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Mass extinctions in the past have indeed given an impetus to evolution in other creatures that manage to survive. The problem is that this extinction is happening so FAST that many life forms will not have time to adjust. Often a huge proportion of life becomes extinct and it takes millions of years for the earth to progress to a state of high biodiversity again. Chances are that those creatures that survive will be those with a very fast reproductive cycle - the usual example is fruit flies - and can quickly adapt. A few may survive in small numbers just by being rare and living in very remote places - the coelacanth comes to mind. As the earth gets progressively warmer, I suspect that mammals are going to be some of the most endangered species, and that includes us.
Thom should note the recent death--on August 7th--of Frances Oldham Kelsey, the FDA reviewer that stopped thalidomide from being sold in the U.S., one of the most intensive successes of American bureaucracy.
vegans may actually be partially responsible for widespread deforestation to grow more vegtables. Where sustainable farming methods are not enforceable. like the amazon, the congo. palm oil plantations...
regardless of what you eat, if it is not done i n a sustainable way, we won't have it or it becomes contaminated. The way we treat and kill animals must change, just as much as our ways of farming vegtables must change...nutrients of many foods are already so low, that even if you do eat enough food, your still starving...which might be a reason for over eating....
I wouldn't say that making evolution happen faster is "helping life along". Life either survives or doesn't. Evolution is not a path toward a goal, it is just a wandering among possibilities, and it doesn't matter where any life form is in that realm.
why is US so beholden to Israel ? US must not give away money we have to borrow. Looks like China , Israel , billionaires, lobbyists, greedy Wall St controls US policy...
Thom? Are you reading these posts? Do you understand what they are telling you? You’re being misled by the superficial rhetoric of naïve green advocates who don’t know what they’re talking about. The PROBLEM here is NOT nuclear science. It’s the corrupt government – corporation – educational system that is putting profit above safety. I worked in that industry before Nader blew the whistle on them. Incompetence and corruption were the coin of the realm. If you want to bring wisdom to this issue, follow the money and power. It’s not a problem of the technology, if it is reasonably implemented.
And thank you, Instant Runoff, for bringing in your long background in energy analysis to challenge this misrepresentation.
The confusion all goes away if we consider Netanyahu’s approach in light of the Twin Tower- False Flag model. Netanyahu’s long term goal is domination of all Israel land (plus any additions he can get). The Israeli military is not capable of achieving that goal alone. His plan is to con the U.S. into militarily decimating all of Israel’s opposition. The Iran agreement kills this plan. So, from Netanyahu’s perspective, the agreement is bad for Israel. Of course Israeli intelligence chiefs don’t agree. They aren’t part of the plan. They are thinking about current peace. I don’t believe Netanyahu is just in this as a warmonger for the sake of war. Israelis are too practical for that. There’s a long term goal at stake. This is ALL ABOUT Netanyahu’s goal for Israel’s long term geography and domination of the region.
Entergy, the company that operates the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant 20 miles from New York City is arguably worse than Tepco when it comes to safety. Despite embrittlement of steel from prolonged exposure to radiation, Entergy has been allowed to continue operation of the plant beyond its expired license. They've asked for a postponement of 10 years to analyze the strength of the steel. The plant is near an earthquake fault. The spent fuel pool is dangerously overcrowded. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a captive of the nuclear power industry. Manhattan could become a ghost town, the buildings still standing, but no people, from a single accident at Indian Point. Clearly, Indian Point should be closed down.
Kurks and Turds
. . . .
Tumultuous, the Kurks and the Turds.
{Oops. I mis-spelled these words}.
I opine that {the Turds, oops} the Turks
are the ones who’re behaving like jerks.
===============
As for Thom's claim that nuclear power plants concrete usage makes it a high GHG producer, that is patently nonsense.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Energy-and-Environment/Energy-Analysis...
The analysis of Building emissions, including concrete & steel and plant decommissioning is a small part of total full lifecycle nuclear emissions, amounting to 4.1 PJ out of 43.4 PJ consumed over 40 yrs of operation, mostly enrichment energy inputs. Energy output over that same time period is 3226 PJ, so an energy gain of 74X. Moreso over full plant lifespan of 60-100 yrs.
A new AP1000 uses 69 cubic meters of concrete and 33 tonnes metal per MW electrical generated.
Onshore wind uses 870 cubic meters of concrete and 460 tonnes metal per MW electrical generated.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/07/per-peterson-information-on-steel-and.html
CANDU reactors, not needing enriched uranium, have the lowest emissions of ANY source of electricity, only 2 gms CO2 emitted per kwh generated. Wind with 5 to 29 gms CO2 per kwh generated not including the unavoidable, inefficient, smoke belching, shadowing fossil fuel power source. And 3-4X oversized long distance tranmission lines.
Solar PV at 50 to 95 gms CO2 per kwh generated, again not including its inevitable fossil fuel power partner.
Like most things, it's a little more complex than that, & in this case appears to be at least partly personal. Remember, NetanYA-HOO's entire political career has been based on fear- & war-mongering - a successful approach when in a situation such as Israel's.
In addition, his coalition governments have always been dependent on the small, far right wing religious parties to make a majority.
He was one of the architects of the settlement policies that are destroying Israel from within, & if he was to acknowledge that it would contradict his entire political career.
& then there are the personal pieces: His father was a major aide to Jabotinsky & his brother was the commander of & only IDF casualty during the Entebbe Raid.
The combination of all of these pieces results in the deadly approach he seems psychologically incapable of changing... Or even admitting the destructiveness of.
Thanks nimblevet, for your reasonable response. And again, for the record… “neoliberal” is an obscenity to my ears and eyes.
White as I am, I don’t identify with “white America” and don’t view black people as “separate”, even as segregated as our society has remained in various ways. This is not to argue against BLM’s concept of “black community”, which I certainly don’t begrudge them. From their perspective, I reckon that’s a matter of survival as well as comfort and familiarity.
While I don’t know this for a fact, I think Mark is correct in stating those two twits were acting and speaking for themselves.
The only other thought I’d like to throw in is that the freedom struggles of white workers oughta be beneficial to all workers, not just white workers. The labor issues Bernie is addressing affect the lives of everyone except the idle rich. I certainly don’t blame the people at Bernie’s rally for getting pissed off at those stupid girls.
The Fascists say that we can't afford programs like Social Security, and Medicare.....things that promote the general welfare, but we always seem to have plenty to shell out on war for profit....and of course Netanyahu is well aware of this...which is why he lobbied before our Fascist/Confederate party last March.
Actually both! Hi Thom I spoke to you last week on your show. Through my Facebook page BERN It UP I was able to reach out to over 80,000 people to contact CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC to tell them they better start paying attention to Bernie. As I told you on your show I have also been posting info about your show, Brunch with Bernie and Free Speech TV in general. I'm 62 years old, on a fixed income and went through bankruptcy two years ago causing me to lose a home and my business. I'm also a ham N3BBI. Thank you and keep up the good work Thom. Mike Pandolfo
Another misleading headline and you couldn't even get close to asking
your book plugging question. Meanwhile all the finance guru's are plugging
for a 2015 crash now........refund, refund.
Actually, it seems that BLM just has a lack of organizational discipline http://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/10/real-black-lives-matter-wsnts-act... and pretty much anybody can jump on anybody's stage and say they are acting on behalf of the group. Thus the protesters were acting and speaking mostly for themselves.
No, nimblecivet, whites mustn't dictate to blacks how they are to conduct their freedom struggle but, when the methods of blacks affects whites or the freedom struggle of white workers, whites have a right to raise objection. They aren't necessarily right in their objection but not necessarily wrong either. If they are wrong they can be called on it and vice versa, back and forth, until an understanding is reached. That's the only way.
So it's NOT a PLATFORM? ( nor is it in his platform )
While his "platform" has expanded some what, most of it is still pretty weak,
although strangely, the largest section is brand new, and is the most comprehensive.
This would be his position on the ISSUE of "racial justice".
Now all he has to do is expend an equal amount of time and effort on the other
issues.
P.S. Thom you still need to make the effort to report things correctly.....instead of
using a misleading headline claiming a "platform or position" for something that is
a "legislative ammendment" attached to a particular bill, which may never see the
light of day.......and did not even qualify to be included in his website on "environmental
and climate change" issue.
I hope so, both are right answers actually.
Fear mongering is a "tried and true" technique commonly used by demegogues to get themselses elected and then stay elected. In Isreal, there are large numbers of voters who feel very insecure, becasue they are living in Jews-only settlements on lands that were illegally grabbed (in many cases violently) from Palestinian land ownwers. They have a guilty conscience, and rightly so. And as we have seen lately, some of them are themselves terrorists. Those Jews-only settlements are institutionalized hot beds for Jewish bigotry. So it is not surprising to see that they tend to vote for a bloody lying war monger like Bibi Netanyahu.
ok you win, but all I was trying to point out is that if you read the post from the solidarity website explaining the history of BLM you will probably agree that at least it is a legitimate opinion that african americans see the legacy of mainstream politics in a less idealistic light than white liberals. That is because white america has long viewed african-americans as "seperate but equal" if only in a de-facto if not de-jure way. I could go on about how I think the neoliberal paradigm, the changes in public education, etc. factor into the development of that attitude but I'm sure you already know all that. True, Bernie Sanders and Thom already have spoken on many of these issues but focusing on BLM it is understandable that they see the idea of black community if not black nationhood as vital to the well-being of their people and therefore see themselves as needing to stake out a militant position beyond the mainstream political discourse even if it is "dialectical" in some sense.
On topic: Could the MIC and it's mules be anymore obvious that they are with the MIC? Watch The Brink on HBO! Tim Robbins is the Sec. of state. He battles the knucklehead generals over diplomacy and war, in Pakistan with humor.
The Brink
Does Sanders / Trump tell us what the two sides have in commom, besides SS. Medi..... We're both sick of lawyers in government?
Naw, Thom,
Natanyahu would like to be a neo-liberal, but as lonf as there are "other opinions" that are not "neo", some of the same social benefits that existed before, and during his various candidacies will remain.
FYI, there some very real neos and when they had charge of the Ministry of Finance they cut some of the benetits back. When that neo aka Yair Lapid lost his preeminence, the social conservatives, some of them Clerical, and those people in the Left put the the benefits back to where they were, and even changed the rules of eleigibility to make it less difficult that it was before.
On the Iran front, Natanyahu has been reaching out to the Arab states, and the Palestinians below the radar for years. The Iran thing is one of those enemy of my enemy is my friend, for the time being. Then too, there are people in Iran that are against the treaty, as well, as long as the current governement remains as authoritarian as they are, 600 odd people assassinated over the year, is that what you reward Iran with?!
Nobody wants war, not even Natanyahu, and there is so much under the radar that doesn't get reported. Yeah, Syrians are regularly brought over treatment in Israeli hospitals, Gazans, too, as well as food and construction materials to rebuild the homes. It simply doesn't get into the front lines for all sorts of curious reasons.
I'm not worried, and I live here. For the nearly twenty odd years that Natanyanu has been on the scene, he has been likely the most reasonable PM we ever had. He knows what his is doing, though, as you point out, he was a YAFer like you, at one point in your life, and remained a neo-liberal, but Please God, our system of proportional representation insures that anyboy that is "in the government", has a say, and we are talking about a plurarlity of voices.
Reply to post #21 -- HUH?! What the fuck provoked that sanctimonious outburst, nimble? Not only sanctimonious but vague. For the record, I don't view the act of commenting on forums like this to be a "luxury" or the exclusive domain of anybody; white, black or in-between.
Reply to #26: Bernie is running on the Democratic ticket for strategic purposes only. Were he to run as an independent, as a socialist, as a Green, etc. etc. he would be guaranteed to lose. I hate this two-party system as much as anyone but unfortunately, for now and the forseeable future, we are stuck with it.
No matter what this man does, there will always be someone criticizing him from the sidelines. With all due respect to Hedges, whose analyses and observations are stellar, I have to disagree with him on this. The stakes are just too damn high now; we can't afford not to have Bernie win the presidency. No other candidate comes close to addressing issues affecting our daily lives.
This man is among the very few politicians I have trusted, because he is consistent. He doesn't change his tune at election time just to win votes; he's delivering the same message he's been delivering literally for decades. And for this, he's got my vote.
Bernie has a lot of good ideas and experience but nothing will change unless we elect progressives in both houses, otherwise we'll just see more obstruction and propaganda from Republicans and the media they control.
More people need to register to vote to make that difference.