With all due respect to Joe and all others who work dilligently to do their best in U.S. elections, as a nation we should be ashamed.

Our election system is a hodge podge of rules, regulations, and out dated inaccurate equipment and we can do better.

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The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting this morning that it has obtained leaked transcripts of grand-jury testimony in which Jason Giambi admitted to using steroids.

…but earlier today, something got me thinking about my version of the Jesusland map, and its possible worldwide expansion… and, well, I couldn’t resist…

Suggestions welcome for filling in the remaining white areas… remember, the goal is equal-opportunity offensiveness (but not too offensive)…

David has already posted, here and here, about last month’s Washington state gubernatorial election — which was, it is now clear, well within the margin of error of any conceivable electoral system wherein both the voters and the vote-counters are fallible human beings (or fallible machines designed by fallible human beings).

Now this statistically tied election is headed for another recount, after Republican Dino Rossi was certified Tuesday as the winner by a margin of 42 votes out of 2,808,341 cast.

The “hand recount” now being demanded by the Democrats, which they apparently have enough money to force, will not (contrary to Josh’s hopes) allow us to discover the correct, precisely accurate, final vote total — because no such total exists. It never exists, not in any election, but 99.9% of the time, we don’t care. We only care in the really, really, really close races, like this one.

The new recount, however it is conducted, will merely produce another estimate, perhaps a slightly more accurate one (or perhaps not!), of the final vote total in this tied election. That new estimate may swing things Rossi’s way, or it may swing things Gregoire’s way. It’s probably pretty much random chance at this point.

At some point, they’ll have to stop counting and re-counting, and declare a winner. That point may be after this initial recount, or it may be after the second recount, or after a later recount, or after a bunch of court challenges. Either way, it will be an arbitrary point at which to stop. The identity of the “winner” will also be arbitrary. But such is life, when an election is decided by 0.0015% of the vote.

The Seattle Times says it “looks like the closest governor’s race the nation has ever seen.” And the closest race anyone in the Washington Secretary of State’s office ever wants to see again, I’m quite sure.

The USC-UCLA rivalry is typically quite bitter, but if BoiFromTroy is to be believed, it seems this year’s Trojan-Bruin game will be unusually merry… downright jolly… you might even say… gay!

Under the circumstances, perhaps CNN anchor Anderson Cooper will come out (so to speak) to the Rose Bowl and support his fellow taxpayers.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. :)

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
You’d better wake up
those echoes on high [cuz]
Urban Meyer’s comin’ to town:

Wasting little time in its search for a new coach, Notre Dame will meet with Utah Coach Urban Meyer on Thursday, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions between Meyer and Notre Dame.

Notre Dame contacted Meyer, a former Irish assistant, on Wednesday, one day after it fired Tyrone Willingham. Meyer has also been contacted by Florida and Washington for their openings but has not been interviewed for either job.

The person said that if Meyer were hired by the Irish, he would still like to coach Utah in its bowl game, which is expected to be the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2. That decision would be made by Utah officials.

That’s from the New York Times. Hat tip: The Backer, who also has a good roundup of links to what they’re saying in Utah. Also worth reading on that front is Andy in Utah.

From the official ND Athletics website:

The University of Notre Dame’s football team will participate in the Dec. 28 Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz. - with current Irish defensive coordinator Kent Baer serving as the interim Irish coach.

That decision came tonight on the heels of the announcement yesterday that Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham would not be retained.

Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White met with a small group of senior players Tuesday to discuss the bowl situation - and then a larger group of seniors met on its own Tuesday. A full team endorsement came late this afternoon, with the understanding Baer would serve as interim coach. Other current Irish assistant coaches are expected to continue in their roles through the Insight Bowl preparation and game.

YAY!!! I still get to see them play!!! Bring on the Bruins!!!

P.S. But, um, the game is in Phoenix (at Bank One Ballpark), not in Tempe.

P.P.S. “Fiesta Bowl” headline fixed… sorry. :)

P.P.P.S. The New York Times adds this twist to the Kent Baer angle: “Baer will coach the Irish in the Insight Bowl unless he gets the vacant head coaching job at Utah State, his alma mater.”

“Do you really think your professor is going to ask an exam question about bestiality? I love to lie awake at night and conjure the bestiality question.” –USC Law Professor Charles H. Whitebread

We’re watching an annoyingly repetitive (but relatively useful… at parts) videotaped Bar/Bri pre-exam lecture for 1Ls on black-letter Criminal Law. I was going to turn off my wireless Internet connection while watching it, so I wouldn’t be tempted to blog… but the lecture is repetitive enough that I can take notes, then blog while the lecturer repeats himself five times, without missing anything. :) Anyway, here’s a photo of the girls in front of me, Toni and Rachel, watching it:

The videotaped lecturer is a rather, um, eccentric professor. I didn’t catch his name, but he said he teaches at USC. Everyone else in the room booed; I cheered and applauded. :) UPDATE: His name is Charles H. Whitebread, and here’s his USC homepage!

Here are some other photos of the last few days — including Professor Tidmarsh’s last tie of the semester (well, last of the semester in our CivPro class, anyway):

Over in my Ty fired gallery, a couple of photos of people watching Willingham’s press conference this afternoon:

Here’s a sound clip (648 KB) of the last 60 seconds of Brokaw’s final Evening News.

Bowl game is 100% set, according to local South Bend TV and radio, as quoted on the NDNation boards. I also think I just heard ESPN TV confirm this, though I missed the beginning of the sentence so I can’t be certain.

Another NDNation posting points out that if Urban Meyer comes to ND, his last game with Utah will probably be against Pittsburgh, and his first game with Notre Dame will be against… Pittsburgh.

It’s a back-door draft — of robots!

Oh, the humanity circuitry!

Tonight.

DRUDGE TO WORLD: “I ROCK!”

DEVELOPING…

Some people are just shameless. LOL.

At least it’s comforting to know that there’s at least one website out there that’s more narcissistic than mine… :)

Help Brooke name her bike!