"Best Country to Live In" List, 2007 - Page 12

Skeptikos Examiner · #**111** (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godfather

Hey, Examiner...I think that ranking is about Freedom in the Press, which is probably pretty accurate. They rank it a few different things, like availibility of information, etc.

The press here in Europe is a little more balanced, on the other hand the free speech rights of the individual are somewhere between heavy crippled and non-existent, I consider individual free speech right to me more important than slightly more balanced lying heads on the tv! Thought crime laws have destroyed free speech in Europe! Here in Germany just recently a protestantic priest was put to trial for "Volksverhetzung" (radicalization) because he told parents that the godless Neo-Marxist indoctrination here is harmful and that it is better to homeschool their children! The anti-homeschooling law was set in place by Hitler in the thirties and "Volksverhetzung" is one of those thought crimes the Marxists invented after they took over here.

Hitlerian laws + Marxist thought crime legislation = no freedom

Godfather · #**112** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 12:04 AM

Why are American nationalistic zealouts arguing about what is fact? Let's be objective and call a spade a spade.

No one is "kicking foreigners" out of America. Being the majority of our financial institutions, corporations and manufactuering are ran by Europeans/Asians or ARE European in origin, I think we would have about 6 months after such an action and we would be in a humanitarian crisis.

Plus, since the mid 90's, Asian and European Universities are getting bigger numbers of foreign applicants than American Universities.

American Universities are good, no doubt there, but its ironic that our education overall is ranked poorly. Math and reading skills are embarrassing. I read a statistic the other day that said 20% of our population in America believes the Sun orbits the Earth. Unbelievable.

Let's face it, some countries have improved on the concept of quality of life/standard of living. Why be so competitive to argue this point with insults and subjective BS? Want to do something about it, then start with yourself.

hey, we are #1 at something: the World Health Organisation say we have the most crazy people walking around: 2007 rankings of mental disorders.

Tedminator · #**113** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godfather

hey, we are #1 at something: the World Health Organisation say we have the most crazy people walking around: 2007 rankings of mental disorders.

YES!! #1 Again!
USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!

Wooot! First place yet again.. thats 3 in a week!

BillyBob · #**114** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godfather

I read a statistic the other day that said 20% of our population in America believes the Sun orbits the Earth. Unbelievable.

Did it mention what percentage were black?

Quote:

Let's face it, some countries have improved on the concept of quality of life/standard of living. Why be so competitive to argue this point with insults and subjective BS? Want to do something about it, then start with yourself.

hey, we are #1 at something: the World Health Organisation say we have the most crazy people walking around: 2007 rankings of mental disorders.

Nobody is forced to live in the US. If you guys prefer another country, you are welcome to move there.

stekim · #**115** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 04:57 AM

Quote:

the thread topic is about quality of life. Access to water is a quality of life issue, believe it or not.

Well, yes. But us folks here in Georgia have water! The issue is that water supplies are lower than the government would like. But at the current time, the lack of water is not a quality of life issue here.

A lot of the other stuff on this thread has very little to do with quality of life for the average person. On the list of important quality of life issues, having Harvard within your borders scores 0 points. As does who invented the VCR. And unless your country is in the midst of an invasion, the military has nothing to do with your day to day quality of life. Ask the folks in New Orleans. They'll be happy to point out that none of those things amounts to much.

Fascist Canuck · #**116** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stekim

Well, yes. But us folks here in Georgia have water! The issue is that water supplies are lower than the government would like. But at the current time, the lack of water is not a quality of life issue here.

A lot of the other stuff on this thread has very little to do with quality of life for the average person. On the list of important quality of life issues, having Harvard within your borders scores 0 points. As does who invented the VCR. And unless your country is in the midst of an invasion, the military has nothing to do with your day to day quality of life. Ask the folks in New Orleans. They'll be happy to point out that none of those things amounts to much.

Look below, and listen to my fellow Canadians laugh at you American pricks!

Quote:

In the south-western US, growing populations and lifestyles that consume large amounts of water have caused most of the aquifers and rivers in the region to be overused. The water in the Oglala Aquifer, which serves much of the west-central US, is being used eight times faster than it is being replenished. Demands for this freshwater will increase as the climate warms.

In Canada there have been concerns about exporting water to the United States since the 1960s, when states in the south-western US experienced their first water shortages and began to seek water sources to augment their overstretched supplies. Canada has the world’s largest supply of freshwater. Large-scale removal of water from lakes would negatively affect their ecosystems, increasing pollution concentrations and harming plant and animal communities.

Freshwater export between Canada and the US currently takes place at a small scale, mostly as bottled water exports. The bottled water industry exports water in containers usually no larger than twenty litres.

Many states in the US have experienced water shortages in the past few decades, creating a market for freshwater that would be profitable for Canada. Numerous proposals about transferring large amounts of freshwater from the Great Lakes Basin into the US have been made. This would involve inter-basin transport of water across the international boundary between Canada and the US using a man-made reservoir. None of these proposals have as yet been implemented, mainly due to environmental and financial obstacles. It should be noted, however, that since the 1850 the Americans have been diverting much of the water of the Chicago River, which would naturally flow into Lake Michigan, into the Mississippi basin over Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. In that case, though, the goal was not taking possession of the water that would otherwise end up in the Great Lakes / St. Lawrence system, but directing Chicago's effluent away Lake Michigan.

Schemes to export water from Canada to the US on a large scale have been proposed in the past. These schemes include the Great Recycling and Northern Development (GRAND) Canal scheme to dam James Bay to create a freshwater reservoir and divert the water from the 20 rivers that flow into it to Georgian Bay. The water would then be flushed through the Great Lakes into pipelines to the south-western US. The North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA) project proposed to divert the Yukon, Liard, and Peace rivers into the Rocky Mountain Trench to create an 800 km long reservoir that would transfer water into the US.

During the 1990s schemes to export water by ocean-going tankers were proposed to three Canadian provinces. In 1999 Nova Group Ltd. obtained a permit from the Ontario government to export water 600 millions litres of water annually from Lake Superior to Asia. Political controversy in Canada and the US caused the government to cancel the permit.

Water has been classed as a commodity under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) since the 1980s. This has increased tensions in the debate about exporting water. Although none of the NAFTA rules force Canada to begin to export its water in bulk, if Canada voluntarily decides to begin exports it would be very difficult to later halt them.

The Federal government of Canada passed the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act in 2002. This banned the removal of more than 50 million cubic meters of water from a water basin in the Great Lakes in one day. The Boundary Waters Treaty is limited to waters on the Canadian-US border and does not apply to freshwater in other parts of Canada. This means the about 85 percent of Canada’s water is susceptible to export. As human populations and industries grow and the climate change takes place, greater pressure will be placed on water-rich countries like Canada to export their water to countries that have a water shortage.

LIKE HELL!!

Since Canada has taken a strong position against water exports, companies are shifting their focus to Alaska. Alaska was the first jurisdiction in the world to permit the commercial export of bulk water, and has a large potential for water exports. One scheme proposes transporting water from Alaska to China by tanker. This water would be used to assemble computer wafers by China’s relatively cheap labour force. Computer wafers require extremely pure freshwater. This makes the cost of desalination of sal(*)(*)(*)(*)er prohibitely expensive, making schemes like this, that would not be profitable for domestic purposes, profitable for industrial purposes.

stekim · #**117** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 05:52 AM

If exporting water becomes profitable, they will change the law! But regardless, I support their position. It's their water and they are free to do whatever they want with it.

Sadistic-Savior · #**118** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Me: When did I advocate kicking foreigners out?

Your government is.

Fine. I officially disagree with the US government that they should deny foreign students access to our clearly superior universities.

Happy?

Quote:

Me: Doesn't seem to be impacting our ability to compete militarily, technologically, or economically.

the thread topic is about quality of life. Access to water is a quality of life issue, believe it or not.

Those criteria impact quality of life in a significant way.

stekim · #**119** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Those criteria impact quality of life in a significant way.

Not really. For the overwhelming majority of people on this planet, the size and strength of their country's military has no bearing whatsoever on their daily quality of life. Lots of them live in countries with no military at all to speak of, including Iceland, the country that topped the list. The military only matters if you are in a war (a real one, not the kind on terror). Access to technology impacts quality of life, but the inventor and his or her country of origin does not. Economics certainly matters, but not in terms of "mine's bigger than yours". That has no bearing at all. China's economy is massive compared to say, Bermuda's or Norway's, but the two far smaller economies have a far higher standard of living for the average citizen. And it's not even close.

Sadistic-Savior · #**120** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Lots of them live in countries with no military at all to speak of

Yes they do. They have a proxy military defending them. Not having to defend yourself with a military means you can invest in their things. But not investing in a military when you need one leaves you open to things that might adversely affect your quality of like. Like a nuke going off in your home town.

Quote:

Access to technology impacts quality of life, but the inventor and his or her country of origin does not.

The inventor's home nation is more likely to enjoy the fruits of his labor first.

Quote:

Economics certainly matters, but not in terms of "mine's bigger than yours". That has no bearing at all.

Sure it does. A larger economy is more likely to be stable in the long term. You of all people should be able to appreciate that.

Quote:

China's economy is massive compared to say, Bermuda's or Norway's, but the two far smaller economies have a far higher standard of living for the average citizen.

China's economy is not massive at all when compared to it's population. They have a little over half our GDP, but five times our population, and the standard of living reflects that.

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