Malcolm Turnbull is a moron
I normally reserve the 'M' word for Richard Dawkins, but Malcolm Turnbull is a moron.

Lets review the facts...

Malcolm wants to try and force all his liberal friends to vote FOR Labors Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). This is insanely stupid on so many levels.

1) Politically, agreeing with the opposing party gains you no benefit and considering every new survey that comes out shows the population becoming more and more skeptical, there is only political benefit from opposing the scheme, which looks to cost the average Aussie around $1,100 per year at least. It is ironic to find a Liberal supporting an environment scheme even the Greens won't support.

Worse still, he is trying to force a party line vote, which has never been how the Liberal party does things. That is how Labor does things.

Copenhagen will not be swayed by whether Australia has an ETS, so there is no sensible reason to hurry and try and pass the legislation.

2) Economically, there is no benefit to Australia as the ETS as our impact on temperature (even according the to alarmists) that any reduction in our green house gas emissions will be non-existent. Hence ANY cost hurts Australia economically.

Naive, nice sounding programs that actually hurt us all in the long run are Labor's specialty, not the Liberals.

3) Scientifically, the case that man-made global warming is a world ending threat are unravelling. The data has been manipulated and fudged by a bunch of scientists desperate to have their religion change the world. The climate computer models are broken and unreliable.

The recent climategate emails are only the latest in a long line of evidence that this is the case.

4) Morally. Everyone keeps telling us that global warming is a moral issue. And it is. People have died because of this scam already. Supporting the impoverishment of people on uncertain science, and bad economics is morally reprehensible.

I assume Malcolm isn't a moral monster, so the only other reasonable conclusion is that he is a moron, and more than likely a closet Labor party member.
- posted by Alan Grey @ Thursday, November 26, 2009 2 comments

 
Welcome to your lying Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd is blogging (apparently), and of course, it is about climate change.

Right out of the bat, Krudd lets go the biggest whopper you can image

The latest scientific research on climate change confirms our worst fears. Climate change is happening faster than we previously thought, creating a more serious threat to our economy, our environment and to future generations.

Sorry Kev, but you are lying to the public. Even the global warming alarmists over at Real Climate are saying that temperature is not going to rise till 2020.

How then can you say with a straight face that climate change is happening faster than we previously thought? Oh...that's right, you are a Labor Politician.
- posted by Alan Grey @ Friday, July 17, 2009 0 comments

 
Domestic Abuse By Women Soars
It's a serious problem, that is often overlooked, and the number of cases reported to police has nearly tripled in the last 8 years.

Of course, the media headline on news.com.au's front page, covering for abusive women, gives the head-line 'Record bashings by stressed-out wives'. I seriously doubt that would paint an abusive male partner in such a sympathetic light.
- posted by Alan Grey @ Monday, June 22, 2009 0 comments

 
Stealth Bomber pics
Okay...a somewhat giant geek attack, but I saw this cool photo of a b-2 stealth bomber breaking the sound barrier.



It immediately made me think of another advanced plane, which contains a few similarities...what I would like to call the version 1 stealth bomber.



Is it just me, or are there a few similarities there (and not just that it was a T2)
- posted by Alan Grey @ Monday, May 18, 2009 0 comments

 
Tactics in defending evolution
Charles, from Little Green Footballs posts about a redstate article which defends the idea that conservatives are not anti-science, but that it is the liberals, using the frame of the ID-evolution debate.

Charles, from what I understand is a conservative or libertarian who has a strong dislike of anyone questioning evolution.

A few things stick out about Charles' post though.

A quick problem is that he uses the term 'creationist' to describe 'Intelligent Design' (ID), thus trying to link the ID movement with young earth creationists like Answers in Genesis and progressive creationists like Reasons To Believe. This is a common debating tactic of trying to make your target seem less main-stream than they really are. But Charles seems unable to consistently use this categorization as he then goes on to claim that 'We’ve dealt with this silly argument so many times at LGF that it gets tiresome to keep repeating it, but “intelligent design” creationism has absolutely no legitimacy as a scientific theory; there isn’t a single peer-reviewed paper that supports it, there is no research behind it, there are no reputable scientists who promote it, and the most famous (actually, the only) biologist identified with ID, Michael Behe, has been explicitly denounced by his own department at Lehigh University.' Charles is trying to have it both ways, using the small size of the ID movement as a negative, but lumping it with 'creationists' to also cast it in a negative light. Of course, someone should remind Charles that the vast majority of Americans would agree with the statement that 'God was directly involved in some way in the creation of the various forms of life on the planet.' So really it is Charles' position which is the fringe position (amongst the general population). There are many creation scientists, from all strands of science, but of course, the vast majority of scientists support evolution.

So Charles accepts the authority of some scientists but not others. Preferring the majority to the minority. Nothing wrong with that, but he doesn't seem to do the same thing with Global warming, which he calls the "international left’s newest article of blind faith".

Charles is probably a very intelligent guy, but at some point we all choose which authorities to accept.

The question is why do you choose some authorities and not others to believe. Do you fairly evaluate the alternatives or do you dismiss arguments simply because they mention God? Do you think evidence for Intelligent design is even possible? Because if not, then your begging the question, not weighing the options, and that isn't reason, that's blind faith.

Intelligent Design is a concept that has been discussed and promoted for thousands of years by philosophers and religious folk, all the way back to luminaries such as Socrates. To ridicule it and dismiss it out of hand is to show yourself to be ignorant, not educated or intelligent.
- posted by Alan Grey @ Wednesday, May 13, 2009 2 comments

 
Consequences of the Death of Education
There has been a concerted effort to push real education out and replace it with a shallow, foundationless indoctrination. Nowhere is this more evident than in politics.

It used to be that you had to do a western civilization component for any university degree, where you would be taught the foundational ideas that underly both the conservative and liberal movement. Watching the debates (and I used the term loosely) that go on about politics show clearly that almost no-one knows or understands any of the foundations. (The one exception I would say is that libertarians do understand the foundations of libertarianism - Atlas Shrugs continues to be widely read)

Consider this Huffington Post piece as a typical example of the political discourse that goes on today. The Author, Steven Weber, is an actor. Which is to say, that his chief qualification is playing make believe. Yet our political discourse is so retarded that some people consider actors as experts (Consider the cast of Battlestar Galactica being asked to talk at a U.N. function on international/religious relations).

A quick read of the article leaves you with one impression (actually two, but I will refrain from talking about Weber's character). That republicans are apparently irrational, evil, fearful, outdated monsters. The enemy of all that is good. You may however, have trouble finding anything even remotely considered a logical argument to support this case.

And that seems to be the plan. Insult the right. It's easy to do. The left-wing ideals are all so very shiny...universal health care, higher minimum wage, progressive tax, redistribute wealth to the poor, open the borders, release the prisoners, stop the war. All very noble sounding....help people, make peace, be 'excellent' to each other.

The ideas sound so nice...why only irrational, evil, fearful, outdated monsters would oppose them. Or so it seems to the likes of Weber.

The situation is only marginally better on the right. Conservatives are looking for a conservative G.O.P., and finding it hard to find. The population, lacking foundational education, is swayed easily by the fast-food ideals of the left, and so many in the G.O.P. are trying to add sugar to their buns, in order to stay 'relevant'. Instead of educating (a very difficult thing to do out of school in our sound-bite culture), conservative movements from around the world have become fiscal liberals (Even here in our recent QLD state election). Is it any wonder our economy is in so bad shape.

And that is the problem today. The left peddles short-term nice sounding goals. Kevin Rudd in Australia is popular, and why not...he is giving everyone $900! Yet anyone who takes the time to think about it should realise that that $900 will actually cost them at least $1200. If anyone thinks this is a good deal, feel free to message me...I will happily give you $900 if you give me $1200. Short-term feel good fast-food.

Universal health-care sounds nice....but doesn't work - which is why people fly from Canada to the U.S. to get many types of health-care. People not having to pay for their own health-care is a moral hazard, as it encourages poor life-style choices. This means everyone else has to pay for the smokers health-care. The only 'reasonable' way forward then is to mandate what people can and can't do (or abandon universal health-care...unthinkable and evil don't you know)

Large scale Social security/welfare sounds nice....but doesn't work - which is why welfare spending in Australia now accounts for nearly half the Australian government budget....and is only going to get worse. Or consider Europe, where there aren't enough young people to make enough money to pay for the welfare of the elderly. Or America, where the welfare system is essentially bankrupt.

Beating our swords into ploughshares sounds nice....but doesn't work - Russia, Iran, North Korea, China, Somalian Pirates, just to name a few that are becoming more emboldened and militant in their actions because of the perceived weakness of America.

Releasing the prisoners sounds nice....but doesn't work - consider how many guantanamo bay releasees have gone straight back into fighting the west through terrorist activities.

Opening the borders sounds nice....but doesn't work - consider the massive social upheavals across the globe (Cronulla riots in Australia, no-go zones in Europe) where large scale cultural differences are prominent, mostly due to open borders policies allowing more into the country than can be culturally assimilated.

So what is the chief foundation that is missing? What is it, that makes all these nice sounding ideas implode in the long-term?

Morality...people are moral beings...but more than that, people are fallen moral beings. No-one lives up to even their own moral code, let alone the moral code of a transcendent omnipotent God. The western world is no longer being taught that it is full of sinners. Full of people, who no matter how hard they try, continue to do things they consider wrong, things that negatively affect themselves and others.

It has been said that the fallen nature of man is the most empirically established fact in history. History declares that we are sinners who cannot perfect ourselves....

To ignore this fact is the height of stupidity, yet our educational institutions no longer teach it...the most important aspect of human nature is ignored.

I would suggest their are several reasons....
Firstly, we have been told that 'self-esteem' is more important than understanding that everyone...you, me, politicians...everyone, is a sinner.

Secondly, we live in a fast-food, sound-bite culture. Depth of understanding is disintegrating, and it is so much easier to pander to short-term desires than to real needs.

Thirdly, there is a campaign by the left to indoctrinate the world into their vision. It is a matter of record that universities and schools are predominantly left-leaning (since the 1960's). Teaching western civilization has been removed because it would challenge the left-wing vision.

So, next time you read a contentless article decrying the evils of conservative ideology, and you wonder how anyone with a brain and a heart could be a conservative, just remember, maybe it is because the person is actually using both their brain and their heart.

Show me a young conservative and I'll show you a man without a heart. Show me an old liberal and I'll show you a man without a brain.

-Winston Churchill

- posted by Alan Grey @ Sunday, April 12, 2009 0 comments

 
The Testing Begins - MSM Strangely absent
Agreeing with Joe Biden, I was pretty sure that major enemies of freedom would start to move as soon as Obama was in power, testing the resolve of the new President, who already appeared weaker than Bush.

Of course, the only news I had read around Obama's inauguration was that Iran was trying to get Obama to apologise.

That's what I get for relying on the Obama-infatuated MSM....

The real news...
1) China released a new Military white paper announcing it's intent to secure regional hegemony within the decade.
2) Iran launches a satellite on a rocket capable of being an ICBM. Troubling with their soon to be nuclear capability
3) Russia bribes Kyrzygstan to kick out a U.S. base, essentially stopping U.S. building up power in Afghanistan.

The world is moving in a bad bad direction, and the MSM doesn't seem to care, or want anyone to know.
- posted by Alan Grey @ Wednesday, February 04, 2009 0 comments