The lumbering Irish Boston bouncer peered at my driver’s license and said “Were the elections as big a deal for you guys as they were for us?”

I looked up at him in abject terror.  He wants to talk politics?  I don’t know much, but I do know never to discuss politics with someone who’s four times as large as I am.  Particularly when you don’t know where they stand.  I thought to myself: Huge, Irish, a bouncer.  What political party is that?  Green?  No wait, the Greens aren’t named after Ireland.

I said, “Ha ha ha, mumble mumble, ha ha, oh that Governator, yeah, that’s our Arnie, ha ha ha.  I need Jameson’s whisky now.”

It actually has been strange to be doing my little trivial work things on the east coast all week while serious and substantial events have been transpiring throughout the country.  The Dems retake the senate.  Rumsfeld resigns.  Britney splits with K-Fed.

The Rumsfeld thing was brilliant on Bush’s part.  He waited until after the election so the move didn’t look like desperation, and it also significantly helped disrupt the election news cycle.  The ink on headlines such as “NANCY PELOSI: THREAT OR MENACE?” were only starting to dry when the story hit, drawing attention back to the White House and a ridiculous symbolic gesture of change in regards to Iraq. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that it matters.  Rumsfeld had already lost most of his power, and I could almost hear the song in Bush’s heart (to the tune of Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back") as he pressured the guy into resigning:

We’re sending Rummy back
(Yeah!)
‘Cause he really blew Iraq
(Yeah!)
The dems took congress, what a heart attack
(Yeah!)
But no worries ‘cause we’ll take it back
(Take ‘em to the bridge!)

Like I said, serious change in our country.  And speaking of which, did you read that Ryan Phillipe wants spousal support from Reese?  S’matter, Ryan--your residual checks from Cruel Intentions starting to run out?