Climate shock …

Is it surprising that the government would support an alarm lacking scientific support? Not really. In our study of situations that are analogous to the current alarm over scenarios of global warming, we identified 26 earlier movements based on scenarios of man made disaster, including the global cooling alarm in the 1960s to 1970s. None of them were based on scientific forecasts. And yet, governments imposed costly policies in response to 23 of them. In no case did the forecast of major harm come true.

by Kesten C. Green, J. Scott Armstrong, and Willie Soon.

You can read the whole article <HERE>.

There is a significant warming trend evident in Australia. In Melbourne for example, an increase of 6.2 degrees Centigrade in average daily maxima can reasonably be expected by January (BoM figures). Summer’s like that. But sometimes there are cooling trends. Someone should do something about it …

But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.

That of course is from the 1975 Newsweek article telling us of our imminent plunge into the next ice age, it canvassed such spectacular strategies as “melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers“. You can read it <HERE>.

polarbearscooking

Give a dog …

… a bad name and then hang him.

I have no brief for Geoff Shaw, if he has corruptly misused his government car and other entitlements then let him face the consequences. If a former prime minister permitted the corrupt misuse of her government car let her face the consequences, too. But, hey, fair go with the other stuff.

Yesterday we saw some ugly footage of Mr Shaw pushing over a protester. You can find it on Youtube, I won’t bother putting a link. It shows just enough of the incident to give the impression of nasty Mr Shaw pushing over a poor old man. Today we can see the incident from an earlier point. You can watch it <HERE>. Clearly on this charge Mr Shaw has no case to answer.

Politicians should have safe access to their workplace, it is ridiculous that they should have to run the gauntlet of violent protesters.

And how useful were the protective services officers at the top of the steps?

One down …

Michael Williamson has pleaded guilty to plundering the Health Services Union of getting on for a million dollars. The one time president of the Australian Labor Party and head of the Health Services Union was being paid $513,294 per year at the time. Jail looks likely.

Wouldn’t trust union officials as far as I could throw’em. You would have to wonder why the ALP recruits so heavily from that arena.

Systems of government …

That may sound like an oxymoron but according to my British correspondent there are, indeed, systems. She enlightens me thus …

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other and then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, and then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has died.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you do not know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment and high bovine productivity.

You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
Nobody believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows but at least you are now a Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.

A GREEK CORPORATION
You have two cows borrowed from French and German banks.
You eat both of them.
The banks call to collect their milk, but you cannot deliver so you call the IMF.
The IMF loans you two cows.
You eat both of them.
The banks and the IMF call to collect their cows/milk.
You are out getting a haircut.

AN IRISH CORPORATION
You have two cows
One of them is a horse

The British Penny …

Sorry to have neglected you all for this past week or so, stuck in Cairns, gee it was awful.

My British correspondent has been busy in my absence and brings this sad news …

EU Directive No. 456179

In order to meet the conditions for joining the Single European currency, all citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland must be made aware that the phrase ‘Spending a Penny’ is not to be used after 31st December 2013.

From that date, the correct terminology will be: ‘Euronating’.

Thank you for your attention.

The keys to the asylum …

Unsettled in the science are many things. Among them climate sensitivity to carbon dioxide. To the faithful however it doesn’t really matter. I present for your enjoyment the quote of the week, from John Ashton speaking to scientists at the UK’s Meteorological Office.

Moreover, the consequences of climate change could still be catastrophic if the climate sensitivity were zero …
Well, true enough, just ask the dinosaurs. But if it’s zero a tax on energy just makes the poor get poorer and has no effect at all on climate change.