To be fair, being a Jehovah's Witness is a personal choice, and thus I think open to criticism and ridicule. It may be in poor taste given the situation but I'd hardly call someone a bigot for it. I'll definitely give it far more leeway than say, making fun of the way somebody looks.
A very fine but very important distinction that is lost of people these days when talking religion is separating the skin color of the people from the belief system. The former the person has no control over, the latter they do. Somehow people started associating racism with religious criticism. Which is too bad, because not so long ago we prided ourselves in making fun of religion and it was going a long way to get rid of those crazy beliefs...
On the other hand, our principles would dictate that you fight for someone's right to believe in whatever they want. I don't think they are mutually exclusive.
Countries refuse to put tariffs on countries with extreme, obvious human rights abuses. But you think they'll stop trade in the name of carbon... right.
What a ridiculous amount of shameless fearmongering. If a 2mm/year advancing ocean tears our society apart, we're already done for from a thousand other things.
I have to use your post as a prime example of climate alarmism and why arguments like these put any movement towards dealing with emissions further back.
It is beyond ridiculous to think we will lose yearly frost across the majority of our planet on a yearly basis. Have you been outside California? Try coming north, and see just how much sunlight we get in a day here in Canada, where we have vast amounts of land, far bigger that your small coastal enclave. We've had temperatures below zero for months now, and this extends far below into Northern US. The effect on winter has been negligible for the last 50 years. If you tell anyone here the earth is going to warm up enough to get rid of winter, that's laughable.
So a majority of the earth will still get cold winters. I'm sure your point was that this will only be localized then right? Just a foolish argument - the vast majority of this planet is very, very cold.
"I know well over 1000 muslims in north america" - I'd say I've met a great deal as well. By and large all very nice people as are the majority of whatever other group I typically meet. However, I can't help but shake one belief I have: these people are not Muslims. Now, I mean that in the sense that I took it upon myself to read the Koran, and I really don't believe they follow much of it's script. Really no different from the equally large number of people I've met who would call themselves Catholic but are by no means Catholic - they simply identify this way because their it was the belief system of their parents (whom probably followed the dogma more intensely the further you go back in generations).
I think this is part of the problem giving Islam the critcism it deserves. Lots of really nice people call themselves Muslims, but do not represent the ridiculousness we see in their religious texts.
As someone who works in the petroleum industry (and is heavily invested in it), I think it's great to have more options, and as always, may the most convenient and affordable option win.
Actually, I hope electric vehicles take over a large portion of our transportation needs. It will get us out of this current "anti-car" mentality the younger generation is pushing and forcing into design of our cities. Owning a car is the single most freedom-enabling you could possibly own (private jets aside).
Second, as it comes to oil & gas, it would be great to stop using so much of it for personal transportation - but only so we could use it for more efficient and better things. We've been blessed with underground fuel deposits on this planet. It's so much energy, it will always have high value, but we should use it for the highest value activities.
Having grown up in a rural area and moving to a city for school/work, it's really surprising the number of things city dwellers take for granted: high speed internet, water, electricity, etc. It's a comforting life with so many services so close by, in fact I know a number of people who are scared to even leave a city. It would do a lot of people a whole lot of good to go live on a farm on acreage for a year.. as Calvin's dad used to say, it builds character.
"still isn't fair" - why is that? Your state still nominated the candidate most voters chose. The system is to put the states on equal footing, not the people. Why should one state wield such incredible power over other states based on it's population? It sounds like that system would result in many more problems.
I see your point, but perhaps you're exaggerating the danger yourself. I live in Canada, in a major city of over 1 million people, and if you went outside right now without adequate clothing you'd be suffering within minutes, severely injured within an hour, and dead not too long after that unless you get into a warmer temperature.
Hot weather is tough for sure, but having some bottled water and a shirt to avoid burns, it is relatively easy to avoid death and injury. So, people are well accustomed to living in even harsher climates.
I've noticed the same trend in geographical availability of products or prices, or places that were for 'destination shopping'. A good example from the last couple of trips I took to major cities: The ladies want to hit some large and/or famous 'outlet shopping' area, claiming better prices or hard to get products.
Every time I go there, my suspicions are confirmed. Due to the wonder of modern day logistics and free trade, I can get the same merchandise and the same or better price in my small town in a different country. It wasn't this case 20 years ago... The modern economy has eliminated the need to travel anywhere to get decent wares.
Everyone is a socialist when they're young and in university, because they have nothing and want a piece of everyone else's pie. Nearly all of them, once they get their own pie later in life, switch to a capitalist mindset. I think it demonstrates how well our economy works on average.
You misunderstand bubbles - in most cases, increases in price to stocks/houses are driven by increased value of the asset. In the case of stocks, more earnings or higher dividends of the underlying company. When prices are shooting up and nothing has changed re: the value proposition of the item, chances are it's just bubble froth.
This is a fair point, but it's also worthwhile to note that was from 5 years ago. If he was solid in that conviction, why aren't there more recent quotes to that effect? It's possible he doesn't believe that anymore.
The political establishment are those that have become fluent in the art of talking at length without saying anything at all; no commitments, no offense to anyone, etc. Unless of course you're one of the right wing nut politicians who doesn't feel bad preaching about abortion.
Trump is finally someone who says what's on his mind regardless of the group politics. Whether you agree with what he says or not, that takes a lot of balls and is to be respected. He doesn't spout conservative bullshit either, contrary to popular lore.
I don't think so, I don't live in the US and I think it's easier to find balanced reporting on Trump other than the "OMG look what crazy shit he did now!" type reporting I see dominate US mainstream media. Of course, we still have our hyper liberal media sources who do the same, and generate the same type of irrational anti-Trump hatred.
Sure someone from the left will call the Financial Post a conservative rag, but the arguments presented should still be debated on their merit. I still read liberal media, I just rarely find evenhanded analysis of what Trump does.
The primary complaint from farmers was that the society they interact with - contractors, labourers, seed stores, other stores, etc., etc., would shift the schedules they operated by twice a year. Which is a larger than normal inconvenience for their group as one of the few who do actually operate their schedule according to the sun regardless of what some clock says.
The average Canadian Liberal voter probably has this for a thought process reading through the events of the summary in order:
1. Oh no! Those slimeballs!
2. Aha! Trump is mentioned! More proof he's basically the worst person ever!!
3. (Finally reading the line you quote) Well, this is just a rogue individual and doesn't reflect on how awesome Trudeau is.
That's the ironic beauty of what we fought for in WW2 - we fought for the right for Nazis to express their opinions without being physically attacked for it. Only when we have all ideas out in the open can we hope people become smart enough to review the choices and make smart decisions.
"the fools that spout off about the benefits of global warming are exactly that FOOLS" - given the fact that every climate model has drastically overestimated temperatures compared to observed values for so long...does that make those who spout the impacts of global warming fools too?
But it's a trillion dollar industry for a good reason; the product is cheap to obtain and incredibly high in value. There is a lot of energy in the stuff they pull out of the ground and that will always be valuable.
Why not be honest about this and also debate the positives that come from this (your post implicitly/sarcastically states these cuts are very bad things). Sounds like more wealthy people and corporations will move to the jurisdiction with the lowest taxes. What's so bad about that? I can tell you that in other countries where government is moving in opposite direction (increasing taxes), this is a real worry. In Canada, when we decide to 'raise taxes on the rich', it mostly results in more of our doctors moving to the US, and is a huge net negative for us.
This is a very poor thought approach to take, in convincing yourself something is true and that eventually real research will confirm what you always knew.
"There's no need to over-think this" - I'd say this was the gist of Trump's response after the event with his "both sides" comment, and what a large amount of people agree with: doesn't matter what you were there to argue about if you showed up to start shit you're an idiot.
Why would you be so weak in negotiating? Ask what is absolutely in your best favor - it's your own interest you're representing. Always ask for what is "just short of unreasonable" and let them work back from there.
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To be fair, being a Jehovah's Witness is a personal choice, and thus I think open to criticism and ridicule. It may be in poor taste given the situation but I'd hardly call someone a bigot for it. I'll definitely give it far more leeway than say, making fun of the way somebody looks.
A very fine but very important distinction that is lost of people these days when talking religion is separating the skin color of the people from the belief system. The former the person has no control over, the latter they do. Somehow people started associating racism with religious criticism. Which is too bad, because not so long ago we prided ourselves in making fun of religion and it was going a long way to get rid of those crazy beliefs...
On the other hand, our principles would dictate that you fight for someone's right to believe in whatever they want. I don't think they are mutually exclusive.
Countries refuse to put tariffs on countries with extreme, obvious human rights abuses. But you think they'll stop trade in the name of carbon... right.
What a ridiculous amount of shameless fearmongering. If a 2mm/year advancing ocean tears our society apart, we're already done for from a thousand other things.
I have to use your post as a prime example of climate alarmism and why arguments like these put any movement towards dealing with emissions further back.
It is beyond ridiculous to think we will lose yearly frost across the majority of our planet on a yearly basis. Have you been outside California? Try coming north, and see just how much sunlight we get in a day here in Canada, where we have vast amounts of land, far bigger that your small coastal enclave. We've had temperatures below zero for months now, and this extends far below into Northern US. The effect on winter has been negligible for the last 50 years. If you tell anyone here the earth is going to warm up enough to get rid of winter, that's laughable.
So a majority of the earth will still get cold winters. I'm sure your point was that this will only be localized then right? Just a foolish argument - the vast majority of this planet is very, very cold.
"I know well over 1000 muslims in north america" - I'd say I've met a great deal as well. By and large all very nice people as are the majority of whatever other group I typically meet. However, I can't help but shake one belief I have: these people are not Muslims. Now, I mean that in the sense that I took it upon myself to read the Koran, and I really don't believe they follow much of it's script. Really no different from the equally large number of people I've met who would call themselves Catholic but are by no means Catholic - they simply identify this way because their it was the belief system of their parents (whom probably followed the dogma more intensely the further you go back in generations).
I think this is part of the problem giving Islam the critcism it deserves. Lots of really nice people call themselves Muslims, but do not represent the ridiculousness we see in their religious texts.
As someone who works in the petroleum industry (and is heavily invested in it), I think it's great to have more options, and as always, may the most convenient and affordable option win.
Actually, I hope electric vehicles take over a large portion of our transportation needs. It will get us out of this current "anti-car" mentality the younger generation is pushing and forcing into design of our cities. Owning a car is the single most freedom-enabling you could possibly own (private jets aside).
Second, as it comes to oil & gas, it would be great to stop using so much of it for personal transportation - but only so we could use it for more efficient and better things. We've been blessed with underground fuel deposits on this planet. It's so much energy, it will always have high value, but we should use it for the highest value activities.
Having grown up in a rural area and moving to a city for school/work, it's really surprising the number of things city dwellers take for granted: high speed internet, water, electricity, etc. It's a comforting life with so many services so close by, in fact I know a number of people who are scared to even leave a city. It would do a lot of people a whole lot of good to go live on a farm on acreage for a year.. as Calvin's dad used to say, it builds character.
"still isn't fair" - why is that? Your state still nominated the candidate most voters chose. The system is to put the states on equal footing, not the people. Why should one state wield such incredible power over other states based on it's population? It sounds like that system would result in many more problems.
I see your point, but perhaps you're exaggerating the danger yourself. I live in Canada, in a major city of over 1 million people, and if you went outside right now without adequate clothing you'd be suffering within minutes, severely injured within an hour, and dead not too long after that unless you get into a warmer temperature.
Hot weather is tough for sure, but having some bottled water and a shirt to avoid burns, it is relatively easy to avoid death and injury. So, people are well accustomed to living in even harsher climates.
I've noticed the same trend in geographical availability of products or prices, or places that were for 'destination shopping'. A good example from the last couple of trips I took to major cities: The ladies want to hit some large and/or famous 'outlet shopping' area, claiming better prices or hard to get products.
Every time I go there, my suspicions are confirmed. Due to the wonder of modern day logistics and free trade, I can get the same merchandise and the same or better price in my small town in a different country. It wasn't this case 20 years ago... The modern economy has eliminated the need to travel anywhere to get decent wares.
Everyone is a socialist when they're young and in university, because they have nothing and want a piece of everyone else's pie. Nearly all of them, once they get their own pie later in life, switch to a capitalist mindset. I think it demonstrates how well our economy works on average.
You misunderstand bubbles - in most cases, increases in price to stocks/houses are driven by increased value of the asset. In the case of stocks, more earnings or higher dividends of the underlying company. When prices are shooting up and nothing has changed re: the value proposition of the item, chances are it's just bubble froth.
This is a fair point, but it's also worthwhile to note that was from 5 years ago. If he was solid in that conviction, why aren't there more recent quotes to that effect? It's possible he doesn't believe that anymore.
The political establishment are those that have become fluent in the art of talking at length without saying anything at all; no commitments, no offense to anyone, etc. Unless of course you're one of the right wing nut politicians who doesn't feel bad preaching about abortion.
Trump is finally someone who says what's on his mind regardless of the group politics. Whether you agree with what he says or not, that takes a lot of balls and is to be respected. He doesn't spout conservative bullshit either, contrary to popular lore.
I don't think so, I don't live in the US and I think it's easier to find balanced reporting on Trump other than the "OMG look what crazy shit he did now!" type reporting I see dominate US mainstream media. Of course, we still have our hyper liberal media sources who do the same, and generate the same type of irrational anti-Trump hatred.
Here's a good example: How Trump saved freedom and democracy from the Climate Industrial Complex.
Sure someone from the left will call the Financial Post a conservative rag, but the arguments presented should still be debated on their merit. I still read liberal media, I just rarely find evenhanded analysis of what Trump does.
The primary complaint from farmers was that the society they interact with - contractors, labourers, seed stores, other stores, etc., etc., would shift the schedules they operated by twice a year. Which is a larger than normal inconvenience for their group as one of the few who do actually operate their schedule according to the sun regardless of what some clock says.
The average Canadian Liberal voter probably has this for a thought process reading through the events of the summary in order:
1. Oh no! Those slimeballs!
2. Aha! Trump is mentioned! More proof he's basically the worst person ever!!
3. (Finally reading the line you quote) Well, this is just a rogue individual and doesn't reflect on how awesome Trudeau is.
That's the ironic beauty of what we fought for in WW2 - we fought for the right for Nazis to express their opinions without being physically attacked for it. Only when we have all ideas out in the open can we hope people become smart enough to review the choices and make smart decisions.
"the fools that spout off about the benefits of global warming are exactly that FOOLS" - given the fact that every climate model has drastically overestimated temperatures compared to observed values for so long...does that make those who spout the impacts of global warming fools too?
But it's a trillion dollar industry for a good reason; the product is cheap to obtain and incredibly high in value. There is a lot of energy in the stuff they pull out of the ground and that will always be valuable.
Why not be honest about this and also debate the positives that come from this (your post implicitly/sarcastically states these cuts are very bad things). Sounds like more wealthy people and corporations will move to the jurisdiction with the lowest taxes. What's so bad about that? I can tell you that in other countries where government is moving in opposite direction (increasing taxes), this is a real worry. In Canada, when we decide to 'raise taxes on the rich', it mostly results in more of our doctors moving to the US, and is a huge net negative for us.
This is a very poor thought approach to take, in convincing yourself something is true and that eventually real research will confirm what you always knew.
"There's no need to over-think this" - I'd say this was the gist of Trump's response after the event with his "both sides" comment, and what a large amount of people agree with: doesn't matter what you were there to argue about if you showed up to start shit you're an idiot.
You're completely missing the enterprise market where they are dominating and often have the best products: AD, SQL Server, Office, SharePoint, etc.
Why would you be so weak in negotiating? Ask what is absolutely in your best favor - it's your own interest you're representing. Always ask for what is "just short of unreasonable" and let them work back from there.