Miscellaneous comments from 14 October 2010

Thu, 2010-10-14 17:44 by James Sinnamon

If you have anything you would like to raise, which is likely to be of interest to our site's visitors, which is not addressed by other articles, please add your comments here.

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miscellaneous

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nimby

Fri, 2010-10-15 08:27

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Pure idiocy to sell of our land to foreign investors!

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Paul Myers
Australia is rapidly losing control of its food resources. The purchase of AWB - the former Australian Wheat Board - by the Canadian company Agrium, now approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, is the tip of an iceberg where large segments of food processing and marketing have been sold offshore.
Australia should look to its food security, before all the farm is sold
Australians are in danger of becoming servants, not masters, of their own food resources.... Australia and New Zealand are high on China's list. In June, a Tasmanian real estate agent reported strong interest from China in northern Tasmanian dairy farms!

It is pure idiocy to sell off Australian land and agriculture to overseas investors!

The problem is globalisation, and Australia is being viewed as a global resource rather than a sovereign nation, to our disadvantage. Food security will be vital in the future. Whether or not we can sustain our food supply in the future could decide our future survival in the face of population blowout, consumption of global resources and climate change. Australia only has limited fertile soils and water, and protecting what we have is imperative. Already the Murray Darling is under threat from "ecological overshoot'! We are being sold-out by lack of patriotism and poor leadership in Australia, to our detriment.

Prof Julian Cribb, author of The Coming Famine says the most important people in the world are farmers. His book is a wake up call dealing with the most urgent issue facing humanity in the 21st century - whether or not we can sustain our food supply! He says that a food crisis has already started, and food wars are already happening, and water is in ever scarcer supply. Soil fertilizers that have been taken for granted are in severe decline, peak oil has already passed and climate change is real and happening. The "elephant in the kitchen" is population growth, and the mass migrations of "climate change" refugees will escalate! He calls for a doubling of investment in agricultural science because farmers alone will not be able to solve the challenge.

We must adopt a new diet that involves less energy, land, water, nutrients, and pay more for food so that farmers are paid a fair prices. He is not a vegetarian, but assesses that one hectare of land can produce 78 times more food than the same land under beef cattle and employs more people!

With overpopulated nations scouring the planet for land to secure their food for the future, the most futile and dangerous thing is to sell our own land off to foreigners! We primarily need to ensure our own food security and any excess should be exported to support our economy. We are not a global resource, as Australia is still a sovereign nation. We already import more net food than export, and with peak oil setting in, this will become limited. We need firm leadership in Australia - too many wimpy politicians are selling us off to the highest bidder.

Bandicoot

Sat, 2010-10-16 13:48

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Brumby's stamp duty pain

People should wake up out of their stupor! Due to a fragmented society and years of dictatorial "democracy", the public are resigned to the inevitability that lobbying and activism are ineffective! The Brumby government corruptly has been hijacked by the property development industry. Their freeways, tunnels, toll-ways and the desal plant are all part of the scheme to keep increasing Melbourne's population to 5 million and beyond. It is a Ponzi scheme to make people at the top rich while bleeding wealth from the public, and the results are increasing mortgage stress and homelessness, and other soaring costs. Victoria is a lot worse off than ever before. We have higher costs of living than ever before - for basics such as rates, energy, housing, water - and they are set to keep increasing. Even middle class suburbs are facing increasing homelessness, and families are being hit. The "shortage" of housing and public infrastructure is due to our limits being stretched by ongoing massive population growth! Crime and violence is out of control, and with more human developments planned for outer reaches of Melbourne, any beauty in the country will be eroded and bulldozed. Victoria, for most people, is going down the slide socially, economically and environmentally. Last financial year, John Brumby's government collected about $3.6 billion in duty on property transfers. Based on current stamp duty rates, anyone buying a house in Melbourne at the June quarter median price of $559,000 faced an additional bill of $28,610 to cover Brumby's share . There is so much money from property and speculation, and the stamp duty is a rort to get money from people wanting to buy a roof over their heads and getting nothing in return. Housing is not a luxury but a basic human right. No wonder our State government wants ongoing population growth! Our increasing trade deficit for Victoria means that stamp duty has become a major source of income to boost our "narrow revenue base" - however unsustainable, costly, or unpopular!

Sheila Newman

Sun, 2010-10-17 14:00

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7 Nov Planning Backlash public forum on Population and Planning

Planning Backlash is holding a major event, a Public Forum on Planning and Population in Melbourne at the Richmond Town Hall on the 7th November, Sunday at 4pm Speakers: Andrew Macleod, CEO Committee for Melbourne Kelvin Thomson, Federal MP for Coburg Panel will include: Rupert Mann, Heritage Action Group Moderator: David Trenerry Planning Backlash thanks Collingwood Abbotsford Residents Association for their help. Source: Mary Drost

Bandicoot

Sun, 2010-10-17 19:45

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overpopulation in Manila

Up to 80 funerals take place here every day, and demand for plots is so high most people can only afford to rent tombs. If your relatives fail to keep up the payments, another body will take your place. Land is precious in Manila, and people are prepared to endure incredible circumstances to claim their own piece. The world is facing an overpopulation crisis. In 40 years time, if current growth rates continue, the number of people on the planet will be almost one and a half times what it is today, rising from 6.8 billion to 9.2 billion by 2050. As population increases, so does competition for basic resources – land, food, water and fuel – as well as the threat of environmental devastation and endemic disease. Our numbers are going to be unsustainable within a few years. Manila's crisis is what we should expect world-wide! What we are facing now a plague of humans! Manila: a Warning against overpopulation

nimby

Mon, 2010-10-18 20:18

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The Great Essendon Planning Debate

From: Julianne Bell Secretary, Protectors of Public Lands Victoria Inc Event: "The Great Essendon Planning Debate" Meet Candidates for the State Seat of Essendon including current Planning Minister Justin Madden. (It is not known then if he will attend but irrespective of this we must be there.) Time: 2 pm to 4 pm Date: Saturday 6 November 2010 Where: The Ukrainian Hall, 3 - 11 Russell Street Essendon. (Opposite the Essendon Railway Station and off Mt Alexander Road and Buckley Street.) Transport: Melways Map 28 G4. Tram No 59. Rail Craigieburn Line. Parking - Not known, presumably in surrounding streets.

Milly

Tue, 2010-10-19 13:12

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Multiculturalism in Germany has "failed"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel claims that multiculturalism in Germany has failed completely and implied that the onus of integration is now on those immigrants coming to the country. Naming “the demand for integration” as one of the Christian Democratic Union party's “main tasks” for the future, she emphasized learning to speak German as a priority for incoming immigrants. Merkel’s comments are likely to add momentum to a growing wave of nationalism that seems to be spreading across Europe. She has been accused of “courting” the country’s growing anti-immigration – largely anti-Muslim – sentiment. She has always tempered her remarks with calls for tolerance. Merkel seemed to have taken a strong tack to the right, devoid of the usual niceties. Western and Muslim culture will not mix peacefully, Dr Udo Ulfkotte, a German journalist told RT. “We have a clash not only of civilizations and religions, we have also a clash of ideologies.” Surely it is reasonable to ask immigrants to adapt, learn the new language and integrate? Ideologies are fine in theory, but people like to conform to their cultures and identities, and mix with their own kind. The country’s unemployment rate will drop to 7 percent in 2011 from 7.7 percent this year, the institutes said. At the same time the German government wants to tackle a growing shortage of skilled workers by tapping a pool of foreigners unable to practise their professions because their credentials are not recognised, a minister said. Why not improve educational opportunities within their own country? Sounds like Australia's "skills shortages" where employers only want to pay what they want for the already skilled from overseas.

nimby

Wed, 2010-10-20 09:24

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Dublin police probe kangaroo outrage

Allegations that a kangaroo or wallaby has died after being given drink at a birthday disco in Ireland are being investigated by Irish police. The marsupial was let loose among more than 150 revellers dancing at the Clarion Hotel in Liffey Valley, west Dublin, to the theme tune of Australian television show Skippy The Bush Kangaroo. The creature was believed to have been hired for the prank, which has outraged animal welfare campaigners. After the party, the animal died. An allegation that it was given alcohol is not supported by evidence at this stage. Without knowledge of our native animals, it could have easily have died from stress - myopathy! Kangaroos and wallabies should not be trusted to overseas buyers. Wallabies are classified as "exotic" animals in Ireland so there is no legislation on their breeding or ownership. Surely, the fact that they are "exotic", means that they should be regulated?

Bandicoot

Wed, 2010-10-20 18:03

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Why the anti immigration stigma?

The far-right Sweden Democrats party in Sweden seeking a 90 percent reduction in immigration won seats in Parliament for the first time, denying the ruling center-right coalition a majority and raising questions about anti-Muslim sentiment in the country. They won 20 out of 349 seats in the country's legislative body in their general election. The party wants radical curbs on immigration in Sweden, where 14 percent of the country's 9.4 million population are non-Swedes. The centre-right coalition aspiring to lead the Netherlands plans to use "unprecedented measures" to curtail the immigration of non-Western foreigners by up to 50 per cent, far- right politician Geert Wilders said Thursday in The Hague. A ban on the Islamic all-body veil, or burqa, in public buildings is also among the goals of the anti-Islam People's Party for Freedom. Geert Wilders has relentlessly pursued an anti-immigration line, asserting among other things that the cost of integrating the inflow of non-Western immigrants is a drain on the country's resources at a time of economic hardship. Nativism has become a general term for 'opposition to immigration' based on "fears that the immigrants will distort or spoil existing cultural values". This may be expressed through criticism of multiculturalism. Senator Nick Xenophon said he understood why voters in the western parts of Sydney and Brisbane may be concerned about the lifestyle implications of immigration, but he argued the problems of traffic congestion, limited housing and inadequate services were in fact the result of neglect by state and federal governments. (Actually more like lack of funds and population growth doesn't pay for itself.) He condemned Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott being willing to trash Australia's reputation for years with their "anti-immigration rhetoric". Why is there such as stigma about limiting, or stopping, immigration? Surely when our numbers are threatening our nation's social justice, living standards, finances and environmental integrity, it is quite justified to question just how many people we as a nation can comfortably support now, and for future generations? Other nations have a stringent immigration program, such as Israel and Japan. However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1995, and as a EU member can not close its borders to immigrants from any other members of the EU. Japan and China prohibit immigration of black people. Muslim countries prohibit immigration of non-Muslims and South America prohibits Muslims. On the other hand, Western countries have opened their borders to everyone, including jihadists who claim to be refugees, or get-through by fake marriages. Japan takes few refugees and they don't have mass migration, but at the same time are considered irreproachable, yet westerners who question their immigration levels are treated as pariahs!

John Marlowe

Wed, 2010-10-20 22:10

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Gate crashers

Why the anti immigration stigma? [Bandicoot, 20th October 2010, above comment]. Locals resenting overwhelming numbers of immigrants at times when locals are suffering is nothing about stigma or 'right wing', or 'left wing' or 'centre wing' or no bloody wing. It is about self-preservation and local birth rights. The particular country concerned is irrelevant. Immigrants find this cultural concept hard to comprehend, because they have a different sense of right having been 'officially' accepted as an immigrant. Problem is that what government endorses is not consistent with what the local people endorse - this is a global problem! Well, asylum seekers and humanitarianism aside, and a few carefully placed economic migrants from mixed origins are fine so long as they are supported in assimilating/integrating into the Australian community. But massive hoards of economic immigrants causing abrupt demand on local resources, imposing their culture, religion, language, displacing the local inhabitants - try doing that in any overseas country and see how far you would get! Massive immigration is like gate crashing - it is non-military foreigner invasion. When immigrants to any country ring fence themselves into a cluster and reject local integration, this is foreign intervention in local affairs. How can this benefit the local inhabitants? Sweden has been too tolerant for too long and the locals are biting back. I support any Geert Wilders equivalent from any nation prepared to stand up for the right of his people - be it Indians standing up for Indian rights in India, or Chinese standing up for Chinese rights in China, or Palestinians standing up for Palestinian rights in Palestine, or indeed Australians standing up for Australian rights in Australia. If I were to immigrate to Saudi Arabia, I would have to be prepared to abide by Saudi customs, laws and renounce my own where they contradict those in Saudi Arabia - else I would quickly end up in gaol. Like bio-security, local culture is an issue of human cultural security.

RichB

Wed, 2010-10-20 22:32

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The government is euphoric

The government is euphoric on mass immigration and growth because they want to destroy the Australian culture. Exactly the same has happened in the UK...Its so clear to see surely..

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 2010-10-20 23:57

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Gillard, Faine, disdainful of reasonable doubt on 9/11

The Australian reports, "JULIA Gillard has dismissed as "stupid and wrong" a senior union official's belief that the 9/11 attacks were a conspiracy but has refused to discipline him. Kevin Bracken, the Victorian secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia and Victorian Trades Hall Council president, today renewed his call for a fresh inquiry into the 9/11 attacks, claiming the "official story doesn't stand up to scientific scrutiny”." Amazing, isn't it? The Australian, the rag that promulgates unscientific nonsense about population and economics on a daily basis, suggests here that the Primeminister should 'discipline' a union official for expressing his point of view on an issue that just won't go away. What next, a horsewhipping for someone who says that economic rationalism is bulldust? And where does Gillard get off saying that what apparently 45.4 % of people answering a Herald Sun poll believe, is stupid nonsense? Ditto, who is Jon Faine, except a gatekeeper for official ideologies, to dismiss a fair comment about aviation fuel and 9/11 as too silly to debate. All I know is that there has never been a proper investigation of 9/11. So how come lawyers Jon Faine and Julia Gillard, defend that? Good on a unionist for standing up and saying that after 19 years we should get out of Afghanistan or find a better excuse than 9/11 and the so-called terrorists.

James Sinnamon

Fri, 2010-10-22 01:00

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Jon Faine baits, refuses to debate, Kevin Bracken

Originally published:

21 Oct 2010

I was appalled to listen to Jon Faine's treatment of Kevin Bracken, yesterday on his radio 'talkback' show.

In spite of the treatment of those who question the official version of September 11 and hence the justification for the war against Afghanistan, which our Prime Minster now wants to last until 2020, that is, 19 years after the terrorist outrage was allegedly committed against US citizens with the collusion of the Government then, according to one recent online poll on the Herald-Sun, 46% of the Australian public agrees with the "conspracy nutter" Kevin Bracken of whom John Faine was so contemptuous.

Who does Faine, whose salary is paid for by the public, believe he is to be so unfairly dismissive of opinions which differ from his own? Anyone who thinks that Faine's treatment of Bracken, the Victorian Branch Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia and the President of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, was fair and reasonable, should read for themselves the dialogue between Bracken and Faine as published on the PM web site:

KEVIN BRACKEN: Well I believe that the official story is a conspiracy theory that doesn't stand up to scientific scrutiny.

JON FAINE: Are you serious? Is this a hoax or are you serious?

KEVIN BRACKEN: No and I'd love to debate you publicly Jon if you think it's ridiculous.

JON FAINE: There's nothing to debate Kevin.

KEVIN BRACKEN: I challenge you to a public debate.

JON FAINE: There's nothing to debate.

KEVIN BRACKEN: Well the fact is that aviation fuel doesn't get hot enough to melt steel.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Jon Faine pressed Mr Bracken on which "nutter theory" he subscribes to.

KEVIN BRACKEN: In my mind the buildings were imploded.

JON FAINE: Yeah and you're the Secretary of the Maritime Union and you're on the Trades Hall Council Executive?

KEVIN BRACKEN: I'm the president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council and we've taken resolutions from both those…

JON FAINE: I think it reflects very poorly on your members Kevin that you have views that are so ridiculous, so extreme and so unacceptable and yet you hold office in some of our unions in Victoria.

KEVIN BRACKEN: I'd love to... if it's so ridiculous Jon I challenge you to debate me on it.

JON FAINE: It is; unequivocally.

KEVIN BRACKEN: The trouble is mate, blokes like you are keeping most of the people in the dark.

Note, which of the two tried to discuss the facts and which resorted to ad hominem dismissal of the views he disagreed with.

Contrary to what Faine claimed and in support of what 46% of Australians and much of world opinion believe, there is a great deal about the official account of the September 11 outrage which is open to debate by reasonable people. John Faine, who is, apparently, a lawyer, needs to explain to his listeners why he thinks that not one person has been captured or tried for mass murder with a proven link to 9/11, the Bali bombings, 7.7, the Madrid train bombings and other outrages, despite nine years of military occupation of Afghanistan.

Update 22 October: Jon Faine's poor treatment of Kevin Bracken, for daring to question the justification for bloody wars that have cost well over a million lives, and which have impoverished millions more since 2001, has created, an enormous public reaction against this attempt to stifle free debate. Most recently, Jon Fain has attempted to depict himself as having been the unjust target of persecution by "conspiracy theorists" in an attempt to win back public sympathy. (See story "9/11 conspiracy theorists swamping talkback: Faine" which did include embedded video of Jon Faine 'defending' himself.)

democracy-fan (not verified)

Sat, 2010-10-23 00:23

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VTHC policy on 9/11 & votes 66.7% for John Bracken in Poll now

According to John Bursill: 'For the record on the 28th of March 2008 the Victorian Trades Hall Council passed this motion after lengthy debate supporting a thorough and independent inquiry of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. From the minutes of the meeting on the 28th of March 2008; “That this meeting of VTHC Executive Council calls for a thorough, independent enquiry into the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11. The events of that day have been used to start pre-emptive wars “that will not end in our lifetime”. They have been used to attack civil liberties and legal principles that have been the cornerstone of civilized communities. There is an urgent need to reassess the way we view the world after September 11 and we call for proper investigation into the events around that day.”' Also, I see that the votes supporting Kevin Bracken's statements as reasonable are running at 66.67% now on the Herald Sun poll - at 0017hrs on 23-10-2010, with 7718 votes. Pretty amazing how wrong Faine and the PM seem to have got the public mood ... again.

Notsostupid (not verified)

Thu, 2010-10-21 00:47

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What is going on ? (In the UK, France, ...)

Hello I am glad I found your website. Before I dont recognise the society I am living in the next 10 years you should read the UK Guardian to see how the government is slashing education, police and welfare, are they trying to make UK society a basketcase in a week. Do our politicians have the same idea here ? Have you seen the French

Bandicoot

Thu, 2010-10-21 15:47

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Turkey's admission into the EU?

Turkish President Abdullah Gul accused European politicians and intellectuals of lacking vision about Turkey joining the European Union. Turkey last Wednesday demanded German support for its European Union membership. Germany, which has 3.5 million immigrants of Turkish origin, has until now argued for Turkey to be given a 'privileged partnership' with the EU. All opinion polls in France indicate that French citizens are in favour of a privileged partnership with Turkey, but against the country's EU accession. France and Germany have been vocal opponents of Turkey's ambition to join the 27-nation bloc and argue that the mainly Muslim country of about 73 million people should settle for a "privileged partnership" rather than full membership. European racism is the main reason why Turkey will not be accepted into the EU, says Noam Chomsky according to Turkish newspaper. Germany is one of the European countries which has had a “rightwing backlash against Muslim immigrants” and, “It is the background reason why Turkey is unlikely to be accepted into the EU, even if it meets all the human rights standards,” said Chomsky. Eight of 35 negotiation chapters remain completely frozen due to Turkey's refusal to open its ports to EU member Cyprus. The island has been divided between its Greek and Turkish communities since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north after a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at unifying the island with Greece. Many Europeans believe that if Turkey were to become an EU member state there would be large numbers of Turks immigrating to EU. Public opinion polls indicate that 72 percent of Germans do not want to see Turkey in the EU as a full member. The Americans want Turkey in the EU for their own selfish purposes, ie military bases. The American-backed Nabucco pipeline which brings in gas from the ex-soviet republics was designed with one aim in mind - to reduce Europe's reliance on Russia for gas supplies. Turkey can not continue to keep it's airspace closed for the Cypriot planes and its ports for the Cypriot boats if they want to join the EU.

Milly

Thu, 2010-10-21 18:50

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"Lonely"singles on the rise as the nuclear family is on the wane

A rapid increase in lone person households will result in 1.7M more Australians living by themselves in 20 years, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has projected. Couples without children are set to overtake the nuclear family as the most common family household within three years. As the number of households reaches 11.8 million in 2031, lone person households will surge by 91%. Couples with children are the dominant family household now but by 2031, if trends are maintained, they will drop to 2.5 million as the number of couples living without children rises to 3.8 million. ''Mum, dad and the kids are down to one household in five. Over 50 years the shift has been quite profound,'' said KPMG demographer Bernard Salt. The rise in single-person households was being driven by an ageing population, said Mr Salt. ''These are not young, sexy singles, but sad, lonely old baby boomers. The widowed, separated and divorced.'' Mr Salt said he doubts whether Australian cities are ''ready for an army of single old people living in suburbia disconnected from the community''. Social isolation and depression issues would need to be tackled, as would Australia's focus on the quarter-acre block. However, the forecast might not be borne out. The fertility rate in Australia has recently leapt again and now stands at 1.9 per cent, which was relatively high. A steady decline in marriage, an increase in cohabitation and ''spectacular'' increases in divorce rates since the 1960s had created a much larger pool of single people with more fluid living arrangements. Living alone was often short term, as people transitioned between relationships or left marriages. ''Financially, people are more able to live alone than in the past. Community attitudes have changed. Rapidly changing social expectations are starkly seen in the living arrangements of 25 to 29-year-olds. In 1991, a third (34 per cent) of this age group lived as a couple with children, but this is set to fall to 7 per cent by 2031. And the bureau predicts almost a third of 25 to 29-year-olds will still be living with their parents by 2031. The decline in women under 30 having children contributed to this age group staying longer in the parental home. Leaving home is not just a one-off any more. If their job doesn't work out, or relationship doesn't work out, they go home again. The ABS projections assume that the rate of change the bureau observed in household types between 1991 and 2006 continues. Research has also shown more young Australians were interested in marriage again. The end of the traditional family is not in sight. In terms of people's attitudes, they still see marriage as the way to go. Source: APN Maybe the "lonely" singles aren't so sad or lonely. Maybe the rise of single households is also due to family homes, and families, being unaffordable. "Demographer" Bernard Salt seems to be tying to fulfill his own prophesies, for the convenience of the growthist who employ him. Owning land and a house is becoming out of reach for many people, a "dream" that has turned into a nightmare. Young people staying at home is becoming more common due to them being locked out of home ownership.

nimby

Fri, 2010-10-22 09:32

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UN condemns Arizona's immigration laws

An Arizona-style immigration law gives police and deputies more authority to check the registry of people they suspect are in the country or state illegally. Current Arizona state law, which Colorado and Florida are also considering adopting, gives state officers the authority to check the immigration status of a suspected alien during the course of other business. Opponents of the legislation cite the law's infringement of the 4th and 14th amendments, two important American civil rights statutes. The architect of Arizona's immigration law, SB2070, announced a new crusade to correct what he perceives as an unfortunate misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment that allows children of illegal immigrant parents to be considered U.S. citizens if they're born on U.S. soil. As Arizona borders Mexico, and considering it has struggled with controlling immigration for years, the many legal Mexican immigrants need to always be ready with their paperwork. A report issued september by a United Nations agency appears to be a thinly veiled critique of Arizona’s immigration law, one that equates its supporters with “xenophobes and racists.” The Global Migration Group (GMG) adopted its statement on the “Human Rights of Migrants in Irregular Situation” — that is, illegal aliens — earlier in Geneva. It condemned unnamed nations for viewing illegal immigrants “through the lens of sovereignty, border security or law enforcement, sometimes driven by hostile domestic constituencies,” and demanded governments instead grant illegals “economic, social, and cultural rights,” including “reproductive healthcare.” The UN is instrumental is trying to blur national and state borders and over-ride nation sovereignty in their agenda to push for a unified world government, a planet with no borders, and support the sharing of sovereign "rights" to illegal migrants from overpopulated developing nations. The drain on public resources, the loss of national identity, and taxpayers funds needed to accommodate these aliens is over-looked. "The GMG .... calls on States, civil society, the private sector, the media and host communities to address the demand side of trafficking and exploitation, to work actively to combat xenophobia, racism and incitement to discrimination in national politics and in public discourse, to protect all migrants, as well as to actively promote tolerant societies in which every person can enjoy his or her human rights, regardless of migration status". The GMG should pressure the SOURCE nations to provide adequate human rights, and health and reproductive advice to their citizens, not outsource this responsibility to other nations -HOST nations to alien immigrants! The UN are more interesting homogenising our planet's populations than finding solutions. Surely PC (political correctness) has gone too far?

John Marlowe

Sat, 2010-10-23 00:15

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Invasion labels attack locals standing up for their way of life

'Racist', discrimination' and 'xenophobic' are convenient cowardly invasion labels used to attack and silence locals who are standing up for their local way of life.

I just returned from visiting the Middle East, where I was careful to respect the local customs - do in Rome...

I'd like to see a secular Australian try immigrating to a strongly religious country and publicly imposing a secular liberal culture on the local populous - to try to get the government to change laws to recognise the rights of sectarian, modern western ideas and values! Good bloody luck!

Tolerant Australians being tolerant of foreigners who choose to impose their will and way are only letting Australian values erode to a lower standard. Foreigners arriving in droves and rejecting Australian customs, language, values and critical of the cultural sensitivities of locals are unwelcome invaders.

Change management is a real human issue to all involved. It took the Greeks and Italians three generations to assimilate into the Australian culture and now they are integrated and accepted.

What is despicable is that Aboriginal Australians are more marginalised than immigrants.

When in Australia, assimilate don't aggravate!

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2010-10-23 01:05

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Citizens rights

The GMG should also pressure the receiving nations to provide adequate citizens' rights, so that they have the ability to self govern, instead of being dictated to by commercial lobby groups that want big populations. Sheila Newman, population sociologist home page Articles Copyright to the author. Please contact sheila [AT] candobetter org or the editor if you wish to make substantial reproduction or repu

Milly

Sun, 2010-10-24 13:40

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Jennifer Parkhurst faces faces charges of feeding dingoes

A Melbourne man has tried to mortgage his home to defend his daughter who has been charged for the "crime" of feeding dingoes on Frazer Island. People are banned from feeding the island's dingo population after some of the animals seeking food from tourists began to attack. Surely people entering wildlife territory should be on the alert, not allow the animals to starve to protect visitors! Wildlife photographer Jennifer Parkhurst is facing massive fines and years behind bars, charged with 44 offences relating to alleged contact with the pack of pedigree wild dogs. Animal lovers have been concerned that Australia's last pocket of pure-blood dingoes on Fraser Island were starving. It is embarrassing for the Queensland Government that one of their own rangers had been sacked for feeding a sick dingo. Due to tourism taking over the island, food resources have become more scarce. Jennifer Parkhurst is facing fines of up to $300,000 or several years in jail if the charges against her are proved. If someone were to starve to death dogs or cats or livestock, the RSPCA could quite rightly charge them with animal cruelty. Our landscape has been altered and impacted by human populations and structures that wildlife are finding it increasingly hard to survive. As the perpetrators, it is cruel and not natural to deny them food! Tourists, quite rightly, should not be able to feed dingoes, but at the same time, they should not be allowed to starve! Fraser Island Defenders Organisation (FIDO), Nationals Parks Association Queensland and the Wilderness Society, said claims that dingoes were starving were false and ill-informed. Read more: http://www.news.com.au/fraser-island-dingoes-not-starving-after-all-desp... Honorary secretary of FIDO says that dingo hierarchy dictated that alpha males and females were the best fed while the weakest animals would go hungry. The dogs were also leaner at different times of the year. "Some animal lovers just can't abide animals being thin," Mr Sinclair. These dingoes are the responsibility of the national parks and if they are in such poor condition, food supply would be limited. They say its the natural way but its not. If dingoes were living naturally, there would be fish on the shores, no fences, roads, plenty of prey and water. The Department of Environment and Resource Management allege the wildlife photographer and Save Fraser Island Dingoes Association member "interfered" with and fed dingoes on the World Heritage listed sand island over a 13-month period. If found guilty she faces fines of up to $300,000 or two years’ imprisonment. Ms Parkhurst has won widespread support from wildlife groups, Aboriginal elders, Noosa locals, and civil libertarians.

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2010-10-25 06:09

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Sickening destruction of street trees by mad Brumby gov

For years now I have been disgusted and upset at the sight of trees in streets that have been deformed to accomodate cables. This, for me, symbolises natures pain and the dictatorial and vandal nature of our government. Recently this practise has been, unbelievably, stepped up. Thanks to your protests and those of some Councils - Boroondara and Stonnington Councils (also MAV?) will be holding talks with Premier Brumby, Energy Minister Batchelor and the Electricity Safe Victoria (ESV) which brought in the new draconian regulation that all street trees under/near power lines must be lopped so that "structural branches" are removed from trees. This means that trees will be lopped back to the tree trunks and will end up as stumps. This will cost millions and resident rates will escalate. (Lots of work for contractors though) Plus your property values will deflate if your street trees are mangled. ESV claims this is necessary because of a "windstorm in April" and as a result of the Bushfire Royal Commission recommendations. Ever had a bushfire in your suburb? Please write - if you have not already done so - to Premier Brumby [email protected] and Energy Minister Batchelor [email protected] and the Mayor of your suburb asking them to stop the chop and review the 2010 regulation and ensure that Councils have exemptions for lopping street trees. Source: Julianne Bell of Protectors of Public Lands Victoria, Inc. Editorial comment: Thank you, greatly, Julianne Bell, for having alerted us to this. Please also, send to me, copies of any correspondences to John Brumby etc. and any reponses or, better still, post them here yourself in your comments, as any site visitor can (subject to our moderation) here, to the Your Say (or "Miscellaneous Comments pages") or to any other appropriate page on candobetter.org. Personally, I think that given the enormous benefit that the Internet offers to most of us, including its ability to reduce our consumption of non-renewable natural resources, some expense to build it in the first place and even some amount of disruption to our natural environment can be justified, but nowhere near to the extent we are being made to endure now. Nearly all of the destruction could have been avoided if the natural monoply had been taken advantage of and the silly contrived 'competition' of having two sets of cables run past each house, below ground and above ground, often through the trees, had been avoided, especially if Telstra has remained in public hands. If cables had to have been erected above ground, then the greater expense (even if it proved to be greater) of having cables skirt around trees, rather than be built through them would have been easily justified. - JS (end of editorial comment).

quark

Mon, 2010-10-25 09:40

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Plea to Mr. Batchelor to stop savage lopping of trees

Dear Mr. Batchelor, I would like to express my utter alarm at the proposal that suburban trees be savagely lopped so that branches are 2 meters from power lines. This blanket decree whilst perhaps adhering to the letter of bushfire recommendations in areas of Melbourne which do not experience bushfires and eliminating a remote risk, deprives us with 100% certainly of much needed shade , the cooling effect of trees through transpiration and will increase the use of air conditioners. Please do not go through with this exercise which will ruin our liveability this summer. I know the leafy suburbs are derided for having trees as though it is some kind of middle class privilege . I would like all suburbs to have trees to the maximum. That is how we have some chance of preserving some quality of life in Melbourne as our population rockets . This is especially important since we are losing and will continue to lose trees as our gardens go under opportunistic infilling and densification. cc Premier John Brumby cc Stonnington Mayor and all coucillors

Bandicoot

Mon, 2010-10-25 14:57

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Shearwater migratory birds under threat

Wildlife, Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) said on Friday it is receiving calls to rescue hundreds of seabirds found dying on the coast. The birds, mainly short-tailed shearwaters or Tasmanian mutton birds as they are sometimes known, are on their annual migration - one of the longest of any bird. Many reach the limits of exhaustion, especially if the weather turns nasty towards the end of their epic journey south to avoid the severe northern hemisphere winter. Thousands of the birds have washed up on the beaches of Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia due bad weather during their journey. There is an assurance that hundreds of dead birds turning up on New South Wales far south coast beaches are due to natural reasons. Exhaustion due to bad weather en route appears to be the cause, Biosecurity Queensland said in a statement. Rainfall records were broken over much of Queensland in a windy September and October records also look set to fall. A similar event occurred five years ago when short-tailed shearwaters were found dead around Fraser Island. The short-tailed shearwater, alias the muttonbird, is subject to both recreational and commercial hunting in Tasmania. Recreational killing of muttonbirds requires a licence and there is a 2 week season. The victims of hunting are the chicks who are taken from their burrows in sand dunes along the coast of Tasmania. Many chicks are killed in a barbaric way. Commonly they are swung around the killer's head until their neck breaks, or in some cases the chick's heads are stomped on and they may still be staggering around. Gillnet fisheries in the North Pacific drown many thousands of birds annually. These birds are vulnerable to many threats, here and on their long journeys.

Bandicoot

Wed, 2010-10-27 08:14

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Julia Gillard's economic reforms?

If Julia Gillard's economic "reforms" mean globalisation in cloaked terms, then despite the "prosperity" it may have brought, Julia Gillard is going in the wrong direction. Mr Abbott said Gillard's attacks were designed to divert attention from her failure to deliver election promises on her new mining tax, climate change and border security, and amid public concern about whether the National Broadband Network offered value for money. Julia Gillard has declared national interest will decide the government's response to Singapore's takeover bid for the Australian Securities Exchange. Perhaps we should sell our government and outsource Parliament to be run for us - in "national interests"! Before the elections, she promised to move "Forward". We have the NBN in a shambles, no policy on asylum seekers, nothing being done about climate change, the Murray Darling crisis, and her stance against a "big Australia" has dwindled to nought. It's important to identify what is market-based reforms and what is not. If protecting our sovereignty, our nation-hood, our land, our people, our history and our heritage from global forces that split Australia into pieces of international ownership is "Hansonism", then bring back Pauline Hanson! She is forgiven for her racism! What was the point of the Anzacs in World War 11? Perhaps if Japan has conquered our shores, we would have a bigger economy by now? We don't exist for the Economy, but it exists for us, and for the benefit of the people and nation of Australia!

John Marlowe

Thu, 2010-10-28 22:38

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Gillardite in office

Gillard's reckless legacy of waste and mismanagement from her championed 'education revolution' continues to plague her credibility now as PM. Gillard was complicit in the Rudd gang of four's failed insulation scheme and the failed green loans scheme. The Gillard Government's nationalisation of health has stalled. The emissions trading scheme seems all but abandoned. The Murray Darling water sharing solution ignored rural communities.

Some record of so-called 'reform'! It is not reform - it is Rudd's popularism legacy.

Now PM Gillard is spruiking 'reform' in tax and superannuation under another hastily thought through scheme, which in true Labor style has sought to only divide and conquer the mining industry. How can reform be based on selective favouritism of a few big mining companies?

It is Labor short-termism at best, driven by classic Sussex Street manipulative self-serving bullying. Dare anyone disagrees with Labor and its methods of 'reform', or Gillard will label you a 'Hansonite'. How unfair on someone who has long left politics!

Gillard is not moving forward. She is policy spinning and getting nowhere fast.
Her inexperience and simpleton outlook is revealing the real Gillardite that the Sussex Street puppeteers implanted as PM. Gillard and Keneally should really get along - same party, same puppeteers, albeit different puppet shows.

admin

Fri, 2010-10-29 05:31

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Good reasons to be wary of Julia Gillard, however ...

I think #comment-5681">John Marlowe and #comment-5680">Bandicoot should be commended for having drawn our attention to reasons to be very wary of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Nevertheless, I think Gillard should still also be commended for having stood up to and toppled her awful predecessor, instead of having been meekly subordinate to the misrule of her 'leader' as nearly all Federal Labor politicians have been for the last three decades at least. I haven't completely abandoned my hope that Gillard will turn out to be a significant improvement upon Kevin Rudd, but, sadly, that hope is now considerably diminished.

John Marlowe

Fri, 2010-10-29 22:30

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The Good, Bad and the Ugly

Hope in the Gilluddite should be tempered by an uninterrupted watching of the classic 1966 US western film 'The Good Bad and the Ugly'.

By the end of this spaghetti western, one should be clear deciding who best portrays the metaphor for Labor's good, bad and ugly - in terms of governance and electoral performance.

The following immortal quotes from the movie ought assist, while listening to Ennio Morricone's legendary theme music:

"I've never seen so many men wasted so badly."

"Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're gonna have to earn it."

"Tut, tut. Such ingratitude after all the times I saved your life."

"Every gun makes its own tune."

"The way I figure, there's really not too much future with a sawed-off runt like you."

James Sinnamon

Sun, 2010-10-31 00:35

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JFK & others show that good-willed people can get to the top

I can't remember if I have seen the movie, 'The Good Bad and the Ugly" or, if did, when. The rest of this comment has been adapted to become the article "All who rise to the top of politics aren't necessarily corrupted"

Miscellaneous comments from 14 October 2010

Topic:

Comments

Pure idiocy to sell of our land to foreign investors!

Brumby's stamp duty pain

7 Nov Planning Backlash public forum on Population and Planning

overpopulation in Manila

The Great Essendon Planning Debate

Multiculturalism in Germany has "failed"

Dublin police probe kangaroo outrage

Why the anti immigration stigma?

Gate crashers

The government is euphoric

Gillard, Faine, disdainful of reasonable doubt on 9/11

Jon Faine baits, refuses to debate, Kevin Bracken

VTHC policy on 9/11 & votes 66.7% for John Bracken in Poll now

What is going on ? (In the UK, France, ...)

Turkey's admission into the EU?

"Lonely"singles on the rise as the nuclear family is on the wane

UN condemns Arizona's immigration laws

Invasion labels attack locals standing up for their way of life

Citizens rights

Jennifer Parkhurst faces faces charges of feeding dingoes

Sickening destruction of street trees by mad Brumby gov

Plea to Mr. Batchelor to stop savage lopping of trees

Shearwater migratory birds under threat

Julia Gillard's economic reforms?

Gillardite in office

Good reasons to be wary of Julia Gillard, however ...

The Good, Bad and the Ugly

JFK & others show that good-willed people can get to the top

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