News for September 25

Brilliance or Blunder?

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s suggestion that Friday’s presidential debate be suspended until the national financial crisis is settled gets critique and criticism from political bloggers. Also, polls show that Americans want the debate to occur as scheduled, and The Christian Science Monitor lists 15 questions it would like to see asked. Links include:

Michael Tomasky @The Guardian |  “Wednesday was the worst day of the campaign for McCain. The revelations about Rick Davis’ firm doing lobbying work for Freddie Mac had the potential, and still may have the potential, to cost Davis his job. Certainly the story had the potential to eat up a lot of cable television time over the next two days. Over the long term, and most importantly, the story has the power, if used properly by the Democrats, to dissolve any morsel of credibility McCain had on the subject of dealing with the current fiscal crisis.”

Jonathan Martin @Politico |  “Competing views on the right.”

Andrew Sullivan @The Atlantic |  “Debate! Americans want one.”

Christian Science Monitor |  “Barack Obama and John McCain square off Friday night in their first debate as nominees. The topic will be global affairs. With so many demands on American resources at home, voters may wonder if foreign policy really matters. It does, for both peace and prosperity. Here are 15 questions that the Monitor hopes will be asked.”

One Piece of Advice to the Next President of the U.S.  |  Fora.tv

During the Asia Society’s 36th Annual Williamsburg Conference in April in Bali, Indonesia, we asked leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region what one piece of advice they would give the next president of the United States. Most of the 16 respondents emphasized the need for humility, while others encouraged the US to support democratization, to be more multilateral in its dealings with the world, and to adopt a more nuanced perspective on Islam.

Abortion: A Welcome Downturn  |  The Economist

The abortion rate in America is at its lowest level for 30 years, according to a new study by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health research group. Since a peak in the early 1980s, the rate has dropped steadily: there are now less than 20 abortions for every 1,000 women.

• Related link: Is It Time to Overturn Roe vs. Wade?  |  On Faith

Scientific Hip-Hop  |  Christian Science Monitor

A YouTube video rapping about the ins and outs of Europe’s Large Hadron Collider got more than 3.5 million views since the clip launched in July. … Hoping to attract its own viral attention, NASA commissioned a hip-hop history of Astrobiology. The space agency turned to Jonathan Chase, a regular science rapper and post-doctoral student at the University of Glamorgan in the UK.

Corporate Do-Gooding  |  Religion Blog @The Dallas Morning News

Google is looking for “ideas that help as many people as possible, in any way, and we’re committing the funding to launch them.” Far as I can tell, “profitability” is not among the criteria.