Politics

In multiple Arab countries, it appears that Muslims want to have a democracy. Hardly anyone seems to cry for the Sharia, or for a Muslim-state. The pictures we see now are not of bearded men dressed in curtains, but of young men in jeans, wearing baseball caps. Women independently join protests, and apparently enjoy a freedom comparable to my country. It also appears that our freedom-loving Western democracies support dictators, even when a population cries for democracy. The behaviour of all Western countries can at best be called opportunistic, supporting the dictators until their position becomes unstable, then quickly switching sides to the revolutionists (and ma…

plu·toc·ra·cy [ploo-tok-ruh-see] –noun, plural -cies. The rule or power of wealth or of the wealthy. A government or state in which the wealthy class rules. A class or group ruling, or exercizing power or influence, by virtue of its wealth. Now, you might think I'm crazy to even suggest the possibility. I mean, we elect our representatives, right? So, they act in the interest of the People rather than those that paid to get them into office, right? Let's take a look and see whether American politics is for the People or the wealthy 2% and the corporations. Cutting teacher training, job training, and help for the poor in favour of help for oil companies th…

This morning, "Anonymous" released the first part of a series of leaks alleging fraud in Bank of America's mortgage practices: http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0314/Bank-of-America-accused-by-anonymous-website-of-hiding-data http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/hackers-say-bofa-unit-tried-to-hide-mortgage-error/?src=mv Apparently this is the first part of the leaks, although the leak website is currently offline after being overloaded with traffic. The emails are light on evidence and detail, so there's not much to conclude so far. This looks like it'll be an interesting week in the news.

If collective bargaining is actually undermined, what would the effects be for social-economics generally and the "middle class" lifestyle specifically? Would the same number of people find ways to individually gain access to the same standards of living? Or would some people negotiate highly favorable contracts, wages, and benefits while others lost out in theirs? Or would management simply drive down as many people's wages and benefits as possible and grow the gap between rich and poor to its maximum? If the middle class would be impoverished in this way, how would the standard of living for the rich change? Would more people become rich? What would really change …

Mubarak and now Khadaffi were/are under popular pressure to abdicate their power, but how would that actually work in practice? If an individual becomes unpopular as a leader, what power would they have to abdicate or not? Presumably the point is that these individuals are obeyed by military forces and those who are rebelling against them want to control those forces. But why would the military give up just because their commander abdicates? Apparently what these rebellions want is not for the commanders to abdicate but for them to use their power to command the military to obey some other commander or interests besides themselves or the interests that they have been …

Hi everybody! I am wondering if someone decides, hypothetically, to go overseas say for a holiday however chooses not to get health insurance or anything similar, how much would his/her family have to pay if the person going on the holiday somehow dies overseas (e.g. from a tornado) to get their body flown back for burial to their country of origin? How much is it for you country? Is it expensive? How about if you have two bodies that need to be flown back? Would the cost double in this case? ...just curious.

As I recall, the last time gas prices were rising there came a point (@$4/gallon) where media sources reported as the breaking point where people were willing to make drastic changes to their daily practices, seek more fuel-efficient vehicles, etc. instead of just accepting persistent price increases passively. As fuel prices subsequently decreased (to @$3), it seemed like people/businesses were going to make many reforms to prepare for the possibility that prices would go up again. So, what do you think? Have people/businesses developed coping strategies that make them less dependent on fuel or did people expect the government to fix it all and avoid making any a…

Theoretically, energy conservation could reach a level where only renewable sources would be needed. The irony of this would be that if such high levels of conservation could be achieved, non-renewable sources would become much less scarce relative to consumption. What do you think will progress further faster, renewable supply or conservation of demand?

The health care discussion really has two separate parts. One is the issue of people who need or want better health care for themselves or their families. The other is people who want more opportunities to make more money and consume more and acquire more wealth. People look to health care for both of these goals: medical treatment and other health care and jobs and business opportunities to make more money. But the shadow side of the discussion is what kind of wealth and consumption do people want to increase along with the quality of their health care? In other words, people want healthy and even medically-enhanced bodies, but that is not all. They also want to…

I'm not sure how much of this can be bias from the polling source, because one of the polls is in a paper owned by Murdoch.

The DoJ will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act in two upcoming actions http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/23/attorney-general-declares-doma-unconstitutional/ Interesting part about this to me is this: The wording seems to imply that he government would be obligated to defend if there were legal precedent, and can only (or it's easier to)choose this path because there is no precedent in those jurisdictions. If that's the case, it sheds light on why the White House would defend positions that seem contrary to the ideology of the current occupant. Government representatives are obligated to enforce the law even if they don't agree with it — and D…

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/28/texas-college-scholarship-targets-white-male-students/ I tend to think it is. Especially when I know how true it is that minorities do get precedence over whites in many scholarships. Being half-hispanic (It's what I list on stuff like this. I couldn't get any more "white", though.), I'm offered more in the way of financial aid and scholarships and grants than my white-counterparts. Do you think this practice is fair, or should things be focused on academic performance and financial need? I understand why they used to be necessary. Are they still needed, in your opinion? And is it fair to have a white-only scholarship?

Since no one seems to be discussing the issue, thought I'd toss it out for conjecture. Were these people, right, wrong or simply stupid? But then, who gives a rats ass? I just want an opinion. Me, without an army onboard for protection, no way would I get involved in those waters off Somalia for anything. It's a dangerous place with a mixed cultural bag. I feel for the deceased and their families, and a shot to the cranium can't be a fun thing. So, if you're going to give out bibles, best you do it on land. These guys are pirates and really don't give a damned about you or your religion. And the thirteen pirates captured? Manacle their hands behind them, and at twenty foo…

What country has the most state of the art health care like advanced technology,stem cell ,cloning ,bioengineering ,robotic,advanced surgery so on. I hear the the biggest problem is cost ,getting specialists ,training for new medical stuff , getting new state of the art technology so on.And the US and Canada is not doing well when comes to this only some private very expensive cancer treatment centers ,surgery so on .in the US .Where one must get on plane to fly to that city. I hear that India and Singapore are very good.When it comes to research and doing studies I think most 98% is still done in the US, What is wrong with China or India ?

That's a very interesting question, imo. And it's somewhat revealing that Rush cut the guy's mic. Why would that question test Rush's ability to be polite? For those on the right side of the political spectrum who also put Reagan on a pedestal, could you answer the question?

A school in Texas decided it was better to cancel all extracurricular clubs than to allow a gay-straight alliance club.

From the Western perspective: a large number of countries have moved from: - a technologically backward part of the world - a colony, exploited for its resources - an independent nation, still largely controlled by the larger powers of this planet - truly independent countries, supporting their own economy Right now, a number of Arab countries seem to be making a move: one step up the ladder of progress. They make the final step towards true independence... Although we must acknowledge that our Western superior power is (relatively) in decline, we have to accept that the world as a whole is making progress! It's good news! We (Western nations) are as powerful as…

I don't get it. Labour created data.gov.uk and the conservatives seem intent to make it better, more stuff, better organised etc..., implementing a lot of the unlikely seeming stuff in the TED talk they did before the election like the crime portal, they even seem embrace open source software, although they are still getting stuff wrong on that front. I can see the political motivations for saving money, but it still seems out of charecter.

It occurred to me a functional approximation of our democracy could be something like electorate is a function of the number of people who vote (and that is a function of what the public believes), electoral_college is a function of electorate, and president is a function of electoral_college PRES(E_C(E(PUB(b))) . It's probably lame because i'm not a mathematician, but the more general question - mathematics can describe so much of nature can it describe government? If so, might we discover new maxima in the equations, or are people so irrational their government must also be psycho?

Thinking independently and choosing potentially unpopular political stances is difficult. Many people may fear criticism, disapproval, or other unpopularity. Thus, when a large crowd mobilizes, could this be pleasurable for people who generally repress their individuality to "fit in" socially? Could this also have something to do with the desire of crowd-conformists to attack individuals who stand out and stand up against the will of "the masses?" Do collective movements really just boil down to the exercise of individual power in concert with others to suppress dissent from what is deemed popular opinion?

The looming budget battle between the White House and the House of Representatives is looking really interesting. The President has attempted to grab some of the moderate mind share by adding huge cuts to his 2012 budget, but Republicans were quick to point out that the proposal doesn't even attempt to balance the budget ten years into the future, at which point the budget would have about the same deficit that it did when Bush left office! Meanwhile another $7.1 trillion would be added to the debt. Of course the real problem is that most of the budget isn't even being looked at. The two sides are arguing over a few hundred billion while the deficit this year will …

Wis. GOP sends state troopers after Democratic senate leader 02-18-2011 10:56 AM EST MADISON, Wis. (Associated Press) -- Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate have asked the governor to send state troopers after Democratic leader Mark Miller. Senate Democrats are boycotting a Senate vote on a bill that would strip public sector workers of their collective bargaining rights. They have been missing from the Capitol for a day and a half. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he has asked Gov. Scott Walker to send two state troopers to Miller's home in Monona. He says he believes the troopers are en route. The Wisconsin Constitution prohibits polic…

Kind of in a hurry at the moment but I thought it might be interesting to ask what you all think of this issue. Is it legitimate protest for doctors to write medical notes to legitimize sick leave for protesting teachers? I'm concerned about the precedent. I kinda understand it, but it seems like a bad idea because it undermines the honor-system nature of sick notes, and puts doctors in a position of lying as a political protest. Do we really want doctors to be lying? If you like the idea, ask yourself if you would approve of their actions if the notes they wrote supported abortion protests. Fair is fair, right? Seems like dangerous ground to me. What…

! Moderator Note Consolidated these from the Spending cuts and flat tax threads How about we cut the crap, Pangloss? Your source was not the Census Bureau. Your source was an ideologically biased site for an organization whose stated purpose is This is a secondhand source which fails to make the distinction between poor and below the poverty line. Does the census bureau define poor as below average or does it define poor as below the poverty line? Your source does not say and it doesn't give a link to the actual report so you can quickly find out yourself. Now, let's take a look at your pretty little list there. Does the average person below the poverty…

It seems that everyone defaults them to the status of a "hero". Why? I googled "the most dangerous jobs in America", and those two occupations rarely cracked the top 10 on any site I visited. I'm not saying that having a job with a high mortality rate makes you a hero. I'm saying this to counter the inevitable argument of, "They put their lives on the line everyday!". To me, a hero is someone who jumps on a grenade to save their squad, or runs into the open to call in air support, even if it means getting shot repeatedly. Someone who pulls another person out of the way of a speeding vehicle or subway train. Anyone who risks their life to save others. I do not und…