Election Day prediction...

...reduced to two words:

we lose.

If the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives (and maybe the Senate) as all the navel-gazers say they will, we are in for years of shrill partisanship without progress. Our money will be wasted on countless "investigations" and "hearings" all designed to destroy George Bush. In the meantime, taxes will rise and the execrable giveaways to the Democrats' pet "disadvantaged" groups will zoom to stratospheric levels. Illegal aliens will be given rights they don't deserve, American jobs will vanish, and the borders will be even more porous than they are now, if that's possible.

The terrorists in the Middle East will be happy, though.

And if the Republicans manage a miracle and retain power? We'll be stuck with the same ridiculous policies that have been so damaging over the past five years. We'll have a leader who is free to continue his moronic push to "democratize" nations that neither understand the concept nor want us to intervene in their affairs. A war will continue that our leaders don't have the guts to treat as a war. We will be ever more under the thumb of Christian zealots who have no tolerance for opposing views. Illegal aliens will be given rights they don't deserve, American jobs will vanish, and the borders will be even more porous than they are now, if that's possible.

One of my father's election-day rules can be expressed thus: "when faced with a choice between a new crook and an old crook, pick the new one."

Sadly, we don't even have that choice. The "new crooks" (Democrats) are all proven walking disaster areas like Nancy Pelosi, Charley Rangel and Harry Reid.

I don't know about other states, but California is about to take on $100 billion in debt -- it's officially something like $43 billion, but when you factor in bond fees and interest, the total more than doubles -- for public-works projects that will end up costing far more than advertised and, if history is any guide, may not get built anyway. People actually believe this stunning new debt won't raise taxes.

Excuse me. I have to go vote now. The ballot has 51 items (political offices, propositions and judges) to get through.

I'm voting "no" on everything I can.

I only wish we had a "none of the above" option on the ballot.