WIP

Here's the fact you're avoiding: the average individual has a limited range of choices when living in a society. The real issue is whether or not we are going to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. If you're campaigning for the continued subsidizing of tar sands developments instead of renewable energy sources, then you can't undo the damage by reducing your own carbon footprint.

Because many nations in the Global South have large coastal areas that will be subject to flooding from rising sea levels. A 3 foot rise in sea level will inundate 40% of Bangladesh, an already overcrowded nation lacking the infrastructure needed to adapt to this sort of catastrophe. Also, the South has already been experiencing greater impacts of the droughts and floods that had long been predicted to come along with the increased amount of energy and moisture in the atmosphere. We are only starting to notice that our weather is becoming more volatile than usual. The effects nearer the Equator have been more pronounced. I came across another example of this last week, while checking the Weather Underground website. One of the big stories, was the catastrophic flooding in southern Thailand caused by an unbelievable downpour of 40 inches of rain in one day, that averaged 2 inches of rain falling per hour at times. The accompanying news reports said at least 17 people died, and about 850,000 were affected by the flood. Thailand is more prosperous and developed than many third world nations, but in the modern age of burning fossil fuels, the overall trend has been that most of the negative external costs of burning coal and oil, have been to burden the poorest nations that have contributed the least to the increase in manmade greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

I think we are experiencing something similar to the U.S.; where rural and suburban voters have more political power than the people who are living in cities. One of the most telling statistics on U.S. state by state demographics is that it is actually the red, religious right, pro-business, Republican-supporting states that take more from the Federal system than they pay in federal taxes; while the liberal, Democrat, blue states are the ones who pay more in taxes than what they get back in services! The best thing that could happen to America's economic and political situation is if Rick Perry and his tea party clown posse were serious about seceding from the U.S.A. and becoming a republic again@ But, I'm fine with energy subsidies for people living in the North, but I can't accept this being used as an excuse for becoming a petro-state.

What about the super-madoffs on Wall Street? After all of the billions of dollars that have been pilfered in bailouts for personal use, there still are no charges against the creators of derivative pyramid schemes, or charges against financial institutions that have foreclosed on homes and evicted owners, without even having proof of clear, legal title to the properties in question! The only reason Madoff is the only one sitting in a prison cell right now is because he ripped off some people with financial and political power, instead of just average home-owners.

Layton knows that a lot of people who are concerned about the environment don't want any more expansions of the tar sands industry, but instead want them phased out. He lost a lot of credibility during the last election for his attack on the Liberal's carbon tax proposal. If the NDP has finally calculated that losing whatever votes their are in favour of burning the dirtiest, most toxic sources of petroleum have to be sacrificed in favour of being on the right side of the environment debate, then there's still hope for the NDP! For what it's worth, how do all of you pro-pollution advocates justify subsidizing the petrochemical industries with our tax dollars, as opposed to using them to support clean and renewable energy sources?

Personally, I don't really care for the "atheism is my belief" but "agnosticism is my statement based on knowledge" definition. For one thing, I am really skeptical about whether such a thing as a metaphysical absolute knowledge claim can be made, considering the weaknesses of human cognition and perception. I would prefer ranking beliefs on a scale of likelihood; alot of which would be determined by the general acceptance of the claim. Also, some people really aren't sure what to believe about the existence of a higher power, and consider the atheist/agnostics to be encroaching on their description of their personal beliefs. I read some time ago that the creator of the term "agnostic" was Thomas Huxley; and he coined the term at a time when there were at least a few atheists in intellectual circles, but didn't consider himself one of them, and wanted a better descriptive term for his uncertainty.

Well, at some point, we're going to have to think seriously about whether we are a nation of laws, or just a mob ruled by the most powerful interests....as the United States as transitioned to in the last few decades! A lot of these treaties were signed before Canada was an independent nation, and the land was empty and undeveloped. Some deal has to be made to settle land claims, and if Canadians just as ignorant about their national history as Americans are of their history, decide to go with the thinking of some Conservative candidates and just tear up and void all of the agreements and Indian and Northern Affairs department.

I think this thread should be retitled: CREATION The topic that creationists just won't let go of.

Could be! Or it just might be another example of paredolia...our tendency to see faces in vague, or random objects. These mistakes are likely caused because of an area in the brain that is tasked with facial recognition: ventral fusiform cortex.

Yes! And I hear they are very popular with farmers and ranchers in the areas where the oil companies plan to build more of them: Armed sheriffs guard Alberta upgrader hearing Well, I reduced my carbon footprint by moving close enough to work to not need to drive to work...and get rid of the 2nd car. Most Canadians live in cities, just like I do, so cut the bullshit Paul Bunyon!

And it doesn't bother you in the least that only a small percentage of the world's population has benefited economically from dumping carbon into the atmosphere, while the nations with the smallest carbon footprints are in or near the tropics....and the ones who are facing the greatest impact from a changing climate. Besides, the days of cheap energy are gone, and so will be this globalized capitalist system of producing in one location and shipping all over the world.

Were there any Muslims rioting in America? And if there were no Americans serving in Afghanistan, would it have even made the news that 7 UN staff members were killed by a mob in Afghanistan? The only reason why this is even a news event is because U.S. troops have been put in greater danger, and the unrealistic mission of nation-building in Afghanistan is now clearly a futile effort. And many Canadians are not concerned about U.S. conservatives sudden newfound embrace of freedom of speech, but the danger it places our soldiers in as well.

No, you are backpedaling because you didn't check into what your anti-Dawkins source had to say or why he was mad at Dawkins. And there are attacks and even witch-burnings going on in Africa, many of which are conducted by evangelical churches with association with American churches; so this is not a hypothetical. Your Bible says "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," and just because Christians i the West have become secularized and resist carrying out Biblical law, there are other places in the world taking fundamentalist logic seriously. This is the fallout of people believing that we live in a magical world full of spirit forces. There have been hundreds of tests for psychokenesis, and they've all turned up empty of proof of mentally being able to move objects. Past negative test results should have an influence for how seriously we take claims now. So, we can rule out the existence of any real psychic phenomena until some actual proof is presented that passes scientific testing.

I think it would be a good idea for most women to learn some martial arts for self defense; but if there are some who think that cardio kickboxing classes are going to teach anything useful, that's a bad thing, since they could have an unreasonable sense of overconfidence. Maybe UFC apparel is replacing the WWE crap! I could never figure out what was supposed to be macho about wearing a Steve Austin t-shirt. See, I'm not saying your wrong...my point is that if the UFC values money and impressing the crowd more than allowing an open fight within the limitations of UFC rules and gear, then it won't seem legitimate to fans who don't want MMA turned into kickboxing. So that's why I never noticed a page or a tab for rankings whenever I went on UFC's website. I'm surprised they don't have a formal ranking system; I would have though this would have been essential when UFC went from being a round-robin tournament to individual matches. No wonder the arguments over fighters gets so nasty. This is also something that touches on one of the biggest beefs about the way the UFC is operated. For all of the corruption that goes on in boxing, there's no one in control of the whole entire sport. There are likely too many sanctioning organizations, but one thing that boxers have that UFC fighters don't, is the capacity to act independently. The sanctioning bodies may demand that a champion fight certain contenders or risk losing the belt, but in the UFC, everybody fights who Dana White says they have to fight. The operation is more similar to the WWE than to boxing. And if they put more emphasis on entertainment than sport, the UFC will be almost identical to the WWE. As you can see, I watch some of the fights, but have never bothered to keep track of the play by play. Obviously Jake Shields is really going to be hyped now that he's in the main event against GSP....so we'll see just how good he really is! I'm sure Dana White wants someone else as welterweight champion. When SPIKE has rebroadcast some of the older pay-per-view events, they've skipped over GSP's matches. I was just checking Youtube and came up with one where Shayna Baszler got rocked by Cyborg. Early on it appeared that Shayna had Cyborg caught in a knee bar, but couldn't hold on to it. It didn't look like a good position to go for a knee bar, especially early in the match. I don't know how many weight divisions they have in women's MMA, but I think that one I saw who was an impressive grappler was who, obviously fights only in Japan, because all of her videos are in Japanese. This one was apparently a title fight against a stronger opponent. It seems that her jiu jitsu is so good, that she is able to control most of her opponents without having any advantage in upper body strength.

For Republican candidates, the road to the Whitehouse passes through FoxNews. Rand must have been pissed over feeling ignored or not getting as much attention as some of the other Republicans.

From what I've read, ethical issues are always going to end up with some messy compromises. There are no perfect rules, so the worst ethical systems are those that demand perfect adherence to rules. Utilitarians can run into trouble if principles evaluating the "greater good" are taken to logical extremes, but at least these systems are getting feedback from actual results.

Well, the only way nonbelievers have for evaluating God and whether belief in God is a good thing, is through the conduct of those who profess to believe in God. Some people who are God-centered do great things, but there are so many who use their religious beliefs to justify greed, revenge, hatred, and persecution, I'm not sure how it would all balance out.

I have a friend who's putting in a geothermal system now. From what I understand, you need a significant amount of land to set up the system, and unfortunately I'm in an old city neighbourhood with a small lot.

It's a little misleading to point to Canada's carbon footprint without considering that our population is less than .5% of the number of people in the world. Ofcourse it's also misleading to keep referring to this crap as "oil sands." This is a result of oil company propaganda that keeps trying to control messaging in the media. It's not oil, and not even close to oil. It's low grad bitumen, close enough to tar to be used for paving roads....which was the only use for it back when Alberta still had significant oil reserves.

It looks like a strategy of trying to give an impression that there is a Green Policy....but I guess it's better than nothing! If Ignatieff was really serious about the Green Shift, he wouldn't have punted it away two years ago. The problem is that few, if any politicians have any real core values when it comes to issues. Every issue is a matter of weighing the cost of keeping the promise vs. the number of votes it will pick up. So, to get any politician to get serious about the environment, there has to be a groundswell of support...and one that is significant enough to counter the groundswell of money from the energy companies....before there is a chance of it becoming policy.

I know, it's legal to do it, just like offensive cartoons, but does that make it right to do it? For what it's worth, I canceled my membership at Center For Inquiry when they decided to join in on the "Blasphemy Days" celebrations. I don't believe in any gods, but I also don't agree with deliberately trying to be offensive for no reason. So, I make no distinction between offensive pictures of Jesus or Muhammed. Our culture becomes more coarse and vulgar over time, and the fact that being offensive and outrageous provides 15 minutes of fame is a large part of the reason. It's not a matter of defending, it's a matter of making an attempt to understand how other people think and see the world around them. Even if you regard them as enemies to be destroyed, Sun Tzu said centuries ago that you must first know your enemy. The problem with America is that successive governments have used the military to enforce their commercial empire, while being totally oblivious to the differences. Thirty years ago, during the arms-for-hostages deal that Reagan was putting together, he had his NSC staffers present a Bible and a chocolate cake to Khomeini....can't get much dumber than that, and successive invasions and occupations have shown the same ignorance of likely consequences....Rummies "they'll welcome us as liberators" being another one on the highlight reel. This could be a matter of reaching a tipping point. There were riots after 7 boys were killed out gathering firewood, but just because they didn't gather a large enough mob together to invade a UN compound, you seem to think that they were okay with it. Previous riots didn't have the organizing capabilities of these mullahs mentioned in the story...so there's your Muslim connection. But, if it was possible to interview participants in the mob violence, their personal reasons for being there would have more to do with the Occupation and the Afghan puppet government than with religious sacrilege. How many have flown under the radar and gone unpunished? Recall all of the outrage over the wikileaks video that was released last year. As far as I know, no one has been prosecuted, and the only legal action has been against the one who leaked the information and the one who made it available for everyone to see. Just like the prisoner-abuse stories that started after a few pics were emailed to the wrong people...it wasn't the only time it happened, and later wikileaks cables revealed that they were following orders from their superiors....who went unpunished!

They've got American soldiers patrolling their streets in armored vehicles, they get searched when they get to a checkpoint, homes are searched, bombs are dropped from American drones flying overhead, but for some reason you don't think they know who Americans are or connect the Occupation with the story of the Quran burning! And this is a problem for us to worry about also, because our present government is stupid enough to just march lock-step with U.S. foreign policy...so, if the next mob goes on a rampage looking for Americans, Canadian soldiers could be just as easily targeted.

Racist bastard! They would have been better off without the meddling of evangelists fomenting hysteria and telling them all they have to do to get rich is to pray for money: African churches denounce children as ‘witches’ Pastors accuse thousands of children, leading to torture or death American connections to African witchhunts January 10, 2011 Exporting Fundamentalist Christianity to Ghana Terrorism is asymmetrical warfare perpetrated by combatants who do not have large armies with the latest military technology. Right now, the U.S. faces a greater terrorist threat from right wing extremist groups and militias, most of which are populated with self-proclaimed Christians. They just go after different targets than the foreign terrorists. The Iraq War veteran who designed and built the backpack bomb that failed to go off during the MLK Day march in Seattle is every bit as much a terrorist as someone from Al Qaeda. But I guess that's okay with you because his intended victims were blacks and liberals who joined the march. But the most dangerous Christian threat is not from the Christian Identity Movement, but are the Christian dominionists, who are already on the side of money and power across the border, mostly in the Republican Party, and are trying to further entrench themselves and turn the U.S. Army into a Christian army. The Rise of Evangelical Associations in the Military Organizations like the Officers Christian Fellowship (OFC), The Military Ministry of the Campus Crusade for Christ, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), and the Christian Military Fellowship (CMF) encourage soldiers to proselytize as their primary mission in the military. A representative mission statement is at the official OFC website. OCF states, "Our purpose is to glorify God by uniting Christian officers for biblical fellowship and outreach, equipping and encouraging them to minister effectively in the military society." * They intend to transform the "entire military society" into one that is a "community of believers with a passion for [a Christian] God and compassion for the entire military society." * They also "call on Christian officers to integrate biblical standards of excellence into their professional responsibilities." * They think that "local or ship-based chapel activities offer prime venues for Christ-centered outreach and service to a military community. OCF acknowledges the chaplain's responsibility for and authority in local Command Religious Programs. Thus, we support chapel-sponsored and workplace ministry activities through prayer, encouragement, and participation. By cooperating with and assisting chaplains and lay leaders, we seek to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the entire military society." http://www.secular.org/issues/chaplains/position Onward Christian soldiers!

If a lot of people don't abandon your way of thinking, no one will be alive in 2050 for it to matter! If Iggy is serious about carbon taxes, then there's still some hope to avoid total climate catastrophe.

Singer asks some questions that many people avoid because they are difficult to deal with. My point is that the Catholic writers like D'Souza don't really have any better solutions to these issues. When Catholic rules, like refusing to allow sick and dying patients to end their lives on their own terms, or refuse abortions for women who are the victims of rape, or could have their lives put at risk, then their wonderful language about valuing life is total crap, because the real life results can be unneeded suffering and death.