Pell is innocent of charges IMHO. I am often contacted by people who disagree. I can point to Pell's career and known activity which does not suggest pedophilia, in stark contrast with those Pell had to deal with under legal constraints, who are now convicted pedophiles. Pell set up victim support, the first senior cleric to do so in Australia for pedophile priest victims. When those who disagree with me argue, they are often incoherent. They talk about how terrible pedophilia is, but they have no substance to their arguments denouncing Pell. Aside from allowing Pell to speak on the issue, the current legal process against Pell seems a travesty of justice.
France negotiates with Turnbull on stuff. Turnbull calls France a pacific power. Turnbull has favourably likened Macron to Napoleon. Turnbull has also stiff armed Dan Andrews to signing a memorandum of understanding regarding a solar power plant which kills birds indiscriminately, including the rarest, but is supposed to be good for the environment.
Swan releases video about accepting ALP big spending. Shorten promises Newstart 'adjustment' raise? ALP spending money Australia does not have.
The first year achievements by Trump Whitehouse, despite Mueller persecution.
Jobs and the economy
- Passage of the tax reform bill providing $5.5 billion in cuts and repealing the Obamacare mandate.
- Increase of the GDP above 3 percent.
- Creation of 1.7 million new jobs, cutting unemployment to 4.1 percent.
- Saw the Dow Jones reach record highs.
- A rebound in economic confidence to a 17-year high.
- A new executive order to boost apprenticeships.
- A move to boost computer sciences in Education Department programs.
- Prioritizing women-owned businesses for some $500 million in SBA loans.
Killing job-stifling regulations
- Signed an Executive Order demanding that two regulations be killed for every new one creates. He beat that big and cut 16 rules and regulations for every one created, saving $8.1 billion.
- Signed 15 congressional regulatory cuts.
- Withdrew from the Obama-era Paris Climate Agreement, ending the threat of environmental regulations.
- Signed an Executive Order cutting the time for infrastructure permit approvals.
- Eliminated an Obama rule on streams that Trump felt unfairly targeted the coal industry.
Fair trade
- Made good on his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
- Opened up the North American Free Trade Agreement for talks to better the deal for the U.S.
- Worked to bring companies back to the U.S., and companies like Toyota, Mazda, Broadcom Limited, and Foxconn announced plans to open U.S. plants.
- Worked to promote the sale of U.S products abroad.
- Made enforcement of U.S. trade laws, especially those that involve national security, a priority.
- Ended Obama’s deal with Cuba.
Boosting U.S. energy dominance
- The Department of Interior, which has led the way in cutting regulations, opened plans to lease 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling.
- Trump traveled the world to promote the sale and use of U.S. energy.
- Expanded energy infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline snubbed by Obama.
- Ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to kill Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
- EPA is reconsidering Obama rules on methane emissions.
Protecting the U.S. homeland
- Laid out new principles for reforming immigration and announced plan to end "chain migration," which lets one legal immigrant to bring in dozens of family members.
- Made progress to build the border wall with Mexico.
- Ended the Obama-era “catch and release” of illegal immigrants.
- Boosted the arrests of illegals inside the U.S.
- Doubled the number of counties participating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement charged with deporting illegals.
- Removed 36 percent more criminal gang members than in fiscal 2016.
- Started the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program.
- Ditto for other amnesty programs like Deferred Action for Parents of Americans.
- Cracking down on some 300 sanctuary cities that defy ICE but still get federal dollars.
- Added some 100 new immigration judges.
Protecting communities
- Justice announced grants of $98 million to fund 802 new cops.
- Justice worked with Central American nations to arrest and charge 4,000 MS-13 members.
- Homeland rounded up nearly 800 MS-13 members, an 83 percent one-year increase.
- Signed three executive orders aimed at cracking down on international criminal organizations.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions created new National Public Safety Partnership, a cooperative initiative with cities to reduce violent crimes.
Accountability
- Trump has nominated 73 federal judges and won his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
- Ordered ethical standards including a lobbying ban.
- Called for a comprehensive plan to reorganize the executive branch.
- Ordered an overhaul to modernize the digital government.
- Called for a full audit of the Pentagon and its spending.
Combatting opioids
- First, the president declared a Nationwide Public Health Emergency on opioids.
- His Council of Economic Advisors played a role in determining that overdoses are underreported by as much as 24 percent.
- The Department of Health and Human Services laid out a new five-point strategy to fight the crisis.
- Justice announced it was scheduling fentanyl substances as a drug class under the Controlled Substances Act.
- Justice started a fraud crackdown, arresting more than 400.
- The administration added $500 million to fight the crisis.
- On National Drug Take Back Day, the Drug Enforcement Agency collected 456 tons.
Protecting life
- In his first week, Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy that blocks some $9 billion in foreign aid being used for abortions.
- Worked with Congress on a bill overturning an Obama regulation that blocked states from defunding abortion providers.
- Published guidance to block Obamacare money from supporting abortion.
Helping veterans
- Signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act to allow senior officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire failing employees and establish safeguards to protect whistleblowers.
- Signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act.
- Signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, to provide support.
- Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program.
- Created a VA hotline.
- Had the VA launch an online “Access and Quality Tool,” providing veterans with a way to access wait time and quality of care data.
- With VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin, announced three initiatives to expand access to healthcare for veterans using telehealth technology.
Promoting peace through strength
- Directed the rebuilding of the military and ordered a new national strategy and nuclear posture review.
- Worked to increase defense spending.
- Empowered military leaders to “seize the initiative and win,” reducing the need for a White House sign off on every mission.
- Directed the revival of the National Space Council to develop space war strategies.
- Elevated U.S. Cyber Command into a major warfighting command.
- Withdrew from the U.N. Global Compact on Migration, which Trump saw as a threat to borders.
- Imposed a travel ban on nations that lack border and anti-terrorism security.
- Saw ISIS lose virtually all of its territory.
- Pushed for strong action against global outlaw North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons.
- Announced a new Afghanistan strategy that strengthens support for U.S. forces at war with terrorism.
- NATO increased support for the war in Afghanistan.
- Approved a new Iran strategy plan focused on neutralizing the country’s influence in the region.
- Ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airbase used in a chemical weapons attack.
- Prevented subsequent chemical attacks by announcing a plan to detect them better and warned of future strikes if they were used.
- Ordered new sanctions on the dictatorship in Venezuela.
Restoring confidence in and respect for America
- Trump won the release of Americans held abroad, often using his personal relationships with world leaders.
- Made good on a campaign promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- Conducted a historic 12-day trip through Asia, winning new cooperative deals. On the trip, he attended three regional summits to promote American interests.
- He traveled to the Middle East and Europe to build new relationships with leaders.
- Traveled to Poland and on to Germany for the G-20 meeting where he pushed again for funding of women entrepreneurs.
I am a decent man and don't care for the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.
The Journey of the Magi is a poem by T. S. Eliot. The poem was written after Eliot's conversion to Christianity and confirmation in the Church of England in 1927 and published in Ariel Poems in 1930.
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
French .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
===
Here is a video I made Journey of the Magi
The Journey of the Magi is a poem by T. S. Eliot. The poem was written after Eliot's conversion to Christianity and confirmation in the Church of England in 1927 and published in Ariel Poems in 1930.
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
=== from 2017 ===
IPA Review April 2017 has a piece on defending Western Civilisation. It is something they do, and do well. It means reinforcing cultural assets which underpin great, functioning democracies. Western Civilisation is worth defending. The Magna Carta involved greedy barons and a failure of a king, but the legacy is inspiring. John Hancock's overly large signature on the Declaration of Independence does not obscure the greatness of the work, neither does Jefferson's failure as a human being. Plato's rhetoric has taught the greatest minds in history. Western Civilisation did not invent free speech, but it bestows it. It did not invent law, but it supports it. It did not invent justice, but it makes a fine balance.
Some things should not happen, but they do. Dan Andrews budget taxes Victorians two billions more, and allows Andrews to claim a billion dollar surplus. To achieve it, Andrews has allowed crime to soar, hospitals to weaken, education to falter and weakened small business. Eighteen more months until Matthew Guy becomes Premier of Victoria. Victoria needs him now.
Some things should not happen, but they do. Dan Andrews budget taxes Victorians two billions more, and allows Andrews to claim a billion dollar surplus. To achieve it, Andrews has allowed crime to soar, hospitals to weaken, education to falter and weakened small business. Eighteen more months until Matthew Guy becomes Premier of Victoria. Victoria needs him now.
=== 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 ===
A badly led, badly divided ALP is bleeding in public. They have not yet reached peak stupid. Foreign investment is really important for Australia, just to maintain her economic profile. To reject foreign investment is stupid, but ALP identities suggest it. The Abbott government is not promising that, but promising to crack down on foreign investors who break the rules set out by the government on what foreign investment is mutually beneficial. But international criminal networks seek to circumvent the rules. They might like to use Australia to launder money, which is not beneficial to anyone. The ALP get confused by the prudent action, dangerously claiming the government is opposing foreign investment instead. The problem for the ALP is there is no leadership. There is no policy beyond the reflexive one of protecting unions from investigation. And in the vacuum that is the ALP leadership there is fighting. Shorten is the inept leader, Plibersek is his inept deputy. Neither are willing to have a policy that benefits Australia, but they strongly demarcate under irrelevant issues. They can promise $1.8 billion in cuts when $40 billion is needed for parity. They are part of the committees that oversaw the spending problem and debt issues. They claimed there are no fixes for the spending problem as they oppose solutions. Wh will lead the ALP? Not Shorten. Not Plibersek. Not the fawning, partisan media. They are the furniture Rudd saved. But not the furniture Australia needs.
Reconciliation is not racism, but there are many claiming it is exactly the case. Rewriting elements of the Australian Constitution to recognise a race, any race, is racist. Some may label it as benign racism. It isn't benign. Racism does not address any issues Australia needs addressed. If anyone supports it and tells you it is needed ask them how it is that racism will improve things? Australia can address poverty without calling the poor racist names.
Ben E King died. His hit Stand By Me, recorded in 1960, released the next year, was inspired by the hymn "Lord Stand by Me" and Psalms 46:2-3
Baby Cambridge avoided Labour day, attempts Mother's day.
In 1194, King Richard I gave Portsmouth a royal charter. Royal charters don't end. Richard had given Portsmouth royal assent to be what it was, a city. In 1230, William de Braose was hanged by Prince Llywelyn The Great of Wales. William's family was despised by the Welsh. He was caught by the Prince and ransomed. William sought to marry his son to the Prince's daughter. He was caught sleeping with the Prince's wife. The rest is history for a bad dog. Anne Boleyn was an admirable woman with many great qualities, which is sometimes lost for those who see only the intense hatred with which Henry VIII persecuted her. She had encouraged Henry to make what he later saw as an over reach. With Anne, Henry became too close to early protestantism. He had to distance himself from that so as to not antagonise his Catholic friends. Politics is a lousy mistress. While Anne's end was bloody, her life was brilliant. She had brought into being the Anglican Church and lived an exemplary life she insisted her maids follow. She had intimidated the royal court with a quick and clever tongue. At one stage, her haters had rumoured she was a witch who had cursed the previous queen. And After Queen Mary had died, it was found her heart was black at autopsy. No one then knew why, but Anne's supposed curse was blamed. We now know it was cancer that had been untreated.
On this day in 1559, John Knox, who had been exiled to England from Scotland after he had been captured by French forces, returned to Scotland after Bloody Mary ascended the English throne. He founded the Presbyterian Church. In 1670, King Charles II of England granted a royal charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to trade in fur from North America. It is difficult to find qualities to admire in pro slavery bigots. General Lee and General Jackson were both highly admired by all they fought for and with. In 1863, the highly admired General Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men while reconnoitring Union positions at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He had an arm amputated and died of pneumonia eight days later. In 1885, the magazine Good Housekeeping went on sale for the first time. In 1920, the first game of the Negro National League Baseball league was played in Indianapolis. In 1932, Jack Benny's radio show aired for the first time. In 1945, as Soviets erect a flag in Berlin and German's surrender in Italy, the US 82nd Airborne Division liberated Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death. In 1952, the world's first passenger jet, De Havilland Comet I made its first flight from London to Johannesburg. In 1955, Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In 1982, the submarine HMS Conqueror sank the cruiser ARA General Belgrano. In 1986, Soviets decided to evacuate Chernobyl six days after hey irradiated her. In 1995, Serb forces fired cluster bombs into Zagreb. In 2011, at the same time as President Obama announced it the day before, because of time difference, Osama Bin Ladin was killed.
Reconciliation is not racism, but there are many claiming it is exactly the case. Rewriting elements of the Australian Constitution to recognise a race, any race, is racist. Some may label it as benign racism. It isn't benign. Racism does not address any issues Australia needs addressed. If anyone supports it and tells you it is needed ask them how it is that racism will improve things? Australia can address poverty without calling the poor racist names.
Ben E King died. His hit Stand By Me, recorded in 1960, released the next year, was inspired by the hymn "Lord Stand by Me" and Psalms 46:2-3
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging
He also did Save the Last Dance for Me. Thank you sir, may you rest in peace.
In 1194, King Richard I gave Portsmouth a royal charter. Royal charters don't end. Richard had given Portsmouth royal assent to be what it was, a city. In 1230, William de Braose was hanged by Prince Llywelyn The Great of Wales. William's family was despised by the Welsh. He was caught by the Prince and ransomed. William sought to marry his son to the Prince's daughter. He was caught sleeping with the Prince's wife. The rest is history for a bad dog. Anne Boleyn was an admirable woman with many great qualities, which is sometimes lost for those who see only the intense hatred with which Henry VIII persecuted her. She had encouraged Henry to make what he later saw as an over reach. With Anne, Henry became too close to early protestantism. He had to distance himself from that so as to not antagonise his Catholic friends. Politics is a lousy mistress. While Anne's end was bloody, her life was brilliant. She had brought into being the Anglican Church and lived an exemplary life she insisted her maids follow. She had intimidated the royal court with a quick and clever tongue. At one stage, her haters had rumoured she was a witch who had cursed the previous queen. And After Queen Mary had died, it was found her heart was black at autopsy. No one then knew why, but Anne's supposed curse was blamed. We now know it was cancer that had been untreated.
On this day in 1559, John Knox, who had been exiled to England from Scotland after he had been captured by French forces, returned to Scotland after Bloody Mary ascended the English throne. He founded the Presbyterian Church. In 1670, King Charles II of England granted a royal charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to trade in fur from North America. It is difficult to find qualities to admire in pro slavery bigots. General Lee and General Jackson were both highly admired by all they fought for and with. In 1863, the highly admired General Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men while reconnoitring Union positions at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He had an arm amputated and died of pneumonia eight days later. In 1885, the magazine Good Housekeeping went on sale for the first time. In 1920, the first game of the Negro National League Baseball league was played in Indianapolis. In 1932, Jack Benny's radio show aired for the first time. In 1945, as Soviets erect a flag in Berlin and German's surrender in Italy, the US 82nd Airborne Division liberated Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death. In 1952, the world's first passenger jet, De Havilland Comet I made its first flight from London to Johannesburg. In 1955, Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In 1982, the submarine HMS Conqueror sank the cruiser ARA General Belgrano. In 1986, Soviets decided to evacuate Chernobyl six days after hey irradiated her. In 1995, Serb forces fired cluster bombs into Zagreb. In 2011, at the same time as President Obama announced it the day before, because of time difference, Osama Bin Ladin was killed.
From 2014
The ICAC are looking increasingly desperate to be closed down before they fully investigate ALP activity. The recent allegation against former NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher, of which he has not yet been given a right of reply, is perfectly explicable if he were competently going about his business. The problem is the ALP fostered corruption throughout the NSW public service over 16 years it was in government and so it is going to be a tough road to rooting it out. It is the job of a politician to network with people of substance. It is painful for LNP supporters right now, but it will mean the accused may be exonerated well before the election, and the ALP will have to address their corruption issues .. and they have not begun, with Obeid appointee Robertson still being opposition leader.
On this day, 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. There is no evidence of her prowess as a witch, but I believe she was innocent of that charge and I would employ a champion, Stephen Fry, in a fight to the death using wits any who claim they can prove she was a witch. A nemesis of Anne's daughter, Mary Queen of Scots escaped from Elizabeth 1st's detention on this day in 1568. Mary's son had his bible printed on this day in 1611. Just when you think you know how God works .. remember, Fry is my champion.
On this day, 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. There is no evidence of her prowess as a witch, but I believe she was innocent of that charge and I would employ a champion, Stephen Fry, in a fight to the death using wits any who claim they can prove she was a witch. A nemesis of Anne's daughter, Mary Queen of Scots escaped from Elizabeth 1st's detention on this day in 1568. Mary's son had his bible printed on this day in 1611. Just when you think you know how God works .. remember, Fry is my champion.
Historical perspective on this day
In 1194, King Richard I of England gave Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. 1230, William de Braose was hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. 1335, Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, became Duke of Carinthia. 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. 1559, John Knox returned from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation. 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Loch Leven Castle. 1611, the King James Bible was published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker. 1670, King Charles II of England granted a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America. 1672, John Maitland became Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
In 1808, outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rose up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorialized this event in his painting The Second of May 1808. 1812, the Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ended with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandoned the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja. 1816, marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales. 1829, after anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declared the Swan River Colony in Australia. 1863, American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson was wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbed to pneumonia eight days later. 1866, Peruvian defenders fought off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao. 1876, the April Uprising broke out in Bulgaria. 1879, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party was founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers' leader Pablo Iglesias. 1885, Good Housekeeping magazine went on sale for the first time. Also 1885, Cree and Assiniboine warriors won the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion. Also 1885, the Congo Free State was established by King Léopold II of Belgium. 1889, Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signed a treaty of amity with Italy, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
In 1906, closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece. 1918, General Motors acquired the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware. 1920, the first game of the Negro National League baseball was played in Indianapolis. 1932, comedian Jack Benny's radio show aired for the first time. 1933, Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitlerbanned trade unions. 1941, following the coup d'état against IraqCrown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launched the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power. 1945, World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announced the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoisted their red flag over the Reichstag building. Also 1945, World War II: Italian Campaign: General Heinrich von Vietinghoffsigned the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy. Also 1945, World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberated Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death. 1946, the "Battle of Alcatraz" took place; two guards and three inmates were killed.
In 1952, the world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 made its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg. 1955, Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 1963, Berthold Seliger launched a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It was the only sounding rocket developed in Germany. 1964, Vietnam War: An explosion sank the USS Card while it was docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces were suspected of placing a bomb on the ship. She was raised and returned to service less than seven months later. Also 1964, First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders. 1969, the British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departed on her maiden voyage to New York City.
In 1972, in the early morning hours a fire broke out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, ID, killing 91 workers. 1980, Referendum on system of government held in Nepal. 1982, Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conquerorsank the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano. 1986, the Chernobyl Disaster: The City of Chernobyl was evacuated six days after the disaster 1989, Hungary began dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allowed a number of East Germans to defect. 1994, a bus crashed in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people. 1995, during the Croatian War of Independence, Serb forces fired cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians. 1998, the European Central Bank was founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy. 1999, Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso became the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
In 2000, president Bill Clinton announced that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military. 2004, Yelwa massacre ended. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims attacked the Christians of Yelwa killing more than 78 Christians including at least 48 who were worshipping inside a church compound. More than 630 nomad Muslims were killed by Christians in Nigeria. 2008, Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless. Also 2008, Chaitén Volcano began erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people. 2011, Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man was killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. 2011, an E. coli outbreak struck Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteriaoutbreak. 2012, a pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sold for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction. 2014, Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, left up to 2,500 people missing.
=== 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 Sokleang Taing and Lucy La. Born when it was Teacher's day in Iran and Flag day in Poland .. and when Robert Barker printed in 1611 the first authorized King James version of the Bible. Your day is inspirational.
- 1360 – Yongle Emperor of China (d. 1424)
- 1551 – William Camden, English historian (d. 1623)
- 1601 – Athanasius Kircher, German scholar (d. 1680)
- 1660 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
- 1695 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French decorator and architect (d. 1766)
- 1702 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian (d. 1782)
- 1707 – Jean-Baptiste Barrière, French cellist and composer (d. 1747)
- 1752 – Ludwig August Lebrun, German oboe player and composer (d. 1790)
- 1754 – Vicente Martín y Soler, Spanish composer (d. 1806)
- 1808 – Emma Darwin, English wife of Charles Darwin (d. 1896)
- 1885 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and columnist (d. 1966)
- 1890 – E. E. Smith, American author (d. 1965)
- 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen, German pilot and captain (d. 1918)
- 1895 – Lorenz Hart, American playwright and composer (d. 1943)
- 1903 – Benjamin Spock, American rower, pediatrician, and author (d. 1998)
- 1945 – Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan-English actress, model, and activist
- 1951 – John Glascock, English singer and bass player (Jethro Tull, Carmen, The Gods, and Chicken Shack) (d. 1979)
- 1975 – David Beckham, English footballer, coach, and model
- 1985 – Lily Allen, English singer-songwriter
- 1997 – Perla Haney-Jardine, Brazilian-American actress
Deaths
- 373 – Athanasius of Alexandria, Egyptian bishop and saint (b. 298)
- 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1452)
- 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, American politician (b. 1908)
- 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, American 1st director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)
- 1999 – Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
- 1559 – Scottish clergyman John Knox returned to Scotland from exile to lead the Scottish Reformation.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was wounded by friendly fireduring the Battle of Chancellorsville, leading to his death by pneumonia eight days later.
- 1945 – World War II: General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the German troops in Berlin, surrendered the city to Soviet forces led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, ending the Battle of Berlin.
- 1982 – Falklands War: HMS Conqueror launched three torpedoes and sank ARA General Belgrano(pictured), the only ship ever to have been deliberately sunk by a nuclear submarine in battle.
- 1995 – Croatian War of Independence: Serb forces began firing rockets on the Croatian capital of Zagreb, killing 7 and injuring at least 175 others.
The exile is over. We got him. The battle is over. We sank it. Terrorists were fired. Let's party.
Andrew Bolt 2018
MACRON'S BIG WARMIST FIB
French President Emmanuel Macron told a big untruth in telling Australia to fight global warming. But preaching global warming gives you a licence to lie. My editorial from The Bolt Report.
ABC'S NEW HIRE: FARUQI?
The ABC's latest hire? Osman Faruqi, a former Greens staffer and candidate whose tweets attacking whites are called "maybe racist" even by the ABC's Media Watch. Rowan Dean is astonished.
NO HAPPY 200TH BIRTHDAY, KARL MARX
Jennifer Westacott, head of the Business Council of Australia, will not be toasting Karl Marx on his 200th birthday on Friday. From The Bolt Report.
PELL'S TRIAL ISN'T ABOUT ANYTHING BUT HIS GUILT OR INNOCENCE
COLUMN Cardinal George Pell was sent to trial in Victoria’s Country Court this week on multiple charges of historical sexual offences. That has been hailed by journalists as proof that “not even the country’s most senior Catholic figure is above the law”. But the point of this committal was not and should not be to show something no one questions.
GONSKI DUMBSKI
The Gonski con: behind the crazy report the Turnbull Government claims will stop our schools for getting even worse. My editorial from The Bolt Report on Monday.
IN CASE ANYBODY FORGOT
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 02, 2015 (4:14pm)
An important reminder from Labor’s Jenny Macklin:
(Via Stu)
(Via Stu)
===
JU JITSU MARKETING
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 02, 2015 (2:33pm)
Making money from stupid: the art and science of converting leftist rage into tons of cash.
(Via AC.)
===
GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 02, 2015 (2:27pm)
Those inclined to bet on election results are invited to consider recent predictions from noted Australian psychic Bob Ellis:
It is fairly certain Ed Miliband will head the next government in the UK. He will win about 283 seats, and the Scottish Nationals about 49, Plaid Cymru 1 and the Greens 2. This will give him 332 or 336 votes, more than the 325 he needs …It is likely too that after this the Tories will not hold power again …David Cameron cannot form a government, and Ed Miliband can and will.
===
HIGH ACHIEVER
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 02, 2015 (2:11pm)
A doper’s to-do list, located during a police search in Western Australia.
UPDATE. Meanwhile, in Nimbin:
An Australian town was cut off by floodwaters Saturday, trapping hundreds of people attending the town’s annual cannabis festival.The town hall was being used as emergency accommodation as camping grounds were swamped by record heavy rains that hit the eastern coast Friday and Saturday.
That rain will be useful when one of them nods out and sets the place on fire.
===
Plibersek turns up pressure on Shorten
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (12:09pm)
As I noted on 2GB on Thursday, Tanya Plibersek has started her campaign to replace the unimpressive Bill Shorten, who has let timidity paralyse his promise.
Troy Bramston:
Plibersek is also accused of helping to draft an anti-Israel resolution which Shorten opposes.
UPDATE
Peter van Onselen warns Plibersek could split Labor:
Troy Bramston:
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek ... has started to strongly assert herself on policy and internal reform, opening further divisions with Bill Shorten…Shorten, a former union leader, is not popular with Labor members, as his leadership ballot with Anthony Albanese revealed. Plibersek, of the Left, wants an anti-Shorten constituency to have more power.
Despite facing criticism from her party colleagues this week, Ms Plibersek stood by her position [rejected by Shorten] that all Labor MPs should be compelled to vote for same-sex marriage and said she would fight for this to be enshrined in the party’s platform at the national conference in July…
She also disagreed with Mr Shorten on rewriting the party’s 1921 socialist objective, saying it should not be changed. Although Ms Plibersek supports the party’s union link, she added that it was time members had a bigger say. “Genuine involvement of union rank-and-file members is important, making sure that it is not just leaders of unions deciding en bloc about issues,” she said. As Labor activists push for a more “pro-Palestinian” policy and criticism of Israel percolates through local branches, Ms Plibersek said she would steer a middle course on Middle East policy. “I support a secure Israel with internationally recognised borders and a secure state of Palestine that has economic viability and security as well,” she said. “How we achieve that is the thing that is being debated in the Labor Party right now, not whether we support a two-state solution.”
Plibersek is also accused of helping to draft an anti-Israel resolution which Shorten opposes.
UPDATE
Peter van Onselen warns Plibersek could split Labor:
If Labor listens to its deputy and the national conference votes in favour of a binding vote on gay marriage, the major party of the Left in this country could split. Certainly the conservative elements of the party will cross the floor and risk expulsion. If they are kicked out, then a split will soon follow…Shorten indeed lacks authority:
The Left faction, of which [Plibersek] is the most senior member, is growing in strength internally. It dominates the ranks of the lay membership, which now has an equal say with the parliamentary party when electing federal leaders. Plibersek is playing to her natural constituency… Many within the Left wouldn’t mind a party split that saw the Right weakened with departures.... Shorten has had to use his authority to try to quash the Plibersek push ahead of national conference. Not that Shorten has as much political capital internally right now as he would like, a point I suspect isn’t lost on Plibersek, whose supporters behind the scenes continue to push her case as a future leader.
Bill Shorten has an invisibility problem.... “He still almost never gets mentioned,” says JWS Research’s John Scales, whose regular True Issues surveys monitor what is on the minds of ordinary voters… The problem for him is what he says barely registers…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
....the problem for Shorten is that the empty space which his lack of voter recognition leaves becomes a political risk the closer the next election comes… When you leave an empty space, you make the task easier for your opponents.
In recent weeks, the risks to Shorten have become apparent. Abbott’s dumping of unpopular policies, the back-peddling on the debt and deficit issues and the Prime Minister’s use of defence and security issues (and the Anzac commemorations) to appear more prime ministerial have helped narrow Labor’s lead in the polls. Coalition supporters are less pessimistic than they were about the government’s chances of survival. At the same time, Shorten’s poll ratings have slipped… Scales ... “Our research indicates that the Labor brand, at the federal level, has not recovered since the election.”
===
Reconciliation becomes intimidation: Paul Kelly’s shameful suggestion
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (10:32am)
Advocates of the “reconciliation” movement are becoming desperate. The Australian’s Paul Kelly today makes an unforgivable suggestion on overcoming the opposition to what I insist is a fundamentally racist and divisive campaign to change our constitution to recognise people with Aboriginal ancestry as the “first Australians”, and confer on them special rights.
Writes Kelly:
Kelly should explain himself, and apologise either to me or to my editors. He might also consider reassuring readers of News Corp newspapers that they can expect a genuine debate on this critical issue.
I certainly give readers my own guarantee in the light of Kelly’s article: if I am muzzled I will say so. But be assured: the News Corp I know will let both sides speak.
The rest of Kelly’s article is, I’m afraid, very far from his usual standard. The personal abuse - calling my argument “poison”, “mean-spirited” and an appeal to xenophobes - and Kelly’s failure to properly address my genuine moral and pragmatic concerns with this race-based initiative say plenty about the poverty of his argument.
Does Kelly think he can likewise abuse millions of Australians out of sharing similar concerns about what he proposes?
This piece suggests to me that Kelly has again lost his head to a grand “moral” cause, just as he did with the 1999 republican referendum and then with Kevin Rudd’s global warming policies, which he warned the Liberals to back if they didn’t want to be ”signing their own political death warrant” in what was a “mortal political threat to the [Liberals]”.
Kelly’s article actually tails off into a mushy no-but-yes confirmation of much that I actually warned about:
As I said, this is a no, but yes argument that goes to the irreducible core of my objection: however the laws will be drafted, anything that starts with the assumption that we must be defined and dealt with differently on the basis of the “race” of some of our ancestors is racist, divisive and immoral.
Paul, whatever form of words you come up with, however much you plead the goodness of your intentions, I am against. I can never agree.
What is “poison” is not my opposition but your proposal to divide us by “race”.
Read an extended explanation of my position here. It addresses, among other things, Kelly’s complete misunderstanding of my objection to calling people with Aboriginal ancestry today our “first Australians”, and why it is indeed racist to confer a special legal distinction on Australians today and in the distant future on the grounds of the “race” of some of their ancestors.
Writes Kelly:
If our polity denies recognition of this truth in our Constitution then Australia probably faces a bleak future.This raises another question: as the referendum advances, how much liberty will be extended to Bolt by his editors to continue his campaign in their newspapers?It is not clear whether Kelly, himself a former editor and influential in News Corp, is recommending I be muzzled or expecting some News Corp editors to muzzle me. Is this a threat? And what happened to Kelly, warrior for free speech?
Kelly should explain himself, and apologise either to me or to my editors. He might also consider reassuring readers of News Corp newspapers that they can expect a genuine debate on this critical issue.
I certainly give readers my own guarantee in the light of Kelly’s article: if I am muzzled I will say so. But be assured: the News Corp I know will let both sides speak.
The rest of Kelly’s article is, I’m afraid, very far from his usual standard. The personal abuse - calling my argument “poison”, “mean-spirited” and an appeal to xenophobes - and Kelly’s failure to properly address my genuine moral and pragmatic concerns with this race-based initiative say plenty about the poverty of his argument.
Does Kelly think he can likewise abuse millions of Australians out of sharing similar concerns about what he proposes?
This piece suggests to me that Kelly has again lost his head to a grand “moral” cause, just as he did with the 1999 republican referendum and then with Kevin Rudd’s global warming policies, which he warned the Liberals to back if they didn’t want to be ”signing their own political death warrant” in what was a “mortal political threat to the [Liberals]”.
Kelly’s article actually tails off into a mushy no-but-yes confirmation of much that I actually warned about:
Yet this creates an immediate problem. It is making laws defined solely by race. Indeed, it goes to the point raised by Bolt. Is the referendum designed to eliminate the notion of race in the Constitution or to entrench the idea of race, even with a provision saying the power cannot be used “adversely” against the indigenous peoples?Er, Paul, passing laws to advance or protect “indigenous culture” - and not the culture of anyone else - is already passing laws on a racial basis. It sets up a clash between competing claims of advocates of indigenous culture, however defined, and the rest, with the law already privileging one side, on the basis that they are people who have some ancestors of a particular “race”.
Indigenous leaders might insist on such a proposal. But the dangers are too obvious. Why should the Constitution offer the indigenous peoples such protections that are not extended to other Australians? This opens the door to a destructive no campaign.
The test is whether the referendum changes will authorise laws on a racial basis, thereby giving credibility to the campaign waged by Bolt. Everybody is being put on notice.... One possible way around this dilemma, as suggested by Twomey, is to authorise laws in relation to native title, indigenous culture, and heritage — issues part of the legal system now — thereby avoiding laws on a racial basis.
As I said, this is a no, but yes argument that goes to the irreducible core of my objection: however the laws will be drafted, anything that starts with the assumption that we must be defined and dealt with differently on the basis of the “race” of some of our ancestors is racist, divisive and immoral.
Paul, whatever form of words you come up with, however much you plead the goodness of your intentions, I am against. I can never agree.
What is “poison” is not my opposition but your proposal to divide us by “race”.
Read an extended explanation of my position here. It addresses, among other things, Kelly’s complete misunderstanding of my objection to calling people with Aboriginal ancestry today our “first Australians”, and why it is indeed racist to confer a special legal distinction on Australians today and in the distant future on the grounds of the “race” of some of their ancestors.
===
The children these bullying protesters betray
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (9:47am)
This is not persuasion but aggression, not reconciliation but aggravation, not compassion but contempt:
This kind of dysfunction these authoritarian protesters are in fact defending:
(Thanks to reader WaG311.)
PROTESTERS who shut down the central city for three hours vow it won’t be the last time they cause peak-hour commuter chaos.The ostensible issue for these protesters, many from socialist groups, is the proposal to end the excessive funding of Aboriginal micro-settlements in remote regions where there are no schools or jobs.
For the second time in three weeks, hundreds of thousands of people trying to get home on Friday were severely inconvenienced as an angry throng of more than 12,000 people jammed the streets.
Demonstrators voiced their concerns in what they called a “proud expression of Aboriginal sovereignty’’ and a signal to governments not to scale back support services in remote Aboriginal communities.
This kind of dysfunction these authoritarian protesters are in fact defending:
If you are an Aboriginal child in a remote part of the Northern Territory, chances are you’re struggling with your education and behind on at least one early development indicator before you start school.Note, by the way, what our “reconciliation” movement has encouraged - an inflamed sense of grievance and “racial” entitlement. Politicians have been playing with fire.
By Year 3, you will be behind not just most other children, but a full two years behind most other Aboriginal children living in similarly remote places elsewhere in the country. By Year 9, the gap will be five years.
If you’re lucky, you’ll manage to join the 10 per cent of kids living outside Alice Springs, Katherine and Darwin who achieve minimal standards for NAPLAN literacy. At least half of your friends will have stopped going to school by aged 14, if they ever enrolled.
You will be one of about 800 remote kids annually who could complete Year 12, but unless you have access to a larger town, you’ll have to overcome enormous obstacles to become one of the roughly 24 who actually do.
These are some of the devastating findings of a review indigenous education that the Northern Territory government is trying to address with a new 10-year strategy for indigenous education entitled Share in the Future…
Local member for the seat of Arafura, Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu, whose electorate covers parts of Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands, blamed “community issues.”
“I think the kids are not getting the support from parents at the moment. I’m sad to hear and see what’s happening in the community,” he said.
(Thanks to reader WaG311.)
===
Guardian reporter demands Julie Bishop save headhacking jihadists
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (9:38am)
Gerard Henderson in Media Watch Dog not some extraordinary attempts to attack the Abbott Government for not doing more to help ... whatever:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
[On] last Sunday’s Insiders ... The Guardian’s Katharine Murphy exhibited a bleeding heart which she developed obviously from her years at The Age. The topic turned on Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s recent visit to Iran and the possibility that Australia and Iran might exchange security information concerning Daesh or the so-called Islamic State…Hendo is on fire, and turns to a second example: Waleed Aly.
Katharine Murphy: I think it should be noted – and it wasn’t really in much of the reporting this week – that the Foreign Minister certainly has not, seems to have sought no special protection for any Australian citizens who are in the field fighting for ISIS. Maybe we shouldn’t care about these people – Mark Kenny: No, we shouldn’t.So there you go. Right now Sunni Muslims are leaving Australia to head off to Syria or Iraq with the intention of killing Shi’ite Muslims. By beheadings, burnings and the like. And Katharine Murphy not only reckons that the Australian government should “care” about our home-grown beheaders like Khaled Sharrouf but also believes that Julie Bishop should seek their “special protection” while they are busy murdering Shi’ite Muslims in Syria and Iraq. Can you bear it?
Katharine Murphy: But they are still Australian citizens.
Mark Kenny: Well if they’re fighting for ISIS they’ve rescinded their Australian citizenship.
Katharine Murphy: Well sure, but I’m just saying that the Iranian ambassador couldn’t have been clearer on Fran Kelly’s program this week. He basically said that if these people are in harm’s way and they have to happen to encounter Shi’ite militia then you know, Bob’s your uncle. [Here Ms Murphy went through a throat-slitting action]…
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===
Who let it get to this?
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (9:11am)
No Western country with a substantial Muslim minority is now safe.
Germany this week:
Germany this week:
Police have been forced to cancel a major cycle race after thwarting an alleged Islamist terror attack by a married couple.Bosnia this week:
German officers found weapons and explosives at their home, including a pipe bomb and an assault rifle… The husband, who has been named locally only as Halil, raised suspicions after buying large amounts of chemicals under a fake identity.
He was also spotted along the route of Frankfurt’s annual May Day cycle race, which is usually attended by thousands of people. The race has been cancelled as a precaution.
The pair, who are suspected to have links to jihadist militant groups, were arrested in Oberursel, near Frankfurt… Some 450 people have travelled from Germany to join jihadist forces in Syria and Iraq.
One policeman was killed and two others wounded Monday in the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik when a man opened fire on a police station shouting “Allahu Akbar”, officials said…France last week:
“Everything indicates that he belonged to (ultra-conservative Islamist) Wahhabi movement. We have yet to verify whether this is an isolated act or if other people are involved,” [Interior Minister Dragan] Lukac said…
More recently, some 150 Bosnians are believed to have joined jihadists groups in Iraq and Syria, while some 50 others have returned to Bosnia, according to the intelligence services.
France is to deploy soldiers and paramilitary police to defend Catholic churches following reports of a terrorist cell preparing an ISIS-style attack on congregations.(Thanks to reader Albert.)
Although already thinly spread and struggling with fatigue, the French deployment of 10,000 soldiers and many thousands more police officers will now be expanded to Christian sites… The impetus for the change of policy has come just days after French police arrested would-be Jihadist murderer Sid Ahmed Ghlam. Ghlam, a 24-year-old Moroccan student studying in Paris, murdered a fitness instructor in a botched attempt to hijack her car for a terror attack, and then accidentally shot himself in the leg… Searching his student flat, [police] discovered plans for a gang of Islamists to open fire on Church services in Paris.
===
The Bolt Report tomorrow, May 3
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (8:13am)
On the The Bolt Report on Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: The haters who will hurt us if we heed them on Indonesia.
Guest: Social Services Minister Scott Morrison on dealing with Indonesia, and breeding the underclass that smuggles drugs.
The panel - and more balance than you’ll see on the ABC: former Gillard advisor Nicholas Reece and former Labor president Warren Mundine. What is Tanya Plibersek up to, and did Labor reach peak stupid this week? And is the anti-Indonesia/anti-capital punishment frenzy actually a turn-off to most Australians?
NewsWatch: Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB presenter Miranda Devine on blaming Abbott for the Indonesian executions and other examples of media derangement.
And much more, including the truth about capital punishment that most reports won’t admit.
The videos of the shows appear here.
Editorial: The haters who will hurt us if we heed them on Indonesia.
Guest: Social Services Minister Scott Morrison on dealing with Indonesia, and breeding the underclass that smuggles drugs.
The panel - and more balance than you’ll see on the ABC: former Gillard advisor Nicholas Reece and former Labor president Warren Mundine. What is Tanya Plibersek up to, and did Labor reach peak stupid this week? And is the anti-Indonesia/anti-capital punishment frenzy actually a turn-off to most Australians?
NewsWatch: Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB presenter Miranda Devine on blaming Abbott for the Indonesian executions and other examples of media derangement.
And much more, including the truth about capital punishment that most reports won’t admit.
The videos of the shows appear here.
===
Тот самый случай, когда размер не имеет значения :D
Posted by Rus.Tvnet on Wednesday, 25 February 2015
===
Why is SBS’s Lee Lin Chin a speaker? And John Hewson reveals himself
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (8:07am)
Progress15 has collected busloads of Leftist speakers for a conference in Melbourne of “changemakers” to fight for “progress” on global warming, boat people and the usual roll-call of Leftist causes.
Speakers include traitor Edward Snowden, Greens leader Christine Milne, anti-nuclear hysteric Helen Caldicott, warming alarmist Will Steffen, Greenpeace exec David Ritter, GetUp head Sam McLean, Greens slimer Scott Ludlam, ACTU president Ged Kearney, Friends of the Earth veteran Cam Walker, celebrity Muslims Susan Carland and Yassmin Abdel-Magied, “stolen generations” propagandist Robert Manne, Earth Hour manager Anna Rose, writer Naomi Klein, celebrity “human rights"extremist Julian Burnside, domestic violence campaigner and Greens supporter Rosie Battie, euthanasia for “defective infants” advocate Peter Singer, and dozens more representatives from global warming industries, Aboriginal bureaucracies, “awareness” campaigns, academia, Islam, Labor, the Greens and the media.
The roll call of speakers is vast, and raises some questions:
(Thanks to reader Don.)
Speakers include traitor Edward Snowden, Greens leader Christine Milne, anti-nuclear hysteric Helen Caldicott, warming alarmist Will Steffen, Greenpeace exec David Ritter, GetUp head Sam McLean, Greens slimer Scott Ludlam, ACTU president Ged Kearney, Friends of the Earth veteran Cam Walker, celebrity Muslims Susan Carland and Yassmin Abdel-Magied, “stolen generations” propagandist Robert Manne, Earth Hour manager Anna Rose, writer Naomi Klein, celebrity “human rights"extremist Julian Burnside, domestic violence campaigner and Greens supporter Rosie Battie, euthanasia for “defective infants” advocate Peter Singer, and dozens more representatives from global warming industries, Aboriginal bureaucracies, “awareness” campaigns, academia, Islam, Labor, the Greens and the media.
The roll call of speakers is vast, and raises some questions:
Why does it include SBS newsreader and current affairs presenter Lee Lin Chin? Shouldn’t SBS at least pretend it isn’t yet another taxpayer-funded soap box hijacked by the far Left?And note how strongly global warming features, confirming it is just the latest vehicle for the Left’s authoritarians and salvation seekers.
Why Is John Hewson, also one of the speakers, still presented by media organisations such as Sky News as a representative of the conservative side of debates? Why does Hewson almost never declare when commenting on global warming what he declares here - that he is in fact chairman of the Asset Owners Disclosure Project, a green financial advisory group advising on global warming that earns money from the scare.
Who is actually paying for this vast network of green and Left groups? How much taxpayers’ money is involved in keeping so many activists in work?
How many of these people are paid more than Catholic priests to preach on being nice to people and the planet? Is being a Leftist activist a good earn?
How on earth do we still get conservative governments elected when there is this immensity of Leftist lobbyists, activists, journalists, unionists and mobilisers, unmatched by anything on the conservative side, where individualism is prized above collectivism?
How many Australians do this army of Leftist representatives truly represent?
Don’t these people get bored with endlessly agreeing with each other at conferences designed not to promote debate but avoid it?
(Thanks to reader Don.)
===
Andrews Government tunnelling deeper into financial pain
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (7:50am)
First Victoria’s Andrews Government throws away at least $640 million by scrapping a much-needed East West road link.
Now, short of cash and desperate to at least build something else, it considers a new scheme - without a cost-benefit analysis - that could eventually cost us much, much more.
Terry McCrann explains Transurban’s kind offer to build a road-tunnel link closely related to the very thing Labor scrapped:
UPDATE
Alan Moran:
Now, short of cash and desperate to at least build something else, it considers a new scheme - without a cost-benefit analysis - that could eventually cost us much, much more.
Terry McCrann explains Transurban’s kind offer to build a road-tunnel link closely related to the very thing Labor scrapped:
The $5 billion-plus deal proposed by Transurban ... cleverly constructed its proposal to “work” with either the previous Napthine Liberal government’s first stage of the “public” East-West link; or to “substitute” for the incoming Andrews Labor government’s abandonment of that project…How a Socialist Left Government end up both costing taxpayers more while enriching capitalists.
Transurban proposes that the new road would be funded by a combination of direct tolls and an “extension of its CityLink Concession Deed”....
No one else can bid as they would have to recoup all their expenditure from tolls. Only Transurban can spread the funding across its much wider existing toll base; and indeed impose most of it beyond 2035. It is seeking to have its tolling concession extended from 2035 to 2050.
So the state gets much needed infrastructure at no immediate or direct cost. Motorists get a vastly improved road system at minimal immediate direct cost, with most of the cost postponed for 20 years.
Except that cost, properly discounted to today, will be huge and much higher than the alternative cost of public sector borrowing.
Transurban gets to be the sole bidder in a $5bn tender. In ‘winning’ it will get to retrospectively increase the returns on its existing infrastructure, as more traffic is channelled into the existing network — returns, to be noted, that are already high.
UPDATE
Alan Moran:
Now that he has abandoned the previously approved East West road link through Melbourne, the Daniel Andrews ALP Government is promoting a different road link across to the East and widening of existing links....Ken Phillips:
Important advantages of the new proposals are that, unlike the East West link, they would not be covered by the Construction Code that overrode the CMFEU featherbedding and excess wage payments that characterise all major Victorian projects. The Premier can therefore continue to receive the support of that important rogue union funder and supplier of other electoral assistance. Clearly, the undermining of the CFMEU privileged closed shop working arrangements was the critical reason for abandoning the East West link.
What needs to be understood is that there is no separation now between the Victorian construction union, the CFMEU and the new Labor Government. They are one and the same…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
The cancellation [of the East West link] happened because the CFMEU did not have contractual control of the job. The job had to be stopped at any cost to the taxpayer, seemingly to ensure the CFMEU controlled all current and future major construction in Victoria.
===
Global warming academics want laws to fine and ban sceptics
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (7:40am)
Tony Thomas on the authoritarian soul of the global warming faith, now embedded in Melbourne University:
Note that Christoff is followed as speaker by a long-time communist union official. It says so much.
UPDATE
At the risk of being fined, dare I point out that the Australian Academy of Science seems to be stretching with its alarmist report into the danger of global warming?
(Thanks to reader Richard.)
The Australian-German College of Climate and Energy Transitions, twinned with the Melbourne University Sustainable Society Institute (MSSI), is a hotbed of climate activism....Since that video, shot in 2012, there have been three more years of no warming. That’s now 18 years of no warming so far, a fact for which I presume I’d face jail for pointing out.
[A] doom-monger at the MSSI is executive committee member ... Peter Christoff, who teaches climate change politics. The professor is former vice-president and current board member of the Australian Conservation Foundation lobby group…
I have just part-transcribed a Melbourne University seminar where Peter Christoff [from 20 mins in video above] calls for legal bans and punitive fines on broadcasters and individuals for ‘climate denial’. This would be “based on the fact that unchecked climate denialism over time would cause loss of freedom and rights, the death of thousands of humans, the loss of entire cultures, effectively genocide , extinctions…
“The legislation to be contemplated might be roughly framed around things like Holocaust Denial legislation which already exists in 17 countries, focused on the criminalisation of those who public condone, deny or trivialise crimes of genocide or crimes against humanity… If it is selective and well focused, with substantial fines and perhaps bans on certain broadcasters and individuals whom I will not name, who stray from the dominant science without any defensible cause, it would have a disciplinary effect on public debate."…
His proposal was heard with equanimity by the panel comprising Professor Helen Sullivan, Director of the University’s Centre for Public Policy (introducer); Professor Eckersley; activist Dave Kerin and Professor of Rhetoric Marianne Constable (University California, Berkeley). The young audience showed no negative reaction. Such is Melbourne University.
Note that Christoff is followed as speaker by a long-time communist union official. It says so much.
UPDATE
At the risk of being fined, dare I point out that the Australian Academy of Science seems to be stretching with its alarmist report into the danger of global warming?
Australia could become more susceptible to vector-borne diseases, such as dengue, as well as respiratory diseases as people spend more time indoors avoiding extreme heat.It’s more dangerous to be inside our homes, rather than outside? Give me a break.
(Thanks to reader Richard.)
===
UK Greens confirm: same sex marriage first, polygamy considered next
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (7:18am)
I have long warned of the “slippery slope” - that once we permit two men to marry we cannot logically deny the right of three or more people to marry, too, as already occurs in many Muslim countries and traditional Aboriginal society.
In 2013 I wrote that the High Court in fact endorsed the slippery-slope argument already, albeit in reverse:
In 2013 I wrote that the High Court in fact endorsed the slippery-slope argument already, albeit in reverse:
The High Court this week endorsed the “slippery slope” argument used by opponents of same-sex marriage - and unwisely sneered at by the likes of Malcolm Turnbull…Some in the Australian Greens have already accepted the slippery slope argument - and are using it to argue for marriage rights for polygamists:
It turns out ... the High Court says we already legally endorse polygamy for many purposes, so we cannot logically oppose same sex marriage. This is indeed the “slippery slope” argument - backed by our Highest Court, albeit with a different agenda in mind.
The High Court, in over-ruling the ACT’s same sex marriage laws, noted ..."Once it is accepted that “marriage” can include polygamous marriages, it becomes evident that the juristic concept of “marriage” cannot be confined to a union having the [traditional between-a-man-and-a-woman] characteristics described in Hyde v Hyde and other nineteenth century cases. Rather, “marriage” is to be understood in s 51(xxi) of the Constitution as referring to a consensual union formed between natural persons in accordance with legally prescribed requirements… It is not now possible (if it ever was) to confine attention to jurisdictions whose law of marriage provides only for unions between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life. Marriage law is and must be recognised now to be more complex.
A SPLIT within the Greens over gay marriage has widened, with a prominent party official claiming senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s insistence that marriage is between two consenting adults discriminates against others in the gay community, including polyamorists.Now the UK Greens demonstrate my point:
Greens ACT convenor Simon Copland, who is political editor of the gay magazine FUSE, ... said: “I am now seeing major queer organisations and queer activists develop exclusive habits, excluding those who they think don’t fit the mainstream gay and lesbian model. For example, after some publicity around the issue, marriage advocates from Australian Marriage Equality and the Greens recently (came) out strongly against the idea of polyamorous marriage. “The institutional queer movement has become dominated by upper- to middle-class wealthy queer activists . . . ensuring a select few get equal access to heteropatriarchal systems.”
Green party leader Natalie Bennett has revealed she is open to the idea of legalising three-way marriages…(Thanks to reader Albert.)
She replied: ‘At present, we do not have a policy on civil partnerships involving more than two people… We have led the way on many issues related to the liberalisation of legal status in adult consenting relationships, and we are open to further conversation and consultation on this issue.’
===
Why is Labor protecting this disgraceful union?
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (7:05am)
The Herald Sun:
THE criminal activities of the state’s most militant union, the CFMEU, are a disaster in the making for Premier Daniel Andrews.An example of the thuggery Labor is protecting:
Protected by its membership of the premier’s own Socialist Left faction, the union is costing Victoria hundreds of millions of dollars in cost blowouts on major projects…
Mr Andrews failed to discipline the rogue union...[although] the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption ... in its interim report has already made known its intention to refer criminal charges against some of these officials.
Union secretary John Setka is a veteran of violent clashes with police and is the union’s chief intimidator in its bid to control the state’s construction sites. The Herald Sun continues to document the activities of Mr Setka and his underlings, three of whom are members of Premier Andrews’ parliamentary faction with an influence on the policymaking decisions of the Labor Party’s state conferences.
‘NO one would have to know.”
That was the offer from CFMEU secretary John Setka.
It seemed a simple bargain — stop supplying a customer for two weeks to buy peace.
But Boral chief executive Mike Kane thought this could turn out to be what’s known as a deal with the devil…
So Mr Kane refused the bargain.. But the decision to stand up to the Victorian branch of the CFMEU has cost Boral up to $28 million so far…
Mr Kane is leading the fight against the CFMEU, which is being flanked on three fronts.
The union is under the flame of a royal commission into union corruption, battling against the Abbott Government’s plans to revive the tough building industry watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and multimillion-dollar lawsuits brought by Boral and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
But Boral did not seek the battle. It has become collateral damage in a war between the firebrand CFMEU and Daniel Grollo, the only major builder in Australia that has refused to bend to the union’s demands…
Boral was warned in February 2013 that it was heading for trouble if it continued to supply Grocon with concrete. Trucks were stopped at the gates of jobs and customers started calling Boral to cancel orders.
===
Worry more about the children
Andrew Bolt May 02 2015 (5:23am)
Ted Lapkin, writing in the Spectator, is angry:
When future chroniclers of our particular moral decline designate milestones on our long slide into nihilism, efforts to mitigate the evil of sexual abuse against children must surely rate a dishonourable mention. A particularlydisgraceful example of this genre appeared in the Advertiser from the pen of its political editor Tory Shepherd. In a meandering piece whose speciousness only surpassed its noxiousness, Shepherd argues that paedophiles are blameless because their brains are (un)naturally hardwired to lust after children. It’s ‘not their fault’ she declares, citing a University of Toronto study that found child molesters on average have lower than average IQs. She argues that if paedophiles were only given ‘sympathy’ and ‘respect’ the end result would be ‘fewer children raped.’ In essence, Shepherd wants to wager the lives of our sons and daughters on the hypothetical proposition that a ‘softly softly’ approach to paedophilia will reduce child sexual abuse.Read on.
===
This is an amazing pizza! YAY!
Posted by Skai Juice on Sunday, 17 August 2014
===
10 reasons why it's worth the time to start an author blog: http://bit.ly/1E1LwjQ
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Friday, 1 May 2015
===
Mother's Day suggestions.......What about a beautiful Diamond Pendant? At Diamond Imports we make diamond pendants with...
Posted by Diamond Imports on Wednesday, 29 April 2015
===
Posted by Matt Granz on Friday, 1 May 2015
===
Posted by Architecture & Design on Friday, 1 May 2015
===
Posted by Architecture & Design on Friday, 1 May 2015
===
Posted by Architecture & Design on Friday, 1 May 2015
===
An 86-step strategy for fiscal rescue
Piers Akerman – Thursday, May 01, 2014 (7:59pm)
TONY Shepherd and his Commission of Audit report stand in stark contrast to Tony Abbott’s blizzard in their view of what the coming Budget must deliver.
Continue reading 'An 86-step strategy for fiscal rescue'
===
NO HALF MEASURES
Tim Blair – Friday, May 02, 2014 (12:14pm)
Luvvie rage:
The Australian film industry has reacted with fury to the suggestion that Screen Australia, the organisation responsible for a significant number of Australian films and television dramas, should lose half its funding.
I share their fury. Screen Australia should lose all its funding.
===
Hockey’s next target: expensive and ugly wind turbines
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (10:17am)
One more sign of a change in the climate:
TREASURER Joe Hockey has flagged a crackdown on corporate welfare, including for renewable energy projects, describing wind turbines as “a blight on the landscape"…
Asked specifically about grants to renewable energy ventures, the North Sydney MP said: “If I can be a little indulgent, I drive to Canberra to go to parliament and I must say I find those wind turbines around Lake George to be utterly offensive. I think they’re a blight on the landscape.”
===
Lawson: global warming is no longer about the science
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (9:41am)
Nigel Lawson, the former British Chancellor, says the warmists may try to scream him down but the facts speak even louder:
I must admit I am strongly tempted to agree that, since I am not a climate scientist, I should from now on remain silent on the subject — on the clear understanding, of course, that everyone else plays by the same rules. No more statements by Ed Davey, or indeed any other politician, including Ed Milliband, Lord Deben and Al Gore. Nothing more from the Prince of Wales, or from Lord Stern. What bliss!
But of course this is not going to happen. Nor should it; for at bottom this is not a scientific issue. That is to say, the issue is not climate change but climate change alarmism, and the hugely damaging policies that are advocated, and in some cases put in place, in its name…
According to the temperature records kept by the UK Met Office (and other series are much the same), over the past 150 years (that is, from the very beginnings of the Industrial Revolution), mean global temperature has increased by a little under a degree centigrade — according to the Met Office, 0.8ºC. This has happened in fits and starts, which are not fully understood. To begin with, to the extent that anyone noticed it, it was seen as a welcome and natural recovery from the rigours of the Little Ice Age. But the great bulk of it — 0.5ºC out of the 0.8ºC — occurred during the last quarter of the 20th century. It was then that global warming alarmism was born.
But since then, and wholly contrary to the expectations of the overwhelming majority of climate scientists, who confidently predicted that global warming would not merely continue but would accelerate, given the unprecedented growth of global carbon emissions, as China’s coal-based economy has grown by leaps and bounds, there has been no further warming at all. To be precise, the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a deeply flawed body whose non-scientist chairman is a committed climate alarmist, reckons that global warming has latterly been occurring at the rate of — wait for it — 0.05ºC per decade, plus or minus 0.1ºC. Their figures, not mine. In other words, the observed rate of warming is less than the margin of error....
The lessons of the unpredicted 15-year global temperature standstill (or hiatus as the IPCC calls it) are clear. In the first place, the so-called Integrated Assessment Models which the climate science community uses to predict the global temperature increase which is likely to occur over the next 100 years are almost certainly mistaken, in that climate sensitivity is almost certainly significantly less than they once thought, and thus the models exaggerate the likely temperature rise over the next hundred years.....
The fact remains that the most careful empirical studies show that, so far at least, there has been no perceptible increase, globally, in either the number or the severity of extreme weather events....
So how is it that much of the Western world, and this country in particular, has succumbed to the self-harming collective madness that is climate change orthodoxy? It is difficult to escape the conclusion that climate change orthodoxy has in effect become a substitute religion, attended by all the intolerant zealotry that has so often marred religion in the past, and in some places still does so today.
Throughout the Western world, the two creeds that used to vie for popular support, Christianity and the atheistic belief system of Communism, are each clearly in decline. Yet people still feel the need both for the comfort and for the transcendent values that religion can provide. It is the quasi-religion of green alarmism and global salvationism, of which the climate change dogma is the prime example, which has filled the vacuum, with reasoned questioning of its mantras regarded as little short of sacrilege....
But, despite their success, there are still hundreds of millions of people ... in dire poverty, suffering all the ills that this brings, in terms of malnutrition, preventable disease, and premature death. Asking these countries to abandon the cheapest available sources of energy is, at the very least, asking them to delay the conquest of malnutrition, to perpetuate the incidence of preventable disease, and to increase the numbers of premature deaths.... Global warming orthodoxy is not merely irrational. It is wicked.
===
It is Labor’s back-of-the-coaster management which created the disaster Abbott must fix
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (9:03am)
Technology Spectator on how Kevin Rudd decided on the National Broadband Network - a $44 billion (plus) disaster:
...ultimately the blame for the NBN’s poor execution has to lie at the feet of the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Communications Minister Steven Conroy.Bit of a bad habit:
Urban legend has it the idea for the project was sketched out on a napkin – this writer has been told it was written on a drinks coaster in the Canberra Qantas Chairman’s Lounge – but whatever the truth is, the NBN suffered from being poorly thought out at the beginning.
KEVIN Rudd’s botched batts scheme was hurriedly costed on the “back of a napkin” by the former prime minister, or one of his inner-circle, and an industry figure, the Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program has heard.. For all the criticisms of Tony Abbott’s attempts to now balance the books, remember the grotesque Labor incompetence and recklessness that created the yawning deficits he must now fix.
Troy Delbridge says he was bullied and then sacked by the government as a technical adviser to the $2.8 billion program in July 2009 for repeatedly warning the rushed rollout put installers in danger.
The scheme, announced by Mr Rudd as an economic stimulus measure, was cut short in February 2010 after more than 100 house fires and four worker deaths.
Hired on a one-year contract in March 2009, environmental scientist Dr Delbridge said ... “(I was told) the costings were drawn up on the back of a napkin by some senior Labor Party politician ... and the head of the bulk (insulation) industry association,” said Dr Delbridge, who was hired to advise the government on technical, performance and safety aspects of the scheme. “It was one of the prime minister’s inner-circle, whether it was him himself, I’m not sure.”
===
What sinking ship, gurgles Bill Shorten
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (8:43am)
Labor pretends there isn’t a problem. Every lobby group is in the queue to be interviewed attacking the Abbott Government’s planned cuts.
We’re in trouble, and Chris Richardson of Access Economics is in despair:
What crisis, asks shadow treasurer Chris Bowen, surveying the wreckage left by Labor. Why cut anything? Why raise any taxes?:
Adam Creighton on the timidity of the political class:
We’re in trouble, and Chris Richardson of Access Economics is in despair:
(T)he next 72 hours will be a test of the maturity of the Australian electorate – and I have to say that history doesn’t fill me with confidence.UPDATE
A bunch of the commission’s recommendations will be easy to demonise. Talkback and tabloid alike can and probably will have a rich feast on the political pain involved in good policy… There will be free kicks galore available to the opposition and the populists (the Greens and Palmer United)… Australia’s social compact – our federal budget – is broken and in need of repair. As a nation, we will either have a good debate or a bad one about the way we do that repair. We are about to find out which it will be.
What crisis, asks shadow treasurer Chris Bowen, surveying the wreckage left by Labor. Why cut anything? Why raise any taxes?:
We’ll be putting a case that we shouldn’t be charging people to go to the doctor ... [Abbott] should immediately say he will not slow down the roll-out of the NDIS… Well again, there are a whole range of recommendations here, some of which would cause us concern in relation to carers, for example, others of which are complex and detailed… We maintain the position that increasing the GST or broadening the base is not good policy...And:
“Let’s be very, very clear. There is no budget crisis, there is no budget emergency,” Mr Bowen told ABC Radio.UPDATE
Adam Creighton on the timidity of the political class:
The Commission of Audit’s proposals will be greeted with hysteria from the usual rent-seekers and partisans of a larger state but they are in many ways quite modest and reasonable.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Even if the Coalition adopted all the recommendations in the upcoming budget, government spending per capita would still grow in real terms for each of the next 10 years.
By comparison, the Cameron government in Britain has had to cut real spending by about 1 per cent every year since 2010. If growth turns out to be weaker than projected, as it has continually in recent years, the centrepiece of the Coalition’s fiscal vision, a 1 per cent surplus by 2023, will vanish.
===
Taxes hurt, tax cuts help
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (8:03am)
Senator-elect Bob Day of Family First says no to a deficit tax and yes to lower taxes instead:
Day also warns against increasing the GST:
Continue reading 'Taxes hurt, tax cuts help'
The first thing to say about taxation is that we need less of it, not more of it. As has been widely acknowledged – most recently by the Treasurer Joe Hockey, governments in Australia do not a revenue problem, they have a spending problem. So if I were Joe Hockey, I would ... announce ... the Government is declaring a moratorium on any new tax increases…And, of course, business tend to improve.
When the Australian company tax rate was cut from 39 to 30 percent, revenues went up not down. The famous Reagan tax cuts from 70% to 30% in the 1980s produced a $9 billion increase in revenue when a $1 billion shortfall had been forecast. Russia is another example, where the move to a 13 percent flat rate tax in 2001 increased revenues from 9 to 16 percent of GDP. When Sweden halved its company tax rate from 60 per cent to 30 per cent company tax revenue tripled. Resistance to paying tax declines as people view the tax system as fair and reasonable.
Day also warns against increasing the GST:
… a lift in the GST rate, or a base-broadening change, would simply give State governments more of our money. Why on earth should any sensible person want that?Oh, and don’t like this message from one of the cross-benchers who now share the balance of power in the Senate? Well, the big parties had better not think of reforms to stop them getting elected again:
These Treasury officials, economists and business people will of course say that they’re not looking to raise more revenue, they just want to raise more from the GST and then offset that by reducing other taxes. [But] by the time you have “compensated” everybody who says they will be worse off as a result of the rise or broadening of the GST, you are left with only a portion of what the GST increase will raise. The result, as it was in 2001, would be a higher level of expenditure, a higher level of taxation and no reduction in other taxes.
The Abbott Government ... will need six votes to get its legislative agenda through the Senate. In the Senate there are six new crossbenchers. I am one of them. Now we’ve been variously described by the media as “a mishmash, grab bag, barnyard, liquorice allsorts, flotsam and jetsam, motley crew of Star Wars aliens!” with calls for the Electoral Act to be changed immediately to make sure this sort of thing never happens again…Bob Day’s speech here:
Bear in mind 25% of the electorate did not vote for a major party ... but the non-major party senators took only 18% of the seats… Yes, people like Ricky Muir of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party got a tiny number of primary votes but people weren’t specifically voting for him - it isn’t personal, any more than it is with the major parties, people do not vote for individual Senators, they vote for the party and Ricky Muir represented all those who voted for someone other than the major parties… If the government is half smart it will not team up with Labor and the Greens to change the Electoral Act to prevent minor parties getting elected. That would certainly get us off on the wrong foot.
Continue reading 'Taxes hurt, tax cuts help'
===
The memo which shows the White House lying about Benghazi
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (7:31am)
An email from Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, shows him coaching then-ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice on what to say on the Sunday TV shows following the co-ordinated terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, in which four Americans were killed.
Blame an anti-Muslim video, the email suggested - not the weak president or the terrorists:
Really? What else would the talk shows want to discuss but that week’s Benghazi attack? What else in the White House talking points covered that burning topic?
Blame an anti-Muslim video, the email suggested - not the weak president or the terrorists:
Documents obtained by Judicial Watch show deputy national-security adviser Ben Rhodes providing Rice, as well as others on the e-mail, with a list of “goals” for handling the attacks. Two of them:The White House preposterously claims the email wasn’t coaching Rice what to say about that week’s murder of four Americans in Benghazi but about the wider protests in the region.
“To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.” “To reinforce the President and Administration’s strength and steadiness in dealing with difficult challenges.”
Really? What else would the talk shows want to discuss but that week’s Benghazi attack? What else in the White House talking points covered that burning topic?
It is a cover-up and a deliberate campaign to lie to the American people:
State Department, CIA officials and reporters have explained that within 24 hours, certainly 48 hours (Sept. 13) the State Department and CIA knew this was a planned terrorist attack. The FBI was already dispatched. A background briefing by the State Department on Sept. 12 reiterated that this was a coordinated attack.Yet the White House ordered Rice to pretend this was just a protest against an anti-Islamic video that got out of control.
===
Kathy Jackson: I told Shorten of my slush fund
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (7:12am)
The royal commission into union corruption is looking at union slush funds, and has been asked to look into this one:
HEALTH Services Union national secretary Kathy Jackson has tried to justify using union members’ money for a slush fund to support election campaigns of factional allies, and claimed she discussed one such campaign with Bill Shorten.I make no allegation at all of corruption in this matter. None. Besides, these are untested claims. But it’s not hard to see how the royal commission could drag Shorten into the witness box and that alone would cause political damage.
She claims the Labor leader, when he was a boss of the Australian Workers Union, and Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy, had talked about the matter at a dinner party at Mr Shorten’s house about nine years ago.
Ms Jackson ... was the secretary of the HSU’s Victoria No 3 branch [when] she ran a slush fund into which the union transferred nearly $300,000 over several years.
Ms Jackson last night said the transfers of union money to the fund, called the National Health Development Account, had been approved by the union’s committee of management, which knew it would be allocated for political purposes.
“There is no allegation that I benefited personally from the money in that bank account. None of those funds were used for my benefit or the private benefit of others,” Ms Jackson said.
“Money that came from that bank account was used to finance various union and Labor Party related causes. I discussed some payments from the account with Bill Shorten and Stephen Conroy,” Ms Jackson said.
“On one occasion at Mr Shorten’s home, we discussed a payment of $6000 from the HSU fund to finance a Labor Party member’s campaign.”
A spokesman for the Labor leader said: “Mr Shorten has absolutely no recollection of the ‘National Health Development Account’ being referred to.” A spokesman for Senator Conroy said he “has no recollection of a dinner or a discussion"… [The] union’s acting national secretary, Chris Brown, has referred the allegations to the Fair Work Commission and the royal commission into union corruption.
===
Why would Tony Abbott put a tax on his good word?
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (6:53am)
Professor Sinclair Davidson has tough words for Treasurer Joe Hockey about his planned new deficit tax:
Piers Akerman:
In full knowledge of the budget situation you promised to repair the damage while not increasing taxes. To renege on that promise is simply to have told a lie. You will have lied when you promised to not increase taxes, and you will have lied about why you lied in the first place.The IPA’s Simon Breheny just shows a Liberal poster:
UPDATE
Piers Akerman:
From the constant repetition of the “spreading the pain” mantra, it is clear that Abbott thinks (erroneously) that hitting up those Australians who already pay the overwhelming bulk of income tax will in some way make those who pay little or no income tax feel more kindly toward his government.
That is the sort of soak-the-rich attitude that unthinking generations of Labor trade unionists and politicians used to kill industry and stifle growth.
The Labor and Green voters, for whom this sort of pandering rhetoric is ambrosial, are never going to change their votes…
In raising a sum which would do little to meet even the interest bill on Labor’s $123 million deficit, Abbott would destroy the single greatest point of difference between himself and the last two Labor prime ministers. He would have broken faith with the public who believed he was not lying when he promised no new taxes.
===
Audit commission’s plan could save us but would kill the Government
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (6:42am)
The audit commission explained the trouble we’re in but its rescue plan would kill the Government, says Terry McCrann:
But as the audit commission says, something must be done - and it’s its not these changes, then what?
RELAX. Most - almost all - of the Commission of Audit’s recommendations won’t be implemented…UPDATE
Take the most “courageous” recommendation: to effectively abolish Medicare.
Ask yourself - as Prime Minister Tony Abbott most certainly already has - if the Coalition promised to do that, would it even be able to put together a parliamentary cricket team on the Opposition benches after 2016’s election?…
Much the same applies to most of the commission’s other big recommendations.
Bluntly - brutally - this is less a road map to a sustainable fiscal future and more a road map to political oblivion....
There are a few, essentially minor [proposals], that have been picked up. The standout is the $6 - not $15, as recommended - Medicare co-payment.
The other is the pension age going to 70 after 2050.
Add the coming deficit levy, and that’s more than enough to make it difficult for the Government to win again in 2016.
But as the audit commission says, something must be done - and it’s its not these changes, then what?
Under the “business as usual” scenario the commonwealth’s budget remains in deficit out to 2023-24 and beyond.
If this occurred, Australia would record an unprecedented run of 16 consecutive years of deficits (and more in prospect), with net debt rising to around 17 per cent of GDP, or some $440bn. Under the “reform” scenario the budget returns to surplus in 2019-20, with the surplus growing to 1 per cent of GDP by 2023-24.
===
The Bolt Report on Sunday
Andrew Bolt May 02 2014 (12:51am)
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
Abbott breaks a promise. Should he be forgiven?
My guest: Amanda Vanstone, former Howard Government minister and member of the Commission of Audit.
The panel: Michael Kroger and Cassandra Wilkinson.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean.
So much to discuss: destroying the handout mentality, budget cuts and the deficit tax. Plus: the menace of Clive Palmer’s money and the arrest of a man who quoted Churchill in public.
Your Say and more.
The videos appear here.
Abbott breaks a promise. Should he be forgiven?
My guest: Amanda Vanstone, former Howard Government minister and member of the Commission of Audit.
The panel: Michael Kroger and Cassandra Wilkinson.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean.
So much to discuss: destroying the handout mentality, budget cuts and the deficit tax. Plus: the menace of Clive Palmer’s money and the arrest of a man who quoted Churchill in public.
Your Say and more.
The videos appear here.
===
The Holocaust during WWII was one of the very low points in human history. Millions of Jews were systematically exterminated in concentration camps. These are the fats, and yet some still try to deny that the Holocaust ever happened. Whatever their reasoning, they maintain the stories are Nazi propaganda.
Showing great foresight, Dwight Eisenhower made an effort to stop any such attempts. In 1945, he visited one of the concentration camps near Gotha, and was shocked and horrified at what he saw. Though some of the sights made him physically ill, he inspected every part of the camps. He felt that it was his duty to see it all and be able to testify to the truth of the Nazi brutality.
Read more at http://www.omg-facts.com/History/President-Eisenhower-Predicted-Holocaust/56972#ZK2ZvScgpuzrBDBT.99
===
- 1194 – King Richard I of England gave the city ofPortsmouth (Old Portsmouth pictured) its firstRoyal Charter.
- 1757 – Konbaung forces captured the city of Bago, Burma, to end the Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War.
- 1885 – A small force of Cree and Assiniboine defeated a larger Canadian force in the Battle of Cut Knife, the natives' most successful battle during the North-West Rebellion.
- 1995 – Croatian War of Independence: Serb forces began firing rockets on the Croatian capital of Zagreb, killing 7 and injuring at least 175 others.
- 2011 – The Conservative Party of Canada won enough seats in theCanadian federal election to establish their first majority government.
- 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
- 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
- 1335 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.
- 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
- 1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.
- 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
- 1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
- 1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
- 1672 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
- 1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
- 1812 – The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.
- 1816 – Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales.
- 1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
- 1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
- 1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Ottoman Bulgaria.
- 1879 – The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is founded in Madrid by Pablo Iglesias.
- 1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
- 1889 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
- 1906 – Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.
- 1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
- 1920 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.
- 1933 – Germany's independent labor unions are replaced by the German Labour Front.
- 1941 – Following the coup d'état against Iraq Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
- 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin.
- 1945 – World War II: The surrender of Caserta comes into effect, by which German troops in Italy cease fighting.
- 1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
- 1945 – World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.
- 1952 – The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.
- 1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
- 1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
- 1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship's hull. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
- 1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma, the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
- 1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
- 1972 – In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.
- 1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
- 1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.
- 1989 – Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
- 1994 – A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.
- 1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
- 1998 – The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.
- 1999 – Panamanian general election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
- 2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
- 2004 – The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa. In response, about 630 Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2nd.
- 2008 – Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
- 2008 – Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
- 2011 – An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.
- 2011 – The 41st Canadian federal election is held, in which the governing Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, increases their number of seats from a minority to a majority.
- 2012 – A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.
- 2014 – Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.
- 1360 – Yongle Emperor of China (d. 1424)
- 1402 – Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (d. 1445)
- 1451 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1508)
- 1458 – Eleanor of Viseu (d. 1525)
- 1476 – Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko, Governor of Bohemia and Silesia (d. 1536)
- 1533 – Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (d. 1596)
- 1551 – William Camden, English historian and topographer (d. 1623)
- 1567 – Sebald de Weert, Dutch captain, vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company (d. 1603)
- 1579 – Tokugawa Hidetada, Japanese shogun (d. 1632)
- 1601 – Athanasius Kircher, German priest and scholar (d. 1680)
- 1660 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
- 1695 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French painter and architect (d. 1766)
- 1702 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and theosopher (d. 1782)
- 1707 – Jean-Baptiste Barrière, French cellist and composer (d. 1747)
- 1729 – Catherine the Great of Russia (d. 1796)
- 1737 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1805)
- 1740 – Elias Boudinot, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821)
- 1750 – John André, English soldier and spy (d. 1780)
- 1752 – Ludwig August Lebrun, German oboe player and composer (d. 1790)
- 1754 – Vicente Martín y Soler, Spanish composer (d. 1806)
- 1772 – Novalis, German author and poet (d. 1801)
- 1773 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher and poet (d. 1845)
- 1797 – Abraham Pineo Gesner, Canadian physician and geologist (d. 1864)
- 1802 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (d. 1870)
- 1806 – Catherine Labouré, French nun and saint (d. 1876)
- 1810 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (d. 1874)
- 1815 – William Buell Richards, Canadian lawyer and judge, 1st Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1889)
- 1828 – Désiré Charnay, French archaeologist and photographer (d. 1915)
- 1830 – Otto Staudinger, German entomologist and author (d. 1900)
- 1843 – Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American engineer (d. 1929)
- 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author and playwright (d. 1927)
- 1860 – John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist, physician, and academic (d. 1936)
- 1860 – Theodor Herzl, Austro-Hungarian zionist philosopher, journalist and author (d. 1904)
- 1865 – Clyde Fitch, American playwright (d. 1909)
- 1867 – Giuseppe Morello, Italian-American mobster (d. 1930)
- 1873 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (d. 1944)
- 1879 – James F. Byrnes, American stenographer and politician, 49th United States Secretary of State (d. 1972)
- 1880 – Bill Horr, American football player, discus thrower, and coach (d. 1955)
- 1881 – Alexander Kerensky, Russian lawyer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Russia (d. 1970)
- 1882 – Isabel González, Puerto Rican activist who helped pave the way for Puerto Ricans' American citizenship (d. 1971)
- 1885 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and gossip columnist (d. 1966)
- 1886 – Gottfried Benn, German author and poet (d. 1956)
- 1887 – Vernon Castle, English-American dancer (d. 1918)
- 1887 – Eddie Collins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1951)
- 1889 – Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesian philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1959)
- 1890 – E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (d. 1965)
- 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (d. 1918)
- 1894 – Joseph Henry Woodger, English biologist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1981)
- 1895 – Lorenz Hart, American playwright and lyricist (d. 1943)
- 1897 – John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (d. 1985)
- 1898 – Henry Hall, English bandleader, composer, and actor (d. 1989)
- 1901 – Bob Wyatt, English cricketer (d. 1995)
- 1901 – Chiyo Miyako, Japanese supercentenarian
- 1901 – Edouard Zeckendorf, Belgian doctor, army officer and mathematician (d. 1983)
- 1901 – Willi Bredel, German writer (d. 1964)
- 1902 – Brian Aherne, English actor (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Werner Finck, German Kabarett comedian, actor and author (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Benjamin Spock, American rower, pediatrician, and author (d. 1998)
- 1904 – Bill Brandt, German-English photographer and journalist (d. 1983)
- 1905 – Alan Rawsthorne, British composer (d. 1971)
- 1905 – Charlotte Armstrong, American author (d. 1969)
- 1906 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (d. 1979)
- 1907 – Pinky Lee, American comedian and television host (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Frank Rowlett, American cryptologist (d. 1998)
- 1909 – Teddy Stauffer, Swiss bandleader, musician, and actor (d. 1991)
- 1910 – Alexander Bonnyman, Jr., American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
- 1910 – Edmund Bacon, American urban planner, architect, educator, and author (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Axel Springer, German journalist and publisher, founded Axel Springer AG (d. 1985)
- 1912 – Karl Adam, German rowing coaches (d. 1976)
- 1912 – Marten Toonder, Dutch comic strip creator (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Nigel Patrick, English actor and director (d. 1981)
- 1913 – Pietro Frua, Italian coachbuilders and car designers (d. 1983)
- 1913 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (d. 1993)
- 1915 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Peggy Mount, English actress (d. 2001)
- 1917 – Albert Castelyns, Belgian water polo player and bobsledder
- 1917 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (d. 2002)
- 1920 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-Brazilian journalist and activist (d. 2000)
- 1920 – Vasantrao Deshpande, Indian singer and sitar player (d. 1983)
- 1920 – Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter, soldier, and pilot (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Jacob Gilboa, Israeli composer (d. 2007)
- 1921 – B. B. Lal, Indian archaeologist
- 1921 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1922 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (d. 2007)
- 1922 – A. M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born American journalist and author (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Serge Reggiani, Italian-born French singer and actor (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Albert Nordengen, Norwegian banker and politician (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Jamal Abro, Pakistani lawyer and author (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Arthur Clues, Australian rugby league player (d. 1998)
- 1924 – Hugh Cortazzi, English soldier, historian, and diplomat, British Ambassador to Japan
- 1925 – John Neville, English-Canadian actor (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Gérard D. Levesque, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Ray Barrett, Australian actor and singer (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Amos Kenan, Israeli columnist, painter, sculptor, playwright and novelist (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Michael Broadbent, British winecritic and writer
- 1928 – Hans Trass, Estonian ecologist and botanist (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt, French writer and translator of German origin
- 1928 – Horst Stein, German conductor (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Édouard Balladur, Turkish-French economist and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of France
- 1929 – James Dillion, American discus thrower (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Link Wray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan (d. 1972)
- 1930 – Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter and critic (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Marco Pannella, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2016)
- 1931 – Phil Bruns, American actor and stuntman (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Martha Grimes, American author and poet
- 1932 – Maury Allen, American journalist, actor, and author (d. 2010)
- 1933 – Bunk Gardner, American musician
- 1933 – Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- 1934 – Manfred Durniok, German film producer, director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Luis Suárez Miramontes, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1935 – Faisal II of Iraq, the last King of Iraq (d.1958)
- 1936 – Norma Aleandro, Argentinian actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, English singer and pianist
- 1936 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (d. 1972)
- 1937 – Klaus Enders, German motorcycle sidecar racer
- 1937 – Lorenzo Music, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
- 1937 – Gisela Elsner, German writer (d. 1992)
- 1938 – Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (d. 1996)
- 1939 – Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and engineer
- 1939 – Ernesto Castano, Italian football player
- 1940 – Jules Albert Wijdenbosch, Surinamese politician
- 1941 – Tony Adamowicz, American race car driver (d. 2016)
- 1941 – Bruce Cameron, Scottish bishop
- 1941 – Clay Carroll, American baseball player
- 1941 – Eddy Louiss, French jazz musician (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Jacques Rogge, Belgian businessman
- 1942 – Wojciech Pszoniak, Polish film and theater actor
- 1944 – Robert G. W. Anderson, English chemist, historian, and curator
- 1945 – Randy Cain, American soul singer (d. 2009)
- 1945 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
- 1945 – Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan-American model, actress, and activist
- 1945 – Goldy McJohn, Canadian keyboard player
- 1946 – Peter L. Benson, American psychologist and academic (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1946 – David Suchet, English actor
- 1947 – James Dyson, English businessman, founded the Dyson Company
- 1947 – Lynda Myles, English screenwriter and producer
- 1947 – Philippe Herreweghe, Belgian conductor
- 1948 – Larry Gatlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1949 – Alan Titchmarsh, English gardener and author
- 1949 – Alfons Schuhbeck, German celebrity chef, author and businessman
- 1950 – Simon Gaskell, English chemist and academic
- 1950 – Duncan Gay, Australian businessman and politician
- 1950 – Lou Gramm, American singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Richard Ground, English lawyer and judge (d. 2014)
- 1950 – Fausto Silva, Brazilian television presenter
- 1951 – John Glascock, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
- 1952 – Chris Anderson, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1952 – Christine Baranski, American actress and singer
- 1952 – Isla St Clair, Scottish singer and actress
- 1953 – Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor and director
- 1954 – Elliot Goldenthal, American composer and conductor
- 1954 – Dawn Primarolo, English politician
- 1954 – Stephen Venables, English mountaineer and author
- 1955 – Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer
- 1956 – Régis Labeaume, Canadian businessman and politician, 41st Mayor of Quebec City
- 1958 – Yasushi Akimoto, Japanese songwriter and producer
- 1958 – Stanislav Levý, Czech footballer and manager
- 1958 – David O'Leary, English-Irish footballer and manager
- 1959 – Alan Best, Canadian animator, director, and producer
- 1959 – Tony Wakeford, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Stephen Daldry, English director and producer
- 1961 – Steve James, English snooker player
- 1961 – Sophie Thibault, Canadian journalist
- 1961 – Phil Vickery, English chef and author
- 1962 – Elizabeth Berridge, American actress
- 1962 – Michael Grandage, English director and producer
- 1962 – Jimmy White, English snooker player
- 1965 – Félix José, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1966 – Uwe Freiler, German footballer
- 1966 – Margus Kolga, Estonian diplomat
- 1966 – Belinda Stronach, Canadian businesswoman, philanthropist, and politician
- 1967 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1995)
- 1967 – Mika Brzezinski, American journalist and author
- 1967 – David Rocastle, English footballer (d. 2001)
- 1968 – Jeff Agoos, Swiss-American soccer player, manager, and sportscaster
- 1968 – Julia Hartley-Brewer, English broadcaster and columnist
- 1968 – Ziana Zain, Malaysian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1969 – Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer
- 1970 – Marco Walker, Swiss footballer and coach
- 1971 – Musashimaru Kōyō, Samoan-American sumo wrestler, the 67th Yokozuna
- 1971 – Fatima Yusuf, Nigerian sprinter
- 1972 – Paul Adcock, English footballer
- 1972 – Ahti Heinla, Estonian programmer and businessman, co-developed Skype
- 1972 – Dwayne Johnson, American-Canadian wrestler, actor, and producer
- 1973 – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, German director and screenwriter
- 1974 – Horacio Carbonari, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1974 – Andy Johnson, English-Welsh footballer
- 1974 – Janek Meet, Estonian footballer
- 1975 – David Beckham, English footballer, coach, and model
- 1976 – Jeff Gutt, American singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Brian Cardinal, American basketball player
- 1977 – Jan Fitschen, German runner
- 1977 – Luke Hudson, American baseball player
- 1977 – Fredrik Malm, Swedish journalist and politician
- 1977 – Jenna von Oÿ, American actress and singer
- 1977 – Kalle Palander, Finnish skier
- 1978 – Melvin Ely, American basketball player
- 1978 – Mike Weaver, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Jason Chimera, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Ioannis Kanotidis, Greek footballer
- 1980 – Tim Borowski, German footballer
- 1980 – Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canadian skateboarder
- 1980 – Ellie Kemper, American actress, comedian and writer
- 1980 – Zat Knight, English footballer
- 1980 – Artūras Masiulis, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1980 – Troy Murphy, American basketball player
- 1980 – Lassaâd Ouertani, Tunisian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1980 – Brad Richards, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Robert Buckley, American actor
- 1981 – Chris Kirkland, English footballer
- 1981 – Tiago Mendes, Portuguese footballer
- 1981 – Matt Murray, English footballer
- 1981 – Rina Satō, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1982 – Timothy Benjamin, Welsh sprinter
- 1982 – Johan Botha, South African cricketer
- 1983 – Alessandro Diamanti, Italian footballer
- 1983 – Maynor Figueroa, Honduran footballer
- 1983 – Tina Maze, Slovenian skier
- 1983 – Daniel Sordo, Spanish race car driver
- 1983 – Ove Vanebo, Norwegian politician
- 1984 – Saulius Mikoliūnas, Lithuanian footballer
- 1984 – Thabo Sefolosha, Swiss basketball player
- 1985 – Lily Allen, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1985 – Kyle Busch, American race car driver
- 1985 – Ashley Harkleroad, American tennis player
- 1985 – Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
- 1985 – David Nugent, English footballer
- 1987 – Nana Kitade, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
- 1987 – Pat McAfee, American football player
- 1987 – Kris Russell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Justin Young, English singer and songwriter
- 1988 – Neftalí Feliz, Dominican baseball player
- 1988 – Stephen Henderson, Irish footballer
- 1989 – Jeanette Pohlen, American basketball player
- 1990 – Paul George, American basketball player
- 1991 – Jeong Jinwoon, South Korean actor and singer (2AM)
- 1992 – Sunmi, South Korean singer (Wonder Girls)
- 1992 – María Teresa Torró Flor, Spanish tennis player
- 1993 – Owain Doull, Welsh track cyclist
- 1993 – Isyana Sarasvati, Indonesian singer
- 1993 – Huang Zitao, Chinese singer & rapper, former member of boy band EXO
- 1996 – Cherprang Areekul, Member of idol group (BNK48)
- 1997 – BamBam, Thai singer and rapper (Got7)
- 2015 – Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, British royal, and fourth in line to the British throne
- 373 – Athanasius of Alexandria, Egyptian bishop and saint (b. 298)
- 649 – Marutha of Tikrit, Persian theologian of the Syriac Orthodox Church (b. 565)
- 821 – Liu Zong, general of the Tang Dynasty
- 907 – Boris I of Bulgaria
- 1219 – Leo I, King of Armenia (b. 1150)
- 1230 – William de Braose, English son of Reginald de Braose (b. 1197)
- 1293 – Meir of Rothenburg, German rabbi (b. c.1215)
- 1300 – Blanche of Artois (b. 1248)
- 1450 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English admiral (b. 1396)
- 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1452)
- 1564 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (b. 1500)
- 1627 – Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Italian composer and educator (b. 1560)
- 1667 – George Wither, English poet and author (b. 1588)
- 1683 – Stjepan Gradić, Croatian philosopher and mathematician (b. 1613)
- 1711 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English politician, First Lord of the Treasury (b. 1641)
- 1799 – Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo (b. 1740)
- 1802 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch general and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch Gold Coast (b. 1762)
- 1810 – Henry Jerome de Salis, English priest (b. 1740)
- 1819 – Mary Moser, English painter and academic (b. 1744)
- 1857 – Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist (b. 1810)
- 1864 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer and educator (b. 1791)
- 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser, German-American businessman, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (b. 1805)
- 1880 – Tom Wills, Australian cricketer, co-created Australian rules football (b. 1835)
- 1885 – Terézia Zakoucs, Hungarian-Slovene author (b. 1817)
- 1915 – Clara Immerwahr, German chemist (b. 1870)
- 1918 – Jüri Vilms, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1889)
- 1925 – Antun Branko Šimić, Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian poet (b. 1898)
- 1927 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (b. 1866)
- 1929 – Charalambos Tseroulis, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister for Military Affairs (b. 1879)
- 1941 – Penelope Delta, Greek author (b. 1874)
- 1945 – Martin Bormann, German politician (b. 1900)
- 1945 – Joe Corbett, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1875)
- 1947 – Dorothea Binz, German SS officer (b. 1920)
- 1953 – Wallace Bryant, American archer (b. 1863)
- 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1908)
- 1963 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, English cricketer, peer, politician, poet, author and newspaper editor (b. 1884)
- 1964 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-English politician (b. 1879)
- 1969 – Franz von Papen, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
- 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, American 1st director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)
- 1974 – James O. Richardson, American admiral (b. 1878)
- 1979 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1980 – Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-Australian cricketer (b. 1891)
- 1980 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
- 1984 – Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (b. 1918)
- 1984 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Attilio Bettega, Italian race car driver (b. 1951)
- 1985 – Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1909)
- 1986 – Sergio Cresto, American race car driver (b. 1956)
- 1986 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (b. 1956)
- 1989 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author (b. 1902)
- 1989 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
- 1990 – David Rappaport, English-American actor (b. 1951)
- 1991 – Ronald McKie, Australian journalist and author (b. 1909)
- 1992 – Wilbur Mills, American lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
- 1993 – André Moynet, French race car driver, pilot, and politician (b. 1921)
- 1994 – Dorothy Marie Donnelly, American poet and author (b. 1903)
- 1995 – John Bunting, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (b. 1918)
- 1995 – Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)
- 1997 – John Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1997 – Paulo Freire, Brazilian philosopher and academic (b. 1921)
- 1998 – hide, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1964)
- 1998 – Justin Fashanu, English footballer (b. 1961)
- 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1999 – Douglas Harkness, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1903)
- 1999 – Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
- 2002 – W. T. Tutte, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Wee Kim Wee, Singaporean journalist and politician, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
- 2006 – Louis Rukeyser, American journalist and author (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Brad McGann, New Zealand director and screenwriter (b. 1964)
- 2008 – Beverlee McKinsey, American actress (b. 1940)
- 2008 – Izold Pustõlnik, Ukrainian-Estonian astronomer and academic (b. 1938)
- 2009 – Marilyn French, American author and academic (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Kiyoshiro Imawano, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1951)
- 2009 – Jack Kemp, American football player and politician, 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (b. 1935)
- 2010 – Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress and singer (b. 1943)
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founder of Al-Qaeda (b. 1957)
- 2012 – Fernando Lopes, Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Tufan Miñnullin, Russian playwright and politician (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian physician and politician, Indonesian Minister of Health (b. 1955)
- 2012 – Akira Tonomura, Japanese physicist, author, and academic (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Ernie Field, English boxer (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Joseph P. McFadden, American bishop (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Dvora Omer, Israeli author and educator (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Ivan Turina, Croatian footballer (b. 1980)
- 2013 – Charles Banks Wilson, American painter and illustrator (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Tomás Balduino, Brazilian bishop (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Žarko Petan, Slovenian director, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Stuart Archer, English colonel and architect (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (b. 1945)
- 2015 – Guy Carawan, American singer and musicologist (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Maya Plisetskaya, Russian-Lithuanian ballerina, choreographer, actress, and director (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Ruth Rendell, English author (b. 1930)
- 2016 – Afeni Shakur, American music businesswoman, activist, and Black Panther (b. 1947)
- Christian feast day:
- The last day of the Festival of Ridván (Bahá'í Faith) (Note that this date is non-Gregorian and may change according to the March equinox)
- Anniversary of the Dos de Mayo Uprising (Community of Madrid, Spain)
- Birth Anniversary of Third Druk Gyalpo (Bhutan)
- Flag Day (Poland)
- Indonesia National Education Day
- Teachers' Day (Iran)
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” - Hebrews 11:6
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
Lo, the flowery month is come! March winds and April showers have done their work, and the earth is all bedecked with beauty. Come my soul, put on thine holiday attire and go forth to gather garlands of heavenly thoughts. Thou knowest whither to betake thyself, for to thee "the beds of spices" are well known, and thou hast so often smelt the perfume of "the sweet flowers," that thou wilt go at once to thy well-beloved and find all loveliness, all joy in him. That cheek once so rudely smitten with a rod, oft bedewed with tears of sympathy and then defiled with spittle--that cheek as it smiles with mercy is as fragrant aromatic to my heart. Thou didst not hide thy face from shame and spitting, O Lord Jesus, and therefore I will find my dearest delight in praising thee. Those cheeks were furrowed by the plough of grief, and crimsoned with red lines of blood from thy thorn-crowned temples; such marks of love unbounded cannot but charm my soul far more than "pillars of perfume." If I may not see the whole of his face I would behold his cheeks, for the least glimpse of him is exceedingly refreshing to my spiritual sense and yields a variety of delights. In Jesus I find not only fragrance, but a bed of spices; not one flower, but all manner of sweet flowers. He is to me my rose and my lily, my heartsease and my cluster of camphire. When he is with me it is May all the year round, and my soul goes forth to wash her happy face in the morning-dew of his grace, and to solace herself with the singing of the birds of his promises. Precious Lord Jesus, let me in very deed know the blessedness which dwells in abiding, unbroken fellowship with thee. I am a poor worthless one, whose cheek thou hast deigned to kiss! O let me kiss thee in return with the kisses of my lips.
Evening
Whatever there may be of beauty in the material world, Jesus Christ possesses all that in the spiritual world in a tenfold degree. Amongst flowers the rose is deemed the sweetest, but Jesus is infinitely more beautiful in the garden of the soul than the rose can be in the gardens of earth. He takes the first place as the fairest among ten thousand. He is the sun, and all others are the stars; the heavens and the day are dark in comparison with him, for the King in his beauty transcends all. "I am the rose of Sharon." This was the best and rarest of roses. Jesus is not "the rose" alone, he is "the rose of Sharon," just as he calls his righteousness "gold," and then adds, "the gold of Ophir"--the best of the best. He is positively lovely, and superlatively the loveliest. There is variety in his charms. The rose is delightful to the eye, and its scent is pleasant and refreshing; so each of the senses of the soul, whether it be the taste or feeling, the hearing, the sight, or the spiritual smell, finds appropriate gratification in Jesus. Even the recollection of his love is sweet. Take the rose of Sharon, and pull it leaf from leaf, and lay by the leaves in the jar of memory, and you shall find each leaf fragrant long afterwards, filling the house with perfume. Christ satisfies the highest taste of the most educated spirit to the very full. The greatest amateur in perfumes is quite satisfied with the rose: and when the soul has arrived at her highest pitch of true taste, she shall still be content with Christ, nay, she shall be the better able to appreciate him. Heaven itself possesses nothing which excels the rose of Sharon. What emblem can fully set forth his beauty? Human speech and earth-born things fail to tell of him. Earth's choicest charms commingled, feebly picture his abounding preciousness. Blessed rose, bloom in my heart forever!
===
No comments:
Post a Comment