Artful Dodger: That would be who? Americans annoyed with the USA or some religious group, etc..... As most terrorist attacks on the USA homeland have been committed by Americans. If you go back 10-20 years then most of the terrorism happening was by Europeans in Europe, those unhappy with the way the world is and of those who won't listen to them.

.. 99.999%+ of those who are middle eastern are just normal everyday Joes. That's why the policy here is everyone gets scanned.

Artful Dodger: Israel is in the doghouse at the moment re the UK government.. for using fake UK passports in the murder of one of their targets.

The scanners are being brought into service as a means of not having to frisk people. Everyone gets scanned is to be the rule here I believe.

Bwild: ONLY if you choose to have health insurance for your employees and in the current type of market. You will not be fined for having no employee insurance, but hopefully with a BIGGER FREE market, where like with car insurance, etc you can shop around .. .. we have sites that compare the market here for you on car/home insurance, etc. .... .... and hence get cheaper insurance policies.

You at least have a viable choice, instead of no choice due to cost.

The alternative.. private health insurance as the primary health care system which has been pricing health insurance out of the range of small businesses for a long time, with no real control over pricing.

I hear that a prescription for paracetamol can cost $20 dollars via a docs... strange for something (if true) that I can buy basically anywhere for less than 50c

Ferris Bueller: So basically, small businesses are penalised by the current health system for being small. They may want to provide health insurance, but the cost is higher than medium/large firms pay thanks to extra charges by brokers, etc... on average 18% more per employee.

So, if small businesses have access to a greater market then the cost goes down, the % of small businesses that provide cover would be higher.. hopefully.. as the cost would be less.

Makes sense.

Artful Dodger: Studied statistics at college to 'A' level standard. That's why I'm not a big fan of 'polls' unless there is a BIG sample and a BIG % difference.

Artful Dodger: I think you need something like the Tax Payers Alliance. No party allegiance, just the desire to expose government hogwash.

Bwild: exempt from paying towards healthcare costs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao5V66m5FaA

Will make it clear.

Artful Dodger: The error use to be quite bad, sample sizes usually being small. Not sure now if they have been able to work out the error % to a smaller figure, but it could be as high as 10%.

They are just for show.

Bwild: Guess the memory of the writers forgets what caught the Republican wanna be pres in the talks in TV.. small business are exempt. McCain tried to score a point with this and got wedged by the reply that small business are exempt, big businesses pay.

Guess they rely on people not having a memory.

Artful Dodger: Unfortunately, they usually don't do enough to give a reasonable accuracy, the error margins seeing the closeness (in some cases) is to much for the polls to considered accurate.

Unless you can find a poll with a low error margin (5% or less) Do they have ones with that low error these days?

Artful Dodger: I find polls that say more like the idea. I guess it depends on who, where and when it was done.

A 80 billion pounds a year industry.. chocolate. Just where does the cocoa beans that makes one of our favourite treats come from. More importantly.. who harvests it?

Free market trading equating in child slavery. Yet despite rules and regs in most western countries banning the importation of goods made from slave or prison labour, most of the cocoa bean trade is tainted. Fathers, uncles, etc selling children.

All done in the name of profit and low cost products.

Artful Dodger: Tort reform is a must.. but I have to say, your health companies like monopolies. I guess that they have been fighting to maintain them.

Over here in the UK we have a monopolies commission to stop such things happening.

Artful Dodger: Well, I doubt the whole system will be overhauled. I must say though it takes guts to challenge your health companies and their lobbyists

So.. while 40 odd million Americans go without health insurance and your health insurance companies keep upping their charges.. it's still a matter of politics?

You guys really need to get over this "socialist" thingy.

I don't get it.. your health system is a mess in that it is costing you in the USA too much, too many cases of people being turned down for treatment over silly reasons and many people are suffering due to lack of access to decent health care.

With everyone required to pay into the health system, that to me cuts down on what the current payers have to pay.

imho

Artful Dodger: Each county here looks after the schools in it's area. Yes, the government makes policy, though the use of resources is down to the county council. In cases of children with learning problems, each school has specialist teachers.. The use of a school specifically designed for children with learning problems although open, is just one of those options available. Each child with special needs is assessed each year (at least once) to see where they need to be and what they need.

Parents are part of this system, and can have say in their children's education as well as the usual .. help learning at home through homework, etc.

Artful Dodger: How does he plan to expand Head Start, and what are the others programs?

Tuesday: It's complicated being a person of Jewish faith. The story is when the covenant with God was made via Moses, every single Jew was present. Past, present and future.

It's like anything... a name of a faith. You be British and a Jewish person, etc. It's like being Muslim, Christian, Druid, Wiccan, Buddhist, etc.

Tuesday: Hitler is not the only one to use the Jews as a scapegoat. One or both of the main protestant fathers put forward the idea that the Jews were evil and needed extermination due the their involvement with Christ's crucifixion.

And yes religious wars are in name only, so are those who persecuted various Christian sects, including Christians sects who picked on other Christian sects.

Artful Dodger: I agree to a degree.... that leap of understanding when you 'jump' from darkness to illumination and the stages within.... that is not definable, science cannot define God.

Tuesday: Because the Roman Church liked power. Seriously, it's the main religion in the west due to murder, torture, imprisonment & excommunication. 10's of millions have died thanks to people fighting over who was right in interpretation and of power. The Jews have faced several times persecution and genocide at the hands of Christians who thought they were in league with the DeViL... for just doing there job and making Christ live.

Artful Dodger: You are right there. Doctrine and dogma are man made things. I'm sure God did not want us to go burning a sacrifice to God in order to stop bad luck.. Witch burning!!

Pedro Martínez: Light and dark.. more meaning then just illumination and the various ways that word can be interpreted. Some olden religions while supporting the big bang theory (but in another way) still make sense.

The establishment of time is an important point.. from when there was no time.

Tuesday: Aye, but in the J Witness version it was not there. Neither are there notes on where the 7 days came from (Egyptian standard week.. they worked out the year and seasons)... On the metaphorical and story like nature of evil and the devil. That there are four distinct 'hells' and related meanings to the words that is lost in the use of one word.

Moses was brought up by the Egyptians, and despite 'tales' they understood a one God principle and even taught as much.

For about fifteen centuries the interpretation was constrained imho.

Bernice: The bit about 'witches' was in connection with sex outside marriage and the laws relating to what you did if accidents happened. The use of 'sages and gurus' is allowed... just don't over use them. Have a little suprise in your life or end up like Leto II the God Emperor

Tuesday: Ohhhh yes they did. Our Church of England was formed as King Henry VIII couldn't get a divorce from the Pope.

Some months back A Jehovah's witness came knocking (as they do) and I had a little discussion. A certain key element regarding Adam and Eve and how eating from the tree allowed mankind to become as our creator was missing.

King James had the King James Bible written due to certain parts of the current ones in use (Geneva version that the pilgrims used?) made his conscience feel uncomfortable.

Ferris Bueller: I know. There were many, many gospels and related literature before hand. Each group of Christians had their own texts. At the time of formation of what we call the Bible these days the Roman emperor of the time used extreme measures on those who would not conform.

Tuesday: The world is material, matter, energy, photons, quarks, etc, etc.

Much of the Bible is metaphorical language based on life and legend of the time. Hell gets it's pit from a place outside Jerusalem where criminals bodies were dumped... ie sinners. It's an old book on how to master the basic nature of humans, our animal side.

Genesis says it, we are part of this world, yet the kingdom of God we can still experience while we live.. It's to do with understanding the separation between the two.

Bernice: Yep, amongst others of the time. Put on charges of heresy in the end.

Tuesday: The RCC once ruled that we were the centre of the universe, then the centre of the solar system... despite that for this to happen the planets around us would have to travel like a pen on a spirograph!! The Bible has and always had at it's main point PHILOSOPHY... churches turned it into a religion.

The first decent telescope was only built a few centuries ago. Long after the Bible was written.

Mousetrap: Well, the rumours are that the far side of the moon is out of bounds to us humans... And that a Canadian ex defence minister blew the cover by stating.. "there are aliens and we have talked/met them" yet the USA wants to cover it all up speaks volumes.

I think some governments are worried about how people will react to us not being the big cheese's in this galaxy/universe.

Jim Dandy: Not only that, but reuse as much as possible. We've become too much of a throw away society!!

The cold frame I'm making.. 99% recycled material. Even the plastic is what a local yard chucks away (law says they cannot reuse stuff they have removed to make a new build) not only is it very cheap, but the plastic is 6 layers deep giving very good heat retention.
Just takes a little imagination.

Artful Dodger: The only way we can be sure it's a purely natural cycle is for us to stop producing the gasses that can cause harm.

Even if it is a natural cycle it has to be that our impact on the environment is part of the math and science. If nature is producing 99% of our weather, we are still responsible for 1%... The old adage of a straw and camels back comes to mind.

Mousetrap: Well, the rocket launched.. they went somewhere. Maybe the aliens watching us invited them in for coffee!!

Artful Dodger: Going to the moon was so abound with risks. The % chance of a fatal failure was pretty significant. The science was not 100% as it was no-one had done it before. Yet your country still sent people and spent billions on what could have been a complete failure.

It's called risk assessment, at what point is the risk of an devastating event worth being ignored. It's like with an asteroid strike, the probability of being hit is very, very small. Yet we still plan in case that one in a trillion comes to be a certainty. Billions are spent on watching the skies as the cost of a big strike is unmeasurable.

We are talking about probability.

I've worked on a secret project that by all accounts will not be needed, yet the cost was worth it in case a certain countries troops were put in a situation that the need of the device that was made would save lives on the battlefield.

DNA.. so many women/men I've seen on a certain prog state that there is no way 'X' is biologically related and they have been 90% sure.. even to putting another name/not putting the name, etc on the birth certificate... ie you say that the science on global warming is flawed... ok, there is a chance that we will not have any major significant extreme weather changes.

But who's life would you bet on that? Which resource could you live without? We are already facing problems via India through over farming draining the water table of a significant food production area in aid of cheap food.

As for weather here.. when we had snow forecasts recently, they could not be 100% on how much and where it would fall. But the % chance still led to warnings.

Artful Dodger: I've seen 90% sure that he's the daddy. Also I remember on the Apollo missions.. there was a fair chance the astronauts would die. They still went.

Plus.. from a personal point of view (as recognised by many thinkers) you can apply a 'weight' or certainty factor to an idea or thought.

So much science and invention has come from trial and error, refining ideas as you go along. The electric bulb is such an invention... it took many attempts to find a filament that would work.

As for sats... yes they have a use, but local weather stations, buoys, ships provide much more detailed info. Perhaps it's because you can't see millimetre detail from space as far as I know.

Artful Dodger: When I was at school I was told electrons went around the nucleus of an atom in nice circles.

Now thanks to quantum physics I hear that an electron's orbit is unpredictable and that the electron can be in several places at once. There was no universe in the 40's just our galaxy, nothing could escape a black hole.. now they have been found to be an essential part of a galaxies development.

Quite frankly we do not have the computing power or understanding, the monitoring equipment and enough locations to be 100% .. The science on global warming is 90% certain, but at the same time it is causing a move to an idea that such as the native Indians in the USA (as well as others) have had for a long time. We are caretakers of the world, we borrow it from our children.

Artful Dodger: Some are interlinked by the matter of the chemicals involved. If the use of CFC's had carried on we might end up with days where we cannot go outside due to high solar radiation.

Some of the chemicals damage both. Plain and simple. Keeping a healthy environment can lower the possible risk of our carbon footprint.

It's not rocket science to see that.

Artful Dodger: But it's not just about carbon, there are other chemicals as well. Wasn't it 6 gases that are on the hit list. Some of them are potentially worse then CO2, considering the toxicity of them and that they are more persistent then CO2.

Though you might disagree with the boffins, you cannot deny that we are benefiting. I see now that new systems of dealing with rubbish end up in energy being produced from the waste.

.... All because we got worried over landfills.

Artful Dodger: ONE sub species of polar bear is on the increase.. that is the fact, the others are too hard to count or either still dropping or stable.

The effect of banning hunting is to be considered in any reporting. That is a fact.

Artful Dodger: But have they distorted the info.

They did with the polar bears

Artful Dodger: Nahhh it's a common political trick used by all parties. Nick Griffin is great at it... he is in no way liberal

Artful Dodger: Sorry, I question at my speed, not at the speed of XY & Z.

And at the last count in my analysis, it was the level of effect of man-made pollutants.

Regardless of being "current" or not any effect is going to remain the same unless actual physical changes are made.

Ferris Bueller: I wish!!

Artful Dodger: So is the anti-liberals.

"That's way you can ignore dealing with the question at hand. "

So are the anti-liberals.

Artful Dodger: Rubbish, the % effect is the debate. I mean.. CFC's. Do you doubt the problem they were having on the ozone layer, or the time limit on how long we had to change our ways?

Artful Dodger: No, just the impact and effect are still.. debatable. Cooling.. I heard that in the film "the day after tomorrow".. where the destabilisation of a sea current from the dumping of fresh water from the polar ice. Accuracy.. unknown to me. Without reading much sites I won't say it's right or wrong. It's in a box waiting info.

As to scepticism.. I agree, read.. but don't trust either side.. BOTH sides are making money from it. Businesses who will lose money from having to be greener and are lobbying government should not be trusted either.

I must say that you cannot deny we have had effect on our environment. Acid rain.. Nuclear reactors melting down leaving areas of land no go and our sheep designated "kill, to radioactive for human consumption." Smog.. LA had/has a problem with that.

My point is.. rather then moan about what they all are saying, do some research. Not just from anti GW sites, but from all to understand why they are saying it.

Artful Dodger: Good. But you can understand (maybe) that you come across as an anti alarmist alarmist.

Unfortunately not everyone in business agrees with keep it clean. Just the trend is to move dirty manufacturing jobs to the developing world.

Artful Dodger: And what is happening to the pockets of the anti-global warming crowd. I see many books being written and speeches etc. Guess both sides of the extreme wings are making money. That is life... Bible bashers, celebs etc all do it. Best to make a buck now till the next 'in thing' comes to play.

And why do you just hark on about the extremists? Some of the middle roaders are just listening and using the sensible ideas. Recycle more, more insulation, grow your own. Allotments here have gone from being underused to now have waiting lists.

And new schemes such as microgeneration are more widely available. Such is.. that it might be that you'll find that the energy companies will owe you money at the end of the year.

Artful Dodger: So, lets play a level field. Don't moan at the likes of Al Gore making money and I won't pick up on detail (that you missed to report) on Sarah Plain's big fees.

And FYI, it's not just liberals here who scorn Palin, but Labour and Conservative supporters alike.

And yes Al Gore brought to the forefront Global warming, something right wing Repub's don't like. Maybe another dust bowl we get the message through

You do remember that don't you.. over intensive farming causing entire farmland regions to be destroyed. A fine example of mankinds impact on the earth.