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Australian Constituency - by Craig Hill

Funding - not Bribery

February 6th 2007 00:10
The Sydney Morning Herald has recently published what I consider to be one of the most outrageous pieces of left wing diatribe masquerading as news I have ever seen.

The headline is "Bribes offered to scientists" . From that headline and from the definition of 'bribe' vis "Money, property, or a favor given, offered, or promised to a person or accepted by a person in a position of trust as an inducement to dishonest behavior" we would be forgiven for believing that someone has done something illegal here.


But no, if we read further into the article we discover that the conservative American think tank, AEI, is offering funding to scientists who wish to contribute to the climate change debate with evidence which runs counter to the current hysteria which is sweeping the world faster that an El Nino windstorm.

So the AEI is offering to fund genuine scientific work by reputable scientists which supports a view which just happens to be out of favour at the moment. There's nothing unethical or underhand about that.

According to the lefties at the SMH, giving money to science which supports the doomsday climate change model is 'funding'. Giving money to anyone who disagrees which that model is 'bribery'!

The SMH article describes AEI as "ExxonMobil-funded think tank". That's just plain misleading. The AEI attracted an income of $US39 million in 2005 (the latest figures available on their website) The SMH article claims that AEI has received 1.6 million from Exxon Mobil. It doesn't say over what time period. By any reasonable standard it's misleading to claim that the AEI is ExxonMobil-funded.


The SMH article implies that AEI is working for ExxonMobil and bribing scientists to write misleading articles which deny climate change. This implication is false and misleading in the extreme.
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The case of Stefan Nystrom

January 8th 2007 02:17
The case of Stefan Nystrom and his deportation from Australia raises the issue of who is responsible for criminal behavior. One line of argument being put forward by various lawyers opposing his deportation is that since he's lived all but a few days of his life in Australia and has been "criminalized" there, Australia is somehow responsible for his behavior and should therefore grant to him all the privileges of Australian citizenship.

What ever to personal responsibility? Surely Nystrom is responsible for his criminal behavior and the Australian government is obliged to do everything it can to protect Australian citizens from criminals. Nystrom's crimes including the aggravated rape of a 10-year old boy were very serious and the government is right to minimize criminal activity in the country. I agree that Sweden is unfortunate to be burdened with a character such as Vystrom but ones nationality is initially defined by one's country of birth and there's not getting around that.
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When I was a child growing up in New Zealand I read an intriguing story about a while farmer who moved into a predominantly Maori community. At hay making time he was surprised when his neighbors turned up uninvited to help him get his hay in before the approaching rains arrived and ruined the crop. He offered to pay them for their efforts and they were offended by this gesture. They explained that it was the obvious thing to do and that they would expect him to do the same for them in similar circumstances.

This story stuck in my mind ever since. My father built his first house with his own hands and with the help of a carpenter friend. They spend every evening and every weekend for two years building the house (as well as raising a family, working full time and attending technical college in the evenings) and the did the same for another two years while they built the friend's house. There was no thought of asking each other for payment, simply an unspoken agreement that they would help each other as and when needed and that two people working together are more efficient than two working apart.

Throughout my childhood I bonded with my family through work. We build retaining walls, stripped wall paper, painted boats, chopped wood, stripped paint and renovated our batch (Kiwi slang for "holiday house"). On one memorable weekend I laid concrete all day Saturday, went to a school formal that night, stayed up all night partying, went sailing all day Sunday only to return home exhausted at 10pm Sunday evening to be greeted by my father with the news that I was just in time to help him put a coat of paint on the boat before bed. I crashed into the sack as midnight and was up the next day at six to start my new holiday job. It took me a week to get over it.

The benefits of working together as a family were numerous. I came to respect my mother and father for their ingenuity, perseverance, skill and diligence. I learned many skills from them and respected them for their achievements.

Later in life I would readily help friends with their work when needed and always refused payment. Even now when people suggest they pay me for some non professional service rendered I reply that no payment in necessary but that a dinner invitation would be a mutually agreeable means to appease their sense of gratitude.
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