# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=388 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 389 --- ## [Is MSNBC really news?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-msnbc-really-news/581535)
**Author:** [@FarmerChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChuck)\ **Replies:** 33\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-msnbc-really-news/581535 "2011-05-11T23:50:21Z")
Ok so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoNRACISzco&feature=related thats some bias… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgHG4HJUOhc&feature=related i can continue but… my guess is people who think like me are far and few be… --- ## [Abiotic oil](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abiotic-oil/581537)
**Author:** [@FarmerChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChuck)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abiotic-oil/581537 "2011-05-11T18:19:45Z")
your thoughts please --- ## [Yet another &!$% thread about trade with China](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-thread-about-trade-with-china/580498)
**Author:** [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Replies:** 81\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-thread-about-trade-with-china/580498 "2011-05-11T18:08:42Z")
It seems that any thread about international trade issues proceeds along predictable lines. On the one hand are those of us who think that free trade policies have been bad for the U.S. economy because they result in jo… --- ## [No Ride list for Amtrak, seriously?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ride-list-for-amtrak-seriously/581288)
**Author:** [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Replies:** 39\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ride-list-for-amtrak-seriously/581288 "2011-05-11T17:14:58Z")
A friend told me that congress is now considering a “no ride” list for Amtrak, based upon intelligence gathered during the OBL raid. Apparently Al Quaeda considered a train bombing at some point over the past 10 years. … --- ## [Where Did The Qur'an Come From?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-quran-come-from/581431)
**Author:** [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-quran-come-from/581431 "2011-05-11T13:34:33Z")
Assuming that the Qur’an wasn’t a product of Allah, where did it come from? It seems to me, that would mean Muhammed made it up from scratch and dictated it or he got the story ideas from other sources floating around a… --- ## [What properties must an entity have in order to receive our moral consideration?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-must-an-entity-have-in-order-to-receive-our-moral-consideration/581219)
**Author:** [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-must-an-entity-have-in-order-to-receive-our-moral-consideration/581219 "2011-05-11T10:15:39Z")
After seeing yet another round of abortion threads, I thought it would be interesting to address this fundamental issue: What properties must an entity possess to make it morally wrong to kill it or wound it? The answer … --- ## [Numerical Recipes - Is this stuff legal?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numerical-recipes-is-this-stuff-legal/581374)
**Author:** [@Calculon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calculon)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numerical-recipes-is-this-stuff-legal/581374 "2011-05-11T07:58:51Z")
So here is a debate question for the legal and scientific minds out there. One of the books that constantly gets referred to in applied numerical methods is Numerical Recipes. One of the main selling points of this boo… --- ## [Pharmacists and refusals](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pharmacists-and-refusals/577713)
**Author:** [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Replies:** 753\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pharmacists-and-refusals/577713 "2011-05-11T03:09:54Z")
A year ago, in this thread, we discussed at length the various obligations to dispense medicine that we felt pharmacists should have. An Illinois court just decided Morr-Fitz, Inc. v. Blagojevich. Illinois adopted an ad… --- ## [Former theists turned atheists: what arguments were most effective in turning you?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-theists-turned-atheists-what-arguments-were-most-effective-in-turning-you/579037)
**Author:** [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Replies:** 137\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-theists-turned-atheists-what-arguments-were-most-effective-in-turning-you/579037 "2011-05-10T23:19:30Z")
Not really a debate, but this is the default forum for religion threads. To atheists who used to be theists - especially to those who were the most hardcore, fundamentalist types - what is the most effective argument o… --- ## [Should Obama have released the photos?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-have-released-the-photos/580799)
**Author:** [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Replies:** 140\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-have-released-the-photos/580799 "2011-05-10T23:04:31Z")
So, the decision by the administration is officially that they won’t release pics of a dead Osama Bin Laden. I personally think they should, one because it will quell some conspiracy theorists and two, having hard(ish) e… --- ## [Why did Jesus refuse to perform miracles on demand?\*](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-jesus-refuse-to-perform-miracles-on-demand/580286)
**Author:** [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Replies:** 189\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-jesus-refuse-to-perform-miracles-on-demand/580286 "2011-05-10T20:34:37Z")
Jesus reportedly performed many miracles, but adamantly refused to perform “stupid God tricks”- demonstrations on demand as proof of his divinity. In fact, God or Jesus or his prophets seem broadly adverse to performing … --- ## [Convince me that euthanasia should be illegal.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-that-euthanasia-should-be-illegal/581409)
**Author:** [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-that-euthanasia-should-be-illegal/581409 "2011-05-10T19:19:31Z")
Some years ago, a friend of mine confessed to me that she had killed her mother. It wasn’t murder, at least in my view. Her mother had terminal cancer and was in quite of bit of agony, so much so that the morphine did li… --- ## [Knowing the consequences would Osama Bin Laden have gone ahead with Sept 11?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knowing-the-consequences-would-osama-bin-laden-have-gone-ahead-with-sept-11/581010)
**Author:** [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Replies:** 41\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knowing-the-consequences-would-osama-bin-laden-have-gone-ahead-with-sept-11/581010 "2011-05-10T18:41:02Z")
So suppose on September 8th 2001 OBL received a divine vision of what the world would look like some 9 1/2 years later if he went through with the attack. Would he do so, or would the revelation of subsequent event cha… --- ## [Revolution in America - could this actually happen?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolution-in-america-could-this-actually-happen/578206)
**Author:** [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Replies:** 101\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolution-in-america-could-this-actually-happen/578206 "2011-05-10T16:32:43Z")
I’m talking about a real revolution - people organizing and taking up arms against their government, not a pseudo revolution “at the ballot box”. I’m also not talking about another country getting involved in any way to… --- ## [Why Tory support for the Union?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-tory-support-for-the-union/580190)
**Author:** [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Replies:** 52\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-tory-support-for-the-union/580190 "2011-05-10T13:35:09Z")
The Tory party are pretty strongly unionist. However, this appears to make no sense on the face of it: the Tory heartland is England whereas Labour is more or less propped up by support in Scotland and the north of Engl… --- ## [Taxes: If I can't abort my fetus because it's a person, should I get to claim it as a dependent?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes-if-i-cant-abort-my-fetus-because-its-a-person-should-i-get-to-claim-it-as-a-dependent/579413)
**Author:** [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Replies:** 51\ **Last updated:** [April 25, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes-if-i-cant-abort-my-fetus-because-its-a-person-should-i-get-to-claim-it-as-a-dependent/579413 "2011-04-25T04:56:49Z")
I suppose this question is for the anti-abortion folks posting, but it’s just something I was thinking about the other day. Just an interesting little debate topic. If the contention made by pro-lifers is that a fetus i… --- ## [Obama Campaigned He'd Administrate Like Lincoln - Has He?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-campaigned-hed-administrate-like-lincoln-has-he/581160)
**Author:** [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Replies:** 18\ **Last updated:** [May 10, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-campaigned-hed-administrate-like-lincoln-has-he/581160 "2011-05-10T06:07:08Z")
I realize even the assertion in the title - that Obama said he would run a presidency like Lincoln’s - is debatable, but when asked what book he’d take to the White House, he said “Team of Rivals,” which is a book about … --- ## [Was Killing Osama Bin Laden Lawful?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-killing-osama-bin-laden-lawful/580474)
**Author:** [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Replies:** 187\ **Last updated:** [May 9, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-killing-osama-bin-laden-lawful/580474 "2011-05-09T20:31:21Z")
What is the legal justifications for killing OBL? If there is no ‘war’ against Al Qaeda, and OBL is not a combatant, then I don’t see how his intentional targeting for killing\* is legally justified when he’s living in a… --- ## [Why WASN'T Osama Bin Laden Armed?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-osama-bin-laden-armed/580820)
**Author:** [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Replies:** 97\ **Last updated:** [May 9, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-osama-bin-laden-armed/580820 "2011-05-09T12:07:05Z")
If I was on the third floor of a building, and I heard what I could only assume were enemy helicopters approach (and in the case of one of them, crash), and then people shooting their way up the first two floors, I sure … --- ## [Why was the name "Geronimo" used in the bin Laden mission? \[edited title\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-name-geronimo-used-in-the-bin-laden-mission-edited-title/580988)
**Author:** [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Replies:** 25\ **Last updated:** [May 9, 2011, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-name-geronimo-used-in-the-bin-laden-mission-edited-title/580988 "2011-05-09T09:02:47Z")
Inspired by this thread in the Pit. I’m assuming, by the way, that: There is no factual answer readily at hand, thereby opening it to debate, rather than GQ. Please correct me if this is a poor assumption. The code n… --- ## [Ideally, what should a legislator swear to? If anything?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideally-what-should-a-legislator-swear-to-if-anything/580945)
**Author:** [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [May 9, 2011, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ideally-what-should-a-legislator-swear-to-if-anything/580945 "2011-05-09T08:30:36Z")
Well, in the USA, I think one has to swear or affirm loyalty to “the Constitution”–which can construed as the 1787 constitution or more properly its form as presently amended. Which if you step back and look at it is pr… --- ## [What if Edward VIII had managed to stay on the throne?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-edward-viii-had-managed-to-stay-on-the-throne/581088)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [May 9, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-edward-viii-had-managed-to-stay-on-the-throne/581088 "2011-05-09T06:29:45Z")
George VI became King of the UK, etc. – and his daughter Elizabeth eventually became Queen – only because his elder brother Edward VIII was determined to marry a twice-divorced (and still married when she met him) Americ… --- ## [Time to Bring the Troops Home](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-bring-the-troops-home/581155)
**Author:** [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [May 9, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-bring-the-troops-home/581155 "2011-05-09T05:36:07Z")
What are we doing in Afghanistan and Iraq? Shouldn’t we save ourselves huge amounts of money and bring the troops home? I think we’re just propping up the usual collection of Middle East scumbags (in Afghanistan, especia… --- ## [C.S. Lewis/Screwtape and the spiritual threat/value of "flippancy"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/c-s-lewis-screwtape-and-the-spiritual-threat-value-of-flippancy/581007)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 55\ **Last updated:** [May 9, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/c-s-lewis-screwtape-and-the-spiritual-threat-value-of-flippancy/581007 "2011-05-09T02:22:29Z")
In Chapter 11 of The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape examines “the causes of human laughter” from the POV of a tempter-devil. “Joy” and “Fun” are dismissed as useless. “The Joke Proper, which turns on sudden perception of… --- ## [Have we gained anything by banning "cowboys & indians"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-gained-anything-by-banning-cowboys-indians/580750)
**Author:** [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Replies:** 58\ **Last updated:** [May 8, 2011, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-gained-anything-by-banning-cowboys-indians/580750 "2011-05-08T10:55:31Z")
Beginning in the Seventies, there was a concerted effort by moms in America to make sure that their boys never played with toy guns. No games of “Army” or “Cowboys & Indians”. Many banned little green soldiers and GI J… --- ## [The REAL problem of the US.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-problem-of-the-us/581124)
**Author:** [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Replies:** 34\ **Last updated:** [May 8, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-problem-of-the-us/581124 "2011-05-08T05:33:41Z")
This is something my father pointed out to me. He said that the REAL problem, is the rich do not want higher taxes, but the poor don’t want less free shit. The Repubs want to make abortion and stem cell research illegal… --- ## [Why not admit we are in Libya for oil reasons?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-admit-we-are-in-libya-for-oil-reasons/576468)
**Author:** [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Replies:** 183\ **Last updated:** [May 7, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-admit-we-are-in-libya-for-oil-reasons/576468 "2011-05-07T23:34:18Z")
I do not understand the political rhetoric. We are in Libya to arrest massacres? Granted, that is not a bad goal. But… there is already a war started. Rebels vs. their government, and their government is coming out sho… --- ## [How will the coronation of Charles III differ from that of Elizabeth II?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-coronation-of-charles-iii-differ-from-that-of-elizabeth-ii/579984)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 123\ **Last updated:** [May 7, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-coronation-of-charles-iii-differ-from-that-of-elizabeth-ii/579984 "2011-05-07T20:11:34Z")
This Royal Wedding fervor got me generally interested and I found an old film of the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, on YouTube as a seven-part series – start here. Quite a sublime and splendid spectacle, with all t… --- ## [Is the Word 'Pederasty' Outdated?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-pederasty-outdated/580810)
**Author:** [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [May 7, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-pederasty-outdated/580810 "2011-05-07T13:58:30Z")
Maybe some of you could help me, I am looking for a word. It refers to men who molest little girls, but also could just refer to men who have sex with women. Ridiculous, no? Yet that basically what pederast means. It is… --- ## [How will Al Quaida attack the US?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-al-quaida-attack-the-us/580976)
**Author:** [@contradancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/contradancer)\ **Replies:** 34\ **Last updated:** [May 7, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-al-quaida-attack-the-us/580976 "2011-05-07T12:51:44Z")
Taking down the internet Taking down our financial systems by forcing us to lose faith in them by hacking into bank accounts, Paypal, any place they can steal from businesses or individuals. Feeding dissent and disorder… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=387) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=389)