Me, playing with Paint for the first time in 2 years,
getting the essence of the pin they gave us at the election class.

They keep saying "do-nothing Congress" like that's a BAD thing. The budget IS a bad thing. It's true, Republicrats are all alike.

So, it's National Character Week. As declared, ha ha, by the Liar-in-Chief.

I was a bit horrified to read a poll (sorry, no link, I don't remember where) of people asked who would win the Ig-Nobel Peace Prize. More people chose Linda Tripp than, say, Milosevich or Saddam Hussein. The Clinton spin machine sure works overtime. Meanwhile he appeases Milosevic, he appeases Saddam, he appeases North Korea, appease appease appease, and we're going to reap the whirlwind eventually. And is China going to use our technology against us? I wouldn't be surprised. I suspect 20 years down the pike Clinton will also be remembered as the President whose foreign "policy" set up the worst world situation ever.

But as long as our economy is OK, right? I can't get over the Democrats. People often get into bad relationships, and one knows it's not good when every sentence starts out "yeah, but..." [he's good to his dog, she cares about the ecosphere, whatever] For about a year there I was quite worried about Monica and her Mr. Yeah-But, till she met Mark. Democrats are continually having to "yeah, but" the President. They are looking at the loss, maybe, of "only" 8 seats in the House and 2 in the Senate. The White House will declare that as a "victory", yet before January they thought they had a chance to reclaim the House. Clinton has lost the Congress for the Democrats for the first time in 40 years, and iced it in '96, and looks to really ice it this year, but he's their fair-haired boy. Bill Krystol on This Week says Clinton has done more damage to the Party than Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan put together. They've lost 60 Representatives, 12 Senators, 13 Governors, 17 state legislatures, and 1000 local officials have changed party affiliations. And now, according to Krystol, 3-6 more Senate seats, 10-12 Representatives, and 2 Governorships. (Or more, but California may go the other way.)
I truly do not understand the Clinton-defending Democrats. Last I looked, Gore was a Democrat, so it isn't like handing the Presidency to the enemy. In fact, Gore isn't as compromising (all puns intended) as Clinton, and would follow the liberal Democratic line a lot closer.

Meanwhile, I for one am sick of the phrase "The American People..." Apparently "TAP" don't speak for me, and I'm tired of them telling the newsheads what I think.

Last night Rich and I went to a Candidates Forum put on by the League of Women Voters. My main interest was in the fire district contenders. Normally, not knowing anything about them, I would simply ignore this race, but this year we have a crisis. Our stations have been put on rolling brownouts and are closed three times a week. This is completely unacceptable.
The last time Rich and I were in this hall, we were trying to line dance, and the time before that was with Bernadette's Girl Scouts, squaredancing.
It turns out that only 5 of the 9 contenders for the 4 seats came. I figure if the other 4 don't want to tell me what they believe, they don't get my vote. The 4 incumbents were there, and found it pretty hard to defend the brownouts. They were trying to explain why they should be reelected to fix the mess they made. (Our State Stuporintendent of Schools is trying the same tactic. It's going to work for her, too.) Yes, the State has taken more money, partly as unintended consequence of various school spending bills, but one even said the district was in better financial shape than ever. It's administration heavy, partly due to all the mergers. Anyway, the one non-incumbent who showed sounded good, and one of the other guys seemed to have good ideas. I sat there wondering what makes people tick to do this sort of thing: I had a bad enough time with the school curriculum committee for Vince's elementary school. Of course, this is the last time these guys are polite to common folk, when they want your vote.

I've been a politics wonk ever since I read Advise and Consent at an impressionable 15. We stayed to hear the other candidates: you never know, I could change my mind. We heard one candidate talk all around a question for her minute and never actually answer it. "Mental health," she said, "is important." Dave Cox, a County Supervisor running for the State Assembly, was held up with the Stupes so sent his lieutenant, Kevin Bassett. Afterwards I asked Bassett when HE was going to run for office... he's certainly got the prescence and the charm.
It was nice to see two of the Libertarians who came to my house again. One of them told me that when the local ABC affiliate did a Ortiz v. Quackenbush story they panned across the table and edited him, the Libertarian, out. He said, though, it had been fun, and he now enjoyed the fora, after having been scared to death for the first couple. His opponents were fun to talk to. He told me he got 3000 crossover votes in the Primary. Even if they edit us out, they listen a bit, and the major parties change a little.
The other Libertarian answered one question by "Libertarians pride themselves on being pro-choice on EVERYTHING." This drew a laugh. The freedom of being in a small party is you can state your beliefs but not have to compromise them away. Oh, I'm back at that appalling Budget! But one Democrat (running for State Assembly) said "the State should fund..." like the State is some big Californian Santa Claus with a magic bag of money. They're taking OUR money, away from OUR firemen, and funding all kinds of strange things. Quackenbush waved a card and said they think of it like this: "This is my American Distress Card. I can spend billions and billions of dollars and YOU get the bill." The State should fund very little. I, too, like my Libertarian friend Klass, would like to see a return of the part-time Legislature, and a sunset clause on all laws. He also wants us to build our own Auburn Dam, not leave it in the hands of Newt and his minions. (Quackenbush had an interesting slip of the tongue on that, referring to the "Army Corps of Individuals.")
Before we went, I had a phone call supporting Dunn from Vic Fazio's voice. As if. I'll tell who I'm voting for next time.

As we left, I saw the founder of Tower and considered kicking him in the shins, but restrained myself. Obviously, I'm getting mellower and more mature.