May I speak with the Labor Minister for Fascism......pleez

From www.stephenconroy.com.au (now stephen-conroy.com) commenting on the Rudd Government's plan to censor the Internet.

Since I first placed this in North Coast Voices' post queue for next week, The Orstrahyun has commented on the fact that the Minister for Fascism appears to have struck again. Hat tip to Darryl Mason.
So I'm bringing this forward just in case the second version of this protest site goes off line:

auDA, the .au Domain Administrator is trying to take us offline. Earlier today they issued a notice giving us 3 hours to provide evidence of our eligibility to hold the 'stephenconroy.com.au' and related domain names. Normally registrants are provided with approximately one week to provide this information on request. We asked for reasonable time to prepare and submit representations on our eligibility but auDA refused to grant this. Accordingly we've moved the site to 'stephen-conroy.com' - please update your bookmarks. Conroy's office must have been busy this afternoon! {Thursday 17 December 2009 - 15:22:10}

I suspect it's not really the protest site's original name and URL (obviously the subject of either a complaint from Team Conroy or preemptive removal by the server after all the online publicity) which caused the problem.
It was the likes of this on the home page:

This protest site is hosting discussion; Forums are now active SIGN UP and post your thoughts/opinions/comments.

In ur Internetz filterin' & losin' ur vote

The Rudd Government mandatory national Internet filtering scheme aka The Great Firewall of Australia is expected to be blocking free speech by 2011

Australian SeaBird Rescue SPOT THE TURTLE NEST COMPETITION

A great competition to enter if you live on the NSW North Coast.

SPOT THE TURTLE NEST COMPETITION

Yes, it's that time of year again. We need anyone and everyone out there looking for turtles or turtle tracks from now until the end of March. With beach erosion from the June storms yet to be replaced in many places there are still steep sand cliffs along many beaches. Turtle nests laid at the bottom of these cliffs will be in danger of inundation from subsequent summer king tides. We have to spot the nest the same day it's laid if we are to relocate the nest to a safer spot. Moving one nest has the potential to save 100 hatchlings. Last season the Make Turtles Count project spotted 7 nests and missed probably another 13. Also last summer was a record for ASR with 30 turtles in care at one time. It seems that when people are out looking for turtle nests they're also more likely to spot a sick or injured turtle.

With this in mind we've started a competition. Keep an eye out on your local beach, talk to friends and neighbours and enlist them in the fun. A turtle prize pack from the ASR Gift Shop (value $40.00) awaits any successful turtle nest spotters this season.

Australian Seabird Rescue

Phone: 02 66862852
Fax: 02 66869852
Mobile: 0428 862852
Email: admin@seabirdrescue.org

Photograph of a rescued 15 year-old Green Turtle at Australian Seabird Rescue

A COP15 'secret' that never was

Each day seems to bring more bad news out of Copenhagen as the United Nations battles to get the world's leaders to commit to concrete measures to combat predicted catastrophic climate change.
Thursday's glum tidings came through The Guardian newspaper which said it has a leaked UN document, concerning shortfalls between international pledges and actions required to keep the global temperature rise at no more than two degrees Celsius.
Except of course that wasn't actually 'news'. The United Nations Environment Programme had a similar pledges shortfall all mapped out on its website for the world to see.
With everyone from heads of government through to the media repeating the same 'old' information is it any wonder that we are all becoming quite jaded and sometimes close to downright cynical about the COP15 process on its final working day.



The total height of the bars represents the global emissions in a Business As Usual (BAU) scenario. It is only possible to calculate the global BAU for 2020. Therefore, no number for 2050 is shown.
Light yellow sections illustrate the global emission reductions if current low reduction pledges are implemented.
Dark yellow sections illustrate the global emissions reductions if current high reduction pledges are implemented.
Red sections represent the remaining gap between the current pledges and the emission levels needed to reach the 2°C goal.
The emission levels needed to achieve the 2˚C goal are illustrated by the green sections.

Is this your retirement castle? Mapping predicted sea level rise (4)

Is this the home you worked so hard for?

Below is your home as a 1 metre sea level rise begins to cover the street.

The Rudd Government's recent report Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts contains a 1.1 metre predicted sea level rise as its worse case scenario for New South Wales sometime within the next ninety years. Google Earth mapping uses a 1 metre sea level rise.

Half of all ambulances will arrive within 10 minutes of a 000 call, but on the NSW North Coast.....

Ambulance response times from NSW Health

Half of all ambulances in New South Wales will arrive within 10 minutes of a Triple O call, but on the NSW North Coast 30 out of every 100 people taken to a public hospital will probably wait in that ambulance or on a stretcher in some open hallway for over 30 minutes before being transferred into the care of Accident & Emergency medical staff for treatment according to the last NSW Health Quarterly Hospital Performance Report July-September 2009.
North Coast Area Health Service needs to explain why there is a bottle neck.
Staff cuts beginning to bite perhaps?

Stephen Conroy - mass murderer?

Memo to the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy: This is the type of publicity a censor-in-chief receives. You may ban this image as offensive but you will never be able to ban its Internet distribution.