Dickens Is Still Right...

Last night was beautiful - the San Francisco Giants won the World Series with an amazing 7th inning blast by Oscar Renteria to ultimately win the game for the self-proclaimed group of misfits. As I've evolved from a once-fan to a non-fan to a casual observer to an obsessive, I've been watching our Bay Area teams with fascination and excitement over the last few years. While the mediocre A's are still the apple of my eye, in the National League, the Cubbies and the Giants have been tops. The Series was amazing and I actually didn't think the Giants would even win, much less in five games. Congrats, Giants!

It's election night and history was made, not simply because of the cyclical nature of presidential and midterm turnouts. Tonight, the books will mark that Republicans gained the greatest number of seats in the House of Representatives, taking nearly sixty seats away from the flaccid Democratic Party - the greatest since 1938, when FDR's popularity waned due to the '37 recession. Frankly, the Democrats deserved to get clobbered as the social gains have yet to outweigh the economic and, ultimately, political needs for Americans state- and nationwide. Maybe this will finally light a fire under the Democrats and make the party realize that the wave of '08 needs not be a fluke and tonight just a wake-up call and not a complete referendum. While a shame, hopefully Democrats will realize that people and not business matter; that jobs and types of jobs and not the bottom line matter; that, ultimately, if the "liberal" and "progressive" voice is to not only be heard but resonate, the Democratic Party is in need of change. Let's hope that today, the change starts. The Democratic Party had nearly a four-year chance at change and especially in the last two, Americans really wanted to see genuine alterations of the Bush/Cheney/failed GOP model. And yet, and yet. In Northern California, at least, a mixed bag: Jerry Brown won - let's see change. Gavin Newsom, let's see. It looks as though Jerry McNerney is losing and I'm depressed. That the TEA Party could be winning only in my district depresses me though it doesn't suprise me. I'm still pulling but as of midnight now, McNerney is 2,500 votes behind. Boxer is winning (thus far) and the Senate is still intact. Maybe Harry Truman will be the model not for ol' Bushie-Boy (who I was hoping would have been fatally injured by a foul ball these last three games) but for Obama, who still has the chance of making a lasting and historic impact on the presidency and the nation. Here's to 2012...

Now, I must go, as the tooth fairy is due upstairs for my oldest, who lost #2 this afternoon!