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Post by Colliohn on Jan 27, 2004 23:30:23 GMT -5
The reason people are against drilling for oil in Alaska is because that is one of the biggest untouched ecosystems in the US, and I think up there with the biggest left on Earth. It's more than just the trees. If we drill in that reserve, we destroy an entire ecosystem of life. All sorts of living entities would die simply because we want a black, gooey substance that burns to our liking which is under the ground up there in Alaska. If Bush would have spent half the money he spent on the war with Iraq on fuel cell research, or other alternate energy source research, we could greatly reduce our need of fossil fuels. (I'm not saying the war was about oil, I am saying we did spend a lot of money over there that money could have been used in a lot of other ways to benefit a lot more people, such as alternate energy source research.) Oh, and the 20 years thing. We are within 10 years of having mass-produced fuel-cell cars. In case you don't know what that means: fuel celled cars would need only water to run, and their only polution would be oxygen and water. That is, when the technology is perfected. Right now, we'd need hydrogen 'gas stations', but still, the only polution would simply be water, which is much better than the current plethora of toxins from oil burning cars. www.airproducts.com/Products/LiquidBulkGases/HydrogenEnergyFuelCells/HydrogenBasics.htmlook under the question: "Why is Hydrogen the Cleanest Fuel?" As to politics, I would consider myself a Democrat at the moment. I agree with most of the generalized democrat viewpoints, and would like to see some of their ideas put into action. I only wish the Democrats would unite behind a single candidate. If they could, I am sure s/he would give Bush a run for his money in the next election.
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Post by Nostradanus on Jan 27, 2004 23:48:29 GMT -5
on the scale of priorities this is how i see it
1. world stability/human rights .......................................................... 23. clean emissions from vehicles
and there are already millions/billions (im not sure of the exact figure) of dollars in federal funding for fuel cell research. It would be great to have clean efficient cars, but some things just have to come first. I do agree that alaska should remain a wildlife preserve, and not an oil field, i've been to alaska, its beautiful and i hope it stays that way, and if things don't go my way the next year or so, i might end up in alaska for college, since they accept nearly 90% of the applicants..hehe
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Post by JohnnyJihadFace on Jan 28, 2004 0:03:49 GMT -5
Bush has got to go.
And this isn't because I absolutely love another canidate or anything close to it, its because bush simply does not care about our constitution.
I really don't care if that sounds typical or not, more specifically typical coming from an atheist.
This man is trying to use PUBLIC TAX DOLLARS to fund religiously based social outreach programs as well as the building of christian churches
now for anyone who doesn't yet realize it, this is quite possibely the largest violation of separation of church and state in united states history.
To further my attack on bush's care for our constitution, he has stated that if state courts keep on ruling in favor of gay marraiges that he would make an attempt at adding an ammendment to the American constitution that states that marraige is between a man and a woman.
Now lets look at the man here, and try and determine where his reasons for this lay.
HIS RELIGION.
now i'm not ignorant enough to not believe that presidents put on the whole christian thing to make the people happy, but this man has made it obvious that he considers his bible our world's true authority, not our constitutional rights.
The man is just not that smart, its evident in watching him speak and through his actions. This leaves us with the glaring possibility that he hates the idea of gay marraige because christianity is against it, the idea that he doesnt give a damn what the law says about separating church and state because the bible tells christians that they don't have to abide by laws that restrict them as christians.
keep in mind that spreading the faith is something christians are supposed to do, law breaking or not.
Regardless of whether or not its dean or Kerry, I want bush out of office.
On one last note, I know little about either or them (dean/kerry) but I get the idea that dean doesnt really know enough of what he is talking about to be the president based on impression, however I love his enthusiasm.
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Post by Nostradanus on Jan 28, 2004 0:20:33 GMT -5
yeah i've read about the funding for social outreach programs, however i haven't heard anything that outright says "you can build churches with this money" i really don't have a problem for funding of church based outreach programs, and im a hardcore athiest. The fact of the matter is, church programs are good for communities for the most part, i just don't agree with their beliefs, but thats no reason to prevent them from helping people. its a means to an end, the end being a better place to live, and if that means is through a church that i disagree wtih, then so be it, if the outcome is better than the beginning. my family's had some hard times the past couple years, i've gone weeks without any adult at my house, due to one parent dying and the other being in the hospital for extended periods of time, and in those times, the church i used to go to, took care of us, they took turns making us meals and stuff, offered to do our laundry and mow the lawn, and clean the house....it doesn't mean i have to go pray or anything, im grateful for what they've done for us and we keep it at that. There is nothing wrong with church organizations helping out communties. The true purpose of seperation of church and state is to make sure that government decisions are not influenced by religious beliefs, beacuse not everyone has the same beliefs, but in the case of outreach programs, it doesn't matter what faith you are, the aid is for anyone of any creed, color, or sexual preference. onto the gay marrige thing, im no homophobe, i just happen to not migrate toward flocks of gay men, call me crazy, but that just doesn't sound like my cup of tea. however i think they should be able to get married or at least have the same rights as married couples, thats one place me and George disagree, but a dissagreement here and there is allowable, seeing as how we are all different with different ideas. to be honest with you though, im not gay, so i could really care less what happends one way or the other on this issue...sorry, i just don't have a will to care at this point, all im caring about right now is whether or not i will have school tomorrow, cause if i do i've got some finals to study for...and if they cancel school at the last minute, im gonna be pissed cause i did all that cramming for nothing
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Post by Colliohn on Jan 28, 2004 17:17:31 GMT -5
Just to clarify, the clean emissions of fuel cells are a low priority, I agree with that. What I feel is the high priority is getting rid of our dependence of fossil fuels. If we switched to fuel cells gradually over the next 20 years or so, we could stop drilling for oil within the next 10 years.
I'm not positive about this, but I think fuel cells could also be used for electricity in place of coal, oil, nuclear, whatever other power plants. That means we could effectively reduce our need of fossil fuels to zero before 2025, if the oil companies let us.
I was wrong about the emisisons, btw. The ONLY byproduct is simply water. When you burn something, you are oxidizing it quickly, meaning combining it with O2. What happens when you add Hydrogen and Oxgen? Water. And the only fuel necessary is water, because through electrolysis you can seperate it into Hydrogen and oxygen, burning the hydrogen using the oxygen that you just seperated. Very little water necessary, compared to the tens of gallons of gasoline, and all you have left over is water, which can then just be put right back into the system.
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Post by joelhaldeman on Jan 28, 2004 21:17:57 GMT -5
Well all this car stuff is going right over my head. Just a question though, which one is more likley water powered cars or electric cars? Cuz them hybrid cars are pretty cool, maybe there just one step closer to have a decent electric car. MMMMM I cant even begin to imagion a world where i dont have to pay $20 to feed my ford probe. Although if we started running off of water they would probably just jack up the price of water to woodstock prices and id cry equally as much.
I agree with Nostradanus, if a catholic or muslim or hindu or whatever organisation is going to help people then all power to them. If i had the choice i would send my tax dollars to a christian one but im not gonna complain about them helping people either way
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Post by Lynnet on Jan 28, 2004 22:25:50 GMT -5
I think we should start an atheist and/or agnostic charity group, and see if Bush would be for giving us money then. Crazy coot would probably be like "Uh-oh, you don't worship God or even that Allah dude....you must be even worse terrorists, going out and pretending to help people and then doing bad terrorist-like things...or something...God bless America!"
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Post by Colliohn on Jan 28, 2004 22:37:36 GMT -5
lol!
Nice imitation, though your grammar and diction were far too good. ;-)
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Post by JohnnyJihadFace on Jan 28, 2004 23:02:42 GMT -5
I think we should start an atheist and/or agnostic charity group, and see if Bush would be for giving us money then. Crazy coot would probably be like "Uh-oh, you don't worship God or even that Allah dude....you must be even worse terrorists, going out and pretending to help people and then doing bad terrorist-like things...or something...God bless America!" while you make a good point with your humor I must say: haahahahaah, that was hilarious, and the god bless america at the end after the struggle is simply too accurate of his character, or atleast how he seems to be. But back the point you made, as it relates to dan's post regarding mine. I agree, a social outreach program is a social outreach program, but there are problems. First, and a weak one, is that these groups use god as a reason for these people to improve, which breeds the same problems you and I are against, weakness, and dependency on a god figure within the majority of our population. Second, is that the government DOES NOT check up on how the churches with the programs spend the money, which means they could be using it on anything their bible hugging heart's desire, such as mission trips for conversion and such. Which uh...make me sick. Third, is that Bush would NOT fund atheistic social outreach programs which taught self-reliance and strength as a way of overcoming problems. He wouldn't do this because A. He is a christian whom I still believe holds his bible as the ultimate authority, not our laws, and B. because his reason for this faith based initiative is because christianity helped him through his drinking problem. Excuse me, but I don't give a damn what helped your alcoholism Mr. Bush, the fact that he was an alcoholic in the first place shows his level of responsibility. The fact that he wants to violate our constitution (which it is flagrantly doing, dan) because of his own feelings on the matter are cause for a lack of re-election.
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Post by Nostradanus on Jan 29, 2004 17:38:02 GMT -5
ok im going to respond to a couple things in here, since this thred is going two different directions... first off, yeah the hydrogen fuel cell thing is great, but the thing is, just shutting off the oil industry is not going to happen...A. because oil companies give ungodly amounts of money to presidential campaigns (yes you can buy a president if you have enough money) and B. Oil provides a link between the united states and other countries, this link is healthy for foreign relations, alot of people can overlook a couple problems here and there if america is sending them big fat checks for oil...and the other way around as well, we can overlook their bullshit if we are getting cheap oil from them...so yeah the fuel cell is a great thing, but is it going to happen any day in my fucking life....no probably not, it may on a small scale, but it will not completely cut off our dependence on oil....unless of course you can find a hydrogen fuel cell company with more money than the oil industry??...no i dind't think so..haha damn billionaires
secondly, yeah john, i know what your saying, but then again, has the government really ever checked up on anything it gives funding for...i mean holy shit, if you heard some of the miscelaneous things they give millions of dollars for in this country, you'd shit your pants. and they probably would give you money to study why you shit your pants. and also, if it violates our constitution so VIVIDLY as you say it does, then you don't have to worry about it, because it'll end up in the supreme court, where they will take giant shits all over it. I would like to see some athiest outreach groups get some funding too though if it were the case that bush did fund religious outreach groups.
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Post by JohnnyJihadFace on Jan 29, 2004 18:03:42 GMT -5
secondly, yeah john, i know what your saying, but then again, has the government really ever checked up on anything it gives funding for...i mean holy shit, if you heard some of the miscelaneous things they give millions of dollars for in this country, you'd shit your pants. and they probably would give you money to study why you shit your pants. and also, if it violates our constitution so VIVIDLY as you say it does, then you don't have to worry about it, because it'll end up in the supreme court, where they will take giant shits all over it. I would like to see some athiest outreach groups get some funding too though if it were the case that bush did fund religious outreach groups. very true, and hilarious. Take giant shits all over it, hahaha. I don't think it will go into effect either, atheist groups have already protested it and will continue, as well as the fact that the supreme court's sense would need to completely fuck off in order for something so ridiculous to get passed through. as for the oil, thats simply lame. sad but true, I guess describes it perfectly. the bottom line here is that money (greed), and foreign relations of the present are slowing down the progress of human beings as an entire race.
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Post by joelhaldeman on Jan 29, 2004 21:29:05 GMT -5
i heard someone once say that clinton gave some millions of dollars to study cow farting and its affect on the atmosphere
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Post by Nostradanus on Jan 29, 2004 22:40:03 GMT -5
yeah it was federal funding for the research of "cow fecal matter, and its effect on global warming"....haha basically saying that cow turds somehow are heating our planet....hahahhahaha i coulda put that million dollars to better use, like researching what i can buy with a million dollars
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Post by joelhaldeman on Feb 24, 2004 21:44:18 GMT -5
I would just like to make a public service announcment. I found out in american government this week that i am actually liberal, not conservative. As far as social issues go i am conservative but on the whole money spending policys and what not and form of government it turns out im very liberal. In fact i was halfway between liberal and extreem liberal.
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Post by Colliohn on Feb 25, 2004 10:48:04 GMT -5
lol... good for you joel Well, something I just found out yesterday that might concern some of you: Bush is trying to control religion via government. I looked up the definition of "Civil Union", and it gives all the benefits of marriage to same sex couples. The only difference is it doesn't involve religion. Bush, btw, is ok with Civil Unions, but not same sex marriages. What does this mean? Bush is saying religions now don't have the choice to give this option at all, and while this might not be too big of a deal to some of you, just think what might happen if Bush gets away with controlling religion in this little way. He could try again, controlling a little bit more, then more, and more. Losing any religious freedoms could lead to losing ALL or a great many more religious freedoms. Don't support government control of religion.
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