Free Republic

Australian Political Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has today stunned observers by reversing his position on a carbon tax – ruling out any future reinstatement of a carbon tax.According to The Sydney Morning Herald; “We will not have a carbon tax, the Australian people have spoken and Labor is not going to go back to that,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney on Saturday. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bill-shorten-says-labor-wants-to-tackle-carbon-pollution-but-rules-out-return-of-carbon-tax-20141011-114nmp.htmlDespite turning his back on a carbon tax, the Labor Opposition Leader continues to back the introduction of a “market based mechanism” for tackling “carbon pollution”.One of the core platforms of the current Abbott government, which helped...

There is no trend whatsoever in US hurricane strength – this graph proves it. Click for story.(via CFACT) The latest round of climate talks began this week in Doha, Qatar in the usual fashion – namely, with alarmist claims that the world is being imperiled by manmade global warming and it’s time for “action.”Naturally, the U.S. is being chided to join the crowd, especially since it failed to do so last time by refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. To pressure Uncle Sam into getting-with-the-program, some nations, like Gambia, have shamelessly stooped to using Hurricane Sandy and the outcome...

Energy: Former Vice President Al Gore admitted Monday that his pivotal 1994 Senate vote for ethanol subsidies was bad policy but good politics. That says a lot about the reality of environmentalism in government. As the ethanol tax credit comes up for renewal in Congress on Dec. 31, it's worth noting it only came about because the vice president cast the decisive 51st vote in favor of it in 1994. At the time, he packaged it as a big move to preserve the environment in a market-friendly, sustainable manner, and for years defended his vote because it was supposedly good...