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Kerry in Missouri...

"This is the Show Me state and we're going to show George Bush the door," Kerry said. That and a closing reference to a presidency that "will have an attorney general who is not John Ashcroft," the former Missouri governor and senator, got the biggest cheers of Kerry's 25-minute stump speech. For the most part, though, the crowd was polite and upbeat, not roused. With the exception of a handful of rabid Kerry supporters in the crowd, most seemed to be shopping for a candidate.   Salon.com article

We could always resurrect Mel, I guess.

Missouri is an important test for the emergent Kerry not only because its 74 delegates are the largest prize in Tuesday's five primaries and two caucuses, but because it's such a crossroads. Part Plains, part South, part industrial Midwest, Missouri is a classic swing state, one that can go either red or blue in November. It's also, with South Carolina and Delaware, among the first states in which Kerry is competing for significant numbers of black voters.

Crossroads. Schizo. Whatever.

"I decided that I could live with Kerry and I wanted to know more about him," said Jim McLaughlin, 84, a retired bank examiner and veteran of World War II, where he was a pilot. "I like him, but I'm a Bush-hater. I just don't understand why there's so many people that haven't caught on to what a phony Bush is."

Man, Jim, I wish I could tell you that the reason was something that left you able to think America might wake up and recover, but I don't have that much faith in the "so many people". I think those people are either getting a piece of the Bushco pie (which has to be a very small number of people) or nationalistic, fearful, other-hating, homophobic toads. And my elder son. (Please, I am still trying to figure that one out.)

And I just heard that one of our congressmen is so homophobic, and apparently believes enough of his constituents are as well (and they probably are), that he can push lobbying for a reduced budget for the University of Missouri system (which has been reduced for the past two years already) on the gounds of its policy of non-discrimination against homosexuals. !! And these people think the Taliban are extreme? I haven't found out yet which congressperson this is, but I'm looking.

In April '02 the Missouri House voted to reduce the University of Missouri's budget by $500,000 because of a KOMU-TV (which the University owns) policy that said on-screen reporters could not wear patriotic pins and ribbons. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the KOMU news director instructed staff not to wear patriotic items on screen in order to maintain the appearance of journalistic impartiality. And boy was there a stink about that. Rep. Martin Hohulin originally proposed cutting $5 million out of the $444 million University budget for that unpatriotic faux pas. Because of a "patriotic pin" decision, made by a TV station manager, the Missouri legislature cut the University's budget.

Well, we did elect a dead man to the senate. We do things differently here in Missouri.

Can we please just go back to the middle ages tonight and get it over with?

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.