Tuesday, July 24, 2007

CNN / YouTube Debates - Senator Joe Biden Answers My "In God We Trust" Question

This was my question number 36 in the list of videos presented at the CNN / YouTube Debates:

The cathedral behind me is the perfect backdrop for this question. This quarter reads "United States of America." And when I turn it over, you find that it reads "liberty, in God we trust." What do those words mean to you? Thank you.

Falcons News Conference On The Michael Vick Issue

I'm watching Atlanta Falcons' Owner Arthur Blank, General Managr Rich McKay, and Head Coach Bobby Petrino talk to the media about the Michael Vick issue.

If you've not followed this, Vick's indicted for being involved in felony dogfighting. This press conference is for the Falcons; heads to explain to the public how they're dealing with this.

To me, it seems as if Arthur Blank's forced to walk a tightrope between supporting Vick and not upsetting the activitist animal rights organizations that have been crawling all over them.

More soon..

Hillary's Flip Flop - Senator Clinton Backs Off On Promise Of New Leadership



At Monday's CNN / YouTube Debate, Senator Hillary Clinton stopped short of saying she would talk to Third World leaders like Hugo Chavez, explaining in a complex way that she would send diplomatic envoys to do this. By contrast, Senator Obama expained that he would send a message that he was willing to have dialog with leaders we don't currently have a great relationship with.

After the debate, some have tried to paint Senator Obama as less experienced than Senator Clinton because of the debate. While that's inaccurate, another story has emerged that paints Senator Clinton in the position of flip-flopping. In the article below, she says President Bush should talk to leaders like Hugo Chavez! Morover, she said this on April 22nd of this year.

Read!


Clinton Blasts President Bush's Foreign Policy
http://wcbstv.com/us/local_story_112220939.html

(CBS/AP) DECORAH, Iowa Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday criticized President Bush's foreign policy, and said if she were president she would do things differently, including beginning diplomatic talks with supposed enemies and sending envoys throughout the world.

"I would begin diplomatic discussions with those countries with whom we have differences, to try to figure out what is the depth of those differences," said Clinton, who spoke to about 1,000 people at Luther College in Decorah in northeastern Iowa.

"I think it is a terrible mistake for our president to say he will not talk with bad people. You don't make peace with your friends -- you have to do the hard work of dealing with people you don't agree with," said Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

Opening talks with other countries doesn't mean the U.S. won't defend its interests whenever necessary, she said, "but what it means is that we should discuss other routes before we decide we're going to pursue military options.

"We cannot provide the leadership we need unless we are willing to try engage the other countries," she said,

She dished out plenty of criticism about the war in Iraq, and said when it comes to Iran, the U.S. needs to engage those with the real power -- the clerics.

Of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad she said: "He's like their front man, he's like their puppet. He goes out and gets people agitated and says things that everybody responds to, but he's not making the decisions. The decisions are being made within the alternative government of these clerics.

"We have no idea of how these people think, we have no contact with them," Clinton said, arguing that she's advocated for years to have a process of diplomacy with Iran.

"If we ever have to use force against any country, it should be seen as an action of last resort, not first resort," she said.

YouTube's Nathaniel Krefman On Barack Obama and "A Call For Change"

Mitt Romney Either Forgot He Supports "Age Appropriate" Sex Education Or Figured No One Would Research A Fib

At last night's CNN / YouTube Debates Senator Barack Obama said in response to CNN;s Anderson Cooper's question about his views on teaching age-approrpriate sex education to children and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney's criticism of Obama on the matter, "Well, Mitt Romney supported age-appropriate sex education, so I don't know what the problem is."

Well, I do. Romney either forgot he did in 2002, or figured that no one would catch him telling a fib. That's a big mistake in an Internet society.

According to Jonathan Martin over at Politico.com, Romney "himself once indicated support for the same sort of sex-ed approach -- "age-appropriate" -- that Obama backs."

Martin reports that, "In a Planned Parenthood questionnaire he filled out during his 2002 gubernatorial run, Romney checked 'yes' to a question asking, "Do you support the teaching of responsible, age-appropriate, factually accurate health and sexuality education, including information about both abstinence and contraception, in public schools?"

Wow. It's also not the first time Romney was caught with his hand in the cookie jar on this subject, as Martin writes that Romney's support for age-appropriate sex education was caught by a rival campaign. But in the case of Obama, Romney's apparent fib didn't stop him from broadcasting it on his YouTube page. But now that the cat's out of the bag, Romney should appologize and come clean.

Shame on you Mitt. Not a good start toward the White House.

Esther and Anderson Cooper At CNN YouTube Debates


Esther and Anderson Cooper
Originally uploaded by breathinglife
Well I wasn't there, but the next best thing is having your question shown and these Flickr photos.

Esther and Anderson Cooper At CNN YouTube Debates


Esther and Anderson Cooper
Originally uploaded by breathinglife
Well I wasn't there, but the next best thing is having your question shown and these Flickr photos.

Here's my take on the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqv91nfkYKk

..And my question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf1ZDTB5vYw