Tue Apr 7th Todays News

On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome.  
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In 397, Honorius banned the wearing of barbarian clothing. Problem was Roman clothing was not comfortable or easy to wear. A lot of cloth went into a toga but the wearing of it was confining, meaning that one needed servants to carry things. So the growing middle class which resulted from Roman affluence were disadvantaged by the clothing. Rome was under siege and Romans had lost the taste for fighting, so Honorius sought to install old time values to raise fighting spirits. Thing is, Honorius, one of the all time worst Emperors of Rome was only thirteen years old at the time and led by his father in law whom had been appointed guardian by his father. Stilicho was a good general who kept the enemy at bay. But When Honorius grew up, he was lead into believing Stilicho was a threat to him, and so he had him executed and Rome fell apart defenceless. 

It is interesting that the symbolic reflexive embrace of old cultural values was parcel with the collapse of Rome. One sees a similarity with the dogmatic and bigoted right wing who claim to represent and keep Australian values by despising migrants. The anti Islam movement over reach in Australia. Australia is a modern democracy struggling with issues of debt and resourcing. But the anti Islam movement want to antagonise Islam, denouncing it as the sole source of jihadism and inflating aims of jihadis to implement Sharia Law in Australia and around the world. The only Sharia Law in Australia is in the minds of a few jihadis, impotent Islamic leaders, and some frightened right wing bigots. One cannot prevent people from thinking bad thoughts. But the fact is Australian law comes from the constitution which is incompatible with many of the fears the bigots have. 

At the moment, the biggest danger to Australia is the ALP's refusal to allow the government to cut costs. Even business is pointing out how bad Shorten's policy is. Shorten does not have a policy, which is why his decision to block everything is so hard to criticise. Except it isn't that hard, really, just the press are partisan. 

2014

It is her birthday today, and Janis Ian is no longer seventeen. It is an anniversary of Atila the Hun in 451 sacking a city in Gaul prior to his attempt at the big prize of Rome. In 1611, Maya had a victory of Palenque. We know of Palenque today because of their small, well preserved ruins. After the WA poll, it is also how we know of the ALP. For the Greens, Ludlum is proud of his malicious assault on Abbott spoken from the coward's castle of parliament. His popularity is not among people of good heart, which will limit future growth for the Greens. It should be noted that not every loser voted Green. PUP attracted a lot of votes too. The Nationals are a great party, but not differentiated enough from the Liberals to attract substantial votes in their own right. Shifting demographics mean they aren't attracting rural mining votes. 

There are few things more despicable than bureaucrats benefiting from suffering. Kofi Annan's career got a boost on this day in 1994 Rwanda. Eisenhower made his dominos speech in 1954. The internet had its foundation on this day in 1969. But my mind leaves politics to another thing, a death that happened this morning. Not unexpected, he was old. Rooney claimed he was the inspiration for Walt Disney in naming his mouse Mickey. Mickey could sing, dance and act. He grew up on stage, and was gracious to fans. In 2011, at the age of 91, he appeared on the Muppets and later in a celebrity ghost story where he recounted his dead father urging him to continue on stage. He had 9 children, and multiple wives .. never at the same time. It is a blessing to say someone died of old age, surrounded by family. Possibly not all those wives. The lord blessed you, Mr Rooney. Thank you for sharing so generously your gifts.

Historical perspectives on this day 

In 397, the wearing of barbarian clothing in the City of Rome was banned by the Emperor Honorius. 451, Attila the Hun sacked the town of Metz and attacked other cities in Gaul. 529, first draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) was issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I. 611, Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacked rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico. 1141, Empress Matilda, became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title 'Lady of the English'. 1348, Charles University was founded in Prague. 1521, Ferdinand Magellan arrived at Cebu. 1541, Francis Xavier left Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.

In 1724, Premiere performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion BWV 245 at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig. 1767, end of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767). 1776, Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captured the Edward. 1788, American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrived at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, establishing Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opening the westward expansion of the new country. 1789, Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1798, the Mississippi Territory was organised from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. It was expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.

In 1805, Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery broke camp among the Mandan tribe and resumed its journey West along the Missouri River. 1827, John Walker, an English chemist, sold the first friction match that he had invented the previous year. 1829, Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, commenced translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe. 1831, D. Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil, resigned. He went to his native Portugal to become King D. Pedro IV. 1862, American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ended: The Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee. 1868, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation was assassinated by Irish Republicans, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and the only one of a federal politician. 1890, completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.

In 1906, Mount Vesuvius erupted and devastated Naples. Also 1906, the Algeciras Conference gave France and Spain control over Morocco. 1908, H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party took office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. 1922, Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leased Teapot Dome petroleum reserves in Wyoming. 1927, first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaid the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover). 1933, Prohibition in the United States was repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the XXI amendment. 1939, World War II: Italy invaded Albania.

In 1940, Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp. 1943, Holocaust: In Terebovlia, Ukraine, Germans ordered 1,100 Jews to undress to their underwear and march through the city of Terebovlia to the nearby village of Plebanivka where they were shot dead and buried in ditches. Also 1943, Ioannis Rallis became collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation. 1945, World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, was sunk by American planes 200 miles north of Okinawa while en route to a suicide mission in Operation Ten-Go. Also 1945, World War II: Visoko was liberated by the 7th, 9th, and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisan forces. 1946, Syria's independence from France was officially recognised. 1948, the World Health Organization was established by the United Nations. Also 1948, a Buddhist monastery burned in Shanghai, China, leaving twenty monks dead.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his "domino theory" speech during a news conference. 1955, Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health. 1956, Spain relinquished its protectorate in Morocco. 1964, IBM announced the System/360. 1967, Film critic Roger Ebert published his very first film review in the Chicago Sun-Times. 1969, the Internet's symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1. 1971, President Richard Nixon announced his decision to increase the rate of American troop withdrawals from Vietnam. 1976, former British Cabinet Minister John Stonehouse resigned from the Labour Party. 1977, German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver were shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light. 1978, development of the neutron bomb was canceled by President Jimmy Carter. 1980, the United States severed relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. 1983, during STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson performed the first space shuttle spacewalk. 1985, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared a moratorium on the deployment of middle-range missiles in Europe. 1989, Soviet submarine Komsomolets sank in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.

In 1990, Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter was found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction was later reversed on appeal). Also 1990, a fire broke out on the passenger ferry M/S Scandinavian Star, killing 158 people. 1992, Republika Srpska announced its independence. 1994, Rwandan Genocide: Massacres of Tutsis began in Kigali, Rwanda. Also 1994, Auburn Calloway attempted to hijack FedEx Express Flight 705 and crash it to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy. The crew subdued him and landed the aircraft safely. 1995, First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops began a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya. 1999, the World Trade Organization ruled in favour of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas. 2001, Mars Odyssey was launched. 2003, U.S. troops captured Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime fell two days later. 2009, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces. 2009, Mass protests began across Moldova under the belief that resulted from the parliamentary election being fraudulent.

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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.

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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406, September https://www.createspace.com/5106914, October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more. 

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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR

Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.

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Happy birthday and many happy returns John Tran, William Truong and Lepani Natuee. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. As a child, they gave you wings. As an adult, they keep you grounded. 1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1552) 1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 1584) 1613 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675) 1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850) 1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837) 1780 – William Ellery Channing, American preacher and theologian (d. 1842) 1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (d. 1951) 1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1959) 1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003) 1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (d. 2012) 1928 – James Garner, American actor 1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-English actor 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1943 – Mick Abrahams, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Jethro Tull and Blodwyn Pig) 1949 – John Oates, American singer-songwriter guitarist, and producer (Hall & Oates) 1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and author 1997 – Rafaela Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player

Deaths

• 924 – Berengar I of Italy (b. 845)
• 1614 – El Greco, Greek painter and sculptor (b. 1541)
• 1719 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint, founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (b. 1651)
• 1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705)
• 1761 – Thomas Bayes, English minister and mathematician (b. 1701)
• 1850 – William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
• 1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810)
• 1939 – Joseph Lyons, Australian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
• 1947 – Henry Ford, American businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863)

April 7: World Health Day

• 1767 – Troops of the Burmese Konbaung Dynasty sacked the Siamese city of Ayutthaya to end the Burmese–Siamese War, bringing the four-century-old Ayutthaya Kingdom to an end.
• 1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
• 1940 – Educator Booker T. Washington (pictured) became the first African American to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp.
• 1955 – Aware that he was slowing down both physically and mentally in his old age, Winston Churchill retired as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops began a massacre of at least 250 civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.

Siamese cats learned a lesson from Burmese ones. We got third. It is stamped. Winston retired. Do civilians use military weapons? Let's party. 
Matches

• 397 – The wearing of barbarian clothing in the City of Rome is banned by the Emperor Honorius.
• 451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
• 529 – First draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
• 611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.
• 1141 – Empress Matilda, became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title 'Lady of the English'.
• 1348 – Charles University is founded in Prague.
• 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
• 1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
• 1724 – Premiere performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion BWV 245 at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
• 1767 – End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767).
• 1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
• 1788 – American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrive at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, establishing Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opening the westward expansion of the new country.
• 1789 – Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
• 1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
• 1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
• 1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
• 1829 – Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
• 1831 – D. Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil, resigns. He goes to his native Portugal to become King D. Pedro IV.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends: The Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeats the Confederatesnear Shiloh, Tennessee.
• 1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by Irish Republicans, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and the only one of a federal politician.
• 1890 – Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
• 1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
• 1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
• 1908 – H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
• 1922 – Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome petroleum reserves in Wyoming.
• 1927 – First long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
• 1933 – Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the XXI amendment.
• 1939 – World War II: Italy invades Albania.
• 1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
• 1943 – Holocaust: In Terebovlia, Ukraine, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress to their underwear and march through the city of Terebovlia to the nearby village of Plebanivka where they are shot dead and buried in ditches.
• 1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
• 1945 – World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, is sunk by American planes 200 miles north of Okinawa while en route to a suicide mission in Operation Ten-Go.
• 1945 – World War II: Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th, and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisanforces.
• 1946 – Syria's independence from France is officially recognised.
• 1948 – The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
• 1948 – A Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai, China, leaving twenty monks dead.
• 1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
• 1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
• 1956 – Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
• 1964 – IBM announces the System/360.
• 1967 – Film critic Roger Ebert published his very first film review in the Chicago Sun-Times.
• 1969 – The Internet's symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
• 1971 – President Richard Nixon announces his decision to increase the rate of American troop withdrawals from Vietnam.
• 1976 – Former British Cabinet Minister John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party.
• 1977 – German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
• 1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
• 1980 – The United States severs relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• 1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk.
• 1985 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declares a moratorium on the deployment of middle-range missiles in Europe.
• 1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
• 1990 – Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction is later reversed on appeal).
• 1990 – A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry M/S Scandinavian Star, killing 158 people.
• 1992 – Republika Srpska announces its independence.
• 1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
• 1994 – Auburn Calloway attempts to hijack FedEx Express Flight 705 and crash it to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy. The crew subdues him and lands the aircraft safely.
• 1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
• 1999 – The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
• 2001 – Mars Odyssey is launched.
• 2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.
• 2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
• 2009 – Mass protests begin across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election are fraudulent.

Hatches

• 1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
• 1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 1584)
• 1613 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
• 1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French general (d. 1730)
• 1648 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1721)
• 1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
• 1713 – Nicola Sala, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1801)
• 1718 – Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (d. 1800)
• 1727 – Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)
• 1763 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (d. 1846)
• 1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
• 1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
• 1780 – William Ellery Channing, American preacher and theologian (d. 1842)
• 1803 – James Curtiss, American politician, 11th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
• 1803 – Flora Tristan, French author (d. 1844)
• 1848 – Randall Davidson, Scottish archbishop (d. 1930)
• 1853 – Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, (d. 1884)
• 1859 – Walter Camp, American football player and coach (d. 1925)
• 1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (d. 1951)
• 1867 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)
• 1870 – Gustav Landauer, German activist (d. 1919)
• 1871 – Epifanio de los Santos, Filipino jurist, historian, and scholar (d. 1927)
• 1873 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
• 1874 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (d. 1939)
• 1876 – Fay Moulton, American sprinter, football player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1945)
• 1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
• 1883 – Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)
• 1884 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (d. 1963)
• 1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player (d. 1971)
• 1887 – Joseph Stadler, American jumper (d. 1950)
• 1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
• 1890 – Paul Berth, Danish footballer (d. 1969)
• 1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (d. 1998)
• 1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded the Lego Group (d. 1958)
• 1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1969)
• 1895 – John Flannagan, American sculptor (d. 1942)
• 1895 – Margarete Schön, German actress (d. 1985)
• 1896 – Frits Peutz, Dutch architect, designed the Glaspaleis (d. 1974)
• 1897 – Erich Löwenhardt, Polish-German pilot (d. 1918)
• 1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and broadcaster (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist and composer (d. 1972)
• 1900 – Tebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (d. 1984)
• 1902 – Eduard Eelma, Estonian footballer (d. 1941)
• 1903 – M. Balasundaram, Ceylon Tamil politician (d. 1965)
• 1903 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Roland Wilson, Australian public servant (d. 1996)
• 1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader (d. 1976)
• 1909 – Robert Charroux, French author (d. 1978)
• 1909 – Pete Zaremba, American hammer thrower (d. 1994)
• 1911 – Hervé Bazin, French author (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
• 1913 – Charles Vanik, American politician (d. 2007)
• 1914 – Ralph Flanagan, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
• 1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1977)
• 1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1959)
• 1915 – Henry Kuttner, American author (d. 1958)
• 1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1917 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor and playwright (d. 2012)
• 1918 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player and coach
• 1919 – Roger Lemelin, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1992)
• 1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (d. 2012)
• 1922 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2003)
• 1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian-English author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Roy Amara, American scientific researcher (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Chaturanan Mishra, Indian politician (d. 2011)
• 1925 – Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (d. 2011)
• 1926 – Prem Nazir, Indian actor (d. 1989)
• 1927 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian-American drummer, educator, and activist (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Leonid Shcherbakov, Russian triple jumper
• 1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
• 1928 – Alan J. Pakula, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
• 1928 – James White, Northern Irish author (d. 1999)
• 1929 – Bob Denard, French soldier (d. 2007)
• 1929 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (d. 1972)
• 1930 – Jane Priestman, English interior designer
• 1930 – Yves Rocher, French businessman, founded the Yves Rocher Company (d. 2009)
• 1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-English actor
• 1931 – Donald Barthelme, American journalist and author (d. 1989)
• 1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American theorist and author
• 1932 – Cal Smith, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (d. 2007)
• 1935 – Bobby Bare, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1935 – Hodding Carter III, American journalist and politician
• 1937 – Cynthia Lynn, Latvian-American actress (d. 2014)
• 1938 – Jerry Brown, American politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California
• 1938 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Dinosaurs, and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy) (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American trumpet player and composer (d. 2008)
• 1938 – Iris Johansen, American author
• 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1939 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (d. 2013)
• 1939 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (d. 1977)
• 1939 – Brett Whiteley, Australian avant-garde artist (d. 1992)
• 1939 – Vaçe Zela, Albanian-Swiss singer and guitarist (d. 2014)
• 1940 – Marju Lauristin, Estonian politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
• 1941 – James Di Pasquale, American composer
• 1941 – Peter Fluck, English puppet maker and illustrator
• 1941 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress
• 1941 – Gorden Kaye, English actor
• 1941 – Tord Magnuson, Swedish businessman
• 1941 – Danny Wells, Canadian-American actor (d. 2013)
• 1942 – Jeetendra, Indian actor and producer
• 1942 – Nam Gi-nam, South Korean director and screenwriter
• 1943 – Mick Abrahams, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Jethro Tull and Blodwyn Pig)
• 1943 – Dennis Amiss, English cricketer
• 1944 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (d. 2002)
• 1944 – Gerhard Schröder, German politician, 7th Chancellor of Germany
• 1944 – Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
• 1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer-songwriter
• 1945 – Gerry Cottle, English circus owner
• 1945 – Marilyn Friedman, American philosopher
• 1945 – Martyn Lewis, Welsh journalist
• 1945 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and author
• 1945 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
• 1945 – Hans van Hemert, Dutch songwriter and producer
• 1946 – Zaid Abdul-Aziz, American basketball player
• 1946 – Colette Besson, French runner (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Herménégilde Chiasson, Canadian politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
• 1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects artist and makeup artist (d. 2008)
• 1946 – Danny Goldman, American actor and casting director
• 1947 – Patricia Bennett, American singer (The Chiffons)
• 1947 – Florian Schneider, German singer and drummer (Kraftwerk and Organisation)
• 1947 – Eliseo Soriano, Filipino minister
• 1947 – Michèle Torr, French singer and author
• 1948 – Carol Douglas, American singer
• 1948 – Arnie Robinson, American long jumper
• 1949 – Luca Cumani, Italian horse trainer
• 1949 – Mitch Daniels, American academic and politician, 49th Governor of Indiana
• 1949 – John Oates, American singer-songwriter guitarist, and producer (Hall & Oates)
• 1950 – Brian J. Doyle, American press secretary
• 1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1952 – David Baulcombe, English geneticist and academic
• 1952 – Jane Frederick, American heptathlete
• 1952 – Clarke Peters, American actor and singer
• 1952 – Gilles Valiquette, Canadian actor, singer, and producer
• 1953 – Douglas Kell English biochemist and academic
• 1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong actor, martial artist, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1954 – Tony Dorsett, American football player
• 1955 – Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
• 1955 – Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer and journalist
• 1955 – Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
• 1956 – Annika Billström, Swedish politician, 16th Mayor of Stockholm
• 1956 – Christopher Darden, American lawyer
• 1956 – Georg Werthner, Austrian decathlete
• 1957 – Kim Kap-soo, South Korean actor
• 1958 – Brian Haner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1958 – Hindrek Kesler, Estonian architect
• 1960 – Buster Douglas, American boxer
• 1960 – Sandy Powell, English costume designer
• 1961 – Thurl Bailey, American basketball player and actor
• 1961 – Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
• 1961 – Brigitte van der Burg, Tanzanian-Dutch geographer and politician
• 1962 – Jon Cruddas, English politician
• 1962 – Andrew Hampsten, American cyclist
• 1962 – Hugh O'Connor, Italian-American actor (d. 1995)
• 1963 – Jaime de Marichalar, Spanish husband of Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo
• 1963 – Nick Herbert, English politician, Minister for Policing
• 1963 – Dave Johnson, American decathlete
• 1963 – Paul Michael Robinson, American model, actor, and photographer
• 1964 – Jace Alexander, American actor and director
• 1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor, singer, director and producer (30 Odd Foot of Grunts)
• 1964 – Steve Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1965 – Bill Bellamy, American comedian and actor
• 1965 – Nenad Vučinić, Serbian-New Zealand basketball player and coach
• 1965 – Alison Lapper, English painter and photographer
• 1966 – Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
• 1966 – Richard Gomez, Filipino actor, model, and volleyball player
• 1967 – Artemis Gounaki, Greek-German singer-songwriter
• 1967 – Simone Schilder, Dutch tennis player
• 1968 – Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer
• 1968 – Jennifer Lynch, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1968 – Vasiliy Sokov, Russian triple jumper
• 1969 – Ricky Watters, American football player
• 1970 – Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist
• 1971 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (d. 2008)
• 1971 – Victor Kraatz, German-Canadian figure skater
• 1971 – Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, American journalist and actress
• 1973 – Marco Delvecchio, Italian footballer
• 1973 – Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch politician, Dutch Minister of Defence
• 1973 – Carole Montillet, French skier
• 1973 – Ève Salvail, Canadian model and actress
• 1973 – Brett Tomko, American baseball player
• 1974 – Nathan Baesel, American actor
• 1974 – Tygo Gernandt, Dutch actor
• 1975 – Karin Dreijer Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer (The Knife and Honey Is Cool)
• 1975 – Ronde Barber, American football player
• 1975 – Tiki Barber, American football player and journalist
• 1975 – Ronnie Belliard, American baseball player
• 1975 – John Cooper, American singer-songwriter and bass player (Skillet)
• 1975 – Jeremy Taggart, Canadian drummer and songwriter (Our Lady Peace)
• 1976 – Kevin Alejandro, American actor
• 1976 – Martin Buß, German high jumper
• 1976 – Jessica Lee, English politician
• 1976 – Barbara Jane Reams, American actress
• 1978 – Jo Appleby, English soprano (Amici Forever)
• 1978 – Duncan James, English singer-songwriter and actor (Blue)
• 1978 – Lilia Osterloh, American tennis player
• 1979 – Adrián Beltré, Dominican-American baseball player
• 1979 – Patrick Crayton, American football player
• 1979 – Pascal Dupuis, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Robert Jozinović, Australian actor
• 1979 – Anika Knudsen, American model
• 1979 – Danny Sandoval, Venezuelan-American baseball player
• 1979 – Zbych Trofimiuk, Polish-Australian actor
• 1980 – Ourasi, French race horse (d. 2013)
• 1980 – Dragan Bogavac, Montenegrin footballer
• 1980 – David Otunga, American wrestler, actor, and lawyer
• 1981 – Sharka Blue, Czech porn actress
• 1981 – Alex Lanipekun, English actor
• 1981 – Vanessa Olivarez, American singer-songwriter, and actress
• 1981 – Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
• 1981 – Kelli Young, English singer (Liberty X)
• 1982 – Silvana Arias, Peruvian actress
• 1982 – Sonjay Dutt, American wrestler
• 1982 – Soledad Fandiño, Argentinian actress
• 1983 – Kyle Labine, Canadian actor
• 1983 – Franck Ribéry, French footballer
• 1983 – Jon Stead, English footballer
• 1983 – Jakub Smrž, Czech motorcycle rider
• 1983 – Janar Talts, Estonian basketball player
• 1984 – Norman D. Golden II, American actor
• 1985 – KC Concepcion, Filipino actress and singer
• 1985 – Ariela Massotti, Brazilian actress
• 1986 – Brooke Brodack, American comedian
• 1986 – Andi Fraggs, English musician
• 1986 – Christian Fuchs, Austrian footballer, FC Schalke 04
• 1987 – Martín Cáceres, Uruguayan footballer
• 1987 – Jack Duarte, Mexican actor, singer, and guitarist (Eme 15)
• 1987 – Jaimee Kaire-Gataulu, New Zealand actress
• 1987 – Jack Johnson, American actor
• 1987 – Alexis Love, American porn actress and model
• 1987 – April O'Neil, American porn actress
• 1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete
• 1988 – Antonio Piccolo, Italian footballer
• 1988 – Ed Speleers, English actor and producer
• 1988 – Sarah Walker, Australian actress
• 1989 – Alexa Demara, American model and actress
• 1989 – Franco Di Santo, Argentinian footballer
• 1990 – Anna Bogomazova, Russian-American kick-boxer and wrestler
• 1990 – Sorana Cîrstea, Romanian tennis player
• 1990 – Trent Cotchin, Australian footballer
• 1991 – Tom Hill, Australian footballer
• 1991 – Luka Milivojević, Serbian footballer
• 1992 – Andreea Acatrinei, Romanian gymnast
• 1992 – Alexis Jordan, American singer and actress
• 1992 – Guilherme Negueba, Brazilian footballer
• 1993 – Irina Shtork, Estonian ice dancer
• 1994 – Johanna Allik, Estonian figure skater
• 1997 – Rafaela Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player

Despatches

• 924 – Berengar I of Italy (b. 845)
• 1498 – Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
• 1614 – El Greco, Greek painter and sculptor (b. 1541)
• 1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyo (b. 1576)
• 1651 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and engineer (b. 1603)
• 1658 – Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic (b. 1595)
• 1661 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (b. 1604)
• 1663 – Francis Cooke, English-Dutch colonial settler (b. 1583)
• 1668 – William Davenant, English poet and playwright (b. 1606)
• 1719 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint, founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (b. 1651)
• 1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705)
• 1747 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. 1676)
• 1761 – Thomas Bayes, English minister and mathematician (b. 1701)
• 1766 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
• 1767 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer (b. 1715)
• 1782 – Taksin, Thai king (b. 1734)
• 1789 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1725)
• 1789 – Petrus Camper, Dutch physician, anatomist, and physiologist (b. 1722)
• 1801 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer (b. 1724)
• 1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (b. 1743)
• 1811 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (b. 1757)
• 1823 – Jacques Charles, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1746)
• 1833 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Lithuanian politician (b. 1775)
• 1836 – William Godwin, English journalist and author (b. 1756)
• 1849 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentinian priest and politician (b. 1777)
• 1850 – William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
• 1858 – Anton Diabelli, Austrian composer (b. 1781)
• 1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1825)
• 1885 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (b. 1804)
• 1889 – Youssef Bey Karam, Lebanese soldier (b. 1823)
• 1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810)
• 1917 – Spyridon Samaras, Greek composer (b. 1861)
• 1918 – David Kolehmainen, Finnish wrestler (b. 1885)
• 1918 – George E. Ohr, American ceramicist (b. 1857)
• 1920 – Karl Binding, German jurist (b. 1841)
• 1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1873)
• 1932 – Grigore Constantinescu, Romanian priest and journalist (b. 1875)
• 1938 – Suzanne Valadon, French painter (b. 1865)
• 1939 – Joseph Lyons, Australian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
• 1943 – Jovan Dučić, Serbian-American poet (b. 1871)
• 1943 – Alexandre Millerand, French politician, 12th President of France (b. 1859)
• 1944 – Johann Gruber, Austrian Roman Catholic priest known as the "Saint of Gusen", murdered at Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp (b. 1889)
• 1947 – Henry Ford, American industrialist, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863)
• 1949 – John Gourlay, Canadian soccer player (b. 1872)
• 1950 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor (b. 1883)
• 1955 – Theda Bara, American actress (b. 1885)
• 1956 – Fred Appleby, English long-distance runner (b. 1879)
• 1960 – Henri Guisan, Swiss general (b. 1874)
• 1965 – Roger Leger, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
• 1966 – Walt Hansgen, American racing driver (b. 1919)
• 1968 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
• 1972 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (b. 1929)
• 1972 – Abeid Karume, Tanzanian politician, 1st President of Zanzibar (b. 1905)
• 1980 – Maria Michi, Italian actress (b. 1921)
• 1981 – Rajendra Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan civil servant and diplomat (b. 1915)
• 1981 – Kit Lambert, English record producer and manager (b. 1935)
• 1981 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (b. 1899)
• 1982 – Brenda Benet, American actress (b. 1945)
• 1982 – Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (b. 1948)
• 1984 – Frank Church, American lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
• 1985 – Carl Schmitt, German jurist, philosopher, and theorist (b. 1888)
• 1986 – Leonid Kantorovich, Soviet mathematician, economist and founder of linear programming (b. 1912)
• 1990 – Ronald Evans, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933)
• 1992 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Antonis Tritsis, Greek politician, 71st Mayor of Athens (b. 1937)
• 1994 – Lee Brilleaux, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dr. Feelgood) (b. 1952)
• 1994 – Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic footballer and politician (b. 1923)
• 1994 – Golo Mann, German historian (b. 1909)
• 1994 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Rwandan politician, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
• 1997 – Luis Aloma, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1923)
• 1997 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1935)
• 1998 – Alex Schomburg, Puerto Rican-American painter (b. 1905)
• 1999 – Heinz Lehmann, German-Canadian psychiatrist (b. 1911)
• 2000 – Broery, Indonesian singer (b. 1944)
• 2001 – David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
• 2001 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
• 2002 – John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
• 2003 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French author (b. 1903)
• 2003 – David Greene, English-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
• 2004 – Victor Argo, American actor (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Konstantinos Kallias, Greek politician (b. 1901)
• 2005 – Cliff Allison, English race car driver (b. 1932)
• 2005 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
• 2005 – Bob Kennedy, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Johnny Hart, American illustrator (b. 1931)
• 2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Ludu Daw Amar, Burmese journalist and author (b. 1915)
• 2008 – Mark Speight, English television host (b. 1965)
• 2009 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1947)
• 2011 – Pierre Gauvreau, Canadian painter (b. 1922)
• 2011 – AJ Perez, Filipino actor (b. 1993)
• 2012 – Steven Kanumba Tanzanian actor and director (b. 1984)
• 2012 – Satsue Mito, Japanese zoologist and educator (b. 1914)
• 2012 – Ignatius Moses I Daoud, Syrian cardinal (b. 1930)
• 2012 – David E. Pergrin, American colonel and engineer (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Bashir Ahmed Qureshi, Pakistani politician (b. 1959)
• 2012 – Miss Read, English author (b. 1913)
• 2012 – Mike Wallace, American journalist, actor, and game show host (b. 1918)
• 2013 – Marty Blake, American businessman (b. 1927)
• 2013 – Les Blank, American director and producer (b. 1935)
• 2013 – Andy Johns, English-American record producer (b. 1950)
• 2013 – Lilly Pulitzer, American fashion designer (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Irma Ravinale, Italian composer and educator (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Mickey Rose, American screenwriter (b. 1935)
• 2013 – Carl Williams, American boxer (b. 1959)
• 2014 – George Dureau, American painter and photographer (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Peaches Geldof, English model and television host (b. 1989)
• 2014 – James Alexander Green, American-English mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
• 2014 – V. K. Murthy, Indian cinematographer (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan-American computer programmer (b. 1952)
• 2014 – John Shirley-Quirk, English opera singer (b. 1931)
• 2014 – George Shuffler, American guitarist (The Bailey Brothers and the Happy Valley Boys) (b. 1925)
• 2014 – Josep Maria Subirachs, Spanish sculptor and painter (b. 1927)
• 2014 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1942)

===
2015

• Christian feast days:
  • April 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Blessed Alexander Rawlins
  • Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley
  • Blessed Notker the Stammerer
  • Saint Aibert of Crespin
  • Saint Brynach
  • Saint Hegesippus
  • Saint Henry Walpole
  • Saint Hermann Joseph
  • Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
  • Tikhon of Moscow (Episcopalian observance)
• International Bird Migration Day in Costa Rica
• Day of Maternity and Beauty (Armenia)
• Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda)
• Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
• Women's Day (Mozambique)
• World Health Day (International)

===

AN EASTER MIRACLE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, April 07, 2015 (4:22am)

Nearly two years after he left us, you’ll never believe who’s back.

 Continue reading 'AN EASTER MIRACLE'

===

EASY MONEY

Tim Blair – Tuesday, April 07, 2015 (4:19am)

Paul Barry receives $4448 of your taxes for each weekly15-minute episode of Media Watch. Last night Barry spent the entire program talking to Nine’s David Gyngell about – breaking news! – television viewers moving to online.

===

SHE CHOOSES TO BELIEVE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, April 07, 2015 (3:53am)

Rolling Stone published a piece last November claiming that a woman, “Jackie”, had been gang-raped by male students at the University of Virginia. The piece was immediately called into question. A four-month police investigation later concluded that “there is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in the Rolling Stonearticle.”

In December, the Guardian‘s Jessica Valenti wrote: 

I choose to believe Jackie. I lose nothing by doing so, even if I’m later proven wrong – but at least I will still be able to sleep at night for having stood by a young woman who may have been through an awful trauma. 

May, but by all available evidence did not. A Columbia School of Journalism investigation, invited by Rolling Stone, has now found the story to be so massively flawed that it should never have been published. The word “failure” is repeated 24 times in Rolling Stone‘s damning publication of the Columbia School of Journalism’s report. Valenti’s response: 

It wasn’t Jackie’s job to get the details of her rape correct. It was Rolling Stone’s. 

The most important detail, determinedly ignored by Valenti, seems to be that “Jackie” wasn’t raped.

===

FAITH NOT MENTIONED

Tim Blair – Tuesday, April 07, 2015 (3:47am)

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Owen Richardson reviews an Iranian doctor’s book: 

Kooshyar Karimi has been living and working as a doctor in Sydney since he came to this country as a refugee. Before then, he had been living and working as a doctor in Iran, which he had to leave because the authorities had discovered he was performing illegal abortions. The penalty for this is hanging, but Karimi was willing to take the risk: the penalty for adultery is stoning, and the women who came to him were unmarried or had other reasons to fear for their lives if their pregnancies came to light.

In alternating chapters Karimi tells his own story, or rather provides a series of appalling case studies detailing the women who had come to him pregnant after premarital affairs, or because they had been raped or, in one case, because the husband to whom she had been unfaithful had had a vasectomy. 

And what on earth is causing all of this? 

The mortal predicaments of Karimi’s patients are only an intensification of the way Iranian patriarchyseeks to suppress women’s dignity and autonomy … 

(Via Chris P.)

UPDATE. As usual, the ABC takes a vow of silence.

===

COMMENTS READ

Tim Blair – Tuesday, April 07, 2015 (3:11am)

Reader Jason N. is infuriated by Monday’s column 

I imagine you will ignore all emails you don’t agree with, but I write one anyway. It’s short.

I think you are probably a Homophobe Tim. You agree with people being able to deny service to another human being based what they do, in their own home with a fellow consenting adult,among other things.

Simply put:

A couple want pizza for their wedding.

Proprietors don’t agree with their choices

Deny them service, therefore losing money

The world gives them 1 million dollars

Does this seem fair to you Tim? If it were not a hypothetical, how do you think the denied couple would feel in this situation?

Are Christians supposed to be non judgmental, forgiving, understanding humans?

I. Think. Not.

I am neither Gay nor Christian.

I hope you are discriminated against one day, for some reason and you may them realize how lame and bigoted your article was.

Thanks for reading this. Although I doubt you did. 

I’m also in trouble with Bulldogs fans: 

How dare you insinuate that all the bulldogs fans are bottle throwers and tough for doing so. Apart from a handful of idiots that did that, the true Bulldogs fans detest what happened and hope the culprits are caught and banned for life. Do not put all your eggs in one basket mate. Just think of what the rest of us have to put up with after that, and you don’t make it any better for the true fans who just go to the game to follow our team. Try to be more fair in your comments in future.

Regards 
Joe B 

Will do, Joe, just as soon as Bulldogs supporters stop throwing bottles at referees.

===

Fran Kelly demands “cruel” Minister let hunger strikes work

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (7:28pm)

Anyone with any doubt about the ABC’s bias - or with only hope that this bias need not affect a presenter’s coverage of an issue - should listen to Fran Kelly’s highly emotive, fact-challenged and consequence-blind haranguing of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton this morning.
If Dutton were such as fool as to take Kelly’s advice - and he’s not - we’d have thousands of people on hunger strikes, rather than the one who (inconveniently for Kelly) has just abandoned his own. And, of course, the boats would be back and the drownings with them.
But that is the Left. Seem good, and never mind the evil results.
UPDATE
Bravo to Dutton for keeping his cool, countering emotion with truth and calling out Kelly’s bias. But this kind of badgering goes on and on and on, every day on the ABC. When will it be reformed?
UPDATE
Oops. Link fixed. Coming soon, the transcript.
UPDATE
ABC biased? Of course not!

UPDATE
From Fran Kelly’s astonishing interview with the Immigration Minister (full transcript below) - and note the emoting, the lack of facts, the indifference to the consequences of giving in to blackmail, the unquestioning acceptance of the claims of refugee activists and of a “conversion” to Christianity:

Journalist: Well, [Iranian illegal immigrant] Saeed [Hassanloo] is starving himself to death because he doesn’t want to go back to Iran. Is there nothing that you can do to prevent this death from occurring?
Peter Dutton: Let’s deal with the most important issue first and that is in relation to his health.
I am advised that overnight Saeed has accepted medical assistance and is on some path to recovery, obviously he has a long way to go, but the advice that I have is that he has decided to take fluids and food and he is speaking to his case manager and his medical team at the Royal Perth Hospital on that basis… It is a very emotive issue and I am very confident that the doctors will be able to work with him and the case manager from the Department to see him recover from his position at the moment.
Journalist: That is great news and obviously that was a very perilous position - 44 days on a hunger strike. It’s more than an emotive issue. It is an issue of life and death. He was obviously scared enough to face death, scared enough to not go back to Iran. Have you looked at his grounds for his fears of persecution? Do you believe that there are no grounds?
Peter Dutton: Fran, a couple of points here. One is that we settle in our country on a per capita basis the greatest number of refugees, not only refugees but also through the humanitarian programme, than almost any other country in the world… If people have been deemed to be a refugee then we provide them with the support they need… In cases where people have been found not to be refugees and they have gone through review processes ...they are not going to stay in Australia…
Now it is, as I say, a very difficult situation because people in their millions want to come to Australia. Saeed is no different to that. He wants a better life and I can fully understand it, but the difficulty is that if we allow people to self-harm or to refuse food and fluids and that this would somehow twist my arm and that I would issue a visa with work rights which is what he is after, and completely understandably. If I was to succumb to that pressure, the strong advice from my department, and I have no doubt in accepting their advice at all, is that I would have hundreds if not thousands of people on hunger strike tomorrow.
That is not a situation that we are going to tolerate, Fran, and we can’t.
Journalist: I accept that it is very difficult, but what kind of situation are we in if we allow someone to die in our detention centres? To starve themselves to death.
Peter Dutton: The situation for this young man is that he wants to be in Australia and I can fully understand. Fourteen million plus people want to be in the same situation. We have, through the humanitarian programme which I pointed out before, something in this country that we can be very proud of… [interrupted]
Journalist: I understand that Minister, but there is also Ministerial discretion within this system, have you personally, given this dramatic action by this young man and we know that Iran will only take people back if they go voluntarily, have you taken it upon yourself to review his case?  We have heard suggestion that he is a Christian convert and that his situation is even more dangerous for him now. [Refugee activist] Victoria believes that a mistake has been made. Have you taken it upon yourself to take a look, personally, at his situation?
Peter Dutton: Of course I have Fran. I am thoroughly convinced that the decision that has been made is the right one....
Journalist: But how cruel is our system Minister? We have a young man in hospital who is so sick from hunger strike and his brother who he is so close to, rather than allowing his brother to visit him they sent him to Christmas Island. He wasn’t allowed to even visit his brother and they are known to be close. That’s just cruel isn’t it? For no end.
Peter Dutton: Fran that is an emotive statement and it is based on what has been reported to you… [interrupted] …Well you haven’t verified those facts with me or with my office.
Journalist: Well has his brother been allowed to visit?
Peter Dutton: He has been given the offer to visit. The initial advice that I had was that Saeed didn’t want to see his brother or to speak to his brother. That was the advice that I received. That is obviously in contention to the advice that you have received from the refugee advocates.... We allowed contact to be made with the family in Iran. We made offers in relation to medical assistance, to psychological support and the whole ambit of support has been provided to this man in what is a very difficult circumstance. But in the end he wants an outcome to stay in Australia. The determination has been made that he is not owed refugee status and he will not stay in Australia.
Journalist: But he will stay in Australia if Iran won’t take him. I mean he has got no choice.
Peter Dutton: As I say, we are able to repatriate people back to their country of origin including Iran and… [interrupted]
Journalist: But not to Iran unless they go voluntarily.
Peter Dutton: Correct and that is the offer that we have got on the table for this, young man and the determination has been made…
I have looked at every option in relation to this case Fran and, as I say, we settle people who are deemed to be refugees on a daily basis; a record number each year and it grows outwards every year - the 13,750 this year to over 18,000 per year within a couple of years. There is a lot of support we provide. But in some cases where people want, understandably as I say, to live in our country if we don’t owe them refugee status we can’t provide that support to them.
I can’t allow myself to be put in a position or the Government to be put in a position where we are emotionally put in a position to grant a visa and then see hundreds, if not thousands, of people on hunger strikes to achieve the same outcome in the following days. 

The ABC has a duty under our law to be balanced. It isn’t. It refuses to be. It must therefore be held to account - or sold.
(Thanks to reader Stu.)

Continue reading 'Fran Kelly demands “cruel” Minister let hunger strikes work'

===

A very dangerous president

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (5:14pm)

Daniel Pipes is rightly alarmed:

Count the mistakes: Helping overthrow Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, leading to anarchy and civil war. Pressuring Husni Mubarak of Egypt to resign, then backing the Muslim Brotherhood, leading now-president Sisi to turn toward Moscow. Alienating Washington’s most stalwart ally in the region, the Government of Israel. Dismissing ISIS as “junior varsity” just before it seized major cities. Hailing Yemen as a counterterrorism success just before its government was overthrown. Alarming the Saudi authorities to the point that they put together a military alliance against Iran. Coddling Recep Tayyip Erdo?an of Turkey, encouraging his dictatorial tendencies. Leaving Iraq and Afghanistan prematurely, dooming the vast American investment in those two countries.
And, most of all: Making dangerously flawed deals with the nuclear-ambitious mullahs of Iran…

Is this a random series of errors by an incompetent leadership or does some grand, if misconceived, idea stand behind the pattern? 

===

If we’re the fourth worst, sack the judge

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (4:34pm)

Dr Olivia Ball is a director of Remedy Australia, which loves the United Nations so much that Ball simply cannot comprehend the intrinsic lunacy of the fact she presents in The Age as evidence of our evil:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott might think Australians are “sick of being lectured to by the United Nations”, but has he wondered how Australians feel about our international reputation being trashed? ...
Instead of a world court of human rights, the UN has committees of independent experts who monitor adherence to human rights treaties. These committees have upheld 36 specific complaints against Australia over the past 20 years – the fourth-highest number of adverse findings in the world.

We have the fourth-highest number of adverse findings by the United Nations over our adherence to human rights treaties?
Australia, a democratic nation with a free press and independent judiciary?
In a world with the likes of Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Laos, Venezuela, Algeria, Vietnam, Burma. Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Sudan, Somalia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Fiji, Malaysia and on and on?
Excuse me, but a finding like that discredits not us but the United Nations. And also the Australians who subcontract their judgement of this country to a foreign bureaucracy dominated by countries less free.
(Thanks reader Andrew.) 

===

Catch these smearers

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (3:29pm)

What happened to Labor candidate Cameron Murphy at the NSW election is truly disgusting and must be investigated:

For the record, I have an unblemished history. I have never been suspected of, arrested, charged with, or ever been convicted of any offence. I have always been an ethical person and confined my views to the issues, not the people involved in any matter.
Yet people took it upon themselves to campaign against me by distributing unauthorised and illegal leaflets designed to smear my character in the most vile and disgusting manner. They stated I was a “paedophile lover” a “paedophile”, a “supporter of child rapists” and a “convicted rapist”. Others suggested that I have a “collection of photographs of naked young boys”.
No one put their name to the tens of thousands of these leaflets letterboxed across the electorate or the hundreds of stickers plastered across some 300 of my campaign signs three days before the election.

UPDATE
Reader The Lone Gunman is puzzled:

I live in East Hills electorate. I did not see what is alleged here.
What was put out was a pamphlet of quotes from Cameron Murphy, which he made over the years in defence of criminals and paedophiles. It was not flattering but they were his words, using quoted sources. Like most self styled civil libertarians they often defend the criminals but you never hear anything for the innocent victims of crime.
Cameron Murphy moved into the electorate just before he got pre-selection for East Hills, the voters saw through the stunt and we are now getting the sour grapes.
The Liberal material I received (and there was plenty) was positive, like Baird’s approach overall.
I did see Liberals signs knocked over, by Labor supporters, but I never saw the reverse. So as a local, I have serious doubts about the accuracy of the allegations.

Can other readers shed more light on this?
UPDATE
Reader Willw:

I live in the electorate that Cameron Murphy was contesting. While I saw some childish vandalism of a few of Glenn Brookes’ posters (one had a Hitler style moustache drawn on it. Not surprisingly, it was near the UWS Bankstown campus) I can honestly say I saw none of Mr Murphy’s posters damaged or vandalised.

===

Come to the church of global warming

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (11:33am)

Global warming has all the hallmarks of religious belief. Reason doesn’t matter. Sceptics are treated as heretics. And the template borrows from Christian eschatology - man has sinned against Creation with his greed, faces an Apocalypse and must repair his relationship with the source of life.
Too much? Then hear it from a believer:

God and Gaia. No different. George Marshall, The Guardian, Saturday: 

Last September 40,000 people attended London’s largest ever climate march. This was a big achievement for an issue that struggles to catch people’s attention. After all, as psychologists point out, it is notoriously hard to mobilise people around issues that are invisible, uncertain, set in the future and require them to make sacrifices … This Easter, more than two million people will attend church in Britain to celebrate the Christian resurrection. They will agree to constrain their most primal drives in return for long-term rewards that are not just uncertain but fundamentally unknowable. Put this way it seems obvious that the climate movement might learn some important lessons from religions — the world’s oldest and, in many countries, fastest growing movements.

Start a congregation and let’s all pray for forgiveness. More Marshall:  

Climate change is not a belief. But it is … a condition of strongly held opinion, attained through a process of evaluation, leading to a commitment ... Religions understand the process of conviction very well. They have to. The world’s great religions are the winners from thousands of competing religions that managed to find the formulae for moving, exciting and persuading people. Because environmentalists do not recognise conviction, we do not recognise despair or grief. We have contempt for doubt and no one is ever at hand to “walk through it together”. We expect ­people to deal with their hopes and fears in isolation, constrained by a socially policed silence and given no encouragement other than a few energy-saving consumer choices and the odd petition. Nor is there any discussion of forgiveness for ourselves or our forebears.

But it’s not a religion. It only looks like one. Marshall concludes:

Our understanding of climate change is built on scientific evidence, not faith. The faith displayed in the churches, mosques and temples on every street is built on a deep understanding of human drives and emotions. Only when we put these different parts of our psyche together can we achieve change; to say to anyone who will listen: “I’ve heard the science, I’ve weighed up the evidence. Now I’m convinced. Join me.”

Meanwhile the world’s atmosphere stubbornly refuses to warm these past 17 years. Cyclones don’t increase. Droughts don’t get worse. The plagues of Egypt stay away. 

===

Turning Bibles into joint paper

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (10:24am)

Without Christianity, what?
Christianity has directly inspired believers to create institutions such as the Red Cross, St John’s Ambulance, St Vincent’s Hospital, the Salvation Army, Very Special Kids, Xavier College, Methodist Ladies College, the St Vincent de Paul Society, World Vision, the Missionaries of Charity and so many other benevolent institutions, from kindergartens to hospices.

I am no Christian, yet wonder: so if no Christianity, what?
NT News columnist and filmmaker Corey Sinclair gives a clue:

Growing up with an atheist mother, I was always taught to believe in things that are tangible. Despite my mother’s stance, Christianity was stuffed down my throat in both primary and high school.
Our assemblies were filled with scriptures, and Christian groups were allowed to regularly come in to fill our heads with their propaganda…
The most useful thing that came out of that was a small bible they handed out at one sing-a-long that my friends ended up using for joint paper a few years later.

Christians boast “they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks”.
Atheist Sinclair boasts he will turn Bibles into joint paper.

UPDATE
Related, from Kevin Donnelly, senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University:

Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Benedict XVI, in Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity and Islam, details the rising tide of secularism that seeks to banish Christianity from European history and the public square.
While the situation in Australia appears nowhere near as dire, it is the case here that Christianity is often misrepresented and undermined....
[Take school] textbooks such as Jacaranda’s SOSE Alive 2 (2004), Oxford University Press’s Big Ideas Australian Curriculum History 8 (2012), and Learning From One Another: Bringing Muslim Perspectives into Australian Schools (2010), published by the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies at Melbourne University.
Instead, these three textbooks, all available to Australian schools, display a jaundiced and superficial view of Christianity. When describing the role of the church in medieval times, the Jacaranda textbook, instead of acknowledging its beneficial impact, presents a bleak and negative picture. The Catholic Church, supposedly, enforces its teachings by making people “terrified of going to hell”, a situation where “Old people who lived alone, especially women, and people who disagreed with the church were at great risk"…
The Jacarada book, after describing those who attacked the World Trade Centre as terrorists, asks students, “Might it also be fair to say that the Crusaders who attacked the Muslim inhabitants of Jerusalem were also terrorists?"…
The Oxford textbook (2012) represents an improvement on the Jacaranda book as it acknow­ledges the beneficial impact of the church on European civilisation. The statement is made that in medi­eval Europe the “church was a positive influence on societies across Europe — providing education, caring for the sick and supporting the community”.
Such a positive statement is ­undermined by the illustration accompanying this description that depicts “heretics (people whose religious beliefs conflicted with the teachings of the church) being burned at the stake"…
The portrayal of Christianity and the Catholic Church is one where wrongdoers “were doomed to hell”, missionaries enforced “very strict and Catholic beliefs” and the medieval church worked against “new inventions, exploration and scientific discoveries”.
In relation to scientific discoveries and advances, those familiar with James Hannam’s book The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution, will appreciate how misleading the Oxford textbook is.
The negative portrayal of Christianity is made worse as the same kind of close scrutiny is not applied to other religions, such as Islam. The description of Islam is matter-of-fact and ignores the often violent and destructive nature of jihad; the authors write, “caliphs, who succeeded Muhammad, continued to spread the Prophet’s teachings throughout a growing Islamic empire”.
The statement that, “The Ottoman Empire and Islamic faith spread from Asia into Africa and Europe, challenging the Christian belief system of medieval Europe”, implies the process was benign.
No mention is made of prac­tices such as dhimma, under which non-believers are denied the right to own property, are unfairly taxed and often live in fear of violence and expulsion from their communities and homes…
An extract taken from The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, volume 2, is cited that claims the Crusades and the “modern war on terror” are motivated by “greed and scorn for Islam”.
The book also repeats the argument that the reason many Muslim nations are “socio-economically and educationally disadvantaged” is because of “former colonial powers”. Ignored is the counterargument that fundamentalist interpretations of the Muslim religion, especially sharia law, run counter to economic and scientific advancement and that the theocratic nature of Islam restricts innovation and change. 

===

Employers urge Labor: stop wrecking

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (9:37am)

Our situation is serious, yet Labor just wrecks:

THE political crisis that has engulfed the federal parliament for the past 18 months will lead Australia down a “road of economic despair”, the nation’s leading industry and business groups have warned in an unprecedented call to action.
With the Reserve Bank considering another interest rate cut today as a result of collapsing iron ore prices and fears the economy was stalling, the country’s largest employer groups have issued an extraordinary joint statement demanding all sides of politics start acting in the national interest ... (w)arning that Australians’ standard of living was in jeopardy because of a lack of political courage to engage in reform…
Taking aim at the Abbott government for signalling it would pull back from further reform in the May budget, the group of nine also criticised Labor for focusing solely on “budget fairness” and cited past senates as contributing to Australia’s economic welfare, rather than wilfully damaging it.
Rather than continue to focus on spending cuts — more than $20 billion of which Labor and the senate continue to block — Treasurer Joe Hockey is signalling regressive measures such as tax hikes to balance the budget, including cutting tax concessions for superannuation…
The joint statement was authored by business groups including the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Australian Food & Grocery Council, Australian Industry Group, Australian Pipeline Industry Association, Business Council of Australia, Minerals Council of Australia, National Farmers Federation, Property Council of Australia and Restaurant & Catering Australia. They represent the largest employers in the country and the bulk of Australia’s economic and industrial activity.

(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 

===

ABC censorship: Don’t mention the terrorists were Muslim

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (9:20am)

This is astonishing. Here are three ABC TV news reports over successive nights on the murder of 148 Christian Kenyans by Islamist terrorists:

Not once in any of the reports are the words “Muslim” or “Islam” mentioned, even though the killers were motivated by their understanding of Islam to slaughter Christians and impose shariah law.
Incredible. The closest the reports come to mentioning the agenda of the killers is to concede that Christians were targeted. But why is never explained.
Since when did the ABC deliberately and repeatedly refuse to tell its audience of the known motivation of killers?
UPDATED
Related. Reader bron:

A segment on last night’s edition of The Project on Channel 10 [watch it here] disturbed me to the core. It was in regards to the Reclaim Australia peaceful protest in Federation Square, that was violently hijacked by the No Room for Racism crowd.The segment was the most blatant example of rewriting the facts to support a political and social agenda I’ve seen yet, from any media outlet (even the ABC!).
The story was twisted to appear that the only sinister element in the protest were bikie gangs associated with the Reclaim Australia side, rather than the aggressive stance that No Room for Racism gang applied.
In fact, they portrayed Mel Gregson, NRFR organiser, as almost Mother Theresa-saint like, and of course, rolled out the obligatory pretty, well educated and well spoken Muslim woman to explain how great the Muslim contribution to Australian society has been, and how completely unreasonable and neurotic some ignorant Aussies are being.There was no mention of forced child marriages, female genital mutilation, or murdering gays - but hey, this is the news, Waleed Aly style! 

UPDATE
Apparently it’s not Islam that is oppressing women in Iran - with abortionists hanged and adulterers stoned - but something called the ”patriarchy”.
(Thanks to readers Brian and Chris.) 

===

They can’t handle the truth

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (9:08am)

Chris Uhlmann admits an ABC audience doesn’t want to hear the truth about coal seam gas - that it can indeed be done safely.
(Thanks to reader Brian.) 

===

Scary pictures of warming hell. Now for some facts…

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (8:47am)

News.com.au, the centre of warming alarmism in News Corp’s Australian arm, announces:

These gruesome pics show the dark side of human life on earth...
Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot (OVER) aims to open the world’s eyes to the perils of overpopulation on the planet. The free e-book shows a series of powerful photographs along with expert commentary from human rights, population and conservation experts. Check out a sample of the compelling pictures below:

Really?
Let’s fact-check those pictures published by the news.com.au site.

First, we’re warned that global warming is melting the ice and killing polar bears:

In fact, polar bear expert Susan Crockford, adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, says Arctic conditions are good and bear numbers seem fine, and unrelated to any warming:

Polar bear habitat is close to average for this date all over the Arctic this week… Not only did the record-breaking sea ice low of 2012 have virtually no effect on the bears but in 2014, only two subpopulations were classified as “declining” or “likely declining” – down from seven in 2010 and four in 2013 ...  BB (Baffin Bay) is suspected to be declining due to over-hunting and SB (Southern Beaufort) had an unfinished rebound caused by thick spring ice conditions in 2004-2006; a more recent survey (2012) indicated SB numbers were higher than the previous 10 years.... [Norwegian polar bear researcher Jon Aars says] ”It might be that it is just as good to be a bear in these areas now, as it was 10-15 years ago.”

Then we’re warned that global warming is melting the Arctic clean away:

In fact, there has been a pause in atmospheric warming for some 17 years, and Antarctic ice is at above average levels. What’s more:

Melting Arctic sea ice, a keenly watched measure of global clim­ate change, has “paused”, sharpening debate on whether humans or natural variability are to blame for the earlier decline.
After shrinking 35 per cent over several decades, the low point reached in Arctic ice cover each year appears to have stabilised…
Summer melts are still retreating to levels that put them at the extreme low end of the relatively short satellite record… But the “pause” in summer ice melt extent has been widely ­conceded. A paper published in ­Nature by Neil Swart from Environment Canada said “from 2007-13 there was a near-zero trend in observed Arctic September sea-ice extent, in large part due to a strong uptick of the icepack in 2013 which has continued into 2014”.

Next, we’re told global warming is causing rising seas to drown small islands such as the Maldives:

In fact, more islands are growing than are sinking:

New Zealand coastal geomorphologist Paul Kench, of the University of Auckland’s School of Environment, and colleagues in Australia and Fiji, ... have been studying how reef islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans respond to rising sea levels…
Their analysis, which now extends to more than 600 coral reef islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, indicates that about 80 percent of the islands have remained stable or increased in size (roughly 40 percent in each category). Only 20 percent have shown the net reduction that’s widely assumed to be a typical island’s fate when sea level rises…
Tuvalu’s main atoll, Funafuti—33 islands distributed around the rim of a large lagoon—has gained 75 acres (32 hectares) of land during the past 115 years…
“Urban islands are in trouble because they’ve lost their capacity to adapt,” Kench says. “...For densely urban centers, the only strategies to cope with rising sea levels will be engineered ones.”
Malé, the capital of Maldives ... is such an island. It’s encircled by built structures such as seawalls, breakwaters, harbors, and artificial beaches.
“Heavily fortified,” is how Mohamed Aslam, an oceanographer by training and until 2012 the environment minister for Maldives, described it to me… “I suppose if you spent enough money, you could continue to keep the sea out.

Next we’re made to believe that man’s gases have made hurricanes such as Katrina worse or more numerous:

In fact, even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now admits there’s no proof of any such link between man’s gases and a Katrina - in fact, there’s actually been fewer hurricanes in that area:

In summary, confidence in large scale changes in the intensity of extreme extratropical cyclones since 1900 is low…
Over periods of a century or more, evidence suggests slight decreases in the frequency of tropical cyclones making landfall in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific… Callaghan and Power (2011) find a statistically significant decrease in Eastern Australia land-falling tropical cyclones since the late 19th century although including 2010/2011 season data this trend becomes non-significant (i.e., a trend of zero lies just inside the 90% confidence interval).

We’re then told this is a “toxic landscape” of “tar sands” in Canada:

In fact, that’s a power station in England, providing life-enhancing power. Those emissions are not toxic, but harmless steam and carbon dioxide, an essential plant food.
Reader Drax:

The caption under the power station is completely and utterly wrong. That’s the Drax power station in England. And, irony of ironies, it’s being converted from burning coal to burning wood pellets imported from US forests, in order to meet some artificial CO2 targets. Eventually it will be burn six million tonnes of wood pellets shipped across the Atlantic every year.

We’re told this scary picture is of a “nuclear meltdown” at Fukushima that highlighted the risk of nuclear power and poured contaminated water into the Pacific:

In fact, that’s a picture not of Fukushima but of an oil facility.  Fukushima in fact has caused not a single known case of sickness or dangerous contamination of an individual and is unlikely to.
I could go on, but I’m getting bored. We really should not be publishing wild and misleading green scares.
(Thanks to reader Robert M.) 

===

A plea to the Left: protest as if you really are good

Andrew Bolt April 07 2015 (7:12am)

Pastor Brad Chilcott puts it very well in an article for fellow Leftists in The Guardian:

What’s less obvious is what “progressives” were hoping to achieve this Easter by opposing naked hatred and foul abuse with public expressions of the same hatred and abuse. Which section of society was being strategically appealed to when the Australian flag was being burned? Did my fellow progressives imagine that they’d turn bigots into compassionate advocates for inclusion by chanting “F*** off racists” at them? Or perhaps that Australians would be so impressed by the sheer number of progressives giving up their Easter Saturday for the cause that they’d put their unanswered questions and latent fears aside and wholeheartedly embrace our Muslim brothers and sisters? I count myself as a progressive, but I don’t imagine images of violence, or shouting profanities in the faces of our ideological opposites will encourage any mum or dad to join in on the next progressive rally for a “better Australia.”
Progressives, our title suggests, want something to progress. When we contest opposing ideologies it should be in a manner that takes us closer to the society we are hoping to build. We should be tangible, visible expressions of the future we believe is possible. There should be something about the way we promote our vision for a better tomorrow that makes others want to be a part of it.

(Thanks to reader AT.) 

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Literally has been used in a hyperbolic, non-literal way for at least 200 years, and its use in this way has been...
Posted by Grammarly on Saturday, 4 April 2015

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Love Your Parents!
Posted by Astro Ulagam on Friday, 23 January 2015

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This Friday, hear from best-selling author Addison Moore, who never gave up writing, even after facing hundreds of rejections.
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Monday, 6 April 2015

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this described my day until I made thishttp://theawkwardyeti.com
Posted by The Awkward Yeti on Monday, 6 April 2015

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Stuck in a dreary office all day? Use these tips to find writing inspiration around your workplace: http://mklnd.com/1GfTUTc
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Monday, 6 April 2015

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Oh, for the love of...you had ONE JOB, Kroger!
Posted by Peter Shankman on Sunday, 5 April 2015

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Cost of lab-grown burger patty drops from $325,000 to $11.36 http://t.co/7qxMqyR4CK #via @ScienceAlert
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Alleged pedophile may have Aussie victims http://t.co/5BHaAo5fNe via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Have a look at this new #diamondring that we just made it is a dream #engagementring  from http://t.co/TJopHTCp9A pic.twitter.com/SkMnFLxySv
— Diamond Imports (@diamondimports) April 7, 2015

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Geologist claims new evidence supports theory that the Talpiot Tomb is Christ’s burial place http://t.co/l1C1CHHEs0 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Battery 'can charge phone in 1 min' http://t.co/ur8vpmEN0P via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Inside New York’s billion-dollar erotic massage industry http://t.co/pnN4a02SgA via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Is this the most embarrassing safety video ever? http://t.co/Yzw7J3AtAQ via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Naked body painting like you’ve never seen http://t.co/vNCWg7dhzY via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Why doctors had to let a pregnant woman and her unborn baby die http://t.co/MEZk5ne3DY via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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China’s other big business: Body parts from prisoners http://t.co/7B2j47CPHN via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Great news. This is why there will never be a Tarzan .. Luke Shambrook found, reunited with parents http://t.co/cXz26a8LSf via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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I liked a @YouTube video http://t.co/Ha7GIELrzs Dusty Springfield - Nothing has been proved (HD)
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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I liked a @YouTube video http://t.co/EEMq1DXs2T Dusty Springfield - going back 60s
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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Greedy mother evicted from charity Easter egg hunt http://t.co/p2l7q7nuBK via @theage
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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How Facebook knows who all your friends are, even better than you do http://t.co/Gudwn49gC8 via @theage
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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I know the knives are descending on her. She should wait it out. http://t.co/sXkJDqxWuu
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 7, 2015

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The man who was 13 minutes away from killing Adolf Hitler http://t.co/FzjhiM5okt via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 6, 2015

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http://t.co/y00cG1mUru
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 6, 2015

=== Posts from last year ===

Arthur, how did it all come to this?

Miranda Devine – Monday, April 07, 2014 (10:49am)

WHEN Arthur Sinodinos took his seat in the witness box at the Independent Commission against Corruption on Thursday, all the elements of a Greek tragedy were in place.

 Continue reading 'Arthur, how did it all come to this?'

===

FAIR JOE

Tim Blair – Monday, April 07, 2014 (4:07pm)

In a perfect world, Joe Hockey’s budget speech to parliament on May 14 would go something like this …

 Continue reading 'FAIR JOE'

===

GREAT MOMENTS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN HISTORY IV

Tim Blair – Monday, April 07, 2014 (3:55pm)

Adelaide Crows ambassadors celebrate their team’s third consecutive defeat by quitting the AFL and taking up cycling:

===

OCEANSINX

Tim Blair – Monday, April 07, 2014 (1:04pm)

Poor little Oceanlinx. Given millions in Labor grants, the plucky wave energy company repeatedly ran into Labor-like problems. One of its wave power generators was left rusting off the NSW coast in 2009. Another generator broke free of its moorings in 2010 and sank. Last month Oceanlinx attempted again to get some wave energy happening, but yet again it all went wrong: 

A $7 million wave energy unit has run into trouble in waters off the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide.

Wave energy company Oceanlinx says the unit, which is being towed by a tug boat, has suffered serious damage to the airbags supporting the 3,000-tonne structure, making it lean …

Oceanlinx says the unit has been towed to shallow water off Carrickalinga but witnesses in the area say it appears to have sunk. 

And now the company is bankrupt: 

KordaMentha has been appointed as receiver of wave energy developer Oceanlinx after it went bankrupt owing its secured creditors $7 million and investors a further $3m …

Ocenlinx’s web site says it received a $7.2 million grant from the Federal Government’s Energy Renewables Programme and had received a grant from the Australian Research Council. The web site says the company, formerly known as Energetech, had been named by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation as one of the top 10 renewable energy investment opportunities in the world. 

(Via Art)

===

MARILYN CARLTON

Tim Blair – Monday, April 07, 2014 (12:24pm)

If I was desperate to be noticed, Michael, I’d do something hilariously stupid. Like dyeing my hair blond:

 

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WIPED OUT

Tim Blair – Monday, April 07, 2014 (11:57am)

Number four on Fairfax scientist-in-residence Fiona Johnson’s list of the ten ways you personally will notice the effects of climate change: 

High-speed windscreen wipers. 

(Via That Old Stone in the Shoe)

===

REDTOP SWINGS AND MISSES

Tim Blair – Sunday, April 06, 2014 (7:26pm)

Father’s Day author Peter FitzSimons, the literary equivalent of patterned socks, sends a curious message to Gerard Henderson: 

Not sure if you are familiar with the stuff of Tim Blair on Iraq?

A great cheerleader for the whole thing at the time, he has totally ignored since the fact there were no WMD and delights in going on and on about the fact that while at one point the accusation was made that the Thanksgiving turkey that George W Bush was famously photographed serving to the troops was a plastic prop Turkey, it really was a REAL turkey!

And he might be right. But it is rather ... beside the point? 

Good call, raghead. I totally ignored WMD in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, again in 2007, and in 2011. As I’ve previously written, the presence of WMD in Iraq at the time of invasion was itself a little beside the point given Saddam Hussein’s earlier use of them and his enthusiasm for obtaining yet more of them. The no-WMD crowd would presumably acquit a proven killer unless he appeared in court still holding the murder weapon.

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Wave goodbye to more green dollars

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (5:36pm)

Global warming - general

2004:

Energetech [later renamed Oceanlinx] has been awarded a $1.21 million research and development grant and is on scheduled to commission its first full-scale wave energy generation plant at port Kembla by the end of the year… In 1999 the company was also awarded a $750,000 grant towards the Port Kembla plant from the Australian Greenhouse Office.

That taxpayer-subsidised prototype wave generator in 2012, rusting off Port Kembla:

 
The “Mark 1” generator was installed in 2006, but was decommissioned in 2009. Since then, it has been slowly falling apart in shallow waters opposite the coal loader… 
The wave generator was decommissioned as Oceanlinx plans to focus attention on the Southern Ocean.

More trouble with another Oceanlinx wave generator in 2010:

The landmark Oceanlinx wave energy system, the Mk3PC, sits underwater at the bottom of Port Kembla’s eastern break wall after heavy seas ripped the unit from its moorings.The 170-tonne structure, which was located 150m offshore, broke free of its pylons on Friday afternoon.Representatives from the Sydney-based company Oceanlinx immediately rushed to Port Kembla, but attempts to tow the structure to safety were hampered by heavy seas...

Despite those setbacks Oceanlinx was unbowed:

Meantime, (CEO Ali) Baghaei said the Government’s $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation was another fund that companies such as Oceanlinx would go to, to help reach commercialisation.

Indeed, in 2012 more funding for an Oceanlinx wave generator, this time off South Australia:

Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, today announced a $5.6 million grant for BioPower Systems Limited’s $15 million bioWAVE Ocean Pilot off the coast of Victoria and just under $4 million to Oceanlinx Limited’s $7.2 million Commercial Wave Energy Demonstrator off the coast of South Australia.

But now:

 
A $7 million wave energy unit has run into trouble in waters off the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide.
Wave energy company Oceanlinx says the unit, which is being towed by a tug boat, has suffered serious damage to the airbags supporting the 3,000-tonne structure, making it lean … Oceanlinx says the unit has been towed to shallow water off Carrickalinga but witnesses in the area say it appears to have sunk. 

And now the green dollars we sunk into the company have sunk with the wave generators - and with the company itself:

KordaMentha has been appointed as receiver of wave energy developer Oceanlinx after it went bankrupt owing its secured creditors $7 million and investors a further $3m … 
Ocenlinx’s web site says it received a $7.2 million grant from the Federal Government’s Energy Renewables Programme and had received a grant from the Australian Research Council. The web site says the company, formerly known as Energetech, had been named by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation as one of the top 10 renewable energy investment opportunities in the world. 

Note: Labor and Greens have used their Senate numbers to stop the Abbott Government from scrapping the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation which invests your money into just such schemes.

Note further:  this is not the only taxpayer money Labor blew on this kind of technology:

The Defence Department will use wave technology to power its largest naval facility, south of Perth.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is in Perth to announce the deal with Carnegie Wave Technology. Wave power will be used to power HMAS Stirling’s electrical infrastructure at Garden Island. 

OK, so much extra will it cost? 

The project is supported by Australian Federal Government funding through the Australia Centre for Renewable Energy’s (ACRE) Emerging Renewables Program (ERP), and the Western Australian State Government through the Low Emissions Energy Development (LEED) fund. The Australian Department of Defence is a strong supporter of the project through a Memorandum of Understanding to provide power to HMAS Stirling.

Hmm. Lots of grants there, but still not a total cost. Let’s dig further: 

- $10m Australian Government grant awarded to Carnegie for $31m Perth Wave Energy Project. 
- $5.5m secured for Project from Western Australian Government.
- $16m equity funding secured to support Project funding… The WA funds will come from Carnegie’s existing $12.5m State Government agreement. The combination of State and Australian Government funding also allows the project to proceed with approximately 50% Government funding. 

Wow. So already taxpayers are on the hook for more than $15 million (and possibly $22 million) just to provide an alternative power generator for one naval base, using undeveloped new technology to produce limited power at a higher cost.

(Via Tim Blair and many readers.) 

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Race relations in Perth

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (5:26pm)

 It would be a mistake to dismiss any racial element to this Perth riot, far from the first, and an even bigger mistake to keep preaching the politics of racial grievance and division:

Seven wedding guests were taken to hospital after a clash with 50 gatecrashers at a reception in Bicton on Saturday night. 
WA Police said a large group of youths hit guests and threw bricks at the party as they tried to force their way into the Point Walter Cafe at 9.10pm…

The incident began with a small number of youths asking a guest for a cigarette earlier in the night she said…
Four men and three woman were taken to Fremantle Hospital for treatment after they were assaulted by the youths or hit by objects during the fight. The youths are described as being mostly dark skinned males around 16 to 22 years old.

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Three assaults on women - and this “refugee” is still here

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (5:22pm)

Our refugee program is meant to save people from danger, not expose Australians to it. So back you go:

A REFUGEE rapist has been jailed for just six years for his third attack on women since arriving in Australia. 

Alfons Pirimapun had already served a prison term for assaulting two women in Queensland before striking for the third time. 
He was jailed for three years but on his release his visa was not revoked. He relocated to Victoria and struck again.
Authorities have still not guaranteed the serial sex offender will be deported after he serves his latest jail term… He begged the court for mercy, saying he would be persecuted if he returned to his homeland of West Papua.

And Australian women risk persecution if he’s not returned. Our primary duty is to them, not him. He got his chance and betrayed us. 

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Why does the ABC assume all ethnic minorities are represented by the Left?

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (5:05pm)

Rita Panahi:

ONE of the perils of being a member of an ethnic minority, particularly one of a Middle Eastern background, is that your representatives in the media have a habit of completely misrepresenting you. It’s not just that these self-appointed spokesmen, invariably men, have certain agendas and attitudes that are often not compatible with modern Australian life but they are so utterly, predictably of a single political persuasion. 

The worst tend to be the religious representatives… And yet despite the more unhinged elements, it is the seemingly reasonable, rational commentators, who make a living it the media, who most consistently miss the mark… Among the non-ethnic population,… the only ethnic commentators given a voice, particularly on taxpayer-funded ABC and SBS, tend to belong to far-Left fringe-dwellers. 
Take Waleed Aly, who in the aftermath of the Boston bombings described terrorism as a “perpetual irritant” before wrongly opining about the “very real suspicion that the perpetrators here are self-styled American patriots”.
Incredibly, a bloke who can dismiss terror attacks in which children are blown up as a mere “irritant” and “grotesque theatre” was sent into fits of conniptions in the Fairfax papers because the Abbott Government is sticking by its election promise to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
Good for him, but please don’t think for a second that he represents me or others in our wider community. Frankly I find his views as deeply flawed and offensive as the redneck simpletons with the “we grew here, you flew here” mindset.
It’s a common mistake to assume all ethnic minorities must be on the same page on a particular issue. One would hope that author and journalist George Megalogenis would appreciate the complexities of the migrant population a little better than most, but not judging by a tweet he sent after the Abbott Government reintroduced knights and dames to the Australian honours system. Megalogenis wrote: “More than half of Oz population is either immigrant or Indigenous. Government introduces Imperial honours and bigots’ rights. Weird stuff.”
What’s truly weird is the assumption that migrants dislike the royal family and want their freedom of speech curtailed. The Queen is hugely popular with large sections of the migrant community…
It’s not just the ethnic commentators who misrepresent minority groups. As a migrant I’ve got an endless array of eternally outraged middle-class self-loathing white Australians from Fairfax and the ABC speaking for me…
The migrant population is not a homogenous body.... Research conducted at Australian National University has shown that while Asian migrants tend to support Labor, Eastern Europeans favoured the Coalition… The overriding finding into migrants’ voting habits showed the children and grandchildren of migrants have the same diverse range of political views as the broader Australian population. Yet to find an ethnic leader who isn’t singing from the Labor/Greens hymn book is rare .

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The Greens not so triumphant as the ABC kept saying

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (8:38am)

Reader guardianangel noted a skew to the ABC’s coverage of the WA Senate election:

The ABC coverage of the West Australian election created a false impression through the night that there has been a massive increase in the greens vote. 
I started taking notes from 11 PM to 1 Am when l saw a completely different set of figures and information coming directly from the AEC. The figures from the AEC were first preference votes. Their site was continuously updated every few minutes which was extremely helpful.
I observed that Antony Green kept saying these actual ‘raw’ votes should be ignored. What mattered he said were his theoretical projection percentages. It was only these projection percentages that were screened on the ABC throughout the night. Not actuals!
Because of this so called surge in Greens votes, they then interviewed numerous Greens people at length throughout the night and they spent a LOT of time on congratulating themselves on capturing WA and reasons for such.
Below is the blow by blow election and what the ABC CHOSE to spread to us, the viewing public, as fact, in the visual updated screen tile. All Greens figures are recorded in tandem precisely through the night: 11.00pm AEC 13.2%.  ABC 19.9%
11.03pm. AEC 13.44%. ABC 18.6%
11.06pm. AEC 13.33%.  ABC 18.6%
11.10pm.  AEC 13.4%.  ABC 18.8%
11.14pm.  AEC 13.11%.  ABC. 18.6%
11.20pm.  AEC 13.02%.  ABC18.2%
11.24pm.  AEC 13.37%.  ABC 19%
11.30pm. AEC 14.01%.  ABC 18.1%
11.36pm. AEC 14.25%. ABC. 18.1%
11.45pm. AEC 15.19%.  ABC 17.5%
12.00am AEC 15.48%. ABC 17.2%
12.15am.  AEC 15.78%.  ABC 16.3%
1230am. AEC 15.98%.  ABC 16.2%
1245am. AEC 16.18%.  ABC 16.4%

The ABC, by choosing not to put the actual percentages on their screen through the night, made it seem that the Greens were really coming up. They should be made to show the AEC results more precisely in election results and not their own running skewed version of reality, no matter how skilful the presenter is and his notion of anticipated projected results.

The Australian Electoral Commission now has the Greens vote at 15.88 per cent. with Labor at a disastrous 21.76. Even Clive Palmer managed 12.49.
Meanwhile, barely noticed, the Nationals slid further into irrelevance out West: just 3.1 per cent. Why do they bother? 

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Say no to racism. Say no to changing our constitution

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (8:22am)

Politics - federal, The politics of race

THE Prime Minister misspoke on Australia Day when he named footballer Adam Goodes “Australian of the Year”.
“Today, we celebrate the country we love and the values that underpin it,” Tony Abbott declared.
Really? Goodes is a good man, a passionate man, and has the power to unite us.
But here is how he has since celebrated “the country we love” — and I hope Abbott takes note.
Goodes last month denounced Australia as a country with a “very dark past, a brutal history of dispossession”, attacking “Europeans, and the governments that have run our country” for having “raped, killed and stolen” from Aborigines.
Last weekend he went further, and said our Constitution — Australia’s founding legal document — was “very, very racist towards indigenous people”.
“In Section 25 in the Constitution, the states can ban people from voting based on their race.”
Except, of course, they don’t and won’t.
I’ve written before how Goodes sells this country short. Our past was never so vicious. That Goodes is so successful — and so widely admired — should make him slower to believe the worst of us.
Nor should we feel a personal guilt or grievance for what some long-dead strangers allegedly did or suffered, simply because we share their “race”. That is stupid.
But Goodes’ latest attack is more dangerous because it is part of a campaign partially supported by Abbott to change our Constitution.
(Read full article here.) 

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The biggest loser is Labor

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (8:06am)

Politics - federal

THE Abbott Government may have dodged a bullet in Saturday’s Senate election in Western Australia, but Opposition Leader Bill Shorten got hit.
Both the Liberals and Labor suffered swings against them (and the Nationals scored a humiliating 3 per cent).
Bad for the Liberals, but far worse for Shorten’s Labor.
Governments usually suffer a swing against them in a by-election and the Liberals indeed lost skin.
Even so, the government is still likely to hang on to the three WA Senate seats it won at the last election, before it was declared invalid.
But Oppositions are meant to gain from protest votes, and yet again Labor did not. Humiliatingly, it lost votes, too, winning the support of just one in five West Australians.
That is the fourth slap voters have given Labor since its loss in the federal election, after Labor went backwards in the by-election for Kevin Rudd’s seat and in the Tasmanian and South Australian state elections.
(Read full article here.) 

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Shorten admits change is needed. Then start with the carbon tax

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (8:03am)

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten isn’t sugar-coating Labor’s failure in the Western Australian election:

BILL Shorten says Labor must face some “hard truths”, as he gears up to campaign for party reforms that he believes will lure back voters after the party saw its primary vote tumble to a historic low of 21.8 per cent in the re-run of the West Australian Senate election… 
Mr Shorten believes Labor’s troubles go deeper than having an image problem or trouble selling its message.
“It is more serious than this,” he says in a rallying call to Labor supporters.
”We need to change ourselves. We need to change our party… “
Mr Shorten had planned to deliver his message as a speech to supporters in Melbourne today to mark the beginning of his crusade to reform the party, but it was postponed last night after a death in his close family…
He will formally call for the removal of rules that make it compulsory for members to join a union, saying this is more than just a symbolic change. “We must make it clear that Labor is not for one group of Australians or one sector of the economy at the expense of others.”

In the end, though, it’s the policies that must change. I can’t think of a bigger symbol of what needs changing than the carbon tax.
UPDATE
Labor is absolutely kidding itself if it thinks internal reform will save it. Sure, cut the influence of unions. Sure drop the insistence that party members be union members too.
All this may help, but it is no substitute for presenting policies that voters respect. Consider: Labor recently chose its first party leader through a ballot process in which members got half the say. So what has that reform actually achieved? The party just went backwards.
That leadership ballot was widely lauded as a huge success that kept the lid on any post-loss recriminations and tensions.
What it actually kept the lid on was the usual bruising but critical debate on the need for changes to the party’s policies, leaving Labor less electable.
Retiring Labor Senator Mark Bishop today lashes some of the real drags on Labor’s vote out west:

The mining tax and the carbon tax have been an ongoing problem… Why on god’s green earth we defend a failed (mining) tax that doesn’t raise money I will never understand.

Cutting union influence on Labor will not fix that. In fact, it could make Labor even more out of touch by handing it to the kind of Leftist activists who now run the Greens.
Nothing, but nothing, will do more to fix Labor than a serious debate about policies, and the more heated the better. Labor’s global warming policies are the key battlefront. Here is where Labor must confront its real enemies: those who put the green religion above workers and the poor, who put symbols before practical good, who put Nature before people, who put faith above reason, who honour the useful lie above keeping promises and who insist that the elite must dictate to the masses.
UPDATE
The global warming faith drove Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to declare global warming the “moral challenge of our generation”. The utterly predictable failure of the Copenhagen summit on climate change and Rudd’s subsequent failure to match his hype with an emission trading scheme were critical in destroying his popularity - and his leadership.
The global warming faith drove Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull to back an emissions trading scheme. That decision, more than any other, destroyed his popularity - and his leadership.
The global warming faith drove Prime Minister Julia Gillard to impose a carbon tax she promised she wouldn’t. That one lie destroyed her popularity - and her leadership.
The global warming faith now drives Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to stop the Abbott Government from scrapping the hated carbon tax, even though Labor promised to “terminate” it. That one decision, more than other, now threatens to kill his own popularity - and his leadership.
I think there may be a pattern here. 

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Remember this the next time Labor lies about Abbott’s “homophobia”

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (7:46am)

Labor senator-elect Joe Bullock on his running mate, Louise Pratt:

She’s a lesbian I think, although after her partner’s sex change I can’t be sure. 

As I pointed out to Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh:

IF Tony Abbott had said that about a lesbian candidate, Labor would have had his guts for garters as a homophobe.

Andrew Leigh gives Bullock a pass:

Andrew, I’m not sure that there’s great value in raking over issues that have been covered a lot in the media over the course of this week.

But Labor had no trouble lying that Tony Abbott hated gays:

The posters [showing Tony Abbott], displayed inside the Sydney electorate office of Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, carry the slogans: “I’m threatened by boats and gays. Gays on boats are my worst nightmare”

Any comment on Bullock, Ms Plibersek? 

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Ideology is not a dirty word. It is a guide

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (7:40am)

Good point by John Howard, although it presupposes wide reading and deep introspection by our politicians:

Both parties lack the ability to communicate in a compelling and persuasive way. “Sometimes the ideas are not very well articulated,” Howard says. “I don’t think either side, as frequently as they should, puts their differences in a philosophical or ideolog­ical context. I think it is enormously important that that happens.”

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Martin Ferguson offers to talk to commission about AWU scandal

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (7:28am)

Media, The AWU scandal

Two journalists lost their jobs trying to report this story, and Julia Gillard says senior press gallery journalists told here they were shocked anyone would bother:

Gillard later told biographer Jacqueline Kent: “Over the next two or three days I received phone calls from many of the biggest names in the Canberra press gallery expressing absolute disbelief that such things were said (by Milne).  “Nobody followed up the story. It just died.”

But the scandal is getting very serious, and Julia Gillard won’t like at all this development:

FORMER union boss and retired cabinet minister Martin Ferguson is offering to tell the national royal commission into union corruption his knowledge of controversial payments, key witnesses and other information in the AWU slush fund scandal that has dogged the Labor Party and Julia Gillard. 

Mr Ferguson told The Australian that, if asked under oath, he would provide information including details revealed to him recently by a former Melbourne builder, Kon Spyridis, payments to whom have been part of an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police’s Fraud Squad into hundreds of thousands of dollars that flowed in and out of the slush fund.
The money was corruptly ­solicited from companies as part of an organised scam and some of it was spent, at the direction of a union boss, on renovations at Ms Gillard’s house, according to ­former AWU official Ralph Blew­itt, who has admitted to police his own role in a fraud.
The former prime minister has insisted she did not have any involvement in or knowledge of the operation of the slush fund that she had helped to set up with legal advice to her then boyfriend and client, allegedly corrupt union boss Bruce Wilson. They have repeatedly and strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Ferguson, who was head of the ACTU when the slush fund was operating without his knowledge, said: “...I’m concerned about the ­operation of that fund — the way it was operated — and the people from the union and business who were connected to it… When the issues arose again (in 2012), I went and double-checked dates to check on certain things...”
Mr Ferguson said Mr Spyridis, a constituent in the parliamentarian’s Melbourne electorate of Batman until his retirement at the last election, had recently disclosed information about the work he had performed for the AWU and Ms Gillard. There is no allegation of wrongdoing by Mr Spyridis…
“He did raise with me the question of his previous involvement with the AWU and he indicated to me that he was being upfront about it, having done work on the AWU’s offices and some private work (at Ms Gillard’s house)...’’ [Gillard’s] former legal client, Mr Blewitt, a self-confessed corrupt union bagman, has told Victoria Police that he was directed by Mr Wilson to use slush fund cash to pay for renovations at her home. Bank records indicate that Mr Spyridis received bank cheques from at least one of the slush funds controlled by Mr Wilson. 

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Where’s the warming?

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (7:25am)

The RSS satellite measurement shows no global warming of our atmosphere now for 17 years and eight months.
My own take here:

(Thanks to reader Zeg for the cartoon.) 

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Kroger teaches Ludlam manners

Andrew Bolt April 06 2014 (7:53pm)

 Michael Kroger tells Scott Ludlam exactly how foul his vilification of Tony Abbott was. 

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Renae Lawrence: Corby said she’d smuggled drugs four times

Andrew Bolt April 07 2014 (6:27pm)

 Not sure the source is very credible, but the allegation doesn’t surprise me at all:

CONVICTED drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has delivered a startling confession from inside Bali’s Kerobokan Prison, saying that former friend Schapelle Corby “knew” she was carrying drugs into the country. 

In a secretly filmed video obtained by Network Ten ...  Lawrence, who spent eight years behind bars with Corby and is still serving her drug smuggling sentence, said she “wasn’t really sure” why Corby had confessed to her. 
“She said that she knew the marijuana was in the body bag, but the person who was supposed to be at the airport at the same time didn’t turn up… But she told me and the other prisoner that she’d done it more than this time. She said she’d bought the drugs [into Bali] before three times,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence also alleged that Corby had told her she’d used drugs since she was a teenager, and that Corby had exaggerated the fragility of her mental state to garner sympathy while in jail.
“She acted crazy,” she said…
Ten’s Eyewitness News stated that Lawrence had been unaware she was being filmed at the time of the discussion, but having been made aware of the tape’s existence, had reportedly said she stands by her comments. The initial video comes as part of a larger interview with Lawrence that Network Ten have confirmed she was paid for.
The Corby family have released a statement denying Lawrence’s allegations which reads, in part: “Schapelle denies ever making any such confession to Renae Lawrence or to anyone else. The further claims by Renae Lawrence that Schapelle had done so on many occasions are preposterous, maliciously false and a creation of her own fantasy.The actions of the Ten Network in procuring and presumably paying for this interview, are extremely hurtful and are causing Schapelle and our family great anxiety and distress...” 

I don’t think Lawrence should have been paid. 

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The God that Atheists don’t believe in doesn’t exist. It is a bizarre, impossible caricature. But the God of the Bible has a compelling story to tell which affects your life. He who shows Himself as real and is written of in the Bible is real.
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From last year .. This weekend marks the anniversary of two pogroms.

First, the Kishinev pogrom. Kishinev was the capital of the Bessarabia province of the Russian Empire (now it’s Moldova). About one in three people living there was Jewish. The pogrom was triggered by the murder of a boy in the nearby town of Dubossary. The newspapers at the time claimed the Jews had killed him to use his blood to make matzo for Passover. The pogrom lasted for two days, the cops only stopped it on the third. The New York Times reported at the time: “The anti-Jewish riots in Kishinev, Bessarabia, are worse than the censor will permit to publish. There was a well laid-out plan for the general massacre of Jews on the day following the Russian Easter. The mob was led by priests, and the general cry, “Kill the Jews,” was taken- up all over the city. The Jews were taken wholly unaware and were slaughtered like sheep. The dead number 120 and the injured about 500. The scenes of horror attending this massacre are beyond description. Babes were literally torn to pieces by the frenzied and bloodthirsty mob. The local police made no attempt to check the reign of terror. At sunset the streets were piled with corpses and wounded. Those who could make their escape fled in terror, and the city is now practically deserted of Jews”.

Significantly, this weekend also marked the 19th anniversary of the start of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. In the following 100 days in this tiny country, more than one million people were murdered during ethnic strife. It left more than 300,000 orphans, half a million rape victims, thousands infected with HIV and anguish of incomprehensible proportions in this tiny nation of 11.7 million people.

Lest we forget.

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 ... With breathless anticipation huge crowd awaits unveiling of new Julia Gillard statue.

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A Remarkable Address To The Recent Durban Conference In NY

These are the words of Simon Deng, once a Sudanese slave. He is addressing the Durban Conference in NY.

" I want to thank the organizers of this conference, The Perils of Global Intolerance. It is a great honor for me and it is a privilege really to be among today’s distinguished speakers.

...

I came here as a friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. –I came to protest this Durban conference which is based on a set of lies. It is organized by nations who are themselves are guilty of the worstkinds of oppression.

It will not help the victims of racism. It will only isolate and target the Jewish state. It is a tool of the enemies of Israel . The UN has itself become a tool against Israel . For over 50 years, 82 percent of the UN General Assembly emergency meetings have been about condemning one state - Israel . Hitler couldn’t have been made happier.

The Durban Conference is an outrage. All decent people will know that.

But friends, I come here today with a radical idea. I come to tell you that there are peoples who suffer from the UN’s anti-Israelism even more than the Israelis. I belong to one of those people.

Please hear me out.

By exaggerating Palestinian suffering, and by blaming the Jews for it, the UN has muffled the cries of those who suffer on a far larger scale.

For over fifty years the indigenous black population of Sudan -- Christians and Muslims alike --- has been the victims of the brutal, racist Arab Muslim regimes in Khartoum .

In South Sudan , my homeland, about 4 million innocent men, women and children were slaughtered from 1955 to 2005. Seven million were ethnically cleansed and they became the largest refugee group since World War II.

The UN is concerned about the so-called Palestinian refugees. They dedicated a separate agency for them. and they are treated with a special privilege.

Meanwhile, my people, ethnically cleansed, murdered and enslaved, are relatively ignored. The UN refuses to tell the world the truth about the real causes of Sudan ’s conflicts. Who knows really what is happening in Darfur ? It is not a “tribal conflict.” It is a conflict rooted in Arab colonialism well known in north Africa. In Darfur, a region in the Western Sudan , everybody is Muslim. Everybody is Muslim because the Arabs invaded the North of Africa and converted the indigenous people to Islam. In the eyes of the Islamists in Khartoum , the Darfuris are not Muslim enough. And the Darfuris do not want to be Arabized. They love their own African languages and dress and customs. The Arab response is genocide! But nobody at the UN tells the truth about Darfur .

In the Nuba Mountains , another region of Sudan , genocide is taking place as I speak. The Islamist regime in Khartoum is targeting the black Africans - Muslims and Christians. Nobody at the UN has told the truth about the Nuba Mountains .

Do you hear the UN condemn Arab racism against blacks?

What you find on the pages of the New York Times, or in the record of the UN condemnations is “Israeli crimes” and Palestinian suffering. My people have been driven off the front pages because of the exaggerations about Palestinian suffering. What Israel does is portrayed as a Western sin. But the truth is that the real sin happens when the West abandons us: the victims of Arab/Islamic apartheid.

Chattel slavery was practiced for centuries in Sudan . It was revived as a tool of war in the early 90s. Khartoum declared jihad against my people and this legitimized taking slaves as war booty. Arab militias were sent to destroy Southern villages and were encouraged to take African women and children asslaves. We believe that up to 200,000 were kidnapped, brought to the North and sold into slavery.

I am a living proof of this crime against humanity.

I don’t like talking about my experience as a slave, but I do it because it is important for the world toknow that slavery exists even today.

I was only nine years old when an Arab neighbor named Abdullahi tricked me into following him to a boat. The boat wound up in Northern Sudan where he gave me as a gift to his family. For three and a half years I was their slave going through something that no child should ever go through: brutal beatings and humiliations; working around the clock; sleeping on the ground with animals; eating the family’s left-overs. During those three years I was unable to say the word “no.” All I could say was “yes,” “yes,” “yes.”

The United Nations knew about the enslavement of South Sudanese by the Arabs. Their own staff reported it. It took UNICEF – under pressure from the Jewish –led American Anti-Slavery Group -- sixteen years to acknowledge what was happening. I want to publicly thank my friend Dr. Charles Jacobs for leading the anti-slaveryfight.

But the Sudanese government and the Arab League pressured UNICEF, and UNICEF backtracked, and started to criticize those who worked to liberate Sudanese slaves. In 1998, Dr. Gaspar Biro, the courageous UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Sudan who reported on slavery, resigned in protest of the UN’s actions.

My friends, today, tens of thousands of black South Sudanese still serve their masters in the North and the UN is silent about that. It would offend the OIC and the Arab League.

As a former slave and a victim of the worst sort of racism, allow me to explain why I think calling Israel a racist state is absolutely absurd and immoral.

I have been to Israel five times visiting the Sudanese refugees. Let me tell you how they ended up there. These are Sudanese who fled Arab racism, hoping to find shelter in Egypt . They were wrong. When Egyptian security forces slaughtered twenty six black refugees in Cairo who were protesting Egyptian racism, the Sudanese realized that the Arab racism is the same in Khartoum or Cairo . They needed shelter and they found it in Israel . Dodging the bullets of the Egyptian border patrols and walking for very long distances, the refugees’ only hope was to reach Israel ’s side of the fence, where they knew they would be safe.

Black Muslims from Darfur chose Israel above all the other Arab-Muslim states of the area. Do you know what this means!!!?? And the Arabs say Israel is racist!!!?

In Israel , black Sudanese, Christian and Muslim were welcomed and treated like human beings. Just go and ask them, like I have done. They told me that compared to the situation in Egypt , Israel is “heaven.”

Is Israel a racist state? To my people, the people who know racism – the answer is absolutely not. Israel is a state of people who are the colors of the rainbow. Jews themselves come in all colors, even black. I met with Ethiopian Jews in Israel . Beautiful black Jews.

So, yes … I came here today to tell you that the people who suffer most from the UN anti-Israel policy are not the Israelis but all those people who the UN ignores in order to tell its big lie against Israel: we, the victims of Arab/Muslim abuse: women, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, homosexuals, in the Arab/Muslim world. These are the biggest victims of UN Israel hatred.

Look at the situation of the Copts in Egypt , the Christians in Iraq , and Nigeria , and Iran , the Hindus and Bahais who suffer from Islamic oppression. The Sikhs. We – a rainbow coalition of victims and targets of Jihadis -- all suffer. We areignored, we are abandoned. So that the big lie against the Jews can go forward.

In 2005, I visited one of the refugee camps in South Sudan . I met a twelve year old girl who told me about her dream. In a dream she wanted to go to school to become a doctor. And then, she wanted to visit Israel . I was shocked. How could this refugee girl who spent most of her life in the North know about Israel ? When I asked why she wanted to visit Israel , she said: “This is our people.” I was never able to find an answer to my question.

On January 9 of 2011 South Sudan became an independent state. For South Sudanese, that means continuation of oppression, brutalization, demonization, Islamization, Arabization and enslavement.

In a similar manner, the Arabs continue denying Jews their right for sovereignty in their homeland and the Durban III conference continues denying Israel ’s legitimacy.

As a friend of Israel , I bring you the news that my President, the President of the Republic of South Sudan , Salva Kiir -- publicly stated that the South Sudan embassy in Israel will be built--- not in Tel Aviv, but in Jerusalem , the eternal capital of the Jewish people.

I also want to assure you that my own new nation, and all of its peoples, will oppose racist forums like the Durban III. We will oppose it by simply telling the truth. Our truth.

My Jewish friends taught me something I now want to say with you.

AM YISROEL CHAI!

The people of Israel lives!

Thank you "

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April 7: World Health Day

• 1348 – Charles, King of Bohemia, issued a Golden Bullto establish Charles University (main façade pictured)in Prague, the first university in Central Europe.
• 1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach debuted the St John Passion, a musical representation of the Passion, at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
• 1896 – An Arctic expedition led by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen reached 86°13.6'N, almost three degrees beyond the previousFarthest North mark.
• 1969 – The Internet was symbolically born with publication of RFC 1.
• 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide began, a few hours after theassassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana; an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were killed in the following 100 days.

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“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” - 1 John 3:16

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp."
Hebrews 13:13

Jesus, bearing his cross, went forth to suffer without the gate. The Christian's reason for leaving the camp of the world's sin and religion is not because he loves to be singular, but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master. Christ was "not of the world:" his life and his testimony were a constant protest against conformity with the world. Never was such overflowing affection for men as you find in him; but still he was separate from sinners. In like manner Christ's people must "go forth unto him." They must take their position "without the camp," as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be prepared to tread the straight and narrow path. They must have bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and his truth next, and Christ and his truth beyond all the world. Jesus would have his people "go forth without the camp" for their own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any high degree while you are conformed to the world. The life of separation may be a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of safety; and though the separated life may cost you many pangs, and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy life after all. No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals himself so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that the warrior feels more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of rest. The highway of holiness is the highway of communion. It is thus we shall hope to win the crown if we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow Christ "without the camp." The crown of glory will follow the cross of separation. A moment's shame will be well recompensed by eternal honour; a little while of witness-bearing will seem nothing when we are "forever with the Lord."

Evening

"In the name of the Lord I will destroy them."
Psalm 118:12

Our Lord Jesus, by his death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man. He contemplated in his passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit, soul, and body; that in this triple kingdom he himself might reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul, so far as thou art a child of God, thou must conquer all the rest of thyself which yet remains unblest; thou must subdue all thy powers and passions to the silver sceptre of Jesus' gracious reign, and thou must never be satisfied till he who is King by purchase becomes also King by gracious coronation, and reigns in thee supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to any part of us, we go about a good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it out. O my body, thou art a member of Christ: shall I tolerate thy subjection to the prince of darkness? O my soul, Christ has suffered for thy sins, and redeemed thee with his most precious blood: shall I suffer thy memory to become a storehouse of evil, or thy passions to be firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender my judgment to be perverted by error, or my will to be led in fetters of iniquity? No, my soul, thou art Christ's, and sin hath no right to thee.

Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them--not in your own strength--the weakest of them would be too much for you in that; but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask, "How shall I dispossess them, for they are greater and mightier than I?" but go to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory through his grace.

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Jehoiada 

[Jēhoi'a dă] - jehovah knows or knowledge of the lord.

1. The father of Benaiah and one of David's officers. Probably the priest and leader of the Aaronites who brought thirty-seven hundred men to David at Ziklag (2 Sam. 8:18; 20:23; 23:20, 22; 1 Kings 1; 2; 4:4; 1 Chron. 11:22, 24; 12:27; 18:17; 27:5).

2. The high priest who made Joash king, and possibly the husband of Jehosheba, whose presence of mind saved the infant Jehoash from massacre (2 Kings 11:4-17; 12:2-9; 2 Chron. 23; 24).

3. A son of Beniah, son of Jehoiada, the third of David's counselors (1 Chron. 27:34).

4. A son of Paseah, who repaired "the old gate" (Neh. 3:6). Called Joiada in the R. V.

5. A priest in Jerusalem before the exile, but displaced by Zephaniah (Jer. 29:26).

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Today's reading: 1 Samuel 4-6, Luke 9:1-17 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 4-6

¹ And Samuel's word came to all Israel.

The Philistines Capture the Ark

Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. ² The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. ³When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why did the LORD bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD's covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies...."

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Today's New Testament reading: Luke 9:1-17

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

¹ When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ³ He told them: "Take nothing for the journey--no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. ⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town.⁵ If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them." ⁶ So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

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Today's Prayer Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy; Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy; Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy; Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. -- Augustine Today's Scripture Reading: John 6:4-15 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, "It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9 "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. Today's Quote A healthy Christian is one of the liveliest creatures on earth. When he is at work you may hear him sing. He cannot help it; do not blame him for a little noise. Let him sing, and laugh till he cries. Sometimes he cannot help it; he will burst if his soul may not have vent. When he begins to talk about his Lord his eyes flash fire. Some people hint that he is out of his mind; but those who know best assure us that he was never before so sane as now. Of course, the world thinks religion is such poor stuff that nobody could grow excited about it. To my mind, cold religion is the nastiest dish ever brought to table. True godliness is served up hot. Newness of life means a soul aglow with love to God, and therefore earnest, zealous, happy. Let the believing man have space for his larger life, swing for his grander joy. Nay, do not gag him; let him sing his new song. If any man out of heaven has a right to be happy, it is the man who lives in newness of life. Come, beloved, I want you to go home to-day with the resolve that the newness of life shall be more apparent in your walk. Do not live the old life over again. Why should you? What good would come of it? -- Charles Spurgeon, "Christ's Resurrection and Our Newness of Life" Something to Think About Are you overjoyed by Christ's gift of salvation? In the Spurgeon quote above, what sort of joy is he describing? Does it mean we should feel happy all the time? How is it different from everyday happiness?

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	Having trouble seeing this email? View it online. Bible Gateway | The Brook Network | Mel Lawrenz
MARKETPLACE IN THE WORSHIP PLACE “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them,’ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:12-13). Jesus entered Jerusalem to begin the last week of his life on earth (sometimes called Passion week) with incredible drama. What must his disciples have thought? He rode down the hillside path with throngs of people shouting his praise, and then, approaching the beautiful temple on the other side of the valley, he entered its courts and “cleansed” the temple. Sheep scattered through the courtyard, doves flew out of broken cages, coins rang out as they scattered on the stone plaza, and there was Jesus in the middle of it all, driving away the merchants who saw the temple courtyard as a great place to cash in. Now Jesus had no problem with the sacrificial system. It’s in the Old Testament, and the principle of sacrificial giving is part of the plan of God. But when the din of human activity drowns out the prayers of the people of God, then it has gone too far. The temple as “the house of prayer” was to be a place where the worshiper was caught up with awe for the Almighty. It was a place where the people could have an encounter with their Father and Lord. The hubbub of institutionalized religiosity was a poor substitute. And so, Jesus entered Jerusalem at the start of that important week, and smashed everything that did not fit with God’s character. Sometimes God can only build after he has torn down. Ponder This: What part of your life might Jesus want to overturn, to cleanse, in order to start over?
	Resources Read past emails in this series Visit Bible Gateway Follow Bible Gateway on facebook Visit The Brook Network Read articles on spiritual leadership Follow The Brook Network on facebook

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Today's Lent reading: Luke 17-18 (NIV)

View today's Lent reading on Bible Gateway

Sin, Faith, Duty

¹ Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. ² It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³ So watch yourselves.

"If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. ⁴ Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying 'I repent,' you must forgive them."

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

⁶ He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

⁷ "Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? ⁸ Won't he rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? ⁹Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty....'"

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