South Australians! Some questions on the coming election
Dennis Matthews, 8 Feb 14, I am putting together a group (Fisher Electoral Lobby) to lobby candidates in my electorate (Fisher) in the SA elections. I have put together a questionaire, with all questions put in the form “do you support” even though I don’t support them all.
If anyone wants to sign up to the lobby please contact me. I’ll do all the work and it won’t cost anything. People will be able to sign on or off at any time. The more people we have the greater the clout. I will send media releases to local and state media.
The q’aire is given below’
1. Do you support the call from Business SA for:
1.1 Nuclear power in SA? YES NO
1.2 Uranium enrichment in SA? YES NO
1.3 The import of nuclear waste into SA? YES NO
2. Do you support
2.1 The feed-in tariff for electricity from solar cells? YES NO
2.2 Making exporters of solar electricity
pay more for the electricity network? YES NO
2.3 Making users of air-conditioners
pay a higher tariff for electricity? YES NO
2.4 Tighter regulation of the monopoly
electricity network utility? YES NO
2.5 SA Government incentives for
energy efficient homes? YES NO
3. Do you support repealing recent changes to the Electoral Act that:
3.1 Increased the cost of nominating for the
SA elections from $450 to $3000? YES NO
3.2 Increased the number of nominators required for an
Independent Legislative Council nominee to 250? YES NO
3.3 Placed independents at the end of the ballot paper? YES NO
4. Do you support an official apology to SA’s Aboriginal Peoples for the harm caused by:
4.1 Forcibly taking away their land? YES NO
4.2 Forcibly imposing an alien culture? YES NO
4.3 The introduction of toxic substances
into their communities? YES NO
4.4 The lack of aid in combating the
effects of the above? YES NO
The power of WORDS about nuclear power, climate change – theme for February 2014
The nuclear power lobby and the fossil fuel lobby spend $billions in publicising their industries and in combatting established information on nuclear dangers and on global warming. This is done through “front groups” such as (for pro nuclear) the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition., (for climate denial) American Enterprise Institute.
It’s getting more difficult to spot these propagandists, because increasingly, they are using sophisticated Internet techniques. These have been beautifully explained in How to spot an astroturfer or an online fake -some of the organisations and techniques are summarised in the sidebar at right.
However, the words alone can help you to spot a fake. Look out for these two types of language:
BIG WORDS – in long complicated sentences – guaranteed to confuse the ordinary reader. The aim is to make you think that the writer is much smarter than you, and his opinion must be right. Amongst the big words, some quack science ones – like hormesis, adaptive radiation, andradiophobia Also,you are referred, by links, to obscure articles in even more complicated language.
SMALL WORDS and CLICHES – short positive ones, with no backup information, e.g. “clean -green-safe-cheap nuclear power”. Or negative cliches e.g. “hysterical- paranoid- emotional – irrational – delusional – extremists –alarmist – scare mongerer” applied to anti nuclear people, or those who want action on climate change.
Adelaide Citizens Demand Business South Australia Cease Nuclear Promotion Fraud
8 Feb 14 A group of concerned citizens today issued a firm rejection of industry lobby group Business SA’s recent “demands (for) a nuclear industry in South Australia”.
The group’s spokes-person, mathematician Brett Stokes, has personally demanded that Business SA and AdelaideNow cease Nuclear Advocacy Fraud.
Stokes says “the economics are bogus – the ludicrous totally false claim of abundant cheap energy deserves condemnation as a malevolent fraud”.
Stokes cites the huge costs of construction and operational failures such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Stokes also notes that nuclear power reactors require huge amounts of cooling water and only operate 90% of the time at best.
Who’s behind Business South Australia’s push for nuclear waste dump
The Editor
The Advertiser
Now that neither of the major political parties supports Business SA’s demand for a nuclear fuel and waste industry for SA (The Advertiser, 6/2/14) – one party calls it a “dangerous distraction”, the other “a long way off” (The Advertiser, 7/2/14) – then Business SA should put its money where its mouth is and publish the names of the companies it claims support its demand.
That way SA consumers can vote with their feet and perhaps Business SA might then be a little less outrageous in its political demands.
Dennis Matthews
At last! Notorious (Australian) Paladin uranium mine in Malawi shuts down
Paladin uranium mine shuts, PAUL GARVEY, THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 08, 2014 PALADIN Energy has bowed to persistently low uranium prices and moved to stop production at its Kayelekera mine in the southern African nation of Malawi.
The mine, which has been in production since 2009, has been bleeding money in recent years……
- Last month Paladin sold a 25 per cent stake in its flagship Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia to China National Nuclear Corporation for $US190m, as well as debt refinancing.
Abbott’s Australia – the land of cover-ups and secrecy?
The ABC is uniquely placed.. because it is not beholden to commercial interests. Rather than leading the day’s news with a story about Justin Bieber, because that will generate the largest audience, Aunty tells people what they need to know.
Cover up and secrecy in Abbott’s Australia, Aljazeera, PM pans ‘unpatriotic’ national broadcaster for holding govt accountable to its electorate Fiona Broom, 7 Feb 14, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has something in common with Egypt’s military government – he expects the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation to be a cheerleader for the country and decries the reporting of stories which portray Australia negatively.
But while the Egyptian government has jailed Al Jazeera journalists for making Egypt look bad, Abbott has to find other methods of curtailing criticism. Continue reading
75 Fukushima children now diagnosed with thyroid cancer
75 children have now been diagnosed with thyroid cancers. 福島県、こどもの甲状腺がん75名に Evacuate Fukushima BY NELSON311 ⋅ FEBRUARY 8, 2014 In September 2012, the first case of thyroid cancer was diagnosed in a child out of 38 000 children.
By September 2013, the number increase by 58 cases including 26 confirmed.
By February 2014, a whooping 75 children out of roughly 270 000 are either confirmed or suspected to have contracted the disease. We all know what that means; Those not confirmed WILL soon be confirmed and will be tag up to the exciting numbers by the next survey (probably around May 2014).
NOTE; More than 100 000 children have yet to participate in the survey
The sociopaths in charge are still denying this is not related to the ongoing nuclear crisis…….http://evacuatefukushimanow.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/breaking-news-75-children-have-now-being-diagnosed-with-thyroid-cancers-%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E7%9C%8C%E3%80%81%E3%81%93%E3%81%A9%E3%82%82%E3%81%AE%E7%94%B2%E7%8A%B6%E8%85%BA%E3%81%8C%E3%82%9375/
The ice wall plan to keep Fukushima nuclear reactors safe
My question – Is this ice wall supposed to last for thousands of years? Through winters and summers? How much electricity needed to keep it going? How much will it cost?
Critics say Fukushima is a stark reminder that there are safety issues still outstanding for the nuclear industry and the consequences of these disasters have not been properly addressed.
SUPER-COOL PLAN TO STOP JAPAN’S RADIATION Fukushima nuclear plant gets frozen treatment, WND 6 Feb 14 STEVE ELWARTV A construction project is being launched at Japan’s imploded Fukushima nuclear power plant, which melted down after an offshore undersea earthquake and the resulting tsunami three years ago, to try to limit the release of immense amounts of radiation.vOfficials already had announced plans for a $300 million project to build an almost mile-long subterranean ice wall around the complex, which is hoped to have the effect of halting the drainage of contaminated water from the plant site.
Construction is scheduled by Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Japanese utility that owns the failed site, to begin on the complicated system within days.
It was September of last year when the Japanese government released plans for an underground wall based on technology first tested in the 1990s at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with encouraging results…….
“It’s just sometimes it’s the only scenario that will really work,” said Sopko. “When nothing else will work, it just jumps out at you and says, ‘Wow, it’s a freeze job.’”
To build the wall, 1,073 pipes will be sunk about three feet apart into the ground to a waterproof rock layer (a depth of about 90 feet). The pipes will then be filled with brine (concentrated salt water) and circulated through the pipes. Using 14 400 kW refrigerating units, the brine will be cooled to -40 degrees Fahrenheit, which will freeze the ground around the pipes…….. Continue reading
South Australian election to end support for renewable energy?
In the current campaigning South Australia, renewables are hardly mentioned. They do not yet feature in any of the major parties policy platforms, and nor are they likely too. This is despite the fact that in South Australia nearly one in five houses has modules on the roof, and rooftop solar contributes more than 15 per cent of electricity on some days, and recently has been contributing more than 10 
per cent for more than 6 daylight hours.
Even with the likely roll-out of rooftop solar, and more wind farms (depending on the fate of the RET, which is not an election issue yet either), the state is likely to be the first to reach 50 per cent, and could do this by 2020, as several government reports have also concluded.
Australia may lose last mainland state supportive of renewableshttp://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/australia-may-lose-last-mainland-state-supportive-renewables-98625 By Giles Parkinson on 7 February 2014 The public feuding within the ruling Labor Party in South Australia in this past week confirmed to many that the last Labor state government in mainland Australia is about to lose power. And with it will go the last government openly supportive of renewable energy.
Voters go to the polls in South Australia and Tasmania on March 15, and the Labor Premiers in both states may be replaced by their conservative opponents. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 