# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=439 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 440 --- ## [Elizabeth Warren v Chris Dodd](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-v-chris-dodd/550147)
**Author:** [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [August 24, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-v-chris-dodd/550147 "2010-08-24T18:09:44Z")
Elizabeth Warren suggested a consumer protection agency about 3 years ago. It became part of the financial regulation package. She has been pushed to lead the agency but is getting resistance from Dodd. Who will win th… --- ## [Paying off the National Debt - Why won't this work? (Round II)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-off-the-national-debt-why-wont-this-work-round-ii/549483)
**Author:** [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Replies:** 56\ **Last updated:** [August 24, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-off-the-national-debt-why-wont-this-work-round-ii/549483 "2010-08-24T13:41:53Z")
In the spirit of Astral Rejection’s thread here, I thought I would advance another idea to pay of the National Debt. Why don’t we force the government to sell off some of the federal land it owns. Force it to sell some… --- ## [The US government is bought and paid for.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-government-is-bought-and-paid-for/551189)
**Author:** [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Replies:** 33\ **Last updated:** [August 24, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-government-is-bought-and-paid-for/551189 "2010-08-24T02:29:45Z")
I think our government is bought and paid for by an ogliarchy of the super-wealthy. I also think there would be great benefit in breaking the direct payment system that allows this to work so well. Not a panacea for all … --- ## [Should people only be allowed to purchase ingredients with food stamps?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-only-be-allowed-to-purchase-ingredients-with-food-stamps/549410)
**Author:** [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dilton_Doiley_Philosopher_King)\ **Replies:** 582\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-only-be-allowed-to-purchase-ingredients-with-food-stamps/549410 "2010-08-23T16:57:32Z")
At the grocery store today, a couple in front of me had a cart full of chips, single-serving sized sugar drinks (like “Hugs” or “Squeezits” or whatever), Hostess donuts, Chips Ahoy, and the like. I watched her scan her … --- ## ["Never Had a Factually Innocent Defendant" -- Seriously, Bricker?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-had-a-factually-innocent-defendant-seriously-bricker/549443)
**Author:** [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Replies:** 131\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-had-a-factually-innocent-defendant-seriously-bricker/549443 "2010-08-23T14:32:20Z")
In this thread, \*\*Bricker \*\*makes the comment that he’s (probably) never had a defendant who was innocent of the crime according the facts. I’d like to ask Bricker and all the other attorneys (and other workers in crimi… --- ## [Was WWII neccessary for Britain ?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wwii-neccessary-for-britain/550427)
**Author:** [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Replies:** 55\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wwii-neccessary-for-britain/550427 "2010-08-23T12:34:07Z")
It wasn’t neccessary for the US for a couple of years after Britain declared war on Germany and then only because of Pearl Harbour. It would appear that Hitler’s only objective was to consolidate into Germany those coun… --- ## [Pick Your Armageddon](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-your-armageddon/549763)
**Author:** [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Replies:** 41\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-your-armageddon/549763 "2010-08-23T09:47:28Z")
OK, I’m feeling particularly bloody-minded today, so I want to know the best way to bring a mighty democracy to its knees. Let’s say you’re a hateful misanthropic messianic millennialist son-of-a-bitch with several bill… --- ## [Insourcing... Just Say No!!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insourcing-just-say-no/550655)
**Author:** [@by\_george](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by_george)\ **Replies:** 20\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insourcing-just-say-no/550655 "2010-08-23T09:08:24Z")
Why is it that the government always thinks that they can do whatever they want whenever they want to whomever they want?! The government is insourcing jobs from private sector contractors (made up of mostly minority own… --- ## [Venezuela cuts ties with Colombia](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 22\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755 "2010-08-23T07:43:10Z")
Story here. In a nutshell, Colombia claims roughly 1,500 Colombian leftist FARC rebels have set up a base in Venezuela. The Chavez government denies this, says it does all it can to keep Colombian rebels from crossing … --- ## [The data seem to indicate peak oil already happened. Are we there yet?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-data-seem-to-indicate-peak-oil-already-happened-are-we-there-yet/546219)
**Author:** [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Replies:** 110\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-data-seem-to-indicate-peak-oil-already-happened-are-we-there-yet/546219 "2010-08-23T04:20:19Z")
This graph of total world oil production displays an obvious flattening-out from 2005-2008. That is what ‘peak oil’ would look like all right. But is that the correct way to interpret it, or is there some other meaning b… --- ## [Is Afghanistan "Worth It"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-afghanistan-worth-it/545700)
**Author:** [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Replies:** 347\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-afghanistan-worth-it/545700 "2010-08-23T02:54:45Z")
I ask because combat deaths (US and coalition) have passed 1900. We have spent 100’s of $ billions, and 9 years trying to : end the rule of the Taliban bring some education to the Afghan people -“stabilize” Afghanista… --- ## [Is the US, basically, a Scottish nation?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-basically-a-scottish-nation/549994)
**Author:** [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Replies:** 86\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-basically-a-scottish-nation/549994 "2010-08-23T02:04:43Z")
It there anything to the idea that the US is to a large degree a descendant of Scotland? It seems to me that when people talk about “real Americans”, what they are talking about are Scottish protestants of pioneer stock… --- ## [Bible Criticism Refuted or No?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-criticism-refuted-or-no/547987)
**Author:** [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Replies:** 97\ **Last updated:** [August 22, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-criticism-refuted-or-no/547987 "2010-08-22T19:51:18Z")
If I google “Richard Elliott Friedman,” the sixth match I come up with is an attempted refutation of Who Wrote the Bible by Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb. I plan to go through all this more thoroughly soon but for now – being rel… --- ## [When is it OK to hate?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-it-ok-to-hate/550488)
**Author:** [@The\_Facts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Facts)\ **Replies:** 54\ **Last updated:** [August 21, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-it-ok-to-hate/550488 "2010-08-21T23:23:57Z")
Some people say that you shouldn’t hate anyone … but everyone hates nazis and child molesters and the Klan. Am I wrong if I hate evil people? --- ## [Consequences of self identifying with a group (religion)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-self-identifying-with-a-group-religion/550786)
**Author:** [@horhay\_achoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horhay_achoa)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [August 21, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-self-identifying-with-a-group-religion/550786 "2010-08-21T00:47:49Z")
In this “ground zero mosque” controversy, a lot of people are saying that not all Muslims believe the same thing. I think that is hard to disagree with, but is it a fair counter argument? Not all Democrats believe the … --- ## [So...is this Obama guy doing a good job?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-this-obama-guy-doing-a-good-job/550103)
**Author:** [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Replies:** 96\ **Last updated:** [August 20, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-this-obama-guy-doing-a-good-job/550103 "2010-08-20T22:30:42Z")
Clearly the Conservatives don’t think so, what being a Black Muslim foreign terrorist and all. And Dan Quayle’s son Ben had declared Obama the “worst President of all time”, thus proving intelligence is hereditary. \*\*B… --- ## [How did conservatives create such a powerful grassroots movement recently](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-conservatives-create-such-a-powerful-grassroots-movement-recently/550207)
**Author:** [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Replies:** 234\ **Last updated:** [August 20, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-conservatives-create-such-a-powerful-grassroots-movement-recently/550207 "2010-08-20T17:42:46Z")
Lately it seems the tea party and a grassroots conservative movement that exists outside of the control of the republican party has accomplished a lot when it comes to using primaries to the right to push out establishme… --- ## ["Marriage has a specific meaning!"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marriage-has-a-specific-meaning/549765)
**Author:** [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Replies:** 137\ **Last updated:** [August 20, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marriage-has-a-specific-meaning/549765 "2010-08-20T13:44:41Z")
One often hears the argument made by opponents to same-sex marriage that the word “marriage” has a specific meaning, and that meaning does not encompass same-sex unions, and that therefore, same-sex unions, if they’re al… --- ## [Who are Native Americans?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-native-americans/549918)
**Author:** [@Bernieyeball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernieyeball)\ **Replies:** 106\ **Last updated:** [August 20, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-native-americans/549918 "2010-08-20T11:11:38Z")
I always get grief when I pose this question but I think it is a reasonable inquiry. I suspect the humans who inhabited this continent before the arrival of Europeans did not call it North America or America. How can t… --- ## [Isn't The Federal Reserve Bank Simply A Criminal Enterprise?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-the-federal-reserve-bank-simply-a-criminal-enterprise/550672)
**Author:** [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Replies:** 65\ **Last updated:** [August 20, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-the-federal-reserve-bank-simply-a-criminal-enterprise/550672 "2010-08-20T02:14:58Z")
This debate is a discussion of the implications of this article. Federal Reserve - Wikipedia . and this (as it happens, Libertarian) missive http://mises.org/daily/3525 You may, with cites, contest the factuality of a… --- ## [So would Mexico solve its crime problems by legalising drugs?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-would-mexico-solve-its-crime-problems-by-legalising-drugs/549769)
**Author:** [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Replies:** 28\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-would-mexico-solve-its-crime-problems-by-legalising-drugs/549769 "2010-08-19T23:16:12Z")
I just saw this article about Vicente Fox’s plea to his successor to legalize drugs to break the cartel’s hold on power. Now personally I am strong believer that ALOT of Mexico’s problems with drug violence would go awa… --- ## [If Mexico legalizes drugs, how does that affect the U.S.?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mexico-legalizes-drugs-how-does-that-affect-the-u-s/550775)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mexico-legalizes-drugs-how-does-that-affect-the-u-s/550775 "2010-08-19T19:46:02Z")
Apparently Mexico is taking a hard look at drug legalization, hoping that will put an end to all the drug-cartel-related violence, murder and corruption in Mexico. Well and good, but most drugs now illegal in the U.S. a… --- ## [what a person with these qualities be called?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-person-with-these-qualities-be-called/550652)
**Author:** [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-person-with-these-qualities-be-called/550652 "2010-08-19T19:37:47Z")
Okay - so there is a set of qualities in a person I do not like. I do not like violent people, people in violent gangs, people who do hard drugs and people who aren’t motivated to get off of government assistance. If t… --- ## [This One's for Der Trihs, Pay Attention.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-ones-for-der-trihs-pay-attention/550779)
**Author:** [@jrodefeld](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrodefeld)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-ones-for-der-trihs-pay-attention/550779 "2010-08-19T19:36:48Z")
Page 1/3 I haven’t posted on here in a while, yet I have been reading through some of the threads on this site and some of the comments have left me quite discouraged for the future of our nation. I directed this threa… --- ## [David Camerons speech about Pakistan](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-camerons-speech-about-pakistan/548675)
**Author:** [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-camerons-speech-about-pakistan/548675 "2010-08-19T18:31:19Z")
Our PM recently went to India, and make an aggressive speech about Pakistan and how elements of its security forces is actively exporting terrorism, now in light of what he said, and the reaction too it, was it a stupid … --- ## [Should gay people be allowed to spawn?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-gay-people-be-allowed-to-spawn/550413)
**Author:** [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Replies:** 86\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-gay-people-be-allowed-to-spawn/550413 "2010-08-19T14:21:38Z")
Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Bertka are expecting twins via a surogate mother. My sister the lesbian’s parnter had two children via AID. Mrs. Hal Briston was a gestational surrogate for a gay couple. What a… --- ## ["IQ measures how good you are at taking IQ tests"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-measures-how-good-you-are-at-taking-iq-tests/549997)
**Author:** [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Replies:** 175\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-measures-how-good-you-are-at-taking-iq-tests/549997 "2010-08-19T14:06:53Z")
In the interminable debates about various intelligence-related topics that constantly take place on the SDMB, a frequently-expressed opinion is something along the lines of “IQ measures how good you are at taking IQ test… --- ## [rising in respect](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rising-in-respect/550717)
**Author:** [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rising-in-respect/550717 "2010-08-19T08:31:40Z")
Why must we rise every time a judge gets up? Why should we show any respect to the judge every time he get’s up? Shouldn’t we rise every time the stenographer gets up and pay her respect? --- ## [Most "radical" U.S. President](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-radical-u-s-president/535605)
**Author:** [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Replies:** 63\ **Last updated:** [August 19, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-radical-u-s-president/535605 "2010-08-19T01:00:11Z")
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House (1995–1999), recently called President Obama “the most radical administration in American history.” Gingrich may have been a history professor, but his remark made me wonder ho… --- ## [What If? Britain doesn't go Bankcrupt at end of WWII](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-britain-doesnt-go-bankcrupt-at-end-of-wwii/550346)
**Author:** [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Replies:** 62\ **Last updated:** [August 18, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-britain-doesnt-go-bankcrupt-at-end-of-wwii/550346 "2010-08-18T18:45:45Z")
I was recently watching a World War II programme and it talked about how Britain was facing a ‘financial Dunkirk’ at the end of the War. Obviously, a large part of this was because of the government selling off major ass… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=438) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=440)