yet another topic being turned into one of your must tell grendel what I think of him topics...  boring.

Obsessive to say the least.

yawn...

I just reply to what directed at me fd.

that includes your ltes and flames too.

No huffing or puffing from me just bored disappointed at the same old crap always aimed at me, when you cant direct a proper argument.

Oh and this...
Quote:


wasn't said by me.  liar liar pants on fire.

You like mantra are too quick to always blame me or misquote me...  tsk, tsk, tsk...  and its a pity you didn't link back to it so it would have been easier to find.

You people bore and and annoy me with your petty behaviour.

Nice try fd...  you address me and provide a quote etc...

liar liar pants on fire

As far as aborigines burning off large tracts of bush, there were many reasons, but it was more for predictability and control.  Their fires weren't as all encompassing as ours and didn't alter the landscape in the way we did by clearing large tracts of land for crops, cattle grazing etc.


Ultimately burning gave people control of the landscape, whereby they would not be surprised by unplanned fire and could do particular burning activities as a matter of choice. They were in charge and burning probably came to symbolise being in control. The sight of long unburnt country was disturbing and the sight of well burned landscape was a source of satisfaction.

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/publications/series/paper3/fire18.htm...

So the weed inspectors would solve the problem by filling out lots of forms, thereby creating massive demand for paper and getting the forests chopped down?

Quote:



We do. They are attached to the local councils and in my experience, take a proactive role in obnoxoius weed control. You just have to mention parthenium or rubber vine and they are on the spot with basal spray or whatever.  We still have hectares of Lantana though. It's practically endemic.

I think that the more powerful the greenies become, the less effective they become. Purely because of non-sequitor political
motives.
For the most part, people move to the bush for the logical motive of being more in tune with the world around them. This usually tells them that they must safegaurd themselves from any dangers which may occur. This doesn't require the help of, nor the red tape or useless government rules. There's no substitute for common sense, and governments don't  possess enough of it to realise that they don't possess it at all.

Once again I complain about the destruction of common sense, because I fear that submitting myself to a lifestyle which I disagree with will cause me to lose it altogether - if I haven't already done so.

On that fateful Saturday, I was on my way to the Eildon area. I usually travel through Flowerdale because it's a nice drive amongst the trees and winding roads.
I saw the fires from a distance and the Hume Hwy had just closed so I got diverted through Wallan.
I then stopped at Wallan to top up with fuel whilst planning another route to my destinaton.
Getting out of the car was like stepping into a furnace. The wind, the smoke and the heat was something I've never really experienced before - as was the 46+ C conditions of the day.
I considered foregoing the camping trip and returning home, but as there were no reports of immediate danger on the radio at that stage, I continued on.

Just past Braodford, I looked for a route across to a road that I usually travel on. Cars were streaming in the opposite direction and I knew I wasn't going that way, but being the rubberneck that I am, I wanted to take a closer look at this surreal situation.
People were taking pics, and I took a few too with my mobile camera. When I got back to the intersection that I turned down, it was closed off to oncoming traffic. Kudos to the local country police there.
Travelling further along the Nothern Hwy towards Kilmore, the situation got even more surreal. CFA convoys of every available jalopy were around and CFA's at each town I crossed were a hive of activity. Police cars were flashing their headlights and sirens, and roads were blocked in most directions.

But I relied mainly on the radio to alert me of any real impending danger. That was a mistake. That was stupid, just like I've been brought up to be.

Eventually I travelled around Seymour, which was out of the danger area, and upon reaching my destination I phoned home to say that everything was OK.
The reaction was a pretty apathetic "oh that's nice, enjoy your trip" kinda stuff. The next day when I realised the gravity of the situation, I phoned home again, but nobody was there so I left a message saying that everything is OK where I am.

Over the next few days of the camping trip, we were all inundated with enquiries directed to the local police, publicans, etc. even though we'd all phoned to say that everything is OK.
The point is, that news comes later. It's really no good to anybody if it's past tense news. Common sense is to do with the here and now and the realities of situations, not the media reports that come later.

Nomatter how much I go on about using common sense and ignoring government rhetoric, I still failed myself. I failed to use my common sense.
I failed because I did not react properly to the impending danger because I heard nothing about it on the radio.
For that I have nobody to blame but myself. But for too many people, the option between choosing their own common sense and incurring a ridiculous fine is overwhelmingly in favour of towing the government line.

It is highly disingenuous for political enemies to use those figures to try and score political points, whilst failing to acknowledge that the ongoing drought, and a sparsity of suitable conditions for managing controlled burns, was the primary reason that these targets were not met.

Rather than try and mislead people into believing a secret agenda was in play, to make the government try to not meet it's own targets, which appears to be the National's spokesman's aim, a more honest assessment would be expected from any party with a shred of moral decency.

But, political parties which make moral decency, and honesty, a priority, are very hard to find, anywhere in the political spectrum.