the day after Election Day
Wow! I had a great day yesterday (the 8th) - let me break it down!
It started with me staying up into the wee wee hours watching the midterm election on CNN. (By the way, the only channel I could get that really covered it was CNN (we don’t have Redne- Fox News on regular cable here - in fact, I don’t think it’s legally available in Canada at all, but I could be mistaken) - either CBS or ABC ran a bar underneath their regular programming and NBC seemed to have nothing at all. I didn’t check FOX, nor CW. (Incidentally, we had UPN on digital prior to the merger with WB, but our network affiliates are all from Boston (except FOX, which comes in from Rochester, NY - and KTLA from, uh, L.A.) and WSBK in Boston went independent - KTLA was WB and now it’s CW and I think it’s some obscenely high number on the digital box downstairs and therefore I never watch it.) Anyway, it was a bit disturbing that (it seemed, at least) in order to watch a third of the American government change hands, said American would have to have cable. Wha?
Anyway, CNN did a pretty fair job and had excellent interviews. But around 3am Lou Dobbs and Wolf Blitzer went home to bed and these other guys came on, and they were totally novice. Their graphics were hours old and I could hardly believe it was the same network. I guess it was a good chance for me to finally put the TV on mute and get my position paper done.
I can’t forget about Stephen Colbert - I was too concerned about the real results to watch him for very long, but I loved his appearance on John Stewart when he said how it was a great night to be a Republican, and that Republicans were elected across the board in every state but Minnesota and D.C.. He put up this map:
Stewart quickly pointed out this was from the 1984 Regan-Mondale presidential contest. Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny. Oh, and before I forget, here are some recent related and unrelated gems from The Onion:
Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections
Bush: Thousands Of Registered Democrats Needed For 'Extremely Important' Mission
Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrats
YouTube Clamps Down
Flustered Bush Misses Air Force One Flight
Some things I noticed:
- Arizona proclaims English as its official language. I don’t know much about Arizona - is the English language so endangered there that it needs protection?
- An interesting Democratic pickup in Ohio: Sherrod Brown goes to the Senate with a 452,691-vote victory over Republican incumbent Mike DeWine, a margin of 12%. In 2004, Kerry lost Ohio by a paltry 118,775 votes (a margin of 2.12%). If Kerry carried Ohio, he would have won the Electoral College while losing the popular vote.
- Any Americans who got out and voted have my total, undying respect. You guys have to vote for everything from Congressperson to Dogcatcher! I was really impressed with some of the LJ blogs I happened to read, and how much thought people put into the various ballot initiatives. I hope this doesn’t sound condescending, but the rest of the world has this silly notion that Americans are apathetic about politics. As notions typically go, though, the truth becomes more complex as you look a little deeper. Plus it doesn’t really matter what I say anyway - I’m just a fly on the wall here, and not one who’s into doing a lot of research. =) Anyway, you LJ bloggers rock!
Oh, speaking of the Senate - provided we exercise every day and take our vitamins and never leave the house, we may live to see ours turn into an elected Senate, which raises the question of how we elect it. Do we stick with the “regional” representation we have, which would cause the more populated western provinces to cry foul? Do we go with strict proportional representation, which would cause us Maritimers to cry foul? Or do we take a cue from the Republic and elegantly elect a set number per province? (I guess you’d need five from each province just to get to 50 senators, though - with a more reasonable two per province you’d have a 20-member MicroSenate. If traditional Senate attendance is any indication, we could have a compound problem!) The ultimate solution will probably be some sort of compromise, but if we implemented the third system, you could picture Peter Mansbridge saying gravely, “Tonight control of the Senate comes down to one seat - the Liberals and Conservatives are now locked at 9 seats apiece (with one for the New Democrats)… all eyes are on: Prince Edward Island! We take you now to our correspondent Kevin ‘Boomer’ Gallant, at the polling station in Charlottetown where a Holstein ate yesterday’s ballots. Kevin?”
If the Canadian Senate actually became relevant again, it could initiate a regular practise of selecting cabinet members from the Senate. (Oddly, we do have one mainstream cabinet minister serving from the Senate: The Honourable Michael Fortier of Québec. He was appointed largely to give cabinet representation to Montréal.) Sir Mackenzie Bowell was Prime Minister from 1894 to 1896, and he served from the Senate.
(I’m starting to see Wikipedia articles referring to the 80s and 90s as “the 20th century.” Boy, does that make most of us feel old, or what?)
Anyway, so on with the day. I finished typing my paper and went to sleep around six, and then got up at ten, washed my hair in the sink, and made it to my class right on the dot. We had a particularly good class; there were times when I didn’t particularly like this course but the professor really showed her human side today, and it was refreshing.
Then I went to the library and fell asleep reading an essay on Dickens’ London. I came late to my Chaucer course, coffee in hand, but that was okay because the professor was later! =) I got my second test back - 28/30, an A! Huh, maybe I have a future in Middle English. And after class P. came along and told me I ought to MSN her. I shall.
Then I went to the Gorsebrook and met my Newfoundlander buddy Jeremy. We kept it to just two pitchers this time, and we had a great long chat. But then Tara came up behind us at 7:25 and said to me, “You missed your class.” Huh? (She was in this class too; but she was going to Toronto this morning and needed the time to pack.) So here I am in November, looking at my course schedule, and sure enough, it starts at 7:00. Why did I think it was 7:30? It must have been because that’s when I had to leave the last time we got together.
So I come into the class, get the lecture (two hours of it, anyway, if not the whole 150 minutes), write the quiz, and get a pile of them back, including a 6/5 and some others I’d forgotten I’d even written. I didn’t get my review back - the one I finished at two in the morning in the campus computer lab - because my professor wants to copy it and show it to others. I think I’d better show some appreciation for this treatment and show up on time next week!
Lastly, I popped by to see Catherine with the purpose of borrowing back my cd / cassette deck, needed to listen to Great Expectations (unabridged and seventeen hours) this weekend. So I got that, we chatted for a bit, and then I rescued a spent ink cartridge from her garbage and went home.
What a great day! And now it’s three and way past time to go to bed.
It started with me staying up into the wee wee hours watching the midterm election on CNN. (By the way, the only channel I could get that really covered it was CNN (we don’t have Redne- Fox News on regular cable here - in fact, I don’t think it’s legally available in Canada at all, but I could be mistaken) - either CBS or ABC ran a bar underneath their regular programming and NBC seemed to have nothing at all. I didn’t check FOX, nor CW. (Incidentally, we had UPN on digital prior to the merger with WB, but our network affiliates are all from Boston (except FOX, which comes in from Rochester, NY - and KTLA from, uh, L.A.) and WSBK in Boston went independent - KTLA was WB and now it’s CW and I think it’s some obscenely high number on the digital box downstairs and therefore I never watch it.) Anyway, it was a bit disturbing that (it seemed, at least) in order to watch a third of the American government change hands, said American would have to have cable. Wha?
Anyway, CNN did a pretty fair job and had excellent interviews. But around 3am Lou Dobbs and Wolf Blitzer went home to bed and these other guys came on, and they were totally novice. Their graphics were hours old and I could hardly believe it was the same network. I guess it was a good chance for me to finally put the TV on mute and get my position paper done.
I can’t forget about Stephen Colbert - I was too concerned about the real results to watch him for very long, but I loved his appearance on John Stewart when he said how it was a great night to be a Republican, and that Republicans were elected across the board in every state but Minnesota and D.C.. He put up this map:
Stewart quickly pointed out this was from the 1984 Regan-Mondale presidential contest. Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny. Oh, and before I forget, here are some recent related and unrelated gems from The Onion:
Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections
Bush: Thousands Of Registered Democrats Needed For 'Extremely Important' Mission
Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrats
YouTube Clamps Down
Flustered Bush Misses Air Force One Flight
Some things I noticed:
- Arizona proclaims English as its official language. I don’t know much about Arizona - is the English language so endangered there that it needs protection?
- An interesting Democratic pickup in Ohio: Sherrod Brown goes to the Senate with a 452,691-vote victory over Republican incumbent Mike DeWine, a margin of 12%. In 2004, Kerry lost Ohio by a paltry 118,775 votes (a margin of 2.12%). If Kerry carried Ohio, he would have won the Electoral College while losing the popular vote.
- Any Americans who got out and voted have my total, undying respect. You guys have to vote for everything from Congressperson to Dogcatcher! I was really impressed with some of the LJ blogs I happened to read, and how much thought people put into the various ballot initiatives. I hope this doesn’t sound condescending, but the rest of the world has this silly notion that Americans are apathetic about politics. As notions typically go, though, the truth becomes more complex as you look a little deeper. Plus it doesn’t really matter what I say anyway - I’m just a fly on the wall here, and not one who’s into doing a lot of research. =) Anyway, you LJ bloggers rock!
Oh, speaking of the Senate - provided we exercise every day and take our vitamins and never leave the house, we may live to see ours turn into an elected Senate, which raises the question of how we elect it. Do we stick with the “regional” representation we have, which would cause the more populated western provinces to cry foul? Do we go with strict proportional representation, which would cause us Maritimers to cry foul? Or do we take a cue from the Republic and elegantly elect a set number per province? (I guess you’d need five from each province just to get to 50 senators, though - with a more reasonable two per province you’d have a 20-member MicroSenate. If traditional Senate attendance is any indication, we could have a compound problem!) The ultimate solution will probably be some sort of compromise, but if we implemented the third system, you could picture Peter Mansbridge saying gravely, “Tonight control of the Senate comes down to one seat - the Liberals and Conservatives are now locked at 9 seats apiece (with one for the New Democrats)… all eyes are on: Prince Edward Island! We take you now to our correspondent Kevin ‘Boomer’ Gallant, at the polling station in Charlottetown where a Holstein ate yesterday’s ballots. Kevin?”
If the Canadian Senate actually became relevant again, it could initiate a regular practise of selecting cabinet members from the Senate. (Oddly, we do have one mainstream cabinet minister serving from the Senate: The Honourable Michael Fortier of Québec. He was appointed largely to give cabinet representation to Montréal.) Sir Mackenzie Bowell was Prime Minister from 1894 to 1896, and he served from the Senate.
(I’m starting to see Wikipedia articles referring to the 80s and 90s as “the 20th century.” Boy, does that make most of us feel old, or what?)
Anyway, so on with the day. I finished typing my paper and went to sleep around six, and then got up at ten, washed my hair in the sink, and made it to my class right on the dot. We had a particularly good class; there were times when I didn’t particularly like this course but the professor really showed her human side today, and it was refreshing.
Then I went to the library and fell asleep reading an essay on Dickens’ London. I came late to my Chaucer course, coffee in hand, but that was okay because the professor was later! =) I got my second test back - 28/30, an A! Huh, maybe I have a future in Middle English. And after class P. came along and told me I ought to MSN her. I shall.
Then I went to the Gorsebrook and met my Newfoundlander buddy Jeremy. We kept it to just two pitchers this time, and we had a great long chat. But then Tara came up behind us at 7:25 and said to me, “You missed your class.” Huh? (She was in this class too; but she was going to Toronto this morning and needed the time to pack.) So here I am in November, looking at my course schedule, and sure enough, it starts at 7:00. Why did I think it was 7:30? It must have been because that’s when I had to leave the last time we got together.
So I come into the class, get the lecture (two hours of it, anyway, if not the whole 150 minutes), write the quiz, and get a pile of them back, including a 6/5 and some others I’d forgotten I’d even written. I didn’t get my review back - the one I finished at two in the morning in the campus computer lab - because my professor wants to copy it and show it to others. I think I’d better show some appreciation for this treatment and show up on time next week!
Lastly, I popped by to see Catherine with the purpose of borrowing back my cd / cassette deck, needed to listen to Great Expectations (unabridged and seventeen hours) this weekend. So I got that, we chatted for a bit, and then I rescued a spent ink cartridge from her garbage and went home.
What a great day! And now it’s three and way past time to go to bed.