Hot Topics, version 2007.1

Before posting, please read the below-the-fold reminder of what Hot Topics threads are all about.

The first Hot Topics thread was started in November 2005 because discussions on some of the other threads were getting too intense. The Administrators decided to carve out a special space on the blog for (as the original description read) “politics, religion, and anything requiring an extra dose of civility.” The idea was that if MBers wanted to discuss something controversial, they could bring it here and swap opinions and information in ways that didn’t make one another mad. In between controversies, Hot Topics would lie dormant.

People seem to have lost sight of that original purpose. Instead, a lot of MBers evidently think that (1) at any given moment, there always has to be a hot topic in progress, and (2) “Hot Topics” is a place where you’re supposed to try to make other people angry.

Not so. This isn’t talk radio or Fox News. We’re all Musers here. (Every now and then, someone has to finish that sentence.) Please remember what this thread is for, and use it for its intended purpose. And if no potentially inflammatory topics happen to be roiling the blog at the moment, don’t try to manufacture them. Give ’em a rest. Everybody needs a rest sometimes. Oh, and remember: Crusto volanti noli obstare.

Thanks for your attention.

–The Management

Date: January 12, 2007

Author: Robert Coontz (Administrator)

Categories: Life, The Universe

Comments RSS TrackBack 104 comments

1

SupremeMuser2000, the All Mighty Queen of Museicalifornia and Wungy

in January 12th, 2007 @ 11:14

First post?

Anyways, one of my goals this year is to protest at least one thing this year, so I am going to protest the increas eof troops in Iraq. Bush is such an idiot.

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2

M & M

in January 12th, 2007 @ 12:18

1- What’s the point of more troops..? I just don’t get this whole “War on Terror” thing.

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3

Darth Yoda

in January 12th, 2007 @ 14:56

Wow. Post number one and your already trying to get people angry. The main point of new troops is that once we clear an area of terrorists and move on to the next, the terrorists come back. The troops are to secure the area. Personally, I don’t think we should have gone in there in the first place.

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4

Musketeer Number 5

in January 12th, 2007 @ 15:27

Putting more troups in isn’t going to help any. It’s not like more people getting killed is going to stop the killing. I think the only way we can try to maintain any sort of order is to try to start negotiating with the “terrorists”. Addmitedly, the chances of negoiations working at this point are minimual but obviously the pressence of troops isn’t working either.

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5

Queenie J

in January 12th, 2007 @ 15:51

Actually, saying “We’re all Musers here” is enough to make people angry. Does anyone think that expression is a little tired?

The 21,000 more troops thing is a little weird. Especially because the Dutch guy with the unpronounceable name keeps being all anti-Bush, and CANADIANS keep dying, with a huge amount of casualties per thingy. Not good. Not good in the least. I don’t know what to do about it–I haven’t commanded troops since the Fleeing.

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6

Purple Panda

in January 12th, 2007 @ 15:53

I definitely don’t think putting more troops in Iraq will do any good. My views are basically the same as Senator Durbin’s (the Democratic response to Bush’s proposal).

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7

Shadowkat

in January 12th, 2007 @ 17:41

I probably shouldn’t even post here, seeing as nobody ever agrees with me, anyway, but…

3-There’s some question as to whether or not the terrorists were even foreign. Some people say that the whole thing was staged by the gov’t to use fear gain more power.

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8

Kiara

in January 12th, 2007 @ 17:42

I think that this war is almost as pointles as WWI, except it a had a reasonable reason to start. Once American troops clear out, even more terrorists than are already in the area are going to come back. Though there is a new police system with the residents, they aren’t going to be able to control it very well either. The terrorists are just going to come back and blow more stuff up. I’m sorry if I’m being pessimistic, but it’s what I think.

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9

Axa

in January 12th, 2007 @ 17:55

For the sake of discussion…

We’re already in this so deep, we can’t leave now. The extra force may help, but how long before we need more? It’s a dead end war.

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10

Ã–tzi

in January 12th, 2007 @ 18:11

It’s a civil war. You can’t make peace by sending in more troops. There is no such thing as a “peacekeeping force”. We are not going to help. As Jeannette Rankin once said: “You can no more win a war than you can an earthquake!”

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11

dark lord of darkness

in January 12th, 2007 @ 18:13

7-no! thats precisely the reason to podt! otherwise its boring.
and yay! thanks for the new thread. as a new topic: i just saw the road to guantanamo. i think that it is absolutely ridiculous and needs top be closed, and that torture under any circumstances (and, of course being held without a trial) is intolerable.

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12

Ã–tzi

in January 12th, 2007 @ 18:21

MLEH! the 1st hot topics thread makes me MAD!
because it is…howyousay…containing lots of factual incorrectness. Like the description of abortion procedures. Not that we need to rehash that. Actually, let’s not. It just pissed me off like a biased news article. *mutters, stomps off*

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13

Elizabeth

in January 12th, 2007 @ 18:31

I agree…
Do you guys think that maybe, in a way, Iraq was better off before we tried to help than it is now?
And what do you think about Saddam’s hanging? Supposedly they didn’t even let him finish his prayer, they hung him before he finished.

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14

Arianhrod of Orkney (circa A.D. 900)

in January 12th, 2007 @ 18:40

13 — i am basically against all capital punishment. it’s basically homicide, right? i mean, no matter what someone did in their life, who is another person to say whether that person should die for it? i am a fan of life imprisonment, myself . . . or something
i heard bush’s lame li’l speech the other night. who here thinks that his “new” plan sounds exactly like the old one?

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15

Julieb

in January 12th, 2007 @ 19:35

Shadowkat- While I do not think the entire thing was staged by the government, I do think it has been used as an excuse for the government to gain much more power, as has been the case in almost every other war in american history. And as DLoD said, please keep posting, it gets very boring when everyone agrees.

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16

B. Cavefish

in January 12th, 2007 @ 20:25

Okay, will try once again (see global warming) not to blow up.

The whole point of the war on terror is to end terror, and the end of the world as we know it (that’s a good song!)

President (don’t know how to spell it, will do best on how I’m pretty sure it’s pronounced) Mahmoud Ahmedimajahd (the guy in charge of Iran) has warned us multiple times that Iran is going to destroy us. In Sharia law (or whatever it is) you have to warn someone three times before you do it. I think he’s warned us twice or once, don’t know.

More on this later, ’cause there is a reason! The reason is A) calm down radical Islam, i.e. kill fanatics. B) let the good people in the Middle East have a taste, heck, a banquet of Western freedoms and such and C) Make sure they won’t attack us.

Didn’t see speech, give the President the go-ahead (not that he cares) to send more troops, A) the troops volunteer, 2) we need more troops, and less restraint on what we can do in the Middle East, and D) (anybody seen Home Alone) As long as we do good with the troops, I have no problems with sending more

(can you tell that this is my 5th post after a long break? I seem to have become much more long-winded)

Possibly more on this later

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17

Purple Panda

in January 12th, 2007 @ 21:22

8 – what, exactly is this reason you’re talking about? I do not see any reason.

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18

curious and questioning

in January 12th, 2007 @ 22:33

5- I can imagine, Robert gapa saying “and remember…”, and all the musebloggers, mostly teenagers, chorusing in a bored tone of voice, some rolled eyes, “we’re all musers here”, a couple of people shouting out alone, “yeah, we know”, “get on with it”. That was random. And not really a hot topic. Lukewarm, if anything. Probaly room temperature. Pointless. I couldn’t care less.

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19

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in January 13th, 2007 @ 04:20

Yes, the phrase has probably lost most of its power by now. Still, we’ve acquired a lot of newcomers lately, and I think it’s worthwhile to make sure they hear it once. MuseBloggers are special, and their Muserliness is what brought them here.

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20

Queenie J

in January 13th, 2007 @ 11:36

7-Some people also say that Martin Luther King’s death was staged by the gov’t for exactly that reason.

10-It’s just a word. Actually, if we’re trying to teach the Iraqis to be self-sufficient, why are we sending in more people?

18-It was trying to be an aside in a post with another hot topic. Nevermind then.

19-Are you listening to yourself, man? If it’s ‘probably’ weak, then WWI was a slight disagreement.

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21

violindino

in January 13th, 2007 @ 13:11

In my opinion, the only way we’re going to win this war is to (1) just move on with it instead of spending all this time wondering,” is Pres. Bush really doing the best he can,” and (2) to try to speed things up. The longer we take in Iraq/ Iran, ect, the more they get sick of us. And, frankly, I don’t blame them.

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22

Kiara

in January 13th, 2007 @ 14:49

21 – Hear, hear! Bravo, violindino. I wonder if Pres. Bush is a Muser. Probably not, but if he was he could definently take some tips from us Musers.

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23

niugnep

in January 13th, 2007 @ 16:41

I think that there is no reasonable way for us to “win” in Iraq. They just have way to many issues among themselves for us to be helpful. The government of the US has an obligation to protect the people of the US to protect them. People are dying in Iraq, therefore it is counterproductive.

Why should we not be able to have a continual debate on current events, if not here, then somewhere else?

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24

dark lord of darkness

in January 13th, 2007 @ 17:07

16-so far, the war on terror has been- a- invading Afghanistan, and b- invading iraq. by doing this, we have created more terrorists, not less. i have sources.
heres one for iraq
and heres a nice list of ten bigillion sources

[Sorry, DLOD, you’re pushing the limits with links. Snippety snip snip… Rosanne]

“President (don’t know how to spell it, will do best on how I’m pretty sure it’s pronounced) Mahmoud Ahmedimajahd (the guy in charge of Iran) has warned us multiple times that Iran is going to destroy us. In Sharia law (or whatever it is) you have to warn someone three times before you do it. I think he’s warned us twice or once, don’t know.”

thats not terrorism. and im sure that if we irradicated iran, that would solve the problem. i mean, its not like anyone would care. everyone would be dead, and none could attack us again.

“More on this later, ’cause there is a reason! The reason is A) calm down radical Islam, i.e. kill fanatics. B) let the good people in the Middle East have a taste, heck, a banquet of Western freedoms and such and C) Make sure they won’t attack us.”
and killing people has had such a great effect in the past. they all hate america, and for a very good reason. if the american army comes in, kills a bunch of civilians and their leaders, its not exactly like they’re gonna be all discuraged, and decide that america is great, and go home. terrorists are organizations, that are extremely decentralized, and the only way to stop them is to make them stop hating us. invading their countries is certainly not a good way to do that.

21-what do you mean by “win this war” ?
kill everyone? install a stable, democratic government? kill all the terrorists? i assure you, we will do none of those things.

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25

Sunrunner Bramblewood

in January 13th, 2007 @ 18:24

In my opinion, this war was a waste of time, effort, money, and lives. One time, the Congress was going to pass a law that said:”If you vote yes for war, you have to pick up a gun and fight in it.” I, for one, can’t see why that law wasn’t passed.

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26

Arianhrod of Orkney (circa A.D. 900)

in January 14th, 2007 @ 10:57

A. of O. begins to tire of this topic, so here’s another one: should the government regulate the amount ot trans-fats in restaurant food?
Anyone gonna bite?

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27

yesterday's_kinked_moose

in January 14th, 2007 @ 13:20

I really can’t see how more troops would help anything at all. But at least there’s no draft. Yet.
S.B. (25): What if some single mother voted “yes for war”? What would happen to her kids when she was shipped off to Iraq? It does seem like a fundamentally good idea, though. It would force people to put their lives where their mouths are.
A. of O. (26): Heh heh, bite. Pun intended? I don’t think the government should regulate trans-fats in restaurant food. Granted trans-fats are horrible for you, but if people want to kill themselves with their food, let them. I do think it would be a good idea if they had those nutrition information bars that are on cereal boxes and stuff next to items in the menu. Then people might think twice before ordering.

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28

Arianhrod of Orkney (circa A.D. 900)

in January 14th, 2007 @ 16:36

27 — well, not at first, but after i realized what i’d written i just decided to keep it and see if anyone would notice.
incidentally, i think the government should. i mean you know if they’re allowed to run wild with it places like mcdonalds are going to use trans-fats and hydrogenated oils (are they the same? we learned about it in bio but j’oublie (i forget)) to an insane degree. then they’re gonna get sued by a lot of really stupid people. but whatever . . . leaving now

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29

dark lord of darkness

in January 14th, 2007 @ 20:10

they allready did in new york. and they absoloutly should. people dont know that they;re eating it, or if they do, they have no alternative.

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30

Arianhrod of Orkney (circa A.D. 900)

in January 15th, 2007 @ 10:23

go ny!

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31

Queenie J

in January 15th, 2007 @ 10:59

They’ve got to be protected
All their rights respected
Until somebody we like can be elected!

29-It’s someone else’s meal, life, and choice. I mean, really. So what if trans fats are unhealthy? So are cars, so is alcohol (which is still legal) and so are chick flicks. Christ, if I wanted to live a good, clean, pure life with all natural wholesome foods I would have joined a commune. Sugar’s not good for you either, you know. Food prohibition is not the answer. Whoever proposed the trans fat ban should be forced to take 720-hour poison conditional on their ingestion of at least 14 fat-substituted sweets. In the words of Captain Kangaroo, “That’ll hold the little bastards!” Sorry, rant.

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32

the man for aeiou

in January 15th, 2007 @ 13:31

31-but food without trans fats taste better

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33

dark lord of darkness

in January 16th, 2007 @ 20:22

32-correction, -you cant taste the difference.
31-hey!!!! *calls GAPA* “she said a bad word!!!!” and, i dont think you realize quite how bad they are for you. wikipedia it. as i said before, its resricting the restaurants, not the people. people can buy all the trans fat they want to cook with, but they wont. “let’s get partially hydrogenated palm kernal oil today instead of canola oil mom!” except not. becuase they’re the same price, and people dont tend to use their oil hundreds of times, making trans fat useless. if a person can only afford one type of food, probably fast food, which is the case for many, they have to eat trans fat. this should not be allowed. of course if someone wants to drink some partially hydrogenated coconut oil, they’re perfectly welcome. but that’s not the point. and it isnt food prohibition. its chemically modified oil for food prohibition. just dont hydrogenate it! all the things you mentioned are liked by some people. (well, a lot of people.) but n one actually likes trans fat except gigantic corperations who need their french fries to stay the same after being out in the air for two months.
and sorry for reporting you.

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34

Axa

in January 16th, 2007 @ 21:49

First and foremost, thanks and many bunny points to the GAPAs for the elongated description up there, which we needed.

I know it’s the hottest topic around but we need need need to stop talking SO much about the Iraq war. No disrespect meant, I’m just saying it always goes back to that or Bush and it’s tiring.

I don’t know enough about chemicals and fats to give all I want to this topic. Even so-

Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s okay. As stated, alcohol is legal, but it’s still ill advised to consume. THEREFORE doesn’t it make sense to ban things that are bad for everyone and their grandma’s dog?It really doesn’t makes sense not to band something unhealthy just because there are other, equally or more unhealthy things in the world. It’s not a justification, it’s another bullet on the list for why we should outlaw trans fat.

I hear “People can eat what the want okay D:” but most people don’t say “OH YEEEEEAH PUT SOME EXTRA TRANS FAT ON THAT BURGER” Srsly if it tastes the same no one will care. Has there been a mass boycott of Lay’s for switching to sunflower (seed) oil? Noes. Noes there hasn’t.

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35

Queenie J

in January 18th, 2007 @ 17:35

33, 34-You can so taste the difference. Yes, you can. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, you most definitely can. Gareth Blackstock would have a conniption fit. A really big conniption fit.

Food prohibition is not the answer. Trans fats may be unhealthy and bad, but you can’t attempt to restrict the cuisine of an entire population. It makes sense not to ban something because you have no right to decide what goes on someone else’s plate. Yes, obesity is unhealthy. However, it’s not your decision. Being holier-than-thou and delicately nibbling a little tofu doesn’t mean that the rest of us are going to follow your lead and stop eating burgers and fries and poutine and doughnuts and sweets and brownies and cookies. Foods without trans fats taste terrible. A person’s diet is their choice, and telling people they can’t be served trans fats becuase it’s bad for them is not a good policy. It’s far too Big Brother-esque, and that’s not good either. Basically, it’s someone else’s right to eat whatever they want and no one can take it away. Get back to your guitars, granola hippies. It tastes good, and they’re our bodies, over which you have no rights whatsoever.

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36

Elizabeth

in January 18th, 2007 @ 17:39

7- I agree with that… sort of, but no one will ever know, it’s too bad that it even happened in the first place. It is odd that this war in Iraq just happened to benefit rich Americans (or would have if all had went as planned) because that country just happened to have a lot of oil…. and we’re never gonna “win” this war, we have already horribly lost, almost everyone there hates our guts (as Americans) because of this war:
only 35% of Iraqi children go to school the other 65% are afraid of getting killed or kidnapped or can’t for other reasons related to this war
half the population of Iraq is 18 or younger because of all the fighting the older ones have already died

also, I think it is a good idea for the gov’t to ban Trans fats like they did in New York City. People will eat what they have available and children that grow up without trans fats won’t miss them. I think that the reason people eat trans fats is that they just happen to be in their food. Food can taste just as good if not better without trans fats. You live in NYC, DLoD, don’t you? do you miss trans fats in your diet?
and, just out of curiosity, how have things changed? Like, are there any foods that you used to eat a lot of but can’t anymore?

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37

Axa

in January 18th, 2007 @ 19:57

(35) I said if it tastes that same. Thus, if the omnipotent “they” can find a way to have the food with this fat taste the same then no one will care. And not everyone who has a legitimate concern for their health eats tofu and is a hippie. what.

A person’s diet is their choice though.

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38

Julieb

in January 18th, 2007 @ 20:25

35- Ahh, but what about McDonalds switching the trans fats in some of their resturants to corn oil and nobody tasting the difference? It’s not a question of banning trans fats or unhealthy food per se, just public pressure being put on fast food resturants to make their food nominally more healthy. You say that people are free to chose what they eat, so why are people who want to eat healthily(?) excluded? Most fast food resturants have already introduced new salads that have made billions in sales, why not take the next step? And what do you mean “foods without trans fats taste terrible?” Most of the stuff you eat doesn’t have trans fats, in fact, the best tasting highest quality stuff is not made in places like McDonalds, in case you didn’t know.

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39

dark lord of darkness

in January 19th, 2007 @ 23:41

36-lol. fraid i don’t. abd, in answer to your question, absoloutly nothing has changed. first of all the ban is only for restaurants. i can eat everything i did before, but if it is in a restaurant, it just doesnt have trans fat in it! instead, it has unsaturated or saturated fat in it. not really a big deal. at all. in fact, i haven’t noticed. i think a complete ban would be much the same. there are no foods that i cant eat anymore, because there are no foods that need trans fat (except err partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil cola, but i didnt drink much of that in the first place, so i didnt really notice.)
35- it appears that you are implying that trans fat is a cuisine. do you want trans fat in your food? does anyone? as i have said, its perfectly fine if people want to go out and buy trans fat to eat. but gigantic companies that use it only to prolong the shelf life of their products should not be allowed to, as the people buying the products have no choice wheather or not they want the trans fat.
“Foods without trans fats taste terrible.” hmm. interesting. so, you mean to say that before the 1900s, everything people ate tasted terrible? and all food that is not bough in a package or at a fast food store tastes terrible?
“Being holier-than-thou and delicately nibbling a little tofu doesn’t mean that the rest of us are going to follow your lead and stop eating burgers and fries and poutine and doughnuts and sweets and brownies and cookies.” i like all of those things. (well, except poutine, but that’s beside the point) all of those things, (to my knowladge) can be and usually are produced without trans fat. why would you stop eating those things? its unhealthy, but who cares? what we can do, is eliminate a completely pointless and redundant oil that simply multiplies the unhealthiness by ten!
37-of course a person’s diet is their own choice. which is precisely why trans fa should be banned. so people are not forced to eat it!
k
im done.

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40

Queenie

in January 20th, 2007 @ 10:57

39-What I meant by that was that foods that were designed to have trans fats in them taste ‘off’ or ‘wrong’ without trans fats. The same way Hershey’s has a barnyard taste. The oil is not pointless and redundant–it is essential to the chemistry, balance, texture, and flavor of the food. It’s not ‘gigantic companies’ that won’t be allowed to use trans fats, it’s restaurants. All restaurants. That’s like Sunset Cookies in Small Time Crooks being Sunset Vegetables. Disgusting.

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41

Mattathias of Modin

in January 20th, 2007 @ 13:18

Quennie- Gareth Blackstock wouldn’t use trans fats. Part of his angle on food was to use extremely high quality ingredients, and trans fats are a cheap junk-food ingredient. Not all oils have trans fats, just the nasty ones. Real chefs wouldn’t use them to begin with. Now, if NY banned unpasteurized cheese, then Gareth’d get mad.

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42

Queenie J

in January 20th, 2007 @ 16:30

41-No, no, Blackstock would have them ban salt first. I bet the salmon mousse has trans fats. And the vegetable tureen doesn’t.

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43

Himura Kenshin

in January 20th, 2007 @ 16:45

I think that trans fat is an impurity of society.

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44

FrigidSymphony

in January 21st, 2007 @ 07:49

DADADADAAA!!!

I APPEAR!!

13: Iraq was way better off before american intervention. There are enough interviews to prove that.

And how many people just eat what tastes good and give no thought to the consequence? If people are stupid enough to let themselves get fat, than good riddance to moronic cretins.

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45

Pentatonikk

in January 21st, 2007 @ 21:50

44 (FS)- ZOMG TWO APPEARANCES.

Actually, for once I totally agree with you. -bloggers die of shock-

What do all y’all think about lowering the voting age to sixteen? I know there’s a bill somewhere or another that proposes that. (And yes, I’m mostly asking this because I’m sixteen in ’08. :P)

I know a bunch of cretins my age, but I also know a bunch of cretins who can vote already. (I even know some who can get elected, though I shan’t name names.) And some of the most mature, intelligent people I’ve ever met are my age or younger. So I think America’s election system needs to be fixed, basically. ‘Ey, FS, how do they do it over in Switzerland?

Personally, I think that any American registering to vote should have to take a test, sort of like the citizenship test, asking basic questions about the Constitution and system of government. If they pass, then they can vote. Yay. If they don’t, they can’t. And then I’d lower the voter registration age to something significantly lower (fourteen? twelve?).

I can practically hear the screams: “ZOMG PENTY IS SNARKY AND ELITIST!!!!11!!!!@!!eleventy-one!!!” Well, yeah. If you didn’t know that by now, you probably showed up after I went on break. But seriously, if immigrants have to pass a test to vote, why shouldn’t native-born Americans? If they can take a test about a country they’ve only just arrived in, why can’t we take one about a country we’ve lived in our entire lives.

Yeah, it would lower voter turnout. But it would lower turnout to people who were actually willing to make intelligent decisions about the country. Which [deity of choice] knows we need.

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46

Julieb

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 12:22

45- Actually, It’s a great idea. A little chlorine in the voter pool to weed out those who are only voting because that’s their parent’s party or something and don’t really know who or what they’re voting for. Then again, many would feel it would restrict upon the 14th ammendment by restricting the rights of citizens. And the voter turnout is pretty low already.

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47

FrigidSymphony

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 12:41

Switzerland is one of the only countries with a direct democracy. Citizens vote directly on all matters, not through unscrupolous politicians working or personal gain. So each of our seven presidents (2 for each major party, and one representing the current minority- in this moment the socialists) is directly voted for by the people. Same goes for referendums and foreign affairs.

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48

FrigidSymphony

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 13:39

By. Odin. I. Have. Found. It. I’m joining Asatru!

wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru

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49

dark lord of darkness

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 15:23

40-how do you know that?
and restaurants usually do not use trans fats, as it has no purpose for them.
it appears that we have different ideas on what trans fat is. i think that it is unsaturated fat transformed in order for it to have a longer shelf life, with a side effect that it also stays in your body for longer than other fats, making it extremely unhealthy. you seem to think that it is something that one would use to alter the taste of food, an ingredient that a professional chef would use (albeit a fictional professional chef). it is not. it is an oil whose only purpose is to prolong the shelf life of food. which can be confirmed by looking at http://en.wikipedia.org
44-lol. by the same logic, let people kill each other for drugs. only moronic cretins would get involved in drugs, so its their own fault when they get killed.
41-unpasteurized cheese has a culinary purpose.
42-salmon mousse? who would make that? and why would it have trans fat in it?

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50

Elizabeth

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 15:54

45- ya, I completely agree (I’ll be 16 in ’08 too) I wonder why they haven’t done voting that way? (people take a test+lower the age) I’ll ask around… maybe it’s because they’re afraid minors will vote the way their parents want just b/c their parents told them to. or something like that… i don’t know.

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51

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 16:05

Any kind of test for voting would be a hard sell in the United States, because of the country’s history of using literacy tests to keep former slaves and their descendants from voting.

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52

dark lord of darkness

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 20:21

51-yeah. dont hate the stupid cretins. they make up a large percentage of the population, and because of democracy, they have to be represented.

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53

Pentatonikk

in January 22nd, 2007 @ 21:06

52 (dlod)- I don’t hate cretins. I just think they should have to learn something before being loosed on the unsuspecting voting booths. Like…I dunno, the Constitution test?

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54

Julieb

in January 23rd, 2007 @ 15:41

Here’s an ethical question for everyone:

Is it better to live under oppression or during a constant and violent war?

The reason I ask is because there was a presentation at my school today called Invisible Children, all about kids in Uganda. There is a group of militants who have been trying to overthrow the government for twenty years, and often kidnap kids to fight for them. The government itself is corrupt, hence the militants. But would it be better just to live under oppression? The people there are under constant fear their children will be abducted from their beds, not to mention that they have to ride through war zones to get AIDs meds. Then again, the government could be even worse. The living conditions are already horrible, and obviously people must have been really upset for the whole thing to start in the first place.

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55

QJ

in January 23rd, 2007 @ 18:04

Remember that Terry Pratchett thing where Vimes learns about democracy, and he’s interested to learn that while “he himself has a vote, there was no way he could prevent something like Nobby having a vote”? I mean, there’s the rub. Democracy is a fine system–for beginners. (Name the Heinlein! Coontz-sensei should know this one like the back of his foot.)

54-No.

Ew, the US constitution is seriously deadly. No offense, but it just IS. Majorly. As in, gag/puke/vomit/deadly boring. Worse than the Battle of Naseby. Much worse. I’m sure it works great as a constit and all, but it doesn’t even have a langue version.

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56

Elizabeth

in January 24th, 2007 @ 11:13

54- i think so… sort of…
it really depends on the situation. like in Iraq, no one likes Americans and they are all fighting among themselves now, especially with Saddam dead. I think that if i were an iraqi I would rather be under the rule of Saddam than the way life is there now. At least most kids went to school and as long as you did what you were supposed to, you would probably be fine.

this is really choosing the better of 2 evils, and anyway, fighting opression in a country shouldn’t need a long and deadly war. If America had given Oxfam, the peace corps, heifer project, etc. as much money, effort, and time as we put into this war, world hunger and oppression could be solved already. and why not have a selective service for the peace corps?
ok, I’m dreaming now, but it would be a big step towards a perfect world.

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57

QJ

in January 24th, 2007 @ 16:05

56-A perfect world would be AWFUL.

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58

Violetfire

in January 24th, 2007 @ 17:32

57: yes, but as its impossible, we can just do everything we can to make it perfect and we’ll end up with something thats as good as its ever going to be, which is better anyway and what we should have been aiming for in the first place.

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59

yesterday's_kinked_moose

in January 24th, 2007 @ 19:52

I guess oppression is better. Not that I would know from personal experience with the options, but i’ve heard about the invisible children and their situation is AWFUL. Everyone should go watch the movie Invisible Children right now. Once you get past the scenes of people vomiting and the one of the chicken getting it’s head cut off, it’s really good. I mean disturbing. Which is how it should be. These kids have to travel for miles into the city to sleep every night just to keep from getting abducted and made to kill until they are desensitized to violence. And with all the non-abducted kids (okay, teenagers to make this sound somewhat less disgusting) sleeping (or not sleeping) in one place, there is the problem of STDs. And the irony of it all, to me, is that the militants call themselves The Lord’s Resistance Amy.

33: Yeah, I know we’re over this issue, but you make a good point. However, I think buying the foods that constitute something like a burger or sandwich (like bread and deli meat) and being able to make, say, five, would be ultimately cheaper than paying less for one meal at a fast food place.

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60

dark lord of darkness

in January 25th, 2007 @ 17:22

59-whats the irony in that? lol

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yesterday's_kinked_moose

in January 25th, 2007 @ 18:11

60: I’m amused to death.

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62

kricket

in January 26th, 2007 @ 15:10

This is an interesting hot topics thread. I should get my friend, RR, on here to tell everyone what he thinks about the War on Terrorism. ‘Twould be funny. In fact, I’ll get him.

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63

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in January 26th, 2007 @ 16:01

(55),

Indeed I do. That’s what the Vegans told Kip.

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64

Musketeer Number 5

in January 26th, 2007 @ 18:42

56- Saddam’s regime was oppressive, but didn’t strongly favor Sunni or Shi’a. The Kurds had it rough, but don’t they still?! Iraq needed someone who had no qualms with a dictatorship that oppressed everyone fairly and kept everyone from attacking eachother.
I guess I that’s my same oppinion with the Invisible Children.

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65

FrigidSymphony

in January 28th, 2007 @ 11:57

So… what’s the general opinion on China’s missile launch?

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66

therealslimshady

in January 28th, 2007 @ 14:14

i have only one thing to say: a village in texas has lost it’s idiot.

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67

Axa

in January 28th, 2007 @ 17:39

(65) I think it’s forboding of times to come. Very scary, space warfare is on my “If this happens, we’re going to hell in a handbasket” list.

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68

Phsycotic Attacking Penguin

in January 29th, 2007 @ 17:15

65 its called showing off…i doubt they’ll make any moves…for a little while…

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69

nerdz__r00l

in January 30th, 2007 @ 00:33

I think with the u.s. tied down in iraq, there might be a new world power temperarily…
(partially quoted from time magazine)

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70

Phsycotic Attacking Penguin

in January 30th, 2007 @ 15:15

69 temporary? id say if someone else is going to become “new world”, it won’t just be a temporary role, unless you’d call america’s time as world power temporary, which it kinda is, relatively….but anyway, i think the new world power, china, iran, north korea, will be here to stay…

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71

Musketeer Number 5

in January 30th, 2007 @ 15:37

So, who will be the new world power?

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72

Ã–tzi

in January 30th, 2007 @ 16:04

China.

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73

Lizzie

in January 30th, 2007 @ 16:31

Supranational institutions such as the EU.

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74

Axa

in January 30th, 2007 @ 18:09

(68) …I agree to an extent, it’s a show of force.

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75

Musketeer Number 5

in January 30th, 2007 @ 18:09

73. I think the EU is too weak. But I could see an alliagnance of a few countries gaining a fair amount of power.
72. I’d agree with China too…..

Oh, ramdom question, my school has started saying the pledge of aligance in school each morning (yes, in high school). Is this normal?
I personally think it’s dumb and never say it. I think it’s strange to show patriatism by saying a rhyme.

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76

Kiara

in January 30th, 2007 @ 18:44

72 – Yeah. I don’t even get a newspaper regularly and I still know that. And there realy isn’t anything we can do about it.
73 – What does EU stand for?
75 – Yep, it’s normal. Especially in public schools (except for the ones who forbid the “under God” part) . And yeah, it seems pretty strange, but at least it’s not singing the anthem. People in my school would probably burst out laughing from how horribly some people sing.

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77

Lizzie

in January 30th, 2007 @ 19:32

75- actually, superpower status in these days is mostly based on economic strength, not military, and the EU is the strongest economic.. thingy.
76- European Union

Yeah, my brain’s pretty much dead.

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78

dark lord of darkness

in January 30th, 2007 @ 21:40

china is extremely productive, and its people do whatever the gov’t tells them too. and theres are really lot of people in china. i’d say Us and china are superpowers. the Eu is a really good idea, but it really has not much power (the entity, not the countries.)
77-how do you know? source please. and what kind of economic?
75-it doesn’t rhyme…….. but yeah. ridiculous.
70-iran? world power? think again. world factbook. they’ve got a infant mortality rate of 40/1000 births. literacy rate is 75% (us and all devoloped countries is 99%. iran’s gdp is 610 billion. ours is 12.98 trillion. their economy relies completely on oil. and they are thinking about getting nukes. not a superpower.
66-lol correction-somewhere in texas, theres a village missing an idiot.
ooh! and lets check out the eu. lol. we barely beat them (well, not actually, it just looks like it) 12.98-12.82 trillion. assuming you mean GDP. and nuclear holocaustwise, their totally screwed. but military, we totally win. i think i read somewhere that our army is allmost the size of the rest of the world’s combined. sad.

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79

FrigidSymphony

in January 31st, 2007 @ 10:41

75: Refuse to do it. Do not pledge allegiance to the country messing up the world the worst. If they throw you out, go to Europe.

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80

Ebeth The Ubiquitous Ãœber

in January 31st, 2007 @ 14:55

they won’t throw you out. i never say it. i always had to say it when i was small and then i realized that it was total brainwashing. Then i was like “um…no”

china’s the next world power. and part of the possible cold war 2. i don’t know what you mean by temporary. are you saying like until we get out of iraq? but our leaving’s not really going to stop them. don’t they have nukes too? kind of ruins the point of an army, that. a big one anyway

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81

Purple Panda

in January 31st, 2007 @ 15:43

I don’t say it either. They can’t throw you out.

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82

yesterday's_kinked_moose

in January 31st, 2007 @ 16:05

75 – That’s weird. Try singing “rockin’ in the free world” instead and see what happens.

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83

Elizabeth

in January 31st, 2007 @ 16:47

I don’t say the pledge either, but i stand up so I don’t annoy the teachers or cause a distraction

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84

dark lord of darkness

in January 31st, 2007 @ 17:40

82-great idea!!! i’d do it, except my school is sane, so we dont do it. and i dont know what rockin’ in the free world is…

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85

Queenie J

in January 31st, 2007 @ 18:09

65-If the Americans decided they would like to fund something like that, they could hire some Canadian scientists and do it just as well. However, the S-38 was canceled, so there you go.

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86

FrigidSymphony

in February 1st, 2007 @ 13:15

84: Keep on Rockin’ In The Free World is a kickass song by Neil Young, covered by the G3 with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen.

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87

dark lord of darkness

in February 1st, 2007 @ 15:54

85-we already have tat stuff.back in da cold war, we tested hem all the time.
84-nice peoples. ill check it out.

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88

Musketeer Number 5

in February 1st, 2007 @ 18:11

79. I never said it. So far I just bug my teachers, all of whom are idiots anyway, but I have been renewing my Europe connections just in case…
82. I like the idea.
76. The EU is crumbling, alot of countries are in part way…not a good situation of a world power…

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89

FrigidSymphony

in February 2nd, 2007 @ 13:02

I heard the Windows Vista was made with the NSA. Daddy Bush is watching you and trying to make sense of what we’re writing.

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90

hotstuff trinity

in February 2nd, 2007 @ 13:41

89~ hmmm… that makes sense… good thing I have a mac.

when I talk on the phone with Ã¶tzi, she talks to the nsa people spying on her conversations… It’s weird.

In other news: Barbaro was euthanized. I almost cried… It’s so sad.

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91

FrigidSymphony

in February 2nd, 2007 @ 13:58

90: Ok, the NSA has lots of connections, but that’s just paranoia. They hook up onto rich important men. Or environmentalist activists. Or pacifist leaders. Or Asatruars.

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92

Elizabeth

in February 3rd, 2007 @ 16:34

90- i know, they spent so much time and money on him, then they had to kill him. I wonder why. I bet the owners of Barbaro are unhappy about it.

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93

Lizzie

in February 3rd, 2007 @ 16:54

78- the AP Human Geography textbooks we just studied Political Geography out of plus the ten thousand extra handouts my teacher gave me. The EU is actually STRONGER economically than the US.

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94

FrigidSymphony

in February 4th, 2007 @ 03:39

93: Are you surprised? The EU is richer than the US (and CH is richer than the US too) and they pollute a whole lot less. The Al Gore movie made almost no impact here, as everyone was already aware and knew about global warming all along.

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95

Amanda

in February 4th, 2007 @ 15:31

how much does anyone wanna bet that the EU or China wil be the next big nations?

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96

Margaret

in February 4th, 2007 @ 15:40

95 ~ The EU isn’t even a nation, though.

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97

yesterday's_kinked_moose

in February 5th, 2007 @ 12:30

A few months ago, we had a speaker, one Dr. Dagget (and you can imagine that he quickly aquired an unwanted nickname), who spoke about technology and education. He took a very long time to say, basicaly, that our educations would be obsolete in a few years, which is probably true. There was supposedly an uplifting message somewhere in there, but i don’t remember what it was. Anyway, he said China and India were the fastest developing nations and the nations that the most U.S. jobs are being outsourced to.

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98

Julieb

in February 5th, 2007 @ 21:28

Don’t get down. Our parents’ educations became obsolete with the invention of computers. We’ll survive, as long as we get jobs that aren’t any cheaper in India or China, like in the sciences or something.

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99

Elizabeth

in February 16th, 2007 @ 08:43

That or we can all go back about 10 centuries and all be farmers and produce just enough food for ourselves and our families. Heat our small dwellings by firewood, travel by horse if we’re lucky, and completely stop emiting green house gasses. We wouldn’t have to worry about the economy or nuclear bombs or the president or global warming or money or anything, just keepiong ourselves fed and warm. When you think about it, our own technology will be our downfall. What’s the reason we are in Iraq? we want oil, without our own advanced technology, we wouldn’t need the oil and fewer people would have been killed.

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100

FrigidSymphony

in February 16th, 2007 @ 11:48

99: the problem is that we DO have the tecnology to not need oil, but the oil companies are doing their best to destroy alternative energy sources.

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101

Musketeer Number 5

in February 16th, 2007 @ 16:05

99. Yae, nothing to worry about except a cold, then we’d die because the only medicine we’d have is a potion made out of who knows what…
Becomeing ludites is NOT the answer to idiots in government! Technology is a good thing, we need to be a bit smarter with it and (like FS basically said) get a president who isn’t endorsed by oil companies.

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102

Imperial Majesty Sweet Melpomene the Ingenious of Chalmondley St Peasoup

in February 21st, 2007 @ 19:05

Well, no one’s posted since the 16th…

Tried to introduce this on the V-day thread. So, views on parenting techniques?

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103

Elizabeth

in February 23rd, 2007 @ 09:39

102- ummm, don’t become a parent until your good and ready?

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104

hypermoocow

in March 10th, 2007 @ 17:23

103 ditto

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dark lord of darkness

Ã–tzi

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Arianhrod of Orkney (circa A.D. 900)

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the man for aeiou

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