I offer up front that because of the mail in vote delays, many of these races are not actually certified, so there is a possibility that some results may shift.

I am not betting on it, but it is possible.

I posted my thoughts on Elections in general yesterday, and I still remain somewhat disgruntled.  I was reminded that moving to an adjacent county would offer me my ballot again, and I admit it is tempting, but I do like the area I live in, so no.  And that county also practices Instant Run Off Voting, which I also oppose, and of the two, mail in ballots is the lesser evil.

This election there were sever contentious matters on our local ballot which bear further reflection, because frankly the results were a bit of a surprise.

One of the bigger surprises was Dan Satterberg who appears to be winning the King County Prosecutor.  Dan was the ’protégé’ of late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, and has been serving as interim prosecutor pending this election.  The reason this is a shock?

He is a Republican, and a Republican getting elected in notoriously liberal King County is quite a surprise…well anywhere except the prosecutors office I suppose, in which a Republican has held for the last 60 years.  It is interesting in a county that openly disdains conservatives, a conservative is acceptable for the Prosecutor.

I don’t know if it is significant, but it is interesting.

Considering the fiasco our 2004 Governors election was, it is no shock that one of the measures in King County concerned elections.  Initiative 25 would place a charter amendment on the November 2008 general election ballot that would make the position of county director of elections an elected nonpartisan office.  

The back story here is that of the 39 counties in Washington State, only King County has an appointed elections director, and as Sound Politics has chronicled, former director Dean Logan has a slew of complaints and accusations about his ineptitude, and alleged suborning of fraud. For an eye opener, go to http://soundpolitics.com and search for Dean Logan.  Regardless, this is a good thing and with any luck, soon King County will have an elected representative who is accountable to the people for his actions, not just to the County Executive.

The stories speak for themselves.

‘Santa Claus does not exist’ school tells stunned kids

A primary school has been accused of spoiling Christmas for pupils after a lesson telling them that Santa Claus does not exist.

Children as young as nine were told that only ’small children believe in Father Christmas’.

And yesterday their parents criticised teachers for taking the ‘magic’ out of the festive period.

The blunder came after the Year 5 pupils were given seasonal worksheets containing various festive classroom exercises.

One began by informing the children that ‘many small children believe in Father Christmas’.

It then went on to explain that thousands of letters sent by these children to Santa every year are actually answered by the Post Office.

Not content with the spolier, they then asked the kids to play grinch:

The youngsters were then asked to write a pretend letter from the Post Office to a child explaining why their requests for presents had been refused. (emphasis added)

One father-of-two, who asked not to be named, said: "My wife and I make a special effort to keep the belief in Santa in our daughter’s mind as we believe it adds to the magic of Christmas for her and her four-year-old brother.

"We even recall her shaking with excitement some years ago when sat at the bottom of our bed rummaging through her stocking.

"What gives the school the right to decide when children should know the truth about such a harmless matter when knowing the truth does take away that little bit of magic?"

"She’ll probably figure it out soon enough anyway, but we might have had one last Christmas without her knowing if it hadn’t been for the school."

That kinda sums it up for a lot of us.  The magic and the mystery.

The spoksman for the group that created the bah humbug lesson plan, Ebenezer Scrooge Ruth Merttens, defended the work:

She said: "I feel sorry for the teacher concerned.

"But we produce the worksheets and it is up to teachers how they use them in class."

To be sure, let’s not blame Sasha, she had no idea about it and was apparently "stunned" when she found out.

This is just another example of an official taking preemptive action when none was required, correcting imaginary wrongs and soothing unruffled feathers.

Pretty bad when the officials are idiots and their implied victims have more sense.

When did Christmas Carols become such a problem for crying out loud? 

 Olympic skater Sasha Cohen "stunned" by Xmas flap

Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen was "stunned" to learn that a U.S. high school choir had been ordered to stop singing Christmas carols at a holiday show because she is half-Jewish, her mother said on Thursday.

A city official accompanied by a police officer caused a stir by silencing the carols on Tuesday night as Cohen signed autographs after a performance in Riverside, California.

Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge has since apologized to the student choir, the Rubidoux High School Madrigals.

Well that’s something.

To some, the incident appeared an example of excessive political correctness in the United States over the celebration of Christmas — which some conservative commentators have characterized as a "war on Christmas.’

Ya think?  The fact is that this happens a lot these days as everyone pretends there is some great sensitivity issue at stake here.

The fact is that the average person could care less.

Cohen, who is half-Christian and "celebrates everything" during the holidays, learned only through news reports that the choir had been cut off on her account, the 22-year-old skater’s mother and manager said.

"Sasha was stunned. We both thought the voices were just lovely, they were doing such a wonderful job," Galina Cohen told Reuters. "Christmas carols are part of celebrating the holiday season."

Exactly.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper reported that the Madrigals had just launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" when a city special-events employee told them to stop singing.

Cohen’s mother said the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and U.S. National Champion had taken part in Christmas tree lighting ceremonies at New York’s Rockefeller Center and in California.