I can’t believe the Mary Cheney thing is still getting play in the media. I don’t think it’s enough to change any votes, but as soon as the debates ended, so did the media’s ability to focus on substantive issues. Will some Republicans actually not vote for Bush because the V-POTUS has a gay daughter? That possibility feels remote to me, but the Bushites seem concerned enough to keep harping about it.
Slept until almost eleven today and I’m feeling a bit groggy for it. I think this overcast, rainy weather we’ve been having has something to do with it. So now I’ll probably be up past two tonight. I developed these late-night habits during college and law school and I can’t seem to shake them. Even now, I rarely get to sleep before midnight on a weeknight. If I do, it usually takes a while for my brain to shut up.

we please get different moderators for next election’s debates? While it’s nice to hear the candidates talk about their wives, I would much rather have heard about the issues. And there were a lot of issues missing from the final debate. Stem cell research. The environment. Civil rights. Education, for crying out loud. And then there was this gem of post-debate spin from Candy Crowley, a reporter for CNN.
“The debate was a wonkfest. I don’t think most people understood the first hour.”
Way to dis your audience, Candy. I’ll be dag-nabbed if I could make heads or tails of the whole thing myself. Thank heavens us stupid plebes have you on the TV to tell us what’s what.
Fucking arrogant corporate media.
Here’s another story about a cortical implant that enables a man with quadriplegia to write e-mail and operate a television simply by thinking about it. This kind of article seems to be popping up with increasing frequency. Just a reminder that I remain available for medical experimentation in regards to brain implants. Especially if I can use it to program my TiVo.

A friend of mine let me rip Green Day’s American Idiot and I can’t stop listening to it. Holy crap, it’s good. I need to set aside some time to focus on the lyrics, but the melodies and the arrangements are amazing. It varies in style from emo-pop to punk to old-fashioned rock anthem, never sounding forced or insincere. It deserves comparisons with Radiohead’s OK Computer. My friend called it one of the best things he’s heard all year and I have to agree with him.
This campaign season, I’ve been a little leery of disability advocacy organizations like AAPD and their near-monomaniacal push for electronic voting machines like those made by Diebold. This Wired News article confirms my suspicions; it points out that many of these advocacy organizations receive money from manufacturers like Diebold. This isn’t advocacy; it’s lobbying. It troubles me that these organizations are acting as shills for an industry with a dubious product. I cringe to think what might happen if these machines produce unreliable results and the disability community finds itself in the role of unwitting scapegoat for a thrown election.

Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I was doing some work on the book today and then I had to attend to some bureaucratic stuff related to my nursing care. Next thing I know, I look up and it’s six in the evening. I either need to manage my time better or find a way to clone myself. Therefore, today’s abbreviated entry. I never like writing short entries. After all, one doesn’t like to disappoint one’s readership. But it’s getting late and there’s an Enterprise episode waiting on my TiVo. Can a new executive producer save the franchise from itself? These are the questions that haunt my waking moments.

This election needs to end. Soon. Last night, I had several dreams about tonight’s debate. Each dream had a different spin. Kerry bombs. Bush cries. It was like my subconscious was cycling through every possibility. How big of a dork do you have to be to dream about a political debate? I’d much prefer to dream about all the sex I’m not getting in real life. At least those dreams have more entertainment value and are a lot less disconcerting. As for the debate itself, we probably won’t see a repeat of last Thursday’s debate. Bush will be looking to portray Kerry as a godless Commie liberal who wants to tax the very air you breathe. Kerry needs to fling these labels back in Bush’s face without looking like a bully. You can expect Kerry to hammer home the latest disappointing job numbers, the recent WMD report, and Bremer’s statements about Iraq. As long as he doesn’t come across as professorial or condescending or (and this would be a killer) defensive, he should be okay.
I want to give my friend Susannah Breslin a big WELCOME BACK! Susannah returns to the ether with her new site: The Invisible Cowgirl. Go give her some love. Susannah is sort of the Unofficial Godmother of The 19th Floor and I’m always happy to proclaim her coolness to the masses.