# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=323 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 324 --- ## [Should universities restrict degrees in professions with few job prospects?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-universities-restrict-degrees-in-professions-with-few-job-prospects/625736)
**Author:** [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Replies:** 74\ **Last updated:** [June 25, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-universities-restrict-degrees-in-professions-with-few-job-prospects/625736 "2012-06-25T05:16:25Z")
In the last week here, both the major media corporations in Australia (News Limited andFairfax) have announced major restructures of their operations. Lots of redundancies are being forecast (as in, thousands over the ne… --- ## [President Ahmadinejad of Iran to leave politics in 2013](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-ahmadinejad-of-iran-to-leave-politics-in-2013/625546)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [June 25, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-ahmadinejad-of-iran-to-leave-politics-in-2013/625546 "2012-06-25T04:38:29Z")
CNN reports: So – good news, I guess, crazy as the saber-rattling anti-Israeli gay-bashing bastard is – but this means Khamenei – a key figure in the 1979 Revolution, and a right-hand man of Khomeini himself – wins the… --- ## [On The Importance of Democracy vs. Constitutionalism](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-importance-of-democracy-vs-constitutionalism/626194)
**Author:** [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [June 25, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-importance-of-democracy-vs-constitutionalism/626194 "2012-06-25T02:45:44Z")
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/world/middleeast/mohamed-morsi-of-muslim-brotherhood-declared-as-egypts-president.html?pagewanted=all While New York Times, despite its liberalism, is probably the best news source in t… --- ## [Consumption tax/carbon control idea that may be sellable](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consumption-tax-carbon-control-idea-that-may-be-sellable/626145)
**Author:** [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Replies:** 25\ **Last updated:** [June 25, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consumption-tax-carbon-control-idea-that-may-be-sellable/626145 "2012-06-25T00:27:55Z")
What if we ditched the entire income tax system in favor of one that was based on consumption, but specifically on the purchase of fossil fuels (because they emit CO2, and taxing the purchase is easier than taxing the em… --- ## [Is Dodd-Frank unconstitutional?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dodd-frank-unconstitutional/626031)
**Author:** [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [June 24, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dodd-frank-unconstitutional/626031 "2012-06-24T22:38:03Z")
I was reading this article in the Wall Street Journal which is making the case that it is (used the Google link which gets around the WSJ paywall). Not just making an argument for it…they are apparently bringing this ca… --- ## [How should humanity deal with underpopulation?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-humanity-deal-with-underpopulation/625360)
**Author:** [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Replies:** 47\ **Last updated:** [June 24, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-humanity-deal-with-underpopulation/625360 "2012-06-24T18:24:05Z")
We’ve had a couple threads dealing with overpopulation. While the topic seems to still be causing panic among some internet denizens, I don’t see many people with real decision-making capability devoting much attention … --- ## [Is there any chance that Sandusky is found not guilty?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-chance-that-sandusky-is-found-not-guilty/625190)
**Author:** [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Replies:** 213\ **Last updated:** [June 24, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-chance-that-sandusky-is-found-not-guilty/625190 "2012-06-24T16:14:04Z")
I know there’s a pit thread about him but I don’t want this to turn into a pitting. Testimony here: http://www.google.com/gwt/x?noimg=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fca.news.yahoo.com%2Fwitnesses-sandusky-trial-recall-abuse-threats-02… --- ## [The Rodney King beating: what should have done instead?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rodney-king-beating-what-should-have-done-instead/625637)
**Author:** [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Replies:** 196\ **Last updated:** [June 24, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rodney-king-beating-what-should-have-done-instead/625637 "2012-06-24T00:19:14Z")
The recent death of Rodney King has revived discussion of the police-administered beating that made him famous 20+ years ago. I can’t seem to find it now, but around the time of the trial in which the involved officers … --- ## [9/11 was an inside job](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-was-an-inside-job/625490)
**Author:** [@Repent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Repent)\ **Replies:** 139\ **Last updated:** [June 23, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-was-an-inside-job/625490 "2012-06-23T21:22:29Z")
Here is a link to 2 1/2 hours of expert testimony from Architechs and engineers for 9/11 truth, demanding a second independant investigation into 9/11: Crime of the century, and they got away with it. Now … --- ## [On the subject of categorical oppression and inequality](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-categorical-oppression-and-inequality/625954)
**Author:** [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [June 23, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-categorical-oppression-and-inequality/625954 "2012-06-23T20:55:14Z")
Inspired in part by this concurrent thread about white people and privilege, but something I’ve been thinking about for a long long time… DOES ANY GOOD come out of maintaining a list of categorical oppressions and makin… --- ## [Race differences in average IQ are largely genetic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-differences-in-average-iq-are-largely-genetic/623236)
**Author:** [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Replies:** 688\ **Last updated:** [June 23, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-differences-in-average-iq-are-largely-genetic/623236 "2012-06-23T20:11:10Z")
A 60-page review of the scientific evidence, some based on state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain size, has concluded that race differences in average IQ are largely genetic. The lead article in the… --- ## [Race is a social, not biological / scientific concept](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-is-a-social-not-biological-scientific-concept/625461)
**Author:** [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Replies:** 68\ **Last updated:** [June 23, 2012, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-is-a-social-not-biological-scientific-concept/625461 "2012-06-23T08:59:10Z")
Nothing shows it more than today’s very interesting NY Times article on Michelle Obama and her white cousins. We’re all of the human race - period. --- ## [Do anything about Syria?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-anything-about-syria/623507)
**Author:** [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Replies:** 54\ **Last updated:** [June 23, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-anything-about-syria/623507 "2012-06-23T04:05:45Z")
Although I’m not sure what, but I think something should be done to help the rebels. Every time I see images of a government attack, babies and small children are always included. And of course the most recent attack i… --- ## [No, SEIU, SCOTUS Says You Have to Keep Your Grabby Hands Out of Other People' Pockets!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-seiu-scotus-says-you-have-to-keep-your-grabby-hands-out-of-other-people-pockets/625853)
**Author:** [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Replies:** 172\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-seiu-scotus-says-you-have-to-keep-your-grabby-hands-out-of-other-people-pockets/625853 "2012-06-22T22:35:20Z")
And a good thing, too. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, lives in a place where the streets are paved with gold. They are allowed a closed shop: if you want to work, you have to join the union, or pbay … --- ## [The Danger of Male Homosexuality vs Female Homosexuality](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-danger-of-male-homosexuality-vs-female-homosexuality/624822)
**Author:** [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Replies:** 64\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-danger-of-male-homosexuality-vs-female-homosexuality/624822 "2012-06-22T21:58:28Z")
I’m not interested in arguing the im/morality of homosexuality here (my personal opinion is that it’s fine, which is good because that’s also the fact of the matter). Why is male homosexuality seen as so much more dange… --- ## [Would the destruction of China and India benefit the US economically?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-destruction-of-china-and-india-benefit-the-us-economically/588565)
**Author:** [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Replies:** 29\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-destruction-of-china-and-india-benefit-the-us-economically/588565 "2012-06-22T20:33:59Z")
A deliberately provocative question; but ignoring the human and moral element (to the same degree as the thread debating the Third Reich’s efficiency in killing concentration camp inmates), if somehow China and India suf… --- ## [Is there any defensible value to "eugenics" in this day and age?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-defensible-value-to-eugenics-in-this-day-and-age/623496)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 59\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-defensible-value-to-eugenics-in-this-day-and-age/623496 "2012-06-22T15:58:43Z")
Eugenics. On the one hand, it always and fairly calls the Nazis to mind nowadays. On the other hand, we’ve all seen Idiocracy. On the gripping hand, it always seems just about impossible, even now, to disentangle the … --- ## [Obama - the lowest spending POTUS since Coolidge](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-the-lowest-spending-potus-since-coolidge/624339)
**Author:** [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Replies:** 144\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-the-lowest-spending-potus-since-coolidge/624339 "2012-06-22T14:17:00Z")
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-05-22/commentary/31802270\_1\_spending-federal-budget-drunken-sailor Of course I am referencing the Nutting article above - which puts Obama spending at a 1.4% annualized rate from pre… --- ## [Health Care Debate: Opponents Won By Words, Says Pew](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-debate-opponents-won-by-words-says-pew/625811)
**Author:** [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Replies:** 27\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-debate-opponents-won-by-words-says-pew/625811 "2012-06-22T11:08:08Z")
From here: I see two interesting propositions. One is that if there is a liberal media, it was absent or clueless during the coverage of this subject. Two is that liberal talk show hosts devoted nearly twice as much tim… --- ## [Why is the Debt/Deficit issue #1 for so many people?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-debt-deficit-issue-1-for-so-many-people/624297)
**Author:** [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Replies:** 161\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-debt-deficit-issue-1-for-so-many-people/624297 "2012-06-22T06:15:40Z")
I am having a hard time understanding why some folks seem to think it is so vitally important, in the middle of a week recovery, to get our federal government finances in order? I can understand if folks think the Gover… --- ## [Why Not Welfare 'SSI'?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-welfare-ssi/625728)
**Author:** [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-welfare-ssi/625728 "2012-06-22T05:24:14Z")
I know around the time Pres. Clinton was in office, people were saying about welfare “mend it, don’t end it”. Yet for most politicians even now, “reforming” welfare means just that–ending it all for good. One question I… --- ## [What's The Current State Of The Euro?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-state-of-the-euro/622847)
**Author:** [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-current-state-of-the-euro/622847 "2012-06-21T22:37:07Z")
I didn’t want to bump an old thread from December but I was interested. A few months ago people were predicting the end of the Euro. Now I was reading in the Financial Times how even if Greece and a few others bailed, t… --- ## [Should we focus on clean air and water instead of Global Warming?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-focus-on-clean-air-and-water-instead-of-global-warming/625770)
**Author:** [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [June 20, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-focus-on-clean-air-and-water-instead-of-global-warming/625770 "2012-06-20T23:38:00Z")
Was reading this article on CNN today and wondered what 'dopers think of it. Basically, Bjorn Lomborg feels that the focus should be on clean air and water, especially in the 3rd world, instead of Global Warming. An… --- ## [Alternate theories about the nature of time? (Philosophical)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-theories-about-the-nature-of-time-philosophical/625528)
**Author:** [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [June 20, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-theories-about-the-nature-of-time-philosophical/625528 "2012-06-20T21:02:56Z")
I have been focusing more on “living in the moment” lately, and something that I started pondering last night is if there are any schools of thought out there that suggest that time is an entity independent of space, and… --- ## [KKK wants to ‘adopt’ highway in Georgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836)
**Author:** [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Replies:** 106\ **Last updated:** [June 20, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836 "2012-06-20T18:07:24Z")
KKK wants to ‘adopt’ highway in Georgia By Dylan Stableford | The Sideshow \“This is about membership building and rebranding their name in a public way,” Brooks said. “What’s next, are we going to let Neo-Nazis o… --- ## [New marriage rules](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-marriage-rules/624631)
**Author:** [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Replies:** 41\ **Last updated:** [June 20, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-marriage-rules/624631 "2012-06-20T16:58:48Z")
So forgive me if this has already been hashed out a million times. I think it’s worthy of a discussion though. Maybe it’ll just peter out and dissipate for lack of controversy and inherent simplicity though. I had an … --- ## [Ruby - Nixon doc](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruby-nixon-doc/625580)
**Author:** [@Shadow.625](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow.625)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [June 20, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruby-nixon-doc/625580 "2012-06-20T14:40:41Z")
This may be old news to most here but got my attention (see link). I do, however, don’t beleive the blood spray in Zapruder’s film is from a bullet impacting the left temple region of JFK’s skull. Its definitely from a… --- ## [Is GOP trying to sabotage economy to hurt Obama?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gop-trying-to-sabotage-economy-to-hurt-obama/622924)
**Author:** [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Replies:** 213\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gop-trying-to-sabotage-economy-to-hurt-obama/622924 "2012-06-19T22:21:08Z")
The subject is from an Associated Press article, from which the following is excerpted: That’s far from the only instance of someone making this claim. In their new book, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” Thomas Mann an… --- ## [East Sea vs Sea of Japan](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-sea-vs-sea-of-japan/624896)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 42\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-sea-vs-sea-of-japan/624896 "2012-06-19T19:58:06Z")
n a dispute over naming ‘Donghae(the East Sea)’, Donald Manzullo, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, has publically pointed out that both ‘the East Sea’ and ‘Sea of Japan’ should be… --- ## [What's the thinking here?? (Taliban ban on polio vaccinations)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-thinking-here-taliban-ban-on-polio-vaccinations/625573)
**Author:** [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Replies:** 26\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-thinking-here-taliban-ban-on-polio-vaccinations/625573 "2012-06-19T19:49:09Z")
Was reading this article on the plan by the Taliban to ban polio vaccinations to people in Pakistan until the US stops it’s drone attacks. I get that they don’t like the drone attacks. But what is their thinking on usi… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=322) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=324)