From The Australian, the beginning of a nationwide convoy protesting the carbon tax. I’m sure the delicate sensibilities of the ruling class in Canberra, most of which don’t know the meaning of actual work, will be greatly offended when these folks roll into town.
Note that there are some familiar faces to WUWT involved. Read on.
Mass convoy to make ‘real’ voices heard
Peter Whyteroff (third from left) with other members from the convoy of No Confidence to Canberra, who will take the longest trip to the country’s capital, photographed in Port Hedland where they leave from on Tuesday. Picture: Aaron Bunch Source: The Australian
FOR some it’s climate change alarmism; for others too much wasted taxpayers’ money on boatpeople, school halls, or pink batts; and for others still it’s the importation of Chinese apples, the temporary ban on the live cattle trade, or same-sex couples rearing children.
But the common thread in what is emerging as a national Tea Party-style revolt in the form of a “Convoy of No Confidence” to Canberra is a burning conviction that politicians of all persuasions have lost touch with the real-life needs of the common man and woman they are supposed to represent.
What began as a truckies protest against the carbon tax has grown into a mass alliance of those outside the urban elites who feel they have lost their voice.
It’s an amalgam of butchers, bakers and candlestick makers who are mad as hell and not going to take it any more.
The convoy, whose drivers will start their engines this week from around the country and converge on Canberra next Monday, was conceived by the National Road Freight Association.
…
But it now looks likely to be joined by a wide range of supporters and vehicles ranging from big rigs to utes to campervans, and even motorcycles.
They will ride under the banner “Real people — facing the forgotten issues with friendship and a little fun.”
The first of a total of 11 convoys — each with its own leaders and colours — will set off tomorrow from Port Hedland in Western Australia, led by truck owner-driver Peter Whytcross.
…
Mr Whytcross’s convoy will sport brown balloons and streamers. The convoy starting in Perth and led by cattle producer Matt Thompson and his wife, Janet, will emblazon theirs with orange.
Mr Thompson led grain feedlot cattle farmers in a campaign against having the greenhouse gas emissions from their belching beasts included in the national reporting regime, presenting the sceptic’s view at a public meeting.
That speech, Ms Thompson said, led to a backlash from the Greens. “He put us on the radar screen in terms of the environmental lobby,” she said.
The Thompsons will pile their four young children into a campervan for the trip to Canberra, taking the message, Ms Thompson said, “to all political parties to not just ignore our existence”.
The carbon tax, she said, was just one example of how the government “takes us to centralised control rather than allowing the market to work”.
Here’s the map:
And the website at:
http://justgroundsonline.com/forum/topics/convoy-of-no-confidence-in-the
I think it is going to be like “Mad Max” meets “Smokey and the Bandit”.
In the meantime, some campy Americana from the movie “Convoy”:
Good on ya!! Hope the poms in the capital realize they’ve bit off more than they can chew.
The conviction.
“same-sex couples rearing children”
Is that really considered a problem?
This is great!
Simply wonderful to see so many from all walks of life come together to fight corruption and incompetence.
10-4 Rubber Duck, looks like we got ourselves a convoy!
( My apologies to C.W McCall.)
I hope they keep this up…..and all the success in this world
The American Tea Party was just as disjointed in the beginning….
….Australia has some wonderful people that can step up, get them better organized, and focused
When they do….the Australian Tea Party will be a force they will have to deal with
Here’s one fellow in the USA that’s pullin’ for you!
Now go put ’em on proper notice.
Matthew Sullivan says:
same-sex couples rearing children
“Is that really considered a problem?”
It depends on your definition of “rearing.”☺
Good Luck ……Just remember you are dealing with people who think
a Big Mack is fast food……..
….and they are the only Prime Movers!
Power to the People
Smokey 14 Aug 5.27: bravo, more please, ☺☺☺☺☺
The Dodd-Frank paper-work trail allowed by the state may be the cheatingly ‘straight’ but the genetic lineage will ‘out’ in the end …
Oh – and Go Australian Tea Party!
.
Boy, that “Convoy” song takes me back. It sparked a run on CB radios, and there was some grumbling when First Lady Betty Ford was bumped to the front of the line for a license. I guess the CB was the iPhone of its time. 🙂
Good luck to the Australian convoys. Julia Gillard would be well advised not to ignore her constituents.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK
Meanwhile the Kiwis across the moat reckon we should all just relax and- “Chill out dudes!”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10745187
but perhaps a few intrepid Kiwi soulmates will hitch up the huskies and sled it to Canberra 😉
CURSE YOU !! Now I cant get that song out of my head
Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth pullin’ logs
Hope someone adapts this and blairs it from the speakers on every truck. “We just ain’t gonna pay no toll.” Says what needs to be said.
Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth pullin’ logs
Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin’ hogs
We is headin’ for bear on I-one-oh
‘Bout a mile outta Shaky Town
I says, “;Pig Pen, this here’s the Rubber Duck.
“;And I’m about to put the hammer down.”;
[Chorus]
‘Cause we got a little convoy
Rockin’ through the night.
Yeah, we got a little convoy,
Ain’t she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain’t nothin’ gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin’ convoy
‘Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
By the time we got into Tulsa Town,
We had eighty-five trucks in all.
But they’s a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,
And them bears was wall-to-wall.
Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;
They even had a bear in the air!
I says, “;Callin’ all trucks, this here’s the Duck.
“;We about to go a-huntin’ bear.”;
[Chorus]
‘Cause we got a great big convoy
Rockin’ through the night.
Yeah, we got a great big convoy,
Ain’t she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain’t nothin’ gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin’ convoy
‘Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
Well, we rolled up Interstate 44
Like a rocket sled on rails.
We tore up all of our swindle sheets,
And left ’em settin’ on the scales.
By the time we hit that Chi-town,
Them bears was a-gettin’ smart:
They’d brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinoise National Guard.
There’s armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,
And rigs of ev’ry size.
Yeah, them chicken coops was full’a bears
And choppers filled the skies.
Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin’ trucks
An’ eleven long-haired Friends a’ Jesus
In a chartreuse micra-bus.
Well, we laid a strip for the Jersey shore
And prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didn’t have a dog-goned dime.
I says, “;Pig Pen, this here’s the Rubber Duck.
“;We just ain’t a-gonna pay no toll.”;
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says “;Let them truckers roll, 10-4.”;
[Chorus]
‘Cause we got a mighty convoy
Rockin’ through the night.
Yeah, we got a mighty convoy,
Ain’t she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain’t nothin’ gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin’ convoy
‘Cross the U-S-A.
What’s the ealiest opportunity for those guys to vote those morons out of office?
MattN says:
“What’s the ealiest opportunity for those guys to vote those morons out of office?”
No matter how bad or tyrannical the Australian gov’t is, or becomes, the vote is the only tool they have, because they don’t have a 2nd Amendment.
Fellas, I hope your trucks are all you need.
The country can’t survive without trucking. It is like the ideologues have a punitive attitude towrd commerce.
@MattN — The problem is that the only replacements available for election are put there by the same political parties, which are all the same as far as screwing new taxes from the surfs go.
Same problem as in the USA. Probably requiring the same ultimate solution.
There is the easy way – the Tea Party, or if that fails, the hard way.
Lets hope it never comes to the hard way.
Peter Whyteroff or Peter Whytcross? Sorry.
Good luck down under. We need a role model!
And for Americans, happy Government Burden Day!
The earliest opportunity could come, in theory, five weeks from next Saturday, as it is within the Prime Minister’s power to request the Governor-General to dissolve parliament and set a date for an election. However, it is very unlikely that the Prime Minister would choose to call an election that she knew that she was going to lose.
Alternatively, two of the independents could withdraw their guarantees of supply, meaning that either that power could pass to the opposition without an election (unlikely) or that the Governor-General would call an election as neither side could guarantee her that they enjoyed the confidence of the House of Representatives.
However, the most probable course of events is that the current government will continue for as long as it can, which means an election towards the end of 2013 or at latest early 2014 (the latter not likely, for a variety of historical and procedural reasons).
When I see an article like this I really worry that WUWT is getting too far from putting the science of climate change under the microscope and becoming more of a political advocacy site. An Australian Tea Party?
Yes it is very fustrating working against entrenched views that the science is settled, especially in governments and NGO’s, but a steady insistance that climate science is tested against real world observations will win support from the general public eventually, especially as these observations diverge more and more from the computer models.
Going to extremes of the political right or left will turn the majority of people off listening at all. Someone comming to this site for the first time and reading this article
could be turned off by the political slant – what have boat people and same-sex couples got to do with climate change?
I think Anthony you have done more than most to expose the bastardisation of the scientific process that has happened with climate science. Please keep a steady pressure on that science and away from politics.
Just a point of view.
Correction:
“A full term Gillard government would go to a normal House and Half Senate election between 3 August and 30 November 2013.”
http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2011/06/what-chance-a-double-dissolution-in-the-next-three-years.html
So there is no chance of it being in early 2014.
NO TO CARBON TAX says:
August 14, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Smokey 14 Aug 5.27: bravo, more please, ☺☺☺☺☺
Indeed, bravo,more homophobia please!!!
I’m sorry to see the government down under has driven these folks to this. It’s not easy to drop your livelihood for some time to make a stand and fight the idiocracy this way. The freedom to make a living continues to disappear from countries where you would least expect it to. It is not the planet that needs saving; individual rights and personal freedom are in grave danger around the world, and nowhere more in danger than in Australia and America.
Good luck to our brothers and sisters down under. Give ’em hell.
“I’m sure the delicate sensibilities of the ruling class in Canberra, most of which don’t know the meaning of actual work…”
This is unworthy of you. As a former public servant in Canberra, I can assure you that most of the people employed there do a great deal of work. It may not be useful, productive or rational work, but that’s not their fault — it’s the fault of government policies and the responsibility-dodging hierarchy that successive governments have established. And most of them — not all, admittedly — would much rather be doing work they could see the value and importance of.
I can assure you that just as high a proportion of public servants are hoping for the downfall of the Gillard government as anyone else.
In addition to the Southern Cross flags of Australia, I strongly suggest that the folks in this Convoy of No Confidence fly the battle flag of the U.S. Confederacy.
If nothing else, it’s the sort of symbol of rebellion guaranteed to loosen those sphincters in Canberra more effectively than a dose of croton oil.
Kick ’em in the ass, boys. Don’t pee on ’em.
BTW I’m updating my blog post on the convoy to catalog the media coverage in one place and provide links out to supporting sites – see my link. Just drop me a comment if you find something new that isn’t on there.
Currently for ‘Carbon Tax Convoy” I have the number one search spot… quite a lot of interest!
TIB, In response to your post.
I would suggest that this forum has a right to report the story. After all the problem the Australian public are having these days is the volume of selective reporting on climate change and the science.
With the carbon tax introduced through the political marriage of Brown/Gillard the reported additional issues are simply adding to the public’s distrust in the direction Brown/Gillard personally want Australia to go. I do not believe WUWT is straying into politics, as it is site’s like this that have made the public aware of the flaws in the climate science model.
Quick question about the picture of the people with the large truck: how do you tell a ‘real’ voice from a ‘not-real’ voice?
The election could be a lot sooner than 2013, if Craig “I loves the whores” Thomson gets done by the DPP or is forced to resign… #hookergate
Tib,
Everybody In The World Has Become A Keynesian
http://marcfaberblog.blogspot.com/
and from this perspective, of course, every government pre 1990 and common sense look politically extremely right, but only because the reference frame has totally shifted to the extreme left.
With the greatest respect, I do hope this convoy is nothing like the Tea Party in America
Hey Anthony,
Another question: how can you identify an ‘urban elite’? I live in a pretty big city, but probably can’t be considered elite. But man, I’m really trying!!! How do I know when I’ve arrived?
Thanks Anthony.
please people, NOT a “Tea party”
this is aussie citizens with no particular affiliation except to our Country.
and the aim is to get JuLIAR and Bob to back off, stop the insane Carbon Tax plan, the crazy NBN, the MDBA, and a lot of other green and controlling laws,and actually listen!
the Carbon Tax is just the Final Straw for just about all of us, the prior stuffups this govt with KRudd before and now this collective of INcompetents has all (bar the ultragreen communist leaning or just plain braindead) Ragingly angry and fed up to the back teeth with lies and the debt theyve run our country into.
eg your’e able to get forced private health laws repealed, we cannot.
your’e still able to fight against RFID tagging
we protested and copped it anyway
we protested gun removals,
they made handover law and citizens list the means to defend home and hearth,
no chance of a “dads army” in time of need here…
what passes for a citizens constitution here, is a pathetic excuse, to sound ok and actually protect is hardly at all from any out of control govt of the days lunacy.
masses of people have been doing it the “approved way” letter calls email and pleas to consider alternatives.
all ignored, JuLiar knows best..
she does NOT .
her inane,repeated ,”whats best” for the country means using IPCC science..shutting power plants who already are finding it hard to keep adequate supply going, intro of smart meters to cover their lack of power at peak times by ‘browning” us out. while wasting Billions on useless wind and solar.
need I say more?
Bob,
You are among the elite if you have to pay federal income taxes. More than 50% of the U.S. population do not pay any federal tax, so they can’t be considered the “elite.” They’re living off of the productive members of society – those people who create all the private sector jobs, and who pay all the federal taxes. This situation cannot go on, so enjoy it while it lasts. No matter what side of the economic fence you’re on.
tucci78- stars and bars, right on!!!! It symbolizes everything that is good, pure and right!!!
At 8:12 PM on 14 August, Bob asks:
Employ the same criteria used to distinguish grassroots political initiative from “astroturfing.”
When it such a protest is engendered by private people cohering to articulate their political discontent with the conduct of government officials in this way – not kicked off by public relations flacks who have been funded by the wealthy or the political opponents of the regime in the capitol – it’s “a ‘real’ voice.”
To Tib. Here in Australia we have a coalition government of Labor (like Democrat in the US) and Greens (who are water melons wherever they are). Before the last election the Prime Minister said, “There will be no carbon (dioxide) tax under a government I lead.” Failing to win a majority they entered this alliance with the support of a few independents.
In a way this protest is about climate science as the majority of people here don’t buy it that we are heating the world to hell.
With all the money wasted by this goverment on green/socalist disasters they are planning to introduce this tax under the guise of saving the planet, but it’s really a big new tax to save themselves fiscally.
This convoy is not the first protest and tomorrow (Tues) there will be a car/bus protest in our capital when our parliament resumes after the winter break (been rather cold actually.)
People are feed up with the goverment trying to sell them this turkey – or to be the turkey looking forward to xmas.
Tib –
Anthony covers the science all the time. some would argue he should concentrate more on the politics. don’t characterise the politics as “tea party” (which means very different things anyway, e.g. Paul’s or Bachmann’s?) because many who visit WUWT do not share the politics of the right (or the left for that matter) but are rather extremely concerned that science is being subverted for money and politics. Martin Durkin, director of “The Great Global Warming Swindle” on Channel 4 in the UK, a documentary that went viral around the world, has incredibly not been commissioned to produce a followup despite all the post-Climategate scientific exposes, but he is adding his voice now:
9 Aug: Martin Durkin: The Secret of Global Warming – Posh Anti-Capitalism
Poor Al Gore. Global warming is fast turning into a joke. From the jolly Hockey Stick (remember that one) to the topsy-turvy ice core data (what a howler), from the laughable computer models, to the dodgy temperature records … not a single scrap of global warming garbage has escaped the blistering, excoriating scrutiny of McIntyre, Lindzen, Christy, Spencer, Singer, Carter & Co. The awkward-squad army of sceptics have kicked and trampled this theory to death, not once, but a hundred times over.
And yet, for all the onslaught of reasoned, scientific argument, the global warming beast refuses to lie down. Like some beleagured, maniac cyborg from the future, it just goes on and on. We all know the reason. The edifice of global warming is built not on science, but politics.
But what kind of politics? This is the first in a series of blog pieces to explore the green politics behind global warming …..
http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/secret-global-warming-posh-anti-capitalism
this is what the average person i trying to stop:
15 Aug: Daily Mail: Kirsty Walker: The ‘green tax con’ that is costing families £500 as finances are under strain
In a hard-hitting book called Let them eat carbon, Matthew Sinclair argues that environmental levies are excessive compared with the harms they are meant to address.
The director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance found that after road levies (£9.2billion) and Air Passenger Duty (£2.1billion) are taken out of the equation, total domestic green taxes were £30billion last year.
Yet according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the social cost of greenhouse emissions was £16.9billion.
This means that around £13billion in excess green levies were levied on taxpayers – the equivalent of £500 a family…
He (Sinclair) claimed that much of the money raised in green taxes goes straight into the pockets of a ‘bewildering range of special interests’ and warned climate change had become ‘big business’…
‘Unfortunately, there is precious little evidence that the various schemes and targets that make up climate change policy are actually an efficient way of cutting emissions
‘They don’t represent good value and the public are right to be sceptical.’…
Motorists have been hit with a record £27billion in fuel duties over the past year. A petition calling for the tax to be frozen is among the most popular on a new Government website.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2026006/The-green-tax-costing-families-500-finances-strain.html
I think if this:
catches on in the press it will read more like “Hold m’ beer and watch this” than a grass roots protest. This is serious shit and no minor silliness should creep into it or the press will pick at it like a carrion crow and regurgitate every negative adjective possible to turn the public against it. I long for a time when the press was the advocate of the working man and not the champion of expansionist government.
Say, “No CAH-BUN Tax.”
Smokey – that’s a buttload of crap. Everyone pays stealth taxes but doesn’t necessarily know it. Obviously this has escaped you. Not all taxes we pay are represented on the 1024 form. Yes, it is worse than we thought. But – more than 50% are paying only stealth taxes and that is still pretty bad. Don’t alienate them – bring them in – we need their votes.
Re Craig Thomson, if he resigns, that does not bring down the government immediately. There would be a by-election. Labor currently hold the seat by a touch over 10 per cent, so it would not necessarily be an easy pick up for the Liberals – although on current polling a swing of around that would be average. I would also point out that the opposition calling for a member to resign is not particularly unusual. A resignation is, however, extremely unusual, and in the circumstances of a hung parliament it would be extremely unlikely.
dp,
I’m actually glad we disagree. Let’s hash it out here, and decide who should pay how much. And decide if everyone should, or shouldn’t, pay at least some net taxes.
In response to my suggestion that the Convoy of No Confidence fly the battle flag of the U.S. Confederacy in addition to the Southern Cross banner of their country, at 8:45 PM on 14 August Bob writes:
Twice wrong, Bob. The original flag of the U.S. Confederacy – the the Stars and Bars – has no particular symbolic significance for either the Australians or anybody else outside these United States. On the other hand, the battle flag and the Bonnie Blue Flag were combat ensigns designed and used to mark the lines of attack and defense in resistance against an aggressive tyranny masquerading as a lawful government.
If the defense of individual human rights against the officers of a government gone juramentado to threaten the lives, the liberties, and the property of the people they’re supposed to be serving is not “everything that is good, pure, and right,” what is?
ozspeaksup says:
August 14, 2011 at 8:35 pm
That is exactly what the tea party here is despite the demonizations of the left.
dp says:
August 14, 2011 at 8:55 pm
wrong there is no federal VAT or tax like it on the country as a whole any taxes you might actually be paying are local or state but most likely NOT federal. I know many people that have <1k held out every year but then get a "refund" of 8-10k now is that a "fair" tax?
… and snow is falling in Wellington, NZ, for the first time in 35 years ?
Rare snow in Wellington, NZ, August 14, 2011
Thanks Tucci78! Makes more sense now! So it’s like the Tea Party then – not funded by the wealthy.
Smokey – you’re missing the point. We’re not where we are because we don’t pay enough taxes – even those you say pay none. We are were we are because our government spends too much. What this means is your target group, those you say pay no taxes actually receive a smaller handout than they would if they did not pay stealth taxes. But we all pay those stealth taxes.
So let me give you an example of a stealth tax – it will look like a straw man at first blush so look beyond that. Suppose you run a toilet paper factory and the government decided your company emits too much CO2 and fills the rivers with unhealthy effluence. So they tax the snot out of you to clean that up. Do you eat that tax or do you pass it on to your toilet paper customers?
Lemme know if you need to use a life line.
Tib says:
August 14, 2011 at 6:54 pm
“When I see an article like this I really worry that WUWT is getting too far from putting the science of climate change under the microscope and becoming more of a political advocacy site. An Australian Tea Party?….Going to extremes of the political right or left will turn the majority of people off listening at all.”
Tib,
You imply that The Tea Party is ‘political extreme’. What is the basis of your implication? Have you first hand experience attending T.E.A. Party rallies at your state capitol steps or local gatherings of like minded Taxed Enough Already citizens? I sincerely doubt it.
I have attended a number of T. E. A. party rallies and found the attendees to be polite, well spoken, ethnically mixed in rough proportion to the general population, and joined by a profound concern for the nearly bankrupting debts the federal government and the individual states of the USA have amassed! Most of us can agree that +$14.5 trillion and growing US debt is extreme. Most of us can agree that borrowing 40 cents of every dollar that the US government spends is extreme and unsustainable!
The common TEA party theme is a focus on issues of primary concern, cut spending on secondary and lower priorities, balance the federal and state budgets, and create real surpluses to pay down debt. This will reduce our debt incurred interest payments over time, cut the size and cost of government, reduce the bureaucratic regulations that strangle economic growth, and re-invigorate private sector investments. Private sector economic growth is the only true source of sustainable jobs and wealth creation and the wealth fountain from which all tax receipts are siphoned.
In what way is that extreme? Focus on highest priorities. Cut spending. Live within your means. Pay off your debts. Encourage, reward, and celebrate private enterprise. Extreme? Really? These are the fundamentals my parents and grandparents lived by and taught to all of their children. Please explain how these time tested fundamentals are ‘extreme’….
Just noticed…..That looks like a Kenworth!!!
How fitting, a U.S. truck?
Tucci78 onAugust 14, 2011 at 7:38 pm, you wrote:
QUOTE
In addition to the Southern Cross flags of Australia, I strongly suggest that the folks in this Convoy of No Confidence fly the battle flag of the U.S. Confederacy.
UNQUOTE
Thanks, we appreciate your support but we don’t need your flag.
Once long ago, Australian miners fought against government opression and flew the Eureka flag.
While they lost that battle, they eventually won the war.
We still fly the Euteka flag when it is appropraite.
For your information, less that 30% of Australians now support the current governemt, as opinion poll after opinion poll has shown.
We are just waiting, more or less patiently, for the next election, as our democracy is strong.
Smokey, NO TO CARBON TAX, let’s also get back to talking about ‘rearing’? There’s a really important connection here with all of this taxing and ‘global warming’ stuff….but I just haven’t gotten it yet. Help!!
Smokey, dp has a point on stealth taxes. In fact, stealth tax technology has increased amazingly in complexity from the days of the invention of parking meters.
I look back to my homeland in amazement at some of the examples. Here’s a good one – if you live by a soccer stadium in what is otherwise a wasteland, you don’t get free resident parking. Why ? Because they can charge the soccer club to pay for the resident’s parking fees, which they invented as a means of adding to the price of admission to a soccer game. Brilliant, eh ?
….. and then they give the money to loads of poor people who they import to vote for them without thinking about the bubble bursting and what might happen then.
Ooooopsie, it just did.
…. and who said Gordon Brown was a dumbass ??
Tucci78, sorry!!! I thought we were just talking about the General Lee. Love those boys.
Let me both apologize for a bit of a thread hijack and also declare my solidarity with the truckers and others in Oz who are taking it back from the unthinking bureaucrats down under who clearly don’t get it and won’t until the votes are counted in the next election. Good on ya, best wishes for a sweeping clean.
dp,
I agree with you regarding the stealth taxes. You’re right.
And Bob:
“…let’s also get back to talking about ‘rearing’?”
Why? I don’t want to. But if you insist: Did you hear about the Greek orphan? He was reared by his brother!☺
Lighten up, it’s humor, nothing personal. Or humour, whatever.
Is anyone keeping track of beer sales?
As a sceptic, I also want to distance myself from the newspaper article’s implication that sceptics are anti-gay. I am certainly not.
At 9:21 PM on 14 August, AusieDan responds to my suggestion that the battle flag of the U.S. Confederacy conveys a message of defiance which modern government thugs find intimidating with:
Not my flag, thanks. During World War II, the Korean “police action,” and the Vietnam non-war, that Confederate battle flag was frequently flown by U.S. troops – confusing the hell out of enemies and allies alike – as a statement of defiance. It was the first American flag flown over Shuri Castle on Okinawa in 1945, for example.
Seems to have been a favorite of the U.S. Marines in particular.
But having looked into the history of the Eureka Rebellion, it seems that it’s sure as hell appropriate for you guys to fly that flag right now.
Along with the Jolly Roger.
I strongly suggest “no quarter” when you take down the Gilliard government. Let it stand as an example pour encourager les autres.
Smokey, nice one!!! But there’s no connection then? So confused!
Martin Sullivan posted:
“same-sex couples rearing children”
Is that really considered a problem?
Of course it is! You just added 5-10% more families that can raise children, and as we all know – humans are the source of all problems. The last thing we need is more families – there are too many of us already as far as most of the pro-AGW group are concerned…
I couldn’t believe it when I saw this in The Australian this morning, I honestly didn’t think any MSM was going to mention it at all, good on them. I have been printing out flyers and asking local shops if they would put one in their window, also the local pubs and clubs if they wouldn’t mind putting a flyer up on the noticeboard. The response has been good
.
Everyone that is organizing this Convoy has worked so hard putting this altogether, I really admire them for doing this. There are so many people that are going to join up with the Convoy along the way, and now word is really getting around, hopefully a few more will join in, don’t forget to read all the instructions on their web site if you would like to join in. Trucks will be leading, cars, bikes, etc will be following..
There was also an article about the Convoy in the Canberra Times, they are worried about traffic chaos. They also didn’t get all the facts right, they said nine Convoys, and of course it is 11.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/anticarbon-protesters-set-to-unleash-traffic-chaos/2257420.aspx?storypage=0
Hope you truckers are successful! I also hope they don’t come up with some crazy bs to outlaw convoys. Here in the states a trucker strike is a terrorist act via the Patriot Act, I don’t know what they would do about a sizable convoy. Anyway, I’ve always had a yearning to drive a big rig down under. Good luck!
“When I see an article like this I really worry that WUWT is getting too far from putting the science of climate change under the microscope and becoming more of a political advocacy site. An Australian Tea Party?”
Count me among the WUWT regular readers who are more concerned about faulty science and a made-up consensus than I am about sexual preference or the rest of the litany of right-wing issues.
Folks are entitled to their opinions. I may agree with some of them. But one of the big uphill climbs for the skeptic viewpoint is the ability of the CAGW crowd to label it as part of some right-wing anti-science movement. Be good to avoid that.
Tib says:
August 14, 2011 at 6:54 pm
“When I see an article like this I really worry that WUWT is getting too far from putting the science of climate change under the microscope and becoming more of a political advocacy site.
Tib I agree with the sentiments of what you say, and defend your right to say it. Unfortunately reality is, that politics is subverting science. The orthodoxy of science was not prepared to stand up and demand a cleansing, and still wallows in self deception and justification of political whitewashing excuses.
When science turns away from corrupted science and supports the scientists who have dared to question that political corruption with politicians declaring carbon dioxide is dirty pollution, that will be a start to redemption. Sadly, It is the corrupted bought and paid lackeys, masquerading as scientists that are propping up the Gillard attack on Australian economic growth, prosperity and well being.
The damage is being done while we wait for the science to right itself. Let this be the catalyst for change, in support of a valiant band of scientists who put the purity of science above personal ambition, financial gain, to try and lead other “real” scientists to also speak out in supporting each other and, the scientific principle.
If you can see any other way of reducing the chaos and avoiding financial ruin for so many, speak up, if not, join in and add your voice and financial support in the name of good science, we need scientists to speak up and join up, to make a broad cross section of the Australian public represented in these protests.
The more we see protesting on the steps of parliament house, the quicker it will be to restore science and good governance!
What arrogance to claim that they represent “Real people”. What does that make the rest of the hard working Australians that may hold an alternative view on these matters. Are they not real people? Are their concerns less legitimate. This is typical Tea party style, self centered whinging that has no place in Australia. Anthony, I suggest you focus on the science of climate change rather highlighting the plight of this protest group.
MJK
REPLY: Like it or not, I’m covering it as I’ve covered so many things related to the carbon tax. Your view is typical of people that just want to marginalize others. Get your own blog and you can write whatever you want – Anthony
Observa says: Meanwhile the Kiwis across the moat reckon we should all just relax and- “Chill out dudes!”
Easy for them to say – most of them are already living here in Oz, chilling out at Bondi Beach or Surfers Paradise. The one’s that stay home play host to tens of thousands of Ozzies who are in N.Z. as tourists, guest workers, backpackers or spouses of Kiwis who have wanted to go home.
That’s a nice bit of ‘spin’ from ‘The Australian’, which looks like an attempt to marginalise the main point of the protest in my view. The ‘actual’ petition* only mentions one specific issue:
“…the 43rd Executive Government of Australia has been compromised into wilfully and intentionally misleading the Australian people by introducing a ‘Carbon Tax‘ without the consent of the Australian people and, that would be normally decided by a free and unencumbered ballot…”
* http://justgroundsonline.com/forum/attachment/download?id=3535428%3AUploadedFile%3A252199
Tib says
“Going to extremes of the political right or left will turn the majority of people off listening at all. Someone comming to this site for the first time and reading this article
could be turned off by the political slant – what have boat people and same-sex couples got to do with climate change?
I think Anthony you have done more than most to expose the bastardisation of the scientific process that has happened with climate science. Please keep a steady pressure on that science and away from politics.
Just a point of view.”
I completely agree.
I agree with TIB. This is way too politically lopsided to be a general people’s movement. The TEA Party in the USA does not take positions on social issues. Tacking on protests against boat people and gay parents to boost participation in this Australian convoy is a huge mistake. So was letting someone take this photograph.
When people dilute a central message with unrelated divisive issues, the central message is contaminated. And which message do those participating think the Press will emphasize? The central opposition to a carbon tax, or the peripheral opposition of yahoos to gay parenting? Everyone in Australia who self-identifies as a AGW skeptic will be made to look backwards by association. If the Warmists had plotted this to undermine skeptics, they could not have been any more pernicious.
That’s not snow in New Zealand, it’s melted hail/graupel/ice pellets (anything to avoid the dreaded four-letter S word you see).
IS this convoy about social issues – or is that just an underhanded spin that The Australian is putting on this effort to try to confuse the issue?
[snip – go rant someplace else]
While I don’t agree with several points mentioned above, I do support the convoy, as the carbon tax is the most stupid thing Australia can do. Driving their industry out of the country, where the Chinese will receive them with open arms. Result: zero change in CO2 releases and far more pollution…
Come on Real People get that rubbish government of Gillard out.
Lets hope they remain objective in their complaints and use the available evidence to support their campaign. If they use the tea party tactics as inspiration they are likely to come unstuck and lose the fight before they have started. As a health promotion worker and judging by the photos I would also suggest that some of these portly gentlemen take a bit more exercise and a few less delicious Aussie pies ,or the long term climate issues are going to become academic for them.
For some reason I am thinking of the early Spielberg movie ‘Duel‘!
Suggestion to our Australian friends: get some stills of ‘Duel’, and photoshop in Julia in place of Dennis Weaver!
Party like it’s 1976!
I’ve been asking this question lately: If we had a repeat of the 1960’s to 1970’s with many consecutive harsh winters, would the AGW cult even notice it?
Nope, they would hunker down and make believe it isn’t happening and produce some satellite data saying January (July for you) was the warmerst ever!
Face it, it’s warm snow you got there. From warm clouds. Stop complaining! The Arctic is in crisis!
There is a lot of support for these protesters in Australia and much more than the media is letting on. As long as they can stay on message using scientific evidence, the detractors will be unable to dismiss them.
“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson.
May liberty reign free down under.
At 11:42 PM on 14 August, Anton had written:
The organizers of the “Convoy of No Confidence” don’t appear to have had any issues to address other than their objection to an unfounded, unnecessary, economically destructive, and – even in the “global warming” scheme of things – bloody worthless tax on carbon dioxide emissions imposed upon the Australian nation by a government in Canberra that had gone out of its collective excuse for a mind.
Let’s face it, folks. In the wake of a global economic meltdown, with the “settled science” of the great AGW fraud being proven to have scientific roots about as deepset as those of Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane, and after Gillard had made explicit commitments not to inflict a “carbon tax” on the people of her country, everybody in the government knows good and goddam well that this effort is nothing less than political suicide for every elected official even the least bit involved.
I wish somebody would explain to me why the clowns in Canberra – the professional popularity contest winners – are doing this. Perhaps they think that their victim disarmament efforts (masquerading as “gun control”) are going to prevent their constituents from getting up close and personal to drop-kick their pasty prats permanently out of public office.
It seems that nobody in Australia gives a teensy little damn whether or not Gillard triples the tax-free amount of their annual salaries to A$18,200 starting next July if this “carbon pollution” tax-and-regulate crap jacks up the prices of everything they need to live and hammers businesses so horribly that the number of Australians unemployed skyrockets.
What good is less taxation on your salary if you no longer have one?
But now that this “Convoy of No Confidence” demonstration gets rolling and is drawing public attention not only in Oz but all over the western world, the fact that there’s a generous plenty more that the Australian people hate about the doings of their putative “public servants,” and it’s inevitable that those who object to other stuff are going to hitch their wagons to this protest.
It’s an opportunity to be seen and heard, and what good is there in begrudging them that opportunity? Don’t the people of Australia share with those of us in these United States the same English common law heritage jealously guarding the right of the people to petition their government for the redress of grievances?
Considering what Gillard and her ilk have been doing to bring Australia “forward” into their insane and extortionate utopian vision, can anybody really wonder why there are so many average folks determined now “to look backwards” in response?
Matthew Sullivan says: August 14, 2011 at 5:21 pm
“same-sex couples rearing children” Is that really considered a problem?
Sure is, Matthew. Takes a lot of technique to master the concept(ion).
Tucci78 says: August 14, 2011 at 7:38 pm. In addition to the Southern Cross flags of Australia, I strongly suggest that the folks in this Convoy of No Confidence fly the battle flag of the U.S. Confederacy.
Slight dissent. We Aussies do not need to follow USA tradition when we have our own. The best flag would be the Eureka rebellion flag. It has been taken over a little by Unions who can be just as destructive as Governments, so this would be a great time to reclaim ownership of the Eureka flag as the symbol of a fair go for the people. That was its origin in history. Then it was a gold licence tax, now it is a carbon tax.
Also, we Aussies did not have a Tea Party rebellion Boston style. Instead, we had a rebellion against the use of rum as a currency. Without detriment to the Boston Tea Party, maybe we could call this trucking exercise “The Rum Run”. Rum, rum, rum. That’s the sound of power from a road train warming up. That’s what we like.
D Bonson ,
Thank you for your kind thoughts and the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson.
Our liberty in Oz is balanced on the power of a Mack truck and the thousands of mobile homes, buses and cars following them. I in my little Suzuki hatchback shall be in a convoy , not only do I have no confidence in my government, I hold them in utter contempt. Thus I march on the Capitol, in my Suzuki. It is too damned cold to go on my motor cycle.
Blade: re snow in Wellington NZ. And you say ‘The Arctic is in crisis’???
Australia is now a dictatorship run by a uneducated minority.
@Tib says:
August 14, 2011 at 6:54 pm
“When I see an article like this I really worry that WUWT is getting too far from putting the science of climate change under the microscope and becoming more of a political advocacy site. An Australian Tea Party?…”
Ref. “too far” – Hasn’t this AGW thing been very much about political, economic, cultural, social change? In other words, things each individual has a natural right to jump up and down about? WUWT didn’t get 85,470,542 views –as of a minute ago– talking about one side of a polyhedron.
Ref. “An Australian Tea Party?” – You may be right about that one mate. How about “The Austrailian Beer Party”?
Let’s hope the folks down under are finally waking up. No, rather, lets do that anti-American old-fashioned thing and pray they are!
Our site -Just Grounds is the engine room for this peaceful convoy as a lot of our 2800 members are devoting long hours of volantary work to make this a success.
The information there is the true NRFA approved facts for our participants. I have seen a few suspect attempts (links) to get in on the action and I would expect the Get Up -rent a crowd (on union money) to try a few stunts this week.
[b]The danger for the protesters is that the message of the protest is becoming unfocussed[/b].
This is a danger but it is negated when we point out that we only want a spill and an ELECTION NOW! The ensuing campaiagn would put ALL politicians and Parties under scrutiny like never before. If Gillard is returned -so be it – the people will have chosen the air tax and everything else,
Interesting comments on here- I have no idea where that same sex diversion came from but I suppose we should be thankful that a major paper is onboard..- they are only just getting the courage to buck the Govt led Climate Hoax. A lot of people here a bit short on guts and if we look popular enough- I think it is going to give them heartburn when we arrive a week today.
We have no choice as the science and logic means nothing to these UN -agenda21 zealots and the only way is politically put them on the dole!
Thanks for the support,
Regards Rob Moore
I agree with those that feel politics are (largely) best left out of the equation here.
There are many left of center people who are open to skepticism, including me. 🙂
Skeptics will have more success communicating with the general public if they stick with scientific objections.
Mac the Knife
pointed out a few things I didnt know – I am Australian – and only get an impression of the TEA party from the MSM but I guess the main point I wanted to make was better expressed by Greg –
“Folks are entitled to their opinions. I may agree with some of them. But one of the big uphill climbs for the skeptic viewpoint is the ability of the CAGW crowd to label it as part of some right-wing anti-science movement. Be good to avoid that.”
As some others have pointed out maybe there is not other way to affect change but by being political but as Greg said if it is possible the CAGW crowd will lump skeptics together with an anti-gay and anti “boat people” lobby, which I for one completely disagree with.
The science is the main thing and Anthony I realise you have a tough job and appreciate the hours you put in, so sorry about the whinging. It really comes down to opinion sometimes and as they say you can’t keep all the people happy all the time …..
You have no clue about the scope of WUWT. Hint: it’s in the logo, white print on black, at the top of the page. ANYTHING that causes Anthony to utter, “What’s up with that?” is fair game. Personalized with the pun on “Watt’s”.
Deal [with it].
And those tactics are?
Peaceful assembly and the lawful use of the ballot box?
.
(DON’T rely on the crap you read in the PRESS to make assessments)
.
“Matthew Sullivan says:
August 14, 2011 at 5:21 pm”
Appears to be more important to the Gillard govn’t than say, hospitals, education and transport etc. Any two people, regardless of sexual persuasion, CAN enter into a legally binding contract in Australia where all the “protection” offered in a “marriage” is preserved.
Tib (August 14, 2011 at 6:54 pm), this topic certainly falls under the category of “Commentary on. . . recent news” in Anthony’s subhead at top.
Not to mention that the putative evils of “carbon” are the product of an insane “green” political ideology, cynically put to the service of taxation by statist politicians and bureaucrats. The “science” is just the excuse, not the rationale.
pat (August 14, 2011 at 8:50 pm), many thanks for the link to Martin Durkin’s terrific blog post,
http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/secret-global-warming-posh-anti-capitalism
Everyone should read it!
/Mr Lynn
I really hope that all your effort is not in vain. I suspect that you will be given the usual platitudes we have come to be fed by an incresingly dismissive type of parliamentarian. The poor old public, proletariat can be fed any line and they will swallow it. remeber to watch the guys in power for signs of graft, in order to face the wrath of the voting public there has to be a payoff somewhere for the politicians, they do not believe in the warming myth, just the cash.
Good luck lads and lassies.
Time to make like a Roo and hop back over to the prime subject of “Let Them Truckers Roll Down Under, 10-4 Big Daddy, Got Yer Ears On Clyde? Keep Them Trollies Rollin, Rawhide!!! We Got A Convoy!!!! Come On Back!!!!”
Hot Dang! There’s nothin’ like a long haul on a hot day to tell a sleezy politico his days is numbered.
Pedal to the metal Mate! God’s Speed!
Go theTruckies!
This shows real commitment, from a multitude of industries being destroyed, by the indulgences if an out of touch, urban, political class.
Anyone can E-mail, stand in a city street with placards, chanting about something they know nothing but what they’ve been told about, or add comments to a blogg.
But these guys are for real.
Driving up to 3,500 Miles ! some of them, in huge great gas guzzling trucks & at their Own expense, (that’s just one way).
That shows just how damn serious this is & to be driven to such desperate measures by your own Government.
If these Aussies don’t prevail, we’re all buggered , in what’s left of the free world.
Just 4 1/2 hours to go , till them Wagons roll, from Port Hedland, WA.
No, please don’t use that one! Looks too much like a symbol for Homestarrunner! http://homestarrunner.com/
Go, Aussie, go!
Regards, An Aussie Pom/Pommie Aus…
Just to be sure, this political movement is founded on the principals of two things:
Fighting a carbon tax which the current PM of Australia campaigned AGAINST.
Fighting lying cheating stealing politicians.
I for one wish them luck in this endeavor and hope that they do not give up until the goals are met.
I’ll bet all the support for the carbon bill is in the cities. You know, the places where they think electricity is generated in light switches and food is grown in grocery stores.
Let them live for a week or 2 without any food deliveries and see if their opinions change.
As long as we’re talking of flags, the Confederate battle flag is near and dear to me with no racial overtones. But that’s the problem, it’s no longer useable. The Gadsden flag will have to do. As far as politics, all I want is a limited, fiscally responsible government. That’s not OT, AGW is all about pervasive government with no accountability.
This convoy needs the support of a lot of city dwellers in Canberra to succeed. Don’t alienate them. Stick to the unjust taxation issue.
Joanne Nova got the most comments in her blog career when she posted this. Much of the traffic was from the sycophants of Gillard who apparently are very worried about the convoy. Not surprising, the left down under is as ignorant about their government as the left is up top.
There is an even better article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the convoy.
“”We were hesitant to participate due to time and cost, but two things put us over the line,” said Thompson, who will be driving a campervan. ”The first was reading the 340-page Clean Energy Bill 2011 [the federal carbon tax bill], and the other 12 bills to which it is attached.
”The words ‘global warming’ are not mentioned but monetary transfers to the United Nations are outlined and power is given to an international consortium of finance companies. This bill makes the Copenhagen treaty [COP15] look like a children’s book.”
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/cattlemen-driven-to-desperation-by-canberra-20110814-1isu6.html
Is this a reasonable topic for WUWT?
IMHO, it is. It is directly tied to AGW.
There are two types of AGW believers – the first is those that truly believe that global [warming] is happening, is a direct threat to humanity, and is caused by humans. I believe that they are uneducated/misguided in that belief, but they probably think the same of me. I have no problem with these people provided that they are willing to discuss the issues with a somewhat open mind.
The second type are those that see any crisis as a means of enrichment … their own enrichment. These come in multiple forms, individuals, corporations and governments. they have no interest in the truth, only in suppressing dissent and continuing their schemes of self-enrichment.
Too many governments have been seduced by the idea of a “carbon tax”. Its right up there with their desire to tax air. Something everyone will have to pay, and a HUGE club (end of the earth – death, famine, destruction) to force compliance.
Since this is so tightly coupled to AGW, it is reasonable (IMHO) to discuss it here.
Long live to the queenbee !!!
http://apiaraucania.blogspot.com/2011/08/gmo-honey-tomar-partido-o-tomar-palco.html
These men work hard and render service. They are great value. So the leftists want to punish them. Punitive taxation makes no sense.
Then we have Evergreen solar which went broke today. 50 million here and 50 million there in “subsidies” and it goes broke. Solar too expensive and panels cheaper from china.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?articleid=1358998&pos=breaking
Obama’s green pet died. Again so why punish truckers and waste money on solar. I favor solar if the output price is right.
I suggest we demand a referendum.
Our American mates will get a laugh out of this You-tube-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV1USxnweY
M2Cents says:
August 15, 2011 at 10:38 am
I’ll bet all the support for the carbon bill is in the cities. You know, the places where they think electricity is generated in light switches and food is grown in grocery stores.
Let them live for a week or 2 without any food deliveries and see if their opinions change.
———
Yeah but the population of the top 5 cities accounts for nearly 2/3 of the population. Sorry to hear you don’t like how democracy works, but I doubt communism or fascism would work much better…
Just passing Broome,,, http://pindanpost.com/2011/08/16/convoy-of-no-confidence-passes-broome/
Please check the batteries in your sarc detector. I said …
You see, it’s snowing down in NZ, but they will just have to buck up and stop complainin [sarc] because the arctic is in crisis! [says the AGW cult]. Warm snow [what a warmie would say]. Oh nevermind.
It wasn’t meant to be taken literally.
Yep, I think the Snotrocket backfired.
I hope they become a force to be reckoned with… what they need is a leader equivalent to a Ron Paul to present their message and idea
Folks, I am a Yank expat living here in oz. The govt here has gone downhill since the overthrow of the PM Kevin Rudd by Julia Gillard. She is not only the Deputy that stabbed him in the back to overthrow him but she lied in a follow up election to gain control in a vote that was literally tied. The tie was broken by an Independent loon. She proclaimed that there would be NO CARBON TAX under her government and once elected promptly put all in motion to impose a tax with NO VOTE needed. These are not just truckies in this convoy…you will see cars, pickups and caravans, etc. Lets make sure it gets the global coverage it deserves.
The Convoy of no Confidence has been a remarkable success.
I was extremely proud to be part of the 2000 plus peaceful protest. It was an unprecedented military style logistical effort performed by ‘Salt of the Earth” Australians and their many thousands of supporters along each of the 11 routes.
The commitment of the Convoy leaders and the heirarchy of the National Road Freighters Association was an inspiration. The strength of character to embark on this unknown venture showed the true courage of everyone’s conviction despite the threat of failure and ridicule.
After our symbolic drive through the Parliamentry precinct we all gathered on the lawn for the official proceedings. There was a wide spectrum of speakers representing Large Industry, Small Business and Social Groups. While all political parties had an open invitation to speak, only various conservative coalition members responded. Our own Just Grounds members Senator Joyce and Williams gave memorable speeches as did Bronwen Bishop and Tony Abbott. Two outstanding young speakers were, Rashida Khan from the Northern Territory and Stuart Austin representing Australians Supporting Beef Farmers.
Due to a week of intense buildup and anticipation the Convoy had captured the imagination of the greater population. This was largely due to the wonderful support of the Talkback Radio across the country, which is the defacto peoples parliament. The leaders of this were the 2GB network – Alan Jones and Ray Hadley in Sydney, and Steve Price and Andrew Bolt in Melbourne. We sincerely thank them for their tremendous support. Alan Jones arrived from Sydney after doing his breakfast show of 3 hours and proceeded to MC for the next 5 hours without a break. I personally, will not hear a word against this man, as his commitment to results for our country is there for all to see.
The Convoy of No Confidence was labelled of no ‘consequence’ two hundred metres from where we were in the House of Representitives. This is an insult from a disgraceful government by a minister of no ‘significance’.
It was resolved that we would not submit the 30 000 strong petition signitures on the day. Given the short timeframe and massive support all over the Australia along the way, we are going to continue gathering signatures with an aim of 1 million to be tabled by Senator Joyce in the parliament.
The community spirit that the Just Grounds members have shown was one of the bonds that made the Convoy a success. It eliminated the isolation and aided the organisers to communicate ideas into action right across Australia in a matter of weeks. Give yourselves a huge pat on the back.
We have led by example with the future template for groups to interact and mobilise with one hundred percent participation-all for no cost. This is the beginning of the electronic era for us to be able to STAND OUR GROUND.