Pretty sure that even the Bush administration is starting to acknowledge that global warming is a real problem.
Getting back on topic, ONE BILLION DOLLARS A WEEK. That’s what the post-invasion costs of military occupation are, and that is just for “peacekeeping” efforts. It will cost an estimated additional BILLION PER WEEK to run the Iraqi government.
Read this article from those Bush haters at MSN, they are probably making this up because they probably hate Bush, and they probably hate America:
JWright is that the best job you can do of being a smart arse? I was asking a question not making a statement!
As most people know tectonic plates tend to move around a bit. To directly answer your “question” it probably was according to popular belief so maybe you don’t know so much either.
O’Shea - it was a joke anyways. I have no idea what your question was in reference to, I just saw it right after I hit the post reply button waiting for the next screen to load. Calm the fuck down man. If you want me to be a smartass and drop knowledge bombs about tectonic plates, I’ll be happy to do it. Besides, after reading the entire thread, your comment has no place here. At least my global warming comments were spun from a relevant topic on this thread.
On the subject of relevancy I was wondering if the position of the continent might have something to do with the temperature similar to the flames in here
It was a passing question, I had better things to do than worry about general context.
I apologise for my rudeness, I just about had a whole study/working year wasted over some lost mail so my head is pounding like Metallica’s double kick right now.
Haha. A bunch of conservatives proceed to offer NO evidence against the initial arguments but rather hurl insults and accusations; walking away convinced that they’re still right.
Let me guess. You were taught how to think in Sunday school?
Whether or not global warming is due to pollution or not, I think that we can all agree that pollution is bad, and has a negative impact on the environment. A single volcanic eruption may cause more damage to the ozone than 50 years of pollution, but we didn’t do it to ourselves though. Even conservatives will agree to that. Pollution is pollution.
I am an avid outdoorsman, and it makes me sick to think about logging companies gaining access to virgin forests of redwoods or sequoias, or to see unattractive oil pumps and pipelines cutting a large dead swathe into the land. GW was raised with a silverspoon up his ass, and if he ever wanted to know where that privilege that he was raised with came from, all he needed to do was look all around the barren texas landscape and see (smell) where it all came from. It isn’t ugly or invasive to him. I guess if my family were billionaires because of something like that I would probably want to protect our interests as well. That still does not make it any better for the environment. When I go camping, I make a point to not leave evidence that I was there. I pack out all my trash, and if I light a fire, I scatter the ashes and try to re-cover the ground to look exactly as it did when I left. It is called respect. Sorry, but there is not a singe limp-assed Bush-ite who has ever spent any extended time out in the mountains to appreciate all the wonders this world has to offer. The concept of “no impact” is completely lost on them. To me it is the same as littering, which I abhore. In fact, I have been known to approach people who litter in front of me and make them pick up their trash (and usually any other trash just to make them get the point). I include smokers who flick their butts anywhere they fucking please when they finish their cigarettes. I don’t care if these assholes want to slowly commit suicide, but don’t go making my city, my parks, or our land look uglier with their trash! I don’t care if people think I am being rude or brazen for humiliating people who litter. In my mind, litterers are of such low class that their opinions of me are worthless. In fact, if they don’t like me then I feel validated!
Who are you talking to Alberta? It wasn’t anything quite so deep, just a bad day is all.
My first question was based on idle curiosity after skimming a long and boring thread for more political dogma from the fanatical US=GG and as such required no evidence. The rest is history. I know I was wrong.
How do you get to those mountains to go camping? Do you DRIVE there, using gasoline provided by someone like a Bush? Or do you walk the land like Cane in KungFu?
"Support our troops. Who can be against that? Or yellow ribbons. The issue was, Do you support our policy? But you don`t want people to think about that issue. That`s the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody`s going to be against, and everybody`s going to be for. Nobody knows what it means because it doesn`t mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? That`s the one you`re not allowed to talk about. So you have people arguing about support for the troops? "Of course I don`t not support them." Then you`ve won."
(Noam Chomsky)
GLOBAL WARMING:
Bizarrely, nobody mentionned the two guys who (2 years back) stumbled on a tree trunk in one of the Poles (Antarctica if I recall well) ? How`s that for global warming? It happened.
Nature, on this planet, has a nice way of cycling long long long term and do its business by itself, thankyouverymuch!
However, since nature cannot cope at the same speed that we develop (and create damage to the equilibrium), it is up to us to compensate if we want to preserve the status quo.
Like Smith said in the Matrix, we are the Virus of this planet.
Just because we all use oil and wood doesn’t mean that we have to go destroying every single preserve in existance. And it certainly doesn’t justify people who throw their garbage and butts on the ground.
"Like Smith said in the Matrix, we are the Virus of this planet. "
Some more than others, and americans seem to be a cut above in the amount of destruction they inflict on the planet. Europeans are waking up to it and it’s becoming more common to find someone who actually bothers to recycle their garbage but a lot astill has to be done. I know a bunch of people who call themselves environmentalists and are unable to walk an extra 100 meters to the mnext recycling station, or many that are unable to walk somewhere instead of driving the car. BUt at least we’re trying to do something, we’re trying to comply with the decisions in Kyoto conference while the USA is simply sabotaging it. What a great powerfull country you are.
RESTLESS: I posted it like a comment of the current state. I never speculated about the future. You, on the other hand, transformed it into a Doomsday scenario. Maybe you should rename yourself Doomsday Warrior, or something alike, if bastardization of arguments is your modus operandi.
I mention this because you give me the feeling that the human race, or the USA, will always fall under the Doomsday scenario because you (and many other persons) erroneously extrapolate that we are, metaphorically, headed towards a cliff in a car and that our foot is stuck on the accelerator.
I find your lack of trust in humanitys well proven adaptation faculty (to hit the brakes and steer elsewhere before its too late) rather insulting.
The human race has progressed this far specially because of its ability to adapt. One would be stupid to think that the same capacity will not be used to preserve equilibrium in due time. Maybe crowds will react too late at some point, but they do have the ability to adapt when incentives (read: pressure or events they can feel) are present.
You are right… in fact, why not just wipe out every last peice of beauty on this planet since I drive a car?
I think that you are missing one of my main points. I know that we are going to have an impact on the land. The idea is to have a MINIMUM impact. We can work to preserve what we have so that our children and grandchildren have a planet left, or we can just moneygrab while we can and pollute the planet. If you give some of these industries an inch, they will take a mile. They dumped into waste into rivers until the government told them to stop. And it was no easy task to stop them either, because, having money and friends in high places.
I am a businessman myself, so I am in no way opposed to capitolism. It is just good business ethics to make sure that your company is not doing something harmful to mankind in general. Don’t you have some kind of business that helps people Doogie? You can’t be in that type of work without having a lot of idealism. So do you think I am being overly idealistic to desire that large companies should make sure that they are not having a negative impact on their surrounding? Didn’t you read “The Lorax” by Dr. Suess when you were a kid?
I am not going to move to a treetop or quit driving my car, but I will recycle, I don’t litter, I pick up trash when I see it, and I go out to nature as often as possible to appreciate it and admire the beauty and silence of it, and I hope that it is still there for my children’s children. If an area is particularly beautiful I believe it should be protected. If it has protected status, then people should leave it well-enough alone, but the greediest of us never will (like the Bushites) and that just makes me sad.
Restless… I am not sure what the current administration is doing to “sabotage” the Kyoto decisions, but they do not speak for the rest of the nation, so please do not confuse all of us with them. I agree that I see hypocracy in many so-called environmentalists, but I see a lot of people who would walk that extra 100 yards, and who walk everywhere. It sorta depends on where you live. For example, if you lived in Covina and had to commute into LA, California every day, it would not be feasible to walk, whereas I know many people who grew up in NYC who have yet to actually learn to drive a car. How bizarre is that?
Personally, I rarely drive to work since I live so close. I ride my bike usually. I know MANY like-minded people in the US. To refer to all of us as lazy, polluting hypocrites is a bit of a generalization.
“Restless… I am not sure what the current administration is doing to “sabotage” the Kyoto decisions…”
Roy, maybe you shoud find out then.
I apologize if I sounded too generalist but in most of my post I was talking about pseudo-environmentalists of any nationalities, not specifically american ones. But the USA refusal to comply to the decisions reached at Kyoto truly disgusts me and this alone is enough to make me anti the USA foreign policy.
And why did your governement did this? So you people can continue to buy your 3/4000 cc engine cars and consume your cheap middle eastern gallons of petrol? I see nothing coming from americans, I see no awareness, no change. I only see posts showing “brand new machines” and do I ever see anyone actually showing the slightest concern about the pollution levels his new powerfull machine produces? No I don’t. I saw one post by The Mage on those energy saving lamps. Good for him and good for you if you’re doing your part. I’m doing my part.
Ignorance is no longer an excuse for not doing anything of even for not being aware on the decisions your politicians are making.
Kyoto protocol: 55 DEVELOPED nations have to account for 55% of carbon dioxide output by 2010. So far, I believe nearly 100 nations have signed up, but this includes DEVELOPING nations that have very little input to the carbon dioxide output, such as many African countries. Right now, the world is accounting for 44% of the output. Russia is thinking about joining, and if so, this would put the world over the 55%. If this happens, the US must comply and account for its carbon dioxide output. So far, we, the US, don’t have to account for anything. Basically, we’re being a bunch of pussies about it all.
Restless - You can not blame the US when other super powers have not joined yet. The blame lies on the entire world.
I don’t care to argue about politics, but I care about the world I live in. I want my grandchildren to be able to see cheetahs and lions and the amazon.
“Restless - You can not blame the US when other super powers have not joined yet. The blame lies on the entire world.”
Says who? Aren’t you a grown up that can take responsability for your own actions? Sure Russia is also guilty of not doing enough in this department but since I don’t see any nationalistic Russian fanatics here defending their country I won’t bring it into discussion. This is an american dominated forum and this is the only reason I insist in bringing these issues into discussion. The fact remains that you are the BIGGEST polluters, and even though this is a well established fact to anyone but you americans you won’t admit it. If you did, I’d probably shut up about it.
