Hello and welcome to the blog...and to our friends in the USofA, France, Syria, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, etc...no need to worry anymore because Australia's unelected Foreign Minister Bob 'Uncle Bobo' Carr is on the way...and he's bound to have just the right Classics reference to sort everything out...and failing that he can just do late night impromptu 'stand over' press conferences like he did with Indonesia's Foreign Minister Mr Natalegawa.
We (Australia) are about to take up the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council...(next week I believe-Ed)...well believed Ed because that is correct, and Uncle Bobo has rushed over there to offer his profound wisdom on how the world should be run...of course he doesn't need to worry about our quaint little local Federal election because he's 'safe' within the Labor party structure...
Remember that Uncle Bobo was not duly elected but appointed by Julia Gillard and Co from outside parliament utilising their Senate vote distributions in New South Wales...and can you imagine Hezbollah or Hamas or Syria's President Assad or any of these people giving a damn what he or anybody else from Australia has to say about their politics...to all of these peoples we are an ally of America and our 'opinion' is Americas' opinion...(even we know that-Ed)...well, yes we do...that's why we just wrote it...
Not a word of a lie, I was given to a wry smile when, after posting yesterday my official complaint to the Ombudsman re Mt Gambier City Council, I read that there are to be tough new laws re Councils and their behaviour and that this will fall under the auspices of the Ombudsman.
It is a complete coincidence that I lodged my complaint on the same day
that the alleged Independent Commission Against Corruption commenced,
and that these new Code of Conduct provisions are announced...honest...
To quote The Advertiser newspaper Monday 2nd September 2013;
"It will replace dozens of different codes of conduct used by Councils across the state and
allows the elevation of serious misconduct claims and unresolved internal disputes to the
Ombudsman...(and) sets out behavioural standards for Councillors, including that they act
with "honesty" and "generate community trust" in local government."
This follows on from the recent announcement of, and calls for submissions to, an Inquiry into Development legislation and Conflict of Interests within Planning law and bureaucracies, eg, local Councils....(I'll check those details and post Tomorrow).
Can't help wondering how either of these affects (or even produces any action on) the Rann/Weatherill Labor government's wholly self-focused awarding of the Adelaide Oval Redevelopment contract to Baulderstones...(following of course the wholly Adelaide focused sale of the South East Forestry Estate to pay for the bloody oval-Ed)...well, quite...
The Auditor General Simon O'Neil has made several very specific criticisms of the contract process about circumventing of appropriate scrutiny criteria and the acceptance of Baulderstones' 'cheapest, quickest' Tender apparently without consideration of other Tenders..and the apparent obvious motivation that is being cited is the March 2014 state election where the 'newly completed' Oval will be relentlessly spruiked as a positive achievement of the Labor government...(go on-Ed)...ta'...bollocks...
But I digress...the burning issues...(ooo, is this about your rash?-Ed)...oh hilarious, and no readers I do not have a rash...although I have been accused of behaving in said manner...(whaaa?-Ed)...rashly...
Bio-Energy: I am not in anyway an expert on Forestry or Energy Production, but I've got a fair idea where we're headed with the focus on a proposed Bio-Energy facility at Tarpeena or thereabouts...paying what's left of the local milling industry for their waste products, to then burn that waste for electricity.
The term Bio-Energy is exactly the same sort of pseudo-scientific linguistic manipulation of the truth as seen with Wind Turbine Industrial Estates being described as 'Farms'...throw 'Bio' into the name and it becomes all organic and earthy...(not unlike bullshit-Ed)...nice...
And I would suggest that this 'income stream' for those who now control the log supply will drive the decision process in support of the Bio-Energy option, rather than it being arrived at as the most efficient method of generation.
I also suggest, again, that City Council's decision to purchase a $300,000+ 'Bio-mass Furnace' to heat the part-time city pool is entirely about whom that sawdust fuel will be purchased from, and not a decision based on efficacy or efficiency or environment.
And also again, we as a region are headed toward an economy of minimal timber-based manufacturing and rather the wholesale exporting of logs via Portland...and then paying for the residue and waste to be burned to produce electricity.
All due respect to those whom locally support Green aspirations and/or the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, but I completely reject assertions that funding for the proposed massive Bio-Energy project at Tarpeena by the CEFC is in anyway a good thing...
The CEFC is a perpetual rort set up by Federal Labor to 1) garner the Greens support Labor needed to govern, and 2) direct taxpayers money into uneconomic projects that the market won't support, and 3) force Labor/Green objectives onto the impending Liberal government by furiously signing contracts now.
Bushfires: Nobody in Regional SA needs to be told of the potential problems coming out of a wonderfully wet Winter, via a warm Spring, into a long, hot Summer...these are all the conditions for promoting extensive growth which then becomes fuel load for bushfires.
City Council is to be congratulated for their actions in recognising the bushfire threat potential around and therefore to Mt Gambier, an issue that was brought into sharp focus with the Canberra fires a decade ago where fires took hold in adjacent farmland and/or Forest Estates before surging into Canberra suburbs and destroying many homes and taking several lives...
(Hang on...did you just congratulate Council for something?-Ed)...yeah...(but don't you hate them and just gouge and abuse?-Ed)...I dislike several of them, yes, and where appropriate, yes, indeed I do gouge and abuse, but I am always trying to be balanced and appropriate...(fair enough-Ed)...
But I am disappointed...(ah, that's better-Ed)...that they seem to have 'minimised' the one most likely area for a large fire to enter the suburbs, namely out here on the North East corner of Mt Gambier...(in Crappoville I believe it's called-Ed)...well yes, if you're a gutless, anonymous, 'Comment' writing stuffpig...
Prevailing weather conditions on the worst days, Catastrophic category days, usually mean strong winds from the North East coming down off the inland deserts...that makes the NE corner arguably the most critical point fire wise for Mt Gambier...and given this land is still largely in the Grant District Council area is also their responsibility...
Today's The Border Watch Tuesday 3rd September 2013, lists the areas that Council have identified all around Mt Gambier but doesn't seem to cover the NE corner specifically, only identifying nearby Attamurra Rd and Conroe Heights as being an issue.
All efforts must be made to liaise and negotiate to reduce the fuel load all around Mt Gambier...and I'd suggest that all concerned must look at the massive fuel load developing within the 'Crater Lakes Precinct' and address that as another immediate priority...there's a lot of cut timber lying around up there...
Here's to a long, cool, boring Summer...and support your local Country Fire Service Unit.
Tomorrow: Panning The Planned Planning Plan
Also, following the advice of Family First's Rob Brokenshire...(on the ABC Local Radio this morning) I encourage everyone to go onto the SA Health website to contest the proposed changes to PATS (the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme) that simply reduce the number of people who can even apply for the already grossly under-funded scheme, eg, 16c per kilometer, $30 per night, etc...refund rates that were set nearly 2 decades ago.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Official Complaint to Ombudsman re Mt Gambier City Council
Hello world...welcome to this short post and longish letter.
Please find attached my letter (dated today) to the Ombudsman and to SAPol re various issues raised in this blog about the extraordinary conduct of the City Council.
Whilst I don't have any faith that these matters will be appropriately addressed by the Ombudsman or SAPol, and at best are likely to be hand-balled to the highly secretive Independent Commission Against Corruption (that coincidentally starts today) where they will be buried for several years before quietly just 'going away', I had to do something...(any port in a storm?-Ed)...sort of, yes...
I will post any responses I get.
Tomorrow: Bio-Energy in the South East
This is just another 'burning' issue for SE SA...get it?...burning...they burn waste from forestry, etc...(hilarious-Ed)...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...laters...
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Please find attached my letter (dated today) to the Ombudsman and to SAPol re various issues raised in this blog about the extraordinary conduct of the City Council.
Whilst I don't have any faith that these matters will be appropriately addressed by the Ombudsman or SAPol, and at best are likely to be hand-balled to the highly secretive Independent Commission Against Corruption (that coincidentally starts today) where they will be buried for several years before quietly just 'going away', I had to do something...(any port in a storm?-Ed)...sort of, yes...
I will post any responses I get.
Tomorrow: Bio-Energy in the South East
This is just another 'burning' issue for SE SA...get it?...burning...they burn waste from forestry, etc...(hilarious-Ed)...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...laters...
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Dogs, Bogs, and Logs
Hello Israel, Peru, the USofA, and good ol' Australia...welcome to the blog and a Happy Fathers Day if you feel like celebrating it...I'm sure there are plenty who don't...fathers can be extremely problematic animals at the best of times...I should know, I am one...
And Channel 10 has just started a program 'Delivering the Pandas' from 2008/09 about the shreking pandas and the millions that Adelaide Zoo spent on their air-conditioned enclosure...and this from a zoo in many millions of dollars of debt..and we've got thousands homeless, etc...sometimes me thinks we have our priorities a little askew...it adds a new meaning to catering to every whim and want and need...(whaaa?-Ed)...pandering...(oh, that's just terrible...but they are delicious...dumb but delicious-Ed)...hey, you can't speak ill of the pandas...that's panda slander...
Quick Dog Tales: The first dog - the wolf, is making a comeback in North-West USofA, reversing the trend of species decline due to habitat destruction and competition from humans...(and hunting-Ed)...indeed...and wolf populations are pushing south from the Canadian border, through Washington state and even further by utilising remnant wilderness corridors...existing with and around humans.
There are also continuing efforts to return wolves to Scotland and other areas in Northern Europe where they are duly recognised as a critical part of a diverse and healthy ecosystem...hurrah...
Too Many Dogs - Not so great is the devastating effect that wild dogs are having on either side of the 5,000+km Dog Fence here in Oz...an explosion of dog numbers means that lambing season in particular has become a slaughter that threatens to drive sheep farming into extinction 'outside the fence'...literally...
And poor maintenance of the Dog Fence that runs from the Eyre Peninsula here in SA and right up through to Queensland, and minimal culling programs, means that the carnage has started to spread to 'this side' with the same potential results...the decimation of flocks to the point that the industry collapses...I love dogs, but I don't believe that they only target sheep and lambs and are in this context another 'bio-contaminant' like foxes, camels, cats, rats, etc, that we must take responsibility for...and that means culling...and fix the bloody fence...
Dog Down - Pulled up at the lights and my dog was lying down on the back seat rather than his usual snout out the open window, so I said "What's up knackers?", much to the surprise of the lady pulling up next to us who couldn't see him and clearly thought I was talking to her...I could see her eyebrows suddenly arch up above her sunglasses..."Just talking to the dog" say I as he duly stuck his head up and the lady laughed...hilarious...
Bogged Down: The wonderful wet weather we have been enjoying across the region has been not so fantastic for some, leading to some 'still' flooding events (ie, water lying in already saturated paddocks and hollows, etc, as opposed to rushing down catchments), and has brought into sharp focus some of the 're-zoning' approvals around the District Council of Grant...(and possibly Wattle Range Council)
Apparently there have been issues of 'flooding' at several sites already approved for 'Rural Living' near Pt McDonnell and Millicent, and some properties have been temporarily 'removed' from the market...(is that legal?-Ed)...what do you mean?...(well, even if you ignore the random and often nepotistic nature of many of these 're-zonings', is it actually legal to remove those properties from sale in this manner?...and will they be back on the market when the ground dries out a bit?-Ed)...and what if any disclosure requirements from the DC of Grant (and/or WRC) and/or developers to potential buyers re these flooding issues?...
And if these 're-zoning approval areas' are already being flooded, then what investigation has the DC of Grant (or WRC) done with all of these, and with the latest proposed 'Re-zonings' in the same areas, for what is clearly an ongoing problem?...particularly near the coast where the aquifer is usually within feet of the surface...
DC of Grant (or WRC) needs to publicly release all of the Hydrological studies that they have done re these recent and/or proposed 'Re-zonings' and developments...and are duly on notice that if they approve these developments and flooding and/or other water issues 'arise', then the Councils are liable for allowing those developments...this is not entirely dis-similar to issues of development in coastal areas relative to sea level rises and potential inundation.
Logs: Another The Border Watch front page Wednesday 28th August 2013 with a grinning Labor Minister (MP Tom Kenyon this time) and grinning mill owner Ian McDonnell, and some other poor fella dragged into the picture for one big, luscious, heavily orchestrated photo opportunity for the agenda I've outlined in previous posts...
Namely, that NF McDonnell and Sons is getting massively preferential treatment from the Rann/Weatherill Labor government to ensure that their mills success can be used against others companies that do fail because of the Forestry Sale...to make those companies look bad...please review previous posts for this 'Forestry Judas Goat Agenda'...
We are moving toward an economy of shipping out logs via Portland, and then paying some clown for all their waste from said logs, to then burn via some massively expensive and polluting 'Bio-Energy Plant' that will produce ludicrously expensive electricity...yay...you know it makes sense...
But what I find truly offensive about this latest pro-Labor propaganda on TBWs front page, is the blunt 'be grateful for the jobs' subtext in the same vein as the Gaol Expansion propaganda...'don't you worry your pretty little heads about all those associated problems, just be grateful for the jobs...there's a good peasant'...(viva la Revolution-Ed)...quite...
And as my gift for Fathers Day, this short post...(hurray-Ed)...that's your lot today...
Tomorrow: I'll think of something..probably Bio-Energy
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...happy Fathers Day and cheers...
And Channel 10 has just started a program 'Delivering the Pandas' from 2008/09 about the shreking pandas and the millions that Adelaide Zoo spent on their air-conditioned enclosure...and this from a zoo in many millions of dollars of debt..and we've got thousands homeless, etc...sometimes me thinks we have our priorities a little askew...it adds a new meaning to catering to every whim and want and need...(whaaa?-Ed)...pandering...(oh, that's just terrible...but they are delicious...dumb but delicious-Ed)...hey, you can't speak ill of the pandas...that's panda slander...
Quick Dog Tales: The first dog - the wolf, is making a comeback in North-West USofA, reversing the trend of species decline due to habitat destruction and competition from humans...(and hunting-Ed)...indeed...and wolf populations are pushing south from the Canadian border, through Washington state and even further by utilising remnant wilderness corridors...existing with and around humans.
There are also continuing efforts to return wolves to Scotland and other areas in Northern Europe where they are duly recognised as a critical part of a diverse and healthy ecosystem...hurrah...
Too Many Dogs - Not so great is the devastating effect that wild dogs are having on either side of the 5,000+km Dog Fence here in Oz...an explosion of dog numbers means that lambing season in particular has become a slaughter that threatens to drive sheep farming into extinction 'outside the fence'...literally...
And poor maintenance of the Dog Fence that runs from the Eyre Peninsula here in SA and right up through to Queensland, and minimal culling programs, means that the carnage has started to spread to 'this side' with the same potential results...the decimation of flocks to the point that the industry collapses...I love dogs, but I don't believe that they only target sheep and lambs and are in this context another 'bio-contaminant' like foxes, camels, cats, rats, etc, that we must take responsibility for...and that means culling...and fix the bloody fence...
Dog Down - Pulled up at the lights and my dog was lying down on the back seat rather than his usual snout out the open window, so I said "What's up knackers?", much to the surprise of the lady pulling up next to us who couldn't see him and clearly thought I was talking to her...I could see her eyebrows suddenly arch up above her sunglasses..."Just talking to the dog" say I as he duly stuck his head up and the lady laughed...hilarious...
Bogged Down: The wonderful wet weather we have been enjoying across the region has been not so fantastic for some, leading to some 'still' flooding events (ie, water lying in already saturated paddocks and hollows, etc, as opposed to rushing down catchments), and has brought into sharp focus some of the 're-zoning' approvals around the District Council of Grant...(and possibly Wattle Range Council)
Apparently there have been issues of 'flooding' at several sites already approved for 'Rural Living' near Pt McDonnell and Millicent, and some properties have been temporarily 'removed' from the market...(is that legal?-Ed)...what do you mean?...(well, even if you ignore the random and often nepotistic nature of many of these 're-zonings', is it actually legal to remove those properties from sale in this manner?...and will they be back on the market when the ground dries out a bit?-Ed)...and what if any disclosure requirements from the DC of Grant (and/or WRC) and/or developers to potential buyers re these flooding issues?...
And if these 're-zoning approval areas' are already being flooded, then what investigation has the DC of Grant (or WRC) done with all of these, and with the latest proposed 'Re-zonings' in the same areas, for what is clearly an ongoing problem?...particularly near the coast where the aquifer is usually within feet of the surface...
DC of Grant (or WRC) needs to publicly release all of the Hydrological studies that they have done re these recent and/or proposed 'Re-zonings' and developments...and are duly on notice that if they approve these developments and flooding and/or other water issues 'arise', then the Councils are liable for allowing those developments...this is not entirely dis-similar to issues of development in coastal areas relative to sea level rises and potential inundation.
Logs: Another The Border Watch front page Wednesday 28th August 2013 with a grinning Labor Minister (MP Tom Kenyon this time) and grinning mill owner Ian McDonnell, and some other poor fella dragged into the picture for one big, luscious, heavily orchestrated photo opportunity for the agenda I've outlined in previous posts...
Namely, that NF McDonnell and Sons is getting massively preferential treatment from the Rann/Weatherill Labor government to ensure that their mills success can be used against others companies that do fail because of the Forestry Sale...to make those companies look bad...please review previous posts for this 'Forestry Judas Goat Agenda'...
We are moving toward an economy of shipping out logs via Portland, and then paying some clown for all their waste from said logs, to then burn via some massively expensive and polluting 'Bio-Energy Plant' that will produce ludicrously expensive electricity...yay...you know it makes sense...
But what I find truly offensive about this latest pro-Labor propaganda on TBWs front page, is the blunt 'be grateful for the jobs' subtext in the same vein as the Gaol Expansion propaganda...'don't you worry your pretty little heads about all those associated problems, just be grateful for the jobs...there's a good peasant'...(viva la Revolution-Ed)...quite...
And as my gift for Fathers Day, this short post...(hurray-Ed)...that's your lot today...
Tomorrow: I'll think of something..probably Bio-Energy
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...happy Fathers Day and cheers...
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Pools, Mills, and Automobiles
Hello Pakistan, South Korea, Romania, and the UK...greetings and salutations...and other welcomings to this here blog, and a fairly revisionary post that is moving forward whilst going nowhere...but first, a joke.
What did the Homo Sapien say to the Cro Magnon?...I have nothing to declare but my Genus...(I know that's not strictly accurate 'nomenclature wise', but at least I'm trying)...
City Council has again been using It's newsletter The Border Watch to spew It's rank hypocrisy into the Universe about It's abject failure re the Covered Pool Issue, Parking Tickets, Pavers, etc...and I know I've been through all this before, but this is what's happening...again...
TBW Thursday 29th August 2013 has Sandra Morello writing: Indoor aquatic centre on hold - Council puts potential Mount Gambier development on budget backburner (copy attached)...where Councillors Merv White and Andrew Lee trot out the same old lies and reverse justifications as to why Council has yet again refused to address and resolve the pool issue, and has dumped even talking about it for at least 5 years...
And Cr White goes within a hair's breadth of admitting that the Main Corner was a cockup, stating that Council decided to proceed with the project and to then figure out how to pay for it.
It is irrefutable that;
1) successive Councils have repeatedly ignored the Pool Issue across decades, and;
2) that this specific Council has burned multiple millions on pointless, grossly expensive projects like paying a fortune to buy the Old Hospital, the Main Corner, the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter, the Bloody Paving, etc, and;
3) Council repeatedly uses the 'it won't pay for it's own running costs' justification, which is an extraordinary hypocrisy that is massively amplified by the concurrent excuse that 'Council is already forking out nearly $2.5million per year to run the Library and Main Corner'...
'We can't afford to build the Pool and/or run it because we spent all the money on the Main Corner/Library, without any business plan, which therefore cost a fortune to run with no foreseeable return...but the Pool has to justify itself'...absolute bollocks...(I note that you have somewhat tidied up your language and general sense of fury and seething personal loathing, name calling, etc-Ed)...don't count on it lasting...(I won't-Ed)...
Council trots out the exact same issues to justify not doing the Pool that they completely ignored with the Main Corner and Library...and then say the massive and escalating 'running costs' that they have burdened Mt Gambier with is yet further reason that the Pool cannot proceed...did I mention bollocks?
Then in TBW Friday 30th August 2013 Graham Greenwood brings it all home with his latest pro-Council classic 'Running costs are crucial in deciding fate of any new facility' where he engages in the exact hypocrisy that Council does in excusing Council's failures re the pool by carefully explaining just how badly Council has handled the Main Corner and Library projects and the debt this has placed on Mt Gambier.
All nicely rounded out with trying to shift the blame onto ratepayers and yet more and repeated threats about rate rises..."next time...the first question ratepayers should ask councillors is "how much extra will I permanently have to pay on my rates?"...just how deep they need to dig into their pockets..."
Council listens to no-one other than it's constituent members, their families, and their mates...and if you speak out about Council's actions you are either ignored or viciously attacked...and often both...ignored at first then attacked if you persist...
And the questions continue 'who is getting payed for all those pavers'...which appear to be already badly stained in places and are being laid broken and chipped...(are these 'seconds' that have been damaged in storage/production?-Ed)....possibly...the entire project is an inane, insane waste of money that does look like an excuse to pay someone for their damaged, unsaleable stock of ugly pavers.
Is Council planning to rip up all of the new pavers in front of the Old Town Hall? And what happened to their very expensive 'fly through' animation that showed the entire section from Bay Rd to Ferrers St as footpath with no parking at all?
Also, while we're on the Pavers, a sadly hilarious topical anecdote...which senior executive of a national company was taken to lunch down the Main Street this week and commented to their hosts that it was 'great to see Council replacing those ugly grey pavers with the red ones'...oops...a brief explanation and a moments observation had the exec enlightened and duly dumbfounded...'they're ugly and because they're so big they'll move', etc...that's over $1million worth of ugliness...(and movement-Ed)...
Because there are the two attached articles and this is getting too long, I'll do...
Tomorrow: PMandA Part II
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...avagoodweekend...laters...
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What did the Homo Sapien say to the Cro Magnon?...I have nothing to declare but my Genus...(I know that's not strictly accurate 'nomenclature wise', but at least I'm trying)...
City Council has again been using It's newsletter The Border Watch to spew It's rank hypocrisy into the Universe about It's abject failure re the Covered Pool Issue, Parking Tickets, Pavers, etc...and I know I've been through all this before, but this is what's happening...again...
TBW Thursday 29th August 2013 has Sandra Morello writing: Indoor aquatic centre on hold - Council puts potential Mount Gambier development on budget backburner (copy attached)...where Councillors Merv White and Andrew Lee trot out the same old lies and reverse justifications as to why Council has yet again refused to address and resolve the pool issue, and has dumped even talking about it for at least 5 years...
And Cr White goes within a hair's breadth of admitting that the Main Corner was a cockup, stating that Council decided to proceed with the project and to then figure out how to pay for it.
It is irrefutable that;
1) successive Councils have repeatedly ignored the Pool Issue across decades, and;
2) that this specific Council has burned multiple millions on pointless, grossly expensive projects like paying a fortune to buy the Old Hospital, the Main Corner, the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter, the Bloody Paving, etc, and;
3) Council repeatedly uses the 'it won't pay for it's own running costs' justification, which is an extraordinary hypocrisy that is massively amplified by the concurrent excuse that 'Council is already forking out nearly $2.5million per year to run the Library and Main Corner'...
'We can't afford to build the Pool and/or run it because we spent all the money on the Main Corner/Library, without any business plan, which therefore cost a fortune to run with no foreseeable return...but the Pool has to justify itself'...absolute bollocks...(I note that you have somewhat tidied up your language and general sense of fury and seething personal loathing, name calling, etc-Ed)...don't count on it lasting...(I won't-Ed)...
Council trots out the exact same issues to justify not doing the Pool that they completely ignored with the Main Corner and Library...and then say the massive and escalating 'running costs' that they have burdened Mt Gambier with is yet further reason that the Pool cannot proceed...did I mention bollocks?
Then in TBW Friday 30th August 2013 Graham Greenwood brings it all home with his latest pro-Council classic 'Running costs are crucial in deciding fate of any new facility' where he engages in the exact hypocrisy that Council does in excusing Council's failures re the pool by carefully explaining just how badly Council has handled the Main Corner and Library projects and the debt this has placed on Mt Gambier.
All nicely rounded out with trying to shift the blame onto ratepayers and yet more and repeated threats about rate rises..."next time...the first question ratepayers should ask councillors is "how much extra will I permanently have to pay on my rates?"...just how deep they need to dig into their pockets..."
Council listens to no-one other than it's constituent members, their families, and their mates...and if you speak out about Council's actions you are either ignored or viciously attacked...and often both...ignored at first then attacked if you persist...
And the questions continue 'who is getting payed for all those pavers'...which appear to be already badly stained in places and are being laid broken and chipped...(are these 'seconds' that have been damaged in storage/production?-Ed)....possibly...the entire project is an inane, insane waste of money that does look like an excuse to pay someone for their damaged, unsaleable stock of ugly pavers.
Is Council planning to rip up all of the new pavers in front of the Old Town Hall? And what happened to their very expensive 'fly through' animation that showed the entire section from Bay Rd to Ferrers St as footpath with no parking at all?
Also, while we're on the Pavers, a sadly hilarious topical anecdote...which senior executive of a national company was taken to lunch down the Main Street this week and commented to their hosts that it was 'great to see Council replacing those ugly grey pavers with the red ones'...oops...a brief explanation and a moments observation had the exec enlightened and duly dumbfounded...'they're ugly and because they're so big they'll move', etc...that's over $1million worth of ugliness...(and movement-Ed)...
Because there are the two attached articles and this is getting too long, I'll do...
Tomorrow: PMandA Part II
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...avagoodweekend...laters...
Friday, August 30, 2013
Sport As News and Positive Drug Use
Hello Italy, France, China, and Germany...welcome to the blog...'Sport as News' is something that some-one mentioned to me as part of another conversation, and it immediately leaped at me as something I had been aware of but didn't recognise for what it was...(apart from annoying-Ed)...exactly, so some other stuff first...
The Agony and The Ecstasy: Fascinating program on ABC about using Ecstasy (MDMA- Methyl Di-oxy Methamphetamine-I think?) to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in USofA soldiers returning from Afghanistan. Basically, the idea is to address the specific issues that induce PTSD whilst 'under the influence' which allows for those memories and resultant feelings to be tackled head on in a context that offers a buffer against future 'remembering'.
By utilising *the massive Serotonin production and resultant rush and sense of euphoria brought on by Ecstasy*, therapists can discuss a soldiers experiences whilst they are 'happy', meaning that when those memories and feelings re-occur they are far less likely to have the same depressive effect as prior to treatment...the Ecstasy allows soldiers/patients to 'confront' and therefore 'disempower' their traumas whilst in a 'good mood' in a controlled environment...and could have similar applications for child abuse victims, road accident survivors, etc...anyone with PTSD.
*(Possibly why people take it 'recreationally'?-Ed)..the question that is the answer...excellent...*
This medicinal application has met the usual opposition and demonisation from close-minded critics who can't move past their personal prejudices to consider the positives...a drug is a drug is a bad thing...the same thing happens with discussions about medical applications of Marijuana, eg, as a 'symptomatic' treatment for the side-effects of Cancer therapies like Chemotherapy, eg, nausea and appetite loss...drop the bias and consider the patient's best interests.
As per previous post, when I did Chemotherapy it was suggested by a senior clinician that I consider taking marijuana because of it's well recognised benefits, and she stated outright that as a junior nurse (back in the 70's/80's) some staff were bringing it into the hospital for Cancer patients to take, and that the senior staff, doctors, etc, knew and unofficially encouraged by not stopping...(whaaa?-Ed)...they knowingly let it happen therefore indicating support...which segues beautifully into...
I've Used Steroids: I occasionally drop this joke on people along the lines of 'back in 2004/05 I did some very hard drugs' and/or 'I've done steroids', referring of course to Chemo...(hilarious...not-Ed)...yeah, you have to pick your audience fairly carefully...(really?-Ed)...fortunately, once you've had Cancer you're allowed to joke about it...(fair enough-Ed)...
The day after each of my 8 Chemotherapy treatments (CHOP) in August 2004 through February 2005, I had a big bright blue injection of pegfilgrastim (a 'steroid') to 're-boot' and/or boost white blood cell and lymphocyte production that was hammered by the Chemo...end of joke...and another positive application of an otherwise maligned drug...(isn't alcohol a drug?-Ed)...absolutely...(and doesn't it also have specific medical applications?-Ed)...again, yes...
Minister For Cities: Prime Minister Rudd is apparently considering introducing this new raft of bureaucracy...and about time, because I've always said that in South Australia there's not enough focus on Adelaide...(sarcasm?-Ed)...yes, the Sar Chasm...that gaping abyss between the reality of Adelaide's self-absorbed obsession with itself and what everyone else in the state experiences...which segues unfortunately into...
Patient Assistance Transport Scheme: Health Minister Jack 'The Rat' Snelling is going to adjust the eligibility criteria so that less people...(less?-Ed)...yes, so less people can access the unchanged funding pool...that is, not more money for country patients who have to travel to Adelaide for treatment, or, for example, to Mt Gambier for child-birth or even just an appointment.
Jack Snelling states that the criteria will be moved from 100kms travel to 150kms to deliberately 'disallow' more people and therefore free up the current funding to be spent on less people...and according to Jack that fixes the problem by making the PATS more equitable...absolute bullshit from a Rann/Weatherill Labor government that has written off Regional SA.
Please refer previous post re the Privatisation of SA Health...that's where all the money is going...and the new Ambulance Station has stalled due to 'soil issues' and is predicted to open about the time of the March 2014 election, which will coincidentally provide MP Don Pegler the opportunity to spruik it as one of 'his achievements'...and the 2011 $27million Hospital Expansion still hasn't been organised with the buildings owner...so that's all moving ahead nicely...
And onto the issue of Sport as News...and why this is happening and why it's a concern...(yes, I agree that it is happening, but why?-Ed)...in a word, 'Distraction'...distraction from (and 'dumbing down' of) the entire news cycle...I don't have a problem with the rear 1/4 of a paper or news service being dedicated to sport because sport is a major part of our societal structure, but enough is enough and everything in it's place...
Sports results and relevant 'news' gets all the coverage they need without being dragged onto the front page in place of more worthy issues, eg, Foreign Land Ownership, Mental Health Issues...(but I don't have a problem with the occasional Commemorative Grand Final covers and that sort of thing-Ed)...no, absolutely, sport is an important social issue often to be celebrated, but it should not replace news.
Recently The Border Watch ran many stories and/or front pages re local horse races, and whilst that is an important issue for many people, there are many other issues they could have dedicated that column space too...for example, say, the DeBelle Inquiry and Federal Royal Commission and how the Child Abuse Cover-up at St Martins Lutheran School show these to be empty rhetoric...(I knew you could get that in there somehow-Ed)...well, it's the Elephant shaped room full of Elephant shaped furniture covered in Elephant hide, all pushed to the walls by a ceiling-high pile of rotting Elephant carcasses...(carci?...the plural of carcass?-Ed)...
As per previous post, TBW does excellent work in extensively covering women's sports, but all of this can stay 'at the rear' with the footy and the geegees and the dishlickers, etc...and keep the news pages for the actual news.
Anyhoos...in my opinion, there is a concerted effort to counter the proliferation of 'Social Media News Sites' and the resultant dissemination of unflattering news items by dragging the entire news cycle away from certain issues and deliberately creating outrage and expenditure of time and energy on relatively irrelevant issues...and sport is very convenient...it's always happening somewhere.
Even this morning, ABC News 24 and ABC 1 were repeatedly running sections of a long interview/story about the Peptides issue in the NRL (Rugby League) and banning of a player for use and/or dealing of these apparently restricted 'Performance Enhancing Drugs'...and other media also are covering it extensively...and of course the Essendon 'Crisis' dominates all...
Also, most of the discussion is about the 'cheating' aspects of the drug use and very little time is spent on the health issues of unmonitored drug use, particularly 'combination use' of various substances that are individually problematic and poorly understood...this was acknowledged, however, with the death of a Rugby League player (last year?) directly linked to his use of PEDs.
There is the 'Reverse Justification' idea that the AFL, NRL, etc, are forcing their sports into the mainstream news cycle to gain attention and self-promote...(I'm not sure that stories about drug misuse, salary cap rorting, pack rape, and other such niceties are really going to move your sport forward-Ed)...exactly...
But some say there is no such thing as bad publicity...(oh, don't start with the Oscar Wilde...you're going to do the Oscar Wilde aren't you?-Ed)...there is only one thing worse than being talked about...(dear god-Ed)...and that's not being talked about...thank you...
And never forget that sport is a multi-billion dollar industry that looks always to promote and protect it's own self-interests...but that's a whole 'nother post.
Tomorrow: Pools, Mills, and Automobiles
From flooding to funding, from ponds to funding, from potholes to...um...(funding?-Ed)..yeah, that'll do...
Confused?...yeah, so am I...so hopefully I'll have something figured out by tomorrow...hopefully...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
The Agony and The Ecstasy: Fascinating program on ABC about using Ecstasy (MDMA- Methyl Di-oxy Methamphetamine-I think?) to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in USofA soldiers returning from Afghanistan. Basically, the idea is to address the specific issues that induce PTSD whilst 'under the influence' which allows for those memories and resultant feelings to be tackled head on in a context that offers a buffer against future 'remembering'.
By utilising *the massive Serotonin production and resultant rush and sense of euphoria brought on by Ecstasy*, therapists can discuss a soldiers experiences whilst they are 'happy', meaning that when those memories and feelings re-occur they are far less likely to have the same depressive effect as prior to treatment...the Ecstasy allows soldiers/patients to 'confront' and therefore 'disempower' their traumas whilst in a 'good mood' in a controlled environment...and could have similar applications for child abuse victims, road accident survivors, etc...anyone with PTSD.
*(Possibly why people take it 'recreationally'?-Ed)..the question that is the answer...excellent...*
This medicinal application has met the usual opposition and demonisation from close-minded critics who can't move past their personal prejudices to consider the positives...a drug is a drug is a bad thing...the same thing happens with discussions about medical applications of Marijuana, eg, as a 'symptomatic' treatment for the side-effects of Cancer therapies like Chemotherapy, eg, nausea and appetite loss...drop the bias and consider the patient's best interests.
As per previous post, when I did Chemotherapy it was suggested by a senior clinician that I consider taking marijuana because of it's well recognised benefits, and she stated outright that as a junior nurse (back in the 70's/80's) some staff were bringing it into the hospital for Cancer patients to take, and that the senior staff, doctors, etc, knew and unofficially encouraged by not stopping...(whaaa?-Ed)...they knowingly let it happen therefore indicating support...which segues beautifully into...
I've Used Steroids: I occasionally drop this joke on people along the lines of 'back in 2004/05 I did some very hard drugs' and/or 'I've done steroids', referring of course to Chemo...(hilarious...not-Ed)...yeah, you have to pick your audience fairly carefully...(really?-Ed)...fortunately, once you've had Cancer you're allowed to joke about it...(fair enough-Ed)...
The day after each of my 8 Chemotherapy treatments (CHOP) in August 2004 through February 2005, I had a big bright blue injection of pegfilgrastim (a 'steroid') to 're-boot' and/or boost white blood cell and lymphocyte production that was hammered by the Chemo...end of joke...and another positive application of an otherwise maligned drug...(isn't alcohol a drug?-Ed)...absolutely...(and doesn't it also have specific medical applications?-Ed)...again, yes...
Minister For Cities: Prime Minister Rudd is apparently considering introducing this new raft of bureaucracy...and about time, because I've always said that in South Australia there's not enough focus on Adelaide...(sarcasm?-Ed)...yes, the Sar Chasm...that gaping abyss between the reality of Adelaide's self-absorbed obsession with itself and what everyone else in the state experiences...which segues unfortunately into...
Patient Assistance Transport Scheme: Health Minister Jack 'The Rat' Snelling is going to adjust the eligibility criteria so that less people...(less?-Ed)...yes, so less people can access the unchanged funding pool...that is, not more money for country patients who have to travel to Adelaide for treatment, or, for example, to Mt Gambier for child-birth or even just an appointment.
Jack Snelling states that the criteria will be moved from 100kms travel to 150kms to deliberately 'disallow' more people and therefore free up the current funding to be spent on less people...and according to Jack that fixes the problem by making the PATS more equitable...absolute bullshit from a Rann/Weatherill Labor government that has written off Regional SA.
Please refer previous post re the Privatisation of SA Health...that's where all the money is going...and the new Ambulance Station has stalled due to 'soil issues' and is predicted to open about the time of the March 2014 election, which will coincidentally provide MP Don Pegler the opportunity to spruik it as one of 'his achievements'...and the 2011 $27million Hospital Expansion still hasn't been organised with the buildings owner...so that's all moving ahead nicely...
And onto the issue of Sport as News...and why this is happening and why it's a concern...(yes, I agree that it is happening, but why?-Ed)...in a word, 'Distraction'...distraction from (and 'dumbing down' of) the entire news cycle...I don't have a problem with the rear 1/4 of a paper or news service being dedicated to sport because sport is a major part of our societal structure, but enough is enough and everything in it's place...
Sports results and relevant 'news' gets all the coverage they need without being dragged onto the front page in place of more worthy issues, eg, Foreign Land Ownership, Mental Health Issues...(but I don't have a problem with the occasional Commemorative Grand Final covers and that sort of thing-Ed)...no, absolutely, sport is an important social issue often to be celebrated, but it should not replace news.
Recently The Border Watch ran many stories and/or front pages re local horse races, and whilst that is an important issue for many people, there are many other issues they could have dedicated that column space too...for example, say, the DeBelle Inquiry and Federal Royal Commission and how the Child Abuse Cover-up at St Martins Lutheran School show these to be empty rhetoric...(I knew you could get that in there somehow-Ed)...well, it's the Elephant shaped room full of Elephant shaped furniture covered in Elephant hide, all pushed to the walls by a ceiling-high pile of rotting Elephant carcasses...(carci?...the plural of carcass?-Ed)...
As per previous post, TBW does excellent work in extensively covering women's sports, but all of this can stay 'at the rear' with the footy and the geegees and the dishlickers, etc...and keep the news pages for the actual news.
Anyhoos...in my opinion, there is a concerted effort to counter the proliferation of 'Social Media News Sites' and the resultant dissemination of unflattering news items by dragging the entire news cycle away from certain issues and deliberately creating outrage and expenditure of time and energy on relatively irrelevant issues...and sport is very convenient...it's always happening somewhere.
Even this morning, ABC News 24 and ABC 1 were repeatedly running sections of a long interview/story about the Peptides issue in the NRL (Rugby League) and banning of a player for use and/or dealing of these apparently restricted 'Performance Enhancing Drugs'...and other media also are covering it extensively...and of course the Essendon 'Crisis' dominates all...
Also, most of the discussion is about the 'cheating' aspects of the drug use and very little time is spent on the health issues of unmonitored drug use, particularly 'combination use' of various substances that are individually problematic and poorly understood...this was acknowledged, however, with the death of a Rugby League player (last year?) directly linked to his use of PEDs.
There is the 'Reverse Justification' idea that the AFL, NRL, etc, are forcing their sports into the mainstream news cycle to gain attention and self-promote...(I'm not sure that stories about drug misuse, salary cap rorting, pack rape, and other such niceties are really going to move your sport forward-Ed)...exactly...
But some say there is no such thing as bad publicity...(oh, don't start with the Oscar Wilde...you're going to do the Oscar Wilde aren't you?-Ed)...there is only one thing worse than being talked about...(dear god-Ed)...and that's not being talked about...thank you...
And never forget that sport is a multi-billion dollar industry that looks always to promote and protect it's own self-interests...but that's a whole 'nother post.
Tomorrow: Pools, Mills, and Automobiles
From flooding to funding, from ponds to funding, from potholes to...um...(funding?-Ed)..yeah, that'll do...
Confused?...yeah, so am I...so hopefully I'll have something figured out by tomorrow...hopefully...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Yet More Wind Turbine Spin
Hello world...welcome to the blog...two weeks into the 'official' election campaign and only 10 days to go to the actual vote...and I ain't Robinson Crusoe in struggling to give a damn...again during last night's debate I found myself 'drifting off' and even channel-surfing...
It's hugely problematic when you don't trust and/or believe what either Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd or opposition Liberal leader Tony Abbott have to say...Labor have a demonstrated capacity to lie about policy direction and/or implementation and to get things horribly wrong, eg, Budget and Surplus claims vs the realities...
And the Liberals have already flagged a 'Review Committee' whilst still not fully disclosing their costings and 'savings measures'...(which is code for Cuts, yeah?-Ed)...pretty much...and unfortunately can use Labor's erroneous Fiscal forecasts and policy announcement roller coaster to justify holding back...'we can't say until after the election and see the actual numbers'...
A Partial Correction and Full Apology: In a previous post I stated that Federal election candidates only get their Nomination deposits returned if they garner 4% of the primary vote, which is true, but there is also the allowance for 'Electoral Funding' once a candidate meets that 4% criteria, and this is calculated per first preference vote.
I originally thought that this 'Funding' only applied to formally elected members, but it does apply to all candidates as above...I apologise unreservedly for this unintentional error, and it makes no difference to my attempt to nominate because I never expected to receive even 4%, I was simply trying to be part of the Democratic process...(so much to learn-Ed)...indeed...
Which reminds me that I have still not received any response re my letters to the Electoral Commission.
Quick Notes: 1) Adelaide gets 5th behind Melbourne at no1 for world's most livable cities...but you know that doesn't consider the economic and social implications for the rest of the state...(and it wouldn't surprise me if they stood on North Tce to do their calculations-Ed)...
2) National's leader Warren Truss launches 'Fair Share Fund' of $1billion to be invested in Regional Australia plus $100m for research and Labor candidate for Barker Phil Golding says $1billion has already been invested by Federal Labor over recent years.
3) Uni SA states that it will increase services in Mt Gambier and other regions, but this could be mostly 'online', and TAFE continues to axe courses and jobs at their Mt Gambier campus, the most recent being Arts courses.
The Turbine Stuff: Rather than completely repeat previous posts re Wind Turbines, please review if unread...the issues remain the same...and have yet again been trotted out following windy conditions in South East SA, this time by the Conservation Council.
Mr Tim Kelly of the CC was on ABC Afternoon making extraordinary claims about energy production figures, electricity costs, etc, off the back of another report/press release/whatevs from the Clean Energy Council...(the CEC is a 'Renewable Energy' Industry lobby group, ie, officially pro-Turbine-Ed)...indeed...and Mr Kelly may be completely genuine in his intent, but his information is grossly biased and incorrect...
And this continues the pattern of behaviour where these organisations, developers, Labor government, etc, make outrageous unsupported statements and then furiously cross-reference each other as being factual and even scientific proof and/or support of their intensely biased pro-Turbine agenda...
Mr Kelly was gushingly congratulatory about the "record amounts" of electricity allegedly generated across SA during 'windy days in August', including "55% to 80%" of the states needs on certain days...but he neglected to mention how we generated our power on the several still, frosty nights that occurred in late July/early August...
This remains the fundamental and most critical failure of Turbines...they produce some energy when wind conditions are suitable, but if there is no wind...(or even if the wind is too strong-Ed)...less frequent but true...no wind means no production and that demands immediately available 100% Back-up Generation, eg, coal fired power stations, or as in Britain, huge banks of heavily subsidised diesel generators sitting idle until needed...
Liberal supporter 'shock-jock' Alan Jones is absolutely rabid about Turbines, frequently criticising them for a range of reasons, and while I don't particularly agree with his base motivations, eg, scepticism on 'Climate Change', his 'factual commentary' is fairly accurate...only days ago he cited the situation in SA where we have a coal-fired power station at Pt Augusta on permanent standby for when the wind stops.
Mr Jones didn't mention the 'Exporting/Importing Agenda' where we send electricity across to the Eastern states when windy, and then have to import Victorian coal-fired power station electricity when the wind stops, another aspect of the undeniable non-reliability of Wind generation...(and he also acknowledges this gross non-reliability with his own figures-Ed)...how so?...
(Well, when he says "55%" on some days and "up to 80%" on other days, he is specifically quantifying the daily, massive fluctuations in generation that are completely at the mercy of the weather, and that put a huge strain on distribution infrastructure with this 'Surge and Purge' generation, and also creates the demand for 'back-ups'-Ed)...well put sir...
Mr Kelly also failed to relate this "record" production to the increasing number of Turbines in SA...more Turbines more power... it ain't rocket science...
He then went on to claim that Turbines are the cheapest electricity available, which is just ludicrous...they receive massive taxpayer funded subsidies, we pay for their 'poles and wires' infrastructure, and SA currently has the second highest electricity prices on the planet...there are several reasons for this, eg, price gouging by generators and wholesalers, contractual obligations with Victoria, etc, but it is the reliance on Turbines that underpins most of the cost.
At one point he stated that SA already has 33% production from Turbines, but then said we need to work toward our 20/20 obligations (20% by 2020) and increase to 30% by 2030...I'm sorry, but I didn't follow this part at all...he seemed to be just throwing around 'factual numbers' but not in the relevant context and/or in conflict with each other...(he might have been confusing National and State figures and aspirations-Ed)...possibly, don't know...
What I found most concerning was his enthusiasm for "the next 30%" of generation that was directly linked to his (some one's) call for extensive Turbine development on the Eyre Peninsula...this would be a disaster...
This raises all the issues of 'remote generation' and associated losses through distribution, etc, and the most fundamental problems of increased reliance on 'part-time production' as above.
Again, this is only a small part of the problems with Turbines so please review my previous posts, and again I apologise for the error re 'Electoral Funding'.
Tomorrow: Drugs and Corruption in Sport
Increasingly sport has become part of the 'main stream' news cycle, and nothing drives that more than a bit of drugs, corruption, and/or other controversy...lovely...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
It's hugely problematic when you don't trust and/or believe what either Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd or opposition Liberal leader Tony Abbott have to say...Labor have a demonstrated capacity to lie about policy direction and/or implementation and to get things horribly wrong, eg, Budget and Surplus claims vs the realities...
And the Liberals have already flagged a 'Review Committee' whilst still not fully disclosing their costings and 'savings measures'...(which is code for Cuts, yeah?-Ed)...pretty much...and unfortunately can use Labor's erroneous Fiscal forecasts and policy announcement roller coaster to justify holding back...'we can't say until after the election and see the actual numbers'...
A Partial Correction and Full Apology: In a previous post I stated that Federal election candidates only get their Nomination deposits returned if they garner 4% of the primary vote, which is true, but there is also the allowance for 'Electoral Funding' once a candidate meets that 4% criteria, and this is calculated per first preference vote.
I originally thought that this 'Funding' only applied to formally elected members, but it does apply to all candidates as above...I apologise unreservedly for this unintentional error, and it makes no difference to my attempt to nominate because I never expected to receive even 4%, I was simply trying to be part of the Democratic process...(so much to learn-Ed)...indeed...
Which reminds me that I have still not received any response re my letters to the Electoral Commission.
Quick Notes: 1) Adelaide gets 5th behind Melbourne at no1 for world's most livable cities...but you know that doesn't consider the economic and social implications for the rest of the state...(and it wouldn't surprise me if they stood on North Tce to do their calculations-Ed)...
2) National's leader Warren Truss launches 'Fair Share Fund' of $1billion to be invested in Regional Australia plus $100m for research and Labor candidate for Barker Phil Golding says $1billion has already been invested by Federal Labor over recent years.
3) Uni SA states that it will increase services in Mt Gambier and other regions, but this could be mostly 'online', and TAFE continues to axe courses and jobs at their Mt Gambier campus, the most recent being Arts courses.
The Turbine Stuff: Rather than completely repeat previous posts re Wind Turbines, please review if unread...the issues remain the same...and have yet again been trotted out following windy conditions in South East SA, this time by the Conservation Council.
Mr Tim Kelly of the CC was on ABC Afternoon making extraordinary claims about energy production figures, electricity costs, etc, off the back of another report/press release/whatevs from the Clean Energy Council...(the CEC is a 'Renewable Energy' Industry lobby group, ie, officially pro-Turbine-Ed)...indeed...and Mr Kelly may be completely genuine in his intent, but his information is grossly biased and incorrect...
And this continues the pattern of behaviour where these organisations, developers, Labor government, etc, make outrageous unsupported statements and then furiously cross-reference each other as being factual and even scientific proof and/or support of their intensely biased pro-Turbine agenda...
Mr Kelly was gushingly congratulatory about the "record amounts" of electricity allegedly generated across SA during 'windy days in August', including "55% to 80%" of the states needs on certain days...but he neglected to mention how we generated our power on the several still, frosty nights that occurred in late July/early August...
This remains the fundamental and most critical failure of Turbines...they produce some energy when wind conditions are suitable, but if there is no wind...(or even if the wind is too strong-Ed)...less frequent but true...no wind means no production and that demands immediately available 100% Back-up Generation, eg, coal fired power stations, or as in Britain, huge banks of heavily subsidised diesel generators sitting idle until needed...
Liberal supporter 'shock-jock' Alan Jones is absolutely rabid about Turbines, frequently criticising them for a range of reasons, and while I don't particularly agree with his base motivations, eg, scepticism on 'Climate Change', his 'factual commentary' is fairly accurate...only days ago he cited the situation in SA where we have a coal-fired power station at Pt Augusta on permanent standby for when the wind stops.
Mr Jones didn't mention the 'Exporting/Importing Agenda' where we send electricity across to the Eastern states when windy, and then have to import Victorian coal-fired power station electricity when the wind stops, another aspect of the undeniable non-reliability of Wind generation...(and he also acknowledges this gross non-reliability with his own figures-Ed)...how so?...
(Well, when he says "55%" on some days and "up to 80%" on other days, he is specifically quantifying the daily, massive fluctuations in generation that are completely at the mercy of the weather, and that put a huge strain on distribution infrastructure with this 'Surge and Purge' generation, and also creates the demand for 'back-ups'-Ed)...well put sir...
Mr Kelly also failed to relate this "record" production to the increasing number of Turbines in SA...more Turbines more power... it ain't rocket science...
He then went on to claim that Turbines are the cheapest electricity available, which is just ludicrous...they receive massive taxpayer funded subsidies, we pay for their 'poles and wires' infrastructure, and SA currently has the second highest electricity prices on the planet...there are several reasons for this, eg, price gouging by generators and wholesalers, contractual obligations with Victoria, etc, but it is the reliance on Turbines that underpins most of the cost.
At one point he stated that SA already has 33% production from Turbines, but then said we need to work toward our 20/20 obligations (20% by 2020) and increase to 30% by 2030...I'm sorry, but I didn't follow this part at all...he seemed to be just throwing around 'factual numbers' but not in the relevant context and/or in conflict with each other...(he might have been confusing National and State figures and aspirations-Ed)...possibly, don't know...
What I found most concerning was his enthusiasm for "the next 30%" of generation that was directly linked to his (some one's) call for extensive Turbine development on the Eyre Peninsula...this would be a disaster...
This raises all the issues of 'remote generation' and associated losses through distribution, etc, and the most fundamental problems of increased reliance on 'part-time production' as above.
Again, this is only a small part of the problems with Turbines so please review my previous posts, and again I apologise for the error re 'Electoral Funding'.
Tomorrow: Drugs and Corruption in Sport
Increasingly sport has become part of the 'main stream' news cycle, and nothing drives that more than a bit of drugs, corruption, and/or other controversy...lovely...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Just Stuff and An Accurate Letter
Hello Switzerland, South Korea, and Romania...welcome to the blog...apologies for the self-indulgent, wallowing self-pity evident in some recent posts, but hopefully I have addressed the issue of my personal motivations for doing this blog...and thank you for putting up with me simpering dribblings...cheers y'all...(and apologies that this post isn't as advertised)...
Basically...I don't represent anyone or any group, nor do I receive any financial support other than the Disability Support Pension (for Agoraphobia, etc) which is in itself a self-perpetuating motivation for trying to be politically/socially active if not quite influential...(whaaa?-Ed)...I try to help the society that helps me, not least of all to assuage my own sense of guilt for being that burden...(ahh, come on big fella-Ed)...
And of course the personal motivations related to the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up (previous posts)...(yes,well...the more said about that the better-Ed)...
I was really pleased to run into an acquaintance whom I used to catch the bus with, and we were discussing the blog and that led to the 'Comments' about faking my Agoraphobia, etc, and they laughed and said 'just don't leave the house for 5 years'...and we shared a laugh that this is exactly the joke that I used in a previous post...(albeit you said 7 years-Ed)...indeed...
They were aware of my personal situation and some of the broader issues and were immediately critical of the anonymous 'Comments' in a witty and insightful manner...and we all love a bit of insightful wit...
I also enjoy insight sans wit...(insight for insight's sake-Ed)...exactly, and so to the excellent letter in The Border Watch Tuesday 27th August 2013 from a Ms Maree Thompson of Mt Gambier, 'Candidate's actions questioned' (attached....I've also left the letter re Parking Fines because it raises some relevant issues).
Whilst 'assuming' is sometimes problematic, it does not preclude 'hitting the nail on the head'...twice in fact...firstly, that it is totally inappropriate for Richard Sage to operate as both Grant District Council Mayor and an allegedly Independent candidate in the Federal election...and yes he has deliberately not put Barker on his posters so that he can use them again in the March 2014 state election...
What Ms Thompson hasn't specifically identified is that Mr Sage's refusal to stand down and the 'Barkerless' posters are indicators of the disingenuous nature of his involvement in the Federal contest...he is not running as a genuine candidate in the Federal election, he is at best setting himself up/being set up as another Labor stooge recruited from the Labor controlled and entirely compromised Grant District Council ahead of the 2014 state election...
This attempt to raise his profile for the state election has also been identified to me by others and I partly covered it in my post re 'Labor Announces Candidate'.
Some Things I Don't Understand:
1) People who are surprised that there are Drugs and/or Corruption in sport...where there's money and people you'll usually find both D and C...see Day After Tomorrow...
2) People who are surprised that Security Agencies, eg, the CIA (Criminal Intelligence Agency) monitor Interweb interactions, eg, emails, to gather information and try to prevent/intercept anti-social behaviours, eg, acts of 'terrorism'...
I know nothing about the Interweb, but I naturally assume that everything that goes between computers/servers/users can and will be monitored and most especially for these 'security reasons'...I have letters/emails from 10+ years ago that include a jumbled paragraph at the end with random words like 'nitrate' to deliberately trigger and clog-up the automated 'screening' programs being used by 'Security Services' at that time...
3) Giving millions more to Holden/GM to try and save some jobs in an industry that clearly cannot survive by itself, and particularly in the current political debate/climate where 'Free Trade' is the mantra and the altar and very nearly the deity...federal Labor's Free Trade obsession displays all the religious characteristics of having faith in an undefinable entity...
And the Weatherill state Labor government trots out 'saving the jobs' as an excuse to hand GM hundreds of millions of dollars, yet in the South East they sell off the local economy to fund the Adelaide Oval debacle...(you've been through all this before mate-Ed)...I know, but the sheer hypocrisy is just so demanding of attention...
And we went through this with Mitsubishi who were handed many millions of taxpayer dollars to protect jobs and then closed down their Lonsdale/Clovelly Pk factory anyway, and sold the equipment to the Chinese, who flew workers in to dismantle and remove the plant and ship it all back to China...
4) Tony Abbott's/the Liberal plan to pay people $6,000 to move to the Regions for employment (and $3,000 per child)...but for what jobs?...surely appropriate investment in agriculture, health services and other development to create those jobs would be the first step.
A laudable move, but it does not acknowledge the current reality where Labor governments have been reefing services and the associated jobs out of Regional South Australia, eg, the Shared Services, axing of Drug and Alcohol Services, Mental Health Services, the Forestry Sale, etc...
In case nobody noticed, Mt Gambier and District is going backwards at a rate of knots, and as per previous posts, I believe that this is as much a fiscal necessity as an ideological pursuit...Labor cannot afford to spend anything outside of Adelaide even if they were interested in supporting Regional SA.
5) Apparently passenger numbers are down at Mt Gambier Airport and the Grant District Council is going to do a survey to find out why...(because REX has a monopoly and their fares are so ridiculously high because they can...there you go...no need to do a survey now-Ed)...indeed, but GDC CEO Trevor Smart suggests there are other reasons that need to be investigated...
And the excuses include that 'it is more expensive due to a lower demand' which doesn't explain how REX can have cheaper fares on small routes where they have competitors...
Please refer previous post re the Weatherill governments financial support for AirAsia...if we as a state have undisclosed funds* to hand to an external airline to help them, then why don't we have money to subsidise Regional airfares and/or legislation to stop this 'monopoly rorting'?...(*Mr Weatherill has refused to disclose just how much taxpayers money has been handed to AirAsia under 'Commercial Confidentiality')...
Tomorrow: Wind Turbines Latest
Day After Tomorrow: Sport is the New News
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog and I'm still trying...(very-Ed)...many a true word spoken in jest...
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Basically...I don't represent anyone or any group, nor do I receive any financial support other than the Disability Support Pension (for Agoraphobia, etc) which is in itself a self-perpetuating motivation for trying to be politically/socially active if not quite influential...(whaaa?-Ed)...I try to help the society that helps me, not least of all to assuage my own sense of guilt for being that burden...(ahh, come on big fella-Ed)...
And of course the personal motivations related to the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up (previous posts)...(yes,well...the more said about that the better-Ed)...
I was really pleased to run into an acquaintance whom I used to catch the bus with, and we were discussing the blog and that led to the 'Comments' about faking my Agoraphobia, etc, and they laughed and said 'just don't leave the house for 5 years'...and we shared a laugh that this is exactly the joke that I used in a previous post...(albeit you said 7 years-Ed)...indeed...
They were aware of my personal situation and some of the broader issues and were immediately critical of the anonymous 'Comments' in a witty and insightful manner...and we all love a bit of insightful wit...
I also enjoy insight sans wit...(insight for insight's sake-Ed)...exactly, and so to the excellent letter in The Border Watch Tuesday 27th August 2013 from a Ms Maree Thompson of Mt Gambier, 'Candidate's actions questioned' (attached....I've also left the letter re Parking Fines because it raises some relevant issues).
Whilst 'assuming' is sometimes problematic, it does not preclude 'hitting the nail on the head'...twice in fact...firstly, that it is totally inappropriate for Richard Sage to operate as both Grant District Council Mayor and an allegedly Independent candidate in the Federal election...and yes he has deliberately not put Barker on his posters so that he can use them again in the March 2014 state election...
What Ms Thompson hasn't specifically identified is that Mr Sage's refusal to stand down and the 'Barkerless' posters are indicators of the disingenuous nature of his involvement in the Federal contest...he is not running as a genuine candidate in the Federal election, he is at best setting himself up/being set up as another Labor stooge recruited from the Labor controlled and entirely compromised Grant District Council ahead of the 2014 state election...
This attempt to raise his profile for the state election has also been identified to me by others and I partly covered it in my post re 'Labor Announces Candidate'.
Some Things I Don't Understand:
1) People who are surprised that there are Drugs and/or Corruption in sport...where there's money and people you'll usually find both D and C...see Day After Tomorrow...
2) People who are surprised that Security Agencies, eg, the CIA (Criminal Intelligence Agency) monitor Interweb interactions, eg, emails, to gather information and try to prevent/intercept anti-social behaviours, eg, acts of 'terrorism'...
I know nothing about the Interweb, but I naturally assume that everything that goes between computers/servers/users can and will be monitored and most especially for these 'security reasons'...I have letters/emails from 10+ years ago that include a jumbled paragraph at the end with random words like 'nitrate' to deliberately trigger and clog-up the automated 'screening' programs being used by 'Security Services' at that time...
3) Giving millions more to Holden/GM to try and save some jobs in an industry that clearly cannot survive by itself, and particularly in the current political debate/climate where 'Free Trade' is the mantra and the altar and very nearly the deity...federal Labor's Free Trade obsession displays all the religious characteristics of having faith in an undefinable entity...
And the Weatherill state Labor government trots out 'saving the jobs' as an excuse to hand GM hundreds of millions of dollars, yet in the South East they sell off the local economy to fund the Adelaide Oval debacle...(you've been through all this before mate-Ed)...I know, but the sheer hypocrisy is just so demanding of attention...
And we went through this with Mitsubishi who were handed many millions of taxpayer dollars to protect jobs and then closed down their Lonsdale/Clovelly Pk factory anyway, and sold the equipment to the Chinese, who flew workers in to dismantle and remove the plant and ship it all back to China...
4) Tony Abbott's/the Liberal plan to pay people $6,000 to move to the Regions for employment (and $3,000 per child)...but for what jobs?...surely appropriate investment in agriculture, health services and other development to create those jobs would be the first step.
A laudable move, but it does not acknowledge the current reality where Labor governments have been reefing services and the associated jobs out of Regional South Australia, eg, the Shared Services, axing of Drug and Alcohol Services, Mental Health Services, the Forestry Sale, etc...
In case nobody noticed, Mt Gambier and District is going backwards at a rate of knots, and as per previous posts, I believe that this is as much a fiscal necessity as an ideological pursuit...Labor cannot afford to spend anything outside of Adelaide even if they were interested in supporting Regional SA.
5) Apparently passenger numbers are down at Mt Gambier Airport and the Grant District Council is going to do a survey to find out why...(because REX has a monopoly and their fares are so ridiculously high because they can...there you go...no need to do a survey now-Ed)...indeed, but GDC CEO Trevor Smart suggests there are other reasons that need to be investigated...
And the excuses include that 'it is more expensive due to a lower demand' which doesn't explain how REX can have cheaper fares on small routes where they have competitors...
Please refer previous post re the Weatherill governments financial support for AirAsia...if we as a state have undisclosed funds* to hand to an external airline to help them, then why don't we have money to subsidise Regional airfares and/or legislation to stop this 'monopoly rorting'?...(*Mr Weatherill has refused to disclose just how much taxpayers money has been handed to AirAsia under 'Commercial Confidentiality')...
Tomorrow: Wind Turbines Latest
Day After Tomorrow: Sport is the New News
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog and I'm still trying...(very-Ed)...many a true word spoken in jest...
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