the real question is whether the research methodology itself is morally culpable. For example, while it's all well and good to dream up, plan out, sketch plans for, and patent baby mulching machines, if that research includes testing components on real babies, there is a moral problem there.
Similarly, if research on creating DNA from scratch includes reckless dumping into the local water supply, there is a moral problem there. If researching black holes requires nuking Texas to get just the right measurements for the theory, there is a moral problem there.
So, while I agree with the sentiment of your perspective, I cannot agree that all theorizing and research has no moral culpability. If all theorizing and research had no moral culpability, there'd be no debate over stem cell research. But, since a large enough slice of Earth's human population believes that humans are humans at conception, there is moral debate over it.
On a little bit related sidenote, I don't understand why PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) isn't a rabid anti-abortion, anti-stem-cell-research group. By any definition, H.sapiens fetuses are animals with demonstrable reaction to poking with sharp sticks, etc. Their argument all along is that human rights take little precedence over the animal right-to-life. What's the big fucking difference?
I suppose some PETA person will say something about the "right to choose" for women. Well, that argument boils down to: "the right to choose death for another animal supercedes that animal's right to live". Let's not finesse it at all, the pro-choice perspective is: "the woman's right to choose, period." It includes nothing about long term chances for the baby in a cold, terrible world, blah blah. Consequently, I simply fail to see how any PETA person can be pro-choice without being ridiculously inconsistent.
I agree. I definitely see more women, particularly in the clothing and housewares sections at Target. Wal-mart usually has ugly clothes and lame housewares stacked in incovenient ways... difficult to look at and evaluate. Target has a much cleaner layout -- not as much stuff crammed on their shelves. Also, lots of hotties have children. Target has a better selection of kid's clothes than Walmart.
My only complaint is our Target needs more dressing rooms.
In my friend's unit, they weren't allowed to take off their rubber uniform at all for several weeks. Many of them accumulated blisters and other things from not being able to bathe the sweat, piss, and shit off their skin. I don't know if anyone in his unit developed GWS (he didn't), but I bet you're right about the variety of possibilities.
Considering Sevres was a treaty the Ottoman Empire was strong-armed into signing, and Lausanne was signed after - the new nation - Turkey won its independence from the invading armies, the two cannot be compared.
They don't have to be compared except insofar as a people who were promised something, got nothing.
Again, a comparison between the Kurds and the Palestinians does not make any sense, since their nation was later invaded by (or more like given to) the Israelis.
Since the Kurds have resided in the area from ancient times, they were and are every bit as deserving as Palestinians of self-determination. The same argument against Israel could be made against Turkey and Iraq: that they have unjustly occupied the Kurdish homeland since WW1.
If the Palestinians all wanted to be Arab Citizens of Israel, there wouldn't be a problem. But they don't. Are you suggesting that all Kurds want to be citizens of Turkey/Iraq? Are you suggesting that the break-up of the Ottoman Empire is not sufficient justification for giving all of its constituent peoples self-determination?
But more importantly, the Israelis oppress the Palestinians, in the true meaning of the word oppress.
You see a vast difference between Turkey's policy on the PKK and Israel's policy on the PLO? In both instances, regular people are oppressed due to "guilt by association" whether or not they actually performed any terrorist acts. This is the crux of the issue. In both countries, the political moderates in the minority are silenced by the terrorists on the one hand and the overzealous counter-terrorists on the other.
What extermination policies would those be?
In the last 20 years? Bombing, burning, and otherwise destroying thousands of Kurdish villages, in some cases killing the inhabitants directly, but in most cases, allowing death to happen of its own accord (as happens among the homeless).
It's nice how convenient it is to call them rebels. Post-WW1 when the Middle East was being carved up the Kurds were promised space for a Kurdish state under The Treaty of SÃvres. The subsequent Treaty of Lausanne mentioned nothing of a Kurdish state and atrocities ensued on both sides for most of the 20th century. So, you expect all of them to be satisfied with assimilation into Turkey?
My main complaint of Turkish policy is its support of a Palestinian state from Israel, but not one for Kurds. Why should they expect Kurds to assimilate into Turkish culture and but not expect Palestinians to assimilate into Israeli culture?
Anyway, I agree to retract "and kills" from my original statement as I had in mind extermination policies that are no longer in place.
Nah, the official position of the Reagan/early Bush Sr. administrations were:
officially condemn Iraq for using chemical weapons
but also take Iraq off the list of terrorist-supporting states so US can sell them "dual-use technologies"
give Iraq intelligence data for use against Iran (and maybe the Kurds (who, incidently, were supporting an Iranian takeover of Iraq at the time))
So, while officially we condemned Iraq, we did aid them against Iran in an attempt to prevent further Soviet influence on our cheap oil and preserve our precious bodily fluids.
You might want to watch out about calling the Kurds "[Saddam's] own people". Iraqis and Kurds, while sharing the same religion, have very different cultures and speak different languages. In an area of the world where monoculture rules the day, this is a huge source of conflict. Turkey also systematically oppresses and kills Kurds and their children, but you don't see Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, or Bush, Jr. taking a stand because Turkey is a NATO ally.
Anyway, I'm not arguing a side, just adding some n.b.'s.
A friend of mine was in the Gulf War -- US Army infantry. He said he and all his buds were "encouraged" (i.e., berated by the sargeant until they did it) to sign a waiver and receive an injection of non-FDA-approved anthrax vaccine. I've wondered if this had a possibile relation to Gulf War Syndrome. Any idea?
Does "solid education system" reduce to "all schools are good"? If so, then many voucher advocates would agree with you. But they would disagree when you tell them children in failing schools right now should be forced to stay there until the district or state gets its proverbial shit together.
It takes a long time to turn around a failing school. Having a solid educational foundation is critical for elementary school children in setting the tone for their future in education. Those kids don't have 5 years to wait on the district. They need a solution now.
That said, vouchers are only one part in a total school system solution. Here are some things I thought of off the top of my head. (FWIW, I'm a single parent of a 6 year old who attends a National Blue Ribbon public elementary school.)
Teachers should have to meet tougher requirements to teach in low-performing schools
They should make more money than teachers at better schools
Classroom sizes should be lower in low-performing schools
Teachers should be encouraged to send their own children to their school through incentives
Those who relocate into the school's neighborhood should have their moving expenses paid for
All teachers should be required to publish syllabi for their classes including a list of weekly assignments. These documents must be signed and returned by the parent[s].
A myriad of volunteer opportunities should be extended to parents: reading aloud to the kids, encouraging parents to send snacks to all the kids in the classroom, having regular plays or musicals with parent participation, helping with field trips, etc.
Regular PTA meetings / potlucks
Regular dialog sessions between parents and administration
And a bjillion more... as I said, vouchers are only part of the immediate solution. Most of these other things take time to develop.
As we all know, good schools are only 50% of education. The other 50% is a good home. Districts can't solve those problems, but they can help by encouraging parents who do care to participate in ways that help more children than just their own.
When you put a nice shiny new paint job on a layer of crap - it might look ok - but it is still a layer of crap.
Alternatively, if you put a huge, loud, chrome muffler on a beat up old Civic, it's still a beat up old Civic. It also sounds like an old man taking a long, high-pitched fart... but anyway. Yeah. Damn vatos.
Right, because the association is a non-sequitur. Some associations are not, though. E.g., confiscating privately owned firearms was perfectly relevant to the Nazi Party's coalescing of power. Which is why I think the gun nuts have a point, even if they may take it too far in certain cases.
As for organised crime, well using PGP / crypto etc is just going to get the FBI to prick up their ears a bit more so is generally avoided.
For now. As the percentage of encrypted general-interest traffic increases, the likelihood of a given message being important decreases. Thus, encrypted messages will attract less attention.
Slashdot Mirror
the real question is whether the research methodology itself is morally culpable. For example, while it's all well and good to dream up, plan out, sketch plans for, and patent baby mulching machines, if that research includes testing components on real babies, there is a moral problem there.
Similarly, if research on creating DNA from scratch includes reckless dumping into the local water supply, there is a moral problem there. If researching black holes requires nuking Texas to get just the right measurements for the theory, there is a moral problem there.
So, while I agree with the sentiment of your perspective, I cannot agree that all theorizing and research has no moral culpability. If all theorizing and research had no moral culpability, there'd be no debate over stem cell research. But, since a large enough slice of Earth's human population believes that humans are humans at conception, there is moral debate over it.
On a little bit related sidenote, I don't understand why PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) isn't a rabid anti-abortion, anti-stem-cell-research group. By any definition, H.sapiens fetuses are animals with demonstrable reaction to poking with sharp sticks, etc. Their argument all along is that human rights take little precedence over the animal right-to-life. What's the big fucking difference?
I suppose some PETA person will say something about the "right to choose" for women. Well, that argument boils down to: "the right to choose death for another animal supercedes that animal's right to live". Let's not finesse it at all, the pro-choice perspective is: "the woman's right to choose, period." It includes nothing about long term chances for the baby in a cold, terrible world, blah blah. Consequently, I simply fail to see how any PETA person can be pro-choice without being ridiculously inconsistent.
stirring up trouble,
-l
VDSL... Venereal Disease Subscriber Line? Sorry. Couldn't resist.
-l
Must be all the artificial gravity wells keeping the bits from falling off the Earth that cost all that overhead. ;)
-l
I suppose someone should tell them about popped corn. No milling required! :)
-l
-l
I agree. I definitely see more women, particularly in the clothing and housewares sections at Target. Wal-mart usually has ugly clothes and lame housewares stacked in incovenient ways... difficult to look at and evaluate. Target has a much cleaner layout -- not as much stuff crammed on their shelves. Also, lots of hotties have children. Target has a better selection of kid's clothes than Walmart.
My only complaint is our Target needs more dressing rooms.
-l
We just don't know.
-l
In my friend's unit, they weren't allowed to take off their rubber uniform at all for several weeks. Many of them accumulated blisters and other things from not being able to bathe the sweat, piss, and shit off their skin. I don't know if anyone in his unit developed GWS (he didn't), but I bet you're right about the variety of possibilities.
-l
Indeed.
-l
Considering Sevres was a treaty the Ottoman Empire was strong-armed into signing, and Lausanne was signed after - the new nation - Turkey won its independence from the invading armies, the two cannot be compared.
They don't have to be compared except insofar as a people who were promised something, got nothing.
Again, a comparison between the Kurds and the Palestinians does not make any sense, since their nation was later invaded by (or more like given to) the Israelis.
Since the Kurds have resided in the area from ancient times, they were and are every bit as deserving as Palestinians of self-determination. The same argument against Israel could be made against Turkey and Iraq: that they have unjustly occupied the Kurdish homeland since WW1.
If the Palestinians all wanted to be Arab Citizens of Israel, there wouldn't be a problem. But they don't. Are you suggesting that all Kurds want to be citizens of Turkey/Iraq? Are you suggesting that the break-up of the Ottoman Empire is not sufficient justification for giving all of its constituent peoples self-determination?
But more importantly, the Israelis oppress the Palestinians, in the true meaning of the word oppress.
You see a vast difference between Turkey's policy on the PKK and Israel's policy on the PLO? In both instances, regular people are oppressed due to "guilt by association" whether or not they actually performed any terrorist acts. This is the crux of the issue. In both countries, the political moderates in the minority are silenced by the terrorists on the one hand and the overzealous counter-terrorists on the other.
What extermination policies would those be?
In the last 20 years? Bombing, burning, and otherwise destroying thousands of Kurdish villages, in some cases killing the inhabitants directly, but in most cases, allowing death to happen of its own accord (as happens among the homeless).
-l
It's nice how convenient it is to call them rebels. Post-WW1 when the Middle East was being carved up the Kurds were promised space for a Kurdish state under The Treaty of SÃvres. The subsequent Treaty of Lausanne mentioned nothing of a Kurdish state and atrocities ensued on both sides for most of the 20th century. So, you expect all of them to be satisfied with assimilation into Turkey?
My main complaint of Turkish policy is its support of a Palestinian state from Israel, but not one for Kurds. Why should they expect Kurds to assimilate into Turkish culture and but not expect Palestinians to assimilate into Israeli culture?
Anyway, I agree to retract "and kills" from my original statement as I had in mind extermination policies that are no longer in place.
-l
So, while officially we condemned Iraq, we did aid them against Iran in an attempt to prevent further Soviet influence on our cheap oil and preserve our precious bodily fluids.
You might want to watch out about calling the Kurds "[Saddam's] own people". Iraqis and Kurds, while sharing the same religion, have very different cultures and speak different languages. In an area of the world where monoculture rules the day, this is a huge source of conflict. Turkey also systematically oppresses and kills Kurds and their children, but you don't see Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, or Bush, Jr. taking a stand because Turkey is a NATO ally.
Anyway, I'm not arguing a side, just adding some n.b.'s.
-l
A friend of mine was in the Gulf War -- US Army infantry. He said he and all his buds were "encouraged" (i.e., berated by the sargeant until they did it) to sign a waiver and receive an injection of non-FDA-approved anthrax vaccine. I've wondered if this had a possibile relation to Gulf War Syndrome. Any idea?
-l
If you've got a lot of sand, you can sell it to us poor dupes who live where it used to be sea. :)
-l
It takes a long time to turn around a failing school. Having a solid educational foundation is critical for elementary school children in setting the tone for their future in education. Those kids don't have 5 years to wait on the district. They need a solution now.
That said, vouchers are only one part in a total school system solution. Here are some things I thought of off the top of my head. (FWIW, I'm a single parent of a 6 year old who attends a National Blue Ribbon public elementary school.)
As we all know, good schools are only 50% of education. The other 50% is a good home. Districts can't solve those problems, but they can help by encouraging parents who do care to participate in ways that help more children than just their own.
Cheers,
-l
When you put a nice shiny new paint job on a layer of crap - it might look ok - but it is still a layer of crap.
Alternatively, if you put a huge, loud, chrome muffler on a beat up old Civic, it's still a beat up old Civic. It also sounds like an old man taking a long, high-pitched fart... but anyway. Yeah. Damn vatos.
-l
Right, because the association is a non-sequitur. Some associations are not, though. E.g., confiscating privately owned firearms was perfectly relevant to the Nazi Party's coalescing of power. Which is why I think the gun nuts have a point, even if they may take it too far in certain cases.
-l
Because, apparently, exclusive rights are transferrable, i.e., they can be sold, given away, subjected to a Will, etc. I think it's silly, too, but...
-l
I've never regretted switching to Lite mode. :)
-l
As for organised crime, well using PGP / crypto etc is just going to get the FBI to prick up their ears a bit more so is generally avoided.
For now. As the percentage of encrypted general-interest traffic increases, the likelihood of a given message being important decreases. Thus, encrypted messages will attract less attention.
-l
right. It was late and I was feeling grumpy about corporate court-whoring.
-l
Exactly, which is why juries should have no numerical restrictions in assessing punitive damages so long as said punishment suits the crime.
$0.02USD,
-l
agreed. I'll just wait on my stem-cell-based, mouse-back-grown eyeball replacements. ;)
-l
20-40 would be great. As it is, I can't read the 'E' except I already know it's an E before I take my glasses off!
-l
hahaha yeah, like when Homer dozes off after the Germans buy the power plant and daydreams about the chocolate city.
I love the Simpsons.
-l