Politics

"the important thing is not left or right, there is no left or right, only up or down. up, toward the wings of freedom, or down, toward the ant hill of totalitarianism." - ronald reagan i tend to agree. here's what has been viewed as the political spectrum. i personally consider myself fairly close to the anarchist position. i often find myself critisizing government action. here's 20 questions to help you deside where you are; for each question, answer 2) strongly agree 1) slightly agree 0) niether -1) slightly disagree -2) strongly disagree and give you self the point value accordingly. #1 private business has the right to discriminate against workers for an…

One of the more annoying things about being liberal is even on the left it's a pretty wide brush, and I'm pretty sure if you call yourself liberal there's a whole swath of the wing you just try to tune out as benign fruitcakes - I know I do. Some liberal policies have really been irritating me lately though, so I feel like venting: Green policies that aren't green yet limit choice: I wonderfully discovered we don't allow plastic bags at groceries anymore, and have to pay for paper ones. I have never once thrown out a plastic grocery bag unless it was destroyed or hopelessly dirty. I'm not especially green, but I reuse every single one for garbage cans and to…

A little atoll, Makin Island; but a piece of history in the Pacific that we should never forget. The first is a documentary. The second, a movie made in the later forties or early fifties. When remembering such things as this have slipped from our minds, it's only a matter of time 'til we internally destroy ourselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=C6f_FvZpm3g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMBPsb6Euu4

Greed, So until the general population realizes that the only way their going to change things is by not being greedy. Things will only stay the same, or get worse. I'm not saying the government is trying to control money for themselves and are out to get us. I get highly annoyed by people thinking things like this, so please go somewhere else with that crap. If you think our government has no corruption in it, please let me hear your argument.

How would history have diffred if Hitler had never existed? I put in a few of my own The Cold war would never have happened The Second World War would never have happened There would never have been a space race ? ? ?

I just read in the news today that the Canadian government has decided to stop funding the experimental lakes. In case you didn't know, these lakes have been used since the 1960s to study ecosystem-scale questions. Groundbreaking research has been performed here and is still being performed, including studies on the effect of acid rain, eutrophication caused by pollution (research from this project was used to successfully remove phosphorus from detergents), and studies on endocrine disrupters, to name a few. And what's the government spending its money on instead? Oh, new fighter jets. It's just another example of the anti-science/anti-data shenanigans of the Conse…

A video in which Webster Tarpley exposes the "Elite's plan for Global Extermination". In particular he criticizes John P. Holdren (science advisor under Obama) for having genocidal politics. My take on this: I think this is a very good exposition on the malthusian political ideas in general, and what is wrong with it. As he sets out, there is no "population bomb" since in many parts of the world, the population is declining (but on the other hand, africa, latin america and india and other countries are still growing fastly, but that growth will decline too some later time). The problem is not that there are "too many people" but that there is "underproduction" ie…

A nation of yin and yang, not positive and negative repelling charges.

At least NC isn't the only stupid state... Louisiana seems to be right in there as well...

Here in Australia we're seeing increasing support for the legalisation of gay/lesbian marriages. I believe one day it will be legalised world wide. But if it does so too would polygamous marriages and perhaps even other forms of marriages between different peoples (as the only thing stopping it now is our Christian roots). My question, even though polygamous marriages have a bad reputation in the developing world (particularly Islamic countries), could it serve a useful purpose in the future (e.g. political ones - to strengthen relationships between different countries) or serve as a better lifestyle choice for certain kinds of people (i.e. consensing adults) in the …

So far, The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act has been found constitutional by three federal District Court judges and one federal Circuit Court (aka Appeals Court) panel. It has been found unconstitutional by two federal District Court judges and appeals are pending in these cases. If any Circuit Court finds the Act unconstitutional, it would create a circuit split and virtually guarantee that the case would go to the Supreme Court. Both Courts that found the Act unconstitutional, focused on the “individual mandate” portion of the Act, which requires individuals to purchase health insurance or pay a substantial penalty. Thus far, all analysis of the …

Let us get straight to the point, I fear for my future, our future. And by 'our' I am particularly referring to my fellow citizens in the United States. Our nation has been growing into a strange corporate controlled police state for sometime, and while I realize that we are not on the level of a country like China or North Korea, I find our fate even more terrifying. Let me explain. Technology lately, as most would agree, has been advancing and growing beyond what many of us ever imagined. And if you have ever read a Brave New World or 1984 you as the reader may find it easier to understand my fear. As technology grows, methods of control become more and more in…

A comment by Phi in another thread got me thinking. (Emphasis mine.) I admit to being on the fence a bit with this one. On the one hand I have to say that once the term is served, then yes the debt is paid and the person should get a new start with a clean slate, otherwise what was the point of prison anyway? On the other hand, if I was a parent I'd want to know if serial sex offenders were moving close to my kids school as well. This isn't meant as a thread as to whether jail is a good option or not, but regardless of the punishment chosen, when does it end? When does the person stop paying for their crime?

Once again I have heard a rant about how the ban for gay marriage is forcing people's religion onto others. I have always found this to be a hypocritical point of view and somewhat inaccurate at the very least. Historically marriage has been a religious institution. The basis of marriage was to make a vow in the sight of God and for all men to bear witness to that vow. Since marriage is a religious ceremony, the hypocricy and the denial of the freedom to practice ones own religion comes in to play when the freedom to define it as a religious act under the practices of that religion are denied. Marriages that do not meet this criteria, whether same sex or not, should fall …

If Barack Obama is Christian, then why does he support gay marriage? Maybe you need to be american to understand...unfortunately I am not. So, anyone care to explain...?

Have both parties finally jumped into a Bar-B-Q pit that neither can escape? And remember, these two guys are not politicians. http://video.foxnews.com/v/1684723972001/trump-gets-over-maher/?playlist_id=86858&intcmp=obnetwork

Is it just me? Or do others also think that the calibre of our current crop of politicians is pretty small? Not knowing the ins and outs of US politics I won't comment on whether Obama is a good or bad President, but he certainly seems "Lacklustre" from the outside. Either lacking a grand dream for the future of his nation or is unable to communicate that dream. All the Republican opponents remind me of generic talking heads. Carefully media trained but no substance. Down here we have Gillard who is at best a plain out and out liar and at worst certifiably delusional. She's living in a dream where for two years every poll has shown we don't want a carbon tax but s…

Add that up... It's more than $71 billion per year. For context, US agricultural subsidies (which are enormous) are $180 billion. Imagine all of the firefighters and police officers and teachers we've laid off that we could hire back with that money and help the economy. What do you think?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Republican-Brain-Science-Science--/dp/1118094514/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339059556&sr=1-1 Anyone read this? (Full disclosure: I do not know know Chris Mooney, but that is kind of a coincidence at this point; we know many of the same people.) It looks fascinating to me - but I suspect it doesn't explore very well why liberals deny science, when they do (i.e. European liberals and GM foods; the previous generation of American liberals and nuclear power). The problem may be that just at this particular moment we don't have enough anti-science liberals for the scientists to study. Anyway, seems to be an important …

! Moderator Note Moved from "Why do men commit so many rape crimes?" thread I agree with the majority of your post, but I am not sure about this part: I think it's a tad simplistic. I'm not too sure the majority of rapists are that affected by social stigmas. There's no doubt the victims are, but how many of those turn out to be rapists, and what percentage of rapists are boys who were raped or molested as children? Are you sure the relation is that strong as to have it decrease if society ignores boys more? And another point -- I think we still dont' have equality in treatment between boy and girl victims, but at least in the case of children I am not too s…

Free market capitalism provides fastest economic growth possible. However free market capitalism is "unfair", leads to extreme income inequality and destroys jobs through automation. Economic cycles produce unemployment which can lead to revolution, or destruction of capital by the democratic government to create demand for excess human supply (e.g. The Great Depression). If being poor and unemployed was a crime then revolutions/destruction of capital wouldn't happen. The first country to adopt free market fascism will experience huge economic growth because the bourgeoisie will be able to accumulate capital exponentially, and replace obsolete human workers with machines …

You are a mad man. The age of criminal responsibility is 10 in the UK and some US states. Do you honestly think a 10 year old can consent to sex? You may as well propose that we don't have an age of consent at all, that we just permit all the 'consensual/hramless' sex between adults and children...

I don't know if there is something more fundermental than politics. Sometimes it feals like that in lack of politics, for example amoung thr disinterested there is a sort of gravitation to the right. Sometimes a good idea comes along and receives a lot of resistance emediatly but nobody knows why this is, even those who are agains't it don't know why. Even amoung those who wouldn't dream of being prejudiced agains't black, or indian, or eastern european don't mind at all about being prejudice agains't the French, but have no idea why. To me privicy is just a word, and a supcious one at that, it cirtainly seems to serve particular political views better than others, al…

Hi, How do you guys take it when you see an atheist who has explicitly stated that he/she is an atheist pray to God? When you see a politian do this a couple of times, does it make your blood boil? Do you feel manipulated/toyed with and how would you quantify the sincerity of their prayers? It doesn't make any sense for me to hear why atheists would pray but some still do it. What goes on in your mind when you see an atheist pray or for that matter or religious person not pray (if there is such a kind)?