Letters To The Editor

Hindsight revision

Do you think we could please have a reprint of Mungo's column, published after he attended Mark Latham's meeting in Lismore, prior to the last election?

Having for years been held spellbound by Mungo's incisive judgments and comments on the characters and motives of our public figures, I would just like to read the article again to confirm that I should continue to take as much notice of Mungo in the future as I have in the past.

I feel sure I am not alone, and that many would get great enjoyment from once again reading "Mark by Mungo".

Jim Cross
Ballina

Dune Carers' hypocrisy

How patronising of Lee Andresen and Dune Carers Inc. to invite us to stroll across the overpass and enjoy the beauty and perfume of the "Pittosporum and Callistemon" (Echo, Sept 15). Exactly why the public demand the cycleway through the beach littoral bush instead of the traffic and fumes of the roadway route the Dune Carers advocate.

What hypocrisy to invite us to use the overpass and tarred access to Angels Beach! Imagine the dogfight trying to get that approved through council, with the Dune Carers' current opposition.

We, the public, appreciate the work of the Dune Carers but we resent their "keep out" attitude. The bush littoral must be a shared resource so that all can enjoy the natural beauty. That's why Ballina Council voted 8-1 for the walkway/cycleway through the bush.

Jim Roche
Angels Beach

Dunce of the class

Right on, Carmel Tebbutt. Students have no right to enjoy learning especially if it is to do with surfing. You cannot help but feel that our children's education is in good hands. What with Brendan Nelson requesting that every school and every student be given a ranking. Students who are in the "4th" quartile are going to feel really good about themselves. It is alleged Einstein did not read until he was seven-years-old. Which quartile would he have fitted into?

Christine Russell
Dunoon

Clock history

Once upon a time, presumably from 1888 to 1948, the town of Ballina reverberated on the hour to the clanging of its clock in the post office tower in River Street (now the courthouse.)

That changed when Mr Lyn Pritchard arrived with his family in 1948 to become resident postmaster, replacing Mr Aked. Mrs Joan Conway, of Alstonville, was the Pritchards' daughter, then aged 14.

The clock was so noisy, particularly in the night stillness, that fishermen could hear the chimes 10 miles out to sea, she said. That was in the days before waterproof watches, so fishermen scheduled their operations by the distant clock.

In the post office itself, everyone had to stop work whenever the clock was striking. People couldn't speak on phones there. Joan Conway described the clanging as like London's Big Ben. A groan would precede the chimes, as the clock's large gears wound up.

Her mother suffered migraines. The Pritchards' bedroom was only a wall away from the clock. They considered sleeping downstairs, as far from the clock as possible.

But quick-smart, Mr Pritchard contacted the post office authorities, and the night chimes were disabled. Next morning in came the fishermen to the post office, complaining because they could not longer hear the clock out to sea. Undeterred by that confrontation, the postal authorities stopped the clock altogether.

The new postmaster had made quite an impact. The silent clock became quite a talking point, Joan recalled. After that, all the Pritchards had an enjoyable two and a half years at Ballina. Mr Pritchard would quietly fish from the nearby Richmond Riverbank each morning before work.

Was the town clock re-started after the Pritchards left? Perhaps veteran business people would recall. Joan Conway approves of the town clock ticking along again, as long as the new mechanism, as promised, is quiet.

And thank you, Northern River Echo, for that is where Joan read my request for information about the clock, in your last issue. 

Marelle Lee
Lennox Head.

Broad church

Reading your "Atheist Values" (Echo, Sept 15) Jim, it would seem you are the only one who qualifies as being Intelligently Designed. But that would go against your own ‘belief' system, so perhaps not.

Your commentary suggests that nobody else is allowed to hold a view contrary to yours and if they do it must be based on misinformation or lack of mental integrity and must therefore be incorrect especially if it holds to anything remotely Christian.

You say that Intelligent Design cannot be scientifically tested and that "[Intelligent Design] is therefore a theory...". It happens also that the notion of evolution is a theory and can neither be tested or proven as nobody was there to see it. I would also like to see your reference for the "mainstream scientific community" who don't accept Intelligent Design and on what do they base their assumptions. By definition a pseudo-science is a body of knowledge that is defective because of its lack of carefully controlled and thoughtfully interpreted experiments. Sounds like evolution to me.

The evolutionist's view is based on a framework where it is assumed that things made themselves. Evolution is a deduction from this assumption and includes the unproven ideas that nothing gave rise to something at an alleged ‘big bang', non-living matter gave rise to life, invertebrates gave rise to vertebrates etc.... Evolutionists are constantly trying to justify and support this line of thinking and more often than not with ridiculous outcomes. There are many, many flaws behind evolutionary models and you would be well advised to address those with the same vigour as you do with anything related to ID. Students should also be given the choice to hear the creationist view, not just the evolutionary bias.

Mark Anderson
Lismore

Refreshing honesty

An extract from Mark Latham's diaries says the American alliance has drawn Australia into unnecessary wars, including those in Vietnam and Iraq.

Nationals' leader Mark Vaile reacted, saying Mark Latham's desire to end Australia's alliance with the US raises serious doubts about the intentions of the current Labor leadership.

So what? I thought we're living in a free society, where no subject is regarded as taboo.

The American alliance is no exception. As everything else under the sun, it also has to undergo repeated reassessment and scrutiny.

Is Mark Vaile perhaps worried that Australians might decide one day that they will no longer fight other people's wars, and shall become free and independent, not in name only? Taking heed of the old proverb "It is better to be the head of a dog, than to be the tail of a tiger".

Anyway, top marks to Latham for exposing the sleazy side of big party politics. He will now have to bear the wrath of many on top, from all sides.

John Howard blamed Labor leaders for, he says, they knew Latham's character and yet they chose him to be their leader.

Well Mr Howard, you were in politics for much, much longer than Latham, when you were appointed to be the leader of the Liberal Party, so your colleagues must've known by then what a lying rodent you are, and yet it didn't seem to have bothered them either.

Tom Koo
Alstonville

Land of the free?

Am I the only one more shocked by New Orleans than the twin towers attack?

Nothing can forgive or excuse the cowardly attacks on New York and Washington DC. The perpetrators of this atrocity should not expect sympathy from anyone regardless of the injustices they believe they have endured which motivated these attacks. Nothing justifies mass murder. This is why the current US administration should be held to account for its atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Think for a moment how it would be if our legal system worked on the idea that if someone commits a crime, say murder, it is perfectly acceptable to slaughter their entire family to find the individual perpetrator. Because that is what is happening in those two countries even now with the war supposedly won. They call it collateral damage; I call it terrorism. But I digress...

In the land of the free and home of the brave we have had an object lesson in just how thin our veneer of civilisation truly is. We have seen the total break down of ‘Law and Order' within 12 hours. What is the level of personal frustration within ordinary Americans minds that as soon as things go bad, the ugly reality of the ‘me first' attitude comes out.

These folk who have had the benefit of living under the strongest democracy, perhaps ever, many for their entire lives, are not happy. The riots in LA all those years ago are another example of what happens to ordinary Americans when the brakes come off. Did we see or hear of similar reactions in Asia when the tsunami devastated several countries there? No, we heard stories of bravery and ‘humanity'. No doubt there were incidences of individual atrocities but it was not a group mind action; the majority of folk affected were not involved, unlike New Orleans.

I have heard people say, "Oh but that's just the poor blacks" like that explains it. Once I recover my composure after this blatantly racist comment, I ask the question, "Do you really think this is the case?" The answer: "You just have to look at the footage." So we see yet another example of blatant media manipulation. There is no doubt that the majority of those too poor to flee the oncoming disaster in New Orleans were African-Americans, but judicious editing can make it appear that all of the deserted were.

I would not like to say that these extreme events are the result of global warming or direct human influence. We simply don't have the information to be sure.

As governments, including our own (with the free trade agreement) continue to surrender their sovereignty to corporations whose only loyalty is to shareholders (eg. If we sack half our work force we'll make more money, and/or, hire casuals so we don't have to reward loyalty), the ordinary person will be further alienated and disempowered. This causes frustration and anger, and the New Orleans experience demonstrates what can happen if this is not addressed and moderated.

I enjoy the freedom we are privileged enough to enjoy. I take advantage of my right to free speech in this paper regularly. How much longer will it be before we all lose that right? How long before it will be considered un-Australian to even disagree?

How would the populace of our vulnerable cities (ie. all of them) cope in a disaster? Would they assist others, or attempt to shoot any who seeks help? Would they be kind and generous or would they seek to take advantage of the situation? I hope we never have to find out.

Gray Wilson
East Lismore