A call to simplify Christmas, and make it good
here’s some simple suggestions to make this holiday a tad more palatable for all of us.
Let’s give thanks and be inclusive
Give something you actually care about – yourself [your time]
Let’s bar the humbug this Christmas, the Age, December 15, 2012 Wendy Squires “…. – most Australians who tick the census box as being ”Christian” are not using December 25 to instil the teachings of Christ, morals, empathy or ethics. I am not alone in the struggle to see the joy and rationale my Christian friends assure me exist beyond the mindless cacophony of commercial crapola, feigned frivolity and glutinous gorging that unfailingly shocks me each December.
……And I don’t buy the ”it’s all about the little children” bull either. If the emotional foundations of future generations lie in
obscene piles of useless tat ultimately destined for landfills, delivered by a fat man driving a reindeer-led sleigh from the North Pole, well, the best I can say is that creationism won’t seem that far-fetched in comparison. (My late mother’s take on Santa – ”I worked long hours in a windowless office to buy you that doll. Some old dude that doesn’t even exist sure isn’t going to get the credit.” Respect!)
So, on behalf of those of us who endure this holiday not so much as a re-enforcement of faith but a loss of it, I say let’s rethink this palaver. I may not believe in God but I do believe there is a good message that could be retrieved from this modern-day mess. Continue reading
New South Wales losing investment and jobs, as State govt prolongs anti wind farm rules
“There’s $10 billion worth of investment sitting in the pipeline waiting to find out what Brad Hazzard is going to do with their
future.
“Four thousand jobs, 17 million tonnes a year cut from the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, waiting to see what the O’Farrell Government will do.”
Guidelines wait blows against NSW wind farms http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-14/guidelines-wait-blows-against-nsw-windfarms/4427964 Dec 14, 2012 The Clean Energy Council says a delay in finalising new guidelines for
wind farms in New South Wales is forcing investors to look to other states for opportunities.
It is a year since the New South Wales Government put draft guidelines out for community consultation.
A spokesman for Planning Minister Brad Hazzard says the policy is still being finalised. In the meantime, no new wind farms have been approved.
The Clean Energy Council’s policy director, Russell Marsh, says that is sending investment elsewhere. Continue reading
Malawi govt was urged to get a better deal from Australian uranium miner Paladin
Malawi told to renegotiate Paladin uranium deal http://en.starafrica.com/news/malawi-told-to-renegotiate-paladin-uranium-deal.html December 7, 2012 The African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) Executive Director Collins Magalasi told journalists in the capital Lilongwe on Friday that the government of Malawi had made a bad choice of project given the absence of transparency and accountability in the deal.
“Government needs to look back at the contract and renegotiate for a better deal which can benefit the nation including the communities where the project takes place” he said. He therefore urged Malawi MPs and civil society organisations (CSOs) to take up the issue and bring pressure to bear on the government to return to the negotiating table.
A representative of the CSOs Moses Mkandawire said they are ready to take up the issue to government to renegotiate for a better deal with the Paladin Company.
“We would like Paladin to declare all what it has sold. The government should also declare all what it has received from the uranium project since it started” he said, adding that the company has paid little in terms of royalties to the state.
He said they had also performed poorly in the area of corporate social responsibility. As CSOs, he said, another deal should be made possible for the benefit of Malawians who are the real owners of the resources.
Queensland coast could get WEEKLY king tides, with climate change sea level rise
Climate change tipped to bring more king tides ABC News Dec 14, 2012 A Queensland academic says extreme weather events, like this week’s king tides, could become more common as a result of climate change.
The biggest tides of the year are expected to peak this morning, reaching 5.7 metres at Port Alma, 4.7 metres at Yeppoon and 4.6 metres at Gladstone.
Professor Rodger Tomlinson, from the coastal research unit at Griffith University, says king tides could occur weekly in the future. “Some research has been done by our colleagues in the CSIRO sort of indicating that these kind of events that we now see twice a year, under the sea level rise projections for 2,100, we might be … seeing those sort of weekly,” he said.
“It’s that kind of increase in the frequency of those events under sea level rise.”
Authorities say they are not expecting any properties along the central Capricorn Coast to be badly affected by inundation during this morning’s high tide……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-14/climate-change-tipped-to-bring-more-king-tides/4427970
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 