As people we like shortcuts and stereotyping/profiling is a shortcut. To throw out all general rules is a stupid way and can be a dangerous way to live. But stereotyping is unfair and painful to those whom the stereotype does not fit. To be wise the correct balance needs to be struck.

All well and good when you have the time to gather information to make the best possible decisions. But generally meeting people on the street one has very little to go on.

I frankly doubt that most people go so far as to think "black ergo dangerous." They have a picture in their head of what "dangerous" looks like and black is a possible check in the "caution" column. Other checks would be male, young, baggy clothing, in a group of two or more, out at night, and so forth.

It's not a war. It's a massacre. Your guys can't win a single Republican primary. They will not win a single seat.

I will vote for the most conservative candidate who can win. The libertarian gloss is interesting enough, but it's not conservative, and it's not a plausible alternative anyway.

The most conservative candidate who can win is Mitt Romney.

The Journal-List was a real conspiracy. The communists in the United States were a real conspiracy.

I am just so happy to hear that Derb Radio will continue.

Are you being facetious? I was thinking of the identical twin studies.

You seem to know what's going on here. Why are my results backwards?

As I said in another thread: Our opponents will say we are racists no matter what. We have been aggressively self-policing ourselves for forty, fifty years. I think we need to ask ourselves, what are we trying to accomplish?

I have read this review before and it appears to be convincing. My understanding though is that tests that are not racial suggest that IQ is in very large part hereditary.

Nonetheless, I find myself wondering why black Americans have found themselves so unable to work positive change in their community.

I'm not sure that living in close proximity leads to happiness and warm feelings. I think there's actually evidence to the contrary. Certainly the Hasidic Jews and black people in Crown Heights aren't feeling the love.

Of course we can look at crime rates, illegitimacy rates, academic achievement, life expectancy and many other statistics which point to cultural pathologies that need to be addressed within black America. Citing them as de facto racial traits confuses correlation with causation, though.

But why does it matter what could happen in a different world where black American culture isn't pathological? Derb, his children, you and I, we all live in this world, and the statistics are what they are.

I took the ITA test and came up as moderately prejudiced in favour of African Americans, and slightly prejudiced in favour of Arabs.

I am very confused.

Here is something I don't understand.

Nothing racist happened at Tea Parties, and yet they were constantly tarred as racist. Republicans have been jumping on any whiff of racism for well-nigh years now, and are still called racist.

Just who are we trying to impress by policing ourselves? It doesn't matter. They don't care.

What are we trying to  accomplish?

Amy, the US trains far too many lawyers.

If I hire someone, I'm not going to pass over, say, my brother, in order to take a chance on someone else. I don't think asking people to put their personal acquaintances second is going to work.

It is impossible to give all people all the health care they desire or need. This is because people who fail to die of things that are inexpensive to treat or prevent go on to contract things that are expensive to treat or prevent. Rationing must occur.In a private system, the rationing is done by money: We consume as much health care as we can pay for.

If the government provides health care, it will also be in charge of rationing health care.  

What do I think?

I think that "nice people" in the United States have spent the last forty years (give or take) dancing around, not talking about, and generally being petrified of any discussion that may lead someone to call him racist. I think it has culminated in a society where one cannot say the obvious. I think that Mr. Derbyshire said the obvious, but he said it too soon.

I think that the next generation will not shrink from being called racist the way this generation does. I think racism will cease to be the original sin. Black people had a great deal of moral capital, but I think it has been all but burned through. That was going to happen eventually.

I do not know whether this development is good or bad, but I feel strongly that it is coming.

katievs

Vasectomy isn't birth control; it's sterilization.  The IUD is an abortifacient.  It blocks newly-conceived babies from entering the womb.  I can't understand how anyone who opposes abortion can bear the thought, never mind use one. 

I've always seen vasectomy and tubal ligation as types of birth control. Permanent ones. Paraguard works to prevent fertilization. Minerva uses making the lining of the womb inappropriate for a fertilized egg as a backup method.

Regardless, here's a study in China comparing the IUD's effectiveness to NFP.

The Mayo Clinic gives the effectiveness of Paraguard as 99.2% and Minerva as 99.9%, both much higher than NFP rates. It gives the effectiveness of the Billings method at 78% with typical use. I would trust that over anything that came from a site promoting NFP. That isn't even the study; It's a summary of a study.