So; on the one hand, you're afraid of a little fender-bender in the parking lot every once in a while, then, on the other hand (in your.sig), you are enthusiastic about mayhem and mischief.
curious. Maybe you just like mayhem and mischief when it's not inconvenient for you.
AFAIK - the eco-law situation about diesels was represented by a HOLE in the EPA emissions laws, and the mandate for manufacturers to switch to ULSD (Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel). Between about 2003 and 2007, diesels could not meet emissions standards without adding new controls equipment; which could not operate on the crappy-quality diesel fuel in the US. (sulfur would poison the catalyst - just like Lead additives did in the 1970's to gasoline catalytic converters). . . until 2007, when manufacturers were forced (by law) to improve the quality of their diesel fuel.
Now that ULSD is available (by mandate) diesels with advance emissions controls can be sold. And a new era of diesel cars in the US is being born.
Unfortunately, it's made Biodiesel nearly impossible to find since Jan 2007. (yes, you *can* find it, but not as readily available as it used to be - and a lot more expensive too.)
Diesel is PART of the solution to the problem. Hybrid technology is another VERY important part of the solution. Newer battery technologies - I think, are probably going to figure-in heavily in the near future.
And this is perfectly illustrated at "www.godhatesshrimp.com".
Show me one Fundamentalist Christian who obeys the WHOLE of Levitical law. Or who dismisses it as irrelevant in the light of Christ's sacrifice, and yet does not cherry pick the FUN laws that justify gay bashing, or discrimination against women.
Nobody "lives by the Word without watering it down" - in fact, that statement is what Christianity is fundamentally about.
Fundamentalists are typically about rules-lawyering salvation, and justifying an authoritarian mind-set. This is in diametric opposition to Christ's message. But you won't find that message taught or encouraged in most Churches. (none, I've found, in fact).
Actually, there's a HUGE difference between Christianity of THAT era, and Islam. There is no central doctrinal authority for Islam. There are two main branches, (well, two that most people are familiar with) - but even these are fragmented into smaller groups, some which cross over to both sects, (like the sufi) - some are mixed with other religions, some branches are very strict, other's not so, some are militant, others not so.
The main point is; there is no Islamic "Pope".
So; saying that we should expect Islam to "evolve" like Christianity did, into a more tolerant, secular religion, is at the very least, comparing apples to oranges. Given the fragmentation, the political environment, and the technologies that the modern world has (ie. telecommunications, plastic explosives, automatic rifles, mass media, etc.) there are a lot of forces at work that I believe will tend to fragment a large movement, rather than allow unification under a single authority. And, unfortunately, I don't think that it's the moderates who win in such an environment. Take a good look at what has happened to Christianity in the past 20 years anyway. There have been some very radical sects that have been emerging and growing in influence.
Heh - okay, I have a Jetta TDI, and I just did a clutch/flywheel swap. (manual)
Special tools needed: Engine support (borrowed from a friend)(this is probably needed for a lot of jobs on any front-wheel drive car) Transmission jack (jury-rigged floor-jack - job was VERY difficult because I didn't use the proper tool here). 8mm triple-square driver (for CV-joint bolts; borrowed from a friend). 12mm triple-square drive (for removing the broken OEM flywheel - not easy to find, $31. I'll never need it again, so I'm selling it) Flywheel lock (to counter the torque when undoing the pressure-plate bolts; I used an allen-wrench instead of buying the special VW tool, and it worked just fine) Clutch-centering tool (also a special VW tool - pricey and hard to find) - any shaft-shaped object, 21mm in diameter will suffice.
No, I don't have a VAG-COM cable, or a laptop. But I assume I'm going to eventually run into a job where I'll need one.
A lot of modern car jobs require special tools, and in some cases, you can work around it using something else. But in most cases, boy, you really DO need the special tool. That single 12mm triple-square driver cost $31. A mechanic friend of mine didn't even know what the hell I was talking about when I asked him if he had one. Apparently, they're only used on German (Porsche/Audi/VW) cars. (Actually, I remember borrowing the same 8mm one when I had to swap out a tranny on my 1972 VW a few years back).
. . . yeah, never mind that VW charged you $800 for the vacuum hose. (don't get me wrong, I do all my own work on my 03 Jetta. But it's obscene what VW charges for their parts. It's as if they think they're a BMW dealer or something.)
Now: try doing the 100k Timing Belt change-out. NOT a trivial job. Expensive parts, and very expensive tools required.
And a little tip: If you're finding that owning a trailer causes you to get "stuck" helping people move stuff all the time, you can just store a bunch of crap in your trailer. Every time someone asks to borrow it, they're stuck with unloading it first. You'll only get stuck helping people who really, really need it.:)
Registration, insurance, maintenance, and for some people, parking space - make owning 3 special-purpose vehicles impractical; compared to owning 1 general-purpose vehicles. The one glaring cost that really gets most people is insurance. Which is stupid. Everybody has only one ass. Nobody can drive two vehicles at the same time. Insurance should be for the driver, not the vehicle. Why should someone with two cars have to pay double the insurance? (answer: because they HAVE to - in states where insurance is mandatory)
This sounds like the conventional wisdom from your basic Tech Writing class, where the rule of thumb is; at least 50% whitespace on the page.
In fact, childrens' book typesetters have known about this, ever since there have been childrens' books.
Now - for reading text on the web; I've noticed - particularly in ad-supported content, that there's a trend (who am I kidding? It's been the standard for over 10 years now - and before that; ad-supported print) - to condense text to make more room for ads. (which is why the text-size plugins for firefox are so great!).
Sorry, but I'm not too terribly impressed with this "study".
I was thinking of a remake of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" - with Jedi, instead of Cowboys. Clint Eastwood could cameo as an old, worn-out, alcoholic ex-Jedi master, who could supply the "Jedi with no name" (ie. Blondie) with needed information.
So, at a previous employer , our test lab had two identical systems, which were going through a formal test. There were representatives from two branches of the service, and some civilian observers as well, from DC, Virginia, LA, and Colorado Springs. There was a limited amount of time set aside for this test.
Well, I wasn't really directly involved in the test - but I'm one of those "go to guys" (not the kind that uses goto statements in programming, the kind everyone goes to for answers when things are broken). Well, in an early-morning dry run, before the test, they saw some weird stuff going on, on the system they were using for the formal test. They sent me an email asking if I could help troubleshoot. Only, I wasn't in yet. When I came in, I read the email, and went into the lab to check things out. It was empty, except for the govt witnesses and our tester, clustered around one of the computer screens, in the corner. My POC was the chief engineer, not the test manager. Chief engineer wasn't in, so I decided to proceed on my own. You know; to be proactive.:) Like it says in that Covey book they made everyone read. I decided to work on the "backup" system's server, to see if it was exhibiting the same symptoms. I logged in, and took a look at the event logs, and noticed that one of the services seemed to be hung. Well, the workaround for that problem was to reboot the box. And you can guess what happened next.
Everyone's head popped up from the screen and looked over at me.
What I didn't know, is that they had decided to proceed with the formal test, by swapping the main server with the backup server (they did not move the "don't touch this box" sign). So I rebooted their box during the formal test, which halted the workflow, and caused them to have to re-start the procedure at the beginning (two hrs of work).
Needless to say - with the hung service, they would have hit a brick wall in about another hour anyway. But guess who had to take credit for rebooting the server?
So something like 8 people had to fly back home, with the test uncompleted. And they had to fly back again after 60 days (when they could all schedule the time to do it). Total cost of the fiasco was on the order of $150,000. In the post mortem review, official blame was laid at the foot of the test manager, who decided to proceed on the backup system, and who didn't send an email update, and who didn't move the "don't touch this box" sign. But if you ask anyone who to razz about it, they'll say it was my fault.
Now you know (one reason) why these big government projects take so much time and money, and deliver crappy results anyway. I love this job!
If this is largely based on visual cues (and I'm going to assume that's the case, here; don't know how it could be otherwise) - then it should be a fairly simple task to take an FPS-type video game, modify the maps into two or three experimental configurations, one with high ceilings, the other with low ceilings (assuming that the ceiling height does not impact game mechanics) - and then have three groups of individuals play the games. See which group performs "better".
I know that in the case of the VW TDI; the OEM flywheel is a dual-mass flywheel, and it does not take kindly to any sort of downshifting, and over time, it will fail. (which is why, the TDI "hackers" often recommend an "ugrade" to a single-mass flywheel).
I don't believe that a well-maintained engine is going to suffer from engine braking.
Yes, that's one of my chief indicators of whether I need to get out from behind someone, is if they brake too early coming up to a stop; or if they drive at a safe distance from the car in front. Sad but true. I also judge based on the vehicle type ("sportiness", if it's an older car, if it's in bad shape, pickups, minivans, commercial trucks, etc.) The payoff in passing these people, is that if they ARE slow drivers, you don't get stuck behind them and suffer the consequences of their slow driving habits (stopping at yellow lights, instead of safely driving through, slow acceleration from a stop - and the WORST - letting slower traffic get in front of them; now you're behind TWO slowpokes, and your lag is now doubled).
It's really the same exact kind of reasoning you use at the grocery store checkout lines. Don't get behind the pregnant woman with two small children, and overflowing grocery cart, who will take a half hour unloading, and another half hour paying with a combination of checks and food stamps. Get in line behind the well-dressed businesslady who's only there to buy a bag of coffee beans - holding the cash in her hand.
The whole reason we drive, is for convenience. We're trying to save time in our lives, so we can spend more time doing something we'd rather be doing. We spend an hour in stop-n-go traffic, driving to work, because the train trip, while it only takes 30 minutes, forces you to wait 15 for the train to arrive, and adds 20 minutes walking time from the train station (or additional cab/bus fare, etc.) - People with this mind set will do all kinds of things trying to optimize the task of driving as far is legally and safely possible. That includes not subjecting yourself to the habits of "slower" drivers.
Don't get me wrong, there's a rude and unsafe way to protect your ability to progress through traffic, and there's a safe, and prudent, and polite way. Now; I say that a person who brakes too early - that's a "warning sign" - but in of itself, is not a behavior that costs ME anything, to be behind that person. It just makes me suspect that they're going to be slow off the line when the light does go green. It's a guilt-by-association, that's probably pretty weak. I'll admit that. But man, if you get *stuck* behind a slow driver, it's often really hard to get out from behind them, because you need speed to accelerate into a lane-change - if the fast-lane is moving significantly faster, it can be impossible to get around a slow driver because of that. So yeah, I understand the motivation. But people need to be cool about it.
Yes, it's called a MANUAL TRANSMISSION, and it causes the driver to be more aware of the relative speed of the vehicle, and the engine. As such, it gives the driver more insight into how the car works, and if the driver has the will for it, it also gives the driver the ability to drive "more efficiently" (by shifting earlier).
It's my opinion that because of this additional awareness that is bestowed upon the driver of a car equipped with a manual transmission, that such drivers are more likely to be safe drivers. (Also less likely to be eating or chatting on the phone - because their hand is busy operating the vehicle.)
Will drivers of manual transmissions ever get an insurance discount? no way.
however it was government failing to uphold private property rights (and thus proper capitalism) 150 or so years ago that allowed companies to pollute.
Right.
One of the worst environmental offenders in human history was the former Soviet Union.
It's not Capitalism that's the problem. It's Authoritarianism - where a few elites remain in control, and unaccountable to the stakeholders (the people). Doesn't matter if it's The Party, or The Captains of Industry.
Do you suppose that Valenti thought that he was not doing the right thing?
Not if he had even a vaguely similar sense of right and wrong.
What really gets me, is this guy went to war, flew some fairly dangerous combat missions, to fight to protect the Constitution. Then he gets out of the military, and spends the rest of his life pissing on it.
All he needed was a sense of right and wrong, to understand that representing an illegal cartel, and calling people criminals for taking a leak during a commercial break, was WRONG. But he continued to do it for decades. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.
...and if you spun it properly outright treason...
Personally, I *love* conspiracy theories. They're very entertaining. Real or not.
I can't find the link, but several years ago, I read an article claiming that Mr. Valenti, while working for the Johnson Administration, was part of the plot to cook-up the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which dramatically escalated US involvement in the Vietnam conflict.
Even hairier conspiracy theory says that Johnson had Kennedy assassinated - not because of his stance on Cuba, but because of his stance on Vietnam (Kennedy was starting to withdraw advisors). Given that Johnson was from Texas, and involved in the oil industry (during his time as a congressman), a pattern emerges with regard to US Politics, Texas Politicians, Oil Company executives, and lying to get the US involved in wars. If that isn't treason, I don't know what is.
If only the evidence were available to prove this in a court of law.
The guy said I was a criminal for getting up to go to the bathroom during a commercial break. (not to mention, his role in helping to cook-up the Gulf of Tonkin incident while he was Lyndon Johnson's aide)
I fully, and wholeheartedly support grave desecration for this fascist thug.
Cheney's a veteran of the Nixon administration, Karl Rove was in CREEP.
It's the same bunch of criminals recycled over and over. It's not Republicans. It's a criminal enterprise, a small group of opportunists who are using Republican's idealism, to control the party. If you look at their policies, and the outcome, these guys are NOT conservative. They hide behind the label of "neoconservative" - but that doesn't really describe what they're all about either. All they are is thieves.
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So; on the one hand, you're afraid of a little fender-bender in the parking lot every once in a while, then, on the other hand (in your .sig), you are enthusiastic about mayhem and mischief.
curious. Maybe you just like mayhem and mischief when it's not inconvenient for you.
AFAIK - the eco-law situation about diesels was represented by a HOLE in the EPA emissions laws, and the mandate for manufacturers to switch to ULSD (Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel). Between about 2003 and 2007, diesels could not meet emissions standards without adding new controls equipment; which could not operate on the crappy-quality diesel fuel in the US. (sulfur would poison the catalyst - just like Lead additives did in the 1970's to gasoline catalytic converters). . . until 2007, when manufacturers were forced (by law) to improve the quality of their diesel fuel.
Now that ULSD is available (by mandate) diesels with advance emissions controls can be sold. And a new era of diesel cars in the US is being born.
Unfortunately, it's made Biodiesel nearly impossible to find since Jan 2007. (yes, you *can* find it, but not as readily available as it used to be - and a lot more expensive too.)
Diesel is PART of the solution to the problem. Hybrid technology is another VERY important part of the solution. Newer battery technologies - I think, are probably going to figure-in heavily in the near future.
Complete bullshit.
And this is perfectly illustrated at "www.godhatesshrimp.com".
Show me one Fundamentalist Christian who obeys the WHOLE of Levitical law. Or who dismisses it as irrelevant in the light of Christ's sacrifice, and yet does not cherry pick the FUN laws that justify gay bashing, or discrimination against women.
Nobody "lives by the Word without watering it down" - in fact, that statement is what Christianity is fundamentally about.
Fundamentalists are typically about rules-lawyering salvation, and justifying an authoritarian mind-set. This is in diametric opposition to Christ's message. But you won't find that message taught or encouraged in most Churches. (none, I've found, in fact).
Actually, there's a HUGE difference between Christianity of THAT era, and Islam. There is no central doctrinal authority for Islam. There are two main branches, (well, two that most people are familiar with) - but even these are fragmented into smaller groups, some which cross over to both sects, (like the sufi) - some are mixed with other religions, some branches are very strict, other's not so, some are militant, others not so.
The main point is; there is no Islamic "Pope".
So; saying that we should expect Islam to "evolve" like Christianity did, into a more tolerant, secular religion, is at the very least, comparing apples to oranges. Given the fragmentation, the political environment, and the technologies that the modern world has (ie. telecommunications, plastic explosives, automatic rifles, mass media, etc.) there are a lot of forces at work that I believe will tend to fragment a large movement, rather than allow unification under a single authority. And, unfortunately, I don't think that it's the moderates who win in such an environment. Take a good look at what has happened to Christianity in the past 20 years anyway. There have been some very radical sects that have been emerging and growing in influence.
Heh - okay, I have a Jetta TDI, and I just did a clutch/flywheel swap. (manual)
Special tools needed:
Engine support (borrowed from a friend)(this is probably needed for a lot of jobs on any front-wheel drive car)
Transmission jack (jury-rigged floor-jack - job was VERY difficult because I didn't use the proper tool here).
8mm triple-square driver (for CV-joint bolts; borrowed from a friend).
12mm triple-square drive (for removing the broken OEM flywheel - not easy to find, $31. I'll never need it again, so I'm selling it)
Flywheel lock (to counter the torque when undoing the pressure-plate bolts; I used an allen-wrench instead of buying the special VW tool, and it worked just fine)
Clutch-centering tool (also a special VW tool - pricey and hard to find) - any shaft-shaped object, 21mm in diameter will suffice.
No, I don't have a VAG-COM cable, or a laptop. But I assume I'm going to eventually run into a job where I'll need one.
A lot of modern car jobs require special tools, and in some cases, you can work around it using something else. But in most cases, boy, you really DO need the special tool. That single 12mm triple-square driver cost $31. A mechanic friend of mine didn't even know what the hell I was talking about when I asked him if he had one. Apparently, they're only used on German (Porsche/Audi/VW) cars. (Actually, I remember borrowing the same 8mm one when I had to swap out a tranny on my 1972 VW a few years back).
. . . yeah, never mind that VW charged you $800 for the vacuum hose.
(don't get me wrong, I do all my own work on my 03 Jetta. But it's obscene what VW charges for their parts. It's as if they think they're a BMW dealer or something.)
Now: try doing the 100k Timing Belt change-out. NOT a trivial job. Expensive parts, and very expensive tools required.
Me too.
:)
And a little tip: If you're finding that owning a trailer causes you to get "stuck" helping people move stuff all the time, you can just store a bunch of crap in your trailer. Every time someone asks to borrow it, they're stuck with unloading it first. You'll only get stuck helping people who really, really need it.
Registration, insurance, maintenance, and for some people, parking space - make owning 3 special-purpose vehicles impractical; compared to owning 1 general-purpose vehicles. The one glaring cost that really gets most people is insurance. Which is stupid. Everybody has only one ass. Nobody can drive two vehicles at the same time. Insurance should be for the driver, not the vehicle. Why should someone with two cars have to pay double the insurance? (answer: because they HAVE to - in states where insurance is mandatory)
Well; IIRC, Hubble was delayed.
First, by the Challenger disaster, and then, once it finally got into space, they discovered the defective lens.
Had neither of those happened, Hubble probably would have entered service 6 years earlier than it did.
This sounds like the conventional wisdom from your basic Tech Writing class, where the rule of thumb is; at least 50% whitespace on the page.
In fact, childrens' book typesetters have known about this, ever since there have been childrens' books.
Now - for reading text on the web; I've noticed - particularly in ad-supported content, that there's a trend (who am I kidding? It's been the standard for over 10 years now - and before that; ad-supported print) - to condense text to make more room for ads. (which is why the text-size plugins for firefox are so great!).
Sorry, but I'm not too terribly impressed with this "study".
I was thinking of a remake of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" - with Jedi, instead of Cowboys. Clint Eastwood could cameo as an old, worn-out, alcoholic ex-Jedi master, who could supply the "Jedi with no name" (ie. Blondie) with needed information.
They could film it in New Mexico.
So, at a previous employer , our test lab had two identical systems, which were going through a formal test. There were representatives from two branches of the service, and some civilian observers as well, from DC, Virginia, LA, and Colorado Springs. There was a limited amount of time set aside for this test.
:) Like it says in that Covey book they made everyone read. I decided to work on the "backup" system's server, to see if it was exhibiting the same symptoms. I logged in, and took a look at the event logs, and noticed that one of the services seemed to be hung. Well, the workaround for that problem was to reboot the box. And you can guess what happened next.
Well, I wasn't really directly involved in the test - but I'm one of those "go to guys" (not the kind that uses goto statements in programming, the kind everyone goes to for answers when things are broken). Well, in an early-morning dry run, before the test, they saw some weird stuff going on, on the system they were using for the formal test. They sent me an email asking if I could help troubleshoot. Only, I wasn't in yet. When I came in, I read the email, and went into the lab to check things out. It was empty, except for the govt witnesses and our tester, clustered around one of the computer screens, in the corner. My POC was the chief engineer, not the test manager. Chief engineer wasn't in, so I decided to proceed on my own. You know; to be proactive.
Everyone's head popped up from the screen and looked over at me.
What I didn't know, is that they had decided to proceed with the formal test, by swapping the main server with the backup server (they did not move the "don't touch this box" sign). So I rebooted their box during the formal test, which halted the workflow, and caused them to have to re-start the procedure at the beginning (two hrs of work).
Needless to say - with the hung service, they would have hit a brick wall in about another hour anyway. But guess who had to take credit for rebooting the server?
So something like 8 people had to fly back home, with the test uncompleted. And they had to fly back again after 60 days (when they could all schedule the time to do it). Total cost of the fiasco was on the order of $150,000. In the post mortem review, official blame was laid at the foot of the test manager, who decided to proceed on the backup system, and who didn't send an email update, and who didn't move the "don't touch this box" sign. But if you ask anyone who to razz about it, they'll say it was my fault.
Now you know (one reason) why these big government projects take so much time and money, and deliver crappy results anyway. I love this job!
If this is largely based on visual cues (and I'm going to assume that's the case, here; don't know how it could be otherwise) - then it should be a fairly simple task to take an FPS-type video game, modify the maps into two or three experimental configurations, one with high ceilings, the other with low ceilings (assuming that the ceiling height does not impact game mechanics) - and then have three groups of individuals play the games. See which group performs "better".
Some manufacturers don't recommend it.
I know that in the case of the VW TDI; the OEM flywheel is a dual-mass flywheel, and it does not take kindly to any sort of downshifting, and over time, it will fail. (which is why, the TDI "hackers" often recommend an "ugrade" to a single-mass flywheel).
I don't believe that a well-maintained engine is going to suffer from engine braking.
Yes, that's one of my chief indicators of whether I need to get out from behind someone, is if they brake too early coming up to a stop; or if they drive at a safe distance from the car in front. Sad but true. I also judge based on the vehicle type ("sportiness", if it's an older car, if it's in bad shape, pickups, minivans, commercial trucks, etc.) The payoff in passing these people, is that if they ARE slow drivers, you don't get stuck behind them and suffer the consequences of their slow driving habits (stopping at yellow lights, instead of safely driving through, slow acceleration from a stop - and the WORST - letting slower traffic get in front of them; now you're behind TWO slowpokes, and your lag is now doubled).
It's really the same exact kind of reasoning you use at the grocery store checkout lines. Don't get behind the pregnant woman with two small children, and overflowing grocery cart, who will take a half hour unloading, and another half hour paying with a combination of checks and food stamps. Get in line behind the well-dressed businesslady who's only there to buy a bag of coffee beans - holding the cash in her hand.
The whole reason we drive, is for convenience. We're trying to save time in our lives, so we can spend more time doing something we'd rather be doing. We spend an hour in stop-n-go traffic, driving to work, because the train trip, while it only takes 30 minutes, forces you to wait 15 for the train to arrive, and adds 20 minutes walking time from the train station (or additional cab/bus fare, etc.) - People with this mind set will do all kinds of things trying to optimize the task of driving as far is legally and safely possible. That includes not subjecting yourself to the habits of "slower" drivers.
Don't get me wrong, there's a rude and unsafe way to protect your ability to progress through traffic, and there's a safe, and prudent, and polite way. Now; I say that a person who brakes too early - that's a "warning sign" - but in of itself, is not a behavior that costs ME anything, to be behind that person. It just makes me suspect that they're going to be slow off the line when the light does go green. It's a guilt-by-association, that's probably pretty weak. I'll admit that. But man, if you get *stuck* behind a slow driver, it's often really hard to get out from behind them, because you need speed to accelerate into a lane-change - if the fast-lane is moving significantly faster, it can be impossible to get around a slow driver because of that. So yeah, I understand the motivation. But people need to be cool about it.
It's just unfortunate that you can't really drive aggressively in a prius
;)
That's why I'm waiting for the new Hybrid MR2. . .
Yes, it's called a MANUAL TRANSMISSION, and it causes the driver to be more aware of the relative speed of the vehicle, and the engine. As such, it gives the driver more insight into how the car works, and if the driver has the will for it, it also gives the driver the ability to drive "more efficiently" (by shifting earlier).
It's my opinion that because of this additional awareness that is bestowed upon the driver of a car equipped with a manual transmission, that such drivers are more likely to be safe drivers. (Also less likely to be eating or chatting on the phone - because their hand is busy operating the vehicle.)
Will drivers of manual transmissions ever get an insurance discount? no way.
Yes, I sold a BROKEN Apex DVD player (the one that had the secret menu to disable region encoding) on ebay for $600, after using it for 3 years.
I'm thinking of buying a whole case of these xbox360 drives.
however it was government failing to uphold private property rights (and thus proper capitalism) 150 or so years ago that allowed companies to pollute.
Right.
One of the worst environmental offenders in human history was the former Soviet Union.
It's not Capitalism that's the problem. It's Authoritarianism - where a few elites remain in control, and unaccountable to the stakeholders (the people). Doesn't matter if it's The Party, or The Captains of Industry.
Industrialization is fine and dandy.
I think what they really object to is the huge footprint of 6 billion human beings that comes with it.
I object to that too, generally, but the alternatives (get people to stop breeding. . . somehow?) don't seem practical with today's technologies.
You will see the hero, or villian in a story will always pay respects to his apponent.
No quarter asked.
None given.
Do you suppose that Valenti thought that he was not doing the right thing?
Not if he had even a vaguely similar sense of right and wrong.
What really gets me, is this guy went to war, flew some fairly dangerous combat missions, to fight to protect the Constitution. Then he gets out of the military, and spends the rest of his life pissing on it.
All he needed was a sense of right and wrong, to understand that representing an illegal cartel, and calling people criminals for taking a leak during a commercial break, was WRONG. But he continued to do it for decades. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.
...and if you spun it properly outright treason ...
Personally, I *love* conspiracy theories. They're very entertaining. Real or not.
I can't find the link, but several years ago, I read an article claiming that Mr. Valenti, while working for the Johnson Administration, was part of the plot to cook-up the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which dramatically escalated US involvement in the Vietnam conflict.
Even hairier conspiracy theory says that Johnson had Kennedy assassinated - not because of his stance on Cuba, but because of his stance on Vietnam (Kennedy was starting to withdraw advisors). Given that Johnson was from Texas, and involved in the oil industry (during his time as a congressman), a pattern emerges with regard to US Politics, Texas Politicians, Oil Company executives, and lying to get the US involved in wars. If that isn't treason, I don't know what is.
If only the evidence were available to prove this in a court of law.
I dunno.
The guy said I was a criminal for getting up to go to the bathroom during a commercial break.
(not to mention, his role in helping to cook-up the Gulf of Tonkin incident while he was Lyndon Johnson's aide)
I fully, and wholeheartedly support grave desecration for this fascist thug.
Cheney's a veteran of the Nixon administration, Karl Rove was in CREEP.
It's the same bunch of criminals recycled over and over.
It's not Republicans. It's a criminal enterprise, a small group of opportunists who are using Republican's idealism, to control the party. If you look at their policies, and the outcome, these guys are NOT conservative. They hide behind the label of "neoconservative" - but that doesn't really describe what they're all about either. All they are is thieves.
It's time for justice.