Letter to the Editor (or an opinion piece)
Watts Up With That?
8th November 2011 (Australia time)
Back towards the Dark Ages
The passage of the carbon tax bills today is no reason for celebration. It is a step back towards the dark ages.
Just a few generations ago, humans lived in a “green” world. There was no coal, oil or gas providing light, heat, transport and traction power.
In this green utopia, wood provided heat for cooking fires and forests were felled for charcoal for primitive metallurgy; farmers used wooden ploughs and harvested grain with sickles and flails; the nights were lit using candles and whale oil; rich people used wind and water power to grind cereals; horses and bullocks moved coaches, wagons and troops; there was no refrigeration and salt was the only preservative for meat.
Towns were tiny as the whole family was needed to work the farm. For most people, the daylight hours were filled with heavy labour to produce, preserve and transport food. There was no surplus to support opera, bureaucracy or academia.
Humanity was relieved from this life of unrelenting toil by carbon energy – steam engines and electricity, machines, tractors, cars, ships and planes. Prosperity and longevity soared.
Today the pagan green religion celebrates the first step in their long campaign to destroy industrial society and reduce population.
They should be careful what they wish for.
For example, just a few more bitter winters in Britain will see their wind powered lights going out.
A British observer once said of the Whitlam government: “Any fool can bugger up Britain, but it takes real genius to bugger up Australia” “.
Parliament today showed the sort of genius needed to dim the lights in the lucky country.
Viv Forbes,
Rosewood Qld Australia
I am happy for my email address to be published.
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The rush of putting this legislation is good because its such a mess that the High Court will find it easy to throw out.
Streetcred: Yairs, well my examples were a bit crook. What I really reckon is that Mann fella thinks he’s pretty flash. As flash as a rat with a gold tooth.
Noelene: If Gillard really was dinky-di I reckon she’d get back on her broomstick and go back to Wales…
“A British observer once said of the Whitlam government: “Any fool can bugger up Britain, but it takes real genius to bugger up Australia” .
Well Viv, the observer was correct. The Welsh witch has welshed on the Aussie people. Interesting what a Google (sorry Anthony, I know you are not happy with Google!) comes up with when the word “Welshed” is typed in……
welshed past participle, past tense of welsh
Verb: Fail to honor (a debt or obligation incurred through a promise or agreement).
Meant to add that its sums up Gillard in the first Video put up by Baa Humbug @ur momisugly
November 7, 2011 at 5:21 pm
My standard reply to crusading “greens”is ” if you want to reduce your carbon footprint,move to North Korea” . It usually shuts them up.
There’s one other aspect to having a 1790 level of energy. In most of the world, most of that 300 man hours per 100 bushels of wheat were provided by slaves. In some parts of the world, it still is.
Slavery wasn’t eliminated in the Western world solely because of moral considerations. It was eliminated because industrialization made it possible to eliminate.
Make no mistake, limit energy use that much and slavery will once again be common.
Good timing. Now the Gilliard can trade stories with the ‘Bama about how to get things done despite the stated will of the people:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/07/us-apec-obama-poliitcs-idUSTRE7A60XM20111107
Maybe this time he’ll show Australia how important they are as an ally, instead of deciding he’s better off playing politics back home:
Indonesia, yes he got around to that visit, to the country he spent some time in while growing up. Australia, no. Although there are reports he thinks highly of Australia after studying it’s culture, having once rented Crocodile Dundee, downing a few Foster’s over the years, and stopping by some Outback Steakhouse restaurants when Michelle was hungry for ribs.
Dinkum is an adjective.
Exactly right, my brother. Repeated for truth.
The Greenies are nothing more than modern Luddites. Similarly, Socialists and Communists are nothing more than modern Diggers. They have been in existence for a very long time. What is new though, is the fact that due to modern circumstances, they have found each other and are affiliated in an unholy cabal to destroy modern civilization. It may not be their stated goals but it would be the end result should they ever succeed.
People need to wake up and realize there is a much larger picture here, trees versus forest style. The trees are very often a distraction, like rabbit holes.
“Any fool can bugger up Britain” … as every fool elected to our noble Parliament is only too eager to demonstrate.
I have lived through 70 years of life which is far easier now than when I was a child with ice covered bedroom windows, on the inside, every morning.
JohnB says:
November 7, 2011 at 5:37 pm
“Tell him he’s dreaming”
Good comment, “it’s going straight to the poolroom”
To misquote a former Prime Minister “Well may we say God save the Queen, because nothing is going to save the Labor Party at the next election”
A very sad day for Australia.
Anthony, your use of Aussie vernacular in the title is ridgy-didge. No wuckers about that, you’re a mate. And a bonza letter from Viv that you’ve published. Obviously, the Australian government is a few roos short in the top paddock and it is embarrassing to working families like mine that we are not moving forward in Oz on the CAGW tax hoax. Voters will take the long handle to the Australian Labor Party at election time for this. They will never recover from what they have done.
Sorry typo, it’s meant to read “God save the Queen” (not God say the Queen)
Pamela Gray says: November 7, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Back then, women died in droves.
You are speaking of women that raised many, many children, worked on the family farm, in primary industries and manufacturing. These days many women can have government employ (affirmative action) and have the option ‘to work from home’. Bad luck to the women that still have to attend work at a work-place. They bear the brunt of paying for child-care, child vacation care (costs @ur momisugly max 6 weeks blocks of time), using public transport, chosing to use personal vehicles to attend to child[ren] needs and all the associated costs developed by the women (and men) that manufacture and regulate these ‘realities’ [and thus need to regulate]. And these women are likely employed by the regulators!
Of course if one works in govt employ, then one can access the benefits of legislated industrial relation tenure, eg working from home on govt subsidised internet (and wage) from their union-guaranteed Fair Work scheme. To implement this ‘innovative’ schema for govt workers, appears rational, backed by ‘evidence’ and policy, even in the absence of data underpinning the argument.
It would be more useful to do a descriptive study on the demographics of women (and ONLY women) that are employed within government including those employed by organisations that receive govt grants and contribute to national policies and expenditure. And elucidate further on this
Cf Paul Schauble says: November 8, 2011 at 12:54 am
Make no mistake, limit energy use that much and slavery will once again be common.
ferd berple says: November 7, 2011 at 8:23 pm
Crap.
The Australian men and women that were busy producing meat, fruit and vegetables and extracting minerals for consumption lived and worked in remote areas. Telecommunication was poor. Communication of words and conversation was shortened for the sake of efficacy. Telecommunication, controlled now by the govt has sought to change that efficacy.
In regard to the Australian GST (Goods n Service Tax). This 10% tax on TRANSACTIONS was a re-distribution tax designed to benefit the end consumer. Extracted from mining [royalties] of companies that had legacy AT THAT TIME and paid to the Federal govt and then applied by the federal govt to the States and applied for by the States in ‘competitive’ grants in Australia. As are excise on tobacco, alcohol and gambling. And of course fuel. Result????????. Oh, a new re-distribution tax is needed……….now that [legal] tobacco, alcohol and gambling is deigned by ‘research’ to be abhorrent…………. the never ending one of EQUALLY-applied taxation…. AIR…………
I suspect poor collection and reporting of data was used to support grabbing of these GST monies and then whinging (verifying) poor results in education, health, welfare and employment schemes were those at the forefront dipping endlessly into this bucket of GST.
malagaview says: November 7, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Neat, thank you for the youtube clip. Viv Forbes does not farm Border Leicesters, rather Damaras I understand.
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
November 8, 2011 at 1:36 am
Indonesia, yes he got around to that visit, to the country he spent some time in while growing up. Australia, no. Although there are reports he thinks highly of Australia after studying it’s culture, having once rented Crocodile Dundee, downing a few Foster’s over the years, and stopping by some Outback Steakhouse restaurants when Michelle was hungry for ribs.
Read the label on a Foster’s in the US. It says “Imported” on the fron in big letters. However, it tastes nothing like a Foster’s. Read the fine print on the back. It is made by Labatts’s under license and imported into the US from Canada. As “Crocodile Dundee” said, you can drink it – but it tastes like shzt.
The usual from dopey green Labor gummint-
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-07/solar-scheme-singed-by-nsw-auditor-general/3639528/?site=sydney
@Grey lensman apparently has a ‘question’ for the CEO of Qantas-
“Seeing that you were losing money over a few minor industrial disputes and that you had the strength to do the right thing and shut down the Airline to save it, will you now either sell your international operation or close it, as it is now no longer competitive in the International market due to the carbon tax you have to pay.”
Not exactly a fair dinkum question, but more a statement of the author’s blinkered views. A ‘few minor industrial disputes’??? More like a concerted campaign by the various airline unions to conduct rolling stoppages with maximum consumer havoc at minimum worker cost in lost wages and they were all planning to ‘bake Qantas slowly’ over the next 12 months to increase their wages even more over current Virgin and Jetstar workers’ rates. Even to the point of haranguing Qantas passengers in flight to fly with other airlines in order to support their cause and this meant a lack of forward bookings saw Qantas actually losing $15mill/week. What real choice did the owners of capital have?
As for paying a ‘carbon tax’ it remains to be seen if Qantas get exemption/free handouts like the Gillard Govt has given so many ‘big pollooders’ already and in any case Qantas international can fill up their planes in sensible countries or perhaps buy their thin air derivatives for under half price OS presumably. A bulk special discount deal from experienced Nigerian businessmen in these matters should do the trick.
Of course it does. But it is still incorrect. Back in the ’60s or so, it became fashionable to include all manner of popular vernaculars in dictionaries, which up to then had the estimable role of maintaining a literate standard. It was once quite a feat for slang or incorrect usage to achieve enough currency and acceptance to make it into the dictionary—no longer, sad to say.
Regardless of such deplorable dumbing-down, ‘irregardless’ is still wrong.
/Mr Lynn
Bluddy well said Viv.
I take solace in the fact that when the opposition Liberal National coalition is voted into power with Tony Abbott as PM…. This tax on the air that we breath will be rescinded… But not only that, it will soon become apparent that this piece of legislative idiocy is economic suicide and that the whole process was based on flawed science, pseudoscience even……. The truth will win in the end. It has to, or society lives in a lie. A situation that never ends well.
When former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard was about to introduce the Goods and Services Tax some years ago, he had the common decency to at least take it to an election, allowing voters the ability to express their undeniable freedom of choice over the matter.
This current Green/Labor government is a minority government… it has been well aware that over 70% of the voters are against a carbon tax. The last thing it therefore wanted was the public having a say on the matter. It’s happened because of a freak situation in the political system in Australia that has conspired against the majority.
Julia Gillard would have lost the election had she not made her now infamous declaration to the Australian people… “There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”. She gained government only thanks to a couple of turncoat independents, and in exchange for the support of the Greens, she had the audacity to announce days later that there would be a carbon tax.
Australians have never before felt so badly treated in this way. For a Prime MInister to so blatantly lie, then try and deny what she said, then use the lame excuse of ‘changing circumstances’… it is something the Australian people have not forgiven or forgotten.
Well… come the next election, the Gillard Green/Labor government will certainly learn that hell hath no fury as a voting-public scorned!
3×2 says: “I have a pet green activist (UK) who seems to think that the population of the UK should be around 2 million if we are to avoid planetary meltdown…”
I have also heard this daftness proposed. I think it comes from a reduction proportional to the global ‘ideal’ population. It pays no regard to the efficiencies of scale that Britain and the world derive from a larger population. The last time Britain had such a small population was the early middle ages. Nine hundred years ago there was no electricity, no gas, virtually no made-up roads, no rail, no mains water, no sewage system, no healthcare, no telecoms, no police, etc. Of course, all of these things now exist, but whether we could afford them is another matter. What infrastructure 1/30th of the current population could afford I have no idea, probably a lot less than 1/30th of what we have now.
Infant mortality rates were horrendous and the parents were lucky to live past 40. if the harvest failed you starved. famines killed millions. In cold winters you froze to death.
Only go back 60 years ago and look at China when it had one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world.
Lazy Teenager needs to start reading more. The most energy efficient users on the planet in the amount of GDP created per unit of energy is… the USA.
Everybody is more wasteful than the USA.
I’m considering pulling up the tent pegs and moving overseas, to where hard work, honesty, initiative and common sense gets just rewards.
Australia has become too suffocating. The parliamentary majority rules a big country with small minds.
@jim Turner,
Ask your de-populating acquaintance to name the 28 other people who are to be eliminated and the method of elimination. Perhaps on their Facebook page.
Not only do the de-populators fail to recognize that society needs a lot of people to work; the people that are here, are still people. Individuals with aspirations, skills and most of them, enough common sense not to talk such rubbish.