Lt. Col. Eugene Rossell served with the Air Commandos during the Vietnam War. 47 thousand US defence personnel were killed in action during the Vietnam conflict. Altogether 55 thousand, in round figures, died as a result of the war. Will it ever end? We salute the men and women who gave their lives during the Vietnam War and since!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Honey Bees
The image is of the eye of a European honey bee. It is from the book "The Buzz about Bees, Biology of a Superorganism", by Jurgen Tautz, pictures by Helga R. Heilmann and published by Springer in 2008.The good news comes from an article in the Guardian Weekly dated 31 December, 2010 to 6 January, 2011 on page 2.
" A breakthrough has been made in the battle against the varroa mite responsible for decimating honey bee populations. Scientists at Britain's National Bee Unit and Aberdeen University have found how to "silence" natural functions in the mites' genes so they self-destruct."
Luckily in Australia we do not have the mite yet! We hope we never have it but New Zealand has. The mite has destroyed many colonies of bees in the United States. They also have Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) as well in the US. My bees here in TARADALE, Victoria, are doing fine. The winter and spring this year, 2010, was very wet and they got off to a slow start. But there was so much food about that almost every hive swarmed.
Professor Jurgen Tautz refers to the bee colony as "a mammal in many bodies." They are intelligent creatures. Here's an example. A couple of years ago I opened a hive of bees to have a look. After about twenty I closed them up and left the apiary. A couple of hours later I was down in the garden about 20 metres from the hive I previously opened. I happened to look up towards the hive and suddenly a bee from the hive spotted me and made a bee-line over and stung me on the neck. So she had remembered me and recognized me without my bee suit on. That pretty smart for one tiny creature. So bees are conscious I'm sure.
Ray Kurzweil has been telling us since about 1990 that computers will soon be able talk with us. What he means that they will possess consciousness. Bees are conscious but they have little brains. I say Ray, there's no way that is going to happen, doesn't matter how much grunt the computer has.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Electronic Locusts
The community of Castlemaine is engaged in a fight to prevent an organization based in another shire from installing 65 poker machines on Victorian government property at the Castlemaine railway station. The organization we have formed to spear head our efforts is called EPIC which stands for "Enough Pokies in Castlemaine." There are already 35 poker machines in the Cumberland Hotel in Barker Street, Castlemaine. That is 35 too many, because every dollar put into one of these electronic locusts is a dollar that can't be spent with local businesses. We want a strong community that is able to take care of our children and elderly and for that to happen we must have good viable businesses in the area.
Organizations like clubs and pubs who have these machines are tax collectors. So businesses pay tax twice at least, the yearly income tax and the one that is invisible; that is when the dollars that would have been spent by Castlemaine's people on goods and services from local companies, have been put into the poker machines. Members of clubs and patrons of pubs who have these machines get their drinks and food at a discount paid for by the forlorn gamblers. That is an artificial market. If the same sort of thing happened at the Australian Stock Exchange the ACCC would investigate the scam. This practice puts a burden on cafes and restaurants trying to produce wholesome food and drink at a competitive price.
Lt. Col. Harry Smith (Rtd.), Battle of Long Tan
HARRY Smith is still leading the charge for the men he commanded at the Battle of Long Tan 44 years ago.
But this time it will be in the Federal Court of Australia rather than a battlefield in Vietnam.
The retired Australian Army commander today announced he would pursue court action in the new year to have the efforts of 11 diggers, who fought in the 1966 battle, officially recognised with medals and commendations.
Lieutenant Colonel Smith, who previously vowed to maintain the fight for his men “until they put me in a box”, is scathing of the way medals were awarded during the Vietnam War.
“The ugly truth about Long Tan, and in fact the entire Vietnam War over a decade, is that senior officers took most of the awards at the expense of soldiers who fought in action,” he said in a statement.
“Many more went to major-generals, brigadiers, colonels and lieutenant colonels far from the action.”
The federal government has refused to award more medals and commendations for those who took part in the battle, saying that would amount to “excessive recognition”.
The government acted on a review by the Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal in arriving at its decision.
Colonel Smith claims the tribunal's review was “seriously flawed”.
The Battle of Long Tan in 1966 was Australia's first significant engagement of the Vietnam War.
It is considered the defining event of Australia's experience in the war, and the anniversary of the battle - August 18 - is recognised each year by veterans.
Outnumbered by more than 10 to one, 108 Australian and New Zealand troops led by Colonel Smith held their position against 2500 enemy troops for three hours in a rubber plantation deluged by monsoonal rains.
Eighteen Australian soldiers died and 21 were wounded.
But controversy over bravery medals has long dogged the memory of the battle.
Colonel Smith belatedly was awarded a Star of Gallantry for his role, having been downgraded from a Distinguished Service Order in 1966.
His list of soldiers deserving of awards for gallantry was slashed by senior officers.
In 1996, Colonel Smith launched a campaign to gain recognition for all the soldiers on his list when the awards were denied at a formal review in 1998, which approved 81 other Vietnam War awards.
The pending class action is in support of the final 11 men “left out in the cold” and Colonel Smith is confident the court will look favourably on the action.
“We wanted to appeal in 2009 but couldn't because the tribunal wasn't a statutory body under the Defence Act,” he said.
Now the tribunal has a new status which has opened its review to legal scrutiny.
The Federal Court will hear new evidence that includes claims of an invalid scale of awards introduced by Canberra just prior to the Long Tan battle, but not approved by British authorities until 1968.
It will be claimed also that Australian military chiefs at the time falsified statements about the dismissal or downgrading of half the awards Colonel Smith recommended for his soldiers.
At least three of the soldiers covered by the court action are dead, including one - Gordon Sharp - who died at Long Tan.
AAP
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)