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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (107058)	7/31/2005 9:42:15 AM
From: Alan Smithee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Ah. I see. I began reading the article with interest, because I do believe water is an important issue and will become even more so as the population increases. Then I came to the main thrust of the article - it's another one of those that you are so fond of posting, with the theme of the evil corporations who want to control [fill in your issue here, in this case access to water]. What, for example, is the support for this bald statement of fact (I see none other than the biases of the writer and the film makers): Communities throughout the U.S. may face international corporations taking over their local water supplies within the next five to 10 years. "Once they get hold of the water, be prepared to pay gas prices," Dean Cofer, a Sacramento engineer, said in the documentary. I found this statement interesting: Colorado Governor Bill Owens wants to build more dams to catch more water as a short-term solution. However, by doubling his state’s population, he simply doubles the inevitable crisis 50 years from now when rain and snowfall do not double. His Third World approach and 20th century thinking for solving the dilemma makes a rational thinking person’s head hurt. I had no idea that the Governor had any control over the growth of the population of Colorado! Amazing! Lock that man up before he does more damage. Its a fact that the population is growing (has been since the continent was inhabited by aboriginal peoples, btw) and its a fact that the water supply is not growing. Why does it have to turn into an issue of "watch out, the evil corporations want to take your water?"

To: Grainne who wrote (107058)	8/4/2005 4:34:51 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

it seems like progress is possible Indeed... McGuinness: We still need Irish America's help By Seán Mac Cárthaigh DUBLIN -- Irish-America is once again at the center of the peace process and will play a crucial role in the weeks ahead, Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has said. In a phone interview with the Irish Echo, McGuinness said the IRA's decision to dump arms and stand down had transformed the prospects for progress. "It really is a wholly new situation we find ourselves in, one that is bursting with potential," the Mid-Ulster MP said. He also pointedly praised the efforts of President George W. Bush, whom he said had confounded skeptics with his staunch support for the Good Friday agreement. The IRA move, which came last Thursday, has been welcomed by everyone except representatives of Ireland's 900,000 unionists. It was universally well received in the U.S. by politicians from both main political parties. McGuinness, who along with Sinn Féin's representative to the U.S., Rita O'Hare traveled to Washington D.C. to share the news with members of Congress, described the move as "momentous and historic," but warned the peace process still required ongoing momentum. "We need a very determined and swift effort by the two governments to implement the Good Friday agreement -- which is, after all, the will of the people of Ireland, and I believe also the will of the people of Britain," he said. This should happen, if necessary, over the heads of intransigent unionists, he added. The Rev. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) campaigned vigorously against the Good Friday agreement, and was dismayed when it was overwhelmingly endorsed by the electorate on both sides of the border in 1998. Since then, the DUP has refused to share power with nationalist representatives, citing a wide variety of reasons. The latest of these was that although the IRA ceasefire has held since 1997, British intelligence accused the organization of involvement in robberies and other illegal fund-raising activities, a concern echoed by the British, Irish and U.S. governments. Thursday's IRA statement notably said its volunteers had been ordered to cease all activities. McGuinness called on Paisley and the DUP's East Belfast MP Peter Robinson to "be part of planning for the future," and begin talks with nationalist representatives straight away. "The DUP needs to see that it is now in a different ballgame," he said. "There can be no suggestion that they can drag their feet any longer. Any notion of a 'de-contamination' period for Sinn Féin is offensive and unacceptable." McGuinness said the IRA decision was already having a profound effect on Irish people and those of Irish ancestry throughout the world. "Irish Americans in particular will have a key role," he said. "In the short term, Irish Americans can keep pressure on the U.S. government to keep the pressure on the British government to implement all of the Good Friday agreement," he said. But he added: "I must say, however, that the Bush administration is already very supportive of the Good Friday agreement. Mitchell Reiss has built on the work of Richard Haass. "Many Irish republicans wondered if the election of George Bush meant a lessening of interest in Ireland. They, and I, have been pleasantly surprised. "George Bush never misses a chance to support the Good Friday agreement." In the longer term, McGuinness said, the political, moral and economic support of Irish Americans would be key in the transition to a united Ireland. "The Good Friday agreement is a route map to a united Ireland," he said. "Even purely in terms of the economy, the case for a 32-county Ireland is compelling." "Irish America has a very powerful and important role in this economic transition," he said. Referring to at times bitter divisions between Irish Americans over the conflict in the North, McGuinness called for a fresh unity of purpose. "The new situation is having a tremendous unifying effect on the diaspora," he said. "Differences can be healed -- I saw that on Capitol Hill last week." irishecho.com

To: Grainne who wrote (107058)	8/4/2005 5:03:07 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I don't think what humans do has much of an effect in the over all scheme of things. Shifting ocean currents have a lot more to do with glacial melt than greenhouse gases. Book Description Watch out for natural climate change. From warm to cold, wet to dry, it doesn't behave the way scientists thought it did. A drastic climate shift more sudden and troublesome than we'd ever imagined could already be underway. As scientists carefully search for clues in the sun and storm patterns from our distant past, they are gradually writing a new history of Earth's climate. Layers extracted from cores drilled into glaciers and ice sheets, sediments collected from the shores of lakes and oceans, and growth rings exposed in ancient corals and trees all tell the same surprising story. It is now apparent that alterations in our climate can happen quickly and dramatically. Physical evidence reveals that centuries of slow, creeping climate variations have actually been punctuated by far more rapid changes. While this new paradigm represents a significant shift in our picture of Earth's past, the real question is what it means for our future. Many researchers are now quietly abandoning the traditional vision of a long, slow waltz of slumbering ice ages and more temperate periods of interglacial warming. While they've long recognized the threats posed by global warming, they must now consider that the natural behavior of our climate is perhaps a greater threat than we'd imagined. And though there is no need for immediate alarm, the fact that changes in our climate can happen much more quickly than we'd originally thought—perhaps in the course of a human lifetime—makes it clear that science has a lot of questions to answer in this area. What are the mechanisms for triggering a significant climate change? In what ways should we expect this change to manifest itself? When will it likely happen? Climate Crash seeks to answer these questions, breaking the story of rapid climate change to a general public that is already intensely curious about what science has to say on the topic. amazon.com