I thought it good to see a sleep specialist as I needed alternatives for my APAP, I'm considering the micro CPAP. Also a hose was damaged recently and I need a replacement. When I last got my APAP an upgrade was available for free, but I had lost everything in the raw sewage flood including redemption items, and I hoped to get that fixed up.
I asked my previous sleep specialist for their notes on my case. They had previously said that so long as I was compliant with using the APAP machine I was cured. Turns out all notes following my initial prognosis have disappeared. So My doctor booked me for a sleep study. I pointed out that a sleep study was absurd when all the necessary data was on my machine. She found a specialist who could bulk bill. Only, they would not bulk bill. They said it would be $150 but I'd get back 85%. I made the booking. I waited for the appointment. A few days before the appointment I was told I needed $250 cash. I made the withdrawal. Saw the specialist. and paid $200.
The specialist was cheerful and suggested weight management unprompted. They want to see me again next year. They could not help me regarding the APAP or advise me regarding micro CPAP. They did not have the necessary software to read my machine data (ResMed) but could read from the machine and said I was cured so long as I was compliant. They filled out part of the medical waiver. Reception gave me a receipt and directed me to Centrelink.
An optometrist completed part of the waiver, and my doctor said it was ok to ignore the rest re Diabetes and Heart issues.
Today, Centrelink got me to use the Medicare App. They informed me I would get back 64%. I'm not feeling charitable. But, it is a result. I get the drivers license, expert advice and one day, I'll be on my feet again, financially.
I am a decent man and don't care for 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 Harold Land
Yes are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968, generally regarded as one of the archetypal bands and pioneers of the genre. Despite many lineup changes, occasional splits within the group and the ever-changing trends in popular music, the band has continued for over forty years and still retains a large following
=== from 2016 ===
The teacher refugee support movement is misnamed, because they aren’t supporting refugees. Refugees are often trapped for years in a UN camp, unable to get placement because economic migrants and terrorists steal their places after employing people smugglers. The economic migrants risk drowning through accident or piracy. In some cases, it has been claimed terrorists have killed Christians on the journey. But the Christians were fleeing persecution. The teachers wearing refugee ‘supporting’ t shirts would be contravening the teacher’s code of conduct. Only, corruption within teacher ranks means that the code of conduct does not apply to them. In NSW, the Teacher’s Code of Conduct (2005) had been written so that the Premier of NSW could persecute me. I had not done anything wrong, but had responsibly reported on a teacher pedophile issue that had been bungled in investigation, and the subsequent death of a school child that had been covered up. An old school friend of mine had been working in the corrupt office of attorney general Jeff Shaw, and then moved to the NSW Premier’s office under Morris Iemma. They told me they had written the legislation. When a local Director of schools was parachuted into position, they instructed me to delete my writings under the code of conduct. Their words they employed had been the same as my old school friend.
Australia needs migrants, and lots of them. The issue of boat people is not about restricting migration, but about strong borders being fairer, more compassionate. Without boat migration, people don’t drown. Border security is better. But the press and ALP and Greens seem to like drowning families. Seem to like feeding terrorists. One can support refugees by calling for stronger borders.
Meanwhile in Victoria, the Education Department is being criticised for releasing the correct results early to some students. It was important that the government had a large number of support services available for students who were finally told what they had achieved from two years of study, which they probably already knew. Hopefully it won’t be shown that these services don’t actually address anything. The government is usually relied upon to release incorrect results. Maybe when Australia earns a top three position in world education, teachers can indulge in their fantasy projects.
Australia needs migrants, and lots of them. The issue of boat people is not about restricting migration, but about strong borders being fairer, more compassionate. Without boat migration, people don’t drown. Border security is better. But the press and ALP and Greens seem to like drowning families. Seem to like feeding terrorists. One can support refugees by calling for stronger borders.
Meanwhile in Victoria, the Education Department is being criticised for releasing the correct results early to some students. It was important that the government had a large number of support services available for students who were finally told what they had achieved from two years of study, which they probably already knew. Hopefully it won’t be shown that these services don’t actually address anything. The government is usually relied upon to release incorrect results. Maybe when Australia earns a top three position in world education, teachers can indulge in their fantasy projects.
=== from 2015 ===
Stephen Colbert uses Christians from Syria for laughs. Because it is funny to the people of the left that people they don't understand are raped, beheaded, abused and slaughtered. It fits with left wing thinking that elevates the desperate dying to reach Western nations after being exploited by pirates. Colbert could have a whole raft of jokes there. Don't forget the exploitation, Stephen, plenty of good guffaws at ISIS profiting $10-$20k a person. Don't let the GOP get away with helping the desperate and needy. If you work it right, maybe Trump will be candidate for the GOP for President. But if you work it better, Corey Booker will decide to run as a Dem, lose, but get Hillary elected. That would be a right royal laugh, right? And maybe as the last Christian in Syria is gutted for your amusement, you can chuckle.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
From 2014
A great thing about China becoming wealthy is that their rich and middle class that rely on efficient markets are not going to tolerate corrupt interference from the communist state. They will force reform, and bring the administration towards working for China's national interests. Not by stealing foreign land, but by commerce. But, consider the changing of the guard that has the US being placed second in their economy to China in the world. The last time that was the case, US Grant was President. Highly criticised as a President, US Grant nonetheless oversaw a US economy on the ascendant. Obama promised Change, and this impressive statistic won't be the only record of his Presidency.
Australia has a similar leader of a political party as Obama, Bill Shorten is leader of the ALP and in opposition to the government. Shorten has not got a policy or vision of Australia as a nation. Shorten is a lawyer and union hack who has a faulty memory which reliably protects him from charges of corruption. He cannot be trusted and has backflipped to remove previous ALP leaders while climbing the greasy pole of ambition. Shorten opposes policy like maternity leave for working women. He opposed the baby bonus which was to provide a kind of maternity leave for poor women too. One guesses he doesn't like women he doesn't sleep with and hates their families too. He is also popular with the partisan press.
There are reasons why the ALP is popular when it is shown to be corrupt and inept. When the conservative parties lean to the left. Conservative parties cannot lean far enough to the left to attract votes, ever. Neither should they. All they need do is assert a conservative vision which offer competence and growth. But South Australian conservatives have abandoned conservatism in embracing populist, feel good items that promote minorities at the expense of cultural assets. So SA Liberals lurch to left and lose a heartland seat.
Asked to cut 5%, ABC management panics and cuts their regional services. Only the regional services are the only reason for ABC being, it isn't a commercial venture, but something requiring government funds to operate. It turns out the plans to drop regional service predated the cuts. But now ABC personnel are facing the chop and panicking. Some hysterically call the ABC's process for culling employees similar to the Hunger Games. The panicking staff are striking. The over paid presenters, however, while their colleagues strike, are on paid annual leave.
Mr Howard was correct to call out Cate Blanchett over her overblown oratory for Whitlam's funeral. She lied about free education. Education is not free. Somebody pays for it. Whitlam's bad policy was unaffordable and did not last. Blanchett claimed that such poverty inducing failure was laudable. Mr Howard has corrected her.
Mr Abbott mentioned in interview when presented with polls showing his government was not popular that Prime Minister Howard, President Reagan and Prime Minister (UK) Margaret Thatcher all struggled early in polls. Mr Abbott's point is that those three administrations were all long and effective. However, the partisan press have run with Mr Abbott's words meaning that he compared himself favourably with those three. As if Mr Abbott was, as a person, like Howard, Reagan and Thatcher. Mr Abbott did not claim what was reported, he is a gracious man and humble and those partisans who abuse him are beneath contempt.
Mars curiosities appear as an image in a smooth expanse shows a different terrain in the shape of a circle. The geological formation is curious, and some tin hatted peoples are saying it is unnatural. What unnatural thing could it be? A galactic USB port? An iPhone recharger? LBJ's nuclear activation button? Here at the conservative voice, we welcome suggestions as to what it is.
From 2013
Soon, responsible adults in government will deliver a shock to ABC followers who are unaware that Slush funds have been used to embezzle the nations poorest workers, exploited by senior ALP members. The full extent of the corruption is not yet known. In all likelihood, Fair Work will have to be restructured. I feel a Fair Work VP like Graham Watson should be promoted to oversee the full operations. He has an ALP profile, but is independent having done excellent work in the past with Costello on the Dockside workers. I don't have inside information on him (he is a cousin of mine) but I do know neither Gillard nor Rudd did him any favours.
Those that are badly abused for being conservative can't reply the same way. They just have to be better than their opponents. The result can sometimes be startling, as when Red Kerry took out Rudd's glass jaw with a simple question. Gillard subsequently rolled Rudd .. and the rest is history. Red Kerry stepped away from the 7:30 report. Still, the 7:30 report has not improved. But getting back to the point, the best way to deal with abuse is to be competent. Heckling can be destabilising and should never be encouraged. The demolition of Premier Nick Greiner is a shining example of how heckling can succeed to damage much. Hot heads are wanting to advise Mr Abbott. Better to allow Mr Abbott to do what is right.
$6 billion did little to reduce Australia's production of plant food. Eiffel tower is beautiful, but the light tribute to Mandela has not yet happened. One suspects that a computer game will not overthrow capitalism, but cashed up developers are welcome to try. Just don't label it educational. Obama has now ruled it is legal to hunt endangered birds with a wind mill. Fairfax stereotypes the image of a female. ABC pays a woman less than any man. Lefties use children as fodder for marketing. Fairfax targets a female conservative with misogynistic heckling campaign.
Friendly reminder. This is a discussion page, not a shared anger site. We argue ideas and politely disagree by providing substance. I note some have recently taken to posting abusive style material from ADL type sites. It is ok for you to hold those opinions, but the unsubstantiated abuse they spread isn't helpful for discussion. Before posting an item that states that Presbyterians are raping Martian Women because of their religious beliefs, ask yourself if you are posting something that is verifiable or merely outraged opinion. It will save me from having to direct my team to delete it .. and you.
Presbyterian youths aren't used to Martian customs .. they view their summer dress as a cat views its' dinner .. .. and yet they live among Martians, enjoying their lifestyle and income when it suits them, then go off to fight in Presbyterian wars that Martians have nothing to do with. There are basically two types of Presbyterians. One type believes in spiritual matters in which their central prophet will one day be restored to them, the other believe in very little, but are pragmatic in decision making. The spiritualists are more numerous around the world. The pragmatists tend to be excellent dictators in the fascist mould. I note some Martians praise some Presbyterians. "They don't kill many of us. The others are worse." Some say the US President was raised and remains a Presbyterian. Although there is pictorial evidence and a ghost written biography, most Martians feel he is really an apostate with atheist tendencies .. which is a perfect description for most Presbyterians who scuff Pork rolls, drink liquor and generally carouse with opposite gender animals they call pets when their youthful males aren't buggering each other.
Those that are badly abused for being conservative can't reply the same way. They just have to be better than their opponents. The result can sometimes be startling, as when Red Kerry took out Rudd's glass jaw with a simple question. Gillard subsequently rolled Rudd .. and the rest is history. Red Kerry stepped away from the 7:30 report. Still, the 7:30 report has not improved. But getting back to the point, the best way to deal with abuse is to be competent. Heckling can be destabilising and should never be encouraged. The demolition of Premier Nick Greiner is a shining example of how heckling can succeed to damage much. Hot heads are wanting to advise Mr Abbott. Better to allow Mr Abbott to do what is right.
$6 billion did little to reduce Australia's production of plant food. Eiffel tower is beautiful, but the light tribute to Mandela has not yet happened. One suspects that a computer game will not overthrow capitalism, but cashed up developers are welcome to try. Just don't label it educational. Obama has now ruled it is legal to hunt endangered birds with a wind mill. Fairfax stereotypes the image of a female. ABC pays a woman less than any man. Lefties use children as fodder for marketing. Fairfax targets a female conservative with misogynistic heckling campaign.
Friendly reminder. This is a discussion page, not a shared anger site. We argue ideas and politely disagree by providing substance. I note some have recently taken to posting abusive style material from ADL type sites. It is ok for you to hold those opinions, but the unsubstantiated abuse they spread isn't helpful for discussion. Before posting an item that states that Presbyterians are raping Martian Women because of their religious beliefs, ask yourself if you are posting something that is verifiable or merely outraged opinion. It will save me from having to direct my team to delete it .. and you.
Presbyterian youths aren't used to Martian customs .. they view their summer dress as a cat views its' dinner .. .. and yet they live among Martians, enjoying their lifestyle and income when it suits them, then go off to fight in Presbyterian wars that Martians have nothing to do with. There are basically two types of Presbyterians. One type believes in spiritual matters in which their central prophet will one day be restored to them, the other believe in very little, but are pragmatic in decision making. The spiritualists are more numerous around the world. The pragmatists tend to be excellent dictators in the fascist mould. I note some Martians praise some Presbyterians. "They don't kill many of us. The others are worse." Some say the US President was raised and remains a Presbyterian. Although there is pictorial evidence and a ghost written biography, most Martians feel he is really an apostate with atheist tendencies .. which is a perfect description for most Presbyterians who scuff Pork rolls, drink liquor and generally carouse with opposite gender animals they call pets when their youthful males aren't buggering each other.
Historical perspective on this day
In 395, Later Yan was defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope. In 757, Du Fu returned to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion. In 1432, the first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis was fought near the town of Oszmiana (Ashmyany), launching the most active phase of the Lithuanian Civil War. In 1560, the city of Guarulhos is founded. In 1596, Luis de Carabajal the younger, one of the first Jewish authors in the Americas, died in an auto-da-fé during the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico City. In 1660, a woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appeared on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello.
In 1813, premier of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. In 1854, in his Apostolic constitutionIneffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin. In 1907, King Gustaf V of Sweden acceded to the Swedish throne. In 1912, leaders of the German Empire held an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out. In 1914, World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeated an inferior squadron of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. In 1927, the Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks, was founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings. In 1941, World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declared war on Japan. Also, World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.) In 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was established to provide aid to Palestinian refugees who left their homes during the 1948 Palestinian exodus.
In 1953, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which led to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world. In 1962, workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) went on strike for 114 days. In 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, was struck by lightning and crashed near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. In 1966, the Greek ship SS Heraklion sank in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200. In 1969, an Olympic Airways Douglas DC-6 struck a mountainoutside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90—the worst crash of a DC-6. In 1971, Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launched an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi. In 1972, United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashed after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. The crash was the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737. In 1974, a plebiscite resulted in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.
In 1980, John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City. In 1982, in Suriname, several opponents of the military government were killed. In 1987, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed. Also, Frank Vitkovic shot and killed eight people at the Australia Post building in Melbourne, before jumping to his death. Also, the Alianza Lima air disaster occurred. Also, an Israeli army tank transporter killed four Palestinian refugees and injured seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, sparking the First Intifada. In 1988, a United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashed into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others. In 1991, the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. Also, the Romanian Constitution was adopted in a referendum. In 1998, Eighty-one people were killed by armed groups in Algeria. In 2004, the Cusco Declaration was signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations. In 2007, three unidentified gunmen stormed an office of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party in Balochistan. Three PPP supporters were killed. In 2009, Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 127 and injured 448. In 2010, with the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. Also, the Japanese solar-sailspacecraft IKAROS passed the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.
In 1813, premier of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. In 1854, in his Apostolic constitutionIneffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin. In 1907, King Gustaf V of Sweden acceded to the Swedish throne. In 1912, leaders of the German Empire held an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out. In 1914, World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeated an inferior squadron of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. In 1927, the Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks, was founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings. In 1941, World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declared war on Japan. Also, World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.) In 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was established to provide aid to Palestinian refugees who left their homes during the 1948 Palestinian exodus.
In 1953, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which led to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world. In 1962, workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) went on strike for 114 days. In 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, was struck by lightning and crashed near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. In 1966, the Greek ship SS Heraklion sank in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200. In 1969, an Olympic Airways Douglas DC-6 struck a mountainoutside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90—the worst crash of a DC-6. In 1971, Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launched an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi. In 1972, United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashed after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. The crash was the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737. In 1974, a plebiscite resulted in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.
In 1980, John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City. In 1982, in Suriname, several opponents of the military government were killed. In 1987, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed. Also, Frank Vitkovic shot and killed eight people at the Australia Post building in Melbourne, before jumping to his death. Also, the Alianza Lima air disaster occurred. Also, an Israeli army tank transporter killed four Palestinian refugees and injured seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, sparking the First Intifada. In 1988, a United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashed into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others. In 1991, the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. Also, the Romanian Constitution was adopted in a referendum. In 1998, Eighty-one people were killed by armed groups in Algeria. In 2004, the Cusco Declaration was signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations. In 2007, three unidentified gunmen stormed an office of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party in Balochistan. Three PPP supporters were killed. In 2009, Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 127 and injured 448. In 2010, with the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. Also, the Japanese solar-sailspacecraft IKAROS passed the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.
=== 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
- 65 BC– Horace, Roman poet (d. 8 BC)
- 1542 – Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
- 1724 – Claude Balbastre, French composer and organist (d. 1799)
- 1765 – Eli Whitney, American inventor, invented the cotton gin (d. 1825)
- 1861 – William C. Durant, American businessman, founded General Motors and Chevrolet (d. 1947)
- 1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
- 1894 – James Thurber, American author and illustrator (d. 1961)
- 1922 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter (d. 2011)
- 1925 – Sammy Davis, Jr., American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1990)
- 1936 – David Carradine, American actor (d. 2009)
- 1943 – Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter and poet (The Doors and Rick & the Ravens) (d. 1971)
- 1959 – Mark Steyn, Canadian-American author and critic
- 1961 – Ann Coulter, American lawyer and author
- 1982 – Nicki Minaj, Trinidadian-American rapper
- 1996 – Teala Dunn, American actress
- 1432 – The first battle of the Lithuanian Civil War between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitiswas fought near the modern town of Ashmyany.
- 1854 – In his apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin.
- 1941 – Second World War: Led by Takashi Sakai, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Hong Kong and quickly achieved air superiority by bombing Kai Tak Airport.
- 1980 – Former Beatle John Lennon (pictured with Yoko Ono) was shot and killed in the entrance of the Dakota apartments in New York City.
- 1998 – The Australian Cricket Board's cover-up of Shane Warne and Mark Waugh's involvement with bookmakers was revealed.
Deaths
- 899 – Arnulf of Carinthia (b. 850)
- 1626 – John Davies, English poet, lawyer, and politician (b. 1569)
- 1632 – Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1561)
- 1638 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet (b. 1589)
- 1643 – John Pym, English politician (b. 1583)
- 1649 – Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (b. 1613)
- 1680 – Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, English politician (b. 1606)
- 1691 – Richard Baxter, English minister, poet, and hymn-writer(b. 1615)
- 1695 – Barthélemy d'Herbelot, French orientalist and academic (b. 1625)
- 1709 – Thomas Corneille, French playwright and philologist (b. 1625)
- 1722 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine, German wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (b. 1652)
- 1744 – Marie Anne de Mailly, French mistress of Louis XV of France (b. 1717)
- 1745 – Étienne Fourmont, French orientalist and academic (b. 1683)
- 1746 – Charles Radclyffe, English courtier and soldier (b. 1693)
- 1756 – William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, English politician and diplomat, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1690)
- 1768 – Jean Denis Attiret, French painter and missionary (b. 1702)
- 1779 – Nathan Alcock, English physician (b. 1707)
- 1793 – Madame du Barry, French mistress of Louis XV of France (b. 1743)
- 1811 – Eliza Poe, English-American actress (b. 1787)
- 1830 – Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French politician and author (b. 1767)
- 1859 – Thomas De Quincey, English author (b. 1785)
- 1864 – George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1815)
- 1869 – Narcisa de Jesús, Ecuadorian saint (b. 1832)
- 1885 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1821)
- 1894 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1821)
- 1954 – Gladys George, American actress and singer (b. 1904)
- 1978 – Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
- 1980 – John Lennon, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (The Beatles, Plastic Ono Band, The Quarrymen) (b. 1940)
- 1983 – Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2003 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club and Estrellas de Areito) (b. 1919)
- 2013 – Hung Sin-nui, Chinese actress and singer (b. 1924)
Andrew Bolt 2017
BOLT VS BOLT AND PETE ON THE YOUNG IPA PODCAST
My interview with James Bolt and Peter Gregory on the Young IPA podcast. I may have got a touch too much of the Milos, because I get rather cross with Senator Jane Hume. Listen here.
Tim Blair
ON THE SUNNI SIDE OF THE STREET
MAYBE SHE WON THE POPULAR VOTE
COURTROOM CAPERS CONTINUE
K-MART CASTROS
Andrew Bolt
Turnbull's bungled plot to give us another carbon tax
MORE T, BISHOP?
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 08, 2015 (1:16pm)
Foreign minister Julie Bishop – or, more precisely, someone in her press department – really struggles with the name of Australia’s closest ally. Here’s a Bishop media release from 2014:
Everything I’m doing in the United Sates is with their interests in mind.
A release from earlier this year:
Our Alliance with the United Sates is at the heart of our foreign and security policy.
And today:
Our Alliance with the United Sates is the bedrock of foreign and defence policy and we are working closely together …
Presumably Bishop approves these releases. The foreign minister may not be what you’d call a details person. Then again, Bishop and her department never have any similar problems with the spelling of Islamic State.
UPDATE. Proof, if any were needed, that our government is ridiculous: “Bishop talks innovation at climate summit.”
STAY CALM AND KEEP FILMING
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 08, 2015 (12:43pm)
David Pethers took action on Saturday when an Islamic terrorist attacked people at a London Tube station. Others were less useful:
The suspect had stabbed and “sawed” a 56-year-old musician in the arm and neck with a long-bladed box cutter …David slammed bystanders who filmed the action on their phones rather than trying to help. He said: “There were so many opportunities where someone could have grabbed him.”
Those bystanders should be charged.
THIS WILL SOLVE EVERYTHING
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 08, 2015 (12:29pm)
Let’s call everyone “they"!
CAN’T WALK, CAN’T CHEW
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 08, 2015 (10:57am)
The Great Innovator struggles with multiple topics:
LEIGH SALES: There’s lots of issues. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.MALCOLM TURNBULL: But, no, well, the problem is we can’t.
He’s turning into Julia Gillard. And, as it happens, the Coalition’s two-party advantage under Turnbull remains exactlyat Labor’s margin following Gillard’s knifing of Kevin Rudd.
SIX YEARS LATER
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 08, 2015 (10:20am)
Daniel Greenfield spots a rare concession from Barack Obama:
After spending all that time fighting tooth and nail against classifying Nidal Hassan’s Fort Hood Massacre as an attack, Obama just slipped it into his Oval Office speech. “As we’ve become better at preventing complex multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in Chattanooga earlier this year, and now in San Bernardino.”So it’s not “workplace violence” anymore.
Further on this in today’s editorial.
Busy and grateful
Andrew Bolt December 08 2015 (1:01pm)
I am going to be very busy on a project for the ABC, of all things, over the next couple of weeks.
I will drop in now and then when mood and events dictate.
Have a wonderful Christmas filled with this kind of spirit:
===I will drop in now and then when mood and events dictate.
Have a wonderful Christmas filled with this kind of spirit:
Newspoll: cooling on Turnbull, but who’d vote for Shorten? UPDATE: Essential tight
Andrew Bolt December 08 2015 (11:42am)
Bill Shorten and his Treasury spokesman, Chris Bowen, just haven’t done the work and made the changes Labor needs to look like a serious alternative.
So while the latest Newspoll shows some cooling on Malcolm Turnbull, it isn’t enough to make voters want to gamble on Shorten:
The Essential poll says it is much tighter - Coalition 51 to Labor 49.
===So while the latest Newspoll shows some cooling on Malcolm Turnbull, it isn’t enough to make voters want to gamble on Shorten:
Satisfaction with Mr Turnbull’s performance as Prime Minister tumbled eight points to 52 per cent in the past fortnight, while his disapproval climbed by eight points to 30 per cent…UPDATE
Voters also marked down Mr Shorten, with his satisfaction falling three points to reach his record low of 23 per cent, which is also the lowest for any opposition leader since 2003....
Based on preference flows from the last election, the Coalition’s two-party-preferred lead is unchanged at 53 per cent to Labor’s 47 per cent.
The Essential poll says it is much tighter - Coalition 51 to Labor 49.
Hockey on revenge
Andrew Bolt December 08 2015 (10:28am)
Really?
===Joe Hockey has said if he did not retire from the Parliament he would have been focused on “getting even with people” who contributed to his downfall as treasurer.Is that why Malcolm Turnbull made him our Ambassador to Washington?
Turnbull spends another billion on nothing
Andrew Bolt December 08 2015 (10:04am)
Terry McCrann says Malcolm Turnbull’s innovation statements is just another Big Government boondoggle:
===OH good grief! I’m from the government and am here to help you innovate.
The first thing to be said about “Malcolm Turnbull’s Innovation Statement” is exactly that. It is his; he owns it completely, both the hapless hopelessness of the specific initiatives (sic) and the tired 20th century left-of-centre bureaucratic mindset on which they are based....
Yes, yesterday’s statement was a “Turnbull Policy” but one which was at the same time unthreatening and of absolutely no — positive — consequence.
That indeed is the best thing that can be said about it: that it’s irrelevant; that the government is only wasting $1 billion. This is though, a rather telling indicator of the big government mindset of the Turnbull Government, coming as it does after last week’s announcement it would throw away another $1 billion on climate change stupidity…
But even if just (fiscal) “straws”, the two initiatives are still more straws on the taxpayer’s back.
Government spending this year will run at 25.9 per cent of GDP for the second successive year — all-but as high as the 26 per cent peak of the Rudd-Gillard years when all that money was splurged to save us from the GFC. Yes, the extra $2 billion (over four years) will hardly increase that, but goodness me, the PM should be announcing initiatives to CUT that spending, not increase it, even if marginally.
For a statement about policies supposedly to promote innovation, Turnbull’s statement was strikingly lacking in innovation. Ask yourself: do you think the “usual policy suspects” of a few minor tax breaks, handing out more taxpayer money to the (now thoroughly climate change corrupted) CSIRO, various other research grants, a new “entrepreneurs visa”, and so-called “landing pads” in Silicon Valley, are going to birth the next Steve Jobs and let a thousand Apples bloom?
Costello: no early election
Andrew Bolt December 08 2015 (9:59am)
Peter Costello says there shouldn’t be an early election - which I’ve actually suggested:
===The election for the House of Representatives and half the Senate cannot be held before August 6 and must be held by January 14, 2017....
Only a double dissolution (which means electing the full Senate) could allow the Government to get off to the polls in the first half of the year.
I don’t think there will be an early election. First, it would be harder for the Coalition to improve its Senate position via a double dissolution....
I have heard people say that the Government would like an election before it delivers the next Budget in May. But these days that is hardly an advantage.
The Budget position is pretty well known (it is bad) and even if the Government doesn’t update the figures there is an independent update that will be released under the Charter of Budget Honesty… So I think the Government will bring down a Budget, try to get some momentum and get off to an election as soon as it can after August.
Trying to get Turnbull to just answer a question
Andrew Bolt December 08 2015 (7:04am)
Malcolm Turnbull has avoided interviews with critics. But he last night had trouble even with Leigh Sales:
===It was an interview that canvassed the federal government’s new innovation package, but when the questions weren’t to Malcolm Turnbull’s liking he attempted to innovate the interview itself.Turnbull’s troubles started with announcing a $1.1 billion “innovation” scheme that isn’t as fascinating as he thinks, and seems rather flimsy in parts:
In a failed stab at a role reversal, the Prime Minister tried to dictate the terms of his exchange with 7.30 host Leigh Sales when she strayed from the government’s $1.1 billion “ideas boom” to probe more uncomfortable issues of the day.
LEIGH SALES: There was I think $13 million to go towards the greater participation of women in science and maths areas. That sounds pretty general and nebulous. I mean, what specifically would that $13 million be spent on?But the real problem is that Turnbull just isn’t comfortable with being challenged:
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well it’s all to do with programs and awareness and it’s - it is a - it’s a really - you’ve put your finger on actually one of the biggest challenges we face…
LEIGH SALES: You’ve got $13 million to change that, so how exactly are you going to? MALCOLM TURNBULL: By creating more awareness, showing greater - showing role models, a lot of mentoring is part of that.
LEIGH SALES: OK. Let’s whip through a few other things. Your minister, Mal Brough, ...But the real danger is revealed in this exchange - where Turnbull, who has just promised $1 billion for global warming schemes, and $1 billion for innovation schemes - is far happier increasing spending than cutting it, even with our deficit blowing out again:
MALCOLM TURNBULL: You’ve lost interest in innovation, have you?
LEIGH SALES: (Laughs) I haven’t lost interest, but there’s a lotta things to get through and there’s limited time.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Aunty ABC loses interest in innovation.
LEIGH SALES: I wish we had unlimited time.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Yes, well, there you go....
LEIGH SALES: Has [Mal Brough] offered to step down from the frontbench?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Look, I don’t want to go, with great respect, into discussions between myself and ministers on this or any other matter.
LEIGH SALES: Is there a risk that this issue could turn into a running sore for you the way that, say, Craig Thomson turned into for Julia Gillard?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well, Leigh, again, I’m sorry you’ve lost interest in innovation and it is ...
LEIGH SALES: There’s lots of issues. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: But, no, well, the problem is we can’t. You see, we can’t chew gum at the same time because ...
LEIGH SALES: Well we can, actually, because if - look, I - look, if every guest on the program came on and they only got to talk about what they wanted to talk about, it would be a very different program. Now listen, ...
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Do you - let me ask you this question: how interested do you think your audience are ...
LEIGH SALES: I ask the questions on this program. I think they’re very - I think they’re very interested, frankly. MALCOLM TURNBULL: Do you think they’re more interested in innovation and jobs?
LEIGH SALES: Something else that business has been calling for for years is a cut in the company tax rate. Wouldn’t that be the best way to encourage businesses to spend money on innovation or collaboration with universities?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well, it is - it would be a way, but I think the - of course the problem is affordability. You know, we don’t - a cut in five per cent or 10 per cent in the corporate tax rate would be an enormous charge on the budget at the present time.
Iron ore prices down to painful lows
Andrew Bolt December 08 2015 (6:53am)
China slows, and we will pay:
===The price of iron ore has extended its fall below $US40 a tonne as glut concerns continue to haunt the key Australian export.Some of the small miners may not survive.
At the end of the latest session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US38.90 a tonne…The last two months have produced arguably the most painful period for iron ore producers through the 18-month bear market, with prices tumbling from above $US55 a tonne...
LITTLE TROUBLE IN BIG CHINA
Tim Blair – Monday, December 08, 2014 (12:23pm)
A moment of considerable global import occurred last week, to little or no notice. Brett Arends, from the US site MarketWatch, reports:
There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it: We’re no longer No. 1. Today, we’re No. 2. Yes, it’s official. The Chinese economy just overtook the United States economy to become the largest in the world. For the first time since Ulysses S. Grant was president, America is not the leading economic power on the planet.
That’s President Barack Obama’s legacy, right there. He’s overseen a national decline that has taken the US – in comparative terms – back to the days of Grant, who occupied the White House during the post-Civil War years from 1869 to 1877. When Obama promised change, this may not have been what his fans expected.
Continue reading 'LITTLE TROUBLE IN BIG CHINA'EVERYBODY OUT
Tim Blair – Monday, December 08, 2014 (11:31am)
Bring it on:
ABC management is bracing for a possible strike before Christmas as the journalists’ union says it is not ruling out industrial action over forced redundancies.As staff revolt over up to 300 forced redundancies and the digital direction taken by ABC management, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance national secretary Christopher Warren said strikes were an option.“There’s nothing planned or intended but we’re not ruling out industrial action,” he said.
Please, go right ahead. One small problem: many of the ABC’s high-profile personalities are already on holidays. And how would it be possible to tell if Radio National’s notoriously workshy yoga chickens were on strike or just putting in their usual effort?
ABC staff have compared the redundancy process to Hollywood movie The Hunger Games, in which contestants participate in a brutal fight to the death until only one remains …Outgoing 7.30 host Quentin Dempster said these methods were not the right way to downsize the ABC.“Any survivors of hunger games will be resentful and demotivated,” he said.
Considering Dempster’s previous workload, he might not be the best person to speak to about strikes. He basically got paid $300,000 per year to be on one.
NICE WEATHER WE’VE BEEN HAVING
Tim Blair – Monday, December 08, 2014 (10:14am)
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting around with a mate, not talking about anything in particular, when suddenly he turned uncharacteristically serious. “I’m turning into a …” he began, in a tone that suggested the next word might be woman, or even werewolf.
Composing himself, he finished the sentence. “I’m turning into a … weather nerd.”
Continue reading 'NICE WEATHER WE’VE BEEN HAVING'Why are green carpetbaggers allowed to sponsor climate reporters in The Age?
Andrew Bolt December 08 2014 (7:59pm)
Once again, a completely unacceptable sponsorship of the news in The Age by deeply vested interests.
The Clean Energy Council, representing green businesses which profit from the global warming scare, gives a prize to a warmist reporter and then sponsors his trip to the Lima climate change conference, which he then reports on for The Age. Today’s report from Marcus Priest:
===The Clean Energy Council, representing green businesses which profit from the global warming scare, gives a prize to a warmist reporter and then sponsors his trip to the Lima climate change conference, which he then reports on for The Age. Today’s report from Marcus Priest:
Lima conference: Stern pushes for new climate agreement to be not legally bindingAnd this disclaimer, which should actually be a disqualifier:
The author of the ground-breaking 2006 Stern Report into the economics of global warming is backing a push by the United States to ensure a new global climate agreement is not legally binding…
Marcus Priest was flown to Lima by the Clean Energy Council as the winner of its 2013 media award.Would The Age think it acceptable if News Corp’s reporter at the talks was someone who’d been given a prize and an air fare by Big Oil?
Australia wins Darwin Award
Andrew Bolt December 08 2014 (6:37pm)
===Bad poll for Liberals, but not hopeless
Andrew Bolt December 08 2014 (8:29am)
The problem is severe, but the Fairfax poll could have been a whole lot worse for the Liberals after this ragged end. It’s still not lost - if there’s change:
===At least Clive Palmer is crashing to earth.
Liberals set to lose battle for heartland SA seat
Andrew Bolt December 08 2014 (8:17am)
The Liberal brand everywhere is on the nose - in part because there actually is no brand. Now the South Australian Liberals look likely to lose a seat in what should be their heartland:
===SENIOR Liberal MPs concede a horror fortnight federally — and particularly the Defence Minister’s insult to the nation’s South Australian-based shipbuilder and its workers — was “largely” to blame for the state party’s disappointing result in the Fisher by-election.I wouldn’t doubt for a second the federal influences. But explain to me the SA Liberal strategy of being even more Left-wing than Labor. One example from last week:
Labor is poised to take the southern suburbs seat, and with it majority Government, in a result that has surprised all sides of politics.
Labor campaigned hard on federal issues, including the comment by Defence Minister David Johnston less than a fortnight out from the poll that he did not trust Adelaide-based, Government-owned shipbuilder ASC “to build a canoe”. Senior Liberals say the insult was damaging, lacked empathy and offended voters in an electorate deeply concerned about jobs.
Members of the stolen generation could be compensated without going through the courts under a bill passed by South Australia’s upper house.Handing out compensation without requiring proof? Even Labor hasn’t ticked off on this.
The bill, put forward by Liberal MLC Terry Stephens and supported by crossbenchers, would provide eligible members of the stolen generation with ex-gratia payments of up to $50,000.
How losing Victoria could help save Abbott
Andrew Bolt December 08 2014 (8:01am)
THE Liberals’ humiliating loss of Victoria could help save Prime Minister Tony Abbott after all.
All Abbott need do is become friends with new Premier Dan Andrews. Oh, and give him
$3 billion.
That’s the $3 billion Abbott promised Victoria before the election for the East West Link that the former Liberal government wanted to build and Labor promised not to.
Abbott says he won’t hand over the cash unless Andrews breaks that promise. It was for this massive road project or nothing, just like the Prime Minister said before the election.
I’d think again and, indeed, there are signs Treasurer Joe Hockey agrees with that.
(Read full article here.)
===All Abbott need do is become friends with new Premier Dan Andrews. Oh, and give him
$3 billion.
That’s the $3 billion Abbott promised Victoria before the election for the East West Link that the former Liberal government wanted to build and Labor promised not to.
Abbott says he won’t hand over the cash unless Andrews breaks that promise. It was for this massive road project or nothing, just like the Prime Minister said before the election.
I’d think again and, indeed, there are signs Treasurer Joe Hockey agrees with that.
(Read full article here.)
Replace Joe Hockey? The three candidates considered
Andrew Bolt December 08 2014 (7:59am)
TONY Abbott doesn’t want to replace Joe Hockey as Treasurer. It would admit defeat and cause instability.
But what if the Prime Minister finally concluded the media attacks on Hockey, some unfair, gave him no choice, despite the Treasurer’s undoubted potential?
Many in the media (and their anonymous Liberal sources) say the obvious replacement is Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
(Read full column here.)
===But what if the Prime Minister finally concluded the media attacks on Hockey, some unfair, gave him no choice, despite the Treasurer’s undoubted potential?
Many in the media (and their anonymous Liberal sources) say the obvious replacement is Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
(Read full column here.)
Howard corrects Blanchett’s funeral ode
Andrew Bolt December 08 2014 (7:53am)
Time more conservatives followed John Howard’s lead and called out the poseurs who hijacked even funerals to deliver political spin:
FORMER prime minister John Howard has hit out at Australian actor Cate Blanchett, labelling her speech at Gough Whitlam’s funeral as “outrageous"…And, of course, Blanchett actually had to pay fees for studying acting at NIDA, thanks the Hawke Labor Government.
“I am the beneficiary of free, tertiary education,” Blanchett said. “When I went to university, I could explore different courses and engage with the student union in extra-curricular activity. It was through that that I discovered acting.”
Mr Howard said Blanchett was a fine actor, but was wrong.
“That speech of Cate Blanchett’s was outrageous,” he said. “Cate Blanchett is a talented actor, I admire her talent, but to suggest that Whitlam introduced free university education is wrong.
“I went to Sydney University between 1957 and 1961, I didn’t get a good enough leaving pass to win a Commonwealth scholarship, but I did well enough at the end of my first-year law exams to win a scholarship from somebody who lost theirs for not doing well enough… The last three years of my university education were completely free and that was 11 years before Whitlam came to power...” Mr Howard said 70 per cent of people in universities before 1972 had their fees covered by Commonwealth scholarships.
===
ABC audience in for a shock
Piers Akerman – Sunday, December 08, 2013 (1:19am)
EXPECT astonishment from the ABC’s vast national audience when the federal government places trade-union slush funds front-and-centre of a major inquiry in the New Year.
The rusted-on viewers and listeners will be bewildered because the taxpayer-funded state-owned broadcaster has imposed a regimen of strict censorship on the key element in the inquiry - the misuse of money from the AWU association which was established with the assistance of legal advice from former Prime Minister Julia Gillard when she was a partner in the Victorian Labor law firm Slater & Gordon.
Those who don’t take their news solely from the ABC would be well aware that the Victorian police are conducting a major inquiry into Ms Gillard’s role in the establishment of the Australian Workers’ Union Workplace Reform Association by her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson and his AWU mate Ralph Blewitt in 1992.
Early last week, The Australian newspaper revealed that Fair Work Commissioner and former AWU boss Ian Cambridge has given sworn evidence of “gross irregularities” in the union slush fund that Ms Gillard advised on.
Wilson, who was in a long-term relationship with Ms Gillard in the 1990s is the target of a police investigation and Victorian fraud squad detectives have already seized files from Slater & Gordon, files which Wilson claims should be subject to client-lawyer privilege.
The detectives are seeking to establish whether the documents were created in furtherance of a fraud, which would render void the privilege claim and make them available as evidence.
The court heard Mr Cambridge had provided “substantial evidence” in his affidavit about misappropriation of union funds by Ms Gillard.
Lawyer Ron Gipp, representing lead fraud squad detective Ross Mitchell, said Mr Cambridge’s evidence “puts it beyond any doubt” that there were “gross irregularities” in the funding of the association, which Ms Gillard referred to as a “slush fund” in an exit interview before she left Slater & Gordon.
He said statements from Mr Blewitt - “essentially a full confession by a co-accused” - describe the slush fund as a “scam”.
Ms Gillard has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said she had no knowledge of the fund’s operations other than it was a “slush fund” for the re-election of union officials.
Money from the fund was used to purchase the Fitzroy house in Mr Blewitt’s name at a 1993 auction, which Ms Gillard attended with Mr Wilson, who subsequently lived in the property.
Slater & Gordon handled the conveyancing and helped provide finance.
That’s the background for ABC fans who have been kept in the dark and goes someway to explaining why many other Australians not affected by the ABC’s news blackout are watching every legal move in this case.
In her exit interview with Slater & Gordon on September 1, 1995, Ms Gillard said: “It’s common practice, indeed every union has what it refers to as a re-election fund, slush fund”.
Whether every union does indeed have a slush fund is something the federal government should be looking into, and probably will, informed as it is by the material being developed by the ongoing AWU investigation.
Even without an official inquiry, it has emerged that money was used from a union slush fund known as the McLean Forum to finance campaigns in internal elections in the TWU’s Queensland branch and to bankroll candidates in the Flight Attendants Association of Australia and the Health Services Union’s NSW Branch.
Sums of at least $500,000 were reportedly spent in the TWU’s Queensland campaign.
It was reported in March that a fund known as Industry 2020 donated funds for HSU elections and a 2008 article in The Sydney Morning Herald noted that former Prime Minister Julia Gillard “was a guest speaker at the inaugural fundraising lunch for the Industry 2020 fund at Flemington racecourse, which generated about $250,000 with nearly half that profit”.
In that article it was also suggested that “two other fundraisers have been held for Industry 2020, including a small event at Melbourne’s Greek Museum in Melbourne last year attended by (current Opposition leader) Mr (Bill) Shorten”.
The Age reported in May that ASIC records in May showed that Industry 2020 was a registered company under Mr Cesar Melhem’s sole directorship. Mr Melhem was formerly the AWU Victorian Secretary but is now a Victorian Labor MP, a more recent search however indicated that two companies, Industry 2020 Pty Ltd and Industry 2020 Ltd are both under voluntary external administration.
Two weeks ago, The Age reported that the nation’s largest construction union, the CFMEU, had used a drug and alcohol charity to raise up to $1 million for union activities.
It has also been revealed that the Queensland branch of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Union has for a decade had an undisclosed internal slush fund - wrongly promoted to contributors as being tax deductible - to support union boss, Mr Chris Ketter’s, re-election as State Secretary of the union. Mr Ketter was the ALP’s lead Senate candidate in Queensland at the 2013 election.
The ongoing court case against former Labor MP and former HSU boss Craig Thomson over his alleged misuse of trade union funds has given added impetus to the need for a wider investigation into trade unions and their handling of members’ funds.
The establishment of slush funds, the practice Ms Gillard regards as “common place” and carried out by “every union” must be examined to ensure that such operations are held to the same exacting standards of governance as organisations which hold investors’ money.
Trade union members deserve to know who is responsible for holding their compulsory contributions and how their cash is being spent.
For too long, the union bosses have insisted that the Labor Party turn a blind eye to union activities.
Next year, the ALP must be given the opportunity to demonstrate it truly has the workers’ interests at heart.
It will send a disgraceful message if it doesn’t champion the broadest inquiry into the operation of slush funds and the union movement’s handling of members’ money more generally.
Surely it has nothing to hide?
Why the Left takes joy in foul abuse
Miranda Devine – Sunday, December 08, 2013 (1:20am)
SO Joy Burch, the Education minister of the ACT, publishes a tweet describing her federal counterpart Christopher Pyne as a c**t - and gets away with it.
Her excuse for retweeting the foul abuse is that she is inexperienced on Twitter, despite the fact she has been publishing her thoughts on the social media site for four years, during which time she has written 1161 tweets.
“I haven’t finessed my social skills, my Twitter skills on this,” she said, while considering an offer by the University of Canberra for remedial social media training.
In other words, Burch has published six tweets a week for the past four years and she still hasn’t worked out how to use Twitter.
Slow learner, much?
Her boss, fellow feminist and Emily’s Lister Katy Gallagher, the ACT Chief Minister, accepted Burch’s explanation that the tweet - which she later deleted - was a mistake.
Her boss, fellow feminist and Emily’s Lister Katy Gallagher, the ACT Chief Minister, accepted Burch’s explanation that the tweet - which she later deleted - was a mistake.
“I also believe that she has done the right thing and accepted responsibility for what happened ... and has offered an apology to Minister Pyne,’’ she said.
We all make mistakes. But imagine if the roles were reversed. Imagine if Pyne had used the most obscene word in the English language, describing an intimate portion of the female anatomy, in reference to Burch. He would be crucified. Twitter would be ablaze! The destroy-the-jointers would be apoplectic. The entire Abbott government would be implicated.
“If I had done that, before my head hit the pillow [Thursday night] I would have resigned or been sacked,” Pyne says.
“If it was me saying such a thing, the howls from the left would be cacophonous.”
But there has been barely a peep against Burch, who also happens to be the ACT’s Minister for Women. Moving right along. No double standards here.
That’s the Left for you, hysterical overreaction when it suits them, benign tolerance when it doesn’t. If you’re on their side, anything goes. If you’re a conservative, a minefield of ‘isms lie in wait - sooner or later you will be accused of sexism, racism, elitism, homophobia and misogyny.
Of course, the upside is that conservatives become battle - hardened and vigilant while their establishment foes grow sloppy and complacent.
The truth is that Burch doesn’t like Pyne because he is an ideological enemy and a fearsome warrior.
In fact there are few politicians as tough. Pyne relishes combat. As the much-loved youngest of five children growing up in Adelaide, he learned his skills at a family dining table where vigorous debate was nightly sport.
The photograph that had Burch and comrades so furious that they called him “c**t” last week shows Pyne smirking, or, as one tweeter put it, “smugly loitering”, in the background of one of those ranting press conferences NSW education minister Adrian Piccoli held about Gonski funding.
This was supposed to be the moment when Pyne was on the ropes, chastised by the media for executing backflips, supposedly humiliated by Prime Ministerial intervention, and yet here he was looking exceedingly pleased with himself.
How infuriating for his enemies!
Having unwisely promised to match the extra billions pledged by Labor before the election under the so-called Gonski model of redistributing education funding, the Abbott government is stuck with it.
But don’t expect Pyne to capitulate.
He knows giving extra billions to the very state education bureaucracies that have presided over a decline in standards over the past decade of record funding increases is no answer to our woes.
The latest OECD rankings show Australian students have fallen even further behind their peers in 65 industrialised nations, dropping out of the top ten for reading, maths and science for the first time.
The test results released last week show Australian 15-year-old students ranked 13th in reading last year, down from 9th in 2009; 19th in maths, down from 14th; and 17th in science, down from 10th. An earlier report showed the reading skills of our Year 4 students are the worst of every English-speaking country tested.
This sorry result is despite the fact Australia increased spending on schools by more than 40 per cent last decade.
More money does not automatically mean better education.
In fact it can make things worse, if you are just entrenching the progressive education ideology that has infected teacher training for decades, and which fails disadvantaged children the most.
Pyne understands completely.
“The failing in education is not money,” he says. “[What’s needed is] an acceptance that what we’ve been doing for decades doesn’t work. Child-centred learning, whole language teaching of reading, acceptance of failure, is not going to get our students to the top of the tree around the world.”
The federal government doesn’t control what happens in schools. But what Pyne can control is teacher quality, the single biggest determinant of student success.
“We are going to intervene in the training of our teachers ... to ensure that [when they graduate]from university they are properly trained in how to teach students to read, and to do so from phonics, through orthodox teaching methods.”
He has lots of other plans too, from expanding direct instruction to ensuring principal autonomy, all of which is anathema to the progressive education establishment.
He should wear their foul abuse as a badge of honour.
THE PRICE OF POINTLESSNESS
Tim Blair – Sunday, December 08, 2013 (4:41am)
So much pain, so little gain:
Labor’s $6 billion carbon tax reduced Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by less than 0.1 per cent…The official register of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions will reveal that in the financial year before the carbon tax was introduced Australia produced 546.2 million tonnes of emissions. After the carbon tax was introduced, the emissions dropped to just 545.9 million tonnes.
For the planned removal of this pointless and destructive gesture tax, Ross Gittins apologises to his grandchildren. Who don’t exist. Meanwhile, distressed warmies may be calmed by snow in December.
LIGHT ON FACTS
Tim Blair – Sunday, December 08, 2013 (4:08am)
An illuminating note from Dylan Kissane in France:
I saw your post on Mike Carlton’s Mandela fact-checking problems and looked over his Twitter stream. He also re-tweeted Lisa Wilkinson who was in awe of the Eiffel Tower in Paris being lit in South African colours to honour Mandela while Tony Abbott still wouldn’t even lower the Parliament House flag:
Thing is – and take it from someone in France – the news broke early morning here and the Eiffel Tower doesn’t light up during the day. The picture that Lisa was in awe of and that Mike fell for was frommonths ago.
Dylan is right. The New York Times, which also fell for the Eiffel Tower story, now runs this correction:
An earlier version of this article included an erroneous description of the Eiffel Tower in a reference to mourning for Nelson Mandela. The Eiffel Tower was bathed in white floodlights, not the colors of South Africa. (Photographs showing the Eiffel Tower floodlit in those colors, circulated via Facebook and Twitter and widely reported by news agencies, were from earlier dates, including July 18, 2013, Mr. Mandela’s 95th birthday.) The reference has been removed.
We now await similar corrections from Lisa and Mike.
MO POWER
Tim Blair – Sunday, December 08, 2013 (3:52am)
He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that Mitchell Johnson completely destroys England in the Second Test:
Johnson’s delightful non-verbal farewell to first-ball victim Jimmy Anderson particularly amused teammate Ryan Harris:
Australia currently holds a 530-run lead with two days to play. England’s combined total from three completed innings in this series: just 481. Only a timely Mandela tribute can save England now.
Johnson’s delightful non-verbal farewell to first-ball victim Jimmy Anderson particularly amused teammate Ryan Harris:
Australia currently holds a 530-run lead with two days to play. England’s combined total from three completed innings in this series: just 481. Only a timely Mandela tribute can save England now.
THE KIDS WILL LOVE IT
Tim Blair – Sunday, December 08, 2013 (3:42am)
LEGAL EAGLES
Tim Blair – Sunday, December 08, 2013 (3:33am)
Fresh from its healthcare success, the Obama administration legislates for eagle purée:
In a decision that highlights the clash between two cherished environmental goals — producing green energy and preserving protected wildlife — federal officials announced Friday that some wind power companies will be allowed to kill or injure bald and golden eagles for up to 30 years without penalty…[Vice president of public affairs for the American Wind Energy Association Peter] Kelley said the new regulations would “increase the protection of eagles and will help develop more wind farms, a leading solution to climate change, which is the No. 1 threat to all eagles and all wildlife.”
They have to destroy the eagles in order to save them.
WOMAN STEREOTYPED
Tim Blair – Saturday, December 07, 2013 (11:39pm)
Fairfax’s favourite scowly lady makes a front page appearance in today’s Age;
A TinEye search turns up a dozen or so Fairfax uses of the stern stock image woman, mostly in the SMH:
I blame sexism.
A TinEye search turns up a dozen or so Fairfax uses of the stern stock image woman, mostly in the SMH:
I blame sexism.
The case against Peta Credlin - three strikes and Fairfax is out of control
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (9:27am)
Here are some of the Fairfax media’s main criticisms lately of Peta Credlin, Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, now a hate figure of the Left that once decried the “misogyny” of critics of Julia Gillard.
But, wait.
Has Fairfax had to resort now to peddling false rumors to fill up this pathetic charge sheet against Credlin?
What is the paper’s evidence for alleging Credlin “chided” Morrison or for claiming Morrison “did not take the criticism well” before Credlin “shot back” that he should say what he was told?
Just anonymous “cabinet sources” plural or an anonymous “source” singular. (I suspect the singular source is the truth of it.)
Against the say-so of Fairfax’s one unnamed source we have this:
I’m calling bull on the Fairfax claim.
So the Fairfax case now against Credlin is that she has kyboshed a staff appointment for good reason, she cracked down on travel junkets and one anonymous source falsely claims she actually gave what would have been good and useful advice to Morrison.
This is a bad record? Some people seem to be having trouble with a strong woman - and it sure isn’t Abbott.
Fairfax is out of control.
===At least three senior Coalition ministers have had key staff appointments vetoed by a committee run out of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s office.. The committee is chaired by Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews and includes Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson, Mr Abbott’s chief and deputy chief of staff Peta Credlin and Andrew Hirst, and Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss’s chief of staff, David Whitrow.Perton over-ruled? Good job, Peta.
Mr Hockey’s choice for a personal adviser on foreign investment decisions, former Victorian state MP Victor Perton, was overruled by Mr Abbott’s office in October...
The Prime Minister Tony Abbott has ordered ... all cabinet ministers to take personal responsibility for approving official travel by departmental officials, whether individuals or delegations, where the proposed cost exceeded $20,000. He directed that he must be consulted about any proposed travel, whether by an individual or a delegation, that exceeded $50,000…Cracking down on gold-plated travel and junkets? To the criticism of the same Fairfax media that for months tried to beat up expense “scandals” by Liberal MPs. Good job, Peta.
Coalition ministers, aides and senior public service executives have privately condemned the directive as “unworkable”, “ridiculous” and showing “a complete ignorance of the practical realities of government”.
Mr Abbott has already clamped down on travel by Coalition MPs who are required to seek approval from his chief of staff Peta Credlin at least four weeks before overseas study trips or sponsored travel… Coalition ministerial staff described the instructions as part of “the controlling tendencies of the Prime Minister’s office”.
Fairfax Media has been told Mr Morrison, who has been running tightly controlled weekly briefings about the Coalition’s ‘’stop the boats’’ policy, Operation Sovereign Borders, was chided by Ms Credlin as they left a cabinet meeting last month.Morrison’s performance was indeed below his best, as I said on 2GB recently. He’s since adjusted and is going very strongly. Good job, Peta.
In the exchange Ms Credlin spoke about Mr Morrison’s poor performance during a recent news conference.
According to cabinet sources, Mr Morrison did not take the criticism well and expressed frustration that he was not allowed to say much at his press appearances. According to one source who witnessed the exchange, Ms Credlin shot right back at Mr Morrison with: ‘’We will tell you what you can say and what you can’t say.’’
But, wait.
Has Fairfax had to resort now to peddling false rumors to fill up this pathetic charge sheet against Credlin?
What is the paper’s evidence for alleging Credlin “chided” Morrison or for claiming Morrison “did not take the criticism well” before Credlin “shot back” that he should say what he was told?
Just anonymous “cabinet sources” plural or an anonymous “source” singular. (I suspect the singular source is the truth of it.)
Against the say-so of Fairfax’s one unnamed source we have this:
Mr Morrison’s spokesman said the account was ‘’complete rubbish’’. The office of the Prime Minister described the account of the meeting with Mr Morrison as “untrue”.Morrison has insisted to me the story is “completely false” and the alleged incident “never happened”.
I’m calling bull on the Fairfax claim.
So the Fairfax case now against Credlin is that she has kyboshed a staff appointment for good reason, she cracked down on travel junkets and one anonymous source falsely claims she actually gave what would have been good and useful advice to Morrison.
This is a bad record? Some people seem to be having trouble with a strong woman - and it sure isn’t Abbott.
Fairfax is out of control.
Naughty children: who’d be safe in a world led by such haters?
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (8:32am)
Bertrand Russell:
===Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.I wonder what the world would look likewere the child revolutionaries in our universities - licensed by their idealism to indulge in hatred, abuse and violence - ever given real power. France during the Terror? China during the Cultural Revolution? The island in Lord of the Flies?:
Preaching tolerance, screaming abuse.
Preaching morality, screaming abuse
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (7:57am)
Tell us again how poor Julia Gillard faced abuse and disrespect of the kind no Liberal or male PM would have to endure:
PS: There are three great benefits of such shirts - much like those designed by an Age columnist and promoted by The Age. First, those wearing them advertise up front that they are just foul-mouthed haters with whom reasoning is pointless. Second, they’ll struggle to get on television - at least in family-friendly hours. Third, they’ll alienate more voters than they will attract.
UPDATE
So which kind of people would associate themselves with such an abusive and intolerant protest?
(Thanks to reader John.)
===Protesters gathered at a hotel where Prime Minister Tony Abbott was due to speak have vowed to hold rallies every time the prime minister is in Melbourne.Let’s see if any Labor MP stands near one of these T shirts.
About 100 people stood outside the Melbourne Park Hyatt on Thursday night ahead of Mr Abbott’s address, shouting chants and waving signs to protest a raft of coalition government policies. Many of the protesters wore black T-shirts printed with the words “F*** Tony Abbott”.
PS: There are three great benefits of such shirts - much like those designed by an Age columnist and promoted by The Age. First, those wearing them advertise up front that they are just foul-mouthed haters with whom reasoning is pointless. Second, they’ll struggle to get on television - at least in family-friendly hours. Third, they’ll alienate more voters than they will attract.
UPDATE
So which kind of people would associate themselves with such an abusive and intolerant protest?
Another organiser, Roz Ward, said the group, Rapid Organised Anti-Abbott Response Network (ROAR), was a collective of union members and socialist groups that formed immediately after the election.Well, not actually the whole Abbott agenda, obviously. For instance, Ward would quite support Abbott continuing to fund La Trobe University so she can keep drawing a state salary to go with the one provided by the Victorian Department of Education and Department of Health:
“We oppose the whole Abbott agenda,” Ms Ward told AAP.
Ms Roz WardWhat is it with such people that they are most angry with those politicians most likely to create the wealth that supplies the taxes that supply their salaries?
Youth Program Coordinator, Gay and Lesbian Health, Safe Schools Coalition Victoria Faculty of Health Sciences
School of Public Health and Human Biosciences
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society
(Thanks to reader John.)
Joy Burch excused the abuse the Left would never take from a Liberal
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (7:49am)
Miranda Devine on an unusual “mistake” - and an unusual silence from the Left:
===SO Joy Burch, the Education minister of the ACT, publishes a tweet describing her federal counterpart Christopher Pyne as a c**t - and gets away with it.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Her excuse for retweeting the foul abuse is that she is inexperienced on Twitter, despite the fact she has been publishing her thoughts on the social media site for four years, during which time she has written 1161 tweets.
“I haven’t finessed my social skills, my Twitter skills on this,” she said… Slow learner, much?…
We all make mistakes. But imagine if the roles were reversed. Imagine if Pyne had used what I view as the most obscene word in the English language, describing an intimate portion of the female anatomy, in reference to Burch. He would be crucified. Twitter would be ablaze! The destroy-the-jointers would be apoplectic. The entire Abbott government would be implicated.
“If I had done that, before my head hit the pillow [Thursday night] I would have resigned or been sacked,” Pyne says."If it was me saying such a thing, the howls from the left would be cacophonous.” But there has been barely a peep against Burch, who also happens to be the ACT’s Minister for Women.
Labor will drown in all this slush
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (7:42am)
Piers Akerman predicts an inquiry:
===EXPECT astonishment from the ABC’s vast national audience when the federal government places trade-union slush funds front-and-centre of a major inquiry in the New Year.Piers very kindly helps ABC viewers who missed all the fun by explaining the latest twists of a police inquiry that would have been daily fodder for ABC news bulletins had it been held into an alleged scam involving Tony Abbott:
The rusted-on viewers and listeners will be bewildered because the taxpayer-funded state-owned broadcaster has imposed a regimen of strict censorship on the key element in the inquiry - the misuse of money from the AWU association which was established with the assistance of legal advice from former Prime Minister Julia Gillard when she was a partner in the Victorian Labor law firm Slater & Gordon.
Victorian police are conducting a major inquiry into Ms Gillard’s role in the establishment of the Australian Workers’ Union Workplace Reform Association by her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson and his AWU mate Ralph Blewitt in 1992.(Thanks to reader lol.)
Early last week, The Australian newspaper revealed that Fair Work Commissioner and former AWU boss Ian Cambridge has given sworn evidence of “gross irregularities” in the union slush fund that Ms Gillard advised on…
The court heard Mr Cambridge had provided “substantial evidence” in his affidavit about misappropriation of union funds…
Lawyer Ron Gipp, representing lead fraud squad detective Ross Mitchell, said Mr Cambridge’s evidence “puts it beyond any doubt” that there were “gross irregularities” in the funding of the association, which Ms Gillard referred to as a “slush fund” in an exit interview before she left Slater & Gordon.
He said statements from Mr Blewitt - “essentially a full confession by a co-accused” - describe the slush fund as a “scam”. Ms Gillard has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said she had no knowledge of the fund’s operations other than it was a “slush fund” for the re-election of union officials.
Did Snowden know precisely the damage he’d cause the West - and not its rivals?
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (7:16am)
Reader Tabitha says new evidence suggests Edward Snowden is indeed a traitor who knew exactly what he was leaking - and what he would keep secret:
===Rolling Stone recently published a largely sympathetic article on Snowden and [his journalist contact Glenn] Greenwald. But there is some interesting detail tucked in amongst it all.How much are the Left-wing papers publishing Snowden’s stolen intelligence mere pawns in a bigger game to damage the West?
My bold throughout:
“ ‘How long had the source been planning this?’ Greenwald thought. Just the organization of the material alone would have taken months, if not longer. Each memory stick had an elaborate filing system. ‘On the front page were, let’s say, 12 files. You click on one of the files and there are 30 more files. You click on one of those files and there are six more, and finally you got the documents. And every last motherf...ing document that he gave us was incredibly elegant and elegant and beautifully organized.’ Greenwald had no doubt that the leaker had read every page; not a single one was misfiled. ‘It’s 1,000 percent clear that he read and very carefully processed every document that he gave us by virtue of his incredibly anal, ridiculously elaborate electronic filing system that these USB sticks contained.’ All the way to Hong Kong, over a 16-hour flight, Greenwald pored through the materials. ‘There was stuff on what’s going on in Iraq, in Afghanistan, with the drone program, spying on our allies, the technology of how this works, the intelligence budget – every possible thing, all completely f...ing secret, and I’m just reading through it at my leisure on the plane’.”That actually DAMNS Snowden. Such meticulous organisation would mean that Snowden knew he for example ”stole 58,000 documents containing names and other personal details about British intelligence operatives, as well as information about this country’s [Britain’s] spying techniques and capabilities”. When you add that to the detail on Australia’s intelligence operations, and the detail on and attempts to harm the US (with leaks like the Swedes gathering intelligence on Russia for the US), the admission of an “elaborate electronic filing system” makes Snowden even more the traitor.
And here’s James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) quoted two pages later in the Rolling Stone article:
“ ‘This is a carefully constructed narrative,’ says James Lewis of CSIS. ’They’ve got documents pertaining to foreign spying against the U.S., but not a single one of those has been released. Instead, this is scripted to lead you to a certain outcome, that it’s just the U.S. doing this. The fact that they haven’t released these documents makes me very suspicious. They’re spinning as much as the U.S. government is’.”
Labor’s $6 billion carbon tax made no difference
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (7:08am)
And by how much did the world’s temperature fall?
But I have no trouble believing this tax made little real difference to emissions, given even Labor promised businesses that if they sat out the initial pain, the carbon tax would fall to Europe’s much lower price by 2015. So why change?
But once again, emissions is just a misleading proxy measure of the real game.The real question should be: what difference to the world temperature has our carbon tax made so far?
The answer? Indistinguishable from zero. All pain, no gain.
The fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes is nothing in comparison to this colossal exercise in collective self-deception.
===LABOR’S $6 billion carbon tax reduced Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by less than 0.1 per cent…In truth, the measurement is not quite fair. Would our emissions have in fact grown a lot without the tax?
The official register of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions will reveal that in the financial year before the carbon tax was introduced Australia produced 546.2 million tonnes of emissions. After the carbon tax was introduced, the emissions dropped to just 545.9 million tonnes.
But I have no trouble believing this tax made little real difference to emissions, given even Labor promised businesses that if they sat out the initial pain, the carbon tax would fall to Europe’s much lower price by 2015. So why change?
But once again, emissions is just a misleading proxy measure of the real game.The real question should be: what difference to the world temperature has our carbon tax made so far?
The answer? Indistinguishable from zero. All pain, no gain.
The fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes is nothing in comparison to this colossal exercise in collective self-deception.
The AFL’s kind of justice
Andrew Bolt December 08 2013 (6:41am)
Sinclair Davidson notes two more passages in coverage of the AFL’s unravelling deal with Essendon which stink.
First, this allegation that the AFL has asked for a dodgy financial arrangement to prevent AFL boss Andrew Demetriou from seeming like he misled the public (again?) in insisting coach James Hird would not be paid during his suspension:
===First, this allegation that the AFL has asked for a dodgy financial arrangement to prevent AFL boss Andrew Demetriou from seeming like he misled the public (again?) in insisting coach James Hird would not be paid during his suspension:
It is understood that in a bid to resolve the impasse, the AFL suggested to Essendon that it should pay Hird off the books. Essendon and Hird rejected the idea.Then this suggestion of a recovered memory of an AFL warning to Hird:
AFL integrity officer Brett Clothier provided a detailed account of the August 5, 2011, meeting in an email to Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigators on July 17 this year. The account was included in ASADA’s interim report to the AFL two weeks later and relied on to establish Hird’s “early awareness” of substances at the centre of the supplements scandal.Davidson is suspicious.
Mr Clothier’s evidence was added to the brief within hours of The Age publishing an allegation that Hird was warned by the AFL against the use of peptides in late 2011. … It is understood Mr Clothier’s relatively brief, contemporaneous notes taken of the meeting contained no mention of a warning. In his email nearly two years later, shortly after midday on July 17, Mr Clothier provided more expansive detail.
Ah, Victoria. Besides annoying the commuter with train delays, long wait times, faulty readers and overpriced tickets, we now have the bonus of..unlawful infringement notices!
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-warned-on-myki-fines-20131207-2yyfb.html
===
<"Here are seven quotes from the leader that are less likely to be published as his life is honored and his death commemorated in the mainstream media…..">
http://rt.com/news/mandela-sharp-quotes-media-860/
===
www.dailymail.co.uk
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519755/Police-officer-shot-minivan-children-FIRED-following-internal-investigation.html#ixzz2mq0xPuAi Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
===
Another great newsletter re Ocean Warming from Carbon Sense's Viv Forbes.
theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/the-ocean-thermometer.html
===
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/what-no-one-tells-you-about-becoming-a-parent
===
www.israellycool.com
http://www.israellycool.com/2013/12/07/shirley-temper-and-friends-sing-christmas-carols-for-idf-soldiers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Israellycool+%28Israellycool%29===
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/07/the-fbi-can-secretly-activate-an-individuals-webcam-without-the-indicator-light-turning-on/
===
http://mobile.news.com.au/technology/environment/snow-falling-in-australia-in-summer-that-is-all/story-e6frflp0-1226775945701
===There's no such thing as ‘healthy obesity’
===
The Truth About South Africa: How many blacks were killed during Apartheid?
===
http://www.smh.com.au/world/murdoch-reportedly-fuming-over-blair-and-deng-friendship-20131125-2y4kw.html
=== - 395 – Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope.
- 757 – Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion.
- 877 – Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald) is crowned king of the West Frankish Kingdom at Compiègne.
- 1432 – The first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis is fought near the town of Oszmiana (Ashmyany), launching the most active phase of the Lithuanian Civil War.
- 1660 – A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello.
- 1813 – Premiere of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.
- 1854 – In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definitionof Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin.
- 1864 – Pope Pius IX promulgates the encylical Quanta cura and its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors, outlining the authority of the Catholic Church and condemning various liberal ideas.
- 1907 – King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
- 1912 – Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.
- 1914 – World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
- 1922 – Northern Ireland ceases to be part of the Irish Free State.
- 1927 – The Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks, is founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings.
- 1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.
- 1941 – World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.)
- 1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.
- 1955 – The Flag of Europe is adopted by Council of Europe.
- 1962 – Workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) go on strike for 114 days.
- 1963 – Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board.
- 1966 – The Greek ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.
- 1969 – Olympic Airways Flight 954 strikes a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90 people in the worst crash of a Douglas DC-6 in history.
- 1971 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi.
- 1972 – United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. This is the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737.
- 1974 – A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.
- 1980 – Former Beatle John Lennon is murdered in front of The Dakota in New York City.
- 1985 – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia is established.
- 1987 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed.
- 1987 – An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, which has been cited as one of the events which sparked the First Intifada.
- 1988 – A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others.
- 1991 – The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Unionand establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- 1998 – Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
- 2004 – The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
- 2009 – Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 127 people and injure 448 others.
- 2010 – With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.
- 2010 – The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.
- 2013 – Riots break out in Singapore after a fatal accident in Little India.
- 2016 – Syrian army starts final phase of the attack and progress has been made in the district of, "Sheikh Said" and preparing to storm the neighborhood "Sukkari" in East of Aleppo.
- 65 BC – Horace, Roman soldier and poet (d. 8 BC)
- 1021 – Wang Anshi, Chinese economist and chancellor (d. 1086)
- 1412 – Astorre II Manfredi, Italian lord (d. 1468)
- 1418 – Queen Jeonghui, Queen consort of Korea (d. 1483)
- 1424 – Anselm Adornes, Merchant, politician and diplomat (d. 1483)
- 1499 – Sebald Heyden, German musicologist and theologian (d. 1561)
- 1538 – Miklós Istvánffy, Hungarian politician (d. 1615)
- 1542 – Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
- 1558 – François de La Rochefoucauld, Catholic cardinal (d. 1645)
- 1626 – Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
- 1678 – Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole, English politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to France (d. 1757)
- 1699 – Maria Josepha of Austria (d. 1757)
- 1708 – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
- 1724 – Claude Balbastre, French organist and composer (d. 1799)
- 1730 – Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch physician, physiologist, and botanist (d. 1799)
- 1731 – František Xaver Dušek, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1799)
- 1756 – Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (d. 1801)
- 1765 – Eli Whitney, American engineer, invented the cotton gin (d. 1825)
- 1795 – Peter Andreas Hansen, Danish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1874)
- 1807 – Friedrich Traugott Kützing, German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist (d. 1893)
- 1813 – August Belmont, Prussian-American financier and diplomat, 16th United States Ambassador to the Netherlands (d. 1890)
- 1815 – Adolph Menzel, German painter and illustrator (d. 1905)
- 1817 – Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish lawyer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1896)
- 1818 – Charles III, Prince of Monaco (d. 1889)
- 1822 – Jakov Ignjatović, Hungarian-Serbian author (d. 1889)
- 1832 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
- 1860 – Amanda McKittrick Ros, Irish author and poet (d. 1939)
- 1861 – William C. Durant, American businessman, founded General Motors and Chevrolet (d. 1947)
- 1861 – Aristide Maillol, French sculptor and painter (d. 1944)
- 1861 – Georges Méliès, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1938)
- 1862 – Georges Feydeau, French playwright (d. 1921)
- 1864 – Camille Claudel, French illustrator and sculptor (d. 1943)
- 1865 – Rüdiger von der Goltz, German general (d. 1946)
- 1865 – Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician and academic (d. 1963)
- 1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (d. 1957)
- 1874 – Ernst Moro, Austrian physician and pediatrician (d. 1951)
- 1875 – Frederik Buch, Danish actor and screenwriter (d. 1925)
- 1877 – Paul Ladmirault, French pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 1944)
- 1880 – Johannes Aavik, Estonian linguist and philologist (d. 1973)
- 1881 – Albert Gleizes, French painter (d. 1953)
- 1884 – Francis Cecil Campbell Balfour, English colonel and politician (d. 1965)
- 1886 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and educator (d. 1957)
- 1890 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American pianist and composer (d. 1959)
- 1892 – Marcus Lee Hansen, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1938)
- 1894 – E. C. Segar, American cartoonist, created Popeye (d. 1938)
- 1894 – James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist (d. 1961)
- 1899 – Arthur Leslie, English-Welsh actor and playwright (d. 1970)
- 1899 – John Qualen, Canadian-American actor (d. 1987)
- 1900 – Sun Li-jen, Chinese general and politician (d. 1990)
- 1900 – Ants Oras, Estonian-American author and academic (d. 1982)
- 1902 – Wifredo Lam, Cuban-French painter (d. 1982)
- 1908 – Concha Piquer, Spanish singer and actress (d. 1990)
- 1908 – John A. Volpe, American soldier and politician, 61st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1994)
- 1909 – Lesslie Newbigin, English bishop and theologian (d. 1998)
- 1911 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
- 1911 – Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and songwriter (d. 1992)
- 1913 – Delmore Schwartz, American poet and short story writer (d. 1966)
- 1914 – Floyd Tillman, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
- 1914 – Ernie Toshack, Australian cricketer (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Ernest Lehman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
- 1916 – Richard Fleischer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer and administrator (d. 1998)
- 1919 – Peter Tali Coleman, Samoan-American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of American Samoa (d. 1997)
- 1919 – Julia Robinson, American mathematician and theorist (d. 1985)
- 1919 – Kateryna Yushchenko, Ukrainian computer scientist and academic (d. 2001)
- 1920 – McDonald Bailey, Trinidadian-English sprinter and rugby player (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (d. 2011)
- 1922 – Jean Ritchie, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Dewey Martin, American actor
- 1923 – Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-American soldier and chemist
- 1924 – Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Sammy Davis, Jr., American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1990)
- 1925 – Nasir Kazmi, Pakistani Urdu poet (d. 1972)
- 1925 – Carmen Martín Gaite, Spanish author and poet (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Jimmy Smith, American organist (d. 2005)
- 1927 – Ferdie Pacheco, American physician and author
- 1927 – Vladimir Shatalov, Kazakhstani general, pilot, and astronaut
- 1927 – Niklas Luhmann, German thinker and social theorist (d. 1998)
- 1928 – Bill Hewitt, Canadian journalist and sportscaster (d. 1996)
- 1928 – Ulric Neisser, German-American psychologist, neuroscientist, and academic (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Julian Critchley, English journalist and politician (d. 2000)
- 1930 – Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Bob Arum, American boxing promoter, founded Top Rank
- 1933 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (d. 1998)
- 1935 – Dharmendra, Indian actor, producer, and politician
- 1935 – Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Russian-Israeli chess player
- 1936 – David Carradine, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2009)
- 1936 – Michael Hobson, American publisher
- 1936 – Peter Parfitt, English cricketer
- 1937 – James MacArthur, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1937 – Arne Næss, Jr., German-Norwegian mountaineer and businessman (d. 2004)
- 1939 – Red Berenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1939 – Jerry Butler, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1939 – James Galway, Irish flute player
- 1939 – Felipe Gozon, Filipino lawyer and businessman
- 1939 – Dariush Mehrjui, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1939 – Soko Richardson, American drummer (d. 2004)
- 1940 – Brant Alyea, American baseball player
- 1941 – Ed Brinkman, American baseball player and coach (d. 2008)
- 1941 – Bob Brown, American football player
- 1941 – Duke Cunningham, American commander and politician
- 1941 – Bobby Elliott, English drummer
- 1941 – Geoff Hurst, English footballer and manager
- 1943 – Larry Martin, American paleontologist and ornithologist (d. 2013)
- 1943 – Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter and poet (d. 1971)
- 1943 – James Tate, American poet (d. 2015)
- 1943 – Bodo Tümmler, German runner
- 1943 – Mary Woronov, American actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1944 – George Baker, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1944 – Bertie Higgins, American singer-songwriter
- 1944 – Ted Irvine, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1944 – Vince MacLean, Canadian educator and politician
- 1945 – John Banville, Irish novelist and screenwriter
- 1946 – John Rubinstein, American actor, director, and composer
- 1947 – Chava Alberstein, Polish-Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Gregg Allman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
- 1947 – Gérard Blanc, French singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 2009)
- 1947 – Thomas Cech, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 – Kati-Claudia Fofonoff, Finnish author and poet
- 1947 – Margaret Geller, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
- 1948 – Luis Caffarelli, Argentinian-American mathematician and academic
- 1948 – John Waters, English-Australian actor, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
- 1949 – Mary Gordon, American author, critic, and academic
- 1949 – Nancy Meyers, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1949 – Ray Shulman, English violinist, guitarist, and producer
- 1949 – Robert Sternberg, American psychologist and academic
- 1950 – Rick Baker, American actor and makeup artist
- 1950 – Tim Foli, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1950 – Dan Hartman, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1994)
- 1951 – Bill Bryson, American essayist, travel and science writer
- 1951 – Richard Desmond, English publisher and businessman, founded Northern & Shell
- 1951 – Jan Eggum, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1952 – Khaw Boon Wan, Malayan-Singaporean politician, Singaporean Minister of Health
- 1952 – Steve Atkinson, English-Hong Kong cricketer
- 1953 – Kim Basinger, American actress
- 1953 – Roy Firestone, American sportscaster and journalist
- 1953 – Norman Finkelstein, American author, academic, and activist
- 1953 – Sam Kinison, American comedian (d. 1992)
- 1953 – Władysław Kozakiewicz, Lithuanian-Polish pole vaulter and coach
- 1953 – Steve Yates, English footballer
- 1954 – Harold Hongju Koh, American lawyer, academic, and politician
- 1954 – Frits Pirard, Dutch cyclist
- 1955 – Kasim Sulton, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
- 1955 – Milenko Zablaćanski, Serbian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1956 – Warren Cuccurullo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1956 – Andrius Kubilius, Lithuanian academic and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Lithuania
- 1956 – Slick, American wrestler and manager
- 1957 – James Cama, American martial artist and educator (d. 2014)
- 1957 – Phil Collen, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1958 – Rob Byrnes, American author and blogger
- 1958 – Rob Curling, Malayan-English journalist
- 1958 – Michel Ferté, French race car driver
- 1958 – Bob Greene, American physiologist and author
- 1958 – Mirosław Okoński, Polish footballer
- 1959 – Stephen Jefferies, South African cricketer and coach
- 1959 – Mark Steyn, Canadian-American author and critic
- 1960 – Aaron Allston, American game designer and author (d. 2014)
- 1960 – Lim Guan Eng, Malaysian accountant and politician, 4th Chief Minister of the State of Penang
- 1960 – Bill McKibben, American author and environmentalist
- 1961 – Ann Coulter, American lawyer, journalist, and author
- 1961 – Mikey Robins, Australian comedian and television host
- 1962 – Steve Elkington, Australian-American golfer
- 1962 – Marty Friedman, American-Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and television host
- 1962 – Nikos Karageorgiou, Greek footballer and manager
- 1962 – Berry van Aerle, Dutch footballer
- 1963 – Greg Howe, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1963 – Toshiaki Kawada, Japanese wrestler
- 1963 – Ricky Walford, Australian rugby league player
- 1964 – James Blundell, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1964 – Teri Hatcher, American actress
- 1964 – Chigusa Nagayo, Japanese wrestler
- 1964 – Óscar Ramírez, Costa Rican footballer and coach
- 1965 – David Harewood, English actor
- 1965 – Theo Maassen, Dutch actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Bushwick Bill, Jamaican-American rapper (Geto Boys)
- 1966 – Les Ferdinand, English footballer and coach
- 1966 – Tyler Mane, Canadian wrestler and actor
- 1966 – Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer-songwriter
- 1967 – Jeff George, American football player
- 1967 – Andy Kapp, German curler
- 1967 – Kotono Mitsuishi, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1967 – Darren Sheridan, English footballer and manager
- 1968 – Mike Mussina, American baseball player and coach
- 1968 – Doriano Romboni, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013)
- 1969 – Kristin Lauter, American mathematician and cryptographer
- 1971 – Abdullah Ercan, Turkish footballer and manager
- 1972 – Marco Abreu, Angolan footballer
- 1972 – Indrek Allmann, Estonian architect
- 1972 – Édson Ribeiro, Brazilian sprinter
- 1973 – Corey Taylor, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
- 1974 – Cristian Castro, Mexican singer
- 1974 – Tony Simmons, American football player and coach
- 1974 – Nick Zinner, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1975 – Kevin Harvick, American race car driver
- 1976 – Brettina, Bahamian-American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1976 – Reed Johnson, American baseball player
- 1976 – Dominic Monaghan, German-born English actor
- 1977 – Ryan Newman, American race car driver
- 1977 – Aleksandra Olsza, Polish tennis player
- 1977 – Anita Weyermann, Swiss runner and journalist
- 1978 – John Oster, English-Welsh footballer
- 1978 – Frédéric Piquionne, French footballer
- 1978 – Anwar Siraj, Ethiopian footballer
- 1978 – Ian Somerhalder, American actor
- 1978 – Vernon Wells, American baseball player
- 1979 – Daniel Fitzhenry, Australian rugby player
- 1979 – Johan Forssell, Swedish lawyer and politician
- 1979 – Raymond Lam, Chinese actor and singer
- 1979 – Ingrid Michaelson, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1979 – José Peña, Venezuelan sprinter
- 1979 – Christian Wilhelmsson, Swedish footballer
- 1980 – Yuliya Krevsun, Ukrainian runner
- 1981 – Jeremy Accardo, American baseball player
- 1981 – Simon Finnigan, English rugby player
- 1981 – Philip Rivers, American football player
- 1982 – Alfredo Aceves, American baseball player
- 1982 – Chrisette Michele, American singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Nicki Minaj, Trinidadian-American rapper and actress
- 1983 – Neel Jani, Swiss race car driver
- 1983 – Valéry Mézague, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2014)
- 1984 – Emma Green Tregaro, Swedish high jumper
- 1984 – Greg Halford, English footballer
- 1984 – Sam Hunt, American singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Josh Donaldson, American baseball player
- 1985 – Meagan Duhamel, Canadian figure skater
- 1985 – Dwight Howard, American basketball player
- 1985 – Oleksiy Pecherov, Ukrainian basketball player
- 1986 – Enzo Amore, American wrestler
- 1986 – Amir Khan, English boxer
- 1986 – Sam Tagataese, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
- 1986 – Kate Voegele, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
- 1987 – Jana Juricová, Slovak tennis player
- 1989 – Drew Doughty, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Jesse Sene-Lefao, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1992 – Yui Yokoyama - Japanese idol, model, and actress
- 1993 – Janari Jõesaar, Estonian basketball player
- 1993 – Jordan Obita, English footballer
- 1993 – AnnaSophia Robb, American actress
- 1993 – Cara Mund, Miss America 2018
- 1994 – Conseslus Kipruto, Kenyan runner
- 1995 – Jordon Ibe, English footballer
Births[edit]
- 855 – Drogo of Metz, illegitimate son of Charlemagne (b. 801)
- 899 – Arnulf of Carinthia (b. 850)
- 964 – Zhou the Elder, Chinese queen consort
- 1186 – Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen (b.c 1125)
- 1292 – John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1365 – Nicholas II, Duke of Opava (b. 1288)
- 1431 – Hedwig Jagiellon, Polish and Lithuanian princess (b. 1408)
- 1550 – Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian humanist, poet, dramatist and diplomat (b. 1478)
- 1626 – John Davies, English poet, lawyer, and politician (b. 1569)
- 1632 – Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1561)
- 1638 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet (b. 1589)
- 1643 – John Pym, English politician (b. 1583)
- 1649 – Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (b. 1613)
- 1680 – Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, English lawyer and politician (b. 1606)
- 1691 – Richard Baxter, English minister, poet, and hymn-writer (b. 1615)
- 1695 – Barthélemy d'Herbelot, French orientalist and academic (b. 1625)
- 1709 – Thomas Corneille, French playwright and philologist (b. 1625)
- 1722 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine (b. 1652)
- 1744 – Marie Anne de Mailly, French mistress of Louis XV of France (b. 1717)
- 1745 – Étienne Fourmont, French orientalist and academic (b. 1683)
- 1746 – Charles Radclyffe, English courtier and soldier (b. 1693)
- 1756 – William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, English politician and diplomat, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1690)
- 1768 – Jean Denis Attiret, French painter and missionary (b. 1702)
- 1779 – Nathan Alcock, English physician (b. 1707)
- 1830 – Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French philosopher and author (b. 1767)
- 1859 – Thomas De Quincey, English journalist and author (b. 1785)
- 1864 – George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1815)
- 1869 – Narcisa de Jesús, Ecuadorian saint (b. 1832)
- 1885 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1821)
- 1886 – Isaac Lea, American conchologist, geologist, and publisher (b. 1792)
- 1894 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1821)
- 1903 – Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (b. 1820)
- 1907 – Oscar II of Sweden (b. 1829)
- 1913 – Camille Jenatzy, Belgian race car driver (b. 1868)
- 1914 – Melchior Anderegg, Swiss mountain guide (b. 1828)
- 1914 – Maximilian von Spee, Danish-German admiral (b. 1861)
- 1917 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (b. 1836)
- 1918 – Josip Štadler, Croatian archbishop (b. 1843)
- 1919 – J. Alden Weir, American painter (b. 1852)
- 1937 – Hans Molisch, Czech-Austrian botanist and academic (b. 1856)
- 1938 – Friedrich Glauser, Swiss soldier and author (b. 1896)
- 1940 – George Lloyd, English-Canadian bishop and theologian (b. 1861)
- 1942 – Albert Kahn, American architect, Fisher Building, Packard Automotive Plant, Ford River Rouge Complex (b. 1869)
- 1952 – Charles Lightoller, English sailor (b. 1874)
- 1954 – Gladys George, American actress (b. 1904)
- 1954 – Joseph B. Keenan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1888)
- 1958 – Tris Speaker, American baseball player and manager (b. 1888)
- 1963 – Sarit Thanarat, Thai field marshal and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1908)
- 1966 – Ward Morehouse, American playwright, author, and critic (b. 1899)
- 1971 – Ernst Krenkel, Russian geographer and explorer (b. 1903)
- 1971 – Eleni Ourani, Greek poet and critic (b. 1896)
- 1975 – Gary Thain, New Zealand bass player (b. 1948)
- 1978 – Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
- 1980 – John Lennon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
- 1982 – Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist and politician (b. 1951)
- 1982 – André Kamperveen, Surinamese footballer and manager (b. 1924)
- 1982 – Marty Robbins, American singer-songwriter and race car driver (b. 1925)
- 1983 – Keith Holyoake, New Zealand farmer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1904)
- 1983 – Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1984 – Luther Adler, American actor (b. 1903)
- 1984 – Robert Jay Mathews, American militant leader, founded The Order (b. 1953)
- 1984 – Semih Sancar, Turkish general (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Buck Clayton, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1911)
- 1992 – William Shawn, American journalist (b. 1917)
- 1993 – Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (b. 1933)
- 1994 – Antônio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Howard Rollins, American actor (b. 1950)
- 1996 – Kashiwado Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 47th Yokozuna (b. 1938)
- 1997 – Bob Bell, American clown and actor (b. 1922)
- 1999 – Péter Kuczka, Hungarian poet and author (b. 1923)
- 2001 – Mirza Delibašić, Bosnian basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
- 2001 – Betty Holberton, American computer scientist and programmer (b. 1917)
- 2003 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Dimebag Darrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1966)
- 2006 – Martha Tilton, American singer (b. 1915)
- 2006 – José Uribe, Dominican baseball player (b. 1959)
- 2007 – Gerardo García Pimentel, Mexican journalist (b. 1983)
- 2008 – Oliver Postgate, English voice actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Robert Prosky, American actor (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Luis Días, Dominican singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Jerry Brown, American football player (b. 1987)
- 2012 – John Gowans, Scottish-English 16th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Johnny Lira, American boxer (b. 1951)
- 2013 – John Cornforth, Australian-English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Sándor Szokolay, Hungarian composer and academic (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Richard S. Williamson, American lawyer and diplomat (b. 1949)
- 2014 – Tom Gosnell, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1951)
- 2014 – Russ Kemmerer, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Knut Nystedt, Norwegian organist and composer (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Mattiwilda Dobbs, American soprano and actress (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Alan Hodgkinson, English footballer and coach (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings(b. 1943)
- 2015 – John Trudell, American author, poet, and actor (b. 1946)
- 2015 – Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (b. 1913)
- 2016 – John Glenn, American astronaut and senator, first American to go into orbit (b. 1921)
Deaths[edit]
- Bodhi Day (Japan)
- CARICOM–Cuba Day (Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba)
- Christian feast day:
- Clement of Ohrid (Julian Calendar), and its related observances:
- Eucharius
- Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligationin others), and its related observances:
- Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Anglican Communion), lesser commemoration
- Christmas on Campus (University of Dayton)
- Festa da Conceição da Praia, celebrating Yemanjá, Queen of the Ocean in Umbanda(Salvador, Bahia)
- Festival of Lights (Lyon)
- Mother's Day (Panama)
- Lady of Camarin Day (Guam)
- Richard Baxter (US Episcopal Church)
- Romaric
- December 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Romania)
- Constitution Day (Uzbekistan)
- Day of Finnish Music (Finland)
- Earliest day on which National Tree Planting Day can fall, while December 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in December. (Malawi)
- Hari-Kuyō (Kansai region, Japan)
- National Youth Day (Albania)
Holidays and observances[edit]
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
Walk the streets by moonlight, if you dare, and you will see sinners then. Watch when the night is dark, and the wind is howling, and the picklock is grating in the door, and you will see sinners then. Go to yon jail, and walk through the wards, and mark the men with heavy over-hanging brows, men whom you would not like to meet at night, and there are sinners there. Go to the Reformatories, and note those who have betrayed a rampant juvenile depravity, and you will see sinners there. Go across the seas to the place where a man will gnaw a bone upon which is reeking human flesh, and there is a sinner there. Go where you will, you need not ransack earth to find sinners, for they are common enough; you may find them in every lane and street of every city, and town, and village, and hamlet. It is for such that Jesus died. If you will select me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will have hope of him yet, because Jesus Christ is come to seek and to save sinners. Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the best. Pebbles of the brook grace turns into jewels for the crown-royal. Worthless dross he transforms into pure gold. Redeeming love has set apart many of the worst of mankind to be the reward of the Saviour's passion. Effectual grace calls forth many of the vilest of the vile to sit at the table of mercy, and therefore let none despair.
Reader, by that love looking out of Jesus' tearful eyes, by that love streaming from those bleeding wounds, by that faithful love, that strong love, that pure, disinterested, and abiding love; by the heart and by the bowels of the Saviour's compassion, we conjure you turn not away as though it were nothing to you; but believe on him and you shall be saved. Trust your soul with him and he will bring you to his Father's right hand in glory everlasting.
Evening
Paul's great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save. Anything short of this would have disappointed him; he would have men renewed in heart, forgiven, sanctified, in fact, saved. Have our Christian labours been aimed at anything below this great point? Then let us amend our ways, for of what avail will it be at the last great day to have taught and moralized men if they appear before God unsaved? Blood-red will our skirts be if through life we have sought inferior objects, and forgotten that men needed to be saved. Paul knew the ruin of man's natural state, and did not try to educate him, but to save him; he saw men sinking to hell, and did not talk of refining them, but of saving from the wrath to come. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up with untiring zeal to telling abroad the gospel, to warning and beseeching men to be reconciled to God. His prayers were importunate and his labours incessant. To save souls was his consuming passion, his ambition, his calling. He became a servant to all men, toiling for his race, feeling a woe within him if he preached not the gospel. He laid aside his preferences to prevent prejudice; he submitted his will in things indifferent, and if men would but receive the gospel, he raised no questions about forms or ceremonies: the gospel was the one all-important business with him. If he might save some he would be content. This was the crown for which he strove, the sole and sufficient reward of all his labours and self-denials. Dear reader, have you and I lived to win souls at this noble rate? Are we possessed with the same all-absorbing desire? If not, why not? Jesus died for sinners, cannot we live for them? Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we seek not his honour in the salvation of men? O that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men.
===Today's reading: Daniel 5-7, 2 John 1 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Daniel 5-7
The Writing on the Wall
1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.
7 The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom....”
Today's New Testament reading: 2 John 1
1 The elder,
To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 2because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love....
===
Issachar [Ĭs’sakar]—there is here orreward.
1. The ninth son of Jacob and the fifth by Leah. Of Issachar as an individual not a word is recorded after his birth (Gen. 30:18; 49:14, 15; Deut. 33:18, 19).
The Man Who Couched Down
The birth of Issachar was regarded by his mother as a kind of payment from the hand of God, “God hath given me my hire,” said Leah, “because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar” (that is, hire). In Jacob’s blessing to Issachar, he is described as a “strong ass couching down between two burdens,” or “between the sheep-folds.” Two things are here mentioned as a pair, meaning they belong to each other; they are on either hand of Issachar, as necessary accompaniments to each other and to him. Between them his lot is cast.
When Israel was at war against Jabin, king of Canaan ( Judg. 4), Reuben was at ease among the sheepfolds (Judg. 5:16), but the princes of Issachar fought valiantly, jeopardizing their lives unto death (Judg. 5:18). Then it is said that the children of Issachar had an understanding of the times and knew what Israel ought to do.
The strong-boned ass used with the cart, because of its capacity for bearing heavy burdens, was the apt figure used by Jacob to represent Issachar’s great strength, a strength revealed on the field of battle. The love of ease, however, made the people of Issachar unwilling to use their strength at all times in the interests of their country. They couched down in luxury and the restfulness of a rural life. The tragedy overtaking many is their couching down when they ought to be rising up. Their prosperity induces indolence, and like the rich fool in the parable, they take their ease ( Luke 12:19). The voice from heaven still cries, “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1).
2. A Levite doorkeeper of the Tabernacle in David’s time (1 Chron. 26:5).
===
No comments:
Post a Comment