If the cops want to look at my sweaty gym socks, they're more than welcome...   It doesn't make me feel "violated" at all.  Bombs, however, make me feel violated.

Link: New York City: NYCLU sues city over subway searches.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed suit against the city to keep police from searching the bags of passengers entering the subway, organization lawyers said.

Link: NY1: Top Stories.

A New York Times poll released Wednesday morning finds the mayor's approval rating has reached 50 percent – his highest level ever – though similar to improved numbers seen in other recent polls.

I just want to point out that, on June 13, 2003, Bloomberg had a 24% approval rating--the lowest rating since the NYT started taking polls in the first place.  It just goes to further prove my theory:

Self-made billionaires who couldn't give a crap what anyone thinks who have the business savvy to make tough decisions with the long term in mind make great mayors.

This random linking epidsode, combined with some screaming protesters on the street at Union Square last night make me thing that one of the problems with our country, and maybe even the world, is that we spend way too much time criticizing other people and debating issues and not nearly enough time actually creating positive change in our immediate lives.  How much money was donated to political campaigns this year by people who have never given a dime to any charity in their lives before, or even worse, never having given any of their time to any charity.  I try to help people around me...   that's why I want to write the book, that's why I do these mentoring programs, and that's one of the reasons I like the Boathouse.  Not everyone has to spend time in a soup kitchen for it to be a worthwhile charitable endeavor.  Just treating people right would be a start. 

Ask yourselves what are the last three selfless things you did for other people?  Stuck for an answer?  What about the last time you criticized someone or attacked them personally for their political views? 

Now, that's not to say you can't have views and support politicians that represent your views, but the level of derisiveness that we've sunken to has to stop, especially since so few of us are doing our part as quality human beings.  This is not a glass house we should be throwing stones from, people.  Go spend more time with your family and close friends.  Be supportive of them.  Go do something nice for someone... go show your appreciation for someone.  Give of your time to a charitable, as oppossed to a political, cause.  Helping people is the most non-partisan activity you can take on, and there's not enough of it.  Was John Kerry going to save the world? End homelessness?  Comfort the sick?  Take in the tired, the poor, yearning to breathe free?  No, and neither will George Bush.  Its up to each and every one of us individually to, as Ghandi says, to "be the change we want to see in the world."  I'm so sick of everyone being so negative and critical.  And I do it, too, so I'm not saying I'm perfect.  One of my new goals is going to be to encourage people to find positive solutions to as many simple, immediate problems as they can find.  Let's not waste any more time debating this bygone election.  Neither candidate was a great man, and I'll debate that with anyone.  We don't have enough great people around because it seems easier to knock people down than to aspire to be great. 

Who is a great person that we can all get behind?  Is Barak great?  I don't know.  Sein seems to think so.  I honestly don't know enough about him, but his blog is on my FeedDemon.  He's holding town hall meetings and he's asked for commentary on his site.  I think the most important comment was simply, "Thanks for asking."   I never see my local counsel people except for election time.  They're supposed to be representing me, but I don't see them asking me what I think.  I'm trying to get Fordham to do some polling or town hall type things to see what the alumni base is thinking.  Feedback.  Great people are great because they ask a lot of questions and strive to inform themselves about their constituencies.  Great marketers know their audience, and great politicians should be spending half their time in their own districts just talking to people.

I think I'm going to try and make an appointment with my local counselpeople just to talk and see what's on their mind, find out what they do, etc.  I think that would make for interesting blogging.  Let's see what our representatives are up to.

We have a first today at the site...   Someone random linked to me. 

I was looking at my referring sites and noticed a site a didn't recognize.  I have no idea who this person is, but he linked to my post regarding "the big red middle."  I'm not going to defend my opinion for two reasons:

1)  I shouldn't have to.  I posted my feelings and I wasn't knocking anyone else's feelings.

2)  The comment obviously wasn't meant to be serious political analysis and commentary.  Anytime I end a post with "warm, fuzzy feelings" and "Go Rudy" you should be intuitive enough to realize I'm not being serious.  Truthfully, that's how I feel, but it was a silly, offhand comment.  If I was posting a more serious assessment on the reasons why I think Rudy Giuliani would make a better President than Hilary Clinton you'd be able to tell the difference.

Obviously, people's opinions differ from my own, and I respect that.  What I can't stand is people who will personally attack those whose opinions differ from their own.  The random guy who linked to me went on to describe the Midwest, which supported Bush in large numbers (4-8% in a controversial and highly contested presidential election is a pretty solid margin as far as I'm concerned... ), in the following manner:

"That big red middle you got your mandate from, a lot of that "red" is sand, dirt, rocks, water, and three guys with AK-47s!  Do you really think every square mile of this great country has the same population density? Dear Lord no, you can't be that stupid, can you."

I'm sorry, but that's just really offensive.  My best friend is from Wyoming and she's a lovely human being.  I understand the nature of population density and we can debate this all we want, but the bottom line is that Bush won and Kerry lost, no matter how you slice it.  What's not necessary is to rip on anyone's personal opinion.  I don't think anyone was stupid for voting for John Kerry.  In fact, I was a Kerry voter, just barely, for a good part of this election, and it wasn't until the debates that I ran out of patience with him.  I don't think anyone would be stupid to vote for Hilary Clinton if she ever ran either.  I personally dislike her (greatly) but the best part about our country is that we're all free to express our opinion.  There's no need to characterize people in Middle America as three guys with AK-47s.  That's just offensive and disrespectful, and there's nothing that can justify that.  We're one country, and while we don't always agree, we should respect each other and take each other seriously.

Also, there's no need to characterize me as Republican.  I'm a registered independent and I'm pretty liberal on a number of issues.  Frankly, I think political parties should be banned and I'd like to just choose based on each candidates individual criteria, rather than their ability to tow a party line.  That's why I like Bloomberg.  Let's be clear, now.  Mayor Mike is a Democrat.  He switched parties to run in the mayoral election and avoid a very crowded Democratic slate of hopefuls.  He could care less about political parties, because he's rich enough to care less.  He says what he feels and does what he feels is right.  I respect that.

Anyway... I will give the random linker credit for an amusing headline to his post.

"This is going to be stupid.  I can feel it."  Highly amusing.

I wonder how he found my blog.  Perhaps now that I've posted this, he'll come out of the woodwork and post a comment on my site as opposed to just talking behind my blog.  :)

So Jeff the Intern says to me today, "I'll bet you Hilary is glad that Bush won, so she can run in 2008."

I just looked at that little map with that huge red section in the middle and said, "Look at this country. Look at how much red there is in the middle. They couldn't get John Kerry elected... there's no way in hell that this country elects Hilary Clinton. No way in hell."

And that gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Go Rudy.

"WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration decided Friday that it will impose a quota on sock imports from China -- the latest round of an increasingly bitter trade dispute with Beijing -- showing a willingness to protect American workers ahead of the election.

Trade has become a hot issue on the campaign trail with President Bush, an unrepentant free trader, accusing his Democratic opponent John Kerry of being an "economic isolationist." Mr. Kerry has countered that Mr. Bush has not done enough to protect American workers from unfair foreign competition."

Besides being amused that we might have a sock shortage or that the price of socks might go up (which really effects me because I wear two pairs of socks at a time), I'm TOTALLY confused. Admittedly, the only thing I remember about our trade policy was the steel tariff--and I extrapolated out of that that Bush was the protectionist. Am I wrong here? I know I've heard Kerry bash outsourcing, but I just assumed that Bush was protection minded as Kerry was. If Bush is the free trader, then that's one more point for Bush in my book. Free trade is good. Outsourcing is good. We all benefit in the long run when things get done more cheaply. We can't offord to "protect" American jobs. We need to make America more competitive and make people want to buy American products. If you don't buy American, don't complain when we have to ship jobs oversees. If you don't drive a GM car, don't blame us for closing plants, because if we don't close them, the whole company goes under and lots more people lose their jobs. Its that simple. I think everyone should be forced to take an economics course so that people understand how capitalism and free trade works.
Its just like the flu shot. First, EVERYONE wants it. Then everyone wants it for FREE. On top of that, then they want to be able to SUE the drug companies if you get sick from it, which is a stated risk. And on top of that, people want MORE life saving drugs to hit the market. Someone explain to me how this is supposed to work without tanking the entire publically traded healthcare sector, dragging down all of our retirement money. It just doesn't add up and neither does protectionism.

I can't wait to go in tomorrow and check FeedDemon to hear everyone's debate posts. I don't think I'll have anything groundbreaking to add, so I'll just post the post debate IM exchange I had with Brian. I do have a lot to post about a Regis focus group that I went to, but I'll hold that one for another day. Maybe I'll write it tonight and give the debate a few days to blow over.

Ceo21: Any useful insights from the debate?
cuth23b: I thought Bush was excellent
cuth23b: Kerry didn't answer a damn question the whole night
Ceo21: I hate to admit it
Ceo21: but
cuth23b: I think Bush clearly left you with the impression of "If you care about keeping the homeland secure, I have to be your man"
Ceo21: I think I'm voting for Bush now
cuth23b: I think I am too
Ceo21: Kerry has lost my vote
Ceo21: and he had it by default to start out with
cuth23b: Kerry's done nothing to get my vote
cuth23b: EXACTLY
Ceo21: and he's shown me nothing
cuth23b: So frustrating
cuth23b: Is it something with the Democratic party
cuth23b: Where we can't have a candidate
cuth23b: who's not a Clinton
cuth23b: say something of substance
cuth23b: Bush spanked him
cuth23b: He pointed out mistakes
cuth23b: He hammered home his points
cuth23b: You had clear takeaways from Bush
Ceo21: Its not even that
Ceo21: I'm not sure if Bush was THAT good
Ceo21: but
cuth23b: And Kerry says NOTHING
Ceo21: Kerry is just such a zero
cuth23b: He's got no energy
cuth23b: Nothing that draws you in
Ceo21: They needed what's his face
Ceo21: the screamer
cuth23b: Dean
Ceo21: Dean
Ceo21: yeah
Ceo21: Dean would have had this election won
Ceo21: if the media wasn't such a bunch of fucks
Ceo21: and told people
Ceo21: that this man
Ceo21: was psychotic
Ceo21: because he screams
Ceo21: look at this country
Ceo21: we all scream
cuth23b: hahaha
cuth23b: We're a soundbyte culture
cuth23b: And he gave the perfect soundbyte
cuth23b: And got f'd
Ceo21: Jesuits batting .367 tonight
Ceo21: nice 4 hit night from Monroe
cuth23b: Yeah yeah ...
cuth23b: I'll have you collect money from Carpet Munchers
cuth23b: for your winings
cuth23b: haha
cuth23b: http://www.nytimes.com/
cuth23b: look at the ad in the middle
cuth23b: that cost a few bucks
cuth23b: to time it with the end of the debate
Ceo21: I'm reading Kerry's Plan for Iraq
cuth23b: There's a plan?
Ceo21: http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/iraq.html
Ceo21: Yeah... its on the website
Ceo21: b/c
Ceo21: to be honest
Ceo21: he keeps referring to it
Ceo21: and
Ceo21: I'd never heard it
Ceo21: so I figured he had to have it written somewhere
Ceo21: I can't say its really anything groundbreaking
Ceo21: and the funny part is
Ceo21: It talks a lot about building coalitions
Ceo21: working with other countries
cuth23b: Yep
Ceo21: but his plan for N Korea
cuth23b: Alliances
Ceo21: is just the opposite
cuth23b: with countries he just spit on
Ceo21: 1 one 1
Ceo21: Oh, and by the way...
cuth23b: Ah, the bi vs. multi lateral approach
cuth23b: Which was quite entertaining
Ceo21: How fucked are the Sudanese?
cuth23b: Like [Ed. Note, the name of the person mentioned had to be deleted -- even though it was funnier with the real name in there] during fleet week
Ceo21: Neither one of them cares at all.
cuth23b: haha.
Ceo21: No one seems to care.
Ceo21: I feel really sorry for those people
cuth23b: I agree
cuth23b: How can ya not
cuth23b: May do a happy hour tomorrow after work
cuth23b: good seinfeld on .... talk to ya tomorrow

So that's basically it. I really wanted to vote for Kerry... well, check that, vote against Bush, but I realized that's not enough. You need your candidate to show you at least a minimal amount of substance to earn your vote. I held the bar so low, and Kerry still can't step over it. He talk's in vague generalities. We're supposed to be working more with other nations, but yet he wants to add more military divisions, and work with North Korea one on one. And, on that note, why are we even discussing North Korea? Do they harbor terrorists? Has anyone tied them to al queda? I just find it so unlikely that, even if they did have a nuclear weapon, they'd ever use it.. and more importantly, use it against us. Call me naive, but I think that we're well past the days of fearing sovereign nations attacking us with a nuclear first strike. Besides, we make a big deal about everyone else dropping the bomb, yet we're the only ones ever to do it against another country... and we did it TWICE. I don't think whether or not China sitting at the table regarding North Korea should be how I differentiate my candidates... and unfortunately, that's just about the only difference of opinion of substance that I could actually detect tonight between the two of them. And, here's the thing about Bush. Can we all get past the idea that somehow he lied to us? Thus far, no one has been able to rationally explain to me why he would do that? Let's suppose, for a moment, he knew there weren't any weapons in Iraq. Why would he go to war then if Sadaam wasn't really a threat?

For oil? That's hard to believe, because oil is way more expensive now, and oil production doesn't even seem to be a central focus of the rebuilding effort. I would have thought that, if this was a war for oil, we'd be paying less than $2.39 a gallon for it by now.

To revenge his Dad's failure? I'm sorry, that's just stupid.

To give Halliburton something to do? Again, while I'm sure there's been lots of favorable treatment of certain companies over others, its not the reason why we're there and I don't believe it has effected policy decision. The idea that a president would fight a war so that corporations would get money... well.... if I believed that kind of nonsense, then I wouldn't be working for GM now, would I... the biggest, baddest corporation out there. :) PS... How is it possible GM doesn't get blamed for terrorism by being an LP in Carlyle. Its amazing that Michael Moore missed that.

So, at the end of the day, I've basically supported Kerry because I disagreed with Bush's political views--yet respected him for his conviction. I don't care about his view on gay marriage, because an amendment will never ever pass, so I doubt his view is relevent. He shouldn't be wasting his time on it. I also think he shouldn't be mucking around in stem cell research either, but I won't swing my vote over, contrary to Kerry's statement tonight, unproven science, even though I think it should be allowed.

So I've been waiting.... waiting for Kerry to show me something. I wanted to see a clear and consistant vision.. detailed plans and ideas. He keeps talking about having a "Plan for Iraq." Check the website. Read it. Too many people are against the war and therefore think that by voting against Bush, they're voting against the war. Look at the plan. Its written well, but doesn't really say anything, and certainly doesn't seem to contradict much of what's going on there now. It doesn't say bring troops home. Perhaps we could be working more with other people, but then again, Kerry seems to criticize most of Bush's attempts to work with others anyway. Not only with North Korea, but with the search for Bin Ladin, where apparently we're not suppossed to use Afghans who actually know the territory, and instead, use US troops. You know who had detailed plans? Perot. He bought TV time to walk us through them, point by point. Maybe they can't do that anymore... I'm not sure. But Kerry could put streaming video on the web. Give us something, John, because so far, I just haven't seen anything. Just because I disagree with Bush on a lot of issues doesn't mean you automatically have my vote. Yes, the war became a mess, but I'm not sure Kerry has presented a clear plan to fix the mess. I don't know if anyone actually knows how. Is the mess Bush's fault? I don't know. I think he had a lot of people telling him there were more well thought out plans. So, perhaps Bush should be forced to replace his staff... and maybe that's what Kerry should be telling us---who is going to be on your staff? The Bush cabinate screwed over the war... tell me who you'll get that's better than what Bush has. (Seems to be a low bar there.)

I could go on, but basically, I'm a very disallusioned Kerry voter thinking really hard about how I'll be casting my vote. I may disagree with Bush, but I respect him for his conviction. I don't respect John Kerry... I don't disrespect him either. I'm indifferent, because he hasn't shown me why he's anything better than what we have now.

What's clear to me is this:

We have two pretty crappy candidates for president... AGAIN. I can't wait until Giuliani runs in '08.

The Sudanese are royally screwed. Obviously, neither candidate could give a shit about these people. It was so obvious in the answers to their question on it. Kerry's answer was, "Let's talk about Iran" and Bush was like, "We're already doing some stuff and we'll continue to do some stuff." Kerry said it can't become another Rwanda. I dunno, John, 50,000 people are dead already... how many more do you need to think that maybe its heading that way. Screw Iraq. Screw North Korea. If I was running, I'd jump out there and say that 50,000 people are dead and we need to fix that right now. I'd pull all my troups out of Iraq and just say, "Look, fix it yourself." What's the worst that could happen? Would 50, 000 people die there? Doubtful. I'd take them all out of Iraq and send then right to the Sudan and fix things there, because that's the greater risk of loss of life. Iraq won't survive unless it decides to help itself, and you can't run a country for someone. Anyway... that's all I have to say.