A Theory Conforms to the Evidence

[David]

My concern with a lot of things is the harm that is 'allowed'.  Nuclear power is a great example.  The private sector is insured by the gov't for ONLY the first 60 million dollars.  After that the gov't picks up the tab.  If those responsible for harm were to actually be forced to be responsible for harm, then without the gov't there would be no nuclear industry, at least for power or bombs.  
I don't trust plastics because there are chemicals in them that mimic human hormones, specifically one that mimics estrogen.  
There is a tremendous amount of polution that is 'allowed' by the gov't, yet some of it, particularly in the past was very harmful.  The good neighbor policy that Dr. Mary Ruwart writes about has never been followed very good.  (this is why I believe the individual has the moral right to interfere or monkeywrench in the harmful behavior of others).  If I poison someone elses land, then morally I am liable to compensate them for harm and loses.  But that has never been consistently followed by gov't, and since gov't is the enforcement agency in this country, private solutions are few.  (by providing 'free' to the user courts, the govt' has stymied the individual inititive to protect ones self.).  
It is true that a river near cleveland ohio actually caught fire, and burned for several hours.  
There is a high increase in the growth of asthma, which is not parralleled in relatively undeveloped nations.  I would like to know what is causing this.  
I cannot accept the pacifist mantra towards polluters, because people benifit off of sloppy and harmful activities.  It is very possible the same is true of autism.  Or alzheimers, Or any other form of disorder that is clearly on the increase.  
This issue is usually dealt with by politicians 'balencing' how much growth is good versus bad.  So the question really is, how much poison is acceptable versus unacceptable.  

[ReverendRyan]

I can pretty much guarantee you that the only reason the gubment doesn't let landowners sue much over pollution is it would expose blatant hypocrisy. The gubment is by far the nation's #1 polluter, and of course it would look bad if they let people sue but exempted themselves.

[Dylboz]

Nuclear power is very clean and safer than ever, not to mention, cheap. New carbon gas bed or pebble bed reactors are absolutely meltdown proof. Smaller reactors are now being prepared for installation in apartment buildings and small, remote villages, that use lithium isotope technology instead of dangerous control rods, are self-contained, last 30 years and when spent, leave nearly inert material behind. If you have seen this article, there was some speculation that it was a hoax, but the 4S reactor is quite real, while that "press release" was a bit of over-excited, optimistic journalism for the alternative energy web-sphere, Toshiba confirmed the reactor, and here's an article about an Alaskan town vying to be the first recipients of the device: Nuclear Power for Galena, Alaska

I understand that old-style giant control rod, water cooled dome shaped reactors are basically barely controlled nuclear bombs, and require governments to socialize the risks through guaranteed immunity to liability in the event of an accident, but new technology is bringing the risk factor way down to free-market levels. Whether or not this technology would ever have developed in the absence of government, I don't know, but here it is. It offers a tremendous opportunity to be self-sufficient and off-grid for a "Galt's Gulch," or just anyone who doesn't want the authorities to have their finger on the switch. Of course, the NRC will be all over this, but down the line, it may be ubiquitous and cheap enough to tear asunder the power grid as we know it today. I'd just as soon have one of these with maintenance and power and costs shared amongst my FSP neighbors as I would a solar panel array or windmill farm.

As for asthma, it's caused by excessive hygiene in childhood, new studies even show that having a dog in the homes of infants substantially reduces asthma related immunological factors in the blood as they grow up. Exposure to dirt and dust and pollen and all that stuff helps condition the immune system against over-reaction, which is essentially what asthma and modern allergies are. Not an issue in the dirty 3rd world where people live in huts near open sewers.

[srqrebel]

so tell me Menno:

should I post a funny sarcastic picture in reference to your comments?

should I call you tinfoilboy?

should I ask you to show me your research?

should I then not read your research after you dig it up, read it and spent time posting it?

should I then question your research, point out flaws, but never back my opinion up with anything substantial but my mere opinion?

should I ignore all or any questions that you present to me?

should I then jump around and then present you with another question?

Kola

No sir to all of the above.

Just because others do that to oneself, does not in any way justify piling that crap back on them. It simply serves no constructive purpose.

Anytime that happens as a matter of routine, retaliatory or not, it justifies (to me at least) hitting the ignore button.

[kola]

Manno, I was giving you an example of what your buddies do to me when I make comments and/or post infomation on just about anything.

I guess I was puzzled why you stated that you were going to put me on ignore. Not that it hurts my feeling but just because I didn't see your justification for it and your comment insinuated that I was the instigator, when in fact, its your buddies who become sarcastic, immature and provocative.

Kola

[Dylboz]

Who the heck is Menno?

[J’raxis 270145]

i still read your comments jraxi.

for now at least. 

that could change tho, yaknow brother?

Well, I'm done with this debate unless you want to go back to the original point of contention:—

Show me the proof that vaccination, GMO, artificial chemicals, &c., are inherently bad. If this proof exists in one or more of your previous article posts, point me to the specific post so I can (re)read it.

So far, all you've done is:—

• Reassert that you already posted articles proving your claims, without pointing me at the specific ones;
  
  
• Claimed that you have books and articles proving your claims, which you haven't posted at all;
  
  
• Misdirected the debate for several pages over a claim I have already said, more than three times now, was misstated by me and then misinterpreted by you;
  
  
• Further misdirected the debate by complaining about other people being uncivil to you, which is absolutely irrelevant, because near as I can tell, I haven't, and you're debating with me in this thread.
  

This is why other people give up and resort to mocking you. You're not the least bit interested in engaging in honest debate, but instead try to use all sorts of misdirection and obfuscation techniques in order to "win" an argument.

[J’raxis 270145]

The Wikipedia entry documents a number of theories as to the causes. It may be a new, real disease, or it may just be psychological.

I wondered why you would suggest that it "may be psychological", then I read this in the Wikipedia article:

...and the collection of fibers is part of the delusion.

I beg pardon??! How the hell can something (elsewhere described as) "lesions that heal slowly and ooze out blue, black or white fibers that can be several millimeters long ...[which] appear like pliable plastic ...can be as fine as spider silk, yet strong enough to distend the skin when pulled and elicit shooting pains when you try to remove them" be considered a delusion?

While I would certainly not jump to conclusions as to the cause of this fibrous affliction, based on the current extremely limited knowledge base, it seems that calling an affliction of such an easily verifiable nature a "delusion" represents in itself the height of delusion.

I believe the claim is that people are doing this to themselves somehow—scratching their skin raw, including perhaps against furniture or clothing (hence the fibers), until it becomes infected—and that their insistence that this is a new diseases that they're infected with is the delusional part.

[J’raxis 270145]

Heh, my ignore count just went up. Way to win an argument, kola.

Mine too. Had been thinking about it for a while now.

Your ignore count is zero right now. Everyone seems to love you.

Mine's gone up by one each time I get into one of these contentious debates with someone. There's no way to tell, as far as I can see, who is ignoring you, but since it just incremented last night after kola kept saying he's going to stop responding, I think I have reasonable suspicion that it's him.

[kola]

you are not on ignore jraxi nor have i ever smited you. you still present things of interest. I have Ryan on iggy because he posts nothing of interest to me. it doesnt mean hes a bad person though. 

don't take it so hard, its really no big deal.

everytime i post i get dinged.

and lots of folks click me into iggyville.

so what. 

btw I am not trying to WIN anything, I'd rather let YOU win and drop the whole matter.

its not about WINNING or losing.

kola

[J’raxis 270145]

you are not on ignore jraxi nor have i ever smited you. you still present things of interest. I have Ryan on iggy because he posts nothing of interest to me. it doesnt mean hes a bad person though. 

don't take it so hard, its really no big deal.

everytime i post i get dinged.

and lots of folks click me into iggyville.

so what. 

btw I am not trying to WIN anything, I'd rather let YOU win and drop the whole matter.

its not about WINNING or losing.

That's a good point. My goal in arguing this isn't so much to "win," so to speak, either, but to show you that your assumptions and conclusions about various technologies are incorrect. A lot of the articles you post are good, and are talking about real dangers of specific inventions—but you seem to be using these articles to bolster a belief that doesn't really have a sound basis, and to try to convince others that such beliefs are true.

[John Edward Mercier]

I would say its the way its presented.
How about this?

Vaccines are socialized medicine, GMOs are corporate controlled... unlike the historical GMO done individually through breeding selection and hybridization, artificial chemicals are equal to their natural counterparts... but are many times more centrally controlled.
There is a subliminal suggestion that individualism has greater merit.

[srqrebel]

Who the heck is Menno?

+1 for that

[Dylboz]

MISSING LINK FOUND!!!

OK, the missing link between non-flowering plants (<5% of all extant plant species) and modern flowering plants. Pretty cool. Fossil evidence of transitionary stage as well as additional evolutionary stuff, documented on Nova, First Flower.

[Vitruvian]

Large Hadron Collider: The Final Nail

Full-size video here