It's been an exciting night. I'm not saying "America" is the winner because Barack Obama is being elected President of the United States. This isn't about whether he's the better option, although of course I have my thoughts about that question. Those will be for another day. I'm saying America wins because we get to do this every four years, and it's a great testament to the strength of our democracy. A wise man once said that the sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day. Another wise man once said you should make hay while the sun shines. I'm mixing metaphors horribly here, but the point is that McCain supporters can console themselves with the knowledge that the world turns, the tides come in and out, and nobody stays on top forever. Obama supporters now have their chance to make hay, so don't waste the daylight.

After the 2004 election Thomas Frank wrote the much publicized book What's the Matter with Kansas. He argued that much of middle America by voting Republican was voting against it's own economic interest.

Now that Ohio and Pennsylvania have voted for a ticket where both candidates have openly advocated the federal goverment bankrupting the coal industry, I eagerly await his sequal lamenting the fact that states voted Democrat against their economic interest.

I'll be right here holding my breath.

The whole family recently took a cross country road trip. And here are a few observations after spending 4 days in a car with Mrs. Haff and a 2 year old.

1. God bless the person who invented the in-car entertainment systems. I honestly don't know how people managed to not strangle their kids without these.

2. God condemn the inventor of the in-car entertainment system. Kids love to watch the same thing over and over and over and over again. If I had to hear the theme song to Dora The Explorer any more, I might have driven the car off the road.

3. There is no rhyme or reason to the deer crossing signs. Really, when you're driving across the western United States, every deer crossing sign should really just say "Watch for deer from now til the border".

4. New Mexico is really, really pretty.

5. If the road kill evidence was any indication, the auto body repair industry is not suffering a big down turn in the current economy.

6. When you kid gets sick and has to take a steroid while being confined in a vehicle, the term "bouncing off the walls" is no longer just an expression.

7. I am proposing a new, mandatory, nation-wide zoning ordinance. Any sewage treatment facility built close to a major highway must have a Febreeze testing facility between it and said highway.