Powerless in Seattle

[Fairlight]

Only Michael J. Mc Avoy Sr. would say something like:
> If we, the USA, spent kazillions, to make everything more earth friendly
> as they say, China, India and whom ever would go on doing what they do
> with out a care in the world as to how the planet is doing health wise.

Not really, as they all bought into the Kyoto Protocol, and in fact all
signatories seem to be stepping up the pace.  Obviously the commercial
sector responsible for manufacturing whatever is required for implementing
these controls is doing great financially, I'm sure.  Weren't we like the
-only- industrialised nation to hold out and not sign Kyoto?  About the
only Bush decision I can say was 100% smart.

> I don't think the warming thing is a real factor.  What no one seems to
> admit, that one approaching 60 understands, everything only lasts so
> long.  We humans are using the planet up and at some point enough is
> enough and that is that, unless of course we wipe ourselves out a little
> early with a nuclear mishap.

I've heard that argument before, though.  Supposedly there wasn't enough
gold on the planet to make everything we have, much less that we're -still-
making from gold.  In the 70's, we were about to run out of oil.  It's been
THREE DECADES, and we have oil wells not pumping at full capacity--not due
to a lack of demand, but simply to jack up the price.  Obviously the supply
can't be limitless, but I'm pretty sure that it's a lot less limited than
everyone's been led to believe time and again.

> I think the real fear we face is books.  Yes, books.  This Iraq thing,
> for the most part right now is over a book.  These people are killing
> each other over what is written in a book and if they had their way they
> would very much enjoy killing great numbers of us in the process, which
> gets back to the nuclear thingie.  As I watched 9/11 unfold I remembered
> the duck and cover drills in grade school in Pittsburgh PA, steel capital
> of the world and a prime target.  The knot in my stomach was back.  The
> Russians understood, clearly, that if you launch a strike we will turn
> you cities into glass floored, self lighting parking lots.  These people
> (Mideast) are just running a tally on the number of virgins waiting for
> them.

I remember watching "The Day After", which while a horrible film scared the
bejesus out of me.  I had done so much research on things nuclear in grade
school and early high school that I was pretty much nuke-phobic.  I've
heard stories from people that lived in Florida during the Cuban Missile
Crisis--now -there- was apparently a tense time.  And I've always lived
fairly close to a primary target.  First the 128th in Milwaukee, where I
lived 3 miles either side of it for 22 years, and now I'm just 70 miles
from Fort Knox.  Never really gave me a warm feeling.

As for the civilian nuke thing--that's really what we should be doing is
going 100% nuclear for our power grid.  We haven't actually brought a
nuclear plant online since Three Mile Island, and the risks are actually
very negligible with a well-designed reactor.  If California gave a damn
about their power shortage and rolling blackouts, they'd have ordered
4-10 plants three years ago so they might be ready in another two years.
Instead, if memory serves, they've decomissioned at least one.

The concept of M.A.D. has no meaning for these people because they're not
centralised enough to actually take the same kinds of measures.  

The real irony is that these people (on all sides) are killing, torturing,
maiming, etc., in the name of what they -claim- are their respective
dieties and religions that stand for love and peace.  Further, their
whole religion is unprovable--there's not a shred of evidence that (and I
consider myself a Christian, although a rather lax one) say, The Bible is
not just one of the biggest hoaxes of all time.  Faith is one thing.  Blind
faith is entirely another.  Stupid blind faith is the most dangerous of
all.  None of them can be proven right or wrong by evidence, and they're
somehow willing to die for something that's not even defensible with a
shred of tangible evidence.  I'd call that mass insanity.

> Bet you never thought this thread would ever end up here.

In 20 years, we'll have a "Godwin" term for referring to anything about
bin Laden.  Bet on it.  And 9/11 will be the new "Holocaust" and it will be
illegal to even speculate on the facts after a certain point.  I actually
saw quite a depressing (though amusing at the same time) satirical piece on
the net about 9/11 becoming the new national symbol, running along those
lines.  Sadly, if you read something like the Landover Baptist satirical
church site and then read CNN, you can't really tell the difference in how
either is written--the news (and the reality on which the news is
ever-so-loosely based) is mimicking satire these days.  

And people wonder why I have such a low regard for human nature in general.
We've got several thousands of years of recorded history--all full of
death, misery, and suffering...most of it needless.

mark->
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