A Simple Way To Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

I don't feel angrier at the moment, but I know that the floor between the PIT OF RAGE and the EVERYTHING IS FINE AIRSPACE has been ticking upwards for the first time since the 2006 election results. I can't even look at the Google News front page any more. Listening to the daily NPR podcast is once again starting to turn me into an unhinged figure, muttering a stream of curses and making rude or threatening gestures at nobody visible, as I practice my own personal Two Minutes Hate session on my way to breakfast.

Mostly I just appreciate that one candidate got into hot water for "misspeaking" some shit they totally just made up (and getting away with it until someone found the relevant YouTube), and then the other one got laid into for "misspeaking" their actually rather defensible perception of the truth.

By "appreciate" I mean "urge to kill rising".

Update: Hey I can start using my Moonbat icon again yay.

Well, that's it, then; the AP's called the Virginia race. The entire legislature is now Democratic-controlled.

I kind of can't believe it, to be quite honest.

I also note that, while lots of attention was given to voting "glitches" on Tuesday, there are no roaring accusations of mass fraud from any notable quarter. Everyone is actually being civil about it, and the executive branch immediately acknowledged the change with its own concession, giving Rumsfeld a long-overdue boot.

All this, too, runs against my predictions.

What just happened? Holy smokes. I am shaking a little, and I have a terrible headache, as the tension breaks ker-twanngggg. It's going to take a while for me to digest all of this.

I'll reiterate an earlier statement, mostly to help me stay focused: This doesn't so much accomplish anything as clear the path for real accomplishment. The Democrats might have a lot of the same problems as the Republicans, or any other class of deep-dish politicians, but their... polarization is so very different from the other party's. They less pass through messages that the others would block. No more anti-intellectualism or anti-science thinking, at least not at the party level. This is tremendous.

I have only lately, like in the last five years, started to learn to become politically active. Suddenly I no longer need to be stuck in resist, resist, resist mode, the only one I've ever known; suddenly, I can instead join a movement to get things done. If I'm not terribly convinced that the shiny new Democratic legislature actually knows what it wants to do with itself, maybe I can join with other people and start signaling some good suggestions at it.

Before I did so, I called my parents to get their neutral-party take on Question 1 - they split on it. I actually ended up voting differently than I thought I would when I woke up this morning. I think I'd be satisfied with either outcome, for different reasons. (Q1 is basically: should supermarket chains be able to easily sell booze wine in MA? You can generally find liquor only in state-licensed, independent "package stores" now, but it's not like these aren't all over the place.)

We spoke of other politics too. My dad acknowledges that Deval "sounds like an OK cat". They know and like Mitt, but I don't think they'd even heard of Healey. (Deval Patrick is poised to become the first Democratic governor of Massachusetts in 15 years. He's running against Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.)

Regarding 2008, my mom, who has in her elder years become more progressive in women's politics, surprised me by explicitly stating that she feels the presidency is a man's job, so Clinton is dismissable outright. What an interesting indicator of a national thought-hurdle that is. However, she said she's prepared to like Obama if something happens there. I dunno if they feel about McCain; they'd probably like him too.

My Fox-fan parents think that, fraud concerns aside, the Dems will take the House but not the Senate. This has been my thinking as well, though I'm hoping for an all-out party flip.

Welcome back to LiveJournal! Enjoy your stay.

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This makes me very pleased: If you're voting in Massachusetts next week, you can use this website to plug in your address and see what your ballot will look like, including referenda. Heretofore I have always been surprised by a couple of these questions, and peeved. I have wanted to see exactly this service for many election cycles.

http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php

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I will throw in the rule of thumb that I think I picked up from, erm, either cortezopossum or wrog (both of whom are electionistas in their respective communities), that if a referendum doesn't make any sense to you even after you think about and (if you get the chance) research it, a good rule of thumb is to vote NO.

This seems pretty obvious, since the alternative is basically playing a game of "what does this button do?" with your vote, but I hadn't seen it spelled out like that in the past, and I can dig it.

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My hope and anger are both rising together as Tuesday draws closer. They are both definitely exceeding levels seen in 2004. I am continually crafting and refining my Schrodinger's Cat of an LJ post for that evening, at once a cathartic victory howl and grave-pissing, and a vomiting of hate-fueled rage calling for the obliteration of the enemy. I will not actually post it because in either eigenstate it's rather horrible, really.

Anyway, I am very excited.