22 October 2000
17 October – I woke up at 7h this morning to the sound of banging. I figured that it was the Mr. Fixit who lives next door to me. He seems to have been working on his flat every since I first came here a here ago. However, it wasn’t. It was the maintenance men fixing the water in my building. Hence, it was turned off. It came back on around 8h30, however, it was brown. It cleared up around 9h.
18 October – it’s now 2h55 and I am up again for the last Presidential Debate. This morning it is taking care at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. I love St. Louis. It’s the only good part of that horrible state.
Jim Lehrer is the moderator again and this time it is "Town Hall" style. The questions are provided by St. Louis voters who have been designated as undecided and the actual person who wrote the question is asking it. It started off with a moment of silence in the memory of Missouri’s governor and his son who died in an airplane accident on 16 October near St. Louis.
The first three questions were about health care. Gore started off on the defensive again and attacked Bush in all three of them. Bush directed his response to the 2nd question towards senior citizens and Medicare. The third question was about a national health care system. Gore had proposals that sounded good. Bush said that he was blatantly opposed to one but that everyone should have access to health care. However, he didn’t say what he has planned except a $2000 tax credit.
The next three were on education. Gore said that he saw a day in the future where the public schools are world class. Yeah, right. Tell that to the people who live in poor areas of places such as Philadelphia, New York City and other large cities where schools don’t even have computers. Gore said that his plan gives a $10,000 hiring bonus for new teachers that teach in areas where they are needed. I assume he means poor areas. That would be good. He also said that he is not only for better testing of students as well as teachers for the subject(s) that they teach. That should be done.
The next three were on foreign, military and gun matters. One of them asked Bush why he opposes the Brady bill. He is for instant background checks. He also said that he "thinks we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun." Umm…clueless alert.. juveniles are people under the age of 18. THEY CAN’T OWN GUNS! Gore supports a 3 day cooling off period for background checks, which is better, as it would give more time for a though check. There is no way of doing an efficient check instantly at a gun show.
The next was on economy and farmers. Gore seemed quite knowledgeable about farming. Bush just gave information on things like getting rid of inheritance taxes (to help farmers), which he called the "death tax."
The next questions was on the morality of the USA. She was concerned about the violence and bad language in the media, especially television. He is talking about filters on the internet where it is government funded (schools, libraries) to screen out things like violence. Duh. Those things already exist. He doesn’t support censorship, but he said that we should talk to Hollywood about the quality of what they produce. Gore said basically the same thing and also touted his horn about Tipper’s work towards getting warning labels on CD’s for violent content. He also talked about getting a "Parents protection page" on the internet so that parents can, with one or two clicks, can check out the websites that their children have viewed. He said that the problem with filters is that usually parent have to ask their children how to use it.
The next question was about the young adults in the USA. How they feel that they have no say with everyone addressing children and seniors. Gore took a leap to tell about how he supports campaign finance reform and giving the government back to the hands of the citizens instead of in the hands of the big cooperations. Good thoughts, but that won’t happen. Bush’s talk about that was on bi-partisanship and about getting someone in the office who would tell the truth.
The next question was on diversity. Bush said that he is against quotas. Bush did state that the top 10% students from all high schools are automatically admitted to universities in Texas. He didn’t bother to ask how it is paid for if the student’s family couldn’t afford it. Gore once again stated that he is for hate crime and affirmative action legislation.
The next lady asked how their tax plans would help her, a 34 for your old with no dependents. Gore said that if she earns less than $60,000 per year and invests $1000 in savings account (I assume it’s a retirement account), the government would invest $1000. If she makes less than $30,000 and invests $500 the same savings account, the government would invest $1500. She also would get tuition help and help with heath insurance (I read the latter two as tax deductions). Bush talked a lot of crap. He said that she will be living in a more peaceful world and able to get Medicare when she is old enough. Translation: she gets nothing!
The next gentleman stated, as I did in my journal of 15 Oct, in the first debate about Bush seeming to be proud of Texas leading the nation in executions and asked if that is how Bush had meant to come across. Bush tried to play it down and said that the man was wrong with how he read what Bush was saying. I’m glad to know that I wasn’t the only one who thought that!
The next person was a teacher and was asking, on behalf of his sixth grade class, if the candidates would keep the promises that they are making now. They both said yes. Gore said that he promises the following things: He will balance budget every year, pay down debt every year, give middle class Americans tax cuts, and will work toward improvements on education, health care, protecting the environment. Bush said the he promises social security reform by letting people invest their own money rather than letting the government do it.
Lehrer, on behalf of the debate commission, asked viewers to vote for which was the best debate style at www.debates.org. I liked this format the best. It gave the voters an actual voice in the debates for once. Imagine that...the people who are actually being represented got a voice in their government! What a novel concept.
All in all, I’m glad that I got up to see the debate. Also, I was able to make a test for a class, so I won’t have to do it later when I wake up for the second time today. It’s now 4h45. Back to bed I go.
I wonder if anyone really trusts Bush as far as tax cuts go, after his father’s hypocritical "No new taxes" statement.
