Guard Dog

BTW since Cuba is so great it really makes you wonder why Cuban citizens seeking asylum wash up but the dozens on the shores of South Florida every single day. They come clinging to driftwood, innertubes, makeshift rafts, or anything they can float the 90 miles of treacherous, shark infested seas. From what we hear, far more die on the way than make it. It really makes you wonder whay they wpuld leave such a paradise to come to what LoF would tell you is the worst country in the world.

Ewww. BTW if we all pitched in maybe we could by LoF a one way ticket to Havanna so he can sigh up. I'm in for $100!

Actually you're just a little off on this one point. The rest was correct. ID is based on the lack of evidence of an evolutionary path from single cell to complex organisims. As Oblarg correctly pointed out it is a "God in the Gaps" argument that presumes there is no such a path, not that it is just unknown. The idea that complex life was seeded here by aliens also explains the "missing link". Still I really don't see the issue with presenting the idea as an unproven hypothosis with the caveat that it is a hypothesis. Natual Selection does fine explaining the progession of life over hundreds of generations, but it is mute on the origin of compex life. I have to say I find the hostility on this board to the idea to be pretty remakable. By the tone of his posts I'd say Oblarg was foaming at the mouth and slapping his keyboard in his anxiety to get his words out. Others too. You know, 100 years ago you could be thrown in prision for teaching Natual Selection (look up the Scopes Monkey trial). 300 years ago they would excecute you for it. In Iran they still would. By the sound of most of you I think you would be in favor of similar treatment to anyone who presents an alternative idea like ID. Like I said, it's funny how the shoe is on the other foot now.

My biggest problem with Obamacare is that it is a raw and unprecedented abuse of the Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause empowers congress to regulate interstate commerce (note it does NOT empower it to interfere with intra-state commerce, in fact the 10th amendment specifically forbids it). Obamacare twists the power from one that regulates commerce to one that compels it under threat of jail and fines. In order to be a law abiding citizen in the US the Federal Government is commanding everyone to purchase a service from a third party. It makes no distinction for circumstance. For example the Amish have their own doctors, and practice their own fashion of healthcare in their communities. They are now compelled to do something their religion forbids them to do. People who are into holsitic medicine, natural cures, etc are likewise compelled to conform to something they do not wish to follow. It gets worse too. Congress is now ordering everyone to buy something want it or not. As you all now Obama and the Federal Government has seized and nationalized GM. This same abuse of the Constitution could be used to empower the government to force everyone in the US to buy a GM car. Or force everyone to shop in a certain store. One other thing that bothers me is the federal government is compelling the states to spend state tax dollars on medicare extensions. They cannot do that. You need to remember the US is a union of 50 sovreign states. It is beyond the central governemts authority to tell a state how to spend its revenue. Let alone the fact that 46 of the 50 cannot afford to do what it's being ordered to do. I do think the Constitutional challenges have a lot of merit and I truely hope the Supreme Court will strike down the entire law. Many states are providing health plans to their citizens now. This Federal takeover is just not necassary and is more than a little frightening.

No wonder Obama likes Chavez so much. I'd bet he'd LOVE to do that here in the US. Kidding of course!

That's a bit harsh, I think. The truth is harsh. People who honestly believe that god created the world and all the animals exactly how they are and nothing in the natural world changes by means of evolution have no right to be on a board of education. Ever. In order to have that belief, you have to actively disregard a *very* large chunk of well-established scientific knowledge. Ummm, you do realize intelligent design is not incompatible with evolution right? There is a great book out there, Signature in the Cell that lays out all of the scientific evidence supporting the principle of irreducible complexity, the basis for the theory. It is beyond refute at this point that complex bio-machines (cells, life, etc) evolve and that humans and apes did have common anscestors but evolutionary theory has no answer for the jump from single cell organisims to more complex life. There is no evolutionary map there. ID is just a theory that explains the gap. It, like Darwinisim is just a theory that does have some merit and has been neither fully proven or disproven. Personally I do not see how it is harmful to present it as such, just as darwinisim is, in school. Denying children access to knowledge just because you don't like the potential ramifications if the theory is eventually proven correct is every bit has despicable as putting John Scopes on trial for teaching evolution back when it was not widely accepted. Funny how that shoe is on the other foot now isn't it? And if ID is ever proven incorrect, what was the harm of presenting it as a theory? None. But we are digressing here. The dispute in Texas was over history, not ID. Reply if you wish but I'm dropping it here.

I've gotten pretty good at appearing busy at work. So little to do right now but things should start heating up next month. Right now I'm drinking a beer, sitting on my poerh and tapping on my Blackberry

You ever heard the story about the guy who brought a knife to a gunfight? It's pretty short.

Spring has come again and the 2010 MLB season is just three weeks away. All the camps are in full swing and Grapefruit and Cactus League games come to me everyday on my XM Radio. There is a lot going on coming into this season. Bobby Cox will retire and finish a Hall of Fame career. With the steroid era now thankfully behind us slugging percentages were way down last year (go figure), the new key skill is speed and OBP. We should see more steals, more agressive base running, and more attention to defensive fundamentals. In short, better and more interesting games. Also we now have the USA's first female pro baseball player. Eri Yoshida who spent last year with the Kobe 9 Cruise in Japan, will begin her second season in the Arizonal Fall League. And to top it off she is nice to look at too. Here are my predictions for the 2010 Season AL EAST Yankees - Still loaded w/ cash & talent, but also one year older. Rays - A revamped bullpen starring Rafael Soriano = more wins. The middle of the order is strong with Pena and Longoria. Good enough to be the Wild Card team. Red Sox - The best team to not make the playoffs. Pitching is stong 1-4 but Victor Martinez is about all of their offense. Orioles - Going nowhere but up, but they have along way to go to catch the Big 3. Blue Jays - Cutting payroll, trading talent, riding a greased pole into the cellar for the next few years to come. AL Central Twins - Took a big hit yesterday losing closer Joe Nathan but there is a lot to like about this team. Should walk away with the AL Central White Sox - Best rotation in baseball, no doubt. Too bad there are no bats to support them. Look for lots of 1 run losses. Tigers - Hmmm starting Rookies at 3B and CF huh? Looks like GM is not the only home team whose stock is tanking. Royals - Not a bad team... just not a good one either. Indians - Should be out of contention by the end of May. They are still paying salary of players long since gone. AL West Angels - The lost a lot of talent over the offseason. But they are still the best in the west. Rangers - They can win this division IF Harden & Hamilton stay off IR, IF Smoak finds his stroke again, IF their young pitching staff gels, IF the Angels stumbel, IF, IF, IF Mariners - Much improved. young and strong with a few choice veteran leaders. But still probably a year away. A's - Very young. Very, very young. NL East Phillies - Not just good, scary good. Great pitching, hitting to match, excellent defense. In a 7 game series they could beat any team in the world right now. Braves - Bobby Cox goes out a winner with Prado, Jones and McCann powering a tough offensive line up. But they become even more dangerous once power hitting phenom Jason Heyward joins the team. Marlins - Lowest payroll and third best record in the NL. Too bad all they'll get is a comfy seat on the coach come October. Mets - Great pitching staff but where is the offense? Beltran & Wright barely had 100 RBIs between them last year. Good hitting only helps if someone is on base. Jason Bay should improve their luck but the Mets have a way of breaking hearts. Nationals - Great, you've got Strasburg. What else? Nothing. NL CENTRAL Cardinals - This team is a little schizo, what they are good, they are really good. But when they are not... Pitching is still solid with Carpenter and Wainright and having Pujols playing for you never hurts. Cubs - Finally have a new owner who wants to win. Too bad he can't play RF or lead off. Looks like the streal will extend to 107 years. Brewers - Has the talent to win the Central but so far has not been able to put it all together. Reds - Prediction: Dusty Baker will be the first manager to get fired this year. Astros - Good manager, bad team. They do have a good farm system so the rebuilding period will be short. But this year will suck. Pirates - The misery continues. AL West Rockies: Any team in the division could win it (except the Padres) but the Rocks return their entire team from last year. Giants: Last year they were top five in every pitching category but bottom three in all offensive catagories and dead last in runs scored. Pitching wins championships but offense wins games. Dodgers: Interesting fact, the dogers had four player with over 90 RBIs last year, not one was named Manny. I think he is now crossing the T in BUST. Diamondbacks: Having Brandon Webb & Conner Jackson will make them better... just not good enough. Padres: Hmm, can anyone other than Kelverin name more than 3 guys on this team? Me neither. Thats my $.02 what do you guys think? We had a pretty good thread going last season, lets do it again!

Geez, how is it every thread on this board ends up turining into a pointless debate about the pros and cons of communisim? And for that matter I'd lay large odds the pro-communisim posters are all the same guy. Anyway, since this road has been tread before, many, many, many times I'll make this my last post. Going back three or four pages, before the derailment, I'll cap off what I was saying by adding that a society where the government has control over all aspects of life and business and property is not free. If you are relying on the government for all of the services you depend on, there is a word for that condition: subjegated. It boggles the mind how many of you think that is a desireable way to live. I'd rather die free and poor than live enslaved and well kept.

Zach, a little inside advice here, getting the better of LoF on this subject is like eating jello with chopsticks; yes it can be done but the hassle far outweighs any satisfaction you might get.

Think not? The Kelo case it was litigated for five years before the court awarded the property to the city. During the time the city was injoined from developing the property, the houses still stood, the people still lived in them. After the decision the City evicted the people, bulldozed the houses and then sued to homeowners for five years of back rent. Not only did they lose everything, they founf themselves tens of thousands of dallars in debt, to say nothing of swamped in legal bills from the fight. Some mercy huh. You ever had to deal with the IRS Hurlie? You are utterly at their mercy and you would find their mercy lacking. Right now out in Wyoming and Colorado the US Government is using Emminent Domain to seize privately owned ranchlands and add to a federal WMA. I am watching that one very closely because my home borders the Anderson Tully WMA on the entire southern property line. If they try to seize my home they had best be prepared to kill me for it. Because, by God in heaven, I will fight to keep it.

Jesus Christ Wals, I don't know how it is in England but in the US one private entity cannot... CAN NOT... seize the private property of another private entity. Only governments can seize your property against your will and give you nothing in return. I really don't understand why I'm having so much difficulty getting you to see this!

That is the most idiotic thing I have read in ages. How, exactly, do business help you by making money? If you owned stock in that company, if their stock is in your retirement fund, if you are a customer, if you are an employee, if you are on welfare (succesfull businesses pay more taxes, and their employees get paid more and pay more taxes), etc. Any questions? Ever heard the expression "A rising tide lifts all boats?" Profit comes from somewhere. Your benefit is almost always at the expense of someone else. A blanket statement such as "I make money when business make money, therefore I'd rather trust business" is pure idiocy - I'm very sure there are businesses that make money at your expense, as well, even if you don't realize it. That is called Zero Sum Economics. It does not exist in open free market economies. So you are either uninformed or from Cuba.

That is the most idiotic thing I have read in ages. How, exactly, do business help you by making money? If you owned stock in that company, if their stock is in your retirement fund, if you are a customer, if you are an employee, if you are on welfare (succesfull businesses pay more taxes, and their employees get paid more and pay more taxes), etc. Any questions? Ever heard the expression "A rising tide lifts all boats?"

Ummm, thats not really correct. It would at least be fair to say that the collapse of the Wiemar economy led to the election of Hitler and everything that followed, but no economics were not really the cause of WW2.

If you can get to TN I have a spare bedroom, so long as you are ok with dogs, guns, coyotes, and women of less than stellar virtue. Just bring beer.

Wals that doesn't even make sense! If I robbed you and gave the money to Krezack, who is most culpable in the crime? Krezack got the benefit but I did the deed. How much less culpable is Krezack if he was in no way capable of robbing you? It's not logical. Companies cannot hurt you, or kill you, or take anything from you that you do not offer them. I have heard all of the innane rambling here how they can but I can't think of a single incident in the US at least that did not recieve a judicial remedy. I read somewhere the the US Government either wins of achieves favorable settlements in over 94% of non criminal litigation. Pretty long odds if you find yourself on the recieving end of thie ill intent. I'd like you guys to consider one thing, especially those of you who thing your government is some kind of benevolent champion, have you ever had to fight them over anything? If not you simply do not comprehend how little you can do to stop them.

Where then do you turn when government is the cause of the shenanigans? Or the agent the business uses to cause trouble? Take a look at the whole Kelo v New London debacle here in the US. Pfizer wanted to build a biochem research facility on some beach land that had houses on it. Regular working people homes. Some of those houses had been owned byt the families in them for generations. Pfizer wnated them, the homeowners would not sell. So Pfizer goes to the town and the town seizes the homes, evicts the people and gives the land to Pfizer. Hows that for the government looking out for the people? This was perfectly legal due to a gross misapplication of the Eminent Domain provision that allows governments to seize land for public use. Howerver this was not used for the public, it was given to a major, profit seeking comapany (oooh the evil). Who is to blame here? The damned government was because had it not been empowered to seize private property Pfizer could not have compelled even one of those people to move no matter how much it wanted them to. This whole notion that profit is evil and governments are benevolent is so unbelivably naieve and ignorant that it is just staggering. Is it because you fear monoplies? You all do realize there are dozens of laws in the US and Europe preventing that already right? In the US alone we have the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, FTC act, Hart-Scott-Rodino, Robinson Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act all of which regulate anticompetitve business without going in and seizing companies as the current US government is wont to do. If a company violates law there is redress in criminal court. If they breach a contract or harm you in some way there is redress in civil court. If the government decides to screw you, you are just screwed. Your only defense, and you had better believe it is your ONLY defense if to have the law limit the power of government right from the get go so that it cannot screw you without violating the law. Empowering the govenment is like living with a lion and hoping he eats you last. *Edit* Please excuse my spelling and grammar, I'm typing this on a Blackberry

Oh my God that is so wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong!

Currency investing is only worthwhile if you are using large amounts. A few thousand AUD is not worth the time and risk. If you want to buy into a high growth investment with a small stake I'd reccomend chasing a few small cap stocks either on NASDAQ in the US, HK in China, or NNI in Japan. Go for something that is low price and a little volitile. You want a stock that has varied in price up and down over a predicatble base line over the past year or so. Then buy in at a low point and immediately put in a sell order at about 80% if its recent high point. Once the sale triggers you do it again, and again, and again. You only make a little bit on each sale but you do it over and over and over. I built up enough of a nest egg to put a down payment on my house doing this over five years. It's a strategy called "rolling" but it is not for the risk adverse either. If the stock price stabilizes you are screwed. Try it yourself, pick a few low cap stocks and watch them.

Why does everyone assume I'm talking about anarchy? Why is there an assumption in a society where the govenrment does the minimum there is no law or criminal prosecution? I did not feel the need to qualify that because I thought it went withourt saying there is law enforcement under ANY government. True I'd pefer the limits to be light and restrained, a silken rope rather than iron chains. I guess the heart of the matter is you guys are cynical in the extreme about human behaviour, and think it needs to be controlled even at the expense of your own freedom. It makes no sense to me. Now to address what Wals said. There is the absurd notion on this board that coporations are terrible evil things that want to enslave people and destroy the world. Further, most of you seem to think govenrment is this great altruistic champion of the down trodden and only wants whats best for everyone. That makes no sense to me at all. Microsoft cannot take a thing away from you. They cannot take you money, your home, your freedom or your life. They can only take what you freely give them by buying their products. And if you wish you can not but their products and give them nothing at all. Your government can take everything from you. Your home, your money, your freedom and your very life. In the US you do have due process protections on the last two (if you can afford it) but on the first two, the odds are very much against you. If you don't believe me, just ask the citizens of New London CT, Klamath Falls OR, Rivera Beach FL, Covington TN, (I could go on all day) what the government can take away from you and give you nothing in return. Who should you really be afraid of here? This whole notion of giving governments more and more power over individuals is self destructive to the point of insanity to me. I will NEVER understand it.

We had a discussion about this a little while back, I remember. I believe the name on the degree matters only when you first graduate and are bucking for that first job. I graduated from a small state U with no real reputation but landed a job I wanted not because of where my degree was from but because I interviewed well (plus I had some work history in the field). While there I was promoted over a Georgia Tech grad (it's like Princeton for Engineers with MIT & Cal Tech being Harvard & Yale) because I was just better than he was. Once you have your first few years of experience behind you your degree only matters in as much as you have one. Your work history and referneces are everything. In that vein it is smart to take Enochs advice and get to know the faculty, not only do they open doors but they make invaluable references. A man once told me, "That piece of paper (your degree) only means you were taught something. It does not mean you actually know anything."

Interesting question, but I don't think you're as interested in a response from me given the disparities in our economies. And the fact that I'm still in the process of saving enough for it to be worth investing. Actually, you are 20 and a student at a University. Investing is probably the farthest thing from your mind right now. Five years from now that will be a different story. When I was your age a good investment is when I could get a case of cheap beer for the price of a 12 pack of premium beer. Ok, I'll admit it... it still is

Really? I'm constantly seeing electronic engineering jobs going over here. English kids don't like engineering because it involves maths. Wankers. There are jobs, but schools like DeVery and ITT (unaccredited diploma mills) are churning out legions of barely qualified "engineers" and the labor pool is larger than the demand.