# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=488 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 489 --- ## [Ticketed for flashing headlights... (video)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ticketed-for-flashing-headlights-video/523064)
**Author:** [@erkme73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erkme73)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [December 30, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ticketed-for-flashing-headlights-video/523064 "2009-12-30T17:38:30Z")
I can assure you Florida Highway Patrol has an active policy to cite drivers who warn others of police radar. I just go popped earlier this month. The officer did not know that I had the entire incident recorded (video a… --- ## [Drug Policy](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-policy/520983)
**Author:** [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Replies:** 30\ **Last updated:** [December 29, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-policy/520983 "2009-12-29T16:21:02Z")
First a short personal background to explain my view on drugs. I grew up being told that drugs are bad and that one puff on a joint was enough to give you a psychosis or make you an addict. Had my first bottle of wine a… --- ## [The democrats losing the south from a realpolitik perspective](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democrats-losing-the-south-from-a-realpolitik-perspective/522255)
**Author:** [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Replies:** 21\ **Last updated:** [December 29, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democrats-losing-the-south-from-a-realpolitik-perspective/522255 "2009-12-29T14:50:33Z")
When LBJ signed civil rights legislation he told Bill Moyers ‘We’ve just handed the South over to the republicans for a generation’. Its actually been 2 generations and counting. Southern whites, who were once one of the… --- ## [Could the Netherlands pull off A Falklands?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-netherlands-pull-off-a-falklands/522187)
**Author:** [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Replies:** 44\ **Last updated:** [December 29, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-netherlands-pull-off-a-falklands/522187 "2009-12-29T14:26:11Z")
Follow up to this thread Let’s say President Hugo Chavez decides that islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire are part of Venezuela’s sovereign territory, and decides to liberate/invade them. Further let’s state Holland’… --- ## [Would humanity survive a major extinction event?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-humanity-survive-a-major-extinction-event/521880)
**Author:** [@Vimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimes)\ **Replies:** 35\ **Last updated:** [December 29, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-humanity-survive-a-major-extinction-event/521880 "2009-12-29T12:11:10Z")
I’m talking about things like the K-T extinction event, which wiped out 75% of Earth’s species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, or the Permian–Triassic extinction event, which killed off 96% of Earth’s marine species … --- ## [If Health Insurance Bill Passes, Could Unemployment Decrease?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-health-insurance-bill-passes-could-unemployment-decrease/522891)
**Author:** [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [December 29, 2009, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-health-insurance-bill-passes-could-unemployment-decrease/522891 "2009-12-29T07:41:54Z")
This might sound like an odd correlation, but two cases in point: My older brother is getting a retirement package from one of the companies he works for, and is getting partial retirement from the government, but is th… --- ## [CDOs are inherently vulnerable to fraud](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdos-are-inherently-vulnerable-to-fraud/522702)
**Author:** [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [December 29, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdos-are-inherently-vulnerable-to-fraud/522702 "2009-12-29T06:17:27Z")
…and here’s the proof. A team of computer scientists and economists have shown that a malevolent seller can bury lemon mortgages in a CDO and its impossible (i.e. computationally intractable) to discover that this has o… --- ## [On Conditional Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-conditional-love/522868)
**Author:** [@Strain\_of\_Thought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strain_of_Thought)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [December 29, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-conditional-love/522868 "2009-12-29T06:16:27Z")
Holiday woes conspiring to leave me particularly depressed this year, I ran a few phrases relating to love through Google to see what would turn up and found the following article: A fair warning: if you can’t see fro… --- ## [Colombia to have referendum on abolishing presidential term limits](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombia-to-have-referendum-on-abolishing-presidential-term-limits/509066)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 22\ **Last updated:** [December 28, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombia-to-have-referendum-on-abolishing-presidential-term-limits/509066 "2009-12-28T23:19:37Z")
Venezuela amended its constitution this year to abolish the two-term limit on presidents, provoking widespread criticism that Hugo Chavez was trying to make himself a Castro-like president-for-life. When President Zelay… --- ## [The Straight Dope on Fermi's Paradox...](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-fermis-paradox/520647)
**Author:** [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Replies:** 86\ **Last updated:** [December 28, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-fermis-paradox/520647 "2009-12-28T18:15:17Z")
This is something I have wondered for some time. What is the solution to Fermi’s Paradox? In case you don’t know, this is the seeming paradox that there are probably other advanced alien extraterrestrial races. But none … --- ## [Immigration and Carbon Emissions](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-and-carbon-emissions/522106)
**Author:** [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [December 28, 2009, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-and-carbon-emissions/522106 "2009-12-28T08:29:59Z")
So an extra 150 million or so people. Apparently the Sierra Club used to oppose large scale immigration on the basis population growth causes massive environmental problems. However, apparently caved to pressure by a ma… --- ## [Self-identifying and organizing by race - except for whites](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-identifying-and-organizing-by-race-except-for-whites/522201)
**Author:** [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Replies:** 102\ **Last updated:** [December 28, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-identifying-and-organizing-by-race-except-for-whites/522201 "2009-12-28T06:41:40Z")
I used to condemn any form of organization by race. A union of hispanic engineering students or east asian plumbers seemed to me at the least silly and at the worst harmful to race relations. I could never see how the … --- ## [What is a "normal attitude" about death?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-normal-attitude-about-death/522014)
**Author:** [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Replies:** 26\ **Last updated:** [December 28, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-normal-attitude-about-death/522014 "2009-12-28T04:54:37Z")
I laid my hand on the forehead of a dying woman today as she stared into the distance at something only she could see. “Mama, wait for me, I’m coming,” she mumbled again and again. Then, I fed dinner to a 93-year-old wom… --- ## [Should People Be Allowed to Climb Mt. Hood In Winter?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-allowed-to-climb-mt-hood-in-winter/522071)
**Author:** [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Replies:** 46\ **Last updated:** [December 28, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-allowed-to-climb-mt-hood-in-winter/522071 "2009-12-28T03:08:47Z")
I was wondering what the local community thinks about the loss of the two climbers on Mt. Hood? As I understand it, these people were adults, who chose to climb a mountain, knowing that a winter storm was forcasted. No… --- ## [Making health care not-for-profit](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-health-care-not-for-profit/522668)
**Author:** [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [December 28, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-health-care-not-for-profit/522668 "2009-12-28T00:49:26Z")
Many people in the US who want health care reform are arguing that the profit motive distorts the cost of health care. Here’s my question: couldn’t those who want non-profit health care just buy a public company and tur… --- ## [Why do people continue citing the Rosenbaum study as proof that abstinence education doesn't work?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-continue-citing-the-rosenbaum-study-as-proof-that-abstinence-education-doesnt-work/522490)
**Author:** [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Replies:** 20\ **Last updated:** [December 27, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-continue-citing-the-rosenbaum-study-as-proof-that-abstinence-education-doesnt-work/522490 "2009-12-27T21:39:45Z")
It happened again on Daily Kos today, in a post about the funding for abstinence-only education that some Senators from both parties put into the health care bill. I have no clue about what’s in the bill and I’m not deb… --- ## [Atheism and superstition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-and-superstition/521736)
**Author:** [@Deflagration](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deflagration)\ **Replies:** 68\ **Last updated:** [December 27, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-and-superstition/521736 "2009-12-27T18:34:18Z")
I’m sorry guys. It’s the first time I’ve dipped my toe in the ‘Great Debates’ pool. Please be gentle. For better or worse, I consider myself an Atheist. I not only belive that there isn’t a God but also that there are… --- ## [If I were God, things would be different around here!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-god-things-would-be-different-around-here/521980)
**Author:** [@Snag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snag)\ **Replies:** 44\ **Last updated:** [December 27, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-god-things-would-be-different-around-here/521980 "2009-12-27T06:15:57Z")
If I were an omnipotent merciful kind of a God, there would be no need for carnivorous behavior. All living things at all level would either be plantlike absorbing nutrients from soil, water, light or whatever might be i… --- ## [Planning A World Government](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planning-a-world-government/522283)
**Author:** [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Replies:** 69\ **Last updated:** [December 27, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planning-a-world-government/522283 "2009-12-27T03:40:32Z")
Today all 195 nations on Earth have agreed to have a Constitutional Convention to form a world government. It’s a free-for-all sandbox mode with delegates from every country including official delegations and tagalongs … --- ## [Reforming the Court System](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reforming-the-court-system/521704)
**Author:** [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Replies:** 52\ **Last updated:** [December 27, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reforming-the-court-system/521704 "2009-12-27T00:34:14Z")
Many criminal trials are often highly emotional and marred by fierce accusations of bias, racism, and etc. Two of the more notable ones was the trial of the LA cops who beat Rodney King and OJ Simpson. And of course ther… --- ## [certain strange people 2](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certain-strange-people-2/522635)
**Author:** [@andy1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy1)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [December 26, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certain-strange-people-2/522635 "2009-12-26T17:25:31Z")
I have had a lot of problems with Christians. These people, related to the previous thread, are always blond. Mostly men. A few women who are appendages. The troubles include slander, people tampering with my property, a… --- ## [President Chavez vs. the Netherlands](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697)
**Author:** [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Replies:** 103\ **Last updated:** [December 26, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-vs-the-netherlands/521697 "2009-12-26T05:03:41Z")
I saw in separate news reports from AP and UPI that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, (at the U.N. Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark), accused the Netherlands of using its islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire (off… --- ## [Need help from Jewish Dopers (This is definitely GD territory)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-from-jewish-dopers-this-is-definitely-gd-territory/522253)
**Author:** [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [December 25, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-from-jewish-dopers-this-is-definitely-gd-territory/522253 "2009-12-25T20:49:00Z")
This question comes from a friend of mine. Spiritually, I don’t believe in a god, so I’m at a loss to answer him. His question, verbatim, is: \[QUOTE=Robin’s Friend\] The question is: Does the traditional Jewish underst… --- ## [Maybe post colonial African countries should not have handed over power so quickly.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-post-colonial-african-countries-should-not-have-handed-over-power-so-quickly/521796)
**Author:** [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\ **Replies:** 117\ **Last updated:** [December 25, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-post-colonial-african-countries-should-not-have-handed-over-power-so-quickly/521796 "2009-12-25T20:41:13Z")
Is there any merit in the argument that countries such as South Africa and Rhodesia should have tried to integrate the indigenous population into the government in phases rather than handing over power immediately. Take… --- ## [Very scary Newt Gingrich video](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-scary-newt-gingrich-video/522009)
**Author:** [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Cleveland_Steamer)\ **Replies:** 21\ **Last updated:** [December 24, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-scary-newt-gingrich-video/522009 "2009-12-24T21:51:56Z")
Watch it and be afraid. This psycho could be a president. It is a basically a call to religious fascism. Profile Muslims (he is tongue in check about this) Impeach the Attorney General Impeach judges th… --- ## [Guys What is your take on the climate change deal situation](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-what-is-your-take-on-the-climate-change-deal-situation/521737)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 86\ **Last updated:** [December 24, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-what-is-your-take-on-the-climate-change-deal-situation/521737 "2009-12-24T20:12:43Z")
I admire this guy for taking matters in to his one hands and wasting no time. Just wanted to find out general opinion :slight\_smile: what do you guys think. Copenhagen, Denmark - Delegates at the U.N. Climate Change C… --- ## [Copenhagen Failure](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copenhagen-failure/522063)
**Author:** [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Replies:** 69\ **Last updated:** [December 24, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copenhagen-failure/522063 "2009-12-24T16:26:50Z")
So the COP 15 meeting is over and we got… what exactly? It’s easier to point out the things we didn’t get. We didn’t get an agreement between the rich nations and the poor. We didn’t get a concrete plan to reduce emissio… --- ## [Did whites treat the Maori better than the Aborigines?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-treat-the-maori-better-than-the-aborigines/521477)
**Author:** [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Replies:** 52\ **Last updated:** [December 24, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-treat-the-maori-better-than-the-aborigines/521477 "2009-12-24T07:31:55Z")
Did white settlers in New Zealand treat the natives better than their counterparts in Australia, all in all? Do both countries have what you would consider enlightened policies today? And how would you compare them to … --- ## [Robert George](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-george/522288)
**Author:** [@Piker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Piker)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [December 23, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-george/522288 "2009-12-23T22:04:50Z")
So the New York Times Magazine had a long write up on Robert George, a Princeton Professor who appears to be on the vanguard of the ecumenical Christian conservative movement. As a committed secular rationalist, I savor … --- ## [Who 'won' the War of 1812 (again)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-war-of-1812-again/521564)
**Author:** [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Replies:** 63\ **Last updated:** [December 23, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-war-of-1812-again/521564 "2009-12-23T21:41:14Z")
I know this has been debated several times on this board, but was having an interesting discussion with a friend of mine who is a military historian, and thought I’d bring the discussion here to see what 'dopers think. A… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=487) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=489)