Future Debates Cancelled Due To Lack Of Interest

The remaining two presidential debates were canned only ten minutes after the completion of the first debate tonight. "This was just God-awful television," stated Snodly Nosedorf, president of the Debate Channel. "I mean, these guys weren't even trying. I told the guys to mix it up for better ratings. And whoever did the audience warm-up will never work in TV again."
Meanwhile, hundreds of viewers were taken to hospitals complaining of coma symptoms. "This is the worst TV coma incident I've ever witnessed," said Dr. Huey "Burrito" Johnson of the Northside Hospital in Alpharetta, Georgia. "The Brady Bunch Reunion was bad, but this is way worse."
Also, the major networks issued apologies for not cutting away. According to one TV exec, "We couldn't find the movie 'Heidi'.' We looked everywhere. People were just yelling, 'get the damn movie, find it quick!' We were just too late."
Debates for other races are now in doubt. The networks are afraid that audiences having such a bad experience with this debate may simply tune out senate and local race debates as well.
Developing. . .

Bush Rejects Debate Prep, Vows To Rebuild Florida Instead

President Bush decided to blow off debate preparation this week. Instead the President will stay in Florida clearing debris and "basically hang out with the folks and maybe score some free bar-b-q." When reporters pressed Mr. Bush about the wisdom of not getting ready for the debate this week with Kerry, Bush replied, "Hey man, when have I ever studied? I mean, I wouldn't know where to begin. You know, all those notes and stuff. What a drag."

Candidates Prepare For The Big Day

Presidential candidate John Kerry practiced for his debate with President Bush today. "I don't see how this will really help, but it sure is fun," Kerry remarked. Shortly after this photo-op, Kerry was hustled inside. Reporters overheard advisers telling Kerry that was not what they meant when they said to practice keeping his eye on the ball. Spinner Johnson of the Kerry camp stated in a later interview, "clearly we have a long way to go."

Kerry Presents His Terror Plan. . .um, it's what we're already doing.

Today, Kerry laid out his plan to combat terrorism. His main points are listed with comments from yours truly. These points were extracted from the USA Today website.

Double the U.S. Army's special forces capacity and speed implementation of new anti-terror technologies.

This is already being done.

Create a national intelligence director's post that included full control over intelligence funding and double the number of overseas clandestine officers.

This is already being done.

"Make Afghanistan a priority again, because it's still the front line of the war on terror."

The fight in Afghanistan continues. Operations on the ground, while low key, are continuing.

Improve global security of chemical and nuclear weapons, particularly those in the former Soviet Union. He promised to secure all weapons there within four years.

Kerry is going to secure Putin’s weapons in four years? Has he asked Putin about that?

Seek a "verifiable" global ban on the production of materials needed to make nuclear weapons and talk directly to North Korea about its nuclear weapons program. "We have to get serious about diplomacy with North Korea, now," he said.

We are serious about diplomacy with North Korea. The countries in that region are better able to pressure North Korea because the North doesn’t see them as a threat. If we engage North Korea in direct talks, we risk extortion. Actually, that’s what they are attempting now.

"Wage a war on terrorist finances," including freezing assets of anyone or any organization "who is financing terrorism."

That’s already being done.

Hold Saudi Arabia "accountable" for terrorist group development there, and work to make the U.S. independent of Mideast oil.

What would that accountability look like? How would that be different than what is already going on?

Improve security in U.S. ports.

That’s already being done.

Deny sanctuary and recuiting opportunities for terrorists.

That’s already being done.

Strengthen and in some cases rebuild alliances with other countries. "If ever the United States of America needed to reach out instead of alienating countries, it is now," he said. Kerry said such action was "not a sign of weakness — it is a sign of strength, and it will make us stronger."

If we alienate countries like France by taking away the opportunity for illegal financial gain (Iraq), then so be it. They still are allies in the fight on terror and there is no evidence that I have seen to show otherwise.

Once again, Kerry has decided to jump into the water to fight the sharks. Rather than running on his strengths, his advisors have convinced him to run on his weaknesses. Will it work? Feel free to comment.

Private School - The Choice of Public School Teachers

An interesting Washington Times article, forwarded to me by PhotoDude, analyzes the phenomenon of public school teachers sending their own kids to private schools. As a teacher, I am not at all surprised by this trend. The report states that, "Teachers, it is reasonable to assume, care about education, are reasonably expert about it and possess quite a lot of information about the schools in which they teach. We can assume that no one knows the condition and quality of public schools better than teachers who work in them every day. They know from personal experience that many of their colleagues make such a choice [for private vs. public schools], and do so for good and sufficient reasons." This is an accurate portrayal of the current perspective of many public school teachers. This goes under the heading “I work at that restaurant and, trust me, you don’t want to eat there.” But why is this the case? There are lots of reasons, but this article will be limited to one area: Stupid Decision Makers and Their Stupid Decisions.

Even though teachers are the ones in the trenches on a daily basis, their opinions about policy, management, curriculum, and school environment are never seriously asked for or listened to. Woe be unto the teacher that steps out of line with a thoughtful critique of any the aforementioned areas. The more control of public education that is usurped by federal entities, the worse the situations in public schools becomes.

See if you can follow the decision making process at the state level. First, some big time politician decides that, in order to give the impression that education is important to him, some new education policy must be created. So he gets some yahoo that hasn’t been in a classroom in 20 years to come up with some absurd plan to increase test scores in reading. He endorses the plan without worrying about whether or not it will work. By the time the plan has failed (and they always do) he will have moved on to greener pastures and the yahoo who devised the scheme will have moved on to another state to implement the plan on another unsuspecting electorate. Now, a whole new yahoo will be changing the school system to yet another new plan and the cycle continues. Meanwhile, the teachers have to implement a plan that was never seriously intended to work anyway.

The second part of the decision-making happens at the near-local level. It is basically the same as the state/national system previously described. It goes like this. A superintendent wants to get publicity so he can go get a higher paying job in another district. By the way, I am not making this stuff up. So he gets a yahoo from the central office to come up with a pinheaded plan to increase reading scores for the district. Of course the plan will not work. But here is the best part. If the school board hates the plan, they fire the super. The unemployed super gets the remainder of his contract paid and immediately gets another job. So he makes money on the failure. If the plan works, that is if he can show some obscure statistic that seems to support his claim of success, he gets hired by another larger school system and gets a pay raise. Meanwhile, the teachers have to implement a plan that was never seriously intended to work anyway.

The third part of the screwed up system is at the most local level. All of the yahoos described above were at one time the principal of a school. As a principal, they wanted to “move up” into higher administration. In order to move up you get must get noticed. And to get noticed you must create and implement interesting and enlightening plans to increase, say, reading scores. You can guess the rest. Meanwhile, the teachers have to implement another plan that was never seriously intended to work anyway.

Private schools are, for the most part, immune from the kind of politics public schools endure. Teachers, while not generally paid as well, do not have to put up with this kind of stupid decision-making process. Private school teachers have more control and input in discipline, management, policy, and environment. This means that their students will not waste time and effort trying to make someone else look good. And that is a good thing. Public school teachers know it, and that is why so many of their kids go to private school.

Hurrican Kerry: Too Eratic To Predict??

John Kerry staked out yet another new position on Iraq this week. Read about it here. Kerry hopes that this position, unlike his previous positions, will have traction with voters. Pundits try to explain Kerry’s latest stance on Iraq take one of three perspective.

The first is represented by comments left over at the Centrist. Some readers, as reflected in their comments about Kerry’s new position, think Kerry is being responsible.

The second is that of the Republicans. The right, with all previous 17 positions in hand, call this the Mother of All Flip Flops. This will be difficult for Kerry to defend against.

Then there is my position. That is, this is just the latest in what will be a never ending whine about Bush and Iraq. Kerry’s people have determined that the middle is too small to fight over and that his campaign needs to pump up the base. His base doesn’t care if Kerry changes his mind on a daily basis. They just want red meat. Give it to Bush and give it good. So Kerry is told that his base loves Howard Dean and that if he could just be Dean without the primal scream he may have a chance. So the rant has just begun. Kerry has learned that he must pillory Bush on a daily basis. The gamble is that if the public doesn’t buy what he has selling, he has lost. Responsible? No way. Flip Flop? Not really. The sum total of Kerry’s comments on the war are such that it is clear that he really has no position at all. By the way, don’t buy into the so-called “troop pull out” time lines. Those are trial balloons to see if they get a positive response. (“They”, being both Kerry and Bush). Remember, this 2004 election is about winning, not ideas. Kerry just figured that out.

The DNC Crystal Ball - Politics Is Gettin' Spooky

John Edwards, demonstrating the DNC crystal ball, describes how he and Kerry came to know about President Bush's intention to call up more reserves after the November election.

In an EduDude exclusive, Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards revealed the new tool in the Kerry campaign. Edwards claimed that DNC Crystal Ball is just the latest weapon to appear on the political landscape. Later, alert Bloggers noted that the crystal ball was actually a yard globe stolen from a North Carolina garden. The Kerry campaign denied all the charges at first and later admitted that the object might indeed be a yard globe. "It's not important that it's a yard globe, what's important is what the yard globe told me," said Kerry during a campaign stop in Grundy, Va. "And I want Mr. Bush to answer the charges made by the crystal globe, um ball."

Some experts are not suprised by this latest political turn of events. Dr. Eddie Porsucker, former political advisor to the Dewey for President campaign, stated in an exclusive interview, "Hell, they're all makin' crap up! You're even makin' up this interview. Hell, boy, I don't even exist!" Developing. . .

Larry, Curly and MOE

The polls are flying fast now. Bloggers are rushing to analyze what they mean. But as you analyze, beware the margin of error (MOE). The margin of error is the “oops” factor of research and reflects the depth, or lack of it, in the quality of methodology. Some MOE’s are acceptable and some are not. In educational research the MOE is usually .05 percent or less. That is if the researcher wants to be taken seriously. In medical research the MOE is must be much lower, perhaps .001%. So lets look at the current polling. Today the Pew and Gallop Polls reported completely different results for the national race. How can this be explained? Well, the MOE for both polls was plus or minus 4%. That is a potential eight point swing. What good is that? There is no information there. Can you imagine using the same MOE for medical research? Break out the body bags!

Of course, smaller MOE's would require more money, a bigger sample and more time. In other words a smaller margin of error would require higher standards of research. So give me a poll with a MOE of perhaps plus or minus 2%. Then I’ll pay attention. Until then it is not news, it’s just “for entertainment purposes only.”

Paralysis Through Analysis

This post is longer than normal, please hang on.

Paralysis through analysis is the inability to make a decision because all evidnce begins to be seen as equal. The more analysis, the harder it is to prioritize information, frustration sets in and, there you have it, paralysis. As a teacher I see this all the time. Sometimes less is more. So here we go.

I have been reading on the web and in the papers about the angst of the undecided voter in this year’s presidential election. So I have decided to throw in my two cents to see if I can help to muddy the water just a little bit more. This election is not about Bush vs. Kerry. This is about Bush, the events that have presented themselves during his presidency, his reaction to those events, and his leadership traits during a time of growing world tension. If the president, after careful reflection, has decent marks in these areas he deserves another four years. Because the next four years are probably going to look a lot like the past four regardless of who is president.

Sometimes it is difficult to see a crisis for what it is. The duration is always a best guess. History tells us that rebuilding countries after WWII was not easy and took many years. The situation in Iraq could still go either way, but my money is on the Iraqi people. The ones we don’t see in the news. The ones who are struggling and dying even now for their country. The Iraqis who are being trained to do the police work, the Iraqis who get up every day and go to work, shop and live the kind of life that our liberation of their country has brought them. This president understands that if the Iraqis have ownership in their country more good things will happen than bad.

The next president must guide us from where we are to where we, as a nation, want to be. He must be able to handle a crisis on the level of 9/11. The rest of the world must see him as a leader who, while may be made fun of as a “cowboy,” is someone not to be trifled with. It’s not that France et. al. do not like Bush. They do not like America. Her strength and vibrant economy, her refusal to give in to silly demands and expectations drives the European community nuts. Why? Because it’s about power. When the Soviet Union was threatening European tranquility the power of the United States was grudgingly accepted to provide balance. Now that Europe doesn’t need our power they no longer want to tolerate it. Bush is right not to give our standing away. He represents the American people and their interests.

I am not happy with the economy, but would it be any better with a different president or is this just the way things are right now? There is a deficit. There is also a serious threat of terrorism that is forcing us to spend money in ways that we had never imagined. There are countries attempting to get nuclear weapons. Putin is attempting to revive an old style Soviet era government. There can only be a peace dividend when there is peace.

How would Kerry handle all of this? Honestly, I have no clue. And I am tired of trying to figure it out.

Would Bush be a great president in any other time? I have no idea. Is he the kind of leader we need during these times? I think so. If you disagree, go look at Kerry or Nader. The “paralysis through analysis” days will be behind you.

Do What What With The What What??

Being new at this blogging thing, I have occasionally run into trouble with understanding how to make things do what they do. Of course being a successful blogger requires a certain amount of logic, skill, and intelligence. So that you may appreciate my faults in all these areas let me just say that my VCR (yes, I still have one) is still not only blinking 12:00 - it always has. Needless to say I have sought out the help of PhotoDude in all things bloglike.
Recently, the Photoguy explained via email how to make a link. Note that I said he explained, not that I understood. I got some of the explanation, like at the end I am supposed to press Enter. Once the pressing of Enter is completed, a wonderful technical thing is supposed to happen. At least I think that's right. I did manage to make things happen on the screen. What those things were I am at a loss to describe. My wife is desperate, for some reason, to do "a back up." That can't be good. Soooo, since attempting to reproduce his recipe, and failing numerous times, I have come to the conclusion that personal attention may be required. Which brings me to the next subject.
Last weekend the wife and I bought a gas grill. Of course it had to be assembled and, just in case I couldn't complete the assembly in English, the instructions were written in other languages as well. One of those languages looked very similar to what most bloggers use to communicate with each other. Anyway, I assembled the grill in less than four days with only six parts left over. Not bad for a guy whose VCR has always blinked 12:00.
I cooked much dead meat and no one got sick. Perhaps then, the PhotoMeister
Hisself might be able to be bribed. A lesson in the language of Bloggerdom in
exchange for a giant portion of cooked dead meat. If any one sees the PhotoDude, let him know. Meanwhile, I'll shine the Dude Signal on the clouds.

Don't Misunderestimate the Importance of Strategery

The campaign season slogs along, looking for anything to whet its appetite. Since substance is boring, we are getting a dump truck load of Kitty Kelley, CBS Memogate, Swift Boat Guys, and a very loud Al Gore. Each campaign knew this would come in some form, yet one of the two campaigns doesn’t seem to know just what to do. Even when the news (can I call it that, really?) seems to be on their side they cannot seem to resist involving themselves in the story and mucking it up. While none of this will make much of a difference in a national campaign, all of it in its totality of information, misinformation and the response to the two does begin to congeal as an image. One of the images each candidate wants to project is that of "presidential." But the individual candidate does not project that image in a void. He is the totality of himself, who he surrounds himself with, what he attaches himself to and, just as important, how he reacts to whatever attaches itself to him.

I’ve said before that the Kerry camp seems to be clumsy at the least and absolutely inept at the worst. Simple rules are being broken. For example, don’t ever, under any circumstances, answer hypothetical questions. Kerry blundered into one when he affirmed that knowing what we know now he would have gone into Iraq. Another truism- don’t ever be your own attack dog, let others do it for you and keep yourself and your campaign out of the fray, has been tossed aside. The DNC is going after Bush’s guard duty, or lack of it, spending precious time and money on a sure loser. To make matters worse, CBS News looks now as a debunked Kerry surrogate on that issue causing thinking people to absolutely ignore whatever the DNC attempts to do with it.

The rules are easy, it’s the discipline to follow them that is hard. Kerry and his people could use a good dose of discipline right now. If Kerry wins in November, it will not be because of this latest round of slung mud, it will be in spite of it.

A Pixel Is Worth A Thousand Words

This is the imagery that is driving the Kerry people nuts. Kerry is hitting back harder and Edwards is finding his role as the attacker. Will it work?

Nanny-Nanny Poo-Poo!!

After weeks of threats and frustration, the Kerry campaign has called an official “Nanny-Nanny Poo-Poo” on the Bush people. This comes after Vice-President Dick Cheney’s remarks that Kerry “makes doody in his pants.” Kerry’s anxieties about his claim that Bush “eats boogers and makes wee-wee on the floor” failed to get any traction, even with the addition of two “so’s your mother” comments in early September, led to this latest outburst.
Meahnwhile, in Ohio, complaints about who gets the most ice-cream in their bowl continues to fester.“This is awful early for a candidate to call an official Nanny-Nanny Poo-Poo,” stated Finnegin McGee, a political expert and author of The Art of Nanny-Poo in Modern American Discourse. “Usually we don’t see any Nanny-Poos until at least mid-October. One this early underlines the division of the country and the frustration of the campaigns.”
Also, the head of the DNC upon hearing that yet another hurricane was heading to Florida was heard to say, “That’s not fair! How come Bush gets three hurricanes and we don’t get any?” When it was explained that life is not always fair the DNC leader fell to the floor into a tantrum until he fell asleep. The Bush campaign hit back with in a statement that read in part, “Nya Nya we get three hurricanes and you don’t get any!” Developing . . . .

The Strategery of Going Negative

The rule of going negative is: Do it right! Whether or not the Bush camp had anything to do with the Swifties must always be a matter of conjecture because Bush denounced the ads and praised Kerry’s war record. That’s called “plausible deniability.”
The Kerry campaign’s endorsement of the questioning of Bush’s National Guard service will produce at least four results.

1) Kerry looks out of touch attempting to bring up an issue that was detailed ad nauseam in 2000.

2) By bringing up the issue himself in the spring of this year, Kerry leaves himself looking petty while Bush takes the high road concerning Kerry’s service.

3) The headlines, which have been full of everything except positive Kerry stories, are now consumed with this new story, with the latest hurricane to follow. Two more weeks gone and Kerry keeps stepping on his own message.

4) If the CBS news documents are forgeries, and from what I’ve read I suspect they are, the Kerry surrogates’ eagerness to embrace them will leave a stain on Kerry - which wouldn’t be possible if he had kept his mouth shut.

All of this leads me to one of two conclusions. The most likely is the Kerry camp is in total disarray about how to proceed with the campaign. They are not where they thought they would be and are behind in states they thought would have been put away by now. The second possibility, and least likely I think, is that the top guns on his staff don’t see him winning unless they start throwing Hail Marys into the end zone. Either way, this is hardly the way a professional campaign behaves. It’s not the negativism, it’s the haphazard dispersal of it. By the way, are there any issues in this campaign?

Video Reveals the Enemy

The video of terrorists rigging explosives in and around children in a Russian school underscores the pure evil of fanatical Islam. No one is too innocent nor deed too dirty for these demons from hell. Hate is their reason, hate is their motivation and hate is what they want the rest of us to see. They want the world to know in no uncertain terms that if they had a nuclear weapon they would use it. They would fight to get in line to be the one to strap it on their backs and the losers of that contest would rejoice in the subsequent slaughter. This is the new reality. It is consistent and persistent. This is not a nut case and his buddy blowing up a building in Oklahoma. Nor is it the occasional lone gunman shooting up an office. This is the new fascism. These guys want to pick up in fear generation where the Nazis left off. Either join them or die.

So we have two choices. We can win or we can lose. Personally I choose win. I don’t know or pretend to know how that will happen. I choose win because the other choice is unacceptable. There will be no negotiation. This will be a battle to the finish. Even though the scale of death is not comparable to 9/11, the Russians now know what we have known. And that is, simply put; there is no getting out of this fight. So we can either bring it to them or wait for them to bring it to us. I prefer the former because the latter is going to happen anyway. If the civilized world wants an important cause to unite us all, this is it.

The people of every country on earth will have to decide how to react. Spain is attempting appeasement. France and Germany got in line behind Spain. Good luck to all of them. They are going to need it. We have to decide the same issues here in the United States. If we can get past the mid-70’s we might be able to discuss it.

Education Not In The Mix

Both campaigns are posturing for an angle, each looking at how best to get and maintain support. But note the lack of discussion about education. Other than job retraining, not much is being said. Each side is staking out positions on terror and the economy hoping that the undecideds will come over to their turf. Meanwhile test scores and funding issues take a back seat. Both candidates understand that momma wants the kids safe first and educated second. With broader topics looming, education just may have to sit this election out.

This is good for Bush, bad for Kerry. Democrats traditionally "own" domestic issues. The fact that some traditional domestic debates are not making it to the surface of campaign rhetoric underscores Kerry's need to hone his message. The fact that both candidates are barely giving lip service to a once hotly debated topic shows that, for now, the Bush campaign is controlling the agenda.

Newsweek Poll has Bush Leading Kerry by 11

The latest Newsweek Poll has Bush leading Kerry by 54 to 43. But it's the internals of the poll that shed some light on the situation.

"In comparing the two presidential candidates, more registered voters think President Bush has strong leadership qualities than Kerry (65% vs. 47%), is more honest and ethical (62% vs. 47%), says what he believes and not just what people want to hear (66% vs. 42%), would trust him to make the right decisions during an international crisis (57% vs. 44%), shares their values (54% vs.42%), and is personally likeable (67% vs. 59%). In addition, more registered voters think President Bush would do a better job than Sen. Kerry on various issues: terrorism and homeland security (60% vs. 32%), the situation in Iraq(55% vs. 37%), foreign policy (54% vs. 38%), taxes (52% vs. 38%), economy (49%vs. 43%), education (48% vs. 42%), and gay marriage (44% vs. 36%). More people say Sen. Kerry would do a better job than President Bush on healthcare,including Medicare (45% vs. 43%) and the environment (50% vs. 36%)."

And this is the conundrum for the democrats. Failing to "state his case" in an easily understood way, the Kerry campaign dithered away time and opportunity. How could a candidate be so ill-defined after a convention? His team has decided to hit back harder. And he has. But who is listening? Could Clinton's heart problems be yet another Carl Rove Creation? It's time for the Kerry camp to get organized and on message. If they can get any one's attention.

A Wake Up Call For Russia

The deliberate evil of the brutal attacks against children will be a wake up call for Russia and Europe as well. President Putin blamed his government for projecting weakness. Stating that (and I paraphrase here) that weakness invites attack. What a harsh lesson. France was stunned that their journalists were abducted and threatened. Why do these countries act surprised? Appeasement has never worked. It never worked against governments bent on cruelty and it certainly doesn't work against the blind hatred of Muslim extremists. Unfortunately the cost of this lesson for Russia is the death of their most innocent.
For a well thought out thesis please see The Daily Whim: The Child Killers and the Gates of Hell

More Bad News For Those Who Want To Be In It

If you are running for office, you want slow news cycles. If you are behind in the race you want slow news cycles in the worst way. Hurricane in Florida, the beginning of college football in earnest and what's going on at LAX?? This is not what Kerry needs or wants. Working through a nuanced message as opposed to simple sound bites, Kerry needs time. And right now time is precious. Meanwhile Bush gets to be on TV doing nice things for Florida, which would not be a big deal if Florida was not in play. To be continued. . .

Can We Get This Thing Started?

The official posturing is over. It is time for the fall campaign to really begin. Of course the questions of who is winning, will win and why will be asked and answered a million times between now and election day. So here is my "official" prediction.

If the fall reflects this past summer, Bush will win and possibly win big. Not because of a split electorate, but because Kerry will not be able to get out the vote. In order for Kerry to win, he must do at least two things. First, he must define himself. He failed to do so at the convention and left the door open for the Republicans to do it for him. Second, he must be able to get people to actually show up at the polls. Kerry has the same problem that Dole had with Clinton. The Republicans just wanted Clinton gone and assumed the rest of the country felt the same. So they were sloppy in their selection of their nominee and the rest is history. The Democrats just want Bush gone and have committed the same error. Kerry is to easy to tag as inconsistent, unsure and liberal. Whether or not these tags are true, they are easy to make into 30 second ads.

So let the games begin! By the way, I enjoy a presidential campaign almost as much as the Olympics. Does that make me abnormal?

Welcome to EduDude!

Welcome to the first EduDude post. The title “EduDude” is a rip-off of PhotoDude, a much better site than this one. See The Daily Whim link under "links." (If you go there, remember to behave). I have always enjoyed politics and I have a degree in education. My problem has always been that in education it pays to keep one's mouth shut. No matter how stupid the latest mandate may be, do not speak your mind. So, after a top secret meeting with the PhotoDude himself, I decided to begin this blog.

To be honest I’m not sure how the technology works and really don’t care. I am still amazed by computer solitaire and a nephew in Virginia keeps me updated on the latest computer games. What I do care about is that I now have a place to anonymously rant about whatever comes to mind. Mostly this site is about politics and education and politics in education. And just for honest disclosure , I am just right of center in the political world. There are exceptions to that rule but there will be plenty of time for all of that later. Please feel free to leave comments. Just be aware that intelligence trumps profanity. And PLEASE, no talking points!