Defense

Bush seems to be on the defensive. He seems petulant in his responses to Kerry, for example, "You forgot Poland" when Kerry listed the three countries who invaded Iraq. As if the addition of one country's few hundred troops makes it a "grand coalition". Kerry seems to be wiping the floor with Bush.

Posted at 9:37 PM
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Nice zinger

Kerry quotes Richard Clarke: "Invading Iraq in response to 9/11 is like Franklin Roosevelt invading Mexico in response to Pearl Harbor."

Posted at 9:32 PM
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Smirking Chimp

I'm sure you've heard about the ground rules for the "debate" tonight, including the one that no reaction shots are allowed. I just spun through the various channels showing the program, and C-SPAN appears to be the only network not adhering to that agreement. It's running the debate as a split screen, with Kerry on one side and Dubya on the other. And seeing his reactions to Kerry's answer to the first question, I can understand why Dubya's campaign insisted on this provision. Only the people watching C-SPAN will see his smirks when Kerry is speaking. Kerry seems to be concentrating on what Bush is saying, writing notes and such. Dubya looks like he's trying to stop his underwear from binding. He really looks uncomfortable.

Posted at 9:10 PM
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Philosopher at work

In the middle of a completely unrelated post, Shelley Powers dropped in a link to the Jean-Paul Sartre cookbook. Of course, this reminded me of nothing so much as the time Sartre dipped his toes into the world of celebrity endorsements with his classic commercial, Jean-Paul Sartre for Dodge Dartre.

That Sartre, what a card. You gotta love philosophy.

Posted at 3:22 PM
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Blue

Yesterday was a beautiful day, with blue blue skies. I like this shot from Waterfront Park in Trenton, right on the banks of the Delaware River. I didn't see any signs of the flooding that happened on the river a week or two ago when the remnants of Ivan came through.

Posted at 6:47 AM
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Dead Texans for Truth

Susan Estrich, one-time political operative running the Dukakis campaign, now token liberal on Faux News, may have a bit more moxie than she's given credit for. In her syndicated column, she notes that Democrats fed up with the Swift Boat Vets for Lies are preparing to go nucular against Bush with similar tactics.

She suggests, among other things, Dead Texans for Truth, highlighting Texans who weren't connected enough to get into a champagne unit of the National Guard but instead went to Vietnam and fought in died in Bush's place. The National Archives just happens to list Texans who died in Vietnam.

For example:

Marine Corporal Samuel Reyna of Corpus Christi, born on July 6, 1946, went to Vietnam. He died there on April 20, 1968. George W. Bush was also born on July 6, 1946. He did not go to Vietnam; he went to Alabama instead. We honor Corporal Reyna's service.

Marine Staff Sargeant Kendell Dwayne Cutbirth of Midland, Texas, went to Vietnam. He died there on February 25, 1967. George W. Bush of Midland, Texas did not go to Vietnam. He flew planes over Texas until he skipped his flight physical. We honor Staff Sergeant Cutbirth's service. (There are 15 other soldiers from Midland on the list. You get the idea.)

I note that the domains "deadtexansfortruth.com" and "deadtexansfortruth.org" are still available. Yes, it would be tasteless. I'm not going to set up the site. Feel free to use the idea.

Posted at 4:30 PM
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Bushisms, part 7,348

Dubya is apparently upset that gynecologists aren't able to have sex with their patients any more because of lawsuits and insurance problems. At least that's what he said in Iowa, as displayed in this clip from Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC. (QuickTime required, found via Oliver Willis.)

Posted at 9:08 AM
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Your tax dollars at work

For people in Florida looking for help from the federal government to get back on their feet after Hurricane Frances, this tale of federal aid to storm victims in the Bush era. Thanks, FEMA. (Found via Tom Matrullo's IMproPRieties.)

Posted at 9:42 PM
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Long walk, short pier, deep ocean

As near as I can tell, this is probably the nearest weather station to my parents' house. As of 8 pm, they're still seeing winds of about 40 mph, gusts to about 45 mph. The 6 pm reading appears to be the highest, sustained winds just under 50 mph and gusts to about 55 mph, so it appears that my suspicion that this afternoon's conditions were the worst may be true. Still, if the winds only got to 55 mph, I figure my folks are probably okay, because when Charley came through a few weeks ago, they had winds of 50 mph, and my mom told me the windows didn't even rattle. Hooray for the post-Andrew building code. CNN has a reporter in St. Augustine (unlike The Weather Channel), and things don't look too bad there, some flooding but not awful. There was a tornado in St. Augustine, but it doesn't appear to have done significant damage. Fingers crossed.

Posted at 8:51 PM
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St. Aug Blog

The St. Augustine Record, the local newspaper in St. Augustine, Florida, set up a blog a couple of days ago. That's good, because it seems to be the only part of their site that contains information about what's happening in St. Augustine, where my parents live. Most of the news part of the site seems to be carrying AP reports, which are focused more on the locations that took a direct hit from Hurricane Frances. There's only been one post on the blog today, but it's still interesting to read. Looking at the maps and such, it seems to me like St. Augustine is still getting hit fairly hard by rainbands coming through, being up in the northeast quadrant of the hurricane, which The Weather Channel tells me is the worst part of the storm. And I noted that the airport in Jacksonville shut down about an hour ago.

Posted at 4:01 PM
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Neon

Last week I mentioned that I had one more set of photos from vacation to post, something from a little project Laura and I did one evening.

That set is now posted.

Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, just south of where we were staying in Stone Harbor, has a very retro feel, something they cultivate. One of the main features of that architecture is neon signs. Lots of neon signs. Interesting and amusing neon signs. We decided to try and shoot some photographs of them at night when they would show up particularly well.

Posted at 6:52 PM
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Compassionate Conservatism in action

I think the most impressive thing about pResident Bush's speech last night at the Republican convention was the moving demonstration of Compassionate Conservatism in action. I was nearly in tears when Bush called upon all Americans to send a postcard to young Craig Shergold, dying of cancer in England and eager to gain entry to the Guinness Book of World Records. That Bush, he was so full of compassion it was overflowing and spilling on to the floor. I heard three delegates had to be taken to Columbia Presbyterian and treated for asphyxiation after almost drowning in it.

See also: Bush vows to "End the scourge of kidney theft" in second term, Zell Miller's speech based on Email hoax, and Stolen!

Posted at 10:54 PM
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