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WASHINGTON - Two years and 144 cases have passed since Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last spoke up at oral arguments. It is a period of unbroken silence that contrasts with the rest of the court's unceasing inquiries. Hardly a case goes by, including two appeals that were argued Monday, without eight justices peppering lawyers with questions. Oral arguments offer justices the chance to resolve nagging doubts about a case, probe its weaknesses or make a point to their colleagues. Left, right and center, the justices ask and they ask and they ask. Sometimes they debate each other, leaving the...

What Would You Ask the GOP Presidential Candidates? Friday, January 04, 2008 E-Mail Print Respond Digg This! del.icio.us FOX News wants to know what you would ask the Republican presidential candidates when they debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Thursday, Jan 10. Please e-mail your question to debate@foxnews.com. Include your name, town, state and contact number for verification. Please keep your question sharp, brief and to the point. And let us know which candidate you'd like us to ask. Watch the debate live on FOX News Channel at 9 p.m. ET on Jan. 10 to see if your question was...

A friend of mine from the GOE did some research, and it appears that almost ALL the questioners at last nights debate were plants!!

DURHAM, N.C. - Here's one way to get a presidential candidate to change his mind: If you're a 5-year-old, shed a few tears. That's how Hadassah Jones, of Durham, got Barack Obama to answer questions Thursday after the campaign initially denied such requests from reporters. Crouching to the ground after a rally with 4,000 supporters, Obama briefly outlined for Hadassah his plan to provide health insurance for everyone and to improve schools. He also suggested to the first-grader that wealthier people should help those who are less fortunate. "We've got to make sure that people who have more money help...

DENVER, Oct. 24, 2007 – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen yesterday heard some hard truths when he asked hundreds of soldiers about their service. “All I want to do is start a family, buy a house and have some stability,” an Army captain ready to leave the service to better meet the needs of his family said in Fort Sill, Okla. “We need something better. That’s just not good enough,” another captain said of the 12-month home-station time between deployments. Still another young officer said he was planning to end his military service,...

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Democratic presidential hopefuls struggled Monday night to answer questions posed by young, Internet-savvy voters who challenged traditional political labels and the candidates' own place in a broken political system. "Wassup?" came the first question, from a voter named Zach, after another, named Chris, opened the CNN-YouTube debate with a challenge to the entire eight-candidate field: "Can you as politicians ... actually answer questions rather than beat around the bush?" The answer was a qualified yes. The candidates faced a slew of blunt questions and, in some cases, responded in kind. To Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois: Are...

Hillary’s hit man targets any news outlet daring to raise uncomfortable questionsBy Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media Friday, May 25, 2007 Ben Smith of Politico.com reports that the first attack on a new book on Hillary Clinton came from Media Matters for America, “a Democratic-leaning group whose founders are close to the New York Democrat senator’s presidential campaign . . . ” Bingo. It looks like the media may finally be coming to grips with how the Clinton machine operates. The Media Matters attack on a reporter for daring to co-author a book that is somewhat critical of the New...

News reports say that Governor Romney, looking ahead to the possibility of presenting himself as a candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2008, has met privately with Christian leaders to allay their concerns about the fact that he is a Mormon. (See Boston Globe, Nov 2, 2006 at http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/02/romney_consults_evangelical_leaders ) These leaders apparently are concentrating on areas such as Romney's view of gay marriage, abortion, and whether Romney is really a Christian. Undoubtedly Romney's answers in those areas will satisfy most of these Christian leaders. However, not knowing much about Mormon doctrine and practices, many Christians are unaware of some...

How can we engage more people in the democratic process? I will be asking questions to help create dialogue around this and many other important topics so please add me to your Answers Network so that we can begin exchanging ideas and hopefully make changes that will benefit the future.

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) said Wednesday he was not aware he had invested in two companies backed by some of his top donors and said he had done nothing to aid their business with the government. The Illinois senator faced questions about more than $50,000 in investments he made right after taking office in 2005 in two speculative companies, AVI Biopharma and Skyterra Communications. Obama said his broker bought the stocks as part of a quasi-blind trust in which he was not consulted when trades were made. "At no point did I know...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff fielded questions Feb. 22 and 23 from active duty, National Guard and Reserve troops in Alaska at the Army’s Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, and at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. The troops asked Marine Gen. Peter Pace about equipment shortfalls in the Guard and Reserve, varying tour lengths among the services, whether there should be a joint force utility uniform for all the services and the possibility of a civilian service corps. Pace told the troops the budget includes about $21 billion for new equipment...

VANCOUVER, Wash., Feb. 22, 2007 – Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced some tough questions here yesterday – not from the press, but from a group of fifth-grade students at Marshall Elementary School. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, makes remarks and addresses questions with fifth-grade students at Marshall Elementary School in Vancouver, Wash., Feb. 21. Photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, USAF  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. What’s wrong with the world and how are you going to fix it? How do you protect the...

BERLIN, N.H. - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton faced tough questions Saturday from New Hampshire voters skeptical about her stand on the Iraq war, including one who demanded that she repudiate her 2002 Senate vote to send U.S. troops into battle. In her first presidential campaign visit to the early voting state, Clinton sought to focus on her plans to revive struggling small-town economies, universal health care and making college more affordable. But at a crowded town hall meeting of some 350 people, Clinton was peppered with questions about Iraq. Her toughest questioner was Roger Tilton, 46, a financial adviser from...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein questioned a top Homeland Security Department official Thursday on why his agency has reportedly resisted sharing information with state intelligence officers and even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's own homeland-security director. Feinstein asked Charlie Allen, the chief intelligence officer for the Homeland Security Department, about her staff's findings that the federal agency has denied state and local officials at a Sacramento intelligence-sharing facility to obtain top security clearances. Moreover, California Office of Homeland Security Director Matthew Bettenhausen is not receiving "intelligence he knows exists," Feinstein said. Bettenhausen answers to Schwarzenegger; he formerly worked for DHS in Washington. DHS, Feinstein...

By announcing her entrance into the 2008 race Saturday, Sen. Hillary Clinton chose a setting — a pre-recorded video on the Internet — where she could avoid answering any questions, Rush Limbaugh noted Monday during his syndicated radio program. Rush recalled a similar tactic employed by Clinton during her Senate campaign last year. Clinton embarked on a "listening tour” where she "went around New York and she listened to what the people of New York wanted to tell her,” Rush explained. The real purpose of the listening tour, according to Rush, was for Hillary to avoid tough questions. "It was...

The Baker/Hamilton Commission has a chance to dramatically reshape our thinking about American foreign policy, if only it will ask the right question. They should follow the guidance of one of the last century’s most brilliant thinkers, Ludwig Wittgenstein. In the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein asks an apparently straightforward question: what do all games have in common? He ties himself in mental knots trying to get the answer, but nothing works. Finally he realizes that the question was posed wrongly. It should have been: Is there anything all games have in common? That’s the real question (and the real answer is...

If you're posting an article from a website that requires membership to view the rest of the article, please note that somehow -- whether in your comments or in the headline. Also, does anyone think it is a good idea to create a box you can check when posting the article, like the "This is an excerpt" box that will give that article some sort of lable indicating it is from a subscribers-only source? Let's be honest, it's pretty annoying to start reading an interesting article only to find out that you have to register to read the rest.

Question One has gained the lion’s share of attention when it comes to the ballot questions (however misleading some of that attention might have been). Understandable, since Questions Two and Three can’t exactly be boiled down to the “wine=good” vs. “wine=bad” talking points. Nevertheless voters will be asked to weigh in on all three initiatives on the statewide ballot tomorrow, and so we offer a recap of the Herald’s views: Question One would allow more grocery stores to sell wine, subject to approval of local licensing authorities. The dire warnings of opponents - including the powerful liquor lobby and the...

Musharraf faces new questions over Taliban · Pakistani president to meet British commander· Reports claim intelligence agency helps militants Declan Walsh in Islamabad Monday October 9, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Pakistan's role in the fight against the Taliban will come under renewed scrutiny today at a meeting in Islamabad between a top British commander and Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. General David Richards, who commands 33,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan, says the meeting is routine. But it follows a string of accusations, some from within Nato, that Pakistan has failed to close down Taliban sanctuaries in the northern tribal belt, and...