-- Modified on 9/28/2008 6:52:33 PM

Caribou Barbie does.

Plenty of people agree with her.  I'm curious to know how many of our GOP friends do as well.

...we gotta shore up the economy, ya know!

worried about dinosaurs.

now 7 years old... and going for 4 or 8 more...

given that our leadership has for the past 16 years lied to us... ok, in one instance it was about BJ's in the whitehouse... and in another about WMD... but lies are lies - and the fact that one goof ball got away with lying to us... made it all the more easy for another goof ball to lie to us about more serious stuff... stuff that is getting some of us killed..

as to the future 4 or 8 - think of it this way - Obama is too inexperienced to deal with the saavy washington dc crowd... and in fact will be raw meat for them... while McCain can claim all he wants about being Maverick.. (by the way I did no like the Cruise character in that movie anyway)... but know what - he has been in Washington DC and awfully long time.... what does that make him... a Washington DC insider...

so if either one gets elected do you really think we are going to have a different path forward...????   crisis moment.... try quarter to a third of a century.... that is more accurate.

I'm not worried about dinosaurs, Breaker.  I'm worried about a continuation of policies that are anti-science.  

Because we're competing against countries in a global economy that produces more engineers that we do and is closing the technology gap very quickly.  And a government led by people who don't think science is real is only going to accelerate the slide.

not because of any policies that are anti-science. If what you state is true what anti-science policies have caused other countries to close the so-called technology gap. Your conclusion that we are led by people who don't think science is real, is really pretty funny. Most polticians are lawyers they could not tell you the difference between a theory and scientific law. Wormwood is an encellent example, of someone who thinks they know science but really don't.

-- Modified on 9/28/2008 11:22:40 PM

What policies have caused other countries to close the technology gap?  Glad you asked...

How about a government that cedes a medical technology advantage because they won't support stem cell research?  A study by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions projected that "medical tourism" of American Citizens traveling abroad was going to increase eightfold in the next 2 years.  There are already examples of breakthroughs in stem cell science by other countries.  I'm no economist but to me that means investment that could have been pouring into the United States that will be going elsewhere.

Pretty funny, isn't it?

here in California we have Bio-tech such as Gilead Sciences, Genetech etc. that are doing just fine. IN San Francisco the University of California in a consortium with industry will embark on a $3 billion construction project for a Biotech research campus that will include facilities for stem-cell projects.

I haven't studied the increase in medical tourism but could it be people are seeking cosmetic surgery treatments excluded by medical isnurance policies. As far as scientific breakthroughs in other countries, well buddy I will state an opinion, we are transforming from an empire of production to an economy of consumption. We are agree on something, our economy is on the decline but it't not because we believe dinosaurs lived with man etc. but because we no longer reward industry and thrift.

This $700 Billion bailout is rewarding incompetent corporate leaders who hide behind lawyers. This $700 billion bailout will create a moral hazard that will futher decline our economy. I do think we may agree on sometning else, that rationality and analysis has been replaced by ideologues.

Personally, I would like a political officeholder to have a science degree than a law degree. I wish we would ban lawyers and MBAs from becoming politicians.

And corporations need tax relief to stimulate the economy

And Sarah Palin has foreign policy experience

And we're winning the war on terrorism

I think we won.  I'm pretty sure the surge was televised and led by FDR for the Battle of San Juan Hill.  Good thing they had handicapped parking back then.

Plus we celebrate our scientists and engineers little.  We pay most scientists on a par with a middle sales rep - OR LESS.!!!

Our Universities are ok with respect to science education, but they need to be better... the rest of the world is RAPIDLY catching up to us... and curiously in some respects passing us.  I really could care less about palentology - and if Palin does or does not believe in dinosaurs... I'm not electing her to the local school board... If she wishes to appear dumb and uneducated - well, that is her problem.  

I am interested in a national agenda to prioritize how my tax dollars for research in energy, medicine and technology (electronic, communications, computing, nanotechnology and geology) are spent.  ALL TOO OFTEN it is souly a political consideration and not a national needs consideration....  

You are correct in your worry.... about science education.  

We need to understand - there is an appropriate place and purpose to religion.... just as there is an appropriate place and purpose for scientific endeavors.... WE need ethics to guide both.  Yea, that is correct - neither preacher men nor sceintists types can be left to their own devices to behave approriately... after all, when $$$ is involved folks do not always act as pillars of the community.

-- Modified on 9/29/2008 9:15:35 AM

leadership, except the dinosaurs in congress.

A failure to plan long term national scientific research initiatives hurts this country - Japan, India, China, Germany, Even France and other countries do plan their national research agenda... it is no surprise that the super colider was NOT built in the US!  We've essentially given up space exploration... at a time when we need it.

As to medical research - well, our research funding in that area is driven by 2 forces... first political. As an example of a biomedical research focus, spending on Breast cancer exceeds research expenditures on prostate cancer - but if you look at the anticipated # of cases in the coming year it is 184,450 cases or Breast cancer as contrasted wtih 218,890 new cases of prostate cancer... go figure.  guess we dudes are unimportant.

YOU TELL ME THAT IS NOT DISCRIMINATION!

And you sir - are very much correct about a nation of consumption.  we are consuming ourselves... why?  Why are we so morally bankrupt that our only mechanism to achieve self-esteem and worth is going to the store and purchasing something.....??? how did we go from saving the world during WWII - to destroying ourselves...????

If you ask me, it is emphasis on incorrect things.  it is a failure to recognize what is important for each of us, for our families and for our nation.... but hey, I'm only a funny looking green dude... with a strange handle on a discussion site dealing with escorts - and the men who frequent them.

Modern Homosapiens didn't appear until about 200,000 years ago.

The dinosaurs died 65 million years ago.



-- Modified on 9/29/2008 9:14:23 AM

The world will be run by damn dirty apes.  Bow down to your ape masters.

Breaker buddy,

I'm in California too.  And I've heard about Genetech and the others.  My point is that the whole thing could be moved along much faster with a bigger push from the government.  And while government is bad at plenty of things, it's pretty good at recruiting talent for ambitious technology projects like tapping the potential of stem cell research.  The bottom line to me is that we're ceding an area of technology because in this case the government is anti-science.

However, I agree with pretty much everything else you said.  We are transforming our economy from production to financial management.  I remember reading somewhere that the same process has played out with the decline of other empires.

But it also brings up another aspect of the GOP (or at least Bush) being anti-science.  By denying the man made component of global warming it undercuts the argument for investing in alternative technologies.  There's no way you'll convince me that the right is as committed to renewable energy as the left.  Some country is going to develop an affordable, renewable alternative to fossil fuels.  What if it's China?  What if it's Russia?  

Admittedly I'm a tree hugger, but I believe America's leverage in the world will shrink even further unless we become an engine of invention again and the take the lead in alternative energy technology.

If your boy McCain does win the election, I hope to God that the Palin wing of your party doesn't control the agenda and his belief in the danger of Global Warming informs his policy decisions.

that mandate from me is strictly driven by a couple of issues, first - politically speaking - we cannot be at the mercy of any other country for our energy needs... that is unsupportable.

Second, we can eventually exhause petroleum... that would be bad because a lot of the chemical industry depends on the byproducts from gas production... I am a bit astonished that many do not appreciate this fact...

There is no tree hugger in the world as concerned about energy independance than someone with a right wing - national sovereignty concern... which I do have...  

Our current course just makes no sense.

Our current course just makes no sense.

-- Modified on 9/29/2008 10:29:05 AM

Bizzaro,

As long as we have the same end goal you are my ally.  Again it seems we've got common ground, although I'd quibble with which side has a greater commitment to alternative energy.

that the current energy industry has NO incentive to change.  They control production, distribution and price.  Not a good mix.  Ever notice that when talking of something like solar - which once you purchase the equipment, you are "off the grid" how this seems to rattle the cages of the utility execs... with statements like "oh, you won't have enough" or "you've no right to keep you excess energy"....

there are a lot of false concepts out there.... but given a big enough budget - you CAN build an energy independant home... a combination of Geo-heat exchange, solar (both for heating and electricity generation), biodiesal, and waste conversion into a combustable fuel.... But not many have resources enough to accomplish this... for my part, I would love that - lower my living cost...  quite a bit.

Our national priority needs to be energy independance... quite simply put that would enable a better ability to ensure our ability to protect our country...

So - how do we get there....  that is the question....  one which we need national answers to.

not 6000 years ago, but 1,000,000 years ago.  It must be true, i saw it in the movies.   Raquel Welch was some knockout cavewoman when i was a kid.

BTW, i had a friendd whose neighbor bel;ieved that the Native americans used to hunt dinosaurs with bows-and-arrows.  I think the guy ws putting me on, or really smoked too much non-tobacco product.

anti-science but rather they have a poor knowledge of science. I can't tell you specifically my job but I will say this, if you hAVE to deal with public officials you be flabbergasted by their lack of engineering principles, mathematics, science and most of all common sense.

I mean what acturial tables is Washington using that project our  entitlement programs as economically sustainable, is just one example. When I have had to submit change orders because of engineering flaws in the design plans these public officials all they can say: "Well it's not in the contract". Somehow they think I can change the law of gravity to accomodate a public officials whim.

In regards to the environment I am tree hugger as well. I used to even track animals.

The reason I hesitate to announce to Global Warming as a problem is not because of Dinosaurs but rather we are not addressing the root problem. The root problem is that our thinking has to change. We think in the short-term rather than think for our posterity. As a conservative I want to converse our resources that God has Blessed us with. It is our responsiblity.

I see land mis-use as one of our root problems.
Forget Hybrid vehicles as a solution reduce environmental stress; we simply do not have not enough land to accomodate expanding freeways. WE build houses in flood and fire prone areas that endanger the environment and our financial risk management system. If you think Global Warming is a problem, wait until water becomes an issue.

If you want to still argue and discuss if Dinosaurs lived with Man, well it's a free country and I will continue to fight for your right to disagree with me.

Do alligators and crocodiles count??? They were here a million years ago. LOL.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/newsquotes.asp

Palin  did not say thatand it was  all made up

fresh that would be a problem, but it is salt as well...