Letters To The Editor

Anzac tradition

While it is sad for any city to lose its RSL, ex-service persons could lose something much appreciated over the years, and that is breakfast after the dawn service on Anzac Day.

Those taking part in the dawn service do so and because of age, or disability, cannot completely cope with the heat, length of march and subsequent service on a hot day.

They can pay respect with a short march, a service in cool conditions and a pleasant reunion with old friends over a drink and a convivial meal. As this has been a tradition, it is hoped that RSL sub branch's executive are aware and have this matter on their agenda.

Without being specific, most ex-service persons are also members of a club other than the RSL.

John Neill
Goonellabah

Poor welcome

I would like to thank those wonderful, thoughtful, community minded morons for making my mother feel so welcome in her new home in Lismore.

Mum has been here for a mere eight weeks and during that time she has suffered the indignity of having her garden ornaments stolen and a friend's car stolen from the front of the house. The car was later found burnt. Thanks for that.

She had been unsure about moving to Lismore but my friends and myself had assured her that it is a beautiful caring community. How soon we were proven wrong.

I'm not sure what you had in mind for a concrete sleeping Mexican but I hope that you are very happy together.

I just wanted you to know that my mother's present state of paranoia and nervous anxiety is due in large part to your efforts. Congratulations.

Cat Anderson
Lismore

US debate

Besides expressing scournful disdain about anybody who dares to have an unfavourable opinion of America's role in the world, Tom Murdoch (Echo, Jan 6) also revealed why he thinks we should all have more respect for the Masters of the Universe. It is because America, we were reportedly told, is not as bad as Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, Mao's China, the Taliban's Afghanistan, or Saddam's Iraq. So there.

Now we all know what the yardstick is, what the standards are for American foreign affairs. We can just sit back and relax. Even if they kill five million people. What's the big fuss? Hitler did worse than that. In other words: you are not a decent human being by the virtue of living your life in a decent manner, but because your crimes do not exceed the crimes of the worst offenders in history. Mr Murdoch also claims, that "If America is an imperialist state,... then it is far and away the most benign." A benign imperialist state? Now there is a contradiction in terms, if I've ever heard one. It makes almost as much sense as 'f...ing for virginity'.

There is not enough space here to present the long and dirty history of American imperialism. But for those, who are honest enough to seek the full truth, I can recommend some books. Two of them, Rogue State and Killing Hope are by William Blum. Why do people hate America? by Sadar and Davies. And the latest from Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival.

Finally Mr Murdoch, I must correct you for misquoting me. I was never "talking about the American empire defeating the human spirit". Quite the contrary, I was talking about the human spirit defeating all empires.

Tom Koo
Alstonville

Cheers for Mungo

Once again we have the occasional knockers of Mungo's weekly column (Echo, Jan 6)

I for one always enjoy Mungo's column, because Mungo seems to have an open mind on "real events" and not those based of mythology and hearsay. He is one of the few who have not been indoctrinated to become robot-like in thinking within a mind-manipulated society.

It also should be noted that John Howard's Liberal party received only 40.47% from the voting public. Hardly a mandate vote for John (bonsai) Howard.

Is sanity defined as believing everything the government tells you, in light of the fact that our government lies to us regularly?

The real question is not what people theorise about Mungo's column but why people choose to believe a government's version of events when they have been known to lie. Why should Mungo as a citizen of a supposed democratic country be labelled as a "Mungo of the year" for bringing this to the attention of readers?

As Australian citizens we all have a civic duty to question Government at all times, and also some religious leaders apparently, for their announcement that their supposed God punished innocent families in the recent Tsunami disaster because he was angry with world behaviour. What sort of a "God is Love" would do this?

Jim Lee
Alstonville

Newton's Law

Just recently I visited the Oil & Gas Discovery Centre (OGDC) at Seria in Brunei, where the relationship of the earth's tectonic plates to oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) deposits was explained. This prompts me to ask: What impact will the removal of trillions of barrels of oil and LNG from vast reservoirs below the earth's surface have when the earth's plates move? How stable is the earth and will this result in more severe earthquakes?  Do scientists really know what is going on in this vast unseen area?

After all, Isaac Newton's Third Law of Physics states: "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction".

I decided it was time for a little research and came up with some very interesting facts, including that a barrel of oil is 159 litres or 35 imperial gallons.

My research unfolded that in 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour because the US cut oil supplies for Japanese warships after Japan invaded China. The Japanese then invaded Indonesia to access vast untapped oil deposits in Sumatra to sustain their military might. Oil in Indonesia, did I hear you say? Isn't it all in the Middle East? No sir, I've just discovered that Indonesia is rich in oil, is an OPEC country, and is one of the major world oil and LNG producers. In fact Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of LNG and exports it from its West Natuna field to Singapore via a 640km pipeline laid on the sea bed.

The Minas oil field only a few hundred kilometres from the earthquake epicentre in Sumatra was drilled by Japanese troops just before WW2 ended. It subsequently became the largest oil field in SE Asia. The Minas and adjacent Duri oil fields now produce a combined 300,000 barrels per day out of an Indonesian production total of around 1.3million bpd.  By July 2002 10 billion barrels of oil had been extracted over a 50 year period from this area of Sumatra within "The Ring of Fire".

A $2 billion steam flood project began at Duri in 1985, and in December 2000 a 300MW natural gas-fired co-generation plant came on line saving 50,000 barrels of oil a day. This co-gen plant provides power and steam to the northern half of the 'steamflood project'. To maximise oil recovery at Duri Field, 400 steam generation units inject 1.2 million barrels of high pressure steam every day into the subsurface formations, heating the heavy crude oil and allowing it to flow to the producing wells for pumping to the surface. At Minas, 7 million barrels of water a day is being similarly injected to increase the recovery of oil reserves.

Oil is big business in Sumatra. In the past five years alone one multi-national company has invested more than US$4billion for products, supplies and services required to develop and produce approximately 90 oil wells in central Sumatra.

With world oil supplies nearly at their peak, 30 billion barrels a day being extracted worldwide, and ever increasing consumer demand, could I expect any politician to answer whether Isaac Newton's Third Law of Physics occurred in respect to the current world disaster?

Margaret Howes
Lennox Head

Drug war

For the 57% of Australians who use complementary medicine, January 25 will be an important date. It marks the start of a court case between the UK-based Alliance for Natural Health and the EU that will be critically important for health freedom worldwide.

When the EU drafted its Food Supplements Directive a few years ago, intense lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry resulted in an appalling outcome for vitamin supplement consumers. Essentially, 300 nutrients are to be banned and dosages will be limited to trivial amounts.

This disaster was formally transplanted into EU member countries' laws two years ago, and is scheduled to come into effect this August.

As for drug industry motives, declining profits can obviously be boosted by partially shutting down what is effectively a major competitor. Even more cynically, removing public access to a key area of preventative health will increase the incidence of disease, including serious chronic illness, enabling increased taxpayers' funds to be diverted into its pockets.

While a court case in Europe may seem a long way away, the US has already signalled a willingness to adopt the European model, which would then turn it into a de facto global standard to be later adopted by Australia.

Elsewhere on the health freedom front, a NSW doctor has been deregistered for giving court testimony supporting a girl who was forced by DoCS to undergo chemotherapy, against both her own and her parents' wishes. For more details, see www.evehillary.org/health.freedom.info.htm

Away from media scrutiny, NSW is planning a nightmarish Orwellian overhaul to the mental health system that would; force unwilling victims to undergo electroshock; allow phone diagnosis by unqualified persons; remove the right to early assessment; and remove legal safeguards. An online letter can be sent to all NSW MPs from www.paradigm-changes.com/nsw.mp.psych.send.htm

Unless you fancy shopping for vitamins using a wheelbarrow in five years time, please visit the Alliance's website at www.alliance-natural-health.org and if you can afford it, make an online donation. Their legal team is the only one to have ever overturned an EU directive, and this challenge has every chance of winning. Please help and get active.

Martin C Oliver
Lismore

Australian way

On Boxing Day with friends we were remarking with some relief that we'd at least got through Christmas with no bushfires or other major emergencies.

None of us imagined what was happening thousands of kilometres away at that very moment that would shatter lives, yet bring us all together to respond to the silent needs of so many of our friends and neighbours.

Many local people are taking the initiative to raise money; I met Rotary volunteers on Saturday in Bowral raising money to buy kits that include a ten man tent, cooker, sleeping bags and essential tools, and many shops in our area have collection boxes weighed down with contributions.

Last night's cricket at the MCG encapsulated on the world stage what every Australian family is doing at home and in their community in the spirit of Australian mateship and helping out a neighbour.

Thank you to all our local volunteers and contributors for their wonderful efforts and generosity, and in particular to those many Australians who have pitched in affected countries to lend a hand in whatever way they can. They are true heroes and heroines and great Australians.

Peta Seaton
Member for Southern Highlands