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The issue with the Baby Boomer generation, is that they were lucky. Born just after a major conflict, during a time when money was put into manufacturing, into improving the standard of life, and in some ways, the Cold War forced governments to prove that Capitalism worked better than Communism, by offering a better quality of life. There was credit expansion and major investment and development projects. It was perhaps the height of Western Civilisation and the best standard of living experience by humanity, ever, anywhere. Most probably wouldn't have guessed that house prices would escalate. I certainly wouldn't have back them. There are many of that generation who are concerned about the future. Just go to any Vic First meeting. But, in general, the lack of concern about the future perplexes me. There are exceptions, but by and large the apathy and indifference infuriates me. That is not to say that young people today are different. They aren't and may even be worse, as young people tend to focus on "fad" issues, which give one cred with peers, but ultimately, aren't critical to the future. I don't believe that a generation was just "born bad". They are the same as any other generation. Genetics didn't change, but environment did, and that environment was one where quality of life was generally improving, where efforts were rewarded (I don't doubt they worked hard, but they got results for hard work, unlike today) and where there were major changes, both socially and technologically, to improve things. My view is that the BB generation are decadent, not deliberately so, but because they won many of their battles, they got their payments and lived through the best living standards that have existed on this planet. I note the stark difference in attitude between my parents generation and grandparents generation. One went through temporary high interest rates, the other lived through firebombings. One had easy access to education, jobs and housing, the other was booted out of their home permanently by an invading army. Lack of adversity, lack of struggle leads to complacency and a loss of proportion. The Western world is in my opinion, decadent, weak and downwards looking. We are "packing up" civilisation, as if somehow we are done with it, and putting it out for sale in the driveway to spend the last pennies in some comfortable twilight. You can LITERALLY see the "For Sale" signs around Melbourne and the Docklands. While I think we are in some ways, at war with China (wars always start long before shooting begins), I have to admire the fact that Chinese are setting themselves up for the future (albeit in an unsustainable and deeply flawed way), for the Chinese people. China simply does not care, at all, what the impact of their investment is doing to people here, because they are doing this for themselves. Where is the drive here? How many politicians are far sighted? Now many in our establishment care about the security and future of next generations? This isn't just a feel good thing, these sentiments are critical to social health. Society has to have a vision for itself, where it considers itself worthy of continuation and propagation. This doesn't exist today. In fact, many celebrate the demise of their own people and eventual decline. This is perhaps my favourite proverb. “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” -Greek Proverb http://imgur.com/gallery/xtaW7WF

I think it was Steven Armstrong who told me there are two groups, the old Greens, the environmentalists, and the more Social Justice oriented (I would say quasi-Socialist) new Greens. As for Socialist Alliance, I've had the fortune of speaking to some Socialists in the past, and many advocate violent revolution, have a disdain for working Australians and advocate some weird system where parents don't get to raise their children, rather children are raised communally by the state. Some boasted to me about using violence and intimidation to silence "facists" and "racists" and I've personally been threatened with violence by them. It strikes me as odd that the state doesn't come down on them harder, I'd like to point out the parties they accuse of fascism and racism, such as Australian First, don't engage in such behaviour. PS. I've just gotten off the phone from a representative of the Greens party. She agreed that rampant growth and population is an issue, and pointed out that while I was sceptical of the effectiveness of their housing policy, at least they had one which puts them above the other candidates (with the possible exception of the Christians). I pointed out that while many in the Greens may share my view, the public message doesn't make this as clear and explicit as perhaps they should. So I suspect the Greens is a party which is best examined by the inclinations of its individual members, rather than its publicly stated policies?

I had the opportunity to briefly chat with Paddy Dewan, who is the candidate for Niddrie for "Voice of the West". After a discussion about his primary concern (hospitals, as that is his profession) I mentioned my wife's and my most pressing concerns, over development and ruination of our home, Melbourne and the problems this will cause for our child, who will have to squeeze in somehow. I spoke about Victoria First and its aims, goals and desires. The discussion didn't last long after that. While he wasn't critical, I didn't get the sense that he considered these pressing problems. Generally any candidate which focuses on roads as an issue, is off the mark. I note on one of their electoral leaflets, under transport they recognise that there is a transport backlog, and that we need move this to match the increasing population of the west. While I support voting independent to break the Labor/Liberal duopoly, you have to be careful. These independents could hold balance of power, and if they are pro Growth-Ponzi, this could be just as bad, if not, worse, than voting Labor. ( I don't consider the Liberals an option at all). There is a link here for those in my electorate (Niddrie). http://www.theweeklyreviewmooneevalley.com.au/story/1813213/state-electi... Independent: Andrew Gunter Notable quote : " Like all infrastructure, our home values depend on schools being there, in good condition, providing a good service to the Niddrie community" Most important thing about schools, is house prices remaining high? This is not only anti-community, it is a fiscally irresponsible mentality. Independent : Andrea Surace http://www.mvcc.vic.gov.au/about-the-council/councillors/councillor-andr... Quotes development as a strength. Also multiculturalism (This is quite often a placeholder term for population growth). Australian Christians: John Warner I'm not keen on religious parties, their environmental policy sounds good. On housing "Housing is one of the necessities of life. For Australian Christians a family home is more than just a material asset. It is central to family life and the raising of the next generation. It is also essential for the disabled, the poor, the aged and other marginalised groups." On Media and Censorship, this is concerning Media, including television, films and the internet, play an increasingly influential role in the formation of public opinion and taste. Children, including teenagers, are especially vulnerable to media influence. Aggressive and pornographic media is now making inroads into mainstream advertising and merchandising. Society has a moral duty to limit what can be conveyed by the media in order to protect children and the whole community from what is harmful, especially violent and pornographic content. Independent: Appollo Yianni His primary issue seems to be radiation from smart meters from leaflets and signs I've seen. http://www.emraustralia.com.au/smart_meters.html There is a party running for the Senate, title, People Power Victoria - No Smart Meters. There is a Greens candidate, but my opinion is that the Greens fail miserably in ignoring the entire working and middle class, and only focusing on niche minority issues. For example, reading their housing policies it seems they believe that it is only an issue for the homeless. At least they acknowledge it is an issue (which places them above most other candidates), but without an understanding of the underlying problem (engineered population growth, credit expansion and mass printed money searching for yield to prop up an unsustainable financial system), they can't possibly solve the problem. BUT, if the Greens can force it as an issue, even if they push their flawed solution, it is better than nothing. Putting housing as an issue, will spark further debate, which will put focus on the issue, and the surrounding issues which cause it will then come to the fore. They may not have a solution, but highlighting the problem is better than nothing.

I heard an "expert" interviewed on ABC radio yesterday who was saying that the burning should be increased to 8%-12% a year. Unfortunately I did not register his name. That increase would bring our environment down to complete sterility just that much faster.

This is to be posted to johnquiggin.com .

jungney,

Thank for that insight into the Syrian conflict. You wrote on November 7th, 2014 at 18:02 :

"[The Syrian Christian] explained to me that Assad's foot on the throat of all warring ethnicities was the best rule the place could have. ... Sometimes a dictatorship is better than the alternative. The colonial boundaries imposed geopolitical proximity to warring ethnicities, religions and factions thereof."

I suggest that that more accurately describes the rule of President Hafez al-Assad (1930-2000) than that of his son, Bashar.

To me, it seems plausible that, in the circumstances faced by Hafez al-Assad, he may have felt that he had no choice but to resort to very harsh measures in order to stay in power, prevent invasion and prevent ethnic strife. The video broadcaster known as The Syrian Girl, who, in 2014, is an outspoken supporter of Syria, actually fled from Syria with her family to escape persecution. So, presumably, even many loyal Syrians suffered unfairly at the hands of President Hafez al-Assad.

Bashar al-Assad (born 1965), who trained in London as an ophthalmologist, has a somewhat different style to his father. Whilst he has show himself to be just as capable as his father of making the harsh decisions necessary for the survival of the Syrian state, he has also shown himself capable of governing Syria in a way that is remarkably free and open in the face of a bloody terrorist war.

On 4 June 2014 at an election which was certified as free and fair by a large number of international observers, he was elected by a huge majority of Syrian voters. according to Wikipedia, 88.7% of the 73.42% of eligible Syrian voters who were able to vote amid the war and chaos, voted for President Bashar al-Assad.

What leader of any of the Western countries hostile to Syria can claim anywhere near as much support?

Sadly this story has largely been hidden from most Australians by the lying newsmedia.

Yesterday I singed up to give a monthly donation to Animals Australia for their campaign against live animal exports from Australia. Today I hear there is a new $1 billion deal to export 1 million animals to China. It seems to dwarf our efforts. Oh well, I guess the best thing to do now is double our efforts against this inhumane, greedy practice.

BHP is refusing to allow Central Queensland locals the opportunity to work in its two newest Bowen Basin mines. The Queensland District is fighting with the Federal and State Liberal National Party (LNP) governments over their locking out local workers from local jobs through 100% FIFO practices and temporary foreign workers on 457 visas. Caval Ridge and Daunia have a compulsory 100% FIFO policy – only employing permanent workers from Brisbane and Cairns. This policy locks out workers from all Central Queensland regional cities and local towns like Moranbah, just kilometres from the mines. It also denies freedom of choice for FIFO workers so they can choose to have their families move closer to where they work in regional Queensland. Can you sign our petition to CEO Andrew Mackenzie and tell BHP to stop locking locals out of work and to end its discrimination against regional communities? Don't lock locals out CFMEU Mining & Energy Queensland President Stephen Smyth said workers at the 100% FIFO mine deserve better than what is on offer. The region was still reeling from BHP’s ruthless decision to cut 700 permanent jobs from across its Bowen Basin coal mines weeks ago.

This is to be contributed to a forum discussion on johnquiggin.com 

J-D wrote on November 2nd, 2014 at 07:24 :

'Other people do worse things' is neither a justification nor even a mitigation.

Where did I write that the staged murders by the neo-Nazi putschists in January and February and its subsequent war against the people of East Ukraine justifies the persecution of gays in Russia?

On November 1st, 2014 at 21:59 I wrote that, in comparison to the war crimes of the Ukraine regime and the even greater crimes of the the United States in Iraq, Libya and Syria, "the prohibition of 'propaganda on non-traditional sexual relations' seems almost insignificant by comparison."

We may have to differ on whether the latter is 'trivial' or 'insignificant' in comparison to the former, but I fail to see how the latter could any way be likened to the former.

JD wrote on November 2nd, 2014 at 07:25 :

http://www.fidh.org/en/

I can see that the FIDH is no more than yet another a vehicle to manufacture pretexts for the many wars launched by the United States in recent decades. This is shown by its article "Crimea: 16 March referendum not admissible in international law" (16/3/14).

"Since the announcement of the 'referendum', the self-proclaimed Crimean authorities, supported by the deployment on the territory of increasing numbers of Russian military forces, have carried out abductions and expulsions towards continental Ukraine pro-unity activists, acts of intimidation of local communities, and the closing down of all independent media, thereby violating Ukrainian and international Human Rights legislation. Given the lack of security, many persons are presently fleeing from Crimean territory.

...

"At the same time, the Russian media under government control have organised a continuous disinformation campaign, pretexting the defence of ethnic minorities for propagating a message of hatred and threats. The representatives of the Russian and Jewish minorities in Ukraine, along with the Crimean Tatars, have frequently denounced such an attitude."

Curiously the FIDH has had nothing more to say about Crimea in the ensuing 8 months in spite of the ominous developments of which it wrote in that article.

I would have particularly thought the FIDH would have had a lot to say about the Crimean prosecutor, Natalya Poklanskaya. Surely Natalya would have to have been complicit in all of the crimes of which FIDH complains? But, not a word has been written of her by the FIDH.

A good many who read about Natalya and see her astonishing youthful good looks, whose anime-style images have gained her overwhelming popularity, particularly in Japan, would inevitably want to know why she, and the near unanimous majority of Crimeans, have supported the Russian government against the Kiev regime. If this were to happen, a vastly greater number of people would scrutinise the Ukraine narrative of both the Western mainstream media the FIDH and see it for the tissue of lies that it is.

The claims made against the Syrian government by the FIDH are no less deceitful. Much of the fearful 195,000 death toll in that conflict is the consequence of such lies by phony human rights organisations such as FIDH.

The following was also posted to johnquiggin.com .

Megan @ (#25(?),) November 1st, 2014 at 21:10

Curiously, less than two decades later, JFK, whose brother Joe had died fighting the Nazis in Europe and who, himself, almost perished in 1943 when PT109 was sunk by the Japanese, was to be menaced by the pro-Israel lobby in the US. Check out Kennedy, the Lobby and the bomb of May 2013 on Voltaire Net. This shows that if the USS Liberty incident had not been witnessed by a Soviet warship, there would have been no survivors and the incident would have been blamed on Egypt, thus providing a pretext for the United States to intervene in the Six Day War on the side of Israel against Egypt. We came that close to having the Six Day War turn into a far more terrible conflagration in the Mediterranean.

I've signed, and I encourage everyone else to do the same, and pass the link on. It is a shame that no political party is suggesting that politicians should be put to trial for this act against their country. I certainly believe this sort of action warrants putting people in the dock.

In response to Bernard Ellis's letter, I would say that our leaders are not clueless - except in the moral, long term, thermodynamic and philosophical sense - they are corrupt. They are getting something out of this growth, financially and in terms of power. Maybe some are being blackmailed to go along with it, or threatened with being dropped from the party. I guess there are a number who really are clueless - but they are not the leaders - they would be some of the members of parliament who simply follow, without actually understanding what is happening. I remember raising population with an MP on the Mornington Peninsula more than a decade ago, and he said, "Yes, I don't understand why we have to have population growth either. I wish someone would explain, but I know the party thinks we must. Doesn't matter which politician or which party because all the parties seem to be dancing to related corporate incentives. The leaders of the parties are like executives implementing policies that further finances. And I don't think it's donations - the parties are corporatised themselves. The main political parties have huge financial investments in banking, land, mines etc and growth in demand via growth in population, grows the party finance and its influence. The hell with the voters. They are just a brand now, with little consumer power, moreover. I worked this out for Labor, (see Australian Labor Governments or Commercial Corporations?with help from other research, and I assume it is the same for the Libs and the Greens; I just don't have the data. If anyone does have data or useful theory, I'll publish it on candobetter (with the usual attention to defamation and documentation).

The following was posted to a discussion about Gough Whitlam on johnquiggin.com.

J-D wrote:

... discussion of the present government of Syria and discussion of the present government of Russia have only a tenuous connection to the original post ...

Gough's attempt to introduce free tertiary education was rolled back by subsequent 'Labor' and Liberal governments to the point where a perverse debt collection industry based on buying and selling debts that students incur attending university has been established in Australia as has alo occurred in the UK and other places. Syria, in the midst of wars and a terrorist insurgency, is able to provide free tertiary education to all its citizens as I showed on October 26th, 2014 at 23:29. If Syria can do it, why can't Australia, the US and the UK? Clearly this suggests that Gough was right to attempt to make University eduction free.

The other obvious link is that Bashar is, like Gough was, the target of an attempted US 'regime change' Unlike Gough, Bashar has been more successful in stopping foreign powers meddling in his country's domestic affairs.

@FranBarlow (11:42 21/10/1),

Given that whistleblower Ray McGovern has labeled US Secretary of State John Kerry a "serial liar" for his repeated assertions, earlier this year, that he had proof that the Syrian Government had used chemical weapons against its own people, in order to justify an invasion of Syria (which so far has lost 195,000 lives resisting US-armed terrorists) Kerry's failures to win the 2004 Presidential elections and the Democratic Party Presidential nomination in 2008, were no great losses to humanity.

Whatever his flaws may have been, Al Gore's defeat at the 2000 Presidential elections, given the scale of tragedy that humanity had to endure at the hands of President George W.Bush since then, clearly was.

It's a David and Goliath battle, with mere canoes of Pacific Islanders blocking massive coal export vessels bound for overseas! Members of the 15-nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) finalized the Majuro Declaration, named after the Marshall Islands' capital where they gathered in September, saying it should be a "game changer" in faltering efforts to address global warming. The burning of coal and other fossil fuels has contributed to climate change, which in turn will causes sea levels to rise. That poses an existential threat to residents of low-lying areas around the world, especially in the Pacific, where entire island countries could disappear. Of course the action failed! Newcastle handles more than 4,000 ship movements annually, more than 90 percent loaded with coal from the nearby mines of BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Glencore and others. The industry is an unbeatable Goliath, a monolith of power and wealth. Australia appears set to fast-track approval of a coal port expansion project that would dump millions of tons of dredged material onto wetlands near the Great Barrier Reef - for the benefit of coal export to China and India. The dredging at Abbott point will be fast-tracked, instead of carrying out a full environmental impact report, which is standard practice for a project of this size. Australia has the fourth-largest share of proven coal reserves in the world. Australia has 110 years of black coal and 510 years of brown coal. Australia is the world’s fourth-largest coal nation, with a A$16.9 billion industry that produces 401 million tonnes a year – almost 8.9% of the world total. Coal prices are already falling, and Australian exporters could also face the extra prospect of having to “wash” their product to bring ash and sulphur within China’s new guidelines – which will add costs and damage profit margins. While environmentalists are trying to combat the impacts of climate change, our Australian government is doing it's best to increase exports! China’s coal demand, which currently accounts for more than 50% of global demand, has been so strong that the IEA called for coal to surpass oil as the leading global fuel before 2030. China’s coal demand could surprise people by peaking in 2016 and then decline gradually thereafter, driven by efficiency measures, increased renewables, hydro, gas and nuclear and tougher policies to cut air pollution. Galilee Basin is one of the largest coal projects in the world, the new mine will cover 200 square km and add up to 60 million tonnes annually to Australia’s existing coal production. Conservationists seeking an emergency injunction to stop winter clearing of the Leard State Forest. Whitehaven insists it is sticking to an approved biodiversity management plan. Whitehaven boss (Mr Flynn) said that "global demand for cleaner coal, as well as carbon capture technology, which is now being used commercially in Canada, was the best way to address climate change". So, coal is the "solution" to climate change is surely an oxymoron!

Yes, it's an excellent program, but it avoids a vital issue - Immigration! It's an "everything" issue that impacts on our liveability, jobs prospects, environment, housing costs, energy consumption and sustainable use of natural resources. Migrants had jobs, nation building to do, and bright futures to look forward to in the past. Now, it's damage mitigation! Governments will turn on, and less often turn down, the immigration tap on their whims, without democratic consultation or how it impacts on our nation and its people! They see the GDP ticking over, increasing, to avoid a recession, and use population growth to camouflage the short-comings of our economy, and hide its weaknesses. Real economic growth requires planning, sustainable use of resources, innovation, ideas and project creation appropriate to 21st century cutting-edge technology - for domestic sales and overseas exports. Without vital manufacturing, governments rely on housing growth as a substitute for real economic activities, but it's unsustainable and static. Real economic growth needs ideas, intellectual inputs, statesman ship, and vision! It's sadly lacking in today's politicians.

Ironically the casual disrespect shown to Gough Whitlam's birthplace by the NFIRB and Melbourne planning has provided Victorians with their first opportunity since the Dismissal to show how much they were offended by it and how much they appreciated and cared for Gough Whitlam. Because our society is so atomised by big business and so artfully misrepresented by our monopoly press, we lack free public forums and networks whereby we can spontaneously unite to express our opinions. Instead we are usually confined to sitting in front of televisions listening to self-important talking heads give their views or reading accounts in the press of what our opinions are supposed to be. Now we find out that, not only did many of us care about Whitlam, but we still care and he is remembered and appreciated far more than any other primeminister in this country because he was the last to stand up for the very things that his successors have so shamefully sold off and destroyed. Yes, it is indeed fascinating to realise that the policies of the Foreign Investment Review Board that invite overpopulation and wasteful destruction of established buildings, might have remained unsuspected by most Australians, if Gough Whitlam had not died just before the scheduled demolition of his birthplace by a foreign purchaser. How inconvenient for the planners and the NFIRB and how convenient for democracy and the rest of us. It is as if Gough Whitlam, a primeminister who sought to reform urban and regional development by offering the people an alternative to private land speculators and to preserve Australian assets from globalisation, is having the final word.

James

See Christopher Boyce: Burial of Gough's legacy continued after 1975, above.

Sheila Newman

Gough’s policies showed that he was well aware that the long boom was ending; he engaged with a project for energy self-sufficiency. Arguable, had he not been deposed, he might have made Australia independent, like so many other oil-producing countries of the era. (We no longer produce much oil at all, having used it all or exported it.) For more on this see “Another take on Whitlam, Population, Energy Resources, and the Khemlani loan scandal” at http://candobetter.net/node/4135. When I was engaged in a research thesis that I finished in 2002, I approached the history of the Whitlam government at an angle from which it had not previously been approached.

John Brookes

So what do we aim for? I don’t see much point in starting with the leadership of the ALP. We need to start with a vision of a world we want. Unless we have a vision, how can we sell it?

In many ways we need to go back to Gough. He wanted equality of opportunity, hence the free education and health care. Where do we go?

I look at life a bit like a game of footy on the school oval. The best game has everybody playing. But more and more we have too many people sitting on the side lines, not really wanted or needed. Out there on the oval, if the game doesn’t work for the majority of kids, then it breaks up. Kids start changing the rules until the game works again.

But right now, to stretch an analogy, we have the kids who are getting all of the footy telling us that this is the only way that footy works.

So we need someone to step up with a clear vision for remaking society so that it works for more people. Back in 1972, the conservative world was looking more and more ridiculous. Change seemed inevitable. But back in that era, there was a youth movement. They really wanted change. When I look at today's uni students, my main worry is that they are too trusting and may end up being sorely disappointed when they do all the right things and life doesn’t work out for them. We’ve already put home ownership out of reach of many.

James

This comment is 'awaiting moderation' - JS, 01:14 +10:00 25 Oct 2014

John Brooks @ #9 wrote:

@James

So what do we aim for? I don't see much point in starting with the leadership of the ALP. We need to start with a vision of a world we want. Unless we have a vision, how can we sell it?

Apologies for being so slow to respond, and apologies and that my initial response is so brief:

If you look around the world in 2014, as well as military aggression, mass murder and tyranny, there is much in the world to give us hope, but only if you remember to believe almost nothing that you read about today's geopolitical conflicts in the mainstream media .

Whilst despots, fraudsters, gangsters and fascists run much of the world, much of the rest of the world is run by people who are every bit as humane and decent as Gough was.

However, unlike Gough, they have shown themselves to be far more capable of standing up for themselves and their countries against the global forces of darkness. Of course, those same leaders are demonised by the mainstream media.

Two striking examples are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Contrary to the implication manufactured by msm 'reports', both have not only been elected in certifiably democratic elections, both enjoy domestic popularity which dwarfs that of any Western leader I can think of - Tony Abbott, Barack Obama, Francois Hollande, David Cameron, Stephen Harper, Angela Merkel, Kevin Rudd, John Howard, Paul Keating, Bob Hawke, Malcolm Fraser and even Gough in 1972 and 1974.

Presidents al-Assad and Putin have also shown themselves to be far more willing to confront critical media scrutiny than any of today's Western 'leaders'. I have watched a number of interviews where both were able to demolish what has been peddled as 'news' to Western audiences. No doubt, Gough would have been able to do the same before a far less unbalanced international mass media.

Some good web sites are:

globalresearch -dot- ca, voltairenet.org, presstv -dot- com, landdestroyer -dot- blogspot -dot- com, rt -dot- com (as well as my own web site, candobetter -dot -net).

By all means, continue to read the printed msm and watch and listen to the msm broadcast media, John Brookes, but I think, over time, you will see, when you are able to compare their narratives with those on the sites such as those listed above, that little truth is to be found there.

I am told from a reliable source that there was a crowd of people at "Gough's house " around 1.30pm today laying down flowers and protesting the imminent demolition. I believe that the Victorian Minster for Planning has now stepped in and the house will not be destroyed.

Animals Australia's chief investigator Lyn White says the evidence of Australian animals being slaughtered outside the official supply chain in the Middle East is proof that the live export system is not working. Cattle are being tied up and stabbed in the neck and live sheep are being thrown into car boots, struggling and bloodied! People are watching and cheering the atrocities. The live export supply chain assurances are NOT working and are a sham! Animals Australia's chief investigator, Lynn White, said that there has not seen a single charge laid, or a single prosecution launched against any export company despite the fact that these are ongoing, deliberate breaches of Australian regulations. The ESCAS system is a paper tiger, meant to give false assurances and quieten the concerned public. Thanks to Animals Australia, this corruption has been exposed - again! "This is criminal behaviour, ongoing, deliberate breaches of Australian regulations by large, influential companies that are showing absolute contempt for these regulations and treating the Australian Government as fools," she said. ‘Tough Australian regulations’ mean very little when animals are still being beaten, stabbed, and brutalised. They mean even less when those responsible for cruelty are permitted to reoffend without sanction". It's like having a legal system, that's ignored! Of course crime will proliferate. If live export regulations cannot stop animal welfare atrocities from continuing, the answer is simple: the live export trade must end. This is about sacrificing animals on the altar of big $$ at the loss of Australia's integrity. Animals Australia: TAKE ACTION: Live export: it’s a crime against animals

All his other great social changes needed a sustainable environment to support them. John Pilger's book, The Secret Country, explains why the US was so opposed to Whitlam. I'm not sure whether John Pilger also supports the logic of stabilising population. To put the greatness of Whitlam into context as a long term thinker, the period from 1973 to 1980 represented the most extreme rate of global inflation in the history of the modern world. The $4 billion that Whitlam planned to borrow would have been the best investment by Australian Government in the history of Australia. Gough was Great.

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics_ukraine_opinion_media_watch_snowden/2014/10/17/02-55-08pm/ri_exclusive_oliver_stones_full Quoted from the hyperlink... "On the internet you can find good reporters who do not work for a lot of money, but it’s their mission." (He's talking about RI! - editors) Oliver Stone, one of America's most celebrated film makers, was in Moscow in September, working on his upcoming biopic of Edward Snowden and a new documentary about the Ukraine catastrophe. He gave this long interview to a major Russian newspaper. Small parts of it have been published in English elsewhere, but we got our hands on the original transcript, and are delighted to share it with you here, in full, for the first time. In the interview, Stone slams America's foreign policy, media and historical revisionism. Stone is a remarkable phenomenon on the American cultural scene. Best known for a slew of iconic films like Wall Street, Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July , he has also created many films that are harshly critical of the US - about the JFK assassination, 9/11, US funded terrrorism in Latin America, Richard Nixon, Vietnam, corruption on Wall Street, and Cuba. He is an ardent defender of Edward Snowden, which is why he's making a movie about him. He is an outspoken and relentless critic of much that is wrong with America today. His latest film, which aired in the US in 2012, is a 10-part documentary about the history of the US since WW2, which he describes as the most important thing he has ever done. In the film, he seeks to debunk what he sees as lies which are widely taught to Americans, and largely accepted as true. The series will air on Russian television in the near future. This is an extraordinary interview. We agree wholeheartedly with most of what he says. We found ourselves wondering, how is it possible, that this man, not a professional journalist or historian, understands what is going on in Ukraine and Russia and the mess the US has gotten itself into, better than the combined western media and Washington policy makers? One reason is that he gets his news from blogs, not from the mainstream media. We pulled what we thought were some of the best quotes from the article. Sorry for the long list, there were just so many of them! "We are hurting ... ourselves. Russia will find new partners in the East and Eurasia. ... Russia will go on with or without sanctions." "Today it is impossible to get the truth from [the American media]." "And now with the crisis in Ukraine stories continue to be false... (the) American people are being fed by television and other media with stories about Russian aggression. This is very dangerous." "In my opinion, Russia is a natural ally of the United States.... it’s a shame." "I think many Americans would agree with me that the United States is on the wrong path - the path of war and aggression." "America is trying to surround China and Russia. The prize in this fight is Eurasia where the biggest resources lie." "The people in Washington feel that we have a right to rule the world, and so it’s in our interest to destabilize Russia: divide Ukraine, to change the government in Moscow. It started a few years ago. Remove Putin, remove new Russia, and then go after China." "I’m working with Ukrainian producers who are making a documentary 'Ukraine on fire' about the history of the crisis in that country." "When Putin took the Snowden decision or, for example, when he made an offer to destroy chemical weapons in Syria, he really helped the world and contributed to the peace on our planet." "I'm working on a drama about Edward Snowden. ... We hope to start shooting early next year and have it out by the end of 2015...I met [Snowden] in Moscow, as well as with many other people around this situation." "Russians have a completely different point of view on the First and the Second World Wars. Americans don’t understand a lot of the history of these wars ...I care very much about teaching history to younger people." "The crisis in Ukraine in some way is as serious to me as the Cuba crisis in 1961-62 years and the Berlin situation. It's scary to me." "In my opinion, the Russian destruction of most of the German military machine saved at least a million American lives." "We had to thank the Russian for that, to be their allies and to trust them. But President Truman and business elite in Wall Street hadn’t a single moment of thanks. American bankers and the rich have always hated Russia." "In 2008...I just felt so depressed about what was happening to the United States - my country that I love. Bush distorted everything I believed in as a child and as a young man. I began to study American history..." "...the United States had misrepresented the spirit in which Gorbachev made the agreement with Bush on the reunification of Germany, the expansion of NATO and others..." "The United States is a strange country. Studying its history one can come to a conclusion that it always needs an enemy, whether it’s a communism or something else." "The United States wanted to make Russia a capitalist country, sending its experts, so-called Harvard boys, who advised and freed up economy. And the result was a gangster economy." "Taking back the state back from the hands of the gangsters was a very important move for Russia. On that basis I certainly admire Putin as a strong man." "People in Moscow ... have a deep soul, and when you spend time with them, you realize that they are warm and giving people. Certainly it’s not the picture painted of Russia or Putin. I like Russian people." "I understand why Putin could not give up Crimea. Western institutions - EU, NATO, IMF - would like to have influence, run and control Ukraine." "It is the United States that is invasive and pushing constantly the limits of patience of Russia, as it was with NATO's eastward expansion. It’s a very dangerous situation." "For a man who went to war McCain seems to have learned nothing. In my mind he was on the wrong side of every political decision the United States made since the Vietnam war. I think something is wrong with him." "The United States never experienced war, we don’t know how devastating is it. ... We go and bring harm to others, militarize countries and regions."

The fifth annual study by the Swiss bank of global wealth trends found the median Australian adult was worth more than $US225,000 ($258,000) in June. Credit Suisse says Australians deserve their spot at number one because of the rapid accumulation of wealth, especially household property wealth, over the past 14 years. Property makes Australians the world's richest Brian White, chairman of one of Australia’s largest real estate groups Ray White, said much of our wealth could be attributed to our obsession with owning property. It's not an "obsession" but was part of being one of the world's richest countries in the past, and a naturally assumed as normal when houses and land were cheap! We were once called a "lucky country" not for nothing! Highly inflated house prices is not necessarily an indication of "wealth", or an owned asset, unless the owner is an investor. How many of these housing "assets" are actually debts? Released last month, Veda’s second Australian Credit Scorecard report showed that of the 2.1 million people at risk of mortgage default in the next year, 601,380 are at high to extreme risk. On the index measuring price-to-income ratio, Australia clocks in at 140, indicating home prices, relative to income levels, are 40 per cent higher than the historical average. Australian homes ranked fifth among the world's most ''overvalued'' housing markets. Low interests rates, high population growth, and a flush of Asian investments has caused a rush of reckless investments. All this "wealth" in Australia is balanced on a flimsy pedestal, and can easily be knocked over when the housing bubble is deflated. Australia's wealth should be based on productivity, knowledge-investment and 21 century innovation, not on the dubious nature of housing and mortgage growth. "Wealth" based on property is simply fools gold, a glossy facade to increasing poverty and struggles to afford housing. Ponzi schemes are always alluring, but the wealth gravitates to the apex, and the rest of those participating end up being drained of their earnings- or discarded!