May Day may sound ominous .. but the call for help was to do with French WW1 pilots calling out "Mai dez" which translates to "Help me!"
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No dragons live in PM’s perilous fiscal fantasy
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, April 30, 2013 (7:30pm)
‘IMAGINE a wage earner, John, employed in the same job throughout the last 20 years.
“For a period in 2003 to 2007 every year his employer gave him a sizeable bonus. He was grateful but in his bones knew it wouldn’t last. The bonuses did stop and John was told his income would rise by around five per cent each year over the years to come. That’s the basis for his financial plans.
“For a period in 2003 to 2007 every year his employer gave him a sizeable bonus. He was grateful but in his bones knew it wouldn’t last. The bonuses did stop and John was told his income would rise by around five per cent each year over the years to come. That’s the basis for his financial plans.
“Now, very late, John has been told he won’t get those promised increases for the next few years but his income will get back up after that to where he was promised it would be. What is John’s rational reaction?”
This was Julia Gillard’s patronising attempt to explain her government’s latest budget crisis. In a speech this week the Prime Minister used “John” to explain why it’s the fault of everyone but her feckless spendthrift government that there will be a $12 billion revenue shortfall in the year she promised a surplus.
“John” appears to be the human embodiment of her government, two weeks before Wayne Swan hands down his fifth Budget, complete with its fifth deficit.
In the real world, a man who found his income reduced would tighten his belt. His family would look at the household budget and figure out what luxuries to give up.
Lamb might be off the menu, for instance, as would the Foxtel subscription, and the HCF membership. The holiday overseas might become a trip to the Forster caravan park. Private schools would have to wait until Year 11.
This is the sort of thrift Australian families have practised as a prudent response to global economic uncertainty, job insecurity, and a mercurial government, with household savings tripling in two years.
But the Prime Minister scoffs at such parsimony.
In “John’s world” - that arcadia of protected jobs, plenty of cash and government benefits that flow like water, when John’s income is cut, he doesn’t curb spending.
Eat two-minute noodles for dinner? Take his kids out of private school?Perish the thought, says the PM.
He borrows money to keep his “family and lifestyle intact” because tomorrow is always another day of free money.
You can only understand John’s behaviour if, like everyone in government, the public service, academia and a good deal of the media, he has a protected job sheltered from the disciplines of the market.
In the real world, mistakes have consequences, dad loses his job, incomes fall, people can’t pay their mortgages, kids are pulled out of private school and belts are tightened by necessity.
The division in Australian society exploited by Gillard and Swan is not between left and right, haves and have-nots or even insiders and outsiders.
It’s between those who have protected incomes and those who are exposed to the real economy - the small business owners who create wealth, the PAYE employees who work for the wealth creators.
In John’s world, an 18-year-old working as a “glassie” on Anzac Day in a Balmain pub earns $550 for 11-hours work, because his employer is obliged to pay double time and three quarters under the Fair Work Act.
The result is that youth unemployment has skyrocketed to an average of 18 per cent and students can’t find casual jobs once taken for granted by their parents. Only pizza delivery and off-the-books labouring is immune from the new harsh economic realities.
In the real world, bustling suburban high streets have become ghost towns on Sundays because shop and restaurant owners can’t afford to pay penalty rates.
In John’s world this is a “fair go” for workers.
The ABC lives in John’s world, which is why it received an extra $10 million this year and reflexively spruiks for the federal government.
Take, for example, Four Corners’ belated discovery of more than 1000 asylum seeker children in detention, after five years of see-no-evil journalism.
During the Howard era it couldn’t focus enough on detention centres. But apart from once in 2011, it hadn’t touched the subject since 2008 when it featured the reminiscences of detention centre guards in the Howard era, starring special guest villain Philip Ruddock, who had not been immigration minister for five years.
Meanwhile, the actual Rudd government was dismantling border protection policies, with the result that a trickle of two boats per month has exploded to more than 2000 people a month - and hundreds of asylum seekers have drowned. The cost to the taxpayer is more than $2.2 billion a year.
In John’s world, this is a good policy. In John’s world, $6 billion thrown at schools to please militant teacher unions will fix our children’s declining performance in reading and maths, when evidence around the world shows little correlation between money and educational outcomes.
In John’s world, the financial woes of the federal government are the fault of John Howard and Peter Costello.
In the real world, Howard and Costello inherited a budget in deficit in 1996 and left $22 billion in surplus in 2007, plus a $60 billion future fund.
Spending has blown out by 35 per cent a year since Labor came to office. Eighty cents in every dollar of income tax goes to social welfare and the government keeps promising to spend more.
Only in John’s world is this sort of profligacy sustainable.
In the real world it is the road to ruin.
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HE’S ON TO US
Tim Blair – Wednesday, May 01, 2013 (6:04pm)
Someone’s been talking:
Come on, people. Keep it quiet for just 135 more days. Remember, we’re a team.
Come on, people. Keep it quiet for just 135 more days. Remember, we’re a team.
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MISO-JOHNNY
Tim Blair – Wednesday, May 01, 2013 (5:40am)
“Who is this Julia that she should be lecturing us Johns over how we conduct our financial affairs?” asks outraged reader John E. “It’s time for the Johns of this great nation to call out the PM over her disgraceful miso-johnny!”
Quite so. Meanwhile, what is it with the Prime Minister and FM radio personalities?
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THE BODDINGTON HOT SEATERS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, May 01, 2013 (5:37am)
Mining sector ads are simultaneously informative, entertaining – and infuriating to leftoids who cannot cope with empowered women:
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FOUR STEPS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, May 01, 2013 (5:35am)
Iowahawk summarises:
So the Tsarnaevs came on a refugee visa, collected $100k, went back home for vacation, then blew up 260 Americans.
That’s about it so far, as the ABC’s Jonathan Green might say. In other Iowahawk news, despitemassive Australian involvement in this year’s Earth Week Cruise-In, the winner is some kind offly-by American.
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Cultural vandals
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (4:12pm)
Which idiot thought this was smart?
It will be torn down:
UPDATE
The prominent billboard advertising the Foxtel arts channel Studio has been erected on William Street in Kings Cross and carries an image depicting a man having sex with a pig.
It will be torn down:
A press release from [Foxtel] said the billboard “was intended to provoke, but is clearly in appalling taste and demonstrates a lapse of judgment by Studio and a failure in the approvals process at Foxtel”.
“Once senior management at Foxtel became aware of the nature of the image we instructed Studio to remove and replace the billboard.
“Foxtel regrets any offence that has been caused.”
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A fair-dinkum levy for the NDIS would be at least 1.5 per cent
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (3:37pm)
If the Gillard Government really wants a levy for its unaffordable disability scheme, let it at least be honest:
From a Centre for Independent Studies report:
A levy to pay for the full scheme should then be a 3.5 per cent tax increase - or at least a 1.5 per cent increase just to pay for the extra spending, rather than the total package.
UPDATE
Stella Young writes powerfully on why we need to pay the money, by hook or by crook.
[Opposition Leader Tony] Abbott ... seized on the Productivity Commission’s report into the scheme which said general government revenue should be used to fund the NDIS, now renamed DisabilityCare. The commission said if the government did not adopt that option it should legislate for a levy with funds hypothecated to the scheme’s full revenue needs.The mooted levy of 0.5 per cent would raise $3.2 billion - a fraction of the cost of the full program.
University of Wollongong economics professor Henry Ergas said levies could be inefficient and distorting and an NDIS levy would increase average effective marginal tax rates. But he said if a levy were introduced it should be a flat rate and fully fund the scheme. By fully funding it this would send a price signal and provide an incentive to control costs.
From a Centre for Independent Studies report:
But these estimates include current spending - but not a blowout detected by the Australian Government Actuary:
The government’s cost estimates of the NDIS have been revised upwards regularly. Early estimates found that the scheme would cost about $11 billion. Revised estimates from the Productivity Commission increased the total cost of the scheme first to $13 billion, then $13.5 billion and later to $15 billion a year.
Estimates of the NDIS eligible population have regularly changed as well: first they were 600,000, then the commission revised them downward to 360,000, and then back up to 411,000
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will cost Australian taxpayers around $22 billion a year (gross) and $10.5 billion (net) in its first full year of operation. This figure is substantially larger than the $15 billion (gross) and $8 billion (net) currently being used by politicians and commentators in the public debate.So the levy would pay just one seventh of the full cost of the NDIS, or less than a third of the extra costs above current spending.
This revision is a result of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The Centre for Independent Studies for the costings of the NDIS conducted by the Australian Government Actuary (AGA)…
The reason for the upward revision is simple: the ... NDIS will not be fully operational until 2018–19, so in effect, the $15 billion figure does not include nine years of price inflation, wage growth, and population increases.
A levy to pay for the full scheme should then be a 3.5 per cent tax increase - or at least a 1.5 per cent increase just to pay for the extra spending, rather than the total package.
UPDATE
Stella Young writes powerfully on why we need to pay the money, by hook or by crook.
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Jailing kids again: Gillard simply cannot be trusted
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (11:27am)
What Julia Gillard said in 2010:
Silly question.
(I originally showed a picture of one of the other Darwin detention centres. The above is Wickham Point. Thanks to reader Steve.)
I don’t think it’s the Australian way to, you know, have kids behind razor wire in the hope that that may be a deterrent.What Gillard does in 2013:
Children will again be held in mainland detention centres, with authorities setting aside a compound at Darwin’s Wickham Point centre for families.In case you are in doubt:
Will the Left now go Gillard as it did John Howard?
Silly question.
(I originally showed a picture of one of the other Darwin detention centres. The above is Wickham Point. Thanks to reader Steve.)
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Gillard’s seven deadly sins
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (10:06am)
Robert Gottliebsen on Gillard’s seven deadly sins - how to trash a Budget and drive down an economy. Read it all, but the dot points are:
– Sin number one is rarely mentioned in mainstream commentary: A dedicated and vicious campaign against small business…Simply not up to the job.
– Sin number two: Actively fan the greatest government employment binge in Australia’s history…
– Sin number three: Allowed the export of gas from Queensland, which under present extraction rules we did not have…
– Sin number four: Encourage the return of cartel-style agreements between big builders and building unions…
– Sin number five: Pay no need heed to productivity in health. It’s all about handing out money…
– Sin number six: Decide to be completely remote from business… Worse still, they spent the money that they incorrectly anticipated receiving…
– Sin number seven: ... The Gillard government saddled Australia with an uncompetitive carbon price at the same time as a high dollar and rising electricity prices. They used much of the carbon money for social welfare and then later effectively slashed future carbon revenue, but did not cut back the spending...
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There will be more new taxes under a government I lead
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (9:39am)
Julia Gillard is holding a press conference:
Her disability plan will be in part funded by the a levy of 0.5 per cent - “around a dollar a day” per family.
“It will be only spent on disability care.” Easy promise to make, since it will cover at best one third of the extra cost.
Her disability plan will be in part funded by the a levy of 0.5 per cent - “around a dollar a day” per family.
“It will be only spent on disability care.” Easy promise to make, since it will cover at best one third of the extra cost.
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No whites need apply
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (9:30am)
The New Racism leads to this modern variant of the “No Jews Need Apply” rule - this time for a job with Canada’s taxpayer-funded national broadcaster:
(Thanks to reader Betaplug.)
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Academics push Labor, and now must pay the price
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (9:24am)
Universities lean hard to the Left. Now they must pay for that mistake:
(Thanks to reader CA.)
UNIVERSITY professors feel betrayed by Labor government cuts which they say fundamentally jeopardise the future of tertiary education in Australia.A thousand academics have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, published in newspapers across the country on Wednesday, urging her not to go ahead with the cuts in the May budget.Academics must now pay for what they preach, and not whinge for special treatment.
(Thanks to reader CA.)
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The real oppressors of Gaza. Will the Greens say so?
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (9:05am)
Which Palestinians in Gaza are they in solidarity with exactly? Which oppression are they against?
The NSW Parliamentary Friends of Palestine invites you to join them on Sydney Harbour aboard the Mari Nawi to raise funds for Gaza’s Ark and show international solidarity with the people of Gaza...Are they with the Gaza government or with the people it beats up?
It’s three weeks since his arrest but Ismail Halou still has streaks of purple bruising on the soles of his feet. The 22 year-old was filling cars at his family’s petrol station in Gaza City at 5pm on April 4th when a black jeep pulled into the forecourt, plain-clothed police stepped out and ordered him into the car. He was blindfolded and driven to the nearest police station.Put your questions on this matter to the politicians claiming to want an end to the oppression of Gaza’s people. Start with NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge
“I could hear the screams of people being beaten in the rooms next to me. Two men held my legs down and tied them together on a wooden board then they beat the soles of my feet with a plastic rod. They beat me for at least five minutes. I was crying and screaming with agony. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt,” Mr Halou recalls.
It was only after the beating that police officers set to work trying to shave off the one-inch fin of gelled hair that was the cause of his arrest…
Police in Gaza, a Palestinian coastal enclave run by Islamist faction Hamas, have arrested at least 41 men on charges of immodesty this April.
Most of them were beaten, all of them had their heads forcibly shaven. Some were shaven because their haircuts that were deemed culturally inappropriate, others because their trousers were either too low-slung or too fitted. In at least two cases, police also cut-up jeans deemed too tight.
David also co-convenes the NSW Parliamentary Friends of Palestine with Labor MLC Lynda Voltz.(Thanks to reader Barry.)
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Growing poorer
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (8:58am)
So many Australians have lost a chunk of their retirement savings:
Negatively geared property investors lost an astonishing $13.2 billion in 2010-11, up from $10.1 billion the year before.Now many on the Left, having seen Labor squander the massive taxes it’s already raised, want capital gains taxed more. Wonder what this would do to the provision of housing stock?
The latest Tax Office statistics show the average loss per negatively geared investor was $10,950, up from $9130 the year before. The average loss for a negatively geared investor earning more than $180,000 was $23,800.
Higher interest rates and rising property prices during 2010-11 swelled the losses.
The figures identify negative gearing as one of the key drains on personal tax collections with one in every seven Australian taxpayers now a property investor and one in every 10 negatively geared.
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O’Farrell “Liberal in name only”
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (8:45am)
Janet Albrechtsen says NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell made a craven deal in signing up to Julia Gillard’s unfunded Gonski plan:
After last week, O’Farrell is a Liberal in name only. By grabbing the Gillard government’s offer to pump $3.3bn into the state education system, O’Farrell chose the easy option, pretending extra money equalled reform.
This has long been the position of the teachers unions. Ignoring clear evidence about what is needed in the classroom, teachers unions have denounced merit-based pay for good teachers, the ability of principals to hire and fire teachers, and sound curriculum reform. They have even demonised a phonics system of teaching children to read as a wicked conservative agenda.
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Gillard spends borrowed money on important Labor ads
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (8:24am)
Julia Gillard warned on Monday she was so short of money that she’d have to cut spending on even important stuff:
What a deceitful, wastrel, incompetent government.
UPDATE
More vital government spending of borrowed money on political advertising of an unaffordable program that’s half-baked:
UPDATE
Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, says the problem is an out-of-control, big-spending government:
UPDATE
Julie Novak:
UPDATE
There will be more new taxes under a government she leads:
But, because we now are confronted with new facts and far more significant reductions in tax money than was expected, we are going through the process now of making decisions to spend less in some areas than we had hoped, to raise more in revenue in some areas than we had planned…But some things are too important and valuable for Gillard to cut:
Therefore, I have expressly determined we need to have every reasonable option on the table to meet the needs of the times, even options previously taken off the table.
We will save responsibly, even when that means spending less on things which are important and valuable.
TAXPAYERS are facing a lavish election-year advertising campaign of up to $50 million to promote Julia Gillard’s Gonski school reforms - despite NSW being the only state to embrace the $14.5 billion funding overhaul…So Gillard. Borrowing taxpayer money for political advertising of an unaffordable program that’s half-baked - and all in breach of an election promise.
Prime time television commercials of up to 90 seconds will be broadcast using ‘’real people’’ to sell the Prime Minister’s education blueprint - despite Labor pledging before the 2007 election to crackdown on blatant election-year advertising.
What a deceitful, wastrel, incompetent government.
UPDATE
More vital government spending of borrowed money on political advertising of an unaffordable program that’s half-baked:
STEPHEN Conroy’s department is spending $25 million to spruik the National Broadband Network to suburban voters in a campaign that has so far required a record 21 reviews by the body that vets government advertising.
UPDATE
Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, says the problem is an out-of-control, big-spending government:
Let’s be clear here: we don’t have an economic problem - our economy is fundamentally strong. What we have is a budget management problem and it’s a problem the government has had four years to address.Examples:
The loss of control over the budget strategy really set in when, in 2011-12, the government increased its spending to 25.3 per cent of gross domestic product, a level not seen since the global financial crisis, on the basis of expected rising revenue.
What has made the budget deterioration even worse is the collapse in fiscal discipline. Committing billions in ongoing spending based on assumptions about volatile revenue fails the budget integrity test.
...don’t spend money we don’t have. Both the Gonski education plan and the national disability insurance scheme are important reforms. But we should not pursue them at any cost when our fiscal circumstances don’t allow it…Former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello says the same - but more memorably:
On the NDIS, now renamed DisabilityCare, the government should finish the pilots, independently evaluate them, bed down the detail… Only then should we put all the funding options on the table through a cost-benefit analysis, including a levy paid by all taxpayers.
Julia Gillard says we’ve got a structural deficit which we now have, that we’ve come off record terms of trade, which we now are, and so what’s her response? New spending. We’re still going into new spending. We’re going into the NDIS, we’re going into the Gonski spending. Wouldn’t you sit back and say we’ve had five budget deficits in a row, we’re heading for another one, we shouldn’t be introducing new spending…And for the Opposition, Costello has more good advice:
The easiest spending cut you’ll make is the new spending you don’t go into… But if you can’t pay for what you’re currently spending, why would you, in your right mind, spend some more?
LEIGH SALES: In March 2010 you wrote a piece for the Sydney Morning Herald which was scathing of Tony Abbott’s Planned Paid Parental Leave Scheme…The bottom line about the Budget crisis is this: government revenue this financial year will still go up more than 7 per cent. That’s a healthy rise - yet this free-spending Government still can’t pay all its bills.
PETER COSTELLO: My view is that is a very generous scheme. And again I would say…
LEIGH SALES: Too generous?
PETER COSTELLO: If we can’t afford our current spending, which we obviously can’t because we’re borrowing money, why would you pile into new spending?…
LEIGH SALES: Or direct action on carbon.
PETER COSTELLO: Or direct action on carbon. Hey, fellas, you’re borrowing to fund the current spending. The easiest cut you’ll make is the stuff you never go into.
UPDATE
Julie Novak:
That this government is crying foul over an anticipated seven per cent increase in general government sector revenues, rather than the 11 per cent expected at the time of December’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook statement, should tell average voters everything they need to know about the Gillard-Swan-Wong approach to public sector financial management.Alan Moran doesn’t even break sweat in identifying $22.5 billion a year of savings. But would the Coalition dare privatise the ABC? Does the ABC dare test its contention that what it does is valuable?
UPDATE
There will be more new taxes under a government she leads:
JULIA Gillard will this morning announce a 0.5 per cent hike in the Medicare Levy to raise $3 billion towards her national disability insurance scheme.
The Australian understands the Medicare levy will be lifted to 2 per cent from July 1, 2014.
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The real danger of the EDL: being blown up by their enemies
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (8:22am)
Academics have no trouble talking about the danger of the white Right:
UPDATE
Never jump to conclusions when a bomb goes off. After all, one of the FBI’s 31 most wanted terrorists is not a Muslim.
Damn animal rights extremists.
(Thanks to reader Electric Zorro.)
A British university has established a dedicated centre to study the extremist far right, with a particular focus on the increase in violent anti-Islamic sentiment and the possibility of a lone, Anders Behring Breivik style attack.As it turns out, the real danger of the EDL is of being nearby when they are blown up by some of the very people they worry about:
The Centre for Fascist, Anti-Fascist and Post-Fascist Studies at Teesside University will be formally launched later this month… Beginning with two academics, Professor Nigel Copsey and Dr Matthew Feldman, the centre will specialise in both the history of far-right radicalism in this country, and current trends and dangers.
The two main UK public fronts for far-right sentiment, the British National party and the street-based, anti-Islam English Defence League, are both in apparent decline… [But Feldman argued] this should not obscure a more gradual shift from race-based far-right activism towards “cultural nationalism”, notably against Islam.
Six Islamist extremists admit planning a bombing attack on a rally organised by the far-right English Defence League.These Islamists don’t even drive responsibly:
The plot, involving a nail bomb, a partially assembled pipe bomb, shotguns, swords and knives, failed because the rally in Dewsbury ended earlier than planned.
The planned attack was only uncovered because a traffic officer stopped Uddin and Khan on the M1 as they travelled back to their home town, Birmingham.Any chance of the pompously named Centre for Fascist, Anti-Fascist and Post-Fascist Studies studying the true fascist movement of the 21st century? The one that’s going “bang”?
He made checks on their Renault Laguna, which came up as being uninsured, and the car was impounded.
UPDATE
Never jump to conclusions when a bomb goes off. After all, one of the FBI’s 31 most wanted terrorists is not a Muslim.
Damn animal rights extremists.
(Thanks to reader Electric Zorro.)
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Essendon claims it was duped - into taking a drug that doesn’t enhance performance
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (7:21am)
Essendon claims it may have been duped, and its internally commissioned report backs James Hird:
ZIGGY Switkowski’s internal review into Essendon’s governance… does not call for the heads of coach James Hird or chief executive Ian Robson…The patent owner explains the product:
Bombers officials have admitted to ASADA investigators some of their players took AOD 9604 last year, but only because they claim they were shown a letter by Dank, and allegedly read by club doctor Bruce Reid.
But WADA yesterday told the Herald Sun it had sent no such letter…
WADA claims Dank was referred to ASADA for advice on the S.0 category of banned substances.
The S.0 category states substances not approved for human use are prohibited at all times.
Over the last 2 years, Metabolic Pharmaceuticals has found that AOD9604 may have potential to be used as a treatment for the repair of cartilage, muscle and joint disorders such as Osteoarthritis… Furthermore, there is no evidence that AOD9604 dosing increases the number of muscle or cartilage cells…Which suggests the drug is not unsafe and not a performance enhancer.
In a statement dated 22 April 2013, the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) advised that AOD9604 falls into the S0. Non-approved substances category of the 2013 Prohibited Substances and Methods Lists.
AOD9604 has not been granted approval by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration or any other government health authority in the world to be marketed as a pharmaceutical product.
However, Australian registered doctors can legally prescribe AOD9604 with prescriptions made up by a compounding pharmacy.
Following provision of an unconditional “GRAS” (Generally Recognised As Safe) status, a product containing AOD9604 in its intended use in foods, drinks and dietary supplements can be marketed as safe for human oral consumption in the USA at daily amounts of up to 1mg per day.
Since April 2011, AOD9604 has been used as an ingredient in a topical cosmetic cellulite cream (BodyShaperTM) that is readily available through pharmacies and cosmetic counters at major Department stores throughout Australia and Asia.
Safety profile
In the six (6) human clinical trials involving 925 patients conducted at Medeval, Manchester, UK and sixteen (16) major Australian hospitals and medical centres between 2001 and 2007, and in further substantial pre-clinical testing, it has been shown that AOD9604 is very safe.
This record has been further validated in June 2012 by AOD9604 receiving a pivotal GRAS status recognition to enter the U.S. market as a food additive, conditional only on publication of existing safety data in peer-reviewed journals. One paper in this regard is due for imminent publication.
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Yearning for the marriage many once attacked
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (7:12am)
Gerard Henderson on a quick switch by activists from critics of marriage to appopriators of it:
Journalist Steve Dow, whose book Gay: The Tenth Anniversary Collection has recently been released, appeared on ABC News 24’s The Drum on April 19… During the discussion, Dow acknowledged that the gay movement’s support for same-sex marriage has been a recent development. He added that gays have “gone from quite a radical critique of the whole institution of marriage” to support for same-sex marriage in just 10 years…Then there is gay marriage activist Andrew Sullivan (who has since changed his mind):
In 2002 the radical Australian-born gay activist Peter Tatchell opposed the very concept of “the nuclear family”, depicting it as a bourgeois institution. Yet earlier this year he condemned Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for not supporting same-sex marriage.
It’s one thing for Tatchell and many of his fellow activists to change their position. It’s quite another for them to expect that the rest of society should immediately alter their views, or simply accept that same-sex marriage will be imposed by legislation.
(In his book) Virtually Normal Sullivan explains how gay marriage might change the meaning of marriage—for everybody.
“There is more likely to be greater understanding of the need for extramarital outlets between two men than between a man and a woman; and again, the lack of children gives gay couples greater freedom,” he argues.
Indeed, “the openness of the contract makes it more likely to survive than many heterosexual bonds.”
And he sums up: “Marriage should be made available to everyone, but within this model, there is plenty of scope for cultural difference.”
You might think Sullivan exaggerates how different gay marriages might be.
But to state the obvious: a man makes a different kind of wife than does a woman. Or put it this way: a marriage of two men tends to lack the settle-down influence many women bring to their own.
And the statistics reflect it. As researchers in the United States, Europe and Australia have independently found, gay couples indeed tend to be more promiscuous.
Americans David McWhirter and Andrew Mattison, themselves gay, found just that in a survey for their book The Male Couple.
They interviewed 156 gay couples and found that although most had intended to be faithful, only seven still were. Every one of the couples who had been together for at least five years had made arrangements for affairs on the side.
Concluded the authors: “Many couples learn very early in their relationship that ownership of each other sexually can become the greatest internal threat to their staying together.”
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The bastardy of hypocrite Latham
Andrew Bolt May 01 2013 (6:04am)
Former Labor leader Mark Latham is not only acting like a complete bastard but an utter hypocrite:
How low can you go? Paul Murray Live, Sky News, March 11:
MARK Latham: Anyone who reads Andrew Robb’s Black Dog Daze could not possibly vote Liberal ... I’d be letterboxing chapter 16, where the man who wants to be the finance minister admits that he lied about his mental illness and the impact of his medication.Very ... Mark Latham, Crikey, March 4:
Peter Reith: How low are you gonna go, Mark? I mean seriously.
THE book also set out (Andrew) Robb’s lifelong struggle with mental illness ... It recalled how his wife “had to be on suicide watch” when Robb started treatment for his problem in 2009 ... The most revealing section of Robb’s book is chapter 16 ... This was also a shockingly cynical act by Robb, a strategy to milk his illness for political advantage.Low. Latham, Australian Financial Review, February 28:
THE chances of a troubled character like Robb successfully planning the transformation of northern Australia are zero.A new low in Australian public life? Latham in the Australian Financial Review yesterday:
WHILE politicians sometimes lie about policy proposals, I have never known an MP to be disingenuous about something as important as mental illness and the impact of their medication. (Andrew) Robb has set a new low in Australian public life.Latham, Hansard, June 21, 2000:
I SAID that we needed to learn lessons from [Labor MP Greg Wilton’s suicide] ... is it still too much to expect the media to show just a speck of sensitivity and consideration to those suffering depressive illnesses? ... These stories could not have been published unless people in the political system contributed to them. They have given new meaning to the term “political animal”, because only an animal would go out of its way to pressure and harass someone with a depressive illness. Only an animal would have seen Greg Wilton as a political number instead of a human life. Only an animal would have been so cold, so calculating and so ruthless ... people can proclaim their compassion for humanity in the abstract as loudly as they like but there is no such thing as humanity in the abstract ... If you treat people in your lives with contempt, then your great compassion for humanity in the abstract does not mean a lot.
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Bucks for Boston bombers
Andrew Bolt April 30 2013 (8:01pm)
State-sponsored terrorism:
The Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section 8 housing from 2002 to 2012, the Herald has learned.A lousy $100,000 in support? No wonder they hated America.
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How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?(Psalm 13:2)
Remember that God is sovereign and the battle of life can be very difficult. Probably the last thing you think about as you suffer in a trial is that God is working all things out for your good. When you are overwhelmed with problems, it takes all the strength you have to just barely whisper a prayer.
My friends, I write this message to again empathize with so many of you that are feeling literally torn apart by painful trials. I struggle also. We are definitely living in a time of darkness. The laws of God simply don’t matter as the evil spirit of self-righteousness fills the hearts of most. Satan’s main weapon of attack is to destroy families. He works to divide and conquer. If he can break up loved ones, he can use their pain to do his work. Don't let loose please.We read in 2 Timothy 3 that there will be terrible times in the last days. Be a strong soldier,be at alert for the days are evil.God bless you.
Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin's status.
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Andrew Rohan MP, Senator Marise Payne, and Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.
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Thank God Ninos Khoshaba didn't get his way with the former compromised motion, the motion, which was passed by the NSW Parliament reads as follows:
Whereas the NSW Parliament passed a motion in 1997 recognising and condemning the Genocide of the Armenians, this House recognises that Assyrians and Greeks were subjected to qualitatively similar genocides by the then Ottoman Government between 1914 -- 1923: and
(a) joins the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks communities of New South Wales in honouring the memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to the first modern genocides;
(b) condemns the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks, and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of intolerance;
(c) recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated;
(d) condemns and prevents all attempts to use the passage of time to deny or distort the historical truth of the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks, and other acts of genocide;
(e) recalls the testimonies of ANZAC prisoners-of-war and other servicemen who were witness to the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks;
(f) recalls the testimonies of ANZAC servicemen who rescued Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks genocide survivors;
(g) acknowledges the significant humanitarian relief contribution made by the people of New South Wales to the victims and survivors of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks; and
(h) calls on the Commonwealth Government to condemn the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks.
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This week's blog isn’t a nursery rhyme you’ll want to tell the kids: http://
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Caught up with former NSW Premier and Federal Minister for Finance, The Hon. John Fahey AC, currently President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, at the launch of the Salvation Army Central Coast Red Shield Appeal. Don’t forget Red Shield Appeal is on the 25th & 26th May, please give generously to the Salvos.
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Shadow Minister Scott Morrison — at Brenan Park
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Philociraptor wisdom at its finest
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Something ghastly is afoot in Victorian Yorkshire, as bodies are found with their skin a waxy, glowing red…
Don't miss 'The Crimson Horror' this weekend!
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Spectacular new images from a NASA spacecraft orbiting Saturn have captured the most detailed views ever of an enormous hurricane churning around the ringed planet's north pole. See more images and a great video that explains the vortex here: http://oak.ctx.ly/r/4jql
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Same kind of misleading statements said my energy bill would rise less than 1% if I chose renewable energy .. ed
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1911 - Puck Magazine - "Senatorial Courtesy": Illustration shows Uncle Sam standing behind a group of legislators and businessmen who are bowing before a large hog labeled "Greed" with its front feet in a trough labeled "Wall Street".
Caption: "Those who know the term but not its meaning may find enlightenment above."
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An old man was going for a walk on the beach, when he noticed a little boy feeding a thin, shaggy looking dog with bits of bread.
He went up to the boy and asked him why he was sharing his bread with the dogs.
The little boy answered, "Because they have nothing. No home, no family, and if I don’t feed them they will die."
“But there are homeless dogs everywhere," the old man replied. “So your efforts don’t really make a difference”
The little boy looked at the dog and stroked him. “But for him, for this little dog, it makes all the difference in the world.”
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Oysters tenaciously attach to a ROCK larger than themselves. Then no punishing wave or violent storm can sweep them away.
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June 8, 1961 - The world was introduced to the voice of Marvin Gaye with his debut album: The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye.
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“I feel like I am his property. I feel trapped in my own skin, like I’m just screaming inside and nobody can hear me.” http://bit.ly/DRP0430
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My friends, I have lost Sunshine. She is missing. Last seen in the cabramatta area. Please keep a look out for her and share with your friends. I am unsure if someone came into my back yard and took her. She won't grow any more bigger than she is in these photos. Please, I love this dog so much. — in Cabramatta.
update .. Home sweet home. She had been found and given to a couple who had posted pictures of Sunshine on Facebook and a mutual friend saw it and contacted me.
Thank you everybody who kept a look out, shared and anything else to contribute in reuniting Sunshine and I.
P.s she's sleeping in my bed tonight. :) as punishment I'm sleeping in hers.===
Spent today with Hon. Peter Dutton MP, Shadow Minister for Health & Ageing and Lucy Wicks. Thank you to the Healthcare providers including Central Coast Medicare Local who met with us today to discuss healthcare here on the Central Coast.
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Jerusalem, Israel
"I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth."
Isaiah 62:6-7
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We are thrilled to announce that Brian Minchin is to be the new Executive Producer of Doctor Who, alongside showrunner Steven Moffat.
Brian has previously worked on 'Wizards Vs Aliens', 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' and 'Torchwood' to name but a few. Find out more on the BBC Doctor Who website:http://bbc.in/11UjWDP
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In this video excerpt, catch a glimpse of how the birth of Jesus as Savior of the world was perfectly timed and arranged by the Father. Be encouraged to know that everything in your life will go according to your heavenly Father's good plans and purposes for you when, like the wise men, you seek Jesus and place everything in His hands!
http://josephprince.com/
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The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him (Ps 28:7, NIV).
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Beloved, no matter what you’re going through today, I want to encourage you to give thanks to your heavenly Father.
Thank Him that He is making all things work together for your good (Rom 8:28) despite your circumstances!
And as you praise your Father even in the midst of your challenges, you’re declaring that He is your God and He’s in control of your life. And you will see Him release His mighty power to work effectively in your favor!http://josephprince.com/
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May 1: International Workers' Day; Beltane in Ireland and Scotland; Law Day andLoyalty Day in the United States
- 1776 – The Order of the Illuminati, a secret society, was founded by Adam Weishaupt and Adolph von Knigge inIngolstadt, Bavaria, Germany.
- 1840 – The United Kingdom issued the Penny Black (pictured), the world's first official adhesive postage stamp.
- 1851 – The Great Exhibition, the first ever world's fair, opened in London's Hyde Park.
- 1897 – The Hindu monastic order Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda.
- 1947 – Italian separatist Salvatore Giuliano and his gang fired into a crowd ofMay Day marchers near Piana degli Albanesi, Sicily, killing 11 and wounding 33.
- 1956 – A doctor in Japan reported an "epidemic of an unknown disease of thecentral nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
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Events
- 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.
- 524 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar.
- 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
- 1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton – the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.
- 1576 – Stefan Batory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, marries Anna Jagiellon and they become the co-rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1707 – The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
- 1751 – The first cricket match is played in America.
- 1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
- 1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.
- 1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.
- 1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
- 1785 – Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaiʻi, defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
- 1786 – Opening night of the opera The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna, Austria.
- 1794 – War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793.
- 1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.
- 1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established.
- 1846 – The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.
- 1851 – Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.
- 1852 – The Philippine peso is introduced into circulation.
- 1856 – The Province of Isabela was created in the Philippines in honor of the Queen Isabela II of Spain.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
- 1865 – The Empire of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance
- 1869 – The Folies Bergère opens in Paris.
- 1875 – Alexandra Palace reopens after the 1873 fire burnt it down.
- 1884 – Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
- 1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.
- 1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opened for business.
- 1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day culminating in the Haymarket Affair.
- 1893 – The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
- 1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.
- 1898 – Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay – the United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
- 1900 – The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
- 1901 – The Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York.
- 1915 – The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Irelandwith the loss of 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans, rousing American sentiment against Germany.
- 1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.
- 1925 – The first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is held at the University of Toronto, Canada.
- 1927 – The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.
- 1927 – The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor.
- 1930 – The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.
- 1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
- 1933 – The Roca-Runciman Treaty between Argentina and Great Britain is signed by Julio Argentino Roca, Jr., and Sir Walter Runciman.
- 1940 – The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.
- 1941 – World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.
- 1944 – 200 Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani in Athens as reprisals for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi
- 1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag was raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.
- 1945 – World War II: Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are murdered by Magda by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths.
- 1945 – The Yugoslav partisans free Trieste.
- 1946 – Start of 3 year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.
- 1946 – The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.
- 1947 – Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano; 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.
- 1948 – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.
- 1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
- 1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
- 1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
- 1957 – 34 of 35 people aboard are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashed in Hampshire England.
- 1960 – Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
- 1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
- 1961 – The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.
- 1965 – Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between ROC and PRC, takes place.
- 1970 – Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
- 1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.
- 1974 – The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón.
- 1977 – 36 people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations.
- 1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
- 1982 – The 1982 World's Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.
- 1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.
- 1983 – Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
- 1987 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
- 1989 – Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
- 1990 – The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) is granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an AutocephalousAnglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.
- 1991 – Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics steals his 939th base, making him the all-time leader in this category. However, his accomplishment is overshadowed later that evening byNolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, when he pitches his seventh career no-hitter, breaking his own record.
- 1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
- 1995 – Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.
- 1999 – Body of British climber George Mallory found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.
- 2001 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares the existence of "a state of rebellion", hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion.
- 2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bushdeclares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
- 2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
- 2006 – The Puerto Rican government closes the Department of Education and 42 other government agencies due to significant shortages in cash flow.
- 2007 – The Los Angeles May Day mêlée occurs, in which the Los Angeles Police Department's response to a May Day pro-immigration rally become a matter of controversy.
- 2008 – The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention.
- 2009 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.
- 2011 – Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.
- 2011 – Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks is killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
[edit]Births
- 1218 – John I, Count of Hainaut (d. 1257)
- 1218 – Rudolph I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1291)
- 1225 – Jean de Joinville, French writer (d. 1317)
- 1285 – Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1326)
- 1582 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (d. 1643)
- 1585 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (d. 1612)
- 1591 – Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit missionary (d. 1666)
- 1594 – John Haynes, American magistrate and politician
- 1672 – Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (d. 1719)
- 1730 – Sir Joshua Rowley, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1790)
- 1738 – King Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (d. 1819)
- 1751 – Judith Sargent Murray, American poet, playwright, essayist and women's rights advocate (d. 1820)
- 1764 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (d. 1820)
- 1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Anglo-Irish statesman (d. 1852)
- 1803 – James Clarence Mangan, Irish poet (d. 1849)
- 1824 – Alexander William Williamson, English chemist (d. 1904)
- 1825 – Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician (d. 1898)
- 1825 – George Inness, American painter (d. 1894)
- 1827 – Jules Breton, French painter (d. 1906)
- 1829 – José de Alencar, Brazilian novelist (d. 1877)
- 1829 – Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys, English painter (d. 1904)
- 1830 – Guido Gezelle, Flemish poet and priest (d. 1899)
- 1831 – Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (d. 1903)
- 1847 – Henry Demarest Lloyd, American journalist (d. 1903)
- 1848 – Adelsteen Normann, Norwegian painter (d. 1919)
- 1850 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (d. 1942)
- 1851 – Laza Lazarević, Serbian writer and psychiatrist (d. 1891)
- 1852 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman (d. 1903)
- 1852 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1934)
- 1853 – Jacob Mikhailovich Gordin, Russian-born American playwright
- 1855 – Cecilia Beaux, American painter (d. 1942)
- 1857 – Theo Van Gogh, Dutch art dealer and brother of Vincent Van Gogh (d. 1891)
- 1862 – Marcel Prévost, French author and dramatist (d. 1941)
- 1864 – Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother's Day (d. 1948)
- 1872 – Harry Leon Wilson, American novelist (d. 1939)
- 1872 – Sidónio Pais, Portuguese politician and diplomat (d. 1918)
- 1874 – Paul Van Asbroeck, Belgian sports shooter (d. 1959)
- 1874 – Romaine Brooks, American painter (d. 1970)
- 1881 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French palaeontologist and philosopher (d. 1955)
- 1884 – Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, English politician, naval officer and race car driver (d. 1964)
- 1885 – Clément Pansaers, Belgian poet (d. 1922)
- 1885 – Ralph Stackpole, American sculptor, painter (d. 1973)
- 1887 – Alan Gordon Cunningham, English army officer (d. 1983)
- 1896 – Herbert Backe, German Nazi politician (d. 1947)
- 1896 – Mark Wayne Clark, American general (d. 1984)
- 1896 – J. Lawton Collins, American general (d. 1987)
- 1900 – Ignazio Silone, Italian author and politician (d. 1978)
- 1901 – Sterling Allen Brown, American professor and critic (d. 1989)
- 1901 – Heinz Eric Roemheld, American composer (d. 1985)
- 1901 – Antal Szerb, Hungarian author and historian (d. 1945)
- 1905 – Henry Koster, German director (d. 1988)
- 1905 – Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician (d. 1982)
- 1906 – Horst Schumann, German Nazi physician (d. 1983)
- 1907 – Hayes Alvis, American jazz musician (Mills Blue Rhythm Band) (d. 1972)
- 1907 – Oliver Hill, American attorney (d. 2007)
- 1907 – Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1908 – Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
- 1908 – Morris Kline, American mathematician (d. 1992)
- 1909 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet, winner of the Lenin Peace Prize (d. 1990)
- 1910 – Raya Dunayevskaya, Marxist philosopher and activist (d. 1987)
- 1910 – J. Allen Hynek, American astronomer, professor, and ufologist (d. 1986)
- 1911 – Wilfred Watson, English-Canadian poet, playwright, and professor (b. 1998)
- 1912 – Otto Kretschmer, German U-Boat commander and admiral (d. 1998)
- 1913 – Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (d. 1980)
- 1915 – Hanns Martin Schleyer, German business executive (d. 1977)
- 1915 – Archie Williams, American athlete and teacher (d. 1993)
- 1916 – Glenn Ford, Canadian actor (d. 2006)
- 1917 – John Beradino, American baseball player and actor (d. 1996)
- 1917 – Danielle Darrieux, French actress and singer
- 1917 – Ahron Soloveichik, Russian rabbi and scholar (d. 2001)
- 1918 – Gersh Budker, Russian physicist (d. 1977)
- 1918 – Raymond Mailloux, Canadian politician (d. 1995)
- 1918 – Jack Paar, American comedian, author, and television host (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Lewis Hill, American pacifist and founder of Pacifica Radio (d. 1957)
- 1919 – Manna Dey, Indian singer
- 1919 – Dan O'Herlihy, Irish actor (d. 2005)
- 1919 – Mohammed Karim Lamrani, Moroccan politician, Prime Minister of Morocco
- 1921 – Vladimir Colin, Romanian author (d. 1991)
- 1921 – Boo Morcom, American runner (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Alastair Gillespie, Canadian politician
- 1923 – Joseph Heller, American novelist (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Antônio Maria Mucciolo, Brazilian archbishop (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Art Fleming, American game show host (d. 1995)
- 1924 – Karel Kachyňa, Czech director (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Terry Southern, American screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1925 – Chuck Bednarik, American football player
- 1925 – Scott Carpenter, American astronaut
- 1925 – Sardar Fazlul Karim, Bangladeshi scholar and philosopher
- 1926 – Peter Lax, Hungarian mathematician
- 1927 – Gary Bertini, Israeli conductor (d. 2005)
- 1927 – Laura Betti, Italian actress (d. 2004)
- 1928 – Desmond Titterington, English race car driver (d. 2002)
- 1929 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German sociologist and politician (d. 2009)
- 1929 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter
- 1930 – Richard Riordan, American politician
- 1930 – Little Walter, American harmonica player (d. 1968)
- 1931 – Jacques Languirand, Canadian radio host and actor
- 1934 – Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Mexican politician
- 1934 – Shirley Horn, American singer and pianist (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Ann Robinson, American actress
- 1936 – Jerry Mander, American author and activist
- 1937 – Una Stubbs, English actress
- 1939 – Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1939 – Victor Davies, Canadian composer, pianist, and conductor
- 1939 – Max Robinson, American journalist (d. 1988)
- 1940 – Bobbie Ann Mason, American author and critic
- 1940 – Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
- 1940 – Yury Yershov, Russian mathematician
- 1941 – Asil Nadir, Turkish-Cypriot businessman
- 1942 – Stephen Macht, American actor
- 1943 – Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan politician (d. 2004)
- 1944 – Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician
- 1945 – Rita Coolidge, American singer
- 1945 – Peter Kiesewetter, German composer (d. 2012)
- 1946 – Joanna Lumley, English actress
- 1946 – John Woo, Hong Kong director
- 1947 – Sergio Infante, Chilean poet and writer
- 1948 – Patricia Hill Collins, American scholar
- 1949 – Jim Clench, Canadian bassist (April Wine and Bachman–Turner Overdrive) (d. 2010)
- 1949 – Tim Hodgkinson, English composer and musician (Henry Cow, The Work, and K-Space)
- 1949 – Paul Teutul, Sr., American motorcycle Designer and Builder, co-founder of Orange County Choppers
- 1950 – John Diehl, American actor
- 1950 – Dann Florek, American actor
- 1950 – Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer
- 1951 – Sally Mann, American photographer
- 1951 – Antony Worrall Thompson, English chef
- 1951 – Geoff Lees, English Grand Prix driver
- 1953 – Glen Ballard, American songwriter and producer
- 1954 – Fred Chichin, French musician and songwriter (Les Rita Mitsouko) (d. 2007)
- 1954 – Ray Parker Jr., American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Raydio)
- 1954 – Joel Rosenberg, Canadian-American author (d. 2011)
- 1955 – Nick Feldman, English musician (Wang Chung)
- 1955 – Martin O'Donnell, American composer
- 1956 – Catherine Frot, French actress
- 1956 – Phil Foglio, American cartoonist and comic book artist
- 1956 – Frank Szymanski, German politician
- 1957 – Kow Otani, Japanese composer
- 1959 – Yasmina Reza, French playwright, actress, novelist, and screenwriter
- 1959 – Lawrence Seeff, South African cricketer
- 1960 – Steve Cauthen, American jockey
- 1961 – Clint Malarchuk, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961 – Marilyn Milian, American judge
- 1962 – Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress
- 1962 – Ted Sundquist, American football player and manager
- 1964 – Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed skater
- 1964 – Lady Sarah Chatto, English daughter of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
- 1964 – Will Kimbrough, American singer-songwriter
- 1966 – Charlie Schlatter, American actor
- 1966 – Olaf Thon, German footballer
- 1967 – Tim McGraw, American singer and actor
- 1968 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
- 1968 – Sol Kyung-gu, South Korean actor
- 1968 – Denise Masino, American bodybuilder
- 1968 – D'arcy Wretzky, American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins and Catherine)
- 1969 – Wes Anderson, American director and writer
- 1969 – Billy Owens, American basketball player
- 1971 – Ethan Albright, American football player
- 1971 – Ajith Kumar, Indian actor
- 1972 – Julie Benz, American actress
- 1972 – Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the masterminds behind the September 11 attacks
- 1972 – Earl Va'a, Samoan rugby player
- 1973 – Mike Jesse, German footballer
- 1973 – Curtis Martin, American football player
- 1973 – Oliver Neuville, German footballer
- 1974 – Kellie Crawford, Australian singer and actress (Hi-5 and Teen Queens)
- 1975 – Austin Croshere, American basketball player
- 1975 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)
- 1975 – Nina Hossain, English journalist
- 1975 – Jodhi May, English actress
- 1975 – Alexey Smertin, Russian footballer
- 1976 – Darius McCrary, American actor
- 1977 – Vera Lischka, Austrian swimmer and politician
- 1978 – Sachie Hara, Japanese actress
- 1978 – Nick Traina, American singer-songwriter (Link 80) (d. 1997)
- 1979 – Mauro Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
- 1979 – Michael Harvey, English rapper, footballer, and actor (So Solid Crew)
- 1980 – Marvin Cabrera, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Jan Heylen, Belgian race car driver
- 1980 – Jay Reatard, American singer-songwriter and musician (Lost Sounds) (d. 2010)
- 1980 – Ana Claudia Talancón, Mexican actress
- 1981 – Derek Asamoah, Ghanaian footballer
- 1981 – Alexander Hleb, Belarusian footballer
- 1981 – Wes Welker, American football player
- 1982 – Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player
- 1982 – Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer
- 1983 – Alain Bernard, French swimmer
- 1983 – Human Tornado, American wrestler
- 1984 – David Backes, American ice hockey player
- 1984 – Patrick Eaves, American ice hockey player
- 1984 – Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer
- 1984 – Farah Fath, American actress
- 1984 – Víctor Montaño, Colombian footballer
- 1984 – Keiichiro Koyama, Japanese singer and actor (NEWS)
- 1984 – Mark Seaby, Australian rules footballer
- 1985 – Drew Sidora, American actress
- 1986 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1986 – Adam Casey, Australian association footballer
- 1986 – Brent Stanton, Australian rules footballer
- 1987 – Leonardo Bonucci, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Matt Di Angelo, English actor
- 1987 – Glen Coffee, American football player
- 1987 – Marcus Drum, Australian rules footballer
- 1987 – Amir Johnson, American basketball player
- 1987 – Shahar Pe'er, Israeli tennis player
- 1988 – Nicholas Braun, American actor
- 1988 – Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and model
- 1989 – Poļina Jeļizarova, Latvian athlete
- 1989 – Tim Urban, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
- 1989 – Alejandro Arribas, Spanish footballer
- 1990 – Uriel Álvarez, Mexican footballer
- 1990 – Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress
- 1991 – Creagen Dow, American actor
- 1991 – Abdisalam Ibrahim, Somali-Norwegian footballer
- 1991 – Bartosz Salamon, Polish footballer
- 1992 – Yū Kikkawa, Japanese singer
- 1992 – Matěj Vydra, Czech footballer
- 1993 – Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, French footballer
- 1997 – Ariel Gade, American actress
[edit]Deaths
- 408 – Arcadius, Roman emperor (b. 337/338)
- 1118 – Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England (b. c.1080)
- 1277 – Stephen Uroš I of Serbia (b. 1223)
- 1308 – Albert I of Habsburg (b. 1255)
- 1539 – Isabella of Portugal (b. 1503)
- 1555 – Pope Marcellus II (b. 1501)
- 1572 – Pope Pius V (b. 1504)
- 1731 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (b. 1677)
- 1738 – Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman (b. c.1669)
- 1772 – Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (b. 1719)
- 1813 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (b. 1768)
- 1856 – John Wilbur, American minister (b. 1774)
- 1873 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary (b. 1813)
- 1899 – Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (b. 1824)
- 1904 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)
- 1913 – John Barclay Armstrong, American lieutenant and Marshal (b. 1850)
- 1920 – Princess Margaret of Connaught (b. 1882)
- 1935 – Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (b. 1889)
- 1937 – Snitz Edwards, American actor (b. 1868)
- 1943 – Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian Christian leader, founder of Brunstad Christian Church (b. 1871)
- 1945 – Joseph Goebbels, German Nazi politician (b. 1897)
- 1945 – Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (b. 1901)
- 1956 – LeRoy Samse, American athlete (b. 1883)
- 1960 – Charles Holden, British architect (b. 1875)
- 1963 – Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer and politician, father of the Filipino language (b. 1879)
- 1965 – Spike Jones, American bandleader and musician (b. 1911)
- 1968 – Harold Nicolson, English diplomat, author, and politician (b. 1886)
- 1968 – Jack Adams, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1895)
- 1970 – Yi Un, Korean prince (b. 1897)
- 1973 – Asger Jorn, Danish painter (b. 1914)
- 1976 – Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek politician and poet (b. 1939)
- 1976 – T.R.M. Howard, American civil rights leader, entrepreneur, and surgeon (b. 1908)
- 1978 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (b. 1903)
- 1982 – William Primrose, Scottish violist and teacher (b. 1903)
- 1985 – Denise Robins, English journalist and novelist (b. 1897)
- 1986 – Hylda Baker, English actress (b. 1905)
- 1986 – Hugo Peretti, American songwriter and producer (b. 1916)
- 1989 – Sally Kirkland, American editor and manager (b. 1912)
- 1989 – Patrice Tardif, Canadian politician (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Douglass Watson, American actor (b. 1921)
- 1990 – Sergio Franchi, Italian tenor and actor (b. 1926)
- 1991 – Richard Thorpe, American director (b. 1896)
- 1992 – Sharon Redd, American singer and actress (Harlettes) (b. 1945)
- 1993 – Pierre Bérégovoy, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1925)
- 1993 – Ranasinghe Premadasa, Sri Lankan politician, 3rd President of Sri Lanka (b. 1924)
- 1994 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1960)
- 1996 – Luana Patten, American actress (b. 1938)
- 1997 – Fernand Dumont, French-Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (b. 1927)
- 1998 – Eldridge Cleaver, American writer and activist (b. 1935)
- 1999 – Jos LeDuc, Canadian wrestler (b. 1944)
- 2000 – Steve Reeves, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2000 – Jukka Tapanimäki, Finnish game programmer (b. 1961)
- 2002 – John Nathan-Turner, English television producer (b. 1947)
- 2003 – Miss Elizabeth, American professional wrestling manager (b. 1960)
- 2004 – Larkin Kerwin, Canadian physicist (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Big Hawk, American rapper (Screwed Up Click) (b. 1969)
- 2006 – Rob Lacey, English actor and author (b. 1962)
- 2006 – Johnny Paris, American saxophonist (Johnny and the Hurricanes) (b. 1940)
- 2008 – Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer, member of the 20 July Plot (b. 1917)
- 2008 – Anthony Mamo, Maltese politician, 1st President of Malta (b. 1909)
- 2008 – Deborah Jeane Palfrey, American prostitution service owner (b. 1956)
- 2009 – Danny Gans, American singer and comedian (b. 1956)
- 2010 – Rob McConnell, Canadian trombonist, composer, and arranger (b. 1935)
- 2010 – Helen Wagner, American actress (b. 1918)
- 2011 – Ted Lowe, English sports commentator (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Shanmugasundari, Indian actress (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Charles Pitts, American guitarist (The Bo-Keys) (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Mordechai Virshubski, Israeli politician (b. 1930)
[edit]Holidays and observances
Main article: May Day
- Christian Feast Day:
- Augustin Schoeffer
- Andeolus
- Brioc
- James the Less
- Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker (Roman Catholic optional feast)
- Marcouf
- Philip the Apostle
- Sigismund of Burgundy
- Walpurga (canonization)
- May 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Latvia)
- Constitution Day (Marshall Islands)
- Commemoration of the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat following the foundation of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti (India):
- Earliest day on which Mother's Day can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in May. (Samoa)
- Earliest day on which Mother's Day can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in May. (Hong Kong, Hungary, Lithuania, Mozambique, Portugal, Spain, Romania)
- Earliest day on which National Day of Prayer can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Thursday in May. (United States)
- Earliest day on which World Asthma Day can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Tuesday in May. (International)
- Festival in honor of Bona Dea (Roman Empire)
- International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day (guerilla gardeners)
- International Workers' Day or Labour Day (International), and its related observances:
- EuroMayDay (Western Europe)
- Law Day, U.S.A., formerly intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day. (United States)
- Loyalty Day, formerly intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day. (United States)
- Lei Day (Hawaii)
- May Day (beginning of Summer) observances in the Northern hemisphere (see April 30):
- Walpurgis Night, celebrated before dawn (Central and Northern Europe)
- Beltane (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Celtic Neopagans and Wiccans in the Northern hemisphere)
- Samhain (Celtic Neopagans and Wiccans in the Southern hemisphere)
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