[Vision2020] Pollyanna Wants to Know: Who's the Lying Sack of Sh*t?

[Paul Rumelhart]

On 07/19/2011 11:47 AM, Art Deco wrote:
> You keep making this stale, irrational statement disguised as an 
> argument.  Maybe if the megaloads were atomic waste, you see things 
> differently.

I tried to start a thread on the issue of exactly where people place 
limits on public road usage, but nobody wanted to play ball.  But, what 
the hell.  If the megaloads contained atomic waste, that would bring up 
a clear safety issue that is different than that of the current 
megaloads.  Do you see any safety issues associated with these megaloads 
as they are currently?  I don't, and hence I'm not worried about them 
from a community safety standpoint.

> You must have loved Kant or Saint Augustine at one time in your life.

No sir, I've never had the pleasure.

> People can always think of reasons not to look too closely at their 
> personal principles to avoid action to help others.  So-called 
> principles are self-defeating if they prevent one from acting to 
> prevent horrific consequences.  All principles have limits.

If these were cattle cars hauling people to their deaths, you might have 
a point.  However, it's just a bunch of refinery equipment being 
transported to a remote site.  I don't wish to set the bar that low 
where my principles are concerned.  Megaloads, whether they be "mini" 
megaloads, "toy" megaloads, or whatever are doing no discernible harm to 
Moscow that I can see, beyond some tree-trimming and a possible noise issue.

> I am personally glad that I will never have to rely upon you when the 
> chips are down.

Yet, if it happens that I am in a position where you will some day have 
to rely upon me, I'll still do my best not to let you down.  I don't 
discriminate there any more than I do about who I "let" use the highway 
that passes through town.

So I can assume that a principled man like yourself will be lying down 
in the middle of the road the next time a megaload of any size that is 
destined for the tar sands project rolls through town, right?

Paul

> w.
>
> *From:* Paul Rumelhart <mailto:godshatter at yahoo.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 19, 2011 10:38 AM
> *To:* Art Deco <mailto:deco at moscow.com>
> *Cc:* Vision2020 at moscow.com <mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] Pollyanna Wants to Know: Who's the Lying 
> Sack of Sh*t?
>
> On 07/19/2011 09:48 AM, Art Deco wrote:
>> Saundra,
>> Thank you again for pointing out that the consequences of the 
>> megaloads far transcend local considerations -- a point that 
>> proponents either refuse to recognize or have not the guts to deal in 
>> an honest manner with.
>> Several of us have commented at length on these issues, but basically 
>> proponents act like no one has brought them up, that they are 
>> unimportant, and/or irrelevant.  Obviously the proponents are not the 
>> "my brother's keeper type" and are among those that are generally 
>> parts of problems but not parts of solutions.  Part of the tough 
>> problems that our country and the world now face are caused by 
>> similar individuals though capable are unwilling to do or to pay 
>> their share.
>
> The evils of the tar sands project *is* irrelevant to whether or not 
> we should allow them to move through town on public roads.  That's the 
> downside to public roads.  You can't control what people do on them, 
> apart from making sure they obey the law.  The upside is that no one 
> can control what *you* do on them.  They can't, for example, decide 
> that you can't use the road because you are against the tar sands 
> project.  That egalitarian freedom is something I think is important, 
> though you seem willing to throw it under the bus as soon as it stops 
> being convenient for you.
>
> Now, I don't know why you (and others) feel the need to conflate my 
> support for that one simple idea into some kind of tacit approval of 
> the tar sands project itself.  Certainly claiming that you know that I 
> am somehow "part of the problem" is simply asinine.
>
> So, when are you going to don your armor and your lance and march on 
> the tar sands project?  Or are *you* part of the problem?
>
> Paul
>
>
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