" From the discussion paper on “Reforming the Victoria Planning Provisions” residents have been excluded from the both the technical and advisory groups to the “Smart Planning” process." So it's "smart" to remove red-tape, such as community consultation, from any so-called planning processes? Those directly impacted on this decision will have their local residential areas crushed by the whims of property developers, who'll be able to use suburbs to promote their own profits, and opportunities! The destruction of consultation, communication and democratic processes is draconian and an attack on free speech, and self-determination. The removal of controls will mean that normal suburban, family-friendly liveable suburbs have the potential to become the extension of Southbank - crushed by human/housing overload! Citizen groups objecting to this overhaul need to be more overt and louder in their objections, and stop this rort.
Comments
The AIMN
Am a reader for a long time on The AIMN. Made several comments on various subjects. The clique in the AIMN is rather disapppointing to experience. they are left wing, so am I. They do practice a crude form of bullying and ignoring those who 'don' fit the AIMN experience' Most blogs be they be left or right wing focused do the same. A perimeter of watchers who tip off the AIMN about nefarious posts from right wing trolls. Next the regular contributors who do interact with posts and others. Almost finally, the regular posters sic who chat to one another openly via reply and ignore / exclude everyone else, by using first names. Equate that to the in-crowd at school and watching on from the sidelines. Some very good contributors who offer excellent summaries. Like all blogs wait until spoken to, do not assume being on the same side equals anything. until spoken to from on high. by then you might not necessarily like your fellow AIMN-ites. Some, see a lot do prefer posting in one sentence answers Seemingly to reflect an air of intellectual superiorty. Many political blogs are the same. The AIMN are no different. By all means, go to the AIMN, read and be informed, but refrain from posting.
Southern Peninsula Indigenous Flora & Fauna Association AGM 4/12
The next SPIFFA meeting is our Annual General Meeting this Monday evening, December 4th at Hickinbothams Winery, 194 Nepean Highway, Dromana.
6pm BYO food picnic/BBQ. All welcome
Meeting begins at 7:30pm
Response to Greens petition to censor parliament
To Richard Dinatale,
Richard
Can you please treat us like adults rather then children who need to be protected from hearing ‘bad' things.
Trust people to recognise how ugly this guy’s views are when they have open access to ALL of the relevant information
How about you instead make some noise on the LACK of comprehensive perspective, and thereby the blatant propaganda, being provided within vital mainstream narratives, including the ABC and Parliament, on such critical matters as the Middle East, Russia and the US’s violent global agenda of imperialism and hegemony.
regards
From Richard DiNatale:
Greg W
"Dear Gregory,
On Tuesday, the far-right is hoping to give one of the world’s most notoriously abusive far-right campaigners a high-profile platform inside Parliament House.
On invitation from David Leyonhjelm, Milo Yiannopoulos will bring his racist, sexist and abusive agenda to Canberra -- unless we stop him.
Earlier this week, I wrote to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, asking them to deny this audience and platform to a man who has been banned from Twitter for “engaging in the targeted abuse of others” and been accused of being an apologist for paedophilia.
We need to apply all the pressure we can if we’re going to be successful. Please sign our petition calling on the government to deny access to this man’s disgusting, hateful views inside Parliament House during his visit. [...]" etc.
Pro-developer VCAT encourages developer to flout council laws
"The tribunal in September granted a permit for a seven-storey block of 112 apartments in Preston despite local law stating developments should not exceed six storeys, or 20 metres.
The tribunal ruled the developer had accrued rights from a previous permit issued for the site in 2012, and therefore the council’s mandatory height controls, introduced in June, did not apply.
US forces, ostensibly fighting Daesh, remain illegally in Syria
From the PressTV article 400 US Marines to leave Syria after Raqqah operation: Coalition (1/12/17):
The US-led coalition, which has purportedly been fighting Daesh, says it is to pull more than 400 American Marines out of Syria, where they helped Kurdish militants capture the northern city of Raqqah from the Takfiri terror group.
"With the city liberated and ISIS (Daesh) on the run, the unit has been ordered home. Its replacements have been called off," the coalition said in a statement.
"We’re drawing down combat forces where it makes sense, but still continuing our efforts to help Syrian and Iraqi partners maintain security," Brigadier General Jonathan Braga, the director of operations for the coalition, said in the statement.
Last month, the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an anti-Damascus militant group backed by the United States, took control of Raqqah, which had served as Daesh’s main stronghold in Syria since 2014.
The Syrian government, however, rejected claims by the SDF and its foreign sponsors that Raqqah has been "liberated."
Information Minister Mohammad Ramez Tardjaman said in late October that no land is considered liberated in the country unless national army forces regain control of it and raise the Syrian flag atop its buildings.
The statement further said, "Our remaining forces will continue to work by, with, and through partner forces to defeat remaining ISIS, prevent a re-emergence of ISIS, and set conditions for international governments and NGOs to help local citizens recover from the horrors of ISIS' short-lived rule."
... Read more
From the start, the brutal barbaric crimes of ISIS/Daesh as well as being part of the United States' proxy war against the Syrian people, also served as a cover story to allow US forces to enter Syria, ostensibly to fight ISIS/Daesh, but, in reality, to help overthrow the popularly elected government of Syria which, unlike most other countries in the region, refused to become subservient to the US.
Only when US & vassals are finally removed will Syria have 'won'
The Kurdish YPG still control a staggering 25% of Syria according to one recent report on RT news (here, here or here) and in their midst are US 'advisers' and military bases.
Even if the United States' ISIS/Daesh footsoldiers have been militarily defeated elsewhere in Syria, how can we seriously expect that those United States forces, still remaining illegally in Syria, and their SDF/YPG vassals, won't use every possible opportunity in coming years to again sow chaos once they judge it politically expedient?
Given that, by one estimate - possibly dated by now - that 400,00 Syrians, including 80,000 soldiers have been killed in the Syrian conflict of the last six and a half years is far more a tragedy, for the Syrian people and the rest of humanity, than a triumph.
Only when those in the West, who have fomented this and other bloody conflicts, are held to account for their crimes and removed from office and prosecuted, can we be able to say that Syria has truly won this conflict.
Refugees should be returning home
The mass exodus of refugees from Syria should be reversed, with mass repatriation. In fact, most refugees should only have temporary status in other countries, until peace is resolved. With global over-population, evacuating whole nations in time of conflict is unsustainable, and un-fair pressure on host countries.
Syria needs people with skills to rebuild it and protect it.
ABC accepts that employers conspire to underpay immigrant worker
--and that this is becoming the norm -- but the article fails to note that this is a major reason that business groups lobby the government so hard to keep importing immigrants.
The article concedes a number of points that ought to be arguments against high immigration, yet fails to connect the dots. These points include:
1. "At least two-thirds of migrant workers are exploited with regards to their pay and conditions," Ms Kearney said.
2. "If an employer can access a temporary worker, employ them for half the minimum wage, exploit them to the degree we are seeing, that has to have an impact on the local employment market."
3. It also impacts other workers, forced to compete against those willing to work for less than the minimum wage — which is $22.13 for a casual worker.
4. Such practices place downward pressure on wage growth.
5. "Low wages in Australia has been a big issue over the past five years," economist Callam Pickering said.
6. "It has actively undermined household spending, keeping it at record low levels.
7. "Bringing people into the country, paying them below minimum wage, is not a recipe for economic success."
The ABC article also fails to note that the practice of underpaying immigrant workers, once it becomes the norm, is part of the point of claims that businesses “can’t get Australians to work for them”— which is usually true only in the rather dishonest sense that there is no point in employing an Australian when you can get an immigrant to work for illegally low wages. (And indeed an employer that used Australian workers might go out of business because their wage bill would be far higher than their competitors.)
Instead, if anything, the ABC article implies that reducing visa restrictions would stop employers exploiting immigrant workers, and then everything would be lovely.
Biased reporting is not just reporting that distorts the facts. It is also reporting that fails to join the dots, or that joins them selectively in one direction, and not in others.
Below is the original article:
Blackmail — the business plan for cheaper wages
By business reporter David Chau 23 Nov 2017
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-23/blackmail-business-plan-cheaper-wages/9177498
Underpaying migrant workers has become a business practice for unscrupulous employers.
For some employers, it is an easy way to boost the bottom line with a low risk of getting caught — hence there is little incentive to comply with industrial laws.
It has even been described as a "business model" by worker advocates.
"There are employers out there structuring the cost of doing business through stealing wages," said Ged Kearney, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
"They use very exploitable migrant workers, and use the sickle of [the workers'] temporary visa status to enforce that."
Out of the 900,000 temporary migrants in Australia with work rights, those in the 457 visa category are a particularly vulnerable group — as many are hoping to attain permanent residency.
Getting away with wage theft
The ABC was able to interview Ben, a Sydney-based technician who is on a 457 visa (and who wanted to use a pseudonym instead of his real name).
Unfortunately, he is working for an employer who commits wage theft by routinely blackmailing him.
However, Ben chose not to complain to the authorities because the employer also regularly threatens to "get him fired" and "deported".
"My boss deposits [my salary of] $1,500 into my account each fortnight, then I have to withdraw $500 from an ATM to give back to him," he said.
"I was never in a position to refuse — otherwise, he wouldn't offer me the 457 visa."
Ben is ultimately forced to survive on $500 per week in Sydney, the city with the most expensive real estate in Australia.
Explained: The 457 visa
http://www.abc.net.au/cm/lb/8027378/data/457-visas-custom-data.jpg
What is a 457 visa and how many people have them?
But he is worried about the consequences of getting sacked before he attains permanent residency.
Under Australian immigration laws, 457 visa holders are allowed to remain in the country for only 60 days from the date their employment ends.
"If I get fired, I have two months to find a new job — otherwise I'll have to leave the country," Ben said.
"The immigration department told me I just have to find another employer." . . .
Exploitation affects the economy
"At least two-thirds of migrant workers are exploited with regards to their pay and conditions," Ms Kearney said.
"If an employer can access a temporary worker, employ them for half the minimum wage, exploit them to the degree we are seeing, that has to have an impact on the local employment market."
It also impacts other workers, forced to compete against those willing to work for less than the minimum wage — which is $22.13 for a casual worker.
Such practices place downward pressure on wage growth.
"Low wages in Australia has been a big issue over the past five years," economist Callam Pickering said.
"It has actively undermined household spending, keeping it at record low levels.
Why the 457 visa is going
http://www.abc.net.au/cm/lb/8451776/data/457-custom-image-data.jpg
After two decades and tens of thousands of visas, the 457 visa category has been abolished. But what was it and why does this matter?
"It has also kept inflation low [and] forced interest rates to their lowest levels in history."
The 7-Eleven scandal was just one recent example of a business, which systematically exploited migrant workers.
One in three migrant workers, who identified as backpackers and international students, are paid about half the minimum wage, according to research released this week by the University of New South Wales and UTS.
The study also showed most foreign workers are fully aware they are being exploited.
In addition, it found restaurants, cafes and farms — which employ fruit pickers — were workplaces which had some of the worst levels of underpayment.
"Visa workers represent 18 per cent of all the requests for assistance we receive," Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said.
"Given they are only about 6 per cent of the labour market, that does tell you they're over-represented in the cohort of people who aren't being paid correctly in the workforce."
Tougher penalties for employers
Ms James said the visa status of migrant workers, who complain to the Fair Work Ombudsman's office, will not be jeopardised.
"We can work with the Department of Immigration to ensure your visa is not affected because you've taken action to enforce your rights under the law to be paid your minimum wages."
In September, the Federal Government introduced the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act which increases penalties for employers' serious breaches of industrial law.
7-Eleven investigation
http://www.abc.net.au/cm/lb/6745470/data/7-11-custom-data.jpg
· 7-Eleven playing 'statistical tricks' in worker compensation scheme
· 'He made me scared': 7-Eleven worker speaks of intimidation
· Exploitation integral to 7-Eleven business model: insider
· 7-Eleven staff work twice as long at half pay rate
· 7-Eleven business model rips off workers, former ACCC boss says
· Convenience store empire 'built on something not much different from slavery'
"Now if a corporation rips off a visa worker and we can prove it was deliberate and systematic, that corporation will be up for over $630,000 potentially per breach," Ms James said.
"If you don't want to proceed, you will have that choice. But if you do, we can work with the Department of Immigration to ensure your visa is not affected because you've taken action to enforce your rights under the law to be paid your minimum wages.
But that is provided the employer is caught, and successfully prosecuted.
"Ultimately, low wages and cutting those wages undermines the success of the Australian economy," Mr Pickering said.
"Bringing people into the country, paying them below minimum wage, is not a recipe for economic success."
Becoming a permanent resident in Australia is the key to Ben's future.
As for why it matters to him, Ben explained: "It would give me the freedom to choose... to go back home by choice, and not because I'm forced."
If all goes well, he may also win the freedom to choose an employer who is willing to pay a fair wage — for a fair day's work.
The US was helping to DEFEAT Assad
Our other news (not mainstream) has been quite clear about what/why/when the US decided Assad was a 'bad guy', and it was after he said NO to the US pipeline proposal crossing through his country! That would hurt Russia's economy badly, since they already sell to many countries, and Russia and Syria were allies. And so - we know what happened.
Even Robert F Kennedy Jr. here in the US, and economist Fadhel Kaboub, and political comedian Jimmy Dore have shown the pipeline proposal and the timeline of when Assad suddenly was a 'bad guy' - and the US funded forces to destroy Assad and the country, funded people who KILLED and DESTROYED those simply trying to defend their country. Many atrocities. Sickening. The US is the BIGGEST bully and terrorist IN the world and causes suffering, destruction and death ALL OVER the world.
The US does NOT have a 'debt'
We have been told lies for DECADES by the greedy, and by 'we' I mean EVERY monetarily sovereign country that has been pressured by the US and where the tentacles of the pathological greed have spread. So this means Canada, the UK, AUSTRALIA, and other countries. All these ISSUE THEIR OWN CURRENCY with almost no constraints, but the 99% have been DUPED with lies so that they did not demand what they SHOULD have had, did not see behind the smokescreen of lies to realize that the pathologically greedy were TAKING THE COUNTRY'S MONEY to enrich themselves, and so on.
One of the MAIN ways they take the country's money is through 'privatization', which actually allows the people running the privatized system to BILL THE GOVT ANY AMOUNT; THEY know the country can issue money with almost no constraints, but the PEOPLE do not know that - yet. However, people like Bill Mitchell (professor of economics, internationally known, from Australia) and other economics professors are helping to EDUCATE us so we can fight the lies.
The 'debt' of the US, for instance, is NOT an actual debt, it is simply our 'national savings account'. We do NOT owe money, we have NOT borrowed from any other country - and neither has Australia.
Look up Bill Mitchell and his blog, or Stephen Hail (both in Australia) for more info. Also, although it is US-based, there are clear presentation (some with Hail and Mitchell) on the youtube channel Deficit Owls. Learn the truth so we can fight EFFECTIVELY. The greedy just laugh and continue their thievery when they realize that we do NOT really know what they have been doing.
Post critical of Stalin deleted by Russia Insider!?
As of 12:54pm, I have learnt that my post which was 'under moderation' is no longer there. Presumably, it has been deleted!
This begs the question: "What have the editors of Russia Insider to fear from the above post? If I am wrong, then surely they or somebody else can show other readers where I am wrong? If they cannot show where I am wrong, then quite posssibly what I have written is correct. So, how does the stifling of dissenting opinions, which appear to be backed up by evidence and logic, help Russia Insider fight against Washington's plans for global hegemony agenda in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, the Black Sea, Eastern Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Arctic Ocean, Afghanistan, Korea, the South China Sea and elsewhere?
Whilst, as I have said before, Russia Insider is informative on many critical issues - Ukraine, Syria, Crimea, Flight MH17, ... - being seen to be covering up up for one of the worst tyrants in history, whilst, bizarrely, condemning Lenin and the Russian Revolution that Stalin claimed to uphold - The Bolshevik Revolution - a Russian Tragedy, Examining the Rotten Roots of Russian Redstalgia, Famous Syphilitic Psychopath Vladimir Lenin Celebrated at St. Petersburg Conference, Why Didn't the British King Save His Russian Cousin, Nicholas II After the Revolution?, The Real Lenin: Traitor, Parasite, Failure and 'Russians Are Sh*theads!' - Grandpa Lenin in His Own Words - can only undermine the global movement against the lying corporate newsmwdia and war.
Stalin a capable leader? Russia Insider censors discussion
I attempted to post the following beneath the article Massive new Stalin biography outdoes everything written before (25/11/17) | Russia Insider by Jacob Heilbrunn. The comment appears to have vanished. I will attempt to post it again. - James
As of 10:41AM. it is now at http://russia-insider.com/en/massive-new-stalin-biography-outdoes-everything-written/ri21346#comment-3632906400. It's better to go to the top of the page, then scroll down to the comments. - James
As of 11:39AM, I am advised: "Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by Russia Insider."
Kjeli Hasthi wrote, "Maybe 8 mill was killed (one source stated that). Remaining died in other ways, like lack of hospitals."
ecald12 wrote, "That Soviet losses were extremely high was inevitable as Germany was more industrialized and its human capital and organizational resources significantly greater than the USSR's, at that time."
The Russians produced the T-34 tank, recognised as superior to anything that Germany produced at the time. The MIG-1, Yak-1 fighters, which were first produced in 1940, could hold their own against German fighters and the Katyusha rocket launchers were superior to anything the Germans had.
The 25 million who died between 1941 and 1945, whether through combat, starvation or disease, died as consequence of the Nazi German invasion and Stalin's criminal scheming and misjudgement. This facilitated the Wehrmacht's early success and the terrible cost to the Red Army of driving it back into Germany.
In comparison, the United States, which fought against both Nazi Germany and Japan, lost 407,300 lives, whilst all the countries of the British Commonwealth lost about 500,000 lives.
As terrible as those losses were, they totalled only a fraction of the Soviet Union's losses. They give a better idea what it should have cost the Soviet Union to defeat Hitler had it been led by a more capable leader.
ecald12 wrote "The feeling in the German General Staff was that a war with the USSR was unnecessary and would present a tremendous economic and military drain on German resources."
Had Nazi Germany defeated the Soviet Union, which, it seems to me, would have occurred had Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), one of the two 'peace' candidates of the 1940 Presidential elections, not persuaded America to join the war against Nazi Germany, it would have had access to the vast natural resources of all the republics of the Soviet Union and would have become the dominant global superpower. Eastern Europe and much of Russia would have been depopulated to make lebensraum for the German master race.
escal12 wrote. "Stalin's policy was to delay what he fully recognized would be an inevitable confrontation with Nazi Germany. He was hoping to forestall such a war until 1942. By that time he felt the USSR would be adequately industrialized and modernized. His rearmament and crash industrialization programs enabled the Soviet Union to survive the war with Germany."
Stalin 'prepared' for invasion, by ignoring warnings from the British, Americans and his own spies, that Nazi Germany was going to invade the Soviet Unin in the Summer of 1941. In the meantime, he continued to send to Nazi Germmany the vital raw materials it needed both to continue its war against Btitain and to prepare for its coming invasion eastwards.
One of the spies, who warned Stalin of the invasion was German communist Richard Sorge, who worked in Germany's Tokyo embassy. Sorge was subsequently discovered, arrested and eventually executed by the Japanese, after Stalin refused offers from Japan to have him returned. Clearly Stalin did not want others in the Soviet Union to learn of how he ignored Sorge's warnings. In 1961, Nikita Kruschev subsequently posthumously awarded Sorge the title of a "Hero of the Soviet Union".
SA govt promote "management" of kangaroos
"For instance, in order to attempt to breed, young male kangaroos need to leave their natal group because there is only room for one dominant male breeder and he monopolises all the females unless another mature male successfully challenges him. The dispersing young male may not find a group within his range of migration that has available females or he may fail to successfully compete for them..." There is a vile assumption that kangaroos are heavy breeders and continually over-populate and breed without brakes, or limits. They then become "pests" and have to be managed, lethally!
We always thought that this over-breeding and limitless demographic expansion meant that governments had to "manage" their numbers, or the land would be plagued by their numbers. This new research and expose really opens questions on what they are really trying to achieve - actually deliberately promoting the market for skins and meat? So their smoke-screen, of lethal management, is blown open?
Dr Ramp said the rhetoric that kangaroo populations are out of control is contradictory to the research he and his team have conducted, which suggests their numbers are in fact in decline. He sees no decline in numbers of other native species co-existing with kangaroos. It makes kangaroos seem like big ecological monsters, killers, who multiply and dominate landscapes until they destroy all in their vision! Just why wasn't Australia wrecked by the time Captain Cook and the First Fleet arrived - swarming with vandal marsupials, overgrazing and damaging ecosystems? So, you destroy their mob dynamics, their social and reproductive controls, by shooting ("harvesting") the biggest and best, and then younger males have taken the place of the Alpha male controlling the mob? You end up with mayhem, chaos, "rapes" and disorder! Young males no longer have to migrate to mate and reproduce. The system is wrecked, and the killing machine continues, propagating the same myths that kangaroos "overpopulate,", "over-graze" and can't justify their existence as being more of a danger, and a threat, to our country?
I used to work at Nauru House
And I used to think the same thing. I worked at Wageline, in a time when unemployment was becoming the norm in Australia. It was just before Kennett stuffed up our award system and made it possible for employers to import cheap labour.
Then they closed down Wageline.
Does Nauru even own Nauru house these days?
Nauru
On reading the description in this article on the tragedy of Nauru, I could not help seeing the population of Nauru being re-located in Nauru House in Melbourne and being told that not only was this compensation for what happened to their island but that they were now better off than they ever were (surrounded by all those shops). But what happens to their new "island home" (Australia) when all its resources have been mined, its forests raised and it has a population double or triple what it is now all along the Eastern seaboard? Is the largest Island on the globe immune to ecological collapse? Has the process already started?
"Russia Insider" smears man still loved by most Russians!
The following two comments were posted beneath the article 'Russians Are Sh*theads!' - Grandpa Lenin in His Own Words (23/11/17) by Michael Bateman | Russia Insider:
[Candobetter editor: To find the originals of the comments below, please load the page linked to above into your browser and then commnce to scoll down. This will eventually cause all comments, including these comments, to be loaded . Direct links to the original comments have not been provided, because we have found that clicking on a direct link to the comment, instead of just to the article itself, will usually cause problems. ]
First Comment
<1--#comment-3629807795-->
This and similar pieces, on the otherwise insightful and informative "Russia Insider" exceed the worst deceit that I can recall reading in recent years in the presstitute media about Syria, Russia, Crimea, Ukraine, Flight MH17, JFK, the US Presidential elections or whatever. What is the basis for such astonishing allegations against a man still loved by most Russians (see Majority of Russians Fond of Lenin and Regret Soviet Collapse (19/4/17) by Damien Shakrov |< em>Newswek?)
What are the original sources for all the claims in this article? None other than a speech in the Russian Duma by Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Nowhere else on the web can I find the sources for Zhiriniovsky's claims.
So, in all probability, Zirinovsky fabricated these quotes and the author Michael Bateman is, at best, a useful idiot for Zhirinovsky and whatever interests Zhirinovsky serves.
Had it occurred to the author and the editors that the Russian Revolution - which occurred near the end of one pointless war in which 18 million died - and its extension to Germany and elsewhere, just might have been humanity's best hope to prevent another, even more terrible war in which an estimated 60 miillion died, barely 20 years later?
Second Comment
Had Lenin lived a few years longer, Stalin could not have become Secretary-General of the Communist Party (CPSU) as shown in Lenin's Last Testament of December 1922:
"Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary-General, has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution."
"Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in our midst and in dealing among us Communists, becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in his stead ..." (See also "Lenin's Last Struggle" (1969) by Moshe Lewin for more elaboration.)
Had Lenin remained sufficiently healthy, even for just a few more months, many of the terrible calamities that the Soviet peoples were to endure over the next 23 years, as a conequence of Stalin's scheming and misjudgement, could have been avoided. Even if the worst of those calamities, the war against Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945, in which an estimated 25 million Soviet citizens died, could not have been prevented, then at at least its terrible consquences would have been greatly mitigated.
Third Comment (by another contributor)
"Michael, you intellectual piece of garbage. Provide sources and do not rip sentences from overall content. Also, mentioning Zhirik as popular one is akin mentioning very popular clown. The guy is smart but is complete disgrace. It was nice to see his backside ripped by old Prokhanov at Soloviev show. This sort of garbage cannot be posted in serious editions. Also, I hear people like Michael never mentioning the words of Gaidar followers about millions of Russians who disappeared due to their experimentation that those who died off did not adjust to market conditions. Why so intense intent to smear 100 years ago history that led to Russia becoming super it is clear who pays michael and the like to do this. power and no mentioning and investigation to events of 20-25 years ago that led to collapse and death of millions? It is clear who pays michael and the like to do this. Those who are afraid of the truth and who are behind everything that is being done to common people now."
Comment in support of North Korea deleted from PressTV debate!
Nearly three days ago the above comment was posted in response to the article linked to above, but it has apparently been deleted. I will contact the PressTV editor to see whether or not this apparent censorships was intentional. Given that PressTV is one of the news services which helps demolish the deceit of the corporate mainstream media, and given that so much of PressTV's video content is informative, stimulating and often humorous, it is hard to beleve that they would deliberately attempt to prevent discussion on the web page in which te video of one such debate is embedded.
Wage theft endemic across Australia
A landmark study has found wage theft is endemic across Australia with a quarter of international students and a third of backpackers earning $12 or less per hour, around half the legal minimum wage. Read more at http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/wage-theft-endemic-across-australia-20171119-gzol3l.html
Brilliant article: plague caused as pretext for kangaroo culling
Thanks Sheila for a well researched and well written article on the farming/culling of Kangaroos. I, too, am reviled by how one of nature's most unique animals has gone from being a National Icon to a so-called pest.
Like most Australians I didn't know much about roos until I watched the ABC's Kangaroo Dundee earlier this year. It's about a bloke who owns a kangaroo sanctuary near Alice often raising orphaned joeys. Simultaneously, there are calls in the media, local and national, for roo culls. Some by farmers, but more from motorists and from people who had perceptions that we were about to be overrun by macropods.
I earnt myself some offensive comments and strange looks when I told all and sundry that this was a nonsense, that kangaroos don't eat the grass off to the ground as sheep and rabbits do, their breeding habits are regulated by the weather conditions, that we've had 16 dry years in the past 21, that drivers should drive to the prevailing road conditions, that they are a tourist attraction and that roos are native animals that have a right to exist alongside us.
It's we, us whitefellas, that have upset the balance in the land by trying to turn it into something it never was. Furthermore, the removal of the alpha predator from the environment has caused all manner of problems that we don't yet understand. The lesson to be learned here is that of the reintroduction of gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park where the results were nothing short of spectacular. Now if we can just let a couple of dingoes loose ...........!!
Lionel doesn't grasp criminality of threatened war against Korea
Whilst I appreciate some of the information given by Lionel about North Korea and that he truly doesn't want to see war break out, I still find some of this disappoining.
At 4:50 minutes into this video, Lionel claims that the north Koreans "have been girding their loins for war since 1945". Whilst it is true that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) are very well prepared to deal with any threatened aggression by the United States, it is not something they have ever sought. As shown elsewhere in this discussion, the Korean conflict originated in September 1945, when US occupation forces, paradoxically, installed Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese as the government of 'South' Korea, whilst brutally repressing Koreans who had resisted the Japanese. The subsequent war against 'North' Korea in which between 25% and 30% of the population were killed exceeds what even the Nazis inflicted against any one nation.
Kim Jong-Un's bellicosity in context of US crimes against Korea
I posted this in response to the Iranian PressTV video debate Why did North Korea sentence President Trump to death? (18/11/17) I was still downloading the 400Mb MP4 video file to watch it faster off-line, so I still haven't watched it.
However critically we may judge recent actions by North Korean President Kim Jong-Un, they pale into insignificance in comparison to the vast crimes committed by the United States since September 1945 against all the people of Korea, both in the North and the South.
In a seeming paradox, in September 1945, after the surrender of Japan, the United States military forces, which occupied the south of the country, installed in power a government, largely made up of Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese against their own people, that is, against the Korean resistance who had fought against the same common enemy against which the United States had also fought since 7 December 1941. President Roosevelt (FDR), who had led the US in that war had died in April 1945. His successor, Harry S. Human, was much more a glove puppet of those in the military-industrial complex not sympathetic to the war aims of FDR. So, after the end of the war, US military forces acted to suppress those popular resistance forces who had fought against Japan and Nazi Germany in Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Greece, Italy, France and elsewhere.
The repression in South Korea was particularly savage. The popular resistance to that repression extended into what is referred to as the Korean War which began on 25 June 1950. In that war Koreans faced gound forces from the Uited States, France, the UK, Australia and a number of other allies. The United States' Air Foce (USAF) bombarded North Korea so much that it began to run out of targets to find. As perversely attested to by USAF commander General Curtis Le May (aka Dr. Strangelove) not one building higher than one storey was left standing. 25% or possible eve 30% of North Koreans died in that war.
The US refused to sign a peace treaty with North Korea. Every year, the North Korean military commanders have to take careful precautions should the annual practise invasion (aka 'military execises'), conducted by the South Korean military forces and the US occupation forces, turn into a real attempt by them to achieve what they had previously failed to achieve by 27 July 1953.
FOI report also finds ACT roos innocent of crimes claimed
A CSIRO report recently released in the ACT under FOI which many people had never heard of, made an evaluation of the research the ACT had done in an attempt to justify their kangaroo culls. It found the following based on the ACT’s own data:
A positive relationship existed between kangaroo density and native species richness and Floristic Value Score at lower kangaroo densities. No relationship was evident at densities above 2 kangaroos per ha.
This study could not identify any upper limit of kangaroo density beyond which vegetation richness, diversity and overall condition declines.
This study could not identify an optimal kangaroo density that maximises richness, diversity and condition. Richness and diversity tended to be highest when at least some kangaroos were present.
Final report for ACT Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate was: Relationships between vegetation condition and kangaroo density in lowland grassy ecosystem of the northern Australian capital territory: Analysis of data 2009, 2012 and 2013and can be found at: http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/1115452/17_11169-DOCUMENTS-1-4.pdf.
We have authorised full html, thanks for the post
As above. You cannot do it unless you are an editor, but people can post vids and we can authorise them.
thanks
Lionel Nation on not trusting the 'authorities' on North Korea
Lionel Nation did quite a good piece on this in August, still relevant. Basically he is telling people, in his entertaining and occasionally quite rivetting way, not to trust anything they hear from the 'authorities' on Korea. I hope I can embed it here. You will have to authorise full html.
Even the Nazis did not commit such crimes against any one nation
I attempted to post the following comment to Pyongyang’s UN envoy rules out negotiations on nuclear weapons amid S. Korea-US drills (17/11/17) | RT. My apologies, if it repeats some of what was posted by James Sinnamon above. I have made two attempts to post this comment so far and on each occasion, unlike wih an earlier attempt with another story, the comment was deleted!, As RT, with all its shortcomings, is still a vital weapon against the lying global corporate media, I trust that the deletion of my comment was a bug with the administative software, or an honest mistake and not deliberate. I will contact RT about this.
I think the full history of the Korean War and the conflict since than should feature more prominently on RT. The terrible war between 1950 and 1953, in which 25-30% of North Koreans died, has never officially ended, because the United States refused to negotiate a peace treaty.
After the surrender of Japan in September 1945, five months after the death of the President who led America in its war against the Japanese and Nazi Germany - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) - the United States Army began savagely repressing Koreans who had resisted the Japanese occupiers. They installed an extreme right wing government largely made up of Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese against their fellow Koreans. The Korean resistance fought back. Whilst it is not clear whether the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK aka 'North' Korea) or 'South' Korea launched the first attack in 1950, the outbreak of conventional war, was a continuation of that civil war.
Every year the 'military exercises' which the United States' occupiers conduct with their South Korean puppets, are in fact, rehearsals for their planned future attempt to do what they failed to do in 1953 - conquer North Korea and destroy the DPRK. The commanders of the armed forces of the DPRK can never know if the United States won't fabricate a pretext that would allow then to turn their annual 'military exercises' into an all out invasion.
Re Interesting and informative
Thanks for reading it John and I'm glad you appreciated it. I feel the same way about 4Corners most of the time. Media Watch is worse than a joke; it seems hopelessly contrived and dishonest; a kind of tragi-comedy in its desperate search for tiny transgressions whilst steadfastly ignoring herds of elephants overrunning the 4th estate. Q&A is a source of constant wonder in its ability to find gullible audiences, although I must admit I enjoy some of the drama and often find the apparently sincere politicians hilarious. In the last one I watched Kevin Rudd performed like a circus elephant. I almost began to like him for his brash failure to ever stay down when knocked out. He is to blame, of course, along with recent successive prime ministers, for the continuous grotesque inflation of Australia's population ponzi which is making our wildlife miserable and threatens to destroy the rest of us.
Oh, and I used to, decades ago, enjoy reading the Letters in the Age, but I think it was in the 1980s that they began to cut them down from nice long interesting ones to 300 words and now probably less. And when I realised that the Age and the Australian were the owners of massive property dot coms I began to see through them. Then they just got worse and worse with syndicated nonsense and always propping up wars. Really, I feel as if the Nazis have taken over and run the military industrial media complex. Sadly.
Interesting and Informative
An extremely interesting and informative discussion that exposes the mainstream media for what they really are - mouthpieces for the oligarchs and their puppet governments. It's time for those of us who want the truth to seek out the truth and if that be from RT, The Conversation, Candobetter, The Point, BuzzFeed or wherever.
This year I've personally given away watching 4Corners, Media Watch and Q&A and considering stopping my deliveries of The Age and even the local papers the Riv Herald and Ky Free Press which have become mouth pieces for the National Party which of course is a bastion of neo-conservatism.
Car park solution to Melbourne Housing problem
The family that subdivided their large lot, given the rate of population growth and the probable increase of the next generation, would have done better to build a parking lot tower, maybe with some bathroom and cooking facilities, so that future generations could pay to sleep in their cars. There is such a lack of entrepreneurship in our society!
Melbourne housing "solution" on Red Symons program
A woman rang in to Red Symoms' breakfast radio program today to say she and her husband had found the solution to the housing affordability problem for her family.
It went like this
-We have quite a large block and the house is old -1949- . We have 3 adult offspring needing houses. We demolished the house and built 3 x 2 storey townhouses on the block. We live in one of the town house with number 3 son. This is temporary until we get a townhouse for ourselves somewhere else.-
The question that was not asked was "What happens with the grandchildren?" This solution is a once- only as it takes advantage of the larger blocks of past which ordinary people do not have now It only temporarily solves the housing affordability crisis for one family and they are still worse off than they were. A block of land cannot be divided up ad infinitum. It won't even be able to be divided a second time! The next generation will be let's say 6 plus the original 3 adult offspring and their partners. There could be equal generosity on the other sides of each family but they would most likely need to cater for more than one lot of childRen and grandchildren. The pressure on land forcing people to look for solutions which may not be to their advantage is the immense population growth of Australian cities like Melbourne.
My Apologies
My humble apologies James, I should have mentioned the pay wall. In an endeavour to get a better perspective of the economic world and why it is/isn't working has fascinated me for some time and having the non-neoliberal world explained to you is, to me, essential.
I pay $US 10 per month ($A 13/14) and find it is well worth it for 3 or 4 podcasts, articles, etc per week. "The Pain in Spain" gives some background into the current disunity that exists as the Catalonians and Spaniards air the differences. The piece covers a range of topics from the maximum number of people who can maintain effective personal bonds to the Euro and the Euro Group to the current crises in Europe. As I commented, on the article, the Australian mainstream media don't cover this sort of news or if they do it's superficially and/or biased.
Steve Keen's article is behind a paywall.
Thank you, John for the support in your comment and the link. Unfortunately, the article that you linked to is behind a paywall. The paywall doesn't even allow a visitor to make a one-off payment! To read Steve Keen's article, one has to first agree to make a monthly contribution. Whilst it is possible to pay as little as $1.00 per month, most people would have to pay bank administrarive charges on top of that, and I expect that patreon.com would hit you with more charges if you ceased making that contribution every month.
i have yet to find a paywalled site that allows a visitor to make a one-of payment.
One Nation an alternative to pro-immigration major parties
So much agree. As major parties disregard public opinion parties like One Nation will increase its popularity. Once they have a visible proportion in the parliament it would be harder to ignore immigration issue.
The Real War Criminals
Thanks James for an excellent piece. The real criminals in most wars are those who instigate and perpetuate them. I'm not well read enough to know how many have or were brought to justice, but at a hazard, I'd say not many and definitely too few.
However, what worries more than the past is the present and the future where greed, overpopulation, resource shortages and political and economic mismanagement are reeking havoc. The mayhem is not just confined to the "Usual Suspects", but is also closer to home. Austerity measures have produced chaos and have deeply divided Europe. Steve Keen the expatriate Australian economist made comment on this recently: https://www.patreon.com/posts/pain-in-spain-15089126 if anybody wants to know more.
A massive 443,798 overseas students
A massive 443,798 overseas students — a population the size of Canberra — were in the country as of June 30, and they all have the right to work up to 20 hours a week.
In Victoria, there were 112,234, and the top source nation was China with 33,783 students, followed by India (14,616), Malaysia (7691), Vietnam (6647), Sri Lanka (3748), Pakistan (3411) and Nepal (3332), according to Department of Immigration and Border Protection figures.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/expert-sounds-alarm-over-forei...
Only posed as left Social Democrat to hold influence over wokers
Georg Braupe was the supposedly 'left' Social Democrat Minister in the State government of Saxony who managed to dissuade the assembled grass-root committee delegates assembled in Chemnitz, from taking effective action against the invasion of Saxony by the Federal German Army.
I can only assume that Braupe proclaimed himself to be left-wing in order to maintain his credibility as Social Democrat workers, who had previously stayed loyal to the Social Democrat leaders against the Communists in the crises of 1918, 1919 and 1920 and, prior to that, during the First World War that was supported by the Social Democrat Parliamentary deputies, became radicalised as they lost their jobs or saw their real wages drop during the economic crisis of 1923.
Sites can help each other against the Internet thought police
This was posted beneath the republished copy of this article on Syrian Free Press:
Thank you for republishing the article from /node/5322 (as also linked to above). If the author is right, these agreements will make it possible for Iran and Russian to defend themselves much more effectively from further acts of aggression like in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine - and worse.
We have also linked back to this page. If all genuinely alternative web sites, such as ours, were to link to each other, there would be little that the dark forces, who control Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc., could do to prevent most people from learning the truth and seeing through the lying Corporate media narratives.
Just possibly, this will help bring about real regime-change in the United States, Canada, Britain, Ukraine, Spain, Italy, France, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Greece, Germany, Sweden, etc., and peace will break out all over the world.
On another matter: Whilst it may not seem to be obviously relevant to the current wars against Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, etc. you may find of interest, on the centenary of the Russian Revolution, "Buried history: How the spread of the Russian Revolution to Germany could have stopped Hitler" at /node/5323 .
The man who stopped Germany's general strike in 1923
The man who stopped the general strike that could have saved the world was Georg Graupe and Pierre Broué mentions that he was the Minister for Labor in Saxony. What as Graupe's motive? Who influenced him? Do we know? What became of him during the war?
(Ref: Pierre Broué, The German Revolution, p.808-809.
People are removed from nature and thus scared of it
Everyone is now so removed from nature and insulated from anything unpredictable that are not only afraid of nature, but also physically and psychologically weak.
Once 97% percent of people were involved in farming (or hunter gathering) both of which brought one in contact with, or at least close range to, animals large and small.. Cities like London were swarming with animals, as they were driven to markets etc. It is our modern 'sanitised' cities that allow nothing but the most tame nature. I think it should be a human right to be able to husband animals, as people have done for millenia. In my area Frankston City Council brought in a by-law to ban people having goats - why? There was no goat problem - no hordes of goats swarming streets - it is just a bias against nature and towards a sanitised and note well - CONTROLLED - community.
Similarly as Quark points out - Kangeroos - up near Myrtleford I read a letter in the local paper where a woman called a local MP 'an idiot' for suggesting that they would just have to live with Kangeroos. Really who is the real idiot - Myrtleford is surrounded by forest and mountains - this letter writing lady is advocating mass slaughter of Kangeroos - at much expense, and unlikely to be completely successful - not to mention the terrible detriment to the environment. Once she did this she would probably complain that the grass - once eaten by Kangeroos - is now to rampant and the solution is chemical spraying!! Really why don't we just destroy all nature - oh yeah - that's right we are - we have been for the past 200 years or so!
Is this article important?
When I saw the heading I thought the author may be writing with tongue firmly in cheek, however it appears not. Europeans arrived in Australia and felt homesick so they bought their pets and a vast amount of flora and fauna that should not (sorry but its true) be here. Check out the Camel, Carp, rabbit, fox, cat, all hard footed animals ...and perhaps far to many humans.
Lucy Turnbull's motivation
What could motivate Lucy Turnbull to this vandalism of what is possibly the most beautiful city in the world? Is she like Kevin Rudd who "came out" in favour of "Big Australia" but actually doesn't really see Australia as home? He doesn't live in Australia any more. Is that how Lucy sees her future, one where she doesn't have to stay in the mess she has helped make of Sydney.
Too-manyism sums it up!
This is a mind-bogglingly lucid comment. 'Too-manyism' sums it up and tears through the sophisticated ideology we are daily subjected to.
Motivation of Soros - gambling?
I read a couple of books about Soros as well as articles and it seemed to me that he was probably motivated by a desire to have even more money, the power that goes with it, and a psychopathic enjoyment of inflicting chaos. Currency speculation on a scale most of us cannot imagine is a way of making billions. By causing chaos, through wars that destroy economies and make people flee, or by provoking other forms of political agitation, Soros brings currency values down. While the currency value is low, he buys lots of it. Then he waits until the country recovers a bit and sells it at a higher value. He is able to sow chaos by sponsoring political agitation via donations from his various foundations and media investments. He is behind identity politics ideology and open borders. He encourages massive refugee movements and pays people to justify those movements without drawing attention to the wars that drive them.
I have noticed that a lot of very wealthy people, especially men, are big gamblers and I think that manipulating world currencies is a form of gambling and that Soros is a gambler. When people gamble, they get a rush. As they cast their dice or launch their political agitators, or fund mercenaries, they imagine achieving a lot of different things - could be sex, fame, happiness, violence, humililation, godhead, immortality - and they have to keep restimulating their imaginations and emotions with the gambling/speculating trigger. People who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, for instance, experience a state of excitement at the prospect of satisfying their thirst or desire for the drug - even before they have taken it. I imagine that that is what Soros may feel when he sets out to manipulate currency prices. He engages in complex manipulation and probably builds up to some kind of climax. Perhaps he is very depressed between 'hits'. Gamblers and other addicts have to keep upping the ante in order to restimulate. I assume that Soros is sociopathic or psychopathic because his way of making money destroys so many lives - an indication of a lack of empathy. One might also expect people who are close to him to be negatively affected by his habits.
What drives Soros?
What drives Soros to do this? He has all the money he could ever personally need? Is it power? Is the ability to change the demographics of a continent, and do away with 1000's of years of cultural history the ultimate expression of power over others?
2010 article compares B12 in vegan, vegetarian & omnivores
Serum concentrations of vitamin B12 and folate in British male omnivores, vegetarians and vegans: results from a cross-sectional analysis of the EPIC-Oxford cohort study
Gilsing, A M ; Crowe, F ; Lloyd-Wright, Z ; Sanders, T A ; Appleby, P ; Allen, N ; Key, T
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Sep 2010, Vol.64(9), pp.933-9 [Peer-reviewed journal]
Download here: http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.slv.vic.gov.au/ps/i.do?ty=as&v=2.1&u=slv&it=DIourl&s=RELEVANCE&p=ITOF&qt=TI~%22Serum%20concentrations%20of%20vitamin%22~~SP~933~~IU~9~~SN~0954-3007~~VO~64&lm=DA~120100000&sw=w&authCount=1
"as long as there is more
"as long as there is more cash in the economy". no - as long as there is more cash in the developers' pockets.
Bladerunner 2049 tells it like it is
The person I went with, on seeing the dystopian city, said, "That looks just like Melbourne!" and he was sincere. The whole thing seemed just like a logical end to Jeff Kennett and Steve Bracks and John Brumby and John Howard and Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull's policies on growth. I appreciated the introductory titles right at the beginning, which observed how all 'progressive' societies rely on slavery, on 'replicas' in the film. Brilliant film with fantastic images and use of art to convey mood and political organisation and infrastructure.
Bladerunner 2049
I saw Bladerunner 2049 yesterday and I did not feel I was in a totally alien environment. The setting had many parallels with life in 2107 but moved up a notch (or 2).
Real world western politics worse than Bladerunner
It seems we really are getting fake news. Not only are children dying because of it, they are being actively used to justify the killing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1652&v=Vj_klXJoGZM
Our leaders are using our money to furnish this killing and propaganda, and blatantly lying to us about all of it.
Who needs Bladerunner or Terminator when the real thing is so close at hand? Certainly so if you live in Syria.
Reminder Port Phillip Cons Council AGM Mon 30 October
Dear PPCC Inc. Members and friends
A reminder of our upcoming AGM next Monday 30th October, with two excellent guest speakers, details below. All are welcome at the meeting, so please feel free to send this invitation on to any interested persons.
We look forward to seeing you next Monday.
Neighbours outraged by VCAT decis re 59 houses to replace one
Furious neighbours say their concerns were “ignored” and described the decision-making process as “outrageous” after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal approved 59 townhouses at 321 Wantirna Rd to replace a house and tennis court.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/outer-east/huge-wantirna-townhouse-complex-approved-after-developer-skips-council-goes-to-vcat/news-story/5d8e63a9caba49b11b76e66807ab2f60
My comment on this: Surely it is time for crowds of people to go into the courts and remove the judges, replacing them with their own. These judges - or 'members' are not serving the people. They are clearly serving big business and a state government philosophy that says it doesn't matter who loses out as long as there is more cash in the economy. Most would not agree.
Response to Recipe for further acceleration of population growth
I think that Australians demonstrated a preference for small families and a satisfaction with a smaller population some time ago and that this was a response to perception of density in various indicators. Maybe the rise in unemployment after the 1973 oil shock and loss of protection for local manufacturing, was one of the earliest indications of being 'too many' in terms of economic prospects for Australia. (Refer to Virginia Abernethy's 'Fertility opportunity' theory.) The French spontaneously reduced their fertility after the oil shock, but their government behaved in agreement with the population by stopping worker immigration and new housing construction. (See The Growth Lobby in Australia and its Absence in France (2002), "Housing Issues and Immigration: 1974 to the Close of the 20th Century," p. 380.) Australia had an opposite policy of borrowing to keep housing construction going and importing immigrants to stimulate demand. (See same reference, multiple chapters.)
The Australian wealthy power elite have acted like an upper caste, marrying, buying and selling within their own, which includes the major media owners and casino owners. They have developed a conscious program to increase the population, which I first noticed was promoted in the Murdoch media in the early 1990s. (Australia has a very long history of this population boosting by elites and institutions with property interests, see The Growth Lobby in Australia and its Absence in France (2002), Chapter Six. )
Jeff Kennett embraced this program in Victoria, which took the lead in population inflation. (See "Kennett population policy, numbers and flow-ons: Regional migration and industrial law under Kennett"). Subsequent labor and lib governments continued the program. The Labor Party in the late 80s became a very wealthy land-holder and bank share holder (involved Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swann working for Wayne Goss) and I perceive huge corruption between state government land production departments and Labor-connected property development, always at a rising cost to the public. (/taxonomy/term/898) The Libs have probably engaged in the same thing, but the Labor Party problem was exposed by Steven Mayne; no-one has done it to the Libs, who seem to have been less successful. I also think it likely that the Greens have also invested in growth, probably property, probably infrastructure, but I don't have the goods on this - just the indication is that they are apologists for artificially stimulated population growth and for infrastructure solutions. For instance, although being pro-bicycle may seem 'eco-friendly' it actually results in the encroachment of bitumen bike tracks through parkland and all over the countryside. (There is a huge long one next to an abandoned railway track in Moorooduc, taking the place of a delightful overgrown track past farms, where people rode horses and walked their dogs. I have noticed that horseriding is now banned there!) These bitumen tracks are nearly as wide as roads and an obvious precursor to them, and housing densification will follow. There is also a huge consumer industry associated with bike riding.
The fertility of Australian born probably remains 'dampened', possibly increasingly, due to increasing housing unaffordability and continued precarity of employment and growing competition from cheap imported labour in the absence of our traditional industrial protection, post Kennett's lead in dismantling state awards and Howard's lead in using corporation powers of the constitution. (None of these were resisted by the ALP either.) Game of Mates explores the corruption of the union movement via their interest in superannuation. Indicators of lower fertility expectations are later age of marriage and fewer marriages.
Incumbent Australians - of whatever origin - tend not to consume as much 'stuff', including the big stuff, like new houses, as immigrants, because they either already have it and don't need new stuff, or because they live precariously and are therefore very constrained in their consumption, or permaculturally, which also means less consumption. You will notice that the mainstream media is full of programs attempting to enthuse Australians into buying houses and new furniture and cooking ranges, however only the wealthy can keep this up. Immigrants are being imported precisely because they are necessarily big consumers, especially of housing, mortgages, furniture. (Think of the multiplication of businesses like real-estate agencies, banks, Bunnings, Ikea etc.)
Immigrants arrive with the perception of acquiring more territory and leaving whatever kinship constraints persisted in their countries of origin, so it would not be surprising if they were more fertile than the Australian-born or raised population.
Immigrants may also provide opportunities for marriage to Australians who would not ordinarily be able to afford this. Some examples rise to mind, such as the importing of educated brides with the capacity to earn or from wealthy families. Australians who find themselves socially displaced by unemployment and lack of stable housing and family might find it easier to fit in with new immigrant communities, or find employment within those communities than within a disrupted and impoverished Australian-born network.
US threatened by a small country of which they killed one fifth?
The following has been adapted from my comment posted in response to Why Kim may draw first blood? (20/10/17) | The Duran by Syed Ali Jaffrey. Whilst rightly critical of United States' President Donald Trump, I believe that the article unfairly places, on the young 35-year-old North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, more than his fair share of the blame for the current crisis .
However critical we may be of recent actions by Kim Jong Un, compared to what he and the people of the DPRK have had to endure from the Americans and their South Korean puppets since 1945, they are trivial misdemeanours.
The War by the United States against the people of Korea from 1950 until 1953 was one of the major crimes against humanity of the 20th century. The United States Air Force destroyed every building in North Korea higher than one storey. Also, as attested to by Dr Strangelove (aka United States Air Force General Curtis LeMay): "Over a period of three years or so we killed off – what – twenty percent of the population. [1] ... We burned down every town in North Korea and South Korea, too". Another war crime was the bombing of a North Korean dam which caused major flooding and deaths by drowning.
All this happened because the people of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK - aka North Korea) after 1945 refused to submit to a government in the South which was made up largely of quislings who had previously worked for the Japanese. This government, labeled the "Republic of Korea" (ROK) had been imposed on Koreans in the south by the United States' occupation forces.
The Korean War, which began in June of 1950, was as an extension of the ROK's repression of supporters of the DPRK and their resistance. Had the United States and its allies not massively increased the scale of their military intervention, the DPRK would easily have won that war without any further outside help.
In 1953, the United States refused to sign a peace treaty with the DPRK and every year the DPRK faces the threat that the annual 'military exercises' by the United States and the ROK could easily turn into an outright invasion, especially given the United States' record in Vietnam, Indonesia, the former Yugoslav republics, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine, Syria, ...
Ending these provocative military exercises and negotiating a peace treaty with the DPRK could quickly remove any threat posed North Korea's nuclear-armed missiles.
Footnote[s]
1. Another estimate of the death toll in North Korea is 30%. KNOW THE FACTS: North Korea lost close to 30% of its population as a result of US bombings in the 1950 (27/10/2010) | Global Research by Professor michel Chossudovsky.
Recipe for further acceleration of population growth?
With the increased level of immigration to Australia and the densification of Australia's cities , the conditions would seem to be present then for even further acceleration of population growth. The ingredients are there -increasing "fertility opportunities" and increasing landlessness. Or would you see decreasing economic prospects for people in Australia dampening their fertility?
Unfortunately speciesism is
Unfortunately speciesism is not a new term nor a new thing. It has been with us since the year dot. Some people are, fortunately, waking up - their compassion has been born. If you just stop and think 'What would it be like to be in the body of that creature right now?' That's all it takes and you're there looking through their eyes. But because we are accustomed to eating a particular species or it's byproducts (especially in the case of cows or other farm animals) we are in huge denial of the many ways in which they suffer and because they don't speak English, we assume they have no feelings. WRONG!
Thank you for writing from your heart Quark.
We all need to speak up on behalf of all the other species because otherwise how will people ever wake up? People have watched me go to great lengths to save a small insect and it has touched them deeply. We have a long way to go with 7 + billion ignorant, selfish humans on the planet but every step helps on the journey of 10,000 miles.
Ponzi Schemes
Good stuff Daisy! Like the housing and construction industry, the transport industry is just another Ponzi Scheme where roads, bridges and tunnels are built not because we need them, but because Transurban, Macquarie or whoever need another get rich quick scheme to maintain their ever growing profits. And, of course, the mainstream media are compliant with this and have formed a cosy little alliance with these companies who hire "professional advisers" to substantiate their work!!
Racism is really too-manyism directed at a group
The Germans exterminated Jews not primarily because they didn't like Jews or thought they were inferior (the classic left wing, hijacked definition of racism). They did it because there was a perception that there were too many of them and that they were taking all the money out of an economy where most were poor. Like too many Magpies threatening to attack as you walk past their nests or too many immigrants "taking our jobs" or too many cars on the road (because of too many immigrants) or no seats on the train (because of too many immigrants). And of course, if some of those immigrants are of a particular race (like Chinese or Indians), and their numbers have rapidly increased in recent times, it is only to be expected that they become the target of the frustration of people who feel disenfranchised.
The Hutu government in Rwanda supported genocide of the Tutsi. Rwanda is around 400 sq km of overpopulated, relatively infertile land. There have been reports of people starving and actually killing their neighbours to gain access to small plots of cultivatable land. Surely this is the ultimate example of the too-manyism endgame? It's not about who you are; it's just about the perception (or reality of the fact that) there are too many of you?
Magpies et al
Great article Quark. I love magpies, and have shared my veranda with a pair and generations of their offspring for years......until this year when the male, who I called 'Knock Knees' due to his odd stance, has disappeared. Maybe displaced by a younger male, or maybe squashed by a car. Watching and interacting with my magpie friends was a delight and I am missing Knock Knees and our daily eye contact badly. But, I suspect the Magpie tendency to interact with us humans contributes to why so many of us seem to hate them.
Wattle birds: I like them too, but as they are not at all interested in forming a relationship with humans I have less to say about them, as do most other people it seems. Their rather loud call, mostly at daybreak, is amusing to me, sounding like "I'm here, I'm here, I'm here". They don't tend to swoop us, and don’t beg for food from us, so perhaps we are not seen as such a threat to them - other than removing their habitat of course to build our fence to fence houses.
Swans in the Botanical Gardens: Yes, there are stories about the RBG swans getting in the way of a lovely day out for us humans, for example: http://www.onourwayhome.net/when-swans-attack .....so maybe they just had to go! .
Our human-centricity is getting embarrassing isn't it?
Small and rare is acceptable if you are fauna
It is interesting how people prefer miniaturisied versions of animals and less plentiful animals. They will crane their necks to see a rare rock wallaby in the desert yet fully approve a kangaroo cull closer to their urban or regional cities and towns. Small birds are OK but not big grown-up looking ones that might be able to take care of themselves. Are the small animals accessories to the bush setting and the tiny birds living decorative mobiles in the native garden?
Melbournians demonised by the growth pushers on ABC
I nearly choked on my toast at that drawing of the swarm of humans emerging from Flinders Street Station!
This morning, I woke up before 5 a.m. to hear an interview with a "professor" or some such from the Grattan Institute talking with presenter Rod Quinn re tollroads. A few irritating bits from the professor - female - were that it's not as bad 'here' - meaning Sydney or Melbourne - as it is in parts of South America or other overcrowded cities - (although she did not use the term 'overcrowded'.)
Rod Quinn reminded her twice that the private interests /share holders of the tollroads rely on traffic volumes for income. They want the roads crowded. Both times he said this Mme. Professor deflected it with a sort of airy "hmm" or "yeah"! She was full of bull shit and devoid of solutions. She declared a couple of times that Australia is very "car dependent" as though this was profound or a personal failing on the part of motorists. (It's the same as what you describe here in 'speciesism': People in Melbourne and Sydney are demonised as 'car dependent', 'selfish' (because they don't want to lose their backyards) and 'racist' because they don't want to be invaded by masses of people who already have homes overseas. It's all just an excuse to be able to push us around and find new populations of more tractable consumers.
Oh and the 'solution' to traffic was a "congestion tax". Don't tell me that overpopulation pays for itself; you and I pay for it!
..as they quietly turn our cities into Hell.
The Vilification of Native Fauna
I hear you quark, loud and clear! We are becoming a nation of sadistic native animal haters. You've hit on 2 of the whipping sticks of Australian society: the maggie and the roo.
I love magpies, not the Collingwood variety, they are extremely intelligent birds and may become companions for years. I had a pair nest in a flowering gum in my backyard for some 12-13 years until a storm blew the nest out of the tree. After they left I was plagued with Indian mynas which saw many other smaller native birds also disappear. Last spring a pair of crows, another vilified bird, set up camp next door in a giant river red gum and thankfully most of the mynas have gone.
However, I am most bemused by the relationship between humans and kangaroos. May be it's me or is it something I just don't get. The pathological hatred of these beautiful animals by most humans. Committing hari-kari by jumping onto the road thus penalising the motorist who, knowing that roos frequent the area, are travelling at breakneck speed to their destination - running late as usual.
The kangaroos are feeding at the road's edge because rain has run off the bitumen onto the verge producing tender green shoots that the roos love. They are traumatised by vehicles arriving on the scene like a bat out hell. Immediately taking flight, they jump usually in the direction they are facing which tends to be towards the road.
Calls for kangaroo culls are common as you say especially from motorists including those who live in the bush, who have grown up with roos as part of the environment. The old adage of driving: is that you drive to the prevailing conditions. However, many motorists prefer the adage that if the speed limit is 100kph then that is the speed that drive at or more. Instead of giving themselves plenty of time to make their appointment, they give themselves the minimum and, thus, speed to their destination.
Another matter is that of why kangaroo numbers have exploded and they do because the top predator is not around to keep their numbers in check. Dingoes, the most maligned of Australia's native animals, has been hunted until they themselves have become an endangered species. This is in itself a tragedy and a snapshot of the society we have become.
Invasion sanitised as mere unprecedented growth needs
What is really really bad here is that the population growth and overdevelopment that our very bad governments have inflicted on us is here sanitised into ''meet[ing] the needs of Victorians during a period of unprecedented population growth" - as though we wanted this growth, as though we needed it, as though it were unquestionable, as though it were inevitable.
That is the greatest evil in this report and it is a widespread way of presenting the terrible problem of corruption in Victorian state politics.
Resigning VicRoads CEO presided over shameful destruction
The commercial press constantly reinforces evil by praising it, until people confuse destruction with something positive.
http://www.primemovermag.com.au/news/article/vicroads-ceo-resigns
"VicRoads Chief Executive, John Merritt, has announced his resignation and will depart the Victorian road authority at the end of the year.
Merritt has led the authority through a program of organisational change as well as the launch of the biggest capital works program the organisation has ever undertaken since his appointment to the role in early 2014.
“When I arrived the task was to transform the business and ready it to meet the needs of Victorians during a period of unprecedented population growth. We now have the biggest capital works program in our history – more than double what it was in 2014 – and we’re working hard to deliver these critical projects,” said Merritt.
“VicRoads is also more responsive and accountable now. Reform is a long journey but we’re heading in the right direction. While we don’t get it right every time, we’re committed to the job and we do play a critical role in the community.
“So it feels like the right time to move on. It’s been a wonderful experience to lead this organisation and I’m grateful for the fantastic support I have received,” he said.
Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Luke Donnellan, also commended Merritt’s contribution.
“John Merritt has been a terrific leader of VicRoads and I’d like to thank him for his service,” he said.
“Our government is investing more in roads and transport infrastructure than ever before, and he’s been up for the challenge of delivering it. He’s also been tireless in modernising the agency and making sure it delivers the daily services needed by road users across the state.”
Merritt has been in the role since April 2014, and will officially exit his role 20 December 2017."
Appreciation for my comment about the Greek Civil War
Nick Shepley replied ('4 days ago'):
Hi James thanks for this, I would really like to talk with you further about the Greek Civil War. I really appreciate your expertise here. My policy is that I have no (or as little as possible) ego to defend and if someone else has a different or more informed view than me to welcome that person into the conversation here. After all, the goal is always to serve the listeners as best as possible. If you'd like to chat about Greece perhaps I can create something for listeners?
4 Corners uncritically reports Clinton's Russian meddling claim
Update, 18 October 2017 : This morning I found my comment was no longer on that page linked to below. I posted another comment to ask the web-site administrator if he/she really intended to delete my post. - James
The following was posted as a comment in response to Trump: no collusion with Russia; Russiagate investigations should end (17/10/17) by Alexander Mercouris | The Duran :
United States President Donald Trump said, "So there has been absolutely no collusion. It’s been stated that they have no collusion. They ought to get to the end of it because I think the American public is sick of it."
In Australia, thanks to the ABC's [1] 4 Corners, we know better. As shown on Hillary Clinton: The Interview - Four Corners (16/10/17) "4 Corners" presenter Sarah Ferguson and her guest Hillary Clinton, the disinformation fed to American voters by RT and Sputnik sufficiently confused enough American voters to cause Donald Trump to win as Russian President Vladimir Putin had planned:
SARAH FERGUSON: Hello and welcome to 4 corners.
This evening we bring you the first Australian interview with Hillary Clinton since her shock defeat by Donald Trump in last year's Presidential Election....and the release of her book "What Happened?"
...
[Hiliary Clinton]'s been grappling with it ever since, watching as the man who openly derided her as "crooked Hillary" has come under scrutiny from multiple investigations into HOW THE RUSSIAN SECRET SERVICE ATTEMPTED TO INFLUENCE THE ELECTION and whether they acted in collusion with the Trump campaign.
SF: ... Do you feel guilty for losing [the Presidential election]?
HC: ... I knew it would be hard, I knew it would be close, but I did not know that I would be running against ah not only Trump ah but the FBI Director and VLADIMIR PUTIN, ...
SF: WHAT ROLE DID RUSSIA PLAY IN THE ELECTION?
HC: I think ah Russia affected ah the ah perceptions and views of millions of voters we now know.
I think that ah their intention coming from the very top with Putin ah was to hurt me and to help Trump.
How, how much of that was a personal vendetta by Vladimir Putin against you?
HC: Look I, I I mean our intelligence community and other observers of Russia and Putin have said he held a grudge against me because as Secretary of State I stood up against ah some of ah his actions, his authoritarianism, ah but it's much bigger than that.
I mean he wants to destabilise democracy, he wants to ah undermine America, he wants to go after the Atlantic alliance and we consider Australia kind of a, an extension of that.
....
MORE SERIOUSLY: nowhere in this does Hillary Clinton provide a single cited example of disinformation from any of the Russian newsmedia [2] for which she blames for her defeat, nor does Sarah Ferguson mention the savage bias AGAINST Donald Trump of all of the American Corporate Newsmedia (with the one exception of Fox News). You can view the whole 45 minute Four Corners episode at the link provided above.
FOOTNOTE[S]
[1] Australian Broadcasting Corporation
[2] In fact, during the 2016 election, RT America, bizarrely TOOK SIDES AGAINST DONALD TRUMP by ridiculing him whilst failing to prominently critique Hillary Clinton's appalling record (see "Has western media bias spread to RT America in anti-Trump shows, despite Hillary's anti-Putin spin?" at /node/5057 (this article) adapted from comment at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45898.htm#IDComment1034203737).
Construction industry betrays Australia, backs overpopulation
The construction industry is fueling fascism, overturning planning laws and democracy, just to make a profit.
https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/jobs-migration-house-prices-create-recipe-east-coast-construction/
Migration Helps Fuel East Coast Construction Activity
Interstate migration to Queensland and Victoria is increasing with house price differentials and jobs growth the key drivers of Australia’s east coast construction and development activity.
Interstate migration however, according to Turner & Townsend, was outpaced by net overseas migration as a driver of population growth in each state leading to an increased demand for the construction of housing, schools, hospitals, shopping centres, transport and infrastructure.
Significant population growth caused BIS Oxford Economics to revise its earlier prediction of an oversupply in Melbourne — indicating that the census figures showing a population growth of 109,000 more people than expected meant the city would now likely experience an undersupply.
The ABS March 2017 quarter figures revealed a decade high of 86,595 net overseas migrants, pushing the total for the year to 231,890 which accounted for 59.6 per cent of Australia’s population growth.
Interstate migration and natural growth saw Victoria rise in overall population by 138,559 in the year to March 2017. Compared to Sydney’s 120,685, Victoria is Australia’s fastest growing state.
A response to a misleading video about the Greek Civil War
The following was posted in response to Churchill and Greece (15/7/2015) on YouTube.
Nick Shepley's claim that the ELAS partisans started the fight with the British Army in 1944 is untrue.
It is also untrue that the ELAS partisans were outfought after they began to defend themselves against the British and their Greek allies who had formerly worked for the Nazi German occupiers.The ELAS fighters fought the British so effectively that at one point the British considered getting reinforcements from Italy and from Belgium where the were fighting against the German Ardennes offensive. The ELAS partisans only lost because they trusted their Communist Pary (KKE) leaders. The KKE, in turn, blindly followed Stalin's orders to retreat in accord with Stalin's infamous agreement with Churchill at the Moscow conference of 1944, to give Churchill '90%' interest in Greece (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentages_agreement).
As I wrote at /GreekCivilWar and http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/greek-tragedy/2921864 on 17 July 2011 :
The Greek Communist Party led the resistance to the German occupation and had overwhelming support of the Greek people. In 1944, the British tricked the Communist partisans into disarming whilst they secretly re-armed those who had collaborated with the Germans against fellow citizens. ... (See above for the rest of this quote.)
The Face of Overpopulation
I agree with you Myrtle! I laughed when I read it in this morning's in Age, AGL, Origin, Energy Australia...... they're in the business of making money, they've screwed us before and they'll screw us again if we let them!
To put it bluntly this the face of overpopulation - the rationing of water, gas, electricity; food will be next!!
Don't discount: ration electricity and reduce immigrant numbers
On the news tonight they are talking about giving people heavy discounts on their power bills this summer if they reduce consumption. This is supposed to be in the public interest to "avoid blackouts" We are running into a brick wall of unsustainability. Looks as though the rich get to have air conditioning and the poor try to weather it! If things are really that bad they should RATION it - for everyone . I bet those power companies will get the same or more from the public. It's disgusting! Not to mention the importation of ever more "customers"
Who, amongst Bashar's enemies, enjoys as much public support?
The following comment was posted in response to an article "Carla Del Ponte – Blames the 'Rebels' for Chemical weapons attack yet wants to falsely convict Assad of War Crimes" (9/7/2017) | The Rabbit Hole by Sarah Abed:
Thank you, Sarah. As you have pointed out: “Dr. Bashar Al Assad … won his latest election in 2014 with 88.7% of the votes in what international observers who were present during the elections deemed as a fair and free election”.
The findings that the election was “fair and free” were vouched for by 5 observers at a press conference at the United Nations on 19 June1 2014. Any reporter who disputed that claim was free to put that to the observers, but not one of them did
.
The full 53 minute video of the press conference is [embedded in the above article].
Who amongst Bashar al-Assad’s enemies can claim anything like that much popular support, even with the all the misreporting in their favour by their newsmedia?
Alternatives to Facebook
Here is one of several articles on alternatives to Facebook.
"What are the best alternatives to Facebook?" (17/5/17) | 1&1
What are the best alternatives to Facebook?
Are you on the hunt for a good Facebook alternative? While it may seem like a daunting task, you can rest assured you’re not alone. Whether it’s because of hidden AGBs, data protection issues, or platform rules and regulations – the reasons for finding an alternative to Facebook are common and more and more users are looking to avoid the Californian social media giant. The market for similar networks is massive, and there’s a large selection of platforms ready to accept Facebook’s digital refugees. In our guide, we’ve already introduced some of the biggest and most important social media platforms around.
But regardless of whether you’re using Twitter, Instagram, or Google+: Awareness and consideration about privacy and data protection are also important factors in choosing to use any of the other social media giants. One common complaint targeted specifically at Facebook is that that Facebook Newsfeed algorithms decide exactly what you do and don’t see. Another problem is personalized advertising, which is of course only possible through accessing and interpreting personal user data. As you can see: the list of criticisms for the social network market leader is long. So it’s good news that there are a few other alternatives to Facebook on the market. Some of these Facebook alternatives offer less advertising, others offer improved data protection, and some even offer extended functions and features that aren’t currently available for Facebook customers.
Contents [ hide ]
The best alternatives to Facebook: an overview
Diaspora
The platform Diaspora is a social world online that puts your data back in your own hands, according to its own slogan. Its range of functions is similar to those of Facebook. Users can publish status updates, share posts and images, and comment on other people’s posts. And just like on Facebook, you can control who gets to see your own posts as well. Diaspora uses hashtags to order posts, meaning that you can use these to find like-minded people who share your interests. Linking Diaspora to your Facebook profile is also possible, and the software has its own chat function. Diaspora is also an open source project.
One of the main features that Diaspora prides itself on is its decentralization. This is to do with its technical background: the platform consists of many different networks, known as pods. User data isn’t collected and stored centrally by the provider, instead the infrastructure is distributed by users themselves, with data carried by these so-called pods. If you have good technical know-how, you can actually operate your own pod, which essentially functions as a server. This means that you can be certain that your private data remains private and in your own hands. Less technically gifted users can use ‘open pods’ in the network instead.
With a little over 60,000 new users joining in the past 6 months, Diaspora is certainly only a very small drop in the ocean compared to Facebook. But its decentralized system and the control over your own data that comes with it makes Diaspora a definite option for users concerned about data protection. Lastly, Diaspora is completely ad-free.
Baby food off to China from Australian supermarkets
Yesterday I saw a young woman in the supermarket with perhaps 10 tins of baby formula in her shopping trolley. She ended up just behind me in the same line at the checkout. A staff member pulled her up and told her she could only have 2 tins. The young woman argued back but the staff member was firm and told her that other people need the product.
I understand there was a baby formula scare -well more than a scare fews years ago in China and some babies died as a local product was contaminated. Australian brands are very trusted so people go out in teams possibly as part of a larger syndicate and buy up in the major supermarkets - The product is apparently sold at much higher prices in China. This has led to shortages locally.
The woman working on the checkout told me it is worse in the mornings - that they enter the store in groups and get us much of this product as they can.
Is it a source of income for the teams of buyers or is it motivated by a form of patriotism - where local needs come second?
Deleted Syrian Girl FaceBook video re-posted by Russia Insider
The Syrian Girl's FakeBook FaceBook video, deleted by the FaceBook thought police, has been re-posted on Russia Insider's FaceBook account. I attempted to embed the video below, but our Drupal content-management system was not able to render the video. To Watch Syrian Girl speak, see "YouTube Bans SYRIANGIRL's Video About Her Facebook Ban - for 'Hate Speech'" (3/10/17) | by Charles Bausman.
<div align="center"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/RussiaInsider/videos/1975420856061481/&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>
Q and A again
Last night's Q and A was about artificial intelligence and robotics. One of the panel excitedly told the audience that there was the prospect of a 3 day week becoming the norm with improved technology. Now that really interests me and heralds a greatly improved quality of life. However I can remember this being predicted by similar specialists and discussed in the media about 30 years ago and for the same reason! It never came to pass. What happened instead in Australia was that people in full time paid employment started working longer hours for the same pay. It also became the norm for 2 people in the same household to need to work to keep ahead of mortgage repayments and other costs of living. This person on the panel appeared full of optimism but there seems to be something stopping the potential Utopia of a universal 3 day week and I would be surprised if it does not stop it happening again. I do , however think it is possible.
SPIFFA: parasitologist Kwak talks ticks, Rosebud West, TONIGHT
Venue: Seawinds Community Hub at 11a Allambi Avenue, Rosebud West, Victoria, Australia, 7.30pm
Mackenzie Kwak is a parasitologist with a research focus on the systematics, ecology and biogeography of ectoparasites, chiefly ticks (Ixodidae) and fleas. He'll be talking about ticks.
More about Mackenzie Kwak's work here: http://wildmelbourne.org/articles/2016/2/10/melbournes-parasites-biodiversity-unseen and here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mackenzie_Kwak
Southern Peninsula Indigenous Flora & Fauna Assoc. (SPIFFA)
SPIFFA Meetings are held in Rosebud on the first Monday of the month. Speakers begin their presentation (around an hour) at 7:30pm, followed by refreshments of the cake variety, before meeting business gets underway. The talks are usually of a high scientific standard as well as entertaining.
Accelerated expansion in Melbourne "Growth Corridor"
Things are becoming worse, all the talk about energy shortage but nothing said about the huge increase in consumers which will continue.
Here in the outer Melbourne growth corridor everything is expanding. getting larger, paddocks being scraped for more building, a push for a huge quarry three time the size of a previous quarry, residents protesting but the applicant says it is necessary to provide more resources for housing construction.
Truckloads of sand racing down the freeway for more concrete and cement, huge concrete supports all along the rail system for constructing the overhead track to speed up the train and transport for more and more travellers as the infinite supply of population continues.
Hundreds of hectares of productive market garden being ploughed in and bulldozed for residential construction, and ambitious developers buying up farmland and green wedge out beyond the UGB confident that eventually the state government will relent under population pressure and allow rezoning for metropolitan expansion and sad disappearance of the environmental landscape with its trees, birds, endangered species etc. Not to mention clogged roads and freeways, hospital queues, medical waiting lists and whatever else. The government plan to develop regional cities is scary.
BIG LIE against Syria demolished 3 years ago at United Nations
This was posted to a discussion following Kurdistan: President Barzani claims victory in independence referendum" (26/9/2017) | Veterans Today. The comment was in response to a post which mentioned that Jim Dean, the Senior Managing Editor of Veterans Today, had monitored an election in Syria. (It was not clear which election Jim Dean observed. If he did observe the Presidential election of 3 June 2014, he was not one of the five observers present at the above press conference.)
The BIG LIE that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a corrupt murderous dictator was demolished at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 20 July at a United Nations press conference of five international observers who had observed the Syrian Presidential elections of 3 June 2014.
For 53 minutes they testified that the elections in which Bashar al-Assad won were conducted fairly (see Syria's press conference the United Nations doesn't want you to see (this article including the 53 minute embedded video above)). At that, election 88.7% of the votes of the 73.42% of eligible Syrian voters, who were able to vote in the midst of the war, were for Bashar al-Assad.
What other world leader, particularly amongst Syria's enemies, can claim anything close to the popular mandate of President Bashar al-Assad?
No-one from the corporate media attempted to put to the observers any one of their 'reports' that the Syrian government had murdered tens of thousands of defenceless Syrian civilians, tortured political prisoners, used chemical weapons, bombed hospitals and schools, .... Their failure to do so was surely criminal negligience, that is, unless they knew these claims to be untrue and would be easily demolished before the whole world by those observers.
Solar Saudi Tycoon
SAUDI SOLAR TYCOON
Saudi Prince M. A. L. Jameel can teach all Australians a lesson (Saudi solar tycoon wins $300m handouts boost, p1,19/9). He is wise enough, and frugal enough, to recycle the profits he and his country are making from exporting non-renewable petroleum into a high profit Moree solar farm.
While us brain-dead aussies, drive around and around in circles in fully imported cars, burning fully imported petrol and diesel. Giving the Saudi ruling family even more cash to buy up even more of our family silver.
Just where did all the profits from iron ore and coal go again?
David Z Hughes
Zaky Mullah, terrorism, and ABC bias on population
We Australians are all so successfully divided by the propaganda. More people should read your excellent article on Zaky Mallah (however spelled) here: "Zaky Mallah and the Zombification of ABC Australia". We also have another article about Mr Mullah and his treatment on Q&A here: "Another analysis of the drama with Zaky Mallah as guest on Q and A"
Yeah, but Nah.
"...and yet Zakky Mullah, a convicted criminal, was given a platform on Q and A to push his twisted agenda."
I'm totally supportive of the broad thrust of this letter but why does the author commit the same prejudicial and essentially incorrect dismissal of another that he deplores having perpetrated upon himself? It needlessly demonstrates that the author is willing to make bold assertions about things that he clearly has no cogent grasp of. I'm sold on the principles of being posited in the letter, but would baulk at having this person represent them for me.
The Age immigration and refugee analysis by Ipsos Global
Although done on a world scale and some 14 months old from Ipsos Global https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/global-study-shows-many-around-wo... throws up some interesting information. To the very basic question "Immigrants make you country a more interesting place to live?" 48% of Australians answered yes. The second question "Immigration has placed too much pressure on public services in your country?" had 51% of Australians agreeing with only some 20% disagreeing.
None of this, of course is news to Candobetter commentators and readers, but the article did field comments from both Bob Carr and Dick Smith. Nick O'Malley and Matt Wade have done a far better job of tackling the immigration issue in Australia than did the ABC. Although I disagree with the comment attributed to David Elliott of Ipsos Global that "Australia bucks the trend in this regard". Given the frame in which the question was asked, the poll is consistent with what we already know.
Probably the most disappointing aspect of the piece was the failure to understand how high immigration rates affect the economy which of course is disastrous. However, hopefully this is start to a longer conversation Australians need to have in the future.
Your face is a type of censorship.
Trolling is what radical leftists would call an organic form of 'social justice.' IF they weren't the main target of getting ribbed for their behaviour of course, and had a sense of humour. It's the silent majority pushing back against the nefarious intent of the vocal minority, and it seems to increase with the frequency of injustice and banality of evil directed against others.
Using postal vote to protest immigration
Not a bad idea, John. Pity you did not start a campaign on this a few weeks earlier. Certainly would have added even more spice to the disagreements on both sides. We really have so few outlets. Wish we could think of a more visible (to everyone) way of protesting. I've always wanted someone to organise picket lines against mass immigration outside all major airports in Australia on the same day and make it drag on for weeks.
Rampant overpopulation
Maybe those us so incensed by sheer ignorance and bastardry of the mainstream media, politicians, property developers and their ilk could write: "No more rampant immigration for Australia" across our postal vote for Same Sex Marriage!
Newspoll: most Australians want sensible population policy
The survey of 1005 adults was carried out this month and reported 83 per cent of respondents believed major parties should have a population policy and 82 per cent agreed population growth was an issue on which politicians needed to act.
Most respondents believed insufficient infrastructure, crowded cities, housing affordability and rising unemployment were the main consequences of Australia’s growing population.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/population-control-in-political-hands-galaxy-poll-finds/news-story/884e160d1429d9b7b01156166eac13ab
Paul Barry Media Watch warning people off population discussion
Quark, you are right. In effect, Paul Barry's attack on Dick Smith was warning people off talking down population. That's why the attack was so out of proportion. The ABC has become the mouthpiece for the 'game of mates' and there is nothing so important to the 'mates' as keeping the population ponzi going. Usually Media Watch's Paul Barry seems to chatter along self-righteously about tiny and puerile subjects and you wonder why he or the ABC bother, but the other night, Mr Barry bared his teeth and turned into a bit of a pit-bull, savaging Dick Smith's reputation. It was obvious that no-one was going to put Mr Barry on a leash that night; Smith had trespassed on ABC Mates property - population size - and so they released the dogs. The ABC (and the rest of the MSM) never stop talking about population, but they are always talking it up. But the rest of us absolutely must approve or shut up.
As you said, "The ABC has had its say. The topic of population is off limits. It is perfectly fine to discuss gay marriage, but not population, unless to join in the ridicule."
More examples of ABC big population bias
From Macrobusiness discussion about Media Watch and ABC Bias on population, https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/09/abcs-media-watch-counters-dick-...
two more examples of ABC bias contributed below:
Schillers wrote:
September 12, 2017 at 9:51 am
Further recent evidence of the ABC’s biased approach to immigration…
(1) Q&A’s “special” on Bill Shorten, broadcast 21.8.2017. Seventy minutes of hand picked questions from a hand picked studio audience and the moderator, Tony Jones. Number of questions even vaguely connected to immigration policy? ZERO.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4708040.htm
(2) ABC Radio National’s Sunday Extra hosted by Tom Switzer, broadcast 9.7.2017. “Why Don’t We Have a Population Policy?”
Whilst on topic the only interview guest was “demographer” Dr. Liz Allen. All questions and answers were framed from the “bigger is better” side of the debate, with little coverage of the negatives of rapid population growth via mass immigration. No other people were interviewed.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sundayextra/2017-07-09/8624258
Media Watch flippant re valid Dick Smith concerns on population
Paul Barry’s flippant assessment of Dick Smith’s serious concerns about Australia’s future is yet another cover example of the
increasingly backroom management style of the ABC, imposing a pro immigration, pro growth agenda on its programs. It is clear that equal space for countervailing arguments just are not being given on the ABC. Even C9 and C7 are doing better than the ABC at giving at least some airtime to Mr. Smith, and arguments around slowing population growth.
Although a worthy issue, the ABC seems to be focused on the marriage equality debate to the exclusion of other issues more relevant to the future standard of living and environment for all Australians. It is outrageous that Mr. Smith has had to spend $1 million on advertising on commercial TV to get his (perfectly reasonable) point across.
Indeed, if he hadn’t made that investment the issue probably wouldn’t have got any media attention at all. The publicly funded ABC, which is supposed to treat all issues impartially, is smugly ignoring critical issues for Australia’s future and insulting the intellect of Mr. Smith
Trolling is a type of censorship
Trolling is an effective means of censoring and closing down discussion. The method is a sort of ganging up on the author of a comment or article that may not fit into a particular mindset or ideology by those whose aim so to silence the author. It is intimidation. The method used by trolls, in my opinion, has a far better chance of working now than it would have a few decades ago when young people were more trained in the art of argument and analysis and more alert to invalid criticisms. The method used is to characterise a discussion or argument rather than to analyse it. In characterising it , the author is named as being ridiculous , or racist or in some other way unacceptable. It is easy to ruin someone's reputation if the characterisation is not countered. If it is left just to hang there in cyberspace it is absorbed by lazy or time-poor minds eager to be accepted in a particular group. It works just like schoolyard bullying to make the author an outcast and to bestow approval on anyone who repeats the accusations. This is of great importance when a vital issue like human population is raised and a powerful influence like e.g. ABC Media Watch last night embarks on a campaign of vicious ridicule, not of the arguments but of the person in this case Dick Smith. The effect of this could well be that people will be afraid to discus the issue with one another for fear of being condemned by a friend or associate. "The ABC has had its say. The topic of population is off limits. It is perfectly fine to discuss gay marriage, but not population, unless to join in the ridicule " This serves to create a helpless population that cannot speak up or act in its own interests. Trolling can be done by individuals on the Internet or by a media instruments like the ABC or The Guardian. Young people desperately need education and training so they are critical and armed against this manipulation.
'Progress to Dystopia' is a genius title for our predicament!
I want to congratulate candobetter.net's new writer, Barbarella, on her title, "Progress to Dystopia," because it encapsulates one of the biggest problems in western society. Most people in Australia and the rest of the Anglosphere are educated to believe in a sort of chronological continuous improvement, which they know as 'progress'. In reality, as Barbarella said to me, "There is no such thing as 'forwards' and 'backwards', except perhaps as regards mathematical knowledge. This 'progress' is used to excuse all kinds of costs imposed by change. (We also hear, 'Change is good'). But much change is caused by catering to overpopulation and overdevelopment, and both these ills are engineered by powerful people. Unfortunately the beneficiaries of engineered population growth pay professional journalists and crowds of trolls to defend these costs and their excesses on the internet, so that when they go to sites that push growth and the progress notion, critics will get all kinds of flack. The trolls are designed to frighten questioners away. People should not be misled to believe that the nasty attacks on people who question population growth are sincere, but they do need to be countered.
Anyway, Barbarella's idea led me to write the article here: Growth lobby trolls and journos, population theories and growth religion
Livin' in the '70s
My apologies to Skyhooks, but those of us who raised in the 60s and 70s are far more liberated than today's generation. However, I think the biggest difference is/was that while we may have been easy going and outward looking, we also had a sense moral responsibility. Compare that with today's society of introspective wowserism and "are my undies showing" facade.
I pose this question to young people who ask me what is the difference between the ages: What is the difference between going to see Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs at the Prospect Hill Hotel (once a month) for the price of a couple of pots and going to to see a band at some entertainment centre (once in a blue moon) for anywhere between $200 & $500?
Humans are social creatures and we like to have that sense of value, the sense of belonging, of being together. I don't see that in much of today's society, many of us have become individuals where the individual reigns supreme. Greed overrides moral responsibility rendering social values redundant.
Part of the reason for this could lay in the fact that the mainstream media only produce one side of a story, only some of the facts, pander to associated interests, corrupt governments, &c. Furthermore, we live in the age of neoliberalism, an age where the almighty dollars holds sway and austerity (read gross stupidity) renders us miserable.
'Natural News' calls for the US to "deal with North Korea NOW"?!
On 3 September 2017, Mike Adams of Natural News published the article North Korea claims breakthrough: Hydrogen bomb warheads and EMP weapons ... it's time for Trump to deal with Kim Jong-Un. The article concludes:
Over the last several years, I've repeatedly warned that North Korea posed a grave threat to the civilized world. It's now clear that North Korea must be dealt with in an aggressive way, even if it means causing collateral damage. South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the United States are all now potential targets of Kim Jong-Un's nuclear strikes. Given that Kim has openly stated his intention to launch nuclear strikes on key U.S. cities, there's no justification for any delay in acting out of national self-defense to stop this threat.
My video explains why President Trump must deal with this threat immediately, without delay:
...
In the video referred to above, Mike Pence repeats the completely unsubstantiated claim, denied by Iran, that Iran possesses nuclear weapons whilst disregarding the fact that Irael, which is supposedly threatened by Iran's supposed nuclear weapons, illegally possesses a large arsenal of nuclear weapons. (I attempted to post the following to that site, but was unable to deal with its authentication.)
I think it appalling that Natural News is now actually calling for military aggression by the United States against North Korea.
The Government of 'North' Korea was founded by Koreans who had resisted the Japanese invaders prior to and during the Second World War, whilst the government of 'South' Korea was composed of Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese invaders. Between 1945 and 1950, the American occupiers and their South Korean accomplices brutally repressed Koreans opposed to their rule. killing tens of thousands. North Korea lost 20% of its population as a result of America's invasion between 1950 and 1953. As Doctor Strangelove (aka General Curtis Le May) once boasted, not one building more than one storey high was left standing at the end of that war as a result of the ferocious aerial bombardment of North Korea by American B52 bombers.
Every year, North Korea faces the prospect of a repeat of that experience, or worse, when the American occupiers and their South Korean accomplices conduct their annual practise invasion (sorry, 'military exercise'). Why shouldn't a country which has been through all the experiences that North Korea has, possess whatever is necessary to deter America from yet more military aggression?
Mike Adam's claim that Iran has nuclear weapons disregards the fact that Iran's civilian nuclear power plant has been inspected on numerous occasions and no evidence of the production of nuclear weapons has been found. He also disregards the fact that Israel supposedly threatened by Iran;s supposed nuclear weapons has a large illegal cache o nuclear weapons.
I would be most interested to so how Ron Paul, whom Mike Adams claims to sympathise with, responds to the above article and video.
Asma's apparent indifference to politics is a loss to humanity
I posted the following to Regime Change in Syria: Your Media Lies to You (25/8/17) | Syria News on 4 Sep 2017:
For all of her towering strength, I think it is unfortunate that the Syrian First Lady, as she, herself, has said on at least one occasion, takes no interest in politics. (With the possible exception of Maram Susli (aka "the Syrian Girl") (aka Mimi Al-Laham?)) her English is more immaculate than that of Bashar, or of any other spokesperson for Syria of which I am aware.
Were Asma'a Al-Assad also to have been a spokeswoman for Syria, a lot more people would have seen through the corporate media lies much sooner.
Approximately one hour of torture
Silly me, I forgot to turn Q and A off tonight and some of its head- hammering propaganda seeped through to my consciousness. Particularly odious was the female journalist who told the studio and home audiences what they MUST think. I must be mad wasting electricity that I have to pay for on this program.
A matter of Taste
I think the soulless buildings we are creating now are a reflection of a soulless people. Utilitarian to the hilt. Or perhaps there is a deliberate attempt to destroy the human heart and human emotions by taking away anything that might inspire love or affection?
We are long way from the beautiful gothic architecture that small communities managed tp build in the 12 century - with all our technology we can only build monstrosities it seems. Who can imagine future generations travelling the globe to be inspired by our modern temples to Ikea, Bunnings etc?
https://youtu.be/bHw4MMEnmpc
The little-known alternative to the 457 foreign worker visa
Still think the Australian government is relatively respectable?
'A new frontier': The little-known alternative to the 457 foreign worker visa
September 2, 2017 - 05:17pmFirst published 1 day ago
By Eryk Bagshaw and Fergus Hunter
A little-known visa category has become a "new frontier for unscrupulous employers" looking to exploit cheap foreign labour at the expense of Australian workers.
The 400 visa, designed to parachute international specialists into short-term roles, has emerged as a "sleeper" category with looser restrictions than the 457 foreign worker visa, which was recently abolished by the Turnbull government in a high-profile "Australians first" crackdown.
Read more here: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/a-new-frontier-the-littleknown-alternative-to-the-457-foreign-worker-visa-20170901-gy8p0j.html
Maupin explains Yemen well
Thanks for this, James. Maupin says that the main reason for the war is to stop Yemen nationalising its oil. I think that is true. And he explains it well. This is, I think, what happened to Australia when the Whitlam government attempted to nationalise our energy resources at the time of the first oil shock in 1973. Countries in the Middle East did nationalise, but since then they have been dismantled through externally caused wars.
Forced downsizing
As the ordinary houses around us in the suburbs and their gardens bite the dust and are ferociously mined for human use underground, high in the sky and fence to fence , the likelihood that you in your modest house will have to "downsize" increases. Firstly your neighbourhood will change radically and very quickly. You will be overshadowed and dwarfed by the scale of neighbouring properties. You will be overwhelmed with the noise and disturbance of construction and infrastructure upgrades necessary for higher density living. You will be forced to pay ever increasing council rates which (combined with ever increasing utility bills) will eventually force the sale of your property. It may not happen to YOU personally. You may be able to hang in there, but inevitably, your property will go.This, to me the de -democratising of home ownership and housing security in cities such as Melbourne. The wealthy will be OK but what was for quite a few decades considered the "average" will disappear.
Australia and Houston same flood-prone psychopathic planning
"Houston calls itself “the city with no limits” to convey the promise of boundless opportunity. But it also is the largest U.S. city to have no zoning laws, part of a hands-off approach to urban planning that may have contributed to catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey and left thousands of residents in harm’s way.
Growth that is virtually unchecked, including in flood-prone areas, has diminished the land’s already-limited natural ability to absorb water, according to environmentalists and experts in land use and natural disasters. And the city’s drainage system — a network of reservoirs, bayous and, as a last resort, roads that hold and drain water — was not designed to handle the massive storms that are increasingly common"
Read More here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/how-wild-west-growth-may-have-contributed-to-devastating-flood-in-houston/2017/08/29/290e4e56-8c13-11e7-91d5-ab4e4bb76a3a_story.html?utm_term=.8b22983544c3&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Could the Syrian war have ended sooner?
I posted the comment below to a discussion beneath the article Pentagon: US Forces To Stay In Syria “As Long As We Need To” (5/12/2017) | South Front.
Starlight, whilst I continue to be appalled by the scale of the overt and covert crimes of Israel against the Arab peoples and the rest of humanity, it is wrong to imply that every jewish person is complicit. I beleive that this sort of language only helps Israel and the United States' government.
President Vladimir Putin made Russia a sovereign country again after almost nine years of misrule by his drunken predecessor Boris Yeltsin. In Syria, Russian military intervention almost certainly saved the government of the popular and democratically elected Presdident Bashar al-Assad which was facing an invasion by hordes of terrorst mercenaries from all corners of the world.
President Putin should rightly be viewed alogside the likes of United States' Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and John F Kennedy and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.
Nevertheless, I think President Putin has shown surprisingly poor judgement in a number of critical conflicts. Even the Syrian conflict has been dragged out needlessly because of Putin's wish to reach a compromise with some of the 'rebels', instead of acting in concert with Syria, Iran and Hezbollah to finish off the terrorists altogether. (How many of the estimated 400,000 dead Syrians, including 80,000 soldiers, would be still be alive today had President Putin acted more decisively?)
Whilst Vladimir Putin was off attending the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics from 7 to 23 Feb 2014, the CIA and their local neo-Nazi Svoboda footsoldiers overthrew the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych. Had Russian government acted more proactively, I beleive there is a good chance that the coup could have been prevented. Unless this coup is reversed, how is NATO to be prevented from eventually placing conventional weapons and even nuclear weapons right on Russia's border?
President Putin's bizarre reconcilatory tone towards the American hegemonists is reflected in much of the reporting and discussion on its RT news service, which is surprisingly tame, given the scale of the criminality of the American government in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and elsewhere. At least tens of thousands have died in each of these conflicts and the total number of dead is several millions. Why should the tone of RT be any less strident in its presentation of the truth than that of the lying corporate newmedia?
Nowithstanding this critique of RT, RT's Crosstalk discussion "Distrusting the News" (6/12/2017, 27:13 minutes) at https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/412064-media-journalistic-standards-deal/ is well worth a watch.