Ah! to be in Columbus, Ohio, in the Summer, when the Democratic Presidential campaign starts!

It is a truism that at election time, the extremists on either side of the aisle move to the center to appeal to the most voters. On July 25, Hillary Clinton moved to the Center.

In Columbus, Hillary accepted a leadership post on the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist group that helped get her husband elected President. She asked for a "cease fire" between liberal and centrist factions in the party.

It's a smart move on Hillary's part. Let's face it, the majority of Americans are afraid of Liberals. All it took for Bush the Pater to defeat Dukakis was to make sure the "Liberal" label stuck. Well, that and Dukasis' tank ride. Bush tried the same technique on Clinton, but was undone by his broken "No New Taxes" pledge. Clinton the Pater learned this lesson, and in his first speech as President, he apologized for raising taxes, and said that we, as a nation, had to contribute more. (Nice touch, that: making taxes a contribution we make.)

So, where does that leave Clinton the Mater? Why, it leaves her jockeying for the center, where she will appeal to more voters. It will be interesting to see how well she succeeds in spite of the venom the Right heaped on her while her husband was in office.

I should make it clear here that i didn't vote for bush in 2000 so much as vote against Gore. Tipper Gore, that is. Seeing Frank Zappa testifying before Congress about the dangers of his music put me off her and her husband. What we got is a rating system on music that guarantees kids will get the highest rating they can get their hands on. Same thing is going on with video games, today. (In most states, beer companies cannot put the alcohol content of their product on the label, because The Powers That Be are afraid we unedumacated masses will chase the alcohol. But they require wine to have the alcohol content on the label. Screwy, huh?) In fact, Hillary "It Takes a Village To Raise a Child" Clinton recently said that parents, and not the village, needed more help protecting their kids from video games. (If a parent has to have a chip in their TV and a rating on a video game to help them raise our kids, then we're in a lot worse trouble than pixelated hookers can generate. Ah! for the 80s, when music wasn't suggestive. Remember April Wine? They had a great, wholesome tune about lost love called "If You See Kay." In the 80s, they knew how to conceal the dirty words on the radio: they spelled them!)

Wow! Three parenthetical comments in one paragraph. I thinks that's a personal best!)

POCKY!

what flavor pocky are you?
[c] sugardew

When I was an exchange student in Japan, I discovered Pocky. Pocky are little breadsticks covered with a frosting. I discovered chocolate Pocky first. Then, when I found Strawberry Pocky I was transported back to my childhood! Remember Strawberry Quick? I gorged myself on Strawberry Pocky.

Why do i bring this up? Because our new Wal-Mart carries Pocky! Chocolate and STRAWBERRY!

OMFG! Strawberry Pocky!

Do you realize how much I had to cheat to get the quiz to tell me I was Strawberry Pocky?

I've discovered a new toy for my desktop: Konfabulator! This is so much fun! And best of all, it's free!

There are over 600 widgets. Most are regional widgets: traffic in certain metro regions, or news in German; but there are some great time wasters, too.

Give it a spin!

I love and hate the History Channel. On weekends, there's often something interesting to watch. But on weekdays. . .

Here's what I have observed:

Monday is Hitler Day. On Monday, for example, was a mini series about the SS. Last week, it was "Last days of World War II." I'm sure the umpteenth repeat of World War II in color will be next week.

Tuesday is True Crime Day, with "Famous Murders" and "Organized Crime: A World History".

Friday is usually World War II Day redux, this week rerunning "Hitler's Women". That means that next week "Hitler's Children" will be run. Glad I have to work that Friday.

Since I always work on Wednesday and Thursday, I assume that's when they rerun shows like "The History of Britain," or "Founding Brothers," or any of the really good shows they line up for sweeps week. But somehow I doubt it.

C'mon, History Channel! Find us something else to watch during the day!

For all my rants about Wal-Mart, I still shop there. I live in a tourist town. Of the four local hardware shops around when I was growing up, there's well, none left. Oh, sure, we have an Ace Hardware, but everything else is upscale or for tourists.

Well last week, we got ourselves a Super Wal-Mart. My dad decides he wants to buy some groceries because "I have some money." We go to Wal-Mart and load up the cart. When we get to the check-out, he tries to buy the groceries with the card.

It declines.

He starts the confused "I have the money" speech we all make when the card declines on us. Finally I whip out my check book and write a check for $170. One Hundred and Seventy dollars earmarked for credit card payments.

*Sigh*

Two steps forward, one step back.

I feel so much better. I let Tom Hanks use my voice, and now, Poverty is History!

Thanks to Live 8, the G8 agreed to forgive some of the debt in Africa. (I read in one blog, when I didn't know I was going to write about this, that in Nigeria, this means that Nigeria will have to pay $9 million in 10 days, instead of its regular payment of $3 million for the year for the next twenty years. Sounds like we're gonna be getting a lot more "requests for help".)

Anyway, we can all feel smug and self-satisfied that we shamed the governments of the 8 industrialized nations to forgive the debt, but did nothing to solve the root causes of poverty in the world, including the greed of warlords and crime bosses. As these thugs continue to grow richer at the expense of their fellow citizens, we in the West can "High Five" and "Chest Bump" each other with our success about ending poverty.

Good job, guys.

I finally have all my comic books together in a convenient place, so now I can, hopefully, make more money on eBay by selling groups of comics. Before, I would open a box and pull out what few were related, and sell them. Now, I should be able to pull, for example, all my Defenders comics, and sell them as one bunch.

Of course, I have to actually get motivated to organize them.

Ooooo! TV!