With 2 sleeps to go, Ana Ivanovic excite
With 2 sleeps to go, Ana Ivanovic excited to be back @ the Hopman Cup for 2011 http://ht.ly/3w0PH #tennis #hopmancup #Ivanovic
Archive for December, 2010
December 30, 2010
tony serve
Award winning journalist film maker John Pilger speaks about Julian Assange and Wikileaks
Click the pic to see more at johnpilger.com
John Pilger on Wikileaks Click this link for audio 2010-12-21
Audio – 3 interviews – Ex Navy diver floats real help, eating disorders in 5-13 year olds, new documentary on skin and race
Enjoy the 3 interviews below and please visit the websites listed for each for more info, and for how you can make a difference too.
1.
SKIN DEEP airs on SBS January 2 at 8.30pm
Click the blue link to hear Franco Di Chiera talking about this brilliant documentary
Click the Pic to visit the SBS link for SKIN DEEP
Quote:“The concept of ancient human ancestry is extremely powerful, as demonstrated by the number of people who ventured out into storms to attend the evening. The formal feedback we received has been overwhelmingly positive, and there have been some wonderful references to how the screening of SKIN DEEP tied the evening together. Well deserved praise for a film that captures the mystery of the human journey.” Steve Kern, the RiAus Senior Programs Co-ordinator, Science Exchange, Adelaide
Websites:If listeners want to know more they can go to the SBS website for the Secrets of the Human Body series of which Skin Deep is a part at:http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/secretsofthehumanbody/about/page/i/1/show/secretsofthehumanbodyOr they can also go to RiAus site at:http://www.riaus.org.au/events/2010/12/07/skin_deep_exploring_human_ancestry.jspOr for additional interviews, RiaAus “On Demand” including an interview at:http://riausondemand.org.au/event/exploring-human-ancestry/
Finally, there is a trailer on the RiAus site at:
http://vimeo.com/16518094
2.
Ex Australian Navy Special forces officer doing something special in the developing world.
Click the Pic to visit TheSpark.org.au
Click here to hear Aaron’s inspiring story
- Spark* identifies inspiring young individuals in countries facing extreme poverty.
- Over 12 months Spark* develops these individuals as grassroots leaders and change makers.
- These young individuals, with the support of Spark* re-enter their communities to build projects, turning the tide against extreme poverty.
In 2010 we are focusing on Papua New Guinea, a country where almost 3 million people live on less than $USD1.25 per day.
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- Click the logo to visit the Foundation and make a difference for the “Unknown” child this Christmas
- Click the logo to visit the Foundation and make a difference for the “Unknown” child this Christmas
The Butterfly Foundation is working to save lives as we come to grips with eating disorders that are fatal for 10% of children aged 5-13 who report with the illness.
Please visit the site after hearing from Christine Morgan and if you can please donate, you’ll give a Christmas present to the “unknown” child who may be saved.
Click here to hear from Christine Morgan, CEO The Butterfly Foundation
WikiLeaks – join before print deadline
50,000 signatures and $250,000 raised in just 24 hours so far! We’re booking a full page ad in The New York Times speaking out on WikiLeaks. Click here to have your name counted before the statement goes to print! –
In case you missed it, Australians have responded in record numbers to outrageous threats from the US towards WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, an Australian citizen.
Already, 50,000 Australians have signed on to a statement about WikiLeaks, and GetUp members have contributed $250,000 so far – enough to book a full-page ad in leading world newspaper, The New York Times.
Now we need to make that statement as powerful as possible, by turning 50,000 signatures into 75,000 and even 100,000 in the next few days.
The most important thing you can do is take one brief moment to click on the link below to read and sign up to the statement:
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Wikileaks
The second very important thing you can do is tell your friends, family and colleagues about this campaign. Those you know are much more likely to open, read and take action on an email if it comes from you, so you are the key to building this movement.
So many Australians are angered by the threats to WikiLeaks and Juilan Assange from the US and by our Government’s failure to speak out against them. They want something to do about it, and you can give it to them. Forward our original email below or click here to use our handy facebook and Twitter tools to spread the word.
Thanks for standing up,
The GetUp Team
WikiLeaks – your voice in the New York Times
Sarah Palin wants Julian Assange hunted as a terrorist.1 She’s among a swelling chorus of American politicians calling for the arrest – and even the death – of the Australian citizen who runs Wikileaks. It’s a shame that real terrorists, the kind we should be focusing our attention on, don’t show up at British Police stations with their lawyers, as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange did yesterday.
Here in Australia, Prime Minister Gillard pre-emptively judged Mr. Assange "illegal," even as the Attorney General confirmed that no Australian nor international crime by wikileaks has been identified.2
The death penalty? Judgment before trial? This isn’t the kind of justice system we have in Australia. If our Government won’t stand up for the rights of Australian citizens, let’s do it ourselves.
We’re printing ads in the Washington Times and the New York Times with the statement our Government should have made, signed by as many Australians as possible. Will you add your name to the signatories, and invite your friends to join too?
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Wikileaks
The statement:
Dear President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder:
We, as Australians, condemn calls for violence, including assassination, against Australian citizen and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, or for him to be labeled a terrorist, enemy combatant or be treated outside the ordinary course of justice in any way.
As Thomas Jefferson said, "information is the currency of democracy."3 Publishing leaked information in collaboration with major news outlets, as Wikileaks and Mr. Assange have done, is not a terrorist act.
Australia and the United States are the strongest of allies. Our soldiers serve side by side and we’ve experienced, and condemned, the consequences of terrorism together. To label Wikileaks a terrorist organisation is an insult to those Australians and Americans who have lost their lives to acts of terrorism and to terrorist forces.
If Wikileaks or their staff have broken international or national laws, let that case be heard in a just and fair court of law. At the moment, no such charges have been brought.
We are writing as Australians to say what our Government should have said: that all Australian citizens deserve to be free from persecution, threats of violence and detention without charge, especially from our friend and ally, the United States.
We call upon you to stand up for our shared democratic principles of the presumption of innocence and freedom of information.
We’re printing this statement in the Washington Times and the New York Times early next week – and the more Australians sign, the more powerful the message will be. Please add your name by clicking below, and forward this message to friends and family:
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Wikileaks
What has started with WikiLeaks being branded as terrorists won’t end there.
In fact, just yesterday U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Chair of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee, said that the New York Times should also be investigated under the U.S. Espionage Act for publishing a number of the diplomatic cables leaked to Wikileaks.4 We can help stop such plans in their tracks, by showing how they are affecting the image of the US in the eyes of their staunchest friends and allies.
Click here to sign the statement before it’s published in the New York Times and Washington Times.
Thanks for being part of this,
the GetUp team.
—
1 Beckford, M., ‘Sarah Palin: hunt WikiLeaks founder like al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders’, The Telegraph, 30 November 2010.
2 Oakes, L., ‘Oakes: Gillard gushes over US leaks’, Perth Now, 4 December 2010.
3 The quote is widely attributed to Jefferson, but some now dispute whether he actually said it. We know, at least, that he said "knowledge is power," even if Francis Bacon did say it first.
4 Savage, C., ‘U.S. prosecuters study WikiLeaks prosecution’, The New York Times, 7 December 2010.
December Update from Black Dog Ride – raising awareness of and funds for depression in Australia
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tony serve
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Media Release: Government fails to cut ties with torture unit – WA Senator
Government fails to cut ties with torture unit
Media Release – Wednesday December 8, 2010
The Australian Greens have criticised the Government for failing to take action in response to allegations an Indonesian unit supported by Australian authorities has used torture against peaceful protestors.
On November 4 this year Greens legal affairs spokesperson, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, called on the Government to stop funding Detachment 88, an Indonesian ‘counter-terrorism’ unit that has been linked to a series of human rights abuses.
"Demonstrators arrested in Ambon, in Maluku, unveiled their independence flag at an event at which the Indonesian president was present – this had nothing to do with terrorism whatsoever. They were subsequently jailed and many of them tortured and hospitalised," Senator Ludlam said. "70 political activists in Maluku have been imprisoned since 2007."
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reported this week that the total Australian Federal Police financial support for counter-terrorism initiatives in South East Asia in the 2009/10 was $16.3 million. DFAT said while the AFP is not directly involved in Detachment 88 operational activities, the AFP’s support to the Indonesian National Police includes that unit.
Senator Ludlam said that while Australian officials provide support to Detachment 88, it is not enough to leave investigations of the unit’s conduct in the hands of the Indonesian authorities.
“We are told the AFP does not have the power to investigate what Detachment 88 has done, but it does have the power to stop funding and supporting the unit,” he said. “The United States introduced a ban on training or assisting Detachment 88 members in Maluku in 2008 after the allegations of torture first emerged in 2007, but our Government has not issued a similar ban, which is much-needed.”
Detachment 88′s major facility at the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Co-operation was established in 2004 with almost $40 million of Australian funding. According to its website, most of the counter-terrorism seminars at the Centre are run by the AFP, and it is a major beneficiary of $16.3 million in annual funding allocated to the AFP to combat terrorism in south-east Asia.
Media Contact – Giovanni Torre
Media Release: Labor has it wrong on Beverley North uranium plan – WA Senator
Labor has it wrong on Beverley North uranium plan
Media Release – Wednesday December 8, 2010
The Australian Greens have condemned the Government’s decision to approve the plans of the US-owned company Heathgate to develop its Beverley North uranium project in South Australia.
The Greens spokesperson on mining and nuclear affairs, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said the plan to mine the uranium deposit north of Heathgate’s existing Beverley mine would significantly extend the life of the troubled project.
“The longer Beverley operates the greater damage it will do to the local and regional groundwater system,” said Senator Ludlam.
“In 2002 there was a leak of 62,000 litres of radioactive fluid at Beverley mine followed by a separate leak of 6000 litres of a uranium-bearing brine solution. That same year a leak at Olympic Dam in South Australia released more than 420,000 litres of uranium mining slurry,” said Senator Ludlam.
"The Beverley mine is unique in Australia, in that strong acids are injected into the groundwater to dissolve the uranium, heavy metals and other radionuclides. The uranium is extracted at a small surface plant and then liquid radioactive wastes are reinjected into the groundwater.
"This project should never have been approved in the first place. Extending the life of the mine is effectively a licence for Heathgate to permanently contaminate a much larger body of groundwater.
Heathgate, part of General Atomics Resources, has said previously that it had found a ”significant” zone of uranium mineralisation in the northern tenements but has not released information on the size of the find.
“We don’t know how long this will extend the operating life of the mine, but another week is too long,” said Senator Ludlam. “The Government should be showing leadership and moving towards renewable sources of energy – rather than encouraging a dead-end industry that poisons the environment at every stage.”
Media contact – Giovanni Torre
#Tennis : Bemelmans Joins Justine Henin
#Tennis : Bemelmans Joins Justine Henin « Hopman Cup 2011 http://ht.ly/3lFjn
Media release: National collaboration positions eating disorders as a key public health issue for Australia
Wednesday 8 December 2010
National collaboration positions eating disorders as a key
public health issue for Australia
With a two-fold increase in eating disorder behaviours in the past decade1 and data that suggests approximately 15% of Australian women develop a clinically significant eating disorder in their lifetime2, Australia’s response to eating disorders is set to be developed through a comprehensive national collaboration.
This week’s National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) workshop in Sydney brings together all stakeholders face to face to be involved in the development of a consistent national approach to eating disorders in Australia. The national strategy will vastly strengthen Australia’s capacity across the continuum of care and represents Australia’s groundbreaking initiative addressing eating disorders comprehensively on a national level. The strategy includes development of national clinical standards within the national framework, prevention and early intervention strategies, a web-based clearinghouse of evidence-based information, a social messaging strategy, and professional development resources.
Australian of the Year and Chair of the NEDC, Professor Pat McGorry AO, is keynote speaker at the NEDC workshop. He is committed to raising awareness of eating disorders as a serious mental health issue in Australia.
National Director of the NEDC and CEO of The Butterfly Foundation, Christine Morgan, said that eating disorders need to be recognised as a priority and mainstream health issue in Australia.
“Every Australian at risk of an eating disorder deserves access to an effective continuum of prevention, care and ongoing recovery support. They need a whole of community response that is based on continual research, clinical professional development, dedicated service, and awareness of the incidence and impact of eating disorders in the community,” said Ms Morgan.
The National Eating Disorders Collaboration brings together eating disorder stakeholders and experts in mental health, public health, health promotion, education, and research, as well as the media to help develop a nationally consistent approach to the prevention and management of eating disorders.
“Throughout phase one of the project, the Australian Government showed leadership by approaching eating disorders at a national level in a highly collaborative manner,” said Ms Morgan “and they are continuing in this leadership in this second phase.”
For people affected by an eating disorder, the impact of their condition is compounded by the illness that adversely affects both their physical and mental health.
-ends-
Media note: We encourage all media to include the following contact information for readers and audiences who are looking for support and more information. The Butterfly 1800 ED HOPE 1800 33 4673 or LifeLine 13 11 14
References:
1. Hay, P. J., Mond, J., Buttner, P., & Darby, A. (2008). Eating disorder behaviors are increasing: Findings from two sequential community surveys in South Australia. PLoS ONE, 3, e1541.
2. Wade, T. D., Bergin, J. L., Tiggemann, M., Bulik, C. M., & Fairburn, C. G. (2006). Prevalence and long-term course of lifetime eating disorders in an adult Australian twin cohort. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 121-128.
: Media Alert: WA Senator to hold Perth briefing on Federal carbon pricing
Greens Senator to hold Perth briefing on Federal carbon pricing
- MEDIA ALERT -
Seats are filling fast for a public briefing to be held in Perth tomorrow (Wed 8 Dec) by Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam to explain the Greens’ involvement in and expectations of the Federal Climate Change Committee.
The free public forum will be held 5.15pm for a 5.30pm start in the auditorium of the Alexander State Library in Francis Street, Northbridge.
“We are at a critical point in the push for a carbon price in Australia, with the Prime Minister promising to deliver a price on carbon in 2011 and the Greens in the balance of power,” Senator Ludlam said. “Those who want strong action need to come together now if we are to make it a reality.”
Following the speech by Senator Ludlam, he and a panel of WA experts including Professor Ray Wills, Chief Executive of the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia; Irina Catalini, Director of Social Policy at the WA Council of Social Services; Steve Gates, Chair of Sustainable Energy Now Inc.; Robin Chapple MLC, Greens WA Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region; and Louise Morris, Campaigns Coordinator for the WA Conservation Council, will answer questions from the audience. The event will wind up at 7pm.
TO RSVP, or for more information and inquiries, please call Eloise Dortch on 0415 507 763 or email eloise.dortch
Related articles
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- Australia’s shame – ask your MP to act! ABC News: Australia’s vulnerable children being left behind (tonyserve.wordpress.com)
Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.
The Dirtiest Man in Coal Quits Days After Rolling Stone’s Expose
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PayPal suffers DoS for spurning #Wikilea
PayPal suffers DoS for spurning #Wikileaks – Security – News http://ht.ly/3koqV
Australia’s shame – ask your MP to act! ABC News: Australia’s vulnerable children being left behind
Australia’s vulnerable children being left behind
UNICEF says Australia lags behind other rich nations in the care it provides to vulnerable children
The Children Left Behind report shows how well nations look after their children; their health and safety, security, education and socialisation and their sense of being loved, valued and included….
To read the full story on your mobile please use this link
http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=3083815&cat=Justin
To read the full story on a PC or Mac please use this link
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/03/3083815.htm
MEDIA RELEASE: BARNETT’S STATE AGREEMENT AMENDMENTS RUSHED, ANTI-COMPETITIVE, UNDEMOCRATIC
MEDIA RELEASE
2nd December 2010
BARNETT’S STATE AGREEMENTS RUSHED, ANTI-COMPETITIVE, AND UNDEMOCRATIC
The rushed introduction into the Legislative Council of eleven amended State Agreements in one day has cast a spotlight on the State Government’s bludgeoning of parliamentary process and its desperation for the $350million gift associated with the passage of this legislation, Greens MLC Robin Chapple said today.
“The government called a Special Sitting of Parliament in the expectation of ramming these amendments, which total well over a thousand pages of complex detail, down the throat of the Legislative Council in a single day,” Mr. Chapple said.
“The Government were only able to brief the Greens and the ALP a day and a half prior to the sitting. I have
been informed that National Party MLCs – the Government’s own partners – were in the same boat.”
The Iron Ore Agreement Legislation Amendment (No.2) Bill 2010 is intended to facilitate infrastructure sharing between mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP in areas covered by existing State Agreements between the State and those companies.
Mr Chapple said that whilst he supported infrastructure sharing and improving rail synergies in the Pilbara, this was just between the majors and did not address the needs of the NW Iron Ore Alliance and the emerging iron industries.
“This is an unprincipled abuse of the Parliamentary process,” Mr Chapple said. “Any item of legislation this complex and with such import for the State should reasonably be scrutinised by the relevant Standing Committee.”
“Instead we have been given one sitting day to examine one of the most important bills of the year, with the Government refusing to allow a committee review.
“This is all the more disturbing given that the Government has openly acknowledged that these amendments
were written in conjunction with BHP and Rio Tinto lawyers and not just by the Department of State
Development.
“There are clauses in these amendments that raise serious competition policy concerns. I have been contacted by numerous junior miners in the North West and they are fully expecting to be frozen out of infrastructure across the region by the majors.
“These amendments presented an opportunity to enable local government to apply rates to BHP and Rio Tinto. This has been missed.
“Is there anywhere else in the democratic world where the big end of town can sit down and amend legislation as they please whilst the Government prevents detailed Parliamentary scrutiny?”
All the best
Robin Chapple MLC
Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region
PO Box 94, West Perth WA 6872
41 Havelock Street, West Perth. WA 6005
Phone: (08) 9486 8255 | Email: Robin.Chapple | Freecall: 1800 138 610
#sleep can be elusive – guided imagery a
#sleep can be elusive – guided imagery audio is free & effective, see Jesse’s http://ht.ly/3i7g7 and U-Michigan’s http://ht.ly/3i7jX pls RT
Greens Media Release: Nuclear ‘solution’ a dead end for Labor – WA Senator
Nuclear ‘solution’ a dead end for Labor
Media Release – Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Australian Greens have strongly reminded the Government that nuclear power is not the solution to climate change.
Image via Wikipedia
The Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said nuclear power made no economic or environmental sense.
“Nuclear power generation means uranium mining at the start of the process – which involves serious environmental contamination, and it means nuclear waste at the end of the process – a problem to which no one has put forward a credible solution,” said Senator Ludlam. “And the power generation itself raises serious questions.”
“The report from Dr Mark Diesendorf, deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Studies, found that nuclear energy will be more expensive than most forms of renewable energy by 2020,” he said. “Dr Diesendorf’s report, delivered yesterday, found that the cheapest renewable energy sources – including landfill gas, onshore wind, conventional geothermal and hydro – are already cost-competitive with conventional nuclear energy power plants… By 2020, offshore wind farms, solar thermal and solar photovoltaics are all projected to be less expensive than nuclear energy.”
Dr Diesendorf found that the cost of building a nuclear power plant has risen rapidly since 2002, from more than $US2000 per kw of generation capacity installed, to about $US7400 per kw.
Senator Ludlam said Resources Minister Martin Ferguson and two senators from the ALP Right had it “disastrously wrong” on nuclear power as a solution to climate change.
“Ziggy Switkowski, Chair of the Board of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, said in 2006 that nuclear power has no capacity to contribute to emissions reductions in Australia by 2020 and limited capacity to reduce emissions by 2030,” said Senator Ludlam.
The 2006 Switkowski Report also noted that establishing a nuclear power industry “would substantially increase the volume of radioactive waste to be managed in Australia and require management of significant quantities of high level waste.”
Over a 50-year lifespan, 50 reactors would be responsible for 1.8 billion tonnes of low level radioactive tailings waste, assuming the uranium came from Olympic Dam. The reactors would be responsible for 430,000 tonnes of depleted uranium waste, a by-product of the uranium enrichment process. The reactors would directly produce 75,000 tonnes of high level nuclear waste and 750,000 cubic metres of low level and intermediate level waste.
“Those within the Government calling for nuclear power need to think again. It is not safe, it is not affordable and it will not address the challenge of climate change,” said Senator Ludlam.
Media contact – Giovanni Torre
- Image via Wikipedia
- Image via Wikipedia
Related articles
- PM, Treasurer say no to nuclear power (news.theage.com.au)
- Most won’t want nuke power near home:Brown (news.theage.com.au)
- Study Assesses Nuclear Power Assumptions (prnewswire.com)
Australian Institute of Management – video newsletter – Leading Performance Improvement
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tony serve
