Wednesday 7 November 2012
US Presidenial Election 6 November 2012 - links to live cover on the night
E-Health: join at your own risk
It is hard to believe that 13,600 people are said to have joined the national e-Health database, when the system seems so insecure.
Pulse+IT 22 October 2012:
The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has confirmed it has cancelled its $23.6 million contract with IBM to build the authentication service for the PCHER system.
IBM won the contract to build the National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) in March 2011. It promised to create a security and access management system to enable healthcare providers to securely access the PCEHR by June 26, 2012.
IBM failed to deliver its promised infrastructure for NASH by its deadline and an interim solution was deployed by the Department of Human Services (DHS). Secure tokens were issued in late August to those healthcare providers and organisations who had registered for an HPI-I and an HPI-O respectively and had applied for a certificate from Medicare Australia.
THE Department of Health and Ageing has refused to guarantee that its much vaunted e-health record system is risk-free after more than 140 risks were identified before it went live on July 1.
The Gillard government's personally controlled e-health record system, developed by Accenture, contained a staggering 142 risks of which 32 were rated extreme, 77 high and 33 medium.
The detailed risk assessment study, obtained by The Australian, was prepared by the National E-Health Transition Authority (Nehta) and submitted to the Health Department and other relevant parties about two months before the July go-live date.
The department did not directly respond when asked to confirm that all the risks were resolved by July 1.
Tuesday 6 November 2012
NSW government called upon to put the cash to good use
A Lower Clarence resident's view on the NSW Government's billion $ bungle
GET ON WITH JOB
George Orwell, that great English novelist who died in 1950, once said, "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity of pure wind".
Six decades on and politicians of any brand continue to behave as though stupidity was a virtue.
Having cried poor since gaining power to a cash-strapped NSW state government, the Coalition had a respectable argument that it was unable to afford a 50/50 contribution with the Federal Government to upgrade the Pacific Highway.
However, since finding their ledger is now showing a $680mil surplus, their argument is considerably weakened.
Nevertheless, it did not stop National Party hopeful Kevin Hogan resurrecting that old chestnut of the 80/20 agreement the former state government had with the Feds. (Hogan attacks Saffin DE 2/11/12).
That may have been the case, but public revenues are raised from rates, taxes, duties, customs etc appropriated for the payment of public expenses in the public interest. Government revenues do not belong to political parties and should not be used by politicians to advance their political careers or their longevity to power.
This may perhaps sound altruistically naive, but if politicians had to face the relatives of those whose lives have been lost on this treacherous goat track they might stop playing this myopic, self-serving small-time politics, with the unambitious goal of clinging to power, and for once act in the public interest.
Ray Hunt
Yamba
Source: Letters, The Daily Examiner, 5/11/12
152nd Melbourne Cup today at 3pm
The $6.2 million Emirates Melbourne Cup
The 3,200m race is run at 3pm
on the first Tuesday of November
Victorian inquiry into child abuse by religious organisations continues
The Victorian Parliament’s Family and Community Development Committee Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations continues, with hearings scheduled for 9,12,23,and 26 November 2012
This was Professor Chris Goddard from Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia for Monash University giving evidence before the Inquiry in Melbourne on 19 October 2012:
I have, however, a firm opinion that the abuse of children and young people in religious organisations is truly diabolical because of the lasting and terrible spiritual damage. This is supported by the literature. The abuse of children by adults always rests on a power imbalance. The large number of offences by Catholic priests reflects an extraordinary power imbalance. The religious authority they possess allows them even to turn parents and families against their own children. This has meant that many victims have had to attempt to deal with the abuse on their own, magnifying the impacts.
It is important to recognise that child-sex offenders are extremely cunning. Priests have used their positions to infiltrate families and gain access to children. They have used their knowledge of the families and the families’ strengths and weaknesses to gain access to the most vulnerable children. This is one of the major reasons I believe there has been and continues to be such a long time period between offences being committed and reporting. Then of course when reports are made the Catholic Church in particular has
shown that defending itself is more important than defending the victims. The impact on children, thus, is catastrophic. They are betrayed many times. They are betrayed by the priest or priests. In some cases that I know of they feel they have been betrayed by their families who had difficulty believing them. In some terrible cases the parents of victims have gone to their graves believing the church, not their children. In many cases they have been betrayed by the church’s responses, as I have had said.
Professor Des Cahill, Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT University giving evidence before the Inquiry on 22 October 2012:
Mr McGUIRE — Thank you, Professor, for that multifaith overview and then coming down to the particular concerns you raised about the Catholic Church. I would just like to pick you up on the issue of prevalence. Your report at page 16 calculates the prevalence of clerical sexual abuse as between the 4 to 6 per cent range, which by implication is that about 1 in 20 ordained diocesan priests in Victoria and Tasmania become child sex abusers. The first question is: on what is that based? Then if you could also respond in regard to that this does not take into account offending by religious brothers, so what is the number of these that relate to offending in Catholic schools in terms of the current situation that exists within the Catholic school system?
Prof. CAHILL — The 1 in 20 is based on the analysis I have given in my submission of the priests from the dioceses of Victoria and Tasmania who trained at Corpus Christi College from 1940 to 1972. I chose that period because some from the very early period are still alive — they are very old — whereas those ordained in 1972 are now over 65. In reaching a figure I think it is important to have a data baseline, and it is very hard to achieve, but when we did that calculation and on the basis of data that I and other colleagues who are former priests know about and from information available on the Broken Rites website we were able to come up with
that figure.
** Cartoon comment found at Google Images
** Cartoon comment found at Google Images
Monday 5 November 2012
Oz formula one driver Mark Webber's view on gambling
Mark Webber says he won't be tuning into Tuesday's big race. Not because he'll be racing around a track in his Red Bull, but because he hates Australia's gambling culture. ''I love sport but horse racing is not far off the bottom of my list,'' he said after Saturday's qualifier for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. ''Gambling, in my house, my father didn't tolerate it. Actually, I'm not a big fan of how much it's rammed down your throat in Australia, in terms of how you can bet on who farts at what stage in a football match.'' [Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 5/11/12]
Hey, Mark, you're spot-on about gambling in Australia - there's far too much of it AND there's too much promotion (especially online and television advertising) of it.
But, isn't formula one racing with its petrol guzzlers a hell of a waste of our scarce resources. As for formula one racing, this bloke wouldn't walk across the street to watch it, even if Mark gave away free tickets. So, there!
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