interrobang (‽)

So here’s to four years of non-specific ‘change’.  After a solid 18 months of tedious, blanket media coverage, Barack Obama finally beat John McCain in the U.S. Presidential Election, and will now be the youngest and blackest president in American history.  Obama has (at the time of writing) some 349 electoral votes to McCain’s 163 (and he only needed 270 to win).  This looks like a good two-thirds majority, but is it really?  Bear with me as we take a closer look at the statistics.  (Sorry, but my eldest was reading up on citizenship for his Scouts badge, so I was […]

At the risk of triggering a Dixie Chicks-like backlash, I have to say that George W. Bush is an absolutely appalling public speaker.  I’m not saying I necessarily agree or disagree with his policies - as a non-US Citizen (albeit a Permanent Resident) I’m fairly ambivalent to the whole U.S. politics thing - but he really cannot speak for toffee.  Every time I’ve seen him on television, he has ummed, ahed, and erred (!) his way through his speech.  (For a great example, see What’s Wrong With Bush?.)  Despite almost always reading straight from his notes (or autocue) he delivers each speech as […]