I shouldn't laugh, but......

* A plague of locusts is due to hit Australia in time for the next federal election according to Bloomberg:
"Locusts are expected to hatch from August to October in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia states, according to the commission. The first-generation spring hatching alone could occur over a total area of 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres), the commission's Adriaansen said."

* One small mining company Metgasco is shooting itself in the foot. Assiduously lobbying federal government for regional infrastructure funding (which will help corporate development plans) while at the same time dissing the local MP over the new resources Super Profits Tax. Word is that Canberra is not amused.

* Someone locked a Labrador in the house - oh noes!

"MAX, the black labrador was accidentally locked inside a Daily Examiner reporter's house yesterday and decided to leave his mark in more ways than one. Not only did he wee in the master bedroom, he pooed in one of the kids' room, chewed up a nappy, raided the pantry and vomited after the debauchery."

* At least one dedicated reader of NSW State Library online offerings is threatening to cut that library card in half because it's becoming a bit of a lottery as to which webpage links actually work each day. Ah, life in rural 'n' regional Oz!

* Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata lets its slip show this month in that version of Teh Great Tax Fight:

"Mining company Xstrata Coal has revealed it will continue to buy up farmland within its Wandoan exploration lease area in Queensland despite last week suspending plans for the $6 billion project on the grounds the government's mining tax would make it uneconomic."

* Patrons at one Byron watering hole were overheard debating how long it would take a sheila to do a Corday if Tony Abbott became Australia's 27th prime minister.

* rod3000 Nothing perks you up like a 3 yr old's headbutt on the nose #wrestlemania

* The U.S. state which spawned Sarah Palin shows just how low dumb can go:

"The state of Alaska filed a lawsuit last Friday seeking to overturn the listing of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, home to the Port of Anchorage, as an endangered species."

* An oldie but a goodie from 2007 with an object lesson for Oz e-health proponents:

"An Italian woman who was mistakenly reported dead has won a yearlong battle to have her existence recognized by the government.
Pension agency INPS issued a formal apology to Maria Giuliani and reinstated her into its databank after removing her in January 2006 when another woman by the same name died, ANSA reported Thursday.
"But they only did it because the local media got hold of my case," Giuliani said of the apology.
Giuliani's removal from the databanks caused her pension rights to be revoked and she was removed from municipal and health computers.
"The first I heard about it was the following March when I went for a checkup."
"My GP fell back into his chair and said, 'But you're dead!'
"'No, I'm alive and kicking and I want to be examined,' I said. But he said he couldn't do it because officially I no longer existed."

* NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is staring down the barrel of massive electoral loss at the next state elections according to the bookies, :

"A specialist election punter from Sydney with leading bookmaker Centrebet has sounded a "death knell" for the NSW Labor government, outlaying nearly $25,000 on the Coalition at short odds to sweep to power next March! "The punter in two bets has taken just $1.15 and $1.14, with the Coalition now a red-hot $1.14 favourite to win, with Labor out to a whopping $5.35."

But she will never beat Sir Geoge Fuller's short 7 hour record as state premier.

* With all the media hoo-ha lately over Victoria Police, no-one's noticed a teeny weeny question surrounding the tale of two Garden State police commissioners having corresponded with a person convicted of serious offences.

When the Rudd Government decided that it wanted to first install and now extend ISP traffic interception, I bet it didn't factor in the possibility that some of this carefully saved info might be potentially embarrassing for future Labor governments if it 'leaked' onto the Internet.

Queen's Birthday Honours 2010: NSW North Coast recipients & full honours list

Margaret Hodgson, artist and illustrator of Copmanhurst; Jon Riordan, philanthropist from Yamba; Phyllis Pearson, musician from Nambucca; Tony Miller Dads in Distress founder from the Coffs Harbour district; these are just four of the many singled out in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2010.

The complete list can be found at The Australian Honours Secretariat:

• Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (29KB)

• Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (95KB)

• Officer (AO) in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (11KB)

• Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (A-L) (242KB)

• Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (M-Z) (206KB)

• Member (AM) in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (20KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (A-E) (203KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (F-L) (145KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (M-R) (134KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (S-Z) (145KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the Military Division (21KB)

• Public Service Medal (PSM) (85KB)

• Australian Police Medal (56KB)

• Ambulance Service Medal (ASM) (15KB)

• Emergency Services Medal (ESM) (18KB)

• Commendation for Gallantry (10KB)

• Distinguished Servce Medal (DSM) (11KB)

• Commendation for Distinguished Service (14KB)

• Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC) (34KB)

• Conspicuous Service Cross and Bar (CSC and Bar) (10KB)

• Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM) (32KB)

Note: Biographical notes have only been provided where the recipient has allowed this information to be provided online.

Say no to whaling today over at WDCS International

Whale photograph from The Daily Mail online

Below is one online email which was sent from the NSW North Coast in support of the international ban on whaling.
You too can have your say through the International Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society email page here.
Emails are needed before 20 June 2010. This is your last chance to influence the vote at the next International Whaling Commission meeting in Morocco.
Given Sunday's report in The Times concerning alleged vote buying by the Government of Japan, a grassroots counterbalance is needed.

President Obama
The Hon. Dª Elena Espinosa Mangana
The Right Honourable John Key
Ambassador Christian Maquieira

I call upon you to oppose whaling, to ensure the International Whaling Commission's ban on commercial whaling stays and to act to stop all commercial whaling and trade in whale products now!
I fully support the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling. This ban should not be reversed or weakened in any manner.
Additionally, I respectfully ask that any further slaughter of whales under the guise of 'scientific' research be stopped.
Living as I do in a small coastal community dependent in large part on the fishing industry and tourism, I am very aware that a healthy and biodiverse ocean returns the most rewards.
Both in terms of food and cultural/aesthetic values.
Whales are an integral part of this healthy diversity; and reducing their numbers through non-subsistence/commercial whale hunts is not just an assault on cetacean species, it is an assault upon future human generations.

Yours faithfully
[redacted for privacy reasons]
Australia

Excerpt from The Times 13 June 2010 article:

The revelations come as Japan seeks to break the 24-year moratorium on commercial whaling. An IWC meeting that will decide the fate of thousands of whales, including endangered species, begins this month in Morocco.
Japan denies buying the votes of IWC members. However, The Sunday Times filmed officials from pro-whaling governments admitting:
- They voted with the whalers because of the large amounts of aid from Japan. One said he was not sure if his country had any whales in its territorial waters. Others are landlocked.
— They receive cash payments in envelopes at IWC meetings from Japanese officials who pay their travel and hotel bills.
- One disclosed that call girls were offered when fisheries ministers and civil servants visited Japan for meetings.

McDonald's versus Yamba: boycott calls continue

The following was posted on Menu Mate at the webpage titled
McDonald's Family Restaurants (Ballina)
on 25 May 2010 and a copy sent to me:

Reviewer Name: EK
Title: McDonald's stay away from Yamba!
Comments: Dear Mr Campbell, I know a McDonald's restaurant in Yamba was approved last week by the local Council but the majority of Yamba residents DO NOT want it. Why do you want to come to Yamba when it is quite clear you are not wanted here. Please take back your application as most people will be boycotting it and you will not make any money.

To date this post is failing to display on the webpage in question. Hhmm........
However, the call to boycott any McDonald's eat-in and drive through fast food outlet in the small NSW North Coast town of Yamba continues.
While planning issues and councillots' votes refuse to die in The Daily Examiner letters to the editor on 11 June 2010 (twenty-five days after Clarence Valley Council development consent):

Valley Watch on Maccas decision
THE issues addressed by Valley Watch were not anti-McDonalds per se - they were mainly based on the inappropriateness of the intensified use of this particular site and the resultant adverse effects on local residents.
The zoning allows some uses 'with consent', meaning planners and councillors must take into account all the issues; it does not mean mandatory approval, a fact, which escaped five of the seven councillors voting on the DA.
A "refreshment room" is allowed in the zoning.
The definition does not include drive-through facilities, which the applicant claims is an ancillary use.
An accepted definition of ancillary use is that the area is subordinate or incidental to the dominant use (example being: accommodation for nurses on a hospital site).
As the drive-through will operate when the restaurant is closed, we do not believe it meets the accepted definitions of ancillary use, and is therefore not allowed in the zoning.
The fact that this commercial zoning abuts a residential area, the extra traffic that will be generated in the already planned Community Health Centre and Performing Arts Centre opposite, the increased traffic in residential streets, the adverse effect of lighting on surrounding residences, and the increased noise generated by this development as opposed to a retail outlet operating normal trading hours, were totally inadequately addressed in the planning report and by the majority of councillors.
Crime prevention was mentioned in the application, but it was not properly addressed in the report.
Councillors and planners were given many instances of increased anti-social behaviour and litter problems at other McDonalds outlets, but the issue was not addressed in the planning reports (Cr Margaret McKenna suggested Yamba residents could pick up the rubbish on their walks).
We thank Crs Tiley and Hughes, who voted against the development, and express our disappointment in the other councillors' lack of understanding of the issues and the inadequate information provided to them in the planning reports.
RONWYN LOPEZ, Valley Watch Inc secretary

A poll just for laffs....

Click on poll results to enlarge

A whimsical poll from The Bureau Chiefs.

Not everyone loves a mining millionaire.....

SMH online polling A.M. (above) and P.M. (below) on 10 June 2010

According to ABC News on Thursday, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission has given a timely reminder to mining companies that their rhetoric needs to be in line with their advice to the stockmarket, institutional investors, shareholders and creditors:

The corporate regulator says mining companies need to ensure they comply with continuous disclosure rules, when making statements during the debate about the proposed resources super profits tax.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says the directors of resources firms need to work out whether they have enough information to form a view on the impact of the tax, when making statements to financial markets.
ASIC's deputy chairman Belinda Gibson says responsibility for compliance with the stock exchange's continuous disclosure rules ultimately lies with directors.
"The rules require that: a) that the market is fully informed; and, b) that the market is not misled," she said.
"Now it's up to directors when they make statements about their companies, whether it's in relation to the resources tax, that their statements are accurate and that all material information is given to the market."

Elsewhere it has been suggested that the Australian Electoral Commission also had some stern words about one of the anti-RSPT advertisements that the mining industry was running.

First Contact: a whale tale from the NSW North Coast

As more and more North Coast recreational fishers come into contact with migrating whales, here (with permission of the author David Bancroft) is one very personal encounter - first published in The Dailly Examiner on 4 November 2008:

SOMETIMES the most memorable events occur when you least expect them.

On Sunday, while fishing with a neighbour about a kilometre offshore from Minnie Water, we experienced something neither of us is ever likely to forget.

Having dropped my GPS before we set off, we were unable to find our usual fishing spots so we settled on some close-in reefs, in about 14 metres of water, in the middle of some other boats that had already settled.

We dropped anchor and that's where we stayed.

Things were quiet ... too quiet.

Then as I looked to the north from the back of the boat a whale surfaced about 15 to 20 metres away moving slowly and gracefully towards us.

Nothing unusual in that, it happens quite a lot now.

When it surfaced again – now only seven to eight metres from the boat – we could see it had a calf in tow.

We banged the side of the boat so they would be aware we were there, but there was no change in direction.

"Hang onto something," I said.

Then, when they surfaced again only a few metres from the back of the boat, the adrenalin started flowing.

We could see dark shadows under the water only about a metre under the boat. Then they surfaced beside us. We could have jumped from the boat and ridden them.

Then they were under again and, soon after, we started moving. Not violently or suddenly, but one of these two mighty creatures had collected our anchor rope and we were travelling with them.

Obviously frightened by their contact with the rope, the monsters gave a few almighty thrusts with their tails to break free. There was such power that the swell and chop disappeared and the whole surface of the water for about 40 metres became a whirlpool.

The boat swung around. They were free of the rope.

It might sound ridiculous, but this was more exhilarating than frightening, more a realisation of the power of these magnificent mammals than a reminder of your own mortality.

It was fantastic.