Oh Boy that’s $1.8 million well spent.

Cartoon; By Ramirez.

Texas has received millions of federal dollars from the economic stimulus package to help poor people cut their energy bills, by weatherization of their homes. The idea is to make their homes more energy efficient by insulating them, sealing areas where air-flow carries away heat and so on.

Out of $163 million allocated for the purpose four months ago around 1.8 million has so far been spent. There has been some criticism of the slow start but the authorities say they're trying to ensure they do it carefully enough to avoid wasting money and prevent fraud. This seems a laudable enough aim and some care is needed to ensure that the Feds get the best bang possible for their, oops I mean your bucks. Careful management will also ensure that more people are employed.

So lets look at the results so far. Employment has definitely increased, the state reported to the federal government that three jobs had been created – all of them state positions. State officials said they plan to track how federal stimulus funds for weatherization are spent, by doubling their energy assistance section from 15 to 30 employees, using federal dollars for payroll costs. So hell that’s 18 more people put to work or will be.

Well lets look a bit further and see just what sort of impressive results have been achieved out there where the rubber hits the road, how many homes have been weatherized for an outlay of $1.8 mil. Big drum roll here, and the number is, oh hell why keep you all in suspense, the figure is Seven. So that’s around $257,000 each which would appear to me, to be about what would be needed to ‘weatherize’ them from bare dirt up to 3 bedroom brick.

That’s probably the reason why Americans don’t get the government to build their cars for them. Oh right, I forgot about that.

Kevin Rudd; From each according to …..

Cartoon: Lucas, "Hostile Senate."

Recently on the ABC Lateline program Tim Flannery one of Australia’s leading climate scientists and GW proponent admitted:

“Well, the thing is we deal with an incomplete understanding of the way the earth's system works, … In the last few years, were there hasn't been a continuation of that warming trend, we don't understand all of the factors that create earth's climate, so there are some things we don't understand, that's what the scientists were email about, you know, we don't understand the way the whole system works, and we have to find out.”

This seems a strange admission given that we are being constantly being told of the you beaut computer modeling that can with a bit of tweaking, predict exactly what the temperature and sea level will be in a hundred years. You know, the ones with that hockey stick rise at the end that say the temperature is actually much warmer than we know it to be. Still he is adamant that our skeptics are worse than yours; “Australia's climate dinosaurs are a lot bigger and uglier than the climate dinosaurs elsewhere, that's for sure.”

In the light of this it seems rather odd that Kevin Rudd is rushing headlong into another showdown in order to introduce his carbon rationing tax scheme. While not a lot of information is available at the moment on how such a scheme would work, the amounts mentioned are huge. $49 billion alone is mentioned as a “low income compensation scheme.”

The reality of the Rudd scheme is now starting to unravel given the statements made by Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner:

He claimed that, according to Treasury figures, low-income households will take a $420 hit under the scheme but will be compensated on average by $610 per year. Middle-income earners will face an average cost of $650 per household but will be compensated with a $700 payback.

This scheme is a massive redistribution of wealth tax combined with a rationing system and an effort to engineer society into using as yet unproven technology to create a green energy system. If ration and tax was truly an effort to reduce the so called carbon footprint of all of Australia, surely there would be no way that the government could realistically create the situation where Mr. Tanner could claim as he does that. “90 per cent of Australians, who make up the low-income and middle-income earners, will be better off under the scheme.”

I strongly doubt the truth of Tanners statement to this effect, as if there is to be a realistic effort to force people to economize on their energy usage, it would be absurd to reward people for their current consumption. Claims that it will be the case are simply an effort to buy off voters if there is a double dissolution election. If there is, and Labor gets back in the whole horrendous truth will become apparent.

There is no news from Rudd as to how those who lose jobs owing to the massive increases in costs to industry will benefit. Green jobs that are touted appear to cost 2.2 real jobs for every green job created.

Peter Spencer Property Rights update 2.

Image: courtesy "Agmates."

I am seeing some signs of the press taking notice of the plight of Peter in his struggle for compensation over the seizure of his right to farm his property through vegetation management laws. The massive areas affected by this draconian law have been bargained by Rudd to mitigate a 30% increase in emissions from this country caused by other sectors of the economy who have been given a free ride on the backs of the Peter Spencers of this country.

This has resulted in a net saving under the Kyoto Protocol of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Despite this no compensation has been paid to the affected landholders, some of whom like Peter are facing financial ruin. Others are severely affected, by marriage breakups, depression, ruin, and some have committed suicide. The government have stated that this is a matter for the courts, however they are being deliberately dishonest in this as on every occasion that Peter has managed to get a day in court, and it appears he has done so on around 200 occasions the government moves for dismissal and the matter is deferred.

For those looking into this for the first time or others, there is great coverage of his protest at “Agmates.”

I would urge you to join the group and contribute to the discussions, or if you just wish to keep informed you will receive Email updates. Some protests are being organized and you might find it possible to join in. We need your help, Peter has been on hunger strike for 37 days now.

For some background go to Quadrant Online for Justin Jefferson’s article, or to “‘Carbongate’ The Great Carbon Heist” on Crikey.

When you read of this, you will find it easy to rail about the injustice of it all. It is easy to call the government a pack of bastards for doing this, and indeed they are, all of them, Federal and State. Unpleasant as it is to accept though, we are all culpable in this outrage. This action has been taken in your name, with your permission tacit or otherwise, by your government, elected by the majority of you. It is no use saying “I voted for Howard,” he started the ball rolling on this.

Unless we start moving on limiting the power of the state in what it can and can’t do we are destined to watch helplessly as these actions are foisted on us time and time again. We need some form of constitutionally enumerated powers similar to those in Article of I Section 8 of the US Constitution and a Bill of Rights equivalent to their first ten amendments. Only then can we make progress to a just and moral society.

Answer to vocal pressure groups; more government.

Cartoon: Bill Leak.

The Courier Mail has an article listing many of the ratbag campaigns that have gone on during the last decade which they refer to as the “Noughties.” Some of the things they list are those we rail about on a regular basis:

Sadly, it was also the decade of the vocal minority group - small, special-interest factions of society whose decibel levels usually far surpass their real level of popular support.

These are the mobs who often want to "save" something or other, be it the lesser-speckled lesbian tree frog, the planet, the suburbs, the children, our souls . . .

And if they're not trying to save things, then they're trying to ban them: everything from four-wheel-drives to glass in pubs, hijabs, same-sex marriages and the scourge of sausage rolls in school tuckshops. …

Firstly that the climate-change evangelists are right and we're about to turn the world into the planetary equivalent of a crock-pot (and personally here I'm an agnostic who doesn't pretend to understand the science, but is sick of being yelled at by both sides of the debate).

And secondly, let's assume that in the process of tackling global warming we don't want to end up living in caves eating tofu and organic mung beans by candlelight as we watch the glaciers grow back.

Let's put nuclear power on the policy agenda.

It's clean, proven technology and we have plenty of uranium - which, by the way, we seem perfectly happy to dig up and send offshore.

The alternative is a wind farm in every back yard (although that would have what some might regard as the added advantage of keeping the flying fox population down).

As you can see there is some good stuff here, but unfortunately the author goes on to complain that this creates what he sees as a political malaise. His answer to that political malaise is courageous politics:

As the new decade dawns, what Australia (and Queensland, for that matter) could really use is an industrial-strength dose of political spine, for courage and common sense these days are too often supplanted by cowardice and political self-preservation. It's time to transfer the contents of the "too-hard" basket to the in-tray.

I have never really understood why the left and the far right have this thing about wanting government to be really effective, especially after seeing first hand the results and unintended consequences of ‘effective’ government. I mean getting ‘affordable housing’ to the poor who could not afford a mortgage sounded great to liberals, and effective government did it, but the global financial crisis it created is not generally applauded.

During what appears to be the most severe recession in living memory, it is only the paralysis of politics that has prevented the implementation of an energy rationing system that would lead to the destruction of masses of jobs in favor of ‘green energy’ which has not proven that it is even technologically possible, let alone economical.

Lets be realistic and keep the bastards paralyzed.

Jasper Schuringa, made Napolitanos system work.

Cartoon: by Warren.

I made the point in a previous post:

Be there as much security as can be placed in the way of these terrorists, the last line of defense will always be the unassuming guy who when he finds himself in the face of danger, charges into harms way.

Now Janet Napolitano, is making the somewhat incredible claim that the system worked.

Now lets see if I am getting this right.

Abdulmutallab was reported by his father as a potential terrorist and was “shocked that his son was even was allowed to fly to the U.S.,” family members told the Nigerian newspaper This Day.

Despite this according to Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) he was not on any no-fly list when he flew from Nigeria to Detroit through Amsterdam. This, despite being on a terrorist watch list.

It was known that he had spent time in Yemen, a strong point for al-Qaeda.

He managed to acquire an explosive device in Yemen and get it past all airport security on the way to the US, and not trigger the attention of any of the intelligence agencies dealing with these things internationally.

Some reports cast doubt on whether he even had a passport when he boarded the plane.

So, just what does the system have to get wrong to actually fail?

Perhaps Janet Napolitano measures her departments success by the fact that none of those people with “Ron Paul,” or “Bob Barr” bumper stickers profiled by DHS as potential security threats has even attempted, let alone brought down an aircraft.

Way to go, Janet.

“Climate Crusaders Conned in Copenhagen.”

Image: A clue to what determines temperature changes on earth.

A Statement by Mr Viv Forbes, Chairman,

The Carbon Sense Coalition,

Australia.

The Carbon Sense Coalition today called on the Australian Parliament to repudiate the Copenhagen giveaways promised by PM Rudd to the failed states of Africa and the welfare beggars of the islands.

The Chairman of “Carbon Sense”, Mr Viv Forbes, said that the three Climate Crusaders, Obama, Brown and Rudd, had been comprehensively conned in Copenhagen by African mendicants and fakers from the islands.

“They have agreed to hand over mega-bucks of our money (anywhere from $5 billion to $100 billion) as compensation for alleged damage caused by our production of carbon dioxide – the Africans citing climate damage and the islanders claiming rising sea levels.

“Even a cursory examination of the facts would prove that both of these claims are fraudulent.

“There is no evidence that carbon dioxide has caused global warming, or causes damage to any aspect of life on earth. The vast majority of earth’s warming originates from the sun, and fluctuations there are the major cause of climate changes.

“In addition, careful recent surveys show no unusual rising of sea levels.

“Moreover, all plant and animal life on earth benefit from industry’s production of carbon dioxide. Crops, grasses, forests and fruit trees are growing more profusely, the planet is becoming greener, and the oceans can produce more algae, more plankton and more life - all because of this free bounty of aerial plant food released whenever carbon fuels are burnt.

“Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant – it is a boon to all mankind. Africa and the islanders should pay us to release more valuable carbon dioxide, not the reverse.

“This giveaway is just a back door extension of the foreign aid program which has done so much harm to both donors and recipients.

“The vast majority of mendicant African nations have sterilised vast agricultural and mineral resources by their failed political systems. The foreign aid has mainly assisted their dictatorial governments to stay in power, harm their people and amass ill-gotten wealth.

“To increase the resources controlled by these dictators does nothing to improve the lot of their ordinary citizens.

“What they need is not welfare or climate compensation, but investment funds, low cost reliable energy, efficient infrastructure, sound currency, fair taxation and secure property rights.”

“Global Warming” Is just another term for “Good Weather.”

Orson Scott, SF Author. (Many people in the Northern Hemisphere will now agree with this).

For the beneficial effects caused by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere see here.

For the story on sea level lies see:

To watch Christopher Monckton interview a Greenpeace spokesman in Copenhagen.

Here is a summary on some of the tactics used to manufacture a Climate Consensus.

This is a look at how global warming is affecting the Canadian Prairies.

And a great story on how a coal powered steam train rescued passengers when the electric trains failed during the global warming snap in Britain.

Viv Forbes is Chairman of the Carbon Sense Coalition which opposes waste of resources, opposes pollution, and promotes the rational and sustainable use of carbon energy and carbon food. Vivs Newsletter can be found here.

Legislation 3 sheets in the wind style.

H/t Libertarian Republican.

These guys are among those who pass all of those regulations about our health and safety, seat belts, no talking on mobiles at the wheel, etc but here is US Senator Baucus doing the legislating while pissed as a newt and talking fluent shorthand, or perhaps Braille.



I guess the shit he would have gotten into with his wife over trying to appoint his bit on the side to a top position at the Attourney Generals office may have some bearing on it, or maybe this is just his normal legislative style.

Jasper Schuringa, Hero in airline attack.

Photo: Jasper Schuringa.

H/t Libertarian Republican (second Post) and Worldwide Liberty.

Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director appears to be the hero of the Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253. He was seated in the same row as the terrorist but on the other side of the aircraft, and saw what looked like an object on fire in the suspect’s lap and “freaked,” he told CNN.

“Without any hesitation, I just jumped over all the seats,” Mr. Schuringa said, in an account confirmed by other passengers. “I was thinking, oh, he’s trying to blow up the plane. I was trying to search his body for any explosive. I took some kind of object that was already melting and smoking, and I tried to put out the fire and when I did that I was also restraining the suspect.” “I just jumped. I didn’t think. I went over there and tried to save the plane.”

He was then assisted by flight crew and other passengers in putting out the flames and dragging the perpetrator to the front of the aircraft where he was handcuffed and held.

Dutch Member of Parliament and PVV leader Geert Wilders called Jasper Schuringa a hero for saving the Delta flight. "He deserves a royal honor." Wilders says he will ask the Dutch government to award such grant. Schuringa is already hailed in the American media as a hero so such an action from the Dutch government would be fitting even if it arouses anger from extremists.

This seems to imitate what occurred before Christmas in 2001, when an Islamic zealot tried to ignite plastic explosives hidden in his shoe on a trans-Atlantic flight and was overpowered by fellow passengers. United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11 is another example of decisive action by passengers ending a terrorist attack. Regrettably the plane crashed, killing them but they prevented the hijackers carrying out their mission.

The heroic action of otherwise ordinary people will always be a serious encumbrance to those who seek to harm the innocent. Evildoers are drawn to situations where the authorities are not likely to be present to hamper them. Be there as much security as can be placed in the way of these terrorists, the last line of defense will always be the unassuming guy who when he finds himself in the face of danger, charges into harms way.

The (Dutch) National Coordinator for Counterterrorism (NCTb) says that an initial investigation has revealed that Mr. Mutallab did pass through a security checkpoint when he changed planes but security officials did not find anything untoward. The NCTb says all procedures were followed correctly.


Geert Wilders is the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party. The PVV is pro-free market, and pro-civil liberties, yet stridently opposed to Islamization of Europe. Wilders is currently well ahead in polling to be next President of the Netherlands.

Now place your frog in warm water and slowly turn up the heat.

Cartoon: By Nate Beeler.

H/t Biggovernment.com

William Daley who was secretary of commerce in the Clinton administration and chairman of Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign is ruing the current flight by ‘moderate’ Democrats to the Republican Party of out of politics altogether. He mentions Rep. Griffith's switch of parties and several representatives deciding to retire rather than face the next midterm elections, but seems to have missed a swath of State Dems changing sides:

These independents and Republicans supported Democrats based on a message indicating that the party would be a true Big Tent -- that we would welcome a diversity of views even on tough issues such as abortion, gun rights and the role of government in the economy.

This call was answered not just by voters but by a surge of smart, talented candidates who came forward to run and win under the Democratic banner in districts dominated by Republicans for a generation. These centrists swelled the party's ranks in Congress and contributed to Obama's victories in states such as Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and other Republican bastions.

But now they face a grim political fate. On the one hand, centrist Democrats are being vilified by left-wing bloggers, pundits and partisan news outlets for not being sufficiently liberal, "true" Democrats. On the other, Republicans are pounding them for their association with a party that seems to be advancing an agenda far to the left of most voters. …

Witness the drumbeat of ominous poll results. Obama's approval rating has fallen below 49 percent overall and is even lower -- 41 percent -- among independents. On the question of which party is best suited to manage the economy, there has been a 30-point swing toward Republicans since November 2008, according to Ipsos. Gallup's generic congressional ballot shows Republicans leading Democrats.

He goes on to describe Rep. Griffith and the moderate Democrats who will retire as “the truest canaries in the coal mine.” But wait; all is not lost.

All that is required for the Democratic Party to recover its political footing is to acknowledge that the agenda of the party's most liberal supporters has not won the support of a majority of Americans -- and, based on that recognition, to steer a more moderate course on the key issues of the day, …

… The leaders of the Democratic Party need to move back toward the center -- and in doing so, set the stage for the many years' worth of leadership necessary to produce the sort of pragmatic change the American people actually want.

In reality the “surge of smart, talented candidates who came forward to run and win under the Democratic banner” were nothing more than useful idiots who thought that despite Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy and the rest of the elitist far leftists leading the party, it somehow still represented the hopes and aspirations of the average American. The usual raft of opportunists who were prepared to tell the public what they wanted to hear in order to get voted in augmented these.

What Daley is telling us is not that the party has taken a direction that is an anathema to all of the people except the far left, but merely that the useful idiots are being pushed out, maybe too soon and the party should start presenting a more moderate image for the time being.

The last paragraph really says it all. In referring to “the many years' worth of leadership necessary to produce the sort of pragmatic change the American people actually want,” he is letting us know that what is being done now by the party is in fact right for the American people, well in his opinion anyway. Just because the people don’t want it doesn’t mean it’s wrong, their opinions are not relevant to those who like Daly, feel they know what’s best for them.

It’s just that they need a few more years of “pragmatic leadership,” to realise that they need to have the state control their lives. Democratic feudalism anyone?

Size of Obamacare in context.

Cartoon: Gary Varvel.

This post is to give some perspective on the sheer volume of bullshit included in the Senate version of Obamacare, compared to other documents of importance, (and one speech of little value,) plus a couple of classic books. Some of the figures may be disputable owing to differences in copies, eg there are several draughts of the Gettysburg Address, but I believe they are in the ballpark.

Lincolns Gettysburg Address – 272 words.

Contrasted to Obamas Berlin "citizen of the world address" – 2970 words.

Original US Bill of Rights – 518 - (with preamble) – 778 words.

The US Declaration of Independence - 1337 words.

US Constitution – 4400 words.

Magna Carta - 4860 words.

Atlas Shrugged - 1168 pages.

War and Peace (English paperback edition) -1475 pages.

Senate version of Obamacare, a real stinker at, - 2,733 pages.

The bill was put together overnight and voted on at 8 AM by people who were supposed to have read it. On the basis of the above, they would have read more than the sum of Atlas Shrugged and War and Peace, in a few hours. Perhaps if they had just read Atlas the result would have been different.

Merry Christmas.

Cartoon: Dana Summers.

To any politically correct friends who have yet to realize that I am beyond redemption and I have not weeded out yet:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make this country great. Not to imply that this country is necessarily greater than any other country. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To my sane friends:

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

To those friends in the Northern Hemisphere who are enduring a cold miserable winter (its beautiful here, a balmy 32c – 90f) and are hoping for some global warming to brighten up their otherwise wretched lives, try to remember that Al Gore is a politician and they are not good at keeping promises.

Humphreys suggests voluntary climate action.

Cartoon: by Ramirez.

Ht Andrew Bolt.

I am not sure whether John Humphreys from the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is a starry eyed optimist, a shit stirrer, or simply fails to understand the reality of green activism. In an article, “Activists should stop talking about global warming and start acting,” he states:

Instead of winging and waiting for politicians to become benevolent, people who are worried about anthropogenic global warming can take immediate action. …

One option for funds would be workplace giving, where workers could allow 0.5 per cent (or more) to be deducted from their income and go directly to the community fund as a voluntary donation. Even if only one-third of Australians agreed to give the minimum, they would easily raise more than $1 billion. ….

The climate-fighting fund could then commit to buying low-emission energy from alternative energy producers and selling that energy into the power grid at the going market price. For example, if alternative energy was twice the price of coal energy, then the climate-fighting fund could buy $2 billion of alternative energy and sell that into the power grid for $1 billion, using the donations to pay the difference.

The effect would be a price signal with the same effect as a carbon tax or trading system but without the cost to the economy. The immediate effect would be an increase in alternative energy and a reduction in coal-based energy. However, the main benefit comes from encouraging the market for alternative energy. …

It appears that while he has a rather surprising degree of support in the wider community he has failed understandably to impress the movement greens. Their reaction varied from accusing the CIS of being Orwellian, (having different ideas to the commenter) to a real doozy:

No one is going to turn off their toaster while Alcan uses electricity generated by coal by the gigawatt to produce aluminum. The solution is the imposition of a fair system requiring everyone to participate in greenhouse gas abatement. What else do we have governments for?

The article even acknowledges this by positing the solution that the green minded "get together and jointly join a scheme". We already have got together, in a group called Australia.

In reality there is a reason why people will turn off their toaster other than when they want to make toast, (or is that wrong now, I really find it hard to keep up with what’s PC these days.) It’s called economics, the same reason that tends to make us turn off unused lights and appliances, cut down on unnecessary travel, (except for 114 man delegations to Copenhagen,) as well as other actions that cause us to use less energy.

Cutting down on waste saves money it’s that simple. Waste of any sort is a needless expense. Regrettably such an argument is a bit too capitalistic for the green movement which is rooted in the drab grey landscape of the left, where all solutions have to come from state compulsion as the second part of the statement indicates.

I know plenty of people who are well intentioned as far as the environment is concerned and who do their bit in whatever way they can who would probably be willing to join in such an initiative as John suggests. These people are just plain environmentally minded and their actions are voluntary out of good intentions. I have never had a problem with this and it is to be applauded.

Green activists on the other hand tend to be arrogant, pompous, opinionated, self righteous, sanctimonious zealots, to whom the opinions of others count for nothing. They have a great similarity to the Pauline Hanson “My way or the highway” mentality. It is beneath them to attempt to persuade the public at large to join them voluntarily in coordinated action to make a difference, other than in lobbying for government action.

It is well understood though that in Australia you don’t have to persuade those 20 million or so dumb bastards who don’t understand that you know better than them and have no right to question your infallibility. You only really need to persuade a majority of politicians, most of whom will go along with what their leaders tell them anyway and hey presto, your ideas are compulsory.

Rand Paul keeps up the heat.

I posted earlier this month on Rand Paul and his efforts to secure the Kentucky Senate seat and I usually don’t follow up this quickly, but I have to post this interview with Glen Beck as it gives a great insight into the quality of the candidate. He is ahead in the polls and his fundraising seems to be going well given he set a target of $2 million and is standing at over $1.7 million now.

The strength of the popular backlash against government spending, especially the Tea Party movement is going to make 2010 a very bad year for a lot of incumbents and establishment politicians and a few more candidates like Rand will make a lot of difference to the shape of America in years to come:


This is another clip of a speech at Logan where he defines his objectives and explains the origins of the governments ability to thumb its nose at the constitution.

We could be seeing the beginnings of a new movement among the youth of America that may if successful turn the current political status quo on its head. It seems that the young adults of the country are starting to realize who will be picking up most of the tab for the excessive spending that is going on and are starting to feel betrayed by Obama and the Democrats. Libertarisn Republican has a post dealing with this.

Update: Public Policy Polling puts Paul ahead of Grayson by, 44% - 25%.

Turnbull on “reckless" climate realism.

Cartoon; Bill Leak.

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of drought and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror

The wide brown land for me!

- Dorothea Mackellar. (1904 prior to "GW droughts.")

Malcolm Turnbulls latest rant reminds me of a story my father brought home from a meeting when I was young. The people were discussing the current (at that time) drought, when old Mrs. McLennan piped up with, “When the Good Lord was in charge of the weather everything was good, but since the government took it off Him and gave it to that Lennox Walker (long range weather forecaster) we have had nothing but droughts, droughts, and more droughts.”

Malcolm was leader of what passed in Australia for an opposition until it was realized that he couldn’t seem to find any issues to disagree with the government on. When there was disquiet in the ranks he was able to argue successfully that under his leadership an early election would be a disaster for them. Laborals is a pretty good name to cover the two major parties here but it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as Republicrats in the US. Since Malcolm lost the leadership he has kept pushing the cause of the GW alarmists.

Malcolm was managing director and later a partner of Goldman Sachs one of those financial institutions having wet dreams at the thought of what sort of derivatives market could arise from the Rudd ration and tax scheme (RATS). He was also chairman of Axiom Forest Resources, which conducted logging in the Solomon Islands described as a clear-felling operation, and threatened with being closed down for constant breaches of logging practices by the Solomon Islands government. God, does this guy have green credentials or what?

Anyway Mal recons that, “It’s reckless to be a skeptic on global warming.” “Living on the Earth’s driest and hottest continent, we are already seeing the harsh impact of climate change with devastating droughts, heat waves and bush fires,” he says. Droughts are hardly a new phenomenon as the following indicates, (note the Brisbane Courier article article on preceding droughts):

The drought periods of 1895–1903 (the so-called ‘Federation drought’), 1958–68, 1982–83 and 1991–95 were the most devastating in terms of their extent and effects on primary production.
…

The remaining major droughts occurred in 1864–66 (and 1868), 1880–86, 1888, 1911–16, 1918–20 and 1939–45. In this same period, several droughts of lesser severity caused significant losses over large areas of some states. They occurred in 1922–23 and 1926–29, 1933–38, 1946–49, 1951–52, 1970–72, 1976 and 1997–2000.

We have a great tradition of a current drought being worse than any of those before it; a fact the press likes to harp on since the GW agenda hit the headlines. To affected people what they are suffering now is naturally seen as worse than their memories of the last one since the good times have been and gone.

Heat waves and bush fires are nothing new and were seen as part of the landscape long before Al Gore. A great deal of the impact of recent bush fires has been found to be exacerbated by green opposition to fuel reduction burning, and clearing firebreaks around dwellings.

Turnbull agrees with me on one thing though when he says, “But this debate is not just about cost. It is turning into an ideological, perhaps theological, issue where faith replaces reason and prejudice pragmatism.” Climategate has proven that, especially given that he and his fellow alarmists are still pursuing their agenda after many of the scientific methods used in this scam have been exposed.

It is little wonder that the Liberals have been confused and somewhat disorientated under his leadership given his lack of understanding of the basics of free enterprise demonstrated here:

“If Mr Abbott were a leftist you could understand his reluctance for market-based mechanisms for putting a price on carbon. After all, the whole point of emissions trading is that it allows industries to choose the best means of abating their emissions.”

Only an extreme leftist could even begin to imagine that a totally government tax based price imposition on all Australian businesses and households is in some ways “market based” because they will allow the victims to trade part of their ration cards.

Peter Spencer, property rights update.

Cartoon by Nicholson.

Quadrant Online is one of the best online journals I have encountered over the years, giving fearless commentary on the issues of the day such as net censorship, global warming, oops I mean climate change, politics, and many others including in this case property rights.

Justin Jefferson was one of those who visited the Spencer property, or what’s left of it after the government’s depredations. The occasion was the visit to Peter by Senator Barnaby Joyce which by rights should have given the issue press coverage and brought it to the attention of the public at large. Unfortunately when Senator Joyce failed to fall off the tower the press lost interest and failed to notice anything else of interest, it seems one of the prerequisites for journalism is a short attention span.

Here is part of Justins report:

… Peter Spencer is demanding the Australian government pay fair compensation to him and all Australian property-holders whose property rights were taken without compensation pursuant to the Kyoto Protocol. He also demands a Royal Commission into the way governments acquired those property rights, because it seems to have been deliberately intended to, and did, subvert the constitutional protection against the unjust acquisition of property.

Why is Spencer directing his fire at the Federal government, since it was the State government, through the Native Vegetation Act (NVA) that passed the laws restricting farmers use-rights? The answer is because the Federal government moved the States for, benefited from, and paid them to make these unjust acquisitions.

The Commonwealth decided to meet its Kyoto Protocol targets to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions by restricting farmers’ land use across Australia. Farmers made an easy target compared to power stations or other emitters.
Under the Australian Constitution, if the Commonwealth wants to acquire a person’s property, it must do so on ‘just terms’, i.e. pay fair compensation. Since land-use rights form part of the equity of a property, the taking of those rights, and vesting the control and benefit of them in government bodies, is in effect a compulsory acquisition of property rights. …

Coveting private property, but not wanting to pay for it, what did the Feds do? They got the States to take it instead. Unlike the Federal Constitution, State Constitutions (except one) contain no provision for the payment of fair compensation for the taking of property. NSW legislation requires it, but the NSW State simply overrode that with ordinary legislation, smacking of rule by decree. …

Using the Commonwealth Natural Heritage Trust of Australia Act the Commonwealth gave NSW $1.2 billion, that it got from the sale of Telstra, for their part in stealing billions of dollars worth of other people’s property.
So Mr Spencer’s case is this. He can’t sue the Commonwealth because, though they sponsored the acquisitions of property, acquired the benefit for their purposes, and are constitutionally liable to pay compensation, they didn’t actually do the deed themselves.

And then he can’t sue the State because, although they acquired his property rights, they aren’t legally liable to pay for it. …

If you want someone to grow beef, or wheat, or tomatoes on their property, you don’t pass a law making it a criminal offence to grow something else. If there is a social need for a person’s property, which is to be forcibly acquired, then society needs to pay for it. But if society can’t afford to pay, then it can’t afford to have it and is not entitled to it. …

Definitely worth following up.

Lord Monckton assaulted by fascist Danish police.

Lord Monckton is one of the most knowledgeable and articulate climate rationalists in the world at present. He was an accredited delegate to the Copenhagen Climate Conference and is one of the people Al Gore was too frightened to engage in a debate with. The left wing climate neurotics from the green movement thousands of whom jetted off across the Atlantic to Copenhagen as delegates to the summit used the typical tactics of the left to articulate their knowledge, shouting down the opposition:


Most of us expect this type of fascism from the left, but generally not from the police force of what is generally regarded as a modern relatively civilized country. This is especially the case when the result is a blatant assault on an accredited representative to a conference their nation is hosting. Lord Monckton offers some understanding towards them with the following. “We must make reasonable allowance for the fact that the unspeakable security service of the UN, which is universally detested by those at this conference, was ordering the Danish police about. The tension between the alien force and the indigenous men on the ground had grown throughout the conference.”

This is in part his statement on the issue:

Today the gloves came off and the true purpose of the “global warming” scare became nakedly visible. Ugo Chavez, the Socialist president of Venezuela, blamed “global warming” on capitalism – and received a standing ovation from very nearly all of the delegates, lamentably including those from those of the capitalist nations of the West that are on the far Left – and that means too many of them.

Previously Robert Mugabe, dictator of Rhodesia, who had refused to leave office when he had been soundly defeated in a recent election, had also won plaudits at the conference for saying that the West ought to pay him plenty of money in reparation of our supposed “climate debt”.
Inside the conference center, “world leader” after “world leader” got up and postured about the need to Save The Planet, the imperative to do a deal, the necessity to save the small island nations from drowning, etc., etc., etc.

Outside, in the real world, it was snowing, and a foretaste of the Brave New World being cooked up by “world leaders” in their fantasy-land was already evident. Some 20,000 observers from non-governmental organizations – nearly all of them true-believing Green groups funded by taxpayers – had been accredited to the conference.

However, without warning the UN had capriciously decided that all but 300 of them were to be excluded from the conference today, and all but 90 would be excluded on the final day.
Of course, this being the inept UN, no one had bothered to notify those of the NGOs that were not true-believers in the UN’s camp. So Senator Steve Fielding of Australia and I turned up with a few dozen other delegates, to be left standing in the cold for a couple of hours while the UN laboriously worked out what to do with us.

In the end, they decided to turn us away, which they did with an ill grace and in a bad-tempered manner. As soon as the decision was final, the Danish police moved in. One of them began the now familiar technique of manhandling me, in the same fashion as one of his colleagues had done the previous day.

Once again, conscious that a police helicopter with a high-resolution camera was hovering overhead, I thrust my hands into my pockets in accordance with the St. John Ambulance crowd-control training, looked my assailant in the eye and told him, quietly but firmly, to take his hands off me.

He complied, but then decided to have another go. I told him a second time, and he let go a second time. I turned to go and, after I had turned my back, he gave me a mighty shove that flung me to the ground and knocked me out.

I came to some time later (not sure exactly how long), to find my head being cradled by my friends, some of whom were doing their best to keep the police thugs at bay while the volunteer ambulance-men attended to me.

I was picked up and dusted me off. I could not remember where I had left my telephone, which had been in my hand at the time when I was assaulted. I rather fuzzily asked where it was, and one of the police goons shouted, “He alleges he had a mobile phone.”

The full report is here.

Message for Copenhagen - "Open your eyes to the Green Energy Lessons in Europe".

By Viv Forbes of Carbon Sense.

“Although Germany’s promotion of renewable energies is commonly portrayed
in the media as setting a “shining example in providing a harvest for the
world” (The Guardian 2007), we would instead regard the country’s experience as a cautionary tale of massively expensive environmental and energy policy that is devoid of economic and environmental benefits.”

Green Energy – some lessons from Europe


While the Rudd climate regiment is stuck in Copenhagen, achieving not much, they should look beyond their posh hotel for some lessons in energy generation.

First, slip over to France and note how these wily promoters of carbon rationing rely on nuclear power for 76% of their own energy.

Then visit UK and observe the frenzied construction of coal mines and nuclear power stations to prevent future blackouts caused by UK’s silly dalliance with costly and unreliable wind farms.

Don’t miss out on Spain where the cost of subsidising green energy has created a financial crisis and destroyed 2.2 real jobs for every green job “created”.

They could also visit Scandinavia, which relies heavily on hydro power, or Iceland, where geothermal power is easily harnessed. No wonder these countries are relaxed about imposing carbon Ration-N-Tax Schemes on the rest of us.

A quick trip to Moscow could reveal how the cunning Russians, despite their well known scepticism about the west’s thermo-mania, have managed to trick Europe into buying huge quantities of gas together with the millions of emissions permits needed to burn it. Boris loves the ETS.

Just next door in Germany, Minister Wong could find out how the Greens have left Germany dangerously reliant on Russian gas. The German gamble with alternate energy has produced little power and no environmental benefits at great cost.

Finally, without leaving Copenhagen, Mr Rudd could easily discover how the forests of Danish windmills have produced little useful power and large financial losses for the suffering Danes. Freezing Copenhagen is heated mainly by imported electricity.

The Chinese however are happy with “Green Energy Europe” – they are busy manufacturing most of the world’s solar panels and wind turbines, emitting much carbon dioxide in the process.

This short European trip will illustrate the stupidity of Australia promoting a carbon Ration-N-Tax Scheme and dreaming that we can maintain our industry and our lifestyle on costly and totally unreliable alternate energy sources like wind and solar.

Nature Snows on the global warming circus in Copenhagen

The Gore Effect strikes again.

Hundreds of people demonstrated and complained outside the meeting hall in Copenhagen yesterday at having to wait for up to ELEVEN HOURS IN THE FREEZING COLD, to get into the meeting to complain about GLOBAL WARMING!

HELLO?

45,000 people were trying to get into a room with capacity of 15,000. Sounds like CRU at East Anglia did the counting.

Gutter Tactics from the IPCC – Scare the Children.

Watch this unbelievable horror video shown at the opening for the Copenhagen Climate Change Circus:

This illustrates the lengths and depths to which the individuals behind this movement are prepared to descend.

One hundred reasons why global warming is natural

The Daily Mail lists 100 reasons:


The tide has turned with the public, and the media has sensed it. But the thermo-maniacs will not give up easily. They are close to their fond goal of putting the western world in chains to fund the biggest redistribution of wealth the world has ever seen. The whole scam is about as honest as a porno magazine with a picture of mother Teresa on the cover.

Free Sex at Gropinhagen

Now we know why so many world leaders have decided to attend after all!

New Climate Consensus – Global Warming is caused by rising US postal charges.

Here is a correlation better than the temperature vs carbon dioxide correlation supporting Al Gore’s Thermo-mania – global warming is driven by US postal charges.

Twelve days at CarbonHagen

For those who missed it here is "The 12 Days of Global Warming at CarbonHagen:

Thriving WITH Nature and Humanity

The genuine environment and conservation movement is one of the most important social movements on Earth. Yet, its credibility is endangered by confused and fearful politicians, alarmist activists, sensationalist media and prominent extremists with financial conflicts of interest.

Today we hear constant messages about the changing climate and the dire consequences that may have for our beautiful planet. Hearing loud, contradictory accusations and predictions of planetary doom you may feel confused about what and who to believe. Supposed experts disagree on both what is happening to our planet and the causes of what is happening. Yet we’re told there is universal agreement global warming was caused by humans…

It’s clear our climate, including temperatures, continually varies. Examination of this ongoing variation becomes alarm when doom is predicted from the presence of humans on Earth. Many people feel powerless and immobilised which only deepens their mix of confusion, desperation, apathy and panic…

You may think global warming needs to be treated as seriously as pollution yet they’re actually different issues and we should be even more concerned about the core issue - climate alarm. That’s because throughout human history actions driven by fear produced solutions far worse than the initial perceived problem.

The above are extracts from a masterful paper by Malcolm Roberts. See the full paper here.

Finally, Is the Earth Warming or Cooling? It depends.

See Bob Carter on the GW hoax:


Senator Joyce visits Peter Spencer; Rudds dirty little secret sees light of day.

In something of a coup for Peter Spencer, who has been on a hunger strike for 26 days and his supporters Senator Barnaby Joyce is at the moment on his way to meet him at The Tower of Hope. For those who are unaware of just what Peter is enduring in his fight for compensation over government theft of his land, this video gives some idea:


Agmates is currently reporting that the media are out in force, and will be posting live updates:

I will be posting "live" updates throughout the day of the great "Saarhnlee Muster" as Politicians, Media and concerned Australians from at least 3 states are all trekking to Peter on his 5,000 foot mountain top. The world is beating a path to him on the "Tower of Hope."

How symbolic - Peter after 26 days - on a 2 metre platform -10 metres up on what has been christened by his rapidly growing supporter base - "The Tower of Hope" - its symbolic because its situated on the highest piece of privately owned property in Australia and for almost a month he's been on his own, totally ignored by politicians, media, fellow farmers, farm organizations and the world.

But thanks to Peters courage and the work of his supporters, today all of that changes - what we are witnessing here today is the power of courage and conviction over all obstacles. The power of one mans dream backed by massive action, courage and commitment.

Peters dream is for Australia to become a fair country once gain - that dream is proving to be incredibly infectious.

Senator Joyce has called on the government to negotiate with Peter, who believes farmers should be compensated by governments over opportunities lost through the imposition of laws protecting vegetation from clearing. He also accused of being in Copenhagen creating some new cargo cult and organising agreements where we help out Mugabe and Hugo Chavez, while our own farmers, are picking up the tab for this."

Joyce has said, “You have two options. If you can't compensate them, you should be handing it back to them."

This has resulted in an attack by Labors Lindsay Tanner with:

The government yesterday savaged the opposition finance spokesman as unfit for office after he backed the case of a hunger striker demanding $100 billion in taxpayer compensation for farmers for lost land-clearing rights.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner also demanded the opposition explain how scrapping land-use laws would affect Tony Abbott's promise to address climate change through direct action on land use.

Note the blatant dishonesty of this claim. Tanner states that the statement was strictly “scrapping land-use laws” while pretending that this was the only option presented. This is no surprise as Rudd is being blatantly dishonest with the following:

Mr Rudd, in Copenhagen to attend the climate conference, had not responded and told journalists in Denmark he was not aware of the Spencer protest, (despite the fact The Land emailed his office for a response last week).

Death to Gays?

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell.

Libertarian Republican and Worldwide Liberty have given extensive coverage to proposed laws in Uganda, and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa outlawing homosexuality and setting a death penalty for it.

The BBC is in a heap of trouble tonight over its “Have your say” section in which the question asked was, “Should homosexuals face execution?”

Yes, we accept it is a stark and disturbing question. But this is the reality behind an Anti-Homosexuality Bill being debated on Friday by the Ugandan parliament, which would see some homosexual offences punishable by death. 


Ironically the main criticism of them on the issue seems to be political correctness, on the basis that it is an indecent thing to ask. No credit seems to be given to them for bringing the issue to the fore. It seems that the risk of comments giving an affirmative answer far outweighs the need to bring this issue to the attention of the world, in the eyes of the liberal PCers.

Much of the commentary from the left seems to focus on the claim that some how the West is responsible for this, the proponent for the Ugandan bill claiming:

"The youths in secondary schools copy everything from the Western world and America," said high school teacher David Kisambira. "A good number of students have been converted into gays. We hear there are groups of people given money by some gay organizations in developed countries to recruit youth into gay activities."

The American left seem obsessed with Christian evangelicals, claiming that Christian outreach organizations from the west are responsible. George Bush has not been mentioned yet, but it seems to be the case that in the eyes of the proponents Africans cannot be gay unless the decadent west makes them that way, and in the eyes of the demented left, are incapable of passing oppressive laws without the West being responsible.

The US main criticism of these laws in the appear to be coming from the right, namely the Christian Conservative Republicans with strong statements being made by, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) (ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee), Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA).

Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddelback Church, one of the people criticized by the left as an instigator has made a strong criticism of the move:

The potential law is unjust, extreme and un-Christian toward homosexuals, requiring the death penalty in some cases. If I am reading the proposed bill correctly, this law would also imprison anyone convicted of homosexual practice.

The law would force pastors to report their pastoral conversations with homosexuals to authorities.

It would have a chilling effect on your ministry to the hurting. As you know, in Africa, it is the churches that are bearing the primary burden of providing care for people infected with HIV/AIDS. If this bill passed, homosexuals who are HIV positive will be reluctant to seek or receive care, comfort and compassion from our churches out of fear of being reported.

Finally, the freedom to make moral choices, and our right to free expression are gifts endowed by God. Uganda is a democratic country with a remarkable and wise people, and in a democracy everyone has a right to speak up. For these reasons, I urge you, the pastors of Uganda, to speak out against the proposed law.

N.b. Gore, press reporting inconvenient facts.

Cartoon: Scott Standis.

In the wake of the ‘Climategate’ scandal it would seem that the realistic thing for GW alarmists to do would be to pull their heads in and stick to the facts. The very last thing that you need at a time when your credibility is in tatters is for someone, especially a great guru of the movement to make wild, unfounded and irrational claims. However this is what Gore has done and been caught out again, this time in a speech to delegates of the COP15 summit:

Gore made statements that the North Pole had a 75% chance of being ice-free by 2014. Already under scrutiny from climate skeptics due to his work with scientists embroiled in the Climategate leak, it was discovered that the scientific data that Gore was referencing does not support his claims.

"It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at," said Dr Wieslav Maslowski, the climatologist that Gore referenced in his Monday afternoon speech.

In his presentation, Gore said that "some of the models suggest to Dr Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire polar ice cap during some of summer months could be completely ice free within five to seven years. There are more than a billion people on the planet who get more than half of their drinking water – many of them all of their drinking water – from the seasonal melting of snow melt and glacier ice." …

It’s a bit of a problem when your source refutes what you are quoting him on, but in the past Gore has been able to rely completely on an alarmist press that has tended to be completely in his corner. Generally in the past they could be relied on to put the ‘public interest’ above any facts that they didn’t consider coincided with what they assumed that interest to be and refrain from reporting them.

In the wake of increasing public scepticism as to the validity of the claims that have been made over the years, and the realisation that many of the proponents were not actually living what they preached, this has slowly been turning around. Last year it is doubtful that Climategate would have made the news, the fact it did should have been taken as a warning but it seems there is no limit to arrogance.

The response still seems to be to rail against the publicising of these inconvenient truths, (to the climate frantics, that is) on the basis that it gives credibility to sceptics. It appears that these people still seem to expect an unchallenged free ride.

Internet censorship back; nannystate looms large.

The Australian Government once again wants to pass laws to force internet service providers to block banned material hosted on overseas servers. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy who has raised this issue before to strong community criticism, says he intends to introduce legislation in the first half of next year.

Instead of allowing an voluntary system he will require all service providers to ban refused classification material hosted on overseas servers. This material includes child sex abuse, bestiality, sexual abuse and detailed instructions for crime or drug use.

You just have to love the guys sense of irony when he claims the new filter rules are not designed to curtail freedom of speech. Essentially the stuff he lists is only the tip of the iceberg given that a one size fits all censorship system is going to catch much more than the intended targets in the first place, and every wowser and faddist pressure group in the country is going to lobby to get their own prejudices endorsed on it.

Does anyone want to bet for example that the AMA will not push to have alternative medicine blocked. They are a powerful lobby and are not above putting pressure on at election time.

The attempt earlier this year included a trial that was such a disaster that among the sites blocked were the websites of a dentist and a tuckshop consultant and those were only the ones the public heard about. Simple errors like this easily destroy businesses and careers, and worse still these errors were only discovered when someone broke the associated secrecy laws and published the list.

This is purely a play for the support of the bigots, the self righteous, the religious political lobbies who are arrogant enough to feel that that if they are unable to convince people of their values then the government should act, and big government nannystaters.

Given the degree of tech savvy out there among the kids this idiot claims to be trying to protect, the only people likely to be inconvenienced are mature adults anyway.

Authoritarian bigots like Conroy should really ponder on the question; “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?”