Alternative Fuels and Common Sense

As you walk around the streets of Bangkok or are out driving pay attention to the trucks and semis. I have noticed that more and more of them appear to be running on gas. I even saw a prime mover with a bunch of gas tanks strapped to the back. Ignoring the safety implications Thailand seems to be getting smarter when it comes to using 'alternative' fuels.

Switch back to Australia where they are selling their natural gas supplies for a tiny fraction of what people pay for it at the pump. To the best of my knowledge no semis use it and not that many drivers do so.

If you have a resource that could use to reduce your dependence on foreign oil reserves why not use it? At least stop selling it off for such a ridiculously low price. Less than ten cents a litre to China for example.

Some strange senator in the US has declared that the US should not build any more coal and nuclear power plants. Coal is still the cheapest power for both Australia and the US so why would you try to drive up the prices of power in a bad economy? It has been demonstrated time and time again that so called 'alternative' power sources end up doing more damage e.g. palm oil, cost too much in precious resources like water to create e.g. ethanol or cannot supply enough power, e.g. wind farms.

Isn’t it time we started being sensible and using common sense rather than rushing off in the wrong directions. I am all for alternative power, as long as it makes economic and power sense.

Things Reported To Be Caused By Global Warming

A partial list of things caused by global warming, as reported in newspapers on blogs etc. You can check the links and find the rest of the list here: http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm.

Acne, Africa in conflict, African summer frost, airport malaria, Alaska reshaped, alligators in the Thames, Amazon a desert, anaphylactic reactions to bee stings, animals shrink, Antarctic grass flourishes, Antarctic ice grows, Antarctic ice shrinks, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic tundra to burn, Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, attack of the killer jellyfish, beer shortage, beetle infestation, bet for $10,000, better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billion homeless, billions face risk, billions of deaths, bubonic plague, Cancer deaths in England, childhood insomnia, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , Darfur, deaths to reach 6 million, early marriages, Earth to explode, earth upside down, equality threatened, extinctions (incl: human, civilisation, ladybirds, polar bears, walrus, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, tropical insects), fish deaf, food poisoning, forest decline, forest expansion, giant oysters invade, giant pythons invade, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, HIV epidemic, invasion of cats, invasion of crabgrass, invasion of herons, invasion of jellyfish, invasion of king crabs, jellyfish explosion, jets fall from sky, Malaria, mountains taller, ocean waves speed up, oceans noisier, opera house to be destroyed, polar bears deaf, rioting and nuclear war, sexual promiscuity, smaller brains, spiders invade Scotland, tectonic plate movement, teenage drinking, traffic jams, UFO sightings, violin decline, war between US and Canada, wheat yields crushed in Australia, witchcraft executions

And a few others where the original links have moved/vanished: Earth wobbling, mountains melting, psychosocial disturbances, reindeer larger, riches, tsunamis.

My favorite is tsunamis. These are caused by earthquakes. No more comment is necessary.

How Do You Spell News?

OK children today we will learn to spell the word News.

First letter is P. This stands for pushing an agenda but it also stands for pestilence, poison, paparazzi

The Second letter is A. This stands for anti-truth, anti-balance, anti-freedom, anti-Israel, antipathy, arrogance, antagonism, agnostics, anti-West, Anti-own country. It doesn't stand for admission of wrong.

The third letter is N. This stands for negative spin, not-news, noise, nonsense, nipple, niggardly. It doesn't stand for notable, noble.

The Fourth letter is I. This stands for the Internet the source of news. It does not stand for investigation, intelligence, intelligent discussion, introspection, interrogation, informative. It does stand for ignorance, insolence, irate reporting, irony.

The final letter is C. This stands for cover-up, con, connive. It doesn't stand for conscience, consideration, conservative, constructive, complete, capable, coverage, content (verified that it).

So there you have it, the essence of news is to promote P-A-N-I-C wherever and whenever possible. I'm sure if you think about it you may come up with some other words of your own that you can use to spell news.

Why Does the West Hate the West?

PM Rudd has decided to brief the Chinese on the new Australian defense blueprint. Given that the proposed defense buildup is because of a similar build up by the Chinese this is somewhat surprising.

In a truly Ruddesque twist this is being done before he talks to the coalition about it. The implication is that the Chinese are more important than the Australian opposition parties.

This appears to part of the general trend of hating everything about your own country that many Western nations are following. Obama prefers to talk to his enemies and shun his allies. European nations are happy to give up selective freedoms of speech as they are pressured by violence to do so. They are also happy to give up centuries of legal traditions and allow one other, Sharia, to creep in.

Given that it is because of the underlying beliefs that has allowed the Western World to develop and the nation they are giving in to has made no progress of their own for 1500 years, this is somewhat strange. All part of the self destruction plan.

Plastic Shopping Bags in South Australia

In the first week of May shoppers will not longer be able to get plastic shopping bags in South Australia. The reason is a pseudo-environmental one fueled by the false assumption that they cause problems to marine life. The facts behind this indicate that plastic bags themselves do little damage and it is small pieces of plastic and netting that do the most damage.

No matter, facts have never been an issue for wild eyed environmentalists or governments in general.

The simple solution would have been to mandate biodegradable shopping bags, easy to make, only a fractionally higher cost to shops to buy and problem solved. Instead the legislation is going to cause a number of problems and a few potential ones. So let's take a look at some of them.

1. Slower processing at the supermarket.

A supermarket thrives on getting people served and out the door. They do this by using a very efficient system of packing goods into a series of plastic bags, thus removing the packer we had in days long past. The new system will slow everything down. People will have to find and produce bags to pack goods into. If they don't have enough then some goods will be left and need to be re-shelved. Even at an optimum rate the packing will be slower than the current process. Any time management specialist would have spotted this one in a heartbeat.

Since the newer permanent bags are larger and sturdier many older people will be testing the weight of individual bags and in some cases will be asking for repacking since they will have trouble lifting them into theirs cars with too many items placed into a single bag (my Mother already complains about this).

A lot of people are going to get caught out and leave their items at the checkout, possibly after processing has commenced. This will cause delays, repacking times and a loss of business, particularly during the first week or two after the changeover.

2. Cross Contamination

With the reusable bag comes the issue of contamination. You load some meat into a bag and it leaks a little. The next time, the fresh veggies go into that bag and the leaked material, now full of bacteria, contaminates the vegetables and someone gets sick. The more times a bag is used and not washed or disinfected the more chance of someone getting ill or worse.

3. No Rubbish Bags - Higher Costs for the Consumer

Most people use their shopping bags for the rubbish bin as a liner. People will no longer have access to this service and will need to buy bags especially for this purpose. Rubbish bin bags cost a lot more and in many cases are not biodegradable and last a lot longer than shopping bags do. Expect some kind of backlash over this one, or expect general cleanliness in the home to suffer.

One irony is that there is no law against a shopper bringing their own plastic bag so this could lead to a market for shopping bags in packs of 100 or 1000 that people will buy or use. You can carry them in your pocket a lot easier than having those "green bags." Woolworth's for example sells packs of 5 'reusable' plastic bags for $1 a bag.

One thing that many people do not realize is that this ban applies to all types stores, not only supermarkets. So the local corner store will not be able to give you a bag, neither will any of your market stores and anywhere else where you expect a shopping bag to be provided. The scope of the impact has yet to be seen by SA shoppers. I also doubt that the SA government has anticipated all the effects of this policy.

A Reason Not to Buy a Renault

How much is a reasonable amount to replace a car key? $10? $20? $50 perhaps?

If you lose your black plastic square Renault car key in Australia you will need to fork over $360! How many of you would buy a car knowing that it is going to cost this much to replace a lost key?

Even a Mercedes Benz key only costs $160 for a replacement. I know now that I will never buy a Renault.

Swimming - The Person or the Technology?

The next generation of swimming suits are in the pipeline and already the indications are that with the right suit you can shave tenths of seconds of your times.

Given that a race is supposed to test the individual (or team) how can there be any kind of fair comparison if the richer nations get the best equipment and the poorer ones get the hand me downs?

In swimming at least the competition seems to be between the suit technologies and not the people. Australia had some advantages in China and now it looks like the French will get some advantage with the newer technology.

One wonders how long it will be before the human is taken out of the equation altogether and we just have robots doing all the sports. IF each individual doe not have the same advantages then it is in no way a fair comparison of individual or team skills.

The Knowing - About Global Warming - ROTFL

I have been reading so called reviews about the movie The Knowing and how it is about the Earth being destroyed because of man made global warming.

Anyone who says this has not seen the movies, or if they have they slept through it.

It has nothing to do with global warming, nothing.

I don't want to ruin the ending for those who have not seen it but the next time someone says this laugh in their face and call them an idiot.

Refugees - How to Count Imports

I am always amused by misdirection. While I love this kind of thing when I am watching my favorite magicians perform. When it comes to reality however it is just annoying.

Consider the case of the graphs that show how few refugees Australia takes compared to some other parts of the world. I'm not sure of the current figures since they change so often but Australia takes in about 250,000 to 300,000 imports per year.

Compare this figure to any other country on the planet and then decide how and where Australia sits as far as taking in outsiders. Now add in the fact that as a nation we are running out of potable water and that our government is running up a $200-300 Billion debt. Ignoring that population increases in Australia are becoming a serious problem that no-one wants to look at, Australia must be the world leader in taking people in.

Now factor in all the support, housing, legal, representation, food, shelter, clothing and other benefits that even the illegal refugees receive and compare this to any other nation in our region. You can even extend out 5-6000 if you like.

If you bother to do any of this you will find that as a nation we appear th be the most lenient, most accepting and most tolerant nation on the planet when it comes to taking people in. So from now on when others complain remind them of these facts.

I'd support a system where for every group of refugees that comes in the count is subtracted from our official immigration limits, just to keep some kind of balance.

Political Science - I Understand It Now

In today's The Australian there is a piece by Robert Manne. Mr. Manne is a Professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne. His specialty is political science.

Watching how politics works over the years I often wondered at the combination these two terms since politics seems to be mostly a combination of pseudo sciences like psychology and sociology and lighter disciplines like economics and finance. Certainly containing no real science like we find in physics, geology, chemistry and astronomy all of which we find in Pliner's book.

Politics for many people is the art of lying while sounding reasonable. Prof. Manne refers to the "tens of thousands of climate scientists" who "regard it as now beyond doubt that, through the release of carbon dioxide and other green house gases, human-beings have been responsible for post-industrial global warming."

Firstly what are their names? Indeed name 100 of them. Ignoring that science is not a matter of consensus you can certainly looks up the names and certifications of many tens of thousands of scientists who have the opposite opinion, there is a web site for this. Manne generically describes this group (and covers many others) as "a few dozen scientists who are best described as global warming pseudo-skeptics." Included in this groups would be many previously lead authors on the IPCC reports and many scientists recognized as leaders in their fields. For a good list of such experts read the book "The Deniers" by Lawrence Solomon.

The rest of the article contains a number of many other factual errors like using the word "unequivocal" when describing the IPCCs summaries, produced by not a single scientists by the way, when if you actually read them they do not use such definite terms.

The whole article is essentially a set of lies carefully constructed to present the absolute truth while putting down or marginalizing the target. This then must be the definition of political science. The study of the art of being able to declare something completely false as being true with conviction while at the same time denigrating the opposition.

Note that the definition above did not contain the words "known to be false" Pliner's book, the target of the diatribe, has just been released. It is large, complex and would take an intelligent person a few days to read and many weeks to check the references. I could be wrong but like others who have been caught out I doubt that Prof Manne has done anything other than skim the summary passages.

This kind of political science, i.e. where science is politicized and in this case ignored, needs to be challenged loudly and often.

Ian Plimer - Global Warming Sceptic

I was lucky to get a signed copy of the new book by Ian Plimer called Heaven+Earth.

This man and his book may be the turning point for Australia and the issue of climate change. A number of politicians and media sows have also purchased copies. The first two print runs sold out.

At the book release he gave a 45 minute talk, without notes, citing facts and figures one after the other. He dealt with the questions honestly but decisively. This is a man who has carried out the research both in the library and in the field. He uses over 2000 references for his book that took 8 years to put together and based on 40 years of experience. People forget that geology for example (his field) is in many ways is the history of climate. His book will perhaps finally start the debate on CO2 and anthropogenic climate change.

You could do worse than picking up his book (if you can find one in a store, they sold out the first and second print runs).

Compare his background and experience with one of his detractors Barry Brook who heads up the "Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability." He criticizes Plimer's book on the grounds that it does not focus on a single point, uses "selective evidence" and is "confusing" and a case study.

Firstly Brook heads up a group that only exists if man made climate change is a reality so there are strong vested interests.

Second he has not read the book or completely missed the point of it. It is a coverage of the many facets of climate from galactic, to solar to those influences on earth. The thesis is that climate is subject to a host of complex factors and to focus on a single point or issue means missing the whole picture. The book uses history rather than computer modeled future predictions (all of which have failed to date)

Prof. Plimer cites over 2000 papers. Given that climate is influenced by at least 100 fields of science to do anything other than be selective would mean a book with thousands of pages and this book is for the masses.

Lastly and most importantly is that Brook used the standard attack patter for the believer and alarmist, he attacked the book and the man without providing any evidence that might refute the thesis. He never mentions what point Pliner 'should' have focused on for example.

Like many before him like Flannery you can all but ignore what he says.

Calma & Obama - Own Country Haters

The Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tom Calma, has attended Durban 2 in opposition to Australian policy and decisions.

Barak Obama has bowed to the Saudi King, met with other Arabic leaders but refused to meet with the Israeli one.

I suspect that the American people have overall stronger support for the Israeli position versus the Arabic/Muslim one.

Mr Calma is attending a conference that is actively discriminating against Israelis and other nations. Not only is it contrary to the Australian position but contrary to his job title.

Obama is giving a lot of people the impression that he supports Islam over Israel. Perhaps Calma considers Aboriginals as not being 'Australians' and is expecting the Aboriginal nation to convert to Islam? Pure speculation of course but it does fit the actions.

I suspect that Obama's obviously Muslim bias will not make him many friends back home and only adds to my guess that he is a one term president, i.e. Carter 2. His policies and actions are seemingly duplicating those of Carter.

Durban 2 and the Reality of the World

There is a conference going on at the moment that is a repeat of an earlier one. While the conference guise if one of equality and freedoms it is really just a mask to promote Islam and denigrate Israel.

As usual there are the stereotypical woolly-headed types that say we have to attend because we will have a voice. This is the same kind of logic that says even if everyone else isn't doing it we should to show the moral voice in Global Warming. This even though our efforts might have a net effect of about 1/1000th of a degree at the end of it.

What is hidden here is the real danger of being a closed minded idiot. No matter what the subject area, philosophy or area, closed minded idiots (CMIs) influence everyday life. For some reason this kind of person, either through luck or persistence, manages to get themselves into the public spot light and worse, people start listening to them.

Be careful not to confuse the CMI with the DMIS (Deliberately misleading influence seeker). These are a completely different breed, using their skills for personal gain at the expense of the gullible public. A classic example here might be Al Gore.

There is no substitute for clear thinking and research. Not the selective kind but the broad spectrum type. It is possible to look at Durban 2 and only see good things. This is a selective process that CMIs use with surgical precision. Selectively blocking out things that do not conform with their world view.

Sadly most of the world media is a combination of the CMI and the DMIS and sometimes it is difficult to discern what mode there in at any given time. Sometimes is is just pure laziness where they copy some block of text off the Internet without research. The problem for you and me is that the majority believe what they see and hear without question.

Australia's Most Useless Degree

University of the Sunshine Coast has the first four graduates from the world's first Master's degree: Master of Climate Change Adaptation.

While this may sound really great to the true believers the 12-18 months of study required to get one of these is a lot of work for what is essentially a pseudo-religious con. So when the alarmism has run its course, and the science is allowed to emerge, the graduates will be left with a useless piece of paper.

On the plus side they can apply for a government climate change position then move sideways later.

What I am really interested in is the course material for the degree. As someone who went out and read a large number of books, journal articles, economic texts, blog entries there is nothing substantial from the other perspective.

You could of course limit the discussion to say the 1990's and ignore anything discovered this millennium. You could also limit it to just IPCC summary stuff and materials from GISS, Hadley and the Climate Institute. The problem is that all of the actual evidence, i.e. what has been observed, contradicts all of their stuff since it is almost all computer models generated by people in armchairs.

[singing] Wo-oh, the Ice is Getting Bigger

Sorry to crow, but I told you so. The latest reports and tests have confirmed that the Antarctic is getting bigger. More ice is forming and we are in no danger of being flooded out by massive sea level rises. That carving off Western Antarctica is normal.

What are the greens saying about it? Nothing, they are still pointing to the icebergs and making "big, big, we're all going to drown" noises.

At its most fundamental level science is easy. Propose a theory, do some testing, see if you get repeats the results. If the results support your theory then you have a potentially good theory, if it doesn't you toss it out and come up with a new one.

Religion is better. You start with a theory and get a lot of people to believe in it. If any evidence appears to contradict it you deny it and wave the same original dusty papers you started with. Substitute computer models for dusty papers and you have the global warming believers.

There is no direct or observable evidence that CO2 is causing warming. Read that again. There is 'evidence' from the Hadley Institute, from GISS, from Hansen. It doesn't matter that all, and I do mean all of their 'evidence' has been pulled to pieces by scientists, statisticians and observable data. All they have is ground based thermometers, based in growing populated urban heat islands where their data is not being adjusted for the relevant urban heat index.

More Maternty Leave = Economic Boost - Wow!

Paid maternity leave would boost the economy more than the government's $900 cash handouts, an independent think tank says. Their logic is that new Mums will spend more than those being given the $900 handout.

So to be clear here. Giving mothers 18 weeks paid leave will help the economy in the same way that the previous stimulus packages did, but only better.

OK, my logic may be flawed in some way here but how does a company required to pay two people at the same time for the same work help a business? How does putting extra pressure on a business not to hire women help women get jobs? How does making it easier for women to enter the workforce and then get money for getting pregnant support this cause?

It might not be so bad except for all the additional measures they are try to get through. 2 years guaranteed position. This means that the woman can take up to 2 years off and must be guaranteed a job when they return, if they return.

What about the poor sap who is filling in? They will either be a contract employee, or the business will be stuck with them after the probation period. How is putting pressure on businesses, especially small ones, good for the country?

You can justify anything in your mind if you work hard enough at it. It seems that pregnancy advocacy groups are wizards at it.

Somali Pirates - On a Jihad

In August 2008, when the pirates became especially active off the Horn of Africa, Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, declared that Al-Shabaab, a group of jihadists in Somalia, use piracy to fund their jihad: “According to our information, the money they make from piracy and ransoms goes to support al-Shabaab activities onshore.”

What many people don't know is that Somalia is a Muslim nation. They follow the Shari'a Law. This means women have to cover up, face genital mutilations, and all the other things that following Shari'a means.

Then there are the bleeding heart who wring their hands and say that the pirates are just misunderstood. That they have to be treated with respect. That a dialog should be established.

Anyone who knows anything about Jihad will know that all of these strategies are considered weakness and are to be exploited.

The only solution is to sink any boat that comes out of the harbor. For every ship taken, a part of the infrastructure should be taken out. You can keep the attacks away from women and children if notification is not given before each strike. This show of force is the only way to stop the pirates. If not the world can watch as more are taken until someone steps in a takes decisive action.

Refugees and Asylum Seekers - Not

If you do a bit of research on what the the UN defines as a refugee something like the following definition is found

“Owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Stripping away the legalese it basically states that a person fleeing from persecution in their own country arriving in another country is considered a "refugee." There is a fairly clear definition of what a safe haven is in this case. Anyone arriving in say Indonesia then meets this general definition.

People who then leave Indonesia (as a non-Indonesian) no longer fall into the refugee category. They should be referred to as illegal immigrants and not "asylum seekers" or "refugees."

This latest case has also highlighted the old and now current strategy of destroying the vessel on which they are traveling so that they will be rescued and in this case brought directly to Australia. This is a strategy, not an accident.

The UN Refugee Protocol is also very clear that people returning to their own country lose any refugee status. Any person who has committed crimes of any serious nature are also not valid under the definitions.

Based on the rules then most if not all of the arrivals in this manner are not refugees.

For some reason (e.g. political mileage) this is all being ignored for current arrivals. Also the media never raises the issue that these people do not fit the definitions.

The secondary issue here is that of Indonesia. It knows that the people leaving their shores for Australia are not refugees yet they allow them. If Australia tried to force them back to Indonesia would it accept them? If not perhaps Australia should consider dropping and aid or support until they did.

Election By Alcopop

All the evidence, both anecdotal and by sales, has indicated that all the alcopop tax has done is shift buying patterns. The binge drinkers simply moved on to harder alcohol.

The government, through good old Julia, are declaring that the alcopop tax has stopped buying (in that category) so it was a success. Remember here that the target was to stop binge drinking. So given that this is not true the real reason was actually a new tax revenue stream.

All of that aside the question remains why push sop hard ion this issue?

The real reason is of course to provide a mechanism to allow for a double dissolution so that Rudd can call and election and go to the polls earlier. After Blight got through the target was always for a November election and the best way to allow him to do that is to pick some way of forcing a stalemate in the Senate.

So here is how it is going to go. Some legislation, probably alcopops, will be used to create the right conditions to be able to call an early (by a year) election.

Rudd has to go early because it is all going to get far worse next year. What might stop this is if unemployment reaches say 8-9% before the election. This may force Rudd to wait and hope things get better before going to an election.

Now it is wait and see time.

Software versus Somali Pirates

According to the BSA (Business Software Alliance) the only difference between a software pirate and a Somali pirate is the level of violence.

This is the same BSA that claims 10+ billion dollars are lost every year due to s/w piracy a claim that assumes that every copy would normally have been purchased, typically by people who can barely afford a computer after saving for a year.

Here is a quote from an e-mail "We've all been following the events of the past week of the pirates off the Horn of Africa. Piracy takes many forms, some more violent than others. I wanted to let you know that the Business Software Alliance is launching a new campaign today "Faces of Internet Piracy" that shows the real-life impact of software piracy . . .."

Now I know that some of you may be concerned but the likelihood that some US sniper team is waiting to take you out the next time you download something is somewhat slim.

ABC - Loves Climate Change

Was just watching the ABC morning show where they talked to the head of the Climate Institute.

I have never seen an professor lie directly to a whole country before. "Observed data is tracking against the worst climate change predictions[sic]" Data after data has been gathered and is showing the opposite of that statement.

The graphs show that the world is not following the models or the predictions.

So either the prof has access to some secret data sets that are not in public domain that contradict all others -or- he is making it up -or- they have quietly changed their models to match observed data.

Then the ABC had some other puppet referring to James Hanson as an authoritative source. This individual has been caught out so many times he makes Mann look clean.

For some reason the ABC is only interested in prominent scare mongering over basic scientific facts. None of the people they have on ever refer to real data or real sources of information. This means that nothing can be checked and is thus anti-science.

The World is As It Should Be

On the negative side:

Tourism dropping in Australia and the airline carrier Qantas is in the red.

Illegals are increasing, welcomed with open arms by our government. If you claim to be 14 you are immediately allowed into society. All claimants given benefit of the doubt. For some strange reason Canberra fears that number will increase (fancy that)

Obama declares that the US will fight piracy, the pirates reply by immediately grabbing another ship.

Another tin pot country's dictator (Fiji) has defied criticism.

Another country's bigger dictator (North Korea) has defied the UN.

Another movie star is getting divorced. This one has his own island and seven kids.

No salary caps for executives in Australia is the final decision.

Unions are flexing their minority muscle in different areas of industry, Julia applauds.

One country (Mexico) is complaining about their portrayal in an ad (USA).

And more news of our loss of the basic right of freedom of speech and opinion.

On the Plus Side:

Cheech and Chong are back on tour.

For some reason we persist In allowing the bad to triumph over the good.

Good Guys 2 - Pirates 0

Finally a couple of nations have stepped up and rescued their captured people. The pirates have responded by saying that they will target more US flag ships.

One more time for those who are really slow.

1. All ships out of suspected pirate bases should be sunk on sight.
2. All pirate bases should be leveled.

---- End of pirate problem ----

Now I know that point 2 above will have some left, weak willed types crying on their sleeves. So far the pirates have made off with millions. The towns they live in benefit from this behavior and support them.

Hundreds of years of precedent tells us that this is the only effective way to deal with the problem. Piracy laws are supported by almost all non-pirate nations.

People Never Check

I find it interesting that in today's society where information is freely available at their fingertips that people rarely check out the facts of anything. Worse if they do find out the truth and their peers haven;t they don;t bother to contradict or correct them.

Global warming is one classic example. There is plenty of data available that shows without any doubt that the Earth is not behaving as predicted by the models. People are still however allowed to make outrageous claims and predictions that are simply not matched by the science or the observations. Instead there are a group of cowards who know better but sit in silence.

Then there are other example like the use of the statement "God helps those who help themselves." If you asked most people they would tell you that it comes from the Bible. The rest of them simply use it without knowing the origins.

It takes about 30 seconds to find the real origin, a Greek mythology story involving a cart stuck in the mud and Hercules. The actual quote is closer to "The Gods help those who help themselves."

People will categorically state that this comes from the Bible without ever bothering to check. Is this ego? Arrogance? Stupidity? Mostly it is probably laziness both physical and intellectual. Perhaps I am just one of those who have to know but I often look something up and check multiple sources before I use declarative statements. The Internet makes it so easy now.

Islamisation of Australia - Thanks to NSW

The the State Government bureaucracy of NSW has decided, like Islam, that displays of Christian symbols are no longer allowed.

The victim is the chapel at the Royal North Shore hospital. Bibles and all other Christian symbols are banned inside the hospital’s chapel when it is not being used for a church service. This is to avoid offending Muslims, Hindus or other non-Christian believers who may want to pray in the chapel.

Hospital staff say that while the chapel was built for Christians, they now want the chapel to be completely non-denominational. Church leaders must bring their own symbols to use in a service.

And of course the kicker is that the chapel also contains a separate Muslim prayer room.

So the Islamisation of Australia progresses nicely.

Easter - Christianity Free

It is interesting that as we enter Easter there will be no shows on TV including ABC, about what Easter signifies. ABC is in fact showing a kind of anti-Christian show on one of the days.

What is somewhat ironic is that Universities are starting to give bridging courses in Judea - Christian beliefs and symbols so that students can understand English literature. It turns out that since our society, and in turn our literature, is based on these principles, if a student doesn't have any background or understanding of them then they cannot understand parts of English Lit.

While I am not a Christian myself I do acknowledge that we would not be here if it were not for those principles being engendered in our history and our society. These allow us to analyze, to question, to challenge, to debate and many of these basic intellectual freedoms are denied so many others in our world.

The other irony is that there are many in our society that are pretending to represent religious freedoms and different cultures but this tends to translate to a hatred of Australian and where it came from. This hatred engenders an anti-Israel stance and anti-Christian perspective that challenges all that we have. It is chipping away at our freedoms and it supports the minority over the majority.

Broadband Plan - Part 2

This is yet another letter I sent to the Australian that was not published:

After nearly 30 years working in the IT industry I am surprised that none of the analysts have pointed out some of the deep flaws in the Rudd broadband plan. The biggest issue Australian faces now is connectivity and bandwidth to the rest of the world. This is the reason we face download restrictions here and say Thailand doesn't. Without first addressing both the international pipelines and the download limits, speeding up internal connectivity does not help us in a competitive international environment. Terms like "a mere 12MBits/s" when referring to fast wireless are also misleading. Unless you are direct streaming high def movies to your home, impossible with current restrictions, then speeds of 100 MBits/s are meaningless. The majority of users would be perfectly happy with 12 MBits/s for a long time to come. For the most part 1-2 MBits/s would satisfy the needs of the majority. This and much faster speeds are already available. So instead implement a plan to provide connectivity to the rest, even as fiber. This would be a better use of time and money and it can be achieved for far less cost and in a much shorter time frame. Unless there is a focus on external connectivity first, and then the removal of bandwidth restrictions, implementing a 100 MB/s system, if is ever even achieved, is meaningless and useful for nothing other than a sound bite.

I have yet to see a single comment from the analysts pointing out some or any of these issues and of course The Australian isn't. Instead they have columnists who complain that this will be "another wire in the tangle on the telegraph poles." If you have ever been to Bangkok you will know just how absurd this statement is, and, fire is run underground not on poles. Of course since The Australian reporters rarely do any research this kind of comment is to be expected.

Rudd's New Broadband Plan

Rudd's announcement on broadband contained a lot of party rhetoric but little substance.

It did not say when or who. It did talk about speeds like those enjoyed in say Japan but it did not cover the single largest weakness the current Australian system faces, bandwidth restrictions. If you still have a 2 GB download limit per month getting rid of this 100 times faster is hardly useful.

If you check you will find that even places like Thailand provide unlimited access to their users, and at prices less than we face here. Unless there is a similar effort in building and increasing the current pipelines into Australia from the rest of the world then half of the equation is missing from Kevin's latest plan.

It will take a decade or more to provide fiber to 90% of homes so I guess Kevin expects to be in power for a long time yet.

Probably the worst aspect is that it will be a government company which means high costs, delays and inefficiencies. Perhaps it is just about creating more government jobs

UNemployment

Advertisements of jobs has dropped quicker than the past two economic downturns. Job availabilities are now commonly in 12 month blocks rather than permanent employment. This means that it is harder to get a job if you are unemployed and there is a greater and greater burden on the government support systems.

Rudd's solution? More 'skilled labour' visas than ever for people outside of Australia to come in. What appears to be a weakening of the policies for illegal immigrants i.e. boat people who instead of being turned back to Indonesia are safely brought onto Australian territories.

Why? Rudd's UN bid of course. The more he is seen to be supporting those outside of Australia the better his position is when he wants to make his move.

Unemployment - Who Cares?

Why the UK does of course. Kevin Rudd and Co. (e.g. Gordon Brown) have arranged for two UK job agencies to tender for taking care of the Australian job market. Yes, you may want to read that last sentence again.

Two British firms without any prior interest in Australia, A4e and Reed Employment, are being encouraged to enter the market. A4e has received negative publicity in Britain over allegations it is greedy for profits. This may seem strange to those who listened to Kevin talking about greedy capitalists. To be fair, so far at least, Ingeus UK in which Therese Rein has a stake, has not tendered.

The losers in this process are the non-profit job seeking agencies like those of the Salvation Army and the Catholics who have lost out and will be forced to lay people off.

So in summary. Our local job agencies, who are Christian based non-profit groups, have been dropped in favour of UK based groups with no experience in the Australian market and who will require a lot more money to perform the same task. They will also not be ready in time to handle the growing unemployed.

Who thinks this stuff up?

Islam and Art

There is a well known Haddith that refers to Muhammad saying that he would not enter a house that has dogs and statutes in it.

How as modern Islam interpreted this Haddith?

• Bamiyan Buddhas, 1,500 years old, in Afghanistan, destroyed by Taliban with explosives, and technical help from Saudi and Pakistani engineers.

• Tomb of Joseph in Israel, reduced to rubble by the "Palestinians," despite that site supposedly being sacred to Muslims as well as to Jews.

• A Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, where Hindus and Chinese both labor under the disguised Jizyah of the Bumiputra system.

• Orthodox churches and monasteries, destroyed in Kosovo and Bosnia, in full view of NATO troops, the U.N., and the world's media.

• And then, of course, the thousands of churches destroyed in Indonesia, as recorded by the Barnabas Fund.

• The remaining Greco-Bactrian artifacts among the tiny holdings in the Kabul Museum.

• The damage done to the Temple Mount structure by the excavations and vandalism to Solomon's Stables from the "Palestinians."

• Statuary vandalized by Muslims -- both Christian statuary in a church in northern France, and pagan statuary in the Piazza del Popolo.

• A recent attempt to vandalize statuary both in churches in Northern France and in Rome, in the Piazza del Popolo

Why should it be any different in Western Europe in the years to come? Remember that Europe has the world's largest store of historical art.

Police Versus the Courts

Police want greater control over racing hoons and other anti-social elements in society.

The problem is a simple one, they spend all their time catching the same offenders again, and again, and again.

Each time the offender fronts up in court and a judge lets them off with a warning, a stern warning or a suspended sentence and/or parole. When caught again it is the same thing again. There is no custodial sentence imposed.

When those without a driving license do the wrong thing, they can't lose their license so they get a warning or at worst some community service they don't do. They may lose their car, they may not. Whatever the sentence they are out driving again the next day, a time bomb waiting to be caught doing something wrong.

In some cases death is involved but this does not seem to matter to the judges who still hand out non custodial sentences. As I've pointed out in the past these offenders should at least get some form of punishment and I like the Singapore system. A few well delivered cane strikes to the bottom would do more for 'minor' crime in Australia than any number of suspended sentences.

Strategy for Israel - Palestine Peace Process

Here is an idea for a strategy for the Israel - Palestine peace process.

Israel will pursue the peace process with Palestine with the same vigor that Palestine pursues the peace process with Israel.

After they release the captured Israeli soldier being held captive (for the past 3 years) of course.

This means that if Palestine attacks Israel in any way that Israel is free to attack Palestine. So any rocket, any suicide bomb, or any pother type of attack is an open invitation to immediately attack in response. This makes the whole process fair, open and balanced.

Can you imagine the response form many parts of the world of such a statement was made? I am including many elements of Australian society here like University Professors and closet Israel haters.

There would be an uproar. How dare Israel expected to be treated fairly and with balance. How dare anyone suggest that they be able to respond to an attack!

Such is the state of our world and the state of many of our analysts. It has reached the point where if Palestine killed 1000 Jews and Israel killed a single Palestinian the latter would be shouted from the world's rooftops and the former would hardly rate a mention.

Remember that almost all discussion by the UN security council is of an anti-Israel nature. No really, you can look it up on the UN web site, check out all the meeting notes. All other places on the planet are all but ignored by this body no matter how bad they get.