September 16th 2008 23:52
Kevin's political strategies are becoming soft. The latest illustration is asking Malcolm to join him in scheduling a time frame for Australia to become a republic. A quick surface look at such a proposal could indicate that he had Malcolm in a bind. Should Malcolm refuse such generosity; could it be only a disarming move?
What it does mean is that Kevin does not know Malcolm. The new man is rat cunning, knowledgeable, emotionally intelligent and something of a charmer. He instantly turned the offer into an attack on Kevin. As the convenor (or driver behind the 99 push for a republic) he has surrounded the issue. He pointed out that no one in Australia would vote for a republic while the present queen was incumbent (alive? Is she?). Hadn't Kevin researched that? So the offer substantially blew up in Kevin's face. Not that he recognised that. DIDN'T FLINCH OR HAVE A COMEBACK.
September 13th 2008 00:13
It's official. There is such a thing as Gulf War syndrome, except it's not caused by a chemical cocktail of pesticides and tablets to protect combatant from nerve gas. It's caused by war.
Not that Australian scientists are are capable of such lateral thinking. They say the Gulf War syndrome doesn't exist because the test on nearly 2,000 sufferers don't add up to the condition of chronic fatigue, headaches, dizziness, memory problems, joint pains and children with birth defects. The scientists at the Monash University's Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, just claim the conditions are caused by stress - from war. Or let's say, killing people and being frightened that you'll be killed in turn.
Isn't the result the same guys (if there were any women on the team they'd spot the bad logic right away)? If there is such a thing as the stressed conditions causing all those conditions, why do you have to stop calling it the Gulf War Syndrome? Wouldn't the name be even more apt?
The solution is of course - to prevent governments being vulnerable to paying compensation to returning soldiers - to cease mounting wars. Hey, No more Gulf War Syndrome. Or any other syndrome caused by the game of kill or be killed.
Swimming in Port Phillip Bay this summer will not be a healthy option. The toxic sludge deposited in the Bay waters is already spreading beyond the areas that the Port of Melbourne assured us that it would never reach.
What did they expect once they departed from the original policy of having world's best practice dredging in favor of dumping the poisons only a few kilometers from where they excavated it? Now the waters of the Bay will be stirred with toxic chemicals every time there is a wind over 15 knots, which is rather regular for those waters).
This summer parents should not allow their children to swim in the bay waters and that includes Portsea's bay beach (thought I'd mention it to remind all those influential people they should have complained about the dredging that required three panels to get to the point where they had enough YES people to enable the disaster to proceed.
Now that the monitoring equipment itself is killing the larger creatures in the bay (two seals), and reporting the spreading of the poisons, those concerned should be planning their legal course. The UN has given us thE grounds to take it all to the international court.
At last we have the Port of Melbourne's motive for channel deepening. It's for money. The deepening hasn't finished yet but PMC's total revenue grew by $29.4 million, or 20%. This is from the extra charges for the channel deepening. They charge for containers and levy ships that's draft exceeds 12.1 metres. Overall they have a net profit of $43. million, double the previous year.
However as an Exxon Valdez scenario is forecast for Port Phillip Bay by Captain Frank Hart, former harbor master, these figures look very sick when compared with the $15 billion dollar clean-up off Williams Sound. And that was in comparatively open water.
BUT IF WE DON'T HAVE AN EXXON VALDEZ WHEN BIGGER TANKERS ENTER THE BAY WE WILL HAVE TOXIC CONTAMINATION FROM THE TOXIC BUNDS THAT WILL BE COVERED IN SAND. IN SHALLOW PORT PHILLIP BAY THE WATERS ARE VOLATILE. HISTORICALLY THE DUMPING OF SLUDGE HAS NEVER BEEN BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
TO TEST THE RESULT WE CAN'T RELY ON PORT OF MELBOURNE MONITORING BECAUSE THEY'RE EARNING MONEY FROM THE PROCEDURE, WE MUST TEST THE ANIMALS. THE DOLPHIN POD OF ONE HUNDRED MUST BE TESTED BY APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES. THE UNIQUE BAY DOLPHIN (IT'S EVOLVED IN THE BAY AND IS DIFFERENT FROM EVERY OTHER DOLPHIN BREED) MUST BE MONITORED, PROVIDING IT SURVIVES AND DOESN'T DISAPPEAR LIKE THE GIPPSLAND LAKES DOLPHINS.
THE DUMPING OF SLUDGE IN PORT PHILLIP BAY IS NOT WORLD'S CHANNEL DEEPENING BEST PRACTICE.
Bill Green
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