# Great Debates **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=813 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 814 --- ## [What if the US encouraged communism in China?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-us-encouraged-communism-in-china/343965)
**Author:** [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [February 11, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-us-encouraged-communism-in-china/343965 "2006-02-11T05:02:04Z")
Alright, I know it’s kind of a crackpot idea, and I’m not advocating it, but it struck me as a bit of a novel thought when it occurred to me a little while ago. Suppose that the US decided it was very VERY concerned abo… --- ## [It's all a matter of taste.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-a-matter-of-taste/343168)
**Author:** [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Replies:** 51\ **Last updated:** [February 11, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-a-matter-of-taste/343168 "2006-02-11T04:36:06Z")
Resolved, for purposes of discussion: Taste in food, like art, is all a matter of opinion. If someone likes hamburgers, only a snob or an elitist would say that he is wrong, incorrect or deficient to prefer a Quarter P… --- ## [Statue of limitations for God to punish you?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-limitations-for-god-to-punish-you/343139)
**Author:** [@StewieGriffin420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StewieGriffin420)\ **Replies:** 93\ **Last updated:** [February 11, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statue-of-limitations-for-god-to-punish-you/343139 "2006-02-11T04:29:15Z")
The other day I was thinking about something I did like 7 years ago that was wrong. I got to thinking, if God was going to punish me for this, would he have done it all ready? How long until you are “in the clear”? --- ## [Is mutilation of children a defensible religious custom?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mutilation-of-children-a-defensible-religious-custom/343891)
**Author:** [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Replies:** 22\ **Last updated:** [February 11, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mutilation-of-children-a-defensible-religious-custom/343891 "2006-02-11T02:49:33Z")
I would like someone to tell me how the mutilation of children during the celebration of the Muslim holiday of Ashoura is justifiable. I am talking about an Associated Press picture which was published with the followin… --- ## [Israel's right to exist](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israels-right-to-exist/343194)
**Author:** [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Replies:** 88\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israels-right-to-exist/343194 "2006-02-10T23:54:28Z")
This is not a troll. Even as what many of you would consider a “wacky fundy”, I still don’t get the right of Israel to exist. I was raised with my dad’s wholehearted support of Israel, and I took it more or less as a gi… --- ## [Abu Graib vs. Cartoons of Mohammed](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abu-graib-vs-cartoons-of-mohammed/343674)
**Author:** [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abu-graib-vs-cartoons-of-mohammed/343674 "2006-02-10T23:15:59Z")
Were the major mainstream media outlets worried about fanning the flames of Muslim sensibilities when they showed those pictures over and over again …… and demanded more? I think they intended to fan those flames. Plea… --- ## [Is service to another good in and of itself?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-service-to-another-good-in-and-of-itself/343629)
**Author:** [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-service-to-another-good-in-and-of-itself/343629 "2006-02-10T21:29:00Z")
This is prompted by a Tolkien passage that always struck me as, well, foreign: I read this (and, I think, other passages elsewhere in the LotR oeuvre that I can’t recall now) as Tolkien saying that service to another i… --- ## [Senate Judiciary Hearings on NSA Surveillance](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-judiciary-hearings-on-nsa-surveillance/343256)
**Author:** [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Replies:** 121\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-judiciary-hearings-on-nsa-surveillance/343256 "2006-02-10T19:26:47Z")
Gonzales is in the hot seat all day today, so I figured we should have a thread to discuss this. Should be interesting! --- ## [Should Sex Ed Be Taught Outside the Home? If So Where & When??](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-sex-ed-be-taught-outside-the-home-if-so-where-when/342986)
**Author:** [@Intrepid\_Pencil\_Pusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intrepid_Pencil_Pusher)\ **Replies:** 61\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-sex-ed-be-taught-outside-the-home-if-so-where-when/342986 "2006-02-10T19:22:02Z")
Don’t you think it’s ironic that in today’s society, so many people have to adopt children while teens who have no right being in the baby making business are spewing out toddlers faster than a candy conveyor belt? I… --- ## [Iraq: What ever happened to the "oil revenue will pay for reconstruction" idea?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-what-ever-happened-to-the-oil-revenue-will-pay-for-reconstruction-idea/343591)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-what-ever-happened-to-the-oil-revenue-will-pay-for-reconstruction-idea/343591 "2006-02-10T17:11:22Z")
Before the Coalition invaded Iraq, Andrew Natsios, chief for international development at the State Department, predicted post-war reconstruction would cost the U.S. no more than $1.7 billion, because Iraqi oil revenues … --- ## ["Losers" morally superior to "winners"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losers-morally-superior-to-winners/343608)
**Author:** [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Replies:** 55\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losers-morally-superior-to-winners/343608 "2006-02-10T16:40:58Z")
First of all, I don’t want anyone to be offended because they think I’m calling them a loser (or a winner for that matter) or anything. I’m just using the terms as a shorthand for the traits society seems to value: Win… --- ## [Is it unethical for a university to carry out research for the military?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unethical-for-a-university-to-carry-out-research-for-the-military/343603)
**Author:** [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Replies:** 36\ **Last updated:** [February 10, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unethical-for-a-university-to-carry-out-research-for-the-military/343603 "2006-02-10T03:29:23Z")
Our university newspaper has uncovered the fact that a group in the AI department here has been funded by the American, British and Australian militaries under the Freedom of Information Act. The group developed plannin… --- ## [Education as an Investment](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/education-as-an-investment/343716)
**Author:** [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/education-as-an-investment/343716 "2006-02-09T23:44:43Z")
From Business Week, date February 13, 2006:\* Would you support a reclassification of money spent on education, both on a personal level (for calculating savings rates of the public) and the government. If it is an inv… --- ## [Musings on the War of a Citizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-on-the-war-of-a-citizen/343759)
**Author:** [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-on-the-war-of-a-citizen/343759 "2006-02-09T23:31:55Z")
Okay, I’m a citizen which makes me feel that I have rights. Agreed? I may not be an American citizen for I’m a Canadian (born in the Netherlands). Still, I wish to contribute my conclusions to you Americans, because a pe… --- ## [Does strategic position vis-a-vis Iran play a role in the Admin's Iraq policy?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-strategic-position-vis-a-vis-iran-play-a-role-in-the-admins-iraq-policy/343592)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-strategic-position-vis-a-vis-iran-play-a-role-in-the-admins-iraq-policy/343592 "2006-02-09T22:44:28Z")
Things between Iran and the U.S. keep heating up and dying down and heating up . . . It occurs to me that if war came, the U.S. would have an advantage, already having all those troops in Iraq, on Iran’s western border, … --- ## [religious symbols in CA state seal](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-symbols-in-ca-state-seal/343569)
**Author:** [@filmyak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmyak)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-symbols-in-ca-state-seal/343569 "2006-02-09T14:15:41Z")
I was discussing the removal of religious symbols from government facilities with a colleague the other day, and he brought up a situation I’m not particularly aware of. Says they recently removed a cross from the Califo… --- ## [Cutters: Give them clean blades to "self harm"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutters-give-them-clean-blades-to-self-harm/343538)
**Author:** [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutters-give-them-clean-blades-to-self-harm/343538 "2006-02-09T10:49:58Z")
From the Sunday Times Good idea or no? --- ## [New World's Primordial Soup and One Drop of Human Blood...](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-worlds-primordial-soup-and-one-drop-of-human-blood/343379)
**Author:** [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-worlds-primordial-soup-and-one-drop-of-human-blood/343379 "2006-02-09T09:37:41Z")
This may seem like a slightly strange question, but I’ve wondered it for some time now. And I think it makes an interesting mental exercise. What if I could somehow go to a planet where life is just in its “primordial s… --- ## [If the Coalition troops pulled out of Iraq now, what would happen?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-coalition-troops-pulled-out-of-iraq-now-what-would-happen/342601)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-coalition-troops-pulled-out-of-iraq-now-what-would-happen/342601 "2006-02-09T09:37:16Z")
Iraq has an elected government now. If the Coalition troops were to pull out tomorrow, or say, in the next 2-3 months, what would happen? Would there be a civil war? Or would hostility to the government fade if it wer… --- ## [Question about religions](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-religions/343488)
**Author:** [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-religions/343488 "2006-02-09T07:38:29Z")
What do religions think of each other? When a baptist minister and a mormon minister talk to each other, are they thinking “Boy is this guy misleading his people, obviosly my faith is the right one…”? Does a baptist mi… --- ## [Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-of-the-prophet-muhammad/343647)
**Author:** [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-of-the-prophet-muhammad/343647 "2006-02-09T04:54:09Z")
I’ve had a chance to look at those cartoons that seems to have caused all this trouble, and I haven’t seen anything in the cartoons that states directly–“This is the Prophet Muhammad !” (I hope I was looking at the right… --- ## [do some countries have more right to have atomic-armament?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-countries-have-more-right-to-have-atomic-armament/343574)
**Author:** [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-countries-have-more-right-to-have-atomic-armament/343574 "2006-02-09T03:12:34Z")
Whom would a country have to ask in order to be “allowed” to own/produce atomic arms? Whom did the USofA / Russia / China / GB … ask? hasnt any country te right of sovereignity? … what is all the fuss about with Iran … --- ## [Govt employees voting: conflict of interest?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/govt-employees-voting-conflict-of-interest/343598)
**Author:** [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/govt-employees-voting-conflict-of-interest/343598 "2006-02-09T02:54:34Z")
Do people who are paid from the public purse have a conflict of interest when voting for their representatives? Surely they have an interest in any candidate who promises bigger government? Should they be allowed to vote… --- ## [Do you "Support Your Local Police?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-support-your-local-police/343228)
**Author:** [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Replies:** 66\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-support-your-local-police/343228 "2006-02-09T02:07:17Z")
(There is a debate on The Pit about a traffic stop. Let’s try to keep this civil here.) Do you support your police? Has your attitude changed over the past few years? I am a fairly Conservative sort of Libertarian. I a… --- ## [Eminent domain and payback for Souter](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eminent-domain-and-payback-for-souter/341282)
**Author:** [@scule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scule)\ **Replies:** 115\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eminent-domain-and-payback-for-souter/341282 "2006-02-09T01:56:39Z")
An article on the BBC News website speaks about the efforts of a group of protestors to make a claim to US Supreme Court just David Souter’s house in an attempt to, I guess, show him that his support for the ruling on … --- ## [What would happen if... (Aliens seeded some humans, not others) \[edited title\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-aliens-seeded-some-humans-not-others-edited-title/343471)
**Author:** [@magpyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magpyre)\ **Replies:** 42\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-aliens-seeded-some-humans-not-others-edited-title/343471 "2006-02-09T00:41:10Z")
There was irrefutable proof that the white races were seeded here by an alien entity and the black races were the actual indiginous population? dont ask where the proof comes from, its just hypothetical!! :smiley: --- ## [The Terri Schaivo Political Action Campaign](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-terri-schaivo-political-action-campaign/342609)
**Author:** [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Replies:** 28\ **Last updated:** [February 9, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-terri-schaivo-political-action-campaign/342609 "2006-02-09T00:38:57Z")
http://www.terripac.com/ Michael Schaivo has organized a PAC “to restore personal freedoms and individual rights”. Is this turnabout fair play? So the proper response is to use Terri Schiavo’s deeply personal family … --- ## [Do you think it would make things better or worse if US parties had 1 party leader?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-would-make-things-better-or-worse-if-us-parties-had-1-party-leader/343590)
**Author:** [@she\_sells\_sea\_snails](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/she_sells_sea_snails)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [February 8, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-would-make-things-better-or-worse-if-us-parties-had-1-party-leader/343590 "2006-02-08T20:47:40Z")
The opposition always has several. In Britain, the loser of the main election is usually still in Parliament and is the party leader until another is named. Here we have 1) an ex-candidate with no formal role, 2) a par… --- ## [Are Muslim terrorists really that different?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-muslim-terrorists-really-that-different/343314)
**Author:** [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [February 8, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-muslim-terrorists-really-that-different/343314 "2006-02-08T20:08:47Z")
From other terrorists? I get the idea that because of 9/11, 7/7, Madrid, the numerous attacks in Israel and around the world that a lot of people seem think that Muslim extremists are a different bred of terrorist. I d… --- ## [Haiti presidential election 2/7/06 -- predictions?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-presidential-election-2-7-06-predictions/342894)
**Author:** [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [February 8, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-presidential-election-2-7-06-predictions/342894 "2006-02-08T16:54:04Z")
On Tuesday, February 7. 2006, Haiti will have its first presidential election since the 2004 coup. That’s the first round; second round scheduled for 3/19/06. Since there are 33 candidates for the presidency, a second … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=812) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/great-debates/13.md?page=814)