Global Warming's Forced Vegetarianism Conspiracy Exposed

As the Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt has repeatedly warned us, the threat of global warming is just one big Leftoid conspiracy to turn Australia into a nation of hair shirt wearing, bicycle-riding, lentil consuming, sun worshipping hippie delusionists, living in perpetual darkness while begging for salvation in front of home shrines to Bob Brown and Tim Flannery.

And now here's further proof - an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (!!!) that reveals how Australia will be forced to cut back on pollution in the decades ahead, thereby cutting greenhouse emissions.

But amongst all the crazed extremist talk of using less electricity, increasing energy use efficiency, and reducing the kinds of pollution that retard children's brains, there is this landmine of totalitarianistic social change that threatens to undermine the very fabric of Australia's meat-eating heritage :

AUSTRALIA could cut its greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30 per cent by 2020 without relying on clean-coal technology or nuclear energy, but it might have to sacrifice its aluminium sector and produce less beef, says a new analysis of the country's emissions.

To achieve the 30 per cent cut, more controversial measures such as...a 20 per cent cut in beef production to reduce the effect of methane from cattle (will be needed).

Man the barbecues, arm yourselves with tongs, guard your sirloins.

We look forward to more on this shocking conspiracy aimed at forcing Australians into becoming a nation of veggie crunching, water saving, clean air breathing, solar power using Flannery worshippers from the always reliable Andrew Bolt, Rupert Murdoch's anti-global warming alarmism alarmist.

It's refreshing to know that the likes of Bolt's Herald Sun, and its parent media portal, news.com.au, will never get caught up in promoting the Great Global Warming Leftoid Conspiracy like the SMH.

Remember, first they come for your V8s, then they come for your plasma wall screen TVs, then they come for your steak sandwiches.

Australian Soldier Killed By IED Attack In Afghanistan


Australians on patrol in Afghanistan

Update : The soldier who was killed yesterday in Afghanistan was David Pearce, 41. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson waited only hours after the official announcement of the soldier's death to begin politicising the tragedy, by kicking off the 'Blame Iran' campaign, though Nelson admitted he has no proof the IED that killed Pearce comes from Iran.


Yesterday, an IED tore through an Australian patrol in the southern Oruzgan province in Afghanistan killing one Australian soldier, wounding another, and injuring three local children.

The injured soldier was airlifted to a medical base and was reported to have serious injuries, though they are not believed to be life-threatening.

The death of the soldier marks the first combat-related fatality for Australia in Afghanistan or Iraq during the 'War on Terror', as a direct result of enemy action.

Hopefully both sides of politics will be able to refrain from seeking political capital from the death of this soldier, but don't bet on it.

If anything, the death of the soldier, and the blanket media coverage that the arrival of his body back home will generate, along with the politician-heavy funeral and memorial service, is bound to ramp up the ferocity of debate here over the future role of Australian troops in the 'War on Terror'.

The Labor Party is currently planning to withdraw most of the combat troops from Iraq in 2008, should it win office, but leader Kevin Rudd recently committed to an ongoing deployment of troops to Afghanistan.

Some 1000 Australian soldiers are based at Camp Holland, in the Oruzgan province, according to ABC News.

More than 50% of Australians now oppose Australia's involvement in military action in Afghanistan.

Presumably the Taliban are well aware there is a federal election drawing near in Australia. The death of the soldier is likely to return Australia's involvement in the 'War on Terror' to the top rung of the pre-election campaign issues.

Australian troops have endured massive fighting against the Taliban in recent months, killing dozens of militants. More than six Australian soldiers have been injured since June in gunfights with the Taliban.

The fatal IED attack yesterday has been reported have specifically targeted Australian troops.

The Taliban would clearly know who the Australians are, and what their uniforms and vehicles look like.

Calm Down, Grandpa



Image from Crikey's excellent coverage Election 2007.


Definitely one of the creepiest images from the 2007 federal election 'non-campaign'.

So far.

Busy 'Killing Sydney'

Last week I did an interview by e-mail with Gary Kemble from the ABC's Articulate blog, on the the reasons why novelists publishing their work online, for free, will mean a brighter, far more exciting future for writers and the book publishing industry. An industry that is seriously in the doldrums right now, and in dire need of a revolution. $37 or more for a paperback novel in Sydney bookshops? No wonder so many first-time novelists never get a chance to find an audience.

There's also plenty of rambling in the interview about the online serialized novel ED Day, what it's been like to write a novel and publish each chapter online as soon as it's written, and where the story might be now heading.

A quick thanks to the readers here who've been sending links from the ED Day blog to their friends, both here and overseas, vastly expanding the audience. The readership of the novel has already grown beyond all my expectations and is now nudging 4200, in 19 countries. So thanks again.

Go Here To Read The Articulate Interview

“We’re going to tear up all these streets one day,” Johnny said, out of the blue. “We’re gonna give the city back to nature.”

He explained how we could reintroduce mangroves around the edges of the harbour, to draw in fish and bird life, and how four block wide corridors could one day be bulldozed through the city, “to give the competition some room to breathe.”


Go Here For More

Tony Abbott : What A Scumbag

Health Minister Tony Abbott must have been very displeased to have recently learned he is one of the most unpopular senior politicians in Australia. Yesterday he set out to ramp up his unpopularity even further, by launching a foul, insidious attack on the woman who is set to become Australia's deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard.

Tony Abbott told the Sydney Daily Telegraph :

"It would be a lot easier for her to realise her ambition if there was evidence of a broader lifetime experience."

"The average person would look askance at such a political animal," he said.

"The thing about (Ms) Gillard is that she is very bright, just uber-professional and a formidable debater," Mr Abbott said.

"It's very hard to be a leader in a democratic society if your life has been consumed by the job."

Incredible stuff coming from Australia's most vicious political animal himself. A man obsessed with his own power and image, who still appears morosely uncomfortable in the presence of female politicians, and someone who was, and remains, so determined to fulfill his role as the 'executioner' of Australian federal politics that he once teamed up with 'the enemy' to destroy the rise of a popular and viable third party choice, that being the 'peoples' movement' of Pauline Hanson.

Abbott's attack is yet another sign of the panic now eating away at the front bench of the federal government, as they try to deal with the reality that the tide of public opinion has finally turned against them, and they will soon be thrown out of power.

But Abbott's attacks on Gillard are all the more bizarre because it was his own government that transformed the lives of millions of Australian families by forcing through the reality of 'working families', where mothers are encouraged to park their children in childcare before they can even walk, so they can 'embrace' the opportunities of our so-called 'economic miracle' by taking jobs they didn't necessarily want, or even need.

It was Abbott's government that launched a psychological war on Australian women, through propaganda and mind-numbing TV ads, that created the mindset that any mother who stayed home to look after the children was somehow less than worthy, was not pulling her weight, or was refusing to actively engage in Australian society.

Julia Gillard, who now enjoys some of the highest poll numbers for any Australian female politician in history, responded to Abbott's vile attempt at character assassination :

She responded by questioning whether Mr Abbott could have succeeded in politics if not for the fact that his wife had brought up their children while he pursued his career.

"Could Tony Abbott have been at the same stage of his political career if he'd been the mother of his three children, rather than the father of them?" she said.

And she predicted her rise to the top in the Labor Party will pave the way for other single women - and men - to enter parliament as part of a "diversification" of politics.

In the latest sign the election will become a brutal war of words, Mr Abbott said voters were seeking a "bit more humanity" from their political leaders.

If Abbott means his kind of "humanity" then he truly has lost the plot.

Abbott, naturally, then tried to withdraw his remarks. But he meant every word he said. Of course he did. He just thought that he could get his attacks into the papers, and into the headlines, and that a day or so would pass before Julia Gillard fired back.

It didn't work out that way.

"I should not have said anything that could be construed by anyone as a personal attack on Gillard," Abbott said, when he realised he had monumentally fucked up. Yet again.

Yes, but you did say all that, didn't you Tony? And you meant every word. And now your government will have to pay the political price for it.

Does the Howard government even want to win the election? Sometimes it's hard to believe they do.

Tony Abbott : Voting Against The Howard Government Could Result In "Very Dire Consequences"

Feeding Howard Into The Mill

In February, Kevin Rudd promised that he would mess with John Howard's mind, and then grinned. The mind-messing continues into its ninth straight month, and Howard is cracking.

Witness the fiasco surrounding the new $2 billion pulp mill in Tasmania's Tamar Valley. Rudd and Labor refused to say whether they would back the pulp mill until "the science" was in. The "science" being a report that would reveal if the pulp mill would become an environmental catastrophe.

This move by Labor all but forced Environment minister Malcolm Turnbull into following through on his pledge to make sure the mill would meet "world's standard" measure on not polluting the surrounding waters and otherwise fairly pristine environment.

The science comes in, Turnbull holds off on releasing the report, enduring a monumental bollocking in the media from an orchestrated campaign by anti-mill activists, centred around Turnbull's NSW seat, that the Liberals were unable to blame on Labor.

Turnbull then announces, yesterday, that the mill will go ahead, and Howard is like a bull at a gate, unable to contain his glee, all but certain that Labor will have no choice but to oppose the mill, or to try and delay committing to backing its construction.

After all, if a Tasmanian pulp mill can throw into chaos the likelihood of Turnbull retaining his local seat at the coming election, then surely, surely, there had to be some negative fall out for Labor?

No such luck.

Howard cut loose yesterday morning, claiming Labor was playing "chicken politics" with the pulp mill issue. But Howard was in meltdown mode. He was jumpy, hyper, almost manic. He looked like someone had dropped a bad E in his morning coffee. Some media reported the below quotes as being "thundered" by Howard :

"I mean it’s playing chicken politics to just criticise a process. I mean they’ve got the decision, we’ve taken the decision, we didn’t put it off, we didn’t defer it because it was a bit difficult.

“I would say to Mr Rudd and Mr Garrett, do you support the decision or do you oppose it?

“I mean are they for it or against it? Do they agree with the mill, subject to the stringent environmental requirements, or do they oppose it? Do they want jobs for northern Tasmanians or don’t they?”

All but minutes later, Labor's captain conservationist, Peter Garrett, calmly, firmly, announced the Labor position on the pulp mill's future :

“A Rudd Labor government would not seek to overturn or amend the decision by Mr Turnbull.”

Slam dunk.

The controversial pulp mill decision is now owned by the Howard government. And the media is champing to turn it into the big environmental issue of the election campaign. Another 'Save The Franklin River' adventure. They'll probably make it an enormous deal, even if most Australians aren't interested, if only so they can go and hang out in beautiful forests in quiet, calm Tasmania and laugh it up with the Greens.

Howard is well spooked by Rudd now. Veteran political commentators and Liberal Party staffers are stunned at how nothing sticks to Rudd, and how he somehow keeps managing to pass the most controversial of election issues right back to Howard to deal with.

The head messing continues. The tally of success for Rudd is long, near faultless and worthy of some pride.

Even people who don't want to see Howard lose are caught up in the entertainment of watching the King being bested, again and again, by some blow-in from the provinces.

Rudd seems largely unfazed by anything, and is relentlessly moving through a drip-feed series of policy announcements, most of which appear to be welcomed by the majority of Australians, as though he already is prime minister. He doesn't seem to be so much fighting against Howard, as flicking him away like an annoying fly that keeps buzzing back.

All of which leaves Howard scrambling for relevance and ramping up his 'I'm A Nice Guy!' routine to such levels of near-absurdity that it now appears he has been replaced by one of his own comedic impersonators.

It's great that Howard gets out in his local community, hanging at fetes, and rolling up his sleeves to spin the chocolate wheel. People seem to genuinely enjoy seeing their prime minister having fun in such non-official situations.

But more and more it feels as though we are watching videotapes sent back from five to eight years in the future, when a long gone, and somewhat forgotten ex-prime minister is taking whatever public appearance gigs he gets offered. Even if it's calling the meat tray, or spinning the wheel, with a blinding grin, at the local school fete.

Key Howard Ally Ramps Up The Fear Factor On New 'Asian Invasion'

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan is looking decades into the future with his talk of a new climate change driven 'Asian Invasion' and proposes the mass development of underpopulated northern Australia as a mechanism to deal with the problem :

"Without being alarmist, it would be better for us to do it than letting someone else," he told the (Bulletin) magazine.

"We're not talking tomorrow, but in 50 to 80 years time. If there are 400 million people who have run out of water – Bangladesh or Indonesia – well, you've got to have a plan."

Senator Heffernan said northern Australia was a soft entry point in security terms.

"If we go to the level of climate change that science is predicting, where you're going to have 50 per cent of the world's population water-poor and you're going to have the Arctic melt and rising seas, it will be a very attractive proposition."

Heffernan's comments follow the warnings raised by federal police commissioner Mick Keelty, who said climate change posed the most important and looming national threat to Australia's security, a threat worse than international or regional terrorism.

Keelty's claims were hosed down by defence minister, Brendan Nelson, who wants the Terror Threat to remain at the forefront of Australians minds when it comes to the things they should fear.

John Howard, at first, said that the threat of terror was also much worse than the climate change induced mass migration scenario posed by Keelty, before being advised by his staffers that recent polls showed Australians were far more concerned with climate change than terror. Howard quickly rejigged his message to say that both terrorism and climate change posed "equal threats'.

It will be interesting to see if Howard finds a way to use the reality of climate change and the new 'Asian Invasion' scenario now being popularised by his close friend Bill Heffernan to go after the Rudd opposition. Perhaps he will claim that Rudd Labor is "soft" on dealing with the threats of mass migration that "will possibly result" from climate change?

Presumably Howard will steer clear of associating himself with a new fear campaign based around a climate change induced 'Asian Invasion', while refusing to rein in the likes of Heffernan, and other Liberal Party bulldogs who can be expected to capitalise on Heffernan's start.

Tying the reality of climate change to the bedrock century old popular Australian fear of being swamped by an 'invasion' of illegal Asian immigrants, and then claiming that Labor would do nothing to stop such an 'invasion', just might be the new Tampa-style fear and smear election issue the Howard government has been looking for.

Andrew Bolt Outraged By Media 'Hyping' Of Climate Change Threats

Except When His Own Newspaper Is Doing It

Andrew Bolt is outraged, outraged dammit, by the ceaseless hyping from the Australian media when it comes to reports on how climate change will effect Australia's future, and the dire warnings of coming climate chaos extrapolated from scientific studies. Why can't they restrain themselves from all those doom and gloom headlines?

But does he tell ever you that his own newspaper, the Herald Sun, and its Rupert Murdoch-owned parent company News.com.au is the biggest Australian campaigner and promoter of climate change fear and paranoia?

Of course not.

Bolt is always so very, very vague now on just who is 'hyping' climate change in the Australian media. He used to attack the ABC and Fairfax newspapers for 'hyping' the effects of climate change. That is, until Rupert Murdoch became the world's biggest promoter of raising awareness of "the clear, catastrophic threat" posed by global warming and climate change, and promised to "weave" the issue into the content of his media empire.

Yesterday Bolt headlined a blog post with this :

Even More Panic Over CSIRO's Less Scary News

He clearly means panic in the media in the reporting of the CSIRO's findings on how Australia is likely to be effected by climate change in the coming decades.

Bolt then writes :

Some old stuff, but the usual scary headlines follow, like this:

CSIRO warns of climate chaos

According to Google News, the only newspapers and media sites in Australia who used that 'scary' headline were Bolt's own newspaper, The Herald Sun, the sister Sydney newspaper, The Daily Telegraph and the main portal for Murdoch's Australian media sites, News.com.au.

Most non-Murdoch newspapers and media outlets used far more restrained headlines. But don't look to Andrew Bolt to tell you that fact.

News Limited's Brisbane paper, the Courier Mail went with this far more dramatic headline :

Aussie Climate In Hot Water

And Murdoch's Adelaide Advertiser served up :

Climate Chaos Warning

Not one of the numerous stories carried by Murdoch newspapers and websites, including the Herald Sun, followed Bolt's usual demands that "alternative views" be included in media reports on climate change to provide balance on the 'reality' of climate change, or if humans are really responsible for global warming.

Literally dozens of stories were published, without "alternative views", on the News Limited newspaper and website network. Bolt didn't even notice. Surely he can't be that ignorant?


"I've Done My Dash" - Andrew Bolt Admits Defeat On Global Warming

Bolt : "We All Love A Good Conspiracy"

The Changing Climate Of Andrew Bolt

Back In The Gutter Where He Belongs

Australia Pulls Support For US Military Action On Iran

Downer Signs Up To The Coalition Of The Unwilling

Australian troops and special forces will not join the United States in proposed military action on Iran, according to foreign minister Alexander Downer.

Of course, this is Downer speaking. Australian special forces may already be operating inside Iran, along with US troops, conducting sabotage and espionage operations, and paying off military units not to fight if the US goes to war, as they are widely alleged to have done in the months before the Iraq War officially began in March 2003.

The point is, if Australian troops were already engaged in such operations with the United States inside Iran, Downer's hardly going to admit it. Certainly not in the lead-up to an election.

Still, it's a substantial show of official non-support from Australia for the "all options (including nuclear attack) are still on the table" aggressive creed when it comes to Iran, from President Bush and the NeoCons.

From ABC News :

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has ruled out Australian involvement in any United States-led military action in Iran.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has been writing about the possibility of a US strike on Iran for the past 18 months.

Mr Hersh says US President George W Bush is now focusing on getting support from allies, including Australia.

Mr Downer says he does not believe America is planning to invade Iran, but if the US did pursue that path, Australia would not follow.

"We're not planning to get involved with any military action against anybody."

story continues after...
---------------------------


Go Here To Read ED DAY - Darryl Mason's Online Novel Of Life In Sydney After An Apocalyptic Bird Flu Pandemic Kills Millions

Go Here For The Latest News From 'Your New Reality'


-----------------------------
story continues...


Downer, like prime minister John Howard, must be feeling extremely nervous about all the talk from American NeoCons and Israeli extremists demanding Iran be bombed, and soon. Australia has more than 800 troops and support staff in the south of Iraq.

Iran would be expected to launch retaliatory strikes against US allies in the event of an attack, which would mean Australian forces, relatively close to the Iranian border, would presumably be targets for Iranian military and terrorist strikes.

UPDATE : 'Australia's Next Prime Minister', Labor leader Kevin Rudd, has announced he wants to haul the Iranian president before the International Criminal Court and have him charged for "inciting genocide" :

In a dramatic lift in diplomatic pressure on a bellicose and defiant Iran, Kevin Rudd has committed a Labor government to take "legal proceedings against President Ahmadinejad on a charge of incitement to genocide".

The Leader of the Opposition said the charge of incitement to genocide "could occur through the International Court of Justice on reference by the UN Security Council" because of Mr Ahmadinejad's public statements.

"They refer to statements about wiping Israel off the map, questioning whether Zionists are human beings and the recent abhorrent conference that he convened on the veracity of the Holocaust," Mr Rudd said.

"It is strongly arguable that this conduct amounts to incitement to genocide, criminalised under the 1948 genocide convention."

Rudd also said a Labor government would not support the use of military force on Iran, but would support further sanctions, and that diplomacy was the best way to deal with the issue of Iran's "nuclear ambitions".

Getting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before the ICC on a charge of "inciting genocide" is never going to happen, and Rudd knows it. Despite the constant attribution of the quote "wipe Israel off the map" to the Iranian president, by supposedly accurate, fact-checking media like the Washington Post and the New York Times, Ahmadinejad never actually said those words.

Ahmadinejad did say he wants to see the "Zionist regime" of Israel deposed or "wiped away", which is no less inflammatory than the recent run of American NeoCons who've repeatedly stated they want to see the Iranian president's regime overthrown, violently if necessary, or the nation bombed at the minimum.


Demented NeoCon Fantasises About Days When US Violently Overthrew Democratic Governments - Dreams Of Deposing Iranian President

Gruesome Bush Aide Tells British MP : "I Hate All Iranians"

Dear Mr President, Please Bomb Iran, America Needs To Feel Proud Again

Cheney Wanted Israel To Bomb Iran, To Provoke Iran Into Retaliating So US Could Hit Iran

John Pilger On APEC : Sydney Was Under "Martial Law"


Riot squad masses in central Sydney for the APEC "violent riots" that didn't happen, mostly due to the intervention of peaceful protesters, who surrounded ski-masked 'anarchists' and refused to allow them to join the main rally, even after police demanded "they have the right to march".


Journalist and film-maker John Pilger has a message for the 8000-10,000 people who marched against the globally destabilising war policies of President Bush in Sydney during the recent APEC summit :

“You people stood up to the worst kind of power...We often think of the worst kind of power as something we see in other countries. But the worst kind of power was expressed recently at APEC. The day I arrived in Sydney was the last day of what was effectively martial law in the city I grew up in …

“But the people who stood up to this virtual martial law, imposed upon us, were you people. In London, it was great to see Alex Bainbridge, who is now an international star, on the news. People were shaking their heads and asking: What the hell is going on in Sydney? They built a fence through the city, you can’t go through the city, you cannot get to the Opera House but there were people who were protesting and resisting this. And resisting this bravely … "

More on the anti-Bush protests during the APEC summit, and the incredible show of police force on the day of the marches, can be found here :

Sydney's Promised 'Violent Riot" Protest Descends Into Shocking Peace

Police Violence Shatters Peace Of Sydney Anti-Bush Rally : "That's The Way We Do Business Now"

Prime Minister Declares Police Tactics Of Violence And Intimidation Against Peaceful Protesters "Worked Brilliantly"


Later this week, hopefully, we'll have our photo essay - Did This Protester Stop The Promised "Violent Riots" During Sydney Anti-Bush March? - up on this blog.

Some Of The Most Nutritious Food In The World Is Right In Our Own Backyards, So Why Aren't We Eating It?


Bush tomato grows near Uluru

The drought-led destruction of Australian farming may hopefully force a rethink on how we view the incredible variety of "bush foods" that grow wild across our scrublands and deserts and jungles and have kept Aboriginal people alive, and healthy, for more than 60,000 years.

If you've never marinated a steak in bush tomato and lemon myrtle before throwing it on the barbecue, you have no idea what you're missing out on. An explosion of so many new flavour sensations you will be left mind-boggled as to why these herbs and fruits are not for sale in every supermarket in the country.

Australians have embraced just every kind of "ethnic" food in the world, but most of us would still turn our noses up at the herbs, fruits and meat that are found across our wide brown lands.

Maybe we just need to hear more about the new recipes that chefs, across the world, are experimenting with and embracing. Like these :

...turtle broth, dugong steaks with bush fruits, pan-fried magpie goose breast with a bush peach glaze, chargrilled crocodile tail with bush tomato chutney, bush-meat pie with kangaroo, bush-turkey and emu, goanna and vegetable stew, waterlily salad with red claw yabbies, kangaroo bourgignon and wattle seeds pancakes with sugarbag caramel.

A nationwide rethink on the food we eat and grow would create new farming industries across the country, and provide much-needed jobs and income to isolated Aboriginal communities.

A fascinating story on all this :

Steve Sunk, a senior lecturer in hospitality and cookery at Charles Darwin University, is showing (Aboriginal people) innovative ways to cook the animals they traditionally hunt, and their wild fruit and vegetables.

He started his courses because he was concerned about health problems caused to a large extent by poor diet. Indigenous people suffer from high rates of diabetes, obesity, renal failure and heart disease.

Their traditional diet was healthy, combining low-fat meat (kangaroo, emu, crocodile, goanna) with a wide variety of fruit and vegetables: bush tomatoes, water lilies, wild limes, yams, quandongs (native peach), Kakadu plums and wild spinach, to name but a few.

After white settlement, though, Aborigines abandoned their nomadic lifestyle. Forced to live on missions and reserves, they stripped the surrounding vegetation. They were also introduced to Western processed food, and nowadays many of them live off fried chicken and potato chips, washed down with Coke and other sugary drinks.

Mr Sunk wants indigenous people to return to their millennia-old supermarket: the desert, the rivers, the sea. To encourage that, he shows them how to cook their traditional produce more creatively and healthily.

While Mr Sunk spreads the message in Aboriginal communities, mainstream Australia is belatedly waking up to the rich flavours – and nutritional value – of "bush tucker". The Kakadu plum contains five times the volume of antioxidants found in blueberries, well known for their antioxidant qualities.

Other wild fruit and vegetables have been found to have extraordinary qualities. A government study published last month found that fruits such as brush cherries, finger limes and riberries are a rich source of phytochemicals, which help protect against disease and ageing.

While Australians pride themselves on their adventurous palates, and their multicultural dining scene, they have always resisted eating the produce of their own backyards. For many people, bush tucker evoked visions of squirming witchetty grubs – fat white insects found in the desert, which Mr Sunk swears are delectable fried in garlic butter. Previous attempts to popularise bush cuisine, particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s, were unsuccessful.

Public perceptions are now changing, thanks to new restaurants devoted to "native Australian food", as bush tucker has been rebranded, and the appearance of products such as bush tomato chutney and lemon myrtle-infused fruit juice on supermarket shelves.

Tjanabi, an Aboriginal-owned restaurant in Melbourne, features starters such as tempura battered crocodile on its menu, and main courses that include emu fillet wrapped in proscuitto on a saltbush and potato tart with a red wine and quandong peach sauce.

However, mainstream chefs are increasingly using native ingredients such as wild lime and river mint. They are adding saltbush to their olive tapenades, garnishing meat with lilly pilly berries, and serving fish and chips with lemon myrtle mayonnaise. Ice cream made with wattle seed – a nutty, coffee-flavoured berry – is popular.

The trend is benefiting Aboriginal communities, where people are employed or paid to supply specialist companies, supermarkets and restaurants. It might be on a small scale, with enterprising individuals digging under acacia trees for witchetty grubs, or using their knowledge of local geography and the seasons to hunt out bush tomatoes. Or it might be on a larger scale, with thriving businesses engaged in growing and harvesting ingredients whose popularity is soaring. Lemon myrtle, wattle seed and quandongs are among the products now being grown on big plantations. Mr Christie's business partner, Vic Cherikoff, sources Kakadu plums from a plantation in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, run by a company uniting five communities. Such enterprises give indigenous people a degree of economic independence, while enabling them to retain their connection with the land. Some have called this serendipitous meeting of demand and supply "edible reconciliation".

At Nauiyu, the former Daly River Mission, children are eating fruit and yoghurt instead of salty, high-fat snacks. They drink watered-down fruit juices; Coke and lemonade are just an occasional treat. The health kick has extended beyond food. Children at Miriam Bauman's school regularly take long walks, and enjoy exercise classes.

Ms Bauman says: "It makes the kids feel important too. It reinforces the culture. We still have all the skills and knowledge surrounding bush food. We just have to start using them again."

And on a national scale, and soon. There's not much time left. The Howard government-led "intervention" into Aboriginal communities is starting to sound like a deal has been done to allow the largest supermarket chains to move into once closed off communities and stock the shelves of the local stores with their own products, presumably more junk food and ultra-processed rubbish, when it is clear that "bush foods" will provide more nutrition and income to Aboriginal communities.

We need to embrace the bounty of amazing food our own bush produces, and teach the next generations that "bush tucker" means a whole lot more than eating raw witchery grubs and throwing a snake into the coals of a fire.

Diners in top restaurants in New York City, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai and Dubai know all about the incredible variety of new flavours to be found in the Australian bush.

So why don't we?

Is Howard Delaying Election In Anticipation Of An Explosive 'Event'?

As we mentioned here, there is a growing paranoia amongst the Australian people, and some quarters of the media, that prime minister John Howard is holding off announcing the date of the federal election in anticipation of a Big Event that might turn the tide against a humiliating defeat at the polls.

The short version of this suspicion is 'Howard Needs Terror'. Murdoch journalist Andrew Bolt was probably the first to clearly state that a terror attack in Australia could be of great benefit to John Howard. Back in July, Bolt dreamily fantasised about how :

"...something might yet turn up that will make us appreciate anew his vast experience and steadiness under fire...if there were to be another terrorist attack...(we could) admire his firmness in handling it."

The 'Big Event' scenario popped up again last night in a discussion on Lateline. The interviewee is Michael Costello, a columnist with Murdoch's The Australian newspaper :

Costello : In 2001, events were absolutely crucial. Not so much Tampa as people think, but what was absolutely crucial was out of the blue, 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan. That totally turned things round and it's worth remembering that even so, with all that going for them, the Government only just got across the line, 51-49.

Q: So the Government's hanging out waiting for a disaster?

Costello : No, no, I'm just saying events can happen.

If President Bush has already made his decision that the US and Israel will go to War On Iran before Christmas, you can rest assured that he has already told his good mate John Howard about his plans. Hundreds of Australian troops in the south of Iraq would likely become targets for retaliatory strikes or terror hits by Iran, or the Shiite militias, so Howard would need to get them out of the way. Hopefully.

If terror threats elevate as polling day grows near, you can expect to see the 'Steel Wall' security fencing used during the APEC conference back on the streets of Sydney. The government has a three year lease on the five kilometres of ten foot high security fencing. It's being stored in Darling Harbour, only minutes out of the city centre, along with dozens of the white mobile 'prison' buses that were used to block off entire streets during the anti-Bush protests a few weeks back.

If you were being funneled through gates in that fencing, lined with police, to cast your vote on election day, would you be more likely to vote for Howard or Ruddley-Do-Right?

Exactly.

Howard Opts For Climate "Shift" Instead Of Climate Change

Don't wait another day, Janette. Pillow your husband tonight. It's cruel to watch him disgrace himself in public like this any longer :

The prime minister, John Howard, said yesterday he believed the continuing drought was an example of "climate shift", not climate change.

"We are seeing what the experts call a climate shift and I do think we should keep our heads about it."

Experts do indeed occasionally refer to "climate shift", but not in a good way. You'll often find the words "climate shift" used for even greater doom-and-gloom effect than "climate change" (see links below). Maybe he should have gone with "climate rejuvination" instead.

President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, the leaders of the UK, Russia, China, Indonesia, nearly every PM or president of the European Union, all now officially recognize the 'reality' of climate change and have announced their intention to do something to stop it, eventually.

But not John Howard.

No. He recognizes the reality of climate "shift" instead.

The news that Howard has embraced 'climate shift' will no doubt delight Andrew Bolt and Tim Blair, but the 70% of Australians who view climate change as posing "clear and catastrophic threats" to the future of their children, and grandchildren, and are sick to death of Howard's procrastination on bringing our energy supplies out of the 19th century, will hear the PM and mutter "WTF is that old bastard on about now?"

Did someone actually advise Howard to do this? Or has been eating mushrooms from the cow paddocks again?


UPDATE : John Howard probably thinks rebranding 'climate change' as 'climate shift' will help him reshape the national debate and draw attention away from the overwhelming international recognition of the reality of climate change now unfolding. It's like referring to 'civilian casualties' in Iraq as 'unexpected non-combatant weapon encouters'. Call it what you like, they're still dead, and the Australian climate (not weather) is undergoing a dangerous, costly and food-shortage producing transformation.

Howard should have done some basic Googling first :


World Health Organisation : Climate Shift Linked To 150,000 Deaths, 5 Million Illnesses Per Year - Figures Expected To Double By 2030

CSIRO : Climate Shift Linked To Greenhouse

Climate Shift Is Australia's Biggest Security Risk

Coca-Cola, McDonalds Free To Advertise In Australian Schools

"One Hamburger, Two Large Fries, Three McNuggets..."

It'd be nice to think that children would be able to escape the mind-numbing daily onslaught of advertising in the sanctity of the classroom, but no.

From Crikey :

State education departments around Australia have told Crikey private corporations like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, are not restricted from advertising their products to children inside classrooms.

However, after contacting education departments in every state and territory, the consistent response is that it’s up to schools to decide what resources they use.

When asked about policies on whether corporations could advertise in books used in schools, most Australian educational authorities did not have any restrictions.

The message to corporations from Australian educational authorities couldn’t be clearer: the captive market of impressionable young consumers sitting in classrooms from Broome to Bondi is yours for the taking.

To paraphrase a Simspons episode mocking the idea of corporate sponsorship of the classroom :

Q : Now, children. If I drink one Pepsi, and then I drink another Pepsi, how much more refreshed will I be?

A: Pepsi!

An American 'education program' in the 1980s infamously flooded Afghanistan schools with text books teaching children how to count with images of Russian tanks and rocket launchers instead of apples and cute puppies.

Maybe McDonalds will supply free text books to Australian schools if they're allowed to teach children how to count with images of hamburgers and chocolate thickshakes?

Go Here For The Full Story

Flashback: The Day John Howard Called Rupert Murdoch "God"

PM John Howard : Rupert Murdoch Is "God"

By Darryl Mason

Sept 28, 2007

A reporter from The Australian newspaper, in this story, claims that prime minister John Howard was 'joking' when he referred to Rupert Murdoch as "God".

There always some truth in humour.

Mr Howard also referred, jokingly, to Rupert Murdoch as "God". Mr Murdoch is chairman of News Corporation, owner of The Australian. The quip came during a conversation about his opponent Kevin Rudd's visit to a New York strip club in 2003.
At the time, Mr Rudd was an ambitious, 46-year-old Opposition front bencher, not leader of a resurgent ALP. He was partying with one of News's most trusted editors, Australian Col Allan, of the New York Post.
It was suggested to Mr Howard that Mr Rudd may have been willing to go anywhere Mr Allan wanted him to go, because Mr Allan, "sits at the right hand of ..."
Mr Howard interrupted, saying: "God?"

There is some dispute on whether Howard's question mark was audible.

Now we know which all-powerful entity John Howard is praying to for an election miracle.

Enough! Call The Election - What Is Howard Waiting For?

Ruddley-Do-Right Plays Down Historic Labor Victory, Again

What exactly is John Howard's strategy right now? To utterly bore every single Australian into a state of such total nihilism that they no longer care who wins the election, just so long as the fucking thing is over and done with?

Maybe.

Howard & Co. are now basically waiting on a miracle. They're praying and stalling for Kevin Rudd to be exposed as a Satanist, for Julia Gillard's human head to peel back exposing a twelve foot lobster clawed alien, or for the entire front bench of the Opposition to be photographed picking up teenage male prostitutes on a back street in Darlinghurst completely drongoed on crystal meth.

There is now no reasonable excuse left for Howard not to call the election. His government's term is up, and every time he smirks his stupid knowing grin when he is asked, by the media, or someone in a mall in Bennelong, when he will finally announce the election date, more Australians want to brain him with hammers and then drag him down the street behind the family car.

There is no miracle on the horizon that will save Howard's skin. It's over. His political casket is open, the mourners are gathering in their thin ranks, the flowers are wilting and the church organ is playing his favourite Bob Dylan song (but only the music). All that's left for Howard to do now is to get in that hole so the grave diggers can go home.

Every week that crawls past, another few million dollars in pre-election Howard & Co. advertising elicits no response but the collective angry punching of mute buttons across the nation. The money pit of useless, pitiful government advertising is burning up taxpayers' dollars, at the very same time hundreds of thousands of Australian families are fixing vastly overdue, red-heavy mortgage bills to near empty fridges, while dad is down the pawn shop asking what he can get for the kids' X-Box.

Nearly a solid year's worth of polls show the majority of the Australian public has made up its mind. The time for a change of government is at hand, and delaying the election by weeks, or months, will only make the nation more bitter and cynical about the absurd waste of money and time they're now witnessing.

We are being warned that the 'official' election campaign will be brutal, nasty and dirty. What, worse than it already is?

How much of this crap are Australians supposed to be expected to tolerate?

Do Australians have to march in their hundreds of thousands on city streets demanding the right to exercise their democratic rights to vote before this bullshit ends?

There will be no election miracle for Howard now. Next Tuesday's Newspoll will probably show an even greater lead for Labor, and that will surely snap the last remaining threads of sanity holding together the heads of appallingly bitter Liberals like Tony Abbott and Alexander Downer.

And how much longer do we have to hear Labor claiming the election will be "tight" and "close"? Completely ignoring the constant, and growing, support of the Australian public for a big win at the election is almost as insulting as Tony Abbott's claim, earlier in the year, that the Labor Will Win polls only show that most Australians are a bunch of dingbats.

Cut the smarmy humility Ruddly-Do-Right and read your own polls. Labor is set to sweep into power in an election victory that will rock the nation to its foundations.

Unless, of course, Howard finds a reason to cancel or delay the election.

It's shocking how often you hear people now discussing such a reality in pubs, in bus queues and in supermarket checkout lines :

"We'll get hit by terror attacks. Howard won't care if it's Al Qaeda or Young Liberals."

"Janette doesn't want to go back to living in their old house. She'll be ringing to the Terrorist Dob In Line a couple of hundred times a day to ramp up the threat level."

"That fuckwit Bush will bomb Iran and then they'll say we can't have elections 'cause it's too dangerous for us to line up to vote. You know, the shitheads here will hit us 'cause America hit Iran, that sort of thing. That's what they'll tell us anyway."

All of this cynicism and fears of 'false flag' terror events ferment only because more and more Australians are growing suspicious as to why Howard is delaying the elections. The premium question is not when will Howard call the election, it's why hasn't he called the election yet?

Is it because he is waiting for something to happen?

The Looming Labor Victory is now so obvious and impossible to ignore that even Howard apologist and Liberal media lackey Dennis Shanahan has seen the (blinding) light :

"It’s extraordinary and a tribute to Rudd that only 10 months after being written off, Labor is now in a position of trying to fight complacency, arrogance and cockiness."

Howard's last prime ministerial act of mercy to the Australian people should be to call the election now.

Before the Australian public loses all faith in democracy.

Before the NeoCons can bomb Iran for cutting too many multi-billion dollar energy deals with China and Russia.

Before Tony Abbott's fury fries his own soul and he tries to strap on a bomb vest and throw himself into a Friday night crowd at The Rocks Markets, for the good of his party.

Today's the day, prime minister. Call the election. If you make us blow a pre-Christmas December Saturday lining up to vote, the public will only punish you more.

Climate Change Tops Terror As Chief Security Risk To Australia

Australian Federal Police commissioner cited the fallout from apocalyptic levels of climate change as the greatest security threat to the nation in the coming years. Far worse than anything terrorists can unleash.

The threat of terror, whilst real, takes a backseat to the destruction, death toll and tide of human misery that may be wrought in the region by massive crop failures, rising sea levels and all the other horrors of cataclysmic climate change.

From The Australian :

....Keelty described how climate refugees "in their millions" could create a national security emergency for Australia.

...he described a scenario in which China was unable to feed its vast population.

Law enforcement agencies would struggle to cope with global warming's "potential to wreak havoc, cause more deaths and pose national security issues like we've never seen before", Mr Keelty said.

"It is anticipated the world will experience severe extremes in weather patterns, from rising global temperatures to rising sea levels," he warned.

"We could see a catastrophic decline in the availability of fresh water. Crops could fail, disease could be rampant and flooding might be so frequent that people, en masse, would be on the move.

"Even if only some and not all of this occurs, climate change is going to be the security issue of the 21st century."

Mr Keelty said the implications for China were especially alarming. By 2040, with global temperatures surging towards a predicted 3C rise, and sea levels up 50cm, the land available in China to grow grain and rice could be reduced by 30 per cent.

"The mass displacement of people, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, could create a great deal of social uncertainty and unrest in the region.

"In their millions, people will look for new land and they'll cross borders to do it."

Prime minister John Howard actually went with 'no comment' when he was asked about Keelty's comments on Tuesday.

Foreign minister, Alexander Downer, tried to claim that Keelty was talking about threats that would take a century to become reality.

The seas won't rise three metres tomorrow, Downer said on Lateline.

But that's not what Keelty was claiming.

Downer, as usual, avoided the substance of the argument and went for the false, but sensational distraction.

Ignoring the looming threats posed by climate change has become a trademark of the Howard government. As with most of the pressing issues of real importance to Australians, Howard and key ministers, like Downer, like to be seen to be doing something, but in reality are leaving it up to someone else, long after their gone, to deal with the challenges they preferred to dismiss as unworthy of their precious time.

Keelty also said that the coming carbon trading market will be rife for corruption, and police will have to become involved in its regulation.

Carbon Cops for real then?

Howard Government Has Left Australian Unprepared For The Global Turmoil From Climate Change

Keelty : Climate Change Will Make Border Security The Most Important Australian Policing Issue Of The Century

Rescued Rare White Koala Had To Be Treated In Secret Due To Blackmarket Theft Threat



They called him 'Mick'. He's not an albino koala, which are, apparently, quite common. He was instead an extremely rare white-fur koala. His rarity meant that when he was he brought into a koala care 'hospital' for treatment, outside Sydney, the few staff members involved had to basically swear to keep his presence secret.

Why?

Because if word got out that 'Mick' was at the hospital, there was a very real risk that traders in blackmarket Australian fauna would raid the place to get their hands on this rarest of koala bears.

According to this report, 'Mick' was given "round-the-clock security protection in case anyone tried to steal him and sell him to a collector for his novelty value."

The good news is that 'Mick' underwent an operation, recovered to full health and has been returned to the wild.

Australia's Plan To Block Websites Copies China's Extreme Censorship

Howard Government Big Brother Internet Role "A Ludicrous Joke"

Like most things concerned with the internet that the Howard government dabbles in, its suddenly announced plan to block "terror" and "cyber-crime" websites from Australian eyes will prove to be an embarrassing and expensive failure.

As this story details, the only way the Howard government can do what it claims it intends to do when it comes to banning "dangerous" websites is to follow the 'block-it-all' steel fist approach of the Chinese government. An approach the Chinese government has already all but given up on.

The Australian website and internet industries are swinging between a state of shock and gails of laughter as it takes a closer look at the new legislation the Howard government rammed into Parliament with no notice or preliminary briefings.

They'll get down on their knees and open wide for coal and oil companies, but when it comes to working in a calm, open-minded and industrious manner with Australia's rapidly expanding internet industry and web-based business communities, to build a prosperous future for all, the Howard government is still locked firmly in the 20th century.

In short, they have no idea, and they show it every time they unfurl new plans to censor the internet, or to introduce "Won't Someone Please Think Of The Children" level content filtering :

The proposed legislation, introduced without notice into Parliament last week, also gives the commissioner powers to order take-downs of Australian sites related to terrorism and cyber-crime.

The amendment allows federal police to notify the Australian Communications and Media Authority of banned websites, and the authority must then notify service providers. It anticipates ISPs will block access to offshore sites with filters and other technical means.

Industry insiders say the only way a service provider could prevent users accessing banned material is by blocking the internet protocol address on the host server.

"Australia is only one tiny fraction of the global internet and there are numerous places where constitutional protections ensuring free speech mean all sorts of objectional stuff can be hosted, and at present there's no regime here actually requiring ISPs to block access to such sites," Internode carriage manager John Lindsay said.

"If such a request were made, the most fine-grained way we could actually do it would be to block access to the IP address. That's the Chinese approach. They basically block by IP address.

"Now, if that IP address happened to be MySpace, or Facebook, that would have the effect of blocking everything from those sites."

According to an Ovum report to the communications department, many hosting services carry thousands of domains on a single published IP address.

Telstra, Optus, the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, the Internet Industry Association and others are currently reviewing the legislation, which caught them by surprise.

Electronic Frontiers Australia chair Dale Clapperton said the proposal had nothing to do with terrorism.

"These laws will be open to massive abuses by the police," he said. "They could, for example, be used to prevent access to websites organising protest marches or rallies against the government, or advocating the legalisation of euthanasia.

"To the extent that it allows police to ban access to material discussing political matters, it is probably unconstitutional."

ISP-based filtering was "a blunt instrument" that gave users no control over what material had been censored, Mr Clapperton said.

"Unfortunately, filtering will not make the internet safe for children. If parents are deceived into thinking a filtered service is safe they will be less likely to supervise their children while they use the internet."

A requirement to provide filtered services would impose serious costs on local ISPs, while also exposing them to liability when "the filters inevitably fail" to block banned material, he said. Filtering were also likely to cause a reduction in internet speed. Microsoft internet safety regional director Julie Inman-Grant said the company was concerned to ensure it could provide its content services to consumers on substantially the same terms globally.

"It would be very difficult to have the capacity to check every single link that is posted on a user's individual webpage." Internode's John Lindsay said ISPs fully supported the government's efforts to remove violence and child pornography, race hate and other objectional material from local sites, and would be happy to extend that to sites promoting terrorism.

"(But)...once you start building up enormous lists of things you want to block, the list gets endlessly larger even though the original content has gone." This would have the ultimate effect of slowing down internet performance. "You might have fast broadband, but you won't get any speed from it because there's a whole room of servers between you and the internet that are picking over everything to make sure you don't see anything objectionable," he said. "That would be a ludicrous joke."

Go Here For The Full Story

The latest Howard government plans for censoring the internet will be "re-tooled" in the coming weeks, but they've already made the industry extremely nervous with this absurd, fascistic, anti-free speech legislation.