Neighbours Fear Mr Billabong Could Play Eye Spy

Billabong founder Gordon Merchant has, apparently, upset his neighbours in the northern NSW surfside village of Angourie.

Merchant's new home - oops! correction, that should read 'MANSION' - at Angourie, which is estimated to be worth $12 million, has a video camera installed on a two-metre tower. Apparently, the camera will be used to check out the nearby surf but some of Merchant's neighbours are not so sure about that.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reports that Merchant's mansion covers four house blocks at the Pacific Parade property, just south of Yamba.

A letter sent to The Gold Coast Bulletin outlined residents' concerns over the camera that will sit atop the roof of the three-storey beach house.

"We residents feel our privacy infringed, as this camera peers into our living and bedrooms 24 hours a day," said the local, who wished to remain anonymous.

Residents also believe the pole is above height restrictions for the area.

Clarence Valley Council Mayor Richie Williamson confirmed the council had received complaints.

"There will be a camera on top of his house but there have been investigations into that and it wasn't above any height limits," he said.

The man who founded the international clothing and accessories company Billabong on the Gold Coast in 1973 is worth an estimated $805 million and he has had a long association with Angourie and Yamba in northern NSW.

Mr Merchant has invested heavily in real estate in the towns and his helicopter is often seen flying into Yamba.

While most locals welcome his involvement and the building of the massive mansion, which has provided a good kick-along to local tradesmen, it seems not all have been won over.

Photo credit: Brendan Radke, The Gold Coast Bulletin, 19/2/09

Monsanto related environmental and health risks lead to court case - again

According to The Madison St Clair Record last week:

A group of Illinois residents who live in or near Sauget have filed a class-action lawsuit over the release of various hazardous substances that they claim has created a severe health risk and has contaminated their properties.

Lead class plaintiffs Vernon Lee Anderson Sr., Ernestine Lawrence, Katie Burnett-Smith, Martha Emily Young, Marcella Phillips and Bernice Laverne Collins argue that three release sites - a 90-acre landfill operated by Sauget and Co., a 314-acre W.G. Krummrich Plant and property owned by Cerro Flow Products - have released PCBs and other various substances, including dioxins and furans, into the atmosphere for more than 70 years.

Residents fear they will develop a deadly disease from the PCBs, which have been shown to result in toxic effects in the brain and nervous system and in low birth rates and birth defects.

"According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a lifetime dose of one milligram of PCBs is sufficient to cause cancer and other serious and life-threatening diseases," the suit filed Feb. 10 in St. Clair County Circuit Court states. "According to the World Health Organization, there is not safe level of exposure to PCBs."

Dioxins and furans are also known to be dangerous and to create significant health problems through inhalation, ingestion, dermal absorption and ingestion of homegrown produce.

In addition to the health risk, the residents claim the PCBs have contaminated property within a two-mile radius of the release sites, waterways and groundwater, the suit states.

The releases began after the W.G. Krummrich Plant, which is also referred to as the Monsanto Facility in the complaint, began producing, storing and disposing of PCBs at its facility, the residents claim.

In fact, "more PCBs were produced at the Monsanto Facility than at any other site in the United States, and perhaps even the free world," the suit states.

This Sauget flood plain region is well-known to the US Environmental Protection Agency and Monsanto had previously entered a negotiated settlement with the State of illinois.

Fox River Watch has a history of PCB health problems in the US here.

And with a corporate history like that Monsanto (along with the other biotech multinationals now operating here) expects Australians to take its word that the genetically modified crop types it is pushing onto often unwilling communities will do no harm?
Show us the longitudinal studies which scientifically demonstrate this, Monsanto.

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

Six Nervous Pollies or Where will NSW lose its next federal electorate in 2009?

In December 2008 Malcolm McKerras predicted that the NSW electorates of Gilmore and Throsby would possibly merge in any 2009 redistribution.
In February 2009 Antony Green is tipping; "Fowler and Macarthur are currently the NSW electorates with the lowest total enrolment and therefore subject to amalgamation, not Gilmore and Throsby. However, if the branch of Sydney Harbour known as Iron Cove is ignored and the boundary viewed as contigous, then any mini-redistribution on current numbers would see Lowe and Sydney amalgamated."
The Australian Electoral Commission has begun the lengthy redistribution process.
So which pollie will have to go?
And does this mean that we have avoided a politically expedient early federal election push by the government of the day or an opposition trying to scare us with the threat of one?

Bellingen flooding pictures

NSW North Coast flooding at Bellingen over the last two days. Photographs from The Bellingen Shire Courier Sun, ABC News and Pip Wilson posting at Flickr



Meanwhile Lord Howe Island which trades with the NSW North Coast is bracing itself for winds, strong seas and some flash flooding as Category 1 Tropical Cyclone Innis downgrades to an intense low.

Who is Zussino? What is he

Who is Zussino? What is he
That all the world offends him?
[with apologies to W. Shakespeare]

It seems that the NSW North Coast has for years had a phantom letter writer and Internet troll on the premises as it were.

What is interesting about this individual is that he presents himself as many different people; including a knight of the realm, doctor, former police or military officer and even whimsically changes gender in print to add a little more variety.

The number of names he uses is mounting so fast that they have to be counted on both hands, his known blogger pen names are also growing and email addresses are multiplying like rabbits.

It is not only local newspapers but also the national media who sometimes get caught out by these false persona.
It was amusing to find that in the past the Australian Press Council actually considered a complaint about one of these alternative identities.

Now as Net Mum it rather looks like he is at it again and this time it is North Coast Voices in his sights:

Watching this Aussie High Brow Attempt at Comment for the past 4 moinths leaves one feeling that we really would not like to be part of tis fanciful sewing circle, aka The Ultimate Bitchiness Society. Despite some decent intellects obvious among the snall madding crowd they NEVER hesitate to put the Slipper Into One of their Own if someone believes its time they were simply taken down a peg ot two. No other reason. Whush in goes the boot to remind the person copping the Doc Marten in the RibCage that these are "The Latte Drinkers with the Degrees from very small Obscure Universities" and if they do not take a shine to you, or you are ill or Heaven To Betsy, in the news and or before the Court, look out for some very strange preaching from Those who would not know the name of the first Commoner in the Bible, It is Aaron. This is an Odd collection of rather Odd People intent on sniping about others simply because they can. I would give it a Big Miss in the future. A great project however for Mentors and Teachers to show Joe Average how NOT to act and HOW NOT to actually be supportive of one another in time of need. I would rate it 1.5 out of 10 while actually questioning the motives of those most expressive. It reminds me of a Luncheon for Mystery Shoppers. NetMum

Posted at 01/22/2009-07:13:51 AM by NetMum, Reviewer , View profile [ Reputation score: 1 / 9 ]

Hilarious, misleading and oddly pathetic at the same time!

Monsanto propaganda rules! Or does it?

Monsanto propaganda rules - or does it?

Here is Monsanto's spin laced with alternative images:

Monsanto's research program centers on increasing yields for three key crops used for food, feed, fiber and fuel - corn, soybeans and cotton. The company's research pipeline uses more precise breeding techniques to develop higher-yielding germplasm. Other technologies result in plant traits that provide better protection against pests and better weed control. Monsanto's objective under this new commitment is to double yield for these three crops by 2030 in countries where farmers have access to current and anticipated new seed choices offered by the company.
{Genetically Modified Crops Implicated in Honey Bee Collapse Disorder}

This would mean, for example, that corn production in the prominent agricultural markets of Argentina, Brazil and the United States would reach a weighted average of 220 bushels per acre by 2030, compared to 109.1 bushels per acre in 2000. Soybean production in those countries would rise from a weighted average of 39.5 bushels per acre in 2000 to 79 bushels per acre in 2030. Cotton would increase from 1.4 bales (672 pounds) per acre to 2.8 bales (1,344 pounds) per acre.
{GM crops have failed and Canola yeild stoush}

Monsanto will establish a five-year, $10 million grant for rice and wheat research to be administered by a panel of world experts on food production in developing countries. Rice and wheat are key crops for food security, but are not a primary focus for the company. The chairperson of this panel will be named in the near future. A panel of independent judges will select one project per year to receive a $2 million grant. Further details on this program will be developed and announced in the coming months. {GM trial results spark debate}

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

An ending too 'orrible to bear.........

This was sent to me earlier in the week.

I haven't been able to sleep with the light off since.

First Dog on the Moon cartoon from Crikey