Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Andrew Bolt Guilty: But is it Really About Freedom of Speech?

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TODAY, in the Federal Court, well-known columnist and political commentator Andrew Bolt was found guilty of racial discrimination.   In particular he was found guilty of mocking people who do not look aboriginal, but call themselves aboriginal.   He was condemned on the basis of comment in two columns one entitled ‘It’s so hip to be black’ and ‘White fellas in the black’.

The Judge found that, “the two newspaper articles, were reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate the people in question (or some of them), and that those articles were written or published by Mr Bolt and HWT including because of the race, colour or ethnic origin of those people.”

Reading the relevant section of the Racial Discrimination Act (Sect 18C) it seems the Judge would have had no choice but to find Bolt guilty because the articles were indeed intended to offend and the attack was made on the basis of colour and race.  But surely the Racial Discrimination Act was intended to protect people likely to be discriminated against on the basis of their colour and ethnicity, NOT to protect people unlikely to be discriminated against because they just aren’t black.

Indeed it is perhaps important that people like Andrew Bolt are allowed to comment on what appears disingenuous, that is white people calling themselves aborigines?

Various commentators have suggested that the judgment has broad implications for freedom of speech in Australia.  But might it not be just an anomalous judgment forced by the apparent absurdity of the situation?

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Judgment:

Eatock versus Bolt, September 28, 2011

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCA/2011/1103.html

Background:

Michael Connor on Andrew Bolt on Trial

http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/5/andrew-bolt-on-trial

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This blog is normally limited to discussion of issues concerning the natural environment, but given the claimed implication of the judgment on freedom of speech and the right to offend…  I am posting.

Extreme Weather Events are Killing Fewer People

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DESPITE concerns about global warming and a large increase in the number of reported storms and droughts, the world’s death rate from extreme weather events was lower from 2000 to 2010 than it has been in any decade since 1900, according to a new Reason Foundation study.  Following is the media release:

THE Reason Foundation report chronicles the number of worldwide deaths caused by extreme weather events between 1900 and 2010 and finds global deaths caused by extreme weather events peaked in the decade running from 1920 to 1929, when there were 241 deaths a year per million people in the world. From 1930 to 1939 there were 208 deaths a year per million people. But from 2000 to 2010 there were just 5.4 deaths a year per million people in the world. That’s a 98 percent decline in the weather-related death rate since the 1920s. Extreme weather events were responsible for just .07% of the world’s deaths between 2000 and 2010.

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Exceeding the Speed of Light

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I can’t find confirmation at the CERN website, but various media reports indicate new experimental work has found subatomic particles that travel faster than light.

The speed of light is considered the Universe’s ultimate speed limit.  The foundation stone for Einstein’s special theory of relativity was the constancy of the speed of light.

More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484

How to Get Your Child Expelled from School

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Ian Plimer not only finished school, he went on to University, graduated and then worked his way up to the esteemed rank of Professor.

He has been Professor and Head of Geology at the University of Newcastle, is Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne, and currently lectures at the University of Adelaide.   He has already published more than 120 scientific papers on geology and seven books on a range of science related subjects including ‘Telling lies for God’ (Random House) and his best-selling ‘Heaven and Earth’ (Connor Court).   So why such a provocatively entitled eighth book ‘How to Get Expelled from School”.  Because it’s a guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters’!

Getting expelled from school is not something anyone would wish on their child…  So I’m suggesting you only buy the book if your children have already finished school.

It’s available here:  www.connorcourt.com .

Insightful Ramblings on “The Greenhouse Effect” from Vincent Gray

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I can’t agree with Vincent Gray that the only true climate science is meteorology, but I can agree that meteorology as a climate science is in its infancy.   There is much we don’t understand about convection, evaporation and precipitation.   And interesting, as Gray explains in the following essay, they are all limited in a Greenhouse…

“THE only true climate science is meteorology. It has been built up for some 200 years from a network of local and international observations of every property which can be measured and can influence both local and more general climate behaviour.

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