: : What a shame Bill Hicks isn't around any more. That man could really sum up Reagan in a few well-chosen words...: Nice work Farinata, you just proved my point. Pick and choose the exact precise data that you need to 'prove' your thesis.
I was merely quoting a few stats from a book I was reading at the time. I can find any number of similar stats elsewhere.
: Wow, man, I'm impressed! Well, this Farinata dude knows what he's talking about! Must be a intelekthul. Prob'ly went all the way t'the 18th. grade!
Terribly sorry, I speak English, not American...
(Yes, I went through the Sixth Form and did A-levels, then went to University and got a degree.)
: Yet, in spite of your superior brain-power, Cubans still come here in leaky home-built boats, knowing before they start they may not make it. Their experiences with the sort of government you and your ilk propose mean nothing though.
Well, given the American sanctions, there's a lot of stuff that isn't getting through to Cuba; yet they still manage to run a tighter shop than the US.
What exactly is the US so scared of about Cuba? Are they still sore about the Bay of Pigs. After all, if the US actually tried trading normally and Cuba failed, the US could even point to Cuba and say "look, socialism failed there". But no, we have this intense and world-condemned attempt at choking Cuba into submission.
(1996: the UN passed a resolution condemning the U.S. sanctions of Cuba by 196 to 3 - those three being the U.S., Israel and Turkmenistan.)
: I had to laugh at your dopey comparison of TB rates between Kenya and the US. Gawd, is there no depth to which your ilk will not stoop?
What's so dopey about it? TB was one of the major killers prior to antibiotics; the fact that it's returning is not something to sneer at.
: Anyways, you can say what you want about RR. One RR will always be the equivilant of ten thousand phony intellectuals. Which proves that humans are not inherently equal after all is said and done.
I can say whatever I like about Reagan? How kind of you...
(especially in this debating room where some freedom of speech exists anyway...)
Let's first examine the evidence; Ronald Reagan tried to join the Communist Party in 1937; but was rejected because they judged him to be "a flake" who "couldn't hold a political view for more than 20 minutes at a time"; they judged him too stupid to be a Communist.
OK, let's now look at some memorably incisive Ronnie quotes (from this page;
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do" (1981)
and
"A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?" (1966)
(does this guy have a tree phobia or something?)
and
"I have flown twice over Mt St Helens out on our west coast. I'm not a scientist and I don't know the figures, but I have a suspicion that that one little mountain has probably released more sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere of the world than has been released in the last ten years of automobile driving or things of that kind that people are so concerned about." (1980)
(Actually, Mount St. Helens, at its peak activity, emitted about 2,000 tons of sulphur dioxide per day, compared with 81,000 tons per day by cars.)
and
"Facts are stupid things." (1988)
and
"We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in education and the decline in profit over recent years" (1983)
and
"Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal." (1976)
and
"The American Petroleum Institute filed suit against the EPA [and] charged that the agency was suppressing a scientific study for fear it might be misinterpreted... The suppressed study reveals that 80 percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys and auto exhaust pipes, but from plants and trees" (1979)
(In actual fact, there was no such study; indeed, such a conclusion is against all of the other evidence.)
Yup, that's one penetrating wit, alright.
(Also read what the Cult of the Dead Cow have to say on him...)
: PS. From which colleges did you graduate? Are you a professor?
Nope. I'm a computer engineer. I got a B.Sc. in space science from University College London, looked at the funding crisis in the UK with respect to space science and promptly decided that computers were an easier way of making a living.
