Courier Mail manipulates reporting of water recycling to demand early election

On 28 December Queensland's Courier Mail called for early state elections alleging that Anna Bligh's back down before "uninformed agitators" in shelving its plans to introduce water recycling has shown her government to be "timid" and "tired". However, the evidence shows that Bligh's backflip was soundly based. So, what is the real reason for the Courier Mail's own backflip on the question of early elections?

Contents: Why the sudden need for an early election in Queensland?, Courier Mail's misreporting of water recycling issue, Even the Australian sides with the 'uninformed agitators' against the Courier Mail, Courier Mail's misreporting of water recycling no aberration, Courier Mail seeks electoral putsch in Queensland, The Australian's attempt to manipulate the NSW Parliament, What can be done?.
See also: "Reclaim Our Democracy: Boycott Murdoch" (after) 6 June 08 in the Spring Hill Voice, the Spring Hill Voice's Media Page (including a promotion of this article), "Media contempt for facts in NSW electricity privatisation debate" of 18 Sep 08.

Is the home-building industry the prime mover of our ecological ruin?

The former Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, once offered Australia a choice. It could sustain jobs and economic security by using its brains, by being a smart economy, by adding value to the products it produces and by transforming manufacturing. Or it could continue to be a “lazy Australia” that depends on job growth simply by driving up population numbers and depending on the growth you get by building homes and shopping malls. ... That the home building industry is the prime mover and catalyst of our ecological ruin was never more clearly illustrated than by statements recently made by University of West Florida economist Rick Harper, director of the UWF’s Haas Centre for Business Research.

Is Europe still European?

Should the people of Europe, as a consequence of misguided feelings of guilt over crimes such as Auschwitz and those of the colonial era, allow their unique histories and cultures be overwhelmed by large and ongoing influxes of people from the Third World, particularly from the Middle Eat and Africa?

Government Ministers to be forced to justify adding toxins to Queensland's drinking water

Three Queensland Ministers including Premier Anna Bligh, who, in 2008, rushed through legislation to enable the addition of fluoride and other toxic substances to Queensland's drinking water against well-founded scientifically based objections, will be forced to properly investigate those objections and should they refuse to repeal the legislation, justify that decision before the Supreme Court.

Bob Carr's words belied by his record as Premier of NSW

Bob Carr has proved himself capable of making very astute observations about the choices that we face as a nation, particularly in regard to population, ecology and ethics, but his policies as Premier of NSW far more often ran directly counter to those words.

Book Review: Peter Andrews - Back from the brink - agriculture for Australians

This book paints a picture of the ecological mechanics of this continent, using clear, concise prose. It is a painlessly educative book. The bold claim of its subtitle, "How Australia's landscape can be saved," stands up to scrutiny.

Take a new look at thistles, dock plants and other hardy weeds. Enjoy trialling the author's theories in your neglected front garden or replot your broadacre farm. Re-examine the cause of total re-nativisation in the light of galloping desertification. Peter maintains that his simple hydrological theory holds true for the entire continent. He re-interprets the history of this land; he may well be right.

Harold Pinter has died

Pinter won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2005. Here are some exerpts from his searing denunciation of United States realpolitik in his Nobel Prize speech. Really worth reading...

Science Show too quick to close discussion of World Trade Center collapses

The last thing that Battalion Chief Oreo Palmer expected as he surveyed the dwindling flames on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower at 9:54am on 11 September 2001 was, seven minutes from then, for the South Tower to come crashing down on him and to collapse almost completely into dust at a rate barely slower than free fall. Many scientists and engineers, who have since disputed the official US Government explanation of the World Trade Center collapses, would have agreed with Palmer's judgement on the day, however the ABC's Science Show, presented by Robyn Williams seems reluctant to let its listeners know of their views.

See also: articles: "Fire Department Tape Reveals No Awareness of Imminent Doom" In New York Times of 9 November 2002, "NY firefighters reached South Tower crash zone" in the Guardian of 5 Aug 2002
sites: Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, www.911oz.com, wearechange.org.au, 911research.wtc7.net, Firefighters for 9/11 Truth, Patriots Question 9/11, Pilots for 9/11 Truth, 911truth.org, 911blogger.com

"Fusion Illusions" - the ITER Project and tritium supply

So, you were impressed by the ITER Fusion project because it attracted 10 billion Euros?
Read any serious criticism lately ... or ever?
Michael Dittmar, particle physicist with the Swiss CERN institute, goes into fascinating detail in The Final Energy Crisis. Read this quote from his "Fusion Illusions":

Dogs and cats are bred for profits in an already overpopulated market

Over 200,000 cats and dogs are "put down" each year because they are homeless. The government allows the indiscriminate breeding of dogs and cats but they do not cover the costs of rehabilitating and re-homing abandoned animals! Because the pet shop market exists in Australia, backyard breeders and "puppy farms" continue to churn out more and more poor puppies and kittens, whilst thousands are being killed at pounds every year.

The dairy industry is cruel and unsustainable.

Mother cows are known to have highly developed maternal instincts and can bellow for days for their stolen babies! We kill over one million new-born calves each year. the dairy industry accounted for 39% of the total irrigated area of pasture in the Murray Darling Basin.

Muntadar al-Zaidi did what we journalists should have done long ago

Send a Shoe to Bush Campaign: Support Al-Zaidi's bold protest: send an old shoe to the White House!When Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi heaved his two shoes at the head of President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, he did something that the White House press corps should have done years ago.

Original article by David Lindorff posted to www.thiscantbehappening.net on 15 Dec 08.
See also "Peace Activists Take Shoes to White House in Solidarity with Shoe-Throwing Iraqi Journalist" posted 15 Dec 08 to www.afterdowningstreet.org, "UPDATE: Shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist in hospital" posted 16 Dec 08 to www.911truth.org, "Send Bush Your Shoes!" posted to Citizens for Legitmate Government on 16 Dec 08, "Bush shoe-thrower in hospital after beating: brother" on AFP of 16 Dec 08.

Climate change, population growth & Oz Governments

After years of telling us that environmental impact has nothing to do with population numbers, the government admits it is the major factor. Futhermore they would rather subject us to climate change than simply downsize immigration.

Water and capitalism - a citizen's tale

Investing in water for the suburban home-owner; turning overpopulation to profit; growing your water capital. Water and democracy. Water and suburban conflict. Plumbing negotiations.

Council bastardry condemns Western Sydney Woodland at ADI Site

Are you awake yet, Australia? We are losing all our rights to developer lobbying. Concerned residents sat in amazement last night as Penrith Council voted to condemn hundreds of hectares of Cumberland Plain Woodland which NSW Scientists claim is verging on extinction. Council voted 14/15 to enter into a Planning Agreement with developer Delfin Lend Lease to build 3500 houses and clear approx 300 ha of Cumberland Plain Woodland from the ADI Site. Spokesman for ADI Residents Action Group alleges undeclared vested interest among council members.

Keep broadband in public hands - Australian Greens

As Telstra places ever more conditions and demands ever more taxpayer funding in return for its participation in the Labor Government's National BroadBand Network (NBN) program, Western Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has called to assume a majority stake in the project in order to guarantee that the public interest be safeguarded.

Also published on citizensagainstsellingtelstra.com. Original media release of 3 Dec 08 from Scott Ludlam's Web site. See also:, "$5bn more needed on broadband: Telstra" in the Australian IT Section of 4 Dec 08, "Telstra call centres in crisis" in the Australian IT Section of 2 Dec 08, "Telstra cuts widow off from world" in the Toowoomba Chronicle of 30 Nov 08, ...

President Bush's "midnight" raid on Oregon's forests thwarted

Ecological Internet reports that Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has blocked ecological criminal President George W Bush's last minute plans to sharply increase logging on 2.2 million acres of forests in Western Oregon.

See original article: "Oregon's Governor Stymies Bush's 'Midnight' Forest Raid" on forests.org.
See also: Oregon governor objects to Bureau of Land Management logging plan in Capital Press of 11 Dec 08.
What you can do: Give generously to forests.org and other Ecological Internet projects to help them achieve more such wins for the environment.

The Final Garnaut Report; A Radical Critique of its Energy Assumptions

The Garnaut Report has failed to discuss the energy assumptions underlying its conclusions. Tim Flannery argues that the core assumption that alternative energy technologies can be scaled up by the huge magnitudes required to replace fossil fuels is invalid. This failure should invalidate the Garnaut Report.

Mark O'Connor on the ideology of "immigrationism"

Australian Poet Mark O'Connor, author of Overloading Australia, describes in a talk given back in 1993 the various dishonest debating ploys used by immigration advocates.

See also: Immigrationism, Racism And Moral Monopoly (pdf 27K) from Winter 1993-1994 edition of The Social Contract.

Politicians and their advisors must be made responsible for predictable catastrophes

Australian governments constantly pretend that no-one could see what was coming, but it was all eminently predictable and they had a hand in bringing about Australia's parlous and desperate ecological situation, simply by pushing population growth.

Melbourne Communities overcome East-West road-tunnel and toll-way plan

Spokespeople for Royal Park Protection Group Inc. (RPPG) have called the deletion of the East West road tunnel and freeway from the Brumby Victorian Transport Plan, a win for commonsense and the common people and said that even the Zoo animals can breathe easy now that a tunnel won’t be constructed next to their home. See also upcoming forum 10 December: What will the Brumby Transport Plan mean for Melbourne?"

Halt Brumby, damn the sprawl!

Biodiversity richness, inherited as part of the natural wealth of this country, is being sacrificed on the altar of short-term economic benefits. Brumby's government should step down and a caretaker administrator take over until State elections.

Bad State of the Environment Report Vic conceals agenda

Sounds good but ... The Victorian State of the Environment Report 2008 says that the future cannot be an extension of the past; Australia’s total material requirements more than twice other OECD countries'; Victoria's population growth major driver of environmental degradation. But, go to the end to see that this Report intends to reduce 'consumers' [what happened to 'citizens'?] rights, space and living standards "while also taking advantage of the huge business opportunities presented" by Victoria "Growing Together".

The Courier Mail letters editor's one-sided treatment of "Quantum of Solace"

Is the Letters Editor of Brisbane's Murdoch-owned Courier Mail newspaper apprehensive at the geo-political themes included in the latest James Bond Movie?

See also: "007 Bolivian socialist?" in the New Statesman of 14 Nov 2008 and discussion

Brumby's parliamentary circus only lacks Caligula's horse

Brumby's parliament is a circus of Dorothy Dixers and false positives. He shows no remorse for the pain and loss his policies have inflicted on Victoria. Reading his words one is reminded of some little emperor in the last days of Rome.

Victoria's overpopulation nets Big End of Town windfall while citizens pay heavy price

"The property developers are self serving and the government is reprehensible in catering to their greed by pushing for greater and greater population growth. They thumb their noses at the rest of us and treat wildlife whose habitat gets destroyed with total disdain."

Why are we concerned about the Big Brother Internet laws?

The Federal Government plans to include any web-site which it deems "unwanted" in a secret list of blacklisted web-sites that we will be prevented from viewing if its Mandatory Internet Filtering becomes law. These may have nothing to do with already illegal child pornography or, indeed, even legal adult pornography that the legislation is purportedly intended to protect children from. If the list is secret, it may well allow illegal use of the Internet to flourish whilst legitimate political dissent is censored . How would anyone ever know?

What you can do: Attend protests against Mandatory Internet Filtering in your capital city on Saturday 13 December ...

Big Brother Internet proposal - Questions for Conroy

How will Government stop tech tools like proxies, Virtual Private Networks, the Tor service and encryption from circumventing this filtering regime without compromising the ability of Australian businesses and residents to do business on-line safely and securely?

Mandatory Internet Filtering - Senator Ludlam catches Sen Conroy (Broadband Min) out

Sen. Conroy, Seems it isn't true that the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand and Finland were trialling or already using mandatory internet 'filters' to prevent people from freely reading on subjects deemed illegal, such as euthanasia, as well as attacking child-pornography.