>> ^Yogi:


they'll slit each others throats


No doubt. How about letting foreign governments make decisions simply based on their bottom line?

Turkey and Brazil, a supposed ally and a neighbor, pandering to Iran. U.S. response?

North Korea sinks a South Korean boat killing a bunch of young cadets. U.S. response? Oh yes, a warning, followed by a stronger warning, then an unspecific threat, then followed by asking China for help on what to do. China does whatever China does. U.S. response?

Israel does what it wants and gets...yeah, a scolding. Israel's enemies do what they want and they also get...you guessed it, a more serious scolding.

Russia makes a fuss about the Polish defense system and the U.S....of course, we don't want to upset anyone so lets scrap the whole idea.

At least the government is acting domestically. BP or whomever poisons the U.S. coast and they get...a finger pointed at them.

The car industry mismanages their business, U.S. response? A strong scolding, followed by several billion dollars.

Wall Street does what it shouldn't...now they really got a major scolding!... preceded and followed by even more money.

Insurance companies have been abusing people for too long...shame on them... Now everyone has to buy health insurance from them!

But to be fair, the government has scolded itself too...close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in one year...followed by...who knows? No one seems to care about that anymore.

At least we are pulling out of Iraq by the date Bush agreed to...or are we?

But it's not all negative, there must be a positive achievement somewhere, in at least one of the major issues: war, health care, environment, economy, immigration, or something.

>> ^rougy:

I sometimes think BP is dragging their feet because they want the USA to take over the cleanup effort, that way they can throw their hands up in the air and say "Hey! We tried!" and then fob the cleanup bill off on the taxpayers.
Also, the thought just occurred to me, what's going to happen if a hurricane blows through those oil saturated waters this summer?


And then, what happens if that oil hurricane finds a spark?

Firecane! Coming to a coast near you.

>> ^Trancecoach:

The type of libertarianism that believes in the separation of Business and State isn't anti-Business or anti-State. Just anti-mixing them up, and against the mix that leads to untold levels of corruption and incompetence.


Yes it does...but letting business people simply make decisions based on their bottom line is equally crazy as was demonstrated in the stock market crash. You let people do what they want...they'll slit eachothers throats sometimes. Best to find a happy medium.

>> ^dotdude:

Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area on 8/29/05.
http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/createstorm.asp?stormnum=1352&
;year=2005
Hurricane Rita hit west Louisiana around 9/24/05. This press conference (in New Orleans) is happening prior to Rita making landfall - when the storm's exact course was in flux.
http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/createstorm.asp?stormnum=1358&
;year=2005


That's the context I was lacking from this, thanks for posting the time line. This guy sounds like a movie character, one of the good guys

Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area on 8/29/05.

http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/createstorm.asp?stormnum=1352&year=2005

Hurricane Rita hit west Louisiana around 9/24/05. This press conference (in New Orleans) is happening prior to Rita making landfall - when the storm's exact course was in flux.

http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/createstorm.asp?stormnum=1358&year=2005

Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area on 8/29/05.

http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/createstorm.asp?stormnum=1352&year=2005

Hurricane Rita hit west Louisiana around 9/24/05. This press conference (in New Orleans) is happening prior to Rita making landfall - when the storm's exact course was in flux.

http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/createstorm.asp?stormnum=1358&year=2005

>> ^BreaksTheEarth:
So this is what a cold-blooded murder looks like.


No, not really.

From Wikipedia:
Nevada has been ranked as the most dangerous state in the U.S. for five years in a row, just ahead of Louisiana[27][28] In 2006, the crime rate in Nevada was approximately 24% higher than the national average rate. Property crimes accounted for approximately 84.6% of the crime rate in Nevada which was 21% higher than the national rate. The remaining 20.3% were violent crimes and were approximately 45% higher than other states.[29] In 2008, Nevada had the third highest murder rate, and the highest rate of robbery and motor vehicle theft.[27] It should be noted that many of these statistics may not totally be attributed to the citizens of Nevada themselves, but partially to the high rate of visitors entering and leaving the state as well. In addition, the state's most populous county, Clark (accounting for 75% of the state's total population), skews the crime rate for the balance of the state.



...and people wonder why I want to get out of this shithole.

As I understand it, the oil has already hit shore.

Looking for the article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html

babies constantly get two black eyes, and writhe in their own pools of blood when they fall. It happenes to everyone at some point, right? Louisiana, you are a shining beacon.

1% may be on the high side, but a somewhat reliable source estimates 0.5% which is still pretty freakin' high:
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=760&cat=1

The higher figure may include people on parole - as this page suggests: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States
"As of 2004, the three states with the lowest ratio of imprisoned to civilian population are Maine (148 per 100,000), Minnesota (171 per 100,000), and Rhode Island (175 per 100,000). The three states with the highest ratio are Louisiana (816 per 100,000), Texas (694 per 100,000), and Mississippi (669 per 100,000).[17]"

Interesting.

Same article points out that although China's official rate is lower, regime critics' estimates place China's prison per-capita ratio closer to the American #.

Still, one would hope that it'd be a case of China defenders trying to make themselves look better than the US in this regard than the opposite scenario you find occuring. Sad.

>> ^TheSofaKing:
I'm sorry, did I miss the part where the coroner listed "asphyxiation" as a cause of death? No because he was not applying enough force to prevent breathing.


You must have missed the part from the report that doesn't match up with what you wanted to say:

"Preliminary results from the Livingston Parish coroner show Stogner died from severe coronary artery disease, an enlarged heart, and a fracture of the hyoid bone in his neck. Dr. Ron Coe says the fracture may be due to force being applied to that area."

During Katrina, the local government fucked up pretty much everything and the federal government went out of their way to make sure nobody could fix those mistakes. The locals did not follow procedure, initially, and when they finally got their shit together, the feds focused on making them look as bad as possible instead of helping the citizens, including blocking aid from foreign countries that offered.

I'm not sure exactly why Obama should be criticized over Haiti. See, Louisiana is part of the USA whereas Haiti is another country entirely. Obama doesn't actually have any responsibility for Haiti. I'm inclined to think any Republican criticizing Obama over Haiti is just looking for something negative to say. The Republicans have spent the last several years telling us that only US citizens matter, so why would they suddenly care about Haiti unless it's self-serving?
>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:
For example - I don't really see a whole lot of people getting on Obama's case for 'taking his sweet time' in dealing with Haiti. During Katrina, people whined about Bush's slow response before the Hurricane had even left New Orleans. But the fact was Federal relief was already moving before the storm even hit, and things only got really bad because of the stupidity and sluggishness of Nagin and Blanco (Democrats). Haiti is a horrible disaster and things down there are deteriorating rapidly. Relief has been slower getting there than it was for Katrina, and yet I don't hear Mr. Doofus blaming Obama for that. Why is is OK to blame Katrina's bad outcome on Bush, but Obama gets a pass for Haiti?

>> ^BoneyD:
Who was the Republican? Ron Paul?


Naw I don't think Ron Paul is really into the government helping the poor (or the average). It was Anh "Joseph" Quang Cao, of Louisiana.

mmmmmmm...Mike's Hard Lemonaaaaaaaaade

*puts down Zima*

In reply to this comment by MikesHL13:
LOL. Great comment. Perfect.

In reply to this comment by rottenseed:
...right because you have to be married to have a kid