The serious stuff. Debates and discussions on politics, religion, etc.
As individuals, and now possibly as an organization? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35944804/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts PORTLAND, Ore. - The Boy Scouts of America has long kept an extensive archive of secret documents that chronicle the...
How much should a person know about their government and how much should be kept hidden? For each member of government, should we know who they are, what their politics are, who they speak to, who they advise, who they take money from, who...
The upcoming drug of choice or so the news says is "meow meow" or mephedrone. It is currently a legal drug which gives a high equivalent to ecstacy and it is rapidly gaining a reputation. It causes euphoria and hallucinations but side effects...
In the United States people on low income or who have no income can be eligible for food stamps. I don't know a whole lot about how this system works but one of the controversies over the use of foodstamps is that people shouldn't be allowed buy...
The People's Republic has been requiring Google to censor search results, to avoid pulling up content they don't want their citizens to see. Now, in the wake of what have been (according to Google) increasingly onerous censorship requirements, and...
That is to say, do you think your government (US, or wherever) should be allowed execute terrorists or whomever else that poses an imminent threat to citizens of your country? This question is prompted by the Mossad assassination furore but also...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/supreme-court-rolls-back_n_431227.html This past week the SCOTUS made a decision in the case of Citizens United vs. FEC that essentially gives corporations the same first amendment rights as individuals,...
Tried this on the 'dope and it sank without trace as they only want to talk US politics there at present. It seems that the US and coalition forces are coming to a negotiated ceasefire with the Taliban and that they will be involved in the future...
Granted, neither the US or the UK is on a total war footing like they would have been during WWII but how come it has taken them and their NATO allies so long to destroy the Taliban and/or bring stability to Afghanistan. I mean there doesn't seem to...
Seriously, Linda McMahon who made her fortune having men in tights fight each other is now running for the Republican nomination in the November elections for the Senate seat of Connecticut. Does she actaully stand a chance even with a $50m...
This lady has decided that she wants to become the world's fattest woman trying to top out at 71st. Currently, she weighs a mere 43st and says she is still healthy and sees nothing wrong what her goal. More on the story here. So, At what...
Locally, we're having a pretty appalling time with the city school district. Despite perennial promises of reform and improvements, the four-year graduation rate has dropped to 46%. Not all of the other 54% will have been drop outs. According to...
More and more smoking laws are going on the books, and I'm wondering what you Mello folks think about them. Vote and explain! Or, let me know if your choice isn't listed. I'm making the assumption that government-owned spaces would remain...
Let's say there is a kid named Steve. Steve got the standard (at least as far as I know of standard) anti-drug education that all kids get in elementary and high school. Most of the focus in these programs is on weed. Now Steve is 17 and is offered...
Mellodome seems to be a fairly homogeneous place, so I'm not sure how a thread like this will work. But let's give it a shot - post an (honestly held) opinion that you think is an unpopular one, on Mellophant in particular or to the wider world. And...
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm trying to weed the use of "retarded" out of my vocabulary. But why is it that "crazy" is still ok? I don't think that crazy is an appropriate label for a mentally ill person, so why is it ok to use it as a perjorative...
Virgin Media article All I can say is, not on my menu, unless the choice is between that or Burgerland. Can anyone else foresee themselves eating insects, other than as a result of global famine?
I'm inspired to start this thread in part by the bizarro events at the SDMB having to do with the novel Hogg, but it's actually something I've wondered about for years. I'm one of the oldest of the generation of that has had essentially...
What I am seeing: The economy is growing but consumer confidence is down, it is a weird time. Jobless rate is finally dropping. Congress might actually move on some job bills. I think Consumer Confidence is just lagging right now. The...
So, who won, the Democrats or the Republicans? Did anything actually get sorted out or is it still up in the air and how much does this affect the US dopers in terms of their medical costs. Of course, perhaps I should also ask, which side has...
Nope, not a hypothetical. At least not in Tracy, California. It's purely voluntary, though. Don't worry! You can either pay an annual fee of $48 and use 911 as often as you want, or pay nothing at all! Oh. Oops. Unless you need to call 911...
So, surprisingly, it turns out many of my Fellowphants have strong opinions on abortion, and really I don't care what your opinions are but you should all hear mine because it's awesome. Plus, since this is the biggest topic in the controversial...
Has the criminalization of Drugs been a bad idea? Is there a better way to enforce the laws? Should they decriminalize some drug usage? Should they legalize and tax some or all drugs? Can you support your position? I'm going to sound...
From a story now on CNN about newly released photos of 9/11: The aerial photos were obtained by ABC News after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which had collected...
Under pressure from the Equalities act the BNP has amended its constitution from being an all-white party to one that will accept members of any race/creed or colour. This is not necessarily a good thing. There are a lot of people who see the...
Inspired by this news story. An 11-year-old girl in the Northeast recently gave birth to a baby boy, the girl’s family told Fox News. "My daughter and (her) baby are fine, and the baby is absolutely beautiful," said the mother of the...
I was just thinking, today, about the Selective Service System: aka Draft Registration. In the US men between 18 and 26 years of age must register or they'll be ineligible for any federal programs for educational assistance, and I believe other...
Serious request: This is a complex issue for me and I turn to those whose opinion I respect and whose ability to discuss, debate and critically analyze is superb. I welcome all opinions. Although this is indeed the Forum for witnessing, I beg beg...
When I first went online in about 1995/6 and well into the early 2000s I got the feeling that there was a separate online culture to the mainstream. However as the 2000s have progressed it seems to have got to a point where using the net is so...
Sorry for the TL: DR. I'm placing in this The Crucible in case anybody wants to challenge my discoveries/explanations or ask questions or the like. I've been reading a lot of stories about how people end up leaving the LDS Church. In almost all...
So it looks as though Obama has made the hard choice given the current economic situation and has decided to cut NASA's funding for its next set of space missions including the Constellation class, the Ares rockets and putting a man back on the moon...
For practical purposes homeschooling is illegal in Germany. As one might expect not everyone agrees with that. There is a small but dedicated group of opponents of the current regulations. Some go so far as to refuse to send their children to...
A new groundbreaking experiment has shown that a man locked in vegetative state for the last 5 years is not only aware and capable of understanding people, but also communicating answers as well. Apparently, they can do this by using MRI scans to...
Slate has been running an interesting series this week on a supervised, safe drug injection facility in Vancouver -- the only one that exists in North America. (Apparently, according to those articles, it's fairly common in some European countries.)...
...you are going to get mauled and possibly eaten. Yes, animals do that to people, it's called being prey. In this case, someone decided to jump into a bear pit in Berne and got mauled around the enclosure. In order to save him, the police had to...
So Joy Behar on the View said that gays don't take monogamy and infidelity as seriously as the straight community. Some people were deeply offended by this, as you can imagine. Now, in my own experience it seems as though relationships where...
Homeopathy is an alternative medicine that believes in using heavily diluted preparations in treating illnesses. No research has shown that they are any more effective than taking placebo's but there is still a multi million pound industry in...
Google is trying to put together a full online scan of every book in existence and create a giant online library. It is looking for an exclusive right to scan books for use on the internet. This has caused a stir as some people see it as an...
Well, it looks like the date has been set for the next British General Election and it is May 6th. It was let slip on live TV by Bob Ainsworth, the Armed Forces minister. So, 3 and a bit months before we can kick out the current incompetant...
... that can't be brushed away by Parliament with a simple majority? The way I understand your parliamentary sovereignty, at least in principle Parliament can legislate whatever it wants, including overriding previous decisions, and there is no...
OK, melloheads, I have been reading various child support debates on other forums, and was curious about what your opinions may be on a certain argument that I have seen put forth. The argument is as follows: 1) Once a fetus is conceived, the...
According to a lot of the papers over here, the election of Scott Brown in Teddy Kennedy's Massachusetts seat is one of Barack Obama's biggest setbacks. It means the end of the HealthCare, the USA turning Republican and the end of the world for...
A case has just completed in Britain of a man jailed for 30 months for the following. More of the details here He and his family were attacked by knife wielding assailants who were robbing their house and were tied up, however his son escaped and...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084
On another board I read, there's an ongoing conversation about the term "gypped." It started when someone used the term, but spelled it "jipped." She was told that it was racist and she shouldn't say it, but she clearly had no idea where the term...
2005 -- U.S. citizens worldwide killed as a result of incidents of terrorism: 56 U.S. citizens worldwide injured as a result of incidents of terrorism: 17 U.S. citizens worldwide kidnapped as a result of incidents of terrorism: 11 2006 --...
It appears that Google has been experiencing some highly sophisticated hack attacks from China and is now saying that it will no longer submit to Chinese censors. Google are also saying that if it is not able to provide unfiltered access to it's...
I've read a lot of late about former Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere and one of the more interesting things I've noticed is that in East Germany at least there is a significant amount of nostalgia for the "good old...
Here are a few important tips from the latest renewable energy news, highly useful for renewable energy companies, while making a new website. These are just the basic tips for the making of a professional website. To know more about you can go...
I don't want to know if you define yourself as "liberal" or "conservative" or "Democrat" or "Republican". I want to know what, specifically, you care about. Liberal and conservative are going to mean wildly different things to different people,...
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