Some things should not happen, but they do. In West Heidelberg, Victoria, there is a police station which is an oasis of safety and order in Dan Andrews' corrupt and dangerous state. Anyone in need of emergency help can go there and press a button and be directed to the nearest understaffed police station. West Heidelberg Police Station is unstaffed. Don't be alarmed into thinking that Dan Andrews has found a cost savings for Victorians. He would never do that. West Heidelberg has not experienced as much crime as other places. Instead, although the crime rate rises alarmingly, the local population is jammed in by traffic after Andrews spent over a billion dollars not building a ring road bypass. Instead, Andrews has conspired to force trucks to use back roads instead of toll roads. Even retired country folk are stung by commercial rates applied to their vehicles. And rates for businesses are so high that Melbourne Baristas cannot profit by selling coffee for less than $5. Today, Matthew Guy, leader of the opposition, the man who can fix this mess if his party gets a mandate in 2018, was at West Heidelberg Police Station with tv cameras following him. Andrews was elsewhere in Melbourne, complaining he doesn't have respect from his ministers.
I am very good and don't deserve the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.
Here is a video I made Hitched
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke is a verse novel by Australian novelist and poet C. J. Dennis. The book sold over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year, and is probably one of the highest selling verse novels ever published in Australia.
Contents
A Spring Song
The Intro
The Stoush O' Day
Doreen
The Play
The Stror 'at Coot
The Siren
Mar
Pilot Cove
Hitched
Beef Tea
Uncle Jim
The Kid
The Mooch o' Life
"An'--wilt--yeh--take--this--woman--fer--to--be--
Yer--weddid--wife?"...O, strike me! Will I wot?
TAKE 'er? Doreen? 'E stan's there ARSTIN' me!
As if 'e thort per'aps I'd rather not!
TAKE 'er? 'E seemed to think 'er kind was got
Like cigarette-cards, fer the arstin'. Still,
I does me stunt in this 'ere hitchin' rot,
An' speaks me piece: "Righto!" I sez, "I will."
"I will," I sez. An' tho' a joyful shout
Come from me bustin' 'eart--I know it did--
Me voice got sorter mangled comin' out,
An' makes me whisper like a frightened kid.
"I will," I squeaks. An' I'd 'a' give a quid
To 'ad it on the quite, wivout this fuss,
An' orl the starin' crowd that Mar 'ad bid
To see this solim hitchin' up of us.
"Fer--rich-er--er--fer--por-er." So 'e bleats.
"In--sick-ness--an'--in-ealth,"...An' there I stands,
An' dunno'arf the chatter I repeats,
Nor wot the 'ell to do wiv my two 'ands.
But 'e don't 'urry puttin' on our brands--
This white-'aired pilot-bloke--but gives it lip,
Dressed in 'is little shirt, wiv frills an' bands.
"In sick-ness--an'--in--" Ar! I got the pip!
An' once I missed me turn; an' Ginger Mick,
'Oo's my best-man, 'e ups an' beefs it out.
"I will!" 'e 'owls; an' fetches me a kick.
"Your turn to chin!" 'e tips wiv a shout.
An' there I'm standin' like a gawky lout.
(Aw, spare me! But I seemed to be ALL 'ands!)
An' wonders wot 'e's goin' crook about,
Wiv 'arf a mind to crack 'im where 'e stands.
O, lumme! But ole Ginger was a trick!
Got up regardless fer the solim rite.
('E 'awks the bunnies when 'e toils, does Mick)
An' twice I saw 'im feelin' fer a light
To start a fag; an' trembles lest'e might,
Thro' force o' habit like. 'E's nervis too;
That's plain, fer orl 'is air o' bluff an' skite;
An' jist as keen as me to see it thro'.
But, 'struth, the wimmin! 'Ow they love this frill!
Fer Auntie Liz, an' Mar, o' course, wus there;
An' Mar's two uncles' wives, an' Cousin Lil,
An' 'arf a dozen more to grin and stare.
I couldn't make me 'ands fit anywhere!
I felt like I wus up afore the Beak!
But my Doreen she never turns a 'air,
Nor misses once when it's 'er turn to speak.
Ar, strike! No more swell marridges fer me!
It seems a blinded year afore 'e's done.
We could 'a' fixed it in the registree
Twice over 'fore this cove 'ad 'arf begun.
I s'pose the wimmin git some sorter fun
Wiv all this guyver, an' 'is nibs's shirt.
But, seems to me, it takes the bloomin' bun,
This stylish splicin' uv a bloke an' skirt.
"To--be--yer--weddid--wife--" Aw, take a pull!
Wot in the 'ell's 'e think I come there for?
An' so 'e drawls an' drones until I'm full,
An' wants to do a duck clean out the door.
An' yet, fer orl 'is 'igh-falutin' jor,
Ole Snowy wus a reel good-meanin' bloke.
If 'twasn't fer the 'oly look 'e wore
Yeh'd think 'e piled it on jist fer a joke.
An', when at last 'e shuts 'is little book,
I 'eaves a sigh that nearly bust me vest.
But 'Eavens! Now 'ere's muvver goin' crook!
An' sobbin' awful on me manly chest!
(I wish she'd give them water-works a rest.)
"My little girl!" she 'owls. "O, treat'er well!
She's young--too young to leave 'er muvver's nest!"
"Orright, ole chook," I nearly sez. Oh, 'ell!
An' then we 'as a beano up at Mar's--
A slap-up feed, wiv wine an' two big geese.
Doreen sits next ter me, 'er eyes like stars.
O, 'ow I wished their blessed yap would cease!
The Parson-bloke 'e speaks a little piece,
That makes me blush an' 'ang me silly 'ead.
'E sez 'e 'opes our lovin' will increase--
I LIKES that pilot fer the things 'e said.
'E sez Doreen an' me is in a boat,
An' sailin' on the matrimonial sea.
'E sez as 'ow 'e 'opes we'll allus float
In peace an' joy, from storm an' danger free.
Then muvver gits to weepin' in 'er tea;
An' Auntie Liz sobs like a winded colt;
An' Cousin Lil comes 'round an' kisses me;
Until I feel I'll 'AVE to do a bolt.
Then Ginger gits end-up an' makes a speech--
('E'd 'ad a couple, but 'e wasn't shick.)
"My cobber 'ere," 'e sez, "'as copped a peach!
Of orl the barrer-load she is the pick!
I 'opes 'e won't fergit 'is pals too quick
As wus 'is frien's in olden days, becors,
I'm trustin', later on," sez Ginger Mick,
"To celebrate the chris'nin'."...'Oly wars!
At last Doreen an' me we gits away,
An' leaves 'em doin' nothin' to the scran.
(We're honey-moonin' down beside the Bay.)
I gives a 'arf a dollar to the man
Wot drives the cab; an' like two kids we ran
To ketch the train--Ah, strike! I could 'a' flown!
We gets the carridge right agen the van.
She whistles, jolts, an' starts...An' we're alone!
Doreen an' me! My precious bit o' fluff!
Me own true weddid wife!...An' we're alone!
She seems so frail, an' me so big an' rough--
I dunno wot this feelin' is that's grown
Inside me 'ere that makes me feel I own
A thing so tender like I fear to squeeze
Too 'ard fer fear she'll break...Then, wiv a groan
I starts to 'ear a coot call, "Tickets, please!"
You could 'a' outed me right on the spot!
I wus so rattled when that porter spoke.
Fer, 'struth! them tickets I 'ad fair forgot!
But 'e jist laughs, an' takes it fer a joke.
"We must ixcuse," 'e sez, "new-married folk."
An' I pays up, an' grins, an' blushes red....
It shows 'ow married life improves a bloke:
If I'd bin single I'd 'a' punched 'is head!
=== from 2016 ===
ANZAC day is tomorrow and it is important to thank those who have served in our armed forces. Not solely Australia but New Zealand too. In times past, people not much older than children have served and sacrificed so that we could be free. And it is a slap in the face of those who have given all when we don't live free, but choose fetters. They did not fight and die so that we could impose a sexual identity construct on four-year-olds. Imagine were it the case that an outstanding brain surgeon prospect was denied at 26 the opportunity because at 4 she had decided to become a fireman, as any girl might wish. It is a slap in the face of the ANZACS that we choose to be fettered by 18c rather than live free. It is a slap in the face of ANZACS that we choose to condemn people to poverty because we wilfully misunderstand the role of capitalism in our society. They died so activists living off the public welfare purse can prevent hard working people from prosperity?
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Tomorrow is ANZAC Day and many are quick to denounce the battle and war, yet claim to embrace freedom. But war is the pointy end of freedom. Without the willingness to fight, and perhaps die, there is nothing to protect the free from the despots. And the ANZAC invasion of Gallipoli (in support of the British who sent more, gave more and lost more) is a salient lesson. It is hard to say what people fought for when they lost. But the dream was far bigger. Maybe Turkey would not have completed her genocide of Armenians and Assyrians and many others. Maybe communism would not have become the fat parasite on the world for the twentieth century. It was a good plan which was almost successful, despite many snafu. Those that lost were not to blame. And those who should be blamed were not entirely at fault. Young newsman Keith Murdoch was opposed to the campaign and conveyed that opposition while still being loyal. He hadn't liked the appalling waste of life. But his machinations meant that the lives lost were wasted. One can support the soldiers without liking the slaughter. None who fought there, or ordered them there remains alive. Those who profited from the defeat are not alive today. But many suffer today from the loss. Today is the anniversary of the fall of Troy. The battle for Troy was prideful and the sacrifice wasteful. But that Greek victory was far less than the loss at Gallipoli. Pride exists before the fall as everyone is humbled. And it is worth thinking of those humble people who fought and died there. They lost that battle, but in winning the war, they gave us a legacy of freedom leaving us eternally in their debt. And by fostering the freedom their lives paid for, we honour them. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
In this day in 1547, Battle of Mühlberg was fought between Spain's Charles I and some minor nobles who were Protestant. Charles was Holy Roman Emperor and catholic. Francis 1 of France was also catholic, but had sided with the Ottomans to fight Spain. That fight had ended a few years previously. So Charles was unencumbered to square off against the band of protestant cities called the Schmalkaldic League. The battle was one sided. the protestants bickered and were over run. Charles I made it to the battlefield, but he was suffering an attack of gout and so came on a litter, not a fine war horse as was painted later by his court painter, Titian. Charles had nearly 30000 troops at his disposal against 15000. The panicked League forces broke rank and fled, so 7000 League forces died in battle. There were a few scattered Protestant forces left over and Charles ended up giving them religious freedom, but many went to England where the young King Edward showed promise. In 1914, the Franck-Hertz experiment showed, using a vacuum tube and electricity, the nature of atoms as suggest in 1913 by Bohr. Einstein described the experiment "It's so lovely it makes you cry."
The selfish, self indulgent former treasurer Swan is wanting to run another term. He is part of the furniture Rudd wanted to save. He was an abysmal treasurer, promising surplus but delivering the largest debt Australia has ever faced, in peace or war. He was part of the policy brains trust which failed to deliver policy in ALP Government. It is sad the ALP are so low. No sensible person wants to see them so weak and pathetic, so incapable of working for their own constituents. A healthy ALP would pass legislation in Australia's interests. This ALP doesn't.
In this day in 1547, Battle of Mühlberg was fought between Spain's Charles I and some minor nobles who were Protestant. Charles was Holy Roman Emperor and catholic. Francis 1 of France was also catholic, but had sided with the Ottomans to fight Spain. That fight had ended a few years previously. So Charles was unencumbered to square off against the band of protestant cities called the Schmalkaldic League. The battle was one sided. the protestants bickered and were over run. Charles I made it to the battlefield, but he was suffering an attack of gout and so came on a litter, not a fine war horse as was painted later by his court painter, Titian. Charles had nearly 30000 troops at his disposal against 15000. The panicked League forces broke rank and fled, so 7000 League forces died in battle. There were a few scattered Protestant forces left over and Charles ended up giving them religious freedom, but many went to England where the young King Edward showed promise. In 1914, the Franck-Hertz experiment showed, using a vacuum tube and electricity, the nature of atoms as suggest in 1913 by Bohr. Einstein described the experiment "It's so lovely it makes you cry."
The selfish, self indulgent former treasurer Swan is wanting to run another term. He is part of the furniture Rudd wanted to save. He was an abysmal treasurer, promising surplus but delivering the largest debt Australia has ever faced, in peace or war. He was part of the policy brains trust which failed to deliver policy in ALP Government. It is sad the ALP are so low. No sensible person wants to see them so weak and pathetic, so incapable of working for their own constituents. A healthy ALP would pass legislation in Australia's interests. This ALP doesn't.
From 2014
Thutmose III became co ruler with his stepmother Hatsheput on this day 1479 BC. His rule was to see Egypt become the largest she would ever be. He fought 17 campaigns over 54 years. The co rulership with his step mother might be puzzling to modern sensibilities. He had been leader of the armies for all 22 yeas of co rulership. But he had ascended the throne when he was two years old. Some three hundred years later, 1184 BC, a collection of Greek armies are said to have captured Illium, or Troy. It is said that survivors of the event, when asked about it, were a little hoarse. Even today people with sore throats may be told to beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
On this day in 1558, Mary, Queen of Scots, married the Dauphin of France at Notre Dame de Paris. Better it was for love, because it failed to help her politically. On this day in 1885, Annie Oakley answered President Carter's call to gender equality when the sharp shooter joined Buffallo Bill's Wild West about ninety years before he was elected President for the first and last time. On this day in 1915, Turkey arrested 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders as a prelude to the genocide which would cripple their war effort. A year later, Irish separatists rose in rebellion on Easter. Two years after that, in 1918, German tanks faced off against British ones for the first time. British ones won the engagement. It is also hard to imagine that only in 1922 was wireless telegraphy first available between Oxfordshire and Cairo. Skype would have been useless as Egyptians don't speak English. As it was, it was a failure, Thutmose was already dead and Troy was lost. 1933, and Nazis began persecuting Jehova's Witnesses, shutting down the watchtower offices in Magdeburg. Twenty years later and QE2 knighted Winston Churchill.
The Soviet Union had made large strides in cosmonautics, but sadly on this day in '67 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died when his parachute failed to open. Jimmy Carter made his stamp on this day with the tragic deaths of eight US servicemen who had attempted to save Iranian hostages. Snuppy, the first cloned puppy, an Afghan, was whelped on this day in 2005. Don't tell the Greens about the dog, they'd kill him.
On this day in 1558, Mary, Queen of Scots, married the Dauphin of France at Notre Dame de Paris. Better it was for love, because it failed to help her politically. On this day in 1885, Annie Oakley answered President Carter's call to gender equality when the sharp shooter joined Buffallo Bill's Wild West about ninety years before he was elected President for the first and last time. On this day in 1915, Turkey arrested 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders as a prelude to the genocide which would cripple their war effort. A year later, Irish separatists rose in rebellion on Easter. Two years after that, in 1918, German tanks faced off against British ones for the first time. British ones won the engagement. It is also hard to imagine that only in 1922 was wireless telegraphy first available between Oxfordshire and Cairo. Skype would have been useless as Egyptians don't speak English. As it was, it was a failure, Thutmose was already dead and Troy was lost. 1933, and Nazis began persecuting Jehova's Witnesses, shutting down the watchtower offices in Magdeburg. Twenty years later and QE2 knighted Winston Churchill.
The Soviet Union had made large strides in cosmonautics, but sadly on this day in '67 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died when his parachute failed to open. Jimmy Carter made his stamp on this day with the tragic deaths of eight US servicemen who had attempted to save Iranian hostages. Snuppy, the first cloned puppy, an Afghan, was whelped on this day in 2005. Don't tell the Greens about the dog, they'd kill him.
Historical perspective on this day
In 1479 BC, Thutmose III ascended to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifted to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty). 1184 BC, Traditional date of the fall of Troy. 1547, Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeated the troops of Schmalkaldic League. 1558, Mary, Queen of Scots, married the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
In 1704, the first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, was published in Boston, Massachusetts. 1800, the United States Library of Congress was established when President John Adams signed legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress". 1877, Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declared war on Ottoman Empire. 1885, American sharpshooter Annie Oakley was hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West. 1895, Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, set sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop "Spray".
In 1904, the Lithuanian press ban was lifted after almost 40 years. 1907, Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, was opened. 1913, the Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York City was opened. 1914, the Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, was presented to the German Physical Society. 1915, the arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marked the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. 1916, Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhoodled by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett started a rebellion in Ireland. Also 1916, Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expeditionlaunched a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the ice-trapped ship Endurance. 1918, First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
In 1922, the first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain provided wireless telegraphybetween Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, coming into operation. 1923, in Vienna, the paper Das Ich und das Es (The Ego and the Id) by Sigmund Freud was published, which outlined Freud's theories of the id, ego, and super-ego. 1926, the Treaty of Berlin was signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledged neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years. 1932, Benny Rothman led the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom. 1933, Nazi Germany began its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg. 1953, Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. 1955, the Bandung Conference ended: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africafinished a meeting that condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War. 1957, Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal was reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region. Also 1957, the BBC first broadcast The Sky at Night presented by Patrick Moore
In 1963, marriage of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent to the Hon Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London. 1965, civil war broke out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrew the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch. 1967, Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died in Soyuz 1 when its parachute failed to open. He was the first human to die during a space mission. Also 1967, Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland said in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gave him hope that he could win politically that which he could win militarily." 1968, Mauritius became a member state of the United Nations. 1970, the first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, was launched. 1970, the Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President. 1971, Soyuz 10 docked with Salyut 1. 1980, Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempted to end the Iran hostage crisis.
In 1990, STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the Space ShuttleDiscovery. Also 1990, Gruinard Island, Scotland, was officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine. 1993, an IRA bomb devastated the Bishopsgate area of London. 1996, in the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was passed into law. 2004, the United States lifted economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction. 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI. Also 2005, Snuppy became world's first cloned dog. 2013, a building collapsed near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
In 1704, the first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, was published in Boston, Massachusetts. 1800, the United States Library of Congress was established when President John Adams signed legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress". 1877, Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declared war on Ottoman Empire. 1885, American sharpshooter Annie Oakley was hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West. 1895, Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, set sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop "Spray".
In 1904, the Lithuanian press ban was lifted after almost 40 years. 1907, Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, was opened. 1913, the Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York City was opened. 1914, the Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, was presented to the German Physical Society. 1915, the arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marked the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. 1916, Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhoodled by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett started a rebellion in Ireland. Also 1916, Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expeditionlaunched a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the ice-trapped ship Endurance. 1918, First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
In 1922, the first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain provided wireless telegraphybetween Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, coming into operation. 1923, in Vienna, the paper Das Ich und das Es (The Ego and the Id) by Sigmund Freud was published, which outlined Freud's theories of the id, ego, and super-ego. 1926, the Treaty of Berlin was signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledged neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years. 1932, Benny Rothman led the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom. 1933, Nazi Germany began its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg. 1953, Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. 1955, the Bandung Conference ended: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africafinished a meeting that condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War. 1957, Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal was reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region. Also 1957, the BBC first broadcast The Sky at Night presented by Patrick Moore
In 1963, marriage of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent to the Hon Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London. 1965, civil war broke out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrew the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch. 1967, Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died in Soyuz 1 when its parachute failed to open. He was the first human to die during a space mission. Also 1967, Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland said in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gave him hope that he could win politically that which he could win militarily." 1968, Mauritius became a member state of the United Nations. 1970, the first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, was launched. 1970, the Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President. 1971, Soyuz 10 docked with Salyut 1. 1980, Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempted to end the Iran hostage crisis.
In 1990, STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the Space ShuttleDiscovery. Also 1990, Gruinard Island, Scotland, was officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine. 1993, an IRA bomb devastated the Bishopsgate area of London. 1996, in the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was passed into law. 2004, the United States lifted economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction. 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI. Also 2005, Snuppy became world's first cloned dog. 2013, a building collapsed near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
=== Publishing News ===
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.
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January.
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, 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 a free kindle version.
List of available items at Create Space
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWGFrench .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
- 702 – Ja'far al-Sadiq, Arabian Imam (d. 765)
- 1581 – Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint (d. 1660)
- 1620 – John Graunt, English statistician (d. 1674)
- 1706 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian pianist (d. 1780)
- 1743 – Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman, invented the power loom (d. 1823)
- 1815 – Anthony Trollope, English author (d. 1882)
- 1880 – Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper (d. 1954)
- 1906 – William Joyce, American-English politician and broadcaster (d. 1946)
- 1934 – Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1936 – Jill Ireland, English-American actress and author (d. 1990)
- 1942 – Barbra Streisand, American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
- 1945 – Doug Clifford, American drummer and songwriter (Creedence Clearwater Revival, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, and Don Harrison Band)
- 1951 – Nigel Harrison, English bass player and songwriter (Blondie and Silverhead)
- 1957 – Boris Williams, French-English drummer (The Cure, Thompson Twins, and Babacar)
- 1959 – Paula Yates, English television host and author (d. 2000)
- 1973 – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
- 1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 2005 – Snuppy, world's first cloned dog
Deaths
- 624 – Mellitus, English archbishop
- 1731 – Daniel Defoe, English journalist and spy (b. 1660)
- 1974 – Bud Abbott, American actor and producer (b. 1895)
- 1986 – Wallis Simpson, American-French wife of Edward VIII (b. 1896)
- 1547 – Schmalkaldic War: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, led Imperial troops to a decisive victory in the Battle of Mühlberg over the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes.
- 1800 – The Library of Congress, the de facto national library of the United States, was established as part of an act of Congress providing for the transfer of the nation's capital from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
- 1904 – Realizing that the Russification of Lithuania was not working, the Russian Empire lifted the 40-year-old ban on publications using the Lithuanian language.
- 1967 – The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 1 crashed in Siberia during its return to Earth, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, the first human to die during a spaceflight.
- 1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope (pictured) was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in mission STS-31.
Chucky won. The library has books. In celebration of freedom we have removed a ban on books. Vlad was not a vampire. Hubba Bubba. Let's party.
Tim Blair
MACRON v LE PEN
Andrew Bolt
Bill’s Badgerys policy is unsafe for takeoff
Piers Akerman – Sunday, April 24, 2016 (12:02am)
SLIM Dusty reckoned that there was nothing “so lonesome, morbid or drear than … a pub with no beer” but then he hadn’t heard of Bill Shorten’s plan for an airport that would effectively ban airplanes from flying.
Continue reading 'Bill’s Badgerys policy is unsafe for takeoff'
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Stop telling boys to act like girls
Miranda Devine – Sunday, April 24, 2016 (12:05am)
IN this era of women-only parking, women-only trains, women-only apartments and transgender bathrooms, it seems the only acceptable man is a man who wants to be a woman.
The job of pathologising masculinity continues apace.
There’s the government’s new domestic violence campaign which portrays little boys as aggressive misogynists.
There’s the undergraduate newspaper Honi Soit, which claims that rugby teams at private boys’ schools foster a “rape culture”.
Or what about the Sydney preschool which bans four-year-old boys from dressing up as Batman for fear superhero costumes will make them “violent”?
Yes, the only way men can find forgiveness for their dark, brute natures is to denounce other men, or otherwise to swap sexes, a la Caitlyn Jenner.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!
Succumbing to Stockholm syndrome and turning on your fellow man is certainly easier, especially if you still have a chip on your shoulder about the alpha jocks at school who effortlessly attracted the attention of all the hot alpha girls, hanging around the sidelines with their short shorts and shiny hair.
It’s probably been that way since caveman days when the sweaty warriors came home full of bravado and testosterone. Me Tarzan. You Jane. Eat my woolly mammoth.
Only, now, our society actually values the nerdy guys who stayed behind to write poetry and pick berries with the ladies. Look at Bill Gates. And Mark Zuckerberg. After millennia of evolution, we’re living Revenge of the Nerds. You’d think they’d be grateful. But no.
Take Pranay Jha, a former student of the prestigious King’s School and a bespectacled GPS debater, who has penned a tour de force of craven self-loathing in the Sydney University campus organ Honi Soit.
It comes with a trigger warning, naturally.
Far be it from me to say he has an inferiority complex about the more popular, athletic, physically disciplined boys who played rugby or rowed in the First Eight at his alma mater, while he toiled away thanklessly in the Seconds Debating team.
They had “the ability to get girls, be invited to parties and to hold a reserved seat at the Royal Oak Double Bay”. No wonder he’s upset!
But his message is brutal. He has smeared all boys who play those sports at a handful of private schools as rapists.
“Perpetrators” he calls them at one stage, without a skerrick of actual proof.
“Perpetrators” he calls them at one stage, without a skerrick of actual proof.
His incendiary claim is based entirely on vague anecdotes from three anonymous female friends, “Lucy”, “Emily” and “Hannah”, who he claims had their “consent” “violated”.
“If that’s not a a culture of rape I don’t know what is,” is how he puts it.
Having dispensed his casual defamation, he returns to his favourite theme, bemoaning a “deeply entrenched culture that glorifies rowers and rugby players (and sets them) on a pedestal.
“It would always be the boys who hooked up with as many girls as possible that would be celebrated, and not those who stood for the rights of young women,” he says.
The psychological trauma at the heart of Pranay’s complaint is revealed when he writes about the Hogarthian horrors of the Head of the River.
“On the Friday morning before the race, the school hall is filled with chatter about how each crew is shaping up … The seniors bellow a war cry. The rest of the school joins in. A thousand students lean back and scream at the top of their voice, as the eight ‘heroes’ walk in. Their eyes are forward, heads held high, chest out: they are the pinnacles, the ‘ideal’ GPS boys.
“At that point, the juniors understand what it means to be a student at this school … Inextricably linked to this are rigid and destructive constructions of masculinity.”
Well poor Pranay needn’t worry. Masculinity of the alpha kind that he so resents is already on the endangered list, thanks to decades of toxic grievance feminism which casts women as helpless victims and men as brutes — unless they surrender and become self-flagellating male feminists.
That’s pretty much the message of the federal government’s new domestic violence ads, too.
Launched by Social Services Minister Christian Porter last week, the ads demonise little boys to send a message about “respect” for women.
In one scene, a good little girl is carrying a bowl of food. A bad little boy deliberately slams a door in her face, causing her to fall on the floor. The boy doesn’t apologise, just glares at her malevolently.
Her mother helps her up and says, “He did it because he likes you”.
What planet are they on? No mother would be so pathetic. No boy would be such a cartoonish villain.
Some boys are thoughtless and unruly, as are some girls. Some boys are gentle and kind, as are some girls.
But the government is dividing them by sex into virtuous and evil. Victim and perpetrator. Punishing boys for being born with a Y chromosome.
Hear that message enough and it’s no wonder some boys don’t want to be boys.
Becoming Caitlyn Jenner suddenly seems a sensible option.
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ATOMIC MUTTON
Tim Blair – Sunday, April 24, 2016 (6:10pm)
Fifteen years ago, anti-uranium activist Vanessa Badham departed non-nuclear Australia for the UK – which has more than one dozen operating nuclear reactors:
In 2001, she relocated to the United Kingdom to study at the University of Sheffield.
Interesting choice. A few years after offering sanctuary to the young Australian Marxist, Sheffield University embarked on a more useful project:
At the centre of UK nuclear manufacturing development is the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at Sheffield University.
The Centre is now working on the next generation of British nuclear plants. Remarkably, Badham survived her decade in the British atomic deathzone without once being incinerated. She’s since returned once or twice, demonstrating how safe and secure she feels in a nation that uses nuclear power.
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THE BIG FOUR
Tim Blair – Sunday, April 24, 2016 (4:49pm)
Now returned from China, where he successfully convinced that nation to vote for an Australian republic, notedexpert Peter FitzSimons turns his attention to more pressing political issues:
Here is my analysis of the coming election, based on the obvious premise that what truly counts is who gets the progressive swing voters in the middle – the ones Malcolm Turnbull rose to the Prime Ministership on.
Wrong. Turnbull rose to the Prime Ministership on the votes of Liberal MPs who were scared of polls. But do continue, redtop:
My reckoning is that there are four standout issues that can sway that group right now: serious action on climate change, gay marriage, Indigenous recognition, and the republic.
What – no transgender toilet rights? Fascist!
I include the last not just because I am chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, but because Turnbull first came to wide fame on the basis of his passion for that most progressive of causes.
And he got smashed on it in 1999.
On three of those four issues, the progressive middle lost all faith in Tony Abbott as a possible agent of change …
Remember all those progressives hoping Tony Abbott would legalise gay marriage and ban global warming? Me neither.
The key challenge for Turnbull in the weeks that remain – notwithstanding whatever commitments he has made to the right wing of his party – is to convince the progressives he actually can deliver on those four. Many have given up hope. For what it’s worth, I have not.
They’ve given up now, what with the Bandana of Doom joining the Turnbull cause.
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WHAT ABOUT THE DINGLE-NORWOOD BILL?
Tim Blair – Sunday, April 24, 2016 (1:04pm)
Al Gore in 2000:
Cathy McGowan in 2016
Cathy McGowan in 2016
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The astonishing arrogance of the unelected Gillian Triggs
Andrew Bolt April 24 2016 (11:19am)
Gillian Triggs is supposed to be the head of a non-partisan body, the taxpayer-funded Australian Human Rights Commission. It’s in fact important that she be non-partisan, given that she’s most effective when she can work with politicians of both sides.
So why does this hopelessly biased woman why does she speak like a Greens politician standing for election - and one with the most enormous ego, snearing at the politicians she must deal with as if they were dirt beneath her Louboutins?
But the arrogance is absolutely astonishing:
Alas, it seems that Malcolm Turnbull is encouraging this extraordinarily high-handed person:
(Thanks to reader G.)
So why does this hopelessly biased woman why does she speak like a Greens politician standing for election - and one with the most enormous ego, snearing at the politicians she must deal with as if they were dirt beneath her Louboutins?
I was unprepared for dealing with senior political figures with no education whatsoever about international law and about Australia’s remarkable historical record which they are now diminishing....Then there’s the gross exaggeration about conditions at Christmas Island, where not a single woman has in fact killed herself, let alone starved to death:
We’ve got senior public servants who will roll their eyes at the idea of a human right…
We’ve had, in my view, very poor leadership on this issue for the past 10 to 15 years, from the “children overboard” lie. They’ve been prepared to misstate the facts and conflate asylum-seeker issues with global terrorism. What I’m saying applies equally to Labor and Liberal and National parties. They’ve used this in bad faith to promote their own political opportunistic positions…
The government has used the word unlawful [in relation to asylum seekers] and George Orwell understood the power of language very well. In the department you have a minister saying, “You will call these people ‘illegals’.” It’s shocking that Australia would come to that depth of abuse of power… They are cowards and the moment you stand up to them they crumble, and they did crumble. And several now have been seen off long before me. They’re not used to a woman aged 70 standing up to them. They can’t quite believe it.
Seeing women in their cabins who are starving themselves to death because they want to die, vomiting in front of me and I’m helping to clean them up and the guard turns away and says, “Nothing to do with me; it’s not my job.”I like this particular example of snobbery from someone who once sneered that it would be ”shabby” to host a swish AHRC party in a mere country town:
A shocking phenomenon is Australians don’t even understand their own democratic system....They have no idea of the separation of powers and the excessive overreach of executive government.Actually, I think Australians understand far better than Triggs the difference between an elected politician and an unelected one, and understand, too, the excessive overreach of a semi-juducial bureaucrat none of them voted for.
But the arrogance is absolutely astonishing:
One can be astonished at the very simplistic level at which I need to speak.But to be frank, Triggs being simplistic is exactly what I hear in this interview - and I don’t she’s capable of speaking any better.
Our parliamentarians are usually seriously ill-informed and uneducated ... and curiously enough for Canberra they don’t even understand what democracy is.
Alas, it seems that Malcolm Turnbull is encouraging this extraordinarily high-handed person:
GT . I haven’t shared a cup of tea [with him] but I remain optimistic. I have written many times to the PM. His staff are terrific to work with. I deeply believe the first words he said to me, which were that on his watch we are returning to the rule of law, to the Westminster system and to respect for the AHRC. I believe that he believes that, and were he to win the next election I believe he will be good to his word.Really? Did Turnbull promise that?
(Thanks to reader G.)
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Islamic State boasts of murdering Bangladeshi professor
Andrew Bolt April 24 2016 (10:01am)
A dangerous development - and also ominous for us, given Bangladesh is not all that far from us by people smugglers’ boats:
A university professor was hacked to death on Saturday in northwestern Bangladesh, police said, with Islamic State claiming responsibility for the latest in a series of attacks on liberal activists.
Two assailants on a motorcycle attacked Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, 58, an English professor at Rajshahi University, slitting his throat and hacking him to death…
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing of the professor for “calling to atheism"… The Muslim-majority nation of 160 million has seen a surge in violent attacks over the past few months in which members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have also been targeted…
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Turnbull says no to cuts to negative gearing
Andrew Bolt April 24 2016 (9:57am)
Malcolm Turnbull has a potent election weapon - given to him by high-taxing Labor:
But I’d suggest that Labor will also offer tax cuts, albeit of the Robbing Paul kind. It is promising $100 billion of tax rises over the next 10 years and has hinted of spending cuts to come. That should, if it is sane, leave some money both for (tiny) deficit reductions and (small and temporary) tax cuts.
UPDATE
The capital gains tax announcement is the first big aggressive step the Government has taken in this very long election campaign. Maybe the staff shakeup is helping:
Woolcock, by the way, is the husband of Niki Savva.
The Turnbull government has officially ruled out negative gearing reforms in the budget, setting the scene for home ownership to be a key election battleground.This follows this leak which may or may not be perfectly accurate, but which suggests the government will do something about what it must:
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will announce the budget policy today in response to Labor proposals to remove negative gearing on existing properties from 2017… “Driving down the value of most Australians’ most important asset, their home, is hardly a strategy for economic growth and more and better jobs,’’ he said.
MILLIONS of middle-income “wage slaves” are expected to be given a modest tax cut in the May Budget as a preventive measure to stop them moving into higher tax brackets from next year.Mind you, I’d say the tax cuts it can offer will be little more than what you’d have lost through bracket creep over the past year or two. And any cuts to taxes must be matched by spending cuts - and ones that can get through the Senate. Given the modesty of the cash available, the Government should package any attack on bracket creep as a permanent change and permanent benefit that will get larger with time.
The Saturday Telegraph understands that Treasurer Scott Morrison will target those on the middle bands of the marginal tax rates — for people earning above $37,000 and below $180,000 — for relief.
As a move to address so-called “bracket creep”, income thresholds will be increased to prevent an estimated 300,000 workers starting to move into the higher brackets through wage growth from next year.
But I’d suggest that Labor will also offer tax cuts, albeit of the Robbing Paul kind. It is promising $100 billion of tax rises over the next 10 years and has hinted of spending cuts to come. That should, if it is sane, leave some money both for (tiny) deficit reductions and (small and temporary) tax cuts.
UPDATE
The capital gains tax announcement is the first big aggressive step the Government has taken in this very long election campaign. Maybe the staff shakeup is helping:
Malcolm Turnbull’s office has moved to a war footing, bringing in key advisers, tightening co-ordination and moving to address concern in Liberal ranks it is not ready to fight a long election campaign…
Changes have been made inside the office from March 21 - the day Mr Turnbull announced Parliament would be prorogued and a double dissolution election was on the cards.
These include Liberal Party federal director Tony Nutt chairing a daily phone hook-up about 6.30am with the government’s leadership group.
Mr Turnbull and senior ministers including Julie Bishop, Barnaby Joyce, Scott Morrison, Mathias Cormann, George Brandis and Christopher Pyne participate in the calls, as do trusted lieutenants such as Arthur Sinodinos.
Key advisers in the meeting can also include Mr Turnbull’s principal private secretary Sally Cray, chief of staff Drew Clarke, deputy chief of staff Brad Burke, strategist Tony Parkinson, senior adviser Gemma Daley and pollster Mark Textor. Communications chief David Bold briefs on morning media, while Mr Morrison’s chief of staff, Phil Gaetjens, and chief press secretary Sasha Grebe are also included.
In addition, Queensland Liberal senator James McGrath, a former deputy director of the Liberal Party, and Victorian senator Scott Ryan, an experienced backroom operator, are now working more closely with the Turnbull office…
The return of Mr Textor, widely regarded as one of Australia’s pre-eminent pollsters, is significant.. Mr Turnbull’s allies highlight the importance of Mr Parkinson, Mr Nutt and of two other Liberal Party veterans - Tony O’Leary and Vincent Woolcock - in the PMO to counter charges the office lacks election campaign experience.
Mr Nutt’s decision to place former Abbott communications chief Andrew Hirst to Liberal Party headquarters has been widely welcomed inside the Liberal Party.
Woolcock, by the way, is the husband of Niki Savva.
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Ban while you can
Andrew Bolt April 24 2016 (9:44am)
The New York Times mocks:
The whole story of mass immigration from the Muslim Third World to the West is just that.
It is precisely when there are just two or three niqab-wearers that a ban is best introduced, should you believe in such measures. When there are 2000 is when it’s too late.
Ms Legzdina is one of a tiny handful of women - generally estimated at three - to wear the niqab in this Baltic nation, whose population of less than 2 million people includes about 1000 practising Muslims, according to government estimates.But how often have we seamlessly slid from “too few to worry about” to “too many to offend”?
But for Latvia’s Ministry of Justice, that is three niqabs too many. Citing a desire to protect Latvian culture and to address security concerns at a time of rising migration to Europe, the government is working on proposed legislation that would ban face-covering veils from public spaces.
The whole story of mass immigration from the Muslim Third World to the West is just that.
It is precisely when there are just two or three niqab-wearers that a ban is best introduced, should you believe in such measures. When there are 2000 is when it’s too late.
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Why didn’t the Pope take these two Christians, too?
Andrew Bolt April 24 2016 (9:35am)
As I said last week, the Pope’s symbolic gesture was a fraud:
Why did he bring back only 12 illegal immigrants from Saturday’s visit to a crowded camp in Greece?And now the final proof of the fraud:
Why just 12, when thousands more were desperate to get on his plane back to Rome? Why didn’t he take them, too, when his Airbus A320 has seats for 150?… Why did he leave behind the little girl with pigtails who was dressed in pink and white and bowed before him before crying uncontrollably?
The answer is simple. The Pope thought he could help 12, but not 1200, let alone 120,000. And that’s exactly the problem faced by every Western country.
A Christian brother and sister from Syria say they have been ‘let down’ by the Pope after he left them behind in a Lesbos refugee camp despite promises they would be given a new life in Italy.
Roula and Malek Abo say they were two of the lucky ‘chosen 12’ refugees selected by the Vatican to be taken from the desperate camp and housed in Rome.
But what seemed like the chance of a lifetime was cruelly snatched away when they were told the following day they couldn’t go. Instead three Muslim families were taken.
Roula, 22, and her brother arrived on Lesbos on April 1 – ten days after the controversial EU deal to return all asylum seekers arriving to Greece from Turkey…
Stuck on Lesbos, Roula told MailOnline: ‘If they can do this for 12 people they can do it for more. ‘If you have promised to take people back to Italy will something like registration papers stand in your way?’
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Seeming good, achieving dark
Andrew Bolt April 24 2016 (9:22am)
Brendan Pearson, chief executive of the Minerals Council, points out the harsh consequences of dreamy green demands that we ban coaland switch to renewable power:
Let’s do the maths. Last year wind and solar energy produced the equivalent of nine days of global primary energy needs. Coal produced 109 days and fossil fuels combined produced 313 days of the world’s annual primary needs. Despite all these power sources, 1.3 billion people still missed out on electricity and a further 1.7 billion only had partial access…Pearson demonstrates how this is another case of what has long fascinated me - the Seeming not Doing syndrome. I’ve thought that rarely have people been so obsessed with merely seeming good than actually doing it, but Pearson suggests the syndrome is ancient with a number of choice quotations:
Halting or limiting coal or fossil fuels output will simply mean that those with no or partial access to electricity would have to wait much longer in the dark.
That is an uncomfortable but incontrovertible fact. If you limit something or make it more expensive to the poor then you are delaying or denying that access. Not just for weeks, months or years, but generations. Hundreds of millions of people will live shorter, more miserable lives as a result of the choices of the comfortable and warm.
The 16th century French essayist Michel de Montaigne had several quotations inscribed on the ceiling beams in the library of his family home in the Dordogne. One was from Greek dramatist Sophocles: “There is no more beautiful life than that of a carefree man. Lack of care is a truly painless evil."…
The joy of a carefree approach to public debate is that you don’t have to worry about consequences. As Walter Bagehot said of Percy Bysshe Shelley, some views are “unconditioned by reality”. Resort to the slogan is sufficient. Consequences can be ignored. It is reminiscent of the phrase used by French historian Francoise Thom when she wrote in La Langue de bois that the purpose of Soviet era newspeak was “to protect ideology from the malicious attacks of real things”.
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The worst thing a boy could be is a man
Andrew Bolt April 24 2016 (9:16am)
Miranda Devine on the pathologising of masculinity:
In this era of women-only parking, women-only trains, women-only apartments and transgender bathrooms, it seems the only acceptable man is a man who wants to be a woman.
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Wayne Swan is economic with the truth
Piers Akerman – Friday, April 24, 2015 (12:51am)
THE desire of former treasurer Wayne Swan, the architect of much of the economic problems the nation faces, to seek a further term in parliament is positive proof of the disconnect between fantasy and reality that besets the ALP.
Continue reading 'Wayne Swan is economic with the truth'
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LET THE BOYCOTT BEGIN
Tim Blair – Friday, April 24, 2015 (6:28pm)
In the Sydney Morning Herald, historian David Stephens demands an end to the commercialisation of Anzac Day:
Commercial shysters seeking to make a buck from peddling Anzac merchandise should be happily let go out of business. Boycotts should flourish.
Fine. Let’s begin with a boycott of the Sydney Morning Herald, currently selling this stuff through its online store:
(Via Quadrant, which notes that the Age, too, is taking one view in its opinion pages and quite another in its identical Anzac gift shop.)
(Via Quadrant, which notes that the Age, too, is taking one view in its opinion pages and quite another in its identical Anzac gift shop.)
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STOP THE BOATS, STOP THE DEATHS
Tim Blair – Friday, April 24, 2015 (3:47pm)
In the wake of asylum seeker deaths in the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Tony Abbott offered some advice to European governments:
Calling the crisis in Europe a “terrible, terrible tragedy”, he said: “The only way you can stop the deaths is to stop the people smuggling trade.“The only way you can stop the deaths is, in fact, to stop the boats.“That’s why it is so urgent that the countries of Europe adopt very strong policies that will end the people smuggling trade across the Mediterranean.”
It seems some Europeans are thinking along those exact lines, according to an EU draft summit statement:
The EU leaders are likely to agree that immediate preparations should begin to “undertake systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers”. The joint EU military operation is to be undertaken within international law …Emergency teams are to be deployed to Italy to help register, fingerprint and process applications for asylum protection as refugees. Increased support is also to be given to Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Mali and Niger to monitor and control their land borders to prevent potential migrants getting to the shore of the Mediterranean.EU leaders are expected to stress their determination to fight the traffickers and will promise to bring them to justice, seize their assets and make a concerted attempt to take down any online material likely to attract migrants and refugees.
Even Britain is sounding tough. We await Christine Milne’s reaction.
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HATING KATIE
Tim Blair – Friday, April 24, 2015 (2:00pm)
James Delingpole reviews the recent Katie Hopkins controversy:
Over the weekend, you may have noticed, Katie Hopkins was trending on Twitter yet again – this time because of a piece she’d written in The Sun in which she’d upset the Offenderati by using the word “cockroaches” in the context of the boatloads of hapless, parched, pitiable migrants now fleeing Libya. At this point you’re obliged tactically to distance yourself from Hopkins by noting how distasteful you too find her appalling choice of words. But I’m not going to, for several reasons, the first being that that it was so devastatingly effective.
It’s Delingpole, so read on. Incidentally, caring leftists don’t mind describing people as cockroaches when it suits them.
(Via James B.)
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BULL ARTIST
Tim Blair – Friday, April 24, 2015 (12:29pm)
A Victorian farmer faces possible pornography charges after arranging some hay bales in a creative fashion:
Bruce Cook, owner of Kactus Point Charolais stud, erected the sculpture on his farm on the Murray Valley Highway at Lake Charm near Kerang as “a bit of fun.”But after someone complained that the sculpture was offensive and obscene Mr Cook received a call from a police officer telling him he had to take it down and that he could be charged with “publishing pornographic images”.
“It’s just nature,” Mr Cook told The Weekly Times, which published a picture of the sculpture on Wednesday.Since he built the sculpture on Good Friday, dozens of cars and trucks had stopped to admire it and have a bit of a chuckle, he said.But a defiant Mr Cook said he refused to take it down and in fact plans to light up the sculpture at night, so it can seen for longer by passers-by.“I told the copper to p. s off.“They have picked on the wrong person. I don’t care what they threaten me with. The sculpture stays,” he said.
That’s the spirit. By the way, Bruce really should get in touch with Sydney City Council. They’d pay big money for something like that.
(Via Gazza)
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SELF-ESTEEM SCORCHED
Tim Blair – Friday, April 24, 2015 (12:04pm)
“ABC budget cuts definitely haven’t affected their ability to report the big issues,” informs Andy M. Indeed not:
It has been well-reported that the Sampson Flat bushfires that burnt 12,500 hectares north-east of Adelaide in January decimated homes, ravaged the land, and killed stock and wildlife.But according to bushfire recovery official Anne Ellis, another less mentioned casualty of the blaze is self-esteem, namely, those of teenagers.
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All tilt
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (1:36pm)
Greens leader Christine Milne recalls her history of leaning to the Left:
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Answer needed
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (10:14am)
Pardon?
VICTORIAN parole board chief Bill Gillard QC is fighting to save his job amid allegations he advised an alleged crime figure on how to fight a police decision to ban him from Crown casino.
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Labor is cheating on taxes
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (10:02am)
Labor is pretending that just smashing the nasty rich will fix the massive and growing debt it left us.
Small problem. Labor’s planned superannuation grab will raise $1.4 billion a year, if it actually works. Labor’s planned multinationals tax will raise a further $500 million a year. So that’s just $1.9 billion a year when the deficits are running at $40 billion a year.
It’s just not serious.
Jennifer Hewett:
Small problem. Labor’s planned superannuation grab will raise $1.4 billion a year, if it actually works. Labor’s planned multinationals tax will raise a further $500 million a year. So that’s just $1.9 billion a year when the deficits are running at $40 billion a year.
It’s just not serious.
Jennifer Hewett:
Labor couldn’t help itself. The lure of grabbing supposedly easy money from superannuation “tax breaks” was just too great..Piers Akerman is spot on:
Labor’s new policy on superannuation comes armed with all the right buzzwords about fairness and sustainability. And, it’s certainly easier to sell the politics of cutting tax breaks for the “rich” than cutting spending on pensioners or anyone else.
What a shame it’s a financial mirage. The details won’t add up to anything like the promise. And, to the extent these changes can raise substantive revenue, this will only be possible if new taxes on super hit many people who don’t consider themselves rich. In contrast, the minority who are indeed seriously wealthy will make alternative arrangements to ensure their tax is minimised…
According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, the new tax on earnings would raise $9.2 billion over a decade while lowering the income threshold would raise $5.1 billion over a decade. Although Labor doesn’t spell it out, those billions will clearly be heavily back-ended to later years due to no indexation of thresholds, as well as the aging of the population. Nor should any Treasurer count on the estimates given the complexity of super and the propensity for money to flow elsewhere if taxes are onerous.
But these policies are most useful in the short term for an Opposition keen to prove it stands for something beyond more spending. Promising to tax the wealthy – along with its other plan to increase tax on multinationals – will seem relatively politically painless… It doesn’t matter that ... top 20 per cent of taxpayers pay 65 per cent of tax, for example. Just as long as the politicians keep talking loudly about “fairness”.
THE desire of former treasurer Wayne Swan, the architect of much of the economic problems the nation faces, to seek a further term in parliament is positive proof of the disconnect between fantasy and reality that besets the ALP.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Swan, who promised four budget surpluses and delivered none, remains a constant reminder of the economic lunacy coupled with ideological blindness that smashed the huge budget surplus Labor inherited from the Howard-Costello government’s careful stewardship and left the Abbott Coalition government with a colossal repair and restore task…
While Opposition Leader Bill Shorten brays about economic bipartisanship, the thought bubbles which erupt from him and Labor’s treasury spokesman Chris Bowen indicate that neither is seriously interested in assisting the damage their government wrought while in office… With projections showing the age pension cost to more than triple in the next 40 years, Bowen defies economic gravity with his bizarre belief the current scheme is sustainable.
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Call out the ABC
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (9:54am)
I’ve urged Liberal MPs to call out ABC bias. Frontbenchers Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg now do this with glee and effect.
Now add Greg Hunt to that happy list
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Now add Greg Hunt to that happy list
LEIGH SALES: On the carbon tax ... under the previous government’s scheme, the carbon tax by now would have been floating at about $10 a tonne. Companies would have been paying that to the Government to pollute. Now under your scheme ... the Government is paying companies $14 a tonne not to pollute. How is that efficient use of taxpayer money?How we cheered.
GREG HUNT: No, with great respect, there’s a fundamental error in that analysis. That is the ALP analysis and that’s why it was wrong.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
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I’d back Lomborg over Flannery any day of the wet week
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (9:32am)
Peter van Onselen is absolutely right:
The furore about the University of Western Australia’s decision to accept a $4m federal government grant to set up a centre in the business school along the lines of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, run by Bjorn Lomborg, is a beat-up.Academics raise further suspicions that universities are centres of group-think, intolerant of debate:
So what? There is no shortage of university centres advocating action in favour of carbon pricing to cut emissions.
What’s wrong with one (and it is just one) in this country that seeks to question the economics of doing so? I always thought universities were places where diverse views could be debated and discussed.
Academics at the University of Western Australia will confront their leaders today with a ‘‘please explain’’ notice, in a forum to discuss a controversial new $4 million think-tank headed by climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg…Can you believe this hypocrisy and slander from the mammologist - not a climate scientist - who told us that “even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems”?
Raymond da Silva Rosa, president of UWA’s academic staff association, said the proposed centre had “drawn nationwide comment and generated divergent narratives about its genesis, its aims and its likely impact on UWA”.
TIM FLANNERY: Well I was surprised to hear about the $4 million given to this Lomborg centre. You know, the Climate Commission was abolished just a couple of years ago on the basis that the Government didn’t have enough money to support the Climate Commission. We were a group that consisted of some very eminent Australians… So, to see the best Australians, the best-qualified Australians in the field be let go because there was no money and then have someone from overseas just a few years later put in the place with abundant funding struck us as being odd.
TONY JONES: Well what do you think of Bjorn Lomborg’s qualifications? I mean, it has to be said that he’s quite sceptical, for example, that extreme weather events will occur with climate change. That’s just one of the many arguments he makes.
TIM FLANNERY: I’ve never been able to get a straight answer out of him. Every sentence that we engage with, the ground seems to shift. But, look, he’s - my understanding is he’s - his basic degree is in politics… And we worry at the Climate Council that people will get misinformed, that they’ll get bad information through this new centre and therefore be less able to deal with the challenges than they otherwise would be… I do get concerned when I see government money going into a cause which is likely to misinform people rather than provide them with accurate, authoritative information.
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On The Bolt Report on Sunday, April 26
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (9:25am)
On the The Bolt Report on Channel 10 on Sunday at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: Why is the ABC still promoting Tim Flannery - and protecting him?
Guest: Environment Minister Greg Hunt. On Flannery, cut-price emissions-cutting and Bjorn Lomborg.
The panel: Human Rights Commissioner (the very sensible one) Tim Wilson and former NSW Labor Minister Paul McLeay.
NewsWatch: Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman on conclusive proof that the AbbottAbbottAbbott media has gone mad. And on the one persecution that bores the media.
On Christine Milne’s great seeming, Labor’s great taxing and the Liberals’ great softening. Plus lots on Anzac Day and the Islamist threat to it.
The videos of the shows appear here.
Editorial: Why is the ABC still promoting Tim Flannery - and protecting him?
Guest: Environment Minister Greg Hunt. On Flannery, cut-price emissions-cutting and Bjorn Lomborg.
The panel: Human Rights Commissioner (the very sensible one) Tim Wilson and former NSW Labor Minister Paul McLeay.
NewsWatch: Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman on conclusive proof that the AbbottAbbottAbbott media has gone mad. And on the one persecution that bores the media.
On Christine Milne’s great seeming, Labor’s great taxing and the Liberals’ great softening. Plus lots on Anzac Day and the Islamist threat to it.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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The Australian confirms what it denies: this constitutional change is racist
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (8:15am)
The Australian argues back - and I appreciate that it is in the civil tone this debate needs:
Those “original” inhabitants are now long dead. People today claiming to be “original inhabitants” claim that title not on the facts of their own lives, given that I and many other non-Aboriginal Australians of my age were here before they were, and are therefore chronologically more “originally” Australian.
No, Australians claiming to be the “original custodians” claim that by virtue of their “race” or genealogy - a line of connection to some of their ancestors, and only those who were Aboriginal. They asked to be judged by their “race”.
For The Australian to further assert that all Aborigines today have a “unique role as this country’s original custodians” is to compound the error. There are undoubtedly some urban Australians with Aboriginal ancestry who in fact feel no more “custodians” of land than do many non-Aboriginal Australians. Indeed, it is easy to imagine many non-Aboriginal Australians - farmers, for instance, or deep greens - who feel far more keenly their role as “custodians”. I suspect even a few tribal Aborigines were themselves a bit jack of all this “custodian” stuff, for all the New Age worshipping of it today. Not all were ecologists.
It is essentially racist to assume that one “race” of people all have feelings of one kind that are not shared by people of another “race”. We are all individuals, after all, and each with our own values and sense of responsibility.
This no-but-yes argument is repeated:
If people are indeed to be helped strictly on the grounds of their “disadvantage” - their poverty, say, or the abuse they’ve suffered from the violent - then there’s no need to reference their Aboriginality when arguing their right to our help. There is no need for a race reference in the Constitution to summon us to help the poor and the vulnerable.
And there is certainly no need for this:
The Australian also assures us that such a body will never have real power, backed by law. It will remain purely advisory. But that assumes that the kind of judicial activism we’ve seen so far - activism that has wildly expanded the reach of the Racial Discrimination Act, for instance - will somehow not occur in this case.
That’s optimistic, to say the least. We should at the very minimum expect this new body to at some stage use the law to delay the enacting of legislation on which it claims it was not properly consulted, according to the Constitution. It is not impossible to imagine that in time this right to consultation will be vastly expanded to a right to consult on every law - and that this will become another step towards declaring a right to an Aboriginal nationhood or citizenship.
But The Australian overlooks the more basic objection. Even if such a body is given no power, this race-based division is essentially immoral. Many of us are vehemently against racial division in principle. We simply should not be dividing ourselves by “race”, and most certainly not in our constitution. This is an affront to our individuality. It is immoral.
And, of course, it is divisive, and dangerously so. It is inflammatory. It will lead to absolutely no good, and, indeed, even The Australian in this piece does not define a single advantage this change will confer on a single Aborigine. Once the principle of racial division is conceded, there will be no stopping the advocates of this newly tribalised Australia. How can we agree that Aborigines have a “unique” role as “original custodians” - a role entitling them to their own representatives and special constitutional powers - and then insist that nothing much flows from that? How can we then arbitrarily insist that they have no consequent right to their own nations, their own laws, their own compensation?
This is profoundly wrong. And it is playing with fire.
UPDATE
And as if to illustrate my point, this news today:
The unfolding debate about constitutional recognition for the first Australians needs to be brought back on track by exploding the myths that are starting to emerge.I’m afraid this is a no-but-yes argument that actually confirms what it purports to deny. The “original custodians” of this land are actually those who originally were here, and no more.
The first is that the compromise proposal backed by Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson will somehow entrench divisions based on race. If this were the case it would be extremely unlikely to attract the support of Mr Pearson or anyone else of goodwill. This critique of the Pearson position — expounded by News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt and Gary Johns in this newspaper — while no doubt well intentioned, is mistaken. A national declaration recognising indigenous Australians is justified, not because of their race but because of their unique role as this country’s original custodians.
Those “original” inhabitants are now long dead. People today claiming to be “original inhabitants” claim that title not on the facts of their own lives, given that I and many other non-Aboriginal Australians of my age were here before they were, and are therefore chronologically more “originally” Australian.
No, Australians claiming to be the “original custodians” claim that by virtue of their “race” or genealogy - a line of connection to some of their ancestors, and only those who were Aboriginal. They asked to be judged by their “race”.
For The Australian to further assert that all Aborigines today have a “unique role as this country’s original custodians” is to compound the error. There are undoubtedly some urban Australians with Aboriginal ancestry who in fact feel no more “custodians” of land than do many non-Aboriginal Australians. Indeed, it is easy to imagine many non-Aboriginal Australians - farmers, for instance, or deep greens - who feel far more keenly their role as “custodians”. I suspect even a few tribal Aborigines were themselves a bit jack of all this “custodian” stuff, for all the New Age worshipping of it today. Not all were ecologists.
It is essentially racist to assume that one “race” of people all have feelings of one kind that are not shared by people of another “race”. We are all individuals, after all, and each with our own values and sense of responsibility.
This no-but-yes argument is repeated:
The Law Institute of Victoria argues a new provision to permit laws that are beneficial to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders would not relate to them because of their race, but “because of their unique status as Australia’s first peoples and based on their disadvantage”. Critics of the Pearson plan have failed to grasp this historical significance.Again, many Aborigines, particularly in the cities, are not actually “disadvantaged”, when measured against non-Aboriginal Australians. Some are millionaires. Some are opera singers and admired actors. Some are businessmen or professors or TV journalists. Many have jobs and their own homes. To insist they are all disadvantaged and in need of special laws on the grounds that they are Aboriginal is to impose a racial stereotype, and also to enshrine a dangerous victimology in our constitution.
If people are indeed to be helped strictly on the grounds of their “disadvantage” - their poverty, say, or the abuse they’ve suffered from the violent - then there’s no need to reference their Aboriginality when arguing their right to our help. There is no need for a race reference in the Constitution to summon us to help the poor and the vulnerable.
And there is certainly no need for this:
The third part of [Pearson’s] scheme would become part of the Constitution. And this is where the critics strike even more difficulties. A new chapter would create an indigenous representative body but there is no way this could reasonably be described as “apartheid”, as asserted by Bolt. This body would be consulted on legislative proposals affecting indigenous people. It would make no laws and provide no services. It would simply express a view. The key to understanding this element of the plan is to remember that the new body’s views would be expressed from within the nation’s constitutional arrangements, not from outside. It would be part of the Australian system of governance, not a competitor.First, The Australian is plainly wrong to imply that the scope of such a representative body would be limited. In fact, a body which must by law be “consulted on legislative proposals affecting indigenous people” could insist on being consulted on everything. Which Aboriginal Australian is not affected by our tax policies? Our defence policies? Medicare and pension policies? There will inevitably be ambit creep.
Its advice could carry substantial moral weight and no government would welcome an adverse assessment. Legally, however, its views would be purely advisory and would not be binding on parliament.
The Australian also assures us that such a body will never have real power, backed by law. It will remain purely advisory. But that assumes that the kind of judicial activism we’ve seen so far - activism that has wildly expanded the reach of the Racial Discrimination Act, for instance - will somehow not occur in this case.
That’s optimistic, to say the least. We should at the very minimum expect this new body to at some stage use the law to delay the enacting of legislation on which it claims it was not properly consulted, according to the Constitution. It is not impossible to imagine that in time this right to consultation will be vastly expanded to a right to consult on every law - and that this will become another step towards declaring a right to an Aboriginal nationhood or citizenship.
But The Australian overlooks the more basic objection. Even if such a body is given no power, this race-based division is essentially immoral. Many of us are vehemently against racial division in principle. We simply should not be dividing ourselves by “race”, and most certainly not in our constitution. This is an affront to our individuality. It is immoral.
And, of course, it is divisive, and dangerously so. It is inflammatory. It will lead to absolutely no good, and, indeed, even The Australian in this piece does not define a single advantage this change will confer on a single Aborigine. Once the principle of racial division is conceded, there will be no stopping the advocates of this newly tribalised Australia. How can we agree that Aborigines have a “unique” role as “original custodians” - a role entitling them to their own representatives and special constitutional powers - and then insist that nothing much flows from that? How can we then arbitrarily insist that they have no consequent right to their own nations, their own laws, their own compensation?
This is profoundly wrong. And it is playing with fire.
UPDATE
And as if to illustrate my point, this news today:
The Tasmanian Premier wants a parliamentary committee to look into changing the State Constitution to recognise Indigenous Tasmanians.(Thanks to readers Dan and Gab.)
Will Hodgman says ... “My Government is committed to acknowledging the Tasmanian Aboriginal community as the traditional owners of Tasmania… “
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Michael Mansell said ... many Aboriginal people would rather see actions than words.,,
“If the Government wants to do something then they’ve got to hand land back or give Aboriginal people access to political power… Now it’s time for Tasmania to once again take the lead by returning land or setting aside seats in the parliament for Aboriginal people.”
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Terror laws worked
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (8:09am)
Federal MP Andrew Nikolic says critics of the new anti-terrorism laws should admit they’ve just worked:
(Note: the five men arrested must be presumed innocent.)
The Melbourne arrests [of men suspected of plotting an Anzac Day attack] last weekend reinforce that new powers requested by police and security agencies are working. It is they, after all, who know what’s needed to defeat an agile and adaptive adversary.Those who base their opposition on the risk of “demonising” Muslims should beware what demonising would occur if a terrorism plot actually succeeded.
The five people taken into custody were detained under the lower arrest thresholds contained in the new laws. At least some of them could not have been arrested under the old (higher) thresholds. While [law academic George] Williams relies on sheiks in western Sydney to comment on the value of our counter-terrorism laws, I prefer acting Australian Federal Police commissioner Michael Phelan, who says: “The powers given to us by the government have allowed us to go early.”
(Note: the five men arrested must be presumed innocent.)
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Reason needs more advocates. That includes the coal-seam gas industry
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (8:04am)
Former WA Liberal Minister Norman Moore is right to wonder why coal-seam gas miners are such wusses in promoting their case:
In my home state of Western Australia, where commercial extraction of unconventional gas is in its infancy, fracking has been used in exploration since the 1950s and more than 780 wells have been safely fracked. Around the globe, more than two million wells have been fracked, most in the US. Access to onshore gas in the US has been credited with supporting the country’s economic recovery and has reduced carbon dioxide emissions back to 1996 levels…
The state’s Department of Mines and Petroleum says it knows of no scientifically proven case of fracking causing aquifer contamination in any country.
Whereas anti-fracking groups claim high well failure rates, credible US sources suggest the figures are much lower: 0.04 per cent failures after a year and 0.06 per cent after 30 years. Of recorded well failures, I am informed all have been minor, close to the surface and easily remediated.
This is the type of information that needs to be put forward to balance the public discussion and enable sensible consideration of a potential power source. The industry needs to respond to genuine concerns about fracking. The unconventional gas industry has been largely missing in action — apparently unable to counter the rapid flow of alarming, skewed and misinformed arguments put by its opponents… Communication is critical and presently it all seems to be coming from one side of the debate.
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Warmists who denied the pause now claim to explain it
Andrew Bolt April 24 2015 (7:15am)
I guess just the acknowledgement is progress, but I do think Matthew England at least owes an apology.
Matthew England contradicting former Senator Nick Minchin in April 2012:
Matthew England contradicting former Senator Nick Minchin in April 2012:
NICK MINCHIN: ...Basically we’ve had a plateauing of temperature rise. I mean we are in a warming phase. The world is either warming or cooling. It never stops doing nothing. It’s either warming or cooling. We’ve had a warming phase since the end of the little ice age, 150 years ago. In terms of global average temperature it peaked 1998 and it is effectively stable now, despite the increase in CO2. So there is a major problem with the warmist argument because we have had rising CO2 but we haven’t had the commensurate rise in temperature that the IPCC predicted.Matthew England in December 2012:
ANNA ROSE: That’s just not true, Nick…
MATTHEW ENGLAND: What Nick just said is actually not true. The IPCC projections of 1990 have borne out very accurately…
... we’re halfway through this projected period. And the warming to date is consistent with that [IPCC] projection.But Matthew England today:
And so anybody out there lying that the IPCC projections are overstatements or that the observations haven’t kept pace with the projections is completely offline with this. And so anybody out there lying that the IPCC projections are overstatements or that the observations haven’t kept pace with the projections is completely offline with this. The analysis is very clear that the IPCC projections are coming true.
The near two-decade long “pause” in rising average global surface temperatures was a “distraction” that did not change long-term model predictions of a much hotter world this century, according to new research.Maybe, maybe not. But this concession is interesting:
Climate scientists at University of NSW said “natural variability” could explain the slowdown or “hiatus” despite strongly rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere…
Research leader Matthew England said ... “It is simply due to decadal variability. Greenhouse gases will eventually overwhelm this natural fluctuation,” he said…
“Our research shows that while there may be short-term fluctuations … long-term warming of the planet is an inevitable consequence of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations,” he said. “This much-hyped global warming slowdown is just a distraction to the task at hand”.
The paper also suggests that decadal climate oscillations were not pushing heat into the deep oceans, another explanation for the “missing heat” and absence of surface warming.Also published now in Nature Climate Change, another paper trying to explain the pause that England once denied:
Despite a steady increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs), global-mean surface temperature (T) has shown no discernible warming since about 2000, in sharp contrast to model simulations, which on average project strong warming.
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The Lighthouse of Pigeon Point A little extended exposure at the end of the day as the light inside the old guardian turned on.
Posted by Matt Granz on Thursday, 23 April 2015
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Even the most seasoned writers sometimes forget the basics of dialogue formatting. Here's a refresher →http://bit.ly/1K8H08g
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Thursday, 23 April 2015
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Love is...! ᴷᴬ
Posted by Architecture & Design on Thursday, 23 April 2015
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VAN vs VAN
Tim Blair – Thursday, April 24, 2014 (2:07pm)
Q & A viewers are in for such a treat next Monday. As a preview, please enjoy upcoming guest Van Badham’s manic performance on Sky last year. Highlights include her claim that Tony Abbott “hates women. I think that’s very obvious to everybody … I think that it’s very clear that his hatred of women is palpable” and this exchange with bewildered host Peter van Onselen:
PVO: Do you give any credit to John Howard for …Van: No, I don’t.PVO: Hang on, let me finish. I haven’t even asked the question yet!
She’s perfect for the ABC. Van appears at the 10:40 mark:
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ANGELA’S ONLY LISTENER
Tim Blair – Thursday, April 24, 2014 (11:48am)
SMH clothtop Peter FitzSimons’s radio ratings predictions from last month:
Kyle and Jackie O will be well down on KiisFM from the heights they knew on 2DayFM.
Result: “The Kyle & Jackie O Show has moved to the uncontested top FM show in Sydney with an audience share of 10.9 per cent, according to new radio ratings published today.” Fitzy also predicted big things for 2UE morning host (and Fairfax colleague) Angela Catterns:
There has long been criticism that commercial talkback lacks strong female voices, but she is all that and more and will break the mould. 2UE will rise this year, with her at the prow. You heard it here, first!
Catterns is now second last with an audience share of just 2.7 per cent.
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Would Ormerod have defended Christ’s right to preach?
Andrew Bolt April 24 2014 (8:52am)
Reader TBear writes to the Australian Catholic University’s Professor Neil Ormerod wondering if he really is as hostile to free speech as he seems.
The disturbing answer is yes. Ormerod writes::
But I remember another body that shared Ormerod’s “common good” qualification of the right to free speech and have a question for this Catholic Professor of Theology.
Does Ormerod agree with the decision of the Sanhedrin to permanently silence someone else they also accused of speaking against the public good? Someone they damned for opposing another tax and for saying he knew better than the consensus of authorities?
The disturbing answer is yes. Ormerod writes::
I do in fact support free speech. However, like many political rights free speech is a relative right, relative to the common good to which it contributes. People may have a right to their opinions, but not necessarily a right to express those (sic) opinion in a way which does damage to the common good. If in fact climate change is real (and all the scientific evidence supports this) then those who muddy the waters with uninformed opinion with the intention of delaying action which would limit or reverse its affects, are damaging the common good.As TBear correctly notes, Ormerod’s arguments have been used by totalitarians throughout history:
So, we find that Professor Ormerod is only in favour of free speech which “supports the common good”. This is, of course, the basis for censorship in all authoritarian and totalitarian regimes and (according to Ormerod) is consistent with “Catholic social teaching”.I note Ormerod is particularly keen to restrict the right to speak of those who oppose the carbon tax and defy the so-called consensus of authorities.
But I remember another body that shared Ormerod’s “common good” qualification of the right to free speech and have a question for this Catholic Professor of Theology.
Does Ormerod agree with the decision of the Sanhedrin to permanently silence someone else they also accused of speaking against the public good? Someone they damned for opposing another tax and for saying he knew better than the consensus of authorities?
And they began to accuse Him, saying, ”We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”Where would Ormerod have stood on that fateful day? On the side of the censors or of the right to preach freely?
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Refugees just need safety. So why not Cambodia?
Andrew Bolt April 24 2014 (8:45am)
If they are safe in Cambodia, isn’t that mission accomplished? If they want something more then we’re not talking about refugees:
A deal with Cambodia to resettle asylum seekers is moving closer with Scott Morrison declaring that a country’s economic capacity is irrelevant to his expansion of a “club” of nations to take refugees…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
“It’s not about whether they are poor, it’s about whether they can be safe,” Mr Morrison said. “That’s the issue. The [refugee] convention was not designed as an economic advancement program...I would have thought the point for the UNHCR and the region is to expand the club of countries that are available...”
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On punching and mooning Tim Wilson in the name of tolerance
Andrew Bolt April 24 2014 (8:18am)
Melbourne University multiculturalism academic Shakira Hussein claims to be worried about “hate speech” that makes people feel unsafe and so “hampered its targets’ ability to access public space”:
UPDATE
Do you have to be a Leftist to be an arts academic, or is it just sheer coincidence? And do you have to be aggressive with it?
... speech that offends, insults, and humiliates (never mind intimidates) creates an atmosphere in which violence against the targets of hate-speech is seen as an acceptable course of action, even when the hate-speech itself did not directly call for it. And even when no physical violence takes place, the environment created by such speech constrains the lives of its targets in real and concrete forms.This line occurs in an article in which Hussein demonstrates the very evil she claims to condemn, indulging in abusive and violent hate-speech against Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson:
So this brown-skinned Muslim disabled single mother goes to a lecture by a libertarian socially conservative human rights commissioner… It sounds like a joke told by an Andrew Bolt fan after a long night at the pub.Like I said, Hussein is an academic.
“What’s my punch-line?” I wrote on my facebook page as I waited for Tim Wilson to appear for his in-conversation with Sally Warhaft at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.
“Left hook,” a friend responded, before correcting herself. “Oh. You said punch-line. I just saw Tim Wilson and punch. My bad."…
I put this to Wilson during the discussion period, prefacing my remark by noting that as a brown-skinned etc I had been torn between asking a question and expressing my right to freedom of expression by flashing my arse at him… Wilson waved his hand in a “go ahead” gesture, so (arse safely glued to chair) I told him that the hostile atmosphere fostered by racist speech hampered its targets’ ability to access public space and to participate in education and the workforce.
UPDATE
Do you have to be a Leftist to be an arts academic, or is it just sheer coincidence? And do you have to be aggressive with it?
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No slippery slope?
Andrew Bolt April 24 2014 (8:03am)
Those who claim there is no slippery slope have ignored plenty even before this latest news:
The world’s only ‘married’ lesbian threesome are expecting their first child.(Thanks to readers Lin and txjohn.)
Doll, Kitten and Brynn, from Massachusetts, were joined together in a marriage-style ceremony last August and are expecting a daughter in July. Kitten, 27, is pregnant after undergoing IVF treatment using an anonymous sperm donor, and the trio eventually plan to have three children - one for each of them.
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Shorten’s real plan is to survive the royal commission
Andrew Bolt April 24 2014 (7:51am)
IT SEEMS a mystery. Why does Opposition Leader Bill Shorten think last year’s defeat proves Labor’s rules must change?
That’s crazy. Who voted against Labor because only union members could join?
Shorten’s speech this week, claiming “we need to change our party” by loosening membership rules and union control of preselections, seemed even crazier from the questions afterwards from the audience.
These were the party faithful, the people Shorten says should get more say in Labor, and here is what they asked: What would he do to get up a republic? What would he do for boat people? How could he stop the media criticising Labor?
Lesson: give Labor members more say and its Leftists and closet totalitarians will run amok, making the party even less electable.
So why is Shorten pretending union connections are Labor’s real problem? Because Shorten, a former Australian Workers Union head, is not trying to recover from last year’s election but to survive this year’s royal commission into union corruption.
(Read full article here. Shorten’s 2GB interview with 2GB’s Ben Fordham this week here.)
UPDATE
Union-linked pollster Peter Lewis and Chris Kenny on Shorten’s reforms:
That’s crazy. Who voted against Labor because only union members could join?
Shorten’s speech this week, claiming “we need to change our party” by loosening membership rules and union control of preselections, seemed even crazier from the questions afterwards from the audience.
These were the party faithful, the people Shorten says should get more say in Labor, and here is what they asked: What would he do to get up a republic? What would he do for boat people? How could he stop the media criticising Labor?
Lesson: give Labor members more say and its Leftists and closet totalitarians will run amok, making the party even less electable.
So why is Shorten pretending union connections are Labor’s real problem? Because Shorten, a former Australian Workers Union head, is not trying to recover from last year’s election but to survive this year’s royal commission into union corruption.
(Read full article here. Shorten’s 2GB interview with 2GB’s Ben Fordham this week here.)
UPDATE
Union-linked pollster Peter Lewis and Chris Kenny on Shorten’s reforms:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
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NSW has a premier not quite so odd
Andrew Bolt April 24 2014 (7:33am)
Niki Savva isn’t crying for Barry O’Farrell, and says replacement Mike Baird promises to be a change for the better:
All the staff knew and liked Mike [Baird], so when O’Farrell finally made it [as Premier], they, like many others, were puzzled by the treatment the new premier meted out to the son of his former boss [MP Bruce Baird]. Fair enough, O’Farrell wanted Gladys Berejiklian to succeed him, but ranking the young treasurer at No 11 in his ministry while stripping him of many of his powers was a calculated emasculation…
O’Farrell was strange in other ways. He isolated himself. He would not tell staff when or where he was going. He would give his security detail the slip by telling them the wrong times to turn up, or dispense with them altogether. He stopped using advancers, the nuts-and-bolts logistical people who make sure events go smoothly and do much to prevent the boss looking like a dill on the telly.
He made obvious his disdain for Abbott — again, origins unknown — while pointedly cuddling up to Julia Gillard by backing her policies on education and disability.
According to those who have worked closely with Baird, he operates very differently. He is hands-on and works well with those around him… Few Liberals will say it publicly, but privately there was a deep well of frustration with O’Farrell’s slow pace and eccentric behaviour, so the switch was seen as a potential blessing in disguise.
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Conservatives were wicked for saying then what Hawke and Keating say now
Andrew Bolt April 24 2014 (7:14am)
A conservative is someone who said at the time that the Rudd and Gillard Governments were dysfunctional and divisive.
A Leftist is someone who admits it only after Labor loses office:
A Leftist is someone who admits it only after Labor loses office:
BOB Hawke and Paul Keating have given a blistering assessment of Labor in power under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and warned that retrograde policies, ineffective communication, divisive class warfare and a lack of conviction will keep the party out of office if not urgently addressed.
The two former Labor prime ministers have urged the party to undertake radical reform to reduce the power of unions and factions, steer policy back to the centre ground and heed the lessons of the often chaotic and dysfunctional Rudd-Gillard governments. ..
For the first time, the two Labor elders say the party must slash the 50 per cent weighting given to unions at state conferences — a reform Bill Shorten this week ignored…
Mr Keating said the last Labor government struggled to define its purpose… “Kevin’s government was doing reasonably badly reasonably quickly,” Mr Keating said…
Mr Hawke is critical of Labor for promulgating class warfare for political gain and criticised the development of the mining tax. “That sort of class-warfare rhetoric never resonates with me,” he said…
Mr Hawke said it was inevitable Mr Rudd would be toppled by Ms Gillard in 2010 “because he just wanted to run so much of things single-handedly” and a reaction against that was inevitable.
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Heiner Affair inquiry getting down to business
Piers Akerman – Wednesday, April 24, 2013 (12:06am)
It would seem that Prime Minister Julia Gillard is not the only Labor figure to reach for the “naïve” defence when the hard questions are asked.
Yesterday, Dean Wells, a former Labor Attorney General in the Goss government, told the Queensland Child Protection Inquiry which is looking into the Heiner Affair that the Cabinet decided to shred internal documents because they were inexperienced and wanted to protect employees from defamation.
He said the 1990 order to destroy documents from an investigation into a youth-detention centre was the Cabinet’s baptism of fire as the first “damned if we do, damned if we don’t” decision.
He is the third Cabinet minister to be summonsed to the inquiry - the first under newly expanded terms of reference - that is investigating the long-running Heiner Affair disgrace.
“We had been out of office for 32 years,” Wells said.
“We did not know what was normal and within the area of the Cabinet’s concern.
“What we did know that a minister had a problem that an inquiry that had been established by her predecessor had been pulled up.”
The Heiner Affair centres on the destruction of documents from retired magistrate Noel Heiner’s investigation into allegations of mismanagement at the John Oxley Youth Centre.
It later emerged a girl, 14, was raped at the centre in 1988 and claims grew of a coverup of sexual abuse allegations.
The girl, now a woman, at the heart of this matter, still wants justice.
She was awarded approximately $140,000 in a hush-hush ex gratia payment or possibly compensation in June, 2010, by the Bligh Labor government.
Commissioner Tim Carmody asked why the government would offer to indemnify a man, then destroy the documents which might be produced in a court in a case against that same man.
“That suggests no one thought about those two colliding facts,’’ he said.
Wells said the government believed it wrong to keep documents which he believed contained untested allegations of misconduct which did not involve criminal behavior.
But Carmody said the Cabinet knew it was dong something quite “risky” which required serious thought.
“It was such a serious decision it was deferred twice,’’ he said.
Yet the Cabinet did not appear to apply careful consideration before green-lighting the shredding.
“It (the consideration given) seems to have been less than might have been expected,’’ Carmody said.
“The questions that seems to have been obvious don’t seem to have been asked.’’
Carmody suggested the documents contained not so much allegations of child sexual abuse but accusations related to industrial strife inside the John Oxley centre.
But he also suggested there were two competing sides in the equation - one side wanted to keep the material and one side wanted it destroyed.
He suggested the Labor Cabinet had taken one side, and allowed the destruction of the documents.
The inquiry continues and the commissioner is due to decide on the criminality of the shredding of the documents on May 6.
In as much as a number of the most senior judges from across the nation have in the past decided that the shredding of documents foreshadowed to be needed as evidence was prima facie a crime, Carmody’s decision will be eagerly waited.
The Heiner Affair has never been properly investigated despite 11 reviews and it has cast a shadow over the Goss Cabinet and a number of senior public servants including the former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who was Premier Wayne Goss’s chief of staff and later director-general of his Cabinet office.
It may be that the Newman government will finally see justice done in this long-running scandal.
===
A judge has awarded the family of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby more than $50,000 in damages for family photos published without consent in a 2011 book titled Sins of the Father by journalist Eamonn Duff.
They alleged that five photos, including shots of Corby with friends at Brisbane airport and as a child on Santa's knee, were family pictures published without permission. Read more here:http://ninem.sn/SlYSqcB
Confirmation that the book Sins of the Father is factual and has only transgressed a technicality of copyright from images? ed
===
- 1479 BC – Thutmose III became the sixth Pharaohof the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, although during the first 22 years of the reign he was co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut.
- 1547 – Schmalkaldic War: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, led Imperial troops to a decisive victory in the Battle of Mühlberg over the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League of Protestantprinces.
- 1914 – The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar in the development ofquantum mechanics, was presented to the German Physical Society.
- 1922 – The first portion of the Imperial Wireless Chain, a strategic international wireless telegraphy communications network created to link the countries of the British Empire, opened.
- 1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope (pictured) was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in mission STS-31.
- 1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).
- 1184 BC – Traditional date of the fall of Troy.
- 1547 – Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.
- 1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
- 1704 – The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.
- 1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
- 1877 – Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
- 1885 – American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
- 1895 – Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop "Spray".
- 1913 – The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.
- 1914 – The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
- 1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
- 1916 – Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.
- 1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.
- 1918 – First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
- 1922 – The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
- 1923 – In Vienna, the paper Das Ich und das Es (The Ego and the Id) by Sigmund Freud is published, which outlines Freud's theories of the id, ego, and super-ego.
- 1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
- 1932 – Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
- 1933 – Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
- 1944 – World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.
- 1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
- 1955 – The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
- 1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
- 1963 – Marriage of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent to the Hon Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
- 1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
- 1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
- 1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily."
- 1970 – The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawaraas its first President.
- 1980 – Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
- 1990 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
- 1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
- 1993 – An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
- 1996 – In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.
- 2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
- 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Churchtaking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
- 2013 – A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
- 2013 – Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.
- 1492 – Sabina of Bavaria, Bavarian duchess and noblewoman (d. 1564)
- 1533 – William the Silent, German son of William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1584)
- 1581 – Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint (d. 1660)
- 1620 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (d. 1674)
- 1706 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1780)
- 1718 – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish-English painter and educator (d. 1784)
- 1743 – Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman and engineer, invented the power loom (d. 1823)
- 1784 – Peter Vivian Daniel, English lawyer and jurist (d. 1860)
- 1815 – Anthony Trollope, English novelist, essayist, and short story writer (d. 1882)
- 1823 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician, President of Mexico (d. 1889)
- 1845 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
- 1856 – Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (d. 1951)
- 1868 – Sandy Herd, Scottish golfer (d. 1944)
- 1876 – Erich Raeder, German admiral (d. 1960)
- 1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss-French painter (d. 1958)
- 1879 – Susanna Bokoyni, Hungarian-American circus performer (d. 1984)
- 1880 – Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper (d. 1954)
- 1880 – Josef Müller, Croatian entomologist (d. 1964)
- 1882 – Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Scottish-English air marshal (d. 1970)
- 1885 – Thomas Cronan, American triple jumper (d. 1962)
- 1885 – Con Walsh, Irish-Canadian hammer thrower and footballer (d. 1961)
- 1887 – Denys Finch Hatton, English hunter (d. 1931)
- 1888 – Pe Maung Tin, Burma-based scholar and educator (d. 1973)
- 1889 – Stafford Cripps, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1952)
- 1889 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and academic (d. 1924)
- 1897 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican colonel and politician, 45th President of Mexico (d. 1955)
- 1897 – Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist, anthropologist, and engineer (d. 1941)
- 1899 – Oscar Zariski, Jewish Russian-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author and educator (d. 1984)
- 1903 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician, founded the Falange (d. 1936)
- 1904 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator (d. 1997)
- 1905 – Al Bates, American long jumper (d. 1999)
- 1905 – Robert Penn Warren, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (d. 1989)
- 1906 – William Joyce, American-born Irish-British Nazi propaganda broadcaster (d. 1946)
- 1906 – Mimi Smith, English nurse (d. 1991)
- 1907 – William Sargant, English psychiatrist, theorist, and author (d. 1988)
- 1908 – Marceline Day, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1908 – Inga Gentzel, Swedish runner (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (d. 1963)
- 1912 – Ruth Osburn, American discus thrower (d. 1994)
- 1913 – Dieter Grau, German-American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
- 1914 – William Castle, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
- 1914 – Phil Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1991)
- 1914 – Justin Wilson, American chef and author (d. 2001)
- 1916 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2002)
- 1919 – David Blackwell, African-American mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
- 1919 – Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 4th President of Cyprus (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Gino Valenzano, Italian race car driver (d. 2011)
- 1922 – Marc-Adélard Tremblay, Canadian anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Doris Burn, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Clement Freud, German-English radio host, academic, and politician (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Ruth Kobart, Jewish-American actress and singer (d. 2002)
- 1925 – Franco Leccese, Italian sprinter (d. 1992)
- 1926 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, Swedish farmer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Sweden
- 1927 – Josy Barthel, Luxembourgian runner and politician, Luxembourgian Minister for Energy (d. 1992)
- 1928 – Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1930 – Jerome Callet, American instrument designer, educator, and author
- 1930 – Richard Donner, American actor, director, and producer
- 1930 – José Sarney, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 25th President of Brazil
- 1931 – Abdelhamid Kermali, Algerian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Bridget Riley, English painter and illustrator
- 1933 – Helmuth Lohner, Austrian actor and director (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1936 – David Crombie, Canadian educator and politician, 56th Mayor of Toronto
- 1936 – Jill Ireland, English actress (d. 1990)
- 1937 – Joe Henderson, African-American saxophonist and composer (d. 2001)
- 1940 – Sue Grafton, American author
- 1941 – Richard Holbrooke, American journalist, banker, and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2010)
- 1941 – John Williams, Australian-English guitarist and composer
- 1942 – Richard M. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 54th Mayor of Chicago
- 1942 – Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, and producer
- 1943 – Gordon West, English footballer (d. 2012)
- 1944 – Peter Cresswell, English judge
- 1944 – St. Clair Lee, American singer (d. 2011)
- 1944 – Maarja Nummert, Estonian architect
- 1944 – Tony Visconti, American record producer, musician and singer
- 1945 – Doug Clifford, American drummer and songwriter
- 1945 – Bob Lunn, American golfer
- 1945 – Dick Rivers, French singer and actor
- 1946 – Doug Christie, Canadian lawyer and activist (d. 2013)
- 1947 – Josep Borrell, Spanish engineer and politician, 22nd President of the European Parliament
- 1947 – João Braz de Aviz, Brazilian cardinal
- 1947 – Claude Dubois, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Denise Kingsmill, Baroness Kingsmill, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician
- 1947 – Roger D. Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1948 – Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2013)
- 1948 – Eliana Gil, Ecuadorian-American psychiatrist, therapist, and author
- 1948 – David Ingram, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1949 – Eddie Hart, American sprinter
- 1949 – Véronique Sanson, French singer-songwriter and producer
- 1951 – Ron Arad, Israeli architect and academic
- 1951 – Christian Bobin, French author and poet
- 1951 – Enda Kenny, Irish educator and politician, 13th Taoiseach of Ireland
- 1952 – Jean Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
- 1952 – Ralph Winter, American film producer
- 1953 – Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
- 1955 – Marion Caspers-Merk, German politician
- 1955 – John de Mol, Jr., Dutch businessman, co-founded Endemol
- 1955 – Eamon Gilmore, Irish trade union leader and politician, 25th Tánaiste of Ireland
- 1955 – Guy Nève, Belgian race car driver (d. 1992)
- 1955 – Michael O'Keefe, American actor
- 1955 – Bill Osborne, New Zealand rugby player
- 1956 – James A. Winnefeld, Jr., American admiral
- 1957 – Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, Pakistani-English businessman and politician
- 1958 – Brian Paddick, English police officer and politician
- 1959 – Malcolm Oastler, Australian-English engineer
- 1959 – Dave Ridgway, English-Canadian football player
- 1959 – Paula Yates, British-Australian television host and author (d. 2000)
- 1961 – Andrew Murrison, English physician and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
- 1962 – Clemens Binninger, German politician
- 1962 – Stuart Pearce, English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1962 – Steve Roach, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1963 – Paula Frazer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1963 – Billy Gould, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
- 1963 – Mano Solo, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2010)
- 1963 – Joey Vera, American bassist, songwriter, and producer
- 1964 – Helga Arendt, German sprinter (d. 2013)
- 1964 – Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian, actor, and producer
- 1964 – Djimon Hounsou, Beninese-American actor and producer
- 1964 – Witold Smorawiński, Polish guitarist, composer, and educator
- 1965 – Jeff Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
- 1966 – Pierre Brassard, Canadian comedian and actor
- 1966 – Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
- 1966 – David Usher, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1967 – Dino Rađa, Croatian basketball player
- 1967 – Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan-American baseball player and coach
- 1968 – Aidan Gillen, Irish actor
- 1968 – Todd Jones, American baseball player
- 1968 – Yuji Nagata, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
- 1968 – Roxanna Panufnik, English composer
- 1968 – Hashim Thaçi, Kosovan soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Kosovo
- 1969 – Elias Atmatsidis, Greek footballer
- 1969 – Eilidh Whiteford, Scottish academic and politician
- 1970 – Damien Fleming, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
- 1971 – Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan cricketer and umpire
- 1971 – Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1972 – Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer
- 1972 – Chipper Jones, American baseball player
- 1973 – Gabby Logan, English gymnast and radio host
- 1973 – Damon Lindelof, American screenwriter and producer
- 1973 – Brian Marshall, American bass player and songwriter
- 1973 – Peeter Rebane, Estonian film director, producer and entrepreneur
- 1973 – Eric Snow, American basketball player and coach
- 1973 – Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
- 1973 – Toomas Tohver, Estonian footballer
- 1973 – Lee Westwood, English golfer
- 1974 – Eric Kripke, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Stephen Wiltshire, English illustrator
- 1976 – Steve Finnan, Irish footballer
- 1976 – Frédéric Niemeyer, Canadian tennis player and coach
- 1977 – Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
- 1978 – Diego Quintana, Argentine footballer
- 1980 – Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player (d. 2008)
- 1981 – Taylor Dent, American tennis player
- 1981 – Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer
- 1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1982 – David Oliver, American hurdler
- 1982 – Simon Tischer, German volleyball player
- 1983 – Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete
- 1984 – Tyson Ritter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1985 – Mike Rodgers, American sprinter
- 1986 – Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Kristopher Letang, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist
- 1987 – Jan Vertonghen, Belgian footballer
- 1989 – Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player
- 1989 – David Boudia, American diver
- 1989 – Taja Mohorčič, Slovenian tennis player
- 1990 – Kim Tae-ri, South Korean actress
- 1990 – Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player
- 1991 – Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model
- 1991 – Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer
- 1992 – Laura Trott, English cyclist
- 1993 – Ben Davies, Welsh footballer
- 1997 – Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer
- 1997 – Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player
Births[edit]
- 624 – Mellitus, English archbishop
- 1149 – Petronille de Chemillé, abbess of Fontevrault
- 1288 – Gertrude of Austria (b. 1226)
- 1338 – Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat (b. 1291)
- 1479 – Jorge Manrique, Spanish poet (b. 1440)
- 1513 – Şehzade Ahmet, oldest son of Sultan Bayezid II (b. 1465)
- 1617 – Concino Concini, Italian-French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1575)
- 1622 – Fidelis of Sigmaringen, German friar and saint (b. 1577)
- 1656 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (b. 1561)
- 1731 – Daniel Defoe, English journalist, novelist, and spy (b. 1660)
- 1748 – Anton thor Helle, German-Estonian clergyman and translator (b. 1683)
- 1779 – Eleazar Wheelock, American minister and academic, founded Dartmouth College (b. 1711)
- 1794 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician (b. 1719)
- 1852 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (b. 1783)
- 1891 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German field marshal (b. 1800)
- 1924 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (b. 1844)
- 1931 – David Kldiashvili, Georgian author and playwright (b. 1862)
- 1935 – Anastasios Papoulas, Greek general (b. 1857)
- 1938 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (b. 1863)
- 1939 – Louis Trousselier, French cyclist (b. 1881)
- 1941 – Karin Boye, Swedish author and poet (b. 1900)
- 1942 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (b. 1874)
- 1944 – Charles Jordan, American magician (b. 1888)
- 1945 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (b. 1899)
- 1947 – Hans Biebow, German SS officer (b. 1902)
- 1947 – Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1873)
- 1948 – Jāzeps Vītols, Latvian composer (b. 1863)
- 1954 – Guy Mairesse, French race car driver (b. 1910)
- 1960 – Max von Laue, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- 1961 – Lee Moran, American actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1888)
- 1962 – Milt Franklyn, American composer (b. 1897)
- 1964 – Gerhard Domagk, German pathologist and bacteriologist (b. 1895)
- 1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress (b. 1878)
- 1966 – Simon Chikovani, Georgian poet and author (b. 1902)
- 1967 – Vladimir Komarov, Russian pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1927)
- 1970 – Otis Spann, American singer and pianist (b. 1930)
- 1972 – Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)
- 1974 – Bud Abbott, American comedian and producer (b. 1895)
- 1975 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Badfinger) (b. 1947)
- 1976 – Mark Tobey, American-Swiss painter and educator (b. 1890)
- 1980 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (b. 1904)
- 1982 – Ville Ritola, Finnish runner (b. 1896)
- 1983 – Erol Güngör, Turkish sociologist, psychologist, and academic (b. 1938)
- 1983 – Rolf Stommelen, German race car driver (b. 1943)
- 1984 – Rafael Pérez y Pérez, Spanish author (b. 1891)
- 1993 – Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer and activist (b. 1917)
- 1993 – Tran Duc Thao, Vietnamese philosopher and theorist (b. 1917)
- 1995 – Lodewijk Bruckman, Dutch painter (b. 1903)
- 1997 – Allan Francovich, American director and producer (b. 1941)
- 1997 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian and activist (b. 1927)
- 1997 – Eugene Stoner, American engineer, designed the AR-15 rifle (b. 1922)
- 2001 – Josef Peters, German racing driver (b. 1914)
- 2002 – Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourgian sculptor (b. 1908)
- 2004 – José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and producer (b. 1923)
- 2004 – Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies (b. 1906)
- 2005 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (b. 1924)
- 2005 – Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist and academic (b. 1910)
- 2006 – Brian Labone, English footballer (b. 1940)
- 2006 – Moshe Teitelbaum, Romanian-American rabbi and author (b. 1914)
- 2008 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philanthropist (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect, designed Haas House (b. 1934)
- 2014 – Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Shobha Nagi Reddy, Indian politician (b. 1968)
- 2014 – Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs(b. 1922)
- 2016 – Tommy Kono, American weightlifter and coach (b. 1930)
Deaths[edit]
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which Arbor Day (United States) can fall, while April 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Friday in April. (United States)
- Earliest day on which Turkmen Racing Horse Festival can fall, while April 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in April. (Turkmenistan)
- Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia)
- Concord Day (Niger)
- Children's Day (Zambia)
- Democracy Day (Nepal)
- Fashion Revolution Day
- Flag Day (Ireland)
- International Sculpture Day
- Kapyong Day (Australia,Canada)
- Labour Safety Day (Bangladesh)
- National Panchayati Raj Day (India)
- Republic Day (The Gambia)
- World Day for Laboratory Animals
Holidays and observances[edit]
“It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”” - Romans 14:11
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
We go to Christ for forgiveness, and then too often look to the law for power to fight our sins. Paul thus rebukes us, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" Take your sins to Christ's cross, for the old man can only be crucified there: we are crucified with him. The only weapon to fight sin with is the spear which pierced the side of Jesus. To give an illustration--you want to overcome an angry temper; how do you go to work? It is very possible you have never tried the right way of going to Jesus with it. How did I get salvation? I came to Jesus just as I was, and I trusted him to save me. I must kill my angry temper in the same way. It is the only way in which I can ever kill it. I must go to the cross with it, and say to Jesus, "Lord, I trust thee to deliver me from it." This is the only way to give it a death-blow. Are you covetous? Do you feel the world entangle you? You may struggle against this evil so long as you please, but if it be your besetting sin, you will never be delivered from it in any way but by the blood of Jesus. Take it to Christ. Tell him, "Lord, I have trusted thee, and thy name is Jesus, for thou dost save thy people from their sins: Lord, this is one of my sins; save me from it!" Ordinances are nothing without Christ as a means of mortification. Your prayers, and your repentances, and your tears--the whole of them put together--are worth nothing apart from him. "None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good;" or helpless saints either. You must be conquerors through him who hath loved you, if conquerors at all. Our laurels must grow among his olives in Gethsemane.
Evening
Why should our exalted Lord appear in his wounds in glory? The wounds of Jesus are his glories, his jewels, his sacred ornaments. To the eye of the believer, Jesus is passing fair because he is "white and ruddy:" white with innocence, and ruddy with his own blood. We see him as the lily of matchless purity, and as the rose crimsoned with his own gore. Christ is lovely upon Olivet and Tabor, and by the sea, but oh! there never was such a matchless Christ as he that did hang upon the cross. There we beheld all his beauties in perfection, all his attributes developed, all his love drawn out, all his character expressed. Beloved, the wounds of Jesus are far more fair in our eyes than all the splendour and pomp of kings. The thorny crown is more than an imperial diadem. It is true that he bears not now the sceptre of reed, but there was a glory in it that never flashed from sceptre of gold. Jesus wears the appearance of a slain Lamb as his court dress in which he wooed our souls, and redeemed them by his complete atonement. Nor are these only the ornaments of Christ: they are the trophies of his love and of his victory. He has divided the spoil with the strong. He has redeemed for himself a great multitude whom no man can number, and these scars are the memorials of the fight. Ah! if Christ thus loves to retain the thought of his sufferings for his people, how precious should his wounds be to us!
"Behold how every wound of his
A precious balm distils,
Which heals the scars that sin had made,
And cures all mortal ills.
"Those wounds are mouths that preach his grace;
The ensigns of his love;
The seals of our expected bliss
In paradise above."
===
Today's reading: 2 Samuel 16-18, Luke 17:20-37 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 2 Samuel 16-18
David and Ziba
1 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.
2 The king asked Ziba, "Why have you brought these?"
Ziba answered, "The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness."
3 The king then asked, "Where is your master's grandson?"
Ziba said to him, "He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, 'Today the Israelites will restore to me my grandfather's kingdom.'"
4 Then the king said to Ziba, "All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours."
"I humbly bow," Ziba said. "May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king...."
Today's New Testament reading: Luke 17:20-37
The Coming of the Kingdom of God
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is in your midst."
22 Then he said to his disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23People will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation....
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Today's Lent reading: 1 Corinthians 15 (NIV)
View today's Lent reading on Bible GatewayThe Resurrection of Christ
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
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