Replies to post #216349 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Access to Contraception Helps Save Lives—and the Planet

By Bryan Walsh @bryanrwalsh July 12, 2012 5 Comments


Getty Images

Melinda Gates, right, and British Prime Minister David
Cameron, left, meet with activists at a London summit
on family planning. The Gates Foundation donated over
$1 billion to help improve access to contraception

In too much of the world, the most dangerous thing a woman can do is bear a child. Every day, 800 women die .. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/index.html .. from preventable causes while giving birth. Almost none of those women have to die—after all, 99% of maternal deaths occur in the developing world, which means rich nations have all but eliminated it. There has to be a way to cut that needless death toll.

According to a new study .. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60478-4/abstract .. published in the Lancet, there is—and it may have a surprisingly green side effect. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University found that meeting the unmet demand for contraception .. http://topics.time.com/contraception/ .. among women in developing countries could reduce global maternal deaths by nearly a third, chiefly by reducing the number of times a mother has to go through the potentially deadly process of childbirth .. http://topics.time.com/childbirth/ . But increasing access to contraception would also likely have the impact of reducing population growth—especially in the poorest and most crowded nations—which would ease pressure on the environment and the economy at the same time.

The Lancet study came just before the London Summit on Family Planning, where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a major donation—$1.1 billion—to provide family planning for women in the developing world. Contraception access has become a major cause for Melinda Gates in particular—the foundation has already pledged more than $750 million for the fight—and she told Reuters .. http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-contraception-gatesbre869179-20120710,0,3273293.story .. that the commitment will be on par with the organization’s other programs, including malaria and tuberculosis:

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Because we didn’t have contraception or family planning on the agenda we weren’t putting new money into it. We weren’t saying this is a priority. So this is our moment in time to say this is a priority and we need to fund it.
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The Gates money is needed. Family planning used to be a major part of international development aid, but the percentage of international population assistance that went to contraception fell from 55% in 1995 to 6% in 2008 .. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/health/meeting-contraception-needs-could-sink-maternal-death-rate.html [wha!], even as spending on HIV/AIDS skyrocketed. The hope is that the London summit will be able to reverse that decline, with $4 billion to be pledged in an effort to provide family planning to 120 million over the next eight years—a little more than half of the total number of women who want contraception but can’t get access to it.

It’s not just money, though. Family planning has fallen off the development agenda. That’s partially due to coercive policies in the 1970s, including India’s forced sterilization and China’s one-child policy. But even today—as we saw with the endless Sandra Fluke/Rush Limbaugh .. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sandra-fluke-says-she-expected-criticism-not-personal-attacks-over-contraception-issue/2012/03/03/gIQAJq1UpR_story.html .. kerfuffle over whether religious institutions should be required to cover birth control—population policy remains controversial in much of the world, including the U.S. Federal development aid for population assistance has often been held up by Congress because of concerns over abortion funding .. http://www.pop.org/content/abortion-and-the-us-congress-remarks-by-congressman-chris-smith-at-the-10-february-press-conference-1106 .

That’s too bad because unchecked population growth is an creeping threat to human health and the environment, as I wrote last year when global population passed the 7 billion mark .. http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/10/26/the-environment-will-be-the-real-victim-of-overpopulation/ :

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There’s an undeniable cost to all these people and all this growth: the planet itself. Even as human beings have grown in numbers and wealth, becoming healthier and more robust, other species have suffered. A study last year .. http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/10/26/wildlife-biodiversity-is-declining-fast%e2%80%94but-it-would-be-even-worse-without-conservation-efforts/ .. in Science .. http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/10/26/wildlife-biodiversity-is-declining-fast%e2%80%94but-it-would-be-even-worse-without-conservation-efforts/ .. found that on average, 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move one category closer to extinction every year. Almost one-fifth of existing vertebrates species are threatened, including some 41% of amphibians. Another recent Science study .. http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/07/14/how-human-beings-are-downgrading-life-on-planet-earth/ .. found that human beings are destroying apex predators like tigers, wolves or sharks, which then has a major knock on effect down the food chain.
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Coercive population programs were a crime against human rights, and no reputable organization—or democratic country—would go down that road again. (Though forced abortions still happen far too often .. http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/2205/chinese-forced-abortion-inhuman-and-degrading .. in China.) But greater access to contraception and smart family planning needs to be a part of development aid and environmental policy—for our sake and the planet’s too.

Bryan Walsh @bryanrwalsh .. http://www.twitter.com/bryanrwalsh

Bryan Walsh is a senior editor at TIME.

http://science.time.com/2012/07/12/access-to-contraception-helps-save-lives-and-the-planet/

See also:

Why Republicans Don’t Believe In Evolution Anymore
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95460066

Predicting the future is always "dicey" but the rate of reproduction has slowed and is already
close to the replacement rate... we just have an overstocking issue that will take a while to die off.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95392155

The 5 countries the GOP would model U.S. abortion law on with its new anti-abortion platform
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=78812830

How I Lost Faith in the “Pro-Life” Movement
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=81362560

Increasingly in Europe, Suicides ‘by Economic Crisis’
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=74447869

Rush Limbaugh and the Crisis in White Conservative Manhood
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=73219933

they're still doing it .. insinuating single women are sluts that is ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=81361525

[fuagf]

Time to scrap Lord's Prayer in Parliament: Greens

Judith Ireland Breaking News Reporter Date January 14, 2014 Comments 371


Peter Costello, Mark Vaile, John Howard and, in the background, Kevin Rudd, at the Annual
Service of Prayer and Worship to open the 2007 Parliamentary Year. Photo: Louie Douvis

* Federal politics: full coverage - http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics

The Lord's Prayer in Federal Parliament is an anachronism, according to Greens senator Richard di Natale, who is calling to have the prayer scrapped.

The acting Greens leader announced on Tuesday that when Parliament returns in February, he will move to end the reading of prayers at the start of each sitting day.


Greens Senator Richard di Natale has called for an end to the
Lord's Prayer opening Parliament. Photo: James Boddington

He will ask the Senate's Procedure Committee to amend the standing orders and look to his Greens colleague Adam Bandt to do the same in the Lower House.

"We have a very clear separation between church and state in this country and the fact that we say the Lord's Prayer in the Australian Parliament, it is an anachronism," he told reporters in Canberra.

Senator di Natale said that "modern" Australia was made up of people who had different ideas about religion.

"We are here to represent everybody. We're here to represent people of all faiths. People who don't have a strong religious faith," he said.

Senator di Natale, who describes himself lapsed Catholic, says he had had an issue with prayers in Parliament since his first day as a senator in 2011. "It was quite jarring," he said.

But he has been prompted to comment this week after government curriculum reviewer Kevin Donnelly argued that schools were too secular.

"When you look at parliaments around Australia - they all begin with the Lord's Prayer. If you look at our constitution, the preamble is about God," Dr Donnelly said on Saturday.

Senator di Natale has not yet talked to Labor and Liberal MPs about his proposition but said he was looking forward to discussing the issue with his colleagues.

"[When the prayers are read] there are a lot of people who are silent or who are thinking of other things," he told Fairfax Media.

Federal Parliament has been reciting prayers at the start of each sitting day since 1901. Today, this includes a preamble and then the Lord's Prayer. Since 2010, sittings have also begun with an acknowledgement of country.

This is not the first time the issue of parliamentary praying has been raised. In 1997 former Greens leader Bob Brown unsuccessfully tried to remove the preamble and Lord's Prayer.

In 2008, former speaker Harry Jenkins led a similarly failed bid.

The Greens' idea did not gain support from practising Christian MPs on Tuesday.

Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said the government had "no plans to change the standing orders".

Government Senate leader Eric Abetz said he strongly supported keeping the Lord's Prayer, arguing it was "a very rich part of our cultural tradition [and] a humble acknowledgement by the Parliament collectively of its responsibilities".

"The latest Green attack is part of their ongoing attempt to rewrite our history and deny our heritage," he said.

"Our nation's freedoms and wealth have been built on our religious underpinnings making us the envy of the world. The Greens’ refusal to acknowledge their country's own heritage and rich traditions and beliefs is as sad as it is divisive."

A spokeswoman for Labor's Senate leader, Penny Wong, indicated her party did not appreciate the lack of consultation on the issue so far.

"We don't intend to negotiate with other senators through the media," the spokeswoman said.

Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish, pointed to the US model where the House and Senate's opening prayers can be lead by guest chaplains of many faiths.

"Many Australians have religious beliefs. Rather than abolishing the Lord's Prayer we should consider adopting the practice of the US Congress," he said.

Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/NationalTimesAU

Poll: Should the reading of the Lord's Prayer be scrapped from Federal Parliament?

Yes 33% No 67% Total votes: 5447. Poll closed 15 Jan, 2014

Disclaimer: These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/time-to-scrap-lords-prayer-in-parliament-greens-20140114-30src.html

See also:

The polishing of Tony Abbott
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90898728

Tony Abbott's new year's resolution: disavow climate change extremist Maurice Newman
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95467637

Tony Abbott was sworn in as prime minister of Australia and immediately moved
.......to end the country's carbon tax and halt boats ferrying immigrants to the country.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92160015

[fuagf]

Tony Abbott has much bigger problems than a rogue knight

"could the re-polished Abbott be a one term PM? .. yup, repeat, imo, odds are he could be"

Paul Sheehan Date January 28, 2015 - 9:00PM

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he will learn from the uproar that bestowing an Australia Day honour on Prince Phillip caused.

Pressure mounts on Tony Abbott
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/the-lodge-aint-the-white-house-canberra-aint-new-york-20150128-130eaf.html
Comment: Liberals could turn to Turnbull
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/tony-abbott-has-much-bigger-problems-than-a-rogue-knight-20150128-1306yv.html
'Abbott factor' to hit state election campaign
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nsw/the-abbott-factor-expected-to-be-a-drag-on-mike-bairds-nsw-election-campaign-20150128-130dtw.html/nsw/the-abbott-factor-expected-to-be-a-drag-on-mike-bairds-nsw-election-campaign-20150128-130dtw.html

"I'm determined to learn from all of this," the Prime Minister said of his self-immolating lapse in anointing the Duke of Edinburgh with an Australian knighthood, which compounded the adverse impact of the anachronistic, self-indulgent, zero-upside honours system he introduced in his first year.

Abbott is unlikely to learn from this, other than to become even more cautious and robotic. You cannot learn what you refuse to know. He is a bulldog who will not let go of a course of action which, without an end to his bunker insularity, and a change in his relationship with the electorate, will see him removed either before the next election or at the next election.

His party is already moving. The phones are running hot. They will not turn to the deputy leader, Julie Bishop. It will be Malcolm Turnbull.

The seeds of this unnecessary damage were sown a long time ago. Why did Senator Nick Minchin, the senate opposition leader who engineered Abbott's elevation to the party leadership, step down as senate leader within months of Abbott becoming leader? Minchin would leave politics altogether a year later, for a variety of reasons.

Without Minchin, Abbott would never have been leader. Without Minchin, or the gravitas of a Minchin equivalent, Abbott is not going to survive his present course.

Why has the likeable, knockabout Abbott turned into Gillard II? The public never bought Julia Gillard's robotic prime ministerial persona, or the manner by which she took power, which guaranteed her demise long before it happened.

We all thought the toxic leadership turmoil of Labor's six years in office protected Abbott from an early political death. It still does, but less so now. Australian politics has become conditioned to flux. And electoral survival trumps everything else.

The irony is that, in policy terms, Abbott has been a better leader than the man who Australians want to replace him with: Bill Shorten. The Prime Minister has achieved much despite the scorched-earth majority in the Senate, while Shorten has been rewarded for his empty opportunism. And for being Not Tony.

Abbott can beat Shorten, just as he beat Turnbull, Hockey, Rudd, Gillard, Rudd again, and the global warming lobby, all while being caricatured and underestimated.

But he cannot beat the combination of Robotic Tony and Bill Short-term.

A Coalition government with a clear, cut-through, waffle-free narrative can carry the day at the 2016 election, even if it cannot carry a blocking Senate where power is controlled by one-termers who fluked their way into Parliament on preferences despite tiny primary votes.

Which leads me to Australia Day, when a woman delivered the sort of speech that has been missing from Australia's political leaders: "The global economy is still sluggish, there is still enormous global economic volatility, and our geopolitical environment is very fragile on so many fronts. If all this doesn't constitute a burning platform, I'm not sure what does …

"The policy ambition we've become accustomed to won't be sufficient … We will need a decade of unprecedented policy action by government, and leadership and risk-taking by business … Our politicians across all parties have to prepare the community for the enormous, social and economic change that must take place in our society."

The speech was given by Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, who understands that Australia's commodity boom was one-in-a-century opportunity which is going to be replaced with either higher productivity or lower living standards. It's one or the other.

It looks like lower living standards. Even when the commodities cycle turns, and prices move upwards, producers won't be flocking to Australia to build multibillion-dollar projects. Australia will not see another mining boom, or any other boom, under current laws and practices.

Instead of galvanising to meet this challenge Australians have shown an opposite intent. They want Labor back in power in Canberra, with more government spending, given that Labor has taken a comfortable and consistent lead in the polls by opposing every attempt to cut spending. It even opposes cuts it proposed when in office.

In Victoria, voters have put Labor back into office despite the certainty that it meant a return to power of the corruption-riddled Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union. One of the first moves new Premier Daniel Andrews made was to dismantle the construction code set up to combat rampant intimidation in the building industry.

In Queensland, Labor has promised to repeal the anti-bikie laws, because the CFMEU, as in Victoria, hates laws that impinge on its ability to deploy bikies as enforcers on building sites.

In this broad context of national denial, Abbott's honours mistake is a mosquito bite. He has a problem but the fixation on his foibles is another sign that Australians prefer avoiding the real drama the country is facing. That narrative has yet to be properly framed by our politicians. It is too dangerous.

Twitter: @Paul_Sheehan_

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-abbott-has-much-bigger-problems-than-a-rogue-knight-20150128-1306yv.html

See also:

The polishing of Tony Abbott
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The Austerity Death-Trap [Robert Reich]
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An Israeli Attack on Iran would reduce Barack Obama to a One-Term President
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National Security Committee of Cabinet expected to approve plans for Australian planes to join Iraq
air strikes .. [and at bottom] Abbott beat Turnbull for leadership of the Liberal Party by one vote.
No doubt he is more centrist and certainly more concerned with the climate change situation.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=106853391

"roughly" is fair, F6, better closer to the GOP, i think, .. Malcolm Turnbull, e.g. who
Abbott beat for leadership by one vote could, in some ways, be a USA Democrat ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=105095431

A fix for what’s not broken: why Australia doesn’t need voter ID
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Cassy O'Connor ups heat on Abbott over carbon price 'shame'
[and at bottom] .. sure hope Abbott is a one term success .. :)
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93273834

[fuagf]

Tony Abbott .. going .. gooing .. almost gone ..

"could the re-polished Abbott be a one term PM?"

Business leaders turn on Abbott

a Staff Reporter
6 hours ago

Two of the nation’s biggest business leaders have turned on Tony Abbott, as the embattled Prime Minister braces for another possible leadership showdown.

A cabinet meeting on Monday is expected to include discussion over Mr Abbott’s leadership since a failed spill motion earlier in February, with speculation he may face another strike as soon as Tuesday.

Former News Limited boss and now head of Prime Media John Hartigan said Mr Abbott’s position had become unrecoverable.

"No. I think his opportunity is gone. Even his strongest supporters are now detractors," Mr Hartigan told Fairfax Media, while describing himself as an admirer of Mr Abbott.

"But as I say, he has appeared as if he doesn't want to face up to the realities of his political life. He is letting them slip through his fingers day by day."

Mr Hartigan also said political uncertainty was hurting the economy.

"It's very significant. I have not seen Australia, in so many economic areas – and I'm not speaking about our industry, I'm speaking across the board – at such a crossroads," he said.

Woolworths CEO Grant O’Brien, delivering disappointing half-year results, also said “stability is a really important thing” for consumer confidence.

"And stability across a number of factors, not the least is political stability," he said

https://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2015/2/28/national-affairs/business-leaders-turn-abbott

See also:

Abstinence floated by Tony Abbott, leader of the Australian Liberal opposition ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=45970340
.. first link kapoot for me, this for the 2nd link in there ..

The polishing of Tony Abbott
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90898728

one of in reply to that one

Tony Abbott: Top Ten Quotes From Australia's New Prime Minister
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91796566

[fuagf]

Australian PM Tony Abbott ousted by Malcolm Turnbull

14 September 2015

VIDEO: Malcolm Turnbull: Leadership contest "very important and sobering experience"

Australia is to have a new prime minister after Tony Abbott was ousted as leader of the centre-right Liberal Party by Malcolm Turnbull.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34245005

LOL. "could the re-polished Abbott be a one term PM? .. yup, repeat, imo, odds are he could be"

==

Malcolm Turnbull was Australia’s worst ever Communications Minister

By Renai LeMay - 14/09/2015



opinionHe might be charismatic, he might be popular, and pretty shortly he might be Prime Minister. But when it comes to technology policy, Malcolm Turnbull has been a disaster. The Member for Wentworth will be remembered as Australia’s worst ever Communications Minister — the man who singlehandedly demolished the NBN and put a polite face on draconian Data Retention and Internet piracy laws.

Right now,... http://delimiter.com.au/2015/09/14/malcolm-turnbull-was-australias-worst-ever-communications-minister/

See also:

The polishing of Tony Abbott
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90898728