GREENIE CORNER

At a time when resources have never been so cheap or abundant the nutty Greens have somehow got it into their heads that we are running out of things. Why? Because they work on simple-minded theories and are totally oblivious of facts. Once upon a time it made sense to darn socks and lots of women took a basket with them to go shopping. I can remember my mother doing both things back in the '50s. But who does either of those things now? Socks are so cheap that it would be lunacy to spend time darning them and plastic is so cheap it is almost free. Shops wouldn't give plastic bags away willy-nilly otherwise. The price system gives us all the resource scarcity signals we need. If wool and plastic were becoming scarcer the price would be going up and we would all soon be back to darning socks and taking baskets when shopping. But the opposite is happening. Things are getting cheaper, not dearer. It takes a Greenie not to notice that.

The Associated Press ran a global warming story this past weekend that makes the following statement: "Carbon dioxide, the gas largely blamed for global warming, has reached record-high levels in the atmosphere after growing at an accelerated pace in the past year..." See here for a systematic puncturing of the claim.

Bidinotto asks: "Do you ever wonder why terrorism has become so widespread? Then consider the crucial role played by terrorism's enablers: those intellectual and cultural leaders who act as apologists and excuse-makers for violence... Hollywood is now producing a new movie glorifying the violent exploits of eco-terrorist Paul Watson, transforming him into a cultural hero and icon. The film will star Academy Award-winner Sean Penn as the thug who rams and sinks fishing vessels..."

Physicist A.E. Brain says that global warming is part of a normal cycle unconnected with human activity: "It seems likely that the melting of the ice-sheet around the North Pole will continue whatever is done and that the climate differences we have seen within the last two decades will not alter their present course. To a physicist the supposition that such a considerable change in the temperature of the Pacific Ocean has been produced by a minor variation in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere "caused by the burning of fossil fuels" is simply nonsense. Unfortunately, among the world's politicians this supposed "fact" has now become dogma; the waste of resources that has resulted from fighting this mythical dragon can only be regarded as futile and tragic.... Unfortunately many of the environmentalists who denounce global warming supposedly created by the burning of fossil fuels, may be driven by a political agenda and may be illiterate in matters relating to physics. Our concern here is simply with trying to get the physics right - events will inevitably take care of the rest. Global warming will definitely affect the future of every person on the Earth directly and to a non-trivial extent. We are all seekers after the truth. There are those who claim to have all of the answers by mystical revelation and do not need evidence - they "just know""

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FROM BROOKES NEWS

Economic indicators do not point to a market drop this year Share prices could continue to rise right into 2005 as excess capacity falls, investment rises and output and productivity continue to increase.
Union leader claims minimum wages don't raise unemployment The likes of Combet and their media hand-puppets blather on about the low-paid and the need to price them out of work, because that's exactly what their economic nostrums amount to.
Journalist misleads readers over Bush's war on terror There is just no pleasing Bush-hating journalists, including Australian ones. Peter Hartcher of the Sydney Morning Herald, aka "The Saddam Times". No wonder some people now think that Fairfax Press, to which this paper belongs, is an intellectual cesspit.
The Age lies for Palestinian terrorism Fairfax Press cheerfully welcomed a Palestinian apologist for terrorism.
Saudi Columnist: Terrorists in Iraq are more barbarous than Saddam A Saudi columnist criticises Arabs for blaming the US for the terror attacks in Karbala and Baghdad.
Solution of China's ills demands a free society China's problems are turning the country into a ticking time bomb.

Details here

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