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Simon21

Listed below are comments made by Simon21 between Tuesday, 20th October 2009 and Friday, 27th November 2009.

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Is Obama serious about climate change? 5:22pm on 27 Nov 2009 148. At 4:16pm on 27 Nov 2009, MarcusAureliusII wrote:
Simple Simon

"Er the same way you have to observe the speed limit and not mow down pedestrians or children in the streets."

So European Commissioners can drive down city streets at 140 miles an hour and mow people down with impunity too? Is that your argument."

No its yours and, as usual, it does not make any sense.

"When I see the leaders of the EU and President Obama driven around in chauffeur driven Prius' I'll consider it, not before."
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Go ahead, no one cares what you think. Prius or not you do not have an option to obey the law. Try driving at any speed you fancy (or indeed at any reasonable speed) and see how long you last.

Have you actually driven in the US? The police and traffic regs are crazy. More laws/regs than communist Moscow.
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"They are no better than I am, in fact from what I can tell, they aren't even as good."
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But they won elections and were appointed so they are empowered to speak for you.

Or are you saying the President of the US does not speak for the US but you do King Canute?

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"All they've done is found ways to get more money and political power whether their work was worth it or not."

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Wacky do, as you point out the word here is power. They have it, you don't.

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In our system, that does not make them privileged. Not from a democratic point of view, not from an American point of view.

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It does mean they help make the laws though - from a common sense point of view.

And they pay the police etc who enforce them.

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Maybe like all Europeans I've seen you will genuflect before them. Me, I'm more inclined to spit at them instead for their hubris if nothing else.
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I've told you before Mad Marcus I am not European (I am not black either incidently) - but you are incredibly pompous.
Getting to grips with Thanksgiving Day 4:10pm on 27 Nov 2009 68. At 04:28am on 27 Nov 2009, AnonymousCalifornian wrote:
Thanksgiving is one of the few major traditions Americans have - we don't roll wheels of cheese down a hill, after all."

No, but apparently according to Mark you eat Eels with Cherry custard. If this filthy concoction appeared at any meal I was asked to eat - celebration or not, it would be the host/hostess who would get a roasting.
Is Obama serious about climate change? 3:57pm on 27 Nov 2009 142. At 3:17pm on 27 Nov 2009, MarcusAureliusII wrote:
Who the hell are Europeans or President Obama to tell me that I have to take a bus or a train when I want to drive a car or to drive an miserable little underpowered econobox when I can have a big comfortable high powered machine that will protect me in a crash with one of those semi-rigs barreling down the highway just so that people in China and India can increase their CO2 output and live more comfortable lives? "

Er the same way you have to observe the speed limit and not mow down pedestrians or children in the streets.

its called the law which they are very keen on in the US - having so many of them (and lawyers).

I will fight the criminal cap and trade carbon tax that would suck American dry."

Wow Gettysburg all over again. "Advance the flag of Dixie General Pickett!"

"Opps, oh dear, how many men are left?"

" Instead I will push for increased exploration and exploitation of the vast reserves of oil in Alaska and elsewhere such as off shore, increased use of coal, and increased use of natural gas. Once we have enough oil and new oil refineries for our gasoline needs, we can turn farm land back into producing food so that we can get the price at the supermarket back to where it belongs. And the rest of the world can go kiss off."

Yes King Canute. Alternatively we could get Dorothy to make a big wish with her red slippers and all the pollution etc will simply dissapear along with all the "not nice" people.
Getting to grips with Thanksgiving Day 2:46pm on 27 Nov 2009 1. At 12:03pm on 26 Nov 2009, powermeerkat wrote:
Turkey (a quintessential American bird) has been called turkey, because of a mistaken belief that it originated in Turkey.

Just like many people still believe Panama hat was made in Panama, English muffins come fromn England, Belgian waffles from Belgium and Lisbon Treaty has been concocted by the Portuguese."

And Kentucky bluegrass comes from the UK as does tapdancing (Lancashire) and cowboys (a yorkshire word)

Many of the original Turkeys were imported from Europe, where they had been bred for some time.
Is Obama serious about climate change? 2:05pm on 27 Nov 2009 132. At 07:24am on 27 Nov 2009, KScurmudgeon wrote:

Several commenters to this environmental topic have defended our traditional American pursuit of bigger, faster, flashier vehicles as part of our way of life. While I doubt any of them would object if the vehicle of their choice suddenly got ten or twenty more miles per gallon I dare say all of them, including me, would strenuously object if they were told they had to justify their choice of vehicle to anyone, or if they learned that their use of it was to be restricted or surcharged to force them to use less fuel."
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Object away. Presumably you object to speed limits and Zebra crossings oh and being forced to drive on the rhs as well?
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My wife and I live very comfortably and within our means on middling salaries - and I understand that the vigorous economy that has made this possible throughout my lifetime is fueled by the endless cycle of tawdry merchandising, demeaned goods, poorer service, and the insatiable appetites of my countrymen. America is the greatest market in the world because our workers have more disposable income than any other nation's - because our taxes are lower and our productivity higher than in the other developed economies.
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Just a bit odd then that so many people in this earthly paradise go hungry and die younger than in many other developed countries.

And also a bit odd that so many US Manufacturers set up in Mexico and China etc
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America simply is not Europe.
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It is not Mars either it is on a place called Earth
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In the American system, if a million people have a problem, a thousand inventors or entrepreneurs (actually, it must be both) will attack it, and a dozen or dozens of solutions will hit the market. People who need a solution will consider the offerings and choose one or more that appear to meet their own circumstances. In a short time those that really work will develop distribution networks and the inevitable knock-offs, and competition will make a choice of solutions that are tailored to local and personal needs will be available.
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And this will solve the global problem of climate change? It might work for better mousetraps, but not for facing a Global climate catastrophe in which the US needs the agreement of other countries.

It would have to be some entrepreneur to come up with a means to reverse the climate on his own.

Where I come from we call these people Goanna oil salesmen.

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Centralized systems don't work like this. Sorry. When free market systems fail to get the job done, it is because someone has intervened to prevent it - the monopolist, the blind regulator, the myopic megalomaniac are likely examples.
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So the market works unless it doesn't - then its someone elses fault?

Isn't this the Communists excuse - brilliant system, except for the people who use it?

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We didn't change from gas light to electricity because it was cleaner,
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Oh didn't we? SO what were the ads claiming electricity was a "clean new medium" then? A new clean modern wonder?

Don't resort to history if you don't know any.

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or because the government insisted that we help pay for the grid. We did it because it was much better light for the money - and cleaner. If you want the U.S. or the world, for that matter, to use cleaner energy you must make it more efficient in miles or kilowatts per dollar. You can have more freedom and live cleaner lives if you first liberate and motivate your creativity.
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Yeah meanwhile we all drown (or those in New Orleans do) creativity does not need to be "liberated". Anyone who has lived in the third world knows the poor are some of the most creative people on the planet -they have to be.
Britain: Putting the bite on the States 6:17pm on 21 Nov 2009 256. At 01:56am on 21 Nov 2009, MarcusAureliusII wrote:
To me the stereotype of Britain is trying to get by on the cheap, a nation of muddlers."

To me the stereotype of people in New Jersey is Tony Soprano gunning down another woman. gangster etc.

The stereotype of Baltimore seems to be drugs and a whole city given over to corruption and anarchy

But that is why stereotyping is so ridiculous
Will Karzai play ball? 11:36pm on 20 Oct 2009 82. At 11:07pm on 20 Oct 2009, colonelartist wrote:
Can you name another country whihc is allowed to steal land and occupy a whole people without criticism - including the PRC?
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usa.australia? One of these two. And Canada etc

In Modern times of course, when we are supposed to be against this sort of thing

Except if the culprits are nice white israelies
Will Karzai play ball? 10:54pm on 20 Oct 2009 68. At 7:38pm on 20 Oct 2009, MagicKirin wrote:
ref #65

If anyone can tell me why a different standard should apply to Israel than any other country yes. But Simon seems to think that terrorist attacks are justified and defending one's self agianst terrorist attacks is not."

Occupying a whole people is terrorism end of story.

Can you name another country whihc is allowed to steal land and occupy a whole people without criticism - including the PRC?

Just one please.
Will Karzai play ball? 10:53pm on 20 Oct 2009 69. At 8:16pm on 20 Oct 2009, David_Cunard wrote:
#60. GH1618: "David_Cunard . . . By "US politics" I meant federal politics, not state politics. Obviously, it is not practical for Mr. Mardell to follow state politics around the US generally, although sometimes a state issue might be of national interest."

I would have thought the issues of marijuana legalisation, gay marriage and assisted suicide would be of international interest, not merely national."

Yes bit of a shock to you David but the Northern Territory had assisted suicide - one of the first western polities to do so. Why should US local politics be more important than other countries?

"Those who live beyond America's shores forget that individual State matters can affect the entire country, if not the world. Had California not mandated strict vehicular emissions standards, the British motor industry (such as it is) and that of the rest of Europe could not have sold its product in the most populous state and thence elsewhere."

Yes how many people in the US know the difference in Koori rights between the various Australian states? How many know the political differences between the SA provinces?

"The Oregonian passage of assisted suicide is oft mentioned by others when the subject of euthanasia is discussed and the continuing debate over gay marriage has nationwide potential. The latter is not a matter of domestic or civil partnership (as in the UK) but fully-fledged matrimony. There is far more to American politics than what happens in Washington. Unlike Parliament, the Congress has only very limited powers, all others being delegated to the States."

Ditto Australia, SA, Canada etc. You seem to think local rights are a US phenomenon. Do you know what rights the Swiss Cantons have?

#61. Simon21: "Sorry to see childish abuse amuses you David. It is the sign a of a puerile mind."

I'm not amused in the least, but it does seem to fit you."

You won't mind if I call you Drippy David then?

"Apart from the fact that Alaskan politics are probably deeply uninteresting . . ."

probably deeply uninteresting? How would anyone know if it's not reported? The matter of oil drilling would be of international concern."

Well gee David, Moldavian provincial politics are not reported either, maybe they are intriguing eh?

And Alaskan oil dirlling is occasionally reported, but not much.

"there is also the ever so slight point that he would have to cover all states or stand accused of political preference."

Rubbish! If that were the case it is just as well Mark was not here during the primaries and ensuing election - and I suppose by the same logic there will be no local reporting of the mid-term elections. He doesn't need to demonstrate his partisan preference, just to report on the issues which form American life."

Yes Rubbish isn't an argument Davey my lad. My point stands. If Mark was to cover the vigorous visceral debate on rubbish collection in Lincoln Nebraska, the good folk of Wyoming might wonder why their fascinating political struggles were ignored.

"the idea that the desperate political struggle for control of the Idaho potato board would interest anyone outside of that state is ridiculous."

Now who's being puerile?"

Good idea when not wanting to seem idiotic is to answer the points Davey. You have not answered one.

In general there is no interest or reason for mark to cover American State politics, which, compared to those of India (say) do not warrant much of a mention.
Will Karzai play ball? 10:41pm on 20 Oct 2009 . At 8:45pm on 20 Oct 2009, GH1618 wrote:
"Apart from the fact that Alaskan politics are probably deeply uninteresting ..." (#61)

Alaska politics (and news) can be interesting, but the place to read about it is adn.com."

yes quite. Tasmanian politics can be very interesting, and rather cute, but the place to read about them is on the state sites and newspapers

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