Author: Kev

I’m reminded of Henry VII — “Who can rid me of this troublesome priest.” when reading about Father Kennedy in Brisbane. The debate is more political than religious but Kennedy’s spin doctors say it’s all about social justice for the disadvantaged and minorities, woman clergy and aboriginal land rights but there is more to it than that. When I was helping at Legacy I drove past ST Marys most days and was always confronted with a “Free Hicks!” or “Close Guantanamo” type of banner hanging out the front of the church. Refugees, The Iraq war and HoWARd.often got a mention. I’m sure a lot of good comes out of the diocese but following left wing causes whilst not following the churches protocols leaves few friends outside of the closed circle. It might be just me but I don’t look to churches to be agents of radical politics.

An estimated 1500 people attended mass yesterday morning and hundreds more turned out for evening services on Saturday and yesterday, and for concerts and rallies.

Big turn ups at Mass as well, if Mass it is, but then being the only Catholic hold out for radicals, bleeding hearts, human rights advocates and land rights activists in the city and maybe even Australia, birds of feather will flock together, won’t they? By all means march to a different drum Father but in all honesty if you choose to do so outside of the churches protocols, if you disagree with the churches stand on issues so strongly, then you should resign and set up your own denomination. Avoids charges of hypocrisy. Peter Kennedy, on being sacked talks of his replacement;

“The people are not going to receive Fr Howell. He’s naive enough to think he can walk in there on Sunday and the people will welcome him. Well, they won’t. I know the people, I’ve been there 28 years – the people want me there and I’ve helped build that community into what it is today. And then this guy comes in, like a religious scab.”

Sounds like someone has a “messiah-complex” and now considers himself above the church. Disclaimer: I’m not a Catholic but respect their role in our community

From First Byte in The Australian

Do the climate change sceptics still need convincing that something is changing our weather and that we need to take immediate and drastic action to prevent more disasters? Doug Steley Maroochydore, Qld

From my desk this morning;

Yes Kev Gillett TAIGUM, QLD

Clive Hamilton in today’s Cut and Paste is of the same opinion as Doug; CLIMATE scientists have been predicting more frequent and severe bushfires due to climate change for some years. The bushfires and the extreme heatwave, whose death toll when tallied will probably be in the hundreds and exceed that of the fires, are global warming made manifest in the daily lives of ordinary people. But that’s just Clive – he would say that. We don’t need global warming to start disasterous bush fires; just a very hot day, unfavourable winds, fuel and Greenies. David Packham, a bushfire scientist for more than 50 years explains;

Fuels build up year after year at an approximate rate of one tonne a hectare a year, up to a maximum of about 30 tonnes a hectare. If the fuels exceed about eight tonnes a hectare, disastrous fires can and will occur. Every objective analysis of the dynamics of fuel and fire concludes that unless the fuels are maintained at near the levels that our indigenous stewards of the land achieved, then we will have unhealthy and unsafe forests that from time to time will generate disasters such as the one that erupted on saturday.

Speaking to my nearly ninety year old Mother last night and she recalls her youth and life in Pemberton, WA, the home of the majestic Karri and Jarrah forests. I recall as well, that the attitude of the townspeople to fires, was one of extreme respect and fear. Every winter men were called off farms to light and control burn-offs to limit the amount of fuel per acre. Every winter without fail. Disasters in the Karri/Jarrah forests, as extensive as Victoria’s timber lands, never eventuated other than the odd individual who, for reasons long forgotten, drew the short straw of life. Of the factors in the formulae of hot temperatures, high winds, fuel and Greenies only the first two applied and given this, the townspeople could handle the bush fires that sprang up every winter. And then along come the Greenies and the last two factors became dominant. More from David Packham.

The decision to ignore the threat has been encouraged by some shocking pseudo-science from a few academics who use arguments that may have a place in political discourse but should have no place in managing our environment and protecting it and us from the bushfire threat. The conclusion of these academics is that high intensity fires are good for the environment and that the resulting mudslides after rains are merely localised and serve to redistribute nutrients. The purpose of this failed policy is to secure uninformed city votes. The politicians who willingly accept this rubbish use it to justify the perpetuation of the greatest threat to our forests, water supplies, homes and lives in order to secure a minority green vote. They continue to throw millions (and no doubt soon billions) at ineffective suppression toys, while the few foresters and bush people who know how to manage our public lands are starved of the resources they need to reduce fuel loads.

I’ve been aware of the fuel per acre situation since my pre-teen years; as I travel Australia and talk to country folk, they are all aware of it and yet state governments consider forests sacrosanct, get their Greenie votes and people die. Until this day I have never, never agreed with anything Germaime Greer has said but she is close to the money with this;

Bushland that is not burned regularly turns into a powder keg, as the fuel load inexorably increases. The cause of these disasters is not global warming; still less is it arson. It is the failure to recognise that fire is an intrinsic feature of eucalypt bushland. It cannot be prevented but it can and should be managed. Unless there is a fundamental change of policy across all levels of government in Australia, there will be more and worse fires and more deaths.

Fancy that, me quoting Germaine. The Victorian Government will hold enquiries and hopefully, a Royal Commission and with a little bit of bipartisan research we may just arrive at some long known truths. One can only hope that something good can grow from the tragedy of all the lost souls and we could be better prepared in the future, as we once were in the past,

North of where I live, up Tully way, two men are missing, swept away in raging floods. North Queensland floods Further North, at the Daintree, a five year old boy has been taken by crocodile as his father plunges into the flooded river to try and save him. The crocodiles are moving to mangrove areas to get away from the fast flowing cold flooded waters. The town of Marysville, Victoria has been wiped from the map. South of me, in Victoria, the country suffers its worst ever fire disaster as Firefighters have worked through the night to battle 31 fires across scorched Victoria. The current front page of the Australian has the full story with links to articles, videos and pictorials

At least 750 homes have been destroyed and more than 330,000ha burnt out, while authorities said some fires – the worst in the nation’s histiry – could take weeks to contain.

The death toll is currently 108 people and there is talk of arsonists being responsible for some of the fires. How you can help from The Australian

THERE are several ways you can help the victims of Victoria’s worst ever bushfires. This morning Victoria Police and the Red Cross have requested people wanting to donate should not use any numbers listed for emergency use only. To donate to the Red Cross State Government Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund: Visit www.redcross.org.au Phone 1800 811 700 Go to any NAB, ANZ, Westpac or Commonwealth Bank branch Go to any Bunnings store Make a direct deposit to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund BSB 082-001, Account number 860-046-797 Another appeal set up is the Myer Bushfire Appeal. All proceeds will go to the Salvation Army. Donate at any Victorian Myer store.

Have just spoken to an old friend who lives in Wantirna, a suburb of Melbourne. He is in the Emergency Services and was just about to take off to the disaster area with the forensic team. He has house guests, refugees from the fires who have lost everything but their lives. These people are in shock and need help! Amongst all this death and tragedy there are some good stories. In South Australia where the temperatures exceeded 45 degrees celcius last week comes this pic of a Koala in stress Two points; First; Koalas don’t normally drink water as they gain all their hydration from the eucalypt leaves they eat. I have never seen a Koal drinking water like this one. Secondly, if its 45 degrees C what the hell are bicycle riders doing pedaling up a mountain? The Koala comes out looking the smartest of the lot.

BRITISH police said they have charged a protester who hurled a shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as he gave a speech at Britain’s Cambridge University. What’s the bet that’s the last you hear of this little incident. The target, after all, is only the Chinese premier, leader of Communist China with all it’s imperfections and human rights abuse. It is not George Bush who is, y’know..a moron (read conservative)and subject to public ridicule. It wont be on a constant loop at Letterman’s or TV news. The video I saw doesn’t show but I wonder if the Premier was as agile as Bush. I doubt it