Sacked IRS chief gets grilled

It [the State] has taken on a vast mass of new duties and responsibilities; it has spread out its powers until they penetrate to every act of the citizen, however secret; it has begun to throw around its operations the high dignity and impeccability of a State religion; its agents become a separate and superior caste, with authority to bind and loose, and their thumbs in every pot. But it still remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well disposed, industrious, and decent men. – HL Menken

It was somewhat difficult to decide whether to use the Menken quote above, or Joseph Sobran’s “Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what your government is doing to you.” 

American conservatives and libertarians are discovering just what excesses their government and it’s agencies is prepared to do to them in one of the latest scandals to hit the administration; the targeting of conservative PACs by the IRS.

 Rep Kelly (R-PA) while grilling former IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller, who appears to be the fall guy for that action stated what we have long believed, “This kind of reconfirms that, you know what! They [the IRS] can do almost anything they want to anybody they want anytime they want. This is very chilling for the American people:”

 

Northern Territory politician’s way out Jolie rant

 It sounds like Northern Territory politician Willem Rudolf Westra van Holthe hasn’t been getting enough attention lately, or perhaps is self-absorbed enough to think his comments on movie stars activities are relevant.  Mr van Holthe (Left) has come out with an over the action of Angelina Jolie (Right) in having a double mastectomy being regarded as ‘heroic:’ 

A NORTHERN Territory minister has come under fire on Facebook after bizarrely weighing in on Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy.  Country Liberal Party member and MP for Katherine, Willem Rudolf Westra van Holthe sparked a flurry of angry Facebook responses after posting this on news.com.au's Facebook page last night:

Mr Westra van Holthe was referring to a story in which Brad Pitt called his fiancee "heroic" and praised her decision to undergo the radical surgery after discovering she carried the breast cancer gene that killed her mother at 56. 

Pitt was quoted saying: "Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie's choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic. I thank our medical team for their care and focus.

The press are a little overenthusiastic in handing out hero labels to celebrities be it Hollywood stars or gay sportsmen, but at least it saves them from the dilemma presented in finding them in the ranks of the great unwashed.  On the other hand in this case it is somewhat churlish to criticize.

Jolie essentially carried out a preemptive action to prevent the high risk she carried of contracting breast cancer.  While this was probably a difficult and emotional decision to make, it was probably the most sensible one available to her.  A great many women with breast cancer though have difficulty in coping with radical surgery despite the almost certainty of death otherwise.

Her action in announcing her action to the public will give many women encouragement to do what is needed in that situation and may save many lives in the long run.  She deserves to be congratulated on that, not hauled over the coals or have her contribution to women’s health belittled as has happened here.

We wish her well.

(Ed note): Mr van Holthe’s image (above) was taken after a fight in a pub.

Fix the Budget by Cutting Climate Waste

Media Statement by Viv Forbes

Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition. http://carbon-sense.com/  

The Carbon Sense Coalition today called on the federal government to reduce the burden of the Climate Industry on all taxpayers and consumers.

The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said that the biggest national scandal today was how the whole government apparatus, including the nationalised research and media industries and parts of the opposition, was totally captive to a religious belief that a destructive war on carbon energy will somehow provide benefits to some future generation of Australians by cooling the climate and preventing extreme weather events.

 “This is a delusion.”

Quote: 

It was the great Milton Friedman who said “There is only one tax on the people and that is government spending”.

Cutting expenditure, not re-arranging expenditure, must be the total focus of this budget.

And the first candidate for spending cuts must be the totally useless Climate Change Industry.

Every department, program, research grant, travel grant or salary with climate, warming, carbon, sustainability, renewable, sequestration, clean coal, ethanol or IPCC in its title or mission statement should be abolished forthwith together with its staffing. This list must include but not be restricted to:

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) and its dependants, saving about $3.2 billion.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation, saving about $10 billion.

The Emerging Renewables Program, saving about $126 million.

The Clean Technology Innovation Program, saving about $200 million.

Subsidies to Coal-fired electricity generators, saving about $5.5 billion. (This has to be the ultimate madness - the government levies a crippling carbon tax on coal-fired electricity generation to force them to close and then pays huge subsidies to the same generators to delay their closure).

All Climate Change “Research” focussed on carbon dioxide, saving about $300 million.

 “Contracts for Closure” - payments to ensure closure of some electricity generators (unbelievable - surely the carbon tax will do this).

The Coal Sector Jobs Package - payments to coal mines to offset the cost of the carbon tax- just abolish the tax.

Coal Sector Assistance Package - Subsidies to some Coal Mines (another stupidity - repaying some of the carbon tax they took in the first place).

Everything funded under the Clean Energy Future Plan.

All renewable energy subsidies.

The Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund.

The Ethanol Production Grants Program – a subsidy per litre of ethanol produced.

All climate change officials, lawyers, inspectors and auditors everywhere, maybe 13,000 of them saving, say, $2 billion per year.

The offices of the Climate Commissioner and the Clean Energy Regulator – whatever they cost is wasted money.

The whole Carbon Capture and Storage empire – The National Low Emissions Coal Initiative, the CCS Flagships Program, the National Carbon Dioxide Infrastructure Plan, and the Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.

Support for all the International Climate Forums and Conferences via APEC, CEM, G20, IEA, IEF, IPEEC, IRENA, IPCC and all the travel costs associated with attendance.

All handouts under the Green Precincts Fund - $15M spent to date.

All government advertising, market research, media monitoring, media advisers and logo designers promoting the carbon tax, the Department of Climate Change, smart meters or other climate and green energy initiatives.

Donations to Green Friends such as the Climate Institute, the Australian Conservation Council, Climate Works Australia, Green Cross Australia, and the ACTU - $3 million spent already.

To “balance” all of these reduced expenditures the government must also abolish the carbon tax and all fuel taxes not related directly to public road usage and applied to road construction and maintenance.

Note: The above list probably includes errors, double counting and omissions, but such is the confusion and proliferation of the alphabet soup of what poses as “Climate Policy” that it is doubtful if anyone could prepare an accurate and comprehensive list. The only feasible solution is to start cutting, biggest first. None of them will be missed, except with relief by taxpayers and consumers.

(Ed note: This was meant for yesterday prior to the budget but Google refused to load for some reason.)

Clean Coal by Wire

By Viv Forbes,

Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition 


There is a persistent green myth that coal-fired power generation causes city smogs. It does not. 

City air pollution is nothing new. King Edward I complained about London pollution in 1306, as did Queen Elizabeth I in 1578, long before the first steam engine operated. 

Let’s look at the causes of some famous smogs – London/Pittsburgh, Los Angeles/Santiago, the Dust Bowls and the Asian Smogs. 

The London smogs were caused by open-air combustion of newspapers, wood and cheap high-sulphur unwashed coal in domestic fires, stoves and boilers; by coal-burning blacksmiths, brewers and ironworkers in smoky forges, furnaces and coke plants; and by many smoky steam locomotives; all with inefficient combustion and no pollution controls. The smog was slowly eliminated by clean air regulations and by changing to “clean coal by pipe” (town gas) and “clean coal by wire” (electricity). 

The Los Angeles smogs were caused mainly by backyard incinerators, vehicle exhausts and natural air inversions. They were reduced by using cleaner fuels, better engines and compulsory pollution-control equipment. Santiago has undergone a similar clean-up. 

The Dust Bowl conditions of the Great Plains in USA were caused by drought and wind erosion of newly cultivated soils. Gobi Desert storms produced the Yellow River and the Yellow Sea and contribute to the Asian Brown Cloud today. 

Today’s Asian smogs have many sources –

• forest fires in Indonesia; open air cremations in India;
•  dust from volcanic eruptions and desert storms;
•  soot, ash and other pollutants from millions of domestic rubbish fires, mosquito fires, cooking fires and heaters using anything combustible – cow dung, wood, paper, cardboard, plastic or cheap unwashed coal; and
•  soot and unburnt hydro-carbons from millions of vehicles, many with engines needing maintenance and no pollution controls.
•  Soot, smoke, ash and SOX and NOX pollutants from old boilers, smelters and furnaces using dirty coal without modern pollution control equipment.


Beijing today combines the 1950’s problems of both London and Los Angeles. 

The Asian smog is NOT caused by producing electricity in modern power stations with closed boilers, pollution controls and using high-quality washed coal such as exported by Australia to Asia. The “power station pollution” pictured so eagerly in ABC and Green propaganda is actually steam from the cooling towers.

The main products released by modern coal-fired power stations are water vapour and carbon dioxide – both are essential life supporters. Neither one is toxic, polluting or dangerous, and carbon dioxide is invisible. Both make our climate more liveable, but the contribution of carbon dioxide to climate is tiny. And the extra carbon dioxide produced by burning coal has done more to encourage the growth of plants and the greening of planet Earth than Greenpeace will ever do.

“Clean coal by wire” into every home is the one thing that could solve much of the Asian air pollution.

Politicized bureaucrats try to stamp out dolphin feeding, get stamped on

Photo: Dolphin feeding time at Tin Can Bay. Credit Craig Warhurst Gympie Times

Tin Can Bay is a mall township on the mainland opposite Fraser Island, where for many years wild dolphins have interacted with the people and arrive for feeding.  This has been the cause of considerable outrage among greenies, the DNR, and Labor governments for nearly as long.

This opposition should have ended a few days ago when Environment Minister Andrew Powel arrived, fed the dolphins and announced that the activity could continue as long as the dolphins kept coming.

Within twenty four hours, a group of bureaucrats from the Transport Department arrived seeking to get involved.  It is not well understood why this group were doing the environmentalists dirty work as the dolphins arrive at the feeding spot by swimming, not in cars. Anyway they settled in to make pricks of themselves: 

A party of Queensland Transport officials threatened the continued operations of both the Barnacles Cafe dolphin feeding facility and the separate Rainbow Beach business, Dolphin Ferry Cruises, according to Bay fisherman, conservation adviser and dolphin feeding advocate Joe McLeod. 

"They arrived at about 1pm and demanded to see a copy of the new conditions for dolphin feeding, to see if they breached Barnacles' lease. 

"They also said that Transport Infrastructure regulations would prohibit ferries, including the Dolphin Ferry, from operating out of the boat harbour area, which includes most of Snapper Creek. 

"They claimed the regulations also prohibit people living on boats, even though the marina is in the harbour area. And they also prohibit anchoring a tinny for fishing.  "But they were really only interested in Barnacles," he said. …

The Transport Minister, Scott Emerson on being informed launched an investigation and has demanded the names of those involved in this action.  These people will probably join the other 12,000 public servants who have found themselves surplus to requirements since Newman took office.

Labor, like the left worldwide has a habit of politicizing the bureaucracy.  In some ways this is not dissimilar to the actions of the IRS in the US who have now admitted to targeting any group with Tea Party, or Patriots in its name.  These political hacks need to be weeded out and cast adrift into the private sector where they are going to have to learn and adopt a sense of reality if they are to have any hope of succeeding.

‘Skywhale’ just what you always wanted, but were afraid it would seem silly

Canberra is celebrating its centenary, and nothing shouts the name of the federal capital quite like an enormous hot air balloon with ten enormous pendulous dugs hanging down the sides. (This is not satire folks):

According to most reports, this monstrosity was built for around $170.000 but the budget for the year is in the order of $300,000 dollars.  This is published as having come from ACT taxpayers, but given that the only major industry in the ACT is government for which Australians pick up the tab, it’s fair to say that it comes from us.

While you all wonder what the hell ever inspired this act of stupidity which despite its size, only carries a pilot and two passengers, the artist who designed it has stated that it is designed to make people wonder, so it seems to be serving that purpose.

The theory here on RWL is that ‘skywhale’ as it is called is actually something else.  It is not logical for a whale to be used as Canberra is a landlocked city in a landlocked territory, so this has been designed as misinformation.

Anyone who has watched “The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy” will recognize the image of a Vogon (Left) in this artwork/balloon, a true symbol of government and bureaucracy.

It is actually a clear representation of all that Canberra itself represents, along with huge boobs, symbolizing the welfare state and crony capitalism.

It has to be queried though, whether those who call it 'money well spent' have much between the ears.

Slipper’s on again off again UAP membership

Cartoon: By Pickering 

Clive Palmer needs to exert some control over the internal workings of his United Australia Party before it becomes a complete farce if it has not already become one.

Earlier today it was announced that disgraced former Speaker of the House, Peter Slipper had applied to join the party and had been accepted: 

FORMER  federal parliamentary speaker Peter Slipper has joined Clive Palmer's United Australia Party.  Mr Palmer confirmed Mr Slipper, the sitting member for Fisher, had applied to join the UAP and his application was accepted. 

However, Bill Schoch would remain the UAP's endorsed candidate for Fisher in the next federal election.  UAP secretary and Dickson candidate Clive Mensink said the party's constitution allowed any member to contest a seat against an endorsed UAP candidate.  That opened the way for Mr Slipper to run as an independent. 

Mr Slipper left the Liberal Party in acrimonious circumstances in 2011 and has sat in Parliament as an independent since 

Hours later the executive announced that his membership had been rejected: 

PETER Slipper's membership with Clive Palmer's United Australia Party has "ceased" only hours after it was announced he had joined the party.  The party posted an announcement on its website tonight saying founding members had made the decision, barely five hours after announcing Slipper had been accepted. 

"Under clause D26 of the constitution of the party, a majority of foundation members have decided that the membership for Peter Slipper has ceased forthwith," the statement said.UAP member Alex Douglas, who officially joined the billionaire's party barely two weeks ago, tweeted the news tonight. 

"Peter Slipper has had his membership rejected by a majority of the founding members through the constitution of the UAP," he said. Fellow UAP MP Carl Judge also shared the news.  Carl Judge said the decision had been made by party executives. "I became aware of the situation, simple as that, and I was pleased with the action taken by the party executive," he told The Courier-Mail.

Slipper for his part is now claiming that he didn’t apply for membership and the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Clive Palmer is a self made Billionaire and philanthropist and has worked hard for everything he has attained.  He deserves a great deal more respect than he receives despite being somewhat quirky and eccentric, something his critics hone in on.

Slipper on the other hand is a professional politician in the worst sense of the term, and has been an embarrassment to everyone he has been associated with but has led a charmed life until recently.  The LNP stuck by him for years despite his giving the Labor Party tons of live ammunition to use against him over his expansive sense of entitlement and excessive expenses.

He was then taken on by labor in a dirty deal to give him the speakership of the House of Representatives as an independent in order to shore up their minority government.  This has been dubbed one of Gillard’s misjudgments and only lasted long enough to cause acute embarrassment to his benefactors.

Clive really needs to steer well clear of sleazebags like this.