Sorry, but I don't think this is a valid argument, I'll explain why.

What you're saying is that (correct me if I'm wrong), a green tax is just another way for the government to steal tax money through corruption, by lying to us about climate change.

The government already has many lucrative avenues to steal our tax money, and energy companies already have a monopoly whereby they can basically charge what the hell they like for power. It doesn't make sense to me that governments would purposely create a climate change hoax, for the sole reason of collecting extra taxes under a "green tax" moniker. There are so many easier ways that they could steal our money, they control the budget. For example they could, (and almost certainly do), use the massive defense budget to line their friends' pockets (eg the friends who work for Lockheed Martin, Boeing etc.), with contracts for weapons.

What happened with Solyndra was unfortunate to say the least, and could well have involved corruption (forgive me I don't know the details), but really your argument is against corruption, not against any sort of climate change policy.

To use a loose BTC-based analogy:

Many people say "Bitcoin is bad because it facilitates money laundering and purchase of drugs/guns". While this is technically true, the easiest way to launder money and buy drugs is with the trusty USD. So the problem lies with the crimes themselves, not with the medium.

In the same way, you are correct in saying that the government could use climate change to facilitate corrupt tax methods. However they already have better ways to do this. So the problem is corruption in the government, not the medium in which they carry out this corruption.

To repeat myself, it seems far more likely to me that governments would want to cover up any evidence of human influenced climate change, to line the pockets of their friends who work for Big Energy, and possibly to allow Big Energy to do whatever they want, for a small corrupt fee to the politician. These friends are a lot more rich and powerful than the friends who make PV cells and windmills after all...

 

These are quality, bookmarked.

I don't think you can buy a domain name for the sole purpose of selling it for profit, if the domain is someone else's name or trademark. This is called Cybersquatting apparently.

In theory you could buy the domain "fatasshobbitbitch.com" and sell that back to Kim (because no trademark), but you'd probably get sued for buying "kimkardashian.xxxx" and trying to sell it back to her (unless you called your kid Kim Kardashian or something).

Haha, not only does this guy come across as an absolute cunt, he said it was going to $30 just before the $1200 peak.

What a twat.

This is cool as hell, but it's not "decoding" the full genome or anything, just decoding a small number of specific genes as far as I can see. And by "decoding", I think they just mean "gives a positive/negative for a specific gene". For full genome sequencing you need something like this:

One cold month does not prove any sort of long-term trend has reversed - this looks like a couple of sensationalist sources reporting on short-term anomalous outliers. There is objective evidence that shows that the Earth has been warming over the last 50 years, the huge majority of scientists accept this, the main question is whether humans are causing it.

Predictably, the Daily Mail comments are all raving about this idea of "green tax" (Christ, that cesspool is totally full of idiots that think they know best...) I keep hearing that "AGW is a scam to get more taxes out of us!"

It doesn't fit with Big Energy's agenda, so they wouldn't benefit.
The government wouldn't benefit as they would spend the money on green energy.

IF artificial global warming is a hoax, then who would benefit from these taxes (other than the guys who make the solar panels/windmills etc.)?

 

I get that many climate models are flawed, and of course their results will not be entirely accurate - this is ongoing research and in theory should become more accurate as time goes on. I also would condemn any falsification/manipulation of data, as you say this is totally out of order in any scientific field.

By combating it, I'm mainly talking about using renewable/nuclear energy rather than fossil fuels. I fail to see how this will create "a massive worldwide depression resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands in the third world."

Of course it will cost money, but it needn't be money from individuals in the form of any enforceable "green tax", if this is what you're implying. I'm not trying to be obtuse here, I genuinely don't see how renewables will cause worldwide depression. I would be against such a tax for individuals, but not necessarily for corporations who could afford it.

Also the fossil fuels will eventually run out, putting us in the same situation anyway, whether that's in 50 years or 500...

The energy companies make shitloads of profits on oil and gas, they should invest more of these profits into renewables and nuclear IMO. The reason they don't, is they know that it would take many years to ROI on renewables, while oil/gas is instant profit = the executives can pay off their mortgages in 5 years instead of 50 (OK bit of a simplistic explanation but you get the idea).

If it was up to me then I would say "legalize/tax weed in the UK and scrap the Trident nuclear program, then put 50% of the £100bn you just made into renewable energy and nuclear fusion research!!" (vote for me, vote for change )

Personally I don't think we can change our habits as a species anyway, I think we better all hope that we aren't causing the climate change. If we are, then in the future we'll have to turn Greenland into a huge geoengineering plant, or send everyone to Mars or something... 

The key here is it all depends on how much savings you've got. Most people I know have life savings of less than a year's salary, and don't own any assets. For them, it would probably make sense to invest a lot, >50%, because they could make the money back by living very economically for a few years.

If you have a million dollars in the bank, then it would be pretty dumb to invest >50% of it IMO, I would say no more than 15%, more like 5%

But if you have a million dollars and own 10 houses worth a million each, why not invest 100% of your money? If it fails, sell one of your houses and you'll have your money back.

It was a dank and thorny rape; the porn fell in torrents - except at occasional intercourse, when it was checkmated by a maniac guy on LSD who wallowed down the streets (for it is in McDonald's that our penny-farthings ride), cackling along the bomb, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the fire that struggled against the dankness.

Always read the fine print! They're quite accurate probablities, I'd like to see their statistical analysis on these chances, seeing as we're talking about the end of the world and everything... 

I'm happy for my soul to be immortalized in the blockchain, after I clear up a few things. Is this like a one time deal whereby my soul is forever the property of Mephistopheles, or is it simply a contract that allows Mephistopheles to bargain for my soul? If I give up my soul, can I purchase/trade other souls on the blockchain? Also, does my soul have to be currently damned to be eligible, or can the damning be done later?

Awesome, thanks for the tips, I haven't heard of any of these bands - will check them out! (lol at Asschapel, I assume it's German or something but looks funny in English)
I'm also into punk, but not as much as metal. I get a bit confused with all the subgenres to be honest.

Been re-listening to old Cradle of Filth recently, loving the album "Cruelty and the Beast" - this tune especially...

Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids

Also came across this band Incantation, I like these guys...

Incantation - Dirges of Elysium [Full Album]

EDIT: just been checking out Gorod, really like that shit man, what I'm hearing is like death metal with a prog vibe, love it.

lol there's a reason they call it the trollbox...

To be fair BTC-e does seem shady, but I've used it for years without any issues other than the odd transaction taking longer than usual (no more than 12 hours). I still use it occasionally, but I'd be wary of depositing serious money there.

I like:

Cradle of Filth (first 3-4 albums)
Brutal Truth
Bal Sagoth
Cannibal Corpse
Emperor
Morbid Angel
Napalm Death
Slayer
Fear Factory


Less heavy/more traditional metal:

Black Sabbath
Celtic Frost
Pantera
Metallica
Mercyful Fate
Megadeth
Iron Maiden

I like what I've heard from these bands, but mostly don't know album/song titles, tell me the best albums by these bands and other pounding thrash/death/black/extreme metal bands...

Thanks... blood, makeup and warm beer is available at the bar.

Man I just spat beer into my keyboard while reading that  

When I read the thread title I thought OP meant "send the Americans back first", ie send the original immigrants back!!

On topic, I'm not sure what I think about immigration anymore. I firmly disagree with illegal and legal immigrants claiming benefits/welfare, however in my experience (in the UK) all the immigrants I've met (Poles/Chinese/Indian/Pakistani/Bulgarian etc) have a very strong work ethic. It's the native British which seem to claim benefits and turn down jobs because they'd rather not work.

I've heard the argument of "immigrants come over here, live together with 10 people in 1 house, and send all their money home, so they make no contribution to the economy!"

I'm not sure it's a valid argument, because we are all free to live like that if we want, but most British people want a family, an expensive car and a mortgage.

I suppose I don't agree with illegal immigration per se, but then I don't agree with the UK immigration laws - I think there should be free labour, but no benefits/welfare for immigrants (apart from extreme circumstances, like if someone got run over through no fault of their own and couldn't work). Basically, if you're willing to pay your own way, then you should be allowed to work wherever the hell you want.

EDIT: I also think that the "immigration card" is being played far too much - I agree that illegal immigrants can be a drain on society, however I think that the state of the economy in general is much more of a problem, due to crony capitalism, tax evasion, financial monopolies, defense budgets etc.

These are some great recommendations, I'd throw in a couple of classic animes too : Akira and Ghost in the Shell.

900-1200%

Could have been 10,000% if I'd trusted my gut.
Could have been as little as 100% if I'd held off for too long.

Still not too shabby. 

Woah bit defensive there, like I said I don't necessarily believe it.

I don't really buy your apocalyptic predictions though, I mean all I see currently are governments pretending to care ("buy a bag for life", "put your TV off standby at night" blah blah blah). But they still seem to approve of huge industrial pollution via corporate energy companies and manufacturers.

I don't think we would really lose any freedoms, succumb to global banks/taxes etc. It doesn't fit into their agenda IMO; surely big banks and governments would prefer to exploit the most profitable energy sources ie. oil and gas?