Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PartyTime who wrote (6276)	3/14/2004 5:00:24 PM
From: Michelino	Respond to of 173976

My original point was this: Peace terms which depend on ONLY Israel giving up nukes are unrealistic. Leaders should expect no greater sacrifice than that which they are willing to give. If the United States is to be a leader in the process, the US should be prepared to bend its own spears as well. But I didn't understand the scope of your intent (as given by your response)... At first I thought the precedent you cite overlooked that South Africa destroyed its arsenal only in the context of an impending regime change. But just maybe, with a groundswell of worldwide consensus, other major nations would also feel capable of great acts of sensibility. You know, the more I read your response; the more I warm toward your attitude and many of your ideas. In fact, the spirit of pragmatism be damned...because your master plan shows the handiwork of a visionary, an idealist and a terminal do-gooder. Noble long term goals should not be constrained by what is perceived to be impossible in the near term. Many of your points are quite provocative and all are deserving of a much larger audience. Point 1 (Reshaping the Middle East) I think should be amended with reference to "defensible borders" Point 2 is brilliant. (Jerusalem as Home for the UN) What befitting irony it would be to have the ultimate prize in the eyes of so many conquerors belong, instead, to the world’s community (See footnote ). But remember that for much of the world’s culture and population, our Western Icons remain empty. For the UN to be truly effective, it will need another major center located and devoted to the heart of Asia as well. There seems to be the following assumptions throughout your plan: A) The authority of the United Nations will have been elevated - where each within the community of nations would recognize the UN’s ultimate hegemony. B) Both the structure and effective charter of the UN, devised primarily to serve the interest of the victors of World War II, would be updated to reflect a truly global mandate. C) The UN would be a governing body of such substance that multinational corporate entities could not subvert the rule of laws and triumphs of suffrage simply by a shift in venue. I would also like to see all of this occur. I would wish to live long enough to see the shadows of nationalism fade as quickly as did the Iron Curtain. If in our lifetimes, we really do achieve a truly democratic assembly of nations, I nominate you to run as our representative. So I mean this in the most complimentary way: Dream On! Regards, Michael () You understand that RWE religious zealots will exclaim "Gog of Magog" and rend their garments at this mere suggestion; they may even start a rumor that you are the anti-Christ! On top of which, gnarly little misogynists, the short-sighted reactionaries and the so-called “libertarians” (along with other anarchists and followers of Lindybill) will feel personally insulted that you could conceive of a global vision which attempts to benefit all . “Where”, they would ask: “Is the pigeonholing or passing judgment on one culture at the expense of another. And where is the recognition of that most (right-winged) American of attitudes: that MONEY is the alpha and omega and the light and the way….that COIN of this realm is even endorsed with God’s trust as a substitute for the holy spirit”.

To: PartyTime who wrote (6276)	3/14/2004 8:08:58 PM
From: Krowbar	Respond to of 173976

'We face climate disaster' By Ben Leapman, Evening Standard Political Reporter 10 March 2004 The Government's chief scientist today set out an "apocalyptic vision" of global warming bringing back the conditions which drove the dinosaurs to extinction. Professor Sir David King told a House of Lords committee that urgent action was needed "within the next few years" to avert the threat of sudden and severe climate change. He claimed that last summer's heatwave was a man-made event and a warning sign of worse to come. And he defied Downing Street by repeating his charges that global warming is a bigger threat than terrorism, and that Washington is failing to tackle the problem. On a recent trip to America to talk about the threat of global warming, Sir David was warned by Downing Street to limit his contact with the media. A memo from a No10 aide was leaked to a journalist in Seattle, where the scientist was delivering a lecture. Today, Sir David told the peers that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was probably the highest it had been for 65 million years, since the Palaeocene epoch when most dinosaurs became extinct. He said the era saw a "massive reduction" in life on earth and added: "The Antarctic was the best place to be at that time. The rest of the world was virtually uninhabitable." He also delivered a thinly-veiled attack on President George Bush by praising the effort which individual American states were making to curb their carbon dioxide emissions, in the absence of a ruling from Washington. And he accused American oil giant Exxon of funding lobbyists who are trying to undermine the consensus on global warming by suggesting that scientists are divided on the nature of the problem. Sir David said: "This is the biggest issue for us to face this century. "It's man-made. The science is done. It's complete. It's a matter of political understanding. I personally have little doubt that unfortunately, as time moves on, the global warming events such as the very high temperatures in Europe over the past summer and the flooding two years before will occur more frequently, and the understanding of what's driving these will become more apparent. "And I think nations across the world will understand... that action has to be taken." In the past few centuries, carbon dioxide in the air has risen from 270 to 370 parts per million and is still on the increase, Sir David said. He predicted that if the level reached 550 parts per million, the polar ice caps would melt and the Gulf Stream current would be reversed, plunging Europe into a new ice age while the rest of the globe overheated. To avoid that threat, he said, the level needed to be stabilised at 450 parts per million. thisislondon.co.uk And the Bush propaganda machine keeps on isisting that nothing is wrong. Del