Hello everyone

[cameron]

jaber said:

I just hope they are not trying to do something dumb like probe my machine - there are three firewalls and other blocks to try to stop that kind of thing.

It must be the Zionists cabal in charge of our foreign policy. They must be trying to access the research you have done into their malfeasance aka the Hansard.

[jaber]

Ha, ha ... and the hits just keep on coming ;-)

I wish it were ... those jerks couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery - look at where the advice they gave to Dubya got him ... and the 2,000+ men who, thus far, have lost their lives in both theatres. But, hey, they [the jerks] are laughing all the way to the bank - including The World Bank - but that is for another discussion.

[tits]

It is their families and the wounded and those who survive that will pay the price that keeps on giving. I asked in 2003 what the end game would be and now ..., we are still searching for one.

The World Bank, hummmmmm! Tell that to the Chinese who just acquired the oil rights in Kazakhstan. In just a couple of years both the Chinese and Indians will surpass the US in oil consumption and in green house gas production. Tell that to the French and the EU who are fighting investigation.

I would love to be the fly on the wall in the World Bank. The truth is somewhere where we have yet to look.

[jaber]

Tittus, I agree and at least 1,800 of those families could have been spared the unecessary pain.

As for China/K'stan I guess you refer to this deal to acquire fields from a Canadian company: www.eurasianet.org/departments/business/articles/pp082305.shtml

From what I hear, the only reason that there will be any reduction in emissions of poisonous and heat-retaining gasses in the U.S. will be because of actions being taken by some of the individual states - not from anything the FedGov has done in the recent Pork Package a.k.a. Energy Bill.

The technologies for cost-effective, fuel-efficient and [no or virtually no] hazardous emitting vehicles have existed for years, as has the same for non-fossil fuel power stations. Many such vehicles were on display recently .

[tits]

emission limits.

This shell game is used by all states and most nations.

In the end, some states that meet the EPA guidelines do so only because they trade with some nonindustrialized state. However, the total emissions have changed very little over the last few years.

What makes me so very angry is the political mumbo-jumbo that the uninformed play. How does a large coal fired 640mw Powerplant in Utah meet the standards so that the governor or senator can claim to be EPA friendly, they sell the excess emission to Arizonia. What does that really do for the environment? NOTHING!

On the other hand, the US ferrous industry has fallen to nearly 30% of the 1970s. The biggest reason is that the older plants could not meet the EPA emission standards. Now the Chicago area employes 33,000 USW whereas they employed 140,000 in 1970. So the politicians, play shell games with the EPA to ensure employment and shell games with industry to ensure EPA compliance. The media and the uninformed believe that things are really changing and seek to blame someone when they realize they haven't.

jaber, I have yet to hear any politician on the national level really speak to this Catch-22.

Yea, the Chinese deal is what you posted. If you will look under a different post to Nixon's Ghost you will see my real pessimism concerning oil. I worked in the industry for several years in the 1980s. It is a very complex mix of international companies. However, the resource is finite. If China aquires the lion's share of the rights and Chevez denies us access to the Venezuela oil, then an armed conflict may be in the offing. I am searching for that Presidential candidate who will proclaim a "War on Oil" to find alternative fuels. It will take a large national effort to turn us from our dependence on combustable fuels.

jaber, death is a bitter price for conflict. I pray every day for the boys and girls and men and women fighting this conflict. They will be exposed to images, smells, and emotions that will haunt them the rest of their lives. If you ask the other veterans here they will tell you that you never forget. To me that is as great a price as the loss of a loved one. Some of us cannot cope and end up losing jobs, relationships, and health over those ghosts of war. At the VA the other day, a group of three Iraq War amputees were hobbling around, laughing and carring on, however, they will never regain that foot.

[jaber]

OK, Tittus, you got me with that one. I had no idea that one state could "sell" emission levels to another state. That is incredible and makes me wonder what teeth an EPA operation has in U.S.
I think that in U.K. the massive fogs in the early 50's - although they had been known since Roman times [Anglia was known as The Misty Isles, as I recall my History lessons] - that caused a 'flu epidemic killing many, prompted the start of 'Smokeless Zones' in London and then in all major population centres in U.K. This has worked so well that the greatest danger to many U.K. people today come from natural pollens inducing asthma each year.
The point is that that directive came from the central government first, so if all your officials [Reps and Senators] are merely playing fast and loose with your health then vote them out. Stop the shell game, even if it has to be taken out one state at a time. You, the American people, are the power so use it by forcing politicos to commit, to pass state laws to meet that commitment, then get rid of them if they don't achieve.

On oil, the view from outside the U.S. is that there are more conflicts in the offing anyway simply because of the increasing American presence in this region - some would say an intended "omnipresence". Let me give you the feelings and arguments from my circle of friends and colleagues across the region as given to me.
1 - No-one begrudges the U.S. buying oil [essentially our only viable resource after sun, sea and sand]. Nor do we begrudge China, India or anyone else who is willing to pay the price. Oil is nothing more than just another commodity in the 'souk' [market].
2 - We do begrudge the U.S. flexing its muscles in our countries [Read the Overseas Base report for where your forces are]. We rid ourselves of British Imperialism and refuse to accept a creeping Imperialism by U.S. under any disguise or banner: "freedom and democracy"; "Pax Americana"; whatever. Such transparent banalities do not ring true with us.
3 - We are content with our rulers, our way of life, our political systems and do not need outsiders telling us how to live our lives.
4 - If we grow discontented make no mistake that our rulers know this, or are made to know it, and adjust accordingly.
5 - Such adjustments may not come within a 4- or 5-year "democratic" timespan, but as long as we can see them coming and taking effect, we become content again.
6 - When adjustments don't come then the first ones to take overt action to wake up the rulers are the right-wing fundamentalists - what you would call 'terrorists'.
7 - When the rulers still don't make adjustments then more people join the right-wingers and the action is redirected to the cause of the discontent [perceived or real] - commonly towards the outsiders themselves.
8 - We don't give a damn whether America survives or dies any more than we did the British. If the so-called global economy crashes with the demise of the U.S. it will have no effect on our lives because the other economies will still want our oil, and many people will still want our sun, sea and sand. The fact that some massive, unnecessary buildings will not get completed only matters to those involved in those projects.
9 - In war or in peace, our first objective is surviving through the will and mercy of Allah.
10 - Generally, the biggest error that an outsider, American in particular, makes is that the prevailing culture here does not worship the dollar or materiality. Everything flows from God. A rich man is rich because it pleases God for him to be rich and therefore be able to do good things for others with those riches. A poor man is poor because it pleases God for him to be poor and therefore be able to receive the goodness forthcoming from the rich man.

Further, we recognise that America has considerable brainpower - largely attracted from other countries. With that it should have been able to create and lead the way with alternative forms of energy. It is very annoying to realise that American "vested interests" have abused their position of power and blocked [through patents and other manipulation] many hundreds of viable alternatives over the years as part of their incessant grasping for the next dollar or million. I, for one, will welcome oil at $100 per barrel if it will wake up those people.

On conflict: For the survivors, Death is bitter whatever the reason. As you said before, "for the dead it is over." Death of anyone reminds us that we are all mortal and share a common, undeniable fate. Prayer is powerful and is done by most, if not all, on both sides of a conflict - but I sometimes wonder if the prayers are for the correct things:
"God, grant me the strength to change the things that I can; the grace to accept the things that I cannot; and the wisdom to know the difference."

On memories: While always disturbing, the images [in all five senses] of conflict that burden you and your colleagues are no less horrific than those borne by those of us involved in far smaller "police actions" [possibly less significant in 'world' terms], nor those borne by civilian survivors of attacks regardless of type or duration. You are correct - they never go away.

[jaber]

101: Still no joy with an activation key so I will simply continue to lurk and bushwhack the unsuspecting on the General Board.

[101ABN]

jaber said:

101: Still no joy with an activation key so I will simply continue to lurk and bushwhack the unsuspecting on the General Board.

Ok, J.

Let me know if you want to me to delete you so you can re-register.

[jaber]

101: No - I really doubt that deleting will help if the activation resend option doesn't work. I would guess it uses the same code.

Anyway, my profile won't change and some on the War Board, not to mention the recipe girls [you sweet things, you] will probably breathe a sigh of relief that I can't get in there ;-)

If I really need to climb in with boots and all, and feel impeded, then I will cut/paste from one post into a General reply and let rip.

[101ABN]

I would suggest trying it once from a puter with a static IP code, just until you get your activation. After that you can log in from anywhere.

The other alternative is to set up a free hotmail, yahoo, or other account just for discussion boards. Then rereg and check your spam/junk box in case your reg key goes there.

[jaber1]

101: OK, I am now active. I created a bogus mail in Yahoo. Thanks.

[101ABN]

jaber1 said:

101: OK, I am now active. I created a bogus mail in Yahoo. Thanks.

HUA!


(Answer to the question under your avatar- Because the devil is a communist.)