Allow me to explain something Dawkins cannot face. The meme of God Dawkins does not accept is not God. It is an absurd figure, breaking laws of physics and failing in any endeavour for rational consistency. It is absurd to suggest God cannot build a bridge across a chasm God could not cross. To try and detect such a being that might is absurd. Note, using tools, I can build bridges across chasms I could not cross, but that is not the silly notion Dawkins tries to impress his listeners with. The God of the Bible is not that creature and does not try to be. Christians talk of the God of the Bible in other terms to physical absurdities, and it is apparent that God exists. The eternal question of "why are we here?" is matched with the miracle that we are. Atheists have taken to argue that it is absurd that there is a creator God that has information like knowing every hair on one's head. Because their ridiculous creature would. Their ridiculous creature does parlour tricks with such information. And yet Christians are satisfied with who God is. And by dying on the cross, God had built a bridge he could not cross.
Hamas, a terrorist organisation devoted to the extermination of Jews and supported by the UN and mainstream media has admitted that 50 of 72 dead so called 'peaceful' protestors were her members. They died attacking Israel, seeking a hole in Israel's defensive barrier. Maybe they just didn't want to fast anymore? It seems apparent that Hamas does not represent muslim faith, but calls it into disrepute. It is disturbing the number of Islamic clerics adhering to such terrorism. An inspired idiot who handed a handgun to the child who killed a police accountant Curtis Chang in Sydney a few years ago has been sentenced to thirteen years in jail. The idiot, who follows IS, refused to stand for the sentencing judge. Meanwhile in Texas, a mass shooting at a high school began when one armed idiot called out "Surprise!" The idiot has been arrested. Will they stand for a judge? One day, they will account to one. If they follow Dawkins, they will be surprised.
Corruption does not remain hidden forever. Julie Bishop has been exposed for her conduct prior to Turnbull backstabbing Abbott successfully with her help. Abbott has been gracious in defeat, but Turnbull and Bishop have damaged the party by not joining in common cause with Abbott. Losers Hilary and Julia rake in audiences in Sydney and Melbourne, charging top dollar. That is Bishop's future too?
Here is a video I made Ordinary Days
Norman MacCaig (14 November 1910 -- 23 January 1996) was a Scottish poet. His poetry, in modern English, is known for its humour, simplicity of language and great popularity
The light glittered on the water
Or the water glittered in the light.
Cormorants stood on a tidal rock
Or the water glittered in the light.
Cormorants stood on a tidal rock
With their wings spread out,
Stopping no traffic. Various ducks
Shilly-shallied here and there
Stopping no traffic. Various ducks
Shilly-shallied here and there
On the shilly-shallying water.
An occasional gull yelped. Small flowers
Were doing their level best
An occasional gull yelped. Small flowers
Were doing their level best
To bring to their kerbs bees like
Ariel charabancs. Long weeds in the clear
Water did Eastern dances, unregarded
Ariel charabancs. Long weeds in the clear
Water did Eastern dances, unregarded
By shoals of darning needles. A cow
Started a moo but thought
Better of it–And my feet took me home
Started a moo but thought
Better of it–And my feet took me home
And my mind observed to me,
Or I to it, how ordinary
Extraordinary things are or
Or I to it, how ordinary
Extraordinary things are or
How extraordinary ordinary
Things are, like the nature of the mind
And the process of observing.
Things are, like the nature of the mind
And the process of observing.
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. US President Donald Trump's administration is being investigated regarding its links to Russia. The investigator appointed (Robert Mueller) is a former FBI chief who tanked on investigating the corruption of Mark Felt over Watergate, after it was revealed Felt was Deep Throat. The man who appointed the investigator (US Dept of Justice Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein) advised Trump to sack Comey. Fake News outlets are hyperventilating, saying it is possible Trump will be impeached. It is also possible the sun will rise in the West. One takes one's chances. It is good news that the swamp are fighting dirty. Trump is fully engaged in the culture wars and winning. Trump is draining the Swamp and so they have to fight back. But the Russia backed Trump card is overstated, and losing. Those playing it now will look foolish. Had Hillary Clinton gracefully accepted defeat, she would have gotten away scot-free. But by leading resistance to a legitimate administration, she may finally go to jail. Hillary did not lose election because Russia stole it. Hillary lost it because she was awful, and treated good people with utter contempt. People that had wanted to support her.
In Australia, a senior tax official is being investigated as part of a crime costing the taxpayer over $160 million in fraud. He is not accused of being part of the fraud, but his son is. Michael Cranston is known in Australia as being a capable forensic accountant who has international respect. This is why it is important Trump drains the swamp. Because corruption erodes public trust.
In Australia, a senior tax official is being investigated as part of a crime costing the taxpayer over $160 million in fraud. He is not accused of being part of the fraud, but his son is. Michael Cranston is known in Australia as being a capable forensic accountant who has international respect. This is why it is important Trump drains the swamp. Because corruption erodes public trust.
=== from 2016 ===
I have moved to a good home. I leave behind the ice house. Dan Andrews would rather I lived with an ice addict, and that you should too.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Todays report stands on its own because this time in 2014, the Conservative Voice was looking for rental accommodation after being forced to sell their unit/home.
A personal note, my cousin Stephen Ball has died, suddenly of a heart attack at age about 60. He was a good, kind gracious man, a loving husband and a good father and a good businessman. There is no reason why anyone would have heard of him. He wasn't corrupt. He was hard working and honest. So I wish to share the little I know of him so that the world can know more than daily politics and historical settings. He was on holiday in the UK prior to moving into a newly purchased house in Sydney. He was playing golf and his wife was by his side when he had his heart attack. He was fit for his age, and fit compared to his youth when he was tubby as my people can be, weighed down as we are by nominative determinism. My paternal grandfather once took Stephen and his siblings to the beach. The oldest might have been 8 years old. The youngest about three. Grandfather made it to the beach with them, but got separated and came back home after looking for them. My uncle, his father asked grandfather about his day, which apparently was good. He also asked after his children which grandfather had not known their whereabouts after getting separated and looking for them before returning home. Things might have gone downhill had Stephen and his siblings not knocked on the front door, having caught public transport busses home without having cash. That would have been circa '62 and times were different to now. As a young man, Stephen had not enjoyed school. He was easily distracted. But he had drive and ambition too. I heard many years ago, and do not know if it was true, but he had gone to the Middle East after school and made money which he wasn't allowed to take out of that nation, so he had filled a jeep with US dollars and driven to an airport and flown back to Australia. In his early thirties, his dad had a heart attack, but survived. Stephen visited him in the recovery ward and the Doctor said "Your next." Or maybe that was my father. A year later, my father was recovering in that ward too. Stephen lost weight. He raised a family. They remember his love, his humour, his joy of life. He has died, but love is never lost. He wasn't replaceable, but life goes on. He was Australian, which is to say he gave generously, and worked hard.
An Australian boy who went to fight for the death cult ISIL has reportedly died. It is not known if he was blown up or beheaded by ISIL for wanting to come home. Girls are encouraged by pedophiles to join up too. Their reward is not motherhood, as may be assumed, but to be the diversionary playthings of gang rapists after bouts of bestiality and sodomy.
In 332, citizens of Constantinople were given free food by Constantine. A similar thing had happened in Rome by Julius Caesar. It was great for morale and encouraged non citizens to aspire. Also very expensive. In 1096, the first crusade had made it to Worms in Germany where they killed some 800 Jews for no reason. In 1152, the indecisive Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine, which was his finest moment. In 1268, the Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, fell to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch. In 1291, Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land. In 1302, Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia. In 1388, during the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu led a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan. In 1499, Alonso de Ojeda set sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
In 1565, the Great Siege of Malta began, in which Ottoman forces attempted and failed to conquer Malta. Also 1565, the Royal Audiencia of Concepción was created by a decree of Philip II of Spain. 1593, playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. 1631, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop took the oath of office and became the first Governor of Massachusetts. 1652, Rhode Islandpassed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal. 1756, the Seven Years' War began when Great Britain declared war on France. 1763, fire destroyed a large part of Montreal 1783, first United Empire Loyalists reached Parrtown (later called Saint John), New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
In 1803, Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revoked the Treaty of Amiens and declared war on France. 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate. 1811, Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas. 1812, John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. 1843, the Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland. 1848, Opening of the first German National Assembly(Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later became the United States Secretary of State. 1863, American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg began. 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine was constitutional. Also 1896, Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Fieldin Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II resulted in the deaths of 1,389 people.
In 1900, the United Kingdom proclaimed a protectorate over Tonga. 1910, the Earth passed through the tail of Comet Halley. 1912, the first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne was released in Mumbai. 1917, World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription. 1926, Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared while visiting a Venice, California beach. 1927, the Bath School disaster: forty-five people were killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan. 1927, after being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approved Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China. 1933, New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. 1944, World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopersevacuated Monte Cassino. Also 1944, deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government. 1948, the First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convened in Nanking.
In 1953, Jackie Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. 1955, Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended. 1956, first ascent of Lhotse 8,516 meters, by a Swiss team. 1958, an F-104 Starfighter set a world speed recordof 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h). 1959, launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea. 1965, Israeli spy Eli Cohen was hanged in Damascus, Syria. 1969, Apollo program: Apollo 10 was launched. 1974, Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so. Also 1974, completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It collapsed on August 8, 1991. 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage. Also 1980, Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea began demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. 1983, in Ireland, the government launched a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
In 1990, in France, a modified TGV train achieved a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph). 1991, Northern Somalia declared independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but was not recognised by the international community. 1993, riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets were fired. 2005, a second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed that Pluto had two additional moons, Nixand Hydra. 2006, the post Loktantra Andolan government passed a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country. 2009, Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE were defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides. 2011, twenty-two people were killed when Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 crashed in southern Argentina.
A personal note, my cousin Stephen Ball has died, suddenly of a heart attack at age about 60. He was a good, kind gracious man, a loving husband and a good father and a good businessman. There is no reason why anyone would have heard of him. He wasn't corrupt. He was hard working and honest. So I wish to share the little I know of him so that the world can know more than daily politics and historical settings. He was on holiday in the UK prior to moving into a newly purchased house in Sydney. He was playing golf and his wife was by his side when he had his heart attack. He was fit for his age, and fit compared to his youth when he was tubby as my people can be, weighed down as we are by nominative determinism. My paternal grandfather once took Stephen and his siblings to the beach. The oldest might have been 8 years old. The youngest about three. Grandfather made it to the beach with them, but got separated and came back home after looking for them. My uncle, his father asked grandfather about his day, which apparently was good. He also asked after his children which grandfather had not known their whereabouts after getting separated and looking for them before returning home. Things might have gone downhill had Stephen and his siblings not knocked on the front door, having caught public transport busses home without having cash. That would have been circa '62 and times were different to now. As a young man, Stephen had not enjoyed school. He was easily distracted. But he had drive and ambition too. I heard many years ago, and do not know if it was true, but he had gone to the Middle East after school and made money which he wasn't allowed to take out of that nation, so he had filled a jeep with US dollars and driven to an airport and flown back to Australia. In his early thirties, his dad had a heart attack, but survived. Stephen visited him in the recovery ward and the Doctor said "Your next." Or maybe that was my father. A year later, my father was recovering in that ward too. Stephen lost weight. He raised a family. They remember his love, his humour, his joy of life. He has died, but love is never lost. He wasn't replaceable, but life goes on. He was Australian, which is to say he gave generously, and worked hard.
An Australian boy who went to fight for the death cult ISIL has reportedly died. It is not known if he was blown up or beheaded by ISIL for wanting to come home. Girls are encouraged by pedophiles to join up too. Their reward is not motherhood, as may be assumed, but to be the diversionary playthings of gang rapists after bouts of bestiality and sodomy.
In 332, citizens of Constantinople were given free food by Constantine. A similar thing had happened in Rome by Julius Caesar. It was great for morale and encouraged non citizens to aspire. Also very expensive. In 1096, the first crusade had made it to Worms in Germany where they killed some 800 Jews for no reason. In 1152, the indecisive Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine, which was his finest moment. In 1268, the Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, fell to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch. In 1291, Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land. In 1302, Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia. In 1388, during the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu led a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan. In 1499, Alonso de Ojeda set sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
In 1565, the Great Siege of Malta began, in which Ottoman forces attempted and failed to conquer Malta. Also 1565, the Royal Audiencia of Concepción was created by a decree of Philip II of Spain. 1593, playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. 1631, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop took the oath of office and became the first Governor of Massachusetts. 1652, Rhode Islandpassed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal. 1756, the Seven Years' War began when Great Britain declared war on France. 1763, fire destroyed a large part of Montreal 1783, first United Empire Loyalists reached Parrtown (later called Saint John), New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
In 1803, Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revoked the Treaty of Amiens and declared war on France. 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate. 1811, Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas. 1812, John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. 1843, the Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland. 1848, Opening of the first German National Assembly(Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later became the United States Secretary of State. 1863, American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg began. 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine was constitutional. Also 1896, Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Fieldin Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II resulted in the deaths of 1,389 people.
In 1900, the United Kingdom proclaimed a protectorate over Tonga. 1910, the Earth passed through the tail of Comet Halley. 1912, the first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne was released in Mumbai. 1917, World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription. 1926, Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared while visiting a Venice, California beach. 1927, the Bath School disaster: forty-five people were killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan. 1927, after being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approved Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China. 1933, New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. 1944, World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopersevacuated Monte Cassino. Also 1944, deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government. 1948, the First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convened in Nanking.
In 1953, Jackie Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. 1955, Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended. 1956, first ascent of Lhotse 8,516 meters, by a Swiss team. 1958, an F-104 Starfighter set a world speed recordof 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h). 1959, launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea. 1965, Israeli spy Eli Cohen was hanged in Damascus, Syria. 1969, Apollo program: Apollo 10 was launched. 1974, Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so. Also 1974, completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It collapsed on August 8, 1991. 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage. Also 1980, Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea began demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. 1983, in Ireland, the government launched a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
In 1990, in France, a modified TGV train achieved a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph). 1991, Northern Somalia declared independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but was not recognised by the international community. 1993, riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets were fired. 2005, a second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed that Pluto had two additional moons, Nixand Hydra. 2006, the post Loktantra Andolan government passed a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country. 2009, Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE were defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides. 2011, twenty-two people were killed when Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 crashed in southern Argentina.
From 2014
None in 2014 because of Government and public service corruption related to the petitions
Historical perspective on this day
In 332, Constantine the Great announced free distribution of food to the citizens in Constantinople. 1096, First Crusade: around 800 Jews were massacred in Worms, Germany 1152, Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine. 1268, the Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, fell to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch. 1291, Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land 1302, Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemishmilitia. 1388, during the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu led a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan. 1499, Alonso de Ojeda set sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
In 1565, the Great Siege of Malta began, in which Ottoman forces attempted and failed to conquer Malta. Also 1565, the Royal Audiencia of Concepción was created by a decree of Philip II of Spain. 1593, playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. 1631, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthroptook the oath of office and became the first Governor of Massachusetts. 1652, Rhode Island passed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal. 1756, the Seven Years' War began when Great Britain declared war on France. 1763, fire destroyed a large part of Montreal 1783, first United Empire Loyalists reached Parrtown (later called Saint John), New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
In 1803, Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revoked the Treaty of Amiens and declared war on France. 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate. 1811, Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Platain Uruguay led by José Artigas. 1812, John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. 1843, the Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland. 1848, Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later became the United States Secretary of State. 1863, American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg began. 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine was constitutional. Also 1896, Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II resulted in the deaths of 1,389 people.
In 1900, the United Kingdom proclaimed a protectorate over Tonga. 1910, the Earth passed through the tail of Comet Halley. 1912, the first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne was released in Mumbai. 1917, World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription. 1926, Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared while visiting a Venice, California beach. 1927, the Bath School disaster: forty-five people were killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan. 1927, after being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approved Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China. 1933, New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. 1944, World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuated Monte Cassino. Also 1944, deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government. 1948, the First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convened in Nanking.
In 1953, Jackie Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. 1955, Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the FrenchArmy from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended. 1956, first ascent of Lhotse 8,516 meters, by a Swiss team. 1958, an F-104 Starfighter set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h). 1959, launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea. 1965, Israeli spy Eli Cohenwas hanged in Damascus, Syria. 1969, Apollo program: Apollo 10 was launched. 1974, Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so. Also 1974, completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It collapsed on August 8, 1991. 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage. Also 1980, Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea began demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. 1983, in Ireland, the government launched a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
In 1990, in France, a modified TGV train achieved a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph). 1991, Northern Somalia declared independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but was not recognised by the international community. 1993, riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets were fired. 2005, a second photo from the Hubble Space Telescopeconfirmed that Pluto had two additional moons, Nix and Hydra. 2006, the post Loktantra Andolan government passed a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country. 2009, Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE were defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides. 2011, twenty-two people were killed when Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 crashed in southern Argentina.
In 1565, the Great Siege of Malta began, in which Ottoman forces attempted and failed to conquer Malta. Also 1565, the Royal Audiencia of Concepción was created by a decree of Philip II of Spain. 1593, playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. 1631, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthroptook the oath of office and became the first Governor of Massachusetts. 1652, Rhode Island passed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal. 1756, the Seven Years' War began when Great Britain declared war on France. 1763, fire destroyed a large part of Montreal 1783, first United Empire Loyalists reached Parrtown (later called Saint John), New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
In 1803, Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revoked the Treaty of Amiens and declared war on France. 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate. 1811, Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Platain Uruguay led by José Artigas. 1812, John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. 1843, the Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland. 1848, Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later became the United States Secretary of State. 1863, American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg began. 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine was constitutional. Also 1896, Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II resulted in the deaths of 1,389 people.
In 1900, the United Kingdom proclaimed a protectorate over Tonga. 1910, the Earth passed through the tail of Comet Halley. 1912, the first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne was released in Mumbai. 1917, World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription. 1926, Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared while visiting a Venice, California beach. 1927, the Bath School disaster: forty-five people were killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan. 1927, after being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approved Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China. 1933, New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. 1944, World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuated Monte Cassino. Also 1944, deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government. 1948, the First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convened in Nanking.
In 1953, Jackie Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. 1955, Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the FrenchArmy from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended. 1956, first ascent of Lhotse 8,516 meters, by a Swiss team. 1958, an F-104 Starfighter set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h). 1959, launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea. 1965, Israeli spy Eli Cohenwas hanged in Damascus, Syria. 1969, Apollo program: Apollo 10 was launched. 1974, Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so. Also 1974, completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It collapsed on August 8, 1991. 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage. Also 1980, Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea began demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. 1983, in Ireland, the government launched a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
In 1990, in France, a modified TGV train achieved a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph). 1991, Northern Somalia declared independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but was not recognised by the international community. 1993, riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets were fired. 2005, a second photo from the Hubble Space Telescopeconfirmed that Pluto had two additional moons, Nix and Hydra. 2006, the post Loktantra Andolan government passed a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country. 2009, Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE were defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides. 2011, twenty-two people were killed when Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 crashed in southern Argentina.
=== Publishing News ===
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.
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January.
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, 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 a free kindle version.
List of available items at Create Space
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWGFrench .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Happy birthday and many happy returns Cesare Rambaldi. Born the same date when, in 1927, when a disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off a series of explosives in Bath Township, Michigan's elementary school, which had a final death toll of 45 and is the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history. Those were different times .. now they use automatic weapons. Tough days, but you were born to succeed and excel.
And magnificent music ..http://www.icompositions.com/artists/RAMZAR#music
And magnificent music ..http://www.icompositions.com/artists/RAMZAR#music
- 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (d. 1131)
- 1692 – Joseph Butler, English bishop, theologian, and apologist (d. 1752)
- 1822 – Mathew Brady, American photographer (d. 1896)
- 1872 – Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, English mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1873 – Lucy Beaumont, English actress (d. 1937)
- 1883 – Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (d. 1969)
- 1897 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1904 – Shunryu Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator (d. 1971)
- 1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer (d. 1943)
- 1909 – Fred Perry, English tennis player (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Perry Como, American singer and actor (d. 2001)
- 1913 – Mary Howard de Liagre, American actress (d. 2009)
- 1913 – Charles Trenet, French singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
- 1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer (d. 1982)
- 1919 – Margot Fonteyn, English ballerina (d. 1991)
- 1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
- 1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- 1931 – Robert Morse, American actor and singer
- 1941 – Miriam Margolyes, English-Australian actress
- 1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player, sportscaster, and actor
- 1946 – Andreas Katsulas, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1949 – Rick Wakeman, English keyboard player and songwriter (Yes, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, and Warhorse)
- 1954 – Reinhold Heil, German-American pianist and composer (Spliff)
- 1954 – Wreckless Eric, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor
- 1959 – Graham Dilley, English cricketer (d. 2011)
- 1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player and singer
- 1961 – Russell Senior, former guitarist and violinist of Pulp
- 1962 – Sandra, German singer (Arabesque and Enigma)
- 1962 – Nanne Grönvall, Swedish singer-songwriter (One More Time)
- 1967 – Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author
- 1969 – Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1970 – Tina Fey, American actress, screenwriter, and producer
- 1985 – Francesca Battistelli, American singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Dalma Kovács, Romanian singer and actress
- 1986 – Katya Shchekina, Russian model
- 1988 – Taeyang, South Korean singer, dancer, and actor (Big Bang)
- 1988 – Kōji Seto, Japanese actor and singer
- 1990 – Heo Ga-yoon, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (4minute and 2YOON)
- 1993 – Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
- 1999 – Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
Deaths
- 526 – Pope John I (b. 470)
- 1401 – Vladislaus II of Opole (b. 1332)
- 1550 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (b. 1498)
- 1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter (b. 1486)
- 1584 – Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese commander (b. 1559)
- 1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, theologian, and historian (b. 1623)
- 1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian-Indian rebel leader (b. 1742)
- 1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor, and educator, invented Bourbon whiskey (b. 1738)
- 1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
- 1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
- 1990 – Jill Ireland, English-American actress (b. 1936)
- 1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
May 18: Victoria Day in Canada (2015); Flag and Universities Day in Haiti; Day of Revival, Unity, and the Poetry of Magtymguly in Turkmenistan
- 1388 – During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu led a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Toghus Temur, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
- 1869 – One day after surrendering at the Battle of Hakodate, Enomoto Takeaki (pictured) turned over Goryōkaku to Japanese forces, signaling the collapse of the Republic of Ezo.
- 1896 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson, upholding the legality of racial segregation in public transportation under the "Separate but equal" doctrine.
- 1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Armyfrom communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended.
- 2005 – A second photo by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the discovery of two new moons of Pluto: Nix and Hydra.
The menu stated crushed horde, hey, what?? Next to the rising sun, all fails. Separate but equal, right. They'll like the South a they won't have to work there. Can a moon circle what is not a planet? Let's party.
Tim Blair 2018
FROM THE DIXIE DRUG STORE TO THE CENTRAL COAST
Tuneful Califonian Grant-Lee Phillips is playing the Hardy's Bay Club tonight. Small venue, brilliant songsmith, good times guaranteed.
LOSERPALOOZA RAKES IN THE RUBES
US election failure Hillary Clinton and Australian prime ministerial reject Julia Gillard last week spoke to crowds of 5000 in Melbourne and 8000 in Sydney.
TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT, NAZI HUNTERS
Remember when social justice warriors became all excited about punching Nazis?
Andrew Bolt 2018
SPECCIE OUT NOW: NO RABBITS
The latest Spectator Australia is out now. No rabbits - neither among the particularly good columnists this week or springing out from the Turnbull Government's Budget.
ON RICHARD DAWKINS TELLING ME WHAT NOT TO ASK
Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist, agreed weeks ago to come on my show. I am agnostic and had planned a conversation, not a confrontation, about his published views on Islam and Christianity. But just 90 minutes before showtime Dawkins started to bombard me with listsv of questions I could not ask. Here's how I responded last night.
THESE 11 ALLEGED ATTACKS SHOW OUR REFUGEE PROGRAM IS DANGEROUS
The following 11 alleged attacks in just the past few weeks from men of African appearance suggest our refugee program has recklessly exposed Victorians to unacceptable danger. Give how few Sudanese and Somalis live in the state, this roll call is astonishing. UPDATE: plus today, four people arrested over the party where police cars were trashed.
WHAT AN AUSTRALIAN TOM WOLFE WOULD SAY
Roger Franklin: "What might an Australian Tom Wolfe have made [of our] white/black relations?... There would be pen sketches of the ... excuse-makers whose pieties play no small part in keeping the victims of their cliched compassion forever on the outskirts of a white society we are tirelessly told can never entirely shed its inherited guilt."
HAMAS: 50 OF THE PROTESTERS ISRAEL SHOT WERE OUR MEMBERS
Caught. A senior Hamas official - accused of sacrificing children and civilians - protests that 50 of the 62 people allegedly killed by Israeli troops on Monday were in fact members of Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza. The figures were "official", Salah Bardawil said. Watch his interview.
JULIE BISHOP EXPOSED
Aaron Patrick in his careful dissection of the last days of Tony Abbott's time as prime minister never accuses Julie Bishop of being a treacherous, two-faced leaker. Just like he never accuses Niki Savva of having had a conflict of interest she should have disclosed. These are judgements he safely leaves to you.
SHAMELESS. ARROGANT. OUT OF CONTROL
The Mocker is a must-read in The Australian on Thursdays: "Not even a year ago Media Watch host Paul Barry was castigating the government and the One Nation Party [over] a proposed legislative amendment for the organisation to be 'fair and balanced'... This, claimed Barry, amounted to 'bashing the ABC'." Read on and check out the madness now.
HEEERE’S JOHNNY
Tim Blair – Monday, May 18, 2015 (6:31am)
It’s been an entertaining last few days for political advisor John McTernan, who successfully advised ex-PM Julia Gillard into oblivion before joining the staff of Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy. Here’s how events have unfolded lately for McTernan, Murphy and the UK Labour movement in general.
Continue reading 'HEEERE’S JOHNNY'
===
IT’S MONEY THAT MATTERS
Tim Blair – Monday, May 18, 2015 (6:23am)
We conservatives are meant to be the boring ones. After all, we’re obsessed with dull notions like financial security, predictable career paths and reliable investments. Yawn.
And then there are our exciting friends from the artistic left, who care little for conservatives’ buttoned-down ways. They go wherever their creative impulses may lead, boldly exploring new visions and ideas, fearlessly challenging society’s assumptions and smashing complacency.
That’s the way things are meant to be, at least. But Arts Minister George Brandis has discovered a brilliant way to instantly convert unconventional creative types into timid, pleading defenders of the status quo.
Brandis accomplished this by the simple means of putting himself between artists and their supply of tax-funded Australia Council grants.
Continue reading 'IT’S MONEY THAT MATTERS'
===
PRIORITIES SHOWN
Tim Blair – Monday, May 18, 2015 (5:14am)
Changed government resulted in changed anti-terrorism policies, reports Simon Benson:
A letter from Prime Minister Tony Abbott to the Attorney-General almost 18 months ago indicated growing terrorism concerns within the government.It also revealed ASIO and AFP fears that unless the agencies’ resources were restored, they could not guarantee that our national security architecture was robust enough to cope with an increased terrorism threat.
Over the previous six years, more than $267 million had been ripped out of security and counterterrorism agencies by the former Labor government.These were the deepest cuts on record to the clandestine agencies, at a time when newly troubling signs were emerging from the Middle East.
Labor cut Australia’s anti-terrorism budget while giving more to the ABC.
===
SPINNER AND BENDER
Tim Blair – Monday, May 18, 2015 (4:42am)
A friend has been blocked on Twitter by Shane Warne and Uri Geller. This achievement may be unique.
===
MINING VERSUS WHINING
Tim Blair – Monday, May 18, 2015 (4:36am)
After his academic chat site lost its government funding, former sensitive Fairfax editor Andrew Jaspan complainedto the ABC:
We’re good at more than just having, you know, scooping up coal and iron ore and putting it on boats to China and Japan and India. You know, we should be more than that and we should be leading you know ideas in terms of supporting a knowledge economy which will position Australia both in the region, in our sort of Asian region but also globally as a smart and clever country. And that’s really the positioning statement that we put to the government. And, for whatever reason, they chose not to support it any further.
Possibly because a “knowledge economy” driven by leftist academics isn’t really something Australia should rely upon for significant economic growth. Although the ABC’s Linda Mottram is supportive:
Andrew Jaspan, the founder and editor of The Conversation. Well worth a look, really leading out there with Australian ideas. As Andrew said, showcasing them, and putting Australia up as an ideas hub – rather than just a, you know, “dig it out of the ground” hub.
Just a “dig it out of the ground” hub, she sneers. Here’s one tiny difference between the Australian mining industryand Jaspan’s idea factory: one of them makes money, while the other takes money.
===
No, Emma. It really is about your rudeness and your bias
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (7:38pm)
I am very sorry to hear Alberici play the sexism card:
Turnbull was commenting after I played or shown him four examples of bias or aggression by ABC presenters, two male, two female, and one from a male-hosted show (PM).
Moreover, Alberici should Google the many criticisms I have made of her male colleagues Tony Jones, Paul Barry, Jon Faine, Robyn “100 metres” Williams and more.
Here, for instance, is an excerpt of just one of the many criticisms I’ve made of Faine’s bias and interviewing style:
Lateline host Emma Alberici - one of the ABC presenters Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said could adopt a “less aggressive” interviewing style - says female interviewers are regularly attacked for asking tough questions while their male colleagues are not…That is hiding behind a skirt.
“People are far quicker to attack a woman in public than they would a man,” Alberici said.
“When I do a tough interview I will be called an ‘aggressive bitch’ but when [fellow Lateline co-host] Tony Jones does a similar interview he is just tough. No one would call him a bitch. That’s something we grapple with [as female interviewers] because people don’t want us to be tough.”
Turnbull was commenting after I played or shown him four examples of bias or aggression by ABC presenters, two male, two female, and one from a male-hosted show (PM).
Moreover, Alberici should Google the many criticisms I have made of her male colleagues Tony Jones, Paul Barry, Jon Faine, Robyn “100 metres” Williams and more.
Here, for instance, is an excerpt of just one of the many criticisms I’ve made of Faine’s bias and interviewing style:
Fourth, Faine repeatedly interrupted and badgered Monckton…On Faine again:
Sixth, Faine repeatedly allowed Posner and callers to abuse Monckton in the most offensive and childish manner, even calling him a “lunatic” and suggesting he was corrupt…
Eighth, Faine allowed the calls that got through to be entirely dominated by ones hostile to Monckton…
And ninth, Faine’s personal interventions were not just partisan but so ill-informed - or, rather, so informed by alarmism - that he even claimed “tsunamis” were caused by global warming.
Faine this morning wasted no time in confirming everything I’ve said about his rank bias - and that of the ABC. Here are just some excerpts from this aggressive, angry and highly partisan interview of Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg:About Tony Jones:
… a smartarse insult from ABC Leftist host Tony Jones ...On Jones again:
I don’t heckle [my own guests], sneer at them, get stacked audiences to jeer them or run Tweets under their face to insult them. Yet Liberals do go on the ABC’s Q&A program to subject themselves to all the above.Is Alberici seeking special protection from criticism on the grounds that she is a woman?
===
I’ll help pay Rachel Ball for 18 weeks off, but she doesn’t deserve a cent more from me
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (2:27pm)
Notice the crucial missing argument in this studied offence-taking from Rachell Ball, (not surprisingly) from the Human Rights Law Centre:
Then there are the other arguments. As in why we should pay Ball another $18,000 in Centrelink payments above her generous 18 weeks off when the deficit is now $35 billion, the debt dangerous and the cookie jar empty. Could Ball at the very least tell us what other spending should be cut so women like her can get more? Who must get less so she can get more time off?
I really do think the sense of entitlement from some in the middle class is out of control. And the only-women-bleed complaining is surely last century. Haven’t we progressed beyond such stereotypical stuff?
New mothers have been added to the Abbott government’s cast of villains…The missing argument? It’s why the rest of us should pay Hall more than the 18 weeks of pay she’s already taking off. Her child, her responsibility, surely.
Who knew that underneath all the vomit-stained active wear was a greedy fraudster claiming more than four months off work to spend with her newborn child?…
I was particularly surprised to see this new rogue exposed, as I am one of the dastardly double-dippers… I’m talking about those recently maligned new parents, the majority of whom are women, who have access to both the government paid parental leave scheme and an employer-funded entitlement.
I am able to take more than the government-funded 18 weeks off work, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a rort to me. I breastfeed six times a day, so if I had to go back to work next week, I’d be spending a significant chunk of the day crouched in the corner of a meeting room strapped to a breast-pump (a device that – for those who have never seen one – resembles something you’d expect to find in an industrial dairy). I’d like to see Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott give that a go and still insist it’s a perfectly reasonable expectation to have of women…
I’m all for teaching my son resilience and independence, but I reckon child protection would have something to say if I left him at home alone with a plastic giraffe and a box of wipes…
The sudden insistence that all women, rich or poor, should only be able to access the same low entitlement takes the government on a curious and uncharacteristically egalitarian turn. But if the government really cared about fairness, it would progress gender and economic equality by raising the standard for all women, not cutting entitlements for about 50 per cent of women who can access both government and employee entitlements.
Then there are the other arguments. As in why we should pay Ball another $18,000 in Centrelink payments above her generous 18 weeks off when the deficit is now $35 billion, the debt dangerous and the cookie jar empty. Could Ball at the very least tell us what other spending should be cut so women like her can get more? Who must get less so she can get more time off?
I really do think the sense of entitlement from some in the middle class is out of control. And the only-women-bleed complaining is surely last century. Haven’t we progressed beyond such stereotypical stuff?
===
Pope flirts with authoritarians
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (11:48am)
This Pope’s political instincts worry me, and I am not sure that compromising with authoritarians worked for some previous popes:
Last year, he helped to broker an historic accord between Cuba and the United States… This past week, his office announced the first formal accord between the Vatican and the State of Palestine—a treaty that gives legal weight to the Holy See’s longstanding recognition of de-facto Palestinian statehood despite clear Israeli annoyance.... [T]he pope has been careful to avoid taking sides on issues like Ukraine, where he has never defined Russia as an aggressor…Flirting now with global warming alarmists is yet another sign that Pope Francis is compromising with the competition, and with enemies of the individual.
That approach is intended to ensure he remains more credible with countries like Syria, Russia or Cuba, all nations where Francis feels he can help local Christians best by steering an independent course.
===
ABC show to discuss ABC not holding Flannery to account
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (11:30am)
Tom Switzer, one of the only two conservatives that Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull could yesterday name as ABC presenters, is interviewing sceptic Nigel Lawson about climate change on Radio National at 7.30pm on Thursday.
Lord Lawson is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and is now chairman of the Global Warming Police Foundation.
I believe Switzer will ask Lawson about Tim Flannery and the failure of ABC journalists to hold him to account on mad predictions like these:
Lord Lawson is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and is now chairman of the Global Warming Police Foundation.
I believe Switzer will ask Lawson about Tim Flannery and the failure of ABC journalists to hold him to account on mad predictions like these:
Since 1998 particularly, we’ve seen just drought, drought, drought, and particularly regions like Sydney and the Warragamba catchment - if you look at the Warragamba catchment figures, since ‘98, the water has been in virtual freefall, and they’ve got about two years of supply left, but something will need to change in order to see the catchment start accumulating water again. ...I hope Tom can also squeeze in this one:
So when the models start confirming what you’re observing on the ground, then there’s some fairly strong basis for believing that we’re understanding what’s causing these weather shifts and these rainfall declines, and they do seem to be of a permanent nature. I don’t think it’s just a cycle. I’d love to be wrong, but I think the science is pointing in the other direction… Well, the worst-case scenario for Sydney is that the climate that’s existed for the last seven years continues for another two years. In that case, Sydney will be facing extreme difficulties with water.
===
Opinion: Change or die, Bill. Stop playing Santa
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (8:30am)
IF Labor wants to get elected, it must show we can trust it with our money. Trouble is, it’s doing the exact opposite.
At this rate, it is now likely to lose the next election, which is what Sportsbet and Sportingbet are tipping.
I tried to give this advice to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten last Friday when, for the first time since he got elected to Parliament, he came over to say hello.
Being terrible at small talk, I tried to point out why his Budget in Reply speech on Thursday was bad, and why — between you and me — he’s probably got just 18 months left as Labor leader unless he changes tack.
Your turn to change or die, Bill.
Sure, I understand why Shorten gave no sign that my advice was welcome or useful.
After all, I’m conservative, he’s Labor, so why trust me for tips?
Yet I’ll give them, for one very good reason.
(Read the full article here.)
At this rate, it is now likely to lose the next election, which is what Sportsbet and Sportingbet are tipping.
I tried to give this advice to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten last Friday when, for the first time since he got elected to Parliament, he came over to say hello.
Being terrible at small talk, I tried to point out why his Budget in Reply speech on Thursday was bad, and why — between you and me — he’s probably got just 18 months left as Labor leader unless he changes tack.
Your turn to change or die, Bill.
Sure, I understand why Shorten gave no sign that my advice was welcome or useful.
After all, I’m conservative, he’s Labor, so why trust me for tips?
Yet I’ll give them, for one very good reason.
(Read the full article here.)
===
Islamic State supporters are losing their head
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (8:24am)
A little warning to other idiots who think it might be fun fighting alongside psychopaths:
A MELBOURNE teen who was close mates with terrorist Numan Haider has died fighting with jihadis in the Middle East.
Irfaan Hussein, 19, has been killed while fighting for Islamic State — with speculation either a bomb blast killed him or he was beheaded by extremists for attempting to return to Victoria.
===
Yeah, but
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (8:10am)
The Age doesn’t seem to be enjoying its latest poll, showing the Abbott back from the dead and 50-50 with Labor:
I do suspect the electorate is a little more unforgiving than the IPSOS poll suggests, though. If I had to bet, I’d say the truth is still closer to today’s Newspoll result:
Bringing Australians together, when we seem instead to be fraying, seems to me what we need.
UPDATE
High praise for Treasurer Joe Hockey from the wife of arguably Labor’s best leader:
UPDATE
I do suspect the electorate is a little more unforgiving than the IPSOS poll suggests, though. If I had to bet, I’d say the truth is still closer to today’s Newspoll result:
Voters have endorsed the Coalition’s second budget as the best in seven years, declaring it good for the economy, and four times more people than last year believe they will be personally better off…The Government damaged itself badly with broken promises and stubbornness. It needs time to prove again it can be trusted, by delivering steady, capable government. Abbott also needs to flesh out his image so voters invest more emotion in him, and feel that a vote for his Government is not just a vote for self-interest but for a moral cause. “Reconciliation” and constitutional recognition of Aborigines just doesn’t cut it, because too divisive and too much of a minority issue.
Based on preference flows from the last election, ... the ALP has extended its 13-month lead over the government in two-party-preferred terms to be ahead by 53 per cent to 47 per cent...
Mr Abbott’s satisfaction rating also continued to rise, with the Prime Minister posting his sixth consecutive improvement, gaining two points to an eight-month high of 39 per cent. The number dissatisfied with his performance fell by four points to 52 per cent… Mr Shorten’s satisfaction rating rose by one point to 35 per cent but his dissatisfaction improved by four points to 46 per cent.
Bringing Australians together, when we seem instead to be fraying, seems to me what we need.
UPDATE
High praise for Treasurer Joe Hockey from the wife of arguably Labor’s best leader:
[Blanche] D’Alpuget, who lives in Treasurer Joe Hockey’s electorate in Sydney’s north, said the media had been particularly hostile towards Hockey who, in her view, delivered a brilliant political speech on budget night.
[Husband Bob] Hawke gave a character reference for the Treasurer in his defamation case against Fairfax and the couple find him “likable” and “sincere”. “I thought Joe Hockey’s speech was the best budget speech I’ve ever heard. It was stage standard,” she said. “...Obviously it was a political speech but it was a very damn good political speech...”
===
Not serious. Fund the audience instead
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (8:05am)
Tim Blair, surprisingly good humoured despite some recent bad news, explains just what we are getting for the taxes we give the Arts Council:
...according to [former Australia Council chair Rodney] Hall, the Australia Council’s “proudest achievement” has been to “make it possible for artists of all kinds to pursue their profession at home.”I’m happy to subsidise the arts. But I want those subsidies handed out by people who want to live with the results: the consumers, not the bureaucrats. So fund the audiences, and give tax deductions to art purchasers. Restore some of the tax “loopholes” for super funds buying art. Let us have a thousand Medicis, and not just a few, doling out taxpayer dollars, and too often to their mates.
Some achievement. Let’s check some recent Australia Council grant approvals and the amounts they cost:
- “The story of a girl, a bird and a teapot.” ($34,672)The list goes on and on. Actress Jessica Clarke picked up $9960 to “develop my classical actor skill set, grow my networks and develop a sustainable arts practice.” What this means in practice was revealed in a subsequent Twitter message from Clarke: “Off to London today thanks to my Art Starts grant!”
- “Enriching my sensory theatre practice with Master classes and mentoring in Body Mind Centering praxis.” ($12,000)
- “Dance theatre work devised by participants who identify as fat/large/bigger bodied.” ($20,000)
- “An interactive food based performance event sharing migrant/refugee mothers’ migration experiences.” ($35,000)
- “Traditional rainforest basketry training programs.” ($21,360)
- “Development of a new work exploring fictitious dance histories and conspiracies.” ($8,796)
- “Establish an independent arts practice that can sustainably produce puppet based visual theatre” ($8064)
The finest grant of them all occurred in 2011, when Sydney artist Denis Beaubois received $20,000 from the Australia Council. Beaubois simply piled the cash into two stacks, put a glass box around it and called the resultant piece “Currency”. The arts grant and the art were one and the same.
Then he put the money up for sale at an auction – where someone actually paid $21,350 to buy $20,000. ‘’The money I make will be used to finance part two of the project, which is a series of performance/video works on the division of labour, and capitalism,’’ Beaubois said at the time. There is a much easier way for Beaubois and all Australian artists to study capitalism, and that is by participating in it. The Australia Council should be shut down, along with just about all arts funding. This would save close to $700 million per year and – absolutely guaranteed – would result in better art.
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Fiscal drag at least spreads the pain
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (8:00am)
Henry Ergas says the real problem is our wild spending. Until that is fixed, he’s not panicking about fiscal drag:
As for the government’s strategy of relying heavily on fiscal drag to inch us towards surplus, it is not entirely without merit: at least it erodes the tax-free threshold which Labor had set too high, allowing vast numbers of beneficiaries of public spending to escape income tax. And by spreading the pain widely, fiscal drag imposes far lower economic costs than the tax slugs on the middle class Labor has in mind.
But it does too little to cure our spending habit. That requires redefining the politics of public expenditure in a way this government has so far failed to do, with effects that will bite as it tries to restrain the lavish spending Labor promised on hospitals and schools.
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The ABC or the weather? Malcolm Turnbull has the power to change one
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (7:45am)
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull on bias at the ABC:
Turnbull doesn’t complain about the ABC, which he actually does have power to change.
Turnbull does complain about the weather, which he indeed cannot change but still wants to attempt with a tax.
UPDATE
And one form of complaining is effective. Calling out bias alerts the public to the journalists’ agenda.
We need to remember what Winston Churchill said – that complaining about newspapers is like complaining about the weather.It is?
Turnbull doesn’t complain about the ABC, which he actually does have power to change.
Turnbull does complain about the weather, which he indeed cannot change but still wants to attempt with a tax.
UPDATE
And one form of complaining is effective. Calling out bias alerts the public to the journalists’ agenda.
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Court jesters
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (7:39am)
Secret tapes? Foul language? Sickies? Strikes? Who can possibly have confidence in the Supreme Court of Queensland?
One of Queensland’s most senior Supreme Court judges secretly recorded an expletive-laden meeting with the state’s top judge, Tim Carmody, about who would preside over a then looming court case that could have decided this year’s state election.
In an extraordinary display of the worsening dysfunction within the Queensland judiciary, judge John Byrne used a smartphone to capture his explosive meeting with Chief Justice Carmody and another judge, David Boddice, days after the January 31 poll.
Chief Justice Carmody is purported to have referred to judges collectively as “scum’’ during the exchange to appoint a judge for an anticipated court case over the result in a Brisbane seat in the cliffhanger election…
It comes as the Chief Justice — elevated from chief magistrate last July by ousted premier Campbell Newman — today begins a month-long sick leave for a back problem.
The emergence of the recording also follows the public airing of a spat between Chief Justice Carmody and Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo — who is refusing to sit on another case with the Chief Justice — after a dispute in the appeal of Daniel Morcombe’s killer, Brett Peter Cowan.
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Turnbull puts free speech back on the agenda
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (7:18am)
Malcolm Turnbull is right, of course:
Government backbenchers pushing for change to the Racial Discrimination Act say it’s time to reopen the debate now that Communications Minister and prominent moderate Malcolm Turnbull has added his support.
Mr Turnbull has extended an olive branch to the Liberal Party’s right-wingers by publicly endorsing a milder proposal to reform Section 18C of the act, which conservative commentator Andrew Bolt was found to have contravened in 2011.
Mr Turnbull made the comments during his first ever appearance on Bolt’s television program…
Family First senator Bob Day put forward a compromise proposal after Prime Minister Tony Abbott reneged on his election promise to repeal the act.
The Day amendment would strike out the words “insult” and “offend”, meaning it would no longer be an offence to insult and offend a person on the grounds of race. It would, however, remain an offence to intimidate or humiliate a person.
Mr Turnbull said he was “very comfortable” with the so-called Day amendment and did not believe it would have “any negative impact”. But he stressed the government’s policy is to leave Section 18C unchanged…
Up to half a dozen Liberal senators have previously told Fairfax they are willing to cross the floor to support the Day amendment, which is being co-sponsored by Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjlelm and two Liberals: Dean Smith and Cory Bernardi. Senators Smith and Bernardi welcomed Mr Turnbull’s endorsement and called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to reopen the debate, saying the government now had political capital to re-prosecute the case for free speech.
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More ABC programming for terrorists
Andrew Bolt May 18 2015 (7:05am)
Incredible priorities from the Rudd and Gillard Governments in the age of terrorism:
Labor cut Australia’s anti-terrorism budget while giving more to the ABC.
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IPSOS poll: Abbott’s stunning recovery continues, to 50/50
Andrew Bolt May 17 2015 (8:48pm)
How funny. The press pack denied its prey. So many predictions confounded. The ABC now in terror. Liberal rats reboarding the ship. Labor now desperately searching for policies. The haters choking on their bile.
And ABC host Barrie Cassidy forced to change the sting for his weekly spot on ABC host Jon Faine’s show, which, recorded at the height of the Abbott-will-fall hype, from memory goes: “That’s the problem with leadership speculation. Once it starts it never stops.”:
And ABC host Barrie Cassidy forced to change the sting for his weekly spot on ABC host Jon Faine’s show, which, recorded at the height of the Abbott-will-fall hype, from memory goes: “That’s the problem with leadership speculation. Once it starts it never stops.”:
In a stunning reversal of fortunes, the government has now pulled even with the Labor opposition [in the latest Fairfax IPSOS poll]....I do recall one commentator mocking my call that we were witnessing a “stunning recovery”. Let us see how he reacts to this change in the wind.
Mr Abbott has also shot into the lead as the preferred prime minister ahead of Labor’s Bill Shorten.
At 44-39, it is the first time Mr Abbott has led on that index since April 2014 and the first time the government has been in a potentially election-winning position since February of that year…
The latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll has found support for the two parties is now locked at 50-50 in the immediate aftermath of the government’s 2015 budget…
The poll represents a cumulative 8 point switch from the 46-54 result recorded in the April survey…
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Ultimate selfies.....
Posted by Andy Trieu on Monday, 18 May 2015
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Day's End
Posted by Matt Granz on Monday, 18 May 2015
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ICYMI: Former President George W. Bush had some words of wisdom for SMU's 2015 graduating class.Share this with friends who could use a little inspiration!
Posted by Fox News on Sunday, 17 May 2015
highly misunderestimated===
SHORTEN HAD BETTER KEEP ABREAST OF WHAT LIES AHEADUnion thugs make excellent union thugs but they never make Prime...
Posted by Larry Pickering on Sunday, 17 May 2015
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"Pope calls Abbas 'angel of peace' during Vatican meeting" What are your thoughts on that statement ?
Posted by Unofficial: Australian Jewish Communal Lobby on Saturday, 16 May 2015
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Posted by Terrell Suggs on Friday, 13 April 2012
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In honor of the 115th anniversary of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, here are some fun facts about how the book and movie differ: http://bit.ly/1EQ0QjI
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Sunday, 17 May 2015
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THE DISMISSAL
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 18, 2013 (5:35am)
Simon Crean’s March sacking echoed events of three decades prior:
Julia Gillard was enraged as she watched on television Simon Crean tell a feverish media scrum that she should call a leadership spill ...Her chief of staff, Ben Hubbard, was directed to obtain Crean’s resignation. When he was rebuffed, a letter of advice was prepared for the Governor-General recommending the termination of Crean’s commission.Crean became the first minister in 35 years to be dismissed from office by the Governor-General on the instructions of the Prime Minister, rather than resign. No Labor minister has been sacked in this way since Jim Cairns in 1975.
There’s a lot of 1975 in the current government’s trajectory. Meanwhile, old pals work the crowds:
Rudd was out campaigning in Brisbane yesterday alongside Swan, the man who last year accused him of having no Labor values.
Perhaps Labor’s power pair discussed Kerry-Anne Walsh’s soon-to-be-released book:
This controversial and revealing book exposes how Team Rudd, in conjunction with a compliant media pack and a vicious commentariat, contrived to bring down Australia’s first woman prime minister.
Er … didn’t Gillard bring down Rudd? I can’t remember. Anyway, the title seems problematic:
“Stalking”? This may be an issue for the metaphor experts at Polifact. According to NSW police:
“Stalking”? This may be an issue for the metaphor experts at Polifact. According to NSW police:
Stalking is a crime. Under the Crime (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007, stalking includes the following of a person about or the watching or frequenting of the vicinity of, or an approach to a person’s place of residence, business or work or any place that a person frequents for the purposes of any activity.Stalking involves a persistent course of conduct or actions by a person which are intended to maintain contact with, or exercise power and control over another person. These actions cause distress, loss of control, fear or harassment to another person and occur more than once.
Team Rudd is allegedly one busy outfit.
UPDATE. That Rudd/Swan meeting didn’t last for long. Note at the link that Rudd is looking at his watch, because of sexism.
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QUICK FLIP
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 18, 2013 (4:40am)
Hyperactive horse in Holland:
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WHALE OF A TIME
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 18, 2013 (4:37am)
Joe Hildebrand calmly reflects on this week’s budget experience:
At 7.30pm when the doors open, we are set free into the Canberra night to experience all the joys our capital has to offer, such as freezing to death in a gutter.
Still on Canberra, even National Public Radio in the US now joins the Skywhale fun. And the whalehead look captivates our capital:
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MIGHT AND RIGHT
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 18, 2013 (4:25am)
Physical strength linked to politics:
Men who are physically strong are more likely to take a right wing political stance, while weaker men are inclined to support the welfare state, according to a new study.Researchers discovered political motivations may have evolutionary links to physical strength.Men’s upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to the research.
The research actually goes a little deeper:
Put another way, this study says that liberals are a coalition of rich wimpy men and strong poor men. By contrast, conservatives are a coalition of rich strong men and poor weak men.
(Via Instapundit)
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PALESTINIAN FRIED CHICKEN
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 18, 2013 (4:11am)
Gaza’s horror – expensive KFC, delivered via tunnels:
The French fries arrive soggy, the chicken having long since lost its crunch. A 12-piece bucket goes for about $27 here — more than twice the $11.50 it costs just across the border in Egypt.
Will the suffering never end?
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GO LEFT, GO SMALL
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 18, 2013 (3:46am)
As Fairfax is to the ABC, the Guardian is to the BBC:
The BBC has announced the appointment of a new editor for Newsnight … the job has not gone to a BBC veteran but to Ian Katz, the Deputy Editor of the Guardian. Fancy that …I am simply flabbergasted by the insensitivity and political crassness of the BBC management. Do they have no idea how this looks? Can they not see that, so far as their critics are concerned, there is something deeply sinister about the apparently cosy relationship between the country’s most blatantly Left-wing newspaper and the BBC’s political coverage? What in the name of God are they thinking?
They can’t be thinking about expanding their audience. The Guardian‘s circulation recently dropped to below 200,000, barely ahead of the major Fairfax titles in Australia.
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The Rembrandt of all flash mobs
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (3:13pm)
The Rijksmuseum is finally open again after one of the greatest cock-ups in museum history - a renovation, sabotaged through bureaucracy, which kept this great art museum closed for a decade.
But at least this stunt, to announce the rehanging of the musuem’s most famous painting, went off brilliantly:(Thanks to reader leel.)
But at least this stunt, to announce the rehanging of the musuem’s most famous painting, went off brilliantly:(Thanks to reader leel.)
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Socialism is for wimps
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (11:33am)
I type this with muscular fingers:
MEN with strong upper body strength are more likely to vote conservativelywhile physically weaker males have a greater tendency towards left-leaning views.
And stronger men are more likely to protect their resources while weaker males favour more socialist views such as wealth distribution, researchers claim.
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Labor promises no surplus in its next term
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (11:27am)
Terry McCrann says Wayne Swan’s Budget is beyond parody:
What’s passed broadly unnoticed since Tuesday is that the Treasurer, even on his and Treasury’s dubiously optimistic fiscal and economic forecasting, is effectively promising to have budget deficits right through the full term of the next Gillard-Swan government, were it to win re-election in September.
Swan is effectively promising: re-elect us, and we will deliver three more years (at least) of deficits.
If everything went exactly right, the forecasts for both the economy and the two sides of the budget were exactly correct; and critically, government didn’t initiate a single dollar of new spending over the next three years; we would get a surplus of $1bn in 2015-16. Has there ever been a more stellar demonstration of lack of self-awareness? A year ago Swan promised a surplus of, well, $1bn, and delivered a deficit of $19bn. And now he still has as his first—still only promised—surplus the same ridiculously silly figure of $1bn…
On the not unreasonable assumption that a government, any government, would initiate some new spending, at some point in a three-year term, that is actually a forecast of a deficit in 2015-16. Even if the sun keeps shining… The forecasts are the very opposite of “robust”. They pivot entirely on the assumption that China will keep roaring along at near 8 per cent rates of growth in its economy.
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Tasmania: paradise for unions. Pity the wages
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (11:19am)
I don’t think this is a coincidence:
New figures show that 26 per cent of workers in Tasmania belong to a trade union, well above the national average of 18 per cent. But Tasmanian wages are the lowest in the country, with average weekly earnings at $1283 - compared with the national average of $1487…Reader TassieRooster notes:
The state with the highest average weekly earnings is Western Australia at $1785. That state also has the lowest union membership at 14 per cent.
Obviously our high proportion of public servants account for this as only 13% of non-government employees here are in a union.
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Green power means no work for Speedy
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (11:09am)
Reader Speedy on the price of green power - which has made South Australia’s electricity prices the highest of any state:
Somewhat relevant to your story about green energy and South Australian electricity prices.
I am in SA at work at a paper mill 11:30pm and every single production line is currently shut down due to excessive spot market electricity prices. This is becoming a more regular practice, in the last week alone the machinery here has shut for approximately 10 hours solely because it is cheaper for the company to have the machinery idle and wear the loss than to actually run and make product. The longer Australian governments fail to build coal fired electricity generation plants the longer this sort of practice will continue and more and more Australian manufacturing will go the way of the dinosaur.
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Bolt Report tomorrow
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (10:57am)
On Network 10 at 10am:
How did the Budget blow so many billions so fast?
Anthony Albanese joins us - the only Labor Minister ever to agree to come on the show.
Peter Costello and Michael Costa on the Budget and Tony Abbott’s cuts. Then there’s Julia Gillard’s tears.
Spin of the Week: won by ...
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
How did the Budget blow so many billions so fast?
Anthony Albanese joins us - the only Labor Minister ever to agree to come on the show.
Peter Costello and Michael Costa on the Budget and Tony Abbott’s cuts. Then there’s Julia Gillard’s tears.
Spin of the Week: won by ...
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
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Labor’s Mundine endorses Abbott
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (10:52am)
Even a former Labor president now embraces Tony Abbott:
Always liked Mundine’s style:
FORMER Labor Party national president Warren Mundine is poised to assume a powerful position in indigenous affairs under a conservative government after forging an extraordinary alliance with Tony Abbott that he declared was “bigger than partisan politics"…By “the Prime Minister”, Mundine means Abbott. Gillard is history already.
Mr Mundine, who quit the Labor Party six months ago, has endorsed Mr Abbott’s vision for Aboriginal Australia and confirmed he stands ready to serve a future prime minister in the quest to end indigenous disparity, regardless of that leader’s political stripe. “If the Prime Minister offers me a job I would seriously consider it and possibly take it,” he said.
Always liked Mundine’s style:
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Turning off Gillard’s tears
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (10:38am)
Michael Gordon, long the Prime Minister’s go-to journalist, concedes the public no longer even trust Julia Gillard’s tears:
Paul Kelly is right - the public won’t fall for a scare about what the Liberals might do when they’ve seen what Labor has done already:
Yet an analysis by iSentia reveals that the reaction to this rare and clearly genuine display of emotion by the Prime Minister was ‘’moderately unfavourable’’ on talkback radio, with remarks including ‘’Gillard is crying for herself, not disabled people’’.Peter Hartcher speaks to a Labor MP who seems to share that view:
Labor’s budget this week is like the pyramid of an Egyptian pharaoh, says one of the party’s federal MPs: “Gillard is building the monuments for her legacy, and she’s sacrificing us slaves in the process...”
... now, according to Gillard’s unimpressed MP, we see the narcissism of legacy-building. What are her modern-day pyramids and sphinxes? One is the national disability insurance scheme that Gillard has labelled DisabilityCare.
It’s the Black Knight all over again. Laurie Oakes, who so often has hailed past turning points for Labor (the carbon tax, Obama’s visit, making Slippery Pete the Speaker) says Labor now detects another:
The Coalition benches erupted in delight at the end of Abbott’s speech. Faces on the government side were grim. Gillard had sat through it with an expression like a sour Easter Island statue.Good luck with that. Labor wants us to worry not about what it has done, but about what the Liberals might do. Don’t think that will work, not least because Labor’s own cuts kind of spoil the message:
But, after poring over what Abbott had said, Labor’s leaders and their minders were a little less down in the mouth.
They realised the speech meant the Opposition Leader was starting to move away from his small-target strategy.
”The clouds parted and we saw a bit of blue sky,” according to a party strategist.
Abbott’s rejection of the Gonski school funding measures, he said, “makes the election about education—our issue”. Labor will now portray Abbott as taking away billions of dollars from school children.
Fairfax Media analysis reveals federal support for schools would be $21 million lower in 2014-15 and $136 million lower in 2015-16, compared with what was previously budgeted.UPDATE
Paul Kelly is right - the public won’t fall for a scare about what the Liberals might do when they’ve seen what Labor has done already:
Gillard will turn this into a contest of Labor icons and values - witness schools, superannuation, care for the low paid and rejection of fiscal austerity - against her allegation of Liberals who “always cut to the bone”. Seizing on Abbott’s language of “budget emergency”, Gillard said Abbott wanted “only more and deeper cuts”.(Thanks to reader Peter.)
Yet Abbott is merely confronting Labor’s budget mismanagement. Labor’s problem is that the public realises this. It knows Labor’s surplus never arrived and has been postponed, at best, to 2015-16. Abbott’s election message is that his mission is to repair Labor’s mess and this will have community traction.
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Remember when Labor would stop the warming, house the homeless and teach the children?
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (10:14am)
Kevin Rudd declares in 2007:
UPDATE
No different with Julia Gillard, of course, except the dreams collapse much faster.
Gillard a month ago:
Climate change is the great moral challenge of our generation.Today:
Australia has all but dumped $75 million of projects regrowing forests in the developing world and shelved a $100 million forest carbon partnership between Indonesia and Australia…Kevin Rudd promises in 2008:
Australia’s contribution to global environment programs will plummet from $74.1 million in 2012-13 to just $1.5 million next year, the budget papers reveal.
KEVIN RUDD has declared a 10-year effort to tackle homelessness, warning that the problem is getting worse despite the nation’s soaring wealth…Rudd’s target:
About 100,000 people a night are homeless…
...halve overall homelessness by 2020Today:
THE head of one of the nation’s largest charities has expressed concern that Labor has abandoned its commitment to halving homelessness by 2020 after the federal budget failed to fund efforts beyond just one year.Judge not by seeming but by achieving. It’s a critical difference between the Left and conservatives.
National chief executive of the St Vincent de Paul Society Dr John Falzon said ... “There are 105,000 Australians trapped in the cycle of homelessness...”
UPDATE
No different with Julia Gillard, of course, except the dreams collapse much faster.
Gillard a month ago:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has unveiled the Government’s long-awaited plan to overhaul school funding, promising to contribute 65 per cent of the total cost…Today:
“It’s a lot of money, but I believe it is a wise investment in our children’s future and in our nation’s future.”
Julia Gillard’s signature school funding reforms would deliver a saving to the budget bottom line in two of the next three years, despite her pledge to provide billions of dollars in spending increases.
Fairfax Media analysis reveals federal support for schools would be $21 million lower in 2014-15 and $136 million lower in 2015-16, compared with what was previously budgeted. In these years the extra cash offered under the Gonski reforms is exceeded by the ‘’redirection’’ of money earmarked for national partnership programs.
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Taxed by Big Government on their prayers
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (10:06am)
The Internal Revenue Service scandal - Big Government persecuting conservatives - just gets more amazing:
During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing today, Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., grilled outgoing IRS commissioner Steven Miller about the IRS targeting a pro-life group in Iowa.What did Obama know and when did he know it?
“Their question, specifically asked from the IRS to the Coalition for Life of Iowa: ‘Please detail the content of the members of your organization’s prayers,’” Schock declared. “Would that be an inappropriate question to a 501 c3 applicant?” asked Schock. “The content of one’s prayers?”
The Treasury Department’s inspector general told senior Treasury officials in June 2012 he was auditing the Internal Revenue Service’s screening of politically active organizations seeking tax exemptions, disclosing for the first time on Friday that Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year…The Left never accept they have a bias:
J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he informed the Treasury’s general counsel of his audit on June 4, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin “shortly thereafter."… Complaints from Tea Party groups that the I.R.S. was singling them out became public in 2012, through media accounts.
Steven T. Miller, the acting I.R.S. commissioner, who has resigned, called the agency’s actions “obnoxious,” but told the House Ways and Means Committee they were not motivated by partisanship.
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A great prime minister, ruined by evil journalists
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (7:54am)
Journalist Kerry-Anne Walsh strikes me as tribal, and, of course, Left of centre. No surprise or novelty there. But what’s odd is the Manichean view of the world that goes with it: what helps her side is good, what hurts is perforce evil.
Here’s a recent example. It’s “obscene” when a Murdoch newspaper publicises bad polls for Labor, it’s less so when the Leftist Fairfax papers do so, and its perfectly fine when anyone at all uses polls to attack the Liberals instead.
Hold that thought…
The very same with-us-or-against-us moral framework informs Walsh’s soon-to-be-released book, to judge by the extraordinary publisher’s blurb. The book’s thesis:
If it wasn’t for her media critics, Gillard would be sailing. Voters are morons, Gillard is great.
But wait. Aren’t there in fact plenty of media outlets - the ABC, SBS, mummy bloggers, Fairfax papers and so on - who have been sympathetic to Gillard and viciously hostile to Tony Abbott?
Hmm. In fact, this brings us back to Walsh’s strange with-us-or-against-us moral judgement, as outlined by her publisher. Yes, there was a time when the media “collective” - especially a “fawning Canberra press gallery” - did side with Gillard, but that was seemingly good:
Chris Kenny today notes the same meme in ABC reporting of the Government’s Budget:
Here’s a recent example. It’s “obscene” when a Murdoch newspaper publicises bad polls for Labor, it’s less so when the Leftist Fairfax papers do so, and its perfectly fine when anyone at all uses polls to attack the Liberals instead.
Kerry-Anne Walsh, Niki Savva and David Speers, Sky News yesterday:On the other hand:
WALSH: Your newspaper would be very pleased we’re discussing (Newspoll) before it’s even published. And then all day tomorrow it will feed into the eternal question of leadership, derail the government for another day - fabulous opportunity for doorstops for Tony Abbott. All for what? Because The Australian has a great marketing tool ... it’s a political intervention tool on behalf of The Australian and frankly the obsession with opinion polls is just bordering on the obscene.
Speers: A political intervention by The Australian?
Walsh: Yes, absolutely. They write these polls up continuously ... You have commentators, you have analysts saying that this now, yet again, spells the end for Gillard; this is what’s going to come out tomorrow.
Savva: It’s not like it’s something new ...
Host: What, then, was the Nielsen poll put out by Fairfax last week?
Walsh: The Nielsen poll, if you recall when it was carried that day, there were five of its journalists who interpreted it carried the death knell for Labor.
Speers: So they’re all intervening in politics as well?
Walsh: I think The Australian’s journalists and commentators are far more forceful about their opinions and about their use of Newspoll and always have been than the Nielsen, the Fairfax journalists.
Happy Christmas, poll lovers! Walsh in The Sunday Telegraph, December 24, 2000:Note, incidentally, how Walsh seems to regard the recent polls - showing the Gillard Government at appalling lows - as signifying nothing significant in themselves. It’s as if the public’s low opinion of Gillard is not real or worthy of mention. The polls are significant only in how journalists use them to manipulate a public without a mind or judgement of its own.
IF John Howard is taking seriously opinion polls that suggest Labor has to do nothing more than sit patiently to win government, his portfolio shuffle ... has the hallmarks of a prime minister looking to the longer-term future of his party…Kerry-Anne Walsh, The Sydney Morning Herald, October 14, 2007:
PRIME minister John Howard said on Friday that the election would boil down to one question: “Which side of politics has what it takes to keep Australia strong, prosperous and secure into the future?” Today’s exclusive Sun-Herald/Taverner poll has the answer. And it’s not one Mr Howard wants to hear.
Hold that thought…
The very same with-us-or-against-us moral framework informs Walsh’s soon-to-be-released book, to judge by the extraordinary publisher’s blurb. The book’s thesis:
This is the story of one of the most extraordinary episodes in recent Australian political history, of how a powerful media pack, a vicious commentariat and some of those within her own party contrived to bring down Australia’s first woman prime minister.Here we go ahead. The public hasn’t itself decided this government has lied, cheated and bungled, dividing Australians with its politics of hate and it racks up unforgivable debt in a boom. No, it’s “a powerful media pack, a vicious commentariat and some of those within her own party” who have “contrived to bring down Australia’s first woman prime minister”.
If it wasn’t for her media critics, Gillard would be sailing. Voters are morons, Gillard is great.
But wait. Aren’t there in fact plenty of media outlets - the ABC, SBS, mummy bloggers, Fairfax papers and so on - who have been sympathetic to Gillard and viciously hostile to Tony Abbott?
Hmm. In fact, this brings us back to Walsh’s strange with-us-or-against-us moral judgement, as outlined by her publisher. Yes, there was a time when the media “collective” - especially a “fawning Canberra press gallery” - did side with Gillard, but that was seemingly good:
Julia Gillard took the reins of the Australian Labor Party on 24 June 2010; she did so with the goodwill of the majority of her party and a fawning Canberra press gallery at her feet. The man she supplanted, Kevin Rudd, led an isolated band of angry Labor voices at this surprising turn of events; the collective political and media verdict was that his time, short though it had been, was up....But then “interstate journalists”, and some “key” ones in Canberra, undid all that good work - and this was bad. This was “stalking” and not “fair”:
By the time Gillard announced in February 2011 that her government would introduce a carbon pricing scheme, Rudd and his small team of malcontents were in lock-step with key Canberra and interstate journalists in a drive to push her out of the prime ministerial chair…Walsh shares the delusion that has crippled Labor under Gillard. It’s a great government, ruined only by a bad press and a failure to “get out its message”.
Once deposed, Rudd’s toxic ambition appears to have been either to either return to the leadership, or destroy the government that had dumped him and the woman who had replaced him. In this pursuit he was abetted by political journalists who became pawns in Rudd’s leadership games… This is the story about one of the most extraordinary episodes in recent Australian political history. It focuses on Team Rudd and the media’s treatment of its slow-death campaign of destabilisation, with its disastrous effect on Gillard and the government’s functioning. This account is about a politician who was never given a fair go; not in the media, not by Rudd, not by some in caucus. Never has a politician been so assiduously stalked. Cast as a political liar and policy charlatan, she was also mercilessly and relentlessly lampooned for her hair, clothes, accent, her arse, even the way she walks and talks.
Chris Kenny today notes the same meme in ABC reporting of the Government’s Budget:
This was the day after the Treasurer delivered his sixth budget deficit in a row; the dirty half-dozen.Don’t you see, you fools: Gillard is a great Prime Minister, betrayed by vicious journalists who have hoaxed a brainless public. No wonder the Left want laws to muzzle such an evil media.
Host Emily Bourke asked economics correspondent Stephen Long a question that, arguably, would not have been on the tip of the tongue for most taxpayers: “Why do you think Labor isn’t getting more credit for its economic achievements?”
“I think it’s a combination of things, Emily,” was Long’s promising start. Perhaps one of those “combination of things” would be the fact this budget, delivering a $19 billion deficit, came immediately after the one that announced four surpluses.
But no, that wasn’t Long’s train of thought.
“I think it’s that Labor lacks a Paul Keating,” he said. Ah, this time we could see where he was going. Long would explain the need for a competent financial manager and serious economic reformer. Wrong again.
“A big-picture storyteller who can sell its message,” he explained.
Really? A storyteller. Paul Keating or Mem Fox, take your pick.
Here was I thinking it might be about keeping promises, meeting forecasts and even ensuring numbers add up.
Long said Labor’s “managerialist way” had delivered changes in “little dribs and drabs” rather than in a “bold plan” and this, apparently, explained why the government didn’t get the credit it deserved.
But wait, as the infomercials say, there’s more. “Also a hostile media environment,” Long continued, “where sections of the press have been coming from an ideological perspective that’s hostile to what Labor’s been trying to achieve.”
===
Solidarity forever … gone
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (7:09am)
They’ve fractured their own party like they’ve fractured the country:
THE most awkward reunion in recent political memory was over with a handshake and just four words yesterday.
“Welcome to my electorate,” smiled former prime minister Kevin Rudd to Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan - the man who famously accused Mr Rudd of “putting his own self-interest ahead of the interests of the broader Labor movement and the country as a whole” following his unsuccessful February 2012 leadership spill. It was then left to Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese - who was also attending the event, a joint press conference at Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point - to break the awkward silence with some small talk about last night’s Brisbane Broncos match at Suncorp Stadium.
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That was not the time to stop Bess Price speaking
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (12:19am)
Reader Sisyphus alerts me to something symbolic - and sad - about the way Bess Price’s stunning speech below was stopped:
For readers of this blog, Price is a voice that should be heeded, not such down:
Reader elinjaa:
Andrew,Given the content of Price’s speech, Lawrie’s intervention was doubly unfortunate.
It is worth noting that Mrs Price’ incredibly important and powerful speech to the NT Legislative Assembly on Thursday was shut down by Mrs Delia Lawrie, the Leader of the Opposition and foremost Labor politician in the NT.
From the Hansard of the NTLA:
Mrs LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! I have to draw your attention to the clock, it is a standing order. Mr DEPUTYSPEAKER: In adjournment we do have a bit of leniency. Continue, Member for Stuart …
Mrs LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! We do not actually. I appreciate Bess’s speech, by the way, and believe this should be normally spoken in full length. I am sure you can do it another time, but there are conventions …
For readers of this blog, Price is a voice that should be heeded, not such down:
Reader elinjaa:
I have an enormous amount of respect for Bess Price. She continues to say that which needs to be said and work for changes that need to be made in the face of constant critisism and abuse from the “progressives"… Perhaps voices like hers will now be heard and the NT will show the rest of the country the way by finding genuine solutions to what seem like intractable problems for indigenous communities.Reader Susie:
WOW - what a woman.Reader Saad:
Oh. My. God.This is by far the most powerful essay I have ever read on the plight of Aboriginal Australia. We must stand behind this brave person, lose the empty symbolic racism that seeks to keep aboriginals in some kind of sick cultural museum and address the issues as we would for all other Australians. Welfare snd the law of the land must be blind to colour, race or creed. Only in this way can we honour the bravery and single-mindedness of Bess Price and the disenfranchised victims she champions in this landmark piece.I hope Tony Abbott reads this essay.
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Bess Price: why this deadly silence when our women are dying?
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (12:11am)
Northern Territory MP Bess Price, one of a number of Aboriginal conservatives now being heard, made this brilliant, brave and shocking speech in the NT Legislative Assembly.
I urge you to read it. Learn of the new racism that shields those who bash, rape and kill Aboriginal women and children in particular, and which punishes those, like Bess, who speak out against it:
Within the last four months, two more young mothers related to me were killed in Alice Springs Town Camp. One was injured mortally in the public, in front of several families. Nobody acted to protect her. Dozens of my female relatives have been killed this way. Convictions usually lead to light sentences. I was told by a senior lawyer that no jury in Alice Springs will convict an Aboriginal person for murder if the victim is also Aboriginal and he or she is only stabbed once.
We all have done nothing effective to stop this from happening. It has been going on for decades. This week we heard outrage from the Stolen Generation Association because this government wants to put the safety and wellbeing of our children first before their (inaudible) culture. I am not talking about the children of the Stolen Generation. It is our children.
Why hasn’t there been the same outrage over the continuing killing of our women and abuse and neglect of our kids? If these women victims were white, we would hear very loud outrage from feminists. If their killers had been white, we would hear outrage from the Indigenous activists. Why is there such a deafening silence when both victim and perpetrator are black? I believe that we can blame the politics of the progressive left and its comfortably middle class urban Indigenous supporters.
Because I have spoken out on this issue and others close to my heart, I have been routinely attacked by the left. Professor Larissa Behrendt claimed that what I say is more offensive than watching a man having sex with a horse. Her white professional protester colleague, Paddy Gibson, told the world that I was only doing it for the money and frequent flyer points. The Queensland educationist, Chris Sarra, said that I was ‘pet Aborigine’ who only said what the government wanted me to say. Chris Graham, the white editor of Tracker magazine called me a ‘grub’. A white woman in Victoria, Leonie Chester, calls herself Nampijinpa Snowy River, on the internet. She tells the world that my people, the Warlpiri, are ‘her mob’. She and her friends have obscenely insulted me on the internet, over and over. Marlene Hodder, a white woman from Alice Springs and her protesting friend, Barbara Shaw, have called me a liar several times.
The Crikey blogger, Bob Gosford, who calls himself ‘the Northern Myth’, calls me Bess ‘Gaol is Good for Aboriginal People’ Price and accuses me of ‘vaguely malevolent and populist buffoonery that is designed to capture the attention of the tutt-tutterers and spouted by politicians that inevitably have a short tenure in power’. In Brisbane, Tiga Bayles, using an Indigenous community owned radio station, told the whole world that I am ‘a head nodding Jacky-Jacky for the government’ and that I am ‘totally offensive and arrogant’ because I do not want people like Tiga who know nothing about us, speaking about my people. He and his friends laughed as they told the world that I am only interested in money.
When my daughter went to Sydney for the Deadly Awards, an Aboriginal interviewer for the Koori Radio Station in Redfern advised her not to tell anybody who her mother was. This is how these people show respect for family. In the last month, I have watched three of my sisters and a grand-daughter being buried. These racists and sexists hypocrites sneer at our grief and care nothing for our suffering, but they are the darlings of the left. I wonder what would happen if Andrew Bolt had used insults like these against any Indigenous Australian. The hypocrisy of these people is incredible.
But I am in good company. When Mantatjara Wilson, a wonderful strong compassionate women I called mother, told the world about the crimes against her children on national TV, back in 2007, with tears streaming down her face. The left-wing activist moved to undermine her. They went into the communities not to protect the kids but to find women who would oppose Mantatjara. They talked about outrage and shame, not because of the crimes you all know about but because somebody else was brave enough to tell the world about them and ask for help. That was what they called shameful.
They worry about the shame felt by perpetrators once they were exposed, not because of the agony of the victims and families. It is easy to find women who will support their men even though they are killers and rapists. Families are always stand up for their own and those who call themselves progressive will always find those willing to stand beside them and betray their own women and kids.
I few others have stood up and faced the vicious criticism of the left. I acknowledge the wonderful work of Dr Hannah McGlade in Perth and Professor Marcia Langton in Melbourne. Warren Mundine and Noel Pearson have also spoken out. A conference of Aboriginal men in Alice Springs publicly apologised to Aboriginal women and kids for the violence and abuse men have inflicted on them. None of those people have received support from the left or from Labor governments.
The left has tried really hard to call us liars and to put us down for speaking the truth and for wanting to stop the killing and the sexual violence. But they have put no effort, none at all, into protecting our kids and women. The exception to this has been a determination of Minister Jenny Macklin, who I acknowledge for her courage in the face of strong criticism from her own party and the Greens.
===
Lagan’s last excuse for saying Kiribati was drowning: some land isn’t nice to stand on
Andrew Bolt May 18 2013 (12:03am)
The Global Mail’s Bernard Lagan said global warming was drowning Kiribati:
I did. As I wrote: it was actually growing, not shrinking.
Now Lagan concedes that, er, yes:
(Lagan tellingly does not address the other howler I picked up in his apocalyptic narrative - his claim that much of the overcrowding in South Tarawa is the result of “outer-islanders fleeing the effects of climate change”. In fact it’s due to a high birth rate, job-seekers drifting to the big town, and more children being sent from outer islands for a schooling.)
So where is Lagan’s apology to his readers? To me, whom he branded a “denier” and liar for pointing out his error?
Now watch as climate alarmism turns into farce.
Having conceded the islands are more likely to be growing than - as he’d claimed - sinking, Lagan now claims it does not actually matter. He insists he is still right for the following reasons (read and weep):
The waves are slowly seeping over Kiribati, which is at the frontline of the climate-change-induced rise in sea levels...When I showed one island of Kiribati clearly unaffected by any rising seas, Lagan insisted I check instead South Tarawa.
I did. As I wrote: it was actually growing, not shrinking.
Now Lagan concedes that, er, yes:
...the most populous atoll of Kiribati – the tiny islet of Betio, Kiribati’s commercial heart – had increased in size by more than 36 hectares over the past 60-odd years. That’s an increase in land area of 30 per cent… (It) is also true, as the scientific paper concluded, the land masses of the low-lying islands and atolls the researchers studied have remained largely stable or even increased over the decades.That is enough right there to destroy that picture he once painted of a sad island, desperately overcrowded with climate refugees, slipping under the waves - and the rest of Kiribati eventually with it.
(Lagan tellingly does not address the other howler I picked up in his apocalyptic narrative - his claim that much of the overcrowding in South Tarawa is the result of “outer-islanders fleeing the effects of climate change”. In fact it’s due to a high birth rate, job-seekers drifting to the big town, and more children being sent from outer islands for a schooling.)
So where is Lagan’s apology to his readers? To me, whom he branded a “denier” and liar for pointing out his error?
Now watch as climate alarmism turns into farce.
Having conceded the islands are more likely to be growing than - as he’d claimed - sinking, Lagan now claims it does not actually matter. He insists he is still right for the following reasons (read and weep):
- some of the extra land is “a stinking mass of reclaimed land” or sediment washed up against a causeway. So that land doesn’t count, apparently because the islanders would from principle rather drown than stand on it.Please read his entire piece. It is absolutely astonishing, and evidence that global warming truly is as I’ve described it - an article of faith, not a product of reason.
- some of the extra land is sediment built up against “great heaps of armor lying in shallow waters”. Apparently this land doesn’t count either, because “these are the remains of the bloody WWII Battle of Tarawa when an American amphibious landing dislodged the occupying Japanese at a frightful cost to both sides”. War is hell.
- true, while the islands so far are waving, not drowning, scientists think that what Lagan said had happened already in Kiribati could still happen one day. “The pace of sea level rise would likely also accelerate big changes to the islands and atolls.” Apparently a future prediction is the same as today’s reality, which suggest Lagan probably also wrote last year’s Budget.
- Lagan “spent time there” in Kiribati, and I didn’t.
===
Bread of Life,
Eternal Manna from Above,
Sweet Jesus, transform me,
Renew me in Your love.
You are my Treasure,
My Food, my Everything;
You are the Word made Flesh,
My Creator, my King.
Lord, You reign above all,
Yet in my heart You dwell,
Indeed more intimately
Than my words can tell.
Your Word I consume,
You and I are then one;
As bread becomes flesh,
I am one with the Son.
Yea, glorious truth:
You are one with me.
I abide in Your Word,
Thus we are one eternally.
Yet a mere sinner I am,
How can this be so?
How can the Holy One
I intimately know?
‘Tis by Your bloodshed,
By Your amazing grace;
By my faith in You,
I know Your embrace.
Eat of Your Living Bread,
Lord, I vow I shall do;
I long all the more
To be ever closer to You.
You are my Treasure,
My Food, my Everything,
You are the Word made Flesh,
My Creator, my King.
Jesus, Bread of Life,
Eternal Manna from Above,
I vow to live for You,
You nourish me with Your love
My Food, my Everything;
You are the Word made Flesh,
My Creator, my King.
Lord, You reign above all,
Yet in my heart You dwell,
Indeed more intimately
Than my words can tell.
Your Word I consume,
You and I are then one;
As bread becomes flesh,
I am one with the Son.
Yea, glorious truth:
You are one with me.
I abide in Your Word,
Thus we are one eternally.
Yet a mere sinner I am,
How can this be so?
How can the Holy One
I intimately know?
‘Tis by Your bloodshed,
By Your amazing grace;
By my faith in You,
I know Your embrace.
Eat of Your Living Bread,
Lord, I vow I shall do;
I long all the more
To be ever closer to You.
You are my Treasure,
My Food, my Everything,
You are the Word made Flesh,
My Creator, my King.
Jesus, Bread of Life,
Eternal Manna from Above,
I vow to live for You,
You nourish me with Your love
===
===
Larry Pickering
REFERENDUM IS A TRICK QUESTION
If the law bores you then read no further, but if you actually care what you are being asked to vote for then don’t expect either party to explain, they won’t and they haven’t, because they can’t afford to.
No-one in their right mind would want our third tier of spendthrift government (councils) to have yet more power.
There are enough thieves in jail from the other two tiers.
Julia Gillard will welcome this silly referendum as another diversion but Abbott curiously gives it his blessing. Why?
Well, all Federal governments would love to bypass the States and, in some cases, that would have merit.
But this referendum has a snowflake’s chance in hell of getting up.
Even with bipartisan support it will need an overall majority, plus a majority in four of the six States and that simply won’t happen. Not this time.
The real reason Federal governments want councils to have Constitutional recognition is that councils have historically acted illegally when imposing fines.
They simply do not have the necessary statutory power to impose default judgments.
“Innocent until proven guilty” is not a law, it’s a principle that should be observed but in reality it is not.
In criminal law the alleged offender is jailed while awaiting trial. He is suspected of being, if not assumed to be, guilty.
Under common law you can be summarily punished. The burden of proof is on you to prove the accuser wrong.
Let’s take the ATO and the CSA, both statutory government Agencies with assumed powers to impose default judgments.
If either sends you a bill for $100,000, the burden of proof rests with you to prove their assessment wrong, even tho' it was they who initiated the action.
But how can you prove them wrong when these government Agencies keep all the best law firms on retainer (it’s hard to find a law firm to act for you) and the cost to challenge the judgment would exceed the assessed amount anyway?
If you are fined by a council for a parking offence or for any other “offence” you are assumed liable for a default judgment they have no statutory power under the Constitution to enforce.
That could open a Pandora’s box rendering every council in the country insolvent via class actions.
So, I walked into the chambers of Tony Morris QC who specialises in Constitutional law.
Not only did he agree with me but he suggested that even the default judgments of Government Agencies were unlawful, but no-one had ever challenged them on Constitutional grounds.
Wow! And he was prepared for a Constitutional challenge for a mate’s rate of $50,000.
Crumbs, that’s really cheap...it appeared a pet subject of his and he gave me reams of files to read up on.
I declined the offer because I didn’t have a lazy 50 grand and I felt sure the cost to re-interpret Constitutional law would escalate closer to a million bucks.
Anyway, ignore the referendum and next time you hear that phrase, “innocent until proven guilty”, better ignore that too.
===
===
PRAY ALONG.
O lord my God.As heaven opens to hear my prayers, I command you devourers and wasters of fortune to depart from my life,I break every curse of failure in the name of Jesus.Amen.
Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin'
Prayer to Play Fair in the Game of Life
Dear Lord, in the struggle that goes on through life, we ask for a field that is fair, a chance that is equal with all the strife, the courage to strive and to dare; and if we should win, let it be by the code, with our faith and our honor held high; and if we should lose, let us stand by the road and cheer as the winners go by. Amen..
Dear Lord, in the struggle that goes on through life, we ask for a field that is fair, a chance that is equal with all the strife, the courage to strive and to dare; and if we should win, let it be by the code, with our faith and our honor held high; and if we should lose, let us stand by the road and cheer as the winners go by. Amen..
===
Beloved, I want you to know that Jesus is with you right now. You may not feel His presence, but He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb 13:5). So thank Jesus for His loving presence whether you feel it or not. Don’t go by your feelings as feelings can be deceptive. Go by His promise that He is Immanuel—God with us always!
===
Live life unafraid, trusting that God will open all the right doors for you! Learn how your Savior holds the key to the doors of eternal life, faith, deliverance and every blessing you need. Discover also what the key of David is, and how worshipping the Lord with the psalms of David can turn your negative situations around.
Click below to check out this powerful Message Of The Year DVD album. Be sure to click 'Like' and share this with your friends! Amen! http://bit.ly/13zdnMb
Click below to check out this powerful Message Of The Year DVD album. Be sure to click 'Like' and share this with your friends! Amen! http://bit.ly/13zdnMb
===
May 18: Flag and Universities Day in Haiti; Day of Revival, Unity, and the Poetry of Magtymguly in Turkmenistan; Sanja Matsuri begins in Tokyo (2013)
- 1863 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led hisArmy of the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of Vicksburg.
- 1869 – One day after surrendering at the Battle of Hakodate,Enomoto Takeaki turned over Goryōkaku to Japanese forces, signaling the collapse of the Republic of Ezo.
- 1927 – Disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off a series of explosives in Bath Township, Michigan's elementary school, which had a final death toll of 45 and is the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.
- 1944 – World War II: Polish forces under Lieutenant General Władysław Anders captured Monte Cassino, Italy, after a four-month battle.
- 1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the FrenchArmy from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended.
- 1980 – The stratovolcano Mount St. Helens erupted (pictured), killing 57 people in southern Washington State, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing over US$1 billion in damage.
- 332 – Constantine the Great announced free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
- 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.
- 1096 – First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany.
- 1152 – The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king 2 years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.
- 1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.
- 1291 – Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.
- 1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
- 1388 – During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
- 1499 – Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
- 1565 – The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.
- 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
- 1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
- 1652 – Rhode Island passes the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal.
- 1756 – The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
- 1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.
- 1794 – Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
- 1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
- 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
- 1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.
- 1812 – John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime MinisterSpencer Perceval.
- 1843 – The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
- 1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
- 1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
- 1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.
- 1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
- 1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
- 1912 – The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
- 1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
- 1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears in Venice, California.
- 1927 – The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
- 1927 – After being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approves Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China.
- 1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
- 1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopersevacuate Monte Cassino.
- 1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
- 1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
- 1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
- 1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.
- 1965 – Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria.
- 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
- 1974 – Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weaponbecoming the sixth nation to do so.
- 1980 – Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
- 1980 – Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
- 1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
- 1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognized by the international community.
- 1993 – Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
- 1994 – Israeli troops finish retreating from the Gaza Strip after occupying it, giving the area to the Palestinians to govern.
- 2005 – A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
- 2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
- 2009 – The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
- 2015 – At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.
- 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (d. 1131)
- 1186 – Konstantin of Rostov (d. 1218)
- 1450 – Piero Soderini, Italian politician and diplomat (d. 1513)
- 1537 – Guido Luca Ferrero, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)
- 1610 – Stefano della Bella, Italian engraver and etcher (d. 1664)
- 1631 – Stanislaus Papczyński, Polish priest (d. 1701)
- 1662 – George Smalridge, English bishop (d. 1719)
- 1692 – Joseph Butler, English bishop, theologian, and apologist (d. 1752)
- 1711 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1787)
- 1777 – John George Children, English chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist (d. 1852)
- 1778 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Irish soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Austria (d. 1854)
- 1785 – John Wilson, Scottish author and critic (d. 1854)
- 1797 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
- 1822 – Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (d. 1896)
- 1835 – Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher and 3rd chancellor of Syracuse University (d. 1908)
- 1850 – Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1925)
- 1851 – James Budd, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of California (d. 1908)
- 1852 – Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (d. 1934)
- 1854 – Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and educator (d. 1924)
- 1855 – Francis Bellamy, American minister and author (d. 1931)
- 1862 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and politician, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1948)
- 1867 – Minakata Kumagusu, Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist (d. 1941)
- 1868 – Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1871 – Denis Horgan, Irish shot putter and weight thrower (d. 1922)
- 1872 – Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1873 – Lucy Beaumont, English-American actress (d. 1937)
- 1876 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)
- 1878 – Johannes Terwogt, Dutch rower (d. 1977)
- 1882 – Babe Adams, American baseball player, manager, and journalist (d. 1968)
- 1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian marshal and politician, 16th President of Brazil (d. 1974)
- 1883 – Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (d. 1969)
- 1886 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
- 1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., American chemist and engineer (d. 1944)
- 1891 – Rudolf Carnap, German-American philosopher and academic (d. 1970)
- 1892 – Ezio Pinza, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1957)
- 1895 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (d. 1934)
- 1896 – Eric Backman, Swedish runner (d. 1965)
- 1897 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1898 – Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Turkish poet, author, and playwright (d. 1973)
- 1901 – Henri Sauguet, French composer (d. 1989)
- 1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Meredith Willson, American playwright and composer (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Shunryū Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator (d. 1971)
- 1904 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York Attorney General (d. 1986)
- 1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1943)
- 1907 – Irene Hunt, American author and educator (d. 2001)
- 1909 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player and academic (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Ester Boserup, Danish economist and author (d. 1999)
- 1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues/R&B singer (d. 1985)
- 1912 – Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (d. 2001)
- 1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African politician (d. 2003)
- 1913 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English publisher and politician (d. 2000)
- 1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer, founded Balmain (d. 1982)
- 1914 – Boris Christoff, Bulgarian-Italian opera singer (d. 1993)
- 1917 – Bill Everett, American author and illustrator (d. 1973)
- 1919 – Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (d. 1991)
- 1920 – Pope John Paul II, (d. 2005)
- 1921 – Michael A. Epstein, English pathologist and academic
- 1922 – Bill Macy, American actor
- 1922 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (d. 1983)
- 1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, Canadian actor and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Priscilla Pointer, American actress
- 1924 – Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster
- 1925 – Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
- 1927 – Richard Body, English politician
- 1927 – Ray Nagel, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Jack Sanford, American baseball player and coach (d. 2000)
- 1929 – Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Warren Rudman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Fred Saberhagen, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- 1931 – Robert Morse, American actor
- 1931 – Kalju Pitksaar, Estonian chess player (d. 1995)
- 1931 – Clément Vincent, Canadian farmer and politician
- 1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician, First Lady of France
- 1933 – H. D. Deve Gowda, Indian farmer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of India
- 1933 – Don Whillans, English rock climber and mountaineer (d. 1985)
- 1934 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor and director
- 1936 – Leon Ashley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Türker İnanoğlu, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1936 – Michael Sandle, English sculptor and academic
- 1937 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourger jurist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Luxembourg
- 1938 – Janet Fish, American painter and academic
- 1939 – Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, English historian, journalist, and politician
- 1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
- 1939 – Gordon O'Connor, Canadian general and politician, 38th Canadian Minister of Defence
- 1940 – Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Gino Brito, Canadian wrestler and promoter
- 1941 – Malcolm Longair, Scottish astronomer, physicist, and academic
- 1941 – Miriam Margolyes, English-Australian actress and singer
- 1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1944 – Albert Hammond, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1944 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist, essayist, and poet (d. 2001)
- 1946 – Frank Hsieh, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 40th Premier of the Republic of China
- 1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1946 – Gerd Langguth, German political scientist and author (d. 2013)
- 1947 – John Bruton, Irish politician, 10th Taoiseach of Ireland
- 1947 – Gail Strickland, American actress
- 1948 – Joe Bonsall, American country/gospel singer
- 1948 – Yi Mun-yol, South Korean author and academic
- 1948 – Richard Swedberg, Swedish sociologist and academic
- 1948 – Tom Udall, American lawyer and politician, 28th New Mexico Attorney General, United States Senator from New Mexico
- 1949 – Rick Wakeman, English progressive rock keyboardist and songwriter (Yes)
- 1950 – Rod Milburn, American hurdler and coach (d. 1997)
- 1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American singer-songwriter and painter
- 1951 – Jim Sundberg, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1951 – Angela Voigt, German long jumper (d. 2013)
- 1952 – Diane Duane, American author and screenwriter
- 1952 – David Leakey, English general and politician
- 1952 – George Strait, American singer, guitarist and producer
- 1952 – Jeana Yeager, American pilot
- 1953 – Alan Kupperberg, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
- 1954 – Wreckless Eric, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1954 – Eric Gerets, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1955 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter
- 1956 – Catherine Corsini, French director and screenwriter
- 1956 – John Godber, English playwright and screenwriter
- 1957 – Michael Cretu, Romanian-German keyboard player and producer
- 1957 – Henrietta Moore, English anthropologist and academic
- 1958 – Rubén Omar Romano, Argentinian-Mexican footballer and coach
- 1958 – Toyah Willcox, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1959 – Graham Dilley, English cricketer and coach (d. 2011)
- 1959 – Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1960 – Brent Ashton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1960 – Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player, coach, and manager
- 1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player
- 1961 – Russell Senior, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1963 – Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1963 – Sam Vincent, American basketball player and coach
- 1964 – Ignasi Guardans, Spanish academic and politician
- 1966 – Renata Nielsen, Polish-Danish long jumper and coach
- 1966 – Michael Tait, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1967 – Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author
- 1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German race car driver
- 1967 – Nancy Juvonen, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded Flower Films
- 1967 – Mimi Macpherson, Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity
- 1968 – Philippe Benetton, French rugby player
- 1968 – Ralf Kelleners, German race car driver
- 1969 – Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1969 – Antônio Carlos Zago, Brazilian footballer and manager
- 1970 – Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1970 – Tim Horan, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
- 1970 – Billy Howerdel, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1971 – Brad Friedel, American soccer player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Mark Menzies, Scottish politician
- 1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese race car driver
- 1972 – Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1973 – Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach
- 1973 – Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (d. 2011)
- 1974 – Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1975 – Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer
- 1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
- 1975 – Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Ron Mercer, American basketball player
- 1976 – Marko Tomasović, Croatian pianist and composer
- 1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Lee Hendrie, English footballer
- 1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer and sportscaster
- 1977 – Li Tie, Chinese footballer and manager
- 1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
- 1978 – Marcus Giles, American baseball player
- 1978 – Charles Kamathi, Kenyan runner
- 1979 – Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft
- 1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
- 1979 – Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer
- 1979 – Julián Speroni, Argentinian footballer
- 1980 – Reggie Evans, American basketball player
- 1980 – Michaël Llodra, French tennis player
- 1980 – Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian footballer
- 1981 – Ashley Harrison, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Jason Brown, English footballer
- 1982 – Marie-Ève Pelletier, Canadian tennis player
- 1983 – Gary O'Neil, English footballer
- 1983 – Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player
- 1983 – Vince Young, American football player
- 1984 – Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter
- 1984 – Simon Pagenaud, French race car driver
- 1984 – Darius Šilinskis, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1984 – Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player
- 1984 – Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist
- 1985 – Oliver Sin, Hungarian painter
- 1985 – Henrique Sereno, Portuguese footballer
- 1986 – Ahmed Hamada, Egyptian race car driver
- 1986 – Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player
- 1990 – Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer
- 1990 – Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer
- 1990 – Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player
- 1993 – Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 – Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
- 1998 – Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
- 1999 – Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
- 2000 – Faim Aydogdiyev, Russian football player
- 2002 – Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater
- 526 – Pope John I (b. 470)
- 893 – Stephen I of Constantinople (b. 867)
- 932 – Ma Shaohong, general of Later Tang
- 947 – Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty
- 978 – Frederick I, duke of Upper Lorraine
- 1065 – Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine (b. c. 1003)
- 1160 – Eric Jedvardsson (King Eric IX) of Sweden (since 1156); (b. circa 1120)
- 1297 – Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury
- 1401 – Vladislaus II of Opole (b. 1332)
- 1410 – Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1352)
- 1550 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (b. 1498)
- 1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter (b. 1486)
- 1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, historian, and theologian (b. 1623)
- 1675 – Jacques Marquette, French-American missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
- 1692 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (b. 1617)
- 1733 – Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (b. 1761)
- 1780 – Charles Hardy, English-American admiral and politician, 29th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1714)
- 1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian-Indian rebel leader (b. 1742)
- 1792 – Levy Solomons, Canadian merchant and fur trader (b. 1730)
- 1795 – Robert Rogers, English colonel (b. 1731)
- 1799 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and publisher (b. 1732)
- 1800 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
- 1807 – John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (b. 1721)
- 1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor, and educator, invented Bourbon whiskey (b. 1738)
- 1844 – Richard McCarty, American lawyer and politician (b. 1780)
- 1853 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (b. 1806)
- 1867 – Clarkson Stanfield, English painter (b. 1793)
- 1889 – Isabella Glyn, Scottish-English actress (b. 1823)
- 1900 – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French archaeologist and philosopher (b. 1813)
- 1908 – Louis-Napoléon Casault, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1823)
- 1909 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
- 1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
- 1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (b. 1841)
- 1910 – Pauline Viardot, French soprano and composer (b. 1821)
- 1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1860)
- 1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1941 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
- 1943 – Ōnishiki Daigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 28th Yokozuna (b. 1883)
- 1947 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
- 1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
- 1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
- 1958 – Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and critic (b. 1881)
- 1963 – Ernie Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1939)
- 1968 – Frank Walsh, Australian politician, 34th Premier of South Australia (b. 1897)
- 1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1908)
- 1973 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (b. 1880)
- 1974 – Harry Ricardo, English engine designer and researcher (b. 1885)
- 1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (b. 1908)
- 1980 – Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
- Reid Blackburn, American photographer and journalist (b. 1952)
- David A. Johnston, American volcanologist and geologist (b. 1949)
- 1980 – Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
- 1981 – Arthur O'Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1981 – William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (b. 1908)
- 1987 – Mahdi Amel, Lebanese journalist, poet, and academic (b. 1936)
- 1989 – Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder and author (b. 1921)
- 1990 – Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
- 1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
- 1995 – Alexander Godunov, Russian-American ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
- 1995 – Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, Irish ufologist and historian (b. 1911)
- 1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
- 1998 – Obaidullah Aleem, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1939)
- 1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1954)
- 1999 – Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)
- 2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian-American composer and musicologist (b. 1946)
- 2001 – Irene Hunt, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
- 2004 – Elvin Jones, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Jaan Eilart, Estonian geographer, ecologist, and historian (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Joseph Pevney, American actor and director (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (b. 1942)
- 2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Peter Jones, English-Australian drummer and songwriter (b. 1967)
- 2012 – Alan Oakley, English bicycle designer, designed the Raleigh Chopper (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Aleksei Balabanov, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1959)
- 2013 – Jo Benkow, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Steve Forrest, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2013 – David McMillan, American football player (b. 1981)
- 2013 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist and academic (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Chukwuedu Nwokolo, Nigerian physician and academic (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (b. 1946)
- 2015 – Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947)
- 2015 – Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (b. 1926)
- 2015 – T. J. Moran, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Roger Ailes, American businessman (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (b. 1916)
- 2017 – Chris Cornell, American singer (b. 1964)
- Christian feast day:
- Victoria Day (Canada) (Earliest possible date of the last Monday preceding May 25)
- Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
- Battle of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)
- Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
- Flag and Universities Day (Haiti)
- Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
- International Museum Day
- Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)
- Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
- Teacher's Day (Syria)
- Victory Day (Sri Lanka)
- World AIDS Vaccine Day
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” - Romans 11:33
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
Why should Christians imitate Christ? They should do it for their own sakes. If they desire to be in a healthy state of soul--if they would escape the sickness of sin, and enjoy the vigour of growing grace, let Jesus be their model. For their own happiness' sake, if they would drink wine on the lees, well refined; if they would enjoy holy and happy communion with Jesus; if they would be lifted up above the cares and troubles of this world, let them walk even as he walked. There is nothing which can so assist you to walk towards heaven with good speed, as wearing the image of Jesus on your heart to rule all its motions. It is when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you are enabled to walk with Jesus in his very footsteps, that you are most happy, and most known to be the sons of God. Peter afar off is both unsafe and uneasy. Next, for religion's sake, strive to be like Jesus. Ah! poor religion, thou hast been sorely shot at by cruel foes, but thou hast not been wounded one-half so dangerously by thy foes as by thy friends. Who made those wounds in the fair hand of Godliness? The professor who used the dagger of hypocrisy. The man who with pretences, enters the fold, being nought but a wolf in sheep's clothing, worries the flock more than the lion outside. There is no weapon half so deadly as a Judas-kiss. Inconsistent professors injure the gospel more than the sneering critic or the infidel. But, especially for Christ's own sake, imitate his example. Christian, lovest thou thy Saviour? Is his name precious to thee? Is his cause dear to thee? Wouldst thou see the kingdoms of the world become his? Is it thy desire that he should be glorified? Art thou longing that souls should be won to him? If so, imitate Jesus; be an "epistle of Christ, known and read of all men."
Evening
If we have received the grace of God in our hearts, its practical effect has been to make us God's servants. We may be unfaithful servants, we certainly are unprofitable ones, but yet, blessed be his name, we are his servants, wearing his livery, feeding at his table, and obeying his commands. We were once the servants of sin, but he who made us free has now taken us into his family and taught us obedience to his will. We do not serve our Master perfectly, but we would if we could. As we hear God's voice saying unto us, "Thou art my servant," we can answer with David, "I am thy servant; thou hast loosed my bonds." But the Lord calls us not only his servants, but his chosen ones--"I have chosen thee." We have not chosen him first, but he hath chosen us. If we be God's servants, we were not always so; to sovereign grace the change must be ascribed. The eye of sovereignty singled us out, and the voice of unchanging grace declared, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Long ere time began or space was created God had written upon his heart the names of his elect people, had predestinated them to be conformed unto the image of his Son, and ordained them heirs of all the fulness of his love, his grace, and his glory. What comfort is here! Has the Lord loved us so long, and will he yet cast us away? He knew how stiffnecked we should be; he understood that our hearts were evil, and yet he made the choice. Ah! our Saviour is no fickle lover. He doth not feel enchanted for awhile with some gleams of beauty from his church's eye, and then afterwards cast her off because of her unfaithfulness. Nay, he married her in old eternity; and it is written of Jehovah, "He hateth putting away." The eternal choice is a bond upon our gratitude and upon his faithfulness which neither can disown.
===
Ham
[Hăm] - hot or dark, colored, swarthy. The youngest son of Noahand father of Canaan and founder of many peoples (Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; 9:18, 22; Ps. 78:51).
[Hăm] - hot or dark, colored, swarthy. The youngest son of Noahand father of Canaan and founder of many peoples (Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; 9:18, 22; Ps. 78:51).
The Man Whose Sin Brought a Curse
In consequence of the improper conduct of Ham when Noah was drunk, the heart of his father was set against him. Without doubt, Ham's act was the manifestation of an impure heart. Perhaps he had always been a filthy dreamer.
Because every imagination of our heart is defiled (Gen. 8:21), we are all the sons of Ham in this respect. There is none clean, no not one (Rom. 3:10, 12).
The indignation of Noah found expression in the thrice repeated curse (Gen. 9:25-27 ). How tragic it is that the wickedness of Ham appears to have influenced the whole of his descendants whose history is one of folly and crime. The sin of one man polluted many peoples. Ham sinned, and a curse came upon Canaan. The Hamites were condemned to be hewers of wood and drawers of water.
Egypt is called "the land of Ham" (Ps. 105:23) and the Egyptian word for "Ham" is Kem, meaning black and warm. From Ham we have the Egyptians, Africans, Babylonians, Philistines and Canaanites.
===Today's reading: 1 Chronicles 1-3, John 5:25-47 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 1 Chronicles 1-3
Historical Records From Adam to Abraham
To Noah's Sons
1 Adam, Seth, Enosh, 2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, 3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.
4 The sons of Noah:
Shem, Ham and Japheth....
Shem, Ham and Japheth....
Today's New Testament reading: John 5:25-47
25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out--those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me....
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