1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
1880 – Construction of the Cologne Cathedral—Germany's most visited landmark—was completed, 632 years after it had begun.
1941 – After a secret meeting aboard warships, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a post-World War II world despite the fact that the United States had yet to enter the war.
1975 – The film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is still in limited release today, making it the longest-running theatrical release in film history, premiered in Los Angeles.
2006 – The United Nations brokered a ceasefire in the Lebanon War between Lebanon and Israel. Run Tristan well. Use that cologne. Meet with the right people. Make the cease fire and enjoy the show.
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Tough justice would wipe out this war zone
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, August 13, 2013 (8:47pm)
For 23 years, Dr Jamal Rifi has been a GP in Belmore, Ground Zero of Sydney’s drive-by shooting epidemic.
He is fed up with the “blasé attitude” of the O’Farrell government to the anxiety suffered by his patients, who are innocent victims of the violence plaguing the south-western suburbs.
“I am concerned about the fact that the Premier, since he’s been voted in, hasn’t voiced any concern or condemnation for the acts that have been taking place. It’s as if it has happened in a different state or a different country. “
Most of the 70 plus shootings this year, including four murders last month, have been committed around Lakemba and Bankstown.
Dr Rifi recently had to help a single mother and her children move to a new house in another suburb because they were so traumatised by the shootings in their street that they couldn’t sleep. They felt they lived in a war zone.
“The kids saw one of the victim’s bodies. The shooting had nothing to do with [their mother] whatsoever.”
His patients, who run local restaurants and businesses, are also being extorted by local standover merchants who call themselves the Brothers for Life, once linked with the Muslim Brotherhood Movement.
In his view, most of the drive-by shootings have nothing to do with bikie gangs, but are warnings to business owners to keep their mouths shut. Shops are also being firebombed, as happened to a Thai restaurant in Bankstown last year.
“I deal with the victims. They have a very legitimate business, carrying on with day to day activity and the last thing they want to be burdened with is an extra payment and the anxiety that goes along with it.”
The community is wracked with an “underlying undercurrent of uneasiness. They still have to work, put on a smiley face for customers, but underneath there is anxiety and tension.”
A patient recently told him he had CCTV footage of three thugs visiting his cafe demanding money but he was afraid to go to the police because, if he did identify the culprits, he knew they would soon be out on bail to seek retribution.
“The police will take them through one door and the lawyer will take them out the other side” says Dr Rifi.
“People are bursting to talk because they don’t want to live under such intense pressure in a war zone. They don’t want to live in the anticipation their shop or house will be shot at. They want it to stop but they too afraid.”
“That’s why we need these criminals caught, judged and imprisoned”.
The police are doing all they can, but “they don’t have the power in these circumstances. The judiciary and the politicians are the ones letting us down.”
A high placed police source agrees. He blames a “recalcitrant judiciary” who believe they can exercise their authority without regard for community attitudes.
“The only way to get this sorted is serious sentencing. The dread factor has to be real. People have to think, I’m going to go to jail for a long time.”
But it is up to the cash strapped Department of Public Prosecutions to decide how to deal with a person who is charged with a firearms offence.
The offence can either be dealt with in the busy local court by a magistrate like any run of the mill traffic matter, where the maximum sentence per offence is a fine of $5500 and/or two years in jail.
Or the offence can be treated seriously and handled in the District Court, where the maximum sentence for, say,possessing an unregistered firearm in a public place is 14 years, with aggravating circumstances.
The officer says the system is designed for leniency, because 90 percent of firearm offences are heard in the local courts where the sentences are more lenient.
In his experience, an offence that might be punished with just five months jail “downstairs” in the Local Court would attract a jail term of “25 months upstairs [in the District Court]” - still not enough, in any case.
Fewer than one in four shooting incidents resulted in an alleged offender being referred to court, last year, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics.
Then if by some miracle an offender is convicted in the District Court, fewer than half are even sentenced to the standard non-parole period in jail which is set as a “guidance” for judges, many of whom treat it as a “joke”, says the senior officer.
The courts need to understand that “the public has a right to feel safe when they walk down the street,” he says.
He points to Judge Paul Conlon as a model for other judges.
“We need a court system full of Conlons.”
Conlon was the judge who last week put his fellow judges on notice about gun crime, sentencing a man to 15 years for shooting into a house and hitting a woman in the head.
“"The message that must be delivered by the courts to the mindless criminals who have no difficulty in pulling a trigger is that they can expect their freedom will be taken away for a very long time,"Conlon told Wollongong District Court.
Hello, judges. Are you listening?
Cheating is not OK
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, August 13, 2013 (7:17pm)
I’m sorry, but it’s not OK that the Prime Minister broke the rules of the leaders’ debate on Sunday night.
It’s not an unimportant matter. It goes to character, and to the kind of nation we are.
Are we people who abide by rules or are we a nation of selfish individuals who think we are too clever and important to bother with such trivialities?
The rules for the debate at the National Press Club were agreed to by protracted negotiation between the two campaign teams for Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Rule 12, as we all know by now, stated that only pen and paper could be kept on the lecturns, but no documentation or props.
Kevin Rudd brought a sheaf of papers which he referred to no fewer than 104 times. You could hear the rustle as he turned the pages in his opening statement, which he basically read aloud like Speedy Gonzales.
With his eyes looking down at his notes so often, the audience couldn’t help but be disengaged.
Tony Abbott brought no notes to the lecturn, spoke to the camera from memory, and occasionally scribbled notes while Rudd spoke, as he was allowed to do under the rules
It’s also not OK for the Prime Minister to try to laugh off the transgression with a jibe against Abbott’s “three word slogans”.
It’s not OK for him to claim he didn’t know the rules and blame his staff for not telling him.
If anything, that makes him look worse.
It’s not just the morality of cheating that is the problem, or that our PM appears to think rules are for other people.
It’s what it tells you about his state of mind, that he could not properly prepare a short set speech to memory for the major set piece of the campaign in which he says he is the underdog.
And that he is so brazen that he thought he could get away with it.
No amount of distractions about gay marriage or anything else will change people’s judgement about him.
TORQUE CURVE AGAINST KEVNI
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (5:18pm)
I don’t know anything about Torque Data, but they do have some very pretty numbers.
AT LEAST THEY DIDN’T THROW SANDWICHES
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (2:22pm)
The Prime Minister visits a Catholic school:
One of the students at St Mary’s got a picture on his smart phone with Rudd. With Rudd still standing along side him, the boy remarked to his mate:“I got a photo with the c*#t.”
AUSTRALIA FIRST, GREENS LAST
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (5:18am)
This is sensational:
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will today direct the Liberal Party to preference the Greens behind Labor in all seats across the country in a bid to ensure the party is wiped from the lower house of parliament.It will mean the Greens’ only current lower house MP, Adam Bandt, will almost certainly lose his seat of Melbourne on September 7 – in an election gift to the ALP.It will also guarantee that Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese keeps his inner-city Sydney seat of Grayndler, which Labor holds with just a 4 per cent margin against the minor party …“You don’t normally go around giving Labor seats. But this was a matter of principle,” one senior Liberal source told The Daily Telegraph.
Let’s see Labor match that principle. You know that they want to.
CNN KNOWS ENGINES
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (5:01am)
Ownership obfuscation aside, this might be the least accurate mainstream media report of the past year:
While a standard engine is powered by a belt connected to the crankshaft, a turbo engine runs on its own exhaust steam, making it more energy efficient.
That’s from CNN, your go-to site for automotive expertise. Please click for technical analysis of the network’s remarkable belt and steam powerplants.
GOOD WORDS ARE HARD
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (4:39am)
Quality discussion at the ABC’s Q & A, led by Labor luvvie Rhys Muldoon:
RHYS MULDOON: Okay. I’ll try and finish a sentence. I mean because it seems to me that the Coalition, to quote the great H.L. Mencken, it’s sort of the Coalition policy seems to be democracy is the theory that the common people, you know, deserve to get what they get good and hard. Is that true?CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Is that the quote?JANET ALBRECHTSEN: What does it mean? What’s that mean?RHYS MULDOON: That’s the quote. Like that democracy is the theory that the common man knows what he wants and deserves to get it good and hard.CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I’m not aware of that.RHYS MULDOON: You’ve never heard of that quote?CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No, never.
Here’s the actual quote, minus Muldoon’s muddling.
OWNERSHIP TEST
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (4:22am)
A simple two-question quiz determines your media ownership IQ:
1: Jonathan buys 200 newspapers. He fills them with former Fairfax staffers and achieves zero circulation. How many newspapers does Jonathan own?
2: Tracey buys 200 newspapers. She fills them with talented reporters and achieves massive circulation gains. How many newspapers does Tracey own?
If your answer to both questions is the same number, congratulations. You’re smarter than Kevin Rudd, Lenore Taylor and Paul Barry. In case there’s any continuing dispute over the definition of newspaper ownership, let’s turn to our tax-funded academic friends at the Conversation:
According to the Finkelstein Review of Media and Media Regulation, in 2011 News Corp Australia (then News Limited) accounted for 23% of the newspaper titles in Australia.In a rebuttal of Kevin Rudd’s claim, Sally Jackson from The Australian observed that News Corp Australia accounts for 33% of the newspaper titles that have sales audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation …Kevin Rudd’s claim that Rupert Murdoch – or News Corp Australia – “owns 70% of the newspapers in this country” is, as a factual statement, false.
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TWO MORE ELECTIONS AND SHE’S A TEEN
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (4:05am)
Further evidence from Labor’s Alannah MacTiernan that election campaigns have a remarkable rejuvenating effect. Observe a recent AAP shot of Perth’s ALP candidate, and 60-year-old grandma MacTiernan’s new campaign image:
By contrast, appearing on the ABC massively advances the aging process.
By contrast, appearing on the ABC massively advances the aging process.
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ACADEMIC HITS THE ROTORS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (4:02am)
My former friends and employers, I’m sorry. I meant well but I didn’t have the credentials I pretended I did … I’ve been such a liar. A terrible liar … My friends who defended me I’m so sorry. You did all that work for nothing. The critics were right, they could see it.
Hugo’s friends couldn’t, and are now suffering some necessary introspection.
(Via Peter Phelps)
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EXERCISING EMMA
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (2:26am)
Professor Bunyip, an unreconstructed masculine type, rejoices in Emma Alberici’s sex appeal:
She is a cute little pixie and a special favourite at the Billabong, where the hope is that Abbott PM’s reform of the ABC – and he had better bloody well reform it, preferably with a chainsaw – will not see her out of work. She would be perfect to compere an exercise show, allowing that the Coalition leaves enough cash in the ABC coffers to fund a Lycra wardrobe, and her gentle treatment of Albanese suggests a definite affinity with dumbbells.
With views like that, it’s just as well that the mysterious Professor isn’t running for office … or is he?
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KEYBOARD BOB
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (1:42am)
Bob Ellis’s latest election-winning idea:
Have Rudd play the piano while children sing ‘I am, you are, we are Australian’ in a school hall he has built in Griffiths, his electorate.
Well, he’d have to learn how to play the piano first. And to sing. And to build things, for that matter. (UPDATE. He’d also have to move somewhere called “Griffiths”. The PM’s electorate is Griffith.) Maybe it’d be more fun if Rudd read a note from little Gracie to asylum seekers while an insulated house burns to the ground.
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TRACK SMOKER
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 14, 2013 (1:01am)
In the post-Roxon era, Paul Murray adds some historical V8 style to his Twitter site:
Scale models of Brock Commodores are now sold minus any smoke signage.
Scale models of Brock Commodores are now sold minus any smoke signage.
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Put the Greens last
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (11:31am)
Excellent. Now for Labor to do the same to remove an extremist and ruinously irresponsible party from the landscape:
But let’s hope.
Question: will Labor also promise to put the Greens last? Will Kevin Rudd rule out making a power-sharing deal with the Greens as Julia Gillard did so disastrously?
UPDATE
Rudd jumps clear of the trap:
OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott will today direct the Liberal Party to preference the Greens behind Labor in all seats across the country in a bid to ensure the party is wiped from the lower house of parliament.Practically, though, this is likely to make little difference. Albanese was already almost certain to win his seat, even had the Liberals given preferences to the Greens. And Bandt could nevertheless retain Melbourne.
It will mean the Greens’ only current lower house MP, Adam Bandt, will almost certainly lose his seat of Melbourne on September 7 - in an election gift to the ALP.
It will also guarantee that Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese keeps his inner-city Sydney seat of Grayndler, which Labor holds with just a 4 per cent margin against the minor party…
“You don’t normally go around giving Labor seats. But this was a matter of principle,” one senior Liberal source told News Corporation.
But let’s hope.
Question: will Labor also promise to put the Greens last? Will Kevin Rudd rule out making a power-sharing deal with the Greens as Julia Gillard did so disastrously?
UPDATE
Rudd jumps clear of the trap:
KEVIN Rudd has ruled out any formal minority government deal with the Greens or independents… Mr Rudd has previously stated only that he wanted to govern in his own right, but today went a step further.
“We’ll be not entering into any coalition agreements, we won’t be having any negotiated agreements, we won’t have any deals with any independent or any minor party,” the Prime Minister said.
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Gillard gets over her fear of rising seas
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (10:26am)
Reader handjive wonders whether Julia Gillard has got over her global warming scare.
July 04, 2011:
July 04, 2011:
JULIA Gillard has invoked a doomsday-like scenario of metre-high sea level rises and a 2000km southward shift of Australia’s climactic zones as she battles an opposition scare campaign over her proposed carbon tax…August 9, 2013:
“It means that global warming will see seas rise by possibly up to a metre by the end of the century - that’s a huge risk to many parts of our country.”
JULIA Gillard has turned her back on working-class Altona for a $2 million beachside bungalow in Adelaide… Ms Gillard will be able to entertain her new neighbours in her outdoor kitchen and take in the ocean views from a 12-person spa.The need to reduce emissions seems suddenly less urgent, too.
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Rudd sexes up his war record
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (10:18am)
At least when Tony Abbott mentioned a candidate’s sex appeal, he was telling the truth:
SPEAKING to troops in Townsville, Kevin Rudd told his own war story about how he too had gone outside “the wire” into the danger zone in Afghanistan.
Casting himself as a Prime Minister who had ventured beyond safe Australian bases in the war-torn country, he said he had “gone out” into the field once or twice…
“I have been to Tarin Kowt many times, probably five or six times now, and I have been basically behind the wire, once or twice I have gone out.”
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Sex appeal: it’s only bad if Abbott spots it
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (9:23am)
Shocking, sexist, lecherous, pathetic:
(Thanks to readers Stewart and Barbara.)
UPDATE
I do hope none of the journalists damning Abbott are ones that drooled over Labor’s Jason Clare:
Is the latest outrage aimed at Abbott, and stoked by Fairfax, inspired in part by a rage that conservatives can be hot, too?
UPDATE
Kevin Rudd, who was asked to leave a strip joint when drunk and accused of “inappropriate behaviour”, now purports to read a moral lecture:
TONY Abbott has said one of his key candidates for western Sydney has a ”bit of sex appeal” when asked to list her key traits.Sweet, kind, humorous:
A SINGING Kevin Rudd has finished a birthday greeting for a delighted 18-year-old girl in Townsville with a promise.The two comments were made on the same day. The Coalition’s mistake? To be apologetic. It should instead laugh the wowsers to scorn.
“If you buggers don’t vote Labor I’m going to come after you,” he joked to squeals of delight from Roxanne Milne and her birthday party guests…
Mr Rudd won Roxanne’s vote…
“He said some kind words, he said I was beautiful.”
(Thanks to readers Stewart and Barbara.)
UPDATE
I do hope none of the journalists damning Abbott are ones that drooled over Labor’s Jason Clare:
He is, gratefully, older than he appears, at 40, a law graduate, recently married, disappointing the female members of the press gallery who have dubbed him the Minister for Hotness.And again:
Some days you would think Clare might prefer to be known by his nickname – Minister for Hotness - as supplied by hacks otherwise doomed to a life wondering where Martin Ferguson hides his vowels.Both articles appeared, without a word of criticism of the drooling journalists, in the Fairfax press.
Is the latest outrage aimed at Abbott, and stoked by Fairfax, inspired in part by a rage that conservatives can be hot, too?
UPDATE
Kevin Rudd, who was asked to leave a strip joint when drunk and accused of “inappropriate behaviour”, now purports to read a moral lecture:
Kevin Rudd has taken a swing at Tony Abbott’s “sex appeal” moment, saying if an employer used that sort of language about a worker they would be in trouble. Speaking to media in Cairns, the PM said it was up to leaders to set examples.
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Clown banned. Well, one of them
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (8:39am)
Like all the comedians and media clowns who were banned for being disrespectful to George W Bush:
THE Missouri State Fair has permanently banned a rodeo clown whose imitation of President Barack Obama has been widely criticised as disrespectful...More bans after these insulting pictures are published:
During the event, a clown wore a mask of Obama and asked the spectators if they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull.” Many in the audience responded enthusiastically.
Clown who looks like Obama gets banned for life after public outcry over insulting antics.
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Ban sex appeal! Vote Labor
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (8:24am)
Is Tanja Kovac dishonest or simply lacking any perspective whatsoever in accusing Tony Abbott of being lecherous when joking that candidate Fiona Scott (above) had “sex appeal”?
Tanja Kovac, the national co-convenor of ALP-aligned feminist organisation EMILY’s List, said Mr Abbott’s latest remarks were ‘’just another in a long line of lecherous and demeaning comments about women‘’ that the Opposition Leader had made.Kovac apparently thinks calling someone a lecher is fine, but saying they have “sex appeal” is demeaning.
‘’This is what women have to look forward to if Tony Abbott becomes PM - a man who will only give you the time of day if you float his boat...”
UPDATE
Labor is shocked, shocked, that Tony Abbott should mention a candidate’s sex appeal:
Labor frontbencher Kim Carr seized on the remarks, labelling Mr Abbott “pathetic”.Meanwhile, Labor applies the airbrush to make star candidate Alannah MacTiernan seem more, er, intelligent:
I’ll bring you comment from Kovac and Carr as soon as it’s in.
UPDATE
On the day Treasury confirms Labor has shredded the nation’s finances, journalists demand the answers - and get a sane one:
UPDATE
John Parker notes the obvious:
On Channel Ten’s The Project last night, host Carrie Bickmore was “offended” by the comment.UPDATE
Now Carrie is without doubt an incredibly talented presenter, but TV is all about sex appeal and if she decided to rock up to work in trackie dacks and bypass the makeup artist every day, her bosses would likely make a tough call.
Another hypocrisy alert. Reader Baden notes that in damning Abbott for sexism, the Sydney Morning Herald peddles a sexist stereotype:
This attempt to whip up outrage comes from the same newspaper whose political editor, Peter Hartcher, once sanely noted this:
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Why won’t Labor release the latest NBN costings?
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (8:13am)
Kevin Morgan:
KEVIN Rudd claims there is a conspiracy surrounding the NBN. He may be right. But it is not a conspiracy in which Rupert Murdoch seeks to bring down the Labor government to sabotage the NBN. It is a conspiracy to hide from the voters, until after the election, just how bad are the finances of the NBN. And the dire straits that the NBN is in can be sheeted back to the deals done by one man: the Prime Minister....But when Coalition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull tries to explain on the ABC’s Lateline just how bad the losses are and that lost income actually adds to the cost, note the interruptions:
Rudd’s back telling us, as he repeatedly did on Sunday night, that his visionary NBN is going marvellously. Well if it is Rudd will have absolutely no problem in immediately releasing an update of NBN Co’s corporate plan that is sitting on the desks of Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese, the two NBN shareholder ministers. To do otherwise would be a conspiracy and Rudd wouldn’t want to be accused of that.
Alberici: Can you answer my direct question, which is, where do you get the [projected NBN costs of] $94 billion from first of all?
Turnbull: The NBN Co’s business plan has a ridiculously over-optimistic view of its revenues . . .
Alberici: The revenues?
Turnbull: The revenues . . .
Alberici: But we’re talking about the cost.
Turnbull: Hang on . . .
Alberici: You’ve said their project will cost $94 billion. Which is different to revenue.
Turnbull: Well, the . . .
Alberici: Let’s not confuse the issues here. It’s already confusing enough.
Turnbull: If you just let me finish, I will explain . . .
Alberici: Isn’t the cost just what it costs to build the network?
Turnbull: Well that is offset in part by the revenue . . . Let’s not argue about our accounting. Let me just . . .
Alberici: Mr Albanese, are (Turnbull’s figures) wrong?
Albanese: They’ve been plucked out of a Coco Pops packet . . .
Turnbull: Let me address a couple of specifics . . .
Alberici: . . . no we’re not talking about what it’s going to cost . . .
Turnbull: You’ve allowed Anthony to say I pulled these figures out of a Coco Pop. I’m going to give you the details and you don’t want to hear me . . . when you are a retail service provider . . . you have to buy a pipe of certain capacity . . . And the size of that pipe will determine how much contention your customers have.
Alberici: I think we’re getting a little too technical . . .
Turnbull: Well, you always shut me down when I’m about to make the most important point.
Alberici: I don’t want to talk about pipes.
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The man with no plan
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (7:45am)
Paul Kelly on Kevin Rudd, the man who took back his old job as Prime Minister with no idea what he’d do next:
IMAGINE if Julia Gillard was still prime minister - her campaign focus would be Aussie jobs, school education, DisabilityCare, health and hospitals, along with the same negative attack on Tony Abbott’s costings and the big GST scare…
She would have stressed her record on health, hospitals and aged care. Gillard would have presented as the personal champion of the great disability reform. Indeed, she would have selected the best from her record. But Rudd refuses to run on any of Gillard’s achievements…
The point, rather, is that Rudd’s campaign is manifestly flawed and underdone… The Prime Minister cannot defend the record. Indeed, he cannot run on the record. He campaigns like a recalled backbencher with no personal stake in Gillard’s policy structure and without grasp of its details. He pays lip service to schools and DisabilityCare but they are never the priority. Health is hardly mentioned.
The mystery of election 2013 is the way Rudd has framed the main issue: he says it is about the economic transition. This fails to excite the public and it picks the precise area where Labor is vulnerable: its dubious record on competitiveness, productivity and economic reform…
Rudd returned with a “fix it” plan on carbon pricing, boats and party reform. Now the truth is obvious: this doesn’t constitute an election strategy. Rudd lacks a powerful narrative apart from jaw-boning about the future while running an anti-Abbott scare… [Its] scare campaign on the GST is predictable but pathetic.
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Labor, $97 billion down, complains the Coalition is $70 billion out
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (7:21am)
Terry McCrann says the black hole Labor claims to see in the Coalition costings is dwarfed by real crater in its own finances:
UPDATE
Janet Albrechtsen says Penny Wong may be nice, but as a Finance Minister she has been a $106 billion disaster:
The Government’s claiming ... there’s a $70 billion hole in the Opposition’s budget number.And that’s when revenue has risen, not fallen.
That’s nothing, Treasury ... has a $97 billion hole in its own budget numbers.
The 2010 PEFO ... projected budget bottom lines for the years 2010-11 through 2013-14 that added up to a total deficit of $43 billion.
The outcomes - assuming of course, Treasury’s latest projection for the current year is reasonably close - is actually $140 billion of deficits.
UPDATE
Janet Albrechtsen says Penny Wong may be nice, but as a Finance Minister she has been a $106 billion disaster:
Starting with that first budget - 2011-12 - when Wong was Finance Minister, she and Labor predicted a budget deficit of $22.6 billion in 2011-12. She was out by more than $20bn. The most recent budget in May revealed a deficit for 2011-12 of $43.3bn.David Uren doesn’t believe the PEFO forecast of Labor’s first surplus in a quarter of a century:
It gets worse. In that first budget, Wong predicted a surplus of $3.5bn for 2012-13. She was out by $22.9bn with the actual result being a deficit of $19.4bn.
And, yes, it gets even worse. In that first 2011-12 budget, Wong predicted a surplus of $3.7bn for 2013-14. By July this year, Wong was already out by $33.8bn this time. Her economic statement revealed a deficit of $30.1bn.
Back in 2011-12, Wong promised a surplus of $5.8bn for 2014-15. Now Wong tells us it will be a $24bn deficit, putting her out by another $29.8bn.
Cumulatively that makes Wong the $106 Billion Woman. That’s not an accounting error. That’s record incompetence.
Let’s take a look at PEFO. It continues to run with ludicrously optimistic projections on revenue growth. Receipts are expected to grow by 22 per cent between 2013-14 and 2016-17, moving the ratio of receipts to GDP from 23.6 per cent to 24.8 per cent over a period of time when growth is at or below trend. Sounds implausible? It is.In fact:
Certainly, Treasury is a tad defensive about the inexplicable drop in the rate of unemployment from 6 1/4 per cent in 2014-15 to 5 per cent in 2015-16 as outlined in the projections.
It’s OK, evidently - the Treasury has done this sort of thing before. Don’t we understand that it is just a projection and the Treasury simply bungs in the trend figures, even if they don’t make any sense?
The document suggests revenue could easily be $30 billion a year less than the budget forecasts, while spending could be rising 50 per cent faster across the next decade than dictated by the government’s budget strategy.
It says there is a 70 per cent chance that nominal gross domestic product growth - which is the value of all goods and services produced - could be as little as 1.75 per cent a year for the next three years against a central forecast of 3.5 per cent.
The pre-election fiscal outlook, or PEFO, also shows there could be a $3.5bn hit to the budget if the Papua New Guinea asylum-seeker solution does not work and it highlights that carbon tax revenue could be vastly different from budget projections.
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Murdoch haters owned
Andrew Bolt August 14 2013 (7:02am)
Tim Blair tries to explain in words so simple even the most rabid of anti-Murdoch conspiracy theorists must understand:
A simple two-question quiz determines your media ownership IQ:
If your answer to both questions is the same number, congratulations. You’re smarter than Kevin Rudd, Lenore Taylor and Paul Barry.
1: Jonathan buys 200 newspapers. He fills them with former Fairfax staffers and achieves zero circulation. How many newspapers does Jonathan own?
2: Tracey buys 200 newspapers. She fills them with talented reporters and achieves massive circulation gains. How many newspapers does Tracey own?
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Israel’s hopes that freeing 26 terrorists in the middle of the night would tone down the celebrations in the Palestinian Authority were quickly dashed on Tuesday night.
As the 11 terrorists who were freed to Ramallah arrived at their destination, they were welcomed by thousands ofcheering PA Arabs and were escorted to the Muqataa compound, where they were greeted by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas himself.
"This is the first group," Abbas told the crowd at the official welcoming ceremony, according to AFP.
"We shall continue until we free all the prisoners from Israeli jails," he added.
“Allah willing, all will return to us soon. We say to all prisoners in the jails: We will not rest until you are all with us," Abbas declared.
At the same time, 15 other terrorists returned to their homes in Gaza. Kol Yisrael radio reported that the celebrations in Gaza will be toned down, if any take place at all, as the Hamas terrorist group which controls the region objects to the peace talks between the PA and Israel.
Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said on Monday that the talks with Israel are “futile” and are “purely a means for the occupation (Israel) to look good to the international community.”
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===
A few hours earlier....
"Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza “thanked” Israel for releasing 26 terrorist murderers by firing two rockets at the southern part of the country on Tuesday night.
One rocket exploded in an open area near the city of Sderot. There were no physical injuries or damages.
Kol Yisrael radio reported that a second rocket exploded within Gaza.
On Monday night, terrorists from the Sinai Peninsula fired a rocket towards the Israeli resort city of Eilat."
"Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza “thanked” Israel for releasing 26 terrorist murderers by firing two rockets at the southern part of the country on Tuesday night.
One rocket exploded in an open area near the city of Sderot. There were no physical injuries or damages.
Kol Yisrael radio reported that a second rocket exploded within Gaza.
On Monday night, terrorists from the Sinai Peninsula fired a rocket towards the Israeli resort city of Eilat."
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Dr. Phil
Do you know the worst stepparent -- or stepchild/stepchildren? Is it your stepparent or stepchild? Appear on the show! Click here:
http://bit.ly/DRPAbuse
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Kim Kardashian’s mother Kris Jenner defended her daughter while criticizing Obama for his comments putting down successful celebrities.
The comments were received with great applause on her new show Kris. Obama had blamed celebrities for the negative affect they have on children during an interview with Amazon:
“Kids weren’t monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing or where Kanye West was going on vacation,” Obama explained, “and thinking that somehow that was the mark of success.”
Kris Jenner hit hard when she pointed out that many of these celebrities worked very hard to get where they are, but she was especially spot on when criticizing the anti-success attitude behind Obama’s comments:
“I wasn’t aware that you could only set the bar so high and that we could only dream so big.I was taught ‘dream big, work hard, and you could have whatever you want.’And I thought, ‘wow I bet the president has some friends with 10,000 square foot houses and you probably wouldnt mind going over there, mister president, while you were asking them to have a party for you when you were campaigning for dollars to run for president.I was thinking about her 10,000-square-foot house, and I thought, ‘Wow, her job affords her to live in a 10,000-square-foot house’. And I think, if I’m not mistaken, Mr President’s job affords him to live in a 55,000-square-foot house.I find it so odd that he’s picking on Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.Kanye West, first of all, doesn’t go on vacation, ever. And Kim Kardashian is the hardest-working young lady in the world. She never sleeps, she never stops, she never slows down and works so hard for what she’s got.You poke at someone and criticize someone for living a lifestyle – I’m sure when he was growing up his dream was, ‘One day, I want to become President of the United States, and have this wonderful fabulous life and that was his dream.’
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Is this what inspired Weiner? - ed
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It's time to end the minority Government chaos. We are asking you to support our pledge that the Coalition will not enter into a minority Government.
Support our stand here:http://www.liberal.org.au/
Support our stand here:http://www.liberal.org.au/
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The campaign to get rid of the Greens is picking up momentum. Find out how you can helphttp://ow.ly/nCMYg
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Tony Abbott & Bridget Abbott on hand to announce that if elected, we will give the Caboolture Netball Association $250,000 to help with improvements. Thanks Bridget for the impromptu coaching clinic! — at Caboolture Netball Courts.
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Update: Last night, terrorists from Gaza fired rockets into #Israel. In response, the #IDFsuccessfully targeted concealed rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip. We will continue to operate in order to safeguard Israel's civilians.
http://www.idfblog.com/
http://www.idfblog.com/
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Perché solo in Australia ti fanno fare le lezioni di guida con la Skyline..:):)
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Perché solo in Australia vai tranquillamente dentro al supermercato in bici..
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
OUR FATHER,QUALIFIES WHO CAN PRAY! Romans 8:15-16 KJV
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
The Lords prayer is a model prayer for believers,a road map leading to the unreachable riches of God (Luke 11:1-4) It was Jesus direct response to the request from one of His disciples,Lord teach us how to pray.It presents the power and holiness of God.It presents the request that God,"give us our daily bread"It presents protection from evil,saying,deliver us from the evil one.
The Lords prayer begins so simple.Our Father,it is not the prayer of every body.Why? Is for those that have received Him.We have two spiritual fathers,The almighty Father and the devil. Jesus made a shocking statement in the book of John 8:44.He said,You are of your father the devil,and desires of your father you want to do.So,who is your father? If you have not confess and turned away from your sins and receive Jesus Christ into your life,God is not your father.You must confess that Jesus is Lord,God bless you.
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4 her
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A Halo Design Diamond Ring about to be set.....can you see the halo in this picture?
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[Accuracy of the following report cannot be assured beyond doubt. Material that could not be corroborated has been deleted. Information in these diaries is more an indictment on Kevin Rudd’s judgment than the ethics of Peter Beattie. Rudd, as an ALP and Premier Wayne Goss confidant, would have been privy to the following information.]
On June 15, 2006 Andrew Bolt reported: “EX-PREMIER Peter Beattie is embroiled in a war of words with a Nationals MP after claims he had an affair with a cabinet minister were referred to the CMC.
“A furious Mr Beattie yesterday hit out at Burnett MP Rob Messenger, who has referred a complaint that disgraced former Tourism Minister Merri Rose forced her electorate staff to falsify and shred documents to cover up an alleged relationship with Mr Beattie.”
This may be true but Pickering Post has been reliably informed (and it is widely held to be true among ALP insiders) that Peter’s transgressions extended to Merri Rose’s daughter who became pregnant to, and bore a daughter to, Beattie.
It is believed that it was this matter that Merri Rose attempted to blackmail Beattie over in order to obtain political favours.
Merri Rose was found guilty and spent jail time.
But Peter Beattie was embroiled in another affair with Pat Gillespie, a political journalist for The Sunday Mail and The Australian newspapers from the early 1990’s until 1996.
Gillespie became an embarrassment to the Government so she was shifted to The Children’s Commissioners Office where she became their problem.
Gillespie was concerned that the Criminal Justice Commission would raid her house so she gave the diaries (in disk or tape format) to a friend, Lorelle Saunders, a former police officer, for safe keeping.
Saunders didn’t want to keep the diaries, so she gave them to a solicitor friend, Mr Gordon Harris, for safe keeping. It was Gordon who had the data transcribed. The diary notes were legitimately obtained.
There are a number of people named in the diaries.
Danny is Peter Beattie.
Darth Vader is Heather Beattie.
Ken Crooke is the Former State Secretary of the National Party.
Drew Hutton is the former Convenor of The Greens in Qld.
DJ is Doug Slack the former National Party Minister for Environment in the Borbidge government.
There are other names that can be Googled.
Just prior to the June, 1998 Queensland State election, Beattie had booked the Presidential Suite at the Stamford Plaza Hotel in Brisbane.
There was also a function at the same hotel for the party heavyweights. The cost of the function and room was bankrolled by now convicted paedophile Bill D’Arcy, the ALP’s money man.
While Beattie was staying at the Stamford Plaza, Gillespie attempted to set herself up as the new Mrs Beattie. Beattie had her physically thrown out of the hotel and barred from re-entry.
In 2000/1 Gillespie had her husband charged with rape. He was a doctor and is now in the Hervey Bay area.
Gillespie judged that the DPP was too slow to act in progressing with the charges. She attempted to use her connection, with Premier Beattie, to force the DPP to proceed more quickly with the prosecution. There are several letters from the DPP, Leanne Clare, confirming this.
This is one letter and appears to give legitimacy to the claims:
In fact one of the letters confirms that six of the DDP’s staff had to seek counselling, as a result of Gillespie’s harassment and bullying.
The DPP cast doubt on many of Gillespie’s claims and she eventually received a paltry settlement of $8,000.
Leanne Clare is now a District Court judge, so no comment was available.
Gillespie became a severe embarrassment to Beattie and the ALP financed the purchase of a property for her in Tasmania.
A job was also arranged with the RSPCA. This deal caused some disquiet among the ALP party management because party funds were used to pay off Beattie’s mistress.
Tasmania is an interesting place and appears to be a dumping ground for former ALP leaders’ mistresses.
When Wayne Goss was State ALP Opposition leader in 1989, he had a potential image problem with a mistress, who also happened to be a journalist. Her name was Marion Smith.
The Qld, ALP arranged for a job for Marion with the Field ALP Government there. When the Field Government fell within a short time, Marion returned to Queensland and obtained a position as Media Liaison Officer with the new Criminal Justice Commission.
Wayne Goss pressured CJC Chairman, Sir Max Bingham, to sack Marion but he refused to do so.
Kevin Rudd, who worked closely with Goss, would have known of the ins and outs of the affairs but has seen fit to resurrect a bitter enemy in Beattie as an ALP candidate for Forde. This appears to throw doubt on Rudd’s judgment.
For Peter Beattie to become involved with someone apparently as unhinged as Pat Gillespie in the first place, provides some insight into the REAL Peter Beattie and more importantly, Rudd’s judgment
The diaries can be downloaded here:-
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<“Al-Habbash explained that, like Hamas, many of Mohammed's companions burned with anger that their leader was negotiating with the Quraish tribe rather than attacking Mecca. But Mohammed knew that only a more measured approach would lead to ultimate victory.
“Two years after signing the treaty, Mohammed's forces had gained enough strength and he launched the brutal conquest of Mecca.
“"This is the example and this is the model" that the Palestinian leadership is following, Al-Habbash acknowledged.
“Amazingly, all of the doe-eyed Israeli commentators who believe that this round of negotiations is for some reason going to be different from all the previous fail to take the simple step of listening to what the Palestinians themselves are saying.
“"Abbas is a real peace partner," they shout, while willfully ignoring what Abbas' own ministers are telling the public, in his name and in his presence, without any refutation by the "president.">
“Two years after signing the treaty, Mohammed's forces had gained enough strength and he launched the brutal conquest of Mecca.
“"This is the example and this is the model" that the Palestinian leadership is following, Al-Habbash acknowledged.
“Amazingly, all of the doe-eyed Israeli commentators who believe that this round of negotiations is for some reason going to be different from all the previous fail to take the simple step of listening to what the Palestinians themselves are saying.
“"Abbas is a real peace partner," they shout, while willfully ignoring what Abbas' own ministers are telling the public, in his name and in his presence, without any refutation by the "president.">
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It is a different order of magnitude, but a similar policy to Holder's release of drug dealers .. same philosophy .. it is appalling that any world leader might think it was something worth cheering - ed
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Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr lived a busy life: When he wasn’t re-imagining atomic structure and quantum mechanics, he was saving over 7,000 Danish Jews from Nazi persecution.
In 1943, after learning that Nazi occupiers sought to prevent him from working on the Allied Manhattan Project, Bohr evacuated to Sweden, whose government was under strict Allied orders to fly him to the United States immediately.
But upon learning of the plight of his compatriots, Bohr, whose maternal grandfather was Jewish, refused to leave until Sweden announced that it would be open to receiving Danish Jews. He took his request all the way to the top: in September 1943, King Gustaf of Sweden made public his country’s intention to provide asylum.
But that’s not all: After founding the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen (now the Niels Bohr Institute), Bohr provided temporary work and financial support to refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Some who sought asylum, like Felix Bloch and James Franck, went on to win Nobel Prizes and were instrumental in changing modern science.
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GRAFF Gemini Yellows - Mesmerising yellow emerald cut earrings exceeding over 50cts each (20 diamonds, 113.94cts)
They look awesome .. but .. I wouldn't know where to put them. Hey! My wife just clipped my ear! - ed
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Trusting in God will not make the mountain smaller, but it will make the climbing easier. Do not ask Him for a lighter load, ask for a stronger back instead.
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Eric Kalemen is teaching me hope. I hope to survive a session. I hope last circuit won't last long. I hope that sitting down exercise doesn't involve much effort. I hope to see him again soon .. because that was awesome .. and exhausting. Must walk off complaining muscles in future .. ed
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<Does anyone honestly believe that American intervention has solved the Iraq crisis? Or the Afghanistan crisis? Or that it ever will?> I feel it is unarguable that Iraq is much better without Hussein and Afghanistan without the Taliban .. the world is safer. I feel those two nations have more hope now than they had before. But none of the good things that has happened in either nation were a result of Obama policy. That being said, Syria has no good side worth supporting. - ed
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Reverse makeover with @lachlancosgrove #lol#bro #photooftheday #ninja #Beautyandthegeek#style #igdaily #instagood #igers #tweegram
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Matt likes to rock.
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My good friend, Matt Granz, came in to town. So I hauled him up to the hoodoos on Mount Lemmon at 2am this morning.
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Almagor, an organization that represents victims of Arab terrorism, responded with sorrow to the High Court decision to reject its motion against the release of 26 terrorist murderers, as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Almagor chairman Meir Indor said, "We regret very much that the court, like the prime minister, did not even listen to the serious arguments regarding the government'scrossing of red lines, including the fact that some of the terrorists being released committed their crimes after the Oslo accords were signed.
"The Supreme Court locked its gates today before the bereaved families and the Jewish terror victims – something it does not do when it comes to any Palestinians,” Indor added – noting, among other past decisions by the High Court, its willingness to force the state to change the route of the security fence, at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, because of complaints by Arabs.
"The High Court has, in effect, erased the status of the victims and has given its protection to the men of terror, who will be able to demand the release of murderers from now on,” he went on. “This is a very sad day for the bereaved families and Israeli society, and a day of victory for the terror organizations and their supporters.”
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In what is being described as yet another example of Palestinian Authority (PA) denial of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the very legitimacy of the State of Israel, the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has claimed the Western Wall as an Arab and Islamic site.
Palestinian Media Watch(PMW), an NGO which monitors incitement, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda on Palestinian Arab TV, has revealed that last week, a picture of the Western Wall was posted onto the PA Presidential Guard's official Facebook page with a PA flag superimposed on it, along with the words "The Al Buraq Wall - Public Relations and Information - The Presidential Guard - Palestinian youth know their rights."
The Western Wall is a relic of the retaining wall of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Imperial Roman in 70CE. For nearly 2,000 years Jews were prevented from worshipping on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, and instead prayed at the wall, which has since become a holy site in its own right, at which millions of Jews congregate to pray each year. Ongoing restrictions on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount mean that the Wall is still the primary place of Jewish worship in Jerusalem.
"Al Buraq" is the name given to the Western Wall by Arab rejectionists, who deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
They claim that the wall has nothing to do with the Jewish Temples, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary; instead, they assert that it is the place where Muhammed tethered his mythical winged horse Buraq hundreds of years later, when according to some Islamic legends it transported him from Mecca to Jerusalem and back - despite the fact that Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran.
PMW noted that this is only the latest example of PA rejectionism and denial of the Jewish people's claim to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel, as a way of rejecting the State of Israel's very legitimacy and right to exist.
Despite the start of much-lauded "peace talks" between Israel and the PA, Arutz Sheva has reported on the continued campaign of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda and incitement to violence by the PA through its official organs.
For example, last week the PA's official TV station broadcast a crudely anti-Semitic program which legitimized violence against Jews in Judea and Samaria, who were stereotyped as violent thieves. The end of the program glorified the humiliation of a religious Jew by cutting off his peyot side-curls, in a scene chillingly reminiscent of Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda.
Other Ramadan broadcasts include a re-run of a music video encouraging violence against Israelis, and the glorification of the murderer of 61 Israeli civilians on the official Facebook page of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
Recently, an anchor on the PA's official news station declared that a future "Palestinian state" would extend from Rosh Hanikra in northern Israel to Eilat in the south - effectively wiping Israel off the map.
These incidents and others led to Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahucomplaining directly to US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been pushing the Israeli government to enter into talks with the PA.
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Guess who graduated first in this year's medical school class at the Technion, Israel's version of M.I.T.? The answer will surprise you. It's a 27-year-old stereotype-buster: a charming, feminist, smart, open-minded and observant Islamic woman named Mais Ali-Saleh who grew up in a small village outside of Nazareth, in Israel's Galilee.
Ali-Selah's academic excellence not only marks her own personal achievement but also proves that contrary to propaganda spouted by proponents of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement -- whose latest convert is Stephen Hawking -- an academic boycott of Israel is the wrong approach to solving the Israel-Arab conflict. Moreover, it ultimately hurts the very people it claims to help. Ali-Selah put it best when she said, "An academic boycott of Israel is a passive move, and it doesn't achieve any of its purported objectives."
After Ali-Selah's first class at the Technion, in Haifa, northern Israel, she was ready to call it quits. Ali-Selah had studied Hebrew from elementary school through high school but in the predominantly Arab area around Nazareth, she rarely used Hebrew and her vocabulary was limited. During Ali-Selah's first Chemistry lecture, she couldn't understand why her professor kept talking about malls. What did shopping malls have to do with Chemistry? She then realized the professor was speaking about moles, a standard scientific unit for measuring quantities of minute entities.
It did not take long for her to break through her limited language skills and rise to the top of her class. In fact, in 2011, she was one of eight students from around Israel who were presented with academic awards of excellence at the Knesset, Israel's Senate.
Ali-Selah claims that her academic drive is "part genes and part family background." After raising four children, Ali-Selah's mother, Fahima, went back to school to complete her college education and is now studying for a PhD in education. (Ali-Selah's father, Rohi, would have liked to continue his education but his father died when he was a high school senior and he was forced to go to work to support his younger siblings.) Ali-Selah said that the atmosphere in the village, Jaffa-Nazareth, is liberal and many of its residents encourage young women to further their education.
Ali-Selah is currently doing an Obstetrics/Gynecology residency at Carmel Hospital in Haifa. She said that in her village, Jaffa-Nazareth, she knew of only one female Arab doctor. She decided to take on the field, despite its demanding hours, because she knew that many Arab women are more comfortable going to a female doctor rather than a male. She says that in addition to her personal goals, she wants to make a contribution to Israeli-Arab society.
Ali-Selah is currently doing an Obstetrics/Gynecology residency at Carmel Hospital in Haifa. She said that in her village, Jaffa-Nazareth, she knew of only one female Arab doctor. She decided to take on the field, despite its demanding hours, because she knew that many Arab women are more comfortable going to a female doctor rather than a male. She says that in addition to her personal goals, she wants to make a contribution to Israeli-Arab society.
Aware that she is seen as a role model to other young Arab women, Ali-Selah also knows that she is breaking common misperceptions and stereotypes. "The media emphasizes negative things about Muslims and does not emphasize the positive," Ali-Selah said. She also feels, however, that extremists are co-opting Islam and radicalizing it. Extremists within Islam are influencing people's perceptions about Islam and women's roles. "There is nowhere in the Koran that that states women should not study," Ali-Selah explained. In fact, she said that the Koran emphasizes that women must learn because they are the ones to educate the children. The same is true of women's dress. Women are supposed to dress modestly, but there are no Islamic laws stating that women need to wear long robes or cover their faces.
"If people's socio-economic situation improves, they become more educated and enlightened," Ali-Selah said. "Take away people's food, and they become religious." Her husband, Nidal Mawasi, agrees with her. Mawasi, who comes from Baqa al-Gharbiya, an Arab city in central Israel, graduated from Technion's Medical School in 2008. They met because he was teaching her dissection course, and they are now expecting their first child.
On trips to Europe, Ali-Selah said that people she met were surprised to learn that Israeli Arabs studied engineering and medicine in Israel, and that they lived among Jews. This lack of awareness helps the BDS Movement win misguided supporters. Boycotters like Roger Waters repeat a falsehood -- that Israel is an apartheid state -- and deny a fundamental truth: Arabs, in particular Arab women, have more freedom, liberties and academic opportunities in Israel than in any Arab country. Yes, they do.
Rather than an academic boycott -- which targets researchers who want to disseminate knowledge rather than restrict it -- Ali-Selah suggests a more active stance: encouraging academic life within the Palestinian Authority and strengthening academic ties with Palestinian universities, planning joint research projects with Palestinian scientists, and admitting more Palestinian scholars to European and American universities for academic programs.
Ali-Selah said that because she did medical research, the boycott did not negatively impact her work, but sooner or later, she said that it will impinge upon academic researchers she knows, both Jews and Arabs. That's why Stephen Hawking and others interested in advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East should focus their energies on supporting more of Israel's success stories like Mais Ali-Selah's, and pressuring Arab countries to emulate Israel's academic freedoms and democracy.
Some might argue that Ali-Selah is an exception to the rule about the Arab minority in Israel. But we only have to look at President Barack Obama to remember how unusual -- and important -- exceptions are.
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Australia’s Online Hate Prevention Institute denounced a Facebook account Tuesday for spreading “Holocaust inversion and also significant new antisemitism related to Israel.”
In a statement, Dr. Andre Oboler, CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Instituteflagged “The Untold History” Facebook account, which is “liked” by 843 people, and features 428 comments, though many of them were made to ridicule the account and its creators.
“Social media is a powerful tool and that power should not be used to take content like this viral. Social media companies, that have such a major impact on our daily lives, need to behave in a socially responsible manner and to be held accountable when they fail to live up to the standards society expect,” Oboler said.
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A DIAMOND AND ONYX BROOCH, BY CARTIER
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Chris Poole No don't eat it. Eat 16% of their ice cream and redistribute 14% of it to people who did nothing to deserve it and who also hate your children. THAT's how tax works.
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Leave the impossible to us
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“SEX APPEAL” IS NOT PC... unless you have it
It was staggering to see Abbott’s off hand “sex appeal” comment make the lead story on Sky News and many newspapers this morning.
[It must have been hard for pensioners who had difficulty keeping warm last night to understand what the media considered a page one story.]
Obviously I’m out of touch so I decided to be awfully offensive and did a quick ring around to see what politicians were considered to have (or not have) sex appeal.
It seems a woman’s concept of sex appeal is different to men, except for one politician who who got top “sexy” marks from both sides!
Admittedly it was not a comprehensive poll, I made only 15 or 20 calls and included my own assessment. So, here’s what might well be a dodgy, apolitical consensus:
Women went for Tony Abbott, Josh Frydenburg, Doug Cameron (must be his accent), Nick Xenophon (must be his bedroom eyes) and Julie Bishop.
Women said those who are bereft of sex appeal are Kevin Rudd, Christine Milne (she just needs ironing), David Bradbury, Sophie Mirrabella and Penny Wong (I won’t say anything).
Men nominated only women as having sex appeal and that’s interesting in itself: Julie Bishop (she really is funny hot), Kate Lundy, Tanya Plibersek, Sarah Hanson-Young (wot!!), Kate Ellis and that was about it.
Men suggested those who were without sex appeal were Christine Milne, Kevin Rudd, Adam Bandt, Jenny Macklin, Graham Perrett and Peter Slipper (no surprises there).
This politically incorrect poll probably has a margin of error of 80% but there was one slam dunk: Julie Bishop! She was considered by all to have the most sex appeal. (Hard to disagree.)
So, should Julie Bishop be offended? Of course not! And she wouldn’t be. The only complainants are those women without sex appeal, and there are plenty of those in Parliament.
They are the women who wear heavy-duty uplift bras, disguise their shaved short legs with high heels, sport a cleavage, plaster on red arousal lippy, wear colorful clobber and fly into a blind rage if someone mentions their appearance or, God forbid, sex appeal!
If a bloke can’t comment on a woman’s sex appeal, when she has gone to extreme lengths to show she has it, then PC has sunk to new depths.
Women who complain of being treated as a sex object should stop dressing like one or stand still and enjoy the plaudits.
That’s unless we have all become genderless, homogeneous homosexuals!
It was staggering to see Abbott’s off hand “sex appeal” comment make the lead story on Sky News and many newspapers this morning.
[It must have been hard for pensioners who had difficulty keeping warm last night to understand what the media considered a page one story.]
Obviously I’m out of touch so I decided to be awfully offensive and did a quick ring around to see what politicians were considered to have (or not have) sex appeal.
It seems a woman’s concept of sex appeal is different to men, except for one politician who who got top “sexy” marks from both sides!
Admittedly it was not a comprehensive poll, I made only 15 or 20 calls and included my own assessment. So, here’s what might well be a dodgy, apolitical consensus:
Women went for Tony Abbott, Josh Frydenburg, Doug Cameron (must be his accent), Nick Xenophon (must be his bedroom eyes) and Julie Bishop.
Women said those who are bereft of sex appeal are Kevin Rudd, Christine Milne (she just needs ironing), David Bradbury, Sophie Mirrabella and Penny Wong (I won’t say anything).
Men nominated only women as having sex appeal and that’s interesting in itself: Julie Bishop (she really is funny hot), Kate Lundy, Tanya Plibersek, Sarah Hanson-Young (wot!!), Kate Ellis and that was about it.
Men suggested those who were without sex appeal were Christine Milne, Kevin Rudd, Adam Bandt, Jenny Macklin, Graham Perrett and Peter Slipper (no surprises there).
This politically incorrect poll probably has a margin of error of 80% but there was one slam dunk: Julie Bishop! She was considered by all to have the most sex appeal. (Hard to disagree.)
So, should Julie Bishop be offended? Of course not! And she wouldn’t be. The only complainants are those women without sex appeal, and there are plenty of those in Parliament.
They are the women who wear heavy-duty uplift bras, disguise their shaved short legs with high heels, sport a cleavage, plaster on red arousal lippy, wear colorful clobber and fly into a blind rage if someone mentions their appearance or, God forbid, sex appeal!
If a bloke can’t comment on a woman’s sex appeal, when she has gone to extreme lengths to show she has it, then PC has sunk to new depths.
Women who complain of being treated as a sex object should stop dressing like one or stand still and enjoy the plaudits.
That’s unless we have all become genderless, homogeneous homosexuals!
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Meet Billy Ray Harris, a homeless man who returned an engagement ring worth thousands after a woman accidentally dropped it into his change cup. The owner of the ring was Sarah Darling. Ms. Darling and her fiance set up a fundraising page to thank him. With the $180,000 raised from public donations, Mr. Harris has been able to buy a house and get a job.
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Seven years ago, the United Nations, Lebanon and Israel unanimously agreed to pass Resolution 1701, which called for the evacuation of Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon and the terror group’s complete disarmament. Yet today Hezbollah is armed to the hilt and more entrenched than ever. Share this and show the world the truth.
Learn more: http://www.idfblog.com/
Learn more: http://www.idfblog.com/
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How about training centres for the trainers retraining after their industry was ruined by ALP? ed
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Join Us:  Order online or call +972-2-652-7178 Email: customerservice@ 9 Beit Ha-Dfus St. | Jerusalem | 95483 | Israel http://www.judaicawebstore. 2013 J.W.G Ltd |
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- 1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
- 1880 – Construction of the Cologne Cathedral—Germany's most visited landmark—was completed, 632 years after it had begun.
- 1941 – After a secret meeting aboard warships, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (both pictured) issued the Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a post-World War II world despite the fact that the United States had yet to enter the war.
- 1975 – The film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is still in limited release today, making it the longest-running theatrical release in film history, premiered in Los Angeles.
- 2006 – The United Nations brokered a ceasefire in the Lebanon War between Lebanon and Israel.
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Events
- 29 BC – Octavian holds the second of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes.
- 1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
- 1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan (traditional Japanese date: Twenty-fifth Day of the Seventh Month of the Second Year of Juei).
- 1288 – Count Adolf VIII of Berg grants town privileges to Düsseldorf, the village on the banks of the Düssel.
- 1352 – War of the Breton Succession: Anglo-Bretons defeat the French in the Battle of Mauron.
- 1370 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, grants city privileges to Carlsbad (subsequently was named after him).
- 1385 – Portuguese Crisis of 1383–1385: Battle of Aljubarrota – Portuguese forces commanded by King John I and his generalNuno Álvares Pereira defeat the Castilian army of King John I.
- 1415 – Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Battle of Ceuta.
- 1592 – Imjin War: Battle of Hansan Island Admiral Yi Sun-sin decisively defeats the Japanese Navy at Hansan Island.
- 1598 – Nine Years' War: Battle of the Yellow Ford – Irish forces under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal.
- 1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
- 1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma.
- 1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.
- 1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed.
- 1885 – Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
- 1888 – An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London, England.
- 1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
- 1897 – Franco-Hova Wars: The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.
- 1900 – The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.
- 1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
- 1911 – United States Senate leaders agree to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the Senate among leading candidates to fill the vacancy left byWilliam P. Frye's death.
- 1912 – U.S. Marines invade Nicaragua to support the U.S.-backed government installed there after José Santos Zelaya had resigned three years earlier.
- 1916 – Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the Entente in World War I
- 1921 – Tannu Uriankhai, later Tuvan People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia).
- 1933 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acres (970 km2).
- 1935 – Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.
- 1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.
- 1937 – Chinese Air Force Day: The beginning of air-to-air combat of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II in general, when 6 Imperial JapaneseMitsubishi G3M bombers are shot down by the Nationalist Chinese Air Force while raiding Chinese air bases.
- 1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.
- 1945 – Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender (August 15 in Japan Standard Time).
- 1947 – Pakistan gains Independence from the British Empire and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.
- 1967 – UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.
- 1969 – Operation Banner: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland.
- 1971 – Bahrain declares independence as the State of Bahrain.
- 1972 – An East German Ilyushin Il-62 crashes during takeoff from East Berlin, killing 156.
- 1973 – The Pakistani Constitution of 1973 comes into effect.
- 1974 – The second Turkish invasion of Cyprus begins; 140,000 to 200,000 Greek Cypriots become refugees. 6,000 massacred, 1,619 missing.
- 1975 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running release in film history, opens at the USA Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles, California.
- 1980 – Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.
- 1987 – All the children held at Kia Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid.
- 1994 – Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal," is captured.
- 1996 – Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is murdered by Turkish forces while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.
- 2003 – Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.
- 2005 – Helios Airways Flight 522 en route from Larnaca, Cyprus via Athens, Greece to Prague, Czech Republic crashes near Athens, with at least 121 on board. Observations from Greek fighter aircraft indicate a decompression problem.
- 2006 – Chencholai bombing in which 61 Tamil girls are killed in Sri Lankan Airforce bombing.
- 2007 – The 2007 Kahtaniya bombings kills at least 796 people.
- 2010 – The first-ever Youth Olympic Games are held in Singapore.
Births
- 1297 – Emperor Hanazono of Japan (d. 1348)
- 1473 – Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (d. 1541)
- 1479 – Catherine of York (d. 1527)
- 1575 – Robert Hayman, English-Canadian poet (d. 1629)
- 1586 – William Hutchinson, English-American judge (d. 1642)
- 1599 – Méric Casaubon, English scholar (d. 1671)
- 1625 – François de Harlay de Champvallon, French archbishop (d. 1695)
- 1642 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
- 1653 – Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English soldier and politician (d. 1688)
- 1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740)
- 1714 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789)
- 1727 – Louise Élisabeth of France (d. 1759)
- 1727 – Princess Henriette of France (d. 1752)
- 1738 – Leopold Hofmann, Austrian composer (d. 1793)
- 1740 – Pope Pius VII (d. 1823)
- 1758 – Carle Vernet, French painter (d. 1835)
- 1777 – Francis I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1830)
- 1777 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist (d. 1851)
- 1817 – Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (d. 1874)
- 1840 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychologist (d. 1902)
- 1847 – Robert Comtesse, Swiss politician (d. 1922)
- 1851 – Yannoulis Chalepas, Greek sculptor (d. 1938)
- 1851 – Doc Holliday, American gambler and dentist (d. 1887)
- 1857 – Max Wagenknecht, German composer (d. 1922)
- 1863 – Ernest Thayer, American poet (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (d. 1952)
- 1866 – Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Belgian mathematician (d. 1962)
- 1867 – Cupid Childs, American baseball player (d. 1912)
- 1867 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1933)
- 1871 – Guangxu Emperor of China (d. 1908)
- 1876 – Alexander I of Serbia (d. 1903)
- 1881 – Francis Ford, American actor (d. 1953)
- 1881 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast (d. 1942)
- 1882 – Gisela Richter, English archaeologist and historian (d. 1972)
- 1887 – Marija Leiko, Latvian actress (d. 1937)
- 1892 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer and pianist (d. 1988)
- 1893 – Francis Dvornik, Czech historian (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1973)
- 1896 – Theodor Luts, Estonian director and cinematographer (d. 1980)
- 1899 – Evelyn Kozak, American super-centenarian (d. 2013)
- 1901 – Alice Rivaz, Swiss writer (d. 1998)
- 1908 – Manos Katrakis, Greek actor (d. 1984)
- 1909 – Stuff Smith, American jazz violinist (d. 1967)
- 1910 – Willy Ronis, French photographer (d. 2009)
- 1910 – Pierre Schaeffer, French composer (d. 1995)
- 1911 – Vethathiri Maharishi, Spiritual leader (d. 2006)
- 1911 – Jan Koetsier, Dutch composer and conductor (d.2006)
- 1912 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist (d. 1985)
- 1913 – Paul Dean, American baseball player (d. 1981)
- 1915 – B. A. Santamaria, Australian journalist and activist (d. 1998)
- 1916 – Fumio Fujimura, Japanese baseball player (d. 1992)
- 1916 – Wellington Mara, American businessman (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem, Greek Patriarch (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect, designed the Hedmark Museum (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Holger Juul Hansen, Danish actor (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Georges Prêtre, French conductor
- 1924 – Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, Tibetan spiritual leader (d. 1981)
- 1925 – Russell Baker, American writer
- 1926 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (d. 2007)
- 1926 – René Goscinny, French comic-strip author (d. 1977)
- 1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist
- 1926 – Lina Wertmüller, Italian writer and director
- 1929 – Gene Scott, American pastor and broadcaster (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Dick Tiger, Nigerian boxer (d. 1971)
- 1930 – Earl Weaver, American baseball manager (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Lee Hoffman, American author (d. 2007)
- 1933 – Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1935 – John Brodie, American football player
- 1936 – Trevor Bannister, English actor (d. 2011)
- 1940 – Galen Hall, American football player and coach
- 1940 – Alexei Panshin, American science fiction author
- 1941 – Lynne Cheney, American politician, founded American Council of Trustees and Alumni
- 1941 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and CPR)
- 1941 – Connie Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1942 – Lionel Morton, English singer, guitarist, and television host (The Four Pennies)
- 1942 – Jackie Oliver, English race car driver
- 1945 – Steve Martin, American actor, singer, writer, and producer
- 1945 – Wim Wenders, German director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1946 – Antonio Fargas, American actor
- 1946 – Larry Graham, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station)
- 1946 – Tom Walkinshaw, Scottish Racing driver, 1984 European Touring Car Champion (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Susan Saint James, American actress
- 1947 – Peter Christian, English actor
- 1947 – Bruce Nash, American television producer
- 1947 – Maddy Prior, English singer (Steeleye Span, Silly Sisters, and The Carnival Band)
- 1947 – Danielle Steel, American novelist
- 1947 – Jiro Taniguchi, Japanese illustrator
- 1947 – Joop van Daele, Dutch footballer
- 1948 – Terry Adams, American pianist and composer (NRBQ)
- 1949 – Bob Backlund, American wrestler
- 1949 – Morten Olsen, Danish footballer
- 1950 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist
- 1951 – Peter Blegvad, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and illustrator (Slapp Happy and The Lodge)
- 1951 – Slim Dunlap, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Replacements)
- 1951 – Norbert Hofmann, German footballer
- 1951 – Carl Lumbly, American actor
- 1952 – Debbie Meyer, American swimmer
- 1952 – Alex van Warmerdam, Dutch screenwriter, director, and actor
- 1953 – James Horner, American composer
- 1953 – Cliff Johnson, American game designer
- 1954 – Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (d. 2009)
- 1954 – Stanley A. McChrystal, American general
- 1956 – Jackée Harry, American actress
- 1956 – Andy King, English footballer
- 1956 – Johnny Lever, Indian actor
- 1956 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
- 1957 – Peter Costello, Australian politician
- 1957 – Gino Hernandez, American wrestler (d. 1986)
- 1957 – Alim Qasimov, Azerbaijani singer
- 1958 – Bobby Eaton, American wrestler
- 1959 – Frank Brickowski, American basketball player
- 1959 – Marcia Gay Harden, American actress
- 1959 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player
- 1960 – Sarah Brightman, English soprano, songwriter, and actress
- 1960 – Sharon Bryant, American singer (Atlantic Starr)
- 1960 – Cecilia Gasdia, Italian soprano
- 1960 – Fred Roberts, American basketball player
- 1961 – Eddie Gilbert, American wrestler (d. 1995)
- 1961 – Susan Olsen, American actress
- 1962 – Mark Gubicza, American baseball player
- 1962 – Rameez Raja, Pakistani cricketer
- 1964 – Neal Anderson, American football player
- 1965 – Emmanuelle Béart, French actress
- 1965 – Brannon Braga, American screenwriter and producer
- 1965 – Mark Collins, English guitarist and songwriter (The Charlatans and The Waltones)
- 1966 – Halle Berry, American model and actress
- 1966 – Karl Petter Løken, Norwegian footballer
- 1967 – Erik Gandini, Italian-Swedish director
- 1967 – Dirk Rehbein, German footballer
- 1968 – Pravin Amre, Indian cricketer
- 1968 – Catherine Bell, American actress
- 1968 – Darren Clarke, Irish golfer
- 1968 – Adrian Lester, English actor, director, and scriptwriter
- 1968 – Billy Mavreas, Greek-Canadian cartoonist
- 1968 – Medy van der Laan, Dutch politician
- 1969 – Tracy Caldwell Dyson, American astronaut
- 1969 – DJ Uncle Al, American rapper and DJ (d. 2001)
- 1969 – Stig Tøfting, Danish footballer
- 1970 – Kevin Cadogan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Third Eye Blind)
- 1971 – Raoul Bova, Italian actor
- 1971 – Mark Loretta, American baseball player
- 1971 – Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1972 – Yoo Jae-Seok, South Korean comedian and actor
- 1972 – Laurent Lamothe, Haitian businessman and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Haiti
- 1972 – Jay Manuel, Canadian make-up artist, photographer, and model
- 1972 – Tamer El Said, Egyptian director, producer and screenwriter
- 1973 – Jared Borgetti, Mexican footballer
- 1973 – Daisuke Ishiwatari, Japanese game developer and composer
- 1973 – Jay-Jay Okocha, Nigerian footballer
- 1973 – Kieren Perkins, Australian swimmer
- 1974 – Chucky Atkins, American basketball player
- 1974 – Martin Bulloch, Scottish drummer (Mogwai)
- 1974 – Christopher Gorham, American actor
- 1974 – Ana Matronic, American singer-songwriter (Scissor Sisters)
- 1975 – Mike Vrabel, American football player
- 1976 – Alex Albrecht, American actor
- 1976 – Steve Braun, Canadian actor
- 1976 – Fabrizio Donato, Italian jumper
- 1976 – Maya Nasri, Lebanese actress and singer
- 1977 – Ed Harcourt, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1977 – Elisavet Mystakidou, Greek martial artist
- 1977 – Juan Pierre, American baseball player
- 1978 – Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer
- 1978 – Greg Rawlinson, New Zealand rugby player
- 1978 – Kate Ritchie, Australian actress
- 1979 – Jérémie Bréchet, French footballer
- 1979 – Paul Burgess, Australian pole vaulter
- 1979 – Yōichirō Morikawa, Japanese director
- 1980 – Estrella Morente, Spanish singer
- 1980 – Roy Williams, American football player
- 1981 – Earl Barron, American basketball player
- 1981 – Matthew Etherington, English footballer
- 1981 – Julius Jones, American football player
- 1981 – Kofi Kingston, Ghanaian wrestler
- 1981 – Ray William Johnson, American comedian
- 1983 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player
- 1983 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American actress
- 1983 – Juan Oviedo, Dominican baseball player
- 1983 – Spencer Pratt, American television personality
- 1984 – Eva Birnerová, Czech tennis player
- 1984 – Clay Buchholz, American baseball player
- 1984 – Giorgio Chiellini, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Kunzang Choden, Bhutanese target shooter
- 1984 – Josh Gorges, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Nick Grimshaw, English television and radio host
- 1984 – Nicola Slater, British tennis player
- 1984 – Robin Söderling, Swedish tennis player
- 1984 – Nicolette van Dam, Dutch actress
- 1985 – Digão, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Christian Gentner, German footballer
- 1985 – Shea Weber, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Terin Humphrey, American gymnast
- 1986 – Cameron Jerome, English footballer
- 1986 – Braian Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1987 – James Buckley, English actor
- 1987 – Cate Harrington, English porn actress
- 1987 – Sinem Kobal, Turkish actress
- 1987 – Tim Tebow, American football player
- 1988 – Shahd Barmada, Syrian singer
- 1989 – Florian Abel, German footballer
- 1989 – Kyle Turris, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Jaydee Bixby, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1993 – Cassi Thomson, Australian-American actress and singer
- 1994 – Kim Rodriguez, Filipino actress
- 1999 – Garrett Ryan, American actor
Deaths
- 582 – Tiberius II Constantine, Byzantine Emperor (b. 535)
- 1040 – Duncan I of Scotland (b. 1001)
- 1167 – Rainald of Dassel, Italian archbishop (b. 1120)
- 1204 – Minamoto no Yoriie, Japanese 2nd shogun of Kamakura Dynasty (b. 1182)
- 1390 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, English soldier (b. 1364)
- 1430 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1404)
- 1433 – John I of Portugal (b. 1357)
- 1464 – Pope Pius II (b. 1405)
- 1573 – Saitō Tatsuoki, Japanese warlord (b. 1548)
- 1691 – Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, Irish soldier (b. 1630)
- 1704 – Roland Laporte, French religious leader (b. 1675)
- 1727 – William Croft, English composer (b. 1678)
- 1774 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German physician (b. 1716)
- 1784 – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish painter (b. 1718)
- 1856 – Constant Prévost, French geologist (b. 1787)
- 1860 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist (b. 1774)
- 1870 – David Farragut, American navy officer (b. 1801)
- 1874 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American politician (b. 1821)
- 1891 – Sarah Childress Polk, American wife of James K. Polk, 12th First Lady of the United States (b. 1803)
- 1905 – Simeon Solomon, English painter (b. 1840)
- 1909 – William Stanley, American inventor and engineer (b. 1829)
- 1926 – John H. Moffitt, American politician (b. 1843)
- 1928 – Klabund, German writer and poet (b. 1890)
- 1938 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer (b. 1876)
- 1941 – Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr and saint (b. 1894)
- 1941 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
- 1943 – Lore Berger, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
- 1943 – Joe Kelley, American baseball player (b. 1871)
- 1951 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (b. 1863)
- 1954 – Hugo Eckener, German pilot and designer (b. 1868)
- 1954 – Nikos Ploumpidis, Greek activist (b. 1901)
- 1955 – Herbert Putnam, American lawyer, publisher, and librarian (b. 1861)
- 1956 – Bertolt Brecht, German writer (b. 1898)
- 1958 – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- 1958 – Konstantin von Neurath, German diplomat (b. 1873)
- 1964 – Johnny Burnette, American singer-songwriter (The Rock and Roll Trio) (b. 1934)
- 1965 – Vello Kaaristo, Estonian skier (b. 1911)
- 1966 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (b. 1881)
- 1967 – Bob Anderson, English race car driver (b. 1931)
- 1972 – Oscar Levant, American actor (b. 1906)
- 1972 – Jules Romains, French author (b. 1885)
- 1973 – Fred Gipson, American author (b. 1908)
- 1978 – Nicolas Bentley, English writer (b. 1907)
- 1980 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress and model (b. 1960)
- 1981 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
- 1981 – Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer (b. 1910)
- 1982 – Patrick Magee, Irish actor (b. 1922)
- 1982 – Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana, Vipassana meditation master (b. 1904)
- 1984 – Spud Davis, American baseball player (b. 1904)
- 1984 – J. B. Priestley, English playwright (b. 1894)
- 1985 – Gale Sondergaard, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1988 – Roy Buchanan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Snakestretchers) (b. 1939)
- 1988 – Robert Calvert, South African singer-songwriter and poet (Hawkwind) (b. 1945)
- 1988 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (b. 1898)
- 1989 – Ricky Berry, American basketball player (b. 1964)
- 1991 – Alberto Crespo, Argentine race car driver (b. 1920)
- 1992 – John Sirica, American judge (b. 1904)
- 1992 – Tony Williams, American singer (The Platters) (b. 1928)
- 1994 – Elias Canetti, English-Austrian novelist (b. 1905)
- 1994 – Alice Childress, American playwright and author (b. 1912)
- 1996 – Tom Mees, American sportscaster (b. 1949)
- 1996 – Solomos Solomou, Greek refugee (b. 1970)
- 1999 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Alain Fournier, French-Canadian computer graphics researcher (b. 1943)
- 2000 – Cuan McCarthy, South African cricketer (b. 1929)
- 2001 – Earl Anthony, American bowler (b. 1938)
- 2002 – Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (b. 1972)
- 2003 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Czesław Miłosz, Polishn writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 2004 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English politician (b. 1918)
- 2005 – Coo Coo Marlin, American race car driver (b. 1932)
- 2006 – Adriaan de Groot, Dutch chess player and psychologist (b. 1914)
- 2006 – Bruno Kirby, American actor (b. 1949)
- 2007 – Pinchas Goldstein, Israeli politician (b. 1939)
- 2007 – Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian composer (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Kotozakura Masakatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 53rd Yokozuna (b. 1940)
- 2008 – Percy Irausquin, Aruban-Dutch fashion designer (b. 1969)
- 2010 – Rallis Kopsidis, Greek writer (b. 1929)
- 2010 – Herman Leonard, American photographer (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Tahar Ouettar, Algerian novelist (b. 1936)
- 2011 – Shammi Kapoor, Indian actor and director (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Fritz Korbach, German footballer and manager (b. 1945)
- 2012 – Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian politician (b. 1945)
- 2012 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian chess player (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Sergey Kapitsa, Russian physicist and demographer (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Zhou Kehua, Chinese criminal and murderer (b. 1970)
- 2012 – Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum, American designer (b. 1946)
- 2012 – Charles Maynard, Bahamian politician (b. 1970)
- 2012 – Ron Palillo, American actor (b. 1949)
- 2012 – Rosemary Rice, American actress and singer (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (b. 1919)
Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Independence Day, celebrates the day on which Pakistan was made an independent country based on border lines created by the British during the end oftheir rule of India in 1947. (Pakistan)
- Pramuka Day (Indonesia)
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“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"The cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted."
Psalm 104:16
Psalm 104:16
Lebanon's cedars are emblematic of the Christian, in that they owe their planting entirely to the Lord. This is quite true of every child of God. He is not man-planted, nor self-planted, but God-planted. The mysterious hand of the divine Spirit dropped the living seed into a heart which he had himself prepared for its reception. Every true heir of heaven owns the great Husbandman as his planter. Moreover, the cedars of Lebanon are not dependent upon man for their watering; they stand on the lofty rock, unmoistened by human irrigation; and yet our heavenly Father supplieth them. Thus it is with the Christian who has learned to live by faith. He is independent of man, even in temporal things; for his continued maintenance he looks to the Lord his God, and to him alone. The dew of heaven is his portion, and the God of heaven is his fountain. Again, the cedars of Lebanon are not protected by any mortal power. They owe nothing to man for their preservation from stormy wind and tempest. They are God's trees, kept and preserved by him, and by him alone. It is precisely the same with the Christian. He is not a hot-house plant, sheltered from temptation; he stands in the most exposed position; he has no shelter, no protection, except this, that the broad wings of the eternal God always cover the cedars which he himself has planted. Like cedars, believers are full of sap, having vitality enough to be ever green, even amid winter's snows. Lastly, the flourishing and majestic condition of the cedar is to the praise of God only. The Lord, even the Lord alone hath been everything unto the cedars, and, therefore David very sweetly puts it in one of the psalms, "Praise ye the Lord, fruitful trees and all cedars." In the believer there is nothing that can magnify man; he is planted, nourished, and protected by the Lord's own hand, and to him let all the glory be ascribed.
Evening
"And I will remember my covenant."
Genesis 9:15
Genesis 9:15
Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, "And when ye shall look upon the bow, and ye shall remember my covenant, then I will not destroy the earth," but it is gloriously put, not upon our memory, which is fickle and frail, but upon God's memory, which is infinite and immutable. "The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant." Oh! it is not my remembering God, it is God's remembering me which is the ground of my safety; it is not my laying hold of his covenant, but his covenant's laying hold on me. Glory be to God! the whole of the bulwarks of salvation are secured by divine power, and even the minor towers, which we may imagine might have been left to man, are guarded by almighty strength. Even the remembrance of the covenant is not left to our memories, for we might forget, but our Lord cannot forget the saints whom he has graven on the palms of his hands. It is with us as with Israel in Egypt; the blood was upon the lintel and the two side-posts, but the Lord did not say, "When you see the blood I will pass over you," but "When I see the blood I will pass over you." My looking to Jesus brings me joy and peace, but it is God's looking to Jesus which secures my salvation and that of all his elect, since it is impossible for our God to look at Christ, our bleeding Surety, and then to be angry with us for sins already punished in him. No, it is not left with us even to be saved by remembering the covenant. There is no linsey-wolsey here--not a single thread of the creature mars the fabric. It is not of man, neither by man, but of the Lord alone. We should remember the covenant, and we shall do it, through divine grace; but the hinge of our safety does not hang there--it is God's remembering us, not our remembering him; and hence the covenant is an everlasting covenant.
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Today's reading: Psalm 87-88, Romans 13 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 87-88
1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain.
2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:
4 "I will record Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me-
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush-
and will say, 'This one was born in Zion.'"
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
"This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her."
6 The LORD will write in the register of the peoples:
"This one was born in Zion."
city of God:
4 "I will record Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me-
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush-
and will say, 'This one was born in Zion.'"
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
"This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her."
6 The LORD will write in the register of the peoples:
"This one was born in Zion."
7 As they make music they will sing,
"All my fountains are in you."
"All my fountains are in you."
Today's New Testament reading: Romans 13
Submission to Governing Authorities
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience....
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