Just a reminder that there is still time for you to be a part of HuffPost's Presidential Candidate Mashup, our upcoming campaign forum that will put you in charge of shaping exactly what kind of experience you want to have -- from the questions the candidates are asked to the way you can pick and choose the issues you want to hear about and the candidates you want to hear from.
We're in the midst of gathering questions for Charlie Rose, who will be moderating the event, to use. Last week, more than 100,000 people took part in a poll on Yahoo! to determine the subjects to be covered in the Mashup. The winning issues turned out to be the war in Iraq, health care, and education. The candidates will also be asked a wild card question that can be about any topic.
So send us your question for one or more of the candidates. These questions can be written, audio, or video. Just send an email containing your question or a link to a video or audio file to mashup@huffingtonpost.com You can also submit your Mashup questions by visiting HuffPost's MySpace page.
Here is a video containing some of the questions we have received, put together by Attention Span Media. Check it out and send us your questions.
And be on the lookout for our Mashup page, coming soon, where we will be posting the best questions we get, as well as providing all kinds of information about the candidates as we lead up to the launch of the Mashup feature. And, once the Mashup is up and running, we will be using the page to host an ongoing discussion about your reactions to the candidates and the campaign.
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President Bush agreed during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 to create a National Strategy for Sustainability and to begin to implement it by 2005 – along with all of the other UN Member States. Sustainability is the most fundamental requirement of life. It includes ensuring that our air and water are clean, our sources of energy are renewable, and that we do not deplete our natural resource base. President Clinton created the President’s Council on Sustainable Development that worked on developing such a National Strategy Plan, but Bush has done nothing about it.
The US continues to produce more green house gases than any other country. We are rapidly depleting our natural resource base, drawing down the water table in the Southwest, spewing mercury over the countryside from coal burning power plants, and the rates of cancer are rising with the increasing use of toxic chemicals.
How important do you think Sustainability is for the future of our country; and would you be willing to take action and organize a process to engage the American people in developing a National Strategy and in Making a Rapid Transition to a fully Sustainable Future?
Sincerely,
Rob Wheeler
US Citizens Network for Sustainable Development
www.citnet.org/leadership
1-717-264-5036
rob@wmgd.net
If so.... my question for the candidates.
Medicare Part D. Nobody wanted it except the insurance industry and Big Pharma. It was a huge handout to them and has been called the worst piece of legislation ever written.
Will you get rid of it? Will you let seniors and the disabled who are spending more on their forced enrollment in the program than they are getting in benefits bail out of it? Why would you force either of those groups into this plan with usurous penalties that neither group deserves?
Your husband signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law, triggering an avalanche of media consolidation in this country. The Act was claimed to foster competition, but instead it led to unprecedented reductions in the numbers of broadcast station owners and, by implication, a similar reduction in the variety, quantity and quality of information available to the viewing and listening public.
(The number of major media companies has been reduced from around 80 in 1986, to approximately 6 at last count).
Even in this age of the internet, statistics show that 80% of the voters in this country use television and/or radio as their major source of information.
I would like to know if you see this reduction in the number and variety if station owners as a danger to our Democracy, and if so, as president how you intend to increase the diversity of station ownership and insure that the public's interest is served instead of the interests of giant media conglomerates? Since we now have the benefit of hindsight, would you advocate rolling back some of the provisions that your husband signed into law in 1996?
Are they going to accept a small withdrawal of only one batallion and just continue with the status quo, or will they actually, at least try, to stand up to this president and say, "Hell no, we won't go" like in the 60's and take a real stand?
What will be your position and initiative on the drug war. Will you first acknowledge that it isn't working, that is results in imprisonment of a record number of Americans and that it results in high cost of illegal drugs.
So, for the Democratic Party Candidates:
You will inherit all the power that George Bush has siezed in his tenure. What legislation will you support and promote that will limit the powers of the Presidency back to what they were before the last four Presidents? Or do you only have the guts of the Do Nothing Dems we so foolishly put into office last fall?
Bill Wheaton
Decatur, GA
Do you swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America?
What I worry about is our troops being caught in the middle of this potential bloodbath. Do we really think the Iraqi militias are going to sit by and let us peacefully pull out with our weapons intact? Won't they try to capture our stores of ammuniion and weapons and shoot down the fleeing helicopters.
This aspect of so-called endgame seems to be completely ignored in all the scenarios I have seen. Why aren't the candidates addressing this potential catastrophy???
Isn't it better to get out before our troop strength is depleted than to wait until we might not be able to defend ourselves?
Do you promise too work like hell for the Democratic nominee in the general election, EVEN IF IT IS NOT YOU?
Follow-ups:
If you ARE the nominee, is there anyone among your competitors whose support you would NOT welcome in the general election?
If you are NOT the nominee, is there anyone among your competitors who you would NOT support in the general election?
-- TP
I still prefer a good old fashioned typed and spell-checked weB LOG.
Do you have it within you, if you are asked whether religion is important to you, if you are asked about how often you pray, if you are asked what role your faith will play in your presidency, to simply state: My faith is so important to me that I will insist on a separation of church and state and stop allocating taxpayer funds to faith based initiatives?