[neocone]

Space shuttle Columbia met her demise after a hole in the left wing enabled hot plasma to gradually eat it from the inside.

First sensors going haywire, then the drag increasing, then attitude trusters desperately trying to negate it all too little too late... then the breakup and the sight of a comet in daylight by the astonished onlookers.

It was february 2003... at the eve of the Iraq war.

Columbia is the feminine name of the USA (Districy of Columbia, the ship of the same name, etc...).

It was a symbol of America itself that burned up and desintegrated that morning.

Today the Iraq war is that same drag on the economy and social integrity that the overheated plasma was. Already economic sensors are going haywire...

Your world is finished.

[MD]

Good one.
The title referenced the movie to my mind though, so I didn't click at first.

[MrBill]

Please tell us which country, or group of countries, are doing an excellent job of wealth creation and distribution; creating well-paid meaningful jobs; safe guarding the environment and sustainable development; protecting human rights; and sharing their bounty with those countries less fortunate? I am sure it would be useful for us, and US policy makers, to know which countries to emmulate? Thanks.

[NEOPO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'P')lease tell us which country, or group of countries, are doing an excellent job of wealth creation and distribution; creating well-paid meaningful jobs; safe guarding the environment and sustainable development; protecting human rights; and sharing their bounty with those countries less fortunate? I am sure it would be useful for us, and US policy makers, to know which countries to emmulate? Thanks.

[JustinFrankl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'P')lease tell us which country, or group of countries, are doing an excellent job of wealth creation and distribution; creating well-paid meaningful jobs; safe guarding the environment and sustainable development; protecting human rights; and sharing their bounty with those countries less fortunate? I am sure it would be useful for us, and US policy makers, to know which countries to emmulate? Thanks.

[neocone]

Those pigs from Goldman Sachs got millions in bonuses??? For what?

Sometimes I do feel we need a "khmeres rouges" type cleanup... not necessarily their ideology long term, but like a wildfire cleaning up the forest and letting the pine cone sprout... Socially.

[MrBill]

So in otherwords you have told me nothing new. You may as well substitute America then for the name of any other country. No other country is leading by example.

And the UN run by its own members of sovereign states that should be playing a guiding role in global development is instead some sort of sick joke.

So America is just one of many countries on a contiunum of better or worse. It is not THE problem per se. It may use too many resources like 25% of the world's gasoline. But you may as well blame Chindia* for having 25% of the world's population. Or China for using 25% of the world's copper. The difference is only on how you slice and dice the data.

*throw in Bangledesh, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka because let's face it they are just sub-groups of the original India sub-continent and suffer from over-population as well.


JustinFrankl wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') would point out that

wealth creation

and

safeguarding the environment
protecting human rights
sharing

are somewhat mutually exclusive.

And "sustainable development" is as oxymoronic as "military intelligence".

[MrBill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('neocone', 'T')hose pigs from Goldman Sachs got millions in bonuses??? For what?

Sometimes I do feel we need a "khmeres rouges" type cleanup... not necessarily their ideology long term, but like a wildfire cleaning up the forest and letting the pine cone sprout... Socially.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('neocone', 'T')hose pigs from Goldman Sachs got millions in bonuses??? For what?

Sometimes I do feel we need a "khmeres rouges" type cleanup... not necessarily their ideology long term, but like a wildfire cleaning up the forest and letting the pine cone sprout... Socially.

[MrBill]

americandream wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hy do you people come on here...this is a site bemoaning the wasteful wastern lifestyle that brought us to the impasse of peak oil and what do we have here...the Reverend Life's All Right Jack...I mean mate, you shoud be maybe position yourself as a consultant with say...Bloomberg...or Rupert Murdoch's Fox. Birds of a feather?

As for this Asian/Western bullcrap...lets not forget, as with Asia or any other skewered society, the West works well for some and not for others. In addition, all the libertarian benefits you enjoy were concessions to placate left wing sentiment during the Cold War. Wait a few years, and I reckon you may well be able to purchase the little girl next door and her dog on the street corner.

[americandream]

[/quote]

Nothing wrong with Bloomberg.......That I have different opinions than you should not be a problem? If everyone agrees with your ideas to mitigate the fall-out of post peak oil depletion, and that includes moaning about western lifestyles and advocating khmeres rouges cleansing pogroms, then you'll have public opinion on your side. Good luck with that.[/quote]

I've no issues with you having different opinions..I'm simply fed up with you "point the finger wallahs" who don't seem to have the foggiest notion as to what is driving the geo-political fook ups on this planet.

Why the heck did my forefathers get off their asses and leave Europe in numbers sufficient enough to have an impact on that continents fortunes.

Because there was a whole world of resources awaiting us. These poor buggers in the Third World have never had that good fortune other than a few who have been able squeeze past our border controls

or who live in countries able to stick the finger at us...such as Cuba....

and right smack bang at the point the free market ones are starting to get their economies under way, the goodies are running out.

Stick that in your pipe Bob the Builder.

[MrBill]

americandream wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'ve no issues with you having different opinions..I'm simply fed up with you "point the finger wallahs" who don't seem to have the foggiest notion as to what is driving the geo-political fook ups on this planet.

[americandream]

worked in the what for 20 years...ol Blair's a public school hotshot...does not say much for his intellignce tho does it. You're like a lot of people.....do a bit here and there and reckon you know what its all...go load your builders barrow somewhere else mate.

[MrBill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'w')orked in the what for 20 years...ol Blair's a public school hotshot...does not say much for his intellignce tho does it. You're like a lot of people.....do a bit here and there and reckon you know what its all...go load your builders barrow somewhere else mate.

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', '
')Yep, no idea at all what is driving this? Unlimited wants, limited resources? A population explosion on a finite planet? Consumerism and unsustainable growth on one hand, with incompetence, corruption and bureaucracy on the other side of the globe?