Happy birthday and many happy returns Jim Sarver, Ella Han and Kevin Chau. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
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MPs reveal hate of freedom
Piers Akerman – Tuesday, March 19, 2013 (5:33am)
THE battle for press freedom has left Julia Gillard exposed and stripped away any shred of political cover the Greens may have enjoyed since they emerged from the dank undergrowth of environmental politics.
As dawn broke Tuesday, the independent support for Communication Minister Stephen Conroy’s six media bills had further eroded.
The two NSW turncoat Independents, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, expressed their strongest concerns over the proposed legislation and former Labor MP Craig Thomson maintained his stand against the legislation.
“I won’t be supporting any of the six bills and I’ve informed the Prime Minister of that today both verbally and in writing,” Oakeshott told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
Windsor indicated he did not support the package in its current form.
“I don’t think the numbers are there for a great portion of this to get through,” Windsor told the ABC.
If the independents were asked to “take it or leave it” then the reforms were probably dead, he said.
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie and Queensland MP Bob Katter have joined the concern at the media measures.
With 71 of the 150 seats in the lower house, Labor needs support from five cross-bench MPs to be sure of legislating the changes but has conditional support from only one, the former Liberal MP and speaker Peter Slipper.
Yesterday’s committee hearings provided no more than a platform for hate-filled media critics from the Labor Left figure including Senator Doug Cameron and MP John Murphy to vent their spleen against News Limited, publisher of The Daily Telegraph, and my employer.
Greens senator Scott Ludlam wanted to know whether it was News Limited policy to destroy the Greens at the ballot box, or just that of The Australian newspaper.
If the senator had any intelligence, he might have surmised there is no company diktat demanding its editors follow any particular political party.
At every election, editors try to make a judgment and announce their view in the editorial column of their newspapers.
Rarely have they been of the same mind.
But now that the censorial bent of Labor and the Greens is publicly on display, they may well be united against these forces of repression at the next opportunity.
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FROM YOUNG AND NAIVE TO STRONG AND FEISTY
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 19, 2013 (4:04pm)
It’s the latest version of our Prime Minister:
Julia Gillard has declared the upcoming election will be between ‘’a strong feisty woman and a policy weak man’’.‘’And I’ll win it,’’ she added.
Perhaps she will. But the federal election comes after that.
UPDATE. Further from the PM:
Leader of opposition business Christopher Pyne complained that Ms Gillard went far beyond answering the question. ‘’And then she, as an aside, said for some unknown reason, misogynist Tony is back,’’ he said.
We await the Macquarie Dictionary’s new definition of “feisty”.
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PREPARE TO SHINE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 19, 2013 (2:30pm)
The forces of darkness are massing for their annual North Korean solidarity festival, to be held this Saturday night. But Earth Hour isn’t a big hit in brilliantly-lit Bengal:
Far from embracing the central idea of switching off for the sake of the planet, the state government has considerably increased its power consumption by installing thousands of decorative trident lights.
Good. There’s Earth Hour trouble in Canada, too:
The Barrie Earth Hour Music Festival has been cancelled. The event was to take place on March 23, but organizers say they do not have sufficient funding to continue.
Actually, this should be considered a victory. Isn’t the whole idea of Earth Hour that we don’t do anything? For that matter, how much money is needed to fund an event with no electricity? Anyway, while the unlit celebrate their 60 minutes of shame by seething in the shadows and setting fire to cats, we in the illumination movement will once again reclaim the night. Last year’s Hour of Power was the best yet, with many readers blasting Gaia with high-intensity Edison juice. This Saturday evening, turn it on and turn it up. Let’s make these suckers cry:
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ANNE UNSUBBED
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 19, 2013 (2:12pm)
Anne Summers, Australia’s second-most influential female voice, promised “good writing, good reporting [and] good investigative journalism” from her new online publication. Let’s see how that’s going:
Summers is currently seeking annual donations of $300,000 to fund this sort of stuff. Make yOu’re Checks ouut too ANen sUmmEsr at ann suMer obrep9ypts %%%671i
Summers is currently seeking annual donations of $300,000 to fund this sort of stuff. Make yOu’re Checks ouut too ANen sUmmEsr at ann suMer obrep9ypts %%%671i
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VENUES UNOCCUPIED
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 19, 2013 (1:15pm)
Leftoid singer and Occupy enthusiast Michelle Shocked causes the de-occupation of a San Francisco club:
Michelle Shocked pretty much shocked her audience by saying, among other things, “God hates fags and you can tweet that I said so.” This came about halfway through the show, in the middle of a rant against gay marriage … Something like two-thirds of the crowd walked out.
The unbalanced woman now faces several show cancellations.
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STOP THE JEWS
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 19, 2013 (11:28am)
Margo Kingston, 2004:
The fundamentalist Zionist lobby controls politics and the media in the US and Australia.
Margo Kingston, 2013:
Back Conroy now!
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Oakes: could be challenge this week
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(7:16pm)
I read that on Sky News today, former Labor minister Gerry Hand predicted the Caucus dogs would bark at 4pm tomorrow. Can readers confirm?
Laurie Oakes has heard something similar:
Nine’s political editor Laurie Oakes reported on Tuesday that Rudd backers had raised the prospect of a leadership move with caucus colleagues.The move could come within days, possibly Friday, it was reported.Parliament rises on Thursday and won’t sit again until the federal budget on May 14.
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sUmmer’s q Ualty jounali Sm
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(7:04pm)
Roger Franklin warns Quadrant contributor Tony Thomas he must go without pay - again - for humiliating Anne Summers. Worse, he might send Thomas’s copy to the subeditor who works on Summers’ new website, which is now seeking funding with the help of the ABCfor what she fondly believes to be high-quality journalism:
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Professional victim Gillard resumes her “misogynist” smear
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(6:43pm)
Screaming, dividing and vilifying to her squalid end:
Ms Gillard told Mr Abbott she would win the September 14 election‘’Let me say very clearly to the Leader of the Opposition - it will be a contest, counter intuitive to those believing in gender stereotypes, but a contest between a strong, feisty woman and a policy-weak man and I’ll win it.’’Leader of opposition business Christopher Pyne complained that Ms Gillard went far beyond answering the question. ‘’And then she, as an aside, said for some unknown reason, misogynist Tony is back,’’ he said.
Has any Prime Minister so trashed parliament’s standards and public debate?
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Crean slaps Conroy
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(3:20pm)
Simon Crean is wrong. It’s not just that process was pathetic. The content of the Gillard Government’s media “reforms” was abhorrent:
The process could’ve been handled better and - I’ve made the point on previous occasions - we get hung up more about issues around lack of process than we do the content…We are where we are and we’ve got to deal with it through a better process now.You won’t get the right outcomes unless you go through proper process and I hope it’s another lesson to all of us about the right way to do things.
When will Labor learn that it’s not all about spin, but content?
Still, it’s a significant slap to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
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White smoke. A new leader?
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(3:15pm)
The Today show films the signal sent to a waiting world.
But, no, Labor’s Caucus breaks up with a lemming still driving its bus.
(Thanks to reader Avi.)
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Who was Costello’s denouncer?
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(2:57pm)
We saw Labor misuse Queensland’s Crime and Misconduct Commission at the last state election by making groundless complaints, hoping the headlines of the accusation would be bigger than the headlines when the complaint was dismissed.
This month the same trick was tried this month by an anonymous denouncer against Peter Costello and Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.
Let’s see if Fairfax publishes the commission’s decision with the same prominence that it gave the accusation:
The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) has concluded that, based on available information, a complaint of alleged official misconduct against Peter Costello, falls outside the CMC’s jurisdiction, resulting in a decision to take no further action.
So who was the anonymous denouncer, who could create damage to Costello’s business and reputation without any risk to himself of being identified and held accountable?
ECG has never seen any complaint. It was never contacted by the CMC about a complaint. It has never been told what the complaint amounted to. All it knows is from allegations made in the Fairfax press on 7th March. The complainant has sought to remain anonymous despite leaking the matter to the papers, obviously, in an attempt to cause damage.Under the CMC Act false and misleading referrals carry heavy penalties.
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Another hockey stick smashed
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(9:03am)
The paper by geologist Shaun Marcott has been checked by Steve McIntyre, who found Marcott altered his ocean core data, his key proxies for 20th century temperatures:
McIntyre found that Marcott and his colleagues used previously published ocean core data, but have altered the dates represented by the cores, in some cases by as much as 1,000 years.This chart shows how critical Marcott’s re-dating was to his conclusion that temperatures spiked in unprecedented fashion in the 20th century. The red line shows ocean core temperatures using the original dates under which the data were published: it shows cooling during the 20th century. The black line shows the same data, only with the dates changed by Marcott. It shows temperatures rising significantly, rather than declining...
McIntyre, who also busted the original hockey stick that has been heavily promoted by the IPCC, explains how Marcott’s “warming” was produced:
The final date of the Marcott reconstruction is AD1940 (BP10). Only three cores contributed to the final value of the reconstruction with published dates ("pubend" less than 10): the MD01-2421 splice, OCE326-GGC30 and M35004-4. Two of these cores have very negative values. Marcott et al re-dated both of these cores so that neither contributed to the closing period: the MD01-2421 splice to a fraction of a year prior to 1940, barely missing eligibility; OCE326-GGC30 is re-dated 191 years earlier – into the 18th century.Re-populating the closing date are 5 cores with published coretops earlier than AD10, in some cases much earlier. The coretop of MD95-2043, for example, was published as 10th century, but was re-dated by Marcott over 1000 years later to “0 BP”. MD95-2011 and MD-2015 were redated by 510 and 690 years respectively. All five re-dated cores contributing to the AD1940 reconstruction had positive values.
Climate science today. Taxpayer-funded alarmism, left to unpaid citizens to expose.
(Thanks to reader Robert.)
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A suburb that was once Australia’s
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(8:57am)
History teacher Peter Roberts grew up in Greenacre, scene of yet another shooting involving men of Middle Eastern background:
Greenacre was my home, but it has changed. Some say for the better. Multiculturalism was the justification of all things hard to accept. ..When you see your homeland, which was what Greenacre was, turned into a minefield, or a battlefield, or a refuge of drug dealers, criminals, drive-by shooters and terror – you find yourself in a quandary. It’s all part and parcel of the greater good, of the New Australia, of the emergence of alternative cultures – it’s just a settling-in process.Whatever the apologists say, it’s traumatic to read about the new Greenacre where I had my roots. It’s tragic to see things go so wrong.The police are powerless. I’ve seen it first-hand. They are harassed and intimidated for simply doing their job. The Premier says we can have confidence in the police to apprehend the culprits of a recent murder in Wilbur Street. Even if they do, which is unlikely, as the local residents live in permanent fear of reprisals, can they stop the next shooting and the next?Soon Greenacre/Lakemba will be an enclave of little Lebanon, with all the worst features transported from a failed country to a new one, one still proud of its tolerance. I am told time and again that tolerance is not weakness. A bit like saying appeasement is not weakness. But I’m growing more sceptical.That was my home – the place where I simply couldn’t imagine living anywhere else once – transformed to the place where I could never imagine living again.
(Thanks to reader Jono.)
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Your free press in their hands
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(8:34am)
The Daily Telegraph has campaigned brilliantly to defend press freedom from the Gillard Government’s planned state control.
It’s latest front page should shame Labor MPs. Do they really want to be remembered as members of a government which tried to muzzle the press?
Ironically, an earlier front page of the Telegraph flushed out the journalists who believe it islegitimate for a government to propose laws to punish its media critics.
What a shameful time for not just Labor but so many journalists of the Left.
UPDATE
Independents seem dangerously attracted to state control over the media, but - thankfully - not to this particular attempt:
The Gillard government’s media reforms look certain to be shot down in their current form after key crossbenchers Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor said on Monday night that they would not support the package.Mr Oakeshott told Prime Minister Julia Gillard - in person and in writing - on Monday that he would vote against all six bills.He said he was unable to support the reforms because of ‘’weak policy and poor process’’ and the government’s handling of the issue had turned it into an ‘’own goal’’…
Mr Windsor told the ABC’s Lateline program he would not support the whole package of six bills, though some individual measures were worth considering.‘’Talking to others in the crossbench today, I don’t think the numbers are there for a great portion of this to get through,’’ he said.
UPDATE
Margo Kingston, 2004:The fundamentalist Zionist lobby controls politics and the media in the US and Australia.Margo Kingston, 2013:Back Conroy now!
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Cyprus heist could trigger bank runs in Europe
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(8:14am)
It is a besetting failing of central planners and utopians to regard the public as ever malleable. Why not steal up to10 per cent from bank deposits for the greater good? What could possibly go wrong?
Leaders in Cyprus and Brussels have scrambled to contain the fallout from an unprecedented effort to force ordinary bank depositors in this crisis-hit nation to pay for part of an international bailout, as stock markets faltered on concerns about the wider implications for Europe’s long-running debt crisis.President Nicos Anastasiades was trying to compel policymakers in Brussels to soften demands for a tax to be assessed on Cypriot bank deposits, saying EU leaders used “blackmail” to get him to agree to those conditions early on Saturday in order to receive a bailout package worth €10 billion euros ($12.5 billion)…As anger swelled against the measure, Mr Anastasiades delayed an emergency parliamentary vote on the bailout plan until Tuesday, the second step in as many days… The government said Cypriot banks would stay closed until at least Wednesday, beyond a bank holiday that was supposed to end on Monday, a move aimed at staving off a possible bank run.
A compromise is being floated which will do nothing to restore faith in the banks:
According to two European officials familiar with the talks, the new proposal being floated by the government would see smaller depositors, those with up to 100,000 euros taxed at a 3 per cent rate. Savers with 100,000 euros to 500,000 euros would be taxed at a 10 per cent rate; and those with more than 500,000 euros would be taxed at 15 per cent, one official said.The original deal was for Cyprus to tax every depositor with less than 100,000 euros at 6.75 per cent, while those with deposits above that amount would be taxed at 9.9 per cent.
UPDATE
Terry McCrann cannot believe the idiocy of Eurozone bureaucrats undermining confidence in the banks - a decision which has already cost even us:
Our market saw nearly $30 billion - all of Friday’s big gain, and then some - wiped off share values, heading into what looked like a coming bloodbath overnight in London and Europe, and something only slightly less ominous later across the Atlantic on Wall Street.[The] blundering Eurocrat elephants [made a] bizarre decision to save the piddling amount of less than $8 billion, by punishing already battered ordinary Cypriots, along with millionaire and billionaire Russian plutocrats and mafioso, [that] succeeded in stripping hundreds of billions of dollars of value from shares around the world.After being prepared to write out blank cheques for hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out banks and governments across Europe, suddenly they demanded an $8 billion “contribution” from Cyprus to its bailout.Talk abut being penny wise and pound foolish.And what a “contribution”: a mind-bogglingly stupid, precedent-setting, destabilisation of the entire European banking system.
UPDATE
The Cyprus lawmakers might wish to take out insurance against reprisals from some of the Russian citizens who chose to park their loot in Cypriot banks:
“While assessing the proposed additional levy on bank accounts in Cyprus, Putin said that such a decision, should it be made, would be unfair, unprofessional and dangerous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.Russian citizens account for the majority of the billions of euros held in Cypriot banks by foreign depositors, and Russian banks are heavily exposed to the island as a favored offshore centre for big business.
“Big business” is, in some cases, an euphemism:
The decision to tax Cyprus bank deposits to fund a bailout by the EU was “egregiously bad,” Dennis Gartman of The Gartman Letter said Monday on CNBC.“Everybody knows that the vast majority of the deposits in Cyprus are from Russia,” he said. “They’re Russian government officials, they’re Russian businessmen, it’s Russian mafia – and you don’t mess with the Russian mafia.”
A Guardian report from last year:
Cyprus’s Russian-speaking population is put at 35,000-40,000…Indeed, vast amounts of Russian money are stashed offshore in Cyprus. More than 25% of bank deposits and about one-third of foreign investments come from Russia…The Cypriot authorities angrily deny that the island is a haven for money laundering… But many analysts are sceptical: ”We are talking about Russian money laundered through Cyprus. The Russian mafia uses Cyprus extensively,” said Hubert Faustmann, associate professor of European studies at Nicosia University. “This is why Russia has no interest in Cyprus going down economically.”
Big money is involved:
Cyprus is said to be the home to “dirty money”, with an estimated $18 billion of Russian and other Mafia money on deposit, according to a Marketwatch report.
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Don’t make Australia’s media like Vietnam’s
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(7:59am)
Viet Tran is a board director on 4EB, Brisbane and the former president of the Vietnamese Community in Australia (Queensland chapter):
ORIGINALLY from Vietnam, I arrived in Melbourne in 1985, via New Zealand. In 1993, we moved to Brisbane and have settled there.Since last week, I have become increasingly concerned about Senator Conroy’s proposed media law reforms because they remind me of the press censorship in Vietnam, both old and new.During the first Republic of (South) Vietnam of President Ngo Dinh Diem and the second Republic of President Nguyen van Thieu, before going to press, all newspaper copy had to be submitted to the censorship office of the Ministry of Information for “revision”. This body, very often a one-man band appointed by the government, was the ultimate voice to decide what was going in to print. Any “inappropriate” paragraph would have to be removed, resulting in a newspaper with blank white spots everywhere. More seriously, if a whole story was found “unconstructive”, the whole edition of the day would be banned. ...I learned of all this since my father was a journalist and he often expressed his frustration, sometimes anger, at his articles being “modified for the interests of the state"…But after the war ended in 1975, the Communist regime has been applying an even tighter control of the media…That is why when I now hear of Senator Conroy’s suggestion of a politically appointed Public Interest Media Advocate, I tremble with fear.I have considered myself to be so lucky to live in a democratic country like Australia. Please let my children enjoy the same freedoms, among which freedom of the press is one of the most vital.
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Denying children a new and loving family
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(7:52am)
Jeremy Sammut says we’ve got to get over this sentimentalising over the evils of adoption when there are so many children in desperate need of a stable family:
Taking legal action to permanently remove children and provide safe and stable homes by adoption into suitable families is taboo (despite being a proven and effective child welfare strategy) because this is considered akin to forced adoption policies of previous eras.
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We now give asylum to adulterers
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(7:43am)
Our refugee program is a complete joke:
AN adulterous Iraqi taxi driver has been awarded an Australian refugee visa after he convinced the Refugee Review Tribunal he would be hunted down by an infuriated husband who caught him in an tryst with his wife.The Shia refugee, who arrived by boat from Indonesia in December 2011, claimed the husband, an Iraqi soldier, chased him through city streets after uncovering the affair, repeatedly firing a handgun at him.
It is too inconvenient for the adulterer to move elsewhere in Iraq to hide from the angry husband, but it is not too inconvenient to force Australians to subsidise his relocation to Australia:
Refugee Review Tribunal member Rosemary Mathlin found in December that although he did not fear harm for a convention reason - such as race or political opinion - she awarded “complementary protection” because it was “highly probable that if the applicant returns to Iraq he will be killed by the husband of his former lover”.Ms Mathlin said it would be unreasonable to expect the man, from Thi Qar province in Iraq’s south, to resettle elsewhere in Iraq, such as a Shia neighbourhood in Baghdad, even if the husband did not find him.“Without (tribal and family connections) he would face discrimination in relation to housing, employment and basic services, and . . . he may even face physical danger.”
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A vindictive attack to punish Gillard’s media critics
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(7:00am)
Yesterday’s hearings into the Gillard Government’s proposal for state controls over the press made clear this was driven by a hatred of the Murdoch media, parts of which have been very critical of government blundering:
Labor Left figure Doug Cameron, his colleague John Murphy and Greens senator Scott Ludlam led the charge against [News Ltd] at two separate parliamentary hearings into media reforms.Their questions focused on ownership and privacy, as well as revisiting the 2011 British phone hacking scandal and the so-called “hate media” complaints.Liberal senator Simon Birmingham dubbed it a case of “vengeance and vendetta”, saying the government’s push to overhaul press rules was not about “serious public policymaking”.“I think we have seen an obsession across both inquiries where John Murphy in the joint parliamentary inquiry asked about Murdoch family interests at every opportunity he was given,” Senator Birmingham said…Senator Cameron, however, relished the chance to muscle up to News Limited chief executive Kim Williams. Taking a combative stance, Senator Cameron said: “I find it absolutely breathtaking to be lectured by the Murdoch press about the privacy laws, I really do. I think the hypocrisy is huge in coming here and lecturing the Senate about privacy laws after what the Murdoch press did in the UK.”Later Mr Williams shot back, saying he didn’t travel to Canberra to have a “chemically difficult discussion” but to assist the committee to “actually look at the legislation”.Senator Cameron replied: “Oh thanks, all the chemically difficult issues are done in your press.”The Greens were also keen to vent their criticism of News Limited, with Senator Ludlam using the hearing to ask Mr Williams what the attitude of all News Limited papers was towards the Australian Greens.“Is it the view of the whole News Limited stable that the Australian Greens should be destroyed at the ballot box, or is that just the view of The Australian?” he asked…Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes said it was “pretty obvious from the questions I got this morning, and subsequent questions, that they don’t like what News Corporation has being doing to them or saying about them”.
Their own action suggest this is indeed an attempt to muzzle and intimidate the press - at least those parts of it hostile to Labor.
“… this is the Prime Minister who said that News Limited had hard questions to answer and was then unable to specify what those questions might be,” Mr Abbott told parliament.“This is a Prime Minister who had a screaming match with the then boss of News Limited in Australia because one of his papers had dared to talk about the Australian Workers Union slush fund of the 1990s.”News Limited is the publisher of The Australian and Mr Abbott appeared to be referring to a phone call the Prime Minister reportedly made to the company’s former chief executive, John Hartigan, in 2011.
That the laws are driven by a hatred of conservative media outlets and writers explains why they are supported by so many journalists of the Left in betrayal of their duty to defend free speech. These journalists defend a side rather than a principle, not aware that such laws could be turned one day on them, too.
But with key independents now backing off the restrictions, the Gillard Government looks to make private peace deals with the media. At least two senior media figures, I understand, have been sounded out by the government, which seems unable to understand that no compromise can be made over such an important principle:
JULIA Gillard is battling to salvage Labor’s media reforms by adjusting plans for press regulation as caucus members blast her handling of the policy and key independents seek to veto the changes…Ms Gillard said there would be no “horse-trading” over the bills but left room to change the plan to overcome objections from independent MPs. “If there are sensible suggestions consistent with our reform intentions . . . that come out of the parliamentary committee process then certainly we will listen to those,” she said.The Australian heard from two sources that she phoned [Fairfax chief executive Greg] Hywood on the weekend, but the conversation did not produce any change in position. Fairfax Media declined to comment.
Good on Hywood.
UPDATE
Troy Bramston says Communications Minister Stephen Conroy - who is convinced News Ltd papers want “regime change” - pushed for even worse laws, wanting a supercop who could micro-manage newspapers:
Conroy had wanted to go “the full Monty”, as one minister described it at the time, on the media reforms. He was eager to adopt the Finkelstein’s inquiry’s recommendation for a statutory-based, government-funded super-regulator, the so-called News Media Council.He was strongly backed by Wayne Swan. But they couldn’t get it past Julia Gillard. Conroy has long wanted to present it to cabinet as an “under the line” item, avoiding the requirement for a submission to be developed and circulated for departmental comment and ministerial consultation. Gillard initially resisted. But after a number of meetings, she relented and agreed to railroad it through the cabinet.
UPDATE
And so, with a haughty wave from the top of the steps, we are off on another flight of fancy, another extra-democratic adventure aided and abetted by a political class anxious to avoid the mistake of 1999, when they allowed John Howard to put their beloved republic to a referendum. One vote, one value is all very well in theory, but as George Orwell observed in The Road to Wigan Pier: “I have yet to meet a working miner, steelworker, cotton-weaver, docker, navvy or whatnot who was ‘ideologically’ sound.”
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Fairfax claim: Gillard deserted by two more Ministers
Andrew BoltMARCH192013(6:53am)
A cabinet minister and a key figure in the Labor Left faction, Mark Butler, has told colleagues he is reconsidering his support for Julia Gillard.And an important member of the Labor Right faction, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, has told colleagues he lost confidence in Ms Gillard some time ago.Both were considered firm supporters of Ms Gillard against the former prime minister Kevin Rudd.
I cannot believe that Carr - a literary man, student of American history and opponent of oppressive “discrimination” laws - could regard Gillard’s attack on press freedom with anything but horror:
Senator Carr was disenchanted and angered by the Prime Minister’s handling of two policy decisions. One was Australia’s vote on giving United Nations observer status to the Palestinians; the other was her decision not to give the cabinet notice that it was going to discuss media policy last week.
FOREIGN Affairs Minister Bob Carr has denied he no longer supports Julia Gillard, saying a Fairfax article alleging he has lost confidence in the Prime Minister is incorrect.“The Prime Minister has my unqualified support,” he said this morning in Washington…Mr Butler also dismissed the report, but did not address the specifics of the claim.“I have dealt with this question at least a dozen times in the past and I’m not engaging in yet another round of speculation about internal party matters,” he said in a statement.
Carr’s denial is a surprise, given the Sydney Morning Herald was so sure of its report that it devoted all of today’s front page to it. (The Age also devoted its front page to the claim.)
Note: the writer, Peter Hartcher is a Rudd supporter and conduit, and Carr claims Hartcher did not contact him or his office.
UPDATE
Fairfax journalist Peter Hartcher, who wrote the original story, said on Tuesday that Senator Carr’s colleagues were ‘’astonished today to hear him say that the Prime Minister enjoys his full support’’.
Julia Gillard.‘’Bob Carr has described colourfully and in detail to many of his colleagues his view of the Prime Minister’s political judgment,’’ Hartcher said, ‘’starting in November last year when he defied the Prime Minister on the Israel-Palestine vote in the UN’’.Senator Carr’s factional colleagues in the NSW Right have known for some time that he was a ‘’firm supporter’’ of Kevin Rudd for the Labor leadership, according to Hartcher.‘’His colleagues report that he has been scathing in his criticisms of Ms Gillard’s judgment. He was further appalled at Julia Gillard’s judgment when she rammed the media reform proposals through the cabinet without telling cabinet ministers about them,’’ Hartcher said.
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- 1808 – Charles IV of Spain abdicated in favour of his son, Ferdinand VII.
- 1915 – Pluto was photographed for the first time, 15 years before it was officially discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory.
- 1962 – Highly influential American musician Bob Dylan(pictured) released his eponymous debut album.
- 1978 – In response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the United Nations called on Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
- 2011 – Libyan civil war: The French Air Force launched Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.
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Events
- 1279 – A Mongolian victory Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
- 1563 – The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to theHuguenots.
- 1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
- 1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
- 1812 – The Cádiz Cortes promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
- 1853 – The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing its capital until 1864.
- 1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
- 1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated fromFour Oaks, North Carolina.
- 1885 – Louis Riel declares a Provisional Government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.
- 1895 – Auguste and Louis Lumière record their first footage using their newly patented cinematograph.
- 1918 – The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
- 1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).
- 1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
- 1921 – Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed and five wounded.
- 1931 – Gambling is legalized in Nevada.
- 1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
- 1941 – World War II: The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.
- 1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
- 1944 – World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
- 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
- 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities inGermany to be destroyed.
- 1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
- 1954 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in colour.
- 1954 – Willie Mosconi sets a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio. The record still stands today.
- 1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
- 1962 – Highly influential artist, Bob Dylan releases his first album, Bob Dylan, on Columbia Records label.
- 1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.
- 1966 – Texas Western becomes the first college basketball team to win the Final Four with an all-black starting lineup.
- 1969 – The 385 metres (1,263 ft) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.
- 1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
- 1982 – Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.
- 1987 – Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.
- 1989 – The Egyptian Flag is raised on Taba, Egypt announcing the end of the Israeli occupation after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the peace negotiations in 1979.
- 1990 – The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureş begin four days after the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.
- 2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.
- 2003 – United States President George W. Bush orders the start of war against Iraq.
- 2004 – Konginkangas bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
- 2004 – A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the three crewmen are left in place, pending further investigations.
- 2004 – 3-19 Shooting Incident: Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
- 2008 – GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
- 2011 – Libyan civil war: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to take Benghazi, French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.
[edit]Births
- 1434 – Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1443)
- 1488 – Johannes Magnus, Swedish religious figure (d. 1544)
- 1534 – José de Anchieta, Spanish missionary (d. 1597)
- 1590 – William Bradford, English colonial settler and politician (d. 1657)
- 1593 – Georges de La Tour, French artist (d. 1652)
- 1601 – Alonzo Cano, Spanish painter, architect and sculptor (d. 1667)
- 1661 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1727)
- 1684 – Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (d. 1766)
- 1721 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (d. 1771)
- 1734 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer and signatory of the American Declaration of Independence (d. 1817)
- 1739 – Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, French statesman (d. 1824)
- 1742 – Túpac Amaru II, Incan revolutionary (d. 1781)
- 1748 – Elias Hicks, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1830)
- 1749 – Princess Louisa of Great Britain (d. 1768)
- 1778 – Edward Pakenham, British general (d. 1815)
- 1813 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
- 1821 – Richard Francis Burton, British explorer, diplomat and author (d. 1890)
- 1823 – Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria (d. 1914)
- 1824 – William Allingham, Irish author (d. 1889)
- 1829 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (d. 1901)
- 1848 – Wyatt Earp, American marshall (d. 1929)
- 1849 – Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral (d. 1930)
- 1851 – William Henry Stark, American business leader (d. 1936)
- 1860 – William Jennings Bryan, American statesman (d. 1925)
- 1861 – Lomer Gouin, Canadian politician (d. 1929)
- 1864 – Charles Marion Russell, American artist (d. 1926)
- 1865 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist and myrmecologist (d. 1937)
- 1871 – Schofield Haigh, British cricketer (d. 1921)
- 1872 – Anna Held, Polish-born stage performer (d. 1918)
- 1873 – Max Reger, German composer (d. 1916)
- 1878 – Henricus Tromp, Dutch rower (d. 1962)
- 1881 – Edith Nourse Rogers, American politician (d. 1960)
- 1883 – Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1950)
- 1883 – Joseph Stilwell, American general (d. 1946)
- 1888 – Josef Albers, German artist (d. 1976)
- 1888 – Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Earl Warren, American politician and Supreme Court chief justice (d. 1974)
- 1892 – James Van Fleet, American general (d. 1992)
- 1894 – Moms Mabley, American comedian (d. 1975)
- 1898 – Karl Theodor Bleek, German politician (d. 1969)
- 1900 – Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1958)
- 1901 – Joseph "Jo" Mielziner, American theatrical scenic, and lighting designer (d. 1976)
- 1902 – Louisa Ghijs, Belgian stage actress (d. 1985)
- 1904 – John Sirica, American judge (d. 1992)
- 1905 – Joe Rollino, American weightlifter and boxer (d. 2010)
- 1905 – Albert Speer, German architect (d. 1981)
- 1906 – Adolf Eichmann, German nazi officer and war criminal (d. 1962)
- 1909 – Attilio Demaría, Argentinian footballer (d. 1990)
- 1909 – Louis Hayward, British actor (d. 1985)
- 1910 – Joseph Carroll, American general (d. 1991)
- 1911 – Simone Renant, French actress (d. 2004)
- 1914 – Leonidas Alaoglu, Greek-Canadian mathematician (d. 1981)
- 1912 – Hugh Watt, Australian-New Zealand politician, Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1980)
- 1914 – Jay Berwanger, American football player (d. 2002)
- 1914 – Fred Clark, American film actor (d. 1968)
- 1915 – Robert G. Cole, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1944)
- 1915 – Patricia Morison, American actress
- 1916 – Eric Christmas, British actor (d. 2000)
- 1916 – Irving Wallace, American author (d. 1990)
- 1917 – Peggy Ahern, American actress (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Laszlo Szabo, Hungarian chess player (d. 1998)
- 1919 – Lennie Tristano, American jazz pianist, composer and educator (d. 1978)
- 1920 – Tige Andrews, American actor (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author (d. 2002)
- 1920 – Paul Hagen, Danish actor (d. 2003)
- 1920 – Laurent Noël, Canadian bishop
- 1921 – Tommy Cooper, Welsh magician (d. 1984)
- 1921 – Martha Carson, American gospel-country music singer (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Pamela Britton, American actress (d. 1974)
- 1923 – Betty Goodwin, Canadian sculptor and painter (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Benito Jacovitti, Italian comic artist (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Henry Morgentaler, Canadian gynecologist
- 1923 – Giuseppe Rotunno, Italian cinematographer
- 1924 – Joe Gaetjens, Haitian-American footballer (d. c. 1964)
- 1924 – Mary Wimbush, British actress (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Brent Scowcroft, American military officer and diplomat
- 1927 – Richie Ashburn, American baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1928 – Hans Küng, Swiss theologian
- 1928 – Patrick McGoohan, American actor (d. 2009)
- 1929 – Miquel Martí i Pol, Catalan poet (d. 2003)
- 1930 – Gualtiero Marchesi, Italian chef
- 1930 – Eugene Selznick, American volleyball player
- 1932 – Gay Brewer, American golfer (d. 2007)
- 1933 – Norman King, English admiral (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Phyllis Newman, American actress and singer
- 1933 – Philip Roth, American author
- 1933 – Renée Taylor, American actress
- 1933 – Richard Williams, Canadian animator
- 1935 – Nancy Malone, American actress
- 1935 – Burt Metcalfe, Canadian-American actor, producer, director.
- 1936 – Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
- 1936 – Birthe Wilke, Danish singer
- 1937 – Clarence "Frogman" Henry, American singer and pianist
- 1937 – Egon Krenz, German politician, last President of East Germany
- 1939 – Joe Kapp, American football player
- 1942 – Richard Dobson, American singer and songwriter
- 1943 – Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist, Nobel laureate
- 1943 – Mario Monti, Italian politician
- 1943 – Vern Schuppan, Australian racing driver
- 1944 – Said Musa, Belizean lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Belize
- 1944 – Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian-born assassin
- 1945 – Stefanos Kiriakidis, Greek actor
- 1946 – Paul Atkinson, English guitarist (The Zombies) (d. 2004)
- 1946 – Bigas Luna, Spanish film director
- 1946 – Ruth Pointer, American musician and producer (Pointer Sisters)
- 1946 – Jack Schaeffer, American singer (Royale Monarchs)
- 1947 – Glenn Close, American actress
- 1947 – Marinho Peres, Brazilian football player
- 1948 – Vincent van der Bijl, South African cricketer
- 1948 – David Schnitter, American jazz tenor saxophonist
- 1949 – Valery Leontiev, Russian singer
- 1949 – Hirofumi Hirano, Japanese politician
- 1952 – Wolfgang Ambros, Austrian singer-songwriter (Austria3)
- 1952 – Warren Lees, New Zealand cricketer and coach
- 1952 – Harvey Weinstein, American film producer
- 1952 – Chris Brubeck, American jazz musician
- 1953 – Billy Sheehan, American bassist (Mr. Big and Niacin)
- 1953 – Ricky Wilson, American musician (The B-52's) (d. 1985)
- 1954 – Jill Abramson, American journalist
- 1954 – Cho Kwang-Rae, South Korean football manager
- 1954 – Indu Shahani, Indian educator
- 1955 – Bruce Willis, American actor
- 1955 – Simon Yam, Hong Kong actor
- 1956 – Yegor Gaidar, Russian politician and economist
- 1958 – Andy Reid, American football coach
- 1959 – Terry Hall, British singer (The Specials, Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, and Vegas)
- 1960 – Simo Aalto, Finnish magician
- 1960 – Eliane Elias, Brazilian jazz musician and composer
- 1961 – Jos Lansink, Dutch-Belgian equestrian
- 1962 – Iván Calderón, Puerto Rican baseball player (d. 2003)
- 1962 – Jim Korderas, American wrestling referee
- 1963 – Neil LaBute, American playwright and filmmaker
- 1963 – Mary Scheer, American actress and comedian
- 1964 – Yoko Kanno, Japanese composer
- 1964 – Jake Weber, British actor
- 1965 – Kevin F. Harris, American composer and graphic artist
- 1965 – Fred Stoller, American actor and comedian
- 1966 – Andy Sinton, English footballer
- 1967 – Michael Bletsas, Greek engineer
- 1967 – Vladimir Konstantinov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1967 – Katia Tiutiunnik, Australian violist and composer
- 1968 – Mots'eoa Senyane, Lesotho diplomat
- 1968 – Tyrone Hill, American basketball player
- 1969 – Gary Jules, American singer and songwriter
- 1969 – Connor Trinneer, American actor
- 1969 – Tom McRae, British singer and songwriter
- 1970 – Gert Bettens, Belgian guitarist (K's Choice)
- 1970 – Michael Krumm, German race car driver
- 1971 – Nadja Auermann, German supermodel
- 1971 – Sébastien Godefroid, Belgian sailor
- 1972 – Nathan Quarry, American mixed martial arts fighter
- 1973 – Bun B (Bernard Freeman), American rapper (UGK)
- 1973 – Brant Bjork, American musician (Kyuss and Fu Manchu)
- 1973 – Simmone Jade Mackinnon, Australian actress
- 1974 – Vida Guerra, Cuban-American swimsuit model
- 1974 – Marcel Tiemann, German racing driver
- 1975 – Brann Dailor, American drummer (Mastodon, Lethargy, and Today is the Day)
- 1975 – Antonio Daniels, American basketball player
- 1975 – Vivian Hsu, Taiwanese singer, actress and model
- 1975 – Mason Jennings, American singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Lucie Laurier, Canadian actress
- 1975 – Matthew Richardson, Australian rules footballer
- 1976 – Rachel Blanchard, Canadian actress
- 1976 – Andre Miller, American basketball player
- 1976 – Alessandro Nesta, Italian footballer
- 1976 – Stelios Sfakianakis, Greek footballer
- 1977 – Jorma Taccone, American writer and comedian
- 1977 – Fayez Banihammad, 9/11 hijacker (d. 2001)
- 1979 – Abby Brammell, American actress
- 1979 – Sheldon Brown, American football player
- 1979 – Hee-Seop Choi, Korean baseball player
- 1979 – Ivan Ljubičić, Croatian tennis player
- 1979 – Christos Patsatzoglou, Greek footballer
- 1979 – Hedo Türkoğlu, Turkish basketball player
- 1980 – Luca Ferri, Italian footballer
- 1980 – Mikuni Shimokawa, Japanese singer (NapsaQ and Checkicco)
- 1981 – Kim Rae Won, South Korean actor and model
- 1981 – Kolo Touré, Ivorian footballer
- 1982 – Jonathan Fanene, American football player
- 1982 – Brad Jones, Australian footballer
- 1982 – Matt Littler, British actor
- 1982 – Eduardo Saverin, Brazilian entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook
- 1983 – Evan Bourne (Matthew Joseph Korklan), American wrestler
- 1983 – Ana Rezende, Brazilian film director and musician (CSS)
- 1984 – Tanushree Dutta, Indian actress
- 1985 – E. J. Viso (Ernesto José Viso Lossada), Venezuelan racing driver
- 1986 – Tyler Bozak, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Lee Jooyeon, South Korean singer and actress (After School)
- 1987 – Alexander Metz, German rugby player
- 1987 – Michal Švec, Czech footballer
- 1987 – Miloš Teodosić, Serbian basketball player
- 1987 – AJ Lee (April Jeanette Mendez), American professional wrestler
- 1987 – Josie Loren (Josie Lopez), American actress
- 1988 – Clayton Kershaw, American baseball player
- 1989 – Craig Lamar Traylor, American actor
- 1991 – Aleksandr Kokorin, Russian footballer
- 1995 – Philip Daniel Bolden, American actor
- 1996 – Barbara Haas, Austrian tennis player
- 1997 – Rūta Meilutytė, Lithuanian swimmer
- 2007 – Prince Abdullah bin Ali of Jordan
[edit]Deaths
- 1238 – Duke Henry I of Poland (b. 1163)
- 1263 – Hugh of St Cher, French cardinal
- 1279 – Emperor Bing of Song China (b. 1271)
- 1286 – King Alexander III of Scotland (b. 1241)
- 1330 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1301)
- 1406 – Ibn Khaldun, Arab historian (b. 1332)
- 1612 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (b. 1585)
- 1623 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1556)
- 1637 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (b. 1570)
- 1649 – Gerhard Johann Vossius, German classical scholar and theologian (b. 1577)
- 1683 – Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist (b. 1612)
- 1687 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle, French explorer (b. 1643)
- 1697 – Nicolaus Bruhns, German organist and composer (b. 1665)
- 1711 – Thomas Ken, English bishop and hymn-writer (b. 1637)
- 1717 – John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Scottish royalist (b. 1636)
- 1721 – Pope Clement XI (b. 1649)
- 1783 – Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1713)
- 1796 – Hugh Palliser, British naval officer and administrator (b. 1722)
- 1816 – Philip Mazzei, Italian physician (b. 1730)
- 1871 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist (b. 1795)
- 1897 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer (b. 1810)
- 1900 – John Bingham, American politician and lawyer (b. 1815)
- 1900 – Charles-Louis Hanon, French composer (b. 1819)
- 1914 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (b. 1850)
- 1916 – Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
- 1930 – Arthur Balfour, British politician and statesman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1848)
- 1939 – Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist (b. 1911)
- 1942 – Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist (b. 1855)
- 1943 – Frank Nitti, American gangster (b. 1883)
- 1944 – William Hale Thompson, American mayor of Chicago (b. 1869)
- 1949 – James Somerville, British admiral (b. 1882)
- 1950 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (b. 1875)
- 1950 – Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1883)
- 1958 – Hellmer Hermandsen, Norwegian rifle shooter (b. 1871)
- 1974 – Anne Klein, American fashion designer (b. 1923)
- 1974 – Edward Platt, American actor (b. 1916)
- 1976 – Albert Dieudonné, French actor and novelist (b. 1889)
- 1976 – Paul Kossoff, English guitarist (Free, Black Cat Bones, and Back Street Crawler) (b. 1950)
- 1977 – William L. Laurence, Lithuanian-born journalist (b. 1888)
- 1978 – Gaston Julia, French mathematician (b. 1893)
- 1979 – Richard Beckinsale, English actor (b. 1947)
- 1981 – Marcel Cadieux, Canadian civil servant and diplomat (b. 1915)
- 1982 – Alan Badel, British actor (b. 1923)
- 1982 – Randy Rhoads, American guitarist (Quiet Riot) (b. 1956)
- 1982 – J. B. Kripalani,Indian Politician(b.1888)
- 1984 – Garry Winogrand, American photographer (b. 1928)
- 1987 – Louis, 7th duc de Broglie, French physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1892)
- 1988 – Bun Cook, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Alan Civil, English French horn player (b. 1929)
- 1990 – Andrew Wood, American singer (Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone) (b. 1966)
- 1992 – Cesare Danova, American actor (b. 1926)
- 1995 – Yasuo Yamada, Japanese voice actor (b. 1932)
- 1997 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-born painter (b. 1904)
- 1997 – Eugène Guillevic, French poet (b. 1907)
- 1998 – E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Indian Communist politician, former Chief Minister of Kerala (b. 1909)
- 1999 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, former Prime Minister of Samoa (b. 1924)
- 1999 – Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet (b. 1926)
- 2000 – Joanne Weaver, American baseball player (b. 1935)
- 2000 – Shafiq-ur-Rehman (humorist), Pakistani humorist and writer
- 2001 – Charles K. Johnson, President of the Flat Earth Society (b. 1924)
- 2003 – Émile Genest, Canadian actor (b. 1921)
- 2003 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian politician (b. 1911)
- 2005 – John DeLorean, American automobile engineer (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Calvert DeForest, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2007 – Luther Ingram, American singer and songwriter (b. 1937)
- 2008 – Sir Arthur C. Clarke, English author and inventor (b. 1917)
- 2008 – Hugo Claus, Belgian writer (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Raghuvaran, Indian actor (b. 1958)
- 2008 – Paul Scofield, English actor (b. 1922)
- 2009 – Ion Dolănescu, Romanian singer and politician (b. 1944)
- 2011 – Kym Bonython, Australian radio broadcaster, jazz musician, speedway promoter (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Clancy Lyall, American soldier (b. 1925)
[edit]Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Minna Canth's Birthday (Finland)
- Earliest day on which Maundy Thursday can fall, while April 22 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Easter. (Christianity)
- Saint Joseph's Day (Roman Catholicism and Church of England) related observances:
- Father's Day (Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Honduras, and Bolivia)
- Las Fallas, celebrated on the week leading to March 19. (Valencia)
- "Return of the Swallow", annual observance of the swallows' return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California.
- The Kashubians' Unity Day.
- The first day of Quinquatria, held in honor of Minerva. (Roman Empire)
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“Lord of the world,” Buddhists of the Bamiyan Valley called this 175-foot statue of the Perfect One. — National Geographic, 1968. (Destroyed by the Taliban in 2001).
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CARR SLIPS THE KNIFE IN GILLARD... but Windsor throws her a lifeline .. Larry Pickering
Bob Carr claims the report is "inaccurate". If it is then one news group and three Labor MPs are lying.
“We have your back Prime Minister”, yelled Paul Howes to Julia Gillard at the recent AWU National Conference. It was a prescient yet vacuous assurance in an alcohol fuelled environment.
What Howes meant was that the AWU was fully aware knives had been unsheathed for some time and Gillard, the AWU's creation, was the target.
Gillard was certainly the creation of the AWU but only through the acquiescence of Bob Carr’s NSW Right.
Without Carr, Gillard ceases to exist. Thus his appointment.
Time is now of the essence as Gillard’s supporters succumb to the inevitable.
Bob Carr, a major player in the corrupt NSW Right and in tandem with Graham Richardson, is a significant defection as it was he who assisted Gillard to topple Kevin Rudd.
It was he, as NSW Premier, who buckled under pressure from Richardson and Ludwig and appointed the dangerous Ian Cambridge to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.
The “Cambridge Affidavit” is scathing of Gillard and her lover Bruce Wilson.
Cambridge, an AWU General Secretary, at the time was pressing hard for a Royal Commission which would have destroyed Gillard.
Cambridge had said, “I am not prepared to turn a blind eye to these matters...” Later, as PM, Gillard appointed him to the Bench of Fair Work Australia.
Once on the Bench he said, “I don’t retract what I said … but now I am a member of a quasi-judicial tribunal. As a member of (Fair Work Australia) it is not appropriate for me to make public statements.”
But apparently Gillard’s appointment of Carr to the Senate vacancy and the plum Foreign Ministry was insufficient to guarantee his loyalty.
With those who will now fall in behind Carr, Gillard will have insufficient numbers in Caucus to survive a ballot but that does not mean Rudd has sufficient numbers to take her place.
Gillard’s fall from dubious grace has begun and without a parachute in sight.
Past assurances of loyalty mean nothing as ALP Members cling furiously to their seats in a last ditch clutch at survival.
Only Tony Windsor came to Gillard’s aid.
Last night on the ABC’s Lateline he threw a lifeline to his beloved Julia and the interviewer completely missed the significance of what he said.
With his normal bumbling delivery he said (and I paraphrase): “The ALP needs to get its act together. If it doesn’t they might find there’s an election sooner than they think. There are documents you know...”. Incredibly the interviewer then cut him off.
What Windsor was actually saying is this (and I paraphrase): Sack my Julia if you want but remember it is she who I have “The Agreement” (documents) with, not the Labor Party. If she goes so do I... and so too does the Government.
You see Windsor is aware of Carr’s defection and an imminent challenge. He was issuing a thinly veiled threat, an ultimatum... "Do not sack Gillard or I will take you all down with her."
He wasn’t speaking for Oakeshott but he may as well have been because Oakeshott too has finally had enough.
How could the interviewer have missed such a defining moment? But she did.
A challenge to Gillard could not have happened without NSW factional agreement.
Carr will now marshal those factional forces against Gillard and a challenge is certain unless... well, unless he considers the unheeded threat offered by Windsor last night.
Who can replace Gillard? I don't know but it makes sense that the NSW Right faction will need to placate the Ludwig/Howes faction and that means Shorten.
But will Bill Shorten accept the poison chalice?
Regardless, Gillard will live to rue the day she lured into the Senate that treacherous man who keeps his used chewing gum in his coat pocket.
But she who lives by the sword....
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The Patriot (2000)
- Complete Movie -
http://youtu.be/
The Patriot is an American historical war film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Robert Rodat, and starring Mel Gibson, Chris Cooper, and Heath Ledger. It was produced by the Mutual Film Company and Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film mainly takes place in rural York County, South Carolina and depicts the story of an American swept into the American Revolutionary War when his family is threatened. The protagonist, Benjamin Martin, is a composite figure based on four real American Revolutionary War heroes: Joseph Plumb Martin, Francis Marion, Daniel Morgan and Thomas Sumter.
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Arizona Summer Night
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"Blue Mood of March" 3/15/2013
Got the blues? Hopefully this might cheer you up! March sure has put some cheer into me!!
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Julia Gillard’s proposed media laws are a reflection of her bad judgment – and today she should put them to a vote or withdraw them: Labor’s proposed media laws are all about pressuring a free press to prop up a bad government. Everything this government touches is about survival and not about good policy.
The mad-rush of the government is another example of the bad judgement of Julia Gillard who is making it up as she goes along.
Julia Gillard needs to bring these bills on for a vote or withdraw them......
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A new genus and species of extinct saber-toothed cat has been found in Polk County, Fla., scientists say. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/33qm
Below, lower jaw fossils of the 5-million-year-old saber-toothed cat (Rhizosmilodon fiteae), a smaller relative of the Smilodon species, recently found in Florida.
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No pain, no gain! #team9lives #9livesparkour #training #conditioning
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You don't need perfect faith to receive from Jesus! Be uplifted by this video excerpt that shows you biblical examples of how your imperfect faith is never a barrier to God's grace. Whatever you need from Jesus today, don't let your imperfect faith stop you from running to Him to receive! http://josephprince.com/
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Beloved, Ephesians 1:3 tells us that our Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Do you believe that Word?
If you do, then respond in faith by saying, “Thank You, Father, I’m blessed with all blessings that You have given me because of Jesus!” even in the midst of your challenges. And as you continue to do so, you’ll begin to see breakthroughs in the areas you’re believing Him for.
http://josephprince.com/
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Jesus was made destitute at the cross. He became poor, so that you through His poverty can be blessed with excellence and plenty (2Cor 8:9)!
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True change in your life happens when you just behold Jesus' goodness and let the Holy Spirit inside you transform you from glory to glory (2Cor 3:18).
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