electile dysfunction OR i did it all for the gnocchi

kiel: again, well-rested
kie: same old same old
kio: mussorgsky : pictures at an exhibiotion (as orchestrated by ravel, of course)

election day was yesterday.

good news: tim holden (a democrat) won the 17th district in PA by 5500 or so votes. this was a very nice "screw you" to PA state legislature republicans who tried to eliminate him by gerrymandering him into a district they thought he couldn't possibly win. by the way, the 17th district has 55,000 more registered republicans than democrats.

so it doesn't matter that i didn't register. i feel really bad for not doing it. it's weird though, i haven't actually BEEN to pennsylvania in quite a long time, probably the last time was labor day weekend. at any rate, a long enough time before the election to not remember to register and get an absentee ballot. but like i said it doesn't matter anyway. all the people i would have voted for won. go rendell.

<political rant>
while pennsylvania seemes to be on track, the rest of the country seems to be otherwise. republicans regained the senate, and a few seats in the house. i honestly am not happy with the way the country's going right now. war with iraq is a distraction from white-collar crime, upper-class tax breaks, and an economy in the toilet. answer me one thing (leave a comment, if you'd like). if george bush's name were not GEORGE BUSH, would he be the president? honestly? i personally don't think so. and, had all votes been counted CORRECTLY and blacks in florida counties not been disenfranchised, i think we'd have a different president. am i saying september 11 would not have happened? no. am i saying it would have been handled differently and possibly more pragmatically? yes. but i, no more than anyone else, have no right to speculate. i do, however feel that washington's priorities are currently in the wrong place.

i guess it all goes back to bush the elder's "new world order", where the united states is the world's solomon, with all the power and wealth and infinitely wise judgment. now i could see all this agression if, say, CANADA were stockpiling WMDs. sigh... i don't profess to know anything about political science of global politics, but doesn't it make more sense for government to concentrate on its own affairs than those of other sovereign nations? that's why iraq voted 100.0% for yes on saddam. not because they like saddam but because they don't like the us bossing them around.
</political rant>

okay enough of that. i'm now taking suggestions for names for my garlic plant (it's half an inch out of the cup now!) leave a comment with a potential name.

in an hour i have to go to class for the first time in over 48 hours. then the fun begins.

i made gnocchi last night. it's pretty good. it's this potato-pasta type thing. kind of like mini potato dumplings. anyway, it oculd have used a bit more flour, but overall it's not bad. and perhaps i should have used less than 8 potatoes cause there's like 3 pounds of it left.