Tragic but True

The flood catastrophe in Brisbane, Australia has claimed many lives and it seems sad that such an event should draw one's attention to the crackpot "global warming" fanatics, but the following article from the Daily Telegraph, which I copy here in full, demonstrates that these misguided, deluded, and frequently dishonest pressure groups must be stopped.

(Journalist: Christopher Booker)

Ever more alarming facts are emerging to show how Brisbane’s floods were made infinitely worse by cockeyed decisions inspired by the obsession of the Australian authorities with global warming. Inevitably, the country’s warmist lobby has been voluble in claiming that such a “freak weather event” (as the BBC called it) is a consequence of man-made climate change. But far from being an unprecedented “freak event”, the latest flood was nearly a foot below the level of one in 1974 and 10 feet below the record set in 1893.

For years, Australia’s warmists have been advising the authorities that the danger posed to the country by global warming is not floods but droughts: not too much rain but too little. One result, in Brisbane, was a relaxation of planning rules, to allow building on areas vulnerable to flooding in the past. As long ago as 1999, this was seen as potentially disastrous by an expert Brisbane River Flood Study (which was ignored and for years kept secret). Instead of investing in its flood defences, Australia spent $13 billion on desalination plants. (Queensland’s was recently mothballed because of the excess of rain.)

Last week’s most disturbing revelation, however, was the contribution to Brisbane’s flooding by the South East Queensland Water company’s massive release of water from its Wivenhoe dam upstream from the city (for details see “Brisbane’s Man-Made Flood Peak” on the Regionalstates blog). Instead of controlled releases through the previous week, the company allowed the level to rise to within a few inches of the top of the dam before releasing a vast volume of water, with devastating consequences for Brisbane 36 hours later.

Last spring, Queensland’s prime minister, the drought- and warming-obsessed Anna Bligh, ordered the water company not to allow any releases from the dam because water was such a “precious resource” that none must be wasted.

Unsurprisingly, on Friday, the city’s Lord Mayor asked for a full judicial review of what had happened. But it is time our Australian cousins carried out a very much more wide-ranging inquiry into all the other decisions made by their gullible politicians in recent years, under the spell of a pseudo-scientific ideology which now looks utterly discredited.

Until the next time.

A Very Stupid Man

Source

This man is a fur-lined, ocean-going prat.

Why? Well read this quote from a BBC news item about anti-alcohol legislation in Turkey (surprise, surprise as the Islamisation of this once-proud secular state advances):

"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has publicly voiced his disapproval of alcohol consumption. Last year he said he could not understand why people drank wine when they could just eat the grapes."

Last weekend I was treated to a good share of a 2004 château-bottled Pauillac - Château Lynch-Moussas, Premier Grand Crû Classé no less.

The ignorant fathead illustrated above has no business pontificating on subjects of which he knows, quite obviously, bugger-all!

Until the next time

Global Warming, Passive Smoking - or perhaps both?

Dead birds falling from the skies in the USA and now Sweden are indeed strange events - and quite disturbing.

However, stranger still if no-one comes forward to blame "global warming" or "passive smoking" for these sad events!

And on the latter subject, three cheers for the Spanish rebels.

Until the next time.

Belgium

Belgium has been run by a "caretaker" government for seven months. Politicians have been told that they have until tomorrow to consider a new plan to break the deadlock following last June's general election.

This BBC article includes the following intriguing quote:

"Seeing the country running without a government for so long without experiencing any major problem might play on the side of those who want the end of the country," says Jean Faniel, researcher in political sciences at Crisp, a Brussels-based politics studies centre.

"They could say: 'You see, we don't really need a federal government, we're doing well without one.'"

There you are: it's official. A modern European country can run without a government. I ask you: why do we put up with it?

Until the next time

The Backlash that shouldn't be...

The Daily Telegraph reports today that there is a "growing backlash" concerning the perks enjoyed by senior staff in the EU administration.

Apparently, these senior officials, earning between €104,000 and €185,000 per annum are entitled to three months off work on full pay each year. "Nice work if you can get it" was the sentiment that first sprang to my mind. However the article goes on:

Stephen Booth, of the Open Europe pressure group, said: "If the top ranks of the EU's civil service can take this much time off it raises interesting questions about how much work they're actually doing."

This is the bit that rattled me. If the "backlash" results in these overpaid parasites actually doing more "work" then on top of the ludicrous expense of this near-farcical organisation (which is bad enough in itself) we shall have to face up to an additional 25% damage caused by these bureaucrats. The more "work" they do, the worse it gets.

I say give them nine months' holiday each year!

Until the next time.

Boring 2010

The title above, is not intended to be a reference to last year, although in my case there is an element of truth. No, the title refers to a conference held for boredom enthusiasts on 11th December and reported in the Wall Street Journal.

I strongly recommend that you follow the link; a fine piece of American Journalism (no irony) - I find American journalism especially in regard to the quality and style of writing, at least in the better newspapers, greatly superior to that found in English ones.

A few quotes for you:

"Boring 2010 is the handiwork of James Ward, 29 years old, who works for a DVD distribution and production company. In his other life, as the envoy of ennui, Mr. Ward edits a blog called "I Like Boring Things." He is also co-founder of the Stationery Club, whose 45 members meet occasionally to discuss pens, paper clips and Post-it Notes."

"Proceedings at the sell-out event were kicked off by Mr. Ward himself, who discussed his tie collection at great length, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation.

He noted that as of June 2010, he owned 55 ties, and 45.5% of them were of a single color. By December, his tie collection had jumped by 36%, although the share of single-color ties fell by 1.5%.

"Ties are getting slightly more colorful," he noted. Also, apparently, his taste was improving. By December, only 64% of his ties were polyester, down from 73% in June."

"One eagerly awaited talk was about writer Peter Fletcher's meticulous three-year—and still running—sneeze count. With the help of graphs and charts, Mr. Fletcher disclosed that he had sneezed 2,267 times in the past 1,249 days, thus gaining "a profound understanding of the passing of time.""

"I've even sneezed when recording a sneeze," he said."

Thanks to Dick Puddlecote for pointing me to this gem.

Until the next time.