Andrew's Wandering Mind
Just so the Argus Leader doesn't feel alone: The Denver Post also wrote a bizarre, grudging endorsement of the current resident of the White House. As the article points out, over 700 readers wrote in regarding the endorsement and *Every Single One* of them disagreed.
I'm going to go read "1984" again, just for fun.
Cheers,
Andrew
Ok - so the re-scheduling drama at work has passed,
and I've captured a plane ticket north in time for the
holidays. Yay for getting bumped on the way to Pride
this summer. The ticket costs me $5 (five dollars)
roundtrip. At least the rental car is going to cost
less than the ticket would have normally. :)
First, my new schedule starts on November 7th, and I
get to be even more of a night owl than I am now.
I'll be working Mon-Fri 7:00-3:30. Yeah, that's 7
o'clock PM to 3:30 AM. I also work every third weekend
with a Thursday off on the affected weeks (working
20-21 Nov & 11-12 Dec, for ex) I'm awake then, I may
as well be at work, right?
That leads me to...
Christmas Travel Plans
Going from a 10 hour day to an 8 hour day has given me
a bit more workable time to schedule as vacation, and
by using one personal/health day, I managed to make 20
December be my last working day in 2004.
Tuesday, 21 Dec: Jax to Mpls on NW #1551
depart 5:55pm
arrive 8:15pm
Friday, 31 Dec: Mpls to Jax on NW #1548
depart 12:55pm
arrive 5:10pm
Rapid City didn't have any flights with open seats
where I could use my travel credit voucher (*other
restrictions may apply), and Sioux Falls only had one
coming in very late on the 24th, so I picked
Minneapolis. Since there's people that I wanted to
see in Mpls, Sioux Falls, and Wall :) and I haven't
been up there in a while, I figured I'd fly into one
of the three cities and do a bit of travelling. At
this point, I'm looking at this as a rough schedule:
Tue 21 Dec - arrive in Minneapolis
Wed 22 Dec - Minneapolis - St Paul
Thu 23 Dec - Sioux Falls (or Wall)
Fri 24 Dec thru Tue 28 Dec - Wall / Rapid City
Wed 29 Dec - Sioux Falls
Thu 30 Dec - Sioux Falls (and/or Mpls)
Fri 31 Dec - Minneapolis
Cheers
Hmm.. still pondering the outcome of this second presidential debate. An ABC News poll has it at a virtual tie, Kerry over Bush 44%-41%, with the acknowledgement that the polled group was 38% Democrats and 35% Republicans.
Here's a funny bit:
Kerry alluded to Bush's interesting definition of a small business owner, 900,000 of which, under this definition, would have higher taxes under a Kerry presidency. Bush reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing enterprise, on his 2001 federal income tax returns. Bush pulled a Reaganesque "I don't remember that" and managed to pull some humor out of it:
BUSH: I own a timber company?
(LAUGHTER)
That's news to me.
(LAUGHTER)
Need some wood?
Another fun quote from tonight included Bush's "I'm trying to decipher that" in reponse to Kerry's carefully worded response to a question about using taxpayers' dollars for abortions:
But I can't take what is an article of faith for me and legislate it for someone who doesn't share that article of faith, whether they be agnostic, atheist, Jew, Protestant, whatever. I can't do that.
But I can counsel people. I can talk reasonably about life and about responsibility. I can talk to people, as my wife Teresa does, about making other choices, and about abstinence, and about all these other things that we ought to do as a responsible society.
The fact that Bush doesn't understand not legislating from "an article of faith" is one of several reasons I don't want him in the White House any longer than January 20th.
Do people who disagree with war get to make sure their money doesn't build America's nuclear weapons? Do racists have the option to redirect their tax dollars away from affirmative-action programs? Can vegetarians request that their property taxes don't put hamburgers on schoolkids' plates? No. The way it works is that we send in the money and we trust (I know, scary thought) the government and a zillion agencies to allocate the funds in ways that are generally considered necessary or useful by a sufficient number of us who've sent representatives to Washington, Pierre, Tallahassee, Salem and so on to carry out priorities and responsibilities. We don't always agree of course, so we write letters and call our congresspeople, and if enough of us disagree with their choices, we elect someone else, or in a few cases, some jump into the campaign fray themselves.
Cheers.
To use a term which seems appropriate in this case,
Drudge and other Bush supporters appear to be grasping
at straws in a pathetic attempt to salvage some sort
of positive news for their campaign. Given the
inability to do so, the next best appears to be to use
distraction to try to find a negative point about
Senator Kerry. After nearly every poll shows that
Kerry soundly trounced the President, who
alternatively looked defensive, out of ideas "..but I
see we still have a little bit more time....uh..." or
simply irritated with the questions and answers being
provided, it's no surprise that the Bush campaign
would pull out a tactic reminiscent of Korean gymnast
Kim Dae-Eun after being defeated by American Paul Hamm
at this summer's Athens Olympic Games. Once again,
there is no instant replay. Here we have seen the
reason why the sitting President, a self-styled 'war
president', has given fewer news conferences than any
other president since WWII -- eleven such solo
conferences thus far; his father, by comparison in the
same time frame, gave 71 (from The New Yorker).
Of course, if we want to quote the rulebook, we can do
that too. The very next section is blatantly violated
on georgewbush.com and on TV stations in swing states
around the country. Section 5(e) of the Memorandum of
Understanding states that "Neither film footage nor
video footage nor any audio excerpts from the debates
may be used publicly by either candidates campaign
through any means, including but not limited to,
radio, television, internet, or videotapes, whether
broadcast or distributed in any other manner." But
that would just degenerate into a fourth grade battle
of "he hit me first."
Big picture, people. A few years ago, Clinton lied
about sex and impeachment hearings began. Last year,
Bush lied about reasons to go to war and nearly 1100
Americans (and don't forget 68 British and 13 Polish
soliders from the "grand" coalition) have been killed.
To quote from the debate, Kerry "made a mistake in
how (he) talked about the war. The president made a
mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?"
I rather enjoy the fact that both Kerry's and Bush's
campaign websites show the same person at the top.
That person is John Kerry.
Cheers,
Andrew
PS Check here to see what Kerry actually pulled out of
his pocket. Thank you, Brad Blog.
--- someone in FL
> Tsk, tsk...
>
> http://www.drudgereport.com/dnc57.htm
>
> Why can't liberal democrats play by the rules?
>
Speaking of hurricanes in the last post, here's a brief reminder that it's nice to see sunshine in Florida this weekend.
Charley hit Florida's west coast on Friday, August 13th. Really.
Frances struck Florida's east coast on Saturday, September 5th.
Ivan battered Florida's panhandle and Alabama's Mobile Bay on Tuesday, September 15th.
Jeanne crashed into Florida's east coast on Friday, September 25th.
I guess it's a good thing September doesn't have 35 days. Maybe the string has been snapped for this season. Hang on, we'll see.
Cheers.
Just watched the first of three televised debates between Senator John Kerry and President George W Bush. The consensus, with which I agree, is that Kerry won. I'll give Mr Bush credit though, since he didn't mispronounciate too many words this time 'round.
Just yesterday afternoon, I was pleased by the news that the US House killed the "Marriage Protection Amendment", formerly known as the "Federal Marriage Amendment," which was also killed by the Senate. Get off my ass, DeLay, I thought you didn't like it like that! Pthbbt at Mr Tom DeLay (R-TX) for trying to use wedge politics in an election year.
Yet, there is this: The following is a letter that I just sent to Ms Stephanie Herseth, the pseudoDemocrat Congresswoman from South Dakota.
-----
Ms Herseth:
As a gay man originally from South Dakota, and as someone who voted for you in the 2002 election against former Governor and Representative William Janklow, I am disheartened to see that you are one of only thirty-six Democratic members of Congress to vote yes on this divisive and unnecessary piece of legislation, the "Marriage Protection Act", formerly known as the "Federal Marriage Amendment". I am disappointed that as a practical, clear-thinking South Dakotan, you did not recognize this mean-spirited, discriminatory piece of legislation for the distraction it was.
When the nation and our goverment have so many more important items to attend to, such as sky-rocketing oil prices which threaten the livelihoods of our farmers, a worsening quagmire in Iraq that daily takes more of our young people's lives, and increasing medication costs which tarnish our senior's golden years, Majority Leader Tom Delay wastes the Congress's time with trying to "catch" fellow Representatives voting this way or that on a wedge issue, much to the delight of the Radical Right.
I find myself feeling embarrassed for you that you allowed yourself to go along with such an obvious election-season distraction, and I'm sure you recognize that the gay and lesbian staffers who worked and continue to work for your re-election are not a threat to anyone else's traditional marriage.
I'm glad HJ Res 106 was defeated, but I would have preferred to have been proud of South Dakota's only representative for voting against it. I hope to be able to feel proud of you again on other issues.
Sincerely:
Andrew Grayot
Jacksonville, FL
-----
At least there's no hurricanes this weekend.
Cheers.
