Until now the global warming debate has merely been an academic matter of little interest. Now that it matters, we should debate the causes of global warming.
So far that debate has just consisted of a simple sleight of hand: show evidence of global warming, and while the audience is stunned at the implications, simply assert that it is due to carbon emissions.
In the minds of the audience, the evidence that global warming has occurred becomes conflated with the alleged cause, and the audience hasn't noticed that the cause was merely asserted, not proved.
It's not an academic matter it's completely political for most. It's true, most people just believe stuff like "An Inconvenient Truth" automatically.
Like I said earlier, I don’t care who’s responsible for climate change, but I do care about pollution and oil supply, now. Regardless of climate change we are all in for a rude shock if we don’t change our reliance on Oil. We may not agree on the cause of climate change, but I think we all agree something needs to be done to develop and encourage the use of alternative fuels now, rather than later - Later will be too late!
I think we should all focus on what we do agree on and then take it from there.
Forgetful dads leave toddlers to die in cars By Adam Sage in Paris July 25, 2008 03:23am
Two toddlers die from heat in separate cases In both, their fathers forgot they were there Officials blame a huge 'mental lapse'
TWO toddlers died of heat exhaustion when their fathers forgot they were strapped in child seats in the back of their cars as they went to work.
Both cases involve middle-class men, described as devoted and loving parents, who appear to have experienced an inexplicable lapse of concentration, The Australian reports.
Prosecutors in eastern France said yesterday that a three-year-old girl had died from heat stroke and dehydration after spending the day locked in her father's vehicle in the car park at the factory where he had a managerial post.
Jean-Louis Chapuis, the regional director of public security, said: "The parents were very attached to their children and they are not a family which is in difficulty. There is no objective way of explaining this drama except to say that it was a huge moment of forgetfulness, a mental lapse."
The father in the latest incident, who has not been named, left home in the morning with Zoe, his daughter, in the baby seat in the rear of the car. Apparently unaware of her, he drove past the childminder where she spent three days a week, and continued on his way to work. He parked the car at 9am and walked into his office at Areva, the state nuclear operator.
At 4pm, the father got back into the car to fetch his five-year-old son from the town's nursery school - still apparently unaware that Zoe was in the baby seat. "He didn't even realise that the child was dead in the back of the car," a police source said.
The incident same seven days after a two-year-old boy died in similar circumstances in eastern France.
A passer-by found Yannis strapped into the baby seat in the family vehicle after being left for about three hours by Eric Allarousse, 38, his father. Mr Allarousse told detectives he had forgotten his son after witnessing a traffic accident after lunch on July 15.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24074284-5006003,00.html Honestly.... are these people so disconnected that they forget they strapped a child in the back of their car minutes before driving off from home? Goes to show how many times they checked on their tot in their mirror! It has happened in Australia alo so it's not just a French Dis-Connection!
The following story made me cry. Five children orphaned. Family loyalty and sacrifice. Both sad and hopeful. Bless all the children and their Aunt and Uncle. Very much a bad news/good news story.
Town's love for its orphaned five article: By Katherine Danks July 27, 2008 12:00am BETHANY, aged five and the youngest of the five orphaned Gauci children, leads the prayer for their parents when the candles are lit at night.
With her three sisters and brother, aged eight to 16, looking on, she clasps her hands together and addresses the pair of white candles used in her parents' funeral six weeks before.
"Thanks for being a good cook,'' she says, as she recalls her mum.
The story of the Gauci children has rallied the central western town of Gulgong, where their parents Chris and Julia moved to raise a family many years ago, and which has helped raise almost $100,000 for the children to stay in the community.
"We just want to keep living how we were living, even though everything is different,'' Cassandra, 16, says.
"We didn't want to go to Sydney, we wanted to stay up here in our home and our lifestyle; we did not want to leave.''
Cassandra was the last to see her father before he walked into the shed and killed himself with a single gunshot on June 9.
In the chaos of that public holiday Monday, the collective memory is hazy about the exact order of events, but aunt Marian Gauci, 51, said there is "no doubt'' about what happened to Julia.
The family believe that 45-year-old Chris, a full-time carer for Julia who suffered severe epilepsy, discovered his wife, 36, dead and, in his immediate grief, took his own life.
"She was his princess, he would carry her from the car if it was raining, he would do small things for her in the most beautiful way,'' Marian said.
Before he walked into the shed, Chris called an ambulance and family, including his mother and Julia's father, and spoke to his second-oldest daughter Tamara.
The post-mortem results from an autopsy on Julia's body are expected mid-August.
Marian and husband Dominic, Chris's brother, and who have two adult children of their own, moved from Sydney's Horsley Park to Gulgong to ensure that the children could stay on the family's farm.
"In the beginning they were more quiet because they were strangers to us,'' she said.
"I know them as my nieces and nephew and at parties and things we had conversations, but we have grown, it has been something that has built up over the last six weeks, we have bonded as a family.''
Cassandra, in Year 11 at Gulgong High School, is described as the "boss'' of the house. She wants to go to university and perhaps visit Malta, the country of her father's birth.
Tamara, 14, also a Gulgong High student, would like to one day work with animals, and 11-year-old Alexandria likes fashion and has the reputation as the model in the family.
Joshua, 8, and Bethany, attend All Hallows School.
A group of family friends has established a trust and money raised is divided between five accounts, which can be accessed when they turn 21, and medical, education and property expenses.
"I have always heard about small communities before and how they bond together, but I have never lived it before,'' Marian said.
Last week the Gauci girls returned to their dancing lessons after a brief break and Cassandra says the family are "as good as can be expected''.
"I just don't really want to think about it,'' Cassandra said. "I know it's there, but I just want to grow stronger and try to get past it. I just want to think of all the good things instead of the bad.
"I'm just overwhelmed with all of the support that we have got.
"I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts.''
Donations can be made to the Gauci children account at ANZ Bank. BSB: 012 740. ACC: 5242 04864
The following story made me cry. Five children orphaned. Family loyalty and sacrifice. Both sad and hopeful. Bless all the children and their Aunt and Uncle. Very much a bad news/good news story...
I agree, but...
The father was so wrong to have killed himself; so very, very selfish. People tell me I cannot possibly know what it is to be a parent. They say, "You don't have kids, you don't know; you'd do anything for them, anything to keep them safe." After reading this, my response to that comment and like comments, is, "Yeah right. He did everything for his kids!"
I totally agree. He was terribly wrong and selfish but he was obviously not thinking straight. No way am I excusing the father or what he did and nor should his family. In one day these children had lost their mother, from whatever cause and then he goes and commits suicide. There are more questions than answers here. Was he somehow responsible for his wife’s death? What happened to set off that chain of events? So many times when this kind of thing happens the ‘father’ kills some or all of the children, we can be thankful in this case he did not. As far as anyone telling you Paula that you do not understand something just because you are not a parent, that’s BS on their part Paula. You work with kids and you are empathetic and compassionate, you do understand what it’s like to be a parent. This father was NOT thinking of his children or the future with his children. Maybe it was murder-suicide?! I hope the children have long and happy lives with their Aunt and Uncle.
Truck drivers to strike for two weeks from midnight Ryan Heffernan and Brett Judge July 27, 2008 12:00am
SUPERMARKET chains are bracing for serious shortages of fresh fruit and vegetables this week amid fears truckies could strike as early as tonight.
Thousands of truckies, outraged at low pay rates and soaring fuel and registration costs, have vowed to bring the country to its knees from midnight tonight, refusing to drive for two weeks.
One organiser said up to 80 per cent of owner drivers were facing bankruptcy and they were prepared to take the Queensland economy down with them. Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have admitted they are stockpiling some fresh food items but said there was little they could do without knowing the extent of the shutdown, with no clear estimates of how big it could get.
Wholesalers at Brisbane Markets and Queensland's largest independent grocery chains were also buying what extra stock they could amid fears the protest had "taken on a life of its own".
Trucking groups, unions, government and police were last week in negotiations to appease truckies, who say they have been pushed to the wall by unworkable contracts and new laws and fines to combat driver fatigue and road fatalities.
They also claim large transport companies are refusing to pass on fuel levies to drivers despite a 50 per cent increase in fuel bills in the last 12 months.
Woolworths spokesman Luke Schepen said the company was monitoring the situation closely.
"It certainly has the potential to cause some inconvenience. In some cases we do have some extra stock in certain products and lines," Mr Schepen said.
Industry leaders said the so-called "park-up" and a series of blockades could cost retailers around the state millions of dollars in lost revenue.
The Retailers Association executive director Scott Driscoll said independent retailers were bitterly disappointed they had been placed in such a precarious position by state and federal governments and strike organisers.
"Unless this gets sorted out there will be massive problems which could mean catastrophe for some businesses," Mr Driscoll said.
Rumours of a blockade at Brisbane Markets tomorrow had wholesale and retail produce companies ordering stock yesterday for collection today.
Truck drivers were expected to meet at BP service stations at Archerfield in Brisbane and Cluden in Townsville before doing "go slows" into both CBDs at 9am. They are also expected to picket and form blockades at roads in and out of oil refineries.
The protest has been pushed by two groups – the newly formed National Road Transport Form and Australian Long Distance Owners & Drivers Association – but has no union backing.
ALDODA Queensland president Lyn Bennetts denied there had been any threats of violence.
Ms Bennetts said 370 truck drivers died on Queensland roads last year and the industry was facing financial ruin.
"Anyone who uses our industry will follow our bankruptcy trail and Australia will end up in the biggest recession we have ever seen," she said yesterday.
Queensland Police, senior Queensland Transport officials and the NRTF met at police headquarters yesterday afternoon following claims threats had been made to drivers who refused to join the shutdown.
Deputy Premier Paul Lucas condemned the radical action, saying the chief losers would be truck drivers, small business operators and the public.
"It's good arguments that win government and public support, not wildcat behaviour that penalises industry and consumers," Mr Lucas said.
He said a newly introduced demerit points system for drivers who break traffic laws and fudge logbooks were there to protect honest drivers and level the playing field.
The NRTF has been distancing itself from ALDODA all week.
Mr Pattel said all parties resolved to keep the shutdown as peaceful as possible.
"We want to have a relationship with the public and we know the public will be disadvantaged in the short term," Mr Pattel said.
Are those kids siblings? They don't look alike one's blonde. I was going to say, Gauci, are they Maltese, but then it said they are. Malta is such a cool country.
Strike, strike, strike does every industry that organises a strike think the rest of us just have a big party all week and are paid enough to holiday three months a year?
I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Dara, The two youngest girls and the boy all have fairer hair but considering my son was born with white blonde hair and now has naturally dark brown hair it’s not unusual to be fairer when young and get darker as you get older. The two girls on the left of the pic have dark brown eyes and the rest have lighter eyes. Mixed heritage, Dad Maltese and Mum an Aussie of English heritage, most likely! I remember a jockey named Darren Gauci and I think someone with that last name used to be on that old singing show. The children are beautiful looking kids.
Aquamonkey, exactly, remember the good old days (70's and 80's) when their were strikes left right and centre? This independent truckies strike is not Union sanctioned or Industry sanctioned. Not going to have much impact I would imagine.
Coronation Street's Bev Callard's salary has been cut by 40% due to the credit crunch.
The actress, who plays barmaid Liz McDonald in the ITV soap, has signed a new deal meaning that she will only be paid on a per-episode basis.
Callard currently takes home £120,000 per year, but will have to feature in prominent storylines and be on camera all the time if she is to match her old pay packet.
A source revealed to The Sun: "Bev's really shocked by just how hard times are on Corrie. She's not the only star facing bad news, but she's been hit the hardest so far.
"Bev's a businesswoman and hasn't had the easiest time. While she understands the problems bosses face, it's making life very difficult."
A soap insider added: "Contracts come up for renewal at different times. Characters with less air-time are really going to struggle."
Callard has been forced to cancel her wedding to Jon McEwan as a result of her salary cut.
Wayne Goss regrets bringing poker machines to Queensland Melanie Christiansen and Steve Gray September 20, 2008 12:00am
FORMER premier Wayne Goss, who introduced poker machines to Queensland, has admitted they are a "scourge" he now regrets allowing into the state.
Wayne Goss, Queensland premier from December 1989 until February 1996, said although it was long-standing Labor policy, it was a mistake to bring in gaming machines in February 1992.
Within a year, there were 9332 pokies in 405 clubs and 298 hotels throughout Queensland.
By last month, the state's pubs and clubs had 41,527 operational pokies and Queenslanders were losing a record $173.32 million a month - or $5.5 million a day - to gaming machines.
Speaking on a panel at the Queensland Writers Festival in Brisbane yesterday, Mr Goss, pictured, was asked if he had any regrets about his political career.
"I wish I'd never brought in poker machines, I think they're a scourge,'' he said.
He later added: "Introducing poker machines to give clubs a fair go was Labor Party policy for a long time and we implemented it.
"The problem with poker machines in my view is that the people who mainly play them are the people who can least afford to do so. I wish I hadn't done it.''
The former premier's admission drew praise from Noel Preston, who represents the heads of Queensland's churches on the Government's Responsible Gambling Advisory Committee.
Anti-pokies campaigner, Senator Nick Xenophon, urged Mr Goss to use his standing in Labor to help reduce the number of pokies in pubs and clubs.
But state Treasurer Andrew Fraser said the Government had already frozen the number of pokies in the state and was actively combating their potential harmful effects.
This year's state Budget still forecast an 8 per cent jump in gaming machine taxes, the Government expecting to collect about $578 million from pokies in the 2008-09 year.
Yes, they are a scourge IMO but if Wayne Goss had not brought them in to Queensland another Premier would have. There are a few pubs in SE Queensland that have taken Pokies out of their venues. This is a great move, especially for those who want to enjoy the atmosphere and ambience of a nice pub/tavern and not hear the stupid electronic noise continuously in the back ground. We used to live across the road from a bowling club. My ex husband and I would go out somewhere for a nice relaxing lunch somewhere and then when we got home he would, instead of coming inside and continuing enjoying the afternoon together, go across the road for 'a few drinks and a few dollars in the pokies'. It without fail put a dampener on the day and took away the communication I was trying to build to improve our marriage.
This next story goes to show how some young women justify their love for men who abuse them, verbally and physically, even using a drinking glass to cut their girlfriend's face. Wayne Carey is probably the most notorious for causing trouble when it comes to him and his girlfriend, now Greg Bird, by chance another football player, is following Wayne's lead.
My Greg would never hurt me, says Katie Milligan EXCLUSIVE by Larissa Cummings September 20, 2008 12:00am
THE scars around Katie Milligan's left eye are fading but her support for her NRL star boyfriend, Greg Bird, remains iron-clad.
Speaking exclusively to The Daily Telegraph in her first interview since Bird allegedly "glassed" her in the face at his Cronulla apartment, the 24-year-old New Yorker dismissed reports they were in the middle of a drunken argument when she was injured.
She also insisted she would not stay with Bird if she believed he would intentionally harm her, and maintains he did nothing wrong. "I can say with certainty that I consider myself an intelligent person. I wouldn't stand by and support somebody who would ever have intentionally hurt me or, in the future, have the potential to hurt me," she said. "And if that's not enough for people, I know that's enough for me in my heart."
Only we know what really happened, says Katie
For legal reasons, Ms Milligan cannot speak in detail about what happened on the morning of August 24 when she was rushed to hospital with a cuts to her left eye and a suspected fractured eye socket.
But when asked if she had ever felt frightened of Bird, she replied: "No, absolutely not."
She has acted on legal advice in refusing to give a statement about the incident to police, she said. "I understand why people feels they deserve the story of what happened but until, or unless, it comes out in court, it's really a personal matter.
Bird is out until he breaks his silence
"At the end of the day I was the one there with Greg. There were only two of us in the room and there are only two of us that know exactly what happened and it might stay that way and people are going to have to accept my decision to stand by him. What's most important to me is that my friends and my family support me, and they do."
Ms Milligan said the reports claiming she and Bird were in the middle of a drunken argument when she was hurt were false.
Time to reveal all, Greg, sponsors say
"People think it was the result of some all-night bender but that's not what happened at all," she said.
"I was out with some US friends that I met at school and I slept at their apartment in Bondi while Greg went home to sleep at Cronulla.
"Neither of us were intoxicated - it happened in the morning when I got home. We weren't having some kind of drunken, enraged fight."
Bird, 24, was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Ms Milligan and an apprehended violence order was put in place by police, ordering him not to approach her.
He was also stood down playing with Cronulla Sharks until the matter is finalised - a move Ms Milligan has deemed "unfair".
After leaving her family and friends behind in New York and moving to Sydney in July, the past three weeks of forced separation from Bird has been especially tough, she said.
"I took a huge leap of faith coming over here and the decision to do that was hard enough on its own, and to now have people questioning my reasons for staying here - that has been a challenge.
You teach/show people how to treat you. She has virtually given him permission to glass her in the face and she will still love him. These young women who allow men to treat them in these ways are honestly missing the commonsense gene, IMHO.
Coon cheese is racist, says activist Stephen Hagan Tanya Chilcott September 27, 2008 12:00am
EMBOLDENED by the State Government's decision to erase the word 'black person' from a sports ground, an anti-racism activist says he will target Coon cheese.
But Stephen Hagan's latest pursuit has already attracted hate-mail, with one emailer writing the cheese name should be changed to "black person cheese".
Mr Hagan said he was used to personal attacks following his nine-year battle to have the racist term "black person" removed from the E.S. "black person" Brown Stand in Toowoomba, named after the city's first international footballer. It is believed he received the nickname because he was particularly fair-skinned.
Mr Hagan was vindicated on Thursday when Sports Minister Judy Spence agreed the term was racist and had no place despite its historical context.
Mr Hagan said minority groups should take heart from the Government's decision and take a stand against injustices.
He said he was renewing his campaign against Coon cheese because he had information that it was called that nearly 10 years before Edward Coon lodged a patent in 1926.
"I have my doubts about the original authenticity about the naming of that brand," Mr Hagan said.
He said the word "Coon" was grossly offensive to indigenous people.
"It is like 'black person', it is a term used to demean black people," he said.
"And now that I have got 'black person' out of the lexicon ... I am now going to put my energies into this Coon cheese debate."
He said he would be happy to drop his inquiry if Dairy Farmers proved the veracity of the brand's origin.
Dairy Farmers insist Mr Coon's surname is the reason their brand is so called.
What a load of BS. Honestly. My ex husband's last name is Black and he was called Blackie by all and sundry except family members. A guy I dated was called 'darkie' because of his tight curly black hair and olive skin. I absolutely love Coon cheese and have never thought it to be racist. Judy Spence IMHO, is an idiot in this regard. Build a bridge and get over yourselves people of Aboriginal Descent, not everything is about YOU!
"following his nine-year battle to have the racist term "black person" removed from the E.S. "black person" Brown Stand in Toowoomba, named after the city's first international footballer"
OMG. 9 years. Loser much? Who cares.
"He said the word "Coon" was grossly offensive to indigenous people."
I've never heard that word before..
"And now that I have got 'black person' out of the lexicon ... I am now going to put my energies into this Coon cheese debate."
Or you know, you could put your energies into something a bit more... useful?
Omg this person is so stupid lol. I agree with you Suzi aye.
Continuation of post 858 regarding the Five orphaned children from Gulgong NSW.
Revealed: Gauci dad killed mother By Katherine Danks September 28, 2008 12:00am
UNTIL police went to the Gauci family home near Gulgong recently, it seemed the story of its five orphaned children could not have been more heartbreaking.
But three months after the sudden deaths of Chris and Julia Gauci, their children have received another devastating piece of news: their father, not natural causes, killed their mother.
A post-mortem examination has revealed Mrs Gauci, 36, who suffered severe epilepsy, died from "manual asphyxia''.
After killing her, Mr Gauci, 45, who was his wife's full-time carer, walked into a shed and took his own life.
"You can't make sense of it. It blows you away to even think about it,'' family friend Kim Honeysett said.
The Gauci children had believed their father, unable to face life without his wife, had killed himself after finding her dead in their home on June 9.
The revelation comes amid tension in the extended Gauci family about the future of the children and the 32ha property on which they were raised.
Police told Chris Gauci's brother, Dominic, and his wife, Marian, about the results of the autopsy after arriving at the property on September 16.
The couple have moved to the farm to be with the children and have applied for guardianship of Cassandra, 16, Tamara, 14, Alexandria, 11, Joshua, 8, and Bethany, 5.
Cassandra, who plans to attend university, had just finished the first of her Year 11 exams when she was told by her aunt and the Gulgong High School principal. Marian Gauci then went to All Hallows High School to tell the younger children.
"They are devastated, but amazingly the children are doing well,'' Ms Honeysett said.
As they deal with this latest blow, the children have been saying to their aunt and uncle: "It will be all right, we'll be all right; it will be just us.''
In the months leading up to the tragedy, there had not been any obvious fighting or bitterness in the Gauci home.
The day before they died, the couple appeared happy at the Gulgong races and when they went out later with friends.
Police are appealing for information from the public as they investigate what motive Chris Gauci had for killing his wife.
Donations can be made to the Gauci children account at the ANZ Bank, BSB: 012 740; Account: 5242 04864.
Logged
Suzi could lose some weight here!
