The Pendragon's Hall

I see in the Buffalo newspapers that a Democratic African-American won a landslide election as mayor in the city of Buffalo recently. He outscored his Republican opponent 64% to 27% and the newspaper breathlessly declared that the Democratic Party had been given a "mandate to reform" the city government. I will be the last to deny that Buffalo stands in need of a lot of reform, and I don't know enough about this Brown fellow to say whether or not he's a good choice. I don't like Democrats but some I know are honorable people and if he calls for an end to corruption--and actually carries through on it--and encourages financial responsibility then he is probably a good man for the job. It's interesting though that 64% of a hugely-Democratic city is considered a "mandate to govern" when 51% (2004) or even 61% (1972) of an evenly divided nation for a Republican president is not considered authority to govern. Add to the 51% overwhelming majorities for the Republican party in both Houses of Congress and it sounds like a mandate to me, particularly if Buffalo's electing a Democratic mayor (again!) is one.

On a lighter note, I would like to offer my predictions for tomorrow's NFL games:
Arizona @ Detroit: Detroit by 10.
Baltimore @ Jacksonville: Jacksonville by 3.
Houston @ Indianapolis: Indy by 14.
Kansas City @ Buffalo: KC by 1.
Minnesota @ New York Giants: Giants by 7.
New England @ Miami: Miami by 6.
San Francisco @ Chicago: Chicago by 7.
Denver @ Oakland: Raiders by 2.
New York Jets @ Carolina: Carolina by 14.
Green Bay @ Atlanta: Atlanta by 12.
Saint Louis @ Seattle: Seattle by 4.
Washington @ Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay by 1.
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh by 21.
Dallas @ Philadelphia: Undecided, leaning towards Dallas.