Election

Yay Obama!!!

I want to be super excited about Obama, but being happy about that win was dampened a bit by prop 8 passing (making same sex marriage unconstitutional in California). While same sex marriage is far from my top voting issue, it does amaze me that at the same time the first non-white president was elected that the California constitution was changed to specifically deny a group of people a right. Of the group I hang out with at work, the one other person who can vote in the US felt the same way so the mood wasn't a cheery as it could have been otherwise. Although last night it was interesting as people gathered in each other's cubes to watch the map change colors (favorite map moment was when NYT had colored Texas blue). Favorite (paraphrased) line of the night was when two Americans and two Iranians were in my cube:
American: "Do you think they'll re-elect Ahmadinejad next year"
Iranian: "Not sure, they might"
American: "But don't they think he's crazy"
Iranian: "Well, some do... but Bush got re-elected"

The CA ballot measures (other than 8) lined up basically how I was hoping - including funding for a fast train from SF to LA (I don't know if it is good for the state or not, but I voted for it because I want one!) And the abortion bill was defeated (although just barely).

Both of the crazy San Francisco measures were defeated (unfortunately I'm in a different county so I didn't get to vote on them). One was to legalize prostitution. Not in a controlled way like in Amsterdam, but cops would just stop arresting them. And the San Francisco sewage treatment plant was not named after George W Bush (largely because the workers did not want to work at a place named after him), but I think it is awesome that they tried.

I thought this Joy of Tech comic was only ok, until I got to the bottom left - HA!

And just in case you want to know how to say hello and thank you in Egypt (at least according to the tour book):
Hello: sa-lam'a-lay-kum
Thank you: shu-kran