Villaraigosa Defeats Hahn

Of my many New Year's resolutions, one of them was to vote in every election that I was eligible for -- state legislature, county clerks and even the local sanitation commissioner. While I made it to the first mayoral vote for Los Angeles, work kept me from casting a ballot in today's run-off.

One more failed attempt at being a better person, I guess.

As is usually the case with these campaigns, I ended up feeling distaste for both candidates by the time the polls opened up this morning. Villaraigosa won, for what it's worth, but since both men are Democrats, I doubt there will be a dramatic shift in the political landscape of the city.

There was low voter turnout, which isn't a surprise given the lack of a Red vs. Blue storyline for the press to latch on to, and I'm pretty sure the 70% of registered voters who decided to skip out on they're civic duty today would tell you the same thing I know from following local coverage: Jim Hahn is White and Antonio Villaraigosa is Latino.

After that, they're both politicians. Men with money and many character flaws. The people who were motivated cast their ballots, and the machine will keep chugging along.

Paranoia for Fun and Profit

A great look at how Disney and Michael Moore split up the money from Fahrenheit 9/11.

I want to write more about this, because I have a host of mixed-feelings regarding Moore's particular brand of filmaking. For now, I'll just say that this article sheds a little more light on the fact that both corporate giants and individuals can be less than sincere when politics and money are involved.

I'm hoping to have some more coherent commentary on this later in the week. Wanted to get the article out there for those who are interested to read, though.

Iraq, Afghan wars reportedly strain U.S. fighting ability

Still feeling safer with Bush in charge, all you Dubya fans?