# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=336 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 337 --- ## [Why did the ancient Hebrews not allow guys with mangled/missing privates into temple?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-ancient-hebrews-not-allow-guys-with-mangled-missing-privates-into-temple/615687)
**Author:** [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Replies:** 45\ **Last updated:** [March 21, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-ancient-hebrews-not-allow-guys-with-mangled-missing-privates-into-temple/615687 "2012-03-21T18:41:50Z")
Deuteronomy 23 (English Standard Version) 23 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. Why not? Was it just maliciously adding insult to injury, or what? --- ## [March 16, 2012 Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-16-2012-executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness/616142)
**Author:** [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/march-16-2012-executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness/616142 "2012-03-20T19:12:31Z")
I’m not sure where to put this but I think it may lead to political debate and there’s no one factual answer, so I’ll put it here. Here’s the actual executive order. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/1… --- ## [Everyone in the USA has access to birth control](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-in-the-usa-has-access-to-birth-control/614976)
**Author:** [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Replies:** 164\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-in-the-usa-has-access-to-birth-control/614976 "2012-03-20T14:57:57Z")
And has for a long time, too. In the recent debates about birth control, some people seem to assume that there are a large number of women for whom it’s difficult to get birth control; for example it’s part of the premi… --- ## [Do the new tobacco warnings violate 1st Amendment rights?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-new-tobacco-warnings-violate-1st-amendment-rights/593003)
**Author:** [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Replies:** 247\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-new-tobacco-warnings-violate-1st-amendment-rights/593003 "2012-03-20T14:19:04Z")
4 out of 5 of the largest tobacco companies have apparently filed a lawsuit so they won’t have to use the new graphic warnings the FDA wants them to put on their product, claiming that it violates their right to free spe… --- ## [Location of Trial For Soldier Accused of Afghani Murders](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-trial-for-soldier-accused-of-afghani-murders/615903)
**Author:** [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-trial-for-soldier-accused-of-afghani-murders/615903 "2012-03-20T04:26:44Z")
While a debate on (among other things) who should have jurisdiction over the trial of the American sergeant accused of murdering 16 Afghani civilians occurs in another thread in Great Debates – “US Soldiers killing Afgh… --- ## [Will the Current Bad PR for Apple Come to Anything?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-current-bad-pr-for-apple-come-to-anything/612365)
**Author:** [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Replies:** 42\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-current-bad-pr-for-apple-come-to-anything/612365 "2012-03-20T03:07:10Z")
The topic’s a little late, but there didn’t seem to be an earlier thread on it so… Apple’s currently facing an amount of bad PR that was triggered by a New York Times article last month on working conditions at their su… --- ## [Catholics: Are you upset by Obama's new birth control rule?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-are-you-upset-by-obamas-new-birth-control-rule/615592)
**Author:** [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Replies:** 84\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-are-you-upset-by-obamas-new-birth-control-rule/615592 "2012-03-20T00:34:00Z")
There’s been a lot of brouhaha from Catholic bishops lately about the Obama administration’s decision to require employers, including institutions like Catholic hospitals and universities, to cover birth control without … --- ## [Should schools use Saturday detention as punishment?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-schools-use-saturday-detention-as-punishment/259236)
**Author:** [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Replies:** 44\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-schools-use-saturday-detention-as-punishment/259236 "2012-03-20T00:31:38Z")
During a recent discussion of high school memories, my wife brought up the issue of Saturday detention being used as a punishment at schools. I was a high school student in Chicago in the early eighties, and I don’t re… --- ## [The Banality of Evil?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banality-of-evil/615782)
**Author:** [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Replies:** 89\ **Last updated:** [March 20, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banality-of-evil/615782 "2012-03-20T00:20:45Z")
In her controversial study of the Eichmann Trail, “Eichmann in Jerusalem”, Hannah Arendtcoined the phrase “The Banality of Evil”. As summarized neatly in the last link, what Arendt meant was that to do great evil did not… --- ## [Is there any ironclad way for the lead character in "Awake" to determine which is the dream?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-ironclad-way-for-the-lead-character-in-awake-to-determine-which-is-the-dream/615036)
**Author:** [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Replies:** 64\ **Last updated:** [March 19, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-ironclad-way-for-the-lead-character-in-awake-to-determine-which-is-the-dream/615036 "2012-03-19T22:37:46Z")
First of all, if you haven’t seen this show, or even if you have but have misinterpreted the premise (a LOT of people have), let’s clear something up from the beginning: it’s not a sci-fi show, at least not in the sense … --- ## [Is the justification for government-sponsored murder a bunch of (legal and/or moral) bullshit?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-justification-for-government-sponsored-murder-a-bunch-of-legal-and-or-moral-bullshit/614874)
**Author:** [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Replies:** 86\ **Last updated:** [March 19, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-justification-for-government-sponsored-murder-a-bunch-of-legal-and-or-moral-bullshit/614874 "2012-03-19T21:38:34Z")
Attorney General Eric Holder gave a speech today where he outlined how and why it was okay, in the legal sense, for the US government to murder an American. \[ \](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_HOLDER\_TARGETE… --- ## [I propose that we end all wars](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-propose-that-we-end-all-wars/615780)
**Author:** [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Replies:** 60\ **Last updated:** [March 19, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-propose-that-we-end-all-wars/615780 "2012-03-19T17:46:39Z")
I’m tired of the rhetorical tactic of labeling any disagreement with one’s position as a “war” on something or other. “Democratic war on free trade”, “Republican war on women”, “Democratic war on math”, “Republican war … --- ## [Ethical Nihilism v. Situations That Call For Answers.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-nihilism-v-situations-that-call-for-answers/615722)
**Author:** [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Replies:** 32\ **Last updated:** [March 19, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethical-nihilism-v-situations-that-call-for-answers/615722 "2012-03-19T17:38:32Z")
Thru most of my adult life I have been fascinated by science, the science of philosophy in particular. And one debate I have taken interest in in particular is the meta-ethical debate. One very prevalent meta-ethical th… --- ## [Death With Dignity...for some?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-for-some/615912)
**Author:** [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [March 19, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-for-some/615912 "2012-03-19T15:28:18Z")
In Oregon we have something called the Death With Dignity Act. It offers a way out for those who of sound mind but want to end the fight with death on their own terms. In a column printed today, Steve Duin wrote about … --- ## [Help me untangle this logical paradox involving mental conception](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-untangle-this-logical-paradox-involving-mental-conception/615243)
**Author:** [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Replies:** 126\ **Last updated:** [March 17, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-untangle-this-logical-paradox-involving-mental-conception/615243 "2012-03-17T19:16:16Z")
I just wrote and submitted a Philosophy paper and managed to discover a logical paradox that will now haunt me forever (that or I’m stressed and being stressed is making me think dumb): The mind cannot conceive a scenar… --- ## [Is there any useful distinction between "porn", "erotica" and "pictorial nudity".](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-useful-distinction-between-porn-erotica-and-pictorial-nudity/615396)
**Author:** [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Replies:** 35\ **Last updated:** [March 17, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-useful-distinction-between-porn-erotica-and-pictorial-nudity/615396 "2012-03-17T17:21:27Z")
On March 8 (International Women’s Day) I started a GD thread concerning porn and feminism, inspired by Iranian and Egyptian women who are using nudity and a nude calendar to strike back at partriarchal repression in thei… --- ## [Can you feel it? It's all culminating into something huge.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-feel-it-its-all-culminating-into-something-huge/615918)
**Author:** [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Replies:** 62\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-feel-it-its-all-culminating-into-something-huge/615918 "2012-03-16T18:46:39Z")
It’s like the intense buildup before the big explosion. “May you live in interesting times”, says the Old Chinese Curse, and well, the times certainly are interesting. I can’t shake the feeling like something bad is goin… --- ## [Did Limbaugh slander Sandra Fluke?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-limbaugh-slander-sandra-fluke/615117)
**Author:** [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Replies:** 198\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-limbaugh-slander-sandra-fluke/615117 "2012-03-16T17:04:24Z")
We’ll start this in GQ in the hope that a non-Pitworthy factual answer exists. Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten posted this past Tuesday his belief that Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Sandra Fluke meet the lega… --- ## [The education situation in Alabama and Mississippi…](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-education-situation-in-alabama-and-mississippi/615647)
**Author:** [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Replies:** 72\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-education-situation-in-alabama-and-mississippi/615647 "2012-03-16T13:52:53Z")
Was browsing a few news sites and can across this link to some recent polling: Public Policy Polling – Alabama and Mississippi A few choice findings from the above link: Is this simply a reflection of the power of mis… --- ## [Paradise in the Book of Genesis, the origin of man](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879)
**Author:** [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Replies:** 23\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879 "2012-03-15T20:38:00Z")
How come that we generally believe the Book of Genesis in the Bible is meant, that God created “our” world in a week? Isn’t it far more likely that its meant that He created “Paradise” in a week and that “our” world happ… --- ## [Artificial meat](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-meat/614275)
**Author:** [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Replies:** 53\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-meat/614275 "2012-03-15T10:56:49Z")
I have often thought that artificial meat could be one of the most important technologies of the 21st century. This articlegot me thinking about it again. Animals raised for meat consumer lots of land and water and em… --- ## [Wherefore "base"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-base/615541)
**Author:** [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-base/615541 "2012-03-13T22:38:24Z")
There’s been some discussion around here about the crazification factor which sets the base for voting Republican at 27%, no matter how offensively bad the candidate is, and I assume there’s a similar figure on the left … --- ## [What alternatives to IP laws have been proposed?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-alternatives-to-ip-laws-have-been-proposed/614881)
**Author:** [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Replies:** 178\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-alternatives-to-ip-laws-have-been-proposed/614881 "2012-03-13T16:12:30Z")
I think copying digital content without permission is approximately as evil as stealing a candy bar. I.e., not very evil, but certainly not a morally upstanding thing to do. I think the very-minorly-evil nature of the a… --- ## [Is there any name for this kind of argument (error)??](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-name-for-this-kind-of-argument-error/615403)
**Author:** [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-name-for-this-kind-of-argument-error/615403 "2012-03-13T13:48:06Z")
Hypothetical argument: -Religion X does Y , it is horrible how do you defend that? -Well religion Z does some Y as well and even some X. Is there a name for these kind of tactics and does it have any bearing. To mak… --- ## [Reasons for the decline of classical education?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-for-the-decline-of-classical-education/615457)
**Author:** [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-for-the-decline-of-classical-education/615457 "2012-03-13T00:50:27Z")
In the 19th century, schoolchildren literally had Greek and Roman literature and writings flogged into them. As so in the beginning of the twentieth. After the second world war, it has gone a marked reduction to the poin… --- ## [Are apologies meaningful?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-apologies-meaningful/614613)
**Author:** [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Replies:** 36\ **Last updated:** [March 12, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-apologies-meaningful/614613 "2012-03-12T21:47:30Z")
People are asking Rush Limbaugh to apologize to the young woman that he called a slut and prostitute. People demanded that the federal judge in Montana who emailed a racist joke about President Obama to friends and fami… --- ## [Women posing nude are now a PRO-Feminist thing?????](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-posing-nude-are-now-a-pro-feminist-thing/615164)
**Author:** [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Replies:** 142\ **Last updated:** [March 12, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-posing-nude-are-now-a-pro-feminist-thing/615164 "2012-03-12T20:07:56Z")
On this March 8, I wish a happy International Women’s Day to all women AND MEN. Let me preface my remarks by saying that I am a gay man who is 100% pro-feminist, pro-choice, you-name-it. But a recent development has con… --- ## [Why Would Insurers Tell Untruths About Global Warming?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-insurers-tell-untruths-about-global-warming/614928)
**Author:** [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Replies:** 117\ **Last updated:** [March 12, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-insurers-tell-untruths-about-global-warming/614928 "2012-03-12T13:19:01Z")
Insurers believe in global warming. This thread is not for arguing whether global warming is real, or whether we humans are causing it, or whether our government should be doing something about it. The insurance indus… --- ## [So why Birth Control Especially?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-birth-control-especially/615012)
**Author:** [@OldnCrinkly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldnCrinkly)\ **Replies:** 101\ **Last updated:** [March 11, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-birth-control-especially/615012 "2012-03-11T21:25:50Z")
So, I may be misunderstanding here, but I’ll try and see if I have this straight. Employers will be required to provide medical insurance coverage to employees. This coverage must include birth control. Some groups, n… --- ## [Medical ethicists: sure, it's ok to kill babies. "After-birth abortions".](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-ethicists-sure-its-ok-to-kill-babies-after-birth-abortions/614527)
**Author:** [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Replies:** 118\ **Last updated:** [March 11, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-ethicists-sure-its-ok-to-kill-babies-after-birth-abortions/614527 "2012-03-11T18:28:20Z")
Ah the logical conclusion of the “freedom to choose”. Hey - if it’s a parasite, you get it out, look at it then squash it, right? Or, as Dr. Stammers in the article expressed it: “What these young colleagues are spel… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=335) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=337)