Thursday, November 09, 2006
A little explanation
Hee hee!
Every two years the US has elections for the national government. If we had a parliamentary system, all of our national representatives would be elected at the same time. Alas, we have this wacky presidential system instead.
Our lower house (the Congress) is elected for 2 year terms (too short, IMO). The upper house, the Senate, is elected for 6 year terms. Every two years we elect one third of the Senate and all of the Congress.
We had the election on Tuesday. People thought the Democrats might do well. The war in Iraq is very unpopular, President Duh's approval ratings are the lowest in history, and the Republicans are doing everything in their power to bankrupt the country. But, after the debacle in 2000, best not to get hopes too high.
The Democrats needed to take back 15 seats to be the majority party in Congress. The result? We got at least 29 and probably 32. (They're still counting a few races).
The Democrats needed to swing 6 seats in the Senate to get the majority back. We got exactly 6.
I'd hoped for the first. I never expected the second. Dr. Lorimer and I were watching the returns on television and gasping at every seat that went blue.
A few more noteworthy details:
- The state of Minnesota elected a Muslim to Congress -- the first ever to sit in parliament.
- The new leader in Congress will be a woman -- the first time a woman has ever held this position.
- Barbara Boxer will be the new Chairperson to the Environmental and Public Works committee in the Senate. So what, you ask? In her words: "Finally we will hold hearings on global warming". Amen.
The US electorate finally gave GWB the finger, and damn, it feels good.
Every two years the US has elections for the national government. If we had a parliamentary system, all of our national representatives would be elected at the same time. Alas, we have this wacky presidential system instead.
Our lower house (the Congress) is elected for 2 year terms (too short, IMO). The upper house, the Senate, is elected for 6 year terms. Every two years we elect one third of the Senate and all of the Congress.
We had the election on Tuesday. People thought the Democrats might do well. The war in Iraq is very unpopular, President Duh's approval ratings are the lowest in history, and the Republicans are doing everything in their power to bankrupt the country. But, after the debacle in 2000, best not to get hopes too high.
The Democrats needed to take back 15 seats to be the majority party in Congress. The result? We got at least 29 and probably 32. (They're still counting a few races).
The Democrats needed to swing 6 seats in the Senate to get the majority back. We got exactly 6.
I'd hoped for the first. I never expected the second. Dr. Lorimer and I were watching the returns on television and gasping at every seat that went blue.
A few more noteworthy details:
- The state of Minnesota elected a Muslim to Congress -- the first ever to sit in parliament.
- The new leader in Congress will be a woman -- the first time a woman has ever held this position.
- Barbara Boxer will be the new Chairperson to the Environmental and Public Works committee in the Senate. So what, you ask? In her words: "Finally we will hold hearings on global warming". Amen.
The US electorate finally gave GWB the finger, and damn, it feels good.
4 Comments:
Congratulations!
Aha. I just didn't make the connection...heh.
So, where's Numfar? *looks around*
Oh, of course. And I've yet to hear of anyone down here who doesn't approve of the outcome.
I know it's a little late but...
George is not the only person running the government. Why does everybody place the blame on him? Demoncats also make things happen or in this case stop things from happening. Just like they blame the presidaent of companies does that mean it's really their fault, not necessarily. Just something to think about when you watch your people flounder as I'm sure they will do.
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