping with a rising wave of desperate migrants from Africa and Middle East hoping to make it to Europe. From Friday to Monday, a total of 8,480 migrants were rescued…

UPDATE
James Carleton on ABC Radio National Breakfast summed up the boat people news from Italy at 7.30 this morning: 41 more boat people have drowned in another accident, coming just after the drowning of 400 on the weekend. Curiously, Carleton failed to mention the most startling (alleged) drownings - the news that has lit up Google News? Now why would that be?

===

This woman totally flips out in the bookstore. No one gets it. Best thing ever.
Posted by Mimi Imfurst on Wednesday, 15 April 2015

===

They've done it!
Posted by Greens taking credit for things on Thursday, 16 April 2015

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Aquamarine & Diamond Earrings ~ What can I say, Fabulous! http://bit.ly/1GmwqMc#earrings #jewellery #diamonds #love
Posted by Diamond Imports on Thursday, 16 April 2015

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Because AlQaeda had WMD .. Lawsuit against FBI claims corruption in 2001 anthrax case http://t.co/FTdBPi5uyw via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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Good class sidetracked by activist .. Alice Dreger live-tweeted her son’s sex-ed class http://t.co/s8t1V1XaPS via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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Rubbish. We need to cut things. If we cut tax enough we'll increase the take anyway. http://t.co/EM1voK6nuc via @smh
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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Dank cleared of 24 out of 34 charges by AFL Tribunal http://t.co/Yg3iyHedHF via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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Why Australia's still the world's most expensive place to live http://t.co/2FjGo6xyh4 via @FinancialReview
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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http://t.co/3h9rwolJl0
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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@Kwhenan93 #Ipsos Poll (Nov 2014) Should the East-West link be built: Yes 59 No 29 #springst pic.twitter.com/xWZWFMAmNZ
— GhostWhoVotes (@GhostWhoVotes) April 16, 2015

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#Illridewithyou ? Muslim asylum seekers throw Christian passengers overboard in Mediterranean, killing 12 http://t.co/hqRuI2Ywsx via @smh
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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EXCLUSIVE: HOW TO WRITE A LEADERSHIP STORY | Daily Telegraph Joe Hildebrand Blog http://t.co/8ttStY7wgG
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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I liked a @YouTube video http://t.co/5E4WCAhhhZ Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Teaser #2
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 17, 2015

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My toon after seeing the first Star Wars trailer. My opinions haven't changed pic.twitter.com/GP60jDX304
— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) April 16, 2015

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The best part of the new Star Wars trailer has no special effects... it's just Han and Chewie. #SWCA pic.twitter.com/xVuVKJjhwo
— Chris Gore (@ThatChrisGore) April 16, 2015

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Israel Launches Initiative to Have Antisemitism Recognized as an International Crime http://t.co/6EIE2nPrRi
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 16, 2015

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Read the #ADLGlobal100 - a survey of attitudes toward Jews in over 100 countries! http://t.co/cUKbpgO6nb via @ADL_National
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 16, 2015

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I liked a @YouTube video http://t.co/hQPcEewb5N Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 16, 2015

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Photo: Banned in Japan ? http://t.co/miCdsHxDVL
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 16, 2015

=== Posts from last year ===

O’Farrell gambled and lost, so no use whining

Piers Akerman – Wednesday, April 16, 2014 (7:21pm)

SOMETHING smells on Macquarie Street and it does not have the bouquet of a vintage Penfold’s Grange Hermitage. Former premier Barry O’Farrell told ICAC on Tuesday that neither he nor his wife Rosemary remembered receiving a bottle of the 1959 Grange from anyone, let alone AWH boss Nick Di Girolamo.

Continue reading 'O’Farrell gambled and lost, so no use whining'

===

Liberals’ brightest stars line up for the top job

Miranda Devine – Thursday, April 17, 2014 (1:17am)

MIKE Baird, the man most likely to succeed Barry O’Farrell as premier, started the work day at 7.30am Wednesday at a high powered business breakfast at the Shangri-La Hotel with his friend the Prime Minister.

Continue reading 'Liberals’ brightest stars line up for the top job'

===

Steyn on the great shut-up

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:16pm)

Free speech

In this week’s Spectator, always a must-read, the great Mark Steyn - fighting for a freedom too many Australians won’t defend:

These days, pretty much every story is really the same story:
• In Galway, at the National University of Ireland, a speaker who attempts to argue against the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) programme against Israel is shouted down with cries of ‘F..king Zionist, f..king pricks… Get the f..k off our campus.’
• In California, Mozilla’s chief executive is forced to resign because he once made a political donation in support of the pre-revisionist definition of marriage.
• At Westminster, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee declares that the BBC should seek ‘special clearance’ before it interviews climate sceptics, such as fringe wacko extremists like former Chancellor Nigel Lawson.
• In Massachusetts, Brandeis University withdraws its offer of an honorary degree to a black feminist atheist human rights campaigner from Somalia.
• In London, a multitude of liberal journalists and artists responsible for everything from Monty Python to Downton Abbey sign an open letter in favour of the first state restraints on the British press in three and a quarter centuries.
• And in Canberra the government is planning to repeal Section 18C — whoa, don’t worry, not all of it, just three or four adjectives; or maybe only two, or whatever it’s down to by now, after what Gay Alcorn in the Age described as the ongoing debate about ‘where to strike the balance between free speech in a democracy and protection against racial abuse in a multicultural society’.
I heard a lot of that kind of talk during my battles with the Canadian ‘human rights’ commissions a few years ago: of course, we all believe in free speech, but it’s a question of how you ‘strike the balance’, where you ‘draw the line’… which all sounds terribly reasonable and Canadian, and apparently Australian, too. But in reality the point of free speech is for the stuff that’s over the line, and strikingly unbalanced. If free speech is only for polite persons of mild temperament within government-policed parameters, it isn’t free at all. So screw that.
But I don’t really think that many people these days are genuinely interested in ‘striking the balance’; they’ve drawn the line and they’re increasingly unashamed about which side of it they stand. What all the above stories have in common, whether nominally about Israel, gay marriage, climate change, Islam, or even freedom of the press, is that one side has cheerfully swapped that apocryphal Voltaire quote about disagreeing with what you say but defending to the death your right to say it for the pithier Ring Lardner line: ‘"Shut up,” he explained.’
A generation ago, progressive opinion at least felt obliged to pay lip service to the Voltaire shtick. These days, nobody’s asking you to defend yourself to the death: a mildly supportive retweet would do. But even that’s further than most of those in the academy, the arts, the media are prepared to go. ... I’m opposed to the notion of official ideology — not just fascism, Communism and Baathism, but the fluffier ones, too, like ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘climate change’ and ‘marriage equality’. Because the more topics you rule out of discussion — immigration, Islam, ‘gender fluidity’ — the more you delegitimise the political system. As your cynical political consultant sees it, a commitment to abolish Section 18C is more trouble than it’s worth: you’ll just spends weeks getting damned as cobwebbed racists seeking to impose a bigots’ charter when you could be moving the meter with swing voters by announcing a federal programmne of transgendered bathroom construction. But, beyond the shrunken horizons of spinmeisters, the inability to roll back something like 18C says something profound about where we’re headed: a world where real, primal, universal rights — like freedom of expression — come a distant second to the new tribalism of identity-group rights.

Read it all.
And don’t miss this Speccie event:

Joe Hockey, with Spectator publisher Andrew Neil
The ‘world’s greatest treasurer’ Wayne Swan bequeathed a whopping national debt and federal deficit. How will his successor tackle these challenges in his first budget on May 13? Join the federal Treasurer Joe Hockey and Andrew Neil, publisher of The Spectator and BBC politics host, on Wednesday 23 April at the Doltone House, Hyde Park , Level 3, 181 Elizabeth Street, Sydney

Hit the link to book.

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To all those critics who say Murdoch dominates the media…

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:10pm)

The ABC really is too big for a health democracy:

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Remembering O’Farrell’s present-giver

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (8:19am)

Barry O’Farrell didn’t just forget the Grange:

The obfuscation began early on, when Mr O’Farrell gave the impression that he barely knew Nick Di Girolamo, a big wheel in the Liberal Party, a major fund-raiser and also head of Australian Water Holdings (AWH).
Last year ... Mr O’Farrell told the Australian Financial Review he had attended only one meeting with Mr Di Girolamo on AWH, with then finance minister Greg Pearce, in May 2011…
In fact, the Premier had attended three private fund-raising dinners before the election, been photographed with Mr Di Girolamo at an Italian function, attended West Tigers functions with him and it turns out accepted a $3000 bottle of Penfolds Grange.
Soon after the gift, Mr O’Farrell’s chief of staff recommended Mr Di Girolamo be appointed to the board of the government-owned Water Corp. He was also granted a meeting with the Premier and his finance minister, Greg Pearce, to discuss AWH’s contract with Sydney Water… Nine months later, AWH was awarded a 25-year contract worth $100 million. The awarding was done by Sydney Water, not cabinet.

Then there are the calls they made to each other, and the thank-you note O’Farrell sent Di Girolamo for the Grange:

The note read: “...Thanks for all your support. Kind Regards, Barry and Rosemary.”

More to come as ICAC opens another investigation:

By March 2012, Mr Di Girolamo had become a lobbyist for Kores, which owns the highly controversial Wallarah 2 coal mine on the central coast. The project was denied approval by the former Labor government…
As opposition leader, Mr O’Farrell and his central coast spokesman, Mr Hartcher, had held a rally in 2009 opposing the project. “The next Liberal-National government will ensure mining cannot occur here ... no ifs, no buts. A guarantee,” Mr O’Farrell said.
In January 2012, Kores resubmitted its plans ... Earlier this year, the NSW Department of Planning announced it was recommending the approval of Wallarah 2, subject to strict conditions. AWH has also been revealed as one of the major contributors to a slush fund, Eight by Five, operated by Mr Koelma [a Hartcher staffer].

People who know O’Farrell say he’s as honest as the day is long.

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O’Farrell quits over gift, Labor frontbenchers don’t

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (7:39am)

Barry O’Farrell resigns as NSW Premier over an undeclared gift worth nearly $3000:

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has resigned in the wake of controversy over his appearance at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mr O’Farrell revealed during a surprise press conference on Wednesday that a note thanking Liberal fundraiser Nick Di Girolamo for a $3,000 bottle of wine, which he had claimed he never received, would be presented to the corruption watchdog… It was never declared, as required, on his register of pecuniary interests.

Two federal Labor frontbenchers have not resigned over an undeclared gift worth nearly $3000:

FEDERAL Environment Minister Tony Burke and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy ... received free holiday accommodation from allegedly corrupt former state MP Eddie Obeid.
Both ministers were last night forced to amend their entries in the federal parliamentary pecuniary interests register, following revelations they accepted freebies at the Obeid family lodge at Perisher Valley in the NSW ski fields, on one occasion staying there together…
Apartments at the Stables can cost as much as $2690 for a weekend during peak season. Mr Burke said in a statement last night: “...I declare two separate stays at this accommodation in the period 2004 to 2006...” Senator Conroy ... volunteered a similar statement, saying he stayed in the apartment once in either 2005 or 2006.

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A time for integrity in politics. UPDATE: Baird is Premier

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (7:33am)

Miranda Devine on Mike Baird, the man most likely to succeed Barry O’Farrell as premier:

Baird, 46, is Liberal party royalty, the blond, sporty, firstborn son of former state Liberal minister Bruce Baird and wife Judy… Baird grew up in Canberra and Bonn, Germany, where his father was assistant trade commissioner…
When Baird was nine his father was posted to New York, and the family settled in bucolic Rye, in Westchester County, where young Mike became a star baseballer who was popular with the girls.
Back in Australia he attended the Kings School… He became involved in Anglican church fellowship, where he met his wife, Kerryn, whom he married at age 21.
After finishing an economics arts degree at Sydney University, he joined the National Australia Bank on a graduate program and specialised in corporate finance.
His investment banking career was flourishing at Deutsche Bank when he began to wonder: “Is that all there is? Should I be just about accumulating money?”
So in 1994 he told Kerryn he wanted to go to Bible college and within a year they were in Vancouver at Regent College, a graduate school of Christian studies. Ironically it was there he realised his true calling was politics. He went back to investment banking and was posted to London with his young family, and then to Hong Kong.
But in 2007 he gave it all up for politics, winning a bruising preselection for Manly, where he forged a friendship with his federal counterpart Tony Abbott. The pair run, surf and bike together… A year later Baird was NSW shadow treasurer… He worked hard and formed a formidable partnership with NSW Treasury secretary Phil Gaetjens. Within three years the pair had turned around the state economy, adding 127,000 jobs and taking NSW from the slowest economic and jobs growth to the strongest.

I think voters are desperate for values in politics - and integrity. That Christian thing, and Abbott’s friendship, does it for me.
UPDATE
Mike Baird is the new premier of NSW, elected unanimously.

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In defence of O’Farrell - and against ICAC

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (7:33am)

I have been very critical of NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell for:

- accepting a $3000 gift from a lobbyist.
- not declaring it
- not telling the truth about it, especially under oath.

But others have a more forgiving take, and are more critical of ICAC for trapping O’Farrell:
Chris Merritt:

THE wrong man decided to resign yesterday over the ludicrous investigation into Barry O’Farrell’s recollection about a bottle of wine…
Geoffrey Watson SC, counsel assisting the Independent Commission Against Corruption… has said there is no suggestion of corrupt conduct by O’Farrell. So, if that is the case, what point did he hope to make by testing O’Farrell’s recollection about whether or not he was given a bottle of Grange?…
Despite Watson’s denials, ICAC did ambush O’Farrell — and it did so over an issue that appears to have no relevance to the commission’s statutory responsibility… The ICAC Act gives the commission a clear direction that, “when exercising its functions, the commission is, as far as practicable, to direct its attention to serious corrupt conduct and systemic corrupt conduct and is to take into account the responsibility and role other public authorities and public officials have in the prevention of corrupt conduct”.

Nick Greiner, former NSW Premier:

I accept [O’Farrell’s] recollection of the events. The normal thing would’ve been to send it somewhere and to put it on a register, but I don’t think one should ascribe any great thought or motivation to this. This was a period a week after an election ...
SARAH FERGUSON: It doesn’t really pass the smell test, though, does it? He did know that Nick Di Girolamo and his company were lobbying for a lucrative contract. Would you have accepted a bottle of wine under those circumstances?
NICK GREINER: Yes.
SARAH FERGUSON: You would? NICK GREINER: Of course. And you would put it on the register and if he’d had an organised office, he would’ve. Look, I think the media and the community can get its knickers in a knot quite unnecessarily about that sort of thing. I mean, this is about a political judgment, a failure of memory. There is not a - there is no scintilla of suggestion that Barry’s corrupt. There’s no scintilla of suggestion that he’s other than very honest. In fact in my personal dealings with him I’d say he was honest to a fault and even beyond a fault.

Gerard Henderson:

We’re supposed to be dealing with the Independent Commission Against Corruption. They’ve had two big victims in 25 years. One was an honest reforming premier in Nick Greiner and the other was an honest reforming premier in Barry O’Farrell. This is not a great record of achievement. I mean, the idea that you would lose your job because you accepted and probably drank a bottle of wine, which you didn’t try to sell and you didn’t even try to pawn it, you probably drank it,… is not the idea of campaigning against corruption when the ICAC was set up about a quarter of a century ago…
I wouldn’t know the cost of a bottle of Grange. I would have no idea it was worth $3,000. If someone gave it to me, I’d probably drink it and I may or may not forget about it. But what’s ICAC doing with this? ...I’m interested in consequences. Australian Water Holdings got nothing out of the O’Farrell Government… So where’s the corruption?… We’re having this ridiculous conversation, in my view, where a premier’s gone down who was a reformist, honest premier and a very efficient premier, over a bottle of wine. This is pretty farcical… He’s had a memory failure and everyone’s on him.

Tony Abbott:

A bottle of Grange is pretty special, no doubt about that. But given that premiers and other senior politicians have very crowded, busy lives, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect everything from some years ago to be front of mind.

Peter Hartcher:

Even before the O’Farrell bombshell, another federal cabinet minister had said privately to colleagues: “ICAC is a kangaroo court. It’s destroying the lives of innocent people. The moment they’re named in ICAC, they’re finished, even though there is no accusation, no evidence, nothing.”
That minister can now rest his case after the accidental political murder of O’Farrell at the hands of the ICAC.
But he will not rest it. The ICAC has created a backlash against itself.
Another member of the federal cabinet said: “It’s just ridiculous. Here’s ICAC pulling down a second completely clean Liberal premier” – Nick Greiner was the first – “and what’s happened to Obeid and Macdonald and the whole cabal of corrupt Labor politicians? Why have no charges been laid against Eddie Obeid?”
Obeid and Ian Macdonald have been disgraced, yet they remain free men, without any charge brought against them. His implication? That the ICAC has failed to produce enough hard evidence for them to be brought to trial in a court… ICAC has set back its own cause by seeming diverted by trivial pursuit when it should be uprooting serious corruption.

UPDATE
Even ICAC is suspicious about how it’s being used:

The barrister leading the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry has raised questions about whether the information leading to Premier Barry O’Farrell’s resignation was strategically leaked to the media to bring him down…
Former Australian Water Holdings chief executive Nick Di Girolamo, a Liberal Party fund-raiser and an associate of the Obeid family, was asked whether he had told the former Liberal energy minister Chris Hartcher about [his] gift of a $3000 bottle of wine…
‘‘Who in the world did you tell that you’d bought Mr O’Farrell the bottle of Grange?’’ counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson, SC, said.
‘‘I don’t believe I told anyone that I’d bought the bottle of Grange, other than [wife] Jodie,’’ he replied.
‘‘Did you tell another politician, a fellow called Hartcher?’’
‘‘I don’t believe so,’’ Mr Di Girolamo replied…
The inquiry has heard allegations that Mr Di Girolamo had arranged for AWH to make ‘‘regular payments’’ to a slush fund linked to Mr Hartcher in exchange for favourable treatment from the minister.
Mr O’Farrell’s resignation followed his unequivocal denial on Tuesday that he had received the $3000 bottle of wine from Mr Di Girolamo shortly after the election. Overnight, Mr Di Girolamo discovered a thank you note he had received from the Premier… Later in the day, Mr Watson moved to quash speculation that the commission had sat on the note in order to trap Mr O’Farrell, saying the information was received at 9.17am in the morning from Mr Di Girolamo’s barrister.

Piers Akerman:

The Daily Telegraph’s ace state political roundsman Andrew Clennell was tipped over a month ago there was a definite link between a bottle of Grange and O’Farrell.
One of Clennell’s trusted sources prompted him to ask O’Farrell then whether he had ever received a bottle of Grange at the beginning of his premiership in 2011.
He put the question to O’Farrell in a series of text messages that ricocheted back and forth between him and the then-premier on the afternoon of Thursday, March 6.
“Sorry about this, just one more. Did nick give/send you a bottle of grange when you became premier?” Clennell texted O’Farrell at 12.28pm… O’Farrell replied: “Confirm no recollection or record of the alleged gift.”

It seems O’Farrell was brought down in part by Liberals.
UPDATE
About Chris Hartcher, in 2012:

Premier Barry O’Farrell demanded Mr Hartcher, his energy minister, quit cabinet after his Central Coast and parliamentary offices were raided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption over an investigation into alleged illegal donations…
ICAC is understood to be investigating claims tens of thousands of dollars in illegal donations were raised from developers and others for a slush fund by one of Mr Hartcher’s former staffers in a scandal which has drawn in fellow Central Coast Liberal MPs Chris Spence and Darren Webber.

(Thanks to readers Matt, lol and Peter of Bellevue Hill.)

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Step forward, the politicians we can trust

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:57am)

WHO can trust our politicians after the humiliating resignation on Wednesday of NSW premier Barry O’Farrell?
Has trust in our political system ever been so low?
Here’s a premier who resigns for misleading corruption investigators about a $3000 bottle of Grange — a dodgy gift from a contract-seeking grafter that he failed to declare and falsely claimed on oath that he never received.
On Wednesday— snap — the trap was shut, with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption revealing O’Farrell had in fact sent the grafter, Liberal fundraiser and Australian Water Holdings head Nick Di Girolamo, a handwritten thank you.

On its own, maybe small beer — or wine — if you buy O’Farrell’s highly improbable claim that he couldn’t remember getting a gift so memorable, a Grange from his birth year.
But what about all the rest?
(Read full column here.)

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Mark Scott’s apology is a threat

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:53am)

Culture wars, Media

MARK Scott has apologised for the ABC being too vicious. But how he apologised shows it’s also too big.
Scott, ABC managing director, took seven months to finally realise this week he should apologise to an ABC critic, Australian columnist Chris Kenny.
It should have taken just seven seconds to realise the ABC’s The Hamster Decides last year crossed a line by broadcasting into hundreds of thousands of homes a doctored picture of Kenny sodomising a dog, under a sign: “Chris Kenny, dog-f---er”.
Why Scott has now suddenly said sorry is not explained.
(Read full article here.)

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What Pratt’s word is worth

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:38am)

Louise Pratt, second on Labor’s WA Senate ticket, on running mate Joe Bullock before the election:

I’m delighted to be here with my future Senate colleague, Joe Bullock… We’ve got a lot more in common than we would ever have that’s different.

Louise Pratt, Pratt, defeated, on running mate Joe Bullock yesterday:

Replaced in the Senate by someone who I have known for many years to be deeply homophobic, to be anti-choice and has recently emerged disloyal to the very party he has been elected to represent.

Somehow the more Labor attacks Bullock, the more I warm to him.

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But if China trusts the ABC…

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:08am)

On the face of it, a coup for the ABC:

The ABC has won permission from the Chinese government to have its Australia Network content made available to the entire Chinese population - the most extensive access afforded to any Western broadcaster…
The deal allows the network’s content to be distributed by a web portal and rebroadcast by Chinese television networks…
Britain’s BBC World Service and America’s CNN International are the only other Western broadcasters with landing rights in China. But their rights limit broadcast to certain international hotels and diplomatic compounds. Australia Network, run by the ABC, has secured rights through Shanghai Media Group, China’s second-biggest media company, to host ABC and other Australian content on a web portal that anyone in China can use.

Yes, this “soft diplomacy” could help Australia project itself into China. But I have concerns:

- China has clearly decided the ABC’s content is no threat. That is not something to boast about.
- Will the ABC consider China to be one of its audiences, and will that further influence its at times anti-Western flavour?

(Thanks to reader Damien.)

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An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ''UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''

'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: "I am because we are"
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PERFECT TIMING FOR CAVIAR Larry Pickering

The owners and Peter Moody deserve cigars for what must have been a hard decision. But it was the right one, she has not a thing left to prove.

She will always be known as the best sprinter the World has produced and her record of 25 straight will never be beaten.

Now you can chomp on some yummy green grass and let-down to a prospective beautiful mum for the breeding season.

All I can say is thanks ol’ girl for raising the hair on the back of my neck each time I watched you.

I will never forget you, and your babies will be just as beautiful as you are.

Thankyou.
It used to be said the only foolproof gambling technique was to find the favourite and bet against it. If you lose, double the bet next time, against the favourite. Following that pattern, the gambler would have lost .. big time. - ed
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April 17: Maundy Thursday (Christianity, 2014); Evacuation Day in Syria (1946)

1907 – Brazil became the third country in the world to start construction on a dreadnought battleship(pictured), sparking a vastly expensive South American naval arms race.
1942 – World War II: Captured French General Henri Giraud escaped from German captivity in theKönigstein Castle.
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1975 – The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, ending the Cambodian Civil War, and established Democratic Kampuchea.
1984 – British police officer Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed while on duty during a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London's St James's Square, resulting in an eleven-day police siege of the building and a breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

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“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” - Romans 13:8

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The precious blood of Christ."
1 Peter 1:19

Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It is "precious" because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy. By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made one with him. Christ's blood is also "precious" in its cleansing power; it "cleanseth from all sin." "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Through Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving power. We are safe from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same. The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus. And "precious," unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its power!

Evening

"And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun."
Exodus 17:12

So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. So, in the soul's conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses', holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The rod was the emblem of God's working with Moses, the symbol of God's government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the oath of God before him. The Lord cannot deny his own declarations. Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you will.

Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating itself upon the stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and prevail. Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and may the Spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, as he allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to continue with our hands steady "until the going down of the sun;" till the evening of life is over; till we shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed up in praise.

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Today's reading: 1 Samuel 30-31, Luke 13:23-35 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 30-31

David Destroys the Amalekites

¹ David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, ² and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

³ When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. ⁴ So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. ⁵ David's two wives had been captured-Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 13:23-35

²³ Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"

He said to them, ²⁴ "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'

"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'

²⁶ "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'

²⁷ "But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

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	Having trouble seeing this email? View it online. Bible Gateway \| The Brook Network \| Mel Lawrenz

BOASTING ABOUT THE CROSS Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised.... May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. (Galatians 6:12-15) Paul wrote this letter we call “Galatians” to certain Christians who had begun their new spiritual life with faith in Jesus, but then were told by others that Paul’s message was horribly incomplete and probably dangerous. It is not enough to believe in Jesus and follow him, you must also continue to observe those hundreds of regulations in the Old Testament. Even if you are a Gentile, you should still observe the dietary laws, the sacrifices, and circumcision, they said. Paul saw this as a spiritual emergency and wrote this letter to warn these believers not to be bewitched by those legalists. There is one way to God. Let things in your life that should die, die. Let strivings die, let legalism die, let love for the world die, let personal spiritual pride die. Resign it all, give it all over, let it be crucified as Jesus let himself be crucified, and then you will be free. Then we will have something to boast about. We will brag about Jesus Christ. We will shout his name to the world around. We’ll fill up with a pride not in ourselves, but in him. And we will look at his cross and see it as a moment of glory, not of shame. Ponder This: Are there things you have been boasting about in your life? What needs to happen for you to boast only of Christ?
	Resources Read past emails in this series Visit Bible Gateway Follow Bible Gateway on Facebook Visit The Brook Network Read articles on spiritual leadership View books by Mel Lawrenz Follow The Brook Network on Facebook

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Today's Lent reading: John 11-12 (NIV)

View today's Lent reading on Bible Gateway

The Death of Lazarus

¹Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷and then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

⁸"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?"

⁹ Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. ¹⁰ It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light...."

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Friday, April 17, 2015

Fri Apr 17th Todays News

Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball

Piers Akerman – Friday, April 17, 2015 (1:02am)

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (5:06am)

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (4:39am)

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (3:56am)

Tim Blair – Friday, April 17, 2015 (2:16am)

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (9:40am)

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (9:05am)

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (8:40am)

Andrew Bolt April 17 2015 (8:37am)

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Piers Akerman – Wednesday, April 16, 2014 (7:21pm)

Miranda Devine – Thursday, April 17, 2014 (1:17am)

Andrew Bolt April 17 2014 (6:16pm)

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Morning

Evening

Today's reading: 1 Samuel 30-31, Luke 13:23-35 (NIV)

Today's Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 30-31

David Destroys the Amalekites

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 13:23-35

BOASTING ABOUT THE CROSS

Resources

Today's Lent reading: John 11-12 (NIV)

The Death of Lazarus

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