It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

You knew that already, didn't you?

How else can he explain the damning photo below (See here for previous musings on this all-important subject.)


Proof! 

Of course I could be off on my eschatological symbolism: is "the beast" really Satan or merely one of his minions (breeded by the evil Skull and Bones Society)?

but this "Political Bohemian Rhapsody" caused a few chuckles. In this polarized, politically-charged atmosphere, a few chuckles can't hurt.

in New Jersey? I think it is fair to say that no one knows what is going on and we won't know until at least November 2 and probably later. The LA Times designates as "swing states" any state in which the latest poll indicates the difference between the two candidates is less than that poll's margin of error. Check out how many states appear in this category as of now: 20.

So we don't have any clue what will happen. And my fervent hope for a clear, uncontested outcome looks increasingly unlikely to be realized. Sad, that.

(courtesy of Bill Simmons)

"Q. What do you call 25 guys watching the World Series?"

"A. The Yankees."

And there's also this:

Weird fact in case you missed it: The Celtics won their first championship against St. Louis (1957); the Bruins broke a 41-year Stanley Cup drought against St. Louis (1970); and the Patriots won their first Super Bowl against St. Louis (2002). Hey, I'm just the messenger.

After savoring the RedSox win for a few minutes, I made the mistake of grabbing the remote and surfing around a bit which led me to watch a few snippets of the latest cable news shows. I'm too tired (and too lazy) to look up links for these stories and may get some of the particulars wrong, but I think I am on fairly solid ground in summarizing the following:
--the Bush Administration has announced that it will ask for $75 billion more for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
--Iraqi interim government leader Iyad Allawi has criticized coalition troops for not providing enough security which resulted in, among other things, the massacre of dozens of Iraqi police trainees a few days ago.
--300 tons of high explosives may have gone missing from an Iraqi arsenal.
--John Kerry has used all three of these things to criticize the Bush Administration's incompetence in handling the war.

Now, my question and plea for further information and enlightenment is this: When did Kerry announce that, if elected, he plans to fire all the top DOD brass as well as all the top battlefield commanders in the military at least down to the divisional level (e.g. commanders of the 101st Airborne and the 3ID)? Has such a thorough housecleaning of the military command ever been done before? Barring such a move, exactly how does Kerry intend to improve the competence of battlefield decisions? Does he plan to micro-manage every battlefield decision like LBJ in Vietnam? And, finally, about the $75 billion: Is Kerry going to support this budget measure? If so, what, exactly is he griping about? If not, what is his strategy for Iraq?

I clearly have a certain view concerning the answers to such questions. But I would genuinely like to know what someone else who perhaps isn't as biased (and tired) as I am thinks about all this.

It has been a while since I've done one of these. But I'm sitting on the couch, watching the game, so why not.

A newcomer to learning the Korean phonetic alphabet han'gul? Amaravti has a test that you should be able to pass if you pay attention.

KimcheeGI looks at "love briquettes" going from South Korea to North Korea complete with a picture that makes me somehow nostalgic for the days of yônt’an- heated homes. Must be fall.

If "love briquettes" are going North, just what came south through newly-discovered holes in the fence along the DMZ? KimcheeGI links to an article on the subject here. NKZone has more here. But I have to give props to students in my North Korea course who is all over the subject here and here. See also here for some speculation that the hole represents not shadowy figures moving south, but perhaps southerners moving north.

Seventh-inning stretch; still 4-0 Boston up.

Cathartidae finds an editorial on Team America that doth protest too much about the puppet-action flick:

That is why a new movie that America released last week, "Team America: World Police," represents a real and dangerous risk. The film, while ostensibly a lowbrow comedy, seeks to perpetuate atrociously unfair and untrue stereotypes. Most offensive among them is that North Korea is a horrible place and its leader Kim Jong-il wants to destroy the world. Chairman Kim, cast as the lead villain, is portrayed as a sadistic tyrant bent on using Islamic terrorists to detonate weapons of mass destruction and foment chaos the world over.
...
Obviously, we should do what we can here to prevent Koreans young and old from seeing this movie. I think it`s safe to assume that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will prevent "Team America: World Police" from being shown in local theaters. But alas in the 21st century, when dangerous propaganda is only a mouse-click away, there is no guarantee that Koreans will be unable to access the film.

Therefore public campaigns need to be mounted to actively discourage Korean citizens from watching the movie. Parents should monitor their children`s Internet activity, and there should be a more vigilant watch than usual over sales of pirate DVDs at places such as the Yongsan Electronics Market.

Alas, it`s lamentable that no regulatory body exists on an international level that could block subversive and unwholesome films like "Team America" from being shown anywhere on the globe. Until such a body can be established, we responsible citizens must do what all we can to prevent such harmful, pro-war movies from poisoning the public conscience.

I concur with Cathartidae's conclusion:

Sounds suspiciously like a right-winger writing a parody of a letter from some clueless lefty with absolutely no sense of humor. Either that, or the writer, one Lance Thorne (very pseudonym-ish, btw), really is a clueless lefty with no sense of humor.

Free North Korea links to a video of a mostly unsuccessful attempt of North Korean defectors to scale the wall of the South Korean embassy in Beijing. Near the end of the video, local authorities show up and proceed to use what looks like an electric cattle prod or a tazer to stop any additional defectors from making it over the wall. I understand that the PRC government doesn't really want a flood of refugees pouring into China for many reasons, some better than others. Still, when confronted with the human drama of men, women, and children attempting to flee what is universally recognized as an oppressive totalitarian state, one can't help but cheer for the refugees and not the guys with cattle prods.

Antti Leppanen of Hunjangui karuch'im has updated his photo collection. They're all worth a look. The photos of various small business open a window into a world that is largely forgotten with all the discussion of big chaebôl and info-tech savvy Seoulites. In addition, I also particularly like the Seoul panoramas, the pictures of Nan'gok, and the pictures of the incomparable Tosan sôwôn (Tosan Academy)

Top of the 9th. Still 4-0. Is the curse on its last legs?

Shawn Matthews of Korea Life Blog is threatening to hang up his blogging spurs. Much of it has to do with the nature of the comments he has been getting lately:

However, these days checking my site has become more of a source of dread than happiness. I continually wonder if I'm going to discover a bunch of nasty remarks in the comments section. Surprisingly, with the number of people viewing day to day, it took a long time before this happened. I don't think I had a single jerk for the first two years. However, over the past six months, it's gotten out of hand. People who don't know me continually put me down, put my friends down, and put my girlfriend down. This is something I can no longer ignore.

Judging from the 100+ comments that his announcement elicited, he will be missed!

The Oranckay may have solved the hole in the DMZ fence mystery.

Ruminations in Korea has a long and thoughtful post on the suicides that seem to appear every testing season.

The Marmot notices the latest China-bashing going on at OhMyNews and finds some karmic justice or at least some satisfaction that the target of South Korean ire isn't just the U.S.

Game over. Boston leads the series 3-0 (I'm sure John Kerry stayed up watching every move of his favorite player, "Manny Ortez"). Of course the Yankees were up 3-0 not so long ago and we all know how far that got them.

Good night!

Bottom of the 6th. The Cardinals have yet to have a lead in the entire World Series. It almost makes one believe the RedSox can win this thing.

Eminem speaks/raps and changes my mind. How can I not give in to the persuasive power of lines like "no more blood for oil" and "Bush is a weapon of mass destruction"?

Actually, I have found some of Mr. Mathers' more tame stuff to be rather catchy and inventive. And I applaud both the somewhat surprising twist at the end of "Mosh" as well as the message it seeks to convey. Still, "no more blood for oil"? A wordsmith like Mr. Mathers can do better.

The blogosphere, that collective intelligence that never sleeps, has turned up some interesting and relevant facts that are cause for updating and modifying some of my "voting against Kerry" statements made below.

First, the Kerry Campaign has cleared up the "I was 30 yards away" from Bill Buckner while attending a conference in Boston on the same evening time-space paradox:

Kerry campaign spokesman Michael Meehan issued this response: "Kerry attended an event in Massachusetts in the early evening. He hopped on a shuttle flight to NYC and got to the game in progress. The Sox were up 3-2 in the series and on the verge of possibly winning the whole thing. What Red Sox fans would not jump through hoops to be there in person?"

More here. Still, even in clearing this up, Kerry can't resist adding a little detail that just doesn't sound right:

"I was about 30 yards away from Billy Buckner when that ball wiggled away. I had cracked a bottle of champagne, was jumping up and down ? prematurely."

A bottle of champagne? In Shea Stadium? With the Mets down 3-2? I have to agree with Taegan Goddard on this one:

Not the biggest issue in the world, but if Kerry was there I seriously doubt they had bottles of champagne in the stands behind the Mets dugout.

So if Kerry is telling the truth, he must have brought a bottle of champagne with him on his shuttle flight. Yep, Kerry's "just one of the guys."

Second, the indispensable Kausfiles comes up with this Kerry quote from the middle of the Afghanistan campaign:

I have no doubt, I've never had any doubt -- and I've said this publicly -- about our ability to be successful in Afghanistan. We are and we will be. The larger issue, John, is what happens afterwards. How do we now turn attention ultimately to Saddam Hussein? How do we deal with the larger Muslim world? What is our foreign policy going to be to drain the swamp of terrorism on a global basis? [Emphasis added]

I find myself in agreement with Kaus (an admitted Kerry supporter) on this one:

Wait--I thought shifting the focus to Saddam was a "diversion" and distraction from the fight against Al Qaeda! Not, apparently, when Kerry saw an opportunity to score political points by advocating it. [But would he have rushed to war in Iraq without a plan to win the peace!-ed. Maybe not. But, given Kerry's recent he-took-his-eye-off-the-ball rhetoric, it's embarrassing that he brought up pivoting to Iraq "now" long before the Afghan campaign was over--indeed, when the Tora Bora battle against bin Laden's men had barely begun.]

Will the real John Kerry please stand up?

Kevin at BigHominid's Hairy Chasms provides this useful illustration

Kerry = Satan? 

He continues by noting that after reading my "Voting Against Kerry" posts, "your journey toward the dark side will be complete."

This slanderous calumny demands a response. I do not believe that John Kerry is Satan incarnate. Rather, I believe that he is the spawn of Satan, a product of generations of breeding humans and demons conducted by the Skull and Bones Club.

Seriously, I do not believe that the election of Kerry will mean the end of the Republic, let alone the end of the world. There are actually some upsides to a Kerry presidency, not least the fact that it will allow for a fresh start on frayed relations between the U.S. and many other nations in the world. Having said that, I have concluded in my own mind and heart that the hope of a fresh start abroad is not enough to counterbalance what I see as Kerry's other shortcomings. Many other Americans obviously disagree. Such is life in a democracy, the worst form of government devised by man, with the exception of all the others.

Reason #3 “Lambert Field”

This “reason” is obviously of a more light-hearted nature than the previous two (for an on-line exploration of some of these issues that clearly doesn't take itself too seriously, see Football Fans for Truth), but for me it nonetheless conveys an important message: John Kerry is a sportsman, but he is not in any way, shape, or form a “sports guy.” His efforts to pretend to be the latter are annoying, condescending and a bit insulting.

Background: On a campaign trip to Wisconsin, Kerry referred to Lambeau field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, as “Lambert Field.” A slip of the tongue? Perhaps. But for Packers Fans, a possibly unforgivable one.

That's akin to calling the Yankees the Yankers or the Chicago Bulls the Bells. This is a place where Packers jackets often outnumber sports coats in church and thousands of fans wear a big chunk of yellow foam cheese atop their head with the pride of a new parent.

Who cares? Why should being able to name the home field of a Midwestern NFL team be a prerequisite for serving in the Oval Office. The short answer is, of course, “it shouldn’t.” But it does, I believe, speak to a deeper issue that may be of some significance. One of the challenges that any candidate for president has is need to connect with the American people. This doesn’t necessary mean that a candidate must project the image that he or she is an average Joe or Jane, no different from anyone else. Indeed, most of us hope that our President is not like us, but rather is smarter, stronger, and more capable. But we still hope that the President understands us. This is one important reason why the contrast between George H.W. Bush, who was said to expressed amazement at a supermarket scanner (an allegation that probably wasn’t true, by the way), and Bill Clinton who could “feel your pain” was so great.

For a good chunk of the American populace—especially the male half—watching competitive sports is a fairly significant part of everyday life. Millions of people trek out to games in all kinds of weather; millions more spend much of the weekend watching games (and then relive the highlights on SportsCenter); heck, some people are even buried in the colors of the favorite team.

So it only makes sense for an aspiring politician to try to connect to this crowd on some level or another. My problem with Kerry is that he does such a transparent and bad job of it. In addition to the “Lambert Field” gaffe mentioned above, consider the following:

John Kerry also praised the Ohio State Buckeyes football team--during a visit to Michigan.

When asked who his favorite player on his “beloved” Boston Red Sox was, Kerry has given a few different replies over the years:

--He recently named "Manny Ortez" which followers of the BoSox conclude must have been the combination of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz into a frighteningly devastating player at least at the plate (though both have trouble fielding).
--Some years earlier, he named Eddie Yost, a player who never played for the Red Sox in his entire career.
--Kerry claims he in Shea Stadium was “30 yards away” from Bill Buckner’s famous blunder that many argue cost the RedSox the World Series in 1986. Yet, he was also attending a meeting in Massachusetts at the time.

--Kerry claims to have run in the Boston Marathon when there is no official record of him having ever done so. At best he ran as an unofficial registrant, something of a big no-no, especially in the big name marathons.

Again, so what? Well, a couple of things strike me as interesting. First, it is important to note that while Kerry might not be the most genuine “sports guy,” he certainly is a sportsman. He has clearly demonstrated the ability to bike, snowboard, windsurf, play ice hockey, and hunt that is rather impressive for someone of his age. But there is a difference between being a sportsman, particularly an aficionado of more expensive pastimes, and a sports guy who enjoys the relatively low budget pleasures of watching the Packers on Sunday.

Second, there are plenty of honest and complimentary ways Kerry could have answered the questions thrown at him. Take the Red Sox favorite player for example. I am not a baseball fan. For me, baseball is what happens in that long, dead period between the last game of the NBA playoffs and the first football game in the fall. But I did find something of a soft spot for the Red Sox after living in Massachusetts and enjoying a Fenway dog at a game or two. As such, I usually take a glance at the box scores and standings during the regular season and watch a playoff game or two. But I am not a big fan; and I am admittedly a rather fair-weather fan. If asked, I could name a few Red Sox players past and present: Ted Williams, Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs, the infamous Bill Buckner, Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Jose Canseco (in the twilight of his career), Nomar Garciapara, and a few of the present crop—Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, and Trot Nixon. Which of this bunch would be my favorite? I don’t really know. I suppose if forced to choose I might pick Garciapara simply because he was (still is for the Cubs?) a complete player: fields in the most difficult position and bats well.

So when John Kerry, a Massachusetts Senator for the past 20 years is confronted with the same question and comes up with either “Manny Ortez” or Eddie Yost, this is clearly as sign that he simply is not a fan in any meaningful sense of the word. So what might have he answered instead? How about: “I’ve always been a team player and felt that the overall team was more important than any individual player.” Or how about: “You know, I always have and always will cheer for the Red Sox. But as a United States Senator, I have, sadly, been too busy to devote too much time to watching baseball games. I’ll leave picking favorite players to the experts.” (Of course the “too busy” excuse raises the question of “too busy doing what?” because it certainly wasn’t passing legislation).

Either of those replies would have been acceptable (and honest) except for the fact that they convey the actual but unfortunate truth that Kerry isn’t a sports guy.

Again, not being a sports guy is hardly a fatal failing. Not being one but pretending, badly, to be one is a bit worse. But I would argue that there are some underlying socio-cultural cues that do not necessarily bode well for a would-be President Kerry feeling the pain of the average American. Remember, this is a guy who has several homes across the world. This is a guy who couldn’t seem to understand what the big deal was to pay $250 a ticket to fly to Oregon to go windsurfing. Kerry may care for the rest of us out of a sense of noblesse oblige, but he isn’t one of us.

His recent hunting expedition illustrates this in several ways. First, in order to be able to hunt in Ohio, Kerry needed a license. Surrounded by aides who could easily obtain and fill out the paperwork before having Kerry quickly sign it, Kerry decided to do all the heavy lifting himself, including altering his diction so as to be comprehensible to the slack-jawed yokels whose votes he so desperately craves: the senator, campaign entourage in tow, went into a grocery store and asked the owner: "Can I get me a hunting license here?"

He then proceeded to buy a brand-new camouflage jacket and wander through some fields with three (or four) companions. The shotguns roared out of sight of any pesky reporters, and the triumphant hunters returned, three dead geese in hand. Did Kerry get one?

“We all got one,'' Kerry said.”

But Kerry wasn’t carrying his prize. Why? Two spoken reasons: "I'm too lazy," "I'm still giddy over the Red Sox. It was hard to focus."

Of course there is a third, unspoken, possible explanation for Kerry not carrying his own bird: he went on the hunting trip to appeal to pro-gun hunters in Ohio and nearby Pennsylvania, but not at the expense of the anti-hunting, anti-gun, pro-animal rights groups that populate Kerry’s own base. So it was permissible to shoot the bird off camera, claim victory, but no photos of Kerry with his kill. And what will happen to the goose? Kerry "later told reporters he’ll have the goose shipped to his farm near Pittsburgh."

I contrast this whole fiasco with a couple of conversations I’ve had just last week with friends and neighbors about hunting. One is an avid hunter though he confesses that he more enjoys “just messing around” out in the countryside than the actual kill. His freezer is still half full from last year’s deer hunt so he probably won’t pursue the deer too vigorously this year, just enjoy the time outdoors. Another noted that in general he likes the “being out in nature” aspect of hunting more than the actual hunting and killing, Still, as an airline mechanic for going-down-the-tubes USAir who has suffered a hefty pay-cut in recent years, perhaps bagging a deer might be more welcome than usual. This seems consistent with many hunters I know. Of course some are stereotypical bloodthirsty Bambi killers. But many more like the hunt because it represents a break from the everyday routine, a chance to get out with the guys, a chance to see nature at its finest. Hunting becomes much more a social ritual than a food-obtaining necessity.

Kerry’s goose hunt had none of those elements. No yearly gathering of the guys. Probably not even any close friends along for the trip. No quiet contemplation in the blind. It was simply four guys tromping into a field, blasting away at some geese, and a carefully managed photo-op return. Why?

Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said it's important in the final days of the campaign that voters "get a better sense of John Kerry, the guy." That means the Democratic senator is spending some of the dwindling time before Election Day hunting, talking about his faith and watching his beloved Boston Red Sox.

That about sums it all up: a fake photo-op by a fake sports fan as a means to "get a better sense of John Kerry, the guy".

Except for the fact that I can’t resist pointing out the class implications of the whole hunting affair. Kerry’s adventure resembles nothing so much as a British nobleman (or a Manchu Emperor) hunting with servants beating the bushes before him and carrying the carcasses back so they can be sent to Kerry’s farm in Pittsburgh (what then? Do the servants get to eat them?).

“But what about Bush?” you might ask. Again, I’m voting against Kerry, not for Bush. But even then, I can point out that Bush is the least wealthy of the four major presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Moreover, of the four, Kerry fits far more comfortably into the cultural and social stereotypes of the top 1% he so criticizes. Furthermore, for all his manifold failings, I cannot imagine Bush pulling the reverse of Kerry’s "Can I get me a hunting license here?” In a formal banquet attended by European heads of state Bush is probably a tad bit more formal and polite but it is impossible for me to imagine Bush launching into soliloquies in French, quoting mediaeval poetry, or commenting on how the 1956 Bordeaux lacks the exquisite bouquet so cherished in the 1955. I can imagine watching game three of the World Series with Bush, giving him a hard time for trading Sammy Sosa, and actually enjoying the experience.

...

Still here?

If so, there’s another angle of this need to pander as a “regular guy.” Corollary #1: John Kerry may be a musician, but he is not a music fan. As is probably well known by now, John Kerry played bass for a high school band, the Electras.

Now I don’t play bass. And the fruits of a few years of piano lessons have all but disappeared. So I can make no claim to be a musician. But I have been, and still am to some extent, a music fan. And as such, I could do nothing but groan at Kerry’s answers to music-related questions in a hot-off-the-press Rolling Stone interview.

Who are your favorite rock & roll artists?

Oh, gosh. I'm, you know, a huge Rolling Stones fan; Beatles fan. One of the most cherished photographs in my life is a picture of me with John Lennon -- who I met back in 1971 at an anti-war rally. But I love a lot of different performers.

Do you have a favorite Beatles song -- or Stones song?

I love "Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar." I love "Imagine" and "Yesterday."

At this point, I suppose it is appropriate to define what I mean by “fan.” A music fan is someone who actually purchases albums and listens to them. A fan might even read about music (in Rolling Stone or other places), talk about it with friends and acquaintances, and attend concerts. Having said that, and given Kerry’s answers above, we are left with two alternatives:

1) Kerry is a music fan who has purchased many albums over the years (given his income, the number of albums could be truly astounding) which he listens to at least from time to time. And, of all the albums, all the music, his favorite rock and roll bands are the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And his favorite songs range from “Satisfaction” to “Yesterday.”

OR

2) Kerry isn’t really a music fan and was desperately reaching for the names of the bands and songs that all the cool kids liked when he was in high school, college and ‘Nam.

I find the likelihood of #1 being an accurate description of events to be small for the following reasons. First, most music fans are also music snobs. They can confess actually liking mainstream bands (and the most mainstream songs of those bands) only under extreme duress and even then only as “guilty pleasures.” For Kerry to break this cardinal rule of musical snobbery would be extremely out of his pander to anyone in the room character. Second, there probably is something more than mere snobbery to the tendency of music fans to appreciate more obscure bands and songs. Real music fans actually listen to their music, repeatedly, frequently. And as such, the most popular songs and bands are inevitably heard far more often. Thus, even if someone started out just loving “Yesterday” twenty years ago, the song may not maintain its appeal after the 1000th listening. For Kerry to sing the praises of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Imagine” lo these many years later makes sense only if he doesn’t really listen to them (or any alternatives) all that often.

The Rolling Stone interviewer hits the nail on the head with his follow-up query:

You're a greatest-hits kind of guy.

Being a “greatest hits kind of guy” is a statement that from the perspective of a music fan/snob damns with faint praise. We all may like certain band’s greatest hits (my favorites in this category are probably the collections of Steve Miller and Tom Petty) but we will also be sure to follow that up with the declaration that we also like artists beloved of the rock critic crowd like Elvis Costello or Bjork. But for Kerry, this could give him something of an out, a way to square the circle by noting something like:

“While I did enjoy rock and roll when I was younger, I’m now 60 years old and have been a U.S. Senator for the past 20 years. As such, it has been my sad lot to hear far more opera and symphonies (which I also quite like) than rock music.”

In his actual reply, Kerry goes half-way down this road, in his “try to appeal to everyone while offending no one” style:

My favorite album is Abbey Road. I love "Hey Jude." I also like folk music. I like some classical.

So there, snobbish Rolling Stone interviewer! Kerry’s favorite album isn’t a greatest hits compilation. Of course “Hey Jude” isn’t actually on Abbey Road, but Kerry could have been referring to the album (a hodge-podge of Beatles tunes released in the States), not the song. But he also likes folk and classical. Nothing wrong with that and his eclectic tastes might go far to explain why he has yet to mention an album or song released since 1970. But then he has to follow it up with this:

I love guitar. Oh, God. I mean, you know -- Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Buffett . . .

Not “I like guitar.” Not even “as someone who enjoys strumming a six-string myself, I like guitar,” but “I love guitar.” And who occupies the pantheon of guitar gods for this guitar lover? Jimi Hendrix is a perfectly acceptable guitar god. But Jimmy Buffett? Sure he “Strums his six-string/on [his] front porch string” as well as anyone. There are plenty of reasons why one might like Jimmy Buffett but I have seldom if ever heard of his guitar playing mentioned as one of them. So, again, we’re left with the alternatives of either Kerry is an eclectic music aficionado who regards Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Buffett with equal regard, or Kerry is a wannabe poseur who couldn’t even come up with Jimmy Page as the next guitar-playing Jimmy in his frantic stream-of-consciousness attempt to appear hip. Or, if he were aiming for the valuable acoustic guitar-strumming Jimmy fan vote, he might have mentioned Massachusetts’ own James Taylor as one whose acoustic guitar playing is rather more central to his sound than Buffett’s is.
Even the very friendly Rolling Stone interviewer knew when to cut his losses with a

OK -- enough.

Yes, this is enough. None of this is terribly significant. Kerry’s lackluster Senate record and his uncertain foreign policy stances are far more significant determinants of why I am forced to vote for the badly flawed Bush. But I do find Kerry’s unwillingness to simply be who he really is a bit troubling. And it occurs to me that one reason why Kerry’s Vietnam experience has so clearly resonated with him is because it is the one time that he was closer to being “just one of the guys” than any other time in his life. But even four months in Nam don’t make him “one of the guys.” And NOT being one of the guys might actually increase one’s suitability for the presidency. But not if you keep trying to have it both ways.

UPDATE: Kerry continues to demonstrate how closely he watches his "beloved" RedSox (via Ace of Spades):

Twice on Sunday, the Democrat said he was basking in Boston's 10-9 win in Game 1 the night before.

Problem is, the Red Sox won 11-9.

"Ten-9, the Sox did fabulous," Kerry said with a big smile as he ducked into church Sunday morning in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Inside, the minister had asked worshippers to clap "if the Lord has done anything wonderful in your life this week," and Kerry applauded.

"Coming from Boston, I had a special reason to clap," Kerry explained to the congregation when he took the pulpit. "The Red Sox won 10-9."

As my favorite season of the year progresses, the view out my back window becomes even more delightful.

View from the back window 

And, in the spirit of the season, here are some pumpkins carved by my far more artistic sister and brother-in-law.

jacks 

Much better than this offering. A good way to scare kids away from one's doorstep I suppose.

Metanoiac has some insightful thoughts on the subject.

An interesting though hardly representative case of the reactions of red country to a Kerry-Edwards t-shirt vs. those of blue country to a Bush-Cheney one. Snippets:

In my Kerry-Edwards shirt, I enter Red America certain that I am on the verge of inciting to rage a gang of angry yachtsmen who would soon be strapping me and my lefty leisurewear to their mizzenmast. Instead, I encounter only shades of indifference—head shaking, "crazy idiot" expressions from older, very wealthy, very white folks in Newport Beach; terse nods from the middle- to working-class citizens of Bakersfield, which seem to indicate that people here have much bigger things to worry about than whatever is on my stupid T-shirt. In Bakersfield, surprisingly, there's little indication that we are near the eve of an election: I see a total of two campaign bumper stickers, one for Bush and one Kerry, and one elderly lady with a huge Bush button pinned to the jacket of her pantsuit. Despite a recent visit from Dick Cheney, presidential politics seems to have bypassed Bakersfield, and the locals are not about to let a mere T-shirt drag them into the muck.

...

Dressed to impress in my Bush-Cheney T-shirt, tote bag, and "W." button, I first stop at Silverlake's Über-cafe, the Coffee Table. "The Table," as it is known, is the daytime HQ for the area's writing community—the bed-headed brigades of aspiring indie auteurs who hunch over their laptops, whispering pitches back and forth like state secrets. I stand in line for a soda; my T-shirt first makes contact with the locals as the server, a rather prim-looking Asian-American man, double-takes at my unabashedly partisan display, his smile freezing into a look I can only describe as bracing for me to pull out an assault weapon and open fire. I order, pay, and walk with my Diet Coke through the restaurant, taking a seat on the patio that puts me and my garb on prominent display for the 20 or so patrons. A wave of distressed glances ripples in my direction, but I remain unmolested. Yet as I finish my soda, two hipsters saunter past. One of them, untucked shirt hanging over his jeans, gapes at my shirt and mutters, "Asshole," only slightly under his breath.

Again, not terribly representative but interesting nonetheless.