I am not so sure an amnesty bill is a foregone conclusion. The democrats have a sizable core block (unions) who are strongly opposed to amnesty. Also, the dems probably noticed that the Republican amnesty proponents in the Senate alienated their "law and order" core block with the issue. This election resurrected moderate democrats and led to a house, and likely a senate majority. How they got there will not be ignored. The rest of your predictions are right on. Expect some impeachment noise, but I doubt if there will be hearings.
NASA's planed [space.com] return to the moon is 2018. A few bad schedule slips at NASA could see Americans following Indians back to the moon. Both sides get bonus points for an Indian American on either mission.
The US is pursuing specific plans to get back to the moon that include a hydrogen fueled heavy lift vehicle a crew exploration vehicle and a lunar lander. Details like this are completely missing from Russian, Chinese, and Indian press releases on their space programs.
I personally know people vehemently opposed to both abortion and stem cell research, who would nevertheless create and then doom a dozen or so embryos (their own children!!!) because they found themselves infertile and in need of IVF in order to have a baby of their own.
I back these people 100%. This is embryonic research put to good use. They are respectful. Such people obviously want families badly and are giving the embryos their best chance.
I personally am loudly opposed to the way some countries (that shall remain nameless but you can probably figure out which one I'm thinking of) extract the organs of executed political prisoners for transplant. But if it was me who needed a liver, and the tests showed I was a match for one of the prisoners, I can't honestly say I'd decline the operation because of my principles. I truly don't know. Ask me again when I'm dying.
I saw the Body Worlds exhibit in St. Paul this summer. A very sober and respectful (and challenging) presentation of human anatomy. Subjects were of all races. Some of their letters described their decision to volunteer as subjects. In a visit to Las Vegas there was a similar display. Virtually all of the models (victims) were Chinese, presumably prisoners! There are rumours of Chinese authorities trafficing to the German artist or technician who does the preservation. The tone of the exhibit was very different. It was a freakshow. I don't have any problems with the transplant system in the US. Good faith attempts are made to fairly match doners with recipients.
I voted today using a fill in the dots ballot at a Lutheran church in Minnesota. The ballot was clear, even the tax increase measures. The process was very efficient and professional. The volunteers are really something. It just amazes me how the media can be saturated with sleazy ads, but the actual voting process is haloed, partisan free, intimidation free. This is a lot to be proud of. My only complaint was that ID was not required. Just a signature on a voter registration sheet. This really needs to change, especially since you can register and vote at the same time.
This gross mismanagement of our finances have happened in a time when the US needs to stay nimble and agressive to counter the real threat to our freedom, namely strong competition from Asia (Europe is in the shitter, no worries from that direction). This gross mismanagement has happened for reasons only religious nutcases would be able to understand, financing in-door rain-forests in Ohio and ridiculous military adventures in regions of the world where there is no benefit to our presence.
What a jackass. This China doomsday stuff is getting old. They have 100 million people participating in the growing economy and 900 million villagers that still plow the rice field with an ox. There undervalued currency and huge trade deficit keeps them awash in profits that have no place to go except (1) investment in further overcapacity, (2) real estate speculation, (3) US Treasuries, (3) their matresses. Their education system sucks, and their is no consistent rule of law. Their well oiled dictatorship will inevitably fail.
If you don't think American business is nimble and aggressive, who is?
Just to add to CycleFreak's comment, the embryos are not "promising youth" at all! ith the new approsh they'd be promising rabbits or cows.. Just curious but how many of those against the new approach to stem cells research are vegetarians? I am a vegetarian and I still support this research because I'm not an utter moron.
If President Bush proposed we sacrifice all veggies for biological research I would be pleased! Your views suggest your brain has been infused with cauliflower stem cells? Because a scientists can pluck a DNA ball from a cell and put it in another is in any reason not to respect the wondrous potential of the human in their final form? What you see as moronic I see humility and respect for life.
Embryos don't will anything. They are not sentient beings. They are not beings of any kind. Please time travel back to the dark ages and stay there. Your ignorance is no longer desired in the present time.
Certainly they are not humans. But it is not at all clear that human embryos should be treated by the law and material objects or possessions. The majority of Americans feel that way. It is a difficult debate and the left and right are having it. Simpletons like you should just await the "block and white" results.
Secondly, these therapies are not likely to be created in time for Michael J. Fox. Who are you to decide that because he's rich & famous, he should be prevented from obtaining treatments that others may not be able to afford (yet)? It's a trickle-down effect. Many treatments now widely used and available to nearly everyone were - at one time - prohibitively expensive for most people. And oh yeah: Are you saying that people who are past "reproductive age" are disposable? Men older than Mr. Fox have had children.
I find it reprehensible that wealthy people think they can pillage unwitting human embryos for their generic material. That material would be better spent in the next generation than to prolong the shambling lives of the doomed.
Stop tugging at emotional heart-strings in a thinly veiled attempt to confuse the issue. Your use of the phrase "naturally selected" to describe MJ Fox is cold and void of empathy. And yet you profess that an embryo has the right - a requirement even - to become a "promising youth".
You pick up on my point. Embryonic human life deserves advocacy, but gets none from greedy glitterati like Fox who see them as little more than a Botox treatment for their exotic afflictions.
I am sure the embryos are willing to forgo their promising lives to dampen Michael J. Fox's wild gyrations. Does it make sense to sacrifice promising youth for the broken aged, past the reproduction age, and already naturally selected, just because they are wealthy?
In the USA there is no prime minister, which is a shame. It is much, much easier for the parliament to get rid of a prime minister who turns out to be incompetent. Impeaching a president is a much more tedious process than a simple vote of non-confidence and a big deal in the USA.
In a parlimentary system the your chief executive is appointed by party elites, not unlike our senate or house leadership. The President is a popularly elected executive and a separate government branch. The checks and balances of the three branches has worked very well for us. The certainty of the length of term for the President allows them time to implement a program such that the electorate can judge the results. The parlimentary system is much less stable, judging from the way you in Europe burn through governments, and is short sighted.
If you think Israel's problems are "recalcitrant migrants squatting on traditional Israeli lands" (note: they've been squatting there for at least a thousand years), do you advocate all Americans of non-native American decent leaving the U.S. ?
No. It makes so sense for the greatest civilization on earth to gratuitously abdicate to a brutal stone age culture out of a misguided sense of fairness. To expect Israel to relinquish Judea and Samarra to mob of terrorists is equally inane. The Arabs living there would be much better off elsewhere in Arabia.
You seem to be about as bad at basic math as you are in basic reading and writing. You seem not to understand how Bush has crippled our economy for decades to come. Now, ask your self a simple question: We have borrowed trillions of dollars over the past 6 years. We have to pay that back. How is the government going to pay it back? And, no, a 5% economic growth doesn't come close to paying for it.
I am no fan of deficit spending. As a percentage of GDP the current deficit is manageable. The idea is to keep deficit growth at or below rates of economic growth and gradually growth out of the debt. As much as a genious as you fancy yourself, do you choose to ignore this simple idea, or are you unaware? In the past the democrats used inflationary monetary policy to devalue the debt. That would be a pisser for the Chinese whose matresses are stuffed with our treasury notes, but it would serve them right for their own currency manipulation. Such a policy has bad consequences for growth though. People like me still remember Carter's misery index and do not want to revisit them. I am tired of this thread. Just stay pwnd!
OriginalArlen writes to tell us about some compelling global warming coverage in the Washington Post. First there is an article about a study indicating that melting Arctic ice is threatening polar bears with extinction. The article quotes an environmentalist: "This study is the smoking gun. Skeptics, polluting industries and President Bush can't run away from this one."
Another smoking gun? It is almost worth it to give these yahoos $1000 in extra taxes per year to stop using the term. One wonders how polar bears survived 15000 years ago when the arctic ocean was permanantly frozen to great depth. They'll adapt.
And the polar melting is opening new shipping lanes. The second article details a trip late in October through the Northwest Passage by a Canadian icebreaker. Never before in history could this trip have been accomplished so late in the year; ice would have choked off the passage. Estimates of when the passage might be navigable by commercial shipping range from 2020 to the end of the century. The indigeneous people are not looking forward to this development.
One wonders what role the technological improvement of ships has to play? As for the indigenous folks, they should consider opening a casino for the new tourists.
Your reply was long on heat, short on argument. But I'll have a go.
I think this sentence shows how retarded amightywind is, and it also is a good example on the points the parent poster was trying to make. Obviously amightywind is unable to read relatively basic English, he must have a US education.
Cornell '86
You can be born trailer-trash and end up as president (Clinton essentially did). This is not at all the case in most of Europe.
Another nitwit swayed by his Georgetown/Yale populism. I do believe you have spent time in Europe.
also in the US. For 6 years now we have had an administration that is essentially soviet-era communist.
Did the communists average 5% economic growth? Did they consistently lower taxes and increase properity at all levels? If that is communism, give me more!
Bush has, for all practical purposes, guaranteed a crippling high tax level in the US for decades to come.
??? It is morning in America. Thanks President Bush!
You don't seem to understand that the US is actually creating more terrorists daily, do you?
No I don't. The radicals have a visceral hate for Jews and Christians. We could be nice and let them and watch them reestablish the caliphate. They are looking for a fight. I propose we give it to them.
This isn't a war against an "enemy", with your guys against my guys. This is an invasion of a sovereign country, contrary to international law, against the UN security council's wishes, with deception used as an excuse to justify it. And a president who doesn't have the courage to step down and admit that he created a royal fuck up and destabilized the entire world.
Yes, we did invade a sovereign country in massive violation of a previous armistice. The UN was thoroughly corrupted by the oil for food scam. It could not be relied on for action. The enemy isn't organised and uniformed because traditional warfare is suicide versus the US. Guerilla tactics are the only way. Even if Iraq disolves into civil war and is partitioned, Saddam is gone. He is due to hang. So I think the Iraq operation has been a great success.
Did you enjoy $3 per gallon of gasoline?
The price run up in gas has as much to do with hedge funds speculation inflating the price of gas futures as with the geopolitical threat to supply. Terrorist states like Iran need to sell oil. They can only prop up the price through fear for so long. Now that those futures positions are unravelling we are enjoying below equilibrium prices. I paid $2.04/gal to fill up my SUV today.
My father graduated from McGill dental school. My sister got her degree in literature from there. I share your high opinion of that institution. Montreal is a fabulous city.
No nation or other group can seriously try to play mediator in the region re. nuclear weapons without confronting the elephant in the room. Israel must be made to acknowledge its stable of nukes. You can't tell nations they cannot have nukes while Israel is sitting right there in the middle of the lot with its unofficial nuclear arsenal.
Israel, the elephant in the room? Less than 1% of the area of the muslim countries, 6 million in population compared to over 1 billion. You are either disengenuous or very stupid! The notion that Israeli nukes are anything other than defensive is ridiculous. What are they going to do, invade Saudi Arabia? Once again we see Israel used as a scapegoat for civilizations in conflict. The issue in Israel is recalcitrant migrants squatting on traditional Israeli lands.
Any non-proliferation efforts are doomed to fail in the middle east unless Israel owns up to what they have. To turn a blind eye to their nuclear capability while preaching to other countries about what they can and cannot do is rank hypocrisy.
Non-proliferation has failed because the western democracies lack the collective the will (as expressed by the UN) to enforce it. The security council is dead. Indeed, members of the security council China and Russia are actively engaged in nuclear proliferation. Russia is teaching Iran to master the fuel cycle. Pakistan and North Korea built bombs of Chinese design. The western democracies should realise this and create new security structures excluding Russia and China. They should also predicate trade with them based on there compliance with them. Openness has done nothing but embolden them.
I have to tell you that I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I'm a 2nd generation immigrant who was raised on lectures about how wonderful America was and anecdotes outlining the superiority of American government and culture. Honestly I found the changes in America so repellent I moved and in doing so I learned a few interesting things.
I wish the state department would screen you turds more carefully before letting you in? Do you expect living in America to be like collecting lottery winnings?
Americans have no idea what communism or socialism is... or if they do they do not use this knowledge when exhorting the evils of these systems.
Why don't you ask the Ruskies or the Chinese about communism? You wouldn't get an answer because they are busy making money, perverted as their versions of capitalism are.
The US dollar sucks.
Toss a dollar or a Euro on the ground in your home country and see which one gets picked up. The current weak dollar is the inevitable result of the export nature of most of the world's economies besides the us. Our way of screwing you back.
The US by many metrics isn't the best place in the world to live.
I imagine most of them are from elsewhere.
A notable exception is making buckets of cash.
Is there any other real measure?
Racism is more of a problem in America than people want to admit.
Really? How is it in your home country?
Xenophobia is a significant problem in America.
Is it a surprise with people like you in our midst?
You can not live in a "nice" society without paying for it... via taxes.
45% or my income is not enough?
It's in all of our interests to do what we can to raise everyone we can to a certain level (I mean a level above Henry Ford's auto assemblers and Ray Kroc's fast food workers). This means public schooling, accessible health care, &tc...
Unemployment is 4.4%. Home/equity ownership is at record levels. K-12 public schooling is a right. The US university system is *by far* the best in the world. Thanks President Bush!
it proposes "recovering" threatened and endangered species by removing them from the endangered species list - therefore allowing destruction of their habitat and/or hunting of the critters.
What are you supposed to do when endangered species recover? Do you want thousands of Grizzly bears, wolfpacks, or cougars running around settled areas. No, you remove their protections in such a way as to maintain stable populations. I think the name is proper, and not at all misleading.
What do you make of Bush's recent statement that he's "never been stay the course"? Do you think it was just another malapropsim? (That's actually what I believe. I don't think Bush is as stupid as many would like to think. However, he does seem to have a problem with public speaking.)
How scintillating would you be if you gave 10 speeches about medicade everyday. Would you never contradict yourself? Nothing wrong with patience or repetition. Refreshing when compared to Slick Willy whose policies shifted by the day with public opinion polls.
Of course, then there are the more deliberate and undeniable Orwellian statements. "We don't do torture." "We never claimed Saddam was linked to 9/11." "Clear Skies Initiative", "Healthy Forests Initiative", "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act" (this one has to be the worst doublespeak EVER), "PATRIOT act", "it's the Dems fault that the Foley scandal was released in October". Am I claiming that Bush & Co. holds a monoply on this type of talking? No. But they do seem to have perfected it.
Giving flattering titles to new legislation is an ancient art in the US Congress. It is called persuasion. How can a democrat vote against something named 'The Patriot Act'. No need to invoke Orwell. Indeed the Congress probably inspired Orwell.
A comparison of the Bush administration to Orwell's 1984. Profound. One of the defining elements of American liberalism is to see world events as their hallowed high-school literature come to life. I regret giving the guy a page hit.
For what, exactly? That sounds more like propaganda to fill the all-voluntary military, rather than a useful description.
You can't hide your Kerryesque snobbery and disdain for the military, can you? The doctors, engineers, executive officers, butt-kicking Marines, and a miriad of people of great accomplishment would disagree with you.
What help is the Iraq war to American people or American society? I'm less safe for it. I have less rights because of it. Those results are not from the actions of heroes.
Have you noticed that we haven't been attacked since 2001? The bad guys are too busy running from hut to hut trying to avoid being vaporized by a 2000 pound bomb. I thank the military for that.
Slashdot Mirror
I am not so sure an amnesty bill is a foregone conclusion. The democrats have a sizable core block (unions) who are strongly opposed to amnesty. Also, the dems probably noticed that the Republican amnesty proponents in the Senate alienated their "law and order" core block with the issue. This election resurrected moderate democrats and led to a house, and likely a senate majority. How they got there will not be ignored. The rest of your predictions are right on. Expect some impeachment noise, but I doubt if there will be hearings.
The US is pursuing specific plans to get back to the moon that include a hydrogen fueled heavy lift vehicle a crew exploration vehicle and a lunar lander. Details like this are completely missing from Russian, Chinese, and Indian press releases on their space programs.
I back these people 100%. This is embryonic research put to good use. They are respectful. Such people obviously want families badly and are giving the embryos their best chance.
I saw the Body Worlds exhibit in St. Paul this summer. A very sober and respectful (and challenging) presentation of human anatomy. Subjects were of all races. Some of their letters described their decision to volunteer as subjects. In a visit to Las Vegas there was a similar display. Virtually all of the models (victims) were Chinese, presumably prisoners! There are rumours of Chinese authorities trafficing to the German artist or technician who does the preservation. The tone of the exhibit was very different. It was a freakshow. I don't have any problems with the transplant system in the US. Good faith attempts are made to fairly match doners with recipients.
I voted today using a fill in the dots ballot at a Lutheran church in Minnesota. The ballot was clear, even the tax increase measures. The process was very efficient and professional. The volunteers are really something. It just amazes me how the media can be saturated with sleazy ads, but the actual voting process is haloed, partisan free, intimidation free. This is a lot to be proud of. My only complaint was that ID was not required. Just a signature on a voter registration sheet. This really needs to change, especially since you can register and vote at the same time.
I voted Republican across the ballot!
What a jackass. This China doomsday stuff is getting old. They have 100 million people participating in the growing economy and 900 million villagers that still plow the rice field with an ox. There undervalued currency and huge trade deficit keeps them awash in profits that have no place to go except (1) investment in further overcapacity, (2) real estate speculation, (3) US Treasuries, (3) their matresses. Their education system sucks, and their is no consistent rule of law. Their well oiled dictatorship will inevitably fail.
If you don't think American business is nimble and aggressive, who is?
What argument are you making if you cite statistics that are skewed by your own admission. Answer: a weak one.
If President Bush proposed we sacrifice all veggies for biological research I would be pleased! Your views suggest your brain has been infused with cauliflower stem cells? Because a scientists can pluck a DNA ball from a cell and put it in another is in any reason not to respect the wondrous potential of the human in their final form? What you see as moronic I see humility and respect for life.
Certainly they are not humans. But it is not at all clear that human embryos should be treated by the law and material objects or possessions. The majority of Americans feel that way. It is a difficult debate and the left and right are having it. Simpletons like you should just await the "block and white" results.
I find it reprehensible that wealthy people think they can pillage unwitting human embryos for their generic material. That material would be better spent in the next generation than to prolong the shambling lives of the doomed.
You pick up on my point. Embryonic human life deserves advocacy, but gets none from greedy glitterati like Fox who see them as little more than a Botox treatment for their exotic afflictions.
I am sure the embryos are willing to forgo their promising lives to dampen Michael J. Fox's wild gyrations. Does it make sense to sacrifice promising youth for the broken aged, past the reproduction age, and already naturally selected, just because they are wealthy?
In a parlimentary system the your chief executive is appointed by party elites, not unlike our senate or house leadership. The President is a popularly elected executive and a separate government branch. The checks and balances of the three branches has worked very well for us. The certainty of the length of term for the President allows them time to implement a program such that the electorate can judge the results. The parlimentary system is much less stable, judging from the way you in Europe burn through governments, and is short sighted.
No. It makes so sense for the greatest civilization on earth to gratuitously abdicate to a brutal stone age culture out of a misguided sense of fairness. To expect Israel to relinquish Judea and Samarra to mob of terrorists is equally inane. The Arabs living there would be much better off elsewhere in Arabia.
I am no fan of deficit spending. As a percentage of GDP the current deficit is manageable. The idea is to keep deficit growth at or below rates of economic growth and gradually growth out of the debt. As much as a genious as you fancy yourself, do you choose to ignore this simple idea, or are you unaware? In the past the democrats used inflationary monetary policy to devalue the debt. That would be a pisser for the Chinese whose matresses are stuffed with our treasury notes, but it would serve them right for their own currency manipulation. Such a policy has bad consequences for growth though. People like me still remember Carter's misery index and do not want to revisit them. I am tired of this thread. Just stay pwnd!
Another smoking gun? It is almost worth it to give these yahoos $1000 in extra taxes per year to stop using the term. One wonders how polar bears survived 15000 years ago when the arctic ocean was permanantly frozen to great depth. They'll adapt.
One wonders what role the technological improvement of ships has to play? As for the indigenous folks, they should consider opening a casino for the new tourists.
Your reply was long on heat, short on argument. But I'll have a go.
Cornell '86
Another nitwit swayed by his Georgetown/Yale populism. I do believe you have spent time in Europe.
Did the communists average 5% economic growth? Did they consistently lower taxes and increase properity at all levels? If that is communism, give me more!
??? It is morning in America. Thanks President Bush!
No I don't. The radicals have a visceral hate for Jews and Christians. We could be nice and let them and watch them reestablish the caliphate. They are looking for a fight. I propose we give it to them.
Yes, we did invade a sovereign country in massive violation of a previous armistice. The UN was thoroughly corrupted by the oil for food scam. It could not be relied on for action. The enemy isn't organised and uniformed because traditional warfare is suicide versus the US. Guerilla tactics are the only way. Even if Iraq disolves into civil war and is partitioned, Saddam is gone. He is due to hang. So I think the Iraq operation has been a great success.
The price run up in gas has as much to do with hedge funds speculation inflating the price of gas futures as with the geopolitical threat to supply. Terrorist states like Iran need to sell oil. They can only prop up the price through fear for so long. Now that those futures positions are unravelling we are enjoying below equilibrium prices. I paid $2.04/gal to fill up my SUV today.
My father graduated from McGill dental school. My sister got her degree in literature from there. I share your high opinion of that institution. Montreal is a fabulous city.
Israel, the elephant in the room? Less than 1% of the area of the muslim countries, 6 million in population compared to over 1 billion. You are either disengenuous or very stupid! The notion that Israeli nukes are anything other than defensive is ridiculous. What are they going to do, invade Saudi Arabia? Once again we see Israel used as a scapegoat for civilizations in conflict. The issue in Israel is recalcitrant migrants squatting on traditional Israeli lands.
Non-proliferation has failed because the western democracies lack the collective the will (as expressed by the UN) to enforce it. The security council is dead. Indeed, members of the security council China and Russia are actively engaged in nuclear proliferation. Russia is teaching Iran to master the fuel cycle. Pakistan and North Korea built bombs of Chinese design. The western democracies should realise this and create new security structures excluding Russia and China. They should also predicate trade with them based on there compliance with them. Openness has done nothing but embolden them.
You are so stupid you can't even make a predictable joke. Try nookyoulur.
With fighting spirit like that how can we lose? Have you choosen your muslim name yet?
I wish the state department would screen you turds more carefully before letting you in? Do you expect living in America to be like collecting lottery winnings?
Why don't you ask the Ruskies or the Chinese about communism? You wouldn't get an answer because they are busy making money, perverted as their versions of capitalism are.
Toss a dollar or a Euro on the ground in your home country and see which one gets picked up. The current weak dollar is the inevitable result of the export nature of most of the world's economies besides the us. Our way of screwing you back.
I imagine most of them are from elsewhere.
Is there any other real measure?
Really? How is it in your home country?
Is it a surprise with people like you in our midst?
45% or my income is not enough?
Unemployment is 4.4%. Home/equity ownership is at record levels. K-12 public schooling is a right. The US university system is *by far* the best in the world. Thanks President Bush!
What are you supposed to do when endangered species recover? Do you want thousands of Grizzly bears, wolfpacks, or cougars running around settled areas. No, you remove their protections in such a way as to maintain stable populations. I think the name is proper, and not at all misleading.
How scintillating would you be if you gave 10 speeches about medicade everyday. Would you never contradict yourself? Nothing wrong with patience or repetition. Refreshing when compared to Slick Willy whose policies shifted by the day with public opinion polls.
Giving flattering titles to new legislation is an ancient art in the US Congress. It is called persuasion. How can a democrat vote against something named 'The Patriot Act'. No need to invoke Orwell. Indeed the Congress probably inspired Orwell.
A comparison of the Bush administration to Orwell's 1984. Profound. One of the defining elements of American liberalism is to see world events as their hallowed high-school literature come to life. I regret giving the guy a page hit.
You can't hide your Kerryesque snobbery and disdain for the military, can you? The doctors, engineers, executive officers, butt-kicking Marines, and a miriad of people of great accomplishment would disagree with you.
Have you noticed that we haven't been attacked since 2001? The bad guys are too busy running from hut to hut trying to avoid being vaporized by a 2000 pound bomb. I thank the military for that.