Dumping Grounds

Isn’t wireless wonderful? I’m sitting in bed, watching the speech as I write this. Don’t expect anything well-edited or thematic, I’m just doing stream of consciousness as he talks. I’ll post as soon as he’s done.

So far, the theme of the entire Democratic convention has been, without a doubt, “John Kerry will make a great President of these United States, because he served in Vietnam.”

Well, that’s nice and all, and certainly Bush’s military record is a matter of some concern, but my next door neighbor when I was in high school served in Vietnam, and he was most certainly NOT qualified to be President.

John Kerry is nowhere near the dynamic speaker that his running-mate, John Edwards, is.

Shameless pandering to women voters inserted here.

He scored some serious points with his “I will restore trust, I will have a Secretary of Defense who will listen to the military leadership, and I will have an Attorney General who will protect the Constitution.”

I think at this point he mentioned something about Vietnam.

Is anyone else tired of hearing about how John Edwards… all $40 million dollars of his pharmaceutical lawsuit empire… is the son of a mill worker. Big dollar lawsuits against the medical industry is part of the REASON that we have a health care, and health insurance crisis.

At this point he mentioned those Vietnam vets that follow him around.

At this point he evoked 9/11.

“I will immediately reform the intelligence system, so that findings are never influenced by politics.” Yeah, right. Large beaucracies change overnight all the time.

“The United States will not go to war because we want to , we will go to war because we have to.” Oh, and by the way, did I mention that I served? “I know what it’s like to carry an M-16.”

So far in the speech, the “I will improve how we are handling Iraq, and I will restore our alliances wordwide” has been the strongest part without doubt.

At this point, he mentioned again that he served, and defended this country as a young man.

“I will end the backdoor draft of the reservists.” Then why have a reserve?

[paraphrased] “I will strengthen the military, I will add more troops, more special forces, more advanced weaponry.” Isn’t this a Republican view? Or is this the method that he plans to raise employment?

All in all, so far the speech is better than I expected. He’s not a spirited speaker, but he’s doing ok.

“See that flag?” [Inset another two minutes of "Did I mention that I served?" talk here.]

“It’s time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families.” Very nice section of the speech, however, the whole section on “how do I plan to pay for all this?” was suspiciously absent.

“Families taking up a collection to buy body armor for their children serving.” Wasn’t it Kerry who voted against additional funding for the soldiers in Iraq last year?

“Help is on the way” [repeated several times] Wasn’t it “Hope is on the way” last night? This seemed to throw the convention for a bit of a loop. They caught on to Edwards’ “Hope is on the way” almost immediately, and started chanting it with him. “Help is on the way” seemed to kind of sputter out of the gate, and never got the response that Edwards’ phrase did just 24 hours before.

“Close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas.” Amen. Preach it, brother.

Prescription drug benefits, support social security, massive investment in technology and job creation, healthcare that is affordable for all Americans… meanwhile, tax cuts for small business and the middle class. This is the same party that spoke of “fuzzy math” and “voodoo economics” in elections past. How is he planning to pay for all this?

Has anyone seen this “plan” he keeps speaking of? Well, I’ll be damned, just as I typed that, he says that the plan is at his website. I’ll see if that is true later.

Karl Rove, are you listening? If you turn this into a mudslinging contest, the democrats are likely going to tear you a new one.

“I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve.” [insert subtle, "Oh, BTW, I was in Vietnam" comment here.]

[He's getting kind of sweaty. laugh I don't think he's used to actually moving when he gives a speech]

“What if?” By far the best part of the speech. The stem cell research issue is one where Bush is extremely vulnerable.

[Insert "I was on a gunboat" section here. I'm really tired of this. He had such momentum, and sucked the enthusiasm out of the room by going back to the "I am a veteran" well once too often.]

[speech ends, not on a hugely high note]

Strong speech, but there was not a unified theme, he seemed to continue to switch themes throughout the speech, and never really stayed with one long enough to gain real momentum. The room did not have nearly the electricity that Edwards’ produced last night.

There was no election catch phrase (Roosevelt’s “New Deal” or Clinton’s “New Covenant”) that seemed to resonate with me, but to be honest, I think that this was a little better than I thought Kerry was capable. Not a home run, but certainly a respectable performance.

So, what did you folks think? I think that for better or for worse, the campaign is under way.

while wondering whatever happened to Francie Hammett.

Denver pollen is kicking my ass.

I did finally find where Monaco and East Union intersected, but it wasn’t where the directions said it would be.

Where did Big & Rich come from? I had never heard of them, and then they are getting featured on ESPN commercials. I like their stuff. Although Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy is the best I have heard so far.

JACK radio. It’s everywhere. I’m assuming that it’s ClearChannel. But the EXACT same radio station that just launched in Dallas (100.3) is playing in Denver (105.5). Same jingle singers. Same voice talent. Same slogans. I like the music, but I really don’t like what ClearChannel is doing to the radio landscape. I’ll rant about it sometime.

I’m in the middle of the Tech Center of Denver, and it is amazing how much it looks EXACTLY like the telecom corridor in Richardson. Bah. I can’t even see the mountains. And with the aforementioned pollen kicking my ass, I don’t really feel like driving at night.

Speaking as an outsider… John Elway dealerships must have sold half the cars in Denver. The man’s name is on more rear bumpers that Bush and Kerry combined.

And on that subject, I’m seeing something that one does not get to see in Texas… John Kerry commercials. They are not bad (they feature Edwards heavily), but they don’t exactly attempt to address any of his shortcomings. They all (at least the ones I have seen) boil down to… “He’s a really great guy. If you don’t believe me, ask these folks who served with him.” Does anyone doubt that he’s a great guy? I mean, he gets along with everyone. That is the problem. He’s won’t take a stand for fear of pissing someone off. And if he accidentally takes a stand, just bring it to his attention, he’ll change his mind.

After having taken a training class on Windows for most of this week… Macs rock.

Wyndham hotels rock. Room service rocks.

I’m over 250 pages into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and he just got to school. I’m not even 1/3 of the way through yet. Holy crap this book is long.

I’m going to link to Sellotape. Just because they say I am not allowed to. But I’m not going to link to their WHOLE site, so you get all the marketing fluff. I went STRAIGHT to the legal copy.

Anyone notice that I don’t get comments on any entry unless I say “fuck”?

Alan requested that I remove the requirement for an e-mail address, it’s far too much trouble to keep typing fake ones. I’ll get right on that after I finish this.

Woot! Google finally indexed this site! Whee! I can do stupid things like searching for terms on my own site that I know are already there.

And on that note… I’m out.

Yes, I edited this entry, didn’t take anything out. Just thought of a couple more random thoughts that did not warrant an entry all by themselves.

A few months back, Yahoo changed the way that they provided driving directions. I don’t know if they changed providers of data, or look and feel, or refactored the database or something.

But I can give you a one line review: Driving directions from Yahoo fucking suck.

I thought it was me, when Jen and I went to Ft. Worth to see the firework (no, that’s not a typo) I just thought downtown Ft. Worth was confusing, and although I believed the directions were bad, I just figured it was a one time glitch. Nope. Apparently ALL Yahoo directions suck now.

I received this while in Denver this morning, trying to find a training facility. It should be noted that these are directions for going from one end of the block to the other. I did not know how close the training facility was at the time (my comments in blue):

1.Start at 7675 E UNION AVE, DENVER on E UNION AVE - go < 0.1 mi We already have problem number 1. Do you think it would be too much trouble if they told me WHICH way to go on East Union? I mean, really. If I knew which way to Monaco, then I would not need the fucking directions, would I? (This is not, by the way, a bug. NONE of the Yahoo driving directions tell you which way to go anymore. This omission just ate our lunch in Ft. Worth.)

2.Turn L on S MONACO ST - go 0.2 mi This seems pretty straightforward, right? WRONG. East Union does not intersect Monaco, at least they don’t anywhere near here.

3.Continue on a local road - go < 0.1 mi What in the fuck does this mean? At one point during the Ft. Worth escapade, I was convinced this meant “drive through a parking lot.” This time, it actually meant “turn left at the first light.”

4.Continue on E BELLEVIEW AVE - go 0.1 mi Belleview? When did I get on Belleview? However I got here, though, I should “continue.” Seriously, these directions are so bad, that in hindsight, I would have done better driving around randomly looking for the sign that said “Oracle.”

5.Arrive at 6501 E BELLEVIEW AVE, ENGLEWOOD This last step is helpful. Without being told to arrive, I’m sure I’d drive right past the fucking place.

Correct, useful, and accurate directions would have read: 1. Begin heading west on E UNION AVE.-.2 mi. 2. Turn L on E BELLEVIEW AVE.-.1 mi 3. 6501 E BELLEVIEW AVE is one block ahead on your left.

(Keep in mind, I could have walked to this facility. Yahoo’s directions seem to get worse with the number of steps involved. This was just the example I had this morning.)

I do not know if MapQuest is any better, but I am sure as hell going to find out. Does anyone else know of a source for driving directions on the Internet that does not suck ass?

An election year tribute to Woody Guthrie and his classic patriotic song (although that is not the way he meant it, in the initial writing it was FAR more a protest song, subsequent recordings left out the most controversial verses), this version is sung by “George W. Bush” and “John Kerry.”

I know these guys servers are slammed. There’s a reason. Trust me it’s worth it. Keep hitting “reload.”

Why am I afraid this is really the way that the campaign will go?

Enjoy.

anyone interested in playing a game via e-mail? I’m not very good, but learning… I’d be happy to let someone beat the tar out of me.

If anyone is interested, the program I found that has play by e-mail features is Big Bang Chess, but it only runs on OSX (no Windows).

OK, OK, for those of you who did not like EITHER ONE of my musical entries… try this on for size.

(requires Flash)

I actually did find this one pretty interesting.

For those of you who did not like my last musical entry, I apologize.

Perhaps this is more your style.

(first seen at Gordon’s Blog.)