Yey no Rumsfeld!! And with my birthday 4 days after Christmas, I can categorically tell you it is BETTER than Christmas and birthday rolled into one!!

Thank you voters of America! A little belated, sure, but weeeeee, guess it makes it that much sweeter!
(Now I gotta sort out my country -- what a choice: Blair or Conservatives... mmmm-niiice)

Ooh, and happy birthday to Teryl! Where I am anyways.

Oh man, I'm another person with a peri-Christmas b-day. Not as close as yours but I'm convinced my stepfather has the absolute worst: the day AFTER Christmas. Absolutely nobody in her right mind wants to party the day after.

Thank you voters of America! A little belated, sure,
More than a little belated but I love it when the voters come around to agree with me. Wish I understood it but for now I'm just grateful.

what a choice: Blair or Conservatives
Take it from someone who has lived it: there are worse options than a semi-liberal with whom you have serious differences. They're called "Republicans," which is American for "Conservatives." ;-) (OK, that's stretching the point but moderately evil IS preferably to wild-eyed evil.)

It's Teryl's birthday? Happy b-day to her! She's such a sweetie. Wherever she is, I hope it's an excellent one.

Yup. I hope she's not travelling on her birthday cos that sucks, but since shes at the London con tomorrow... maybe she is.

As for politics - I have an even deeper lack of respect for Blair than I do for Bush. Bush is evil and he seems to be cool with that. Blair is a toadying sicophant, sitting on the fence... bleuch!

Izzie
who doesn't have a camera *woes*

Boy, yeah. Going to London on one's birthday. Sounds like a terrible hardship. ;-)

It's interesting to get a non-American viewpoint. Perhaps we all hate our own evil-doers the most? I see Bush as a shallow thinker who is easily manipulated/misled by those around him because by nature he is profoundly uncurious. I perceive him as thinking he's a good guy. Cheney (his vice-president), on the other hand, I see as pure, active evil. He's smart AND still shockingly reactionary. I think of Cheney as thinking that sometimes you have to break some arms and trample rights to accomplish the goal. The ends justify the means. Probably is my own Just So Story but that's the impression I get from here.

I dislike Bush but I'm intensely aware that he's the only heartbeat between Cheney and the presidency. THAT is literally a nightmare scenario for me.

You don't have a camera? How did you take all of your travelogue pics?

I reckon you're right about Bush/Cheney. I didn't mean to generalise about Bush -- he's not intelligent enough to be truly evil.
Blair just makes me cringe - no backbone. "Yo Blair!" wtf? Here's hoping things get better from now on.

(Ex) boyfriend was the one with the camera in Africa. He's also going to the con, but I'm not sure if he's taking it or if he'll be particularly interested in taking (lots of) pictures of Ms Teryl. I'll try and remember all of the goings on.

Yeah, well, being too stuoid to do the job he ran for doesn't excuse him. The fact that the results of his inaction are evil is still a HUGE black mark, in my book. I'll cross my fingers for things getting better. Right now the talk in Washington is all about bipartisanship and being open to new ideas (funny, that was, "Cut and Run," during the campaign...) but the real truth will be in the actions.

I hope the Repugs have learned true humility. I hope the Democrats will be above tit-for-tatting after the way the Repugs treated them. There are serious problems in this world and we need adults to address them. I just hope that's whom we've sent to Congress.

The camera situation sucks. Wish I could send you mine to use since it won't be seeing action this weekend.

I love your note and I second it! :D

Miss Manners has always stressed the importance of Thank You Notes; I felt it necessary to send mine. :)

btw? Your city rocks. Completely. I went to the Halloween Parade and had a total blast.

you might enjoy this music video. :)

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/bloodbath/vaya-con-dios-my-darlings-213488.php

Helena

I'm going to have to try watching it again later because it keeps cutting off. I can see it gets to Kathryn Harris, whose "goodbye" I'm extremely interested in seeing, but it cuts off abruptly. :(

Thanks for the link -- I like the Morning After. Very, very much.

I think an omen was in the air. Neither Bush can be re-elected and Dubya's psycho brother is the first to go. Florida is better off not having Jeb. I hope Ohio is on the mend now. That was just as jaw-dropping scary as Florida's corruption. There are some very nasty results in this election, of course, but overall, it's a step in the right direction. I just hope the Dems haven't completely lost their balls and have the wit to realize that they don't have to be afraid of Dubya's power-hungry henchmen anymore.

One of my biggest thrills out of this is seeing that we finally have a woman as Speaker. Let's hope she does a better job of it than her idiot predecessors.

Being in Texas, I don't get a lot of feeling about the general electorate's mood. We're still in Repug Hell around here. I've been worried for a long time that Jeb would be the next Bush to run and that people would, again, hand the presidency to a Bush because it seems to be a habit.

I have precious little faith in the Democrats' balls, honestly. I've been reading a thought-provoking book by James Carville and Paul Begala entitled, "Take It Back: A Battle Plan for Democratic Victory." A lot of what they say is stuff I've been thinking for a while but in essence they tell Democrats to grow a goddamned pair of brass balls and stand up for what they believe in. Since I've been moaning and whining about that since Dukakis, I find the book particularly interesting. (And hey, the "Top Ten Reasons Why Republicans Suck" amused me, as well.)

I'm TOTALLY psyched that Nancy Pelosi is to be the Speaker come January. A woman will now be third in line for the presidency and that thrills me to no end. I hope that Democrats this time will stand for progressive priciples rather than running away from them and I dearly hope that having been out of power means that at least for a little while they aren't beholden to too many money givers. I want this to be the start of the rebirth of Democrats. *fingers crossed*

Now it's up to the Dems to prove themselves worthy of being elected.

So true. I hope they don't disappoint too much.

Absolutely. I hope the folks we've sent there are mature adults and can figure out how to work together. And how to stand up for what they believe. I really, really do.

I don't have a lot of confidence in that, though, but I'm willing to give them a shot. I haven't seen strong leadership in the Democratic party since Bill Clinton. They've been floundering more and more and more as time goes on.

So...we'll see. *g*