Election 2006

I worked at home a couple of days last week in an attempt to stave off a cold, and not only did it not work but Devon is also sick. I think her illness has its genesis at Elaine's, though, since she mentioned to Walt today that Dustin, another child there, had gotten sick and now a few kids were out. Yesterday Devon was throwing up a lot -- she couldn't seem to keep anything down, and even when we went to the playground at the JCC and she only had water from the fountain, she threw up there (which made me very popular on the playground, as you can imagine).

We thought it had waned, though, since this morning she was eating breakfast (and keeping it down). But when Walt took her to Elaine's, Elaine said she look bad -- and when he asked Devon if she wanted to stay or go home, she said, "Home," so they got back on Walt's bicycle and came home. Apparently she slept most of the day; when I got home from work, she was sleeping under the kitchen table (apparently she didn't want to go to her bed -- which makes sense to me because her whole room needs to be aired out after yesterday). She must really feel awful, since she doesn't like to take naps in the best of time but today she was sleeping for most of the day. It feels like she's got a fever too (we haven't taken her temperature yet), so she may be down for a few more days before she's better.

Since tomorrow is election day, I've been slogging through the huge California ballot. California has a system where propositions can get on the ballot by amassing signatures; this sounds great on paper, but it creates ridiculously unweildly ballots with some measures that are driven by a pointed group of aggravants (like Proposition 90, which radically limits eminant domain powers of the state) to the detriment of the greater good. And of course San Francisco itself spawns at least one ludicrous proposition per election cycle; this year it's the measure for the city to call for the official impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Now, I think that Bush has done more damage to this country than any president in history, but the idea of the city passing a resolution to call for his impeachment just makes the city look ridiculous. We deserve to have Rush Limbaugh make fun of us for resolutions like this.

I'm trying to rein in my glee at the prospect of the House (and even better, the Senate) changing hands this year as a reflection of popular discontent with the Iraq war. The only reason I'm reining myself in is in case it doesn't happen -- I think the evangelical vote machine is still quite strong (and incidents like Ted Haggard and Mark Foley don't seem to change people's minds about candidates, which doesn't make any sense with a group who claims that "moral values" are a top priority -- but I've stopped trying to apply reason to people of faith) so they may still be able to staunch the bleeding. But I'm hoping that the traditional Republicans (the ones who want fiscal discipline and aren't religious conservatives) are so disgusted by the current growth of the budget under the current Congress that they'll also be turncoats in this election. I'm looking forward to Nancy Pelosi running the House!