Raise the Hammer

[quote]Nope. Look at the data - birthrate is connected to economy, not culture, and birthrates are falling steadily in nearly every country on earth.[quote/]

When the Soviet government took control in Central Asia, they actually did some positive things: mass immigration, full literacy (even for women), water treatment and, arguably, general improvments in income. The population ROSE. After the collapse of the Soviet Empire, Baltic and Slavic former SSRs actually saw their populations drop, with increases in poverty, while Central Asia (& other Muslim countries, like Kosovo and Albania) INCREASED their populations.

To reiterate: culture and religion are responsible for how many children women have (often, against their will). Also, I wouldn't take P J O'Rourke very seriously. When he was a Regan Sycophant ("hug a Mujaheddin jihadist!"), he thought that the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia were no worse than Evangelical Christians. It took over 3,000 murdered on 9/11/2001 to change his mind, I guess. Also, Weimar Germany WAS a Liberal Democracy...until they VOTED the Nazis into office.

Countries like Sweden and Denmark also have massive, suburban developments (something all the Smart Growthers never like to notice), filled with North African, Arabic and other 'traditional' immigrants. These people have VERY high birthrates, compared to the natives. Most of them are on welfare. Like Jane & Finch, these brutalist monstrosities were created to line developers' pockets. Even the Labour government in the U.K has realised the stupidity of this policy and is now proposing a hard-cap on immigration and population.

Don't put YOUR head in the sand. Food scarcity is a very real issue. Although the idiotic 'biofuels' experiment is partly to blame for the food shortages last year, the problem of more people chasing less food will only worsen. Whatever is causing climate change (I'm one of those people who think fossil fuel consumption has at least something to do with it), it's certainly affecting things like drought. Areas like the Maldives will probably also be uninhabitable in a generation, leading to 'climate refugees'.

The Boris Worm study re. fishstocks is frightening. Pakistan has already experienced food riots. Even here in Canada, you can see the cost of food rise and quality worsen. Potable water is another issue, entirely.

Very dense cities (e.g., Manhattan burrough) depend on costly, inefficient infrastructure trickery to deliver people and resources. The staggering costs of Manhattan's subteranian water tunnel and subway systems causes no end of friction with upstate (and even outer-burrough) taxpayers, who subsidise this. Evacuating densly-populated, transit-dependant areas can also be a nightmare, as evidenced by New Orleans. Really, I dread to think what will happen when the Canary Island tsunami clobbers Manhattan...

I, for one, miss Calgary YEARS ago. Then, you could see the skyline and small farms around the town. Food/produce was cheaper and of vastly better quality. Gangland shootings were unheard of (even while you could buy handguns at Eddie Bauer's!). I never encountered doda-stoned busdrivers, or 'professionals' who couldn't function even minimally in English. I hate seeing whole neighborhoods (Brentwood, &c.) full of niqab-wearing Salafis and ads for the Calgary Muslim Stampede Breakfast ("dress modestly")

Preserving our standard of living, our environment, our culture and our LIVES is worth 'building barricades' over. Quit putting YOUR head in the sand over this issue.