SHREDDER WINS! 

Is it just me, or have people stopped caring? If we're not turning a blind eye toward homeless people coughing up lungs and keeling over in the street, we're littering or shooting cat-crap-virus-infested sea otters for sport or cutting people off in our cars or just not voting.

Word about town is that this was a piss-poor year, mainly in regard to voter turnout, but I'm willing to go a step or two farther and include pretty much everything that's happened since January in the general piss-pooritude.

But everything that's happened since January and a whole lot of stuff that happened before that, too was prologue to Nov. 7, also known as Election Day, which was prologue to this, my analysis of Election Day.

More word about town is that hardly any of you showed up to the polls. Or maybe some of you did. I've said this before and I'll say it again (mainly because it means I can repeat myself instead of thinking up new things to say every week): Something like more than 100 percent of you complain about the piss-poor, uncaring state of the world. The country. The state. The county. The city. The neighborhood. Your health. Blah, blah, blah. Everything is gloomy. Everything is going to pot or seed or hell or whatever is worst. Maybe pot-seed hell.

Then, when it comes time to do something about it, around a dozen of you actually pull the lever or punch the chad or however it is you do it where you come from. What were the rest of you doing? Watching the exit polls and hoping? Tuning out completely while praying that Donald Rumsfeld would resign? Well, someone was listening, even if you were shirking your civic duty unless, of course, you're someone who considers beseeching a higher power for Don to step down to be a civic duty in and of itself. I suppose you're moving on to the president, now.

Anyway, and more to the point, thanks to the handful of you all who made the decisions to vote into office the people who will be making even bigger decisions and regularly falling victim to my ever-vigilant eye. I only have one such eye. The other is probably technically vigilant, too, but it's glass, so I don't count it.

In the meantime, I'd like to start out with an easy and obvious jab at Congresswoman Lois Capps. Every time I talk about her and her office, I make some snide comment about a now ages-old term limit promise. I said it last time I talked about her, and I said it back when she won against Don Regan in 2004, and I said it before that, and I said it before that. I think my snide commenting goes all the way back to when Lois first learned how to say the number "2" and latched onto it as her favorite of all the digits.

Looks like I've got another two years with Lois to look forward to, and I truly, truly say that from my heart, which may give out before the congresswoman decides to do whatever it is she's planning on doing after she's done doing what she's doing now.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Ernie Dalidio and his earth-shaking, sky-is-falling, gawsh-how-did-one-little-ol'-farmer-stir-up-so-big-of-a-hornets'-nest of a campaign. Yes, San Luis Obispo, things are going to get a little crazy now. Or, depending on how you look at it, less crazy. Theory and debates will give way to reality. Will there be an organic farm? Will traffic get worse? Will the overpass do what people hope or fear it will? Will a giant meteor come and kill us all before anyone can even break ground? Stay tuned for the results!

Strangely, I haven't heard anything yet from the "No on J" crowd. Are they sulking? Licking their wounds? I would've thought that as soon as the numbers starting tipping in Ernie's favor, scores of them would've bolted to their keyboards to dash off letter after vitriolic letter condemning the Target-hungry bastards in this county to eternal damnation, maybe in pot-seed hell.

Instead, all I've heard is a person or two say they can't wait for In-N-Out Burger to arrive. Oh, and one Dalidio Ranch neighbor is looking forward to the Monarchs. The beautiful, beautiful Monarchs. Gems of the air. Living fire. And so on.

The rest of the election fallout is just small potatoes, even though they're very interesting potatoes that will probably grow into larger, meatier, more-interesting potatoes as time goes on, especially if they spend any time in potato-seed heaven. Do potatoes come from seeds? I don't care.

Dave Romero will keep leading SLO, which means we can expect more of the same. Tom O'Malley will remain at the helm in Atascadero, much to the delight or dismay of anyone who's been paying attention to the recent goings-on there. Maybe more dismay for some. Oh, and the moral brigade can heave a sigh of relief that Steve Diamond didn't get into office in Grover Beach. Who knows what he'll get his hands into next?

Yep, that about sums up this year for me, at least in terms of the elections. Sure, there were more candidates and issues to write about, but I'm feeling like not caring too much myself these days.