ParanoiA

Actually, I don't know how much of a conspiracy theory it really is. A typical conspiracy theory usually involves multiple "supposed" calculated moves and etc. - there's not a lot of dots to connect for this. It doesn't really matter if you believe it could happen now, or 50 years from now, it still makes sense to get your hands on the oil - when you've invested your entire way of life on oil. I know what you mean about conspiracy theories though - great episode on that on Southpark last night - but I don't see any conspiracy here, anymore than I would see a conspiracy in a thug leader hiding WMD's. It's just the typical power struggle.

I don't really care about peak oil. I know I probably should, but I'm ready for it all to come crashing down. I think it's necessary before we truly harness alternative fuels. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I wonder if that goes for change as well. America is way to capitalist, hence way to biased to money, to admit peak oil whether or not it is a reality in the near future. We won't take alternative fuels seriously until it bites us on the ass. Mainly because big oil is going to hold on to the oil illusion as long as possible - at the expense of anybody and everybody - no doubt about that.

Both. I don't think fear and threats by government during voting makes it necessarily democratic. And, he's a psycho that has used weapons of mass destruction in the past and is responsible for so much death and torture it numbs the mind. Only the likes of hitler could relate. (Oh...and after reading Peak Oil Man's posts, I'm starting to wonder if we went in Iraq to sieze the oil because they believe Peak Oil is coming...)

Nah. In reference to Iraq. Since a number of cease-fire agreements had been broken without any doubt or ambiguity, we were already justified in resuming active war. The UN wasn't concerned enough about these agreements to get tough on them for violating them. Which, incidentally, is exactly what Bush campaigned on in the beginning.

I didn't think that was big enough to support a croc. Will they cross much land to visit waterholes and such?

It's gone now. Says something about it being pirated.

And since there's no telling what these people have gone on to do in their lives, a google search is probably a good idea. Apparently my ex girlfriend from a long freaking time ago didn't make the orchestra or anything similar cause I can't find her with google or any other kind of people search.

You're preaching to a libertarian about freedom... Torture has always been alright. Invasion of privacy has always been a government desire. And preemptive strikes are as old as time. Imagine what kind of conflict the 6 day Israeli war would have been if they didn't strike preemptively. Where do you think those lines on the map come from? People being fair and just and dividing up land equitably? Whether you realize it or not, just about every border in the world is negotiable by force and it's also by force the status quo is maintained. My government is not a wonderful thing that takes care of us and I trust other country's governments even less. I have no interest in fairness. I have interest in secure domination, like any other predator.

And neglect illegitimate dictators that break cease-fire agreements...

Part of the problem here Peak Oil Man, is that people are always suspicious when your posts look like spam mail. You've utilized every possible function on this message toolbar to write and paste in graphs and etc. And while you are providing evidence to your argument, it reads more like tabloid propaganda. I've seen this happen to honest folks many times. They come into an argument with so much knowledge and they blast away with it, cramming it all into giant posts. Anytime you do that, people will be suspicious of it - even though you're actually providing supporting evidence to your beliefs. It would be like some guy who knocks on your door to talk about global warming, and how the world is going to burn up in a fireball by 2015. He starts unloading graphs and charts and running through data - all on your front porch. Sounds more like a propagandist looking for a mark. I would suggest, MUCH shorter posts. Let the information come out naturally through replies. It doesn't need to be regurgitated all at once, with exclamation points on every sentence and it won't seem so contrived that way. Being an activist, you're already suspicious to most right off the line.

That's a really good picture for a cam a continent away and I noticed the bit rate was like 261 K bits/sec. How do they afford to do this?

Why don't we have those now? There's nothing stopping our congressmen and senators from doing this now. And it's the tyranny of the minor majority that lead me to the "weighted" vote. So, neither the people nor the office holder can run away with the government. And Socrates? You're listening to a guy who would have us run by an elitist philosophical circle jerk?

Well, I guess I've always envisioned it with a direct democracy. Legislators become prioritizers and handle the logistics of passing bills while the public votes on them. In that case, you're not so valuable to lobbyists and the like any longer. And the public would have to vote to abolish the system that is allowing them to make the vote to abolish it, if you still try to abolish it. The one-person-one-vote per candidate-slot idea sounds good, or any other kind of weighted system. I believe Australia does something like that. I've always thought that was a cool idea. I also wondered about a hybrid representative-direct democracy with a weighted voting system between the office holder and the public. Each sort of holds the other in check.

I'm more inclined to agree with John. I can at least appreciate a gun storage law when any children are living in the home. But I can't agree with the parental witch hunt approach. Any responsible gun owner will have a locker. But I don't think these kids get their guns from responsible gun owners. And I'm just weary of punishing people indirectly related to crimes like this. That opens a really nasty door. And don't think I don't blame the media more than this kid's parents, even if his dad left the guns unsecured. They romanticize violence and tragedy and then claim the moral high ground...

I'm not sure, but I would think we're crazy strong still. Iraq isn't going to put a true "tax" on our military. If that was the case, I'd be under the impression that we're one of the crappiest militaries in the world. The only reason we have so many committed in that region is politics.

Yeah, dictators and illegitimate regimes just aren't safe anymore...

Right, but you said: So, if I have that "talk" and don't assess the situation correctly, and he kills someone, then I go to jail? I'm just trying to establish that fact that all this sounds good to say, but there isn't any practical end to this logic. You're still putting blame on people that have little control over their kid's behavior. There are parents out there that don't care at all. Then there are parents out there that care deeply. Neither are welcome in the life of a teen. And teens are emotionally out of control for several years of their life. If we act on everything, they'll spend their youth locked up. How about instead of defaulting blame to parents of teens, try just defaulting blame to the teen? 18 maybe legal age, but that's not any reflection of how much control parents have over young men and women in their teens. That's the crux of my argument.

How do you know there is even the slightest bit of blame to put on the parents? What if we find out that the kid rented a blow torch from AL's tool rental and cut through his dad's gun locker to get the AK-47 copy, while the parents were at work? I understand that parents have a certain amount of responsibility, but these aren't Pitbulls we're talking about, they're teenage kids. We can't lock them up. (And if we did, WE'D get locked up!) Their emotions are in overdrive and they're dramatic about everything. My 13 yr old told me the other night he'd rather DIE than do his homework - while pacing the room in a sob. So, somehow through all of this hormonal and emotional roller coasting I'm supposed to be able to tell when he "really does" want to kill somebody, or if he's just pissed at his gym teacher that made him do his schoolwork. All of the attention should be focused on punishing this kid. Period. The parents and their responsibility in this should be investigated, but the first priority should be locking up this kid. Then, the media, society and his parents can all accept the blame due them.

I don't know how this plays out in physics, but in electronics the maths helped in the learning of the concepts of electricity which strengthens the understanding of the words. I don't like this lazy approach to technical fields at all where we find excuses not to have to learn the math.

You're kidding right? We're all supposed to be little mini-detectives and put all of this together or else we go to jail? Right now, my son loves Runescape, he's 13 and enjoys slaughtering fictional characters on that game and has mentioned before that he wished he could kill this bully at school with this magic sword. So, should I report him to the authorities? I think people get more logically twisted up in dealing with kids than anything else. This 13 yr old kid probably watched hours of media coverage glorifying and immortalizing the columbine shooting - obessed about it, learned everything he could about it, imagined it, planned it and then showed up to execute it. And you're all worried about silly details like guns? How about dealing with the problem? The problem being a 13 yr old who fantasizes about killing those he has conflicts with, to the point of ACTION. The problem is not "gee...where did he get the gun?" - that's for Oprah. I know that flies in the face of the subject of the thread, but I'm one of those parents that gets sick and tired of the blame-the-parents game everytime some kid screws up. Exactly what kind of magic power do they think parents have? Most parents talk with their children and get involved in their lives as much as they can - and that still doesn't give them any magical insight as to what their kid might be capable of. Hell, I don't know a single kid over 14 on my block that isn't capable of killing everyone in his school.

Well that's only if they left it at the breakfast table for him to take to school, geez. He's not a 7 year old playing in his parent's closet stumbling across the loaded assault rifle daddy didn't lock up. This is a 13 year old, that ought to know better. And there's only so much locking up you can do with your guns. A dangerous teenager can probably get into just about any gun cabinet with enough time and will. I don't think you can pin that on mom and dad. Should the parents be responsible if he took a knife from the kitchen to school and killed people with it?

He sounds like a blast at parties....I wonder what kind of redeeming value a leopard has...

I would think it would make more sense to overestimate their oil so we'll just keep buying and not worry about it. If they underestimated their wells, that could trigger us to start looking at alternative fuels and they would eventually lose their trust fund. Oil is the only thing that really makes middle east relevant. If they didn't have oil, I'm not sure how they'd make enough money to buy the weapons to kill everybody with. Yet another reason why I'd like to see oil demand plummet. I'd like to see the middle east actually have to produce something positive for the world in order to make any money.

I would be inclined to agree, however it just seems like treating the symptoms. I'm more motivated by the idea of the mindless oblivious pop culture elite deciding that voting isn't cool anymore, and just stop altogether. If all the stupid people who don't care stay away from the polls because Supernova said "voting sucks!" - then maybe we'll have a better chance at getting a decent candidate elected.

Or in not taking action based on disinterest and neglect of cease fire agreements made with aggressive countries that violate these agreements which could lead to political embarassment, disrespect and a continued loss of more innocent lives, not to mention uncalculative losses internationally. And I agree with Edtharan, proper scientific investigative behavior is necessary. Like satelite images and such. Also a heavy dose of common sense is good too. Like understanding that 6 months of warnings and diplomatic BS gives certain oppressive Hitler like dictators time to hide their goodies.