MeadowLea and The Case of the Missing Non-GM Oils

Snapshot from MeadowLea About Our Products Ingredients, 26 July 2011

MeadowLea promotes its margarines as Non GM on the outside of its tubs.

However, on the base of the these same tubs a question arises as to the legitimacy of this claim.

Firstly, only the canola seed is claimed to be Non-Genetically Modified on the tub bases.

Secondly, on the bottom of Salt Reduced and Extra Light tubs, I've noticed the claim only covers part of Vegetable Oils 65% (Containing 52% Canola & Sunflower Oils) and Vegetable Oil 31% (Containing 26% Canola & Sunflower Oil) respectively.

So what is the nature of the remainder of the vegetable oil (13% and 5% in the examples quoted) called plant & seed oils on its website and hidden within the term Vegetable Oil(s) on its tubs.

Could it possibly be from plant material that cannot be guaranteed as Non-GM?
Hhmmmm.....

Bolta the Unbelievable

This was Teh Bolta on the 23^rd July 2011 before the first of many judicious post updates:

“Once the identity of the attackers becomes known, the consequences for Norway’s immigration policies could be profound:

A BOMBING and a separate shooting in Oslo, which appear to have targeted Norway’s prime minister and have left at least 11 people dead, are believed to be linked, police say.
Police say seven people have been confirmed dead following a bomb blast outside prime minister Jens Stoltenberg’s office in Oslo.

Acting Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told broadcaster NRK that investigators suspect today’s bombing was linked to a shooting spree that killed four people at the Labor Party’s youth camp later in the day by a gunman in a police uniform.

The bomb left seven people dead and another 15 injured, two seriously, police said.

Already the unconfirmed reports suggest our immediate suspicions are correct, although the shooter’s appearance tells us to still be cautious about our conclusions:

Abu Suleiman al-Nasser, an Islamist with links to Al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups, has claimed responsibility for today’s bomb in Oslo…”

The fourth update by Bolta to the original post:

“He claims to be a Christian.”

And this was the same eejit Murdoch journalist four days later:

“HEAR that gloating sound, among the sobs for the 76 people murdered last week by Anders Behring Breivik?

Hear that cackling among the moans?

It’s Leftist polemicists, gleeful that the Norwegian murderer was a “far-Right Christian”.

How often you’ve been reminded.

One ABC news story filed on Sunday mentioned three times that Breivik was a “Christian”…”

So it’s alright for Bolta to quickly publish his erroneous suspicion that the acts of terrorism in Norway were the work of Islamic extremists, then to later mention the declared religious allegiance of the actual perpetrator – but it’s hands off the news story completely if you're not prepared to bash Teh Big Bad Left along with with him?

Andy has more hide than Jessie the Elephant!

In which Rupert Murdoch, John Howard, Peter Costello, Ross Cameron, Keith Windschuttle & Cardinal Pell are used as building blocks for terrorism

It hardly comes as a surprise that members of Australia’s right-wing are directly quoted (or in Phillip Ruddock’s case mentioned by reference link) in a manifesto* openly inciting racial hatred and violence nor that Rupert Murdoch’s desire to dominate media ownership is mentioned as one contributing reason for action, but it was a surprise to find a very brief quote from writings of the late academic Alex Carey mentioned:

In 1998, Rupert Murdoch owned 34% of the daily newspapers and 37% of the Sunday newspapers in the UK. Successive UK governments have allowed his empire to grow in return for his media's support. 53% of UK newspaper and magazine distribution is controlled by just two companies, WH Smith and John Menzies. Cross-media ownership and the fact that a small number of people own so many of our means of obtaining information is a threat as it institutionalises globalism and multiculturalism....

Luckily, not all Christian leaders are appeasers of Islam. One of the intelligent ones comes from Australia, a country that has been fairly resistant to Political Correctness. They have taken serious steps towards actually enforcing their own borders, despite the predictable outcries from various NGOs and anti-racists, and Prime Minister John Howard has repeatedly proven to be one of the most sensible leaders in the Western world....

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello [28] said Australian Muslim leaders need to stand up and publicly denounce terrorism in all its forms. Mr. Costello has also backed calls by Prime Minister John Howard for Islamic migrants to adopt Australian values. Mr. Howard caused outrage in Australia’s Islamic community when he said Muslims needed to speak English and show respect to women....

All over the developed world, the same pattern is apparent. Russia, Britain, Ireland, Australia, Spain, Italy and dozens of other countries are contending with fertility rates well below replacement levels....
A study from the United States [13] identified the main barriers to men tying the knot. Heading the list was their ability to get sex without marriage more easily than in the past. The second was that they can enjoy the benefits of having a wife by cohabiting rather than marrying.
The report lends weight to remarks by Ross Cameron, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Family and Community Services, who chided Australian men, blaming Australia’s looming fertility crisis on men’s commitment phobia.
“The principal reason young women say they don’t get around to having children is they can’t find a bloke they like who is willing to commit,” he said. “This commitment aversion in the Australian male is a real problem.”....

Australian writer Keith Windschuttle [22], a former Marxist, is tired of that anti-Western slant that permeates academia: “For the past three decades and more, many of the leading opinion makers in our universities, the media and the arts have regarded Western culture as, at best, something to be ashamed of, or at worst, something to be opposed. The scientific knowledge that the West has produced is simply one of many “ways of knowing.”
“Cultural relativism claims there are no absolute standards for assessing human culture. Hence all cultures should be regarded as equal, though different.” “The plea for acceptance and open-mindedness does not extend to Western culture itself, whose history is regarded as little more than a crime against the rest of humanity. The West cannot judge other cultures but must condemn its own.”
He urges us to remember how unique some elements of our culture are: “The concepts of free enquiry and free expression and the right to criticise entrenched beliefs are things we take so much for granted they are almost part of the air we breathe. We need to recognise them as distinctly Western phenomena. They were never produced by Confucian or Hindu culture.” “But without this concept, the world would not be as it is today. There would have been no Copernicus, Galileo, Newton or Darwin.”....

George Cardinal Pell [30], Archbishop of Sydney, tells of how September 11 was a wakeup call for him personally [31]:
“I recognised that I had to know more about Islam.” “In my own reading of the Koran, I began to note down invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages.” “The predominant grammatical form in which jihad is used in the Koran carries the sense of fighting or waging war.” “Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion and its capacity for fear-reaching renovation is severely limited.” “I’d also say that Islam is a much more war-like culture than Christianity.” “I’ve had it asserted to me is that in the relationship between the Islamic and non-Islamic world, the normal thing is a situation of tension if not war, or outright hostility.”....
Our traditional Judeo-Christian religions have proven this capability. Islam never has, and probably never will. As Australia's Cardinal George Pell [13] says, "some seculars are so deeply anti-Christian, that anyone opposed to Christianity is seen as their ally. That could be one of the most spectacularly disastrous miscalculations in history." ....

"The 20th century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance. The growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power; and the growth of corporate propaganda against democracy." Alex Carey, Australian social scientist.
[ Berwick, Andrew (believed to be Anders Breivik) 2083: A Europen Declartion of Independence, 2011]

* The complete manifesto is not linked for download due to the nature of its contents.

Catholic Church to issue sly apology for forced adoptions and human rights abuses in Australia

CathNews on 24 July 2011:

Catholic Health Australia will today issue an apology to the victims of forced adoption practices from the 1950s to 1970s and offer those affected counselling and a pathway for complaints, reports The Australian.
The apology will be made through a Senate committee, which is inquiring into the past practices of hospitals and social workers employed by government, churches and charities, who forcibly removed babies from unwed and teenage mothers and adopted them out.
The adoptions often occurred against the wishes of the mothers, who sometimes signed consent forms under duress or the influence of sedatives and other medication. In some cases no birth records are available.
"We acknowledge the pain of separation and loss felt then and now for the mothers, fathers, children, families and others involved in the practices of the time," Catholic Health Australia says in its apology.
"For the pain and suffering that arises from practices of the past, we are genuinely sorry.
"These practices of the past are no longer tolerated, nor allowed by today's law, and are deeply regrettable."

At the time of writing it would appear that few in the mainstream media have noticed that: (i) this so-called apology (not the Church’s first on this subject) would again be given under parliamentary privilege; and (ii) statements made to the media are carefully based on the protected Catholic Health Australia submission already before the Inquiry. Which may possibly be an attempt to limit liability on the part of the Catholic Church and its agencies managed by the Sisters of Mercy, Christian Brothers and Sisters of St Joseph amongst others.

The agency intending to make this particular 'apology' states no authority to formally apologize on behalf of the wider Australian Catholic Church and senior church official, Cardinal George Pell, remains strangely silent on the matter. One has to wonder if any journalist has bothered to contact him this week.

The agency also claims no expertise in adoptions, repudiates any detailed agency knowledge before this year, is careful not to mention the word “compensation”, blatantly attempts to minimise the number of women affected, sidesteps the illegality involved in Church-endorsed policy/practices and, expects government to address the problems created by these forced adoptions.

It is publicly canvassing this 'apology' at a time when the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs has no future public hearings scheduled for this inquiry and presently expect to hold only one other hearing on a yet unspecified date.

But Lily Arthur, from the forced adoption support group Origins NSW, is sceptical about apologies. "I don't think that anyone can accept an apology for something that's never been basically dealt with legally," and Therese Pearson, of Merewether, and Juliette Clough, of Windale, agree that nothing will ease the decades of pain they have endured and they want to launch a class action against the organisation that drugged them and "stole" their babies.

I also note that Catholic Health did not make its brief two-page submission until after the Inquiry closure date was extended and is only the second Catholic agency identified in the published submission list to date.

The Catholic Health Australia website professes that it seeks to promote the interests of a just health system and the dignity of the human person and lists its stewardship board as including:Mr Tony Wheeler [Chair],
Br Joseph Smith OH [Deputy Chair], Mr Pat Bugden [Treasurer], Sr Therese Carroll rsj, Dr Michael Stanford, Mrs Lynne Sheehan, Ms Madonna McGahan, Mr Michael Thom, Sr Berneice Loch rsm, Ms Rowena McNally, Bishop Joseph Oudeman, Accociate [sic] Professor Kate Birrell, Sr Helen Monkivitch rsm, and Dr Michael Walsh. However this list may be outdated.

One has to wonder why Catholic Health Australia and its board would expect this ham-fisted Clayton's apology to ease the obvious distress of the women and children who suffered under Church adoption policy.

*Catholic Health (CHA) Submission No. 279, dated 1 July 2011: Inquiry into the Commonwealth contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices
*Mackillop Family Services Submission No. 86, dated February 2011: “THE LEGACY OF PAST ADOPTION PRACTICES:ACCESSING RECORDS AND SUPPORT”