Um...

Hillary Clinton blames FBI Director Comey for Election Loss

Okay,  it certainly didn't help,  and I think he had no legitimate reason to time it that way, but I think that Clinton has no one but herself to blame for the loss.  One,  the email fiasco was absolutely a stupid thing to do,  regardless of whether it was criminal or not.  Two,  she didn't really campaign well,  often just letting Trump run his mouth (and let's face it,  his worst opponent was not Clinton, but himself, but you couldn't count on that to win), and she allowed a very negative view of her stand in the mind of voters.  Calling Trump voters 'deplorables'  just galvanised them.  She underperformed with the people whom President Obama won over, including groups in traditionally Democrat strongholds.  A lot of people either voted for Trump, a third party, or stayed home,  because they openly disliked her. It's unfortunate that,  at the end of the day,  this election wasn't really based on issues so much as it was an unpopularity contest.  While I disliked Trump far more,  I did not like Clinton,  and resented feeling like I had to vote for her to vote against Trump,  especially given things like how the DNC favoured her over my candidate,  Bernie Sanders,  and the media's role was terrible, too.

Hopefully we'll have better candidates,  next time. To be honest,  I think the bar was pretty damn low in the general election.  But any new candidates should take this year as a cautionary tale and learn what not to do. 

I've somewhat recovered from Election Day

Both in physical terms (I went to bed about 2 am that night, and got a grand total of four hours' sleep, so I was pretty tired yesterday) and emotionally. I'm not really upset Hillary Clinton lost--I never cared for her candidacy, or how the Democratic National Committee behaved, for that matter, and I was a Bernie Sanders supporter. I, too, am angry about the failure of the two-party system to provide decent candidates. I know a woman will be president, after all, and never got behind Hillary Clinton being that woman. I thought it was silly of people to vote for her simply because of her gender. But I have to admit, I fear a Trump presidency even more, and was terribly upset (although not particularly surprised, actually) that he won. I knew there was a good chance. A very wise friend had pronounced a sooth that Hillary Clinton would never be president. He also taught me a long time ago that our democracy is flawed and that Trump's candidacy and election were totally understandable, especially in an environment where 'reality' TV is considered entertainment, celebrity is valued over hard work and intelligence, money rules, and a good part of the country has been simmering for some time ready to rise up and boil over. People will study how this happened; I'm not sure you can put it simply in terms of white vs. other or rural vs. cosmopolitan. As someone who studied history pretty thoroughly, I know it's never as easy as that. It will certainly be one for historians to write books about, that's for sure. Oddly enough, I was the one, not A (who was always a Hillary supporter (even against President Obama) and was absolutely convinced she would win), who took this the hardest. YKWIA actually hugged me last night, in my funk. He said 'I wish I could tell you it will get better, but we both know it won't. It'll be a long eight years.' 'Eight!' I said, 'Please tell me it'll be four.' He said, 'No, people will be so entertained by Trump that they'll vote for him again.' He refers to the state of America now as 'Trumplandia'. But it's not just the Trump win. Our entire government is now in the hands of one party, a small number of people with a great amount of power, I'm not sure that is a good idea, whether Democrat or Republican, and even the Kentucky state House, which has been Democrat for 90 years and may have been the only one in the South to be Democrat, went Republican, and we have a conservative governor whose first actions included shutting down the most successful state exchange for insurance in the country. YKWIA also said I was reacting, or even overreacting, unexpectedly. I think part of it was that I'm facing the uncertainty of losing my job in just four-and-a-half months, and now I have no safety net at all, in terms of things like health insurance. If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, I will most certainly not qualify for any, as I have diabetes and am on insulin, at least any that I can afford. Of course, the plan was always to get a job before that happens, but at least I had a backup plan. Well, Plan B just went out the window. So I'll have to make sure I waste no opportunity and find another position, one with benefit--soon.

I know this is meant to be comedy

but seriously...watch this. It's got good points.

Well, apparently Hell has frozen over...

Or perhaps the opposite has occurred. I came home tonight and it appears (at least as far as I could see) that my street has, indeed, been ploughed. Kudos to Lexington for adding contractors to help this year. It was a very pleasant surprise, anyway.

It was nice to be back at work today, and I caught up pretty quickly. One of the ladies at work who is subbing for a co-worker out on maternity leave came in and asked me if I’d seen the Sarah Palin endorsement of Donald Trump. I’d seen the ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit, but she told me that the original was far more surreal. So on my break I watched that and the Stephen Colbert take on it. Oh, my goodness. It was worse than I thought. What scares me? Americans actually pay attention to these two self-absorbed egomaniac blowhards. Only Sarah Palin would make a political endorsement in a showy blouse and talk a lot about herself, rambling on and on saying crude things about the current President and looking like she’s laughing at the very people she’s talking to at the same time. Both she and Trump sicken me.

Granted, I’m the one with a Bernie Sanders sticker on her car, but the man has something these people don’t have (or Hillary Clinton either, in my opinion)—integrity and consistency. The only thing that I have any doubts on Bernie about is foreign policy, but on the one thing, he’s smart enough, as my co-worker said, to surround himself with experts on it, and compared to people like Trump—who has the capability to pretty much undermine any foreign policy and alienate virtually any sane country on the planet, and who has been the subject of a debate in the UK Parliament concerning a ban on his visiting, Bernie looks damn good in comparison. It’s horrible that he’s making gains on fear-mongering, as well. On the other hand, I don’t trust Hillary Clinton one bit, and the whole e-mail server thing frankly causes me to question her intelligence. It’s simply common sense to handle sensitive material—of importance to governmental operations—on secure government servers. I don’t transact my company’s business on my personal e-mail—and I work for a non-profit with no real trade secrets, much less government security secrets. Even if there were no real sensitive information—and it does not look like that’s the case—it was colossally dumb, and even if she were that naïve, someone on her staff should have had a clue. That’s my opinion, anyway.

I thought that it was horrible that the stupid in our country actually elected George W. Bush twice. Now I’m beginning to think that it’s going to be far worse.

Okay, I’ll leave my political musings to that for now. I think I’m going to go find something fun to do, now that I’m home, and take some of my medicine. Good night, just in case I don’t write any more tonight.

I would so vote for Elizabeth Warren if she ran

Hillary Clinton Praises Elizabeth Warren as Celebs Urge Her to Enter the Presidential Race

Some thoughts

I really wish Kentucky would extend its voting hours. 6 am-6 pm (at least in many areas--we have a variable schedule--some areas have until 7 pm) doesn't work for many workers or parents trying to get their kids to and from school. I took the day off just in case of problems. Not everyone has that luxury.

I apparently belong to one of only two precincts in Lexington with less than 100 voters registered. I know this because a news story mentioned that there were two with only one voting machine because of this. I guess that means if I don't want to encounter lines, I have to stay put. :)

I really think McCain lost this election not because the oeconomy tanked in September (let's face it, it's been doing so for months now--it just became more palpable due to Wall Street tanking), but because 1) his campaign never really found a direction to go forward with (chasing issues from here and there, not really presenting what John McCain himself stood for well, not like Obama's platform for change and slogans that included people like 'Yes, we can') but even more importantly, 2) the choice of Sarah Palin as running mate. No matter how much he might have been liked by many voters, it proved to be a very telling about his judgement, and I think many voters could not stomach her being a heartbeat away from the presidency--not because she is a woman, I think that has nothing to do with it--but because she is Sarah Palin. She has some very scary ideals that believe it or not do not resonate with the majority of Americans, and is obviously unprepared to be vice-president, much less president.

I think the gender card got played way too much during this race. I did not favour Hillary Clinton based on her personality. It had nothing to do with her gender. And I found the selection of Sarah Palin as a vice-presidential candidate insulting, knowing that there were many other Republican women who would have served very well. It seems like some people had an idea that as long as someone had the female plumbing than we are all interchangeable, which is not the case. I would love to have a female candidate I could really have gotten behind like I did with Obama. But whilst I won't say I would have voted McCain over Clinton in this election, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to vote for her, and would only have done so out of necessity. I could not have voted for McCain, however, once he selected Palin, because among other things I question his judgement strongly over that one. I'd rather have a candidate I can believe in. I found that with Obama.

Also, I'm happy that in the end, race was not as important as say, oeconomy. Obviously there was a huge turnout among blacks and apparently a very good one among Latinos. And looking at the breakdown in Applalachian counties (at least in my state), the numbers for McCain over Obama were very strong--but it's unclear whether that had to do with race or if they're just such Republican counties). But one of the pundits also pointed out that a different demographic which Obama did well with were college-educated whites, a group Democratic candidates have not done well with in the past. Since I'm part of that demographic, I'm glad we were able to make a difference.

This is absolutely hilarious!

It's a Hilllary Clinton and Sarah Palin sketch from Saturday Night Live. Thanks to YKWIA for sharing it with me.

Woo-hoo

1. I finally got enough reward points on my debit card/bank account to get a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com. My plan is to get the digital voice recorder I wanted to get for the winter holidays. It's a voice recorder, flash drive, and music player all-in-one, and it's $75 on their site. With the remainder I'll probably get some rechargeable batteries and Big Country's The Seer, my favourite of their albums and something that has been rattling around on my wish list for some time.
   
2. I avoided being beaten with a phone Monday when I accidentally pulled out the first pair of sandals I could find for work (I refuse to wear flip flops like some of the girls do), got there, and suddenly realised I was wearing white shoes before Memorial Day. Granted, growing up in the South I was taught it was okay after Easter, but I also know that's really not true. Anyway, hopefully the gods of etiquette will forgive my faux pas.
   
3. I got my Lamictal today after not having it since a half-dose Saturday. I hadn't realised how flat my affect was without it. That may also be why I just wanted to sleep all the time and couldn't bring myself to do much. Just goes to show you how quickly your brain chemistry can break down. At least I didn't have a meltdown or anything. Being bipolar is a challenge, but at least it's manageable.
   
4. I have some groceries thanks to my boss at the gas station. She's giving me extra hours this week (one of the regular full-timers is on vacation), so that will help. Considering gas is now $3.75 and I'm paying about $200 a month just to keep my car running, it's been difficult. I've been eating peanut butter sandwiches (no spreadable fruit, even) for a week or more now. I got some potatoes, macaroni and cheese, tortillas, cheese, beans, chili, bread, peas, and spinach. Unfortunately I couldn't work in fish or fruit, but at least I have more variety. I've lost another two pounds in the last week and a half, bringing my total net loss since the fall to 17 lbs, none of which has been from actual dieting. Imagine what I could do if I actually watched what I ate and exercised. :)
   

Well, that's it for now. Good night.

PS Dear Hillary Clinton. Please drop out from the race so Barack Obama can start running against the real threat--John McCain. You've poured $11 million of your own money into a lagging campaign without momentum. Seriously, give it up, before you become pathetic. Try again next time; thank you for playing.

An interesting test

Harvard's Project Implicit has an online Presidential Candidate test that measures how positive or how negative you view the presidential candidates. Mine rated high on the 'more positive' side for Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton was way down on the 'more negative' side, with John McCain even lower (which surprised me a little bit; I actually thought I liked McCain better than Clinton). It was pretty interesting. It has you choose one key for positive words or the candidate that you're supposed to choose for that segment. Another key is used for negative words or one of the other candidates. I had a little trouble with hitting the wrong keys, but who knows, that may have been subconscious, which seems to be what they were studying.

One thing I agree with John McCain about

...there shoudn't be special earmarks inserted into bills. Bills should be about a specified subject and any extraneous stuff should be excluded.

New Pig Book says Hillary Clinton's tops in pork spending, Barack Obama's 2nd, but John McCain had none!

Of course, I also believe lobbyists should be banned. :)

I'm disappointed

that Hillary Clinton took Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island today. That means the fight between Obama and her is still very much engaged and the talk of her dropping out of the race was probably premature.

Big Wins for Clinton in Texas and Ohio; McCain Clinches Race as Foe Concedes

Obama did win Vermont, but his momentum may have just come to a crashing halt. We'll see. I still think that he's the better candidate.

Gee, maybe our late primary will not be as lame as we thought. If things keep up like this, they're going to need every state they can get, and more importantly, perhaps, every superdelegate.