"it seems that we are still planning to mill forests into copier paper, cardboard cartons and bum paper"

Chris, I am not about to go on any guilt trips, about wiping
my bum with paper :) Yes, we use a bit of paper, the question
is how sustainable is it?

As far as I can see, the population of Australia is low enough
that with a few brains, we can actually live sustainably, which
is the critical question.

Yup there are some major global issues, but they need mega solutions,
not feelgood solutions. Since Kyoto was signed, we have added
880 million people to the world population. The Catholic Church
wants us to keep adding more.

Its fairly pointless to run off on a feelgood guilt trip, whilst
these sorts of issues are hardly discussed by by the global
community.

So I shall keep using toilet paper and so will most of my friends.
You are free to have sleepless nights about it, but its really
not going to interfere with my sleep too much :)

Just watch the documentary!

Chris, 700mb is 70% of my monthly wirelss broadband allowance,
so I am not about to blow it on the say so of some fanatic.

Surely you could express the main points in a few sentences.

Everything else about the Cuban economy has been a disaster.
You have expressed no reasoned arguments as to why things
have changed.

If your doco is so amazingly good, I am sure that SBS
would screen it.

Until Cuba meets the same standards of respect for human rights as the US/Australian allied moderate, anti-terrorist states, i.e., Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan and Israel, the embargo should be supported.

An interesting thought on "human rights" as it exists in Cuba. In the year before the downfall of the US (read CIA) installed dictator, ex Sgt Batista, the following numbers were evident from Cuban national data:

1958 inhabitants per physician - 1,076
2003 - 165
1958 inhabitants per dentist - 27,052
2003 - 1098

Infant mortality per 1,000 of population
1958 - 60.0
2003 - 6.3

In Oz the ratio of full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors to patients would be lower than 0.71:1,000 (Australian Department of Health and Ageing, 2005). So, per head of population, Cuba has neary twice as many physicians as our nation!

If human rights is an issue, one has to wonder, even without consideration of medical professionals' ratio, just from the infant mortality rate, how many million Cubans would now NOT be alive, were it not for Fidel and (Dr) Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Che), all this in spite of the US embargoes.

Think about it a little more deeply than just "reds under the bed".....

Jim

Jim

That's quite compelling data.

My main gripe with Tim's article was not his valid concerns about Cuba (not to mention the Miami mafia's control of US policy). My concern was his throw away allegations about Australians killing "thousands" of Iraqi's.

Thats the way I interpret Tim's odd words:

"Indeed. Robert Hill personally, as Defence Minister, directed Australian bombing raids and missile strikes in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He was personally responsible for the slaughter of many thousands of innocent Iraqis".

After several days Tim hasn't provided evidence to back it up after being asked.

If this isn't bloody-minded propaganda (red or otherwise) what is it?

Pete