# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=444 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 445 --- ## [Thus passes McChrystal?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thus-passes-mcchrystal/544113)
**Author:** [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Replies:** 217\ **Last updated:** [July 24, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thus-passes-mcchrystal/544113 "2010-07-24T19:59:01Z")
It seems Gen. McChrystal runs a pretty loose ship over in Afghanistan: McChrystal has been summoned to Washington shortly after apologizing for his and his staff’s remarks. While he’s not openly pulling a MacArthur, i… --- ## [The Obama Paradox](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-paradox/547832)
**Author:** [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [July 24, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-paradox/547832 "2010-07-24T17:29:57Z")
I went to Rachel Maddow’s blog to praise her work on the Sherrod incident and watched this video Rachel crystalizes what I’ve been trying to express in some of the GD political threads. Our focus is being misdirected t… --- ## [Please synopsize the answer to "Races have xyz innate characteristics/abilities/predispositions"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-synopsize-the-answer-to-races-have-xyz-innate-characteristics-abilities-predispositions/545078)
**Author:** [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Replies:** 274\ **Last updated:** [July 24, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-synopsize-the-answer-to-races-have-xyz-innate-characteristics-abilities-predispositions/545078 "2010-07-24T15:56:26Z")
I’ve seen the massive race threads in the past, but have never really bothered to dissect all the “does so - does not” arguments regarding the seemingly overwhelming athletic domination performance by certain African eth… --- ## [New Transit Trade Agreement](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-transit-trade-agreement/547726)
**Author:** [@Abisafyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abisafyan)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [July 24, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-transit-trade-agreement/547726 "2010-07-24T04:29:06Z")
New Transit Trade Agreement Signing the New Transit Trade Agreement with Afghanistan by the grace of America is nothing more than granting India & her Ally Afghanistan legitimization and facilitation in re: underway te… --- ## [Proper response to 'Ring and Run'](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-response-to-ring-and-run/547748)
**Author:** [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [July 23, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-response-to-ring-and-run/547748 "2010-07-23T20:18:16Z")
I just came across an article on salon.com this morning, “Ding dong ditch” victim retaliates, faces charges. Not too much to the basic story beyond: There are some added complexities for this specific case (teen’s age … --- ## [BP says the well is capped and no oil is leaking in the Gulf.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-says-the-well-is-capped-and-no-oil-is-leaking-in-the-gulf/546822)
**Author:** [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Replies:** 98\ **Last updated:** [July 23, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-says-the-well-is-capped-and-no-oil-is-leaking-in-the-gulf/546822 "2010-07-23T20:10:16Z")
BP says the well cap has worked and plugged the well. They are showing pictures and it looks like it is slowly beginning to mist and a tiny stream appears to be coming out. --- ## [Resolved: If a company will ding your credit for not paying...](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-a-company-will-ding-your-credit-for-not-paying/547722)
**Author:** [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [July 23, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-a-company-will-ding-your-credit-for-not-paying/547722 "2010-07-23T17:18:33Z")
then by law, they must report all dealings, including positive ones. Throughout the years, I’ve seen many companies only report when a bill goes unpaid and is sent to collections. I propose a law that requires all comp… --- ## [What if Iraq had invaded Saudi Arabia in 1990?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-iraq-had-invaded-saudi-arabia-in-1990/547074)
**Author:** [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Replies:** 27\ **Last updated:** [July 23, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-iraq-had-invaded-saudi-arabia-in-1990/547074 "2010-07-23T17:16:38Z")
Back in 1990, Iraq was making claims against both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Then they invaded and occupied Kuwait. My personal opinion is that Saddam’s claims and threats against Saudi Arabia were mostly for diplomatic p… --- ## [Did Netanyahu's security detail ever get their guns back?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-netanyahus-security-detail-ever-get-their-guns-back/547528)
**Author:** [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [July 23, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-netanyahus-security-detail-ever-get-their-guns-back/547528 "2010-07-23T07:10:08Z")
Netanyahu flew into JFK airport and the Glock’s of his security detail were stolen from their luggage. July 8, 2010 http://www.shalomlife.com/eng/13240/Netanyahu%27s\_Guns\_Go\_Missing/ From the article: Since then I h… --- ## [I'm a US servicemember tasked with evacuating civilians in an untenable situation. May I surrender?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-us-servicemember-tasked-with-evacuating-civilians-in-an-untenable-situation-may-i-surrender/546001)
**Author:** [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Replies:** 40\ **Last updated:** [July 23, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-us-servicemember-tasked-with-evacuating-civilians-in-an-untenable-situation-may-i-surrender/546001 "2010-07-23T02:16:49Z")
I’m not sure if this should go in GD, GQ, or IMHO. I started to flip a coin but then realized that since I had three possibilities I’d be better off throwing dice, and then I said fuck it. Anyway… From Article Two of t… --- ## [Catholics thinking of ordaining women? \[i.e. Roman Catholic Church's priorities fucked up. E](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-thinking-of-ordaining-women-i-e-roman-catholic-churchs-priorities-fucked-up-e/547036)
**Author:** [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Replies:** 72\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-thinking-of-ordaining-women-i-e-roman-catholic-churchs-priorities-fucked-up-e/547036 "2010-07-22T21:34:58Z")
My first reaction to the news that ordination of female priests is just as bad as pedophilia was that since they seem okay with the latter, maybe they are considering the former. --- ## [Is it possible to break a commitment to an animal? Does giving a pet away make a person bad?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553)
**Author:** [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Replies:** 45\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-break-a-commitment-to-an-animal-does-giving-a-pet-away-make-a-person-bad/541553 "2010-07-22T20:50:18Z")
This thread is suggested by a post in another thread. First I’ll quote it: \[QUOTE=you know, I don’t think I’ll say. This ain’t the Pit, and I’m not aiming to criticize anybody anyway.\] People who make a commitment to… --- ## [Could you view religious people as "fans"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-view-religious-people-as-fans/547292)
**Author:** [@PsyXe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PsyXe)\ **Replies:** 43\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-view-religious-people-as-fans/547292 "2010-07-22T19:01:47Z")
I’ve been analysing my own emotional reactions since this thread: How did so many atheists end up here? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board started, and I’ve come to the conclusion that apart from the mildly un… --- ## [HOW Does Lowering Taxes Increase Revenue](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lowering-taxes-increase-revenue/546700)
**Author:** [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Replies:** 119\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lowering-taxes-increase-revenue/546700 "2010-07-22T17:54:18Z")
Damuri Ajashi currently has a thread titled, “Resolved: Tax cuts do NOT result in higher tax revenue.” Several dopers have asserted that this statement is not correct, meaning that lowering taxes can (or will) increase … --- ## [Are Americans so angry about politics because the U.S. is declining as a world power?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-so-angry-about-politics-because-the-u-s-is-declining-as-a-world-power/547243)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 95\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-so-angry-about-politics-because-the-u-s-is-declining-as-a-world-power/547243 "2010-07-22T15:57:28Z")
Yesterday I heard Sasha Abramsky interviewed on All Things Considered regarding an article, “Look Ahead in Anger,” he just published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Abramsky’s thesis is that the level of anger we’… --- ## [Global Population: What to do about our ever growing species?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-population-what-to-do-about-our-ever-growing-species/546391)
**Author:** [@Rhynox\_Philibuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhynox_Philibuster)\ **Replies:** 87\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-population-what-to-do-about-our-ever-growing-species/546391 "2010-07-22T15:42:25Z")
“The world’s population has risen from two billion in 1930 to 6.8 billion now, with nine billion projected by 2050.” I pulled this from an article On BBC, check it out here if you like. In every major city across the… --- ## [Does the fact that we (the US) have the oldest constitution in the world a good or bad thing?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-fact-that-we-the-us-have-the-oldest-constitution-in-the-world-a-good-or-bad-thing/547164)
**Author:** [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Replies:** 102\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-fact-that-we-the-us-have-the-oldest-constitution-in-the-world-a-good-or-bad-thing/547164 "2010-07-22T11:17:56Z")
I say bad. My armchair theory goes something like this: I believe in biology something like 99% of every specie that has ever lived on this planet is extinct now. If I remember my biology class correctly, the reason why… --- ## [Explain fascism please.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-fascism-please/547065)
**Author:** [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Replies:** 162\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-fascism-please/547065 "2010-07-22T05:18:26Z")
Can you explain fascism? I just don’t understand what it means as a coherent ideology. I read the Wiki article, which was very long winded, but I am no closer to understanding it. Here are some of my ideas of what I t… --- ## [Afghan Idol](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afghan-idol/547137)
**Author:** [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [July 22, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afghan-idol/547137 "2010-07-22T00:26:27Z")
What will be the implications of an Afghan version of American Idol being produced and broadcast in Afghanistan? --- ## [Government Waste vs Market Inefficiencies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/government-waste-vs-market-inefficiencies/545719)
**Author:** [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Replies:** 212\ **Last updated:** [July 21, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/government-waste-vs-market-inefficiencies/545719 "2010-07-21T18:02:28Z")
The debates involving health care and UHC, and now debates about farming, tend to present the notion of government waste as repudiation for socialist policies. The most recent being food rotting in government warehouses… --- ## [Can Highly Paid Talk-Show Hosts be Trusted?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-highly-paid-talk-show-hosts-be-trusted/546360)
**Author:** [@Krammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krammer)\ **Replies:** 52\ **Last updated:** [July 21, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-highly-paid-talk-show-hosts-be-trusted/546360 "2010-07-21T17:38:47Z")
Here goes my first post: I often listen to talk-shows (mostly on radio) and find find them very entertaining. But, I often find myself wallowing in disbelief at the utter nonsense that spews forth from those golden micr… --- ## [The tea party movement is likely to become legitimate.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movement-is-likely-to-become-legitimate/547298)
**Author:** [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Replies:** 70\ **Last updated:** [July 21, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movement-is-likely-to-become-legitimate/547298 "2010-07-21T16:12:36Z")
I know there is no central tea party organization to which all other tea partiers are loyal. It started as a reactionary movement to oppose Obama and the democrat takeover of the house and senate, and as a consequence h… --- ## [What if the Spanish Revolution had survived?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-spanish-revolution-had-survived/546116)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 84\ **Last updated:** [July 21, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-spanish-revolution-had-survived/546116 "2010-07-21T06:42:39Z")
Spinoff from this thread, “Is it possible to be anti-capitalist and pro-market?” When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, another, related but distinct phenomenon took place: The mainly anarcho-syndicalist Spanish … --- ## [Right to Repair Act, Yea or Nay?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-repair-act-yea-or-nay/547358)
**Author:** [@A.Selene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Selene)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [July 21, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-repair-act-yea-or-nay/547358 "2010-07-21T05:02:56Z")
The Right to Repair Act (RTRA) has been kicking around Congress for years now, and another big push for its passage is underway. For those that don’t know, the RTRA is supposed to make available to independent automotiv… --- ## [Could Plato's Republic have worked, if it had been tried?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-platos-republic-have-worked-if-it-had-been-tried/547313)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [July 21, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-platos-republic-have-worked-if-it-had-been-tried/547313 "2010-07-21T01:24:01Z")
Plato’s Republic or “City in Speech” is a lot like ancient Sparta, very slightly kinder and gentler, with an elite of philosophers grafted on top of the elite of warriors. It is usually taken as a pure thought-experimen… --- ## [Has Apple Misstepped Badly with the iPhone 4?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-apple-misstepped-badly-with-the-iphone-4/545350)
**Author:** [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Replies:** 111\ **Last updated:** [July 20, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-apple-misstepped-badly-with-the-iphone-4/545350 "2010-07-20T19:19:46Z")
I decided to put this in Great Debates because the way people feel about this stuff, that’s what it will become. The iPhone 4 was recently released to great fanfare, but is now plagued by a well publicized problem with … --- ## [The Congress and Godwin's law](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-congress-and-godwins-law/546963)
**Author:** [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Replies:** 22\ **Last updated:** [July 20, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-congress-and-godwins-law/546963 "2010-07-20T17:06:05Z")
A Republican member of Congress actually compared Obama to Hitler, on the floor, for getting BP to fund the Gulf Coast clean up. No offense but: what. the. fuck? What is happening to your political system? --- ## [Netanyahu: US easily manipulated (Video)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netanyahu-us-easily-manipulated-video/547299)
**Author:** [@Sri\_Theo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sri_Theo)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [July 20, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netanyahu-us-easily-manipulated-video/547299 "2010-07-20T11:25:49Z")
A video of the Israeli Prime Minister has recently leaked out, in it he apparently makes the statement that in a discussion about circumventing the Oslo accords (an agreement based upon mutual recognition by Israel and… --- ## [Most people are agnostic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-people-are-agnostic/546977)
**Author:** [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Replies:** 40\ **Last updated:** [July 19, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-people-are-agnostic/546977 "2010-07-19T20:25:27Z")
The discussion of and definition of the border between atheist/agnostic is common on this board. The other day I was pondering this and approached it from another point of view: where’s the border agnostic/religious? He… --- ## [Is Obama African-American?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-african-american/546606)
**Author:** [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Replies:** 114\ **Last updated:** [July 19, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-african-american/546606 "2010-07-19T19:48:54Z")
Obama’s father came to the US as an exchange student in the 1960’s, he was not the descendant of slaves. He does not come from a line of people victims of US based poverty or repression. His father it could be argued was… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=443) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=445)