US Politics Mega-thread - Page 864

On February 10 2014 10:54 aksfjh wrote:

You mean in the scientific way that actually improves understanding of science and engineering?

On February 10 2014 11:07 Simberto wrote:


No, i mean the political way that ignores the problems that might exist and/or tells people they don't exist.

On February 10 2014 10:54 aksfjh wrote:
You mean in the scientific way that actually improves understanding of science and engineering?

On February 10 2014 12:44 aksfjh wrote:
genetically modified organisms can cause devastating effects on human life. Wait, never mind, that didn't happen...

On February 10 2014 14:37 nunez wrote:


address his point, stop embarassing yourself.

“And you’re going to have [Karl] Rove throwing all of his money and American Crossroads throwing all of that money, plus the Chamber of Commerce, plus these ‘Main Street Republican’ partnership types who are funded by who? Big labor. And the tea party candidates, I think, are going to follow in the path of Ted Cruz and somehow be able to triumph over all of that money

On February 10 2014 15:32 aksfjh wrote:

Address what point? That we're not educating kids on the social debate happening around the science and technology? Do you also want to "teach the controversy" on evolution and creationism? Right now, the relationship between fracking and environmental harm are about the same as evolution and creationism, to be frank. We already have entire class studies devoted to Earth preservation and nature, like the whole curriculum surrounding Earth Day. That stuff normally touches on environmentally dangerous substances and accidents, like oil spills and endangering ecosystems.

The only people embarrassing themselves are those that hate on anything related to oil companies (or at least to the best of their knowledge). There are bad teachers and firefighters with non-altruistic intentions, and there are entire departments in the oil and gas industry that want nothing more than to give what they can to the community. This is the real world, not Captain Planet.

On February 10 2014 23:14 Simberto wrote:


The point that you don't want highly biased people influencing the education of our youth. Of course everyone has an opinion, and it is really hard to keep that from influencing what you are teaching to children (You should try to, though). However, not everyone has a personal interest. Getting rid of conflict of interest situations is generally a good idea. I would not want a guy from a company that makes solar panles trying to influence the teaching of climate change either.

On February 10 2014 15:32 aksfjh wrote:

Address what point? That we're not educating kids on the social debate happening around the science and technology? Do you also want to "teach the controversy" on evolution and creationism? Right now, the relationship between fracking and environmental harm are about the same as evolution and creationism, to be frank. We already have entire class studies devoted to Earth preservation and nature, like the whole curriculum surrounding Earth Day. That stuff normally touches on environmentally dangerous substances and accidents, like oil spills and endangering ecosystems.

The only people embarrassing themselves are those that hate on anything related to oil companies (or at least to the best of their knowledge). There are bad teachers and firefighters with non-altruistic intentions, and there are entire departments in the oil and gas industry that want nothing more than to give what they can to the community. This is the real world, not Captain Planet.

They may act with good intentions, but they define “good.” The arrangement remains thoroughly plutocratic: it is the exercise of wealth-derived power in the public sphere with minimal democratic controls and civic obligations.

On February 11 2014 00:38 aksfjh wrote:

But what happens when the best sources to learn this material are from people with vested interest in a private venture? Just because there is a larger interest doesn't mean there is a serious conflict of interest. Ultimately, this is the case for a lot of fields, where the experts that create the curriculum have to be fed by some private enterprise or individual. We have to analyze and watch their involvement, but we cannot possibly eliminate all the conflicting interests with the current way government is set up without seriously crippling our youngest students' learning potential.

On February 11 2014 00:45 Wolfstan wrote:
I would rather children learn to be great productive employees improving the field of oil and gas. Teaching the basic premise of getting the filling out of twinkies without hurting the crust can have strong pro-environmental underpinnings. Our economy is screaming for qualified innovators not liberal arts majors and if we need private interest helping steer the curriculum into math and science majors then I'm all for it.

US Suspect Possibly Targeted for Drone Attack
An American citizen who is a member of al-Qaida is actively planning attacks against Americans overseas, U.S. officials say, and the Obama administration is wrestling with whether to kill him with a drone strike and how to do so legally under its new stricter targeting policy issued last year.

The CIA drones watching him cannot strike because he's a U.S. citizen and the Justice Department must build a case against him, a task it hasn't completed.

Four U.S. officials said the American suspected terrorist is in a country that refuses U.S. military action on its soil and that has proved unable to go after him. And President Barack Obama's new policy says American suspected terrorists overseas can only be killed by the military, not the CIA, creating a policy conundrum for the White House.

Two of the officials described the man as an al-Qaida facilitator who has been directly responsible for deadly attacks against U.S. citizens overseas and who continues to plan attacks against them that would use improvised explosive devices.

But one U.S. official said the Defense Department was divided over whether the man is dangerous enough to merit the potential domestic fallout of killing an American without charging him with a crime or trying him, and the potential international fallout of such an operation in a country that has been resistant to U.S. action.

A new report says the government's budget deficit is set to fall to $514 billion for the current year, down substantially from last year and the lowest by far since President Barack Obama took office five years ago.

The Congressional Budget Office report credits higher tax revenues from the rebounding economy and sharp curbs on agency spending as the chief reason for the deficit's short-term decline.

But CBO sees the long-term deficit picture worsening by about $100 billion a year through the end of the decade because of slower growth in the economy over the coming decade than it had previously predicted.

Last year's deficit registered $680 billion. Obama inherited an economy in crisis and first-ever deficits exceeding $1 trillion.

On February 11 2014 02:47 Wolfstan wrote:
It's because he's an American citizen that he has the right to due process of charges and trial before there can be a judgement of execution.

On February 11 2014 02:56 aksfjh wrote:
Here's some more "conflict of interest" I'm surprised more people don't jump in on. The NSA has algebra curriculum for students/teachers.

PDF link

Why don't we teach the other side to that? Shouldn't we scrutinize this information because it comes from the NSA, an organization that arguably violates our constitutional rights? Where are the demands from the freedom advocates that this information should be taught with a set of warnings about how this knowledge can be used to spy on US citizens?