Happy birthday and many happy returns David Bowles. You are behind a magnificent literacy project and I wish it every success. Read into that what you will, Tú eres el hombre escritor que puede cambiar el mundo. Paz, cerrando la brecha.
===
===
===
Events
- 380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I, with co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II, declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to trinitarianChristianity.
- 425 – The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.
- 1560 – The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.
- 1594 – Henry IV is crowned King of France.
- 1617 – Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
- 1626 – Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.
- 1700 – The island of New Britain is discovered.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.
- 1801 – Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
- 1812 – Manuel Belgrano raises the Flag of Argentina in the city of Rosario for the first time.
- 1812 – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county ofNottinghamshire.
- 1844 – The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
- 1860 – Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
- 1861 – Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
- 1870 – The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.
- 1900 – Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.
- 1900 – The British Labour Party is founded.
- 1902 – Second Boer War: Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant is executed in Pretoria.
- 1921 – The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
- 1922 – A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.
- 1933 – Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.
- 1939 – United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners' rights and are therefore illegal.
- 1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14
- 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies
- 1943 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.
- 1943 – The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin
- 1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
- 1955 – Soviet Union regional elections, 1955.
- 1961 – The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
- 1963 – The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
- 1964 – The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
- 1971 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform aborti provocati.
- 1973 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
- 1976 – The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- 1986 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
- 1988 – Sumgait Pogrom: The Armenian community of Sumgait in Azerbaijan was in the target of a violent pogrom.
- 1989 – Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo riots.
- 1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".
- 2002 – Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.
- 2002 – Godhra train burning: a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya;
- 2004 – A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills 116.
- 2004 – The initial version of the John Jay Report, with details about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States, is released.
- 2007 – The Chinese Correction: the Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years.
- 2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii shortly after.
- 272 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (d. 337)
- 1689 – Pietro Gnocchi, Italian composer, choir director, historian, and geographer (d. 1775)
- 1691 – Edward Cave, English editor and publisher (d. 1754)
- 1702 – Johann Valentin Görner, German composer (d. 1762)
- 1711 – Constantine Mavrocordatos, Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia (d. 1769)
- 1779 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English soap and alkali manufacturer (d. 1842)
- 1789 – Manuel Rodríguez, Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader (d. 1818)
- 1807 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (d. 1882)
- 1831 – Hiram Bond Everest, American co-founder of The Vacuum Oil Company (d. 1913)
- 1847 – Ellen Terry, English actress (d.1928)
- 1848 – Hubert Parry, English composer (d. 1918)
- 1862 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and shooter (d. 1937)
- 1863 – Joaquín Sorolla, Spanish painter (d. 1923)
- 1867 – Irving Fisher, American economist (d. 1947)
- 1869 – Alice Hamilton, American doctor and public health advocate (d. 1970)
- 1870 – Louis Coerne, American composer and music educator (d. 1922)
- 1875 – George Rodocanachi, Greek-British physician (d. 1944)
- 1877 – Walter Briggs, Sr., American entrepreneur and sports team owner (d. 1952)
- 1877 – Adela Verne, English pianist (d. 1952)
- 1878 – Alvan T. Fuller, 50th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
- 1879 – René Lefebvre, martyr of the French Resistance (d. 1944)
- 1886 – Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1971)
- 1888 – Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist (d. 1974)
- 1888 – Earl Caddock, American professional wrestler (d. 1950)
- 1888 – Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
- 1890 – Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)
- 1891 – Anne Samson, Canadian supercentenarian (d. 2004)
- 1891 – David Sarnoff, Russian-born broadcast pioneer (d. 1971)
- 1892 – William Demarest, American actor (d. 1983)
- 1895 – Miyagiyama Fukumatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1943)
- 1897 – Marian Anderson, American contralto (d. 1993)
- 1899 – Charles Best, Canadian scientist (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer (d. 1999)
- 1902 – John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1968)
- 1903 – Grethe Weiser, German actress (d. 1970)
- 1904 – James T. Farrell, American writer (d. 1979)
- 1904 – Chick Fullis, American baseball player (d. 1946)
- 1904 – Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist (d. 1996)
- 1904 – André Leducq, French cyclist (d. 1980)
- 1905 – Franchot Tone, American actor (d. 1968)
- 1907 – Mildred Bailey, American singer (d. 1951)
- 1907 – Walter Wolf, German politician (d. 1977)
- 1910 – Joan Bennett, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1910 – Peter De Vries, American writer (d. 1993)
- 1910 – Genrikh Gasparyan, Armenian chess player and composer (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Ted Horn, American race car driver (d. 1948)
- 1910 – Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, American aerospace engineer (d. 1990)
- 1911 – Oscar Heidenstam, English bodybuilding champion (d. 1991)
- 1912 – Lawrence Durrell, English writer (d. 1990)
- 1912 – Kusumagraj,Vishnu Vāman Shirwādkar, Indian writer (d. 1999)
- 1913 – Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Kazimierz Sabbat, Polish president (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Irwin Shaw, American writer (d. 1984)
- 1915 – Denis Whitaker, Canadian soldier, businessman and author (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Olavi Virta, Finnish singer (d. 1972)
- 1917 – John Connally, American politician (d. 1993)
- 1921 – Theodore Van Kirk, American navigator of the Enola Gay
- 1922 – Hans Rookmaaker, Dutch professor and art historian (d. 1977)
- 1923 – Dexter Gordon, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1990)
- 1925 – Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (d. 2004)
- 1926 – David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1927 – Lynn Cartwright, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Jimmy Halliday, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
- 1929 – Jack Gibson, Australian rugby player and coach (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Stefan Kudelski, Polish engineer, invented the Nagra (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1930 – Paul von Ragué Schleyer, American chemist
- 1930 – Peter Stone, American writer (d. 2003)
- 1930 – Joanne Woodward, American actress
- 1932 – Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress (d. 2011)
- 1933 – Raymond Berry, American football player
- 1934 – Vincent Fourcade, French interior designer (d. 1992)
- 1934 – N. Scott Momaday, American writer
- 1934 – Ralph Nader, American author, activist, and political figure
- 1934 – Van Williams, American actor
- 1935 – Mirella Freni, Italian soprano
- 1935 – Uri Shulevitz, American author and illustrator
- 1936 – Ron Barassi, Australian rules footballer
- 1936 – Roger Mahony, American cardinal
- 1937 – David Ackles, American singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
- 1937 – Barbara Babcock, American actress
- 1937 – Aslan Usoyan, Georgian-Russian mobster (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Jake Thackray, English singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
- 1939 – José Cardona, Honduran footballer (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Peter Revson, American race car driver (d. 1974)
- 1939 – Nguyen Chi Thien, Vietnamese poet (d. 2012)
- 1940 – Pierre Duchesne, Canadian politician
- 1940 – Howard Hesseman, American actor
- 1940 – Bill Hunter, Australian actor (d. 2011)
- 1941 – Paddy Ashdown, British politician
- 1942 – Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1942 – Charlayne Hunter-Gault, American journalist
- 1942 – Michel Forget, Canadian actor
- 1943 – Mary Frann, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1943 – Morten Lauridsen, American composer
- 1944 – Ken Grimwood, American writer (d. 2003)
- 1944 – Graeme Pollock, South African cricketer
- 1944 – Roger Scruton, British philosopher
- 1945 – Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (d. 2004)
- 1947 – Alan Guth, American physicist and cosmologist
- 1947 – Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist
- 1949 – Rosalinda Galli, Italian voice actress
- 1950 – Julia Neuberger, English rabbi and politician
- 1951 – Lee Atwater, American political figure (d. 1991)
- 1951 – Steve Harley, British musician (Cockney Rebel)
- 1952 – Stathis Psaltis, Greek actor
- 1953 – Yolande Moreau, Belgian actress
- 1953 – Gabriela Svobodová, Czech cross country skier
- 1954 – Neal Schon, American musician (Journey and Santana)
- 1955 – Peter Christopherson, English musician and video director
- 1957 – Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator
- 1957 – Viktor Markin, Russian athlete
- 1957 – Adrian Smith, English musician (Iron Maiden)
- 1957 – Timothy Spall, English actor
- 1958 – Naas Botha, South African rugby union footballer
- 1958 – Max Crivello, Itallian artist
- 1958 – Maggie Hassan, American politician, 81st governor of New Hampshire
- 1958 – Nancy Spungen, American murder victim (d. 1978)
- 1959 – Johnny Van Zant, American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- 1960 – Andrés Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player
- 1961 – James Worthy, American basketball player
- 1962 – Adam Baldwin, American actor
- 1962 – Grant Show, American actor
- 1962 – Robert Spencer, American author and blogger
- 1963 – Pär Nuder, Swedish politician
- 1964 – Todd Bodine, American race car driver
- 1965 – Noah Emmerich, American actor
- 1965 – Joakim Sundström, Swedish sound editor and sound designer
- 1965 – Frank Peter Zimmermann, German violinist
- 1966 – Donal Logue, Canadian actor
- 1968 – Matt Stairs, Canadian baseball player
- 1969 – Brad Vander Ark, American musician (The Verve Pipe)
- 1970 – Michael A. Burstein, American writer
- 1970 – Kent Desormeaux, American jockey
- 1970 – Matthias Lechner, German art director
- 1970 – Goran Markov, Macedonian footballer
- 1970 – Patricia Petibon, French opera singer
- 1971 – Derren Brown, British psychological illusionist
- 1971 – Paul Hudson, British television presenter
- 1971 – "Chilli" Thomas, American singer (TLC)
- 1972 – Jennifer Lyon, American television personality (d. 2010)
- 1973 – Peter André, Australian singer
- 1973 – Ali Tabatabaee, American-Iranian singer (Zebrahead)
- 1973 – Mark Taylor, Welsh rugby footballer
- 1974 – Colin Edwards, American motorcycle racer
- 1974 – Carte Goodwin, American politician
- 1975 – Prodromos Korkizoglou, Greek decathlete
- 1975 – Shelby Walker, American mixed martial artist (d. 2006)
- 1976 – Tony Gonzalez, American football player
- 1976 – Yukari Tamura, Japanese voice actress
- 1977 – Lance Hoyt, American wrestler
- 1977 – Ji Sung, South Korean actor
- 1977 – James Wan, Australian film director
- 1978 – James Beattie, English footballer
- 1978 – Kakha Kaladze, Georgian footballer
- 1979 – Andreas Voss, German footballer
- 1980 – Bobby V, American singer (Mista)
- 1980 – Brandon Beemer, American actor
- 1980 – Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton
- 1980 – Nick Speed, American Hip Hop producer
- 1980 – Scott Prince, Australian rugby player
- 1981 – Josh Groban, American singer
- 1981 – Cameron Ling, Australian Rules footballer
- 1981 – Élodie Ouédraogo, Belgian athlete
- 1983 – Duje Draganja, Croatian swimmer
- 1983 – Devin Harris, American basketball player
- 1983 – Kate Mara, American actress
- 1983 – Hayley Angel Wardle, English actress
- 1984 – David Noel, American basketball player
- 1984 – Lotta Schelin, Swedish footballer
- 1984 – Antti Tuisku, Finnish singer
- 1985 – Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Russian footballer
- 1985 – Braydon Coburn, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Yovani Gallardo, American baseball player
- 1986 – Jonathan Moreira, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Sandeep Singh, Indian hockey player
- 1988 – Dustin Jeffrey, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Shota Shimizu, Japanese musician
- 1989 – David Button, English footballer
- 1989 – Matt Lapinskas, English Actor
- 1991 – Azeem Rafiq, Pakistani cricketer
- 1992 – Jonjo Shelvey, English footballer
- 1994 – Hou Yifan, Chinese chess player
- 956 – Theophylact, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 917)
- 1659 – Henry Dunster, first President of Harvard College (b. 1609)
- 1699 – Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton, English politician (b. c.1625)
- 1706 – John Evelyn, English diarist (b. 1620)
- 1720 – Samuel Parris, English-born Puritan minister (b. 1653)
- 1735 – John Arbuthnot, English physician and writer (b. 1667)
- 1795 – Tanikaze Kajinosuke, Jamapese sumo wrestler (b. 1750)
- 1844 – Nicholas Biddle, American businessman (b. 1786)
- 1887 – Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and chemist (b. 1833)
- 1892 – Louis Vuitton, French luggage maker (b. 1821)
- 1902 – Peter Handcock, Australian soldier (b. 1869)
- 1902 – Harry 'Breaker' Morant, Anglo-Australian soldier (b. 1864)
- 1921 – Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
- 1931 – Chandrasekhar Azad,Indian revolutionary (b. 1906)
- 1932 – William Southam, Canadian newspaper publisher (b. 1843)
- 1936 – Joshua W. Alexander, U.S. Secretary of Commerce (b. 1852)
- 1936 – Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1849)
- 1941 – William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)
- 1943 – Kostis Palamas, Greek poet (b. 1859)
- 1964 – Orry-Kelly, Australian costume designer (b. 1897)
- 1968 – Frankie Lymon, American singer (The Teenagers) (b. 1942)
- 1969 – Marius Barbeau, Canadian folklorist (b. 1883)
- 1970 – Marie Dionne, Canadian quintuplet (b. 1934)
- 1972 – Pat Brady, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
- 1973 – Bill Everett, American comic book artist (b. 1917)
- 1977 – John Dickson Carr, American author (b. 1905)
- 1978 – Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (b. 1912)
- 1980 – George Tobias, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1981 – Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (b. 1920)
- 1985 – Henry Cabot Lodge, American politician (b. 1902)
- 1986 – Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (b. 1929)
- 1987 – Bill Holman, American cartoonist (b. 1903)
- 1987 – Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish priest (b. 1921)
- 1987 – Joan Greenwood, English actress and director (b. 1921)
- 1989 – Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (b. 1897)
- 1989 – Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1903)
- 1990 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (b. 1903)
- 1992 – S. I. Hayakawa, Canadian-American linguist and politician (b. 1906)
- 1993 – Lillian Gish, American actress (b. 1893)
- 1998 – George H. Hitchings, American scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1905)
- 1998 – J. T. Walsh, American actor (b. 1943)
- 1999 – Horace Tapscott American musician (b. 1934)
- 2002 – Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (b. 1918)
- 2003 – John Lanchbery, English composer (b. 1923)
- 2003 – Fred Rogers, American children's television actor (b. 1928)
- 2004 – Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historians (b. 1928)
- 2004 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (b. 1910)
- 2005 – Jessica Lunsford, murder victim (b. 1995)
- 2006 – Otis Chandler, American newspaper publisher (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Robert Lee Scott, Jr., U.S. General, Flying Tiger, and author (b. 1908)
- 2006 – Linda Smith, English comedian (b. 1958)
- 2007 – Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven, German soldier (b. 1914)
- 2007 – Bobby Rosengarden, American jazz drummer (b. 1924)
- 2008 – Ivan Rebroff, German and Russian Singer (b. 1931)
- 2008 – William F. Buckley, Jr., American author and commentator (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Boyd Coddington, American automobile designer (b. 1944)
- 2008 – Myron Cope, American sports broadcaster (b. 1929)
- 2010 – Madeleine Ferron, Canadian writer (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Nanaji Deshmukh, Indian Politician (b.1916)
- 2011 – Frank Buckles, last surviving American World War I veteran (b. 1901)
- 2011 – Duke Snider, American baseball player (b. 1926)
[edit]Holidays and observances
===
 |
| Dear Freedom Center Friend, 
With the reelection of Barack Obama, Israel's security has never been so threatened. And now with his assembling of a foreign policy team that includes John Kerry, John Brennan and Chuck Hagel, a message is being sent loud and clear:Israel, America no longer has your back.
How bad are they? It was just revealed that Hagel coauthored a 2009 report on "A Last Chance for a Two-State Israel-Palestine Agreement." What's in the report? A warning against "the Jewish-American and Christian Zionist groups that feel comfortable amplifying the positions of Israeli politicians hostile to hard compromise and painful concession." Yes, Chuck Hagel finds it imperative to warn us that the roadblock to peace are those irritating American Jews and Christians that love Israel.
Hagel also makes it clear that Jerusalem must be divided into two capitals, and that the peace would be kept with a "U.S. – led multinational force" under a "UN mandate." One researcher has estimated that about 60,000 US/NATO troops and about 160 billion dollars over 10 years would be required. This is folly and any clear headed person knows this will only lead to the destruction of the Jewish State.
John Brennan meanwhile, finds it critical that we work with the "moderates" in Hezbollah.Really? The moderates are the ones that only launch rockets on Northern Israel every other day! About the Islamists who kill innocents and want to impose Sharia Law and destroy Israel, Brennan says, "they are not jihadists, for jihad is a holy struggle." The problem, of course, is that the "Jihadists" call themselves, Jihadists! Brennan's political correct nonsense is not only delusional; it is dangerous and has no place in our National Security mindset.
But this is the mindset of the Obama second term. These are the men that mirror Obama's own worldview and more specifically, his view of Israel — she is an illegitimate, western colonial apartheid state in the middle of the Arab sea.
How do we counter this Israel and Jewish-hating foreign policy?
There are many battlegrounds in this war against Israel, but the Freedom Center's focus is on the college campuses. Our campuses have been overwhelmed by the Jew- hating, Israel-bashing Left wing in concert with the Muslim Brotherhood's offspring, the Muslim Students Association. Trust me, it is no longer safe on an American campus to be one of those Jewish-Americans and Christian Zionists that Chuck Hagel was so derisive of.
The Freedom Center has just republished my pamphlet "Why Israel is the Victim" and I want you to have a copy. We have added a new forward, authored by FrontPage writer and Shillman Fellow, Daniel Greenfield. We plan to blanket American campuses with over a half million copies of this hard-hitting pamphlet. We are working with over 1,000 conservative and pro-Israel organizations and students that will help distribute this pamphlet, print campus ads and bring speakers to their campuses to tell the truth about Israel.
But we urgently need your help to laumcht his effort. That's why I will send you a free copy of "Why Israel is the Victim" for your tax-deductible donation of $25, $50, $100 or more.
Our young people must have the intellectual ammunition to counter the Israel haters and anti-Semites on our campuses. This is not the time for "interfaith" dialogue and fig leaves of friendship with those who want to destroy Israel and bring about the next holocaust. This is the time for the hard truth.
Will you help me today? In order to reach our goal in the printing and distributing of a half million of these pamphlets, to place ads and bring speakers to these campuses, we need to raise $225,000 in the next month. You have been so supportive of the Center and my work over these years and I call on you again to help in this effort.
Please follow this link to donate $25, $50, $100 or more and I'll rush you a free copy of "Why Israel is the Victim."
Israel is the canary in the coal mine. What they do there, they are sure to come and do here. This cannot happen. We must counter what the Obama Administration is doing to our great ally and friend. Thank you in advance for your support.
Sincerely,
David Horowitz
President & Founder
P.S. The men Barack Obama has chosen to lead his foreign policy and national defense team confirm our worst fears: America no longer stands with Israel. That's why, once again, the Freedom Center is leading the efforts to defend Israel. Will you support our latest effort by making a tax-deductible donation of $25, $50, $100 or more today? In return for your donation of $25 or more, I'll rush you a copy of my pamphlet, "Why Israel is the Victim." Thanks—David
| |
|
|
===
Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for February 26th. Enjoy!
|
“I won’t stop fighting to open up government” — Barack Obama, January 2010...
Late last week, the New York Times reported that Organizing for Action is basically selling access to President Obama for a cool half million...
|
Check out this video of a New Jersey teacher's passionate defense of the Second Amendment.
|
|
"Intelack" ... just glorious. Glorious.
|
|
===
Piers Akerman – Wednesday, February 27, 2013 (4:33am)
IT is becoming a little pointless to ask Julia Gillard what she could possibly have been thinking after she came out with yet another boneheaded notion.
Like the carbon tax, like the longest election campaign in the nation’s history, like appointing Peter Slipper to be Speaker or like announcing that she proposes to spend five days in the Western Sydney suburb of Rooty Hill.
Not that there is anything wrong with Rooty Hill, an admirable address to be sure, but when one has the choice between a bed in Rooty Hill or at Kirribilli House there really is no choice.
Unless of course, one is campaigning and one has looked at the most recent polling which puts the Coalition in a comfortable Labor-smashing two-party-preferred lead of 55 per cent to the ALP’s 45 per cent.
But Gillard is not campaigning, right?
This is what she told the National Press Club on January 30 when she announced she intended to have an election on September 14: “And so, decisions have to be made about how we use our time this year.
“We must get on with the business of governing and an election must be held.
“In that order.
“Governing first, electioneering second.”
But of course, she was lying again. Gillard has done little governing since her announcement but she has been flat out campaigning.
The polls tell the story.
She has failed to get the votes she thought she would and Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister she declared had lost his way, is waiting to be carried back to reclaim his title.
In Western Sydney, Labor currently holds five seats on margins under 5 per cent. Another five electorates usually considered “safe”, are on margins between 6 and 10 per cent; Labor MPs know most of them could be lost in September on the current polling.
It is easy to draw up a list of battleground seats in NSW – Parramatta, Reid, Banks, Lindsay, Greenway and Macarthur, for starters. Only four of which would have to go with a mini-swing of 1.5 per cent to give the Coalition a lower house majority.
Other Western Sydney seats where informal votes put former safe Labor seats in play are Blaxland, Watson, Fowler, Chifley, McMahon, Werriwa and Barton.
Natural Labor voters in these electorates are over the Ranga.
They are not fans of illegal boat arrivals, they don’t favour homosexual marriage, they are concerned about perceived increases in crime rates and ramping up of gunplay in their neighbourhoods.
They are worried about the rising cost of living, the carbon tax and imported workers.
Like others, they want the sense of security they enjoyed when the Coalition was last in government.
Most of all they are tired of being treated like mugs and milked for votes by the Labor Party. That’s why so many of them deliberately voted informal at the 2010 federal election and again at the 2011 state election.
Appearing at the Rooty Hill RSL or the Penrith Panthers has helped many old rock stars boost their superannuation but Gillard will be there on the taxpayers’ dollar and she has a hefty payout awaiting her.
Unlike the cheers the oldtimers of rock and roll may expect, Gillard may find her audiences less sympathetic.
There is no jackpot awaiting Labor in the West.
===
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, February 26, 2013 (7:37pm)
IF you take the world’s most popular artform as a snapshot of 21st century culture, then the 2013 Academy Awards tells you that something real is changing for women.
An abundance of macho facial hair and host Seth MacFarlane’s openly sexist patter - with his We Saw Your Boobs number and: “We have no idea what they’re saying, but we don’t care because they’re so attractive” lines - was more a rearguard action by defensive men than a resetting of the feminist clock.
It was men in dinner suits trying to retain power against the realisation that a new generation of women genuinely don’t need them; they are competition that can’t be neutralised with a throwaway kiss. For all the furore the next day about Sexist Seth, did the Hollywood ladies care? Not one bit. They were in on the joke.
After the girl-power Golden Globes last month, hosted with aplomb by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, it was game on. MacFarlane, the deceptively clean-cut creator of Family Guy, is nothing if not clued into the zeitgeist. He even made a neurotic reference to his Golden Globe competitors: “Why don’t we just let Tina and Amy host the show?”
His show parodied old-fashioned chauvinism better than if the Rat Pack itself had been hosting.
What the Oscars now tells you about women is that they are no longer defined by men. So throw as many sexist slurs their way as you like.
And, by the way, see how elegantly they dress. Not baring maximum flesh like extras in a porn film but wearing Hollywood glamour gowns that leave plenty to the imagination, with hair in flowing Rumpelstiltskin curls. They don’t behave like the handmaidens of old, but wear their soft armour against being treated like meat.
Then there were the strong, chaste female characters up on screen, in the best year for movies I can remember, as proven by an all-time record box office haul.
Jessica Chastain as the CIA agent tracking down Osama bin Laden, in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, is tough and driven. There is little back story. No romantic frisson. “I’m not that girl that f ... s”, she says at one point, closing down that traditional avenue and making Maya interesting in her own right, not because of who she sleeps with. And sure enough, unlike practically every actress has had to be from time immemorial, she isn’t “that girl that f ... s”.
Not in this movie, produced by a woman, financed by a woman, directed by a woman and starring a woman.
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook begins as the girl that f ... s too much - after her husband dies she immediately has sex with 11 co-workers. This all happens before the movie starts.
The complication in this romantic comedy-drama is that Tiffany falls in love with Pat (Bradley Cooper), yet their relationship remains chaste. This keeps the suspense going in a way old Hollywood used to do with ease and modern life so often cannot.
In a way, the movie is an ode to long and respectful courtship as well as breaking down the stigma of mental illness.
In her Best Actress acceptance speech Lawrence pays tribute to “the women this year. You were so magnificent and so inspiring and not just those of you in my category. And it’s been so amazing getting to know you and you’ve just been so nice”.
So much for the cliche that women are envious and must pull each other down.
At 22, Lawrence is the quintessential Gen Y girl, powerful and unencumbered by her forerunners’ temptations to simper. And of course, her Katniss Everdeen in last year’s The Hunger Games was her generation’s first Boadicea, capable in combat with no need of a man to keep her safe.
So all the furore over Seth’s sexism misses the point. It was just an impotent backlash against the news that women have figured out there’s more power in being independent, covering up and saying no to the zipless f ...k. They know the false promise that indiscriminate sex empowers women has been feminism’s biggest disaster. No wonder men are annoyed.
As if to underline that theme with optimistic promise, Oscar 2013 also gave us a rare Hollywood paean to long marriages, with three of the loveliest tributes to wives from the night’s most successful men.
“My wife, Jane Lin, we’ll be married 30 years this summer. I love you,” said Best Director Ang Lee.
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis dedicated his win to his wife and “perfect companion” of 16 years.
And Best Picture winner Affleck told Jennifer Garner: “I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It’s good. It is work but it’s the best kind of work and there’s no one I’d rather work with.”
And that, in 2013, is the rather healthy state of the battle of the sexes.
===
Tim Blair – Wednesday, February 27, 2013 (7:03pm)
Background: last year former
Monthly editor Ben Naparstek was appointed editor of Fairfax’s
Good Weekend. He was replaced at the
Monthly by
Good Weekend writer John van Tiggelen.
Nice things were said at the time but the pair have since fallen out. This is an email recently sent by van Tiggelen to Naparstek:
Dear Ben,
It’s probably time to put a few things down in writing. Till now I’ve cut your sense of professional ethics a lot of slack. After all, we were friendly; you helped me get this job; I couldn’t help but feel affection for you and your oddball ways. But I no longer find the latter quite so cute.
===
Tim Blair – Wednesday, February 27, 2013 (2:55pm)
Previously, bank accounts left dormant for
seven years defaulted to the government. That has now changed:
After legislation was rushed through parliament, the government will from May 31 be able to transfer all money from accounts that have not been used for three years into their own revenues.
This will mean that accounts with anything from $1 upwards that have not had any deposit or withdrawals in the past three years will be transferred to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
The law is forecast to raise $109 million this year as inactive accounts for three years or more are raided by Treasury.
===
Tim Blair – Wednesday, February 27, 2013 (1:42pm)
Mike Carlton emails John McTernan:
There is allegedly some all-powerful communications and strategy operation in Gillard’s office, ruled by one John McTernan, an apparatchik from the British Labour Party, but heaven knows what it actually does. If anything. I emailed McTernan last Christmas suggesting a drink or lunch but he didn’t bother to reply.
That’s because McTernan is too busy trying to meet 2GB’s Ray Hadley:
My staff got a phone call this week from the PM’s Scottish spin doctor John McTernan wanting to know if I wanted to catch up for a beer. I rarely drink and if I do it’s with close mates and family, not someone trying to butter me up because he knows the government is dead and buried in western Sydney …
===
Tim Blair – Wednesday, February 27, 2013 (1:36pm)
===
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY272013(12:28pm)
A big comeback in
Italy’s election for Silvio Berlusconi, foe of Italy’s intelligentsia, and a massive blow for Euro bureaucracy and the technocrat they installed as Italy’s unelected Prime Minister. Plus, of course, chaos:
But the result this time around is a baroque one: Prime Minister Mario Monti relegated to a humiliating fourth place, Silvio Berlusconi once again rampant, and the overtly anti-political Five Star Movement of Beppe Grillo coming from nowhere to become the biggest single party in the House of Deputies. If these extraordinary results do not shake Europe out of its apathy, nothing will.
Saddled with scandal, felled by the sovereign-debt crisis and deserted by his traditional allies, the 76-year-old Mr. Berlusconi was on his political deathbed only a few months ago when he pledged to quit politics “for the love of Italy.”
On Monday, Mr. Berlusconi silenced naysayers and stunned financial markets when his conservative coalition got enough votes to deny its main rival of the parliamentary the support it needs to form a stable government. In the key lower house of Parliament, Mr. Berlusconi came within a whisker of victory—a scenario that was deemed unthinkable just two months ago.
The outcome won’t propel him back into the prime minister’s office. However, Mr. Berlusconi has positioned himself—for the 19th year running—as a pivotal powerbroker in Italy’s political life…
It is far from clear whether Mr. Berlusconi and Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the Democratic Party, could overcome their differences and rule the country together…
The flood of TV appearances by the perennially tanned former premier outraged his critics. But the blitz mobilized Mr. Berlusconi’s base—small-business owners and professionals—which had largely been planning to desert the voting booths until Mr. Berlusconi pushed back onto the scene.
“He returned to TV playing that guy everybody knows,” said Alessandro Campi, a professor of political science at the University of Perugia. “He’s planted a seed deep in the public imagination.”
Mr. Berlusconi is also adept at transforming perceived weaknesses into political strengths. Many economists and investors assumed he had been fully discredited in the eyes of the Italian public when, in late 2011, he was forced to hand power over to an emergency government run by Mario Monti.
However, Mr. Berlusconi responded to the ouster with an act of political judo, blaming Italy’s economic woes on the tax increases and pension cuts introduced by Mr. Monti’s government… Mr. Monti garnered 9.1% of the vote for the Senate and 10.5% for the Chamber.
First, 57 per cent of Italians voted for parties that explicitly oppose austerity, whether EU-mandated or otherwise.
Second, the Five-Star Movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo received over 25 per cent of the vote. Mario Monti, the outgoing prime minister – who was put in place to lead a Brussels-friendly, pro-reform government – mustered less than 10 per cent of votes in both houses. Think about that for a second. In practical terms, this means that a party – Grillo’s Five Star Movement, which has called for a referendum on whether the country should leave the single currency and whether Italy should default on some of its debt – will have roughly twice as many seats in Italy’s Lower House than the man hailed in Brussels and Berlin as Italy’s saviour . It also means that a former European Commissioner and adviser to Goldman Sachs just got completely hammered at the polls by a former comedian.
The Five Star Movement is likely to be studied as an example of innovative campaigning. It made much use of social media – recruiting its candidates primarily via YouTube, for example. The party is far more anti-establishment (and strongly anti-Berlusconi) than anti-Brussels. But still, though Italians remain staunchly pro-EU, this election is a major blow for the Brussels cash-for-austerity consensus.
===
Andrew BoltFEBRUARY272013(12:23pm)
The Coalition clearly thinks it’s time to start preparing for Kevin Rudd, who, as I said a few weeks ago, is now the biggest obstacle to Tony Abbott become Prime Minister.
===
Seth MacFarlane at the Oscars marvellously punctured the “it’s art not porn” pretence. Not that there’s anything wrong with bared breasts in the movies…
===
Senator Trish Crossin is, tragically, not the only person to be sacked for not being Aboriginal. Here’s a much more serious example - one that also demonstrates again how the ”
stolen generations” myth is hurting children:
Robert came to Audrey as a nine-week-old baby who had been born three months premature.
“There were drugs and alcohol involved with the parents, and also domestic abuse,” Audrey said.
After caring for Robert for more about seven months, Audrey - who has been a foster carer for more than three years, taking children in on a short-term basis - was asked if she would be willing to take Robert on as part of a fulltime arrangement… She said five days after agreeing to take Robert on permanently, everything changed.
“I was notified that an indigenous elder had stepped in and that Robert was to be removed from my care, and two weeks later he was gone.”
Audrey said she was told that she was no longer considered an acceptable full time carer for Robert as she was not indigenous.
“For me, the concern was Robert was very attached to me, he had bonded, he was healthy, he was thriving, and there was actually no need to remove him from my care… Robert is now in a family where there are seven other foster children under the age of eight… The last time I saw Robert, his health had deteriorated… After only a week in his new placement, he had severe nappy rash to the point where his bottom was bleeding. He had pale coloured stools, he had an ear infection, he was very untidily dressed.”
The apparent explanation:
According to the DCP’s website, the department tries wherever possible to place Aboriginal children within their families and local communities to “safeguard their identities.”
But which of their identities is to be safeguarded?
I had two columns banned by a Federal Court after trying to discuss this notion of identity, so will leave it to an Aborigine commenting on this case to raise my argument instead:
Craig Somerville, the head previous of Aboriginal Legal Services and Aboriginal community member said each case should be looked at individually.
“What is an Aboriginal family? My father was Scottish my children are half-Italian, it’s all about backgrounds that nurture us together, my kids, I’m not going to shove anything on them, they don’t have to wear a kilt or play a didgeridoo,” he said.
And why these absurd efforts to maintain an “identity” that can come with these results:
Aboriginal children make up about 45 per cent of all children in foster care in WA. While Aboriginal people only make up 3.8 per cent of WA’s population 1867 of the 3927 children in care in WA at the end of 2012 were Aboriginal.
DCP director general Terry Murphy told Radio 6PR that while there was a preference to place Aboriginal children with Aboriginal families, Audrey’s claims were not true…
Mr Murphy said the department was “very clear” that they were looking for a “relative placement or perhaps another Aboriginal family.”
“My advice is that no time, did we canvass with her on the prospect of the child staying with her until he was 18…
“We eventually found an Aboriginal placement.
Mr Murphy said an advantage of this placement was that Robert’s brother was also living here.
He rejected assertions that Robert was not doing well in the placement…
“Now we would be nervous about the placement with nine children, there’s no question about that, but it’s not too many years ago that lots of children had nine and ten and many more children and those kids have grown up terrifically well,” he said.
A placement with nine children? Many of them foster children? God spare the boy.
(Thanks to reader Simon.)
===
Until now Labor states such as South Australia have been supportive of the government’s education reforms…
But in a submission sent by Tasmanian Department of Education secretary Colin Pettit to the parliamentary inquiry into the Gonski bill, and written by Education Minister Nick McKim, one of two Greens ministers in Labor Premier Lara Giddings’s cabinet, the government expresses serious concerns about the legislation.
“Tasmania questions the need for the bill in its current form,” Mr McKim writes. “The reform directions are too detailed and not based on any agreement with states and do not recognise the role of states as system managers.
“(It) represents unknown costs to state governments and may have industrial relations implications."…
“There is an over-emphasis on engaging with Asia in the bill compared with the importance of school improvement and the provisions of needs-based funding,” Mr McKim says.
===
Global warming is not all doom and gloom:
Please join the Center for American Progress, the Center for Climate & Security, and the Stimson Center on Thursday, February 28, for the release of a new volume on “Climate Change and the Arab Spring."… The volume outlines the complex pressures exerted by the effects of climate change on the convulsions which swept through the Middle East in 2010 and 2011, exploring the long-term trends in precipitation, agriculture, food prices, and migration which contributed to the social instability and violence which has transformed the region, and offering solutions for progress.
Personally, I think the Center for American Progress missed a fine opportunity for scaremongering. It could have argued instead that global warming helps Islamists.
One problem with the above analysis, of course, is that there’s no sign at all of global warming hurting agriculture and food prices. The very opposite, in fact, to judge from production levels of
the world’s main food crops:
(Thanks to reader David.)
===
It would be useful to the public if the University answered the charges in his
letter.
(Thanks to reader fulchrum.)
===
Cassandra Wilkinson warns that Labor’s looming election debacle could remake the party for the worse:
The expected losses in NSW are interesting not only for their likely severity but for the ideological distribution. If polls don’t improve many of NSW Labor’s best younger MPs will lose their seats, including Michelle Rowland, Jason Clare, Chris Bowen, David Bradbury and possibly Tony Burke, all in the Right. The safer seats will be held by Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese and Stephen Jones. The Liberals will win the country but the socialists will win control of Labor in NSW.
FORMER NSW premier Morris Iemma has told senior Labor figures that he will not be nominating for preselection to contest the federal seat of Barton at the next election.
It is believed that a desire to spend time with his family and Labor’s poor standing in opinion polls, reaffirmed yesterday by the latest Newspoll, are behind Mr Iemma’s decision not to seek to replace outgoing Labor MP Robert McClelland.
There is no contest for first prize. Julia Gillard’s political misjudgments are rivalled only by her policy mistakes… Add to the list the alliance with the Greens; reneging on her “no carbon tax” promise; installing Peter Slipper as Speaker; dumping a pokies deal with independent Andrew Wilkie; standing by the sexting Slipper; promising a surplus, only to dump that promise too; the clumsy “captain’s pick” for the Senate; and announcing a September 14 election.
The policy mistakes? We know them well....
Second place is also a no-brainer. Step up Wayne Swan…
Third place goes to Rudd… But the former PM set the wheel in motion for the Labor train wreck…
Coming in at fourth spot is Bill Shorten. The Workplace Relations Minister allowed the government to look like the lackey for the union movement when the stench of union corruption grew more pungent…
As Labor is the party of collectives, fifth place goes to a group of female MPs best known as the misogyny maidens. Tanya Plibersek, Nicola Roxon, Penny Wong, Jenny Macklin and, of course, the PM - who earns two places in the top five - debased the serious issue of misogyny with cheap politics. And nothing is more certain to offend Australians than the finger-wagging culture of these trendy inner-city MPs whom the French would call “gauche caviar”.
===
AN $860 million stretch of elevated highway in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, funded with $500m in federal stimulus grants, was built almost 20m high to allow double-stacked trains that are unlikely to use the rail line to pass underneath.
The 5km road, of which 2.8km is elevated, was announced by Kevin Rudd and then South Australian premier Mike Rann in October 2009 as a “visionary” project that would help stimulate the construction sector during the global financial crisis…
“The longer-term plan is that the track is not required (to go under the superway),” SA Freight Council chief executive Neil Murphy said.
So what did all that stimulus spending give us?
- overpriced school halls/
- an “Education Revolution” that saw student standards go backwards.
- home insulation that had to be ripped out.
- an elevated train track we don’t actually need.
- cash splashes to the dead
(Thanks to reader Michelle2.)
===
This must be a classic – Media Watch using anonymous sources to condemn anonymous sources.
===
Shorten has an odd sense of priorities:
Assistant National Secretary Ian Bray ... noted the strong growth of the branch and the rise in numbers for the union as a whole… “We’ve all but doubled our membership because we are a militant fighting union. ...”
WA Branch Secretary Chris Cain, speaking in his usual straightforward and strong militant views, told the delegates: “Laws need to be broken, you’re going to get locked up. Because if you want equality in this country, you need to take action,” said Cain.
Bob Crow, the General Secretary of the UK Rail Maritime and Transport Union, gave a rousing talk about the importance of seeing the trade union work as a 24-7 community operation… “Capitalism has failed mankind.”
Mr Cain led conference delegates in a chant accusing mining magnate Gina Rinehart of exploiting workers, “with the entire crowd joining in”.
Nowhere else in Australia that Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten, the face of modern Labor and son-in-law of the Governor-General, would rather be.
===
At least this time Julia Gillard is paying for her mistake:
Her Sydney-based staff, who stay with her at the hotel, will also be required to pay for their own accommodation… The ALP is not footing the bill for the western Sydney stay.
UPDATE
CHRIS UHLMANN: But in this straw poll taken today in the marginal seat of Greenway, most approached were not fans of Julia Gillard.
VOX POP IV: She struggles to relate to normal people. She’s a lawyer.
VOX POP V: I think she lost us when she did lie about the carbon tax.
VOX POP VI: She doesn’t tell the truth all the time.
VOX POP VII: She’ll be replaced by Kevin Rudd. I believe it’s the only chance the Labor Party have.
VOX POP: When she talks, she talks like a car dealers.
JOURNALIST: Like a car dealer?
VOX POP IV: Yeah. She want to rip you off.
===
Would you 'Like' a Hug Mug? Max Brenner
===
===
===
The only consistent goals I've had in my life: 1. Be a host on Play School 2. Appear as a guest on The Love Boat and 3. Learn to time travel - Community Channel
===
===
===
Scientists have built a robot that mimics the wing shape and motions of the lesser dog-faced fruit bat, which could aid in the design of novel flapping aircraft. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/2m38
===
Yesterdays MX. My new iPhone app acts like a ‘direct line to the Batphone.’ Glad MX thought the app was a good idea http://bit.ly/XuRDf8
===
Finally finished my first tiger drawing. It was definitely challenging but fun to do! :) Joey Duong
===
Haphazard sale: $680 inclusive or enquire about individual items - Aprille Love- glass desk- 6 piece sony surround sound system- brother inkjet printer- samsung laser printer- tv cabinet
===
Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable - How to Marry a Millionaire, 1953
===
I wonder if PM Gillard will visit Hughes to apolgise to locals for increasing their electricity bills with her broken promise on the Carbon Tax and her failure to return the budget to surplus ?
===
Published on May 9, 2012
What is true repentance? Is it being mindful of your sins, and beating yourself over them with much remorse and sorrow? Join Joseph Prince in this must-hear message as he shows you what true repentance is in the new covenant. See for yourself from the Scriptures how genuine, new covenant repentance comes and how it effects victory over sin in your life. This revelation-packed message will correct all legalistic and erroneous notions of repentance, unveil the infinite goodness of your Father's heart and set you on the path to live a glorious life for Him.
Get the full message at:
JosephPrince.com -
http://bit.ly/IEuyNJiTunes -
http://bit.ly/TtXjD2Amazon -
http://amzn.to/V4vLWXFind us at:
http://www.facebook.com/JosephPrincehttps://twitter.com/JosephPrince
===
Western Sydney prepares reception for Gillard.
===
4 TMN
===
From Matt Granz
For my non-visual effects wizard (muggle) friends. Here's what the green profile pics are all about....Life of Pi won the Oscar for Visual Effects, Cinematography and Director last night. Good for all, and well deserved in each category.However, the visual effects company and artists that created the tiger, the ocean, the ship, the skies, etc... is now in bankruptcy, unable to pay its artists' payroll and back wages. Many of them have been let go with no compensation or benefits for them or their families. This company, Rhythm & Hues, is no sweatshop either. They are/were one of the good guys... a facility created by artists for artists to do what we all love to do. It's a coin flip whether they survive.
Talented people, from artists, coordinators and programmers to the software and hardware that are required to fulfill a director like Ang Lee's vision, are not cheap and a lot of people are required. It is a complex and highly technical mix of artistry and innovation that requires years of experience. Visual effects are so necessary for complex and never-before-seen story telling that 48 of the top 50 box office films are considered visual effects films. But the visual effects community has never been on shakier ground.
The reality today is that Hollywood studios demand more, faster and cheaper for their films. They drive this "competition" through unfair bidding competing against work from countries with illegal tax subsidies and incentives. This practice has created a race to the bottom price-wise and we are reaching a point where talented people are walking away from the industry after suffering long hours, broken families, migrant worker status as they move from country to country following work as the studios chase the latest tax subsidies. We are reaching a point where companies like R&H, Cafe FX, Digital Domain cannot survive the slightest rough patch.
Comments by Ang Lee in the weeks leading up to the Oscars lamenting that "he wishes VFX could be cheaper" were a shot across the bow of the VFX community as many of the Life of Pi crew already sat home out of work. Ang Lee has not discussed how actors' salaries could be cheaper, or how director or producer's percentages could be limited. Yet it is valid to argue that visual effect played an equal if not greater role in making the movie Ang wanted to make.
Life of Pi was a perfect VFX storm. A book that people said could not be brought to the screen. You can't shoot on the ocean, you can't put a tiger in the boat with an actor. Credit Ang Lee's direction and the screenplay by David Magee. But the technical, visual execution of that film was a real achievement and the Visual effects team at Rhythm and Hues deserves the credit for that.
Now flashback to last night's Oscars... and wear a cup.
Neither Ang nor his winning cinematographer, Claudio Miranda felt they needed to thank or even mention the VFX artists who made the sky, the ocean, the ship, the island, the meerkats and oh yeah... the tiger. Ang thanked the crew, the actors, his agent, his lawyer and the entire country of Taiwan right down to the team that built the wave-pool on the soundstage where Pi was shot. But failed to mention 100's of artists who made, not only the main character of the tiger, but replaced that pool, making it look like a real ocean for 80% of his movie.
And the final salt in the wound to our community... when VFX supervisor, Bill Westenhofer (one of our own) was accepting his well-earned Oscar for Best Visual Effects, he attempted to shine a light on the bankruptcy of Rhythm and Hues and the current paradoxical state of our industry, but was promptly given the hook and had his mic cut by the same Hollywood powers that demand lower prices for the very skills that make their tent-pole movies and profits possible.
So thank you Ang Lee. Thank you for not thanking us and for letting us all know where we stand. Our industry is the only non-organized part of the movie making business. I am afraid that may need to change.
Nearly 40 years after Star Wars, but don't forget special effects predate it and are as old as film. Babylon 5 was made on time and on budget, the first time such a graphic intensive program ever was. But the weakness of the lobby is that they didn't let it happen again. Reality tv is cheaper and the studios are better vectored to profit from it because the studios outsourced VFX and so don't profit from it. - ed
===
The serenity of Yosemite mid afternoon on a winter's day — at Half Dome.
===
Years ago I saw a pic of horsetail falls with what looked like a river of fire pouring off of it's face and I thought "I have to take a pic like that someday!"
Well, then over the years I saw at least a thousand more… each one pretty much the same as the last, and my wish to document this event wound up waining.
This year brought me to the event because of my association with the Aperture Academy. We took a bunch of our students to a nice meadow and shot this event that lasts only for a week twice a year.
The only trouble is that everything needs to line up properly for this shot to work. You need clear skies, decent amount of snowfall in the previous days before, warm weather to melt the snow, and only during a week in February or November.
Well, we had some of the requirements but not all. The waterfall was running well in the early pre-noon hour but as sunset descended the waters froze back up.
Still, even without the waterfall running it makes a nice image.
— at Yosemite National Park.
===
===
Who's the BBQ Ninja at your shindigs? Get tagging!
===
Each and every training session is an opportunity for us to put ourselves to the test. Whether we push past our limits or take it easy depends entirely upon us! #team9lives #9livesparkour #fairfield #training
===
===
Beloved, the Bible tells us in Psalm 23:1 that the Lord is our shepherd and we shall not want. As you meditate on this simple verse, begin to realize that the Lord IS (present tense) your shepherd.A shepherd provides for his sheep, feeds them and protects them. In the same way, Jesus your shepherd provides for you, feeds you, and protects you from every evil.What is it that you are faced with today? Is it wisdom, favor or provision that you need? Rest assured that Jesus, your shepherd, will surely supply it, and you shall not be in want for anything. http://josephprince.com/
===
===
Jesus: Life Is Much More Than Obeying Rules:READ MORE ► http://r.beliefnet.com/obeyjd
===
Jesus died and rose again to be our High Priest who daily showers us with blessings! Check out today's devotional. Be sure to click "like" to help spread the word! Thanks, all! http://bit.ly/X6bsa5
===
Stare at this intently for a full minute…now…wipe the drool from your keyboard
===
