Another so-called "Presidential Debate" is on tonight. I'll be sure to miss it, of course, but will read about it tomorrow.
I believe we have now dumbed ourselves down enough to base our votes on the most superficial of criteria. We've sunk into celebrity-hood. Whoever looks better and sounds better and "relates" to us better is our choice. Therefore, these "debates" become more and more important as our ability to read, analyze, and judge wanes.
This sad--and frightening--situation somehow reminds me of the "No Child Left Behind" swindle. Sounds good, doesn't it? Yet the result seems to have been the waste of vast amounts of time and effort by all involved. Teachers must "teach to the test" more and more and true knowledge and critical thinking are sacrificed. This nicely sets future voters up to ignore what the candidates really stand for, that is, if anybody can ferret it out--McPalin touted as "mavericks" and agents for change! If one weren't female, I'd say they had brass balls. Black is White, Truth is Falsehood, and oh, yes, War is Peace.
I like my country less and less as we promote appearance over substance and Orwell spins in his grave.

Ray stopped in to say hello to Pat yesterday and while we were talking in the kitchen, a mouse ran across the room. That galvanized me to clean out the pantry. I threw away so much, I'm going to have to put trash in somebody else's container before it's picked up tomorrow. I filled a box for the Food Pantry, too; will give to Leslie or drop off myself.
I was concerned because Pat didn't eat dinner. However, he did ask for, and finish, a pb and j sandwich and glass of milk later. Yesterday, I served him both lunch and the sandwich in the living room, as it's so difficult for him to walk even a few steps.
From Alan Bock at Antiwar.com, commenting on the candidates of both parties:
"To keep this as understated as possible, these are not outstanding people. They are seeking to occupy (or be a heartbeat away from) an office that for the past seven-plus years has been held by a not unintelligent but certainly uninquisitive man who, with that special kind of arrogance born of unapologetic ignorance and a fixation on a few dubious verities, has plunged the country into a disastrous war and now into an eminently avoidable financial crisis that almost all the politicians and talking heads have diagnosed incorrectly.
Can there be much doubt that this is an empire in steep decline? People of real quality not only do not gravitate toward political leadership, they scurry away from it."
Depressing, but it seems sensible.
Now here's something that isn't just depressing, but makes you want to stick a skewer into your eye (from the Lew Rockwell site on our invasion of Iraq):
"It was the US that turned this country into a killing field. Why won't we face this? Why won't we take responsibility? The reason has to do with this mysterious thing called nationalism, which makes an ideological religion of the nation's wars. We are god-like liberators. They are devil-like terrorists. No amount of data or contrary information seems to make a dent in this irreligious faith. So it is in every country and in all times. Here is the intellectual blindness that war generates."

Well, once in a while, you win one. I actually got my computer picture to go back to upright! I just put "computer screen sideways" in the search engine, got several hits, chose the first, and was told I had probably accidentally substituted the down arrow for "delete" when I did the cont.-alt.-del. thing. Remedy is to press the two-key combo, but substitute the up arrow and it worked!
Stayed in the rest of the day, as I don't want to go far with Pat ailing. Mike left a message while I was at WW, calling from the airport on his way to Rome, where he'll be until Thursday. Pat's appetite a little better, but the cough and extreme breathlessness persist.

Well, damn, I'm at the library. My computer suddenly did the same thing it had a few months ago: The picture switched sideways--what's called "landscape" orientation, I think--and I can't get it back to "portrait." I've called Don S., who fixed it before, but he can't come until tomorrow. I'm convinced the problem has to do with my RealArcade games because both times this happened, I was playing either "The Hidden Object Game" or "Wordslinger," then tried to go elsewhere on the Internet. Oh me, oh my, do I have it tough!
Went to Dynasty with Mary Ann yesterday for lunch. I didn't want to go so far as Chatsworth, as Pat had trouble getting up at his usual time. Had--again--Caesar salad with chicken. Ate half, took half home and had it for dinner.
Later: I phased in my Plan B, so went to Weight Watchers after our walk. Was pleased to find I lost 1.8 of the 2.4 I was up last week. Am at 127.8 with a total loss of 71.8.*
Political Note: Wonder if anybody else noticed that the Congress From Hell passed a "defense" (yes, yes, it should be called an "aggression" budget, but we've learned from Orwell and a long line of blood-sucking politicians, haven't we?) budget of more than $600 billion to pour down the bottomless rat hole. May they get what they deserve--but what could be horrific enough?
*Gee, is Mimi obsessive with all these point thises and point thats? Yeah, sure, I admit it, so shoot me.
And what are Plan B and Plan A? Plan A means I get weighed at WW every other Saturday morning. If I lose weight or remain the same, I wait another two weeks to weigh in next. If I gain, I start going every week until I take off the gain--that's Plan B. (Well, it works for me!)

Enjoyed lunch with Marge at Dockside (not Lizzie Rose, as the stairs are too hard on Marge's knees). She stopped in to say hello to Pat after. Later, A. stopped for a few minutes, too.
Told the surgeon's office Pat is on an antibiotic and steroid and was told surgery most be postponed until he's off the latter for two weeks. Made a new date for later in the month.
What did I think of the VP "debates"? Not a thing, as I wouldn't dream of watching them. I consider them absolutely meaningless except as evidence of appearance, elocution techniques, and acting skills. That's all they mean, yet the electorate has been--so easily!--conned into thinking they're important. The people watch and the pundits solemnly discuss and analyze them, as if they reflect the candidates' suitability for office and their party's platform.
There was a book published 40 or 50 years ago called A Nation Of Sheep. I believe it's actually an anti-communist (remember them?) tome, but the title so perfectly reflects the above, I wanted to mention it. For heaven's sake, we've been told over and over again how the candidates are preparing, being drilled and rehearsing to a fare-thee-well--how could we put any credence in this farce? Yet, sure as Congress will sell us down the river, the media will be all abuzz about whose performance was best.
Hey, get it? "Performance." Does that suggest something?
Further Political Notes:
Here are some little reminders from Justin Raimondo of Anti-War.Com:
"Our wars of ‘liberation" are financed by the age-old stratagem of inflating the money supply: this covert tax is no less keenly felt, yet our awareness of it is gradual, less shocking than a tax bill. Now, of course, we are feeling it, as even the most hawkish pro-war Republicans, such as Tom DeLay, admit. On MSNBC the other day, the "Hammer" was asked his opinion of what caused the fiscal crisis, and he somewhat sheepishly pointed to the costs of the Iraq war. By a conservative estimate, these costs will total some three trillion dollars, and today, as we approach our sixth year of war with no clear end in sight, even pro-war types such as DeLay, backed up against the wall by the fiscal crisis, concede war expenditures are the major obstacle in the path of "saving" the economy, bailout or no bailout."
Also:
"Our misnamed 'defense' budget is more than the combined military expenditures of every other nation on earth."
Chew on that for awhile.

Got an emergency book call from Jean C., my library lady in New Gretna (well, I guess I'm the library lady, she's the library shut-in). Picked her up some books, dropped them off, and stayed to chat for a few minutes. When I returned her used books, I withdrew Leisureville, a book about "The Villages," a huge over-55 community in Florida. According to Susan, who's read it, activities there include tennis, swimming, and wild sex. HU-H-H?! Gee, it must be just like here--yuk, yuk. Can't wait to get to that part.
Marge e-mailed to see if we could go to lunch today, assuming her insomnia doesn't knock her out. Hope to, and I thought we go to Lizzie Rose, which she'll enjoy. Have a date with Mary Ann for lunch tomorrow, so the social scene is heating up.
Hope the new medication is knocking out Pat's new respiratory problem.
Political Note (from the Lew Rockwell site, a treatise on whether government should be required to follow the same rules as individuals):
"That the government should be bound by the same laws – immutable laws of God (or nature, for the irreligious among us), not the made-up "laws" of the state – as the rest of us is the central libertarian insight, which is why those of us who take libertarianism to its logical conclusion reject the state completely. It is an institution founded on violence and owes its very existence to theft, which it euphemistically calls taxation.
Christians should thus be among the most vocal opponents of the state because we believe that God makes the rules and that no one, regardless of his exalted position by virtue of birth or of hoodwinking enough people into voting for him, has the authority to modify, abolish, or flout those rules. The Bible makes no distinction between the ruler and the ruled, and neither should we."
Makes sense to me.

To the pulmonolgist yesterday. She put Pat on an antibiotic and steroid to combat the infection and inflammation in his lungs. Also prescribed a chest x-ray--to what purpose, I'm not sure. The appointment and getting the prescriptions filled, took up most of the day. Luckily, I don't have anything else scheduled until Friday, when Mary Ann Van O. and I have a lunch date.
Political Notes: Here are the outrages of the day. Almost forgotten now, in light of the "bailout" thing, this was published on a web site on September 7 of this year:
"Taxpayers are now on the hook for tens of billions of dollars of capital necessary to save Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). The CEOs of both companies--the ones who ran them into the ground--have thankfully been shown the door. But they're taking a nice pot of money with them.
Specifically, Dan Mudd, the CEO of Fannie Mae, is getting $9.3 million of severance for destroying his company. Richard Syron, the CEO of Freddie Mac, is getting $14.1 million--in part because of a clause he added to his employment contract two months ago, when it was clear the company was headed for disaster."
And this from the Lew Rockwell site:
"The Paulson Plan is a heist. It is a grand scheme in which the public will end up owing hundreds of billions of dollars to holders of new debt claims issued by the US Treasury. The plan won't "prop up" asset values and it won't provide any real stimulus to the economy.
Despite the dire warnings — coming from the same folks who brought you the Iraq invasion to remove WMD — there is no threat of a financial meltdown. If Goldman Sachs failed, the sun would still rise the next morning..." And so on.
There's a lot more in this vein, but you get the drift. Now our stalwart leaders are trying to "tweak" the crime to make it more palatable. Think the electorate has a prayer? Ha!