It must be something in the town water up Grafton way

Fair dinkum, they’re a weird mob around Grafton way. They like nothing better in the idle hours than thinking up ways to do away with democracy or wreck the lower Clarence River.
Here’s a few recent samples from the-poor-are-scum & build-it-and-be-b*ggered brigade….

·         Scott Thomson

The government keeps telling us how good our economy is while businesses close their doors so lets see what you think of these ideas.
1/ Voting should be limited to those that are working and paying taxes.If you are unemployed there is no right to vote. The exception being returned service men and aged pensioners. They have earned that right and have the life experiences to sit in judgement.
2/ All welfare payments be conditional to drug testing ............. if you can afford to do drugs you dont need government funding.
3/ Changes in Prime Minister shall come out of THAT politicians pocket. Why should we the tax payer pay for removalsits to and from the lodge? Why should we pay for all the reprinting of stationary? Same for ministers when they change portfolio let THEM pay for their stationary out of their ever swelling pay packet. It is a tax deduction after all!!

February 26 at 9:33am

·         Christopher Blanchard

So, are the NIMBYS going to form an action group against the proposed More to Goodwood Island rail link or is it something that we will at least take the time to investigate? Goodwood Is. could have been expanded years ago and provided growth for the Clarence with both export and coastal shipping , but the river mouth MUST finally be allowed to be cleared!

March 6 at 5:41am

LG Olen in a letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner:

"Access from the proposed dual railway line to the foreshores of Lake Wooloweyah {which has no access to the sea that is over a kilometre and a half distant as the crow flies} could well reduce the cost of this {coal port} project by hundreds of millions of dollars. Lake Wooloweyah could well become a major port for international shipping and a doorway for international tourism."

March 24

Queensland Election 2012 on the night - links to live coverage

For everyone fascinated with politics north of the Rio Tweed. Links which will be live at close of polls in Queensland on 24 March 2012.

Queensland Electoral Commission - provisional polling results begin to be posted after 7pm.

The Courier Mail newspaper online - Queensland Votes 2012

ABC News online - listen live or stream. Election 2012 webpage
ABC News Radio - results from 7pm
ABC Radio Brisbane

Website

goldcoast.com.au - live election updates from 10.30am

Twitter

http://twitter.com/antonygreenabc
http://twitter.com/abcelections

Hashtags
#qldvotes
#yourvote12

Let's put Lindsay on the front page

This morning while yarning with a couple of mates outside the paper shop Tweedy, who was/is an avid reader of the Tweed Daily (warning: don't ask him what he thinks about APN's decision to virtually take his favourite read out of circulation - it's no longer a daily, hence the website's title), remarked about a letter in today's edition of his paper. Read the letter below.


Lindsay yet to make front page

I was having a cold ale with an old bloke who's 87 (don't worry Lindsay, I won't mention your name) when a friend on his way out tapped Lindsay on the shoulder and said "Be good." Lindsay muttered under his breath, "If I could be bad, I would want it on the front page of the Daily News".

George Kelly, Terranora

Photograph & video of the rare Australian Featherless Drongo

Australian Featherless Drongo

Parasitus palma

Family: Cuculidae
Sparse plumage

Usually solitary but sometimes seen with Noisy Miners

Natural habitat is degraded land and open cut mines

Call is similar to that of the European Common Cuckoo

Recognizable by its clumsy flight

Untidy nest construction

Frequently lays eggs in nests of other avian species

Aggressive feeder
Has been the subject of an international banding program by

LaRouche Movement

Citizens Electoral Council

Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

Nominated for protected species status by
Liberal and National Parties of Australia

Video of the Featherless Drongo in the wild


http://youtu.be/TryXOPcLW2A

Australian health professionals are sometimes a bitter pill to swallow

Symptom of a very unhealthy relationship?

News.com.au:

“DRUG companies spent more than $40 million in six months on events to "educate" Australian medics last year.

The money was spent on a range of "education events", with wining and dining of doctors, and some nurses and other health professionals….

The $40 million - up more than $8 million since 2008 - includes $18 million for hospitality alone for more than 18,000 events drawing 423,000 attendees, with other costs including the hire of venues and speakers.”

According to Medicines Australia in 2011:

Currently the medicines industry is:

> the largest high-technology exporter from Australia—$3.8 billion in 2010-11;

> the highest manufacturing industry investor in R&D—$1.0 billion in 2009-10; and

> one of the largest employers of science graduates in Australia.

A word on the subject of divorce

The Dawn Magazine, Tuesday 15 May 1888, on the Divorce Extension Bill:

Tasmanian marine environment Red Map to go national at end of 2012

This year Red Map goes national. Congratulations to the Red Map team and their project partners.

Hopefully, the NSW North Coast will get behind this worthwhile project.

About Redmap

Each year over 120,000 Tasmanians go fishing at least once. Imagine ....120,000 potential 'citizen scientists' collecting valuable data about the marine environment! We did. Welcome to REDMAP.

Redmap invites the Tasmanian community to spot, log and map marine species that are uncommon in Tasmania, or along particular parts of our coast. The information collected is mapped and displayed on the site, demonstrating, in time, how species distributions may be changing; it does not require extra fishing – just remember to log your sighting. Please always follow the correct rules and regulations outlined in the in the Recreational Sea Fishing Guide when fishing and there is also valuable information in the Recreational Marine Fishing Code of Practice.

Sightings are divided into two categories – those with a photo that can be ‘verified’ by a marine biologist, and sightings without photos that we call community sightings (anecdotal). All the information collected, with and without photos, is mapped and will be used in the following years to map the ‘story’ of what changes are occurring in our marine environment.

Redmap also provides educational resources on Tasmanian marine environments, marine species and climate change. Tell your school about the resources here on the website or tell us what else you’d like to know that isn’t here and we’ll add it to our ‘wish list’!