Childhood Obesity and Health; Australian Communications and Media Authority; Food Standards Australia New Zealand

Recently the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) made decisions allowing big business to continue exploiting children.

ACMA refused to impose further restrictions on junk food advertising during children’s TV programs. It went so far as to claim that the research shows no link between junk food advertising and childhood obesity. This is in contrast to the strong movement in Europe to protect children from brain-washing that can destroy their health. It is a wilful attack on the health of the populace.

FSANZ has refused to ban six food additives that cause ADHD, mood disorders and allergies, particularly in children. This is despite moves in Britain to ban them and an open letter by 100 Australian health experts to follow the British move. The additives are sunset yellow (110), tartrazine (102), carmoisine (122), ponceau red (124), quinoline yellow (104) and allura red (129). Again, it’s not just a failure to protect, it’s a wilful attack carried out in the interests of big business.

ACMA is headed by Chris Chapman. The minister responsible is Stephen Conroy.

FSANZ is headed by Philippa Smith. The minister responsible is Jan McLucas.

These events are further evidence of a society that is hostile and destructive towards its children and maintains a contradictory, compensatory stance of overreaction to paedophilia, which it pretends to abhor and yet won’t take concrete actions to tackle.

Disability Support Pension and Age Pension in Australia

Both the Age Pension and Disability Support Pension are at $273 per week. All Federal politicians have been pushed to admit that they wouldn’t be able to live on it. Kevin Rudd is, as with virtually all other policy areas, waiting for reviews before he acts on the issue. Jenny Macklin’s review on the Disability Support Pension won’t be completed until next year. Meanwhile pensioners suffer malnourishment. Brendan Nelson has, cleverly and rightly, challenged Rudd to increase the pension immediately.

Unfortunately all are focused on the Age Pension. They unduly heed AM talkback radio for a representation of public need and opinion. This form of media is dominated by listeners from the elderly age bracket. Disabled people, many of them mentally ill, are less vocal. There are 731,461 people on the Disability Support Pension and 866,000 people on the Age Pension.

Wendy Harmer is a legend for saying the government needs a “kick up the arse” with respect to the Disability Support Pension.

America Goes Socialist: Nationalisation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

One of the biggest lies neoconservative Straussians propagate to subjugate the masses is that of the existence of free market capitalism. It does not and will never exist. Just as communism never has and will never exist. The US Government has diverted the people’s wealth to the hands of a few power mongers for decade upon decade with increasing subtlety. Today the Straussian myth was laid bare for all - who wanted - to see. The nationalisation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is corporate welfare on an untold scale. The US Government now owns half of the mortgage market. It follows the UK nationalisation of Northern Rock. Is capitalism coming undone? No. It never existed. The so-called efficiency of the free market today became an obvious joke for those who weren’t convinced before.

References:

An embarrassing, desperate prediction less than two weeks ago by Al Yoon of The Australian and Bradley Ball of Citigroup that nationalisation would be averted.

Hypocrisy and the nationalisation of the Banco de Venezuela.

Henry Paulson, complicit corporate welfare propagandist.

Moron of the Day: Paul Sheehan on Sarah Palin and New Media

Paul Sheehan is a poor writer and constructs his arguments in a way in which you can see his goals telegraphed quite clearly. He is a dishonest logician. I just happened to pick this particular article in a fit of anger. It could have been any.

This article is laughable and embarrassing. He attacks old media and its treatment of Sarah Palin. He rants on about how he researched Palin through YouTube (!) before hitting the old media and somehow got a more balanced view of her through this method of research.

He argues that the New York Times failed to capture [sic] that, if white working class people decide they “want a real-life version of Mr Smith Goes To Washington” then Palin will have “a popular legitimacy”. Wtf? What is this new concept, “popular legitimacy”? Does it equate to popularity? So he’s basically arguing that the New York Times didn’t say that white working class people might want to have their country emulate a movie and this will make Palin popular. I’m sorry but he’s just sheer idiocy incarnate. And can’t write. Maybe he should get off YouTube and do some decent research. Then he would know that Palin is under corruption clouds with respect to eg Troopergate and Blackberrygate.

Footnote: thanks to a friend who sent me this feminist critique of the deeply misogynistic choice of a nobody token female to try to capture the Hillary Clinton vote.