Comments
Questions and shows the downside
SMH did not publish this letter - wonder why?
Since when did Sydney rescind from Australia's sovereignty and become an "international city", as assumed by Stephen Hegedus? (letters 18/11). This generation should not have to lower expectations of home ownership
and living standards, what was enjoyed by previous generations.
If Manhattan is an example of unaffordable housing, then this is what we need to avoid, not celebrate!
The problem is the Ponzi housing and economic growth scheme, supported and promoted by our governments. While it's easy to point the finger at the greed of investors, and the GFC, they all exacerbate the public's
slide down the Ponzi of endless population growth, and the privileges it gives to the investors and bankers at the pyramid's apex. Such pyramid schemes thrive on accumulating more and more victims, adding to homelessness, debt, unemployment, costs of living and intergenerational declines in life's expectations.
A stable population would level out the costs of housing, and ensure that future generations are not denied the well-being, living standards and opportunities enjoyed by past generations.
Kangaroos and wildlife have no protection
Mother Agnes excluded from [Don't] Stop the War conference
Mother Agnes and the ‘liberal’ hawks out to silence her
of 20 November 2013 by Neil Clark on Russia Today
Just when you thought the ‘liberal interventionists’ and neo-cons couldn’t stoop any lower, they just have.
The ‘pro-free speech’ but actually very anti-free speech bullies have got a new target. A 61-year old nun called Mother Agnes-Mariam who has been living in Syria for twenty years and who runs a campaign called Mussahala (Reconciliation).
For the West‘s ‘liberal hawks’ and serial interventionists, this elderly lady, who is working tirelessly for peace and an end to the bloodshed in Syria, has become Public Enemy Number One.
Mother Agnes has been subject to a vicious internet campaign of character assassination, smears and defamation. We’ve been told that she is an ‘Assad apologist,’ ‘Assad‘s favourite nun’- she has even been called ‘the Syrian equivalent of one of Hitler’s brown priests’.
When the liberal hawks and serial warmongers saw that Mother Agnes had been invited to speak at the forthcoming international conference of Stop the War, they had a collective hissy fit.
of 17 November 2013 by Neil Clark
‘Investigative Journalist’ Scahill Takes Swipe at Mother Agnes
of 17 November 2013 by Richard Edmondson
Jeremy Scahill, the “investigative journalist” who once publicly expressed his belief in the official 9/11 story, says he won’t take part in an international antiwar conference scheduled for later this month if he has to share the same platform with Syrian nun Mother Agnes.
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012
overpopulation makes people vulnerable to extreme weather
ForceChange - Stop the Abuse of Racing Greyhounds
Russia Today remembers the 50th anniversary of JFK's murder
As the 50th anniversary of JFK's murder on 22 November approached, the mainstream media (msm) and phony alternate media, could no longer, with any credibility, continue to ignore the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In 1991 Oliver Stone, for a while, awakened interest from the broader public in Kennedy with his epic movie JFK starring Kevin Costner. Costner played Jim Garrison (1921-1992) the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, who tried to bring the murderers of JFK to justice and, upon whose book, On the Trail of the Assassins, JFK is based.
Since then, the msm recommenced its disappearance of President Kennedy, who if nothing else, was handsome, glamorous, witty and charming. At 43 years of age upon his inauguration in January 1962, he was the youngest ever President of the United States. Any other former President with those qualities and nothing else, would have been written about extensively in the msm in past decades. Instead, his story was forgotten except for the occasional sensationalised reporting of alleged sexual indiscretions by Kennedy.
In recent weeks, a supposed 'commemoration' of the approaching 50th anniversary has begun by amongst others, Australia's SBS television, consisting mostly of 'documentaries' which conceal most of the important facts about him and his murder. Instead, they focus on his romance with Jacqueline and trivial controversies. One such 'controversy' is Australian detective Colin McLaren's theory that the fatal shot came from a car directly behind the President. His 192 page book, which addresses not one of the other controversies of the day nor anything else about President Kennedy, contains no section of other works on the assassination of Kennedy. Why the SBS considers credible any 'researcher' who has not referred to the many other published works on Kennedy's assassination is not clear.
To the contrary, Russia Today published in a country, which was three times saved from the devastation of nuclear war by President Kennedy's courage, have begun to make known the true significance of JFK and the conspiracy to murder him. The article is 50yrs after JFK assassination: Choose your side in war on freedom of 18 Nov 2013 by former BBC journalist Tony Gosling.
One other site on which credible reporting of the 50th anniversary is to be found is Global Research (GR) although I feel that the issue deserves more prominence by GR. The republished review of James Douglass's excellent JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters is most helpful.
Where does one start with stopping animal mistreatment?
Moon travel is the next option
Poor defense of economists in this comment
Japan slashes greenhouse gas emissions target
Peace only possible when Syrian 'rebels' masters held to account
Booming housing market leaves first-home buyers behind
Kevin Rudd resigns
Images in "Gimme Shelter" video take stand against war
Whilst Sir Michael Jagger, since he was knighted in 2002 may not have been particularly outspoken against war and injustice, he and his band were notably outspoken against the Vietnam War in the 1960's. In this spirit, the embedded video of their 1969 hit Gimme Shelter features many images of the US Government's murderous war against the Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao people in which at least 3 million died. There are also other images of other controversial political issues including the Blockade of Cuba and 9/11. The first image in this video is of President John F. Kennedy who tried to end the Vietnam before he was murdered 50 years ago on 22 November 1963.
Editor's Note (29/1/2022): To understand why the above Video of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" has been made unavailable, please read Universal Music Group and YouTube Agree to Forget About Fair Use (27/6/2014) | Public Knowledge by Michael Weinberg:
Today Public Knowledge artist-in-residence Elisa Kreisinger unveiled a new blog post detailing how Universal Music Group (UMG) and YouTube turned their backs on fair use. You should read her full story here, but the short version is that YouTube and UMG agreed to let UMG take down videos, even videos making fair use of UMG music. That means that UMG could take down videos that did not infringe on UMG copyrights.
Normally, UMG would only be able to take down videos that could infringe on UMG controlled music. Elisa believes that her mashup video makes fair use of UMG music, and therefore does not infringe on any UMG copyrights. While the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows a host like YouTube to keep showing a video if the creator asserts fair use, in this case YouTube decided to ignore Elisa’s argument and let UMG take the video down.
Obviously, this is a problem. The DMCA notice-and-takedown rules were specifically designed to allow intermediaries like YouTube to host controversial content without fear of copyright liability as long as they stayed out of judgment about what did and did not infringe copyright.
Fair use prevents rightsholders from silencing critics with the threat of a copyright infringement lawsuit. By giving UMG the ability to take down videos that use their content regardless of fair use, YouTube has given UMG sweeping power to control what is – and is not – said about UMG and UMG artists. UMG should not be asking for this kind of power, and YouTube should not be granting it.
This agreement also highlights a growing – and troubling – trend in the world of copyright. Rightsholders (and some government officials) have increasingly been calling for “voluntary agreements” to increase rightsholder control and the obligations of intermediaries. The agreement between YouTube and UMG shows what happens when big industry players are brought together to work something out: users lose. Large rightsholders use the voluntary agreement frameworks to undermine key user rights. While things like fair use matter a lot to individual users, it may not be worth it for either side to insist that fair use is protected in a voluntary agreement. Users only realize what happened when something they relied upon – like fair use – suddenly disappears from important platforms.
Fortunately, there is an alternative way to address copyright’s problems. Instead of pulling big players into a back room to cut a deal, we can use the actual legislative process. While no process is perfect, reforming copyright through the legislative process gives the public, users, and smaller content creators an opportunity to participate. It increases the likelihood the improvements will benefit everyone, not just the largest commercial parties.
Our copyright system is in dire need of fixing, but private agreements are no substitute for real policy fixes. As Elisa’s case vividly illustrates, when private agreements undermine fundamental parts of the law everyone except the biggest players lose.
Wikileaks: Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)
Irish children also taken from their parents without consent
Tracing Rights
Wednesday 13 November Boroondara takes VCAT to Court
10.30am tomorrow morning in Court 12, Ground Floor, 210 William Street, Melbourne.
Tomorrow, Wednesday 13 November 2013, Boroondara Council is taking VCAT to the Supreme Court over a decision
It involved a heritage listed house in a heritage area, where apparently the heritage value was ignored and they approved it to be pulled down and to build a great big block of concrete and glass flats.
This will be a big test of the value of heritage and there might be some of you with time and interest to go and listen to the arguments.
The decision will have great importance to many.
The hearing will commence at 10.30am tomorrow morning in Court 12, Ground Floor, 210 William Street, Melbourne.
States under pressure to allow gas exploration
East-West Link a crime against Melburnians
Cutbacks in CSIRO jobs
Another live export expose!
Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult
Councils opt for a NIMBY approach to planning!
Australian government climate change denial
Speaking their language
Well, I guess this invoce will be a language that VicForestsw will understand.
Support for your efforts to stop the live animal export trade
Duck hunting protestors, and loggers, to get more protection
Plan to cut Abbot Point dredging rejected by State Government
Kangaroo testicles - a Chinese aphrodisiac?
Fears of Great Barrier Reef developments
Miranda by-election: Liberals should take warning
Andrew Wilkie MP media release: live export
To Barnaby Joyce
Politicians have blood on their hands
Oz Gov helps Corporates to put boot in
ABC 774 Kelvin Thomson 4.20am talk-back on population
Kelvin Thomson on Melbourne local talkback radio 4.20AM tomorrow
I received the following from Jill Quirk:
Dear SPA member,
You may wish to listen to this program (see below) early tomorrow morning and you can ring in with your own view point.
Sincerely
Jill Quirk
President Sustainable Population Australia , Victoria and Tasmanian branch
Tomorrow morning Thursday 31st October at 420am on ABC Radio with Michael Pavlich, Kelvin Thomson will be doing an extended interview on the issue of global population and Australia’s population growth. The interview will then be followed by talkback callers with questions and discussion for Kelvin. We understand the interview will be broadcast nationally and can also be listened to online. Details are as follows:
— Tune in to your LOCAL ABC Radio frequency (eg in Melbourne 774am) to hear the interview
— Or stream online and follow the prompts at http://www.abc.net.au/overnights/
— Talkback calls will be taken at 1300 800 222
— Send in texts during the interview at 0437 774 774
Look Local First: Keep Labour Market Testing - CFMEU petition
Petition to reclassify dingoes, and have a National Dingo Plan
English language daily Newscast of Syrian TV
The following is one of 28 English language Daily Newscasts of Syrian TV on the Syria RTV YouTube Channel. Links to other Youtube broadcasts are listed below. The English speaking presenters are composed, calm and show remarkably good humour given the appalling bloodshed suffered by their fellow Syrians these past two and a half years.
Earlier daily Newscasts of Syrian TV
October: 27 26 24 22 21 20 19 15 14 13 12 10 9 6 3 2 1
September: 29 26 24 23 22 21 19 17 16 15 14.
The death toll is estimated at above 100,000 and much of Syria's infrastructure has been destroyed. But, as this broadcast shows, the terrorists have been made to pay for their crimes by the Syrian Army.
But no country can endure indifinitely the trials that have been imposed upon Syria. The governments of countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States and France, who are waging proxy war against Syria using the terrorists must be held to account by their people. On 12 October, PressTV reported that Tunisians protested in defence of the Syrian Government and against their government's support of the terrorists. More should follow the Tunisian protestors' example.
Queensland - easier to "cull" kangaroos for "damage mitigation"
Selling public assets & Medibank
The coalition claims that privatized companies are more efficient than public ownership. An historical overview shows that efficiency depends upon the leadership in both public and private businesses. That is the key factor.
Ideology is the main factor driving the coalition – meaning that profit for private interests comes before national interest. Looking at public assets for sale or sold or open for sale, by both coalition and Labor governments, short-term funds for the government that sells off the public assets is their major consideration, regardless of the future golden eggs the geese may produce.
The sale of Medibank Private is against the public interest.
It is a cash cow for the present and future governments.
It is the best way of keeping premiums of all the private medical insurance schemes down, which otherwise can rocket. See the American example, which should frighten us. ‘Regulation’ is open to manipulation for private profit and can be bureaucratic tangles without the publicly owned Medibank Private to set the example.
It does not cost the public anything.
Offices combined with Medicare offices are efficient.
Val Yule
All sales of public assets need to be fought by the public who own them. The examples of past sales should frighten us - e.g Telstra and airport parking,
Wombat hit
Wildlife road collisions need educational reporting
Stupid 9MSN news vilifies wildlife
Net energy analysis controversy
Nothing but spin and lies
EIA inflates shale gas gains denies problems
Within the last couple of years ASPO-USA colleagues and I have communicated with and met with top EIA and DOE officials who constantly lied to us about what they knew and what they didn't know. The New York Times obtained internal emails showing EIA technical experts knew about serious oil & gas constraints while EIA top managment was spouting the Cornucopian concensus.
Some relevant articles on this:
Shale gas won't stop peak oil, but could create an economic crisis
Overinflated industry claims could topple optimistic growth forecasts within just five years
Dr Nafeez Ahmed, June 21, 2013
Victorian planning minister - population stability ridiculous
Excellent, Accurate article
Moreton bay under threat
Victorian 'Planning' Minister: population stability 'ridiculous'
Try to follow the logic in Matthew Guy's argument.
From Cutting migration ridiculous: Guy in the Melbourne Age of 21 Oct 2013 :
- Debate about overseas migration and population growth is ridiculous because Victoria has embraced faster growth in the past, Planning Minister Matthew Guy said.
- ''This country was growing faster on a percentage basis, Victoria was growing much faster on a percentage basis, in the 1950s and '60s … it was managed in a spirit of co-operation and as a positive challenge and one that this country and in particular the state of Victoria accommodated without a great deal of fuss,'' [Matthew Guy] said.
- ''If we ended all overseas migration tomorrow, Melbourne would still add the population of Adelaide [1.2 million people] through natural increase in that period alone,'' Mr Guy told a Property Council of Australia growth summit in Melbourne.
- [Matthew Guy] said ''the issue of managing population increase with services and infrastructure and planning'' would be ongoing.
Given the gridlocked peak hour traffic and lack of public transport and other services to many new belts of Melbourne's urban sprawl, I would have thought it self-evident that neither Matthew Guy's Government nor any previous Victorian state government had managed "infrastructure and planning." So why should we expect any better from him from now on?
Video of Syrian victims of 2.5 tonne car-bomb in Hama
Below is an embedded 2 minute, 48 second Russian-language broadcast with English sub-titles. Be warned : Some of the images are truly shocking and not suitable for viewing by under-age viewers.
On 21 October 2013 Australia's SBS News misreported that "it's thought that most of those killed were government troops." (emphasis aded)
Al-Jazeera, which is infamous for having mis-reported the Syrian conflict, persists in using quotation marks, as if it still considers the perpetrators of these crimes to be freedom fighters and not terrorist mass murderers. An example is the illustration in the story, Dozens killed in Syria suicide bombing of 21 October 2013. The caption underneath the the included image of the devastation, reads:
'Syrian state media blamed the attack on "terrorists" [SANA/Reuters] '
Help for wildlife in NSW - from Maryland Wilson
Dear friends throughout NSW
Injured and distressed animals that have survived the bushfires in the Blue Mountains are emerging from affected areas and seeking refuge. Greg Keightly, branch disaster coordinator of the volunteer organisation Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Services (WIRES) in the Blue Mountains, said the animals included ringtail possums, sugar gliders, birds, swamp wallabies, echidnas, lizards and wallaroos.
Mr Keightly said during previous bushfire disasters, animals had taken weeks to emerge, but the current conditions coupled with the destruction of urban areas meant that on this occasion injured animals had been seeking refuge immediately. He said the animals were distressed, had been badly affected by smoke and that many were suffering from burned paws and fused claws which had been melted by heat.
Mr Keightly said concerned people could make water available for animals in need, but stressed that shallow dishes of water should be used as deep vessels could lead to drownings.
He also reminded people to be aware of the risk that domestic animals posed to wildlife and urged them to keep dogs inside at night.
WIRES advises people to keep a cardboard box and towel in the boot of their car in case they encounter injured wildlife. It recommends that burned animals can be wrapped loosely, placed in a box, kept in a dark, quiet and warm place and offered water but not food.
Mr Keightly advised members of the public to immediately call the 24-hour local WIRES hotline on (02) 4754 2946 or 1300 094 737 if they needed to report a rescue.
He said the organisation ensures animals are cared for until their local habitat regenerates and they can be safely released back into familiar territory.
WIRES has established a Bushfire Appeal Fund to help injured, homeless, orphaned and disoriented animals.
ABC news: Animal victims of the Blue Mountain bushfires seek refuge
NSW Bushfire Emergency Appeal WIRES
24 October 2013. Please add further miscellaneous comments to Miscellaneous comments from 24 October 2013. - Ed
Shark nets in Australia killing Pacific sea life
KIng's anthropocentric world-view is evidence of denial
'Selfish' describes developer lobby vs democracy (NIMBYs)
Kelvin Thomson says “State of the States” Misleading and Shallow
No "plan" can fix poor planning that assumes unlimited growth
2009 video of care for koala rescued from bushfire, ...
Wildlife carers could also consider recording their rescue efforts on video and publishing them on Youtube. A search for "care for injured australian wildlife" (quotes omitted) gave me the following broadcasts amongst others:
Australian bushfire koala victim: Mystery Girl - 2009
Baby Brushtail feeding
Dophin massacres in Peru to bait endangered sharks!
This animal died too
Albert Park Victoria: Possum attacked by dog and human today
The Hon. Kelvin Thomson MP - Speech at the Fenner Conference
“Very Generous Immigration Program” Pushing Out Would Be Home B
Drinking recycled effluent 'inevitable' in smarter Australia?
Australia to be hit hard by climate change
Labor must cast off the yoke of economic neoliberalism
Matthew Guy is not a town planner
Albanese should have won leadership contest
Martin Bryant
Other government policies are dissected, not population growth?
A species more "successful" than humans!
No Democracy for Hanging Rock - watch ABC 11/10/2013
Albanese is obviously doing something right ...
300 African migrants died on the way to Italy
Human population, church and kangaroo myth
Petition to investigate the impact on the Melbourne Zoo
Universities have adopted a business model
Pilliga threatened with CSG extraction
Stop the Pilliga Forest coal seam gas mining
Farmers and environmentalists don't want CSG mining, but the government is likely to face a backlash from the minerals sector unless it acts.
Critics fear that fracking not only opens up cracks in the coal seam, but could also result in gas escaping into drinking water as it rises to the surface. It would be economically reckless and short-sighted for the supply of CSG to destroy valuable farmland, and compromise underground water supplies. There are fears from some landholders that the ban in Victoria will be lifted.
Coal seam gas is a fossil fuel that is almost entirely made up of the greenhouse gas, methane. It's feared that large tracts of farmland will become unavailable for food production, forests and native bushland will be cleared and fragmented.
According to the industry, developing new supplies is absolutely critical if Australia wants to put downward pressure on energy prices. However, the gas industry want to drill more and more wells to meet their lucrative export contracts, and our prices will be linked with the much higher Asian market.
If it comes to a choice of harvesting underground coal seam gas, until it expires, or the long term integrity of our land, food and water supplies, then it would be counter-productive to prioritise the former over the latter.
The Pilliga is a vast expanse of bushland, located between Narrabri and Coonabarabran in western NSW. This iconic area of public land is under threat from the largest coal seam gas project ever proposed for New South Wales.
The Wilderness Society has been most concerned about the possible impact on the Pilliga forest and Channel Country region of Queensland's Cooper Basin. The government is prepared to relax environmental laws, or "green tape", for gas exploration.
Pilliga forest home to many threatened species, including the koala, Pilliga mouse, superb parrot and southeastern long-eared bat and regent honeyeater. A new ecological study of the Pilliga Forest in north-west NSW has found it is a “Noah's Ark” or refuge for many bird and mammal species that are declining across Australia.
Santos says it believes its CSG operations in the Pilliga can supply 25 per cent of the state's gas needs. More than 54% of Australia is covered by coal and gas licences or applications, and its clear that mining companies are riding roughshod over our governments and local communities. Dead animal bones in the bottom of a coal seam gas wastewater pond, according to the Stop Pilliga Coal Seam Gas movement,
The NSW government gave approval for the drilling in the woodlands in eastern Australia under stringent environmental conditions. The NSW government is hoping that a successful development by Santos of its coal-seam gas development in the Pilliga Forest in the northwest of the state will both satisfy some of the state's energy needs and demonstrate that coal-seam gas is not as environmentally harmful as its opponents claim.
Martin Bryant not guilty ?
Cynthia McKinney: Libya still being bombed by drones, occupied
From FaceBook (emphasis added).
I was just told that Libya is still being bombed by U.S. drones and that NATO troops from Germany, Italy, France, and US mercenaries are there. Sadly, I was informed that Blacks comprise the bulk of U.S. mercenaries on the ground in Libya. This is not what Malcolm, Martin, the Black Panthers, and others sacrificed for—so that Blacks in the U.S. could go off and help destroy another country, especially one in Africa trying to unite Africans.
Conservationists are being criminalized
Melbourne Zoo will be near the ramps to the East West Link
Intermittent hope
Devastating to read this
18 October Wildlife Atlas launch Mornington Peninsula
This is your invitation to attend a public lecture organised by the South Eastern Centre for Sustainability as part of its AGM scheduled for 7pm at the Mt Eliza Community Centre on Canadian Bay Rd on 18th October. The lecture will formally launch the Mornington Peninsula Wildlife Atlas by leading ecologist Malcolm Legg. Live music and refreshments will follow.
A government devoid of morals - by Jill Redwood EEG
Stop a commercial kangaroo industry in Victoria
Hunter Valley food bowl plan faces urban development pressures
Albanese and Shorten differ on immigration, population growth
Earlier tonight on the Q & A debate for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, Bill Shorten (approximately 44 minutes into the 1 hour, 5 minute broadcast) gave a long speech about how the Labor Party was a Party for high immigration and population growth, whether for refugees, "skills migration" or family re-union. Shorten acknowledged that Australia was environmentally fragile, but quickly restated "immigration is a plus for us".
Anthony Albanese responded that we first need to build the necessary infrastructure, make sure that we have proper settlement programs and ensure that the immigrants had skills that matched our needs.
It is many decades since these conditions were met. As a result, immigrants have been crammed into already overcrowded cities. Housing costs have increased as a result of insufficient housing stock for the larger numbers of people requiring shelter. Roads have been gridlocked and our schools, hospitals, public transport and other infrastructure have been strained as a result of having to handle larger numbers.
Had Anthony Albanese's proposals been Federal Government policy, it would not have been possible for the Federal Government to impose the chaotic immigration programs that we have experienced in recent decades.
Australias abandonment of greenhouse gas emission targets