this shows how our money is really stuffed

[pancho]

You guys are geniuses, who would have thought that the worlds problems would have been solved by a bunch of middle aged has been dirt bike riders. Amazing.

ah magoo youv'e dun it again! ..However rightly or wrongly i have a similar opinion as firko.... As a conservative voter 95% of the time, I have learnt that governments can get a bit over the top e.g.that stupid 'work practices' caper tried on by our last p.m....One other thing i have learnt in my 71 years is that governments never win elections ..they generally loose by stupidity and or arrogance. i also learnt the value of listening to others points of view.... as in a previous role, where i found myself on the opposite side of the table to communist types in industrial situations.it is amazing what you can learn just by listening.

[mx250]

global warming is a scam

That statement defies all serious scientific research but backs up the oil company driven conservative propaganda fed to the gullible American people as "fact".

Global warming has been proven but the cause/s is/are being guessed at, as are the consequences.

There have been variation is global temperature of this magnitude in the pass.

There are a number of scientists and other lobby groups who are obviously exaggerating for their own benefit. Despite their protestations and professional ethics and posturing the scientific community can't be relied on to give wholly objective findings and advice.

Carbon sequesting and the growing of trees is an obvious area of complete and misleading bullshit been pushed and exploited for the financial benefit of a few. It is true that a tree absorbs carbon from the atmosphere and stores it in the wood as it grows but what happens in 50-70-100 or 500years time when the tree dies. Yep, that's right, the tree decays and releases the carbon back into the atmosphere. At best growing trees to outset carbon release from burning fossil fuels is 'carbon delay'. At best! We weren't going into how much arable land that would be required to offset one years carbon production let alone suck up the last 100 years of already released carbon (which we would have to do to stop and reverse the alleged process/cause).

I'm no expert, I'm no economist and I'm probably not even 'fully informed' to the satisfaction of the 'experts', but I suss the whole of the Carbon Trading as a scam and I all so suss the genuiness of it's proponents. If they want to decrease carbon release by 10% it could be done today at the stroke of the pen - ban unnecessary international flights. Tell the frigging French their can't fly to the Canary Islands this weekend to getting freaking warm. And now tell Qantas to expect a 50% downturn in income profitability etc etc. Now tell 50% of the Qantas workforce that they are out of a job. And now tell the rest of society that the ensuing recession is the 'recession you have to have' .

All of the above is not an argument or incitement to do nothing. Most of the solutions and alternatives pushed by Global Warming are actions we need to take for long term sustainability. In fact Global Warming may be the battleship Maine, the Lusitania, Pearle Harbour, the Bay of Tonkin and WMD all rolled into one.

There's no one that big, powerful or manipulative is there?

[Tim754]

I am in!!!!! I am stupid and at times arrogant (OK scumbags!!!)  I going to be in parliament..!!!!! Cheers Tim 

[Denis]

Here's a link to an interesting article which reports that the Bush Administration backed off tougher mortgage legislation in 2005, even when warned what would happen.
Doing nothing about a known problem is nearly the same as causing the problem.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081201/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_ignored_warnings

[AjayVMX]

Absolutely!   

[OSSA PHANTOM]

 Firko,
   No offense taken, I believe differing point of views and debate is good, unlike the green cultists who say
 that there is nothing to dicusss. Prehaps I mis-spoke, I didn't mean to say that climate change doesn't happen, my point was carbon credits are s scam, nothing more than a new route to more taxation.

 No I don't work in nuclear energy, I design wind, solar and geothermal projects. (we keep trying but
 the technology is still not there to make any of these options viable for large scale power generation).
 NRA member, no. Gun owner, yes. In Vietnam I saw and learned first hand the wonders of communism
 so you will have to excuse if I don't trust the government. Take care, stay safe.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/102069/detail/

http://www.bobbyshred.com/globalwarmingfools.html

[mx250]

Here's a link to an interesting article which reports that the Bush Administration backed off tougher mortgage legislation in 2005, even when warned what would happen.
Doing nothing about a known problem is nearly the same as causing the problem.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081201/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_ignored_warnings

"Many of the banks that fought to undermine the proposals by some regulators are now either out of business or accepting billions in federal aid to recover from a mortgage crisis they insisted would never come. Many executives remain in high-paying jobs, even after their assurances were proved false."

Go figure .

[VMX247]

And for some more world news at 5..
Honda Two-Wheeler Sales to North American Dealers Drop 51%
Posted: Thursday, 5th November, 2009 : 2:36 PM - - 518 Reads -
While the Global Financial Crisis has had an effect in Australia it has certianly been no where near as bad as it has been in North America.

Sales figures from Honda show exactly how bad it is.

July through September, Japan’s Honda Motor Co. sold about 22,000 motorcycles and scooters to North America, a decline of 51 percent compared to the same period last year.

During the six months ending Sept. 30, the company sold about 53,000 units to the region, a decline of 44 percent.

Honda defines North American sales as those to the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The sales include both units exported from Japan and those made by subsidiaries. Not included would be units made without Honda parts (a slim minority of units, perhaps not relevant to North American statistics).

These numbers were divulged in Honda's financial report for the second quarter of its 2010 fiscal year. In a slideshow accompanying the financial filing, the company stated, “The U.S. economy seems to have bottomed out, although the duration of the decline is still a concern.” The company notes a North American increase in sales to dealers of sport models such as the CBR1000RR and VFR800/A.

Honda also provides numbers for its North American sales of all types of powersports units: two-wheelers, ATVs, PWC, etc. Altogether it sold 43,000 units to the region during the fiscal second quarter, a year-over-year decrease of 53.8 percent. During the six months ending Sept. 30, it sold 173,000 units to North American dealers, a decrease of 43.9 percent. Honda notes a decrease in sales of ATV models such as the TRX250TE and TRX350FM.

Honda predicts improving sales. For its fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, it expects to sell 210,000 units to North America, a decrease of just 34.4 percent compared to the previous year.

Honda’s worldwide net earnings for the quarter ending Sept. 30 were 54.0 billion yen ($599 million), a decrease of 56.2 percent from the same period in 2008.

Revenue for the quarter amounted to 2.06 trillion yen ($22.8 billion), a year-over-year decrease of 27.2 percent, primarily due to fallen auto sales and unfavorable exchange rates. Honda estimates that had the rates been unchanged from the corresponding period in 2008, revenue for the quarter would have decreased by about 16.1 percent.

Honda’s earnings for the first half of its fiscal year totaled 61.5 billion yen ($683 million), a decrease of 79.2 percent from the same period in 2008. Revenue for the period amounted to 4.06 trillion yen ($45.0 billion), a decrease of 28.7 percent.

[mx250]

With % and absolute declines of that magnitude it's surprising that Honda have stayed in motorcycle racing, GP and MX. Either they have good reserves or good credit .

[motomaniac]

With % and absolute declines of that magnitude it's surprising that Honda have stayed in motorcycle racing, GP and MX. Either they have good reserves or good credit .

Im not sure about all forms of motorsport that Honda is involved in but in the World MX series they only supply bikes and parts(and maybe some token $) to chosen satelite teams like CAS in the UK and Martin Honda in Italy .These teams are otherwise self funded.

[matcho mick]

watched head of toyota racing (i think),holding back the tears in a press conference announcing they were pulling out of F1 racing(i didn't know they were innit?? ),F1's gunna sue,breach of contract??,

[Lozza]

F1 has enough drama's without taking on a corporate giant. Seems lots of Japanese companies are tightening belts Bridgestone is out of F1, Toyota, Honda(the team was sold to Ross Brawn for 1 pound sterling and went on to win the driver/constructor titles this year ), Subaru, Mitsubishi and Suzuki out of WRC, Kawasaki out of MotoGP etc etc 

[mx250]

With % and absolute declines of that magnitude it's surprising that Honda have stayed in motorcycle racing, GP and MX. Either they have good reserves or good credit .

Im not sure about all forms of motorsport that Honda is involved in but in the World MX series they only supply bikes and parts(and maybe some token $) to chosen satelite teams like CAS in the UK and Martin Honda in Italy .These teams are otherwise self funded.

Ducati's Livio Suppo has been headhunted by HRC to get more sponsorship dollars (or is that sponsorship Euro's ) for the Big H.

http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/11/05/suppo_to_be_hrc_marketing_director_yaman.html

May you live in interesting times .

[Lozza]

Along with the increasingly important 'data/telemetry engineers' mostly from Yamaha. Italy is salivating as now Vito Gareshi is doing Suppo's job, Gareshi and Rossi are good friends

[mx250]

Along with the increasingly important 'data/telemetry engineers' mostly from Yamaha. Italy is salivating as now Vito Gareshi is doing Suppo's job, Gareshi and Rossi are good friends

Yeah, the contest for Rossi's last years has started. The stakes are high; the manufacturer that wins his last championship before retirement will have perception and marketing advantages for years to come.

Friendship, nationalism, and an ongoing marketing career, and lotsa Maraboro Euros, will be a powerful combination not to be discounted. And maybe not to be ignored, contracts not withstanding . 

But would Vale go over, would he risk his reputation on managing the 'unrideable' Ducati. Would he win or just enhance Casey's reputation?

It would be fantastic to see an 'even' fight between Casey and Vale (either Vale on Ducati or Casey on a Yammy ) but I wonder would it happen. If Ducati went to the trouble and expensive of winning Vale over could they risk Casey winning. Casey might give them two years marketing advantage, Vale would give them 20 years marketing advantage.