Politics

One thing I hear a lot of, especially from conservatives and libertarians, is that X or Y should be privatized or the domain of private industry rather than the government, with the reasoning that because of competition, private companies will be more effective / efficient / faster / insert performance metric here. But then you actually deal with private companies, and realize how accurate Dilbert is: the heads of the company are often clueless, the management can be staggeringly inept, and they waste billions of dollars on things like "team building" or obscene CEO salaries / perks. So, my question is, has anyone actually done real studies to compare which group …

Presumption (circa 2003) for the sake of argument: The US is going to invade Iraq, and you are charged with the responsibility of making that happen. There is no debate, you simply get to carry out the broad order of "invade this nation, topple its government, and construct a new democracy in its place". Question: How do you do it? Specifically, what steps do you take? What actions do you perform differently from how the US/UK actually did things? How, in a nutshell, do you prevent the onset of the situation we have today? Warning: Off-topic posts in this thread will be DELETED. You can talk about causes of the current situation, but posts about jus…

I was at Portsea over the weekend at my sister's holiday house. She is a proud conservative. She always tells me that she thinks political correctness is bad. She cites examples like using the word "intellectually challenged" as opposed to "retard" is silly. She also thinks the word "domestic engineer" instead of "housewife" is also silly. However, one day I made a sexual joke to her that was quite tame in my opinion, but she was quite offended and told me not to tell rude jokes anymore. Isn't this hypocrisy?

Hello. I'm seeking now for information to make the term paper in university. The topic is "Multiculturalism in the UK". I'm interested in everything: articles, web-links to similar projects, even your views. )) TIA for any help. )

Recently I have been thinking about the problems with the pharmeceutical industry, resulting in a high cost of drugs which, in addition to being a problem back home, means medical problems which are solvable using expensive medications run rampant in 3rd world countries. For example, the world's biggest killer is HIV. Problem: HIV is hard to cure! Despite enormous amounts of research spanning more than two decades, nothing close to a cure has been found, only expensive treatment regiments. New research is always promising, but none of it is anywhere near practical in terms of coming up with some sort of cure, or at least vaccination. Solution: Look for ways…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_en_ot/democrats_mcauliffe_book Former Democratic Party boss and Clinton friend Terry McAuliffe is lambasting John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign, calling his effort to unseat President Bush "one of the biggest acts of political malpractice in the history of American politics." This should be a book that everyone loves, well except for Kerry.

This is more of a question of law, rather than politics... read this first: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6233693.stm My question is, why should an international company, owned by a US-based company have to conform to a Brazillian court? Does the Brazilian government actually have the authority to fine YouTube, especially considering that it has no effective method of keeping this video off of their servers. And if YouTube decides not to pay the fine, who's going to enforce it? I'm basically asking about international law.

finaly.

Private enterprise should be free to do as it wishes and make and lose its money freely. On the other hand, public enterprise, being supported by funds from stockholders, should not be as much in control of their own destinies. I sound like a Marxist with that last line, don't I? Don't lose patience; this is where it gets more reasonable. Other holders of the public's monies (banks, etc) are audited by individuals chosen by the federal government. Why is it that public enterprise currently has the luxury of hiring their own auditors? CEOs that wish for improperly kept books and Enron-like endings are still able to do so, especially considering the fact that th…

Bob Woodward interviewed Gerald Ford back in 2004, but Ford asked him not to publish the interview until after his death. The interview was published today in the Washington Post, and may be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558.html The most notable comment (and presumably the reason Ford asked him to wait) is Ford's position on Iraq. This may sound like obvious hindsight, but remember -- Ford wasn't running for anything when he said this. He has no political axe to grind here. And he made these comments in 2004, when things were not nearly so bleak. The interview is also interesting, talki…

Well John Edwards threw his hat into the ring today. Unfortunately it fell into levee mud and got pretty dirty. What do you all think? Serious run or just a play for the loony left? He's staking out a pretty specific campaign focus, and I have to say it's not a traditionally popular one. What poor people is he going to help, exactly? The ones with two cars, a house, a DVD player, a game boy for each child, and 13 maxed-out credit cards, that the Census Bureau says are "living beneath the poverty line"? (I can help those folks right now -- just hand me their credit cards.) But seriously, I cannot remember a presidential run being based on a less popular i…

The ESA terrestrial planet finding telescope was launched yesterday. Pretty interesting step towards finding earth like extrasolar planets . http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120372_index_0_m.html http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0612/27corot/

A conundrum, you say? It couldn't possibly be true that liberal organizations would promote the censorship of video games? What could possibly cause liberals to throw away one of their their most fundamental principles -- free speech? You got it -- the religious right! These groups are asking WalMart to pull "Left Behind" from shelves because it promotes "violent religious intolerance". It's okay for them to sell video games that promote the violent destruction of policemen and prostitutes, but apparently it's not okay to promote the violent destruction of non-believers. (chuckle) Thank you, God, for hypocrisy, without which my life would be far less fulf…

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/121306/faithguru.html Reading between the lines a bit, it's important to note that this isn't a defensive move. Strider's role won't be to help her avoid false moves or mis-steps (or even making sure the one-ring gets to Mordor). His job is to help promote her candidacy in religious circles. It's called "faith-based outreach", and it's going to be very important in 2008. With Hillary it's extra-important, because not only does she need it to appeal to moderate conservatives, but she also needs it to help her with African-American "base" voters in the primaries if Obama commits.

I came across this in Harper's Magazine. It's "a script for one of twenty-four radio advertisements targeting black voters aired during last fall's election campaigns, produced by America's PAC." DENNIS: The night's still young! Come on, let's head to the river and try out the slots! MICHAEL: Naw, I gotta get home. I promised Kathleen I'd help the kids with their homework. DENNIS: You know, the army really changed you. MICHAEL: War does that. It makes you value what you're fighting for... DENNIS: So I suppose you want me to vote Republican, like you and your soldier buddies. MICHAEL: Not at all. You've got no reason to. DENNIS: How's that? MICHAEL: Well, you do…

Note: this is not an excerpt (except for quoted text). See below for full original article. A private commission called for massive reform among schools - high school (years 9-12) in particular. The reforms suggested by the panel would make the US high school system more like those in Europe. The focal point of the high school reforms would be a "rigorous" state-developed exam in year 10 - similar to the Abitur, which is taken in year 12 at most German schools. If a student passed, he/she would have two options: stay in high school for two more years, either to "prepare for [an] elite 4-year university" or to enter a state university with credit for classes t…

I just ran across this story... Geez, how disgusting. Anyone have the scoop on sex segregated buses in Israel? Any other exclusionary prejudice policies going on in Israel? I can't believe this kind of thing still goes on in a civilized, developed country like Israel.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,237800,00.html Thank goodness. I'm glad they're finding ways around the anti-drug force.

My family is very excited because my sister is getting married soon. The man she is marrying is rather high income, so she has decided to stay home and be a housewife. She told me she will cook, clean, take care of the baby, and all that. I would have thought those tasks would take out the enthusiam from anyone but apparently some (maybe most) women like being traditional. The man she is marrying is rather rich, as I said, and as such he seems to have expensive tastes. He has in his driveway two Lexuses and he weaks Patek Phillipe watches. I have spoken to this man. His name is Stephen. I asked him why in the world he bought a Lexus LS when a Camry could easily get h…

When people ask me what area of work I would like to go in to, I usually mention my interests in Chemistry and Pharamacology and talk about how I would like to go into something related. Fairly often when I say this the person will suddenly look deadly serious and say 'what ever you do don't work for a pharmaceutical company, they're evil you know'. I always ask why but so far everyone has just bantered on vaugley never really giving me a satisfactory answer to my question. So do you agree? Is the pharmaceutical industry corrupt?

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/mg19125681.400;jsessionid=NMGHKBGMCGMM this guys figured out how to create thrust from microwaves in a closed off copper waveguide. I was skeptical at first (equal and opposite reaction and all that) but it looks ok and its in newscientist so i would gues that it has passed more than a few hurdles already. i want the cool jet/hover car that it shows in the picture!

This is a short clip of a former university professor, Dr. Kamau Kambon of North Carolina State University, explaining the "solution" to the problems faced by black folks is to exterminate white people. This took place at a Pro-Black Media Forum http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=8063 And here's an article for further reading: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46992 This is why we tend to see "pro-black" as anti-white. Just like most would cite pro-white as anti-black. Just semantics? I don't know. But I do know that supposed "pro-<insert race here>" events or institutions foster racism. This race based exclusivi…

I'm an American, but I'm curious about European perspectives on this. Should Turkey be admitted to the European Union? Personally, I think it's probably a bad idea. Half of turkey wants to be a modern, secular state, but the other half are basically Islamicists. Not a good ratio, and quite unstable. In America, "Evangelicals" (our closest equivalent to Islamicists) account for only about 20% of Americans, and they cause all kinds of trouble, as they are uncompromising and highly motivated. I don't think I need to make the argument that similar adjectives apply to a large percentage of Islamicists... Second, as I understand it, the major current standoff is about C…

Hi everyone.! This is my first time on this site I would like to tell what I really like this project "Politics" I've been reading it for a while, and I have learned so much here So, I decided to try my luck asking a few questions... How can you IM, PM or whatever you call it to certain members? I'd like to ask more questions about this project. By the way, nice domain name http://www.scienceforums.net

Please see the Guardian article below.... http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1936635,00.html Forgive the rather ardent thread title, but I was completely stunned when I heard this. I'm also clueless as to how this can improve grammar, spelling, punctuation and vocabulary. The sheer range of the English language, makes it a wonderful tool for expression, and articulation, and this really (in my mind) seems a very bad path to take. It just seems like an incredibly lazy way of expressing one's self, hence it's used for writing quick text messages. For this to be extended to exams, of all things, just seems baffling to me. So anyone have any thought…