Defense attorney for Michael Vick? Camp counselor from hell? War crimes defendant?

What’s next for Alberto Gonzales?

Campaign chairman for Fred Thompson? Little League coach from hell? James Bond villain?

What’s next for Karl Rove?

In a poll taken over a decade ago, 96% of Canadians said they preferred their health care system to ours.

A more recent poll indicates that 64% of Americans think “the government should provide a national health insurance program for all Americans, even if this would require higher taxes”.

Michael Moore’s film Sicko is the fourth highest grossing documentary of all time.

And millions of Americans have no health insurance at all.

What specifically is it going to take to get Universal Health Care in this country?

I had a dream last night. It was the morning after the primaries for the 2008 presidential election, which in my dream were all held on the same day. I had gone to bed early and missed the results, so upon waking I checked online to see who had won.

Surprisingly, the Democratic nomination went to John Edwards, the charismatic Senator from North Carolina who campaigns primarily on the issue of poverty. He hadn’t been my first choice, but I was somewhat pleased to see him win the nomination anyway and I looked forward to the possibility of his winning the presidency.

Even more surprisingly however, the Republican nomination went to Jonathan Edwards, the eighteenth-century American revivalist preacher, known primarily for his fire-and-brimstone sermons.

Turning on the television, I was dismayed to see that the media was entirely focused on the fact that both nominees had the same name. They had an expert on doing a statistical analysis of names of politicians to see what the odds of this happening were. I was frustrated, because I felt like the top story should have been that the Republicans nominated a Bible-thumping Puritan from the eighteenth century. Didn’t that concern anyone?

I went into the office – in my dream I worked in an office – and all of my co-workers in this office-type place were absolutely giddy with the coincidence of the two candidates having the same name. I noted that the Republican Jonathan Edwards was a dangerous religious zealot who would destroy all of the freedoms we currently enjoy, but – of course – nobody paid me any mind.

Even so, I woke up more amused than frustrated. And today, I learned that the debate tonight would feature questions being asked by voters via YouTube. So of course, that’s now the story far more than anything that was said during the debate. Can I dream ’em or what?

Anyway, the Question of the Week was suggested by Lee after reading that the ’92 Vice Presidential Debate was my favorite political debate ever. As always, free to answer the question, or just continue the conversation.

What was your favorite debate ever and why?

How long do you think it will be before science is able to develop a computer sophisticated enough to emulate the complexity of the human mind, and what would be the ramifications of such a computer?

Tomorrow is 7/7/07. Could this be your lucky day?

Perhaps you’ll get a new iPhone tomorrow. Or maybe someone will pay you to buy them one! I saw this article about people paying other people to stand in line for them, and it reminded me of our Shakespeare in the Park discussion from April.

I wonder – does it change the ethics of the situation if the product is not free? Is standing in line still “part of the experience” of getting an iPhone?

Now that we’ve had a few years to think it over…

Wasn’t the whole “Freedom Fries” episode just a little silly?

I’m feeling a little let down by the Sopranos finale. To be sure, there were things about it that I liked, but the series ended not with a bang, but a whimper. The finale is the writers’ last chance to say whatever it was they wanted to say when they created the series. It should be something spectacular.

There have been series finales that have knocked my socks off. My pick for best finale would be the last episode of M*A*S*H, an instant classic that did justice to the magnificent series it concluded. Over twenty years later, it still has the power to move me.

I also really liked the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which used a time-travel scenario to pay tribute to how far the show had grown during its run. Picard actually goes back in time to the series premiere. Brilliant.

And who could forget the finale of Newhart, when Bob wakes up in his earlier series The Bob Newhart Show and realizes he dreamed the whole Newhart series?

Cheers brought back Diane for its finale. Seinfeld put the gang on trial for their lack of empathy throughout the run of the series. Deep Space Nine ended with a final battle of biblical proportions between the forces of good and evil, and the ultimate sacrifice by the central character to save the universe. Now that’s good teevee.

What was your favorite series finale of any TV show, and why?

I finally picked up a copy of Al Gore’s new opus The Assault on Reason, and I’m looking forward to devouring every word. I chose to get the unabridged audio version on 9 CDs, which I will import into my iTunes library and listen to on my iPod heading back and forth to work over the course of about a week or two.

So my question is why the fact that I’m listening to the audiobook on the subway rather than reading the hardcover version at home in my easy chair should elicit snickers everywhere I go, as though I’m somehow cheating or that I shouldn’t get credit for “reading” the book.

First of all, let’s clear this up right now. I’m not in school. I don’t need credit for reading the book. I’m genuinely interested in what the man has to say, and if I can do that more efficiently through my headphones, I don’t see why anyone should have a problem with that.

It’s an issue familiar to any Shakespeare teacher. But is this really the equivalent of renting the movie when you have a book report due? Is it different if you’re watching a full-text version of a Shakespeare play (like the BBC versions) instead of reading it? What if you’re reading a comic book version of Shakespeare in the original language? What if you get together with a group of friends and read the complete text out loud? Does a spoonful of sugar necessarily ruin the gas tank?

Personally, I like to read. And these days I usually have one book running on my iPod while another is sitting on my night table. But with my schedule so crazy around this time of year, it’s usually the same book sitting on my night table for a while (I still haven’t finished The Blank Slate) while I’m able to burn my way through many more audiobooks on a variety of topics. I don’t feel that I’m missing anything by experiencing them this way, and as an auditory learner, it might even be a better way for me.

So why do audiobooks get such a bad rap?

This is the day when we remember those who gave their lives in military service for our country.

It’s also a good opportunity to mention the sacrifices being made right now by our active service members. Whatever we may think of a particular policy, the men and women who serve in the military are truly what make our way of life possible.

We should also remember the family members of those who have already fallen, as well as of those who are still in harm’s way.

So with that in mind…

What do we do now in Iraq?