Shell targets polar bear's home for drilling. We're suing says NRDC

Help us stop Shell in court! Shell is moving full speed ahead with its plan to drill off the coast of the Arctic Refuge, the polar bear’s favorite onshore birthing ground. Help send NRDC to court to stop Shell! Important news: We have filed suit in federal court to stop Shell from drilling off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge next summer. We can’t wage and win this courtroom battle without your help. Please make an online donation right now that can help us stave off Shell’s latest assault on Arctic wildlife. As you know, the Obama Administration recently gave Shell tentative approval to begin exploratory drilling near the Arctic Refuge, the polar bear’s favorite onshore birthing ground. Shell’s rigs will operate in wildlife-filled waters -- home to vulnerable populations of seals, whales and migratory birds. An oil spill in this fragile and sensitive ecosystem would be devastating. Any polar bears swimming in thickly-oiled waters will most certainly die, and an oil spill offshore could blanket the coast of the Arctic Refuge with a layer of thick, toxic oil for generations to come. Help NRDC fight in court and make sure this tragedy never happens. Shell’s oil spill response plan reads like a fantasy. The oil industry still has no proven method for cleaning up spills in ice-filled waters. Yet Shell is claiming that more than 95 percent of spilled oil will be recovered before it hits shore. Only five percent of the oil unleashed by BP in the Gulf was ever captured. Thanks to your support, we’ve been fending off Shell’s repeated attempts to drill near the Arctic Refuge since 2008. But with the Obama Administration now paving the way for Shell’s latest plan, we need your help more than ever before. Shell has vast resources to bring to this fight. We, on the other hand, rely entirely on Members and activists like you to help ensure the survival of America’s polar bears and other Arctic wildlife. And unlike Shell, we can’t afford to lose even once. Your tax-deductible donation will allow us to wage and win this courtroom battle against Shell’s scheme and defend our environment in the most effective way possible. If we’re going to stop Shell before it sinks its first drill bit into Arctic water next summer, we have no time to waste. Please let me know that I can count on your support today. Sincerely, Frances Beinecke President Natural Resources Defense Council

OMG! It's Judgement Day and I'm still here

Way back in May (after Harold Camping bombed by yet again predicting The Rapture that never was) it was somehow decided that today was going to be Judgement Day.
Universal Doomsday for all the world's inhabitants? Well not if I'm any indication.
Sitting here very much alive and earthbound - munching toast and drinking tea without a care.

Pic from judgementday2011.com

Please, in case I forget, remind me NEVER to contact this North Coast solicitor

The solicitor for the Ramsey Group of companies is reported to have said:

"Whilst the move from Grafton is regretted, and not the preferred option by the Ramsey Group, it appeared inevitable certain Government Departments were single minded in their efforts to achieve the closing of the abattoir business at Grafton."

Fair dinkum! So, it's government departments that are responsible for the predicament employees of Stuart Ramsey or whatever shonky bodgey employment mobs that have been orchestrated to be the workers' employer should carry the can, is it?
 The solicitor representing Ramsey is, among other things, the chairman of the board of the major local private hospital in the Richmond valley.

Credit: The Daily Examiner, 21/10/11

The Greens candidate in Clarence by-election speaks out against mining risks

NSW Greens media release October 18, 2011:

The Clarence Greens today confirmed that Janet Cavanaugh would be running as their candidate in next month’s by-election for the seat of Clarence. A resident of the area for more than 20 years, Ms Cavanaugh was the Greens candidate for the March State Election.
“The Greens view this by-election as an opportunity for the electorate to cast a vote of ‘no confidence’ against both major political parties,” Ms Cavanaugh said.
“It is time to clean up NSW politics,” she said. “The Greens have a history of maintaining ethical stands across a range of issues. By acting with integrity, The Greens offer a better way of doing politics and this will result in better outcomes for the electorate.
“One of the key issues we are worried about is the threat posed by mining to our precious water supplies. There is the risk posed by antimony mining on the Dorrigo Plateau to the Coffs-Clarence regional water supply and our estuarine fisheries, and the potential for coal seam gas exploration to drain and poison groundwater reserves as well as wreck important farming land and wildlife habitat.