Sick and tired of the NSW Government continuing to drag its feet when it comes to the northern section of the Pacific Highway?

If the answer is yes then Federal Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin has an online Pacific Highway Community Petition which anyone can sign at http://www.janellesaffin.com.au/ :

TO THE Premier of New South Wales, The Honourable Barry O’Farrell MP; the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, The Honourable Andrew Stoner MP; and the NSW Minister for Roads, The Honourable Duncan Gay MP.

This Petition of residents of the Federal electorates of Page and Richmond draws to the attention of the O’Farrell-Stoner Government its pre-election commitments to making the Pacific Highway safer for all motorists.

The Petitioners therefore request that the NSW Government allocates significant funding in its first Budget on September 6, 2011, to ensure that the highway can be fully duplicated by the 2016 deadline, as agreed.

It is important not to let the issue of the Pacific Highway upgrade slip on to any Macquarie Street backburner, as this exchange in Federal Parliament last Tuesday demonstrates:

ROB OAKESHOTT (Member for Lyne) – My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. As the minister responsible on behalf of the Commonwealth and following ongoing negotiations with the state of New South Wales, can you confirm that election promises from both levels of government and both political persuasions will be upheld—that is, the joint promise of completion of dual carriageway of the Pacific Highway by 2016, just five years away?

ANTHONY ALBANESE – I thank the member for Lyne for his question and for his commitment to representing constituents on the Pacific Highway up the NSW coast. He would be aware that we have committed some $4.1 billion to the Pacific Highway, more than any government has ever committed to any road in Australia's history over such a period of time.

The fact is that work is proceeding apace.  The Ballina bypass will be open early.  It will be open by Christmas, six months ahead of schedule and on budget.  Work has also commenced on the longest bridge ever constructed in Australia, which is a part of the Kempsey bypass.  The builders for the Devils Pulpit upgrade have been selected and work will commence by the end of the year.

The building contract for Tintenbar to Ewingsdale in the electorate of Page was also awarded in the last fortnight. Work is forging ahead on the Bulahdelah bypass, the Banora Point upgrade and the Sapphire to Woolgoolga duplication.

All up, today there are more than a thousand Australians at work upgrading the Pacific Highway.  Our last budget saw an additional billion dollars injected into the Pacific Highway so we could meet that objective.  I was there with the member for Lyne and the member for Page [Janelle Saffin] with the Deputy Premier of NSW [Andrew Stoner], following our commitment announcement in May, and I was encouraged by the very direct commitment that the Deputy Premier gave on behalf of the NSW government to meet our shared objective on the full duplication of the highway.

Just last month he said the date “remained plausible as long as both governments commit to it”.

There is no doubt this is a big challenge.  All of the planning work had not been completed, which is why we needed to put that extra funding into the budget.  I look forward to the NSW government on 6 September stumping up its share of the money in the $750 million that it has committed.

NSW Minister for Roads Duncan Gay has “staked his reputation on securing a major funding boost for the Pacific Highway in this year's state budget”.  He said:

“My first target and task is to fulfil that commitment in this year’s budget … unless we can keep with them—the federal government—we are falling out of the game.”

This is a vital upgrade.  That is why we have contributed $4.1 billion, which stands in stark contrast to the $1.3 billion committed over 12 long years by the former government.  We have committed more than triple the money in half the time because we are absolutely committed to delivering on this project.

I look forward to working with the NSW government to meet our shared objective.

NB. Thanks to the North Coast Voices reader who sent me the Oakeshott-Albanese remarks.

Are the wheels falling off Tony's little red fear truck?

Federal Opposition Tony Abbott is a becoming a classic example of how to cast aside political momentum.
After managing to dominate the Australian news cycle for months on end, he then decides to take a short holiday overseas.
Just in time to be out of camera and microphone range when America's credit rating is downgraded, European sovereign debt becomes an even bigger global issue than before and international stock markets panic.
Big mistake.
Not only did the Australian media largely forget to play his favourite fear cards to the max; journalists also forgot to be hypercritical of the Labor Government's economic record and is some cases actually talked up the nation's balance sheet.
Then Tones arrives back in the country without anything novel to say and the news cycle all but ignores him for days.
Even usually gullible butchers began to reject his stunts.
Help seemed to be at hand when the Convoy of No Confidence drove onto the scene, but alas, this wasn't to be the Opposition Leader's life line.
Shaping up as it did to be an expensive embarrassment ACT taxpayers have to fork out for.
Not only did truck, ute, car and trailer numbers arriving in Canberra fall far short of the mooted mob supposedly calling for Gillard's blood and Tony's sainthood - some of the state convoys were nothing more than a handful of vehicles driven by people with a mistaken idea of the Australian constitution, no common complaints or coherent political agenda.
Indeed the first 'wave' of trucks due to hit Canberra early on Monday 22nd August failed to materialise due to lack of interest, the grand trek route map (above) proudly drawn by those faceless convoy organisers was shown to be just so much political mythology and the Canberra rally figures fell far, far short of the previous week's hyped 10,000 angry voters.
The turnout must have left Abbott and the rest of the 11am rally speakers, Barnaby Joyce, Warren Truss and Bazza Haase sorely disappointed - as well as totally confusing the climate change denialists contrarians, conspiracy theorists and one egotistic demagogue scheduled to share the podium.
After all, they thought they were the vanguard of a grassroots movement.
Even Tones practiced spin couldn't disguise the non-event:
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, there are hundreds of you here, there are thousands of you who would like to be here and there are millions of you who are sick of being ripped off by a bad government."
Haven't laughed so hard in years.

Britain 'terrorized by an underclass'. One of Her Majesty's subjects shows yet another ugly side of the United Kingdom

Britain is a riot - 3 Translation(s) | dotSUB

Pat Condell  in full flight, advocating the withdrawal of human rights from convicted rioters.
Is this man a distant relative of Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt?

Google Profile causing sh#t to happen?

Google Profile tells us to “Decide what the world sees when it searches for you. Create a public profile to display the information that you care about and make it easy for visitors to get to know you.”

Sounds fair, doesn’t it?
But what happens when you have the same name as someone else or someone hijacks your online identity?

Well this happens……

Snapshot taken of a page one Google Search on 18th August 2011

Snapshot of a 6th April 2011 cease and desist request on Chilling Effects

For all those contrarians out there: a word on rising sea levels in Australian waters

From the Australian Climate Commission’s May 2011 report THE CRITICAL DECADE Climate science, risks and responses:

Global average values of sea-level rise mask large regional differences.

For example, around Australia (Figure 8) recent sea level rise (from the early 1990s to 2008) has been below the global average along the east coast, near the global average along the much of the southern coast, but at least double the global average along much of the northern coastline.

Such regional differences are important in assessing the risks posed by sea-level rise at particular locations…….

The observed sea-level rise of about 20 cm from 1880 to 2000 should already have led to an increase in the incidence of extreme sea-level events. Such increases have indeed been observed at places with very long records, such as Fremantle and Fort Denison, where a 3-fold increase in inundation events has occurred (Church et al. 2006).  

Download report here.

First Dog nails the facts

Click on cartoon to enlarge
More of First Dog on the Moon here and here 

A carbon pricing he said, she said. Part Two

An exchange in the Clarence Valley Review letters column on 10 and 17 August 2011:

In response

Ed,

I thought your readers may be interested in a letter I sent to Federal Member for Page, Janelle Saffin in response to her recent circular letter sent to her electorate.

Dear Ms Saffin

I thank you for your letter of 29 July 2011. I note in particular your advice that the tax on the emission of carbon dioxide gas is to be paid by “our biggest polluters – not ordinary Australians”. Please correct me if I am wrong. I understand that the tax is to be related to the consumption of electricity produced from burning inputs which emit carbon dioxide in the process of generating electricity. The amount of the tax will be based upon the calculated carbon dioxide emissions.

You indicate that only the biggest polluters will be  paying. Much has been said in the press that it is the “500 biggest polluters” who will be paying.

Would you please identify who these 500 biggest polluters are? I would like to know the names of the corporations involved.

One of the difficulties I have is understanding what is a “polluter” and whether that is something that is different from someone who uses electricity.

Can you assist in clarifying the definition of a “polluter”.

It has also been part of the promotion of this tax that it will be replaced with an emissions trading scheme in three or four years time. The emissions trading scheme has not been explained.

However, other questions do arise. Does your government totally rule out the prospect that this tax will be extended beyond the current group of 500 to include other entities? Is that something your government will rule out categorically, absolutely and forever or is it something that your government wishes to keep open in terms of its options?

Once a carbon trading scheme is introduced to whom will that be applied and how will that impact

upon business entities beyond the 500 “biggest polluters”?

Has any modelling been done on how a carbon emission scheme will work and the impact it will have upon:

1. The 500 “biggest polluters”? ;

2. The 1,000 “biggest polluters”? ;

3. Small business generally;

4. Households?

If that modelling has been done, what are the results of that modelling?

We are being asked to endorse your government’s policy on the introduction of a carbon tax on the 500 biggest polluters, but at this stage you have not told us:

Who are these corporations?

What plans you have to extend the imposition of the tax, and in what time frame?

The implications of the proposed carbon trading scheme intended to replace the tax?

In your letter, you emphasize the evil of the biggest polluters by stating “No longer will the nation’s biggest polluters be able to pollute without consequence”.

Logically, if it is a good idea to tax the 500 largest polluters, it must also be a good idea to tax the next 500 and the next 500 after that. If the eradication of some pollution is a good idea, then the eradication of all pollution must be a good idea.

However, it seems that on the basis of the Federal Government policy, only the eradication of some of the carbon dioxide emission is a good idea and the positioning of the government policy has not been explained. Why 500 and not the original 1,000? Is there an implicit recognition that the imposition of the tax will have negative impacts for the Australian economy and Australia households which your government is seeking to mitigate by reducing the number of businesses subject to the tax? You have not explained this aspect of your policy.

I look forward to your early reply.

Peter James

Grafton

Carbon price answers

ED,

Peter James of Grafton [CVR, Letters, 8 August 2011] complains that there are a number of unanswered questions regarding the Gillard Government’s  intention to place a price on carbon and certain other greenhouse gases.

I read his missive with amazement, because answers to every single question he asked is readily available on federal government websites such as treasury.gov.au, cleanenenergyfuture.gov.au and climatechange.gov.au.

Starting with a proper definition of the carbon pricing mechanism, how ‘pollution’ is calculated, how long the levy will be in place, projected price rises over the life of the levy and what reportable greenhouse gas levels a corporation has to emit to finds itself included in the list of polluters to which the levy will apply - right through to Australian Treasury economic modelling, the full text of relevant draft legislation which will go before Parliament in 2011-12 and a broad outline of the foreshadowed emissions trading scheme.

All of this information is freely available at the click of  a mouse when people use either their own PCs or Internet access computers at certain council community centres and local libraries.

In all likelihood accessing appropriate government websites will take less time than Mr. James took to write his letter. Of course one has to want to hear the answers in the first place.

Judith M. Melville

Yamba

Come live the dream and share the magic at the North Coast National 20-22 October 2011

“LIVE THE DREAM, SHARE THE MAGIC”

THE NORTH COAST NATIONAL
ANNOUNCES BUMPER LINE-UP FOR 2011

The North Coast National (October 20 – 22) has announced special events and entertainment for 2011, delivering up a program that will keep visitors and locals alike enthralled and entertained from the minute they walk through the Lismore Showgrounds gates.

Whatever your interest, the Show will be offering it up –the spectacle of the V8 Ute Trackskills drivers, the inaugural North Coast Ute Muster, wandering street entertainers, live music acts and performance installations, the taste sensations of the Northern Rivers Regional Food Celebration, one of the biggest dairy shows in Australia and the thrills of the rodeo in the main arena.

“Our motto this year is Live The Dream, Share the Magic and our aim is for everyone in the family to leave the Show with a wide smile on their face having experienced our best ever line up of events and activities,” said North Coast National President John Gibson.

The National is a true celebration of our unique region - embracing our farming community, promoting our produce, rejoicing in our artists and performers, championing local business.

Proudly in its 126^th year, it’s a place where the traditions of the bush meet the exuberance of our lively towns, where old friendships are renewed and a new understanding of our shared future is forged.

The North Coast National is proud to announce that the Dairy Spectacular, one of the nation’s richest dairy shows, will be held at this year’s Show. The Dairy Spectacular will lead into the Show on October 18 and 19 and will present cattle from as far afield as Gympie and South Australia,

“Securing the Dairy Spectacular is a major coup for Lismore and we now own the rights not just for 2011 but into the future,” John said. 

In another first, the Northern Star Careers Festival, in collaboration with Netpac, will bring quality Employment, Training and Career opportunities to the visitors of the North Coast National in 2011.  The Festival will feature a series of seminars on career paths and information from service providers, attracting school visits to the North Coast National over three days and other young people from the region. 

The hugely successful Northern Rivers Regional Food Celebration, introduced in 2010, will return to present daily tasting menus, regional chefs, cooking demonstrations and food displays.  Also returning are the Wood Show and the Sustainable Living Expo.

“These events, representing the emerging new industries of our regional economy, underpin our aim to attract visitors from further afield, bring new patrons from our local communities to the Show and add value to the experience for all who attend, “ John said.

“But we also take our heritage seriously and are proud to present traditional favourites – our ever-expanding agricultural show with dozens of competitions for beef cattle, sheep, goats, alpacas, guinea pigs, horses, poultry, food produce, pets and more; the annual ring spectacular with fireworks display, the fun of Sideshow Alley and a point score full rodeo.”

There will be art shows, baking competitions, craft exhibits, Quilt Display, Music Under The Tent, a High Schools Battle of the Bands competition, Ashton’s circus, nightly fireworks, a fire and ice show in the main area, a Grand Parade, Showgirl competition and, for kids, The Great Lego Building Challenge and more.

“There is no other region quite like the Northern Rivers for its extraordinary produce, creative talents, industry and entertainment....and there is no better value day out than the North Coast National,” John said.

Media Release 1 August 2011
Enquiries:
Tracey Mair
TM Publicity
For the North Coast National
Ph: 02 6680 7106 or 0419 221 493
http://www.lismoreshow.org.au/

Northern Rivers Housing Forum 10am-2.30pm 14 September 2011 Lismore

Northern Rivers Housing Forum

The theme for this month’s Northern Rivers Housing Forum will be ‘New Approaches to Connecting People and Services’.

The forum is free for participants and will be held on Wednesday, 14 September, from 10.00am – 2.30pm at Goonellabah Community Centre, Oliver Avenue, Lismore.

Lunch will be provided and places are limited so people will need to register early.

Please register to attend the forum with Julie Dukes at North Coast Community Housing Company on 66 275315

Ryan puts a smile on the dial of oldies who remember posties delivering twice daily and once on Saturday

Still smiling at this from Ryan O’Connell in Seven Things A Twentysomething Can’t Do……

“1. Mail something

Whenever I have to mail something, I have a mini panic attack. First, I have to get stamps, which seems super daunting because I have no idea where they’re sold. Can I get one at my vegan co-op later or maybe the guy I’m sleeping with from Ok Cupid has some at his apartment. IDK! Then there is the terrifying dilemma of acquiring an envelope. Once you manage to get these two things, you have to somehow put them together and handwrite things. Lastly, you have to search for something called a mailbox. I’ve heard about mailboxes in movies but I’ve yet to see one in real life. Honestly, flying Virgin to give someone something seems more feasible these days. Like I’ve heard of the band The Postal Service but I didn’t know that it was based on a real thing, okay?”

Kitty pawn?

 

Archibald Prize finalists on display in Murwillumbah

Tweed River Art Gallery, located in Murwillumbah, is currently hosting an exhibition of the 2011 Archibald Prize finalists.

The quality of the exhibition speaks for itself ... it's AAAA.

Of course, Brett Quilty's winning portrait of Margaret Olley is the stand out. It's fantastic. When viewed close up from a metre or so the Average Joe will says, "What's this? It's nothing."

However, when viewed from a bit of distance it's incredible. As one moves from left to right, or vice-versa, or moves back and forth from Quilty's work the piece demonstrates its many dimensions.

This bloke's no art specialist, but he knows what he likes and what he doesn't. Quilty deservedly won ... daylight came second.My other best ones include:

Jenn Sage's My Jack

Christopher McVinish's Robin Nevin

Amanda Darburg's "DA" .. smh crossword devotees know this subject well!

Angus McDonald's
Dr Ann Lewisa AO

Credits: Images from Art Gallery NSW

NEWS FLASH: Examiner in damage control mode, pulls out the big gun

Phew! It's been a big week at the Daily Examiner. First, it was its chief-of-staff. Then, it was its media sales manager. Now, its big gun, general manager Judy Lewis, has thrown herself into the fray and added her two bob's worth.

Gee, there must be some interesting discussions had around the water cooler at the Examiner. Wouldn't you just love to be a fly-on-the-wall. It'd be worth an admission price to get a ring side seat there.

However, the main protagonists, Howard and Smajstr, are based in separate locations, with the former in Grafton and the latter in Yamba. Perhaps they'll have to settle their differences with a duel at dawn at a neutral venue. Choice of weapon ... pistols or pens?

Credit: Thanks, Daily Examiner! 

PS: This reader is looking forward to the next instalment of this mini drama series.

The paper hasn't provided so much entertainment for a long time.

Dissent in the Examiner camp ... looks like it's an attempt to balance the ledgers

Monday's Daily Examiner carried an opinion piece ("Poker faced gambling") written by staffer Tim Howard about "the smell from a putrefying mix of self-righteousness and self-interest emanating from a loud group of people who turn out to be in a minority".

Howard was referring to "misinformation (being) spread by the club and gaming industry" in relation to proposed poker machine tax reforms.

Well, didn't that set the cat among the (stool) pigeons in the club industry. The usual suspects from local clubs hastily put pen to paper and wrote letters to the editor of the Examiner so Wednesday's paper carried letters from the general managers of Grafton District Services Club and Yamba Golf & Country Club and the CEO of Yamba Bowling and Recreation Club.

But, then to balance the books, yesterday's Examiner carried a letter to the editor penned by a colleague of Howard at the paper, Peter Smajstr, the paper's media sales manager.

And, just so everyone knows, Peter backs the clubs, but wants to assure readers that it's just his opinion, just as Tim's piece was Tim's opinion and not that of The Daily Examiner.

It seems the last people the paper wants to get offside are its advertisers. 

Source: Daily Examiner

Bangarra: 22 years of celebrating culture

Bangarra Dance Theatre: Fire - A Retrospective (2009)

http://youtu.be/UHH_DFi-Swc

About the Bangarra Dance Company

Teh Big Gra complains

“Graham Young is chief editor and the publisher of On Line Opinion. He is a writer, and a former vice-president and campaign chairman of the Queensland Liberal Party.”

Teh Big Gra is also listed prominently in Google’s search index:

Gra is also a regular writer for The Australian - a national newspaper with a circulation of 130,000 plus.

But he’s afraid, very afraid, that he is being shunned and silenced by two (I repeat, two) members of the blogotariat.

RORFL!

Carbon pricing he said, she said. Part One

Letters to the Editor in The Daily Examiner on 12 and 16 August 2011:

1. One cannot avoid death

YES, Thomas Macindoe ( DEX Aug 9 ), one cannot avoid death or the carbon tax.

It seems it will apply to both cremations and burials.

Local government will face a price rise for landflll (cemeteries?) when the carbon tax kicks in.

BILL CALVI

Grafton

2. Alternative universe

BILL Calvi of Grafton (DEX letters, 12 August 2011) assures us that cremation will incur a so-called carbon tax.

One has to wonder in which alternative universe Mr. Calvi resides.

Firstly, only individual industry/business premises which directly emit  25,000 tonnes of CO2-e emissions annually, after deducting emissions from liquid fuels, LPG, CNG, LNG, and synthetic greenhouse gases (excluding PFCs produced by aluminum smelting), will potentially attract the carbon levy. (http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au/, 12.08.11)

Secondly, for an individual crematorium in Australia to qualify for this carbon levy it would have to cremate at least 156,250 recently deceased people each year, based on the 160kgs of CO2 equivalent per cremated person estimated in a 2008 South Australian Centennial Park Cemetery Authority carbon footprint report.

As the Australian Museum states, it takes on average one to one and a half hours to fully cremate a body, this would see the average crematorium required to operate up to twenty-seven round the clock operating years in the space of one calendar year to process enough bodies to qualify for the carbon levy.

In 2008 and 2009 there were 143,900 and 140,800 total registered deaths respectively right across the country, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. At least fifty per cent of these deaths would have involved cremation [Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of NSW, February 2009] but even this figure would not cause one crematorium to pay the carbon tax.

Similarly, as in-ground internment produces only an estimated 39kg of CO2 equivalent per burial, individual cemeteries would be hard-pressed to conduct enough of these funerals annually to attract this levy.

Just to make sure that cremation was a non-starter in the national carbon pricing debate I contacted a public servant briefed with fielding questions on climate change policy. When he finished quietly laughing, he assured me that the carbon levy was not going to be paid by cemeteries for burial or cremation.

As for local government paying the carbon levy on its landfill waste, that will only apply to waste generated after the levy becomes law.

JUDITH M. MELVILLE

Yamba

Aussie as she is spoke lives!

This spontaneous outburst from cyenne:

“You bloody ripper. You absolute, dyed-in-the-wool full-on bloody beauty.”

Are Adarsh Jaiswal & Deepika Verma fronting a company scamming elderly pensioners on the NSW North Coast?

Snapshots taken 13 August 2011

Click on images to enlarge

Excerpt from The Daily Examiner 15 August 2011:

The South Grafton pensioner said she thought it was her internet service provider Bigpond – talking urgently in a thick Indian accent – after all, he knew her full name.

“We need to check your computer Shirley,” the voice said. “People are getting in and stealing gigabytes.”

Before she knew it, Shirley's screen was scrolling madly and the voice on the phone said, “look, they're taking stuff now”.

“I must have given him permission (to access the computer remotely) but I don't remember. He took control of the mouse.”

The man told her it would cost $159 to fix the problem and she would need two “installations” to get coverage for life.

So Shirley, desperate to stop the cyber thieves, gave her credit card number and she was billed $318.

But it dawned on Shirley that she had been scammed.

“I couldn't sleep all night and I was so ashamed I didn't want to tell anyone,” she said. “I know I've been stupid but they sounded so genuine.

“My granddaughter was so cranky that someone would rip me off, she told me to go to the police and the Examiner because these people were obviously targetting older people.”

Shirley received an invoice from E-Pro Solution via email for a 24-month platinum plan support package. The invoice said the company was based in Luton, London.

That is what happened once a man called “Chris” telephoned a 77 year old woman living in the Clarence Valley.

Now E-Pro Solutions states on its website that it has offices in the U.K. and India and that it is owned and operated by NDCL INFOSOULE.

This company sells a product with the same description as the one ‘sold’ to the pensioner and its published price is equivalent to the amount of money paid by credit card for said product.

There is a company called NDCL INFOSOUL which can be called up with a simple Internet search. It happens to currently share the same physical address in India with E-Pro Solutions, as well as the identical main landline telephone number.

The very dodgy method used to sell product has been reported by Internet users for the last two years at least and could easily be called a scam.

Here is one post on a Whirlpool forum this year:

Not sure if anyone has received calls from this apparent company so far, but I received one today and it sounded super dodgy, so I just wanted to warn others about it (although admittedly most people who browse this type of website/forum probably wouldn't get sucked in for this sort of call).

They say they are from E-PRO SOLUTIONS, a company which has been employed by "Windows Computer Maintenance Department."

They say they have discovered that you have inadvertently downloaded junk from the internet and it is slowing down your computer, and that they can quickly remedy the problem by going through a process which I think allows them remote access to your computer.

They say they are calling from an office in Australia (the address they gave me was 83 Yaran Street, Evans Head, NSW 2473), but the three people I spoke to (two guys and one girl) all had heavy Indian accents (two of the names they gave me were David Mark and Peter Williams), and they also lied when I asked them about the weather there at the time.

When I asked for their details, the phone number they gave me was: 08 7200 7207.

Cheers.

It should be noted here that the address cited in the post does not exist as Yaran Street is a short street with no more than 18 residential lots according to Google Maps and, the telephone number is three digits out from E-Pro Solutions published West Australian telephone number.

Reverse Australia has fielded so many queries that it now features sample complaints like this one:

Contacted by "Julia Kidman" and "Harry Watson", so say from South Melbourne, Victoria, both working for E-Pro Solutions, acting on behalf of Microsoft Windows, that they had detected problems on our computer.
Landline contact is : 0872 001 707
Website: www.e-prosolutions.com , and
Email address: support@www.e-prosolutions.com
Requested to go into “start and r “ depressed together, and looked at application and system logs with errors and warnings in them. Asked to count the number of each, and got to about 30 warnings and about 5 or more errors or so, in each, then stopped scrolling through.
Asked for peoples names, and provided with above names, which are English names, but the people were Indian (or Pakistani), by accent. Was to be put through to technicians, via the “Support Connection” window, and they were going to provide a password, which should not be given to anyone else!!
I hung up and checked the White pages, which does not have a name anything like "E-pro solutions".
These people through their website, www.e-prosolution.com, should be tracked down, or they are just using this website for their own purposes. Whatever the situation, do not touch with a barge pole.
Tony, Perth, Western Australia 19 April 2011

E-Pro Solutions is also implicated in similar complaints in the U.S. and Microsoft Answers has been fielding queries about E-Pro since 2010. An e-commerce company dri swreg cardquery com is sometimes mentioned as processing its online billing

It is possible that E-Pro Solutions is unaware of this ‘scam’ and Mr. Adarsh Jaiswal & Ms. Deepika Verma are legitimate business people. That the problem may lie elsewhere.

I leave that up to readers to decide.

Little Sir Echo

The world watched in awful fascination as rabid Tea Party politicians brought America to its knees and caused stock exchanges world-wide to haemorrhage, because these same elected representatives mindlessly insisted that Small Government was God and pursued a goal of unrealistic federal budget cuts.

In Australia a Coalition Opposition led by Tony Abbott is obviously intent on mimicking this disastrous course with the policy announcement that should Tones the Terrible win government he expects to produce small government and $70 billion in budget savings.

One could sack as many as 20,000 federal public servants and hole the government grants system and never come anywhere near saving that many billions, so it doesn’t take a genius to see who will be the bunnies making the remainder of these excessive ‘savings’.

That amount of money withdrawn from federal government spending would represent roughly $3,000 less per person each year spent on either vital health services, education, family assistance payments, old age pension increases or PBS medications – just to name a few of the areas to which Abbott and Hockey could take their knives.

This level of mass sackings and belt tightening imposed on average Australian families will be painful to endure and also something which would put the wind up voters and possibly the market once it looked closely at the flow-on effects.

Australia & New Zealand- we're happy and we know it!

If Gallup’s World Giving Index 2010 is any indication, then Australia and New Zealand are prosperous, happy and generous nations:

Australia and New Zealand are, jointly, the most ‘giving’ countries in the world. These countries both boast a World Giving Index score (the average of their scores on ‘giving money’, ‘giving time’, and ‘helping a stranger’) of 57%. ….

both countries appear in the top twenty for all three behaviours…..

The link between the giving of money and happiness is stronger (a coefficient of 0.69) than the link between the giving of money and the GDP of a nation (0.58). It would be reasonable to conclude that giving is more an emotional act than a rational one….

The Queensland University of Technology’s Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies February 2011 report on major gift giving indicates that most of this giving is historically done in Australia by people making donations ranging from $1 to $3,000.

In New Zealand the most common form of giving is the ad hoc donation of money or goods to an appeal, with the highest level of support going to clubs/community organisations and primary/secondary education, according to a 2009 discussion paper.

So all those ordinary wage earners, self-funded retirees, pensioners and generous others residing on each side of The Ditch who are buying jam from street stalls, raffle tickets from school children, emptying small change into the hands of door-to-door charity collectors or sending modest cheques to a worthy cause – take a bow because you lead the world.

Profile of a McDonald's fast food customer

Pic from ourweed.com

The discovery of 79g of marijuana inside a McDonald's brown paper takeaway bag led to police confiscating a total of 130g from one fast food afficianado on the 6th June 2011.
Locals are pointing to the possibility that he was a customer of the McDonald's hamburger joint in Yamba.
Just another reason why franchisee Scott Campbell's name is not top of the pops in that small NSW coastal town.

Will NSW Nats MP Steve Cansdell take up Lynne Mowbray's challenge?

On Page One of The Daily Examiner on 9 August 2011 one distressed local threw down a gauntlet in front of the Nationals Member for Clarence and Parliamentary Secretary for Police, Steve Candell, who is part of the NSW OFarrell Government:

ON WEDNESDAY afternoon several people at a Maclean car park witnessed an incident involving three people who appeared to be severely affected by alcohol and drugs.....
The two males continued harassing the woman to get back behind the wheel and continue driving as she was the only one who appeared to possess a licence.
It was obvious the two males were agitated. One appeared to be extremely volatile and aggressive and the other reeked of alcohol.
They ended up taking off in the car, driven by the highly intoxicated man and leaving the woman behind.
This incident was reported to the police out of fear these people were a mobile time bomb.
The Maclean police station was unattended at the time and the communication machine on the wall was faulty....
He explained there was no police presence in the Lower Clarence area on that day and an earlier domestic violence matter at Harwood had to be attended by the only available police car, which had to travel from Grafton.
I was in disbelief there was not one officer on duty in the whole of the Maclean, Yamba and Iluka areas.
As the police officer relayed this information to me I couldn't help but flash-back to three years ago when I witnessed a motorist asleep behind the wheel of his car, which was parked in the middle of the road leading into Maclean, at night with the lights off.
After waking him that night he appeared hostile and to be under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. I followed him into town as he drove on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic.
I phoned the police twice, pleading with them to stop him before he killed someone, but I was told there was no police presence in Maclean, as they were called out to Yamba.
There were several other accounts of people being forced off the road as he headed towards his destination.
I remembered the gut-wrenching hopelessness and desperation I felt when the police called me back a short time later and asked me to come into the station the next day to provide details for a coronial inquest into the man's death. He ended-up hitting a tree at Ashby at high speed.
I remember how I sobbed uncontrollably, knowing I did my best to save this man but the “system” let me down.
The lack of police in the area that night not only left me scarred for the rest of my days, but also affected the police who attended that scene, the tow truck operator, the undertaker who attended and the family, neighbours and friends who were left to grieve.
The system let us all down that night.
In his new appointment as Parliamentary Secretary for Police and Emergency Services, I challenge the Member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, to table this editorial in parliament.
The days of talking the talk are gone. It's now time to walk the walk.
Your electorate is lagging in police numbers and it's up to you to not just fight for change, but to deliver it. You have been given the baton and now is your time to run with it.
Give our police the control they need in their own area and enough police officers to staff our stations and reduce the work-related stress of our officers.
I can't help thinking that if we had our police station in Maclean staffed three years ago, that man would still be around today. It grieves me to think that while we play politics it is our community that suffers.
Please end this absurd disregard for our struggling officers and this community's safety and peace of mind.

Put a hand in your pocket for the Horn of Africa

No glib comment is needed as a reminder that famine is always with us somewhere in the world. This time it is the Horn Of Africa and Somalia in particular which is bearing the brunt of widespread drought and crop failure.

So come on Aussies, put a hand in your pocket and send a donation to the Australian fundraising arm of the United Nations Refugee Agency, Australia for UNHCR and the East Africa Emergency Appeal online by credit card or call 1300 440 433 or 1300 361 288 (within Australia) to find out how/where to send cheques or money orders.

“All donations in response to this appeal will go directly towards UNHCR's emergency relief operations in East Africa, providing much-needed essentials like food, clean water, shelter, sanitation, survival kits and emergency feeding and nutrition programs.

90 cents in every dollar donated will go directly to the field to help people in need in East Africa.”

Photographs of famine victims found at Google Images

Never a truer word said by CNN

Australia's best place to visit....
Then a pod of dolphins explodes from the water and the hype about Yamba suddenly appears understated.

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.

A plea from the heart by the digitally disadvantaged

A not uncommon complaint heard right across the Clarence Valley.

Dreyfuss in July 2011 on a Clarence Conversations forum:

The area around Melaleuca drive in Yamba is in desperate need of upgrading by Telstra. When the subdivision was first done telecom and the developer did some “clever” thing with the phone lines designed to save money and that now stops the residents from getting effective ADSL connections. Speeds of 0.22kbps are common, ADSL 2 is offered by Internet Service Providers (ISP) but not available, is some cases residents are being refused ADSL connections all together. When you contact Telstra about getting the lines upgraded and they say talk to your ISP, then you talk to you ISP and they say there is nothing that can be done until Telstra upgrade the phone lines talk to Telstra. NBN may be some 5 years away (if ever), the mobile reception in the area is appalling so wireless is not an option. This area is only 4 kilometres from the Yamba exchange and less than 1 kilometre from the Treeland Drive retail district! How long will the residents be forced to suffer because of the original cost cutting by Telecom (Telstra) and the Developer? I urge anybody that is affected to contact the Grafton office of Janelle Saffin 6621 9909 email Peter.ellem@aph.gov.au

AntoniusFM in August 2011 on the same forum thread:

No ADSL in Wells Crossing, satellite is no option (too slow, too much delay), so using wireless, which isn't that great (1.5 Mbps if i am lucky), especially because i need it for my work (self employed IT consultant). I would have wished the government invested a bit more in wireless technology. The NBN sounds nice, but there is no way in the world we are going to have fibre optics where I live. Very disappointing !