Last night, I was supposed to see the Brazilian Girls in concert. I thought the show started at 8, but when I arrived at the venue I discovered the band wouldn’t take the stage until ten and the show probably wouldn’t be over until after 11:30. And I’m killing time listening to the DJ and I start thinking about how I have to be up early the next morning to participate in a training and how I’m still feeling a little run down from the cold I had. And I start thinking, “Is this really worth it?” And then I’m putting on my coat and heading for the door.

Frankly, I’m a little disturbed at my actions. I can only justify myself by theorizing that I would have stayed if I had felt a little better. Still, I may have to turn in my hipster badge and beret.

Plenty of news outlets are reporting that the Iraq war has now lasted longer than American involvement in WWII. Meanwhile, sectarian violence in the country continues unabated and has actually intensified in the past week. Right now, it’s hard to see how this will end well for any of the parties involved. Some observers have remarked that Iraq is now the Democrats’ problem as well and I suppose that’s a good thing. But Bush, as commander-in-chief, has to demonstrate some intellectual flexibility that takes into account the rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground. I’m still not sure he completely grasps the scale or severity of the bloodbath sweeping the country. Perhaps his father’s team of wise men will provide the long-overdue tempered leadership needed to extricate ourselves from this mess, but no good options seem to be presenting themselves at the moment.

While the 2006 midterm elections were a resounding success for Democrats, some races served to highlight serious and persistent flaws in the administration of our elections. In Florida’s thirteenth Congressional district (the former seat of Bush crony Katherine Harris), lawsuits are being filed after the Republican candidate was certified the winner with a margin of 369 votes–despite the fact that approximately 18,000 voters apparently failed to vote for either candidate. An Orlando Sentinel analysis of those undervotes reveals that those voters solidly backed Democratic candidates in other state races.

Electronic voting machines are receiving much of the blame for this mess, but as a couple good posts at TalkLeft point out, the real culprit seems to be the design of the electronic ballot. If electronic voting devices are indeed here to stay, election officials need to familiarize themselves with some basic theories about user interface design and how the human brain processes written information. Part of my job involves the creation and review of forms and other written materials. It’s a painstaking process that requires constant peer review and revision. I’m not sure that always happens in elections offices, especially elections offices in Florida.

I’ve spent far too much time in front of the computer, so forgive me for the insubstantiality of this entry. Besides, most of you are probably busy preparing for tomorrow’s feast. You won’t notice if I slack off this one time, will you?

How is it that I can go over a year without catching a thing and then I get two colds within the space of a couple months? If this keeps up, I’m going to start spraying antiseptic products on anyone who comes within a six-foot radius of me. Fortunately, I don’t feel too terrible and this was going to be a two-day workweek for me, anyway. Hopefully, I can kick this in a couple days.