Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution says "The Congress shall have Power To... regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."

Democracy

It is now well known that capitalist development leads to the concentration of capital, employment, and power. It is somewhat less known that it leads to the almost complete destruction of economic freedom.

Capitalism leads to a significant loss of political, democratic, and economic power for the vast majority of the global human population, because capitalism creates very large concentrations of money and property at the hands of a relatively small minority of the global human population, leading to very large, and increasing, wealth and income inequalities between the elite and the majority of the population. Corporate capitalism and inverted totalitarianism are characterized by the dominance of hierarchical, bureaucratic, large corporations, which are legally required to pursue profit without concern for social welfare. In corporate capitalism, corporations and large business interest groups have a large amount of power and influence over government policy, including the policies of regulatory agencies and political campaigns. Corporations fail to act in the interests of the people; the existence of large corporations seems to circumvent the principles of democracy, which assumes equal power relations between all individuals in a society. Improved economical equity can only be achieved by decreasing the income gap.

The rise of giant (often multinational) corporations is a topic of concern. Large corporations lead to deep, structural erosion of such basic human rights and civil rights as equitable wealth and income distribution, equitable democratic political and socio-economic power representation, and many other human rights/needs. Large corporations create false needs in consumers and have had a long history of interference in, and distortion of, the policies of sovereign nation states through high-priced legal lobbying, and other almost always legal, powerful forms of influence peddling. Evidence of this includes invasive advertising (such as billboards, television ads, adware, spam, telemarketing, child-targeted advertising, guerrilla marketing), massive open or secret corporate political campaign contributions in so-called "democratic" elections, corporatocracy, the revolving door between government and corporations, regulatory capture, too big to fail, massive taxpayer-provided corporate bailouts, socialism/communism for the very rich and brutal, vicious, capitalism for everyone else, corporate welfare, and seemingly endless global news stories about corporate corruption (Martha Stewart and Enron, among many other examples). Large corporations answer only to large shareholders, giving human rights issues, social justice issues, environmental issues virtually no consideration.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of the United States, said "I hope we shall crush... in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country"

Exploitation

The capitalist system is inherently exploitative. In an economic sense, exploitation is often related to the expropriation of labor for profit and based on Marx's version of the labor theory of value. The labor theory of value was supported by classical economists like David Ricardo and Adam Smith who believed that "the value of a commodity depends on the relative quantity of labor which is necessary for its production."

In Das Kapital, Karl Marx identified the commodity as the basic unit of capitalist organization. Marx described a "common denominator" between commodities, in particular that commodities are the product of labor and are related to each other by an exchange value (i.e., price). By using the labor theory of value, we can see a connection between labor and exchange value, in that commodities are exchanged depending on the socially necessary labor time needed to produce them. However, due to the productive forces of industrial organization, laborers are seen as creating more exchange value during the course of the working day than the cost of their survival (food, shelter, clothing, etc.). Capitalists are thus able to pay for this cost of survival, while expropriating the excess labor (i.e., surplus value).

Due to economic inequality, the purchase of labor cannot occur under "free" conditions. Since capitalists control the means of production (e.g., factories, businesses, machinery) and workers control only their labor, the worker is naturally coerced into allowing their labor to be exploited. Exploitation occurs even if the exploited consents, since the definition of exploitation is independent of consent. In essence, workers must allow their labor to be exploited or face starvation. Since some degree of unemployment is typical in modern economies, wages are naturally driven down in free market systems. Hence, even if a worker contests their wages, capitalists are able to find someone from the reserve army of labor who is more desperate.

Unions are the "traditional method" for workers to have more bargaining power in the marketplace. The act (or threat) of striking has historically been an organized action to withhold labor from capitalists, without fear of individual retaliation. While trade unions are necessary, they simply reform an already exploitative system, leaving the system of exploitation intact. Almost all fortunes are made out of the capital and labor of other men than those who realize them. Indeed, large fortunes could rarely be made at all by one individual, except by his sponging capital and labor from others.

While in major capitalist economies the minimum wage is legislatively imposed by the state, there is no maximum wage limit, which is supposedly determined by the forces of the free market. They further argue that the minimum wage measure does not serve to set a lower limit in a worker's earnings; it actually functions as an upper limit on the earnings of a person that just enters the workforce. The existence of minimum wage, coupled with the absence of maximum, permits rapid wealth accumulation and leads to a phenomenon termed "plutonomy" by Citigroup. In effect, wages are kept low for almost all of the population while the remaining minute percentage is allowed to meet overwhelming profits.

The adoption of upper limits in individual wealth is a solution that would make the world a better place.

Imperialism

The ills caused by capitalism include imperialism and oppression. Systematic violence against political opponents, participation in coups that have placed dictators in power (for example Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Argentina with its Dirty War); and large scale democide (like in the Congo Free State). Although some of these violations occurred during a time period and in states sometimes considered being more capitalist than today since the government share of the economy was much smaller, American and European support of multinational-friendly capitalist dictatorships in Latin America and Africa lasted until the mid-1980s.

Near the start of the 20th century, Vladimir Lenin claimed that state use of military power to defend capitalist interests abroad was an inevitable corollary of monopoly capitalism. The system is responsible for not only economic exploitation, but imperialist, colonialist and counter-revolutionary wars, repressions of workers and trade unionists, genocides and massacres.

Capitalism needs imperialism in order to survive. The unplanned nature of capitalism inevitably overproduces commodities and overuses resources, which leads it to expand its markets into and drain the resources out of other, less developed nations. The wealthy nations must maintain cheap access to Third World natural resources and unfree labor, by force if necessary. Capitalist countries like the United Kingdom initially were helped by the primitive accumulation of capital through the theft of natural resources and exploitation of slave labor from large parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas, which spurred the Industrial Revolution. The constant, capitalist drive to expand markets is the primary cause of globalization.

In his essay, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Vladimir Lenin advanced the now widespread thesis that the 'New Imperialism' of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was an inevitable corollary of monopoly capitalism. According to Lenin, the export of financial capital superseded the export of commodities; banking and industrial capital merged to form large financial cartels and trusts in which production distribution are highly centralized; and monopoly capitalists influenced state policy to carve up the world into spheres of interest. These trends led states to defend their capitalist interests abroad through military power.

Inefficiency and Waste

There has been a shift from pre-industrial reuse and thriftiness before capitalism to a consumer-based economy that pushes "ready-made" materials. A sanitation industry arose under capitalism that deemed trash valueless; a significant break from the past when much "waste" was used and reused almost indefinitely. In the process capitalism has created a profit driven system based on selling as many products as possible. The "ready-made" trend is related to a growing garbage problem in which the average American throws out 4.5 pounds of trash per day (compared to 2.7 pounds in 1960).

Planned obsolescence is a wasteful practice under capitalism. By designing products to wear out faster than need be, new consumption is generated. This would benefit corporations by increasing sales, while at the same time generating excessive waste. A well-known example is the fact that Apple designed its iPod to fail after 18 months. Planned obsolescence is wasteful and an inefficient use of resources. Brand-based marketing puts more emphasis on the company's name-brand than on manufacturing products.

Inequality

Capitalism is associated with the unfair distribution of wealth and power; a tendency toward market monopoly or oligopoly (and government by oligarchy); imperialism, counter-revolutionary wars and various forms of economic and cultural exploitation; repression of workers and trade unionists, and phenomena such as social alienation, economic inequality, unemployment, and economic instability. There is an inherent tendency toward oligolopolistic structures when laissez-faire is combined with capitalist private property. Capitalism is irrational in that production and the direction of the economy are unplanned, creating many inconsistencies and internal contradictions and thus should be controlled through public policy.

In the early 20th century, Vladimir Lenin argued that state use of military power to defend capitalist interests abroad was an inevitable corollary of monopoly capitalism.

Che Guevara wrote: "The laws of capitalism, which are blind and are invisible to ordinary people, act upon the individual without he or she being aware of it. One sees only the vastness of a seemingly infinite horizon ahead. That is how it is painted by capitalist propagandists who purport to draw a lesson from the example of Rockefeller - whether or not it is true - about the possibilities of individual success. The amount of poverty and suffering required for a Rockefeller to emerge, and the amount of depravity entailed in the accumulation of a fortune of such magnitude, are left out of the picture, and it is not always possible for the popular forces to expose this clearly... It is a contest among wolves. One can win only at the cost of the failure of others."

The capitalist system has inherent biases favoring those who already possess greater resources. The inequality may be propagated through inheritance and economic policy. Rich people are in a position to give their children a better education and inherited wealth, and that this can create or increase large differences in wealth between people who do not differ in ability or effort. In the United States, 43.35% of the people in the Forbes magazine "400 Richest Americans" list were already rich enough at birth to qualify. In the United States, wealth, race, and schooling are important to the inheritance of economic status, but that IQ is not a major contributor, and the genetic transmission of IQ is even less important. The tax and benefit legislation in the United States since the presidency of Ronald Reagan has contributed greatly to the inequalities and economic problems and should be repealed.

Market Failure

Market failure is the condition where the allocation of goods and services by a market is not efficient. This scenario in which individuals' pursuit of self-interest leads to bad results for society as a whole. From this, the best solution is economic intervention by government into free markets. The lack of perfect information and perfect competition in a free market is grounds for government intervention. There are many unique problems with a free market including: monopolies, monopsonies, insider trading, and price gouging.

Legislation has been introduced to deal with these concerns (e.g., antitrust laws or financial regulation). Also, governments overseeing capitalist economies have been known to set mandatory price floors or price ceilings at times, thereby interfering with the free market mechanism. This usually occurs in times of crisis, or relating to goods and services viewed as strategically important. Electricity, for example, is a good that has typically been subject to price ceilings in many countries.

Wages determined by a free market mechanism are a problem and are unjustifiably low or unjustifiably high. Free markets usually fail to deal with the problem of externalities, where an action by an outside agent positively or negatively affects another agent without any compensation. An example of an externality is pollution. More generally, free market allocation of resources in areas such as health care, unemployment, wealth inequality, and education are considered market failures by some.

Poor distribution of goods has also been identified as a market failure. 200 million Indians went hungry in 1995, while the Indian economy was exporting $625 million worth of wheat and $1.3 billion worth of rice that same year.

Market Instability

Market instability is a permanent feature of a capitalist economy. Marx believed that the unplanned and explosive growth of capitalism does not occur in a smooth manner, but is interrupted by periods of overproduction in which stagnation or decline occur (i.e., recessions). Several contradictions in the capitalist mode of production are present, particularly the internal contradiction between anarchy in the sphere of capital (i.e., free market) and socialised production in the sphere of labor (i.e., industrialism). Due to the unplanned nature of the system, capitalists produce without knowing in advance what they can sell, while at the same time unleashing huge productive capabilities through industrial organization. The result is that crises are not caused by shortages, like a crop failure, but rather from a production of too many goods. Marx and Engels, in the Communist Manifesto, highlighted what they saw as a uniquely capitalist juxtaposition of overabundance and poverty: "Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentary barbarism. And why? Because there is too much civilization, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce."

Property

In discussions of the sensitive issue of property, it is critical to make a clear distinction between private property and public property: private property needs to be abolished and transformed into the commons or public property, respect will be retained for personal property rights.

Friedrich Engels argued that the free market is not necessarily free, but weighted towards those who already own private property. He viewed capitalist regulations, including the enforcement of private property on land and exclusive rights to natural resources, as unjustly enclosing upon what should be owned by all, forcing those without private property to sell their labor to capitalists and landlords in a market favorable to the latter, thus forcing workers to accept low wages in order to survive.

In recent times, most economies have extended private property rights to include such things as patents and copyrights. This as coercive against those with few prior resources. Such regulations discourage the sharing of ideas, and encourage nonproductive rent seeking behavior, both of which enact a deadweight loss on the economy, erecting a prohibitive barrier to entry into the market.

Sustainability

An economic system that produces strong economic growth and requires essentially free trade may have a large effect on the environment.

Commodity chains or production/consumption chains are networks of transfers of materials and commodities that is currently part of the functioning of the global capitalist system. Examples include high tech commodities produced in countries with low average wages by multinational firms, and then being sold in distant high income countries; materials and resources being extracted in some countries, turned into finished products in some others and sold as commodities in further ones; countries exchanging with each other the same kind of commodities for the sake of consumer's choice (e.g., Europe both exporting and importing cars to and from the U.S.). Such processes, all of which produce pollution and waste of resources, are an integral part of the functioning of capitalism (i.e., its metabolism).

Some leading conservation organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature and the United Nations Environment Programme argue that the impact of humanity on Earth is continually increasing. In 2004 they jointly reported that "humanity's ecological footprint grew by 150% between 1961 and 2000" and that most of this growth occurred in the 27 wealthiest countries of the world, in other words, the leading capitalist countries.

The real dangers are due to the world's current social institutions that promote environmentally irresponsible consumption and production. Under the "grow or die" imperative of capitalism, there is little reason to expect hazardous consumption and production practices to change in a timely manner. Markets and states invariably drag their feet on substantive environmental reform, and are notoriously slow to adopt viable sustainable technologies. The externalization of costs is the "dirty secret" of capitalism. There are built-in limits to ecological reform and the costs of doing business in the world capitalist economy are ratcheting upward because of deruralization and democratization.

Beyond environmental sustainability, there is the question of labor market and consumer market sustainability. In a constant-growth model, new individuals have to be constantly added to the free market economy (as laborers and/or consumers). Capitalism encourages overpopulation.

Unemployment

If a higher minimum wage increases the wage rates of unskilled workers above the level that would be established by market forces, the quantity of unskilled workers employed will fall. The minimum wage will price the services of the least productive (and therefore lowest-wage) workers out of the market. The direct results of minimum wage legislation are clearly mixed. Some workers, most likely those whose previous wages were closest to the minimum, will enjoy higher wages. Others, particularly those with the lowest prelegislation wage rates, will be unable to find work. They will be pushed into the ranks of the unemployed or out of the labor force.

It is assumed that workers are willing to labor for more hours if paid a higher wage. Economists graph this relationship with the wage on the vertical axis and the quantity (hours) of labor supplied on the horizontal axis. Since higher wages increase the quantity supplied, the supply of labor curve is upward sloping, and is shown as a line moving up and to the right.

Recent DNA studies have indicated that ancient Egyptians had an approximate 90% genetic commonality with modern Egyptians, which would make the current population largely representative of the ancient inhabitants.

Egypt has experienced several invasions during its history. However, these do not appear to account for more than 10% of current Egyptians ancestry when the DNA evidence of the ancient mitochondrial DNA and modern Y chromosomes is considered.

Frank Yurco, "An Egyptological Review" in Mary R. Lefkowitz and Guy MacLean Rogers, eds. Black Athena Revisited. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. pp. 62–100

This is what an Egyptian looks like.

Shinai (竹刀) is a weapon used for practice and competition in kendo representing a Japanese sword.

Sizes and style of shinai vary. An adult may be able to use a shinai that is too heavy for a younger person, so shinai with different sizes and characteristics are made. Shinai are available in many styles and balances. A shinai should not be confused with a bokken or bokutō, which has a much more similar shape and length to a Japanese sword and is made from a single piece of wood. However, both shinai and bokken are used in kendo.

The slats of a shinai are usually made from dried bamboo. Some may also be treated by smoking them, or soaking them in resin.

The shinai comprises four slats known as take (竹), which are held together by three leather fittings: a hilt, or handle fitting (tsuka-gawa (柄皮)); a fitting at the tip (saki-gawa (先皮)) and a leather strip (naka-yui (中結)) that binds the four slats. The parts are all secured with a string (tsuru (弦)).

The naka-yui is tied about one-third of the length of the exposed bamboo from the tip. This holds the slats together and also marks the proper kendo striking portion of the shinai, or datotsu-bu (打突部).

Inserted between the ends of the slats, under the saki-gawa, is a plastic plug saki-gomu (先ゴム), and under the tsuka-gawa there is a small square of metal chigiri (ちぎり), that holds the slats in place.

A hand-guard tsuba (鍔) is then fitted at the point where the tsuka-gawa ends and the bamboo slats begin. This is held in place by a rubber ring tsuba-dome (鍔止め).





Bōgu (防具) is training armor used primarily in the Japanese martial art of kendo, with variants used for jukendo, naginatajutsu, and sojutsu.

A set of bogu has four components:
1. men (面, めん): combined face mask and shoulder protectors (helmet).
2. kote (小手, こて): hand and forearm protectors (gauntlets).
3. dō (胴, どう): torso protector (breastplate).
4. tare (垂れ, たれ): groin and leg protectors (faulds).
A fifth component, sune-ate (脛当て, すねあて) (shin protectors, or greaves), are worn only by naginatajutsu practitioners.

The men protects the face, neck, and shoulders. It consists of a facemask with several horizontal metal bars running the entire width of the face, from the chin to the top of the head. To this is attached a long rectangular thick cloth padding that curves over the top of the head and extends to cover the shoulders. A throat protector is attached to the bottom of the facemask. The men is held in place with a pair of woven cords that wrap around the head and are tied at the back. The back of the men is left open for ventilation and the back of the head is unprotected. The target areas of the men are the center top, and upper left and right sides for cutting strikes and the center of the throat protector for a thrust.

The kote are mitten-like gloves. They were designed expressly for kendo. While appearing to be cumbersome, enough mobility is allowed to grip the shinai in a comfortable, powerful, and firm way. Kote for naginatajutsu practitioners have a singulated index finger and thumb to better facilitate the rapid shifting of the hands along the length of the naginata's shaft. Naginata kote have a little less padding than those used for kendo. The target area is the wrist portion of each kote.

The main component of the dō is the gently curving stomach and chest protector. The modern form has a pronounced bulge to help direct the force of strikes away from the soft areas in the middle of the torso. Lacquered bamboo is traditionally used although lacquered paper "fiber" (frequently misidentified as fiberglass) or molded plastic are used for less expensive dō. The dō is supported from the shoulders by two diagonal ties and is restrained at the small of the back with another set of ties. The target areas of the dō are the two lower sides for a slashing cut to the stomach. The top half of the dō is a valid target for a thrust in naginata. In the past, this was also a valid target for a thrust in kendo, but is no longer a permitted target.

The tare is a thick cloth belt that wraps around the waist and ties under the front flap in front of the groin. Sturdy cloth covered flaps hang from the belt to protect the upper legs and groin. The flaps run along half of the belt's length, which should be positioned over the front half of the body. The center flap is usually covered with a name tag-zekken (ゼッケン) or nafuda (名札, なふだ)-that identifies the name of the wearer and the dojo or country he/she represents. There is no target point on tare, it is for protection against off-target and accidental strikes.

There is a dire shortage of skilled workers in developing countries. Why?

There are various reasons. Perhaps they cannot afford to get trained, or perhaps they lack the necessary facilities. Or perhaps a large number of skilled workers went to various First World countries, as immigrants or otherwise. (Despite the threat of not even being able to practice that skill upon arrival).

This is counterproductive: in a developing nation struggling to build infrastructure, what could possibly be the benefit of shipping out your best and brightest professionals? Some of those professionals may send money "home" once they are established abroad, but somebody still has to tend the sick and injured back "home" and somebody still has to pave the roads, build the schools, teach the pupils, etc. Money sent home is great, but it cannot immediately fill vacant jobs if there are no skilled candidates to fill them. First World countries that seek out skilled immigrants are predatory in this regard, for they keep the developing world in a never-ending cycle of poverty. More shocking still, is that many migrants seem to care little for the welfare of their fellow countrymen they are leaving behind. Indeed, it appears to be a selfish decision based on personal desires to get rich and prosperous.

Why are migrants fleeing their home countries? Because they are underdeveloped. Why are they underdeveloped? Because migrants are fleeing their home countries.

It would be hilarious if it wasn't so exasperating, but a certain employment cycle in the developed (immigrant-seeking) world goes like this:

1. Shortage of labor: increase or manipulate immigrant quotas.
2. Westerners forced out of labor-intensive jobs. (The jobs we supposedly won't do anyway. Because, we're all white-collar business executives, right?)
3. Whites must all become white-collar business executives: long years of school and training.
4. Low-skill jobs outsourced to semi-developed nations. We become a tertiary society (heavily dependent upon education and training).
5. Education goes up; fertility rate goes down. More immigration needed!

How can undeveloped states develop if they are too poor to afford to do so, and their most capable citizens fly the coop the first chance they get (if they get that chance)? This perpetuates inequality in the most vicious of ways, and ironically it is all packaged from the developed world as "helping people find a better life".

The short-term solution is not the best one.

It's time immigrants gave some consideration to helping their own people "find a better life", rather than just themselves. Long-term development will require skilled professionals (of any kind) actually living and remaining in developing nations to promote the advancement of those states. As long as this brain drain continues, poverty will persist.

1. General intelligence, the ability to comprehend, understand, catch on, make sense of, or figure out, is known as "g," and "g" is what IQ tests strive to measure.

2. There are a number of very useful talents that are not included in "g" such as spatial visualization, musical composition, the visual arts, and higher mathematics. However, there seems to be a synergistic effect between "g" and these talents, so that having both is disproportionately beneficial.

3. Modern science has just about eliminated any bias by using Raven's Matrices to determine IQ. In a Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices test, a person sits in front of a monitor screen. As quickly as he can, he is required to extract a pattern implied by a set of geometric pictures, which become increasingly more complicated; the faster he reacts, the higher is his IQ and a computer, not a person, calculates his score.

4. Researchers have found that certain regions of the brain responsible for intelligence are highly heritable, including language areas (Broca's and Wernicke's areas) and the frontal region, which plays a large role in abstract reasoning.

5. Trillions of dollars have been spent on programs to erase the gap between white and black academic achievements. All have failed.

6. Geneticists are identifying the genes responsible for intelligence and are finding the incidence of those genes in people around the world. To no one's surprise, the incidence in Africa is much less than in Europe or Asia. It is difficult to argue that blacks fail to achieve for lack of education or because of white racism when they do not have the genes required for learning.

7. Both the ASPM and microcephalin alleles were strongly selected for and spread rapidly through the Eurasian populations. These genes have been associated chronologically with two of the most revolutionary changes in human affairs - an explosion of hand-crafts in the Upper Paleolithic era (40,000 ya), and the development of sophisticated cities and the beginning of major trade routes.

8. MCPH1 ("microcephaly, primary autosomal recessive 1"), Chromosome 8. The alleles of this gene, commonly called "microcephalin," at least partly determine brain size and/or organization. (Wang, 2004). A new allele of this gene that increases intelligence arose about 37,000 ya (the confidence limit is very wide -- 60,000 - 14,000 BP; Evans, 2005). This allele is common in Eurasians but rare in Africans and absent in chimpanzees.

9. ASPM ("abnormal spindle homolog, microcephaly associated"), Chromosome 1. Its alleles affect the size of the brain; defects in the ASPM gene lead to small brains and low IQ. (Evans, 2004). A new ASPM allele arose about 5800 ya in Eurasia and that allele has been suspected of increasing intelligence in Eurasia; it is common in Eurasians but absent in Africans and chimpanzees.

10. Egalitarian ideologists often discount IQ test results with the excuse that they are culturally biased. Nonetheless, no one, not the NAACP, nor the United Negro College Fund, nor the National Education Association have been able to develop an intelligence test which shows all the races scoring equally.

11. The high IQ of European Jews is due to selection for intelligence e.g., encouraging the most intelligent boys to become rabbis and the daughters of wealthier, and more intelligent Jews, to marry rabbis (Seligman, 1992, p. 135, the Christian priests, also more intelligent were, however, celibate), and exclusion from occupations, such as farming, that required manual labor. The average intelligence of the Oriental Jews of North Africa and the Middle East is nearly 15 IQ points lower. (David, H., 2007). European Jews are stronger in verbal reasoning than in visual-spatial, the reverse of East Asians. (Nyborg, 2003). Both are high in math, but Jews use algebraic reasoning while East Asians use geometric reasoning. (Seligman, 1992, p. 133).

12. Man's ideological conflicts with reality arise from his anthropocentrism, his arrogant view that the universe revolves around him. Egalitarianism is an anthropocentric ideology – it is based on the premise that man is not like other animals, each evolving differently to adapt to a different environment, but was somehow miraculously spared the "try and die" gauntlet of evolution. Unlike animals, who fight for territories and mates, all human populations are supposedly capable of living in harmony in the same territory, cheerfully yielding to those who threaten the survival of their alleles. But the reality is that the same biological laws that constrain other animals also apply to us.

13. Do you believe that all human populations, living in vastly different environments all over the world for at least hundreds of thousands of years should, just coincidentally, end up with exactly the same intelligence, though they differ in thousands of other traits? Because this is contradicted by every intelligence test ever given to them.

14. If there are no significant genetic differences between populations, then voluntarily segregated all-white and all-black societies would be equal and there would be no ethical or logical argument against such societies. It is only if the races are not equal that arguments (not necessarily valid arguments) can be made for integration or the immigration of one race into the homeland of another race.

15. If there are no significant genetic differences between populations, then diversity cannot be "celebrated" and it cannot be a "strength" as there is no racial diversity of any significance.

16. Those who wish to minimize the importance of IQ often say, "IQ is what is measured by an IQ test," and that is true if it is a valid test. The heritability of IQ is not 100%, which means that environment does affect IQ. R. Lynn estimates what the IQ would be if people lived in a "perfect" environment, which he calls the "genotypic IQ." Lynn estimates the genotypic IQ of African Americans as 85, the same as their measured IQ, and of sub-Saharan Africans as 80, much higher than their measured IQ of 67 (Lynn, 2006a, pp. 69-71), but estimating the genotypic IQs of different populations is largely guesswork. The concept of genotypic IQ should not embolden the IQ-deniers because much of that "environment" is beyond our control, at least at the present time. That is, education is only a small part of the environment that affects IQ, most of the environment being the womb, family and friends, accidents, pollution, and events that are difficult or impossible to control. It is hard to specify exactly what a "perfect" environment is for maximizing IQ, and it is even more difficult to determine how perfect a child's environment was for that purpose.

1. The early Egyptians were Caucasian. From 3400 to 1800 B.C., Egypt excelled in architecture, mathematics, and science. As Egyptians moved south, up the Nile, they encountered black Africans (Nubians), who were brought back as slaves. Miscegenation spread, Egyptians became more Negroid, and Egyptian civilization began a decline from which it has never recovered. Kemp (Kemp, 2006, Chap. 8 & 9, App. 3). "The weak, disease-ridden population of modern Egypt offers dramatic evidence of the evil effects of a hybridization which has gone on for 5000 years." (Garrett, 1960, p. 7). Today, Egypt is a Third World country with an average IQ of only 77 to 83. (Lynn, 2006a, p. 80).

2. This is shown by the increasing lengths of the forearms relative to the upper arm. (Zakrzewski, 2003, Table 6). "The change found in body plan is suggested to be the result of the later groups having a more tropical (Nilotic) form than the preceding populations." The Nubian dynasty was 742 to 633 B.C.

3. Those of us who are born into an advanced civilization take it for granted, and we don't realize how difficult they are to create and how fragile they can be. Civilizations arise in populations that are genetically homogeneous, intelligent, and cooperative, if not altruistic and, when those factors are lost, so is the civilization. Compare Africa to the way Germany rebuilt itself within a few decades after being destroyed in WWI and WWII.

4. Egyptian art depicted Egyptians on the one hand and Nubians and other blacks on the other hand with distinctly different ethnic characteristics and depicted this abundantly and often aggressively. The Egyptians accurately, arrogantly and aggressively made national and ethnic distinctions from a very early date in their art and literature. There is an extraordinary abundance of Egyptian works of art which clearly depicted sharply contrasted reddish-brown Egyptians and black Nubians.

1. Prohibitive drug laws are effective. Prohibitive drug laws have a successful track record suppressing illicit drug use since they were first introduced. The licit drug alcohol has current user rates as high as 80% in populations over 14 years of age, and tobacco has historically had current use rates up to 60% of adult populations, yet the percentages currently using illicit drugs in OECD countries are generally below 1% of the population excepting cannabis where most are between 3% and 10%, with six countries between 11% and 17%. In the 50 year period following the first 1912 international convention restricting use of opium, heroin and cocaine, the United States' use of illicit drugs other than cannabis was consistently below 0.5% of the population, with cannabis rising to 1-2% of the population between 1955 and 1965. With the advent of the counter-culture movement from the late 1950s, where illicit drug use was promoted as mind-expanding and relatively harmless, illicit drug use rose sharply. With illicit drug use peaking in the 1970s in the United States, the "Just Say No" campaign, coincided with drug use decreases from 14.1% in 1979 to 5.8% in 1992, a drop of 60%.

2. Prohibition discourages drug use. After so many years of drug control experience, we now know that a coherent, long-term strategy can reduce drug supply, demand and trafficking. If this does not happen, it will be because some nations fail to take the drug issue sufficiently seriously and pursue inadequate policies. Many countries have the drug problem they deserve.

3. Controls and prohibitions help to keep prices higher, and higher prices help keep use rates relatively low, since drug use, especially among young people, is known to be sensitive to price. The relationship between pricing and rates of youth substance use is well-established with respect to alcohol and cigarette taxes. There is literature showing that increases in the price of cigarettes triggers declines in use.

4. Regarding the freedom of choice of those addicted to a drug, it is important to recognize that addiction is defined as compulsive by its very nature and that addictions curb individual freedom. As is the case with alcohol addiction, illicit drug addictions likewise serve to keep many such users functionally in poverty and often as a continued burden on friends, family and society. Where it is argued that all disabilities are a burden on society it must be recognized that most disabilities are not the result of a choice, whereas the decision to recreationally use illicit drugs is most commonly free, and with the knowledge that they may lead to an addiction.

5. Due to a placebo effect, a patient may erroneously believe a drug is helpful when it is not. This is especially true of addictive, mind-altering drugs like marijuana. A marijuana withdrawal syndrome occurs, consisting of anxiety, depression, sleep and appetite disturbances, irritability, tremors, diaphoresis, nausea, muscle convulsions, and restlessness. Often, persons using marijuana erroneously believe that the drug is helping them combat these symptoms without realizing that actually marijuana is the cause of these effects. Therefore, when a patient anecdotally reports a drug to have medicinal value, this must be followed by objective scientific studies.

6. There is a growing misconception that some illegal drugs can be taken safely. For example, savvy drug dealers have learned how to market drugs like ecstasy to youth. Some in the legalization lobby even claim such drugs have medical value, despite the lack of conclusive scientific evidence.

7. Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addiction-whether in taxpayer dollars or in pain and suffering-government spending on drug control is minimal.

8. The economic argument for drug legalization says: legalize drugs, and generate tax income. This argument is gaining favor, as national administrations seek new sources of revenue during the current economic crisis. This legalize and tax argument is unethical and uneconomical. It proposes a perverse tax, generation upon generation, on marginalized cohorts (lost to addiction) to stimulate economic recovery. Are the partisans of this cause also in favor of legalizing and taxing other seemingly intractable crimes like human trafficking? Modern-day slaves (and there are millions of them) would surely generate good tax revenue to rescue failed banks. The economic argument is also based on poor fiscal logic: any reduction in the cost of drug control (due to lower law enforcement expenditure) will be offset by much higher expenditure on public health (due to the surge of drug consumption). The moral of the story: don't make wicked transactions.

9. The tax revenue collected from alcohol pales in comparison to the costs associated with it. Federal excise taxes collected on alcohol in 2007 totaled around $9 billion; states collected around $5.5 billion. Taken together, this is less than 10 percent of the over $185 billion in alcohol-related costs from health care, lost productivity, and criminal justice. Tobacco also does not carry its economic weight when we tax it; each year we spend more than $200 billion on its social costs and collect only about $25 billion in taxes.

10. Billionaires George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling have bankrolled the pro-pot or drug legalization movement. These people use ignorance and their overwhelming amount of money to influence the electorate. The drug legalization lobby's vigorous and well funded promotion in media and schools of a 'safe use of illegal drugs message' indicates that drug prohibition is in the midst of a pitched battle waged by those who are accepting not only of the drug user but who also strongly promote an acceptance of drug use itself.

11. Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand. Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influence of drugs, as by those who are looking for money to buy drugs. Most drug crimes aren't committed by people trying to pay for drugs; they're committed by people on drugs.

12. Frequent use of hard drugs is one of the strongest indicators of a criminal career. Offenders who use drugs are among the most serious and active criminals, engaging in both property and violent crime. Early and persistent use of cocaine or heroin in the juvenile years is an indicator of serious, persistent criminal behavior in adulthood. Those arrested who are drug users are more likely than those not using drugs to be rearrested on pretrial release or fail to appear at trial.

13. The idea that our nation's prisons are overflowing with otherwise law abiding people convicted for nothing more than simple possession of marijuana is a myth, an illusion conjured and aggressively perpetuated by drug advocacy groups seeking to relax or abolish America's marijuana laws. The vast majority of inmates in state and federal prison for marijuana have been found guilty of much more than simple possession. Some were convicted for drug trafficking, some for marijuana possession along with one or more other offenses. And many of those serving time for marijuana pleaded down to possession in order to avoid prosecution on much more serious charges. In the US, just 1.6 percent of the state inmate population were held for offenses involving only marijuana, and less than one percent of all state prisoners (0.7 percent) were incarcerated with marijuana possession as the only charge. An even smaller fraction of state prisoners were first time offenders (0.3 percent).

14. The argument that drug addicts are forced into crime by prohibition should first and foremost highlight the fact that this argument presupposes and underlines the addictive nature of illicit drugs, addictive enough to create a viable criminal supply industry. Secondly, the harms of increased drug use, which as previously outlined would be a consequence of legalization and its cheaper prices, far outweigh the current crime harms of prohibition.

15. The notion that illicit drug use is a victimless crime and that everyone should be free to do what they want with their body disregards the web of social interactions that constitute human existence. Affected by an individual's illicit drug use are children, parents, grandparents, friends, colleagues, work, victims of drugged drivers, crime victims, elder abuse, sexual victims, patients made sicker by medical marijuana etc. Illicit drug use is no less victimless than alcoholism.

16. Few things restrict people's freedom as much as the consequences of violence, drugs and criminality in society.

17. Many people argue that only drug dealers should be fought and not the drug users themselves. But this rests on the fundamental error that big-time drugs smugglers and dealers hawk illicit drugs to new consumers. This is most often not the case. Rather it is the users themselves that are mostly responsible for recruiting new users through networks of friends or relatives demonstrating that users need to be targeted as the recruiters of new drug use, and that an emphasis on early rehabilitation for young users is the best answer to curbing widespread dealing.

Liberals think following someone is a crime

Liberals think asking someone a question is a crime

Liberals think assault is the proper response if you are a victim of following or question-asking

Liberals think preemptive attacks are perfectly fine as long as a black person does it

Liberals think defending one's self from assault is a crime

Liberals think an overweight asthmatic has a clear advantage in a fight over a tall teenage athlete

Liberals think 911 telephone operators have the authority to issue legally binding orders to the general public

Liberals think that being a drug dealer isn't a negative character element

Liberals think calling a drug dealer a drug dealer is a character assassination

Liberals think the validity of facts is dependent on whether or not the facts fit their personal narrative

Liberals think disagreeing with the narrative makes you a racist and automatically invalidates your opinion

Liberals think it's more likely for a group of cops and paramedics to lie on reports than it is for a black person to be aggressive

Liberals think the above is true even when the black person in question has a history of illegal acts

Liberals think that stealing property and selling drugs is perfectly normal teenage behavior

Liberals think "It's not mine, a friend gave it to me" is a reasonable explanation for why a male has female jewelry in his backpack

Liberals think "Stormfag" is a good rebuttal to any argument

Liberals think that if someone doesn't look like bloody ground beef in a grainy video, they obviously weren't attacked

Liberals think that said grainy video outweighs testimony and reports of police and medical professionals

Liberals think they can make better medical determinations from said grainy video than first responders could make at the scene

Liberals think justice is best determined by knee-jerk emotional reactions instead of careful investigation

Liberals believe hearing Trayvon screaming is so horrible, until they realize it was Zimmerman screaming

Liberals have no problem with the use of young innocent pictures of Trayvon Martin being used and an old mugshot of George Zimmerman being used as the standard unbiased pictures in this situation

Liberals actually believe Trayvon was "a good kid whose only crime was wearing a hoodie and carrying a bag of Skittles"

Liberals actually believe Trayvon Martin had nothing to do with the burglaries reported earlier in that gated community

Liberals think George Zimmerman is a white man so that they can make themselves believe that a hate crime was committed by a white supremacist against "the proud Negro race" and are totally cool with the Black Panthers issuing a public threat saying that pretty much no white male is safe from their wrath

We Catholics are often asked tough questions about our Catholic faith and its relationship to the Bible. Here are the ten most-asked questions, and the answers the should help you satisfy both your questioner and yourself.




10. Are your beliefs found in the Bible?
All Catholic beliefs can be found in the Bible in some form, whether plainly or by an indirect indication. It is not necessary for everything to be absolutely clear in Scripture alone, because that is not a teaching of Scripture itself. Scripture also points to an authoritative Church and Tradition, as St. Paul says in his Second Letter to the Thessalonians: "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess 2:15 - see also 1 Cor 11:2; 2 Thess 3:6; 2 Tim 1:13-14, 2:2). When the first Christians had a significant disagreement, they didn't simply open their Bibles (which didn't even exist at that point) to decide who was right; they held a council, which made binding decrees (Acts 15:1-29). They very books of the Bible had to be determined by the Church, and that didn't happen until the late fourth century. Therefore, Sacred Tradition and authority were necessary for us to even have a Bible today.




9. Why do you obey the Pope?
Catholics believe that Jesus commissioned St. Peter as the first leader of the Church. Matthew's Gospel has the most direct biblical indication of the papacy: "And I tell you, you are Peter [meaning literally "Rock"], and on this rock I will build my church... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 16:18-19). Based on this statement of Jesus himself, Peter is clearly portrayed in the New Testament as the leader of the disciples. A pope can make infallible, binding pronouncements under certain conditions. Infallibility doesn't mean that absolutely everything a pope says is free from error. All Christians believe that God protected Holy Scripture from error by means of inspiration, even though sinful, fallible men wrote it. We Catholics also believe that God the Holy Spirit protects His Church and its head from error (Jn 14:16) by means of infallibility, even though sinful, imperfect men are involved in it.




8. Why do you call your priest "Father"?
"And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father,who is in heaven" (Mt 23:9). In this passage, Jesus is teaching that God the Father alone s ultimately the source of all authority. But He is not speaking absolutely, because if so, that would eliminate even biological fathers, the title "Church Fathers," the founding fathers of a country or organization, and so on. Jesus himself uses the term "father" in Matthew (15:4-5; 19:5,19,29; 21:31), John (8:56), and several other places. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus actually presents Lazarus as using the address "Father Abraham" twice (Lk 16:24,30 - see also Acts 7:2; Rom 4:12; Jas 2:21). St. Paul also uses the term when he writes, "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor 4:15 - see also 1 Cor 4:14-16), and refers to "our forefather Issac" (Rom 9:10).




7. Why do you pray for the dead?
The Bible clearly teaches the rightness of prayers for the dead in 2 Maccabees (12:40,42,44-45): "Then under the tunic of every one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen... And they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out... For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead... He made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." St. Paul teaches this in a similar way: "Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?" (1 Cor 15:29). This indicates prayer and fasting for the dead. The word baptism often symbolically refers to penances (Mk 10:38-39; Lk 3:16, 12:50). The apostle Paul also appears to be praying for a dead person, Onesiphorus, in 2 Timothy (1:16-18).





6. Why do you pray to idols (statues)?
No Catholic who knows anything about the Catholic faith has ever worshiped a statue (as in pagan idolatry). If we cherish the memory of mere political heroes with statues, and that of war heroes with monuments, then there can be no objection to honoring saints and righteous men and women: "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor" (1 Pet 2:17 - see also Rom 12:10; Heb 12:22-23). Statues are simply a visual reminder of great saints and heroes of the faith (Heb 11), who are more alive than we are (2 Cor 3:18), as is evident by their praying: "O Sovereign Lord... how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?" (Rev 6:10 - see also Ps 35:17). The saints in heaven were never intended by God to be cut off from the Body of Christ on earth. They are involved in intercession, just as the saints on earth are, and they are described as "so great a cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1).




5. Why do you confess your sins to a priest?
Jesus Christ gave His disciples - and by extension, priests - the power not only to "loose" sins (that is, forgive in God's name), but also to "bind" (that is, impose penances): "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18 - see also Mt 16:19). "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20:23). The priest serves as the representative of God and of His mercy. Confession gives new courage, confidence, and a fresh start. One learns humility by this practice, receives additional grace in order to avoid sin, and attains a certainty of forgiveness that is superior to mere feelings. Confession is also indicated in Matthew (3:5-6), Acts (19:18), and 1 John (1:9).




4. Why do you worship Mary?
Catholics do not worship Mary. We venerate her because she is the mother of God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Veneration is completely different from the adoration of God. It is the honoring of a person, not the worship of Almighty God, our Creator. Catholics believe that Mary is the highest of God's creatures because of her exalted role. But of course, like any other human being, she had to be saved by the mercy of God. She herself said, "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Lk 1:47). We believe that God saved her by taking away all stain of original sin at the moment of her conception (the Immaculate Conception). The very fact that God took on flesh and became man (Jn 1:1,14) indicates that He wished to involve human beings in His plan of salvation for mankind. Mary was a key person for this purpose, so this is why Catholics honor her so highly.




3. Why do you worship wafers?
A consecrated host or wafer at a Catholic Mass is the true Body and Blood of Christ, not merely bread; so Catholics are worshiping Jesus, not a wafer. In the Gospel of John (6:51-56), Jesus states repeatedly that "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (6:54). He is speaking literally, and He is so firm that many followers object and leave Him (6:52,60,66). St. Paul agrees with this interpretation and writes that those taking Communion "in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor 11:27 - see also 1 Cor 10:16). We don't sin against someone's "body and blood" by destroying a photograph (which is a mere symbol) of the person. Moreover in the Last Supper passages (Mt 26:26-28; Mk 14:22-24, Lk 22:19-20), nothing suggests a metaphorical or symbolic interpretation. The Last Supper was the Jewish feast of Passover. This involved a sacrificial lamb, and Jesus referred to His imminent suffering (Lk 22:15-16,18,21-22). John the Baptist had already called Him the "Lamb of God" (Jn 1:29).




2. If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?
Catholics have an assurance of salvation if they are faithful and keep God's commandments (1 Jn 2:3). If they die in that state, they are assured of heaven. But to enter heaven, one must be perfectly holy, because "nothing unclean shall enter it" (Rev 21:27 - see also Is 4:4; Mal 3:2-4). The cleansing and purifying of any remaining sin, which makes us fit for God's holy presence, is what Catholics call purgatory. This is clearly indicated in St. Paul's writings: "Each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sore of work each one has done... If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved only as through fire" (1 Cor 3:13,15). "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done int he body" (2 Cor 5:10).




1. Are you saved?
Catholics can be as sure as anyone else that they are in God's good graces. The apostle John states that "you may know that you have eternal life" (1 Jn 5:13 - see also Jn 5:24). But this "assurance" has to be understood in light of John's other teachings in the same book: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments" (1 Jn 5:3 - see also 1 Jn 2:3-6). "We know that any one born of God does not sin" (1 Jn 5:18). "He who loves God should love his brother also" (1 Jn 4:21). "He who commits sin is of the devil" (1 Jn 3:8 - see also 1 Cor 6:9). Likewise, St. Paul does not regard salvation as a one-time event, but as a goal to be sought after, one that can be lost: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12 - see also 1 Cor 9:27, 10:12; Gal 5:1,4; Phil 3:11-14; 1 Tim 4:1, 5:15).

Only martial art poseurs deal in absolutes.

A lot of people talk about "kicking ass" yet we never actually see these people do any ass kicking. These same people often panic and come up with excuses when you ask if they want to spar. So congratulations to all the people who believe in the importance of sparring. Even if it's very light point sparring, that's better than being a poseur and sitting on your ass pretending that you're Bruce Lee or Neo. Congratulations to all the people who have ever sparred with me.

About 2 years ago I spent about an hour training with an aikido black belt. I won't share his name but earlier he had publicly demonstrated his martial art that day and given a seminar on it. Afterwards I asked if I could have a tour of his dojo and if he could teach me some of the basics of aikido. I told him I'm very used to martial arts and prepared to be thrown. I demonstrated I knew how to flip and roll properly. I told him I could learn very fast and I just wanted to know some of the basics. I specifically wanted to know more about the rotational wristlock. I allowed him to do it to me and there was a little bit of pressure and I asked if I could resist or struggle out of it and he pretty much said "You have to flip or it'll break, you have no choice".

I played his game, and I practiced flipping out of it a few times. I told him I could escape if I wanted and he reluctantly agreed. We agreed it would be slow. So I stepped into him and I was able to find the correct angle to bend my elbow pretty easily, I got out, and I held him still, and then stepped behind him. He started struggling, I took him to the ground with me on the bottom but his back towards me, my legs wrapped around him and my left arm was in front of his neck and my right palm at the back of his head. I applied a little bit of pressure and told him to tap which he did. He was struggling quite a bit the whole time like he's never been in that position. So yeah, it was pretty fun. This all happened in about 20 seconds. Afterward he gave me some sort of lecture about what he's "allowed" to do and that aikido is not about "wrestling". He did compliment me though. We were all alone during this, so unfortunately this story is unverifiable.

First off, in a real fight, good luck grabbing someone's wrist and putting it in that position. Second, the lock isn't fail proof, nothing is fail proof. It can be escaped from by means of strength, baiting, mistakes, trickery, or sheer technical skill. No lock or submission is magically escape proof. Anybody who studies the theory of positional dominance knows this.

Aikido has interesting theories and in a video game setting, an aikidoka would probably be one of the best characters. But its lack of any credible or verifiable testimony in regards to self defense makes it questionable. Its lack of any prominence whatsoever in any martial arts competitions makes it questionable. Its insistence upon itself and this whole "mysterious" image it tries to give itself makes it questionable.