Big Wet

First cutoff point
Flooded creek

In our drenched little paradise, we have plenty of supplies to survive weeks of isolation if necessary and are situated well above the creek below. With luck, the power will stay on!

My father did the first comprehensive scientific Australian study based on all available historic rainfall measurements. I asked him many years ago whether anthropogenic effects were more dominant than solar cycles. He refused to give a definitive answer. Theodor Landscheidt predicted solar and climate cycles of 36 years give or take a bit. It’s now 37 years since the 1974 Brisbane deluge. In his last paper, Landscheidt also predicted a new little Ice Age, with the Gleissberg minimum occurring around 2030.

We need not wait until 2030 to see whether the forecast of the next deep Gleissberg minimum is correct. A declining trend in solar activity and global temperature should become manifest long before the deepest point in the development. The current 11-year sunspot cycle 23 with its considerably weaker activity seems to be a first indication of the new trend, especially as it was predicted on the basis of solar motion cycles two decades ago. As to temperature, only El Nino periods should interrupt the downward trend, but even El Ninos should become less frequent and strong. The outcome of this further long-range climate forecast solely based on solar activity may be considered to be a touchstone of the IPCC’s hypothesis of man-made global warming.

Of course, if humans don’t change their habits now, the resultant combined heating from solar and anthropogenic effects after 2030 might turn out to be catastrophic.

During natural crises like these, one can’t help but think of Dorothea MacKellar’s iconic settler colonial poem, which I’ve always detested.

My Country
by Dorothea McKellar
(1885–1968)

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies –
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land –
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand –
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

How much richer are the words of Oogderoo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)

Municipal Gum

Gumtree in the city street,
Hard bitumen around your feet,
Rather you should be
In the cool world of leafy forest halls
And wild bird calls
Here you seems to me
Like that poor cart-horse
Castrated, broken, a thing wronged,
Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged,
Whose hung head and listless mien express
Its hopelessness.
Municipal gum, it is dolorous
To see you thus
Set in your black grass of bitumen—
O fellow citizen,
What have they done to us?

And my own contribution:

Leave the Land Alone

We share this land of timeless dreams,
mysteries of tree and bone,
tribal journeys of dance and song
symbols painted on stone.
Songlines of the indigenes,
they used to call it home,
broken by colonial greed
the land had never known.

We poison lakes and dam up streams,
this land that is our home,
quarry the hills and cut down trees,
don’t know how to leave it alone.
Why do we break this fragile land
and bring it to its knees?
Our eyes are blind with dollar signs,
so much that we should see.

Do you fear the force of machinery
and big money lying?
it’s hard to live guilt-free
when the country’s dying,
All that’s part of you and me
laid waste by greed and scheming,
don’t you know we’ve taken enough,
Let the land lie dreaming.

Jinjirrie

Below are some links for people who are in flood prone areas near Brisbane – please seek high ground in advance because the floods have not yet peaked and may be higher than 1974. Look after your neighbours and keep safe.

Weather Links

1974 Brisbane Floods [.pdf]
Brisbane Suburbs 1974 Flood maps
@QPSmedia: If you are outside of Australia and need urgent flood information, please contact +61 7 3055 6200 #thebigwet #qldfloods #
Queensland Floods – Floods resource site
Donate to the flood relief appeal

New images: Flooding around Ipswich Update 3.55pm
Happy birthday, mum, I love you. I’ll come help clean up as soon as I can get through
Follow the Sun to the Landscheidt Minimum
New Little Ice Age Instead of Global Warming?
SOLAR ACTIVITY: A DOMINANT FACTOR IN CLIMATE DYNAMICS
Theodor Landscheidt
Landscheidt Cycles Research

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

Richard Falk: Israel’s Violence Against Separation Wall Protests: Along the Road of STATE TERRORISM
Why it will be said one day that anti-Zionists had a better grasp on 20th C history than Uri Avnery or Tom Friedman
Palestinians in Gaza face health crisis
What happens when Arab money gets too close to the Jewish cause?
ZOABI: There can be no coexistence with a racist consensus
Jonathan Pollak : Shameful imprisonment : Non-violent demonstration is not merely the right of every citizen, but also the duty of everyone who wishes to fight against wrong.
In Defence of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
Fox News, Glenn Beck & The Jews

Today’s Wikileaks Links

Wikileaks Calls for Sarah Palin’s Arrest
U.S. Twitter Subpoena Is Harassment, Lawyer Says
Twitter’s Response to WikiLeaks Subpoena Should Be the Industry Standard
WikiLeaks might move to Switzerland
PROVISIONAL SKELETON ARGUMENT ON BEHALF OF MR. ASSANGE
US Embassy: Iceland Wikileaks Probe Legal
WikiLeaks: Julian Assange ‘faces execution or Guantánamo detention’

Other Links

Obama Does Something Bloodthirsty Enough to Please the Psychos
Exclusive: Loughner Friend Explains Alleged Gunman’s Grudge Against Giffords – lucid dreaming, a story with a character named Angel
Our permanent culture of political violence
Remember John Lewis’ Warning About Violent Talk?
Tunisia: the brink of revolution

No, Nutanyahoo, East Jerusalem is Palestinian

Clinton admonishes Israeli perfidious land thievery, but will the US or any of the Quartet actually do anything? Unless the US is willing to apply tangible pressure, pigs might fly sooner.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Jews have a right to live anywhere in Jerusalem, defended on Monday a settlement project that drew criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Israeli bulldozers cleared the way for 20 new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem, an area captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinian want as the capital of a future state, by demolishing a derelict hotel on Sunday.

Clinton, in Abu Dhabi on a tour of U.S. Gulf Arab allies, called the Israeli action a “disturbing development” and said it “undermines peace efforts to achieve the two-state solution.”

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office made no direct reference to Clinton’s criticism, but said “there should be no expectation that the State of Israel will impose a ban on Jews purchasing private property in Jerusalem.”

Here’s the EU report on East Jerusalem, which still clings to the illusion that two states are possible:

EU East Jerusalem 2010 by Angela Godfrey-Goldstein

In Haaretz, Carlo Strenger comments:

All they seem to care about is to establish their patriotism through ‘Judaizing’ Jerusalem and other areas; to grab another building from Palestinians; to show how “Jewish” they are by proposing anti-Arab legislation and by attacking NGOs that try to protect Israel the liberal democracy.

The frenzy of the ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem has now crossed the tipping point where the international community is no longer willing to just stand by. A while ago 26 former EU leaders, many of whom during their careers had been staunch friends of Israel, asked for sanctions against Israel. This has now been followed by a call of EU consuls to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital; to place observers at each venue where Israel wants to destroy Palestinian buildings.

The ominous signs that Israel will soon be under great international pressure are mounting, and proposals for specific steps of boycott and sanctions are taking shape. One is to deny Israelis who live in the West Bank entry to the EU, and to forbid the sale of any Israeli products from the West Bank.

Palestine / Israel Links

Daily Israeli Crimes Against Humanity
Farmer ‘killed by Israeli fire’ in Gaza – more like Israel fascists executed another innocent civilian
Angry Arab says that after Bill Clinton got in, Arabists were ‘eliminated’ from State Dep’t
Remnick takes another step– the occupation is ‘deeply wrong’

Wikileaks Links

Greenwald on the climate of fear created by the US in reaction to Wikileaks : “People who spout pieties are never targeted with censorship, since there’s nothing to censor. Only those whose views are threatening or marginalized are subjected to such measures.”

No Jobs for Gazans, Thanks to Israeli Fascism

Related Link

‘What is Imperialism?’ – Public Meeting; Report and Video

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

U.S. criticizes Israel over Jerusalem settlement – but as usual, does nothing
#BDS: BDS to question ‘Made in Israel’
Photos: lovely Gaza…
May the EU grow some balls and treat Israel as it deserves
Probe launched on ‘Travel Palestine’ ad omitting Israel
Giffords Among U.S. Gun Culture’s Latest Victims
Until now, I don’t believe anyone knew that the Mossad had actually made a prior failed attempt on al-Mabouh’s life also in Dubai.
Israel makes too many mistakes for them to be mistakes
New Yorkers protest Gaza blockade
Email Campaign to Release Abdallah Abu Rahmah!
Israel engulfs an entire West Bank village in tear gas
New rightist video urges murder of deputy AG over ‘persecution’ of Jews
Shin Bet backtracks on support for bill to revoke citizenship for terrorists
Health Ministry: Gaza Strip will soon run out of dialysis solution, insulin

Today’s Wikileaks Links

1986 Privacy Law Is Outrun by the Web
In WikiLeaks fight, U.S. journalists take a pass

Today’s Other Links

Video – Trashed in Iraq: ‘Look what they’ve done to us!’
Joint Strike Fighter latest puts our defence planning under siege
So sorry authoritarian state, America still loves you
Patriot Act, a Nazi law: Ex-CIA official
Nick Turse: Does the Pentagon Really Have 1,180 Foreign Bases?

Gun-toting US Searches For Answers

In that most racist US state of Arizona, there is yet another mass slaying using guns, this time courtesy of bigoted, ignorant political rhetoric and elitist health system which is largely inaccessible to the poor, in a peculiar society which regards mentally ill people inappropriately as culpable for their actions rather than in need of medical help.

Suspect Jared was noticed in school as weird – he was refused readmission to his college unless he was medically evaluated. His Youtube and MySpace postings are patently those of a depressive and delusional individual. Why did no one deliver him the medical assistance he so obviously needed? Why was he able to obtain a firearm?

In a nation where hate speech is protected, incitement of prejudice, racism and bigotry by politicians is manifold. When leaders set an horrific example, those most vulnerable to suggestion, people with psychiatric dis-abilities, tend to follow reflexively.

Racism, elitism, prejudice and bigotry are diseases of the point of view, with politicians as primary vectors.

Related Links

The Politicized Mind
Sarah Palin Has NOT Deleted ‘Reload’ Tweet Or Facebook Note
Jared Loughner’s Alleged YouTube Video Reveals Possible Clues Behind Giffords Shooting
A sampling of the Arizona shooting suspect’s social-media postings
Police ‘actively pursuing’ second person in Tucson shooting
Man linked to Giffords shooting rampage called ‘very disturbed’
Arizona Tea Partier: We Need to Be Careful About What We Say
Live Blog: Representative Giffords Shot
Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik Explains Why He’s Against New Immigration Law
The US Senate is a complete joke (and what to do about it)
In Attack’s Wake, Political Repercussions
The Patriot Act
America’s Left far too blinded by inaction and fear
CIA and Australia
My day in the courtroom of Judge John Roll, who lived and died in Arizona’s climate of hate
Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain
The Cloudy Logic of ‘Political’ Shootings
Dep’t of Homeland Security suggests anti-Semitism may be motive for assassination attempt in Arizona
The Conservative Constitution of the United States
Giffords Among U.S. Gun Culture’s Latest Victims
Sick – Ray Stevens – God Save Arizona
Arizona shooting puts political rhetoric in the crosshairs
Questions about mental illness, access to guns follow Arizona shooting
On mental illness and crime
Jared Loughner Attack on Gabrielle Giffords: America’s Mental Health Breakdown

Palestine / Israel Links

Hamas urges militant groups to stop attacking Israel – but who will urge Israel to stop attacking and besieging Gaza?
The myth of “Good Israel” vs. “Bad Israel”
Israel Prize laureates join academic boycott of settlement university
Think Before You Send That Message: Big Brother Is Watching
The IDF’s bag of lies – Instead of working toward revealing the truth behind the recent death of an anti-fence demonstrator the IDF is behaving like the propaganda ministry of an authoritarian regime.
Revolutionary Guards in the Knesset
Is Lieberman the New Israeli Mainstream?
Three injured at Bil’in protest commemorating woman killed by tear gas last week
Violations Against Children Dec 10 (DCIP)
Academics oppose West Bank college, alleging apartheid
Israel demolishes historic hotel
Otherwise Occupied / When lawbreaking runs in the family
Don’t bother petitioning the High Court
Bibi promised, Bibi delivers

Wikileaks Links

Swedish Pundit Assails WikiLeaks, Downplays Rove Ties
The Excuse is Wikileaks. The Object is Freedom of Speech. The Subject is Authoritarianism.
David Pitchford suit against Julian Assange
Weapons of Murdoch’s Mass Deception: Time to Turn to Alternative Media
Milwaukee man’s website mirrors suspect’s conspiracy statements – see here

Other Links

The Hidden Australia – A secret recent History of the Whitlam Dismissal
Edge of darkness: will flooding in Qld cause load shedding at power stations?