NICOLA ROXON'S HOMOPHOBIC MEN'S HEALTH AMBASSADORS 31.12.2008
I have received a letter dated 24 December 2008 from Julianne Quaine of the Department of Health and Ageing in which she states that you have asked her to reply on your behalf to the email of 28 November 2008 which I wrote to the Prime Minister about the men's health ambassadors.
I notice that you did not reply to the email I sent to you personally about the appointment of the homophobic Barry Williams as one of your "ambassadors'.
As an 82-year-old gay man, I would not consider for one moment consulting with, or having anything to do with, a group of people which contained those who actually wish to see people like me eliminated from the face of the earth.
It is incumbent on you as the Minister for Health and Ageing to consider the characters of people appointed to positions in which they would be dealing with a diverse group of men whose sexuality is a sensitive issue, and has been for much of their lives.
Dealing with a government which is basically homophobic and constrained by religious principles in its responses to people of different sexualities does not inspire confidence in a Minister who persists in retaining her appointment of a known hater of homosexual men.
Ms Quaine's letter states: "More men's health ambassadors will be appointed from a range of professions, in order to have a cross-section of the population capable of representing a wide range of men."
Strange, therefore, is it not, that you have not appointed any gay men or any men who are knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS. Strange too, that you have remained silent about the complaints from the gay communities about your appointments.
The Prime Minister has also declined to respond to these complaints and has instead referred the letter to him to you for your response.
The words gay and HIV/AIDS do not appear anywhere in that response. The rest of the letter is just political fudging in the classical "Yes Minister" mode.
It is time you dismissed Barry Williams as one of your men's health ambassadors, for that he is certainly not.
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne.
(Posted in Homophobia)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES - THEN AND NOW! 21.2.2008
As a research engineer with the Energy Authority of New South Wales from 1980 to 1988 I was involved with the "Alternative Energy in Vehicles" project from 1980 to 1985. The funding for this research was provided by the federal and state governments. The initiative had been Neville Wran's when he became Premier of NSW in 1976 and shortly afterwards there appeared to be a world energy crisis with the fear that the world was running out of oil.
Our first mandate was to establish a fleet of electric vehicles, which our research team's leading engineer had been working on for some years in Tasmania. He brought two vehicles with him from Tasmania as the start of the project and our vehicle fleet grew from there. We ended up with ten vehicles and ran tests and experiments with them, but didn't get to do comprehensive work on our results because the crisis appeared to be over by about 1983 and our funding dried up.
I have recently established a web site to try and build some sort of an archive of our work, and have illustrated it with some of the vehicles with which we were working.
http://home.pacific.net.au/~josken1/evs.htm
As a consequence of letters and articles in The Age newspaper, I wrote a letter to The Age, which they decide, as ever, not to publish. Fortunately I have web pages and a blog, and so am able to publish them myself. The items will appear below in as sequential a date order as I can place them in, starting with an article which was the first item to discuss electric vehicles.
Electric car uses sun to show watts driving the future
Alan Gray holds the plug of his converted Hyundai Getz, which he considers the most ecologically advanced car in Australia.
Photo: Justin Mcmanus
Latest related coverage
Orietta Guerrera
February 15, 2008
ALAN Gray reckons he is driving the most ecologically advanced car in Australia. To other motorists it is just another zippy hatchback. But open the petrol cap and there's a surprise.
The Trentham man's new Hyundai Getz has been converted to electric power. He uses an extension cord to plug the car into a power point, charges it overnight and drives away. Using power from solar panels above his office, it costs only 97 cents to drive 100 kilometres. "What this shows is that there's no reason that here and now, today, we can't run our homes and our cars on solar," Mr Gray said.
The converted car — dubbed the "Blade Runner" — can get from zero to 60 km/h in just over seven seconds, compared with six seconds for a standard vehicle. And it can comfortably travel at 110 km/h.
The catch? The $49,000 price tag. Mr Gray admits he is "driving the most expensive little four-door car in Australia". But he says the price will drop as more of the cars hit the road.
His hatchback will be on show at the Sustainability Festival, Federation Square, from today until Sunday.
With soaring petrol prices and growing concern over greenhouse gas emissions, even the world's largest car manufacturers concede electric cars may be the solution to the globe's environmental and energy problems. But although the electric car allows drivers to use renewable energy, critics argue it will do little to slash emissions if it is run on brown coal-generated electricity.
The car is the brainchild of Blade Electric Vehicles director Ross Blade.
After several prototypes, it is the first production vehicle assembled at his Castlemaine headquarters. He said the car would become "cost-neutral" after five years.
Four of the cars have been sold. However, there is little future if Mr Blade cannot secure a contract to supply the Government fleet. To date he has funded his own work.
"Without government orders it all becomes a rather brief page in Australian automotive history," he said.
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16 February 2008
Let's go nuclear
YES, an electric car like Alan Gray's converted Hyundai Getz (The Age, 15/2) is a great idea, but those people claiming that they are a viable alternative to a petrol car now just aren't being honest. If you recharge an electric car from a power point it emits just as much CO2 as a petrol-powered car because mains power comes from burning an even dirtier fuel: coal. And if you recharge it from solar cells, that requires tens of thousands of dollars worth of them. Depending on how you recharge it an electric car is either no greener than a petrol car, or hugely more expensive. Of course, if our electric power was being generated in nuclear power plants, which have lots of overnight spare capacity and generate no CO2, like France, it would be completely different. Thanks to the decision to go nuclear, France is in a win-win situation. It has the lowest contribution to climate change of any developed country, and it will be able to move much of its transport away from ever scarcer, more expensive and dirty petroleum. Electric cars and nuclear power are a perfect fit.
Gordon Drennan, Burton, SA
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18 February 2008
Go diesel, and save
GORDON Drennan (Letters, 16/2) is correct to say an electric car powered by coal-fired electricity can produce as much carbon dioxide as a petrol car, but this comparison is too simplistic. It is equally accurate to say that an efficient electric car can produce a lot less CO2 than an inefficient petrol car and vice versa. There is no need to wait decades for nuclear power plants in order to run all those electric cars. The simplest solution available now to substantially reduce Australia's CO2 emissions from cars is to switch the bulk of the fleet to diesel.
Unfortunately diesel cars cost thousands more than their petrol siblings. In the long term, demand will fix this, but in the short term subsidies on the fuel or the car would go a long way. Diesel is a non-renewable resource, like coal and uranium, but, unlike these two, it can be produced from vegetable oil and, in the longer term, from agricultural and forest waste.
Martin Strandgard, research fellow, University of Melbourne, Richmond
Nuclear no answer
WRONG, Gordon Drennan. Nuclear power is not the answer to our prayers for carbon-free electricity generation. In fact, mining and processing uranium ores, fuel enrichment and building nuclear power plants produce enormous quantities of greenhouse gas. This aspect of nuclear power is conveniently ignored by proponents.
There are many other negatives, of course — not least the long-term storage required for the most toxic, dangerous waste known to humankind.
We're just going to have to consider using a range of genuinely carbon-free alternatives for our electricity production, becoming more energy-efficient and, yes, reduce consumption. That's what true sustainability entails. We have to wean ourselves off a reliance on the public relations spinners in the nuclear and other carbon-producing electricity generators, and accept that the alternatives are possible.
Helen Lewers, Napoleons
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18 February 2008
Mannie De Saxe, 2/12 Murphy Grove, Preston, Vic 3072
web: Electric Vehicles
30 years ago, when Neville Wran was Premier of News South
Wales, there was a fuel crisis when it was feared the world was
running out of oil faster than had previously been anticipated.
Wran reacted to the crisis by establishing the Energy Authority of
NSW which had, as one of its mandates, research into alternative
fuels for motor vehicles.
I was one of the engineers involved with the establishment of this
division, which received funding from the federal and state
governments from the late 1970s for research.
We established a fleet of electric vehicles - about 10 altogether -
and we called them "The First Fleet". We continued to test electric
vehicles until governments decided the crisis was over and the
funding dried up in the early 1980s.
Part of our research into alternative energy in vehicles was the use
of rape seed oil in diesels. South Africa and other countries were
already experimenting, quite successfully, with sunflower oil and
other vegetable oils, with a fair amount of success.
All of our research came to an end by 1985, and Australia is now,
nearly 30 years later, reinventing the wheel! (Gordon Drennan,
Letters, 16/2 and Letters, 18/2) Will we never learn?
Mannie De Saxe, Research Engineer (retired)
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19 February 2008
Down with trams
MELBOURNE'S tram system is a major factor in our road traffic problems. The technology is obsolete and cannot be refined. The system consumes and wastes enormous amounts of coal-generated power, the capital and recurring costs of building and maintaining rolling stock drain the public purse, and the pollution of wires, poles, steel tracks and screeching steel wheels are negative factors in our enjoyment of this beautiful city.
St Kilda Road would be better served by a flexible and low-fare bus system on the service lanes. This would enable bus stops to be kerb-side, next to footpaths.
This ultra-conservative Government should invest in bus technology and fuel systems, and restructure the road-taxing and operational structures to the benefit of clean, flexible and user-friendly public transport.
Mervyn Jenkins, Berwick
Oil-drinking buses are no improvement
MERVYN Jenkins' (Letters, 19/2) view is astonishingly short-sighted and utterly contradictory. His claims that a trail of hundreds of loud, stinky, combustion engine buses would increase the enjoyment of this beautiful city, more so than electric trams, is truly laughable.
While the tram network in Melbourne is largely powered by coal-fired electricity, there is nothing stopping us from adapting it to use renewable energy, once it is available on the grid. Adding hundreds more oil-drinking buses removes the renewable-electric option, solves nothing and guarantees emissions from fossil fuel or dependence on unsustainable bio-diesel. One can be certain that Mervyn doesn't use public transport and drives a guzzling 4WD each day, right into the CBD.
Adam Gilbert, Prahran
Go underground
MERVYN Jenkins is right that trams contribute to congestion on our roads, but he's wrong that we need to get rid of them.
Instead, as the headline says, they need to go down: beneath the surface. Light-rail subways have been used successfully in many cities in Germany as a halfway between a full metro system and road-based trams.
Subway light-rail systems can continue to use roads in the outer suburbs and the CBD but be sent underground on congested inner-suburban routes, such as St Kilda Road or Victoria Street. Light-rail subways are also cheaper and more flexible than heavy-rail subways; many trams can be linked for increased capacity, but they can also manage steeper grades and tighter corners, giving more choices when designing routes for tunnels.
Finally, a light-rail subway could be the beginning of the end of the process begun in the 1980s with the founding of the Met, and conceptually integrate the tram and train systems.
Tristan McLeay, Endeavour Hills
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20 February 2008
Consumers hold power over petrol engine's replacement
Steve Colquhoun
February 20, 2008
Car makers are moving towards an alternative fuel, but which one?
AN ENGROSSING worldwide battle is being waged to find a new fuel source to replace, or supplement, our absolute dependence on petrol-powered cars.
This dependence was highlighted on Sunday when Ford Australia launched its crucial new model, the FG Falcon, without mention of a diesel option or suggestion of alternative fuel technology. Yes, an LPG option carries over from the previous model, and economy improvements in the realm of 2% for its volume-selling inline six-cylinder engine aren't to be sneezed at, but it missed the opportunity for an Australian car maker to take the lead towards a fossil-fuel-free future.
It's 10 years since Toyota launched the Prius hybrid car with its revolutionary petrol-electric motor, and, in the meantime, several other leading car makers have also spent heavily on alternative fuel research and prototypes. But it was only at the Geneva Motor Show last March that there appeared to be industry-wide acceptance that green initiatives deserved at least an equivalent pedestal with horsepower.
Giant US-based car maker General Motors, a corporation with much to lose from the petrol engine's demise, has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow US car makers Ford and Chrysler to rail against fuel efficiency targets imposed by the US Government. But in a startling about-face, chief executive Rick Wagoner last month stood at the automotive world's epicentre, the Detroit Motor Show, and acknowledged the awful truth.
Awful for GM, because it is a car company built around a muscular heritage derived from gas-guzzling V8-powered marques such as the Chevrolet, Corvette and Camaro. Like Ford and Chrysler, GM has traditionally pursued a "bigger is better" approach to cars and engines.
Against this landscape, Wagoner cited US Department of Energy figures showing that the world consumes about 1000 barrels of oil for every second of every day, a figure — at current rates of consumption — expected to increase by 70% within 20 years.
Does a historically belligerent giant multinational suddenly develop an environmental conscience? The fact that the next day Wagoner launched one of the most powerful sports cars on the planet, the 6.2-litre, supercharged V8 Corvette ZR-1, casts some doubt over GM's sincerity. More likely, it has been sniffing the wind as public opinion about depletion of fossil fuels and about pollutants has swung from ambivalence, to interest and, more recently, active alarm. Although GM has dabbled in the past in alternative forms of propulsion, it has evidently decided its best — and most profitable — course lies in surfing the new wave.
20 February 2008
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21 February 2008
My cute new electric car? It's a little ray of sunshine
Alan Gray
February 21, 2008
SINCE my new electric car appeared in The Age ("Electric car uses sun to show watts driving the future", 15/2), letters to the editor have taken different views of its consequences. One writer claims people like me are not being "honest"; the second urges diesel fuel and the third highlights the real dangers of nuclear.
All seem to have overlooked solar power. The solar panels on my office roof can recharge my car — a four-door, five-seater hatchback with lithium ion batteries where the petrol tank sat. The genius of Harcourt designer Ross Blade is in producing a little car that is just as user-friendly and has all the acceleration, performance and accessories of its petrol equivalent, but can be recharged from the sun or wind.
Australians have embraced grid-connected solar power systems in droves since the Federal Government doubled the rebate last year to $8000. Since then there has been a 500% increase in installation of systems that generate solar power during the day and draw power from the mains grid at night or when it's cloudy. This two-way flow of electricity is automatic, and free of any maintenance or batteries. You're buying mains power when you need to, and "selling" solar power when you have an excess.
Such systems should be mandatory for all new homes and major renovations, given that hot summers threaten power cuts just when these solar power systems are pumping their peak watts into the grid. Over the course of a year a solar system — costing $14,000, less the $8000 government rebate and another $500 of Renewable Energy Credits — will generate about as much electricity as it costs to pay back that $5500 investment. That's before the 25% to 30% mains power price hikes possible over the next three years.
The solar panels will last for 30 years and, according to the US Government's Renewable Energy Laboratory, will generate the energy required to make them in 18 months or less.
But even if you're not considering adding this $5500 to your mortgage, there's green power, a brilliant scheme that allows anyone to pay extra on their electricity bill to have it all generated from solar or wind. The system is fully audited and doesn't raise the serious doubts of the myriad "carbon offset" schemes now on offer.
Once you sign up to green power, your accredited electricity retailer generates — from wind or solar — the equivalent amount of power that you consume. Of course, you don't get "green electrons" into your house, but the grid gets added renewable energy capacity — and reduced coal capacity — every time someone signs up.
Hot on the gases
CLYDE Scaife (Letters, 19/2) accuses me of lying. I strongly object. I said that it is the mining and processing of uranium ores, fuel enrichment and the building of nuclear power plants that produce the enormous quantities of greenhouse gas. I did not state, as he claims, that the operation of the nuclear power plant itself is the culprit.
Helen Lewers, Napoleons
Getting warmer
TRUTH, the first casualty of war, also suffers in any discussion of nuclear power. Helen Lewers (Letters, 18/2) repeats the claim that nuclear power plants "produce enormous quantities of greenhouse gas", whereas the opposite is the truth.
The Switkowski report shows that nuclear plants produce a lifetime 60 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per megawatt hour of electricity, rather less than the 106 kilograms of photovoltaic solar, much less than the 577 kilograms of combined cycle natural gas.
Wind is better, at 21 kilograms per megawatt hour, but cannot deliver base-load power, and hydro-electric is even better, at 15 kilograms per megawatt hour, but not widely available in Australia.
Clyde Scaife, Hamilton
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BILL MUEHLENBERG'S TYPICAL RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY 16.2.2008
Bill Muehlenberg writes a letter to The Age newspaper published on 11 February 2008 about Sharia Law and the comments made in the UK by the Archbishop of Canterbury which have aroused fury from people of all religious persuasions around the world. The Age headlines his letter "Integration is what we need, not isolation".
Here is Meuhlenberg's letter:
"Surely you jest, Rowan Williams ("Archbishop fuels controversy over Islamic law in UK". The Age, 9/2). What version of sharia law would the archbishop like to see enacted? The Saudi Arabian version? Will polygamy be legalised (with men allowed to have four wives)? Will amputation as punishment be legalised? Much of sharia law is incompatible with Western democratic law and humanitarian principles.
Moreover, social and racial harmony comes from ethnic communities integrating into society, not by becoming even more isolated and distanced. All citizens of a nation must be subject to the law of the land. To start granting exemptions for religious or ethnic bodies is to tear apart the rule of law and social cohesion. Instead of integration, we end up with segregation. Dr Williams needs to decide if he is representing the Christian faith or Islam. And he needs to decide whether he thinks a democracy is preferable to an Islamic theocracy."
Muehlenberg's hypocrisy is breathtaking, to say the least! Here is a christian fundamentalist who is part of a religious faith in Australia which is granted exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation so that these organisations can hire and fire who it suits them to according to their religions, who interprets parts of the bible to suit his particular brand of theology so that he can attack gays and lesbians fighting for those equal human rights taken for granted by his christian fraternity, and who criticises one of his own who is trying to show some compassion for a large group of citizens in his own country, to enable them to have rights similar to those of other religions in that country - the UK.
Religions with their fundamentalisms are diminishing around the world, according to statistics of analyses of all religions, with a marked increase in the numbers of those who have no religion and are counted as atheists. As their numbers continue to grow, so, ultimately will religious fundamentalism decrease, and in the end there will be no conflicts around the world on a so-called religious basis.
It can't come soon enough to allow all human beings to enjoy the same human rights everywhere, and to stop the persecution of homosexuals by christians, muslims, jews and other religious fanatics.
Hypocrisy comes no less from Bill Muehlenberg commenting on religions other than his own than from other religious adherents who continue to preach one set of doctrines while practising others!
(Posted in Atheists and religions)
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BRUMBY STUMBLES HIS WAY OUT OF OFFICE AFTER LESS THAN ONE TERM 16.2.2008
John Brumby, Premier of Victoria since the resignation of Steve Bracks, is quite determined to exit his seat of power at the next state election. Everything he is involved with has divided the communities from one end of the state to the other. He has probably done more to ensure the election of Greens into both houses of the Victorian parliament at the next election due in a few years' time than any other government any where else in the country.
This will probably be for the best in the longer term because the Libs and Nats are doing their best to try and win back ground lost to the Alternative Liberal Party over the last 7 or 8 years.
Their problem is that it is difficult to know who is more right wing - the ALP or the Coalition.
Brumby has lost the plot as far as the teachers of Victoria are concerned. Teaching is an exhausting profession and requires a degree of dedication and commitment which is not easy to find, and young people starting out on their careers of study at tertiary level are showing they are not too keen to get into an unrewarding profession at a time when the cost of living is soaring to new heights.
Tandberg is a cartoonist of the politics of Australia and never misses a beat. The following two cartoons, from The Age newspaper of 12 and 14 February 2008 illustrate graphically most of the main issues which will help Brumby lose the next election. One which Tandberg could well add to his list is the issue of Freedom of Information, or FoI. Brumby and most governments around Australia are now showing that they are ensuring citizens are obtaining Freedom From Information by refusing to allow many documents on major issues to be released.
This just compounds an already alarming trend to censorship on just about anything and everything, the Internet being the latest which governments are all trying to do something about.
Here are Tandberg's cartoons:
Thank you Tandberg!
(Posted in Australian politics and politicians)
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Anti-censorship, anti-homophobia, anti-religious right fanaticism, anti-zionism, pro-human rights for ALL!
ISRAEL'S SIXTY-YEAR WAR 8.2.2008
The state of Israel came into being in 1948 after the UK withdrew its mandate from Palestine and the newly formed United Nations supported the formation of a Jewish state to provide refuge for the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.
In order for the state to come into existence, the Jewish resistance fighters fought against all the states and people surrounding Palestine who didn't want the land taken away from the Arab inhabitants for a Jewish stste to be created.
Since 1948 the state of Israel has been involved with a series of wars which have taken a heavy toll of the peoples occupying what used to be called Palestine.
This story of an ongoing 60-year war led me to look at history and to discover the significance and relationships of countries and people being locked into wars such as the Hundred Year War.
What was it, who was fighting it, who were the winners, who were the losers, who were right and who were wrong? And whose lands were they fighting about?
The results were very interesting,because the two countries involved in the Hundred Year War were France and Britain and the fight was over the right to, and occupation of France itself.
Kings, Queens and other contenders and pretenders fought several wars over a period of more than just one hundred years - this was also the Joan of Arc story - and the final outcome was that France succeeded in winning back France for the French.
Change the juxtaposition of occupied and occupier and the parallels become fascinating.
Israel has been the occupier for sixty years and the Palestinians have been the occupied for that time, and the situation has always been that Israel, with one of the largest and best equipped armies in the world, has not yet managed to subdue the Palestinians whose land has been occupied for sixty years.
Will the zionist state last another forty years in its present state or will the rest of the world finally see the injustices and crimes being committed in the occupied territories and do something to stop the indiscriminate slaughter and oppression of a people being starved into submission with the help of the world's current super-power, the USA?
(Posted in Jewish and Israel and Palestine)
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SBS MANAGING DIRECTOR SHAUN BROWN SHOULD BE SACKED 29.1.2008
The Age newspaper carried a report on 25 January 2008 headlined "Rethink funding, says SBS chief".
Missing from the report is the deterioration of SBS since Brown became managing director (sic) and its dumbing down, which people like George Negus have disputed.
From the article: "Mr Brown acknowledged that SBS' decision to allow advertising in the middle of programs angered viewers, but defended it on the basis that it increased advertising revenue by $10 million".
This is outrageous! $10 million over what period of time? $10 million at a time when the federal government's budget surplus is at an all-time high, and some of it could certainly be skimmed off to improve the quality - and control - of the SBS and ABC managements.
For a paltry $10 million viewers of SBS have been subjected to junked programmes, interruptions to some of the best documentaries which used to be on offer, and a marked dumbing down of the whole delivery of all types of programmes which have departed completely from what was SBS' original charter.
Shaun Brown should never have been given the position he holds and he is directly responsible for the departure of Mary Kostakidis, one of the best broadcasters in Australia, and possibly well beyond Australia's shores.
Not only should Brown's departure be instant, it should be accompanied by the return of Kostakidis to her rightful place, and the restoration of the news bulletin which was one of the best on offer anywhere in the world.
Advertising should be removed from programme interruption immediately and the new federal government, which is already showing itself to be a pathetic imitation of the departed tragics, should install a managing director who knows what he is doing and is not a blow-in Mr Know-All!!!
(Posted in Media Issues)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES 29.1.2008
I found the item below on the blognow pages and discovered that the blogger, whose name is Carl Sparre, does not have a "post" area on his blog pages where one can respond to what he has written.
There are many of us over the years who have been involved with electric vehicles, but as with so many political issues in Australia, each group is blind to what other groups or individuals may be working on. I established a web page about electric vehicles some months ago, and even made a link to a company which produces them, but so far no one seems to have seen the web page nor provided any feedback.
If anybody reads this blog and wants to inform Carl that there are others who share this interest, they may give him the web site:
http://home.pacific.net.au/~josken1/evs.htm
Carl also seems to be one whose letters are favoured by the letters editors of the Sydney Morning Herald. Others of us were blacklisted. Over a period of about 10 or 11 years I wrote about 120 letters to the SMH and none were published!
Through green eyes
This Kent is no hero
Posted at 9:27 AM on 26/1/2008
Dear Editor,
Conspiracy theories get a bad rap. Just when they develop sufficient following to become acceptable as expressed opinion, suddenly they morph into "common knowledge". Our hapless conspiracy theorist goes unrewarded for daring to believe where no man believed before.
For years, I've been telling any stationary ear that the blogosphere is infected with PR agents of big oil and the auto industry, working to maintain our fossil fuel addiction by discrediting climate science, electric cars and renewable energy. But the conspirators have blundered by using a single name for too many posts and the evidence is pretty damning...
Google this name: "Kent-Beuchert". Don't forget the hyphen, or you will find a million other Kents, most of whom are probably nice people. Now sample some of his posts. Below is a typical exchange. Note the use of one of his many aliases on this occasion (Ken/Kent/Kerry Beauchrt/Beuchert/Beuchrt/Biker/Rider/Krider)
I look forward to David Lassiter's exposé (see the last post) and I hope it receives deserved exposure in the SMH.
Regards,
Carl Sparre
Eastwood
• Kerry Beaauhrt says on February 1st, 2007 at 12:01 pm
The major accomplishment of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” is that it’s easy to pawn off a basketfull of stupid lies on the public if it concerns a subject that no one is familiar with.
If Chris Paine feels vindicated, I can’t understand why. It has become painfully obvious that even with the advancements of batteries since the days of the EV-1 and Honda EV and Rav 4 electric, that the automakers still have no means of producing a practical affordable electric car. The best any have promised for so far is a plug-in hybrid within 3 years, assuming battery problems are overcome, a far cry from Paine’s birdbrained assertions that electric cars were viable in 1997. He always knew that was a lie - that the batteries in the Ev-1 cost over $20,000
and lasted about five years, and powered a car that couldn’t reliably get its owners to a destination and back over 35 miles away, a distance that grew smaller as the batteries deteriorated. It’s absolutely amazing how ignorant the media has been about Paine’s juvenile lies and conspiracy theories. I suppose that proves they know even less about electric cars in general, and the EV-1 in particular, than even their embarassingly gullible audiences. I wonder how many know such things as, What the EV-1 cost, or why it was not legal to sell it to the public, or how few morons actually were foolish enough to lease the piece of crap. Or the fact that the Honda Insight hybrid was more energy efficient overall than the EV-1 and prosuced fewer harmful emissions.
•
Richard says on February 7th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Well Kerry, It’s obvious you work for the auto industry or the oil industry because you make so many general inferances without any proof. The EV1 was a “viable” car. All the owners loved it and it had a 130 mile range (not 35 as you said). Even the Ford Ranger EV had a 50 mile range! The batteries did cost a great deal of money to replace, unfortunatley the EV1 was recalled long before the batteries could go bad even after a six year operating life, so we may never know how long they could have lasted before needing replacing.
The EV1 was legal to sell in California or any state, for that matter, as was the Rav4ev and Ford Ranger. It was GM that decided not to sell the car. Last I check, free commerce means that you can sell anything legal in the US. That of course means an electric car! I don’t know where you get your foolish assumptions, but they are wrong and it would seam to me that you were trying to foolishly sabatoge the EV movement becasue you are afraid that the oil industry will suffer! As far as making a practical affordable electric car, there are many on the market right now, and will be many more in the near future. Feel Good Cars, Zap, and many others.
As far as the Honda Insight is concerned, it does not produce less emmisions than a comprable EV. In fact not only is the Insight no longer being produced, there were so few of them made that I doubt you’ll find a used one around. The Tesla has the equivalent of 135 mpg compared to 60mpg for the insight. How do they even compare???
Stick to your little oil stories, I think they make more sense in your head!
•
Catching Up With Directors Leila Petersen and Chris Paine // Archives // ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip says on December 12th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
[…] Chris Paine’s next icy adventure? The director of the successful Who Killed The Electric Car was working on a film about alternative […]
•
David Lassiter says on December 12th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Kerry Beaauhrt also goes by the name Kent Beuchert and has beem paid extensively by the oil and gas lobbies to reject current electrc car technologies. He posts usually in the first or second listing and works at a lobbying firm in Virgina. He has recently changed his name to continue receiving salary targets while trying to throw others off his efforts. Regards - David Lassiter
(Posted in Electric Vehicles)
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UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND PETER MCGREGOR 19.1.2008
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
ATTENTION VICTORIA FINLAY
The fact that Peter McGregor died on 11 January 2008 does not mean that the matter between him and the University is now closed.
More than ever, it is necessary for the University to demonstrate that it is not a university in name only, but that the meaning of the word university is still understood to be that of an institution which upholds the traditions of a seat of learning.
The University, the Gilbert and Tobin Centre, the Law Faculty and the people involved in the events leading to the arrest of Peter McGregor need to make public apologies which are placed in the media in prominent positions so that the community is made aware of of the injustices of the actions taken to have Peter McGregor arrested and ignominiously thrown out of the University.
Until such time as this is done, the matter will not be laid to rest.
Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- , d.caddies@unsw.edu.au,
k.oneile@unsw.edu.au
gtcentre@unsw.edu.au
george.williams@unsw.edu.au
Subject: Your email to the Vice-Chancellor
From: "Victoria Finlay"
Address B
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 10:59:16 +1100
Dear Mr McGregor,
I am responding to your email to the Vice-Chancellor.
I understand that the police prosecution has been
withdrawn. The University regards the matter as closed
and will not respond to any further correspondence
regarding the matter.
Yours sincerely,
Victoria Finlay
Executive Officer to the Vice-Chancellor Office of the
Vice-Chancellor
Level 1, Chancellery The University of New South Wales
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052
Ph: 612 9385 3803 Fax: 612 9385 1949
, a.lynch@unsw.edu.au,
(Posted in Australian politics and politicians)
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PETER MCGREGOR 1947-2008 15.1.2008
PETER MCGREGOR 1947-2008
Peter McGregor died in Sydney on 11 January 2008. He was just 60 years old.
Peter was an activist from before the 1970s and in 1971 was one of those, with Meredith Burgmann. who actively attempted to disrupt the Springbok rugby tour of Australia.
Peter was in Melbourne only a few weeks ago to go to Ballarat to receive a Eureka award for his attempted citizen's arrest of Philip Ruddock at the University of New South Wales, and his attempted citizen's arrest of John Howard, Philip Ruddock and Alexander Downer at Parliament House in Canberra during 2007.
In his 40 years of activism Peter was always, as an Anarcho groupie, a friend of gays and lesbians, working with them to achieve equality and end discrimination.
In fact, Peter was a friend of activists of all sorts and political persuasions, and he had an enormous circle of friends.
One of Peter's regular activities was to visit the SPAIDS Groves on tree-planting days whenever he could get to Sydney from Newcastle. He also brought friends with him on regular occasions, and amongst the friends were John and Margaret Brink, two anti-apartheid South African activists who had had to leave South Africa in the 1960s for political reasons. Peter became very friendly with them and they influenced him in his anti-apartheid activism for many years.
Peter and his partner Jo have lived in Newcastle for many years, and he leaves his partner Jo, family and many, many friends around Australia and overseas who will remember him with great warmth and sorrow at his early death.
This message has been posted by Ken Lovett and Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne, and long time friends of Peter's and Jo's.
(Posted in International Politics)
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CENSORSHIP OF THE BBC BY THE BBC FOR THE BBC - HOW PATHETIC CAN THEY GET??? 10.1.2008
Mannie De Saxe
PO Box 1675, Preston South, Vic 3072. Australia.
I am 81 years old, and have lived through and read the whole story of the Chatterley books and the trial of Penguin.
That was 1960 and this is 2008, some 48 years later, and the BBC is censoring an interview with someone who has produced for the BBC a story called The Chatterley Affair using all the words now being self-censored by the BBC.
What is going on?
Mannie De Saxe
Isn't this what the Trial of Lady Chatterley was supposed to be about?
BBC Four: As you say, there's some swearing in the drama.
Andrew Davies: The funny thing is that most of the swearwords are spoken by Melvyn Griffith-Jones, the prosecutor, who's about as straight as you can get. It's wonderful the way he comes out and says, "F*** occurs 30 times, C*** 14" as if he's ticking them off a list. I will be fascinated to see what the reaction to the play is. Certainly, watching it myself, some of the sex scenes feel pretty real and pretty raw and slightly uncomfortable because of that. They have the awkwardness and embarrassment of real sex.
An email was sent with this information:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ bbcfour/cinema/features/chatterley- davies.shtml
Friend's Email:
If the BBC is not responsible for what I have said in the email, why the censorship? I assume that the BBC is still embarrassed by the use of the words FUCK and CUNT! They should read all three versions of DH Lawrence's books about Lady Chatterley.
Mannie De Saxe
josken1_at_pacific_net_au Your Email: josken_at_zipworld_com_au Subject: BBC's self-censorship This item has been censored by the BBC because, in its interview of Andrew Davies, the BBC has asterisked out the words **** and **** The BBC is stuck in some time warp, and one wonders how it manages to function in the 21st century! How pathetic can it get?
Disclaimer:
This message was sent to you using the "Email a friend" facility on the BBC's WWW site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/. If you wish to complain about this email, please forward it in its entirety to webweaver@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of this email, and anything said in this email does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views. Page reference: As you say, there's some swearing in the drama.
(Posted in Censorship)
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WIKIPEDIA OPEN SOURCE ENCYCLOPEDIA - I DON'T THINK SO!!! 8.1.2008
On Monday 7 January 2008 I placed an article about about the Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves on Wikipedia - the so-called open-source encyclopedia, and guess what??
On Tuesday 8 January 2008 the article was deleted. I had already made a link from the web site to the Wikipedia article, but will now remove it and make the link to my blog instead.
I find this sort of editing or censorship quite pathetic! Instead of contacting me and asking for various bits of information relating to the Groves in question, they just decide that the article does not have verification from other sources so can't be corroborated, whereas they had the web site of the Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves - SPAIDS - and the Council under whose auspices the project was developed.
Here is the article:
SYDNEY PARK AIDS MEMORIAL GROVES – SPAIDS
Background history and development 7 January 2008
The Brickworks at the bottom of King Street Newtown in Sydney’s inner west ceased being a brickworks somewhere around the middle of the 1980s.
The site then became a garbage dump and became rather polluted with all the waste deposited there.
Ownership of the site had changed from private to public and by 1990 the area was under the control of South Sydney City Council. Council started cleaning up the site and ridding it of pollution and soon afterwards started grading and laying out the site for a large park to be called Sydney Park.
In the initial stages Council, which had its own nursery established on the site, planted trees to demarcate different parts of the Park. By 1992 Council was inviting community groups to plant trees in the Park to help it to become established.
At around this period, when many young people were dying from the AIDS epidemic, some members of the gay community, who had become carers for people with AIDS, approached South Sydney City Council with the request that they be considered as a community group in order to plant trees to commemorate people who had died of AIDS.
Similar groups had established memorial groves overseas and in Australia, and it was hoped that Council would be sympathetic to the request.
After about 18 months of negotiation, Council agreed to this community group being permitted to plant trees for commemoration purposes, and it was supposed that this would end up being a one-off event. The first planting by the AIDS Memorial Groves group took place on 15 May 1994. Council decided, in order to help establish the Park, to have three plantings a year and was inviting assistance from community groups.
By 1996 the AIDS Memorial Groves group had planted on 8 occasions and found a name for the Groves – SPAIDS – Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves. Plantings continued to take place three times a year under the auspices of South Sydney City Council until that council was merged with Sydney City Council who continued with the establishment of the Park and community plantings.
SPAIDS has continued to be part of the Park and in 2001, while still under the auspices of South Sydney City Council, a Reflection Area with a permanent stone sculpture and circular surround was built by Council as part of the development of the Park.
The Park was beginning to show signs of being fully laid out with trees grown to full height by about 2002, and soon afterwards it was decided to have only one community planting a year and that to take place on National Tree Day which is usually the last Sunday in July.
By the end of 2007 about 8,000 trees had been planted, and 1,200 names recorded of those who have died of AIDS. This figure represents about 20 per cent of AIDS recorded deaths in Australia.
For web site, contact details and further information, see http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Submitted for SPAIDS by Mannie De Saxe, Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves Founder and Co-coordinator.
(Posted in HIV and AIDS)
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