The Pope might sit on the throne of St Peter but he's no Rupert Murdoch. His push for climate action will no doubt prompt debate, but don't expect this to be a game changer, writes Jeff Sparrow.

In a new encyclical - a document sent to Catholic priests around the world - Pope Francis calls for "changes in lifestyle and changes in methods of production and consumption to combat this warming, or at least the human causes that produce and accentuate it".

He praises the environment movement while denouncing climate-change deniers for "attitudes that stand in the way of the problem". And he even condemns carbon trading for not being sufficiently radical.

"Nobody, whether atheist or religious," says Peter Burdon in a comprehensive piece for The Conversation, "can deny that the Pope's encyclical on caring for our common home is a big deal."

Certainly, it will be fascinating to watch the reaction, particularly in Australia where many of the more outspoken critics of climate action have a Catholic background. Most obviously, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who famously called climate change "crap", once trained to be a Jesuit priest. There are also a number of conservative commentators who cut their teeth as followers of BA Santamaria, the leader of the anti-communist Movement as well as the Democratic Labor Party, both of which were predominantly Catholic.

But a note of caution is warranted. The Pope might sit on the throne of St Peter but he's no Rupert Murdoch. His encyclical will no doubt prompt debate and discussion but it would be foolish to expect a widespread re-alignment of the politics of climate change.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-19/sparrow-the-pope-and-climate-change/6558792

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The sad part is as usual the follow-on postings by social media bloggers (of which we are) which usually start with a denialist posting crap. From there the battle of poor wits goes on with inanity in which a bit of info raises to the surface from time to time to be punched down by idiots who still believe in the flat earth. 

In the end, we know the Pope can only influence some people in his circle of believers and a few outsiders. But the denialists, supported by a rabid Uncle Rupe, will fight tooth and nail — until the planet is more or less destroyed — to protect their money making rackets. The Pope will not influence Tonicchio Turdy "the Catholic" for example. Turdy's man at the Vatican, George Pell, is a full-on denialist and will do everything in his power to undermine the Pope's letter with "caveated" bullshit.

Australia's first blind disability discrimination commissioner says the Federal Government has sent the wrong message by proposing the establishment of a wind farms commissioner, a year after axing his former role.

The Government terminated the position of disability discrimination commissioner when lawyer Graeme Innes ended his term last year.

Mr Innes said he was shocked by the Government's proposal to create a national wind farms commissioner and said it showed where Australians with disabilities fell in the "pecking order".

"I felt pretty hurt and pretty upset, because the message that it sent to me is that the Government thinks that a wind farm watchdog is more important than a disability guide dog," he said.

"And I think that that's not a message that would be very acceptable to the 20 per cent of people in the community ... who have a disability.

"I've had a lot of opposition in the disability sector from both people I've spoken to and people with whom I'm connected on social media.

"There's a lot of outrage and disappointment out there.

"This is saying to people with disabilities, 'your place in the pecking order is below some lobbyists who want to make sure that the numbers are obtained in the Senate'."

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-20/former-disability-commissioner-wind-farm-outrage/6560682