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News Report Issue 51
Index
1. Thought for the day - Neil
2. Opinion: Reconciliation leadership
- Antonia.
3. Opinion: Abolish juries -
Antonia
4. Opinion: The black book of
communism - Antonia
5. Opinion: Women in combat -
Antonia
6. Opinion: Why the troops are hanging it
up - David Hackworth
7. Life Sciences: Biotechnology centre
& Panups - Forwarded by John
8. Feedback: Fraser admits NATO bombing was
illegal - Gweilo
9. Feedback: Milk prices rise -
Richard
10. Feedback: Gas out - Phillip
11. Feedback: Media's absent sense of democracy
- Debbie
12. Feedback: ASIO's recruits for One Nation -
Gweilo
13. Feedback: Flouridation - Don
14. Feedback Contacts:
15. Editorial Policy:
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Thought for the day:
"Man, biologically considered .... is the
most formidable of all the beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys
systematically on its own species." (William James, Memories
and Studies)
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Request:
For this on line news report to grow to a
size to be ultimately effective, it needs to be circulated far and wide. Do
what you can to spread the word to every corner of this continent. If we are to
challenge the Packers and the Murdochs version of history, economics,
politics, science, the environment etc we are going to have to get alternative
messages out.
Do your bit to help. Send to us the names of
potential subscribers. Photocopy and distribute or just share your copy with
others. Whatever you choose to do, thankyou in advance. Help spread it like a
bush fire. The tinder is all around us. Lets fan the flames.
Editor.
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Opinion:
Reconciliation
Leadership?
It looks like the Australian is going to keep running with this "there must be leadership on reconciliation" caper. What they mean is that the people must be badgered and hectored till they agree with the Correct Thoughts on Reconciliation. There is no comprehension that people might think differently. So, it's bound to fail because the more you nag people the more they turn off. The surveys are showing two things: * people hold no animosity to Aboriginal people * they think they should get on with their life Nevertheless Paul Kelly wrongly said, "These surveys also document an ignorance and resentment towards the most disadvantaged group in our society that constitutes a national scandal." Is Lowitja O'Donoghue disadvantaged? Charles Perkins? The Dodsons? Noel Pearson? Cathy Freeman? That the problem with this whole debate: people lump together as Aborigines all sorts of different people. They range from successful city dwellers, to your average Joe through to people living traditionally on remote communities. They are not a homogenous group. They don't ALL pine for reconciliation. In fact lots of them think it's a stupid idea. In last week's Sunday Telegraph there was a letter from a Guyra Aborigine, who said he disagreed with the idea of an apology. Antonia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion
Abolish
juries
Somebody said he's much prefer to be governed by a parliament consisting of the first 500 names in the phone book than by academics. Similarly, most people trust the common sense of laymen over that of experts. But a retiring judge of the Tasmanian Supreme Court has called for the abolition of juries. He called jurors "amateurs" and said they sheltered behind the requirement to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Perhaps they should convict, if they have doubts? The judge said jurors didn't discuss complex issues in their daily life and so were ill-equipped to discuss such matters rationally. The Law Council said the judge's remarks may lead to a national review of the jury system. Antonia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion:
The Black Book of Communism This new book has finally appeared in English and is causing a sensation. Its central argument is "that the history of Communism should be read above all as the history of an all-out assault on society by a series of conspiratorial cliques led by cruel dictators (Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kin Il Sung, Pol Pot, and dozens of other imitators) who were murderously drunk on their own ideology and power." (from a New Republic review, published in News Weekly, 11/3/00). Yes, conspiratorial cliques. That doesn't go down too well with the chattering classes. The second argument is really causing the heat. One of the authors claims "that given the nature and the magnitude of the crimes committed in its name, Communism was fully the equal of Nazism as one of the supreme evils of our century." The others have dissociated themselves from that conclusion. Nevertheless, the book lays bare in harrowing detail the crimes committed by communists. They killed by one way or another, between 85 million and 100 million people. In every place they came to power, they turned mass crime into a system of government. The terror they engendered was all pervasive - understandable when 300 people were taken from their homes and shot as an example to the rest. When 5,000 strikers were killed by loading them on barges and drowning them in the Volga with stones tied around their necks. The books refutes the chattering class's pious belief in the "good" Lenin versus the "bad" Stalin. The review notes that Lenin "blazed a path of tyranny and bloodshed for Stalin." Antonia
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Antonia
And what is Socialism, but the
Western brand name for eastern Communism. The end result of both is
monumental misery. Yet most of our leaders profess to be
Socialists, i.e. closet communists. Remember the USSR
was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
And what were the Nazis, but the National Socialist
Democratic Workers Party.
What was the common element between
both brands of butchery - they were both Socialist
Governments. So forget all the pious rhetoric about how Socialism is
a beautiful ideology. IN most cases the greatest
excesses in the world have been perpetrated by Socialist
regimes.
It is time that the politicians who support
them were "outed" as the hypocrites most of them ultimately
are. It is time that lists of their membership were broadcast to the world so
that the people could know who they are, and under what
banners or behind what corporate loincloth
("veil of incorporation") they are hiding.
Neil ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Opinion:
Women in combat
Under an exemption to the Sex Discrimination Act, currently the Australian Defence Forces are allowed to limit the deployment of women. Australian women in the services are sensibly banned from being exposed to any situation which might expose them to hand to hand combat. But it's not so in the US, and has predictably led to a devastating loss of morale. For heaven's sake, and for the sake of our country's defence, let's not follow the US example. Sadly, Blair's Britain is doing just that - selling out its nation's military heritage to appease feminists. The author, David Hackworth, is one of America's highest decorated retired soldiers. Because he cares about his country and its defence, he regularly surveys the troops off his own bat. Consequently his results have far more credibility than the official politically correct pronouncements have. Antonia ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Article
"WHY THE TROOPS ARE HANGING IT
UP"
By David H. Hackworth, 15 November 1999
"The purple fingernail polish and the dreadlocks covering her face and the hole in the side of her nose where she wears a diamond stud on weekends were bad enough," a command sergeant major says. "But then Specialist Flake asked me if she had to take that 'pointy sticky thing that goes on my gun' when she went to the M-16 rifle range." Flake is a single female soldier with three children by three different fathers. The "pointy sticky thing" is her bayonet. You know, the one that's stuck in an enemy soldier's belly when things get close and nasty. Beats me why this soldier is concerned with the bayonet or why her commander insists she qualify with her rifle. When her outfit moves out on a combat mission, Flake will be left behind to care for her kids, along with the sick and lame. She is non-deployable. She is like a fire-fighter who can't ride on the fire-truck. The U.S. military is filled with Flakes. During Desert Storm, the equivalent of a light infantry division of women couldn't deploy with their units or had to return from the desert because their baby sitters went AWOL or they'd gotten pregnant. Today's armed forces are about half the size they were during "The Storm," but I'll bet you a cold one that the number of female non-deployables is higher now than in 1991. The end-figure is guarded more closely than the discretionary budgets which buy those sexy pilot jackets that Clinton, Cohen and Albright like to wear when they're playing war leader. Some U.S. Army infantry divisions have a battalion-equivalent of pregnant soldiers. Add this to the single moms who can't ship out, and you don't have a lean-and-mean fighting force, you have a Dr. Spock moment. The refusal of the top uniformed brass to tell the civilian leadership that the Flake problem is killing the force is just as criminal as their endorsing a defective weapon system or inoculating soldiers with an untested vaccine -- both of which also occur too frequently. Instead, they should stand tall and shout: "The two-decade gender-blending experiment has only proven that force-feeding women into front-line units to satisfy the feminist movement kills combat readiness." A recent congressional study finds 40 percent of officers and 62 percent of enlisted personnel plan to leave military service when their hitch is up. More than 60 percent of those interviewed cited "work circumstances" as the final straw that broke their spirit and commitment to the military. My own informal survey of more than 3,000 serving soldiers and sailors a week confirms the study is dead-on target and that "work circumstances" often should be read as code for "dealing with the Flakes." But another factor that's fuelling the mass exodus is the troops' complete loss of trust in their seniors over the issue of women in the ranks -- the gradual movement to make the military kinder and gentler that is slowly destroying the vitally needed warrior ethic. And it's getting worse. Harvard graduate Kate Aspy, a former soldier and an expert on women in the military, says, "The 1999 Army cannot make its recruiting objective, and they've kicked up the recruiting quota for women to 22 percent. More alarming, surveys show that over 50 percent of serving women are in the military to get the benefits, not to fight." A soldier now in Basic Training reports that "five females in my platoon were so weak they couldn't pull the charging handle back on an M-16 (rifle)." Every male general and admiral that is not ROAD -- retired on active duty -- or brain dead knows in his heart that the Bush / Clinton women-in-the-foxhole-or-fo'c'sle experiment has been a disaster. But in 20 years, not one senior officer has sounded off. They've put promotion over truth, self over mission and men, and compromise over their sworn oath to always put duty, honour and country first. Meanwhile, jerks like you and me lay out $300 billion a year in hard dough that the Pentagon blows on the joke (less the Marine Corps and a few other special units) that it's defending America. Tell me another one. Forwarded by
Antonia ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Life Sciences:
Biotechnology
Centre
The decision to "go ahead" with the massive
biotechnology complex at the U/Q needs reviewing in the context of the danger to
the public adjoining potentially risky activities, as detailed below.
The following Pesticide Action Network Update talks of the following: Can the Committee please turn their attention to these vitally important issues? Regards John Massey Biohazard Action Alliance =========================================== P A N U P S Pesticide Action Network Updates Service =========================================== Action Alert: Inadequate Methyl Bromide Regulations, March 4, 2000 In January 2000, California's Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) issued draft regulations covering many uses of the toxic pesticide methyl bromide. Unfortunately, the new regulations do not protect the public from this deadly pesticide. To gather public input, DPR will hold public hearings in March and will accept written comments on the proposed regulations. Letters and attendance at the hearings is urgently needed to convince state officials that nearby residents, school children and farmworkers must be protected from exposure to methyl bromide (MB). In 1999, a coalition of environmental and health organisations won a State Superior court law suit, charging that the State's previous methyl bromide guidelines were not uniform, enforceable regulations. The judge ordered Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to draft new state-wide regulations. After reviewing the proposed regulations, environmental, health and farmworker organisations across the state are extremely disappointed. Instead of protecting the public from dangerous pesticides, the State has made no substantial changes in the old guidelines. The new regulations fall far short of protecting the health of farmworkers, children and the general public. Methyl bromide is widely used in California to grow strawberries, grapes and other crops. In 1998, nearly 14 million pounds of methyl bromide was used in California, making it one of the largest methyl bromide-using regions in the world. Methyl bromide is a potent nerve toxin that is extremely dangerous to people and the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies the chemical as a Toxicity Category I toxin, and it has caused birth defects and brain / nervous system damage to laboratory animals. Methyl bromide, which depletes the Earth's protective ozone layer, is scheduled to be phased out in industrialised countries in 2005. Problems with the regulations 1. Schools: The new rules prohibit MB use near an "adjoining" school within 36 hours of classes. But DPR's own monitoring has shown that elevated levels of MB can remain in the air more than 48 hours after fumigations. In addition, the regulations do not define how close "adjoining" schools are to fumigated fields and do not take into account the number of after-school and weekend activities on school property. This despite recommendations from state scientists that children, in particular, need a higher level of protection from methyl bromide. 2. Buffer zones: The minimum distance that must be maintained between fumigations and neighbouring properties (such as residences and schools) was decreased from 100 feet in the previous guidelines to a 60 feet minimum in the new regulations. Even a 100 foot buffer zone is not adequate to protect public health. In addition, the regulations make no attempt to protect residents, children or workers from long-term exposure to methyl bromide. 3. Public notification: DPR is proposing that methyl bromide users notify sensitive sites (schools, homes, hospitals, etc) that are 300 feet from the buffer zone regarding upcoming MB use. This is inadequate since MB can drift more than 300 feet from fumigation sites, and notification is required only eight days before fumigation, allowing residents inadequate time to challenge the action. The proposal also requires notice only to property operators, ignoring renters, school staff, students and others who may be affected but do not own nearby property. 4. Worker safety: To protect farmworkers near fumigated fields, DPR has proposed a worker buffer zone of 50 feet. Independent scientists, however, have shown that this buffer zone should be at least 190 feet to adequately protect workers from short-term peak exposures of methyl bromide. The regulations do nothing to protect those working or living near fumigated fields and those assisting with fumigations against repeated or sub-chronic exposure. Forwarded by
John Massey
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Feedback:
Subject: Fraser admits NATO bombing was illegal Date: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 5:42 AM I wonder why this didn't make the headlines?
A former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm
Fraser, says Europe will never again attempt a humanitarian war as
it did against Yugoslavia.
Delivering a lecture in Parliament House in Canberra,
Mr Fraser said the NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia last year was
illegal: I think it's the last humanitarian war NATO will ever
fight. Although Tony Blair said he wanted this to be the
record of what NATO would do through this century. That sounded to me a
little bit like the resurrection of the Crusades, or even the Spanish
Inquisition.
They all thought they were doing the right thing.
Gweilo
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Feedback:
Milk Price Rises.
Another 9 cent per litre hike in the price of fresh milk has
added weight to concerns that processors and retailers were increasing
milk prices to boost profits at the expense of consumers and dairy
farmers.
Deregulation of the processing and retail sectors of the dairy industry had delivered more choice to consumers but promised benefits of cheaper prices had not materialised because only a few companies had most of the market share. Dairy processor Dairy Farmers has announced that it will increase the price of fresh milk by 9 cents per litre next month. It is expected other milk processors will match the increase, which follows two other increases last year of 6 cents per litre and 8 cents per litre. Dairy farmers had not seen any commensurate increase in the price they received for their milk. Deregulation of the post-farmgate sectors of the dairy industry has played right into the hands of the big processors and retailers. Too few players have too much market clout. They seem to be scrambling over each other to extract more profit from what is a staple part of people’s diet without passing any benefit back to the farmers who produce the product. Industry figures expect the move will put pressure on the State Government to remove or reduce its regulated farmgate price. Mr Palaszczuk has been running away from the issue when he should be developing a State-based assistance package to help our farmers tackle the impact of deregulation. Yours sincerely. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Feedback:
Subject:: Gas Out
AUSTRALIANS JOIN THE WORLD "GAS OUT" INTERNATIONAL 3 DAY PETROL BOYCOTT - April 6th-8th. Last year on April 30, across the USA, the American
people staged what they called a "Gas Out" across Canada and the USA to bring
down the high price of petrol ..........and it worked!
It's time we Australian's took a leaf out of the old American protest book and did something similar, only this time let's make it for THREE DAYS instead of just one. Can you imagine how this sort of action would hurt the
Federal Government which rips us off blind with its World Parity Pricing
Policy? Can you imagine how this sort of action would hurt the Oil
companies who also rip us off blind with their variety of fuel prices all across
the nation aimed at wringing the last cent out of our pockets wherever they can
do so?
The Oil Cartel has decided to slow production simply
to drive up petrol prices and put our money in their pockets. Yet you
don't see our Federal Government rushing to help the people do you?
John Howard, while putting on his public disapproval, must
be quietly loving this scenario, as it's putting more money in his
Treasury and on top of the GST.
Lets see how many Australians we can get to band together for
a three day period in April, NOT TO BUY ANY PETROL, during those three
days. It will take a little planning, but with a small amount of self
sacrifice (i.e. ride your bike to work!) and some solidarity with the Canadian
and American people as well, we have an opportunity to send a real world
message where it's going to hurt the most.
If you're happy about seeing your hard earned dollars stolen
by a Middle East Oil Cartel and seeing your own Government rub its hands
together while we're ripped off by them as well.......then do nothing
!!
If you're fed up with the constant rip off by Cartels and your Government tell them directly. Tell them you've had enough and .......... JOIN AUSTRALIA'S GAS OUT. Do not buy any petrol from APRIL 6,2000, to APRIL 8, 2000.
Buy what you need before the dates listed above, or after, but practice
some restraint and put off some things you were going to do and don't buy
any petrol during the GAS OUT. If you want help, just ask!!
And mark these dates in your diary-organiser NOW ! SEND THIS
TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND ASK THEM TO JOIN IN ... AND DO THE SAME. (cut and
paste, don't use the fwd button). The Americans and the Canadians achieved a
price cut once before and there's no reason why we can't achieve a similar
result if we band together and fight against the people who profiteer from
us.
Come on Australia!! Let's stand together!! WE CAN MAKE A
DIFFERENCE!!!!! Even if you receive this 100 times keep passing it around, this
way you know everyone is being informed and no one will forget!
Forwarded by
Phillip
Madsen
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Feedback:
Media's Absent Sense of Decency.
I am not sure at other peoples views on this, but I am getting appalled at
the lack of respect and decency from our TV stations
and our Governments..............
From early afternoon to Prime Time TV, when most children are sitting
down watching we are seeing clips for films such as the "Wog
Boy" the funniest clip the media can find out of an apparently
very humorous film portrays a young lady calling the actor "You
Wanker". Have you ever tried explaining to a 3 year old why she
should not go around the house shouting "You Wanker", or to an older
child what a wanker is?
WHY this time of day? Is this their target audience, surely
not.........
Then over the weekend we have to put up with yet another farce as the gay
and lesbian Mardi Gras once again takes to the streets of Sydney...... OK, it
might be choice viewing for some people, but what time is it
shown...........after 8pm when most impressionable young children are safely in
bed...... No. It is once again shown at a time when most kids are
watching, and which "News" worthy parts of the parade do they
show out of 700 apparent entries.... the floats for "Sodomite"
and "Tampons" ..."What's Sodomite Mum?"
came the call as the kids watch apparent jars of renamed
vegemite walking down the main street.........this is appalling, it is
a scourge on the name of a children's product and it is
about time this crap is stopped..........enough is
enough.
How can we bring kids up decently in this age if the media and the
government don't show discretion. Homosexuality is not normal and should
not be accepted as normal, and it is about time this government
respected the rest of the populations views.
Why not start putting on a few more shows with good role models such as 7th
Heaven, two loving parents teaching their kids the rights and wrongs
through example instead of people jumping in and out of bed with their
friends partners...what happened to love and respect for each other, it is
merely telling our kids that this type of behaviour is acceptable.
Take a stand for decency
Debbie Williamson-Gleich +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feedback:
Subject: ASIO recruits for One
Nation
Date: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 4:26 AM It seems that ASIO is trying to persuade National Action
members to join the One Nation party! Seems that the
Govt is trying to discredit One Nation by getting "extremists" to join the
party.
National Action to sue ASIO for slander.
Michael Brander is to sue the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
(ASIO), and two of its employees, for defamation. These two have visited four
supporters of National Action in recent weeks and have attacked his reputation.
These "public servants" were not interested in asking questions of the
supporters, but only in attacking the leaders of the Party, in particular the
Chairman.
It is a case that illustrates only too well what the
real job of this political police organisation is: to attack
and disrupt political organisations that don't follow the politically correct
line of the major parties and their backers in Big Business. They aren't
concerned by "terrorism" because they know it does not exist in our
ranks.
The supporters were informed by these agents that Mr.
Brander was "very violent" and had broken an individual's arm and
made "a hole in his head". They said they were very concerned about the
well-being of this particular "victim", despite the fact the person they
named is a well known neo-Nazi involved with a violent American sect that
calls itself a "church".
It appears that the "victim" is being cultivated by
ASIO. However, this does not excuse the political police from telling
outright LIES about National Action's chairman. National Action will be taking
the appropriate legal action. ASIO employees are NOT above the
law, and we do not intend to allow them to think they are.
Is ASIO recruiting for One Nation? Yes. After attempting to
discredit National Action leaders, the ASIO employees said the NA supporters
should "Join One Nation". One wonders what these clowns tell One Nation members
- to join National Action? The point is, these agents are not paid large
amounts of taxpayers' money to "learn" about "subversive" organisations; rather,
they are currently being paid to undermine patriotic groups.
Do Communists, who normally enjoy trying this sort of
work, need a "helping hand" from the Federal Government? Your money is
subsidising ASIO's efforts to attack and disrupt Nationalism and
Nationalists. Why else would we have this organisation defending a neo-Nazi,
who is considered a joke, and telling people to join One
Nation, which the Federal Government hates?
Supporters and members are reminded that it is standard
operating procedure for Nationalists NEVER to talk to ASIO, or to any other
political police. Tell them "I will not talk to you", and NEVER let them
into your house. ASIO agents are the deliberate enemies of Nationalism, and any
information given will be used to undermine patriotic groups; and ASIO will
use all contact with Nationalists to spread lies and disinformation.
If any other supporters, apart from those who have already
approached us with statements, are approached by ASIO employees, please
get in touch with us to help build the case against this group of
taxpayer-funded political enemies.
Gweilo
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Feedback:
Flouridation
I receive a lot of info on fluoride and water-fluoridation -
Though this might be of interest.
Don
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Dr Easley,
Will you please let me have your comments on the appended
information? Would you agree that the 'fluoride' used in drinking water
fluoridation schemes is liquor scrubbed from the chimney stacks of the phosphate
fertiliser industry - pollution - as stated hereunder?
If you do not agree, will you please tell me what you think the substance is and describe the exact method of its production? What safety tests have been undertaken on the substance used to fluoridate drinking water? I will be glad to receive copies of any safety test data on this specific substance that you may have in your possession, or please tell me where I can obtain it. Finally, will you please confirm that the following statement is correctly attributed to you? "The best way to beat the anti-fluoride zealots, these health terrorists, is to fluoridate their water supply." - Dr.Michael Easley, ADA Fluoridation Spokesman, August 7, 1996 I look forward to your early reply. Thank you. Jane Jones, Campaign Director, National Pure Water Association, 12 Dennington Lane Wakefield WF4 3ET, UK. Forwarded by
Don
Mackay
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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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