Barack Obama wins the Democratic Nomination

[Jerome Scuggs]

you have proven who throws the most money towards needy people

i demand results

[Cops]

I think supporters for Hilary might explode.

They wanted a woman more than anything in the White House and they could have their "historic bid," with the first woman VP. Wonder what they'l do ^-^

man i want to fucking break my fucking macbook, piece of shit keys stop working randomly.

I think her becoming V.P would be historic and it would at the very least appease her followers, and you need to start appeasing her supporters.

[DankNuggets]

No Izor isn't right, its a fact that the Dutch are the authority when it comes to water management. You needed our expertise in New Orleans.

Obviously you have more possibilities, you have 600+ million people, we got 16 Million, relatively speaking:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34329

damn i have another page to read b4 posting on this, but it's starting to piss me off

it's A WELL KNOWN FACT THAT THE LEVEES WERE INFERIOR, AND THEY KNEW THAT. WE DIDN'T NEED DUTCH PPL TO TELL US THAT, AND THEY DID AFTER THE FACT, AFTER WE KNEW THAT, AFTER WE THOUGHT OF WAYS TO FIX IT.

the main problem was that we couldn't close off the flooded levee. This was because the helicopters used to carry large sandbags couldn't hold enough weight to block them off. after several days of trying a committee of people figured out a solution to fix the problem. whether or not dutch people were part of this comittee is pretty irrelevant either way, because they came up with a new solution unique to the problem. It's not like you guys came over and were like "this is how it's done" You've got a lot of dykes, but that doesnt' make you an expert in muff diving.

[Galleleo]

The Dutch build the aflsuitdijk which is sometimes referred to as the 8th world wonder.

Honestly, I am not making it up that when it comes to water management, us Dutch are the specialists.

[Ekko]

black power!

[DankNuggets]

well i eat my words, i should've finished reading before that lasst post.

1 - yes, the dutch are some of the best hydrologists / open channel hydraulics specialists in the world. right behind them or even at par since it's an international commnunity when you're talking about education and technological advances would be teh US and Pakistan of all places.

2 - the main beef that everyone in teh US had with katrina is that the gov't fucked it up. no need to convince us your gov't would have handled it better, b/c i think my 6th grade student gov't would have.

3 - all the talk about who gives the most? that's all based on the country's budgeted gifts is it not? those budgets are set by congress here i believe, which is a gov't body we'll all agree on doesn't spend money very well. i don't think individuals gave billions of dollars in the last year. it's irrelevant to argue who's gov't spends more on relief and apply that to personal contributions. I'd love to spend more on relief, if i could afford to. and i probably could, but i don't think a lot of that "aid" goes where it should, or that it's wanted sometimes

[Jerome Scuggs]

damn i have another page to read b4 posting on this, but it's starting to piss me off

it's A WELL KNOWN FACT THAT THE LEVEES WERE INFERIOR, AND THEY KNEW THAT. WE DIDN'T NEED DUTCH PPL TO TELL US THAT, AND THEY DID AFTER THE FACT, AFTER WE KNEW THAT, AFTER WE THOUGHT OF WAYS TO FIX IT.

the main problem was that we couldn't close off the flooded levee. This was because the helicopters used to carry large sandbags couldn't hold enough weight to block them off. after several days of trying a committee of people figured out a solution to fix the problem. whether or not dutch people were part of this comittee is pretty irrelevant either way, because they came up with a new solution unique to the problem. It's not like you guys came over and were like "this is how it's done" You've got a lot of dykes, but that doesnt' make you an expert in muff diving.

We had solutions. To the people of new orleans, rebuilding the levee was a priority, and fixing it post-hurricane was, as well. But the head of FEMA (literally, no joke) had read a fw news articles saying "new orleans dodged the bullet" and so he saw no reason to fix or prevent the problems that eventually arose.

Once again, the over-objective goals of the government superceded the needs of actual individuals. Had the levees been private (or at least looked after by the local government), I think the problem would have been solved and the entire issue, prevented.

A speech on this subject. I urge you to at least give it a listen. It might put my perspective on the nature of government, into perspective. As a resident of the South, here's a great example of what I believe about government "public works".

[Squeezer]

Once again, the over-objective goals of the government superceded the needs of actual individuals. Had the levees been private (or at least looked after by the local government), I think the problem would have been solved and the entire issue, prevented.

I'm not going to defend the Federal Govt's management of Katrina, but I don't think it would have been much better off if the levees were privately owned. Part of the problem is that the city is underwater.

Anyway, I'm positive you know more about this than me but do you see a major corporation putting millions of dollars worth of improvements into the NO levee system pre-Katrina? Hell, even the weathermen underestimated the impact.

edit: though I agree that the state govt, or perhaps the city of New Orleans itself, since it's so large, should look after and maintain the levees.

[Jeenyuss]

I]the aflsuitdijk[/I]

if i've ever seen a word that looks more made up than that i can not remember it.

[Mantra-Slider]

GNI = GDP + financial income from foreign countries - financial payments to foreign countries

Quality-adjusted = a method of statistically adjusting the price of a replacement product in order to account for the quality difference between it and what it replaces

thanks

[Singularity]

if i've ever seen a word that looks more made up than that i can not remember it.

You sir, are correct. Obviously "afsluitdijk" is the real word. Spot on detectivework!

[Jerome Scuggs]

I'm not going to defend the Federal Govt's management of Katrina, but I don't think it would have been much better off if the levees were privately owned. Part of the problem is that the city is underwater.

Anyway, I'm positive you know more about this than me but do you see a major corporation putting millions of dollars worth of improvements into the NO levee system pre-Katrina? Hell, even the weathermen underestimated the impact.

edit: though I agree that the state govt, or perhaps the city of New Orleans itself, since it's so large, should look after and maintain the levees.

My best friend's father owns one of the big construction companies around here, and I've talked to him about this. The companies around New Orleans were very interested in it mainly because they were looking for a way to get money - and their research (motivated by profits, mind you) turned up th ghastly state of our current levees. Since the government owned the levees, the companies' bids were refused because the government didn't see a hurricane as a threat (this was around the time of the tsunami so the government was "preventing future catastrophe" by doing things tsunami-related... sigh @ the inability of government fore-planning) and, as we all know, money's pretty tight with anything government related.

But, lo, the levees "met government standards" and even if anything was to be done, it was years too late. They had one day to fix the problem, one last chance - the Monday after the initial storm, before the levee broke - and they did nothing.

My best friend is boning the daughter of the dude who owns THE tugboat industry in New Orleans. During the hurricane, his company was denied permission to send their fleet in for rescue efforts. Alot of people around here are really bitter about FEMA.

As to the notion that the city is underwater - I agree, it's a big risk to take. If you listen to the speech I linked to, that issue is discussed briefly, but basically - yeah, the government's responsible for that too :P

[RednaZ]

if i've ever seen a word that looks more made up than that i can not remember it.

this is because galleleo isn't too clever and it is actually spelled Afsluitdijk. And it's really a very boring thing, the Delta Works are far more impressive.

[Zerzera]

I think it's pretty sad to compare how much money your country gives to charity. You should be giving to help other people, not to make yourself look like a saint. Arrogance and nationalism is off the scale here. Please continue the discussion, it is a bit entertaining.
Going at Izor's level is about the best thing you can do in this forum if you aren't into doing drugs.

[Jerome Scuggs]

I think it's pretty sad to compare how much money your country gives to charity.

What I find humourous is the attention to how much money... with no explanation of how any of it has actually helped. I, personally, am thinking of Africa, where billions of billions have only kept these guys in a perpetual near-death state. Think about individuals who have taken far less money and actually turned it into something fucking useful that actually saves lives.

What a waste.