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One degu two degus black degu blue degus
Jan. 3rd, 2006 11:31 pm
High temp today, here: 1. Dewpoint then: 0. High dewpoint: 0.
High temp today in TO: 2. Dewpoint then: 1. High dewpoint: 1.
Low temp today on the balcony: 0.1. High: 1.2. Current: 0.8; RH: 85%.
Back to the library. Random Interesting Facts from today's tour: Britons drink 42% more alcohol than Americans. Bush II's approval rating is the same as Stalin's current approval rating in Russia.
Speaking of Bush's approval rating, there's a back-page essay by Andrew Sullivan in Time--I just skimmed it--something about how 2005 was a great year for democracy, because The People Spoke and made Bush back down on this and that (e.g., Social Security).
This is a phenomenon I've only just noticed in the last year or so about American politics: the president's power rises and falls with his approval rating. Nothing like this happens in Canada. I guess it happens in the U.S. mostly because Congresspeople have to look out for themselves, and it's not good for their re-election chances if they're friendly toward an unpopular president. I guess it may also have something to do with an element of majoritarianism in American politics that's never been part of Canadian politics, since the winners of Canadian elections never win a majority of the votes, and Canadian governments hardly ever have the support of a majority of polled potential voters. Brian Mulroney's approval rating was way lower than 37% (I seem to recall it being not far from 10% at one point), but it never stopped him from doing anything. (Well, apart from running again.)
What else ... a piece in Harper's about why Bill Clinton should be Secretary-General of the UN--basically, to get the Americans to take the UN seriously. Eh, doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. I'm sure it sounds like a terrible idea to Clinton, though. (There's also yet another piece in one of the newsmagazines about what great buddies 41 and 42 are. It sure is an interesting thing, that.)
And ... I don't know what else. No sleep. Brain broke. (The last, oh, dozen or so times I've gone to the library, I've picked up the latest Hudson Review to read an article called "A First-Person Quixote". Maybe one of these days I'll actually read it.)
High temp today in TO: 2. Dewpoint then: 1. High dewpoint: 1.
Low temp today on the balcony: 0.1. High: 1.2. Current: 0.8; RH: 85%.
Back to the library. Random Interesting Facts from today's tour: Britons drink 42% more alcohol than Americans. Bush II's approval rating is the same as Stalin's current approval rating in Russia.
Speaking of Bush's approval rating, there's a back-page essay by Andrew Sullivan in Time--I just skimmed it--something about how 2005 was a great year for democracy, because The People Spoke and made Bush back down on this and that (e.g., Social Security).
This is a phenomenon I've only just noticed in the last year or so about American politics: the president's power rises and falls with his approval rating. Nothing like this happens in Canada. I guess it happens in the U.S. mostly because Congresspeople have to look out for themselves, and it's not good for their re-election chances if they're friendly toward an unpopular president. I guess it may also have something to do with an element of majoritarianism in American politics that's never been part of Canadian politics, since the winners of Canadian elections never win a majority of the votes, and Canadian governments hardly ever have the support of a majority of polled potential voters. Brian Mulroney's approval rating was way lower than 37% (I seem to recall it being not far from 10% at one point), but it never stopped him from doing anything. (Well, apart from running again.)
What else ... a piece in Harper's about why Bill Clinton should be Secretary-General of the UN--basically, to get the Americans to take the UN seriously. Eh, doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. I'm sure it sounds like a terrible idea to Clinton, though. (There's also yet another piece in one of the newsmagazines about what great buddies 41 and 42 are. It sure is an interesting thing, that.)
And ... I don't know what else. No sleep. Brain broke. (The last, oh, dozen or so times I've gone to the library, I've picked up the latest Hudson Review to read an article called "A First-Person Quixote". Maybe one of these days I'll actually read it.)
