Robust McManlyPants on Average Display

So, who wants to go see “The Village” this weekend?  Because I totally want to go see “The Village.” (more…)

So, the big argument today on a local IT mailing list is, basically, is
Bush an idiot or is Bush a brilliant politician?  Take a wild
guess as to my answer.

At any rate, the question of the day is, if you’re against the war, why
are you voting for Kerry, who voted for the war?  When answered
with the fact that Bush at best used faulty evidence to argue for the
war and at worst knowingly lied to get the war he wanted, but either
way, they voted for it because they thought they could trust the
President to be truthful with Congress about something as important as
war, the answer – from people who claim to support Bush – boils down with only the tiniest flame to a simple answer of, “If you believed a liar it’s your fault.”

Take it all with a grain of salt for a variety of
reasons, but what I’m hearing from these people is, to paraphrase,  The best thing we
can say about the President is that he got away with something awful.  I
don’t mean that’s how I interpret it, I mean that the most coherent
response today has said, if you think the President could fool them,
doesn’t that make them stupid, too?

The cynicism inherent to that line of reasoning is so overwhelming I could choke.  That’s
how much blood I smell in the water.  Everything could change
between now and November, but today?  Today it looks mighty good. (more…)

So, the power’s out.

We have a generator, and besides that all of our computers are attached
to UPS devices, but the bottom line here is that the elevators are out
and, far more importantly, the air conditioning is off.

This sucks.  One co-worker has already said, with a hint of
craze in his eyes that suggested claustrophobia, “Is it just me or is it
getting stuffy in here?”

Thank the gods it’s Friday.  At least I’m in a t-shirt.

An amusing aside – well, okay, I’ll laugh about it later – is that
months ago we complained that the A/C was too cold in here.  To
demonstrate that the temperature would always stay in the
lease-specified range, the building manager very snootily hung an
enormous thermometer over the thermostat.  Sadly for her, I have a
camera phone.  The text you can’t read on the note taped to the bottom of the thermometer reads:  “Lease Range:  72 – 74.”

I’m a wuss, I know, but I take my petty victories where I can. (more…)

So, I loved the speech last night.  Kerry & Edwards completely
turned the tables on Bush & Co.  Kerry’s speech was great, and
it sent a very clear message:  Bush & Co. expected Edwards to
be the attack dog and Kerry to be too afraid of offending someone to
say anything of substance.  Thus, the matchups would be
symmetrical – Cheney vs. Edwards for the heavyweight arguing and Bush
vs. Kerry for the dog & pony show.  Instead, Edwards is
playing to the hope and optimism and Kerry went on the attack.  If
they stick with this reversal of the traditional Pres/Veep roles in a
campaign, the debates are going to be a hoot.  They’re
going to be the WWE of politics.  It puts Edwards in the role of
outshining Cheney in terms of looks, down-homeness and optimism. 
These are qualities Cheney simply cannot bring to the table, muich less
be a contender in.  It also means Kerry gets to be sharp and
cutting in the debates while Bush has two likely outcomes:  coming
off as incompetent or acidic.  He’s either going to look like
Nixon or…Nixon, actually.  Fitting, since his father was a Nixon
Republican, not a Reagan Republican, no matter whose Veep he was. 

Kerry managed to turn around Bush’s own 2000 campaign, in a variety of
ways:  he played to unity, he staked out the Dems’ position as
being the mainstream of America, he even tried to tug the center a
little (just a little, but a little nonetheless) to the left.  He
very firmly put Bush on the defensive – Bush will have to spend at
least some time reacting, and he’s had his “uniter not a divider” line
yanked right out from under him.  Even if Bush only has to spend
one hour reacting, it’s an hour he never thought he’d have to spend,
and that makes me smile.

The thing that most gives me hope, though, is the reaction of the
wingnuts.  Fox News’ commentator last night was simply making shit
up from the floor of the convention.  The buzz among right-wing
media and on a couple of local mailing lists that occasionally veer
into political debate has been strained and sort of desperate: 
people simply distorting things wildly simply to have something to
say.  The commentary I’ve heard this morning from local wingnuts
has sounded shrill, even hysterical.

I smell blood. (more…)

So, we all heard a few weeks ago about how the Pakistani intelligence
services were reporting that the Bush Administration had put pressure
on them to arrest “high-profile” terror suspects during the Democratic
National Convention.  It was lame and dumb, and everybody heard
about it, which one would normally think made for a lousy plan.

Oh, but Bush has always been ham-fisted and easy to see through. 
And so today, the day Kerry will make his acceptance speech, Pakistan
announces it’s arrested a suspect from the ’98 embassy bombings.

I now feel far more justified in my paranoia.  I won’t be surprised if there’s an October surprise and a November 2nd terror threat.

[UPDATE:  OK, so I'm breathing again.  Just checked
the major news sites and news.google.com, and none are running this
over the Kerry speech.  In fact, none of the major news
sites have this displayed anymore prominently than as a
headline-no-graphic.  I think I'll pass another night before
entering the secret bunker.] (more…)