Posted on 11/13/2001 4:33:42 PM PST by BigWaveBetty
TrogL (502 posts)
Nov-13-01, 04:01 PM (ET)
"I'm tired of being a liberal (rant)"
Maybe you're like me - you're tired of being a liberal. It ain't easy being a liberal. It seems to take ten times the energy to support a liberal position than the conservatives expend supporting theirs. It's just so much easier being a conservative. I've watched my mother over the years. She's the epitomy of conservatism (but wierdly, votes Liberal). Everything she believes in is "right" and totally defensible within her little "box". The other day she came out with "I'd hate to be a liberal and have to live in a messy house." She blew a 10 minute tantrum because my water glass was one inch to the left of its proper position. Any refutation of her position is "nonsense" and "lies". If she says something is black and I point out some grey characteristics, she will claim I'm saying it's white. A few minutes later she will unbashedly reverse herself, citing a different set of "facts".
I envy her.
Maybe I'm just too smart for my own good. She certainly says that often enough. Maybe sometime soon the scales will fall from my eyes and I will see that I'm deluding myself, that the world really is black and white and "proper" people get all the goodies because they're "right". The local businessman who's been ripping people off for years and gets away with it because of his political connections is OK because he's a "nice" person and wears good suits. Maybe I can see that people who aren't like me aren't as good as me and deserve what they get. Maybe I don't need to pay my taxes because they go toward causes I don't agree with. Maybe I shouldn't support Universal health care because some of it might go towards getting crack whores off drugs. Maybe I shouldn't support the Girl Guides because they won't condemn homosexuality.
I'm having trouble remembering why I need to deal with issues that aren't in my back yard. It's enough to vote for the politicians and hope for the best. I'm sure I can think of some way of justifying that it all turned out for the best in the end.
It's difficult for me to remember how other cultures could possibly have a meaningful influence on mine. If their ideas were really all that valuable, they'd be running things, not us. Let them do things our way - it's worked up until now.
I've worked long and hard and had some rough times, but now I've got a good job. I'm starting to forget why such a huge chunk disappears out of my paycheck every month and the government seems to rarely do something for me anymore.
When I've been reading the Bible, I've concentrated in the past on the New Testament, but it's difficult when the Apostles contradict each other and themselves. It's so much easier to skip over most of it or stick to the passages that are easy to understand, like the stuff in Leviticus. I'm finding it so confusing to listen to my priest dissect the intricacies of the Trinity - maybe I'll switch to Southern Baptist. I can shout "praise Jaysus" with the best of them.
I'm having trouble understanding how the courts can make the law so difficult to enforce. If somebody caught the police's attention, they must have done something wrong. Best to keep them in jail until enough evidence turns up to convict them. There's too many "guilty" people walking the streets. Readers' Digest is full of articles about judges allowing guilty people to go free on technicalities.
Foreign affairs used to be so easy. There were good guys and bad guys and God was on our side. We went to war with the bad guys and won. It's slipped my mind why we had to pay to rebuild other people's countries afterward. I can't understand whether the Northern Alliance is the good guys or the bad guys. It used to be so simple.
I feel so very old.
I am so very tired.
O Brave New World that has such people in it.
Trees cause pollution after all Reagan vindicated
January 11, 2001
When Ronald Reagan said trees caused pollution, most people thought he was up a gum tree. Australian researchers have now discovered that, in the case of eucalypts at least, the President was right after all. Australia's native plants emit chemical compounds that can interact with other air pollutants to exacerbate smog in cities. Scientists from CSIRO Energy Technology and Atmospheric Research have been commissioned by the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to investigate emissions of organic compounds from Australian eucalypt trees and grasses that contribute to the formation of photochemical smog.
"It's not just cars and industry that cause air pollution," says Mr Ian Galbally, from CSIRO Atmospheric Research. "Plants release highly reactive hydrocarbons that can add significantly to photochemical smog problems. That is, smog caused by the reaction of sunlight with chemical compounds like those from industry, car exhausts and now, as we've discovered, plants," he says.
"The blue haze you often see over the Dandenongs in Victoria and in the Blue Mountains near Sydney is caused in part by the gases released by vegetation. We found that grasses, particularly when cut, are potent emitters of reactive hydrocarbons."
"Plants release these compounds into the atmosphere in large quantities. These volatile compounds add to the photochemical smog in the same way as emissions from human sources there is no discrimination," says Dr Peter Nelson, senior research scientist with CSIRO Energy Technology.
"We are measuring the emissions rates of hydrocarbons from three Australian eucalypt species, using large branches of mature trees," says Dr Nelson.
"One of the things we have found already is a close relationship between the amount of the sun's radiation, of the type that is important for photosynthesis and the plant's growth, and the level of hydrocarbons they emit. Emission rates are highest during the day and drop off towards evening.
"We can use this information to assist the EPA to more accurately estimate chemical emissions from Australian trees and grasses," he says.
So there you have it trees really do cause pollution. Which leads Media Monitor to wonder what other Reaganite unwisdoms might eventually prove to have been prophetic. Maybe the Star Wars programme was a good idea after all.[snip]
What was that you where saying? HA!
That DU site lists the top 10 conservative idiots. It lists those frat kids who dressed up like blacks. Do you think DU asked those kids what their political beliefs were? Or do you think they just JUDGED them to be conservative. Having been in a southern frat, most of the brothers are yellow dog democrats or trendy libs. Filth all of them. Damn hypcorites.
And by the way, every spring my neighborhood is awash in oak tree pollen. Everything is covered in a thick yellow dust. Might not be pollution to you but it makes me sick and is a damn mess!
But you can only look for a short time before becoming ill.
Just remember that you dared me. :)
I do know that President Reagan knew enough to bring down the USSR without firing a single shot. What have you done brilliant lately?
BRAVO! BRAVO!
FRegards,
CD
'Course it ain't. When you're a liberal you've got to keep all those lies straight.
I'm sort of sorry to have to admit it; but there's a lot of truth in this line; and it's witty.
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