Black Dog

I can pretty much guarantee there the majoprity of messed up people come from "traditional" family backgrounds. Such is the nature of parenting.

Right, so it's not Bush's fault for choosing one of his incompentent cronies, it's the Democrats for not fighting his selection (at which pouint they would have been labeled "obsrtuctionist" and engaging ing "partisal politics"). I remember a time when the Republicans were the party of personal responsibility. No more.

I don't, for the simple reason that we are not losing the battele over evolution. Evolution is still accepted by the vast majority of the scientific community and, as such will continue to be taught. I don't believe we need to throw these people a bon eeither, as they wil not accept any compromise. Sure it does: by showing the natural processes of evolution are responsible for the development of life, science negates a supernatural designer. And while science cannot conlusivly disprove the esistence of such a being, science cannot prove such a thing does exist (which is why ID and other theories are merely "God in the gaps" arguments: untestable and therefore, unscientific).

I think you touched on this in another post: The answer to the above questions is "yes."

That's because you don't read. This bears repeating:

I'll tell you what I told your hive-mate Mr. Burns. Bush declared a state of emergency August 27, giving the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA the authority to coordinate all disaster relief efforts. Two days before the levees were breached. Certainly, the idea that a disaster of this magnitude is strictly a local problem is ridiculous. According to DHS's own response plan: "ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE." Surely an incident of national significance would require leadership and action on a national level. Evidently Bush had better things to do. I think, under the circumstances, getting 80 per cent of the population out is anything but a botched job. But hey, for shits and giggles, let's assume that the ex-Republican Nagin and Blanco, as well as all the other local officials along the Gulf Coast, are utter incompetents. Surely at that point someone should have stepped up, someone at the federal level (again: DHS and FEMA's role, following the presidential declaration of a state of emergency is to to coordinate all disaster relief efforts). So where were they? Why did it take Bush almost two days to get his ass to the area? Why did FEMA take its time, only dispatching people into the flood zone after the storm hit, and giving them two days to get there? Why did it take almost a full day for news of the levee break to reach the DHS (by Chertoff's own admission)? Really, there was a catastrophic failure of leadership. Even if one assumes the absolute worst of the local officials, your argument falls apart when you consider the subsequent (in)action of the administration.

FEMA was unprepared for Katrina Relief Effort, Insiders Say Oh and B. Max, your little Red Cross meme has already been demolished: by the Red Cross themselves There wil be an investigation, headed by Republicans. The mandate will be to absolve the administration of any blame whatsoever. This is the Bush administration, after all: truth is irrelevant and accountability non-existent. As for the absurd notion that "the local democrat mayor and govenor (are) totally incompeten", let's reflect for a second on the fact that local officials were ale to evacuate 80 per cent of New Orleans, when FEMA projections from 2004 indicated that only about 1/3 of the population would be evacuated in the event of a catastrophic hurricane. Let's also not forget that, while Nagin and company were in the thick of disaster response operatons, the President was on vacation, plucking his guitar and attending fundraisers. Undoubtedly, there were failures, errors and missteps taken by the local government, as is bound to happen in an event of this magnitude. But let's not ignore the fact that Katrina was an event of national importance affecting a number of communities in a number of states along the Gulf Coast: in other words, this was precisely the kind of incident the federal government is suppossed to respond to. The only people interested in assigning blame, at least here on MLW, are G.O.P. partisans.

Brownie not douing a helluva job, pulled from Katrina duty

No it's not. Hewitt is interviewing Garrett. Beside the point. Add another dead meme to your pile. Again, beside the point. You were crowing about Bush's handling of disaster relief in Florida in 2004. In any case your link demonstrates the widespread corruption of the U.S. political system, to which I say: and? Bush declared a state of emergency August 27, giving the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA the authority to coordinate all disaster relief efforts. Two days before the levees were breached. Why would I? I haven't referenced them. Hmm...what did Argus say about this: It is pretty hilarious to watch you go after Argus, one of the longest serving and most conservative members of this board, just for not being part of your little cult.

And American companies get the contracts, contracts which they were shut out of prior to the invasion. Your analogy is silly. Again: no. It's pretty basic: give U.S. oil companies a crack at the oil (only a small portion of profits go into royalties) and put the muscle in place to dissuade any rivals. This isn't a free market textbook we're talking about: more like gang warfare on a global scale. Wow, your talent for misrepresntaton is matched only by your talent for stating the blindingly obvious. I'm often astiounded by the utter credulity you bring to discussion of economics and politics. Markets work perfectly in Augustland, noone has any ulterior motives. I wonder if you've given half a thought to the cozy world of high finance and politics, of how decisions are made. I wonder how the significance of parking an army on top of the world's second largest strategic reserves couild sail by you. And dogged at peddling it.

Because science class isn't the place to discuss theology or mythology. There are seperate classes for that. ID and its varients are fundamentally unscientific because they are untestable, thereofre they don't belong in science class. Period.

I guarantee more people die and more lives are ruined because of alcohol than, say, marijuana.

Because science is not about opinions (why not teach the theory that the earth is flat and let kids make up their own minds?). It's about, well, science. The only time ID should be mentioned in the science classroom is in context of a lecture entitled: "Why Intelligent Design is horsesh*t". If you wanna talk about it in comparative religion or philosophy class, fine. But leave science class for the stuff that actually has science to back it up.

I've been here a while, not as long as some but a lot longer than most. I don't really think it's been getting worse, as there have always been unsavoury characters around (I shan't name names). What's interesting about this one is that, unlike Rabble or FreeDominion, there's no dominant idealology in place here: it's a free for all. As a result, you get trolls and assorted crazies from all persuasions dropping by. Some get banned, some lose interest, some ahng about. None are worth losing sleep over. Sometimes it can get a bit ugly, but generally things are decent and there are a number of intelligent and rational posters.

I'll vote for the party that supports some kind of electoral reform. That means the NDP. the current system is a sham and there's no sense trying to do anything else befor efixing the glaring lack of proper representation in this country.

You think living in "Lakeside Estates" or "Ye Olde Towneship" will make a difference? Please. Lamest. Defence. ever. I was referring to Edmonton, where both me and kimmy, live. Here in Alberta, some of the most productive farmland in the province, as well as pristine natural areas (lke the Little Mountain natural area), are being gobbled up by subdivisions.

That this comes at the end of a fact-free post is why this post is the runner up for today's Irony Award (aka "The Alanis").

You sure love those made-up terms, hey? "LLL", "neocoms", etc etc. But to the point: the very idea that the U.S. is interested in building a democracy in the Mid East is b.s. I doubt democratic reform in Saudi Arabia would require military force, the destruction of the country and the deaths of tens of thousands. Mor elike a phone call here, a few cheques withheld there... You're drooling, I can tell. Actually the number is 600,000 civilian executions, plus around 500,000 in the Iran-Iraq war. The vast majority of these occurred during a period when Saddam was a client of the U.S., particularly during the reign of Saint Ronnie. I know you love patting yourself on the...back, but there's only so many times one can read the same NewsMax bullshit before realizing the futility of dicussing it. The simple fact is the Bush adminsitration has shied away from making any strong claims as to an Iraq-Al Qaeda conection. They've flatly denied any link with Iraq and 9-11 and, at best, have painted a rough sketch that puts Al Qaeda members in Iraq, but have offered no dpcumentary evidence of a collaborative relationship. If such a relationship could be proven, then there's no doubt the Bushies would seize on it. The simple fact that the one group that would benefit the most from publicly pushing your ramblings has, for the past three years, declined to touch it with a ten-foot pole, leads to the conclusion that the "evidence" you've presented is nothing more than a paranoid conspiracy theory advanced by the Cult of George. Oh and the quote function is super-easy to master. Burn'd again.

I think there's a couple of ways to respond to this: first, there's nothing saying an apropriate amount of time needs to pass before politics coems into play. After all, the G.O.P was quick to use the tragedy of 9-11 to their advantage to push through their political agenda. Second, as 9-11 showed, there's only a small window of opportunity to demand accountability from this administration. It took two years for the administration to allow an investigation into 9-11, and even after that catastophic failure of the AMerican security apparatus, no one was fired and no one was held accountable. This is the "I didn't do it" administration: with people like these in charge, one needs to strike while the iron is hot if one wants any answers.

Who's "they"? Personally, I have never uttered the words "cheap oil", either for consumers or for oil companies. Cheap oil would mean low prices, low priceswould in turn mean lower profits for oil companies, profits which are the lifeblood of the U.S. (specifically: Republican) political machine. So I have no reason to believe cheap oil was ever a motivating factor. It's always been about controlling the oil, not the price, which is set on the world market. Here's a 2003 article from 2004. BUSH'S DEEP REASONS FOR WAR ON IRAQ: OIL, PETRODOLLARS, AND THE OPEC EURO QUESTION

delete'd

Wow, your cut and paste of your previous post sure is insightful! Anyway: again, the only person who has brought up "Canada's place in the world" is you. um...you started going on about Canadians ideas about its place in the world, which did not follow the previous line of discussion on Canada-U./S. relations. In other words: it was a non sequitur. Wow. You're just embarassaing yourself now. Rather than betraying your ignorance with personal attacks, why not read up on the subject and why the NAFTA rulings in Canada's favour are significant. My link simply showed that while Harper was extending his condolences,. Geroge Bush was playing cowboy on his vacation. Wow. While it's apparent that your political beliefs stem from your need for a big, strong daddy figure, this is not some game of schoolyard oneupmanship.

This from the resident water-carrier for the party of Dick "go fuck yourself" Cheney and George W. "major-league asshole" Bush. You mean the White House's cheif flak is joining in the ass-covering? Shocking? Uh...you have absolutely no evidence that "Farenheit 9-11" had any affect on the election. How about that federal state of emergency declaration, hey?

Hmm, well, I never said their plan worked, did I? No, like seemingly everything else they touch, the neocons scheme for setting up a U.S. oil colony in the heartof the Middel East seems to have turned to sh*t. The only thing greater than this administration's greed and arrogance is its incompetence.

I expected, based on this quote, that this was comingh from the Red Cross. But I wasn't that surprised to see he article is a interview with a FoxNews correspondent. Now, what's the Red Cross saying? Link A swing state in an election year with milions of dollars in federal "relief" funds subsequently being funneled to Republican districts untouched by the storms. You still haven't read Bush's declaration of a state of emergency or the DHS National Response Plan, have you? You know, since you've done nothing but blame the Democrats, my suggesstion would be to strike he term "politicizing" from your talking points. In other words: STFU. This from Mr. NewsMax himself.