Election Night in the USA

[DKT]

I personally think nearly all career politicians are crooks.  Any idealists who make it to office generally either get corrupted or thrown under the bus by their own party.

I think better of Obama, but time will tell.

I actually agree with both of you.  Every major political figure in England in my lifetime has at best let me down and at worst spent their term actively damaging the country so my default response with politicians of every stripe is cynicism with a light seasoning of anger:)

That being said, I think better of him too.

I hear all this.  I get it. 

That said, for the first time in my life, I feel like America is about us, the people, and not just about the politician in office (though he certainly matters, too).

[Zathras]

What do you  mean by presidential, exactly. Do you mean exactly like every other politician? Because one of the reasons I voted for him is he seemed to me to be somewhat atypical.

Similar to some of the things I disliked about Bill Clinton.  I don't want an MTV President.  I've said I'm willing to see how he does in office.  I understand that he was campaigning. 

I didn't watch any coverage of the election last night.  I checked it on the net before I went to bed.  It was a non-event for me.  Obama won bigger than expected was the biggest story.  Again, I'm jaded with the two party system.  The best thing I can say about Obama is that he wasn't chosen by the political machine.

As to the news coverage, I would have liked to see a story about how the dropping gas prices cost some people money.  The previously mentioned band wagonners who started investing in the futures market.  But, as in politics, I'm jaded with most of the news media.

I am not bitter about Obama winning.  I know a lot of people that are.  He wasn't my choice, but he won.  I didn't queston the legitamacy of Bush's presidency and I won't question Obama's, especially since he won in such a landslide. 

What I really want right now is for my cat, Zathras, to decide he's had enough attention.

[wintermute]

Obama won bigger than expected was the biggest story.

Depends what you expected, I suppose. I've spent the last week moderately confident of a win in the 350 to 375 range. And (depending on where you look), it seems to be 349 with 26 EV's still up in the air, so the big story for me is that I'm clearly reading the right sources.

As to the news coverage, I would have liked to see a story about how the dropping gas prices cost some people money.  The previously mentioned band wagonners who started investing in the futures market.  But, as in politics, I'm jaded with most of the news media.

I was just reading a story at lunch, as it happens. Apparently, our local bus system buys 60% of its fuel several months in advance*, so they can balance their budget more easily. And, as the general trend is for prices to rise, this has the side effect of saving them money more often than not, but right now they're burning gas that cost them $3.82/gal when the pumps are dispensing it for under $2.00.

What I really want right now is for my cat, Zathras, to decide he's had enough attention.

Is everyone in your family named Zathras? That must get confusing.


*That is, they enter into a contract to buy X number of thousands of gallons several months in the future, but at current prices. They don't have a big warehouse somewhere filled with gasoline.

[Zathras]

"There are 10 of us, all of family Zathras, each one named Zathras. Slight differences in how you pronounce. Zathras, Zathras, Zathras... You are seeing now?"

Lots of major trucking companies buy their fuel the same way.  It's called "tank share".  They buy tens of thousands of gallons of diesel from a chain or chains of truckstops.  They generally have a clause written in to protect them if the prices fall.

[Russell Nash]

Gas prices are such a non-news story.  If the price of gas is going to affect you (like a trucking company), you don't need the news to tell you about it.  You see what the price is all day long.  The only thing you need to hear about is international news and the current price of oil once a week.  If, after hearing that, you're still surprised by the direction of the price, you're an idiot.  The effects of the price a gas can be newsworthy.

That being said, there hasn't been a moment this year when I didn't know the average price of gas in the US within $.30.  Given that I don't give a shit what the price is where in the country where I fill up, I find it to be rather annoying.  NPR has decided I need to know, so I know.

[Russell Nash]

he Brady Effect wasn't talked about nearly as much prior to this election as it has been during this election.  What actually started it was a pollster who was wrong and couldn't swallow his pride.  He didn't take absentee votes into account.

Given Bradley was supposed to win by more than 6% and lost by 5% or so, I find your reason a bit hard to believe.  Find us a link, please.

[Zathras]

he Brady Effect wasn't talked about nearly as much prior to this election as it has been during this election.  What actually started it was a pollster who was wrong and couldn't swallow his pride.  He didn't take absentee votes into account.

Given Bradley was supposed to win by more than 6% and lost by 5% or so, I find your reason a bit hard to believe.  Find us a link, please.

Looking

[Zathras]

Gas prices are such a non-news story.  If the price of gas is going to affect you (like a trucking company), you don't need the news to tell you about it.  You see what the price is all day long.  The only thing you need to hear about is international news and the current price of oil once a week.  If, after hearing that, you're still surprised by the direction of the price, you're an idiot.  The effects of the price a gas can be newsworthy.

That being said, there hasn't been a moment this year when I didn't know the average price of gas in the US within $.30.  Given that I don't give a shit what the price is where in the country where I fill up, I find it to be rather annoying.  NPR has decided I need to know, so I know.

Really?  Then why were people in a panic and talking about not being able to feed their families because of high gas prices?

[Heradel]

Really?  Then why were people in a panic and talking about not being able to feed their families because of high gas prices?

That was why they were news. Usually they aren't.

[Zathras]

he Brady Effect wasn't talked about nearly as much prior to this election as it has been during this election.  What actually started it was a pollster who was wrong and couldn't swallow his pride.  He didn't take absentee votes into account.

Given Bradley was supposed to win by more than 6% and lost by 5% or so, I find your reason a bit hard to believe.  Find us a link, please.

Looking

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/the_bradley_effect_selective_m.html

[wintermute]

he Brady Effect wasn't talked about nearly as much prior to this election as it has been during this election.  What actually started it was a pollster who was wrong and couldn't swallow his pride.  He didn't take absentee votes into account.

Given Bradley was supposed to win by more than 6% and lost by 5% or so, I find your reason a bit hard to believe.  Find us a link, please.

Looking

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/the_bradley_effect_selective_m.html

The polls they're citing were commissioned by Bradley's opponent, and they were a lot closer than other polls, so I'm not sure how much weight they should have. I'm leaning towards thinking that the Bradley effect was smaller than people thought, and has (hopefully) since become statistically insignificant.

[Zathras]

he Brady Effect wasn't talked about nearly as much prior to this election as it has been during this election.  What actually started it was a pollster who was wrong and couldn't swallow his pride.  He didn't take absentee votes into account.

Given Bradley was supposed to win by more than 6% and lost by 5% or so, I find your reason a bit hard to believe.  Find us a link, please.

Looking

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/the_bradley_effect_selective_m.html

The polls they're citing were commissioned by Bradley's opponent, and they were a lot closer than other polls, so I'm not sure how much weight they should have. I'm leaning towards thinking that the Bradley effect was smaller than people thought, and has (hopefully) since become statistically insignificant.

I'll agree with that!

[Zathras]

Really?  Then why were people in a panic and talking about not being able to feed their families because of high gas prices?

That was why they were news. Usually they aren't.

No, that's when people were ignoring reality.

[Russell Nash]

Gas prices are such a non-news story.  If the price of gas is going to affect you (like a trucking company), you don't need the news to tell you about it.  You see what the price is all day long.  The only thing you need to hear about is international news and the current price of oil once a week.  If, after hearing that, you're still surprised by the direction of the price, you're an idiot.  The effects of the price a gas can be newsworthy.

That being said, there hasn't been a moment this year when I didn't know the average price of gas in the US within $.30.  Given that I don't give a shit what the price is where in the country where I fill up, I find it to be rather annoying.  NPR has decided I need to know, so I know.

Really?  Then why were people in a panic and talking about not being able to feed their families because of high gas prices?

That would be why I said the effects can be newsworthy!

But as a story about the price, It's not newsworthy, because any idiot can look at the prices and see they've gone up.  This is why it's not a story when the prices go down.  Anybody can look at the signs and see they've gone down.  It's not a story to say, "remember how we said people were having trouble buying food?  Well, not so much now."

[Zathras]

I disagree.  If it is monumental that the prices climbed so high, then the rapid, dramatic drop in prices would be news as well.

[Heradel]

I disagree.  If it is monumental that the prices climbed so high, then the rapid, dramatic drop in prices would be news as well.

Not when something even more monumental is going on. There are only so many column inches, and the falling gas prices could be dealt with by a graph halfway through a general economy story.

That said, both the Washington Post and NY Times have sold out today, so people want souvenirs. I'm glad I got mine early.

[Talia]

yeah, new york times sold out here too. I am hoping i can find a copy if I poke around all the local stores.

I did pick up a copy of the town newspaper, though, which of course had its own nice big flashy cover story, so that's something.

[DDog]

I'm going to shift away from gas prices momentarily to talk about marriage and children.

California's Proposition 8 looks like it's succeeding. People are still holding out for absentee and provisional ballots so I still have hope, but not much. This would amend the California constitution to define marriage as being between one woman and one man.

Arizona's Proposition 102 clearly passed. This amends the Arizona constitution to define marriage as being between one woman and one man.

Florida's Amendment 2 ridiculously clearly passed. This amends the Florida constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Arkansas' Proposed Initiated Act 1 passed. This bans unmarried cohabitating couples from fostering or adopting children under the age of 18.

All of this sucks. But there is some good news.

Connecticut's Question 1 failed. If it had succeeded, there would have been an opportunity to use the resulting constitutional convention to amend the Connecticut constitution to ban the same-sex marriages the CT Supreme Court just declared legal and necessary.

King County Charter Change Amendment 2 passed, adding sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and disability to King County, Washington's protections from discrimination.

So I'm thrilled with an Obama victory, but it is bittersweet with the further institutionalization of discrimination at the state level.

EDIT: Florida's Amendment gets to change the Florida constitution. Oops.

[Russell Nash]

Florida's Amendment 2 ridiculously clearly passed. This amends the Arizona constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Man the folks in Florida just get to totally fuck with the people in Arizona.

[Bdoomed]

thinkin the same.
i'm disappointed that amendment 2 was passed.  the only county in florida that voted no to the amendment was Monroe, which includes Key West... not surprising.  EVERY other county voted yes.

Arkansas' Proposed Initiated Act 1 passed. This bans unmarried cohabitating couples from fostering or adopting children under the age of 18.

these people have no business raising children before they are "adults" anyway.  i dont see the problem with this.

[Zathras]

Arkansas' Proposed Initiated Act 1 passed. This bans unmarried cohabitating couples from fostering or adopting children under the age of 18.

these people have no business raising children before they are "adults" anyway.  i dont see the problem with this.

 

[DDog]

Arkansas' Proposed Initiated Act 1 passed. This bans unmarried cohabitating couples from fostering or adopting children under the age of 18.

these people have no business raising children before they are "adults" anyway.  i dont see the problem with this.

I'm confused by your statement. Was my syntax unclear? The "unmarried cohabitating couples" are adults.  This initiative prevents them from adopting or fostering children who are younger than 18. This isn't about adolescents raising children. This is about adults living together without being married, which affects straight and gay couples alike (although the initiative was conceived to target same-sex couples since same-sex marriage is also banned), being unable to adopt or foster any child who is under 18. The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay couples fostering children in 2006, and this was the next step.

Or were you implying that people who are in relationships aren't adults until they get married?

[Zathras]

Arkansas' Proposed Initiated Act 1 passed. This bans unmarried cohabitating couples from fostering or adopting children under the age of 18.

these people have no business raising children before they are "adults" anyway.  i dont see the problem with this.

I'm confused by your statement. Was my syntax unclear? The "unmarried cohabitating couples" are adults.  This initiative prevents them from adopting or fostering children who are younger than 18. This isn't about adolescents raising children. This is about adults living together without being married, which affects straight and gay couples alike (although the initiative was conceived to target same-sex couples since same-sex marriage is also banned), being unable to adopt or foster any child who is under 18. The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay couples fostering children in 2006, and this was the next step.

Or were you implying that people who are in relationships aren't adults until they get married?

I think it was the former, that was what I laughed about.  Thought it was a joke.

It sucks that sooooooo many people are so small minded to pass those kinds of laws.

[eytanz]

Arkansas' Proposed Initiated Act 1 passed. This bans unmarried cohabitating couples from fostering or adopting children under the age of 18.

these people have no business raising children before they are "adults" anyway.  i dont see the problem with this.

I'm confused by your statement. Was my syntax unclear? The "unmarried cohabitating couples" are adults. 

The way you initially phrased it, it sounds like the law bans under-18s from adopting (though I think it's clear what you actually meant).

[Bdoomed]

yea thats what i thought u meant.  I thought it was couples under the age of 18 cant adopt, not unmarried couples cant adopt children who are under 18.
my bad