One Week Later

Tuesday, 11/9/04

Hello.  This is my first entry.  I'll try to be concise.

POLITICS

Lots of talk about Ohio this past week.  It was exciting to have been the talk of several different news networks, including Fox News Channel and NBC News, last week on election night.  Not just my state, but my county (Cuyahoga)!

The smoke settled and George W. Bush won both the state and re-election.  As I predicted weeks before the election, the candidate initially declared the loser (Kerry) cried foul.  But to Kerry's and Edwards' credit, they conceded the next day after accepting the reality of OH voting for Bush (which I also predicted). 

Unlike their candidates, however, many K/E supporters are still crying fraud.

I watched local and national news reports for months leading up to last Tuesday.  They never seemed to match, in my opinion, but Kerry supporters in other states who watched only national coverage kept telling me - a citizen and native of Ohio - that my state would vote blue.  I just didn't see it happening.  I also watched local news coverage ALL day Tuesday and heard but one instance of voter altercations/fraud accusations.  Both sides had observers and neither made any major complaints.

(Until AFTER the election, of course.  How convenient.)

I voted for Al Gore in 2000, but after I realized he lost not only his own state but also Bill Clinton's state, I didn't cry about the loss.  He lost.  And frankly, he deserved to lose if he couldn't win his own state.  Those were the breaks.  When life hands you lemons, make lemonade -- don't whine for 4 years about how you deserved more lemons or that your lemons were somehow wronged. 

For the good of the country, be a team player.  No wonder this country is so divided.

Nothing shocking will arise from these latest efforts to find a way to give Kerry this election.  And when nothing happens, those with common sense and reason will accept it while those living in disillusionment will cry conspiracy until they're satisfied.  (AKA, until their candidate wins - then everything will surely be OK.)

I'm all for amending the system so that it's as fair as possible.  But damn, after 2000, both sides had every opportunity in the world to make sure this election was fair and safe.  Had Bush lost and his supporters been crying, I'd be saying the same thing: IF YOU AGREE TO PLAY BY THESE RULES, DON'T WHINE ABOUT THEIR RESULTS.

SPORTS

I'm a Miami Dolphins fan and Dave W. retired today as head coach.  All I'm gonna say is that once we find UBL, we need to send a task force after Ricky Williams.  He ruined this team and deserves to play no more downs in the NFL - at least, not without paying back the $8M he owes Miami.

Maurice Clarett is now alleging that he covered up a money scandal while at Ohio State University to protect the 2002 championship team.  My free advice to Maurice: You made your bed, now sleep in it. 

(Translation: You took the risk of dropping out of school after only your freshman year to enter the NFL draft when you knew it was against NFL and NCAA regulations.  Right now you're doing this to earn more money opportunities b/c you realize you're not gonna be a high draft pick/money-earner in next year's draft.  Deal with it and leave OSU out of it.)

ENTERTAINMENT:

Where are all the celebrities who supported Kerry and bashed Bush?  Come on, I wanna actually hear from them now!  I'm actually interested in what they have to say now!  I guess now that the election's over, they wanna go back to their Beverly Hills mansions and stop pretending to relate to middle-class America.  Oh well.

Ok, I'm gonna wrap this up.  Thanks for reading and take good care.

p.s. God bless and good luck to our troops and their families - especially those fighting in Fallujah right now.