Should a zenpundit provoke?

Mark had some 'aggravating' questions that caught my fancy. Here they are, with my answers:

Would Global Warming attract nearly the same level of interest among environmentalist activists and Hollywood celebrities if the most effective proposed policy solutions had a free market bent ?

+ no

If you were to run a country going to war would you rather be in charge of Iran or the United States? Iran or Israel ? China or Taiwan?

+ US, Israel, China. guess i’m a Machiavellian (like you ;-)

If independents and third party wannabes are correct that the country really needs an effective and competitive major third party, why are they historically unable to propose any set of original programmatic ideas that the Republicans and Democrats cannot steal ?

+ the Repubs and Dems think they are playing to their bases. they aren’t ’smart’ enough to branch out

If the EU has genuinely changed the twenty century-long warlike character of Europeans to apathetic, bureaucratic, declinists why does the idea of Germany with nuclear weapons still give everyone pause ?

+ a nuclear Germany gives me much less pause than nuklear Pakistan

Or for that matter, who’s up for the Japanese Prime Minister announcing a successful test of a hydrogen bomb ? If you’re not but you are also ok on a nuclear Iran, can you give an intellectually credible explanation as to the difference?

+ Germany:Pakistan::Japan:Iran

What government entitlement programs that you personally benefit from should people be prepared to live without ?

+ can’t think of any this minute (though i’m sure there are some ;-). (upon further review: what Dan said. my farming family has long benefited from ag subsidies)

To what degree is opposition to the death penalty rooted in opposition to the concepts of individual accountability and punishment ? To what degree is gun-control a repudiation of the right to self-defense ?

+ not much, i don’t think, in both cases. i don’t think those are the main issues in those issues

If you are pro-Life, why should a woman who happens to be pregnant have to take into account your personal religious beliefs before her baby is born but not afterward when making life-altering medical decisions on behalf of her minor child?

+ wrong question. some things are objective, and preserving life is one of them

If the rich should pay more taxes, who counts as “rich” ? Why is your arbitrary figure plucked out of the air better than mine or anybody else’s ?

+ i am willing to negotiate. let’s vote and take a simple majority

How many laws regulating the legal profession are ever proposed ? How many are passed ?

+ no idea. fewer ;-)

If the U.S government has friendly but non-committal diplomatic relations (minimal or no conflict) with another state, does that constitute “support” for the regime or ” non-intervention” ?

+ at some point, non-intervention is support

If multiculturalists are correct that that the non-Western cultures are of greater moral stature than the oppressive West, then why did none of the non-Western cultures ever practice multiculturalism ?

+ the mulitculturalist are wrong. power corrupts (and would have corrupted the nonWestern cultures, given a chance)

methodological statement v. Shane: for my part, it just seemed like fun ;-)

How about you? Any of these inspire you?