Hey -- did you know there was an election yesterday?
Somebody joked recently - I cannot remember where, so I may very well be repeating it back to the same crowd - that if when Obama wins the election, we'll no longer be able to tell that we're in the future in movies with a black president.
I'm pretty sure it was better-phrased when I heard it, too.
I'm pleased with the way things went with our neighbours to the south these days. (And I attribute my understatement solely to how freakin' tired I am today!) I'm especially pleased, let me say, with the projected voter turnout! Some states are recording that 70%-80% got out and voted. Which is either a very good sign for active participation in this democracy, or an indication that the voting machines were strongly rigged the other way, for a change!
I can't help but feel a little bad for Alaska: their polls closed an hour after Obama gave his victory speech. Can you imagine going out to vote, knowing that your vote for president won't change a thing? Mind you - that's what they get for being a west-coast state with a 10pm poll closing time, I guess.
Speaking of Alaska: Wikipedia has Ted Stevens holding onto his Senate seat, despite that recent conviction on counts of "making false statements," (i.e., not declaring several bribes gifts he received while in office). There's something to be said for political dynasties, I suppose.
Truly baffling, then, are the successes of Prop 8 in California, and Amendment 2 in Florida. What's with the hate, people? It's not a matter of defending what you have, really, since this doesn't change what you have. Voting "Yes" on either of these ballots is a matter of taking away what others have. How can that be justified under any banner other than spite?
We had a few people over last night, to watch the election. It was a good time - I even ordered CNN high-def for the evening, so that we could see the spiffy holograms. All of the Star Wars/Star Trek jokes have been made, so I'll just say that as a gimmick, it worked. It kept us tuning back to CNN in eager anticipation of the much-vaunted technology.
Politics is a bit odd among my friends. Most of them profess to be quite left-leaning; a couple of them are right-wing, but keep the politics to themselves. But there are a couple of the would-be-lefties who, I can't help but feel, are just Republicans/Conservatives in waiting, either because they don't want to risk the group's disapproval, or because they just haven't thought through their own stances on the issues enough to realize that they really are more interested in individual achievement than they are in helping those around them. (I know that that is a glib description of the trade-off between left- and right-wing, but it's a shorthand that I find useful in understanding each side's position on a large number of issues.)
I'm pretty sure it was better-phrased when I heard it, too.
I'm pleased with the way things went with our neighbours to the south these days. (And I attribute my understatement solely to how freakin' tired I am today!) I'm especially pleased, let me say, with the projected voter turnout! Some states are recording that 70%-80% got out and voted. Which is either a very good sign for active participation in this democracy, or an indication that the voting machines were strongly rigged the other way, for a change!
I can't help but feel a little bad for Alaska: their polls closed an hour after Obama gave his victory speech. Can you imagine going out to vote, knowing that your vote for president won't change a thing? Mind you - that's what they get for being a west-coast state with a 10pm poll closing time, I guess.
Speaking of Alaska: Wikipedia has Ted Stevens holding onto his Senate seat, despite that recent conviction on counts of "making false statements," (i.e., not declaring several bribes gifts he received while in office). There's something to be said for political dynasties, I suppose.
Truly baffling, then, are the successes of Prop 8 in California, and Amendment 2 in Florida. What's with the hate, people? It's not a matter of defending what you have, really, since this doesn't change what you have. Voting "Yes" on either of these ballots is a matter of taking away what others have. How can that be justified under any banner other than spite?
We had a few people over last night, to watch the election. It was a good time - I even ordered CNN high-def for the evening, so that we could see the spiffy holograms. All of the Star Wars/Star Trek jokes have been made, so I'll just say that as a gimmick, it worked. It kept us tuning back to CNN in eager anticipation of the much-vaunted technology.
Politics is a bit odd among my friends. Most of them profess to be quite left-leaning; a couple of them are right-wing, but keep the politics to themselves. But there are a couple of the would-be-lefties who, I can't help but feel, are just Republicans/Conservatives in waiting, either because they don't want to risk the group's disapproval, or because they just haven't thought through their own stances on the issues enough to realize that they really are more interested in individual achievement than they are in helping those around them. (I know that that is a glib description of the trade-off between left- and right-wing, but it's a shorthand that I find useful in understanding each side's position on a large number of issues.)