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RUDDLE MUDDLE

Your columnist struggles against climate change confoundery. So does Kevin Rudd. And further to last week’s column, this intriguing stat:

Kevin Rudd and Labor owe their election victory a fortnight ago to just 0.1 per cent of the national vote after fewer than 12,000 people across nine electorates dumped the Coalition.

(Via Murph and Jorgen)

UPDATE. Environmentalists are confused:

Environmental groups in Bali yesterday called on Mr Rudd to clarify if Australia supported the proposal that developed countries should cut their emissions by up to 40 per cent by 2020.

“We need to see real leadership here in Bali,” said Hans Verolme, the head of WWF’s climate change program. “Australia needs to make up its mind. What we need is real clarification on its level of ambition.”

Posted by Tim B. on 12/07/2007 at 07:06 PM
  1. Be strong, Tim.  Be strong.  It will all become clear.  Eventually.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 12 07 at 07:22 PM • permalink

  2. Mandate!

    Posted by paco on 2007 12 07 at 07:27 PM • permalink

  3. Out of the starting gate, face first into the mud?

    Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 12 07 at 07:38 PM • permalink

  4. Let’s find all those 0.1%.  They must be Great People. According to the Lefty columnists they have ‘transformed Australia’ and dug it out of our Dark Ages with a single stroke of their pencils.
    Let Kevin’s Kamelot bloom!

    Posted by Barrie on 2007 12 07 at 07:59 PM • permalink

  5. As we read at

    AEC, only seven candidates have been declared which means that all the votes for only these seven Divisions have been counted and a candidate has been elected to the House of Representatives from these seven division. One is Rudd.

    This is the Ruddslide?

    Posted by stackja1945 on 2007 12 07 at 08:04 PM • permalink

  6. And thanks to those few folk, Australians are now sensitive, responsible, fair-minded, globally-respected, on-the-map, at-the-table, and looking ahead to the future. Instead of the selfish, racist, plasma-backyard-obsessed morons we used to be.

    Posted by ooh honey honey on 2007 12 07 at 08:22 PM • permalink

  7. Dare I hope for a one term government?

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 12 07 at 08:24 PM • permalink

  8. #5 Stack: “Ruddslide”. You should have copyrighted that.

    Posted by paco on 2007 12 07 at 08:28 PM • permalink

  9. Yes, but it’s still a mandate.  A sweeping mandate.  A major change of course.

    And by the way, why are you still working?  Haven’t you been slung out onto the street yet? Was all that talk from the left just swaggering braggadocio?  Oh, please say it ain’t so!

    Anyway, you can emigrate.  I bet Lileks would put you up, it sounds as if Jasperwood has lots of room.  Of course, come the inevitable Democratic victory in 200, he’s going to be out of a job too.

    Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 12 07 at 08:37 PM • permalink

  10. Dare I hope for a one term government?

    Funny thing is, the Left and the Unions were crowing a while back about how Howard would lose his election and his seat after trying to reform Workplace relations, just like Prime Minister Stanley Bruce is 1929.

    Course, they never took that “history repeating” meme to its ultimate conclusion, since the ALP government elected in 1929 was one term - it was brought down by the Depression, which was needlessly severe in Australia, most likely due to the fact proper Workplace reform was never done…

    Posted by Quentin George on 2007 12 07 at 08:40 PM • permalink

  11. Pretty much half of the voters voted for Liberal and half voted for the actu labor.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 12 07 at 08:47 PM • permalink

  12. i asked you guys to come & help me on election day, but did you?  you could have swayed the last minute mind maker-uppers with your persuasive charm.  it’s all your fault.  bastards :)

    Posted by KK on 2007 12 07 at 09:04 PM • permalink

  13. KK:

    I know you’re not talking to me, there.

    The last time I ever persuaded anyone on anything with my charm was when I had to convince a wannabee mugger that I, in fact, wanted to keep my wallet much more than he wanted to take it.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 12 07 at 09:11 PM • permalink

  14. i dunno grimmster - i could have used you the night i caught union thugs trashing billbards

    Posted by KK on 2007 12 07 at 09:13 PM • permalink

  15. there was meant to be an o there.  the people who stole the u out of labor must have got it

    Posted by KK on 2007 12 07 at 09:15 PM • permalink

  16. #6 Instead of the selfish, racist, plasma-backyard-obsessed morons we used to be.

    Ah, the Good Olde Days… Seems like just last week, dunnit?

    Posted by mojo on 2007 12 07 at 09:29 PM • permalink

  17. OK, on a serious vein (I’m crossposting a little):

    - if you want the ammunition to blow ‘global warmenistas’ out of the water
    - if you want to actually understand what is happening in regards to climate and WHY

    then go to this 14-page article and read it carefully.HERE

    From what I can see, the evidence is starting to accumulate behind this, which is unsurprising - this was Rhodes Fairbridge we are talking about here, truly one of the titans of the age.

    This article is a ‘compendium summation’ scientific article relating to the hypothesis that solar events regulate terrestrial climate - and it is hellishly convincing. It is hard data, not the usual MSM bullshit, but an educated layman can understand it. It is not a froth-and-bubble easy read suitable for leftists, you’ll have to actually print-and-study, probably read it a couple of times. I did, and I have read a chunk of Fairbridge’s work.

    But it is well worth it - and we are hardly brainless leftists here.

    Go. Print. Read.

    MarkL
    Canberra

    Posted by MarkL on 2007 12 07 at 09:45 PM • permalink

  18. He has as much chance of explaining his position as This bloke (about minute 4 into the clip)

    Expect to see Garret develop an involuntary twitch of some sort every time his name is mentioned in Parliament this year.

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 12 07 at 09:53 PM • permalink

  19. The money you spoke of in your wonderful column, is going to go straight to the hands of the UN gangsters.

    The intelligent world caught them with their hands on Saddam’s zipper. Persia dislikes them, at least for now (until they get a Saddam deal from them, that is).

    In the meantime they will extort it from bozo’s like Kevin Dudd.

    Of course…our turn is coming, should the dumbskulls, elect Hillary.

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 12 07 at 10:08 PM • permalink

  20. Dare I hope for a one term government?

    Why wait for one term?  Let’s have The Dismissal Mk II!  Major General Michael Jeffery has sufficient cause, given the KRudd’s churlish refusal to pleadge allegiance to the Queen of Australia.

    The lefties are still gnashing their teeth and tearing their hair out over The Dismissal Mk I.  Bring on The Dismissal Mk II and the paroxysms of lefty rage will provide us with side-splitting amusement for another 50 years!

    Posted by Ubique on 2007 12 07 at 10:23 PM • permalink

  21. That’s pledge, sorry.

    Posted by Ubique on 2007 12 07 at 10:27 PM • permalink

  22. Great Story as always Tim Tam..

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 12 07 at 10:33 PM • permalink

  23. Rear Admiral Sean Penn has endorsed a presidential candidate.

    Posted by paco on 2007 12 07 at 10:36 PM • permalink

  24. Mark L that’s an interesting article. I found it through some climate blog a couple of days ago (forgot which one though). Can’t pretend to understand it all but it does a good job of explaining the breadth of contributions from the sun on climate aside from the simple strength of electromagnetic radiation. It also underlines how amazingly complex the issue of climate is.

    Posted by Francis H on 2007 12 07 at 10:37 PM • permalink

  25. 23 Paco

    Wonder if anyone has forwarded this to the Secret Service…

    “While I’m not a proponent of the Death Penalty, existing law provides that the likes of Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld and Rice, if found guilty, could have hoods thrown over their heads, their hands bound, facing a 12-man rifle corps executing death by firing squad,” Penn said.

    I may anyway.

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 12 07 at 10:44 PM • permalink

  26. Learn to speak a foreign language like a native, with the help of Maggie’s Farm!

    #25: That would be true, if any of those folks had committed a capital crime in Utah. Not aware of any outstanding warrants.

    The Secret Service knows they can probably find Penn anytime they need to; I’m sure they have a list of celebrity “health retreats”.

    Posted by paco on 2007 12 07 at 10:56 PM • permalink

  27. Rudd ratifies Kyoto? what about water conservation.  As long as we can breathe fresh air, as we all die of thirst.

    Posted by Howzat on 2007 12 07 at 11:25 PM • permalink

  28. First we heard of Rudd’s “100 day programme”.  Now we hear that The Ruddslide© is merely 12,000 strong. 

    When you strip away the 1’s and 2’s from those numbers, that’s a lot of zeros.  Somehow, I find that so…..appropriate.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 12 07 at 11:27 PM • permalink

  29. Re #5, stackja1945, please note in #28 that you are now copyrighted!  :-D

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 12 07 at 11:28 PM • permalink

  30. Re #17, Mark, I read a presentation with a similar conclusion earlier this year, although it was a PowerPoint file, not a scholarly article. 

    That article (written by another Aussie) used sunspot numbers plotted against terrestrial surface temperatures to suggest that the next solar cycle would be similar to Cycle #14, i.e., quite cold. 

    IIRC (and I can’t find the article again, dang it!), it speculated that if the current solar minimum continued long enough (i.e., at least the length of Cycle #13), we could see similar effects, under the hypothesis that the longer a solar cycle lasts, the lower it’s energy output.  The (potentially) magic date is in February 2008…..and the solar cycle remains at a minimum. 

    Wait for The Goreacle™ to start preaching about the next ice age, and what He $ay$ to do to $top it.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 12 07 at 11:46 PM • permalink

  31. “Australia needs to make up its mind. What we need is real clarification on its level of ambition.”

    Australia replies: “Eventually I want to settle down with a nice petite government, pay off all my debt, renovate the place a bit, have maybe 50-60,000,000 kids and all going well at work I’d like to rise to the rank of deputy sheriff. Granted it’s no global caliphate, but we’re happy.”

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 12 07 at 11:51 PM • permalink

  32. #12 KK, I was out there myself trying to help out the team.

    In doing so, I got one hell of a sunburn on one side, and the other side I got a fantastic tan.

    I hate my skin!

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 12 07 at 11:54 PM • permalink

  33. Jeremy Taylor at Cato.org:

    Climate scientists do not have the training to tell us whether the costs associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions are less than, equal to, or greater than the costs of business as usual. And that’s something you would want to know before signing off on greenhouse gas emission reductions. When climate economists have explored that matter, they find little to support such emission reductions even if we accept the prognostications about the future coming out of the IPCC.

    Posted by daddy dave on 2007 12 07 at 11:54 PM • permalink

  34. also from that article, this classic quote:
    I do not believe in leaving public policy to “guys in white coats” - in any discipline

    Posted by daddy dave on 2007 12 07 at 11:55 PM • permalink

  35. #28 RJ: With your math and engineering background, I knew you’d be the first one to truly size up the worth of the Labor program.

    From the update: “We need to see real leadership here in Bali,” said Hans Verolme, the head of WWF’s climate change program. “Australia needs to make up its mind. What we need is real clarification on its level of ambition.” 

    It’s that damned fork in the road, again, isn’t it Kev? C’mon, Australia! Make up “your” mind, already! Ein volk, ein fork, ein Bündel von Ohrenschmalz!

    Posted by paco on 2007 12 07 at 11:58 PM • permalink

  36. By the way, Tim, extra points for directing all questions to Wayne Swan’s email address.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 12 07 at 11:58 PM • permalink

  37. #34: I do not believe in leaving public policy to “guys in white coats”

    Although there is a subset of “guys in white coats” that is very useful to have around when the Climatics start baying at the moon.

    Posted by paco on 2007 12 08 at 12:03 AM • permalink

  38. #32 onya buddy

    Posted by KK on 2007 12 08 at 12:05 AM • permalink

  39. #17.  MarkL, that’s a good article, although I needed a two hour nap in the middle of it in order to make it through to the end.

    That makes it a non-starter for all the fruitloops though.  They want a nice, simple “it’s all our fault” recipe.

    Gore’s answer is so simple - it’s like the McDonalds of science (I am not trying to malign McDonalds in any way here).  Most people would switch off as soon as you say “solar inertial motion”.

    Posted by mr creosote on 2007 12 08 at 12:10 AM • permalink

  40. #38 If the guy I was campaigning for wins his seat (and it’s still being counted I think), I’m sending him the bill for the after sun spray.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 12 08 at 12:38 AM • permalink

  41. ...Hans Verolme, the head of WWF’s climate change program.

    Does he report directly to Vince McMahon? And, will they have a big WrestleMania match between Beth Phoenix, and Gaia?

    Posted by rinardman on 2007 12 08 at 12:50 AM • permalink

  42. Theo’s “last post”, for a while.

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 12 08 at 12:53 AM • permalink

  43. #42 Now I’m sad El Cid :(

    Instead of just hot and waiting for the twice-daily cool change.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 12 08 at 01:04 AM • permalink

  44. Mr Creosote, The Real Jeffs and FrancisH, thanks for looking at it. I hope more of us do. Because the more we do, the better we can address the fruitloops.

    MarkL
    Canberra

    Posted by MarkL on 2007 12 08 at 01:06 AM • permalink

  45. After a bit of rummaging around the interweb thingy looking at some of the actors in Update I, imagine my surprise to discover Germanwatch isn’t a group of octogenarian veterans of SOE and OSI keeping an eye on the krauts.
    Germanwatch prepares the ground for necessary policy changes in the North which preserve the interests of people in the South.
    Such a nice way of saying: “Kneecapping first world economies so third world shit holes won’t feel so bad about being third world shit holes.”

    Posted by lotocoti on 2007 12 08 at 01:06 AM • permalink

  46. imagine my surprise to discover Germanwatch isn’t a group of octogenarian veterans of SOE and OSI keeping an eye on the krauts.

    You’re thinking of the Krautwatch division of PACO Enterprises’ Top Secret Intelligence Collection, LLC.

    They’re currently “hiring”, by the way. Speak to any representative of the Global Operation To Coerce Helpful Associates (GOTCHA).

    Posted by mojo on 2007 12 08 at 01:29 AM • permalink

  47. Environmentalists are confused

    There’s a shocker.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 12 08 at 01:44 AM • permalink

  48. “Level of ambition”.  Methinks Krudd has surpassed his level of ambition (or at least his level of competency) and is gobsmacked by the level of ambition that is needed to govern a country like Australia.  He will bask in the cheering he gets in Bali and then have to really come to terms with the top job.  Tosser.

    Posted by Cashew on 2007 12 08 at 01:46 AM • permalink

  49. Scene: Sunny lawn in Bali

    Reporter: “Mr Rudd can you clarify you position on Kyoto for us please?”

    Peter Garret (Environment): “Mmmmmmffff!!, Mmmff, mmmmmm!!!!”

    (thud!, dragging noises)

    Kevin Rudd: “Thank you Julia”, straightens tie, shuffles notes, shuffles feet, checks breath….

    Reporter: “Ahem, Mr Rudd?”

    Rudd: “You still here?, Look its perfectly simple. Australia will commit to Massive, unprecedented, world beating, super dooper, mega big emissions cuts of a lot at a future date to be met shortly after the 13th term of my government. No other country has offered so much spread out over such a long time.”

    Reporter: “Have the costings been done yet?”

    Wane Swan(Tresurer): “Mmmmmmffff!!, Mmmff, mmmmmm!!!!”

    (thud!, dragging noises)

    Kevin Rudd: “Thank you Julia”, the costings worked out to be so small, spread out over such a long time, taking into account inflation that we havent found it necessary to burden the public with such a piffling detail”

    Reporter: “How is it likely to affect trade given Australia is an exporter of energy and materials?”

    Simon Crean(Trade): Mmmmmmffff!!, Mmmff, mmmmmm!!!!”

    (thud!, dragging noises)

    Kevin Rudd: “Thank you Julia”, We will instead be collecting carbon credits hand over fist as soon as the mining industry rationalises its new position”

    Reporter: “Given Australians and first world countries emit higher rates of CO2 wouldnt leaving people in 3rd world countries rather than accepting them as immigrants be part of the solution?”

    Chris Evans(Immigration):Mmmmmmffff!!, Mmmff, mmmmmm!!!!”

    (thud!, dragging noises)

    Kevin Rudd: “Thank you Julia”, We will send a clear signal by refusing entry to any potential Liberal party voters”

    Reporter: “How will the increased energy and goods prices caused by a carbon tax affect the elderly and pensioners”

    Nicola Roxon(Ageing): “Mmmmmmffff!!, Mmmff, mmmmmm!!!!”

    (thud!, dragging noises)

    Kevin Rudd: “Thank you Julia”, We will move them all to the soon to be tropical paradise of Melbourne, that way they will always have the perfect weather for them at least once a day.”

    Reporter: “How will you address any future water shortages, do you plan any more dams?”

    Penny Wong(Water): “Mmmmmmffff!!, Mmmff, mmmmmm!!!!”

    (thud!, dragging noises)

    Kevin Rudd: “Thank you Julia”, No we will ration everyone to one bottle of imported spring water per day”

    Reporter: “How secure is your position as leader of the Lab party Mr Rudd?”

    /Thud, dragging noises.

    Julia Gillard(Deputy PM): “Oid loike to sey Kevin heas my ful baucking, unless he wes to heve a suedden helf crisus”

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 12 08 at 02:52 AM • permalink

  50. masterful work, tfm

    Posted by KK on 2007 12 08 at 03:00 AM • permalink

  51. #49, LOL. 

    My monitor is clean only because I’m eating icecream and not drinking!

    Posted by Kami on 2007 12 08 at 03:32 AM • permalink

  52. Fantastic job Frollicking.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 12 08 at 03:35 AM • permalink

  53. Frollicking, you got the exscent just roight.

    Posted by mr creosote on 2007 12 08 at 03:55 AM • permalink

  54. Frollick- ROFLA

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 12 08 at 03:58 AM • permalink

  55. Someone should tell “Dr.” Hans Verlome to get stuffed.

    NGOS such as WWF do not rule the world, are not elected, have no moral, political or ethical authority above elected governments.

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 12 08 at 06:56 AM • permalink

  56. #14

    union thugs trashing Bill Bards

    Is he related to Bill Posters? Or is he just a common entertainer?

    Posted by kae on 2007 12 08 at 07:02 AM • permalink

  57. A very big test for the new Dudd government. Let’s see how he goes.

    Posted by AlphaMikeFoxtrot on 2007 12 09 at 01:51 AM • permalink

  58. WWF versus WWF: WTF?

    I like to know who, what, and why;
    So somebody, please clarify
    Which one has the fakes,
    Hysterics, and flakes;
    And which has that McMahon guy.

    Posted by lyle on 2007 12 09 at 03:15 AM • permalink

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