Link roundup: The end of July edition

Here is a bunch of stuff I haven't had a chance to post. It's hard to believe that it is the end of July already. So far, it has been a pretty good summer. But, it will all be over in six weeks. Enjoy it while you can.

The answer is more debates

Hillary Clinton and John Edwards were reportedly talking about limiting debate participants the other night in this exchange caught on camera and hot mics, I believe by C-SPAN, after a recent debate:

If they are frustrated because they aren't getting enough face time or need more than 60 seconds to answer a question, and who can blame them for that, that is understandable. But, the answer isn't fewer debates or fewer people in the debates. The answer is more debates.
I'm not surprised that Hillary would try and limit the voices in the debate. She calls her speeches "listening tours" even though she doesn't do a lot of listening during them. However, I'm a bit taken aback by Edwards' move. He never looks bad in these things and Gravel and Kucinich going after the frontrunners only really hurts Clinton and Barack Obama, IMHO.

Here is another YouTube clip worth looking at, with Edwards really taking it home:


FCC Hearings

The FCC has been traveling around the country, holding hearings concerning problems with broadcast media consolidation. C-SPAN has aired a couple of the hearings and they've been pretty interesting to watch. Recently, they held one in Portland, Maine, the only hearing in New England. Dan Kennedy has a bit about the hearing here: ["Local media and the FCC"]. And here is a letter from a resident complaining about hearing: ["FCC didn't hear me"]. So much for these hearings being about the public talking about consolidation. As much as I enjoy working in the broadcast industry and respect many of my colleagues, for them to do this just to protect their corporate masters is just intolerable.

9-11

Congress finally passed a terrorism bill including recommendations from The 9-11 Commission: ["Congress Passes Major Anti-Terror Bill"]. I don't know if this means anything considering both The Commission and its report seem like quite the whitewash, especially when you look at some of the outstanding questions. Interestingly, at my job, I constantly get emails from Lee Hamilton's PR firm, pitching columns. Since we only publish local stuff at work, I wouldn't consider them there. I hadn't thought about whether or not I wanted to publish them here on Politizine. I usually just give them a cursory glance and then delete them.

Speaking of 9-11, this French official thinks Bush was involved: ["French officials suggests Bush was behind September 11"]. This blog post caused a furor at the Post: ["Blog post that made the N.Y. Post"]. And here is a Web site with a slew of resources on it: ["9-11 Review"]. One of those resources is this interesting picture of a woman waving from the plane hole: ["Person waving from the plane shape hole"]. As noted, if this floor was burning so hot that it basically melted the infrastructure of the tower, how could a person stand at the hole and wave for help? Of course, it could be a cool video trick. But I really wonder about this.

Carbon taxes

Roy Morrison continues his work on alternative energy, including a long report on building a sustainable electric grid in New Hampshire: ["EcoPowerHedge"]. Readers may recall that I linked comments by Al Gore promoting Morrison's carbon tax idea. Well, now another person has taken hold of it: ["Counting on Failure, Energy Chairman Floats Carbon Tax"].

Short takes

Here is a long piece about microchips worth the time it takes to read: ["Microchip Implants Raise Privacy Concern"]. And then there is this: ["Microchips mulled for HIV carriers in Indonesia"].
By accident, I found this pretty cool horror movie site: ["Bloody Disgusting"].
Another 2008 candidate? Possibly: ["General Zod 2008"].
Rightwing newspaper says it's time to go: ["Scaife-Owned Newspaper Calls for Iraq Troop Withdrawal -- Questions Bush's 'Mental Stability'"].
Kerry dishes some out: ["Kerry to Mitt: Who's flip-flopping now?"].
AP Poll: ["GOP pick is 'none of the above'"].
This guy isn't too happy: ["The Audacity of Fraud: How Barack Obama Is Losing My Vote"]. It should be noted that Foreign Affairs is published by the Council on Foreign Relations, the same think tank that is coming very close to suggesting that the United States basically absorb Mexico and Canada and make the best of it: ["Building a North American Community"]. GOP candidate Rep. Duncan Hunter was able to get his amendment to keep federal funds from going to the NAFTA Super Highway down in Texas: ["Hunter NAFTA Super Highway Amendment Passes House"].
Kristin Gore: Dad's not running: ["Gore Daughter: '08 Run Not Happening"].