Thursday, October 14, 2004

Quick Thought

Almost everyone said Kerry won last night's debate and he seems to be pulling ahead in most polls.

Bill O'Reilly is being sued for sexual harassment by a lady who has tons of embarrassing alleged quotes from the man.

Could Al Franken be any happier today?

• Posted at 10:23 AM · LINK

Today's Political Rant

One thing I wish John Kerry had said last night, he could have said in response to Bush hectoring him about the supposed "93 times" he's voted to raises taxes. If I were Kerry — and by the way, you should all feel fortunate that I am not — I would have looked right into camera and said something like...

Folks, he keeps saying that and it's not true. But don't take my word for it. Don't trust either of us on stuff like this. Newspapers run "fact check" articles after these debates. There are whole websites, like the one Dick Cheney referred you to in his debate, where non-partisan researchers will give you the truth. Go to these sources and see what they have to say. This evening, I'm correcting a few numbers I got wrong in our previous two debates. The president here doesn't like to admit mistakes and when he does, it's always that he trusted the wrong person and they screwed up. But I accept the responsibility for what I say, and I'll accept the responsibility for whatever errors my administration might make. You, the American people, need to hold people like us strictly accountable.

I actually have been impressed with some of the fact-checking I've seen on websites. I'm not impressed with the difference it's making to the public discourse but, hey, it's a start.

I have one Bush-voting friend who admits that Kerry's supposed 93 votes to raise taxes are hokum but, he feels, it's okay for Bush to say that because, "We know that's the kind of person John Kerry is." In other words, it doesn't matter how many times he's voted to raise taxes. He's a Massachusetts Liberal and they're just genetic tax-raisers. That might be true, but I can't help thinking that this same friend backed Bush last time (and still does) because Bush isn't the kind of guy to spend so much money as to run up a huge deficit.

• Posted at 10:20 AM · LINK

Bargain Burial

I'm pricing a new LCD TV for my office and I was just over on the Costco site and noticed that they're now selling coffins. I was about to post here that there was something creepy about this and then I thought: Why not? Charging people huge sums to bury a loved one has always been a large, exploitive scam. I think everyone should leave funeral instructions that say, "Bury me the cheapest way possible. Then take all the money you save and throw a big party for my friends."

I think it's nice that Costco doesn't make you buy them in a ten-pack...but do they have to list them all under "Hardware and Outdoor Living?"

• Posted at 12:17 AM · LINK

October 15, 2004 • Current • October 13, 2004