[extropy-chat] Politics: US talks of suspending elections

[Dan Clemmensen]

Brian Lee wrote:

> Isn't it pretty pointless for a newsource to quote "unnamed sources". 
> What proves that they exist. I've noticed this a lot lately with 
> "unnamed sources close to xyz". This could be Tom Ridge speaking off 
> the record or a janitor.
>
> There have been quite a few cases of news fabrication lately. I 
> disregard any story that won't name who is providing the information.
>
> BAL

Newsweek is effectively the same organization as the Washington Post. 
They are not perfect, and they are not unbiased. However, they do try 
fairly hard to validate their sources. I trust them a lot more than I 
trust the Bush administration. I suggest you re-read "All the 
President's Men." That is the book about the Watergate affair.

Two additional points:
   1) There has been no denial from the administration.
   2) As I said earlier, someone in government really should be thinking 
about this.

In my opinion, our society needs to de-politicize this discussion to the 
extent possible, and try hard for consensus. We need to quickly list the 
things we can all agree on immediately, and list any areas of 
disagreement. This issue is far too important to use in support of 
dogmatic positions of any type. Unfortunately, we are now so badly 
polarized that there is nobody left in the middle to bring us together.