The recycling bin may no longer be full of discarded newspapers, but holy moley I'm chewing through some online reading...
Editions for the week ending:
Phew. That's it. Must keep on top of this a bit better...
Showing posts with label Ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethics. Show all posts
2 October 2012
What I've been reading and writing - a bit of a catch-up
This is a catch-up of my reading and writing lists as auto-compiled into e-zines by Paper.li. As usual, it is mostly for my own reference down the track, but maybe someone is interested.
5 July 2012
Asylum seekers - there is a better way to "stop the boats"
Most Australians have been disgusted by what they saw in Parliament House last week during the rushed asylum seeker debate. They've seen the Labor and Liberal Parties bickering over which off-shore processing solution is the best, tears shed, and Tony Abbott proclaiming "I just don't like it." Oh OK then...
This is a lengthy post sorry. But it is a complex issue and eight-second sound bites cannot do it justice.
The reality is that both ALP and Liberals have painted themselves into corners. John Howard served his political purposes of the day to sow fear and uncertainty around the whole issue of border protection. Then to get elected, Kevin Rudd painted himself the same as Howard in order to remove that point of difference (and several others). Many ALP and Rudd supporters went along with it, believing that once elected, Rudd's ethics would win through and he'd take a more humane approach. But Rudd locked himself into his own rhetoric - instead of being a leader and bringing a more educated community along with the need to change, he locked the off-shore solution in even firmer.
Julia Gillard had a chance to leverage her "good party that had lost its way" speech and make changes for the better. But she also adopted a "don't scare the horses" path to asylum seekers and other contentious issues - and she's being paying the price for her lack of leadership on these issues ever since.
30 January 2012
8 January 2012
What I've been reading and writing over the last fortnight- The Beach House Weekly Wrap
Via Paper.li, the usual summary of what I've been reading and writing over the last week.
And...it seems I forgot to post this last week, so here's the missed issue.
And...it seems I forgot to post this last week, so here's the missed issue.
26 December 2011
Some of what I've been reading and writing over the past week - The Beach House Weekly Wrap
Amazing what you get through in a single week. This auto-generated summary always intrigues me.
It can also be funny seeing what categories the Paper.Li thingo puts articles under - Exhibit1: a gay rights article under "Leisure"!
Enjoy The Beach House Weekly Wrap as at 24 December 2012.
It can also be funny seeing what categories the Paper.Li thingo puts articles under - Exhibit1: a gay rights article under "Leisure"!
Enjoy The Beach House Weekly Wrap as at 24 December 2012.
10 December 2011
Pokies cost Canberra residents $179m in just 2010-11. And all those community grants in the ads? $11.743m
That's more than $600 lost for every adult in the ACT, from a turnover of almost $1 billion.
But of course a lot of ACT adults don't go anywhere near them, so the losses for those who do are far higher. For "problem gamblers" a much much higher price is paid.
The ACT has just shy of 5000 pokie machines. Or around one "one-armed bandit" for every 60 adults.
We've all seen the glossy ads on the tele about "our clubs" and how wonderful they are at returning their winnings to the community through grants to groups like sports clubs. The reality is that ACT clubs returned less than $12 million to the community - which was a reduction of 11% on the previous year - despite a $6 million increase in club winnings.
And some of those "grants" were dodgy to boot. Unbelievably, the Eastlake Group tried to write off the $5.2 million they paid for the Kaleen Sports Club as a "community contribution". And to cap it off, according to the Chief Executive of the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission Greg Jones, they won't be penalised in any way for trying to pull this massive theft from the community! He says such illegitimate claims are simply rejected and that's that!
What more evidence do you need that the ACT Government is addicted to pokies? It is run by the Labor Party who reap such a huge share of that $179 million through their Labor Clubs.
But of course a lot of ACT adults don't go anywhere near them, so the losses for those who do are far higher. For "problem gamblers" a much much higher price is paid.
The ACT has just shy of 5000 pokie machines. Or around one "one-armed bandit" for every 60 adults.
We've all seen the glossy ads on the tele about "our clubs" and how wonderful they are at returning their winnings to the community through grants to groups like sports clubs. The reality is that ACT clubs returned less than $12 million to the community - which was a reduction of 11% on the previous year - despite a $6 million increase in club winnings.
And some of those "grants" were dodgy to boot. Unbelievably, the Eastlake Group tried to write off the $5.2 million they paid for the Kaleen Sports Club as a "community contribution". And to cap it off, according to the Chief Executive of the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission Greg Jones, they won't be penalised in any way for trying to pull this massive theft from the community! He says such illegitimate claims are simply rejected and that's that!
What more evidence do you need that the ACT Government is addicted to pokies? It is run by the Labor Party who reap such a huge share of that $179 million through their Labor Clubs.
19 November 2011
Disgusting dairy farm practices just to keep the milk flowing
Pretty horrifying revelations in this Bush Telegraph podcast from ABC Radio National.
It reveals the widespread practice of inducing pregnant dairy cows a month early, and killing the newborn calves, just to get the cows back into the bails and producing milk quicker.
It also reveals that some farmers are bringing on two calves a year from the one cow to keep them milking, with the calves butchered within days of birth.
Makes you think twice about those $1 a litre milk "bargains" at Coles and Woolworths, and buying lean "veal" doesn't it?
It reveals the widespread practice of inducing pregnant dairy cows a month early, and killing the newborn calves, just to get the cows back into the bails and producing milk quicker.
It also reveals that some farmers are bringing on two calves a year from the one cow to keep them milking, with the calves butchered within days of birth.
Makes you think twice about those $1 a litre milk "bargains" at Coles and Woolworths, and buying lean "veal" doesn't it?
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