Israel, where the Orthodox Religious Zionists are the most powerful political group, although a minority, they hold politically privileged positions. The rise of Zionism in the late 19th century and the beginning of immigration to Eretz Yisrael, coming home as it were to the land God promised to Abraham in Genesis, if the timeline is correct some 4000 years ago, to retake the land at first little bit by little bit but since 1948 laying claim to it exclusively for God’s Chosen Ones. Using the communication tools of orthodoxy, to dumb down the argument, refuse to recognise that the people who have lived there for as long as time can be recorded are not defined as a people, but as terrorists, empty slogans which are never explained to denigrate and dehumanise. That was reminiscent of when Nazis tattooed a number of their prisoners, their names were obliterated, they were dehumanised, made a number.
An important question which deserves an answer is which takes precedence, Orthodoxy or humanity? A brief run through history it appears unfortunately that orthodoxy takes precedence.
Since the Establishment of the East India Company, the very first Corporation the planet has been witness to a system of private interest, greed, government bailout, and sponsorship. The separation of powers and good governance are totally corrupted. Nothing has changed in 2023 other than the greater influence corporations have over governments today and publicly flaunted by the the likes of Murdoch and Musk while bigger whales don’t surface.
Society must make the necessary shift from a society that prioritizes wealth accumulation and economic growth to one that puts personal and societal well-being above profits.
Roosevelt would have relished the fight and going big. But Biden and the Democrats now seem intent on going small — so “smol” and petite and inoffensive that no one notices or gets mad at them. One especially dispiriting example of this that Kuttner does not address in the book, but has elsewhere, is inflation. The Biden administration could have gone on the offensive and made the case that inflation is being driven by supply chain issues, corporate price-gouging, and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince — as opposed to rising wages and government spending — but instead has largely settled into a silent defensive crouch. Now Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve reappointed by Biden, is saying that the Fed’s policy is to “get wages down,” something Americans will enjoy even less than inflation.
Under Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia no longer displays compassion and humanity towards those in need, writes Rosalind Fuller. MANY ARTICLES have been written over the last few weeks about the current refugee crisis in Afghanistan as well as the 20 year anniversary of the Tampa debacle, both now inextricably linked. What has also been featured in the commentary is that previous prime ministers, including two Liberal PMs, responded to previous humanitarian crises by offering refuge to people fleeing violence, persecution and in the aftermath of wars. The acceptance of refugees was not always supported by the populace or the political party’s base. These figures are worth restating. Malcolm Fraser, between 1976 and 1982, accepted almost 70,000 Vietnamese refugees (so-called “boat people” — because how you flee apparently matters). A tearful Bob Hawke was so incensed at the Tiananmen Square massacre he made a ‘unilateral decision in 1989 to let the 27,000 Chinese students [that were]present in Australia stay’ and ultimately ‘grant a total of 42,000 permanent visas for Chinese students’. Tony Abbott (not known as a beacon of tolerant politics) in 2015 offered 12,000 Syria
Since the Coalition won government in 2013, everything remaining that was good and worthwhile in this country has been trashed by the idiots who are theoretically in charge of running the country. All they are actually achieving is running us and our standards down to the level of the convicts and their keepers who first invaded this land. I am no Labor supporter, either, but I do want a government which shows a capacity to understand and cater for people’s needs. And, most importantly, recognises that equality of opportunity is a universal right! Instead we have a national government which has dragged a country, which once had enormous potential, into a ramshackle mess.
Australia Institute data challenges claims coal industry drives economic growth, is a key element of alleviating worldwide ‘energy poverty’ and improves quality of life. Kieran Cooke from the Climate News Network reports.
THE COAL INDUSTRY has many friends in high places and none more so than Tony Abbott — prime minister of one of the world’s major producers of a fuel that earns the country billions from exports.
As Prime Minister Abbott said recently:
“Coal is vital for the future energy needs of the world. So let’s have no demonisation of coal — coal is good for humanity.”
But a new report by researchers in Australia seeks to debunk what it considers to be myths promulgated by the powerful worldwide coal industry and its allies.
The report by the Australia Institute, an independent public policy thinktank, says claims by lobbyists that coal is a main driver of economic growth are false.
Slower growth
Data shows that coal use has grown much slower than global economic growth, says the report:
‘All Talk and No action: The Coal Industry and Energy Poverty’.
It points out that
‘…developed countries have reduced coal use while economic growth has been unaffected. Developing countries are now the major users, but with alternatives becoming cheaper, they are likely to reduce coal use much earlier in their development.’
The report also attacks industry claims that coal use increases life expectancy and quality of life:
‘On the contrary, coal use is often associated with lower life expectancy due to health impacts of indoor and outdoor air pollution and the global health impacts of climate change.’
The study says that, although access to electricity might initially improve quality of life, once basic electricity facilities are in place there is little correlation between increased electricity uptake and improved living conditions.
Talk in the coal industry about tackling energy poverty is just public relations spin, says the report, and it questions whether the coal industry itself believes its own claims.
It is significant, the study says, that coal concerns that choose to become involved in electricity and poverty alleviation schemes in poorer parts of the world support projects connected with solar technology or small hydro and gas-fired facilities, rather than with far more expensive coal-fired power installations.
Polluting gases
The report also takes issue with claims by the coal industry that coal is becoming cleaner. What is meant by clean coal varies widely: although many power plants and other enterprises have reduced coal-related emissions of sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide, coal still releases into the atmosphere enormous amounts of CO2 — by far the most polluting of greenhouse gases.
Meanwhile, progress on carbon capture and storage (CCS) – the process through which emissions from coal-powered plants and other industrial concerns are captured and stored deep below the Earth’s surface – has been slow.
There are only 13 such projects in operation and, together, they are capable of sequestering only 25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year — less than one per cent of the world’s total annual emissions.
To put this in perspective, the report says, 33,376 million tonnes of CO2 were emitted worldwide in 2011, with the United States emitting 5,420 million tonnes, and Australia – which has a much smaller population − emitting 400 million tonnes.
The report concludes:
‘Addressing the challenges of energy poverty will become even more difficult if public relations campaigns are able to influence government policies away from genuine solutions towards spending that benefits the coal industry. The real solutions to energy poverty do not focus on coal.’
The five-point plan used to justify fighting wars is being deployed in media again
The government has been using the same techniques and devices of propaganda and persuasion that were brought out to justify the Iraq war of 2003, the removal of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 and the proposed attacks on the Assad regime in Syria in 2013.
Step 1. Highlight atrocities
We have claimed the moral high ground, using atrocity propaganda. Tony Abbott does this on a regular basis even though our allies behead people as .
Step 2. Communicate moral obligation
The enemy is evil and to do nothing in the face of such evil would amount to dereliction of moral duty.We must stop them. If we do not, then we are no better than them and evil will prosper. “They are against god”…Tony Abbott
Step 3. Deny enemy’s humanity
“the propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human”. Death Cult, Medieval, a cancer
Step 4. Say intervention is for the people
if you are averting a humanitarian catastrophe then you can act. We have to protect the civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack. Salvation is a just cause.
Step 5. Raise threat to national security
Illustrate that this far-away, evil regime constitutes a threat to national security, here and now. The danger becomes localised. Military action is urgent. ISIS “would come to hit us here very quickly –indeed there have already been plots.”
However much technology and times may change, the techniques of propaganda and persuasion remain largely the same. Today even more so in your face.
olddogthoughts 