# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=483 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 484 --- ## [College Campus Diversity](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-campus-diversity/524472)
**Author:** [@Telur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telur)\ **Replies:** 98\ **Last updated:** [January 22, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-campus-diversity/524472 "2010-01-22T03:19:58Z")
Why is it that colleges have admission practices that favor certain people based on race or ethnicity? I’m a senior in high school and it seems someone is always talking about affirmative action as our class is in the h… --- ## [Another of God's great works! \[Haiti earthquake\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-of-gods-great-works-haiti-earthquake/524936)
**Author:** [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Replies:** 268\ **Last updated:** [January 22, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-of-gods-great-works-haiti-earthquake/524936 "2010-01-22T00:36:40Z")
I’m not sure what the religious hoohahs are saying right now about Haiti, but they’re certainly under the gun to explain this one. Let’s see, was it God’s will that caused all the death and suffering? What a terrific G… --- ## [Atheists in Church](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-in-church/525853)
**Author:** [@Dioptre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dioptre)\ **Replies:** 65\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-in-church/525853 "2010-01-21T22:30:08Z")
After this hijacked trainwreck of a thread … Should atheists participate in religious ceremonies? If they (heaven forbid!) choose to instigate a religious ceremony such as a Christian marriage ceremony, what are the mo… --- ## [Of Infanticide and Abortion](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-infanticide-and-abortion/523695)
**Author:** [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Replies:** 278\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-infanticide-and-abortion/523695 "2010-01-21T20:29:16Z")
I just stumbled across this couple month old thread: about how female sexual habits would change if we had no abortion. Anyway, as a tangent, this post came up: In a normal society where abortion is allowed and we hav… --- ## [How much is the MA election a national statement/referendum on anything?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-ma-election-a-national-statement-referendum-on-anything/525652)
**Author:** [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Replies:** 75\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-ma-election-a-national-statement-referendum-on-anything/525652 "2010-01-21T19:57:05Z")
Obama, health care reform, the economy… Whatever you feel like bringing into this. They say “all politics are local.” Does this prove it wrong? --- ## [What happens to health care if Brown wins?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-health-care-if-brown-wins/525464)
**Author:** [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Replies:** 52\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-health-care-if-brown-wins/525464 "2010-01-21T18:10:09Z")
Apparently the latest optionbeing considered is for the Senate bill to pass without changes in the House and then pass a separate bill under reconciliation rules with the changes that the House wants. There is also the i… --- ## [Climate change deniers, doubters, and fence sitters: an honest question](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climate-change-deniers-doubters-and-fence-sitters-an-honest-question/525197)
**Author:** [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Replies:** 105\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climate-change-deniers-doubters-and-fence-sitters-an-honest-question/525197 "2010-01-21T18:07:20Z")
(I’m going to try to phrase this as neutrally as possible, but if there’s an implicit assumption or question begged, please feel free to point it out.) I didn’t want to further hijack Sqweel’s excellent but somewhat der… --- ## [Why is it illegal to possess Cuban cigars or is it?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-illegal-to-possess-cuban-cigars-or-is-it/525044)
**Author:** [@Dandmb50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandmb50)\ **Replies:** 68\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-illegal-to-possess-cuban-cigars-or-is-it/525044 "2010-01-21T17:04:32Z")
I have always wondered why Americans cannot possess Cuban cigars or fly to Cuba from the USA? Or is that true since America is big on “freedom”? I’m not sure I would want to go there except for the weather but I have alw… --- ## [Why haven't hovercraft been commercial successful?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-hovercraft-been-commercial-successful/525663)
**Author:** [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Replies:** 45\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-hovercraft-been-commercial-successful/525663 "2010-01-21T13:57:25Z")
I saw an old British movie on TV recently in which one of the characters took a hovercraft from Dover to Calais, and I thought “What a cool way to travel!” Of course, it turns out that the hover-ferry service between th… --- ## [Presidential Approval Ratings](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-approval-ratings/525816)
**Author:** [@Venetian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venetian)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-approval-ratings/525816 "2010-01-21T13:30:14Z")
Is 50% considered “rock solid” support? --- ## [Assess Obama's first-year performance](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assess-obamas-first-year-performance/525067)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 120\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assess-obamas-first-year-performance/525067 "2010-01-21T12:47:00Z")
Politifact offers a careful, nuanced, and mixed review of campaign promises broken, kept, stalled, etc. For my part, I’m not angry about any particular unmet promise. I hope we all know, before we decide how to vote, t… --- ## [Evidence of a Creator](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evidence-of-a-creator/525307)
**Author:** [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Replies:** 199\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evidence-of-a-creator/525307 "2010-01-21T10:43:46Z")
What is the origin of anything? What was there in the beginning? How did “stuff” begin? Well, to answer this question, we know that the answer falls within one of two deliberately very broad categories: Something has … --- ## [Mumia Abu Jamal decision by SCOTUS due Tuesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mumia-abu-jamal-decision-by-scotus-due-tuesday/525326)
**Author:** [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Replies:** 67\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mumia-abu-jamal-decision-by-scotus-due-tuesday/525326 "2010-01-21T07:39:45Z")
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100117/ts\_nm/us\_usa\_court\_deathpenalty Any thoughts or opinions on this case? Personally, I think it is ridiculous that it has been almost 30 years since this crime and conviction and the F… --- ## [New Orleans prostitutes recategorized as "sex offenders"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-orleans-prostitutes-recategorized-as-sex-offenders/525667)
**Author:** [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-orleans-prostitutes-recategorized-as-sex-offenders/525667 "2010-01-21T05:55:00Z")
IANAL, but this seems pretty damn stupid and pointless. “The way Louisiana’s habitual offender law works, if you challenge your sentence in court and lose, and it’s a third offense, the mandatory minimum is 20 years. Th… --- ## [Should the US relief effort in Haiti include immigration of refugees?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818)
**Author:** [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Replies:** 49\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818 "2010-01-21T04:51:11Z")
It’s bound to come up eventually. So what say you? --- ## [Republican Senate Victory](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-senate-victory/525719)
**Author:** [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Replies:** 41\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-senate-victory/525719 "2010-01-21T02:38:32Z")
I assume this OP fits in GD, but if not, I’m sure it will be moved. I am a Canadian and have not really been following domestic US politics. I read a report today (in CBC online) that the reason the GOP won yesterday’s … --- ## [Obama's first-year approval ratings closely track Reagan's](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-first-year-approval-ratings-closely-track-reagans/525501)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [January 21, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-first-year-approval-ratings-closely-track-reagans/525501 "2010-01-21T01:01:16Z")
And for largely the same reasons. So why do we keep hearing all this RW triumphalist braying about Obama’s plummeting approval ratings? --- ## [Just like reality? \[Race, crime, and home security commercials\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-like-reality-race-crime-and-home-security-commercials/485592)
**Author:** [@Paleface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paleface)\ **Replies:** 221\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-like-reality-race-crime-and-home-security-commercials/485592 "2010-01-20T22:24:40Z")
I’m sure you’ve seen those Brinks Home Security commercials. You know the ones, where there are one or two people at home, female, usually after dark and there are one or two thugs lurking around outside waiting for the … --- ## [Txtng can help u spel betta, sez BBC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/txtng-can-help-u-spel-betta-sez-bbc/525685)
**Author:** [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/txtng-can-help-u-spel-betta-sez-bbc/525685 "2010-01-20T21:10:31Z")
According to this news story from our friends at the Beeb, text speak might actually be helping students spell. I know, I don’t believe it either. I’m not entirely sure whether to just wave my hand dismissively and say … --- ## [Does humanity have too much STEM education or too little](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-humanity-have-too-much-stem-education-or-too-little/524576)
**Author:** [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Replies:** 92\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-humanity-have-too-much-stem-education-or-too-little/524576 "2010-01-20T20:46:16Z")
I keep hearing from the Obama admin how we have to invest in math & science to remain competitive. But it seems we already have enough scientists, IT workers and mathematicians who are unemployed or underemployed. Look a… --- ## [Are people who stay with people who abuse them really "victims"? Do they really deserve sympathy?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-who-stay-with-people-who-abuse-them-really-victims-do-they-really-deserve-sympathy/525178)
**Author:** [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Replies:** 80\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-who-stay-with-people-who-abuse-them-really-victims-do-they-really-deserve-sympathy/525178 "2010-01-20T19:02:19Z")
I’m reading some other threads on the whole abuser - victim dynamic, and on a personal note in talking to my daughter about what she puts up with a long distance relationship she is struggling to maintain with a dysfunct… --- ## [What if Martin Luther King had not been assassinated?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-martin-luther-king-had-not-been-assassinated/525447)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-martin-luther-king-had-not-been-assassinated/525447 "2010-01-20T18:51:23Z")
An obvious question to ask on King Day. I’m interested in one aspect in particular (but feel free to add your own to the discussion): Toward the end of his life, King was shifting his focus from race to class. He start… --- ## [Air al-Queda: should we be concerned?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-al-queda-should-we-be-concerned/524866)
**Author:** [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Replies:** 22\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-al-queda-should-we-be-concerned/524866 "2010-01-20T04:34:33Z")
Just happened to see this rather fascinating Reuters article, concerning a probable alliance between South American cocaine producers and an organization that calls itself ‘Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’. Like somethin… --- ## [Can Brown really beat Coakley for the MA Senate seat?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-brown-really-beat-coakley-for-the-ma-senate-seat/525114)
**Author:** [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Replies:** 265\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-brown-really-beat-coakley-for-the-ma-senate-seat/525114 "2010-01-20T04:13:24Z")
Hard to imagine, but the race is now neck-and-neck. Poll shows Brown Overtaking Coakley Still within the margin of error, but who’d’ve thunk even this would happen just a few weeks ago? It’s been a long time since I l… --- ## [Martin Luther King's support of gay rights](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-kings-support-of-gay-rights/525549)
**Author:** [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-kings-support-of-gay-rights/525549 "2010-01-20T02:31:41Z")
Yesterday there was this little glurgey chestnut making its way around the various social media, something to the effect of “Martin Luther King would have supported gay rights” or “MLK would have supported gay marriage”… --- ## [The looming crisis in human genetics](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-looming-crisis-in-human-genetics/519571)
**Author:** [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Replies:** 317\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-looming-crisis-in-human-genetics/519571 "2010-01-20T02:07:24Z")
Interesting article about potential future findings & taking an enlightened approach to them. Something Peter Singer & Steven Pinker have also touched on. Human geneticists have reached a private crisis of conscience, a… --- ## [Moving Isreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-isreal/524607)
**Author:** [@Odaran09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odaran09)\ **Replies:** 113\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-isreal/524607 "2010-01-20T01:11:47Z")
Why can’t we relocate Isreal to a more European location. I mean give them a safe corridor to travel through. They can even transport the buildings/land underneath that they hold sacred. I have seen houses moved and I w… --- ## [The Scientific Method is not the only form of empirical research](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scientific-method-is-not-the-only-form-of-empirical-research/525433)
**Author:** [@Dioptre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dioptre)\ **Replies:** 33\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scientific-method-is-not-the-only-form-of-empirical-research/525433 "2010-01-20T00:28:12Z")
In this thread and this thread we have had some lunacy about empirical knowledge. Lets get some of this straight. To follow the scientific method, one must: \[ol\] \[li\]Collect empirical data\[/li\]\[li\]Form a model capable… --- ## [Smokers need not apply!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-need-not-apply/525530)
**Author:** [@kmgraves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kmgraves)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [January 19, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-need-not-apply/525530 "2010-01-19T23:10:58Z")
Is refusal to hire someone because they are a smoker or overweight a violation of labor laws? --- ## [Is the Christian Trinity Incoherent?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-christian-trinity-incoherent/521422)
**Author:** [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Cleveland_Steamer)\ **Replies:** 174\ **Last updated:** [January 19, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-christian-trinity-incoherent/521422 "2010-01-19T22:48:31Z")
Correct me if I am wrong, Jesus is God. Not a part of God, but is God. Not a god, but God. Not God part of the time, but all the time. Not a mode of God, but is God. The Father is also God. Not a part of God, but is God.… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=482) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=484)