Let's just say that tomorrow we lose Manhatten Island to a nuclear bomb. What do we do? I don't think I have to skirt around the issue of who the bomber would be, it's fairly obvious it would be one Muslim Fundamentalist or another. The question is what do we do? I know, emotionally, that putting away the few in numbers that were actually directly involved would not ease my mind. I'd want something big and bad that kills a whole lot of people and says to the world, "If you kick us, we're going to cut your hearts out and eat them for breakfast." Much of America would agree with me, but that means a huge number of innocents in the Middle East would die. So in a manner of speaking, any further WMD attacks (with 9/11 as the first) on the US from Islamists will be tantamount to suicide for the heart of the Muslim world. I hope it doesn't happen, but I hear rumors that Al Queda and friends consider the reelection of Bush as a thumbs up to total war.

There's a hugely important case being heard this week at the Supreme Court of the United States. Unfortunately the actual subject of the case evinces so many preconceived notions that few in the media are reporting on the true importance of said case. It's called Raich v. Ashcroft, and it's about medical marijuana. At first it seems that's all about, Two women in California got busted for smoking pot, even though they had a doctor's clearance and were fully in compliance with California law. The real issue here has little to do with marijuana, and a whole lot to do with states' rights. If the citizens of a state vote to do something, and the Federal government decides that that something is illegal, does the Federal government have the Constitutional right to push their view on the state government? Obviously there are some issues in the Constitution that are granted specifically to the Federal government, the right to make or break treaties among them. There's nothing in there, as far as I can tell, about organic materials, especially if they are not transported across state lines. In my not so humble opinion, the Federal government oversteps its bounds too much already, and I hope the SCOTUS puts a stop to it.

Turns out the lawyer arguing for my side (libertarian, legalizing drugs side) is Randy Barnett, a writer on one of my favorite blogs, The Volokh Conspiracy. Check it out, and read lots of other interesting items.

With Chanukah coming up, I just wanted to remind all of my readers that I have an Amazon wish list, and you are all welcome to buy me stuff. I even put a new version of the Five Books of Moses up (That's the Torah part of the Bible). The translator said that he tried to focus on the language itself, not the meaning, as most versions do.

Interesting interview about the U.N. and our place in it.

All about the French. And people wonder why so many Americans couldn't care less what the French think. It's because they are the biggest hypocrites on Earth.

Sometimes I wonder what the country would be like today if Martin Luther King Jr. had not been murdered so many years ago. King was a spokesman for peace with sense. I don't think he would have approved of peace at all costs appeasement, nor I do think his message of judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, would fit in with either affirmative action or ideas like the Fair Marriage Act. That would put him against both the right and the left. I have a feeling he would be right up there on stage with Bill Cosby talking about individual responsibility and not living the life of a victim. I think, in the end, he would be far closer to a libertarian than anything else these days.

I don't know what he would think about the war in Iraq. I think it's fair to say that he would be disgusted with the rule of Saddam Hussein, who treated his people worse then blacks were treated in King's day here in the US. I don't knwo that eh would approve of war, but I do think he would consider war a viable last means in certain situations. The more I talk about it, the more interested and curious I am. I may have to do a little reading, see if his views on issues beyond what he is most famous for are published anywhere.

One more thing. I think he would be horrified with the way his wife and children have sullied his name in the race for the allmighty dollar.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

There's been talk in the news about airlines raising prices based on your weight. Today's AJC had a letter from a reader saying something about how unChristian that would be, and fat people are people, too. That doesn't change the fact that when I'm trapped next to a fat person on a plane, a corpulent body which seeps both above and below the armrest, squashing me and making me feel very uncomfortable by the extended close contact with a stranger, they are getting one and a half seats, I'm getting half a seat, and we are paying the same price. That's just not right.


On another note, congrats to Georgia Tech for surviving a huge scare last night against the University of Illinois at Chicago in men's basketball. Going in, I knew it wasn't going to be as easy as a lot fo our early season games, but I had no idea we'd win by just 1 point.

Andrew Sullivan actually says on his blog that the number of troops in Iraq is too important a decision to be left in military hands. Sullivan is a smart guy, but this is one of the stupidest things he has ever said. Far more wars have been lsot because politicians forced military to do things against their good judgement than have been won, that's for sure. Vietnam to start off the list.... Had Westmoreland had free reign to do what needed to be done, instead of having to kow-tow to the bigwigs on the homefront, the whole Vietnam escapade might be remembered very differently. Why would you think that a politician with little or no military experience is better suited to make decisions about strategy and tactics within a front than a trained and educated general with eyars of experience and knowledge in making such decisions?

I was reading Dave Barry's blog this weekend. He pointed out a newpaper article that was also online in which a journalist claimed that bloggers cannot be trusted, that they make lots of mistakes, don't verify sources and facts, and are just all around evil, basically. A lot of mainstream journalists seem to have this attitude. Why did Dave Barry point out this particular article? The journalist spelled his name Berry.

Who is it that doesn't verify facts and makes lots of mistakes?

I finally finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I enjoyed it, but would recommened it to very few people. Unless you are into Napoleonic era English culture, or just love stories about magic, don't bother. It was VERY dense reading, and took me several weeks to slog through, which is very unusual, even for dense novels. Atlas Shrugged only took me three days, and it's a much bigger book.

On Sunday I read The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. Most of you have probably heard of it. It was a good adventure story, though I've read better. but I've read few books that were so masterfully written for the masses. The short chapters, quick action, and creative use of type-setting make what it really a 300 page novel into a 500-something page book, which makes it seem more of a page turner than it really is. If the type was formatted the same way as the above book, it would not have seemed to move nearly so fast. Not that I have a problem with any of this. Borwn did exactly what he set out to do, write a bestseller, and I commend him for that, he it was a yarn I enjoyed.

I started Bonfire of the Vanities late last night. Didn't get very far, and probably won't until the weekend. Too much poker to play until then. I've read a few Tom Wolfe books before, including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and A Man in Full, and I liked all of them. I'm looking forward to getting his newest, My Name Is Charlotte Simmons (Chanukah is coming up, hint hint).

Linda Ronstadt has set herself up for more ridicule. She says the current administration is a bunch of Hitlers. She follows that up by saying that the people who voted for Bush are voting agains their interests, that they like war, and that like pre-WWII Germany, we are suffering from a bad economy and want someone to kick around. What a bunch of bunk! Someone with as little sense of history as her ought not be referencing history. Germany, pre-WWII, was called the Weimar Republic, and their economic woes were far worse than anything we have EVER seen in this country, the Great Depression included. The WWI reparations that the French demanded from Gerrmany made it impossible for their people to get backon their feet. This was one of the major factors in the rise of Hitler. The unemployment rate was unimaginably high, few people could afford to eat decently, and most of those that had some money couldn't find a way to accquire food. It was not a nice place to live, unlike in America where even the worst, poorest neighborhoods are far superior to what can be found in most places in the world.

There's a crazy man that walks around my office building every day around 11 am blowing a whistle. That alone is a bit strange, but what really gets me is his clothes. Yesterday he was dressed in the hat and top of a high school marching band member and a tutu and tights below, twirling a baton in his right hand. Today he was wearing a very nice looking wedding dress, train and all. The funniest part is the way the entire floor of my building rushes to the window when he marches by. The chaos and giggling (I work on a floor that is probably 85% giggly women) last for about 10 minutes.

Soldiers found at least 40 vials of sarin gas in a briefcase hidden behind a panel in a car trunk in Fallujah. Sarin gas is the chemical that was used to kill a bunch of people in that subway attack in Japan several years ago. That was a much smaller amount. What was found here was enough to kill many thousands of people. Slip just one vial of this into the A/C in an office building, and you've got a whole lot of dead people.

Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? All over the place, it's just that, excepting for nukes, WMDs can be so small that they may never find most of them, but rest assured they are there. You won't hear much of this in the mainstream media, because they don't want to admit being wrong, and if they downplay it, they hope people won't realize just how much death even 40 vials of sarin can cause. This sort of thing is exactly reason #1 that Bush decided to go to Iraq. I felt he was already vindicated just by taking out an evil man like Saddam, but this, in a fair and impartial world, should be everything you need to know to admit he was right.

Where there's smoke, there's fire.... There's a lot more of this stuff out there, and a lot more fanatics wanting to use it to kill you.

A woman who worked as a typist for thw writers of the sitcom "Friends" is suing for sexual harassment, alleging that the locker room atmosphere the writers worked in created a hostile work environment for her. One wonders if she ever watched the show? I think it should be obvious that whatever minor sexual jokes appear on the show were ten times raunchier when they first came up for discussion and inclusion in a script. If she actually wins this case, there will be little humor on TV anymore, because writers will not be able to discuss virtually anything for fear of offending someone.

Before I saw The Incredibles, I had seen a review here and there that called it a right-wing movie. I could perhaps see how one might call it Objectivist, in the tradition of Ayn Rand, simply because it espouses doing your best, and says that saying everyone is special is just another way of saying no one is special. I know a lot of people that consider themselves very liberal, but I jsut can't imagine any halfway intelligent person really feeling that everyone should be one such a level playing field that those who are gifted should hide their gifts so as not to stick out. I'll have to ask one of my bleeding heart friends about that. It doesn't seem so much a right-wing or even objectivist ideal to do your best and use your gifts, it simply seems like human nature.

Once again, great movie! I just hope Pixar and not Disney gets the rights for a sequel. I just read that Disney retains the rights for future Toy Story movies, and I'm afraid that means that franchise will be ruined.

Had Ariel Sharon died, there would be celebration in the streets of Gaza and the West Bank. Signs saying, "Death to the Jews" would ahve bounced all around the Arab world. We know this is true because it has happened before. On Arafat's death, however, there were no street celebrations in Jerusalem, no Rabbis spoke with racor about finishing off the foe. This, as much as anything, shows the difference between the two sides, one full of hate, and the other desperately wanting peace.

I just saw The Incredibles, and it was incredible! One of the best superhero movies ever! The plotting beat the hell out of any Batman movies, and has been approached only by the Spiderman movies, and perhaps the first Christopher Reeves Superman movie. I loved it!!! Can't wait for the sequel!

Just in case you're one of those people willing to give Arafat the benefit of the doubt, if you think his winning the Nobel Peace Prize was the mark of a good man, as opposed to a mockery of all that is good in the world, read all about Arafat.

The O.C. managed to hold it's own on the toughest night in TV, garnering 8 million and change in total viewers. This is a bit down from last year's season finale, which benefited from an American Idol lead in, but the big news is that it beat Joey in the coveted 18-34 demographic. I have to use the word coveted because I don't think I've ever seen anyone mention the coveted 18-34 demographic without using the word coveted. Sometimes I wonder if there are two 18-34 demographics, one that is coveted, and the other that is repulsive. The repulsive 18-34 demographic all watched Nanny 911 or perhaps Survivor Vanuatu, and the coveted 18-34s watched the O.C. So I guess I'm coveted, go me!

I haven't found the overnight numbers for yesterday's episode 2, but the show itself was a doozy. Much of the drama of the premiere was out of the way, and it was back to fun, with more jokes than the episode of Joey that I watched later on.

Anyone else notice how the local ABC affiliate refused to show Saving Private Ryan last night? They say it was for fear of FCC fines, but really they seem more like a kid whose father gets fed up with the cat and says something like, "If I catch that cat scratching the couch again, I'm gonna kill it," so the kid, to spite his father, kills the cat. The affiliate went way overboard, as there is an obvious difference between Janet Jackson showing off her tit on national TV, and an Academy Award winning war movie like Saving Private Ryan. Overall it makes the folks at WSB-TV look like a bunch of whiny brats, and you can be sure they'll be hearing about it from me.

George W. Bush, the man so much of the world, and our own country, condemns as stupid and simple-minded, is smart enough to point out one of the grossest hypcrisies in the world today. So many people the world over are clamoring for a Palestinian state, a self-governed homeland for this refuse of the Arab world. Yet so many of the very same people are against the United States efforts at democratizing Iraq, many of them saying that the Arabs there are not capable of peaceful self-rule. These two desires do not fit, they directly contradict each other. Either you are for Palestinian self-rule, and Iraqi democratization, or you are against Palestinian self-rule and Iraqi democratization because you do not think either group is capable of ruling themselves.

This is a conundrum I have yet to see mentioned anywhere else, and it took our dumb President to point it out.

Blogger is starting to tick me off. I can't tell you the number of times I've written a long entry only to see it completely lost when I click "publish." Earlier I wrote one relating the ltter I wrote to the AJC that got published yesterday, 11/11/2004. The letter itself went something like this:

"The theory of evolution was created after years of study, and scientists building upon the work of other scientists. It may not be perfect, but it sure makes more sense than trying to rationalize a theory from a work of fiction like the Bible."

Several people have told me I may want to avoid Baptist and Catholic churches for a bit. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on hitting up Sunday Mass anytime soon.

I got in the AJC letters page again on 11/11/04. My letter was something along the lines of:

"The theory of evolution was created after years of study, and scientists building upon the work of other scientists. It may not be perfect, but it sure makes more sense than rationalizing a theory based on a work of fiction like the Bible."

I've recieved several warnings from friends that I may want to stay away from any Baptist or Catholic churches for a while. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on hitting up Sunday mass any time soon.

Lots of nastiness from old media types directing anger and condescension towards bloggers. Apparantely we all do our work in pajamas and never check facts and such like that. It made me realize the real difference between old media and new media; old media has little respect for the intelligence of their viewers/readers, thus they hand-feed conclusions so us ignorant folks won't misunderstand, or even worse, draw our own conclusions. Bloggers, on the other hand, expect that their readers will be intelligent enough to examine all the evidence, not take the word of one blogger as god-given, and possibly even be suspicious enough of what's being read to disbelieve it.

The O.C. is back on! Last week saw the season premiere, and this week, Thursday at 8 pm, is the second episode. Best show on TV, hands down. Desperate Housewives and Lost are pretty darn good, too. Wish there was something on Tuesdays. Gilmore Girls is good, but I always feel lost when I try to pick it up.

Lots of talk about voter fraud. Some specific examples of a reporter bitching about it and how Bush won due to voter fraud fall into the realm of moronic when one looks closer. Cayuhoga County (spelling?) in Ohio, for instance. Several talking heads keep mentioning that there were more votesin that county than there are residents of voting age. What they don't mention, when tlaking about how Bush's people cheated,is that those extra votes went overwhelmingly for Kerry. Then they whine about a few counties in Florida which have far more registered Democrats than Republicans, yet went for Bush. Funny thing is, these same counties have gone for the Republican candidate in every election since 1976. There are couple of reasons that could explain this. One, these are conservative Democrats, like a bunch of Zell Millers, and two, I would expect most people that voted for Bush are far more independent than your typical leftist, and thus less likely to register as a member of a particular party. Unless I get in to politics as a career, I will never become a card-carrying member of any party, because I believe in voting on issues not party affiliation. And I voted for Bush.

Last night I was reading a fantastic comic book called Runaways, which is about a group of kids that discover that their parents are super-villians. Anyway, there was a line I really liked. Before finding out her mother was evil, one of the girls, a psuedo intellectual left winger who can roll off the standard socialist credoes with zest, whined to her mother about wanting to move to a socialist country. Her mother responded, "I agree that capitalism is in inequitable distribution of wealth, I've told you a million times that socialism is the euqal distribution of poverty."

I used the word "farcical" in sentence the other day and was criticized for throwing in a big/unusual word just to sound smart or to confuse people. That ticked me off, I used it because it was the only word for what I wanted to say. Why should anyone dumb down their vocabulary just to make it easier for others? It's not like I planned it, the word just popped out in the correct place for its usage. You read as much as I do, and words like that aren't strangers, merely old friends that you visit on occasion.

All this talk of secession from rabid left wingers had me thinking, where are the frontiers? The only real frontier left is the biggest one, the universe, yet the people who seem to want to leave these United States because Bush was reelected are, in general, the same people who decry NASA for spending money on space when there are people starving on Earth. Exploration, however, has always been driven by the urge to see something new, to go where no man has gone before, and to find a place to eat and drink and fuck without people telling you how to do it. The right wing is certainly more likely to want to spend money to get some real space exploration going, yet they are the ones in power in the United States, the only country that I see as likely to have the technology, the money, and the willpower to go anywhere in the next few decades. Perhaps we will have to wait until the left wing takes power again before the right wing motivates itself to see what's out there. I'm not really talking right and left in the standard political lexicon, more those who believe in individual responsibility and the power of determination versus those who feel that everything should be decided for us.

Vegas, Baby!

Got to the airport, got on a plane, saw a cute girl. When we had our layover in Salt Lake City, I talked to her, got her to offer her number, but she lives in Salt Lake, so boo! Then I got to Vegas, and, following several people's advice, waited in the cold for shuttle to the hotel instead of taking a cab. That advice is bunk, cuz the shuttle cost $9 for two people. We took a cab back to the airport yesterday and it cost $9.20. So take a cab to and from the strip. Anyway, got to the hotel, ate some dinner, then went to play $2-$4 limit poker. Did badly.... Gotta play really tight with those people. Met up with everyone else. They decided to go to a strip club, and I decided I'd rather play more poker than spend oodles of money at a strip club. The others didn't get back to the hotel until like 6 am. I woke up Friday morning and went downstairs to play in a poker tournament ($40 buy-in). I did well, but went out when my pretty good hand got beaten by a guy who pulled a flush on the river. Too bad, I'd have been sitting pretty for finishing in the money.

I played a bit more limit, some slots, and hung out with friends, then we all went to the MGM Grand for dinner at a hibachi restaurant. Very expensive, very good. And the women at the MGM Grand were INCREDIBLE! So many pretty ones wearing slutty outfits.... Once again everyone went out to a strip club where they paid $20 to get in, and $40/person to get to sit at the same table. Not worth it to me, so I wandered around to other strip casinos with another guy. He won $125 taking money from drunk people in $3-$6 limit at the Mirage. We also checked out Caesar's Palace and the Bellagio. The Bellagio is where a lot of the big money poker games go on in Vegas, but I didn't notice anyone famous playing that night. Saw a few prostitutes that seemed very interested in my wallet, but that's not my bag, baby. Went to sleep.

Got up early Saturday morning. I didn't get more than 3 hours sleep any night there. Went to the sports book inside Harrah's and watched the Tech football game at 9 am, way too early, then Smiley and I headed over to downtown Vegas to play in a poker tournament at Binion's Horseshoe. The buy-in was $60 and 1st place paid $3400. I went out early, my pokcet queens lost to pocket aces. The cards just didn't fall my way this weekend. My friend Dave showed up there randomly, wanting to see the Freemont Street lightshow. Dave doesn't always think ahead, and it never occurred to him until he got there that lightshows usually don't run during sunny afternoons. At least he made the cab ride back to the strip cheaper. That night we all went to Magaritaville for dinner, where a very drunk Dave made a fool of himself by smashing his to-go box (with food inside) very loudly with his fist. Everyone in the place was staring at us at that point, so I dragged Dave out and took him back to his room. Didn't see him again until the next morning. A couple of guys decided we needed strippers, but were unable to get any. I'm not sure how they managed to fail considering you can't hardly walk in Vegas without stepping on a few. I went downstairs to the casino and hit on some women who, much to my dismay, but not surprise, turned out to be prostitutes. I brought them upstairs for, as I called it, "non-invasive exhibition" but the man of honor, Tanah (this was a bachelor party after all) didn't like these particular girls, so I pulled them into the bathroom for a very uncomfortable conversation and got rid of them. Then most of the group passed out drunk and a few of us went to the Casino Royale next door for $1 beers.

Got up Sunday and saw off a few people who had early flights, then checked out and took a cab to Mandalay Bay where we left our luggage with the bell hop. Steve, Alex, Smiley, and I were all on the same red-eye, so we decided to meet for dinner and then head to the airport. The afternoon was spent wandering around Mandalay Bay, The Luxor, Excalibur, and New York New York. Smiley started playing poker at the Luxor and I wasn't interested in losing more money so I watched football in a lounge and did some high quality people watching. Then we met the others for dinner at a buffet (yummy!), and then played a little video poker. Won $15 with four of a kind. Then it was off to the airport and home to the ATL.

Things I learned in Vegas:

1. If a woman in a casino seems interested in you, she IS a prostitute.
2. Vegas=Fun
3. Vegas=chapped lips
4. The best way to win money is to find a table with a bunch of drunks and fold every hand except high pocket pairs.

I'm sure I learned more, but since my blood was over the legal alcohol limit for driving most of the trip, I don't remember some of the details.

Back from Vegas. Fun trip, and a full write-up will be forthcoming, probably this evening. Internet access was neither easy nor cheap, as the city has a focus on sex, alcohol, and gambling, and does not seem to have time to waste on silicon, except as it affects the above vices (although I have come to the conclusion that none are vices, so long as you do not lose control).

Over the last four years there has been a lot of talk about how the Gore would have won if the ballots were easier to understand, and that the right makes it too hard for a normal American to vote, etc. Now that Bush has won again, the talk is all about how he was elected by ignorant morons. How is it they can say their side was too stupid to know how to use a ballot properly, yet the Bush supporters are the ignorant morons? Why can't they just assume that both sides are equally intelligent, and equally informed, and that a majority simply disagree?

Need more sleep!!! This was my first red-eye flight, and it was tough. I'm also pissed at the airport. When I drove there Thursday, ALL the economy lots were full and so I was forced to pay a lot extra to park in a daily lot for four and a half days. Someone reminded me that I could "lose" my ticket and only pay the max one day fee. I even saw a sign stating that exact thing by the exit of the lot. Yet when I said I lost the ticket, they asked for my ID and then somehow got the exact right amount of time to charge me for. I admit I was trying to cheat, but they really shouldn't post a policy they don't follow. I didn't have a ticket, and thus should have paid according to the posted policy. Once again, though, I was trying to cheat, so I didn't argue when I lost, and took quite a bath. Still, though, the economy lots should not all be completely full at 4 on a Thursday afternoon. Who knew?

There aren't many people I'd wish death on. Heck, my moral squeamishness with the death penalty has me slightly unsure about the executoion of the Baton Rouge serial killer that raped and murdered my friend, but...

Yassar Arafat is in a coma, according to very recent wire reports. The guy is going to go to a well deserved hell, and I hope he goes soon.

I'm going to Las Vegas tonight!! Assuming I can find easy and cheap internet access there, check back here for updates. I'm not much of a picture taker, so I like to write travelogues on all my big trips so I have something to look back at. Some of you will receive the uncensored version by email :)

I want you all to read this speech. The Democratic Party has a choice of two futures. They can continue along their current trail of Howard Deans and John Kerrys and go further and further lef and away from the values most Americans share, or they can follow someone like Barack Obama. To me the choice is obvious. The former will never ever get my vote, but the latter would have a much better chance receiving the support of your average libertarian, or South Park Republican, or whatever category you want to put people in who are socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

WSB 750 AM has a minute or two short from Clark Howard every morning. Today he was talking about ATM machines and how banks got greedy and put usage fees on the ATMs, some even if you are an account holder with that particular bank. A lot of people got angry and wanted to legislate against this, forcing the banks to allow ATM use for free. None of that sort of thing passed, which is right, it's no business of the government to tell a company how to sell it products. Anyway, Clark's point was that ATM usage has fallen significantly since usage fees got more popular, to the point where many banks are now removing the fees, even letting people with accounts at a different bak use their ATM. That's about the best example of the success of free market capitalism I have ever seen.

Go capitalist pigs!!! The more piggish you are, the better America does. Just remember, no matter how bad you might think the economy is doing (actually it's doing quite well, thank you), it's still by far the best in the world!

The next person I hear calling me stupid because I voted for Bush is getting a broken nose. I'm sick of this crap. Get over it, people. 60 million Americans are not stupid or deluded, they just disagree with the left wing viewpoint. We don't all think everything in Iraq is perfect, but we also disagree with the networks and the typical left winger about the economy being bad, since it's kicking ass. We're not happy about the deficit, but we also realize that raising taxes will cause just as many problems as running a deficit.

You ought to check out some of the whining on various left-wing websites. They just don't get it! Daily Kos is saying that they need to reorganize and put Howard Dean in charge of the DNC. Moving farther left is not the answer, it was moving too far left that hsa caused the Democrats to lose their power in the first place. Ugghh!!! This may or may not be my final rant on the subject, but I hope it is, because I'm definitely suffering from election burnout.

Ok, one more quick thing. I checked cnn.com's latest on Ohio. They have Bush up a few points overall, but they have Kerry up in the male vote with their exit polls. They also have Kerry up with the female vote. So I guess the hermaphrodites are the swing factor? Just another nail in the coffin of the reliability of exit polls.

Looks like Ohio is going to be this year's Florida. I don't think anyone can reasonably challenge the Florida vote at this point, but you'll see plenty of lawsuits popping up in Ohio in the next day or two. On the other hand, if Kerry does the right thing and just concedes when it's obvious he's lost, he'll have gained more respect from me than for anything else he's ever done.

I'm rather disgusted at the results of the gay marriage referendums. Last I checked, 10 ou of 11 states that had that on the ballot voted to ban gay marriage. Are there that many bigots out there, or are there a lot of people who think gays should get civil unions with all the legal rights of a married couple, but not call it marriage?

Crazy day, by the time I got home from work, I'd pretty much resigned myself to a Kerry victory. Obviously I was wrong. So were the pollsters. Exit polls have been revealed as a sham. Of course with all the rancor out there, if I walk out of my polling place and someone asks me who I voted for, I'd probably not answer for fear of some jerky bystander spitting on me or calling me names or something. Time to sleep, more tomorrow!

I concede. I will not be winning the Presidential election this year. Once I lost Rhode Island, I knew my hopes were over.

So I'm reading Andrew Sullivan and he's talking about the election, and specifically telling you that if you have friends or family that are gay, you must vote because of the most important civil rights issue of our era. What's he referring to? It's not he right of certain groups to go to schools with everyone else, or be able to eat at the same places or anything like that. It's the right of two people of the same sex to marry. I'm sorry, as much as I support the right of gays to get the same sort of tax benefits as straight couples, there's no way it's as important as the fight to end the "seperate but equal" doctrine, and saying stuff like that makes Mr. Sullivan seem more like the one issue voter he claims he's not.

Someone at work was talking about how she (yes, that's you Colette) got on CNN to disect the differences between the candidates. Now I like CNN.com as a pure news website, but there are so many more options out there to find out not only what's going on, but the stories behind the stories. So here's my blogroll, and brief decriptions of each:

1. instapundit.com Some call him the blogfather, the home of Glenn Reynolds, Law prof at UT Knoxville, and dedicated centrist. The currents of this election have driven him to the right, but during a non-election period he's pretty solidly centrist.

2. andrewsullivan.com Sullivan has been around for a long time. He's written for Time and a whole bunch of other publications, and used to edit some magazine I've never read. He's gay with AIDS, but staunchly conservative. Unfortunately he's been driven to support Kerry this time, and, according to him, it's not just because of the FMA. He's upset with the handling of Iraq, and wants Kerry in there figuring he'll be forced to do a good job. Personally I think Kerry will be forced to follow his own convictions, which means if elected we'll be kissing any hope of a successful democracy in Iraq goodbye.

3. dailykos.com Don't know this guy's name, but it's one of the most popular lefdt wing blogs. This guy is so far left I think he cut off his right hand. Makes for interesting reading though I usually come away saddened that there is so much hate in the world.

4. littlegreenfootballs.com Very right wing, very interesting. Lots of Israel news, and they're very supportive of the only democracy (heck, the only thriving economy) in the Middle East. Always fun to see the people on Dailykos hating on little green footballs, calling them racist, fascist, and heters and all that, when you see a lot more racism and fascism on dailykos. LGF tells the news and talk about it without insulting people who disagree. Dailykos tends to insult those who disagree, and decries anyone who doesn't go lockstep with their opinion. If that's not fascism, what is?

5. volokh.com Ostensibly it's a legal blog, but it goes far beyond interesting legal issues and into the realm of politics.

6. zerointelligence.net Read all about the stupid things that go on schools, and I'm not talking about the students, I mean the teachers. Remember a few years ago when a girl was suspended from school for having a Tweety Bird keychain? Well a lot more of that kind of junk goes on than you normally hear about.

Hope you'll check some of these out, Instapundit especially. He has links to hundreds of blogs besides his own.

What's so sad about this election is that it is so one-sided. I don't mean that I'm predicting a rout by one candidate. I mean that the Democrats could have nominated a prarie dog to run for President, and the vote would probably end up about the same. Even high ranking Democratic operatives have said that whatever Kerry says or does matters little. They know all they have to do is get enough people to the polls, and Bush will probably lose, because a good portion of the country is simply anti-Bush, and nothing else matters. That's a sad state of affairs for our country. I pray for the day that we have two valid candidates to choose between.

I voted. Not so bad in terms of waiting time. I got to my polling center at 6:45 and there were probably 50 people ahead of me. They opened the doors promptly at 7:00, and I went on in. It wasn't set up too well, as there was little or no signage to tell you where to go and what to do. First you fill out a little sheet, then you go wait in whichever line matches the first letter of your last name. These were labeled wrong, and I saw many a person go through the line only to be told they were in the wrong place. They mark you off the registered list and then you go to another line where you trade in your sheet of paper for a yellow card that goes into the voting machine. I saw a lot of people skip this line since there was no signage to tell you you had to go there, which meant a lot of people got to the actual voting machine and then had to go back and wait in the yellow card line. Unlike most people, however, I actually pay attention to what's going on around me and try to observe how things work, so despite the lack of signage and the omission of any sort of verbal notice of what the correct procedure is, I managed to do it without any problems.

I am rather upset with myself, however. I spent so much time concentrating on the Presidential election that I forgot to research some of the smaller ones. I voted for Isakson for several reasons. One, he seems to be fiscally conservative, not just in name but in actual action. Two, Denise Majette betrayed me and all the other people who supported her against Cynthia McKinney a few years ago by trying to jump up a notch to the Senate, allowing McKinney to take back her old spot, and finally I was disgusted by Majette's misleading attack ads against Isakson on the Fair Tax Plan, an idea which I think would revolutionize our country in limitless beneficial ways. She tells people Isakson wants a 23% sales tax on everything, but neglects to mention that you won't be paying ANY other taxes, be it income, property, capital gains, etc.

I voted for a Libertarian candidate for something, I forget what, skipped most of the rest because they were mostly the incumbent versus a write-in, and then got to the referendums. Of course I went NO on the marriage between a man and woman thing. Granted, I think the actual institution of marriage should be a man and a woman, but this ammendment is still a bad idea. The government shouldn't be making laws on what is really a religious thing. I voted NO on the Supreme Court ammendment, mostly because it was worded badly and thus deceptive. Though everyone should research these things ahead of time, they ought to be written in such a way as you can figure out what they're talking about from just the question itself. I think there was one more question having to do with some sort of tax. I skipped it.

I got to work right at 7:30, and then found out they are going to let us leave early to vote. Except me, since it's quite obvious I already voted. Damn that, "I'm a Georgia Voter" sticker, and damn my excitement to tell people about my experience!

I hope everyone enjoys exercising their civil duties as much as I did.

Go Bush!

Tom Brokaw asked Kerry in an interview what he thought about someone analyzing his and Bush's standardized test scores and deciding from the results that Bush had a higher IQ. Kerry's response was that he's not sure where they got that from since his records have not been released. What a freaking hypocrite!!! He called several times for Bush to release his National Guard records (which he did, having nothing to hide), yet won't even release his own military records, or, obviously his IQ scores. Not that he should have to release his IQ scores, but his military record certainly. I guess we'll never know what really happened in Vietnam and what his non-dishonorable discharge was all about because he's a deceiver. Either he wins the election and never has to reveal the truth, or he loses and fades into obscurity. I just wonder where the media has been in all this. They never would have let Bush get away with keeping his records secret, especially ones that deal with a disputed point, as Kerry's records do. After all, if he did nothing wrong, why won't he sign the release form?

It's almost time for the O.C. to being again. Thursday night at 8. I'll be on a plane to Vegas, but you can be sure it's being recorded. I consider The O.C. the best show on TV. It's got the crazyist storylines, the wittiest dialogue, and some of the hottest women. There are a couple of challengers to that throne this year, though. First off is Desperate Housewives, which runs the gamut from typical sitcom family situations to intrigue and possibly murder. Most weeks I'm left wondering if there was this much going on beneath the surface of the stereotypical suburnan neighborhood I grew up. And, of course, there is Lost. Four or five episodes down and we're still not sure where it's going, which normally would be bad, but with Lost you realize that it's about the journey, not the destination. Clever plotting interweaves the background stories of the castways into a whole cloth, and leaves the viewer in a state of constant wonderment. Where the hell did that polar bear come from? Is Locke psycho? No, he's just the benficiary of a miracle. Where did those dead bodies come from, and will we ever find out more about the always helpful fat guy? Check all three out, because there is nothing better on TV since the end of Angel (which I'm betting the WB HIGHLY regrets cancelling, considering the cult following it had, and the utter disasters its replacements have been). You can see a definite influence from Twin Peaks and Buffy to both Lost and Desperate Housewives, and one could not ask for better.

Well it's almost election time. I'm endorsing Bush, so my three readers can take that to heart! At this point I'm pretty confident that Kerry is going to win, and that most Kerry backers will dislike him as much as they do Bush within a short time. Thankfully it looks like the Republicans will retain Congress, so we'll be left with gridlock, which is not a bad thing domestically. Unfortunately we're in the midst of an internation struggle right now, and gridlock may not serve our foreign interests very well. I suspect Kerry will spend his four years not getting much of anything done, and then, when running for reelection, he will tout his four years of nothingness as a peaceful time. It may well be peaceful, just as things were peaceful when Clinton was in office. So peaceful that it allowed the terrorists that had spent decades talking about wanting to kill Americans the chance to plan a mission to kill Americans. Bin Laden, as we now know, is still at large and still hates America. Kerry, up until he got the Democratic nomination and suddenly veered right, has spent his entire life as an anti-war pacifist appeaser. He most likely will go right back to this as soon as he takes office. There's no reason that someone who has spent 30 years espousing a certain doctrine is suddenly going to change and become tough just because of months of rhetoric. The gulf between who Kerry is and always has been, and who he has acted like during his campaign is Pacific Ocean wide, yet too many people believe he's suddenly changed.

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/10/31/do3102.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2004/10/31/ixopinion.html

This article is too ridiculous for words. Especially the part about the guy that was convicted for attacking two burglars (in his home), killing one and injuring the other. He was denied bail becuse "he poses a danger to burglars." Apparantely in England burglary is a valid profession and homeowners do not have the right to defend themselves. Thanks god I live in a country that sticks to its guns and venerates something like the Second Ammendment (for now, who knows what will happen if the left ever controls all three branches?).