very well then

I work on a Mac, my browser is Safari. I realized yesterday, that some of my links were broken on Explorer, which I avoid like the plague. I guess if 95% of the world wants to subject themselves to the horrors, of trojan horses, phishing schemes, and identity theft, who am I to stop them? My links will be "Exploiter" compliant going forward. The "this" link has been repaired.

Double Play

For the biggest news of the day, I defer to Devin's mother, I couldn't explain it any better.

I learned about this, only this morning.

Certainly, one of the best Tuesdays in my recent memory.

October Surprise II

We're at that point in the quadrennium when either the sitting president uses his own office to do something popular, or the challenger digs up dirt on the incumbent, mere days before the election. Since we're running out of October, I thought that this election's surprise must be around the corner. Below are some of my predicted events.

1) State Department negotiates with Iran to release Osama's eldest son into US custody in return for a fissile material to be named later. President Bush cites inspiration from his "What Would Reagan Do" bracelet as the strategy's primary influence.

2) Coalition forces ransack a Baathist insurgent safe house and prove that Saddam stole his JV soccer jersey from his high school. Cheney finally has a justification for the war, savages the Johns on the campaign trail, Bush wins by 85% points,

3) The Novakgate scandal comes to head when Joltin' Joe Wilson produces irrefutable evidence that VP Cheney's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libbey, has a really queer nickname.

4) President Bush crows about "scoring my age" when price of oil hits $58 and keeps climbing

5) Senator Kerry discovers inflection. However, this has no bearing on the outcome since the only things that he will be able to say are:

1. I have a plan


2. i HAVE a plan


3. i have A plan


4. i have a PLAN


5. i have A plan??

October Surprise

We just found out yesterday that "The Hammer" is going to be arriving in sunny Detroit on October 19th; more than a month earlier than we expected. Yikes! I don't know nothing about adoptin' no babies.

Was the question finally answered?

It rained like a motha last night so we left the Grandville/Grand Haven game at half time and head back to, you guessed it, Grand Rapids.

So we got home in time to watch debate number two, "The Hooey in St. Louis." Of course the $87-billion-dollar question came up, the one that's dogged Kerry for the past 9 months. There was only answer that he could have given in his situation, but he's fumbled with it in interviews and stump speeches and whiffed in the first debate.

There was a version of the spending bill that would have reversed tax cuts for the country's wealthiest in order to fund the troop support. The measure that passed had no means of paying for the expense, it essentially added another $87 billion cash advance on the government's Discover card. In last night's questioning, Kerry suggested that he supported the former version and therefore voted against the latter.

I honestly don't know if it's the true answer, my suspicion is that he was pandering to the anti-war crowd to siphon off support from Howard Dean, but the anwer that he gave last night is the only one that he could give. Why did it take so long to answer that freakin' question?

for those who have a notion

Four intrepid travelers ventured thumbward to Detroit on Sunday. The jovial mood soured as I parked the Accord while Lori, Laurel & Stacey tried to check in to the hotel. I returned from the lot across the street to be smothered in tension.

Our nemesis was a front desk clerk named Jamie. Her acerbic response to my question about room types coming available caused mass seething among us. I thought for a moment that one my friends might file an open-handed customer grievance against the woman's mandible.

Dinner in Greektown and four hours of Bruce/REM/Fogerty and countless 22-oz Molson's went a long way toward mitgating the rage. There was surprisingly little Falwellian activity outside the Cobo. Just the mandatory Ralph Reed-knockoff abortion protesters with their graphic poster (and probably handing out props, like bloodly fetus Beanie Babies). I had a really brief encounter with them. No harm, no foul.

Inside, Mickey Stipe , still thin and chrome-domed was dressed in a stark white suit, so he looked like a 70's-era Spiderman villain. It seemed like Springsteen might be training with Barry Bonds and Marion Jones. I'm pretty sure that Fogerty's orangeade mullet was a clip-on.

While in the bathroom line, I mixed with a couple of folks that had seen the show the night before in Ohio. They said that Springsteen was going to come out with a "...rockin' version of the 'Star Spangled Banner'" and that I should make everybody around me stand up and take off their hats because "...well...it's the Boss."

What? I should stand for the Boss?

Countless people in a lot of wars fought so that we can all choose whether we want to stand or sit for the national anthem. Screw Springsteen. I stand for my father.