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Ah the Presidential debate. Which is barely a debate these days. It's basically a chance for each candidate (one from the two major parties only) to deliver talking points and sound bytes. This years rules (jointly agreed upon by the respective candidates) keep either candidate from engaging the other and stipulate that the crowd be stacked with "soft supporters" for each guy.


It's a sad joke. All you need to do is ask yourself: "am I better off now than I was four years ago?" If the answer is yes, vote Bush, if the answer is no, vote Kerry.

Also, rumor has it that the Bush people wanted the thermostate turned up to 70 degrees in order to make Kerry visably sweat. Of course, this assumes that Bush doesn't sweat at 70 degrees, like all lizards.

-Mo

*edit* Sonofa- I posted this well before the debates, but I hit "Save as Draft" instead of "Publist Post". Anyway, I think the debate went squarly to Kerry. Not a Home Run, but a good showing that should bring this back to a dead heat.

if you have eight minutes to sit down and and watch something and you have a high-speed connection, i highly reccomend "Craziest - A short story by Liz Dubelman"

the first presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry starts tonight at 9pm eastern time.
if you can't watch it on television (stupid cable guy refuses to come to our apartment ever) do like i plan to and watch it streaming on C-Span's website
apparently, the BBC and Al Jazeera will be broadcasting it live, as well, so it looks like the whole world's watching.


the cameraman, the whole world's watching the cameraman. the whole world's watching. the cameraman, the whole world's watching you! zoom! zoom!

Hey folks! It's me, sporadic poster Morgan Pielli! I'm still chilling in CT selling hobo meat to pay the bills. I also have a web comic. The devil, you say! But lo, it's true! "The Dancing Paperclip of Tormented Souls" can can be found here:

The Dancing Paperclip of Tormented Souls

It's updated every Sunday. Usually late Sunday, depending on if I've gotten into the fermented wall paper glue again. Soon (a couple of weeks, God willing) I'll have it up and running on Keenspace. And pirates and robots will sing of my glory.

Also, my email remains oriental_green@yahoo.com. Drop me a line! Fling me a paragraph! Beat me about the neck and chest with a stanza!

-Morgan

from moby's online journal on september 1st:

you know what politics is/are like in the united states?
it's like pop-music and/or dating.
example a: pop-music.
republicans are like ashley simpson, and democrats are like radiohead. radiohead fans will forever be mystified as to why someone would buy an ashley simpson cd, but ashley simpson's handlers/managers understand what the lowest common denominator are looking for and they give it to them. radiohead fans think 'that disposable pop music is terrible, and someday people will see the error of their ways and buy radiohead cd's instead of ashley simpson cd's', meanwhile ashley simpson and her managers are selling millions of records.
example b: dating.
democrats are the bright, conscientious, responsible guy in the corner of the party and republicans are the loud, boastful, arrogant guy in the middle of the room. the bright guy in the corner thinks 'that loud guy in the middle of the room is a jerk and eventually everyone will see him for what he is', but the loud guy goes home with the hot girl and the bright guy in the corner goes home alone.

my point?
yes, radiohead are better than ashley simpson.
and yes, the bright, interesting guy in the corner is better than the loud jerk in the middle of the room. but ashley simpson and the loud jerk in the middle of the room know what people want, and that's why they(and the republicans)are winning.
democrats are nuanced and complicated and republicans are simple and sound-bitey.
people want bright shiny simplicity, not dark obscure complexity.
the democrats put their trust in people's better instincts whereas the republicans put their trust in people's basest instincts.
and that's why the republicans are winning, because they're not governed by ideals, they're governed by results. the republicans want to win no matter what, whereas the democrats want to win because the public will, hopefully, recognize the primacy of their ideas.
and that's why democrats are the step-child party. that's why democrats are the avis to the republicans hertz. that's why democrats are the runners up. because the republicans know how to sell and they know how to win.
of course my hope is that the democrats will learn from the republicans and learn how to win.
but too often it seems that democrats take the 'high road' when the noble and effective thing would be to join the battle in the trenches.
republicans are dirty, and will stop at nothing to win. we saw in 2000 that when democrats take the 'high road' that they lose.
so that's the choice, democrats: take the 'high road' and lose, or learn how to compete in the real world and run the risk of winning...
bill clinton did it, and he won.
al gore didn't do it, and he lost.
i hope that john kerry learns from bill clinton...
-moby



i like moby. he's good people. i saw him at jim hanley's universe on july 14th while waiting on line for craig thompson and james kochalka. when i noticed it was him in the baseball cap skulking through the aisles of comics, i accidentally let it slip "hey, that's moby." and i guess i said it a little too loud because he ducked. nobody else noticed though, so i didn't feel too bad. it made sense to be that he'd be there since he's a friend of james'. moby drew the introduction to the hardcover American Elf collection and has been featured on at least one James Kochalka Superstar song i can think of.

oh yeah, hurricane frances sucked, if only because it forced every store, restaurant, and building of use to close all weekend, leaving us stuck in our apartment with terrible cabin fever. class picks up again tommorrow, but since all the labs and the library and all the stores were closed since thursday, nobody has been able to do any sort of homework.
rar.