A long fisking of a stupid Parlimentarian

I caught Christine Milne (Greens Tasmania) on ABC news radio yesterday  on Thursday during the opening speeches about the minerals taxation bill.

The sheer “did she just say that” stupidity was breathtaking… That she hasnt been pilloried in the press for it speaks volumes about the poor state of political reporting in Australia today.

So Im going to fisk it a little, its a loooong speech, so it will take quite a while, her speech will be plain text, my observations will be bold.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Crossin):

Order! The Senate is considering the minerals resource rent tax legislation as a package.

Senator MILNE

(Tasmania—Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens) (19:30):

I rise tonight to discuss what sort of future we aspire to have in this country, because, whilst the specific is the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011 and associated legislation, the context in which we are debating this tax is what sort of vision do we have for Australia in the next 20, 30 or 50 years. How you raise the money and where you spend it will determine that kind of country, because the future is actually an extension of the present and it is shaped by the decisions and actions we make.

Here Christine is using her amazing intellect to tell us time is linear, and actions have consequences… probably the highest point of her speech

More, oh so much more.. under the fold

Modern Australian education

Just received this bit of coursework from a mates son in year 8 school, Ive removed the names but its first hand, not one of the usual “internet memes” that you get 45th hand.

A year 8 English poem!!!   Bought home by ****** for an assignment. Opinions please!!

 

TIME IS RUNNING OUT
The miner rapes
The heart of earth
With his violent spade.
Stealing, bottling her black blood
For the sake of greedy trade.
On his metal throne of destruction,
He labours away with a will,
Piling the mountainous minerals high
With giant tool and iron drill.

 

The face of evil?

In his greedy lust for power,
He destroys old nature’s will.
For the sake of the filthy dollar,
He dirties the nest he builds.
Well he knows that violence
Of his destructive kind
Will be violently written
Upon the sands of time.

 

A pristine peoples nest, before the miners move in?

But time is running out
And time is close at hand,
For the Dreamtime folk are massing
To defend their timeless land.
Come gentle black man
Show your strength;
Time to take a stand.
Make the violent miner feel
Your violent
Love of land.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

My opinion?

What a heap of steaming greenie shit wrapped up in a “poor blackfellah me” story to try and give it respectability. The lady that wrote it was a Communist, and the name it was written under was her original one  Kath Walker, but plain old Kath Walker wouldnt sound mystical enough for the education department would it?

 

This type of bullshit propaganda completely ignores any of the massive plus sides of a modern manufactured life. Pencils, air con, computers, coal for electricity, steel, all used to improve the lives of millions of Australians.

Ignored for some mystical greenie gibberish which makes a fetish of a stone age way of life.

PAUL EHRLICH, still wrong after all these years.

For some obscure reason an Australian University was playing host to Paul Ehrlich this week, and apparently his lecture wasnt titled “I was wrong, boy wasnt that silly”. No instead hes jumped both feet first on the Global warming bandwagon and milking it for all hes worth.

 

Mr Ehrlich at his day job

 

As a serial wrongist of long standing I felt it might be worth a gentle layman’s Fisk of his radio interview.

ELEANOR HALL: The United Nations says the world’s population will reach 7 billion some time today, though it concedes the date is symbolic and its calculations could be out by six months in either direction.

The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says reaching the 7 billion mark is an opportunity for progress.

But Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University and author of the controversial book, The Population Bomb, Dr Paul Ehrlich, says the milestone is no cause for celebration:

PAUL EHRLICH: I think it’s cause for a lot of alarm and so does every scientist I know.

(Every scientist he knows, careful parsing of the phrase there Paul)

You have got to face it, we still have close to 3 billion people living in poverty, almost a billion hungry. We are wrecking our environment, we are changing the climate, we are toxifying the planet from pole to pole and the worst thing is that nobody is doing anything about it.

(Heres an article from a poverty fighting website, in fact things are getting better on an absolute level, in pretty well every area mentioned,

• 25 years ago in China, over 600M people were living on < $1/day. Today this number is 180M … meaning 420M+ people are now above this level.
• Between 1999 and 2004, 135M people worldwide rose from < $1/day to above this level. This is more people, more quickly than at any other time in history.
• In South Asia, the number of people without clean water has halved since 1990.
• In 1975, 75% of people aged 15-25 were literate. Now the rate is almost 90%.
• In 1970, the fertility rate in East Asia/Pacific was 5.4 and now is 2.1 In South Asia, it was 60 and now is 3.1. Overall, global fertility has fallen from 4.8 to 2.6 in 25 years. Africa has all but one of the countries with fertility rates above 5.0.
• A World Bank study noted that every 1% increase in national income her person in an emerging country translated in 1.3% fall in extreme poverty.
• In 2007, the global economy entered its fifth year of over 4% growth — the longest period of expansion since the 1970′s. Also, trade grew 9% despite all of the challenges.
• Almost half of all humans lives in countries with growth of more than 7% per year (which doubles the economy every decade).
• Inequality has risen in both rich and poor countries overall, but there are examples where this is not true questioning whether globalization is the main culprit of inequality. The Economist argues that lack of [quality] education is likely the biggest culprit.
• In 1990, more than 25% of people in developing countries lived on < $1/day. At current rates, this will be 10% by 2015.
• Income is not the only way to quantify improvement for the poor. Monetary measures understate the real gains from things such as lower child mortality, safer water, literacy and other social achievements.
• A study shows that the number of conflicts (international and civil) fell from over 50 at the start of the 1990′s to just over 30 in 2005. The number of international wars peaked in the 1970′s and have been falling ever since. The death toll in battle fell from over 200,000 a year in the mid-1990′s to below 20,000 in the mid-2000′s. [The WHO has higher numbers.]
• The number of incidents of terrorism has increased since 2001 although the number is still very small.

 

Much, much more paul slapping under the fold.

Or you could just watch this little video from

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

Townhall meeting coming to a venue near you

OK, so PM Gillard reckons The Debate We Never Had™ is over, but that doesn’t mean – oh no siree – that folks aren’t standing up to have their say.

A townhall meeting in Brisbane:

Mr Hockey said merchants at a Brisbane market this morning told him they would not be able to pass on the cost of an estimated 10 per cent rise in electricity without sacking staff.

“Time and time again, as we went past every store, all the workers were coming out and saying ‘you have to stop this tax’,” he said.

Read on.

Why isnt this man a greens candidate?

I was perusing the ABC site when I came across this news item on the cattle trade being reopened, and how some in the Labour party were unhappy with that.

Kelvin Thomson is one of the nine backbenchers who have expressed concern about the announcement, demanding a “no stun, no deal” policy.

He says the main problem is that the international guidelines do not ensure cattle are stunned before they are killed.

 

I thought Id have a look at Mr Thomson and his background.

My conclusion… the mans a loon.

From his own Bio:

 

Kelvin Thomson is a tireless campaigner for population stabilisation, for action on climate change, and for the protection of Australia’s beautiful and fragile environment.

Hmm, population stabilisation… what could that mean?

Well it appears Mr Thomson was author of  “Kelvin Thomsons 14 point plan for population reform” a rather creepy document.

Much more under the fold

 

Our Langolier government

Most of you probably remember the book and/or movie, The Langoliers. Those little creatures would gobble up, or destroy if you will, everything – matter, space, time – they came across.

In a sense, the Gillard (and previously, Rudd) government has many similarities. Everything her Langolier eyes set themselves upon, they destroy.

The list is unbelievable.

Read the rest of this entry

Green deceivers

The latest Green commercial states that “storms are more extreme and more frequent”.

This is flat out wrong. In fact, the opposite is true.

Yes. Storm frequency and intensity has actually gone down the past 30 years. Here’s data collected by Dr. Ryan Maue Ph.D at Florida State University.

Continue reading this entry

Is this the radio interview that cost Julia government?

UPDATE at the bottom 29/6/11

Caught part of this interview driving around work today.

Its devastating.

Nice place, shame if anything were to happen to it.... Guv'ner

Heres the only bit of transcript up now.

The live cattle export ban to Indonesia is the last straw for one of the Territory’s well known cattle families.Bullo River Station, located 800 kilometres south west of Darwin, has been put on the market.The 160,000-hectare property is well known as the home of the late author and cattle queen Sara Henderson.But her daughter Marlee Ranacher says with no income since late last year, the business is no longer viable.”It was a progression of things that led to it.”Last year there was a weight and class restriction set by the Indonesia Government… following a very very long record Wet season.”Then just as we were about to send some cattle off, with 24 hours notice, the entire industry was shut down.”I mean, most people get more notice when they lose a job, don’t they?”How exactly are we going to buy the diesel fuel that pumps water for the cattle?”Where do they go? Who feeds them? It’s really really hard.”

Heres a link to the interview.

http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/marlee-ranacher.mp3

She pins the blame squarely on Julia Gillard, and makes a couple of extremely interesting points.

1: The ban is hitting at the critical time of the year for northern producers. Unless stock leave for feedlots now they will be trapped by the wet season. So even if Julia announces a “solution” in a months time there will be no way of shipping them off.

2: The ABC has colluded with animal rights groups to time this quite deliberately. She makes the claim the ABC has been sitting on the footage since January. I will send a query to 4 corners on this but dont expect an answer.

3: The land will be overstocked massively soon. There will be 2 seasons worth of cattle on the same land.

4: The excess cattle are unsaleable due to the 350kg weight limit on cattle. What will happen?

5: A whole seasons cattle will have to be shot.

I can’t emphasise enough listen to this interview, if you are strapped for time just listen to the last 1/2.

Its heartbreaking, Gillard and her green/4 corners mates should be pilloried for this, the deliberate destruction of a whole industry. Thousands out of work directly, and many, many more businesses ruined, truckies, helicopter musterers, feed lot owners. All ruined. Once that infrastructure is gone it will take decades to get back…. or Julia could declare it a national park… Just for Bob.

If you dont choke up hearing her say “we have to shoot them”… well you must be a greenie.

 

UPDATE: Bob Brown has announced his paries plans to completely stop ALL live exports.

From His speech to the national press club:

• Rachel Siewert’s Live Animal Export (Slaughter) Prohibition Bill would stop the export of live animals for slaughter now – not in three years as in the Xenophon-Wilkie bill. Export of live animals too often ends up in cruelty and it also ships Australian jobs and profits off-shore;

The Australian Pravda, at it again.

Their ABC has another wonderful example of where their priorities lie.

On the online page is this.

The next, fairly harmless story off in the links???

• Brown says coal industry will be replaced

Greens leader Bob Brown says ultimately the carbon price has to result in shutting down the coal industry.

“I would not figure that in because they are so highly profitable. But, that has to be the outcome … the coal industry has to be replaced by renewables,” he said.

So basically we have the party which holds the balance of power openly talking about taxing a whole sector of the economy out of existence, and its not top story?

ABC bias is sickening.

Agreed, Jill Singer: the nonsense has to stop

Jill Singer supports a carbon (dioxide!) tax. Unfortunately, she shows a complete ignorance of the real science behind the politics.

THE “debate” over a carbon tax in Australia has become high farce.

Indeed it has. The Left seem to think that taxing the bejesus out of a trace gas will somehow save a planet that doesn’t need saving. Jill and her ilk fail to realise CO2 is only a minor greenhouse gas at that. It makes up only 0.04% of our atmosphere. Most of it is natural. The sceptical side has man-made CO2 at 3% or about 0.001% of our atmosphere. The alarmist side puts man-made CO2 at ten times higher. But so what? That means man-made CO2 would occupy 0.01% of our atmosphere.

There’s no way Man’s small contribution to a minor greenhouse trace gas – yet an essential gas, most of it naturally occurring – can be the main driver of climate. That hypothesis is, to use Jill’s words, a “high farce”.

Read more of this post

Fisking Sarah Hanson-Young

Oh goody, shes written another piece full of “facts” for the age

Were you to arrive in Australia and read the front pages of our newspapers you would be forgiven for thinking that we are living in some type of black hole, devoid of information, news and expert opinion from the rest the world.

I dont know if shes noticed, but the thing shes writing on is called a “newspaper”, what shes being fisked on is a new fangled “computer”.

What other possible explanation could there be for the ignorance of those who warn of the end of civilisation were a carbon tax to established than by claiming Australia would be out on a limb, leading the world.

The explanation that they see a scam, and your best efforts at convincing them are crap? Have a look at your side, they are the ones claiming 50,000,000 climate refugees would be created by…last year…

Leading the world? You’ve got to be joking. Many other countries have already put a price on carbon and introduced realistic pollution reduction targets.  And while they are spending significant public and private dollars firming up investment in the technologies and energy sources for the future, Australia is still locked in a debate over whether big polluters should even pay for their pollution.

Baby steps first Sarah, you havent convinced 51% of the Australian population that carbon dioxide is going to cause global catastrophe yet. Get that out of the way and you’ll find it much easier.

Ill Type this slowly so you can comprehend it. China is now the worlds highest overall emitter of carbon. This chart is from the “union of concerned scientists” they are on your side.

	Country	Total Emissions (Million Metric Tons of CO2)	Per Capita Emissions (Tons/Capita)
1.	China	6534	4.91
2.	United States	5833	19.18

What does that tell you Sarah? China is going to expand its energy consumption roughly fourfold to western standards over the next few decades. Even if you assume 75% of that growth will be “renewables” the absolute growth in emissions would double.

Unfortunately this isn’t just leaving us with a reputation of being environmentally blind, it is also costing us real jobs right here in our own backyard.

No its not costing us jobs, point out a job lost, right now,  which isnt relying on a subsidy generated by taxing someone?

Let’s just take Europe for example, where many countries have already had a carbon tax for 10 years or more.

Let look at France then eh? One of the biggest movers and shakers in the EU.

“Since an EU-wide carbon tax is unlikely to gain approval in months ahead, if at all – the Swedish government pushed the idea with little success during its EU presidency last year – the French levy has, in effect, been shelved.

France would have been the largest economy to impose a levy on energy use linked to a notional price of carbon. France has one of the lowest “carbon footprints” in Europe largely because of 88 per cent of its electricity comes from nuclear plants.”

And they use Nukes… the buggers!

I’ve just returned from an official parliamentary delegation to Denmark, Sweden and Greece, meeting with various governments, MPs, businesses and industry leaders. Meeting after meeting the message was clear –  Australia is far behind in tackling greenhouse gas emissions and absent in using smart investment choices to drive the use of renewable energy.

Hmm lets look at Greece then. Heres George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister….

“We need a mechanism which can be funded through different forms and different ways,” he said. “My proposal is that taxes such as a financial tax or carbon dioxide taxes could be important revenues and resources for funding such a mechanism.”

Im sure Swedens much better eh?

• Sweden gets all its electricity either from hydroelectric power or nuclear plants

Business leaders wanting to invest in Australia would say “Australia has great wind, solar opportunities but until there’s a carbon price we can’t afford to start-up there”.

Otherwise know as “we can’t operate at an economically competitive price, please cripple the competition and give us subsidies”…

The delegation would have to explain that Australia is lagging because we still don’t have an agreement from some parties that polluters should pay for their pollution and that the market should be given the signals to drive reform.

“The market” will be artificially created by legislation, will rely on legislation to sustain it, and will cripple the non-services based sectors of our economy. Your “Market” is much like saying the Taliban have established a “Market” in beards. Its not a market if it is forced on people.

Admittedly, many European countries had to change their ways some 30 years ago as a result of the oil crisis in the Middle East, forcing them to find more self-sufficient ways to power their homes and industry. Development in wind-power, hydro-electricity and bio-fuel among others ensured that there has been a multi-source mix of power for decades.

No nukes still?  Hmm what else was happening here in Oz about that long ago?? (cough/Franklin river dam/cough) If only we’d had politicians enlightened enough to build hydro power eh? Still we are smarter now eh?

Now, in the face of climate change, the EU members have signed up to the 20-20-20 platform (20 per cent emission reductions with at least 20 per cent of renewable power and energy efficiency increase all by 2020).  And as a result there is now a race between the countries as to who can be more ambitious in order to secure the industry investment on their soil.

You need to adjust a policy or 2 of your own first Sarah

“President Barroso began by stressing how today’s unprecedented global financialcrisis has made the EU all the more determined to “move ahead with its climatechange package” and fulfil its 20-20-20 targets and. He then delivered his coremessage, namely that all low-carbon energy sources, including nuclear energyand renewables, must be exploited if the goals of the package are to be achievedand Europe’s low-carbon future is to be secured.”

While countries like Sweden have had a carbon tax for 20 years, the debate in parliaments throughout Europe is how they can become carbon neutral by 2050. The idea that those who pollute should pay for the cost of that pollution is simply understood as commonsense. Political parties from the far-right to the far-left agree with a carbon tax and the need to reduce pollution. 

You can spout Sweden has had a form of the tax for 20 years, yet you missed this little tit-bit

Sweden currently has three operational nuclear power plants, with ten operational nuclear reactors, which produce about 45% of the country’s electricity. The nation’s largest power station, Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant, has four reactors and generates about a fifth of Sweden’s annual electricity consumption. The power plants in Forsmark and Oskarshamn each have three reactors.

You might also note they are a huge consumer of their own populations monies through taxes. Funnily enough politicians of all stripes like lots of money.

“Those who pollute” are THoSE WHO CONSUME, ford doesnt make cars and force them on people, coke doesnt make drinks that force you to drink them. Can you explain, in small simple words, how a tax on energy isnt a consumption tax of the most basic variety?

With no exemptions for bread/water/heating etc.

They all agree with the polluter pays system and that taking action on climate change can also be good for business.

How is taxing industry a good thing? Are you seriously trying to lower the living standards of whole populations for the first time since the industrial revolution?

The message to take home from our European cousins is that we are falling embarrassingly behind in facing the realities of climate change. From a business perspective our lacklustre someone-else-will-wash-the-dishes attitude is costing investment opportunities and real jobs in manufacturing, construction and service delivery.

You are really stupid enough to write this?

“.. investment opportunities and real jobs in manufacturing, construction and service delivery.”

While Australian industry at the moment complains of constraints caused by labour shortages due to massive investment in real, existing, producing things economy now?

And to Barnaby Joyce, who doesn’t want Australia to lead the way – well, it’s okay, no need to worry, we’re not.

Id take a one Barnaby over a dozen of your sort any day sweetheart.

 

Ps: When will you be taking a “hard hat” tour of the mining regions of the pillbara like Mr Abbot just did? You know go out among the great unwashed and prolesterise to the non-converted?Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/blogs/gengreens/australia-is-an-embarassment-on-climate-change-20110418-1dl2b.html#ixzz1K2zTGYkY

Caption contest time!

With a free bucket of CO2 personally endorsed by Donald Trump to the winner!

Look! A unicorn!

Is land tenure decided by fairy stories in WA?

I was perusing my local rag when I spotted the following notice from the “Department of sustainability, environment, water, population and communities” (In that order I bet, environment first)

I dont normally bother with guff like that, but was a bit bored and read through. Now I have no problem with an areas development being opposed for cultural or religious reasons, but this application reads like a brothers Grimm story rather than a realistic, fact based application.

It appears to feed into the strange mania for animist/pagan/fringe beliefs that appears to have blinded whole governments to science.

I might also note it appears to have been verry “lucky” the highway nearby servicing the town appears to have missed any snake spirits in the same area…. very lucky…

Some Highlights.

“The area contains feeder creeks… the creeks area (and river)… have snake spirits within them at all times.”

“drilling… Is against their law and custom”

” The snake spirits will have been angered… and will be very angry at our failure as the traditional owners …to protect the area”

“Drilling that has not been agreed to by us and that is done in an inappropriate area harms the mother spirit that is in the earth”

“any walking or other activity whatsoever in the area without the permission of the NWN traditional owners upsets them and the snake and mother spirit and results in harm and now it is apparent has upset the spirits of ancestors: Since the discovery of the previous drilling and the access of the 2 survey teams, the senior elder and the other traditional owners who were present with her and who were camping out and patrolling in the area to try to protect it have been visited at night by the angry and unsettled spirits of deceased old people”

  

Is there a reason fairy stories are expected to be printed in a newspaper and treated seriously?

Does a government department really pretend to belive in ghosts, mother spirits and snake spirits?

If so can we expect blasphemy charges top be levied against those who desecrate the catholic host, or eat meat on Fridays?

Sarah Hanson-Young, and why I just threw up in my mouth a little…

Its been out for a while but watching this made me a little ill.

Fancy the Greens, the party that decries sexual discrimination, the exploitation of women, and empowerment making the following video…

Please dont be eating while watching.. unless the though of Hanson-Young simpering to the camera is your kink…

Why did the greens choose (semi) attractive Hanson-Young to deliver their “virgins” message why not the following.

Bea

Human Achievement Hour 2011 [Open Thread]

Enlightenment or endarkenment? Earth Hour or Hour of Power?  South Korea or North Korea (go ask James Board aka bingbing about how that’s working out)…?

Consider this an #EarthHour #HourOfPower #HumanAchievementHour open thread.  Feel free to add any links, pics or videos in comments, and other Tizona peeps with editing privileges should fee free to add them to this post.  Let’s recognise and celebrate the incredible accomplishments of the human race, and offer our cheers to those who keep the lights on and produce the energy that makes human achievement possible!

UPDATE 1:   Earth Hour enthusiast Ben Cubby asks:  Where will you be when lights go out? Your answers go here.

UPDATE 2:  West Australian folk-rock group The Waifs – Lighthouse

UPDATE 3:  Western Australia – Even Our Warmies Are Smarter… “The Chairman of Western Australia’s largest sustainability program says Earth Hour is tokenistic and a waste of time.”

UPDATE 4:  Nice essay by Julie Kirsten Novak at CatallaxyFiles on Human Achievement Hour & the Neo-Primitives (H/T Bolta)

UPDATE 5:  Ben-Peter Terpstra (@WKNDLibertarian):  Turn on your lights and celebrate ‘Human Achievement Hour’ [American Thinker]

UPDATE 6:   Tim Blair rounds up some Earth Hour winners & losers.

UPDATE 7:  More ideas on how to celebrate Human Achievement Hour

A wild Composta appears!

Ive sighted the rare and elusive Composta in its natural habitat, a Sarah hanson-Young opinion piece in the age!

First comment off the rack is Alenes’

“I have had some turmoil in my private life lately, but when I think of the great strides we are about to make with Julia and Bob’s carbon mitigation scheme all my troubles fade and I realise that, with our planet’s future on the line, there is reason for hope – and, just for once, pride in being Australian.

The fact that Australia, a rich country, is about to lead the world in restricting the use of carbon pollution sources is fair and just. We have the wealth to afford a pay a little extra for petrol, food, electricity and cooking gas. The cost is insignificant in comparison with the what it will cost if we DON’T do something.

One area where Sarah and Bob and Julia can go further, however, is the threat posed by carbonated drinks. Every time we open a bottle of soft drink, drink a beer or pop the cork on champagne, we release another jolt of invisible CO2 poison into the ecosphere. In addition to the proposed measures, this threat needs to be addressed in a responsible and appropriate way.

As for Abbott, he needs to get with the program. Don’t forget, Mr Speedos, that I vote and there are millions like me.

Alene Composta | Seddon – March 15, 2011, 7:39AM “

 

Looks like Alene has suckered in a number of people both for and against a carbon tax, heres an Alene groupie in action.

So there you have it the elusive Composta spotted again. I wonder if Mr Green has invited her back yet?

@au contraire
“… Alena Composta – what a thought-provoking name – last week told us that all these earthquakes were as a result of the extra pressure on the sea bed from the rising sea levels caused by (cue scary music) Global Warming.”

Well, I didn’t read Alena Composta’s post, so I don’t know if she really said this, or if you are misrepresenting her argument.

However, there is a theory that the frequency of geological events is being affected, not by “extra pressure on the sea bed from the rising sea levels”, but by lessening pressure over ice-bound areas as the ice load decreases.

Before you go into ridicule mode, do some research – using credible, scientific sources, not anti-AGW lobby sites.

Michael Hewitt | Berrima – March 15, 2011, 9:32AM

I dont know who it is doing the Composta, but it appears you need to keep an eye on the Age for her wisdom.. I suspect Bunyip myself.

Theres also a “Animals Australia”  who am I page for Ms Composta as well, her favourite meal?

Lentil Casserole….

Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste: Earthquake? Tsunami? Global Warming!!!

We all knew this was going to happen – it was just a matter of “when”.  As it turns out, it didn’t take very long at all.

Hours after a massive earthquake rattled Japan, environmental advocates connected the natural disaster to global warming.  The president of the European Economic and Social Committee, Staffan Nilsson, issued a statement calling for solidarity in tackling the global warming problem.

“Some islands affected by climate change have been hit,” said Nilsson. “Has not the time come to demonstrate on solidarity – not least solidarity in combating and adapting to climate change and global warming?”

“Mother Nature has again given us a sign that that is what we need to do,” he added.

Lee Doren of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has been collecting some of the highlights – er, lowlights – via Twitter.  See them here at The Daily Caller.

UPDATE:  “Global warming alarmists are to natural disasters what the Westboro Baptist Church is to military funerals.” Just so.

UPDATE 2:  Tim Blair on Anthropogenic Tectonic Warming®.  You know it makes sense!

h/t @LDoren, @JTlol, @DailyCaller

Quote of the year…already?

Brilliant quote that sums up our tree hugging numpties quite nicely.

Classic Quote

Once upon a time, primitive peoples believed that with enough human sacrifice, they could change the weather. 

Today’s advanced post-industrial peoples believe that with enough human sacrifice, they can change the climate.

That’s real human progress for you.

Someone want to send that to Julia and Bob?

We aren’t a serious country anymore.

Flim Flannery in action

Flim (Tim) Flannery has made an appearance on Australias lateline programme to talk about becoming the head of a (well paid) “Climate commission”.

Professor Flannery will lead a panel of science, business and economics experts to provide advice to the community on climate change and to build consensus on how to reduce Australia’s carbon emissions.

(What it really is is a propaganda unit, Flannery even goes close to admitting as much during the interview.)

TONY JONES: Can you advise government on policy? Is that part of your role?

TIM FLANNERY: That is not part of our role. The UK Climate Commission has that role – we don’t. We’re really more focused on the community.

(Also out of the bag is the realisation his job is to soften people up for higher electricity prices.)

TONY JONES: He says it’s written into your terms of reference that you’re there to explain the purpose, his words again, of the Government’s policy to push up power prices.

TIM FLANNERY: Could I just say, Tony, there is no doubt that any option we take to deal with this issue will come with a cost, whether it is the current Opposition policy or a carbon price. And that’s unavoidable. No-one in the commission is trying to dodge that particular reality.

But the – our job really is to try to get a greater understanding in the community of what the most cost-effective path of action is, what the most socially beneficial action is, and quite frankly, the most effective path of action.
TONY JONES: But will it be – just to follow Greg Hunt’s argument to its logical conclusion, will it be part of your brief to argue the case for higher electricity prices as the inevitable consequence of reining in carbon emissions?

TIM FLANNERY: Well no-one wants higher electricity prices. Certainly us commissioners don’t. But it is an inevitable corollary that if you address this issue using any mechanism, there will be a cost. And that is a – it’s an investment in our future. The Opposition policy as it stands at the moment comes with a cost to the Australian people and any price on carbon will come with a cost.

TONY JONES: The cost being increased electricity prices for ordinary folk.

TIM FLANNERY: That’s right.

(So there it is, after all the waffle about how wonderful the “opportunities” are its still all about price rises.

But wait, heres Tim on a terrible analogy.)

but for me, it’s a bit like having an old car that you keep on investing in to keep the thing on the road. Well our current electricity grid’s like that. Prices have been rising because a lot of monies have to be invested in upgrading old infrastructure.

(Bullshit Tim, theres “normal” upgrading, and theres upgrading because you choose to use a less efficient form of fuel.

the current model

To take your analogy, we have a perfectly serviceable 6 cylinder car, you want to add “drag” to the car so it doesnt go to fast (consumption), you want it to use less fuel so you whack a 4 cylinder motor in instead (solar, renewables), which doesnt provide enough power to move the vehicle except under optimal conditions. So you convert the vehicle to gas and keep the 6 cylinder as “backup”, but run most of the time on it anyway…. Lets call it a hybrid…)

The Fannerymobile model.

The day comes eventually when you might want to actually buy a new car. Now that’s a major investment, as an investment in any sort of initiative to deal with the carbon problem is, but at the end of the day you’re probably better off. In the longer term, having made that investment, we’ll be better off.

(Yup cant wait to buy a vehicle with all that inbuilt instead of cobbled on as it is now, mostly by government fiat and regulations rather than any great necessity.)

TONY JONES: Was Ross Garnaut right when he said that Queenslanders should back policies to rein in carbon emissions because global warming will intensify extreme climate events like the floods and the cyclones which they’ve been experiencing?

TIM FLANNERY: Look, we’ve got a science advisory group advising the commission. I don’t really want to pre-empt their work on this. But what I can say is that over the last three years we’ve seen the longest drought in Australian history, the worst bushfire, one of the largest cyclones and some of the worst flooding.

(Weasel Tim Weasel, Federation drought, and “the worst bushfires/cyclones” refers to cost/damage done in an area where population has increased by multiples… )

And what the climate scientists were predicting even 20 years ago was that there would be increased frequency of weather events. Now, whether what we’ve seen over the last three years adds up to a sort of proof – if you want – that we’re now outside the envelope or not, I’ve got to defer to our climate advisory board.

(Actually I believe the term was “global warming”, and we are all going to run out of water/fry…)

Not much of a doom-monger are we?

But I think it’s a warning for people that this sort of thing is what the scientists predict would happen and we don’t want to see more of in future.

(I predict it will be both hotter and cooler, wetter and drier, windier and calmer if you dont sacrifice virgins to Chuthulu.. Now prove me wrong!!)

You know it makes sense..

TONY JONES: Ross Garnaut has been accused by prominent sceptics of politicizing the Queensland disasters, and in the past these sceptics, some of them, have actually been travelling in kind of bandwagons around the Australian countryside convincing people that climate science is fraudulent.

Will you be doing the opposite? Will you be travelling in a bandwagon to the same locations trying to convince people that those sceptics got it wrong?

TIM FLANNERY: We’re definitely going to be doing – visiting regions and we are going to be engaging with people. I don’t think we’re going to be out there trying to convince people point blank that we’re right.

(Cue mission impossible music)
I think we’ve got a lot of listening to do as well, try to work out where people are at and just try to explain the basics of climate science. The waters have become so muddied, in part, as you’ve said, because of these bandwagons of people really trying to mislead people as to what mainstream science is saying. And we’ve got a big job there.

(Theres that appeal to the “mainstream science” again, tell me how “mainstream” the east Anglia emails were Tim?)

(He then goes on to basically admit the greens posturing on coal exports is crap. The onus lies on those burning the coal, not those supplying it… Nice own goal there tim…)

TONY JONES: Does Australia, do you believe, have any responsibility for how the billions of tonnes of Australian coal that are exported to countries like China and India are burnt and what happens to the emissions?

TIM FLANNERY: Well under the Kyoto arrangements, which we’re still operating under at the moment, the responsibility for those emissions lie with the country that burns the coal, not with the one that exports it.

TONY JONES: But is that – do you see that as being correct morally?

TIM FLANNERY: Personally, is it correct morally? Well that is a really profound question, and I can see from a marketplace perspective the argument is that if we don’t supply the coal, someone else will, and I think there are difficulties in terms of us addressing the issue through export. I think really at the moment the focus is on what we combust, and we – 80 per cent of our electricity comes from the burning of coal. In future, that – if we hope to honour our international commitments, that’s one of the things that’s likely to change.

A wonderful ABC interview, full of bumf and sliding around. But Flim Flannery still can’t evade the basic issues. We are insignificant in terms of global emissions, we can cripple our economy with power price rises, and our electricity generation sector will be deliberately crippled.

Tims house, or is he too important?

Lastly heres a link to the Bios of the “climate commitee” , pretty well every one has made climate change their bread and butter for decades.

Bob Brown Vs Wivenhoe dam

Its been fairly widely reported that the Wivenhoe dam managed to mitigate the effects of the floods by up to 2 metres. There is some controversy over why the dam (built for flood mitigation) started the flood at such a high level. After a few years of dry winters it would have been a courageous public servant who mentioned the dam should have been lowered by releasing more water.

Heres Bob Opposing a dam on the Mary river (in 2006), in all fairness it wouldnt have been finished in time for this disaster

Senator Brown, who recently led a protest flotilla of canoes down the Mary River where Premier Beattie plans a dam, said the environment will be a huge issue for voters.

He still doesnt get what the word mitigation means.

Bob thinks, or pretends to think, mitigation means “stopping bad effects altogether”. It doesnt, it actually means trying to lessen the worst effects an uncontrolled flood would bring. As Wivenhoe has apparently done in this flood.

Heres a statement from the Queensland state greens, Ive highlighted the parts that should be branded into hides for arrogance and overweening pride.

“The federal government has saved Anna Bligh $1.8 billion dollars by refusing Traveston Dam – she should use that money to supply a free rainwater tank to every remaining South East Queensland home without one, and to invest in stormwater harvesting in our cities to catch the rain where it falls.

“If Bligh is determined not to use money saved from Traveston on providing sustainable water solutions, then it should be used to reduce government debt. The cost of Traveston was one of the reasons she used to justify selling off the state’s valuable assets – now there is even less excuse for this ill-conceived flogging off of public goods.”

“Bligh should also bring back the tough water restrictions that South East Queenslanders showed they were easily able to meet. A permanent water saving target of 170L per person is achievable and will keep a lid on water costs. 

“If we are to get serious about sustainable water supply for South East Queensland, we must ensure that population growth in our region is sustainable. We should refuse to grant new development approvals unless the proponent can demonstrate that the necessary water is available and that planning processes address sustainable water supplies.

With timely planning and provision of water recycling, demand and supply management, rainwater tanks, stormwater harvesting, evaporation reduction, water efficiency and sustainable groundwater extraction, there should be no need for energy-guzzling desalination.

“Bligh should also scrap the planned Nathan Dam on the Dawson River which is designed to provide water to coal mines, and invest that money into providing renewable energy which will create Queensland jobs,” concluded Ms Waters.”

The bastards assumed there would never be another downpour in Queensland. The breathtaking arrogance of assuming they knew the future is shocking.

Sticking the word “dam” in their search engine reveals the following headlines.

No support for Traveston Dam in southeast votes

Help Stop the Dam – Bus from Brisbane

Greens slam Premier on false ‘green’ dam claims

Traveston Dam state approval a farce

Greens will stop Traveston Dam: Ronan Lee

Greens welcome Traveston Dam refusal

Thats the top few out of 22. (most don’t refer to dams in their titles).

Now having read their anti dam crap what do you think they are doing now?

Greens join call for judicial inquiry into flooding impacts

Including this great screamer.

“..planning for strategic river catchments and floodplains and how this could best take account of the uncertainties presented by climate change.”…..”Queensland has been through an unprecedented period of climate variability“…. “ill-considered and opportunistic calls for mega-dams and the like“….

This section especially needs to be factchecked every time its raised.

“Dr Connors said she believed the terms of reference should include looking at the appropriateness of developments such as open cut coal mines and coal seam gas infrastructure on the Condamine and the Fitzroy river catchments which are characterised by periodic flooding and, in particular, on the floodplains of these catchments, given that many of these were forced to release huge amounts of polluted water during the flood.”

The amounts released, to put it mildly were microscopically small. If all the water being removed from the mines was released all at once what %  of the flow would it make up right now?

Well heres a coal bloke with the figures.

“..Mr Roche said several of the mines in the central highlands needed to get rid of 100 to 200 megalitres of water to get back into operation. “To give an idea, the amount of water flowing past them to Rockhampton is about 250,000ML a day,..”

 LESS than 1/1000th of the volume in a given day…

Massive government waste. Climate edition.

I was reading this post over at catallaxy when a thought popped into my head. Just how big are the offices the Department of Climate Change leased?

Heres the graphic outlining the new jobs advertised for the department, despite its lack of activity at the moment.

$1.65 million, quite a bit if they employ 30 as projected.

Heres what Ive found out about the offices for the Department of Climate Change

Link: Here.

THE Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has leased a 21,000 square metre office in Canberra, paying a whopping annual rent of between $420 and $450 per square metre.

At the lower rate of the lease thats $8.8 million a year, at the higher $9.45 million. The Molonglo groups own “news” page mentions 2 new leases, one to the ATO and one to the climate change department. It is a little unclear on the length of the lease but suggests it is 15 years.

That puts the cost at about $132,000,000. over the term of the lease.

The lease was signed on the 18/03/2010.

I signed a lease Thiiiis long!

The government employers will work from picturesque space adjacent to Lake Burley Griffin, at a $550 million development being built by the Molonglo Group on the site of the former Hotel Acton.

The government body’s headquarters will be known as the New Acton Nishi office.

 

Heres some of the blurb from the residential side of the development. From the blurb the office space will be just as flash.

Nishi will incorporate a cutting edge public gallery / ‘Great Ideas’ Atrium of Sustainability, shops, cafes and public amenities, including a sake bar, multi-function communal spaces for hosting dinners, meeting with friends and relatives, or ‘hanging’ out.
The government already leases space in another office building developed by Molonglo at an earlier stage of the site’s redevelopment, according to The Australian.

This is in no way a shot at the development group, they are building their office space to meet the market, good for them.

Though they are fairly intensely “greenwashing” their business.

But for Turdfingers Rudd to commit to a 15 year lease on the 18/03/2010, just before abandoning the carbon pollution reduction scheme beggars belief. Will they break the lease, causing the developer a lot of heartache, or will they keep the Potemkin department runing?

Al Gore vs the Unabomber

Who said what? Take the quiz!

*cross-posted

Stop global warming. Who cares if Africa’s poor?

And stays poor.

Certainly not “concerned” ecotards.

The World Bank on Thursday approved a controversial $3 billion loan for the development of a coal-fired power plant by the South African state utility Eskom despite lack of support from major shareholder countries.

…

The U.S. Treasury said it abstained because of “concerns about the climate impact of the project and its incompatibility with the World Bank’s commitment to be a leader in climate change mitigation and adaptation.” …

Apart from banning DDT, isn’t it obvious that by, under the pretences of compassion, keeping third world countries poor, will literally kill millions of people?

Folks, despite what you may have heard, the planet doesn’t have an over-population problem.

If we get everyone rich, population growth will stabilize, anyway. It’s an historically demonstrated fact that “rich” people have one or two kids, and that “poor” people have many.

The Al Gores of this world are pimping man-made global warming. It’s a front for a very nasty agenda.

It’s got nothing to do with environmentalism and everything to do with power and control.

UPDATE

I’m not against a one-world government. Time will dictate its necessity. But an un-elected one-world communist government? Fuck no.

V2G: close but no cigar

OK, this isn’t exactly breaking news, but last night on Discovery HD World, after the main show, there was a little 10 minute clip on a mini program called e-nnovations (*groan*), or, apparently, Discovery Tech over in the US.

Anyway, the segment was about a new type of electric car that uses Vehicle-to-Grid or V2G technology. At first, perhaps, this sounds like a pretty neat concept. Charge your car off the grid in off-peak times then sell the electricity back to the grid during peak times.

But check out the nitty gritty, and it’s not such a sweet deal. And odd, too, that in 10 web pages I looked up (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10), all of them espouse the wonderful benefits, but none of them mentioned the cost.

Only the video did.

For starters, these V2G units cost about $70,000. So effectively, you will be paying four times more for your average car. Dr Willet Kempton, at the University of Delaware, who’s the bloke plugging this type of car, also acknowledges that if most of your electricity comes from coal (which it does), then the CO2 emissions end up being about the same as a regular car.

So far, we’re at four times the cost for pretty much no benefit.

Then he notes that if we use renewables like wind and solar energy, then, of course (?) the CO2 emissions will go down. But that means the cost will go up, not to mention that wind and solar baseload power is, at present, completely unreliable.

Maybe if we switched to nuclear power…

And how’s this? It seems to be that in the video, the doctor charges up his car at the university, then takes it home to power his house… and a few neighbours’ houses.

How convenient.

So overall, it seems like a neat idea on the surface, and may well work after quite a few more years of R&D, but at present it is at best a gimmick, and at worst a fraud.

PS They don’t exactly go for 500-odd kilometres, either.

*cross-posted at bing’s

Greenpeace to close the internet

Isnt it a bugger when fluffy envirotard ideas run up against reality. The ABC is carrying this story:

Internet giants powered by coal, Greenpeace says

The “cloud” of data that is becoming the heart of the internet is creating an all-too-real cloud of pollution as Facebook, Apple and others build data centres powered by coal, Greenpeace says in a new report.

 

Greenpeaces head of tech, yesterday.

Wonderful, Greenpeace have finally made the link between advanced technology and energy, lets see where that leads them.

The organisation argues that web companies should be more careful about where they build and should lobby more for clean energy.

  

Oh I see youd like them to increase their overheads by using more expensive power options, and do your propagandizing for you….good luck with that swampy.

Cheap and plentiful, coal is the top fuel for US power plants, and its low cost versus alternative fuels makes it attractive, even in highly energy-efficient data centres.

Apple, Facebook, Microsoft Corp, Yahoo Inc and Google Inc have at least some centres that rely heavily on coal power, Greenpeace said.

  

Hmmm huge, profitable and highly competitive,  why I bet they are just lining up to sign up to power which isnt even reliable to provide base load, after all Im sure customers wont mind hours of the “Blue screen of death” if its for Gaia….

Most of the companies declined to publish details of their data centres.

All said, however, they considered the environment in business decisions, and most said they were aggressively pursuing energy efficiency.

  

Gee I wonder why they wouldnt tell you where their most vulnerable points are crusties? Id encourage greenpeace to take this as far as then can, full page ads calling for the stopping of the internet, after all your committed donors will stick with you right??? right?

Heres the blurb from greenpeace itself.

The iPad, internet, climate change link in the spotlight

  

The report builds on previous industry research and shows that at current growth rates data centres and telecommunication networks will consume about 1,963 billion kilowatts hours of electricity in 2020. That is more than triple their current consumption and more than the current electricity consumption of France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined. However, the report also shows how IT can avert climate chaos by becoming a transformative force advocating for solutions that increase the use of renewable energy

 

Stock tip: Go long on coal.

For example, Facebook recently announced the construction of its own data center in Prineville, Oregon, running primarily on coal.

 

Good, that is called maximizing your business returns by reducing you outlay…

Facebook members aren’t taking this sitting down. More than 365,00 have joined groups in the weeks since Facebook’s announcement, calling on the company to quit coal and become a climate leader.

 

Now if I were head of facebook Id be offering each of those 365,000 a chance to really show their commitment by only putting up their pages for 3 hours a day, at random, and broken into random sized sets of time. Oh and the platform would only support 100,000 of them on at any one time, or the music stops and the screen goes black and white…. As committed environmentalists Im sure theyd be prepared to take one for the team….

A crusty, yesterday.

These people are crazy, and its about time some of the big companies actively told them that. They arent happy with you, no sacrifice you make will appease them, so you may as well take them on.

In addition Greenpeace, you are going to pit your ideals against the combined testosterone of millions of teenage boys…good luck with that.