Where's the giant leap?
CONGRATULATIONS on the moon landing, however have we a list of benefits to humanity from the massive expense and has NASA's budget been cut in the USA's current financial woes?
Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla
Wheely bad Strine
IN FRENCH it is ''Toor duh Fronze''; in Strine, ''Toower dee France''. Most broadcasters seem to be favouring one of the six possible Franco-Strine combinations.
Roy Scamp, Fisher
Take stock of CO2
AL GORE has been in the business of raising black angus cattle for most of his life.
Not once during the presentation, An Inconvenient Truth, did Al Gore mention livestock and our diets as a cause of global warming, or suggest any form of solution or alternatives.
This omission would be similar to not mentioning cigarette smoking in a discussion of lung cancer! According to a report, Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, released in November of 2006 from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, livestock emerges as one of the top most significant contributors to every one of the most serious environmental problems.
Additionally, animal agriculture is responsible for 18per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents.
With a burgeoning world population, and rising middle classes in Asia, the demand for meat and dairy will continue to grow.
However, a heavier population means that we are digging ourselves further into a deeper hole and any efforts to reverse out are harder! The twin ''elephants in the room'', livestock production and population growth, the main contributors to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, are avoided by Al Gore and by many environmental and climate change groups.
Surely these ''inconvenient truths'' need to be debated at Copenhagen if there are to be any realistic gains made?
Vivienne Ortega, Heidelberg Heights, VIC
Very fuddled train
REGARDING ''Majura Parkway proposal under scrutiny at meeting'' (July 9, p7), the route of the mooted very fast Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne train line results in a messy clash with the sprawling parkway interchange proposed between Pialligo and Duntroon.
That route also seems to treat Canberra as a mere whistle stop, with the station at Pialligo.
The Canberra station should be right in the city, as no doubt will be the case in Sydney and Melbourne.
The VFT line is planned to sweep into the ACT from the north, and head south to somehow cross the Australian Alps.
Far better to have the new (elevated) railway enter Canberra along, say, Sullivan's Creek to a new grand station adjacent to Civic. The line could then spectacularly follow the northern lake shore, skirt the north end of the Brindabellas, and continue on to the existing inter-city rail route, in a more effective, less environmentally destructive, and more economically beneficial arrangement.
Also, our fog-prone, topography-bound, noisy, overbuilt airport must relocate to our northern hinterland on the VFT route, enabling a simpler parkway and a better national capital arrival experience, while freeing up the Majura-Jerrabomberra valley for sustainable inter-town growth (better than the planned costly Molonglo valley urban expansion).
Jack Kershaw, Kambah
Consultation charade
LIKE reporter Megan Doherty (''Majura Parkway proposal under scrutiny at meeting'', July 9, p7), I attended the Wednesday night presentation on the Majura Parkway, masquerading as public consultation just days prior to the deadline for comment.
It was patently clear that genuine public consultation was wanting, as Megan reported.
The proposed alignment of the Majura Parkway is being strongly influenced by the alignment of the pie-in-the-sky VFT terminating at Canberra Airport.
If the purpose of the VFT is to facilitate tourism and domestic travel, why is it terminating at Canberra Airport and not in or near Civic?
Will the Sydney and Melbourne VFT terminals be sited at Kingsford-Smith and Tullamarine Airports or in the respective city centres?
Terminating the VFT at Canberra Airport seems designed to facilitate Canberra Airport's spin to become the low-cost airline, middle-of-the-night alternative to Sydney Airport closed by curfew. Whether this airport dream and the concurrent proposal to be the national freight hub channelling Sydney's air freight through an airport nearly 300km distant is in the national interest is a matter before Minister Albanese.
The consequence of the compromised alignment of Majura Parkway is that current community recreational facilities will be degraded significantly so that the vested interests such as the airport and the AFP training facility with a significant upgrade proposed will prosper unhindered. Will the ACT Liberals or the Greens hold the Stanhope Government accountable for this charade, or are they also part of the development at any price juggernaut?
Geoff Willans, Hackett
Library conundrum
BEARING in mind that this is my money being spent here, would someone please explain the rationale for the ACT Government's decision to rent space in the Kingston retail area so as to develop a library, and to concurrently refurbish the former Griffith Library to suit tenants?
Valerie Baxter, Narrabundah
Penalty unjust
IS THIS justice?
A couple of weeks ago on a cold, wet, wintry day I took my 93-year-old mother to see her doctor at new the North Canberra Family Practice in Belconnen.
My frail old mother who weighs less than 40 kg, suffers osteoporosis, arthritis and dementia was not acutely ill.
Outside the doctors' rooms at a designated kerbside set down area, and the only location from which she would be able to walk, I stopped, got the walker out of the boot, helped my mother into the reception area and made sure she was seated away from contact with winter viruses.
When I returned to move the car to a parking area, I discovered a parking infringement notice, a fine of $72.
My letter of dispute was deemed unacceptable, despite having witnesses willing to attest to the truth of the account.
I had the option of paying the fine or going to court. I chose the former but now regret it.
ACT revenue has been boosted at the expense of a helpless old lady.
I wonder what is expected: should I have left her at the kerb while I searched for a car park?
Furthermore, I have been informed by more than one doctor that it is illegal for a relative acting as carer to attend the doctor on behalf of such a frail person even when all that is required of the doctor is a repeat script or to discuss the practicality of getting aged-care help.
Thus my poor old mother has to be dragged along to these appointments, always having to wait for the brief visit, at times for over an hour and a half.
Anne Freibe, Narrabundah
Email a friend