Critical Times

The Pinnacle Education Consortium has been selected by the Government of SA as its preferred bidder for the six PPP “Super Schools”. Two other consortia have been rejected.

The Public Private Partnerships process involves a radical departure from traditional methods of Government infrastructure procurement.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
SENT WED 25/3/09

Editor,

Remember the poem “Who Built Thebes…. and The Great Wall of China”? Watching the worthy tributes to Jorn Utson on ABC television today, (25/3/09), I could not help but notice there was no acknowledgement for the thousands of Builders Laborers who built the difficult structure, one of whom is celebrated in verse by the late Denis Kevans, Australia’s under-celebrated “poet lorikeet”.

I submit the poem to your readers for them to decide whether a separate memorial event should be organized for “Paddy” ? Maybe Paul Robeson, the very first Opera singer at the Opera House (1960?) could get the gig instead of Neil Finn and Our Kate ?

The Ghost of Sydney Opera House

There’s a ghost in Sydney Opera House,
Who sings in all the shows,
The glittering tiaras sometimes
Tumble on their toes,
The ghost he was a rigger,
And he’d sing up in the shell,
And we sank a fleet of schooners
In the First and Last Hotel.

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So, what is a quadrillion? It’s a thousand trillion, or one million billion. A bit later in this article, I’ll direct you to an amazing series of graphics that tries to give some sense to these terms.

For the moment, let us just note that the Bank of International Settlements has recently reported that global outstanding derivatives have reached 1.

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“Your friends will never forget you”,

the fluttering leaflet said,
“Your friends will never forget you”, and then o’er the valley spread,
The wide sky cowed in sorrow, and the eyes of the angels wept,
For a promise made by the soldiers that their leaders never kept.

For the soldiers are there when you need ‘em,

they’re there to suffer and die,
And to make the eyes of the angels weep in the depths of the tropical sky,
And the soldiers are there laugh it off, and shoulder their blistering gun,
And fight anew, in the mud light glue, and the sweat of the tropical sun.

And solders were there, and their mates were there,

their mates, the East Timorese,
Who fought and died beside them in the night of the jungle trees,
Who fought and bled and suffered so Australia might still be free,
And the Aussies cried, when their leaders lied, and poisoned the Timor Sea. read more »

“nil bastardum coitus circum”

Peter McVean sent the following letter to several major newspapers (some submissions abridged of the 1st paragraph for brevity). He feels strongly about the epidemic of Shipping Containers Going Overboard

After the recent incident of 31 shipping containers full of ammonium nitrate being lost overboard from the deck of the containership “Pacific Adventurer” during cyclonic conditions off the Queensland coast, I decided to do a bit of research into the statistics on shipping container losses and mishaps, and was shocked!

The incidence of shipping containers being lost overboard (sometimes en masse) are by no means a rarity, and have been happening with far more frequency than most people would know or have read about.

Most of these containers sink immediately or shortly after, but some (for various reasons) remain afloat and drifting as serious shipping hazards for months, even years.

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Source: Global Research

By José Miguel Alonso Trabanco

Eurasia is currently experiencing serious problems derived from financial and economic difficulties such as unemployment, GDP negative growth, currency depreciation, overall economic slowdown and so on. Several members of both the European Union and NATO (Poland, Hungary, Iceland come to mind) are already dealing with a considerable deal of domestic discontent. Some States from the Former Soviet Union (notably Ukraine, Belarus and the Central Asian Republics) and even Russia itself are facing similar problems.

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The sordid little story of Marathon Resources just gets dirtier.

The latest development is the registration at the Australian Securities Exchange of Black Pearl Global Opportunity Fund as a substantial shareholder.

Although not yet listed on the Marathon Resources website as one of its Top Twenty Shareholders, BPGOF has purchased sufficient shares between December 8 last year and February 11 this year to move into fifth place behind ANZ Nominees Ltd with close to 4.

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by Jefferson Lee (written 9/3/09 as my initial contribution to this website)

On Friday 24th April 2009 (Anzac Eve) at Leichhardt Town Hall in Sydney’s inner-West will be the “Inaugural Denis Kevans Memorial Anzac Eve Peace Concert” from 6pm-11pm as a fund-raiser for Leichhardt Council’s “Friends of Maliana” friendship city project.

The significance of this event is that it will be the first time in a decade and a half that the cultural hegemony of increasing militarism surrounding Anzac Day celebrations has faced a direct and conscious challenge from progressive forces in Sydney – outside of the marginalized sloganeering of a few predictable the ultra lefty.

Flash back to Australia and Anzac Days of yesteryear.

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MINING & WATER IN SA
Cultural, scientific and environmental perspectives

World Water Day Public Meeting
Monday March 23, 6.30pm to 8pm
Coglin St Community Centre, 23 Coglin Street, Adelaide.

South Australia has been riding the boom in commodities markets, but how do present profits erode our natural capital?
Now, as mining profits wither in the global financial crisis, what is the true cost of the mining industry? This forum will
take up these themes with an emphasis on the impacts of uranium mining on SA’s water resources.

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