vxbush 12/9/2020 5:28:03 AM

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I don't think I'm awake enough for a camel to just barge in and eat my breakfast. 

vxbush 12/9/2020 6:00:43 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 12/9/2020 7:11:48 AM

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JCM 12/9/2020 7:13:45 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 2:

I just hope the decision isn't half bake.

It needs to be solid.

buzzsawmonkey 12/9/2020 7:14:08 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 3:

Sorry---may have done the wrong link.  Here's the right one.

JCM 12/9/2020 8:14:47 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 5:

I question the underlying assumption for the need...

is increasing pressure on ecosystems and natural resources

The Population Bomb is 30 years overdue. Population is at an all time high, yet poverty and starvation are at all time lows, one metric that jumps out is more people are obese than starving.

vxbush 12/9/2020 8:30:25 AM

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In #6 JCM said: The Population Bomb is 30 years overdue. Population is at an all time high, yet poverty and starvation are at all time lows, one metric that jumps out is more people are obese than starving.

One of the former medical doctors who worked with the WHO and the UN says the population will stabilize to around 10 billion people without any need to enforce population control. That's from reading his book on how standards of living change as people gain more wealth, and it is an excellent read. I wish more leftists would read it. 

JCM 12/9/2020 8:37:04 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 7:

Get the leftists out of the way, politically, allow energy development in Africa and modern farming.

There is around 5 billion acres of arable land. US farming techniques on all 5 billion acres?

The problem is not yet resources. The problem is political.

vxbush 12/9/2020 8:40:48 AM

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In #8 JCM said: Get the leftists out of the way, politically, allow energy development in Africa and modern farming. There is around 5 billion acres of arable land. US farming techniques on all 5 billion acres? The problem is not yet resources. The problem is political.

Agreed. It is downright criminal how the political liberal elites in the West don't want to share resources with these areas. 

lucius septimius 12/9/2020 8:44:59 AM

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In #8 JCM said: allow energy development in Africa and modern farming.

Though part of the problem -- a big part of the problem -- is cultural rather than political.  I know a woman who is an expert on African agriculture.  She is from Nigeria originally but does research through out the equatorial regions.  She was saying that farmers resist things like tractors because any increase in production tends to draw more leaching relatives to eat up the surplus.  For these people, if any one member of the extended family has income, whether from farming or a business, they are expected to distribute their earnings among family members.  For that reasons, she said, successful businessmen tend to do their work in other countries where they don't have relatives.  For farmers, that is more difficult -- they simply can't get up and move their farms.  Add to that corruption -- local officials demand part of the take as part of their guaranteed income -- and there are powerful disincentives to do anything that will increase production above a certain level.  She estimated that in Ghana, for instance, just adding tractors would increase production five-fold, but doing so would make the farmer the target of unwanted attention, so they won't do it.

buzzsawmonkey 12/9/2020 8:48:34 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 10:

Once again---as Sowell and others have said and keep saying about our domestic indigents---it is a matter of culture.

JCM 12/9/2020 8:56:31 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 10:

Excellent point.

I remember in Iran the Shah bought tractors to increase production. Since the farmers only farmed what they could with their immediate family the donkeys they had, each farmers plot was rather small. So the tractors were bought to be shared among many farmers.

Program didn't work. The farmers would part the tractor out each selling their "piece" of the machine.

buzzsawmonkey 12/9/2020 9:15:27 AM

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In #12 JCM said: The farmers would part the tractor out each selling their "piece" of the machine.

Hmmmm..."piece" of the machine versus "rage against the machine."

buzzsawmonkey 12/9/2020 10:25:09 AM

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To the tune of "Marching Through Georgia":

Shut down all the businesses we deem non-essential!
Shut down interactions between every guy and gal!
If you dare to object then destroy your life we shall
While we're all panicked from covid!

Hurrah! Hurrah! Kill the economy!
Hurrah! Hurrah! To Chinese bend the knee!
You had better wear masks and be social-distancy
While we're all panicked from covid!

vxbush 12/9/2020 11:01:30 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 14:

Heh. Good job. 

I had a small accomplishment today--I went out today to the store maskless. No one stopped me. No one prevented me from getting what I needed and how. It was glorious. 

vxbush 12/9/2020 12:02:04 PM

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In #10 lucius septimius said: She was saying that farmers resist things like tractors because any increase in production tends to draw more leaching relatives to eat up the surplus.  For these people, if any one member of the extended family has income, whether from farming or a business, they are expected to distribute their earnings among family members. 

Really?????? Huh. How very communal of them. I wonder how far "family" is defined in this case. 

JCM 12/9/2020 1:17:43 PM

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lucius septimius 12/9/2020 1:40:15 PM

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In #16 vxbush said: I wonder how far "family" is defined in this case. 

Seems to extend as far as first cousins in most cases, though it can go further.

The wife of a former colleague ran the medical library at Emory for many years.  She described a problem she had with employees of "ethnic" origin.  Once she hired a man to do shelving.  On the first day, his wife (who could neither speak English or nor read) showed up.  She just put books anywhere there was space since she couldn't read the call numbers.  It was explained to the male "employee" that this was unacceptable.  So the next day he sent another relative, this time a male cousin to do "his" job.  He thought the problem was that they didn't want a woman doing the work.  He simply was unable to understand that when he was hired, the expectation was that he would do the actual work.  From his perspective he acquired the job; after that it didn't matter who did the work.  In fact, since he had provided the family with the job, it was their responsibility to him as the Pater Familias to do the actual work -- labor was beneath him.

This was not, as it turned out, an isolated experience.

vxbush 12/9/2020 1:54:53 PM

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In #18 lucius septimius said: The wife of a former colleague ran the medical library at Emory for many years.  She described a problem she had with employees of "ethnic" origin.  Once she hired a man to do shelving.  On the first day, his wife (who could neither speak English or nor read) showed up.  She just put books anywhere there was space since she couldn't read the call numbers.  It was explained to the male "employee" that this was unacceptable.  So the next day he sent another relative, this time a male cousin to do "his" job.  He thought the problem was that they didn't want a woman doing the work.  He simply was unable to understand that when he was hired, the expectation was that he would do the actual work.  From his perspective he acquired the job; after that it didn't matter who did the work.  In fact, since he had provided the family with the job, it was their responsibility to him as the Pater Familias to do the actual work -- labor was beneath him. This was not, as it turned out, an isolated experience.

Wow. Just wow. 

Kosh's Shadow 12/9/2020 2:09:40 PM

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In #18 lucius septimius said: In fact, since he had provided the family with the job, it was their responsibility to him as the Pater Familias to do the actual work -- labor was beneath him.

Whereas in this country, we have the son taking money for getting the father to do the work. For example, Hunter and Joe Biden.

Kosh's Shadow 12/9/2020 2:22:08 PM

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In #19 vxbush said: The wife of a former colleague ran the medical library at Emory for many years.  She described a problem she had with employees of "ethnic" origin.  Once she hired a man to do shelving.  On the first day, his wife (who could neither speak English or nor read) showed up.  She just put books anywhere there was space since she couldn't read the call numbers.  It was explained to the male "employee" that this was unacceptable.  So the next day he sent another relative, this time a male cousin to do "his" job.  He thought the problem was that they didn't want a woman doing the work.  He simply was unable to understand that when he was hired, the expectation was that he would do the actual work. 

Obviously, she didn't value the other culture, and needs to receive remedial sensitivity training. Who cares if the books can be found? The other cultures must be valued! /Leftist "thinking"

JCM 12/9/2020 2:58:39 PM

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lucius septimius 12/9/2020 3:19:43 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 12/9/2020 3:50:53 PM

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In #23 lucius septimius said: New Hollywood remake of It's a Wonderful Life has angel tell George to kill himself because he's white.

Not because he took mortgage money from all those poor blacks instead of giving them free housing as reparations for slavery? 

turn 12/9/2020 4:57:51 PM

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Reply to JCM in 22:

Video LINK