A tale about three Aussie Test Cricketers on debut

Ben Hilfenhaus

Making their first appearances in Test cricket, Australians Phillip Hughes, Marcus North and Ben Hilfenhaus made very different contributions to the team's effort in the First Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

Opening the innings and taking strike, Hughes lasted just four balls before throwing his wicket away with a stroke that is best forgotten.

North had a dream start to Test cricket. He scored 117 and became just the 18th Australian cricketer to post a century on debut.

Hilfenhaus, picked for his bowling and not his batting, didn't trouble the scorers and was dismissed first ball for a golden duck. However, he showed his 'goods' soon after when he took a wicket with the second ball he bowled in Test Cricket.

At the end of Day 2 Australia is well positioned.
Scores: Australia 466, South Africa 85/3

Yamba at night

Yamba at night - a pic of the roundabout near Yamba's Fountain on the Mountain

(aka the Pacific Hotel)

Pic - thanks to Joe Damage on Flickr

When did you last see a Flame Robin?

Flame Robin at Birds Australia

The NSW North Coast is in the enviable position of being at the meeting between the upper range of southern birds and the lower range of northern birds found in eastern Australia.
This sometimes disguises the fact that biodiversity in the Northern Rivers is also affected by loss of habitat, particularly the clearing of forest cover in our region and the loss of wetlands both here and across the state.

Birds Australia has released its report The State of Australia's Birds 2008 (SOAB).

Birds to watch

Birds to watch, identified by the declining population trends in this report, include: migratory waders such as the Eastern Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper and Latham’s Snipe; resident waders such as Black-winged Stilt, Red-necked Avocet, and Banded and Masked Lapwings; resident coastal species such as the Fairy Tern and Hooded Plover; woodland insectivores such as the Hooded Robin and Jacky Winter; specialised forest and heathland species such as the Western Ground Parrot,whipbirds, bristlebirds and scrub-birds; mallee species such as the Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo and Malleefowl (also the Black-eared Miner); and forest birds such as the Swift Parrot. Pelagic species of concern include the Wandering Albatross and Flesh-footed Shearwater. In addition, upland species (reported on in SOAB 2007 as disappearing from lower parts of their ranges) may be at most immediate risk from climate change; they include the Red-browed Treecreeper, Golden Bowerbird, Mountain Thornbill, Grey-headed Robin and Chowchilla. Data are lacking on other species of concern including the Australasian Bittern and several northern ground-feeders. While the numbers of some of these species are still good nationally, they are falling. For threatened endemic species, such as the heathland birds and Swift Parrot, the declining trends are cause for alarm.

Full report.

Birds Australia wildlife rescue webpage showing how you can help wildlife affected by bushfire.

Saturday's grab bag

As sometimes happens a couple of North Coast Voices authors are off in parts unknown or down and out with a lurgy.
So I'm posting a few links that might keep readers up to date on a few issues:

The Monsanto blog is currently taking exception to 10 Reasons Why We Don't Need GM Food.
The biotech monolith is also on Twitter now as MonsantoCo.

Malcolm Truffles Turnbull unsuccessfully tried a censure motion against the Federal Minister for Defence over the SAS pay bungle.
Joel Fitzgibbon answers on this issue and the Department of Defence sends out a media release.
And yesterday The Australian went with a pay slip which is now in dispute.

The whaling debate continues in the American media which reports Japan's heavy handed approach to Japanese Greenpeace members and Australian Federal Police board the Steve Irwin on its return from Antarctic waters.

The Clarence Valley sends goods and cattle fodder south to communities and farmers in Victorian bushfire areas.

Getup! gets into Rudd Government over its proposed emissions trading scheme.

The Far North Coaster reports that; "The second combined exhibition featuring works from graduating Southern Cross University and TAFE visual arts students will be on show in Lismore from March 3 until March 21."

The Daily Examiner reports on the cost of Clarence Valley localized flooding this month.

Nitpicking Obama's speech

President Obama's speech to the U.S. Congress last Wednesday earned him a few positive reviews in the mainstream media.

The U.K. The Guardian thought that; He received widespread plaudits for a speech in which he discarded the soaring rhetoric of the campaign trail and adopted a more even pace, setting out details of how he would help the country out of recession, possibly as early as next year.

Certainly Obama appears to have had a small bounce in his job approval ratings recently (61 per cent on 24 February) after a steady drop since his inauguration and, I expect that lines like; "Tonight, I want every American to know this: we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," will go down well across America and keep his rating steady.

However, there is always someone to prick that political bubble and, as always FactCheck gives this speech the once over with sometimes amusing results:

President Obama's first speech to a joint session of Congress was stuffed with signals about the new direction his budget will take and meant-to-be reassuring words about the economy. But it was also peppered with exaggerations and factual misstatements.

• He said "we import more oil today than ever before." That's untrue. Imports peaked in 2005 and are substantially lower today.
  
• He claimed his mortgage aid plan would help "responsible" buyers but not those who borrowed beyond their means. But even prominent defenders of the program including Fed Chairman Bernanke and FDIC chief Bair concede foolish borrowers will be aided, too.
  
• He said the high cost of health care "causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds." That's at least double the true figure.
  
• He flubbed two facts about American history. The U.S. did not invent the automobile, and the transcontinental railroad was not completed until years after the Civil War, not during it.
  
• He claimed that his stimulus plan "prevented the layoffs" of 57 police officers in Minneapolis. In fact, it's far more complicated than that, and other factors are also helping to save police jobs.

The president also repeated some strained claims we've critiqued before.

Full FactCheck analysis here.

Don't forget to count the silver as he leaves.........

It's finally been announced that Sol Trujillo is quitting as Telstra's CEO in June 2009, after a less than stellar career which also saw him receive salary packages which turned many an Aussie corporate type green with envy:
Notwithstanding his substantial wealth, the Telstra board authorised payments to Trujillo of $8.7 million in 2006, $11.78 million in 2007 and $13.39 million in 2008 (Trujillo's 2009 remuneration will be revealed later this year). Remarkably, Trujillo also managed to receive between 86 and 88 percent of his short-term cash bonus in any of those three years, despite Telstra's share price underperforming rivals such as AT&T and SingTel.
Here in the Northern Rivers Telstra's mobile phone service is still patchy, Big Pond internet connections frequently don't operate at advertised speeds and retirees who included telecommunications stock as part of their nest egg are severely disappointed because Telstra share prices went down under Trujillo and stayed there.
When Sol left US West Communications he was said to have walked away with a cool US $72 million in his pocket.
We don't know how much Sol will get in his latest golden handshake, but will someone please count the family silver as he exits the country.

Monsanto According To Monsanto: no blog is too big or small, we read all of them

No blog is too big or small, we read all of them says Monsanto on its new blog Monsanto According to Monsanto.

On the first post by Kathleen our blog North Coast Voices gets not one but two links within the text.

So if all blogs are read - does someone also go out on behalf of Monsanto and take notes at any protest rally or town meeting?

Spin Watch tells us a little about corporate strategy in relation to the Internet.
Source Watch tells a similar story and Gene Watch records Monsanto's alleged attempts to deceive as well as quotes a section of the book Don't Worry, It's Safe to Eat .

Kathleen may like to think that she is the 'nice' face of a 'good' company.
Sadly for Kathleen I am too old to for fall for the froth and spin, when court transcripts and research papers (some discussed elsewhere on North Coast Voices) tell of a socially and environmentally irresponsible, destructive multinational who doesn't give a toss about the rest of the world.

Graphic is Kathleen's avatar

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

Clarence Valley Council gets one decision right and another so very, very wrong

Maclean protestors with Nikki Holmes in the foreground.

Picture: The Daily Examiner

Reported in The Daily Examiner on Wednesday:

RESIDENTS of Maclean will wake up this morning sure of two things. The Maclean carpark is not for sale and the debate is finally over.

After months of heated debate within the community, at last night's council meeting councillors Tiley, Hughes, Dinham, Comben and Howe voted down the rescission motion that called for the carpark debate to be re-opened.

Their actions have effectively closed the door on any plans the council had to sell or lease the carpark to developers for the construction of a full sized supermarket on the site.

“I just think democracy prevailed,” Bruce Apps of Maclean said following the decision.

Another Maclean resident at the meeting, Jean Everson was also pleased with the result.

“I'm very thankful that our local councillors stuck to their word from the November meeting,” Mrs Everson said.

“We're third generation in Maclean and we don't want public land sold in this town.”

Unfortunately Clarence Valley Council also voted to continue with the urban development of natural flood storage land at West Yamba vulnerable to innundation and bushfire, when it endorsed the latest West Yamba Local Environmental Plan.

This move by councillors is not surprising given the estimated $7.3 million involvement of Billabong owner Gordon Merchant and the relentless political pressure brought to bear by local developers in the Mitchell family.

When Yamba feels the full effect of less adjoining land to absorb flood water, when more people may need to evacuate over a single narrow bridge due to adverse weather events or bushfire due to climate change, the names Merchant and Mitchell will be mud amongst residents.

Followed by the names of all those councillors and council staff who continued to push this development in the face of known risks.

Unfortunately, under the leadership of Nationals protégée Mayor Richie Williamson, this council thinks that throwing one sop to the Lower Clarence offsets the environmental and social vandalism it is advocating for West Yamba.
Even former mayor Ian Tiley appears to have lost his way in relation to the big picture.

No level of government in Australia is taking the potential impact of climate change (on the 7 kilometre-wide coastal edge of the continent) seriously.
The posturing and prevarication is bordering on a lack of care for coastal communities.

Who's to blame for all that hot air?

Every so often the teev features an advert advising us all to eat less meat in the name of combating global warming. Go Veg! it exhorts.
It appears that cows are being blamed for releasing enormous amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
Indeed one Andy Thorpe "an economist at the University of Portsmouth, found a herd of 200 cows can produce annual emissions of methane roughly equivalent in energy terms to driving a family car more than 100,000 miles (180,000km) on more than four gallons (21,400 litres) of petrol."
Fair enough, but what about the average bloke and blokette?
How many times do we all pass the wind around each day and how much nitrogen, carbon dioxide and methane does this represent?

This is what population numbers looked like on Monday:
World 6,762,457,963
16:20 GMT (EST+5) Feb 23, 2009
Multiply this total by a factor of at least 10-14 'incidents' per day per person and that's a lot of hot air rising.
And what about all those sewerage treatment plants and sanitary landfill sites - how much methane do they produce globally?
I'm betting that cows are getting a run for their money from humans in the personal greenhouse gas stakes.
So I won't be giving Bessie a kick next time I pass her grazing paddock.
As for that irritating advert - meat is a luxury for most of the world anyway and I can hardly eat less than I do already.

A hole in Conroy's censorship net?

The Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, attended a Senate estimates committee hearing last Monday 23 February 2009.

Quite rightly much has been made of his continuing refusal to rule out censoring legal but 'unwanted' content if the Rudd Government's national mandatory ISP-level Internet filtering scheme is implemented.

However, there is another little gem in Monday's transcript of the Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts: Estimates which indicates that Conroy's proposed vastly expanded blacklist may be vulnerable at the outset:

Senator MINCHIN—I do not mean any criticism by this, because I think it is beyond your control, but there is another issue that I want to raise with you. It has been drawn to my attention that primarily because in answering this complaint by email you obviously referred to the site in question, which is understandable, the complainant, as I understand it, made the address of that site widely available via the publication of your email. Are you concerned that that is a significant flaw in your very worthy and, I think, comprehensive endeavours to ensure that the blacklist itself is not published or made available more widely than is absolutely necessary?

Ms O'Loughlin—That is a difficult question. In general, we were disappointed that that was distributed further, but we do not have the capacity to stop a complainant from making their complaint public.

Senator MINCHIN—But do you acknowledge that this is potentially a major hole in the security of the contents of the blacklist?

Ms O'Loughlin—In many respects, our main concern is the totality of the blacklist. That is something that we are distributing and we can make sure that there are appropriate security provisions in place for it. I think it is difficult for us then to take a step further and require complainants to keep their complaints to themselves. They know the consequences of the listing. We are disappointed by it, but it is difficult for us to do much more than encourage people not to distribute those things much further.

Senator Conroy—Just to clarify: this is the existing blacklist under the existing law that was in place for most of the period of the former government. It is the existing blacklist and the existing law that we are having a discussion about.

Senator MINCHIN—Yes, I accept that, Minister. I also accept that, if there is a loophole here, it has existed for some time, but perhaps it is just now being exploited. So is not an offence in any way, under any law or regulation, for anybody to publish a site, a page or whatever it is that has been blacklisted as a result of a complaint made.

It is evident that Senator Conroy will have to broaden his censorship net to make it unlawful for correspondence with the Australian Communications and Media Authority to be published, if he doesn't want any part of his precious blacklist to be leaked.
It appears likely that that he is be considering this option.

There is no end to the stupidity flowing from the Rudd-Conroy Great Firewall of Australia.

Twittering the Internet censorship protest continues

The Fake Stephen Conroy was still enjoying the banter last week.

stephenconroy Got science boffins looking into The Secret; apparently thinking about kiddie p#rn (and bicycles) can manifest kiddie p#rn (and bicycles). about 11 hours ago from twitterrific

jonseymour @stephenconroy does that make you a manifestation of someone's worst nightmare? about 11 hours ago from twitterrific in reply to stephenconroy

Pic from Agmates.com and apologies to Jon for the # edit. The Administrator made me do it!

And here comes Hartsuyker trailing in the rear....

Since he was turfed from the government benches along with his Coalition mates in 2007, Nationals MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker has suddenly discovered the lives of ordinary Northern Rivers folk.
Surprise, surprise; this month he's noticed that single pensioners are doing it tough and has to tell the world about it.
Pity about the timing - his media release (and its beaut go at rewriting a little slice of history) lost much of its punch once Tony Abbott opened his mouth.
Luke now looks less like a self-styled local hero and more like the meat in the sandwich, as mainstream media records the difference of opinion between Truffles and the Mad Monk.
ABC Mid North Coast Radio News this week:
"The federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, says the Nationals remain committed to raising the single aged pension.
Opposition families spokesman Tony Abbott appeared to be pulling away from supporting a payment increase after telling 2GB radio that the increase was not viable.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull then issued a statement calling on the Government to raise the pension.
Mr Hartsuyker says the change would bring Australia into line with key OECD countries.
"The Nationals are absolutely committed to raising the single aged pension by $30," he said.
"We have a situation where single aged pensioners are doing it particularly tough. It's important that they receive a pension that is around two-thirds of the married rate.
"In many countries around the world that is the status that exists. It is vitally important we support our single aged pensioners."

A Hartsuyker staffer also sent out a media release which was passed on to me this week by Clarencegirl.
It seems Luke is also hot under the collar over the coming redistribution of federal electorates in NSW which will see one seat go.
He's called on "North Coast residents to oppose any plan to reduce the number of Federal seats which exist in regional New South Wales".
As no North Coast electorates are affected by this redistribution, what little electoral gerrymander or two are we being asked to help create elsewhere?
He says he wants a Sydney seat to disappear - presumably one held by Labor's Murphy or Plibersek.
Or could his plea be a move to protect a couple of Lib MPs in Gilmore and Macarthur?

Pauline Plant of Yamba - finalist for NSW Woman of the Year

Pauline Plant, the creator of the Yamba Breast Cancer Support Group and Breast awareness program, is one of 10 finalists for the NSW Woman of the Year Award.

Earlier this year Mrs Plant was announced as the 2009 Clarence Valley Citizen of the Year.

The finalists for the Woman of the Year Award were chosen from 87 nominations with the winner to be announced on International Women's Day on March 5.

The other nominees are:

Layne Beachley - former world champion surfer

Cheryl Koenig - author

Patricia Johnson - State Emergency Service volunteer

Rozita Leoni - Eastern Sydney community worker

Wendy McCarthy - former University of Canberra chancellor

Jan Savage - Cancer Care Western NSW fundraising coordinator

Sue Ismiel - philanthropist

Rhonda French - a Wiradjuri woman, who voluntarily promotes positive health, education and cultural programs

Ana Tiwary - Vice-president of Women in Film and Television

Pic from The Daily Examiner

Dolphins at play, Iluka NSW

Photographs by Mike Litzow displayed at his blog

Once In A Lifetime.

The adventures of Mike, Alisa and young Elias on the sailboat Pelagic.

An object lesson for Senator Conroy.........

In December last year the BBC One Watchdog program outed legal firm Davenport Lyons for sending threatening letters to individuals with home internet connections (operating open WiFi networks) demanding sums in the vicinity of £500-£600 for alleged infringement of copyright.

These letters of demand were adamant that copyright breaches had occurred, even though it later found that it was in the wrong because either the downloading was proven not to have occurred on the PC in question or the stated IP addresses were incomplete or fake.

Now Davenport Lyons went so far as to make application to the UK High Court to start this extortion-like process off and it quickly descended into the ridiculous:

15. At 8:50pm on 08 Dec 2008, ebvjb45 wrote:

I also received one of these letters accusing me of uploading and making available a po*rn film called ************. As a happily married pensioner of 64 years old I ask you!. After plowing through the documentation I spotted one or two items that are either missing or incorrect.
It would appear that although they have my full postal address they do not have my name! The letter and documentation is addressed by name to ?Provider, Royal Mail Holdings PLC? If they do not use my name or appear to know it how on earth can they carry out any threats of court actions?
For me they list that the upload was done using three different IP Addresses, but all at the same time! As I understand it, my ISP issues me with single new IP address dynamically each time I reconnect to the internet (NOT THREE). As I use an ADSL Network Router that IP Address remains allocated to me till I switch off the router or disconnect it from the telephone line. The router is left switched on for weeks at a time. This throws some doubts on their data gathering reliability.
Doing a Google search on the name Davenport Lyons brings up some interesting facts about this company. After reading the comments about them and their ways of doing things I am certainly not going to be paying them a settlement. I will wait till they try to take me to court and fight it there.
Needless to say I have not seen this video, downloaded it or uploaded it.

It would have been most useful had Watchdog named the Lawyer who is representing the 400 people who received these demand letters, as I would like to make that figure up to 401 with my name. [Quote has been edited to avoid blocking by filters]

This law firm is apparently threatening Wikileaks for online publishing an example of the questionable letter of demand.

This is what Wikileaks has additionally published concerning how Davenport Lyons 'found' its information:

The legal threat letters themselves contain a hash value, and IP address and a time stamp that is being used as evidence – flimsy evidence according to many people who have observed the legal side of file-sharing. The reason it is seen as flimsy is that a filename can be called anything and still have the same hash value. Second of all, there is no evidence provided that verified that the file name matched what the actual work was. For all we know, it could have been a 5 minute porn clip rather than a music video. Thirdly, there's no evidence to suggest that an IP address is linked to an individual. The computer could be used by someone other than the owner of the connection. There could be a wifi connection that other users, including unauthorized ones, could be using that IP address. Finally, a time stamp doesn't contribute much into proving that a copyrighted work has been uploaded. The alleged incident in question happened over BitTorrent, but no website was given, so who really knows where the evidence was gathered in the first place?

A Davenport Lyons letter threatening the whistleblower with legal action was sent out this month.

This may be a response to the fact that it appears that Which? consumer group is now taking Davenport Lyons to court.

As the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, pursues his plan to censor the Internet in an effort to meet the corporate aims of both the IT security and entertainment industries he should perhaps ponder what bullying monsters he might be letting loose on Australian society.

Particularly as the Federal Government's own agency ACMA is operating in almost complete secrecy in creating its blacklist.

Senator Conroy may give assurances that the government will not be pursuing Internet account holders who appear to breach the ISP-level filter (if such a scheme is implemented), but there is no assurance that the client information which would have to be held by these ISPs will not be abused in the future.

Did you know Australia has a National Continence Management Strategy?

Did you know Australia has a National Continence Management Strategy?
I didn't.
It seems we even have a strategy website - The National Public Toilet Map.
In my younger days families often motored around the state on the basis of Golden Fleece petrol stations, but now they can follow the dunnies.
Bet you can't get those kids passports with visa stamps for each one visited though!
And for once New South Wales leads at something besides bad government.

Show toilets in:
Aust. Capital Territory (187)
New South Wales (4538)
Northern Territory (207)
Queensland (2992)
South Australia (1296)
Tasmania (718)
Victoria (3655)
Western Australia (1777)

Pic from Google Images

Sack this senator! Censorship protest digital billboard

If only..................................

Walking on the wildside: GMO transgenes found in wild maize

Evidence of the irresponsible nature of the biotechnology industry in general and Monsanto in particular.

Molecular Ecology:

A possible consequence of planting genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in centres of crop origin is unintended gene flow into traditional landraces.

In 2001, a study reported the presence of the transgenic 35S promoter in maize landraces sampled in 2000 from the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Analysis of a large sample taken from the same region in 2003 and 2004 could not confirm the existence of transgenes, thereby casting doubt on the earlier results.

These two studies were based on different sampling and analytical procedures and are thus hard to compare. Here, we present new molecular data for this region that confirm the presence of transgenes in three of 23 localities sampled in 2001.

Transgene sequences were not detected in samples taken in 2002 from nine localities, while directed samples taken in 2004 from two of the positive 2001 localities were again found to contain transgenic sequences.

These findings suggest the persistence or re-introduction of transgenes up until 2004 in this area.

We address variability in recombinant sequence detection by analyzing the consistency of current molecular assays.

We also present theoretical results on the limitations of estimating the probability of transgene detection in samples taken from landraces.

The inclusion of a limited number of female gametes and, more importantly, aggregated transgene distributions may significantly lower detection probabilities.

Our analytical and sampling considerations help explain discrepancies among different detection efforts, including the one presented here, and provide considerations for the establishment of monitoring protocols to detect the presence of transgenes among structured populations of landraces.

This is not the first time transgenes have been found in the wild as GMO seed dispersal also leads to engineered seed establishing itself amid original species and cross-pollinating, as appears to be the case in relation to certain grasses.

Thanks to Balneus for pointing me in the direction of this information.

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

Sometimes the Internet is so.....

Here I was paddling about the pond thinking that I was looking as handsome as any other duck.
Then I entered Wealth benchmarks International and found that my plumage ranking was in the bottom 3% of all Aussie ducks.
Now I don't know whether to be depressed at the sad state of my feathers or glad that so few people share my fate.
Perhaps I should give Joe Hockey a ring........

Australian National Day of Mourning, 22 February 2009

Marysville, Victoria, before the February 2009 bushfires razed the town

“February 7 will become etched in our national memory as a day of disaster, of death and of mourning and it is very important that the nation grieves,”
“The National Day of Mourning will allow us all an opportunity to honour those who lost their lives in the fires, support those who have suffered and recognise the work of our emergency services.
"This day will give all Australians the chance to reflect and remember this terrible tragedy, as an important step in rebuilding these communities." [Hon. Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia]

Memorial Service details

Are anti-terrorism laws beginning to quietly unravel?

Perhaps countries like Australia, who post-9/11 rushed headlong into drafting draconian anti-terrorism legislation, will now think again about the troublesome law created and the impact this has on the health of individuals, well being of families and justice within society.

The European Commission of Human Rights issued this media release last Thursday concerning the application of 11 individuals (six of Algerian nationality; four respectively, of French, Jordanian, Moroccan and Tunisian nationality; and, one, born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, being stateless).

Although compensation mentioned is relatively small, it represents another step in addressing the issue of bad law.

The European Court of Human Rights has today delivered at a public hearing its Grand Chamber judgment¹ in the case of A. and Others v. the United Kingdom (application no. 3455/05).

The case concerned the applicants' complaints that they were detained in high security conditions under a statutory scheme which permitted the indefinite detention of non-nationals certified by the Secretary of State as suspected of involvement in terrorism.

The Court held unanimously that there had been:

· no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment) taken alone or in conjunction with Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of all the applicants, except the Moroccan applicant whose complaints under these articles were declared inadmissible;

· a violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention in respect of all the applicants, except the Moroccan and French applicants who had elected to leave the United Kingdom, since it could not be said that the applicants were detained with a view to deportation and since, as the House of Lords had found, the derogating measures which permitted their indefinite detention on suspicion of terrorism discriminated unjustifiably between nationals and non-nationals;

· a violation of Article 5 § 4 (right to have lawfulness of detention decided by a court) in respect of two of the Algerian applicants, the stateless and Tunisian applicants, because they had not been able effectively to challenge the allegations against them; and,

· a violation of Article 5 § 5 in respect of all the applicants, except the Moroccan and French applicants, on account of the lack of an enforceable right to compensation for the above violations.

The Court made awards under Article 41 (just satisfaction) which were substantially lower than those which it had made in past cases of unlawful detention, in view of the fact that the detention scheme was devised in the face of a public emergency and as an attempt to reconcile the need to protect the United Kingdom public against terrorism with the obligation not to send the applicants back to countries where they faced a real risk of ill-treatment. The Court therefore awarded, to the six Algerian applicants 3,400 euros (EUR), EUR 3,900, EUR 3,800, EUR 3,400, EUR 2,500 and EUR 1,700, respectively; to the stateless and Tunisian applicants EUR 3,900, each; and to the Jordanian applicant, EUR 2,800. The applicants were jointly awarded EUR 60,000 for legal costs. (The judgment is available in English and French.)

Full copy of summary here.

Fairies union flies to the rescue?

Bet Crickey had fun typing this one:

"Production on the childrens' television series Fairies, which airs on Channel Seven, has halted. The series is filmed in Adelaide, it follows the adventures of fairies Harmony, Rhapsody and their magical friends. It was meant to go back into production last week but when the producers got wind that the fairies wanted a union agreement production was halted. The fairies' union is taking legal action.

I'm clapping for Tinkerbelle - how 'bout you?

Terminology matters when you are trying to pick a fight

I have seen a number of amusing comments of late attached to posts concerning the nature of 'blogging' or the content of specific blogs. Some of these observations have been marred by confusing word use.

As Meg Pickard created a nice definition table some time back, I though I would post it here for the edification of the totally confused.

Clean up Australia Day 1st March 2009

It's Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday 1st March 2009 and up and down the NSW North Coast people are starting to organise their participation in keeping our little patch of paradise environmentally sound.

So if you are interested, go to Cleanup.org and look for a place nearby where locals will be gathering to volunteer for a worthwhile working bee that weekend.

Another low-life email scam

In our electronic global village it won't be long before this email surfaces again in Australia.

According to Network World on Monday:
"You've been let go. Click here to register for severance pay. " With the economy in the state it is in now, people are afraid for their jobs and criminals are taking advantage of that fear, said Rubinoff. A common tactic includes sending an email to employees that looks like it is from the employer. The message appears to relay news that requires a quick response.
"It can be an email that appears to be from HR that says: 'You have been let go due to a layoff. If you wish to register for severance please register here,' and includes a malicious link."
No one wants to be the person that causes problems in this economy, so any email that appears to be from an employer will likely elicit a response, noted Rubinoff. Lares' Nickerson has also seen cons that use fake employer emails.
"It might say, 'In an effort to cut costs, we are sending W-2 forms electronically this year,'" said Nickerson"
* Eight other scams are here.

Internet charges: Court hands Berlin second warning

Court hands Berlin second warning
The Daily Examiner, 20th February 2009













Update:
According to The Daily Examiner on 13 May 2009:

Poor, poor Malcolm has the leadership blues...

It has been a hard few days for the Leader of the Liberal Party and the Loyal Opposition, Malcolm Bligh Turnbull.

He now has Joe Hockey as Shadow-Treasurer and the gaffes have already begun:

"The market has made everyday Australians richer than they have ever been, even with this economic downturn,"

Cory Bernardi showed a stubborn streak and wouldn't publicly bend the knee to his leader.

Tony Abbot decided that single pensioners should continue to go without.

Confirming his view of a fortnight ago:

Of course, pensioners do it tough. And yes, I have never had to live on the pension and would need to change my life in order to do so. Still, is simply increasing the pension necessarily the best way to go given that pensioners in their own home are much better off, in practice, that those that aren’t. There is always a host of worthy causes that taxpayers’ money might be spent on. The question is what’s best at this time. I reckon that spending that improves the economy makes more sense right now, in the bad times, than spending which improves the social infrastructure.

Peter Costello is obviously enjoying the leadership speculation at Malcolm's expense.

Then John Winston Howard gave his leadership the kiss of death by endorsing it.

It must be remembered that Howard endorsed Brendan Nelson in much the same manner just before he lost the top job to Turnbull.

Still, Malcolm can always go home and hideout with his blogging dogs.

Afghan Metrics: how's the war going then?

Afghanistan October 2001 from Google Images

Found in Wikileaks:

This important, high-level document, from 14 Jan 2009, presents 12 slides of graphs, maps, statistics and text about the war in Afghanistan. It was prepared by the Pentagon (CENTCOM), under the imprimatur of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan and written at the For Official Use Only level. The document is formally titled "Metrics Brief, 2007-2008".

The documents reveals, among other matters, that the yearly civilian death toll increased during 2008 by 40% to 46%, the number of attacks on the "Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" (GIRoA), increased by 116%, surface to Air Fire by 67%, and that Improvised Explosive Device (IED) device casualties increased by 29%.

Download PDF here

Last week in the media:

KABUL (AFP) — US President Barack Obama has accepted Kabul's request to be part of a major review of US strategy in the "war on terror" in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai and a US envoy said Sunday.

KABUL, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Afghanistan condemned on Friday the killing of civilians in a raid by Australian soldiers in the south of the country which it says was not coordinated with Afghan forces. The Australian Defence Force said five children had been killed in a shootout between Taliban insurgents and Australian Special Forces in southern Uruzgan province on Thursday, where they were "clearing" a number of compounds. The Afghan Defence Ministry said one woman and two children were killed and eight other people wounded in the attack.

__________________________

While the dead in Iraq continue to mount:

Iraq Body Count (civilian deaths)

Faces of the Fallen (US defence forces)

FOUND: an virtual office assistant for Stephen Mayne

I have been watching Stephen Mayne's progress as a shareholder activist on and off for some time now and reading his Mayne report whenever I remember.
He certainly writes a mountain of letters and emails. I stand in awe at the sheer volume over the years. What a ripper!
I've been wondering how he is managing to keep up with his multi-tasking since he also became a Manningham city councillor and I think I have the perfect solution for those times when there aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with the correspondence.
Cranky Old Man Letters - an online automated letter-writing program for emails addressed to Fortune 500 companies. This could be just the ticket.
Here is a copy of one online letter generated for emailing to Monsanto:

Varian Louisa
4022 Socialite Blvd.
Kansas, IL 61933
February 18, 2009

Hugh Grant
Monsanto
800 N. Lindbergh Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63167

Good Evening:

The last time I was at Monsanto I decided that I was not going to take it anymore and I urinated on the immature floor in the lobby.
In the winter of 1953 below the 36th Parallel, I was with Company P and me and my buddy Daruka (also from Kansas) were freezing our GMOs off.
Charlie was everywhere.
All we had to eat was a can of turnips and only 36 bullets between us. I made it through that ordeal, but Daruka didn't.

I fought for our freedom and I am not going to take anymore from you guys over there in St. Louis. Trollop Monsanto!
I have to stop writing this shonky letter. I just misleading peed all over my hellish slacks because I am choking on my own anger while writing this letter.
Are you happy now. All of my problems in my life are because of Hugh Grant and his group of hot c*#ks over there at Monsanto.

Our economy is falling apart and you have the f@cking nerve to charge me for this damaged service! Eat A D#ck! If you think I am going to bail your multinationals out like the government, you better get bent.
I expect a apology from Monsanto before next Monday. I want it written on your official company letterhead and signed by Hugh Grant personally.
Do not send me some garbage written by an assistant. You will be hearing from my lawyer.

With My Compliments,

Varian Louisa

Neighbours Fear Mr Billabong Could Play Eye Spy

Billabong founder Gordon Merchant has, apparently, upset his neighbours in the northern NSW surfside village of Angourie.

Merchant's new home - oops! correction, that should read 'MANSION' - at Angourie, which is estimated to be worth $12 million, has a video camera installed on a two-metre tower. Apparently, the camera will be used to check out the nearby surf but some of Merchant's neighbours are not so sure about that.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reports that Merchant's mansion covers four house blocks at the Pacific Parade property, just south of Yamba.

A letter sent to The Gold Coast Bulletin outlined residents' concerns over the camera that will sit atop the roof of the three-storey beach house.

"We residents feel our privacy infringed, as this camera peers into our living and bedrooms 24 hours a day," said the local, who wished to remain anonymous.

Residents also believe the pole is above height restrictions for the area.

Clarence Valley Council Mayor Richie Williamson confirmed the council had received complaints.

"There will be a camera on top of his house but there have been investigations into that and it wasn't above any height limits," he said.

The man who founded the international clothing and accessories company Billabong on the Gold Coast in 1973 is worth an estimated $805 million and he has had a long association with Angourie and Yamba in northern NSW.

Mr Merchant has invested heavily in real estate in the towns and his helicopter is often seen flying into Yamba.

While most locals welcome his involvement and the building of the massive mansion, which has provided a good kick-along to local tradesmen, it seems not all have been won over.

Photo credit: Brendan Radke, The Gold Coast Bulletin, 19/2/09

Monsanto related environmental and health risks lead to court case - again

According to The Madison St Clair Record last week:

A group of Illinois residents who live in or near Sauget have filed a class-action lawsuit over the release of various hazardous substances that they claim has created a severe health risk and has contaminated their properties.

Lead class plaintiffs Vernon Lee Anderson Sr., Ernestine Lawrence, Katie Burnett-Smith, Martha Emily Young, Marcella Phillips and Bernice Laverne Collins argue that three release sites - a 90-acre landfill operated by Sauget and Co., a 314-acre W.G. Krummrich Plant and property owned by Cerro Flow Products - have released PCBs and other various substances, including dioxins and furans, into the atmosphere for more than 70 years.

Residents fear they will develop a deadly disease from the PCBs, which have been shown to result in toxic effects in the brain and nervous system and in low birth rates and birth defects.

"According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a lifetime dose of one milligram of PCBs is sufficient to cause cancer and other serious and life-threatening diseases," the suit filed Feb. 10 in St. Clair County Circuit Court states. "According to the World Health Organization, there is not safe level of exposure to PCBs."

Dioxins and furans are also known to be dangerous and to create significant health problems through inhalation, ingestion, dermal absorption and ingestion of homegrown produce.

In addition to the health risk, the residents claim the PCBs have contaminated property within a two-mile radius of the release sites, waterways and groundwater, the suit states.

The releases began after the W.G. Krummrich Plant, which is also referred to as the Monsanto Facility in the complaint, began producing, storing and disposing of PCBs at its facility, the residents claim.

In fact, "more PCBs were produced at the Monsanto Facility than at any other site in the United States, and perhaps even the free world," the suit states.

This Sauget flood plain region is well-known to the US Environmental Protection Agency and Monsanto had previously entered a negotiated settlement with the State of illinois.

Fox River Watch has a history of PCB health problems in the US here.

And with a corporate history like that Monsanto (along with the other biotech multinationals now operating here) expects Australians to take its word that the genetically modified crop types it is pushing onto often unwilling communities will do no harm?
Show us the longitudinal studies which scientifically demonstrate this, Monsanto.

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

Six Nervous Pollies or Where will NSW lose its next federal electorate in 2009?

In December 2008 Malcolm McKerras predicted that the NSW electorates of Gilmore and Throsby would possibly merge in any 2009 redistribution.
In February 2009 Antony Green is tipping; "Fowler and Macarthur are currently the NSW electorates with the lowest total enrolment and therefore subject to amalgamation, not Gilmore and Throsby. However, if the branch of Sydney Harbour known as Iron Cove is ignored and the boundary viewed as contigous, then any mini-redistribution on current numbers would see Lowe and Sydney amalgamated."
The Australian Electoral Commission has begun the lengthy redistribution process.
So which pollie will have to go?
And does this mean that we have avoided a politically expedient early federal election push by the government of the day or an opposition trying to scare us with the threat of one?

Bellingen flooding pictures

NSW North Coast flooding at Bellingen over the last two days. Photographs from The Bellingen Shire Courier Sun, ABC News and Pip Wilson posting at Flickr



Meanwhile Lord Howe Island which trades with the NSW North Coast is bracing itself for winds, strong seas and some flash flooding as Category 1 Tropical Cyclone Innis downgrades to an intense low.

Who is Zussino? What is he

Who is Zussino? What is he
That all the world offends him?
[with apologies to W. Shakespeare]

It seems that the NSW North Coast has for years had a phantom letter writer and Internet troll on the premises as it were.

What is interesting about this individual is that he presents himself as many different people; including a knight of the realm, doctor, former police or military officer and even whimsically changes gender in print to add a little more variety.

The number of names he uses is mounting so fast that they have to be counted on both hands, his known blogger pen names are also growing and email addresses are multiplying like rabbits.

It is not only local newspapers but also the national media who sometimes get caught out by these false persona.
It was amusing to find that in the past the Australian Press Council actually considered a complaint about one of these alternative identities.

Now as Net Mum it rather looks like he is at it again and this time it is North Coast Voices in his sights:

Watching this Aussie High Brow Attempt at Comment for the past 4 moinths leaves one feeling that we really would not like to be part of tis fanciful sewing circle, aka The Ultimate Bitchiness Society. Despite some decent intellects obvious among the snall madding crowd they NEVER hesitate to put the Slipper Into One of their Own if someone believes its time they were simply taken down a peg ot two. No other reason. Whush in goes the boot to remind the person copping the Doc Marten in the RibCage that these are "The Latte Drinkers with the Degrees from very small Obscure Universities" and if they do not take a shine to you, or you are ill or Heaven To Betsy, in the news and or before the Court, look out for some very strange preaching from Those who would not know the name of the first Commoner in the Bible, It is Aaron. This is an Odd collection of rather Odd People intent on sniping about others simply because they can. I would give it a Big Miss in the future. A great project however for Mentors and Teachers to show Joe Average how NOT to act and HOW NOT to actually be supportive of one another in time of need. I would rate it 1.5 out of 10 while actually questioning the motives of those most expressive. It reminds me of a Luncheon for Mystery Shoppers. NetMum

Posted at 01/22/2009-07:13:51 AM by NetMum, Reviewer , View profile [ Reputation score: 1 / 9 ]

Hilarious, misleading and oddly pathetic at the same time!

Monsanto propaganda rules! Or does it?

Monsanto propaganda rules - or does it?

Here is Monsanto's spin laced with alternative images:

Monsanto's research program centers on increasing yields for three key crops used for food, feed, fiber and fuel - corn, soybeans and cotton. The company's research pipeline uses more precise breeding techniques to develop higher-yielding germplasm. Other technologies result in plant traits that provide better protection against pests and better weed control. Monsanto's objective under this new commitment is to double yield for these three crops by 2030 in countries where farmers have access to current and anticipated new seed choices offered by the company.
{Genetically Modified Crops Implicated in Honey Bee Collapse Disorder}

This would mean, for example, that corn production in the prominent agricultural markets of Argentina, Brazil and the United States would reach a weighted average of 220 bushels per acre by 2030, compared to 109.1 bushels per acre in 2000. Soybean production in those countries would rise from a weighted average of 39.5 bushels per acre in 2000 to 79 bushels per acre in 2030. Cotton would increase from 1.4 bales (672 pounds) per acre to 2.8 bales (1,344 pounds) per acre.
{GM crops have failed and Canola yeild stoush}

Monsanto will establish a five-year, $10 million grant for rice and wheat research to be administered by a panel of world experts on food production in developing countries. Rice and wheat are key crops for food security, but are not a primary focus for the company. The chairperson of this panel will be named in the near future. A panel of independent judges will select one project per year to receive a $2 million grant. Further details on this program will be developed and announced in the coming months. {GM trial results spark debate}

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

An ending too 'orrible to bear.........

This was sent to me earlier in the week.

I haven't been able to sleep with the light off since.

First Dog on the Moon cartoon from Crikey

Does Conroy's inclusion of Webshield in the Internet filtering trial give a hint of things to come?

The Federal Labor Minister for Censorship Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy has said that Webshield Internet Services (Webshield Internet Shield, Wigzell & Wigzell) will be part of the internet filtering trial.

Strange choice, but perhaps the senator thinks this relatively small South Australian ISP reflects his own narrow world view.

Webshield obviously finds favour with at least one Christian website which advertises and links to this internet provider.

It already has a niche in the voluntary content-filtering market, although an editorial by one of its principals does almost recognise the socio-political reality of the censorship 'climate' even if he comes to a self-interested conclusion.

The fact is the world is not ready for content filtering. We are still in the middle of an information revolution; the prevailing sentiment driven by the media, advertising and industry is one of euphoria and excitement not protection and caution. This principle applies to all new technologies, namely, that protection lags behind progress. It was true of the car where laws for seatbelts took over 50 years, and it's true of the Internet today where use of filtering is seen as a sign of weakness. Until the anything, anywhere, anytime gospel of technology can be moderated by a culture of caution, the ideological bias of society will be opposed to content filtering regardless of how effective it happens to be. It falls to the Government to provide the balance and it is heading in the right direction. History warns that attitudes are more effectively changed through disasters than education. As we stride boldly into this brave new world of technological progress, we need to heed H. G Wells "we are in a race between education and disaster".

Webshield long list of blocking categories:

Alcohol
Sites promoting the use of alcohol, drink recipes, bartender guides, home brewing methodology, drinking games, advertisements and use of alcohol for consumption purposes including pubs, bars, breweries and alcohol manufacturers.

Art
Non-commercial web sites that promote, exhibit, and/or display works of art, artists, art galleries, museums, art instruction, graphics tutorials, and art schools.

Banner
Ads Banner ads served from third party servers.

Books & Lit / Writings
Sites that discuss and promote books, literature, authors' sites, publishers' promotional sites, online books, books on tape, literary reviews, fan-fiction or other short fiction works, written screenplays/scripts (movies, TV, or drama).

Chat
Sites offering chatrooms and chat services as well as chat sites accessed via a web browser, chat logs, IRC client downloads, IRC channel listings or channel information.

Child Pornography
Sites that promote, discuss and portray children in sexual acts and activity.

Comics
Sites that distribute, display, discuss and promote comics, web comics, comic books, cartoons, flash/online animations and comic publishers. These include on-line cartoons and official web sites of comic strips.

Community Organizations
Sites of non-profit, charity, and community involvement organizations such as the YMCA, March of Dimes, Big Brothers/Sisters, Boy/Girl Scouts, etc.

Criminal Skills
Sites that promote crime or illegal activity such as credit card number generation, illegal surveillance and murder.

Cults
Sites promoting cult subject matter, use of mind control, paranoia, fear, and any other type of psychological control or manipulation.

Drugs
Sites that promote the sale/use of illegal drugs and narcotics, paraphernalia for express use with illegal narcotics, questionably legal "supplements" with a narcotic effect or sites that glorify the effect of illegal narcotics. Sites that offer techniques and products for testing clean for drugs as well as information on other forms of narcotics.

Education
Web sites of schools, learning centers, universities, teaching institutions, workshops, technical institutes and trade schools. Sites that contain information on teaching aids such as lesson planning guides, teacher supplies, career development education and .edu sites.

Educational Games
Sites that offer games related to education such as reading, spelling, math, developmental games and games with educational value.

Employment
Sites geared toward job seekers, such as online job bulletin boards, classified ad sites, resume-listing services, head hunting firms, resume building, cover-letter writing, etc.

Entertainment
All general entertainment sites not already classified in a specific category such as restaurants/clubs, clipart and animated .gifs, amusement parks, cell-phone ringtones, etc.

Explicit Art
Art web sites that display art works containing graphic nudity, nude photography, sex acts and/or disturbing images.

Fashion
Sites promoting and discussion of models, modeling, modeling portfolios, modeling agencies, modeling contests, fashion and apparel in a non-commercial manner. May contain some R-rated material, or bikini pictures.

Financial
Sites related to the financial trade, such as stock trading, financial news, online banking services, and trading exchanges.

Fitness
Sites promoting and discussing exercise, yoga, gyms, health clubs, nutrition, nutrition supplements, fitness equipment, diet information and weight loss.

Free Hosts
Sites hosted by consumer oriented free hosts or ISPs, including members.aol.com and Geocities.

Gambling
Sites which encourage gambling such as betting sites, bookmaker odds, lottery, bingo, horse/dog track, online sport betting, online casinos, etc.

Games
Sites related to computer or other games, such as game download sites, online games, video, board games and electronic games. Sites that advertise and host online games as well as sweepstakes & giveaways. Sites that offer cheat codes.

General Business
Web sites for businesses and commercial organizations where business is defined as an organization that provides goods and/or services for profit.

Government
Sites of governmental agencies at the national, state, local or international level. All .gov sites.

Hacking
Sites discussing and/or promoting unlawful or questionable tools or information revealing the ability to gain access to software or hardware/communications equipment and/or passwords. Sites that discuss password generation, compiled binaries, hacking tools, software piracy (game cracking).

Hate & Discrimination
Sites that contain material related to the discrimination of any group of people based on race, religion, gender, nationality, etc. Sites which concentrate on violence or the destruction of human life, including a single person or an entire race/religion/gender/etc. Sites focused on the superiority of one race/religion/gender/etc., while degrading others with use of propaganda or violent action.

Health/Medical
Sites of medical practices, hospitals, health insurance providers, nursing homes, and care centers. Sites that promote and provide information on prescription medicines and over the counter treatments. Sites offering information and references on health, medicine, preventative health care and other health-related topics.

Holistic
Sites offering information on alternative medicines and natural healing, homeopathic medicine, acupuncture and acupressure, chakra alignment, Feng Shui.

Humor
Sites whose primary purpose is for comedy, jokes, sound files, or other material intended to be funny.

Information Technology
Sites containing reviews, discussions, distribution, and promotion of computer programs, software, systems and hardware. Sites that contain discussion, reviews, news, and advocacy on computers, technological devices, and general technology. Sites that offer information, resources, hosting and guides for creating computer software and web sites.

Instant Messaging
Sites that offer and enable Instant Messaging, central servers for IM applications, Client-based applications for IM (prevents the use of IM clients).

Internet Radio
Sites that offer streaming radio internet programming (does not include downloadable music).

Internet Service Providers
Sites and guides to services that offer access to the Internet.

Legal
Sites pertaining to legal services, personal legal reference, on-line legal aid, law firms, legal reference, law libraries, legal services (notaries, etc.)

Lifestyle
Sites that contain material relative to an individual's personal life choices. This includes sexual preference, cultural identity, or organization/club affiliations.

Local Community
Sites of community governmental agencies and sites that promote and announce community events and community involvement such as City web sites and Chamber of Commerce.

Malicious Code/Spyware/Viruses
Sites that promote, demonstrate and/or use or offer code that intentionally cause harm by modifying or destroying computer systems. Sites that offer software to monitor user behavior without users knowledge and consent.

Message Boards
Sites that offer message boards, bulletin boards, and forums. Sites which offer visitors the ability to discuss topics with one another via Internet message board software. Sites that provide downloads and customization of web message board software.

Militant/Extremist/Terrorist
Sites that contain information regarding militias, antigovernment/ anti-establishment groups, terrorism, bombmaking/ usage, anarchy, etc.

Military - Official
Official web sites of government backed military organizations. All .mil top-level domains

Military - Appreciation
Sites that pertain to individual appreciation, remembrance or dedication to military units and organizations such as veterans, troop support, honoring military divisions, etc.

Movies & Television
Sites that discuss and promote film and television. This includes official sites of movies and television programs as well as those of film and television celebrities. Also included are personal fan sites of the aforementioned.

Music Appreciation
Sites that discuss and promote music, musicians, and the methods in which they are distributed. These sites include official web sites of musicians as well as fan sites that promote musical subjects and artists, playlists, lyrics, legal/licensed and mp3 distribution.

News
Web sites that distribute news, current events, and headlines.

Obscene/Tasteless
Sites that contain explicit graphical or text depictions of such things as mutilation, murder, bodily functions, horror, death, rude behavior, executions, violence, and obscenities etc.

Online Classes
Sites that provide access to classes conducted via the Internet.

Online Greeting Cards
Sites that offer e-greeting cards or e-postcards.

Outdoor Recreation
Sites pertaining to outdoor activities and non-competitive athletic activities, such as hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, rock climbing.

Paranormal
Sites dealing with subjects of the paranormal. This includes topics such as mysticism, UFOs, astrology, numerology, the occult, tarot, crypto-zoology and conspiracy theories.

Peer-to-Peer/File Sharing
Sites that offer peer-to-peer file sharing software and transfers.

Personals/Dating
Sites related to personal ads, dating sites, dating services, dating tips, relationships, introductions, "how-to find a mate" sites, introductions for purposes of finding friends or other relationships, etc.

Political Opinion
Opinions dealing with political concerns such as party platforms, political reform, candidate advocacy, PACs, lobbying organizations, campaign sites, "the president sucks" sites, recall sites, etc.

Pornography
Sites that portray sexual acts, activity, nudity, toys, stories/writings, bestiality, fetishes, videos, etc.

Real Estate
Sites pertaining to the buying, selling, renting, and leasing of properties (Commercial and Residential).

Recreation
Sites that pertain to hobbies, collecting, clubs and social organizations. Sites pertaining to horticulture, gardening and yard maintenance. Sites pertaining to decorating and crafting.

Reference
Reference collections including encyclopedias, atlases, historical data, biographies, how-to, language tools and references such as dictionaries, thesaurus and translators, information resources on scientific subjects.

Religion/Religious Establishment
Sites that pertain to mainstream religious institutions such as churches, temples, mosques, church sites, service times, location, church event calendars, etc.

Religious Opinion
Sites that pertain to discussion and/or advocacy of religious organizations, religious opinion and opinions formed from a religious viewpoint.

R-rated
Services pertaining to anything that involves 18 and over material such as lingerie and swimsuits, revealing pictures. Sites that are adult in nature without being explicitly pornographic.

Self-Defense
Web sites that offer information and advocacy of self-defense tools of a non-lethal nature. Includes techniques and products such as those designed to immobilize or harm a subject but not "intended" to cause death (i.e. martial arts, stun guns, mace, etc.)

Self-Help
Sites that include information such as therapies, counseling services, motivation, conferences, articles, self-awareness, spirituality, rape crisis centers, emotional and/or mental wellness, etc.

Search Engines
Major portal sites that either search the Internet or have a directory-based database of sites. Includes all sub-URLs under the main site.

Shopping
Sites that contain consumer oriented online shopping, online malls, classifieds, and online trading/auction services.

Social Opinion
Opinions dealing with social issues such as divorce, business ethics, abortion etc.

Sports
Sites for professional, collegiate, and other competitive sports such as baseball, basketball, hockey, football & soccer teams. Sites that offer information on sports magazines and sporting events such as the winter & summer Olympics, etc.

Streaming Media
Sites that offer "Internet TV" programming, streaming video and other streaming media.

Tickets
Sites that offer ticket sales for entertainment: concerts, sporting events, races, expos, etc.

Theater
Sites that promote and discuss live dramatic productions.

Travel
Sites that offer travel tickets and reservations, travel clubs, travelogues, visitor information bureaus, travel promotions, etc. Sites relating to traveling, such as travel agencies, cruise lines, airfare, etc.

Unsavory/ Dubious
Sites of a questionable legal or ethical nature. Sites which promote or distribute products, information, or devices whose use may be deemed unethical or, in some cases, illegal.

Vehicles
Sites that discuss, promote, and offer information on cars, trucks, motorcycles, watercraft, aircraft and other forms of transportation.

Web-based E-mail
Sites that offer free online web based e-mail services.

Web-based Proxies & Anonymizers
Sites that offer free anonymous proxy services

Web-based Newsgroups
Sites that offer archives of Usenet postings.

Web-based Storage
Sites that offer storage for personal files on remote servers for backup or exchange purposes.

Web Logs
Web sites from personal or non-commercial sources which feature commentary and articles written in a log or journal format (Blogs).

Weapons
Sites that provide information and promote the collecting, maintenance, advocacy and sales of legal firearms, knives, swords and related items.

Weather/Traffic
Web sites that offer weather forecasts, weather updates and traffic conditions/reports.

11th annual Clarence Valley cane toad round-up begins 22 February 2009

The annual Clarence Valley cane toad round-up is on again this week.

So put on some sturdy shoes and long pants, grab your gloves and torch and turn up:

Picture: Tweed Daily News

WHERE: Yamba Golf and Country Club, River Street, Yamba
WHEN: Sunday, 22 February 2009
RAIN: Call NPWS on 0427 484 336 or 0428 965 525
Free BBQ on the night
All welcome Children must be accompanied by an adult

Jeff Thomas, from the Department of Environment and Climate Change, will present a toad seminar, to explain where the pest is in the region and what is being done to get rid of the toads.
The talk will be held on Level 3, 49 Victoria Street, Grafton from noon to 1pm on Wednesday 18 February.

Report a NSW North Coast cane toad sighting and general toad information at Clarence Valley Conservation in Action

A Healthier Future For All Australians Interim Report transcript: a revolution has been recommended but will Rudd and Roxon listen?

The A Healthier Future For All Australians interim report was released today.

At first reading it is somewhat like the curate's egg - good in parts - and although this report is heavy on broadly worded aims and a fair degree of wishful thinking it does have one startlingly good recommendation that the Commonwealth should assume responsibility for primary health care (outside of the public hospital system).

What the report recommends regarding oral health:

11.1 We propose that Australia should have a scheme 'Denticare Australia' for universal access to preventive and restorative dental care, and dentures, regardless of people's ability to pay.

11.2 We propose that 'Denticare Australia' be based on a mixed approach of public and private cover. The additional costs would be funded by an increase in the Medicare Levy of 0.75 per cent of taxable income, with people opting either to become a member of a dental health plan (with a private insurer), or to use public dental services.

11.3 We support an equitable approach to financing a universal dental scheme. Under the proposed approach, the funding of dental services will be linked to ability to pay through an increase in the Medicare Levy.

We estimate that under this approach:

• Many people will pay no more than they currently pay for dental care – the increase in Medicare Levy of 0.75 per cent of taxable income will be smaller than existing out-of-pocket costs for dental services for many people.

• People on low incomes will pay considerably less and have much better access to dental health services.

11.4 We support the introduction of a one-year internship scheme prior to full registration, so that clinical preparation of oral health practitioners (dentists, dental therapists and dental hygienists) operates under a similar model to medical practitioners.

11.5 We propose the national expansion of the pre-school and school dental programs.

11.6 We propose that additional funding be made available for improved oral health promotion, with interventions to be decided based upon relative cost-effectiveness assessment.

Full copy of A Healthier Future For All Australians interim report is here.
Reform directions section is here.

See: Attention: Rudd, Rees, Roxon, Saffin, Elliot. This mouth has been almost a decade on the public dental treatment waiting list

Janelle Saffin MP on North Coast industrial relations

Federal Labor's Janelle Saffin, Member for Page, speaking in the House of Representatives last week:

Re-establishing fairness to Australian workplaces was one of the hallmarks of the Rudd Labor government, so when I hear of workers in my electorate of Page being treated more like cattle than people it makes my blood boil. One of my first jobs after leaving school in Ipswich was as an abattoir hand. It was hard, physical and sometimes dangerous work. On staggered days last year—28 November, 1 December and 2 December—up to 23 employees turned up to a south Grafton abattoir for work to be told by embarrassed foremen that they were out of a job due to 'a WorkCover thing'. They were handed a week's pay, shown the gate and thrown out on Armidale Road to uncertain futures. Appallingly, they did not receive their rightful entitlements: termination pay, redundancy, annual leave and long service—nothing. Coming up to Christmas, with mortgages to service, bills to pay and presents to buy, this was a very cruel, bloody-minded and gutless way to treat employees, some of whom had been veterans of the slaughter floor.

All of these workers tell me they were employed by Tempus Holdings Pty Ltd, a labour hire company that provided labour to abattoir owner Stuart Ramsey's company Ramsey Food Processing Pty Ltd. The sacked workers were informed in writing that Tempus Holdings would on 28 November 2008 cease to be a labour hire company supplying labour for Ramsey Food Processing Pty Ltd. The local Daily Examiner newspaper, which has been championing the plight of the affected workers and their right to entitlements, has repeatedly asked Stuart Ramsay, Tempus Holdings director Michael Considine and their solicitors about the complex corporate structure attached to the abattoir. The Daily Examiner's inquiries have been met by silence and stonewalling. I have twice written to Mr Ramsey, on 12 December and 12 January, on behalf of my constituents seeking clarification on exactly who is responsible for paying the sacked workers their outstanding entitlements, but I have had no response to date............

I have arranged for any sacked abattoir employee to get free legal advice on unfair dismissal or unlawful termination from the Lismore based Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre. I have raised this with my colleague the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations the Hon. Julia Gillard. I raised the allegations of these men with the Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman and am heartened to say that they have given a high priority to their investigation..........

I know that the Workplace Ombudsman recently served a notice to produce documents on the director at the registered office of Tempus Holdings and that significant resources are being directed at the investigation. I am encouraging more affected workers to come forward and provide evidence so that they can recover what is rightfully theirs and perhaps discourage rogue employers out there from running roughshod over other workforces in regional Australia. I do not care what tricky, albeit legal, company arrangements may have been put in place, the person morally and ethically responsible for paying these workers their entitlements is the person who owns the abattoir—Stuart Ramsey.

The full text of Ms. Saffin's speech here.

Is local government to blame for bushfire vulnerability in villages and small towns?

As the main stream media and blogosphere begin to discuss the causes of Victorian bushfire fatalities, a voice of reason is heard in the remarks of Russell Rees, chief officer of Victoria's Country Fire Authority:

AUSTRALIANS living in the bush and in semi-rural suburbs must change the way they live or else risk dying in bushfires....................
firefighters could no longer guarantee saving the lives of those who chose to surround themselves with vegetation despite the obvious fire risks.................

"We've got to choose," .....'If we choose to live in this way, then who do we blame? My fear is that people will say the fire service failed (last Saturday) and I will go to my grave saying we fought our guts out.
"Fundamentally, our community is choosing to live in a way I can't, and our people can't, guarantee their survival. Why do we choose a system of civilisation that puts itself at so much risk?"

Mr. Rees quite rightly mentions personal lifestyle preferences.

However, we also need to remember that local government hungry for residential and business rate revenues and developers avid for less expensive land to sell on at a profit are also pushing the same dangerous (albeit attractive) lifestyle.

This same scenario can be seen playing out in the Northern Rivers coastal town of Yamba right now.

Not only is Clarence Valley Council seriously considering development of flood prone land at West Yamba, this same land sits directly above scrub and forest cover which extends further south into Yuraygir National Park.

When strong southerly winds are driving bushfires, the blaze can (and has) come raging up past Wooloweyah and begin knocking on West Yamba's door.

Which makes one narrow bridge over the Clarence estuary a very chancy exit for around 6,000 people.

Photograph from The Australian

Greed no longer rules in the corridors of power?

I've watched with growing amazement as governments all around the world have thrown money at financial institutions and industry with almost reckless abandon as everyone tries to stop the economic haemorrhaging.
I thanked my lucky stars that (with the exception of the ABC childcare debacle) money wasn't going directly to corporation bailouts here in Australia.

When the Yanks began to put together their latest stimulus package I thought that some sanity might be returning, for President Obama was making a lot of noise about stopping these big corporations spending some of that enormous pile of taxpayer funding on their own salary packages and bonuses.

At first it seemed that my optimism was premature and greed was still stalking the corridors of power and board rooms across America because it appeared that the move to cap these often multi-million dollar payouts is in trouble.
"Congressional efforts to impose stringent restrictions on executive compensation appeared to be evaporating yesterday as House and Senate negotiators worked to fine-tune the compromise stimulus bill."
Another day brought other news however and the U.S. Congress has gone even further than the conditions suggested by Obama as it applies the cap retrospectively.
"The bill, which President Obama is expected to sign into law next week, limits bonuses for executives at all financial institutions receiving government funds to no more than a third of their annual compensation. The bonuses must be paid in company stock that can be redeemed only when the government investment has been repaid. With the measure, lawmakers seek to address public outrage over extravagant Wall Street paydays even as taxpayers bail out the industry."

Perhaps Sol Trujillo may decide to stay with Telstra after all - he now milks a more productive cow Downunder.

Across the Pacific: links comparing two economic stimulus packages

For all those political tragics out there this weekend.

From Open Congress last week the Obama Administration's $789.5 billion economic stimulus package in its final form:

H.R. 1 – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

Text of the Conference Report-Division A

Text of the Conference Report-Division B

Joint Explanatory Statement – Division A

Joint Explanatory Statement – Division B

From Com Law the Rudd Government $42 billion economic stimulus package passed by the Australian Parliament last week:

Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009

Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 2) 2008-2009

Household Stimulus Package Bill 2009

Tax Bonus for Working Australians Bill 2009

Tax Bonus for Working Australians (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009

Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Amendment Bill 2009

As the stimulus package amendments which the Rudd Government was forced to concede do not yet appear to have made it into publication, here is the Senate Hansard transcript for 12 February 2009.

Are hot days melting the Internetz?

Almost marching side by side with rising summer temperatures across Australia since late January - early February has been the strange behaviour of my Internet connection.

Now either (i) the heat is so severe that the Internetz are melting, (ii) I've suddenly developed the most wayward Internet connection, or (iii) some of the 6 ISPs identified as taking part in Conroy's ISP-level filtering trial (or a number of the other 10 small ISPs rumoured to be involved) are currently gearing up.

I telephoned Senator Conroy's Canberra office on Thursday 15 January and was told that the ISP applications of expression of interest were still being assessed and that the entire matter was behind a Chinese wall as it involved a commercial tender process and therefore was commercial-in-confidence.
I was further informed that the ISP-level filtering trial would not start for a couple of weeks at least.
This would of course take the staggered startup for the live trial right into the high volume of Net traffic as business entered its first full trading month for 2009.

Last Monday 9 February when I telephoned again I found the Senator's office was in a whimsical I don't THINK it's begun yet mood.

However, on Wednesday 11 February Senator Conroy finally announced that the trial was all go with six ISPs involved: Primus, Tech 2U, Webshield, OMNIconnect, Netforce and Highway 1.
Though he was careful not to give a start date for the trial. Here are Senator Conroy's weasel words in the media release.

So who do I believe here - the first staffer's very polite Sergeant Shultz defence, Conroy's sidestepping, or my suddenly erratic Internet connection?

Examples of the high number of Windows/Internet Explorer messages I have been seeing so far this past week:

The Requested Page Could Not Be Found

Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage

Proxy Error

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request *******************************.

Reason: Error reading from remote server

The webpage cannot be found

HTTP 404

Most likely causes:

There might be a typing error in the address.

If you clicked on a link, it may be out of date.

(Er, say again. It was the Google search engine I was trying to access)

403 Forbidden (WTF. It was an international news site)

403 Forbidden (For heaven's sake it was a picture of a beach, minus people!)

Server Error

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in 30 seconds.
Please see Google's Terms of Service posted at http://www.google.com/terms_of_service.html
(Oh dear, and all I was trying to do was read Still LIfe with Cat)

The web site you are accessing has experienced an unexpected error.
Please contact the website administrator.

Navigation to the webpage was canceled

Information Alert
Status : 504 Gateway Time-Out
Description : Unable to connect to origin web server. The web site you are attempting to access is currently unreachable. This may be due to a network outage, or the web site might be experiencing technical difficulties.

You are not permitted to browse this view (The Attorney-General's department has a hissy fit?)

And no, before anyone suggests it, my PCs don't appear to be infected with anything according to the checks I've run.

Sunday's LOL catting about

Clarencegirl has been out LOL catting again and sent me these.

Pollies taking advantage - quelle surprise!

Now I can understand the Federal Parliament taking one day away from ordinary business to offer condolences and show support for the Victorian bushfire victims.
I can almost understand Question Time being abandoned by both houses two days in a row.
But not for the entire week.
No real Question Time scrutiny of the Nation Building and Jobs Plan before it passed through Parliament and now I read that the Rudd Government is using the bushfires as an excuse for not handing down its "report card on the government's efforts to close the gap between black and white living standards this week as promised".
Kev, voters can feel the rough end of the pineapple when it's shoved towards them.
They recognise political skyving when they see it.
After all, most of them lived in Australia throughout the Howard years.

Valentine's Day cynic

Unless that's chocolate in your pocket don't bother..........

A word on climate change from a Crikey reader

In Crikey on 3 February:

Bruce Hore writes: I am no climate change scientist, but I do know:

• In Adelaide, we are having a week of temperatures over 40 degrees, peaking at 45.7 (hottest in 70 years). It's really f-cking hot!
• 20+ people a day are dying here due to heat related conditions. Why? Because it is really f-cking hot!
• We will have another 5-7 days over 35 degrees. It ain't 45, but it is still f-cking hot!
• Last year, we had 15 days in a row over 35 degrees (a record for an Oz metro centre). It was really f-cking hot then too.
• It is so f-cking hot that technology used by railways, tramlines and power companies all over the world, is failing here on a daily basis over a several week period.
• Adelaide had 100mm (15%+) less rainfall last year than on average.
• Adelaide had 1mm last month, 33+ mm less than usual. Its 2009 and, like financial redemption, there is no rain here either.
• The Murray and lower lakes are pretty much empty down this way (the Coorong is a mess), which I suspect doesn't get any coverage east of Bordertown. Old timers call it the worst it has ever been.

I am no climate change scientist, but I can tell you it is much hotter than it used to be with much less water around and the environment is suffering. We really need to change the way we use/treat the environment.

Bluescreen gives us the good oil on Conroy's internet censorship plans

From Alex Kidman and Bluescreen in a rollicking "It's a joke Joyce" mood yesterday:

"Bluescreen's Canberra correspondent got talking to some colleagues, who talked to somebody in the janitorial department, who then approached the department-of-leaking-stuff-to-the-opposition for the official word as to which filtering technology had been pre-approved to win the trials, in accordance with standard Government operating procedure.

Except that this time, there genuinely isn't just a single one.

Filtering technologies being assessed, so our janitorial spy tells us, include everything from the aforementioned whitelisting and image scanning all the way up to the mandatory introduction of Google Nothing. It's alleged that certain rural members of the Labour party were of the impression that Internet filtering involved Barramundi and lots of cheesecloth, but that couldn't be confirmed in writing, as apparently the individuals involved can't write yet, and had eaten their crayons again.

Bluescreen did stop to ponder over the chosen ISPs and consider contacting them, until he remembered that they'd probably be under a gag order anyway. In the case of Webshield, Bluescreen's email might not get through on the grounds that the company filters everything anyway, and one of Bluescreen's close relatives once fell foul of an Internet filter that viewed his blog as highly pornographic**.

There's always the one moderately large ISP in the list, Primus, and as Bluescreen was about to go ferreting around, the company pre-empted this by releasing a statement. Apparently the filtering technology will "be offered on an opt-in basis and customer participation will be totally voluntary. The ability for the customer to opt-in to the trial provides them ultimate freedom over their internet experience.***".

Bluescreen can't write comedy like that, but it wishes it could. If customers can opt out, will Primus gather any useful filtering information at all? What's the point in opting out if it's going to be a mandatory filter? Moreover, didn't the previous government offer exactly the same kind of Net filtering under an opt-in arrangement, only to have three families actually take them up on the offer. And didn't at least one of the teenagers affected just crack the filtering within five minutes anyway?

** Once again, utterly true. Apparently naked stick figures are hardcore filth. Who knew?
*** A genuine quote."

.....and Nick Broughall at Gizmodo says we're f##ked!

"Riiight... This whole ISP-level filter thing is becoming an even bigger joke than we'd previously thought. Not only did the government only select half a dozen tiny ISPs to trial the effectiveness of their filter technology (ignoring the fact that the country's second and third largest ISPs were prepared to play along to give some meaningful data), but the largest of the selected ISPs is going to trial the filter as an opt-in option for customers......

One can only hope that the farcical nature of this trial process is because the government is slowly pulling away from the whole idea. Because if this is the best the government can do, we all need to be really, really scared for the future of our freedoms online..."

Pic from Gizmodo on Friday 13th.

Attention: Rudd, Rees, Roxon, Saffin, Elliot. This mouth has been almost a decade on the Australian public dental treatment waiting list

This is the mouth of a NSW North Coast pensioner who has been on the public dental treatment waiting list for the better part of a decade.

A third world image of poverty in the Lucky Country.

When is the Federal Government going to finally fulfill its constitutional obligations and take full responsibility for public dental health services across Australia?

On threatened frogs, rare snails, small hills, public land and developers

In the Tweed Valley:

* A bunfight over the identity of a frog’s mating calls and the extinction of a rare snail population provide an insight into a long running legal dispute involving Tweed Shire Council and the shire’s biggest landowners, Gales Holdings.
The frog-and-snail imbroglio centres on just one parcel of Gales’s extensive holdings between Kingscliff and Chinderah which have been the subject of rezoning battles ever since the company acquired them seven years ago.
Conflicting claims about the frog’s identity and the fate of the snails typifies the complexities involved in a string of court cases initiated by the company in a so far failed bid to rezone the bulk of their land for a district shopping centre.

* Tweed Shire Council’s general manager, Mike Rayner, braved a crowd of more than 300 people protesting against the proposed closure and sale of part of Bay Street on Saturday to deny that any secret deals were involved.
Rally organisers invited Mr Rayner to stand on the back of a tray-top truck parked in the Chris Cunningham Park to speak to a bigger-than-expected turnout of people upset over the sale and possible loss of up to 4,000 square metres of parkland and dozens of trees.

In the Clarence Valley:

* AN impending rescission motion against the sale of the Maclean car park may be made all the more interesting with Clarence Valley Council set to decide on the expansion of the area to include more parking spaces.
Council's civil and corporate committee will tomorrow consider recommended approval of the reconfiguration of the car park and Centenary Drive, following a public consultation period.
Despite all the interest that has been aroused with the car park and possible sale to build a new supermarket complex, only four submissions were received in relation to the concept.
If accepted, the car park will increase in size by another 84 car parks, with three car and caravan vacancies to be included.
It will also signal the loss of about 240m² of green space, another gripe from those opposing the sale of the land to private developers.

In Byron Shire:

* Suellen Watson started an avalanche. When she heard that the north face of Mt Chincogan was up for sale she decided to write to The Echo and encourage the community to join together to buy this iconic piece of North Coast history.
‘I just thought there had to be something the community could do,’ says Suellen. ‘If you keep talking about it and communicating, something’s got to happen. If we can save some local history, particularly aboriginal history, then it must benefit the community.’
Now it seems the idea is beginning to take hold with missives from the vendor and Rainforest Rescue (see letters pages) encouraging locals to take the opportunity to return the mountain to the community and enable access to its walking tracks and dizzying heights.
Mt Chincogan looms large in Mullumbimby history. The town’s name is thought to derive from the language of the Bundjalung people with ‘muli’ said to mean ‘hill’. The full name has been interpreted as meaning ‘small round hill’ – a reference to the mountain beneath which the town is situated. Even the road to Mullum was carefully designed to frame Mt Chincogan on entry and exit.

How to recognise a North Coast property developer:

1. Wears jeans, a business suit or an akubra hat, depending on how he wants to present his 'image' to the community and local councillors.

2. Is observed on occasion to suddenly develop an intense interest in the future career prospects of council town planners.

3. Only believes in democratic methods if he feels the vote is going his way and throws tantrums in the local media if he doesn't get what he's after.

4. Sometimes promises potential objectors to his plans a 'sweetener', such as an all-expenses paid holiday on the quiet.

5. Brags about successfully altering development consents eg., by exchanging the promise of a couple of park benches, picnic table and a concrete path for the return of a few million dollars worth of waterfront land.

6. Secretly considers local government an impediment and often makes large political donation to state government.

7. Has a history of cultivating candidates at local government elections or encouraging a business partner/close friend to stand for election.

Steve shrilling.....and Nick pontificating

Sometimes a glimpse of Family First's Senator Steve Fielding breaks a fella out in hives and sometimes it just brings on a burst of laughter.
His shrill impotence in the Senate last Wednesday was a joy to behold; "I am deadset serious about this. This is just a joke. I may not be the best negotiator. I am just a kid from Reservoir, but, sure as all heck, I know when someone is stuffing around.....We need a stimulus package. It is just a shame that the government think that they need no other ideas except their own. It is very sad. It is a very sad day."
Yer - you tell 'em Little Stevie. Twist and shout, drum your heels into the carpet while the adults look the other way.
Fair dinkum, it's a joke.

At the same time Independent Senator Nick Xenophon tried and failed not to sound pompous as he threw his political weight around; "Do I support the package? My biggest concern about the package has been not simply what we are spending but also what we are buying. I do know that targeted infrastructure spending will serve generations to come, which is important because, if future generations are going to pay off this debt, the deal we do now must benefit them too. When faced with complex global crises and equally complex economic responses as we deal with this response package, it is important to be clear about what we know, what we do not know and what we cannot know. I believe this is an important point to make even if I risk sounding a little like Donald Rumsfeld."
And then later smug when interviewed on the 7.30 Report.

What is amusing in all this is that the Senate Inquiry into the Nation Building and Jobs Plan (on which both these men sat as participating members) recommended in its final report that the Senate pass those 6 bills immediately.
As the Committee hearing evidence was evenly balanced between Labor and Coalition senators whose votes along party lines cancelled each other out, then some of the remaining 6 minor party/independent senators must have voted to recommend that the Senate pass the second stimulus package post haste.
I wonder if somebody was overcompensating here?
Of course the plaintive mewing gave him away - it was bound to be Fielding.
However, Xenophon is by far the more cynical pollie of the two.
He honestly thinks that no-one will dare utter so much as a peep when he repeats the supposed rational for his blatant money grab ie., that throwing water buyback money at irrigators in the Lower Murray Darling (for water that doesn't yet exist) and similar measures will make the skies open and the rain fall.
He is happy to blackmail the country and can't hide the frisson as he contemplates the power he has greedily grabbed with both hands.
Yup, the man sounds and acts a lot like Rumsfeld.

* Possum over at Pollytics hopes that Xenophon will come to his senses later today Friday 13th;
"In 15 hours we’ll know whether Australia passes a package that minimises the economic and human costs from the GFC induced slowdown, or whether these blokes [Xenaphon, Turnbull and Joyce] become the 3 Stooges of the Recession.
Parochial Stooge, Political Stooge and from watching the Senate committee on this package, a bloke not too far removed from a bag of hammers.
I’m flabbergasted - let’s hope Xenophon comes to his senses tomorrow or he will carry a very heavy burden.
The real irony here is it’s the bloke in the middle that’s probably the one completely sh*tting himself, because if this package fails to get through the Senate, the fallout against Turnbull by the public will be enormous. Every piece of bad news will become his fault in the mind of a huge chunk of the public - Labor will make sure of it. That better economic manager series we looked at earlier might become a nostalgic golden age for the Coalition."

UPDATE 1.10pm:

The Federal Government's $42 billion economic stimulus package will pass the Senate after a deal was struck today between Labor and the independent Senator Nick Xenophon.
Senator Xenophon said he would vote for the package after winning $900 million in extra funds for the ailing Murray-Darling basin and other water projects.
It involves bringing forward an extra $500 million over the next three years for water buybacks, $200 million in grants to assist local communities save water and to better manage water and $200 million in stormwater harvesting projects.

Friday the 13th

A sop to superstition from Photobucket

Paid good money for a gig and been denied entry?

If your answer is "YES", then this should be of interest.


inthemix.com.au reports that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) are said to be investigating claims made by disgruntled punters following the Laneway Festival in Melbourne earlier this month. The Age report that the ACCC are following up on accusations made against the event’s organisers after several hundred ticket purchasers were left stranded outside one of the festival’s stages, unable to gain entry to see artists they’d paid up to $100 to see.

At 7.30pm access to the Little Lonsdale Stage was closed for “safety reasons”, meaning many festival goers did not get the chance to see headline acts Girl Talk and Architecture In Helsinki. Following the event, organisers laid blame on a small number of punters who were causing trouble, as well as on an eleventh hour issue which forced them to greatly reduce capacity to the area. Complaints lodged with the ACCC contend that it was not noted on tickets that there would be limited access available.

In the days following the event groups began appearing on Facebook, with many irate punters demanding a refund on their ticket purchase. One group in particular, named ‘Cheated by St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2009 – I want a refund’, has almost 800 members and included direct links through to the ACCC website for disgruntled fans to lodge complaints.

Laneway’s directors, Jerome Borazio and Danny Rogers, were understandably upset by the unfortunate incident at their Melbourne event, and are said to have promised a ‘personal phone call’ to any punter who complains to them direct. “Danny and I have read every single complaint,” Mr Borazio told The Age. “We care about what has been said and we’re looking at the reality of what we can do to restore faith in the festival. We’re devastated.”

Send your emails to :info@lanewayfestival.com.au

Image above from http://www.lanewayfestival.com.au/main#l=news/15

Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin. The theory of evolution rocks!

Today; two hundred years ago Charles Robert Darwin, the English naturalist, was born and human society became all the richer for this fact.

Do companies really have the corporate will to green their IT?

In Computer World this week:

Should CIOs get ready to add "energy czar" to their list of job roles?

McKinsey & Co., a management think tank, seems to believe as much. In a study presented last year at the Uptime Institute's Green Enterprise Computing Symposium, McKinsey called on companies to move accountability for facilities operations to the CIO and to appoint an internal energy czar to better focus on the true cost of data center ownership, which includes both equipment and facilities expenses------

With no takers willing to publicly sign on to McKinsey's challenge, Computerworld sought out companies -- including Google and Yahoo -- that are leading the charge to take control of data center energy costs. The conclusion: Corporate America is indeed thinking seriously about data center energy costs, but many companies aren't yet ready to commit to changes as sweeping as what McKinsey proposes.

Why does McKinsey advocate such a radical shift in responsibilities? Forrest points out several reasons behind the recommendation. First, data centers are usually the biggest users of energy in a corporation. Second, IT would be charged with developing and implementing the technology -- such as dashboards -- required to measure and monitor energy efficiency anyway.

And third, it's important that companies designate someone who can be held accountable for total data center costs and energy efficiency, he notes. Even in companies that have set up a "green champion," if that person isn't given the power and authority to deliver results, "it makes the job very limited," says Forrest. The company may trumpet a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent a year, for example, "but there's no means of tying that to any real executive action."

Microsoft offers free toll to calculate business carbon footprint.

Will they tar 'n' feather Danny in Corryong?

Corryong February 2009 from Flickr

Catch the Fire Ministries' Danny Nailah went into the religious twilight zone last Tuesday when he tried to say that this month's Victorian bushfires were God's punishment for abortion law reform.

Bet the poor sod's a bit worried now.

Next Saturday he's due in Corryong (which is in a northern part of the bushfire belt) for a holy spirit revival meeting.

He'll be lucky if he's not cursed all the way out of town!

Copy of Corryong revival leaflet - complete with catchy flame graphics.

"The Age" gets taken for a ride and creates serious michief along the way

On Saturday 7 February 2009 when Victoria was beginning to reel under the impact of the worst natural disaster in modern Australian history, The Age in Melbourne ran an article which baldly stated: AUSTRALIA has been singled out as a target for "forest jihad" by a group of Islamic extremists urging Muslims to deliberately light bushfires as a weapon of terror.

The group calling for this jihad is supposedly currently active and going by the name Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network and it allegedly posts on the Internet, presumably on a forum website hosted out of Malaysia and written in three or possibly four languages.

The earliest mention of this supposed forest fire jihad that I can find comes from WorldNetDaily in 2003, when it also mentioned: "Australian security authorities are aware of reports that al-Qaida has considered starting bushfires in the U.S. as a form of terrorist attack," said a spokeswoman Australian Attorney General Daryl Williams. "Arson attacks are just one of a wide range of scenarios which have been considered as part of our investigations into al-Qaida's ability to conduct attacks in Australia."

Specific mention of a jihad website occurred in April 2004 when it was reported that: Meanwhile, there is evidence terrorism was behind other wildfires in Europe and Australia last summer.

According to the wingnuts, so far this 'group' appears to be responsible for forest fires in France, Greece, Italy, Australia and the U.S.

It supposedly has a six-point plan which included: setting of fires in the forests – "especially those that provide the American market with the raw materials for the wood and paper and byproducts industries";

The entire forest fire jihad plot was rehashed in January 2008 when WorldTribune ran with it again .

Now there are only 18 terrorist groups officially listed on the Australian Attorney-General's departmental website and none of these are this supposed extremist group.

Indeed if you look for this group on the world wide web it is has a remarkably low profile.
So low in fact that it is only ever mentioned by secondary sources.
It seems to be nothing more than a blustering website, which is sometimes not even online.
A situation which should have alerted The Age reporter to the fact that he might have been building with straw and, that this Internet forum was unlikely to be a group nor a credible threat.

The supposed threat reads more like a post 9/11 urban myth and The Age looks as though it was attempting a potentially divisive, hurtful and downright dangerous beat up.

Snapshot is of The Age article as displayed 10.02.09

Turnbull according to Turnbull [revisited]

As the Federal Leader of the Opposition struggles for political relevancy and dodges the metaphorical rotten fruit thrown his way by irate voters, I thought I might look back on Malcolm Turnbull's political career according to his own website.

In December 2004 Malcolm informed us that he had won the seat of Wentworth, posted his maiden speech and took the fight against a crematorium at Waverley Cemetery to Parliament among other things.

By November 2005 he was defending Israel, restating the case for tax reform, talking about sustainable cities, sending out news letters and helping his dogs launch a website during Pet Week.

Then in December 2006 Turnbull was found posting a National Press Club speech on the drought, writing about saving the Murray-Darling and water scarcity. His dogs have turned into hot canine bloggers.

When December 2007 rolled around the MP for Wentworth (still styling himself Minister for the Environment and Water Resources despite the Coalition election defeat) was firmly into Green House conferencing, communicating by Face Book, YouTube, MySpace and saving whales.

Now in Februaury 2009 one has to dodge a splash screen to enter Malcolm's website, he's added Twitter to his online communicating, he has launched another website Jobs for Australia, he proudly informs us all that he opposes the Rudd Government's second stimulus package and.............. his dogs still blog.

Waverley Cemetery doesn't have a crematorium to this day because council and the electorate were against the idea rather than because the Member for Wentworth opposed the idea.
The Murray-Darling isn't saved from environmental disaster and water is still scarce in the southern half of the continent.

These days Malcolm continues to defend Israel, talk about green house emissions, mention taxes, keep fairly silent on the plight of whales and...............his dogs still blog.

Not much to show for those years in government is it?

Turnbull cartoon from The Brisbane Times

Religious fruitcake's attempt at 15 minutes of fame

Abortion laws to blame for bush fires?

The leader of Catch the Fire Ministries (CTFM), Pastor Danny Nalliah, has made a very bold bid to secure the title of Australian Fruitcake of the Year. Oops, correction, make that Fruitcake of the Century.

Nalliah said he was not surprised by the bush fires because he had a dream last October relating to consequences of the abortion laws passed in Victoria.

In a media release, in which he said "the bushfires are a result of the incendiary abortion laws which decimate life in the womb", Nalliah called upon "all Australian Bible-believing God-fearing Christians to repent and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for His mercy and protection over Australia once again.

“Yesterday (Monday 9th February 2009), the front page of the Herald Sun newspaper reported “The Darkest hour for Victoria”. A few months ago the news media should have reported “The darkest hour for the unborn” but unfortunately the “Decriminalization of Abortion bill” went through parliament and was passed, thus making many people call Victoria ‘the baby killing state of Australia,’” Mr Nalliah said.

Breath-taking aint it!

Previously, in a biography posted on CTFM's website, Nalliah claimed that he has seen "many blind, deaf, dump [sic], crippled people healed by the power of God ... (and) a dead girl who came back to life, when he prayed for her."

Nalliah has made himself available for interviews. He can be contacted on 03 9794 8211. Readers might care to give the Pastor a call and see what other ratbag ideas he has dreamt up.

Acknowledgement: The image above was sourced from http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/author.asp?id=4177

Boy the Wonder Cat has moved to........Antarctica

I had to try it. Yes, I entered Google Latitude to see what it was all about.
Not being a mobile phone aficionado and having friends with spotty records when it comes to recharging theirs, I could see no reason why I should want to play with this new Google feature.

Then I had a thought. I could use Google to effect a digital house move for Boy the Wonder Cat.

He is now camped down in Antarctica for all the world to see, protesting against Japanese whaling in southern waters.

He is also patiently waiting for Google to update Latitude mapping so that he can move into the comfort of the Australian research station.

Care to join this intrepid little moggie?


Liberated penguins from Asymptotia

Snap! on those annoying spam emails

Snapsam, over at the Stuft blog, has the answer to those fake missing children emails and similar spam which often litter our inboxes.
She directs everyone on the latest email cc list to Snopes.

Sam also composed her own please help email which could be sent in retaliation:

I really need your help….

I lost the keys to my house. They've been missing now for two weeks. Maybe if we pass this email on to everyone we can work together to find them. Even if it goes overseas, who knows they may have been "keynapped" and taken as far away as Canada, India or Mesotaplioma.

With God on our side, they will be found. I'm begging you please forward this to everyone in your address book if you do, your good deed will be payed back to you ten fold.

I don't know how it works it just does. Trust me. Forward this email to all your friends and family and I guarantee they will return the favour by forwarding you all their crap email for the rest of your natural life.

If you forward to >5 people, you will feel like you have lots of friends as they start forwarding you all their spam emails.

Forward to >10 people and your love life will be enhanced by offers of p*nis enlargement therapy.

Forward to >20 people and I will personally come over to your house drink all your liquor and tear your computer out of the wall so you can never forward this crap to anyone ever again.

Malcolm's Minties Moment

The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP, Leader of the Opposition, showing that no matter how important you may believe yourself to be there is always someone to prick the bubble by pointing out that tiny flaw in the argument:

KERRY O'BRIEN: It's potentially misleading, isn't it Mr Turnbull, to suggest that Kevin Rudd is racking up $200 billion of debt, because as you know, right at this moment $115 billion of that debt is debt that comes from a collapse in tax revenue because of the state of the economy.

MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well Kerry, whatever the causes of the debt -

KERRY O'BRIEN: But he is not wracking it up, is he? He hasn't racked up that $115 billion of lost tax revenue.

MALCOLM TURNBULL: Kerry, everybody has to manage their own affairs.

KERRY O'BRIEN: But isn't that right? Just before you go on, isn't that right?

MALCOLM TURNBULL: No, Kerry, Kerry, it is not right. If this country, if we end up with, - look, the Prime Minister brought into Parliament today a bill which would authorise the Government to borrow up to $200 billion. Right. He wants to raise Australia's credit card limit to $200 billion.

KERRY O'BRIEN: $115 billion of that money is the money that has been lost and is being lost in tax revenue because of the state of the global economy. Is that not correct?

MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well Kerry, yes, tax revenues are down. But what you saying? That I'm being tough on Kevin because it's not really his fault? Is that what you are saying? Poor Kevin!

KERRY O'BRIEN: I am suggesting that you might be wrong to say that he is personally responsible for the loss of that tax revenue.

MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well Kerry, let me tell you, if you're the Prime Minister of Australia you're responsible for the finances of Australia.

(ABC TV 7.30 Report 4 February 2009)

Andrew Bolt goes too far......

On Aunty's Australian Story last night Herald Sun journalist Andrew Bolt had the hide to complain that science was sensationalising climate change.
The day before he was on his blog complaining that Senator Bob Brown was preaching green politics over the Victorian bushfire fatalities.
This is the same journo who callously wrote that the twenty to thirty sudden unexpected deaths (some probably hastened by the extreme heat wave conditions in the south of Australia) couldn't have died from the 40C plus temps because everyone knows that "Cold, not heat, is what really kills people" and "Those who died last week were in less danger from global warming than from the deadly incompetence of green governments trying to "stop" it".
Who's using sensationalism and politics?
Why Andy is of course - with a thick covering of hypocrisy on top.
No wonder the Herald Sun's circulation figures have been on the decline, advertising revenue down and its parent company is looking a bit sick.

Australian Law Reform Commission does online forum and phone-in on secrecy laws, 11-12 February 2009

Media Release 9 February 2009:

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) today announced a national two day phone-in and new online discussion forum as part of its commitment to engaging in widespread community consultation on reform of Commonwealth secrecy laws. 

Anyone who has ever been involved in handling Commonwealth information will have the chance to speak out about their personal experiences and concerns in a national secrecy phone-in on Wednesday 11 February and Thursday 12 February. The ALRC is also launching a new consultation vehicle through its Talking Secrecy online forum.

ALRC President, Professor David Weisbrot, said "Consultation is part of the ALRC's DNA and we are determined to use new technologies to expand that process. The online forum and national phone-in together comprise the next critical steps in the ALRC's consultation process following the recent release of the Issues Paper, Review of Secrecy Laws (IP 34, 2008). This paper seeks feedback about how to balance the need to maintain an open and transparent government, while still protecting some Commonwealth documents and information—for the purposes of national security, for example.

"The ALRC now has mapped over 500 secrecy provisions spread across 173 pieces of legislation and these—associated with a myriad of administrative, civil and criminal penalties—present a complex and confusing scenario of options for individuals handling Commonwealth information.

"Some secrecy provisions—normally pertaining to defence and security—regulate the activities of anyone, including the media, who comes into possession of Commonwealth documents or information, imposing obligations on them. If the individual handles the information incorrectly, he or she may face heavy penalties, including jail."

Commissioner-in-charge of the Secrecy Inquiry, Professor Rosalind Croucher, said that the phone-in will enable individuals to speak about their personal experiences with complete anonymity and will assist in shaping the development of proposals, and ultimately recommendations, for workable laws and practices.

"To facilitate more public discussion about secrecy laws, the ALRC's Talking Secrecy online forum will encourage interactive comments and debate that will run the course of the Inquiry. This is a first for the ALRC.

"The ALRC would like to hear people's views about a range of questions such as: do secrecy laws stop you from doing your job; what information, if any, should be kept secret; how easy is it to comply with secrecy laws; when should you be allowed to disclose Commonwealth information; and have you or someone you know been in trouble for breaching a secrecy law and, if so, what happened?"

To participate in the secrecy phone-in call 1800 760 291 between 8:00am and 8:00pm (EST) on Wednesday 11 February and Thursday 12 February 2009 (calls are free from landlines but calls from mobiles will incur a charge).

The Talking Secrecy online forum can be accessed at http://talk.alrc.gov.au.

More information about the Review of Secrecy Laws can be found in the Inquiries section of this website.

NT Intervention: a case to answer

On or about 24 January 2009 the United Nations received a 64-page submission requesting urgent action be taken, under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Racial Discrimination, against the Commonwealth of Australia and with regard to the Howard-Rudd NT Intervention.

14. This Request for Urgent Action arises from the flagrant breach by Australia of its obligations under the Race Convention. While it is expected that the Australian Government may attempt to modify some measures of the Northern Territory Intervention, the Authors consider that it should remain a matter of serious concern to the international community that legislation overriding the Race Convention can be implemented by the State party with impunity. That is particularly the case when it concerns the fundamental human rights of Aboriginal people. .................
46. Over 70 percent of the Aboriginal people who live in the Northern Territory live on Aboriginal titled land within Prescribed Areas.40 Within those Prescribed Areas, it is estimated that approximately 87 percent of the people living in those areas are Aboriginal Australians.41............
47. The Northern Territory Intervention measures directly affect approximately 45,500 men,
women and children.42
As a result, it is apparent that the Northern Territory Intervention was targeted directly at, and has specifically impacted on, Aboriginal people.

Full submission document is at the National Indigenous Times.

NSW North Coast electorates big winners in second stimulus package

The North Coast electorates of Page, Cowper, Lyne and possibly Richmond are big winners when it comes to the number of families eligible for the Rudd Government's $950 cash bonus, according to Possum Comitatus.

Click on image to enlarge

Those seats in the top right corner are the ones that are expected to receive the greatest overall relative benefit from the stimulus while the ones in the bottom left are expected to receive the least relative benefit.
Also remember that electorates aren't homogeneous, in that there is a fair bit of variation within each electorate - so this chart wont tell the complete and comprehensive story, but merely the broad political story of which seats are getting the best end of the stimulus stick.

Along with promised building spend on every NSW North Coast school and money that may be flowing through from additional funding for regional and community infrastructure and roads, this has to be one of the best 'catch-up' financial years our combined communities have experienced if we are willing to get in there and fight for our fair share.

Let us hope that Kevin Rudd does not let the NSW Government distribute the proceeds from this second stimulus package in such a way that it starves rural and regional areas in order to feed the hungry maws of the big NSW metropolitan areas.

In Living Memory exhibition, 5 February - 1 March 2009 Ballina [ATSI community note this post may contain images of people who are no longer living]

The In Living Memory photographic exhibition is now on at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery, 44 Cherry Street, Ballina.

In Living Memory features images from a series of 1000 black and white photographs from the official records of the former NSW Aborigines Welfare Board. Most of the photographs were taken to document the work of the Board and to promote its policies. The exhibition also includes images taken during the exhibition consultation process by renowned Indigenous photographer Mervyn Bishop.

In Living Memory addresses the photographs as living records with compelling histories and powerful connections to the present. The exhibition is helping to create a new purpose and place for the photographs within contemporary Indigenous life.

Some of the images on display are from the NSW North Coast area.

The exhibition will be open between 10am to 4pm, Wednesday through to Sunday each week.
The Gallery can be contacted on (02) 6681 6167 to make group bookings to see the exhibition

Photograph was found at The Far North Coaster online magazine.

More grief for 'Truffles' Turnbull

Last Sunday morning during the ABC Insiders program Chris Uhlmann referred to 'Truffles' Turnbull as having "strapped himself to the tracks in front of the gravy train", because of his somewhat silly threat to block the Rudd Government second stimulus package in Parliament when it was obvious to everyone that he couldn't possiblely mount the numbers on this one (indeed it passed through the House Of Reps and is on its way to a Senate vote in the next few days).

But Mal has other PR worries as well this week:
"Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says he is not the only politician to receive campaign funds from a controversial American billionaire.
Mr Turnbull received $76,000 from Fortress Investment Group director Peter Briger, to help fund the campaign for the Sydney seat of Wentworth, The Sun-Herald has reported.
Mr Turnbull previously held shares in the company associated with predatory lending practices in the United States, but offloaded them in 2007.
When asked if he would re-pay the money, Mr Turnbull told Network Ten: "You could well ask that same question of President (Barack) Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because Peter Briger was a prominent supporter and donor to both their campaigns."
According to The Sun-Herald, Fortress is referred to as a "vulture company" because it preys on vulnerable businesses and debtors and picks over financial carcasses....."

This is not the first time Peter Briger has donated to the Libs - in 2007 he gave $51, 000 to the Liberal Party in NSW, but nothing to the other major parties.
And, guess what, Mal me old china?
Yep, you appear to be the only Aussie pollie to directly get money from this Yankee billionnaire and former Goldman Sachs shareholder (along with yourself).

In February 2007 The Street.com said of Briger and other Fortress directors/shareholders (and presumably Malcolm Turnbull):
"When it comes to hedge fund company Fortress Investments(FIG Quote - Cramer on FIG - Stock Picks), one thing's for sure: Chief executive Wesley Edens and the other principals didn't get where they are today by leaving money on the table.
Fortress went public two weeks ago and doubled in price on the first day. But what investors may not realize is that the five principals pretty much stripped the company clean just before the IPO.
I don't mean they cleaned up the balance sheet. I mean they cleaned out the vault. Page five of the prospectus shows they withdrew $446.9 million from the company in "cash distributions" last year.
Plus another $409 million in January.
They collected a further $888 million on Jan. 17 by selling a small stake to Japanese bank Nomura(NMR Quote - Cramer on NMR - Stock Picks).
Oh yes, and they pocketed a further $22.8 million in the final weeks before this month's IPO.
A table buried on page 94 of the prospectus shows the remarkable facts. Between January 2005 and this month's IPO, the five principals of Fortress -- Edens, Peter Briger, Robert Kauffman, Randal Nardone and Michael Novogratz -- cashed out $1.04 billion. "That does not include the Nomura transaction," adds company spokeswoman Lilly Donohue.
Total withdrawn in the two years before they took it public: $1.9 billion. Most of that was in the final few months.
This isn't just every penny that the company earned over that period -- it's a lot more. By the time the owners opened the doors to the investing public this month, the company wasn't just out of cash -- it had negative book value. Liabilities actually exceeded assets by $507 million........"

Fortress Investment Group key executives as of 6 February 2009.

Those wonderful Firies and other emergency service workers

It's times like this that bring home how wonderful Australian emergency services really are.
With many people in northern NSW having family spread around the country in areas affected by bushfire or flooding, we all have to rely on those big-hearted volunteers to look after these far away loved ones in times of danger and distress.

But it's not only the Firies and State Emergency Services workers we need to thank for their efforts either.
It is also the South Australian, Victorian, Queensland and New South Wales police, power company workers, local council staff, community groups, the Red Cross network and ABC Radio emergency service broadcasting, as well as countless neighbours and strangers who weigh in to help in times of trouble.
So here's a big thank-you to all these brave people as they continue to battle the worst that nature can throw at them.

The pic I've included is from ABC Melbourne.

Andy
Northern Rivers

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

While we wait for Conroy's ISP-level filtering trial.....

Netspace surveyed its customer and nearly 10,000 responded.

Whales have been in the ocean longer than humans have walked the earth

Humpback whale breaching photograph from National Geographic

It is thought that the ancestors of today's whales first became fully aquatic about 45 million years ago.

That is at least 40 million years earlier than our most readily recognizable ancestors and so far ahead of the creation of Japanese society that the Government of Japan should be ashamed of its pretence that the state-sponsored annual whale kills are anything but commercial slaughter.

A Sunday chuckle

• Sometimes a passing quote hits the giggle spot because its accidence is so right.
  This one is from the syndicated "Ginger Meggs" comic strip.
  
  A penny saved...........is a government oversight!

• Overheard at the pub: The way Malcolm Turnbull's been acting this week it looks like he's suffering from Rudd Rage.

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

A Happy Christmas musing:

Boy the Wonder Cat, Veroncia Lake his canine friend, Roo's bathroom cat and Clarrie's faithful hound, wish every pet and owner on the NSW North Coast a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Please remember to arrange proper care for your animals if you are holidaying between now and March 2009.

A get well soon musing:

This is a big hello to Dana, the 9 year-old Kelpie cross who was badly savaged by a grey pit bull at Red Rock in November 2008.

After emergency surgery and vet care that ran to over $3,000, Dana is still far from well as I put paw to keyboard.

A mixed mutt musing:

The Daily Examiner told everyone that (according to veterinary records) Labradors are the most common doggie pet in New South Wales, followed by Staffies, Jack Russells and Maltese Terriers.

My little canine friend Veronica Lake thinks that in the Northern Rivers things might be a little different, because she reckons that Yamba is the Home of the Little White Dog as there are so many small, white crossbreed dogs there.

I ask - where are the media releases about cats!?

A huge thankyou musing:

It was great to hear that 70-odd locals, tourists, National Park rangers and other government employees labored so hard at Anthony's Beach in north-west Tasmania to save a maternal pod of of pilot whales and managed to return 11 mums and bubs back to deep water and the open ocean.

Hope someone is giving you all free beer for that mammoth effort!

A keep an eye open musing:

This time of year fledgling birds are sometimes blown out of the nest before they are ready to fly. If something is moving in the flower bed or vegie patch, have a quick look to see if it is a grounded baby.

W.I.R.E.S (Northern Rivers) will take these babies so give them a call on: (02) 6628.1898

A US presidential musing:

Dogs of the world are rejoicing because a card-carrying Democrat puppy will enter the White House with the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2008.

But I'm a bit miffed. If Obama is truly going to be a president for all as he said in his acceptance speech, felines of the world join with me and demand that he give equal house space to a kitteh!

Here's my pick of a Cute kitten candidate for prime Washington residence

The New Economics

XKCD does the new economics

Zaishu art in Yamba

Photograph from the Bondville blog

Zaishu stool creations of Matthew Butler and Helen Puton, from Yamba at the mouth of the Clarence River.

Matt and Helen have their own website and can be contacted here.

B@stard Watch: old democrats neve die - they create a political blog!

It was sad to see the last of the Australian Democrats go from federal parliament in June, but they haven't gone too far from the public eye it seems.
This month the Demos created a blog called fittingly enough - B#stard Watch.
With the motto "B^stards never sleep and neither do we".
I wish them luck and hope that their new venture lives up to party expectations.
The new blog ran an Australia Day poll which gave Kevin Rudd a serve for not supporting gay marriage because he's a prudish b*stard.
In another post Peter Garret got it in the neck for being a whaling son without a father and for caving in to Gunns, while Mal Turnbull was done down for being an emissions trading foundling left on the steps of the local convent.
At this point I beg forgiveness for the convoluted phraseology, but there are only so many ways one can avoid the Internet filters when trying to type bastard person of uncertain parentage.

Artist’s public toilet has pride of place in small NZ town

“It is only a toilet but it should show that even small things
can bring beauty into our lives.” *1

Kawakawa (pop. 1,300), which some describe as an inconspicuous backwater New Zealand town, has a long main street, a butcher, a cafe, a supermarket and a pub. It also has a public toilet in the middle of its main street created by Viennese-born artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Hundertwasser’s public toilet stands in Gillies Street amid the usual shops and businesses found in a small town. It gives visitors an opportunity to relieve themselves in typical Hundertwasser ambiance. The floor’s tiles are uneven, the walls are warped and the windows are made of different colored bottles set into cement. Its columns are playfully colorful while the roof is overgrown with grass. Read the Jakarta Globe's full report here.

To Hundertwasser, a toilet is very special because you meditate in a toilet. Like a church. "The similarity is not so far fetched."

More photos of Hundertwasser's work, taken by NZer Phil, are here.

Pic - Christiane Oelrich, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) Germany

*1 Norma, Hundertwasser’s neighbour and close friend

First Dog On The Moon tackles internet censorship

First Dog On The Moon at Crikey

Senator Conroy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Remember way back when (January 2008) Senator Conroy's spokesperson was quoted:

Senator Conroy's spokeswoman said the blacklist would be expanded through liaison with the Australian Federal Police, and international agencies such as Interpol and the FBI.

Then, it was a little worrying that the super-conservative Federal Bureau of Investigation would presumably have some input into Conroy's expanded blacklist.

It became all the more worrying this month when the Bureau formally entered communication partnerships with the following faith-based organizations:

• Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, under the leadership of Dr. Tony Evans;

• The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, under the leadership of Bishop T.D. Jakes;

• The First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, under the leadership of Pastor John Jenkins;

• The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship in Decatur, Georgia, under the leadership of Bishop Paul Morton;

• Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church in Washington, D.C., under the leadership of Bishop Alfred Owens; and

• Ever Increasing Faith Ministries in Los Angeles, California, under the leadership of Dr. Fred Rice.

Treatment of Grafton workers lower than a snake's belly

Directors of companies used to hire workers for the parent company operating Grafton abattoir are still giving former workers (sacked without receiving their due entitlements) the runaround.
It seems that no-one is taking responsibility.
And now Liberals MP Bronwyn Bishop is jumping on the bandwagon with offers of help.
Yep, Bronnie - you helped set up the WorkChoices legislation which virtually encouraged employers to shaft workers and now you want to help.
Too little, too late, mate.

Some pollies show what a waste of space they can be

The Libs and Nats are revolting.
No they're not just moving against the government, they are repulsive.
Malcolm Turnbull is going to the newspapers and saying that he wants a smaller second stimulus package (less than half of the $42 billion)and that he will block the Rudd Government in parliament.
What's he going to cut?
Social housing, defence forces accomodation, making homes warmer in winter, a little extra money for students, better class rooms and school libraries, a bonus for the working poor?
What an utter waste of space that man has turned out to be.

Upriver Bill
Northern Rivers

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents.
Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

The FBI is watching YouTube

The FBI is watching you YouTube according to a 14 January 2009 threat assessment document posted on Wikileaks.
Apparently the bureau is searching for Al Qaeda videos.

For heavens sake don't tell Senator Conroy! ;-)

Suggestions on the future of the International Whaling Commission: details of the Hogarth-De Soto proposal for Japanese whaling

Is Japan beginning to win its war of attrition against the anti-whaling nations?

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has released its Chairs’ Suggestions on the Future of the International Whaling Commission found in the Report on the Small Working Group (SWG) on the Future of the International Whaling Commission, 2 February 2009.

Element 6: JAPANESE SMALL TYPE COASTAL WHALING
An interim quota for "O" stock common minke whales in Japanese coastal waters for a five year period would be implemented, having regard to the unique circumstances that exist for four Japanese coastal communities. This whaling would be managed, consistent with the advice of the Scientific Committee, under a Schedule amendment that would last for 5 years. The Scientific
Committee would provide interim advice concerning the total removals of O and J stock common minke whales. The advice would be provided under the following two scenarios: a) constant catches for 5 years and 0 thereafter, b) constant catches for 5 years with the same level of catches thereafter.

Any direct take of J-stock animals must be identified and included with J-stock animals taken as bycatch in commercial fisheries, and managed according to the recommendations of the Scientific Committee. No more than a total of five vessels from Taiji, Abashiri, Ayukawa and Wada would be used, all trips must be day trips, and monitoring, control and enforcement methods must be identified and implemented. All meat would be locally consumed. In accordance with the Schedule, annual reports would be submitted to the IWC for each year’s hunt identifying the number of whales taken, the position of capture, the species taken and locations where whales are landed. Arrangements would be made for the Secretariat to verify the composition of total removals regarding J- and O- stock animals.

Element 23: RESEARCH UNDER SPECIAL PERMIT
This issue was one of the most contentious discussed by the Small Working Group. Many countries remained opposed to whaling under special permit. Various approaches have been suggested, including elimination, bringing it under the control of IWC and using a Code of Conduct. However, in the spirit of trying to reach a consensus on measures to improve the performance of the IWC, a significant reduction in the number of whales taken under special permit during the interim period is proposed; during that period the issue will be addressed further with a view to seeking a long-term arrangement. Such a proposal should in no way be interpreted as meaning that countries who are opposed to special permit whaling are thereby endorsing it; they might prefer to view it as a step in the process of reducing the number of whales taken while negotiations continue on the future of the IWC.

Based on discussions, the following options are proposed:

Option 1:
(1) For the next five years, a phase-out of special permit whaling of Antarctic minke whales in the Southern Ocean would occur, where takes of minke whales in the Southern Ocean would be reduced by 20% in the first year and each year thereafter to reach zero by year 5.
(2) No takes of humpback or fin whales in the Southern Ocean.
(3) All removal levels would be reviewed by the Scientific Committee and consistent with its recommendations.

Or,

Option 2:
(1) for the next five years, an annual limit of x Antarctic common minke whales and y fin whales is established in the Southern Ocean associated with JARPA II research, pending interim advice from the Scientific Committee regarding the sustainability of these removal levels.
(2) It is anticipated, pending advice from the Scientific Committee on sustainability, that in the western North Pacific as part of JARPN II research, ww O-stock common minke whales, xx sei whales, yy Brydes and zz sperm whales will be harvested annually.
Concerning the conduct of research under special permit, the Commission adopted a new approach (Annex P) at the Santiago meeting. The Scientific Committee will continue to use this approach for the review of existing and new research programmes. Member nations will take account of recommendations from the Scientific Committee regarding the experimental design.

During the 5-year interim period the Commission will address all issues pertaining to Article VIII. Of special importance are the issues of where special permit whaling would be allowed (i.e. whether special permit whaling should be allowed in designated sanctuaries), the long term purpose or need for special permit whaling, and monitoring and compliance protocols.

Element 27: SANCTUARIES
A South Atlantic Sanctuary should be established for an initial period of five years. The boundary for this sanctuary would take into account the interests of coastal range states. A ¾’s majority vote of the IWC would be required to extend this designation beyond the interim period.

North Coast pensioners took your advice, Kev - so how about it?

The Prime Minister gave pensioners a one-off bonus payment in December 2008 and told them to go out and spend to help the Aussie economy.
As far as I can tell on the NSW North Coast they did just that.
They spent it at the dentist, at the vet, buying clothes, sheets for the bed, tyres for the car, a new fridge, shoes for the grandkids and extra Christmas groceries - simple things like that which sent money straight into the tills of local businesses.
So Rudders not including a commitment to Aussie pensioners in his latest stimulus package anounced this week was a little alarming.
Is the Rudd Government going to put the promised mid-year payment increase for single pensioners on the backburner as it did paid maternity leave?
I second Senator Bob Brown when he called on the Rudd Government to once again include pensioners in the stimulus package by ensuring that they get a pension increase this year.
On the North Coast pensioners and seniors (besides being the backbone of many not-for-profit community groups and the bulk of the population in some areas) are what makes the money go round. I kid you not.

Australian national political donations: who gave to which party in 2007-2008

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) released the 2007-08 annual returns for political donations and expenditure this week.

Here is a brief breakdown:

Australian Labor Party [National] - 81 donations listed
Biggest donor Village Roadshow Limited at $205,000

Liberal Party of Australia [National] - 66 donors on record.
Largest donor Brickworks at $250,000

National Party of Australia [National] - 20 donations are recorded
Largest donor Hong Kong Kingson Investments at $250,000

Australian Greens [National] - 1 donation listed
Only donor Mr. Russell Thompson at $20,000

Family First [National] - 1 donor
Only donor Grocon Pty Ltd at $5,000

Christian Democratic Party [National] - 0 donors

In addition: the Business Council of Australia spent $2.3 million on political publication and broadcasting and the Australian Council of Trade Unions outlaid around $15.8 million across the spectrum.

AEC Search

• Party
• Party Group
• Donor
• Associated Entity
• Political Expenditure

Monsanto fruit?

From Animal Magic: or what happens when graphic artists get bored

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

Australian senators' financial interests now online

Open Australia is in the process of putting all senators declared interests online at its website.
All senators can be found here. Just follow the links.
Starting with the "A"s and continuing downwards it is remarkable to see the number of senators declaring a laptop computer given to them by that notable 2008 corporate collapse ABC Pty Ltd.
It's also fascinating to see just how many senators appear to be living on their parliamentary income alone, like Senator Conroy who (from memory) states a mortgaged family home and a single savings bank account along with that ubiquitous laptop.
However, others like Senator Coonan give a gentle hint at cash investments, jewellery, antiques and a handful of 'freebies', while Senator Heffernan presents a fairly typical country MP profile of investments, shares in own and other companies, trusts, and land a little land and starry skies above.

Rudd's $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan outlined

The Prime Minister announced today a second stimulus package which includes these key elements:

• Free ceiling insulation for around 2.7 million Australian homes
• Build or upgrade a building in every one of Australia’s 9,540 schools
• Build more than 20,000 new social and defence homes
• $950 one off cash payments to eligible families, single workers, students, drought effected farmers and others
• A temporary business investment tax break for small and general businesses buying eligible assets
• Significantly increase funding for local community infrastructure and local road projects

More offical detail can be found here.

Crickey has graphs showing which electorates will get the bulk of child and school related payments and funding at Kevvie Cash Rewards

Red face for Nationals Luke Hartsuyker over fuel prices

Despite a great deal of wasted ink, Nationals MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker just could not support his contention that the Rudd Government was wrecking all for North Coast motorists and businesses.

Federal Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker has slammed the country's Petrol Commissioner and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for failing to help local motorists still forking out unnecessarily high prices for unleaded fuel.

First the Petrol Commissioner told him that the difference between Kempsey and city unleaded petrol average retail prices was only around 4 cents a litre for the second half of 2008.

Now according to The Land on Saturday:

The difference between city and country fuel prices is no reason for alarm, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
This is despite calls for a full investigation into the price gap by country MPs last week.
The ACCC says some country petrol prices last week were cheaper than Sydney and Melbourne prices.
ACCC commissioner and petrol spokesman, Joe Dimasi, visited Central Queensland last week to talk to angry country motorists and see for himself what was going on with petrol prices.
The visit followed a formal request from Nationals leader, Warren Truss, and Opposition spokesman for competition, Luke Hartsuyker, for the ACCC to thoroughly investigate the disparity between petrol and diesel prices, and city and country fuel prices.
Mr Truss said diesel was traditionally much cheaper than petrol, and its current high price was flowing through to the cost of transport and food.

It would appear the Mr. Hartsuyker is not beginning the year with any political flourish.

'Truffles' Turnbull's latest tack

Dear Voter,
I'm writing to let you know that Edward Gough Whitlam is alive and well and heading the country as Australian Prime Minister in 2009.
You may have been a little confused because his official biography doesn't mention him being a rather younger, chubby fellow hailing from Queensland.
But do not be fooled - the PM is really Gough after a clever makeover paid for by Unions Australia.
If Gough-in-disguise comes to your door asking for your vote it would be wise to have lots of garlic and holy water handy to ward him off.
Australia's economy depends on returning to government all those politicians who so enthusiastically supported a deregulated global financial system.
Julie, Joe and Tony join me in saying: Remember, greed is good for the nation.
Sincerely,

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull

P.S.
This letter was paid for by donations from my friends Bankers International and Big Business.

Storm Financial: if it looks too good to be true then it is

Storm is one of Australia's largest and fastest growing Financial Services firms. Our strength comes from providing services and advice, based on sound research, which integrate smoothly with your life goals and ambitions.
Investing successfully is about fulfilling your full financial potential; not about being constrained by the limits of your present position.
We take the confusion and complexity out of investing and provide free investor education so you can make informed choices to create the quality of life you desire.

So said Storm Financial (formerly Ozdaq Securities and Cassimatis Securities) in 2005.

Supposedly the principals now have to sell all after the company's financial collapse leaves them facing personal bankruptcy.

Though the media have been somewhat silent about another company Ignite Financial Systems & Research Pty Ltd (formerly Storm Financial Research and Ozdaq Research) apparently owned by Storm principals and rumoured to be operating in Victoria as well as in Queensland and, which has Storm Financial as a client.
It is not clear whether this firm has been protected from the financial meltdown or indeed if any of the other companies which appear to be associated with Storm are not at risk.

It has also been reported that the Financial Planners Association has terminated Storm's membership with some stern words.

Matters are likely to go from bad to worse for Storm clients, for besides having to meet horrendous margin calls it is possible that the Australian Tax Office may come calling about how various advisers structured their tax.

Legal action by former Storm clients against everyone they can think of may be the only way to stave off further loss/debt.
At last count their combined debt was estimated at $100 million.

Courtesy of The Wayback Machine here are website screen shots from October 2007 and January 2009.

Then...................

Now....................

Update:

• Emmanuel Cassimatis admits it was he who discussed with the Commonwealth Bank the fact that many Storm clients would be unable to meet margin calls, two weeks before the bank contacted these clients.
• Supreme Court freezes bank account linked to Storm Financial, 4 Februaury 2009

Scorching Australia: interviews with Wong, Lindesay and Evans on climate change

Photograph from the ABC

Australia's southern states are struggling through what is likely to be a once-in-a-century heat wave. ABC's Canberra correspondent, Linda Mottram in an extended interview with Doctor Janette Lindesay, associate professor of climatology, Australian National University last week.
Interview can be heard here:
Listen: Windows Media

An earlier interview with Julie Evans, meteorologist at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in Sydney, Penny Wong, Australia's Climate Change Minister, Doctor Janette Lindesay, associate professor of climatology, Australian National University can be heard here:
Listen: Windows Media

ABC News report on last year's southern heatwave.

How Rudd & Labor can lose the 2010 federal election

What with Turnbull and Truss still rummaging around for a hat to match that Coalition overcoat, it looks nigh on impossible for the Rudd Government to lose the next federal election.
Ah, but wait.
Every Australia Day the ugly little republican imp is let loose and the media delightedly stir the common pot.
According to the Canberra Times the Australian Republican Movement wants Rudd to fire the starter's gun so voters can decide if Australian is to be a republic.
The BBC weighs in with a little ambivalence on the subject.
For once David Flint writing for the ABC News hits the nail on the head with a piece titled Republican push divisive, expensive and irresponsible.
The Courier Mail baldly says that Rudd has ditched the plan because of a feared voter backlash.

Faced with the increasingly nasty effects of climate change and in a long period of economic uncertainty affecting every facet of life; all Australia needs to turn it snarling on the ruling political party is for that party to decide that we need more disruptive change and insist the country debate and vote on a republic.
If Rudders resists the urge to begin this republican debate then all will be well.
If not - then bring on the next federal election and I for one will delight in voting the bustards out 2010.
We need the short-sighted and naked self-interest of pollies messing with the Australian Constitution like we need the discovery of mad cow disease within our borders.

First bumper stickers, t-shirts and coffee mugs - now Obama is a worm!

During the 2008 presidential election campaign the Obama for America team branded almost everything that moved with logos and slogans promoting Barack Obama.

During the transition period for President-elect Obama his face began appearing on even more merchandise.

Now as President Obama his face appears on PC monitors if these have been infected with an Obama Worm.

The worm spreads via USB drive, using the Windows autorun feature to install itself automatically on any drive it connects with. Unlike most of today's profit-driven malware, the Obama worm doesn't steal your credit card number or turn your PC into a remote-controlled zombie system. In fact, it isn't designed to do anything besides float a small picture of Obama at the bottom right corner of your desktop all day every Monday.

Unfortunately, it is so badly written that the worm gradually renders any PC it is run on completely useless, according to Rob Koliha, Walling Data's director of innovation. "It will basically prevent execution of any kind of files."

Because antivirus programs don't detect it yet, it's also hard to know when you've been infected, except on Monday.

Australian genetically modified foods update

This post is by way of a catch-up on news about genetically modified (GM) food and crops in Australia.

ABC News reported last week:

When New South Wales and Victoria dropped their bans on genetically modified canola crops, GM supporters claimed farmers would have greater yielding crops as a result.
However recent trials showed there was little difference between the two.
So why bother growing GM canola if you can't get anything extra out of it?....
Chris Preston is associate professor at the School of Agriculture at the University of Adelaide.
He says trial results depend on region and climate, and the drought hampered the GM canola trails.
He says the trials do give an indication how canola performs in drought conditions, and if that's where it's being grown it's probably not worth growing GM canola variety. xxxx

WA Business News also ran this short article on 16 January:

Genetically modified canola crops in Victoria have performed no better than their non-genetically modified counterparts as Western Australia prepares to hold trials later this year.
Results from Grains Research and Development Council showed the yields, from the first independent trial crops in Horsham and Forbes in Victoria, were 0.7 tonne per hectare for GM and 0.8t/ha ha for non-GM.
The results are not good news for those wanting to farm GM canola, as to break even with the technology, profits must increase by up to 16 per cent.

Comment on the Business News article:

This article talks of yields, but what about sales? Thanks to this environmentally toxic rubbish being foisted on us Australians I simply boycott everything with Canola in it now because no-one can quickly prove to me it's GM free.

I'm not going to waste my time trying to find out either as you either encounter people who don't have a clue or spin doctors.

I'm becoming more aggressive with fish shops etc too, if they are using canola or cottonseed oil, the food could be GM contaminated.

We Can't Eat A Scorched Earth! Climate change and food security

Free public meeting promoted by Gene Ethics

Thursday 5th February 2009
5.45 pm for 6.00 pm talk start, concluding 7.15pm
NSW Teachers Federation

23 - 33 Mary St, Surry Hills Sydney - (between Albion & Reservoir)

True Food Network latest guide to GM-free food and what to avoid

Australian Office of Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) list of genetically modified product approvals:
GM products approved as food, food additives and processing aids (PDF 79 KB)
GM products approved as therapeutics (PDF 19 KB)

OGTR current list of applications and licences to release GMO into the environment, laboratory trials and low risk dealings.

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