Politics

I. Among other things, these investigators found that parts of the frontal cortex, the seat of many higher cognitive functions, are bulkier in women than in men, as are parts of the limbic cortex, which is involved in emotional responses. In men, on the other hand, parts of the parietal cortex, which is involved in space perception, are bigger than in women, as is the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure that responds to emotionally arousing information--to anything that gets the heart pumping and the adrenaline flowing. These size differences, as well as others mentioned throughout the article, are relative: they refer to the overall volume of the structure relative …

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/business/18space.html?hp Apparently the US Air Force is asking for a Presidential National Security Directive to develop satellite weaponry which could be used to take out satellites of other countries. Weapons in space time. I dunno, I guess I can understand both sides of it, but it does seem like it will guarantee a space weapons race, whereas before we at least had a chance to prevent it.

This is rapidly turning into a fascinating example of the need for caution in reporting. As you may have heard, Newsweek reported last week that an anonymous senior official told them that guards at Guantanamo had tried to intimidate prisoners by flushing the Koran down the toilet. The administration and the Pentagon reacted angrily to the assertions, which came with no proof of any kind. But the damage was done, and dozens are dead in demonstrations in the Middle East as a direct result of this story being reported. Newsweek today said it might have erred in running the story. That's huge. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/international/asia/15cnd-afghan.ht…

What's going on with Japan and the republic these days. Last I heard both had a feud over some oil laden territories. China is too resourceful and I wonder who would win If they had a military feud with the Japs. If there is a third war I bet It would start from Asia, those guys just won't seem to waste any time. What's anybody's take on North Korea's position? And will Iraq eventually become the new Isreal in the M.E?

War time propaganda is nothing new. Lately, I have seen that perhaps the Holocuast has been exaggerated for the most part. To explain my views on this subject, I have given some links that might be insightful to you as well. Firstly, I beleive the numbers were exaggerated. Six million Jews did not die. http://www.zundelsite.org/english/101/english1011.html The rumors of death camps began before death camps were even initiated. http://www.zundelsite.org/english/debate/012_jam.html "Holocaust" authors claim that the Nazis were able to cremate bodies in about 10 minutes. How long does it take to incinerate one body, according to professional crematory operators…

Lately I've read about a few Bills passing through the US Congress with 'riders' attached. These riders are sometimes unrelated things that would get voted down on their own. I'm wondering why these were originally allowed, it seems a flaw in the system that people can pass legislation without it being really assented to, or sometimes even noticed. Does anyone in the US think it's worth changing?

linkage More linkage From the first link. It should also be known that to the best of everyones knowledge the woman has gone missing in the Philipines, you can guess the three most probable reasons. "if anything unfair had happened" Howard has apologised for nothing and conceeded nothing. Lets get the reporting straight. An Australian citizen is deported to a foreign country, seperated from her child, and now possibly dead, and Howard says '*If* she was treated unfairly.' He's lucky he isn't within fist range. And how come this only comes to light now? Could it be because the media is barred from all aspects of this process, like so…

Question: Does anyone know anything about the CIA and the drug connection?

i think that capitalism sux, because people are lazy and/or greedy. if they weren't, then it wouldn't be too bad. if people weren't lazy and/or greedy, then communism would be the best system. i think that a military-esque system with incentives would work the best in real life. everyone is rationed a house, vehicle, clothing, ect. food would be distributed in a mess hall type manner. you may be saying "how would all of this be paid for?," but this system wouldn't use money. resources are put where needed. working hard earns privilage points, but being lazy earns you nothing and posiibly negative points. when you get so many points, you can do something special, say t…

I'm born (and still living) at Quebec city and it seem that I am the only one against the separation of Quebec province. I hate separatist!

Anybody got any ideas on how to takeover a small country? I was thinking it would be kinda fun to takeover some place like Venezuela, I mean, I'd make a much better dictator than Hugo Chavez. Or Columbia. It would be alot of work, and kinda risky, but I think if I got enough backers I(or anyone else for that matter) could takeover a country like that. Any thoughts?

Former conservative (now a kind of centrist Democrat) Arianna Huffington has started a new blog/news site called the Huffington Post, which might be interesting to follow because of guest blog entries and articles by celebs. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

There are many people in third, and second world countries who have tremendous intellectual, creative, emotional, and genetic potential. I believe that where they are waste their potential, hurting both them, and the whole world community. That is why I believe we should begin testing for the qualities which we would like in our civilization, and begin transporting(with some compensation to the home country of course) the individuals into an environment where their potential can be used. This already occurs to some extent with foreign exchange students, but I believe that if we were more proactive it would help both the country recieving the high potential individuals,…

I know this may not be the most exciting subject for many of you, but what do you think of predatory pricing? Do you support the view by the CATO Institute that predatory pricing is a myth (or a "conspiracy theory against big business," as they put it). Or it it real? How should it be dealt with?

This United Airlines pension plan bailout really bugs me. I don't have a problem with temporary assistance, perhaps, and in theory that's what's going to happen here -- they'll be expected to rebuild their pension plan once they work out their problems. But the whole idea seems really dangerous to me. For one thing, that scribbling noise we're all hearing is the sound of every lawyer at every Fortune 500 company making notes on how to dump its pension plan on the American taxpayer as soon as humanly possible. Which really begs the question of what the point of this is at all. When did pension plans become a god-given right? That's the part that really g…

Paul Wolfowitz running the World Bank. Article: Wolfowitz nomination throws harsh spotlight on World Bank Top 10 reasons why Paul Wolfowitz would make a good World Bank president I know I am going to get yelled at for just posting a link again, without my opinion or discussion points. But, my discussion points and similar opinions are contained within the links. Whats your opinion or thoughts?

I was just wondering if one (or more) of you good folks in the UK could summarize and outline the results of the election for those of us who find British politics just a wee bit confusing. Blair stays on as PM, correct?

I know this is a very unplesant topic and I hope it won't happen, but if China fights against Japan, which country will win? Analysis with considering the aids of their allies.

My "fundamentalistas" catch-phrase has been trumped, sadly. The new buzz-word is "fristians". I actually like Bill Frist on a personal level. He seems like an upright guy and kind of a polar opposite from a moron like Tom DeLay. There was an incident last year where he was travelling through my area and stopped to help an accident victim (he's a surgeon). Credit where it's due, after all. But it's a great catch-phrase and fairly applied.

This is interesting stuff. The Times appointed a committee last fall to try and figure out some ways in which the paper could regain public trust and popularity (the loss of which is demonstrated by plumeting subscription rates). Some of the recommendations are interesting, and I hope the Times adopts them:

Please Put a Cross next to the candidate you wish to elect

The EU and Canada are planning to slap 15% tariff's on US trade goods beginning May 1st. This is the outcome of a ruling by the WTO which allows the tariff as a punitive measure due to the Byrd Amendment. Two things about this entertain me: 1) The WTO continues to ignore enforcement of its own rulings against the EU and Canada. This whole business smacks of anti-Americanism and going-after-the-deep-pockets syndrome. (But in all fairness, for every Airbus subsidy from the French there's a Boeing subsidy by the US, and there's no question the US has got to step up and stop being two-faced about free trade. I blame it on our constitutional requirement of treat…

Why is housing always a problem ? In the socialist/communist societies, everyone was supposed to be given a home, but in all those societies homes were scarce and/or very costly and they had a waiting period of decades. Why on earth would a socialist regime not produce the one most fundamental item of equality HOMES FOR EVERYONE? That is really amazing, at least this is one thing they could have done. If you look at the big three USA, Europe and Japan, only the US has a decent situation. Homelessness in the US is simply an "ideological" choice the americans like because if you are poor you should be punished by not having a home. The US could easily solve its homeless…

Howdy, this is the thread where you post the type of government system you'd like to create, if you could. This is purely for amusement and intellectual stimulation. You can include Utopias, dystopias, new political systems, a tweaked political system, ect... I hope that this will bring some enjoyment to you all.

I have a Venezuelan friend and when he told me all about this guy I couldnt believe it. How could this guy get away with all this withought getting overthrown? how could he change their countries constitution just like that? Why is this happening and nobody doing anything about this? They were a democracy for gods sake. He closed down their school system, he doesent let anybody under the age of 18 leave the country, plus you cant take your money from the bank out of th country ect... I thought we learned from past expiriences so why do w let anoter Cuba be born? If anybody needs to get shot by a DAKOTA T-76 LONGBOW its him and Saddam.