[TAML] Re: [TAML-WNT] Waterboard Dick
- From: Dave Haynie <dhaynie@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: teamamiga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:05:34 -0500
On Wed, 1 Nov 2006 10:27:30 -0600 (CST), Kevin Hopkins <kh2@xxxxxxxx> jammed
all night, and by sunrise was heard saying:
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:33:06 +0000
> >From: Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> >On 31/10/06, David L. Stevens wrote:
> >> Well, it prolly is mostly "liberals" or other people who think before
> >> they commit to a slogan who believe that it is more ethical to harvest
> >> the stem cells for medical research before destroying the blastocytes.
> >> The "conservatives" and knee-jerk fundamentalists seem to be the ones
> >> who believe the blastocytes should be destroyed with the stem cells
> >> intact without regard for the possibility of reduction of suffering.
> >I'm not worrying about the stem cell laws in the US. The research can be
> >done just as well in other countries, such as the UK.
> Great for the British, but another example of the exportation of potential US
> jobs. Just another consequence of the Ludites currently in control of our
> national "vision."
Yeah... I have big problems with this for two reasons. The first is
sure -- the USA has been a technology leader, and as a neophile and
general big fan of science and technology, I'd rather see it done here
than elsewhere. That's the stuff that feeds my kids and buys my toys;
IMHO, science/technology going retrograde, as it clearly is, is
symptomatic of a cancer in our society. I mean, that's the only way to
describe something that's eating away at a big part of our culture's
livelihood.
Of course, that's not the whole story... these things build on one
another; good science, at least, is done in the light of day, giants on
the shoulders of giants. If the USA isn't involved, the reseach suffers.
Second problem is the size of the problem. If the USA is working on this,
you have potentially 5x as much work begin done as you'd have in the UK,
just based on population. Positive political factors could multiply this
(for either country, of course), and as long as research is being
published, it's ultimately a synergy.
If you look at the size difference between the UK and the USA (about 1:5),
you start to see why the rise of China's also important in these things.
But their current system of government is far less likely (but I AM
wondering about just when the crossover occurs, if things here continue
on their current trajectory) to be open; thus, far less likely for any
global synergies to occur.
Ultimately, sure, Donny's right... the world will make up for the loss
of the USA as a technological power, and eventually get there. Right now,
it'll take much longer. It's a shame that so many in the USA really seem
to want to make us into one of the better 3rd world countries. I was
watching an episode of "Realtime with Bill Maher" last night (I'm not
sure the original date; within the last 2-3 weeks for sure), and Bill
was pointing out things like with the USA at #56 in Freedom of the Press,
#48 in Life Expectancy, #49 in Unemployment rate, #124 in per capita
personal investment, #10 in Living AIDS Victims (2nd largest outside of
Africa, after India), #15 in school life expectancy (how long a
particular child will remain in school), #18 in mathematical literacy,
#14 in scientific literacy, #14 in Engineering and Science degrees (down
from #2, after Japan, in 1975), #124 on GDP growth rate, #184 (out of
184) on net trade (nearly 10x worse than #183, Spain), this whole "we're
number 1" or "the best country" thing is just plain wrong.
Of course, we ARE #1 in electricity consumption! And oil consumption,
and oil imports. We're #1 with a bullet on military expenditures, well
over 6x that of #2, China (as well as exceeding the combined totals of
#2-#21, and 37x more spending than the sum of all US-branded "rogue
states"). Also #1 on external debt, and the #1 consumer of Cocaine. We
do have the largest inmate population, about 2/9th of all the prisoners
in the world; this only #2, however, if you measure per capita (we lose
out to Rwanda). We also have the highest Gini coefficient (measure of
economic inequality) in the 1rst world (at least you can find worse in
a few areas of Africa and South America).
So sure, keep that "We're #1" mentality... as long as you understand
just what we're best at. Otherwise, think and act on regieme change,
here.... the Powers that Be are the ones who have put us in this sorry
state. That rumbing you hear isn't an earthquake, it's our Founding
Fathers all rolling in their graves, that we only rated 56 on the Free
Press scale: behind any number of former USSR Republics, Bosnia, El
Salvador, South Africa, etc. This isn't even mentioned in the mainstream
press... kind of the problem, eh? This one alone should be a national
shame.
--
Dave Haynie | dhaynie@xxxxxxxxxx | High Definition EVERYTHING!
Chief Toady | Frog Pond Media | Audio/Video/Hardware/Software Consulting
"The Deathbed Vigil" on DVD, now!! http://www.frogpondmedia.com/dbv
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