Politics

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)?

My answer to a young military retiree who wants everyone to reaffirm their allegiance to this country each 4th of July by reciting the "Declaration of Independance"

As a somewhat middle of the roader, I'm still a right leaning illiterate asking myself, what has either party done to bring our national debt under control? And at some point in the near future, will it really matter? Someone please take over the reigns since I simply don't have the capacity to equivocate an answer to such a problem.

Pathetic. I seem to remember the death of when facts mattered. From Jerry Coyne, "No, it’s not half of Americans that hold an anti-scientific belief about evolution. It’s more than 3 out of 4—78%, to be exact. God-guided evolution is just as antiscientific as the idea that God guides photons and electrons—or chemical reactions. It’s time to stop saying that the beliefs of theistic evolutionists are in harmony with science."

This is really turning into an absurd quandary of how to get things done. I just read this new report, though it was an opinion piece, on Fox describing how there were NOT little beacons in the stocks to track their whereabouts, directly contradicting another report several weeks ago. This was kind of central to the story, since without the trackers, the only way to follow action on the guns is to chance upon them in a random bust. It is really unthinkable to just provide unfettered arms dealing to cartels. The whole system in the first place leaves a lot to desired in terms of sensibility. What could they be smoking? It almost seems like a Republican setup to make…

OK, this thread is for those who agree that the US system is among the worst in the "first" world. Fareed Zakaria recently aired a nice special about how to save the American healthcare system. In that special, he presented the following arguments: He then provided glimpses into a few of the better healthcare systems that we might possibly learn from: Taiwain Something like US medicare for all citizens, but if covers everything and they employ IT(smart card) to improve administration efficiency and improve the care for the costliest patients. But, they rely on the asian work ethic to provide great care at low cost. Their doctors work their a$$ …

Looks like Obama is having a bad day. Just thought I would try to cheer him and his supporters up.

The "Arab Spring" indicates that Muslims are seeking democracy, according to an editorial this month in the Wall Street Journal. The claim is also made that our wealth of intelligence and the drone attacks all insure that the militant's dream of destroying the West is doomed to fail. But is that really what the "Arab Spring" is doing---or is it that Islam has been overthrowing secular regimes and replacing them with regimes that are either corrupt, weak or both? Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Egypt were all secular. The Islamic, non secular regimes in the Near East are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, and what we have waged war against for ten years in Afghanist…

Whilst reading the thread “Racially-motivated Prison Rapes” I was struck by the following, so rather than sending the thread off topic I’ll start this one. Why does society put so many people in prison? Incarceration of the very violent is sensible, society as a whole deserves protection from such people, enabling the possibility of rehabilitation in a controlled environment. Incarceration of non violent people starts to move into the realm of revenge, driven in a large part by rampant media instilling fear into societies mind. It seems to me that treating people, who for instance sell drugs or fail to pay taxes, like this, can only serve to create harden…

Former President Jimmy Carter was recently quoted as saying that the Democratic Party has been hurt at the polls for its vehement pro-choice views on abortion. The issue hurts the Party with liberal Catholics and Latino voters who otherwise may vote Democratic. President Carter also, concluded that he "Could never believe that Jesus Christ would support abortion." The Democratic Platform currently contains language to allow taxpayer funding of abortion. National polls have consistently demonstrated that most Americans do not support the government paying for abortion. In fact, a February 2012 Quinnipiac University poll (national sample of 2,605 registered vo…

We all know there's been a long wait for a new, vastly improved battery that could potentially revolutionise electronics by supplying higher currents for vastly longer periods, well now that may have come closer to reality... News article here: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/050513_batteryfrm.htm This is a process know as betavoltaics and has been around for a long time, however it produced very low current because many of the electrons produced were released at random angles and missed the 'electron-collecting-surface'. In the new design silicon (the 'electron-collecting-surface') has been made with pits and inside each pit is the radioactive gas,…

I read a post this morning via Brad DeLong then through an article shared by Andrew Sullivan that sent me to a post by Julian Sanchez that struck a chord with me. They are discussing the state of online interactions with people. In short, it's not very frequently anymore that people seem to come into discussion threads or comments sections to bring any new information, nor do they seem too often to arrive with a desire to understand the position of the "other side" or explore whether or not it's worth changing their mind based on the information available. Nowadays, folks are so busy (whether consciously or unconsciously) reinforcing their personal echo chamber t…

Credit rating agencies have been hot news since the economic crisis hit. Three agencies in particular seem very influential: Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch, sometimes called the Big Three. Some days, it seems that they practically rule the world. Influencing the short-term political agenda There are plenty of examples where a warning from one of the agencies triggered responses from the highest politicians in EU countries. (Links in Dutch (1, 2), and in English (3, 4)). Each article starts with a warning (not a real downgrade), followed by politicians who say something along the lines of "this shows that we need to take action", or "this shows how urge…

The land of the free. Fact or meaningless rhetoric? Rhetoric is described as language that is not honest,sincere, or meaningful. I am French. French has no word that equates to freedom or freewill as understood by the English. This makes freedom and land of the free purerhetorical statements and basically a dishonest statement. These terms are ideasor a reality that are impossible to have. Freedom and free will then just becomes something that Iwould name as liberty. Liberty is described as permission especially to gofreely within specified limits. That says to me that we are only free to followthe rules of society and those in power. …

i cant believe newt has now dropped out everyone from where i live support him

I, like many people here, believe working conditions should be better, and incomes higher. There are many people who essentially live in poverty, and struggle to afford rent in crowded apartments. Things need to change, so that anyone willing to put work and put serious effort into their work, should be able to live a decent life in decent housing, and be able to afford a few basic extra luxuries, such as a vacation once a year, and to eat out a few times every week. Now I realise there will always be people less motivated, who do not want to work as much, or are more discriminating about where or how they are willing to work. These people should still be able to l…

Is, as this video asserts, legalizing cannabis really a Conservative position?

This is for everyone in every country. I'd like to discuss the best use of government tax revenues. Personally, I think there are some areas where people in a society can get the best benefits for their money by pooling it via taxes. As I've mentioned before, things like medical insurance, prisons and education don't fit the standard business models. Maintaining a growing customer base for prisons is antithetical to what you want prisons for. I think welfare is a great investment in your citizens. Too often, people only look at the smaller percentage of people who abuse welfare systems, and fail to see the greater percentage of people who truly need them, so we …

85% of prison rapes in the USA are comitted by Black men, despite black men only constituting 41% of the prison population. Most prison rapes in the USA are comitted by black men on white men. The phenomena of blacks exclusively raping whites has been substantially documented since the 1960s. Both quantitative and qualitative data show that blacks exclusively raping whites has been constant. sources: Davis 1968; Jones 1976; Nacci 1978; Nacci and Kane 1984; Bowker 1980; Lookwood 1980; Starchild 1990 For every year in an American prison, a prisoner on average has a 6% chance of being raped. If someone is in prison for 15 years, probability is not in their favor. :…

All those cars do not need petrol. There are plenty of wood chips (or other organic material) that can be burned instead! http://www.lowtechma...d-gas-cars.html On a weight basis, wood chips have 40 percent of the energy content of petrol.

Different racial/ethnic groups have different fertility rates, and often these differences can be very significant. Some groups of people have many more babies than other groups of people, and this often contributes to ethnic resentment. Different ethnic groups often have different political interests, and higher fertility rates can alter the balance of power within the time frame of a few decades. Certain ethnic groups may make accusations that it is "not fair", or accuse women from another ethnicity of having too many babies with reckless abandon. This certainly can make a large segment of a society reluctant to provide help to its poor. "Control, or the claim of…

This is a thread on generic "hate" crimes, defined as comments suggestive of unlawful violence. brought this topic to light, and the recent Ted Nugent comments has continued it. What legitimate freedom of speech or constructive purpose exists to wish someone ill, especially by an act of unlawful violence? Against government officials such as Representative Giffords and President Obama, such acts come dangerously close to sedition (the stirring up of discontent, resistance, or rebellion against the government), or perhaps treason (violation of the allegiance owed to one's sovereign or state). But even -- or especially -- among common folk (them being …

http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-warn-emergency-global-scale-185118563.html Perhaps scientists need to develop a way in which all existing humans will be capable of theoretically-surviving forever. At the same time, these scientists need to invent a virus that will infect and kill all human sperm and egg cells. Here would be the results: 1. Any human who is alive will never die of "natural causes" 2. No new human will be conceived Biologically, all humans will forever be 31-years-old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5aSGgpy7WU Interesting interview. I think the politics of Ayn Rand, which were very unpopular during her day, seem to be picking up popularity at least with the right wing and corporatist thinkers of our nation. What do you think. I personally think her narcissism is just unbearable.