likearock

In 1979 the Ixtoc I well blew at a depth of 2 miles off the Mexican coast. It was capped 9 months later, after spilling 140 million gallons (35 million barrels) of oil. Eventually 3 million gallons fouled 162 miles of the Texas coast. It was the second worst spill in history. While we don't know what went wrong with the Deepwater Horizon, the parallels with Ixtoc I seem very suggestive. Nine months? There's something to look forward to. How do they even know they stopped it rather than it just ran out of oil?

The scariest part of this spill is we have know idea if we even can stop it. Has anything like this (containing an uncontrolled oil emission one mile under the sea) ever been done before? Tanker or land based spills don't really compare.

Tell that to anyone who lives on the Gulf. Also, it isn't over yet. Let's check that list in 6 months.

Brian is an excellent coach. I worked with him at SVNH.

You realize this already happens, right? Up until now they just peak in your car for some reason. I'm guessing they are checking to see if anyone looks dark skinned and scared. Now they have the right to ask for an ID. Big change... I suppose it's not such a big change if you happen to be light skinned. Did that make sense in your head before you wrote it. This is the way things already are. The difference is that the illegals can be arrested. Rather than strictly racial profiling, they can ask for an ID. As much as it probably burns you up, this is actually more fair that what is currently happening. I'm sure in your dreams it might be more fair. You conveniently gloss over the fact that now the police can be sued if John Q Public doesn't think they're being aggressive enough in rounding up the illegals. How do you think that might affect the frequency of racial profiling?

Doesn't really matter. In the end, simple economics will make the difference. Remember Arizona's Martin Luther King Day controversy? Once their "principled stand" against MLK day started affecting their bottom line, they changed their tune in a hurry. And guess what, baseball's 2011 All Star game happens to be scheduled for Phoenix. Anyone know the percentage of Hispanics in MLB? As Yogi would say, "it's deja vu all over again!" Let's keep the whole thing in perspective: Arizona doesn't just have a problem with the legal status of Mexicans, it's got one with our president as well.

You realize this already happens, right? Up until now they just peak in your car for some reason. I'm guessing they are checking to see if anyone looks dark skinned and scared. Now they have the right to ask for an ID. Big change... I suppose it's not such a big change if you happen to be light skinned.

Yes it does!

I find this as ridiculous as I hope every other person finds it. It is insanity to think that inflicting actual harm over a comic is "just a reality". You tend to take these threats seriously when a similar one actually resulted in person's death.

Jesus just left Chicago And he's bound for New Orleans...

Forgive me if I don't get sucked into your game of slicing up the posts and jigsawing them in some way you think supports your position. Here's the bottom line: it's what's happening now that is the critical issue. That's true for both Catholics and Muslims. As far as Catholics go, I don't give a rat's ass if some other religion used to practice pedophilia in the distant past - if they're not doing it now, it ain't comparable to what's going on with the Catholics. And it's what's going on now that I personally find inexcusable. Same goes for Islam. But if you keep trying to justify their bad acts by saying everyone did it at some time before, it's pretty clear who's the one making the excuses.

not at all. i think it's good for people to condemn things that are clearly wrong. however, it seemed from the tone of your post that you share a religious outlook with the people who made those threats. You're going to get into trouble trying to judge things from the "tone" of posts. I don't carry water for any religion. Kind of makes your subsequent statements about my own "tenets" and "adherents" look a little ridiculous. I'm pretty even handed in that respect and you would know that if you've been reading all my posts even just in this thread. The pedophilia scandal that's hit Christianity is the worst and has no significant analog in the Muslim world. But the other side of that is to recognize when you're just making excuses for a religion by saying that everyone's done the same thing at one time or another. There's a big difference between stuff that was done hundreds of years ago and the stuff that we see live on CNN.

I prefer 3 wise monkeys

Isaiah 43:8

When christianity held power the way the islamic leaders still do, they would have executed the person who published this cartoon. they certainly executed untold numbers for far less (women as young as 2 years old executed for witchcraft). if you're going to argue that they wouldn't do that today, right afterward you should thank the secular contingent of society that fought against that power. the fact that your religion has force evolved through societal pressure doesn't mean you should be throwing stones at islam. Let's see if I have this right. Is it your position that I don't have the right to condemn things that are clearly wrong (such as death threats against someone for a book or cartoon) if at one time my predecessors committed some similar evil? That could be pretty limiting. Does it just apply to religion or would I also not be able to come out against say modern-day slavery, for example?

I stand corrected.

He was the spiritual leader of the Shia branch (one of many branches of Islam) in Iran, not all Shia Islam. In any event, analogies are weak structures at best, and yours is getting quite strained; and parsing analogies gets silly. Roman Catholicism is what it is, and Islam is what it is. Nothing strained about the fact that someone just published a cartoon of a priest giving Jesus Christ a blowjob. Where are the huge, worldwide Christian mobs calling for that cartoonist's death like the Muslim mobs were for the Danish cartoonist who drew Mohammed with a turban bomb?

Must've been a really stiff tie in that case.

Really? So what's the Christian equivalent for Ayatollah Khomeini, the recognized leader of all Shia Islam, issuing a death fatwa against Salman Rushdie over a book?

Doesn't count - the wind is off!

But we do. With gusto. Yeah, but something tells me the bishops won't be issuing "fatwas" to kill the cartoonist any time soon. Against cartoonists? Maybe not. Christian "Fatwas"? You betcha. http://www.examiner.com/x-2044-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m6d3-Antiabortion-violence--Christian-fundamentalist-terrorism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism http://www.jstor.org/pss/1049106 http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_14846880 Not equivalent. There's a difference between threats that come from members of a religion and those that come from its actual leaders. There's also a difference between those that target people because of their deeds (as in attacks on abortion doctors) and those that target them over words (as in cartoonists). Not saying that any of these acts are justified, just that they are quite different.

But we do. With gusto. Yeah, but something tells me the bishops won't be issuing "fatwas" to kill the cartoonist any time soon.

He's not.

I am all the proof I need. God has healed and restored me. He has given me a spiritual life beyond my wildest dreams. Couldn't that same kind of "proof" be used to support heroin usage as well?

Another flaw in that argument is that pure capitalism is too heavily incentivized for short term rather than long term gain.