frogblog

Frogblog readers have been in good form this week, so here’s a few highlights.  On the Road Transport Forum’s truck protest Kiore1 says ‘I heard that truckies already drove their trucks into central Auckland in order to cause gridlock, but Aucklanders never noticed the difference, so they went back to work.‘

And haz notes ‘Not so long ago a group of Happy Valley protesters were arrested for blocking the rail line just outside CHCH - gee, I wonder if any truckies will be arrested today for blocking roads?‘

On John Key’s failure to discuss the Emissions Trading Scheme Valis feels ‘The public deserve to know before the ETS passes, but the Nats had second thoughts and decided not say. Cynical politics at it most pathetic. Advice from Canberra no doubt.‘

And georgedarroch succinctly damns both the scheme and National; ‘Would you buy a used car from someone who refused to answer your questions?‘

Mr Dennis thinks the Greens should not vote for the Emissions Trading Scheme; ‘I too would like to hear what National would do instead. But just because we don’t know is no reason to pass something that we DO know is fundamentally flawed. Something that does not decrease global emissions while costing a horrendous amount to do nothing (money we could use to do something effective) is not better than nothing, it is worse than nothing.‘

And kahikatea thinks this is real possiblity: ‘Jeanette has been saying she will vote against the ETS if it’s bad enough. My sense is that she is serious. She is conscious that if she made that threat then didn’t carry it out, she would have no bargaining power next time she made such a threat.‘

On a more scientific note tom-o-tron breaks down the climate change doubters’ claim of carbon neutral cows; “Methane breaks down to CO2 and water after eight to 10 years, so the methane a cow emits does not add to the methane in the atmosphere, it simply replaces it.â€? This is serious flat earth territory. That’s like saying, if I have a leaky pipe, it doesn’t matter how fast it’s leaking, the water will still dry up. If it’s only dripping slowly you get a little wet patch and maybe some mould, but if its gushing like crazy, maybe you need to fix it before all you possessions float away.‘

Meanwhile Sam Buchanan looks at the argument that NZ should not do anything about climate change because we are too small to have an effect: ‘Likewise, if I rob one bank a year,it will make almost no difference to the bank’s profits or the amount of bank robberies occuring world wide. Therefore, why should I damage my personal finances by refraining from robbing banks?‘

If you’ve got time you may want to check out the very detailed technical discussion on public transport under the post on Russel’s first parliamentary question.  Someone get these people in front of a select committee.

big bro has an alternative theory on who has been tampering with Green Party posters in Morningside: ‘You know who it was who did this don’t you… Thats right, those nasty and evil Exclusive Brethren.‘ But Patrick Starr thinks the cause may be less malevolent ‘Or, maybe the Greens used environmentally friendly ink that simple washed off in the first rain fall?‘

Lastly, following Nicky Hagar’s news of the reemergence of Crosby Textor on our political landscape, travellerev traces the links between Crosby Textor, Merrill Lynch, the Council for Independent Studies and multinational bank JP Morgan.

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