# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=549 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 550 --- ## [does this explain the whole conservative/ liberal ideological divide?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-explain-the-whole-conservative-liberal-ideological-divide/489236)
**Author:** [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Replies:** 164\ **Last updated:** [March 18, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-explain-the-whole-conservative-liberal-ideological-divide/489236 "2009-03-18T10:45:28Z")
Does the entire ideological divide between conservatives and liberals on all the issues they differ on reduce to a single axiomatic difference in worldview: conservatives believe in personal moral responsibility, and lib… --- ## [Any former Veep as big a dick as Cheney?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-veep-as-big-a-dick-as-cheney/489633)
**Author:** [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Replies:** 64\ **Last updated:** [March 18, 2009, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-veep-as-big-a-dick-as-cheney/489633 "2009-03-18T09:21:21Z")
He just won’t go away! Yesterday, Cheney felt the need to share his opinion that Obama has “made some choices that in my mind raise the risk to the American people of another attack.” A couple of questions. I know Gor… --- ## [Obama's Response \[to Russia placing bombers\] - What will / what should it be?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-response-to-russia-placing-bombers-what-will-what-should-it-be/489413)
**Author:** [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Replies:** 38\ **Last updated:** [March 18, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-response-to-russia-placing-bombers-what-will-what-should-it-be/489413 "2009-03-18T01:42:44Z")
The Associated Press is reporting that Russia is planning on placing bombers in Cuba & Venezuela So, peer into your crystal ball: What will Obama’s response be? If you think a different response is in order, what … --- ## [If there's no money in news reporting will professional journalists disappear?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theres-no-money-in-news-reporting-will-professional-journalists-disappear/489519)
**Author:** [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Replies:** 46\ **Last updated:** [March 18, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theres-no-money-in-news-reporting-will-professional-journalists-disappear/489519 "2009-03-18T00:37:09Z")
One after another the big papers are shrinking, retrenching or collapsing entirely. What happens to the profession of being a serious journalist or reporter when the news is effectively free for anyone with a web link … --- ## [Harming a Fetus and Harming a Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harming-a-fetus-and-harming-a-child/489451)
**Author:** [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Replies:** 37\ **Last updated:** [March 17, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harming-a-fetus-and-harming-a-child/489451 "2009-03-17T12:05:24Z")
Suppose fetus F is due to develop into child C assuming things procede biologically normally. Suppose I do something to F that results in C’s missing a leg when C is born. By doing that thing I did, did I thereby harm … --- ## [Synchronized Chaos and Climate Change](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synchronized-chaos-and-climate-change/489642)
**Author:** [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [March 17, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synchronized-chaos-and-climate-change/489642 "2009-03-17T03:20:08Z")
Floating about the internet recently is a story about some researchers at UWM coming up with a model that they claim to partly explain the recent uptick in temperatures over the last few decades. http://www.wisn.com/wea… --- ## [Charles Freeman fails the Loyalty Test](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charles-freeman-fails-the-loyalty-test/489100)
**Author:** [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Replies:** 30\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charles-freeman-fails-the-loyalty-test/489100 "2009-03-16T23:59:45Z")
I find it disturbing how careers can be ruined for resisting AIPAC. He makes a good point that the debate about Israel is freer in Israel and Europe than it is in America. --- ## [Property Rights and Community Responsibility](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/property-rights-and-community-responsibility/489419)
**Author:** [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Replies:** 25\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/property-rights-and-community-responsibility/489419 "2009-03-16T23:40:16Z")
In this Pit thread, Ogre decries a landowner who clearcut a large parcel of old-growth forest which he owned, severely damaging a less-than-common ecosystem for the sake of a small temporary financial gain. Quite a few … --- ## [The Wrongly Convicted: Let's Pay These People Some Money](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wrongly-convicted-lets-pay-these-people-some-money/489252)
**Author:** [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Replies:** 29\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wrongly-convicted-lets-pay-these-people-some-money/489252 "2009-03-16T22:27:42Z")
The last victim of Charles Smith has finally been released: Smith was a pathologist employed by the Province of Ontario who investigated child deaths. This article doesn’t give you the full story - it’s such a long a… --- ## [Let's make a list of programs that don't work that will be eliminated under Obama!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-list-of-programs-that-dont-work-that-will-be-eliminated-under-obama/489318)
**Author:** [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Replies:** 69\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-list-of-programs-that-dont-work-that-will-be-eliminated-under-obama/489318 "2009-03-16T22:19:54Z")
I would like to start it, but I don’t have item one. Anybody? --- ## [Gary Taubes: "Good Calories, Bad Calories"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gary-taubes-good-calories-bad-calories/488448)
**Author:** [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Replies:** 60\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gary-taubes-good-calories-bad-calories/488448 "2009-03-16T22:17:19Z")
I read this recently and found his arguments quite compelling (assuming I understood the biochemistry correctly, given I’m not a scientist). I also know that low-carbing/Atkins was the easiest to do, easiest to sustain,… --- ## [(How much) Is the US dollar being "manipulated"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-us-dollar-being-manipulated/489584)
**Author:** [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-us-dollar-being-manipulated/489584 "2009-03-16T21:33:44Z")
Someone on another message board I frequent (the same one I mentioned in another thread, who claimed to see YouTube videos from California of people buying food from roadside stands, and with Euros or silver because no o… --- ## [Who Are We Really Bailing Out with AIG?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-we-really-bailing-out-with-aig/488535)
**Author:** [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Replies:** 39\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-we-really-bailing-out-with-aig/488535 "2009-03-16T14:10:38Z")
I don’t get this, not one little bit. (I’ll link to a story on this, one of many, if by some chance you don’t know what I’m on about.) http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200903031957DOWJONESDJONLINE000… --- ## [Obama and Bush: What makes "competence" in a President?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-bush-what-makes-competence-in-a-president/489105)
**Author:** [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Replies:** 48\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-bush-what-makes-competence-in-a-president/489105 "2009-03-16T06:17:53Z")
The latest conservative talking point is that Obama so far has demonstrated incompetence. Their argument, through articles like this and this (or at least, in this case, POINTING to articles like this), includes hard lo… --- ## [Are charities an efficient use of tax deductions](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-charities-an-efficient-use-of-tax-deductions/489342)
**Author:** [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Replies:** 43\ **Last updated:** [March 16, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-charities-an-efficient-use-of-tax-deductions/489342 "2009-03-16T02:36:26Z")
There’s a thread going on that asks for the moral implications of Obama’s playing at the margin with the charitable giving tax deduction. I was asked in that thread whether I really thought that someone could be offende… --- ## [Will Obama's Universal Healthcare Plan end up incorporating McCain's ideas?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-universal-healthcare-plan-end-up-incorporating-mccains-ideas/489526)
**Author:** [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-universal-healthcare-plan-end-up-incorporating-mccains-ideas/489526 "2009-03-15T15:42:15Z")
Taxing healthcare benefits provided by employers in on the table. That money could help fund provision of benefits for others. Which was the bit of McCain’s plan that had made sense. Now I have for years proposed this … --- ## [How much will the government control the bailee's?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-the-government-control-the-bailees/489319)
**Author:** [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-the-government-control-the-bailees/489319 "2009-03-15T14:56:09Z")
I have been criticized for portraying the government bailout as Marxism. The question remains, as the government pours more and more money into our critical institutions, banking, automotive, etc., isn’t this a form of n… --- ## [Resolved: pacifism is a chimerical and egoistic ethical system](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-pacifism-is-a-chimerical-and-egoistic-ethical-system/488158)
**Author:** [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Replies:** 197\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-pacifism-is-a-chimerical-and-egoistic-ethical-system/488158 "2009-03-15T14:50:19Z")
Inspired, of course, by this thread currently running in the Blandness Pit. Before I make my case, let me specify what I mean by the words “chimerical” and egoistic." In neither case am I satisfied that those words mea… --- ## [Is socialism bad?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-socialism-bad/487927)
**Author:** [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)\ **Replies:** 155\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-socialism-bad/487927 "2009-03-15T13:32:11Z")
My father’s version of conversation these days is recounting whatever he’s been watching on television news. One of his favorite topics is how this country is becoming/going to become increasingly socialist. After some… --- ## [Can anyone here morally justify Obama's proposed tax on charitable contributions?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-here-morally-justify-obamas-proposed-tax-on-charitable-contributions/489312)
**Author:** [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Replies:** 57\ **Last updated:** [March 15, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-here-morally-justify-obamas-proposed-tax-on-charitable-contributions/489312 "2009-03-15T06:52:26Z")
Just asking. --- ## [Texas Gov. Rick Perry turns down unemployment money from the stimulus.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-gov-rick-perry-turns-down-unemployment-money-from-the-stimulus/489440)
**Author:** [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-gov-rick-perry-turns-down-unemployment-money-from-the-stimulus/489440 "2009-03-14T20:28:41Z")
Texas governor Rick Perry is facing a probable challenge from Kay Bailey Hutchison. Following the usual rule of run to the right in the primary and then run to center in the general election, Gov. Perry announced he was … --- ## [a) Life is tough; we should be too. b) Life is unforgiving; we should be too.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-life-is-tough-we-should-be-too-b-life-is-unforgiving-we-should-be-too/489112)
**Author:** [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [March 14, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-life-is-tough-we-should-be-too-b-life-is-unforgiving-we-should-be-too/489112 "2009-03-14T16:01:28Z")
Does the first statement imply the second? If not, should it? Sometimes? Always? Discuss. Or tell me to screw off. --- ## [As you were, now I am.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-you-were-now-i-am/489317)
**Author:** [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Replies:** 45\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-you-were-now-i-am/489317 "2009-03-13T22:42:20Z")
A lot of dopers have been here to criticize the last administration, and rightly so, in many cases. I hope you will welcome my presence as a primary critic of the new regime. I want you all to know that I am here for the… --- ## [Israeli Dopers: Help us understand what's happening in coalition talks!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-dopers-help-us-understand-whats-happening-in-coalition-talks/489373)
**Author:** [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-dopers-help-us-understand-whats-happening-in-coalition-talks/489373 "2009-03-13T22:23:10Z")
Well, anyone else with some real educated opinions too, I guess. Here is how I understand it: Bibi is forming the government but all of his potential partners are driving some damn hard bargains. The ultra-religious w… --- ## [Is Obama going to hurt digital freedom rights?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-going-to-hurt-digital-freedom-rights/489362)
**Author:** [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-going-to-hurt-digital-freedom-rights/489362 "2009-03-13T21:56:56Z")
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/obama-declares.html --- ## [The Repizzles are in the Hizzouse (RNC Plans for Rebranding the Image)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repizzles-are-in-the-hizzouse-rnc-plans-for-rebranding-the-image/486548)
**Author:** [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Replies:** 113\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-repizzles-are-in-the-hizzouse-rnc-plans-for-rebranding-the-image/486548 "2009-03-13T21:51:34Z")
Michael Steele, recently elected RNC chair, has announced his plan for moving the Republican Party forward. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/19/steele-gop-needs-hip-hop-makeover/ As Steve Benen noted at th… --- ## [How will/should Obama (possibly) change course because of the big market drop?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-should-obama-possibly-change-course-because-of-the-big-market-drop/488230)
**Author:** [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Replies:** 55\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-should-obama-possibly-change-course-because-of-the-big-market-drop/488230 "2009-03-13T19:02:30Z")
A topic that came to mind when updating this thread of mine. Whether or not you think Obama SHOULD be paying attention to what the market does as a result of his policies, there’s a non-zero chance that he WILL, if only… --- ## [What do Evangelicals think of the plight of the Iraqi Christians?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-evangelicals-think-of-the-plight-of-the-iraqi-christians/488510)
**Author:** [@SomeBodyUK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeBodyUK)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-evangelicals-think-of-the-plight-of-the-iraqi-christians/488510 "2009-03-13T09:55:56Z")
Their lives have turned to shit since the US Invasion. Do you know if any American evangelicals are aware of this? What do they make of it? Iraqi Christians’ fear of exile --- ## [Is it fair to give organ donations to people who don't donate theirs?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-fair-to-give-organ-donations-to-people-who-dont-donate-theirs/488670)
**Author:** [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Replies:** 34\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-fair-to-give-organ-donations-to-people-who-dont-donate-theirs/488670 "2009-03-13T06:01:37Z")
I was reading another message board’s discussion of this story and the topic of organ donation made someone propose an idea of only allowing organ transplants to go to those who are registered as organ donors… In other w… --- ## [Based on historical and current trends, how likely is this generation to be immortal?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/based-on-historical-and-current-trends-how-likely-is-this-generation-to-be-immortal/489050)
**Author:** [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Replies:** 28\ **Last updated:** [March 13, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/based-on-historical-and-current-trends-how-likely-is-this-generation-to-be-immortal/489050 "2009-03-13T03:04:26Z")
For the question I’m defining immortal as not dieing of old age or age related complications. In other words I’m asking how likely are we to figure out how to control aging? Since a break through could come tomorrow or … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=548) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=550)