Nobody's got a right to give up – An interview with David Suzuki
Among his many titles, David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and chair of the Suzuki Foundation. He is an Officer Of The Order Of Canada… "The reality is that the media are not in the business of educating people. They are in the business of getting an audience to sell stuff to. Especially the commercial networks.."
Full article at www.echo.net.au

Robert and Wayne’s excellent adventure – An interview with Wayne Swan and Robert McClelland,
Wayne Swan and Robert McClelland, both federal ALP members and ex-lawyers, came to support Richmond MP Justine Elliot at a recent fundraiser in Byron Bay. And in my best pseudo Marxist hat, I pretend for a fleeting moment I am Jon Stewart or Jeremy Paxman."
Full article at www.echo.net.au

Uncompromising to the core – An interview with Greens Leader Bob Brown
According to his CV, Greens Senator Bob Brown ‘enjoys photography, sports, bushwalking, poetry, platypus watching and philosophy.’ Poetry and philosophy? What politician in their right mind would dare pronounce an affi nity with culture? He studied to become a doctor, not a lawyer, which puts him in the minority and makes him infi nitely more interesting as a political specimen."
Full article at www.echo.net.au

What the Japanese know about their whaling?
Not a lot because they don’t know about it, according to local Japanese woman Takako. She is hoping to let people know in Australia that the Japanese are generally unaware the whaling and dolphin industry exist. ‘The governments and the media in Japan don’t talk about these issues very much,’ she says.
Full article at www.echo.net.au

Arj Barker Interview
Arj is no comedic lightweight and his career is blooming. In February he was on the Dave Letterman show, ‘the pinnacle’ he says, and his steady climb to fame hasn’t tarnished his genuine easygoing down-to-earth manner. He is sharp, witty and current (everyone is when they’re under 30). He is one of the feature acts at the Bangalow Big Joke Comedy Festival March 26-29.
Full article at www.echo.net.au

My ayahuasca vacation: asking the medicine
Lima, Peru, is seriously badlands. Sitting in a taxi and watching the city go by at midnight, I get the feeling a gringo could be easily fleeced on the streets. Gangs are everywhere. Or perhaps it is my paranoid and uneducated perception? Maybe men roaming graffiti ridden ghetto industrial streets in packs of at least three to four would be quite helpful to an Australiano with no hablo Espanol.
Full article at www.echo.net.au

The Byron Bay Self-Help Book Burning Festival
What started as a harmless joke for a party theme a few months back took on a life of its own – self-help book burning. I have never seen such a division of opinion. ‘That’s a great idea!,’ they said, ‘I’ll bring my Eckhardt Tolle, The Celestine Prophecy and all the other shithouse books that were handed to me...’ Others are visibly disturbed as if it were a close relative condemned, and it is only until the concept is explained that it bears less resistance. Full article at www.echo.net.au