Archives for November 3, 2004

Sour Grapes

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 3, 2004

I stayed up until 2:30am this morning watching the election results. At this point, it looks like Bush has Ohio in the bag, but I know it’s probably still early to call based on what I knew at 6:30am this morning when I left for the airport. I’m writing this on the plane from Jacksonville to Charlotte, so I can’t see the news right now in any event.

I spent a goodly amount of time in an IRC chat room – and then this morning reading the blogosphere’s reaction to Bush’s reelection – here’s generally the things that I heard:

“I am moving to Canada or [insert country here] if Bush wins”
“We’re all gonna die in the next four years”
“There’s clearly fraud in [insert state here] – Bush can’t possibly be the winner”
“Four more wars! I can’t believe it”
“My fellow citizens are idiots – the whole world wanted Kerry to win”
“We’re far less free today than we were four years ago – the Brownshirts are coming”
“I’m going to monster.com and start searching for foreign jobs”

And that’s just a sampling. There were some really horrible things being said about Bush. One individual from the IRC channel asked for my weblog (as I was the only Bush supporter in that channel) and proceeded to leave a comment about how half of what I said “made sense” and the other half “was rabid”.

Rabid. Yup, I’ve got rabies folks. How did you know?

In another forum that I participate in that has more of an international flavor in terms of membership, even worse things were said. “Re-electing Bush is like re-electing Hitler”, said one poster. Apparently he’s forgotten his history – or he just has a selective memory. Or both. And there were more allegations of voter fraud, Jeb Bush’s manipulation, and so on.

It’s going to be an interesting four years listening to the Democrats and those on the Left once this election wraps up. Bush is leading, as of this morning, with 3.5 million votes in the popular vote, and will lock up the electoral vote later this week depending on how long it takes for Ohio to shake out.

I wrote about “Respect” in a post earlier this week. If Bush wins, it’s time for the left to acknowledge defeat and start moving towards some modicum of respect for the President.

LIke it or not, he won. Get over it.

Family Portrait

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 3, 2004

Here’s a picture from my recently completed vacation to Florida. This is at Ormond Beach, just north of Daytona Beach. And yes, I’m really that burned. The airshow really whooped my tail.

Me on the left in the Boston cap, my mother Nancy in the middle, my father Butch on the right.

Yes, that’s really his name 😉

Family Pets

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 3, 2004

My parents have two cats – Sadie and Katie – who are around a year old. The dog in the house is Bishop, whom my mother and I picked up at the Vermillion County Humane Society in the fall of 1992. She’s now twelve years old and has two rebuilt knees that she managed to snap in the backyard across the years. She doesn’t get around as well as she used to, but she’s still Bishop 😉

Here’s Katie hanging out in the kitchen:

Bishop spending some time with me down on the floor. A bit grayer than I remember, but still the same old dog:

Despite my best efforts, Sadie refused to pose for any noteworthy photographs.

St. Augustine Florida

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 3, 2004

My last full day in Florida took us south of Jacksonville down to St. Augustine, where I have spent many days over the years. My parents and I toured the recently renovated Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and some of the surrounding areas. A few pictures:

There will be more posted shortly in the online pictures section – check the menu up above for the link.

My Father’s Office

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 3, 2004

Over the years, I’ve given many gifts to my father that have ended up in his office. One of my recent gifts to him was a Navy Jack and a link to Lex’s posting about seeing the colors raised on the USS Stennis one morning. Here’s what I found in his office yesterday:

If you look to the left and below the Navy Jack – you’ll see a picture of the Navy Jack being raised on a navy vessel – next to that was this posting from Lex:

It was Lex’s blog post that inspired this gift to him earlier this year.

My father also has some pictures of his recruit class, his discharge from the Navy, his certificate from crossing the equator, and a picture of the USS Duluth (the ship he served on during Vietnam) hanging in his office. Here’s a pic of him sitting at his desk:

My father, for the curious, is the Junior Vice General Chairman and General Secretary Treasurer of the CSX Western Lines for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

Tom Daschle

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 3, 2004

When I left Florida this morning, NBC was reporting that Tom Daschle had been defeated in his bid for Senate re-election.

TOM DASCHLE DEFEATED

Now that rocks my world.