Alan's nostalgic music collection - be still my beating heart!

Found by Clarrie in his ceaseless roaming across the ether and sent on to me (with a smile) as a "must have" gift from Peters of Kensington.

You don’t need to break the law to get a peek at Alan Jones’ private record collection.

So says the online spiel for music to grow wrinkles by.

Think I'll pass, Alan.

Finally, some good solar news from Minister for the Environment Peter Garrett

Finally. Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, had something positive to tell us all about renewable energy yesterday. More Australians are going solar.

NATIONAL: The Clean Energy Council today welcomed the release of the rebate application figures that the federal government has received for the Solar Homes & Communities Plan, for the period just prior and since the recent federal budget.

The figures were announced on the day that the Hon. Peter Garrett, Environment Minister, spoke at the national ATRAA Conference and Exhibition, the annual event for the solar photovoltaic (PV) and small-scale renewable technologies.

Rob Jackson, GM Policy for the Clean Energy Council said: “We welcome the transparency from the government in providing this information, which will be critical in enabling the solar PV industry to plan for future demand and jobs growth.”

“Today’s release of the figures is especially timely as hundreds of representatives from the solar PV industry, including installers, distributors and dealers, are in Melbourne to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the industry nationally.”

“The rebate scheme, particularly in the last two years, has allowed the industry to build capacity and capability. However the industry is now ready to transition to a nationally consistent gross feed in tariff; this policy will deliver the long term certainty needed for investment and jobs growth.”

“These figures demonstrate that the Australian solar PV industry continues to move from strength to strength and we look forward to working with government to discuss the transitional rebate arrangements until the gross feed in tariff policy is in place.”

The Clean Energy Council also looks forward to participating in the upcoming roundtable discussions to deliver a framework to help households improve their energy efficiency, reduce their environmental impact and save on energy bills.

The Clean Energy Council Conference & Exhibition 2008 will commence on Monday 24 November and run until Wednesday 26 November 2008 at the acclaimed Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland.

Conference detail here.

Howard supports Nelson. Who cares, replies electorate

Former prime minister and current bore John Howard recently spoke out in support of his successor as leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party, 'Little Brennie' Nelson.

"There is no harder job than being leader of an opposition, it's tough, it's unrelenting. You have my total goodwill, my total support," he said.

Who cares? replied the Australian electorate, which has Nelson's standing pegged at a meagre 14% and which rates him as trailing Rudd in all key areas in the last Newspoll.

I'm still wondering why Howard thinks that his opinion matters in the looming Lib leadership battle.
After all, his 'considered' opinions lost the Coalition the last federal election.

It really gets on my wick (and I blame the current Lib leadership for indulging him in this) that post-defeat John Howard has been offering a gratuitous running commentary on Australian politics, when he so clearly undertook to be "a very quiet ex-prime minister and would not be making a running commentary".

It's time the Libs realised there is nothing so ex as an ex-prime minister - the rest of the country certainly does.

Blogger SNAFU affecting us here at North Coast Voices

From: Blogger Employee

Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 17:45:25 -0700 (PDT)

Local: Sat, Aug 2 2008 10:45 am

Subject: Today's False Positives

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Hey folks,

As everyone is aware, we miscategorized some blogs as spam and have
inconvenienced an unfortunate number of users. We assure you that no
data is lost, and that we will restore these blogs very shortly.

We appreciate all of your patience and once again apologize for the
trouble.

Thanks,

Gatsby
The Blogger Team

http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/08/spam-fridays.html

North Coast Voices apologizes to anyone who finds that Internet Explorer will either not open this blog or is closing it within seconds.

As you can see this situation is outside of our control.

It's not me McCain is after, it's you! says Obama

Yesterday's AEST 8.35 am email The Low Road from Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, which uses a rather clever ploy concerning exactly who is the intended target of the latest McCain campaign advertisements.

A few hours ago John McCain, the same man who just months ago promised to run a "respectful campaign," said he is "proud" of his latest attack ad.

That's the one attacking your enthusiasm, comparing me to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, and making false claims about my energy plan.

Now, we're facing some serious challenges in this country -- our economy is struggling, energy costs are skyrocketing, and families don't have health care.

Given the seriousness of these issues, you'd think we'd be having a serious debate. But instead, John McCain is running an expensive, negative campaign against us. Each day brings a desperate new set of attacks.

And they're not just attacking me. They're attacking you.

They're mocking the desire of millions of Americans to step up and take ownership of the political process.

They're trying to convince you that your enthusiasm won't amount to anything -- that the people you persuade, the phone calls you make, the donations you give, the doors you knock on are all an illusion. They believe that in this election the same old smears and negative attacks will prevail again.

They're wrong.

And right now, we have a few hours left to prove them wrong in a very concrete way.

Make a donation of $5 or more before the July fundraising deadline at midnight tonight.

Show the strength of our movement for change.

Thank you,

Barack