Turnbull admits he also threatened Packer

In a marvellous coincidence this piece in The Age surfaced on a day (when many are wondering about Coalition economic policy) Malcolm Turnbull was probably hoping for a change of subject; Packer made kill threat: Turnbull

"Kerry was, um; Kerry got a bit out of control at that time. He told me he'd kill me, yeah. I didn't think he was completely serious, but I didn't think he was entirely joking either. Look, he could be pretty scary.
"He did threaten to kill me. And I said to him: 'Well, you'd better make sure that your assassin gets me first because if he misses, you better know I won't miss you.' He could be a complete pig, you know. He could charm the birds out of the tree, but he could be a brute."

Notice anything? Why yes, Turnbull also verbally threatened the life of Kerry Packer.

A little further into the article Turnbull is quoted as saying; "I never make threats I don't carry out."

So who is the federal politician with the nastiest temper? Hmmmmm.............

A bit of cheek from North Coast Nationals Luke Hartsuyker concerning local flooding

Nationals Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker has been making a bit of noise about people in the Coffs Harbour area affected by flooding in March 2009 not receiving a one-off Disaster Recovery payment.

He states; "We all know Kevin Rudd's a Queenslander but we expect him to be even-handed when it comes to helping people in wake of a disaster.The message he's sending is clear - it's one law for Queenslander flood victims and one law for everyone else."

Leaving aside that Hartsuyker did little about trying to secure this payment at the time, there are many who think that he is being more than a little hypocritical in now offering to table a petition in Parliament on behalf of these residents.

As one Northern Rivers identity remarked to me earlier this week:
He is being a bit cheeky. In 2001 when the cyclone hit Innisfail the Howard Government scooped out the money to help victims but when flooding hit the Clarence, causing comparative damage, it offered nothing.
Nothing like double standards. **

Apparently the Member for Cowper (first elected November 2001) is not above cynically using waterlogged electors to try and score a political point now he's on the Opposition benches.
In government his party frankly didn't give a d*mn.

** Clarence Valley residents well remember when they were hit by a flood, a cyclonic-strength east coast low and another flood - all within the space of weeks in the first quarter of 2001.

Naturally talented photographers of Coffs Harbour

Images from nature by members of the Coffs Ex-Services Camera Club

More delightful photographs can be found on the camera club's website.

One of its members won Overall Top Image in the Interclub Photo Competition at the 33rd annual Northern Zone Photographic Convention last weekend.

Congratulations Margherita Standing.

Is Barnaby Joyce Bill Heffernan's 'love child'?

Listening to the Nationals Barnaby Joyce is a real treat these days.
With Bill Heffernan apparently depressed into near-silence by the Coalition's trouncing at the last federal election, there hasn't been a designated clown regularly performing on parliament's doorstep for over a year.
The new Joycean stream of consciousness turning up in Hansard and the media fits the bill nicely.

"It's like a madman giving you free beers at a pub - you'll drink them but you won't respect him."
"We have had the claim that Malcolm Turnbull is crab-walking on this. I can tell you that Mr Rudd makes Mr Turnbull look like Rudolph Nureyev."
"Don’t worry about your workers in the Illawarra and your workers in the Hunter Valley. No, don’t worry about them. You put on your Giorgio Armani suit and go and do the light fandango at a coffee shop near wherever you live,.."
"The guy's a psycho chook,'' ....."Who in their right mind gets onto a plane and because he doesn't get the right colour birdseed has a spack attack?''
It's an employment termination scheme.......it's an employment termination scheme. {repeat endlessly if you like the sound as much as Barnaby obviously does}
"You are going to have a piece of policy that comes direct from the manic monkey cafe of inner-suburbia nirvana-ville straight to you,"
"Don’t leave me out; I want to be in."

Leave you out? Never, Barnie!

The Australian Economy May 2009: Rudd grins, Turnbull glowers

Graphic: Thomson Reuters

This graph has to be the Liberal Party of Australia's worst nightmare. Not only does it allow the Rudd Government to successfully defend its economic policy to date, it also signals the likelihood of increasingly rebellious displays by its Coalition partner.

The Australian economy may not be out of danger yet, however it is far from the train wreck under Labor predicted by Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and Joe Hockey.

Monsanto can Twitter but it can't hide

Not long back I added MonsantoCo to my Twitter list.
It has been fascinating to watch the parallel universe in which its public relations employees live.

Equally fascinating is that this urge to tweet appears to follow on from its earlier advertising campaign which was apparently based around the concept of 'sustainability'.

One has to suspect that the campaign in print and radio was not the success Monsanto hoped for, hence the back-up.

Of course Monsanto & Co is not alone in pushing the GMO cause - its clones are out there doing their bit as well.

The Mid America Croplife Association apparently wrote to Michelle Obama trying to head that new White House vegetable garden off at the pass and, Croplife Australia is still plugging way.

Needless to say SourceWatch cites BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow Agrosciences, DuPont, FMC, Monsanto, Sumitomo and Syngenta as key funders for the Croplife group.

Such is Monsanto's chutzpah that through Croplife International (of which it is a member) the company attempted to hijack the U.N. sponsored International Day for Biological Diversity this month which had as its theme Invasive Alien Species.

Invasive alien species are plants, animals, pathogens and other organisms that are non-native to an ecosystem, and which may cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect human health. In particular, they impact adversely upon biodiversity, including decline or elimination of native species - through competition, predation, or transmission of pathogens - and the disruption of local ecosystems and ecosystem functions.

If you believed Croplife, the international day was actually all about the pesticides/herbicides, genetically modified seed etc., supplied by its member companies.

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

Over at A Clarence Valley Protest the water wars continue....

Clarence River Gorge from Gilmore at Flickr

Former Clarence Valley shire councillor Terry Flanagan is one of those calling former National MP for Page Ian Causley to account in Clarence Valley pours scorn on Nationals has-been over past water policy.