President Obama is scheduled to address the nation in less than an hour.
The primary topic of discussion: Afghanistan.
Please express your thoughts either here, or in the chatroom here.
And for those that would rather watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" — which has been shamefully bumped to next Tuesday! — here are a few clips (videos embedded below the fold):
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For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Democrats who politicized the Afghan war are reaping the consequences.
…with Democrats in charge of the entire U.S. government and George Bush nowhere to be found, Pelosi and others in her party are suddenly very, very worried about U.S. escalation in Afghanistan. “There is serious unrest in our caucus,” the speaker said recently. There is so much unrest that Democrats who show little concern about the tripling of already-large budget deficits say they’re worried about the rising cost of the war.
It is in that atmosphere that Obama makes his West Point speech. He had to make certain promises to get elected. Unlike some of his supporters, he has to remember those promises now that he is in office. So he is sending more troops. But he still can’t tell the truth about so many Democratic pledges to support the war in Afghanistan: They didn’t mean it.
Will the dithering Dems see the war effort through?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: ClimateGate demonstrates the power of citizen journalism.
It seems clear that the Obama administration, and the folks in traditional media, think this is a story better ignored.
It won’t work. While Big Media folks ignore the story, the alternate media are all over it.
From blogs, to talk radio, to Facebook and Twitter — and, of course, the Obama administration’s bete noire, Fox News — this story is sweeping the nation and the world (it has already provoked resignations in Australia). With the data made available online, individuals and groups continue to search through the records and find new nuggets of information.
In other news, the sun to set in the west today.
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Tiger Woods.
Yeah, this isn’t the sports open thread, but as it’s now been two days since this story broke, and Tiger has yet to go before cameras to explain what’s going…what’s going on?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: ClimateGate.
Yeah, I know we’ve been discussing this for a week, but I wonder what the staying power of this scandal is.
Is it the game-changer many think, or will it be gone in time for Obama to make something positive happen in Copenhagen?
Sphere: Related ContentSome sectors of the retail economy are doing well this Black Friday per the Wall Street Journal:
Sphere: Related ContentDiscounters were doing well early Black Friday morning, with door-busters bringing in big crowds, while higher-end and some apparel retailers were seeing somewhat muted traffic despite big discounts.
Mass merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp., as well as lower-end department stores like J.C. Penney Co. and electronics retailer Best Buy Inc., saw strong demand for big sales items, with electronics an early winner. But there was some robust demand for tougher-sell items like cookware and jewelry.
Climate realists are painfully aware that Nobel Laureate Al Gore has repeatedly refused to debate the issue of anthropogenic global warming.
One of the skeptics that has regularly challenged Gore to a one-on-one is England’s Lord Christopher Monckton.
So fearful of Monckton is the Nobel Laureate that he refused to appear at a Congressional hearing on climate change in April if the British Lord was present.
As a result, Monckton’s invitation was disgracefully revoked by Democrats at the last minute.
With this in mind, the good folks at The Juice Media have created a fabulous video wherein a mock Gore rap battles a mock Monckton over many key issues surrounding the global warming debate (video embedded below the fold):
Al Gore finally accepts Lord Monckton’s challenge to a highly uncivilized debate over the issue of anthropogenic climate change, in a special extended edition of RapNews, as we count down to the Copenhagen Climate Conference – aka COP15.
Absolutely delicious!
Sphere: Related ContentHappy Thanksgiving to all NewsBusters readers!
What are you cooking for your feasts?
For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: ClimateGate reveals attempts to subvert scientific review.
We’re only beginning to analyze and understand the full implications of these emails and the associated data. Among other things, however, these emails suggest that a number of highly reputable climate scientists had been conniving for years to prevent other researchers from obtaining the data needed to replicate climate science results. At the same time, these scientists appear to have colluded to subvert the whole peer review process in order to prevent critical or contradictory results from being published.
This violates the whole social contract that is the basis of what we call science.
Aren’t liberals the ones usually whining about putting ’science’ before ‘ideology’?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: the liberal elite’s hostility towards capitalism.
The elite hostility to business — a holdover from Europe, perhaps, where aristocrats looked down on “trade,” or an unconscious echo of Marxism — is unseemly and harmful to both general prosperity and the individuals who are influenced by it to avoid productive enterprise. It crops up in President Obama’s commencement addresses sneering at students who want to “take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy” and in Michelle Obama’s urging hard-pressed women in Ohio, “Don’t go into corporate America.” It’s nice that some people, like senators’ wives, can make $300,000 a year in “the helping industry,” but it’s business that produces the wealth that allows such nonprofit generosity.
Killing the goose that lays the golden egg?
Sphere: Related ContentWhat are today’s must-see games and what will be the most surprising upsets?
For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: ObamaCare passes cloture Saturday evening. What’s next for healthcare reform?
What are today’s biggest Big games and biggest upsets?
For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: WHAT ELSE?
SENATE DEBATES HEALTHCARE REFORM
ON CSPAN 2 RIGHT NOW
For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Federal bureaucrats say costs of mammograms outweigh benefits.
Women in their 40s should stop routinely having annual mammograms and older women should cut back to one scheduled exam every other year, an influential federal task force has concluded, challenging the use of one of the most common medical tests.
…the independent government-appointed panel recommended the changes, citing evidence that the potential harm to women having annual exams beginning at age 40 outweighs the benefit…
The new guidelines also recommend against teaching women to do regular self-exams and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to recommend that doctors do the exams or to continue routine mammograms beyond age 74.
A sign of things to come?
Sphere: Related ContentWhat are today’s big games and most surprising upsets?
For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: "Going Rogue."
With her book coming out, and scheduled interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will continue to be in the news this week.
Of course, this means she will continue to be trashed by all of her detractors in the media.
Question: has there ever been a political figure who wasn’t a member of the White House that has received this kind of regular, constant trashing by the press? If so, who?
Sphere: Related ContentTime for college football. Big weekend. What are the must-see games. Predict today’s biggest upset!
This has been such a wild week with so many things available for discussion we’re going to let you choose the topics to debate.
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Ft. Hood’s implications for gun rights.
Last week’s shootings, which killed 13 people and wounded more than 30, demonstrated once again the folly of “gun-free zones,” which attract and assist people bent on mass murder instead of deterring them.
Judging from the comments of those who support this policy of victim disarmament, Smith’s desire for a gun was irrational. According to Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, “This latest tragedy, at a heavily fortified army base, ought to convince more Americans to reject the argument that the solution to gun violence is to arm more people with more guns in more places.”
Note how the reference to “a heavily fortified army base” obscures the crucial point that the people attacked by Hasan were unarmed as a matter of policy. Also note the breathtaking inanity of Helmke’s assurance that “more guns” are not “the solution to gun violence.” In this case, they assuredly were.
Where guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Seems pretty straightforward, no?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: confessions of an ObamaCare supporter.
[The New Yorker's John] Cassidy is more honest than the politicians whose dishonesty he supports. "The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment," he writes. "Let’s not pretend that it isn’t a big deal, or that it will be self-financing, or that it will work out exactly as planned. It won’t. What is really unfolding, I suspect, is the scenario that many conservatives feared. The Obama Administration … is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind."
Why are they doing it? Because, according to Mr. Cassidy, ObamaCare serves the twin goals of "making the United States a more equitable country" and furthering the Democrats’ "political calculus." In other words, the purpose is to further redistribute income by putting health care further under government control, and in the process making the middle class more dependent on government. As the party of government, Democrats will benefit over the long run.
Finally, some honesty.
Sphere: Related ContentWhat are today’s big NFL games and big upsets? Anything else you want to talk about related to sports?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: PelosiCare passes by surprisingly narrow margin.
How many people watched much of the debate and vote Saturday? Regardless of the results, did you enjoy it? How do you think this sets up the Senate? Will this narrow margin make it very difficult for Reid to get 60 voters? What’s up with the lone Republican Cao from Louisiana breaking ranks?
Finally, and maybe most importantly, do you think Stupak’s abortion amendment impacted the final result actually allowing some moderate Democrats to vote for the bill? Or do you think this is a lot of hooey either because an equal or greater number of liberal Democrats especially women might have voted "Nay" because of that amendment passing or that Pelosi was going to get this passed no matter what she had to do?
Any other post mortems?
Sphere: Related ContentC-SPAN is currently showing the healthcare reform debate happening on the floor of the House. We may even see a vote this evening.
Feel free to offer your thoughts.
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: how will apologists try to spin this one?
Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire, the base commander said Friday.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. This is just more evidence that Hasan had assumed the role of Jihadist in the massacre.
Sphere: Related ContentFollow this breaking story here on this thread. Post updates as you find them so others can keep tabs. I’ve posted a Twitter updater below to make it easier to follow here at NB:
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