bombus

Hit the nail on the head there! It's counter productive in the end to fill low wage jobs with ever more desperate people. It keeps wages low for the benefit of the rich(er) but ulitimately does not help the economy as poor people pay less tax, need more state help, are more likely to need to turn to crime, and all the other issues associated with poor neighbourhoods. Norway is a country where just about everyone gets a pretty good wage. Prices are generally higher (£7.50 for a beer!) but they have a very well educated, law abiding and healthy population.

The British National Health Service (NHS) is pretty good, despite what some people say. Whatever complaint you have, you'll get treatment. Maybe not ALL drugs/treatments are available, but the vast majority are. Also Cuba, despite its miserable GDP has a very good health service. (Oops, mentioned Cuba - I must be an extremist commie:-)) see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_National_Health_Service Anyway, I thoroughly recommend a nationalised health system run not-for-profit and funded by general taxation. Works out as much better value. However, the UK Government are trying to privatise it bit by bit because they're scared of increasing taxes to pay for it, as few voters would get the message that the increase in taxation would be cheaper than medical insurance...

As a Fortean, I regard myself as open-minded but skeptical. UFO's certainly exist, but they may be many things - military craft, natural phenomena, misidentification and maybe, just maybe, little green men or time travellers. However, the people you mention seem to take ideas and run with them before looking at other possibilities at the outset. I have never seen any evidence to convince me that aliens visit earth, but I have seen enough to keep me open minded.

Yes, I fully agree with the sentiment, but not necessarily the judgement.

Pangloss, what are you talking about 'extremists' for? What about free speech? We're just having a discussion about a real event. You appear to be the only one acting like an extremist here! However, thank you for returning it to the Politics thread, it shows character, and I mean that sincerely. I have never heard of DU's or freepers before. Interesting, but is it real or just a conspiracy theory?

Insects have six legs already!

Martial Law in the USA threatened to get the bail out bill through: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8 Article here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20975.htm Well, as the saying goes, many a true word spoken in jest. I certainly have a 'strong marxist quality', but I am not a marxist. I am sure you would think me extreme left-wing, but I am not that either IMO. It depends on ones perspective, e.g. I consider both Democrats and Republicans to be right-of-centre parties. I agree with Paranoia too. It doesn't need to be conspiracy for the effects to be as if it is a conspiracy. If disparate elements are pointing in the same direction and benefit from things developing in a certain way, a kind of unplanned 'conspiracy' can emerge.

Padren, I accept what you say, but the concept of the CIA arranging an/another event in the USA (regardless of whether one believes 911 etc were inside jobs) is not re-hashing the 911 thread. Anyway, as I said, I was not really being serious, and was alluding to conspiracy theories. Thank you for defending my postings on this thread by the way.

Pangloss, there is absolutely no excuse for these comments. I fear your own prejudices are affecting your ability to moderate objectively. As others have pointed out, why move combat troops from Iraq and deploy them at home when National Guard troops are being sent out there. I think I have something serious to contribute thank you very much. Oh, and what are my 'baser tendencies' exactly? And yes, my CIA comment was in jest, mostly anyway. Is even questioning the truth of, say, 911 or the anthrax attacks considered to be pseudoscience. So much for free speech! I'm not sure whether to be pleased or upset about that:-)

Yes but at least its money spent on joe public, rather than on tax cuts for the super rich!

I'd agree. Most Police are trained for disasters/emergencies and terrorist attacks and probably the national guard are too. You don't need combat trained troops for these roles. In fact it would be a waste of all their specialist training.

LOL! That is sooo funny! Well there is this opinion: So, sure, Barack Obama might be every bit as much a slick piece of imageering as Sarah Palin. The difference is in what the image represents. The Obama image represents tolerance, intelligence, education, patience with the notion of compromise and negotiation, and a willingness to stare ugly facts right in the face, all qualities we're actually going to need in government if we're going to get out of this huge mess we're in. Here's what Sarah Palin represents: being a fat ****ing pig who pins "Country First" buttons on his man titties and chants "U-S-A! U-S-A!" at the top of his lungs while his kids live off credit cards and Saudis buy up all the mortgages in Kansas.

Probably being arranged by the CIA as we speak:-) Indeed. This is strange - and virtually unreported by the sounds of it...

Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"? Maybe someone somewhere fears social unrest? Martial Law on the cards maybe? http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/24/army/index.html

This is good: extract below: "She totally reminds me of my cousin!" the delegate screeched. "She's a real woman! The real thing!" I stared at her open-mouthed. In that moment, the rank cynicism of the whole sorry deal was laid bare. Here's the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore. And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And if she's a good enough likeness of a loudmouthed middle-American archetype, as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant-size bag of Doritos in gratitude, wipe the Sizzlin' Picante dust from his lips and rush to the booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of improving his life or anyone else's, but simply because it appeals to the low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because the image on TV reminds him of the mean, brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning. Full article here:http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20914.htm

can someone point me to stuff that refutes the expanding earth theory? There's not much on Wikipedia.

Mmmm. I don't know so much. I kinda agree that amphibs are probably not so important as inverts or microbes but I think that if amphibs go it will be an indication that something is very very wrong. Amphibians are the 'relics' of the first land vertebrates. They have seen the Permian extinction, the KT extinction etc and for them to go now might mean some heavy sh*t is goin' down...

I'd agree that two sexes is probably the optimum to provide enough diversity to out-evolve pathogens, whilst passing on the maximum number of genes. I can't think of a scenario where three sexes could evolve. Can anyone else? What about the post-reproductive phase warrior scenario? Is that possible?

Indeed, although he has apparently 'resigned'... http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20802.htm

That's a good observation, and I would consider it if it wasn't for the republicans support of neocon economic policies that are very reliant on debt.

Words fail me. You want my opinion? You are just plain wrong.

That's very telling. How on earth do the Republicans manage to fool so many people all the time? On a similar note: U.S. Orgy of Debt Americans borrowed to hilt, then housing bubble burst By ERIC MARGOLIS http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20837.htm

Try this one for size: Mushroom Cloud over Wall Street By Mike Whitney "One bank to rule them all; One bank to bind them..." "The transformation from a free market to a centralized, Soviet-style economy run by men whose judgment and credibility is already greatly in doubt; does not auger well for the markets or the country. Anyone with a lick of sense would cash in their chips first thing Monday and look for capital's Elysium Fields overseas or as far as possible from the circus sideshow now run by G-Sax ringleader, Colonel Klink." http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20839.htm

Mmm. Maybe, but this guy's got a very good point: Sarah Palin and the Rapture http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20821.htm

McCain is part of the problem, Read this - particularly the bit about Phil Gramm (until very recently the senior economic advisor to John McCain in his presidential campaign) http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20802.htm