The Group of Sixteen is not a ringing endorsement of the anti-climate change position

On 27 January 2012 The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion piece titled No Need to Panic About Global Warming. WSJ editor stated that this was signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article.

To assess this opinion one needs to look closer at these signatories than just the name and job descriptions they supplied:

Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris and former politician – so beloved by his fellow scientists that 400 in climate-related fields signed a letter objecting to his statements.

J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting – apparently has a BA in Applies Science, a BS in industrial engineering and is a Professor of Marketing mostly teaching in university business schools.

Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University – an MD with degrees in chemistry famous for creating the heart attack mouse which makes him an obvious candidate to comment on climate-related disciplines in which he is not qualified.

Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society – and retired from ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences – as well as former President of Exxon Research and Engineering from 1977 to 1986 and amateur gem hunter.

William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton  - Chairman of conservative think tank the George C. Marshall Institute and former U.S. Federal Government on matters of defence and other technical issues.

Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K. – an engineer teaching in the electrical engineering division with eight publications to his name.

William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology – apparently unpublished in peer reviewed science journals on the subject of climate change and a member of the Lavoisier Group which is something of an astroturfing organization.

Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MI – according to DeSmogBlog  Lindzen has published work with the conservative think-tank, the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute has received $125,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. In his 1995 article, "The Heat Is On," Ross Gelbspan notes that Lindzen charged oil and coal organizations $2,500 per day for his consulting service.

James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University – on the Board of Directors of ChemFab Inc which had commercial ties to the U.S. Military.

Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences - his industrial consulting included the research laboratory of GTE and Shell Technology Ventures, and is presently a partner in GothamOrient LLC which states that We leverage our deep industry connections, decades of collective in-country experience in Asia, and relationships in the government and financing sectors to most quickly and effectively open markets on behalf of our clients.

Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne – into conspiracy theories.

Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator –  a Cold War II warrior whom I always found to be an arrogant and opinionated Ugly American Abroad on the few times I ran into him, so it probably is no surprise to find him on this list.

Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem – see his blog and decide yourself.

Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service – quite a dummy spit when he left the service after an erratic time as director.

Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva – a member of the Pontifiical  Academy of Sciences at the Vatican.

Antarctic Pine Island Glacier Crack precusor to 900 sq. km iceberg

Pine Island Glacier

In mid-October 2011, NASA scientists working in Antarctica discovered a massive crack across the Pine Island Glacier, a major ice stream that drains the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Extending for 19 miles (30 kilometers), the crack was 260 feet (80 meters) wide and 195 feet (60 meters) deep. Eventually, the crack will extend all the way across the glacier, and calve a giant iceberg that will cover about 350 square miles (900 square kilometers). This image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NAS's Terra spacecraft was acquired Nov. 13, 2011, and covers an area of 27 by 32 miles (44 by 52 kilometers), and is located near 74.9 degrees south latitude, 101.1 degrees west longitude.

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

If you're a NSW pensioner with less than $500 in the bank, then Barry O'Farrell intends to blindside you

Gawd, this is rich! Bazza’s chief political b#tch, Pru Goward has just announced that people who would normally be eligible for a set of cheap ‘n’ nasty free spectacles won’t be able to replace lost or broken specs or fill new optical prescriptions between 10^th  February to 30^th June 2012.

Why don’t cha just get in your chauffeured limo and mow a few of the poor down, Bazza?

It would probably cost less than the public hospital stays due to falls over the next four months.

Bazza’s remuneration package is over $350k and Goward’s is over $270k a year – most of the people they are dudding would be very lucky to receive $20-22k over the same twelve months.

Lower than a snakes’s belly – that’s what O’Farrell and his cronies are.

Pics Bazza 'n' Teh B#tch were found at Granny Herald and Sky News

Mining Law Workshop Dundurrabin Community Centre, February 11th 2012 at 1.30pm

MINING LAW WORKSHOP

Dundurrabin Community Centre at 1.30pm
on February 11, 2012  

Sue Higgenson, senior solicitor from the Environmental Defenders  Office, is coming to talk with our community about mining law.

This is an open  invitation to the whole community to address everyone's concerns regarding the  legal side of mining and our rights within the community and for our private  landholdings.

Take this opportunity to  understand what could happen if mining proceeds in our community.

Environmental Defenders Office:
  A  community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental  law

  Mission:  promote the public interest and improve environmental outcomes through the  informed use of the law

  Functions
  Legal  Advice and Representation

  Policy  and Law Reform

  Community  Education

  Scientific  and Technical Advice

Please bring a something to share to have with a  cuppa.

Local Mining Exploration
Anchor  Resources have been doing exploratory drilling at Dundurrabin for gold and  copper.

As  reported on Anchor Resources website, (http://www.anchorresources.com/) the  Tyringham prospect is identified as a Reduced Intrusion- Related Gold System (RIRGS) and deposits of this type include multi-million ounce gold mines such as Fort-Knox, Pogo and Donlin Creek (Alsaska) and Kidston Australia.

Further information on proposed mining can be found at Dorrigo Environment Watch.

What Tony Abbott promises if you make him Prime Minister of Australia

Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott spoke at the National Press Club on 31 January 2012 and imparted his vision for Australia should the Coalition win the 2013 federal election.

After a predictable attack on the Gillard Government (which according to him has completely failed to appreciate the iron law of economics that no country has ever taxed its way to prosperity) he swung into a pitch redolent with the perfume of American Tea Party politics in that television viewers were treated to the prospect of smaller government, lower taxes and greater freedom and, of course, stopping the boats.

A golden future was apparently only as far away as a light at the end of the tunnel, because in the Coalition we're patriots.

Decoding this patriotic light was rather revealing.

To get to this future Abbott was promising not to promise Medicare-funded universal dental care or a national disability insurance.

He also assured voters that any tax cuts pledge made today was at least four years down the road before it came into effect. Around 2017 if these cuts happened at all – because implementation apparently requires the projected 2012-13 budget deficit to all but disappear and, the precise timing and the precise quantum is something that we will announce in good time.

He told his audience that he would also impose an est. $2.7 billion per annum new tax on the business sector in order to change the paid parental leave scheme legislated by Federal Labor.**

Abbott revealed  that under any government led by him there would be cuts to unspecified federal services, programs and funding, as well as increased privatisation of service delivery. Apparently he intends to cut somewhere in the vicinity of $12 billion a year off the budget bottom line this way, while at the same time committing to new spending around $10 billion each financial year.**

This new $10 billion supplied by taxpayers is going towards Abbott’s emissions reduction fund - which will be paid to business for what they are already doing without any additional government subsidy.

He made it clear that as prime minister he would support persons and families having aspiration (especially those privately educating their children), at the same time make life difficult for those with mental illness or physical incapacity if they happen to be parked on the disability pension.Tough love for the young who take the dole is also favoured.

Abbott ended this strange but predictable ramble with: People should be in public life for the right reasons. Mine are to serve our country, to stand up for the things I believe in, to do the right thing by my fellow Australians as best I can, to build a nation that will inspire us more and to lead a government that will disappoint us less.

His own speech and, the question and answer period which followed, indicates that he is already failing these lofty personal aims.

** Tony Abbott did not dispute these figures offered to him in the question and answer period.

Photograph from The Sydney Morning Herald.

U.S. Presidential Election 2012: Rude Music sues Newt 2012 Inc & American Conservative Union for copyright infringement

U.S. District Court filing of 30^th January 2012

Republican presidential candidate hopeful Newt Gingrich has found himself in hot water and his campaign machine before the courts for unauthorised use of the song Eye of the Tiger.

YouTube quickly ditched those Gingrich campaign video clips which contained the song.

A first: seat-belted bus to run on a local school route in the Coffs Harbour area

High school students travelling by bus between Glenreagh and Coffs Harbour will now have the added protection of seat belts.

The Coffs Coast Advocate reported that Sawtell Coaches, which operates a fleet of school buses in the Coffs area has purchased a new bus fitted with seat-belts, GPS tracking, an electronic tacograph and surveillance cameras.

The manager of Sawtell Coaches, Darren Williams, said the company had made a commercial, possibly controversial, decision given the NSW Government's Bus Safety Review had not yet been completed.

"We made the decision because we knew this service was on the government's lists of dangerous rural bus routes," Mr Williams said.
"We will be monitoring students' behaviour very closely and taking a hard line with any who do not comply with the instructions to wear the seat belts.
"Students who are moving around will be given three warnings and then be told 'to take a holiday from the bus'."

Valla parent Jan Gill, who has been campaigning for more safety on school buses, said the new bus was a welcome initiative.
 "We all hope this marks the beginning of a new trend with other bus companies, especially those that travel on the highway," Ms Gill said

Ms Gill's letter to the editor of The Coffs Advocate is below:

Belts on buses

I commend Darren Williams, manager of Sawtell Coaches, for buying a new, safe bus fitted with seatbelts for a school bus route identified as high risk.

This highly responsible and community-minded initiative is greatly appreciated by parents, who would like to see all school buses travelling on dangerous routes upgraded so they suit the conditions.

The horrific crash at Urunga earlier this month and the heavy rain we are now experiencing highlight the risks faced by those who live and travel in this region, particularly on the Pacific Hwy.

I would like to see Busways management take the same approach Mr Williams has taken to keep children safe.

Busways has several school buses travelling south of Urunga on the highway.

It's time they replaced the school buses that have low-backed unpadded seats, with vehicles that have safety features fit for our conditions, including seatbelts.

Jan Gill, Valla Beach

Source: The Coffs Coast Advocate 

Don't laugh - we are Christians!

Teaching the overly sensitive Mr. Smith about the Streisand Effect....

The Telegraph on 31 January 2012:

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has confirmed to news.com.au that it is investigating a satirical interview by comedians John Clarke and Brian Dawe, which went to air at the end of ABC's 7.30 program on October 27 last year.

ABC has stood by the program and dismissed the investigation as "routine".

Perth school teacher Simon Smith told news.com.au he complained to ABC and the broadcasting watchdog after he saw the skit last year.

He objected to its portrayal of Christians.

"You can clearly see that they are vilifying Christians as insensitive, callous and uncaring with clear inferences to the Opposition front bench and Tony Abbott, many who are Catholics," he claimed.

"I just sat there for a minute and I thought, they've really overstepped the mark”.

The Canberra Problem and "Dr Saulways-Wright"
Originally aired on ABC TV's 7.30: 27/10/2011

http://youtu.be/_SOipK0rRec

Quote of the Week - Political Catchphrases

“with 'pro-life' perhaps the most offensive of all. Is anyone out there 'pro-death'? Can anyone be rustled up who is 'anti-life'?”

{The Loon Pond on 30th^th January 2012}

Australia Day in South Korea

Chalk up another success for a Yamba export.

No, Yamba prawns were not on the menu when the Australia Chamber of Commerce celebrated Australia National Day at the Grand Ambassador hotel in Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Friday.

But, another Yamba product, in the shape of Wayne Golding, whom The Korea Herald described as ""an Australian culinary wizard", prepared the feast. Golding is executive chef at the Grand Ambassador.

Golding told The Korea Herald that he wanted everyone to feel that they were eating a traditional Australia Day meal.

Participants were greeted with a Down Under theme as cabanas decorated one side of the room and Aussie favorites like fish and chips and meat pies were served. No day marking the country’s birthday would be complete without a good old fashion Aussie barbeque.

Paul Matthews provided this review of Golding for 10mag.com :

When I step into The King’s Premium Live Buffet at the Grand Ambassador Hotel, I’m overwhelmed. Confronted by mountains of seafood, roast ducks and a walk-in dessert cabinet, I want to dig in straight away. But I resist, since the main attraction here is Australian Executive Chef Wayne Golding, who has transformed this thirty-five-year old restaurant into something extraordinary.

Hailing from the small town of Yamba in New South Wales, Golding started out in his father’s footsteps as a fisherman. He worked nights on the boats and studied during the day. After flirtations with carpentry, metal fabrication and architecture, he turned to the kitchen, rising up the ranks at a breakneck pace. From Yamba, he went to Sydney, then onto Dubai and Hanoi, before he found himself at the Paradise Hotel in Busan and his Korean career really began. He has been living here for the past seven years and has been working at the Grand Ambassador since 2009.

He is committed to making King’s the best buffet in the country, and he is bringing some exciting new ideas to the dining table. At King’s, everything is “live,” meaning that instead of lukewarm trays filled with congealed sauces, you can expect your food freshly cooked to order in front of your eyes. He has assembled a crack team of chefs to assist him, including a Chinese station complete with a dim sum expert, a roast meats master and a wok specialist. He has also ensured that seafood fans can get oysters all year round and that all the produce at King’s is the freshest it can be.

It wasn’t always that easy to source exotic fresh ingredients in Korea, and Chef Golding remembers when he used to have to scour the department stores in order to source the best products available. However, his job is a little easier now and he has even managed get a supply of fresh shrimp for the restaurant. As a fisherman’s son, he knows that there’s a big difference in taste between fresh and frozen.

The King’s Premium Live Buffet is in good hands with this Yamba boy, who knows the importance of “live” food and treats his customers to one of the best hotel buffets in Seoul.

Credits: The Korea Herald and 10mag.com

Member for Clarence says, "I didn't lie"

Chris Gulaptis, the Member for Clarence, says a group claiming he'd said the O'Farrell Government had set aside $300 million for a new Grafton bridge either misunderstood what he was saying or didn't understand the budgetary process.

"If they think I have lied to them I apologise for that, but I certainly didn't lie to them," he said. [Daily Examiner, 31/1/12]

Seems the message sent from the mouth of the MP and the message that arrived at the ears of members of the group was not one and the same thing. Who do you believe?

Read today's Daily Examiner report here.

By a modest margin Australian electorate wants Gillard Government to run full term

The Essential Report 30 January 2012:

This report summarises the results of a weekly omnibus conducted by Essential Research with data provided by Your Source.
The survey was conducted online between the 25th and 29th January 2012 and is based on 1,033 respondents.

Click on table to enlarge

The big fella explained with a little help from trick cycling

Found at comicsreporter.com

On the subject of verballing - just how stupid does Meeja Tart Abbott and Poodle Pyne think Aussie punters are?

“I’ve been verballed!” cries Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. “He’s been verballed!” cries Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne. “Julia dun it and the police should help us make political capital out of this!” they both yell in the meeja.

So what do we have here as the basis for a politically motivated police investigation into who said what and when?

On Thursday 26^th January 2012 one of the Prime minister’s media advisers was allegedly informed by a journalist of what Abbott said about the Aboriginal Tent Embassy’s relevance and future. It is possible that the journalist expanded on these remarks.

The advisor informed a union official, stating where Abbott was attending an function. The official in turn informed another at the Embassy and also pointed to where Abbott could be found.

People at an Australia Day event at the Embassy reacted and attempted to confront Abbott at The Lobby restaurant shortly afterwards.

Police appear to have been called to the rowdy demonstration at around 2.30pm.

Accepting the dubious proposition that Abbott really was verballed (and leaving aside the possible involvement of his own media advisers), who did this alleged verbally first?

Was it members of the Prime Minister’s staff?

Nah, it was the mainstream meeja that the Leader of the Opposition so assiduously courts– and here’s the visual evidence which was online on the 26^th January beginning at 10.35am with what was probably an item drawn from the the Australian Associated Press news feed:

Snapshot of Perth Now AAP report at 10.35am on 26th January 2012
Click on image to enlarge

Snapshot of Sky News report at 1.03pm 26th Jaunary 2012
Click on image to enlarge

Snapshots of The Telegraph online AAP report at 1.35pm on 26th January 2012
Click on images to enlarge

So before either Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott arrived at the restaurant for the National Emergency Services Medal ceremony, an inflammatory version of Abbott's remarks had been spread across Australia coast to coast - without any help from prime ministerial staff.
And all the Coalition political spin in the world won't change that fact.

* Thanks to Clarencegirl for the snapshots

Member for Clarence careless with the truth

 Today's Daily Examiner's front page reports:

Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has either lied to The Daily Examiner or to the Concerned Citizens Group in relation to funding for a second Grafton bridge.

CCG member Lynne Cairns said Mr Gulaptis had told her and three other members of the group, at a meeting on December 7, that the O'Farrell Government had $300 million set aside for the new bridge. Her claim was backed by fellow CCG members Kim Dahl, Sue Hillery and Lynne's husband, Bob.

But, fielding questions from The Examiner on Friday, Mr Gulaptis emphatically denied he made such a revelation.

"There's funding for planning ... but there's no funding set aside in this budget," he said. "Our commitment is that it will be physically started in this term (before March 2015).

"I apologise if people have misunderstood."

Mr Gulaptis said he understood if the community was sceptical about the bridge being started anytime in the near future, considering Bob Carr made a similar promise in 2002.

"But we will have an option in place by the middle of this year, Bob Carr didn't have that, so we are well on our way."

Various members of the CCG, a group opposed to a new bridge coming into central Grafton, also expressed disappointment at Mr Gulaptis' apparent shift in stance on the issue of where the new crossing should be.

"Before the election he was emphatic that all the heavy traffic needed to be moved out of town and now he's saying it should be left to the experts," Mr Dahl said.

"He's really mucked us around with his position," Mrs Cairns said.

Mr Gulaptis said he would not speculate as to which option the RMS would select as the preferred route but said each one required further technical investigations.

He said there was no point speculating on the options unless you were a technical expert.

Source: The Daily Examiner, 30/1/12

Let Steve Cansdell take his lumps in silence

Click on image to enlarge

The Daily Examiner published an opinion piece last Friday suggesting disgraced former Nationals MP for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, should keep a low profile.

Something that is not likely to happen as it seems Cansdell has plans to re-enter politics and is rumoured to have his eye on the federal electorate of Page, which is currently held by Labor's Janelle Saffin.

I suspect that keeping public accolades (like the tribute dinner) coming is not something his lawyers are averse to either as Cansdell faces the possibility of having to answer before the courts for his admitted wrongdoing.

Do you know the truth or do you read the tabloids?

News Limited is rapped over the knuckles by the Australian Press Council:

Adjudication No. 1515: Jamie Benaud/The Daily Telegraph (December 2011)

Document Type:

Complaints

Outcome:

Adjudications

Date:

22 Dec 2011

The Australian Press Council has considered a complaint about three articles in The Daily Telegraph on 9 June, 17 June and 6 July 2011 concerning aspects of the National Broadband Network (NBN). The articles appeared with the headlines shown below, although the first article also appeared in other News Limited newspapers under a different headline.

“Australian taxpayers’ latest NBN horror show”

Jamie Benaud complained this article understated the number of customers who had taken up NBN offers and accordingly overstated the ratio of NBN staff to customers. He also said the claim that during the trial period customers and internet service providers (ISPs) were accessing NBN services without charge was not true in Tasmania. The newspaper said the customer figures were based on the latest available to it at the time of publication and that free access applied in all mainland States.

The Council considered the newspaper should have made greater efforts to get up-to-date customer figures, although the error did not substantially affect the point being made. It considered the assertion about the staff/customer ratio was misleading and unfair as the company was at a very early start-up stage. These errors may well have been considered minor in themselves but the Council noted the forceful nature of the headline and concluded that the complaints about this article should be upheld.

“Join the NBN or you’ll be digging deep”

Mr Benaud complained this article implied inaccurately and unfairly that customers who do not sign up for NBN at the outset would have to pay an "estimated" $900 a day to get the cable laid to their house at a later date and then up to $140 per month to get an ISP connection. He pointed out that NBN said the later cable-laying would still be free "for standard installation" and that ISP connection costs might be as low as $30 per month. The newspaper agreed its statement about cable-laying costs may have been misread (publishing a clarification as a result) but defended mention of only the upper ISP price as being fair and a common practice.

The Council considered the statement about the cable-laying cost was clearly and seriously inaccurate. It noted the newspaper had attempted later to clarify the matter even though it believed residents had been given the reported information. However, in so doing, it implied incorrectly that the $900 would have to be paid to an ISP. The Council also considered that describing the ISP connection fee as “up to $140” was unfair and misleading when the range was as wide as $30-$140, and the minimum fees had also been well known. Accordingly, the complaints against this article are upheld.

“Low interest in high speed internet”

Mr Benaud complained about this article comparing a particular consumer’s current internet costs of $39 per month with what it said would be $53 to more than $130 per month if he signed up for NBN services. The latter range was actually for a combination of internet and phone services, not internet alone, and, as the consumer has a phone service, he would currently be paying much more than $39 in total for internet and phone. The newspaper said that the customer himself had no issue with the accuracy or portrayal of his words.

The Council considered that, by omission of the costs for combined phone and internet services, the comparison was misleading. Accordingly, the complaint against this article was upheld.

The Council expressed concern that within a short period of time three articles on the same theme contained inaccurate or misleading assertions. It considers that this sequence of errors should not have occurred and that they should have been corrected promptly and adequately when brought to the newspaper’s attention.

Note (not required for publication by the newspaper):
This adjudication applies the Council’s General Principle 1: “Publications should take reasonable steps to ensure reports are accurate, fair and balanced. They should not deliberately mislead or misinform readers either by omission or commission”. It also applies General Principle 2: "Where it is established that a serious inaccuracy has been published, a publication should promptly correct the error, giving the correction due prominence”.

Adjudication No. 1517: Penny Campton/Northern Territory News (December 2011)

Document Type:

Complaints

Outcome:

Adjudications

Date:

22 Dec 2011

The Australian Press Council has considered a complaint about words on the front-page of the Northern Territory News on 5 August 2011. The words, ASYLUM SEEKERS THREATENED TO KILL AUSSIES, COURT TOLD, were a pointer directing readers to an article on page five about the sentencing of an asylum seeker who “threatened to kill Australians” days before stabbing two security guards in a detention centre.

Penny Campton complained that the words in the pointer were inaccurate and unfair because they implied that a number of asylum seekers had made the threats, whereas the article itself mentioned only one such person. She sought an apology and a retraction of the pointer.

The newspaper said that the use of the plural in the pointer was an error made in the production process. It said that the newspaper encouraged compassion towards asylum seekers and cited an editorial from 22 July and subsequent articles in support of that contention. The newspaper thought the error was not sufficiently serious to warrant a correction or an apology, but it offered to publish a letter from the complainant. She declined on the ground that the newspaper itself should admit and correct the error.

The Council concluded that the pointer was clearly a serious inaccuracy demanding an immediate correction, accompanied by an expression of regret. Offering to publish a letter from the complainant was not considered to be sufficient for this purpose. Accordingly, the complaint is upheld and the Council calls on the newspaper to take the remedial action that should have been taken immediately after it became aware of the mistake.

Note (not required for publication by the newspaper):
This adjudication applies the Council’s General Principle 1: “Publications should take reasonable steps to ensure reports are accurate, fair and balanced. They should not deliberately mislead or misinform readers either by omission or commission”. It also applies General Principle 2: "Where it is established that a serious inaccuracy has been published, a publication should promptly correct the error, giving the correction due prominence” and part of Principle 6 "... headlines and captions should fairly reflect the tenor of an article ...".

Cansdellgate isn't going away

Yet another Clarence valley resident has commented on the scandalous matters associated with disgraced former Member for Clarence Steve Cansdell.

Hard to digest

It is not only Labor hackles which have been raised (''Dinner for disgraced MP raises Labor hackles'', January 22). There are a lot of people in the Clarence electorate including myself who feel disgusted with this whole affair. NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell was quick to pick up the phone to the Police Minister, who then contacted the police chief when the Craig Thomson affair surfaced. However, nothing has occurred in respect to the Steve Cansdell affair. Come on O'Farrell, pick up the phone.

Lyne Dobson, Waterview Heights

Source: The Sun Herald, 29/1/12

The spirit of the World Christian Fundamentals Association* marches on

Just when one imagines that a certain all pervasive, narrow, fundamentalist world view couldn’t grow more absurd -  American society proves the opposite.

Los Angeles Times 16 January 2012:

Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom.

In May, a school board in Los Alamitos, Calif., passed a measure, later rescinded, identifying climate science as a controversial topic that required special instructional oversight.

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) looks at the background to these changes being fostered by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC):

ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. We agree. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door.…..
More than 98% of ALEC's revenues come from sources other than legislative dues, such as corporations, corporate trade groups, and corporate foundations. Each corporate member pays an annual fee of between $7,000 and $25,000 a year, and if a corporation participates in any of the nine task forces, additional fees apply, from $2,500 to $10,000 each year. ALEC also receives direct grants from corporations, such as $1.4 million from ExxonMobil from 1998-2009. It has also received grants from some of the biggest foundations funded by corporate CEOs in the country, such as: the Koch family Charles G. Koch Foundation, the Koch-managed Claude R. Lambe Foundation, the Scaife family Allegheny Foundation, the Coors family Castle Rock Foundation, to name a few. Less than 2% of ALEC’s funding comes from “Membership Dues” of $50 per year paid by state legislators, a steeply discounted price that may run afoul of state gift bans.

* World Christian Fundamentals Association

Slow as pitch

Queensland Uni’s School of Mathematics and Physics ‘owns’ what is probably one of the oldest continuous science experiments in existence today.

Set up in 1927 it is 85 years old and still going strong.
Here is the webcam of pitch ( a tarlike substance obtained by distilling coal tar) ever so slooooooooooooowly oozing.

Table 1 Record of pitch drops.

      Year               Event

      1930               The stem was cut

      1938(Dec)          1st drop fell

      1947(Feb)          2nd drop fell

      1954(Apr)          3rd drop fell

      1962(May)          4th drop fell

      1970(Aug)          5th drop fell

      1979(Apr)          6th drop fell

      1988(Jul)          7th drop fell

      2000(28 Nov)        8th drop fell

 

In which NSW North Coast residents continue to have their say regarding Steve...

Digitally created image sent in anonymously

Fine tribute

COME on Mr Cansdell and Mr Gulaptis and the other National Party members, get real.

Take a deep breath and a deep look at the situation you are creating.

You are aiding and abetting rewards for breaking the law.

Mr Cansdell has admitted he was dishonest by falsifying a statutory declaration to escape a speeding fine.

Something obviously happened.

So, after doing a bit of research, he came forward and resigned.

This in turn enabled him to get his pension.

If he had been sacked he would have missed out.

This electorate has a lot of crime problems at present and as far as I am concerned this incident is setting a bad example for this area.

If Mr Cansdell and his National Party mates had any decency at all they would abandon the dinner and pay the cost of the by-election.

If Mr Cansdell does not go to jail, then why did Justice Einfeld go?

COL BROWN

South Grafton [Letter to the Editor published 26 January 2012]

By suffernofools from Maclean on 26/1/2012 at 8:30AM

Ursula, don't get your knickers in a knot about it darlin', it's not like a civic reception or a street parade where they are imposing themselves upon us. They will be safely out of view of the general public...discreetly patting each other on the back and saying how good a job he did and he was a bit unlucky. They will never get it. No matter how much you jump up and down and scream blue murder, they are so out of touch at how disgusted we are, they would think you are cheering FOR them. Ignore them and maybe the silence will resonate louder than a political protest could. Or just leave your placards out the front of the racecourse with a note attached saying you had left due to lack of interest in the whole thing. [The Daily Examiner online]

By yambaman from Yamba on 26/1/2012 at 8:37AM

Well I usually support the conservative side of politics but a "tribute" dinner for a confirmed liar turns my stomach! Have these faceless politicians no shame, would any self-respecting citizen really attend? I'd expect it from the ALP (aka Craig Thomsen) but from the Nats, who'll I vote for next? [ibid]

By swingingvoter from Palmers Channel on 26/1/2012 at 12:47PM

Could someone from Chris Gulaptis' office advise if his staff are involved in organising this dinner during the hours they are being paid to perform duties for the citizens of Clarence and NSW? Are people paying their $50 during office hours? If so, what other citizens are entitled to use his office in this manner?
Will this MP sign a Statutary Declaration to say his office and staff are not being used in this manner........sorry, I forgot, Stat. Decs. are just playthings these days. [ibid]

By MurrayLees from Murwillumbah on 24/1/2012 at 6:37AM

Two words for John Robertson and Labor: Craig Thompson [ibid]

By UrsulaTunks from Grafton on 24/1/2012 at 8:46AM

Murray Lees you goose this isn't ABOUT POLITICS ! This is about integrity! Are you the same campaign manager who was telling anyone who'd listen during the by election that Cansdell would have a conviction not recorded against him & be the next Federal National Party candidate for the electorate of Page? Have you already negotiated the outcome with the Police? How could you know that before anyone else in the community ? Are you the same National Party member who has been belittling my friend Kath Palmer & her bravery for coming forward? The same Murray Lees who appears to be two or three decades behind the rest of Australia when it comes to the treatment of whistleblowers? THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS - you can't put spin on it based on party politics. If anyone in any party breaks the law the law deals with their transgression - NOT the party spin doctor! & while you're at it tell you're mates to stop defaming me - YES I supported Kath in her submission to ICAC & I would again tomorrow for anyone who needed that support to act lawfully - regardless of who the alleged offender was! And Murray that includes you - if you ever needed my help to do the right thing I'd be here to support you if you . Remember Murray it's an offence under the ICAC legislation to know of an offence committed by a public official and NOT report. So Kath and any others who've come forward over this period are doing what is required of them by law. [ibid]

Rain makes local frogs loud and amorous

For the last seven days all up and down the NSW North Coast the night time air has been loud with the sound of frogs and toads seeking mates.

In some urban backyards the sound has made it difficult to hear television programmes as male frogs on the prowl call incessantly.

Here is one happy snap from Bev Metcalf’s home at South Grafton.

Photograph The Daily Examiner January 27, 2012