Discuss.
I Think This Is A Great Idea
Captain Ed proposes a solution to the cowardice of the GOP regarding the CNN/Youtube debate:
The flaw in pursuing the debate as it CNN structured it for the Democrats is that CNN chose the questions. Even Joe Biden complained about that selection during the debate, calling the final question — a demand for each candidate to say one thing good and one thing bad about the candidate to their left — a “ridiculous exercise” as he answered it. A review of the transcript shows that the actual questions held little substance and gave little information to voters about the candidates or their positions.
So what’s the solution? How can we engage voters in a national forum through the New Media, while keeping the debate substantive and serious? I have a simple solution: have CNN cede the editorial/selection process to the New Media, in the form of the blogosphere.
This is such a great idea, I have even come up with some questions bloggers could ask.
Hugh Hewitt- Mr. Romney, how much worse than Osama bin Laden are the Democrats? A lot, a whole lot, or oodles?
Red State- Mr. Giuliani, if Obama is elected, will he declare defeat in Iraq and withdraw our troops before surrendering to Iran, or will he surrender to Iran first?
Michelle Malkin- Mr. Romney, if Hillary is elected President, how long do you think it will be before she institutes a policy of forced abortions and mandates the Quran be taught in schools?
Dan Riehl- Mr. Thompson, have you always had such strong shoulders and a chiseled jaw? And if elected, will you find out what happened to Natalie Holloway?
K-Lo- Mr. Romney, are you busy this weekend? As a follow up, you are aware Michelle is not the only one with a cheerleader outfit, aren’t you?
Dean Barnett- Mr. Paul, how long have you been a racist? Have you stopped attending anti-Semitic rallies? Why do you challenge George Bush, who is clearly the greatest thinker of our generation?
John Hindraker- Mr. Thompson, in the past I said the following about President Bush:
“It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.”
Demonstrate to me that you possess the same level of brilliance- please spell CAT.
I think this idea will work out well. Feel free to add your own questions so we can get this thing rolling.
The Politburo Diktat
There was a time when that blog title amused me for comically exaggerating my and other lefties’ worst fears about our present Republican leadership.
A surgeon general’s report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration’s policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.
[…] Three people directly involved in its preparation said its publication was blocked by William R. Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history whose family has long ties to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Since 2001, Steiger has run the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services. […] Carmona told lawmakers that, as he fought to release the document, he was “called in and again admonished . . . via a senior official who said, ‘You don’t get it.’ ” He said a senior official told him that “this will be a political document, or it will not be released.”After a long struggle that pitted top scientific and medical experts inside and outside the government against Steiger and his political bosses, Carmona refused to make the requested changes, according to the officials. Carmona engaged in similar fights over other public health reports, including an unpublished report on prison health. A few days before the end of his term as the nation’s senior medical officer, he was abruptly told he would not be reappointed.
Ha ha. Sigh.
***Update***
More here.
Iraq On Top
No, it does not mean everything is ok in Iraq. No, it does no mean everything is ok and blah, blah.
But it sure is nice to report that Iraq’s soccer team beat Saudi Arabia in the Asia Cup 1-0, and are champions. Good for them, and anyone who has ever lived in a town that has won the World Series or the Superbowl or the Stanley Cup can tell you that no matter how crappy things are going, a sports championship can lift spirits, and man do the citizens of this country need a break and something to cheer them up.
In another note, let me state that it sure is nice to have two genuinely good men be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn are everything that is right with modern sports, and Tony Gwynn was the best pure hitter I have ever seen (spare me the comparisons to others before him- I am not old enough to have seen them). I still contend that Will Clark had the sweetest swing in baseball, though, at least in my lifetime.
Sunday Open Thread
I saw No End In Sight last night. I will post a review later.
The Blogroll
After very little thought, I impulsively deleted the blogroll. Tim has been on my case for about six months now that it needed to be trimmed, and at some point I have to face facts- a not insignificant portion of our blogroll was dead. And I don’t mean dead links- I mean dead bloggers. Ex-bloggers. Bloggers who have ceased to exist.
I then decided to try and trim it, but it had become such a mangled mess of names and links I didn’t remember that I decided to just delete the whole damned thing. Over the course of the next few weeks we will build the links back up, so if you are not on there and feel you should be- that is what has happened. Don;t get your knickers in a twist- if I think you are interesting you will make it back up there.
However, being on the blogroll may no longer be a good thing. I have four new categories (and this I did put some thought into). The categories are:
Blogs John Reads
Blogs Tim Reads
Blogs We Both Read
Blogs We Monitor and Mock as Needed
If you see anything that is obviously missing, throw it in the comments. Otherwise, bear with us as we rebuild the list.
*** Update ***
Apparently I have botched the entire blogroll. Way to go, Tim. Couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you, and you pressured me until I did something rash. Does anyone know how to code WordPress websites?
*** Update #2 ***
SERIOUSLY. Does anyone know how to work with WordPress? My other guru seems to have died (or is no longer answering my email).
More Good News From Iraq
So says the Inspector General Report (but you know the liberal media will be blamed for reading it and reporting about it):
Iraq’s national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects, forcing the United States either to hand them over to local Iraqis, who often lack the proper training and resources to keep the projects running, or commit new money to an effort that has already consumed billions of taxpayer dollars.
The conclusions, detailed in a report released Friday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a federal oversight agency, include the finding that of 2,797 completed projects costing $5.8 billion, Iraq’s national government had, by the spring of this year, accepted only 435 projects valued at $501 million. Few transfers to Iraqi national government control have taken place since the current Iraqi government, which is frequently criticized for inaction on matters relating to the American intervention, took office in 2006.
The United States often promotes the number of rebuilding projects, like power plants and hospitals, that have been completed in Iraq, citing them as signs of progress in a nation otherwise fraught with violence and political stalemate. But closer examination by the inspector general’s office, headed by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has found that a number of individual projects are crumbling, abandoned or otherwise inoperative only months after the United States declared that they had been successfully completed. The United States always intended to hand over projects to the Iraqi government when they were completed.
Fabulous. I am sure we can pin this on the defeatist media and Democrats somehow.
*** Update ***
From the comments:
Damn you, Scott Beauchamp
EXACTLY!