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Initially, back in 1982, 1983, ... I was amongst those who, in ignorance, ridiculed Lindy Chamberlain's claims that a dingo had taken Azaria.

I referred to it in 2009 here (on this site) and here (on larvatusprodeo.net):

"I believed for many years that Lindy Chamberlain killed baby Azaria. ..."

I read "Evil Angels" and saw the movie some time after I initially judged Lindy to be guilty, but that was some time ago.

It seems to me that the death of Azaria can only be explained by one of two implausible explanations:

1. Lindy killed her own child, probably as part of a bizarre religious sacrifice

2. A 'dingo' took Azaria and successfully disposed of the body.

I choose the second as the least implausible.

Veg or Non-Veg? India at the Crossroads by Mia MacDonald & Sangamithra Iyer Brighter Green, 2012. Free 46-page download Brighter Green founder Mia MacDonald and associate Sangamithra Iyer ask, Can India provide enough food for its people as well as support hundreds of millions of cows and buffalo and billions of chickens in increasingly industrialized conditions? And can it do so while protecting its natural resources and the global climate, and ensuring progress in human development? MacDonald, previously a researcher for the United Nations Population Fund, World Wildlife Fund, and Worldwatch Institute, describes Brighter Green as a public policy action tank addressing issues that span the environment, animals, and sustainable development. The questions that MacDonald and Sangamithra raise are not new. They also troubled Sir Sardar Datar Singh, founder of the first modern dairy farm in India. Singh headed the Indian Dairy Science Association from 1948 to 1955, by appointment of the first Indian prime minister, Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru, at recommendation of Mohandas Gandhi. Singh on the one hand led Indian animal agriculture in the present direction, and on the other, inspired and encouraged his granddaughter, Maneka Gandhi, who has for 30 years been the most prominent vegan in India, and the most caustic critic of the Indian dairy industry . Veg or Non-Veg? India at the Crossroads does not introduce much that Singh did not consider, though he is not known to have foreseen global warming. By now, however, the consequences of the various trade-offs that Singh promoted in his efforts to help feed India are much more evident. India in Singh's time had recently endured several of the most catastrophic famines of the 20th century. India today feeds nearly four times as many people, and is a net food-exporting nation. Yet much of the progress that Singh helped to introduce was possible only because most Indians of his era were vegetarians, who rarely consumed non-dairy animal products and by-products. Neither then nor today could India grow enough fodder and pump enough water to sustain high-volume production of meat and eggs. Whether India can sustain the present volume of dairy production is among the questions that MacDonald and Iyer examine. India has a several-thousand-year history of ethical vegetarianism, MacDonald and Iyer open. Vegetables, legumes, and grains lie at the center of the country's varied regional cuisines, but cultural, ethical, and economic strictures on meat eating are weakening. India is no longer a majority vegetarian nation. Only about 40% of India's 1.2 billion people identify themselves as vegetarian, according to a 2006 survey. India's fast-expanding middle class "is driving growing demand for meat, eggs, and dairy products like ice cream and cheese, as well as milk," MacDonald and Iyer assess. India is now among the world's largest producers of milk, poultry meat, and eggs. It has the world's biggest dairy herd, leading the world in production of buffalo milk, ranking second in production of cows' milk. Total Indian milk production increased by 44% during the first decade of the 21st century. An estimated eight million male buffalo calves die from neglect or starvation each year in India, to preserve their mother's milk for human use , note MacDonald and Iyer. In response, India's national Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries has launched a program to encourage raising male buffalo calves for meat, specifically for export. Cows are sacred to Hindus, who are about 80% of the Indian population, MacDonald and Iyer explain, and their slaughter remains controversial, but beef from buffalo is now the second most widely consumed meat in India after poultry. India is also the world's fourth largest producer of eggs and fifth largest producer of poultry meat, principally from chickens, MacDonald and Iyer continue, offering frequent footnotes and sidebars to document their contentions. In 2010, India was the world's fastest-growing poultry market, outpacing Brazil, China, the U.S., the European Union, and Thailand. The costs of producing chickens for meat in India are the world's second lowest, and production of eggs in India is cheaper than in any other country, according to the Poultry Federation of India. World Society for the Protection of Animals president Mike Baker has enthusiastically endorsed the Rural Backyard Poultry Development program, introduced by the Indian Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2009. The idea was to help local egg producers keep the 30% of Indian national egg market share that they then still had, after losing 70% to industrial poultry conglomerates. But that battle has already been lost. Just 10% of India's poultry production remains small-scale or 'backyard,' wrote MacDonald and Iyer just two years after the Rural Backyard Poultry Development program debuted. About 90% of the more than two billion meat chickens produced in India each year are raised in industrial-style facilities, MacDonald and Ayer report. In the 1950s an average of five eggs were produced each year for every Indian, MacDonald and Iyer write. Now, 50 eggs are technically available for each Indian, but while urban Indians eat an average of 100 eggs a year, a rural Indian eats an average of 15, slightly more than one egg a month . The poor & the food chain Although more Indians are eating higher up the food chain, under-nutrition remains stubborn and persistent, MacDonald and Iyer emphasize. Forty-four percent of Indian children under age five are malnourished. One of every three of the world's malnourished children lives in India. Yet, paradoxically, More than 20% of Indians in urban areas are overweight. In India today, MacDonald and Iyer summarize, both malnutrition and obesity-related diseases are among the leading causes of death. The situation is not improving, especially for the rural poor. India is the world's third largest producer of cereals, MacDonald and Iyer explain, after China and the U.S. But after decades of increases in the post-Green Revolution period, availability of food grains per capita is now declining. Increasingly the rural poor are squeezed between drought cutting into grain and vegetable production and food prices driven up by rapidly increasing demand from livestock producers. But the steep rise in meat production and decline of vegetarianism paradoxically do not mean that Indians are on average eating more meat. Consumption of meat [in India] is less than one-sixteenth of levels in China, and one-thirty-fifth of those in the U.S., MacDonald and Iyer explain. Data show that for the period 1997-2007, per capita meat consumption was static or declining. Most of India's meat, eggs, and milk are consumed by those in middle and upper economic brackets. And while India's middle class comprises at most just one quarter of the population, it is the segment growing most quickly-and where shifts in diet are seen most clearly. Livestock industry analysts predict that Indians will never eat as much animal protein as people living in the U.S. or China, MacDonald and Iyer continue, but because the Indian human population is so large, and because the Indian middle class is growing rapidly, small shifts can have large consequences. In particular, MacDonald and Iyer warn, Water scarcity is a reality in all of India's states, and animal agriculture is a significant source of water pollution. Much of the Indian subcontinent is already arid. Global warming is exacerbating the trend. United Nations Food & Agricultural Organization director Jacques Diouf recently warned that as much as 18% of Indian grain production might be lost to drought resulting from anticipated effects of climate change. Offering a succinct yet comprehensive diagnosis of the threats to Indian food security presented by the growth of animal agriculture, MacDonald and Iyer conclude with a disappointingly weak and politically unrealistic set of recommendations. Most call upon the Indian government to reverse policies supportive of animal agriculture that originated with Sir Sardar Datar Singh. These policies are supported by an ever-expanding bureaucratic infrastructure, including the National Meat & Poultry Processing Board, established in 2009, committed to expanding the meat industry and building the meat export trade. A government with these goals is unlikely to reverse course except under political, economic, and ecological duress felt more acutely than the perennial pressure to secure re-election by continuing policies that have proven popular among middle class voters and campaign donors. The mission that MacDonald and Iyer meanwhile envision for Civil society organizations working on environmental, food security, rural development, gender, agricultural, or animal welfare issues is to seek opportunities to work more effectively together to counter the growth of intensive animal agriculture in India. Kindness Farms Yet among the most ambitious projects underway in India to counter the expansion of animal agriculture are the Kindness Farms funded by Australian investment banker and vegan philanthropist Phil Wollen. The Kindness Farms might be described as a hybrid of Gandhian ideals with the notion that doing good can at least break even, and perhaps inspire profitable business ventures. We have inaugurated our latest Kindness Farm in Visakhapatnam, Wollen e-mailed on January 29, 2012. It is huge, attractive, and productive, raising fruit, vegetables, feed-grasses, and flowers, as well as housing rescued cattle, buffalos, dogs, and horses. Kindness Farms will produce significant quantities of organic food, which is almost impossible to buy in India, Wollen said. Organic vegetables and fruit command a high premium in all the Indian cities. So we will soon acquire a retail outlet and will sell our produce directly to rich Indians at a premium. The money will be used to support our animals. The food will be branded Kindness Fresh Foods. We have also launched our fourth Kindness Mobile Restaurant, feeding hot vegan meals to impoverished street people, Wollen continued. The recipients are encouraged to see the food not as charity but as a stipend. They already share the streets and their meager meals with the street dogs. So we ask them to keep their eyes open. If they see puppies being born, or a man whipping a horse, or a lorry hitting a cow, they should call our shelter and we will send our ambulance. This idea is gaining traction in the community. We have committed to a third Kindness Farm in Bangalore, within the Morning Star orphanage, Wollen added. t is already productive--sown, nurtured, harvested, cleaned and cooked by the orphans. An older Kindness Farm in Puttaparthi is growing massively, Wollen said. The food is sold in our organic shop on the main street. We have decided that every Kindness Farm will now have a Kindness Kitchen, Wollen finished, which will provide a hot meal to all the shelter staff and animal herders before they start the day. This means we are assured that they have a full stomach, a healthy vegetarian meal, and good health. They also become very loyal employees. We have also decided to employ as many people as possible from the local village and teach them trades. We also intend to educate their children and teach the parents to read. Countless charitable projects have tried to alleviate animal and human suffering in India. There is no guarantee that the Kindness Farms will be more successful than many that have long since failed and been forgotten. But just as Sir Sardar Datar Singh understood that he had to develop and make an economic success of his own dairy farm before he could influence government policy, Wollen understands the importance of demonstrating his ideas before prescribing them. "Sustainable development" is an oxymoron India is currently home to about 1.21 billion people, representing a full 17% of the earth’s population. India's 2011 census showed that the country's population had grown by 181 million people in the prior decade. Demographers expect India's population to surpass the population of China, currently the most populous country in the world, by 2030. 'Sustainable development' is a contradiction in terms. According to a report in the Times of India (6 May 2010) the government of India will not introduce legislation to reduce population growth. Said Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, We are not in favour of controlling population growth through any kind of legislation, but by way of generating awareness and persuading people to have a small family size for betterment of the health of the mother and child. More than 50% of the population is in the reproductive age of 15-49 years, which imparts momentum to the population growth. California, India, the Middle East and China show the most pronounced groundwater depletion. Water is being pumped out of underground groundwater aquifers faster than it's being replenished, with farming likely the primary cause. In many high-intensity food-producing regions,including the plains of northern China, India's Punjab and the western United States, water limits are already being 'reached or breached'. Sustainability, Carrying Capacity, and Overconsumption

The Delphi Technique: Let’s Stop Being Manipulated! By Albert V. Burns More and more, we are seeing citizens being invited to “participate” in various forms of meetings, councils, or boards to “help determine” public policy in one field or another. They are supposedly being included to get ”input” from the public to help officials make final decisions on taxes, education, community growth or whatever the particular subject matter might be. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, surface appearances are often deceiving. You, Mr. or Mrs. Citizen, decide to take part in one of these meetings. Generally, you will find that there is already someone designated to lead or “facilitate” the meeting. Supposedly, the job of the facilitator is to be a neutral, non-directing helper to see that the meeting flows smoothly. Actually, he or she is there for exactly the opposite reason: to see that the conclusions reached during the meeting are in accord with a plan already decided upon by those who called the meeting. The process used to “facilitate” the meeting is called the Delphi Technique. This Delphi Technique was developed by the RAND Corporation for the U.S. Department of Defense back in the 1950s. It was originally intended for use as a psychological weapon during the cold war. However, it was soon recognized that the steps of Delphi could be very valuable in manipulating ANY meeting toward a predetermined end. How does the process take place? The techniques are well developed and well defined. First, the person who will be leading the meeting, the facilitator or Change Agent must be a likable person with whom those participating in the meeting can agree or sympathize. It is, therefore, the job of the facilitator to find a way to cause a split in the audience, to establish one or a few of the people as “bad guys” while the facilitator is perceived as the “good guy.” Facilitators are trained to recognize potential opponents and how to make such people appear aggressive, foolish, extremist, etc. Once this is done, the facilitator establishes himself or herself as the “friend” of the rest of the audience. The stage is now set for the rest of the agenda to take place. At this point, the audience is generally broken up into “discussion—or ‘breakout’—groups” of seven or eight people each. Each of these groups is to be led by a subordinate facilitator. Within each group, discussion takes place of issues, already decided upon by the leadership of the meeting. Here, too, the facilitator manipulates the discussion in the desired direction, isolating and demeaning opposing viewpoints. Generally, participants are asked to write down their ideas and disagreements with the papers to be turned in and “compiled” for general discussion after the general meeting is reconvened. This is the weak link in the chain, which you are not supposed to recognize. Who compiles the various notes into the final agenda for discussion? Ahhhh! Well, it is those who are running the meeting. How do you know that the ideas on your notes were included in the final result? You Don’t! You may realize that your idea was not included and come to the conclusion that you were probably in the minority. Recognize that every other citizen member of this meeting has written his or her likes or dislikes on a similar sheet of paper and they, too, have no idea whether their ideas were “compiled” into the final result! You don’t even know if anyone’s ideas are part of the final “conclusions” presented to the reassembled group as the “consensus” of public opinion. Rarely does anyone challenge the process, since each concludes that he or she was in the minority and different from all the others. So, now, those who organized the meeting in the first place are able to tell the participants and the rest of the community that the conclusions, reached at the meeting, are the result of public participation. Actually, the desired conclusions had been established, in the back room, long before the meeting ever took place. There are variations in the technique to fit special situations but, in general, the procedure outlined above takes place. The natural question to ask here is: If the outcome was preordained before the meeting took place, why have the meeting? Herein lies the genius of this Delphi Technique. It is imperative that the general public believe that this program is theirs! They thought it up! They took part in its development! Their input was recognized! If people believe that the program is theirs, they will support it. If they get the slightest hint that the program is being imposed upon them, they will resist. This very effective technique is being used, over and over and over, to change our form of government from the representative republic, intended by the Founding Fathers, into a “participatory democracy.” Now, citizens chosen at large are manipulated into accepting preset outcomes while they believe that the input they provided produced the outcomes which are now theirs! The reality is that the final outcome was already determined long before any public meetings took place, determined by individuals unknown to the public. Can you say “Conspiracy?” These “Change Agents” or “Facilitators” can be beaten! They may be beaten using their own methods against them. Public "consultation", meeting, planning sessions are all of they type. The Save Ivanhoe movement, with community "consultation" from the Council, has managed to be conned. The local residents are now part of the consultative process when they objected to the whole idea of high density and high rises in Ivanhoe. Now, they are part of the process in making sure this actually happens - with approval! The community’s interest in its future will be held uppermost in the planning process and demonstrated through an extensive and intensive community engagement strategy, working with Council at every opportunity The Council formed a new Draft Plan in partnership with the community as a guide to development in the Activity Centre. A grand achievement for an community that almost unanimously initially did not want any high rise or high density developments in their Village area! Albert V. Burns writes from Utah and is a regular columnist for the Spanish Fork Press. He has an extensive knowledge of the conspiracy which has been working so hard to destroy this nation and incorporate it into a one world government. He has developed an extensive personal research library and the knowledge to find what he needs, to write his columns.

Previously published on Brasscheck TV and Youtube.

here is another opportunity in Melbourne I note that Kelvin Thomson will speak at the Humanist Society this coming Thursday 23rd Feb. ‘The Humanist case for population reform’ 7:30 for 8 pm Meeting Room Balwyn Library 336 Whitehorse Rd, Balwyn (Melway Map 46 E8) http://www.victorianhumanist.com/

Do governments decide on a rational basis - even economically? Given that sprawl has become a drunken addiction of the Liberal-Labor Party, if a new drug of choice - 'land reclaimation' was touted, why should anyone be surprised by further drunken abuse of taxpayers money to try a novel high? Tigerquoll Suggan Buggan Snowy River Region Victoria 3885 Australia

Think of the property boom if Ballieu drained Port Phillip! The dumb bastard before him spent the State's inheritance on imposing a billion dollar desal plant on wee Wonthaggi, so what's stopping the Ballieu doing a Brumby brain snap? Anyone who votes for the Liberal-Labor Party needs to appoint an enduring power of attorney. 'Tigerquoll Suggan Buggan Snowy River Region Victoria 3885 Australia

Shortsighted 'Airport Gate Immigration' ignores the triple bottom line cost of 'Fully Settled Immigration'. What I mean by this is that the growthist open door encouragement of immigration to the airport, simplistically views a one sided benefit that more people arriving bring more dollars and economic demand. It is like a tour operator seeing tourists arrive and seeing them as tour revenue.

But immigration is not tourism. They stay forever. Unlike tourism, immigrants represent not just revenue, but cost - Triple Bottom Line cost - a phrase that has been little used since the 1980s. 'Sustainability' is more euphemistically malleable.

The economic, social and ecologial costs of immigration are selectively ignored by growthists, particularly government short-termism which just loosk as quick fix employment - aka 457 Work Visas for the mining industry, too mean to invest in training the local population. Meanwhile corporate miner profits are at record levels. The banks are making a killing with more mortgage loans and their profits are soaring.

National government economic numbers look good because demand is up with its multiplier effect on consumer demand, housing demand and numbers employed. But it twists the definition of unemployment. It conveniently ignores the society and liveability metrics and ecological health indicators - these are worsening.

So 'Airport Gate Immigration' has these hoards arriving. Australia's Immigration Department handballs sall the costs to the stats and urban governments where most of these immigrants mainly end up settling. Look at the statistics for Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth - the main destinations of choice by most immigrants into Australia by far.
And so in these places social and governent infrastructure has exceeed capacity - road congestion, public transport congestion, hospital waiting lists, propert demand is through the roof (which contiunues to make growthist property developers richer).

Australia's public utilities are overloaded (water, electricity, public transport, roads) and so major capital investment is being undertaken, robbing treasury resources away from locals who have long funded government coffers from decades of paying taxes. So the taxes now go into multi-billion dollar desalination plants in these cities. Electricity transmission infrastructure can't cope with the population increases in Australia's major capital cities. Traffic congestion is undermining Australian traditional lifestyles as more people have to dedicated more of their day commuting. The Australian Dream - owing a quarter acre block, has all but disappeared and now some growthists even curse it as a folly. Escaping to the backyard is now denied to most young Australians.

Try getting a job and see the queues!

Try finding affordable child care in an Australian capital city!

Try renting a flat in an Australian capital city!

Try buying a house in these cities where one's parents live and like one's parents once could. Children reaching adult age are forced to more away from their parents to more affordable areas, often to the country and interstate. Immigrant demand for urban housing is segregating established local families. The children are forced to move out of the cities their grew up in.

Demand for housing is ruining urban amenity as more high-rise towers become imposed upon established locals. When new housing is built, the necessary public infrastructure is ignored by both the developer and national government - no new schools, child care, public transport, hospitals, etc. Local and state governments are unfairly expected to absorb the cost burden. Housing demand is also driving urban sprawl which is destroying arable land for vital food production. Sprawl is bulldozing ecology and reducing vital remnant habitat into smaller islands, with more species closer to the brink of extinction.

'Airport Gate Immigration' is like burning down you house to keep warm, or eating you arm off because you're hungry. Traditional Australia is seeing death by a thousand immigrants.

'Fully Settled Immigration' on the other hand, is about the full accommodating of immigrants until their are fully settled into their new country. They have work, a home, education, and have happily integrated into Australian society. Fully Settled Immigration respects the full needs and full costs of immigrants, rather than saying ok your own as one exits the international airport for the city. In Australia, history since World War II has shown integration generally takes at least two generations. This is a realistic timeframe for Australian Govermment's immigration responsibility and accountability.

It is time for a moratorium on all immigration until the full settled cost of immigration is known, made public and accepted by the Australian national government and the Australian people. It necessitates nationalising all transport, housing, education, health and all the demands of immigrants in order to alleviate the immigrant cost burden from overstretched state and local governments. The growthist industries need to pay their way too with appropriate infrastructure levies and employment training levies for each on an immigrant per capita basis.

Take the regional Victorian township of Alexandra with its 12,000 residents for instance. For every 12,000 immigrants, the national goverment needs to replicate the same infrastructure that Alexandra enjoys in order to maining Australian social standards. But it needs to do this with no ecological footprint, because ecology is already disappearing with the 26 million already insatiable humans here.

Tigerquoll
Suggan Buggan
Snowy River Region
Victoria 3885
Australia

My thoughts too. How dare they name a piece of urban sprawl after Truganini. After what was done to her in her lifetime and after death, something of value like a public park, nature reserve, a bay a river should be named after her, not a housing development! ABC presenters pronounce her name as applied to the suburb to rhyme with "miner" rather than "Teena". I was told by Tasmanian family members that her name was pronounced Truganini with the "nin" like "win' not "wine".

Well ya gotta laugh when a US Republican presidential candidate proclaims returning the US of A to the perpetual US myth of the 'land of the free'. Do the Republicans mention any thought of closing Dubya's Gitmo? Naah!

When a US citizen is forcibly removed from a Republican meeting and his camera crew "because they were not accredited" and arrested for "unlawful entry" we are witnessing authoritarianism, not freedom. Free speech and public accountability clearly do not fall within US Republican scope of 'freedom'.
That is why Republican extremist, wildlife poacher Sarah Palin has demanded free speech entrepreneur Julian Assange be hunted down and assassinated.
Palin is dangerous.

Is the US Republican Party neo-Nazi or just untouchable?

Does this mean the Tea Party extremist wing of the Republican Party is wearing brown shirts?
It certainly harks to 1930s fascism. Republican presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, is promising Hitler-esk scale military resurgence of America's self-righteous imperial might.

Romney believes America should be "the strongest nation on earth" and argued for an increase in military spending to ensure that the United States can assert military dominance over other nations"...It is only American power--conceived in the broadest terms--that can provide the foundation of an international system that ensures the security and prosperity of the United States and our friends and allies around the world." - Romney said during a speech at the Citadel in South Carolina.

Calling for this to be an "American century" in which "America leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world," Romney said that a "feckless" President Obama mistakenly believes that "there is nothing unique about the United States." Romney argued that the president has weakened the nation economically, militarily and in terms of "the enduring strength of our values."

"America is not destined to be one of several equally balanced global powers," said the former Massachusetts governor. "America must lead the world, or someone else will. Without American leadership, without clarity of American purpose and resolve, the world becomes a far more dangerous place, and liberty and prosperity would surely be among the first casualties."

"The United States should always retain military supremacy to deter would-be aggressors and to defend our allies and ourselves," he said. "If America is the undisputed leader of the world, it reduces our need to police a more chaotic world."

Read More

Tigerquoll
Suggan Buggan
Snowy River Region
Victoria 3885
Australia

Mantle Mining Corporation’s (ASX: MNM) dramatic increase in both share price and volume over the past two days has caught the eye of the ASX, with the company being issued a speeding ticket. In addition, trading volume has increased substantially from 301,371 to 4.52 million yesterday and 14.99 million 2nd February. The company is working towards an Inferred JORC Resource at the Bacchus project, which has an exploration target of 1-2 billion tonnes of brown coal. While shareholders are wringing their hands with delight, not so the residents of Bacchus Marsh! They are being "greenwashed" by the mining company, saying that this coal will lower greenhouse gas emissions in India - where it's being exported to. Lower greenhouse gas emissions emissions in India shouldn't come at the expense of loss of community rights, and the destruction of fertile agricultural land by heavy and invasive drilling machinery in Bacchus Marsh. Paul Connor, from the activist group Quit Coal, will be charged with interfering with a vehicle after police had to use an angle grinder to cut him down after the four-hour demonstration. Bacchus Marsh drill site sparks protest Organised by Quit Coal, the protest is the latest in a series of activities against the West Australian company’s 15-hole drill program. Mantle mining plan to dig a huge, open-cut coal mine, then dry and export coal to India. This project will destroy local farmland fields and threatens ground water, all for the sake of quick export dollars. It requires the burning of brown coal, so any "saving" of carbon emissions fails to take into account the emissions involved in the coal-drying process, involving substantial energy use. Objectors to mining exploration in Bacchus Marsh are worried that native grasses will be destroyed if exploration continues. Concerns for the Parwan grasslands were raised at Mantle Mining's open day on Saturday when almost 100 people were invited to observe the drilling process and its desired achievements. Parwan Landcare spokesman Simon Jolly said he had doubts that rare species of grasslands could be successfully revegetated once ripped up. Mantle Mining has a coal exploration licence to dig up 386 km2 of the surrounding area. Preliminary results of the coal properties have already "exceeded expectations". Mantle has issued a bizarre and arrogant statement saying that while they support the right to peaceful protest, any such protests will not affect their future operations! If protests are already deemed futile they must be confident that any democratic action against their destructive exercises will be stonewalled, due to powerful allies in government. A government spokesperson said prior to commencing work at this site the company obtained consent of the affected landowner and had a compensation agreement in place. How can the intrinsic value of land, of local food supply, the loss of the integrity of their landscape, possibly water poisoning, loss of democratic transparency, and the stress of having such a huge parcel of their area drilled be adequately compensated?

Sponsors of SOPA Act Pulled in 4 Times as Much in Contributions from Hollywood as from Silicon Valley Submitted by Jeffrey ErnstFriedman on Dec 19, 2011 at MapLight Dec. 19, 2011 - The House Judiciary Committee on December 15 held a markup of the so-called SOPA Act (HR 3261), a bill that has produced surprising allegiances and adversaries and has pit some of California's most powerful business interests against each other. The measure, which would crack down on Web sites that offer or sell pirated and counterfeit products, is opposed by a collection of the largest tech companies because they believe it would come at the cost of innovation and future jobs. The bill's supporters, spearheaded by entertainment producers, believe that the measure is necessary to protect consumers from potentially dangerous products and to protect US companies and workers from losing profits and jobs, respectively. The Stop Online Piracy Act would allow the Department of Justice to shut down any website determined to be facilitating online piracy as well as order any Internet search provider to block links to the offending site. The debate over the bill's language has pitted the entertainment capital, Los Angeles, against the tech incubator, Silicon Valley. The measure is supported by entertainment producers such as Comcast, Disney, Sony, and the RIAA. It is opposed by tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Mozilla, and Yahoo! Since the beginning of the 2010 election cycle, the 32 sponsors of the bill have received almost 4 times as much in campaign contributions from the movie, music, and TV entertainment industries ($1,983,596), which support the bill, as they have received from the software and Internet industries ($524,977), which believe the language goes too far.

Geoffrey,

Thanks. I shall check your reference.
Meanwhile, this extract of "Latham's Diaries is revealing reading, as is The Australian-Indonesian Security Agreement - Issues and Implications...
"as defence cooperation between the two countries is expanded, the Australian Government will have to act with care to ensure that it is not embarrassed by being linked to possible human rights abuses by the Indonesian military."

Tigerquoll
Suggan Buggan
Snowy River Region
Victoria 3885
Australia

A reply to Tigerquoll has now been published as an article here: "Keating and legitimising Suharto's dictatorship "

In a recent interview (24 Mb MP3 file here) on 2 November last year with the ABC's Richard Fidler, former 'Labor' Prime Minister Keating dismissed concerns for human rights and democracy in Indonesia. He claimed that figures given by economists proved that ordinary Indonesians had been lifted from poverty to prosperity by the policies of former dictator Suharto, who came to power in the coup of 1965 in which more than half a million members and supporters of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) were murdered.

Read more here: "Keating and legitimising Suharto's dictatorship "

Rudd's willful blindness applied Sri Lanka and now West Papua.
Gillard, Rudd, Smith and Abbott are all in a froth about 'Australia's commitment to Afghanistan' servile to US strategic interests on the other side of the world, yet the Liberal-Labor Party quietly allow atrocities by the Indonesians upon our immediate neighbours.

Similarly Howard was in bed with Bush over Iraq, yet ignored East Timor until Australian homegrown public pressure got him and Downer to finally act.
Read more: 'Howards New Lies On East Timor'

I take you back to an article I wrote 18th January 2010:
'In Sri Lanka, Rudd has emulated Whitlam's willful blindness to the 1975 invasion of East Timor'

Read about Indonesia's official militia's human rights violations in West Papua, just a thousand kilometres from Darwin.
Manukoreri.net

Tigerquoll
Suggan Buggan
Snowy River Region
Victoria 3885
Australia

The Western population growth in Australia, US and Canada is mainly driven by immigrants seeing the land of opportunity, arriving, breeding exponentially and claiming the baby bonuses. Catholic heaven! And the Western baby boomer governments only know economic growth by increasing demand and the fastest way is the immigration red carpet. Problem is none of the politicians studied sociology or will be around long enough to see the social consequences - Third World with all its culture moving in on the First World - net effect is Australia US and Canada become Second worlds - that is a massive Western underclass. I blame the UN do gooders - they don't want to address Third World countries poor standards of living - too hard basket. Rather the UN policy is that the best way to improve Third World standards of living is to move Third World populations to the First World. It is the 21st Century dumbing down social mistake and it has got to f&%#n stop! Tigerquoll Suggan Buggan Snowy River Region Victoria 3885 Australia

It's not just Whittlesea being sold to foreigners.
Forget Australia's affordable housing crisis. Now the Foreign Labor Party is building 'ParanVille' in East Hobart...

Read the following article into today's Hobart Mercury: 'ParanVille nod builds bonus'

'WORK on a $900 million Korean suburb on Hobart's Eastern Shore will start within a year after winning final planning approval yesterday.

Billed as an "integrated lifestyle, education, and residential development", ParanVille will be one of the biggest residential subdivisions developed in the state and promises to give the struggling building industry a massive boost. It is expected to attract residents from Korea, China and Japan who are keen to escape harsh northern winters and the threat of nuclear accidents, its backers said yesterday.

The 158-hectare rural site between Howrah and Rokeby approved by the Tasmanian Planning Commission will become home to more than 2000 new residents and several hundred language students and will generate up to 1000 jobs during the 10-year construction period.

It will feature a language school and residence hall for students. The site was chosen because of Tasmania's international image as a clean, green, safe and politically stable place to live and for its proximity to Hobart's airport.

Foreign Labor Premier Lara Giddings yesterday hailed it as a vote of confidence in Tasmania's new planning system.

"It should give business outside the state, and of course outside investors, some confidence to know that our planning does work and that indeed Tasmania is open for business," she said.

"This project will create jobs in the construction industry at a time when the housing industry is struggling."

Developer Paul Kim's son, Pius, said his father expected strong demand for properties at ParanVille.

"In Seoul right now it's minus 14 degrees. Climate-wise in summer it's really hot and in winter it's really cold in Korea. Tasmania has a much better climate.

"Also, there are other factors such as nuclear risks, typhoons and natural disasters.

"Koreans and Chinese visitors who come to Australia love Australia, but they especially love Tasmania."

Mr Kim said his father was delighted the local community had welcomed the project and it had now passed the final planning hurdle.

"He has been working for this project for nine years now and he is happy to see it to fruition. Almost all the construction work will be done by Tasmanians. Some parts of the planning will be done by Korean workers as well and some Korean construction techniques will be brought over by them.

"When he first came to Tasmania in 2003 there were only 30 Korean people living in Tasmania. Now officially there are about 1080 people living here and there will be more."

The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed news of the development's final approval.

Chamber chief Robert Wallace said the decision sent a clear message to investors that Tasmania was open for business and the project investment would provide a major boost to the state economy.

"This will be a project of state significance, one that will provide a much needed boost to employment," he said.

The manager of Rokeby's Hardware Pro store Ken Mathers said he was looking forward to welcoming the new residents to the area.

"It will have to be a huge spin-off," he said. "It will be ongoing because then you'll have hundreds of well-off retired Korean people living there.

"It will be a boost for every business on the Eastern Shore for us in the short term with the construction, but in the long term it will give us access to hundreds more people."

Tigerquoll
Suggan Buggan
Snowy River Region
Victoria 3885
Australia

The Australian government has generously made a commitment to promoting food security in Africa, including $142 million in aid for the current crises in East and West Africa. (October 11 2011) According to the press release, Africa holds 60 per cent of the world’s uncultivated farmable land however one in three people still go hungry there every day. Under-investment in agricultural research and innovation, along with a decline in agricultural productivity, are key factors affecting Africa’s ability to bring about food security. Australia has unique agricultural and scientific expertise and world class teaching and research institutions that are well-suited to African agriculture and food security. This expertise includes dry-land and tropical farming, climate change adaptation, commercialisation of agricultural research and water and soil management. Press office - Australia strengthens food security in Africa Australia’s total funding in response to the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa now stands at $128 million - including $98 million in humanitarian assistance and $30 million for the region’s long-term food security. However, nothing has been recommended for funding family planning, or reproductive health for women. Africa is a Malthusian nightmare, and there are limits to how Nature can be expected to be as generous as our government, and deny its limits to feed more hungry people. More than 13 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are in urgent need of food and humanitarian aid because of consecutive droughts, following two poor rain seasons. The United Nations has launched a $2.48 billion international emergency appeal in response to the crisis. The warnings from the environment are obvious, and need to be heeded. The elephant in the room is that food production over the last decades has increased arithmetically, but population growth has increased geometrically, outstripping food supplies. The Australia government's International Food Security Centre should a study how to stablilze global populations, ensure our own food security, and promote a steady-state economic model. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that Nature has her own unemotional way of enforcing equilibrium on the planet. If there are too many people at any moment, there will be a tragic shift to more appropriate numbers. Throwing money at corrupt regimes won't help, and there is a limit to how agricultural science can cajole and extort natural ecological systems to produce more food! By 2031 our projections indicate that 95% of possible population outcomes for Australia will put the population between 27 and 33 million. Twenty years later in 2051, it spans 29 to 43 million. The proportion of the population aged 65 years and above will lie between 21% and 28%. Our present economic growth model is contradictory and hypocritical as it forces us to ignore all Nature's warnings on the limits to growth in deference to a bigger GDP, and a bigger Australian population. We need to end being an "immigration nation" and become a vibrant, mature and stable nation guided by common-sense and strategically balanced policies, not based on sacrificing long term survival, amenities and food security for the short-term cash grabs of population growth. Australia's population growth, security and food security should also be holistically addressed, along with a consuming economic model that demands perpetual growth!

RE The Australian Party not recommended comment above

Yes, Katter's big Australia mandate for more foreign labour sux, as does unresticted bush bashing and cattle bashing.
I should have read the red print.

Tigerquoll
Suggan Buggan
Snowy River Region
Victoria 3885
Australia

Tuesday's landslide in the Papua New Guinean mountain town of Mendi, which has reported as many as 60 people dead or missing, is likely due to deforestation and mining.

Similarly, the Tweed Shire's ongoing deforestation such as that currently threatening Kings Forest will see Tweeds fancy new 'River Device' brand come back to haunt it.
How many people have been evacuated from Tweed Shire homes this time around? Check today's news report.

Council approval of deforestation and encouraged land use development has massively increased surface runoff and is culpable negligence, just like the Brisbane City Council's approval of riverside developments on flood prone river flats and the Queensland Government's encouraged deforestation of the Brisbane River valley out along the Warrego Highway to Ipswich and Toowoomba.

Bring on class actions and drive the Tweed Shire Council bankrupt! 'Together Forward'...and out to sea!

Tigerquoll
Suggan Buggan
Snowy River Region
Victoria 3885
Australia