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I had this article translated for me, but essentially it was the case in the recent municipal elections in Spain that a small town with a population of 132 people had a tie in the voting for mayor. 66 people voted for one and 66 people voted for the other. How do you resolve this? Well, according to Spanish electoral law there is a very unused article wherein you get out a coin (in this case a 20 Euro cent) and you flip it. The winner of the coin toss won the election.       The only sadly ironic aspect to this is that I feel it somewhat mimics the US on a micro-scale in regards to our current state of politics with what has become a two party system.

I didn't write anything yesterday since I was kind of curious to see how everything played out and play out it did. I also didn't write because I've been feeling pretty crappy with a cold and well, I couldn't be bothered.       Anyways, like most of us who vote liberal I'm pretty happy with the results. Naturally it would have been great to see Arnold go as well, but what are you gonna do? Looks like we are indeed stuck with this throwback for another four years. One thing that I would like to clear up is on his IMDb page it lists his height at 6'2". From a couple of sources now who have been him in person, he's really about 5'8". Someone needs to clear this business up. I want to stop thinking about, now!       Whatever the full result of this change in Senate and House, one thing is for sure, in that the Bush Agenda is over. If Karl Rove had just made nice with everyone all along, this would not be an issue. As it is, I think that that man has made so many enemies over that last six years, he is headed for a congressional hearing himself.       And thanks San Francisco for wasting space with the "Impeach Cheney and Bush" proposition. I don't like them in office as much as the next person (and apparently a lot of America now) but what good does this do? It just makes us appear to be this liberal bastion that no one takes seriously because we're too extreme. Albeit our rep is going to be Speaker of the House soon (Go Nancy, Go!) but still chill out SF. Y'all with your gay marraige craziness go too far sometimes. Don't get me wrong. I support all of this, but we need to go in baby steps to makes things happen. Ignorant people are like mules, pull them harder and they resist you harder.

Thankfully I'm going to be at work and class most of the day so I won't be glued to the net, watching the returns of votes. Most of it will probably be summed up in the evening pretty quicvkly though, seeing as how the really contested races for Senate and House are east of the Mississippi. We're pretty decked out in our basic blue here in California with the exception of damned Arnold. Such a miscarraige of the electoral process two years ago...       For those who read regularly, you will probably guess that I'll vote down Democratic lines as much of SF will. Not too surprising there, but there are a few local measures that I'm still hashing about like Prop H which increases the amount paid to people for evictions that are based on doing construction to their rental their living in. I'm torn because I believe that this amount really needs to increase, but not by as much as this initiative is saying it should. I'm curious if it will pass because people like to gets their moneys and always see the landlords as this corrupt group here in SF. I'm just a little concerned that it's going to cause landlords to not do any repairs to units because the cost of said repairs will rise significantly.       Anyways, go out and vote already! It's a damned important election.

Well, I feel let down; betrayed even. For a local newspaper, The Chronicle has done a great disservice to San Francisco and California at large by their endorsement of Schwarzenegger. Sure, they give their reasons:              There are never any guarantees in politics, of course, but in our view the willingness of a leader to openly admit mistakes and to change course -- in substance and in style -- is refreshing and healthy.              But seriously, how is everyone forgetting how he was just a few months ago? Just because he seems to be better lately, that makes him good? That's like saying because Stalin put in a couple of schools and a hospital or two before he died he was all right (I was going to use a Hitler reference instead here, but found it to be far too on the nose). Arnold has just changed face, but it would be really funny if it ended up costing him his Republican base in the end. This probably won't happen and most likely we're going to be stuck with the former Austrian for another painful four years while he goes back to his old ways only to change again before the next election so that weak rags like The Chron can endorse him again.       Damn you Angelides. Why did you have to go and beat Westly? We was by far a better candidate than you and no, I don't think I tossed my primary vote by casting it for him. I guess we'll see what Tuesday has in store.

I've heard a bit of rumbling about the possibility that Saddam Hussein is to be sentenced (most likely to death) on November 5. This would naturally not be that surprising except of course that our national elections are two days later. The timing of this on a Sunday means it would be the first news item for Monday most likely and would dominate the press all day and in to Tuesday.       Many believe this will influence the elections that are to be held and the natural assumption is that they would swing the elections in favor of the Republicans who stand to lose the House. To this, I say maybe. Those who would be orchestrating this seemingly devious surprise are basing in on what happened when Bin Laden released a tape just before the last presidential elections in 2004, that Bush ultimate won [maybe]. In that instance it was obvious that there was a correlation. This time around, the case might be the same, only in that there is a correlation between these two events. Not that it will tip the scales in the Pubs' favor.       Many Republicans are seeing that the American public at large is pretty damn sick of the war in Iraq. We don't want to hear about it. We want it to be over. And for about half the country (such as yours truly) we wish it never started in the first place. Broadcasting this reminder and blanketing the airwaves with it would go a long way to cover up the recent Foley Scandal, but in my opinion, it would blanket the airwaves with something else that is less than desireable; a reminder that yes, the troops are still in Iraq, still dying, and there appears to be no way out of the situation.       We'll see how this plays out. If Rove and the others behind the scenes know what's good for them, they might stop from doing this, let the House go and work to maintain control of the Senate. Then again, Napoleon Rove seems to be so convinced that he will always get his way and not that fact that his plans have been steadily crumbling on him, he'll probably ignore this and go ahead with anyways. It will be interesting to see. I'm not selling anything, so I've gotten used to disappointment in our current government.