Are you having a Wheatless Wednesday this week?

As has been pointed out before - markets do respond to consumer pressure.

With biotech giants like Monsanto constantly (and often successfully) lobbying government to support widespread introduction of genetically modified and perpetually patented seed, now is the time to think about how one might oppose these greedy multinationals.

One can urge the local supermarket to stock food types that are guaranteed to be GM free, one can avoid produce or products which originate with companies known to purchase GM ingredients and one can decide to actively boycott a cropping cereal into which Monsanto et al are attempting to introduce genetically modified seed.

So, anyone for a Wheatless Wednesday?

From CBAN:

Statement of Australian, Canadian and US Farmer, Environmental and Consumer Organizations

June 1, 2009

Summary Statement:

In light of our existing experience with genetic engineering, and recognizing the global consumer rejection of genetically engineered wheat, we restate our definitive opposition to GE wheat and our commitment to stopping the commercialization of GE traits in our wheat crops. We are committed to working with farmers, civil society groups and Indigenous peoples across the globe as we travel the road towards global food sovereignty.

Statement in Full:

In the interest of reiterating the decisive global rejection of genetically engineered (GE) wheat, culminating in Monsanto's 2004 withdrawal of requests to the Canadian and U.S. governments for commercialization of their GE wheat; and in the interest of laying to rest the attempts by Monsanto and other biotechnology corporations to introduce genetically engineered wheat, the undersigned organizations issue the following joint statement:

1. Wheat is an ancient grain that is vital for meeting the nutritional needs of many societies and has deep religious significance in many cultures. Wheat is one of three staple crop plants (the other two are rice and maize) that account for two-thirds of the diet of the world's population. Over centuries of cultivation, farmers have developed a tremendous diversity of wheat varieties, many of which are adapted to the soil and climate conditions of certain regions of the world. These locally-bred varieties are critical to ensuring local food supplies during times of weather-related disasters. In Australia, Canada, and the US, farmers and public scientists have worked collectively with this diversity to develop varieties adapted to local conditions and suited to relevant markets. Multinational seed companies have played an insignificant role in fundamental wheat seed development in these countries or anywhere else in the world.

2. The remarkable achievements in wheat breeding that farmers and scientists have managed over generations have not involved genetic engineering or patenting. While farmers and conventional breeders continue to lead the way in innovation with wheat, there are currently no genetically engineered traits in the pipeline for wheat that promise basic agronomic improvements. In reality, the only GE trait in wheat for which approval has been sought is for tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate. This trait is not designed to increase yields, but to simplify herbicide application. Not only does this technology contribute nothing to feeding the world, genetic engineering is a direct threat to global food security. Genetic engineering can and does lead to contamination of seed varieties, and poses a decisive threat to organic farming and the production of crop varieties bred specifically for local conditions. Moreover, the introduction of GE wheat would put the wheat seed supply in the hands of a small number of multinational corporations, as has happened with the introduction of GE soybeans, GE corn and GE canola. During the recent food crisis, these companies used their oligopolistic positions to dramatically increase the price of seeds and agrochemicals. Farmers planting wheat in the Australia, Canada and the US were less affected by these price increases because they were free to save seeds and had access to public varieties. Monsanto, the world's largest producer of GE seeds, increased its profits by 120% in 2008. It should also be noted that since the introduction of GE crops in 1996, the number of people going hungry in the world has ballooned from an estimated 800 million to over 1 billion.

3. Rather than the area of wheat production decreasing due to competition from GE crops, a March 2009 Statistics Canada survey of farmers in western Canada found that farmers plan to increase acreage of wheat, barley and peas, crops for which there are no GE varieties and where plant breeding is primarily in the public sector. The survey also revealed that farmers intend to cut back on acres planted to canola seed, which is mainly GE in Canada, in order to decrease production costs. Additionally, there is no evidence to substantiate the claim that GE crop varieties increase yields.

4. Plant breeders and farmers have for too long narrowly focused on economies of scale and higher yields. This has resulted in higher input costs and lower net income for farmers. Higher yields have come at a high cost economically, as well as environmentally, because high yielding crops tend to require more fertilizers and chemical inputs. Improved crop quality is more likely than bigger yields to provide higher realized net incomes for farmers. Higher quality wheat can be achieved efficiently and accessibly through conventional plant breeding, and this is where support for research needs to be located.

5. Genetic engineering is a highly imprecise technology. GE crops are inadequately regulated by governments that rely on corporate data rather than public, peer reviewed science. Complex questions relating to the effects of GE crops on soil health, non-target insects, and human health remain understudied. Over 10 years of experience with GE crops has exposed a convincing record of high levels of irreversible contamination and corporate control over seeds as well as continued scientific uncertainty. Additionally, research from wheat organizations (Canadian Wheat Board and Australian Wheat Board) has indicated very strong market rejection of GE wheat. Commercial GE crops have so far been limited to crops used primarily for feed, oil and fibre and have thus not been subjected to national labelling requirements in many countries. GE wheat, however, would primarily be used for human consumption and food products derived from GE wheat would be labelled as GE in many countries across the world. Additionally, if GE wheat is released commercially, contamination would be inevitable and markets would view all wheat produced from these areas as GE unless proven to be non-GE. Farmers growing GE wheat will take on all of the responsibilities, costs and liabilities, with little available legal recourse to recover their losses.

6. Private seed companies are not investing in wheat research because of competition from strong public plant breeding programs and the desire and capacity of farmers to save wheat seeds from year to year. The main reason why seed companies want to introduce GE wheat is so that, by means of gene patents, they can stop farmers from saving seeds. The introduction of patents into wheat breeding will destroy the collective heritage of plant breeding for wheat and erode the strong public breeding programmes for wheat in the Canada, Australia and the US which have always generated impressive returns through minimal public investments and/or farmer contributions. Additionally, in February 2009, 26 top US corn scientists sent a statement to the US Environmental Protection Agency asserting that independent research is being thwarted by industry technology/stewardship agreements.

In light of our existing experience with genetic engineering, and recognizing the global consumer rejection of genetically engineered wheat, we restate our definitive opposition to GE wheat and our commitment to stopping the commercialization of GE traits in our wheat crops. We are committed to working with farmers, civil society groups and Indigenous peoples across the globe as we travel the road towards global food sovereignty.

Signed By: National Farmers Union, Canada Canadian Biotechnology Action Network Union Paysanne, Canada Union Biologique Paysanne, Canada Réseau Québécois contre les OGM, Canada Saskatchewan Organic Directorate, Canada Network of Concerned Farmers, Australia Organic Federation of Australia Biological Farmers of Australia Gene Ethics, Australia Greenpeace National Family Farm Coalition, USA Western Organization of Resource Councils, USA Center for Food Safety, USA Organic Consumers Association, USA

Wheat photograph from Eat. Drink. Better.

Can the Minister for Censorship Stephen Conroy be returned to sender?

Wikipedia excerpt: Stephen Michael Conroy (born 18 January 1963 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, near Norwich) is an Australian politician and the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in the Rudd Labor Government. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate since May 1996, representing the state of Victoria.[1]

Which ever way you look at it.................

Hon. Malcolm B. Turnbull, Member for Wentworth,

Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia

Purveyor of rumour and fake emails

Possum creates an Ozcar timeline and the House of Representatives censures Malcolm Turnbull

Possum Comitatus writing at Pollytics has created a primary political timeline for the OzCar furore engaging the attention of political tragics nationwide and nostalgic Coalition members of the Australian Parliament.

You'd have to be a lead poisoned crackhead to believe this.

This afternoon the House of Representatives has voted to pass a censure motion against the Federal Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull citing his reliance on that now notorious alleged email which pointed a finger at the probity of the Australian Prime Minister.

The Sydney Morning Herald has live coverage of Ute-Gate here.

Brave young Maree Jay takes on the ugly face of Australian journalism at The Daily Examiner

Hot on the heels of The Daily Examiner office at Yamba being broken into and what sounds like an amount of petty cash stolen, that newspaper attempted to run a crime wave scare concerning people of aboriginal appearance and allegedly low police numbers [The Daily Examiner, 11 June 2009].

Something that Grafton Police Chief Inspector Darren Spooner flatly denied as he happens to live in Yamba [The Daily Examiner, 13 June 2009,p5].

By 12 June 2009 this inchoate media beatup had quickly morphed into a generalised attack on the indigenous community of Yamba.

Now 22 year-old Maree Jay of Grafton has taken the newspaper's boastfully unrepentant editor to task for his judgmental, one-eyed, hearsay-ridden view of the Yaegl community.

Once again, Peter Chapman has added an editor's comment which reflects his inability to recognise his own journalistic shortcomings.

Ngaru Village

THIS is a formal complaint written to the people involved in the production and publishing of the story 'Yamba's Mission' (DEX, June 13).
This article is an example of social segregation and disinclusion. These are two words identified by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner 2003 as contributors to a) the history of oppression of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait lslander people and b) the continuation of such abuse.
By publishing this story you are actively continuing that cycle. The 'Yamba community' is spoken to as if they are white, and the 'Aboriginal people'are not spoken to, they are spoken about.
It is 2009, I am 22 years old and the printing of this story made me feel sick in the bottom of my stomach.
I wonder how a story with the same stereotyping, ignorance, opportunism and the lack of factual research seen in stories published when my grandmother was 22 years old can be so destructively distributed throughout our community.
Did you ask anyone in the Aboriginal community anything about their life? No. You snuck in at 6.15 in the morning to rely on photos that give an out-of-context, sensationalised impression.
lf you were a Koori person, would you want to go into town with this story in the press?
Maree Jay,
GRAFTON.

EDITOR'S COMMENT; The response from Maree Jay reflects indignation that someone would dare criticise Yamba's Ngaru Village.
Like us, you know that our story is based on fact, not on rumours.
Key details of what is happening at the village have been known to this paper for many months.
Rather than attack us, the question I put back to you is: As a concerned 22-year-old what have you done in the past few years to assist Ngaru Village and to help improve the living standards of the children who call the village home?
It would have been easy for this paper to have ignored Ngaru Village. We knew we would generate howls of protests like yours.
I don't apologise for taking the stance we have, in fact l would have been embarrassed if we
hadn't.

As the editor has not yet made one constructive suggestion or concrete offer of help, it is the height of hypocrisy on his part to suggest that another should be doing so.

Peter Chapman may not be embarrassed, but I wouldn't mind betting that there are a few reputable journalists who would be embarrassed by his amateurish existence.

FACT OR SQUEAKTGATE JOURNALISM?

** Transcript of a letter to the editor hand delivered to The Daily Examiner on 19 June 2009.

Sir,

FACT OR SQUEAKTGATE JOURNALISM?

Your arrogant response to 22 year old Maree Jay's letter "Ngaru Village" 18-6-09 claiming that your "story was based on fact" is as fictional as your sensationalistic journalism unable to distinguish between fact, opinion or hearsay in blind pursuit of profit.

An unidentified pilot who claimed to be able to see through the roofs of most of the homes is not fact but hearsay.

A photograph of a disused house cited for demolition is nothing more than a disused house cited for demolition.

Claims made by a former unidentified ambulance driver is not fact but hearsay.

Your claim of unidentified "young people running around the streets staging break and enters and smashing property --- on a daily basis" is not fact but your opinion that goes very close to defamation.
It does not appear to be corroborated by Chief Inspector Spooner nor does it link the residents of Ngaru Village with such alleged crimes.

And the report that a Queensland teenager has been charged with 11 offences including break and enter is not evidence that the elders of Ngaru Village are involved in such crimes.

"Where do these youths come from and who is guiding then through life----" is not a fact but a question that should have been answered by you as the investigative journalist.

Having read your squeakygate news report the only crime the elders of Ngaru Village seem to have committed is the crime of being poor.

Your uncorroborated sensationalism targeting the elders of Ngaru Village appears to be designed to sell newspapers and make a profit for yourself rather than help the elders of Ngaru Village.
In doing so you have made yourself vulnerable to a claim of defamation.

As the editor of the only daily news publication in the Clarence Valley, surely you have an obligation to provide a responsible news serve, accurate, impartial and with the utmost integrity.

RAY HUNT
Yamba



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.

North Coast Voices will be revealed for its ignorance according to the mainstream media!

The Daily Examiner masthead

This year The Daily Examiner of Grafton (which is the only local daily newspaper covering the Clarence Valley) marks 150 years of journalism and news reporting, so it is sad that the once proud newspaper was reduced to this last Saturday when the editor was criticized by James Patterson of Ramornie in a letter to the editor.

In part this is what Mr. Patterson said:

You deserve to come under attack for your articles on the Yamba village because, in your rush to get the story out, you delivered a piece low on research and fact and high on emotive journalism.
Your key story ran for a week to mainly justify your position.
A raised voice at 6.15am, a photo of a rundown building and a quote from a politician are not cold, hard facts that will convince people.

Peter Chapman's reply induced some mirth here at North Coast Voices when in part it stated:

EDITOR'S COMMENT: To every story there is a start and an end.
We have only just scratched the surface of the Ngaru Village story.
I refute your comments that it wasn't based on any hard facts.
It is unfortunate that many people in the community know about what is happening in the village yet very few if any, are prepared to put their name to the story.
Our information comes from impeccable sources and when the story is finished people who have criticised our stance will be revealed for their ignorance.

On Saturday The Daily Examiner also ran this story which, rumour has it, is a change of tone and emphasis brought on by the thought that ABC TV's Media Watch may be aware of Peter Chapman's recent over the top reporting on Ngaru Village.
A case of twice bitten, third time shy?

Clearing up a little Utilities Allowance confusion created by the Nationals

It seems that Nationals Senator for NSW Fiona Nash has been stirring the possum a bit according to Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin in The Far North Coaster last Friday.
Apparently young Fi has been telling pensioners that their Centrelink Utilities Allowance has been scrapped.

Just to set the record straight here's Labor Senator Kim Carr informing the Senate of the new arrangements during the 17th June 2009 second reading of the bill which will increase pension payments:
"New pension and seniors supplements
The range of supplementary payments and allowances currently paid to pensioners will be simplified and made more flexible through the introduction of a new Pension Supplement.
This will help make pension payments easier to understand. Following the reforms, pensioners will receive two main payments: the base pension and the Pension Supplement.
This new Pension Supplement incorporates the value of the existing GST Supplement, Pharmaceutical Allowance, Utilities Allowance and Telephone Allowance (at the higher internet rate). Increases of $2.49 a week for singles and $10.14 a week for couples combined will be paid on top of the value of existing allowances.
The Pension Supplement will be indexed in March and September each year in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index. It will be available only to people resident in Australia or temporarily overseas.
The Pension Supplement for a single pensioner will be around two-thirds, 66.33 per cent, of the Pension Supplement for a couple combined. This mirrors the new single to couple ratio established for pension rates.
At 20 September 2009, it is estimated the Pension Supplement will be worth up to $1,462.70 a year for singles (or $28.13 a week) and $2,199.60 a year for couples (or $42.30 a week). This is an estimate as the actual indexation increase is not yet known.
The Pension Supplement will be included in the pension payment rate and subject to income and assets testing. This means that, once the base pension rate is reduced to nil, the Pension Supplement will decrease until it reaches a minimum payment of an estimated $790.40 a year for singles (or $15.20 a week) and $1,190.80 a year for couples (or $22.90 a week). The payment a person receives will not fall below the minimum amount of the Pension Supplement until the person’s income or assets reach a level that would otherwise reduce their payment to nil.
The new Pension Supplement will provide pensioners with more flexibility in managing their own budgets.
From 20 September 2009, the Pension Supplement will be paid fortnightly, along with the base pension. From July 2010, pensioners will have the choice of receiving around half of the Pension Supplement in quarterly instalments. This flexible part of the Pension Supplement will be equal to the minimum payment of Pension Supplement.
Self-funded retirees will also benefit from these reforms. A new Seniors Supplement for holders of a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card will be introduced from 20 September 2009. The Seniors Supplement will replace the Seniors Concession Allowance and Telephone Allowance (at the higher internet rate) for eligible recipients. The Seniors Supplement will continue to be available as a quarterly payment and will be paid at the same rate as the minimum amount of the Pension Supplement. The Seniors Supplement for a single person will be 66.33 per cent of the Seniors Supplement for a couple combined. In September 2009, the Seniors Supplement will be an estimated $790.40 a year for singles and $1,190.80 a year for couples.
Increases in the Pension Supplement minimum amount for couples combined and for singles will flow through to increases in the Seniors Supplement. This will mean pensioners cannot receive less supplement than eligible self-funded retirees."
The complete explanation can be found here.

Either Senator Nash was not in the Chamber at this time, was not listening if she was or she is taking a leaf out of Luke Hartsuyker's Little Book of Lies to Tell the Electorate.

While Turnbull wouldn't reveal the exact content of that alleged email Rudd apparently wasn't so coy

Click image to enlarge

It has been extremely interesting watching the case of the alleged Ozcar email develop.

What has been a real eye opener is Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull's admission that he didn't have a copy of and indeed hadn't seen this email on which he based his call for the Prime Minister to resign.

According to journalist Glenn Milne writing in The Daily Telegraph today:

Mr Turnbull now says he has been relying on Mr Lewis's reports for his resignation calls on Mr Rudd and Mr Swan. He denied anyone in the Opposition wrote the email or sent it to Mr Lewis.

Presumably Rudd's staffers released the copy of a News Ltd email used by Bernard Keane in his Twitpic to put us out of our misery as to the exact wording of that phantom email.

Tomorrow the world needs to stand up for whales

Humpback Whale breeching off the Perth coast from PerthNow

On Monday 22 June 2009 the International Whaling Commission will commence holding a series of meetings in which those nations wanting to break the international moratorium on commercial whale hunting will seek to prevail.

As I write, the annual whale migration on the east coast of Australia continues and the migration up the West Australia coast has begun.

Phone, email or Twitter the Australian Prime Minister now and let him know that you do not want to go down any concession path which would result in more whales being killed each year by those nations which have sufficient access to protein for their citizens as it is.

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600

(02) 6277.7111 (main switchboard)
Direct email link here.
Twitter KevinRuddPM

Sign the World Society for the Protection Of Animals NZ anti-whaling petition here.

PerthNow whale photo gallery

Whale breeching off the Kimberly coast

Yes, Iran is sexy news - but what about Fiji?

The widespread national election result protests in Iran are eye-catching, politically compelling and happening right now.
Consequently the mainstream media is all over the subject even though getting hard news out of that country is currently difficult.
Without wanting to talk down the situation in Iran, it does place into stark relief the media's attitude to Fiji which earlier this year had its democratic institutions and processes stolen away by a military dictator.
After a week or so of intermittent news coverage of the Fiji coup the matter effectively slipped into newsprint oblivion.
In recent days it has only rated a few low-level mentions of Australian and New Zealand plans to lobby for the UN to remove Fiji military personnel from its peacekeeping forces.
Over to you Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

Something to ponder at the end of the week

You know you're getting older when.......

.......most of the thespians named on the back of DVDs lining racks at the local video store are actors that a) you've never even heard of before and b) all look younger than your kids.

Picture: Google Images

FEHVA 2009 Bangalow Art Prize winner

Bangalow Art Prize 2009 winning painting
ROADS AROUND BANGALOW
by Helena Maughan

Other FEHVA 2009 entrants and winners can be found here.

Dirty tricks or dirty politics?

Is Kevin Rudd prevaricating over Ute-gate or is it Malcolm Turnbull who is telling pork pies?
Well..................ask yourself who was it that recently had a merchant bank pay an out-of-court settlement on his behalf, after the liquidator took them to court over the HIH collapse amid accusations of of deception?
With software freely available on the Internet which allows anyone to produce and send a genuine looking email as someone else, I would also be asking for access to the Libs' computers to double-check any 'proof' the Coalition might present.
Fer gawds sake - I could send a fake email as the PM tomorrow and have any reply routed to another address entirely.
So could most Internet users on the NSW North Coast.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Truffles may not have been as smart as he thought.
A small clue might've been the fact that the mate didn't get financial help after all.
But then, maybe I'm a bit biased 'cause I'm plain terrified of the idea of that drongo (who when he was last in government tried to rip-off our North Coast water supplies) ever getting back in the saddle again.

Lost in translation..........

This turned up in the blogosphere recently. It seems to be a case of lost in translation for this look at North Coast Voices by Sustainability Definition.

North Coast Voices: It's crack 'em when they're down despite it at Fiscal Star

Hi! My personage is Boy. I'm a manful bi-coloured tabby cat. Ever since I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull's dogs were allowed to blog, I be subjected to been pestering Clarencegirl to okay me a petite place on North Coast Voices. Departed blue-eyed boy musing: The deddie scintilla has raised its CEO in a blog. The Orstrahyun mentions hearing more a fortune-teller who charges at least $100 an hour crusade of speaking to departed pets and conveying messages. I don't regard as we would be less chatty than beforehand - I'm dependable we would also utter "Let me in", "Let me out", "Just up to snuff behind my consideration intention you", "Why is the dog in my bed?", "Take it away - it's not up to my culinary standards"and "Is Malcolm Turnbull STILL moaning?"An Easter Bunny musing: It was a tittle of a petrify to the Easter Bunny when on Easter Sunday the ABC TV Landline program ran not one but three stories on rabbits - involving profit as good as poisoning, trapping, blowing up burrows and preparing crusade of the gut. ......This entry was posted on Freitag, Mai 29th, 2009 at 15:17 and is filed under Allgemein.

Sometimes those free 'translate this' sites on the Web are just not up to snuff.

A classic WTF?! concerning the Rudd-Conroy internet censorship scheme

The laughs just keep on coming. Screenshot by Mark Newton posting on Twitpic.

Did the editor's dog eat his homework?

How does one account for the Comment in today's Daily Examiner by its editor Peter Chapman?

In a piece titled Banks law unto themselves Chapman has simply reproduced, word-for-word, a media statement released by Senator Steve Fielding.

Okay, let's give Chapman some credit. He acknowledged it was Fielding's work and to make things easier for his readers he turned one paragraph that consisted of two sentences into two one-sentence paragraphs.

Perhaps the editor's dog ate his homework and when it came time to hand up his copy for today's paper he had nothing.

Let's hope other journos at The Daily Examiner don't follow Chapman's lead and simply rehash media statements.

Oh, by the way, Fielding's media statement can be read here.

The coal and oil lobby get serious about blocking moves to limit greenhouse gases

The American Institute for Energy Research has created an off-shoot, the erroneously named Energy Freedom Center.

Reportedly partly funded by Exxon-Mobile, with the help of former US Republican senator George Allen it launched the new entity in early June 2009 and, is busy attempting to dismantle any concerted effort to have the US Congress seriously consider a national scheme to address the causes and effects of climate change.

Meanwhile R&R Partners - Advertising continues to push the interests of the coal industry.

To demonstrate just how far 'dirty' energy will go to maintain the status quo here is an excerpt from the R&R brag sheet:

The Challenge:
To develop a new issue-advocacy and message branding campaign focused on changing public perceptions and influencing congressional action. Included in this effort was a well-funded advertising and earned media strategy designed to position ACCCE as a responsible, positive player in seeking workable solutions to the climate-change challenge facing our nation and in developing a diversified energy policy that includes coal as a critical component.
The Strategy:
R&R and ACCCE created a fully integrated marketing, branding and issue-advocacy campaign to educate our audiences on the importance of coal in their daily lives. Our strategy was to convince our audiences that through the use of modern technology, coal is cleaner than ever and getting cleaner still, and present coal as a vital component in our march toward energy independence.
The ACCCE campaign focused primarily around a fully integrated marketing approach that used the presidential campaign as a platform for our messaging, resulting in highly visible and well-publicized campaign tactics throughout the year. Outreach consisted of grassroots, earned media, paid media and advocacy tactics that created a "surround-sound" effect targeting each of our audiences through all mediums and communications. Grassroots efforts included street teams, walking billboards, mobile billboards and recruitment and mobilization of an ACCCE Army (supporters of ACCCE and its mission) at presidential primaries, debates, conventions and other key campaign events. Earned media efforts included maintaining ongoing media relations and generating consistent press coverage of ACCCE-related issues and successes. A national television campaign focusing on the ACCCE core-message strategy – along with state and issue-specific campaigns that included news and magazine print, outdoor billboards, and radio and online components – comprised the paid media efforts that supported the overall campaign strategy.
The Result:
Coal is now an active voice in the ongoing energy policy debate and is seen as one of our country's chief sources of energy – both now and in the future.
A recent ACCCE poll conducted in October 2008 showed that nearly 70 percent of opinion elites believe that coal is a fuel for America's energy future. This number compares with just 52 percent expressing the same opinion in May 2008. Furthermore, 47 percent of opinion elites believe the successful development of clean-coal technology will promote energy security by allowing the use of American coal, while at the same time reducing emissions. Additionally, 46 percent feel that developments in clean-coal technology will drive down the cost of electricity.
In addition, our subsequent advocacy efforts inside the Beltway have led to the acceptance and support of coal by both political parties, along with President Barack Obama, as an essential component of the energy discussion that will continue during this administration.

All in all this scenario makes Australia's Bolt, Blair, Marohasy, Plimer and Carter look rather like a disorganised rabble.

One has to wonder how effective the Obama Administration's release of the Global Climate Change Impacts Across America report this week will be in countering the push by polluting industries to maintain what they see as a right to continue producing high greenhouse gas levels.

20 page overview of this report here, US regional fact sheets here and full report here.

Eco-Terrorism: and I should be surprised because?

This week eco-terrorism became the subject of an The Australian piece.

Lauren Wilson June 16, 2009

A THREAT of attack by an eco-terrorism group is being taken seriously by Victorian police and the Brumby government.

State Energy Minister Peter Batchelor said a menacing letter left at the home of a power station manager was a dramatic escalation of environmental activism.

The radical Earth Liberation Front yesterday refused to back down from threats against Hazelwood power station chief Graeme York and his family. A US spokesman for the group told AAP Mr York "should consider himself lucky" to have received a hand-delivered warning. And Victorian Police Commissioner Simon Overland said the letter was being investigated by special intelligence detectives. Although the ELF has not been prominent in Australia, it is responsible for a series of fire-bomb attacks on industrial property and equipment in Europe and the US. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation proscribed the group in 2002 as a serious terror threat.

The letter to Mr York, dropped in the mailbox of his Melbourne home, declared: "You are responsible for the dirtiest power station in Australia and the most polluting in the industrialised world.

"We hold you personally accountable for this assault against our earth. The irreplaceable and precious eco-systems of this earth are worth much more than your manicured lawn, expensive car and opulent suburban house.

"Your property will not remain safe so long as Hazelwood continues to pollute at such an inexcusable level, swallow millions of litres of fresh water every hour and cough out hydrochloric and nitrogen acids in return."

While I unequivocally condemn threats of violence, I am hardly surprised that such threats are beginning to surface.

With so much at stake and so little being done by governments and industry to address climate change, the only thing that surprises me is that it has taken this long for resentment to find an Australian focus.

Ben McNeil recently writing in New Matilda looked at the disconnect between climate change science and the political process during the Howard years and observes; It seems for many years the Australian government reflected a broad and dangerous public misconception about combating climate change: that is it has nothing to do with Australia's long-term economic prosperity or national security.

Perhaps the Rudd Government should reconsider its limited stance on climate change impacts mitigation and factor in the possibility that home-grown political protest may take a violent turn when faced with weak government responses to the urgent need to address long term water/food supply security and resource hungry/polluting industries.

Piers Akerman proves why both he and The Daily Telegraph have such lowly reputations

This was what Piers Akerman said in The Daily Telegraph on 14 June 2009 when he pointed the finger at Kevin Rudd and shouted I accuse!:

On Monday, May 25, Rudd stood in Parliament and said: "Today the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs also activated the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment to provide further assistance to help those in northern New South Wales affected by the flood disaster.

The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment will be a one-off immediate payment of $1,000 to adults and $4,000 to children. Claims for assistance can be made through Centrelink.

"Today, in recognition of the severe damage to local communities in northern NSW, the Government has agreed to a request from the NSW Premier to extend the current assistance being provided to small business and to primary producers in the flood-affected areas in northern NSW.

"This assistance will include one-off grants of up to $15,000 for small businesses and primary producers that can provide proof of expenditure on flood-related recovery. The New South Wales Rural Assistance Authority will administer these payments.

"I have also today authorised this assistance for people affected by the earlier floods in New South Wales in late March."

Notice that Akerman's last sentence in this quote is a separate paragraph and so appears to apply to all payments/grants mentioned?

Akerman then goes on to state:

But on Tuesday, May 26, Rudd's office advised Hartsuyker that contrary to what the PM had said on Monday, the victims of the March 31 flood would not be eligible for the one-off cash payment, only those affected by the May event.

Very nicely implying to his readers that it is Rudd, not he Akerman, who is lying about who promised what.

But Hansard clearly shows that what Kevin Rudd actually said was:

Today, in recognition of the severe damage to local communities in northern New South Wales, the government has agreed to a request from the New South Wales Premier to extend the current assistance being provided to small business and to primary producers in the flood affected areas in northern New South Wales. This assistance will include one-off grants of up to $15,000 for small businesses and primary producers that can provide proof of expenditure on flood related recovery. The New South Wales Rural Assistance Authority will administer these payments. I have also today authorised this assistance for people affected by the earlier floods in New South Wales in late March.

Now it is evident that what had been agreed to was that small business and primary producers (caught in that earlier flooding which Nationals MP Luke Hartsuyker had apparently approached Akerman over) will be afforded the right to apply for a one-off grant. Not individual home owners.

I really feel for everyone caught by flooding on the NSW North Coast, but Luke Hartsuyker's cynical political ploy utilizing the likes of Akerman is doing more harm than good.

Phishing lures received this week

St. George Group

Dear Customer,

Due to recent account takeovers and unauthorized listings, St.George Bank is requesting a new account verification procedure. From time to time, randomly selected accounts (seller and/or buyer) are placed under an advanced updating process based on merchant accounts/bank relations and on-file credit cards. St.George Bank may also request in an email message scanned/faxed copies of one or more photo ID's. Your account confirmation may go wrong if your credit card/bank account has expired, or if you have changed/replaced your credit card without letting us know about the change.

An email one doesn't reply to!

Dear costumer ,

For your security, we have temporarily prevented access to your account. We have reasons to believe that your access may have been accesed by someone else than you. You may be getting this message because you are signing on from a different location or device.
If this is the case, your access may be restored when you return to your normal sign on method.
For immediate access, you are required to follow the link below to secure your personal account informations.
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Thank you for helping us protect your account.

© St.George Bank Limited ABN 92 055 513 070 AFS Licence No. 240997

The spelling gives this attempt at Internet fraud away.

Rudd must've been smiling, surely?

Saw a Tweet from Kevin Rudd in which he signed himself KRudd.
Perhaps our Kev is finally embracing the very Aussie moniker Kruddy?

And you thought he would be different?

As the days mount in Barack Obama's presidency, the word 'change' has been firmly shelved when it comes down to actual government practice.

Reverting to what looks suspiciously like right-wing Christian fundamentalism, the Obama Administration through the US Justice Department has now argued against same-sex marriage in a 54-page motion to dismiss in the matter of Smelt & Hammer v The United States of America.

Incredibly at Page 28 of the motion the legal argument appears to draw an analogy between same-sex marriage, underage marriage and incestuous marriage (but was careful not to mention polygamous marriage).

Not content with this about-face, Obama's troops are also out there arguing in support of the restrictive use of 'state secrets' legislation when it feels US political interests are threatened, as well as continuing to support warrantless phone tapping.

Jewel v NSA has now been joined by Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v Obama and the earlier Mohamed et al v Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., has just developed an extra twist.
With the Obama Administration arguing against a recent ruling on limitations when invoking state secret provisions (the court had ruled that government could not prematurely invoke privilege) and petitioning the court of appeals full panel of judges to rehear an earlier Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that victims of extraordinary rendition and torture could have their day in court.

The rehearing application hypocritically states in part:

This is one of those few cases warranting review by the Court en banc.
The panel has significantly altered the contours of the military and state secrets privilege – a constitutionally-based means by which the Executive protects critical national security information from disclosure.
The panel's approach is flatly inconsistent with decisions of the Supreme Court, this Court, and this Court's sister circuits on questions of exceptional importance applying the privilege.
We emphasize that the Government's request for en banc review is based upon the most careful and deliberative consideration, at the highest levels, of all possible alternatives to relying upon the state secrets privilege.
As the President made clear two weeks ago, while the state secrets privilege is necessary to protect national security, the United States will not invoke the privilege to prevent disclosure of "the violation of a law or embarrassment to the government."1

Full copy of Petition for Rehearing here.

It seems that from American presidential election to presidential election POTUS remains POTUS in the worst sense of this public office.

Update:

In Padilla & Lebron v John Yoo currently before the courts it appears that John C. Yoo, former US Justice Department counsel, former advisor in the President's War Council and author of the infamous Bush-era torture memos, has also unsuccessfully attempted to invoke 'state secrets' to avoid legal scrutiny and litigation. US District Court June 2009 ruling here.

I've just read The Punch......

......and I'm asking myself why I'd even bothered to have a looksee.
It abounds with journalists I've thankfully rarely heard of, a smattering of recovering pollies, a number of Coalition MPs, a cluster of minor academics, a smattering of meeja types, one or two students and all padded out with a couple of right-wing apologists for just about everything detrimental to life and limb.
I swear the bios in Punch's About Us are longer and more interesting than the opinion posts and probably contain more substance.
I expected Mike Rann to fall for the start-up hype from News Ltd. - but what on earth are Mark Abib, Anthony Albanese, Kate Ellis and Natasha Stott-Despoja doing in the middle of this disaster in waiting?

Greatest problem! Crisis! It's extravagation time at Tabloid City

Image from The Daily Examiner on 12 June 2009, page 14 and pointer on the front page

There is a reason why newspaper journalists were just two places off the bottom of the Roy Morgan June 2009 poll, which rated public perception of the ethics and honesty of Australia's main professional groups.

Here is a perfect example of modern gutter journalism - The Daily Examiner indulging in a little Ngaru Village bashing (calling it the shame of Yamba) and in the process telling us that no-one wanted to talk to the newspaper even though it was going though politically correct channels.

According to the editor's Comment article; an urban residential area, with no more than fifteen unit clusters/houses (about twelve occupied) and a handful of kids, is apparently causing the greatest problem facing the Clarence Valley community today.
In fact it's a crisis!

In increasingly breathless purple prose the editor expects that any car he travels to the village in will likely be pelted with stones and abuse will be hurled.

Yes, I can really see his point.
Disregard the fact that many of the Yaegl traditional owners live quietly in the wider 6,500-strong Yamba community and, that there are around 50,000 people living across the Clarence Valley on any given day which means that the combined weight of the dominant groups outnumber these original Australian families.
Forget that it is the personal experience of many Yamba residents that when travelling into Ngaru Village they are only met with a quiet and dignified politeness.
Completely ignore those indigenous families where a parent works full-time and the children go to school regularly.
A few kids in one area are allegedly busy turning our cherished, otherwise major problem-free, whitebread way of life to dust if the hyperventilating editor is to be believed.

The day Peter Chapman published this tripe I happened to pass a Yamba home mourning the recent loss of a young indigenous person to suicide - but blinked editors don't even think about the sort of conditions which cause this all too frequent tragedy, do they?

Oh, but I am remiss! I am forgetting to mention that the very next day after his Comment went to print the editor offered to 'help' Ngaru Village.
How did he do that? Why by splashing out on the entire front page of The Daily Examiner's Saturday issue with this supposed offer, in which his opening paragraph stated that the Yamba aboriginal community...is collapsing.

Then on Page Four filling the personally-penned article with hearsay, outright gossip and ill-formed opinion.

As well as admitting that he had sent an apparently uninvited photographer into the village at 6.15am the previous day (when the Yamba air temperature was 7 degrees Celsius according to BoM and sensible folk were still inside eating breakfast in front of a heater) to take surreptitious photographs of one of the three dwellings that had already been scheduled for demolition years ago and what appears to be one occupied house.

Which seems to encompass the entire range of spurious help the editor offered.

Peter Chapman is indeed the ugly face of Australian journalism.

Update:

A letter to the editor (very similar to this post) was sent to The Daily Examiner, which published same on 16 June 2009, along with a lengthy Editor's Comment attached.

The comment was a laugh and a half as it stated in part; you are so far wide of the mark you couldn't find your way back with a guide dog, a compass and a map.

The editor rather strangely went on to say that this [my] attitude of indifference was what has caused all the problems at Ngaru Village.

However, what produced the greatest laughter was Peter Chapman's assertion that when publishing the letter in question he was not deleting any of your diatribe.

Poor man just can't help himself, as this was yet another extravagation - he had indeed deliberately deleted eleven words in the middle of a sentence; the Yamba air temperature was 7 degrees Celsius according to BoM and.

Apparently the rest of the Clarence Valley was not supposed to know that he sent the photographer out in cold weather!

Just as that Saturday's frontpage story and Page Four article have not been posted on The Daily Examiner website to date.

Fair go, Andy!

I pulled my miserable cold-laden head out of a Vicks infusion last Friday long enough to read Google News for Australia and discovered that Andrew Fraser over at The Australian (helped along by that perennial attention seeker, Bernard Salt) was having a go at Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for his dated "folksy idiom".
Andrew complains "that only Australians over the age of 70 spoke like that these days".
Leaving aside the fact that 70 is really too high a bar for defining common use of Australian slang, the fact remains that older Australians now make up at least a quarter of the Australian population.
So if Rudders wants to occasionally pitch his song and dance routine to this demographic (which let's face it, is part of Liberal Party heartland) more power to him.
Andrew may not realise it but Baby Boomers like myself do use the odd "folksy idiom" or two and don't feel dated doing so.
As for Bernard Salt. Gawd, the chap thinks we are all channelling Chips Rafferty.
No Bernie - Rafferty was aping a mob just like us!

NSW North Coast on its own when it comes to foreshore erosion and innundation of urban coastal land

According to The Sydney Morning Herald on 13 June 2009:

The Minister for Climate Change, Carmel Tebbutt, has outlined her views in a letter to the Mayor of Taree, Paul Hogan, who is under pressure from residents of Old Bar beach, on the Mid-North Coast, where properties are already threatened by natural erosion.

Signalling the scale of future problems along the coastline from rising sea levels, Ms Tebbutt told Cr Hogan the Government would give priority to protecting public works and public safety, not private property.

"Given the expected magnitude of requests for funding, government financial assistance to councils is unlikely to extend to protecting or purchasing all properties at risk from coastal hazards and sea-level rise," Ms Tebbutt said.

A senior official in her department, Simon Smith, bluntly told a federal parliamentary committee recently: "I do not think that many people have realised how significant it is and how much valuable land and property is going to be affected."

He also said: "The state's view is that the risk to a property from sea-level rise lies with the property owner, public or private - or, whoever owns the land takes the risk. They gain the benefit of proximity to the ocean and they bear the risk of proximity to the ocean."

This almost sound like a reasonable position to take until one realises that greedy developers and overly complacent local government are not the only villains (or seachange property purchasers the only fools), because successive NSW planning ministers have also given consent for coastal development and development within coastal deltas in full knowledge that such land will be impacted by rising sea levels and increasingly destructive storms and tidal patterns.

Indeed, the current NSW Minister for Planning Kristina Keneally is currently considering an amended Clarence Valley Council Local Environmental Plan for West Yamba which would place another 2,000-2,500 homes in the direct path of adverse climate change impacts and, position the NSW Government at the wrong end of any lawsuit which eventuates.

In light of the climate change/sea levels situation set out in Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre June 2009 position analysis papers, I can feel little sympathy for the current stance of either state or local government:

Recent estimates, using a variety of new satellite measurements, provide strong evidence that the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are contributing more to present sea-level rise than was estimated by the IPC AR4.

and

The impacts of changing sea ice cover on Southern Ocean circulation could be significant.
Climate models show that the overturning circulation will slow over the coming decades as the Earth warms, sea ice formation decreases, precipitation increases over the ocean and melt-water runs into the ocean from the Antarctic ice sheet. This slowdown will contribute to a further reduction in sea ice extent around Antarctica and result in a decrease in the amount of CO2 absorbed by the Southern Ocean, both of which represent positive feedbacks and will tend to increase the rate of climate change (Rintoul and Church, 2002)...with flow-on effects both globally and in Australia.

Taking the temperature of the Grocery Prices website

North Coast Voices hasn't done an update on the Federal Government website Grocery Choice (now managed by Choice) recently, so here is the latest.

In June 2009 it's still on the sick list and the review continues. Little has changed though there are now a number of links on the home page to Choice articles.

The only price information available to NSW Northern Rivers residents is still a basic and barely differentiated average over the entire north east of New South Wales.

For what it's worth the June Basic Staples Basket price is:
Coles $78.32
Woolworths/Safeway $82.34
Franklins $85.68
Independents $90.01
Aldi $62.00

For all the initial hooplah, this site remains a waste of government money and the consumer's time.

Hues of blue and green at Grafton Art Gallery

Wave Breaking
by John Millington

Wren
by Julie Hunter

Wash Basin
by Cobie Kaptein


All works can be seen at the
Grafton Art Gallery.
158 Fitzroy Street, Grafton
Opening Hours:
10am-4pm Tuesday-Sunday
(closed Monday)

In-cin-er-ate! In-cin-er-ate!

Nick Broughall over at Gizmodo posted this pic for captioning - here's my effort.

Mercurius comments on the green lobby and climate change sceptics

Senator Stephen Fielding's descent into the absurd has certainly produced a reaction, as Mecurius writing at Larvatus Prodeo demonstrates in a comment on Senator Fielding goes wobbly on climate change.

Heartfelt sentiments with which I concur.

43 Mercurius
Jun 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Well, one thing the climate change delusionists have got right is that the “green lobby” has a vested interest in pursuing action on climate change.

I’ll declare my vested interests right now:
1) I have a vested interest in living in an Australia that doesn’t face an influx of 100 million Bangladeshis looking for somewhere new to live circa 2070.2) I have a vested interest in living in an Australia that isn’t adversely impacted by an ozone hole, depleted rainfall and depleted soils throughout our agricultural belt.3) I have a vested interest in living in an Australia that doesn’t face economic collapse through dependence on carbon-based fuels long after the point those fuels have ceased to be economically viable or recoverable.4) I have a vested interest in living in an Australia that can grow enough food and supply enough water to feed my grandchildren after I’m gone.

Yep, that’s me — I’m the selfish, vested-interested “green lobby”.
If only I could be more like those altruistic “sceptics” who ask for nothing more than to be left in peace to consume every last available skerrick of food, water, oil and clean air — and just every so often to be lavished with gentle praise and admiration for being such open-minded, enlightened beings.

My favourite quote this week on climate change

My favourite quote comes from SBS Dateline this week:

"GEORGE NEGUS: The sceptics are still out there - the people who believe that science could be wrong about this. Are they still getting in your ear?

LORD NICHOLAS STERN: No. They're totally marginal now. I mean, do they object to the laws of thermodynamics or gravitation? It is just absurd. The greenhouse gases are there, they're going up and greenhouse gases trap heat - that's been known since the 19th century. So it's really only in bar rooms, I think, that this kind of discussion takes place. I don't think anybody would regard that as serious anymore."

Does this mean that media tartlet Senator Steve Fielding has taken to frequenting pubs?

The Greens leader declares able to meet Forestry Tasmania's demand for full payment of court costs

Tonight Australian Senator Bob Brown has sent out an email which reads:

Dear Friend,
Just over a week ago I received a letter from Forestry Tasmania threatening me with bankruptcy (which would disqualify me from serving in the Senate) if I failed to pay $240,000 in legal costs by 29 June 2009.
The legal bill arose when the full bench of the Federal Court overturned Justice Marshall’s finding (in my favour), that logging of Wielangta Forest should stop because it threatened endangered species like the Swift Parrot, Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle and the Wielangta Stag Beetle.
After serious consideration, I made the letter public on Monday.
Following an overwhelming public response, I am pleased to tell you I will be able to pay the bill by the deadline.
Donations of up to $20,000, for which I am extremely grateful, have been reported on the news.
The unreported generous donations of $10, $20, $50, $100 and $500—given by more than a thousand Australians from across the country— have also been essential and these donors have my enormous gratitude.......

Well done, Australia.

So this is what passes for NSW regional news these days?

Snapshot from The Daily Examiner, Grafton NSW

It wasn't that many days past since The Daily Examiner editor Peter Chapman was sounding off about ABC North Coast Radio's limited news coverage.
In fact I commented upon his views in this recent post Chapman uses Chaser blunder to hit back at Media Watch.

Well, Mr. Chapman continues to exceed himself, with blatant advertisement masquerading as reporting turning up in the newspaper under his stewardship yet again on 11 June 2009 at page 6 of a 32 page issue.

So enchanted is the editor with this no-brainer form of faux news that the article is also on the newspapers website, where one can happily learn that the principal dealer is committed to taking Clarence Valley Auto well into the future and that he will look after the local community and offer the best possible deals I can on Ford and Hyundai, as well as the best service.

One cannot help wondering if all these not so stealthy advertisements are paid for or if they are freebies for friends.

What they are definitely not is news reporting.

In painful strains that left a sting.....

Typing is not activism picked up on this version of the Australian national anthem, by indigenous artist Adam Hill, in The Age at the beginning of June:

AUSFAILURE NATIONAL TANTRUM

Australians all let us remorse

For we are blind can't see

We've golden soil that we all spoil

Our home washes into sea

Our land abounds in racist gits

Of whom we really can't bear

In history's cage recompense the slaves

Do Australians really care?

In painful strains that left a sting

Do Australians really care?

I can almost hear Gert sigh with relief that this time she didn't get a mention.