Slashdot Mirror

During the height of the cold war a full out exchange would have resulted in billions of survivors.

http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/82j...

> I guess this goes to show that it depends more on the person than on their previous job.

You're reading too much into this. He might have opposed it because it was the wrong thing, and at age 70 he knows they can't touch him. He also might have opposed it because the writing was on the wall, or because others in the industry didn't want it either. Journalists should ask his industry mates what they think of his decision because without that fly on the wall perspective, you cannot tell his true motivations, or his future intentions.

"What is Mateship? In its most benign form, it is simply friendship. But mateship is often more than benign. Mateship often implies a joint monetary interest. Mates form companies, award contracts to each other, appoint each other, protect each other and honour each other.

One of the principal returns to mateship is a job. Mates appoint each other for three main reasons. First, a mate can be relied upon to act with fear and with favour; fear of offending their mates and favour towards their mates. Secondly, when a mate is appointed, an obligation is created, an obligation that must be repaid. An appointment of a mate is a contingent future claim on that mate. Thirdly, mates appoint each other because it minimises their risks. Mates are mates because they often think the same. With a mate, there are fewer risks.

From "Courage without Mateship"

A very big problem in Australia is that we have no right to free speech like Americans do: http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/4529/do-we-have-the-right-to-freedom-of-speech-in-austr.aspx

Under the Public Figure Doctrine US journalists can report corruption in a timely manner. In Australia we have nothing like that - not even a public interest test - so journalists must sit on stories for years. The Australian media couldn't even tell the people of New South Wales that their Premier (Governor) was manifestly-corrupt until the day after he died. http://www.bmartin.cc/dissent/documents/Martin_def.html http://victimsofdsto.com/online/#freespeech

The right to free speech is so limited in Australia that this public servant was fired for anonymously tweeting her own opinion on her own equipment on her own time: http://www.psnews.com.au/Featurespsn3834.html In the US the Supreme Court holds that public servants (government workers) have the right to express their own opinions. In Australia, they don't.

Anyone who believes the human race is not capable of wiping out everything on the planet did not live through the cold war.

Don't listen to the propaganda, it's probably not true. In addition to that, rumor has it that Switzerland has enough fallout shelters to house the entire country.