For the first time since the Democratic primaries, I’m starting to believe that John Kerry was the right man for the job.
Almost every news outlet, including Fox, judged him the winner in last night’s Presidential debate. The only waffler I’ve found so far is Sumner Redstone’s (“the re-election of President Bush would be best for Viacom’s interests”) CBS.
And good for the networks for using split screens during the broadcast, thus ignoring the rules of the discredited Commission on Presidential Debates.
Values Clarification
Okay, it’s the day of the first Presidential debate, and one hopes that by 10 o’clock tonight, the much-coveted Undecideds (estimated at 20%) will close Bush’s current 6% lead over Kerry.
That being said, I’m taking a few minutes to thank the folks at Midas Muffler in Falmouth, who once again, have kept my 214,000+ mile Subaru on the road without soaking me for unnecessary repairs.
A couple of days ago, I started hearing a rotating noise on right turns. It sounded like about a $300 job, maybe a bad wheel bearing, CV joint or boots.
Midas couldn’t find anything wrong with those and suggested a minor adjustment in another part, inviting me to come back if the noise was still there.
It’d been about 31,000 miles since I had the front brakes done, so I asked them to worked on the brakes instead. Again, I was expecting a $300+ job, figuring the rotors needed replacing.
The bill came to only around $200, though, because the mechanic was able to resurface the rotors.
This is the second time that Midas has saved me significant coin by using their ingenuity – the first was to repair a muffler assembly that another shop told me was completely shot.
To be sure, on a day when major world events are going to be debated, it may seem trivial to praise honest dealing by competent people who make careful recommendations based on facts and experience.
Frankly, I don’t care if the folks at Midas go windsurfing on weekends, or if their spouses are African-born heiresses. I don’t care if they ride their bikes on a private ranch somewhere or pretend to use a chainsaw.
I don’t care what mechanic some older relative swears by, or what the waiting room looks like, or whether the staff at Midas prance around in strategically padded flight suits, or what Rush Limbaugh says about them.
I just care that their expertise provides me with reliable, safe, relatively inexpensive daily transportation. In other words, I care that they know how to do their jobs well.
So, I ask myself, it really too much of a stretch to expect American voters to use similar criteria in electing a public servant? Really?
Hell House
Maybe it’s as a result of seeing “Poltergeist”, but I believe that houses can have good, bad or even evil “vibes”.
And the one next to me, an otherwise normal-looking full Cape, has GOT to have a portal to Hell in one of its closets.
Guilty Pleasures
Living as I do a pretty abstemious life – more out of economic necessity than moral rectitude – I nevertheless must admit to a few guilty pleasures.
Riddle Me This
A lot of Bush’s support comes from the Christian Right.
A lot of Bush’s support comes from people who he and his cronies have terrified with their terrorist boogeyman stories.
So, riddle me this: if someone is a “Christian” right-winger, don’t they KNOW where they are going when they die?
No wonder they are so terrified: imagine what G*d Almighty has in store for them as payback for their anti-woman/jihadist/racist/anti-intellectual and generally hateful ways.
And I don’t think it’s a covey of virgin brides, either.
Summer’s Gone
Well, it’s finally here, the Tuesday after Labor Day, and there were a lot of glum faces at the final cookout of the season at my neighbor’s house last night.
Got IQ?
Recently at work, we rehashed our options regarding a piece of source code which my company bought largely on trust, without understanding what exactly differentiates its workings from an earlier version that we (meaning I) have been slicing and dicing for the last couple of months.
Mud & Manure
As a gardener, I resent the bad rap that mud and manure got this week as a result of their misuse at the Republican National Convention.
Dear Senator Kerry
Well, it’s ABOUT TIME – thank you, Senator Kerry, for finally engaging the Republican attack machine in your Ohio speech.
Gardener’s Diary/Weekend Recap
I’m almost done replanting the rest of the flower boxes on the porch.
A meander down 6A from Dennis to Peter’s house included a productive stop at the County Farm, where I picked up two nice, bushy (you should forgive the phrase) impatiens. A couple of six packs of fall pansies should finish off the job.