Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced that climate change crusader Tim Flannery is the winner of the nation's highest honour Australian of the Year.
At a ceremony in Canberra earlier today, Mr Howard said as an explorer, writer and climate change crusader Professor Flannery has helped millions better understand the environment.
In his recent book 'The Weather Makers' Tim Flannery makes various claims many of which are very fashionable, but appear to lack a scientific basis.
For example, he writes that animal species are vanishing as a result of climate change right now and that a dramatic decline in rainfall along the east coast of Australia may result in the extinction of various species of frog:
"In the early 1990s, frogs began to disappear en masse from the rainforests of northern Queensland and, as with the golden toad, these vanishings occurred in otherwise undisturbed rainforest. Today some sixteen frog species (13 percent of Australia's total amphibian fauna), have experienced dramatic declines. The cause is still debated, but the climate change experienced in eastern Australia over the past few decades cannot have been good for frogs, for a persistence of El Nino-like conditions has brought about a dramatic decline in Australia's east coast rainfall. The latest analysis suggest that at least in the case of the gastric brooder and day frog, climate change was the most likely cause for their disappearance." (pg. 121)
Yet data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology doesn't show the claimed dramatic decline in rainfall.
Here' the graph for eastern Australian from 1900 to 2006:
In fact the 11-year running average looks pretty flat.
Come Panthy - I'm sure Rog is a charming host used to entertaining. Despite rampantly divergent points of view I'm sure it would work out fine. You could show him how to become wealthy by ethical investment processes. Get him to invest in your essential oils business. I'll bring Phil along for support.
Luke wild polar bears couldn't drag me all the way down & out there! Besides, all that air pollution and he'd try to BBQ us one of them 3 eyed power station fish.
No rog, not defending your slurs, just taking your word literally on your surrounds. Note that we left out your 'abos' etc. You're ok though because property values in white supremist enclaves trend upwards above the average in such conservative times.
Now come on Roggy-woggie - we're just teasing. After all you've been a tad mean to us for many moons. Look just invite us round for a BBQ - Pinx will bring her Euro flash grog with her and you'll learn to like us. Actually I'm sick of her Euro rubbish - she's over there half the time buying her bloody antiques and expensive crap. Oooooo look at me and my Neutral Bay boutique. God lord. Anyway we promise to not trash the place and Pinx is now house-trained since she's been to the new doctor. What about we say sorry, draw a line and be buds? You can still vote for Howard and everything.
Here's a sorry video for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kp5ClrSvNI
Obviously the pair of you stand by and defend the slur of *..the housos and inbred caravan park scum..*
Thats OK, we now know where you are coming from.
Shoe box?.. . ..
You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.
So Rog where is your vast ranch - Mt Druitt we had presumed. I guess you have to invest your tax-dodged self-made enviro-raping gains somewhere.
I guess you can take the boy out the shed but you can't take .. .. ..
Anyway you can't be too loaded as you're wasting your time here with the rest of us.
"...when I was a (lass) we were so poor we lived in a shoe box in the middle of the road...."
I was only quoting your own references rog, and there are power stations in your region.
*..the housos and inbred caravan park scum where rog is..*
Quite right, where I grew up we lived in a tin shed. We then moved on to a fibro semi - dad was on night shift and tempers were short - our big day was a small weatherboard house out in the netherlands surrounde by post war refugees - pick the aussie.
Many of them have done good, amazing what a little bit of hard work and gumption does for your position.
However its typical of the cheap shots that pinko and Luke revel in. Truth is neither of them could whistle up any where near a deposit for a property where I live; in fact, they probably couldnt afford the train ticket.
Dream on dreamers.