UPDATE: The image previously displayed has been replaced with a more accurate representation – previous pinnacle image was misidentified as a termite mound in the Zemanta suggested images offered by WordPress.com to bloggers.
Letter to the Editor – Watts Up With That?
Australia’s tax on carbon dioxide now applies to big power stations, rubbish tips, steel works, cement plants, refineries and coal mines. But many of them have been given exemptions or compensation packages. Naturally they will pass all net costs onto consumers, but our government says that most voters will be compensated and will feel no pain. So it all looks like achieving a net nothing.
Carbon dioxide is produced whenever animal or vegetable matter is burnt, digested or rots. So when do we start taxing the big-time emitters such as termites? There are trillions of them quietly munching their way through timber, dead trees and grass. Then we have all the rice paddies, swamps and wetlands emitting that other dastardly natural gas, the Will-o-the-Wisp, methane. And who is going to chase India’s 280 million sacred cows with gas collection bags?
Mother Earth is also a huge “carbon polluter”. Will we have a “Red Adair” putting caps on Earth’s 1,500 active volcanoes? Or will BP be hired to drop blow-out protectors over the 139,000 sub-marine volcanoes?
It is obvious that the whole war on carbon is futile and will have no measurable effect on Earth’s atmosphere or Australia’s climate.
It’s just a wealth redistribution and control caper.
Viv Forbes,
Rosewood Qld Australia
I am happy for my email address to be published.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
To sum matters up, here’s a sign we saw when in Ireland last September, that was put up at a patrol station
FECK OFF GREENS.
Quite so.
P. of P.;
That link is horribly garbled. This is the real one.
Iren;
not hardly. Here’s the current notrickszone.com headline: “Cold Snap Claims 14 Lives In Chile…Agricultural Emergency In Argentina…Tasmania Coldest Temperature In 30 Years…
By P Gosselin on 9. Juli 2012 “
gringojay says:
July 8, 2012 at 8:58 pm Wood termites aren’t just passing gas as they go on about their way .
===========================
unlike the Liar, who IS passing flatus with every word she utters!
if I hear “its the right thing to do..” one more time.
I will break someone elses TV..(as I dont have one)
Australia’s tax on carbon dioxide now applies to big power stations, rubbish tips, steel works, cement plants, refineries and coal mines. But many of them have been given exemptions or compensation packages. Naturally they will pass all net costs onto consumers, but our government says that most voters will be compensated and will feel no pain. So it all looks like achieving a net nothing.
Maybe the photo AND the letter, which did not mention termites, these eusocial insects are well known to most who work in northern Australia, was meant to be condensed in minds to:-
<Thanks for the stupid tax d**ckheads. We'll all keep working and producing and contributing…. to spread our taxed earnings for nought, these empty pinnacles cast in Australian soil of our own men and women, on our own Australian land.
pat says:
July 8, 2012 at 2:49 pm
Obama has funded half a dozen green energy schemes that have not only proven disastrous, but are obviously corrupt. But does he learn? No, he doubles down.
========
They haven’t proven a disaster for everyone. The PC money (politically connected) got in early, made out like bandits, and got out. A percentage of the take was plowed back into campaign contributions. A win-win, for some. Why would you not double the stakes the next time?
Ferdinand Engelbeen says:
July 9, 2012 at 1:56 am
That doesn’t mean that the carbon tax isn’t utterly nonsense and the best way of committing economical suiside in a country that lives from coal for their power. Expect that a lot of the heavy power dependent industry will move to SE Asia sooner or later…
===========
Wouldn’t it make more sense for Australia to simply stop selling coal to China and cut Carbon Pollution in that way? Surely the coal that Australia ships to China must be killing millions of Chinese through global warming.
How long will it be before the Chinese sue Australia for the damages? After all, if you sell a defective product and the product later proves to be harmful, you are liable for the damages.
The Australian government has now publicly acknowledged that coal is a harmful product, in that it creates CO2 which creates dangerous global warming. They have moved to protect their own people, while continuing to knowingly ship a dangerous product to China.
Surely this will lead to Australia being sued by China for damages. It is only a question of when.
R. Shearer says:
July 8, 2012 at 2:14 pm
DJ, casinos actually operate in the black. The U.S. Federal government spends 50% or so more than its revenue.
_____________________________
You missed the point. It is the FED (a private banker cartel) who is the one who rips off about 5% of every single dollar that is printed.
And the Central Banks in every single country charge interest on every penny they loan to the government, to business or to private individuals.
Moreover large corporations and big government are the “Friends” of big banks. Small entrepreneurs, especially those dealing in cash only are the enemy because the banks and the governments do not get their “Cut” on each transaction. “Cash only” sales or barter are often transparent to taxation and do not include the loans, checks and credit/debit cards the banks make money from.
The reason governments like fiat currency is the easy instant access to any amount of money of any kind without the taxpayer being involved directly in the loop. The citizens get socked later through inflation. Wages never ever keep up with inflation and therefore inflation is an indirect “tax” on everyone’s wealth. Also since the Government is not responsible for the printing press they can pretend they have nothing to do with the inflation caused by printing new money to cover government debt.
This puts governments, corporations and banks on one side of the wealth (not money) equation and the rest of us on the other. If you can understand this wealth transfer mechanism you can understand why the small entrepreneur is “The Enemy” and the target of the big three in terms of punitive regulations, and lack of loans for startups. As a global phenomenon, entrepreneurial activity absorbs a substantial amount of human and financial resources…. the myth of 9 out of 10 new businesses closing in their first year. [is untrue] …using Dun & Bradstreet data they found that 76 percent of new firms were open after two years…. Only one-third of new businesses (33 percent) closed under circumstances that owners considered unsuccessful.
Some interesting articles on money:
US History of Fiat Money: http://kwaves.com/fiat.htm
Inflation: http://grandfather-economic-report.com/inflation.htm
Economic “Recovery” model Explanation:: http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/oldupdates/2003/1003.html
AIG bailout: http://www.thenation.com/article/153929/aig-bailout-scandal#
Hyperinflation: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/04/what-are-the-preconditions-for-hyperinflation.html
OH, and this is very interesting (testimony at Senate committee hearing – From the financiers subpoenaed, only J.P. Morgan Jr., Davison and Vanderlip bothered to show up….): http://www.bigeye.com/bankers_make_war.htm
Noelene says:
July 8, 2012 at 7:50 pm
The good thing about democracy is that we will be able to discover whether he will or not in a years time.
========
Jean Chretien was elected PM in Canada in 1993 on the promise to scrap the GST. After the elections Chretien “abolished” the GST by creating the HST. 19 years on GST and HST both exist.
In BC we voted to scrap the HST. This tax was foisted on BC after our last election. After the government made an election promise not to introduce the tax. BC people organized to repeal the tax. Our government announced the tax will be abolished April 1, 2003 (to be replaced by the PST). April Fools!
Taxes to politicians are like crack to junkies. They will make any promise you ask to get more. Actually, it is unfair to compare junkies to politicians. There are some things junkies won’t do.
crack head
1.one who is highly addicted to the euphoria brought on by crack cocaine.
2. one who does stupid things.
politician
1.one who is highly addicted to the euphoria brought on by higher taxes
2. one who does stupid things.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crack%20junkie
ferdberple says:
July 9, 2012 at 7:54 am
Wouldn’t it make more sense for Australia to simply stop selling coal to China and cut Carbon Pollution in that way? Surely the coal that Australia ships to China must be killing millions of Chinese through global warming.
How long will it be before the Chinese sue Australia for the damages? …
____________________________
Ferd, That has to be one of the best comments I have seen. We need to send it to all our political “Representatives” in the USA, and Australia. (The EPA ruled coal is a hazard to human health too) Better yet send this to EVERY SINGLE NEWSPAPER starting with the Huff ‘n Puff, The Grauniad and the other greenie screamers.
Talk about ‘hoist by one’s own petard’ Just listen to all those international corporations making the move to China and India for the non-regulations, cheap labor and cheap power SCREAM!
Do I have your permission to use the comment with modification (USA plans to ship Coal) to my local greenie screamers?
From Iren on July 9, 2012 at 2:49 am:
The timing suggests you may be affected by the “DNS Changer” malware. Info: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18735228
The FBI had set up a “workaround” to keep the internet going, which shut off at midnight (Eastern Time?).
Those who commented on the picture are correct. It is not a termite nest and I did not select it. I have sent a picture of a real termite nest to Anthony.
Viv Forbes
I got to thinking over the weekend while driving around my air conditioned ute:
Is there anyone in Australia will not refill their air conditioner in a vehicle, fridge, or office because of the new tax on eqivilant CO2 gasses?
So, does the addition of this tax make any difference to the use of gas, or the global tempertures?
None, and none.
The carbon tax may well be innocuous in its original form. This is to help us become comfortably accustomed to the fact of its existence. What the tax morphs into — after some judicious tweaking — could be something less pleasant. (Think of a harmless, hibernating grizzly bear waking up, hungry, in Spring.)
However, if this tax is going to help us ‘Save the Planet!’ then almost no price is too high in pursuit of this supreme objective. A bit of hardship, a few businesses going bankrupt — unfortunate casualties in this Holy War.
There are really only two possible legitimate objections to a measure that is designed to save us all:
1. Point out that the science justifying the tax is straight-out wrong, or dodgy to the point of being fraudulent;
2. Point out that the tax will utterly fail to achieve the purpose for which it was ostensibly created.
The Federal Opposition have failed to come up with anything meaningful on these lines. I am inclined to believe that the Government is heading for a much-merited electoral bloodbath but, like ‘john’ above, I have very little faith in the quality of the replacement. Perhaps it’s because of the sceptical tenor of this site.
P.S. Thanks, ‘GoodBusiness’, for the Churchillian quote. However, it is important to keep in mind that if you have the power to suppress dissent, then the truth is whatever you say it is. Long live the WWW!!
in Austraia we have termites that build large mounds.
They actully are smart enough to build them so they have the least exposure to the sun
This is especially apparent in the NT
If earth had no atmosphere it appears the temp would be -15c
End of story about as to if we need air etc.
Air as in the different gasses that make it up.
Any small amount of understanding tells you that without retained heat we all would not exist.
Any small amount of reasoning also tells you that upsetting the broad balance can and will have an effect.
From the looks of that rock hammer embedded in the termite mound, the Ozzie gummint has already been making attempts to
shake downinduce the termites to pay up…