U.S.: Does John F'fin Kerry...

have to work hard to sound boring or does it come naturally?

From 1992 to 2000, I never watched a presidential speech because I could not watch Clinton without experiencing a strong sense that the nation was being lied to. Clinton came on and the channel got switched. One time I decided to try and tough it out and watch him do a State of the Union. Ah, the amount of gobar that came pouring out, I never finished watching the speech.

Now, here is Kerry, as scintillating and lively as the back of a spoon. Who can be charmed by such a one? Not me, and not a lot of Democrat voters either. That's why they're depending on the Breck girl to add charm and liveliness to the ticket. However, there's all this blather about the Breck girl being so good-looking and boyish, yadda-yadda.

When was the last time you heard the Breck girl give a speech? I listened to him when he was running in the Democrat primary. Oh, the Breck girl oozes charms and good humor, well coiffed hair, crinkly eyes, pointing fingers and all ... straight out of Arsenio Hall. However, his message is abundantly negative and pessimistic, all delivered with a dazzling flash of even white teeth and crinkled eyes.

He's definitely more pleasant to watch than Kerry, but just as difficult to listen to. Like Kerry who borrowed it from him, the Breck girl utters the rhetoric of class warfare. He speaks of two Americas and making the two one America again. How does he propose to make "one America"? Supposedly it's by cutting taxes for the middle class (the poor don't pay taxes but receive benefit from the EITC) and taxing the crap out of the rich, aka those who make $200K plus.

Well, though I've never made $200K, I lived in NYC for twenty years plus. $200k in NYC is chump change. By the time the fed, state, and city finish picking your pockets; by the time your landlord/the bank, utilities, travel, and all these wonderful things are paid, you're lucky if you have enough money left to buy a pack of peanuts for the monkey! However $200K in North Carolina, where the Breck girl hails from, is a healthy chunk of change. The house you can buy with it differs considerably. The house my family owned in NYC is a batchie compared to the house they now own in another less expensive state.

So, when the Democrats talk the rhetoric of class warfare -- when have they ever not? -- they conveniently forget the cost of living differential that exists across the fruited plains. It is in their best interests to forget that $200K in NYC, DC, or CA is not the same as $200K in MI, MO, or NC.

I never forget that the Breck girl is a trial lawyer by profession, and that he became rich in the pursuit of that profession. That means he's got a smooth line of patter; he can persuade a bunch of people to treat a business's money as though it were toilet paper; and he does this knowing that he, rather than the one who brought the suit, will be the prime beneficiary of mega-bucks payout. What happens to the business which has to cough up the chunk of change for the Breck girl? Who cares? What matters is that the jury has "sent a message" -- I just wish that juries would use e- or snail-mail next time they wish to send a message. No, not all businesses are ethical. Yes, when a business is liable for injury it should pay. However, a business cannot continue to function when it has to pay out all or most of its assets in frivolous lawsuits.... Think about what happens to the employees who belong to the company that received the jury's "message." It's not pretty. The amazing thing is that Democrats don't see the connection between frivolous lawsuits and declining employment.

So, I must confess that I'm not taken in by the Breck girl. Slick and perhaps phony. That's my initial impression. He's been told he's cute, so he trades on it. Another impression. I don't know if I'm right. He's been told he's boyish looking, so he trades on that and does the crinkly-eye thing when he smiles; he keeps the hair looking like he just stepped out from a shampoo commercial.

A lawyer, a good one, is part actor. The Breck girl became a multi-millionaire while practising law. The Breck girl must have some acting ability. Therefore, what you see is not necessarily what is there. Things seen in the mirror are not quite as they appear. Take a look at how he interacts with the cameras. A wave, a flash of teeth, straight face; then, a wave, a flash of.... It evokes Clinton at his friend's funeral (can't recall the guy's name).

Making the Breck girl even more unattractive is he has Bill Clinton as his sponsor, his mentor, his whatever you wish to call it. He's got the Clinton seal of approval as the coming bright star of the Democrats. If I had a balloon, I wouldn't give a blow to anyone of whom Clinton approved. In my eyes, that makes the Breck girl suspect. Is Clinton promoting him because Clinton sees an echo of himself? Or, is there some objective reason for Clinton's support ... for instance, does he see the Breck girl as Hillary's Veep? Heaven knows Lurch won't win.

Anyway, enough of this.

Today, I was sealing the grouting between tiles. I didn't work on the oak floor at all. On the one hand, I missed it. On the other hand, my left shoulder is whimpering hosannas. Tomorrow, I have a webpage meeting, then I go back out again.

That's about 1.15 hours on the road gunning it at around 65-70mph. The last bit of road is winding and the speed limit is about 50mph. Well, I've got the hang of the turns -- there are some nasty ones -- so it's downshift, slight brake, gas into the turn and go. Today I did a bat out of hell routine from the house to the highway junction, about 20 minutes. Sweet! Thank God for stick shift.