All right. So I'm up.

I marginally favored Obama for president, but honestly felt that it was the race of the least importance to me. Obama and Romney are both moderates. Obama would likely show more restraint in foreign policy. Romney would show more restraint in fiscal policy. The whole "women's issues" thing doesn't matter that much to me. I think Roe v. Wade was a lousy decision that needs to be overturned, but I support abortions. Romney's friendship with Israel's prime minister is the main thing that pushed me into the Obama camp. Romney would be more likely to back himself into a war with Iran, which would be a disaster.

I really see the deficit as the major issue facing the nation, and I did not see either candidate willing to take the steps to address it. What I was really hoping for was complete gridlock in Washington with lots of rhetoric on both sides forcing the issue so that sequestration could go into effect. I see no problem with a 10% cut in the military. Maybe my sister-in-law's position could go. Much as I love her, I wonder why in the hell the Army needs a commissioned officer oboe player in Germany. For that matter, why the hell do we still have bases in Germany? Didn't the cold war end two decades ago? The Republicans are too in bed with the military contractors to get serious. I also think entitlements need to take a hit, especially medicaid and medicare. The health care industry is a money sucking monster.

I think the standard of living in the U.S. is too high right now. Message to the Wall Street protesters - it's not the 1% that the are the problem - it's the 75%. I mean the 75% of the world that has a lower standard of living than we do, and will work for less. Our workers are competing with workers in China, India, and other nations that will do the job for less. And if they reach our level of prosperity then we face environmental disaster for the world as a whole. The 1% will be untouchable until workforce parity is reached across the globe.

Anyway, it's looking like Congress will come up with some kind of deal where minor cuts are made and the debt ceiling is raised, putting off real solutions for another four years. It will get harder and harder to fix this the longer we wait, and unfortunately we may have to crash before that becomes possible.

So anyway, Romney - Obama - whatever. Politicians get you in their camp, and then you assume that they hold your political views. They say lots of things, and you latch onto the ones that fit your ideals. Really not that big a difference between them. Two guys who are more interested in the prestige of being president than in pushing an agenda.

At the local level, things were more interesting. In New York, we have an overwhelming Democratic majority population, but of our two legislative houses, one is controlled by Republicans who remain in power by a thread due to gerrymandered districts. This year our governor had the opportunity to end this, but chose to support the Republicans redistricting supposedly in exchange for assistance on some legislation.

I actually support Republicans more often, but I think gerrymandered districts suck, and if way more people in the state support Democrats, then thats what our legislature should reflect.

Also, I think there is another reason why our governor supported the districts. The worst thing that could happen to the Democrats in the state is for them to have complete control. Sound ridiculous? Remember the movie "The Producers"? Its about a couple of shysters who raise money for a play. Only they oversell the profits to the investors. When each individual investor's percentage of the profits are added together they come up to more than 100% of the profits. So the idea is pocket a large share of the investments, and then have the play fail.

See both parties have their investors. The Democrats have the Unions, and the environmentalists, and the social reformers. These are people who expect things from their leaders. And lets get more down to nitty gritty. These are the people who vote for the Democrats. Not the people who invest money in them. The money people have a different agenda. So what happens if the Dems get complete control? They actually have to follow through. If they do it though, the money people aren't happy. If they don't their loyal voters become disillusioned. So the Republicans give them a foil. A reason for them not to follow through with their promises. "It's not our fault. It's that damned gerrymandered Senate."

Think this is bullshit? The gerrymandered Senate in New York has been in place for decades. But we have seen what happens when one party gets control of the presidency and both houses of Congress. It happened during the Clinton administration. It happened during the Bush administration. It happened during the Obama administration. It's a disaster for the party in power, and it almost immediately results in a shift back to divided government.

So anyway, looks like despite the gerrymandered districts, the Dems will get control of the Senate, but only by a bare thread. And apparently one Democrat might flip, and vote with the Republicans anyway. My guess is the Dems actually want that to happen.

At the county and town level level, all the anti-fracking candidates got soundly defeated. The local politicians don't have a lot of control, but I'm hoping it sends a message to Albany and they get their asses in gear with this environmental review. Fracking is a method of extracting natural gas. The southern tier of New York (the straight line at the bottom before the tail dropping to NYC) has a lot of gas reserves that could be tapped. Economic estimates are at least 20,000 jobs. Every other state in the country where the reserves exist is permitting fracking, but New York has a bunch of vocal environmentalist fear mongers who are rabidly opposed. Natural gas creates less green house emissions and is generally cleaner than coal or fuel oil, and is considered a good transition source of energy until we can find affordable non CO2 generating energy resources. Green house emissions in the U.S. have gone down over the past few years largely because of natural gas supplied from fracking. Obama was even bragging about it during the debates. Our local NIMBYs have been stalling drilling in the southern tier for the past four years by clogging up the environmental review process. So anyway, big win for the local politicians who support fracking.

My local Congressman, a republican who fits my mold of what republicans should look like - sociall moderate, fiscally conservative - got re-elected to a second term (also a supporter of fracking btw), while in the district to the north, the socially conservative republican lost her seat after one term.

So there. The promised late night political rant.