Food for thought....

Found at WebDiary during the week:

Recently on SBS's Insight program, Woolworths' Environmental Manager Kane Hardingham confessed to throwing out 65,000 tonnes of food a year. "We know that's a waste," he admitted.

From Peter Martin last Sunday:

The hessian bags that carried the asbestos James Hardie transported were subsequently sold to carpet companies (among others) who used them to make carpet underlay.

Only now, two or three decades later, is that carpet being ripped up and replaced.

The Australian workers or families who rip up their carpets are being exposed to asbestos fibres and a high risk of a painful lingering death.

Spotted on a bumper sticker:

Beware of promises of life where death is prerequisite.

In The Record Searchlight on Friday:
"[I'm] a proud right-wing terrorist" said by voter at Redding townhall meeting on Obama health care reform.

Are we there yet?

Snapshot Channel 10 Weather by State

Click on map to enlarge

Today at Evans Head the temperature reached 37.4 C at 1.30pm.

I can't remember a hotter winter day on the NSW North Coast, coming as it did off a relatively hot night.

Often accompanied by a very warm wind the unseasonable weather had gardens wilting by midday and some locals nervously wondering how dry summer may actually be this year.

It's now 6.45pm. at the tail end of the day, the temperature is still between 20.5 to 30.5 C across the region and I'm sitting at the keypad in full summer gear.

Am I being superstitious here or is this climate change?

Where is Andrew Bolt when you need him!

BOM Evans Head temperatures for Monday 24 August 2009

Whatever happened to our blogging PM and why is he failing to connect with regional voters online?

If anything clearly points to the fact that the Australian Government still doesn't get the communications revolution it is the fact that, after creating a PM's Blog with a gentle riff of publicity and posting two one-way 'discussion' topics, the blog has gone into dead time.

The Prime Minister as KRudd still uses hisTwitter account from time to time, but those short tweets just remind voters that he is alive - they don't add much to the national conversation on political, social, economic and environmental questions that concern the country.

Kevin Rudd obviously didn't fancy the blog format all that much, because since 10 August 2009 he is now selectively inviting 20 Internet users to have a Web Chat when the mood takes him.

Of course such chats omit so many low income households in regional areas from the conversation as it is obvious that a dial-up connection is not about to get you a timely invitation to 'chat' because all day online is not possible and, yes, rather more understandably those chats are now in dead time also.

The Prime Minister might like to tell the world that he rather likes Twitter, however he doesn't use these tweets to really connect with regional Australia. Today Kevin Rudd is said to be in Lismore on the NSW North Coast as part of his inspection of health facilities across the country, but one wouldn't know it from his public tweets on the weekend.

The fact that he is in the Northern Rivers is of some interest to local voters as our public hospitals are under sustained cost-cutting attack by the North Coast Area Health Service and just last Saturday The Daily Examiner reported that it is on the cards for Grafton Base Hospital to lose another 10 ordinary beds and fail to gain funding for 17 new beds that are part of the promised departmental upgrade.

Hopefully, when it comes to old fashioned face-to-face contact, Kevin Rudd will fare better as the Rudd Government is fast becoming our last faint hope for decent regional hospitals, as one wouldn't know how dysfunctional matters are becoming if one reads the 2007/08 NSW Health annual report and it is obvious that maintaining the health system is getting beyond the capacity of the state governments.

Japan ploughs on with its defence of whale hunting

Photograph: Whales in Antarctic waters, The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December 2007

Still up on a Government of Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website:

Thank you for your coming to our web page. We established this page to share the idea of the sustainable use of marine resources with people as many as possible.

As recognized from the page title, the main contents of this page are about the sustainable use of marine resources, especially, cetaceans. Cetaceans are one of the most important marine resources not only for human being but also for all other creatures. These marine resources are complicatedly connected to each other, and then proper managements of cetaceans are critical to keep marine ecosystem healthy. Cetaceans also contribute to our cultural life and economic activities directly and indirectly. You can enjoy great taste of whale meat as well as can enjoy whale watching. Therefore, we are caring all environmental issues concerning cetaceans such as the natural environment, social environment and economic environment. In these contexts, we, the Whaling Section of Japan, understand that only the sustainable use of marine resources can satisfy these aspects.

We realize that the earth be shared by all creatures including human being, not dominated by only a specific group of countries or creatures. It is our brief that we should respect each other, getting over the difference of culture, ethic groups, species, etc. in order to achieve the sustainable world. It sounds difficult? No, it is very simple. Just start recognizing our world is not only for a group of people but also for every creature, regardless the difference of smartness, physical abilities, etc. Why not start with us - the Whaling Section of Japan?

From the Embassy of Japan in Australia:

In Japan, whales have been caught and utilized as food for more than 2 thousand years. The culture of food and eating habits has been formed in the course of history under the specific environment of each country or each location even within a country. People in Australia have made use of many creatures such as cattle, kangaroos and rabbits, or like Hindus, other cultures have never had beef.
We believe it is not appropriate to lightly condemn the behaviors of others as bad, barbarous or primitive, or rather there should be an attitude of respect for the cultures and habits of different cultures.

Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research - media kit, July 2009

Another day, another indignity as Malcolm Turnbull gets squirrelized

Big Mal Turnbull gets done over by squirrelizer

Supply your own caption

Who'll lead the Libs at the next election? Turnbull is blowing like a gale

Bookmakers Sportingbet no longer rate Malcolm Turnbull as a raging red hot favourite to lead the Liberals at the next election.

In June, when Peter Costello announced he was heading home and would not be around for the next election, Sportingbet rated Turnbull a near certainty to lead the Libs and offered odds of $1.15. Joe Hockey was seen as the only challenger with any prospects and was rated a $4.25 chance. Other pretenders (oops!) contenders that bookies rated were Tony Abbott ($11), Julie Bishop ($13), Andrew Robb ($15) and Peter Dutton ($15).

Turnbull's odds are now out to $1.90, while Jockey has firmed to $3. Other firmers are Abbott $5.50 and Robb $7.50. Bishop is out the door at $21. Dutton is also a blower and is now $21 - perhaps Costello should have kept his mouth shut rather than singing this bloke's praises.

Fairfax's Age and Herald report that Liberal staff and MPs despair about their prospects of winning the next election and continue to canvas leadership alternatives to Malcolm Turnbull. The mood is so bad that a gathering organised by Mr Turnbull's office at the B Bar in Canberra on Wednesday night to boost morale descended into a discussion about ''saving the furniture''.

According to one Liberal who attended, the leadership question - including the merits of replacing Mr Turnbull with Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey or Andrew Robb - was loudly discussed, with four or five of Turnbull's staff nearby.

''We were not talking about crunching numbers [for a leadership vote] … but the fact that it was being so openly discussed with so many people was just extraordinary.

''The dynamic was incredibly interesting. Turnbull's staff … didn't want to talk to anyone, they just sat in their own little group.''

The source said there was widespread dissatisfaction about poor tactics from the leader's office, a lack of preparation for the next election and the absence of an overall message.

Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton, Victorian senator and former Costello adviser Mitch Fifield, South Australian Liberal MP Jamie Briggs and NSW Liberal MP Alex Hawke were all present.

Pic credit: Fairfax

Clarence Valley Council intends to ask NSW taxpayers to fund a bigger slice of the jetty primarily being built for a privately-owned waterfront hotel

At its ordinary monthly meeting last Tuesday, after a small amount of argy-bargy, Clarence Valley Shire councillors unanimously voted to go ahead and build a jetty in front of Sedgers Reef Hotel at Iluka.

Never mind that the community preferred any new jetty to be sited elsewhere in Iluka Bay, the cost blow-out, a lack of transparency or a growing public perception that Council is doing favours for mates.

Just vote to ask New South Wales taxpayers to fork out all or part the $65,000 plus extra funds required to bring additional customers to the hotel.

For years local government has rightly complained about cost-shifting by the states and Commonwealth and called for this third tier of government to be taken seriously.

On Tuesday Clarence Valley Council voted for a good example of why local government is always a poor second-cousin twice removed; not to be taken too seriously by the rest of the political family.

So if you live elsewhere in New South Wales and are finding it hard to get additional funding for vital infrastructure like health services operating out of the local hospital, extra school sports equipment or that much needed community hall - just remember that Clarence Valley Council may have got into the Rees Government treasury ahead of you so that one North Coast hotelier can have his latest wish fulfilled.

Iluka jetty and pontoon: The Glass House revisited?