US Politics Mega-thread - Page 883

On February 16 2014 15:23 Introvert wrote:


That's a very good statistic and makes your point quite well. I was, however, talking about immigrants. I do admit to not seeing that stat when it was released, it's quite encouraging. now to see if all that state money and favoritism can translate into degrees. Without the staggering debt. But that's not really the topic.

Almost everything is up over time (black graduation rates as well), though Latinos have made good gains recently. I would expect more and more citizen children to do better, as a higher and higher % of them are born here. Then they have to go through our mandatory education system

But other statistics remain stagnant or slowed for people who immigrate here. And this is what causes the culture problem...the more generations removed you are the better off you will be. I'm arguing that encouraging this separatism (multiculturalism in the PC form) is harmful. The further removed from that you are, the better off you are, which is exactly what the stats show. But in the name of PC we refuse to promote them joining this society and system. If you cut off the flow of illegals and start encouraging assimilation, you get more and more of them in schools and being useful, informed members of society.

Thank you for your statistics sir, quite informative. Even if they weren't directly addressing what I was saying.

On February 17 2014 07:26 Lord Tolkien wrote:

You talk as if this isn't already happening, or that Hispanic/Mexican immigration differs from previous immigration waves. Your argument reminds me of Huntington's "The Hispanic Challenge", but the response...

https://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/PerspectivesMar07Citrin_etal.pdf

AKA, your concerns are unfounded. It's no different than other immigration waves.

JAKARTA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Indonesians on Sunday that man-made climate change could threaten their entire way of life, deriding those who doubted the existence of "perhaps the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction".

Kerry described those who do not accept that human activity causes global warming as "shoddy scientists" and "extreme ideologues", and said big companies and special interests should not be allowed to "hijack" the climate debate.

Aides said Kerry had chosen Indonesia for the first of what is to be a series of speeches on the topic this year partly because, as an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, it is particularly at risk from rising sea levels.

"Because of climate change, it's no secret that today Indonesia is ... one of the most vulnerable countries on Earth," Kerry told an audience of students at a high-tech U.S.-funded cultural center at a Jakarta mall.

"It's not an exaggeration to say that the entire way of life that you live and love is at risk."

In the middle of a trip to Asia and the Middle East, Kerry argued that it made no sense for some nations to act to stem climate change while others did nothing.

"Think about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It doesn't keep us safe if the United States secures its nuclear arsenal while other countries fail to prevent theirs from falling into the hands of terrorists," he said.

On February 17 2014 23:02 oneofthem wrote:
he's talking about proliferation

On February 17 2014 23:55 Acrofales wrote:

He literally said (assuming CC or the source website isn't fucking around): " It doesn't keep us safe if the United States secures its nuclear arsenal while other countries fail to prevent theirs from falling into the hands of terrorists"

Is this supposed to mean that the US should just not secure its nuclear arsenal because other countries are not doing it? No. It means the US should do it, and pressure other countries into doing it too. However, the US should start doing it. Lead by example!

Same goes for climate change. Kerry is over in Indonesia preaching change to industrial practices, when he should be back in the US preaching that very same (albeit unpopular) message. Then, when the US has their shit together, or at least is starting to do so, they can go to Indonesia and start preaching.

On February 18 2014 00:10 oneofthem wrote:
in this day and age single nation regulation is not that effective due to shopping. teh overall message is that environmental regulation needs worldwide cooperation between governments.

his wording is pretty bad yea

On February 18 2014 01:45 Acrofales wrote:
If it's all about cooperation with other nations, why doesn't the US ratify the Kyoto Protocol and work within that framework?

On February 18 2014 01:53 Nyxisto wrote:

Because jerbs. The only variable accepted to measure basically anything. That you can't breath the air/drink the water around you anymore is just an negligible fact.

On February 18 2014 02:50 JonnyBNoHo wrote:

The US has good air and water quality. Kyoto is mainly about greenhouse gas emissions which have been falling in the US anyways.

Oil companies have been using state-allocated funds while also taking payments from insurance companies to clean up the same underground tank leaks, according to a report.

Former Environmental Protection Agency employee Thomas Schruben and lawyer Dennis Pantazis told Reuters they have hired a team of lawyers and are investigating 20 cases across the country over long-suspected fraud in the case of leaky steel oils tanks – the biggest single threat to groundwater in the country.

The tanks were often constructed for gas stations during the 1950s and 60s, but were never removed. Over time the corrode and spill toxic gas and diesel that makes its way into aquifers.

In many cases, oil companies took state-allocated funds and insurance payouts, when the insurance money should have been given to the state to recoup expenses.

"It appears this was a really common practice and it's very disconcerting," Colorado Attorney General John Suthers told Reuters in an interview. "Basically the companies were defrauding the state."

In other instances, the companies told the state they had no insurance.