So I voted early on Thursday...for Bush. More on it later.

The CR listserv reports that Gallagher Theater will show Dick Morris' Fahrenhype 9/11 tomorrow at 1600. There's a very good chance that I'll go and see it, as I've been tempted to buy it for quite a while now.

WND editor-in-chief Joseph Farah has always been an influential commentator to me. He's still my favorite radio host, even if I think some of the headlines which have come out from WND only seem far-fetched.

But he's always seemed like the most anti-Bush conservative commentator out there. Now he's endorsing the President for reelection for the sole concern of national security. Not only that, but according to his radio show clip, his daughters are working for Bush!.

Now I'm really going to have to reconsider. Granted, the president doesn't have a constitutional philosophy, but I do not want to serve under Kerry.

So for now, consider my Peroutka link as an endorsement of ideology. His domestic positions are right there. His foreign policy is one of inexperience. He's a lawyer, not a soldier.

Stay tuned. I don't have much time to make a final endorsement, do I?

Tonight played host to a great debate between Sen. John McCain and schoolteacher Stuart Starky. I blasted the third presidential debate for its initiation of absolute boredom along with its lack of civil discourse and actual debate of ideas. Such an attack will never apply to this debate; the level of civil discourse was incredibly good. Both candidates showed utmost respect for each other, with Starky even saying that McCain has done a good job representing Arizona as a U.S. Senator.

Moderating the debate were ASUA president Alistair Chapman, Wildcat editor-in-chief Caitlin Hall, and KAMP director Andrew Record. The format consisted of a two-minute response followed by a 90-sec rebuttal and 30 seconds for each candidate should extended discussion be warranted. Each moderator asked two questions, after which eight audience members were lucky enough to ask their questions.

The questions were surprisingly soft, however. Not a single question regarded Iraq or the war on terror. While the topics inevitably came up, I would have liked to see more discussion over it. Instead, some students asked questions over what kind of benefits they could receive from the federal government (pell grants, etc.) as well as the job security of college graduates. Starky went to far as to state that the federal government should fund full education for students from kindergarten to the sophomore year of college.

But while everybody else asked mostly soft questions, I decided to put them on the spot. I had the pleasure of interviewing both of the candidates after the debate.

Another disappointing factor was the exclusion of Libertarian candidate Ernest Hancock. This would have made the debate even better. Hancock peacefully protested in the back of the theater during the entire debate.

So here's what you've been waiting for. Interviews with the candidates and audio of the entire debate. Have fun.

You will need an Ogg Vorbis compatible player to listen to the files. Windows users can use Winamp. Linux users need no explanation.

Interview with Stuart Starky
Interview with Sen. McCain
Audio of entire debate

And if the server's slow, you should know that I sat through the debate alongside a reporter from the Arizona Daily Star. So welcome to any Star readers who happen to come by my blog. Enjoy yourselves.

Chris Veck also attended and has his thoughts posted on his blog, Chris Veck's World. But I did find it odd that I didn't see Laura Keslar there.

Update: Arizona Daily Star article

Via O'Hara Factor Intelligence Service:

Our action is going to be so great; I can not say it over the listserv (sorry CR mole). The event is next Thursday, October 21st. To get in on our action, meet at the UA SUMC Agave room at 6:30pm. Talk to Alicia, myself, or someone who went to the meeting last night to find out more information. Meanwhile, stop bombarding the listserv and inboxes with RE: Ann Coulter emails!

So there you have it. I'm too well-known from my Arizona Growler days, but maybe one of my operatives can get in there. In addition, it appears that I may inadvertently know one of their leaders. But be there tonight at 1600 for some live debate and asking some tough questions.

No word has been passed over whether Howard Dean may be present at the debate. But if you remember one motto from this post, let it be this.

Dean People Suck.

It's live debate time. Sen. John McCain vs. Stuart Starky. 1600, Gallagher Theatre. Be there.

I skipped the opportunity to conduct a "food raid" last night with a few friends in favor of slacking off and watching the presidential debate.

Good gravy, it was horrendous. I probably fell asleep even though I had prepared a nice meal for myself.

But there was a debate worth watching, and it was on C-SPAN's website. It was Cornell University's third-party debate, featuring:

• Michael Peroutka, Constitution Party (my pick for this election)
• David Cobb, Green Party
• Walt Brown, Socialist Party
• Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Party (about whom I've written before)

If you learn only one thing, note that the biggest difference between the Bush-Kerry debate and the third party debate is that the latter features something known as "civil discourse." This wasn't a battle of "You lied...No, you lied...No, you lied...Dick's daughter's a lesbian." Watch it and then try to tell me to vote straight-ticket Republican. You wouldn't dare.

Heck, I'd vote for the Socialist before I'd ever vote for Kerry.

Euclid Avenue played host last night to an abortion protest/counterprotest just outside my apartment. What I observed is that there's a good way to protest abortion and a bad way to protest abortion.

It's a serious issue, but is it really necessary to show gory images of abortion to children? It's not like there aren't any children in these cars going by, not to mention the apparent slowdown in traffic it generated.

This is the good way. Ask for prayer and contend that abortion kills a human being. I saw the same flag and a different sign at the same location as early as 1300 that afternoon.

The bad way can be found at the hyperlink below. I know kids who read this website, so I'm not going to show them without asking first.
IF YOU ARE UNDER FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE OR CANNOT HANDLE GRAPHIC IMAGES, DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK. THIS GOES FOR YOU, BRO.

And if you're with these people and don't want to click on the link, that's pretty sad. The sign on the right appears to say "Your body, your choice."

But upon further investigation, I'm not sure whether the second word is "body" or "baby". Either way, the logic is completely flawed.

But what followed was also bizarre. Immediately after I took the above picture, two protesters pulled out, after which the counter-protesters pulled out. The people from the "good picture" then dismantled their stuff. I didn't see the journalist taking pictures, either, so I suppose I might have scared them away or something.

What's also intriguing is that the sign (not visible behind the lady in the graphic photo) held by a child of about 12 years of age seems identical with the sign commonly displayed by the infamous "mall preacher", though I didn't notice the mall preacher himself. I'm in doubt over whether he or his organization would be affiliated with this, or if the picture is just publicly available.

Fellow abortion-haters, don't be forcefeeding the images on anybody. I agree that the images can be useful, though. Put them in envelopes and offer the option of looking at the image. It's called dignity.

In the meantime, I don't know whether to expect more of this.

O'Hara Factor Intelligence Service (OFIS) reports that the Young Democrats' official respone to the College Republicans' Ann Coulter invitation will be determined as follows.

The official YD plans for the Ann Coulter event will be discussed at our meeting on Thursday at 7 pm in the Sabino room. Please show up if you wish to partake in the discussion.

There should be a cohesive reaction that furthers our goals, mainly to get Kerry elected. We shouldn't be splitting up ourselves. And in order to do that, we have to get out the vote. We don't have time to spare to sit in a speech a week and half before the election.

More on this as information comes in. In addition, Howard Dean and Raul Grijalva will appear in Tucson on Friday. Details to be posted later. I have to get to Japanese class.

Really?

Via Brain-Terminal, the Internet's greatest conservative filmmaker.

So here we are watching Kerry talk about how we didn't try to get alliances with countries like France, Germany, and Russia, all three of which had money owed to them by Saddam's government. Now I read this in one of my textbooks.

No waters have proven more unpredictable or dangerous in recent years than those of the Persian Gulf. On April 14, 1988, almost a year after USS Stark (FFG-31) was hit by two Iraqi Exocet missiles that killed 37 sailors, USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) was on station in the Gulf when lookouts sighted three mines.

Wait a minute. Exocets? I see. Care to guess where Exocets come from, ladies and gentlemen?

Here's a clue. Not only did Iraq use Exocets against the United States, but Argentina used Exocets against the Royal Navy in the Falklands War. Exocets are also featured in one of the best and worst movies of all time simultaneously, Top Gun. Props to the first person who correctly guesses where Exocets come from.

Bush kicked butt on foreign policy and then lost some momentum on domestic policy. Overall, TKO for Bush. More on the debates and my discussion with friends last night later.

But in the meantime, H.L. Demond is back at his old Flash movie-making! I love the guy. I'll watch him over JibJab anyday.

Maybe debating skills really ought to be taught more in high schools, especially considering the recent responses to anything conservative in the Wildcat opinions.

One letter writer decides to make a side slam against Fox News and say that's also a scare tactic. Does that change the fact that the Young Democrats and Rock the Vote are doing the same thing? Two wrongs don't make a right. Stupidity.

Former columnist Kendrick Wilson, whose role in the paper Brent Berry seems to have replaced, says that Bush saying he will "pursue terrorists wherever they are, 'at whatever cost.'" makes clear that Bush wants a draft. Interesting. Didn't John Edwards say something like that last night? He did say, "I would find terrorists where they are and stop them and kill them before they do harm to us." Then he said, "We want to raise the active-duty forces by 40,000, double the special forces so we can find terrorists where they are, and provide the kind of support for families -- health care, housing -- that they deserve while their loved ones are serving and protecting us."

Well, considering that hardly anybody in the military has respect for John Kerry's record, how do they expect such a large personnel increase without a draft? In reality, a Kerry administration is more prone to starting a draft than a Bush administration would be.

Wilson also exploits the whole "two wrongs make a right" logic by saying, "The most absurd comment in Keslar's column is that Democrats are using scare tactics in order to win the election. I have yet to speak to a Bush supporter who is not driven entirely by fear."

Suppose that I get mugged at knifepoint with only a dollar on me. If I give the guy a dollar, is that out of total fear, or out of the logical conclusion that I'm kind of willing to pay a dollar to avoid getting a knife to my stomach? (actual situation)

Now suppose that he doesn't accept the dollar and says he'll kill me. If I attack and take his knife, is that out of fear or out of the logical fact that I want to gain the upperhand? Moreover, if there is fear, is that fear not rational?

READ THE COLUMN.

"After all, these two bills in Congress have more chance of seeing the light of day than the Linux geek next door has of ever scoring with a girl."
Laura Keslar's latest column

OMG Laura, you did NOT just say that.  No!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. just won the NASCAR race at Talladega and said the s-word during the interview in victory lane. Expect the FCC to be in the news again.