Yesterday I had an extended e-mail argument with my cousin over the candidates and Israel. Adam had taken it upon himself to e-mail the entire family with his beliefs - something that I, until this point and despite of my present employment, had not done. Adam's argument wavered from point to point, but it was the basic "John Kerry's bad" without any facts to back it up. There's been the traditional winger buzzwords: "Flip-Flop" "nuisance" "global test" etc. But what it ultimately boils down to is those who believe peace is possible, and those who believe war is inevitable. For those such as Adam who carry the Likud party line are going to share George Bush's black and white ideology. But for those who recognize that diplomacy has worked in the past, and can work again with a statesman in the White House - then peace is not just possible but probable. The best example I have is from 1993 to 2000, there was an average of 25 Israeli civilian deaths per year. From 2001 to 2004, there have been over 1000 Israeli civilian deaths. This is due to George Bush giving a blank check to Ariel Sharon, as a pander to a domestic constituency group. Add one right wing noise machine shouting "Democrats are bad for Jews!" and you have the current situation.

And us Dems were caught off guard! After all, the Democratic Party has been a friend to the Jewish community and to Israel for years! We've never argued that the Republicans are bad for Jews (despite anti-semites like Ulysses S. Grant, Nixon, James Baker, and Pat Buchanan) - just George Bush!

I can't believe there's a new Grand Theft Auto game out, and it barely registered on my radar. Once the election is over, I fully intend to spend a couple of days playing the latest incarnation of the series - but I'm still shocked that I didn't pre-order or dash out to the store for it. Not that I have time to play it anyways.