11 thoughts on “Monday message board”

  2. So if Australian politics follows its normal path, Peter Costello will be leader of the Opposition by next week.

    That’s kind of a pity – it’s virtually unprecedented for a Federal Australian government to last a single term so the odds are Costello will lead the Liberals to defeat at the following election and losing Opposition leaders seldom get a second chance.

    So barring a miracle next Saturday or an extraordinary performance from Pete in Opposition he’s unlikely to ever be PM.

    That seems a little unfair since he’s the principal architect (along with Paul Keating) of Australia’s economic dream run over the last few years.

    In retrospect, he’s probably wishing he’d challenged Howard earlier this year.

  4. Firstly, I haven’t seen any response to my post in the previous Monday Message Board, so I am re-posting some of it below:

    Has anyone read the following in Mark Latham’s article “Latham: Beware the Polls and The Swinging Voter” in today’s Australian Financial Review?

    I cannot understand why the government has not targeted the scale of Rudd’s spending promises – how Labor’s new outlays of more than AU$55million might push the budget back into deficit and damage the economy.

    I thought Rudd had (rightly or wrongly) promised fiscal restraint in his election campaign launch. Have I missed something?

    Secondly, I have written a response, which may be of interest it’s entitled “Mark Latham’s Political Gift to John Howard” and can be found on webdiary as well as at candobetter.org/node/253. On Webdiary the teaser is:

    What Latham fails to point out is that if the Australian people fail on 24 November to take advantage of the opportunity before them to throw from office the worst Government by far that this country has had since federation, then a very dangerous precedent will have been set. In covering up this basic reality, Latham is, himself, undermining the very democracy he claims he wants to see rejuvenated.

  5. According to the US Government Accountability Office, subsidies to fossil fuel use dwarf those to the renewable sector.

    http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story;jsessionid=84C553E92A546C14552C05AAACB20648?id=50615

    “The GAO report looks specifically at research and development (R&D) and tax expenditures for fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewable energy from fiscal year (FY) 2002 through FY 2007. The report’s cover letter — addressed to Senators Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who requested the analysis — notes the importance of federal subsidies in light of energy’s crucial role within society.

    “Because of electricity’s importance to producers, consumers, and businesses, the federal government has undertaken a wide range of programs to develop the electricity sector, which includes fuel suppliers, electric utilities, and others in the electricity industry,” the letter states.

    The report shows total R&D expenditures from FY 2002 to FY 2007 to be $11.5 billion, which was distributed among nuclear ($6.2 billion), fossil fuel ($3.1 billion) and renewable energy ($1.4 billion). Total tax expenditures for the energy sector from FY 2002 to FY 2007 were $18.2 billion, with fossil fuel receiving $13.7 billion and renewable energy receiving $2.8 billion.”

    Of course, if we look at the relative contributions of oil and coal and renewables to current US energy use, the renewable sector preobably gets more subsidies per unit of power produced.

  6. Well observa, think that’s pretty clever? I’d say that the current situation in Pakistan is better than an invasion and occupation of that country by foreign powers. This obviously doesn’t imply that General M is pedastal worthy.

  7. “If Saddam really was the best option…”

    How many options were considered?

    Ever hear of the fallacy of either-or?

  8. The Economist puts the case that America is heading for a recession.

    As US economic growth slows and welfare costs increase, look for the budget deficit to blow out.

    Obviously Bush didn’t cut taxes ENOUGH, surely another massive hand-out to the very rich will fix the problem.

  10. http://www.solardaily.com/reports/VRB_Power_Sells_Two_VRB_Energy_Storage_Systems_To_Winafrique_Technologies_999.html

    The Vanadium Redux battery technology has been under development for quite some time now. It has the potential to store large amounts of electricity at low cost which could radically change the electricity industry. Besides making intermittent renewable energy more viable it could get rid of the need for expensive inefficient peaking power.

    They’ve now advanced to the point where they’ve got products suited for real-world applications including field applications in Africa – a very demanding environment.

  11. Dr. Patel should not be extradited to Australia. He will not get a fair deal in Australia. In Australia murderers like Chris Hurley go scot-free and aboriginal people and other minorities are treated like second class citizens.
    http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/anger-at-custody-death-ruling/2006/12/14/1165685807598.html

    Americans and Indians should not allow him to be extradited to racist Australia, whose justice system is deeply flawed. He should be tried in American courts so that he can get a fair trial.

    Here is an interesting link for those interested in justice and fairness:

    http://www.oregonherald.com/eforums/messageview.cfm?catid=15&threadid=350

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