Suppose They Gave a Debate and Nobody Came?

Dr. Doom and Mr. Smooth had at it last night. Doom was still stuck in the party line even when it came to his daughter. Smooth was overdoing the numbers in a few places as was Doom but Smooth's numbers were more believable in the long run.

Ms. Moderator was a tad distracted or overcome it seems. She lost count a couple times on whose turn it was or how much time they had. It provided the only drama. [snicker]

Doom made one error that is costing him some exposure. He called FactCheck.org factcheck.com and whoever owns that pointed factcheck.com to georgesoros.com which isn't the least bit Doom or Johnny One-Note friendly. George swears he didn't do it [the redirection] and shouldn't we believe him at least?

The guys at NBC were all over Doom for his disassociation attempt from his oft stated line that Saddam Hussein was tied to the September 11th [I'm sick of people calling it 911] attack on the WTC. Doom was also foiled in his effort to create a sound bite like the infamous "You're no Jack Kennedy" line during the Quayle debate when it was revealed that he HAD met Smooth several times in spite of his debate protestation to the opposite.

Smooth and company aren't doing themselves any good with the Halliburton thing, either. Nobody cares about that. And their loose use of numbers [which are plenty high without being inflated] like $200 billion spent on the war just produces campaign fodder for the One-Note/Doom ticket.

Let's call this one a draw leaning to Smooth that won't change anyone's mind. I sure hope something exciting happens in the Friday event when One-Note and Bland do the town hall thing. I'm not holding my breath.

You Call That A Debate?

It's only the most important job in the entire world so why should anybody care about who gets it come November 2nd? If the United States continues to go to hell in a handbasket, it's none of our business is it? After all, this is the country [USA] where television is a vast wasteland as evidenced by such sterling offerings as "Wife Swap" and "My Big, Fat Fiance" to name a couple. I don't yearn for "I Love Lucy," exactly, but at least those shows had a semblance of plot and weren't just an excuse to sell advertising to conspicuous consumers with more money than brains.

Last night, for ninety minutes, Americans were 'treated' to a bilateral press conference with a referee and a stop watch. Instead of an actual debate like the ones we used to have in high school [do they still debate in high school?], we watched Jim Lehrer of PBS fame pretend to ask hard questions of two guys who weren't allowed to ask their own questions of each other or even address each other as part of a 30+ page set of rules hashed out over several weeks by the campaign teams for each side. It was all we had so we watched it.

What did you see? I saw Johnny One-Note talking at Mr. Bland. Johnny was slouched over his podium and Bland was gesticulating. At least he was standing up straight.

Bottom line? Same old message from Johnny like he only brought a half hour of material to an hour and a half stand-up. Bland made some sense but where is his passion? The lies are the same and the answers are the same. If you want to cut through the crap, go here:

www.factcheck.org

and find out the real skinny.

I'd say Bland won, overall, but does it matter? I'd sure like to see a real debate. Maybe the V.P. event will be more interesting?

The People's House My Eye!

I was in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the first time since 1966 when I visited there as part of a school trip enroute to Columbia University in New York City for a high school yearbook staff convention. What a change!

In 1966, freedom was still being practiced in this country [USA]. The only things we worried about were death and taxes. Now, we worry about them for the wrong reasons and freedom is hiding out back somewhere or in a hole in the ground, pretty much forgotten.

When did we become a nation of chicken-livers? Sure, a bunch of religious zealots with delusions of martyrdom killed some of our folks a few years ago. It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. Does that require us to leave the lights on at night and pull the covers up over our heads?

Don't get me wrong. It's terribly sad and outrageous that several thousand citizens died without warning because of those nutballs. Those of us who didn't have family or friends in that number can only sympathize without any real appreciation for how the survivors must feel. But should we cower as a result? Should we sacrifice our liberties in reaction [or overreaction]?

The point is Washington, D.C., is no longer free. There are police checkpoints at all approaches to the center of our capitol. Pennsylvania Avenue is blocked off from vehicular traffic around the White House. You can't tour the White House without a party of thirty people approved in advance by Congress. I didn't recognize the seat of my national government and I felt like a second-class citizen. The only thing that hasn't happened [yet] was being asked for my papers by one of hundreds of police officers from four different agencies filling the streets.

If you ask me, the nutballs won. They made us afraid to be ourselves. They are thousands of miles away and we are trembling at their memory. That state of mindless fear, of course, is being stoked regularly by the Bush administration which issues daily bulletins of things that never occur. And we put up with it. Why?

The same thinking that conjured up non-existent weapons of mass destruction as an excuse for invading Iraq is at work, here. Do you really believe you are at risk of terrorism in your daily life just because a small group got away with it once? Do you intend to live your life looking over your shoulder and expecting to be killed or wounded in a terrorist attack in your neighborhood? Granted, D.C. is a bigger target than Des Moines but if we act like frightened rabbits the rest of our lives then the nutballs are still winning.

And speaking of the illusion of security, I was stopped several times while in my own truck and while riding a tour bus. I asked questions but was never questioned. Very cursory inspection was made of the outside of my vehicle but no doors were ever opened and no bags were ever checked. Once a police officer stepped up on the stair of my bus a peeked in but that was it. I was carrying a binocular case around my neck from the time I got out of my truck on level 1 of Union Station at 1300 until I got back into my truck around 1730. I wandered all over the city and could have been carrying three pounds of plastic explosive but was never challenged by all this 'security' on the streets. Fortunately, all I was carrying was binoculars and a digital camera and I wasn't a nutball but they didn't know that. The so-called Orange Alert in D.C. is a sham of feel-good posturing. If they catch anybody determined to do harm, it will be an accident.

Washington, D.C., is still standing. But you'll have to look at most of it from a distance after you've been inspected by the fake security. It's still a primitive planet.