The Future

I think the energy problem is the most critical. I won't say lack of viable energy alternatives because I beleive they exist, but certainly lack of them being available to us.Cheap, clean-burning electricity would solve the energy problem, global warming, some aspects of poverty (starvation and malnourishment) except where the political situation is the problem, some major pollution problems, defund Islamic terrorists rooted in the Middle East, help poor nations develop without ravaging their environment as bad, fund major new technological breakthroughs which are put on hold due to lack of power, develop a high speed rail system cheaply that lowers highway deaths, and a whole bunch of stuff.I don't think any of those are the most serious problems, but then again, I don't want to get into a theological and spiritual discussion too much on your thread, unless you want me to.This message has been edited by randman, 11-11-2005 02:30 PM

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We tried it over here.

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Didn't make any difference.

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You had an entire government that was over 90% female?

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THAT was not a woman

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She was as much of a woman as someone likely to win the race for Prime Minister was allowed to be.Are you actually telling me that anyone other than a sexless, masculine woman would have been taken seriously?It's the double bind for women in politics and business: if you are too sexy and attractive you aren't respected or considered serious and intelligent, and if you are mannish and serious and sexless, you are made fun of for not being a "real woman".

No - we had a government that was 100% female Mrs. Thatcher was (in)famous for the degree of control she exercised over all aspects of government. Most other democratically elected leaders of modern times could only dream of having it. Essentially the way our system works allowed Thatcher for most of her tenure and Blair until the last election to more or less function as benign dictators.There was a famous sketch over here - Mrs. T and the cabinet are in a restaurant:Thatcher: I'll have the steak
Waiter: And what about the vegetables?
Thatcher: They'll have the same as me...

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I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

I should have said "That was not the characteristic of a woman of the type that I think Schraf meant when she said (and I paraphrase "the world wouldn't be in such a mess if woman's influence was not so minimalised by male mis-use of their position""Maggie promoted survival of the fittest and started a patriotic war during which she ordered the needless sinking of the Belgrano with hundreds of lives lost. Her policies and her decisions. Nobody culd accuse oher of being a weak, man-dominated woman. The poor critters in her government were terrified of her !

We`ve had a couple of female State premiers and they did a capable job. Quite a few Ministers on both State and Federal levels. And our biggie, the Labor party, has pledged to have 50% femme representation in parliament by--um--3020.