Why you can't trust a liberal

[silverscreenselect]

But please, EVERYONE, don't attack anyone personally. It's counterproductive, no matter what side of the aisle you prefer.
I may not agree with BiT, or danielh, or SSS, or even some of the folks on the left of center, but I don't dislike any of them. I just pray for them, cuz they need it.

I am left of center. My views on the economy, the war in Iraq, women's rights, and the other issues haven't changed. I agree with BiT, flock, daniel and the rest on very few issues other than the lack of qualifications of Barack Obama to be president.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

John Stossel is a scam. He should go back to acting in bad 1970s porn and reviewing bad movies.

My favorite John Stossel moment was when Hulk Hogan (I think it was the Hulkster) body slammed Stossel after Stossel tried to "prove" wrestling was fake.

How did that work out, did they every figure out if it was fake or not?

[danielh41]

But please, EVERYONE, don't attack anyone personally. It's counterproductive, no matter what side of the aisle you prefer.
I may not agree with BiT, or danielh, or SSS, or even some of the folks on the left of center, but I don't dislike any of them. I just pray for them, cuz they need it.

I have tried not to attack anyone personally (except for Obama since he is so worthy of attack). I did succumb once and called BDM something not-so-nice. And contrary to what T_Bone thinks, I did not imply that Democrats were morons (although I did suggest that morons tended toward the Democratic party).

I do pray for all my liberal friends since they are so misguided on so many issues...

[VAdame]

I do pray for all my liberal friends since they are so misguided on so many issues...

Why thank you! And of course, you won't mind a bit if we return the favor, right?

[franktangredi]

To my friend Frank:

I can assure you that BiT is NOT a raving right-wing lunatic. He's actually a nice guy (albeit misguided in his political philosophy, although I dare say he'd say the same about me!). He doesn't foam at the mouth, has (probably) not drowned any puppies, and doesn't sound ANYTHING like Tammy Faye Bakker crossed with "South Park's" chef.

To my friend BiT:

I can assure you that Frank is NOT a raving left-wing lunatic. He's actually a nice guy (albeit guided CORRECTLY in his political philosophy, and I'd HOPE he'd say the same about me!). He doesn't foam at the mouth, has (probably) not drowned any puppies, and doesn't sound anything like Ted Kennedy crossed with Ellen DeGeneres.



Complain all you will about someone's choice of words in this debate. Complain about their positions, or debate the issues all you want, if you like. Better yet, avoid reading all the political crap here (I so wish I could, but at least I've tried to stop commenting on them, except when they relate to the worst President in history), and come join the rest of us in the Moratorium Lounge. It's nice and warm there, and the food is wonderful.

But please, EVERYONE, don't attack anyone personally. It's counterproductive, no matter what side of the aisle you prefer.
I may not agree with BiT, or danielh, or SSS, or even some of the folks on the left of center, but I don't dislike any of them. I just pray for them, cuz they need it.

Thanks, KT.

[mrkelley23]

The article of which this interesting thread is the subject is very old news, at least here in the US. Bill Rathje took care of this back in the 1970s, believe it or not, with the Garbage Project:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson_Garbage_Project

I think I've posted about this here before, but it is funny when someone actually goes and does the science, how different the actual evidence is from what is surmised from purely deductive reasoning. Rathje found that the tradeoff between disposable diapers and cloth diapers was essentially a wash (sorry! ) because they took up so little room in the landfills, compared to all the energy that was used to launder the cloth diapers.

One of the biggest problems Rathje and his grad students identified was newspaper! It doesn't decompose in landfills, and the old lead-based ink caused major leachate problems.

[VAdame]

FWIW, the whole cloth-versus-disposable diaper debate has been going on among environmentalists -- not just between them and their opponents -- for years now, at least in the USA.

Years is right -- at least since my kids were in diapers! I remember that brouhaha from more than 20 years ago. If you're in a state like PA with landfill space filling up fast, but no shortage of water -- cloth is probably better. If you're somewhere like, say, Tuscon -- or elsewhere in the Southwest -- land may be more plentiful than water & disposables are probably more sensible.

Bottom line: Babies will need diapers, unless we all want to go the Asian/African/ancient parenting route & learn EC! Hmmmm....where did the environmental study stand on that? Of course, in many societies that do practice EC/Diaper-free baby, kids run around in split-crotch pants or nekkid from the waist down & simply squat outdoors, so that might be frowned on here in the "hygienic" West too!

So do what works for your baby & your family! With my first, I used cloth diapers -- I washed them myself (in an old-fashioned wringer washer!) & hung 'em on the clothesline to dry. If the weather was wet/freezing, the clothesline was in the basement. I did not have a dryer. With my second, I was working full time & used disposables. She got a lot of rashes. With my 3rd, I discovered the best of all possible worlds & had a diaper service! Never had a rash, & taught herself to use the potty (possibly by simply following the big kids around) a good 6 months earlier than either of her sisters. I'm hoping that because the diaper service washed such a large volume of diapers, they used more efficient methods than I would have access to at home. Or, I could just be rationalizing -- but either way, it's definitely water under the bridge (or down the drain!) at this late date.