Apes on the right, people on the left, just like in politics

I watched part of tonight's debate. I'll probably have some more comments after I watch the rest (bethje taped it), but I have a few things to say now:

• The format of the debate reminded me of a combination of a daytime talk show and a class at school. I remember having to submit questions for speakers. There was one time in graduate school when I forgot to come up with questions. I think that counted as a zero for an assignment, which was unfortunate, but now that class is over with, so who cares?
  
  
• Kerry didn't get off to a particularly good start by saying that he supported the Patriot Act and No Child Left Behind. Granted, he DID say he had problems with how they were implemented, but I thought they were considered to be bad ideas in general. Then again, I've never actually read either of those acts, so I guess I don't know for sure. Maybe I need to do some more research.
  
  
• More questions on Iraq meant more opportunities for the candidates to repeat themselves. I'm not sure why they were accepted. I thought the foreign policy angle was dealt with in the last debate, and they were going to talk about something else this time. I DID like one quote from Kerry, when he asked how we could go after other countries for trying to obtain nuclear weapons when the Bush administration was working on a new nuclear device of its own. That's always puzzled me in general, though. "WE can have nuclear weapons, but YOU can't." I'm just not comfortable with the attitude that the American government in general seems to have, where they feel they're better than any other country, and can MAKE rules, but don't have to FOLLOW them. The Bush administration is particularly bad in that respect, but they're hardly alone. I guess I'm more comfortable with the United States being a superpower than I would with some other countries in that position, but why do we have to have a superpower at all?
  
  
• Did Bush say "Internets," or did I mishear that because I expected him to say something stupid? I know he referred to "the Bush Plan."
  

In other news, there's a skunk wandering around my neighborhood. I saw it crossing the street the other day, and smelled it a few times.

Oh, and does anyone know how to remove things from the startup menu? I have Windows ME, and I'm probably the only person who does anymore, but it's probably pretty similar with other versions of Windows.