The Australian Federal Government has just released a white paper detailing a proposed carbon emissions reduction target of between 5% and 15% by 2020 relative to 2000 levels. The 5% target is described as unconditional whereas the 15% target is described as subject to global agreement where all major economies commit to substantially restrain emissions and all developed countries take on comparable reductions to that of Australia.
The white paper goes on to argue Australia’s unique position in the global war on climate, citing a per capita impact of between 34–41% below 1990 levels, in effect demonstrating that Australia’s proposed commitment is ahead of the Europeans (per capita reduction is projected at 24-34%) and ahead of our cousins (projected 25% per capita sacrifice).
The report argues that Australia’s particular national circumstances (a strong population growth projection, heavy reliance on fossil fuels, etc.) make for greater structural adjustment when compared with many other developed nations.
However, what I don’t see in the report is a sufficient connection to the bigger issue:
Kirribilli Removals – 15 December 2008:
If permafrost melts across the vast areas of Russia and Canada, then we can kiss our arses goodbye
385 replies on “Kissing our arses goodbye?”
EU Parliament Working directive 48hr opt-out axed.
more…
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/17/12/2008/working-directive-48hr-opt-out-axed/
Obama Taps LaHood for Transportation Secretary.
more..
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6199215&page=1
Aretha Franklin to sing at Obama inauguration.
more..
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hu8TE83fkG5j6apkrARSSv6SRC0AD954OJMG0
Obama team will get crisis training to prepare for terrorist attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/18/obama-team-crisis-management-training
Aussie lessons for Obama’s school tsar Arne Duncan.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24816611-26397,00.html
http://newmatilda.com/2008/12/17/sock-and-awe-0
http://www.salon.com/comics/boll/2008/12/18/boll/index.html
Wed Dec 17:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/patoliphant;_ylt=ApNLkjE4YjnyojpkpK72tifV.i8C
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FmV_YJm5jAc
Wed Dec 17: Actually, Sir’s a “privateer”
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/bensargent;_ylt=AgOQMeL.Va90Y.o3sljeY3c0vTYC
Obama adds another Republican to Cabinet.
more..
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/17/transition.wrap/index.html
Fife and drum extravaganza set for Inauguration Day
more…
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/17/military.inauguration/index.html
Oxymorons.
http://edition.cnn.com/POLITICS/analysis/toons/2008/12/15/mitchell/
Obama Stimulus Plan Could Hit $1 Trillion
Cash Infusion Would Be Carried Out Over 2-Year Period, Advisers Say.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/17/politics/main4672673.shtml
Tuskegee Airmen earn inauguration invites.
This is one of the groups that I mentioned on the day Obama won.
YES! These pilots were amongst Americas finest. They did not loose one bomber they were escorting over Berlin to the Germans.
Tuskegee Airmen Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen
Two hi res images Tuskegee Airmen Mustang P51C
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/P-51_Mustang_edit1.jpg
http://www.airportjournals.com/Photos/0705/X/0705012_9.jpg
If you want to see how badly the African Americans were treated even when they were on our side, the movie Tuskegee Airmen is a great buy for around $9.95
Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen taking over escort duties of the Flying Fortresses, the US Air Force was getting slaughtered over Germany.
Look, I know there’s a lot left wanting in the Rudd ETS plan as proposed, and yes, it disappoints that we are not leading the world in solar energy adoption etc etc etc, but just try and get your mind around Barnaby Joyce and his ilk:
“My current concern with the emissions trading scheme is that a religious fervour has built up around the altar of global warming. Those who serve at the altar have become ruthless in their denigration of alternate views.”
In old-fashioned populism we haven’t seen since Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson, he claims the scheme is nothing more than a tax-raising enterprise which will punish people’s pockets and jobs.
(Crikey)
And now, just try and imagine the fruit loops that would be rioting in the streets and calling for Rudd’s head if he’d called for 10% or 15% or more?
Of course the Greens would be rioting with them, right up to 40% (or, the sheer lunatic fringe range of utter impossibility, unless you’re all prepared to travel by bicycle and light your houses with candles!). Funny combo eh? The climate deniers and the Greens that want the impossible…or else they’ll get agitated.
The political reality is that these are the extremes and they hold the balance of power, so Rudd HAD to wedge Turnbull or see no ETS implemented in this parliament.
It’s hard to swallow, (and I speak with experience in that department! LOL), but it’s the bleeding reality he has to contend with.
Again, I will second KR’s point. It’s still hard to believe there is Climate Change deniers left. Unfortunately they are in the balance of power. Whether Obama’s influence in the USA will make a difference later on, we’ll have to wait and see.
With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise.
As I see it, this group of politicians did not cause the problems, so they should not be punished for the Republicans mistakes. In fact I am quite happy for the Democrats to be rewarded in advance for cleaning up Bushes mess. Anyway it’s not my money they are being paid with. 😈
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/with-economy-in-shambles-congress-gets-a-raise-2008-12-17.html
Justice Kennedy rejects 2 more challenges to Obama.
more…
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/816621.html
Watch More than Shoes Hit Bush!
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NKIjZDBDu-g
Bush Vs. Everything That Has Ever Been Thrown In The Entire Universe.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0gC4oZrGEU0
paddy at 206
On the subject of Sock and Awe …
Latest number of direct hits that George Bush has received from around the planet is 27,635,885. The USA ranks as the top hitter, followed by France with the silver, and a bronze for Australia.
221
Cat. You’re a better shot than I am Gunga Din. 🙂
Still, it’s good to we Aussies haven’t let the team down too badly.
BTW The link at 206 is to a cartoon and not the current game de jour.
Kirri @ 215
I hear what you’re saying, but can’t get the taste of ashes out of my mouth re Rudd.
LOL When I first started reading that Crikey piece about Barnaby, I thought he was refusing to pass the legislation because it didn’t go far enough!! 🙂 Oh dear, what an innocent fool I was.
Still, for the first time in my life, I actually sent Getup some money to run their ad during the Boxing day test.
Plus……..In the delicious world of “unintended consequences”,
Bob Gottliebsen has a great article in todays Business Spectator.
Then this little gem.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Power-failure-$pd20081216-MD8CX?OpenDocument&src=sph
So despite Rudd giving the coal industry carbon credits for free, the fact that Kennett (one of my most hated pollies) has ripped off the private sector for billions. Means that the financial crisis will force them to raise the price of electricity to avoid bankruptcy. Thereby causing the cleaner and renewable sources to become more viable.
Sometimes……….Irony can almost taste sweet. 🙂
Back to the headline story, thanks Cat for CORRECTLY presenting the target as 5-15%. It appeared to complicated for many in the MSM who just went with the 5%, which of course, suited their needs perfectly
Obama. The college years.
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1866765_1815160,00.html
Kevin. The college prat.
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/05/09/rudd_narrowweb__300x428,0.jpg
Thanks for that summary Paddy, as I saw the article and had meant to read it!
Obviously the irony isn’t missed on anyone…and if the dirtiest coal burning generators of them all end up getting shoved out of business, well hey, we’ll ALL pay, but then that’s what we SAY we want. Isn’t it?
Meanwhile the deniers are going hell for leather, just check out Miranda Devine’s latest diatribe against anyone foolish enough to believe that human CO2 emissions are anything to worry about! And of course she reckons that most people are not prepared to pay for all this expensive ‘green’ power and blah blah blah…
How many more years of the hottest years on record, the vast reduction in Arctic ice mass, the rising acidification of the world’s oceans will it take to get these people to think beyond their petty political tribalism? Meanwhile, the level of CO2 rises inexorably from obvious sources, and yet they refuse to even consider it prudent to take evasive action.
Meanwhile, in the Twilight Zone that’s become the US economy, the Fed’s announcement that it will resort to unusual methods to pump prime the economy again, and in particular its saying they will buy the long bond to push down rates at the other end of the curve has had the predictable effect: the 30 and ten year bonds are rising as everyone piles in expecting a free elevator ride.
This is eye-popping stuff: a Fed induced bubble in Treasuries which they guarantee to support with printed money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You could not even invent a story like this. It’s like Robert Mugabe running the Fed! LOL
No doubt they’re desperate, no doubt they ‘mean’ to do good, but the Fed is King Canute to the tide of world finance, and they cannot decree what Mr Market should do.
This is 100% guaranteed to end in tears.
Hey Gouldie wrap your maths around this one.
How many iron filings from a high school physics lab would it take to chock the hole?
How fast would the imbecile be dragged to outer space if they inserted a steel plate in his skull?
A Giant Breach in Earth’s Magnetic Field
Chris B
Refers to the last post re censorship of the net but thought you might be interested in this.
It is an article from oped stories in the US. Go to the story for the link to join in.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22339/127/
Gaffy, did you watch the video of that process? It’s here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/297403main_THEMIS_svsLG.mpg
LOL
Dear oh dear Kirri. I’d forgotten why I try not to read Miranda.
My blood pressure’s been a tad high lately and my Dr suggested that reading Bolt probably wasn’t all that wise.
Clearly I’ll have to add Miranda to my anti-porn filter.
She’s certainly doing her best to keep what’s left of Fairfax on a “fair and balanced” path with the sun king’s minions.
BTW while your around.
I noticed somewhere on the net recently, (I’ve lost the original ref.) that Glencore was possibly getting into a spot of bother.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKWLA366520081216?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Is it just my paranoia, or would a serious problem with them put Switzerland in big trouble?
Ah.. Here’s the link that caught my eye. Any opinion on this one?
http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/11/glencore-swiss-giant-on-edge.html
Twas the night before Xmas and !!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B4y5sZKdI4&eurl=http://santabush.com/?utm_source=rgemail
230
Kirri
It does not want to load up for me.
Well Paddy I’ve never come across them before, but the CDS graph looks really scary! Being a private company, there’s no listed share price and of course no publicly available accounts…just what they deign to tell you, so who knows? But any big company in resources will be suffering massive reductions in turnover now, so it’s a matter of their debt ratios and the willingness of their lenders to stand by them if they are distressed.
233
Gaffhook
Yeah, I had a problem with it too, but it came good.
Paddy, here’s a Swiss story for you:
http://www.mineweb.co.za/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=75294&sn=Detail
…the gnomes of Zurich in their fiery workshop!
232
Gaffy, at least your utube clip has some humour. 🙂
This one from Crikey yesterday is about as awful as anything I’ve seen.
I’m thinking of writing to Conroy to have it included on the filter.
Sometimes, we just have to protect the public!!
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=YHvwWQIPRbw
234
Ta Kirri.
I guess there’ll be lots more fallout over the next year or so and no doubt some new names will be added to the lists of the fallen.
Where is EC has he defected or eloped?
Enemy Combatants Rule America
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Enemy-Combatants-Rule-Amer-by-Jason-Paz-081217-203.html
236
ROTFL
The perth mint gnomes have been on overdrive for the last month as well.
I guess there are lots of folks who can see the end of the US$ as currency and realize it’ll soon just be colorful loo paper.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24687337-643,00.html
yeah, the Euro had it’s biggest one day movement ever…it’s looking like nervous time for the USD, but what could anyone expect with the Fed throwing the printing presses at it?
You have to wonder who’s been minding the store…obviously the seriously mentally impaired youngster:
The three-person auditing firm that apparently certified the books of Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, the shuttered home of an alleged multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, is drawing new scrutiny. Already under investigation by local prosecutors for its potential role in the scandal, the firm, Friehling & Horowitz, is now also being investigated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the prestigious body that sets U.S. auditing standards for private companies. The problem: The auditing firm has been telling the AICPA for 15 years that it doesn’t conduct audits.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/17/news/companies/madoff.auditor.fortune/index.htm
…so because they told the accounting body they didn’t ‘do audits’ they didn’t check to see they’d been certifying Mr Madoff’s “books”!
ROFL! What a fiasco!
Public Notice
I, Enemy Combatant a.k.a. E.C. a.k.a. ec a.k.a. Ecky, of http://www.politic.osm.net do hereby disassociate myself from the treasonous low-lives referred to by Mr. Gaffhook in his link at 238, nor will I be responsible for any debt they have incurred during the current “economic downturn” or thereafter.
These are not, nor have they ever been, “my people”. It’s a matter of terminology; for ’tis they who are the “enemy” and my associates and my ‘umble self who “combat” them.
If the “enemy” are permitted to control language, then maufacturing the consent they need to rule rubes is easy.
241
Kirri one can only laugh at this sort of thing.
You can just imagine the straight face on the guy as he says it all. LOL
I know we signed it but that does not mean we audited it you fools.
Havent you read the disclaimer you fools?
Ecky, you’re the one with the orange jump suit, they are clearly imposters!
Gaffy, it’s breathtaking in every dimension: the scale of the fraud, the length of time he conducted it, the utter incompetence of the SEC who had even done investigations of him for gawd’s sake!
But the fallout is tragic, this guy has ruined people, utterly ruined them, and worse, some of them actually knew him and trusted him. This one is a movie script, it’s so unbelievable.
This guy spent TEN years trying to convince the SEC that Madoff did NOT add up:
http://clusterstock.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/busting-bernie-madoff-one-mans-10-year-crusade
…and so they checked eventually, but couldn’t find evidence it was a scam!
ROFL!
You couldn’t make this stuff up, you couldn’t!
You could not make up this bizarre story either:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3793982/Weather-rocket-kills-man-and-blows-up-his-body-at-cremation.html
“You couldn’t make this stuff up, you couldn’t!”
Oh yes you could Kirri.
All you need is a name…………Let’s say……umm…. Bernie Madoff. 😆
That’s pronounced “made off” by the way! LOL
It’s too funny, and too tragic all at the same time.
246
There are a few stories about him on that oped page that i look at. He has sucked quite a few in from overseas as well by all accounts.
He will finish up a hero in Seppoland.
Meanwhile the Storm Financial owner up here was allegedly escorted from an inner city water hole the other night for his own safety. Other patrons became very boistrous and hurled rather loud insults at him. They were worried what was going to be hurled next.
Locals up here only lost $500mil and the poor bloke was only trying to have a quiet drink.
221 Catrina Sock and Awe went from 27 million to 34 million now! I think that is in 5 hours! Boy is that game on fire! See what a viral email can do!
“He will finish up a hero in Seppoland.”
I don’t think so Gaffy.
The ABC showed some footage of him coming out of a bail hearing on TV tonight. Lots of pushing and folks looking fairly pissed off with him.
He’s conned and stolen from the rich and the not so rich. Plus he’s made too many powerful people look bloody foolish.
I suspect he’s going to need protective custody before long.
Just sitting there wearing a bracelet under house arrest mightn’t be all that safe for him as more and more people realize they’ve lost the lot.
Wow! Getup’s fundraiser for their boxing day ad has gone from about $5000 when I looked this morning, to $88460
https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/ClimateActionNow&id=488
I guess I’m not the only one pissed off with Kev.
Kirri
And on and on it goes. LOL
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121703185_pf.html
Just an anecdote about the Australian economy. I was talking to someone senior from a magazine organisation. He said advertising was strong in December but advertising for January issues had died. He gave an example of a leading Australian retailer who last year placed 10 pages of advertising in the January issue of a well known magazine – the retailer has bought no advertising in January 2009.
Rachel Maddow’s Lame Duck Watch.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/38326
Here you go Kirri!
Gold and a fast boat to China is this blokes reccommendation.
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/the-fed-gold-stocks-and-china-5-28828
229 Gaffhook Thanks Gaffhook.
Yeah Gaffy, gold, it’s got a long way to go when the USD hits parity with the Pacific Cowrie Index (to borrow a quip).
Meanwhile, in Seppo meltdown land, the investigators who are lugging out boxes of records from Madoff’s office are asking how did a 70yr old guy produce all the statements and keep pumping them out to all the investors all over the world? Somebody had to be helping, but who dunnit?
Stay tooned folks, this is going to be even more interesting! LOL
Sock and Awe, Bush has been hit 44 million times!
Kudos to the Rude Pundit for a very good post on torture.
It’s so good to be reminded, that not only is this maniac insanely funny
for most of the time. He can also be a damn fine pundit of the serious kind.
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2008/12/regarding-torture-detention-and.html
Whereas, if one is looking for some “serious” journalism in the good ol’ USA.
Then look no further than the ever reliable Fox.
“O’Reilly: Atheists want to ‘revoke’ Christmas”
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9y17pyVzHhM
Apparently odds have firmed for a Franken victory.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/18/frankens-senate-victory-c_n_152241.html
262
Katielou
I have to say, the thought of Al actually winning, puts a nice glow on a cold and wintry day down here in the south. 🙂
“Greenspan Says Markets May Rally in 6 to 12 Months ”
Oh really? Like this guy can get anything right?
“Markets are being suppressed by a degree of fear not experienced since the early 20th century (1907 and 1932 come to mind),” Greenspan said in the commentary. “Human nature being what it is, we can count on a market reversal, hopefully, within six months to a year.”
…oh do tell Alan, do tell. And what are they so afraid of then Mr Magoo? Would it be the house of cards built on the biggest piles of debt the universe has ever seen?
And who assisted the creation of that Alan, huh?
This old clown doesn’t realise nobody is listening anymore.
Coleman leads Franken by just 2 votes.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16732.html
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/64417
Thurs Dec18:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/mikeluckovich;_ylt=AhBeaRqWPm2FjXmgEyXlslkl6ysC
Fri Dec 19: Decider-In-Chief of The Lemmings reflects……
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/nonsequitur;_ylt=A0WTUfiVLUtJFGQAHg4DwLAF
How bizarre.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/peter-hartcher/rudds-busy-bees-still-need-to-do-better/2008/12/18/1229189797508.html
Katielou, can recall your disappointment some posts back with Julia Prole; your mention of how she’s tough on her staff. 40% turnover or suchlike. Not a good look at first glace, I must admit.
Actually, I’m with Gillard on the cone thing. Sometimes leaders need time to think clearly and strategically about important issues. Some players, none of whom appear on The West Wing, need one-out time to do this best. If it’s REALLY important then staff should knock, enter and blurt out: “Ma’am excuse me, but we’re at war with Indonesia”, and depart forthwith.
One feels certain that the absence of “coning” while conveying that info would not be viewed as a career-altering decision.
When empires crumble, bankruptcy has many faces.
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/64429
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/64420
The great porn war.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/web/the-great-porn-war/2008/12/18/1229189814605.html
Speaking of homophobes Ecky, do you remember the once ranting Pastor Ted? (That is ‘pastor’ before he was defrocked for having regular rendezvous with a rent boy while indulging in a little methamphetamine.) Pastor Ted liked to badmouth certain types, like er, gays for example, from his pulpit before he was outed.
Well, now, for some trivia: guess who’s just made a video doco about poor old Ted? One where Ted spills it all, (yeah, he’s still having trouble with his sexuality, so he ain’t ‘cured’ yet, what a surprise! And he bought the meth, but he never inhaled, so to speak!).
You’ll never guess…never!
OK, it’s Nancy Pelosi’s daughter!
How’s that for a hoot?
And speaking of drugs, Guy Rundle’s done a very nice reprise of 2008 in Crikey where one of the notable events of April was:
Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD, dies at the age of 102, or 9,331,483 @&%$#@ in acid years.
…hahahaha! But more seriously, he notes that in May:
Andrew Bolt continued to be a c-nt.
…can’t argue with that. It’s also true for all the other months too! LOL
Japan well in the race with the Us to get interest rates to zero.
Japan today to .1%.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24823787-643,00.html
272
Kirri
Wonder how many died before they reached 25 suckin on the shit.
Obviously he abstained to live that long.
Deep Throat dies?
No Paddy not Linda.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24823794-601,00.html
274
Well you see Gaffy, when you took *Hoffman* acid, it was a very different experience to what these young whippersnappers today call acid. In fact it was a truly mind expanding experience.
Or at least that’s what I discovered while conducting my own research. ( For the pure benefit of science you understand.)
Now as to 275……Well sadly, Linda’s already departed for that great movie set in the sky.
But imagine if someone were to drop Bush and co in the shit like Mark Felt did for Nixon.
ROTF
Today’s media would run a million miles before they’d even print it. 🙁
Mr Mugabe is in no mood to let the imbecile outshine him with the introduction today of the $10bil note.
Gop that W!
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24825257-5005961,00.html
Yeah, Kirri, I like it. Nancy’s girl outs Nancy Boy.
276
Yeah paddy there were many who thought they had the powers of an eagle from high up in buildings after suckin on it.
Certainly made people do funny things at times.
The imbeciles ex press secretary or speech writer has already tried from memory and you are right it did not raise many eyebrows in the press.
Obama Cabinet: Middle-of-the-roaders’ dream.
Disappointing…
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16734.html
279
The sad irony of the Hoffman era Gaffy, is that there were many more victims (both here and around the globe) of a very different and more dangerous combination of substances.
Testosterone, alcohol, and motor vehicles.
When I think back on all the “research” I conducted over a period of nearly 30 years………..The memories that really give me the cold sweats, about just how lucky I was to even survive, mainly involve motor cars and booze.
That’s not to deny there were plenty of other “nervous moments” and lost comrades along the way though. 🙁
Anyway, we can only hope that a certain ex potus, might try testing out his skill at ducking trees instead of shoes. While at the wheel of a fast car. Heck, I’d even send him the rocket fuel to help his reflexes. 👿
Kirri
The classic casee of reverse osmosis. Madhoff scams the Ponzi Estate for untold millions FFS.
The Ponzi Estate is suing federal prosecutors. Oh Dear more twist and turn chapters for the movie. LOL
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Ponzi-Estate-Sues-Federal-by-steve-young-081218-228.html
281
Paddy
I resemble those statements.
Bernard Keane sums up politics in Crikey today:
In fact politics is more or less based around people of high principles and good will discovering that the obtaining and exercising of power involves doing bad things, distasteful things, amoral things, involves unpleasant trade-offs and not just the famous half-loaves of compromise but stale, mouldy crusts. And it’s all the more that way because its symbiotic partner, its Siamese twin the media, dislikes complexity and nuance, in favour of the same simple narratives, repeated with an ever-changing cast of characters but the same plots and moral lessons over and over again. That’s what sells. And what gets votes.
…how true, and how sad that it’s what we’ve got after deciding that shooting each other in the streets doesn’t work either!
283
LOL
Don’t we all. 🙂
BTW
Loved that Ponzi link.
Just when you think it couldn’t get crazier…..It does!!
Free money from the Fed, Ponzi suing an even bigger crook for slander and what’s more…..I heard a ridiculous rumour that a black man had been elected potus!!!
I think it’s time to hide the car keys and crack a nice bottle of red.
Cheers!!!
Oh yes. From Crikey’s xmas tree of Advent madness comes this insane link. Do you want the chicken or the rabbit sir?
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ybVb3t560oY
That’s very funny Gaffy! Apparently Mr Ponzi was a very small time player next to this guy. There’s an article in the NY Times about how whole sections of the real estate industry had funds invested with Madoff and now they’re all bust.
Hell, don’t bother with mere chickens and rabbits.
First dog on the moon’s christmas spectacular is on the free list.
A wonderful epic cartoon that is too good to miss.
http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20081219-First-Dog-on-the-Moon.html
On the same theme, but more seriously, Krugman asks:
Yet surely I’m not the only person to ask the obvious question: How different, really, is Mr. Madoff’s tale from the story of the investment industry as a whole?
…and decides the whole US economy has been running a colossal Ponzi scheme to the advantage of Wall Street’s sharks and at the cost of the entire nation.
He’s got a point.
for anyone who is interested one of our new digital channels is a sporting channel. One HD.
http://www.tencorporate.com.au/library/documents/Network%20Ten%20announces%20new%20sports%20multi-channel%20ONE%20-%2028%20October%202008.pdf
Big Three bridge loan fallout: The GOP kisses the Rust Belt goodbye.
This is the bit I like from this article.
http://blog.mlive.com/capitolchronicles/2008/12/big_three_bridge_loan_fallout.html
Is there anyone more unpopular than Bush?
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE4BI1D020081219
Movement in Minnesota
more interesting Minnesota stuff…
http://www.electoral-vote.com
Turkish company sees boom in sales of ‘George W. Bush attack shoes’
It gets better 😆
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24826253-5005961,00.html
BREAKING NEWS
Bush gives automakers $17.4 billion lifeline
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28311743/
Obama’s selection to represent a sector of the Big Sky Daddy franchise at the inauguration and there deliver a heavenly invocation on behalf of all Americans……. is a gay-bashing, war-mongering hypocrite who pays zero taxes under the name of Pastor Rick Warren.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/?last_story=/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/12/19/rick_warren/
Oh, excellent choice, Barack!
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
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Fri Dec 19:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/jeffdanziger;_ylt=A0WTUfZWEUxJRagAswcDwLAF
Yes, it’s a bizarre choice of Big Sky Daddy representative, isn’t it Ecky? And rather like the Ruddster’s batting score of 5% for emissions reductions which has set the greens and lefty types right off, it has inflamed the passions of certain sections of the community, namely gays and anti-war types.
Is it a ploy to soften the hard right bible bashing fruit loops and lull them into thinking Prez Barack Hussein is gonna get tough on these deviants? If so, it’s a very strange pick.
Personally, I would have preferred the Right Reverend Wright myself! LOL
Meanwhile, Fox’s token liberal Colmes, tells Ann Coulter that he thinks she “is a hate crime”, to her face. Oh well, he got that right.
On second thoughts Ecky, it would have been even better if Obama had selected a grand poohbah from the Klu Klux Klan to officiate! You know, “no hard feelings”, sort of thing! LOL
But let’s get it straight, this guy is going to do a ceremony, he hasn’t been brought into the cabinet or anything, so let’s get over what the symbolism means, and realise that yes, Obama has made a political decision to include some of the rightwing religious nutters (who mostly did NOT vote for him) at his big gig.
What if he’d asked the most liberal religious figure in the country, say the gay bishop or someone who would have been totally acceptable to the GLBT crowd?
As far as I know, Obama’s still not ant-gay, even if the preacher is.
No surprises for guessing Peter Schiff’s take on the auto bailout: this is mad, rewarding the losers and punishing successful companies. It’s also a moral hazard because the next weak industry will be knocking on the door for money.
And he also reckons that the US dollar will crater with all this printed money (well, how many trillions of new taxes are you hearing about to pay for this? None, it’s ALL new debt).
So, buy gold, energy and know that you won’t get killed.
The man has spoken the truth.
Al Franken lead 250!
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36438459.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DU
may need to register..
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/12/the_friday_senate_line_appoint.html