In our days of darkness, spreading ignorance, and absence of serious debate in public forums, we can take hope from the fact that some scholars still produce serious and informative books on the most critical issues of our time. If in the future policymakers again seek the guidance of truth, they will have the information at hand. One such book of truth is Jeremy R. Hammond’s just published Obstacle to Peace, a closely reasoned, heavily documented (68 pages of footnotes), fully indexed, readable book with a Foreword by Richard Falk, an Introduction by Gene Epstein, and an endorsement by Noam Chomsky.

Fifty years ago the average working New Zealander worked less hours than today. Most mums were able to be full-time mums. How come with all the labour-saving advances we now work longer hours, have a longer working life, and only a small percentage of mums can afford to be full time homemakers?

There is no physical reason why this should be. The unthinking, in particular politicians it seems, who forever cry that governments should create jobs and pursue full employment, have not considered the absurdity of this. Many sources are now predicting that as much as half of existing jobs will be replaced over the next few decades by technical advances and robotics.

I suspect that those pushing to eliminate Easter trading restrictions are motivated by idealism rather than economic realities. That idealism wants to destroy all connections this country has to its religious heritage - a heritage that did not put bean-counting before family and community life.

I suggest that “our” politicians have a look into why all economic trading presently leaves an ever larger trail of unrepayable financial debt, instead of concocting hair-brained schemes for increasing employment and trading when we all ought to be enjoying expanding economic freedom.

BD, New Zealand

a Statement by Viv Forbes, Founding Secretary of “Clexit” (Climate Exit)
29 August 2016
For at least a decade we have been told by the UN/IPCC, by most government media and officials, by many politicians, and by the Green “charities” and their media friends that “the science is settled”. We are lectured by Hollywood stars, failed politicians and billionaire speculators that anyone who opposes the World War on Carbon Dioxide is ignorant, mischievous or supporting some hidden vested interest. We endure calls for an end to free speech for climate sceptics, smearing with derogatory terms like “denier”, and even aggressive punishments like dismissal and legal action against sceptics for speaking out. We notice the sudden and unexplained denial of pre-booked sceptic conference facilities and the steadfast refusal of alarmists to debate facts and issues.
 
Why are they so afraid of words? Surely this is a sign that their facts are shonky and their arguments are feeble? They fear they are losing the confidence of the public.
 
The tide is turning, and informed opposition is growing. It is time for the thinking media to give sceptical evidence and conclusions a fair go in the court of public opinion.
 
In a short time with no costly international meetings and very little publicity, Clexit has gathered the support of over 115 members in 20 countries. Please look at the list of Foundation Members and countries: http://clexit.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/clexit-members.pdf
 
Look at the skills, qualifications, experience and wisdom of our founding members; and the many other well-qualified dissenters listed at the end. The science is clearly not settled.
 
This global warming alarm started with UN sponsored groups such as the IPCC. But Clexit has members who were official IPCC reviewers but they dissented from the final public IPCC reports which were prepared by political appointees.
 
The climate alarm rests totally on computerised models of atmospheric physics. But Clexit has highly qualified meteorologists, physicists, astro-physicists, radiation experts, climate modellers and long-range forecasters who reject the science, maths, assumptions and forecasts of the greenhouse-driven computer models.
 
We are told that Earth’s climate is controlled by the gradual increase of a tiny trace of one colourless gas in the atmosphere. But Clexit has specialists who can show that the warm and cold currents in the deep and extensive oceans, the variable water vapour in the atmosphere and Earth’s changing cover of ice, snow and clouds have far more effect on weather and climate than carbon dioxide.
 
We are told that carbon dioxide is a pollutant. But Clexit has organic chemists, biologists, physicians, naturalists, graziers, foresters and farmers who know that extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is very beneficial for Earth’s biosphere – deserts are contracting, bush and forests are expanding, and crop yields are up.
 
We are told that sea levels are rising alarmingly. But Clexit has experts on sea level history and measurement who can prove that there is nothing unusual or alarming about current fluctuations in sea levels.
 
We are told that today’s climate is extreme and unusual. But Clexit has geologists and geographers who have studied eons of climate history via ice cores, stratigraphy, paleontology, deep-sea drilling, historical records, glaciers, ice sheets and landscapes and who say that climate change is normal and today’s climate is not extreme or unusual.
 
We are told to fear the coming global warming. But Clexit has geologists and researchers who have studied the cycles of the ice ages and the climate effects of the Milankovitch cycles in Earth’s orbit – obliquity, eccentricity and precession. They say we have passed the peak of this modern warm era and the long-term trend is now towards global cooling. We will still have short-term periods of hot and extreme weather, and some heat records may still be broken, but the 1,000 year climate averages are trending down towards the next glacial epoch of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
 
We are told repeatedly that the Great Barrier Reef is doomed by dangers that change annually – rising seas, river sediments, warm seas, ocean acidity, fertiliser run-off, coal port development, over-fishing or marauding star-fish. But Clexit has qualified members who have studied oceanography and ancient and modern corals and report that the Reef is healthy, and corals have survived far more dramatic changes in sea levels and climate in the past.
 
Solar cycles get no consideration in the IPCC climate models but Clexit has astro-physicists and long range weather forecasters who have demonstrated that solar and lunar cycles have big effects on Earth’s climate and weather cycles. In addition, while billions of dollars are spent fruitlessly on failed climate models and endless climate conferences, little is known about the strings of undersea volcanoes or how much geothermal heat is released from Earth’s molten interior during orogenic upheavals.
 
We are told that we must embrace green energy. But Clexit has power engineers and logistics experts who say that wind and solar can never run modern industrial societies, modern transport or big cities. Such a policy is a recipe for blackouts and starvation. Clexit also has naturalists and conservationists who see more harm than good in extensive wind, solar and bio-fuel developments.
 
Finally, we are told that to save the world we need to hand powerful taxing and regulating powers to unelected officials of the United Nations. But Clexit has politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, columnists, lawyers, army officers and bloggers who see that this political agenda will destroy the freedoms we cherish.
 
Many Clexit members have held very senior positions in research, industry or academia but no longer have sensitive positions, careers or incomes to protect, so are free to express honest opinions, which they have done by supporting “Clexit”.
 
We ask the media to give our soundly-based dissenting conclusions a fair hearing – there are two sides to most stories, but only one side is being aired.
 
The Clexit initiative was launched with no budget, promises or funds. So, unlike the alarmists with an agenda, those receiving rivers of government funds and those posing as tax-exempt charities, we cannot afford massive advertising costs.
 
We hope, in the interests of fair play, you see fit to give our valid concerns some space in the free media.

Note: The first informal meeting of many Clexit members will take place in London on Sept 8/9, 2016 at this conference (whose first booked venue was suddenly withdrawn):
https://geoethic.com/london-conference-2016/
 
Disclosure: The formation of Clexit was not prompted or supported by any industry, corporation, group or lobby nor have they had any say in our statements or conclusions.
 
Viv Forbes,
Secretary, Clexit
www.clexit.net
Rosewood    Qld   Australia

Democracy Needs Divine Intervention
In 1887 the Scottish history Professor Alexander Tytler, at Edinburgh University, speaking about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2000 years earlier, (was attributed to have said-ed) the average age of the world's greatest civilisations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years.

"During those 200 years these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
from bondage to spiritual faith,
from spiritual faith to great courage,
from Courage to Liberty,
from liberty to abundance,
from abundance to complacency,
from complacency to apathy,
from apathy to dependence,
from dependence back into bondage".

All that the present multicult, politically correct regime in the West lacks, which would make it a new form of the Medieval Inquisition, is the systematic use of physical torture to subdue dissent, or anyone in any way bucking the system, or misbehaving.
Consider the case of the “racist banana.”

There is no doubt that the red-headed Port Adelaide supporter, who in the heat of an angry moment, threw a banana at indigenous Crows star, Eddie Betts, acted in poor taste. But, once upon a time, before race became the politically charged issue it is today, people would have laughed this off. The player would have given a rude finger sign to the girl, or even threw the banana back, with some witty line to put her in her place. Everyone, even members of the opposing team would marvel at this displace of masculinity, taking it on the jaw.
The Premier would not have taken time off from running the state to comment on playground incidents. And that is what politically correct football is now – little more than an extended version of high school, literally a politically correct football.

Perhaps it is time for Australians to move on beyond a game where grown men in rude shorts, chase a ball. How about we all stop going to the football, and ban ourselves for life?

Migrants who came to Australia after the war got their unfair share of Aussie banter, but it did not stop them from going on to success. They gave back as good as they got, and nobody cried about name calling, banter, or the shame of “racism.” What shows the inconsistency of the multicult and the hyper-anti-racist culture, is that the girl was subjected to extreme sexual and racial abuse on the social media by Social Justice Warriors, who exist as attack dogs against anyone transgressing their cosmopolitan norms.

The essence of free speech is the ability of a person to be able to publicly express an opinion, informed or otherwise, true or false, on matters of local, national and international importance, without hindrance. Defenders of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, such as Meredith Doig, President of the Rationalist Society of Australia Inc. (‘Dealing with the contentious matter of 18C’, Sydney Morning Herald, 25/8) decline to uphold this ideal and produce specious arguments to justify their position.

There is no obligation on government whatever to ‘balance’ liberty against ‘equality’. The latter is an arithmetical term foolishly invoked to mask the agendas of interested parties. Equity is the appropriate term to use; and it does not collide with the defence of intellectual freedom.

The Federal government spending on Indigenous affairs is an astonishing $5.9 billion a year, but most of this money is failing to help Aborigines, according to a report published by the Centre for Independent Studies. (The Australian, August 23, 2016, p.1) The study found that less than 10 percent of 1082 programmes had been subjected to proper evaluation to determine their effectiveness.

The 1082 programmes are “just the tip of the iceberg.” And the figure will increase once non-indigenous NG0 spending in the indigenous sector, and university spending is added, which would add billions.

I was opposed to the same sex marriage plebiscite until reading Michael Kirby’s article “Parliament is the Proper Place for Enacting Laws,” The Australian, August 9, 2016, p. 12.
Kirby, the great dissenter on the High Court of Australia has no problem with unelected judges making law, and in fact he proudly proclaims: “The High Court of Australia in 2013 unanimously made it clear that the entire power to enact same-sex marriage in Australia rested with the federal parliament.”

Kirby doesn’t like plebiscites, saying that a “plebiscite, as a precondition to legislation, is a totally exceptional procedure with no foothold in the Constitution.”

A recent delightful story of childhood resourcefulness and intelligence was published in The Australian (August 22, 2016, p. 15), “Saved by Dr Google.” A 13-year-old contracted a serious illness that devastated her, putting her in a hospital bed. Doctors did numerous tests, and concluded that she had a severe cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. However, she spent her time researching on the internet and eventually discovered a research paper describing a girl with the same condition as her: pandysautonomia.

While this is all incredible, if one goes to Google and researches pandysautonomia one will find that it is a rare auto-immune autonomic neuropathy, and has occurred in cases of girls receiving the HPV (cervical cancer) vaccine. Although the probability of this effect may be low, this little girl could not have anticipated that her body would have responded in this way. Hence, given the probability of such catastrophic health effects, even if low in probability, people should have the right of choice regarding vaccines, and not be beaten by the Centrelink whip.

Jennifer Oriel (“Get Up and Be More Transparent, Mr Soros.” The Australian, August 22, 2016, p. 12) comments on the hacking of George Soros’ files. The socialist billionaire has been shown in these files to have actively used his transnational network to put pressure on governments for mass migration and open borders and to target individuals criticising Islam. He acted, through his Open Society Foundation, to undermine politicians from the Right.

In general: “Soros-affiliated organisations follow a well-worn political and rhetorical strategy updated for the digital age. Like the socialists and communists of old, they attack liberal democracy by delegitimising the classically liberal values of individualism, free speech, logical argumentation and public reason. They attack democratic states by advocating a porous border policy, reframing illegal immigrants as refugees and degrading critics of totalitarian tendencies such as Islamism in orchestrated campaigns of pc censorship.”

Perhaps I am just being my optimistic self, but I observe just a little bit more caution from some of the leading journalists at The Australian, especially over the Chinese bid for the NSW electricity network – a sale which is still potentially open to the Chinese as attempts are made to jump over security concerns. (The Australian, August 19, 2016, p. 2) Of course, Asianisation first; security second.

This sale is of an asset and is not an investment which builds a new business. Thus, the Reserve Bank governor, Glenn Stevens (The Australian, August 17, 2016, p. 1), has recently warned against this sort of foreign investment, which is pushing up the value of the Australian dollar.
Stevens said: “Foreign capital that builds new assets – like some of the capital that funded the mining boom – that’s one thing. Foreign capital that buys up the existing assets, I’m not saying that we should be closed to that, but that’s not creating new capital for the country. That’s just altering the allocation of who owns the capital that’s here now".

Here’s the question: Did large Chinese companies, in league with their government, deliberately intend to harm the New Zealand and Australian economies by stockpiling products, in order to then purchase devalued land and commodities at a cut rate?

For several years, there have been whispers in New Zealand that farmers are becoming “tenants in their own land.” As Chinese companies move in more and more, carving out and buying for themselves swathes of New Zealand farmland (and Australian, too), those concerns are growing louder.
We New Zealanders are few in number but have slogged it out over the past century and a half to become the largest dairy exporter on Earth—sending out 95 percent of our product. Our dairy industry is critical to our economy. The livelihood of our country depends, to a great deal, on how well our farms do. Judging by what has been happening of late, that’s not so well at all.

https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/gender-ideology-leads-child-abuse-pediatricians/
 
NEW YORK, August 19 (C-Fam) “Facts – not ideology – determine reality,” the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) said in a warning http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-ideology-harms-children  to legislators and educators about the dangers of surgical and medical sex change operations to children.

“Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse,” the physicians said, “Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBTQ – affirming countries.”

The group, which aims at getting parents involved in their children’s health and education about health, said, “Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one,” and that, “A person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking.”

To the contrary, the group maintained that human sexuality is a “binary trait” and said the XY and XX chromosomes that determine female or male sex are “genetic markers of health” not “genetic markers of a disorder.”

“No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex,” the statement said.

To which Wallace Klinck of Canada responded:
In my opinion “gender ideology” IS child abuse.  If the courts put up with this sort of societally disintegrative nonsense and "Marxist” dialectical mischief then I would conclude that they are in collaboration with the revolutionary agenda—a particularly vicious variant of the insane ideological “equality” virus.  What is inducing this “gender confusion” in pre-puberty or puberty youth anyway?  They must be being subject to some very abnormal developmental psychological influences—or are being denied normal identity relationships. I certainly never had any doubts about my “sexuality”—such doubts or thoughts never even entered my mind.  I am beginning to think that some people, mentors especially and victims alike, have too much idle time on their hands—and I am an uncompromising advocate of leisure.

Everyone knows that I am the bad-tempered and pessimistic one at this site. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Could this entire self-help cult of positive thinking actually be wrong?
An article by Zaria Gorvett, “Why it pays to be Grumpy and Bad-Tempered” August 10, 2016, puts the case against the self-help ideology. Cynics actually have more stable marriages, higher earnings and live longer. Cranks turn out to often be superior at negotiating.

Good moods and optimism comes at a cost. It can make one gullible and blind to problems that the pessimist, one who is sceptical about human goodness, will pick up on in a flash. The fact is, our emotions, including the so-called negative ones, evolved with mankind, and have survival value. Anger, even hatred, can in various circumstances, save one’s life. Psychological experiments testing the ability of anger versus sadness in creativity have found that anger wins hands down as it “prepares the body to mobilise resources.”

I will let you in on a little secret, since there is just you and me and no-one else listening in – I have a morbid interest in the so-called grand conspiracy theory that the super-elites are planning to wipe out most of the human race. I, of course, don’t believe this, but the case has been put by excited folk on the internet. Usually they take out of context the words of high-flyers such as Bill Gates, about the need to reduce human population numbers, and say that he is advocating some plan of high tech genocide, probably using vaccines: https://archive.org/details/WipeOutHumans-BillGates-VaccinesArebestWayToDepopulatePlanet.

I grant, as my mother has documented in article after article at this site, that vaccines have negative consequences. But I seriously doubt whether anyone attempting to genocide the world would choose such a slow method, where genetically engineered diseases, such as a new strain of super-small pox, would take out 95 percent of humanity overnight.
So, I’m sorry; I dislike Bill Gates as much as the next man and his dog, but I just don’t follow my fellow conspiracy theorists in seeing him pursuing that agenda.

It is disappointing that both sides (sic) of politics support Getup and the Soros initiatives. Our Nation does not belong to us (the people), thanks to the two party political system. It has been handed over to the elite internationalist with our politicians playing the public as fools for the highest bidder.

Jennifer Oriel, The Australian, 22/8/2016.
In perhaps the biggest political scandal since WikiLeaks, a group of hackers has dumped hundreds of files exposing the influence of socialist billionaire George Soros on Western politics.
The files show Soros has established a transnational network that pressures governments to adopt high immigration targets and porous border policies that could pose a challenge to legitimate state sovereignty. His Open Society Foundations target individuals who criticise ­Islamism and seek to influence the outcome of national elections by undermining Right-leaning politicians. The Australian arm of the Soros network is GetUp!.
GetUp! was established by ­activists Jeremy Heimans and David Madden with funding from Soros. The Labor-affiliated Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union donated $1.1 million to the group. Bill Shorten and John Hewson are former board members. A major funder listed on its 2014-15 Australian Electoral Commission expenditure return is Avaaz, the US GetUp! ­affiliate that has received copious amounts of funding from Soros networks.
Like most NGOs, GetUp! claims to be independent from political parties. Like many NGOs, however, it has close ties to the Left. As Sharri Markson ­revealed in this paper, GetUp! chairwoman Sarah Maddison urged people to vote for the Greens in the past federal election.
In the wake of the election, GetUp!’s Paul Oosting revealed its campaign strategy was to target conservative MPs to reduce their influence. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was a primary GetUp! target. In Tasmania, the organisation spent up to $500,000 to unseat Andrew Nikolic and forked out $140,000 on campaign advertising alone.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald 23 August 2016, Senator Pauline Hanson had just two words to say when she arrived at Parliament House: "I'm back."
 
Senator Hanson joined her new colleagues on Tuesday for what is known as 'Senate school' - a guide to the procedures and practices that govern the upper house.

In an article that most of us would have trouble understanding, we may find some interesting material about the possible ill-effects of vaccines: S. Colafrancesco (et al.), “Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine and Primary Ovarian Failure: Another Facet of the Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants,” American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, vol. 70, 2013, pp. 309-316.

The paper examined cases of women suffering from post-vaccination autoimmune phenomena, often caused by an immune-based inflammatory syndrome produced by adjuvants (chemicals which allegedly make the body produce a stronger immune response, such as aluminum or aluminum salts). This has occurred after the administration of the HPV vaccine.