Politics

I know that many political commentators around the world, and especially in the US still doubt anthropogenic global warming and strongly oppose any measures to try and reduce it like the Kyoto protocol, and measures suggested along the lines of implementing a crbon tax. My question concerns primarily this: Why is it the conservative political movement, particularly the paleoconservatives, so vehemently deny that global warming is taking place? Personally, I agree with a lot on economics, and questions concerning goverment regulation and interference with the market, with Ron Paul, who does himself deny global warming occurring and has support from a lot of paleoconse…

This is not a thread to argue about Roe v Wade, rather just trying to understand the logic here behind the decision in Roe V Wade. I'm not really understanding the relationship between privacy and due process of law. These terms get tossed around a bunch, but when it comes down to it, I have a tenuous understanding of it, at best. (Does this not imply that with due process, then you can violate privacy and thereby stop an abortion?) And what exactly are they referring to with "privacy"? The knowledge of their pregnancy to begin with? Or physical violation? I'm unsure what component is a violation of privacy - or exactly what privacy was being violated. …

Lately it seems the media has been running many stories about how the conversion of corn and other grains into ethanol is greatly increasing the costs of food. It seems that because the USA is converting 25% of the corn crop into fuel, most of the world will starve. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/11/AR2007121101834.html This seems like nonsense to me as, after the grain is converted ( http://www.ddgs.umn.edu/overview.htm ), the remaining material (distillers grain) still contains 91% dietary equivalent. Is 9% of 25% = 2.25% of only the US crop going to result in mass starvation? I think not. Another way I have thought about …

Separatist tensions are flaring in Georgia now. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7375736.stm Abkhazs in Abkhazia and ethnic Russians in South Ossetia are growing restless and seem eager (with no Russian objections) to call on the case of Kosovo as precedent for their cause. Do they have a point here? Is there a difference between the two situations or is this a bit of Western hypocrisy? Or is it instead Russian hypocrisy? So many questions.

I contacted the EPA regarding the presence of radionucleotides in cigarettes, namely polonium-210 and lead-210, asking why they weren't regulated. This is the response I received: What I can infer from this response: The EPA is fully aware there are radionucleotides present in cigarettes. Present laws do not allow them to regulate the radionucleotide content of cigarettes. Let's put the issue of how harmful these radionucleotides are for a second... Do you think, just as a matter of principle, that the EPA should have the power to regulate them? And as an aside, I contacted my senator about preventable safety problems in cigarettes, including…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7354089.stm Parliament is about to debate measures that will see all forms of paid-for paranormal activities fall under the new Consumer Protection Regulations. Personally I'd love to see this happen in America as well.

Click the link to see the release party with Steve Jobs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mCCYLC-4xA Oh... how I love brilliance intertwined with humor.

According to the Constitution, the President of the United States must be a natural-born US citizen. He or she cannot be "naturalized", i.e. be a citizen of another country that has become a US citizen. This is the clause from the Constitution: The question is whether the phrase "natural born citizen" refers to Americans born inside the confines of the country, or whether they are born as citizens (i.e. to two American parents, or via one of the other criteria (there are many)). The framers probably meant the later -- people born as citizens, regardless of location. The framers never really talked about it, and (interestingly) the clause was never debate…

...if you count Florida and Michigan. From her "Fact Hub": http://facts.hillaryhub.com/archive/?id=7265 Yes, if you count the states who did rogue primaries, including Michigan where Obama wasn't even on the ballot, Hillary leads the popular vote! If you don't count them, Obama is a half million votes ahead.

This should be good. John Stossel, one of the few libertarians in modern mainstream media, interviews the queen of welfare-state liberalism, Ariana Huffington. Here are some juicy experts from Stossel's weekly email announcement: Rofl. You tell her, brother! The show it tomorrow (Friday) night, April 26th, in the ABC network here in the states. I imagine it will show up on YouTube or at least ABC's web site.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4712330&page=1 Apparently more and more employers are taking a hard line about heathcare. Some companies refuse to hire smokers, for example. But what this story is about is a case in which employees stated on their applications that they were non-smokers (in order to get a healthcare discount), and then we seen smoking outside a building on company premises. To me that seems like a pretty clear-cut case of fraud, but the larger issue of employers screening applicants over healthy practices is one for concern, given the way it's based on medical information that can often be rapidly developing or not fully understood, …

Do we need to know who is right?

According to former Michigan governer John Engler, writing in today's Wall Street Journal, the increase in the trade deficit due to NAFTA is mainly due to increased domestic energy purchases from Canada and Mexico, NOT lost manufacturing jobs. If you remove that from the accounting, lost jobs due to NAFTA are almost offset by agricultural and manufacturing exports. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120873451908929781.html?mod=djemEditorialPage It actually makes a lot of sense to buy more energy in North America. It seems likely in fact that the amount will climb even higher, as Canada increases shale production. That makes NAFTA a good thing, not a bad thi…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB9mb6XhD28

BOYCOTT CHINA OLYMPICS. Mod Note: This is a new Tibet discussion thread. I pulled the most relevent posts from the previous thread, which will be removed. Post away.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7336731.stm General Petraeus has told Congress that to keep the gains made by the surge, it is going to need to be maintained just a bit longer after the first withdrawals to be made in July. Is this reasonable? Perhaps predictably, Hillary and Obama don't think so, while McCain is probably more gung-ho than Petraeus. I'm really not sure of much of anything with Iraq. I've almost come to the point where I doubt I'm qualified even to have an opinion. I am quite sure of one point on which Petraeus and I seem to agree, however: leaving permanent bases in Iraq is a bad idea. Military bases aren't inherently bad, obviously, and if…

Don't see a thread for this yet, so... Yeah, much ado about Obama calling middle Americans a bunch of gun toting bible thumping bigots, or something. What's the deal? Everything he says is taken painfully out of context and blown completely out of proportion. Meanwhile McCain and Hillary are trying to make it out like they're actually in touch with Joe Blow. Is it me, or is Obama just speaking his mind in a way unbecoming of a canonical politician?

Well, I guess the site got overloaded. It now says "Service Unavailable". It was a compendium of news clips of politicians statements about the certainty of Saddam's possession and intent to acquire WMDs. It contained some statements from Hillary and her husband that I thought I would share since she's a candidate. If it becomes available again I'll fix the link with more of an abstract on it. Seems the link is working again - http://www.bercasio.com/movies/dems-wmd-before-iraq.wmv Many call it Bush's War but this movie shows it was quite a bipartisan effort that began before Bush. It includes statements from Madeline Albright, President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, …

Bush pardons self from war crimes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy6QpMeaq4Y What Caused 9/11 (see description) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhyyYefB4xg IMO Bush should not be excuses from his actions and disisions. Because: In the end a leader of an country is responsible for everything that happens to and from that country.

An article came to my attention recently showing a man holding a suitcase-sized supposed nuclear bomb. It seems that some drop-out from former KGB times emigrated to the U.S. and claims the Soviets developed operable bombs carryable by one person, and secreted many of them in various hidden places within the U.S., and is now awaiting the appropriate time to begin using leverage over us with them. Anyone else hear of this; what do you think of this? imp

now I don`t know about you, but I simply Cannot take a political campaign whose Catch-phrase is based entirely upon an Infants well Known TV cartoon character! allow me to elucidate: now compare... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IWKhYQarJU can you see a Disturbing similarity? Yes You Can!

A few days ago, I saw this financial advisor on television advising people to pay off debts with their rebate check, saying that this was the best way, the optimal way of distributing people's rebates in the most advantageous manner for the average Joe Blue taxpayer. Surely, she was just saying that to vent her veiled frustration with the current administration as everybody else does, saying it completely out of spite. Who cares what the original intent was, what the package is actually named, labelled, defined as. Of course, even if everybody went out and bought a television on the same day, it might add up to one day of Christmas, so it really is a moot point and so…

It's been interesting to watch what's been happening in Iraq this week, in part because what's mainly been happening is actually Shi'a versus Shi'a, with Sunni (relatively) quietly watching from the sidelines. The al-Maliki government is mostly Shi'a, but it's been demanding that the militias in the South step down and turn in their weapons, which local leaders like Moqtada al-Sadr don't want to do. Interestingly, today al-Sadr told his forces to stand down and cease fire. This may have something to do with the fact that Iran has apparently closed its border, which may indicate support for the government over groups like al-Sadr's. In a funny sort of way thi…

Obsession is a film about the threat of Radical Islam to Western civilization. Using unique footage from Arab television, it reveals an "insider's view" of the hatred the Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination. The film also traces parallels between the Nazi movement of World War II, the Radicals of today, and the Western world's response to both threats. Part 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DBwCWaBhmDQ Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suGOnwCUhBs Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joqoMfh7cr0 Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1LETOk20X4 Part 5: http://www.youtube…

When I first read this it was just that headline, her quote, and the photograph you see below, so my initial reaction was "right-wing spin". Then I noticed the source: The Washington Post! Apparently this is for real. So I think this is an interesting example of how useful scrutiny of candidates can be on the campaign trail. We never really get to know these people -- we have to use the press as a surrogate. That's what makes real spin and ideological partisanship so dangerous -- it distorts and defends things like this, making them harder to detect and expose. I have no doubt that if Hillary were the sole Democratic candidate at the moment that this story woul…