No More Debates. (6 comments)
The last debate was last night. Of course I watched it. Nothing new. I found myself aggravated at Bush on two particular occasions for refusing to answer the question he was asked:
SCHIEFFER: Next question to you, Senator Kerry. The gap between rich and poor is growing wider. More people are dropping into poverty. Yet the minimum wage has been stuck at, what, $5.15 an hour now for about seven years. Is it time to raise it?
KERRY: Well, I'm glad you raised that question. It's long overdue time to raise the minimum wage.
[Kerry went on to describe his work in the senate to raise minimum wage and why he believes it's necessary to kickstart the economy and raise the quality of living for his beloved 99% of the poorest people in the country.]
BUSH: Actually, Mitch McConnell had a minimum-wage plan that I supported that would have increased the minimum wage.
But let me talk about what's really important for the worker you're referring to. And that's to make sure the education system works. It's to make sure we raise standards. Listen, the No Child Left Behind Act is really a jobs act when you think about it. The No Child Left Behind Act says, We'll raise standards. We'll increase federal spending. But in return for extra spending, we now want people to measure -- states and local jurisdictions to measure to show us whether or not a child can read or write or add and subtract. You cannot solve a problem unless you diagnose the problem. And we weren't diagnosing problems. And therefore just kids were being shuffled through the school.
And immediately following:
SCHIEFFER: Mr. President, I want to go back to something Senator Kerry said earlier tonight and ask a follow-up of my own. He said -- and this will be a new question to you -- he said that you had never said whether you would like to overturn Roe v. Wade. So I'd ask you directly, would you like to?
BUSH: What he's asking me is, will I have a litmus test for my judges? And the answer is, no, I will not have a litmus test. I will pick judges who will interpret the Constitution, but I'll have no litmus test.
No, that's not what he's asking. At least Kerry called him on not answering the question that time...
Anyway, I got a call from Mel yesterday shortly after lunch. she was at EB games and found that they had two copies of Katamari Damacy and wanted to know if I'd like her to purchase one. The short story is that $19.99 (plus tax) and a few hours later, we were home playing the game. And it's still awesome.
I also bought a Japanese Playstation yesterday. It was $1, and now Mel will be able to play the Japanese version of Chocobo Racing that she mistakenly purchased. The problem, though, is that my TV is out of inputs for all these systems*, so I need to go shopping for an S-Video switcher, preferrably one that also does composite.
*Atari 2600, Intellivision, NES, Super NES, GameCube, Playstation (J), Playstation 2. The Virtual and Game Boys have their own displays.