FEMA

dl meckes · Post by **dl meckes** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:50 pm

Thanks, Bret,

I've been hearing Joe Cocker singing "Cry Me a River" all morning!

Ivor Karabatkovic · Post by **Ivor Karabatkovic** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:51 pm

I come from a country where you have four garbage cans in the house. one for the plastics, one for the cans, one for the organic stuff, and one for everything else.

we took weekly trips to the store to return our glass bottles.

If anyone wants to make the environment better, we have to recycle. we have to make recycling a part of our daily lives...and that's impossible here in America. People don't have time to figure out what goes in what garbage can.

To most Americans, it would be like a baby trying to fit the triangle toy into the circle hole. It just won't fit, and they can't figure out why.

I haven't seen the movie and I really don't want to anytime soon.

Bret,
science has proven everything in this world. are you one of those people that still believes that the earth is the center of the universe?

Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:58 pm

Bret,
I would rather be floating in a river with liberals, than sitting in a dried up drought with the others.

Bret Callentine · Post by **Bret Callentine** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:24 pm

science has proven everything in this world.

Yeah, like when they proved that light was a particle, except when it isn't.

or like when they proved evolution, except for that whole 'irreducibly complex system' problem.

Science is always "proving" something new. And that's great, right up until someone comes along and proves it false.

Science is great, but mostly it shows us how little we know, and how much less we actually control.

Ivor Karabatkovic · Post by **Ivor Karabatkovic** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:31 pm

You can believe what the good book tells you about evolution.

I'll believe what science has taught me.

we can agree to disagree.

The fact is that your vision of science is tainted, just like how the catholic church banned the teachings of copernicus, gallileo, kepler and isaac newton because it went against their theory, which ended up being true.

I just wanted to point that out to the rest of the readers.

Charyn Compeau · Post by **Charyn Compeau** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:43 pm

Disclaimer: This is admittedly anecdotal

The majority of scientists we know (and between my husband - a chemist by trade - and I we know quite a few) are deeply religious.

So I really have to take exception to the notion that one can only hold one belief or another.

And as for how this ties into this thread - it really doesn't matter which way you blow because science is overwhelmingly becoming more concerned about the environment in total - recommending that humaity as a whole clean up their act - and all of the common holy books, The Bible, The Torah, and The Quaran are clear in their direction to the devout to be good stewards of the earth.

And each other.

FEMA isnt perfect, our government isnt perfect, nor are any of us. The best we can do is let our elected officials know, over and over and over again, how important this is to us.

Have a lovely weekend all,
Charyn

Ivor Karabatkovic · Post by **Ivor Karabatkovic** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 4:02 pm

FEMA isnt perfect, our government isnt perfect

when you pay taxes and for those trailers then you have to hope that they're damn near perfect when it comes to an event like the Arkansas tornado or Hurricane Katrina.

you're absolutely right we have to let our elected officials know. we have to let our president know. he just doesn't want to hear it or do anything about it.

Bret Callentine · Post by **Bret Callentine** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 4:03 pm

Ivor,

I'll extend the same challenge offered by Michael Behe... Tell me one thing about Evolution that has been proved as true.

Ask your teachers the same thing. If they're honest, they'll tell you the same thing I will. The theory of evolution is just that, a theory.

if you're curious, the book I'm referring to is called "Darwin's Black Box". It's a great read, I highly recommend it.

Ivor Karabatkovic · Post by **Ivor Karabatkovic** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:25 pm

Tell me one thing about Evolution that has been proved as true.

the fact that the DNA (chromosomes) of monkeys (our "relatives" in evolution) and the DNA of humans is 99.9% identical.

Read that in Time magazine.

Bret please don't get the impression that I'm launching a personal attack on you. That's not the case at all.

I'm just trying to prove my point by showing other readers that some people watch the Gore movie and look at it as scientific, and some just don't believe in science for a number of reasons.

What we all, as decent humans, can agree on is that FEMA failed to do what it's supposed to do when katrina and the tornado in Arkansas hit. Whether it was caused by global warming or not, we might never know.

I'll do my part and recycle..throw away my garbage in public...cut up the plastic can holder things that the birds might choke on at the garbage dump.. and I'll drive as little as possible.

My view is that the global warming issue has been going for too long and there's little we can do (other than eat hamburgers) to help things get better.

I won't sit here and ponder about what will happen 500 years down the road. I have plenty of issues in the present that I need to get figured out first!

Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:36 pm

Ivor,
No one your age thinks that far ahead let alone a fraction of those years! But the fact they you do recycle is more than a lot of adults do! I don't blame you for being angry at what you see as inadequacies in this country. If many here are frustrated, then I can't imagine coming from another country and witnessing some of the "crimes" that happen here.

What is remarkable about your family, like others I have seen forced to leave their land and come here with nothing, is every time I saw them (all of you) there is a smile and and a friendly wave. Never a scowl, never a complaint. Your parents came with almost nothing and made a life here. They work, they take care of their home and their children, and make perfect citizens. Then their children do well in school, stay off drugs, and have intelligent conversations. It doesn't even matter to me if you disagree with things I agree with, or with others, that fact that you have informed opinions outweigh many American teenagers who grew up with everything, and just don't care.

Off the fema subject, but had to say it.

Bret Callentine · Post by **Bret Callentine** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:40 am

the fact that the DNA (chromosomes) of monkeys (our "relatives" in evolution) and the DNA of humans is 99.9% identical.

Read that in Time magazine.

sorry, Ivor, but it's only about 95%. But even with that, because things are similar does not prove evolution. Two paintings can be nearly identical, but that does not prove that one evolved from the other. We share similarities with many species, from the cellular on up, but there is no way to show a timeline of evolution by using the two ends.

Once again, I'll refer you to the book.

I have no problem with them teaching about the theory itself, on the whole I find it a fascinating guess as to the origin of man. But, it is still just a guess and should not be given the kind of reverence that it is.

Charyn Compeau · Post by **Charyn Compeau** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:44 am

In all fairness, I can ask the same question about creationism

And in all fairness, the fact that something is a theory does not mean it is 'suspicious' or weak in factual basis

think theory of relativity

I do think this is an interesting subject and that you should start a new thread about it though!!

Charyn
(playing hooky from spring cleaning!)

Grace O'Malley · Post by **Grace O'Malley** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:58 am

People bandy about the word "theory" without any real concept if what it means from a scientific standpoint.

Unlike common use, a theory in scientific circles is not just a guess. It is a framework for making predictions based on repeated observations and has been subjected to repeated testing.

Of course, we hear the term used colloquially to mean a guess, or hunch, as when a detective investigates a crime and comes up with his "theory" of what happened and who did it. This is NOT the correct meaning of the word in scientific use.

Because people often do not understand this, they think they can denigrate scientific theories as being no more than a good guess.

DougHuntingdon · Post by **DougHuntingdon** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:37 am

I see another global warming march, this time near Boston, is being heavily disrupted by another winter storm.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... ange_trek/

Ivor, were the four indoor recycling trash cans in Russia? The Pravda seems to paint quite a different story. Then again, the Pravda has never been recognized as the international Bible of honesty during its illustrious history. A guy I know on Clifton recently told me that in Russia your dog can *** and ***** and *** anywhere it wants, and no one cares. ?!?!?!? He was upset at being harrassed for not picking up after his dog.

http://english.pravda.ru/society/storie ... ecycling-0

Doug

Ivor Karabatkovic · Post by **Ivor Karabatkovic** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:49 am

Bret,

I'll recommend this article to you from Time.

"Scientists figured out decades ago that chimps are our nearest evolutionary cousins, roughly 98% to 99% identical to humans at the genetic level. When it comes to DNA, a human is closer to a chimp than a mouse is to a rat."

"What Makes us Different?"

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1541283,00.html

and recommend this article to everyone.. to stay on topic.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1597883,00.html

look at those averages that can be obtained by 2020.
I don't see why the president wouldn't sign on to the protocol.

FEMA

FEMA

Fema