Northern Territory is no place for Sydney’s radioactive waste
The NT is no place for Sydney’s radioactive waste: Time for evidence, not expedience, Natalie Wasley, 28 Feb 14, A plan by the NSW Government to move large volumes of radioactive waste from suburban Sydney to a proposed but non-existent dump site at Muckaty north of Tennant Creek highlights the confused and short-term thinking surrounding radioactive waste management in Australia, according to national radioactive waste watchdog the Beyond Nuclear Initiative.
BNI has condemned the suggestion by NSW Finance Minister Andrew Constance that radioactive soil from Hunter’s Hill should be transported to the proposed national radioactive waste dump at Muckaty. “The NSW Liberals’ first plan to transport contaminated soil to politically vulnerable areas of Western Sydney was strongly challenged by the community, local councils and trade unions,” said BNI coordinator Natalie Wasley.
“The latest plan – calculated to move the waste out of the sight and mind of residents in the affluent suburb of Hunter’s Hill – shows extreme contempt for Muckaty Traditional Owners who have been campaigning for almost seven years against the NT dump plan.”
“A strong alliance between Traditional Owners, health and environment groups, trade unions and social justice organisations has stymied and delayed the Muckaty plan. The Muckaty site nomination is the subject of Federal Court action set for trial in June. Any attempts to move radioactive waste there from NSW would be actively challenged by the local community and their growing national network of supporters.”
“Mr Constance’s ‘viable option’ of a 3500km road trip for 5000 tonnes of waste is a long way from international standards that call for community participation in decision making on radioactive waste storage. Transporting radioactive materials long distances presents an unacceptable risk to transport and emergency workers as well as communities along the route.”
“The NSW government clearly does not have a strategy for responsible waste management beyond attempts to find a disenfranchised community to dump it on.”
“Instead of short term dump and run politics we urgently need an independent national commission into advancing responsible radioactive waste management. Minister Constance’s proposal highlights the pressing need for this inquiry to go ahead while the Muckaty site nomination is contested in court. Instead of political plans and toxic trucks we need a genuine and evidence based assessment.”
In Australia the mining industries are intrinsic to racism and Aboriginal disadvantage
Utopia: An Aboriginal perspective, Black Feminist Blogspot, BY TRACKER, JANUARY 7, 2014 “………There are two huge points Pilger investigates through this section of the film. One is that the greater Australian public has been more than happy to accept the intervention because they readily accept horrible and racist stereotypes of Aboriginal people as fact.
its mineral resources, the demonisation of Indigenous Australia is a small price to pay. It’s almost completely impossible to deny the truth of Pilger’s assertions here. Pilger has already so poignantly highlighted many layers of Australian racism by this point, and has juxtaposed this racism with wealth generation repeatedly.
How pro nuclear trolls, (especially pro thorium) operate on the Internet
An article below page describes the campaign by Western intelligence agencies to discredit and disgrace critics.
I don’t for a moment think that I am so significant as to be one of their targets. However, I am a target of the pro nuclear lobby, particularly the proponents of Thorium nuclear reactors – Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, (LFTRs) and Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMR.s).
I don’t think that these guys can be Australians, because on the whole, Australian don’t go for extreme language and “over the top” accusations. They’re more likely to laugh about this, (as I do)
So I reckon that my attackers are Americans. Here are just a few samples of what these guys say about me on Twitter, (where my name is ChristinaMac1):
The world is noticing Australia’s anti-science, climate denialist government
With Australia holding the presidency of the G20 this year, a stance of doing less than our fair share – which the authority says will mean cutting emissions 40 to 60 per cent by 2030 – is unlikely to go unnoticed by world leaders.
Authority’s good advice falls on deaf ears http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/authoritys-good-advice-falls-on-deaf-ears-20140227-33mao.html February 28, 2014 Peter Hannam Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald The Abbott government is likely to pay as much heed to the Climate Change Authority’s report on Australia’s carbon emission reduction goals as it did to all the independent body’s previous work: zilch. Continue reading
Abbott govt ignores Chief Scientist, takes advice from climate denier
Tony Abbott’s scientific and business advisers at odds over climate change, Guardian 28 Feb 14, Chief scientist says it is not an illusion while head of PM’s business advisory group refers to ‘groupthink’ Tony Abbott’s top scientific and business advisers are at odds over the science of climate change with the chief scientist, Ian Chubb, strongly rejecting assertions that climate science is a “delusion” or a result of “groupthink”.
Chubb said the scientific evidence for human-induced global warming was so overwhelming that those who reject it are usually forced to “impugn the messenger” with “stupid expressions like ‘groupthink’” or “silly” arguments that global warming is a “delusion”.
Among those who have used the phrase “groupthink” in relation to the debate about climate science are the head of the prime minister’s business advisory group, Maurice Newman, and the man chosen by the prime minister to head the review of the renewable energy target, businessman Dick Warburton. Two months ago Newman wrote a newspaper article describing climate science as a “scientific delusion”.
Chubb, who as chief scientist is supposed to provide high-level independent advice to the prime minister and other ministers, was speaking at the launch of the final report on Australia’s greenhouse gas reduction efforts by the independent climate change authority, a body the Abbott government is seeking to abolish.
“Climate science is one of the most heavily scrutinised areas of science I have ever experienced,” said Chubb.
“The overwhelming bulk of it has stood the test of that scrutiny … I find a lot of the science compelling.”…
The chairman of the climate change authority, Bernie Fraser, a former governor of the Reserve Bank, said he agreed with Chubb’s assessment of the compelling nature of climate science and said he thought those who did not accept it were either “mavericks at the fringes” or “those who speak in the short-term interests of industry”.
And Fraser also took issue with the “uncivilised” nature of Australia’s climate debate, including “the wild assertions blaming every lost job on the carbon tax … assertions not based on any objective consideration of the evidence”. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/27/abbotts-advisers-at-odds-climate-change
Australia NEEDS to see “Utopia”- and stop white-washing its Aboriginal history
It’s nothing new that other countries are expressing shock and outrage over this film, whilst Australia tries to ignore its content. For further information, check out the mounting pile of political denials following reports from visiting UN officials.Utopia: An Aboriginal perspective, Black Feminist Blogspot, BY TRACKER, JANUARY 7, 2014 Award winning investigative journalist John Pilger’s new film Utopia will be a powerful weapon to raise awareness about Aboriginal Australia, according to Arrente writer Celeste Liddle*. On flicking through the UK reviews of John Pilger’s new documentary film “Utopia”, one thing quickly becomes apparent: Pilger has created a hard-hitting film that is of extraordinary importance.
AUDIO: Young Marshallese join Nuclear Survivors on anniversary of atomic bombing
AUDIO: Youth gather in Marshall Islands for Nuclear Survivors project http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/youth-gather-in-marshall-islands-for-nuclear-survivors-project/1272616 28 February 2014, Tomorrow marks 60 years since the Castle Bravo nuclear test which contaminated four of the atolls in the Marshall Islands.
Youth gather in Marshall Islands for Nuclear Survivors project (Credit: ABC)
The fall out from the blast impacts on the health and wellbeing of the Marshallese to this day.
To mark the anniversary, youth representatives from other nuclear-affected areas including Japan and Kazakhstan will join the young people of Marshall Islands for a week of digital storytelling workshops centred around Nuclear Survivors Day.
Rico Ishi, is co-ordinator of the youth delegates attending the Nuclear Futures workshop. Presenter: Richard Ewart Speaker: Rico Ishi, Youth Delegate Co-ordinator at Nuclear Futures
60 years ago, Marshall Islands got the largest ever nuclear bomb
Castle Bravo: The Largest U.S. Nuclear Explosion http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2014/02/27-castle-bravo-largest-us-nuclear-explosion-rowberry , March 1 marks the 60th anniversary of Castle Bravo, the largest thermonuclear device ever detonated by the United States. The test was part of a larger operation for testing high-yield nuclear devices, known as Operation Castle, conducted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Defense. The operation took place at Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, used by the U.S. military beginning in 1946 for nuclear weapons testing research. While the test advanced thermonuclear weapons design, miscalculations about the yield resulted in the largest U.S. nuclear contamination accident.
The United States tested its first thermonuclear device, known as Ivy Mike, two years earlier in 1952, also in the Marshall Islands. In the wake of the Ivy Mike test, U.S. scientists rushed to create a set of deliverable thermonuclear designs. Continue reading
How Western governments manipulate online discussions
OT: New Snowden docs reveal gov’t agents “attempting to manipulate & control online discourse with… deception & reputation-destruction” — “Deliberately spreading lies on internet” — Using “‘false flag operations’ & emails to people’s families, friends” (GRAPHICS) http://enenews.com/new-snowden-docs-reveal-govt-agents-attempting-to-control-infiltrate-manipulate-online-discourse-deliberately-spreading-lies-on-the-internet-using-false-flag-operations-and-em
Glenn Greenwald, , Feb 24, 2014 How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations– From the Snowden archive
Western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction
[The ‘Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group’ a previously secret unit of the UK’s ‘Government Communications Headquarters’] document […] entitled “The Art of Deception: Training for Online Covert Operations”
Agencies are attempting to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse, and in doing so, are compromising the integrity of the internet itself
Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable
Tactics they boast of using to achieve those ends: “false flag operations” (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it to someone else), fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose reputation they want to destroy), and posting “negative information” on various forums
GCHQ describes the purpose of JTRIG [as] “using online techniques to make something happen in the real or cyber world,” including “information ops (influence or disruption)”
These surveillance agencies have vested themselves with the power to deliberately ruin people’s reputations and disrupt their online political activity
Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein, a close Obama adviser and the White House’s former head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, wrote a controversial paper in 2008 proposing that the US government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-”independent” advocates to “cognitively infiltrate” online groups and websites, as well as other activist groups
These GCHQ documents are the first to prove that a major western government is using some of the most controversial techniques to disseminate deception online and harm the reputations of targets
The state is deliberately spreading lies on the internet about whichever individuals it targets, including the use of what GCHQ itself calls “false flag operations” and emails to people’s families and friends
Claims that government agencies are infiltrating online communities and engaging in “false flag operations” to discredit targets are often dismissed as conspiracy theories, but these documents leave no doubt they are doing precisely that
Queensland govt moves to restrict objections to mining applications
Move to limit ideological objections to Qld mining projects, ABC News, 28 Feb 14 By environment and science reporter Jake Sturmer The Queensland Government is looking to restrict who can object to mining applications, in a bid to crack down on what it calls philosophical opposition to projects.
Currently any group or person can object to applications, potentially sending the decision to the Land Court.
Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said it was “frustrating” for the Government.
“It’s obvious that the current process allows individuals or groups who are fundamentally opposed to the coal industry – for whatever reason – to use the objection process to frustrate and delay those projects,” he said. “The people of Queensland have elected us as a Government based on developing our coal industry to supply the world markets and our processes need to allow us to do that.”
In the next few weeks, the State Government will release a discussion paper looking at who can object to applications….
“The people of Queensland have elected us as a Government based on developing our coal industry to supply the world markets and our processes need to allow us to do that.”
In the next few weeks, the State Government will release a discussion paper looking at who can object to applications……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-27/move-to-limit-ideological-objections-to-qld-mining-projects/5289246
Newly revealed information on health effects of depleted uranium
FOIA: DoD Documents On Health Effects Of Exposure To Depleted Uranium Weapons http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/02/25/foia-dod-documents-on-health-effects-of-exposure-to-depleted-uranium-weapo ns/ |
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| By: DSWright Tuesday February 25, In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Firedoglake on the health effects of exposure to controversial weapons that use depleted uranium, the Department of Defense sent a series of studies and agency memorandum concerning the health effects on US personnel after they were exposed to depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium (DU) weapons have become a controversial issue as claims have emerged that citizens of Iraq have suffered increased rates of cancer and birth defects due to the use of the weapons in their country. Dr Salah Haddad of the Iraqi Society for Health Administration and Promotion told Al Jazeera that ”My colleagues and I have all noticed an increase in Fallujah of congenital malformations, sterility, and infertility,” he said. “In Fallujah, we have the problem of toxics introduced by American bombardments and the weapons they used, like DU.” DU weapon exposure in Fallujah was the subject of a much noticed study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health which suggested the use of DU weapons led to “genetic damage.” The theory being that during bombardments of Fallujah with DU weapons toxic levels of DU polluted the city and remained for some time leading to long-term exposure to inhalation of depleted uranium particles by people in the area. The Institute for Health at the University of Albany notes that “If DU is inhaled and lodges in the lungs, it can remain there for years and cause radiation damage to nearby cells.As it dissolves, it can be carried to and damage the lymph tissues, kidneys and developing fetuses. It can affect the function of the brain and neurological system, the bones, and the reproductive organs. ” Current federal regulations limit the allowance of DU to be emitted based on concerns for toxic inhalation that could cause cancer and water pollution that could damage the kidneys when DU polluted water is ingested. The studies performed by the Department of Defense submitted under the Freedom of Information Act do not involve civilian populations of Iraq or other areas where exposure to DU weapons have occurred. Instead, DoD focused on their personnel who were exposed at various levels to DU weapons, primarily through accident and being in an enclosed area such as the M1 Abrams tank that fires DU weapons. The studies range from different deployments in Iraq where DU weapons were used including the first Gulf War which includes a fire that occurred in Kuwait where some DU weapons were apparently compromised. Also included is analysis by the Veterans Administration which sought to understand the health effects of DU weapons exposure for evaluating disability categories for veterans. Much of the focus seemed to be on DoD personnel who were charged with ordinance removal. |
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Insight into Australia’s rich history through Mungo Man
Mungo Man is a physical reminder of the need for Indigenous recognition Forty years on from the discovery of Mungo Man, what he represents is as pertinent now as ever, Guardian, 25 Feb 14 Jim Bowler “………….Mungo Man has given us a rich insight into a dynamic and ancient world. He has delivered an exciting range of scientific firsts, played a significant role in the establishment of the Willandra Lakes as a world heritage area, and, for many Indigenous people, his status has given a sense of pride to the very notion of being Aboriginal. As one of the two foundational burials, with Mungo Lady, he exemplifies Aboriginal Australia’s proudest traditions of antiquity and cultural development on the international stage…….
In emerging from that grave Mungo Man continues to challenge ignorance and prejudice. Such status takes on further legitimacy in the light of his liturgical burial. That action of ceremonial anointing with the earth, the ochre drama, defines new levels of communal self-perception, an awareness and celebration of a people-nature mystique, an acknowledgement of a power beyond. In that sense the burial stands arguably as the world’s oldest example of overt religious expression.
In my pursuit of rational science, those lakeshore sands, originally solely of geological interest, have been transformed into sacred grounds. My eyes have been opened to glimpse and share in some small way that inner view long entrusted to Mungo Man’s Aboriginal descendants, a deep connection to country, to their ancestral spirit-charged lands. I remain ever conscious of Mutthi Mutthi elder Mary Pappin’s admonition: “You did not find Mungo Lady and Mungo Man – they found you!”
Already taking his place in the school curriculum as a key focus in Aboriginal history, Mungo Man’s place as messenger stands in firm justification for national recognition. While Aboriginal Australia must speak in its own voice, as a scientist with a sense of humanity already much deepened by Mungo Man’s contribution, I confidently hope that what has been changed in me will be shared in the lives of many others.
The return opens a new chapter, one in which the voices from the past – the voices from those graves – return in spirit with the bones. My burden remains to speak to and for those voices, to interpret their meaning and to deliver in their death the messages they may have voiced in life.
Mungo Man crosses many boundaries, boundaries between science and traditional cultures, between past and present, between black and white, between life and death. On returning home, his voice takes on new urgency, defining messages for his land and for his people. That occasion, after 40 years in waiting, brings new hope, a reassurance to Indigenous Australians of the nation’s debt to their ancestral history……..http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/25/mungo-man-physical-reminder-need-for-indigenous-recognition
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 