Ill be attending this tonight…

Caught this chap on the ABC this morning (no link or transcript on the local radio), and it was a tragic example of what happens when an interviewer prepares for the wrong interview.

It was fairly plain the interviewer was expecting an Al Gore acolyte, instead he ended up with a calm, rational, qualified man telling him AGW was doubtful at the best. Yes climate change is real, but it has always changed…

The interviewee,Dr Geoff Deacon, Manager Simpson Collection, Earth & Planetary Sciences had a number of points to make.

a: Ocean level rises are lower than they historically have been.

b: Carbon dioxide levels increase after temperature rises.

c: Carbon levels have been much, much higher before with no linked rise in temperatures.

His whole point was basically that AGW proponents are looking at a 200 year trend in cycles which have been going on for thousands of years.

Ill give a little report on the presentation, probably tomorrow, if Bolt and the other “denyalists” havent had this bloke on their shows they are doing themselves a disservice, hes great on radio.

Heres a link to his lecture from the museum site. Dont know if tonight’s is exactly the same or not..

Link here.

He is at least as qualified as Tim Flannery, and even works in a strongly related field, yet has drawn a different conclusion from his studies. A non alarmist one.

UPDATE:  ABC has a podcast of the interview

More under the fold

 

How a carbon tax works.

Ive been doing some thinking and Im pretty sure Ive worked out how the carbon tax will save the planet.

Lets see if Ive got this right.

There needs to be a carbon tax to reduce CO2 emissions.

The tax works by making everything more expensive, therefore reducing consumption.

The government will use the money raised to compensate people and increase their spending power.

Which will enable them to consume just as much as before.

+ ???

= Saving the world by reducing emissions of CO2.

 

We are governed by the underpants gnomes….

Australia’s Carbon Tax: Brought To You By Julia’s Ratchet-Jawed Purveyors Of Monkey-Doodle And Baked Wind

In honour of The Labor-Green Carbon Tax They Promised We Wouldn’t Have, let’s revisit my favourite part of the lecture PJ O’Rourke delivered to the Centre for Independent Studies (@CISOZ) in Sydney a couple of years ago:

America has wound up with a charming leftist as a president. And this scares me. This scares me not because I hate leftists. I don’t. I have many charming leftist friends. They’re lovely people – as long as they keep their nose out of things they don’t understand. Such as making a living.

When charming leftists stick their nose into things they don’t understand they become ratchet-jawed purveyors of monkey-doodle and baked wind. They are piddlers upon merit, beggars at the door of accomplishment, thieves of livelihood, envy coddling tax lice applauding themselves for giving away other people’s money. They are the lap dogs of the poly sci-class, returning to the vomit of collectivism. They are pig herders tending that sow-who-eats-her-young, the welfare state. They are muck-dwelling bottom-feeders growing fat on the worries and disappointments of the electorate. They are the ditch carp of democracy.

And that’s what one of their friends says.

Although no one would ever accuse anyone in Australia’s current Labor–Green government (‘Seriously. Just look at them’) of being “charming”, the rest fits like a glove.

.

 

Update: We ask our Australian readers to ‘Just Say No to Monkey-Doodle and Baked Wind’ by signing this petition (5000+ signatures so far and counting) sponsored by Menzies House.  And if you’re on Twitter, please follow & support @MenziesHouse, @NoCarbonTax and Community Organiser par excellence @Tim_Andrews. Cheers.

POLL: Does Australia Need A Climate Commissar?

The Australia is running a poll: Is Tim Flannery the right person to be Australia’s climate commissioner?

They assume that Australia needs a “Climate Commissioner” in the first place.

We encourage readers to vote early and often.

Ref: See this, this, this and this via Mean Ol’ Meany Tim Blair for background.

Photographic Evidence Demonstrating the Inefficiency of Wind Farms

This is teh awesome!

“Clouds stream in the wake of wind turbines arrayed at the Horns Rev offshore wind farm in this stunning photo. But David MacKay, a physicist at the University of Cambridge in the UK, sees the image as illustrating the common problem of back-row wind turbines losing power relative to the front row.
Downstream wind turbines may lose 20 percent or even 30 percent of their power compared to their fellows in front, according to a study on wake effects at Horns Rev that MacKay highlights on his blog.”

Globe Cools while Warmists Burn

“WASHINGTON — Two years ago, a United Nations scientific panel won the Nobel Peace Prize after concluding that global warming is “unequivocal” and is “very likely” caused by man.

Then came a development unforeseen by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC: Data suggested that Earth’s temperature was beginning to drop.

That has reignited debate over what has become scientific consensus: that climate change is due not to nature, but to humans burning fossil fuels. Scientists who don’t believe in man-made global warming cite the cooling as evidence for their case. Those who do believe in man-made warming dismiss the cooling as a blip triggered by fleeting changes in ocean currents; they predict greenhouse gases will produce rising temperatures again soon.

The reality is more complex. A few years of cooling doesn’t mean that people aren’t heating up the planet over the long term. But the cooling wasn’t predicted by all the computer models that underlie climate science. That has led to one point of agreement: The models are imperfect.

Emphasis added.

I have been saying for years and years that trusting man-made computer models to predict something like long term climate changes – a system so complex and with so many variables that many of the variables are unknown – is a folly that only a simpleton or an over-confident and hubris-filled scientist would fall for. Well, Al Gore leads the simpleton brigade – as brain dead as any roving pack of zombies – and it’s hard to pick any one scientist as a leader, since warmist science’s primary goal seems to be to get press coverage and terrorize children through hyperbolic releases these days.

The good sign is that zero-IQ, fat-ass shyster Al Gore’s proclamation that, “the science is settled” is no longer the coin of the realm.

Man-made CO2

Anthropogenic CO2 – around only 5% of all CO2 – runs at about 15 ppm – that’s fifteen parts per million or 0.0015% – of the earth’s atmosphere. How batshit crazy do you have to be to think that reducing that 0.0015% will make even the slightest difference to average global temperature, especially when you have that big orange ball in the sky – our sun – constantly changing its output? Let alone changes in the earth’s orbit and wobble, and natural changes in ocean temperatures.

And yet Copenhagen is barely more than a month away. Potentially lots of money for some but certainly not for us.

And back in Australia, Rudd still wants to impose a massive job-killing tax on everything and everyone. A massive tax because Australia produces about 1.5% of total global man-made carbon dioxide output. Yes, that’s 1.5% of 15 ppm – 0.0000225% of the atmosphere.

Astounding. And insidious.

Having trouble vizualizing those numbers? Here’s a good vid to help out.

Divide the smaller of the two amounts of red rice by about 65 and you’ll get Australia’s contribution. Yeah, that’s right. Time to break out the HD plasma.

And just in case you haven’t seen this yet.

UPDATE

There’s a new study out suggesting even Neptune might play a part in climate change on Earth.

The point is this: with so many variables that we likely don’t fully understand – sun, oceans, orbits, wobbles, cosmic rays, possibly even the other planets now, and most probably a whole host of others we don’t yet know about, all going about their various cycles and cycles within cycles – to go to all this bother and consequent pain (if Al Gore et. al. get their way) all over a piddly amount of man-made CO2 is utterly, utterly ridiculous.

H/T Reader Greg over at Bolt’s palace.

Not Evil Just Wrong

Only five days to go. Pay up. Type QUADRANT into the coupon box to get a 10% discount.

Bob Carter:

In contrast to this small (and still hypothetical) risk of damage from human-caused climate change, there exists a certainty that gross socio-economic damage is already resulting from global warming activism, and is set to get worse.

Merv Bendle:

The accelerating moral panic about alleged global warming and its projected catastrophic effects is a fundamentally religious phenomenon. Despite its pretensions, it is not primarily about science. Rather, it represents the emergence of a new religious movement (an NRM, or what used to be called a ‘cult’). This new form of eco-fundamentalism is characterized by a widely excessive faith in science, a hatred and despair at Humanity, an intolerance of opposition or even skepticism, and a near hysterical form of secular Apocalypticism.

The director, Phelim McAleer:

Spain believed the hype about environmental regulation creating “green jobs” and boosting the economy. Now 18 percent of Spaniards have no jobs. Our own country – Ireland – has the Green Party in government who are pushing for a “carbon tax”. This will increase the price of every good and service on an island that is enduring 13 per cent unemployment. The increased costs will drive out jobs during one of the worst recessions in living memory.

A similar fate awaits Australia if it follows Europe’s lead. Eighty percent of Australia’s energy comes from coal, and the country exported $45 billion worth of it last year. Tens of thousands of jobs in the energy sector are at stake if Parliament adopts ETS to cap carbon dioxide.

Oh, and just in case.

UPDATE

David Flint:

In any event …i t is becoming increasingly evident that support for the fundamentalist global warming agenda is soft. Indeed the BBC now concedes there has not been any evidence of global warming since 1998, notwithstanding the increasing amount of carbon emissions. That’s why the fundamentalists are trying to change the name of their secular religion to climate change.

Once the electorate understands the massive impact on their lives of an ETS, and the fact that it won’t affect global carbon emissions [nor global warming, nor climate change – bing], they will obviously reject it. In 1998, the promise of the GST almost brought down the government. This was a far more benign, almost harmless substitute for other taxes including those ones curiously found invalid by the High Court.

The Hockey Stick graph is dead.

Basically, Steve McIntyre over at Climate Audit checked some more comprehensive data and discovered that basically, they hadn’t used enough samples to get that infamous “hockey stick”. Below, the red line is the infamous stick, and the black line is the more comprehensive data, not cherry-picked as the hockey stick has proven to be.

Scienmatifical report.

H/T with more.

Global Warming tide turning?

Andrew Bolt thinks it just might be.

More here about Professor Ian Plimer’s new book, Heaven+Earth, which states that climate change is unavoidable but not caused by humans. And he takes on every argument presented over the years.

Meanwhile, whatever happened to Not Evil Just Wrong, though??? Is it gone??? NB Click the ‘whatever happened’ link. It ain’t the same as the snapshot.

Nooooo!!! Na, just kidding. It seems they’ve finally got the funds up and it’s due to be released later this year, possibly on Fox, although Susan Easton at Human Events, who’s also been documenting this turning tide of climate changery thinks shopping malls may be the go.

UPDATE

Obama gets desperate.

UPDATE II

A Plimer lecture and well worth taking the time out to watch. He sums it all up very nicely. H/T hayesy over at Bolt’s.

New study concludes climate change natural

Same info, different sources…

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has just released a new study into global warming/climate change noting that temperatures have cooled off since 2001 and that the last 100 years of climate change has been natural.

This is on top of PhD student, Ryan N. Maue, of the Department of Meteorology at Florida State University, confirming that hurricane activity is at its lowest in 30 years.

Sorry, Al.

And more media folks are warming up to this fact.

And as if you needed further evidence that the computer models are dodgy, Steve Goddard over at WAWT rips them apart.

In fact, things could even get a little cooler than what we’ve seen already since 2001.

H/T Drudge Report

PS And there’s still no winner of the Ultimate Global Warming Challenge.

UPDATE

A US  Senate Minority Report of dissenting scientists is gaining about four  extra signatures every week. There are now over 700 AGW skeptics contributing to it.

The over 700 dissenting scientists are now more than 13 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers.
…

The rise in skeptical scientists are responding not only to an increase in dire “predictions” of climate change, but also a steady stream of peer-reviewed studies, analyses, real world data, andinconvenient developments have further cast doubts on the claims of man-made global warming fear activists. The latest peer-reviewed study in Geophysical Research Letters is being touted as a development that “could turn the climate change world upside down.” The study finds that the “Earth is undergoing natural climate shift.” The March 15, 2009 article in WISN.com details the research of Dr. Anastasios Tsonis of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “We realized a lot of changes in the past century from warmer to cooler and then back to warmer were all natural,” Tsonis said. “I don’t think we can say much about what the humans are doing,” he added.

Bushfires.

In Australian history, Wednesday, Feb 16th of 1983 is known as Ash Wednesday

I’m old enough that I remember that day and the following, and while we were lucky enough not to even be evacuated, many homes were lost and 75 people across Victoria and South Australia lost their lives.

Historically, huge bushfire events like this occur several times a century (according to the link above), and the most infamous before Ash Wednesday was Black Friday, back in 1939.

Yesterday, the temperature in Melbourne reached the highest in recorded history at 46.4C, or 115.2, and while it was a day of Total Fire Ban, bushfires still happen.

As it stands, 25 people are confirmed lost, with the expectation of more to follow.

While here in Melbourne, the temperature has dropped dramatically and I it’s even thundering a bit, there are still bushfires all over the state, and it will take a while to put them out and confront the aftermath.

New South Wales has fire problems too.

I have family out Muswellbrook way, and wasn’t aware until just now that there are fires there, but I’ll see what I can find out.

Anyone who has news about these tragedies, please let us know so that we can update.

ABC has a list of fires still burning in Victoria, and there was a fire over at Gawler, a bit north of Adelaide.

God bless those who have lost their lives in the fires – they no longer have to face fear or great pain.
Please keep safe our firefighters and volunteers as they attempt to control this massive, natural disaster.

UPDATE:65 dead in the worst tragedy in Victoria’s history.

Black Friday claimed 71 lives, but that was also in 1939, and they were across South Australia as well.

The death toll is expected to continue.

I did read on another blog (possibly bolta’s) someone making a snarky comment about Therese Rein tearing up and crying at the devastation. Well I was driving home this evening and heard that the toll had reached 49 and I teared up, too.

There was also a catty comment about KRudd giving out hugs.

Say what you like about him (and I don’t hold back on that score), but there is not a lot else he can do right now.

Sure, John Howard would have been on the first plane down, but Howard’s not here and Rudd is.

At least he got here.

UPDATE 2 Tim Blair and Andrew Bolt are both updating more regularly than I am.

For those who wish to donate from overseas, Australian Red Cross is a good place to start.

VOTE! ABC Poll on “Global Warming” PASS IT ON! [UPDATE: ABC Spits the Dummy] [UPDATE 2: Evidently, I’m a lying fraudster. Either that, or someone needs a new tin foil hat]

Via Andrew Bolt:

ABC News Radio today is asking listeners the following multiple-choice question on its web site:

Is Global Warming to blame for the current heatwave in Australia?

– Global Warming is a myth

– Yes

-No

One of those answers has so far been ticked by 90.4 per cent of respondents. Guess which, and dare hope.

Spot sez … ** Go here to vote, or if that link doesn’t work the poll can also be found here **

*and if you were to clear your cache, you could conceivably vote more than once – the Chicago Way.  Not that you would.  I was just sayin’.

** Screen shots of ABC poll results and updates (and a bit of controversy and more updates!) below the fold:

Prepare for an Ice Age Earth

Here is a great article that points out the single biggest flaw in the AGW crowd’s “reasoning,” as it looks at actual ice core evidence for earth’s temperature variations over the past 140,000 years versus relative micro-events over the past few centuries… in Pravda, no less, via Drudge.

This article also ties climate changes to variations in the earth’s orbit and rotation on its axis.

The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.

Ice cores, ocean sediment cores, the geologic record, and studies of ancient plant and animal populations all demonstrate a regular cyclic pattern of Ice Age glacial maximums which each last about 100,000 years, separated by intervening warm interglacials, each lasting about 12,000 years.

Most of the long-term climate data collected from various sources also shows a strong correlation with the three astronomical cycles which are together known as the Milankovich cycles. The three Milankovich cycles include the tilt of the earth, which varies over a 41,000 year period; the shape of the earth’s orbit, which changes over a period of 100,000 years; and the Precession of the Equinoxes, also known as the earth’s ‘wobble’, which gradually rotates the direction of the earth’s axis over a period of 26,000 years. According to the Milankovich theory of Ice Age causation, these three astronomical cycles, each of which effects the amount of solar radiation which reaches the earth, act together to produce the cycle of cold Ice Age maximums and warm interglacials.”

To give some perspective, the first modern humans appeared just over 100,000 years ago. It’s a three page article, but you should read the whole enchilada to arm yourself with knowledge to crush the climo-tards with.

Ice Age Earth

You have been warmed warned!

An interesting drive to the meeting it was today

Yoda jokes aside, yep, this morning was the first time I’ve ever driven on slippery snowy sleety roads. Apart from sufficing with buses and taxis last year, it couldn’t have happened back then anyway. Didn’t snow.

I blame Bush, Canada and global warming. Diseased bint, Gaia, gets off the hook this time, but only this time!

McCain’s Perfect Choice for a Running Mate: Governor Sarah Palin

While most of the pedantic, two-dimensional, inside-the-box-thinking, conservative political hacks are touting Tom Ridge for the slot (Not a bad guy, but…), David Freddoso notes a far superior choice has been proposed: The Republican Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

I believe this is a truly inspired idea. Gov. Palin ran as an anti-corruption outsider, and handily defeated a corrupt and entrenched Republican political machine. Plus, at 44, she would almost totally wipe the “age issue” McCain has off the slate, and since Obama is only two years her senior, there is no way they could attack her for her youth and inexperience: She has much more executive experience than Senator Obama has.

Not to mention the fact that, she’s a gorgeous woman who exudes mass quantities of charisma…

and has a super-solid family life.

Dibs on the eldest daughter! LOL!

This inspired choice would allow McCain to actually capitalize on his “maverick” persona, as Gov. Palin shook Alaska politics to the core: She’s a charming, charismatic woman, but she can also play with the big boys and kick ass.

What say ye?

UPDATE: Things are looking optimistic!

UPDATE II: Welcome to all 4500 8000 40,000 in the past few hours (so far!) people visiting us from Google. We’re a fairly opinionated right-wing blog, and you might like to take a look at our “About” page. You might also be interested in our other coverage of Sarah Palin and whether she becomes a prospective Vice President of the United States. You can find this coverage here and here. Personally, I hope she does, but you can feel free to debate the idea in comments below. All first comments are moderated, but unless you either insult or use severe profanity (and I mean severe by my standards, which generally only means the C U Next Tuesday word or the implication that someone has had a rather enjoyable erotic experience with someone who has borne a child), however if you come up with a new one, I may simply delete your comment. I, and all other contributors to this blog are more than fair in what we permit.

UPDATE III: Nayr Drahcir, don’t bother even trying. You will not be published.

UPDATE IV: A lot of people must like Palin.

UPDATE V: More coverage of Governor Sarah Palin and a theme song here.

UPDATE VI: Funniest observation on the announcement yet: “Put Obama and Palin on a basketball court one on one. Winner takes all!”

UPDATE VII: [spot_the_dog] No, we do not have any pictures of “Sarah Palin + Naked,” nor do we have any of “Sarah Palin + Swimsuit.” In the past 24 hours, there have been 157 separate searches on this site for “Sarah Palin Swimsuit,” and 161 separate searches for “Sarah Palin Naked.” I repeat, we have no bathing suit, swim suit, bikini, or naked pictures of Sarah Palin. What kind of people do you think we are, anyway? 😉

UPDATE VIIa: [spot_the_dog] Ace has noticed a similar search phenomenon on his blog and has a theory…

UPDATE VIII: A well-rounded view of the selection of Sarah Palin for the Vice President Nomination can be found here.

UPDATE IX:  We got it!  YES!  Nude photo of Sarah Palin right here!  (C’mon.  You know you want to click.)

UPDATE X: Feel free to visit our main page and read the latest posts we’ve written.

Questions For Tim Flannery

Andrew Bolt has up a thread asking for suggestions of what he should ask Tim Flannery next time they meet. There are some great suggestions on that thread, some of which are paraphrased below.

From Andrew’s readers:

• Are you as stupid as you appear to be on the tele?
• Scared any children this week, Tim?
• What measurable statement would you be prepared to stake your reputation on and if wrong, would you ‘retire’?
• Why aren’t you taking the stairs [instead of the lift]?
• Have any of your predictions come true yet?
• Have you measured the emissions produced by this hotel yet?
• Did your arms get tired flying here?
• How are the fossilised marsupials coming along, mate?
• Where is all the water coming from for sea levels to rise by 80m?
• Did you request a room on the top floor?

The comment that made me laugh (and I’ll warn you, lime cordial coming out of my nose is not fun) was from Boonarga in Queensland. Their observation about Flannery’s reliability?

Ask him for a prediction for the Cup. Then I will know at least one horse to rule out.

I have three questions for Flannery of my own, one of which Margo’s Maid also asked. That question is “At what point did you change your position on nuclear power, and was it influenced by changes in your income stream?”. My other two questions would be “Other than an understanding of scientific research techniques, how does a degree in paleontology qualify you to consider yourself an expert in climatology?” and “What personal sacrifices and life changes have you made to ensure that your predictions regarding climate change are not proven correct?”

I’d bet that he’s stumped on answering all of these questions, and probably many more.

Amid this subprime, er, confusion…

Al Gore, with his always impeccable timing, has a new film on the way.

It slipped under all our radars.

Frank Caliendo.

Foul Don Fowler Amused by New Orleans Hurricane….

Who is Don Fowler, you ask? Why, Former DNC Chairman Don Fowler (laughs at New Orleans while talking to Congressman John Spratt of SC) That’s who.

“God is on our side”

Pajamas Media/Ed Driscoll

UPDATE [Angus]: Fowl-mouth “apologizes” and yet slams “right-wing nutcase” who recorded him.

Yeah, Don, that’s the problem right there: The guy who exposed you for the crapweasel you are is the one at fault. It’s called projection, Don – pro-jec-tion – which means YOU are the nutcase in this instance, scum-puppy.

Hey, people of New Orleans, Leave. Your Governor and your Mayor told you so. May even use those

 School Buses, this time.

Tropical Storm Fay Makes Fourth Florida Landfall…

Fox News

Counties in the Panhandle — including Bay, Escambia and Walton — opened their emergency operations centers Friday in preparation for the storm’s expected arrival there. To Florida’s relief, forecasters expect Fay to weaken over the weekend and finally blow away before losing steam in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

My beach place is, or was in Bay County. Please call me if it is destroyed. That way I can get my check, (or beat it out of all of the neccessary insurance companies, that I had) I really don’t want the hassle of rip-off, stick ’em up prices for repair.

I’ll let you know which was mine, by the Italian ceramic tile floors.

Everything you ever wanted to know…

Could this be the. best. link. ever?

Tons of info on AGW, climate change, energy reserves, Al Gore, polar bears and the like.

It’s not porn but it’s pretty darn good. I’m barred up.

Since we’re showing old vids today…

Christopher Horner.

Challenge to any Lefties who stumble across this. We’ve helped you with that second link. Debate the facts he presents.

Note there are three more parts to that vid.

UPDATE:

Something more recent and timely. An example of what would have to be done to follow Kyoto and where industry may be headed.

Link.

Laying the boot into climate models.

The results show that models perform poorly, even at a climatic (30-year) scale. Thus local model projections cannot be credible, whereas a common argument that models can perform better at larger spatial scales is unsupported.”

Par Frank observes: “In essence, they found that climate models have no predictive value.”

Professor Demetris Koutsoyiannis et al via Climate Audit.

UPDATE: Welcome to all our visitors from Climate Audit. Pull up a chair, grab a brew, and relax.

Spot the difference

Both photos were taken at around the same time on different days. Both were taken from casa de la bingbing. Pollution? No. Well not man-made (for the most part) anyway. Just a bit cloudier? No. The first one was taken on a day when Korea copped a good dose of China’s yellow dust. On the day the second one was taken, the wind had changed direction. Our athletes are really gonna cop it in 11 days.

Click on the photos to do them justice. Today, I can see all the way across the bay. Last Wednesday, I was lucky if I could see half as far.

UPDATE

Apparently it’s just mist.

Anecdotal, but a Chinese official on CNN TV said it was just steam.

Kristie lu Stout said, ‘Steam? Hmmm.’

Yeah fucking right. Oh China, this is gonna be fun.