1/1/04 - Suggested topics:

1. Will the recent Mad Cow case devastate the U.S. agricultural industry? Will you continue to eat beef? Is government regulation of the meat industry to blame? Are countries that are banning U.S. beef overreacting? Are the Democrats right to criticize Bush on the current beef policy? (Online discussion)
2. Florida gets the nation's fist faith-based prison. Are faith-based prisons a good or bad idea? Do faith-based prisons break the church-state line? (Online discussion)
3. Lottery winners, such as Jack Whittaker, often struggle to handle newfound wealth and fame, and many become tied up in lawsuits or estranged from family and friends. One study claimed that instant millionaires have about the same level of happiness as recent accident victims. Do you agree? Is the idea that wealth equals happiness a harmful illusion created by our society?
4. Emergency rooms and schools across the nation are reporting that waves of youths are overdosing on non-prescription cough and cold medicines that are widely available in drugstores and supermarkets. What can be done about this alarming trend? Does this abuse of legal and non-prescription drugs undermine the war against illegal drugs?
5. Is Howard Dean too secular to win the Presidency? Recently, Howard Dean said he expects to increasingly include references to Jesus and God in his speeches when campaigning in the South. Will this increase his popularity in the Southern states? Is this just another common act of political dishonesty or a newfound religiosity? Which is worse? (Online discussion)
6. An advisory panel to the FDA has voted to recommend that the morning-after pill be sold over-the-counter. Do you think the morning-after pill should be available without a prescription?
7. What happened that surprised you most in 2003? What do you think was the most positive story of 2003? Most negative? Some links:
   • 2003 Cartoon Year in Review
   • Top Science Stories of 2003
   • Top 10 Stories of 2003 (According to American Editors, News Directors)
   • Boston Globe's 2003 Year in Review

Quote of the week: "Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus. The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe. Never, perhaps, was a greater demand made on mankind - for by this admission so many things vanished in mist and smoke! What became of our Eden, our world of innocence, piety and poetry; the testimony of the senses; the conviction of a poetic - religious faith? No wonder his contemporaries did not wish to let all this go and offered every possible resistance to a doctrine which in its converts authorized and demanded a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed not even dreamed of." [Goethe]

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