brendanm98's blog

Stinerman at SC set it up, details here. Since I have an account here and he AFAIK doesn't, and we all at SC thought you all here might be interested in playing, I'm cross-posting the signup notice here:

Pretty sure I can guess the answer ;-) but I wanted to post this here anyway to try to set up a real left-vs-right discussion... and y'all get the libertarians on your side for this one too.

Welcome to the third formal debate hosted by Swords Crossed and open to multi-blog participation! Today we will debate whether the US would benefit from greater governmental control of health care. Our current hybrid system suffers from skyrocketing costs and piecemeal coverage. Both Democratic candidates have proposed expanding programs such as SCHIP and Medicaid and imposing more stringent regulations on private insurers. Will such steps lead to improvements in the efficiency and quality of health care in America, or will they backfire and make an already struggling system worse? Come share your opinion and your reasoning.

Click here to join the debate at cruxlux

Essays with useful background for this debate:
** Ideas for American Healthcare
** Must our final years be torture
** Medical Insurance, two personal tales
** Universal health care dead in CA: implications
** Health Care News on Clinics and Competition

More details below the fold

The EC: prudent system established by the founding fathers to prevent tyranny of the majority, or obsolete system that waters down the influence of voters in more populace states? Recent history, of course, would incline conservatives to favor the EC, but what about the big picture? What's your opinion, and what evidence is it based upon?

We're hosting an experimental debate to investigate the Electoral College. The debate includes essays (which anyone is encouraged to write; we'll add the links to the list) and a structured platform created at the neutral third-party site cruxlux that permits point-counterpoint debate. If you're interested in hammering out the strengths and weaknesses of the EC, or arguing your case to an audience with diverse political viewpoints, check it out. (I have nothing to do with cruxlux and can't moderate or otherwise control the debate there, it's all user-driven.) Below the fold, I've reproduced the explanatory post from SC.

Promoted by Steven Foley in the hopes of attracting reasoned debate from all sides of this issue - As always we welcome left-of-center posters to join as long as the comments/replies remain civil and our rules are adhered to. -Thanks

Iran has repeatedly refused to cease uranium enrichment, is a significant and increasing threat to stability in the Middle East through support of various terrorist groups, and has a dismal record of human rights violations. This behavior is not an aberration, it is a consistent pattern over the past five years:

Obama apologized today for a memo his campaign sent to papers attacking the Clintons' ties to India as part of a broader theme criticizing outsourcing. Oddly enough, this is not the first time that Democratic candidates for President have made questionable comments about Indians. What gives? A list and brief thoughts below the fold...

This is a brief summary of recent interesting content from a broad spectrum of political blogs. I hope you'll enjoy reading (and perhaps discussing) these thought-provoking pieces. Feel free to point out other posts you enjoyed. (Each installment in this series originally posted at Swords Crossed.)

Read on for this week's list...

This is a brief summary of recent interesting content from a broad spectrum of political blogs. I hope you'll enjoy reading (and perhaps discussing) these thought-provoking pieces. Feel free to point out other posts you enjoyed. (Each installment in this series originally posted at Swords Crossed.)

Read on for this week's list...

This is a brief summary of recent interesting content from a broad spectrum of political blogs. I hope you'll enjoy reading (and perhaps discussing) these thought-provoking pieces. Feel free to point out other posts you enjoyed. (Each installment in this series originally posted at Swords Crossed.)

Read on for this week's list...

This is a brief summary of recent interesting content from a broad spectrum of political blogs. I hope you'll enjoy reading (and perhaps discussing) these thought-provoking pieces. Feel free to point out other posts you enjoyed. (Each installment in this series originally posted at Swords Crossed.)

Read on for this week's list...