Just how transparent is the expression of interest process for sale of council land in Maclean?

The Clarence Valley Council business paper for today's ordinary monthly meeting lists three businesses interested in leasing/purchasing public space in Maclean which is currently being used as free public car parking.

Expressions of Interest have been received from:

• Holder Baker Enterprises

• Woolworths Limited

• Buildev Development (NSW) Pty Ltd

But who is Buildev Development representing?

This is what this company says about itself:

The Buildev Group has extensive experience within all spectrums of the property development industry.

We manage the development process including recognising opportunities, securing development sites, approval processes, right through to marketing, finance and construction.

Our disciplined approach to site investigation and risk minimisation combined with an intuitive ability to realise development opportunities ensures positive outcomes for clients and stakeholders alike....

The Buildev Group is a growing force in the Australian property industry. A Newcastle based property investment, development and construction company investing in communities throughout New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.........

The value on completion of current projects undertaken by The Buildev Group stands at over $1billion in Queensland

Key personnel

This is how ASIC describes this company:

Extracted from ASIC's database at AEST 08:28:49 on 30/09/2008
Name BUILDEV DEVELOPMENT (NSW) PTY. LTD.
ACN 115 089 122
Type Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares
Registration Date 01/07/2005
Next Review Date 01/07/2009
Status Registered
Locality of Registered Office Raymond Terrace NSW 2324
Jurisdiction Australian Securities & Investments Commission

North Coast Voices has previously reported that Buildev Development (NSW) Pty Ltd has made political donations to the NSW Government and Crikey reports that this company donated $40,000 to the NSW Liberal Party.

Due to the fact that not all councillors appear to have declared their 2008 campaign contributions to the NSWEFA yet, the Clarence Valley electorate has no way of knowing if Buildev or either of its two fellow competitors made political donations to councillors.

The way in which corporations and/or their clients having business before council are described in business papers/attachments are a test for the newly-elected shire councillors who are meeting for the first time this morning.

Transparency demands that Clarence Valley residents and ratepayers be fully informed about all entities seeking to benefit from the lease/sale of public land.

They deserve to know if Buildev is acting on behalf of its shareholders, has another managed investment fund up and running or if it has been contracted by another party altogether.

If there is another party, is that party Coles or Target? If so, what would happen to the Coles and Target outlets at Yamba (which is only a 25-20 min ride away from Maclean) if Buildev were successful?

This is what Buildev proposes for Woolgoolga:

Clarence Valley Council Business Paper, 30 September 2008

Attachment giving summary of community opinion concerning sale of public space/car park

Dear Kevin, I second the sentiment......

With the Lowy Institute Poll 2008 being touted in the media as showing that we have rather taken our eyes off the climate change ball when that is not exactly the case according to its own survey(though listening to Lowy representative interviews I suspect that this particular think tank is not loathe for us all to believe so), it was gratifying to find that the Prime Minister had received the following letter with which I heartily concur.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA.

The Hon. Kevin Rudd, MP

Prime Minister of Australia

Australian Parliament

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2600 September 26, 2008

Dear Prime Minister,

The 2007 IPCC report, compiled by hundreds of climate scientists and representing a consensus view of the best available peer-reviewed science, has unequivocally concluded that our climate is warming rapidly, and that we are now at least 90% certain that this is primarily due to human activities.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere now far exceeds the natural range of the past 650,000 years, and it is rising at an alarming rate due to human activity - currently by over 2 parts per million per year. The concentration of several other important greenhouse gases is also increasing rapidly.

If this trend is not halted soon, many millions of people from around the world will be at risk from extreme events such as heat waves, drought, fire, floods and storms, our coasts and cities will be threatened by rising sea levels, vector-borne, water- and food-borne diseases will spread rapidly, food yields and water supplies will be impaired in many regions, and many ecosystems, plant and animal species will be in serious danger of extinction. Some of Australia's natural assets such as the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and the Daintree World Heritage areas, which bring great wealth and recognition to our nation, could be damaged for all time.

Australia is especially vulnerable as pointed out by Professor Garnaut in February when he says we "would be a big loser--possibly the biggest loser amongst developed countries--from unmitigated climate change. The pace of global emissions growth under "business as usual" is pushing the world rapidly towards critical points, which would impose large costs on Australia directly and also indirectly through the effects on other countries of importance to Australia." (Garnaut, February 20, 2008, Interim Report).

The critical next round of focused negotiations for a new global climate treaty is now underway. The prime goal of this new regime must be to limit global warming to no more than 2°C above the pre-industrial temperature, a limit that has already been formally adopted by the European Union, South Africa and a number of other nations.

Based on current scientific understanding, this requires that global greenhouse gas emissions be reduced by at least 50% below their 1990 levels by the year 2050. In the long run, greenhouse gas concentrations need to be stabilised at a level well below 450 ppm (parts per million; in CO2-equivalent concentration). In order to stay below 2°C, global emissions must peak and decline before 2015, so there is no time to lose.

As highlighted by the Garnaut Review: "... analysis suggests that a global objective of 450 ppm, with discussion of transition to 400 ppm once the 450 ppm goal is being approached with confidence, would better suit Australian interests." This statement, taken from the "Targets and Trajectories Report", is consistent with the climate science cited above. Indeed, there is broad agreement in the reputable science community regarding these targets.

The Garnaut Review concluded that an emission reduction target for Australia of 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 would be an equitable contribution to the international effort required to achieving this outcome. As a group of Australia's leading climate change scientists, we urge you to adopt this target as the minimum requirement for Australia's contribution to an effective global climate agreement.

Failure of the world to act now will leave Australians with a legacy of economic, environmental, social and health costs that will dwarf the scale of national investment required to address this fundamental problem. Other nations have taken action and have committed to further action. We urge you to act decisively to maintain global momentum and to protect Australia's future.

Sincerely yours,

Professor Nathan Bindoff, University of Tasmania

Dr John Church, Immediate past Chair of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme

Professor Matthew England, ARC Federation Fellow and joint Director, Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales

Professor Dave Griggs, Director, Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University

Professor Ann Henderson-Sellers, Immediate Past Executive Director, World Climate Research Programme, Macquarie University

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director, Centre for Marine Studies, University of Qld

Professor Lesley Hughes, Director, Climate Risk Concentration in Research Excellence, Macquarie University

Dr Roger Jones, Co-ordinating Lead Author, IPCC Fourth Assessment Report

Professor David Karoly, ARC Federation Fellow, University of Melbourne

Professor Amanda Lynch, ARC Federation Fellow, Monash University

Professor Tony McMichael, NHMRC Australia Fellow, Australian National University

Professor Neville Nicholls, ARC Professorial Fellow, Monash University

Professor Graeme Pearman, Monash University

Professor Andy Pitman, Convenor, ARC Research Network and joint Director, Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales

Dr Barrie Pittock, Lead Author, IPCC Fourth Assessment Report

Dr Michael Raupach, Co-Chair, Global Carbon Project

Cc: Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water;

The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts

Bravo to the boffins!

PETA loses credibility as it loses touch with reality

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has published this letter on its Media Centre webpage.

September 23, 2008

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.

Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's. Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers--and cows--would reap the benefits.

Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease--America's number one cause of death.

Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.

And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President

The response from Ben and Jerry and others came via the media:

While co-founders Mr Cohen and Mr Greenfield are famously environmentally and ethically aware – they established a "Climate Change College" which encourages grass-roots action on climate change, and go by the slogan "Milking happy Cows, Not the Planet" – they baulked at the suggestion. "We applaud [the group's] novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child," said a Ben & Jerry's spokesperson.
And then there is, as Mr Locher found, the problem of supply. As 50 per cent of each 500ml tub of ice cream is made from milk and cream, finding enough human milk to sustain production of Ben & Jerry's would be a challenge.
The suggestion that cows' milk has a detrimental effect on health provoked anger this weekend among dairy farmers, who have been hit by falling prices and the increasing popularity of non-dairy alternatives such as soy milk.
"Dairy foods have been in the diet for thousands of years," said Dr Judith Bryans, director of the Dairy Council. "The reality of chronic diseases is that they are an interaction between genes, the environment and the diet, and these negative stories about dairy are a misrepresentation of science."

It is truly sad to see an animal rights lobby group disintegrating to the point of suggesting the bizarre proposition that women should become commercial cows.

Wrong side of the great divide perpetuated by Rudd Government

Rudders and Jackboot Jenny Macklin still haven't got the message it seems.

Despite Kevin Rudd's public apology to the stolen generation, there is a very ethnocentric view of Australia alive and well in the corridors of Parliament House and no amount of solemn prime ministerial 'air-chopping' in front of the cameras will change that sad fact.

On Monday The Sydney Morning Herald ran this story which illustrates the point:

"The Laynhapuy Health Service told the intervention review panel it was "beyond belief" that Centrelink came into the communities and signed people up for welfare quarantine programs.

"Residents travel up to 210 kilometres, paying $1400 for a return [taxi] trip to town, to buy groceries," the service said. "Taking into account that most people on CDEP and Centrelink benefits earn less than $20,000 a year and that grocery prices in Nhulunbuy [the nearest supermarket] have recently been reported as being 25 per cent above those in Darwin, it is a wonder that children get fed at all."

In its scathing submission to the intervention review panel, Laynhapuy Homelands said the intervention was not based "on an accurate understanding of the situation on the ground or the real issues that affect child welfare and wellbeing in many areas, especially homelands/outstations". Yananymul Mununggurr, the Laynhapuy Homelands' chief executive, told the Herald that the intervention had tackled the wrong issues and was "making life harder for us". "We want to develop education resources, our ranger programs and business enterprises in our homelands and create our own opportunities out here," she said. "Our land is who we are and it is important for us to remain there."

The Laynhapuy submission said the intervention had created "a sense of disempowerment and confusion and therefore stress among Yolngu about where things are heading". It said the income management imposed hardship and did not effectively handle issues of substance abuse, child neglect or gambling. "The ban on investment in new housing in homelands will prevent the welfare of children and others in overcrowded houses being addressed."

The submission said direct Commonwealth involvement in the intervention should be wound up and resources transferred to the Territory Government to expand its "closing the gap strategies".

We drove with Barayuwa Mununggurr for 90 minutes from Yirrkala along a dirt road to Garrthalala, a cluster of seven neat houses overlooking the sea.

The Yolngu leader and traditional owner, Multhara Mununggurr, told us her people were fed up with indigenous leaders from elsewhere speaking on their behalf and influencing government opinion. One leader did not speak for all Yolngu, she said."

Google Inc. gets hot under the collar over California's Proposition 8

It's Goggle Inc's 10th birthday and, apart from explaining the birthday logo and a brief post on the presidential debate, the only Press Center release on its blog site last Friday is about California's Proposition 8 (Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act) on the ballot for the November general election which seeks to remove the right to same-sex marriage in that state.

Our position on California's No on 8 campaign

9/26/2008 03:23:00 PM

As an Internet company, Google is an active participant in policy debates surrounding information access, technology and energy. Because our company has a great diversity of people and opinions -- Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all religions and no religion, straight and gay -- we do not generally take a position on issues outside of our field, especially not social issues. So when Proposition 8 appeared on the California ballot, it was an unlikely question for Google to take an official company position on.

However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.

Posted by Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology

As there does not appear to be majority support for this proposition among Californian voters, one wonders exactly how this issue might affect Obama and McCain.

It appears that Obama has publicly opposed Proposition 8. However, this runs contrary to attitudes to gay marriage among demographic groups which are his strong supporters.

McCain flatly rejects gay marriage.

Another curly one for candidates in the run up to November 2008, which makes for an interesting national poll.

Remember when palm oil and the patriarchal society went hand in hand?

Advertisement displayed at Duke University Library digital collections

Palm Oil is found in a wide variety of cosmetics, personal hygiene items, foods and other products.

On average it is an ingredient in 1 in every 10 items found on supermarket shelves.

Palm Oil production is responsible for massive land clearing in Borneo, Malaysia and Indonesia which has resulted in a dangerous decline in Orangutan habit and numbers.

You can do your bit to help by reducing the number of groceries you purchase which contain palm oil or palm oil derivatives.

Fielding crows atop the muck heap

Like a skinny rooster crowing on top of a muck heap, the unrepresentative Senator Steve 'I'm the boss of you' Fielding, uses his balance of power position to redraft the already shonky Medicare logo until it begins to look like the one on the left.

This lone Family First member of the federal parliament is becoming a figure of fun because of his juvenile publicity stunts and truly loathed for his frankly ill-informed stance on many issues.

The Age captures him nicely:

"FAMILY First Senator Steve Fielding seems the least likely figure to become a one-man government.
He is gaunt and harried-looking and darts from newspaper office to TV studio in Canberra's Parliament House with the urgency of a man pursued by the terror of letting a chance slip by."

Elsewhere it points out that Fielding brought a pup when he brought the argument put up by the Coalition and medical insurers to fight the Rudd Government's Medicare bill:

"The Howard government introduced three principal measures to boost the coverage of health insurance. The levy surcharge was introduced on July 1, 1997, (when coverage was 32%) but did not stop its membership decline. Two years later (June 1999) coverage was 30.6%. The taxpayer-funded rebate on the cost of private health insurance was introduced on January 1, 1999, with additional rebates for those aged over 65 from April 1, 2005. The rebate managed to persuade only an additional 0.8% of the population to take out private health insurance in its first year. Lifetime health cover was introduced from July 1, 2000, under which people joining funds are penalised an additional 2% of the premium for every year they delay joining above the age of 30. Of all these measures, it was lifetime health cover (the one that cost taxpayers nothing) that had the biggest impact — health insurance cover rose from 32.2% in March 2000 to 45.8% in September 2000. If the surcharge didn't encourage anyone to take up health insurance, why would its adjustment induce an exodus?"

For some strange reason known only to himself Fielding appears to believe that the only thing which will raise the cost of medical insurance in the immediate future is the raising of the surcharge threshold to $75,000 for singles and $150,000 for couples.

The medical insurers are laughing all the way to the bank now he has needlessly locked around 330,000 people into private insurance schemes, but their retention on the books will not stop insurance rates rising because in the end they are not an expansion of business.

Perhaps Steve should remember that in much of this country skinny roosters end up in the Sunday pot.

Logo is from Evidence Based Only.

"Moggy Musings" [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

An end of the Beijing Olympics musing:

AUSTRALIAN taxpayers forked out almost $17 million towards each gold medal won by the nation's Olympic team in Beijing according to online news.

Veronica Lake, my canine friend and I agree - something is wrong with the world when children live in poverty but money is splurged on bits of jade and gold.

A property wanted to buy musing:
Happy Paws Haven, a Clarence Valley animal welfare charity is looking for a new home urgently. Preferably in the Grafton area, with at least a half-acre of flood-free land having a 3 bedroom house and large shed.

Ph: 0419 404 766 if you have a suitable property for sale or rent.

And I thought I was brave musing:

DJ a 20 month-old tenterfield terrier has just been skydiving on the Gold Coast. This young pup did his long dive for the All Saints Anglican School fete on Saturday 2 August 2008.

Well done, DJ.

A competitive musing:
New Zealand will meet Australia under lights in one of two tests at an Aussie Rules stadium for the trans-Tasman sheep dog trial test series in northern Tasmania on October 4 2008. Be there to see our dogs whup the Kiwis!

An international affairs musing:
I hear that Barack Obama doesn't have a pet. If he wins the US presidential election this November, will that make him the first modern president to enter the White House without a pet? Hmmm, must investigate....

How well do you know your accountant?

Attending university is taboo for Australia's 15000 Exclusive Brethrens

Consequently, the Brethren produce heaps of accountants but no doctors, lawyers or teachers.

That may explain how the Brethren have been able to shovel piles of cash in the direction of the conservatives (i.e. the right wing side of politics = the Coalition mob, not the left wing Labor lot!) in Australia.

Yep, that's right, chances are that your accountant is an EB. Well, there's a higher probability that your bean counter rather than your local GP is an EB.

tvnz.com.nz reports that children of the Brethren attend well-equipped schools with low teacher-student ratios and solid HSC results, but none of them will be going to university. ... for them university is taboo.

They can study at TAFEs and other tertiary institutions, but not at universities.

You won't find Brethren children watching TV programs, either, or going to the movies, or visiting google on the Internet.

It's all part of their belief in separation from the sinful world around them, and elders admit that can mean they can grow up ignorant of the extent of that wickedness.

The university ban is one aspect of the Brethren lifestyle that outsiders, known as "worldlies", find hardest to understand.

It means that the 15,000-strong Australian Brethren community is producing plenty of accountants but no doctors, lawyers or teachers.

Which means, ironically, that no Brethren teachers are tutoring the 2,300 students at 43 Australian schools run by the Christian sect, which was described by Labor leader Kevin Rudd last year as an "extreme cult" that broke up families.

Every teacher is a worldly.

"I would say it's not much different from teaching in any other school," says Ewoud Vogel, principal of the original Brethren school at Sydney's Meadowbank, founded in 1994.

"In fact I would say it's my most positive teaching experience in Australian schools," says the South African-born teacher after stints at a Greek Orthodox school and another Christian school in Sydney.

"The students are most compliant to work in the classroom."

Meadowbank has 120 students, 80 in high school and 40 primary.

It has a well-equipped science lab, food tech kitchen, computer room, playgrounds and other facilities.

The teacher-student ratio of less than one to 10 at Brethren schools around Australia is up to three times lower than public schools.

The principal, who also takes geography, has a current HSC geography class of six students.

"I have not found my teaching restricted in any way, or had to change any of my programs," he said after leaders of the secretive Brethren sect went public to correct what they said was years of untrue and negative stories about them.

"About the only difference is that I can't just pull a video off the shelf and show it to students without first having its contents scrutinised.

"And that's probably a good thing."

The school's televisions are used only for showing educational programs.

"I can't come in and ask my students if they saw reports of Hurricane Gustav on the news last night, because I know they haven't," said Mr Vogel.

"So I just open up the newspaper, and we talk about it that way."

Even Disney films are out.

"They're really just entertainment value," said Mr Vogel.

"Some of our children are reading Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at present.

"They won't be going to see the movie, but I think their imagination is enhanced and heightened by reading rather than seeing the movie."

Internet use on the computers is strictly controlled.

Rather than applying filters that block out certain subject material, the Brethren has gone the other way, allowing access only to approves sites and links.

Clearly, the almost ubiquitous google search engine is a no-no.

"From an educationist's point of view, it's great," said Mr Vogel.

"The kids don't get distracted or waste hours on unnecessary material," he said, though he conceded Brethren students may not have as much practice in digging out information as others.

"I am a Christian by faith so I enjoy teaching in a Christian atmosphere," Mr Vogel said.

"I believe in what they (the Brethren) basically stand for, even if I may not believe in all of their interpretations of the scriptures.

"We all believe in the same Bible and the same God."

Brethren schools receive government funding in line with other non-government schools, but overseer David Stewart denies they get any special treatment.

He says the curriculum of all schools is approved by the Board of Studies.

The Meadowbank school ranked 96th of 800 in NSW in terms of HSC results, he said, but that won't lead to university for any of the students.

A chat with senior elder Daniel Hales makes it clear the hippie generation of 1960s and 70s changed all that.

"Universities were once Ivy League bastions of conservative Christianity," he said.

"Then came Flower Power and professors advocating drugs, and so on.

"They became the vanguard for re-engineering society."

"I was enrolled myself once," said the 58-year-old father of five.

"I was going to study law or medicine.

"Then I thought it all through, and I realised it would draw me away from my Christian faith and my family."

"We feel our children would find their faith being challenged (at universities).

"The first thing they learn at university is to question everything.

"We are not afraid of them but we don't see why our children should be subject to that."

"We're not goody-goodies. I have tried cigarettes, and I have seen movies in my wayward youth."

Quotes of the week on the US finacial crisis and Bush bail-out

So this rescue won't bail out the Ship of Fools, but it will make the American Ship of State even more insolvent than it already is. Aggregate US government debt is now running at 92% of GDP (the Federal component is 53%), and another $700 billion will push it closer to 100%. As Michael West concluded yesterday with profound understatement, "America is in trouble".

By Associate Professor Steve Keen, School of Economics & Finance, University of Western Sydney writing in Crikey.

"History does not repeat, but it rhymes," as Mark Twain said.

Peter Hartcher writing in The Sydney Morning Herald

"If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down."

George W. Bush quoted ad naseum everywhere

"The day began with an agreement that Washington hoped would end America's financial crisis. It dissolved into a verbal brawl in the White House cabinet room, warnings from an angry President and pleas from a Treasury Secretary who knelt before the House Speaker and appealed for her support.

S.G. Stolberg & A.R. Storkin writing in the Sydney Morning Herald

"The American people are angry about executive compensation and rightfully so," ... "We must find a way to address this in the legislation without undermining the effectiveness of the program."

Henry Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary quoted on executive compensation caps in Time Magazine

"It's the law of unintended consequences."

Charles Elson speaking of executive salary packages and golden handshakes in the Time article.

"I am who I am."

Australian Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, former investment banker and multi-millionaire, quoted in The Canberra Times

It's Sunday - kick back & relax

From Tumblr.com

Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (JADA) Grafton, Friday 24th October

Announcement of the winners of the 2008 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award is drawing closer.

In 2008 the award celebrates 20 years of promoting innovation and excellence in Australian drawing and has increased to $30 000 to coincide with this important anniversary. The major award of $15,000 is acquisitive, along with further acquisitions to the value of $15,000.
Hendrik Kolenberg, Senior Curator of Australian Prints, Drawings and Watercolours Art Gallery of New South Wales, is the judge for this year's prize. Entries to this prestigious award close at 4pm on Friday 1 August 2008.
Acquisitions from the Jacaranda Drawing Award (JADA) enter the Grafton Regional Gallery’s nationally recognised collection of Australian contemporary drawing.
A selection panel will select between 45 and 55 works for the award. The exhibition of the selected entries opens at the Grafton Regional Gallery Friday 24 October. It is from this exhibition that the judge, Hendrik Kolenberg, will select the overall winner.
One of the outstanding features of the award is that entries selected for award will tour regional and metropolitan galleries along the east coast throughout 2009-10.
The Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award was originally an open national art award, the Jacaranda Art Prize, that ran from 1961 to 1987, the drawing award was established in 1988. The drawing collection includes works by Maria Kontis, Michael Zavros, Gordon Bennett, Godwin Bradbeer, Andrew Browne, Luke Doyle, David Fairbairn and Deborah Klein.

US 08 is better than vaudeville

This last week Democrat candidate, Barack Obama, made much of the need for presidential candidates to understand the current US financial crisis and share that knowledge with American voters.

The media gave considerable air time to his statement as Foxtel demonstrates:
“It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Obama told reporters."

One blogger was quick to jump on this naive and misleading statement:
"Well, here is the thing… a new president won’t be “responsible” for any decisions until January of next year.
Sure, in 40 days we will be going to the polls to vote for a new president. But he won’t take office and, therefore, won’t be responsible for anything until he actually is sworn into office in January of 2009.
So, no, Baarack. In 40 days we will NOT have a new person “responsible for dealing with this mess.”
So, why has the Old Media decided not to lambaste this man who obviously has no idea when he might take office if elected?"

I'm now waiting for the Obama camp to start quibbling about how long the "approximately" string really is.

As political theatre the televised and online reporting of this presidential campaign sure beats those late night variety shows which the free-to-air TV channels inflict on us all.
Which's better - because it's not our country the angst is lower when listening to the typical and very ordinary political posturing (until you remember that these days the US acts like a rogue state in the international arena).

US 08: If you missed the first debate battle of the predictable and boring........

If you missed the first McCain-Obama presidential campaign debate on radio or television, the transcript is now online:

All 27 pages are here

What this debate clearly demonstrates is that there will be no brave new beginning for the United States of America after the November election.

"More than ever, the great challenge of our time is economic management" Malcolm Turnbull

New federal Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, is becoming very serious about the economy.

Gone are the factitious comments about inflation, now we are facing "great challenge".
Why we may even have to arrange for the Australian Government to organise a US-style bail out of financial institutions.

According to The Australian:

Mr Turnbull had suggested the Government back financial institutions with liquid assets....

On Sunday Mr Turnbull said banks were finding it harder to refinance mortgages.

``In other markets, the government, particularly in the US, is taking a role, proposing to buy some of these securities, in effect to provide additional liquidity to take the pressure off mums and dads,'' Mr Turnbull told the Nine Network.

``That's something I'd like to talk to the Prime Minister about to see if we can agree on some bipartisan measures.''

Hold on, the only big collapse which sent so many mums and dads to the wall happened when HIH folded years ago and Malcolm Turnbull was smack in the middle of that mess along with Adler and Co.

Yes, credit is drying up as everyone speculates about what will happen next.

However I can't help but wonder if Turnbull's urging of federal government intervention is more to protect the value of his own holdings and that of his business associates.

If a global recession really hits then Treasurer Wayne Swann's intervention will mean little to those same mum and dads.

Turnbull is also quoted as saying in an article at News.com.au:

Mr Turnbull, a former merchant banker and partner of Goldman Sachs Australia, said he agreed with US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson that there was plenty of blame to go around for the current financial mess.
"I agree with those legislators in the US who say that executives of financial institutions should not be rewarded – indeed they should get nothing out of this," he said.

He goes on to try and distance himself from the present debacle by saying that he only worked in the corporate advisory side and not in an area of investment banking.

How he thinks to get away with such hairsplitting when the whole of Australia knows that he was a managing director, partner and major shareholder in JB Were Goldman Sachs (Australia) during the 1990s through to early 2000, when his investment bank was so clearly in the area he now denies.

Turnbull also pretends that the Prime Minister should not have left Australia because of the global volatility.

This exposes him as a buffoon comparable with the recently departed leader he deposed.

As though where Kevin Rudd physically is this week will forestall Australia being impacted by the ailing American behemoth.

While his Fraser-style obstructionist stance on bills before the House, personal behaviour in Parliament over the last ten months and his comments about Question Time, show him for the arrant political hypocrite that he is.

This man is all about the 'divine right' of the Liberal party to rule, gotcha politics and posturing for the Question Time cameras.

I never thought that I would see the day that I would become nostalgic about Peter Costello's time in the limelight - Turnbull's performance as leader makes me so.

Lord luv a duck! Coon cheese is under attack, again

I have to declare an interest here - I grew up eating Coon cheese and never once made any connection with a racist slur of any sort.

But apparently once Stephen Hagan grew up he objected to this brand name for a cheddar cheese.

The Australian informs us that:

"Mr Hagan said today he would now focus on fighting Dairy Farmers' Coon cheese.

"Initially, Dairy Farmers said it was named after Edward Coon, who revolutionised the speeding process of making cheese," he said.

"But I've questioned the authenticity of that story."

Mr Hagan, said the cheese, formerly manufactured by Kraft, used to have a black wraparound and was named Coon as a joke.

"I want Dairy Farmers to show me the evidence of Edward Coon being honoured an honorary doctorate and what year he received that honorary doctorate," he said.

"If they can prove to me that Edward Coon was a famous cheesemaker, I will drop my campaign.
"If they can't do it, I'm going to fight them all the way...."

Unfortunately for Mr. Hagan, he opened his mouth without even the most preliminary investigation.

It took me 10 minutes to find Free Patents Online and this historical patent; United States Patent US1579196, application filed 27 February 1926, serial number 91,262. PDF image of 2-page original published document.

This patent was taken out by Edward William Coon, a citizen of the United States, of 29 South Water Street, Philadelphia in the County of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, who states he has invented certain new and useful improvements in the process of ripening cheese.

Fulton History displays an image of a newspaper page in August 1923 which has an article reporting that E.W. Coon, maker and shipper of cheese of Philadelphia, had sold five of his numerous milk plants to the Dairymen's League Co-operative Association Inc.

In 1920 Coon was reported as advising other cheese makers to export their mature cheese product as there was high overseas demand.

Steve, mate - it's a case of Occam's pure and simple.

Update:

From Taylor Book:
"DAIRY STATE COLD STORAGE CO." Page 75

"The picture of the plant at the top of the page is of the cheese storage and curing plant. The buildings were originally built by the Reiland Packing Co. It operated successfully for several years under that title. The primary mover in the packing company was Nicholas Reiland, who has been a well known butcher and operated a meat market here. In 1924 the Reiland plant was taken over by E. Coon Company, and after a change in name and owners, became the Dairy State Cold Storage Co. with R. T. Gillespie as manager. The plant is located 2221 Gaynor Avenue."

The above is a factory site possibly belonging to Edward Coon.

In 1918:
Watertown.
The Times says: The Watertown
cheese market was firm on Saturday
when sales of 7,419 boxes were made
at 22% cents and better. As usual
better than the bulk of the cheese sold,
while the "Coon specials" sold for a
cent better th,an all others. The Coon
specials are made-by E. W. Coon,, of
Philadelphia, they are a firmer cheese
with more stock than the general run
of cheese. The price paid was the same
as a week ago, but the offerings were
somewhat smaller as the week (before
the sales aggregated 10,297 boxes.

In 1928:
Official announcement is made of"
the acquisition by the Kraft-Phenix
Cheese Company of several of. the^
larger chese companies of Lewis';
county and northern New York. • \i
These include purchase of the Interests
of R. M. Mills, of Watertown,
the St. Lawrence Milk Company of;
Massena, the Potsdam Creamery Company
of Potsdam, the E. W. Coon
Company of Philadelphia, Pa., and
Cape Vincent. » •.-;;
Sale of most of the companies was.
announced before, but It just became,
known that the Mills interests are included

Monsanto introduces Australian farmers to seed servitude

The Canberra Times reported yesterday:

Australian farmers signing up to grow genetically modified canola are exposing themselves to ''onerous'' obligations, an international law expert says.

Duncan Currie says the contract between biotechnolgy firm Monsanto and GM canola growers bars farmers from selling their land to anyone without a Monsanto licensing agreement.

Monsanto described the claim as ''ridiculous''.

The contract, obtained by The Canberra Times, shows that if the land is sold up to two years after the agreement expires, contractual obligations are passed to the buyer, who could be liable for the former owner's contract breaches.

Monsanto reserves the right to take legal action against any farmers who possess its patented canola without a licensing agreement.

If GM canola is found, the land owner must prove whether its presence was intentional or due to inadvertent contamination.

Under the contract, farmers give Monsanto the right to ''inspect, take samples and test all of the grower's owned and/or leased fields and storage bins'' and to obtain copies of all operational documents for three years after they buy GM canola.

Mr Currie believes the implications for farmers are dire.

''In general this is a very one-sided agreement,'' he said.

''[One provision] is particularly onerous [and] includes liability for payment of Monsanto's legal and attorney fees, including expense incurred in enforcing Monsanto's rights and investigation expenses.'' ......

NSW and Victorian farmers are now harvesting Australia's first GM canola crops after a moratorium on GM crops was lifted in both states earlier this year.

The crops contain resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in many non-selective herbicides. A member of the Concerned Farmers Network, Donald McFarlane, said canola crops were hard to contain in one location.

''Farmers of canola will know that it's almost impossible to stop the spread of [canola] seed,'' he said.

''Every year, up to 13per cent of a crop will escape to end up god knows where.''

He was concerned if a farm sold land within three years of planting GM crops, the contract did not ensure the new owner would be trained to prevent crop contamination.

The NSW Farmers Association would not comment on deals between Monsanto and individual farmers.

Its president, Jock Laurie, advised farmers to seek legal advice before signing any contract, GM or otherwise.

Yet another thing that the former neo-conservative Howard Government and the majority of it's State Labor Government counterparts wished on the Australian people.

One has to wonder at the role of the Farmers Association in all this.

Given the fact that prime farmland within 100 kms of the Australian coastline and similar land on the fringes of inland towns and cities is often sold-on or developed for urban-rezoning to supply farmers with a retirement income (especially in areas such as the NSW North Coast), one has to wonder how prospective buyers will feel about inheriting a legal obligation to Monsanto.

Surely this will affect local agricultural property prices and how many 'treechangers' and seachangers' view property on offer.

Joint Select Committee report to Tasmanian Government on GMO seed, crops and food, August 2008, supporting a GM-free state.

Look who is politicizing Bill Caralis' Radio 2GF

This is the man, one Steve Cansdell MP, who appears determined to politicize Radio 2GF as a by-product of the North Coast Nationals drive to place breakfast radio host Richie Williamson in the Clarence Valley mayoral chair.

Why he thinks it wise to advertise the Williamson bid for mayor in this way and, virtually draw attention to the possibility of a conflict of interest which could bedevil 2GF and Bill Caralis in the future, I am at a loss to understand.

The ABC was much wiser when faced with the fact that an on-air employee was elected to Bathurst Regional Council.

Eventually Janice McGilchrist was told privately that it was a choice of her ABC job or being on council - she couldn't have both.

Cr McGilchrist will cease her official duties with council by the end of the week.
Her resignation follows weeks of discussion about a possible conflict of interest between Cr McGilchrist's role as ABC radio's new Central West and Tablelands morning show host and her role as a local councillor.

On 19 May 2006 she resigned from council.

Obama for America - who has a ticket in this lottery?

Strewth! This American presidential election gets confusing.

So many groups for Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

There are Irish-Americans for Obama, Asians for Obama, Muslims for Obama, Ethiopians for Obama, Iranian-Americans for Obama, First Americans for Obama, Native Americans for Obama, Greek-Americans for Obama, African Americans for Obama, Italian Americans for Obama, Non-Americans for Obama, Korean Americans for Obama, Armenian Americans for Obama, Haitian Americans for Obama, Texans for Obama, All Women for Obama and even Republicans for Obama.

The list goes on and on...........

So many people appear to think that they own a piece of this politician that the disappointment will be severe and widespread when he turns out to be a very ordinary president if he gets into the White House.

Clarencegirl tells me that she heard from a well-known Aussie blogger that Obama's 'troops' are even trawling in Australia for the 100,000 Americans here that are eligible to vote.

When I heard that I went hunting and sure nuff, Americans in Australia for Obama popped up on the monitor.

Pic chart found at my.barackobama.com

With friends such as these ...

... who needs enemies?

Previously, members of the Exclusive Brethren in Australia snuggled up to John Howard and his mates when they held the reins of government.

Now, in an attempt to gain recognition from the other side of the politics in Australia, the Brethren are claiming to have an attachment with the Rudd Labor government.

This report comes from the Fairfax website WAtoday.com.au

Brethren are Kevin 07 fans after all

The normally publicity-shy Exclusive Brethren sect has asserted in a rare interview that Labor best represents its conscience, despite repeated stories of it cosying up to and funding the Liberals.

The secretive Christian fellowship has even laughed off Labor leader Kevin Rudd's description of it as an "extremist cult" that breaks up families, an accusation the Christian prime minister made during last year's election campaign.

"I don't blame him for saying that," said senior elder Daniel Hales in an interview with AAP.

"Labor has done well representing the conscience of Brethren members, in fact better than the conservatives."

He cited the freedom for Brethren members not to join trade unions, and Labor's decision not to support what he called Greens leader Bob Brown's "witch hunt" in the form of a failed Senate move for an investigation into the Brethren.

The Brethren's opposition to voting stems from a belief it interferes with God's right to ordain the government of the day, though critics have accused them of giving God a helping hand.

Brethren do believe, however, in taking their concerns to government, which led to meetings with former Howard government ministers from the PM down, including Peter Costello and Tony Abbott.

Read the full report here.

How the 'credit crunch' will hit the UK

'Will one be wanting fries with that?'

Acknowledgement: Clarrie thanks 'Robbo' for passing this one on.

And to think we pay good money for this!

The Federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, who also parades as the Shadow Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, rose in the House on Wednesday 24 September 2008 and asked this inane question:

My question is to the Assistant Treasurer. Is the minister aware that Google now offers a free petrol price tracker site which allows motorists to search for the cheapest petrol in a given area? In light of this development, will the government abandon its plans to spend over $20 million of public money on its much maligned Fuelwatch scheme?

The Assistant Treasurer, Chris Bowen, provided this response:

Fuelwatch provides information for motorists to get the cheapest possible petrol. The difference between the cheapest and the most expensive petrol in Sydney today is 22c a litre. I cannot tell you where to find the cheapest petrol and I cannot tell you where to find the most expensive because the private sector sites that the honourable member refers to have only a selection of petrol stations, not all of them. Lots of people understand that. The people of Western Australia understand that; Fuelwatch has been in operation there for eight years. Perhaps that is why the Liberal Party in Western Australia promised to keep Fuelwatch at the last election. Perhaps that is why Colin Barnett, the new Premier of Western Australia, has said, ‘I will not touch Fuelwatch; it works.’ We have the Western Australian Liberal Premier saying he will keep Fuelwatch and we have had the Leader of the Liberal Party in New South Wales promising Fuelwatch because Fuelwatch will work. If Fuelwatch is defeated in the Senate, the only people in Australia with the benefit of Fuelwatch will be the only people living under a Liberal government, the people of Western Australia. It shows what hypocrites honourable members opposite are.

Source: Hansard (24/9/2008,page 62)


Mr Hartsuyker obviously doesn't know that Google's price tracker site doesn't cover Coffs Harbour, the principal urban centre in his electorate.

US 08: The strain begins to show?

Two faces of Michelle Obama showing the changes

such a long presidential campaign can bring.

Images from Google and Obama for America

Janelle Saffin delivers bad driving message to minister

Janelle Saffin, Labor MP for Page continues to keep her word to the North Coast community that she will stay closely involved with local concerns.

The Northern Star article yesterday:

Ms Denny has serious concerns for the stretch of Pacific Highway between the NSW Mid-North Coast and Far North Coast.
Nine people have died on this section of highway since June this year, and Ms Denny would like it to be part of a pilot study on how effective the hotline could be in reducing deaths on the 18,000 kilometres of roads in NSW.
Federal Page MP Janelle Saffin has given her support to the hotline initiative. She has delivered Ms Denny's discussion paper to Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese.
"It's about improving safety on the roads; this targets our behaviour," she said.
Ballina MP Don Page has shown his support by writing to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the National Transport Commission.
"There is merit in the general concept of more eyes on the road," he said.

For all those travelling on NSW North Coast roads who find themselves concerned about the behaviour of some heavy vehicle traffic or fellow drivers, Ms. Denny's website is COASTtoCOAST100.

Now we know.............

The democrats did it!?

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

Published: September 30, 1999

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

Why Rudd really went to America this week?

George Dubbya is holding an intimate farewell get-together for teh Coalition of the Willing and Prime Minister Rudd is invited.

Although The Canberra Times and presumably his press office has presented it thus:
"KEVIN RUDD may believe the Iraq war to be the worst foreign policy disaster since Vietnam but tomorrow he will join the US President, George Bush, and other leaders of the so-called coalition of the willing nations to honour those who have died."

It'll be alright on the night?

Newly-elected Clarence Valley shire councillor, Karen Toms, took time out to assure us all via The Daily Examiner yesterday that having a lucrative contract to manage two of council's caravan parks would not result in any problems with conflict of interest during her term in office.

It's all easy-peasy, according to Karen.

Cansdell crows before a false dawn over Broadcast Operations

Chattering down the tin can all the way to The Big Smoke, I heard that Nationals MP for Clarence Steve Cansdell is walking around the corridors of power with a big grin on his face.

Apparently he thinks that he has pulled a swifty by blatantly interfering in the Clarence Valley local government election campaign and lobbying to have Richie Williamson made shire mayor next Tuesday.

I wonder what Bill Caralis of Broadcast Operations Group thinks of the Nationals plotting to have his 2GF breakfast radio jock made mayor.

Mr. Caralis is on the record with Media Watch as not exactly favouring his employees being directly involved with politics as shown by his response over the Lismore mayoral election.

...should Mr Marks be elected to Council his future tenure at the station will be reviewed by 2LM management.

— Email statement from Bill Caralis (Chairman, Richard River Broadcasters) to Media Watch, 1st September, 2008

Perhaps Stevo should introduce himself to Mr. Caralis and explain just how the perception that a 2GF employee is aligning against Country Labor will not fritter away the fragile value of his company's donations to NSW Labor and other unspecified political donations.

Photo of publicity shy Bill Caralis found in the 2SM radio archives.

State of the Blogosphere 2008 according to Technorati

Technorati has published a State of the Blogosphere 2008 which reports that it has indexed 133 million blogs since 2002 and tracked blogs in 81 languages in June 2008, and bloggers responded to our survey from 66 countries across six continents.

This was a survey from a random sample from more than 1.2 million bloggers who have registered with Technorati.

Here are some of the results of this survey.

Demographics	U.S. Bloggers (N=550)	European Bloggers (N=350)	Asian Bloggers (N=173)
Male	57%	73%	73%
Age
18-34 years old	42%	48%	73%
35+	58%	52%	27%
Single	26%	31%	57%
Employed full-time	56%	53%	45%
Household income >$75,000	51%	34%	9%
College graduate	74%	67%	69%
Average blogging tenure (months)	35	33	30
Median Annual Investment	$80	$15	$30
Median Annual Revenue	$200	$200	$120
% Blogs with advertising	52%	50%	60%
Average Monthly Unique Visitors	18,000	24,000	26,000

Methodology data found here.

Walk to Work Day, Friday 3 October 2008

Time to get out those trainers or other sensible shoes and become a walking class hero for the day.

Friday 3 October is Walk to Work Day.

Join in to free up the arteries, stretch those lungs, relieve the traffic congestion and take time to notice the streets you travel.

How to participate here.

Costa - a surly and petulant leave taking

According to The Daily Telegraph yesterday, sacked Treasurer Michael Costa really spat the dummy with his resignation from the NSW Parliament.

His official leave taking is timed for two days after the by-elections on 18 October caused by other MP resignations, leaving him time to create as much mischief as he pleases and maximum headaches as the party scrambles for a replacement.

His resignation was also said to be handed in by fax to the NSW Governor without notifying Premier Rees.

True to form, Costa sees his dummy spit in heroic form:
"The former union boss later told The Daily Telegraph that he was ending his seven-year parliamentary career in the manner of all good Greek tragedies - in failure."

Up here on the NSW North Coast quite a few people are more inclined to view Costa's resignation as nothing but the evidence of failure without any trimmings.

Costa baby - there's nothing heroic about you!

A new perspective on US Presidential campaign buttons

First Dog on the Moon at Crikey

Tiley v Williamson: Clarence Valley mayoral debate continues

I read with interest the letter placed in the Letters to the Editor column and submitted by Arthur Lysaght concerning the Election of the Mayor for the Clarence Valley Council.
The letter was written as an endorsement for Richie Williamson because he topped the poll and could be regarded as a Graftonian.

It is Arthur's right to go into bat for one of his own. It is also the right for others to give support for the incumbent Mayor Ian Tiley.
Graftonians have been smarting ever since a non-Graftonian was elected to the position of Mayor and they must be reminded that their turn will come, but let's hope it is not this year.

When amalgamation took place Ian Tiley was given the most difficult task of moulding the Councillors into a formidable group to look after the interests of the Valley which he has done.
A lot of decisions that have been made will not suit a lot of people but at the end of the day his actions, whilst he has been Mayor, have placed the council in a good position to face its second term.

Ian Tiley's cone of vision extends well beyond the precincts of Grafton and fairness for all of his constituents has been paramount in his thinking and in dealing with all the problems that are associated with being the Mayor.

This is the second time that the Valley has been confronted with the suggestion that "The one who tops the poll should be the Mayor."
Former councillor Chris Gulaptis was also in the same position, however, common sense prevailed and Councillor Ian Tiley, who has two degrees in Local Government, was elected to the job and has come through it with flying colours.

People should be reminded that just because you are popular doesn't necessarily make you the right person for the job.
Isn't it better that if you fly in an aircraft the pilot should have the right qualifications to fly the aircraft than just being popular back at the base?

I am sure that Richie Williamson will eventually become the Mayor as he is keen and young enough to wait for the right time.
Being at the microphone with gigantic headaches each day might prove to be just too much to handle.
But then again with the social life that he has led over the years it might be nothing new to him.
Don't rush things Richie, listen to the stories about the "old bull and the young bull," they will make if easier for you if you are elected but God help you if you don't take heed.

The Clarence Valley Council needs another term of Ian Tiley at the helm, as there are still many teething problems to overcome and it may prove to be a disaster if he is removed and replaced by someone with much less experience.

In conclusion, may I congratulate all the newly elected councillors on being elected and hope that the interests of the whole valley will be of the utmost importance and that parochialism does not come into any decision making.

APPSIE
Clarence Valley

* GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak@live.com.au for consideration.

Climate Change Community Forum, Grafton NSW, 2 October 2008

A Community Forum is to to be held on the development of the NSW Government's new Climate Action Plan, changing context for action on global warming scenario, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change impacts in our region and across New South Wales.

Venue: South Grafton Ex-Servicemen's Club

Date: 2 October 2008 between 9.30am to 1pm

Entry is free, lunch is provided but booking is essential by Thursday, 25th September.

Contact: Phil Mitchell

Ph: (02) 6640.2517 or Email: phillip.mitchell@environment.nsw.gov.au

Mortgage starting to wear you down, bank balance looking sick? Defamer has the answer!

Now that Truffles Turnbull is leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party of Australia and the Federal Opposition, Defamer has the answer to our money worries.

"Malcolm Turnbull's millionaire background - and past ownership of an ISP - means he probably has an internet connection. Which means he's accessible to mums and dads around the country through the magic of email.

I've already drafted my first written request for a cash injection from the Bank of Malcolm, and I suggest other cash-strapped Australians do the same - and quickly - before those damn Nigerians cotton onto the scheme and bleed him so dry, there's not a drop of blue blood or affluence for the rest of us. "

You can contact Big Mal at:

T: 02 9369 5221
F: 02 9369 5225
Level 1 - 5A Bronte Rd Bondi Junction
Po Box 1840 Bondi Junction NSW 1335

or email him here.

If in doubt contact his dogs and tell them you are now or were once a renter just like Malcolm.

Don't even bother if you are on a disability, carer or widow's pension - you are so obviously dirt beneath the big man's shoes that he won't even include you in his spurious 'plan' to increase the quality of life for pensioners.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING for DESTRUCTIVE WIND and LARGE HAILSTONES

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
New South Wales

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for DESTRUCTIVE WIND and LARGE HAILSTONES

This warning cancelled by BOM at 8.25pm

Costello's new pastime

Have poor book sales forced Peter Costello, the former Australian treasurer, to take up a new pastime?

Just one week after the launch of The Costello Memoirs an announcement has been made of Costello's appointment to the World Bank's Independent Advisory Board, which will provide advice on anti-corruption matters. (Please, readers, stop that guffawing!)

Sales of the book have been so poor that it has already been binned by many stores.

The Age reports that the book, which carries a recommended retail price tag of $54.99, has been marked down significantly.

Borders chain stores slashed its price by almost a third and other stores are also discounting it heavily. Big W, which is having trouble getting rid of its stocks, cut its price to $32.93.

One does not have to be an Einstein to see that Costello's book is a gigantic flop and any hopes he had of flogging more literary efforts have gone out the window.

So, with prospects of living off his royalties completely dashed, Costello has had to look elsewhere for another activity to fill his hours. Hence, Costello's appointment to the World Bank's position is indeed very timely.

But, hang on!

The World Bank launched its global search for members for its advisory board on July 8 and interested individuals had to forward their names to the bank by July 20. That means Costello lodged his 'expression of interest' with the Bank two months ago.

Perhaps his publishers knew then where the Memoirs was heading and let Costello know that they would not be requiring his services again.

Costello's appointment by the Bank is for a three-year term, with the possibility of a one-time renewal. Well, that gives him something to do for three or perhaps six years.

A biography of Costello that the Bank has published looks very much like it was written by the man himself. Then again, maybe his father-in-law penned it.
I

Clarence Valley Council: Dinham did what?

The Clarence Valley local government area elected its 9 shire councillors on the 13th September 2008.

Like many areas before it, the Valley voted almost blind when it came to most of the candidates found on the ballot paper.

Take newly-elected Clarence Valley shire councillor, Ian H. Dinham, for instance.

A relatively small number of voters knew that, before mandatory local government amalgamation, he had been a staff member at Maclean Shire Council and later headed the Clarence River County Council (CRCC), an entity which operated across all the then existing Clarence Valley local government areas.

Some voters also knew that while wearing the CRCC General Manager hat Ian Dinham was also elected a Maclean Shire councillor, which saw him in the ridiculous position as a councillor of voting to write to himself as a general manager and chronically late to almost every council meeting.

However, that is not all that Cr. Dinham now is.
Apparently when he stood for election to Clarence Valley Council (CVC) this month, he was and is a consultant engineer employed by Tweed Shire Council and has a current email address idinham@tweed.nsw.gov.au

But wait, there's more.
When Cr. Dinham was CRCC General Manager he got wind that the Valley-wide local government restructuring was coming, which would see the CRCC dissolved and a new agency created and, his alleged actions after that have been the subject of persistent and consistent rumour ever since.

Rumour has it that Cr. Dinham drew up his own redundancy agreement (with attached confidentiality agreement/clause) which allowed for him to receive a lump sum equal to two years full pay in the event his employment was terminated for any reason.
He supposedly then presented this to certain members of the CRCC board and had the agreement endorsed.

This rather unusual agreement would have seen Cr. Dinham pocket a sum coming closer to half a million dollars than the more modest standard 26-30 weeks pay other managers in similar situations usually received.

It is no wonder then that in the CRCC Annual Report 2003-04 as former general manager, he wrote: I wish to extend my very best wishes to the new Clarence Valley Council as we enter a new era of serving our community...

With all those coins allegedly jingling in his pocket Dinham then went on to become the Executive Manager of Clarence Valley Floodplain Service which effectively replaced the CRCC. Leaving one to wonder just how many days he actually spent redundant and unemployed.

He held this new position until around mid-2007.

It is my understanding that the local media recently approached Dinham concerning the circumstances of his redundancy pay-out and that he has flatly refused to comment. Safe in the knowledge that (whatever the actual circumstances of his redundancy package) former council and county council personnel records are sealed for the next 50 to 100 years.

Now another rumour is doing the rounds; that Ian Dinham wants to be Deputy-Mayor of Clarence Valley Council at the end of the month when the mayoral election is held.

Five questions spring to mind:

• if Cr. Dinham's redundancy package is not as described by rumour, why doesn't he deny the rumour when asked?
• how many employers does Cr. Dinham actually have?
• can Clarence Valley ratepayers afford this man?
• which council will now have his loyalty - Clarence Valley or Tweed?
• given the distance between the two local government areas, will he even bother to turn up to CVC monthly meetings?

If it's Moday it must be Monsanto time

Last April The Independent in the UK published an article on yield declines in Roundup Ready resistant soya bean crops.

The main premise appeared to be supported by entries such as this at Potash Corp in 2007:

Manganese Response of Conventional and Glyphosate-Resistant Soybean

Project Leader: Dr. Nathan Nelson, Kansas State University, Agonomy, 2708 Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Manhattan, KS 66506-5501.
Telephone: (785) 532-5115. Fax: (785) 532-6094.

Weed control benefits of glyphosate resistant (GR) soybeans have resulted in nearly complete adoption of GR soybean varieties by U.S. producers, despite an apparent yield decrease that accompanies this decision. Although the reasons for the yield decrease are not known, there is some evidence that GR soybeans have reduced manganese (Mn) uptake compared to conventional soybeans. Therefore, Mn additions may help overcome the apparent yield disadvantage of GR soybeans. The objectives of this study are to: i) evaluate nutrient uptake, distribution, and biomass accumulation in a GR soybean cultivar compared to a non-GR sister line, and ii) determine the response of a GR and non-GR soybean cultivar to soil and foliar Mn applications. Field plots were established at five locations (Scandia, Manhattan, Ashland Bottoms, Rossville, and Ottawa) in North Central and Eastern Kansas in 2006 and 2007 to compare conventional and GR soybean response to three rates of soil applied and two rates of foliar Mn. Response variables include yield, biomass, plant height, Mn uptake, and leaf, and grain Mn concentrations.

Application of Mn increased GR soybean yields between 6 and 14 bu/A at the Scandia site, but results were inconsistent at the other sites. Conventional soybeans were not responsive to Mn at any of the locations in 2006, but were responsive at the Scandia site in 2007. Over all, soybean yields were greater at the Scandia location compared to the other locations for both years, suggesting that the yield increase from Mn application to GR soybeans may only occur in high yielding environments (>60 bu/A). Trends indicated a yield response to both soil-applied and foliar-applied Mn, but the results were inconsistent across locations. Preliminary plant analyses show that there was no significant difference in Mn uptake between the GR and non-GR varieties. There were some differences in nutrient partitioning, where the non-GR soybeans had more K remaining in the leaves at R6 growth stage. Further analysis of 2007 data will be conducted to confirm these observations.

The premise appeared to also be supported by one of the other studies cited in The Independent article which concluded:

This research provides evidence that the GR soybean variety used in this study did not accumulate Mn in the same manner as the conventional variety, and did respond to application of Mn in this high-yield environment.

However, its author Dr. W.B. Barney Gordon objected to The Independent's summary of his findings and backed away from any statement that GMO soya bean may lead to lower crop yields (scroll through to Page 3).

According to Elmore et al in the Agronomy Journal:

Yields were suppressed with GR soybean cultivars. Our other work showed that there was no effect of glyphosate on GR cultivars (Elmore et al., 2001). The work reported here demonstrates that a 5% yield suppression was related to the gene or its insertion process and another 5% suppression was due to cultivar genetic differential. Producers should consider the potential for 5 to 10% yield differentials between GR and non-GR cultivars as they evaluate the overall profitability of producing soybean. Cultivar choices are best based on (i) previous weed pressure and success of control measures in specific fields, (ii) the availability and cost of herbicides, (iii) availability and cost of herbicide-resistant cultivars, and (iv) yield, and not solely on whether cultivars are herbicide resistant. Based on our results from this study and those of Elmore et al., 2001, the yield suppression appears associated with the GR gene or its insertion process rather than glyphosate itself.

What is becoming obvious in all this, is the fact that Australian farmers who plant GMO soya bean may initially save on pesticide application rates, but will inevitably face extra targeted fertiliser costs and the possibility exists that the genetic modification process itself may be responsible for some percentage of lower yield results anyway.

Not exactly the win-win situation that Monsanto and friends are presenting as the 'truth' and something NSW North Coast cane farmers should be aware of as they frequently alternate cane with soya bean.

Extra reading if you are interested in global agriculture here.

U.K. Soil Association 2008 press release here.

* This post is part of the North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.

Kevin 747 packs his travel bag - again!

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stepped into another jet plane on the weekend and flew out of the country.
I'm beginning to lose count of how many overseas trips Our Kev has made since the federal election of November 2007.
Is this the 14th, 15th or 16th taxpayer-funded jaunt?

Here on the NSW North Coast we are struggling with high fuels costs without a real choice to use public transport, rent increases in a housing pool which is not growing to keep up with demand, spiralling grocery prices in areas with some of the lowest wages and highest unemployment in Australia, a crumbling health system with a truly laughable public dental service, inadequate pensions of all sorts which see recipients going without life's essentials and many self-funded retirees taking a big hit from the global financial crisis.

Kev old cobber, I'm not impressed - you're putting on pork and we're getting skinnier.

Somehow that just doesn't seem right in the lucky country.......

Uh oh...

I put Kev on the plane 24 hours ahead of his departure time. Sorry for the confusion.

A selection of NSW Northern Rivers art

Untitled landscape by John Turton

Untitled seascape by Spuddy

Untitled bird study by Christine Willcocks

These Northern Rivers artists displayed at

Total Travel

Sidesplitting quote from the Nationals' chief nong

The Daily Examiner in true tabloid style ran a front page yesterday on the 'war' over bats going on at Maclean.

State Nationals MP for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, drew a bellow of laughter from me at breakfast when I read that he had said: "war will be declared on this Federal Government" and "A major confrontation will occur and I will be in the centre of it - I have to be".

Trust our resident political nong.
As yet there are no bats in any number in the immediate vicinity of Maclean High School.
With the extinction of the adjoining rainforest patch in which flying foxes previously roosted, they may not come back as a highly visible presence for generations.
Yet here he is - ready to get out the batmobile and confront Canberra at the head of his 'troops'.

All this huffing and puffing because the precautionary dispersal licence applied for is apparently going through the usual channels whenever such an application concerns a listed vulnerable species.

Bucket rating awarded to APN media for giving Stevo's hysteria column inches:

Batty politics

The Clarence Valley township of Maclean has a front row seat as the Labor MP for Page and the Nationals MP for Cowper play duelling banjos to the tune of bats awa' wi ye.

On September 8th The Daily Examiner told the world:

On Thursday, The Daily Examiner reported that an application by Clarence Valley Council and the New South Wales Department of Education for a licence to disperse bats from a rainforest reserve near Maclean High School and an area known as 'the gully' had hit a stumbling block.
The applicants were advised by the Federal Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts that it considered disturbing bats as a 'controlled action' which required a lengthy and time-consuming environmental impact statement (EIS)....
They are concerned about delays in approval for the licence that they've had in past years to disperse the bats so they won't settle in the school area," Ms Saffin said.
"This is a matter for the state and federal environment departments and I don't see why the previous licensing arrangements can't continue.
"I have agreed to raise the issue with Environment Minister Peter Garrett on behalf of the school community and I'm aware that timing is an issue on this matter."

On September 19th ABC North Coast broadcast this:

The federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, has taken the issue of the bats at Maclean to the federal stage.
In a speech to the Parliament this week, Mr Hartsuyker criticised the federal Environment Department for not approving the granting of a licence to remove the bats from bush near the Maclean High School.
Mr Hartsuyker says the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change referred the matter to the Commonwealth.
He says the federal Environment Department wants a report prepared before making a decision.
"There's no justification in stopping those bats from moving on, there is a precedent for this and the people of Maclean, the students and staff of the school are certainly demanding of a safe place to go to school and certainly a good educational environment," he said.

No-one seems to be going to bat for the vulnerable Grey-headed Flying Fox except the Federal Dept. of the Environment.
It will be interesting to see if Minister Peter Garrett listens to his department or the political banjos.

I'm almost tempted to say...

Truffles Turnbull and Co attempting to buy themselves out of trouble?

THE Supreme Court has cleared the way for a multi-million dollar settlement of a legal action involving failed insurer HIH, giving new Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull the chance to avoid a potentially legal embarrassment.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Patricia Bergin today granted an application by HIH to put preparations for the case on hold for 90 days while the parties negotiate a settlement over the $500 million claim.

A settlement would mean Mr Turnbull, the former chairman of investment bank Goldman Sachs Australia, would avoid the unwanted attention of a protracted court case involving himself and eight other defendants and 118 cross-claims.

However, if the matter cannot be settled, the court will most likely hear from witnesses such as disgraced former HIH chief executive Ray Williams and former FAI chief Rodney Adler, who is also a defendant, in what would be the lead-up to the next election.

Is Turnbull willing to risk having to personally pay out a considerable sum in an out-of-court settlement in the hope of becoming Australian prime minister in 2010?

Is he that driven? That desperate?

Did the Pope put his money where his mouth is?

ABC Radio's AM program reported that Pope Benedict who flies on the chartered Alitalia Flight commentators dubbed Shepherd One was praying for the airline which is on the brink of collapse. (Read the transcript here.)

Airline companies collapsing has become such a common occurrence that the British online betting agency Paddy Power offered punters odds on which airline company will be the next to hit terminal turbulence.

Thirty people made $30,000 when they successfully wagered on the collapse of XL, the third largest package holiday group. (Read about XL going down the gurgler here.)

Paddy Power rated Qantas a 66/1 prospect of being the next airline company to go belly up. Virgin was rated as the rank outsider at 100/1.
Alitalia was given the dubious honour of being the favourite.

Hence, the question arises. Did Benny put his money on another airline?

BTW, Paddy Power still rates Australia's George Pell a 66/1 chance of being the next Pope. Perhaps George is 'investing' the weekly plate collections on himself. (The odds of other wouldbes if they couldbes are listed here.)

Here comes the Son

The amount of religious imagery in the 2008 U.S. presidential election is astounding.

Here is a small selection from Google Images using the search term jesus OR christ OR god "Obama".

A similar search for McCain yielded far fewer examples.

US 08: lose your house lose your vote?

Just when one thinks things couldn't get dirtier in the 2008 presidential election, the Michigan Messenger reports on campaign tactics reminicient of Bush v Gore:

The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan over the Michigan GOP's plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls, as first reported by the Michigan Messenger.

Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign, and Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, announced the lawsuit in a conference call with reporters this afternoon. It was filed on behalf of the campaign, the party and three Michigan residents who have had their houses foreclosed upon in recent months.

Bauer called the GOP plan to use foreclosure lists "a new and especially repellent version of caging." Caging is a technique of challenging voters where they take lists of addresses, mail to them with a "do not forward" marking and if for whatever reason those mailings are returned, they use this as a basis for claiming that the voter no longer lives at the address at which they are registered.

Bauer noted that using foreclosure lists to challenge a voter's address is "false and illegal" for several reasons. First, because getting a foreclosure notice is not evidence that the person's address has changed. In Michigan, homeowners have the opportunity to redeem the foreclosure even after a sheriff's sale has occurred, which means they can stay in the home for many months after a foreclosure notice has been sent. Second, because under Michigan law a person can vote at their old precinct if they lost their home within 60 days of the election.

Brewer noted that in July alone 11,000 Michigan residents received foreclosure notices. The McCain campaign, he argued, "wants to add insult to injury" by denying those residents their right to vote. "The right to vote is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans," said Brewer, "To try to strip our fellow citizens of their right to vote is un-American and unconscionable."

The Republicans are denying that this is their intention, however Obama's legal team hopes to use the lawsuit to subpoena GOP emails and memos.

Former GOP operative explains why Republicans will use foreclosure lists to block voters

Just can't take a trick....

Retiree to mate at the newsagent yesterday as stock markets around the world continue to wobble:

"You work hard all your life, go without to build a nest egg, and then whoosh - your investments start to disappear because fat cats on Wall Street decided to gamble with other people's money.

I don't know where it's going to end. I just can't take a trick"

I have to feel sorry for the bloke as the Herald Sun yesterday ran with the following:

"MORE than $100 billion has been wiped out of Aussie superannuation funds as the global financial meltdown worsens.
At yesterday's close of business the average balanced superannuation fund had lost almost 12 per cent during the past year, according to estimates by research firm SuperRatings.
The losses are being caused by a writedown in share values as markets around the world continue to take a beating.
The Australian market took another 0.6 per cent dive yesterday.
Property markets and other investments are also now suffering as many investors lose confidence and consumers cut spending.
"Some people will have lost 20 to 25 per cent during the past year depending on their investment option," SuperRatings managing director Jeff Bresnahan said.
"Bad news just keeps pouring out of the United States which affects their market and, in turn, our market.
"The reality is most of us are 55 per cent invested in the sharemarket so these sharemarket falls are feeding straight through to our super fund returns," he said. "But it's getting really serious for those people in and around retirement."

Four new NSW North Coast mayors announced

The Far North Coaster online magazine tells us:

Winners of mayoral elections in four Far North Coast local government areas have been declared
In Lismore, Country Labor's Jenny Dowell is the new mayor.
In Byron, Greens candidate and incumbent mayor Jan Barham was elected with almost 50 per cent of the vote.
In Ballina Shire, Phillip Silver has won the race to become the shire's first popularly elected mayor.
In Richmond Valley, Col Sullivan, a former mayor, has won the vote and will replace Charlie Cox.

As of last night:

• Preference vote distribution in the Clarence Valley has not been completed yet. Final result here.
• Coffs Harbour vote count underway.
• Ballina has three-quarters of preference votes distributed.
• Kyogle has distributed all preference votes. Final results all three wards here.
• Vote count underway in Lismore.
• Tweed vote count underway.
• Richmond Valley vote count underway.

Full details are available at the NSW Electoral Commission website.

On the Libs trying for a new look....

By the way, the Coalition are not taking a different TURN they are all BULL.

APPSIE
Clarence Valley

GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak@live.com.au for consideration.

Our own Mr. Potato opens his mouth too wide and doesn't like the response

Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland was reported in The Australian last Tuesday (before the jury had completed its consideration of two other defendants in what has been billed as Australia's biggest terrorism trial):-

"ATTORNEY-GENERAL Robert McClelland has hailed the conviction of Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika and five of his followers on terror charges as the most successful terrorist prosecution in Australian history.

But Mr McClelland warned that more needed to be done to prevent the radicalisation of Muslim communities. He said the prosecutions provided a model for how law enforcement and security agencies should work together.

"It is my view that the successful prosecution in the Pendennis trials is the most successful terrorist prosecution that this country has seen," Mr McClelland said yesterday.

He praised the work of the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and Victoria Police, saying the trial had been "lengthy and complicated".

Mr McClelland said more than 50 witnesses and more than 3000 documents had been tendered during the trial.

But he warned that, despite the prosecutions, Australia still faced terror attacks from overseas organisations and home-grown cells.

He said it would be naive to discount the risk of a terrorist attack in Australia. "The area where we think there needs to be more work is in the area of counter-radicalisation," Mr McClelland said.

"The Government is actually undertaking a considerable amount of work in that area to understand the factors that have led to young Australians being radicalised."

Now Sebago Rob is faced with an irate Justice Bernard Bongiorno who didn't appreciate his comments and: "told the court it would have been better for the justice system had his comments never been made."

Bongiorno showed admirable restraint in his response.
Any juror who read Tuesday's newspaper might just have been swayed into thinking that handing out two more convictions would be saving teh Aussie way of life as we know it.

I wanna be mayor......

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, mayor...

Richie Williamson, 2GF breakfast radio jock and now as yet undeclared second-term Clarence Valley shire councillor, has had a rush of blood to the head after a very solid showing in the first preference count of ballots cast at last Saturday's NSW local government elections.

He now wants to be mayor and like another high-profile conservative, pro-development councillor before him, he mistakes the ballot to elect councillors as a de facto popular election of the mayor.

The Daily Examiner reported Richie on Monday last:

Williamson said he was pleased to have been re-elected so comfortably.
"It's very humbling," he told The Daily Examiner yesterday.
Williamson, who was first elected to council in 2005, said he was keen to continue working for Clarence Valley residents.
"We got a big job to do," he said.
"Some tough decisions need to be made.
"As far as I'm concerned, it is head down, tail up, and let's get on with the job."

Yesterday the same paper has Richie upping the ante and stating:

"I made the decision to stand for mayor of Clarence Valley Council following election on Saturday," Cr Williamson said.
"The vote on Saturday has given me a clear majority and people are expecting me to stand and represent them as mayor of Clarence Valley Council."

Sorry Richie, but across the Clarence Valley electors went to the polling booths fully aware that they were not voting for a mayor - that in fact they were electing 9 councillors.

The mayor is elected by these 9 councillors from amongst their number, to ensure that councillors have confidence in the mayor and in the hope that they will all work well together.

Cr. Williamson has made no secret in the past of his support for that Nationals wannabe and development consultant, Chris Gulaptis, and his personal voting record tends to be rather erratic on social and environmental issues.

He even made the great mistake of allowing that local political pariah to endorse him pre-election:

"The new council needs people like Richie Williamson and I hope for the Clarence Valley he is elected mayor," he said.

If anything these factors would make his installation as mayor a choice which would possibly leave the valley unable to take full advantage of federal and state government goodwill.

Windshuttle trails his denialist cloak

In Quadrant Online Keith Windshuttle is begging for an argument with this QED in the September issue.

Chicken Little Logic

In the ancient fable, Chicken Little thought one acorn dropping on her head meant the entire sky was falling. Today’s Chicken Littles show similar insight.

If there is a one centimetre sea rise through ice-sheet melting in the decade 2005 to 2015, and if that rate doubles in every subsequent decade, by 2095 the sea level will have risen by more than five metres … In a major and inspiring speech, Al Gore, the Winston Churchill of our age, issued a call for his country to move from a fossil-fuel to a renewable-energy economy within a decade.
— Robert Manne, ‘The Nation Reviewed’, The Monthly, August 2008

If Greenland’s ice sheet melts, the world sea level will rise 20 feet [6.1 metres]. Maps of the world will have to be redrawn. Rising seas will inundate Florida, the Netherlands and the cities of San Francisco, Beijing, Shanghai, Calcutta and Manhattan. This will create 100 million environmental refugees.
— Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, May 2006

The sea level rises predicted by Gore and Manne depend upon the great ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland suddenly disappearing, a scenario deriving more from Hollywood than science. Even the doomsters on the UN IPCC scientific panel observe comparatively tiny sea level rises.

Global mean sea level has been rising. From 1961 to 2003 the average rate of sea level rise was 1.8 mm plus or minus 0.5 mm per year. For the twentieth century the average rate was 1.7 mm plus or minus 0.5 mm per year … For the period 1993 to 2003, for which the observing system was much better, the contributions from thermal expansion (1.6 mm plus or minus 0.5 mm per year) and loss of mass from glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets together give 2.8 mm plus or minus 0.7 mm per year.
— UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Report, 2007, Chapter Five, ‘Oceanic Climate Change and Sea Level’, p 387

Hence, if the IPCC’s worst-case observations remain the same, by 2095 world sea level will have risen by between 18.3 cm and 30.4 cm. At this rate, it will take between 1741 years and 2902 years for the sea to rise 20 feet.

Repeat after me, Professor. Thermal expansion of sea water, thermal expansion of sea water, thermal expansion of sea water, thermal expansion of sea water.................

Federal Libs remain a headless chook

I don't know what it's going to take to stop the Liberal Party of Australia from tearing around the post-federal election backyard like a chook that has just been parted from its wattled head, but the elevation of Malcolm Bligh Turnbull to parliamentary leadership isn't it.

What little commonsense they had obviously went begging on Monday night.

In a country where the ordinary voter is feeling more and more financial pain and much of that pain is considered to flow from domestic and international corporate irresponsibility, with the R-word looming over us; an egotistical, monied silvertail politician with an HIH court case hanging over his head now leads the Opposition.

How embarrassment will be the least of it if his leadership goes pear shaped!

Costello on the pension ...

Decisions, decisions, decisions!!

Former treasurer Peter Costello must be a worried man. The poor bugger has a dilemma - he has to decide when he will leave the federal parliament.

Peter Martin, The Age's economic correspondent, has taken a look at the options Costello has.

1. As a backbencher, the former treasurer is earning $127,000 a year. But calculations performed by The Age using tables prepared by the Finance Department suggest that if he retired instead, his annual income would jump to $176,633 courtesy of Australia's parliamentary superannuation scheme.

That payment would grow with increases in parliamentary salaries and would stay with the 51-year old for the rest of his life.

2. If he wants, he can halve his $176,633-a-year pension and turn the rest into a lump sum of $1.77 million.

Let's put all that into perspective.

Single old-age pensioners get $273 a week.

Yes, they get $14,196 a year.

Putting it another way, that's "a mere 8% of what the former treasurer will make."

Perhaps Costello is looking for a shoulder to cry on as he contemplates how he'll survive after he departs the Canberra scene.

US 08: Children of the Revolution

I suspect that a Democrat U.S. president in 2009 who turns out to have a similar foreign policy and anti-terrorism stance as a Republican president in 2008, will come as no surprise to the British and Australian national governments.
However, I suspect that it will come as a big surprise to many across the blogosphere and more than a few hopeful idealists around the world.

So it was good to see Jeff Sparrow of the Overland Magazine writing in Crikey yesterday remind us that Obama is no 60's peacenik:

But the Bush presidency hasn’t been the work of a single idiot. There’s plenty of smart people behind W., making decisions that by and large reflect the concerns of the US elite. Had a Democrat occupied the White House for the last two terms, US policy might have been sold better, but it’s doubtful that decisions have been very different.
Pick any of the Bush administration’s most heinous policies and you’ll implicate a Democrat. "Extraordinary rendition", for instance, was pioneered under Clinton, with that cuddly environmentalist Al Gore playing a leading role.

And Derek Shearer quoted in The Age observes:

"One of the interesting things about the Obama campaign is almost all of the policy advisers are former Clinton administration people — so many of my good friends are involved day to day," he said.

From the latest published Gallup poll of registered voters, I doubt whether it will come as any surprise to the American children of the 60's revolution, as they have currently settled down to what is basically a statistical tie between Democrat Obama at 45% and Republican McCain at 48% preference in their age group.

Update:

According to the New York Post today.

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.
According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

Monsanto's role in "Fat Boy" A-Bomb

It is nice to see that Mr. Monsanto still follows North Coast Voices and clicks on to read what we may have to say on biotechnology.

So as not to disappoint this reader, here is the following from Wikileaks which suggest that Monsanto apparently had a contract with the US Government team when the atomic bomb Fat Boy (which eventually devastated Nagasaki) was being created at Los Alamos:

Scale of American effort where known Appreciable;

Monsanto contract on Po. Chem. 1-2 Physicists 3-5 chemists at Los Alamos

From MetroActive:

1939-1945--Monsanto conducts research on uranium for the Manhattan Project in Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Charles Thomas, who later served as the company's chairman of the board, was present at the first test explosion of the atomic bomb.

From Dayton Daily News in February 2007:
While they worked on the atomic bomb in the 1940s, employees of Monsanto Chemical Co.'s Dayton Project unknowingly were exposed to radiation that would be a carcinogenic time bomb for some of them.
Now, thanks to a federal decision this month, dozens of cancer- stricken Cold War workers and their widows may finally be compensated for on-the-job toxic exposures they sustained some 60 years ago.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt has approved special status for the Monsanto workers, meaning they don't have to prove an occupational link if they have suffered from any of 22 cancers known to be caused by radiation.

Yes, GM seed giant Monsanto really has a corporate track record to be admired.

It truly inspires confidence in their assurances that genetically modified crops are always benign and will be so in Australia.

Photo of Fat Boy from Google Images

Two faces of the Australian pensions debate

A well-fed and expensively attired Leader of the Opposition displays his hypocrisy when debating his futile and belated wedge in support for an increase to old age pensions.

Photo from The Australian

Australian bloggers display their heartlessness.

Tuesday 9 September 2008, 3:58 pm #Wah
Farmers should shut the f**k up and grow things. And pensioners should accept that they are now useless to society thus should only get the crumbs. In the animal world they would know when to just f**k off and die - it’s about the herd, not the individual. [edited to avoid filters]

NSW Inc. - Rudders whistles in the wind

Poor old Rudders. Opinion polls still going his way nationally, but the entire ball of wool unravelling at state level.
The Prime Minister wants NSW Premier Rees and Co to get their act together and go to the next election with a fighting chance.

Problem is that more than one or two senior members of the NSW ALP are now openly saying that the only way to fix factional problems and lack of political talent, or ensure true generational change, is for Labor to "spend some time on the Opposition benches".

That remark has been echoed by party members on the NSW North Coast and could be overheard outside local government election polling booths last Saturday.

The GM moguls advance with Weidemann et al assisting

According to The Age on 11 September 2008, Rupanyup farmer Andrew Weidemann brags that:

Much of his 92 hectares of GM canola is now in flower and is on track for harvest in about 11 weeks.

Now this farmer's crop reads as if it was first intended as non-commercial:
To allow a detailed comparison of the 10 canola varieties on his farm, all were planted in the same paddock on the same day in early May, in distinct plots.
Yesterday about 20 farmers from South Australia visited Mr Weidemann's farm to inspect the GM canola. South Australian law prohibits commercial production of GM canola.

In February this year he told ABC News that:
"There is an up-front fee that we pay and you can grow as many acres as the seed is available for this year and there is a royalty payment on the end which is the best situation in rewarding the researcher, the marketeer and the grower," Mr Weidemann said.

The Commonwealth Office of Gene Technology states that there is a current licence granted to Bayer Crop Science Pty Ltd which cover amongst other areas, Rupanyup and Wimmera.
So one might wonder if Andrew Weidemann, now VFF grains group deputy president, was originally in partnership with Bayer or affiliates.

Either way, Weidemann joins the ranks of those Australia may learn to curse in the future.

Here is a 1995 photo and brief bio of this foolish man who thinks that simply everyone will buy GM food if it is cheaper (found at the Birchip Cropping Group).

Mr Andrew Weidemann Farming 2500ha with his family in the Victorian Wimmera, producing a range of pulses, cereals, oilseeds and fat lambs, Andrew is a dedicated community member. He holds a range of positions with the VFF, currently the Wimmera District Council Grains Councillor, and is current President of the Rupanyup Football and Netball Club. Andrew is an inaugural Committee member on the 1st Bendigo Bank Community Bank. He has held past positions of VFF Rupanyup Branch President and Wimmera Farming Systems Deputy Chairman. Andrew has an Advanced Diploma of Agriculture, was the 2000 recipient of the Wimmera Conservation Farming James Muller Award and 2000 recipient of the Powercor Best Achievement in Primary Production....
Email: weidpast@wimmera.com.au. t 03 54922787 f 03 54922753

Monsanto, another GM giant operating in Australia, is not having much luck in France these days.

Apparently this is the first year that all its French GM test sites have been destroyed by activists.

At the same time the film The World According to Monsanto is actively circulating with a bad PR look for this company:

How much outrage can a single multinational corporation inspire? How much damage can they inflict? The breathtaking new film, The World According to Monsanto, features a company that sets the new standard. From Iowa to Paraguay, from England to India, Monsanto is uprooting our food supply and replacing it with their patented genetically engineered creations. And along the way, farmers, communities, and nature become collateral damage.

Seeds of Deception has also released a pdf document listing where in your personal food and grocery item chain GMO ingredients may be found once GM crops spread in Australia.

British court gives Greenpeace activists a 'lawful excuse' get-out-of-gaol-free card

WASHINGTON — A British Court today acquitted six Greenpeace volunteers for attempting to shut down a coal-fired power plant in Kent on the grounds that they had a "lawful excuse" because the coal plant was causing so much property damage around the world due to global warming that it exceeded the property damage done through shutting operations of the coal plant.The Maidstone Crown Court heard testimony from NASA climate expert James Hansen, an Inuit leader from Greenland and the British Conservative Party's environment adviser. The jury was told that the Kingsnorth Power Plant emits 20,000 tons of CO2 every day - the same amount as the 30 least polluting countries in the world combined – and that the British Government had advanced plans to build a new coal-fired power station next to the existing site on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent.

Full Green Peace 11 September 2008 media release.

Should NSW Premier Nathan Rees be worried?

And now for something completely ridiculous

With a recent internal dispute over an academic reverend's pro-Creationism stance disturbing the harmony of the Royal Society, I decided to have a look at what religious websites were saying on the subject.

I didn't get past the first one (run by the United Church of God) because in defence of Creationism it actually quoted at length a deceased, former card-carry member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi), member of the Waffen SS and user of concerntration camp slave labour.

Now how can a bloke take seriously any argument that holds up Werner von Braun as a pattern card of ethical and reasoned debate?

Here is Reverend Prof Michael Reiss' article of September 11, which certainly upset the National Secular Society as well.

Before we all start to hoot at the folly of others Over There, remember this article from The Age in 2005?

"The controversial theory of "intelligent design" has won the qualified backing of Education Minister Brendan Nelson, who says it should be taught in schools alongside evolution if that is the wish of parents.
Intelligent design, which is damned by critics as a front for biblical Creationism, argues that life on Earth is too complex to have evolved purely through Darwin's theory of natural selection. Dr Nelson said yesterday he had met Campus Crusade for Christ, the Australian advocates of intelligent design, or ID, and watched their DVD presentation, called Unlocking the Mystery of Life."

Barack shows his true colours during US presidential race

While the McCain campaign is equally shameless, Barack Obama is beginning to show that he is no novice when it comes to slinging political mud.

This quote in the Herald Sun caught my eye this week.

BARACK Obama has ripped into 72-year-old John McCain calling him an out-of-touch economic illiterate who has slept through the internet revolution, as the war of words resumed on the White House trail.

Peter Sheehan's cartoon found at New Matilda.

A little Sunday art on the NSW North Coast

First View from Border Ranges

Savira McDonald

Ceramic artist

Grafton Regional Gallery

R.I.P. Possum Pollytics

Possum Comitatus has moved from his own site Possum Pollytics and is now part of the Crikey stable at Pollytics.com.

It is sad to see yet another very successful independent blog being absorbed into what is essentially the mainstream digital media.

With the best of intentions, true independence can be diminished by the needs of the new parent. Something Possum will have to guard against.
Previous visitors and participants on Possum Pollytics comment pages will notice the registration requirements on the new blog which add yet another level of basic data sharing.

September 11, 2008 – 1:48 pm, by Possum Comitatus

Welcome to the new and improved Pollytics - now powered by Crikey.

The first thing you might notice is that this is actually a proper Wordpress system, so dont freak right out by thinking that this place is run off the Crikey site system - it's all new and spiffy and decked out for blogging.

The proper launch is next week, so that's when everything starts working fully.

Over on the right you might notice a few spiffy, charty type things. They're all clickable and will take you through to specific pages dealing with each topic. There's Pollytrack which we all know, the Chart Dump is where all the Federal polling data fit to print is available, the US election still deals with Intrade, the Long View is an interactive history of the two party preferred vote going back to 1985 and the State maps and data graphics take you through to where various State based polling data is available.

Make sure you read the moderation policy – it explains the natural order of things.

To comment, you first need to register, which requires nothing more than a working email address. It's free to do so and the password to enable you to comment will be sent through to your email. Once registered, it allows you to not only comment here, but on other Crikey blogs - which you'll be hearing more about soon.

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NSW Local Government Elections 2008: Live result update links on the night

For the first time NSW local government electors will be able to follow the vote count online after polls close at 6pm on Saturday 13 September 2008.

Electoral Commission NSW live update information:

Election results

View election results and result information
View the LGCC Counting schedule

ABC Elections website/Antony Green here

* However, it should be noted that due to the NSW Government's Sydney-centric view of all things rural and regional, counting for some electorates on the Northern Rivers may not show a result before Wednesday or Thursday of next week as Returning Officers are being asked to multitask at an unsustainable level and physical counting of ballots is often occurring away from the electorates involved.

Gloss comes off Democrat presidential candidate Obama - except among single women

Barack Obama might eventually try to pretend arms length from the Democratic Party September 2008 website The Next Cheney, however his Alaska Mythbusters group gives the game away.

Things are really getting down and dirty in the US presidential race as Gallup polling of registered voters place McCain five percentage points ahead of Obama and neither campaign camp is covering itself with glory.

FactCheck.org has been keeping track of the truthfulness or otherwise of some of the claims against the main players in the 2008 campaign:

Sliming Sarah Palin

Fact Checking Obama

Sliming Obama

Maverick Misleads

Hit the Brakes

Bikini-wearing, gun-toting Palin viral photo fake

The Obama for America team has a Fighting the Smears webpage which selectively lists smears for his campaigners to then knock down.

It has an interesting piece of editing posted:

Which sort of begs the question as to whether this team is actually trying to foster some of these wayout theories in order give him underdog status and the sympathy vote.

Because it seems that the only demographic that Obama consistently dominates is single American female registered voters where his personal support runs between 54-60% over the last three months.

Palin graphic found at The Next Cheney

Snakes Alive! In pictures

Photograph displayed at The Northern Rivers Echo

The National Parks and Wildlife Service tells us these brown snakes are wrestling for spring-time mating rights on Tallows Beach near Byron Bay.

With climate change beginning to cause warmer temperatures and lower rainfall, snakes will perhaps become more prevalent in our gardens from now on.

Please remember that all native snakes are protected species and that the brown snake is probably responsible for most of the reported deaths from snake-bite in New South Wales.

If you see a snake leave it well alone.

If you find one in your house, note where it is situated and immediately call WIRES on 6628 1898 or the Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers on 0407 965 092 or alternatively phone the local police to assist with finding someone to remove the snake to a safe area.

How Google Ads see the Clarence Valley

I was having a bit of a browse at The Daily Examiner online when I noticed something strange about Google's targeted site advertising there.

So many of the pages contained ads for fat reduction or flat stomachs and one page contained a single issue overkill:

Search Criminal Records

Instant Criminal records lookup. Criminal records online database.

Criminal.GovtRegistry.com

Online Criminal Records

Search anyone's criminal records. Unlimited Access to GOV. Databases.

Criminal.australian-records.com
Criminal Records
Search anyone's criminal records Online criminal record resources.

Criminal-Records.Gov-Reports.net

With another page plugging an ad combination:
Criminal Background Check
Detailed & Unlimited Criminal Check Never Pay Per Report. Search Now!
Australian-Records.com
1 Rule of a flat stomach:
Cut down 9 lbs of stomach fat every 11 days by obeying this 1 tiny rule
FatLoss4Idiots.com
Background Checks
Instant Australia background checks Online background record resources.
Background-Check.Gov-Reports.net

It looks suspiciously as though Google thinks that the Clarence Valley abounds with obese, low IQ lawbreakers.
Perhaps it's all those screaming headlines DEX editor Chapman now favours.

North Coast Area Health Service problems continue

With the Lower Clarence Valley fighting to stave off sale and rezoning of North Coast Area Health Service land adjoining Maclean District Hospital, word on the street is that the Service's financial problems under CEO Chris Crawford are now intractable.
Apparently its media people are sounding increasingly nervous when fielding queries and, many local residents are beginning to fear that a large-scale downgrading or even elimination of smaller district hospitals may be on the Rees-Della Bosca agenda down in Macquarie Street.
Once again the Northern Rivers may be seen as expendable due to another NSW Dept. of Health budget blow-out.

Quote of the week on Obama v McCain

From Hermene Hartman of The Huffington Post last Tuesday, in her article The Elephant in the Room.

On one of the late night news programs, there was a North Carolina redneck type. He was a Southerncrat and in good ol' boy mode, he analyzed the race. He gave one of the most honest assessments, from his viewpoint, I have heard. The question was would Barack beat McCain. He said: Barack, the intelligent man would beat McCain. He said Barack, the charismatic man would beat McCain. He even said Barack, the man, would beat McCain the war hero. But then he said, Barack the Black man would not beat McCain. He said it just wouldn't happen. He spoke with authority and confidence.

On anthropomorphic change.....

Click image to enlarge

Luke Watson cartoon found at New Matilda

Move over and make room for the women?

I'm reliably informed that Australia-wide women make up no more than around 25% of the total number of elected representatives at local government, state and federal level.

In a political scene dominated by men, in the last twelve months we have had a paedophile and a chair sniffer as ministers in NSW and WA Governments.

Opening The Australian yesterday I found that the new NSW Police Minister has just resigned after 3 days in office because of reports that:

"A witness told The Australian Mr Brown stripped down to his "very brief" underpants and danced to loud "Oxford Street-style" techno music on a green leather Chesterfield couch he had recently ordered for his office.

The witness said Mr Brown "mounted the chest" of Wollongong MP Noreen Hay.

The witness said Mr Brown called out to Ms Hay's adult daughter during the performance: "Look at this, I'm tittie-f..king your mother!"

A spokesman for Mr Brown denied he used any such words. However, Mr Brown did not deny the other allegations, including a simulated sex act on Ms Hay."

All this sexually off and sometimes downright criminal behaviour by other hairy-chested blokes leaves me beginning to wonder if we should give women a bit more of a chance when they stand for election.

Even Federal Labor MP Belinda Neal at her supposed worst was not accused of any sexual impropriety.

* Ms. Hay went onto ABC News Radio yesterday morning and totally denied the allegations in rather a strange way - it was ridiculous to think it had happened because there were younger and more attractive women than myself at the party.

September 11 2008

Cartoon from Salon.com

For a mix of archival footage and whacky theories (from those wonderful folks who gave us rendition and torture to replace the Geneva Convention) click September 11 News

Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition draws up a green report card on local government election hopefuls

MEDIA RELEASE

6 September 2008

For immediate release

HOW GREEN CAN OUR VALLEY BE?

A survey of local government candidates in the Clarence Valley has rated Janet Purcell, Ian Tiley, Pat Comben, Maurie Maher and Grace Clague as having the greenest credentials, with Mark Kingsley and Ian Dinham as close runners up.

The survey, carried out by the combined conservation groups of the Clarence Valley (including the Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition, Clarence Environment Centre, Clarence Valley Branch of the National Parks Association and Valley Watch), asked candidates for their views about environmental planning, waste management, sustainability, transport and protection of the Clarence's biodiversity.

According to the CVCC secretary, Leonie Blain, all of the 21 candidates responded. "We are very happy with the level of response received, with answers to the survey questions from 19 of the candidates. We extend our thanks to all candidates that took the time to provide these responses.

"It was disappointing that Terry Flanagan and Jim Simmons declined to address the survey, providing only general comments which could not be rated," she said.

The survey was mostly asked for yes or no responses to a range of questions, but most candidates took advantage of the opportunity to provide sometimes detailed comments as well as these simple answers.

"These comments revealed an interesting range of attitudes to environmental issues, as well as a range of levels of awareness – both of council's role in relation to the environment and of the environment itself," Ms Blain said.

All candidates indicated opposition to further loss of the Clarence River's water to other communities.

"Curiously, Ian Tiley indicated opposition to the reporting of the daily amount of water extracted from the Nymboida River by the Regional Water Scheme, which the conservation groups believe is necessary for open and transparent accountability of the Scheme's performance, especially once the Shannon Creek Dam is constructed."

On the issue of planning for climate change and development, most candidates indicated that sea level rise, storm surges and increased flooding should be a major constraint in considering development proposals on floodplain and coastal lands. Only Kurt Kristoffersen was undecided on this issue, claiming that climate change is a natural phenomenon.

"This was one of several poor responses from Mr Kristoffersen," said Ms Blain. "He generally showed a low awareness of planning issues and did not even respond to the question on sustainability. In relation to planning to minimise future conflicts between urban residents and flying-fox camps, he stated that flyingfoxes were not even native animals. This must be news to the eucalypt forests of our region which rely on flying-foxes for their pollination."

"Sustainability is enshrined in the legislation of local government. Over the past term of council, Ian Tiley has demonstrated the leadership role that Clarence Valley Council can take with regard to improving our sustainability. A solid understanding of what it means is a must-have for our councillors. However only a few candidates demonstrated this. Very good responses were provided by Pat Comben and Janet Purcell, with good responses from Grace Clague, Maurie Maher, Mark Kingsley, Karen Toms and Ian Dinham."

The candidates' responses to the questionnaire are on display for public scrutiny at the Clarence Environment Centre, 29 Skinner St, South Grafton.

Contact: Leonie Blain 02 6642 7640

Think that you couldn't live on a singles-rate pension? Then get a job as an Aussie pollie

Here is a list of those Aussie pollies who have admitted that Old Age and Disability Support pensions, for single people living alone and without assets, are vastly inadequate - but either do not intend to do anything to help for at least another 6 months at the earliest or only see the issue as an opportunity to front the cameras and play wedge politics.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Deputy-Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan

Minister for Finance Lindsay Tanner

Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon
Minister for Community Services Jenny Macklin
Federal Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson
Deputy-Leader of the Opposition Julie Bishop

Oppostion Spokesperson for Indigenous Affairs Tony Abbott
Tasmanian Labor MP Dick Adams

Queensland Labor MP Brett Raguse

South Australian Labor MP Steve Georganas

Queensland Liberal MP Margaret May

Family First Senator Steve Fielding

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon

Uncle Tom Cobbley and all.............

Only the Greens in the Australian Senate, headed by Senator Bob Brown, are believable when they once again point to the need for immediate relief for the most hard-pressed of pensioners.

There are lone pensioners sitting in their rented homes on the NSW Northern Rivers right now who have no more money for food, medicines or essentials until the middle of next week - 7 days away, 7 days of want and making do with what's in the scant kitchen cupboard, 7 days of not getting help from their GP because most local doctors don't regularly bulk-bill, 7 days of hiding this 'shameful' poverty from the rest of the community.

Fair go, Kev! You wouldn't treat a dingo like this, so why are you pretending that the aged and disabled should be quietly grateful and manage until next year's budget.

Given age or chronic illness, many of them will have died by then.

In August The Age told us:

"Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said 13 per cent of pensioners had no private income to draw on and the "vast majority" had less than $20 a week in addition to their pensions.

"So the vast majority of older Australians are on the pension and a very, very significant number of these people have very small additional amounts of private income as well as the pension," Ms Macklin says.

"Most pensioners also have very low levels of assets, in fact 30 per cent report having bank balances of less than $1,000."

The report also found that the average length of time for a person to be receiving the age pension was 13 years."

It just had to happen! Barking for the ballot in 2008

Dan from Dog Reflections tells us that a Washington woman registered her dog as a voter ahead of the forthcoming US presidential election, as a protest against lax voter registration rules.

Australian Shepherd-terrier mix had a utility bill in “his name” - “Duncan M. MacDonald” as the identification needed to register......
When Duncan did receive his absentee ballots Balogh returned them with his paw print on the signature line, and the word “void” written through the ballot.

Meanwhile canine supporters of Obama in all their finery are coming out of the woodwork at Dog Reflections and Obama Dog.

Photo from Dog Reflections.

So you think you can run a council.....(6)

Well, what can one say about Clarence Valley local government election candidate and caravan park manager, Karen Toms?
The only thing which comes to mind is the fact that (according to certain Iluka residents) this woman would happily wreck fragile foreshore and beaches with constant 4-wheel drive traffic if allowed, just to further the supposed desire of caravan park guests to have picnic lunches by the sea.
Ms. Toms obviously has a hard time thinking through all the environmental ramifications of her own wants.

Not a characteristic which would sit well on Clarence Valley Council.

At the Yamba Meet the Candidates event Ms. Toms offered no discernable platform or ideas for consideration.

Definitely a 1 out of 10 on my ballot meter.

Oi Garrett! Time to give it a rest sport

There is a joke doing the rounds that every appearance by former Midnight Oils rock star, Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett, is a sell-out.

I'm not sure whether Garrett sells the environment down the river each time as the joke suggests, but by gawd, when it comes to Gunns proposed pulp mill he comes pretty close.
It must be doing his back in to so regularly bend his considerable height over to take it in the rear from this company.
This is Garrett's latest:

Peter Garrett 'grants further favours' over pulp mill

Stop Hillsong's foray into NSW public schools NOW!

Hillsong, the Pentecostal Christian church mob that has ties with the Assemblies of God gang, has embarked on a mission to recruit new members in NSW public schools. Its mode of operation is to conduct free lunchtime concerts and barbecues in schools - these days are called "Exo days".

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Exo or Excellent days are free events run by Christian students under the direction of Youth Alive, an arm of the Australian Christian Churches - formerly the Assemblies of God - of which Hillsong is the largest member.

A teacher at one public school said students had returned to class after an Exo day concert complaining about attempts to convert them, while the Federation of Parents and Citizens' Associations says it is an attempt to sneak evangelism into schools and reveals the need for new laws.

Previously the Herald reported that Hillsong was running its Shine program - aimed at young women - in at least 20 NSW public schools.

The NSW Education Act says that "instruction" at public schools must be non-sectarian and secular except in designated religious education classes.

A spokeswoman for the Federation of Parents and Citizens' Association said religious recruitment in schools was inappropriate. "We need to ensure that children when they go to school aren't exposed to discreet evangelism," she said.

The NSW upper house Greens MP, John Kaye, said Exo days went against the spirit of the act, but that there was a need for new laws specifying "clearly and precisely who is allowed on school campuses and who is not".

"Parents send their children to public schools in the anticipation that they will not be indoctrinated," Mr Kaye said.

Clarrie says: "The NSW Government should stop this mob conducting these 'events' NOW!!!"

Is it beat up on pensioners week?

* First we had Today's Apathetic Youth making a case that pensioners are whingers who caused some of their own financial problems by allegedly voting for John Howard.

While older voters have traditionally been thought to vote for conservative parties, this tendency has been somewhat overstated across time (largely because available data can only indicate tendencies for age populations) and just like other age groups voting intentions can vary markedly across election years.

Newspoll data on stated voter intentions from 1987-2007 show that over all election years a combined total of 38.9% of those 60 years+ intended to vote ALP, 51.2% intended to vote Coalition and 9.9% to vote for other parties/independents.

In the same period the data showed that a combined total of only 45.7% of 18-24 year olds intended to vote Labor.

* Then we had the mainstream media writing about the gambling habits of pensioners and suggesting limiting elderly access to poker machines, based on a 2007 survey of 414 people over 60 years of age conducted by the University of Queensland Social Research Centre and published online last January.

What the media articles failed to understand is found in the following survey report observation:

The analysis undertaken suggests that certain age-related circumstances of older people—such as being without a partner, having a disability that impacts on everyday activities, having a low annual income, and no longer participating in the workforce—are associated with higher overall levels of motivation for playing EGMs and greater reliance on EGMs to meet social, recreational and mental health needs.

Some significant factors associated with clinical depression are contained in that sentence, but all the newspapers could say was ban pokie specials on pension days and Poll: Do older people need pre-set limits on poker machine use? Vote below.

All ran with an unproven possibility:
"Compared with younger segments of the population, older people are more commonly retired and thus have more limited opportunities to replenish savings once they are used," the report said. "It is thus conceivable that long-term regular electronic gaming machine use may gradually whittle away older people's financial security."

One has to wonder whether this media response was a targeted beat up coming from Senator Fielding and the Family First stable.

It reeks of blame and punish the pensioners, instead of wondering why a large sector of Australian society is so socially isolated and inadequately supported that some individuals turn to gambling to make themselves feel better.

It also ignores the fact that a great many pensioners have no assets, savings or investments and couldn't afford to enter a social or gambling venue even if they wanted to.

Snakes alive! It's the start of that season again

With the nights getting warmer and the days sunnier, it's time to take care when out walking through scrub or long grass on the NSW North Coast.
The start of Spring will see snakes begin to move about more often and some may cross our paths or that of our pets.

A snake's body temperature - and so its level of activity - is controlled by the temperature of the air and the ground. It will try to maximise body heat, by basking in the sun or lying on or near warm surfaces such as night-time roads or even, on occasion, household water heaters.
In the more temperate climate along the coast they shelter in rock crevices and logs during cold weather and come out on warm days to soak up the heat of the sun.

All native snakes in NSW are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.

Photograph of Eastern (Common) Brown Snake found at Sydney University website.

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap

I can't say that I follow American politics all that closely, but it is not hard to recall the Bush-Gore presidential race of 2000 and the debacle surrounding electronic voting and flawed vote counts.
With the November 2008 polling day coming ever closer, the first concerns are surfacing about irregular purging of voter registration rolls in at least three US states.

"The purge issue is only going to rise in profile in the coming weeks. Several voting rights groups are studying the process in a number of swing states and hope to issue reports later this summer. Among the issues being studied is the accuracy of the database matches used to purge voters. When California first implemented a data-matching program in 2006, some counties had error rates as high as 40 percent, meaning a registered voter who appeared to have moved would have been incorrectly purged without further efforts to confirm their residency and voter registration status."

It has been reported that last month in Colorado a Bush appointee purged one in every five voters registered in that state.

There is no uniform eligibility requirements for voluntary voter registration across America and the mishmash of conflicting state and federal legislation may make the run up to November quite interesting for the rest of us watching from afar.

What is evident is the fact that it would be relatively easy under current rules for a US state apparatus to disenfranchise groups thought to be unsympathetic to the candidate favoured by its governor and it wouldn't cost real money to do so - just stationery and postal costs.
While even the dead may be turned to advantage in other instances.

Both Democratic and Republican voter registration drives are frequently problematic also and prospective voters can become very confused.

"Late last month, as a voter-registration drive by supporters of Senator Barack Obama was signing up thousands of students at Virginia Tech, the local registrar of elections issued two releases incorrectly suggesting a range of dire possibilities for students who registered to vote at their college.
The releases warned that such students could no longer be claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns, a statement the Internal Revenue Service says is incorrect, and could lose scholarships or coverage under their parents’ car and health insurance."

It's times like this that I'm thankful to be living in Australia - our voting system seems eminently sane compared with this American brand of political insanity.

US 08: Who said what

* Click image to enlarge

Word cloud graphic came from the stables of The New York Times.

It is interesting to note that during the Democratic Convention speech Obama used his opponent's name 78 times and spoke about God 22 times.

While during the Republican Convention speech McCain used his opponent's name 25 times and mentioned God 43 times.

The word cloud also gives lie to a recent Obama statement, supported by Biden, that McCain and Palin failed to mention issues affecting middle class Americans.

Amazing Grace...........

With 21 candidates standing at the Clarence Valley local government election, one would think that there would be an embarrassment of talent to choose from.
Sadly this is not the case when one looks at those standing for the first time or standing again after an initial unsuccessful attempt.

However, along with Janet Purcell, Grace Clague is an exception to this dismal field of wannabes.

Grace, an indigenous mother of three from Brushgrove, shone with quiet sincerity when she made a commitment to protect the cultural and economic values of the Clarence River.

She also impressed with her understanding of the financial realities of local government and the need to develop federal and state relationships which can facilitate funding outcomes.

Grace acknowledged that Clarence Valley Council's current differential rating system needed to remain in place and be fine tuned according to changing circumstances.

Reported in The Daily Examiner last Saturday she stated:
I support borrowing strictly controlled levels of finance to spread the cost of very expensive infrastructure, such as water supply, between current and future residents.

Grace Clague gets an 8 out of 10 on my ballot meter.

Frank Sartor can't understand why he's lost out - should we tell him?

Frank Sartor thinks that the current situation, which finds him without his title of planning minister and off the new NSW Rees Government front bench entirely, is all a big mistake.

He told The Age yesterday:

Mr Sartor said in nearly 17 years of elected office, he had made many contributions to the City of Sydney, of which he was former lord mayor, and the state of NSW.

He pointed to his "transformation" of Sydney, the establishment of the Cancer Institute of NSW, the Water and Energy Savings Fund - now the Climate Change Fund, the smoking ban in pubs and clubs and difficult planning reforms.

What Frank Sartor doesn't understand is how the average voter thinks.

While everyone either approves or disapproves of state policy initiatives across a broad range of community concerns, it is the politics of their own streetscapes that brings individual passions to the fore.

When Crankie Frankie stripped away the rights of residents and ratepayers to have any effective say in most local development decisions, he crossed a bridge to far.
One which is likely to cost Labor at the next election.

Premier Rees is obviously hoping that with Sartor gone, NSW voters will forget about those draconian planning reforms.

He is perhaps being overly optimistic, especially in coastal electorates where development pressure is fast stripping local identity away and leaving behind a generic 'retirement and tourism zone'.

Brendan Nelson stuns this mullet

Federal Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson was on the ABC TV The Insiders program yesterday morning.

A minute or two into the interview he left me looking like a stunned mullet accidentally beached on the living room carpet, when I heard him calmly suggest interfering in state politics to the extent of finding the means to call an early election in New South Wales three years ahead of the end of this government's term.

Here is what he said:
"Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says he will examine the constitutional arrangements in New South Wales to see if there is any chance of an early election."

Brendan, that strange hairstyle you sport must be eating through to your brain.
It is not up to any federal pollie to look for ways to wreck a state government or to assist others to do so, no matter how deeply concerned that political lowlife allegedly feels.

21 Economic Models explained with Cows - 2008 update

Clarrie Rivers admits this is not his original work.

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows.
No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you
want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a
Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.

Official Lyne & Mayo federal by-election results and WA state election results

For those who like to know the exact details, here are the current numbers for the Lyne federal by-election on the NSW Mid-North Coast and Mayo federal by-election in South Australia, as well as the current figures for the West Australian state election 2008.

• Mayo [Updated: 6/09/2008 9:16:08 PM]
• Lyne [Updated: 6/09/2008 8:09:44 PM]

WA State Electoral Commission updated results here.

The ABC's Antony Green breakdown of polling results here.

Newly independent former Nationals Rob Oakshott romps home in Lyne, Liberals look like winning Mayo and Labor is being trounced in WA but the final outcome still a cliffhanger at this point.

WARNING, WARNING! Digital world domination attempt underway??

Gizmodo sounds a bell about Google's new Chrome browser:

Here are the juicy bits in question:

11. Content license from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license...............

Why in the hell would Google want ownership of every single blog post or email written in its browser? It's so unreasonable that it borders on the insane. [my emphasis]

Is Google Inc. is developing the same delusions of grandeur as US multinational Monsanto or is this just a sensible commercial decision.

You decide.