Election fever has put a lot on my main page here, so I've placed my thoughts on Intrepid Ibex in a new article. My conclusion right now is that Shizuku probably won't be moving from Hardy Heron for a while yet whatever happens. I tend to hold back at least a few weeks behind distro upgrades simply to give the community some time to catch up, I get better support for any problems that way.
Well, I've talked about the US Presidental Election recently (seriously, your vote counts), but I have realized I missed out on something else that I've been keeping an eye on. Proposition 8.
Proposition 8 is a proposed amendment to the California Constitution entitled "Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry", and it does exactly what it says on the tin. The California Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that same-sex couples have the right to marry under the California Constitution. This amendment changes the constitution to make it explicitly say that marriage in California is between a man and a woman.
Now at this point I can no longer merely stick to the facts. I hate this proposition. It embodies everything I've said I hate about the United States. It's a resurrection of the old principle of 'separate but equal' (look at the damn videos made by supporters of this amendment, they practically admit it themselves) under the guise of 'protecting the traditional definition of marriage'.
Hey, newsflash guys! Traditional marriage is still there. It's not doing well, but you'd have to be idiots to blame same-sex couples. There's been a downturn for decades now. If you want to protect marriage, maybe you should find where the leak is and try to do something about it rather than wasting your on pointless grandstanding like this. It makes me think that maybe the decline in society social conservatives wail about is less due to the 'far-left' and more down to this obsession with homosexuality at the expense of dealing with the very real problems society will face as we move further into the 21st century.
So, if I have readers in California, I urge you to get out there on November 4th and vote no on Proposition 8.
Almost November and I've only just archived my September content? I always convince myself it's hard for some strange reason. Oh well, done for now anyway.
Of course, the main issue I'm thinking of now is the US Presidential Election. I'd usually not want to jinx things, but whatever. It's pretty much Obama's election to lose now. RealClearPolitics, FiveThirtyEight.com, and Electoral-vote.com all have Obama ahead in both national polls and enough battlefield states for him to win quite comfortably. For comparison, the same sites had Kerry behind in 2004. If they're as right this year as they were back in the last election, then things are looking very good for the Obama supporters.
Still, while I don't want to downplay the importance of an Obama win (the president gets to nominate candidates for the Supreme Court, which is as important as any other branch of the government), my focus has shifted more to the senate elections now. As you can see on FiveThirtyEight.com, the Democrats hold 51 seats (if you include Sanders and Lieberman, the two independants that usually causus with the Democrats) and are almost certain to take two more this time around. Including the likely, leans, and tilts Dem categories would net them a further six seats, getting them to 59 in total. That's awfully close to the 60 needed to invoke cloture on a filibuster, making the Democrats all but invincible in the senate. To get to that magical figure though, they'd have to take all of the above seats, plus at least one of the three from the leans GOP category (there aren't any in the tilts GOP category).
So, the ideal scenario for the Democrats has been laid out above. The presidency, house, and senate are pretty much safe Democratic territory, but they're not the whole story. 60 seats in the senate would give a huge amount of power to the Democrats. Different people will have different opinions on that. I think the possible prospects are a wonderful sight. The end of the terrible Defense of Marriage Act? Goodbye to the ridiculous 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy? Even a possibility of proper universal health care in the near future? Democrats in the south should definitely not consider their votes hopeless this year. Republican senators in places like North Carolina, Alaska*, Mississippi, Georgia, and Kentucky are considered 'vulnerable' this year and could be toppled by a good Democratic turnout.
Come on guys, make the United States a country the world looks up to again! Right now is the best opportunity you'll ever have.
*Alright, this is as far from the south as you can get and still be in the US, but it's still traditionally safe Republican territory and Ted Stevens' chances aren't looking good right now.
It's been a while, so I've compiled various thoughts that I just got into one big Variety Box. Economics and politics (both US and UK) in one article. I haven't been doing enough of that recently.
Additionally, I've regained access to Pleasuredome now, and I am indeed perma-banned from the site. I can't recall any other time where I've been banned with so much bad feeling on both sides. I again repeat that there are better sites for getting your fix of games from, and you should definitely do so. I think the Pleasuredome staff have gone mad with power (it's a bloody torrent site!) and need to be called back to reality. There is not torrent site without users, and they seem to feel it's their right to shit all over whoever they want to there.
Anyway, I think that's out of my system (unless I decide to post the analogies I idly thought up about the saga), and I've been doing other stuff. I'm playing Shadow Hearts (the original, it's taken me ages to get around to it) and have been watching the superb Azumanga Daioh. Once you get used to Osaka speaking with a southern American accent (which makes sense once you think about it), ADV's dubbing work is fantastic. Archiving will have to come later, I'm too tired for it now.
Update (2008-10-25): This post was initially posted with the incorrect date of '10th October 2008'. I've now corrected this to '11th October 2008'.