Author: bobmcgee

Recycling …

Peter Beattie on Kevni …

No one should ever forget the damage that he has done.

Sources close to the prime minister tell me that other celebrity candidates are under consideration.

Following the outstanding success of Bob Carr and the shot in the arm that Peter Beattie has given the campaign in Queensland, former state labor politicians are considered very marketable properties. Even as we speak Eddy Obeid and Ian MacDonald are being recruited to run in marginal seats. Eddy is particularly attractive because the campaign is somewhat strapped for cash and rumour has it that Eddy has a quid or two stashed away.

Trust me …

We are at the end of a boom.

The money has been rolling in. Things get tougher from here. We should be cashed up and ready to respond to tighter times. We’re not.

Why not? Well, two terms of Labor government have a lot to do with that, and Mr Rudd reduces the issue to the question “Who do you trust?”. He does seem to be making it very easy.

Even the Fin Review, a Fairfax rag can tell you the answer. It does its best to soften the blow for Labor, the Telegraph puts it more bluntly …

 

telerudd_thumb

Batty …

THE era of Kevin, interrupted by the Julia interlude, has been a roller-coaster ride. Having promised Howard-lite and fiscal conservatism, the excuse of the global financial crisis unleashed a period of rapid growth in government spending, successive budget deficits and mounting public debt under Kevin Rudd’s guidance.

Now, with Rudd’s return, Labor has launched a charm offensive that seeks to whitewash the past: it is as if aliens from Mars, fortunately departed, had been in charge.

Now that Miss Gillard has gone back to Mars it’s worth looking at the Rudd record …

…in the 935 days between becoming prime minister on December 3, 2007, and Julia Gillard’s coup of June 24, 2010, Rudd left Australians with at least $153 billion in unfunded fiscal burdens while wasting $100 billion of the community’s resources….

Labor has now achieved a net debt of $161.6bn. The May budget forecast an $18 billion deficit for this year and just a short time later it has had to be revised to $30 billion.

leakisland_thumb

Emmett’s disciple …

Got talking with a guitar player today. Lovely guy, named Wayne Monger.

Back in the 70’s one Emmett Chapman developed an instrument that is essentially a guitar and a bass mounted side by side on a near vertical plank. The strings are tapped rather than plucked. The result gives the soloist a harmonic freedom and range that would give the piano a run for its money, the Chapman Stick. Wayne is a convert …

or try this from Robert Culbertson

Local government bullying …

Dear City of Melbourne,

I do hope that council has read and considered the article published <HERE>.  Especially taking note of the comments.

Yours faithfully,

Robert McGee.

 

Dear Robert,

Thank you for your feedback.

This feedback has been recorded and passed onto the Parking and Traffic team for their information.

Should you require further assistance please contact us again by phoning 03 9658 9658.

Regards,

Sam on behalf of  Customer Relations | Customer Relations Branch

City of Melbourne | | Council House 1, 200 Little Collins Street Melbourne 3000  | GPO Box 1603 Melbourne 3001
T: 03 9658 9658 | F: 03 9654 4854 | http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au | http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/whatson
Integrity, Courage, Accountability, Respect, Excellence

Don’t you love this bit … Integrity, Courage, Accountability, Respect, Excellence.

I will be voting NO in the referendum concerning recognition of Local Government in the constitution.

More heat than light …

Just imagine a world with a carbon tax so great that energy was so expensive that all the industrialized countries reduced their carbon emissions by 60%.

We could stay home, cold in the winter and hot in the summer and rejoice in the knowledge that by 2050 we will have reduced global warming by 0.064°C, by 2100 our privation will make a difference of 0.192°C. Hey guys that’s very nearly two whole tenths of one degree!

This assumes that climate sensitivity is 3.0°C in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC).  This is probably an overestimate, recent global temperature behavior makes a value of 1.5°C more likely. In which case the reduction would be less …  0.042°C by 2050, 0.116°C by 2100.

Of course Australia’s contribution would be about 1.34% of that i.e. less than 0.0026°C by 2100 (at 3° sensitivity or 0.0016°C at 1.5°.)

You wouldn’t notice the difference in temperature but you would notice the difference in the cost of living.

The background to these calculations can be found at The Cato Institute where you can find a handy little calculator to try some other scenarios.