How do you ignore stupid.

Lately, water conservation, has been a hot topic in CA. There have been a couple of threads on ATS about the subject over the last few months. Most of what I hear is just plain stupid. Over and over uneducated and stupid people will say that the planet is 70% water or other such truly ignorant remarks. Is that all they learned in school. Did no one teach them the vast difference between Fresh and Salt Water.

What has happened to the US? Basic facts about science are not being taught or is it just lazy students? Are we a country of the intellectually lazy.

Could be. In any case many comments come from a fantasy land that people are living in. I call it the Disney Effect (if you wish upon a star and all that rot).

I honestly don't think the citizens in the US are less intelligent today then 30 years ago, in fact by some measure raw intelligence as measured by IQ tests (limited range) (www.apa.org...) is consistantly rising. Now Emotional Intelligence is on the wane as are other markers of functional intelligence such as ability to focus, to integrate new information into existing knowlege) even basic math and language skills are declining. All while, IQ scores (one questions the validity of the testing), are climbling.

I come up with another common block with posts on ATS and that is a pervasive inability to see indirect causes for things.

One fellow said he didn't believe that humans had anything to do with the rise in temperature of the ocean floor because there was no direct cause. He was unable to see a chain of causation back from the evidence to human action(s) nor was he willing to consider the possiblity.

Maybe this should have been a rant. But, to get to the point....

And then there is believing lies when the factual evidence supports a contrary truth.


www.washingtonmonthly.com...#

A quick refresher: In 1995, after winning a majority in the House for the first time in forty years, one of the first things the new Republican House leadership did was gut Congress’s workforce. They cut the “professional staff” (the lawyers, economists, and investigators who work for committees rather than individual members) by a third. They reduced the “legislative support staff” (the auditors, analysts, and subject-matter experts at the Government Accountability Office [GAO], the Congressional Research Service [CRS], and so on) by a third, too, and killed off the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) entirely. And they fundamentally dismantled the old committee structure, centralizing power in the House speaker’s office and discouraging members and their staff from performing their own policy research.

In simple language - they cut the very services that would help them understand our complex world.

Of course, all of this slashing and cutting has done nothing to actually help shrink the federal government. Real federal spending has increased 50 percent since 1995,

There are more contractors to manage, more stakeholders to liaison with, more technologies to adapt to, more industry-funded research studies to take account of. That, in turn, has made the jobs of congressional staffers, of keeping an eye on government and sorting through the ever-growing amount of information coming at them from lobbyists and constituents, far more difficult,

And that is just services to House and Senate Members. What has happened to services that are for citizens with the defunding of government.

Government has not gotten cheaper since the stupid started but our priorities are war and killing, subsidizing the .1%, it's a horrendous thing.

Back to water in CA - I've a new conspiracy theory for you. The Republican's have been out to destroy California as long as I can remember (which is a bit). We stand as an example of taxes working to the benefit of all. Now this tax madness started here with the Jarvis tax thingy Proposition 13 and many a pol has done the asterity mambo to the turn of less services (any government office requires hours of waiting to reach if you're not just hung up on) but overall it's a shiney outlook compared to other states.

www.dailykos.com...#

Robert Reich recently pointed out that if you listen to rightwing groups like the Tax Foundation, you would think California is a horrible place for business. These groups rank it in the top 10 worst due to "high cost" and "burdensome environmental regulations". However, these same groups rank Sam Brownback's Kansas as one of the best.

Here's the problem with that:

Kansas is collapsing. In four short years, since the tea party takeover, Kansas has had three credit downgrades along with a billion-dollar budget deficit. They are struggling to fund basic services and their education system is hanging on by a thread, with cutbacks making it almost dead last in teacher quality, pay, student spending and pupil-teacher ratio. It's so bad that REPUBLICAN state Sen. Wint Winter Jr. said Brownback's tax cuts have been a "train wreck".

And the reality of the situation:

By any metric you use, California has become the best state in the union for investors. A great Democratic governor (Jerry Brown) and a Democratic-led legislature turned California around in four short years from a 27 billion dollar deficit disaster into a surplus and, according to Bloomberg, an absolute mecca for corporations! California companies in the S&P 500 have delivered returns of 134 percent! (No other state comes close.) These same companies outperformed the S&P 500 by a margin of 23%; and CA tech company sales account for 52% of all the tech sales in America.

So how can California have some of the highest business taxes and regulations in America, and yet be the most successful? The answer is simple. California invested in itself!

Good nite all. I hope we all wake up not-stupid.

Hard to ignore something you're enveloped by on a daily basis.

a reply to: FyreByrd

I never look in a mirror and try to sleep as much as possible .

California is the example how taxes are working for all ? Are you serious ? They don't even work for California. Only a couple years ago I received a IOU instead of the extra tax dollars I overpaid them so there would be no dispute when tax season rolled around. They are broken and have been for a long time. And I still have yet to receive the money from that year, lots of back and forth that I still owe them and they doubled my salary to estimate the tax I owed them.

The fact of the matter is I was in Afghanistan that year and was exempt from all taxes...they didn't like that answer either and now say I owe penalties and such. Never worked in California, lived in California nor have I ever owned property in California, just happened to be there visiting a friend when I joined the military. Going to change my resident status shortly, but they cannot seem to get it through the thick nanny state brains that as a non resident period, that I don't owe them jack doodle...they sure don't like it but tough noogies !

Guess you have never been downtown to Skidrow ? Don't blame you as its an example of how your tax dollars are wasted without any results, given out and still thousands of homeless everywhere. I don't even think NY has more homeless than California. Can't even build a rail line which will be useless anyway without asking the federal government for more and more money over and over. It is the most worthless politicians you have that pay themselves millions of dollars and don't show up for work and you want the rest of us to follow that ? California is and has been and wants to again STEAL more water from every state around them with the dams that kill fish and ruin the habitat and flood other land....this is how they protect the enviroment ? Fall off the left coast already !

a reply to: FyreByrd

One word bro....alcohol....

a reply to: DJMSN

south park

California the city of homeless California nia nia
Is a city full of rich people who can give change to the homeless

m.youtube.com...

would love to hear about your afghanistan experience

a reply to: FyreByrd

From my experience and propective, Ron White is absolutely correct.

"You can't cure stupid."

I am just hoping we can somehow survive it.

If you can appreciate a good laugh, step back and take a look and listen to the rest of our current collection of politicians.

Did somebody say something?

Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is terminal! Eventually, California will slide into the ocean...problem solved.

The snail dartters will have to survive in salt water...oh the humanity.

originally posted by: buddah6
Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is terminal! Eventually, California will slide into the ocean...problem solved.



The snail dartters will have to survive in salt water...oh the humanity.

Why does everyone keep insisting that California "will slide into the Pacific Ocean"?
The land mass which makes up this part of the west coast is being pushed eastward by the eastern edge of the Pacific Plate as it moves northward.
How can anything slide one way while it is being pushed another?

Yep teamcommander, you're half right on that. In fact you can't fix either Stupid or Crazy. OK, I know I've just described All Politicians and Bureaucrats LOL! Arjunanda. a reply to: teamcommander

originally posted by: teamcommander

originally posted by: buddah6
Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is terminal! Eventually, California will slide into the ocean...problem solved.



The snail dartters will have to survive in salt water...oh the humanity.

Why does everyone keep insisting that California "will slide into the Pacific Ocean"?
The land mass which makes up this part of the west coast is being pushed eastward by the eastern edge of the Pacific Plate as it moves northward.
How can anything slide one way while it is being pushed another?

It was said tongue-n-cheek!

a reply to: FyreByrd

Well... frankly, one does not ignore stupid. One merely swears to challenge it wherever it is to be found.

Now, I do not believe that mentioning the fact that the planets surface is seventy or so percent water is necessarily a stupid thing to do. Certainly, there are differences between salt water and fresh water, but those differences are actually rather small, and salt and other impurities are simple to remove. They are not however, simple to remove on a large scale, in amounts large enough to represent a benefit to those who need water. That is because not enough money has been invested in inovation in that subject area, in the regions which would most benefit from such a technological breakthrough. THAT fact is stupid in and of itself.

The difficulty is that there are stupidities which hide beneath and behind others, and indeed behind what appears to be wisdom. The real stupidity out there, is accepting the absence of technologies which SHOULD exist, and WOULD exist, if not for those technologies being held back for reasons having nothing to do with anything other than the fact that to create them might endanger certain corporate interests (super efficient solar panels for the domestic market, at reasonable prices? Where are they then? Don't exist yet? Thats stupid!).

The stupiditity is everywhere! The government of my country is rife with it, the government of your country is rife with it, every government is absolutely beset by stupidity. But so is big business, so is the Church, so is television news. It is all over the place. But it is not always the most obviously stupid things, that are actually stupid in and of themselves. It is not stupid to ignore the opposition of big business, when pitching a clean energy solution, because if you consider it at all before doing so, you will not bother coming up with the system in the first place, because you know you would be wasting your time. However, the effort must be made, whether opposed by greed or not...

Do you see what I mean?

a reply to: TrueBrit

What ever you're drinking...I want some!

maybe the iq tests were like doctored or something

originally posted by: buddah6
Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is terminal! Eventually, California will slide into the ocean...problem solved.

The snail dartters will have to survive in salt water...oh the humanity.

The world will be a better place when Hollywood disappears.

a reply to: FyreByrd

My my you live in Left Wing land i see. Do you work for CA government by any chance? First off, much of CA is a desert environment. How about you people living in deserts just stop doing that. Why are we transporting water so that people can live in arid deserts. I used to live in CA. Its a wonderful place to live or was when i lived there, but lets face it, living in a desert and complaining about droughts is a little silly.

Reich is hardly ever right about anything. He is a left wing socialist. Businesses are leaving CA because its chock full of kooky ideas and high taxes. Take away tech companies in the valley and CA looks A LOT different from an economic standpoint. They currently have one egg in their basket, Silicon valley. They lose that and the whole thing goes tits up.

V

a reply to: Eunuchorn

Soooooo true!

originally posted by: Variable
a reply to: FyreByrd

My my you live in Left Wing land i see. Do you work for CA government by any chance? First off, much of CA is a desert environment. How about you people living in deserts just stop doing that. Why are we transporting water so that people can live in arid deserts. I used to live in CA. Its a wonderful place to live or was when i lived there, but lets face it, living in a desert and complaining about droughts is a little silly.

Reich is hardly ever right about anything. He is a left wing socialist. Businesses are leaving CA because its chock full of kooky ideas and high taxes. Take away tech companies in the valley and CA looks A LOT different from an economic standpoint. They currently have one egg in their basket, Silicon valley. They lose that and the whole thing goes tits up.

V

And what is wrong with Socialists? I find their analysis of situations and trends much more factual and rational then those of other economic persuasions.

One egg - I think not as we feed the rest of the country. There is entertainment and finance.

www.lao.ca.gov...

You have no valid arguement against a long ( well-known fact so you call names - and that my friend is does not show your mental capacity in good light. And hence validate the premise of this thread.

Actually businesses are moving to CA because of infrasture expendatues and an intelligent work force of all political leanings, and it's been called the best state for investors:

By any metric you use, California has become the best state in the union for investors. A great Democratic governor (Jerry Brown) and a Democratic-led legislature turned California around in four short years from a 27 billion dollar deficit disaster into a surplus and, according to Bloomberg, an absolute mecca for corporations! California companies in the S&P 500 have delivered returns of 134 percent! (No other state comes close.) These same companies outperformed the S&P 500 by a margin of 23%; and CA tech company sales account for 52% of all the tech sales in America.

www.dailykos.com...#

Who's complaining about the dought - CA has actively pursued conservation measures for decades - all the easy fixes have been in place - now the hard ones (big AG) have to be tackled. Granted there was no 'ground-water' policies in the Central Valley until recently - but most southern cities have good (to be improved) ground-water recharging schemes that work without much cost or effort.

It's not smart or clever to comment without facts or understanding and base a retort on name calling and lack of understanding unless - unless you admit that you are just sharing an opinion based on subjective prejudice.

Never mind.