WilliePilgrim's Comments (1632)

“Obama might be the senior member of the executive branch, but congress is the most powerful branch of governement when it comes to the purse strings, and this is a purse-strings issue. Congress should have told him when and how to get there or indict him for contempt. Of course congress can't get it's act together worrying about steroids in baseball or some other triviality now that they have decided to become pervasive in everything the people do. And why not, is the power of congress now little more than a popularity pole since even the upper house has to run in a general election instead of being selected by fellow legislators? Who can give us the most chickens per pot while promising us that the chickens will be paid for by somebody else, while insuring the chickens are morally pure and free of illegal steroids...the legal ones are OK.”

“Grass roots and global. The two concepts are almost contradictions of each other. Yes, grass roots are great and address local issues but when grass and its network of roots become too pervasive, become global, so to speak, they overtake the landscape and squeeze out diversity in animal life. Not every thing lives on grass alone.
It seems that is what's been seen in regards to those who took positions contrary to what a few high profile researchers held and who had much to gain by squelching dissent and differing interpretations of data. Data may be factual but its interpretation is not necessarily so.
Science requires questioning by those who are willing to do the hard thing and counter the consensus. It might seem as if it enables those with the wrong interpretations but if they are in fact wrong research will prove it, whereas ignoring them, calling them names and casting suspicions about their motives only fosters the loss in faith that climate scientists have lately earned.
The church doesn't support efforts to prove its theology is in error, and science is not a church, Rev. Tutu not withstanding.”

“OK..I'll stay tuned. I hope my dad, a WW2 vet and surviving casualty of one of that wars biggest blunders (google "herken forest") does too. I'm his caregiver and just the other day I went to the VA website to see what I could do for him as his decline, gracefull as I try to make it, continues. I have to say, it was a nice site. I'll go back on Monday,but I'm afraid it will tell me how they don't have his records. Of course, they burned up in a big fire in St.Louis in the 60s along with many others of his generation. But we'll see. I'll let you know. I'm interested because I'm a vet too, 72-76, and while I don't have any needs now, and am qualifiied only because I enlisted and and did nothing except serve my term to be discharged honorably, I do "means qualify", which means I have next to no wealth. I should have use the GI Bill to go into Geology instead of fine art. Ha ha! We all can't be Damien Hirsh. But I'm makin' up for it by being the best caregiver any un-reconstructed hippy can be. See ya.”

“Good news, Mayor Newsom. Glad to hear it, though it's funny to hear the Transamerica building being called "the most famous building in SF", though I guess it is the most iconic due to its high profile. I wonder how much money it would take for PG&E to take the lead in the movement towards incorporating the next generation of smaller, safer and lower impact nuclear power generators. That way the entire city will see a huge reduction in its impacts due to emissions. I know at present an idea has about as much chance of flying as a lead balloon, but then again with material sciences advancing at the rate they are, even that might happen if we were truly using science as our guide.
Change happens.”

“Maybe it's time we stop thinking of violent crimes as being just a violation of law with consequent punishment, but as an expression of the individual's sociopathic personality, and as such we should be treating them as mental patients and not as people who must simply pay their debt to society. Our concepts of crime and punishment are an archaic artifact of our age of reason when we thought of misbehavior as a conscious rejection of moral judgement and as such we thought it was something we could induce a person to fix if we showed them the consequences and coerced them with punishment and loss of freedom. We know now that much violent crime is a result of dysfunctional brains due to trauma or genetics or circumstances from their particular life history.
This doesn't mean they should therefore be free but until we examine these cases in light of modern neurology we are simply punishing the mentally ill and paying the consequences of our dependence on outmoded and unscientific perspective. Clearly Clements should never have been free to be at large as he was, but just as sure he should never have been sentenced for behaviors he had not control over.
As for Hasan, he is clearly guilty of a crime,regardless of his mental state, and that crime has a name. it's not the modern buzzword 'terrorism', it's the crime of treason and for that he should be judged severly.”

“Maybe this is part of what Francis Fukuyama meant when he referred to the "end of history", in that there are so many personal views on what we call history, and we are so able to select just what we want in from such a broad range of historical facts that any notion of objectivity is sublimating like a block of dry ice on a warm day. Speaking of which, when it comes to science (climate in particular), it's becoming much the same. The fact that a slight reduction in ocean's alkalinity, while still orders of maginitude away from actually being less than chemically neutral 7, is being called "acidification" is a good example. Trying to understand the objective aspects of even science is becoming, well...history.
Thanks for bringing our attention to this remarkable forum.”

“I "get" where you're comin' from, Cynthia, and if you wish to equate your commitment to your partner with a political treatise of equal rights, so be it. I've been to a lot of wedding in churches, in redwood groves, in fancy buildings that were between people who when they finished their ceremonies were not automatically made responsible for each other nor could they share in each other's benefits from insurance,but to say it wasn't legal implies they could have gotten arrested for it. Clearly it is legal to get married to anyone you wish and making the act public underscores the commitment which is good for you and yours, as well as your community, who I hope will work to make the cultural aspect have equality in the secular view of the law. In other words, I say go ahead and get married wherever you want. It wont make a difference as to how you feel about your partner, which is what marriage is all about and it adds fuel to the fire to get domestic partnerships recognized as legitimate contracts that all aspects of civic life must recognize as valid. Get government out of religion and religion out of government. Everyone will be happier when we are treated equally, but let's not equate a religious ceremony with a contract.”

“I like the recent suggestion from Andy Grove who suggested that the kind of engineering practices which have propelled the semiconductor industry be applied to medical technology. As we become more and more informed as to the inner workings of biophysics and biochemistry the solutions to many of the diseases which ravage our population will become more specific, effective and more personalized to each person's particular medical needs while also becoming cheaper as they are applied to a word-wide market.”

“Nowhere does he talk about his fantasy involving sleeping with anyone. Boinking? Yes. Sleeping? No.”

“Conservatives of the old-school have long claimed that the Gov't's ambitions for a strong centralized power was to help people, were largely about helping people that were namely themselves. This statistic does little to deflate those claims and much to support them. Is there no outrage that our nations capitol has become a symbol of the differences between the managerial beaurocracy and the rest of the country?”

“I'd much prefer that instead of being angry with the party crashers, we were thankfull for their showing our security service the gaping hole in their coverage. It wasn't that there wasn't enough, or that we don't spend enough, but the kind of perceptual blindness that a clever adversary can hope for and look for when trying to sink the titanic, so to speak.
But, no, we see an angry red-faced agency going after the symptom instead of the cause, further strengthening the indictment against them.
Do you think the Mossad would make a big deal about this? I suspect they'd quietly correct themselves. Of course, I say the agency is all self-inflated, but the bottom line issue is that the news media thinks they should be, portrays them as such, and in fact is resorting to the same tactic whenever it encounters a news item that doesn't follow the script..outrage! Wink wink nod nod..eyeball rolling and vein popping to boot.”

“Oh, and while I may think the price is a bit over the top, I fully support anyone who wishes to commit an act of civil disobedience when it comes to getting it. The states should but out of people's business. The prohibition on under-age drinking has driven drinking by teens into a place where it is now harder to controll and causes more damage. Mothers against drunk driving....what will you do when computers take over the driving for us? Mothers against drunk passengers?”

“Y'know, scientific experiments have proven over and over again that it would taste twice as good if they doubled the price. Of course, some would argue with science, especially those that can afford $150 beers thinking "how can I be both rich enough to afford this stuff and yet stupid enough to buy it at that price?" And to think it doesn't even come with a little umbrella? Ha, I say! Ha!”

“Wow! What a spectacular display. As our world becomes more and more connected, and as our examination of the planet itself becomes more detailed and thorough, we are coming to realize that these kinds of cosmic phenomena are not quite as rare as we once believed, and there's evidence that during certain portions of our cyclic and periodic travels through the galaxy they could be a lot more common and may have been instrumental in the onset of dark ages of the past such as the one that stalled the bronze age and perhaps even earlier. But what ever their cause, frequency and source, they should serve as an alarm to our civilization regarding the need for our future to be a space faring one. My hopes are slim that the US can do this now with our current beaurocratic culture and hypesensitivity to risk in space developement, on top of our seemingly unbreakable attachment to cold-war era thinking of only using balistic misile tech for launching systems. But maybe China or India or some consortium of devleoped nations and industries will re-vitalize Robert Truax's concept of the SeaDragon, or begin work on a electromagnetic mass accelerating rail gun so that we can get to orbit cheap enough to initiate large scale and permanent stations that can observe, warn us and do something about cosmic impactors. Our future could very well depend on it far more than a bit of warming.”

“It's typically not just sea-level rise that made ancient cities disappear. Sometimes it is subsidence caused by a myriad of conditions such as volcanic eruptions, quakes, isostatic rebound/subsidence and even sedimentation. The planet is anything but stable and whether this predicted change is due to CO2 or not is largely a result of modelling which is fine but frought with difficulty in predicting the specifics of any particular trend.
Don't believe that tectonics means it will take a long time for a specific island to submerge though on average it might be correct. The devil, as they say, is in the details...there, and in trying to controll ,or even predict ,nature.”

“Would any group of people, knowing what we know now about the planet's geophysics purposely choose to live on a sinking tectonic plate ontop of a handfull of low coral atolls and barely above sea-level reefs, even if we knew that sea-leve, for whatever reason, wasn't going to rise? Tsunamis from quakes or cosmic impacts, or even rogue waves threaten these inhabitants every day.
I know I'm labelled a denier by some though I believe the climate is warming and changing and some of it attributable to human impacts, but just not very much and the tens of trillions expected to be diverted to CO2 issues would be much better spent in fortifying lowlying nations, or moving them altogether. So, you don't have to deny warming to be labelled a denier. One simply needs to disagree with any of the specifics.
I feel sorry for the people of Tuvalu,but perhaps instead of devoutly studying the scripture in their prominent church they should be requesting that the world's religions come to their aid, help them bring shiploads of rock and fill material to elevate and armor their island and hold on until the next cooling phase begins, which could be sooner than we think, but everything on earth points to its return more surely than the guy in the sky to whom they've been praying...and no, I don't mean Al Gore in his private jet.”

“On the face of it, taxing the speculators makes so much sense. Who could disagree? You'd have to be 'out of touch' or maybe a little too much in touch to not see it. I guess I'm in some other category because while I'm as poor a churchmouse I can't see how creating a new revenue stream for a congress that has become drunk with the never ending flow of power that those revenues bring will benefit us much. Of course we need revenue to fund socially beneficial programs and I'm not a guy who hates government, but lately I can't help but notice that the more money there is to disburse the more serious the potential for corruption seems to be...and in some cases actual corruption...and not just to those awefull GOP apparatchiks and their lobbyists, but even the Democrats! Yes, it's true! It's as if they're more concerned with making themselves cozy with the very industries they are regulating and taxing with an eye towards becoming a consultant for these lobbyists...all of which is perfectly legal, you understand. I just wish I got better government for all that we pay into it, but the likelihood seems remote as long as congress appeals mostly to the powerhungry instead of those who have a true desire for public service even when it costs them personally. Genuine transparency could help but those in control don't seem too interested currently.”

“Buzz; thanks for keeping the issue of our space program current, even if it requires you to "bang the drum repeatedly". I agree with your perspective in many ways and in its most fundamental intent; we need to support creative, daring, and masterfull developement or risk losing what we've invested, as well as the technical expertise and even the military high ground we've spent so much attaining.
Having done a lot of reading on the subject, I've come to wonder why we've come to a fork in the road and refuse to go forward. For that matter why not take both roads. That would be the scientific way to explore the options, but neither road should involve cold-war era approaches to space using balistic missiles desinged to fit into secret silos. We need a new approach; either the electromagnetic mass accelerators, or rail guns for high-g delivery, or something I've become aware of recently; the SeaDragon as put forth by Robert Truax in the early 60s. What a remakable approach and clearly one designed to be done cheaply and effectively, though no good for hiding from cold war era spies and competitors. Maybe India or Japan with their longer history of open developement will take up the torch...no pun intended. Keep 'em flying, Buzz.”

“I'm ardent in my desire to see the environment be addressed in a muscular and vigorous way using international cooperation, but these fears over CO2 are just not substantial enough. This is not an opinion I just came up with and it is the result of much studying and time trying to grasp the first priniciples in climate and geology and the other realm of nature that result in our weather and climate. The argument against CO2 just hasn't convinced me and, evidently a lot of others who despite the unfortunate name calling, continue to have legitimate concern about our civilization's relationship to the planets natural systems but cannot tolerate the lack of good science that should compell the world to take these steps which necessarily means we will do less in areas that actually can use the effort. Whether the sea level rises or not the Maldives and Bangladesh are in terrible places for permanent populations unless they follow the lead of the Dutch who long ago realized that for them nature was shifting and needed constant attention. They are enlightened, the rest of the world who expects the world to remain static, and even waste huge amounts of effort in the futile attempt to regulate climate are the unrealistic ones. Use the money to create the clean energy future, not to choke the industrial economic system that offers us the way to do that best.”

“To whatever degree the title of this article is true, any anxiety over it is overblown and misplaced. Once upon a time, when we were locked in a cold war where nuclear tipped balistic missiles were pointed at major cities around the world, the space race, aside from the ostensible prestige it implied, was all about military high ground. Now that concern is minor and we are left with a space program designed around balistic missiles that the DoD liked for reasons having little to do with space developement. Had we really been interested in space developement we would have launched using a Robert Truax's SeaDragon and had permanent space stations of great size and capability, but SeaDragon could not be done in secret and not squirreled away in silos in secret spots, so Sea Dragon was only good for space developement, not war, so it was axed. Now we see that space dev. is a money maker and loosing our lead means there are serious business competitors. Good. That will stimulate us if our leadership pulls their collective brains our from their archaic nether-regions. There's been some good movement however, with Obama's promoting the creation of prizes for industial advances targetting energy and space! Let's keep this momentum moving and get NASA and DoD out of the way.”

“Are we prepared to witness what will be seen by the muslims of the world as a martyrdom?
It will not surprise me if instead of a vigorous defense by the accused we will see a presentation of the radicalized islamic claims of grievances and the call for further jihad in the most long-term, persistent and militant sense. Our system is set up with a presumption of innocence and a desire by the defense to defend themselves from wrongful accusations. It all falls apart when the defendant does not want either of those two things and when the defendant most above all want the attention of the public.
This is not a civil case. It is about an enemy conducting war. The fact that it cannot be attributed to a soveriegn state has complicated the matter but the undeniable truth is that this is not a case of murder but a war crime.
We will see this problem of perception should Major Hasan's act of treason (not terror) come to a civil trial.
Why have our experts taken to buzzwords as they pander to the media instead of coming up with rational and established approaches which have been shown to work? I have my suspicion.”

“Having been a federal worker in a number of capacities from enlisted military man, to fire-fighter to park ranger, none of which were career for me and for which I have no regrets, never wishing to become one, but I know that there are good people doing good work, and I also know that all the good work in the world can be for naught when one careerist who is determined to protect their rice bowl at all costs becomes an impediment to effective solutions. I don't know what the remedy is, but a smaller battleship is desireable; one that is nimble, effective and not worth trying to controll by corrupt means. Sounds like the antithesis of what we're getting regardless of the direction in which the battleship is going.
I don't necessarily want better services or better services if it means that the individuals incentive to do things for themselves becomes gutted. I think deToqueville's observations should be on people's minds when they ask what they wish to see Federal service be. Cheers.”

“Maybe she should, and maybe she shouldn't, but the decision is up to her corporate bosses and not by some panel of judges who decice whether journalistic standards were observed. I gave up watching the media (in contrast to following the press) some time ago and I am befuddled as to why so many people rely on such flimsy reporting so obviously framed to maximize the audience's feeling that the issues as presented are how they need to be viewed...oh, right. Profits are the result of viewer numbers.
Even wonder why the keepers of journalistic excellence (or so they say of themselves) never suggest that in return for having the legal right to pedal their programming they should contribute to a media outlet that is free from commercial and political interests, independent of the gross numbers of viewers and instead focus on being an outlet for unbiased and actively researched and objectively verified journalism? Gee I wonder...or should that be G.E. I don't wonder.”

“Gee, I wonder what other public spirited leader/political power broker, ex-vice president, international player, peace prize winner, scion of a powerful political family, and one time contender for the CEO or America Inc is actively promoting government action in such a way that it would enrich them personally? Hmmm....Do they all just fly around to exotic locations for meeting so they can laugh at us for our incredible naivete? If you think 100 million is a lot, you have to consider what the tens of trillions being anticipated that will flow into organizations targetting specific transactions and exchanges of money over the next several decades until we finally reach 'the ideal climate".
Putting one's money where one's mouth is doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as putting one's mouth where the money is.
Is there no way that policy when involved with this much money can be made transparent so we see just who is going to benefit prior to our national interests promoting specific action? Not bloody likely.
For all its drawbacks, capitalism when untainted by government corruption and interferrence, is possibly the most transparent and competitive system that does the best job at seeing to the fairest distribution of wealth. If anyone is making that much money it should be open to others to compete for it, and not simply handed off to one's yachting buddies.”

“It may not be quite that simple. Don't forget that the criminal component makes millions from its illegal status. Prohibition promotes crime. Send some support to the good folks at LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) and help bring some sanity to those who want rational law enforcement to focus on genuine crime.”