State of the Union

[olyclimber]

[video:youtube]SmL2XAnvjQE

[ZimZam]

Stevens is going to retire and Ginsberg looked like she was gonna croak in her seat. That'll be two liberal appointments Barry can make. Then of course it'll be partisan politics all over again. The republicans will never forgive/forget Reagan's attempt to add Bork and his subsequent rejection.

[tvashtarkatena]

Yeah, but Bjork added a letter to his name, had the operation, and went on to be a really weird Euro pop star....

[tvashtarkatena]

For the record, Fremont (WA) doesn't have an ACLU chapter. Plus, I don't live there. Finally, I think I might have been really stoned when I passed the LSAT....

 

 

[ZimZam]

Yeah, but Bjork added a letter to his name, had the operation, and went on to be a really weird Euro pop star....

[prole]

Stevens is going to retire and Ginsberg looked like she was gonna croak in her seat. That'll be two liberal appointments Barry can make.

 

Really? He could always try an FDR-esque court stacking scheme. Constitutional even!

[mattp]

What is this reference to "passing" the LSAT? Don't you just "take" the LSAT? Last I looked your score was a factor to be considered in law school admissions but there was no pass or fail.

[Hugh Conway]

What is this reference to "passing" the LSAT? Don't you just "take" the LSAT? Last I looked your score was a factor to be considered in law school admissions but there was no pass or fail.

 

you haven't figured out yet that ttk is a colostomy bag?

[minx]

yes, the union really is in quite a state. why all the fuss about it now? was there a pep rally or something that i missed?

[ivan]

yes, the union really is in quite a state. why all the fuss about it now? was there a pep rally or something that i missed?

jefferson davis lost

[Fairweather]

Obama using the occasion of a State of the Union speech to personally blast the Supreme Court and lecture the Democrat-controlled Senate in a paternal-like fashion is downright scary. My guess is that some folks are really scratching their heads about this guy today.

the only folks scratching their heads are fools like you who were never on homeboy's side to begin w/ and in fact want nothing more than to see him fall flat on is face, no matter what it takes, even if collectively the whole country goes down the sitter in the process

 

was it a break from tradition? sure - but it was dipshit tradition to begin with - pretend to play all nice and ignore the cocksuckers who are working hard to make the world a worse place? no thanks. hey check it out - the sou hasn't always been this way- everyone from jefferson to wilson just wrote it down. traditions change.

Fools like me, eh? Who are "working hard to make America a worse place?" Are you serious? Trying to make America a better place via naive bullshit like his health care reform "plan" won't help anyone. I think I've given Obama credit where it's due, but the incompatibility of his ideology with American norms was apparent well before "fools like you" elected him. His inexperience (on a par with that of, say, Sarah Palin) was on display the other night as well, and the decorum that you poo poo at the very least helps maintain a facade that sets our presidents apart from dictatorial thugs. Obama's State of the Union speech wasn't at all about the state of the union--it was about Obama.

[prole]

...but the incompatibility of his ideology with American norms...

 

Please elaborate.

[Doug]

Thanks for bringing Palin up. Experience on Par with Obama? give me a break! Intellectually? Not even freakin' close! Did you see her Fox News clip lambasting the SOTU? Since when did "mandation" (used in the context of "to mandate")become a part of the english language?

[prole]

Fools like me, eh? Who are "working hard to make America a worse place?" Are you serious?

 

Just out of curiosity, how many more decades in power would it take you folks to turn the Earth into a complete shithole? Just a ballpark figure. Thanks in advance.

[billcoe]

Just out of curiosity, how many more decades in power would it take you folks to turn the Earth into a complete shithole? Just a ballpark figure. Thanks in advance.

 

Same as the other folks of course. It's all same-same, don't you read jbs posts? Jbs got it this way Obama = Bush. In fact, hard to argue with him as many of this Presidents policys and appointees are identical to the last one.

 

Same as it ever was.

[prole]

Same as it ever was.

 

Not really. But hey, whatever it takes to get you through the day.

 

Earth facing 'catastrophic' loss of species

 

The Guardian, Thursday 20 July 2006

 

The Earth is on the brink of "major biodiversity crisis" fuelled by the steady destruction of ecosystems, a group of the world's most distinguished scientists and policy experts warn today.

 

Nineteen leading specialists in the field of biodiversity, including Robert Watson, chief scientist at the World Bank, and Professor Georgina Mace, director of the Institute of Zoology, are calling for the urgent creation of a global body of scientists to offer advice and urge governments to halt what they call a potentially "catastrophic loss of species".

 

Destruction of natural habitats and the effects of climate change are causing species to die out at 100 to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate, leading some scientists to warn we are facing the next mass extinction.

 

Nearly one-quarter of the world's mammals, one-third of amphibians and more than one-tenth of bird species are threatened with extinction. Climate change alone is expected to force a further 15%- 37% of species to the brink of extinction within the next 50 years.

 

Writing in the journal Nature today, the experts from 13 nations urge for the new body, the international mechanism of scientific expertise on biodiversity (Imoseb), to be set up to force better biodiversity policies around the world.

 

"We are on the verge of a major biodiversity crisis. Virtually all aspects of diversity are in steep decline and a large number of populations and species are likely to become extinct this century. Despite this evidence, biodiversity is still consistently undervalued and given inadequate weight in both private and public decisions," the authors say.

 

The new body will be modelled loosely on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a collection of the world's top climate scientists that is convened to assess the latest research on climate change and its potential implications. Because the IPCC is funded by governments, it carries sufficient clout to influence international and regional policy.

 

Dr Watson, a former chairman of the IPCC, said the Imoseb may face a tougher task than the IPCC because biodiversity is often more complex than climate change. An 18-month consultation is under way to agree how the body will accumulate scientific evidence, identify causes of damage and recommend ways to limit or reverse them.

 

In May, the World Conservation Union said the number of known threatened species stood at 16,119. Polar bears, desert gazelles and sharks were all added to the list of species facing extinction. Melting ice caps, hunting and over-fishing were identified as the culprits.

 

"Whether it's forests, marine systems, grasslands, you name it, they are in disrepair," said Dr Watson. "For the sake of the planet, the biodiversity science community has to create a way to get organised, to coordinate its work across disciplines, and together with one clear voice advise governments on steps to halt the potentially catastrophic loss of species already occurring."

[j_b]

Just out of curiosity, how many more decades in power would it take you folks to turn the Earth into a complete shithole? Just a ballpark figure. Thanks in advance.

 

Same as the other folks of course. It's all same-same, don't you read jbs posts? Jbs got it this way Obama = Bush. In fact, hard to argue with him as many of this Presidents policys and appointees are identical to the last one.

 

Same as it ever was.

 

No. I never said that Obama was the same as Bush. I said that all of the important decisions Obama made this year favored the corporate status quo. I believe Obama is center-right, i.e. a technocrat/3rd-way/corporatist (a la Blair/Clinton) pseudo Democrat whereas Bush was hard right. Obama will respond to some extent to genuine populist pressures to do the right thing, if said pressure materializes. In the same situation, Bush would demonize genuine populists and eventually would send in the mercenaries and the National Guard to squelch any velleity of dissent.

[tvashtarkatena]

Fools like me, eh? Who are "working hard to make America a worse place?" Are you serious?

 

Just out of curiosity, how many more decades in power would it take you folks to turn the Earth into a complete shithole? Just a ballpark figure. Thanks in advance.

 

The earth is a shithole now, so that would be zero generations.

 

Within one or two generations, certainly, we'll probably experience a massive, step function 'correction' in climate, and it won't be for the benefit of the angry hairless monkeys.

[prole]

Same as it ever was.

 

Again, not really.

 

[video:youtube]