# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=399 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 400 --- ## [Calories per Dollar.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-per-dollar/573029)
**Author:** [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Replies:** 41\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-per-dollar/573029 "2011-03-16T03:28:20Z")
I’ve heard many times, on here, as well as in an interview with Michael Pollan that the cheapest calories per dollar in the grocery store was to buy cookies. The discussion then goes on about how this is harmful to the … --- ## [Should employees have access to company books?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-employees-have-access-to-company-books/574704)
**Author:** [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Replies:** 60\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-employees-have-access-to-company-books/574704 "2011-03-16T00:57:00Z")
In the NFL lockout thread, people are discussing whether employees should have access to company books, especially in a collective bargaining context. I believe employees ABSOLUTELY should have access, so they have a sen… --- ## [Is it "wrong" to get high at all?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-get-high-at-all/574759)
**Author:** [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Replies:** 21\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-get-high-at-all/574759 "2011-03-15T23:18:33Z")
Hello all, I am very curious about something; and I know from experience you’re the best people to ask. I was wondering today, if there was a new (imaginary, ok?) drug that categorically could not harm anyone, but was a… --- ## ["It's evening in America", says today's GOP](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-evening-in-america-says-todays-gop/574415)
**Author:** [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Replies:** 55\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-evening-in-america-says-todays-gop/574415 "2011-03-15T20:39:16Z")
I thought Renee Loth put it well here: So how do they go on to restore the facade of Reaganesque “morning in America” optimism from here? Is the tradition of saying “No, the DEMS are the defeatists; we BELIEVE in indi… --- ## [I Am Assuming This Widely-Circulated Telegraph Article On Tohoku Quake Was/Is A Dog Whistle](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-assuming-this-widely-circulated-telegraph-article-on-tohoku-quake-was-is-a-dog-whistle/574734)
**Author:** [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Replies:** 25\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-assuming-this-widely-circulated-telegraph-article-on-tohoku-quake-was-is-a-dog-whistle/574734 "2011-03-15T17:50:06Z")
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100079703/why-is-there-no-looting-in-japan/ And I largely agree with the (assumed) dog whistle assumption that this is unimaginable in a multicultural non-ownership-society cultu… --- ## [charismatic mega-fauna and rhino ranching](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564)
**Author:** [@usuboy71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usuboy71)\ **Replies:** 79\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564 "2011-03-15T14:45:14Z")
Can we preserve charismatic mega-fauna in rhino ranches? --- ## ["Holy Books" the keys to long-forgotten knowledge? \[closed, duplicate\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-books-the-keys-to-long-forgotten-knowledge-closed-duplicate/574711)
**Author:** [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-books-the-keys-to-long-forgotten-knowledge-closed-duplicate/574711 "2011-03-14T22:51:09Z")
What if all the advances we have made were really just giant leaps backward instead of forward? What if we had already known these things millions of years ago, and are just know relearning them? I have had time to read … --- ## [Shots fired from North Korea, yet?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shots-fired-from-north-korea-yet/574100)
**Author:** [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shots-fired-from-north-korea-yet/574100 "2011-03-14T22:17:24Z")
Technically, the Korean War never ended, but is it likely that NK will actually break the cease-fire in response to joint SK and US military drills? It seems to me that Kim-Jong-Il is little more than a small dog with a … --- ## [Is criminal profiling basically cold reading? (with a special call out to Ianzin)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criminal-profiling-basically-cold-reading-with-a-special-call-out-to-ianzin/573670)
**Author:** [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Replies:** 273\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criminal-profiling-basically-cold-reading-with-a-special-call-out-to-ianzin/573670 "2011-03-14T22:10:06Z")
So I’ve been reading a book called What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures which is a compilations of articles by New Yorker writer, Malcolm Gladwell. One of the articles is a piece on criminal profiling in which he compa… --- ## [Why DON'T WE Tap The Strategic Petroleum Reserve?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-tap-the-strategic-petroleum-reserve/573810)
**Author:** [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Replies:** 98\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-tap-the-strategic-petroleum-reserve/573810 "2011-03-14T19:30:14Z")
I just paid $4.55/gallon for heating oil-isn’t it time? Why not? --- ## [Michigan Republicans create "financial martial law"; appointees to replace elected local officials](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-republicans-create-financial-martial-law-appointees-to-replace-elected-local-officials/574325)
**Author:** [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Replies:** 67\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-republicans-create-financial-martial-law-appointees-to-replace-elected-local-officials/574325 "2011-03-14T17:56:29Z")
See here and here Excerpt: I always knew Republican lip service supporting “local government” over centralized government was just hypocritical bullshit Topics for discussion: \[ul\] \[li\]Can this bill pass a court ch… --- ## [Are we just going to spend ourselves into oblivion?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-just-going-to-spend-ourselves-into-oblivion/574392)
**Author:** [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Replies:** 35\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-just-going-to-spend-ourselves-into-oblivion/574392 "2011-03-14T15:40:09Z")
The Republicans want to cut 100B, the Democrats want to cut, what, 5B? The decicit is measured on a WHOLE OTHER ORDER OF MAGNITUDE. They are both just rearranging the deck chairs. Helloooo?!? Wiemar Republic? Zimbabwe?… --- ## [Who's the most scornful of American labor - the Right or the Left?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-scornful-of-american-labor-the-right-or-the-left/574426)
**Author:** [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-scornful-of-american-labor-the-right-or-the-left/574426 "2011-03-14T13:02:49Z")
Given the current multi-state brouhaha over rolling back union negotiating rights for public workers, it should be a slam dunk that the right wing is most hostile to labor. But damn if Utah isn’t giving us a fine exampl… --- ## [What if Fremont had won the 1856 election?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-fremont-had-won-the-1856-election/574384)
**Author:** [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-fremont-had-won-the-1856-election/574384 "2011-03-14T07:47:33Z")
For background, John Fremont was the first Presidential candidate of the Republican Party. He lost the 1856 election to the Democrat James Buchanan. As I’m assuming most people know, the second Republican Presidential ca… --- ## [Bottom up economics - trickledown doesn't work](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bottom-up-economics-trickledown-doesnt-work/573626)
**Author:** [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Replies:** 119\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bottom-up-economics-trickledown-doesnt-work/573626 "2011-03-14T05:04:18Z")
We need a major overhaul of the economy. Modern industrial economics is showing the limits of what it can create since it has been so successful at increasing productivity. Productivity that requires less and less labor … --- ## [Why do Christians think Mary was a virgin?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-think-mary-was-a-virgin/573170)
**Author:** [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Replies:** 116\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-think-mary-was-a-virgin/573170 "2011-03-14T01:58:39Z")
… or do they? Why do Christians believe the Mother of Jesus was a virgin? Do all sects believe it? (We’ve had various threads on questions of Biblical historicity lately; why not this one?) Paul never said she was a … --- ## [Is the NAACP a racist concept?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-a-racist-concept/573494)
**Author:** [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Replies:** 47\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-a-racist-concept/573494 "2011-03-14T01:36:20Z")
A couple of definitions from dictionary.com: Racism: a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s ow… --- ## [Is suicide a basic human right?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-suicide-a-basic-human-right/573877)
**Author:** [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Replies:** 64\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-suicide-a-basic-human-right/573877 "2011-03-14T00:52:04Z")
Absolutely. It is a completely valid decision by a person in sound mind to choose to end their own life. It applies to the ill and the well, it applies to prisoners and the free, it applies to thirty-year-olds and to ce… --- ## ["Most rebellions end in carnage and tyranny"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-rebellions-end-in-carnage-and-tyranny/574574)
**Author:** [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-rebellions-end-in-carnage-and-tyranny/574574 "2011-03-13T22:48:56Z")
says Niall Ferguson in a commentary recently featured in Newsweek magazine, online here. He pointedly calls into question American’s romantic views of rebellion inherited from our own revolution. Sadly, the record of his… --- ## [What's the dope on "The Secret" and "The Laws of Attraction"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dope-on-the-secret-and-the-laws-of-attraction/427924)
**Author:** [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Replies:** 43\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dope-on-the-secret-and-the-laws-of-attraction/427924 "2011-03-13T21:58:08Z")
Over the summer I had the opportunity to view a film titled “The Secret”. Long story short, it is about some type of New Age philosophy centering on visualizing what you want and you will get it. It is based on somethi… --- ## [What if the US just shut the door?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-us-just-shut-the-door/574537)
**Author:** [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-us-just-shut-the-door/574537 "2011-03-13T20:30:45Z")
Over the past few weeks, no less than three people I know have advocated a return to American isolationism to varying degrees, such as advocating Feed America First, which leads me to bring up a hypothetical scenario, ba… --- ## [Pacifist opposition to Hitler](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifist-opposition-to-hitler/572680)
**Author:** [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Replies:** 53\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifist-opposition-to-hitler/572680 "2011-03-13T20:25:21Z")
Based on some posts in other threads. Would a pacifist organization have been able to offer any significant opposition to Hitler and the Nazi regime? Either in Germany or from without? I don’t want to debate whether th… --- ## [Reconciling knowing God with a limitless God](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reconciling-knowing-god-with-a-limitless-god/573870)
**Author:** [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Replies:** 45\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reconciling-knowing-god-with-a-limitless-god/573870 "2011-03-13T17:26:14Z")
In this thread, a question about reconciling free will with an omniscient God was presented to theists, and the discussion that ensued inspired me to post this: The idea that God can be/do whatever he wants because he … --- ## [Illinois bans death penalty](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-bans-death-penalty/574171)
**Author:** [@donnie\_darko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donnie_darko)\ **Replies:** 108\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-bans-death-penalty/574171 "2011-03-13T17:22:59Z")
What do you think? Personally I think it’s a great move. I hope every state in America bans it soon, it’s embarrassing that we still put people to death. I understand there are a lot of psychos out there, but simply get… --- ## [Computer Singularity by 2045?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-singularity-by-2045/571704)
**Author:** [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Replies:** 180\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-singularity-by-2045/571704 "2011-03-13T15:13:50Z")
I don’t start many threads, especially in GD, but the cover story in this week’s Time magazine really got me thinking. I did a brief search, but don’t see any mention of it elsewhere. I mentioned the article in this thre… --- ## [Believers: How would you react to the following events?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574371)
**Author:** [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Replies:** 32\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574371 "2011-03-13T14:50:03Z")
You, and everyone, hears a voice in their heads asking them to go outside if possible. If not the building you’re in becomes transparent. If blind you are temporarily allowed sight. The sky becomes a large screen and a … --- ## [Bible thumper responds to video by atheist girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-thumper-responds-to-video-by-atheist-girl/572999)
**Author:** [@MuleSkinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MuleSkinner)\ **Replies:** 84\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-thumper-responds-to-video-by-atheist-girl/572999 "2011-03-13T12:54:26Z")
I sent the following YouTube video to a friend: She sent it to her brother who responded by sending her back a rebuttal. I would love for some of you to help me with a response since I’m not knowledgeable… --- ## [Would it be possible for a planet to evolve only one form of animal life?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-possible-for-a-planet-to-evolve-only-one-form-of-animal-life/574474)
**Author:** [@Flying\_Saucer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Saucer)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-possible-for-a-planet-to-evolve-only-one-form-of-animal-life/574474 "2011-03-13T12:10:24Z")
If a planet requires, or is likely to have, a diverse biosphere, does that mean there have to be a lot of animals on the planet? Could Earth have evolved with lush forests, lofty mountains, forbidding deserts, and absolu… --- ## [Should posters be required to use their real names at message boards?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-posters-be-required-to-use-their-real-names-at-message-boards/574212)
**Author:** [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Replies:** 62\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-posters-be-required-to-use-their-real-names-at-message-boards/574212 "2011-03-13T07:37:38Z")
This article in Slate by Farhad Manjoo advocates the end of the use of anonymous comments on message boards and that people be made to use their real names when posting comments. I could go into more detail on the reaso… --- ## [Is Tiger Woods 19 times as patriotic as Newt?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tiger-woods-19-times-as-patriotic-as-newt/574247)
**Author:** [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Replies:** 49\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2011, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tiger-woods-19-times-as-patriotic-as-newt/574247 "2011-03-13T07:33:39Z")
Tiger reportedly had 19 mistresses (although various tabloids have the number as high as 120). Should a man as patriotic and hard-working as that be our next President? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=398) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=400)