Taxus, taxus, hurryup and taxus!

no dice? loaded dice?

Altogether now: taxus, taxus…

What an unedifying spectacle: thousands of moronic Australians shouting for more taxes. There’s hardly anything I can add. Let’s lend the sensible Australians our voices against the utterly useless expense of it.

SYDNEY — Thousands of Australians across the country rallied on Sunday to support a tax on the carbon emissions blamed for global warming, as a new report outlined the risks of rising sea levels from climate change.

In Sydney, demonstrators carried banners reading “Say yes to cutting carbon pollution” and “Price carbon — our kids are worth it” while similar rallies attracted crowds in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart and Canberra.

“This should send a clear message to the government to set an ambitious price on carbon that will kick-start investment in clean energy,” said rally organiser Simon Sheikh, national director of the activist group GetUp.

Kick the habit?

Those who describe our emissions of carbon dioxide as a habit in the same vein (sorry, pun intended) as heroin are evilly misled and wickedly mislead others.

For carbon dioxide is a necessary trace gas in the atmosphere which feeds plants and there’s currently less of it than there’s been for millions of years.

Put a price on pollution?

Well, I entirely agree with this, but carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It’s an invisible, tasteless, odourless gas that exists in minute quantities in the atmosphere. Globally, it constitutes 0.04% of the atmosphere. That’s only 0.0004 of the air we breathe. Not much!

The greens and others call it a pollutant falsely, based on its supposed property of causing global warming. But guess what? They have it the wrong way around. The evidence actually shows that global warming causes higher atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide. Not many people know that!

The Australians cannot influence global warming with this brutal tax. Stopping all of Australia’s national emissions will not measurably affect global warming. They burden their families for no possible reward.

So it seems that the madness has spread a little further, but only (by definition!) to the already insane.

“Tax us, tax us!” Such cretins will get the government they deserve!

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25 Thoughts on “Taxus, taxus, hurryup and taxus!

  1. Flipper on 06/06/2011 at 8:50 pm said:

    Those supporting Gillard, Brown and a few others are out of step with Australian public opinion.

    The latest poll (today) shows almost 55 % of Australians are opposed to Gillard/Brown’s Carbon Tax while those in favour are caught in the back-wash, including the dont knows.

    So much for Brown’s cameo at the watermelons Auckland conference.

  2. Andy on 06/06/2011 at 9:18 pm said:

    I love that CO2 Kick the Habit banner!

    The average human exhales about 1kg of CO2 per day. (see here:
    http://cdiac.ornl.gov/pns/faq.html )

    I would imagine that this would be quite a hard habit to kick.

  3. Andy on 06/06/2011 at 9:24 pm said:

    O/T but is it just me, or are those Jeremy Wells Meridian Energy ads really irritating?

    The latest one has him in Antarctica, showing the windmills that they are putting in place to replace the diesel generators (yeah right), and he wistfully talks of the lack of “dirty global-warming causing CO2” that will be removed as a result of this.

    /headplant

    • Richard C (NZ) on 06/06/2011 at 10:28 pm said:

      I think I’ve developed an ad immunity system that kicks in once my mind subconsciously recognizes that I’m not target market (a reflex action in this case).

  4. Mike Jowsey on 06/06/2011 at 9:48 pm said:

    “Tax us, tax us!” Such cretins will get the government they deserve!

    Pot, meet kettle! 😉

    • Ha, ha! Mike, I suspect the insult dripped off my pen prompts your delicate criticism! But when a group is insulted, there’s no libel or ad hominem. Still, perhaps I could better say: “Asking for trouble declares poor situation awareness.”

  5. Andy on 07/06/2011 at 12:25 am said:

    As always, follow the money.

    This campaign is organised by GetUp!
    This is a trendy-lefty activist organisation that has all the latest fads under its belt

    Although they are a not-for-profit “independent”, they seem to have the means to run TV advertising campaigns and also have openings for a Lead Developer and Senior Software Engineer
    (See here – http://www.getup.org.au/about/work-at-getup )
    Wow get to do cool work and save the planet too – how cool is that!

    Remember folks to make a donation –
    https://www.getup.org.au/donate

    You can find some of their video propaganda here
    https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/climate-action-now/video/fund-solutions-not-pollution

    As usual, it is the stereotype of the old polluter guy and the young child who has seen the light.

    Unfortunately, Australians, your choice in the immediate future is coal or nuclear. Nothing in the short term is going to change this (try reading Roger Pielke Jnr’s “The Climate Fix” for some real world numbers on Australia’s issues.)

    So, Australia, you have chosen to be nuclear free, and you choose to tax coal.

    Executive summary – you are screwed.

  6. Alexander K on 07/06/2011 at 12:52 am said:

    In my experience, the moronic Marxist followers will mobilise at the drop of a hat and tow in all of their trusting trade union fellow travellers, plus students and pupils who have been fed a diet of green nonsense that has been inserted into school and varsity curricula for decades, it is no wonder there is a large supply of ‘willing idiots’ who know no better than to parrot nonsense. Australia was once ‘the lucky country’ and it needs a good helping of luck to rid itself of dishonest green alarmists.

  7. Quentin F on 07/06/2011 at 1:17 am said:

    To show not all Aussies are climate morons..here by Jo..I even voted! http://joannenova.com.au/2011/06/skeptics-rule-online-polls/

  8. val majkus on 07/06/2011 at 12:54 pm said:

    A message from a brainwashed Aussie

    Here in Aust there’s a lot of misinformation being fed to the public by the Govt and its agents (Climate Change Commissioner Tim Flannery and key Climate Advisor Ross Garnaut.) Ross Garnaut is an economist – go figure. The Climate Change Commission has just produced a report ‘The Critical Decade.’ You can see its report debunked by Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks, William Kininmonth at http://joannenova.com.au/2011/05/climate-commission-report-debunked/#more-15045
    and the report itself bears this disclaimer http://www.garnautreview.org.au/update-2011/garnaut-review-2011/summary-garnaut-review-2011.pdf
    This publication is produced for general information only and does not represent a statement of the policy of the Commonwealth of Australia or indicate a commitment to a particular policy or course of action. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth of Australia and all persons acting for the Commonwealth of Australia preparing this publication accept no liability for the accuracy, completeness or reliability of or inferences from the material contained in this publication, or for any action as a result of any person’s or group’s interpretations, deductions, conclusions or actions in relying on this material. Before any action or decision is taken on the basis of this material the reader should obtain appropriate independent advice.

    If you had gone to a doctor for a birth control pill at the time thalidomide was on the market you would have expected medical advice if the product was not safe – and because it was not there were later class actions; same applied in the case of breast implants.

    Notwithstanding the disclaimer the Govt has seized upon the Report with enthusiasm as entirely showing the correctness of their proposed new tax.

    Angry voters however want an election – http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/angry-voters-want-election-before-carbon-tax/story-e6freuy9-1226069753915
    Most Australians believe the new tax will or could hurt them financially

    The Govt however spruiks the line that with the help of its brand new tax we’re each going to be better off – in fact $8,000 better off according to Treasury modelling – you can read about this here
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/new-carbon-tax-pitch-well-be-much-better-off/story-fn59niix-1226070560026
    I haven’t seen the report yet so don’t know whether it carries a disclaimer

    Then there’s people worried about their jobs. No probs, there will be no labor market consequences, this report ‘How many jobs is 23,510 Really’ says the impact of the carbon tax on the mining industry will be “trivial” – so small that for practical purposes it will be “invisible,” according to one of Australia’s leading labour market economists; link to the report and critique here
    http://catallaxyfiles.com/2011/06/06/how-many-jobs-is-23510-really/

    Then there’s the Govt’s other line regarding the labor market – yes you’ve heard it before – all those great new jobs in these great new green industries – no matter Spain and Italy have found for the creation of 1.5 green jobs there are 3 lost in the non green sector – there is selective deafness to that inconvenient truth

    Then there’s my personal problem – my ears are attacked daily by my mother who is every day beseiged by alarmist messages over the air waves – everything from diminution of polar bears, increasing sea heights, ocean acidification – the only thing the alarmists seem to be not commenting upon at the moment is warming cos it doesn’t seem to be happening

    Oh yes, I forgot to say the Govt is going to compensate us for cost of living changes

    Well happy days
    I (and the rest of Aust) will be in Nirvana as soon as this tax is introduced; the neighbour’s cat is marching past with its placard ‘Compensate me now’.

  9. Andy on 07/06/2011 at 5:52 pm said:

    There are some interesting opinions coming from the Sydney Morning Herald. This one full of violent fantasies against “climate change deniers”

    (h/t Donna Laframboise – http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2011/06/06/climate-change-violent-fantasies/ )

    Surely it’s time for climate-change deniers to have their opinions forcibly tattooed on their bodies.

    Not necessarily on the forehead; I’m a reasonable man. Just something along their arm or across their chest so their grandchildren could say, ”Really? You were one of the ones who tried to stop the world doing something? And why exactly was that, granddad?”

    On second thoughts, maybe the tattooing along the arm is a bit Nazi-creepy. So how about they are forced to buy property on low-lying islands, the sort of property that will become worthless with a few more centimetres of ocean rise, so they are bankrupted by their own bloody-mindedness? Or what about their signed agreement to stand, in the year 2040, lashed to a pole at a certain point in the shallows off Manly? If they are right and the world is cooling – ”climate change stopped in the year 1998” is one of their more boneheaded beliefs – their mouths will be above water. If not …

    Brought to you by Richard Glover, SMH columnist.

    There’s a follow-up “denier tattoo contest” over at JunkScience.com

    http://junkscience.com/2011/06/06/win-500-in-the-climate-change-denier-tattoo-sweepstakes/

  10. val majkus on 07/06/2011 at 8:29 pm said:

    Our Treasurer has addressed the Press Club.
    We’re all going to be better off; who knew it was this easy — just impose a new tax and everyone is better off —
    see http://catallaxyfiles.com/2011/06/07/global-action-on-climate/#comments

    What spin!

    At this stage there are no details of the new tax; the price per tonne has not been agreed to between the Greens, the independents and the Govt.

    But happy days; looking forward to the new Nirvana.

    Oh wait … problem is this Govt has been promising a Nirvana with each of its policies and nothing has happened yet with any of its other policies; instead we have a huge debt (paying $160B per day interest on our debt all of which has been incurred during the life of the Labor Govt) but if you’re an optimist, even an optimist would be running out of optimism now.

  11. val majkus on 07/06/2011 at 9:22 pm said:

    thanks Richard – one reason Aussies are so angry are that this was this specific promise before the last election which resulted in this current PM
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sSqkMGhkgs
    the first photo is the current PM before the last election

  12. Andy on 07/06/2011 at 10:15 pm said:

    This is slightly off topic, but I don’t know where to put these really crazy headlines from the Guardian that have been appearing recently.

    I think the “climate crisis” might be getting to their heads.
    Or maybe they are on drugs, hard to tell.

    Global warming crisis may mean world has to suck greenhouse gases from air
    As Bonn talks begin, UN climate chief warns of temperature goals set too low and clock ticking on climate change action

    The world may have to resort to technology that sucks greenhouse gases from the air to stave off the worst effects of global warming, the UN climate change chief has said before talks on the issue beginning on Monday.

    “We are putting ourselves in a scenario where we will have to develop more powerful technologies to capture emissions out of the atmosphere,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. “We are getting into very risky territory,” she added, stressing that time was running out.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/05/global-warming-suck-greenhouse-gases

    I can see the project being put out to tender to Dyson, and Hoover and other who wish to enter the global vacuum cleaner market.

    • Alexander K on 08/06/2011 at 8:39 am said:

      Andy, the Grauniad is ALWAYS full of ridiculous environment headlines,. On the other hand, their sports blogs have a good mix of writers and attract some sensible and down-to-earth posters who really know their sport and often provide more incisive, more humourous and more pungent analysis than the journalists. Most of the home-grown posters are complimentary about Southern hemisphere Rugby, unlike many so-called UK sports ‘journalists’, although more realistic views have prevailed for the last couple of seasons. I do get tired, however, of one Times journalist who always manages to be gratuitously insulting about the Haka – I guess it’s the one thing he can choose to get an automatic and major reaction to, as his writing is usually very ordinary.

    • Quentin F on 08/06/2011 at 6:39 pm said:

      Great.. suck all the CO2 from the air and kill the environment alright…NO PLANTS!
      Wackkos all of them!

  13. Richard C (NZ) on 08/06/2011 at 8:48 pm said:

    88 per cent of people said no thanks to paying less than $2 to offset carbon from their Jetstar flight. When buying a ticket on a Qantas plane, only 8 per cent of online flyers consciously ticked the “yes, offset flights” button to pay $1.82. By May this year, that figure had dropped to 7 per cent.

    Mind the gap on climate

    * Janet Albrechtsen
    * From: The Australian
    * June 08, 2011 12:00AM
    * 60 comments

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/mind-the-gap-on-climate/story-e6frgd0x-1226071255005

    I get the impression that Australian fliers are non-committal to “saving the planet” on a voluntary basis. A safe bet that they are even less enthusiastic about being taxed involuntarily to do so.

    [And on topic to boot]

  14. val majkus on 08/06/2011 at 9:05 pm said:

    there is a curious story which arose the same day as the Taxus marches
    A Canberra Times article http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/climate-of-fear-scientists-face-death-threats/2185089.aspx
    If any of you are interested I’ll add a bit more about it here
    but only if you’re interested

    • Andy on 08/06/2011 at 9:15 pm said:

      Hi Val,
      I am interested in this story. There is a similar story on HT
      http://hot-topic.co.nz/mad-bad-and-dangerous/
      which was recycled from Graham Redfearn.

      I’m not sure how seriously to take this. Most of the “sceptics” I know are fairly mild-mannered. Wasn’t it the 10-10 ers who came up with the Red Button ?

  15. val majkus on 08/06/2011 at 9:36 pm said:

    hi Andy
    Okay, this is my input; I was checking Jen Marohassy’s blog on Saturday last when a comment came in from Gavin about the front page story in the Canberra Times; you can see the comments here

    mine at 8.11 am in response to Gavin’s which occurs at page 3 in that post

    Gavin It’s niggling at me but I’ve heard that allegation before; it was the scientists working ‘in a cocoon’ that I remember
    I’ve looked on the web but can’t find it
    But have an idea it related to the UK
    anyway …. a little mystery

    mine again to Gavin at 11.21 am
    thanks for that gavin, just for interest I had googled ‘death threats to climate scientists’ and if you do the same you’ll see there’s even been a doc on it by Clive Hamilton and then there’s this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/hacked-climate-emails-death-threats
    here’s more about the 5 part series by Clive Hamilton
    http://www.ecoshock.org/labels/Australia.html
    a para from that article:
    Clive Hamilton is a Professor of Public Ethics, supported by Australian National University and the University of Melbourne. Previously, he founded and ran a progressive think tank called the Australia Institute.

    I don’t recall anything coming out of what seems to be numerous allegations
    so … a mystery
    (mine again at 5.57 pm)
    here’s a weird story
    Data for study based on TWO fish sample size: challenges to Australia’s Climate Comission go unanswered
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/04/study-based-on-two-fish-sample-size-challenges-to-australias-climate-comission-go-unanswered/#more-40677
    and check out the comment by
    charles nelson says:
    June 4, 2011 at 12:30 am
    Dear Moderator,
    Not absolutely on subject but ABC (aus) Radio News just ran a story about a Climate Scientist at Melbourne Uni who has received death threats, for tirelessly speaking the truth about Climate change. Apparently University authorities have taken steps to upgrade his security. Corollis or something like that was his name…
    This smells mighty fishy to me…why should this story arise now. Of course I have a theory.
    In the media spin business timing is everything and as the Warmists watch their support dwindle away with every brimming lake, every desert bloom, every fresh fall of snowin the mountains and every extra layer of clothing the Australian population is putting on to contend with the coldest weather in 40 years…is it possible that some clever green media rascal has decided that if you can’t win the argument about the ‘Science’ then why not try to paint ‘Deniers’ as murderous fanatics?
    Kind of like the exploding children idea but turned round 180 degrees.
    Smacks of desperation. GRrrreat!
    and today this story at Jo Nova
    http://joannenova.com.au/2011/06/to-a-climate-scientist-swearing-equals-a-death-threat-no-wonder-these-guys-cant-predict-the-weather/
    Wait for it, some death threat emails have been released. Number eight is positively sinister with intent (shield your children):
    (first paras)
    Now several of the abusive emails have been published on a blog by environmental writer Graham Readfearn, after the scientists agreed to release the poison pen letters.

    Number Eight:

    “If we see you continue, we will get extremely organised and precise against you. We will not do so if you rightfully argue against our points from a science view. But we will if you choose to stray into attacks on us as people or as a movement. The institution and funders that support you will find the attention concerning.”
    God forbid, imagine a member of the public imploring a scientist to argue with science instead of slurs. Well I’ll be!
    How chilling does it get? These scientists must get hundreds of emails a week. Here are the worst two Sunanda Creagh could find:

    …several correspondents had a more chilling message for the scientists.

    “Just do your science or you will end up collateral damage in the war, GET IT,” reads one email.

    “If we see you continue, we will get extremely organised and precise against you,” reads another.

    Obviously we need to protect our scientists against this unreasonable intrusion on their right to issue baseless propaganda and unsubstantiated smears. Imagine the threat of members of the public getting “precise” in their arguments? How dare they?!
    and see her previous post posted on Monday 6/6; the Monday after the Taxus marches:

    http://joannenova.com.au/2011/06/death-threats-are-never-ok-but-for-those-without-morals-they-can-be-a-useful-pr-tool/

    In other words nothing new and no death threats so why the beat up on the front page of the Canberra Times the same day as the Taxus marches

    So Andy no red buttons that I can see – what can you see?

    • Andy on 08/06/2011 at 10:18 pm said:

      Val, what I see is a made up story by a desperate regime on its last legs.

  16. val majkus on 08/06/2011 at 9:39 pm said:

    sorry Andy here’s Jen Marohassy’s link
    http://jennifermarohasy.com/blog/2011/05/the-carbon-tax-all-style-no-substance/#comments
    (I missed it at line 4 of my comment above)

  17. val majkus on 08/06/2011 at 10:23 pm said:

    Andy well, I would certainly say on the evidence no red buttons; no police investigation and I can’t see any death threats
    So why did it hit the front page of the Canberra Times on the day of the Taxus marches

    It’s a mystery

    but thanks for taking an interest

    • Andy on 08/06/2011 at 10:49 pm said:

      Val,
      My limited knowledge of Canberra is that it is full of bureaucrats, presumably many of them with their fingers in the climate pie.

      In fact, a friend of mine from Canberra gleefully reported recently that he had been invited on a free trip to the UK courtesy of the Australian Green Party,because he is married to a Green party member.

      I imagine that this kind of “death threat” story would be easy to fabricate. After all, no one wants to come forward in case of identification, and of course all us “flat-earthers” are all right-wing nut jobs with shooters in the back of our Utes, aren’t we? /sarc

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