You go (you godless) girl! Part Two

In October 2008 I wrote a post about Ariane Sherine's efforts to raise funds to run a counter-message to advertising by religious groups in Britain.

Ariane was so successful that now at last the godless have a voice!

According to The Telegraph last Tuesday:

Organisers originally hoped to put the message on just a handful of London buses, as an antidote to posters put up by religious groups which they claimed were "threatening eternal damnation" to non-believers.

But after the campaign received high-profile support from the prominent atheist Prof Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Association, the modest £5,500 target was met within minutes and more than £140,000 has now been donated since the launch in October.

Enough money has now been raised to place the message – "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" – on 200 bendy buses in the capital for a month, with the first ones taking to the streets .

A further 600 buses carrying the adverts will be seen by passengers and passers-by in cities across England, Wales and Scotland, from Aberdeen and Dundee to York, Coventry, Swansea and Bristol.

In addition, two large LCD screens bearing the atheist message have been placed in Oxford Street, central London, while 1,000 posters containing quotes from well-known non-believers will be placed on Underground trains for two weeks starting on Monday.

They feature lines doubting the existence of God, and celebrating the natural world, written by Albert Einstein, Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Adams and Emily Dickinson.

It is the first ever atheist advertising campaign to take place in Britain, and similar adverts are now also running on public transport in America and Spain.

Ariane Sherine, a writer who first thought of the atheist bus adverts, said: "You wait ages for an atheist bus, then 800 come along at once. I hope they will brighten people's days and make them smile on their way to work."

The Guardian also reported:

Atheists in Australia have fared badly with their campaign. Attempts to place slogans such as "Atheism – sleep in on Sunday mornings" on buses were rejected by Australia's biggest outdoor advertising company, APN Outdoor.

The Australian Federal Government's Yellow Pages of Evil

Adelaide Now has this opinion piece by Mark Newton:

The blacklist would need to be distributed to several hundred ISPs, and would be accessible to several thousand technical staff. The information security implications of this are obvious. Taking such a sensitive, secret resource and distributing it to thousands of people guarantees that the blacklist would eventually leak.

When it leaked, it would be published on the internet. If the list is even half as accurate as the minister claims it will be, the effect of that publication will be to make what has beeen dubbed "The Australian Federal Government's Yellow Pages of Evil" available to every child-exploiting abuser on the planet, directing criminals in all corners of the world to a smorgasbord of illegal content.

The Labor Government would need to explain why it thought that unknowable quantities of "collateral damage" all over the world was an acceptable price to pay for Australian internet censorship.

Of course, that somewhat alarming outcome is predicated on the trustworthiness of Senator Conroy's claim that only the most outrageously illegal material would be blocked. A diligent enquirer might wonder whether that is true.

In a Senate Estimates Committee hearing on 20 October, 2008, Senator Conroy confirmed that ACMA's existing prohibited online content list would form the basis of the mandatory "illegal material" censorship scheme. The problem is the ACMA-prohibited online content list doesn't actually restrict itself to illegal material.

In addition to the illegal material Senator Conroy would like to ban for adults, the list also contains material the Office of Film and Literature Classification has refused to classify, but which may still be legal to possess (if not to sell, hire, exhibit, or import) in Australia, as well as material rated X18+, also R18+ material not protected by an adult verification service, and some MA15+ material. Material in these categories is mostly legal in Australia.

The ACMA-prohibited online content list also contains a class of material that hasn't been examined by the OFLC, but which, in the opinion of ACMA bureaucrats, "would be" classified into one of the categories of prohibited content.

But because the blacklist is secret, unaudited, and specifically exempted by legislation from the Freedom of Information application process, the OFLC would never get a chance to check the accuracy of these classifications - unless they downloaded the list once it was leaked. That brings us to the most pernicious of unintended consequences: nobody would know (at first) what had been banned.

Our society accepts that it is up to the courts to determine what is illegal. We do not then expect faceless public servants to be the real arbiters of an internet content blacklist. Yet Senator Conroy, who has established a remarkable track record of being wrong in this area, expects Australians simply to take his word for it when he says that "illegal material is illegal material".

IT is clear that a great many Australians disagree, despite Senator Conroy's hysterical accusations that to do so is to endorse child pornography. In a nation that has enjoyed uncensored access to online services (including those that predate the internet) for over three decades without ill effect, imposing a national censorship regime such as the one proposed by Senator Conroy is a radical act requiring radical justification.

We are over a year into this debate, and still none of these concerns has been addressed. It time for the Labor Government to abandon this policy. To the Government I ask: "Please, won't somebody think of the adults?"

Snapshot is of ISP filtering poll at mid-morning 6 January 2008, click image to enlarge.

NASA's James Hansen: the pot calling the kettle black?

According to News.com.au NASA's James Hansen has told Barack Obama that Australia is destroying much of life on earth.
Reporting which is accurate only in certain aspects.

A draft document by Hansen does make this claim:

(3) Other cases are described on my Columbia University web site, e.g., Switzerland finances construction of coal plants, Sweden builds them, and Australia exports coal and sets atmospheric carbon dioxide goals so large as to guarantee destruction of much of the life on the planet.

However, the final document does not mention Australia in this context and, more importantly, this letter has not yet been delivered to the President-Elect.

Either way, Hansen is drawing a very long bow when he initially blames one of the smaller total greenhouse gas emitters for much of the global destruction and News Ltd is guilty of misrepresenting Hansen's final position in the quoted letter.

Oh no, John - the 'honour' is all yours

Lil Johnnie Howard has been bleating into microphones since Tuesday that his mate George Dubbya's awarding him the US Presidential Medal of Freedom is a "compliment to Australia."
No, John.
It was you, not Australia, who decided that our nation would break international law and invade other nations willy nilly because Dubbya said so.
It was also you, not Australia, who ran a disinformation agenda at the behest of the Bush Administration.

And again, it was you not Australia who put the Obama Administration offside before it was even installed - first by linking an Obama presidency with a win for Al Queda and then planting your little round derrier in Blair House for freebie White House accommodation so that there was little hope that the Obama family could stay there pre-inauguration.

So that gaudy little bauble that you get to pin on your chest is rightfully yours - all yours.
As to whatever compliment such a bauble may be.
Well in past years Dubbya has given it to Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Rita Morena, Charlton Heston - all actors like yourself.

This is what Dubbya's press secretary told the media last Monday:

"President Bush will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and John Howard of Australia, on Tuesday, January 13th, in an East Room ceremony. The President is honoring these leaders for their work to improve the lives of their citizens and for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad. All three leaders have been staunch allies of the United States, particularly in combating terrorism. And their efforts to bring hope and freedom to people around the globe have made their nations, America and the world community a safer and more secure world. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civil award and was established by executive order in 1963. The President has previously awarded 78 medals during his tenure."

Yup, this award has nothing to do with reality and is clearly intended for those intimately acquainted with the nether regions of a US president who'll be leaving by the back door in about two weeks time.
So, as I know you and yours would've lobbied hard to get this bauble, please take all the credit, John.
Most Aussies don't want or need it I'm sure.

A look at The Age poll yesterday morning:

Gaza Strip 2009 - some voices across the Internet

(December 18 2008) -- US Central Intelligence Agency information about Gaza -- High population density, limited land access, and strict internal and external security controls have kept economic conditions in the Gaza Strip - the smaller of the two areas under the Palestinian Authority (PA)- even more degraded than in the West Bank. The beginning of the second intifada in September 2000 sparked an economic downturn, largely the result of Israeli closure policies; these policies, which were imposed to address security concerns in Israel, disrupted labor and trade access to and from the Gaza Strip. In 2001, and even more severely in 2003, Israeli military measures in PA areas resulted in the destruction of capital, the disruption of administrative structures, and widespread business closures. The Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September 2005 offered some medium-term opportunities for economic growth, but continued Israeli-imposed crossings closures, which became more restrictive after Hamas violently took over the territory in June 2007, have resulted in widespread private sector layoffs and shortages of most goods.

(December 28) -- Jewish Voice for Peace joins millions around the world, including the 1,000 Israelis who protested in the streets of Tel Aviv this weekend, in condemning ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza. We call for an immediate end to attacks on all civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli.

(January 2 2009) -- Amnesty International calls on Israeli forces to immediately halt the unlawful attacks carried out as part of the escalation of violence which has caused over 400 Palestinian deaths and 2000 injuries since Dec. 27. Amnesty International also condemns the rocket fire by armed Palestinian groups including Hamas which resulted in 4 Israeli deaths with several dozen injured. This is the highest level of Palestinian fatalities and casualties in four decades of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Scores of unarmed civilians, as well as police personnel who were not directly participating in the hostilities, are among the Palestinian victims of the Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip....

(January 5) -- Code Pink Women for Peace In similar situations around the world, civilians caught in the midst of conflict would have the option of seeking safety in neighboring countries as refugees. Gazans have no such option, as both Israel and Egypt restrict access for Palestinians to their territory. They are trapped.... Some 300 babies are born every day in Gaza, but pregnant women are being forced to deliver outside hospitals as all available beds are reserved for war injuries and other emergency cases....

(January 5) -- The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross has said that wounded people are dying while waiting for ambulances in the Gaza Strip.The Swiss-run ICRC, guardian of the Geneva Conventions on humanitarian law, said late on Monday that as the number of casualties continued to rise, it was focusing on arranging safe passage for Palestine Red Crescent ambulances, which collect the wounded and transport them to hospitals.

(January 6) -- Save the Children strongly protests the continued violence in Gaza that has now claimed the lives of more than 100 children. "Recent attacks on two United Nations shelters set up for families forced from their homes in Gaza have killed additional innocent children and family members", said Annie Foster, who heads Save the Children's emergency response in the region. "This crisis continues to have an enormously devastating impact on children and families, many of whom have left their homes and have no safe place to go. We are calling on the Israeli government and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire, if only for the sake of the children. The international community also needs to urgently accelerate its efforts to bring about an end to hostilities."

(January 6) -- AUSTRALIA'S largest telecommunications provider says it won't charge for phone calls to the Gaza Strip, but the offer could be in vain as the region's telecommunication services teeter on the verge of collapse in the face of the military assault by Israeli forces. Israel began its attack on Gaza on December 27 after Hamas had declared an end to a shaky six-month truce between the two sides. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed during the campaign.
Telstra says it will offer free phone calls for more than a week to the affected area. The offer applies to calls with the 0011 970 8 area code and is valid from January 7-15.

(January 6) -- Queen Rania of Jordan, Israel's immediate neighbour, says the deaths of Gaza's children are unacceptable. "The children of Gaza, the dead and the barely living, their mothers, their fathers, are not acceptable collateral damage," she said. "Their lives do matter. Their loss does count. They are not divisible from our universal humanity. No child is. No civilian is." UNICEF says the children of Gaza are being denied fundamental human rights, like protection from violence and access to education and healthcare.

(January 7) YNet News -- Following the international criticism following the Israel Defense Forces strike near a United Nations school in Jabalya, which left dozens of people killed, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday night announced the opening of a "humanitarian corridor" for the Gaza Strip. According to the announcement, areas in the Strip would be opened for limited periods of time to allow the Palestinian population to equip itself and receive aid.

Photo found at SwissInfo

We haven't forgotten you, Mr. Monsanto

It has been a while since North Coast Voices ran a post on Monsanto, the US-based biotech giant which dominates around 95 per cent of the global genetically modified seed market.

Here are some recent items:

Gene-altered crop studies grow

Labs move beyond corn and soybeans into rice, wheat

Worst Companies in the World: US, Monsanto, Peabody and Barrick

The United States was voted the Worst Company in the World, followed by Monsanto, Peabody Energy Corp. and Barrick Gold

Monsanto acts quickly to resolve harvest mistake
Monsanto Co. has claimed responsibility and pledged "to take appropriate actions," to prevent experimental cotton and cottonseed from entering the marketplace as either fiber, livestock feed or oil products.

Anger over first large-scale GM canola trial

OPPONENTS of a commercial trial of genetically modified canola in WA say there is no guarantee the 1000 hectare operation can be contained.

The State Government announced yesterday that 20 farmers would be involved next year in WA's first large-scale trial of GM canola.

It will be carried out by global seed and pesticide giant Monsanto, the Department of Agriculture and Food in WA and private grain carrier Co-operative Bulk Handling (CBH).

MADGE Mothers Are Demystifying Genetic Engineering

MADGE is a network of individuals interested in how our food is grown and the effects it has on our health. We are concerned about the lack of adequate labelling and testing of GM foods.
We advocate on behalf of consumers for the right to know what is in our food. We promote information on natural foods and healthy farming practices.
Click here to receive our weekly newsletter.

Historical photograph found at Google Images.

* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.

Gans and Quiggin on climate change and emissions trading

Before the last federal election Joshua Gans and John Quiggin made a submission to the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading.

Put simply, when there is uncertainty, action should be taken if the risks outweigh the costs. Scientific uncertainty has been diminished. The critical feature of this is not that the extreme risks have been revised but that the probability that no significant change will occur has been revised downwards; arguably to zero. That means that the possible upside associated with doing nothing has been eliminated only making the case stronger for action. Those who focus purely on the most extreme risks and their likelihood miss the point. The case for action is compelled by the fact that it is now clear that change is occurring.

This submission has an excellent section giving a brief history of climate change theory, science and disinformation campaigns.

PDF copy of submission here.