Extreme Keynesianism meets extreme green in Germany.

I read today of an extremely strange decision in Germany to shut down the largest single contributor to their power supply.

“Angela Merkel has committed to shutting down all of the country’s nuclear reactors by 2022, a task said by one minister to be as mammoth as the project to reunite East and West Germany in 1990.”

Nuclear energy in germany accounts for somewhere around 23% of their power supply, the single biggest component above even coal. Given that Gerbil worming is the “greatest threat to mankind”, evah!! how does it make sense to remove a non greenhouse gas producing asset?

 “It gives the country just over 10 years to find alternative sources for 23% of its energy.”

This has apparently been brought about by the Fukushima plants problems, which, to date havent killed anyone despite experiencing at least a partial meltdown. So the worst scenario possible, in a decades old plant, caused by a catastrophe well outside its design tolerances is reason to shut off 25% of a nations power?

It smells fishy, regardless of the power of the greens party in Germany (a major player there), so what could be driving this push into idiocy?

Greens mothership come to take them away??

The answer seems to be Keynesianism ratcheted up to 11..

The EU is currently experiencing a massive financial crisis, Germany, traditionally a modern bedrock of financial stability is lashed to the mast of the Euro, therefore exposed to the PIGS financial woes. At the moment they are bailing out the PIGS, but this seems top be staving off the crisis not preventing it from spreading.

Germany has done extremely well out of the Euro, in the past the Deutsche Mark would have appreciated hugely against the PIGS currency, severely hurting Germany’s export ability within the EU. As it stands they can “export” internally into the EU without worrying about currency fluctuations.

The PIGS get german goods, paid for by borrowing Euros from Germany, which then drives its own economy by selling products into its captive markets.

All nice an neat, until now…

Germany is preparing for 2 likely scenarios, both of which will potentially tip them into recession, the nuclear announcement is a call for stimulus spending on an unprecidented scale.

Scenario 1: The bailouts continue.

Germany continues to support the Euro, this requires austerity measures within Germany itself, and would be almost certain political suicide for Merkel, unless she can sell it as part of a “grand coalition” action supported by all parties.

Merkel presented the results to the center-left Social Democrats and Green Party on Sunday evening, in an uncharacteristic appeal for opposition support. But it remains unclear whether the opposition will back the new approach.

Scenario 2: The Euro is allowed to fail, national currencies re-emerge.

This would be the easy political fix, but the resulting strength of the new Deutsche Mark would effectively cripple the competitive advantage the Euro gave of a “captive market”, to Germany’s export sector.

Wheres Keynes come in?

“Energy firms warned that the decision – a total policy reversal – would require significant investment in energy infrastructure. Philipp Rösler, new head of the FDP party, which rules in coalition with the CDU, agreed, likening the task ahead to that which faced Germany in 1990 after reunification. A study in 2009 showed that €1.3 trillion (£1.1tn) had been transferred from the West to rebuild the East.”

Germany is considering bailing on the Euro, they have to find a way to prevent the mass layoffs which are sure to result. They have to find a way to soak up a few million people in their own internal economy.

The highly inefficient renewables sector is a way of employing a large number of people to generate the same amount of power as Nukes currently provide. In the meantime Germany will import power from France/Eastern bloc countries to meet any shortfall. This may actually be cheaper for Germany than the current arrangement, given the likely strength of a new Deutsche Mark.

All opinion and kite flying of course, but I can’t see any underlying logic behind this decision.

As Australia charges forward…

The rest of the world politely tells the green movement “hows my ass taste”?

 

DEAUVILLE, France: Russia, Japan and Canada told the G8 they would not join a second round of carbon cuts under the Kyoto Protocol at United Nations talks this year and the US reiterated it would remain outside the treaty, European diplomats have said.

 

Can kate and the rest of the wingnuts please shuffle off and wither away now?

The future of the Kyoto Protocol has become central to efforts to negotiate reductions of carbon emissions under the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, whose annual meeting will take place in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to December 9.

Developed countries signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. They agreed to legally binding commitments on curbing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

Those pledges expire at the end of next year. Developing countries say a second round is essential to secure global agreements.

But the leaders of Russian, Japan and Canada confirmed they would not join a new Kyoto agreement, the diplomats said.

They argued that the Kyoto format did not require developing countries, including China, the world’s No. 1 carbon emitter, to make targeted emission cuts.

At last Thursday’s G8 dinner the US President, Barack Obama, confirmed Washington would not join an updated Kyoto Protocol, the diplomats said.

The US, the second-largest carbon emitter, signed the protocol in 1997 but in 2001 the then president, George W. Bush, said he would not put it to the Senate for ratification.

HT: Watts up with that

Save Australia — Close London’s Decommissioned Battersea Power Station! [Updates]

Oh no they didn’t…  Oh yes they did!

Check out the nasty filth-spewing power station featuring in this ad pushing for a tax on Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions:

That’s right… an English power station.  A closed English power station.  Battersea, as featured on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals:

And yes, that’s a flying pig:

Beyond parody™.

UPDATE Poll: Should the Warmies have let MARTIN write their “Say Yes” ad for them?

UPDATE 2:  Now that’s better…  Say YES, We Want An Election!  (h/t Catallaxy)

UPDATE 3:  Oh, please.

Australian Conservation Foundation climate and clean energy campaigner Phil Freeman last night denied the Battersea Power Station image was used, insisting it was a “representation of a power station taken from a stock image”.

Tim Blair:  “They take us for fools.

UPDATE 4: Adam has another Youtube video debunking the lies in the Yay-4-CarbonTax ad

 

 

 

 

 

 

HONEY BADGERS — F**K YEAH!

Honey badger don’t care.  Honey badger don’t give a sh*t.

UPDATE:  Speed turtle.

Gavin Atkins and the Search for the 50 Million Missing ‘Climate Refugees’

In 2005, the United Nations Environment Programme predicted that climate change would create 50 million climate refugees by 2010. These people, it was said, would flee a range of disasters including sea level rise, increases in the numbers and severity of hurricanes, and disruption to food production.

Gavin Atkins has been doing a series over at Asian Correspondent trying to track down these 50 million missing climate refugees and I thought I’d keep a list of his articles on the subject here, for ease of reference.

What happened to the climate refugees? (April 11, 2011)

Cover up: UN tries to erase failed climate refugee prediction (April 16, 2011)

50m climate refugee claims: It’s all about money for the UN (April 19, 2011)

Reaction to the 50 million climate refugee prediction (April 22, 2011)

The origins of the 50 million climate refugees prediction (April 23, 2011)

50m climate refugees? New Scientist can’t find them either (May 5, 2011)

50 million climate refugees – the search continues (May 9, 2011)

The Alaskan climate refugees who never left (June 14, 2011)

Asian Correspondent makes it to the Beeb:  Gavin Atkins talks to Hannah Barnes from BBC radio 4 about the missing 50 million climate refugees story  (June 16, 2011)

I’ll try to keep this list updated as the hunt continues.

…as I told him after his May 9 article was published, “Mate, you’re gonna need a bigger milk carton” 🙂
Anyone with Photoshop skills out there want to step up..?

1.618

Sorry for being such an ass.

UPDATE

Fiiiiinally, a clip of this song Sony/Paul haven’t been fucking retards about. The song is 42 years old. Let us embed it, fucktards! You’re a fucking billionaire, Paul. Just how much is it gonna hurt you’re bottom line letting us embed your song?

Less than a new wife, methinks. And eat some damn meat.

THE Herman Cain! Presidential Announcement Video

More at The Blaze.

If you’re on Twitter, follow THE Herman Cain & the Cain press office.

Go, Citizen Cain!

UPDATE:  And in case anyone’s interested, the rest of the potential field: The 2012 Candidates Not Named “Herman”

UPDATE 2: Lots of good stuff at Citizens4Cain, including 5 reasons not to dismiss him as a serious contender.

HAPPY VELOCIRAPTURE

Happy Rapture Day!  If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow the Rapture Help Desk and the #rapture hashtag for all the latest Rapture info & updates.

Meanwhile, given my well-known aversion to velociraptors, can I just say how happy I am to see this?

And as for these folks, let’s try to avoid consoling them tomorrow with a happy “Cheer up — it’s not the end of the world!”
No need to rub it in.

via @bettiwettiwoo & @Regretsy

Bolt Blog Shenanigans – The Strange Case of the Disappearing Comments

The first rule of Bolt Blog seems to be “don’t mention the phenomenon of the disappearing blocks of comments at Bolt Blog”.

Seriously, this has been going on for some time, and though I understand that with the hungry venal eyes of the Victim-Industrial Complex™ on him he has to be very careful about what gets published on his blog, that does not explain why huge swaths of basically unremarkable and certainly non-actionable comments get put up, only to disappear with all their replies a number of hours later.

I first remarked upon it last month, when the comment count on a post I had submitted several comments to fell from over 330 to just 276 in one fell swoop (almost 60 comments being deleted without explanation or notice) – it was a post on Trump and the “birthers”, and and as I tend to keep an eye on comments threads I have contributed to, I will say that although there were a lot of comments I would call painfully stupid, there were none that could possibly have been legally actionable.

I rarely bother with comments there anymore, as the increased number of comments by the mindless Leftoid trolls tend to derail any attempts at reasonable discussion & debate, but on weekends I do usually have a look in and keep seeing this same pattern repeating itself – idiotic throw-away comments by trolls seem to go up right away, and comments and replies by others either don’t get put up at all or get put up and then memory-holed a number of hours later.

Bolt is definitely aware that this is happening, and he’s aware that a number of his long-time readers & commenters aren’t very impressed, but so far he hasn’t even acknowledged any of these concerns on his blog.  Instead, when sometimes a number of people get comments through asking about the problem, that whole block of comments and replies suddenly disappears without notice.

To my mind, he’s not just dissing the readers and commenters who helped get him to where he is today; but he’s feeding the delighted Bolt-hating conspiracy theorists on the Left.

So, I know he’s aware of what’s going on, and he’s aware that people aren’t happy, and that he chooses not to explain or even acknowledge these concerns is his business – obviously, the hits still keep rolling in – but after just having seen yet another block of comments and replies “disappear” from today’s Forum, I just felt like having a whinge.

Acknowledging the obvious (sort of)

Sometimes something is so apparent that even Big Media (the BM for short) has to acknowledge it. Okay, so in this case it’s ex-BM. But it still stands as acknowledged.

---

Several veteran and prize-winning journalists who covered presidents from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush say that the current crop of White House correspondents are too timid and deferential and have played a role in killing the impact of presidential news conferences.

---

Unfortunately, what DIDN’T get acknowledged is the lapdog deference the press corp has for Il Duce.  I guess you can’t have everything…

The BM’istas try to create the illusion that the deference shown Il Duce was also extended to King George the Dim.

---

“If you watch an Obama news conference, and watched a Bush news conference previous to that, where correspondents sit in their seats with their hands folded on their laps, [it’s] as if they are in the room with a monarch and they have to wait to be recognized by the president,” says Sid Davis, the former NBC Washington bureau chief who covered nine presidents. “It looks like they are watching a funeral service at [Washington funeral firm] Joseph Gawler’s and it shouldn’t be that way.”

---

Nothing could be further from the truth. Bush was treated with a hostility previously reserved for Richard Nixon by the BM during his 8 hapless years in office.

I have no love for George Bush. But let’s tell a straight story, shall we? The deference issue is specific to Obama. Period.

It remains to be seen if the White House press corps’ behavior will change [/sarcasm].

The truth is, the only thing that will make the White House press corps return to a position of asking tough questions and being confrontational is a change of president.

Abandoned puppy update.

As I posted a couple of weeks back we picked up a couple of abandoned new born pups at one of my clients houses.

Both had been left abandoned in a caravan out the back while the mother (and any other pups) were taken 550 km away.

We were told they would be put down as they were too expensive/time consuming for the local vets to raise (fair enough for them, they do a lot of cost price only work for the local dog rescue).. My missus decided she’d/we’d have a shot at raising them. We were told the first 2 days were critical, and neither was expected to live.

After being fed every 3 hours for the first 2 days they both began to guzzle the milk properly, and a couple of days after that were a pair of butterballs.

Full as a tick

 

They are now both starting solids and we will look after them for a few weeks more before they are rehomed through a local dog rescue organisation.

So the only thing left for them to do is track down their original owners and exact terrible revenge….

They wont see it coming...

Trump dumped

So we see over at Bolt’s Palace this morning that the Donald has pulled out of the US presidential Republican nomination.

Well, it’s doubtful anyone’s surprised. And yeeees, this certain blogger did like what Trump was offering, even whilst knowing most conservative bloggers (libertarian here) didn’t want a bar of him. A lot of it was that breath of fresh air factor he brought to the debate. And I still think no other Republican that has been offered up will be capable of beating Obama.

Happy to be proved wrong, but there you go.

And I still think a successful businessperson would be ideal for the US’ top job, especially considering the deficit and debt. So I guess that leaves me favouring Romney, however, lately, one’s ear hasn’t been kept that close to the political – let alone the US political – ground.

Who’s been looking good lately, folks, and why?

PS Thanks for all the email updates JM even though there wasn’t any time to use them.

x-posted

UPDATE

Herman Cain?

Sneaky edit under the fold….

More climate chicanery

A dog bites man headline – “NASA Gets Caught Faking Climate Change Data-AGAIN!” (Hat tip to Vulture pal Stacy Allgood for the tip).

---

The climate change hoaxers use computer models to predict that sea levels would rise anywhere from 15 inches to 2o feet because of global warming in the 21st century (the consensus number is closer to 3 feet).

But Mother Nature was never good at computer science. Satellite data proved that the first decade of the 21st century sea level grew by only 0.83 inches (a pace of just 8 inches for the entire century). What’s even worse (for the global warming hoaxers) there has been no rise since 2006. Now I know that some Democrats believe that Obama is a miracle worker, but even the the crazies at the Daily Kos would admit that controlling sea level is way above his pay grade. So the scientists at the University of Colorado’s NASA-funded Sea Level Research Group did what any other self-respecting cult members would do, they fudged the numbers. They simply added .3 millimeters per year to its Global Mean Sea Level Time Series. That way they could report that the sea level rise was accelerating, instead of what was actually happening–decelerating.

---

Yeah…this data is no good. We’ll have to “fix it”.

And “fix it” they do. But what they mean by “fix” and what I mean by “fix” are two different things entirely.

Trust me when I say, “The fix is in”.

Antipodean Marsupial Comparison, Round II

John Hawkins at RightWingNews:

I Now Know Why You Don’t Typically See Baby Possums On Cute Overload

Quite.

Naughty Jihadi!

According to this report, Usama bin Laden (or someone in his posse) was waging Jihad against the little infidel in his pants.

---

A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The officials said they were not yet sure precisely where in the compound the pornography was discovered or who had been viewing it. Specifically, the officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials.

---

I’m not sayin’…I’m just sayin’.

The REAL reason the Islamic extremists hate us… (Part II)

Another reason why the Islamic extremists hate us:

[Daily Mail] –  It is easy to forget what’s going on in the world around you when busting a move on the dance floor.

But a U.S. Army soldier appears to remain completely oblivious as he dances on a tank – even when two missiles fire past close behind him.

In a YouTube video that has been watched nearly half a million times in four days, the soldier is shown dancing in full army gear on top of a M1068 mobile command centre.

As he gets into the rhythm of the Tom Jones hit ‘It’s Not Unusual’ – showing off his moves and swinging his hands from side to side – a rocket suddenly rushes through the sky.

But like a true dance professional the soldier does not flinch and carries on with his routine completely unfazed.

Even when a second rocket fires close to his roof-top position, he continues to boogie with flare and style.

Dressed in helmet, boots and full combat gear, the soldier seems completely unaware of what is going on behind him.

The dancing solider is seen dancing ‘The Carlton’ dance made famous by television show Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

The funky moves became popular and were called ‘the funniest dance in the world’ after being performed by the character Carlton played by actor Alfonso Ribeiro on the cult show.

Finally: The Obama SEAL Team 6 Action Figure

Seriously?

"Gutsy Call!"

Navy SEALs have become national heroes since news broke that they took down Osama bin Laden, so it’s fitting that the newest action figure from a Connecticut company is a fierce-looking President Barack Obama as a SEAL.

The minute Obama said late on the night of May 1 that the U.S. had found and killed bin Laden, Emil Vicale knew which his action figure company’s would make next — Rambama.

On Wednesday morning, Hero Builders released the Obama SEAL Team 6 action figure — a muscular President in fatigues armed with an M1-A4.

Wait, asks @JammieWearingFool… don’t those buff, toned, glistening biceps look familiar? 

Hmmm…

.

UPDATE [Friday]:  The entire Google ‘Blogger’ platform  is currently pretty much munted. JammieWearingFool’s post at the link above, along with one presumes millions of other posts from the past 24-36 hours, is AWOL as I write this.  One hopes Blogger gets its chit together soon.  Or we’ll have to call in IT Support Superstar Blogbama. (Please, no more action figures – we beg you).

And with a straight face, apparently…

WikiLeaks Threatens Its Own Leakers With $20 Million Penalty

via @GarthGodsman

Coming soon to a country near you

Desperate governments do desperate things. Some of those things qualify as theft if you or I do them. This is one of those things.

The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today.

Without the ability sell debt due to soaring interest rates, and with severe spending rules in place due to its EU-IMF bailout, Ireland has few ways of spending to stimulate the economy. Today’s jobs program includes specific tax increases, including the tax on pensions, aimed at keeping government jobs spending from adding to the national debt.

Yeah. Call it a tax. “Theft” is such an ugly word.

The article contains a link to a slide show of 17 countries that appear poised to use this same tactic. Surprisingly, the USA wasn’t one of them. Il Duce must be slipping.

South Korea was #4 on the list: someone warn bingbing!

Coming in at #1 was — drumroll, please — Japan, a country with an aging population and two decades of economic stagflation under its belt.

But don’t worry if your country wasn’t on the list of those ready to pounce on your hard-earned retirement nest egg. They’ll get to you soon enough.

The dogs that dont bark.

During the reign of the eeeevil HoWARd regime a asylum seeker vessel the SIEV X (suspected illegal entry vessel 10) foundered in international/Indonesian waters with great loss of life.

Refugee advocates and Labour pollies were in arms about it for years, school “learning projects”, etc. Culminating in a shocking book accusing the Australian government of deliberately sinking the vessel (which won awards from state governments), and the territory government of Canberra erecting their own memorial (covered by legislation in the territory parliament) on the shores of lake Burley Griffin.

Acres of print and hours of angst all aimed at demonizing the Howard government. Id hate to accuse those involved of politically motivated moral grandstanding… much.

Heres the results for the search SIEV X memorial 

Fast forward to a few months back and the wrecking of  SIEV 221 on the coast of Christmas island with subsequent loss of life. I thought Id have a google for a memorial…

Nothing.. lots on the disaster, nothing on a memorial (unless its well hidden)

Is it too much to ask lefties to be a little less selective in their moral outrage?

The REAL reason the Islamic extremists hate us…

THIS.

And the George Bush, and the Dick Cheney, and the Sarah Palin Climate of Hate™.

But mostly, THIS.

via @TheH2

And it begins…

(Cross-posted from The Vulture Lurks)

You knew it was coming. After all, you can’t just kill Usama bin Laden and declare victory. Oh no. You have to milk the sumbitch for all it’s worth. Welcome to 2001, the sequel.

An advisory has been sent to law enforcement officials advising them to be vigilant about train security based on information uncovered after the death of Osama bin Laden, officials said.

Officials stressed the advisory is general in nature and the information apparently uncovered from the bin Laden compound dates back more than a year.

According to NBC News, U.S. officials say they have not found reference to specific plots. Instead, they say they’ve found what they call “aspirational” items — events al-Qaida operatives were interested in trying to make happen.

I see. So…we’re in a heightened state of alert and expected to endure God-knows-what in the name of “security” based on…al-Qaida’s wishlist????

*bangs head on wall*

Australian squalor, welcome to the underclass.

As I posted a couple of times before, I work mainly with the underclass in my town.

Recently a long term customer took off leaving behind most of my stuff locked into her house, apparently she’s run up a lot of bills around town and is skipping to “start afresh”. Her sister was left with a load of lies (I’m back tomorrow/next day/next week etc) and the house keys.

She called up and allowed me access to retrieve my stuff. While we were there my other half took a load of “happy snaps”. The sister gave permission, she was as disgusted as us, she is currently on a waiting list for a Homeswest property but may be waiting months yet.

This is how a portion of the Australian underclass chooses to live.

Some of the pics are disgusting and might upset a few people, but this is reality.

The lady in question has 4 children under 10, there were 3 dogs (oldest one left behind) 4 cats as a rough estimate her income is around 1300 per fortnight of pension payments.

The house is public housing (Homeswest), who apparently carry out inspections of their properties. So this is a Western Australian government owned asset.

Captions under each photo.

EXCLUSIVE: Latest OBL clarification from the White House

In the face of the confusion over dueling narratives from various White House sources, The Telegraph’s Damian Thompson releases the definitive White House clarification in full:

In an earlier briefing, we may have given the impression that Osama bin Laden was armed when we stormed his compound. We meant, of course, that he was unarmed. Moreover, we would like to clarify that when we said he resisted arrest, that was merely a figure of speech. In addition, we would like to make a small correction to our report that bin Laden used his wife as a human shield; he did not, in fact, use his wife as a shield. Earlier statements that she was killed were, of course, a misunderstanding. She was not killed; that was another lady. Furthermore, we would like to remove any doubt over our claim that we have decided to release a photograph of Osama bin Laden’s body by confirming that we shall not be releasing any pictures of the body. We trust that this clears up any confusion.

I hope that clarifies things for y’all.  We now return you to your Most Open & Transparent Government Evah™ !

.

UPDATE:  Must-read Treacher – Obama Administration Takes Victory Lap in Clown Car

It’s been less than 72 hours since President Barack Obama announced that U.S. Special Forces had killed Osama Bin Laden. Since then, his administration has been hard at work screwing the whole thing up.   [CLICK]

Taking credit

Amidst all of the happy talk following the death of Usama bin Laden, there is a telling tale of the true nature of our dear President, Il Duce.  In his press conference Sunday night, he made a big show of highlighting his decisiveness and his role in the military action.

Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad Pakistan.

Uh, yeah…about that…

The operation was at this time effectively unknown to President Barack Obama or Valerie Jarrett and it remained that way until AFTER it had already been initiated. President Obama was literally pulled from a golf outing and escorted back to the White House to be informed of the mission. Upon his arrival there was a briefing held which included Bill Daley, John Brennan, and a high ranking member of the military. When Obama emerged from the briefing, he was described as looking “very confused and uncertain.” The president was then placed in the situation room where several of the players in this event had already been watching the operation unfold. Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was. The now famous photo released shows the particulars of that of that room and its occupants. What that photo does not communicate directly is that the military personnel present in that room during the operation unfolding, deferred to either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates. The president’s role was minimal, including their acknowledging of his presence in the room.

At my direction? Uh-huh.

One need only take a look at the photograph of the situation room to know what Il Duce’s role in the event was. It’s standard meeting protocol; the people who are directly involved in decision making have a seat at the table, and everyone else grabs a chair where they can. Vice President Hairplugs and Succubus of State Clinton have a seat at the table; they are in on the decision making. Obama’s seat indicates spectator status.

As if we should be surprised…