"Now that we have total control of your economy, we would like to show our appreciation by presenting you with this beautiful ballot box." -- Archibald Sarantoff
Australia: "Protesters - including an estimated 100,000 in Melbourne - marched today over Prime Minister John Howard's sweeping workplace reforms.
1908 7:17 am A giant fireball impacted in Central Siberia (Tunguska Event).
Feast day of St Peter the Apostle and St Paul the Apostle
"A top US Army official told Congress that Halliburton's deals in Iraq were the worst example of contract abuse she had seen, while Pentagon auditors revealed that overcharging by the firm could amount to more than $US1 billion ($1.3 billion).
... the brutal and cowardly conduct of a parcel of big ugly fat-necked wombat headed big bellied magpie legged narrow hipped splaw-footed sons of Irish Bailiffs or english landlords which is better known as Officers of Justice or Victorian Police ...1880 Dressed in home-made armour and with revolver blazing, Australian bushranger Ned Kelly burst out of the Glenrowan Inn, which was surrounded by about 30 State troopers.
From Ned Kelly's 'Jerilderie Letter', February, 1879
"Judaism on trial. After thousands of prominent Russians, including a chess champion and 20 members of parliament, demanded that Russia ban Judaism and Jewish organizations, the state prosecutor is investigating the Shulhan Arukh, a 16th century book of Jewish law (and early example of hypertext), for causing incitement and expressing anti-Russian views. Judaism used to be placed on trial regularly during the Middle Ages, and, except for a famous episode in 1264, it always ended badly for the Jews. So what is going on in Russia?"
Source: Metafilter
"Carlo Longino spotted this on CNN.com this morning. And no, it's not part of a 'This Day In History: 1994' package." Link
And Wilson foundfound it at boingboing.
1869 Emma Goldman (d. May 14, 1940), Lithuanian-born American anarchist writer, pioneer advocate of free love and contraception, and activist, who was deported to the Soviet Union for inciting World War I draft riots in New York.
Here's one I might have posted two days ago, had I had the information then:
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States' image is so tattered overseas two years after the Iraq invasion that communist China is viewed more favorably than the U.S. in many long-time Western European allies, an international poll has found.""In his interview with two 30-something environmentalists who have challenged the movement's status quo, Contributing Editor Adam Werbach asks if the baby boomers are to blame for the sad state of affairs. 'What should these leaders do now?' he asks. 'Die?'
"No blood need be shed, but many boomers are reluctantly being forced to make way for younger activists with a crop of new ideas ...
"'The old era of political party identification is giving way to a disaggregated thunderdome of cause-based politics, distributed democracy, MoveOn house parties and do-it-yourself politics,' writes Dan Carol in Alternet's new book, Start Making Sense. 'Peer-to-peer politics ... is replacing the party as the place where new stuff happens.'
"The class interests of the practivists may be their weakest link. Taught that identifying with or romanticizing the oppressed is akin to colonizing them, many of these bloggers, culture jammers and radical consultants operate from a place of privilege not rooted in working America ...
"In their enthusiasm for new projects, practivists run the risk of replicating the boomers' mistake of turning their backs on the experiences of their predecessors ..."
Source: In These Times
"Whither the fight against fake news?
"In April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a Public Notice on video news releases (VNRs), video segments designed to be indistinguishable from actual TV news reports. According to the FCC, current regulations mandate that viewers be told the source of a VNR only when stations are paid to air it, or when the VNR deals with a political matter or controversial issue. The Public Notice also asked for further information on the use of VNRs ...
Why do these filings matter?
"How the FCC interprets them will determine whether TV viewers are told when their 'news' comes courtesy of a major drug company or the Defense Department. Senator Ted Stevens, the co-chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has also indicated that the response to the FCC's Public Notice will help him decide what action to take on the proposed Truth in Broadcasting Act, the strongest bill before Congress calling for disclosure of government-funded VNRs.
This site sets out to explain to Americans the documents that have made the news in the UK and elsewhere.
"The Downing Street "Memo" is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002—eight months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005. Since then, several other leaked UK government documents have come to light. Together they present a disturbing picture of a President obsessed with invasion, and a loyal ally troubled both by how it could be justified and by what it would bring.
"This site is intended as a resource for anyone who wants to understand the meaning and context of these documents as they relate to the Bush administration's case for war."
Source: downingstreetmemo.com
From Kingsley Tarawally. Abidjan-Cote D'Ivoire.Now, if I've knocked back the son of Laurence Kabila, Nelson Mandela's niece and Colonel Gadaffi's brother, what makes Kingsley think I'll be impressed with the son of a cocoa exporter?
Dear Friend,
I am Mr. Kingsley Tarawally from Ivory Coast,23 years of age. I am an orphan I lost my father a couple of months ago. My father was a serving director of the Cocoa exporting board until his death .
He was assassinated last year january 2004 by the rebels following the political uprising.Before his death he had a foreign account here in Côte D'Ivoire up to the tune of $18m which he told the bank was for the importation of cocoa processing machine.
I want you to do me a favour to receive this fund to a safe account in your country or any safer place as the benficiary. I have plans to do investment in your country, like real estate and industrial production. This is my reason for writing to you. Please if you are willing to assist me indicate your interest in replying soonest. Thanks and best regards.
Kingsley Tarawally.
"Within a year, the book will be translated into Chinese. It will be banned in China, of course, but it will find its way in nevertheless, mostly on CDs, and it will find fascinated but appalled readers in every corner of the country. Nothing will change right away, but over time it will probably have the same impact on how Chinese see their own history and the Party that rules over them that Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 'Gulag Archipelago' had on Russians.
Soldiers disciplined over Ku Klux Klan photo
1848 Albert Parsons, radical American editor and printer, former Confederate soldier, husband of radical labor organizer and anarchist (later Communist), Lucy Parsons (1853 - 1942).If the world must lose eight of its people, it can better afford toEarly progressives in the Book of Days
lose the eight members of the Illinois Supreme Court.
George Bernard Shaw
"It could be the ultimate accessory for the 4x4-driving city dweller: spray-on mud. A few squirts and neighbours will think you spent the weekend hurtling along muddy lanes looking for a country retreat, rather than sitting in traffic on the way to drop the kids off before your yoga class. "
Midsummer Eve (St John's Eve): bonfires and a magickal herbClick image at right for larger view of a bonfireSaint John's Eve is the night before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist, and in Europe, from pre-Christian times, Summer Solstice festivities and spiritual practices have been a part of this day. Also called Midsummer Eve, June 23 is a time rich in folklore.
I enjoyed a few years ago
1957 The Quarry Men, a Liverpool, UK, pop group led by John Lennon, played one of their first gigs (pictured) – at a street party on the back of a coal truck.
Just a few weeks later, on July 6 [qv] that year, Paul McCartney saw the band for the first time, playing at a local church fête, and joined the group soon after.
With just over two weeks to go before the Group of Eight (G8) Summit begins in Scotland, final preparations are underway. The G8 (comprising France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Russia) meet annually to formalize policy on international issues.
Climate change, immigration, trade justice, economic development in Africa, Middle East reform, and nuclear non-proliferation are amongst the items on the agenda for this year's Summit, which will be held from the 6 to 8th of July at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland; the UK Indymedia site will be facilitating independent coverage of the actions and events.
While the G8 prepares to meet behind police lines at Gleneagles, counter-mobilisations and demonstrations are being organized around the world. In Sheffield, there were demonstrations at the G8 Justice and Home Affairs ministers meeting earlier this week, whilst in Glasgow, the Cre8 (counter) Summit has already begun. Demonstrations are being organised by three broad coalitions with links across Europe and the world: Dissent, G8-Alternatives, and Make Poverty History. Overseas, in the United States, Anarchist Action is organizing a West Coast Anti-Capitalist Mobilization Against the G8. However, most events are concentrated in Scotland during the first 8 days of July, including people setting up an Eco-village convergence and camping centre, and blockades of the G8 summit on the first day. These events are mostly linked to ongoing campaigns around issues like anti-militarism and the arms trade, poverty and debt, the market and corporate free trade, environment and climate change, and immigration and borders.
The wheel of the year has rolled a little further through the seasons and now we find ourselves at one of the four main stations of the year, Summer Solstice (Northern Hemisphere) and Winter Solstice (Southern Hemisphere).
The four main stations (‘grand sabbats’ in the Neopagan tradition) are the two equinoxes and two solstices. Halfway between each of these are the other significant days, sometimes known as the ' lesser sabbats' ...
From Deadprogrammer: "An illustrated history of the Starbucks Siren logo, from the original 15th century engraving with naked chest, fat belly and spread tail-legs to the current sterilized 'family friendly version."
"The lowest-hanging full moon in 18 years is going to play tricks on you this week.
"Google Inc. this year plans to offer an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify its revenue and may heighten competition with eBay Inc.'s PayPal unit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
I got an email today from pagans4peace with Quotes from the the American Taliban -- a big page of outrageous quotes from the American 'Christian' right.
Examples: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war." (Anne Coulter)
"God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did ..." (George W Bush)
"The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc." (Jerry Falwell)
World Refugee Day
1885 Adela Pankhurst (d. 1961), feminist and pacifist, communist, then fervent anti-communist, daughter of suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst with whom she became estranged, mainly because of Adela's political position on many issues, which was further to the left than those of her mother. She was sister of Sylvia Pankhurst and Christabel Pankhurst, who, with mother Emmeline, edged Adela out of their movement.
Still imprisoned. Still fighting for democracy. Why the story of Aung San Suu Kyi should haunt the conscience of the world
1944 Rick Griffin (d. August, 1991), American underground comix artist, one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s.
He was closely identified with The Grateful Dead, having designed some of their best known posters and record jackets. Griffin is perhaps best remembered for his posters for Bill Graham's Fillmore and Chet Helm's Family Dog rock concerts. He was also known for his work within the surfing subculture, including his comic strip about a surfer named 'Murphy', who was popular worldwide in the '60s. Griffin was killed in motorcycle accident in 1991.
Griffin site More
Comix, comics and cartoons in the Book of Days
Give me a pound a column, and a drop to clear my throat,
An' I will write the reddest song as ever poet wrote.
1867 Henry Lawson (d. September 2, 1922), Australian's best-known writer of short stories and verse, noted for his realistic portrayals of bush life and the revolutionary politics of his earlier writing.
"Bob Geldof has welcomed a decision by online auction site eBay to ban the sale of Live 8 concert tickets from its website. 
There are a lot more terms for drunkenness than I knew, according to The Drunktionary. It even has a few Australianisms in its pages, which is entirely appropriate, though under-represented.
1913 US troops under General John ‘Black Jack’ Pershing ended (temporarily, for it continues to this day) the Moro people’s struggle for self-determination in the Philippines.
This was done by exterminating 2,000, including 196 women and 340 children, (one source has 6,000 to 10,000 men, women and children*) in an assault on the same crater in which an entire community had been similarly liquidated on March 8, 1906, an act of bastardry roundly condemned by anti-imperialist Mark Twain.
The Moro defenders of Bud Bagsak pitched spears and barongs at the overwhelming firepower of the US military. Pershing “stood so close to the trench, directing operations, that his life was endangered by flying barongs and spears which were being continually hurled from the Moro stronghold.”
Australia: "Refugee advocates say the Federal Government may have breached its human rights and legal obligations in allowing the interrogation of around 50 Chinese people held in Australian immigration detention centres.
Annie Lennox
Bob Geldof
Coldplay
Cure, The
Dido
Elton John, Sir
Joss Stone
Keane
Killers, The
Madonna
Mariah Carey
Ms. Dynamite
Muse
Paul McCartney, Sir
Pink Floyd
Razorlight
REM
Robbie Williams
Scissor Sisters
Snoop Dogg
Snow Patrol
Stereophonics
Sting
U2
Velvet Revolver
Andrea Bocelli
Axelle Red
Calo Gero
Craig David
Jamiroquai
Johnny Hallyday
Kyo
Manu Chao
Placebo
Renaud
Youssou N'Dour
Yannick Noah
A-ha
Bap
Brian Wilson
Crosby Stills and Nash
Die Toten Hosen
Lauryn Hill
Peter Maffay
Faith Hill
Irene Grandi
Jovanotti
Laura Pausini
Nek
Tim McGraw
Vasco Rossi
Zucchero
Will Smith
50 Cent
Bon Jovi
Dave Matthews Band
Jay-Z
Kaiser Chiefs
Keith Urban
Maroon 5
P Diddy
Rob Thomas
Sarah McLachlan
Stevie Wonder
1789 After 41 days at sea, Captain William Bligh (1754 - 1817) and 18* loyal crewmen arrived at the island of Timor after drifting 5,600 km following the mutiny on Bligh's ship HMS Bounty, when they were put to sea in a small boat with provisions sufficient to reach the most accessible ports, a sextant and a pocket watch, but no charts or compass.
Bligh’s seamanship and leadership qualities had kept all the men alive although beset by near starvation and extreme thirst. The only casualty was one crewman killed by hostile natives.
In 1792 Bligh returned to Tahiti, collected the breadfruit seedlings, which was his original purpose before the mutiny, and successfully brought them to the West Indies. He became governor of New South Wales in 1805. There he suffered another mutiny, this time the Rum Rebellion, and was imprisoned from 1808 to 1810.
Who's heard of Young Griffo? I certainly hadn't until very recently.
"Republican Congressman Walter Jones, who led the important battle to rename french fries and french toast 'freedom fries' and 'freedom toast' in the Capitol's cafeteria, says he's going to introduce a bill to start bringing US troops home from Iraq.
My picture here is of Louisa Lawson, 'Mother of Australian Women's Suffrage', outside her mother's dressmaking shop at Gulgong, New South Wales. Louisa was never rich enough to have such a shop of her own, just a flat in the slums with an ancient printing press and candle light.
Louisa is shown with her baby Charles, who was born on June 25,1869, just two years after her son Henry Lawson, the writer. So this must be 1870. Winter, possibly, by the bulkiness of their clothing. Soon there were two more children, Peter and Gertie.
Louisa's name is hardly remembered today, but she was the driving force of women's suffrage, and helped Australian women get the vote second in the world after New Zealand. It is a pity she is not a household name internationally, like Emmeline Pankhurst, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia Bloomer. The fact that Mrs Lawson did it from a position of grinding poverty and colonial isolation makes Louisa even more remarkable a human being. A lot of the famous suffregettes remain famous because they came from wealthy families, were wealthy intheir own right, or had wealthy husbands. Louisa Lawson was separated from her husband, and he was dirt poor as well anyway.
While on the subject of forgotten history, who today remembers Kate Sheppard, that New Zealand dynamo? All women who have ever voted owe that to her, possibly more than anyone.
All in the Almanac:
A world chronology of women’s suffrage
Early progressives in the Book of Days
Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson
I snagged the snap from Picture Australia, which I have only today discovered. It really does seem to be a good image site, as many only pretend to be.
"Looking for images of Australiana? PictureAustralia® is the place to start! Search for people, places and events in the collections of libraries, museums, galleries, archives, universities and other cultural agencies, in Australia and abroad - all at the same time. View the originals on the member agency web sites and order quality prints at your leisure."
Source
This is not an ad but an unsolicited recommendation. My friend in Washington state, Star Light, is a very wonderful designer and maker of wearable arts. She puts her big heart into everything she makes, so I invite everyone to check out this page and stock up on some gifts or something for yourself. See, I have a cool hat!
"Blog-god Dave Winer has posted that he is more influential than John Lennon, and John Lennon was more popular than Jesus, say [sic] by Winer’s reckoning he’s more popular than Jesus."
Source: Blog Herald
The taxpayer-funded national broadcaster, the ABC, is one of Australia's most important institutions and a real national treasure. Without it, Australians would largely have to rely on corporate media with its many commercial vested interests.
1902 Australia's Commonwealth Franchise Act came into force, second in the world after New Zealand (more), giving all women the right to vote in federal elections but excluding ‘aboriginal natives of Australia, Asia, Africa or the Islands of the Pacific except New Zealand’ unless they already had the vote at State level (as stipulated in s 41 of Constitution).
1990 USA: Former Reagan national security adviser John Poindexter (b. 1936) was sentenced to six months imprisonment, having been indicted on March 16, 1988 on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. He was the first Iran-Contra defendant to receive prison time in the arms-for-hostages scandal.
1964 John, Paul, George & Jimmy
The Beatles arrived in Australia at Darwin airport at the beginning of their ‘down under’ tour. An enterprising Australian promoter had booked them some time prior to their major international success, at a price that by this day had become ludicrous. However, Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, was a true gentleman and honoured the contract to bring the Fab Four to the antipodes, despite the fact that they made no money on the tour and could easily have paid out the contract.
Much to the fans’ disappointment, Ringo Starr wasn’t there, but at home in London hospital with a bad case of tonsillitis. The band hired Jimmy Nicol as a stand-in for Ringo. He only played a few shows before Mr Starkey arrived on June 14. A press typo at the time had fans believing the Beatles’ drummer had had his ‘toenails’ removed. Their opening act was Kiwi rocker, Johnny Devlin, the guy who introduced The Stomp dance to Oz with 'Avalon Stomp'.
Record crowds in ‘the City of Churches’
The next day, the Fab Four hit Adelaide, South Australia. There, even though it was a working day (Friday), not a weekend, an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 people – out of a population of fewer than 900,000 – lined the streets to see the band. Very few crowds in history, it’s been said, had been bigger anywhere – Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral being a notable exception with about one million. Big stars had rarely been to Adelaide before, but the Beatles’ amazing success there helped put the town on the world entertainment map and must have contributed to the small city’s current standing as one of the cultural centres of Australia.
Australia was Beatle crazy, and the Mop Tops said they were overwhelmed by the size of reception in each Australian city they played: Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, larger than the crowds in any country. ...
1887 'The Republican Riot' at Sydney Town Hall: Hundreds of republicans with forged tickets (arranged by republican activist John Norton) crashed a Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee meeting called by the Mayor of Sydney, AJ Riley following the debacle of June 3 [qv].
SONS of the South, awake! arise!
Sons of the South, and do.
Banish from under your bonny skies
Those old-world errors and wrongs and lies.
Making a hell in a Paradise
That belongs to your sons and you.Sons of the South, make choice between
(Sons of the South, choose true),
The Land of Morn and the Land of E’en,
The Old Dead Tree and the Young Tree Green,
The Land that belongs to the lord and the Queen,
And the Land that belongs to you ...Encouraged, Lawson sent in another revolutionary piece, 'The Distant Drum', which was not quite so well received. Later, not having seen another note from Bulletin editor JF Archibald in 'Correspondence', Henry went to Archibald's office where the editor encouraged the young poet, and Lawson's career had begun.
Day of Colum Cille the belovedSt Columba's herb is St John's Wort which flowers around now in the Northern Hemisphere; if found accidentally and kept beneath the armpit (where the saint is said to have worn it) this will ward off all kinds of evil. Say this charm when you pick it:
Day to put the loom to use
Day to put sheep to pasture
Day to put coracle on the sea
Day to bear, day to die'
Day to make prayer efficacious
Day of my beloved, the Thursday.
Carmina Gadelica
Arm-pit package of Columba the kindlyHypericum, or St John's Wort, is one of the few medicinal herbs to receive full validation of efficacy by Western Science. It is effective in cases of depression and anxiety.
Unsought by me, unlocked for
I shall not be carried away in my sleep
Neither shall I be pierced with iron
Better the reward of its virtues
Than a herd of white cattle.
Australia: "Former Chinese diplomat Chen Yong Lin says he 'would rather die' than 'be forced' to return to China in his original letter pleading for political asylum.
A custom formerly prevailed, and has indeed been recently observed at Dunmow, in Essex of giving a flitch of bacon to any married couple who would swear that neither of them, in a year and a day, either sleeping or waking, repented of their marriage.The actual words of the ancient rite, performed before a 'judge' in a mock court and a ‘jury’ of maidens and bachelors, require that in "twelvemonth and a day" both spouses have "not wish’t themselves unmarried again" ...
This is really pretty funny. A new astroturf group outrageously calling itself the Australian Environment Foundation which (also outrageously) launched itself on World Environment Day, can't get any government funds as an environment group."Environmental activists stormed car dealerships in seven cities yesterday, handcuffing themselves to Land Rovers and 4x4s in a protest against 'gas-guzzling cars'.
ASIO law 'fundamentally wrong', committee told
1845 Georgina King (d. June 7, 1932), eccentric Australian geologist and anthropologist whose prominence was not matched by her theories’ accuracy.
One such theory was that woman is the ‘missing link’ ('The Discovery of the “Missing Link”: the appearance of Woman as a “Sport” in Nature, and the Evolution of Anthropoid Man’, Science of Man and Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia, vol. 5, no. 11, December 1902).
King spent much of her scientific career fighting other scientists and sometimes accusing them of plagiarism of her work, but she was also widely published, and the Sydney Morning Herald printed many of her articles which are now considered to be quite fanciful and erroneous mixtures of science and spiritualism.
Georgina King was a long-term friend of Daisy Bates, a woman who lived and worked amongst Australia's indigenous people and was also one-time wife of Breaker Morant.
Our changing planet revealed
1743 Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (d. August 26, 1795), late 18th-century roving adventurer, freemason and alchemist who mixed with most of the major figures in Europe at that time, including Casanova, Mozart, Goethe and Catherine the Great.
1857 Le Pétomane (Joseph Pujol; d. 1945), ‘The Fartist’, French vaudeville star whose highly popular act consisted mainly of playing music and doing sound effects by the expulsion of flatulence.
After a successful debut in Marseille in 1887, he took his bizarre act to Paris, where he was a smash hit at the Moulin Rouge. For a time, he put more backsides on seats and made more money than France’s sweetheart, the great actress Sarah Bernhardt.
Highlights of his stage act involved playing a flute through a rubber tube in his anus – the act included an instrumental version of Au Claire de la Lune – and sound effects of cannon fire and thunderstorms. The grand finale climax of his act was sometimes his impression of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake ...
"It will be a return to the good old days today when 17 horse drawn carts pull up for a drink at Wellington's oldest watering hole, 'The Lion of Waterloo.'
Click stars for Universe today
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The Blogmanac is dedicated to the 353 victims of Australia's shame, the SIEVX disaster, and casualties of poverty and authority worldwide.
Copyright Pip Wilson, 2003-2006
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