I know I’ve said this before but I hate the Republicans. I’m also a little bugged by the fact that the whole blogosphere hasn’t been on this story…only the left-wingers. If a Democrat had done something as bad as this I’m sure everyone would be in an uproar.
Here’s the story. Rep. Istook (R) tried to sneak a provision into an omnibus spending bill that would allow the Chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to review the tax return of any individual, business or organization in the country with no privacy protections whatsoever.
Power corrupts. Absolute power…
Check out TPM for the whole story and a more detailed explanation. He’s got about a half dozen posts on this thing.
Ann Althouse published this interesting and poignant post about the teaching of creationism in public schools and an experience she had growing up. I wonder how common her experience was.
I was born and raised in Utah. I am LDS and experienced the upbringing that is typical of someone raised in a society where their religion is shared by 90% of everyone around them. I loved it and am grateful for the family, life, and experiences I had growing up. I only recently began to appreciate the fact that such an upbringing is profoundly atypical. It is an excellent way to grow up…but there are negatives.
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I got up to help feed Melia. I decided to check the election results. Right now Fox News has Bush at 269 Electoral Votes to Kerry’s 229. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a 269 to 269 tie?
I voted Bush. I fully intended to pull the lever (quite literally it turns out in my precinct as they have the old style voting machines here) for Kerry but saw his and Edward’s names on the ballot and just couldn’t do it. I really think America would be better off if Bush lost. I have pretty much fallen hook line and sinker for the Kaus argument (see previous post). I just really dislike Kerry and couldn’t bring myself to vote for him. Now that it looks as if Bush is probably going to win I wish I had done it. Oh well…I live in Virginia so it makes no difference how I voted. Back to bed.
Mickey Kaus has the best pro-Kerry argument yet. I’m glad I read it before voting. Everyone who hasn’t yet voted should read it…even if it doesn’t change your mind it is a well reasoned article on why a vote for Kerry might be a good thing for America.
I still haven’t fully made up my mind…I’ll probably just throw my vote away with a nod to the Libertarians. I hate their candidate and the party is a bunch of wackos and weirdos…but their principles are sound for the most part.
Here is a post by one Republican who thinks that a loss for Bush would be good for the Republicans (a la 1976) in the long term.
I don’t know about that but I do know that a Kerry presidency would be a lot more interesting from a political junkie point of view than another 4 years of Bush. Will America be worse off with a Kerry presidency than with a Bush presidency? Probably not…hopefully not…but it will definitely be interesting.
I don’t know where I get my optimism from…my mom said she and my dad are considering moving to Canada if Bush is re-elected. Maybe I’ll be more bitter and pessimistic when I’ve had a few more years of experience.
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