Firestarter

It isn't that no one has the balls; it's just that no one can be bothered.

Yes. It is. In other news, it turns out that Agent is my mirror-self.

Inc, has Hello Kitty supplanted ALF permanently? Given what you used to do to the latter, I'm a little disturbed by this development.

Genius. I fell out of my chair laughing at Mike and Eric.

I usually don't get involved in this kind of silliness, but CWM deserves a General Chat nomination for his Gnomes threads. Some more nominations, now that I'm awake: Current Events: Agent of Oblivion, for services rendered to humanity in making RobJohnstone look incredibly silly. The Noah's Ark post was beautiful. I'm proud to have such a skilled and dedicated compatriot in the vital and continuing mission to thoroughly mock, abuse, and otherwise distress Christians everywhere. DeputyHawk, for being a thoughtful and interesting poster who reminds us, respectfully, that the world doesn't always end at America's borders. DrTom, for keeping things sane (or as close to it as possible). EricMM, for changing his perspective, becoming a sensible and easygoing poster while retaining his previous interests and concerns. That's a good sign of an authentic person and an honest debater. fk teale, for glories past. Come back. We miss you. Jobber of the week, for being a left-wing liberal borderline-commie scumbag without letting the DNC rot away too much of his brain. TheMikeSC, for writing longer posts than practically everyone else in the forum put together. And they still make sense! Mike loses points in the sciences, but more than makes up for it in history and politics. Love, Sex, and Dating EricMM, for providing no-nonsense advice to morons and rarely losing his patience. His posts are an oasis in a desert of immaturity, self-pity, whining, general stupidity, and saccharine. General Chat cobainwasmurdered, as mentioned above, for the gnomes. Incandenza gets a nomination, but he won't get my vote unless he brings back the plush ALF avatar. Kinetic, not only for the Metal Ed stories, but also for being the inspiration behind the Gnome Wars. What we owe you is beyond evaluation.

I'm honestly puzzled; what are you trying to accomplish here? You walked in with a chip on your shoulder, misinterpreted (ludicrously) the very clear irony of my initial post (which everyone else seems to have understood without a problem), decided to get offended at your own idiotic misinterpretation, belligerently demanded an explanation (which you got), and now you're parading around trying to flame-bait at a sad grade-school level. What is it that you want, exactly? You aren't arguing any issues. You aren't making any points. You aren't even talking about anything in particular. If you want to get involved in a useless flamewar, could you go to NHB?

"On the chance it was sarcasm?" What confused you, the reference to a backlog of stormtrooper boot-polishing? Or the bit about the DGSE being uncertain about the Schutzstaffel's status? Jesus. Tom, can we have a formal IQ test to enter this folder? Please?

Of course, but it's still funny.

That was great. I'll have to remember it.

Heh.

I could make you kiss my natural... er, white ass. I regularly beat the tar out of a former NCAA finalist, one-on-one.

As a Jew, even a non-practicing one at this time, I HOPE that was sarcasm, because if it wasn't, that just disgusting. I'm very positive on the Jewish people in general, and on Israel in general. In the specific, however, you are an illiterate and an idiot. Kindly stay in the WWE folder until you learn how to read.

Badminton, swimming, fencing, various martial arts. Tried out for the cheerleading team in high school and was kicked out after a couple of months because I had a "bad attitude."

With great care.

No, it's just a gorgeous dress. Hundreds of different shades of orange, red, and yellow silk, all blended together in a spiral pattern around my body, off the shoulder, with little gold beads sewn into it. Daddy got it for me a few weeks ago off a New York runway, and there's only one like it in the world. My wife says it makes me look like a 5'8 glass of champagne and the beads look like bubbles rising up and covering my body. It's her favourite dress on or off me, and I always get incredibly lucky whenever I wear it. G'night!

Mike, you really need to stick to politics, because when it comes to science you're unbelievably ignorant. The human eye is built backwards, inside out, and upside down. The only explanation for its form IS gradual evolution. It's one of the best arguments for natural selection extant, and if your God designed it like that from scratch, he's not only incompetent but a fucking idiot.

Well, be fair. The DGSE and the Surete are still waiting for confirmation that the Schutzstaffel was a terrorist organisation; their resources must be overstretched. They've also got that backlog of a few million stormtrooper boots to polish. And really, what's so bad about Hamas and Islamic Jihad? I mean, they're just killing Jews, right?

Answer to original question: Yes. Answers to other questions brought up in the course of the thread: Yes, we do drill oil in Alaska at present. We used to sell it to Japan, among other foreign countries (including China and South Korea), but this practice was stopped following recent mergers (B-P et al). No, we do not drill oil in ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge - there is no second A in the acronym) at present. Alaskans themselves, including their Senate representatives, overwhelmingly support drilling. The only people who oppose it are Congressional representatives hoping to pick up environmental credentials from so-called "green" lobbyists to aid them in future elections. ANWR's total potential: DOE studies indicate a statistical mean of approximately 11 billion barrels of technically recoverable crude (maximum of about 42-50 billion, assuming advances in drilling and recovery technologies) and current consumption rates are approximately 20 million barrels per day with a 1.4% increase per year. Even at these rates ANWR's total reserves could supply the entire nation for a period of 2-5 years. Of course, transportation, deterioration, and storage problems mean that we would never be able to supply the entire nation through ANWR drilling, but it would enable us to drastically reduce our Persian Gulf imports (currently at 12.6% of domestic consumption) and thus reduce our dependency on OPEC. Gas prices would not be reduced at all since flow rates &c indicate a maximum increase of 1.5% in the world's oil supply were ANWR to be opened to drilling. So what's the answer? Shale extraction. Next generation technologies currently in development (estimated R&D time span is 5-10 years) have the projected ability to recover vast amounts of oil from federal lands in Tennessee, Wyoming, Colorado, and other midwestern states with minimal environmental impact. How much? More than twice the total that ever has or ever will come out of the Persian Gulf. Enough to supply the entire country for well over two and a half centuries at current consumption rates - which are projected to begin a steady and irreversible decline within 20-30 years as a result of alternative energy technologies. So why drill in ANWR at all? To tide us over. Depending on our enemies for our energy is not smart, and whatever the media may say, I assure you that every country in the Persian Gulf and almost every country in OPEC is our enemy. Despite what you may have been told, the cuddly caribou, the lovely little birdies, and the trillions of mosquitoes that call various parts of ANWR their home will not all die screaming in agony the instant a survey team picks a likely site. Section 1002, the only section which can be developed, is a mere 7% of ANWR's 19 million acres. Of that 7%, less than 2,000 acres would actually be used for drilling. Less than 0.001% of ANWR would be touched in any way at all, including pipelines. Read this paper from the Heritage Foundation for more information.

Three, NCM. Bearing false witness can be perjury.

Make a hole in it or bleed on it, you're paying for it. Later.

Well, I'm wearing a $5,800 silk Escada dress right now and I have a date with my wife in 15 minutes, so unless you want to buy me a replacement be a good little Christian and keep your bleeding heart to your presumptuous and impertinent self.

Anyway, psychologically, Mike and Ripper are both correct. (Bear with me.) Mike is right when he says that those priests have a sexual orientation in addition to their predilection for raping children, and that this orientation influences their choice of victim. Ripper is also right when he distinguishes child-rapers from heterosexuals and homosexuals: what is important is the fact that the priest has a predilection for children, and while this fetish is sometimes focused on children of one sex or another, in most cases it does not discriminate.

On the other hand... CNN: Is it appropriate to have a monument to the Ten Commandments in a state courthouse? Of course, the automatic triple preselection of respondents renders online polling all but useless.

Welcome, JMA. Latest news: Fox Drops Lawsuit - CNN story

You'd better not be talking about me.