Vet is giving me a pain prescription.

Why does it show that Bloc Québécois got more seats, but a smaller popular vote than the NDP?

The voting is representative, not proportional, and based on seats. So you can be an also ran in many seats, but never win any.

The Bloc, being a Quebec nationalist party only runs candidates in Quebec which has a total of 75 seats. So they got a high percentage of the popular vote within Quebec to win the 50 seats they did, but no votes outside of Quebec. The NDP run a full slate of candidates across the country, so they may win fewer seats, but get proportionately more votes than the Bloc.

Blegh. I'm feeling nauseated and dizzy today. Luckily I can work from home, and lying around on a couch with a laptop works just fine. But I have my running group meeting tonight and if I'm feeling then as I am now that's just not going to happen.

ETA: Much kittie~ma to those who need it.

My students -- my college-bound, high-achiever, new-media-literate students -- believe that Obama is a Muslim (because he went to pre-school in Kenya, and pre-school is "a very important age for religion") and won't swear on a bible or take the pledge of allegiance. I freaking give up.

Does anyone know of a trustable fact-checking site with a Republican slant? I sent them to factcheck.org, but they thought it looked liberal. I thought to myself, "That's because liberals like FACTS," but kept it to myself. Also, fightthesmears.com is blocked from our school (plus I doubt they'd believe it).

The baby names banner really makes it work....

Violent though it is, I am rather partial to clicking on the deer.

Emily, do they trust Snopes more than Factcheck (since it's more of a general-purpose site, and doesn't look like it was set up just for the election -- which I know Factcheck wasn't, but I wonder if that's what the students were reacting to)?

I've never seen a repub-leaning version, but if Snopes comes off more neutral to them, it could do the trick.

For crap like not saying the Pledge, there's plenty of video out there of Obama actually saying the Pledge, and if that doesn't stop that one, they aren't actually looking for disproof...

My students -- my college-bound, high-achiever, new-media-literate students -- believe that Obama is a Muslim (because he went to pre-school in Kenya, and pre-school is "a very important age for religion") and won't swear on a bible or take the pledge of allegiance.

Well, um... er.... That's depressing....

Really. This is the new generation? With all the difficulties this country faces, it'd be nice if we could limit ourselves to "fact-based" discourse as we try to fix things....

Oh well. Just a mini-petite rant on my part.

Isn't there a clip of a lady telling McCain that Obama is a Muslim and McCain saying that isn't true? I wonder if it is on youtube. I know I saw something like that on the news cause McCain got boo'ed for his response.

My students -- my college-bound, high-achiever, new-media-literate students -- believe that Obama is a Muslim

So what if he was? But more to the point, because of Rev. Wright it is well established he's been going to the same Christian church for 20 years. Do they think he has devoted his adult life, even before his political career, to maintaining a ruse about his religion.

There's should be multiple copies of that clip of a lady calling Obama an Arab and McCain saying it's not true.