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Politics, News & Issues > War & Peace Setting a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq is a terrible mistake: 2 of 43

It's not, for the simple reason that is quite often overlooked in the Fog of Media: The United States of America is NOT at war with - or in - Iraq. What we see now in the sectarian and political strife in Iraq is, in fact, an occupation of one country by the armed forces of a much larger country. Occupation is temporary by i...
Politics, News & Issues > Party Politics & Ideology Why democracy is or isn't the best method for every country: 2 of 22

One cannot approach the question of whether or not any particular political system is "the best method" for every-or ANY-country without a clear standard for what constitutes an improvement. "Best" for whom, exactly? Best for the nation's overall economy in terms of gross domestic product? Best for the standard of living of ...
Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Trusting our medical care to government bureaucracy: 2 of 10

The fundamental difference between universal health care and "Hillarycare" is that the latter is actually much less about providing health care and much more about putting the weight of the government behind the medical insurance industry. Universal heath care as it exists in Canada, the U.K., and most of Europe is different...
Politics, News & Issues > War & Peace Should the US pull out its troops regardless of whether Iraq is ready to defend its people?: 26 of 117

Absolutely it should, for three main reasons. 1) The overwhelming majority of the violence in Iraq since George Bush's troop surge is still directed against coalition forces and/or the Iraqi Military and police. Most of this is caused by Sunni militant groups who believe they have been utterly disenfranchised by the new Shii...
Education > Educational Philosophy The effects of a competitive academic environment: 5 of 15

Competitive academics invariably favors behaviors of competition far more than it favors academics. This largely has to do with the nature of academics in the United States: by necessity, in the public system there is very little direct regulation of students' lives and habits, and all measures of success tend to be standard...
Education > Educational Philosophy Should schools be allowed to teach creationism alongside evolution as part of their science curriculum?: 25 of 69

As Isaac Asimov once put it, "If you can't say it numbers, it isn't Science. It's your opinion." There is no shortage of schools whose science curriculums are deficient in applying the scientific method, to the effect that we now have an entire sub-culture of "scientists" who are, for whatever reason, unable to tell the diff...
Politics, News & Issues > War & Peace Should the US continue to participate in the War in Iraq?: 13 of 31

There is only one war taking place in the nation of Iraq right now. That war is a civil war between rival factions of Shi'ite and Sunni militias struggling for control of their country. The United States is involved in this war only insofar as it was an occupying power of Iraq after it ousted the dictator Saddam Hussein in 2...
Politics, News & Issues > Political & Economic Theory Will more democratically elected governments in the world lead to less terrorism?: 7 of 16

Democracy vs. Terrorism? That, unfortunately, is a false dichotomy. Considering in the broader sense that terrorism itself can just as quickly be committed by democratically elected governments as it can by disenfranchised minorities or half-baked revolutionaries. The implication of a dichotomy between "terrorism" and "democ...
Politics, News & Issues > US Immigration What should be the fate of illegal aliens found in the United States?: 13 of 25

The fate offered to illegals under Bushite "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" is the same as the fate offered to Africans during and shortly after the trans-atlantic slave trade. That, to be sure, is a fairly bleak fate, which promises a legacy of hardship and civil wrongs for which a new generation of Americans will one day...
Politics, News & Issues > Political & Economic Theory Parents: Would you send your child off to war?: 21 of 36

I would not under any circumstances send my children off to war. That is not to say that I oppose war of any kind-on the contrary, I believe that war is often necessary to defend ones nation from outside aggression. Specifically, I am oppose to imperialist wars in far away places for silly reasons that have nothing to do wit...