Now I'm thinking President Bubba better resign. He's lost his commanding respect and authority, so he should get out of the way. (Shame Hillary can't assume power.) Internationally, the affair is making the US look ridiculous. Though dull, Al Gore is smart, and being the incumbent he'll guarantee a Republican loss in the Y2K election (that is, if civilization persists through the turnover). The polls reflect what's been reported all along - about 60% express approval and think Clinton's doing fine, vs 30% who can't stand the man and think he should get out. I imagine these numbers (at least the 30%) can mapped to Republican party affiliation, with some consistency.

Heard Larry Josephson interviewing Studs Terkel the other night. Studs was talking about his political stance, which he labels "Radical Conservative". Conservative in the sense that he wants to conserve the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, clean air and clean water... As for Liberal, he emphasized the definition of the word, and how can you not be Liberal? Liberal means generous - you mean you're a skinflint? A tightwad? Liberal also means being tolerant and broad-minded - you mean you're not? You're an intolerant pinhead, like a redneck? He was showing how the words have been corrupted, and lost their meaning. These definitions illustrate what makes the Christian Right (or the Wreligious Wrong) so hypocritical - their uptight selfishness is at odds with Jesus' teachings.

Here's a real cheesehead. The link's a collection of the bombast from his newsgroup postings - he's kind of a humorless Ignatious <1> of Usenet. Someone's reaction to this site on la.eats, where I first became aware of the guy in a discussion of "French Press" coffee-makers, was "That page is a window into one of the saddest lives I can imagine."

Felt very isolated, alienated and desolate upon waking this morning; slight, steady mood improvement as the day wore on. One cause: initiation of friendly phone calls is much reduced recently, especially at work - since I can now be overheard I dislike making them. After the office move (which happens in ten days) that environmental dynamic will change, but it's doubtful to be an improvement. Speaking of the office, the new inhabitant which I complained about previously has turned out to be quite pleasant. As has so often occurred with me, I eventually enjoy the company of people I initially dislike. Just takes a while for their true charms to be revealed.

Curious British vocabulary discovery: they call the shoulder of the road the "verge". Gives a whole new meaning to being "on the verge". (But I guess that's where the expression came from.)