November 9, 2002: OK, so Dub has his UN resolution, and now it's pretty clear that we'll be at war with Iraq within weeks, probably before Christmas. (Peace on Earth, Good will toward men.) But today there's a headline saying that al Qaida is planning major attacks around the world. I thought al Qaida was the enemy, but instead we're going to war with Iraq, which, as far as anyone knows has no connection with al Qaida. We were supposed to be fighting the terrorists, but I read yesterday that the war in Afghanistan is not going well and that al Qaida and Taliban fighters are adapting to U.S. tactics far better than the U.S. is adapting to theirs. But nobody even seems to remember Afghanistan these days. Certainly not George W. Bush. Why? I don't have a clue, and Dub sure isn't going to tell us. He's the Big Dog now.

November 7, 2002: What really scares me about the big Republican victory is that now George W. will get all his judicial appointees confirmed. I think we're in for The Great Repression and that civil liberties will be lessened. The funny thing is that many people who voted for the Repubs would be horrified if you told them that they were contributing to the repression of freedom. Why, they believe in freedom. They're the ones who want to keep the government out of the people's personal lives. Yeah. Right. So why do they want to tell us what we can read, what we can see at the movies, what we can watch on TV? They actually want the government to rule our lives, but of course they'd never say so.

November 5, 2002: Well, the Republicans have won a huge victory, so I suppose the stock market will zoom, Iraq will get bombed back to the stone age, and all will be right with the world. I'm completely at a loss to explain George W. Bush's appeal. He can't speak English, he's a doofus most of the time, and yet people love him. Some say it's his "character," which seems to mean that no matter how nutsy he is, at least he's not boinking interns in the Oval Office. I suppose that now his slate of judges will be appointed, and we'll see how much that changes things for the better. I suspect it will change things for the worse, but I seem to be in a minority, which is where I find myself most of the time.

The heat pump finally got fixed this morning. Just a sticky valve, so not an unbearable expense. The valve is old, so I just hope it keeps on working.