Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Towlie

Towlie's Journal
Towlie's Journal
August 26, 2019

If you're 47 then the world's population has doubled during your lifetime.

... and if you're 70 then the world's population has tripled during your lifetime.

Concerns about global warming, preserving our resources, and what conditions will be like in the future all seem to be based upon the assumption that the population will somehow stay fixed, but there's no reason to expect that. I'm not aware of any serious movement to reduce the rate of human population growth around the world, let alone stop it, nor is there even speculation about how either might be accomplished. We are animals, and here's something that Richard Dawkins wrote that applies to humanity just as much as it applies to other animal species:

“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored.”

That's what's happening to humanity and there's nothing we can do about it. Even some far-fetched, hypothetical, breakthrough to somehow limit births would only be seen as favoring some subset of humanity and discriminating against another, and those who resist would survive while those who submit would die out.

No, I don't see any way out. The average human being is experiencing an extremely miserable life, and because of the limited capacity of Planet Earth to support us, it can only get worse.
August 26, 2019

Bernie is using a $27.99 Harbor Freight megaphone.

50 Watt Megaphone with Safety Siren

What does that mean? I don't know but I have one just like it.
August 22, 2019

I'm considering switching from Kamela Harris to Elizabeth Warren.

I'm considering switching from Kamala Harris to Elizabeth Warren, largely due to this:

‘I Believe in Capitalism’: Kamala Harris Courts Big Donors in the Hamptons. And...

Kamala Harris raises over $1 million at Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard fundraisers

One of the Hamptons events was hosted by public relations executive Michael Kempner. That gathering raised double than the campaign's original goal and had more than 150 people attend, according to those briefed on the matter. Tickets ranged from $1,000 to $2,800. While at the events, Harris picked up a few new wealthy supporters and they are expected to host other money-making events for her in New York next month.

On the other hand,

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, leading lights of the Democrats’ progressive wing, weren’t around. They’ve pledged not to take big-dollar donations, at least during the primary season.


But maybe I'm just reluctant to accept something that's an inescapable, political, reality.

August 21, 2019

Unless ANY of the candidates on the list are electable over Trump, we're hopelessly lost.

To claim that an old white man should be nominated simply because he's the most electable is to say that he resembles Trump enough to lure a sufficient number of Trump supporters. But I find it hard to believe that there will be enough Trump supporters in existence to matter after what Trump has, and continues to, put us through. We shouldn't need to accept such a compromise. If it's not true that ANY of the Democratic candidates on the list are electable then our nation has hopelessly lost its way and we might as well give up.

Speaking as an old white man myself I favor a candidate who is the "Anti-Trump", and by that I mean as opposite to Trump as possible, including not an old white man. We need a young, female, liberal, intelligent, knowledgeable, honest, altruistic, amiable, and rational candidate to face and defeat the old, male, right-wing, idiotic, ignorant, dishonest, insensitive, crude, and irrational incumbent. Electing such a polar opposite is necessary to help us convince the rest of the world that America's inexplicable insanity was only temporary and we have finally come to our senses.

August 16, 2019

Some Utterly Fascinating Information

The smallest 25 states in the continental United States collectively have a total area less than the area of Greenland.

July 17, 2019

Nancy Pelosi's speech was 10 times better when watching it on Fox News!

Just knowing that Fox News watchers were seeing and hearing it made it so much better!

Now Fox News is trying their best to change the subject, with the ironic chyron "Great Distractor" still on their screen, so back to MSNBC...

July 7, 2019

Trump argues that they need the census question "for districting."

Trump just admitted something he probably shouldn’t have about the census citizenship question

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said you need the census citizenship question “for many reasons.”

“Number one, you need it for Congress — you need it for Congress for districting,” he said Friday.


Trump is arguing that the GOP needs the data for more effective gerrymandering.

He's not immoral, he's amoral. He doesn't even grasp the concept of morality.
June 30, 2019

Joe Biden is the big guy in the old west saloon brawl.

The probably unspoken, almost instinctive, group strategy is to gang up on Biden and get him out of the way first, then concentrate on battling each other afterward. And I predict that's exactly how this is going to play out.

June 28, 2019

The moderators need to stop interrupting!

All of the candidates had portions of their messages rendered unintelligible by moderators talking over them to say that their time was up. That has to stop.

Perhaps some sort of clock visible to the candidates can be arranged to warn them that their microphones will go dead when their time expires, or even more sophisticated, allot each candidate an equal share of time for the entire debate and let them portion that time the way time is budgeted by chess opponents using a chess clock.

But however it's done, let the candidates themselves take responsibility for fitting their messages into the time allotted to them. It serves the interest of no one on our side to truncate sentences and turn them into unclear fragments.

Profile Information

Gender: Male
Hometown: Broward County, Florida, U. S. Congressional District 25, Representative is Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)
Member since: Sun Sep 10, 2006, 08:56 PM
Number of posts: 5,324
Latest Discussions»Towlie's Journal