Monday 2 February 2009
How Rudd & Labor can lose the 2010 federal election
What with Turnbull and Truss still rummaging around for a hat to match that Coalition overcoat, it looks nigh on impossible for the Rudd Government to lose the next federal election.
Ah, but wait.
Every Australia Day the ugly little republican imp is let loose and the media delightedly stir the common pot.
According to the Canberra Times the Australian Republican Movement wants Rudd to fire the starter's gun so voters can decide if Australian is to be a republic.
The BBC weighs in with a little ambivalence on the subject.
For once David Flint writing for the ABC News hits the nail on the head with a piece titled Republican push divisive, expensive and irresponsible.
The Courier Mail baldly says that Rudd has ditched the plan because of a feared voter backlash.
Faced with the increasingly nasty effects of climate change and in a long period of economic uncertainty affecting every facet of life; all Australia needs to turn it snarling on the ruling political party is for that party to decide that we need more disruptive change and insist the country debate and vote on a republic.
If Rudders resists the urge to begin this republican debate then all will be well.
If not - then bring on the next federal election and I for one will delight in voting the bustards out 2010.
We need the short-sighted and naked self-interest of pollies messing with the Australian Constitution like we need the discovery of mad cow disease within our borders.
Ah, but wait.
Every Australia Day the ugly little republican imp is let loose and the media delightedly stir the common pot.
According to the Canberra Times the Australian Republican Movement wants Rudd to fire the starter's gun so voters can decide if Australian is to be a republic.
The BBC weighs in with a little ambivalence on the subject.
For once David Flint writing for the ABC News hits the nail on the head with a piece titled Republican push divisive, expensive and irresponsible.
The Courier Mail baldly says that Rudd has ditched the plan because of a feared voter backlash.
Faced with the increasingly nasty effects of climate change and in a long period of economic uncertainty affecting every facet of life; all Australia needs to turn it snarling on the ruling political party is for that party to decide that we need more disruptive change and insist the country debate and vote on a republic.
If Rudders resists the urge to begin this republican debate then all will be well.
If not - then bring on the next federal election and I for one will delight in voting the bustards out 2010.
We need the short-sighted and naked self-interest of pollies messing with the Australian Constitution like we need the discovery of mad cow disease within our borders.
Labels:
Australian society,
politics
Sunday 1 February 2009
First bumper stickers, t-shirts and coffee mugs - now Obama is a worm!
During the 2008 presidential election campaign the Obama for America team branded almost everything that moved with logos and slogans promoting Barack Obama.
During the transition period for President-elect Obama his face began appearing on even more merchandise.
Now as President Obama his face appears on PC monitors if these have been infected with an Obama Worm.
During the transition period for President-elect Obama his face began appearing on even more merchandise.
Now as President Obama his face appears on PC monitors if these have been infected with an Obama Worm.
Australian genetically modified foods update
This post is by way of a catch-up on news about genetically modified (GM) food and crops in Australia.
ABC News reported last week:
When New South Wales and Victoria dropped their bans on genetically modified canola crops, GM supporters claimed farmers would have greater yielding crops as a result.
However recent trials showed there was little difference between the two.
So why bother growing GM canola if you can't get anything extra out of it?....
Chris Preston is associate professor at the School of Agriculture at the University of Adelaide.
He says trial results depend on region and climate, and the drought hampered the GM canola trails.
He says the trials do give an indication how canola performs in drought conditions, and if that's where it's being grown it's probably not worth growing GM canola variety. xxxx
WA Business News also ran this short article on 16 January:
Genetically modified canola crops in Victoria have performed no better than their non-genetically modified counterparts as Western Australia prepares to hold trials later this year.
Results from Grains Research and Development Council showed the yields, from the first independent trial crops in Horsham and Forbes in Victoria, were 0.7 tonne per hectare for GM and 0.8t/ha ha for non-GM.
The results are not good news for those wanting to farm GM canola, as to break even with the technology, profits must increase by up to 16 per cent.
Comment on the Business News article:
This article talks of yields, but what about sales? Thanks to this environmentally toxic rubbish being foisted on us Australians I simply boycott everything with Canola in it now because no-one can quickly prove to me it's GM free.
I'm not going to waste my time trying to find out either as you either encounter people who don't have a clue or spin doctors.
I'm becoming more aggressive with fish shops etc too, if they are using canola or cottonseed oil, the food could be GM contaminated.
We Can't Eat A Scorched Earth! Climate change and food security
Australian Office of Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) list of genetically modified product approvals:
GM products approved as food, food additives and processing aids (PDF 79 KB)
GM products approved as therapeutics (PDF 19 KB)
OGTR current list of applications and licences to release GMO into the environment, laboratory trials and low risk dealings.
* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.
ABC News reported last week:
When New South Wales and Victoria dropped their bans on genetically modified canola crops, GM supporters claimed farmers would have greater yielding crops as a result.
However recent trials showed there was little difference between the two.
So why bother growing GM canola if you can't get anything extra out of it?....
Chris Preston is associate professor at the School of Agriculture at the University of Adelaide.
He says trial results depend on region and climate, and the drought hampered the GM canola trails.
He says the trials do give an indication how canola performs in drought conditions, and if that's where it's being grown it's probably not worth growing GM canola variety. xxxx
WA Business News also ran this short article on 16 January:
Genetically modified canola crops in Victoria have performed no better than their non-genetically modified counterparts as Western Australia prepares to hold trials later this year.
Results from Grains Research and Development Council showed the yields, from the first independent trial crops in Horsham and Forbes in Victoria, were 0.7 tonne per hectare for GM and 0.8t/ha ha for non-GM.
The results are not good news for those wanting to farm GM canola, as to break even with the technology, profits must increase by up to 16 per cent.
Comment on the Business News article:
This article talks of yields, but what about sales? Thanks to this environmentally toxic rubbish being foisted on us Australians I simply boycott everything with Canola in it now because no-one can quickly prove to me it's GM free.
I'm not going to waste my time trying to find out either as you either encounter people who don't have a clue or spin doctors.
I'm becoming more aggressive with fish shops etc too, if they are using canola or cottonseed oil, the food could be GM contaminated.
We Can't Eat A Scorched Earth! Climate change and food security
Free public meeting promoted by Gene Ethics
Thursday 5th February 2009
5.45 pm for 6.00 pm talk start, concluding 7.15pm
NSW Teachers Federation
5.45 pm for 6.00 pm talk start, concluding 7.15pm
NSW Teachers Federation
23 - 33 Mary St, Surry Hills Sydney - (between Albion & Reservoir)
True Food Network latest guide to GM-free food and what to avoid
GM products approved as food, food additives and processing aids (PDF 79 KB)
GM products approved as therapeutics (PDF 19 KB)
OGTR current list of applications and licences to release GMO into the environment, laboratory trials and low risk dealings.
* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.
Labels:
environment,
genetic manipulation,
GMO,
multinationals,
rural affairs
Bernard Keane on Turnbull & Bishop is my quote of the week
Bernard Keane writing an open letter to Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop in Crikey (arriving via Peter Martin's blog) contains what has to be my favourite quotes this week.
The entire letter is well worth a read.
"But you seem determined to maintain the fiscal hairy-chestedness. As part of that, you like to maintain that when you were in Government, you were the height of fiscal responsibility.
That's complete bollocks and I'm sick of hearing it. The first two Howard Budgets were excellent. They cleaned up the profligacy of the last Keating budgets and began seriously implementing a small-government agenda of the sort a lot of us had been looking for for years. But after that, you dropped the ball. Subsequent budgets got slacker and slacker, especially once the mining boom kicked in. After 2001, your budgets got downright bad as you shelled out money to buy votes. After 2004, you were shovelling money out the door so fast slow-moving people were getting buried under it.
If you'd had just a little regard for the longer term you could have used the boom years to hand out tax cuts and built the surplus up further, or make a serious start on fixing our infrastructure, or get an ETS up and running so we had it built into our economy before the crisis hit.
But no, you died vomiting money to anyone registered to vote."
Labels:
economy,
Liberal Party of Australia,
politics
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