EMISSIONS TRADING - A WEAPON OF MASS TAXATION

Press release about Australia's latest Greenie nonsense below -- from Australia's Carbon Sense Coalition -- via Viv Forbes [vforbes@bigpond.com]

The Carbon Sense Coalition today described the proposed Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as "A Weapon of Mass Taxation". In a submission to the Garnaut Enquiry, the chairman of "Carbon Sense", Mr Viv Forbes, claimed that the scheme would have no effect whatsoever on world climate but every Australian would feel the oppressive cost and dislocations caused by it.

"Staggering estimates of the costs of forcing industry to purchase permits to emit CO2 are just starting to emerge: Germany (100 billion euros), Australia (up to $22 billion), New Zealand ($4.5 billion). The amazing fact is that even though consumers in many countries will bear oppressive costs, there may be no reduction whatsoever in CO2 emissions, and no beneficial effects on the world climate.

For full details of the submission by the Carbon Sense Coalition to the Garnaut Enquiry see here (PDF)





Radical laws to ban drinking alcohol at home

Paternalism gone mad in attempt to solve the unsolvable -- chronic and widespread alcohol abuse by blacks. Bans were tried decades ago and didn't work then but Leftists always feel the need to "do something", no matter how foolish it is

DRINKING a glass of wine in your own home could be illegal under extreme new liquor laws that rubber-stamp the use of no-go alcohol zones in NSW. Stirring up images of 1930s' prohibition in the US, the Iemma Government is using the total ban on alcohol in some Aboriginal communities as a blueprint. Under the plan, drinking hotspots across the state can be labelled as "restricted alcohol areas" for up to three years under new laws that are just 10 weeks away.

A document recently published by the State Government reveals the detail of the alcohol bans outlining that areas of "chronic alcohol abuse" can be slapped with a range of restrictions. "Restrictions will not be limited to indigenous communities," the paper reads. Under the new laws, any area of the state can be declared a restricted alcohol zone and it applies to the sale of alcohol as well as possession and consumption in any premises - licensed or not.

Speaking with The Daily Telegraph, teetotaller Gaming Minister Graham West said the bans will only be implemented if requested by a broad section of the community and will not be government enforced. Mr West said they would be decided on a case-by-case basis and developed specifically for the area. "This is for communities that say 'we have a specific issue and we want to try this as part of the solution'. It might be a restriction of types of alcohol, times of alcohol sales or (a ban on) alcohol being brought into the area," he said. "It could be that light beer only is allowed or it could be a restriction on all alcohol brought into the area - it is a full range of options that have been left pretty broad. "It must be community initiated. It is not a big brother approach."

Mr West said it was "new territory" and it was still undecided as to what penalties might be imposed if someone was caught with alcohol in a banned zone. He said the legislation was more likely to work in a rural town where it was more easily policed but did not rule out it being used in any Sydney metropolitan area. "We've got to work all this out. It is new ground for us. We want to see what the community wants to do and then look at the regulations that go with that," he said.

Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia's Paul Dillon said it was a radical solution for a serious problem. "This sort of thing drives things underground. No one who has any expertise in this area is saying we should ban alcohol," he said.

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Imams say that the naughty bits in Islamic tradition must not be mentioned

The usual Islamic/Leftist respect for free speech, intellectual diversity and open discussion of ideas (NOT)

ANGRY Muslim groups have attacked the University of Western Sydney over an Islamic studies course they claim is too sexually explicit, promotes lesbianism and derides the Koran as misogynistic. Students, community members and the Australian National Imams Council have complained about the content of the course, Women in Arabic and Islamic Literature, being taught at the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies. They say it gives a negative view of women in Islam.

The imams council has circulated a petition recording its "deep concern with regards to the course structure and content", saying it involved "repeated and unjustified attacks upon Islam". Another group, Muslims for Peace, has branded the centre as "evil" and demanded lecturer Samar Habib be dismissed and the course abolished. "Now that its wicked nature should be crystal clear for all to see, Muslims should fear Almighty Allah and break all connections with this diabolical centre of Kufr (non-believers)," a bulletin on the Muslims for Peace website reads.

Dr Habib has declined to comment. UWS executive dean of the College of Arts Wayne McKenna said that, although the university was yet to receive a direct complaint, it was examining the content of the course.

The NCEIS, set up last year with federal government funds, operates out of three universities: the University of Melbourne, Griffith University in Queensland and UWS. It was established to advance knowledge and understanding of Islam and to play a leadership role in public debate on contemporary Islam. The course includes excerpts from The Perfumed Garden by Sheik Nafzawi, a book on Arabian erotica written in the 16th century and translated into English in 1886 that has been likened to the Indian Kama Sutra.

Dr Habib, who has written her PhD thesis on female homosexuality in the Middle East and has written an introduction in an erotic lesbian novel published overseas entitled I Am You, has been accused of promoting lesbianism. Homosexuality is forbidden in the Koran for both sexes. Dr Habib has also been accused by Muslims for Peace of teaching that it is not obligatory to wear the hijab, that the Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Mohammed) are just Chinese whispers and that Muslim scholars can be ignored because they are males.

University of Melbourne's Sultan of Oman professor of Arab and Islamic studies, Abdullah Saeed, said concerns about the course had been raised at the centre's community consultative committee meeting this week. "Everyone has a right to express their opinion and views and that is what is happening," Professor Saeed said. "One of the essential things is to uphold academic freedoms and intellectual freedoms of students and the staff."

The imams council does not believe the course represents the normative traditional Islam as practised by most of the world's Muslim population. "The subject's emphasis on sexuality and its explicit sexual content is not reflective of normative Islam, which is what we thought the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies would attempt to portray," ANIC president Sheik Moez Nafti wrote.

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Bra wars

Childish accusations from Leftists expose them to the same

West Australian premier Alan Carpenter has been forced to deny claims that he exposed a colleague's bra to fellow MPs as his political rival fights to keep his job over the notorious chair-sniffing incident. Mr Carpenter has said he is the victim of "scuttlebutt allegations", while Opposition Leader Troy Buswell says he is confident he won't be replaced by angry colleagues.

Mr Carpenter has come out fighting over suggestions that he lifted the top of a female colleague at a karaoke party in 2004, exposing her bra to 30 Labor MPs. Mr Carpenter is also alleged to have put his face near the breasts of another female colleague at the time. The premier, who returned to Perth from Europe yesterday, denied both incidents. He said the allegations were "baseless scuttlebutt designed to damage me politically". "There is no basis to it. We had a lot of fun. No one was upset," Mr Carpenter told The West Australian.

"Suddenly four years later in the middle of some sensitive political issues a suggestion is run around that I, and only I apparently on the whole night, did anything that anybody was concerned about. And yet 30 or 40 people in the room didn't see a thing."

Mr Buswell faces a spill motion a party meeting today in the wake of the embarrassing chair sniffing scandal. The Liberal leader has been under intense pressure to resign after admitting last week that in 2005 he sniffed the chair of a female Liberal staffer at parliament house after she had stood up. Party whip Graham Jacobs has said he will move a spill motion at a party room meeting today and support treasury spokesman Steve Thomas to take over from Mr Buswell.

But Mr Buswell told The West Australian that he had contacted MPs over the weekend and had been assured of their support. "My view is that I have had good feedback from my colleagues," Mr Buswell said. "I have had discussions with a large number of them over the weekend." Before becoming leader in January, Mr Buswell admitted snapping the bra of a Labor staffer last year and was accused of making sexist remarks towards another MP.

Mr Thomas said yesterday if he were nominated for the leader's position, he would accept. "I think the one thing I offer that nobody else does is a fresh start," Mr Thomas said. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party has set up a special committee to investigate the leaks relating to Mr Buswell's behaviour. The committee, headed by state president Barry Court, is expected to report within weeks. The committee was set up at the state council meeting at the weekend, where it's understood Mr Buswell was given a standing ovation after delivering an address about his indiscretions, The West Australian said.

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