[June 16, 2000]
The Ratbastard apparently came up smelling like roses in this scenario:
"Oh, I know about your website," she said, "I've seen it before."
First off, despite having spilled his guts in an agozingly public display of indecision and self-doubt, if not self-loathing - every word of which she read - he still has her affections. Secondly, by choosing disclosure, especially of a fact which, unknown to him, was already known to her (huh?) he came across as the good guy, wanting to be honest and open with Miss Spiffy. Third, she is apparently so desperate for human companionship that she has no qualms about entering a relationship governed by committee. We'll eagerly await new Ratbastard polls: Should I kiss her? Should I take her home to meet the folks? Should I tell her about my transsexual dwarf fetish? In the meantime, ask Ratbastard to dish up some dirt!. Bastard Squaddies want to know. W
Why does Gagne hate the Noles and the Vols? 'Cause they've got a nasty habit of spanking Gator ass. W
The unions react to the appointment of William Daley to take the helm of the Gore campaign:
John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO president who muscled through an early endorsement of Mr. Gore, issued a surprisingly biting statement.
Mr. Daley's stewardship of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the China trade bill "put him squarely on the opposite side of working families," Mr. Sweeney said.
Bret Caldwell, a spokesman for the Teamsters, called the Daley ppointment a "slap in the face of labor" that wouldn't help Mr. Gore win the union's endorsement.
Gore is making it more and more clear that he has no idea how to lead. He's never been the number-one man in any political capacity - one of 435, one of 100, and now the number two man, both to Bill Clinton and to his Republican opponent. With strategic blunders like this, it's no wonder he's never gone all the way. W
According to Americans for Tax Reform, today is Cost of Government Day, defined as:
the date of the calendar year, counting from January 1, on which the average American has earned enough in cumulative gross income to pay for their share of government spending (total federal, state, and local) plus the cost of regulation.
So hoist a glass in celebration - for the rest of the year, you get to keep what you earn instead of forking it over to Uncle Sam. W
As it turns out, the Gore team didn't even invent "Social Security Plus" - Newt did, back in 1998. Of course, the plan isn't exactly the same, but you think the man who invented the internet could have checked it to see whose plan it was. Or did Al lose his computer? W
[June 15, 2000]
First he discovered Love Canal, then he invented the Internet, now Gore created American prosperity. God, I love the sheer gall of lies like this:
[W]e turned the biggest deficits in our history into the biggest surpluses.
A balanced budget, Al? I'm pretty sure that was Newt's idea. NAFTA? Thank President Bush. Welfare reform? Yeah, right - that's another one the GOP forced you to accept. Low oil prices? Ooops, skip that one. So far, the only thing I can tell that they did to help the economy was lose the Democratic Congressional majority in 1994. Hey Bill, hey Al, thanks! W
How to smooth over your differences with organized labor - appoint this man to take over your campaign:
Daley... became President Clinton's point man in this year's congressional battle over trade relations with China.
Gore had better hope that THIS Commerce Secretary is scandal free. But given the track record of Chicago politics, just how likely is that? W
[June 14, 2000]
Even though the Presidency has nothing to do with the death penalty, there have been some noises from the liberal left about making it an issue in the 2000 campaign. This, like many other Democratic ideas (think "land war in Asia" or "welfare state") is a stinker. The first thought that hit me when I saw the headline is, golly, doesn't the death penalty have about an 80% populatiry rating among the drooling masses? (It has fluctuated between 80% and 66% the last few years.) Won't Gore look soft on crime? (Um, yeah.) Won't this just further alienate Gore from the mainstream? (Check.) When I read the article, I saw that others have thought exactly those things. So, if you were Al Gore and wanted to avoid yet another colossal blunder, why not come out with some moderate-sounding pablum about DNA testing to ensure that we only fry the guilty ones? (Probably because he's not that smart...) The swing vote, which Gore so desperately needs as his base erodes, might like the sound of that. But by allowing Governor Bush to control the debate, Gore has yet again been outsmarted by a supposedly not-very-smart candidate. (Yeah, dumb like a fox.) W
Server errors blow chunks. W
OK, so I bagged on the whole "no updates" idea - how about a complete redesign for wasylik.net? W
[June 12, 2000]
Update! Ten Days in Spain, pictures and narrative from our honeymoon, is finally up. Thanks again to Dan for his sage advice on scripting. W
I've been reading from Jason's "how-to manual" - I've decided I won't update anything but WOIFM until he updates osil8. W
[June 11, 2000]
Having posted an email I sent, Kian responded in public with a dose of reality:
I got an e-mail asking me to explain how I would achieve a zero gun ownership in america... Frankly, I don't care to explain, because the plan is so unfeasable that it wouldn't happen.
This, of course, was precisely my point. Kian continues:
I don't see why we have the right to bear arms when human nature dictates that we will kill people if we have weapons.
This is exactly why we must have a Second Amendment - for self defense from those who would do us harm. If you don't think guns are useful tools for self-defense, then let's go ahead and disarm our police, our military, and every bodyguard everywhere. You think those folks, now disarmed, are safer than before? Try increasing your dosage of realism. W