Lesson No. 2 from Election ’05: Yes, whether I like it or not, chat rooms and community Web sites will be a factor in politics and may even set the agenda. But it will always be the mainstream press that will be the unbiased fact checker. [emphasis added]
We certainly have no shortage of fact checking examples from the mainstream media. My view is that the true fact checkers are an engaged public working in combination with writers, whether internet only or from the legacy media.
A little background on tractor Pulls. They began with farmers gathering on Sundays to see who had the best tractor. Farmers took turns pulling a flat stoneboat or sled onto which men jumped as it was pulled down a dirt track. When the weight was too much and the tractor stopped, the distance was measured. Tractor pulls took off as a sport with the advent of the modern “sled,” which gradually adds downforce weight.
The Wileman brothers started a small tractor pull in Edgerton in 1995, Kraig says. “Kurt and I built the track and ran it for a few years.”
When the 140-cow dairy herd of Crazy Acres was sold in 1998, the Wileman brothers got serious about tractor pulling.
A year later the boys were competing in local and statewide events with the Badger State Tractor Pullers Association. Their big boost came when they began using better engines.
A rather illuminating chart from Defense & the National Interest. PDF Version.
Did you know that we are spending as much on defense as we did during the height of the Cold War? Yet many of our military leaders tell us they don’t have enough money and that we need to buy more modern and expensive weapons to assure our national security.
Time to rethink…