CafeChatNoir

Syrians have set fire to the Norwegian and Danish embassies in Damascus to protest at the publication of newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

This is all from the damn cartoons which you may or may not have seen floating around - no, they’re not that inflammatory at first glance, but images of the Prophet of any kind is considered big time blasphemy. So, yeah, they’re pissed and I get that, but going for the full on riot doesn’t make you look like anything but a complete whack job who has zero capability of expressing themselves through anything but violence. Nice work, guys, way to get the point across in a sane and rational manner that really will help the world understand why you’re upset.

Now, I know this is not how Islam works. Sure, you hear a lot of “Religion Of Peace, my ass” type comments, but it is a religion that is fundamentally peaceful - as most religions are. There have been times in history where Muslims, Jews and Christians have lived and worked in the same communities in peace, sharing ideas, culture, education and everyone was better off for it. Problem is then someone who is a little too hard core gets a bug up their ass and then things rapidly go to hell in a handbasket.

This is where your mainstream religious leaders really need to rein in the asshat extremists, or at least do more to distance themselves from them. Pretty much applies to any/all religions - be vocal, get out there and say “this isn’t acceptable and we don’t agree with it and this is not how we all are.”

Maybe eventually people won’t try using religion as their cheap excuse for being a jackass.

With the confirmation that Deep Throat was the FBI’s own W. Mark Felt, at least I now know for sure it wasn’t my great uncle…

(Yup, we’ve got Watergate ties in my family.)

This is probably going to be one of the very, very few truly politically oriented posts you’ll see from me, but I’ve got some stuff running around my head and I want to get it out. It’s also heavily filtered, as there are some folks on my friends list who are genuinely upset and disappointed and I have absolutely zero desire to say something that would make them feel worse, even inadvertently. (I try to be sensitive!)

So, here’s some post-election ramblings.

The Electoral College
I’ve read all the reasons we have it many times over. Still not particularly thrilled with it. I like the idea of states being able to split their electoral votes at a minimum. Folks who voted for Kerry in Virginia, and Bush in California must feel like their vote kinda went nowhere.

I was surprised to see this morning that Colorado voted down an initiative to split their electoral votes in the future. I really thought something like that would have a lot of support - I certainly would have been behind it.

Exit Polls
Really could do without these. While I admit, I DO like seeing the results roll in - I like seeing the actual RESULTS roll in! Calling a state when you have 0% of your precincts reporting in because you’ve got some exit polls just really bothers me. (Partially because I am the type that would tell someone doing exit polls that I voted for the Anarchist party or something.)

I have had this happen to me personally - nothing like casting your vote just as the polls are closing, and by the time you get to your car, the radio is already calling the race. Yeah, that makes me feel real good about my vote actually getting counted!

The anticipation
Other races, I go, I vote, I go home, I go to bed and find out who won in the morning. Presidential elections, I can’t help but be up half the night finding out where the country is going next - because you just never really know how things are going to turn out. I always forget about this aspect of it, too - and then I get home, and I am glued to the news outlets until all hours. I went to bed at 2:30 and technically, Ohio was still in play - and when I got up - we **still** didn’t have a decision!

Ohio & the Provisional Ballots
Damn, that would be a great name for a band. On the one hand, I’m glad Kerry decided to go ahead and concede the race - after 2000, having another hanging chad type thing going on would NOT be fun at all. I could already see the lawsuits over the provisionals that would have been disqualified. However - I would really have liked to see how many of those provisionals would have been counted and where they would have gone. It’s a shame that they couldn’t have started on getting those counted right away - it really would have been interesting to see.

The disappointment
For those in the Kerry camp - I really DO understand the disappointment. The number of times I have merrily cheered on and voted for a losing candidate is well, a lot. And yes, I’ve been disappointed that it didn’t go the way I voted. But, I don’t ever recall feeling this complete despair that I am seeing, and it’s already translating into, “Why should I bother participating, my vote obviously didn’t matter.” But it did matter - when a victory isn’t by a landslide, no matter what the race, it still shows where the support is - and that’s important.

Democratic Mobilization
While the turnout this year was supposedly as high as it has been since 1968 (I don’t have the exact numbers to be sure) - I still expected a stronger mobilization effort from the Democrats, especially after 2000. I suspect that some of the “my vote didn’t matter” sentiment from 2000 spilled over - I would love to somehow find a statistic on how many folks that voted for Gore in 2000 did not vote in 2004. I also really wonder - did Kerry the candidate lose, or did the Democratic Party lose? Or a bit of both?

“My” Representative
I’ve heard “well, he/she doesn’t represent ME” on several occasions already. Well, yeah, he (or she, depending on the office/race) does represent you. That is now their JOB. It is your job as a constituent to hold their feet to the fire. Let ‘em know you’re paying attention! Don’t just blindly decide since they’re not who you voted for that they aren’t worthy of your voice. Keep participating, dammit!

The Next Four Years
I’ll admit, I would have liked to have a little gridlock come out of these elections. While it may slow down some progress, it’s also handy for keeping a lot of stupid things from getting through. But overall - I think we’ll be OK. Maybe not perfect, but definitely OK.

That we’d still be counting provisional ballots this morning, I would have gone to bed a lot earlier.

From my brother:

“Why are there an even number of electoral votes? Isn’t that just asking for trouble?”

As much as I am completely and utterly annoyed with how states are called before all the precincts have reported in, I still cannot help but find myself obsessively hitting the refresh key on cnn.com to see where things stand.

Edit: As much as I want to see where things stand, I find it absurd to call a state when ZERO precincts have reported in….

When all is said and done with the elections, I have a request…

For those on the winning side, please don’t gloat. It’s really unbecoming.

For those on the losing side, please don’t run around screaming, “We’re doomed!!” It’s just a bit over the top.

So, be happy, be disappointed, but don’t be a ninny.

It’s gonna be a wild ride tomorrow - go be a part of it!!!!!!!!

I missed about the first 45 minutes of the debate. What I did listen to was kind of painful - on both sides of it. I can’t say I turned off the feed thinking, “Well hot damn, that settles it, I’ll go fill out my ballot right now!”, but I am glad I listened and I am looking forward to the next one.

**and apparently livejournal is under such a crush of traffic from post-debate rantings by the time this will actually post, the election will be over**

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. — Reagan’s words after the Challenger explosion, 1986

I was in training all day today, and I didn’t know what had happened until I got in the car to go home, and when I heard, I cried.

He was president from the time I was 8 years old until I was 16. The first president that I really took note of. (Ford I just wasn’t old enough to remember, Carter I simply knew was president when inflation was a mess, but didn’t really understand what inflation was just yet.)

Because of the timing of when he appeared in my life, and the things he accomplished in office, he will always be the one by which other candidates and holders of that office will be measured. So far, none have come close.

As I mentioned in a comment earlier, my heart breaks for his family - what a confounding mix of sadness and relief they must be going through right now. I wish he could have lived out his retirement in the way he had lived the rest of his life, not just for himself, but for those around him that loved him as well.

as the current gay-marriage issue seems to bring out the less than nice on both sides. But I saw this column today, and loved it:

Where Is My Gay Apocalypse?
Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Snip:
Where is my raging apocalypse? This is what I want to know. Where is the social meltdown? The moral depravity? I was promised an apocalypse, dammit. What am I supposed to do with all these tubs of margarine and confetti and kazoos?