The majority of Australians are totally opposed to this tax impost. The strong feeling against the Gillard government is widespread and is expressed in opinion polls, in newspaper articles and in letters to the editor. Bill Schutz, of Mt Sheridan/Cairns wrote the following letter in today’s “The Cairns Post,” his opinion would also be the majority view of Australians. I quote:
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Carbon plan just another debacle.
I DOUBT this mighty country has ever had such an incompetent Federal Government as it has right now. The bungling of nearly every situation that has come across the PM's desk is simply mind boggling.
Whether it be the East Timor solution, the Malaysian solution, the Building the Education Revolution, pink batts, the live cattle trade debacle, the list is simply endless. And now for the big one, the carbon tax, the tax we were never going to have under a government she led.
Australia is 1.4 per cent of total world CO2 output, in an environment where only 0.0384 per cent of total atmosphere is made up of CO2. The miniscule amount of difference Australia would make is negligible and not worth the pain of this huge tax impost on to our society.The biggest change to Australian business in our history is about to be pushed on to us and we did not even have a chance to vote on it. This is a disgrace and the ALP should hang their heads in shame at the damage they have inflicted on us hard working Australians. God help Australia because nothing can help this ALP Government win the next election. Unquote
Following are some excerpts from an interesting exposé of the US Department of Defence; accused of being the worst polluter on the planet. Yet the Gillard government and its motley crew of greens and independents want to penalise us for the minute amount we produce in Australia. To read the full exposé, click here. - Werner
Whether it be the East Timor solution, the Malaysian solution, the Building the Education Revolution, pink batts, the live cattle trade debacle, the list is simply endless. And now for the big one, the carbon tax, the tax we were never going to have under a government she led.
Australia is 1.4 per cent of total world CO2 output, in an environment where only 0.0384 per cent of total atmosphere is made up of CO2. The miniscule amount of difference Australia would make is negligible and not worth the pain of this huge tax impost on to our society.The biggest change to Australian business in our history is about to be pushed on to us and we did not even have a chance to vote on it. This is a disgrace and the ALP should hang their heads in shame at the damage they have inflicted on us hard working Australians. God help Australia because nothing can help this ALP Government win the next election. Unquote
Following are some excerpts from an interesting exposé of the US Department of Defence; accused of being the worst polluter on the planet. Yet the Gillard government and its motley crew of greens and independents want to penalise us for the minute amount we produce in Australia. To read the full exposé, click here. - Werner
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The US military is responsible for the most egregious and widespread pollution of the planet, yet this information and accompanying documentation goes almost entirely unreported. In spite of the evidence, the environmental impact of the US military goes largely unaddressed by environmental organizations and was not the focus of any discussions or proposed restrictions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. This impact includes uninhibited use of fossil fuels, massive creation of greenhouse gases, and extensive release of radioactive and chemical contaminants into the air, water, and soil.
The extensive global operations of the US military (wars, interventions, and secret operations on over one thousand bases around the world and six thousand facilities in the United States) are not counted against US greenhouse gas limits. Sara Flounders writes, “By every measure, the Pentagon is the largest institutional user of petroleum products and energy in general. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements.”
While official accounts put US military usage at 320,000 barrels of oil a day, that does not include fuel consumed by contractors, in leased or private facilities, or in the production of weapons. The US military is a major contributor of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that most scientists believe is to blame for climate change. Steve Kretzmann, director of Oil Change International, reports, “The Iraq war was responsible for at least 141 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) from March 2003 through December 2007. . . . That war emits more than 60 percent that of all countries. . . . This information is not readily available . . . because military emissions abroad are exempt from national reporting requirements under US law and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.”
According to Barry Sanders, author of The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism, “the greatest single assault on the environment, on all of us around the globe, comes from one agency . . . the Armed Forces of the United States.”
Throughout the long history of military preparations, actions, and wars, the US military has not been held responsible for the effects of its activities upon environments, peoples, or animals. During the Kyoto Accords negotiations in December 1997, the US demanded as a provision of signing that any and all of its military operations worldwide, including operations in participation with the UN and NATO, be exempted from measurement or reductions.
After attaining this concession, the Bush administration then refused to sign the accords and the US Congress passed an explicit provision guaranteeing the US military exemption from any energy reduction or measurement.
Environmental journalist Johanna Peace reports that military activities will continue to be exempt based on an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that calls for other federal agencies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Peace states, “The military accounts for a full 80 percent of the federal government’s energy demand.”
As it stands, the Department of Defence is the largest polluter in the world, producing more hazardous waste than the five largest US chemical companies combined. Depleted uranium, petroleum, oil, pesticides, defoliant agents such as Agent Orange, and lead, along with vast amounts of radiation from weaponry produced, tested, and used, are just some of the pollutants with which the US military is contaminating the environment.
- Depleted uranium: Tens of thousands of pounds of micro particles of radioactive and highly toxic waste contaminate the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Balkans.
- US-made land mines and cluster bombs spread over wide areas of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East continue to spread death and destruction even after wars have ceased.
- Thirty-five years after the Vietnam War, dioxin contamination is three hundred to four hundred times higher than “safe” levels, resulting in severe birth defects and cancers into the third generation of those affected.
- US military policies and wars in Iraq have created severe desertification of 90 percent of the land, changing Iraq from a food exporter into a country that imports 80 percent of its food.
The extensive global operations of the US military (wars, interventions, and secret operations on over one thousand bases around the world and six thousand facilities in the United States) are not counted against US greenhouse gas limits. Sara Flounders writes, “By every measure, the Pentagon is the largest institutional user of petroleum products and energy in general. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements.”
While official accounts put US military usage at 320,000 barrels of oil a day, that does not include fuel consumed by contractors, in leased or private facilities, or in the production of weapons. The US military is a major contributor of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that most scientists believe is to blame for climate change. Steve Kretzmann, director of Oil Change International, reports, “The Iraq war was responsible for at least 141 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) from March 2003 through December 2007. . . . That war emits more than 60 percent that of all countries. . . . This information is not readily available . . . because military emissions abroad are exempt from national reporting requirements under US law and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.”
According to Barry Sanders, author of The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism, “the greatest single assault on the environment, on all of us around the globe, comes from one agency . . . the Armed Forces of the United States.”
Throughout the long history of military preparations, actions, and wars, the US military has not been held responsible for the effects of its activities upon environments, peoples, or animals. During the Kyoto Accords negotiations in December 1997, the US demanded as a provision of signing that any and all of its military operations worldwide, including operations in participation with the UN and NATO, be exempted from measurement or reductions.
After attaining this concession, the Bush administration then refused to sign the accords and the US Congress passed an explicit provision guaranteeing the US military exemption from any energy reduction or measurement.
Environmental journalist Johanna Peace reports that military activities will continue to be exempt based on an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that calls for other federal agencies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Peace states, “The military accounts for a full 80 percent of the federal government’s energy demand.”
As it stands, the Department of Defence is the largest polluter in the world, producing more hazardous waste than the five largest US chemical companies combined. Depleted uranium, petroleum, oil, pesticides, defoliant agents such as Agent Orange, and lead, along with vast amounts of radiation from weaponry produced, tested, and used, are just some of the pollutants with which the US military is contaminating the environment.
- Depleted uranium: Tens of thousands of pounds of micro particles of radioactive and highly toxic waste contaminate the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Balkans.
- US-made land mines and cluster bombs spread over wide areas of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East continue to spread death and destruction even after wars have ceased.
- Thirty-five years after the Vietnam War, dioxin contamination is three hundred to four hundred times higher than “safe” levels, resulting in severe birth defects and cancers into the third generation of those affected.
- US military policies and wars in Iraq have created severe desertification of 90 percent of the land, changing Iraq from a food exporter into a country that imports 80 percent of its food.
The source: Project Censored, media democracy in action. To read the full article, click here.
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My thought for today. - Werner
Money talks - but credit has an echo. Bob Thaves
Money talks - but credit has an echo. Bob Thaves
