The debate

I heard most of the debate on NPR--"most of" because I spaced out now and then.

General points: Neither candidate was actively embarrassing. I didn't like either of them. I conked out almost immediately after the debate, rather earlier and suddenly tireder than I would have expected--I think I'm allergic to politicians.

The format wasn't as awful as I feared--the moderator handed them some fairly tough questions. Yay, moderator!

They were both fairly repetitious, though Bush was more so. and Kerry had more substantiating details.

Bush said one thing that struck me as reasonable--"If you say the war was a mistake, how are you going to gather allies to help you fight it?" (Approximate quote.) I wish Kerry would get more specific about changes in US policy instead of just saying that we need allies to do whatever we're doing.

Imho, the dumbest thing Bush said was "It is hard work. It is hard work to go from a tyranny to a democracy. It's hard work to go from a place where people get their hands cut off, or executed, to a place where people are free." Is it possible he doesn't know that the US has capital punishment and he's been supporting it? That "hard work" thing--he used the phrase a bunch of times, and it may be one of the reasons people have been calling him petulant: "How can you criticize what I'm doing when I'm trying so hard?"

Bush had some odd pauses toward the beginning of the debate. It sounded to me as though he just wasn't interested, though I've since seen a theory that he had an ear bud.

The debate

I heard most of the debate on NPR--"most of" because I spaced out now and then.

General points: Neither candidate was actively embarrassing. I didn't like either of them. I conked out almost immediately after the debate, rather earlier and suddenly tireder than I would have expected--I think I'm allergic to politicians.

The format wasn't as awful as I feared--the moderator handed them some fairly tough questions. Yay, moderator!

They were both fairly repetitious, though Bush was more so. and Kerry had more substantiating details.

Bush said one thing that struck me as reasonable--"If you say the war was a mistake, how are you going to gather allies to help you fight it?" (Approximate quote.) I wish Kerry would get more specific about changes in US policy instead of just saying that we need allies to do whatever we're doing.

Imho, the dumbest thing Bush said was "It is hard work. It is hard work to go from a tyranny to a democracy. It's hard work to go from a place where people get their hands cut off, or executed, to a place where people are free." Is it possible he doesn't know that the US has capital punishment and he's been supporting it? That "hard work" thing--he used the phrase a bunch of times, and it may be one of the reasons people have been calling him petulant: "How can you criticize what I'm doing when I'm trying so hard?"

Bush had some odd pauses toward the beginning of the debate. It sounded to me as though he just wasn't interested, though I've since seen a theory that he had an ear bud.

Flower Knives

some entertaining art

Link found at Unqualified Observer.

Flower Knives

some entertaining art

Link found at Unqualified Observer.

In re terrorism

One of the things that got to me about the debate is that Bush is focused on Iraq and Kerry is focused on bin Laden. Imho, Bush is wrong and Kerry is years too late.

Al Queda has developed a decentralized terrorism which isn't dependent on individual leaders. While it might take unusual capabilities to make a 9/11 happen, people who can organize a car-bombing aren't especially rare.

While police work, diplomacy, and perhaps (though it seems unlikely) war can be used to limit the amount of terrorism, I believe that the only long run solution is going to come from the Muslim community. I don't have a list of links to Muslim moderates, but I do keep hearing them interviewed on NPR and the BBC--people who think terrorism isn't acceptable.

Governments have some effect on what people do, but imho the strongest inhibition is just "one doesn't do that".

The terrorists are helping out in this project, or at least I hope so. The more people realize that terrorists aren't good neighbors, the better. A lot of people already know this, but I don't think terrorists could do such an easy job of recruiting if the consensus against terrorism were stronger.

And I don't think "they hate us anyway" is a profitable way to think--this eliminates all our inhibitions against outrages, and while there might be some people who hate us so much that they'll kill themselves and anyone else within reach to try to hurt us, the number of people who are willing to go that far matters, and that number is affected by how many people we're hurting.

I'm not sure how much the US can do to help the moderate Muslims--they have reasons not to like or trust us. I am sure that it would take a lot more care and knowledge than we've shown so far. Bush has been a disaster, but I wish Kerry would say something about how we need to know more and think more.

In re terrorism

One of the things that got to me about the debate is that Bush is focused on Iraq and Kerry is focused on bin Laden. Imho, Bush is wrong and Kerry is years too late.

Al Queda has developed a decentralized terrorism which isn't dependent on individual leaders. While it might take unusual capabilities to make a 9/11 happen, people who can organize a car-bombing aren't especially rare.

While police work, diplomacy, and perhaps (though it seems unlikely) war can be used to limit the amount of terrorism, I believe that the only long run solution is going to come from the Muslim community. I don't have a list of links to Muslim moderates, but I do keep hearing them interviewed on NPR and the BBC--people who think terrorism isn't acceptable.

Governments have some effect on what people do, but imho the strongest inhibition is just "one doesn't do that".

The terrorists are helping out in this project, or at least I hope so. The more people realize that terrorists aren't good neighbors, the better. A lot of people already know this, but I don't think terrorists could do such an easy job of recruiting if the consensus against terrorism were stronger.

And I don't think "they hate us anyway" is a profitable way to think--this eliminates all our inhibitions against outrages, and while there might be some people who hate us so much that they'll kill themselves and anyone else within reach to try to hurt us, the number of people who are willing to go that far matters, and that number is affected by how many people we're hurting.

I'm not sure how much the US can do to help the moderate Muslims--they have reasons not to like or trust us. I am sure that it would take a lot more care and knowledge than we've shown so far. Bush has been a disaster, but I wish Kerry would say something about how we need to know more and think more.