Australian iron fist of the State suppress' dissenting views

It seems that Freedom of Speech has taken another blow, this time in the land Down under.

Melbourne University has demoted one of its most outspoken academics after a complaint against him by the State Government. Dr Mees said at a public forum last year that the authors of a 2007 report on privatisation were "liars and frauds and should be in jail".

"The university strongly supports and encourages the principles of academic freedom," Professor McPhee said.

Apparently, that academic freedom only applies when you're not on the payroll.

Professor Low has been in negotiations with the State Government over funding a research project into greenhouse gas emissions from transport. Mr Betts has agreed to be a partner in the application for funding.

Didn't you know, the defense of truth is no defense for the truth!

Without telling Dr Mees, the university also launched an investigation into whether he had damaged the university's reputation. The inquiry, conducted by Michael King of Monash University's law faculty, found Dr Mees had "brought the university into disrepute by making derogatory and insulting comments" about government officers.

Dr King found it did not matter whether Dr Mees' statements were true or not. "His defence of truth should be dismissed," says Dr King's report.

He rejected Dr Mees' defence that the comments were not "insulting or derogatory", that he spoke the truth, and that it was part of his duty as an academic to "expose corruption".

Dr Mees has since quit the university, and will give his final lecture next week. He has accepted a role with RMIT's planning department.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/uni-demotes-transport-dissident/2008/05/19/1211182704265.html

"I don't think we're in kansas anymore Toto". What is happening to our university system when our academics can no longer speak the truth about Government corruption?

The Iron Fist of the State doesn't need to strike, it just needs to withhold capital.

Fight Corruption. EAT THE RICH!

Another Blow for Free Speech - Dutch cartoonist arrested for 'insulting people'

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. 5,000 Muslim immigrants living in Denmark took to the streets in protest over the cartoons. They were republished in a furter 50 newspapers across the world, resulting in worldwide riots.

Supporters have said that the cartoons illustrated an important issue in a period of Islamic terrorism and that their publication is a legitimate exercise of the right of free speech, explicitly tied to the issue of self-censorship.

They claim that Muslims were not targeted in a discriminatory way since unflattering cartoons about other religions are frequently printed, case in point- Christianity. In Brussels a young Muslim immigrant published a poster depicting the Virgin Mary with naked breasts. It depicts the virgin Mary with a howling child and a bowl of blood. She is barebreasted and is sitting next to a shield with the arms of Flanders. As a muslim immigrant Ben Chikha is allowed to use such images. Though the picture has drawn some protest from Catholics (sans riots) this artist has not recieved death threats, and is being subsidised by the Ministry for Culture. Sounds like a double standard to me!

The Latest in the Cartoon Saga -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24665094/

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday. The cartoonist, who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating hate speech laws and held overnight before being released, a spokeswoman for his publisher Uitgeverij Xtra said.

She asked that her name not be used, and declined to give Nekschot's real name, because the cartoonist and publisher have both received death threats. Nekschot is known primarily for cartoons mocking Muslims and leftists, though the spokeswoman said he is a satirist who targets "any strong ideology." Amsterdam public prosecutor spokeswoman Sanne van Meteren said Nekschot remains a suspect in a criminal investigation.

"We suspect him of insulting people on the basis of their race or belief, and possibly also of inciting hate," she said.

Each is a crime punishable by up to a year in prison under Dutch hate speech laws — or two years for multiple offenses.

What have we come to when people are arrested for political cartoons?

Further Information:
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/382
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy

Immigration, Population and Environmentalism

Immigration is one source of population growth, which results in more people to consume goods and services. This larger market is better for local businesses and many migrants bring money into the country and some start up businesses that may offer employment. Many economists argue that, if carefully controlled, this can benefit the nation’s economy and hence, indirectly, our quality of life.

Environmental scientists point out that Australia is already suffering considerable damage to its soils, waterways, coastal zones and natural habitats through intensive agriculture, urban expansion, industrial development and the ever-increasing demand for goods and services. Groups who oppose population increase on environmental grounds suggest that even the present Australian population cannot be indefinitely sustained at its present rate of consumption by the renewable resources of the continent.

Read the rest here

I think it's important from an Environmental perspective to cover the issues of not just Immigration, but also the current population in Australia. If I may, I would like to use a very simplistic model to explain problems with over-population.

Firstly, let me talk about my own home. I live with my wife in a two bedroom house. We often have interstate family vistors, or just comrades who need to crash for the night. Although, there seems to be one unspoken rule, and that is, we only ever have people stay in the house when the spare bedroom is free.

We will refer to this as a 'one in, one out' policy.

Imagine, for the moment if we were to accept 10 people to stay in our very small two bedroom home. People would have to sleep on the floor, bathrooms would be in constant use, and the toilet could very well overflow. Issues with kitchen use will arise, and no doubt noise complaints will increase due to the varying hours that people keep in the house. All in all, it would lead to a diminshed quality of life for all parties. Not to mention, that living in such confining conditions would lead to resentment between house mates.

Any of this sound familiar?

I think its time for Australia to work out exactly how many bedrooms it has before trying to increase its population either through immigration or encouraging an increase in birth rate.

If there is only one thing I could ever agree with Pauline Hansen on, its a 'one in, one out' net zero immigration policy. I have continually lobbied for such things, written to ministers, and newspapers. The newspapers (The Age, The Australian), outright refuse to publish my constant letters asking for net zero immigration and population management to raise the issue.

At first I thought it was because they thought I was being "Racist". So I continued to write letters, making sure that I was clear that I didn't care who came into the country, that it was irrespective of race, religion or gender. I also specified that it didn't matter if they were skilled or unskilled, just that we might "look into" the issue. Nothing. Absolute Silence.

The only people who are really benefiting from high levels of immigration are the property developers, big business and all at the expense of the Australian Environment.

I'm dissapointed that the greens party hasn't investigated the impacts of population on the environment and consider policies for population reduction.

Freedom to hate striked down

Recently, an Anarchist comrade's blog was pulled down. @ndy or Slackbastard.

http://www.slackbastard.anarchobase.com/

On April 8, Mathaba News Network demanded host of domain name anarchobase.com be shut down. The subject of their complaint was a post on @ndys blog. The blog post in question concerned the nature of the news service, and in particular the recent history of its owner, Adam Musa King. From what I have gathered, Mathaba hosted some information about the New Right, which is @ndys current pet hate. (which is his right and choice).

To cut a long story short, @ndy has called Muthaba.net owner Adam King a Fascist based upon the theory of guilt by association (assuming NR are fascists). Which is the right of @ndy to do, under Freedom of Speech. However, Mr King has removed the site through legal libel proceedings.

@ndys blog recently was totally removed from the internet by the host after rightful legal pressure as a result of his extensive vilification and defamation of others and from using a fake name to register his blog along with a PO box address.

Aparently, websites must be registered at a home address not a PO Box. Haha! Thats some fine anarchist work there @ndy! Which follows Anarchy Downunder's 9th Commandment - Don't get caught! We could all learn a thing or two on how to dodge the Authorities from this Australian Anarchist!

Although, I do have one thought for my Anarchist comrade. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to hate, as you have quite rightly exercised. However, one cannot demand freedom without first granting it to others. Something to think about anyway.....

Karma is a harsh mistress.

Good Science doesn't have a consensus

It seems that like the holocaust, no dissenting views of anthropogenic global warming are allowed. At least you wont go to jail yet for denying the existence of global warming.

Professor Aitkin told The Australian yesterday he had been told he was "out of his mind" by some in the media after writing that the science of global warming "doesn't seem to stack up".

The eminent historian and political scientist said in a speech called A Cool Look at Global Warming, which has received little public attention, that he was urged not to express his contrary views to orthodox thinking because he would be demonised.

He says critics who question the impact of global warming are commonly ignored or attacked because "scientist activists" from a quasi-religious movement have spread a flawed message that "the science is settled" and "the debate is over".

Read the full article here

Discussion and debate should be allowed, and if the science for anthropogenic global warming is good, the dissenting views can be shut down case by case, point by point.

I believe the same should be the case for holocaust deniers or revisionism. If the science and evidence for the Holocaust is undeniable, then let these dissenting views be blown out of the water case by case, point by point. To lock up people for thought crime, only adds credibility to their arguments.

David Irving was arrested in Austria and jailed for a year for denying that the holocaust killed 6 million Jews during WWII. I am not a revisionist supporter, but I'm not a supporter of political prisoners and thought criminals either.

Read about David Irving article here

FREEDOM OF SPEECH means you are not arrested or charged for your right to a dissenting opinion. Thought crime is just too 1984 for me.

State Claims Ownership of Newborn DNA

God Bless America!
Unknown to most new parents, or those who became parents in the last ten or so years, DNA of newborns has been harvested, tested, stored and experimented with. All 50 states are now routinely providing these results to the Homeland Security Department. Excellent!

If you recall the movie Gattaca, embryos were created and screened to provide the ultimate eugenics program and the "super" human. Some refused to take part in this process and had "God" children, children who were made through normal conception. These children invariably didn't have the same superior genome compared to GMO children, and were thus forced into unwanted societal roles like cleaning and garbage disposal.

In Minnesota the state tests for 56 various genetic disorders and variants. At least 1/3 of these tests produce a false positive meaning that a flaw was identified that actually did not exist. Regardless, the false positive becomes part of the permanent record of the child and follows them for the rest of their lives as does any true positives. This means that the child may face discrimination in employment and the ability to gain health insurance at any cost.

Should we really be complaining? I mean, after all it's not required by law, you can opt out of the pogram, that is, if you knew about it in the first place.

Our legislators declared that if the parent doesn’t specifically opt out, they are presumed to have “informed consent” and have opted in.

So what are the long term implicaions of this?

The implications of the DNA database need to be viewed in conjuction with the Real ID Act in the US, and the requirement by Americans to carry around National Identity Cards. Combine the identity card with your DNA, and you've got yourself a highly controlled Statist system. I hear people saying? So, thats ok, if you're not doing anything wrong? Others look forward to a technocractic Utopia where everything you do will be based on your DNA, from your ATM card, your health insurance, driving your car, the locks on your house, all of which could be DNA specific.

It's all just a little bit Big Brother (1984) and This Perfect Day for my liking.

Read the full article by Marti Oakley

Read about RFID chips and the Real ID act here and here and here.

Is there such a thing as different races in the human species? Or are we just one race – the human race?

I found this article: The K9 Comparison—What Dogs Tell Us About Humans

The article describes a scientist Dr Freedman who himself is in a bi-racial marriage, perform tests on different dog breeds to determine the effect of breed on behaviour.

Dog breeds provide the classic case study of within-species differentiation. Those who would dismiss race and race differences regularly point out that DNA differences between races are minimal. But, as Vincent Sarich demonstrated in Race: The Reality of Human Differences (pp. 170 – 173) human racial differences in morphology are greater than in any non-domesticated species. They are around ten times the difference between the sexes within each race and larger than the differences that distinguish the two species of chimpanzee. Despite minimal genetic differences, human physical racial differences are clearly observable.

(Studies show that humans share 98.4% of genetic information with Chimpanzees, so it only takes a little to change phenotypical differences in nature).

He submitted the paper on racial differences in neonate behavior to Science, the most prestigious scientific journal in the U.S. It had published his study behavioral differences in pups of different dog breeds without any problem or controversy. The paper on race differences, however, was rejected by a split vote of the reviewers. Interesting!

Freedman then submitted it to Nature, the British analogue to Science. It again received a split decision from the judges. Fortunately, the editor broke the deadlock by casting his deciding vote in favor of publication. [Behavioural Differences between Chinese–American and European–American Newborns D. G. Freedman & Nina Chinn Freedman, Nature December 20, 1969]

The following are the interesting scientific points to note to suggest there are different races, with different characteristics inherent in their genes.

New born babies were studied by neurologists using a maneuver called the "defense reaction", the baby's nose was briefly pressed with a cloth, forcing him to breathe with his mouth. Most Caucasian and black babies fight the maneuver by immediately turning away or swiping at the cloth with their hands. Not surprisingly, this is listed in Western pediatric textbooks as the normal, expected response.

But not so for the average Chinese babies in the study. They simply lay on their back, breathing from the mouth, "accepting" the cloth without a fight.

There were other more subtle differences. While both Chinese and Caucasian infants would start to cry at about the same point in the examination, especially when they were being undressed, Chinese babies stopped crying immediately, while Caucasian babies quieted only gradually.
The conclusions found that white babies started to cry more easily, and once they started, they were more difficult to console. Chinese babies adapted to almost any position in which they were placed. When placed face down in their cribs, they tended to keep their faces buried in the sheets rather than immediately turning to one side, as did the Whites.

Another scientific field that recognises racial difference is pharmacogenetics for example, the study of genetic differences in the tolerance and effectiveness of medicinal drugs. African American patients, on average, do not benefit as much as whites from ACE (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme) inhibitors, a standard treatment for heart failure. This is probably because of race differences in nitric oxide, which is produced by the cells that line our blood vessels and dampens contraction of the muscle cells, relaxing the vessels and lowering blood pressure. Blacks are more likely than whites to have nitric oxide insufficiency. Why, no one currently knows.

I would like to see this study conducted on children from bi-racial parents where the offspring are “pure” in their appearance of either being black/ asian/white to see if the mixed offspring will give the same response.

For example the image is of the “Hodgson twins” , where both the parents are bi-racial. They have twin daughters, one appears traditionally “black” while the other, with blonde hair and blue eyes appears “white”. To have one white offspring and one black offspring as twins is statisically a 1 in a million chance!

I’d like to see the results of the study done on these sorts of children, and the effects of mixed-race.

Genetics – interesting, no?