The US army in WW2 was different to what it is today. Today it is a volunteer force. In WW2, there was conscription. Eddie Slovik. Eddie (born 1920) was from a Polish American family in Detroit. From age 12, he had been involved with petty theft, break and enter and disturbing the peace. He was paroled in '38 after crashing a car with two friends while drunk. He was jailed in '39. Paroled in '42, he became a book keeper for a plumber and married. Because of his convictions, he was unfit for duty, but soon after the first anniversary of his wedding, he was ruled fit. He was drafted. Trained until January '44 and sent to France in August '44.
Wikipedia reports
Canadian military police unit and remained with them for the next six weeks. Tankey wrote to their regiment to explain their absence before he and Slovik reported to their unit for duty on October 7, 1944. The US Army's rapid advance through France had caused many replacement soldiers to have trouble finding their assigned units, and so no charges were filed against Slovik or Tankey.The following day on October 8, Slovik informed his company commander, Captain Ralph Grotte, that he was "too scared" to serve in a front-line rifle company and asked to be reassigned to a rear area unit. He told Grotte that he would run away if he were assigned to a rifle unit, and asked his captain if that would constitute desertion. Grotte confirmed that it would. He refused Slovik's request for reassignment and sent him to a rifle platoon.[8]The next day, October 9, Slovik deserted from his infantry unit. His friend, John Tankey, caught up with him and attempted to persuade him to stay, but Slovik's only comment was that his "mind was made up". Slovik walked several miles to the rear and approached an enlisted cook at a headquarters detachment, presenting him with a note which stated:I, Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik, 36896415, confess to the desertion of the United States Army. At the time of my desertion we were in Albuff [Elbeuf] in France. I came to Albuff as a replacement. They were shelling the town and we were told to dig in for the night. The following morning they were shelling us again. I was so scared, nerves and trembling, that at the time the other replacements moved out, I couldn’t move. I stayed there in my fox hole till it was quiet and I was able to move. I then walked into town. Not seeing any of our troops, so I stayed over night at a French hospital. The next morning I turned myself over to the Canadian Provost Corp. After being with them six weeks I was turned over to American M.R. They turned me loose. I told my commanding officer my story. I said that if I had to go out there again I'd run away. He said there was nothing he could do for me so I ran away again AND I'LL RUN AWAY AGAIN IF I HAVE TO GO OUT THERE.—Signed Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik A.S.N. 36896415[4]The cook summoned his company commander and an MP, who read the note and urged Slovik to destroy it before he was taken into custody, which Slovik refused. He was brought beforeLieutenant Colonel Ross Henbest, who again offered him the opportunity to tear up the note, return to his unit, and face no further charges. After Slovik again refused, Henbest ordered Slovik to write another note on the back of the first one stating that he fully understood the legal consequences of deliberately incriminating himself with the note and that it would be used as evidence against him in a court martial.Slovik was taken into custody and confined to the division stockade. The divisional judge advocate, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Sommer, again offered Slovik an opportunity to rejoin his unit and have the charges against him suspended. He offered to transfer Slovik to a different infantry regiment where no one would know of his past and he could start with a "clean slate". Slovik, convinced that he would face only jail time, which he had experienced and found preferable to combat, declined these offers, saying, "I've made up my mind. I'll take my court martial.">
The court martial found Eddie guilty of desertion and he was given the death penalty. He appealed, and his appeal was heard by Eisenhower, who declined to commute the sentence. On this day, in 1945, Eddie was executed by firing squad. Nobody could be excused from fighting, but the death penalty is normally reserved for crimes like rape, murder or desertion under fire. Eddie had not done any of those things. It is unlikely President Truman cared. Within months of the sentence being carried out, fighting stopped.
Eddie merely wanted to live, but was still willing to serve. In contrast, Knox merely wants to get away with murder. Knox does not face a death penalty. There is no doubt about Tsarnaev's terrorist activity, only his justification of which there is no excuse. People have died from the activity of the ABC and ALP, that should not be excused.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns to those born on this day, across the years, along with
- 36BC – Antonia Minor, Greek daughter of Mark Antony (d. 38 AD)
- 877 – Taejo of Goryeo (d. 943)
- 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shogun (d. 1616)
- 1759 – François Devienne, French flute player and composer (d. 1803)
- 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
- 1872 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939)
- 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter, actor, and dancer (d. 1964)
- 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (d. 1972)
- 1921 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959)
- 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
- 1944 – Connie Booth, American-English actress and psychotherapist
- 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
- 1970 – Minnie Driver, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1996 – Joel Courtney, American actor
Matches
- 314 – Silvester I begins his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Miltiades.
- 1504 – France cedes Naples to Aragon.
- 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for plotting against Parliament and King James.
- 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
- 1849 – Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom pursuant to legislation in 1846.
- 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located atNorthwestern University.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery and submits it to the states for ratification.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
- 1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
- 1917 – World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.
- 1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
- 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
- 1943 – World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.
- 1944 – World War II: During the Anzio campaign the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
- 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
- 1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
- 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
- 1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
- 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
- 1968 – Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
- 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
- 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins inDetroit, Michigan.
- 1990 – The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.
- 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 overLockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
- 2003 – The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
Despatches
- 632 – Máedóc, Irish bishop (b. 550)
- 1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
- 1606 – Ambrose Rookwood, English conspirator (b. 1578)
- 1606 – Thomas Wintour, English conspirator (b. 1571)
- 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
- 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
- 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-American film producer (b. 1882)
Produced By Healthcare Administration Degree Programs
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ACTU should embrace union inquiry, not shun it
Piers Akerman – Thursday, January 30, 2014 (7:27pm)
THE squeaky wheels of the trundling tumbrils are getting closer for Labor and the trade union movement.
Continue reading 'ACTU should embrace union inquiry, not shun it'BLACKMAILERS IN PYJAMAS
Tim Blair – Friday, January 31, 2014 (2:04pm)
Whenever the ABC feels scared or threatened, it instinctively tries to protect itself behind children. And now they’re doing it again, with the help of Benita Collings:
For more than 30 years and over 400 episodes, I was known to Australians as “Benita from Play School”, the presenter on the ABC’s groundbreaking show for preschoolers.When I started on air in 1969, with our cast of toys from Big Ted and Little Ted to Humpty and Jemima, I had children recognise me everywhere I went. A lot who watched the program when I was presenting until 1999 now have offspring of their own who still watch the show.These days, when they see me in the street or at the shopping centre, they tell me: “I grew up with you. You were such a big part of my childhood!”For us all, the ABC is a big part of our lives. Which is why I, like many Australians, believe that our national broadcaster should be left alone to continue its programs as it has in the past.
This is fantastic propaganda. Collings apparently believes that because the ABC put Big Ted on TV decades ago, it should be allowed to push claims in 2014 that Australian servicemen torture asylum seekers.
On Wednesday, when our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, was accusing the ABC of “instinctively taking everyone’s side but Australia’s”, a crowdfunding campaign paid for a billboard to go up on William Street to aim to stop cuts to the ABC.
Of course, it’s another kid-based effort:
ABC SMEARS AND HIDES
Tim Blair – Friday, January 31, 2014 (10:47am)
The ABC published this report earlier today:
New details have emerged about asylum seeker claims that Australian sailors mistreated them during a boat interception operation earlier this month.
In fact, as Andrew Bolt points out, the report identified no mistreatment at all and actually called into question previous ABC coverage of claims from asylum seekers. And now the latest piece has been re-written to omit that mistreatment allegation:
New details have emerged about a boat interception operation earlier this month …
CLEAR SKIES, CHANCE OF OWLS
Tim Blair – Friday, January 31, 2014 (10:18am)
A third consecutive day of remarkable blue skies in Sydney:
Meanwhile, it’s all owls for New Hampshire reader Smike:
Meanwhile, it’s all owls for New Hampshire reader Smike:
Now the bigots are stripping pictures from galleries. Where is Marr now?
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (11:47am)
Even the ABC seems slightly uneasy about the offence game and the restriction of free speech by an intolerant minority:
But where are all the Leftists now who once screamed for the right of galleries to show a crucifix in urine?
===Does anyone in particular have the right to depict a hijab in an artwork?Those shouldn’t actually be questions in a healthy society. They should be assertions of right.
Should there be artistic limits to whether you explore religious or cultural items in your work?
Our story this week about artists using the Muslim headdress as imagery in their work has caused quite a stir. The story centred on a Melbourne gallery that pulled the work of a photographer which featured young women with their hair arranged in the style of a hijab.
But where are all the Leftists now who once screamed for the right of galleries to show a crucifix in urine?
(David) Marr in The Sydney Morning Herald, April 1, 2009:(Thanks to reader silent witness,)
WHEN Australians are offended they want something done about it. Just being offended is not enough. We want action. We want someone, somewhere, somehow to suffer because we’re upset.
But in a free and energetic society, giving offence is necessary. It happens and must happen all the time. Your sensitivity doesn’t veto my right to speak or write or make a film or, indeed, exhibit a crucifix immersed in urine.
All I know about Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ makes me think it’s too ridiculous to be worth visiting the National Gallery of Victoria where it was, briefly, exhibited a few years ago. But the fact George Pell, then archbishop of Melbourne, and a good many of his followers found this object offensive, was no reason to take it down . . .But too often—indeed all the time—Australians call on governments to protect them merely from ideas they find offensive, images they find distasteful and facts they find disturbing.
Why do we still have a giant state-run media?
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (11:23am)
James Paterson:
Hill is also allowed to get away with this deceptive argument:
===Ultimately the case for reforming the ABC does not rest on one week of reporting. If there were ever a case for a taxpayer-funded state broadcaster, it doesn’t exist today. Australians have at their fingertips access to more news from more varied sources than ever before. Online, every niche interest and point of view is well covered. And as private media companies continue to struggle with profitability, the continued lavish funding of the ABC only serves to undermine their business model further.On the same link is an article from former ABC chairman and managing director David Hill attacking Tony Abbott and weakly defending the ABC from claims of bias. Why doesn’t The Age reveal Hill was a Labor candidate?
Hill is also allowed to get away with this deceptive argument:
This is certainly not the first time an Australian prime minister has publicly criticised the ABC in the way it handles its news.. We all remember Bob Hawke’s accusation that the 7.30 Report coverage of the Gulf War in 1991 was ‘’loaded,’’ ‘’biased’’ and ‘’disgraceful’’ because of the views expressed by an analyst invited on to the show.In fact, Hawke’s complaint about that coverage was that it was too Left, even for a Labor leader.
Disgrace. ABC reports more “mistreatment”, when it actually found evidence our navy is innocent
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (9:56am)
The ABC makes another exaggerated claim of “mistreatment” of asylum seekers that actually discredits its first:
But let’s go back to the word “mistreated”, used by the ABC. In what way can our navy be said to have “mistreated” someone by spraying them to control what even the ABC admits were “angry protests” with our sailors trying to restore order on a crowded boat? As the boat person himself conceded:
But it gets worse. The ABC’s latest claims simply make no sense - and in fact further undermine the ABC’s earlier exaggerated reports of allegations that the navy tortured those on board.
Note:
As Tony Abbott said:
UPDATE
The Australian talked to the same men the ABC did yesterday and reports further details that discredit the ABC’s original claim - and which the ABC did not report.
UPDATE
Tim Blair notes the ABC has now rewritten its story to remove the latest plainly false claim of more “mistreatment” of boat people.
In fact, the whole piece needs a fundamental recasting, with an apology to the navy, the government and the public.
===New details have emerged about asylum seeker claims that Australian sailors mistreated them during a boat interception operation earlier this month.So this claim has the Somali just stumbllng into the hot engine after allegedly being sprayed, probably with capsicum spray. He does not say he was held to a hot engine by our sailors, as the ABC once suggested was done to other passengers. Isn’t it strange how many people found different ways to get burned on engines?
A Somali asylum seeker has told the ABC that there were angry protests when people found out the boat was being turned around and they were being returned to Indonesia.
He alleges that during the onboard argument he suffered burns when he came into contact with a hot engine after an Australian sailor sprayed him in the eyes.
But let’s go back to the word “mistreated”, used by the ABC. In what way can our navy be said to have “mistreated” someone by spraying them to control what even the ABC admits were “angry protests” with our sailors trying to restore order on a crowded boat? As the boat person himself conceded:
There was two arguments happening at the time. The first argument was happening down in the engine room; I was up and down to get a bag that has my stuff.(UPDATE) In fact, the ABC has played down this “argument”. The same Somali, Bowby Nooris, told The Australian yesterday:
There was a big fight at the time between (asylum-seekers trying to) destroy the boat and the (navy) members, those who were on boat.There is clearly no “mistreatment” here. There is a navy trying to restore order in a dangerous situation, with one boat person then allegedly stumbling into an engine. The ABC is again hyping an improbable claim.
But it gets worse. The ABC’s latest claims simply make no sense - and in fact further undermine the ABC’s earlier exaggerated reports of allegations that the navy tortured those on board.
Note:
- this Somali says he was sprayed below decks, yet “threw myself into the sea”.This ABC report further undermines it first. Yes instead of backing down, the ABC just presents another improbable claim of “mistreatment” by our navy.
- none of the four passengers the ABC interviews for this latest claim, including the Somali, repeat the ABC’s earlier lurid allegation that the navy held the hands of passengers to a hot engine to torture them. Why not? Surely the reporter asked them about that alleged “torture”, if only to get them to back up his earlier much-criticised reports. So what were their replies? To deny it? To say they hadn’t heard of the claims, even though they were to spend at least four days more in the boat with the alleged victims? This silence is highly suspicious.
- the Somali says one of the arguments (actually a fight) with our sailors on board was around the engines, three of which were broken and the fourth damaged. The boat people had clearly damaged their own engines, quite likely burning themselves in the process, and the argument was because the navy was either trying to stop their sabotage or repair it. More evidence, then, that suggests any burns were self-inflicted.
- the Somali filmed some of the encounter, with parts of the video shown by the ABC. Why was none of the “torture” or “mistreatment” filmed? Did the ABC reporter ask? So what was the answer?
- the Somali’s video shows at least one of our sailors with a video camera. This suggests the navy had good reason to promptly and vehemently deny the ABC reports of alleged “torture” by its sailors.
As Tony Abbott said:
It dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everyone’s side but our own.The ABC is out of control.
UPDATE
The Australian talked to the same men the ABC did yesterday and reports further details that discredit the ABC’s original claim - and which the ABC did not report.
The Australian spoke to [the men] mostly through the Kupang returnees’ self-appointed spokesman Sharmarke Abdullah Ahmad, a 25-year-old Somali business and English student who made the most serious allegations aired on the ABC…Did Sharmarke concede that in the hearing of the ABC reporter? If so, why didn’t the ABC report it?
The interviews failed to yield any corroboration for allegations RAN personnel deliberately burned some asylum-seekers by making them “hold on to a hot engine pipe”.
Sharmarke, who was responsible for publicising the most serious allegations about the events on the January 6 boat, was a passenger on the December 19 boat. Yesterday, he seemed unclear about the precise nature of the allegations. Speaking about two other asylum-seekers who had jumped overboard, he claimed at one point that sailors “just physically beat and then forced them to hold the (engine) pipe"…
Sharmarke conceded later he had no direct knowledge of the claimed incident, which happened on the January 6 boat.
UPDATE
Tim Blair notes the ABC has now rewritten its story to remove the latest plainly false claim of more “mistreatment” of boat people.
In fact, the whole piece needs a fundamental recasting, with an apology to the navy, the government and the public.
The Australian damns my “inflammatory language”. It’s just dodging a moral argument
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (9:40am)
The Australian editorialises against me today, but makes a dangerous assumption and, worse, dodges my central moral argument:
This argument in many ways centres on the word “indigenous”, used so often to denote that one “race” has a greater claim to belonging or respect than another.
The first definition of “indigenous” offered by the Oxford dictionary is “originating or occurring naturally in a particular place”. And indeed, I have originated in this particular place, Australia. So I repeat: “I was born here, I live here and I call no other country home. I am therefore indigenous to this land and have as much right as anyone to it.”
My right to say this can only be challenged if I am to be judged on the “race” of my ancestors - and that should be anathema in this country. When did it become right to judge each other by who our parents were, and, worse, their “race”?
This is the moral stand that proponents of this proposed racial division must answer with arguments and not tut-tutting about “unnecessarily inflammatory” language. Without this language there is no debate about this essential difference between those of us who demand we be treated as individuals, equal before the law and equal in our right to belong, and those who wish us to be formally divided by “race”. And I suspect that this debate is precisely what proponents of the constitutional change simply do not want to face.
True enough, The Australian seems to have unconsciously adopted the tribalist world-view I challenged with my “unnecessarily inflammatory” language, but has done so without ever troubling to explain or defend it:
But then The Australian makes the moral error I am trying to challenge when it talks of “the people who inhabited this land before European settlement and who remain such a integral part of society today”.
Wrong. Not a single person who “inhabited this land before European settlement” is in fact an “integral part of society today”. Every single one of those individuals has been dead for more than a century at least.
The only way The Australian could claim that the original inhabitants are with us still is to call their descendents “original inhabitants”, too - not because they were, but because some of their ancestors were. Once again, this is judging people not as individuals, but as representatives of a “race”. This is judging people not for who they are as individuals, but for who their great-great-grandparents were and what “race” they belonged to. How could this possibly be right?
This is my most fundamental objection to the editorial in The Australian. However it sugars the pill with reminders of its past defence of my right to speak, it has dodged the central moral argument against this racist proposal by dismissing the key point as just “unnecessarly provocative” and even accusing me false of demeaning “original inhabitants”. This is not arguing but abusing. Proponents of a measure they claim will unite us should be more careful.
For the rest, The Australian’s arguments cannot be faulted for their well-wishing intentions. My argument is just whether good intentions will in fact produce bad results.
And this is just .a reckless crossing of fingers:
In fact, the late Sir Harry Gibbs, former Chief Justice of Australia, and other legal experts warns that any change of this kind to our most fundamental laws, no matter how hedged with qualifications, will indeed have legal consequences.
And yesterday came an ominous change of language from Attorney General George Brandis that suggests the change will indeed be more than symbolic:.
But even if by some miracle, this proposed change to our most basic law is merely symbolic - as The Australian desires - the symbolism would still be morally wrong. It would symbolise that from now on we are to be divided forever on the grounds of the “race” of our ancestors.
If anything is “inflammatory” it is this new racism.
Say no to racism. Say no to racial division. Say no to changing our Constitution.
===The Australian believes Bolt is wrong now to oppose constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians.Fine, it’s a free country. But what follows is mere hand-waving, not engaging:
And while, of course, he is free to express that view, he has done so in an unnecessarily inflammatory manner. “I am an indigenous Australian,” he wrote in his syndicated column yesterday, “like millions of other people here, black or white.” Bolt suggested constitutional recognition would put us “on the path to apartheid” and permanently divide the nation. “I was born here, I live here and I call no other country home. I am therefore indigenous to this land and have as much right as anyone to it.” This is highly charged language and demeans the special place of the original inhabitants…Far from being “unnecessarily inflammatory” in calling myself indigenous, I have in fact stated the very heart of my argument - that to divide Australians on the grounds of the “race” of their ancestors and thereby imply a different right to belong to this land is a sin against our individuality. It is a racist construction that must be resisted before even more harm is done.
This argument in many ways centres on the word “indigenous”, used so often to denote that one “race” has a greater claim to belonging or respect than another.
The first definition of “indigenous” offered by the Oxford dictionary is “originating or occurring naturally in a particular place”. And indeed, I have originated in this particular place, Australia. So I repeat: “I was born here, I live here and I call no other country home. I am therefore indigenous to this land and have as much right as anyone to it.”
My right to say this can only be challenged if I am to be judged on the “race” of my ancestors - and that should be anathema in this country. When did it become right to judge each other by who our parents were, and, worse, their “race”?
This is the moral stand that proponents of this proposed racial division must answer with arguments and not tut-tutting about “unnecessarily inflammatory” language. Without this language there is no debate about this essential difference between those of us who demand we be treated as individuals, equal before the law and equal in our right to belong, and those who wish us to be formally divided by “race”. And I suspect that this debate is precisely what proponents of the constitutional change simply do not want to face.
True enough, The Australian seems to have unconsciously adopted the tribalist world-view I challenged with my “unnecessarily inflammatory” language, but has done so without ever troubling to explain or defend it:
If the recognition were to occur in the preamble to the Constitution, it would do no more, and no less, than recognise the people who inhabited this land before European settlement and who remain such a integral part of society today.I already “recognise” that Aborigines lived here for thousands of years before white settlement. Is there any sane person that would deny what we’re now meant to “recognise”? Is there a single school in this country that does not already teach this uncontested fact?
But then The Australian makes the moral error I am trying to challenge when it talks of “the people who inhabited this land before European settlement and who remain such a integral part of society today”.
Wrong. Not a single person who “inhabited this land before European settlement” is in fact an “integral part of society today”. Every single one of those individuals has been dead for more than a century at least.
The only way The Australian could claim that the original inhabitants are with us still is to call their descendents “original inhabitants”, too - not because they were, but because some of their ancestors were. Once again, this is judging people not as individuals, but as representatives of a “race”. This is judging people not for who they are as individuals, but for who their great-great-grandparents were and what “race” they belonged to. How could this possibly be right?
This is my most fundamental objection to the editorial in The Australian. However it sugars the pill with reminders of its past defence of my right to speak, it has dodged the central moral argument against this racist proposal by dismissing the key point as just “unnecessarly provocative” and even accusing me false of demeaning “original inhabitants”. This is not arguing but abusing. Proponents of a measure they claim will unite us should be more careful.
For the rest, The Australian’s arguments cannot be faulted for their well-wishing intentions. My argument is just whether good intentions will in fact produce bad results.
The Australian would argue symbolic gestures can help the practical reconciliation process.No one has ever made a credible link between this gesture and any practical good. In fact, my column demonstrated how each past symbolic gesture for “reconciliation” has just led to even more divisive claims. The “reconciliation” movement is in fact dividing us even more - and now threatens to divide is legally and for generations. We cannot fight racism by inserting a preamble dividing us by race.
And this is just .a reckless crossing of fingers:
And we endorse the Prime Minister’s view that rather than changing the Constitution, this move can “complete” it. The wording of the referendum proposal will be crucial. It need not have legal impact; in other words, it need not divide us, as Bolt argues. If the recognition were to occur in the preamble to the Constitution, it would do no more, and no less, than recognise the people who inhabited this land before European settlement and who remain such a integral part of society today. It would not and should not confer special rights.I simply do not believe this. I do not believe so many lawyers, activists and politicians want a change in the Constitution because it will be legally useless. They are not fighting for something they think will “not have legal impact”.
In fact, the late Sir Harry Gibbs, former Chief Justice of Australia, and other legal experts warns that any change of this kind to our most fundamental laws, no matter how hedged with qualifications, will indeed have legal consequences.
And yesterday came an ominous change of language from Attorney General George Brandis that suggests the change will indeed be more than symbolic:.
… that Tony Abbott has put the weight of his office and his own personal authority behind this change should reassure conservative Australians that it is a change for the good, as the Prime Minister has said, a change that will complete the Constitution rather than significantly change it.But that is actually not what Abbott said. He did not use that pregnant word “significantly”. His assurances until now have always been absolute:
This would complete our constitution rather than change it.Why has Brandis now qualified Abbott’s promise? Is it because he indeed realises this change would not just be symbolic, after all?
But even if by some miracle, this proposed change to our most basic law is merely symbolic - as The Australian desires - the symbolism would still be morally wrong. It would symbolise that from now on we are to be divided forever on the grounds of the “race” of our ancestors.
If anything is “inflammatory” it is this new racism.
Say no to racism. Say no to racial division. Say no to changing our Constitution.
Johannson vs the anti-Israel bigots
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (8:59am)
A very fine actress turns out to be brave and thoughtful, too:
Boycott Oxfam and switch to less racist charities? Easy done.
(Thanks to reader Kram.)
===SCARLETT Johansson is ending her relationship with a humanitarian group after being criticised over her support for an Israeli company that operates in the West Bank.True, Johansson has a personal interest in defying the barely-disguised anti-Semitism now so fashionable in the Left:
A statement released by Johansson’s spokesman said the 29-year-old actress has “a fundamental difference of opinion” with Oxfam International because the humanitarian group opposes all trade from Israeli settlements, saying they are illegal and deny Palestinian rights.
“Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years,’’ the statement said.
“She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam.”
So how to show our support? Make a point of watching every Johannson movie? It would be a pleasure.
Boycott Oxfam and switch to less racist charities? Easy done.
(Thanks to reader Kram.)
Why does the ABC keep quoting Indonesia’s John Farnham to attack Australia?
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (8:18am)
As Tony Abbott said:
===It dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everyone’s side but our own.Take the ABC’s repeated use of a critic of Australian policy:
INDONESIAN politician Tantowi Yahya, a vociferous opponent of Australian foreign policy, has become a frequent guest on the ABC despite being only a first-term MP who achieved fame as a country singer and TV quiz show host.(Via Michael Smith.)
Mr Yahya, a conservative Golkar Party MP from South Sumatra, represents a minority of Indonesians with his political views, but enjoys widespread TV coverage because of his excellent English and slick media skills.
Mr Yahya—one of about 50 members of Commission I, the parliamentary committee for defence and foreign affairs—has featured on ABC current affairs programs at least six times in recent months, using the broadcaster to criticise Australian policies toward asylum-seekers and intelligence-gathering.
Appearing on the 7.30 and Lateline programs, Mr Yahya has been described as being “from the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Commission” and “a prominent member” of Commission I.
David Hill, professor of Southeast Asian studies at Murdoch University’s Asia Research Centre, yesterday described the former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host as “more like a backbencher on the edge of the main game”.
“It would be like Johnny Farnham or actually a bit like Peter Garrett, before he became a minister, who had a very substantial media presence and then was drawn into politics because of that,” Professor Hill said.
Trusting Craig. But can we trust Labor?
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (7:34am)
Bruvvers:
(Note: Craig Thomson has pleaded not guilty to charges against him. By “union corruption of Labor” I mean only unions imposing their will on Labor on issues not in the wider public interest.)
UPDATE
Former Labor Minister Graham Richardson urges Labor to distance itself and show it is against union corruption (yes, really):
===ABC News online, Wednesday:Question for Labor. Can you be trusted to root out corruption in the union movement? And, in turn, to resist union corruption of Labor?
ONE prostitute who used the name Misty says she met the then national secretary of the Health Services Union on at least six occasions and provided sexual services . . . “On occasions when Craig and I met as part of my services he started by offering me a glass of champagne.”Craig Thomson, Hansard, May 21, 2012:
TURNING to credit cards and escorts, I have consistently from day one denied any wrongdoing in relation to these issues.Rick Wallace, The Australian, yesterday:
GREG James (Thomson’s QC) argued that the rules of the HSU did not define the boundaries of work-related expenditure, and because the expenses had been approved and paid, no party had been actually defrauded.Radio 3AW, August 24, 2011:
NEIL Mitchell: Craig Thomson . . . you got complete confidence in him?Anthony Albanese. January 25, 2012:
Bill Shorten: Yeah . . .
I FULLY support Craig Thomson . . .Nine News, August 25, 2011:
Craig Emerson: I support Craig Thomson. He’s a friend of mine.
(Note: Craig Thomson has pleaded not guilty to charges against him. By “union corruption of Labor” I mean only unions imposing their will on Labor on issues not in the wider public interest.)
UPDATE
Former Labor Minister Graham Richardson urges Labor to distance itself and show it is against union corruption (yes, really):
Labor must decide whether it will continue to oppose the re-establishment of the [Australian Building and Construction Commission] and an inquiry of some kind into these two unions at a minimum or indeed power itself. It is getting more and more difficult to deny the need for some kind of inquiry.Yet even Richardson still draws a line that he shouldn’t:
Labor must assert the primacy of its own position over the trade unions. If it is seen again to slavishly follow the union line, it will give an already well-endowed Prime Minister even more grist for his mill.
P.S. You will note I have not referred to what happened in the AWU almost 20 years ago. Any attempt to pursue Julia Gillard over what her ex-boyfriend may have done would be tawdry politics. It is to be hoped that the Prime Minister is able to resist this temptation.Note to Richo. The question is not just what Gillard’s then boyfriend did, but what she did for him. (Gillard insists she did nothing wrong and did not know what her then boyfriend was up to.) Then there is the question of how the union movement hushed up that scandal, too:
1996 - AWU joint national secretary Ian Cambridge uncovers the $400,000 slush fund of Bruce Wilson, client and boyfriend of Slater & Gordon lawyer Julia Gillard:...I cannot see how Richo could credibly argue that this scandal should not be examined, too, in an inquiry into union corruption. In fact, other former union officials insist on it:
In January this year, before the “WA Inc” accounts were discovered, Mr Cambridge wrote to the then Federal Minister for Industrial Relations, Mr Laurie Brereton, seeking a royal commission into the AWU - just as the Prime Minister, Mr Paul Keating, called an election… “Although these matters are unpleasant,” Mr Cambridge told the Herald, “and obviously damage our union’s public standing, any failure to resolve these matters will only ensure that such events can occur again ... I am not prepared to turn a blind eye to these matters, as to do so would only foster corruption.”1996 - Bob Smith, who replaced Bruce Wilson as Victorian state secretary and later became president of the Victorian Legislative Council, writes to the other AWU joint national secretary, Steve Harrison, with junior AWU official Bill Shorten CCd:
As we have discussed, you know as well as I do that if Cambridge is not stopped we are all history. I have spoken to [ACTU secretary] Bill Kelty and [ACTU president] Jennie George, and they are supportive of this course of action. Both you and I can work the phones before the national executive meeting to make sure we have the numbers before this motion is put. I have already spoken to a number of national executive and they are very nervous to say the least....
No judicial inquiry or royal commission was held. Cambridge, whose scathing affidavit details the extent of Wilson’s rorts and his anger with Slater & Gordon, was appointed to the New South Wales Industrial Relations Court that same year (1996), making him unable to comment. Julia Gillard later made him a commissioner of Fair Work Australia. Note: Bob Smith did chase Wilson out of the union, and took action against him. No allegation of impropriety on his part is suggested.
August 2012 - Fair Work Australia commissioner Cambridge stands by his call for a royal commission into the Wilson scandal:And, of course, Victoria Police think the issue is serious enough for a long and intensive investigation, which is continuing.
Mr Cambridge yesterday 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.”
No boats and no drownings for six weeks. Greens and Labor demand answers
Andrew Bolt January 31 2014 (6:53am)
Labor should explain
why it scrapped what had worked under the Howard Government and never
managed to do what the Abbott Government has done again:
But no. Notice that Morrison still has to “defend” what is in fact so far a great achievement:
===[Immigration Minister Scott] Morrison said the interception of illegal boats was one of a series of measures in the past four months that resulted in the first boat-free January since 2008 and the first full calendar month without an illegal boat arrival since February 2009…You would think the Greens and Labor, who presided over weaker laws which lured more than 1000 boat people to their deaths, would be utterly mortified. Ditto the media outlets which for so longed cheered on their ghastly failure.
“The results have been dramatic. In the last 58 months, there have been illegal boat arrivals but on the 59th, it’s zero. Since December 19, over six weeks ago, not a single boat has successfully made it to Australia.”
But no. Notice that Morrison still has to “defend” what is in fact so far a great achievement:
In a surprise move - and an attempt to tackle head on charges of excessive secrecy - Mr Morrison will appear at a Labor/Greens-dominated Senate inquiry in Canberra today to defend the government’s Operation Sovereign Borders policy.
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Pahlavi Crown
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MADU Odiokwu Pastorvin
A gift for you from the Lord !
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Eph 1 You are blessed.
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Eph 1 You are blessed.
=
Do you know what God has planned for your life?
Are you facing a challenging situation in life and need prayer and guidance?
Have you ever wondered what your gift or life calling from God is?
Do you feel like you have backslidden and need help getting back on path with Christ?
This is the Page where you can find answers to your problems…..
Are you facing a challenging situation in life and need prayer and guidance?
Have you ever wondered what your gift or life calling from God is?
Do you feel like you have backslidden and need help getting back on path with Christ?
This is the Page where you can find answers to your problems…..
=
HE SEES HOW YOU REALLY ARE!
Let go and ask God to be your guide
Release all doubts and foolish pride
Trust Him to dry your eyes of tears
And free a heavy heart from all fears.
Be happy for He cars,A Big Amen.
Let go and ask God to be your guide
Release all doubts and foolish pride
Trust Him to dry your eyes of tears
And free a heavy heart from all fears.
Be happy for He cars,A Big Amen.
=
HE IS BIGGER THAN YOUR PROBLEMS...........
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At What The Fudge - Canley Heights.
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By most estimates, at least to people who care about things such as anti-semitism, one if the worst institutions, if not the worst, in terms of anti-semitism, is UC-Irvine. Question: did anyone ask Charles Drake, the new Ohio State President, what he did to reign in the mistreatment of speakers such as Israel's ambassador to the US Michael Oren, by the radical anti-Semites in the UC-Irvine Muslim Student Association? Did the question even get asked? Just wondering.
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- 314 – Sylvester I, during whose pontificate the great churches of Rome were built, began his reign as pope.
- 1747 – The London Lock Hospital, the first clinicspecialising in the treatment of venereal diseases, opened.
- 1846 – After having come to blows over the construction of a bridge, the citizens of two neighboring towns united to form the city ofMilwaukee, Wisconsin (skyline pictured).
- 1971 – The Vietnam Veterans Against the War opened the Winter Soldier Investigation, a three-day media event to publicize war crimes and other atrocities by American forces and their allies during the Vietnam War.
- 2010 – Avatar became the first film to earn over $2 billion worldwide.
Events[edit]
- 314 – Silvester I begins his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Miltiades.
- 1504 – France cedes Naples to Aragon.
- 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for plotting against Parliament and King James.
- 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
- 1801 – John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
- 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
- 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- 1848 – John C. Frémont is Court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.
- 1849 – Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom pursuant to legislation in 1846.
- 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located atNorthwestern University.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery and submits it to the states for ratification.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
- 1867 – Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship bound for Algeria.
- 1891 – History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
- 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.
- 1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
- 1917 – World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.
- 1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
- 1919 – The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
- 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
- 1942 – World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.
- 1943 – World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.
- 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
- 1944 – World War II: During the Anzio campaign the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
- 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
- 1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
- 1946 – Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia andSlovenia).
- 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
- 1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
- 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom
- 1957 – Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
- 1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.
- 1958 – James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
- 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
- 1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
- 1968 – Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
- 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 – Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
- 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins inDetroit, Michigan.
- 1990 – The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.
- 1995 – President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
- 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
- 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.
- 2000 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.
- 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
- 2003 – The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
- 2007 – Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.
- 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
- 2010 – Avatar becomes the first film to gross over $2 billion worldwide.
- 2011 – A winter storm hits North America for the second time in the same month, causing $1.8 billion in damage across the United States and Canada and killing 24 people.
- 2011 – Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) allocated the last two /8 IPv4 address blocks to the Regional Internet Registries(RIRs).
- 2013 – An explosion at the Pemex Executive Tower in Mexico City kills at least 33 people and injures more than 100.
Births[edit]
- 36BC – Antonia Minor, Greek daughter of Mark Antony (d. 38 AD)
- 877 – Taejo of Goryeo (d. 943)
- 1512 – Henry, King of Portugal (d. 1580)
- 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shogun (d. 1616)
- 1550 – Henry I, Duke of Guise (d. 1588)
- 1597 – John Francis Regis, French priest and saint (d. 1640)
- 1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
- 1673 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (d. 1716)
- 1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian missionary (d. 1758)
- 1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American politician (d. 1816)
- 1759 – François Devienne, French flute player and composer (d. 1803)
- 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
- 1820 – William B. Washburn, American politician, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
- 1825 – Miska Magyarics, Hungarian-Slovenian poet (d. 1883)
- 1835 – Lunalilo of Hawaii (d. 1874)
- 1854 – David Emmanuel, Romanian mathematician (d. 1941)
- 1857 – George Jackson Churchward, English engineer (d. 1933)
- 1865 – Henri Desgrange, French cyclist and journalist (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader, founded BAPS (d. 1951)
- 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
- 1872 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939)
- 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1884 – Theodor Heuss, German politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1963)
- 1884 – Nathaniel Moore, American golfer (d. 1910)
- 1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter, actor, and dancer (d. 1964)
- 1894 – Isham Jones, American saxophonist, bandleader, and composer (d. 1956)
- 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1966)
- 1902 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded White Spot (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1905 – Diana Napier, English actress (d. 1982)
- 1905 – John O'Hara, American author (d. 1970)
- 1909 – Miron Grindea, Romanian journalist (d. 1995)
- 1911 – Eddie Byrne, Irish actor (d. 1981)
- 1913 – Don Hutson, American football player (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Daya Mata, American spiritual leader (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (d. 1994)
- 1915 – Alan Lomax, American historian, author, and scholar (d. 2002)
- 1915 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (d. 1968)
- 1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian and game show host (d. 1993)
- 1917 – Fred Bassetti, American architect, founded Bassetti Architects (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (d. 1972)
- 1920 – Stewart Udall, American politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer (d. 2014)
- 1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress and singer
- 1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect, designed the Thorncrown Chapel (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959)
- 1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Norman Mailer, American author and journalist (d. 2007)
- 1925 – August Englas, Estonian wrestler
- 1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American minister, lawyer, and activist (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Norm Prescott, American animation producer, co-founded Filmation Studios (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Eric Ash, British electrical engineer
- 1928 – Chuck Willis, American singer-songwriter (d. 1958)
- 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish race car driver (d. 1972)
- 1930 – Lynn Carlin, American actress
- 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach
- 1931 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician
- 1932 – Miron Babiak, Polish captain (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
- 1933 – Bernardo Provenzano, Italian gangster
- 1934 – James Franciscus, American actor (d. 1991)
- 1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
- 1934 – Ernesto Brambilla, Italian motorcycle road racer and racing driver
- 1935 – Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese author, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
- 1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian politician, 39th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 2007)
- 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
- 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1938 – Beatrix of the Netherlands
- 1938 – James G. Watt, American politician, 43rd United States Secretary of the Interior
- 1939 – Claude Gauthier, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (d. 1998)
- 1941 – Dick Gephardt, American politician
- 1941 – Gerald McDermott, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress
- 1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
- 1942 – Derek Jarman, English director and author (d. 1994)
- 1944 – Connie Booth, American-English actress and psychotherapist
- 1944 – Charlie Musselwhite, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player
- 1945 – Brenda Hale, barrister, High Court judge and academic
- 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American photographer and illustrator
- 1946 – Terry Kath, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Chicago) (d. 1978)
- 1946 – Raymond Snoddy, Northern Irish journalist, television presenter and author
- 1946 – Glynn Turman, American actor, director, and producer
- 1947 – Jonathan Banks, American actor
- 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
- 1948 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer
- 1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
- 1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and journalist
- 1949 – Norris Church Mailer, American model (d. 2010)
- 1949 – Ken Wilber, American author
- 1950 – Denise Fleming, American children's author
- 1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Russian general and bodyguard
- 1951 – Dave Benton, Aruban singer
- 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (KC and the Sunshine Band)
- 1951 – Phil Manzanera, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Roxy Music, Quiet Sun, and 801)
- 1951 – Won Sei-hoon, South Korean intelligence officer
- 1952 – Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (d. 1969)
- 1953 – Ovidiu Lipan, Romanian drummer (Transsylvania Phoenix)
- 1954 – Mark Slavin, Israeli wrestler (d. 1972)
- 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch guitarist (Whitesnake, Vandenberg, and Manic Eden)
- 1955 – Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player
- 1956 – John Lydon, English singer-songwriter (Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd)
- 1957 – Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer
- 1958 – Armin Reichel, German footballer
- 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
- 1959 – Kelly Lynch, American actress
- 1959 – Kelly Moore, American race car driver
- 1960 – Akbar Ganji, Iranian journalist
- 1960 – Grant Morrison, Scottish author and screenwriter
- 1961 – Elizabeth Barker, English politician
- 1961 – Lloyd Cole, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Lloyd Cole and the Commotions)
- 1961 – Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer, judge, and civil servant
- 1962 – Sophie Muller, English director
- 1963 – Madis Eek, Estonian architect
- 1964 – Sylvie Bernier, Canadian diver
- 1964 – Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist and songwriter (Slayer) (d. 2013)
- 1964 – Martha MacCallum, American journalist
- 1964 – Dawn Prince-Hughes, American anthropologist, primatologist, and ethologist
- 1964 – Billey Shamrock, Swedish singer-songwriter and actor
- 1965 – Giorgos Gasparis, Greek basketball player and coach
- 1966 – Umar Alisha, Indian journalist and philanthropist
- 1966 – Dexter Fletcher, English actor
- 1966 – Jorge González, Argentinian basketball player and wrestler (d. 2010)
- 1967 – Chad Channing, American singer and drummer (Nirvana)
- 1967 – Jason Cooper, English drummer (The Cure)
- 1967 – Fat Mike, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (NOFX, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and False Alarm)
- 1967 – Irene Wan, Hong Kong actress
- 1967 – Joey Wong, Taiwanese-Hong Kong actress
- 1968 – Matt King, English comedian and actor
- 1968 – Ulrica Messing, Swedish politician
- 1968 – Patrick Stevens, Belgian sprinter
- 1970 – Minnie Driver, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1970 – Danny Michel, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Patrick Kielty, Irish comedian and television host
- 1971 – Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer
- 1971 – Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan actress and model
- 1971 – Lee Young-ae, South Korean actress
- 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian-American actress
- 1974 – Wil Anderson, Australian comedian and radio host
- 1974 – Othella Harrington, American basketball player
- 1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
- 1975 – Fred Coleman, American football player
- 1975 – Jackie O, Australian radio and television host
- 1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress
- 1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer
- 1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver
- 1976 – Paul Scheer, American comedian and actor
- 1977 – Mark Dutiaume, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Shingo Katori, Japanese singer and actor (SMAP)
- 1977 – Jim Kleinsasser, American football player
- 1977 – Bobby Moynihan, American comedian and actor
- 1977 – Sergei Pareiko, Estonian footballer
- 1977 – Katherine Shindle, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
- 1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentinian footballer
- 1978 – Brad Rutter, American game show contestant, the biggest all-time money winner on Jeopardy!
- 1978 – Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington
- 1979 – Daniel Tammet, English author and educator
- 1979 – Emmett J. Scanlan, Irish actor
- 1980 – James Adomian, American comedian and actor
- 1980 – Tiffany Limos, American actress
- 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian footballer
- 1981 – Amrita Arora, Indian actress
- 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor ('N Sync)
- 1982 – Maret Ani, Estonian tennis player
- 1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
- 1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German footballer
- 1982 – Salvatore Masiello, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1982 – Bruno Nogueira, Portuguese comedian and actor
- 1982 – Elena Paparizou, Greek-Swedish singer-songwriter (Antique)
- 1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Brad Thompson, American baseball player
- 1983 – James Sutton, English actor
- 1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
- 1983 – Tom Vangeneugden, Belgian swimmer
- 1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player
- 1984 – Josh Johnson, American baseball player
- 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American runner
- 1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
- 1985 – Kalomira, American-Greek singer
- 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Mario Williams, American football player
- 1986 – Megan Ellison, American film producer
- 1986 – Yves Ma-Kalambay, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Pauline Parmentier, French tennis player
- 1987 – Sargon Duran, Austrian footballer
- 1987 – Kenny McKinley, American football player (d. 2010)
- 1987 – Marcus Mumford, American-English singer-songwriter (Mumford & Sons)
- 1987 – Raúl Richter, German actor
- 1988 – Justine Ozga, German tennis player
- 1988 – Taijo Teniste, Estonian footballer
- 1990 – Nicolò De Cesare, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese singer and actor (Hey! Say! JUMP)
- 1992 – Tyler Seguin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1994 – Kenneth Zohore, Danish footballer
- 1994 – Whitney Westgate, American pornographic actress
- 1996 – Joel Courtney, American actor
Deaths[edit]
- 632 – Máedóc, Irish bishop (b. 550)
- 1216 – Patriarch Theodore II of Constantinople
- 1398 – Emperor Sukō of Japan (b. 1334)
- 1418 – Mircea I of Wallachia (b. 1355)
- 1435 – Xuande Emperor of China (b. 1398)
- 1561 – Bairam Khan, Mughalan general (b. 1501)
- 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch religious leader (b. 1496)
- 1580 – Henry, King of Portugal (b. 1512)
- 1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
- 1606 – Ambrose Rookwood, English conspirator (b. 1578)
- 1606 – Thomas Wintour, English conspirator (b. 1571)
- 1615 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian priest, 5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1543)
- 1632 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
- 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
- 1686 – Jean Mairet, French playwright (b. 1604)
- 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English politician (b. 1654)
- 1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
- 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect, designed the Basilica of Superga (b. 1678)
- 1788 – Charles Edward Stuart, Italian husband of Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern (b. 1720)
- 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-American lawyer and surveyor (b. 1718)
- 1794 – Mariot Arbuthnot, English admiral (b. 1711)
- 1811 – Manuel Alberti, Argentine priest (b. 1763)
- 1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan military leader (b. 1775)
- 1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Greek general (b. 1792)
- 1836 – John Cheyne, English physician and author (b. 1777)
- 1844 – Henri Gatien Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
- 1856 – 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
- 1870 – Cilibi Moise, Moldavian-Romanian journalist (b. 1812)
- 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest and educator, founded the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
- 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
- 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian businessman, founded Eaton's (b. 1834)
- 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter, assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (b. 1869)
- 1933 – John Galsworthy, English author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- 1942 – Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
- 1942 – Rolf Wenkhaus, German actor (b. 1917)
- 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French author and playwright (b. 1882)
- 1945 – Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
- 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer, invented FM radio (b. 1890)
- 1954 – Vivian Woodward, English footballer (b. 1879)
- 1955 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
- 1958 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician (b. 1898)
- 1961 – Krishna Sinha, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1887)
- 1966 – Arthur Percival, English general (b. 1887)
- 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American sprinter (b. 1908)
- 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian guru and mystic (b. 1894)
- 1970 – Slim Harpo, American singer and harmonica player (b. 1924)
- 1971 – Viktor Zhirmunsky, Russian historian and linguist (b. 1891)
- 1973 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-American film producer (b. 1882)
- 1974 – Glenn Morris, American decathlete and actor (b. 1912)
- 1974 – Emil Väre, Finnish wrestler (b. 1885)
- 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American criminal, inspired the Miranda rights (b. 1941)
- 1976 – Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (b. 1890)
- 1987 – Yves Allégret, French director (b. 1907)
- 1989 – William Stephenson, Canadian soldier and spy (b. 1896)
- 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American chemist (b. 1935)
- 1991 – Kostas Mountakis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
- 1995 – George Abbott, American director and producer (b. 1887)
- 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish-American bishop (b. 1930)
- 1998 – Leho Laurine, Estonian chess player (b. 1904)
- 1999 – Shohei Baba, Japanese wrestler, co-founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (b. 1938)
- 1999 – Barış Manço, Turkish singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
- 1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
- 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American writer and illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American author (b. 1923)
- 2002 – Francis Gabreski, American pilot (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
- 2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and ballerina (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Kirka, Finnish singer (b. 1950)
- 2007 – Lee Bergere, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Molly Ivins, American columnist and author (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Saudi Arabian businessman (b. 1957)
- 2007 – Olevi Kull, Estonian ecologist (b. 1955)
- 2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Zeltim Odie Peterson, American dog (b. 1997)
- 2009 – Nagesh, Indian comedian and actor (b. 1933)
- 2011 – Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian bishop and poet (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Mark Ryan, English guitarist (Adam and the Ants) (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Leslie Carter, American singer (b. 1986)
- 2012 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter and sculptor (b. 1910)
- 2013 – Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Amina Cachalia, South African activist and politician (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Joseph Cassidy, Irish archbishop (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Nolan Frizzelle, American politician (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Hassan Habibi, Iranian politician, 1st Vice President of Iran (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Ron Hadfield, English police officer (b. 1939)
- 2013 – Caleb Moore, American snowmobile racer (b. 1987)
- 2013 – Tony Pierce, American baseball player (b. 1946)
- 2013 – Timir Pinegin, Russian sailor (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Jacques Nguyễn Văn Mầu, Vietnamese bishop (b. 1914)
- 2013 – Fred Whitfield, American baseball player (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Diane Wolkstein, American author (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Nauru from Australia in 1968.
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” - Ephesians 4:2
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
January 30: Morning
"When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself." - 2 Samuel 5:24
The members of Christ's Church should be very prayerful, always seeking the unction of the Holy One to rest upon their hearts, that the kingdom of Christ may come, and that his "will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven;" but there are times when God seems especially to favour Zion, such seasons ought to be to them like "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." We ought then to be doubly prayerful, doubly earnest, wrestling more at the throne than we have been wont to do. Action should then be prompt and vigorous. The tide is flowing--now let us pull manfully for the shore. O for Pentecostal outpourings and Pentecostal labours. Christian, in yourself there are times "when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." You have a peculiar power in prayer; the Spirit of God gives you joy and gladness; the Scripture is open to you; the promises are applied; you walk in the light of God's countenance; you have peculiar freedom and liberty in devotion, and more closeness of communion with Christ than was your wont. Now, at such joyous periods when you hear the "sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees," is the time to bestir yourself; now is the time to get rid of any evil habit, while God the Spirit helpeth your infirmities. Spread your sail; but remember what you sometimes sing--
"I can only spread the sail;
Thou! Thou! must breathe the auspicious gale."
Only be sure you have the sail up. Do not miss the gale for want of preparation for it. Seek help of God, that you may be more earnest in duty when made more strong in faith; that you may be more constant in prayer when you have more liberty at the throne; that you may be more holy in your conversation whilst you live more closely with Christ.
"I can only spread the sail;
Thou! Thou! must breathe the auspicious gale."
Only be sure you have the sail up. Do not miss the gale for want of preparation for it. Seek help of God, that you may be more earnest in duty when made more strong in faith; that you may be more constant in prayer when you have more liberty at the throne; that you may be more holy in your conversation whilst you live more closely with Christ.
Evening
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance." - Ephesians 1:11
When Jesus gave himself for us, he gave us all the rights and privileges which went with himself; so that now, although as eternal God, he has essential rights to which no creature may venture to pretend, yet as Jesus, the Mediator, the federal head of the covenant of grace, he has no heritage apart from us. All the glorious consequences of his obedience unto death are the joint riches of all who are in him, and on whose behalf he accomplished the divine will. See, he enters into glory, but not for himself alone, for it is written, "Whither the Forerunner is for us entered." Heb. 6:20. Does he stand in the presence of God?--"He appears in the presence of God for us." Heb. 9:24. Consider this, believer. You have no right to heaven in yourself: your right lies in Christ. If you are pardoned, it is through his blood; if you are justified, it is through his righteousness; if you are sanctified, it is because he is made of God unto you sanctification; if you shall be kept from falling, it will be because you are preserved in Christ Jesus; and if you are perfected at the last, it will be because you are complete in him. Thus Jesus is magnified--for all is in him and by him; thus the inheritance is made certain to us--for it is obtained in him; thus each blessing is the sweeter, and even heaven itself the brighter, because it is Jesus our Beloved "in whom" we have obtained all. Where is the man who shall estimate our divine portion? Weigh the riches of Christ in scales, and his treasure in balances, and then think to count the treasures which belong to the saints. Reach the bottom of Christ's sea of joy, and then hope to understand the bliss which God hath prepared for them that love him. Overleap the boundaries of Christ's possessions, and then dream of a limit to the fair inheritance of the elect. "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's and Christ is God's."
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Today's reading: Exodus 23-24, Matthew 20:1-16 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Exodus 23-24
Laws of Justice and Mercy
1 "Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.
2 "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, 3 and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.
4 "If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. 5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.
6 "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. 7Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty....
Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 20:1-16
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 "About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went.
"He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around....
