Text 14809, 74 rader
Skriven 2007-05-21 21:38:42 av Josh Hill (1222.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: unions
==================
On Tue, 22 May 2007 00:50:56 GMT, Kurt Ullman <kurtullman@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>In article <vvb4531v0nj337c9opf7f258u3odijmi4e@4ax.com>,
> Josh Hill <usereplyto@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>> Slashing the death rate from cancer (no one knows how to "cure" it)
> Small nit, but that isn't right.   Testicular cancers for the most part 
>are cured (thanks to the boys at Indiana University, the 5-year cure 
>rate runs about 90% or so. . Some of the forms of lukemia are cured. 
>Most of the actual curing is being done by the private sector taking 
>advantage of some of the basic research being done by the feds.

The process would be virtually nowhere without the basic research
financed by the Federal Government.

>> Slashing the death rate from AIDS (again, no one knows how to cure it)
>
>  But again most of the heavy lifting has been done by private 
>entitities after the feds did much of the basic stuff. 

In that case, yes. But again, the process would have gone nowhere
without the basic research.

>> Slashing our energy consumption below what it would otherwise have
>> been
>> 
>> That last requires a bit of explanation. You point out, rightly, that
>> the government didn't end our dependence on foreign oil. But you
>> ignore the fact that that was in large measure because the
>> anti-government, pro-business right, along with corrupt energy-funded
>> politicians of every stripe blocked steps that would have moved us in
>> the right direction. I think you'll admit that it's fairly silly to
>> block government on the grounds that it's ineffectual and then say
>> "See? Government is ineffectual." Yet that's what the anti-government
>> right does all the time.
>
>    So, you are in favor of an emminently corruptable entity being in 
>charge of pretty much everythgin. 

Where exactly did I say that, or anything like that? I'm in favor of
the Government being in charge of whatever it's best at being in
charge of, and opposed to knee-jerk ideological sound bites like
"government is bad."
 
>> >So, some predictions for what government could do if they got involved 
>> >in the energy crisis business?  Sponsor Halliburton to build a massive 
>> >hydrogen infrastructure across the US, including retrofitting pipelines, 
>> >filling stations and massive electrolysis stations.  It would cost us 
>> >billions, would feather the pork nests of 100s of congresscritters, and 
>> >would leave us unable to move once we found out how much the cars and 
>> >fuel would actually cost.

>      Yet you want these guys to take over and run things? Wussup with 
>dat? 

That was Charlie's comment, not mine. In point of fact, the degree to
which government money is spent wisely seems to be highly dependent on
the administration and somewhat dependent on the political makeup of
Congress.

-- 
Josh

"The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet
that people have the right to live life as they please,
as long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process. . . .
The radical right has nearly ruined our party. Its members
do not care about the Constitution and they are the
ones making all the noise." - Barry Goldwater
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