from Crikey .....

Democratic reform needs to spread to the Pacific region

Ged Kearney, president of the ACTU, writes:

Senior Liberal Nick Minchin says the globe is more likely to be cooling than warming and has slammed the Government's key climate adviser, Ross Garnaut, as "on the Government's payroll".

Amid fierce debate about the Government's carbon tax plan, Professor Garnaut yesterday warned the scientific case for climate change had strengthened the position that the Earth is warming and that human emissions of greenhouse gases are the main cause.

Senator Minchin - who led the Liberal Party's move to dump leader Malcolm Turnbull over his support for action over climate change - says Professor Garnaut, an economist, "knows nothing about the climate".

Opponents of the huge Barangaroo project would have won their case seeking to stop the development if the Planning Minister Tony Kelly had not changed the law just before the judgment was brought down.

In a scathing decision in the Land and Environment Court today, Justice Peter Biscoe dismissed the case brought by Australians for Sustainable Development but said they ''would have achieved success'' but for the minister's amendment last week.

A generation ago, irresponsible pundits inflamed anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment, claiming that the election of then Senator John F Kennedy to the presidency would put the White House under the control of Rome. Today, where Muslims are concerned, it seems there's no claim too absurd, no charge too baseless to command the full attention of certain public officials and even the investigatory powers of Congress. Representative Peter King should know better.

You have to laugh. How many nations are so keen to be close with Washington and will send troops to their pointless wars to prove the point?

New research has backed up the growing suspicion that merchants are profiteering from credit card surcharges, with some businesses stinging customers, on average, three times the fee they actually pay card companies.

What's more, some merchants are starting to apply surcharges to debit cards and even to cash transactions.

The latest survey of merchants by banking researcher East & Partners has found that the average surcharge is now 2.55 per cent, a figure that it says is in "stark contrast" to the average merchant fee for Bankcard, MasterCard and Visa of 0.81 per cent.

The scene in Madison is nothing like what they are showing you on TV or in the newspaper.

First, you notice that the whole town is behind this. Yard signs and signs in store windows are everywhere supporting public workers. There are thousands of people out just randomly lining the streets for the six blocks leading to the Capitol building carrying signs, shouting and cheering and cajoling. Then there are stages and friendly competing demos on all sides of the building (yesterday's total estimate of people was 50,000-70,000, the smallest one yet)!

from Crikey .....

Suspending disbelief in the carbon debate

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Try though I might - which is not very hard, I admit - I cannot raise a flicker of interest in the state election campaign. It is like watching a football replay where you know the score: in this case, a crushing defeat for the home side. The Premier can announce new policies until her hairstyle goes limp, but it matters not a jot because they will never see the light of day.

MOTORISTS received a petrol jolt at the weekend when the pump price soared in capital cities, with prices reaching almost $1.50 a litre in most Melbourne suburbs.

The price jumped 18c to $1.49.9 a litre in less than 24 hours and fuel price experts laid the blame squarely at supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths.

In Adelaide the average price jumped 13c overnight while Sydney took a 10c hit from Saturday to Sunday, according to Motormouth Fuel Prices.

Independent petrol market analyst David Cumming said consumers should ignore the spike and wait for the price to fall again.

All protests and marches are to be banned in Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry has announced on state TV.

Its statement said security forces would use all measures to prevent any attempt to disrupt public order.

The announcement follows a series of protests by the kingdom's Shia minority in the oil-producing eastern province.

Last month, King Abdullah unveiled a series of benefits in an apparent bid to protect the kingdom from the revolts spreading throughout many Arab states.

Professional shock jocks have an unfair advantage — in the climate change information debate — over serious scientists...

This is a shorter version [more boring] of an article posted on this site ("letter to Prue" — repeated in various formats on the website). It is designed to alert shock jocks to the unfair power they have, in dis-informing the public, by being ignorant of the real scientific facts while spittling false information — eventually confusing good thinkers. This short version was submitted to Crickey.com. I leave it to Crikey to do the right thing. Crikey might write it better... Picture above is of clouds coming down low... Gus.