Amen! Glad to have you on board. Because D-Day was only one the most important moments in American History.
Si, el contador! You're giving too much credit to politics and not enough to the media who actually motivate the 18-34 demo. Whether a democrat or repub is in office, he's still a corporate puppet. And as you know, the corporations control the media which in turn dictate the consumption habits and desire of the youth. Greed and ego make up the foundation of any capitalist society - there has to be drive and competition in order for humanity to progress. When you throw all these elements into a pot, the cream will rise. The cream... always rises, so taking away the fire that fuels them is unrealistic. Right now the US doesn't have an identity. With globalization taking a chunk out of America's prosperity, the unbridled confidence of the youth no longer matches their reality. There's a disconnect because no one wants steady jobs in engineering, IT and other fields that import skill intensive workers. Discussing a "solution" is pointless because .. we don't have a solution. It's in the hands of a 12 year old playing on an Ipad and he'll reveal it 10-15 years from now. Innovation will always be America's advantage but until the next big discovery, it's going to be one coverup after another to pump money into the defense industry that props up the economy.
Because if they don't have data from then, you'll just ignore the science we do have. No, really keep it up. It's great.
You asked for data for the last 200 to 300 years. Given the age of the planet, that time horizon isn't really relevant. You have to look at thousands of years. Has the melting of the polar ice caps happened before? I suppose it has. Of course, we also know that there have been climate changes in the past, such as ice ages, that caused mass extinctions. Digging your head in the sand may make you feel better, but that doesn't make the danger any less real. The fact is that the melting of the polar ice caps is so pronounced, that polar bears are dying off and the real possibility exists for them to go extinct. Maybe that doesn't bother you, but it does bother me.
And people thought my mentality was wrong when I started this thread: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=235420 On a side note, I'm fearful that people in society only care about vain things, including material possessions but also stuff like sports (granted, we all need entertainment), sex (i.e. you're a nobody unless you have lots of it with as many good looking people as possible), partying and excessive entertainment, which almost includes all of those. I mean, again, we all need to be entertained but it seems to me that few actually care to think about the world (the increasing high school dropout rate is telling) or to try and help uplift others. Now days, everyone's in it for themselves and as soon as school/work is done (which many people do only for the money alone), all anyone can think of is when the next party is or to go and hit a club or bar. I'm generalizing in this post but the younger generations (myself included) seems to only live in the now and not realize there's a bigger world out there than just entertainment. I personally think TV and the media in general are a big part to blame as they put unrealistic images out there that influences people but at the end of the day people still go out of their way to live the high-life to impress others instead of just living life.
You put faith in a magical sky fairy. Show me data for that. Oh wait you can't. You can travel back 1000, 2000, 3000 years and still not show me jack ****, because THERE IS NO DATA. On the other hand these polar ice caps melting are REAL. Let's step out of fantasy land for a moment.
We have extremely strong scientific consensus on this. You may make an honest study of it or you can continue to blind yourself in your beliefs. There are records for tens of thousands of year and more. Significant climate changes is the norm over thousand of years. What's not normal is when that's being compressed into a couple of hundreds of years and accelerated over the last century.
What really scares me abou this is what I have read. That every period of warming is usually followed by period of significant cooling (ie the ice age). I am not sure we would collectively survive that.
Deckard, you are one of my favorite posters and we have exchanged comments for years. I agree with much in you post about political history, but this statement I just don't understand. I told you before that as a "sixties liberal" we were anti-government and pro civil liberties. I still feel the same way. I don't trust big government at any level. I am still adamant about free speech, freedom of religion, right to bear arms, etc. I am deeply committed to the Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the Bill of Rights. I don't want one set of standards for government officials and another for average citizens. I have voted more Democratic than Republican, but I am not on board for the contemporary version of progressivism, which in my view has a very pro-government orientation, an obsession with political power, and an ugly tendency to suppress and even destroy opposition. This is not the Democratic spirit. But, back to the "extremist" Tea Party. I would use the prefixes of "freedom loving" and "patriotic" Tea Party. Let's put things in perspective. The A.F.H.C. Act (Obama Care) was not popular for a variety of reasons not the least of which was the multi-billion dollar transfer of funds from Medicare. When members of Congress came home to face their constituents, they got an ear full. Some folks felt that their representatives weren't representing them. It was in that climate that the so-called Tea Party was born. Anything but extremist, it was a democratic movement, a populist movement, by those who felt ignored by their government. At it's core it is a very libertarian spirit, and it is still very much alive. The 2010 Congressional elections were a flashpoint, but it is far from dead, despite the "government's" efforts to kill the movement through IRS intimidation and other means. I am baffled why you see it as an "extremist" movement. I will tell you what is extreme; using the IRS to intimidate political enemies, attacking the free press, and unlimited spying on the general public. Now that is the mark of radical and extreme politics. Compared to that, the Tea Party is as American as apple pie, citizens trying to be heard.
I think the Tea Party has definite extremist parts, but on the whole, I'm not that worried about them. I agree that there is a lot the Obama govt. has done wrong. but... 1. The medicare funds were cuts to waste, and a good example of what could be trimmed from medicare without hurting the recipients. The fact that it helps to pay for Affordable health care act is a good thing (though that act itself is full of holes) 2. There is no evidence linking the white house to the abuses that happened from the IRS. What the IRS did was wrong, but it was miniscule. A mere inconvenience that alienated nobody, kept no groups from their status. 3. The initial AP press scandal was nothing, and not really a scandal except the person who leaked the info to the AP is still out there. 4. Unlimited spying on the American public is an overstatement, but the spying going on by the Obama whitehouse is one of the worst things about this administration and is a real problem that should be rectified. Too bad those provisions were ever allowed in the first place. The sooner we get rid of them the better.
Geeeeeeez. Your definitions are just a non-starter first of all. Second, it's the ignorance perpetuated by tea party extremists ( your transfer of funds from Medicare comment is an excellent example) that continues to create imaginary boogeymen for political purposes. IRS trying to kill a movement? Laughable and ridiculous. Sort of sums up the tea party movement. A bunch of middle aged and old white folks trying to take us back to the good ole days along with young white male libertarians trying to dismantle decades of societal progress with dreams of duplicating the robber baron era.
Your comments are big on hyperbole and light on facts. Are you saying that a fund transfer was not part of Obama care? Are you saying the IRS was not trying to slow the growth of (hurt, destroy if possible) the movement? And then the stereotypes. Most who I know who identify them as members of the Tea Party are young libertarians that are NOT pro corporations. "Laughable and ridiculous" apply to your remarks more than mine. You didn't try to seriously address the issues. Ridicule is not an argument.
There is a good deal of minimization in your remarks, but you at least set forth some arguments. I think there is evidence linking the WH including the ridiculous number of visits by the head of the IRS and the testimony of line workers that the orders came from DC. The AP scandal was more than "nothing," it even riled up the Pro Obama press. The deductions from Medicare were supposed to be about controlling waste, but did that actually happen? I am glad you see the danger in the spying scandal which cuts to the heart of civil liberties.
