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News Report Issue
45
Index
1. Thought for the day - Neil
2. Opinion: Competition policy extends to health -
Antonia.
3. Opinion: Cattle feedlots - Antonia
4. Opinion: Blairs back-flip - Antonia
5. Opinion: Discrimination - Antonia
6. Opinion: Priorities - Antonia
7. Opinion: GST Facts - Antonia
8. Update: On the mandate - Jess
9. True story: Sometimes the good guys win - Antonia
10. Life Sciences: Even chooks and cows are now GMO free in
UK - Forwarded by Veronica
11. Feedback: Immigration meeting with Ruddock - Col
12. Feedback: Congratulations to Howard's - Bob
13. Feedback Contacts:
14. Editorial Policy:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thought for the day:
"O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have
lost their reason! (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 111,2)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Opinion:
Competition policy extends to
health
The man who is one of many bureaucrats responsible for overseeing the destruction of decent society in Australia, Graeme Samuel, has plans to make us even more miserable. In a speech at a World Bank conference in Washington, Samuel, who is president of the National Competition Council, has called for a radical overhauling of the health system. The same old tape is running in his head it seems. Competition, competition, competition is all it says. Competition among doctors and hospitals; the government should butt out on any service delivery. Samuel spouted the same sort of tripe as Keating did about financial deregulation, "...increased competition will provide incentives to ensure increased responsiveness to patient needs and efficiencies in service delivery, and access for all people to quality health service regardless of their ability to pay." Blah, blah, blah. In fact, competition in health care will deliver what Keating's financial deregulation delivered - the opposite of all his claims, with the greatest distress going to the poor. Antonia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion: Cattle feedlots
The deaths of 1,250 cattle from heat stress at an Australian Meat Holdings feedlot at Tabbita in the Riverina district is surely worrying. Feedlots are used to 'finish off' cattle with grain, usually for the export market. The Tabbita feedlot has a 35,000 head capacity and currently holds 33,000 head. It's mind-boggling to think of so many beasts denied their natural digestion of grazing and chewing the cud. It can't be good for them. On the Country Hour (Wednesday) a spokesman said that the temperature was only 33 degrees but the humidity was high. He acknowledged such conditions would not have worried cattle in a paddock, so what's the difference? Air movement. He said the conditions in the feedlot would have established a 'micro-climate' since there was little air movement. That sounds suspiciously like the beasts were crowded together, perhaps to seek the shade that only covered one third of the pen. This is not acceptable, and it will be interesting to see what action if any is taken. Antonia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion: Blair's Back-flip
Blair's back-flip on GM foods is typical of politicians' innate sense of self preservation. All they want to do is survive. Everything else is secondary. Why? Why is it that people who aspire to, or perhaps more accurately, who gain public office are so morally weak? Clearly this is the main problem of the age, that our current system of party politics delivers us the worst people as our 'leaders'. Good people simply don't stand a chance any more. To Joe Lopez: thank you for taking the trouble to spread an alternative viewpoint. Antonia ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion:
Discrimination? Last week, NSW Police Commissioner, Peter Ryan, announced there'd already been 40 shootings in certain areas of Sydney's south west since October. He claimed they resulted from a struggle between rival Lebanese gangs for control of the drugs and prostitution 'trades'. He also said the biggest difficulty for police was getting the Lebanese community to co-operate. As a result, the Australian Arabic Council is seeking legal advice as to whether it could sue Ryan under the Racial Discrimination Act. A spokesman said, "We oppose the term Lebanese gang, we consider those people to be members of the Australian community." That's a bit of a sick joke seeing as the gang members don't regard themselves as Australians. No, they're Lebanese in multicultural Australia. So it was interesting to read that Austrac, the government body that monitors money laundering, claims ethnic organised crime syndicates account for a large proportion of the money from criminal activities Australia. Antonia
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion:
Priorities
India has announced a 28.2 per cent increase in its defence spending, resulting in a budget of A$ 22 billion for the year starting April 1. That'd fund a lot of literacy programmes. Or concrete lips on wells. Or funds to free the poor people in bondage. Or even generate a bit of public housing. A$ 22 billion. I think we even give them aid. Antonia -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antonia.
But of course we have to give them aid. The
aid we give them enables them to spend money on their defence establishment
(like giving the Thai the money to buy an aircraft carrier, which we no longer
have) . The aid money we give precludes our poor, so very poor government giving
appropriate money to our defence establishment.
In the next conflict it will be our aid money coming back to
us as bullets and bombs while our side runs out of ammunition after a few days.
Sick.
Neil
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion:
GST facts
In 1972, the British government introduced a GST-type tax called the Value Added Tax (VAT). It was set at 7 per cent with 'promises' it would not increase. Surprise, surprise, just 19 years later the VAT is now at 17.5 per cent. In 1991, the people of Switzerland exercised their right to hold a referendum on the introduction of a GST. Unsurprisingly they voted heavily against it, so it's dead. Now that's democracy. In Australia 2000 ....??? It's up to us to sign one or preferably all of the petitions circulating against the GST. I think One Nation's is the best because Senator Len Harris is going to present it directly to parliament. But Ken Grundy in South Australia, and Joe Bryant in NSW are circulating ones to be presented to the Queen and the Governor General. I believe McNally's also has one. Let's sign them all and help circulate them all, because we're all on the same side. One woman on the Sunshine coast has gathered 10,000 signatures for the One Nation petition. Well done! In Queensland they're trying a new tactic in getting signatures not for a petition, but for a mandate. A mandate doesn't ask, it commands. If they can gather enough signatures, the Queenslanders are going to order their governor to instruct parliament to hold a referendum. So all you Queenslanders get behind that one too. Let's all support one another. Antonia
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Update:
Here's the update on the mandate: From: "Jess Perez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi People, The GST Removal meeting we had yesterday 1st of March 2000 where many people from around Australia attended was great. It is good to see so many people who believe the same, "we don't want the GST". There are committees being organised to arrange the signing of Mandates to present to the State Governor General [sic] to instruct him to not participate in the GST proposed by the Federal Government. Most if not all the information should be available on the www.reclaimaustralia.net web site. If you want to be informed about the goings on re: GST Removal send a blank message email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=GST If you would like to participate in getting Mandates Signed via a committee or door knocking or setting up a committee in your area or any other way you think you can assist in getting the information to people in your area would be gratefully received. Apathy, or the idea that someone else can worry about it or do something about it, is not going to fix this or any other problem. I for one am not willing to tell my Sons and Daughter in the future that the reason their plot in life is due to me letting someone else worry about the problems of our Great Country Australia brought about by my apathy. I will not be the imprisoner of my children's rights and life, I am here to protect my family's rights and in doing so, I also protect the rights of other families. If you would like to email me regarding the "Removal of the GST" send email addressed to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Regards Jess
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion: Sometimes the good guys win.
Richard Phillips, a civil engineer at UC-Davis, has become a cult hero in the obsessive subculture of people who collect frequent-flier miles by parlaying $ 3,150 worth of pudding into 1.2 million miles. Oh, yeah - he's also going to claim an $ 815 tax write-off Last May, Phillips was pushing his shopping cart down the frozen-food aisle of his local supermarket when a promotion on a Healthy Choice frozen entree caught his eye: He could earn 500 miles for every 10 Universal Product Codes (bar codes) from Healthy Choice products he sent to the company by Dec.31 Even better: Any bar codes mailed by the end of the month would rack up double the mileage, or 1,000 miles for every 10 labels 'I started doing the math, and > I realised that this was a great deal,' he said. 'I wanted to take my family to Europe this summer, and this could be the way.' Frozen entrees were about $2 apiece, but a few aisles away Phillips found cans of Healthy Choice soups at 90 cents each. He filled his cart with them, and then headed to his local Grocery Outlet, a warehouse-style discount store. And there he hit the mother lode 'They had individual servings of chocolate pudding for 25 cents apiece,' he said. 'And each serving had its own bar code on it. I did some more math and decided to escalate my plans.' Phillips cleaned the store out - bought every last cup of pudding in the warehouse. He then asked the manager for the addresses of all the other Grocery Outlet in the Central Valley and, with his mother-in-law riding shotgun in his van, spent a weekend scouring the shelves of every store from Davis to Fresno 'There were 10 stores in all,' he said. 'Luckily, most of them were right off the freeway.' He filled his garage to the rafters with chocolate pudding and stacked additional cases in his living room. But Phillips wasn't finished yet - he had the manager of his local Grocery Outlet order him 60 more cases. 'A few days later I went out behind the store,' he said, 'and there were two whole pallets of chocolate pudding with my name on them.' All in all, he'd purchased 12,150 individual servings of pudding Around this time, Phillips began to reveal his scheme to fellow readers of the Webflyer Web site (www.flyertalk.com) <http://www.flyertalk.com) , where he posted an account under the name 'Pudding Guy.' Phillips' tale was met with scepticism, if not outright disbelief, until he uploaded photos of his haul They're still there, at www.flyertalk.com/pudding.htm http://www.flyertalk.com/pudding.htm But then Pudding Guy discovered he had a problem on his hands: The deadline for earning double miles was quickly approaching, and there was simply no way Phillips and his wife could tear off all those bar codes in time 'I had to come up with something to do with all that pudding, fast' he said Phillips trucked the pudding to two local food banks and the Salvation Army, which agreed to tear off the bar codes in exchange for the food donation. 'We'd never seen anything like it,' said Larry Hostetler,
community relations director for the Sacramento Salvation Army. 'We've gotten
some big donations, but always from companies and institutions, not individual
people.' Phillips got his bar codes in the mail in time to beat the deadline, and then held his breath The promotion specifically said I could get the miles for any Healthy Choice product,' he said. 'But still, it seemed like there was a good chance they'd get me on some technicality.' But then packages - large packages - started arriving in the mail from Healthy Choice. In all, they contained 2,506 certificates, each good for 500 miles. That's 1,253,000 miles Under the terms of the promotion, Phillips could have the mileage posted in any airline account. He split 216,000 between his United, Delta and Northwest accounts and posted the rest - 1,037,000 miles - to his American Airlines account By surpassing the million-mile mark, Pudding Guy now has AAdvantage Gold status for life, entitling him to a special reservations number, priority boarding, upgrades and bonus miles While we talked on the phone, Pudding Guy did a little math - as you might have noticed by now, he's very, very good at math - and figured out that scheme netted him enough miles for 31 round-trip coach tickets to Europe, or 42 tickets to Hawaii, or 21 tickets to Australia, or 50 tickets anywhere in the U.S 'Wow - 31 trips to Europe for a little over $3,000,' I said. 'That's less than $100 a ticket.' 'Oh, it's better than that,' Phillips said. 'Since I gave the pudding to charity I can take a tax write-off of $ 815. So that brings the cost of a ticket to Europe down to $75.' As it turns out, Pudding Guy didn't donate all his stash to the food banks. He kept about 100 servings for himself, and he's just about finished them 'Actually,' he said, 'I really like the stuff.' '2000 San Francisco Examiner Page T2 .. At this point, two things seem clear: It will be a very long time before David Phillips will have to pay for another airline ticket. And it will be even longer before the poor and homeless people in the Sacramento area will want to see another cup of chocolate pudding. Antonia l+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Life Sciences:
Even Chooks and Cows are now GMO free - what about
us???
Freedom at last for British livestock that in the past have been forced to "gobble up" GM soya. John Massey Biohazard Action Alliance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.greenpeace.org.uk Monday 31st January 2000 Greenpeace Claims 'Victory For Consumers' As British Chickens Go GM Free! The consumer revolt against genetically modified foods claimed another success today as Sun Valley, Britain's largest chicken producer, admitted that it has banned the use of GM Soya in its chickenfeed in response to public demand. "This is a really significant victory for consumers, as up
until now Sun Valley has been one of the main users of Monsanto's GM
soya here in Europe" said Jim Thomas, Greenpeace Food Campaigner. "Sun
Valley are a huge player in British livestock production, supplying chicken to
such well known companies as McDonalds, Marks and Spencers, Sainsburys
and Iceland. Their decision now opens the way for others to also remove
GM crops from animal feed - particularly others in the poultry industry who
gobble up much more GM soya than anyone else."
Articles Forwarded by
Veronica Griffin Ph.D..
Kerawa Qld.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feedback:
Report on Community
Consultation meeting with Minister P.Ruddock. Joan Sutherland Centre 1 / 3 /
2000
There were about 250 people at the meeting with representatives from a number of ethnic organisations, as well as individual people of obvious ethnic origin. In fact, people of obvious Anglo background were in the minority, a reflection of their apathy, or lack of knowledge of the meeting. A group of protestors from
Resistance made a noisy and untidy spectacle as one approached
the Centre. A friend of mine claimed that the Police took a petrol can from them
before I got there. Whether or not it had petrol in it is anybody's
guess.
There were about 6 other ON people
there, about 3 Libs I knew, and no ALP that I recognised.
There was a strong Police presence, about 4 uniformed, and 6 TRG. As well, plain clothes security were in evidence thorough out the Centre and outside. Immigration website is www.immi.gov.au where Phil claimed you could get good info. After intro by Mick Nicholls, Jackie Kelly introduced Phil Ruddock. He gave a spiel till about 9:00, then had question time. Some points made by Phil in his spiel were: Immigration is the building blocks for the future, nation building, we want strong cohesive society. **When they came to power in 1996 THERE WAS NOT SUFFICIENT CONSULTATION, hence these meetings. Murray Goode? Did a poll at election time which showed that there was more support for the program than opposition. It now has greater integrity. Goals of immigration: Humanitarian, economic, environmental, and social. He then spoke of numbers of
immigrants and made the following points:
There are two common plans proposed
by different groups which represent the extremes, one proposed by
business is 1% population growth p.a. which would need 350,000 immigrants by
2050, by which time population would be 40 mil. It would be 60 mil by
century end, and need 750,000 migrants in that year, assuming birth rates follow
current trends.
The other common plan, one
proposed by One Nation, and Democrats is zero net migration. This is
silly (he states), as Aust birth rates are falling, and the population would
decrease after a short time. 35,000 leave on average, therefore only 35,000 in.
Spouse immigration is at 25,000, so not much left for skilled immigration or
humanitarian. Dumb
Current planning is for about
70,000 a year which would see population rise to about 23 mil, then
stable. He also thinks that by
2050 pop of Sydney = 5 mill and stable.
He also claimed that the rate of natural increase due to birthrate is
slowly declining, and by 2030 will be Zero, then
decline. Conclusion: we need migration to maintain population
level.
This is a ripper - economic
effects on migration:
For every 1,000 immigrants over a
five year period, then skilled migrants have a +ve effect of
$36.7m, family migrants have a -ve $1.8m and humanitarian ie
refugees,have a –ve $21.3m effect on the economy.
A man called Chris Murphy produced
the Murphy model to test impact of immigration on budget and helps them to
develop policy. The family / skill mix is now 50 / 50. Even ALP
doesn’t argue that anymore.
Emigration- the
great majority of the 35,000 people leaving are aged 20-39, and mainly are
in the skilled category. (I wonder how many were born
here?)
Question time
developed into debates, yes debates, over specific cases, eg, one woman
said the man next to her would be killed if forced to return to I think Turkey,
do something now. This developed into a Resistance bloke shouting various
statements and questions. Most unedifying. Other specific cases ensued.
Resistance people urged take all boat people in.
Some interesting points however:
there are 4.5m people here who were born overseas. In 98 / 99,
the proportion of spouses / fianc�es in the family intake was
80%.
Australia leads the world in
resettling illegal immigrants ( that is what I wrote down at the time,
but I took it to mean they stayed here, but maybe not) Aust has 12,000 places
for refugees. Prior to recent arrivals, onshore i.e. boat people, comprise about
10% of that, but with recent events, that may climb to 50%.
There are 21.5m refugees and
displaced people in the world. The CSIRO has been commissioned
to do a study to determine amongst other things, the people carrying capacity of
the country, with some results expected later this year. (Likely to be
politically inspired report to satisfy their paymasters, or face
corporatisation / privatisation - Editor)
Indonesia has arrested people associated with the smuggling. Smugglers
reluctant now due to Australian action. Impossible to turn people around.
Couldn’t ask young Aust sailors to sink a boatload of refugees and watch women
and children drown.
205 E Timorese, 500 Kosovars refugees
remain from recent intakes.
I asked about composition of migrant
intake, having regard to abuse of laws and Social security, and retention of
Aussie character. Answer was Aussie character evolving all the time and
has been always influenced by immigration. As for social
cohesion, well if you asked the right questions and apply the rules, then you
get the right people, but race doesn't come into it, i.e. the
policy is non discriminatory.
He spoke of the Non Return Rate of
various countries when they get visas, and claims that the info is published.
(That could be interesting.)
Australia’s semi skilled workforce
was contracting, but area like IT are growing. Migration just as positive now as
after the war. (I hope these skilled migrants are not taking the jobs of our
children in an arena he admits is contracting)
Note that the above is how I remember
it and from the notes I took. While I am sure it conveys the essentials, the
words actually used may be slightly different. Any figures are as they were
presented.
Col
Easton
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feedback:
Congratulations to Howard for upsetting the
"reconciliation" brigade.
The truth is, when these people say "reconciliation", they really mean "division". The word "reconciliation" implies division in the first place. You would not say, for instance, to someone who is happily married, "what are the chances of reconciliation between you and your wife?" The object of the aboriginal racket is to cause
division in Australia and sustain it for ever, in what I would call a
kind of "virtual apartheid". "Apartheid" means literally,
separation of races, and that's the way they want it,
one law for the blacks, and one for the white, and never the
twain shall meet, which in the end, of course, is of no benefit to anybody,
black or white.
How can you talk about "reconciliation" when we have
an Organization like ATSIC set up to serve (theoretically) the interests of one
particular ethnic group? How can you have reconciliation when you
divide the country into "indigenous" and "non-indigenous" Australians. In the
end, the aboriginal question if not about reconciliation, not about land rights,
not about native title, not about discrimination, not about equality, not about
the mythical "stolen generation" (which was really the saved
generation, but about living standards.
Will any of these reconciliation meetings, or performances
advance the material welfare of even one aboriginal person anywhere?
What good is ten thousand acres of barren land granted to the Ooji-booji
tribe under Native Title 300 miles SW of the Kimberleys, to an unemployed
aboriginal living in Everleigh Street?
The reason we have so many disgruntled
aborigines is because of low living standards, which will
only be repaired when we make a genuine effort to tackle the heroin and
alcoholism problems, the stagnation of the rural sector, the decrepit
public education system, and have a government in power that
genuinely acts in the interests of the Australian people and
gives constructive welfare to those genuinely in need, black or
white.
Bob Vinnecombe +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Let us know what you think. Feedback is important. Comments
on articles read would be of value. Do you agree / disagree? Can you add more or
a different perspective. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.
Send this email on to as many as you can.
The more that read it the merrier. In time email communication will make
government censorship impractical and the newspapers will have to start
reporting it as it really is, rather than the smoke and mirrors tricks they
currently indulge in, or loose readership, and therefore advertising monies.
While we have a long way to go before that happens, each epic journey
must start with a single step.
Antonia Feitz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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