• I can’t believe this shit. It boggles my mind. This news came out of left field and belted me smack-dab across the face and shook my beliefs down to the very core. But enough talking about Britney Spears and her divorce with her babies' daddy.

• Man, I don’t even want to know what this week’s football picks are going to be like if I was so off in my predicting the mid-term elections. And to matters worse, there were no Democrat supporters at my polling place that I could get into arguments with. In fact, there were absolutely no vehicles in the parking lot when the better half and I pulled in to vote. And I even wore my “I <heart> Halliburton” shirt. Oh well. Maybe next time.

• Well, Fast Eddie beat my guy Swann. Junior beat my guy Santorum. My local State Representative Republican challenger lost to the incumbent. However, my Congressional Representative Tim Murphy beat whatever hippie was running up against him. I went one for four, which could probably get me a spot on the bench of any major-league baseball team. And aside from candidates, there was another issue that I voted on which I found somewhat interesting. It was a referendum that I hadn’t heard about until I got up to the voting machine. Here is how the question was worded.

"Do you favor indebtedness by the Commonwealth of up to $20,000,000 for the payment of compensation for service in the Persian Gulf Conflict of 1990-1991?"

I found out later this is what the referendum was about.

If approved, the referendum would provide for wartime bonuses ranging from $75 to $525, depending on the veteran's length of service. Prisoners of war, as well as survivors of military personnel who died on active duty, or of service-connected wounds, would receive $5,000.

 

In 1993, Pennsylvania voters rejected a similar measure. Two Pennsylvania veterans groups -- the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars -- feel that the 1993 referendum failed because it asked voters to incur "debt" to fund the bonuses.

 

Both groups fear the same outcome in November because this time around the referendum asks voters if they favor the state entering into "indebtedness" of up to $20 million to pay for the bonuses.

 

Legislators revived the referendum this year after noting that Pennsylvanians who served in the Gulf War are the state's only veterans who were never granted wartime bonuses. Bonuses were paid to the state's veterans of all other major conflicts, including World War II and Vietnam.

 

If the referendum is approved, 32,800 Pennsylvania veterans will benefit. According to the Legion, 21,700 served on active duty during the Persian Gulf conflict, along with 9,600 reservists and 1,500 National Guardsmen.

I voted yes simply because my state leaders have found no problem voting themselves pay raises, so why not give some extra money to our troops and their families, even if it is a pitiful amount like seventy-five friggin' dollars? Christ, why does something like this even have to come to a vote more than a decade after the actual military conflict took place?

• As for my former place of residence, let me say this. One of Ohio’s biggest issues is a lack of jobs. So what do they do? They vote to raise their state's minimum wage rate. Okie dokie.

• Now some may think I’m one more drink away from offing myself due to the commie Congress takeover, but I’m actually in a decent mood. Part of this is because this morning I finally got Neal Boortz's radio program via an Internet stream and now can listen to his show at work. Woo-hoo. And here’s what Boorz wrote on his Web site, which reflects quite a bit of what I’m feeling today.

One thing is certain. The Republicans worked very hard for this defeat. They've earned every lost seat. The Republican majority that was sent packing yesterday bore little resemblance to the Republican majority that rode to power 12 years ago. In 1994 we were promised less government. Over the next 12 years the Republicans more than doubled the size of the government. We were promised control over runaway spending. In the last six years discretionary spending has doubled. We were promised fiscal responsibility. We got a bridge to nowhere in Alaska. We were promised the elimination of the Department of Education. After all, educational achievement had been on a steady decline since education was federalized under this Department. In no time at all the Republicans doubled funding for the Department of Education. In the meanwhile America continues to slip on the international scorecard of educational achievement.

I'd like to also add the '94 GOP's desire to cut the National Endowment for the Arts and the result which became of that, but that's another topic for another day.

• Even though I didn't hear any last-second race-baiting ads in my region, I'm glad I got to listen to Boortz's show today so I wouldn't be disappointed knowing that this practice was alive and well:

Georgia Democrat Congressman John Lewis, former Atlanta Mayor and U.N. Ambassador Andy Young and current Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin have teamed up to produce a campaign ad for John Eaves, a black Democrat running for the position of Fulton County Commission Chairman. (Atlanta lies almost exclusively inside Fulton County). The ad suggests ---- hell, it doesn't just suggest, if flat-out says that if the Fulton County voters let those Republicans get control of the Fulton County Commission it will be like setting the dogs and water hoses on blacks again. In fact, it will be worse!

 

Here ... read the text of the ad for yourself:

 

"This is Congressman John Lewis."

 

"And I'm Mayor Shirley Franklin"

 

"And I'm Andy Young"

 

(John Lewis) "On November 7th we face the most dangerous situation we ever have. If you think fighting off dogs and water hoses in the sixties was bad, imagine if we sit idly by and let the right-wing Republicans take control of the Fulton County Commission."

 

(Shirley Franklin) "The efforts of Martin and Coretta King, Hosea Williams, Maynard Jackson and many others will be lost. That's why we must stand up and we must turn out the vote for the Democrats on Election Day."

 

(Andy Young) "And especially for John Eaves for Fulton County Commission Chairman. Unless you want them to turn back the clock on equal rights and human rights and economic opportunity for all of us, vote for John Eaves as Fulton County Chairman"

 

(Lewis) "Your very life may depend on it."

 

(John Eaves) "This message paid for by the committee to elect John Eaves."

• Here’s one thing that disturbs me as an evil right-winger. There is now a sizeable majority of governorships that now belong to Democrats. Now while some are commie pieces of shit like Rendell and New York's Elliot Spitzer, others I’m hoping are more level-headed, such as Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who just got elected to a second term. In addition, I really noticed for the first time that while there are more red states than blue, those red states are way more susceptible of being overrun by the Blue Plague. Ohio and Virginia can turn blue in an election’s notice. Think New York or California will do the same? Shit, the only reliable big red state is Texas, and it’s just a matter of time before Mexicans overrun that place.

• On a final note for today, the Pennsylvania state lottery has a daily three-digit number drawing. And what was yesterday’s number on the night Democrats swept into power?

666