Open Thread

For general discussion and comment...

For general discussion and comment.

Feel free to descant upon sundry topics.

Yes, there was a crash. We're back to where we were earlier, minus today's comments that were made before the crash. Sorry for the inconvenience. Our hosting company dropped the ball and we'll soon be switching to a different one.

For general discussion and comment...

Fill 'er up.

Here's an open thread for this Friday. As a starter, let me bring to everyone's attention our little "Editors' Picks" box in the sidebar. It's a place where NB's staff keep links that we think are of note on this blog and others around the web.

Comment on topics of your choosing.

What's news?

Open for discussion...

Discuss the news of the day or whatever else.

Discuss amongst yourselves...

Fill 'er up, folks!

What should the media's New Year's resolutions be?

Open for comment on any particular topic. Here's a few:

Coverage of Gerald Ford too positive? Try taxpayer-supported Pacifica's "Democracy Now" radio show, with this classic headline: "President Gerald Ford Dies at 93; Supported Indonesian Invasion of East Timor that Killed 1/3 of Population."

Greg Sargent of the lefty American Prospect complains that the media's failing to remember fondly and aggressively Gerald Ford's "Vietnam is so over" comments, and their relevance for getting Bush to acknowledge defeat today.

Rosie O’Donnell racist? She should have learned Chinese and tried the joke again, says a San Jose Mercury News critic.

Discuss amongst yourselves...

Comment on whatever you like...

Talk amongst yourselves.

Comment on the issues of the day and anything else.

Open for discussion...

Today's starters

Media: Keith Olbermann wants a raise (despite still remaining in fourth-place). The champion of the people is gunning for $4 million a year. TV reporter Max Robbins says CNN is purportedly interested in hiring the left-wing commentator but I doubt that.

"Why did CNN and MSNBC give air time to David Duke? What purpose did it serve the viewers?" Media columnist Jon Friedman asks today. Easy answer: Because to them, Duke represents two useful commodities: 1) he pisses people off, and 2) he represents what the right "really" thinks about race, in the view of the average liberal producer (HT: TVN).

Of course, when it comes to racists, if you're a non-American willing to bash President Bush, it earns you a suck-up interview in Time magazine and such accolades from that same magazine as "global Everyman," "champion of the dispossessed.

Politics: Illinois senator Barack Obama is being hyped so much, but if he's smart he won't believe it, John Fund argues.

Tennessee governor Phil Bredensen is under fire for putting a "young Muslim woman" on his official Christmas cards. Apparently it was some sort of goodwill gesture gone horribly awry.

Check out the top ten politically incorrect words of 2006.

Today's (weekend) starters:

Politics: Former president Jimmy Carter refuses to debate Alan Dershowitz over his new book comparing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.

Is the pro-life movement beginning a move toward incremental anti-abortion laws?

Media:

In case you haven't heard, Sylvester Stallone actually has gone forward with his attempt to resurrect his Rocky character. The result isn't pretty, trailers for the movie "Rocky Balboa" are eliciting laughter in theaters across the country. Stallone, meanwhile insists he's done well: "I'm proud of the way it came out. It's pretty close to the real deal."

I've heard a lot of mixed reviews of Mel Gibson's latest foreign-language effort, Apocalypto. The Weekly Standard likes it, though.

Today's starters:

Media: After resigning from CNN after making baseless accusations that American soldiers were deliberately trying to kill journalists, Eason Jordan has resurfaced as the head of a new Iraq war news site. Among other things, the site will attempt to find the mysterious AP source and purported Iraqi policeman Jamil Hussein. Michelle Malkin will be going there to look for him as well.

Bad judgment at CBS: The network led with Christmas shopping on the night news broke about South Dakota Democrat Tim Johnson was hospitalized.

Politics: Is the flying imams kerfuffle really a publicity stunt?

John McCain is trying to sell himself as the GOP establishment candidate this time around, according to Robert Novak. Ed Morrissey doesn't think it's working, at least at this point. John Kerry, meanwhile, is going to visit Iraq.

Ward Connerly, the noted opponent of affirmative action, is planning to sponsor several anti-preference ballot initiatives in 2008.

Today's starters:

Media: Court hearings on FCC's reinvigorated anti-profanity policy will be televised, meaning the argument over naughty words on TV will be shown on TV. The Christian Science Monitor damns conservative milblogger Bill Roggio with faint praise (Bill, and Karl at PW respond). Patterico ponders copyrights today, wondering who would own the rights to an answering machine message left by a singer during a concert.

Politics: A BBC report out of Ukraine says that newborn babies may have been killed for the purpose of taking their stem cells.

In Iraq news, Gallup's pollsters are starting to ask people if they're confident elected officials will "do the right thing in Iraq." Of course, that question is rather meaningless unless you define right, something few would agree on. John at Power Line also notes an interesting fact: 81% of the public trusts the military to do the right thing. Related: Yet another Islamic militant leader takes pride in the GOP's 2006 defeat: "It seems that every bullet that mujahedeen had fired toward the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan has turned into a vote against Bush."

Society: Democrats get religion (or at least start paying consultants for it). Conservatives, meanwhile are being shut out of the academy. One of the lonely righty profs details just how in a lengthy, informative Chronicle of Education article here.

Regarding the recent death of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, David Frum notes many lefties are incensed that the U.S. supported Pinochet but seem today to be arguing against the idea of promoting democracy in Iraq.

Comment on the news of the day or whatever else you like.

Open for discussion and general comment.

Talk amongst yourselves...

No starters today, folks, talk about whatever you like. We take the risk of turning the thread entirely over to you, the reader. (HT: Rush Limbaugh.)

Today's starters:

Pearl Harbor Day is today.

Arab countries are seeing the Iraq Study Group's report as proof President Bush has failed. Arab countries aren't the only ones cheering the report, though. The American press has been positively giddy about it, even though it's been ill-received by conservatives and liberals who actually study foreign policy.

Australian women plan "bikini protest" of imam's comments that the everyday attire of women in that country makes them nothing more than "uncovered meat."

Democrats' 2006 victories seemed to have purged the Republican party of its moderates. Democrats, meanwhile, are alleged to have secretly met with the terrorist group Hamas. Not everyone believes this, though.

RIP: Megan McClung, a press officer for the Marines stationed in Ramadi, Iraq. She was killed trying to fill an information request.

Today's starters:

The much-hyped Iraq Study group has finally released its report. Hot Air has a nice roundup, you can read it in HTML form via NZ Bear. LGF looks at the group's conclusions regarding Israel and finds much to dislike. Related: Wacky lib bloggers are upset with incoming Democratic congress's lack of desire to impeach President Bush.

In other news, OpinionJournal has an interesting op-ed by a sister of one of the pilots who was killed on 9/11 about the topic of airline security and the Muslim imams who were ejected off a U.S. Airways flight recently.

In lighter fare NRO has a funny joke about God's profession that I won't reveal the details to; Reason Magazine has an interview with the creators of South Park (hat tip: NB reader sarcasmo) in which Matt Stone and Trey Parker comment about a number of subjects including their unsuccessful campaign to air an innocuous cartoon depiction of the founder of Islam Mohammed. At least they weren't fired or threatened with death, though.