Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Al Gore to Give Back His Nobel Prize

Wouldn't that make a great headline!

Al Bore, awarded a Nobel Peace Prize with the IPCC should start to think very hard whether he should hand back his medal and prize money.

Regular readers will know this blogger has long contended both global warming itself and perhaps more importantly the impending doom of the planet is unproven and likely to be the biggest sham ever visited upon the world. See here, here, and here for starters.

In the past few months the evidence has consistently been that the earth this century has been cooling. Remember this.

It would appear now that even the head of the IPCC is acknowledging the earth's temperature is at least in a plateau phase - and has been all this century. Well, hard to keep the out of control warming debate going isn't it. If we accept there has been a steady increase in CO2 emissions over the period where is the evidence increased CO2 leads to higher global temperatures...

The ruling by the English judge regarding the inaccuracies and exaggerations in Al Bore's film was ..."(the judge) pointed out nine scientific errors and omissions that he believes Gore raised in the context of alarmism and exaggeration"...was perhaps the beginning of the end of the lying phase of this issue.

The latest blow to the alarmists is out of Australia. Biologist Jennifer Marohasy is reported in The Australian after an ABC radio interview with the co-host of Counterpoint, Michael Duffy, replying to the question ..."Is the Earth still warming?"

She replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."

Well isn't that interesting...

She went on answering a further question

Duffy: "Is this a matter of any controversy?"

Marohasy: "Actually, no. The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it. He talks about the apparent plateau in temperatures so far this century. So he recognises that in this century, over the past eight years, temperatures have plateaued ... This is not what you'd expect, as I said, because if carbon dioxide is driving temperature then you'd expect that, given carbon dioxide levels have been continuing to increase, temperatures should be going up ... So (it's) very unexpected, not something that's being discussed. It should be being discussed, though, because it's very significant."

Clark, Rudd, Bore and all the alarmists don't want to hear any of this.

The radio host continued...

Duffy: "It's not only that it's not discussed. We never hear it, do we? Whenever there's any sort of weather event that can be linked into the global warming orthodoxy, it's put on the front page. But a fact like that, which is that global warming stopped a decade ago, is virtually never reported, which is extraordinary."

Duffy then turned to the question of how the proponents of the greenhouse gas hypothesis deal with data that doesn't support their case. "People like Kevin Rudd and Ross Garnaut are speaking as though the Earth is still warming at an alarming rate, but what is the argument from the other side? What would people associated with the IPCC say to explain the (temperature) dip?"

Marohasy: "Well, the head of the IPCC has suggested natural factors are compensating for the increasing carbon dioxide levels and I guess, to some extent, that's what sceptics have been saying for some time: that, yes, carbon dioxide will give you some warming but there are a whole lot of other factors that may compensate or that may augment the warming from elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

"There's been a lot of talk about the impact of the sun and that maybe we're going to go through or are entering a period of less intense solar activity and this could be contributing to the current cooling."

And so it goes on.

Seems the carbon dioxide scam is being uncovered - step by step. If there is any global warming it is water vapour....ban the oceans anyone?

Will the governments around the world be brave enough to halt their plans to tax carbon? Will the lunatic race to find ever more expensive food and energy sources be halted. Sadly, for now I think not.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Labour Set on Leaving a Mine Field

By any account the precursors of the credit crunch that is now a global issue were in "Low doc" or "No doc" loans granted in the US to people of poor credit standing who could not otherwise afford a house loan. Once the long bull run for house prices collapsed these loans were exposed as worthless along with the asset they were secured against.

News The Housing Minister Maryan Street has announced Labour will boost the free loan amount to first home buyers in New Zealand's hottest and moist expensive housing market is breathtaking in its cynicism.

The Labour Government in a wonky sop to solve the so called problem of affordable homes is proposing to effectively decrease the percentage of equity contributed by new owners of homes in Auckland. The mechanism is the Government will provide First-home buyers earning less than $85,000 a no-deposit loans for up to $200,000 and up to $280,000 if they pay 15 per cent of the amount over $200,000.

This is being offered at a time when house prices are not increasing (collapsing anyone?) and interest rates are at a generational high with predictions interest rates will stay high for some time.

The Government is essentially underwriting these loans as it will be the first loser in a downturn and foreclosure. Usual story with socialists - socialise the losses.

The Government must know that many of these loans will be bad bargains and in any event the effectively "free" money will simply encourage potential owners to undertake more risky purchasing behaviour ...afterall it's not their money.

Where will that end? Tears, that's where. However by the time it comes to pass Clark, Cullen, Carter, Street and co will be on the street. A mine for the incoming centre-right Government to negotiate... cynical.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Choose Your Poison

How's this for luck? A woman who survived a salt water crocodile attack in the Kakadu in 1985 has been found dead this last weekend on her remote Australian outback property - of a snake bite.

The croc attacked her twice with a death roll each time - the second time hauling her out of a tree. The species of snake is not yet known.

Something special for Dover to look forward to when he goes to live in the "lucky" ? country. Might be safer with the snakes in the Labour Party!