A note on 'Astroturfing' ...

Alan Ashbarry is a real person, I have met him.

Timber Communities Australia (TCA) is a real organisation.

They invited me to speak at a conference in Tassie a couple of years ago.

It was one of the best conference I have ever attended. There were lots of guys there - including from Western Australian - who had been forced out of the industry as a consequence of environmental campaigning and the closure of mills.

A highlight for me at the conference was Jarrod Moore. He sang the best songs. He has an album out called "Men of Timber".

Anyway, there is nothing fake about TCA - Timber Communities Australia. It is an organisation of very real people - including at least one good singer - passionate about forests and timber.

Then again I live in a timber house and I work off a wooden desk.

re:
" ... Malcolm Turnbull announced that he received over 30,000 submissions on the pulp mill: most would have expected well informed comment, yet according to activist web sites the majority were form emails (PDF 313KB). A total of 31,323 submissions came from just two web sites: 25,773 standard emails from the activist web site Get up; and 5,550 submitted from the Wilderness Society."

Alan offers exact figures for two sources of submissions, but gives estimates rounded to the nearest thousand to describe the total. Say he rounded down, on the convention that naything less than 31,499 was about 31,000. How many more submissions were there than 31,323? Even an extra two dozen is a pretty good response, I would say.

A lack of an exact total suggests to me there's something that Alan Ashbarry doesn't want to admit, or else maybe something that his researcher didn't think was strategic to include.

also the notion that submissions via *get up* were 'standard' is nonsense. mine was one of the 33,000 odd (or whatever the number is/was) and it certainly wasn't 'standard'. nor was that of one of the previous contributors to this discussion. the two of us will not be alone! even if we were, the contention is immediately shown up for what it is - a misrepresentation of the submissions made via *get up*. sad to say, this typical of the way some of those (at least) who promote degradation of the environment conduct their arguments.

also the notion that submissions via *get up* were 'standard' is nonsense. mine was one of the 33,000 odd (or whatever the number is/was) and it certainly wasn't 'standard'. nor was that of one of the previous contributors to this discussion (as that contributor affirmed). the two of us will not be alone! even if we were, the contention that *get up* submissions were 'standard' is immediately shown up for what it is - a misrepresentation of the submissions made via *get up*. sad to say, this typical of the way some of those (at least) who promote degradation of the environment conduct their arguments.

The science argument--which Gunns are using--and have left to the
dishonest Chief-Scientist to "rule upon"
[ie "dont monitor or test GE cotton--its safe
and essential"--and consequently our nation's best mind] --is actually wrong in fact.

Rather than spend half a year reading the literature--and believing such an exercise "gives one an understanding"--
we should instead understand FULLY that ALL MANUFACTURED SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS
are radio-mimetic--ie they act radiationally.
[Americo Mosca,Albert Schatz,Professor John Goffman--discover of uranium; and numerous others].

So-called clean dioxin or German best-practice is therefore ABSURD.

Emissions under any system-- are Geneva Convention illegal.

No wonder we have commercial-confidentiality regards new chemicals.
[even a lab-assistant could detect abnormality]...

More highly selective and therefore highly mischievous 'cut' and 'paste' high school essay writing from Alan Ashbarry which for those of us who are familiar with the work of the TCA have become all too accustomed. Ashbarry addresses issues of dioxins and odour with all the the authority of someone who actually has worked and studied the field for decades. But he hasnt. As for his gutless attack on Dr. Raverty (whom Mr Ashbarry seems very reluctant to name), well Mr Asbarry is the third TCA member after Barry Chipman and Jill Lewis to unsuccessfully attempt to frame Raverty and cast aspersions on Dr. Raverty,s motives for turning 'whistleblower' on the Gunns pulp mill proposal and the their dismal behaviour alongside their parliamentary represenatives the Tasmanian government. Indeed on the odour control point Ashbarrys mischievous TCA colleague Jill Lewis on the recent ABC difference of opininon program was caught out by Raverty when she attempted to suggest that the comments on the ENSIS sight re future possibilities for odour control were in relation to Gunns mill. This totally destroys her credibility as well as Mr Ashbarry,s who insists like his predeccessors Chipman and Lewis in attempting to frame Raverty as dishonest. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/differenceofopinion/content/2007/s2029117.htm
It has also been addressed here
http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Message.aspx?b=70&m=14180&ps=20&dm=1&pd=3
and most specifically here
http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Message.aspx?b=70&m=14100&ps=20&dm=1&pd=3