# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=525 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 526 --- ## [Upside Down Flag Protest?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upside-down-flag-protest/502624)
**Author:** [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Replies:** 105\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upside-down-flag-protest/502624 "2009-07-15T20:12:07Z")
According to this story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090710/ap\_on\_re\_us/us\_upside\_down\_flag a former Marine had his flag that he was flying upside-down on his private property removed by police on the fourth of Ju… --- ## [Wind power advocates...how now?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wind-power-advocates-how-now/502369)
**Author:** [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Replies:** 67\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wind-power-advocates-how-now/502369 "2009-07-15T19:52:31Z")
I was wondering what wind power advocate 'dopers think of the pull out of T. Boone Pickens and the much touted Pickens Plan? How serious a blow will this be to getting wind power up and running in large enough quantitie… --- ## [Constellation vs. Direct 3 vs. Shannon Alternative](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constellation-vs-direct-3-vs-shannon-alternative/503114)
**Author:** [@ZomZom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZomZom)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constellation-vs-direct-3-vs-shannon-alternative/503114 "2009-07-15T18:42:47Z")
I’m having a hard time forming an opinion on which Shuttle-replacement plan I prefer. At first glance the Ares 1 does seem to be a safer way to get humans into orbit, but the Shannon Alternative is a lot cheaper. Direc… --- ## [Weird Habits of the Rich/Famous/Powerful](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-habits-of-the-rich-famous-powerful/501688)
**Author:** [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Replies:** 40\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-habits-of-the-rich-famous-powerful/501688 "2009-07-15T17:32:02Z")
Not about MJ specifically, although he’s an obvious example. ISTM, based on what I’ve read, that rich/famous/powerful people are more apt to have bizarre quirks than most people. Several possibilities suggest themselves… --- ## [Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring" -- Legal?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheneys-executive-assassination-ring-legal/502502)
**Author:** [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Replies:** 95\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheneys-executive-assassination-ring-legal/502502 "2009-07-15T15:19:59Z")
I was reading the following at HuffPo (I know but there are other sources for this too) and my jaw hit the floor. Sounds like something out of a movie. If true I find it more than a little shocking. Can this be legal… --- ## [Who cares about what it means to be 'conservative'?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-about-what-it-means-to-be-conservative/501925)
**Author:** [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Replies:** 121\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-about-what-it-means-to-be-conservative/501925 "2009-07-15T15:18:17Z")
In this thread on Sarah Palin’s resignation, there is some discussion of what it means to be ‘conservative’. Some are asserting that the last eight years of Republican rule should be used to judge the merit of conservat… --- ## [The new Republican philosophy: Be Democrats?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-republican-philosophy-be-democrats/502807)
**Author:** [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-republican-philosophy-be-democrats/502807 "2009-07-15T14:39:40Z")
A puff piece (and consider the source, yes) highlighting four self-styled philosophers of Republican renewal has some points to ponder. Sounds like pretty familiar populist stuff, just a century or so late. Who else? … --- ## [Jews and the slave trade](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-and-the-slave-trade/502649)
**Author:** [@SomeBodyUK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeBodyUK)\ **Replies:** 65\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-and-the-slave-trade/502649 "2009-07-15T10:25:59Z")
I was talking to a friend of a friend yesterday and he said that Jews were heavily involved in the transatlantic slave trade. What’s the truth guys? --- ## [Sex. Once and for all.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-once-and-for-all/502512)
**Author:** [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Replies:** 208\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-once-and-for-all/502512 "2009-07-15T07:35:24Z")
Of all the culture war issues, the morality of premarital sex is arguably the most fundamental. At least 95% of Americans become sexually active before marrying. I like to say that people are voting with their bodies a… --- ## [Yet Another Healthcare Debate...Sorry](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-healthcare-debate-sorry/502276)
**Author:** [@Maia\_s\_Well](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maia_s_Well)\ **Replies:** 105\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-healthcare-debate-sorry/502276 "2009-07-15T02:24:08Z")
I’m starting this thread as a spin-off from my pit thread: Insurance company poopyheads - The BBQ Pit - Straight Dope Message Board because some interesting points are being raised in that thread. There is a lot that ma… --- ## [Unwed moms and unsexy men](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwed-moms-and-unsexy-men/502684)
**Author:** [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Replies:** 95\ **Last updated:** [July 15, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwed-moms-and-unsexy-men/502684 "2009-07-15T02:13:13Z")
Thesetwo postsover at Overcoming Bias got me thinking recently. He points out that single moms now account for 40% of new births, and posits that this means these women will no longer worry about which men can provide (… --- ## [Let's reinstitute the Draft in America! Or Huh?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-reinstitute-the-draft-in-america-or-huh/502633)
**Author:** [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Replies:** 65\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-reinstitute-the-draft-in-america-or-huh/502633 "2009-07-14T20:27:55Z")
Let’s say we, by law, drafted 10% of our armed forces randomly from the American population all the time. Completely random. The rest would still be volunteers. But why? In a volunteer army, you have people who “volu… --- ## [Assured Destruction Redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assured-destruction-redux/502993)
**Author:** [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assured-destruction-redux/502993 "2009-07-14T20:04:15Z")
I was reading an article last year regarding the threat of nuclear weapons detonated by non-state actors in the Atlantic which advocated a policy of Assured Destruction against the state which produced the special nuclea… --- ## [Proof of microscopic evolution.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-microscopic-evolution/502714)
**Author:** [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Replies:** 23\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-microscopic-evolution/502714 "2009-07-14T16:54:28Z")
I am getting slaughtered in a ‘debate’ right now. Are there any dopers willing to provide me quickly with some cites to ‘prove’ evolution…on the microscopic level, I mean. I know there are lots of comments that may com… --- ## [Jesus in the Talmud](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977)
**Author:** [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977 "2009-07-14T15:52:58Z")
Sort of a GQ, but in GD because of the religious content: While looking for a list of task to be performed by the Messiah (in response to Stink Fish Pot’s question in this thread) I cam across this Google book - Questio… --- ## [Evolution Versus Creationism, a twist](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-versus-creationism-a-twist/502747)
**Author:** [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Replies:** 107\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-versus-creationism-a-twist/502747 "2009-07-14T15:40:12Z")
I kind of think this is more of a general question, but given the nature of the topics involved, I have a sneaking suspicion it would wind up here. Thus, I’ll start it here to save a moderator the trouble. Now, I suppo… --- ## [Why argue that homosexuality isn't a choice?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-argue-that-homosexuality-isnt-a-choice/501701)
**Author:** [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Replies:** 103\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-argue-that-homosexuality-isnt-a-choice/501701 "2009-07-14T14:47:34Z")
One of the major arguments that gay-rights advocates present is that homosexuality isn’t a “choice”, but a hereditary characteristic akin to hair or skin color. This is, as I understand the current scientific consensus, … --- ## [The Jew Question \[defining Jew and Christian. ed. title\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jew-question-defining-jew-and-christian-ed-title/501809)
**Author:** [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Replies:** 268\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jew-question-defining-jew-and-christian-ed-title/501809 "2009-07-14T10:39:39Z")
I need this cleared up once and for all. Can one be called a Jew and a Christian at the same time ? --- ## [Were Adam and Eve Jewish?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-adam-and-eve-jewish/502303)
**Author:** [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Replies:** 87\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-adam-and-eve-jewish/502303 "2009-07-14T08:37:44Z")
Simple theological question, but of wide breadth? Were the historical Adam and Eve of semitic, Middle Eastern, ancestry? Perhaps they were African? Ultimately their lineation led to speciation. The Arabs and the Jews, b… --- ## [Could the US armed forces of WWII won the 60s Vietnam war?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-us-armed-forces-of-wwii-won-the-60s-vietnam-war/502516)
**Author:** [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Replies:** 64\ **Last updated:** [July 14, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-us-armed-forces-of-wwii-won-the-60s-vietnam-war/502516 "2009-07-14T05:47:58Z")
Yup, another time travelling army question, but this time going in the other direction. A post in ongoing thread got me thinking: Compare that to what they’d done twenty years earlier at Tarawa, Iwo Jima and yeah, \[del… --- ## [So is the war in Afghanistan a good war?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-the-war-in-afghanistan-a-good-war/502107)
**Author:** [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Replies:** 217\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-the-war-in-afghanistan-a-good-war/502107 "2009-07-13T18:34:13Z")
The consensus of the Left on this board seems to be that Iraq is a bad war, and I can go along with that to some extent. But what of Afghanistan? It appears to me that this is an equally bad and unwinnable war. Afghans … --- ## [So What Is the Super Secret Bush Spy Program?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-super-secret-bush-spy-program/502836)
**Author:** [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-super-secret-bush-spy-program/502836 "2009-07-13T18:12:35Z")
So what do you think the spy prgram Panetta just canceled was? A death squad, a surveilance method, or what? My guess is that it was death squad authorized to kill suspected terrorist leaders in countries that were not… --- ## [Bush surveillance program was massive (AP report): Is there no accountability left?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-surveillance-program-was-massive-ap-report-is-there-no-accountability-left/502639)
**Author:** [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Replies:** 27\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-surveillance-program-was-massive-ap-report-is-there-no-accountability-left/502639 "2009-07-13T13:58:19Z")
I have another thread going on the possibility of Cheney having a personal assassination squad in GD. In that thread there were accusations of lefty loonies spouting all manner of conspiracy theories. So far Cheney’s p… --- ## [Does Social Networking Breed Social Division?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-social-networking-breed-social-division/502578)
**Author:** [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-social-networking-breed-social-division/502578 "2009-07-13T12:23:32Z")
asks an op ed in the New York times here. danah boyd \[captilization sic\] apparently feels that yes, it does. This due to the research she has that suggests that while MySpace used to be the only social networking space… --- ## [What political planks in your party's platform do you not subscribe to?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-political-planks-in-your-partys-platform-do-you-not-subscribe-to/502454)
**Author:** [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Replies:** 65\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-political-planks-in-your-partys-platform-do-you-not-subscribe-to/502454 "2009-07-13T07:41:19Z")
I always have and always will vote for the same party, straight ticket. I’m a Democrat. But… I have no problem with offshore oil wells, nor atomic power. I have no problem with the death penalty when it meets Supreme … --- ## [Blacks and Intelligence](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-and-intelligence/501975)
**Author:** [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Replies:** 85\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-and-intelligence/501975 "2009-07-13T05:42:12Z")
There has been chatter in recent threads discussing whether there are genetic, heritable differences between blacks and whites. Proponents support the idea that blacks perform worse on standardized exams and fail to ach… --- ## [Alberto Fujimori](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alberto-fujimori/502722)
**Author:** [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alberto-fujimori/502722 "2009-07-13T03:47:28Z")
A friend’s wife is a 21-year-old Peruvian. According to her, translated through my friend as I don’t speak Spanish, Alberto Fujimori is still popular in Peru despite his conviction of human rights violations. From what… --- ## [Is being accused of racism the new rape/molestation?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-accused-of-racism-the-new-rape-molestation/502754)
**Author:** [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [July 13, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-accused-of-racism-the-new-rape-molestation/502754 "2009-07-13T02:03:54Z")
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090710/ap\_on\_re\_us/us\_swim\_club\_minorities Is racism the new rape or child molestation? It appears that all it takes is for someone to be accused of being a racist for them to be considered … --- ## [Does God reward guile and deceit?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-reward-guile-and-deceit/502534)
**Author:** [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Replies:** 27\ **Last updated:** [July 12, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-reward-guile-and-deceit/502534 "2009-07-12T04:53:55Z")
IANAbiblical scholar, but I seem to remember a passage in Genesis whereas Jacob, twin brother of first-born Esau, pulls a fast one on their dad and pretends he IS Esau, recieving enormous blessings from said dad, who app… --- ## [Likely Vice-Presidential candidate had McCain won election and Palin quit](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/likely-vice-presidential-candidate-had-mccain-won-election-and-palin-quit/502530)
**Author:** [@Alzarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alzarian)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [July 12, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/likely-vice-presidential-candidate-had-mccain-won-election-and-palin-quit/502530 "2009-07-12T04:02:47Z")
With the recent revelation that Sarah Palin is quitting her position as Governor of Alaska, I can’t help but wonder who John McCain would have nominated to take her place had he won the Presidential election, and was cha… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=524) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=526)