Submitted by Bob Burton on
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has back-tracked on a decision to prevent No Free Lunch - a group dedicated to curbing drug industry marketing to doctors - from hiring booth space at its annual scientific assembly.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
After being deported by the Australian government, U.S. peace activist Scott Parkin has ridiculed claims against him in The Australian. "If I am such a threat, why have the FBI not even phoned me since my return from Australia to follow up [Australian intelligence]'s silly allegations? ...
Non-violence training workshops I attended in the 1980s often featured, as a tension-breaker or wind-down game, a little exercise known as the whoosh.
For the uninitiated, a whoosh consists of one person standing in the centre of a circle of people holding hands. Starting from a low crouch, the circle slowly moves in with the pronunciation of whooooooosh building to a crescendo as the group converges, culminating with an enthusiastic jump. The person in the centre is then considered to have been whooshed.
If such exercises are still in non-violence training workshop manuals, maybe it's time a warning label was added: Never whoosh a spook!
Why? This week the Australian government deported Houston-based peace and environmental activist Scott Parkin, after revoking his six-month visitor visa. No reason was given; for all we know, Scott whooshed some hapless, wet-behind-the-ears Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) spook sent to spy on one of the non-violence training sessions he was attending.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
While the Australian government has successfully deported U.S. peace activist Scott Parkin, the public backlash grows.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The Australian Government is facing a legal challenge to its decision to revoke the six-month visitors visa of Scott Parkin, an environmental and peace activist from the Houston Global Awareness Collective. On Saturday Parkin was arrested, six weeks after he arrived in the country, on "character grounds" and imprisoned pending deportation.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Nine months before Antony Loewenstein's book on the conflict in Israel and Palestine, Voices of Reason, has even been published, it's under attack.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
An application by a New Zealand government-owned coal mining company, Solid Energy, for $NZ379,342 in witness costs and legal expenses against two environmental groups has been dismissed. Forest and Bird and the Buller Conservation Group (BCG) had argued before the Environment Court against approval for a new open-cut coal mine. While the Court approved the project, it dismissed the company's costs claim.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Australian forestry giant Gunns has suffered a major setback in its $A6.3 million SLAPP suit against 20 environmentalists and environmental groups. Last December Gunns filed a 216-page statement of claim against the environmentalists and then, earlier this month, submitted a redrafted 360-page version.
What do you think about fake news? That's what the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has been asking our readers for the past two weeks.
We surveyed people about what the disclosure guidelines should be for video news releases (VNRs) and audio news releases (ANRs). (We do define "fake news" more broadly, as not just TV and radio segments provided by outside parties, but also pundit payola and any other media manipulation falsely presented as independent journalism. However, brevity is the soul of good survey response rates!)
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Australian Financial Review legal editor Marcus Priest notes that in "what some unionists are calling an unholy alliance," the giant Australian forestry company Gunns is "using industrial tort avenues employers have traditionally used against workers engaged in industrial action" against 20 environmentalists and environmental groups.
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