August 2012 Open Thread

Still here. It seems the carbon tax has not destroyed the Australian economy. Phew!

More like this

Julia Gillard has done a backflip and agreed to introduce a budget-neutral carbon tax after last year promising not to introduce one. In a matching backflip John Humphreys has come out against the tax, describing it as a "grab for cash" after writing a report in 2007 that favoured a carbon tax: Our…
Phew! Good to know we have a strong terrorist deterrent here. Seen just outside of Iowa City: You just can't make this stuff up...
Nature, the journal, has come out in favor of the US congress acting on a Carbon Tax now. As looming tax increases and budget cuts threaten to plunge the US economy back into recession, Congress should take a hard look at introducing a carbon tax as an important part of the solution. This week, a…
David Frum, the speechwriter and conservative pundit behind Bush's "axis of evil" line, has officially endorsed Al Gore's latest policy proposal: a tax on carbon. What's even stranger is that Frum endorses this policy without believing in global warming: You don't have to believe that global…

It's amusing to see Wow being a blatant asshole but denying it ... there's a lot there in common the trolls and rightwingers. One of the reasons that we have the problems that we do is that so few people have the maturity to take responsibility for their own behavior ... seriously. Sorry if that seems inane. Now I will go back to more worthwhile pursuits than rolling around in the mud with that twit.

Inane: Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.
Inane: Why did he go on and on about me saying fuck?
Me: Well, you did say it a lot of times.
Inane: FUCK YOU!!!!!

This is me being an arsehole? Really?

You're just a plain old fuckwit without any redeeming features, inane. Grow up for christsakes, you knobhead.

Wow has always been a berk

By Vince Whirlwind (not verified) on 03 Sep 2012 #permalink

Goodness me chaps, what an extraordinary spat. I wouldn't allow my young children to behave in such a ridiculous way. I suggest that you both attempt to maintain at least a shred of dignity by terminating this silly argument now.

Deltoid used to be one of the three key climate change blogs - one of the few that I would visit on a regular basis. Its slide into oblivion is a great shame. Your extraordinary spat is without doubt the final nail in the coffin. You must be very proud.

Thank goodness blogs like Tamino have now stepped into the gap, providing space for sensible discussion about these key issues. Given the various blows that denialists have taken this last six months, we can expect a new onslaught from them in the next few months (I am amazed that there had not been another release of UEA emails for example). We should be ready for that, not parading our "skills" at using rude words.

By GWB's Nemesis (not verified) on 04 Sep 2012 #permalink

Hmmm. GWB, I reject your false equivalence here.

Inane goes on a bit of a rant, which isn't a problem to me, but annoys BPW who complains about it. Inane then goes "I olnly said fuck" and I point out that he said it a LOT of times.

Inane then goes "FUCK YOU!!!".

And then me giving what I got is **me** being childish?

False equivalency. You just want a shot at more people and bring yourself off as some "adult and reasonable" person when you're not.

Vinny has always fantasized about his snuff flick scenaro of climate adaption.

And hated me for bringing it up.

He's a twat.

Just when you thought she couldn't move any further to the dark right, past even the caricature of a gluttonous self-obsessed plantation master, Gina Rinehart outshines herself:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-05/gillard-rejects-rineharts-video-w…

http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/australia-is-too-expensive-fo…

And this is the woman who wants to run the media in Australia that is not already run by Rupert Murdoch.

How long before she and Clive Palmer find a way to effectively buy the conservative parties, and institute a Brave New Australia where it's back to the 1800s' form of industrial relations?

Seriously, how can the woman find the gall to whimper about the lack of opportunity to make a profit? This is surely a pathology of the most extreme sort...

By Bernard J. (not verified) on 05 Sep 2012 #permalink

You're not seeing it from her point.

After a few million, money isn't for spending. It's for leveraging into power. And someone with more money has more power.

Therefore Gina has less money than someone else, therefore she cannot exert as much leverage as that other person, ergo she's poorer. And she wants to get richer.

And since she's not allowed to take more for herself (laws about providing value in a transaction, for example, stop her selling vapour to the clueless), she's not getting enough profit to increase wealth fast enough to pass everyone else.

To her, not enough profit is the same as no profit. Remember, she only wants more money because of the leverage she wants to spend and that is relative to other people's wealth. Therefore a profit level that leaves her in the same relative position is no profit at all.

Therefore insufficient profit is equal to no profit.

Bernard.

Looking at that photo at that second link I sense a profound unhappiness and self loathing.

Maybe megalomaniacs such as this should be recognised as being sick from a form of addiction and be placed in re-hab'. A period of forced community service, and living in the manner of that community, would do the trick, being made to do something truly worthwhile may do the trick.