Australian prime minister Tony Abbott visited Ottawa on Monday. He and Stephen Harper got along famously. Abbott called Harper, "an “exemplar” and a “beacon for centre-right parties around the world”.
Why? Because the prime minister is a climate change denier. Nothing will prevent Harper from developing the oil sands, just as nothing will prevent Abbott from developing Australia's coal industry. Paul Adams writes:
More than anything, Abbott admires Harper because he sees him as a world leader in the fight against doing anything meaningful to contain global warming.
Like Harper, at one time Abbott was close to being an outright climate change skeptic. “The argument (behind climate change) is absolute crap,” he once remarked.
Like Canada, whose economic dependence on dirty tar sands oil has grown under Harper, Australia has an emissions problem. In fact, Abbott seems bent on increasing the growth of his country’s coal industry, which is closely linked to China’s economic expansion.That’s why Abbott is joining Harper in forming a cabal of nations trying to slow efforts to contain emissions. He is trying to repeal the carbon tax imposed by [Julia] Gillard. And he has been an outspoken critic of President Obama’s recent climate-change initiative.
Abbott is a Rhodes Scholar. But, like George W. Bush, he is also a Master of Malapropism. In an effort to sound wise, he once proclaimed that, “No one, however smart, however well educated, however experienced, is the suppository of all wisdom.”
Wanna bet?
14 comments:
Malapropism I've recently been accused of that and some bloggers claim they were in a position to stop Harper yet they did nothing and now the rest of us suffer.
Senate Page Brigette DePape was the only one that acted.
It will take a lot more Brigette DePape's to make Harper go, Mogs.
Yes Owen the collective of knowledge now contained in the non-msm blogs hopefully is enough to convince Canadians that we have had enough.
As an aside to Dana I am of the seventh seal, which is yet to ne opened and my horse was the fourth of the apocalypse.
We continue to hope, Mogs, that the Apocalypse is not around the corner.
"We continue to hope, Mogs, that the Apocalypse is not around the corner."
Owen, I think you'll find it in the Fort McMurray area.
Agreed, Ed. That landscape looks post-apocalyptic.
It is incredible, Owen, in this age that heads of major government could extol and revel in their profoundly regressive views. I have to admit that when I read the newspaper accounts of this meeting, I could feel little more than deep anger and frustration that such are the ilk responsible for our world's fate.
Apparently Abbott is a Rhodes Scholar, Lorne. That fact makes you wonder about whether Cecil Rhodes fortune is being put to good use.
Enjoy your time in the West. I'm sure, though, that you'll be interested in what happens tomorrow in Ontario.
Owen, there can be no doubt that Harper is a troubled (and troubling) fellow (as even the MSM is beginning to record) but of ALL the damage he has done over the past eight years, his greatest legacy will be his unwavering push for bitumen extraction and dilbit flow in the face of all climate change data. His sorry group of ministers and their ad hominem attacks on reasonable discourse, his horrific legislative agenda and unprovoked attacks on the law and democracy simply pale in comparison to the lack of due diligence regarding carbon. Some are questioning whether he should be held accountable for his lack of reasonable care. He so dearly wants to be "Dear Leader". Can he be held to account?
Just because he is a Rhodes scholar doesn't mean he can't be crazy or in denial or being paid to say the things he does or figures short term gain is a whole lot better than short term pain. He will be dead in the long term.
Harper is a fundamentalist, so we know where his head is at, Abbott who knows.
It is somewhat difficult to deny the climate is changing, given the increased droughts in some areas, flooding in others, etc. What maybe argued is what is causing it all. We know the earth's climate has changed in the past and its doing it again.
Even if the two booby twins don't believe in climate change they ought to ensure the environment remains clean. We do have to breath and drink. It might be best if it were all clean. Of course with Abbott and Harper, they are only interested in how much money they and their corporate friends can make.
It appears that the only accountability lies in the ballot box, Asking.
And, if we don't hold him accountable by that method, then shame on us.
Exactly, e.a.f. For Mr. Harper -- and for Mr. Abbott -- everything and everyone has a price.
i.e. paid guns for hire?
Sounds like it, doesn't it Anon?
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