Today's cartoon, via Iraqi Press Monitor, is kind of odd:

CARTOON: (Al-Sabah) – A man addresses a lady. He doesn’t ask "Do you know how much I love you?" Instead, he asks "Do you know how much I vote for you?" The cartoonist refers to the fact that Iraqis are overwhelmed by the elections, and are forgetting everything except the elections – now their main concern.

Hmmm... On a related note, readers will know that I'm extremely pessimistic about the future of Iraq, have about 100 doomsday scenarios I worry about, and think it's utterly sickening that we haven't been able to secure the country and are sending hundreds if not thousands of Iraqis off to their deaths on Sunday. Still, stories like this—along with the thousands of election workers and millions of voters who are getting out and trying to strive for democracy—really are inspiring. That should go without saying, but sometimes it gets lost in all the (justified) carping and hand-wringing.