Belly

Even more worrying than the threats received by Glover, were those received by Australian Climate scientists recently:

" SYDNEY — Climate researchers at one of Australia's top universities have been rushed to a secure location after receiving death threats, according to an official, as debate rages about plans for a carbon pollution tax.

The Australian National University (ANU) scientists had to be shifted following mounting abuse, with threats they would be attacked in the street if they didn't stop their research, said ANU vice-chancellor Dick Young."

http://tinyurl.com/3qcnc9p

We don't need American nutters when there are plenty right here in good old Oz.

Would the people who threatened the scientists describes themselves as climate change skeptics or deniers? One thing I am sure of is that they are threatened by change from fossil to renewable energy and have the might of the entire fossil fuel industry to support them. All of which makes the claims that scientists are lying just to get grants look insubstantial by comparison.

And human beings are more evolved than monkeys...lol....not from where I stand:) Or maybe like Jane Goodall was right......"we can only see our true selves when we study our closest relatives" and by whats going on around the world at the moment, any type of "Delcine pf Civil Debate" can be summed up with one word..........Neanderthals:)

The world is tearing itself apart, because the primitive minds can not agree on what came first.....The chicken or the egg. Religion is still the one thing humans haven't got over, and wont for a long time to come.

A banana anyone:)

LEA

Thanks Ammonite I can be rude, it is my passion that lets me down
RObert did we once share another forum? Some one spelled the name that way maybe it was you.
Look folks Guilty, I get a bit rough in debate.
But my path is not easy, I reject the fools in my team and demand better and those in conservatism and know far better exists.
Howard, not my cup of tea was a statesman, with out work choices, his fixation on killing all unions he would still be prime minster.
Suzi, yes agree,but if you and I step away from our belief in man made climate change[I never can] it will change nothing.
If we except one side is awfully wrong, why can we not talk about it without the rubbish.
I never intended the thread focus on OLO or Australia.
I strongly hold the view the west is divided on things that will one day fragment us weaken us and just maybe destroy us.
I am content if we see it is a right to hold opinions, even if we think we know it is wrong, others that is.
Ammonite I was born dyslectic, can learn anything, but never understand why.
I have to have the right information then tell myself to study and once I do its there forever.
I will learn, within a month to cut and paste.
Back to politics,any one think question time is civil.
Any one believe, and I do, only Tony Abbott is keeping the ALP within reach of conservatives in the polls?

Belly,
I believe there has been a decline in civil debate, and i put it down to the use of computers and the ability to make comments anonomosly.

Some here may know that I followed Jessica Watson's round the world voyage and i have kept up with news of her activities since, as i am interested to see where life takes this remarkable young lady. However after each press article about her, I cannot help but notice some very nasty comments made by some readers. I think her achievement was outstanding and since returning she has done us proud at many local and overseas events such as boat shows, her book signings and media interviews, etc. so in my opinion any critisism is totally undeserved. If one does not agree with that, there is no need what so ever to make nasty personal comments that many do.

I do not know if it is jealousy, spite or what, but there are far more nasty comments in the Courier Mail than in the Sydney or Melbourne papers. This is opposite to what I would have thought.

On occasion, I have defended Jessica when the comments are incorrect and this generally brings further abusive comments. Far worse than we ever get on OLO.

I also notice other blogs do not have the same standards as OLO and the posters can be quite nasty. Yes standard of debate has dropped.

Excuse me, Belly - but did you say that John Howard was a statesman?

Not in my book, mate.

Nelson Mandela is a statesman. Franklin D. Roosevelt was a statesman. Churchill was a statesman.....Howard, on the other hand, was a obsequious, fawning disciple of the neo-con administration in Washington - he wasn't a statesman's bootlace.

Ammonite,
This is what Tim Blair of the Daily Telegraph had to say about the so called 'death threats' to ANU climate scientists.

Quote
Claims prominent climate change scientists had recently received death threats have been revealed as an opportunistic ploy, with the Australian National University admitting that they occurred up to five years ago.

Only two of ANU’s climate change scientists allegedly received death threats, the first in a letter posted in 2006-2007 and the other an offhand remark made in person 12 months ago.

Neither was officially reported to ACT Police or Australian Federal Police, despite such crimes carrying a 10-year prison sentence.

As for the gigantic new security now in place at the university:

The Daily Telegraph has discovered the nine scientists and staff in question were merely given keyless swipe cards – routine security measures taken last year.

Some old, already-exposed emails. A five-year-old letter. And an argument at a faculty wine-and-cheese night. That’s the extent of the threats facing Australian climate scientists. Must these people exaggerate everything