Critical Times

Source: Green Left Weekly

Graham Matthews
14 February 2009

In a 7000-word essay published in the February Monthly magazine , Prime Minister Kevin Rudd blames neoliberalism for the global economic crisis.

He promises to deliver a new “social democratic state” that will “save capitalism from itself”, while protecting working people’s interests.

However, while Rudd’s prescription may provide relief for bankers, industrialists and developers, it is working people who will pay in the end.

Source: ABC Online News
Sun Feb 15, 2009

One of the world’s leading experts on climate change says a Nobel Prize-winning panel of scientists seriously underestimated the reality of global warming when it published its report just over a year ago.

Professor Chris Field, a leading member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which released the report, says he and his fellow researchers did not have access to vital data.

Professor Field says that a warming planet will dry out forests in tropical areas, making them much more likely to suffer from bushfires.

See Mark Fiore’s animated satire on Wall Street’s approach to overcoming economic stagnation and socialism!

Source: The Guardian 4 February, 2009

By Bob Briton

Australian of the Year for 2009, Mick Dodson, might have predicted that his comments about the appropriateness of celebrating January 26 as our national day would set off a flurry of comment in the media. He probably didn’t anticipate just how personal and hostile some of the backlash would be. Along with many Indigenous — and non indigenous — Australians yearning for social justice, he would be disappointed that a “conversation” about January 26 and the significance of that date for Aboriginal people is still simply beyond the guardians of the status quo.

Source: Published by Nigel on February 5, 2009

While the Australian Greens purport to represent the interest of the environment and Australians, there is substantive evidence to suggest this is not quite the truth. This article suggests the Australian political party which should be voicing key issues of concern, is not, and in a parliamentary democracy, when the minority parties fail in their brief all Australians have great reason for concern.

Currently, an expanding network of concerned Australians are raising critical issues and publishing these, in the hope that Australians will make demands upon the elected representatives charged with the responsibility of ensuring a sustainable future for Australia.