Politics

What do you think of the lack of young participants voting in America elections for senators, presidents, and other people of position? I'm talking about age 18-23 Do you think there are good reasons as to why they don't vote? What do you think is the most common reason for why they don't vote? Do you think there is some type of social conflict within that prevents them from voting or makes them choose not to? Have you read any interesting books on teenager voting? Any interesting articles?

For those who don't know, the Weekly Standard is more or less the rallying point for the neo-conservative movement. Its founder and editor is William Kristol, who also created the Project for the New American Century, one of the neo-con think-tanks and one of the main sources for the development of neo-con political positions over the past decade (membership in PNAC is generally considered to be one of the main indicators of whether a public figure in the administration "is a neo-con"; for example, Senator and former HUD secretary Mel Martinez was not a member of PNAC, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfled and Vice President Dick Cheney are members). Kristol is a regula…

Allow me to submit another example of how demogogery is dangerous. Rapper Kanye West goes on national television and says "George Bush doesn't care about black people". Civic leaders and Democrats back him to the hilt, with the African American leadership saying that NBC was wrong to "censor" him when the show appeared on tape delay on the west coast. But here's a nasty question I don't hear anyone in the media asking: Would he have said that if a Democrat were in the White House? Consider: We can speculate with a fair degree of certainty that if Katrina had struck in 1997 the result would have been virtually the same. Louisiana has actually gotten MO…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4183166.stm the article appears to have gotten a lot of attention on the internet because it is highly controversial---makes people angry at the IQ tests used because they favor males slightly, and so on lots of difficulty interpreting what it all means, if anything, and lots to discuss no difference reported up to age 14 (is this a mating display thing like the peacock's tail that evolved because females were attracted to show-off intelligence? ---- seems to appear with puberty) if it is real, that is were the researchers bad people motivated by a desire to get results like this? one of the commenters complain…

I DO NOT support these views. My friend does. His essay is below. I was wondering if you people have any arguments agaisnt (or for) it?

This guy is pretty outrageous. Even as he was complaining about the Bush administration's poor response to Katrina, this guy used the National Guard to rescue belongings from his own home while poor citizens waiting at the Superdome for rescue. Apparently a brief tour was ordered, with the Guard escorting Jefferson around his district. When the tour passed near his home, Jefferson ordered the truck to stop next to his door (so he wouldn't have to step in the rising water), and he disappeared into his house, keeping the troop of six soldiers waiting for an HOUR while he threw items into several suitcases. When they went to leave, the truck was stuck in the mud, and …

Latest diatribe from Michael Moore, who is apparently planning to make a movie about Hurricane Katrina: http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2005-09-12/celeb/2 And yet, it was Moore and the far left that INSISTED that we implement ALL of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report, which is why FEMA was rolled into DHS. Unbelievable.

They actually robbed refugees at gunpoint: Story There seem to be a chief of police and another police officer who need to spend a few years in jail. Armed robbery under color of law with aggravating circumstances.

Have a look at this old 1961 anti-homosexuality propaganda video. It's quite interesting to see how much attitudes have changed since the old days. http://www.archive.org/details/boys_beware

It is widely believed that foreign aid to poor countries does little to help the actual citizens and instead end up in the hands of corrupt leaders. Is this a justification for removing this corrupt government by force? It is suggested that the reason why those in power do not put effort into promoting economic growth is because there is little incentive to do so. Low economic growth may attract more foreign aid. Furthermore, too much economic growth may enpower other groups within the country that may challenge the government in power. A politician cares only about his own welfare and not that of "his people." The solution, therefore, is to make the politician's ince…

This shocked me when I first saw it, but what you do think of the rise of the "childlove movement"? There seems to be quite a few pedophile activists out there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childlove_movement

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9137364/ haha, maybe he is doing something wrong??

It seems the trends of things (im 14 so i don't know all the correct terms, so ill try) prices and sales of houses and other things are starting to show signs of the next recession (in USA?). So Is katrina the last straw? Are we most likely going to fal into another recession?

Over the last couple of days I have been watching the situation unfold on the Gulf Coast in the USA. It seems to be a very serious situation with potentially thousands of fatalities. The media is reporting (in Australia) that both the initial evacuation and the subsequent response were seriously inept. Some commentators here are suggesting that a third world country would have handled the situation better than it has been dealt with by both federal and state administrations (I do not necessarily agree). What is the US media reporting? Do you think the response was adequate? I have no first hand knowledge of the situation and I am wary of pre-judging those in charge w…

will we ever have a One world government? i don't think its possible, unless everyone was turned into mindless drones. (like the borg) people just choose not to get along, pety bickering. like the israilies and the palistines, they've bein fighting over the land for several millenia, reminds me of two children fighting over a toy, shouting "MINE! MINE!"

Just a random thought: How about hitting Judge Roberts with a litmus test on his thoughts about personal property? Does he think it's okay for the state to take someone's personal property to, say, build a shopping mall?

Justice Rehnquist passed away tonight in his home. While not the court's oldest member, he had been suffering from post-cancer illness for some time, and was 80 years old. Recent rumors had surrounded his predicted retirement, especially after Sandra Day O'Conner retired at the end of the most recent Supreme Court session, but Rehnquist said he was staying on. All of that's news you can find anywhere, but I thought I would just add a few comments of my own for the purposes of furthering political discussion here on the boards. I don't mean any disrespect in jumping right into a political discussion. I think it's a great loss to the country, but also a shame for …

Not all, the Colonies get passed the French and Indian War, during which they were very independent with little restriction or help from "The Mother Country". So after Britain didn't have to deal with France anymore all of a sudden Britain decides that they want to control the colonies again. This was not very liked. Added to this was the fact that about a third of the population of the population was not even English in decent, and they didn't like this whole "Church of England" thing, most didn't have a religion or were in some other protestant religion. So after the French and Indian War all of a sudden the Colonies are being taxed. I'm sure you can imagi…

Okay, not much of a pun, but I have a headache this morning. Interesting op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning about the surging popularity of the flat tax idea in Europe and Asia. Apparently several countries have adopted it or are near to doing so, including Russia, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Georgia, Italy, and more. Germany is having a frank (so to speak) and serious debate about it, and Britain (according to this article anyway) is in the midst of a bit of a scandal surrounding it. http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110007174&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage One of the things they mention in there is a new …

tired of paying so much for gas? i sure am. one may ask why is it so expensive. is there really a shortage? no. OPEC has just decided to capitalize more, and as a result, US oil refineries are exploiting this situation in their favor by raising their own prices. what happened to good ol' patriotism? isnt it better for the general public to not suffer? turns out that those good ol' texas compassionate conservative republicans have decided to swindle us again. we need to bring back the 1980 windfall profit tax act to curb the excessive greed. i suggest we tax the excess profit that american oil refineries are making at a very great extent, perhaps 70, 80, 90…

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0508050 A 2.1 Solar Mass Pulsar Measured by Relativistic Orbital Decay David J. Nice, Eric M. Splaver (Princeton), Ingrid H. Stairs (UBC), Oliver Loehmer, Axel Jessner (MPIfR), Michael Kramer (Jodrell Bank), James M. Cordes (Cornell) 9 pages, Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal "PSR J0751+1807 is a millisecond pulsar in a circular 6 hr binary system with a helium white dwarf secondary. Through high precision pulse timing measurements with the Arecibo and Effelsberg radio telescopes, we have detected the decay of its orbit due to emission of gravitational radiation. This is the first detection of the relativistic orbital decay of …

5 days after the New Orleans huricane disaster not a SINGLE U.S Official has even been there to have a look! the BBC are there, Sky News is there CNN are there, but where`s Bush and his crew? ok I`m an outsider looking in, but that seems pretty darn disgusting to me, esp when you consider that less than 5 days after that tsunami they were they like flies round stink! what`s going on? (or not as the case may be).

The Florida Department of Corrections issued a statement yesterday saying that sexual offenders are to be denied access to shelters in the event of a hurricane. The reason for this is that children at shelters, while typically under parental supervision, are in an unfamiliar environment, and may not be watchable at all times (for example, if the parents fall asleep, which of course is a common occurence at a shelter). As an alternative, the department has set up a program that will allow sexual offenders to enter any state prison. All state prisons are protected against hurricanes to at least the degree that designated shelters are. They won't be incarcerated, bu…

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Mr. Robertson said Monday on his show, "The 700 Club." "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop." Quote from Pat Robertson, a President wanna-be, Christian Coalition founder. Another insane remark to add to his long list.

"July 22, 2005: Got a calendar? Circle this date: Friday, August 12th. Next to the circle write "before sunrise" and "Meteors!" Attach all of the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2005 Perseid meteor shower." http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/22jul_perseids2005.htm