Daily Telegraph found bullshitting about NBN

The Australian Press Council has found that the Daily Telegraph within a short period of time had three articles on the same theme about the NBN contained inaccurate or misleading assertions. It considers that this sequence of errors should not have occurred and that they should have been corrected promptly and adequately when brought to the newspaper’s attention.

This is typical of the bullshit from the Murdoch press about the NBN.
Below is a link to the Press Council findings.
Australian Press Council finding.

Tony Abbott and Asylum Seeker Boats.

Well, Dr. No is still saying NO, when it comes to the arrival of the asylum seeker boats.
What a surprise.
It is obvious he is not interested in talking and maybe some compromise that politics is generally about.
How disingenuous is he when he said he wanted something concrete from the Government before he would talk.
Now that labor have compromised, Dr No says NO.
No wonder the Independents did not go with him last year.

Coalitions Broadband Policy

This is from the Liberal Parties website under Broadband and Telecommunications Policy
http://www.liberal.org.au/~/media/Fi...%20Policy.ashx

Quote:

Australians need fast, reliable and affordable broadband services – delivered over an affordable highspeed broadband network using the best mix of optical fibre, wireless, DSL and satellite technologies.
The Coalition’s plan will deliver a uniform national broadband network, under which 97 percent of premises are able to be served by high speed networks capable of delivering from 100 Mbps down to a minimum of 12 Mbps peak speed, using a combination of technologies including HFC, DSL and fixed wireless.
This will help businesses to be more productive, reduce costs, reach more customers here and overseas and employ more Australians. It will help families with access to education, information and medical
services.

Keeping the HFC and DSL networks will only entrench Telstra's and to a lesser extent Optus monopoly.
I don't know how they are going to negotiate with Telstra so they can use their copper and HFC networks, maybe by magic. Telstra will have the conservatives by the short and curlies forever if they try and negotiate a deal to use their networks.

Continuing from their policy

Quote:

Labor is heading down the wrong track. Its government owned and government run broadband network
will be a taxpayer funded ‘white elephant’ when it is completed in eight years time. It does nothing to
deliver lower prices. It just substitutes one monopoly for another. It gives no priority to those who do not
get an adequate service today. Under Labor’s plan Australians will be waiting up to eight years before
they see a change.

The monopoly they talk of is only in the wholesale side completely different to the current Telstra situation. Under their plan they want to keep the DSL and HFC networks. This is a bigger monopoly with Telstra owning the network and customers on a lot of the DSL network and Telstra and Optus owning all of the customers on the HFC network.
Continuing.

Quote:

Through these actions the Coalition will deliver uniform nationwide availability of high-speed
broadband so that by 2016 Australia achieves a national broadband baseline with 97 percent
of premises able to be served by high-speed networks, using a combination of technologies
including DSL, fixed wireless and other technologies such as Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC). We
will ensure that all such premises, wherever they are in Australia, are able to receive services at
prices comparable to those for similar services in metropolitan areas.

The old technologies that they are talking of here all suffer from bandwidth problems, the more using these old technologies the more congested and slow it becomes. Fibre Optics does not suffer from this if it is FTTH (Fibre To The Home).
They also talk of a uniform cost between rural and city. They are going to do this by giving taxpayers money forever to these internet providers to lower the cost in the rural areas. Good deal, hey.

No No No No Noalition

I thought this video sums up the conservative coalition perfectly.

Abbott Cheered, Labor Jeered

At the Murray Darling management public meeting in Griffith on the draft plan for the rationing of the flow down the river network.
Minister for the Environment and Water Tony Burke was jeered.
Tony Abbott the opposition leader was cheered by the irrigators when he took their side.
I wonder if Abbott will go to South Australia and say the same thing.
Here is an article in the "Adelaide Now" newspaper. An article by political editor Malcolm Farr.
Take note of the comments.
Has Abbott got the guts to say the same thing in South Australia?

Malcolm's Myths

I came across this website on debunking the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) on the NBN.
FUD is what, unfortunately, Malcolm Turnbull is all about when talking on the NBN.
He is a lot better than this, but he obviously has to do the bidding of the attack dog, technological Neanderthal boss of his.
Malcolm's Myths

Malcolm Turnbull and Productivity Commission enquiry into the NBN

Malcolm Turnbull's comments on the Productivity Commission’s probe into the National Broadband Network.
Malcolm Turnbulls comment
From the Crikey website below is a comment from Turnbulls comments. I thought this comment was very good and shows how the coalition is thinking, to bring cheap, fast  and affordable broadband to Australia.

Which is incredible really, selling a dog that you know is infested with fleas and hasn’t been neutered and doesn’t carry a chip, and won’t go on a lead, and barks all night.
But that is what TA has Turnbull doing.
So let me get this straight. The Libs, through Turnbull, are complaining about a lack of competition in the NBN rollout, because the major supplier is acting like a monopoly supplier in terms of actually delivering infrastructure more cheaply than the private sector competitors can.
Not that they are charging like a monopoly supplier, in fact sometimes not charging at all for greenfield sites, but that they are effecting efficiencies that can only accrue to a government backed monopolistic supplier of crucial national infrastructure.
Because some supremely efficient private sector suppliers can’t do it for the same price, and this means that if they did all the supplying we might actually get, I don’t know, the cheapest possible way to roll-out some nation building infrastructure.
Sorry, what was the problem again, apart from it possibly being against some laws which even in the prosecuting fall over from the ridiculousness test?
Hold on, if the NBN roll all this out, it might lead to the NBN actually being really valuable, possibly even multiples of the costs in setting it up.
This is an outrage, Sir.
Whoever those NBN fatcat shareholders are should be ashamed of their good fortune. Why isn’t the government doing this?
D’oh!

Rally against Labor's Carbon Dioxide Tax

      I see the convoys are gathering and heading to Canberra for a rally to get Labor out of power. They want an election of both houses of parliament. This is, as far as I can gather, is over the carbon tax.
      This convoy is very political and the roots of this started in August last year, when Abbott missed out on support of the Independents and Greens in the lower house.
The conservative air has been toxic ever since looking for a reason to get Labor out.
      I am all for demonstrations and letting the people have their say in a peaceful way mind you. 
      I hope the people demonstrating realise that if they do manage to get the coalition in this year they will be faced with a bigger carbon tax under the coalition called "Direct Action".
This Direct Action pays billions of dollars of tax payers money to the big polluters every year.
      As has been pointed out that under Labors Carbon Tax of $23 per tonne, this will have to be increased as the years go on.
Under the coalition Direct Action. taxpayers billions will have to be increasing also over the years to get to the target that is the same as Labor's target.
      It is unfortunate that a level playing field in the media is not happening. That is Labor and Coalition policies compared side by side in a non hysterical environment.
      Commentary in the media is lacking I am afraid. I would like a good comparison of policies instead we get hysterical toxic ravings.
      On the record, I am not a Labor supporter, or Coalition. If there was an election today I would not vote Labor, they are inept. But also I do not want an election now. I feel that governments should serve out their terms. I hope this government does and we can get a good non hysterical, non toxic evaluation of each parties policies in 2013.
      But, pigs may fly unfortunately.

Standard of debate

Read the article in the Daily Terror Telegraph and then read the vitriolic comments.
it is about Julia Gillards partner Tim Matheson holding a charity dinner for a Miss World fundraiser.
It saddens me that people have become so bitter and vitriolic just because they don't like the Prime Minister.
The standard of debate and vitriol towards the Labor party and in particular the Prime Minister and her partner is abhorrent. 
Daily Terror article.

More NBN Bullshit

Bloody hell it is hard to dispel the bullshit sprouted by the NBN haters/Neanderthals.

You all would have read the newspapers and news broadcasts about the NBN costing $190 per month.

The Australian

SMH

Polls in newspapers asking would you pay this. Bullshit printed by newspapers about the NBN being too expensive.

Well, at the moment I pay $69.95 per month for Bigpond cable internet. This gives me 25GB allowance per month at a top speed that I can never attain of 30Mbps. I usually get between 23 to 27Mbps. No phone service with that.

If you go to this site http://www.exetel.com.au/residential-fibre-pricing-mainland.php and have a geek at the prices.

If I look at what I can get in trying to compare my current plan.

On the Exetel site I can get 100Mbps with a 50GB allowance per month for $59.50.

As you can see three times faster with doubling of my GB limit and saving $10 per month.

You can also get a VOIP phone service over the NBN see their charges here http://www.exetel.com.au/voip_planA.php

Treat anything you hear about the NBN particularly on radio station 2GB or The Australian newspaper or Daily Telegraph with a great big dose of salt.

Labor V Liberal Carbon Abatement Policies

The CO2 abatement discussion has been very one sided. All it has done is concentrate on one side of the argument, The labor parties Carbon Tax.
The Liberal's CO2 abatement method, Direct Action has had little in the way of conversation.
If, as a lot of noisy people (maybe the majority in Australia) are asking is to have another election on the carbon tax, what is the alternative policy if there is another election and the Libs. under Tony Abbott get in. Well it is "Direct Action".
Lenore Taylor a journalist with the SMH has an article/opinion piece today Saturday on the differences between the two policies. I cannot link to it because it is not on the SMH website, not sure why.
The differences are:
Target The same for both parties, 5% reduction in CO2 emissions based on 2000 levels.
Cost to Budget Labor $3.9b over 4 years, Liberal $3.2b over 4 years and $10.5b over 10 years.
Claimed cost to Industry Labor $23 per tonne of emissions from top 500 polluters, Liberal nothing yes $0
Ease of scaling up Labor high, Liberal low.
Ease of scaling down Labor low, Liberal high.
According to Abbott there will be no cost to the taxpayers because it will be paid for by savings in the budget.
Direct action proposes that about 60% (85 million tonnes) of Australia's emissions reduction will be from soil carbon. But it has some detractors, Farmers.
Another 15 million tonnes from long rotation tree plantations. But the timber industry are allegedly saying that up to 600,000 hectares of cleared agricultural land will be needed, but the National party are allegedly saying it has a guarantee that no viable farmland will be converted to plantation.
There is a lot more in this article, but to finish.
Direct action is designed to take 5% of emissions by 2020 in a painless way, with industry possibly unchanged. What their plan is for after 2020 who knows. Abbott was allegedly asked at a Brisbane community forum on Thursday about the future of coal and electricity generation. He allegedly said, "do you really want to transform society"? Did he mean no or yes. But then again with Tony you cannot believe anything he says, according to himself, except if it is written down.
And of course don't forget that no Australian economist or climate scientist endorse Tony's direct action plan.

Why Abbott dislikes most Economists

        Found this on a new online newspaper "The Conversation".  I can now see why Tony Abbott thinks that Australian Economists are daft.
       A survey of 145 economists released today found that 60% believe the Gillard government’s carbon tax is good economic policy. The survey was conducted on Monday at a meeting hosted by the Economic Society of Australia at the Australian National University (ANU). The results were fairly clear cut. Something like 60% were in favour of the governments approach and 25% were against and 15% had no opinion.
       The survey coincided with the release of another poll of 500 members of the Economic Society of Australia on a range of policies, including the mining tax and middle-class welfare.
Around 70% of respondents to that survey said they support a national excess profits tax on miners and two-thirds of want middle-class welfare cut so that more assistance can be given to the disabled and severely disadvantaged.
       The bulk of the economists favour abolition of the Baby Bonus and the First Home Owners Grant, and are in favour of introducing the indexation of tax thresholds and for the introduction of congestion charges.
       Yes, they are against a lot of the oppositions policies. I thought the Liberals were better economic managers?

Tony Abbott, carbon tax antics.

Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott has repeated a call for a plebiscite on the carbon tax despite the move being sunk last month as a stunt.
I am not too sure who he is trying to impress, or how he is going to change the vote in parliament, but this is baffling stuff. His call is not rational, considering the numbers in both houses of Federal parliament are stacked against him. It is even more irrational when he said he was not bound by the result if it goes against him.
He has also slammed the majority of economists in Australia for agreeing with Labor that a price on carbon is the way to go. Saul Eslake a director and economist of the Grattan Institute, said that Mr. Abbott was attacking economists because he was frustrated.  I would have thought more likely irrational. He has not got over the defeat on the floor of parliament that gave Julia Gillard the government. I say, get over it Tony, become a real leader with real policies and then maybe rational people may start to think a bit differently of you.
Gillard's carbon plan wins growing business support according to the Australian 
Yes, you heard it right. This is from the Murdoch press, the biggest Labor government bashing newspaper there is.
No economist it seems is backing Abbotts "Direct action" on carbon abatement. He will be paying the big polluters with tax payers money to the tune of at least 1 billion dollars a year. The economists feel that this will do nothing to reduce carbon by 5% by 2020.
Tony Abbott seems to becoming more irrational as this Gillard government goes on.
He feels that climate change is all crap. This is against the overwhelming majority of climate scientists saying that climate change is real, it will affect this planet adversely, and it is due to human induced pollution.
So every serious climate scientist on the planet and economists in Australia is wrong and only Tony Abbott is right.
His words and actions are ones of an irrational person. I think a change in leader is what the Liberals need. I think going back to Malcolm Turnbull is the way to go for the Liberals. Malcolm is a much more lucid and rational person. I would hate to see Abbott as our Prime Minister.

School chaplain program

The school chaplaincy program is now coming under fire from the Anglican church.
The head of Sydney's Anglican Education Commission, Bryan Cowling, the executive director of the peak body for the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.
He has said that, "The legitimate place of religion in NSW government schools might be put at risk by the misuse of the National School Chaplaincy Program, the head of Sydney's Anglican Education Commission has warned."
He goes further and says, "chaplains - with the term's religious connotations - might blur the distinction between faith and welfare, increasing the chance of misuse by proselytising, which might call into question access granted to schools for special religious education, also known as scripture."
He continues, ''If it's a welfare position and a welfare role, why not call it that rather than call it a chaplain?'' he said. ''I just think it's a clumsy way to do things."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/anglican-church-queries-school-chaplain-program-20110701-1gv6l.html#ixzz1Qv7eTljO

SMH Article
I think it is astounding that a secular government would continue to fund these programs in school.
To me it is another poorly funded program from a government scared of offending a small section of the electorate. This government is running scared like a rabbit in the headlights of a car.

Storm

The Storm movie by Tim Minchin has finally arrived.
This is an animated version of that narrative "Storm".
Storm Animation.

Atheist to present Bible series

Yes, you heard it right, an atheist is presenting the new BBC series on the bible. The presenter, 

Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, is a woman to boot as well.

She has said some true but slightly controversial things about the bible such as, Eve is unfairly maligned as a troublesome wife that bought about the fall of "Man". She goes on to say that the bible was written by men, and women in those days were second class citizens, who were the property of men.

she goes on to say that the Bible could not be used as a reliable historical source and said that as an academic “you leave your faith at the door”. 

She says that the bible is a great religious and social text and had a great influence on Western Society.

Could you imagine this happening in Australia. I would think the hysterical religious lobby in Australia would cry like stuck pigs if it happened here.

I am not sure of any outcry by religious groups in the UK about this.

Very refreshing.

I sourced this from the  Christian Today Australia newsletter.

NSW Up the Creek Without a Paddle

Just watched the first debate on ABC TV between the current NSW State Government Labor Treasurer Eric Roozendaal and the Coalition Shadow Treasurer Mike Baird.
The debate was about the electricity generation sell off.
NSW Labor are of course under fire for negotiating a very bad deal for NSW.
The shadow Treasurer was totally inept in holding Roozendaal to account. He was beaten point by point by a much more polished Roozendaal.
The Coalition has no Electricity policy unfortunately.
The "moderator" of the debate, Quentin Dempster, was a much more effective opponent, and he had to make a lot of the points to Roozendaal. The opposition Treasurer appeared to have no idea.
This is very worrying for the state of NSW.
More than anything we need a good strong Liberal/Coalition Government after March.
It is not looking good.
We cannot vote Labor back in.
I just hope the Coalition can lift it's socks up. If this debate is any key to their strength, we are in trouble.

School Ethics classes update

An update on Ethics classes.
Not to do with the hysterical Christians meeting.
But something that will make them very unhappy.
The Liberal opposition in NSW have decided to do a backflip and are now supporting ethical classes. When they come to power in March, which they will, call me psychic, they will continue the classes, which are just starting now.
At last the conservatives have put good sense before a few cheap votes.
Here is a link to the Christian lobby say on this.

School Ethics Classes--Lies from Christian groups

There is to be a meeting at the NSW Parliament House regarding the Ethics Classes.
This meeting will be held by concerned, hysterical Christians that are saying the current Labor government want to get scripture classes out of public schools.
What a beat up, a whole pack of lies to scare gullible Christians.
This meeting will take place in the NSW Parliament House Theatrette, NSW Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney at 12 Noon on Monday 28th February 2011.
Participants are. 
The Rev Richard Quadrio of the NSW Council of Churches will Chair the meeting.
Invited speakers include,
Rev Rod Benson of Morling Baptist College,
Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC,
Mayor Paul Green of Shoalhaven Council and,
Pastor Peter Rahme of the Inner West Baptist Church.
Christian meeting at Parliament House
We need a strong secular voice in this state to counter the scare mongering hysterics from the Christian lobby.

AntiVax

Here is an interesting comical take on the anti vaccination debate and in particular Andrew Wakefield.
The Facts In The Case Of Dr. Andrew Wakefield

Religion 101

Religion in one easy lesson.
Nothing more can be said.
Religion 101