Thank you for your reply, I would like to extend my apologises for the confusion caused.

We understand that it is not long life milk, However it has gone through a Heat Treatment which prevents the product from breaking down or spoiling. This is why the Milk can have a longer used by date .

Please note that once the carton is opened the used by becomes void and need to be consumed with in 5 to 7 days.

I hope this information has been helpful

Kind Regards

... Jonathan watched him. And as he watched him, a strange disquiet came over him. This disquiet was not fed by envy as in the old days, but by amazement: how was it possible - he asked himself - that this man, well over fifty now, was still alive at all? Given his thoroughly irresponsible way of life, should he not long ago have starved or frozen to death, been cut down by cirrhosis of the liver - be dead at any rate? Instead, he ate and drank with the best of appetites, slept the sleep of the just and, wearing a cotton jacket and patched trousers - which of course had long ago replaced those that he had pulled down on the rue Dupin, relatively smart, almost fashionable corduroy trousers, apart from a repair here and there - gave the impression of a firmly grounded personality in finest harmony with the world and enjoying life ... whereas he, Jonathan - and his amazement gradually mounted to a kind of nervous bewilderment - whereas he, who his whole life long had been a well-behaved and orderly fellow, unpretentious, almost, ascetic, clean, always punctual and obedient, reliable, respectable ... and every sou he had he had earned himself, and always paid cash, for his utility bill, his rent, the concierge's Christmas tip ... and never incurred debts, never been a burden to anyone, never once been sick or cost social service agencies a centime ... never done anything to hurt anyone, had never, ever wanted anything from life except to maintain and guarantee his own modest, small contentment of soul ... whereas he now saw himself, at the age of fifty-three, plunging head over heels into a crisis that confounded the life's plan he had devised for himself and was making him crazy and confused and had him eating raisin rolls for the pure confusion of it, and for fright. Yes, he was frightened! God knows, he needed only to look at this sleeping clochard and he started trembling with fright: all at once he was dreadfully frightened that he might have to become like the dissipated man there on the bench. How quickly it could happen, impoverished and on the skids! How quickly the apparently solidly laid foundation of one's existence could crumble. You missed Monsieur Roedel's limousine came flashing through his mind again. Something that had never happened before and that never ought to have happned before and the never ought to have happened, happened today nonetheless: you missed the limousine, and tomorrow perhaps you'll miss work entirely, or lose the key to the steel gate, and next month you'll be ignominiously fired, and you won't find a new job, because who would hire a failure? No one can live on unemployment cheques, by then you will have long since lost your room - there's a pigeon living in it, a family of pigeons lives there, fouling and raving your room - the hotel bills grow to incalculable sums, in your worry you start drinking, more and more, drink away every centime you've saved, become a slave to booze with no way out, get sick, ridden by decay, lice, depravity, are driven out of your final doss-house, you haven't a sou left, you stand before total ruin, out on the street, you sleep, you live in the street, you shit in the street, you're at the end of your tether, Jonathan, within a year you'll be at the end, like that clochard in his rags on the park bench, you'll be lying there, his brother in degradation. ...

... Ironically - considering how strongly some Labor figures objected to the Special Branch's existence in the 1960s, 70s and 80s - it had been established under a State Labor Government 19 years before I joined it, by the then Queensland Police Commissioner, Captain Cecil Carroll, who was admired by those who served under him. ...

But in a State the size of Queensland, and with the limited resources at Carroll's disposal for this operation, it was clear that police could not undertake the operation without outside help. So they enlisted special agents.

To the ordinary Australian this might sound sinister, but these people were far removed from the political agents of fiction or those employed by some of the countries whose policies were hostile to Australia. They were ordinary members of the community, including schoolteachers, housewives and tradesmen. Most of them infiltrated the various organisations whose activities we were required to have knowledge of, and in some cases risked personal retribution if they were exposed. But it was a risk they chose to run, undertaking their work for the Branch in the public interest. I was impressed with their sincerity. ...

One of our agents was a motherly woman who met her Special Branch contacts every month for 15 years to report on the meetings she attended of two organisations. Her contact with branch officers took place in unmarked police vehicles in a park near her home, where she handed over a detailed report in her best copperplate handwriting outlining the attendance and everything of likely interest to us that transpired when the organisations met. Often she turned up with home-baked scones or cakes for the officers and displayed great interest in their wives and children. ...

Lights out on Kurilpa Bridge for Earth Hour: Media Release [27/3/10]

Premier Anna Bligh today announced Kurilpa Bridge will be taking part in Earth Hour.

Ms Bligh said for the first time since the bridge was opened in October last year its masts and spars won’t be lit up tonight.

“The main lights will be turned off between 8pm and midnight in support of Earth Hour,” Ms Bligh said.

“Only general lighting for normal pedestrian and bicycle movements will be left on for safety reasons.

“Our government strongly supports the Earth Hour message of a sustainable future by building and maintaining infrastructure which is energy efficient all year round.

“Around 75 percent of the power required for Kurilpa Bridge’s lighting display is powered by some 84 solar panels.

“In most lighting configurations, 100 per cent of the power is provided by solar with any surplus power returned to the main grid.

“This will amount to savings of around 37.8 tonnes of carbon emissions each year – which is quite an achievement. No other bridge in the world supplements its power to such a degree.

“I’m urging everyone to get involved and turn their lights off for at least an hour tonight. Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten said the Department of Public Works had a proud tradition of setting and achieving energy targets by retrofitting existing infrastructure and the use of energy performance contracts in government buildings.

“By the end of 2009-2010, the energy consumption across the department's whole building portfolio will be reduced by 21%.”

Mr Schwarten said tenants of government-owned buildings in the CBD managed by the Department of Public Works had been instructed to turn off their lights during Earth Hour to show support. Buildings participating in Earth Hour include the Executive Building, Executive Annexe, Public Service Club, Mineral House, 63 George Street, Neville Bonner, Commissariat Stores, 80 George Street, 61 Mary Street, State Health Building Charlotte Street, Forestry House, 111 George Street, 33 Charlotte Street, Education House, the Landcentre and Gabba Towers.

“In my own building at 80 George Street, my department has been conducting a ‘Big Switch Off campaign’ in preparation for Earth Hour.

“The campaign encourages staff to turn off computers, lights and appliances when they are not in use. ‘It’s one of the many ways the Department of Public Works is supporting the Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland target of reducing Queenslanders’ carbon footprint by one third.”

Make Earth Hour Every Hour

Brisbane City Council is supporting Earth Hour in 2010. Brisbane residents and businesses are encouraged to switch off their lights between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Saturday, 27 March 2010. Register to participate online. Bridges and buildings including the Story Bridge, Victoria Bridge and Kangaroo Point Cliffs will be in darkness at 8.30pm.

Taking endangered tuna out of the can [22/3/10]

Greenpeace's new sustainable food campaign is all about tuna and the tuna companies that plunder overfished species, killing endangered turtles and sharks in the process

The campaign to stop GE foods has been so successful that Greenpeace has launched a new sustainable food campaign in 2010. It’s all about tuna, and what tuna lovers can do to turn the tide on overfishing.

Half of the world's tuna, and most of Australia's tuna, comes from the Pacific Ocean. But since industrial fishing started in the 1950's, tuna stocks have been declining. Now we've reached a crisis point.

Bluefin, Bigeye, Yellowfin and Albacore Tuna are in peril; Skipjack is the only healthy tuna species left. Add to this the hundreds of thousands of endangered turtles, sharks, rays and marlins that are caught and killed in tuna nets, and it's clear we need to make some massive changes to our region's tuna fishing industry.

In response, Greenpeace is running a sustainable seafood campaign, which includes a canned tuna ranking. Tuna lovers, you don't have to take tuna off your menu. What you can do is check out Greenpeace's canned tuna rankings, and make sure you're not buying the brands that contribute most to damaging our oceans.

Government gets it wrong on GE labelling [22/3/10]

The official Government paper for this year's review of food labelling laws incorrectly states that GE food in Australia has to be labelled. In reality, massive loopholes mean most GE foods on the shelf aren't labelled.

Greenpeace has campaigned hard to get GE considered in the current government review of food labelling laws, supported by some 30,000 people who have signed the 'Our right to know' food labelling petition.

While we've succeeded in getting GE included as an issue for review, the Government still refuses to take consumers' concerns about GE food seriously. The official discussion paper they released last week incorrectly claimed that GE foods in Australia are labelled, ignoring the fact that our current labelling laws are so weak, that most GE foods make it onto the shelf without a label.

Greenpeace was quick to tell the media how wrong this is, and that because of major loopholes in labelling laws, we’re eating in the dark when it comes to GE. We’ll continue to pressure politicians to get all GE foods labelled, because we all have a right to know what we’re eating, especially when it threatens our health and the environment.

Take action by registering to attend the public consultations on food labelling.

Thank you for your email regarding the Coles Organic Milk. This matter was referred to our National Quality Team for comment. They have advised that the Ultra Heat Treat which allows for sterile product to be packed into Aseptic packaging with the exclusion of Oxygen, and therefore prevents the product from breaking down or spoil. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us and hope the information provided has been helpful. Feedback from our customers is important information that assists us to maintain our high standards. Yours sincerely

There has been an overwhelming response to my last diary and I want to thank you all for sending me your thoughts. I have read every one and there were so many great ideas. I want you to know that I am thinking about them all. It seems to me that what I am saying is resonating with all of you and I am very glad that is the case.

One email from a retired Board member told me that I should never say no to a Government official if they want to meet with me and the AKF. I have taken that advice very seriously and have left a message for the Director General that I mentioned last time and now, two weeks later, he has not returned my call. He has however written to all the developers here in South East Queensland - click here to read the letter. From what I hear in the press, the developers are pretty happy with this response. In essence it means 'business as usual' at a time when the koala, by the Premier's own admission, may go to extinction in 2010 in the Koala Coast region - one of the fastest growing areas of Australia.

On Tuesday next week, the Premier of Queensland Anna Bligh, in conjunction with the Federal Government, is holding a Growth Summit, the results of which will not only be the death knell for the koalas here in South East Queensland, particularly in the Koala Coast, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, but perhaps change the face of Australia forever.

Our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and our Treasurer Wayne Swan are now wanting 35 million people in Australia (a significant number of which will be here in Queensland), and there seems to be an incredible rush to get that approved. The Growth Summit and previous events over the last few weeks have been led by infrastructure companies, developers, road builders and railway builders - all those who will gain from huge infrastructure building.

There have been a few lone voices in the wilderness like Dick Smith - one of our famous Australians, who said that our country cannot sustain such a population because of our inability to grow that amount of food, but he is not being heard. He suggested that it is time for Australia to re-evaluate our future - to consider how many people we should have on this precious continent. By and large his thoughts were rejected, and one Minister said "Mr. Smith should keep out of Australian's bedrooms". Clever comment, but very childish when we live on a planet with 7 billion people rising to 9 billion over the coming years.

Given my previous diary was about the threat to food production on the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales, I am inclined to agree, and believe that water and food production is going to be a key issue for the future. For those of you who live overseas - I know it is hard to imagine but our country has very little arable land. So much of our continent is the red desert where very little food is grown, and of course the koalas live in the fertile areas of Australia which is why there is so much conflict.

I am of the opinion that the rush to approve and over-ride public opinion on this issue is due to a Federal election coming up later in the year, and many of the companies involved in these Growth Summits and talk fests about development will, and have been, major donors to our political parties. I am also convinced that the listing of the Koala is a real problem for our Governments. When I went to a media lunch the other day where the Federal Minister for Infrastructure was speaking, many in the room rolled their eyes when I approached with my card to introduce myself, and one senior woman made it clear she was not interested in meeting with me. She made it clear that "koalas were just in the way". A very prominent Lord Mayor was standing right next to her at the time.

I am more and more convinced that the AKF's desire to find sustainable ways of doing business is falling on deaf ears. It is like there is a juggernaut out there, and for those who have seen the movie Avatar - one could be forgiven for putting all these large companies into the archetypal role of the company seeking to destroy Pandora to get the "unobtanium" - the precious resource on that planet.

I would really appreciate you writing to our Prime Minister about your concerns for the koala and, as always, insisting that he and Minister Garrett list the koala as a vulnerable species under the EPBC Act, which will at least force all these companies to do better. Currently it is a free for all. Click here to send the letter now - it's easy and only takes a minute.

Deborah

China says no to Pakistan link

A senior Chinese government official has revealed that the country has backed away from a plan to install a major gas pipeline from Pakistan to China, thus dealing an indirect blow to a recently-approved project to install a key trunkline from Iran to Pakistan.

Shell Shifts Balance Toward Gas With Arrow Takeover

(Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc moved a step closer to shifting the balance of its production in favor of natural gas over oil following a joint A$3.5 billion ($3.2 billion) acquisition of Arrow Energy Ltd.
The deal with PetroChina Co. will give Shell access to Arrow Energy’s holdings of coal-seam gas reserves, while conventional supplies are either declining or off limits in other parts of the world. Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser has described Australia as a “key growth” region for Shell.

Shell Cuts Geelong Refinery Jobs to Stay Competitive

(Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, will conduct an “organizational restructure” at its Geelong refinery in Australia’s Victoria state that will result in the loss of 20 jobs.

Newcastle Coal Exports Fall 24%; Ship Queue Shortens

(Bloomberg) -- Coal shipments from Australia’s Newcastle port, the world’s biggest export harbor for the fuel used in power stations, fell 24 percent last week while the number of vessels waiting to load declined.

Exclusive Excerpt: Hack the Planet

The battle lines on geoengineering have begun to take shape. On one side are modern-day romantics, who consider geoengineering an a priori violation of humans’ role as planetary citizens to let nature be natural and take a humble place within it. Better to solve the climate problem by reducing our impact on the planet, they say. Prominent among their antecedents is American forestry ecologist and writer Aldo Leopold, who asserted in A Sand County Almanac in 1949 that environmental problems demanded that man change his role from “conqueror of the land community to plain member and citizen of it.”

Bees in more trouble than ever after bad winter

(AP) -- The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees' pollen and hives laden with pesticides.

Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards. Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market.

Disputed isle in Bay of Bengal disappears into sea

(AP) -- For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island's gone.

New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said. "What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming," said Hazra.

... All major Anglo news outlets have stories about how the EU is falling apart, how battles are going on left, right and center, and Germany is loving it. Still, you have to wonder what the editorial board at the New York Times, or Wolfgang Münchau at the Financial Times, or all the others, are thinking (or smoking). For all I can tell, they may well be on Berlin's payroll. The stories they write play right into Merkel's hands. ...

Why Does This Event Cost $100 To Attend?

An Interview With Arundhati Roy

... AMY GOODMAN: Before we go into the very interesting journey you took, you arrive here on the seventh anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. You were extremely outspoken on the war and have continued to be. I remember seeing you at Riverside Church with the great Howard Zinn, giving a speech against the war. What are your thoughts now, seven years in? And how it’s affected your continent, how it’s affected India?

ARUNDHATI ROY: Well, I think the—you know, the saddest thing is that when the American elections happened and you had all the rhetoric of, you know, change you can believe in, and even the most cynical of us watched Obama win the elections and did feel moved, you know, watching how happy people were, especially people who had lived through the civil rights movement and so on, and, you know, in fact what has happened is that he has come in and expanded the war. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and took an opportunity to justify the war. It was as though those tears of the black people who watched, you know, a black man come to power were now cut and paste into the eyes of the world’s elite watching him justify war.

And from where I come from, it’s almost—you know, you think that they probably don’t even understand what they’re doing, the American government. They don’t understand what kind of ground they stand on. When you say things like “We have to wipe out the Taliban,” what does that mean? The Taliban is not a fixed number of people. The Taliban is an ideology that has sprung out of a history that, you know, America created anyway.

Iraq, the war is going on. Afghanistan, obviously, is rising up in revolt. It’s spilled into Pakistan, and from Pakistan into Kashmir and into India. So we’re seeing this superpower, in a way, caught in quicksand with a conceptual inability to understand what it’s doing, how to get out or how to stay in. It’s going to take this country down with it, for sure, you know, and I think it’s a real pity that, in a way, at least George Bush was so almost obscene in his stupidity about it, whereas here it’s smoke and mirrors, and people find it more difficult to decipher what’s going on. But, in fact, the war has expanded. ...

In reference to your e-mail, Council uses two larvicides to control mosquito larvae in the salt marshes. Both are used by both land based and aerial methods. The formulations of Teknar and Vectobac contain a bacterial agent, specific to mosquito larvae, called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (commonly known as B.t.i.). These products are formulated using the bacteria which occurs naturally in the environment and when ingested by the mosquito larvae, reacts with the mosquito's alkaline digestive juices. The formulations of Prolink and Biopren contain S-methoprene, an insect growth regulator which mimics a juvenile growth hormone in the mosquito larvae and prevents then from reaching the mature adult stage. Both products are applied at a critical time of the mosquito's development, and a window of only one or two days is available to apply the products to the marshes. The mosquitoes targeted are capable of going from the egg to adult in as little as five days, They are usually not visible after hatching until 36 - 48 hours old and after they reach the after reaching the fourth instar stage at four days old are not affected by either product. B.t.i. and S-methoprene are the only products allowed to be used in the Moreton Bay Marine Park and GCCC holds permits to apply these products.

Both these products are registered for the purpose by the Federal Government and are recommended by the World Health Organisation, who approve their use in drinking water in many overseas communities to combat diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, west Nile virus among others. Gold Coast City Council is under obligation by State Government laws to control mosquitoes to assist in preventing the spread of diseases such as Ross River virus and Barmah Forest virus, which occur in the South East Queensland area.

As the aerial spraying occurs over salt marshes owned by GCCC and Qld Government, and given the narrow window of opportunity to first find, and then treat the larvae, it is not possible to notify all residents of spraying.

The GCCC's Pest Management Unit holds a limited list of people to be contacted prior to spraying, principally these are people who work in the salt marsh areas that are treated, people who live near the helicopter landing zones and some members of the aquaculture industry. If you wish to be notified of our aerial larviciding programs, please advise us of your name, address and best contact phone number and we will make every attempt to contact you to notify you of any treatments in the future.

Dear Coles,

Hi! We purchased a one litre carton of Coles brand organic milk from your West End (Brisbane) outlet yesterday evening [22/3/10].

It has a use by date of 08/05/10 T: 15:09 and PKT# 09313 B: 13237 printed on the top.

That seems like a very long time for milk, is that correct or has there been a mistake?

Thanks,

Wrapped up in a woolen coast and scarf, I was rescued from the cold streets of SoHo in NYC by Brisbane artist, Richard Bell who welcomed me into his studio at Location One, where he is fulfilling a ten month International Fellowship that started in October 2009.

Bell is an infamous and celebrated Indigenous voice in the visual arts landscape of Australia who is not afraid to confront this predominantly white industry and audience with the persisting issues of racism and cultural imperialism that affect Aboriginal people. He vehemently protests the commodification of Indigenous culture by the Western art world which he outlined in the 2002 essay, Bell's Theorem: Aboriginal Art - It's a White Thing! ...

Interestingly, his experience of Americans had revealed their familiarity with the current political context and social reality of Indigenous Australians. This awareness was especially connected to the world coverage of the "Apology to Australia's Indigenous People" delivered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008, which was flagged by the title of his show ["I Am Not Sorry"]. Bell openly denounced the 'Apology' as an "empty and vacuous" gesture during our interview, exclaiming, "Sorry, but...." in relation to his absolute opposition to government initiatives like the Northern Territory Intervention which he described as racist and unfounded. ...

Stabilise Australia’s population by mid-century.
Increase humanitarian migration and continue to support family reunions, but substantially reduce skilled migration.
Return Australia’s overall migration to 1990s levels.
Adequately fund strategies to minimise the environmental impact of population growth.

Is Brisbane's Latest Catastrophe The "Clem 7" Or The "Clem Jones" Tunnel?

Do you think nanomedical research will eventually make research into the environmental causes of cancer redundant?

Air pollution accounts for at least 4 per cent of hospitalisations of babies and children, a new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report estimates. ...

QUT Faculty of Law Free Public Lecture Series 2010 presents
Senator the Hon Penny Wong
Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water

Monday 12 April 2010
Gardens Point Theatre QUT Gardens Point Campus 10.30am Refreshments
11.00am Lecture
12 noon Lecture concludes

The Speaker
Penny Wong was born in Malaysia and moved to Australia when she was eight. Before entering Parliament, Penny Wong was a barrister and solicitor in Adelaide and worked as an adviser to the Carr Government in New South Wales. She was elected as a Labor Senator for South Australia in November 2001 and began her term in July 2002. In December 2007 Penny was appointed to the Federal Cabinet in the new Rudd Labor Government as the Minister for Climate Change and Water, and in March 2010 the Prime Minister added the Energy Efficiency portfolio to her responsibilities. Penny is responsible for the co-ordination, implementation and delivery of the Government's climate change, energy efficiency and water policies including the design and implementation of the Governments Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

The Topic
The lecture will cover the programmes and policies of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS); Renewable Energy Target (RET) and Energy Efficiency.

Registration
Register by 29 March 2010 by email to qutlawpubliclectures@qut.edu.au
Registered attendees may claim 1 CPD point for the Queensland Bar Association and Queensland Law Society

Bicycle enthusiasts on the Gold Coast will soon have greater access to information on all things cycling, with the establishment a new bicycle user group.

Mayor Ron Clarke today presented a cheque for $5,000 to former Olympic gold medal cyclist and president of newly-formed Bicycle Gold Coast, Sara Carrigan, to help establish the group’s new website.

... To go into the draw to win a cruiser bike, subscribe to the Parks e-newsletter at www.goldcoastcity.com.au/parks

Entries close 13 April and winners will be announced 16 April 2010.

A plaque on site states:

Marcus and Laws are two local artists who were in part inspired by the now almost extinct tyre swan that could often be found in post-war suburban gardens. These swans followed in the long tradition of Australian do-it-yourself improvisation where seemingly useless materials are refashioned into something new.

Well I did warn, I did say I am not sure how or when this will end...I knew when I turned that key into that locked door, I was opening a can of worms...

Needless to say I had much difficulty falling asleep, and when I eventually did, I was woken up every hour or so with terrible nightmares. I am not sure if nightmare is the correct word, more like very powerful dreams, one sequence after another, that left me drenched in cold sweat, gasping for air...

I could not fall asleep, even though I was dead tired...I kept tossing and turning and out of the blue images of my dying grandmother flashed before my eyes...I saw when uncle handed me her medical report, the first thing I read was - Prognosis Negative. It was too late to do anything. Not that there was much we could do in view of the circumstances...the family decided not to tell her how ill she was...but she knew...

I remember being by her side and holding her frail transparent hands, with the blue veins showing, all dried up...I said " Bibi, it will all be fine " - she smiled and said "I know why am so ill, it's the wars, they killed me...I kept the frights inside and now they are killing me..."

Do those who pride themselves on "Liberation and Mission Accomplished" ever think of how "frights kept inside" actually act like delayed time bombs and bullets? Do the Medical Associations of the "civilized" world, ever consider the long term effects, of such a "negative prognosis" ? I very much doubt it...I very much doubt that Bibi or the thousand others will ever cross their callous indifferent minds...

So against this background of specific memories, I finally managed to doze off, only to be shaken out of this much desired state by potent sequences of a dream...

I dreamt it was pitch black all around me...I was in some airport tarmac, I had just landed and about to cross a border...I was carrying no luggage, there was no suitcase waiting for me...I only had a small plastic bag with essentials in it...

I saw my dad waiting for me on the other side of the fence...I had to go through customs but I had no papers, no documents...they checked and re-checked the contents of my plastic bag, I was delayed...I told my dad, I will join them later on, I am being kept here for a while...

The second sequence was also very potent...I then saw myself in a gathering of men, Arab men from different nationalities...supposedly "supporters of the cause", they were just sitting drinking coffee and smoking...and theorizing...they were Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians, for the most part...and at the same time they were trying to sell me things, goods -- stuff that was worthless...I said to one of them, but I have already paid you so much, and I got nothing in return, why should I pay you more ? you have given me nothing... he retorted - come on, you know how much we care about you, we even gave you a discount... I replied - a discount for what ?! you gave me nothing, I gave you everything I had... So one of the guys hugged me and said - you know we are brothers and I said - are we really ?....I left this gathering very upset, and headed to the empty street, again it was pitch black...again I was carrying nothing but this plastic bag...

The third sequence was the most telling....as I was walking down that dark street, a car pulls up on the curb, I noticed it had no lights, I felt danger...the man in the car said - have no fear I live here in this street...but he had an Egyptian accent and he was driving a car that had no Egyptian license plates...and in the dream I was not in Egypt...I knew he was lying and that I was in trouble...He got out of the car, he was a very big man, looked like a monster, he just put his hands on my mouth and he tried to rape me...I fought back as hard as I could, I wanted to scream, shout, but he suffocated my voice with his big hands, I had a small alarm in my hand, like a small siren, emitting the same sound when the bombs were about to fall...I sounded the siren, it was loud...I could hear it in the empty street, I was waiting for my "brothers" to show up -- no one did...

I woke up trembling...I felt so nauseous I wanted to vomit, but I had nothing in my stomach to vomit...I laid in bed for a while gathering my senses, reminding myself it was just a dream...only to realize that it was no dream, it was reality... Iraq was betrayed, raped and abandoned by Her Arab "brothers" first..

1955 Milk Bar Loafers

Rock'n'Roll Arrives

As youth culture developed in the 1950s, made more visible by its adoption of the scandalous new rock'n'roll music from America, there was widespread concern about the breakdown of community values. The media and police combined to emphasise the menace inherent in this undesirable youth rebellion. The supposed antisocial behaviour of bodgies and widgies was directly linked to rock'n'roll.

Bodgies were a new type of 'inner city tough', loosely modelled on English 'teddy boys'. They wore slicked-back hair, tight trousers, often showing brightly coloured socks, and draped jackets. These distinctive fashions meant that they were easily demonised by the media.

Bodgies, hoodlums and milk bar loafers in Brisbane face trouble from the police! So ran a report in the Courier-Mail in October 1955. In the article, Police Inspector Frank Bischof stated that young men congregating around milk bars and theatres are apt to be drawn into sex orgies and to fight among themselves for the favours of young women.

In 1956, a special bodgie squad was established by the police to root out the new social menace. Gilbert Park in Ashgrove, Shorncliffe Pier and inner city entertainment venues where young poeple met were all targeted. In 1957, the Government established a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the bodgie, widgie problem. The Committee's Report affirmed that the worrisome delinquency could be minimised by better family life. It stated that if the child learns to respect the single authority of his father ... he will know how to handle authority without disastrous rebellion in later life. It also expressed concern about mothers using kindergartens as dumping grounds to allow themselves more freedom to pursue desires.

Rock'n'roll made a tentative entry into Brisbane in 1955 with the film Blackboard Jungle, featuring the Bill Haley song 'Rock Around the Clock'. Subsequently, when the film Rock Around the Clock was shown police patrolled the aisles of the cinema, to control the local jive junkies who went along in force and behaved as though they had ants in their pants.

Following this, rock'n'roll dances and concerts became popular. Johnny O'Keefe performed to 2,000 people in City Hall. Concerts were also held at the Stadium and one of these in November 1956 ended in a rock'n'roll riot. During the concert, some members of the audience attempted to dance in the aisles. This was stopped by police, which led to minor destruction of parts of the auditorium and the setting of a fire. Clashes between police and members of the audience continued after the concert in Albert Street and a number of arrests were made.

In 1957, Bill Haley, supported by The Platters, LaVern Baker and Big Joe Turner, performed at the Stadium. The police expressed concern that the audience would be uncontrollable. Haley indicated that if this happened he would immediately play the national anthem to bring people to order.

The Tasmanian ALP, trying to smear the Greens, torpedoes its own chances:

The Labor Party caused [a nine-year old girl named] Alice Bellamy’s phone to ring at her home in Spreyton. When she answered, an ALP robocall, an automated message, told her that a vote for the Greens would be a vote to legalise heroin in Tasmania. Alice had to ask her mum what heroin was.

That single event, lasting less than a minute, reported on the front page of the Advocate newspaper on Wednesday, represents the nadir of Tasmanian Labor’s appalling campaign for Saturday’s poll.

Their rationale apparently was that with one quarter of the voting population still undecided, it was time to nail the Greens once and for all. Former premier Paul Lennon had already corralled his Labor and Liberal predecessors Rundle, Field and Gray to put their names to a document warning of the end of the world as we know it if the Greens held the balance of power.

Labor backed it up with its robocalls warning that the Greens would not only decriminalise heroin but what would give long-serving prisoners at Risdon Prison the vote. Think Port Arthur mass murderer Martin Bryant.

If a journalist had written such a libellous summary, they would have transgressed Tasmania’s electoral laws, yet those laws do nothing to stop this garbage being broadcast over the phone lines, with no identification, no authorisation.

It’s weird, isn’t it – there’s a part of the ALP that would rather the Liberals, Family First, anyone to win a seat instead of actual progressives, the Greens. And yet the same people cry foul if they don’t automatically get Green preferences.

It’ll be hard to mourn their passing on the weekend.

Meanwhile, the AEC really needs to do something about unregulated automated political advertising telephone calls, quick smart.

Michael Moore's St Patrick's Day Lament

... Within days, the House of Representatives will vote to pass the Senate health care "reform" bill. This bill is a joke. It has NOTHING to do with "health care reform." It has EVERYTHING to do with lining the pockets of the health insurance industry. It forces, by law, every American who isn't old or destitute to buy health insurance if their boss doesn't provide it. What company wouldn't love the government forcing the public to buy that company's product?! Imagine a bill that ordered every citizen to buy the extended warranty on all their appliances? Imagine a law that made it illegal not to own an iPhone? Or how 'bout I get a law passed that makes it compulsory for every American to go see my next movie? Woo-hoo! Who wouldn't love a sweet set-up like this windfall?

Well, the insurance companies -- get this -- don't like the Democrats' bill! That alone should be reason enough to vote for it.

Now, you would think these thieves would love this bill -- but they are actually fighting it. Why? Because it doesn't give them ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the what they want. It only gives them... 90%! YOU SEE, pure greed demands all or nothing.

The insurance industry hates this bill because it puts a few minor restrictions on them. Six months after its passage they won't be able to deny children coverage if they have a pre-existing condition. How awful! Government interference! SOCIALISM!

But, hey, they'll still be able to deny these children's parents coverage until 2014! So if a parent gets sick and dies in the next four years, I'm sure someone will step in and raise these already-insured orphans. ...

Forward Or Crash

... We've seen tear gas in Athens recently, and that was just a little taste. As you may know, I’m spending some time in France right now, and it's not hard to predict what will happen here if and when the government starts slashing salaries (as it must soon). The French simply won't understand what's happening, and mass protests will be the result, some peaceful, some violent. It’s every democratic politician's ultimate conundrum: if you don’t tell people the truth, they'll turn against you down the line; if you do tell them, they'll turn against you right away. That makes it obvious to figure out which politicians actually do get elected. Where the government is left, it will swing right, and vice versa, in ever more extreme denominations. ...

... Mr Fraser said the Gateway Motorway toll hike was "justified" because it would help pay for a $240 million upgrade at the southern end of the road, allowing for six lanes uninterrupted from Nudgee to Carrara.

He denied the toll hike was to boost the appeal of the Government's plan to sell the rights to collect the toll next year.

The new owner will take on the $240 million debt.

"Whether it was in public or private ownership it would have gone up. It's about funding the motorway upgrade," Mr Fraser said.

He said commuters would pay the additional $9 per week for the convenience the upgrade would bring.

"What we expect is this won't have a material impact on traffic on the Gateway Motorway," Mr Fraser said.

"With community transport and public transport not really ... assisting people to get to work, or being able to rely on public transport to get to work, necessitates people having to have a car."

"Rudd and the banks are taking away everyone's money and there is nothing left to spend with us. We have been dead since 'New Years', there just aren't any tourists and we're not making any sales. We didn't even go out last night because we still have so much frozen stock on board from last week."

My Invitation From Fox News

On Mar 3, 2010, at 4:52 PM, Lott, Maxim wrote:

Hi Howard,

John Stossel of the FOX Business Network is doing a show this Friday at 6pm on zoning. We’re going to be comparing zoning rules in Cleveland and Houston, and will also have Randal O’Toole on the show. He will say that we need to get rid of zoning because it gives the government planners too much control.

Max--

I was on a John Stoessel ABC show a few years ago and I consider him a completely unethical person, since he used me as a straw man and distorted everything I had to say -- in the editing process.

Randall O'Toole is a shill for the sprawl-builders. You deserve him.

Please tell Stoessel he can kiss my ass.

Jim
James Howard Kunstler
“It’s All Good”

"I'm a dumb as dog shit, pointy-headed redneck reader of the Murdoch Press, and here's my stupid redneck remark about shooting kangaroos heh heh heh"

Your Say

... The Southwest had once been the place where eastern physicians sent their more serious respiratory cases. No more; the developers - bankers, industrialists, subdividers, freeway builders and public utility chiefs - had succeeded with less than thirty years' effort in in bringing the air of Southwestern cities "up to the standard," that is, as foul as any other.

Doc thought he knew where the poison came from that had attacked the boy's lungs, the same poison eating into the mucous membrans of several million other citizens including himself. From poor visibility to eye irritation, from allergies to asthma to emphysema to general asthenia, the path lay straight ahead, pathogenic all the way. They were already having afternoons right here in Albuquerque when school children were forbidden to play outside in the "open" air, heavy breathing being more dangerous than child molesters. ...

You are cordially invited to meet Scott Morrison MP Member for Cook and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship

WHY COME TO THIS FUNCTION?

· It will be a great old-fashioned country style fundraiser! · It is supporting three Federal Candidates in the winnable seats of Fadden, Wright & Forde with a fantastic local Member in Stuart Robert MP (Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and Member for Fadden) & Candidates Hajnal Ban & Bert Van Manen ·

Meet the Federal Shadow Minister for Immigration & Citizenship, Scott Morrison MP and ask him direct questions on Border Protection Policy, Immigration and Population Growth ·

The cost is only $25 per person, $5 per child or $50 for a family

There will be live entertainment & activities such as:

Billy Tea & Damper Demonstrations
Whip Cracking & Boomerang Throwing
Grape Stomping in the Barrels
Animal Nursery & Farm with Animal Feeding
Historical Homesteads & Vineyards to Tour

When
On Sunday 28th March 2010
12:00pm BBQ Lunch
Where
Albert River Wines
869 Mundoolun Connection Road, Tamborine Village
(20 Minutes from Beenleigh towards Beaudesert)

Barnaby Joyce visits prime example of direct environmental action in Fadden

Shadow Minister for Finance and Debt Reduction Barnaby Joyce recently visited, on Stuart's invitation, Mitchell Enviro Industrial Estate, the world’s first carbon-neutral industrial estate, located on the northern Gold Coast.

Mitchell Enviro Industrial Estate is the only one of its kind in Australia. Boasting a carbon neutral footprint, the estate is the first and only industrial property in Australia to be granted as an authorised EnviroDevelopment by the Urban Development Institute of Australia with a 6 Leaf Certification. The ten acre ‘eco-estate’ is located in the Yatala Industrial Precinct.

Various technologies and processes have been carefully considered and then implemented on Mitchell Enviro Industrial Estate to assist it in being self-sustainable.

The $18 million project was the first industrial subdivision in Australia to exclusively use in-house water and sewage systems. It has no connection to Gold Coast City Council water and sewage infrastructure. All street lighting, water pumps and filtering systems are driven by grid-connected solar power. ...

Nearly half a million Australians -- mostly young, Indigenous or migrant Australians -- won't vote at this year's election unless our political leaders pass electoral reforms in the Senate tonight.

In 2006 the Howard Government passed the misleadingly named 'Electoral Integrity Act'. Now Australians only have until 8pm the day election writs are issued to enrol to vote or change their enrolment details, rather than 7 days. 423,975 people enrolled to vote during that 7 day period in 2004 - but under the current law many of those people will miss out.

These laws were a step backward to the days when voting was for some, not for all. Tonight the Senate will debate putting an end to this unfair law - but the amendments are on a knife's edge: Senator Fielding of Family First has the deciding vote.

Our voting rights say so much about our country. We once denied women and Indigenous Australians the right to vote, and so denied them a full place in our society.

Young, Indigenous, migrant and poorer Australians are missing out on a vote because of the Howard Government's changes. These are people we should be making every effort to enfranchise -- and we can't stand for any law that diminishes their opportunity to vote.

Tonight [now Wednesday 7/3/10] the Senate has an opportunity to reverse the Howard Government's changes -- but the bill rests on the vote of Senator Fielding. Can you take a few minutes to get in touch with Senator Fielding and ask him to vote 'yes' to fix Australia's electoral laws?

www.getup.org.au/campaign/our_votes_stopped

We must never again deny nor delay any Australian their right to vote -- never inhibit nor discourage their participation in our democracy. With your support, tonight we can restore a hallmark of our democracy.

Yours in hope,

The GetUp Team.

PS - Every year 17% of Australians move house -- and if you've ever been among them you know that filling out a form for the AEC is pretty low on your huge to-do list. And those of us with kids understand that with everything going on in their lives, many 18-year-olds don't enrol to vote straight away. The most sensible time to update your enrolment details is when the election is called. And that's exactly what hundreds of thousands of Australians have always done -- but this year they could be too late.

A 136 year-old building once used as a police lock-up in Nerang is about to find a new home.

Built in 1874, the two-room timber building has been sitting idle on land in the Carrara Stadium precinct since the mid 1980s.

The lock-up was used as part of Albert Shire Council’s Australia Day celebrations at Carrara, until council amalgamation in 1995.

With the redevelopment of Carrara now underway, the building needed to be moved. Division Five Councillor Peter Young said Council’s long-term plan was to make the building part of a permanent heritage attraction in Nerang.

In the meantime, the old lock-up will be transported to Council land at Pimpama where it will undergo some basic restoration.

Robert Longhurst, in his book “Nerang Shire: a history to 1949”, described the lock-up as “the most necessary of public facilities”, a building which helped to guarantee Nerang’s survival.

Cr Young said while Council was funding the building’s relocation, he was most appreciative of the generous assistance from ENERGEX in transporting it.

“I know there have been some logistical challenges in organising the transport of the building, so their expertise has been invaluable,” he said.

ENERGEX South Coast Asset Manager Gary Madigan said the organisation was more than happy to help in preserving this piece of Gold Coast history.

“ENERGEX has a strong community focus and each year the organisation and its staff carry out a range of environmental and sustainability activities and events,” Mr Madigan said.

“On the Gold Coast these have included Junior Landcare tree planting and environmental awareness days in conjunction with Landcare Queensland, while ENERGEX has linked with SEQ Catchments and Gold Coast environmental management company Gecko Regen to help save the endangered Richmond Birdwing Butterfly.”

... Meanwhile, Premier Anna Bligh says south-east Queensland councils need to 'pitch in' to pay more of the cost of public transport.

Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Campbell Newman recently complained that commuters who live outside Brisbane city are crowding the bus network, and the State Government should take control.

Ms Bligh has told a Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) lunch in Brisbane that the State Government has doubled its funding for public transport over the last six years.

She says more services could be provided in the south-east if other councils made the same funding contribution as Brisbane. ...

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today welcomes the comments made by the Shadow Treasurer, the Hon. Joe Hockey MP, on the Government's proposal to effectively censor the Internet.

In a speech delivered the Grattan Institute last night, Mr Hockey said that the Government's mandatory Internet filtering policy "is likely to be unworkable in practice."

"Mr Hockey correctly identified several of the fundamental problems in the Government's mandatory Internet filtering policy," said Peter Black, EFA's campaign manager.

"Most importantly that the filter will not stop children from accessing inappropriate content and will not prevent criminals from accessing and distributing sexual abuse material."

...

Mr Hockey's speech coincided with a new campaign launched by EFA this week, Lobby a Lib.

"It is looking increasingly likely that our best chance to stop the filter from ever becoming law is to convince the Liberal Party to vote against in the Senate," said Black.

"That is why we are encouraging people who disagree with the Government's impractical and costly policy of Government censorship, to visit or write to Liberal Party Members of Parliament or Senators."

The Lobby a Lib campaign is part of the broader Open Internet campaign, which is centred around a new website, OpenInternet.com.au, blog, and Facebook fan page, that together acts as campaign hub for all the different individuals and organisations that are campaigning against the Government's mandatory Internet filtering policy.

Who: Guest Speaker: Greens MP Sylvia Hale speaking on 'The Greens - mainstream party or minor irritant?'

Where: Mori Gallery, 168 Day Street, Sydney

When: 6:15pm for 6:30pm start, Monday 22 March 2010

Dear Anna,

How are you today? I was glad to hear you refused to release those 1992 - 1995 cabinet documents, and I hope that Nuttall business and those pesky protesters outside Parliament House aren't causing you too much bother. Isn't it good having the corporate media on your side to spin and obfuscate on your behalf? There's nothing like being unaccountable is there?

By the way, how's that big shiny yank tank of yours running? (My four-wheel-drive goes like the clappers, apart from when I zip down to the corner shop in Lisa's car for a carton of milk.) Are you looking forward to whizzing through the Clem 7 and over the Go Between Bridge?

Now, I can tell that you and your ministers hate public transport and that's why I like you - we are very similar. In fact, like myself, you've probably never travelled on public transport, because everybody hates public transport. It's for losers.

However, I just wondered if you have any money, and if you would like to buy Brisbane's bus fleet? They're burning a hole in my budget, and I just can't make any profit out of the damn things. So I thought that since you're a socialist, perhaps you could find somewhere on your balance sheet for them?

Fair dinkum. I didn't build these toll roads and tunnels so that these out of town toll cheats could rort the system by catching buses to Brisbane from places like Eight Mile Plains and the Gold Coast.

I hear you're having trouble privatising the trains, so maybe it would make a nice little diversion if you bought my buses.

Anyway, let me know what you think.

Yours,

Campbell

PS How about that climate change?

PPS Let me know whether you want me to leak this to the media, or whether your office would prefer to do it.

PPPS Go the Broncos!

Countdown to Green Earth Festival [Media Release 1/3/10]

With less than two weeks until Brisbane's newest environmental event, the countdown is well and truly on for Green Earth Festival taking place on Saturday 13 March at the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

This wide-ranging festival will comprise live bands, performers and roving entertainment; green cuisine, demonstrations, speakers, children's zone, video zone, art and fashion displays, plus stalls from many companies including local not for profit organisations.

Green Earth Festival is being organised by the fledging, not-for-profit environmental awareness group, Green Earth Group Inc that began early last year when like-minded friends of singer/poet and author Leigh-Chantelle's saw the need for the uniting of environmental and animal rights groups.

Leigh-Chantelle Koch is a one-woman powerhouse, the driving force behind Green Earth Festival who is extremely pleased with the amount of support, assistance and dedication she has found in many of the volunteers from Brisbane and beyond.

"People see that Green Earth Festival is coming from a sincere and positive place and people want to get involved from the grassroots up in helping us enact the positive changes that are needed in our society," says Leigh-Chantelle.

Combining with these passionate volunteers and friends are others who have the know-how: people who have been involved with large music festivals such as the Big Day Out. This combination, according to Green Earth Festival organiser and promoter Leigh-Chantelle, is what makes the magic happen.

"Every single person involved with Green Earth Festival has volunteered their time, energies and skills for the day and lead up to the day," says Leigh-Chantelle.

"We have had an overwhelming response from people young and old who want to be involved and I thank each and every person."

Green Earth Festival is a free, family orientated, drug and alcohol free community event which aims to stimulate awareness by bringing environmental, green, health and lifestyle, cruelty-free, recycling and sustainable issues into the public eye; and encouraging people to make simple changes in their everyday lives to help our environment and the world we leave for generations to come.

"My goal is to encourage all people from all backgrounds to be involved in a positive way to help our environment and to meet other like-minded individuals," says Leigh-Chantelle.

"Anyone can get involved with helping each other, our animal friends and the universe. It doesn't matter what age, sex or colour you are, what job you do, what your hobbies are, if you are willing to you can change yourself and others by your example."

It's easy being green and Leigh-Chantelle and her comrades are here to show you how.

The natural environment of the Broadwater has always been shaped by wind, waves and weather, while human intervention has played a hand in the shifting shoreline. .... Foreshore reclamation began with the first dredging of the Broadwater in the 1960's and has seen the parklands grow from around 6 hectares to 27 hectares over the years, providing room for recreational facilities such as the Olympic swimming pool and the Broadwater tourist park, as well as additional green space for all to enjoy.

Stand Up for Science Petition

The climate deniers use anonymous online polls to suggest that most people don't support the science of climate change. Here is your opportunity to send a different message. When the Townsville Bulletin won't even publish letters or Feedback from respected scientists then something is very wrong. Let's see how we go and remember to pass it along to your friends, family and colleagues. I suspect many people are getting sick of scientists continually being under attack so I set up this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/clim4tr/petition.html

How to get carbon-free power in Australia

When it comes to avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of global warming then whatever the financial cost, the price is still worth paying. But new research by Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) shows Australia could meet 100% of its stationary energy needs from renewables in a decade and stimulate the economy at the same time.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/829/42628

Does Australia need a charter of rights?

Speakers: (Pro-charter) Former Senator for Queensland with the Democrats (1997-2008) Andrew Bartlett and (anti-charter) University of Queensland Garrick Professor of Law, James Allan.
When: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Time: 04:00 pm to 05:00 pm
Where: University of Queensland Club
Contact: uqpubpolitics@gmail.com

Anti-Nuclear Rally

When: PALM SUNDAY 28TH MARCH 2010
Time: 1.30 -3PM
Where: REDDACLIFFE PLACE George St Brisbane - top of Queen Street Mall
Contact: ph 3855 9497 jshears28@yahoo.com.au
Rally for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament Inc.

News From Fiona Simpson MP

Work Cover Going Broke [4/3/10]

Work Cover is accumulating $9 billion worth of state debt.

It has been revealed that the Minister for Industrial Relations has failed to adequately oversee Queensland’s Work Cover scheme, leading to an enormous program deficit. Due to mismanagement by the Minister, the scheme has been allowed approve unprecedented numbers of worker compensation claims since the introduction of the 2003 Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act.

The Bligh Government has been unwilling to admit to the deficit crisis, attempting to conceal the extent of the debt that the ailing program has racked up. Laurence Springborg, LNP spokesperson for Industrial Relations, said that the level of the debt was serious.

Mr Springborg said that if the crisis is not resolved, “Work Cover’s net debt will be one-fifth of the entire Queensland State budget,” that is $9 billion within eight years.

Fiona Simpson is concerned about the implications the mismanagement of work cover will have for Queenslanders:

“If Work Cover is left to collapse due to debt, Queenslanders will have no avenue for compensation for work-related injuries,” Ms Simpson said.

Still Waiting For The Results of the DERM's Investigation Into The January Pimpama River Fish Kill

Pimpama River [7/3/10]

Arcadia Woods development, Pimpama

Glossy brochure from sales office states:

Discover Arcadia Woods

It only takes one look... Crisp, clean, fresh air. Towering eucalypt trees and rolling green parklands. An enviable location nestled halfway between Surfers Paradise and cosmopolitan [sic] Brisbane. A peaceful escape. At Arcadia Woods, you get the unshakeable feeling that this is a place you can truly call home.

Arcadia Woods is an exclusive up market development from Devine Communities ideally located at Pimpama. Surrounded by unique theme parks, shopping, sporting and educational facilities, Arcadia Woods is every home owner's dream. Only 500 people will have the privilege of living in this beautiful new community so it's time to ask yourself what you really want.

Grab your slice of paradise now on Queenslands' [sic] Gold Coast.

Power poles being erected along Kerkin Road and work being undertaken adjacent to the Pimpama waste water treatment plant.

Sorry GCCC, this is the third time we've travelled out this way and we haven't spotted a koala yet

Urgent Murri Community Notice - Rally To Protest Continuing Aboriginal Deaths In Custody

When: 11 am, Thursday 11 March

Where: Parliament House, Brisbane

Another young Aboriginal man has died in custody in a Brisbane jail. Another Aboriginal family has buried a son. This is another death that should not have happened as the young man asked for medical help but was refused. The rally will demand an urgent coronial enquiry and that the people responsible be charged. No more deaths in custody! For more information, contact Sam Watson or Reverend Alex Gator on 0401227443.

Pied Oyster Catchers at the "Effluent Sampling Point"?????, Main Beach [8/3/10]

[ When this post originally ran, one of the principal objections was that homeless people would just hang out on transit. First, I think that is a pretty pathetic basis for making a major public policy decision. Second, I think there are many ways to prevent buses and trains from turning into rolling homeless shelters besides making everyone else pay a fare. ]

Following on from my transit award, I thought I’d turn from Chicago to smaller cities and look at ways they can design better transit systems. I think one of the best ways to do this is to simply build fareless systems.

Why have a fare in the first place? It is odd that we pay per use on transit. We don’t pay to check books out of a library. We don’t pay to visit most city parks. We don’t pay when the police or fire department come to our house for a legitimate emergency. Most non-utility municipal services are provided for free to users and funded by taxes. So why is transit different? I suspect it is rooted in the origins of public transit systems when they were private, for-profit companies. But they aren’t that today so why adopt those legacy practices?

It seems to me that there are two basic reasons you would charge for a government service. One is to recover the costs associated with it from users. Two is to ration usage.

For the first, think of something like getting a building permit. The city can charge a fee for this that more or less covers the cost of administering the permitting and inspection process. And only the people who are building something need to pay. Sounds like a fair system, as it were. Toll roads also fall into this camp. Of course, the question immediately proceeds to, if you can recover the full cost from users, why is the government providing the service in the first place instead of the market? A good question that should be seriously considered.

As for the second, one can again think of toll roads and using variable pricing as a way to reduce traffic congestion. There are several practical examples of this in actual operation around the world.

Does transit fit this model? No, especially in smaller cities. It is true that only a segment of the community rides transit and so it might seem logical to make them pay for it. But by itself this seems insufficient to justify it. There are lots of services that are not consumed by everyone, but nevertheless are paid for by everyone. As someone who doesn’t have kids but has a rather large property tax bill, schools immediately come to mind. This argument has seldom held water by itself.

Can we recover the cost of transit from riders? Not even close. Large city systems like the Chicago CTA can recover a significant percentage from fares, but nothing close to the cost of operations. The CTA’s farebox recovery is about 50%. And that’s just for the operating budget. It does not include, due to the vagaries of government accounting (not the CTA’s fault), depreciation, which is a huge expense in a capital intensive business like transit.

The Indianapolis IndyGo system recovers less than 20% of its operating costs from fares. IndyGo charges $2 per ride to collect $10 million a year in user fees (i.e., taxes), largely from the poorest segment of the community. But this is only a fraction of the $55 million operating budget. There are already $45 million in taxes going into IndyGo, just for operations. Despite the illusion of fares, the Indianapolis bus system is almost entirely tax supported today.

Again, if you look at a large city like Chicago you can find overcrowded routes where pricing can help regulate congestion. But in smaller cities, this is usually the least of concerns. The real problem is trying to figure out how to convince discretionary riders to use the system.

Add it up, and just generally transit in smaller cities seems like a bad fit for fares based solely on the inability to recover a meaningful percentage of the cost and the lack of any over-crowding problems.

On the other side, there are big benefits to going fareless.

1. Reduced capital expenses. No fares == no fare collection equipment. You don’t need to kit out buses with fareboxes, rail stations with turnstiles or ticketing equipment, etc.

2. Reduced operating expenses. Collecting fares means you need an entire cash management apparatus. Handling money requires care, proper processes, accounting, security, etc. Get rid of all that and you are saving money. Plus, you don’t have to worry about enforcement. Even on POP systems you’ve got the labor of people auditing tickets. Why bother? And you don’t need to pay repair technicians to service this equipment because it will never break down because it doesn’t exist. That also means no spare parts, which can mean less storage requirements, etc. And with less personnel you probably need a smaller office. The list of savings goes on and on.

3. Improved operations. How long does it take for everybody to board at a bus stop as one person after another swipes a pass or fumbles for change? No fare collection means boarding is quicker. You can even board through every door, not just the front. This means less time spent idling, lower fuel consumption, and faster journey times (a big point in getting people into transit).

4. Better ROI. You are building a transit system so that people will ride it. Fares discourage ridership, especially off peak, non-commute trips. That ain’t good. A transit system is a more or less fixed cost network like an airline. Every seat that goes empty goes to waste. We’re paying to run the buses or trains whether or not anyone is on them. The marginal cost of an additional passenger, up until the point where capacity is maxed, is very low. So why not make sure those seats don’t expire worthless?

5. Marketing. It’s a lot easier to sell something that costs nothing. And any city that did this would get major kudos.

The federal rules around transit are beyond byzantine, so I don’t know if this would be legal or not. If not, we need to change the law. But regardless, here’s my thought process. With so little federal New Start funds available, most cities that want to build say a new rail line or BRT system or significantly beefed up city bus network are going to be paying for most of the capex out of their own pocket anyway. This often means a referrendum to approve a tax. If you’re asking for hundreds of millions if not billions in tax dollars to build something, why not also ask for the taxes to run it? Frankly, it’s unfair to ask someone to vote for a tax to build something if the money to operate isn’t going to be in the bank. That’s why our transit systems seem to be in a state of perpetual funding crisis. If you are going to build something, you need to build the opex and long term maintenance into the deal up front. It strikes me that asking for a whole lot of money plus a bit more for operations isn’t that must different from just plain asking for a whole lot of money. And you are doing your citizens a service long term by avoiding the downstream crises. And if you have to pay for the whole thing yourself anyway, you can probably avoid many of the rules that might get in your way.

For America’s smaller cities looking to implement significantly improved transit systems, fareless is definitely the way go.

This post original ran on April 1, 2009.

... In all the discussions about the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, there is no mention of how Guantanamo came under U.S. control

Guantanamo was essentially taken at the point of a gun by the United States under what was called a treaty, but Cuba at the time was occupied by the United States. It was sign the treaty or else. So Cuba granted the United States rights for a coaling station at the base in Guantanamo. Coaling stations were important in those days. But that was it, essentially. Years later, Cuba tried to get out of the treaty, but the United States wouldn't allow it. So Fidel Castro has been refusing to accept the small payment for Guantanamo the United States makes every year.

The United States is completely violating the illegimate treaty that it imposed. It's not using it as a coaling station. The United States also violated the treaty before when it started using Guantanamo for Haitian refugees. Washington wouldn't live up to the requirement under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that "everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution." So it shipped the refugees off to what amounted to a prison in Guantanamo. And now the United States is using Guantanamo for prisoners Washington wants to be able to hold outside any domestic or international law. The Supreme Court has argued that it can't rule on the rights of Guantaamo detainees because Guantanamo is not under U.S. jurisdiction, and the Bush administration and Congress effectively say Guantanamo is not under international law. So it's a convenient torture chamber.

There's no need to debate, really, what goes on in Guantanamo. First of all, it's totally illegal even to send people there. If they weren't intending to use Guantanamo as a torture chamber, why not bring people to a prison in New York? As soon as you see that they're sending them to Guantanamo, you know it's for activities in violation of international human rights law. You don't have to investigate further.

There are by now other reasons for the United States to maintain Guantanamo, which would be Cuba's major port. Holding on to Guantanamo prevents Cuba from using it as a port and prevents development of the eastern end of the island. So it's part of the strangulation of Cuba, the punishment of Cubans for what the Democratic administrations of the arly 1960s called its "successful defiance" of U.S. policies going back to the Monroe Doctrine.

Very much like defiance against the Mafia don: it can't be tolerated.

It can't be tolerated. In fact, international affairs has more than a slight resemblance to the Mafia.

You often make that analogy in your talks.

I think it's real. By and large, the state acts as something like the executive agency of those who largely own the domestic society in the United States, the corporate sector. It's a pretty standard feature of state policy. But there are some striking cases where state policy runs counter even to corporate goals. You see some interesting examples of conflict between state and corporate interests. It's kind of an interesting topic for the study of international affairs. Cuba is one example. U.S. agribusiness, even U.S. energy corporations, would be quite eager to overcome the strangling embargo on Cuba, which they see as a market and as an investment opportunity. Agribusiness would love to have Cuba as a market. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry is interested in Cuba's quite advanced biotechnology industry. But, most strikingly, energy corporations are interested in exploiting Cuban offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico, which is apparently estimated to be substantial. But the state will not permit it. Of course, the majority of the U.S. population, which doesn't count, is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. But that's irrelevant. What's interesting is business interests are blocked, in pretty striking ways.

You may recall that about a year go there was a meeting in Mexico City between the Cuban energy specialists and representatives of Texas oil companies and also some of the majors, like ExxonMobil. The Bush administration comes straight out of that sector. But the Bush administration discovered that the meeting was being held in a Sheraton hotel, which is owned by a U.S. corporation, so they ordered the hotel to break up the meeting and expel the Texas oil representatives and the Cubans. It was a slap in the face to George Bush's friends and supporters. But state interests, the Mafia-style interests, overwhelmed even the interests of the core constituency of the Bush administration.

The same is happening in Iran. U.S. oil companies would be delighted to help enter into the development of huge Iranian natural gas and oil fieds, but they're blocked by the state. We have to punish Iran for its successful defiance in overthrowing a U.S.-imposed tyrant.

This morning, the Boston Globe reported something that has been known around here for a long time. In 1974, presumably at U.S. government initiative, MIT made a deal with the shah of Iran to effectively lease the nuclear engineering department, or a large part of it, to Iran, to bring in lots of Iranian nuclear engineers and train them in the development of uranium enrichment and other techniques of nuclear development. In return, the Shah, who was one of the most brutal tyrants of the period, with a horrible human rights record, would pay MIT at least half of a million dollars. The article also points out that several of the engineers who were trained at MIT are now apparently running the Iranian nuclear programs. Those programs were storngly supported by the United States in the mid-1970s. ...

Dear President Obama,

I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff.

I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement.

I will come to D.C. and clean up the mess that's been created around you. I will work for $1 a year. I will help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp.

And I will help you get done what the American people sent you there to do. I don't need much, just a cot in the White House basement will do.

Now, don't get too giddy with excitement over my offer, because you and I are going to be up at 5 in the morning, 7 days a week and I am going to get you pumped up for battle every single day (see photo). Each morning you and I will do 100 jumping jacks and you will repeat after me:

"THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED ME, NOT THE REPUBLICANS, TO RUN THE COUNTRY! I AM IN CHARGE! I WILL ORDER ALL OBSTRUCTIONISTS OUTTA MY WAY! IF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T LIKE WHAT I'M DOING THEY CAN THROW MY ASS OUT IN 2012. IN THE MEANTIME, I CALL THE SHOTS ON THEIR BEHALF! NOW, CONGRESS, DROP AND GIVE ME 50!!"

Then we will put on our jogging sweats and run up to Capitol Hill. We will take names, kick butts, and then take some more names. If we have to give a few noogies or half-nelson's, then so be it. In our pockets we will have a piece of paper to show the pansy Dems just how much they won by in 2008 -- and the poll results that show the majority of Americans oppose the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and want the bankers punished. Like drill sergeants, we will get right up in their faces and ask them, "WHAT PART OF THE PUBLIC MANDATE DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, SOLDIER?!! DROP AND GIVE ME 50!" ...

Rudd's Health Reform: Keneally right to ask questions:

... I’ve often said it before: Fannie and Freddie are the epitome of the perversion in the financial system. Wait till they are forced onto the US federal budget. You’re going to love the spectacle. Americans will become like Icelanders, who, to satisfy the governments of Britain and Holland, face a bill of $135 per person every single month for the next eight years. Think America is going to like that? Iceland certainly doesn't, and it looks almost certain that tomorrow's referendum on the matter will result in a NO vote. Which will lead to a whole new set of conundrums. The question will emerge again if a country's citizens are responsible for the losses of its banks.

So far, Iceland is the one place where the losses would be implicit; in the US, Britain, France, Holland etc., the people still focus on the carrot of having their investments in their banks returned to them one day, and with interest or even profit to boot. Yeah, right. What will they do when they find out that is not ever going to happen? That they will need to pay up like the Icelanders, while the bankers keep getting their bonuses? ...

Anita: Never feel too small or powerless to make a difference.

Julia Butterfly:

For 738 days I lived in the canopy of an ancient redwood tree in northern California to protect this magnificent elder, known as Luna, and to help make the world aware of the destruction of our forests.

From my perch 180 feet high I could see barren hillsides, the small timber town where families lost their homes due to a mudslide, and the Pacific Lumber mill where once beautiful forests are converted into lumber. From my treetop perspective it was clear how the industrial logging practices of clearcutting and herbicide destroy wildlife habitat, the quality of our lives, and our communites.

For millennia the two-million acre redwood ecosystem thrived and sheltered myriad species of life. In the last 150 years, 97 percent of the original redwood forests have been destroyed by timber corporations. With only 3 percent of these native forests remaining, species like the marbled murrelet seabird and coho salmon are on the brink of extinction and people fear that they will lose their jobs and futures. Big business cut-and-run logging operations have instilled a false dichotomy: jobs versus the environment. As long as we label each other "loggers and environmentalists" it is difficult to find our common ground and restore the forests and diversity that are our true legacy.

Globalization of natural resources like ancient forests undermines the stability of our watersheds and communities. In order to achieve true sustainability for all life forms we must put our primary needs of fresh air, clean water, and biological and cultural diversity above corporate profit.

We can create a sustainable culture of life on earth by growing and purchasing organic foods, relying on our renewable natural resources like solar and wind power, conserving our precious fresh water, and reducing and revising the "waste" we generate as a society. When we are rooted deeply in love and respect for the interconnectedness of all beings, it becomes a joy to make choices that help sustain life rather than destroy it.

The Federal Government has finally announced it will repeal the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act. But it has left Muckaty Station outside Tennant Creek in the NT as the most likely target for the national radioactive waste dump.

The repeal legislation is, if anything, more coercive and predatory than the bill it replaces.

The attached fact sheet provides some background about the Bill and provides information about how to make a submission to the inquiry by 15 March.

Make a submission to the Senate Inquiry...

There are many ways to work for a more democratic and respectful approach to radioactive waste management. In the short term, we have an opportunity to communicate directly with policymakers through the Senate inquiry into the bill.

The deadline is 15 March 2010.

What is a Senate Inquiry?

The job of the Senate is to critically review the government's proposed laws. By holding inquiries into complex laws the Senate gives everybody a chance - experts, individuals, organisations, State and Territory governments -to suggest changes or to register support or protest.

Whether your submission is short or long, every contribution tells the government that people care about this issue enough to put their opinion on the public record.

The process goes something like this:

1. The Committee negotiates the timeframe - This inquiry will go for 8 weeks 2. The Committee sets a deadline for submissions - The deadline for this Inquiry is 15 March 3. The committee advertises the deadline and inviting people to have input: Underway 4. Public hearings to receive evidence & clarify information: Dates and location not yet set 5. A report is drafted with recommendations and amendments: Usually a week before tabling 6. The report is submitted to the Senate: This report will be tabled on 30 April 2010 After that, it is up to the Government to pay attention to the evidence taken. They may choose to ignore it, in which case the campaign will swing into the next phase. But they won't be able to say they weren't warned.

The best thing is to make a submission in your own words. If you keep the language reasonably respectful and avoid making personal accusations, the submission may be accepted as evidence and placed on the committee's website.

What?

Some points you might like to include:

1. The Committee must travel to Muckaty

It is essential that the Senate Committee pay due respects to the Traditional Owners on the front line, by travelling to Tennant Creek to take evidence from them directly.

2. The case for a remote dump has never been made

The radioactive waste management debate in Australia has never looked at options other than remote waste dumps on Aboriginal land. The industry has never made the case that a remote shed is the best place for this material.

3. This bill is highly coercive

In choosing a site, the proposed bill overrides all relevant state and territory legislation as well as overriding commonwealth environmental and Aboriginal heritage protections. It also overrides private property rights of affected individuals with regards the dump site or its access route. Once a site is chosen, it will be assessed under commonwealth environmental legislation which has almost no mechanisms for preventing the project from going ahead.

4. All discretion in the hands of the Minster

The Bill places enormous power in the hands of the Minister to assess whether or not the Muckaty site should go ahead. No information is given to how this assessment will be carried out, and the bill makes it clear that local people have no right of appeal.

5. We must do better than this

Nuclear waste should be moved as little as possible, and should be stored above ground close to the point of production, close to centres of nuclear expertise and infrastructure.

Who?

This Bill has been sent to the Legal and Constitutional Committee.

Chair: Senator Trish Crossin (ALP, Northern Territory)

Members: Senator Guy Barnett (Liberal, Tasmania),
Senator David Feeney (ALP, Victoria),
Senator Mary Jo Fisher (Liberal, South Australia)
Senator Scott Ludlam (Greens, Western Australia),
Senator Gavin Marshall (ALP Victoria) Send in your submission:
By email: legcon.sen@aph.gov.au
By fax: 02 6277 5794
By post: Julie Dennett, Committee Secretary, Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee - PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Australia

On Saturday 27 February, as the Olympic torch was handed on from this year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver to London, the Playfair 2012 coalition launched a campaign for an ethical London Games.

Playfair 2012 is co-ordinated by the TUC and Labour Behind the Label (the UK Clean Clothes Campaign) http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/ and involves unions and various campaigning organisations. The coalition wants the organisers of the London Olympics to ensure that workers making sportswear for the 2012 Games won't be working in appalling and degrading conditions, and that all Olympic-branded goods will be ethically produced.

The campaign website http://www.playfair2012.org.uk/ sets out the standards the coalition expects from the London 2012 Games organisers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sportswear brands, and explains how individuals can get involved in the campaign. There is also a resources section with reports and video clips.

Millions of people are employed in the global supply chains that produce kits for Olympic teams, and the sportswear and souvenirs available on our high streets. Evidence shows that the sportswear industry and Olympic movement have a poor track record on workers' rights, says the campaign. Playfair 2008 research published before the Beijing Games found workers employed by Adidas suppliers in China were making sports shoes that retail for upwards of £50 a pair for just £20 per month, and others working 80 hours a week stitching footballs.

In another factory producing stationery, children as young as 12 years old were being forced to work 15 hours a day. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

"Delivering a legacy for London was at the heart of the Government's successful Olympic bid. And what better legacy than a commitment to end the exploitation and abuse involved in the sportswear and athletic footwear industries? We want London 2012 to raise the bar on workers' rights throughout Olympic supply chains."

See how major sportswear brands rate on workers' rights

"After being devastated by Cyclone Larry on 20th March 2006, the refurbished Johnstone Shire Hall, a joint initiative of the Cassowary Coast Regional Council and the Queensland Government, was officially opened by Peter Cosgrove AC MC 4 July 2009"