Proof (if ir were needed) that J Ho is not serious about going green.....

Some of the Pacific Island countries are losing ground at a rate of knots. No surprise there, they are only just above sea level, and as the climate gets warmer, the polar ice melts, and the sea rises....

So... how does one respond to this? (direct from the Sydney Morning Herald)

Australia refused talks on sea levels, island nation says

Richard Baker
February 20, 2007

THE Prime Minister of a Pacific island nation in danger of being submerged if sea levels rise, Tuvalu, was rejected by his Australian counterpart when he sought a meeting on the topic, senior Tuvalu officials said.

An adviser to the Tuvalu Government's environment department, Ian Fry, said the Tuvalu Prime Minister, Maatia Toafa, requested a meeting with John Howard at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji in October to discuss the climate change crisis facing the country, but was denied.

Mr Fry, an environmental law expert at the Australian National University, said: "It's unfathomable to me as to why they don't want to discuss it."

A senior Tuvalu Government source said it was the second time in six years that Australia had refused such requests. "Tuvalu has been seeking bilateral dialogue at prime ministerial level with Australia but more than twice now we have been turned away," he said.

Neither Mr Howard's office nor the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday responded to questions on the claims. In November a senior foreign affairs official told a Senate estimates hearing that Australia had never been approached by any Pacific island government to make arrangements for its people to come to Australia due to rising sea levels.

A high-ranking official from another vulnerable island nation, Kiribati, said his country had also considered approaching Australia to discuss population relocation but decided such action would be futile because the Howard Government was "not sympathetic to the issue".

Pacific nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati could become uninhabitable within decades due to rising sea levels, reduced rainfall and more extreme weather events.

Tuvalu and Kiribati government officials, who wished to remain anonymous, said Australia had a record of softening the language used on the issue of climate change in recent regional communiques.

"Australia either effectively blocks discussion on the issue those times where it can and plays a deaf partner in the circumstances that it can't," the Kiribati official said.

Documents from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet state that although Australia would assist its Pacific neighbours, there was no such thing as an "environmental refugee" because it is not a category under the Refugee Convention.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/australia-refused-talks-on-sea-levels-island-nation-says/2007/02/19/1171733684529.html

Um, excuse me???

Did the Treasury Dept here in Australia really say this????

THE Treasury says it has not made any detailed assessment of the economic impact of climate change, and there is no urgent need to do so.

The admission came as the Federal Government was put on the defensive yesterday on the environmental issues of climate change and water.

David Parker, the executive director of Treasury's macroeconomic group, said although the effects of drought had been modelled, climate change had not. "It would be fair to say that, to date, the environmental greenhouse issues haven't been in a sense sufficiently large as to have an obvious macro-economic impact," Mr Parker said.

I am sorry, but our fearless leader J. Ho. has just lost any economic credibility he might have once had, if he has not had the country's leading bunch of economists not prepare a costing on what financial effect global climate change might have on this country....

This just leaves me speechless...

btw, full article "here"

Ah, Australia, I despair for your humanity....

Some of you reading this may have heard of Robert Jovicic. If you are reading this from outside Australia, you probably aren't, and you probably are not aware of what a scandal has developed with our federal government and its immigration policies, or maybe that should be their "kick them out if you can" policy.

There have been a number of highly publicised, and a lot more not, cases where citizens have been deported, largely because of the current policies brought in during the reign of J.Ho. Being a citizen seems to be no longer a guarantee of being entitled to the right to remain here, unless there is no doubt you look and sound "like an Aussie".

Well, Robert Jovicic is a slightly different case.

He was born overseas, in France, to Serbian parents, and came here as a two year old. Now despite having lived all his life here, and having a legitimate visa, the federal government decided to cancell his visa and deport him to Serbia, a country that he had never lived in, simply because they could. Now, granted he was not exactly of high moral standing, but, why send him to a country where he is not a citizen, that his main connection to is his ancestry? A country whose language he does not speak with any significant degree of fluency, a country that declared him stateless and offered no options to gain employment or access to any of the services a government would normally give to its citizens.

Well, now in a crazy piece of logic, the government is asking him to take out Serbian citizenship, to avoid being deported to Serbia. Huh? Is it just me, or does it sound like once again, they are trying to get rid of him and send him off to Serbia? Why not ask him to take out French citizenship? At least he was born there.

Ah, no, France has already (rightly in my view) stated that he is Australia's problem, not theirs. Which leaves no real options left. Looks like Robert needs to learn Serbian, and fast!!!!

Boys toys...

Well, on Australia Day, (aka "Invasion Day") I finally got my Christmas present from the Gorgeous One. Yes, I am now the proud owner of one of "these".

Yes, that is right, I have now entered the world of digital music on the go. It not only plays things that I have copied to it off CD or the net, it also records. So tonight, when we go to see Turandot at "Opera in the Park", I might even try seeing how well it records, without an external mic. Not that I am going to tell anyone of course, because, technically, I would expect I am breaking the law... Technically.

In other news on the home front, we are now the proud owner (well, technically, I am,) of a darlek that sits on the floor in Beatrice, connected to a window and the power and thus not able to go very far! Yes, that is right, after many years of saying I need one, I have lashed out and bought a portable reverse cycle air conditioner. It is noisy, but seems to do the job and keeps the humidity at bay, as well as cool the place down.

Looks like we will be able to sleep at night again! YAY!!!!!

YAY Tim Flannery!!

According to the ABC site "here," Tim Flannery has been voted Australian of the year. I have to say, while a little disappointed that the guys from WA that found the bacteria causing stomach ulcers did not get it, I am very pleased that Tim did, if only to imagine the look on J. Ho's face when he announced it!

I mean, here is one of the world's great environmental sceptics, awarding the prize to someone who has built a name for himself as an outspoken greenie. Someone who has built an enviable reputation for speaking out about the dangers caused by the way we are treating our world. Someone that has written books about the problems we have created with our wasteful way of life.

Ah, poor J. Ho! You have to deal with a newly reinvigorated opposition, your best buddy in the USA is fighting a hostile Congress, and so many of your pet ideologies and projects are all falling over while you watch. If it was not a refreshing change, I would be tempted to feel sorry for you.

Nah, who am I kidding? If you cannot get rid of "wretched Ruddock" in a cabinet reshuffle, you deserve everything you get. Unless of course, Ruddock has something on J. Ho that he is using to blackmail him with. We could only wish!!!

Who is your enemy?

You know I am not really sure how to react to this. There is a book out reviewed by the New York Times here". I really find myself at a loss to explain the logic of this author. But, maybe this snippet from the review might give you an idea why I find it so disturbing.


Susan Sontag never said we brought Sept. 11 on ourselves. Dinesh D’Souza does say it.

Dreadful things happened to America on that day, but, truth be told, D’Souza is not all that upset by them. America is fighting two wars simultaneously, he argues, a war against terror abroad and a culture war at home. We should be using the former, less important, one to fight the latter, really crucial, one. The way to do so is to encourage a split between “radical” Muslims like bin Laden, who engage in jihad, and “traditional” Muslims who are conservative in their political views and deeply devout in their religious practices; understanding the radical Muslims, even being sympathetic to some of their complaints, is the best way to win the support of the traditionalists. We should stand with conservative Muslims in protest against the publication of the Danish cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad rather than rallying to the liberal ideal of free speech. We should drop our alliance with decadent Europe and “should openly ally” with “governments that reflect Muslim interests, not ... Israeli interests.” And, most important of all, conservative religious believers in America should join forces with conservative religious believers in the Islamic world to combat their common enemy: the cultural left.

The “domestic insurgents” who, in D’Souza’s view, constitute the cultural left want “America to be a shining beacon of global depravity, a kind of Gomorrah on a Hill.”


Does that sound like rational? I certainly don't find it so. Try the thoughts of someone so convinced that his beliefs are correct that he fails to see the problems inherent in his viewpoint. I mean, who in the Western World, apart from a few Governments that sometimes find it inconvenient, really thinks freedom of speech is a bad idea? And since when is there a cultural war being fought in the USA between the Left and the Right? Most USA reporting is so far right wing anyway, they would not recognise socialism if it bit them on the bum.

And decadent Europe? Shouldn't that be the decadent USA? Or maybe decadent Australia, seeing we are the number one friend of the USA at the moment, or at least of its Govt, according to G Dubya Bush...

Another gorgeous day...

The gorgeous one has taken the day off work, as much a mental health day as anything. But of course, then sits around doing nothing. Trying to encourage him to do something, rather than sit here and waste the day (as he criticised me on the weekend) and only now, after several tries, is he having a shower to get organised to do something. He was using the excuse of waiting for me to do some singing practice first.

Well, first of all, at the moment, I have enough trouble singing what I am learning, and working on the changes to my technique, without having to deal with someone listening, especially someone I care about. I really have to have the freedom to fail (that will make sense to some, but not all) before I can relax into what I need to be doing. Then there is the evilness of the current piece of music I am learning (Everybody says don't, a Sondheim piece that is one of his nastier pieces, not that Sondheim is ever easy!). It is full of words (not as stupid as it sounds) and funny, changeable rhythms. Not to mention, weird leaps all over the place, and of course, the fact that it is a totally ballsy, in your face, take no prisoners kind of song. It just can't be sung wimpily, and of course, that requires that freedom to fail thing. At the moment, I do not really feel I have that with the Georgeous One around, simply because I am not ready for him to hear "my new voice"yet.

Make sense?

Anyway, he is now out of the shower, so time for us to go and enjoy that gorge day out!!!

well...

Not a lot to report today, not got myself a job yet, but starting to think constructively about what I want to do, which I guess is a good thing. But can I make it reality?

So over this bloody Iraq war. What is it with our fearless leaders of the free world, that they cannot understand that maybe, just maybe, the concept of a democracy as espoused by the western world is not always the best option for countries where there are religious issues, or where not everyone has had a decent education, or access to media that enables them to get at least close to the truth...

Ah, it is so easy to criticise in hindsight, isn't it?

An article that says so much...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/opinion/01schlesinger.html?em&ex=1167800400&en=6f2dca41b779ad36&ei=5087%0A

I do not think that I need to add anything to Arthur Schlesinger's words... so I won't!

I survived the holidays!

Well, here I am, back home in Sydney. The trip to New Zealand was less stressful than I thought. The Gorgeous One's parents were lovely, and everything that his friends have said they were. The rest of his family? Well, let's just say, one should be able to talk about in-laws, and out-laws, and leave it at that, to avoid creating a international incident. We got to travel around a bit. I got to see some really big trees, lots of hills, and rediscovered that I have an allergy to pohutakawa blossom. For those that do not know, that is the NZ Christmas Tree, a common tree that has red flowers during the holidays. They are especially common around the coast, and of course, where was I staying, and where did I spend most of my time? You guessed it, the coast! AARGH!!!! So, having got that out of the way, what else can I say? Well, NZ is wet. Very wet. it rained for about 11 out of the 14 days we were there. When you have come from somewhere in water restrictions, somewhere that has been in drought for more than a year. Everywhere you look, the paddocks are green. It is small compared to Australia. From where my BF's family lived on the east coast, the west coast was less than sixty kms away. Our longest trip, when we got geographically embarassed was only about 500kms. Mind you, the problems was caused by the fact that the townsite on the map where we were due to take a different road was not marked, and the road we wanted, was also not sign posted. Well, that is what happens when you take B or C roads I guess! The picture shown is of a pair of Kauri trees in the Waipoua Forest. They are known as Darby and Joan.