refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Taken from the official Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website, today:

http://www.dfat.gov.au/security/npt.html

“The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is the centrepiece of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. The NPT entered into force in 1970, and Australia ratified the treaty in 1973. The Treaty and the nuclear non-proliferation safeguards system provided through the IAEA make a crucial contribution to regional and international peace and security. The Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) acts as Australia’s national safeguards authority responsible for the performance of Australia’s safeguards and non-proliferation obligations and for facilitating IAEA safeguards activities in Australia.

The NPT and the safeguards system has been successful overall in limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. The only states not to have joined the NPT are India, Israel and Pakistan. Successive Australian Governments have taken the view that the Treaty is vital to international stability and security, both globally and in our region.

Article VIII of the NPT provides that the Treaty be reviewed at five-yearly intervals. The primary objectives of Review Conferences are to assess developments since the previous conference, to address current challenges, and to identify areas for further progress. Australia has been an active and constructive participant in all NPT Review Conferences. The last Review Conference was held in New York in May 2010.

On 24 September 2009 the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 1887. The resolution underlines that the NPT is the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, calls on all member states to comply fully with their obligations under the treaty, urges non-members to accede to the treaty and reinforces the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.“

So we concur, ratify, become legally obligated . . . then ignore??? Is all politics just a matter of convenience??

If Australian politics were a person they would be treated for schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, or some such thing,

This is the open pit at the abandoned Mary Kathleen uranium mine (this way since 1983)-

So the mining company (Rio Tinto) payed pitiful royalties to government (an incompetent government

that squandered even that).

The profits from the mining operation went overseas.

And the local residents, and Queenslanders and Australians,  have been left with this abandoned open pit.

Hmmmmmmmm, sound fair???

Not good enough.

It was a very relaxing break: picturesque scenery, abundant wildlife, a quiet and calming environment, with

 friendly people who obviously reject the stifling neon glitter of places like the Gold Coast.

I rode down thru Boonah, and took the back way up to Queen Mary Falls. When I left I rode down to Killarney

(a lovely little town), then out to Warwick, and  along the Cunningham Highway, over the Great Dividing Range

 towards Brisbane. On my way back I stopped to visit the graves of my brother and sister.

Sydney Peace Prize.

If I had a ‘bucket list’, an entry would be to share a nice meal , a bottle

of red wine, and conversation with him.

The world has been a better place with him in it, and I am certain that the

future will vindicate him (but, now, we don’t listen, we don’t seem to be

able to think, so unfortunately, not before it gets much worse).

His persistence, in the face of the ignorance of the general population

and attacks by vested interests, is uplifting.

Thank you for trying Mr Chomsky, your ideas and endeavours are

appreciated, and  welcome to Australia.

 Ciao my children. This morning, after a hearty and fibre-rich breakfast, I began my ablutions with

a  defecation that astonished me!  I am certain, and it is confirmed by the Monsignor,

that one of my turds had on it the face of our Saviour! Glory be!

 I felt blessed, and truly God is everywhere children.

It was a joyous start to the day, and I only very reluctantly flushed. Go in Christ children.

human or corgi, to ascend to the throne.

For the past 1000 years, only a human heir could ascend to the British throne.

Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard,  said the changes appeared to be straightforward. “But just because

they seem  straightforward to our modern minds doesn’t mean that we should underestimate  their

historical significance, changing as they will for all time the way in  which the monarchy works and changing

its history.”

But the decision was not entirely without proletarian criticism.

The campaign group Republic – which wants an elected head of state in  Britain – said “nothing of substance”

had been changed. “The monarchy discriminates against every man, woman and child who isn’t born into

the Windsor family. To suggest that this has anything to do with equality  is utterly absurd,”

spokesman Graham Smith said.

Tsk tsk, the ungrateful commoner!

The next Queen of Great Britain??

Australian capital cities have ejected protestors from CBD sites.

The police, in overwhelming numbers, used force to eject and

arrest the peaceful protestors.

I was not involved in the protests, but I do support them.

I was not involved because I need not now seek out futile action.

What is the message of the protestors?

“Human need, not greed”, “people before profit”,

or some such thing.

Ah, good luck with that, because the rich and powerful, the so-called 1%, actually control the political

process, and we have become so corrupt as a society, that we cannot even rationally debate the issue, that we can’t

even tolerate a peaceful protest against any limit on greed. We have become addicted to greed, and like all addicts,

we’re sure that we don’t have a problem.

Such a society will not only fail, but it deserves to fail.

What the 1% need to ask themselves is: if no dialogue or discussion with dissenters is ever entered in to, if a peaceful

protest is always responded to by violence,

what options are then left to protestors?

In the future, the answer to this may well turn out to be more than just rhetorical.

Read Marcuse.

Smiling happy people opening a bottle or can of Coke. So carefree, all lithe and tanned and sexy, having so much fun,

a par-tee!

Damnit I thought, I want some of that . . .

I bought a can of Coke.

I was more nervous than when I first kissed a girl.

After all, I was going to

open happiness.

. . . .  when I took the can back to the woman behind the counter in the local shop, and said I wanted my money back

because I was no happier . . .

she said I was a moron, that she’d call the police, and chased me out of the shop with a broom! Tsk, tsk.

Wikipedia:

. . “ads create a hyper-real world where commodities appear as the key to securing happiness. Anti-

consumerists cite studies that find that individuals believe their quality of life improves in relation to social values

that lie outside the capability of the market place. Therefore, advertising attempts to equate the social with

the material by utilizing images and slogans to link commodities with the real sources of human happiness,

such as meaningful relationships. Ads are then a detriment to society because they tell consumers that

accumulating more and more possessions will bring them closer to self-actualization, or the concept of a complete

and secure being. “The underlying message is that owning these products will enhance our image and ensure our

popularity with others”.^[11]

Coke may rot your teeth.

It will rot your mind.

AND I WANT MY MONEY BACK.

Mary Kamukama who is leading the group says the government has not done enough to combat maternal mortality, yet the constitution provides for the right to life and the right to proper health care which the government should provide.

She says recent reports indicate 16 women die every day in Uganda while giving birth, a figure she says is unacceptable.

Kamukama says they want court to pronounce itself on the health and life rights provided in the constitution and compel the government to provide a basic maternal health care package in all health centres across the country so that pregnant women receive appropriate attendance.

She says the court will greatly help save the lives of women if it compels the government to invest more money in providing maternal health services in order to ensure the rights of pregnant women to life and good health are upheld.

(Source: weinformers.net).

Now I can’t say what the possibilities for success in this legal action are, but it raises a fundamental question:

What specifically do we want from a government?? What is it that we want government to be responsible for??

What is the basic expectation??

Here in Queensland, a state in Australia, a so-called First World country, more people die on hospital waiting lists

than do in car accidents!  If you get sick, and you don’t have medical insurance or the money, you are screwed mate. 

The state government has however allocated tens of millions of dollars to secure the next Commonwealth Games!

Spare me!

It behoves all citizens, in every country, to explicitly enter into such a debate, and for them to reach an

understanding as to a minimum expectation of service and responsibility  from government.

There’s much noise, (sort of) related to this issue , as in America, much abuse and obfuscation, but little, if any,

rational consideration (which is precisely what an opponent to this idea would want– gotta keep me making

 money,  gotta keep me in control!).

Make your voice heard!

I guess we can always keep doing what Indian authorities just did at their Commonwealth Games. Round up the

poor, the homeless, the beggars, and move them out of the Games areas! Er, nothing to see here . . .

Out of sight, out of mind, OUT OF THEIR FRIGGIN MINDS!

to Kyogle. Used my phone to take some pics. There’s some lovely country in South East Queensland/

Northern New South Wales, and lots of tight corners. It threatened to rain, but never quite did.

Unions have sharply criticised Qantas as the airline announced it had doubled its profits a week after it said it needed to lay off 1000 workers.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce reported a $249 million after-tax profit for 2010-11 — about twice what it earned the previous year. Its before tax profit amounted to more than $550 million, which is a rise of about 50% over the 2009-10 financial year.

On August 16, Qantas announced plans to restructure its business, which would include cutting up to 1000 Australian-based jobs.

Despite the doubling of its after-tax profits, Joyce claimed the job cuts were still needed because the result did not give Qantas’ shareholders a big-enough return on their investment.

PART 2: QANTAS EXECUTIVES AND DIRECTORS AWARD THEMSELVES LARGE PAY INCREASES.

TOP Qantas executives pocketed a $5 million increase in a year and the board almost doubled their directors’ fees.

The Transport Workers Union has compiled a dossier of executive and board member salaries and found

multi-million-dollar increases among top management.

“The pay packets of the Qantas executives and board members are climbing faster than any 747,”  TWU national

secretary Tony Sheldon said.

“They are also rising at a time when the share price is falling. The only job security they seem to care about is their own.”

The increases include:
* EIGHT most senior executives getting a pay rise of 62 per cent from $8.9 million last year to $14.4 million this year;

* FEES of the board going from $4 million to $7.9 million in the last four years, and totalling more than
$21 million in that period; and
* CEO, chairman, former CEO and former chief financial officer getting more than $52 million in the past four years.
The increase in executive pay was fuelled by the 71 per cent increase for CEO Alan Joyce, although this does include as yet unpaid bonuses based on him meeting targets

The new  executive packages comes in a year when the airline’s share price has fallen and it failed to declare a dividend. It is also less than a month since it announced it would axe 1000 jobs.

Union officials immediately latched on to bigger increase to claim management was rubbing salt in the wound.

“It’s hypocrisy of the first order for management to give themselves substantial pay rises when they’re about to sack 1000 Australian workers and offshore the airline to avoid Australian workplace laws and salaries,” the vice-president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Richard Woodward, said.

. . . . . . anyone else notice something not quite right here???

LESSON:

In this instance a company, but in general, conventional authority, by their conduct and decisions, clearly

do not care about saying, or more importantly, doing, the right thing, They act like they are gods.. . . . .

at least until they see Robespierre’s smile . . . hehehe