philologus
Subgenius
@fortunesfool: As a physician who has seen Medical care in both countries you could probably add a lot to some of our past discussions on Healthcare/social medicine. We had a pretty good one last year. 
Firearms & co... hate or love them?
- Thread starter Tony Manero
- Start date
Talion
New member
I agree UK bashing away
We have a shit Health Service, you\'re more likely to come out dead from our hospitals than cured.
Our transport system is appalling. Trains that are too small, and permanently late, yet they still raise the prices to use them, and tax you more to get off the roads to use them.............a lose, lose situation.
Cricket.............what the hells all that about, has to be the most boring sport ever invented.
Our Government, Tony Blairs an absolute arsehole......he was good at the beginning, but now does nothing except make the country worse.
We got holigan kids running around, but if you disipline them you, can end in jail. Whats all that about, let\'s smack our kids.
Prison service stuffed to the brim with pedophiles, murderers and rapists, who get a better lifestyle than most innocent people. Bring back the death penalty and if you\'re 100% sure of their crime, execute them.
Anything else?????
We have a shit Health Service, you\'re more likely to come out dead from our hospitals than cured.
Our transport system is appalling. Trains that are too small, and permanently late, yet they still raise the prices to use them, and tax you more to get off the roads to use them.............a lose, lose situation.
Cricket.............what the hells all that about, has to be the most boring sport ever invented.
Our Government, Tony Blairs an absolute arsehole......he was good at the beginning, but now does nothing except make the country worse.
We got holigan kids running around, but if you disipline them you, can end in jail. Whats all that about, let\'s smack our kids.
Prison service stuffed to the brim with pedophiles, murderers and rapists, who get a better lifestyle than most innocent people. Bring back the death penalty and if you\'re 100% sure of their crime, execute them.
Anything else?????
fortunesfool
New member
Things you might have missed:
1. Taxes. How insane are they. Most people have about 30% taken out of their paycheck. If you make over 38,000 a year you then jump up 10-15% in taxation. Then you have the 17.5% sales tax. Don\'t forget you have to pay council tax which on my current abode is 2500/year. Then if you want to drive you have to pay to use the roads. And let\'s not forget my favourite, the tv license. To watch a colour tv over here you have to pay something like 120/year for 4-6 channels. I\'m certain there are plenty of other taxes that I haven\'t even dreamed of.
2. The welfare state
The UK is all about wealth redistribution. The high taxes mentioned above are countered by insane benefits. It\'s often far easier to survive over here living off the government than it is to actually go out and do an honest job. They\'ll give you a house, they\'ll pay all your bills, they\'ll pretty much live your life for you. It doesn\'t matter if your English, Scottish, or from Cameroon. Come and say that you can\'t take care of yourself and they\'ll do it for you. Even if you\'re living there illegally. (clause= if you\'re french, I don\'t believe that the above point applies but I could be wrong
).There are other things but I figure I\'ll dip my toe into the waters slowly.
Herb the bitter
New member
Back on the topic of guns, here the annual deer hunt is a necessity to keep the white tail deer population under control, which it is still failing to do. The deer herd in Wisconsin is estimated to be between 1.5-1.7 million. In 2005 there were over 17,000 car/deer collisions(resulting in 12 human deaths). But perhaps more importantly deer overpopulation is crippling the forest ecology as too many deer wipe out many threatened/endangered native plants and greatly reduce forest plant diversity. As an added benefit, over 11,000 deer were donated to food pantries last year to help feed the hungry.
Growing up on a farm guns were treated as another tool. What is your best option when a rabid skunk comes by?(FYI, the DNR estimates that the 11% of the skunk population here carries rabies) Sure you could use a baseball bat, just like you could use a brick or a rock to drive a nail, but why would you? When a family of raccoons moves into your warehouse and starts shredding the insulation and crapping all over, I see no problem with using a gun to move them out. When raccoons can do a $1000 damage to your sweet corn in a night, I think it\'s okay to cull their population to protect your livlihood. Raccoons had the habit of pulling down an ear of corn, taking two bites, then going to the next ear, pulling it down, taking two bites etc. We would trap them in live traps and then shoot them. True, we could have beaten them to death, but I think shooting is less cruel.
I don\'t own a gun, and deer hunting isn\'t appealing to me, but I don\'t have a problem with people who do either. (I also hate Bush and US foreign policy)
Growing up on a farm guns were treated as another tool. What is your best option when a rabid skunk comes by?(FYI, the DNR estimates that the 11% of the skunk population here carries rabies) Sure you could use a baseball bat, just like you could use a brick or a rock to drive a nail, but why would you? When a family of raccoons moves into your warehouse and starts shredding the insulation and crapping all over, I see no problem with using a gun to move them out. When raccoons can do a $1000 damage to your sweet corn in a night, I think it\'s okay to cull their population to protect your livlihood. Raccoons had the habit of pulling down an ear of corn, taking two bites, then going to the next ear, pulling it down, taking two bites etc. We would trap them in live traps and then shoot them. True, we could have beaten them to death, but I think shooting is less cruel.
I don\'t own a gun, and deer hunting isn\'t appealing to me, but I don\'t have a problem with people who do either. (I also hate Bush and US foreign policy)
Well said Herb....this thread was supposed to be about guns wasn\'t it?
Besides, we Americans will have the last laugh for when the monkeys stage their uprising....
Try to fend off a pack of intelligent rabid orangutans with an umbrella and an airsoft pistol you limeys!
Besides, we Americans will have the last laugh for when the monkeys stage their uprising....
Try to fend off a pack of intelligent rabid orangutans with an umbrella and an airsoft pistol you limeys!
Yep. Well said Herb.
Just to add to your point-----
Skunks, Raccoons, and the like are all considered Rabies carriers by the DNR. So, before anyone says \"Just relocate the poor creatures as opposed to shooting them\"----the DNR won\'t relocate species that are listed as carriers----they recommend destroying them.
As far as deer---we had the same issue close to here--Redtop Mountain State Park for the locals. The entire herd was in danger of dying off because of no culling. The ultimately came up with a program to help-----limited hunts.
In animal over-populations----the weakest aren\'t the only one\'s that die----they\'re just the ones that die first.
For those in Colorado, you probably remember some similar challenges with the herds in the Rockies.
Just to add to your point-----
Skunks, Raccoons, and the like are all considered Rabies carriers by the DNR. So, before anyone says \"Just relocate the poor creatures as opposed to shooting them\"----the DNR won\'t relocate species that are listed as carriers----they recommend destroying them.
As far as deer---we had the same issue close to here--Redtop Mountain State Park for the locals. The entire herd was in danger of dying off because of no culling. The ultimately came up with a program to help-----limited hunts.
In animal over-populations----the weakest aren\'t the only one\'s that die----they\'re just the ones that die first.
For those in Colorado, you probably remember some similar challenges with the herds in the Rockies.
M. D. Van Norman
New member
Yes. Yes, it is. :yes:
vincegamer
Active member
Does it help as a deterrent if people just THINK you have a gun?
Highbulp Billy
New member
That\'s a very unfortunate birthmark. Makes you wonder how far down it goes and does it turn into a rifle under the right conditions... Damn it, I think WiccanPony\'s using her thought control spells on me ???Originally posted by vincegamer
Does it help as a deterrent if people just THINK you have a gun?
Legacy Account
Active member
Read it and weep:
USA produces 60% more carbon emissions than the whole of the EU put together...
China may be opening hundreds of power stations, but they are STILL miles behind the west in terms of CO2 emissions.
The point is if we, as more technologically advanced and wealthy countries don\'t start to develop technologies to combat this and set an example, we\'re all going to need foil suits and factor 5000 sun block in a few years!
As Ritual has stated, the US has a direct effect on every economy on the planet. The US has helped mould current UK foreign policy. American business, television and culture flourish in this country.
Much of what the US does is great. Some of it is utter bullshit and I reserve the right to criticise it, especially when it affects where my taxes are going. Not that Tony ever listens to anyone....
philologus
Subgenius
I wouldn\'t deny your right to criticize. Some of us were merely questioning the frequency of criticism from one nation to the next. Thanks for the link to some stats also. The problem I have with them is the same I had with the Nationwise site. The stats are drawn from the UN. I do not trust their reporting. As with the recent IPCC \"report\" No one has seen the full text of the report, the UN published the summary with very little evidence to accompany. No one knows when the full text will be published, but the media worldwide has been fawning over the IPCC pronouncements as if they are above reproach. If the stats you cite are accurate (and they may well be), then my next question is: How much do we contribute to the Gross Product of the world? I would wager that the bulk of our emmissions are the result of automobiles, which we use to get to work to produce things the rest of the world wants/needs. Limiting our economy certainly will have immediate, definite effects on the rest of the world. I would love nothing more than to build more Nuclear facilities. But, the same US politicians crying about CO2 emmissions are terrified of nuclear reactors.
Read it and weep:
Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions
Global Warming: a closer look at the numbers
Temperature Change History
World Climate Report
All more reputable than Wikipedia.
Legacy Account
Active member
Those are UN figures. Follow the link! So you lot are 22% responsible for compiling them! Your sources are hardly reputable either. It\'s not as if there\'s anything that\'s featured in Science or Nature...
Try this:
Report by Nobel Prize winner....
Latest IPCC report...
It\'s not something these scientists are making up! They are genuinely worried. The first report explains how global warming will potentially speed up as the polar ice caps start to melt. The more the icecaps melt, the more the atmosphere heats up and so on...
Now I\'m no Green hippie by any stretch of the imagination, but surely we can\'t risk ignoring this stuff now. There are opportunities for industry and commerce to make money by developing clean technologies and selling them to places like China and India. It\'s not all about curbing US productivity! Judging from last years trade deficit, the US could do with finding alternatives to oil and developing new technology to sell the world. It makes sense really.
Sorry, massively OT
Your sources are hardly reputable either. It\'s not as if there\'s anything that\'s featured in Science or Nature...Try this:
Report by Nobel Prize winner....
Latest IPCC report...
It\'s not something these scientists are making up! They are genuinely worried. The first report explains how global warming will potentially speed up as the polar ice caps start to melt. The more the icecaps melt, the more the atmosphere heats up and so on...
Now I\'m no Green hippie by any stretch of the imagination, but surely we can\'t risk ignoring this stuff now. There are opportunities for industry and commerce to make money by developing clean technologies and selling them to places like China and India. It\'s not all about curbing US productivity! Judging from last years trade deficit, the US could do with finding alternatives to oil and developing new technology to sell the world. It makes sense really.
Sorry, massively OT
philologus
Subgenius
Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Those sources are hardly reputable either. It\'s not as if there\'s anything that\'s featured in Science or Nature.
Try this:
Report by Nobel Prize winner....
Latest IPCC report...
It\'s not something these scientists are making up! They are genuinely worried. The first report explains how global warming will potentially speed up as the polar ice caps start to melt. The more the icecaps melt, the more the atmosphere heats up and so on...
Now I\'m no Green hippie by any stretch of the imagination, but surely we can\'t risk ignoring this stuff now. There are opportunities for industry and commerce to make money by developing clean technologies and selling them to places like China and India. It\'s not all about curbing US productivity! Judging from last years trade deficit, the US could do with finding alternatives to oil and developing new technology to sell the world. It makes sense really.
Sorry, massively OT
As I stated above that is the IPCC summary. No report. Actual data is not present, just a summary of data. The UN is mostly about curbing the US in any way it can. The media is really treating it as if it were the final decree from God though. We had a reporter here in the US say that people who denied global warming are the same as holocaust deniers. She was very quick to cite the IPCC. This is just one example of the camp who believes that no one is allowed to disagree. That\'s scientific dialogue for you. Stupid Columnist
Look into how Nobel Peace prizes are given, you\'ll be shocked.Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Those sources are hardly reputable either. It\'s not as if there\'s anything that\'s featured in Science or Nature.
Try this:
Report by Nobel Prize winner....
Latest IPCC report...
It\'s not something these scientists are making up! They are genuinely worried. The first report explains how global warming will potentially speed up as the polar ice caps start to melt. The more the icecaps melt, the more the atmosphere heats up and so on...
Now I\'m no Green hippie by any stretch of the imagination, but surely we can\'t risk ignoring this stuff now. There are opportunities for industry and commerce to make money by developing clean technologies and selling them to places like China and India. It\'s not all about curbing US productivity! Judging from last years trade deficit, the US could do with finding alternatives to oil and developing new technology to sell the world. It makes sense really.
Sorry, massively OT
Not one scientist that are pushing man made global warming has been able to answer these very simple questions.
If man is causing Global Warming, how did the multiple Ice Ages end without man?
If there is very strong evidence that there have been global warmings and coolings in the past, before man exsisted, why is this one different? Is it different? Who was there to observe it and take notes, as observation is the key principle to scientific theory?
From a scientific standpoint: Since it has happened before, multiple times, without man\'s influence, the logical conclusion would be that man does not cause it.
The very fact that these followers decry and denounce anyone who questions them leads me to believe this has far more in common with religion, rather than science.
Science is supposed to encourage debate, and open minds. Not shouting down the opposition.
