I had intended to post more last night, but I was extremely tired when I got home from youth group. I just vegg'ed out in front of a movie and went to bed about half-way through. Today doesn't look to be much more interesting. I'm just going home, doing some homework, then going to bed early. This weekend will probably be hectic with my parents' 50th anniversary party Saturday added to the usual weekend chaos, so I want to be rested.

One thing I wanted to write more about yesterday was the election. I had called Kerry as of 11pm. I guess I should stick to programming, not calling elections. Florida was won easily by Bush, as was Ohio. The networks refused to call Ohio even though 100% of the precincts were reporting and the provisional and absentee votes would have had to be something like 85% for Kerry to give him the state. A bit of over-cautiousness? In any case, Bush had the clear majority of votes as well as winning the electoral vote. Kerry did the sensible and honorable thing and conceded rather than launching legal challenges.

Some things about this election that I'd like to note. First, I voted Libertarian as I have for many election cycles. I have no respect whatsoever for either Bush or Kerry and could not have voted for either one. There was a time when at least 2-3% of the United States agreed. This election, all the third parties combined didn't pull 1%. This means either a) a lot of third party voters drank the Republicrat Kool-Aid that this was THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN HISTORY and a vote for a third-party candidate was a vote for EVIL; or b) the increased voter turnout was strictly a Vote-for-Bush phenomenon. Or it was a combination of both. In any case, this election does not look good for third-party candidates.

Second, exit polls were revealed to be utter rubbish, and slanted heavily in favor of Kerry. The fact that these polls are conducted by the same news outlets that have obviously favored Kerry from day one shouldn't be surprising to anyone. We spend a lot of money on the FEC to ensure free and fair elections; maybe they ought to use a little of that money to dig into why the networks were trying to throw the election to Kerry. At the very least, I wouldn't expect anyone with above-room-temperature IQ to ever believe another exit poll.

Third, a note to all the rabid sign-wavers from the Demopublican Party: just who do you think you are convincing on the day of the election? Do you really believe that there are any undecided people left that actually intend to vote when the polls are open? Do you really think you are accomplishing anything other than annoying a lot of people just trying to go about their normal day? Is it so inconceivable to you that the vast majority of normal people don't share your foam-at-the-mouth hatred for "the other guy" and love for "our guy"? Don't you have jobs or something else constructive to do with your time? If not, there is a lot of litter around the streets (most of it put there by you) that you could be picking up.

And finally, for God's sake, take down your damn signs. The election is over.

I have to go home now. The sleet and freezing rain just started.