Campaign flyer

For whatever reason, people think it's time to waste money and start trying to garner votes for November. I mean, yes, campaign season is warming up, but I hate it so much.

Campaign flyers come to our mailbox, and I think they follow a template. I'm sure both parties have the same template; it doesn't matter who.

They read something like this (always accompanied by a shot of the family, and especially grandchildren if possible):
Proven results!
Effective leadership!

Then for the Republican flyers, they proceed to say, "Down with big government! Lower taxes!" Since it's primary season, the Democrats aren't paying attention to these flyers. If they were, they'd say, "What the f*** are they talking about!" But they would still talk about their proven leadership or something.

If these people think that platitudes gain votes, it makes me shiver. Doesn't anyone see there's nothing substantive going on here? Cake's wacky morning DJ deservers more credit than I ever gave him for saying "Democracy's a joke."

I guess what I'm reacting to is that we don't have real options. The more shrill the parties get, the more I realize what distinguishes them is how loud they shout catchphrases. When it comes down to votes, the only thing that matters to most is money. I have to give it to them though, they do seem committed about the abortion debate. You could take a vote on something abortion related every week, and you'd get actual opinions coming out. But when it comes time to vote on spending, everyone has to protect their constituency regardless of whether they hate ballooning spending.

Okay, I'm done. I need to study.

G8 summit

I was just talking with a co-worker about the Netherlands–Brazil match, clarifying whether it was in the quarterfinals or semifinals. He said, "Well, it's the group of eight, so yes, quarterfinals." To which I commented, "So the World Cup is like the G8 Summit for Third World countries."

Insensitive, maybe, but the World Cup is truly a place where a nation can invest merely millions of dollars and gain a high profile on the world stage. The other G8, your GDP has to be in the hundreds of billions or trillions.

Cash

If you're promised some money, is it called a financée?