To be sure, to be sure - it's Paddy's Day

St. Patrick's Day and the only pot of gold any of us are likely to see.

Pic from Photobucket

Zussino strikes again!

More than a few readers of the free local newspaper, the Clarence Valley Review, were laughing on March 4 when they opened the paper and saw that Zussino had struck again with yet another letter to the editor under a false name.
This particular letter is now also out on the world wide web.

A week later one of Zussino's previous victims, The Daily Examiner, had the satisfaction of hearing that this pesky phantom's own complaint to the Press Council concerning that newspaper had been shot down in flames as not worthy of investigation.

Don Page speaks up for the Northern Rivers

It's a bit hard to have any respect for the Coalition these days, so it's easy to miss those times when a Nat does his best for the Northern Rivers.
Last week Don Page MP for Ballina rose to his feet and gave a serve over the dismal situation our health services are in.

"Mr DONALD PAGE (Ballina) [5.56 p.m.]: I outline my concerns about health services in the electorate of Ballina. I want to discuss the apparent doctor shortage at the Ballina, Byron Bay and Mullumbimby hospitals, and the loss of the mobile breast screening vans, which were visiting Ballina and Byron Bay. The media revealed this week that Ballina District Hospital is facing a doctor shortage, leading to the hospital reducing the number of patients it can accept. While I understand that the rosters have been filled for all shifts over the past 12 months, and are covered for March, it would seem that there simply are not enough doctors being rostered on.

Doctors are now very publicly complaining about their excessive workloads and the potential risks to patients. Byron Bay and Mullumbimby hospitals have also stated that they are in danger of not having enough doctors to provide emergency treatment to patients. Should this be the case patients are likely to be diverted to Tweed Heads, as all surrounding hospitals are facing similar doctor shortages. I am extremely concerned about this situation and implore the Minister for Health to urgently allocate the resources required to fix this potentially life-threatening situation. If the situation continues, and emergency patients are diverted from Ballina, Byron Bay or Mullumbimby to Tweed Heads, there will be very real risks to the wellbeing of patients."

Good one, Don! Though I notice you're not so proud of your time in government because there is nary a media release or speech from that time posted on your website.

Won't tell, na, na, na,na, na! says Garrett

Photograph from Google Images

The Age revealed this little tit bit last week as Japan pressures Australia to act against anti-whaling protestors:

Attempts by the Greens to obtain information on Japanese whaling gathered by the Australian patrol ship Oceanic Viking last year have been rejected.

The Environment Department has ruled that releasing images or data would "adversely affect the confidence Japan would have in our diplomatic efforts to achieve an end to 'scientific whaling' ".

Rather an interesting reason.

It would appear that Environment Minister Peter Garrett and his department are withholding information not because of something as important as national security or for operational reasons, but because the information and surveillance images would too graphically show just how 'unscientific' Japanese whaling in the Antarctic really is.

Bending over backwards would be a mild description of the Rudd Government's current attitude to Japanese demands.

Senator Conroy's Internet filtering gets another bad review

According to IT News last Thursday:

Cross "fighting terrorism" off the list of reasons Senator Stephen Conroy wants to introduce mandatory ISP-level Internet Filtering.

A new report penned by Tim Stevens and Dr Peter Neumann for the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) assesses the pros and cons of various types of Internet Filtering and finds them ineffective in the fight against terror.

"Most governments have focused on technical solutions, believing that removing or blocking radicalising material on the internet will solve the problem," the report states.

"Yet, this report shows that any strategy that relies on reducing the availability of content alone is bound to be crude, expensive and counterproductive."

The report went into some detail around the ineffective nature of most types of Internet Filtering.

IP filtering, in which the IP address of a questionable site is blocked, suffers from misfiring, the report said.

"Problems with this method of filtering arise because some web hosts - each with a single IP address - provide a variety of services or host many websites with different domain names, which means that all these acceptable services and sites will be blocked as well. While cheap and easy to implement, its propensity for 'over-blocking' makes IP filtering a very crude method of interdicting banned material."

In describing the role of the Internet, this report identifies what the Rudd Government (and government generally) probably fears most about cyberspace:

It has dramatically reduced the cost of communication, making the exchange and dissemination of information virtually free.

• It has enabled unlimited access to much of the world's knowledge and begun to organise it in systematic fashion.

• It has made it easier to find people and create networks among like-minded individuals, across great distances and beyond national borders.

Reporters Without Borders is also less than impressed with the Rudd-Conroy censorship plan and in its 12 March 2009 document Internet Enemies has placed Australia on the group's watch list.

Bilambil Public School - online since 1998

I have discovered yet another Northern Rivers primary school proudly online, as part of the Aussie School House - Schools on the Web ACCE project.

Bilambil Public School, established in 1898, has a great website and an impressive list of awards.

List of other participating schools can be found here.
Picture of Bilambil area, Northern NSW