Agriculture Lawyer

Round Three Thursday, 5 June The headliners for June 5 were Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke, author and lawyer Randa Abdel-Fattah, founder of Crikey Stephen Mayne and, The Australian newspaper’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan. Watch Video Download Video The Q&A panel received a range of different questions from punters all over the country. The primary concern of Cost of Living questions was petrol prices. Punters questioned the effectiveness of government policies concerning petrol prices and suggested alternatives to the high prices. The main concerns of Political Institutions and Process questions had to do with the behaviour of minority groups and females during question time in Parliament. Other questions concerned the influence of money on politics and the necessity of states. Economy questions were mostly specific questions related to Tony Burkes portfolio. Environment questions involved alternative energy use, the pulp mill, carbon emissions and deforestation. Overseas questions concerned Australias role in Asia, question relating to Barrack Obamas and Hilary Clintons role in the US presidential election, and the Palestine and Israel conflict. Education questions were mostly HECS related and public/private school funding issues. Social Issues and Civil liberties questions related to gay marriage and the animal abuse issues involved with live exports.

www.democracynow.org The US Role in Haiti’s Food Riots As people around the world continue to protest the soaring prices of basic food items, the World Food Program has described the crisis as a silent tsunami. The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization blamed the current global food crisis on “inappropriate” policy decisions over the past two decades. Nowhere is this more clear than in Haiti, where hungry people are rioting in the streets because they cannot afford to buy rice. Haiti imports most of its rice from the United States, which in turn remains heavily subsidized. We speak with human rights lawyer, Bill Quigley. www.democracynow.org

From voaspecialenglish.com | http Legos are not just for children. They can become works of art in the hands of adults like Nathan Sawaya. NATHAN SAWAYA: I dont notice the time passing. I just, this is what I do and I enjoy it. So I can just work for hours without being interrupted. Legos are made of plastic. Each piece is called a brick. Bricks come in different colors and sizes. NATHAN SAWAYA:I think the most important thing is having a vision in my head before I start putting down that first brick. And then it is just a matter of putting the bricks together to make it look like the vision I have. Sawaya is one of a very few full-time Lego artists in the United States. He creates works of art from these simple building blocks. NATHAN SAWAYA: “Although I work probably every weekend and I work most nights, you know, Im doing what I love so it doesnt feel like work.” For several years, Sawaya worked as a lawyer. That left him little time for building Legos. But he found enough time to set up a personal website. NATHAN SAWAYA: “There was a day when my website, brickartist.com, it crashed because it had too many hits. So I realized, all right, it is time to make a change because there was a viable market out there to be an artist.” Sawaya says he has no regrets about his new career. NATHAN SAWAYA: “The worst day as an artist is still better than the best day as a lawyer. So I dont regret my decision.” His art works have found their way into American museums. This show was …