Election 2013; Gillard calls it full term early

In a surprise announcement today the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard has called an election in September making it the longest campaign ever.  Depending on the political views of the pundits, it is either ‘an act of desperation’ or ‘a stroke of genius’.

Some on the Labor side are referring to the length of the campaign as “historic,” which has as a term has now become some sort of accolade.  It is not really understood here why the term ‘historic’ should be regarded as a superlative; lots of events are historic, some good, some bad, most though are irrelevant, although the term has a nice ring to it in media circles.

There is reasonable doubt that the government could survive a short campaign, especially were it to be called early, especially in the aftermath of the Nova Perris appointment to the Northern Territory senate seat and continuing indecision on the deficit.  In the light of this, there was never any prospect of of the election being called any earlier than it was possible to hold it off.

With a definite date on the record, there is a fair chance of heading off any sort of leadership challenge in the near future, but should the PM screw-up any more, or lose support, this cannot be ruled out.

In reality, the election date is very much a matter of conjecture.  To assume that it will be held on the 14^th of September requires acceptance that the PM will keep her word.  Her record on this is less than commendable. 

Insane PC hits (First Bloke) Tim Mathieson

Cartoon: By Nicholson 

The only aspect of the fascicle and inane criticism of Tim Mathieson’s joke about getting prostate examinations from small Asian doctors that has any real relevance is the possibility that had he said it after Roxon’s draconian anti discrimination laws get passed, he could have been in serious legal trouble.  

This law enshrines into the legal system the ability to litigate over anything that can be considered even remotely likely to cause hurt feelings.  While it is a reflection of the petty authoritarianism of Roxon herself and her party as a whole, it is planned to be her lasting legacy to the nation, especially to litigation practitioners.

Mathieson’s joke was fairly innocuous but funny: 

A "POOR taste" joke by Julia Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson could have landed him in hot water under Nicola Roxon's proposed anti-discrimination laws, the Coalition says. 

Mr Mathieson told the joke about Asian women and prostate examinations at a reception for the Prime Minister's XI cricket team at The Lodge last night. 

“We can get a blood test for it, but the digital examination is the only true way to get a correct reading on your prostate,” the men's health ambassador said. 

“So make sure you go and do that, and perhaps look for a small Asian female doctor is probably the best way.” 

Mr Mathieson later apologised, saying he didn't mean to offend anyone.  “My comments last night were trying to raise awareness about prostate cancer and the need for men to have regular checks and the importance of early detection.

It is difficult to imagine why anyone would be upset by such comments, never mind the faux outrage being promoted in the media today.  Given the subject matter it is neither sexist nor racist and simply refers to the size of the finger being used to do the test.  Most blokes who have done the test should be able to identify with this.

It may be possible to find a non-Asian doctor, even male with small hands although it might be wise to ensure that he doesn’t have them on your shoulders while he does the test.

Hobbling the Competition

By Viv Forbes, Chairman,

The Carbon Sense Coalition  

That serial alarmist, Professor Flannery, says “Solar and wind could be the cheapest form of power by 2030, if not earlier, as carbon prices (he means taxes) rise”.

That is like me saying that I could beat Roger Federer at tennis as long as he is forced to use a cricket bat instead of a tennis racquet. Or I could outrun Cathy Freeman as long as she has her shoe laces tied together by race officials.

Demolition is easy. Any industry can be destroyed by taxing it to death while subsidising its competitors. So the Flannery Plan can be made to work as fast as he likes.

But cheap reliable coal-fired electricity will not die alone. Consumers will suffer greatly, big industrial users will migrate, asset values will be destroyed and real jobs will disappear.

The Flannery Plan will enrich green power speculators and foreign manufacturers, and create regiments of paper jobs in the law, the bureaucracy and academia.

The global climate will be unaffected.

NT senate brawl; Labor learns to ‘suck it up’

Despite everything from strong reservations through to unbridled outrage among Labor rank and file over the PM’s ‘captains pick’ of Nova Peris to replace Trish Crossin as a senator for the Northern Territory, the national executive have voted unanimously to accept it.  Most members of major political parties become adept at toeing the party line, at least if they want to remain there. 

Labor has taken the next step and now toes Gillard’s line.  There is some sort of agreement to allow dissenters to do some mouthing off during the prelude to a vote in order to shore up their factional support, but when the crunch comes they have to suck it up and obey. And so, they have: 

Ms Gillard's push for Ms Peris, which stoked leadership divisions, was assured of success after the Left faction decided to support her, despite opponents labelling the decision "brutal" and "arrogant". 

At a fiery pre-national executive Left caucus, representatives from Victoria, Tasmania and NSW attacked the decision to take the NT Senate preselection contest from rank-and-file members and hand it to the national executive.  However, it was argued the Left could not oppose the endorsement of a female indigenous candidate and undermine the Prime Minister's authority. 

The subsequent national executive telephone hook-up voted unanimously to admit Ms Peris into the Labor Party and make her eligible to contest preselection for the number one position on the party's NT Senate ticket.Senator Crossin declared yesterday she would fight on and would encourage others to enter the race.

The term, “make her eligible to contest preselection,” actually means accept her application for party membership, as she is not currently in the party.

The claim by the Prime Minister that her action is some sort of response to having been ‘deeply troubled’ at the lack of indigenous representation in the party is hogwash.  If her claim were genuine, the logical move would have been to encourage an indigenous member of the party to stand rather than a high profile outsider with celebrity status.

Such concerns if they exist at all were not apparent when a replacement for Senator Arbib was needed and Warren Mundine, an indigenous former Labor Party National President was rejected in favor of Bob Carr.  The NT itself has numerous Aboriginal party members who would be capable of doing the job of voting along party lines in the senate like the current members do.

Gary the goat 1; cops nil

Last December we brought you the story of comedian ‘Jimbo Bazoobi’ and his pet goat ‘Gary’ who were summonsed over an incident in Sydney when Gary the goat was sprung eating grass in a park.  After a great deal of argument at the time, during which the police were unable to think up a law that was broken, they e=were allowed to leave. 

Subsequently ‘Jimbo’ was informed that he would be facing charges of damaging vegetation.  Under some of the new green laws, the cops could raise a lot of revenue out in the rural areas where animals eat vegetation all the time, but then city people tend to believe that butchers make meat. 

The case has now been tossed out: 

A Sydney magistrate has dismissed charges against a man whose goat was accused of damaging vegetation at Circular Quay last year.  The courtroom at times erupted into fits of giggles at today's hearing in the Downing Centre. 

Police fined Jim Dezarnaulds $440 last August, saying he allowed his goat Gary to eat plants and flowers at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  He was charged with destroying vegetation without authority.  News of Gary the Goat's run-in with the law went viral after Mr Dezarnaulds posted the incident on Facebook, attracting more than 300,000 likes. 

Before the case was heard, Mr Dezarnaulds - a performer who goes by the name of Jimbo - wrote to The Rocks police asking for the case to be dropped.  In the letter he also thanked them for "helping me out with my career as comedian". 

After a lively hearing this morning, the magistrate dismissed the charge, saying Mr Dezarnaulds "had no control over what the goat might eat, he might have preferred an ice cream". 

Outside court, Mr Dezarnaulds says Gary has taught police a lesson.  "This is actually an abuse of the laws of nature, I mean it was a goat eating grass," he said. 

"I'm a comedian, I can come up with jokes, but it's pretty hard to compete with cops coming up with this stuff.  "It's obviously a joke, but the fact that we're here it's gone a bit beyond a joke." 

There is now speculation that an unfortunate mishap outside court may lead Gary to be charged with public urination.

There are far too many mindlessly stupid laws in this country, far too mindlessly stupidly enforced by far too many mindlessly stupid police and bureaucrats.  Rather than simply protecting the public against coercive acts by others, the law has become the lash used to enforce the mindlessly stupid prejudices of the wowser class, the killjoys, and the busybodies.

Labor gains recruit with promise of senate seat

Julia Gillard has found something of a novel recruiting tool for signing up new members to fill the dwindling ranks of the Labor Party, offering a senate seat in exchange for joining.  In what seems to be another symbolic gesture, indigenous Olympic gold medalist Nova Peris has been offered preselection for the Northern Territory senate seat in the coming election.

Ms Peris has not been a member of the party before, and in fact has yet to join but has indicated that the position along with the $190,000+ salary, $32,000 electorate allowance, superannuation, car, travel, and accommodation along with lurks and perks is tempting enough to coax her into Labor: 

INDIGENOUS Australian and Olympian Nova Peris is set to stand as Labor's number one Senate candidate in the Northern Territory after the intervention of Julia Gillard. 

The Prime Minister said she had exercised her discretion to make a “captain's pick” in selecting Ms Peris to run for the seat, currently held by Labor senator Trish Crossin.  She has asked ALP chiefs to approve the move by overruling local preselection processes. 

The move to dump Senator Crossin after 15 years follows the Country Liberal Party's victory over Labor in last year's territory election.  Ms Gillard said she was troubled that Labor had never been represented in the federal parliament by an indigenous Australian.  “I am determined that at the 2013 election we change that,” she said. 

“I've asked the national executive to work with me in ensuring that Nova is eligible to stand for preselection and that she is preselected as our number one candidate for the Senate in the Northern Territory. … 

An emotional Ms Peris thanked the Prime Minister for the “amazing opportunity” to stand for Labor preselection.  “I stand here before you all today not only as an Australian but also as a proud Aboriginal woman, proud of my heritage and culture,” Ms Peris said.  “I certainly understand the significance of this opportunity, and I am very honoured and humbled by this, Prime Minister.”

Senator Crossin, who has been a party supporter for thirty years and a Senator for fifteen appears ready to stage a fight against being replaced by a non-member and it is expected that some Territory branch members will also be angry that once again loyal Territorians are being kicked to the roadside in order to be the conscience of the Canberra elites:

Senator Crossin said the decision, which she was told of last night, was taken without consulting her or the territory branch of the Labor Party.  “It has been my long-held belief that preselection should always be a matter for NT Labor branch members to decide,” she said in a statement.

The real issue at stake in this action is that in the last Territory election the Labor Party was smashed by Aboriginal voters siding with the CLP.  Gillard is tossing Crossin under the bus in order to try to shore up her support among indigenous communities.

Opposition to this move will fade within days.  Ever since the Whitlam government Labor supporters have come to an understanding that the party elite knows better than the local branches what’s best for them.  While they are often unhappy with the directives from above, they have adapted by learning to suck it up.

Mark Stein, Krugman, and the trillion-dollar coin

Mark Stein has an amusing take on the news on arriving back from a trip out of the country.  This includes the media falling for a story about a football player’s imaginary dead girlfriend, 23 executive orders designed by kids, and the rather ludicrous call for the minting of a one trillion dollar coin.

Back in the Reagan era, a Doonesbury strip was published in which Duke has arrived back from one of his mysterious trips away and was being brought up to speed on the Iran Contra affair.  After hearing of illegal arms sales to Iran with the proceeds diverted illegally to fund the Contra militants in Honduras, he rings his PA and asks her to check what medication he is on.

Stein reads it like this: 

While I was abroad, a Nobel Prize–winning economist, a Harvard professor of constitutional law, a prominent congressman, and various other American eminencies apparently had a sober and serious discussion on whether the United States Treasury could circumvent the debt constraints by minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin. Although Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider called the trillion-dollar coin “the most important fiscal policy debate you’ll ever see in your life,” most Democrat pundits appeared to favor the idea for the more straightforward joy it affords in sticking it to the House Republicans. … 

The trillion-dollar-groat fever rang a vague bell with me. Way back in 1893, Mark Twain wrote a short story called “The Million Pound Bank Note,” which in the Fifties Ronald Neame made into a rather droll film. A penniless American down and out in London (Gregory Peck) is presented by two eccentric Englishmen (Ronald Squire and Wilfrid Hyde-White) with a million-pound note which they have persuaded the Bank of England to print in order to settle a wager. One of the English chaps believes that simple possession of the note will allow the destitute Yank to live the high life without ever having to spend a shilling. And so it proves. … I always liked the line Mark Twain’s protagonist uses on a duke’s niece he’s sweet on: He tells her “I hadn’t a cent in the world but just the million pound note.” 

That’s Paul Krugman’s solution for America as it prepares to bust through another laughably named “debt limit”: We’d be a nation that hasn’t a cent in the world but just a trillion-dollar coin — and what more do we need? As with Gregory Peck in the movie, the mere fact of the coin’s existence would ensure we could go on living large. Indeed, aside from inflating a million quid to a trillion bucks, Professor Krugman’s proposal economically prunes the sprawling cast of the film down to an off-Broadway one-man show with Uncle Sam playing every part: A penniless Yank (Uncle Sam) runs into a wealthy benefactor (Uncle Sam) who has persuaded the banking authorities (Uncle Sam) to mint a trillion-dollar coin that will allow Uncle Sam (played by Uncle Sam) to extend an unending line of credit to Uncle Sam (also played by Uncle Sam). 

This seems likely to work. As for the love interest, in the final scene, Paul Krugman takes his fake dead girlfriend (played by Barack Obama’s composite girlfriend) to a swank restaurant and buys her the world’s most expensive bottle of champagne (played by Lance Armstrong’s urine sample). …

In fairness to Krugman, he is a witty satirical writer for the New York Times, who’s rather quirky and off the planet ideas are sometimes taken seriously by political pundits, possibly due to his Nobel Prize in economics.  He is great for filling the gap when The Onion or The People’s Cube don’t post. 

His endorsement of the trillion dollar coin should not be taken too seriously, given the terms he uses to argue for it: 

“It’s easy to make sententious remarks to the effect that we shouldn’t look for gimmicks, we should sit down like serious people and deal with our problems realistically. That may sound reasonable — if you’ve been living in a cave for the past four years.Given the realities of our political situation, and in particular the mixture of ruthlessness and craziness that now characterizes House Republicans, it’s just ridiculous — far more ridiculous than the notion of the coin.”

In other words, he is claiming that the very idea of Republicans opposing the will of President Obama (All heil the great leader) is absolutely ridiculous, and it is therefore sensible to do something ridiculous in response to this.

“Blue Skies are Falling” a new climate soap opera.

 By Viv Forbes, Chairman,

The Carbon Sense Coalition http://www.carbon-sense.com/ 

For several years the Australian media has been dominated by a long running science fiction. Designed for radio, TV and print media, it is called “Green Houses” in an apparent attempt to benefit from the well-loved “Blue Hills” a soap opera which ran for 27 years on the government-owned ABC radio.

Each weekly episode of “Green Houses” dramatizes a new global warming disaster, all attributed to man’s generation of carbon dioxide from the use of carbon fuels. The series is directed by a drama company called “Green Pieces” and produced by the Minister for Climate Propaganda. The weekly script is written by academics funded by government “Green House Grants”.

Its early episodes featured devastating heat waves and never ending droughts, but a few severe winters in the Northern Hemisphere and massive floods in Australia eroded the credibility of the series and audience ratings fell.

Now the whole credibility of its bedrock Green House story is under threat.

Sceptics ask how a tiny quantity of an invisible, incombustible gas with no inherent heating ability can warm the vast volumes of other gases in the atmosphere while also overcoming the massive heat capacity of the land and oceans.

“Green Pieces” has drafted the answer: “Carbon dioxide absorbs infra-red radiation from the warm surface, creating ‘back radiation’ which re-warms the surface”.

This process does indeed have an insulating effect at night, when clouds and the atmosphere can delay the escape of some outgoing heat.

However, during the day, the atmosphere has a big shading effect on incoming solar radiation which contains UV, visible and IR components. Clouds, aerosols, dust and greenhouse gases all act like atmospheric umbrellas and reflectors and provide some protection for the surface from the incoming heat of solar radiation. This provides a net cooling effect during the day which offsets and probably extinguishes any night time warming.

The main effect of the atmosphere is thus to moderate the daily temperature range - warmer nights and cooler days, with little effect on average temperatures. Carbon dioxide is only a bit player in this drama - water vapour is far more abundant and a far better insulator.

This fundamental flaw in greenhouse theory, coupled with the lack of surface warming in spite of rising carbon dioxide levels, has led to dramatic falls in audience numbers for the once-popular “Green House” series.

It is rumoured that the producers of the series are preparing to replace it with a serialised science fiction thriller titled “Blue Skies are Falling”.

This series will feature a wizened black devil called “Old King Coal” as the villain responsible for every extreme weather event.


Queensland Government to interfere with FIFO mining

Image source: Courier Mail

Fly in fly out mining is a contentious issue in some areas owing to a number of factors.  Some local authorities welcome the development of mines in their areas but on the other hand would be happier if that led to an increase in permanent population rather than outsiders flying in and living in camps during their time there. 

Many miners prefer this system as it allows them to base themselves and their families in a single point while flying out to work and back as required.  This tends to be better for families in a transient industry, avoiding the necessity for constant relocation and disruption of children’s education and so on.

Now the premier Campbell Newman has decided to stuff it up with directives as to where it will be allowed and where miners will have to relocate their families if they want to work there: 

THE fly-in, fly-out staffing of Queensland mines that helped develop the coal mining boom was no longer guaranteed, Premier Campbell Newman said.  In a visit to Mount Isa, Mr Newman said FIFO was appropriate in remote mines but may not be necessary in projects close to cities. 

"This Government believes in regional cities and towns like Mount Isa and we want to see regional Queensland built up.  "We don't want everyone to live in southeast Queensland. 

"So what we have to do is take it on a case-by-case basis. If there are new mines to be built in close proximity driving distance from Mount Isa, preferably we will see the families coming here and people relocating here." 

The Government has the ability to restrict FIFO through its conditions and approvals to mines. Central Queensland communities have voiced their concerns about the huge impact the rostering system has on small towns where infrastructure and services are limited.

Such a move would cause considerable disruption in regional cities, which might find themselves suddenly having to cope with a substantial increase in population at only a couple of years notice.  Projects will be held up just in the effort to provide accommodation for the influx, if the mining companies are able to find the experienced personal who are willing to move.

HE will become the landlord’s friend with this.  People with rental properties where ore bodies are discovered can easily look to increasing rents by at least double as demand increases.  People with limited means in such accommodation will have to get out off town though.

Has-beens for gun control day in Oz

Two former Prime Ministers of Australia decided today to remind us that one still feels relevant and the other was some years ago. Both were on the issue of gun control, and both felt that for some reason, their opinions were important enough to seek the limelight over.

 Kevin Rudd, who only managed to complete part of a term after winning government before his party rolled him, felt it necessary to recite the MSNBC line over the NRA advertisement on protection of schools. Drawing on Chris Mathews, Piers Morgan, or the President, he repeated the old straw man line on the President’s family being off limits:  

Mr Rudd, the former prime minister and now a Labor backbencher, slammed the video and said no political leader anywhere in the world should have to put up with it. "The US National Rifle Association TV ad on President Obama's kids is one of the most offensive ads of all time,'' he posted on Twitter. 

"For the record, I fully support the Australian system of registered gun owners & gun clubs. But US NRA is out of control. KRudd.''

It is dishonest of Rudd and those whose comments he is reciting to claim that the ad was aimed at the President’s daughters. It is clearly aimed at the hypocrisy of the President himself, who insists that armed personal in schools is not the answer and keeping them gun free while his children are guarded. Certainly his kids need protection, but so do other people’s.

 Howard on the other hand is seeking some love from the American left now he has been largely forgotten here:

Writing in the New York Times, Mr Howard said he did not want to "lecture" Americans on how they should respond to Mr Obama's plan, (but he goes on to do it anyway) but pointed to his experience in introducing tough gun laws following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. 

Mr Howard said it was not an easy task, but he used the authority of the prime minister's office to curb the possession of such weapons. "The fundamental problem was the ready availability of high-powered weapons which enabled people to convert their murderous impulses into mass killing," he wrote. 

"Certainly, shortcomings in treating mental illness and the harmful influence of violent video games and movies may have played a role.”

His statement about “the authority of the prime minister's office” has to be the silliest attempt at self-aggrandizement to a foreign nation ever attempted by an Australian Prime Minister. The PM’s office has no authority on its own other than what the sycophants in his party are prepared to allow him. Howard used the Port Arthur tragedy to stage a knee-jerk reaction with the support of Labor who had always wanted gun control.

 The Howard legacy is a lucrative sideline for drug pushers, a higher rate of home invasions and other crime, more feral cats, dogs, foxes and rabbits, and a matching decrease in native wildlife.

UK Government wins the Inaugural Gorbel Prize for Green Policies that have Inconvenient Outcomes.

The Carbon Sense Coalition has created “The Gorbel Prize for Green Policies 

that have Inconvenient Outcomes”.

By Viv Forbes, Chairman,

The Carbon Sense Coalition  

(Image) Copyright Steve Hunter  (who has given permission for any media to reproduce.) 

The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said that so many green policies that appear to have useful environmental goals fail to analyse properly the long-term unforeseen consequences.

Quote: Green politicians need to learn Newton’s Law of Government Regulations: – “Whenever government legislates to force an economic outcome, the long term effect will be equal and opposite to that intended.”

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of green politics, where laws designed to help the environment are harming the environment. To publicise this stupidity, the Carbon Sense Coalition has created “The Gorbel Prize for Green Policies that have Inconvenient Outcomes”.

The winner of the Inaugural Gorbel Prize is the UK government whose green policies aim to make it uneconomic to burn coal. So the tax-payer funded Green Investment Bank has loaned £100 million to help convert the huge Drax coal-burning power station in Yorkshire to burning “sustainable biomass”. This is part of a huge finance package of one billion pounds to get the biomass green tick, earn renewable energy subsidies, and avoid the need to buy carbon credits.

Where do they plan to get the “sustainable biomass”? Each year 7.5 million tonnes of wood chips will be imported from North American forests to replace 4.5 Mt of coal.

The land required to produce wood at this rate is immense - about three million acres of forest per year.

Also, wood is less dense than coal with less energy per tonne and a greater volume per tonne. Thus a greater tonnage and a far greater volume of wood have to be handled to get the same energy. This huge volume of wood has to be harvested, hauled, chipped, dried, trucked, shipped and stored using more carbon fuels - all to produce more expensive electricity.

There is one real benefit from the scheme. When the whole process is considered, using wood will put more carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere than using coal. This will make the forests grow faster.

The same goofy green policies that have pushed Drax into burning forests also apply in Australia. Maybe wood chips from our carbon credit forests will soon fuel Yallourn or Hazelwood power stations?

Such green stupidity will take us back to the BC era (before coal) when forests and hillsides were stripped bare of trees to fuel stoves, heaters, boilers, charcoal makers and smelters.

We would all be better off if Drax burned coal, produced cheap electricity, saved those forests and, to satisfy green dogma, planted a token forest of new trees.

For those who find the above unbelievable, here is one reference

And here is a detailed report on combustion products from carbon fuels

Nominations are invited for future recipients of the Gorbel Prize.

Meanwhile, Al Gore gets $100 million from Big Oil. See:

It’s Official – Carbon dioxide is non-Toxic


See:  

Disclosure: Viv Forbes has a degree in natural sciences and a lifetime of practical professional experience in subjects relevant to climate history, the carbon cycle and energy technology and economics. He is old enough to be retired and is self-employed and thus will be largely unaffected by the long term effects of today’s silly carbon policies. But he does use electricity, breeds ruminants, uses some wind and solar power and holds shares in, and acts as a non-executive director of a small Australian coal exploration company. He is founding Chairman of the Carbon Sense Coalition.

Piers Morgan admits gun ban ‘symbolic’

We probably shouldn’t pick on poor old Piers all of the time, but he is such a sanctimonious prick, so blatantly dishonest, so determined to Europeanize the US, and such a posturing idiot, he’s too tempting a target.

Now he is proving that his campaign against guns is purely symbolic and unlikely to achieve any sort of result as far as preventing mass shootings is concerned: 

At one rather humorous point, Morgan’s attempt to control the conversation nearly failed when an anti-gun professor, speaking via remote link, corrected him on the topic of whether, in fact, assault rifles were used most often in mass shootings (semiautomatic handguns are the weapon of choice). That nearly took the discussion back to where Shapiro had taken it last week--i.e. highlighting Morgan’s true desire to remove all guns.  

 The most telling moment of all came at the beginning of the program, when Morgan openly admitted that the Obama administration’s new proposals for gun regulations, which he supports and for which he proudly campaigned, are “not gonna stop mass shootings.” They are worth enacting anyway, Morgan explained, because they are an appropriate response to the Sandy Hook shootings, even if merely a symbolic one.   

Morgan immediately proved the point that Second Amendment defenders have been making for weeks--that none of the gun control proposals of the left would have made any difference in preventing the Sandy Hook atrocity. But what is important is not, in fact, whether we save the life of even one child. Rather, the aim is to humble Americans, particularly conservative ones, into accepting limits on our constitutional rights.

When Hughes challenged Morgan to explain why the Second Amendment ought to be limited to the technologies of the eighteenth century, but the First Amendment should not, he failed to produce a coherent answer. Never mind--the debate is settled, and the verdict is that Morgan is a small, small man. …

So, what we have is a person who has spent the entire time since Sandy Hook dragging the bodies of the victims across the studio floor as a prop for his bully pulpiting campaign against the Second Amendment admitting that his preferred result is futile and wont achieve his stated aim.  He then has the gall to suggest that it should be done anyway as a symbolic gesture.

What the hell is it with the left and symbols?

Piers Morgan’s deceit exposed

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Beyond This Horizon

 A couple of days ago on this site we accused Piers Morgan of ‘being a little disingenuous with his figures in relation to his statements in his debate with Jesse Ventura on gun control. We pointed out that while Britain had a lower gun murder rate than the US, it by no means indicated that the UK is a more civilized society, just that 93.4% of them prefer blunt or sharp objects to guns when committing murder.

 Libertarian Republican has a good find in a video clip that details just how deliberately deceitful Morgan was with the figures in his claims when interviewing Alex Jones. These were similar to those in the Ventura interview:
 

 Morgan’s claim that there were 35 murders in ‘Britain’ may be correct, but that figure excludes Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which would otherwise be included if the term Great Britain or the UK was used.

 His assertion that there were 11,000 gun murders in the US is also dishonest. FBI stats state that there were 8,583 of them in 2011 with 660 of them being ‘justifiable’ ones by law enforcement or civilians. Great Britain had 59, not 35.

 The UK though, has a violent crime rate of 2,034 per hundred thousand people, compared with 446 in the US, (four and a half times higher) and even 25% higher than troubled South Africa.

 If CNN are really convinced that Americans need to be talked down to by foreigners on the subject of crime and guns, it would be better if they picked someone who does not hail from one of the most violent societies on earth.