This has nothing to do with “leftists” or “rightists.” If you do a little serious research you’ll find that the “free enterprise” system isn’t free at all, but rather is very costly to those who don’t already have the power to manipulate it – i.e. the very wealthy.
I won’t tell you, but look it up for yourself: Since about 1975, how has personal income grown for the working and middle classes? How has personal wealth grown? Now – how about the upper 2 percent?
I think you may have succumbed to the “American dream” myth, which many free enterprisers believe in – that somehow, because of your personal qualities of intelligence, hard work, etc., you will end up in that fabled upper class.
Once again, do a little study. Sociologists have proven over and over and over again that it just doesn’t happen. If you are born into a non-wealthy family, you are going to end up one of the non-wealthy. That is, if you’re lucky and don‘t end up homeless like so many hardworking people have in the last 4 years. Oh, there are people here and there who strike it rich and move on up the socioeconomic ladder. But are you a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs? Have you already locked in that innovation that society just can’t do without? Because if you haven’t, and you work for a corporation, guess who will own the brilliant ideas that you do come up with?
Regardless of how you feel about “lefties”, you would do well to listen to people like Chomsky, who have been proven right time and again. At the very least, you might want to learn what your “class enemy” knows.
Good luck.
Julius
As long as we're on the subject: Suppose we did have access to enough gas for 80 years (which we don't have without killing our aquifers), what contribution do you think that would make toward global warming? Maybe we could use the gas to operate air conditioning 24/7 and keep the air temperature below 120 F? Whooops - I forgot, air conditioners heat up the external environment. I guess we'll be spending all our time indoors.
Sure thing, Texas Ron, and that's exactly what T. Boone Pickens wants you to believe, just as the oil industry has kept us believing in an endless supply of petroleum. But... if you look at how natural gas has to be extracted, in a process called hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), and if you look at the results of this natural gas mining around the country, you will quickly reach the concusion that natural gas is a natural disaster - environmentally speaking. The experience of many communities is that they give up their water so the gas industry can get their profits.
I won't explain the details, because I know you are smart enough to do the research yourself. Just to get you started, though, here's an article that tells, and shows, the truth about fracking for gas: http://www.vanityfair.com/business/feature…
Also, keep your eyes open for the film "Gasland" - or buy a copy for yourself and show it to your friends, family, etc.
Regards,
Julius
Re the endorsement section: I don't need (or want) the Weekly advising me on voting. But what really upset me was your "neo-hippie" slur about Dave Ewoldt, the only candidate who is facing reality and trying to do something about it. You guys pretend the world is just going to keep on going the way it was, as in "Of course we don't have to worry about our energy supply, of course global warming won't really be an issue for another 25 years, of course our economy is going to rebound like it always has, etc."
I've heard what Paula, Greg, and Ted have to say on numerous occasions, which is basically nothing. I personally like Paula but she just wants us to keep stumbling down the same old path. Dave is the ONLY LD 28 candidate who a) acknowledges the seriousness of the problems facing us, b) understands the connections and relationships between all these problems, and c) actually has a plan to start dealing - locally - with the consequences of our decades of ignoring facts.
I know you can't (or won't) take back your pathetic insult, but you could apologize for the shallowness of your language - and you could start doing some critical thinking in lieu of the cookie-cutter "analysis" you now use.
Julius
I have no desire to characterize Dr. Orient – she does that quite effectively with her constant references to “whacko.” However, I am very curious as to why The Weekly chose to offer her so much space to vent her – shall I say extraordinary? – views about health care, abortion, global warming, health risks from nuclear radiation, and so on, views that in every case are completely unsupported by fact.
An obvious instance is her claim that Dr. Caldicott’s warnings about radiation are unfounded – more specifically, that deaths from the Chernobyl disaster were mainly due to voluntary abortions, and that “any risk was insignificant.”
In a case like this, why is your reporter not taking responsibility for fact checking, and responding in her article with the mountains of evidence showing that Orient’s position is indeed “whacko” and potentially very dangerous? Letting her opinions stand unchallenged allows your readers very little choice: either dismiss Orient’s ravings out of hand or, insidiously, assuming that if it appears in the newspaper there must be some validity to her bullshit.
This article is a shocking example of a local paper completely abandoning journalistic ethics in favor of sensationalist junk. Off the top of my head I can name at least a dozen Tucson residents who are acknowledged experts in the fields of health care reform, radiation medicine, climate science, pediatrics (vaccination), smoking and health, etc. Dr. Gorski’s bona fides notwithstanding, why was it necessary for Ms. Herrera to seek out a source in Michigan?
She has written decent local stories in the past, so I’m tempted to excuse this sloppy journalism on her part on the basis of inexperience. But it’s inexcusable for anyone calling him/herself an editor to let this kind of garbage pass review for publication.
Given that the county and Terry Goddard have done everything in their power to block a public examination of the RTA vote, one would do well to be suspicious of those in and out of government who stand to gain from a rigged election.
Those hundreds of millions will be going into someone's pockets. My advice is for Bill Risner to follow the money and continue trying to pierce the wall of denial and obfuscation thrown up by our "representatives."
I. F. Stone said it best: "Governments lie."
Recent Comments
This has nothing to do with “leftists” or “rightists.” If you do a little serious research you’ll find that the “free enterprise” system isn’t free at all, but rather is very costly to those who don’t already have the power to manipulate it – i.e. the very wealthy.
I won’t tell you, but look it up for yourself: Since about 1975, how has personal income grown for the working and middle classes? How has personal wealth grown? Now – how about the upper 2 percent?
I think you may have succumbed to the “American dream” myth, which many free enterprisers believe in – that somehow, because of your personal qualities of intelligence, hard work, etc., you will end up in that fabled upper class.
Once again, do a little study. Sociologists have proven over and over and over again that it just doesn’t happen. If you are born into a non-wealthy family, you are going to end up one of the non-wealthy. That is, if you’re lucky and don‘t end up homeless like so many hardworking people have in the last 4 years. Oh, there are people here and there who strike it rich and move on up the socioeconomic ladder. But are you a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs? Have you already locked in that innovation that society just can’t do without? Because if you haven’t, and you work for a corporation, guess who will own the brilliant ideas that you do come up with?
Regardless of how you feel about “lefties”, you would do well to listen to people like Chomsky, who have been proven right time and again. At the very least, you might want to learn what your “class enemy” knows.
Good luck.
Julius
I won't explain the details, because I know you are smart enough to do the research yourself. Just to get you started, though, here's an article that tells, and shows, the truth about fracking for gas: http://www.vanityfair.com/business/feature…
Also, keep your eyes open for the film "Gasland" - or buy a copy for yourself and show it to your friends, family, etc.
Regards,
Julius
I've heard what Paula, Greg, and Ted have to say on numerous occasions, which is basically nothing. I personally like Paula but she just wants us to keep stumbling down the same old path. Dave is the ONLY LD 28 candidate who a) acknowledges the seriousness of the problems facing us, b) understands the connections and relationships between all these problems, and c) actually has a plan to start dealing - locally - with the consequences of our decades of ignoring facts.
I know you can't (or won't) take back your pathetic insult, but you could apologize for the shallowness of your language - and you could start doing some critical thinking in lieu of the cookie-cutter "analysis" you now use.
Julius
An obvious instance is her claim that Dr. Caldicott’s warnings about radiation are unfounded – more specifically, that deaths from the Chernobyl disaster were mainly due to voluntary abortions, and that “any risk was insignificant.”
In a case like this, why is your reporter not taking responsibility for fact checking, and responding in her article with the mountains of evidence showing that Orient’s position is indeed “whacko” and potentially very dangerous? Letting her opinions stand unchallenged allows your readers very little choice: either dismiss Orient’s ravings out of hand or, insidiously, assuming that if it appears in the newspaper there must be some validity to her bullshit.
This article is a shocking example of a local paper completely abandoning journalistic ethics in favor of sensationalist junk. Off the top of my head I can name at least a dozen Tucson residents who are acknowledged experts in the fields of health care reform, radiation medicine, climate science, pediatrics (vaccination), smoking and health, etc. Dr. Gorski’s bona fides notwithstanding, why was it necessary for Ms. Herrera to seek out a source in Michigan?
She has written decent local stories in the past, so I’m tempted to excuse this sloppy journalism on her part on the basis of inexperience. But it’s inexcusable for anyone calling him/herself an editor to let this kind of garbage pass review for publication.
Julius Gordon
Tucson
Those hundreds of millions will be going into someone's pockets. My advice is for Bill Risner to follow the money and continue trying to pierce the wall of denial and obfuscation thrown up by our "representatives."
I. F. Stone said it best: "Governments lie."