Critical Times

by Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary
Today the national Abolish ABCC Committee met at Melbourne Trades Hall. Chaired by Dave Noonan, National Secretary CFMEU (Construction and General) Division, the meeting assessed the campaigns activities and general strategy to date.

In particular, reports were heard about the ABCC’s court cases against CFMEU Vic senior official Noel Washington.

The latest chaos on Wall Street — the worst financial upheaval in the US since the 1930s Great Depression — highlights not just the scale of the world financial crisis, but the needless destruction caused by the blind competition at the core of capitalism. »

Source: serve the people

Crony capitalism, according to online dictionary Investopedia.com, is a “description of capitalist society as being based on the close relationships between businessmen and the state. Instead of success being determined by a free market and the rule of law, the success of a business is dependent on the favouritism that is shown by the ruling government in the form of tax breaks, government grants and other incentives.

Story by Ozee

Even the CIA says Iran has No nuke building programme ,but the U$ and Israel still do a song and dance about “enriched uranium.”Why?

It may not be the Bomb and enriched uranium that the US is worried about but the depleted uranium by-product usefull for making uranium metal tipped weapons big or small.

If ,you run a nuclear energy plant using enriched uranium ,depleted uranium is the waste by-product.

For those on the world stage hoping that the forthcoming US Presidential elections will result in a US Government more in keeping with the environmental views of other industrialised countries, Senator John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as running mate might be an indication of business as usual if the Republicans win. Palin favours drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has opposed initiatives banning the discharge of pollution from metal mines into salmon streams, and has blocked moves to list polar bears as threatened species. Furthermore, she has so far failed to set emission reduction targets for Alaska, and has even questioned the science behind global warming predictions.

Source: serve the people

Bob Dylan’s classic Masters of War is playing in my head as I write this.

(If it’s not playing in yours, go to http://www.lyricsmode.

Source: serve the people

Around 100 construction workers walked off several city sites yesterday site to protest about the lack of safety standards of a key Adelaide builder Theo Samaras and to draw attention to the effect of the ABCC and no right of entry for unions on construction sites in South Australia.

This follows two dramatic accidents that put at risk the lives of workers and the public. The first was close to the Central Market when a crane lift fell 8 stories onto the street below, crashing just outside the office of a law firm.

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Three construction workers, all of whom have been personally attacked by the Australian Building and
Construction Commission (ABCC), will today launch the ‘Rights on Site’ campaign in Parliament House.
edia ConfereThe campaign, including a TV advertisement, website and other materials, will educate the public about the
draconian powers of the ABCC and build public support for getting rid of the laws.
National Secretary of the Construction Division of the CFMEU, Dave Noonan, said “Charlie Isaacs, Joe Mannucci
and Ivan Franjic will be joining me and other union leaders to launch the Rights on Site campaign.

Around 100 construction workers walked off several city sites yesterday site to protest about the lack of safety standards of a key Adelaide builder Theo Samaras and to draw attention to the effect of the ABCC and no right of entry for unions on construction sites in South Australia.

This follows two dramatic accidents that put at risk the lives of workers and the public. The first was close to the Central Market when a crane lift fell 8 stories onto the street below, crashing just outside the office of a law firm.

Liah Lazarou

On August 28, federal environment minister Peter Garrett announced the expansion of the Beverley uranium mine, situated in South Australia’s far north-east.

Heathgate Resources, a subsidiary of US company General Atomics, will now expand the area of land mined, while the already approved production rate of 1500 tonnes of uranium oxide a year will remain the same. In effect, this allows for a greater area of land — and groundwater — to be threatened by acid leach for the same production and profit rate.

Renfrey Clarke & Bernard Laidlaw

Among the crowd of some 2000 protesters in front of South Australia’s Parliament House on August 1, eco-activists in jeans and windcheaters mingled with people in Akubra hats and Driza-Bone jackets. Mentions of Labor Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, federal water minister Penny Wong and South Australian Premier Mike Rann drew sustained jeers.

In the brief, angry speeches, several themes recurred: the Murray River is dying; the lake system at its mouth is almost dead and it is governments, not nature, that are to blame.