This jumped out at me through the glory of Google news: Kerry seeks new tactics on war in Iraq, while Cheney prefers destruction!

Cheney needs to understand that military force does not always solve conflicts and a more sensitive approach does not have to mean a soft option on terrorism. His comment "Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed" is a good example of a man who is not prepared to explore all the options.

Now, we all know that Dick Cheney's Alive, but even the Rooskies have realized he's also over the effin' top.

If you wanna do something to get a more sane international posture going, get involved in this election. I know some of you have been considering it, and I've gotten a lot of kudos for doing what I do from friends and family, but the truth is that if it's just me it's not enough. Many of you will have to step up in some way (there are tons of options! ask me if you need help!) if we're really going to get things working right here in this country again.

If you've ever considered becoming politically active, now is the time to go for it. Who knows; it might even be fun.

It will all come in a rush when it comes, I know it will. There's a lot of content still rattling around in my head, building pressure and weaving itself into ever finer, more intricate and more fragile patters, the kind of cobweb divinity that's too easily swept away by flourescent day-to-day distractions.

As I step out of the shower and set my nightcap (scotch) on top of my 17-pages of top secret polling data, I feel like a fake. The reasons are obscure, but probably owing to my recent entre into professionalism, I feel a little less transparent. This little comment thread on MfA led me to remember this page, which I find actually interesting to read.

Am I worried about propriety? My reputation? My job security? I don't link to this area all that often, though I could. And then there's this page, which hasn't gotten any updates lately, let alone a stray href.

There are a lot of stories to tell. My last little relationship, my last few flings, my summer vacation, my country fiar, the trip to the DNC, my cousin's wedding and family catchup. There are ideas bubbling around, questions about identity and career and meaning and truth and art and love and fear and the innefible puzzle of human nature. These thoughts though, they're ephemeral, fleeting; potentially deep, but never complete enough to satisfy.

So it rattles around, slowly crafting a mental picture. I don't have the insight or time to express everything now, but it's beginning to move forward in my mind, and when it comes out it will come out in a rush.

I like finding scraps of young Kerry. He's obviously quite a lot less outlandish than me, but maybe that's a bonus for someone wanting to be president.

So I'm trying to get to Philly this weekend to see my cousin get married, and life being what it is -- can you say 60-hour work week? -- I've left my travel arrangements to the last minute. I'm looking around for a flight, and everything's looking expensive, so I go search travelocity (which I haven't used in ages) and lo and behold there's a last minute deal that's comparatively pretty sweet.

I jump on it. Only problem is, when I get the confirmation email back, I realize the dates of travel are two weeks too late. Oh man. So I call the 800 number, which instructs me to send an email.

That's annoying, but I send it. I get a response back in a couple hours giving the standard line about terms & conditions and all payments being final, and it's impossible for the system to switch the dates and blah blah blah. In the mean time, I've looked around and found no other deals, so I go back through travelocity and watch the whole thing like a hawk and I get the deal I want for close to the times I want, so at least I'm going to the wedding.

Still, I don't want to pay for travel I'm not going to use, and the line that "it's impossible for the system to switch dates" seemed a little suspect. I send them another email explaining and asking for a refund on the first purchase.

I also decide to do some investigating, and I come up with two interesting cached browser pages, which I take screenshots of:

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Can you spot where it went wrong? In hindsight I can too, but in the moment, I trusted the travelocity web application, and I didn't painstakingly review my itinerary before clicking confirm. I looked and made sure the times were right as I was booking an overnight flight, but since I have no reason to even suspect that the travel dates had changed I didn't think to closely examine them.

You see, I trusted the machine. I had no reason to believe it was programmed to screw me, and no reason to believe a major player like Travelocity would deploy buggy software. I now have reasons to believe.

And so it comes out that they'll cancel my order, but they're going to stiff me on $100 penalty they pass on from the airline and the car rental place. There's an unsatisfying call with their customer service department, but no movement on this fee. Bottom line: because of a bug in their software (pretty clear something's fucked with their system), I got a switcharoo put on me, and because I didn't catch it, I'm out $100.

Ok, allright, fine. Legally, I think they're probably in the clear. Their customer service people need an attitude tune-up, but what else is new. The point is, if this is standard operating procedure for corporations getting online, this has pretty bad implications for the future of e-commerce. Essentially it means that the user (me) can place no trust in the systems put in place by the service provider, and that I should assume that even though I'm dealing with a machine, that the machine will attempt to screw me over.

That's not good mojo to be spreading around the net. The ultimate irony being that I just watched Terminator 3 the other day, and I aught to know better than to trust a fucking machine.

I love America.

That guy is SO HAPPY!!!. Go Kerry!

If you have iTunes and you click here you can get a lot of the better speeches from the DNC, including Kerry if you missed it. If you missed it, I suggest you give it a listen.

One of the things I'm going to do with my tape of the thing (taken from the peanut gallery) is match up the best lines with the crowd response, which Kerry often talked over in order to finish on time for the Talking Heads to do their thing at 11. There were a few lines in particular where I think the energy in the hall speaks volumes for what this campaign is going to be like, and I don't think it's something that's come across in the TV coverage.

I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for the fade. At about 8:40pm, it's humid. Lot of water will be needed. And I must say that this place certainly is a trip. Where else could you see Willie Nelson and Joe Lieberman on the same stage within a few minutes of one another, and what does that mean? To be honest I can't tell you.

Veterans are big in the message, but it's not really reading at the moment. Platitudes. Too many plattitudes. Why should we honor veterans, and how? These are not simple questions, especially in the contextual reality that vets wars we feel really good about are in shorter and shorter supply. The Democratic party of 2004 is largely run and staffed by people who either got into the game post-60s, were on the inside in 68, or laughed from the outside in 72. Sometimes I really wonder if these people have throught it through.

The populist sheen of the modern party doesn't read to me either. Here's a highly produced media event, where even getting anywhere near the action requires a laminated pass, where you're not allowed to bring your own sign, and we're clapping and singing along to "you've got a friend."

I want to believe it. I want to, but it's difficult. My hands are huge. Eyes wide open, and it still doesn't come through as real to me.

But I think it is real for the people on the floor. These people are on a trip, and they did come from around the country, from all sorts of states and surprisingly diverse walks of life. They've choreographed little dances to do, and done their best to personalize their delegations. There's pride in the room down on the floor tonight. The inner stratigest in me worries about Hubris, an old nemesis of mine, but Pride can be a good thing too, especially when it comes with such a hometown flavor.

And here, where the political thresher meets the grasroots, the mix still isn't quite where I'd have it, but there's promise.

I have to say Kerry gave me a lot more than I thought he would. He's not my man, but I won't be holding my nose when I vote for him this fall.

More to come as I deal with the fallout and realizations. Expect now a feature-length piece comparing massive rituals like the DNC and the OCF, because I've done them both now, and there are a surprising number of paralells.

I'm blogging about my life and times at the convention over here.

Personally, this whole thing is making me re-evaluate a lot. It's a shake-up and it's good, but it's taking a lot more energy than I anticipated.

Plus, it's national barbie in a blender day. Tell all your friends.

So I met an attractive lady, AJ, who is working security for the convention. In the course of conversation, I foolishly didn't work on a way to get into the big hoopla without credentials. I'm an idiot.

Better luck next time, Koenig.

Oh man.

Got in early; middle-seat meant little sleep on the plane; made the executive decision to seek the spot for my little press event prior to finding my sister's digs and crashing. The great empty 6:30AM expanse of Logan airport was decked out in red white and blue. The town knows how to welcome 40,000 tourist wallets.

Got coffee at the airport. Saw quite a few younger people around who looked like they might have been at the Boston Social Forum. I was wearing a borrowed (and quite natty) suit jacket. Had my high-class social isolation gear: iPod and sunglasses. I am The Other.

My half-remembered mapquest directions proved to be a little off, so I got to walk all along the common, work up a sweat and get the good Boston vibes. On the green line there was a fairly attractive young blonde girl still sporting a Dean pin. I took it to be a sign.

Got to the hotel; more coffee; paid way too much for net access; way too much for breakfast (but I think I saw Mo Rocka) and finished Danny Goldberg's Dispatches from the Culture Wars. Panel was an eerie reflection. There are a lot of passionate, intelligent, professional people working to help mobilize the youth vote. I just wish so many of these fine folks didn't refer to young voters as "they."

Rambled to Allston. Slept too much and dreampt strange festival dreams: bus rides and petty crime car chases; a reunion party and young Frank Zappa. I'm headed back in to the city now to see what's shaking.