No dam and no going back
Old passions are stirring and divisions re-emerging as environmentalists celebrate victory all over again, 25 years after the demise of the Gordon-below-Franklin dam.
The High Court ruling on July 1, 1983 not only stopped hydro-electric development on the lower Gordon and Franklin rivers, it was the climax of a great national drama, ending years of politicking and protest which changed the country forever.
The issue destroyed the governments of two Tasmanian premiers, Doug Lowe and Harry Holgate, and loosened Labor’s grip on the state, establishing the Liberals as a significant player for the first time in decades, under the tough-talking, pro-development leadership of premier Robin Gray.
25 years ago today I was too scared to catch the school bus home in fear of another fight. Instead I walked home, relieved that the High Court had made the correct decision but terrified of the social implications to come. Social implications are pretty harsh when you’re a teenager. Peer groups and so-called grown ups can be very cruel when you’re too young to face up to a fight or know how to win. Just don’t even consider thinking about trying to intimidate me now. You know who you are.
Have a Captain Cook at this commentary from the US of A:
CNSNews.com: The Threat to the Car
Recent evidence that automobile use is declining in America and that some Americans are making significant — and in some cases not readily reversible — changes in their lives because of escalating gas prices should be worrisome signs for those who love liberty.
No device is more in keeping with the American spirit than the automobile. Privately owned cars and trucks allow us to go where we want, when want. They are freedom machines.
Cripes. Better hide that subscription to ReNew before the AFP kick the door down.
Still, some liberals would like to use government to force Americans out of their cars.
They believe in socialized transportation, not free-market transportation.
In a free-market transportation system, a person purchases his own vehicle with his own money, buys his own gas with his own money and can drive his vehicle anywhere there is a road — and, if he has the right kind of vehicle, some places where there are no roads.
Admittedly, the roads generally are constructed by government, albeit with funds extracted from the earnings and gasoline purchases of drivers.
In a socialist transportation system, the government takes the taxpayers’ money and purchases vehicles — often buses or trains — for itself or a government-funded agency. Where and when these vehicles go is determined by the government.
In a free-market transportation system, a person travels solely in the company of people with whom he has freely chosen to travel. In a socialist transportation system, a person may be compelled to travel in the company of people he does not know and who could even be a danger to him.
I have no doubt that most Americans who love the freedom of movement they derive from owning and operating a car or truck have recognized efforts by various levels of government to induce them to stop, or limit, their driving and cajole or compel them to leave the free-market transportation system and submit to the socialist transportation system.
Yeah, actually public transport shits me at time too, but not to the paranoid extent this chap seems to be chewing hard on. I’ll spare you the rest, read the entire article at the link supplied above. But you do need to peruse this bit:
Hopefully, the 8 percent who have taken to socialized transportation represents a trend that can be reversed.
We should drill our own oil — now. And, when the supply naturally diminishes to where prices drive the market elsewhere, American entrepreneurs must create another fuel whose production the government cannot readily curtail, and that keeps Americans driving where they want to, when they want to, in privately owned cars.
You should kiss your arse goodbye — now.
Luckily in retrospect bicycles weren’t mentioned in this commentary, as anything to the right of Genghis Khan is probably a Castro aficionado to T. P. Jeffrey. I was going to attempt a reasonable deconstruction of steaming pile of denial bollox, but my personal time is probably better utilised by finishing up a delicious homebrew stout and basking in the glow of a reasonably pleasant day that avoided the EastLink muppet ride.
Matthew Bellemy has turned 30. Well done young man, take a bow. I’m a bit long in the tooth to be a Muse fan chick, but am thankful for all those arpeggios that have renewed my interest in music of late. Now if only I could of attended all of the Sparks Concert series ones, one life goal would be complete. Oh, ok, and finish a Paris-Brest-Paris in under 85 hours, then my life would really be complete if one wasn’t half-dead and utterly fucked from the extreme exertion. Although with shrinking oil supplies and overdemand it’s bit of a longshot that One Day I’ll either do the PBP or see the Maels live in concert. We can only dream.
Or buy the DVDs of somebody else seeing or doing what I wanted to do.
Part One: Cyclists Special (1955) – A British Transport Films account of inspirational tweed cyclists.
Part Two: Cyclists Special (1955) – A British Transport Films account of inspirational tweed cyclists.
Connex and V/Line could learn a thing, or several, from this smashing educational CTC video found via Tweed Cycling Club. Nice tips about taking bicycles on trains, cycling skills, group riding, socialising and the wonders of a jolly good day in the outdoors. Wizard! Ok lets not ask awkward questions right now why only a few years ago CTC organised protests involving cardboard bikes re: bicycles on trains access.
Have a Captain Cook at this commentary from the US of A:
