George Will should have to be a non-white woman working for a meager living in a sweatshop.
Economist Paul Krugman, in writing about the recent stock market dump, wrote, "What made the market so vulnerable to panic? ... it was a matter of irrational complacency ... investors began to act as if nothing bad would ever happen again. Sooner or later, however, reality was bound to intrude."…
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26 - Al Barger
Jaz [comment 20]: Mock my politics and my moonshining ways as you will. But I suggest that you do not cross gopher god, or you will feel His wrath in vengeance. Gopher akbar!
27 - jaz
bah...Al , i fed yer gopher to JuJu, may his tusks glow with eternal Wisdom...
he said he would drop by and Honor you with the Holy Flatulence
stock up on peanuts, imo
28 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I don't know,
GonzoD'ohJaz. I remember my wife telling me about the gopher that her cat Rascal left half-eaten in her back yard decades ago when the Rascal was still hunting Midwestern rodents. She described an animal half eaten, with his head and paws remaining and huge rodent teeth keeping his mouth eternally open.So much for "gopher" gods. I suspect that Juju did not find the gopher snack you fed him much more than a quick snack. He's liable to return and Honor you with his Holy Flatulence.
If elephants are anything like cows, their farts are bad news. I suggest heading out to Indiana and hiding out in Al Barger's still while you still can.
I'd join you, but I haven't offended any elephants lately, only skunks from the dumps of New Jersey.
29 - jaz
hey now, Ruvy
there are some of us who came from Jersey...like me, who would remind you that all is not North Jersey, there's a reason it's the Garden State
but here's some Jersey boys talking about it all...
the Tao of D'oh.
30 - Barbarabow
Hello again Al,
You are so right, it is one of my acknowledged flaws (and I don't think I'm alone in this) that I seek information that reinforces my previous conclusions. That's why I'm so greatful that you're willing to engage in this conversation. I can learn more from people with whom I disagree that from those who don't have the knowledge or confidence to defend a different opinion. Based on your arguments, I will either open my mind to new ideas, or, in defending my case, become better able to make my points.
With all due respect to you and Clavos I still believe that world energy supplies are reaching peak. Although we will have new discoveries here and there, it won't address the fundemental problem that the era of cheap oil is coming to an end. I join those who hope there will be a miraculous cure to our ills in the form of technological breakthrough, but I don't see it on the immediate horizon. Maybe it's because I read James Kunstler's blog.
Here's his analysis from today's blog: "Evidence now conclusively shows that Saudi Arabia's oil production was down 8 percent in 2006 over 2005, even while the number of oil rigs went up substantially -- indicating that the Kingdom is drilling as fast as it can and still losing ground. (Production slipped from 9.9 million-barrels-a-day to about 8.4 mm/b/d.) Mexico's Cantarell field is crashing (minimum 15 percent annual decline and possibly much steeper rate, meaning in a year or two the US will cease getting oil imports from its number two foreign supplier). The North Sea is crashing, too. Russia is about show steep decline. Iran is past peak. Iraq, as every six-year-old knows, is the world's clusterfuck poster child. Indonesia (OPEC member) is now a net oil importer. Venezuela is past peak and full of loathing for the US. Nigeria is collapsing politically." From James Kunstler.
He is way cranky, but his facts usually seem solid. Increasing nucular power is someting I don't favor based on the waste issue, but it may become a lesser evil.
In terms of income disparity, it's not the poor I'm worried about, it's the middle class. Our democracy is built on a strong middle class, we destroy it at our peril. I don't resent the rich as long as their prosperity is based on a level playing field. Corporate welfare, failed CEOs with golden parachutes and Crony Capitalism serve only the corrupt. I'm from the midwest, I believe in fair play.
On a final note, thank-you Clavos for pointing out the distinctions between the VA and Walter Reed. It is my hope that everyone who suffers gets the care they need and deserve.
Cheers, BB
31 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Joizey,
GonzoTaoJaz?You mean the place where m&m's is the cultural food, muzak is the state song and Tweety Boid the state bird? And then there is just one skunk (as opposed to all the others you can smell along the Joizey Toinpike) who stinks worse than Secaucus...
But I digress.
The Maine point is that you are not there now.
PS. As a kid I got as far as Point Pleasant and Neptune (but I missed Pluto - a Saturnine thing to do).
32 - jaz
Ruvy - best pizza in the world isthe state food
Born to Run by Springsteen is the song...
flies are the bird (on the Shore it's seagulls)
and i know every inch of the boardwalks from Keansburg to Seaside Heights...my arcade was in Manasquan, the building built by one of the inventors of Pinball, and the guy who built Point Pleasant from nothing...
but we digress...
33 - Clavos
You do digress, gents...
Barbarabow:
From Wikipedia:
Oil
See also: Oil reserves and Peak oil
It is estimated that there may be 57 ZJ of oil reserves on Earth (although estimates vary from low of 8 ZJ,[1] consisting of currently proven and recoverable reserves, to a maximum of 110 ZJ[15]) consisting of available, but not necessarily recoverable reserves, and including optimistic estimates for unconventional sources such as tar sands and oil shale. Both estimates provide oil for the foreseeable future at the current oil consumption rate of 0.18 ZJ per year.
A minority supports the view that peak oil production may be reached in the near future, resulting in severe oil price increases. A 2005 French Economics, Industry and Finance Ministry report suggested a worst case scenario that could occur as early as 2013.[16]
[edit] Sustainability
There is a broad consensus among scientists that we are not close to running out of fossil fuels.[15][2][3] Despite this abundance, political considerations over the security of supplies, environmental concerns related to global warming and sustainability might move the world’s energy consumption away from fossil fuels. (emphasis mine)
And, regarding Kunstler's cred, also from Wikipedia:
Some critics describe Kunstler as a fear-mongering worrywart intent on sowing panic in order to sell books. They point out that Kunstler, who majored in Theater at college and has no formal training in the fields in which he prognosticates, made similar predictions for Y2K as he makes for peak oil.[1][2] Kunstler responds by saying that a Y2K catastrophe was averted by the hundreds of billions of dollars that were spent fixing the problem, a lot of it "in secret," he claims.[3]
Other critics have faulted him for making inaccurate financial predictions. In June 2005 and again in early 2006, Kunstler predicted that the Dow would crash to 4,000 by the end of the year.[4] [5] The Dow in fact reached a new peak by 2007.
In his predictions for 2007 however Kunstler admitted his mistake stating "Let's get this out of the way up front: the worst call I made last year was for the Dow to crumble down to 4000 when, in fact, it melted up to a new all-time record high of about 12,500. The reason we saw this, in my opinion, was that inertia combined with sheer luck to keep the finance sector decoupled from reality...". He also predicted however that in 2006 the United States housing bubble would start to deflate, which appears to be borne out by latest data. [6] However, unlike Kunstler's Dow predictions, which were uniquely his, the bursting of the United States housing bubble was widely forecast before Kunstler began discussing it.
Apparently, he's not exactly an expert.
34 - BARBARABOW
Thanks for the tip. Now I can stop worrying and learn to love the bomb.
Take care everyone, it's been fun.
35 - Al Barger
Ah, Miss Barbara - I'm glad that that you too love the bomb.
Also, you're right on about needing people with differing opinions and perspectives. I already know what I think. I don't need to find people to keep repeating back my arguments to me. People find the echo chambers re-assuring, but no one learns anything that way.
Still, it's natural to gravitate to people who agree with you, and re-inforce what you're already thinking. I do it sometimes. That's mammalian biology at some point, and it takes an active effort to reach past that. This is a way that boredom can work for you as a motivating tool.
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It's certainly reasonable to be concerned about energy supplies - and greater demands from China and other developing countries coming online, but there's more oil being discovered, and more energy besides oil. Plus, necessity is the mother of invention. Sudden disruptions could be really bad, but slowly sinking supplies and higher prices will spur conservation and creativity, ultimately.
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Then there's Jaz, and his Juju heresy. If Gopher God was swallowed by your elephant, he'd come out the other end like Lemiwinks - shredding elephant intestines from the inside as he exits.
Do NOT trifle with Gopher God, capice? My God can beat up your God.
36 - jaz
heresy!
heresy you say... philistine!
you seriously are divinely ignorant when it comes to the sheer power inherent in the Holy Digestive Juices
your pitiful Gopher is nothing but Potential fertilizer
{8^P~~~~~~~~~~~~
37 - Lumpy
people like krugman prey on the ignorance of the public. They think that being on the faculty of princeton and having a column is a license to redefine reality any way they want it to be so they lie and lie and lie and sheeplike fools take it as the word of god handed down from on high. Krugman is completely without shame or acruples.
38 - JustOneMan
Krugman is a hypicrit...in a recent oped piece he railed against republicans for taking speaking fees form organizatons - not calling to task the dumbocrats - while he takes speaking fees from left wing loon groups and doesnt see the conflict.
If you read and research his Economic theories and ideas you will wonder how this guy is a tenured economics professor..he is truly a lightweight and a liar!
JOM