And the KPMG report estimates the costs of businesses’ environmental impacts are doubling every 14 years.
more at abc’s the Drum
Category: thus far…
Only After the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that
money cannot be eaten.
Native American proverb.
“Her psychopathic ideas made billionaires feel like victims and turned millions of followers into their doormats”
writes George Monbiot @ the Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk/
(a bit of timely material on billionaire victimhood – yet anOther oxymoron?)
i’m a regular fair dinkum guy and ma name’s andy…what “heritage”…Sir John Forrest…who’z eee???
andy’s fair dinkum Wikipedia entry includes…
great-great nephew of John Forrest, the first premier of Western Australia.
whats all that “hereditary” claptrap, stuff und nonsense? it’s all right for Roopert M and Jimmy P, so why not me, fair dinkum andy?
current issue: March 2012
… war with Iran? US turns to the Pacific;Balkans/EU, end of the affair; France, undisclosed interests; breaching the secular model; US, Port Huron remembered; US, power of country; Europe’s map redrawn; Mexico’s schools on the cheap; US, pills for ills;Internet, profits of snooping; crime fiction made in China… and more…
Le Monde Diplomatique is informative, broad and available by clicking on the March 2012 hotlink above.
Alternatively, much of their exceptional coverage is also freely available @ http://mondediplo.com/tag/open-access
“LMD provides a cool, reasoned, different view of the world’s most pressing issues”
New York Review of Books
There’s no “principle” in the hereditary principle!
Don’t be silly, Keith. Of course there is…
No there’s not. I think it’s a load of rubbish.
Why, why, you’re too young to really understand, aren’t you. Peter, Peter, isn’t he. Isn’t Keith being silly?
Hmmph, yes dear. Look Keith, there are some very decent people in the royal family!
How do you know? Have you ever met any of them?
Hmmmph, yes, as a matter of fact, I have.
Yes, yes. Peter actually met Princess Anne…
So what?
Hmmph, now look here, young fella. Princess Anne sometime late summer and she was actually terribly nice.
They are parasites and why do you think it is good that other people are just born into power and then ride around on their fat bums?
Ohh, silly boy. You just don’t understand, do you? You think you do, but you do not. They are good people doing a difficult job….
Hmmmph, yes, yes, listen to your mother, Keith. You sound like a spoilt brat.
I’m not and I think they’re a bunch of bloody parasites!
35 years on and I believe as strongly as ever that there is no principle in the hereditary principle.
The sentence above serves as an indictment of the further and intensive financial deregulation that characterised the Bush/Cheney years.In Australia, the Abbott Junta phurphy of business can do no wrong is punctured by the reality check of the US experience for ordinary Americans:
“It bears repeating one last time that average compensation (wages) never grew as slowly in American industrial history than it did over the course of the age of greed.”
Jeff Madrick (Roosevelt Insitute Snr Fellow and NY Times contributor) Age of Greed, Random House, 20011
In reality, as worker productivity rose, the ensuing gains went to…CORPORATE PROFITS.
1. Reinforcing the church-state wall (LA Times)
Christianity thrives when the state stays out of its business and allows a marketplace of ideas to thrive, writes Jim Burkee.
2. The two Cadillacs fallacy (Washington Post)
Romney’s rather authentic moments suggesting he doesn’t understand the lives of average people (such as his comment on his wife’s two Cadillacs) are dismissed as “gaffes,” while Santorum’s views on social issues are denounced as “extreme,” says E.J. Dionne.
3. When Will Social Media Elect a President? (Wall Street Journal)
Twitter and Facebook will change US politics, as new technology always has. Think Nixon or ‘Obama Girl,’ says Andy Kessler.
4. Super PACs can’t crown a king (Washington Post)
The one certainty about campaign finance laws is that all of them are, and ever will be, written by incumbent legislators, writes George Will.
5. A Civil Right to unionize (New York Times)
The greatest impediment to unions is weak and anachronistic labor laws, write Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit.
6. Romney and Paul, what a curious couple (Boston Globe) (£)
It’s rare to see a bromance flourish in the hot glare of the GOP primary spotlight, but Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have something positively special going on, writes Joshua Green.
02/03/2012
A feeling of urgency is in the wind.
It tugs at you impatient to move on
Like your growing child leaving home
With no intention of truly returning
There is a strange remoteness in it too
It speaks of wild foreign shores
Of an antiquity beyond knowledge.
Your gardens blooms lack vibrancy now
Less radiant than yesterday’s memory
Like the rejection of an estranged father
The sun has silently dispossessed them
Removed them from its warm memory
From its abundant benevolence and
Leaves wither and take on a rusty hue
That speaks of mortality and passing
An ineluctable end point is emerging
Beyond being rescued even by love
In you there is sadness and yearning
And fear that nothing can remain the same
All things you know are passing now
Into memories and a inescapable future
That is at once terrible and thrilling
You know now life is as certain as death
Jim Scott
subscribe: “agreement with an idea or proposal”
The next time you reach for a copy of the Australian or other ‘News’ (sic) product, you’re buying more than just a newspaper. You’re buying into the News monster – cunning, disingenuous and powerful.
The News monster has some rather nasty habits:
- it is cheerleader to successive war mongers – Howard, Bush, Blair, Cheney, Sharon, Netanyahu
- it actively demonised working people in the UK and elsewhere – Murdoch et al were vehemently opposed to the rights of striking miners, ordinary, decent folks who had the extreme misfortune to be caught in Thatcher’s cross hairs. The news mOnster didn’t just promote the Tory government line – it was ruthless and merciless in the hatred it poured upon working people who were fighting for their jobs
- The Sun prepared a front page with the headline “Mine Führer” and a photograph of miner’s leader Arthur Scargill with his arm in the air, a pose which made him look as though he was giving a Nazi salute.
- it promotes a world of diminishing opportunities
- it peddles influence and will keep on telling you that 2+2 = 5
- During the 1987 general election, the Sun ran a mock-editorial entitled “Why I’m Backing Kinnock, by Stalin“.
- if you are fearing for an abducted child, it will hack your mobiles to squeeze an extra buck out of your turmoil and despair
- it pays ‘columnists’ to spout raw, elitist propaganda that serves the interests of the billionaires and makes a mockery of us all
- it has senior editors who are craven and obsequious in their interviews with world “statesmen” (sic)
- it wants to get its tentacles into schools by infiltrating the classroom with its ‘kids’ sections – in the UK recently, two books written and produced by The Sun were endorsed by the Government for use in schools.
Subscribe to the news mOnster? No thanks. We all have a choice.
“…blind to the national interest, and who pour their considerable personal fortunes into advertising, armies of lobbyists, dodgy modelling and corporate and commercial manoeuvring…”
Wayne Swan describing certain Oz billionaires in March’s the mOnthly.
The article in full @ http://www.themonthly.com.au/rising-influence-vested-interests-australia-001-cent-wayne-swan-4670
The Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament, Tony Abbot, has labelled the Gillard Government, “the worst government ever”. By any objective test this is not true. What is true, is that the current opposition is demonstratively one of the worst ever.
While the Gillard Government, despite its minority status, has managed to successfully negotiate its way through a massive amount of legislation and skilfully guided our economy through the international financial crisis, Tony Abbott and his team have failed to show that they are capable of taking the reins of government.
From day one Mr Abbott has put all of his efforts into a destructive personal quest to bring about the downfall of the Gillard Government with little thought being put into being prepared to take the reins of government if he were to succeed.
It is very lucky for the Australian nation that Abbott has so far failed to totally destabilise the Government, because the Liberal Opposition have no credible policies on which to base its own governance of the nation and there remains a policy vacuum in most areas.
In particular the Liberal budget is of great concern and appears to have been cobbled together without reference to the spending promises made by Mr Abbott.
The Liberal climate change policy reflects their disregard for the scientific position on global warming impacts. It is blatantly irresponsible and extremely costly both in its direct cost, and because it has not been seriously considered, it would fail to be effective and in doing so would add to the growing ecological and human cost that is already unfolding.
Clearly either Abbott’s budget is a bogus document or he has no intention of implementing most of his policies requiring expenditure. Either way, in the private commercial world this would amount to the commission of a fraud on the Australian public and would put him in jail.
What is difficult to explain is how the Liberals have escaped serious media scrutiny. This lack of scrutiny represents a massive failure across the media spectrum as Abbott has been a hairs breadth away from seizing power since the last election.
If he had succeeded we would have been in deep trouble when he implemented his threadbare un-costed programs. Alternatively, if he faced reality we would have felt cheated that he was reneging on his promises. Either way Tony Abbott’s constant self serving attempts at destabilisation of the Government shows a dangerous disregard for the Australian people that is only matched by our smug and indolent media.
1. Is Rupert Murdoch a fit and proper person to run a company? (Daily Telegraph)
The boss must take final responsibility for the culture of criminality at News International, says Peter Oborne.
2. Egypt a year on: This is not the Tahrir dream, but there’s much to be won(Guardian)
The country is torn between an entrenched security state, politically savvy Islamists and anxious revolutionaries, writes Timothy Garton Ash.
3. This postgraduate brain drain needs plugging (Times) (£)
All the fuss about fees has obscured the bigger issue of unfunded research students, says Andrew Hamilton.
4. The regime calls it ‘cleaning’, but the dirty truth is plain to see (Independent)
The word being used by Syria is a chilling one, says Robert Fisk.
You’re my troyboy…
And you, youz are moy green cabbage.
Call me green cabbage again…troyboy, just call me gr…
My love, my errr, moy verdant harvest. Today’s the biggun for me new 3 strikes policy for the estates. Break a few more bleedin hearts along the ways a piece, ha-ha!
You’re so big and tough, troyboy. I’ll be watching your pieces to camera and be with you in spirit. Mmmm. Might have to get a chair nice and warm for this evening’s triumphant return.
Strewth, my little wiggle green cabbage, youz know I’d love ta but gotta cold comin on…
Darn it.
Between 1993 and 1994 Tony Abbott was the Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.[5] the interpretOr has just visited the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) computer world-wibe-website through one of our computer thingummies and we can confirm that they have wecently weleased “a selection of videos from throughwout the world.” Smashing.
“Even to understand the word ‘doublethink’ involved the use of doublethink.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Guardian and Daily Telegrapgh (UK) breaking that new evidence presented to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards…
“…lifted the lid on a culture at The Sun of paying “a corrupt network” of public officials for stories.”
“Rebekah Brooks, when editor of The Sun, was apprised of the hacking investigation by a police mole who was working on the original inquiry in 2006.”
the interpretOr regards this as additional and substantial evidence that issues of concern and public interest go far beyond merely rogue elements at News.
Amid the acrimony and uncertainty of the Labor leadership tussle, new evidence is emerging that had Kevin Rudd not triumphed in 2007, John Howard may have been on the verge of introducing a mandatory ‘citizens code of conduct’. Sources close to the interpretOr allege that key elements were mandatory recitals of:
- you will work until you’re 75, and you better not grumble about it either
- honesty equates with weakness
- there is something deeply suspicious about men who don’t embrace sport
- things are never good, bad, crap, plain wrong, fantastic, sublime:- they are either appropriate or inappropriate
- there is nothing wrong with watching more television these days
- be sanctimonious at all appropriate times
- people who say “quite frankly” deserve to be listened to
- at the end of the day, I’m sure they know what’s appropriate
- it’s appropriate to discuss declining family values, but inappropriate to discuss ‘current affairs’ or social(ist) issues
- ties should be worn during daylight hours, Mon to Fri, and Sundays
There are also suggestions that Kevin ’07 may have prevented other tough new mandatory requirements including weekly hair cuts, neighbourhood watch, Home Flag ceremonies,….
The leader of the amusingly named Australian Liberal Party has made a stunning break-through in the field of political thought. Mr Abbott has discovered the political theory of everything. No matter what the issue, the ingenious new theory enables Mr Abbott to provide the perfect solution.
Difficult problems as wide apart as global warming, gay marriage, industrial relations, the strength of the Australian economy, who should be the next pope, and even the existence of Malcolm Turnbull are miraculously dissolved by the new theory.
Mr Abbot, who is assiduously applying his single solution to every problem, called a press conference to unveil his new plan. “You don’t need to worry about policy development just elect me Prime Minister and the problems are instantaneously solved” he explained exultantly.
The only lingering doubts about Mr Abbott’s brilliant solution have been expressed by his Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb, who said “It sounds fantastic but we can’t afford to introduce it until the next term of government”. He was supported by Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey who would like to delay the implementation as he was still looking for another another reputable cake shop to test the budget implications.
In further breaking news it is understood that Mr Abbott revealed he has sought approval of the Labor Party caucus to put his name forward at Mondays leadership ballot, as a viable third choice to Juia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.
“Aah look”, he said. “This might seem a strange idea but it would save the nation the cost of another election and save me from having to make up lots more of that policy bullshit. Even better, I wouldn’t even have to talk to bloody Rob Oakshot, and Tony Windsor or Andrew Wilkie and Bob Brown.”
X-Ray Specs
There are times when I wish I didn’t own a pair of the damn things. Now though, there are instances that even when not wearing them, I may reach similar, dispiriting conclusions.
Benefit of the doubt, sunny side up, look for the best – exposed; negated.
X-ray specs.
We can see the surface – friendly, initially seems pretty congruent, open even. Pop them on then wrong, wrong and wrong… again.
X-ray specs.
Abbott, Bishop and their minions of Fear forget that we all now own a pair.
We, the people, can see right through you. That is what’s meant by the Emperor’s New Clothes.
Not just that you’re naked.
The BBC World Service, though current, considered and topical, still had a slight aura of antiquity for Keith. The locations of bureaux a poignant reminder of its scope across this earth: Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing to Delhi and west across the old Silk Road, back to Bush House, London – an image formed in Keith’s mind’s eye of RKO radio pylons bleeping into monochrome clouds and a slight cosmic haze. No wonder radio has been described as “the theatre of the mind.” Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, the Archers…The King’s Speech.
Did video really kill the radio star? he mused. The Siri app certainly could.
He considered the implications of the app to people in war ravaged Syria – does it get any more Big Brother (strictly in the Orwellian sense) than the voice recognition software on your own phone taking upon itself to MMS the government death squads your number and GPS coordinates? It reminded Keith of another human rights vs communications scenario that emerged in the 1970’s – when the phone book/telephone directory was first published and distributed in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, a consequence was that minority Tamils were readily and easily identified – name, number, address – Knock, knock…bang, bang, bye bye.
Discover the new iPhone app that makes a killing in Syria. What are the latest government actions against human rights and freedom of press? This video will speak for itself… or maybe not.
If Tony Abbott truly believes the “red carpet” is being laid out for refugees released into the community, I challenge him to live under the same conditions for two weeks.
Using a nasty false and racist article by Gemma Jones in the Sydney Telegraph as his information base, Tony Abbott has made a disgusting attack on refugees who have been released into the community.
This attack has one purpose and that is to improve his own political fortune. It is a modus operandi perfected by Roger Ailes from Fox News. Ailes was previously behind the campaign of Richard Nixon where he developed the politics of resentment. He makes the less well off angry that someone is getting some benefit at their expense.
It is a technique that has been perfected by the Tea Party in America and now Tony Abbott is its latest adherent.
The truth is that it is much cheaper for governments to release the refugees into the community and that life inside and outside the prisons is very tough for them. These people are living in very basic conditions with no luxuries. The other truth is Abbott is pushing this country in a very nasty direction one which will have very dire consequences for the health of our society.
Following hot on the heels of Gina Rinehart’s poetic jamboree, flamboyant Queensland mining magnate,Clive Palmer, has taken the New York art world by storm with his painting, ‘Big Ponts’:
‘Lord’ Christopher Sponkton: don’t worry Gina, they’re all hiding at Bunnings
Ha, ha. Ohh, Lord Chrissie, you are a card!
Errrhhm, well, well, let’s recap on the Oz media status quo – this usually cheers one up!
Please, Lord Chrissie. I love that stawweee, it’s pwobablee my absolute favewit!
As things cuwwentlee stend:
- Woopert has most of the newspapers and settelite television
- Stokes has Channel Seven, half the magazine market….ohhh, end yahoo 7 tooo – they’re doing tewiblee well with their Caterpillar frenchise, and the Chinese adore their lovely big yellow bull-dozer jobbies – appawently, a ‘BIG CATERPILLAR’ can clear fell a ghastly fowest in about half an hour! You’re Paaa would be pwoud, dear Gina, vewy pwoud. Gosh, nearly forgot…whoopsee…the West Awstaralian too.
Another crumpet, Lord Chrissie??
Ohh yess, Gina, lashings of lard and bacon rind upon it, as per usual! Scrummeee. Where were we, where were we? Right, umm, yes:
- You, Gina. You have a vewy big slice of Fearfax and you are Chairperson of Chennel 10
- we’re also getting trection on the school market too – ALEC and IOT are drafting swathes of syllabus for the young ones that gives them the fects on the benefits of unchecked development and the invisible hend of the free market
- the young pioneers, Tony A is driving, and Lenis across uniforms etc….
One’s children sadly groaning with debt, poverty and strife
One’s childrens now are pleading to enjoy are (sic) better life
Their hope lies with gremlins buried deep within the earth
And one bellowing out one’s poetry, dressed up as a Smurf
The latest right wing darling of economics, Judith Sloane, recently revealed her darker side on the ABCs’ Q@A program. Judith was angry about the Gillard Goverment getting rid of “Work Choices” and creating Fair Work Australia. When asked about Tony Abott being reticent about bringing back unfair individual contracts, Judith’s fangs were revealed when she snarled “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” . It was a chilling moment for working people, as Judith is likely to be at least an adviser to any future Liberal government.
Utss vurry nice, yuss. Uts a nice reward for surving thu communiteee….”Krusss, more of those cut buscuts ailse 8 right hund saeed!!” “Yuss buss” “Good mun, good chop”
Accch, just look et thet wrrrrutchud story. Wrrrutchud end so unfear.
IGA and the Community Chest: the supermarket franchise holder spends more on mobile car valet for his $300,000 Mercedes than their community chest – emblazoned on the back wall within view of each and every queuing then paying shopper…“cheese, cheese, pic, caption: “so far this year, we’ve raised $98 for an 11 kilo bag of brussel sprouts.”
The most hideous signage hangs above the tills with a gummy head shot of a ‘local’ and a caption of “how the locals like it.” Well, I’m local and my opinion is actually “I don’t fuckin’ like it, not one little bit”. Apples at $8 per kilo – July last saw my daughter and I stay with friends who live on Hong Kong Island – even in the swanky hills, apples in the local franchise supermarket place were about 2 bucks a kilo.
It’s so annoying to actually have to expend energy ranting on about fruit, but it’s Mr IGA’s Mercedes obsession that is at the heart of the matter. Something rotten in the fruit & veg dept. If he would only settle for a nice, shiny Toyota. What about a Prius? Or a bike…or IGA Tuk-tuk to run the shopping back for older folks?
$49.99 per kilo for garluc is a reflection of increased burrowing costs, putrull, uncreasung sheer holder value…
On a contrived interview on the “Bolt Report” Andrew Bolt and his guest Liberal MLA Denis Jensen worked as a two man comedy act to convince viewers that global warming is a myth.
Bolt and Jensen attempted to give us a comedic assassination of the world’s climate scientists. In fact they managed to be as funny as a banker cutting off your overdraft. Furthermore their claims about global warming were less believable than Monty Python’s parrot news.
Bolt played a clip of Tim Flannery saying that Australia was drying up and the world heating up and juxtaposed this with clips of floods in Queensland and of the heavy snow covering parts of Europe. Bolt and Jensen claimed this was proof that the world’s climate scientists had got it wrong and the Labor Government wasting money on carbon reduction and on buying back water rights for the Murray Darling river system.
Denis Jensen, a Liberal Party MLC, was presented to viewers as being a scientist, implying that this meant he is an expert on climate science. In fact Jensen has scant knowledge of climate science as he is a nuclear physicist. Denis has either not bothered to read IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) reports or he is deliberately lying about what the reports have consistently stated about rainfall in Australia.
“To summarize the rainfall results, drier conditions are anticipated for most of Australia over the 21st century. However, consistent with conclusions in WGI, an increase in heavy rainfall also is projected, even in regions with small decreases in mean rainfall. This is a result of a shift in the frequency distribution of daily rainfall toward fewer light and moderate events and more heavy events. This could lead to more droughts and more floods.” (IPCC)
(This has proved to be very accurate)
The IPCC report also predicted that some Australian regions, like the South Western Australia, suffer greater reductions of rainfall while more rain could fall in some Northern regions.
Bolt and Jensen correctly claim the IPCC predicts that Europe will get hotter but they incorrectly assumed this meant there will be less snow in Europe? In fact the IPCC actually predicts that while summer precipitation will be lower in most areas, winter precipitation increases in some regions. Bolt and Jensen’s scoffing was based on their own ignorance or failure to read the report.
“ Mean winter precipitation is increasing in most of Atlantic and northern Europe (Klein Tank et al., 2002). In the Mediterranean area, yearly precipitation trends are negative in the east, while they are non-significant in the west.” IPCC Fourth Report
(Snow is a large part of winter precipitation in Europe.)
Check out the following graphs and see for yourself how Jensen’s claim that the last 15 years show declining temperatures is a blatant lie.
htt
Each successive decade since 1950 warmer than the last, with 2010 being one of the warmest individual years on record.
Chart shows where the last 11 years have rated against the hottest days recorded.
| aly °C | Anomaly °F | ||
| 2011 | 11 | 0.51 | 0.92 |
| 2010 | 1 (tie) | 0.64 | 1.15 |
| 2009 | 7 (tie) | 0.58 | 1.04 |
| 2008 | 13 | 0.50 | 0.90 |
| 2007 | 7 (tie) | 0.58 | 1.04 |
| 2006 | 6 | 0.59 | 1.06 |
| 2005 | 1 (tie) | 0.64 | 1.15 |
| 2004 | 9 | 0.56 | 1.01 |
| 2003 | 4 | 0.61 | 1.10 |
| 2002 | 5 | 0.60 | 1.08 |
| 2001 | 10 | 0.54 | 0.97 |
Jensen should also have looked at Perth’s stream flows chart ( http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/Reducing-GHG/~/media/CSIROau/Divisions/CSIRO%20Marine%20%20Atmospheric%20Research/A
The second half of the 20th century has had less than half of the usable water than the first half and it is still declining. As Jensen represents a Perth electorate it would help if he could avail him with the facts that southern areas and particularly the Southwest, has and will continue to have huge water problems. His and Bolt’s proposal that we need to build more dams not spend money reducing carbon is no joke it is appalling ignorance as Perth’s dams have not been full for decades.
Channel 10 is doing this nation a disservice in giving Bolt time to present his ignorant, wacky and untruthful anti-environmental rants. He should be pulled into line for claiming climate scientists were manipulating data unless he can provide evidence.
the Sun is going dOwn…
“Five senior journalists are held in police corruption probe amid speculation over future of the Sun”
The deputy editor, Geoff Webster, chief reporter John Kay, picture editor John Edwards, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and deputy news editor John Sturgis were arrested in early morning raids on suspicion of bribing police and public officials. There was also a search of the Sun‘s offices. A Surrey police officer, a member of the armed forces and a Ministry of Defence employee were also arrested. (source: the Guardian)
Phone hacking may be the tip of the News iceberg, as the Sun and stablemates were instrumental in selling Gulf War II on false premises. Rupert Murdoch is back in London amidst speculation that the Sun, Britain’s biggest selling tabloid daily, is going down.
The Sun was cheerleader for successive conservative and neo fascist US Presidents – Showbiz Ron, George Herbert, Dubya – and never missed the opportunity to bully, humiliate and demean. Jingoistic and xenophobic, it made Fox News seem like the Waltons.
It is the Norb Fones of newspapers.
May it set forever.
The Sun became an ardent supporter of Margaret Thatcher and Conservative Party policies and actions, including the Falklands War. The coverage “captured the zeitgeist”, according to Roy Greenslade, Assistant Editor at the time though privately an opponent of the war, but also “xenophobic, bloody-minded, ruthless, often reckless, black-humoured and ultimately triumphalist.”[20] One of the paper’s best known front pages, published on 4 May 1982, appeared to celebrate the news of the torpedoing of the Argentine ship the General Belgrano during the Falklands War by running the story under the headline “GOTCHA”.[21] The headline was changed for later editions when the extent of Argentine casualties became known.[22]Sunday Times reporter John Shirley witnessed copies of this edition of The Sun being thrown overboard by sailors and marines on HMS Fearless.[23] (source: Wikipedia )
Over the last decade we have seen the rapid decline in the standards of the traditional purveyors of information. In Australia, we seem to be leading the race to the bottom. The broadsheets that once provided serious commentary and reasonably accurate information are owned by massive monopolistic corporations. These corporations have the central aim to earn profits and peddle influence.
Our newspapers are staffed by lazy, compliant journalists who are eager to please their paymasters and who faithfully reproduce and recycle the same stories from the same sources. They are written in the same style and generally with the same emphasis. Often they use name calling employing the same clichéd descriptions to denigrate their targets. Modern journalists will rarely bother with an important and complex but uncontroversial story if a good scandal is available as an alternative.
It now appears that a new low point is being reached as mining magnates, Gina Hancock and Clive Palmer are proposing to buy up newspapers and, at least in the case of Hancock, the aim is to control the flow of information to the public in their own interest. The main driver appears to be to get rid of the mining tax and the carbon tax. Hancock may also want to control information regarding her family power struggles. She is a serial litigant against her former step mother and now her children.
Hancock is one of the financial backers of the bogus “Lord” Munkton who is on a highly paid tour of the world using misinformation to protect the incomes of mining magnates who want to continue to pollute the planet and not pay recompense for the damage they cause or for expenses they are pushing off on others.
There is little doubt these incredibly wealthy magnates will use their media influence to protect their companies assets against any government that stands in their way.
Murdoch has for some time been moving his monopolistic media holdings towards being the first international media “Big Brother”. News Limited keeps politicians in fear of its influence and ready to comply with its corporate agenda even when that agenda is clearly not in the interest of the state and its people. Hancock and Palmer are aiming to follow his footsteps, at least in Australia.
It is clear that like Pravda in the communist Soviet Union, our mainstream media is an enemy of the truth and thereby an enemy of the people. Our media distorts news to prevent governments working in the public interest.
How can a healthy democracy survive when the information it relies upon to make important decisions and judgements is demonstrably false and where the media champions the causes of those opposed to the truth?
“IF you thought liberal snobs were insufferable enough already, with their tendency to view anyone who disagrees with them as dumb and dangerous, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” (Brendan O’Neill – 11/12 Feb 2012)
OOOOhh, Brendan.
So, a Murdochite, neoCON mining pamphleteer finds us insufferable. Where would your freedom to express yourself be without “liberal snobs” such as John Stuart Mill, Thomas Paine, Voltaire…err, Charles Dickens?
Liberal, with a small l, is not a dirty word. What’s really dumb and dangerous is yet more wannabee Fox News style propaganda in our only national broadsheet. Liberal, with a big L? Filthy.
For alternative weekend reading, why not have a squizz at www.theglobalmail.org
“Julie, are the buttOns working properly?” asked Tony
What’s wrong, Tony?
Well, I pressed condescenscion…no reaction. Scathing indignation…barely a murmur…
Look, Leni’s right. Repetition, repetition…
Repetition. I know. I know.
Come here. Is my darling Abb on botty perhaps feeling a little a-flutter in the build up to next week’s shedding?
Quite frankly, I’m confident moving forwards. Sir Cliff’s touching down Sat night and so we’ll come out swinging…
Shedding, Tony. Shedding.
The Royal Society (UK) promotes excellence in scientific research and has recently published a report, ‘Brain Waves: neuroscience and the law’ (Dec 2011), focussing on new findings in neuroscience and their implications for the judiciary, lawyers and policy makers.
Supported by the British Psychological Society (BPS):
“The 36-page document, which is freely available online (at tinyurl.com/brainwaves4), charts the rising influence of neuroscience evidence in courts of law. For example, of 722 US court cases in which neurological or behavioural genetics evidence was submitted in defence, 199 and 205 took place in 2008 and 2009, respectively, compared with 101 and 105 in 2005 and 2006.”
Brain Waves (& the Law) was chaired by Professor Emeritus of Experimental Psychology Nicholas Mackintosh at the University of Cambridge and a key recommendation of the report was that contacts between brain researchers and lawyers should be strengthened. Furthermore, the report frames the broader implications as follows:
More broadly, progress in neuroscience is going to raise questions about personality, identity, responsibility, and liberty, as well as associated social and ethical issues. The aim of the Royal Society’s Brain Waves project is to explore what neuroscience can offer, what are its limitations, and what are the potential benefits and the risks posed by particular applications.
All Brain Waves reports are freely available @ http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/brain-waves
Tina Magnolia, welcome to Earthtalk.
– G’day Breeonezlet, smashin’ tu be here…
Ok. Tina Magnolia, as you know, this interview is likely to be reaching planets that are not entirely familiar with your all mine profession. Can you describe a typical start to your working day?
– the boardroom at Ozdong Resources is all mine and must be kept spotlessly clean, and to my exact specifications at ALL TIMES. Press over the weekend – ectually in the Weakened Caucasian – explains it tewwibly well:
“Ozdong Resources boardroom in West Perth is startlingly white. White table, white chairs, white walls.”(sic) (4/5 Feb 2012: Weakened Caucasian)
An important colour, is it, back there on Earth?
– For me, white is signature colour – my life, my passion…kinda almost a mantra. Ozdong is very white and all mine.
Ms Magnolia, is it not the case that your “all mine” industry is actually filthy and destructive?
– Breeonezlet, thurs some sort of break…brea.. in the sugnall. Ken you repeat the quostion?
Loud and clear at this end. Ok, I repeat: Ms Magnolia, is it not the case that your “all mine” industry is actually filthy and destructive?
– Look, at the end of the day, moving forwards…no, wretched signal problem, AGAIN – I’m getting some sort of feedback into this blasted bloomin’ earpiece… just repeat the sodding quest…
We can, but we’re not going to bother, Ms Magnolia. You see, here on Earthtalk, we’ve introduced a new feature whereby visitors and viewers can vote on whether they think you are being disingenuous. Our culture is open and this extends to our communications.
Well viewers, we’re leaving it there with Tina Magnolia and “it’s all mine“. Thank you for your vote.
“Eeef Rinehart continues to increase zee stake in Fearfex media, it could leave us in ze seetuation where nearly all our major daily papers are controlled by just three peoples, Norb! Eet’s a vin for zee opportunity to vin”
Quite soo, dear Leni. Well, Radio Now is actually already across the new Stomurdhart account, Leni.
Vot are zee stretegic eempleecations, Norb?
Integration of moral courage across multiple platforms, Leni. Tony’s tickled pin…errr, delighted, delighted.
Eez eet true that Lord Christopher Sponkton eez ze new Stomurdhart ‘face’?
Under wraps, Leni. Under wraps.
Ochh, Norb, yoor smiling though…eet eez true…
Look, Gina, Rupert and Kerry are titans with vision moving forwards.
“All zee propegenda has to be populerr and has to accommodate eetself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.”
Is that whom I think it is, Leni?
Bronnie Ware is an Australian blogger and palliative care nurse who is launching a book, ‘the Top 5 Regrets of the Dying’. Recently featured by the Guardian, Ware cared for a multitude of people, over more than a decade, during their final weeks and days:
I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me…
I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
I wish I had the courage to express my feelings
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
I wish that I had let myself be happier…
The SMH today claims that “opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s Press Club speech attacked the very point Labor sees as its greatest strength — economic management — armed with little more than rhetoric and previously announced promises.”
The interpretOr would like to reinforce the emptiness of Abbott’s rationale with a few more words from Nobel laureate, Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a former World Bank chief economist and economic adviser to the US government…
“[Labor] actually did a fantastic job of saving your country from problems.”
Stiglitz applauds the objectives of the government’s mining tax but was not surprised at the response of BIG MINING…
“Having watched what happened in the United States I’m not surprised at all what’s happened here; the mining companies do not want to pay their fair share.”
The practice of offering routine post-trauma psychological debriefing (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing – CISD) has declined significantly in recent years, attributable in part to adverse findings of the NICE (National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence, UK) meta analysis of 2005. The British Psychological Society (BPS) research blog is currently critiquing the methodology and findings of NICE et al and citing new evidence that CISD may be beneficial, if not imperative, after all:
“We have been told that the case against debriefing is proven and the debate is closed,” Hawker, Durkin and Hawker conclude. “We disagree … We predict that appropriate psychological debriefing will be shown to have benefits for secondary victims of trauma who have been briefed together and who have worked together through traumatic events. Research into these uses of debriefing should be encouraged and supported.”
Hawker, D., Durkin, J., and Hawker, D. (2011). To debrief or not to debrief our heroes: that is the question. J. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 18 (6), 453-463
Hawker et al, are a team of therapists and trauma consultants who’ve worked extensively with NGOs, aid workers and emergency responders and have called for post-trauma debriefing to be resurrected for these specific client groups.
the interpretOr 