Stop the Cull!

Australia is wonderful country, with its great people and diverse creatures it truly is wonderous place, but every once in a while we do stupid and horrid things much like anywhere else in the world.

This is one of those times…..

Contractors are being brought to Belconnen a former navel base in Canberra, to kill around 400 kangaroos and stop them over grazing. news report is as follows:

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian animal rights activists vowed Wednesday to prevent the planned killing of more than 400 kangaroos on defence department land after the government refused to intervene.

“We are going to blockade the gates 24 hours a day from Saturday so they can’t get in and kill them,” Pat O’Brien, president of the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, told AFP.

Contractors are preparing to cull the animals on a former naval site at Belconnen in the national capital Canberra to protect native grasslands from overgrazing.

The authorities have turned down an alternative plan to relocate the kangaroos, citing expert advice that this would be inhumane.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett rejected accusations by some activists that the government was being hypocritical by failing to protect kangaroos while taking a strong stand against Japan’s whaling programme.

“Our views on whaling are clear and we will continue to resolutely oppose the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean,” he told reporters.

“A balanced and properly scientifically delivered programme to ensure that we preserve and enhance our environment and our ecology and our wildlife is pretty good policy as far as I am concerned.”

The plan is to shoot the kangaroos with tranquiliser darts and then administer lethal injections.

There was an international outcry in 2004 when about 900 kangaroos were destroyed at the site of a dam supplying water to Canberra, and the latest cull has also drawn fire from abroad.

British-based animal welfare group Viva, which has the support of former Beatle Paul McCartney, has launched a petition against the cull and says on its website that it has received support from people in 25 countries.

Millions of kangaroos are killed in Australia every year, but O’Brien said the Canberra kangaroos were a special case because they were trapped by the defence department fences and could not move to the wild even if they chose to.

“There is a commercial kangaroo kill which we are also working very hard to stop,” he said. “They are killing about three-and-a-half million kangaroos this year.

“The meat is sold for dog’s food or exported to France, Germany and Russia mostly. It’s just a terrible, terrible industry.”

The rationale behind the killing was that there were too many kangaroos, he said.

“But four years ago they were saying there were 65 million kangaroos in Australia, now they’re saying there are only 20 million. We’ve had 10 years of heavy drought and incessant heavy commercial shooting.”

As stated even Paul McCartney is getting in on this… if they removed the fences the kangaroos would move on, they could relocate them, but to say this would inhuman is ridiculous what letting them live is more inhuman than killing them… well thats just stupid dont you think….

Click to find out how to help stop this murdering of a National Icon and save innocent creatures trapped by fences

Click here to sign the Petition today

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How how the Pills are Growing

On Tuesday evening I watch a program on SBS television called The Cutting Edge with a lengthy investigation into childhood mental illness.  doctors Diagnosing Children as young 2 and 4 years old with Bi-Polar and ADHD and prescribing medication for these kids which are Adult medications with no idea as to the dosage or side effects these drugs would have on the growing brain. Medications such as including anti psychotic, anti depressants, sleeping pills etc to four year olds…

To my mind this is ridiculus and is playing with fire.  A small childs brain is being wired,
it is learning and developing, growing and maturing, throwing a cocktail of drugs at such a young age is bond to cause problems later in life and develope a dependence on the drugs.
I do acknowledge that there cases where these can be of benefit to children who are 
demonstrating signs which are not the usual, children with brain damage and confirmed 
mental illness, however prescribing these for kids whose behaviour is naughty, 
a bit sad, hyperactive, fidgetty, prone to temper tantrums and outbursts etc is just horrifying.

The widespread use of drugs such as Ritallin is being shown to be a crutch in a lot of instances
Treatment of children whose behaviour is less than satisfactory at home or at school does 
not warrant a lengthy and prolonged course of drugs.  
A simple course in behaviour modification sometimes goes a lot further.
If you look at diet you can often find the answers you are looking for 
rather doping kids up for life.

what do you think?
dope them up and sedate or find a natural way, through diet and vitamins….?

Ovarian Cancer Breakthrough

Australian doctors have made a major medical Breakthrough in the diagnosis of
Ovarian Cancer.
The problem has always been its diffucultiy to diagnose as the syptoms can be
so varied and diverse the doctor can miss diagnose as a miriad of other illness…
This breakthough is a simple blood test which at present is 94% acurate as soon as
it has a 99% accuracy it will be used in widespread testing with the possibilty of
preventative screening of the female population. If this test is as accurate as is being thought it will a bigger breakthrough than Beast Cancer treatments and will be on par with Organ Transplants as to the number of lives which can be saved at present 2 woman die everyday from this disease… hopefully our daughter will not havesuch odds to content with…. to find out more on this incredible breakthrough click the link below:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video

ABC Breast Cancer Cluster

Back in 2006 a scary story started to appear…. a large number Women who had worked at the ABC studios in Toowong (an inner western suburb of Brisbane QLD) began to present with Breast Cancer.
Finally around Christmas the studio was closed due to the Health Risks, yes the number was that great…
So far to date 17 People have developed Breast Cancer and many more are at risk.
SO what is the cause of this Cancer Cluster which appears to be
in one building. No one nows, to date a variety of tests have been performed the latest was soil testing here is what happened… from Yahoo News

Soil testing at the ABC’s abandoned Brisbane headquarters has failed to bring investigators any closer to finding the cause of a breast cancer cluster among employees who worked at the site.
The studios, at Toowong in Brisbane’s inner west, were abandoned shortly before Christmas 2006 after an investigation showed breast cancer rates in workers at the site were six times the national average.
Cancer expert Professor Bruce Armstrong, who led the initial investigation, said soil tests ordered last year had not detected any traces of chemicals which may cause breast cancer.
Seventeen women who worked at the site have so far been diagnosed with breast cancer but investigations have been unable to determine a possible cause for the cluster.
Professor Armstrong said the soil tests covered metals, such as arsenic and lead, pesticides such as dieldrin (similar to DDT), and PCBs – a group of banned organic compounds.
In each case the levels found were well below ordinary levels, he said. Investigators are now awaiting the results of additional magnetic field testing of equipment used by staff and a survey for ionising radiation at the Toowong site.

If the results show a large Magnetic field, or large electro magnetic field aroundthe building, could this lead to further testing of, but not limitied to, the large Electrical power lines as well as Power substations in residential areas, as well flow on effects to a various forms of power
delivery systems.

As for the Ionised Radiation my god where that come from?

Where is what I would be asking….

How about you…. For many years now people have believed that high energy Power lines are harmful to their health but they still build them in build up residential areas, could this be the proof we have been waiting…?

The Garnaut Report so Far!

The interim Garnaut Report into Climate commissioned by the State and Federal Governments of Australia…. it is possibly the most comprehensive report into the effects and solutions when it comes to our changing climate that we have seen….

So what has he said to date? This is straight from the media release:

A report by economist Ross Garnaut warns Australia could be among the worst-hit countries if the world does not act to slow the rate of climate change.
Professor Garnaut has handed down his interim report on carbon emissions targets and the creation of an emissions trading scheme today. The report was commissioned by the federal, state and territory governments to help develop major policies on climate change.
Professor Garnaut says Australia’s large agricultural sector and a reliance on trade with developing nations in Asia, that are also put at risk by rising temperatures, makes it one of the most vulnerable countries in the developed world. He says Australia needs to play a lead role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by going beyond its stated target of a 60 per cent cut by 2050.
But Professor Garnaut says Australia is relatively well-placed to convert strong action on climate change into economic opportunity.
The report also sets out an initial guide to the design of an emissions trading scheme.
State and federal leaders have been briefed on the details of the interim report in Adelaide.
South Australian Premier Mike Rann says it paints a very sobering picture for the global community.
“Essentially what I’m sure that you will find out is that in the last five years and certainly since the modelling done by Sir Nicholas Stern, things are much worse for the world in terms of global warming than previously believed,” he said.
Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter says the report has a blunt warning.
“What Ross Garnaut has done is basically tell us, ‘less time than you thought, more action than you thought, maybe in a shorter space of time’,” Mr Carpenter said.  ”There needs to be a sense of urgency. This isn’t a matter just for governments, it’s a matter for the ordinary people of the states.”

So thats the report findings to date I will be posting more as it becomes available but get ready Aussies for more drought, floods, storms, etc etc….

can the earths rate of Climate Change be slowed do you think….

or do you think the earth we passed that point long ago?

UPDATE here is a link directly to the Garnaut Review Website for more info from the source

Breaking News for Coober pedy!

Cobber Pedy is an Opal Mining Town… It is not connected to town Power,

And most of the population live underground to avoid the heat….

It is situated in South Australia and as you can see from the photo is Desert.

However the folks here are mining Opals… of the highest Quality.

It is a pretty town with great Characters and charm…

This has just appeared on the Yahoo news  site…

Australia’s largest solar power station is to be built at Coober Pedy, in South Australia’s mid-north, to provide more than 10 per cent of the city’s electricity needs.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the $7.1 million project would feature 26 solar dishes, each one 14 metres high, to produce 1,860 megawatt hours of power each year.
Coober Pedy was chosen because it is not connected to the electricity grid and gets all its power from diesel generators.
The solar power station will cut diesel use in the town by 520,000 litres, saving 1,500 tonnes of greenhouse gases.Mr Garrett described the project as groundbreaking and an example of the federal government’s commitment to a clean energy future.
The federal government will provide $3.55 million for the station with other funding coming from the state government and private industry.  South Australian Premier Mike Rann said the project would consolidate the state’s reputation as a leader in renewable energy initiatives.
“It reinforces our willingness to collaborate and invest in practical solutions to climate change in our communities,” Mr Rann said.
“South Australia already provides nearly half of the nation’s wind power, more than 45 per cent of the nation’s grid-connected solar power and is home to more than 80 per cent of all geothermal exploration activity in Australia.”
The new Coober Pedy power station is expected to begin generating electricity by the end of 2009.

I ask the Question Why is it only 10% of the towns power
to remove the need to run Generators at all?
Well done to Federal Government and finally something good from Peter Garrett,
however there is along way to go…..

Global Warming or Breaking Drought what do you think

 Over the past few week Queensland has been hit with flood after flood. Immense amounts of rain falling over a very short period of time has caused kaos through out various regions. The latest is the tonship of Mackay  which has seen yet another town declared a natural disaster… and it was 600MM yes thats right 60 Centimetres of rain fell in 6 hours. Thats 2 feet …

this is what 200mm looked like..

and heres almost the end of the rain after 600mm

What do you think it certainly is drought breaking but is it a normal monsoon trough or a global warming event you decide…