WIP

Oh really! She doesn't like Christians! You mean ALL Christians? Marci MacDonald has identified specific groups of Christians that are driving the agenda of the Conservative Party, and Stephen Harper is going to great lengths to keep these people happy. What the right hopes, is that Canadians will ignore the U.S. example of how religious right groups have taken over the Republican Party and say nothing while the same fundamentalist fanatics take control of social policy, and even foreign policy (Israel for example).

Well, I read two of her books: Treason and Godless, and I can thank Ann Coulter for going so ridiculous, that her writing led me to become disillusioned with conservatism and the libertarian movement.....thanks Ann. Most of Treason is revisionist history...an attempt to rehabilitate American fascist - Joe McCarthy, and Godless was the most laughable piece of crap I ever read! Coulter even had to admit afterwards when she wasn't able to discuss the almost one third of Godless that was devoted to intelligent design, and an attempt to debunk evolution -- that Discovery Institute fellows: Michael Behe, David Berlinski, and William Dembski wrote most of the creationist part. Combine all the ghost writing with the fake source notes in the back of her books, and it's easy to dismiss her writing as fraudulent garbage. But, in Coulter's defense, nobody except crazy fans believe that Hannity, Limbaugh and O'Reilly actually write their books either!

Maybe their lives don't depend on it, but their jobs sure do! What I'd like to know is, if the radio broadcast business is just profit-driven, how the hell does a city like Hamilton have nothing but conservative hacks on the only two AM talk radio stations in town? The far right has shown that they are willing to support money-losing newspapers and magazines, as long as they print their propaganda -- same thing goes for radio.

Coulter is a fascist, no different than Limbaugh, Beck and O'Reilly. Some of their fringe nutcase fans bring their guns to tea party rallies, make death threats, and some of the most extreme fans have killed people because of the crap that these dispicable fascists spew forth.

Some day I'd like to know why the National Post is still in business! Somebody with deep pockets doesn't mind parting with their money, as long as they feel it is a worthwhile source of propaganda. Levant says there are dozens of errors, yet he cites only 7 in his review, most of which are disputable, such as Christian activist Faytene Kryskow alleged visit to Stockwell Day, or minor factual errors at best -- for example, it's supposed to be a big deal that Frank Klees was not an ordained Baptist Minister, even though he did study at a Baptist seminary...does that count as an error? Only to a nitpicker like Ezra Levant, who does not seem to want to take on much of the body of Marci MacDonald's book; all he wants is the headline: Ezra Levant: Marci McDonald's comedy of errors. And that's what it's all about -- the headline! The audience that Levant and the NP is trying to reach does not read much beyond headlines and never does fact-checking....similar to NP's screaming headline of a couple of years ago --: 31,000 scientists say there's no global warming, which would have been taken apart by anyone who read through the list of scientists and found less than a hundred were actual climatologists. But the 31,000 scientists headline was all that was intended for notice by an audience that finds climate change inconvenient. Same thing here! Marci MacDonald seems to be one of the few who is shining a light on the Conservative Party's decision to adopt the U.S. Republican strategy of making a political alliance with fundamentalists. And rather than provide a plausible answer as to why Stephen Harper would appoint a creationist chiropractor (Gary Goodyear) as science and technology minister for example, Ezra Levant just wants a headline piece claiming it's full of errors. On most issues U.S. Catholic leaders are part of the religious right ever since Jerry Falwell brought them into the "Moral Majority" which later turned into the Christian Coalition. It has been duly noted by leftwing U.S. Catholics that their bishops threaten liberal politicians like Patrick Kennedy with excommunication for supporting abortion access, while not saying a word about rightwing Republicans who cut public school funding and social programs for the poor, clearly placing the social justice issues on the backburner!

If you call yourself a radical leftist, you have staked a claim. I can't recall seeing anything that you would qualify you as a leftist, let alone a radical leftist. On Mid-East issues, it's one thing to always take the side of the Israeli Government, but you also look for anything and everything disparaging towards Arabs...Palestinians, Muslims etc. such as the way you have set up this story: "Where are the Tears? Where's the U.N. Investigation?" So what sort of answer are you looking for? The U.N. Secretary General condemned the attack, no word yet on a U.N. investigation, not that it would make a difference. It's not like no background information isn't available on this story. We know that Muslim extremists are the likely source of the suicide bombers, and we also know that many Pakistanis blame the U.S. war in Afghanistan and missile attacks in Northern provinces for fanning the flames of internal dissension within their own country: Angry worshippers surged through the streets outside, throwing rocks at police and attacking TV broadcast vans. Police fired shots in the air to calm the crowd. Ripples of outrage spread across the country. Hundreds of people rallied in Lahore today demanding the resignation of Punjab government officials. "This is a barbaric attack and should serve as a wake-up call," wrote Raza Rumi, a prominent Lahore blogger. "Data Saheb's shrine is not just another crowded place – it represents tolerant Sufi Islam, which is directly under attack by the puritans." Farahnaz Ispahani, spokeswoman for President Asif Ali Zardari, said: "This sickening poison of extremism will be driven out of our nation and we will not be cowed. Those who still pretend we are not a nation at war are complicit in these deaths." Who Pakistan is at war with, however, remains an open question. Angry protesters at the site of the bombing raised slogans against Israel, the US, the Taliban and the ultra-orthodox strain of Wahhabi Islam. Senior local officials also appeared to be confused. The Lahore commissioner, Khusro Pervaiz, blamed the attack on a "conspiracy in which locals are being used" – a euphemism often used to point the finger at neighbouring India. Other residents suggested the Ahmadi community – which has no history of organised violence – was taking revenge for the attacks on its mosques in May. The most likely perpetrators, however, come from within Punjab itself. A network of hardline madrasas scattered across the province, mostly in the southern belt, is home to thousands of religious extremists, many with links to jihadi outfits once fostered by military intelligence. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/02/suicide-bombers-kill-dozens-pakistan-shrine "America is killing Muslims in Afghanistan and in our tribal areas, and militants are attacking Pakistan to express anger against the government for supporting America," explained Zahid Umar, 25, a frequent visitor to the Lahore shrine. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100702/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

It's not just about those two, but how the rest of the media is covering the story. Notice that it's all about what McCrystal & Co. said about the Administration...what about what McCrystal said about the odds against winning the war! Why the hell isn't that getting any attention? And that means Hastings is the only thing resembling a real journalist in Afghanistan, since he's the only one who's told the rest of us the story!

Okay, I guess that's over...but since Paraguay went so far beyond expectations, she could at least run topless through the streets! The latest pics of her watching yesterday's game show that she decided to take advantage of her notoriety and do a little product placement on her left boob....the right one still appears to be free for advertising if she attends any future games.

Shrine Suicide Bombed - Where are the Tears? I'm curious how far the concern for Sufis extends among rightwingers! For example, the right wing agitpropagandists declared the building of a mosque near the WTC to be a victory for the terrorists, and some right wing bloggers and radio talk show hosts have called for it to be burned down by god-fearing patriotic americans.....ignoring the fact that the leader - Imam Rauf, is a Sufi cleric. The right still can't take its despotism straight, without washing it down with a little hypocrisy!

I want Paraguay! I don't know anything about soccer, but I want to have something to look forward to after Paraguay wins the World Cup! BTW I'm really glad Argentina is out. Half hour into the game, it's 0 - 0! Wake me up when it's over....no wonder I never watch soccer games.

It's already been noted above what an impact a girl like Lara Logan must have landing in the middle of a sausage fest in the Middle East, but her problems trying to decide who she wants to pick among the hundreds of guys hanging all over her, is not what I found objectionable. It's that she has turned out to be just like all of the other so-called investigative journalists who are only concerned about access, and have become so co-opted by the people they cover, that they are totally in the tank with the people they are supposed to be reporting about.

That shows that a meteorologist is not a climatologist! But what does Lou Dobbs know anyway....now there's a guy who did a disappearing act! This idiot says: we should be more concerned about ocean acidification than global warming!" Doesn't this clown realize that ocean acidification is also being caused by increasing carbon dioxide levels? Part of the misperceptions come from treating weather as local and unrelated to larger climate cycles. But even a weatherman should notice how many extreme, all time record-breaking storms have hit in the last few years. Storms that were predicted by climate modeling which forecast more extreme weather events as more energy was added to the weather systems. Extreme heat wave sets all-time high temperature records in Africa and Middle East A withering heat wave of unprecedented intensity and areal covered has smashed all-time high temperatures in five nations in the Middle East and Africa over the past week. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Chad, Kuwait, and Niger all set new records for their hottest temperatures of all time, and two other Middle East nations came within a degree of their hottest temperatures ever. The heat was the most intense in Kuwait, which recorded its hottest temperature in history on June 15 in Abdaly, according to information I received from the Kuwait Met office. The mercury hit 52.6°C (126.7°F). Kuwait's previous all-time hottest temperature was 51.9°C (125.4°F), on July 27,2007, at Abdaly. Temperatures reached 51°C (123.8°F) in the capital of Kuwait City on June 15, 2010. Iraq had its hottest day in history on June 14, 2010, when the mercury hit 52.0°C (125.6°F) in Basra. Iraq's previous record was 51.7°C (125.1°F) set August 8, 1937, in Ash Shu'aybah. It was also incredibly hot in Saudi Arabia, which had its hottest temperature ever on Tuesday (June 22): 52.0°C (125.6°F), measured in Jeddah, the second largest city in Saudi Arabia. The previous record was 51.7°C (125.1°F), at Abqaiq, date unknown. The record heat was accompanied by a sandstorm, which caused eight power plants to go offline, resulting in blackouts to several Saudi cities. In Africa, Chad had its hottest day in history on Tuesday (June 22), when the temperature reached 47.6°C (117.7°F) at Faya. The previous record was 47.4°C (117.3°F) at Faya on June 3 and June 9, 1961. Niger tied its record for hottest day in history on Tuesday (June 22), when the temperature reached 47.1°C (116.8°F) at Bilma. That record stood for just one day, as Bilma broke the record again on Wednesday (June 23), when the mercury topped out at 48.2°C (118.8°F). The previous record was 47.1°C on May 24, 1998, also at Bilma. Two other countries came within a degree of their all time hottest temperature on record during the heat wave. Bahrain had its hottest June temperature ever, 46.9°C, on June 20, missing the all-time record of 47.5°C (117.5°F), set July 14, 2000. Temperatures in Quatar reached 48.8°C (119.8°F) on June 20. Quatar's all-time record hottest temperature was 49.6°C (121.3°F) set on July 9, 2000. According to Essa Ramadan, a Kuwaiti meteorologist from Civil Aviation, Matrabah, Kuwait smashed this record and had Asia's hottest temperature in history on June 15 this year, when the mercury hit 54.0°C (129.2°F). However, data from this station is notoriously bad, and each year bogus record highs have to be corrected, according to an email I received from weather record researcher Maximiliano Herrera. Asia's hottest temperature in history will very likely remain the 53.5°C (128.3°F) recorded at MohenjuDaro, Pakistan on May 26 this year. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1516 Every time some idiot finds a record cold temperature, they think it disproves global warming....even though record highs outnumber record colds two to one Both can be explained as the expected results of more energy creating more extreme variations in the weather. And deniers should take a look at what's happening in the rest of the world. Here in Canada, we've actually been pretty lucky compared to most of the world. In Africa and Asia, they have been hitting all-time record breaking high temperatures, which is why the concept of climate reparations has to be taken seriously. Rightwingers want to paint the concept of making those who are wrecking the climate pay for the damage to the most affected areas in the tropics as a welfare money-grab or something. But, the impoverished in Africa are in a similar situation as people who live in slum neighbourhoods next to a factory smokestack.

We went through this in the recession debates, no sense derailing this thread to argue economics, but I want to say that previously you focused on one cause only, even though there are many other variables in an economic system. And in the long run, I don't think economics should be considered even a quasi-science. Economists are no better than stock analysts at predicting future trends, yet they have reams of excuses every time the system blows up. And your capacity to blame the Bush Recession on government choices, and completely excuse unregulated banks and new derivative markets is a prime example. That's conservative ethos in a nutshell! Social programs are unnecessary, wasteful, needless overspending! But you military guys and contractors...just help yourselves to all the gold bars you want! No "pay as you go" when it comes to spending on stuff that blows shit up! Nevertheless, whether it builds guns, tanks, airplanes, or roads and bridges that can actually provide a permanent use, it is still money spent that had been borrowed by bankrupt governments going further in the red....and it provided an economic growth stimulus which ever way you slice it. And maybe we can put restrictions on impulse advertising targeted at children and teenagers! Kids get free credit cards in the mail before they've payed off their college loans, and then they are in debt for life. .Which could have been achieved if consumption didn't start increasing faster than production. No, you don't get the point that the valid comparison becomes brain size to body mass. In a very large animal, such as an elephant, much of the added brain size is needed to manage the functions of a larger body. The only caution I would put on primate brain size (including ours) is that our brain's are constructed in three major component systems that began with a reptilian brain, old mammalian brain, and the large higher cortex level. Our three level brain could be a lot more efficient if evolution had replaced all of the older systems, rather than cobbling them together with existing parts. I just wanted to mention this because African grey parrots are probably very close to primates in intelligence despite having much smaller brain sizes. The parrot's brain is a more efficient unitary system than our own, and the only complete analysis of a parrot was done by a Dr. Irene Pepperberg on her grey parrot - Alex, and a lot more futher study needs to be done to discover the parrot's full potential. Now, back to your ant example: an ant's brain is just too damn small to provide the range of connections that would be needed for high level cognitive function. Although Alex the African Grey Parrot does show that the human brain could be scaled down greatly in size if it had a similar design. The problem is that our brain's are so complex and poorly understood, it would take decades and probably centuries to map it out, before making any kind of changes to brain design. It is something that humans are not very good at! Although our circle of concern has expanded since hunter/gatherer days, when everyone outside of the family tribe was an enemy and could be dispatched without a care. Religion and political institutions have expanded our consideration of people that we have no direct connections with, but expanding the circle of concern to everyone....and I mean beyond the rhetorical statements of some religious claims....that may come in time, but the reactionary forces fighting selfishly for maintaining their own, or their group's best interests are trying to disparage any semblance of a global ethic. Whether they call themselves conservatives or libertarians, the message preached from the political right and the religious right is that universalism is against their religion or national interests. If that's how a majority, or even a significant minority of the population view universalism, then we can say goodbye to the human race in a few centuries.

There is a lot of money to be made working on behalf of oil and other energy companies. Climatologists who are doing real research on global warming all have to chase the same dollars from government and a few institutional trust funds. The climate deniers have access to a web of research grants; direct payments for books, news articles and speaking fees; and backdoor funding intended for the purpose of confusing the public about climate: http://www.desmogblog.com/oily-echo-machine-behind-climategate Desmog Blog does a partial analysis, but money originating from energy companies can pass through two, three, or four hands, before it arrives at the door of the dissident climate "scientist," politician, or media talking head who promotes messages that deny global warming....say it's from natural causes....or even that it's real, but it will cost more than it's worth to switch to a green economy.....whatever it takes, Exxon, BP and Chevron, and the gas and coal companies also BTW, will pay for it as long as the talking head at the end of the money trail keeps spreading the confusing messages that they want out there. Almost forgot! The Koch Family, owners of Koch Industries, has them all beat: Koch Industries Bleeding Edge Blog How many others are out there that have managed to keep the funding trail hidden until now?

Okay, now I get it, your beef is with John Maynard Keynes then! The believers in "let the market decide" can't seem to deal with the fact that a capitalist economy on a downward spiral, keeps spiraling downward through deflation and economic contraction, and cannot just get out of it by itself. Herbert Hoover tried the modern libertarian/conservative solution....it didn't work. FDR tried a number of stimulus programs that received the same complaints of Obama's; but like the recent stimulus, it was too small and too short term to bring the nation permanently out of the Depression. For some reason I cannot fathom, the disciples of Milton Friedman, who claim that FDR's stimulus programs didn't work, fail to note that FDR solved the problems of the Depression with the ultimate giant government stimulus spending program....WWII. Yes, it attempts to sell and advertise, and sometimes its best efforts fail to find a market, but many times the psychologists who guide the best impulse advertising create demand for dubious products...especially in the marketing directed at children and teenagers! Back in the 1940's, an economist predicted that by 1980, most Americans would be working a 20 hour work week. What he failed to factor in, was that more and more products would be added to the list of consumer wants...some good, some questionable...but the consumption-driven economy demands more and more products and services, and continued economic growth, or it starts to go the other way and implode. Yes, it does! Mind is a creation of brain function...the less brain activity, the less of a mind you end up with. And there is not much room in an ant's head for a brain. But if an ant colony is considered as an organism, as some entomologists advise, then they do some very smart things -- such as agriculture, animal husbandry, warfare and even slavery. But no, dinosaurs generally had small brains, especially considering brain size to body weight. Well, there are some people who believe that "Degrowth" is possible. I'm not sure if we are wired to behave this altruistically. It will take a major leap in consciousness, but if we cannot reduce our environmental impact caused by both our population size, and our rampant use of natural resources, extinction is the only likely alternative. Libertarian ethics and economics considers any form of collective thinking and restrictions to be abhorrent, so I'm not surprised that they went all gangbusters as soon as the global warming issue became a concern 20 years ago!

I just posted enough articles to show that private property cannot be sold to "anyone" to bother with a response. The Palestinians react violently over a lot of things, so I don't find it at all surprising that they would threaten death to anyone who sells their property to Jews. Remember, once a Jew has purchased Arab land, it remains Jewish forever. It comes under the authority of the Israel Land Administration, and cannot be sold back to Arabs ever again.

I heard recently that Al Gore was supposed to have a meeting with Obama and some key members of Congress to get moving again on a climate bill. I noticed in a google search that over 1500 articles on Al Gore, are about his divorce and these sex charges that were released to the public....essentially pushing the important issues of the public stage. It's not like it's the first time we've seen this happen. Elliot Spitzer's excort agency records came out at the time he was demanding the SEC investigate Wall Street investment banks, and let's not forget that former U.N. arms inspector - Scott Ritter's online chats with underage teenage girls swept him off the stage at a time when he was seriously challenging the Bush Administration's evidence for WMD's in Iraq. They were getting all set for the Invasion, and Ritter was getting too much media attention challenging the wisdom of going to war. In both Spitzer and Ritter's cases, the criminal cases disappeared after they left the public arena....that is especially suspicious in Ritter's case, because the potential charges of attempting to procur sex from minors could have landed him in prison for a long stay! My suspicions are that they told him as long as he shut up until they got their war underway, he didn't have to worry about jail time. We learned a long time ago, after J. Edgar Hoover's death, that the FBI had files of incriminating information on just about everyone who was famous at the time. Almost every politician, celebrity, and everyone who was rich and famous had something to hide....and something that Hoover could blackmail them with! Information was collected and kept for opportune moments to spring it on the public. And Al Gore may be the latest example of skeletons being let out of the closet to take them out of the game.

It is unfortunate that discoveries made in brain function are almost completely ignored by mainstream media...which has almost totally scrapped any science news coverage; but the nature/nurture debate is pretty much resolved by the people who study the brain and how the brain creates mind. In a nutshell nature and nurture are intrinsically linked and cannot be separated. Even in the womb, a fetus does not develop according to a set program of genetic codes, but instead, genes are expressed or activated depending on environmental pressures. This happens in how the body develops, including the brain. Back when Philip Rushton and the writers of the "Bell Curve" created the last major flap on whether people's intelligence is based on nature vs. nurture, they were about the last in a series of serious scientific researchers who were arguing that genes are destiny. Now we know that a baby could have Einstein potential and be denied if the growing embryo and fetus is constantly bombarded by stress hormones from the mother, or the mother has poor diet and/or substance abuse problems. Even after birth, the baby's brain continues to grow and specialize, and connect a range of neurons via dendrite nerve bundles. The child's intelligence is going to be skewed by diet, availability of good schools, and how mother and father, and other siblings interact, especially how much they value reading and education. And there are likely a load of other factors I can't think of at the moment -- point being that the environment will determine how that genetic potential develops right through childhood and adolescence. Before I forget, I should note that there are many different categories of intelligence; and the ones we especially value: math and language skills are not the end all and be all on the subject. It's worth mentioning that Einstein himself was likely at least somewhat autistic and considered mentally deficient until early adulthood, when his unique mind was able to put his extraordinary problem-solving skills to good use. Now, when it comes to evil; it is likely that what we perceive as evil -- a person who is psychopathic or sociopathic, is described by some neuroscientists as someone with low "emotional intelligence." Briefly, brain scans of most men reveal the presence of what's been dubbed "the Warrior Gene" -- MAOA gene (it is also common in women BTW), which is correlated highly with aggression. Can Your Genes Make You Murder? They've tested some 30 criminal defendants, most of whom were charged with murder. They were looking for a particular variant of the MAO-A gene — also known as the warrior gene because it has been associated with violence. Bernet says they found that Waldroup has the high-risk version of the gene. "His genetic makeup, combined with his history of child abuse, together created a vulnerability that he would be a violent adult," Bernet explains. Over the fierce opposition of prosecutors, the judge allowed Bernet to testify in court that these two factors help explain why Waldroup snapped that murderous night. "We didn't say these things made him become violent, but they certainly constituted a risk factor or a vulnerability," Bernet says. Bernet cited scientific studies over the past decade that found that the combination of the high-risk gene and child abuse increases one's chances of being convicted of a violent offense by more than 400 percent. He notes that other studies have not found a connection between the MAO-A gene and violence — but he told the jury that he felt the genes and childhood abuse were a dangerous cocktail. "A person doesn't choose to have this particular gene or this particular genetic makeup," Bernet says. "A person doesn't choose to be abused as a child. So I think that should be taken into consideration when we're talking about criminal responsibility." The brain scans have shown that the amygdala and cingulate cortex regions of the brain, which are involved in the perception and regulation of emotion, were significantly smaller in men and women with the L variant. -- A brain primed for violence? The significance is that the amygdala is responsible for the production of most our neurochemicals associated with emotions, and stores long term memories based on emotional content; and the cingulate cortex, which is responsible for many functions such as error detection, conflict resolution and volition -- that are considered key components of conscious experience. If these regions are underdeveloped, it could explain both, the extreme level of stimulation to achieve a reward, and the lack of concern for consequences of an action. Psychopaths' Brains Wired to Seek Rewards, No Matter the Consequences "Psychopaths are often thought of as cold-blooded criminals who take what they want without thinking about consequences," Joshua Buckholtz, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology and lead author of the new study, said. "We found that a hyper-reactive dopamine reward system may be the foundation for some of the most problematic behaviors associated with psychopathy, such as violent crime, recidivism and substance abuse." Okay, now that we've figured out a lot about the reasons for people who are violent and evil, we end up with physical determinants that have largely made them what they are. The NPR story notes that a judicial system can't function if no one is responsible for their crimes. The dilemma for the court that tried Bradley Waldroup was whether evidence from brain scans presented by his defense could absolve him of responsibility for his crimes. The court ruled that it did not, and he received a death sentence, which is under appeal. An appeal may make note of the fact that persons who are considered too intellectually mentally deficient to comprehend the consequences of their actions, cannot be given the death penalty; but does Waldroup's lack of "emotional intelligence" qualify as making him too mentally impaired to comprehend his crimes? The big problem is that our whole criminal justice system is built upon an antiquated premise of Free Will -- except for the insane and mentally retarded, it is presumed that everyone else has complete contra-causal free will to act in a given situation. But this whole free will concept that is wrapped in the old way of thinking -- that our minds are separate and able to act independently to direct our bodies, is something that has been undone by modern discoveries about how the brain creates mind. Our whole system of ethics, especially judicial ethics needs to get up to speed. But, the general public needs to know about this also. Not everyone with the L variant, or the A variant, becomes a criminal BTW, but it should be noted that these people who need high levels of excitement, and are relatively uninhibited by concern over consequences, often find themselves going to extremes seeking a rush. They are attracted to the most dangerous hobbies...and the most dangerous jobs. It's worth considering that many of the elite super soldiers who volunteer for the most intense and dangerous duties would likely show the same traits as the psychopathic criminal. Take them out of the war zone and bring them home to suburbia, and you better start worrying about how they will settle back into civilian life. And our modern ethos of eternal war that has returned to lionizing the warrior, is creating a climate to reward the most dangerous men in society.

Remember kids....if Al Gore did have sex outside of his marriage, that means global warming isn't true!

Back 30 or 40 years ago, we assumed that we would already have colonies in space and on the Moon by now, and would have already had manned missions to Mars. Back in 1975, I bought a book by a NASA engineer named Gerard O'Neil, which presented rough outlines of how to build giant space colonies supporting about 10,000 people, in the L5 zone where the Sun, Earth, and Moon's gravities cancel each other out. The colony construction was proposed with technologies that existed at the time, mostly using lunar materials to build them....and of course nothing happened, and the whole space program has been virtually dormant since then. Certainly part of the problem has been that the challenges of living in space have been discovered to be greater than originally envisioned. Even creating a self-sufficient biosphere appears to be a dilemma after the failure of the Biosphere 2 experiments, where the large closed system failed each time after a few weeks for reasons that are still unknown. O'Neil likely thought a giant greenhouse with soil, water and a few plants and animals would just work together. The failure of Biosphere 2 underlined how complex and intricate our planet's biosphere is, and why we shouldn't take it for granted.

Where did I mention government in my piece? It's not just governments that promote the notion that continued economic growth is a necessity; it's mainly the private sector that promotes over-consumption through sophisticated marketing campaigns that get people to spend money impulsively on things they didn't realize they needed. Ultimately, the problem boils down to expectations that populations and economies should keep growing year after year, while the planet we live on is finite in size. And that has nothing to do with my question of how we are going to cope with the sharp increases in demand by developing nations like China, India, Brazil and Russia, which are trying to achieve Western standards of consumption....and again that's why some resource experts estimated that it would take three planet earths to supply the needs of seven billion people living an American lifestyle. Well, shrinking us down to the size of ants would certainly be a creative solution to the growing human bio-mass problem....if it was possible! But how big a brain would a human the size of ant have? I know end of time predictions have been made in every generation by religious zealots, but it's only been in the last hundred years that we've developed the capacity to cause our own extinction. Right now it looks like we are getting close to the limits of growth, and to be sustainable for more than a couple of centuries, the population will have to decline substantially from present levels. I've heard more than a few environmental policy advocates say that environmentalists have to be careful about messaging, and worry that dumping too much negative information out there will cause people to back away from environmental issues and give up on it -- and that could be why they almost always focus on near term problems that may occur in the next 20 years....the prospects of looking further into the future if we stay on the present course are just too bleak to want to inform the public about.

She certainly matches any of the Foxnews bimbos, especially the overrated Megyn Kelly! That's not the point! The question is why aren't the major news networks and the national newspapers doing their job, and reporting the news instead of working for the people they are covering? Lara Logan typifies the new journalism -- which is so concerned with having a beer with Hillary Clinton in a bar in Scranton, Pennsylvania that they can't ask the hard questions for fear of losing access. And that's what Lara is really pissed about! She, and other MSM journalists who've jumped all over Rolling Stone, are only worried that the sources will keep them at a distance also....even though they only write propaganda puff pieces on behalf of the people they cover. Yeah, that's what Joe Burkett's soon to be ex-wife says also! But her divorce filing named Lara Logan as the other woman, and to make things interesting, Burkett seems to have gotten into a fight with CNN's Michael Ware over in Baghdad...who was also dating her. Can't say I blame them though! http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/65056

The players from the small, landlocked South American nation of Paraguay now have extra motivation to bring home the World Cup -- WORLD CUP 2010: Lingerie model Larissa Riquelme promises home strip with a difference if Paraguay lift the trophy First Diego Maradona promised to run naked around the streets of Buenos Aires if he led Argentina to glory at the World Cup. Now Paraguay's most famous fan has vowed to meet the pledge if Roque Santa Cruz and Co can defy the odds and lift the trophy on July 11. The difference is that Paraguay's cheerleader is lingerie model Larissa Riquelme, who has delighted photographers already this summer by joining the crowds in Asuncion to watch her country's matches. The 24-year-old has been pictured celebrating with her mobile phone safely between her breasts, and has joked she would like to replace it with the World Cup. And asked if she would match Maradona's indecent promise, she told Globoesporte: 'Of course, but with my body painted with the colors of Paraguay.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2010/article-1290583/WORLD-CUP-2010-Model-Larissa-Riquelme-promises-home-strip-difference-Paraguay-triumph.html#ixzz0sVG6rfAf I can't help wondering if even Argentinians, especially in Buenos Aires are hoping their team loses! If Paraguay makes the finals, I hope they have a cutaway to the capital city - Asuncion where Riquelme is getting painted up for her run through the streets.....only question is, where will she put her cell phone?

Did you even read that article? Probably not! The crucial point is that unlike most countries which make no distinction between citizenship and nationality, Israel does! Arabs can be Israeli citizens, but they still remain Arab nationals, and as such are not entitled to arrangements for land purchase that are available to Jews. Here, the Wikipedia page explains the basic setup of the Israel Land Administration: The Israel Land Administration (ILA), (Hebrew: מנהל מקרקעי ישראל‎; Arabic: مديرية أراضي اسرائيل‎) is part of the government of Israel responsible for managing the 93% of the land in Israel which is in the public domain. These lands are either property of the state, belong to the Jewish National Fund(JNF) which controls 13% of the land.[1], or belong to the Israel Development Authority. Land can't be sold to foreign nationals, and Israeli Arabs are also effectively prevented from owning: "Since the foundation of the state, the Israel Lands Administration is solely used as Jewish land administration. The director of the Israel Lands Administration has used all the tactics, with the help of the Jewish Agency, to allocate state land only to Jews. Despite the bitter attempt over the decades, not even one Arab town has been established since the state's foundation. Therefore a bill must be passed which stipulates that the Israel Lands Administration will serve all the state's citizens without discrimination on religion or nationality, and will promise an equal allocation of land to better the Arab population of Israel." http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-rejects-bill-allocating-equal-land-to-jews-and-arabs-1.260703 I didn't even know what you were referring to until I looked up this flap about Libby Davies answering an impromptu interviewer with a comment that the Occupation began in 1948. And even though she is on record supporting Israel's right to exist and the NDP's support of the two state policy, Spineless Jack tossed her overboard to get back on the good side of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Well, Lara Logan sure looks a whole lot nicer than Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite. The problem is that if I want to find out what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, I don't care if I'm watching a former swimsuit model...who even looks good in a helmet and flak jacket I might add...I just want to know what's going on over there!...and then I'll look at her picsafterward! But here's the little homewrecker going after the Rolling Stone's Michael Hastings for publishing Gen. McCrystal's (and other staff members) candid remarks about the situation in Afghanistan and opinions on the civilian administrators that he has to answer to: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/06/27/cbss-logan-zings-hastings-he-s-never-served-his-country-way-mcchrystal- http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6609822n&tag=mncol;lst;2 My question is why isn't Lara or any other MSM mouthpiece asking the generals and the President why this war makes sense, and pressing them about that illusory July 2011 deadline! Think of all of the questions Lara could have asked McCrystal, instead of getting all chummy with him over in Kabul...like what was his involvement in the policy to allow torture of suspected Taliban prisoners? Or what was his role in the cover up of Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire? Nevermind his MacArthur complex that allowed him to shoot off his mouth like a foreign potentate. Logan clearly sees herself as an adjunct member of the Administration and the U.S. Military, rather than providing critical analysis -- which is what journalists are supposed to do! The real journalists today are on the staff of the Rolling Stone or starting whistleblower sites like Wikileaks....speaking of which, the founder of Wikileaks is on the run for exposing a video of U.S. troops executing civilians, including an Iraqi journalist. No charges against the soldiers for committing execution-style slayings; they just want the guy who exposed them to the world! And a compliant, embedded media that doesn't even attempt to separate itself from the people they are supposed to be reporting on, is a key reason why these wars are dragging on, and in this high tech age, we know less about what is going on there than we did during the Vietnam War!