BondTrader: I see u dont understand me and I apologize if I cant make it any clearer to you... Big_M: "What resources"?? U gotta be kidding me here. Hmmmm, lets see....Oil(depleting), trees(depleting), air (pollution) , water(polltution and drinkable water depleting), ozone layer ( depleting)......thats just to get you started.....now let 'er rip...... remember take it easy on me I am very sensitive...... p.s. you know me kiddo; we've chatted before, we nozzzze I aint no angel;;;;;just something to think about.....peace
Cubano- I understand you completely. Your earlier posts correlated our advancement as a nation with the destruction of natural resources (over consumption). In later posts you seem to be more focused on individual greed (over consumption) for material things like cars, handbags etc. and question if we are really happier being "slaves to a lifestyle' This was not what you conveyed in you earlier posts. So yes I do understand. I just choose to focus on your earlier statements.
i wasn't being sarcastic, i just wanted to know exactly what resources you were referring to. oil, coal etc. the only reason these things are resources is because man found a use for them. otherwise they have no value. if they are depleted, so what. it's not like we aren't gonna come up with (or already have) alternatives. if you are trying to say the planet itself would be worse if these resources are depleted, well, that would be news to me. trees. renewable. pollution? we are working on it, and i'll have you know that for all this wicked progress, the air today is much cleaner than 50 years ago. water? yep, that's a problem. but i'm sure we'll find a way around it. personally i just can't see how ANYONE could make the claim that the world today is worse off than in past times. we just keep getting better and better and better and better. sure, problems crop up, but good ole mankind just keeps on finding ways to solve them! go world!
I'm not surprise at all that they found evidence of Al-Qaeda in Iran. I've heard from people in there that there are some Taliban big wigs in Iran. You have to understand that Iran is not like a normal country where the power flows from the top (federal government). It is rather run much like a feifdom with each area of the country under the direct control of a few (or one) powerful rulers. In that area of the country, they are basically the 'king'. Everything they say goes. Laws are enforced to their liking. In that type of situation where there is no homogenous application of laws, or direct control of the country by the federal government nor any sort of direct communication (so the federal government even knows about what is going on!) the Taliban and Al-Qaeda can hide very easily. All they had to do was find a friendly 'king' in eastern Iran. But even the government in Tehran is itself totally splintered. The main divisions being the 'conservative' and the 'reformers'. A misnomer since they are each fighting over power. The 'conservative' have it, the 'reformers' want it. Just recently this fight is coming to a very dangerous impass where the head of the 'reform' movement, the democratically elected but impotent president, Khatami is introducing a bill in parliament which (if it passes) will severely limit the power of the 'conservatives'. The bill will most probably pass the parliament because it is stuffed with reformers who were voted there by the people of Iran. However before that bill becomes law it must be approved by a council which is not elected (and they still call it democracy). Once the bill reaches the council of long bearded men they will take one look at it and laugh because if they pass it they will be handing over the very knife with which the reformers can cut their throats. By not ratifying the bill they will cause a MASSIVE rift in the political landscape as well as normal everyday society because the powerlessness of the elected parliament will be laid bare for all to see. The people of Iran will suddenly wake up to see that they are not living in a democracy but a cleptocracy (a system where a few rule and steal as much as they can while no one is looking). Then the consequences will be unpredictable. But it isn't all that improbable that there will be 'regime change' in Iran without any outside country or force lifting a finger (just as in 1979).
Madison - Now we delve into the much more complex issues with greater moral implications. Just a thought to leave you all with and show that I do have a sense of humor to complement my mercenary tendancies - Where does capital flow in times of crisis? The bond market - hehehe
the whole middle eastern mess is about fantasy vs. reality. The reality is right under all our noses, but some people don't want to be confused by the facts. Then we have people like Tom Dasshole stirring up dissent in the congress, and I hope it costs them in the next election.
agree - I interpreted some of what ElCubano was saying as delving into them as well - we have the capacity to alter the technology of our lives very rapidly, but perhaps too quickly for the non-technological aspects of life to keep pace...