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@Maxrot: can you rent a car or buy an airline ticket without a credit card?
We need Teach Ins on the Afghanistan war.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Seven-Deadly-Sins-in-Afgha-by-David-Swanson-100429-559.html
@gerald, the survival of the Catholic church does not concern me, whether it continues or not, I don't really care.
I say this as a Catholic, baptized right after birth, 12 years of Catholic Schooling and about 5 years of being an alter boy. The structure of the Church is corrupt, and too far to the right for me. I think the last straw was the anti-Prop 8 posters in front of my local Church. I don't have time for their hyprocrisy anymore.... period.
N
Re: oil spill, please see the attached article on blow outs and blow out preventers -http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.retirement/2010-04/msg05594.html . BP had a BOP on the rig, but not a remote-control device, which I agree should be mandated by regulation. But we don't know if the BOP could have been activaed even with a remote in place. From what I have read so far, Halliburton employees were cementing the hole (plugging the hole so they could move the rig) when the blowout occurred, and human error may be a cause, but no one knows yet. I was born and raised in South Louisiana and am fairly progressive, so I'm with you on regulation. But please know that oil field jobs in the oil patch are high-paying blue collar jobs and many men work their way up from roustabouts to rig operators (women now work on the rigs, but don't know if their are any female operators) with less than a high school eduaction - it is one of the last, if not the last, industries where uneducated workers can enter an industry with the realistic hope of one day earning over $100,000 (the oil industry apparently pays its "miners" much more than the coal industry). So saying that Haliburton is not unionized when it comes to rig work in general, and with regards to this accident in particular, is irrelevant. Best,
@harry ashburn, post 69 from Thursday, April 29, 2010, my position on women is that they should rule in all the countries on our planet. Men have tried and they have been proven to be losers in making our world a better place.
@ Zero G, post 160 from Thursday, April 29, 2010, the Historical Jesus books expanded upon each other through updating the information.
@Mazrot, post 161 from April 29, 2010, if the Catholic Church would permit priests to marry, the Church would be more viable and membership would expand. The Church is losing membership because she will not move forward and she has become too political in our current American environment and the Church has lost her moral compass. The trend in membership is to lose five million members each year since 1985.
@Thom, the time has arrived for you to shake your symbiotic relationship with the United States of Hell as having any kind of a future.
Evil kills itself. I was watching "Gunsmoke," April 29, 2010, on cable T.V. One of the persons on the show said, "Evil kills itself." These three words say it all. In time our evil, vile, and wicked country will kill herself.
@all commenters, Jesus' health care plan does not refuse anyone from receiving His medical care even if these people have a pre-existing health or medical condition. Jesus' heart was always filled with love, mercy, and forgiveness. We, as God's children, need to practice the Golden Rule.
I habitually decline every credit card offer. Never had one, and yet I still live and breathe, don't ask me how I've been able to survive this long without one, though I suspect squirreling money away into a savings account is part of it.
N
re: credit: Master Card sent me a credit card in '72 just 'cause I graduated college.
harry, you're not helping, I'm climbing higher.
N
@maxrot: Joe Sixpack never hears what we've heard today. ie. halliburton failing to install the cut off valves, etc.
I think the thing the frightens me the most about the Oil Spill/Coal Mine Accidents... they play right into the hands of the Nuclear Energy backers who claim that their plants are safe, and there are enough ignorant morons out there to believe it and support them.
N
(As Madow would say "Someone talk me down")
"Drill, baby Drill"! is still popular among dentists.
@Doh! they cant do that, "spill" might get interpreted as "confess".
re oil spills
I've been thinking that the Republicans should change their slogan to
Spill Baby Spill
Doh!!
@Doh, in college, i had a severe bout of athlete's footnote. I had to quit the team.
@harry ashburn
I didn't know about confession or the footnote, but it doesn't change nothin for me. I don't have a footnote fetish.
Doh!
or maybe thats water down the drain...
@Maxrot, Oil spills flow upriver in the southern hemisphere, i think
@maxrot - It's a combination of the two, kind of like how Homer Simpson would say it.
Do oil spills travel upstream?
N
My role model is Roger on American Dad.
Doh! I thought your name inspiration came from Homer Simpson.
N
@DOH! The only flaw in your story was that subsequently Franco admitted to steroid use, so the reception ended up having a footnote in the record books.
Hi Thom,
Can you please ask Dr. Batra about the "Benefits" of micro loans? I found an article on New York Times that shows many of the micro loans have rates of 126%
How can loans that charge these exorbitant rates possibly help poor people?
@harry ashburn
You asked "Was God's casting Satan out of heaven Immaculate ejection?"
I answer: I don't know about that. I think God was casting for angels and Satan wasn't right for the part. However, I do remember attending a very hoity-toity event called the Immaculate Reception (a fund raiser of course) and someone got upset and threw a tray of horse-doovers. Franco Harris appeared out of nowhere and snagged the tray just before it hit the ground: thus keeping the event immaculate. I believe they have it on YouTube.
By the way, you can just call me Doh!. That was part of the fun of coming up with this name.. I could sign my comments "Doh!" and if anyone wants to come back at me with what they think is a smart retort, they have to start it by saying "Doh!" Now how smart will their retort seem after that.
By the way, I hope a few people remember the inspiration for my moniker, the great Frank Capra movie "Meet John Doe" starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold and Walter Brennan. One of my favorite things from the movie was the Colonel (Brennan) warning Long John Willoughby (aka John Doe) about the "heelots" (aka the heels).
Doh!
While it's interesting to hear Thom and Ravi debate whether the current Great Recession is 'U'-shaped or 'W'-shaped, I contend that the long-term trend is 'X'-shaped: Highly stratified followed by median-normative followed again by highly stratified. Perhaps our policy goal should be spelled '>------...'