The serious stuff. Debates and discussions on politics, religion, etc.
This article from the BBC website is a point-counterpoint about the merits of continuing to build cases against Nazis for war crimes related to the Holocaust. I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I'm Jewish, and even though my close...
The Story from NPR is here . He tends to vote on the liberal side but Obama will probably replace him with someone more liberal is my guess. Are any of the conservatives near retirement?
There's a long unpleasant history of attempts at eugenics -- for much of the twentieth century, the US government sterilized some American Indian women, for instance, and sterilization of the "feeble-minded" was common in a lot of Western countries...
I admit, I don't know much about anthropology apart from what occasionally shows up in the media, and what I've read in books like The Blank Slate, but I do get the impression that it's not exactly free of politicization. Every time I read about an...
The World Health Organization has announced it will refer to the new flu as "influenza A." (My source is an email from the people working on pandemic preparedness at ASEAN, which is headquartered here in Jakarta and with whom my husband works.) I...
I don't watch Big Love; I only know that it is an HBO series that depicts a FLDS polygamous family in Utah. HBO recently aired a show depicting a Mormon ceremony the is supposedly secret as well as sacred. My own personal belief is that the Mormons...
Story here. There's something about this woman I don't like - can't quite put my finger on it. Oh yeah - it's using breeding as a marketing tool. Puppy mills are bad enough; baby mills are beyond belief.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_ ... ne_obama_2 The short story, an official in the white house authorized a photo moment wherin Air Force One flys over Staten Island with a fighter jet escort. New Yorkers look up, see the 747 comin' out...
Well, this should make things interesting. Montana is trying to trigger a battle over gun control - and perhaps make a larger point about what many folks in this ruggedly independent state regard as a meddlesome federal government. In a bill...
The Northeast is on a roll lately. This last Wednesday, the New Hampshire house passed a bill (by one vote) that would add gender identity to it's anti-discrimination laws. Which is, IMO, an excellent thing. Very few states are on board with...
http://politicspa.com/Specter%20Switches.htm I have been a Republican since 1966. I have been working extremely hard for the Party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of...
I've seen on the Dope and a few other sites discussion of right-wing protests against Obama themed around tea. Now, I get that this is a reference to the Boston Tea Party. But, do the people involved in coming up with slogans realise how...
For personal reasons, I was thinking about immortality the other day and what would happen if immortality were effectively guaranteed aside from, say, deliberate murder or suicide. I've seen lots of discussion about what public policies would...
So how is is that the strong conservatives feel that; Taxes are somehow "Tyranny". but Torture is OK. I mean, the whole Cognitive Dissonance thing about 'Abortion = Murder' but 'Death Penalty = Good' and refusing to help people once they...
I swear, you cannot make this stuff up. The New York Times is reporting on two Pakistani brothers who are making whips, ball gags, corsets and other stuff for the European fetish market. Linky The items are made by women in full bukah who...
From here: The Supreme Court said Monday it will explore a dark corner of Americans' fascination with animals, whether the sale of videos depicting dog fights and violent deaths of small animals is protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of...
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cybersecu ... _0413.html A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of...
There's a swine flu epidemic here in Mexico that seems to be spreading north across the border; the latest news I read says there are cases reported in San Diego. What do you guys think? Drug Cartels using biological weapons? Is the longed...
The Princess TaiPing, a chinese junk built to investigate whether the Chinese navy could have discovered much of the Pacific in the 1400's, was run over and destroyed by a freighter off the coast of Taiwan. I didn't even know this re-creation...
It's in the title. This fellow who used fake Social Security numbers and fake names was injured, and now wants compensation. What say you?
To all those that have missed it... This was the CNN front page just a few moments ago. From the article: Roughly 10 years ago, Mitchell claimed, he was finally given an appointment at Pentagon to discuss what he had been told. An...
The Vatican has rejected three potential American ambassadors: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ap ... s-abortion . Should the USA even bother to send an ambassador to the Vatican? Historically, the Vatican wielded great power, but is that...
The political compass thread was popular, and there used to be a series of threads (run by SentientMeat, IIRC) on the SD debating each question. I'd like to do that here, too, as it's been a while since we did it. I won't go through each...
I have been reaing recently and with much concern about the apparent disregard of the police for the law abiding protestors at the G20 summit. Apparently now over 90 complaints have been received by the IPCC. Mainly to do with unprovoked...
Ok, so New Zealand has never legally registered the names for each island. Story Here It looks like they are going to ask everyone what to call them, which could either be in Maori or English. Should they change them, or just leave them as...
Anyone else watching this? Right now the BBC reporter seems to be ripping into Ruth Kelly, which is always good. In general the view seems to be too little, too late and the growth figures sound like fantasy.
Churn up the conspiracy machine! Link. (We need a subforum for Gnus.)
It looks like the ANC lead by Jacob Zuma are on course to lead the next South African government with approx 65%-70% of the vote. Given the sex and corruption scandals that plagued him earlier, that is quite a showing for him. So what does this...
Apparently, it appears that torture works, at least according to Dick Cheney and he wants the memos released to prove it. Story here So given that Obama has released the notes saying what was carried out and to whom, but that he is not going...
"My priorities are to progress this state working with the other branch of government there, the lawmakers, to make sure we are meeting the priorities of our constituents," Palin said at a recent news conference. "Nothing has changed." When...
Well here goes,if I start a thread on something I couldn't give a flying fuck about,Do you prefer Red or Green? it goes on for ever but something I am genuinlly concerned about flames and dies in nil points. I am English,like most English I...
I've read a lot that if Obama were to look into prosecuting Bush for war crimes or whatever, that it would set a bad precedent for every new President to try and prosecute the former. But isn't the threat of a prosecution for your actions a good...
This morning, the president left open the possibility od prosecuting the former administration's officials that helped create the basis for extreme interrogation techniques. Is this a good idea or could it negatively affect the war on terror? ...
Unless you're a complete pacifist, you must agree that there are some circumstances where declaring war is morally justified. What are they? There seem to be some obvious cases, like acting in self defence, where most people would agree that war...
Drywall. This is no urban legend. Apparently during the building boom, American and Canadian manufacturers couldn't keep up with demand, so China filled the gap. But the stuff off-gasses sulfuric smelling compounds which make inhabitants sick,...
Thankfully, someone has spoken out on this trend. Dr. Ernie Swihart, an author and behavioral pediatrician at South Lake Pediatrics in Minnetonka, decried the self-esteem movement from its inception. Then, as now, he believed kids should be taught...
Pardon my use of dickfingers in the title here, but this guy is just symbolic of the fakeness of the GOP these days -- as part of their little April 15 protests, Sam Wurzelbacher is speaking at the state capitol here today. I went down to watch for...
What will future historians make of Bush's presidency, once far removed from his term? Will they identify any positive aspects? If so, what are they?
Story here. I'm of two minds on this; yeah, Iran's president is an asshole of the first water, but he's not completely wrong; Israel IS a massive racist state, and his finger-pointing at the United States and Europe for helping to establish the...
Currently a dozen or so pirates are in custody of a freighter and a US destroyer, USS Bainbridge, is on the way to negotiate a resolution to the issue. This is not going to be an isolated event. The pirates are getting more bold and more...
Suppose that the British empire never existed. Would there have been a net positive or net negative effect? Would another empire have sprung up to take Britain's place? If so, who? How different would the world be, today?
What do you think of when you hear/read the word "equality"? (I'm deliberately not giving context, so as not to influence the answers I get)
Well, the verdict is out and the founders of the Pirate Bay website have been jailed for a year and ordered to pay 30 Million Swedish Krone (£2.5 million) in damages to various media companies for their activites in assisting people to illegally...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090304160400.htm Believing in God can help block anxiety and minimize stress, according to new University of Toronto research that shows distinct brain differences between believers and non-believers. ...
As Julie and I completely hijacked another thread, she suggested we start our own thread. Here it is. I'll begin with stating several assumptions necessary to the argument: - God exists, though not necessarily as the concept offered in...
Well, one of the PM's closet aides, Damian McBride has resigned for some very inappropriate emails containing unsubstantiated rumour and innuendo to be used against opposition politicians. As far as Damian McBride was concerned anything was fair...
Are there any oddball and off-the-wall genuine political campaigns that anyone else can remember sticking in their mind? Particularly any you could support. Inspired by walking past the campaign stand for the "Drink a pint, save a pub" campaign:...
I'd kinda lost track. I thought he'd finally won, but reading the story about Emmanuel Rahm a recent New Yorker, I gather it's still up in the air. Any idea when it will be settled?
This happened about 10 minutes ago! The Vermont legislature, Senate and House, has overridden Gov. Douglas's veto on the same-sex marriage law! The vote in the House was 100-46. It was expected to be close to the margin, and it was...they needed...
Too bad Steele's first name is Michael and not Jake. "Jake and the Fat Man" would have been an awesome thread title. So Michael Steele, the current chair of the RNC, went on CNN and said that Rush Limbaugh's show is “incendiary” and “ugly.” ...
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