Politics

I've been following this "Kid Nation" controversy for a while now, trying to form an opinion. Or rather trying to find a reason not to believe that the end of western civilization has arrived. As you may know, CBS put together this thing as a reality show featuring children who were basically at a run-amok summer camp without adult supervision. A kind of real-life Lord of the Flies scenario. For money -- a $5,000 stipend, with a chance to win more. Children as young as EIGHT were allowed to participate. And the parents willingly signed their children up for this. The same sort of parents who would probably bring a lawsuit if the nearby public school were to se…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7090901.stm Sound familiar to anyone?

Our success is killing us The aims of technology are achieved and our chances for survival are fatally diminished. The fault is not in our technology but in us. The fault lies within human society. McLuhan made us aware of the fact that technology is an extension of our self. I would say that we and also our ecosystem are both gestalts, a whole, wherein there are complex feedback loops that permit self healing and various means that protect us from our self. The dictionary defines gestalt as meaning a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties no…

CorporateSexOffenders.com has labelled YouTube as the most dangerous site for harboring pedophiles. See http://www.corporatesexoffenders.com/?archive=159 Don't you think this disgust at pedophiles is good reason to limit free speech?

MIT student arrest for "fake bomb" at Logan Airport. (The news sites I perused don't actually show the device. Great reporting) http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/09/21/star_simpson/ http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/09/woman_arrested.html http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/21/mit-student-arrested.html People, don't carry anything that has blinking LEDs, or exposed wiring in Boston. Ever. Apparently crude electronics = explosive. They apparently don't understand that a real bomb probably wouldn't look like a cartoon- or MacGuyver-ish-TV bomb. It would be disguised to look like a cell phone, or an ipod, or in a book, or something else …

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/11/cast_your_vote_for_real_scienc.php Conservative bloggers (more here) have helped push Steve McIntyre's pseudoscience blog http://climateaudit.org to the top of the vote for the 2007 Science Weblog Awards. Here's a writeup on some of the pseudoscience Steve McIntyre has tried to push, for those interested: http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/09/the_mcintyre_factor.php Steve McIntyre is a former mining executive with no climate science background. His writing on climate science has thus far been limited to his blog and the non-peer reviewed conservative journal Energy & Environment: http://pubs.acs.org…

Bush compared Congressional Democrats' opposition, err, "stalling" on "important pieces of legislation," i.e. condoning the spying he performed illegally on American citizens for so long with ignoring the rise of Lenin (yes, who cares about Stalin, Lenin was the real bad guy) or Hitler. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/01/politics/main3441060.shtml This invective wouldn't be stupid and inept if Bush were likening the leader of a specific nation to Lenin or Hitler. If he were likening Ahmadinejad to the next Hitler it'd make Bush a dick, but at least it'd be somewhat apt. Ahmadinejad is at least the leader of a country. But no, Bush isn't doing that. H…

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007709220333 Specifically, he told his classroom that the Adam and Eve story, which directly contracts the evolutionary concept of all life on earth originating from a common ancestor, should not be interpreted literally. Now granted, this was in a western civilization class and not in a biology classroom, but the result was several students filing a class action lawsuit, resulting in the university's decision to fire the teacher. Should science end in the science classroom? Should teachers be afraid of teaching science when it conflicts with religion? I certainly don't think so. I would certainly …

What moral attitude should we take toward Globalism? From the American workers view the positive side of Globalism is that many workers worldwide in very poor countries will experience a significant increase in their standard of living because the manufacturing of certain products that were manufactured in America are manufactured in their country. From the American workers view the negative side of Globalism is that the standard of living of many Americans will decline significantly because of the work that has gone to poor countries. From the American capital owning and financial brokerage view Globalism is the best thing since sliced bread. What moral …

Quote ""Faulty Intel Source "Curve Ball" Revealed 60 Minutes: Iraqi's Fabricated Story Of Biological Weapons Aided U.S. Arguments For Invasion 'Curve Ball' Revealed (CBS) 60 Minutes has identified the man whose fabricated story of Iraqi biological weapons drove the U.S. argument for invading Iraq. It has also obtained video of "Curve Ball," as he was known in intelligence circles, and discovered he was not only a liar, but also a thief and a poor student instead of the chemical engineering whiz he claimed to be. 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon's two-year investigation will be broadcast this Sunday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Curve Ball is an Iraqi defect…

Here is a place for all good Science Forums readers to discuss what you love or hate about the UN. If you have an opinion about the UN or just want to make a comment, please post it here. For example: Do you feel that the organization is effective or not. What have they done right? What have they done wrong? What might you change about the UN if you could do so? Should the UN even exist? What should the UN's mandate be? Should they have control over US military forces? Share your conspiracy theories. Anything else? I'll get the ball rolling. To start with, I feel that the UN is a self serving, largely ineffective, corrupt organization which sits o…

Link includes video: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20153859,00.html At least seven people are DEAD because of those fires. This was on one of the most popular daytime television programs in the country. I think Carlin is an idiot and a jerk. What a completely moronic and insulting thing to say. I think there's a perfectly valid point to be made that housing development methods contributed to these problems -- nobody seems to disagree with that point. But this is the kind of knee-jerk idiocy that drives people AWAY from doing the right things, like building housing more intelligently and fighting global warming. What the heck was he thi…

This is one thing that I am trying to figure out. It is a well known fact that the voter turnouts in recent elections, presidential or otherwise, are rather low. A quick look at the charts on PBS website shows that since the 60's, voter turnout has been on the decline: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/votestats.html It seems to me that people don't really seem to care anymore. Indeed, in an article about this on CNN, one guy who was interviewed, when asked this question, said "it doesn't make a difference to me". Other people I have asked said similar things and expressed similar views, that their either "too busy" or "i don't have time to think about it" and so on. Co…

PBS's Frontline has a new episode out this week about the showdown between the United States and Iran. As usual it provides great insight into the conflict. The entire episode is available for viewing online. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/showdown/etc/synopsis.html One of the points presented in the piece is that the US missed an opportunity to work with Iran on settling Iraq before the insurgency. Unfortunately I think the producers let Iran off the hook for much of its two-wrongs thinking. If Iran is such a white hat how 'bout they show it by being a good neighbor instead of a bad one? People wondering "whether Bush will start another war" ar…

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/18/science.race/index.html Just wondering what you all thought of this guy. I don't know anything about him, really. Is this race remark a big deal in Europe? Seems like the comments I've read debunking his comments aren't really substantive - rather sound more like people who are concerned with the downstream implications rather than the accuracy of his statement. But is it really irrational? How is he wrong? Don't misunderstand, I don't think he's right. I just want the meat and potatoes that proves him wrong. Anyone?

Why does money determine who becomes president of the United States instead of ability, vision, and leadership? If you disagree with my opening premise, that’s fine, but I am opening this thread with that as a maxim, so please do treat it as a given. Money, or more accurately, the ability to raise lots of it, determines the final list of 2 or 3 from which the citizenry can choose when entering the ballot box. On several occasions and for too many years, when I have arrived at the local high school or community college to place my vote, I have felt disheartened knowing that I was not choosing the best person for the job, but I was instead choosing from the …

In relevance to the upcoming Nobel announcements, a UK judge ruled that Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth can be shown in British schools but only with a disclaimer pointing out nine "errors" in the film where it breaks with the scientific consensus. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7037671.stm Thoughts?

This thread is intended to talk about the larger issue of common ground in modern politics, but I thought I'd actually start things off with a small set of specific examples. These examples come from a new book released October 9th by Bob Beckel and Cal Thomas. Beckel is a Democratic strategist who's mostly known as the guy who first translated the term "where's the beef" into the political arena. Thomas is a conservative columnist in national syndication. Both have had done their fair share of polarization over the years, but they say they're tired of it and their new book proves the point (or so they say; I haven't read it yet). They also do a regular column on the…

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-gop2307oct23,0,5722391.story The Republican Party is following the lead of national Democrats in disenfranchising voters in several states that have tried to move their primaries ahead of those in Holy and Sacred Iowa and New Hampshire. The GOP approach is a bit different -- removing half the delegates of the offending states. But the effect is the same, returning control to the Holy and Sacred States of Iowa and New Hampshire. Meanwhile the story continues to go vastly under-reported in the press, which has a vested interest in the matter, benefitting tremendously from the drama of having these two states dete…

It seems like it died.

Source: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np (I haven't seen anything on this in the news... strange) Yeah, don't tax and spend beats tax and spend any day... Is Bush the most fiscally irresponsible president in US history? Is he squandering America's present economic prosperity? I'll go ahead and say yes to both questions.

Quote: "" Contracts With Iran and China Concern U.S. By JAMES GLANZ BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 — Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened tension with Iran. The Iraqi electricity minister, Karim Wahid, said that the Iranian project would be built in Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is controlled by followers of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He add…

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303076,00.html This story is just an example, so I really don't want to argue about it's specifics unless they represent a broader application. But when do you get to be yourself? When are you "off work"? Why are our employers dictating how we can behave off work? Why can't the woman in this story post personal pics, info, sexual or not, etc? She's not allowed to be a slut, if she so desires, and perform her job? One has nothing to do with the other. The excuse I keep getting is that you represent the company, even outside of work. Accepting that premise implies we are only really free when we're unemployed. …

Gotta love the political irony in this, especially coming just days after the Pakistan statement from Barrage Obomba. Just two years ago Democrats were OUTRAGED about warrantless wiretapping of American civilians placing overseas telephone calls to suspect terrorist nations. So much hay was made over that issue that it surely contributed to the mid-term elections that put Democrats in the legislative majority. My how times have changed. Over the weekend, carefully away from the prying eyes of the mass media, congress, for once, acted quickly and quietly. The new law signed by President Bush yesterday allows the federal government to wiretap any overseas call pla…

http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/09/26/art-or-bioterrorism-who-cares/ Some of you might remember the case of Steve Kurtz. When emergency responders arrived at his home to treat his wife for heart failure (which she ended up dying of), they saw lots of scary things: sciency stuff like petri dishes with bacteria cultures. Being reasonably minded, level headed people, the emergency responders jumped to the only conclusion for the possible use of this sort of thing: BIOTERROR Kurtz's wife's body was confiscated and his block quarantined, his house ransacked and anything that could give a potential clue to his activities confiscated. Kurtz was detained and questi…