More random thoughts.
UN World Leaders Meet in New York to Discuss Climate Change
Except for ours (and India and China though China did send their Deputy Premier). Prime Minister Tony Abbott will not attend the meeting, even though he is due in New York a day later to address the UN and hold a series of meetings with world leaders in an effort to combat terrorism.
Apparently Greg Hunt didn’t want to go either (or wasn’t asked), so we will be represented by Julie Bishop. I can only assume that they hope they won’t yell at a woman.
They are pleading for money for the Green Climate Fund to help developing nations, as well as an action plan for 2050. In its infinite wisdom, our government is refusing to give any money or to look further than 2020. A six year climate change action plan is not something I would like to try to defend either. No wonder the chicken shit passed up this photo opportunity.
People from Kiribati have been pleading with the world to listen. They estimate that, without drastic intervention, the vast majority of their nation will be uninhabitable in 30 to 60 years.
At the Warsaw climate change conference (the one we didn’t go to), the lead negotiator from the Philippines said:
“To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair. I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice caps, to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned, to the hills of Central America that confronts similar monstrous hurricanes, to the vast savannas of Africa where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death as food and water becomes scarce. Not to forget the massive hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of North America. And if that is not enough, you may want to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.”
“Terror” Raids in Sydney and Brisbane.
Apparently two young men have been arrested – one has been charged with possession ammunition without license and unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon. Another has appeared before the courts charged with conspiracy to commit acts in preparation of a terrorist act and financing terrorism.
Two women were issued future Court Attendance Notices. The rest have presumably been released without charge.
The only evidence presented so far is that the arrested man received a phone call from a bad man urging him “to commit an act that would “shock and horrify” the Australian public”. Well Joe Hockey certainly achieved that with his budget. Will Treasury be stormed by 800 paratroopers?
I wonder how much more profitable it would have been to quietly collect these young people and ask them, individually, why they are feeling disenchanted with Australian society, or if this is purely an overseas adventure? Perhaps listening to them would bear more fruit, particularly if it was done by members of the Muslim community who could speak to them about the peaceful message of Islam and how to live in a predominantly non-Muslim community.
We need to understand why some young Australians want to join this fight and what they hope to achieve. We need to talk to them about their rights in a pluralist society and the need to protect those rights for all citizens. I don’t think they hate Australia – I think they are caught up in the same sort of thing that attracts young people to gangs and charismatic religions.
Tony Abbott thinks it is ok to smack your kids. To get more Aboriginal children to school, he employs more police and truant officers. He uses the Navy to block asylum seekers from seeking refuge here. They are changing laws about presumption of innocence and the requirement of proof. They can detain people incommunicado without charge and are absolving officials from culpability. Before a plan is even made, he has sent troops and jets to the United Arab Emirates. Aggression by the government is inversely proportional to the erosion of our rights.
Scrapping the mining tax
In the common man’s fight to uphold Tony Abbott’s refusal to share in the superprofits of mining companies, not only did we give up $3.4 billion in revenue (according to MYEFO), this is what they cost us:
– The Small business entity (SBE) instant asset write-off threshold has been reduced from $6500 to $1000 for assets purchased after 31st December 2013.
– Accelerated depreciation for motor vehicles repealed. This means no up-front write-off of $5000 or accelerated depreciation rate for assets purchased after 31st December 2013.
– Superannuation Guarantee (SG) charge percentage will be halted at 9.5% until 2021 at which point it will go up 0.5 per annum until it reaches 12% in 2025. This will negatively impact many retirement plans.
– The low-income superannuation contribution will end after 30 June 2017. It is a superannuation contribution (max. $500) made by the government which is designed to refund the 15% contributions tax on concessional superannuation contributions for those earning less than $37,000 ATI.
– Company loss carry back measure was abolished from 1 July 2013. This was designed to allow companies to choose to carry back their current year tax losses to one of the two previous income years in which they had taxable income and a liability to tax and to claim a refundable tax offset.
– Schoolkids bonus has been affected as it will be means tested so that only families earning up to $100,000 will qualify. It will then end after 31 December 2016.
– The income support bonus will be scrapped from 31 December 2016. This is a tax free, indexed, non-means-tested payment which is received bi-annually by eligible social security recipients.
For those who think that mining saved us from the global financial crisis:
“In the first six months of 2009, in the immediate aftermath of the shock waves occasioned by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Australian mining industry shed 15.2 per cent of its employees. Had every industry in Australia behaved in the same way, our unemployment rate would have increased from 4.6 per cent to 19 per cent in six months. Mining investment collapsed; mining output collapsed. So the Australian mining industry had quite a deep recession while the Australian economy did not have a recession. Suggestions that the Australian mining industry saved the Australian economy from recession are curious, to say the least.”
Many people, Jacqui Lambie among them, seemed to feel that we all paid the carbon tax. In fact, it was only paid by 348 companies. That they were able to then pass on the imposte to their customers seems to me to defeat the purpose of the legislation. Had we regulated against this I think we would have seen a far more rapid movement towards clean energy practices.
As it was, the electricity generator industry paid the most.
Macquarie Generation, which operates two power generators in NSW and is in the process of being sold by the NSW government, had the highest tax bill at $468.6 million.
Liquid natural gas company Woodside Petroleum had the highest liability outside the electricity sector, at $171.9 million.
Alcoa Australia, which is reportedly close to shutting down its Point Henry aluminium smelter, paid $137.2 million.
BHP Billiton paid $77.5 million through its various arms, and Rio Tinto paid $36.3 million.
Coal mining, oil and gas extraction and metals manufacturing also had big tax bills.
The total decline in electricity sector emissions over the two financial years since carbon pricing is almost 11%, at an annual rate of 5.36%. That compares to the average of 2.5% annual decline in the three years immediately preceding the implementation of carbon pricing
It was projected to raise $7.2 billion in 2013-14. Scrapping this revenue whilst committing $1.55 billion to Direct Action will leave a sizable hole in the budget.
This has seen the freezing and renaming of the Clean Energy Supplement (dropping the word “clean”), paid automatically to pensioners, families who receive family assistance, and others on government income support. How long it lasts will be questionable. Also at risk is the increase in the tax-free threshold from $18,200 now to $19,400 from July 1 next year.
And what will happen to polluters who increase their emissions? Nothing. The government has also pledged not to raise any revenue from penalties imposed by the scheme.
Australia is a very confusing place right now.
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Kaye Lee
Return to home pageThey certainly are random thoughts… and dare say…. ranting, raving and one sided random thoughts
Thanks for this article Kaye Lee now I know why I am confused, it’s because of the numbskulls oops “adults in charge” in charge at Canberra 666…
A land of confusion cut by the sound of sirens, helicopters and jets.
The fate of living under the dictate of global direction by the psychopathically greedy and theologically insane.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
~Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
It just goes to show what the ordinary Australian people are up against Kaye.The greed of the present Goverment apparently know no bounds.As long as they can look after the big end of town they beleive they are accomplishing what is good for all.
Do you anticipate that any day now, Abbott and Bishop will tell the Japanese that we won’t be buying their submarines if they resume their whaling programme ?
I doubt it somehow.
Terry2, About as likely as them(with gifted seating on the UN Security Council) asking the Indians((from India) to sign a nuclear non-profiferation treaty, and cease the thermo-nuclear sabre-rattling with their neighbours, before we sell them radio-active fuel.
On your discussion of the “UN World Leaders Meet in New York to Discuss Climate Change”, I fully support all world leaders coming together to plan and implement Climate Change policy that will make a difference to the deteriorating geographical outcomes.
However, what can we do about Kiribati, decreasing ice sheets in Antartica and other low lying land masses?
This question is daunting for everyone, for despite our supreme egocentrism, like Abbott, we really know the environment is bigger than us!
So, prepare the way for scaredy-cat pollies, take the accusatory finger-pointing out of the discussion and accept we are all dumbfounded by the problem and then, we might have a chance to come up with a universal plan to combat the effects of climate change.
Jennifer,
For strict accuracy, the Antarctic ice sheets are currently expanding to record levels(with localized exceptions), in area if not thickness(this is not WUWT? rubbish but peer-published science from Arctic researchers).
The main ice decline is in the Arctic, where the pole and glaciers are receding at an accelerating rate, and increasingly massive methane releases are also occurring in and off Siberia each summer.
Decline of the Antarctic ice sheets is a projected /predicted outcome of human climate influence, but it is not a currently observed trend.
I personally wonder whether the documented decrease in the South-polar(CFC induced) ozone hole as a result of interventive legislation implemented late last century has anything to do with this current anomalous trend(speculation, not informed scientific opinion).
Kaye said : ” I don’t think they hate Australia – I think they are caught up in the same sort of thing that attracts young people to gangs and charismatic religions. ”
A very worrying prospect in fact. And no they don’t hate Australia per se, but increasingly – with proposed budget proposals, the repulsive 6 months on / 6 months off … work search ‘allowance’ (?) …. people being jobless because of the collapse of small to medium business ( and large as well ) … young leaving school, university or any level of education with no job prospects … , homelessness increasing, the excessive problem of drug taking in our country, ( escape in other words along with addiction ) . … several things can happen – two in particular.
The young, with nothing much to look forward to … will sink into despair and depression ( increasing suicide perhaps – spoken of in MANY articles ), or they will want some form of RETRIBUTION against a Government that is causing them untold pain and few prospects for a future. Some angry young would be prime targets for conversion – not so much to Islam as a religion, but to the extremist ideas ( and no doubt promises ) …. of Islamic rebels and jihadists, couched in the form of ( initially ) conversion to a faith – which in fact would ultimately be conversion to the idea of murder on a large scale, and in any form. Brain washing. Soft targets. On a lost and disenfranchised generation.
There is one thing that can divert these possibilities. That’s for this moronic, self important, upper echelon leaning ( and rotten ) Government to rethink very VERY seriously, their abominable budgetary considerations – which they STILL want to get through the Senate … and a goodly part of the problem would be solved. Less despair, less depression – less inclination towards retribution against this heinous mob in power. And especially more hope for a future, meaningful life.
But no – this Government wants the muscle flexing, in-ya-face, confrontational garbage on the world stage to be of PRIME importance … and is trying to bring it all home to the Australian people with their continued macho antics. The ‘softening’ routine.
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Some young, will be fortunate enough, and will have been encouraged enough to get out there and find what they want – even accepting starting at the bottom ( which we all had to do way back when !! ).
We can but hope, as they grow and advance, that they will re-insert wisdom and good knowledge, into the State of our Nation.
@ Corvus. I have studied a great deal about the Antarctic in recent months – mainly because my youngest son is down there at this time. … It is a fascinating subject …. and in some respects you are correct.
Nine of the expeds. down there are currently on a long trek to outlying islands to do scientific research and gathering of more detailed information. For the 1st time since he’s been in Antarctica … ( November 2013 ) …. I am a tad worried. They have to cross the sea ice which is not much of a problem as it is at it’s thickest ever recorded …. but also have to cross very carefully on a precisely designated route, a glacier, which is melting – not rapidly, but melting. Glaciers can be weak in many spots, going back to Mawson’s day – so although the group are exceptionally well trained to handle any contingencies, it is none-the-less a somewhat daunting journey.
The Antarctic is a continent. The Arctic is not. The Arctic touches on some parts of Greenland ( continent ) and a few crops of islands. Other than that, it is a huge ( but diminishing ) thickness of ice floating literally on the sea.
Rather than go into a lengthy writing about it all …. here are a couple of links which might be interesting to you – and others if they wish. They can tell you more than I can :
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6963141 ……… and
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/glaciers-northern-antarctic-peninsula-melting-7775156
The Antarctic is a designated ‘desert’ with less precipitation or rain, than even the Sahara has. It has only two seasons – summer and winter. While there are massive snow storms there, most often in winter and occasional summer blizzards, it forms on plateaus and glaciers as ice ( or ice layers ) …. and this IS melting and slowly making it’s way onto the top of the sea ice … however, it is a much slower process than the Arctic Circle. That doesn’t mean it isn’t happening though. And the results can be seen – with massively unprecedented sea ice forming, so it is in fact an observed trend. Scientists are increasingly interested in what the Antarctic will tell the world – in terms of climate change.
From another article :
__________
“Fresh cold water is less dense than the warmer, saltier water below. Previously, that warm salty water would rise, melting the sea ice. But now, because of the lighter fresh water on top, there is less mixing of the ocean’s layer and the surface stays cooler longer. And so, there is increased fresh water because of the melting land ice – due to climate change. “
__________
The odd thing is, that while the glaciers are so deep as to be almost indescribable – they can be unstable, even tho slow to melt fresh water ice. The sea ice on the other hand, by mid summer has almost melted completely – ( it’s also called fast ice ) …. and then starts stretching out towards the pack ice in ever increasing amounts in these times … as winter draws on again. Once the dear old girl the “Aurora Australis” icebreaker has made her last stop ( usually late February / early March ) at the bases for offloading supply – that’s it for the deployments there. No one can get on or off … until the following ‘summer months’ beginning somewhere in October ( most probably later this year ). They are on their lonesome.
I have digressed here …. apologies.
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What I cannot fathom is why this moronic individual at the head of our Government, stands his ground and calls all this science gathering a load of ‘crap’. He DARES flaunt that in the face of global scientific opinion, and in the faces of people who are trying to find answers, and help humanity.
He intends to address the United Nations in a few days times AFTER ignoring the climate change meeting. When he addresses those countries a day or so later ….. I hope he gets totally booed off the stage, and is made to be seen for the utter fool that he is.
I can but hope.
Anne Byam,
My sincere thoughts, with intensely projected well wishes(the prayers of a faithful agnostic) go out to your youngest son.
I have so much respect and gratitude to those who, in undertaking field research for the cause of greater collective human understanding, go way beyond the frontiers of normal human existence to advance our scientific knowledge
May he return to you safe with much new wisdom and knowledge acquired and many wonderful tales to tell.
P.s. Cheers for the links, I shall read them later; can’t really do science post-vinus.
Thank you Corvus for your kind thoughts and reply. The expeds. certainly do go ” way beyond the frontiers of normal human existence “… in every respect down there. — They literally have to live for one another while there, especially in winter, and on field trips. It’s a given, and could be no other way.
The glacier they have crossed ( or are crossing back over now ) is one that has many cravasses, that’s what’s made me a tad nervous. Weather has locked them up a bit, and due back tomorrow – it now won’t be until Tuesday that they can return. How they camp out in -32°C – or worse ( -47°C was their lowest on a trip ) beggars belief.
I fully understand the effects ( for me ) a lovely Merlot or three, can have on concentration ,,,,,,,,,, 😉 — LOL.
From skeptical science….
Antarctic sea ice has been growing over the last few decades but it certainly is not due to cooling – the Southern Ocean has shown warming over same period. Increasing southern sea ice is due to a combination of complex phenomena including cyclonic winds around Antarctica and changes in ocean circulation.
The hole in the ozone layer above the South Pole has caused cooling in the stratosphere (Gillet 2003). A side-effect is a strengthening of the cyclonic winds that circle the Antarctic continent (Thompson 2002). The wind pushes sea ice around, creating areas of open water known as polynyas. More polynyas leads to increased sea ice production (Turner 2009).
Another contributor is changes in ocean circulation. The Southern Ocean consists of a layer of cold water near the surface and a layer of warmer water below. Water from the warmer layer rises up to the surface, melting sea ice. However, as air temperatures warm, the amount of rain and snowfall also increases. This freshens the surface waters, leading to a surface layer less dense than the saltier, warmer water below. The layers become more stratified and mix less. Less heat is transported upwards from the deeper, warmer layer. Hence less sea ice is melted (Zhang 2007).
The Age: Though beheading was never mentioned in the call “it is assumed” this would have been the method of killing.
Why on earth would our Prime Minister make assumptions and add words to an intercepted phone call and then tell us all we are all in danger of being beheaded and just how easy it is? He even used the finger counting again to say all you need is a…..
It seems obvious he wants to stir up fear and resentment but making stuff up is unconscionable. Because someone has a lighter in their pocket does not mean you should yell fire in a crowded theatre.
Kaye Lee,
06:32 and you are already spreading the knows.
My day begins with revelations of sensible and latent heat polynyas and polar pelagic stratification.
Gratiae.
I like to learn things 🙂 Prego
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Tiger Airways staff escorted Oliver Buckworth, a 28-year-old Melbourne-based interior designer, from a flight bound for the Gold Coast after a passenger reported the doodles.
Australian Federal Police said they had “responded to a request for assistance” from Tiger Airways. The Herald said it had seen a page of the notebook in question, which contained the sentence: “In a land of melting ice-creams, sandy feet and fluffy bears, how could anyone be fearful of terrorism.”
In separate incidents in the wake of yesterday’s terror raids, vandals spray-painted the word “evil” across a 1950s-era mosque at Mareeba in north Queensland, and a senior imam was detained for over two hours at Sydney Airport, causing him to miss a flight to the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Senator Lambie last month warned of a possible Chinese invasion, calling for doubled military spending to “stop our grandchildren from becoming slaves to an aggressive, anti-democratic totalitarian foreign power”.
Earlier this week she said supporters of sharia law “should probably pack up their bags and get out of here” or else be stripped of their voting rights and welfare entitlements, including Medicare and the aged pension.
Senator Bernardi yesterday called the burqa, which obscures the wearer’s face, a “shroud of oppression and a flag of fundamentalism” that “is not right” in Australia.
Former national security legislation monitor Bret Walker said the preventative detention orders were ineffective because suspects cannot be questioned. He wanted the powers repealed.
“Because they are understandably surrounded by so many safeguards the notion of keeping somebody in custody whom you have no intention to charge, even for a short time, is so alien to our views of liberty that it has to be wondered why would you bother inventing a whole new system when you have the familiar power of arrest?”
Good question Mr Walker!
Did Joe Hockey really stand up at a press conference at the G20 and lament the loss of tax revenue from wealthy individuals? Seriously? After happily giving away tax revenue from the MRT and Carbon Tax? I hope one of the other 19 pointed out what a bozzo he is.
Diplomatically, of course….
On democratic principle, I am a little concerned by legislative developments.
Our nation’s security forces have the enacted right to(temporarily) disappear people(preventative detention) and look set to be enabled to mistreat people up to the point of serious harm/sexual assault(with legal exemption from prosecution).
There is currently a legislative separation preventing the combining of these powers, but remove this and allow their aggregation, and you enable our AFP and ASIO spooks to clandestinely disappear people and hurt them with legal impunity.
Maybe it’s visceral phrenology, but I wouldn’t entrust George ‘right to be a bigot’ Brandis with the safekeeping of my pet, let alone supreme oversight of the application of our nation’s legal system, including extraordinary powers of detention and ‘persuasion’.
From 2010….
“On a per capita basis Australia now has one of the most bloated “general’s clubs” in the western world with 77 army officers at the so-called star rank of Brigadier and above. The United States Army (including reserves) has a soldier to general ratio of 3632 GIs for each brass hat compared with just 1560 diggers per general in Australia. The ratio of generals to troops is well above countries such as Britain and Israel and according to one insider is approaching the levels in Thailand, a force that has been ridiculed by Australian officers for being “top heavy”.
The director of Strategic and Defence Studies at the Australian National University and former senior defence official, Hugh White, said the expansion of the general’s club reflected an institutional weakness within defence.
“There is no policy or objective reason for the rank structure,” Professor White said.
Strategic analyst and defence budget expert with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Mark Thompson, said there were two explanations for the blow-out in senior ranks: The high operational tempo of the force and the fact that Defence had been swimming in money for years.
“That makes it easy for them to promote someone,” Mr Thompson said.”
It appears that defence, who received increased funding yet again, need something to justify their huge budget – let’s go to war so we can justify spending hundreds of billions – better get some jets and submarines and patrol boats so we don’t have so much sitting in kitty.
ASIO must have been jealous so they got an extra $630 million and then spent a lot of it raiding the homes of people who hadn’t committed any crimes.
I don’t think now is the time to have LESS oversight of these empire builders.
Doug,
I heard Hockey saying they were committed to making people who earn money in Australia to pay tax in Australia.
I wonder if they will be asking Rupert for the $882 million back then that the ATO had to give him because he shuffled money around.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/17/rupert-murdoch-receives-882m-tax-rebate
I wonder if Turnbull will have to get rid of his investment in a ”vulture fund” based in the tax haven Cayman Islands.
http://www.farmonline.com.au/news/metro/national/general/financial-transparency-campaigners-question-malcolm-turnbull-investment/2704186.aspx
I wonder if they will change their minds about offering an amnesty for tax cheats.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-27/ato-launches-offshore-tax-crackdown/5349396
An analysis of Westfield’s financial results over nearly a decade by a university academic found the taxman has forgone as much as $2.6 billion from Westfield if the 30 per cent company tax rate had been enforced.
A report by the Uniting Church last year identified Westfield, along with the major banks, for use of tax havens and low-tax jurisdictions. Westfield’s highly complex corporate structure includes more than 50 entities registered in tax havens such as Jersey, Luxembourg and Singapore.
The listed property sector, of which Westfield is by far the biggest player, is among the most ”aggressive” in terms of tax minimisation, Dr Lanis said.
I wonder if they will be asking their dear friend Frank Lowy to pay up.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/westfield-short-26b-on-tax-report-20140528-394rm.html#ixzz3DtfwXPZ7
Has anyone noticed how grey Joe has gone in the space of a few months? Telling porkies takes a toll.
Too many stars on shoulders, not enough stripes on sleeves. Chiefs and indians and all that.
Maybe the prospect of the nation’s youth facing six month periods without social welfare or plausible prospects of employment or further education might boost the ranks of lowly cannon-fodder.
I was in the Cairns CBD yesterday where the G20 Finance Ministers are meeting – a natural target you could assume for those seeking to create havoc or worse. Security is evident around the Convention Center but not excessive or intrusive, all seems calm to me.
Despite what you are being told folks, Australia is a very safe place possibly one of the safest places in the world for such a meeting.
I would hate to think that an elected government in this country would manufacture and choreograph terrorism hysteria for political purposes but when we have the ASIO Chief lifting the security rating from moderate to high and then retiring the next day. when, within days we have massive theatricals in pre-dawn raids on private homes with a well co-ordinated media presence. When we then have a raft of new and excessive Terrorism related legislation being rushed through our parliament, it makes you wonder, doesn’t it ?
I wonder how many times you’ve been had
And I wonder how many plans have gone bad
I wonder how much going have you got
And I wonder about your friends that are not
I wonder I wonder I wonder I do
I wonder about the tears in children’s eyes
And I wonder about the soldier that dies
I wonder will this hatred ever end
I wonder and worry my friend
I wonder I wonder wonder don’t you?
I wonder, I worry, I weep.
Rage kindles, but I hold back the blaze.
I endure through hope.
Today we march again. Why? Because we are not afraid to stand for truth, a truth founded upon science and facts.
It is disturbing that so many are ignorant of the facts of science and the profound implications of actually respecting and loving our planet and fellow human beings.
Is it so hard to overcome our primal fear and to work towards the betterment of all.
Should we all curl up in fear of motor accidents refusing to drive and incarcerate those who break the law without recourse to appropriate legal sanction?
We cause the suffering and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people yet let a few terrorists drive us into paroxysms of fear undermining the very foundations of democracy.
The law cannot win every time simply because of the burden of proof and in a complex sentient landscape that is just the way it is.
The appalling loss of life through smoking cigarettes or drinking the worst drug of all, alcohol, has led to serious research into the physical and mental consequences yet we keep buying cigarettes and drinking poison like it is going out of style.
We dig holes in the ground to make inordinate profits for the few while degrading our environment to the point of collapse of the biosphere.
Many stand in awe of a bunch of free loading monarchist who live in absurd luxury while citizens suffer homelessness, unemployment and disenfranchisement.
We readily blame and punish those who suffer through no fault of their own then reduce what little support they are given.
We take the few who rip off the system and project them as the many leaving a substantial portion of our population riddled with guilt, fear and remorse.
We let those who caused financial collapse rewrite the laws and then peddle the deregulation mantra once again.
We hand the banks capital to shore up their capital reserves through quantitative easing meanwhile screaming that stimulating the economy will cause inflation when, since quantitative easing was introduced in 2008, there has been no sign of minimal net alone uncontrolled inflation.
We are told that shrinking the economy through austerity will lead to growth which is one of the greatest lies ever perpetrated upon the people of our planet.
We are ruled by a bunch of superstitious primitive ideologues who would rather believe a fantasy story than explore the undeniable facts derived from science and experimentation.
We are controlled by the purveyors of fear who play us like puppets on the strings of hell and damnation vilifying those who are not wealthy and “successful”as leaners and subhuman spongers.
We fund basic research into mental health and psychology then ignore the outcomes when they do not conform to magical, mythical irrationality.
The sad part is that none of these befuddled fools will read any of the articles on AIMN to inform themselves rather they use it as a platform for peddling irrationality and vilification of those who do not agree with them.
This is not an exhaustive list however it sets the tone for a throughly reasonable critique of capitalism from the true foundations of an inclusive and informed democracy.
We have all, at some time, attempted to use psychiatric assessment of conservatism yet no single category can encompass the true depth of madness being foisted upon us by these insane greed infested ignoramuses.
Without a doubt, from the context of a contemporary science based society, they are truly mad willingly destroying the planet and impoverishing their fellow citizens in the name of God.
What of media and academics who hide behind fallacious tolerance and an equal rite to peddle lies as if democracy should give voice to madness.
A lie is a lie and has no place in a landscape that uses the cry of media bias to peddle completely unsupportable nonsense leading to untold suffering and destruction.
I am not a doom sayer in fact I have a very positive outlook on life however to move on we must willingly embrace facts as the alternative leads to wrack and ruin.
It is that serious.
Bit long but sometimes one must speak truth to power to enact, in some small way, the machinery of dissent and change.
stephentardrew,
Across distance I will be beside you today, standing for the future.
Your mind and soul are a credit to our species.
Good article… it’s no surprise that this policy bereft and blind rabble are in the mess they are but what’s more perverse is that the confusion they sow suits exactly their purpose: to divide and conquer. Until we articulate a cogent alternative and real “vision” for this country that positively engages with a majority then we’ll stumble further into being a Neo-Fascist state.
An account of one journo on Abbotts photo op up North last week
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/20/-sp-tony-abbott-vist-indigenous-nt-communities
I was on the roads today as the weather went from mood to mood. It has been a day where the sky was, in the main, shades of grey.
The roads, concrete and bitumen, were shades of grey.
Funnily enough, the vehicles on the roads(the newer ones especially) were mostly shades of grey.
Some were light-ish with reflective particles(‘silver mist’). I call this “drizzle-flage”.
Others were darker and non-reflective(‘charcoal/dusk’). I call this “tar-o-flage”.
The visibility of vehicles within the context of surroundings is a significant factor in accident risk. Colour aids visual identification.
The material cost of car-collisions in terms of replacement of vehicles and parts is borne by the consumer(and insurers[*to a degree{*sometimes}]), to the ultimate profit of vehicle manufacturers.
Why are car manufacturers increasingly making vehicles in shades of grey?
Where all full of crap, I think, if we were serious we would stop using electricity and fuel products, eat less, and protest more. As for the protest has any news got down south yet, about the elderly lady in Cairns North Queensland
some of you may know where that is, who had a G20 sign on her fence depicting the G20 is for the one per cent was raided by 4 police who took her computer and other evidence, (of what?) all because she had a sign on her fence criticizing the G20 being held in Cairns, and that Office Works in Cairns are not allowed to print any thing that criticizing the event in Cairns. Would any one like to let me know if you have heard it on any news down the bottom half of Australia?
SIXTY-year-old grandmother Myra Gold was asleep when four police officers raided her home.
They were deployed to confiscate her phone, dig through her rubbish and search her car.
For stickers.
Anti-G20 stickers.
Type in Cairns post in Google to read the rest
dennis. I think that story turned out to be fake. I posted a response on it a long time ago.
@ Kaye Lee ( September 21, 2014 at 6:32 am ) …………. pretty much almost exactly, what I was referring to in my post ( September 20, 2014 at 9:56 pm.) Not sure why you would feel the need to underscore it from such source as “skeptical science” ????, in almost the exact same wording. . …… somewhat a waste of typing endeavour ???
………… ” Increasing southern sea ice is due to a combination of complex phenomena including cyclonic winds around Antarctica and changes in ocean circulation.” …………
The westerly winds and their projections, have increased substantially and unpredictably , which is something that scientists are intensely interested in. Complex phenomena is absolutely right ……… it is COMPLEX. And requires the resources of the best gathering of scientific data, possible … ( from WHERE-EVER IN THE WORLD ). It is an ongoing and extremely complicated compilation of data, that will take a long while to study, dissect – and deliver experienced observations upon, ,meteorologically and in many other ways…. that is i.e. the decline ( or increase maybe ) of krill, which is food to the food chain in the Southern Ocean. That’s just ONE item that could be associated with climate change. … !!!
The hole in the ozone layer is indeed an interesting possible cause for shifts and changes, although I read recently that it is lessening in size and effect, even though that decrease is an ultra-slow process.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/09/11/try-to-keep-up-earths-ozone-layer-is-recovering-but-that-is-making-global-warming-worse/
Being that we are always talking in decades, not singular years …. this article is interesting.
==========
However, our esteemed effing leader, 1) wants to cut funds to scientific research, and 2 ) regards climate change as ‘crap ‘ in his own words.
This imbecile ( Abbott ) is now NOT attending the gathering of countries, to discuss climate change. …. he has thumbed his nose at it all. And yet he DARES to front the United Nations on other issues … closely following the climate change discussion. Such is the extreme arrogance of the man. !!!
I hope they condemn him off the podium of his ‘delivered speech’ with a lot of slow clapping and bah humbug … booing.
@ Corvus …. was interested in your comment about polynias. ( polynya – U.S. spelling !! ).
I stand to be corrected on this, but read recently ( wouldn’t know where to access it now ) …. that a polynia, being a stretch of water between the Antarctic continent – [ shore line, ] and the pack ice which always prevails ‘out there’ , can be noted by the crew of an icebreaker, or whatever ship in the area – by a low unusual cloud to the horizon …. of strange colour and shape.
They may not be able to SEE the stretch of sea water ( much like a quiet lake at times ) … but can position it from the weird gear they carry, from the phenomenon which appears above it – usually in cloud form – of unusual hue and shape. .
Just thought I would add that little bit – for those who are interested.
Promise I will get off the subject now. !!!!!! 🙂
@ Corvus …. ( ref your comments : September 21, 2014 at 4:31 pm ) …
While I take your points made …. of desultory observations in your day …. and underlying meanings …. I cannot help myself.
You haven’t been dabbling in the works of E.L James by any chance have you ? 50 shades of grey ? I haven’t read it, but have never heard any great raves about it from friends, who have.
Just having a light hearted ‘dig’ here !!! Hoping you get a giggle from it. !! 🙂
@ LawrenceWinder …. ( September 21, 2014 at 11:35 am ) ….. well said ….. well done.
This Government CERTAINLY wants to ‘divide and conquer ‘.
Annie B,
I confess I was curious as to the nature of E.L.James’ tome after reading the title.
I thought it might be philosophical treatise on thr merits of moral relativism, or the autobiographical account of a life lived with a deficiency of cones in the fovea centralis(although I thought 50 a rather arbitrary number).
Turns out it is a bunch of boring bullshit about bondage(without pictures).
I am currently reading “The Spell of the Sensuous” by David Abram. Despite the title, it contains no references to Wiccan love magycks or veil dancing.
P.s. Thank you for the correction on polynias, I do so loathe Amerikanizations.
P.p.s. I did indeed giggle, which I tend to do in a manner disturbingly reminiscent of a hyena on hallucinogens.
Annie,
Skeptical Science is a wonderful site that debunks all the climate change denier arguments with links to scientific papers. If you have never come across it before I can highly recommend it. It expands on what you were talking about and provides different levels of explanation depending on how technical you want to get. It is maintained by John Cook, the Climate Communication Fellow for the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
Repeté, s’íl vous plait?
Kaye Lee got spam-jammed! 🙂
I did indeed 🙂 Je m’excuse
Je suis les um premier d’Australia!
Watch the kids as Tony kneels down to get up close and personal…they all bend down too wondering what is happening. Prime Ministers don’t usually sit on the ground with them.
Tony’s small talk in English isn’t any better. Peta has her work cut out for her. The body language says it all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGMeXeFfZRw
Just heard George Brandis saying that there seems to be a lot of confusion within the community on matters pertaining to the new security legislation which the government hopes to pass through the parliament this week.
George, the reason for the confusion is the fact that you and your patrol leader have been introducing this legislation by way of door-stops and stumbling rhetoric from Arnhem Land – how about actually presenting some hard-copy legislation to allow some community debate.
PS: over 300,000 people marching on climate change in New York in anticipation of this week’s Climate Change Summit – deeply disturbing that Abbott refuses to attend and Greg Hunt is missing in action.
They must think Julie Bishop has some cred with the international community at the moment. She also speaks comparatively well and is steely in her resolve – telling her people are dying won’t make her act any quicker as she has told us before. Sending a woman may make them think we actually let women contribute. And if all else fails – flirt.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/opinion/big-brother-watch-out-forget-about-the-g20-sticker-blitz-another-kind-of-revelry-may-be-a-thorny-issue/story-fnjpuwl3-1227057184366
Thanks Möbius Ecko, here is a link, it must be an elaborate fake, the link above is to The Cairns Post, there was no indication in any papers up here it was a fake, only Murdock papers in the north except for Mt Isa, I missed your post about it being a fake.
It’s a similar story to a previous incident, and appears legit unlike the previous one.
Meantime whilst our PM is busy enciting fear and loathing worse even than in Las Vegas ! –He has been busy cutting eveything worthwhile –LandCare has been cut by billons and now there is a problem with how to restore the lands that we devastated with overfelling and clearing and poor agricultural methods! Farmers, Scientists and Agriculturalists work well together within Landcare and they have done much to restore damaged environments -but there is still much to do and funds have been cut.
Also some Queensland farmers are now clearing land in a manner that was illegal before the Abbott Government came to office -This government seems intent on destroying our environment! Let us remember Abbott wanted to take an area out of the World Heritage Tasmanian Wilderness! Shame!
@Kaye Lee….. much apology for jumping up and down about the ‘skeptical science’ issue.
Just goes to show – ‘can’t judge a book by it’s cover’ …. AND …. ‘ can’t judge a site by it’s title’. It bothered me, because I know you are definitely AGAINST the principle that ‘scientific information about global warming is CRAP’ ( according to the abomination that calls itself our leader ) …. but the word ‘sceptical’ ( skeptical ? – American again ? ) …. would have me skip over it completely in doing any searching on the Net.
I don’t kind of do ‘sceptical’ anything.
Anyway, I HAVE looked at the link you have now shown, and it is indeed interesting. Addresses many issues, and one could spend a lot of time there. I will have a better look at it … and have bookmarked it.
I could say more about ‘them wot’s down there’ in the southern most parts of this earth, but it would be opinion only …. as all bods who go there, sign the Government ‘Secrecy Act’ …. and I have asked my son, a couple of probing ( read sticky beak ) questions which he has had to answer with “Sorry Mum, I cannot make comment on that”. He phones on a regular basis – & thank God for email ( SEC-UNCLASSIFIED ) and satellite etc.
Fascinating. The AAD site gives as much information as possible, but never anything that is giving away any secrets they may find.
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/ …….. It’s a great site, depending on what you are after — and very comprehensive — depending on what one can know – or not know.
Again – apologies for my knee jerk reaction.
@Corvus …. you so often make my day, with your insightful comments and ( at times ) somewhat sardonic wit.
Must say, it was NOT my intention to correct you on the polynia / polynya bizzo. But it gives me the tom-tits, that I OWN a PC, which – no matter what I do, will NOT obey my request for English spelling at all times. Someone else here ( can’t recall who it was – sorry to whoever ) …. gave me some hints as to how to have my PC behave itself, WITHOUT americanisation, particularly in Word Doc. Still have the problem though.
So I find myself constantly changing things – e.g. from ‘realize’ to ‘realise’. etc. ……. Bah humbug to it.
Fovea centralis it quite ok at the moment ( enjoyed that comment – but admit to looking it up !! 😉 ) …. however, I get a little hazy looking through all the comments I have subscribed to on AIM. On the other hand, peripheral vision is extraordinary ( thanks to a natural ability,) and one that was encouraged to be used, when learning about security, safety, observation, etc. at a Shopping Centre complex I worked for … when we had to go through a 4 month course of ‘how to deal with confronting and dangerous situations’. Was employed by the Admin there at the time. Have never forgotten what I learned. We all loathed the instructor, but he sure got his message across. !!
Books ? They are wonderful. Have a stack of them to get through at this time.
Happy reading Corvus.
Anne Byam @ 9.01pm,
I am an ex-English teacher and Eng Lit student (if that’s relevant?) and I agree it frustrates me enormously that Australianisms (admittedly adopted from a British past) are converted to Americanisms.
Having confessed one of my fundamental prejudices, I am intrigued by the fact that in my very early life the “z” was identified as British and then in my later half of life the “z” seems to represent an American identity.
Either I got it wrong in my fertile, imaginative, intellectual years or there has been an universal language/identity shift. I’m referring to the last 40 years.
Annie B,
The box that hovers(with right click) over the red squiggly underlines has a phrase “add to dictionary”. I click on this when I feel assured in my righteousness.
By this measure do I impose my will over that of the capriciously indoctrinated machine and teach it to accept the proper spelling of Manglish.
P.s. Cheers, ditto.
@ Kaye Lee …. this is my 2nd attempt at this comment of apology. ( you may cop two lots here ).
Simply stated …. sorry for the knee jerk reaction I had to your posted comment re “skeptical ( sceptical !! ) science.
It puzzled me, as I know you are definitely NOT with Abbott and his ‘science is crap’ statement. Thing is, when searching – if I came across anything called ‘sceptical’ … I would give it a big miss. I don’t do ‘sceptical’ anything…. however …….
I have now opened that link and find it interesting, with much to absorb. Have bookmarked it for future reference.
“Can’t always judge a book by it’s cover” …. likewise, “can’t always judge a site by it’s title” ?
There is much I cannot ask my son, who is down in the Antarctic at present. His emails come through marked “SEC-UNCLASSIFIED”. And thank heaven for great satellite workings, he regularly contacts us all by phone. I have on a couple of occasions, asked a leading inquisitive ( read – sticky beak ) question … to which he has had to respond ” Sorry Mum – I am not allowed to answer that question” ( or ‘not permitted to discuss that’ ). They sign a document before leaving … the Australian Government “Secrecy Act ” ( whatever that might entail ). So, I have had to do my own research ( plenty of it ) about the Antarctic itself, and what has been discovered there – over the years. But current discoveries ( if any ) are always hush-hush.
While the following link is comprehensive, and very interesting – it of course will not give away any secrets. http://www.antarctica.gov.au/
There is a lot to be learned from it though …. including from the meta-data base stuff ( which one has to sign on to, to receive ).
From memory, there is a fair amount of info. on melting ice, polynias, fast ice, pack ice, conditions, weather, colonies of seals ( Elephant and Waddell ) … and penguins ( Adelie and Emporers ), living conditions, the bases, their jurisdiction and functions. Just a question of negotiating the site, to get to where you want. A VERY full site.
Again – my apologies for jumping at you so quickly, ref. your post. And thank you for your explanations.
Corvus that’s the language our Tones uses “Manglish” because it aint English 🙂
Dear Corvus Boreus,
your regime of proof reading your own writing may need some scrutiny, especially when incorporating a gender inclusive language that represents Australia in the 21st century.
DD,
I reckon he actually speaks Jargonese translated into a unique(weird) blend of (basic)Slogonic, Moronglish and Bigotian.
I think his frequent uttering of the sound “um” is just a tonal meditation technique he employs to periodically re-align his god-glands.
Jennifer,
Manglish; The slanguage of those who linguistically mangle(geddit?)
@ Corvus …. thanks for that information. In Word Doc, I will give that a try …. hope it works.
And ‘Manglish’ is about right too. 😉
p.s. have just read your reply to Dandark … OMG …. what a hoot that is. Not sure he HAS any god-glands though. ! Perhaps that’s meant to be the mantra uttered by Yoga enthusiasts ( or similar ) …. he should change it to ‘oohm’. !!
lol lol um yeah I agree with you Corvus, I “geddit” cos I am from Straya
and Annie we will see if Tones channels you in his next TV door stop interview, with an “oohm”
he has to mix it up, the ums ahhs and errs are wearing thin that’s for sure, time for another non English word for the Man… oohm 🙂
Annie,
No probs about the skeptical science…I agree the title could put you off but I find it an invaluable resource. Your son’s work sounds fascinating.