Any comments?

[ July 18, 2001: Message edited by: MIB ]

People are going to die over this. That is my grim prediction for the day.
 

I'm not sure I get what this article is about. There was never even the slightest hint at why the water was shut off in the first place. Just from reading this, you'd think the government said "Hm... How can we screw people over today? Oh, I know! Turn off some random irrigation water!"

"Two or three of their number were women who were standing there with the farmers in complete support."

Um... Since when can't women be farmers?

"As they approached, the farmers and their supporters gathered together in front of the entrance and ... began singing hymns to the US Marshals! The marshals were completely taken aback. They stopped cold as though running into a barrier and backed up to their car."

It's like a saying I once heard: "If you can't dazzle them w/ brilliance, baffle them w/ bullshit.".

"A local gospel group sang, the Pledge of Allegiance was said and the national anthem was sung by all. The Federal Officers did not stand at attention, salute or even stand still while this was going on. Many in attendance were surprised as they expected them to show at least some respect."

Oh, please... So, if the police ever try to arrest me, I should pull out a miniature US flag and play a recording of "The Star-Spangled Banner"? Then they'll have to stop and salute, and I can get away?
 

quote:

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Originally posted by TSN:
Last I heard, Area 51 was all but shut down...

---

No. That report was a mistake made by a reporter with Popular Mechanics who was too dumb to notice that he was checking out a place called section 52 or something like that instead of Area 51.
 

"We, therefore, appealing to the Supreme Creator for His assistance, do petition and demand that officials of local, state and national government: ..
.... Immediately cut off funding for the Endangered Species Act by the Congress of the United States."

I do hope people read that petition before they consider signing it. It's not that I'm unsympathetic towards those people, but there's no way I'd agree with anyone trying to get rid of the Endangered Species Act.

Surely the government made some kind of contact with those people before turning off the irrigation system. Does anyone know if there were any offers of compensation etc made?
 

These are just my opinions based on high school science classes, of course. Your mileage may vary.

[edit: mind outran hands again]

[ July 19, 2001: Message edited by: Siegfried ]

1. The government is doing something "bad."
2. The people chose the government.
3. The people were therefore wrong.
4. I know they're wrong, therefore I'm right.
5. Therefore I am wonderful.

Then you have the more advanced cases who think it's all a great conspiracy and the people are dupes who have no say in their own destiny. More to the point, the people don't listen to these more-enlightened souls (because what they're actually saying is bullshit and plain to anyone with a well-adjusted sense of reality) so they become even less important in the scheme of things.
 

Unfortunately, the majority in a larger area determined the policies that were to be put in place, policies defined by people who lived, generally, thousands of miles away from the situation (which is one reason that folks like them and us prefer LOCAL decision-making, whenever possible, to Federal), and who obviously hadn't watched last night's "South Park." (Earth Day Brainwashing Festival! Yay!)

Although this country IS a Democracy, which translates into 'rule by the majority,' the Founders well knew that the majority is occasionally wrong, and that the farther away from the situation the decision-making process took place, the less likely it was to arrive at the right decision. Jefferson spoke of the "Tyranny of the Majority," and he was entirely correct.
 

Anyway. You missed the point I was making. I wasn't commenting on the farmers in that valley or their electoral choices. I was talking about the guy running this site, happily rushing into the middle of this human tragedy and rhapsodising over how evil the Federal Government is.
 

Global warming will kill us all, arsenic in your water is bad but florine in your water is good, everybody has the right to sue for billions, big corporations are always evil, et cetera ad nauseum.

It's just about TIME that there were some anti-activists on the other side.
 

I understand there is new evidence that fluoridation causes previously unknown side-effects, such as irritable bowel syndrome, but I was unaware that it was a "monstrously-conceived and dangerous communist plot".
 

Arsenic is a poison. In small doses, it can be good for you, and has been used as part of medicines for centuries, and is now part of a new cancer treatment with a high success rate. Noone is introducing it into any water supply, and in fact the allowable limits are reported as being far below even long-exposure danger levels. When Clinton lowered the allowable limits even further (even lower than what occurs naturally, from rock decay), Conservatives went "Hey, this is hugely expensive, (are we gonna go in and remove rocks from the whole country?) and has no proven merit. Can we at least hold off until we can determine if the supposed hazards are real?" To which the Democrats responded by saying, loudly but totally inaccurately, "They're putting poison in the water!" (More evidence of stupidity.)
 

Ripper: "Mandrake..."
Mandrake: "Yes, Jack?"
Ripper: "Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water?"
Mandrake: "Well, no, I... I can't say I have, Jack."
Ripper: "Vodka. That's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?"
Mandrake: "Well, I... I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes."
Ripper: "On no account will a commie ever drink water? And not without good reason?"
Mandrake: "Oh... Ah... Yes... I, um... don't quite see what you're getting at, Jack."
Ripper: "Water. That's what I'm getting at. Water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven tenths of this Earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that seventy percent of you is water?
Mandrake: "Oh, oh..."
Ripper: "And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids."
Mandrake: "Yes..."
Ripper: "Are you beginning to understand?"
Mandrake: "Yes..." *laughs nervously*
Ripper: "Mandrake... Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?"
Mandrake: "Well, it-it-it... it did occur to me, Jack, yes."
Ripper: "Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water?"
Mandrake: "Uh, yes, I... I have heard of that, Jack, yes."
Ripper: "Well, do you know what it is?"
Mandrake: "No..."
Ripper: "Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?"

...

Ripper: "Mandrake, do you realize that, in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk, ice cream... Ice cream, Madrake. Children's ice cream."
Mandrake: "Good lord..."
Ripper: "Y'know when fluoridation first began?"
Mandrake: "Ah... no. No. I don't, Jack, no."
Ripper: "Nineteen hundred and forty-six. 1946, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war commie conspiracy, eh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hardcore commie works."
Mandrake: "Now, Jack, Jack... Listen, tell me... Tell me, Jack, when did you first... become... well, develop this theory?"
Ripper: "Well, I, uh... I-I first became aware of it, Mandrake... during the physical act of love."
Mandrake: "Huh..."
Ripper: "Yes, a, uh... a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness, followed. Luckily, I... I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. A loss of essence."
Mandrake: "Eh..."
Ripper: "I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women, uh... women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I... I do deny them my essence."

[ July 21, 2001: Message edited by: TSN ]

Oh, wait... maybe that was some kind of attempt at levity. I see... *yawn*
 

[ July 22, 2001: Message edited by: PsyLiam ]

"Well, why ELSE would you interrupt a discussion with a tediously long quote from a paranoid mid-cold-war-era Kubrick film?"

Because the rest of you obviously didn't get the joke in its short form.

And I'm still confused about what these "facts" are that you say "fail"ed...

"Ah, but those are viable attempts at levity, whereas the post in question fell quite flat in that regard."

What, the one where I made the joke? I thought it was quite funny.

If you're talking about the one where I quoted a large portion of a couple scenes, that wasn't an "attempt at levity". That was a explanation for those too ignorant to have understood the original joke.

I wouldn't have posted all that if subtlety weren't so lost on this group...

[ July 22, 2001: Message edited by: TSN ]

Aww, come on Omega. I was just warming to you again after having Doctor Who discussions on ICQ, but ow you've gone and ruined it. I know Tim's no Ultra Magnus or Sol System (in joke or other endowments) but he's not bad, and that was quite a nice movie-reference. In any case, it was far better than the "When I become dictator" thing which hasn't so much gotten old, as retired and spending it's days trying not to wet itself.

(Even Nimrod gave up the Turnip thing eventually.)
 

Let's all go and watch Blackadder and share in the joy of Rowan Atkinson insulting people.
 

I like the end episode of the Elizabethan Blackadder, where that German assassin kills everybody.

No, my 'When I am dictator' posts aren't levity. I'm entirely serious.