Free market fundamentalists.

Sorry, I'm not sure how to get in the right forum. I just wanted to pass on an Idea to Thom. What libertarians and so many other conservatives have in common is a religion that isn't acknowledged. Free Market Fundamentalism. Once you recognise that you are talking to a free market fundamentalist you can work from the perspective of knowing that they hold certain beliefs based on faith. That the free market will take care of everything. That government is always bad. That any social program results in a socialistic state.

That is why it is so hard to discuss issues with free market fundamentalists. They cannot question those things they take on faith.

I've heard Thom and others say "free market... uhhhh" searching for the right word. For me, fundamentalist says it all.

Thanks,

I forget the name of our text book for that class. Let me google population pyramids, if I remember right there was references out there, but it wasn't necessary to do such research, it was both covered in the book and in the Professor's lecture. Give me a minute.

Foodfacist, I believe the consensus on Earth's carrying capacity is 12 billion, and that there is reasonable expectation that around about 2050, population will reach an apex of 9 billion then start to decline based on population pyramids of the Developed and developing world. There are basically 4 stages to population expansion:

Stage 1, High birth rate matched with high death rate (common to most third world countries).

Stage 2 High birth rate and a lowering death rate (common to countries that are beginning to develop health standards)

Stage 3 Stabilizing birth rate and lowering death rate (common to developed countries, USA is a good example of this)

Stage 4 Declining birth rate and stablized death rate (further developed countries, Germany is one country that is in this stage)

Just took a class in Environmental Geography last semester in which this topic was covered. My facts may be a bit off, but what I listed there I stand by as being correct in concept.

You got the Robin Hood reference right Maxrot. The question is what is the carrying capacity of the Earth and what is a reasonable amount of resources to be slated for each individual on the planet.

This amused me ... a quote from the introductory paragraphs of Tyrell's "After the Hangover" -

"...the conservative political animal is so fundamentally different from the liberal political animal that the two might be drawn from different species. Politically speaking, the conservative is more domesticated, less feral." (Emphasis mine.)

SAY WHAT??!! The party of FEAR is less feral?!The party of GUNS FOR ALL is more domesticated?? Gimme a break!

The simple difference between liberals and conservatives:

Liberals identify with and root for Robin Hood.

Conservatives identify with and root for Prince John.

(T-partiers think they're supporting Robin Hood, when they do the Sheriff of Nottinghams' bidding)

N

@Foodfacist, re slave labor comment; minimum wage remains well below a living wage.

@chuckle8, I agree with your comments, but California was not the only land of gold in the Southwest, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, North Dakota, etc... the southwest was loaded with the yellow stuff (though in truth, I think Idaho was controlled by Britain at the time). Everyone just thinks California was the only source in the west, but that's overhyped.

Caller to Norman Goldman show said buses to take immigrants back to Mexico were loading and that these operators were making good money. We ought to get Greg Palast on this. I truly believe and respect Palast's reporting on the voter suppression, but that alone is too simple a silver bullet to understanding this very complex multi-pronged issue.

I've said it before, and I say it again. Someone please read Shakespears' The Merchant of Venice, in regards to GMO foods. If these corporations want a pound of flesh, let them have it, but they can only have the pound of flesh, they are not waste one drop of blood.

If their seeds contaminate crops, then take each and every contaminating seed back but leave each and every healthy seed where it is.

Government shrinks above 19%. Lower taxes lead to bigger government from the 40s to the 80s from the KADO institute? Well..its like buying a wardrobe of high quality once every 5 of 6 years as opposed to buying crap from Wal-Mart on a regular basis. One purchase of high quality well researched will be durable and remain in fashion. Cheap crap only makes you upset and look stupid. It is even better, per a real model who tutored me on this, to purchase a good Pendleton from a used clothing store than a new piece of cheap crap from Wal-Mart.

In Biology we call this the k vs the r strategy. The r strategy is the insect or fish that throws out a gazillion eggs knowing only a few will survive. The k strategy is the elephant that carefully raises a few offspring that the parents can manage well.

These strategies is what I based my get the pope remark and the Mexican culture's over population on. Typically, the improverished will try to wage a genetic war of their own by out populating their oppressors. A new strategy for them per greater education would be greater advanced planning taking into consideration the cost of raising a child to their ideal optimum. Including college, this could easily be a quarter of a million dollars per child.

Speaking of memory

I noticed a few comments about memory problems earlier on today's blog.Here's a poem about memory by Billy Collins who was George Dubya Bush's selection for Poet Laureate of the Homeland. It's even better to hear Collins read it. I heard him on Prairie Home Companion.

Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go

followed obediently by the title, the plot,

the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel

which suddenly becomes one you have never read,

never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor

decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,

to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye

and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,

and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,

the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,

it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,

not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river

whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,

well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those

who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night

to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.

No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted

out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Billy Collins