Japanese response to whaling fleet returning home early

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper editorial of February 22, 2011 indicates that whaling is still being supported by elements within Japanese society, but the focus appears to be turning towards coastal hunts in the vicinity of Japan's territorial waters:

Violent acts of harassment must never be condoned, but the victims should not allow themselves to be pushed around and resort to knee-jerk reactions.

After repeated harassment of Japanese whalers by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the government last week called off a research whaling mission in the Antarctic Ocean.

Sea Shepherd's harassment tactics included bringing their vessels dangerously close to Japanese whalers and hurling bottles of hazardous chemicals at them. The international community must condemn such activities by this radical anti-whaling group.

That said, however, anti-whaling sentiments run high in the governments and societies of the West. Together with other whaling nations, Japan has for years asserted and defended its right to whaling before the International Whaling Commission (IWC), but there is no solution in sight.

The arguments of the opposing camps are fundamentally irreconcilable. The pro-whaling camp asserts that whales are a "utilizable resource," while the anti-whaling camp sees them as "wild animals that need to be protected."

The Japanese government makes a scientifically valid argument when it points out that there are species of "resource whales," such as Antarctic minkes, that whalers are allowed to hunt. However, the prevalent thinking around the world today is that there is no need to hunt and eat those whales just because of their large population.

So long as the opposing camps hold on to their mutually unacceptable arguments, no resolution to the dispute can be hoped for. Both sides must recognize that no single value system should be forced on the entire world, and try to seek a compromise.

Following last week's decision, the government must think calmly about its future policy. While planning a long-range strategy, we believe the government should ask itself this fundamental question: Is Antarctic whaling truly necessary for Japan?

Japan's position is that it wants to resume commercial whaling in the Antarctic, and that research whaling is a preparatory step. Anti-whaling nations have all sorts of reasons of their own, but they are united in their opposition to commercial whaling in any form, and they are not giving an inch.

Demand for whale meat is not growing at all in Japan, and the nation's ocean-going whaling industry is effectively dead. Given this reality, there is little justification for Japan's stated need to resume commercial whaling in the Antarctic.

The most notable compromise plan so far floated by the IWC is to allow coastal whaling but ban hunting beyond 200 miles of the coast. The basic thinking is that each country should engage in coastal whaling at its discretion. But the international community's majority opinion should be honored for whaling in the Antarctic and other open seas.

We believe this is an appropriate plan. It requires anti-whaling nations to acknowledge whales as a "utilizable resource." But at the same time, Japan should rethink its position and switch course, namely, to downscale and eventually give up Antarctic whaling so long as its right to coastal whaling is guaranteed.

Whether we eat whale meat is our business and nobody else's. And we tend to react with anger when foreign countries tell us we shouldn't eat it. But while refusing to bend to the tactics of Sea Shepherd, we do need to explore a new way of whaling.

Barry O'Farrell and electoral priorities on the NSW North Coast

These problem are chronic and will affect tens of thousands of NSW families - many of them living on the North Coast:

BABY BOOMERS taking a seachange in their dotage face the prospect of widespread shortages in aged care, revised projections of the impact of dementia show.Australia will be 279,000 aged care places short by 2050 without significant policy changes, and hardest hit will be coastal areas popular with retirees, a study by Access Economics has found.The heavier than expected demand for aged care results from the failure of official projections to take account of the increased prevalence of dementia that has emerged from the growing number of people aged 85 and over, the report says.At present, aged care projections are based on numbers of people aged over 70.The expected growth points in elderly populations show that sea-change locations such as Port Macquarie, Tweed Heads and the NSW south coast would experience shortages of 2000 or more aged-care places by 2050 without a change in policy. In the Paterson electorate in the Hunter region, the shortfall would be just under 3000 places. [The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 February 2011]

TWO crashes, two dead, two injured, two straight stretches of road, but only one question: how did it happen? [The Daily Examiner,25 February 2011]

Erosion due to higher sea levels is also a key risk for coastal areas. In New South Wales there are approximately 3,600 residential buildings located within 110 metres of ‘soft’ erodible shorelines, of which approximately 700 are located within 55 metres of ‘soft’ coast. [NSW Parliament, Briefing Paper,June 2010]

So what is NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell focusing on as he begins election campaigning?

Mr O'Farrell on Thursday said that, if he wins government at the March 26 state election, he will take his fight against the introduction of a national carbon price to Canberra. [The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 February 2011]

While at the regional launch of the Coalition election campaign last Sunday O'Farrell endorsed the possibility that speed limits would be increased on country single lane highways.

That’s right. O'Farrell appears to believe that one size fits all. That on the NSW North Coast where we are on the climate change front line in many small towns and villages, where highway deaths are a constant concern and where an aging population is a big issue; ignoring the coming dementia care crisis, adding another 10k per hour to traffic speed and actively fighting against climate change mitigation measures will win over local voters in March.

Can’t you just tell that his focus groups are probably all in metropolitan areas and that the North Coast comprises very safe state Nationals seats this time around.

One of life's little mysteries........

One small cyberspace puzzle courtesy of Google's search engine on 25 February 2011:

The requested domain name is not configured for any web site: http://www.abbotttaxhike.com/
If you're an administrator of this site, you need to go to Site Manager -> Sites and use the following domain name either in the Site properties or add a new domain alias: www.abbotttaxhike.com

Sarah Palin is elevated to higher office

Had to share this piece of weirdness on a Christian far right blog called “ChrisTwire”.

Until Jesus comes back, we have Mrs. Palin. She selflessly stands up for the rights of all Americans, only to be thanked by the liberal media with unflattering stories containing outright lies and communist propaganda. The women who hate her are jealous of her, the men who hate her are gay.

Maeve

Coffs Harbour

The Abbott Monologues: a shrill man falls foul of Shakespeare and history

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is nothing if not predictable – back with his great big new tax on everything mantra and a time wasting censure motion on the last parliamentary sitting day of the week which inevitably fails to get up.

This week's obviously rehearsed sound bite was; She has never seen a tax she did not like. She has never seen a tax she would not hike. Unfortunately the contrived nature of this utterance was exposed by the grinning backbencher sitting immediately him in the House clearly mouthing the words along with his leader.

Last Thursday’s very shrill effort during Question Time also saw the inevitable botching of detail as Abbott got carried away for the benefit of cameras and media.

Though this time one of the wonky details came from a surprising source. Waxing lyrical when speaking of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, he cried “Out, out foul spot” when supposedly quoting from Shakespeare’s play Lady Macbeth.

Of course Year 10 high school students would be able to tell him that the spot was not foul but damned and, although Lady Macbeth was a notorious sleepwalker she was not given to stuttering.

But then, at the beginning of this week Abbott obviously thought a form of modern government existed in New South Wales during the time William Bligh when he attempted a comparison with the Keneally Government. Bligh of course as a military governor of a British colony was virtually an absolute local ruler answerable only to the British Parliament. He had long left the colony by the time a legislature came into being. Abbott also appears to believe that it was definitely warmer when Jesus allegedly walked the earth than it is today.

Northern Rivers studies in browns

Penny Evans, The Swarm 2008 (top)
Ron Leonard, Cage One (centre)
Lae Oldmeadow, Canopy Sacred Seed 1 2008 (bottom)

Arts Northern Rivers

Sometimes a cartoon is all too accurate....

A small hint received from a friend.....

Clarence Valley's 'professional' contrarians are at it again

Mighty Clarence
Ed,
Over the years there has been a resistance to building a dam on the Clarence River – “Not One Drop – The Mighty Clarence”. This seems to be irrational and a case of NFromMBY. It’s not as though we use very much of the water. According to government figures < 1% of the water is being used with the other 99% going out to sea. And the new Shannon Creek Dam will provide our domestic water if necessary. So why should we reconsider? There have been two major floods in two years, (and there will be more). These have caused considerable hardship, disruption and cost in the valley and to the state’s transportation corridors. Current articles talk about the cane farmers being adversely affected for up to two years; prawn stocks being washed out to sea; fish kills due to deoxygenation; river events being cancelled; major infrastructure damage or destruction; people and trucks stranded for days; health alerts; sugar and fishing jobs threatened… Maybe it should be called “The Mighty Destructive Clarence”. We need a dam that can be used for flood mitigation, (which does not mean flood prevention) and provide water to the Murray Darling Basin. It would also provide a great fresh water recreation area for the Clarence Valley.
A plan put forward by the late Professor Lance Endersbee included five dams and multiple pipelines. A mini-Snowy Mountains scheme is not needed. The fallacy of his scheme is that lots of water needs to be stored. It doesn’t, because of the Clarence’s large catchment and the generally reliable, high rainfall. It needs only one dam on the eastern side of the range that would provide mitigation and MDB water.
The dam would be built after the major tributaries, such as the Timbarra and the Nymboida/Mann flowed into the Clarence. The best site for the dam would be in the Clarence River Gorge. From this dam the water would be pumped over the Great Divide, to a holding dam that would then release water into the Severn River and the existing Pindari Dam. From there it would flow through the Macintyre-Dumaresq-Barwon Rivers, and into the Darling. The 80km pipeline would be a straightforward project compared to say the Trans Alaska Pipeline, which I worked on for a number of years.
It is a dam that would be beneficial for the Clarence Valley and our inland neighbours, who provide much of the food WE eat and who will again, be subject to long, severe droughts. If the Mighty Clarence can’t offer a parched neighbour “ONE drop”, it does not deserve to be called mighty. The dam should not be damned. It deserves to be discussed in a no-parochial, unemotional manner. I would be happy to provide more information, to any interested parties.
John Ibbotson*
Gulmarrad
[The Clarence Valley Review, letter to the Editor,9 February 2011]

* Mr. Ibbotson describes himself variously as Metallurgist, Systems Analyst, Photographer, Author. His submission to Federal Paliament Water Proofing the Murray-Darling Basin contains the same arguments as those in his letter. Ibbotson is something of a conspiracy theorist and anthropomorphic global warming denialist.

Worth thinking about
Ed,
I found it a pleasure to read John Ibbotson’s easily understood and emotionally unbiased letter (CVR 9/2/11) on that perennial question that is too much of a hotcake for any local politician to pick up on.
Personally I agree with Mr. Ibbotson’s opinion.I further offer the following. Having studied a rather crude topographical map, a dam at the Gorge would probably require a construction and service road from Summerland Way to the site which in turn would require a second bridge across the Clarence River.
Worth thinking about?
And certainly worth further discussion
Thomas Macindoe *
Yamba
[The Clarence Valley Review, letter to the Editor, 23 February 2011]

* Mr. Macindoe is one of the Clarence Valley’s resident contrarians who in retirement will often take contradictory positions on given issues providing his stance runs counter to either expert opinion or public sentiment. One of his most endearing traits is his predictability.

The Bobbsy Twins Pell & Plimer get a dose of legitimate science

Finally! In the Senate Hansard, showing restraint and respect, Dr Greg Ayers exposes Cardinal George Pell for the foolish man that he is (subsequent to certain correspondence between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the prelate).

Despite a valiant attempt by Senator McDonald, to divert and over talk Ayers in order to protect this meddlesome priest and his pet climate change denier, the following went into the historical record as part of ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION COMMITTEE ESTIMATES (Additional Estimates) MONDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2011

Dr. Ayers full statement here - with interruptions and senatorial dummy spits removed.

What Julia Gillard really said about pricing carbon

Listening to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott lay into Prime Minister Gillard over the announcement that her government was moving towards setting an interim price on carbon from 1 July 2012 as a precursor to an national emissions trading scheme by 2017 and, then hearing knuckle-dragging radio ‘personality’ Alan Jones’ near hysterical rant on the same subject (full transcript here) one could be forgiven for thinking that Ms. Gillard had never let the Australian electorate know her thinking before the last federal election held on 21 August 2010.

Both of these gentleman forget the enduring convenience of Google when it comes to checking if one’s memory is correct or not.

Yes, she did say that there would not be a carbon tax and, despite Abbott and Jones trying to rewrite history, a stand alone, permanent carbon tax is not what is being planned for now.

However, Gillard did go to some pains to let us all know that carbon pricing was going to occur if Labor was re-elected.

In June 2010 The Australian reported:

Julia Gillard will pursue a carbon price if she wins the next election…

In July 2010 The Herald Sun also reported the Prime Minister’s position:

"We will have that price on carbon when we have a deep community consensus."
Today, Ms Gillard emphatically ruled out a price on carbon before 2012 as she prepares to release a new policy on climate change.
That means no ETS, no carbon tax and no interim carbon levy until then.

The Business Spectator in July 2010:

The federal government has agreed new policies on climate change, including a commitment to set an interim price on carbon, the Australian Financial Review reports.

On the day before we all went to the polls Gillard was reported at news.com.au:

Julia Gillard says she is prepared to legislate a carbon price in the next term as part of a bold series of reforms

In The Australian on the same day:

In an election-eve interview with The Australian, the Prime Minister revealed she would view victory tomorrow as a mandate for a carbon price, provided the community was ready for this step.

Even Tony Abbott was aware of Gillard’s commitment to pricing carbon. His own website contained this post almost two months before the last federal election:

If she is serious about putting a price on carbon she shouldn’t wait until after the election, she should sit down with Bob Brown now, come up with something, tell us now what she’s going to do rather than just fudge this until after the election. But it’s typical of the new Prime Minister that she wants to get credit for wanting to do something without getting the blame for actually doing something and this is a Prime Minister who will tell people what she thinks they want to hear but she won’t then put the policies in place to deliver on that.

We're white hot and angry? Quick, look in the mirror and check!

The very partisan and super aggressive Alan Jones over at 2GB this morning told the Prime Minister that there is white hot anger out there over the announcement of a framework to introduce a national carbon price.

This came as a great surprise in our house because yesterday we greeted that same announcement with sighs of relief that Australia was once more moving forward on climate change.

Anony-mice

Yamba

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

Christchurch Earthquake Appeal: you've seen the news video - now help the cast

You’ve watched the 24 hour news coverage, spoken with friends and relatives – now donate a dollar or two to the New Zealand Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

Salvation Army Australian donations online here.

Australian Red Cross online donations here.

Westpac Bank is accepting donations at local branches and customers can also donate via online banking.

ANZ Bank is accepting donations at local branches – Account name: Red Cross New Zealand Earthquake Appeal, BSB: 013 265, Account: 4768 62394

Commonwealth Bank accepting donations at local branches and via NetBank - Account name: Commonwealth Bank New Zealand Earthquake Appeal, BSB: 06 2000, Account number: 1405 2924

McDonald's Australia - a fast food nightmare

No wonder that McDonald’s new fast food outlet in Yamba doesn’t appear to be doing a roaring business during peak tourist season on the Clarence Coast:

MCDONALD'S new Favourites Combo meal contains enough calories for a whole day, horrifying nutritionists.

It contains 1623 calories and 68.5g of fat.

It's McDonald's new Favourites Combo - being promoted as a lunch meal for one, which contains almost the entire daily recommended calorie and fat intake.

Tania Ferraretto, a dietician for 17 years, said she would never recommend anyone eat the calorific meal.

She said a person's required calorie intake was variable depending on age, gender and activity level but that the average adult needed about 2000 calories per day.

"This McDonald's meal is a huge proportion of that," Ms Ferraretto said. The meal is also dangerously high in saturated fat - containing a whopping 24.4g.

"That's more saturated fat in one meal than you need in one day," Ms Ferraretto said.

"Saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease and high cholesterol.

"I think it's completely irresponsible and ridiculous to promote a meal like this, especially in the current climate with obesity being such a problem."

The promotion hit South Australian stores on January 25 and will only be available until March 2.

In the middle of the promotional period, the Cancer Council released results from a national survey which revealed one in four high school students were overweight or obese and 51 per cent had tried a new food or drink in the past month that they had seen advertised.

McDonald's Hindley St store manager Yihong Hu said the Favourites Combo promotion was proving to be popular…….

[www.news.com.au, 20 February 2011]