Perhaps it was only to be expected that as we pass the second anniversary of the horrific shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, that a journalist, in this case Adam Gartrell, would mark the occasion by once more using the tragedy as yet another propaganda club – as per Abbott's childish "shirtfronting" fiasco supported by the tame US propagandist, Julie Bishop – to advance the neo-conservative goal of a new, costly and very dangerous Cold War with Russia.
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Since that moment two years ago, the mainstream Western media have been determined to pin the blame for the deaths of 298 people on Russian President Vladimir Putin so the world could plunge ahead into the latest neo-con scheme of destabilising nuclear-armed Russia with the eventual aim of "regime change" in Moscow.
Rhys Stanley, Hall
It says here ...
In promoting Francis Collins as a savant who links God and science, Robert Willson (Letters, July 17) turns his Bible inside out.
Collins' principle of "BioLogos" posits that the universe was created by God about 14billion years ago – so much for the Creationist view. Also advanced is the idea that the "development of living organisms was part of God's original creation plan" (any specific mention in the Bible?)
Further, "once life began, no further interventions by God were required". I thought that God is there watching over us, listening to, and sometimes acting on our prayers. Does "BioLogos" mean that once he created the universe, God sat back and ignored us?
Next, Collins agrees we share a common ancestor with the great apes. Hardly a standout suggestion in the Bible, not even rating a serious mention until the 19th century.
Finally, there is the suggestion that "humans are unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanations and point to our spiritual nature, i.e. "God".
I prefer Professor Brian Cox's more scientific explanations in his brilliant series The Wonders of Life.
People may believe what they wish; I just think it is disingenuous to try to twist demonstrable science to prop up the increasingly insupportable. But then that seems to be all that's left for the believers.
Eric Hunter, Cook
Each time I read a letter from a church elder, regardless of religion, I twitch.
Father Willson's letter suggests we need a "positive alternative view of the origins of life". Father Willson, of course, suggests our origins are due to the actions of the Christian god.
However the Middle East engendered three major religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Yet no argument is ever offered why life could not have been started by Allah, for example.
Like the Christian and Hebrew bibles, the Quran states there can be but one God (Koran 21;22). Therefore, I am uncertain which God I should thank for my life.
C. J. Johnston, Duffy
A pay day for me?
I'd like to know how our credit "rating" can affect the interest the government pays on its borrowings.
I thought the interest rates on government bonds were set by the Reserve Bank. So if I had bought a 10-year bond in 2010, at a certain agreed rate, and if Standard and Poor's decide next month to downgrade our credit rating, would I then be able to go the the RBA and demand a greater rate of interest? Or does it mean that from the date the rating is downgraded, the RBA are required to offer a more attractive rate? Please explain.
S. W. Davey, Torrens
Simply ruinous
Is it me having a senior cranky moment or is anyone else reeling from our current administration doing its darndest to destroy the vista of bushland and open space throughout our city?
The proximity to natural landscapes and many unrestricted views gives the bush capital its special appearance and character and distinguishes it from the larger cities in Australia. The protection of this central tenet of the Griffin Plan should be a high priority for our elected representatives. The loss of such amenity would be irreversible, tragic and reprehensible.
I won't start on light rail and Northbourne Avenue but what really gets my dander up is the Great Wall of Wire (ie. the roo fence). Who thought up this visual atrocity? Miles of ugly wire fences along the Parkway now block views and easy access to forests and open spaces as it winds its erratic undulating path across our bushland.
This brilliant structure is a massive eyesore and potentially funnels our iconic Skippys into strategically placed exits (look at lower Oakey Hill, Lyons, near the Hindmarsh/Parkway intersection). It also crosses bike paths (try the one in bushland in Chifley).
I see they are now fencing on the western side of the Parkway. Someone please tell me they won't fence across the front of the arboretum.
Where are my wire cutters?
John Mungoven, Stirling
Don't shoot roos
Mike Dallwitz is quite wrong when he says (Letters, July 17) that the high infant mortality rate of kangaroos is due to "starvation or disease". Because kangaroos are such slow breeders and don't bred at all when food is short, infant kangaroos die of starvation only if they are still dependent on mothers' milk when the mother is killed or trapped in small areas without enough food.
The natural high infant mortality of kangaroos is due to predation, mainly by foxes.
The consequence of mass shooting of kangaroos (commercial and non-commercial) is a much higher infant mortality rate than the already high natural infant mortality due to predation. Shooting also increase by orders of magnitude the rate of adult mortality.
Because kangaroos in naturally high densities are essential to the health of the Australian environment, another consequence of shooting them in large numbers is the rapid decline of other native species of both fauna and flora.
We are seeing this in the ACT right now.
Shooting roos does not alleviate the cruelties of nature, it makes them a thousand times worse.
Frankie Seymour, Queanbeyan
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