Elizabeth Barrette › Comments

"People who live in water-poor areas of the country, but are not strongly attached to their current locale, should seriously consider moving to somewhere else with a better water supply. That would reduce the drain on a scarce resource and allow people who *are* strongly attached to stay there longer. Otherwise we're going to see a lot of unhappy refugees fleeing areas where the water supply has crashed." - Elizabeth Barrette

"I am reminded of how, when privacy advocates protest government intrusion, the government says, "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you shouldn't fear being watched." Well, two can play at that game -- if the government really believes torture is okay, they shouldn't be hiding what they are doing with it. But they KNOW it's wrong, so they are destroying evidence. Which is a whole separate crime, also worth prosecuting." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Nonsense. Anyone can be against torture, etc. and be working in that direction, whether or not their party is currently behaving in an ethical manner. The Republicans have done far more damage in terms of supporting torture than the Democrats, and they surely deserve to be punished for it." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Maybe "people like this" reproduce because America is into abstinence-only programs and anti-choice legislation. Not everyone is good parent material, and people who recognize they are not should be given FREE BIRTH CONTROL." - Elizabeth Barrette

"There isn't much point in claiming to protect a species if the parameters explicitly forbid acting on the primary reason that species is endangered. Polar bears are threatened by habitat destruction caused by global warming; unless we fix that, nothing else will save them. America simply cares more about business than the biosphere ... forgetting that the economy is A SUBSET OF the environment, since like everything else supporting our lives it's based on Earth." - Elizabeth Barrette

"This is a bad idea, because it will make school uncomfortable for more students. Adults generally have a choice about entering the military; children are forced into schools. And the best students -- those of scholarly mind -- are least likely to be comfortable and most likely to be harmed by a military atmosphere. It is always counterproductive to change a system in any way that undercuts its core function, in this case education." - Elizabeth Barrette

"I love the library. If I ever had the money for conspicuous consumption, that's the kind of building I'd spend it on." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Yes! I recently read about the Cap-and-Trade with dividends approach to reducing carbon pollution in the book _Climate Solutions_. This is the best idea I've encountered so far, and I'm delighted to see a politician exploring it." - Elizabeth Barrette

"There's really only one thing to say to the Army about this: "Are you out of your fucking MIND?" Well, yeah, they're the Army. They're trained not to think. We should kick them out of the ocean. They don't have the brains not to pee in the pool." - Elizabeth Barrette

"It has previously been established that "just following orders" is not a permissible defense. However, soldiers should always have a *protected* option to refuse illegal orders. In practice, they don't; refusing even an illegal order is the end of one's career at least. That contributes to the problem, and needs to be fixed. The primary blame falls on people in power who *designed* the whole torture program. They should be tried for war crimes and punished accordingly." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." - Elizabeth Barrette

""Come and ride the road that links the cities of the sun..."" - Elizabeth Barrette

"This is deeply disappointing. A lunar base would provide a permanent outpost for other projects. Until we have people living off the Earth, we're just tourists up there. There are things that visitors will never learn about any place. You need residents." - Elizabeth Barrette

"We'd die. If we don't have a system in place to identify all the Near-Earth-Orbit objects long before they hit us, and knock them aside while they are still quite distant, then by the time we see one headed right for us, it will be too late to stop. And we will deserve extinction, because we HAVE the capacity to protect the planet from space strikes, but we are not using it." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Placing some people above the law like that weakens the justice system for everyone." - Elizabeth Barrette

"*CHEER* I'm thrilled to see the President acknowledge America's religious diversity, which is a source of our strength." - Elizabeth Barrette

"I've read this book and it's excellent. It explains how to grow food year-round with very minimal technology and power required. Most highly recommended!" - Elizabeth Barrette

"This is a wonderful application of established knowledge. I think that temperature is still important, but forests are still important there, being darker than many other types of terrain. The real gem, however, is revealing the crucial role of *coastal* forests: destroying those can destroy vast amounts of inland terrain through desertification. Restoring them could well have extra improvement impact. So we should focus on retaining and restoring coastal forests, and observe the results." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Oh yes, gods forbid that children should learn that meat comes from animals and that if you want to stay alive, you have to kill your food (yes, even plants)." - Elizabeth Barrette

"None of which are likely to help if you can't afford food, shelter, or medical care and there are no jobs in your area." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Wow, someone with a brain! They're teens. Teens have sex, talk about sex, and swap sexy pictures. Nothing short of imprisoning them all in solitary confinement will stop that. There's no point in ruining someone's life for normal behavior." - Elizabeth Barrette

""Law enforcement" officials should be charged with crimes committed while they are on duty, such as cruelty to animals or destruction of property." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Men who pass laws like that don't deserve to get any sex at all." - Elizabeth Barrette

"This is very insightful! Remember, however, that viewing patterns are mostly based on reading patterns: If you're blogging in Hebrew or Arabic, reverse the Z so it's right to left." - Elizabeth Barrette

"It is stupid, for those and other reasons. It creates an underclass of people whom others feel justified in mistreating and depriving of many rights. It makes it difficult for people to rejoin society after a conviction -- and if they cannot rejoin it, that makes it more likely they will work against it, which is what we're trying to avoid. It encourages people to be suspicious of each other and go looking for trouble. It does more harm than good, and not just to the direct targets." - Elizabeth Barrette

"This is what happens when citizens allow their government to spy on people without probable cause." - Elizabeth Barrette

"There's an event entry for Earth Hour on Bloggers Unite. I plan to participate." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Ideally, renewable power installations should go in places where they will be minimal bother to people or wildlife." - Elizabeth Barrette

"Trains are one of the more efficient ways to transport large numbers of people. This sounds promising." - Elizabeth Barrette

"A key reason to avoid nuclear power is that we can't safely dispose of the waste, which is highly dangerous material that will remain so for tens of thousands of years." - Elizabeth Barrette