RIP Australia’s Carbon Tax

7/20/2014

UPDATE: at ~ 11:14AM local time in Australia, it was repealed!

From ABC: Legislation to scrap the carbon tax has passed the Federal Parliament in a major win for the Abbott Government.

After a lengthy debate, the Senate voted to get rid of the price on carbon, with 39 senators voting for and 32 voting against.

This was the Government’s third attempt to scrap the tax since the election – the first two were rejected by the Senate.

The Australian reports:

THE carbon tax has been repealed, fulfilling Tony Abbott’s “pledge in blood” to abolish the landmark Gillard government scheme.

The Senate passed the government’s amended carbon tax repeal bills by a margin of 39 votes to 32 at 11.14am, with only the Labor Party and the Greens opposing their passage into law.

It was the Senate’s third attempt to pass the repeal legislation.

The vote was held as Bill Shorten gave a clear pledge to take a new carbon pricing mechanism to the next federal election, due in 2016, in the form of an emissions trading scheme.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/carbon-tax-repealed-by-senate-at-the-third-attempt/story-e6frg6xf-1226991963431

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An ill-fated foray that never made much sense

Guest opinion by Phillip Hutchings

With perhaps a few more grandstanding shenanigans in our Federal Senate this week, Australia’s two-year experiment with a Carbon Tax will soon end. Legislation to kill the tax, which was brought in by the left-leaning Labor-Greens coalition in mid-2012, is now being finalised by our one year-old conservative Government.

That carbon tax has cost three prime ministerships, confused the voting population, and achieved pretty much nothing. Other market dynamics have been far more important in changing Australia’s greenhouse emissions, yet it’s politically insensitive to mention them.

The sanctimoniousness of such a tax in Australia is breathtaking. We are an energy heavy-weight, the world’s largest exporter of coal. Soon we will also be the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. At the same time as our Labor prime ministers were being successively culled by infighting over the carbon tax, the world’s biggest oil & gas companies were directing more than two-thirds of global investment in LNG production into Australia, the biggest investment boom ever in this country.

We are an economy built on the world’s hunger for fossil fuels. Yet with our gas and coal sources being either offshore or in remote locations, these vital export industries are mostly hidden from Australian voters.

The carbon tax itself was a lightweight. The theory underlying a carbon tax is to provide a long term price signal to drive a change in the industrial and consumer behaviour. On this score, the Australian tax was doomed to failure. After all, politically it had to appeal to the latte-sipping lefties, but without affecting their wallets.

The outcome – a watered-down policy that was all noise and no effect.

To minimise the economic fall-out, the Labor-Green Government limited the carbon tax to large industrial emitters (more than 25,000 CO₂e/yr). Road transport and agriculture was exempt. Put together, that meant only about 185 companies in Australia’s US$ 1.5 trillion economy had to comply. And even those few were only lightly touched.

Industries which are “trade exposed” such as cement or aluminium smelting were mostly excused. They got either 66% or 94.5% of their carbon cost covered by the award of free units.

Just over one-third of Australia’s carbon emissions come from coal-fired electricity generators. And the dirtiest electricity comes from the aging brown-coal plants in Victoria – with almost double the emissions of modern gas-fired plants. Yet being located in a Labor-voting union heartland, they too got off lightly with the first half of their emissions effectively carbon- tax free. Nice.

None of which gave much incentive at all for carbon reduction. It’s hard to see any evidence at all of industries making long term investments in lower carbon-emitting factories or generating plants.

The domestic airlines got slugged with an extra 6 c/litre fuel excise, surely as crude a carbon tax as you can get. How was that supposed to reduce emissions? Yep, sure, aircraft fleets get renewed over time, and you bet, fuel efficiency is a factor when selecting alternative aircraft. But a surcharge on fuel itself was not going to change Qantas’ emissions.

So as a policy instrument, Australia’s carbon tax was never going to change emissions itself. It was a neutered program, raising Government revenue but not effective in changing behaviour.

Source – Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: December 2013 Australia’s National Greenhouse Account

Yet, Australia’s greenhouse emissions have been declining for almost eight years. After decades of steady increase, that pause in carbon emissions since 2007 is striking. And it started six years before the carbon tax was implemented. It’s pretty easy to find the main reason for that – a steady fall in national electricity consumption. Latest figures show that Australia’s electricity use is at the lowest level since 2006. And with three-quarters of Australia’s electricity coming from carbon-intensive coal-fired sources, the fall in electricity use has led directly to a pause in carbon emissions.

But what caused Australian consumers to wind back their power use over the past eight years? Simple price elasticity, that’s what. There’s been huge investment in the network, the poles and wires to deliver (as opposed to generate) electricity. In most states, that led to a doubling of retail electricity prices. And yes, consumers did respond to that price signal, changing from electrical profligacy to parsimony. Nothing to do with the carbon tax, it was the regulated electricity supply industry recouping their capital investment.

What did we learn from this? The theory behind a carbon tax works fine – provide a price signal, and the consumer responds. It’s just that in this case, it was nothing to do with the carbon tax and all to do with regulated utilities doubling power prices as they caught up on network investment.

Here’s another little perverse change. Some years ago, I helped a fledgling gas producer negotiate a long term gas sales contract for electricity generation. The customer was a state Government-owned electricity generator, then setting up a new flagship and clean gas-fired generation plant. That helped shift the state’s generation sources ten years ago away from dirty coal, and into cleaner gas.

Yet earlier this year, that generator announced the closure of its gas generation in favour of dirtier coal generation. The reason? With three large export LNG plants now being commissioned for export, that gas is worth more for sale to China than for powering my fridge. In effect, a state Government snubbed its nose at the intent, let alone the price signal, from the Federal carbon tax.

So as a policy instrument, Australia’s carbon tax has been a failure. It never could have worked. And politically, it’s been a graveyard. Let’s hope politicians and bureaucrats from more enlightened jurisdictions study it and learn.

Australia’s carbon tax – no wonder it’s about to be buried.

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17 July: ABC: Emma Griffiths: Live blog: Senate looks set to push through carbon tax repeal

Tony Abbott’s promise to “axe the tax” looks set to be fulfilled by the Senate in the next few hours…
Follow ABC News Online’s live blog for updates and commentary as they happen…
10.19: Simon Cullen: Earlier this morning, the Senate voted down a Labor amendment which would’ve converted the carbon tax to a floating carbon price…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-17/live-blog-coalition-in-bid-to-push-through-carbon-tax-repeal/5603830

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Election Cycle Head Hunting Begins In Utah

7/20/2014

GOAL: Everyone knows that even with an aquittal creates a change in public perception. Possibly just enough to influence a percentage of voters' opinions of a candidate...

Swallow, Shurtleff arrested, face 23 counts, up to 30 years prison

Swallow » Forced from the office in December as scandal grew in scope.

In the culmination of the most sweeping political scandal in Utah history, former Attorneys General John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff were arrested Tuesday and charged with a combined 23 counts that could land each in prison for 30 years.

The two men were taken into custody at their homes without incident Tuesday morning and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. Bail was set at $250,000 each.

Shurtleff was released about 11:45 a.m. Swallow was let out about 12:15 p.m.

Swallow, who was forced from office in December less than a year into his first term, was charged in 3rd District Court with 11 felonies and two misdemeanors, including multiple counts of receiving or soliciting bribes, accepting gifts, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice and participating in a pattern of unlawful conduct.

PHOTOS: John Swallow through the years

Shurtleff, who served 12 years as attorney general before making Swallow his handpicked Republican successor, was charged with 10 felonies, including receiving or soliciting bribes, accepting gifts, tampering with witnesses and evidence, and participating in a pattern of unlawful conduct.

PHOTOS: Mark Shurtleff through the years

The charges come after two years of investigative work by state and federal authorities, as well as the Utah Legislature and the lieutenant governor’s office. Mary Rook, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City office, said investigators will continue to pursue information uncovered during the probe.

story continues below

"This has been a complex, nuanced, multiple investigation. ... Multiple leads continue to be investigated [and] the investigation remains active," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. "We have filed what we think are appropriate and minimal charges. We could have filed more, but we chose at this time to just file what we did."

Gill, a Democrat, denied any political motivation in the probe, noting he worked alongside Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, a Republican, investigators from the state Department of Public Safety and the FBI. He also cited independent inquiries by a bipartisan Utah House committee and the Republican-led lieutenant governor’s office.

"We are all public servants," Gill said. "We took an oath to uphold the law and do our jobs professionally and competently. … There is absolutely no political motivation."

READ MORE: An interactive guide to the allegations, investigation and key players in the attorneys general controversy

In an afternoon news conference after his release, Shurtleff, who has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, lambasted Gill, accusing the Democratic D.A. of playing politics with the probe and bringing charges "he knows he cannot possibly prove beyond a reasonable doubt" simply to enhance his re-election prospects this fall.

Shurtleff said he is "not perfect. I never professed to be."

"I, as all of us, made mistakes in my time as attorney general, probably, clearly errors in judgment, but I have never intentionally committed any violation of the ethics, codes of ethics," he said. "I have never misused or abused the public trust and I have certainly not violated any of the criminal laws of the state."

As Swallow walked out of the jail, wearing a dark blue polo shirt and jeans, he headed straight for a crowd of news crews, photographers and reporters.

"This finally gives us the opportunity to start to respond back. With multiple investigations, we were hesitant to say anything. Now, we have our constitutional right to make our case in court, " said Swallow, who has maintained his innocence throughout the mushrooming scandal. "I look forward to that."

Video: Watch Tribune reporters Robert Gehrke and Tom Harvey as they discuss the investigation and what happens now

The allegations detailed in the charging documents span several years and involve intricate schemes with numerous characters.

Among the alleged wrongdoing:

• Swallow is accused of accepting $17,000 in gold coins from Richard Rawle, the now-deceased owner of the Provo-based Check City payday-loan chain.

• Shurtleff and Swallow are accused of taking illegal gifts from the now-indicted Jeremy Johnson at a time when Johnson was seeking a legal opinion that would enable the southern Utah businessman to process online-poker transactions. Both men rode on Johnson’s private jet and stayed in his St. George homes. Swallow also twice used Johnson’s luxury Lake Powell houseboat.

• After an April 2012 meeting with Johnson at an Orem Krispy Kreme doughnut shop — an encounter Johnson secretly recorded — Swallow allegedly began destroying and falsifying evidence to cover up a deal he made in which Johnson paid $250,000 to Rawle to enlist Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s help to stave off a federal investigation of Johnson’s I Works business.

• Swallow is accused of asking Johnson’s former attorney for $120,000, which Swallow allegedly said could help Johnson’s legal woes. Johnson now faces 86 federal criminal charges in connection to I Works. His current lawyer, Ron Yengich, declined to comment on Tuesday’s events, citing a gag order issued in Johnson’s criminal case. The St. George businessman’s allegations, which made headlines just days after Swallow took office as attorney general in January 2013, prompted the scandal.

• Shurtleff and Swallow are accused of staying in the lavish Newport Beach villa of now-jailed businessman Marc Sessions Jenson, while Jenson was free on a plea deal to securities charges that Shurtleff was directly involved in negotiating and while Jenson was still under the supervision of the attorney general’s office. The gifts exceeded limits for public officials, although the trips occurred before Swallow joined the office.

• Shurtleff allegedly dismissed a massive mortgage-fraud lawsuit against Bank of America against the wishes of his own staff prosecutors at a time he was negotiating a job with a law firm that represented the bank.

READ MORE: Gov. Gary Herbert called the arrests a "sad day for Utah"

Swallow and Shurtleff remained at the Salt Lake County Jail for about three hours Tuesday as they were photographed, fingerprinted and searched, as is customary in the booking process.

Although bail was set at $250,000 for each, both were released through Pretrial Services, meaning they entered into a supervised release arrangement and did not have to post a bond to get out. This was part of an offer made by Gill’s office as a show of good faith to the former attorneys general.

"They are first-time offenders," Gill said in an interview. "But they’re first-time offenders unlike any in the history of the state."

Shurtleff, who made his way out of the jail on crutches as a result of a recent surgery, was met by his daughter, whom he embraced as journalists looked on.

VIDEO: Watch video of Shurtleff and Swallow leaving the Salt Lake County Jail

Squinting into the midday sun and making his way to an SUV waiting in the jail parking lot, Shurtleff acknowledged he had "an idea" that he would be arrested Tuesday, but he did not elaborate.

Swallow, who exited the jail about a half hour later, said his arrest came as a total surprise.

"I absolutely maintain my innocence. This is just a process," Swallow said. "I look forward to my day in court to confront my accusers and to share my side of the story for, really, the first time."

Both men commended the treatment they received inside the jail. Swallow said he was held separately from Shurtleff, and the two did not have a chance to communicate, "nor did we attempt to do so."

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Mother's concern over daughter's faggotry leads to accusations of sexual assault as revenge

7/20/2014

The accusations do not fit the motive...

Mom charged with hate crime in gay daughter's beating

Created: 07/17/2014 11:28 AM
By: KOB.com Web Staff

Doña Ana County deputies say a mother beat her 17-year-old daughter when she came out as gay.

Magdo Haro, 40, was taken into custody Tuesday after her daughter told investigators her mother beat her repeatedly with a shoe after the girl confessed that she was gay.

According to statements made to investigators, the girl was told she was "not to wear boy clothes anymore, only girl clothes," and that she would have to start attending church with her grandmother.

The girl also said she was forced to undress in front of her mother to "show her she was a woman, and not a man." The girl reported that her mother then demanded that she perform sex acts on herself, so the girl complied out of fear that her mother was going to sexually assault her.

Haro was arrested late Tuesday afternoon on charges of criminal sexual penetration and child abuse. She was transported to the Doña Ana County Detention Center where she was released three hours later on a $25,000 secured bond.

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Homeless shelter food envy?

7/20/2014

Created: 07/17/2014 10:47 PM
By: Caleb James, KOB Eyewitness News 4

This story has been a huge talker on KOB Eyewitness News 4 social media pages.      

For almost a year, Albuquerque homeless shelter Joy Junction has been posting photos of the meals it serves people there.

On Thursday, one commenter had enough, and let it be known on a photo of beef posole.

The photo's caption said: "Our guests enjoyed posole with beef, chile and a tortilla topped off with ice cream (not together!). Was your lunch as good?"

Joy Junction director Jeremy Reynalds says he got one response he's never seen before.

We serve three meals a day, 7 days a week here," said Reynalds. 

Meal time at homeless shelter Joy Junction is one of the happiest times of the day for many families with nowhere else to go.

But a picture of Thursday's meal got one unique response. 

"You might want to stop posting pictures of the food at your homeless shelter. It can get a little old seeing homeless people eating better than the rest of us."

"I was literally shocked," said Reynalds.

Reynald's says countless New Mexicans make donations to Joy Junction -- the photos, he says, are for them.

"Primarily in an attempt to show donors how their money is being spent and what sort of meals their kindness enables us to serve all of our homeless guests here," he said.

But that comment had Reynald's asking his Facebook followers what they think -- should food envy stop him from posting those pics?

KOB asked our viewers Thursday, too, and the response was huge.

Olivia wrote, "What many fail to understand is this may be the only meal someone less fortunate has in one day. Sometimes this may be the only thing that gives them hope every day as they wonder where they will sleep that night, will they be safe that night, maybe one day that hope will lead them to the possibility they can provide for themselves."

Kris said, "They may eat better than some, but think about what things they do without that others take for granted."

Michael wrote, "Great , While Working People Wonder if they can feed their Families."

That discussion continues on our Facebook page, here:https://www.facebook.com/KOBTV

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EXCLUSIVE: Texas authorities catch immigrant traffickers

7/20/2014

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Jul. 19, 2014 - 0:54 - FoxNews.com Exclusive: Texas Dept. of Public Safety, State Troopers on armed boats confiscate jet ski being used to ferry illegal immigrants across the Rio Grande River (Part 1)

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Exclusive: Dangerous gangs found inside border facility

7/20/2014

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