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I had missed the first Democratic Presidential Candidates' Agreement Debate when it was aired, but I did manage to watch it, thanks to YouTube. I'd probably say Kucinich's views are the closest to my own, although perhaps he's a little too optimistic. I don't know. Maybe after so many years of a president who's optimistic about all the wrong things, it would be nice to get one who's optimistic about things I basically agree with. And since he's a vegetarian, he's probably not going to go shoot geese for a photo op, like Kerry did. I mean, I'm not a vegetarian and I can't say I'm opposed to hunting, but I AM opposed to the idea that every presidential candidate feels they have to do some macho posturing (which, in Kerry's case, apparently backfired).
I really didn't get that much of a sense of where some of the lesser-known candidates were coming from. About all I got from Chris Dodd was that he's in favor of civil unions but not gay marriage, which is several steps above Bush, but still not the way I see it. I tend to think it would be preferable to get the government out of marriage altogther, but as long as they ARE going to recognize it, it shouldn't be limited by gender. Gravel seems to be around to prove that the Republicans don't have a monopoly on cantankerous old men. (How did a Democrat ever get elected in Alaska, anyway?) And I have to admit to having a certain amount of respect for Governor Richardson's apparent attempts at honesty even when it's not to his advantage. ("Mistakes? Yeah, I've made millions of 'em! Where do you want me to start?" Certainly quite different from how the current president answered a similar question back in 2004!) I do get the impression that most of the candidates are more liberal than Kerry, which strikes me as moving in the right direction. On the other hand, these ARE Democrats trying to appeal primarily to other Democrats. (I believe a few states let people vote in primaries for parties other than their own, but it's rare.) I'll be interested in seeing whether the winner's language changes when he or she is pitted up against the Republican nonimee next year.
As far as the Republicans go, I'm hoping Giuliani's attempt to outdo Cheney in "Vote Republican or die!" fearmongering will be political suicide for him, but there's no really no way to know. There seem to be enough people who still like him that I'm hoping he doesn't get nominated. And John McCain...sheesh, people thought KERRY was a flip-flopper? I haven't heard any news of upcoming Republican debates, but I do intend to watch them when they happen.
Moving on to another topic, the most recent Bullshit! episode was about illegal immigration. They talked to the Minutemen, and addressed the government's proposal to build a wall along the border. They made the point that a wall isn't going to stop any really determined people, which I'd agree with. As far as I'm concerned, the purpose of a wall would be much more symbolic than functional, and does the United States government really want to advertise our country as the one that doesn't want any Mexicans? Isn't that kind of contradicting the message of the Statue of Liberty? Now, I'm not saying that there isn't a significant distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, but I don't think illegal immigration is the crisis that people like Bill O'Reilly are pretending it is. I have to wonder how many immigrants there are who COULD get into the country legally, but don't want to go through all the bureaucracy and paperwork.
On a totally different topic, I had a dream where I was visting the New York neighborhood where I used to live with my mom. This never really happened, but there was a lot of nostalgia in the dream, with my remembering our apartment, the pizza parlor, the drugstore, and other places. Later in the dream, I was in an apartment building (possibly the same as the New York building, but maybe not), eating in the cafeteria (I remember the meal I had included macaroni, but I forget what else), and listening to the British landlady talk about the people she knew, including someone called David Gregory. I remember thinking, "That's probably not the guy from XTC, but wouldn't it be cool if it were?" I don't think I considered that it could have been NBC's White House correspondent.
A track from the upcoming They Might Be Giants album has been posted on the Internets. Check it totally out!
Oh, and also, isn't there some page that tells you the birthdays of all of your LJ friends? I know I've seen such a thing before, but I can't remember how to find it.
I really didn't get that much of a sense of where some of the lesser-known candidates were coming from. About all I got from Chris Dodd was that he's in favor of civil unions but not gay marriage, which is several steps above Bush, but still not the way I see it. I tend to think it would be preferable to get the government out of marriage altogther, but as long as they ARE going to recognize it, it shouldn't be limited by gender. Gravel seems to be around to prove that the Republicans don't have a monopoly on cantankerous old men. (How did a Democrat ever get elected in Alaska, anyway?) And I have to admit to having a certain amount of respect for Governor Richardson's apparent attempts at honesty even when it's not to his advantage. ("Mistakes? Yeah, I've made millions of 'em! Where do you want me to start?" Certainly quite different from how the current president answered a similar question back in 2004!) I do get the impression that most of the candidates are more liberal than Kerry, which strikes me as moving in the right direction. On the other hand, these ARE Democrats trying to appeal primarily to other Democrats. (I believe a few states let people vote in primaries for parties other than their own, but it's rare.) I'll be interested in seeing whether the winner's language changes when he or she is pitted up against the Republican nonimee next year.
As far as the Republicans go, I'm hoping Giuliani's attempt to outdo Cheney in "Vote Republican or die!" fearmongering will be political suicide for him, but there's no really no way to know. There seem to be enough people who still like him that I'm hoping he doesn't get nominated. And John McCain...sheesh, people thought KERRY was a flip-flopper? I haven't heard any news of upcoming Republican debates, but I do intend to watch them when they happen.
Moving on to another topic, the most recent Bullshit! episode was about illegal immigration. They talked to the Minutemen, and addressed the government's proposal to build a wall along the border. They made the point that a wall isn't going to stop any really determined people, which I'd agree with. As far as I'm concerned, the purpose of a wall would be much more symbolic than functional, and does the United States government really want to advertise our country as the one that doesn't want any Mexicans? Isn't that kind of contradicting the message of the Statue of Liberty? Now, I'm not saying that there isn't a significant distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, but I don't think illegal immigration is the crisis that people like Bill O'Reilly are pretending it is. I have to wonder how many immigrants there are who COULD get into the country legally, but don't want to go through all the bureaucracy and paperwork.
On a totally different topic, I had a dream where I was visting the New York neighborhood where I used to live with my mom. This never really happened, but there was a lot of nostalgia in the dream, with my remembering our apartment, the pizza parlor, the drugstore, and other places. Later in the dream, I was in an apartment building (possibly the same as the New York building, but maybe not), eating in the cafeteria (I remember the meal I had included macaroni, but I forget what else), and listening to the British landlady talk about the people she knew, including someone called David Gregory. I remember thinking, "That's probably not the guy from XTC, but wouldn't it be cool if it were?" I don't think I considered that it could have been NBC's White House correspondent.
A track from the upcoming They Might Be Giants album has been posted on the Internets. Check it totally out!
Oh, and also, isn't there some page that tells you the birthdays of all of your LJ friends? I know I've seen such a thing before, but I can't remember how to find it.
