Yes we can...and we DID!!!

I can't find the words to express how incredible this day has been, but I'm gonna try since I have 30 minutes to get this post in before midnight..;-P

No, you know what? I still can't find the words. I've erased everything I've typed for the past 15 minutes. It's still sinking in...and it will continue to in the days ahead.

We listened to coverage of the election on NPR.org and the BBC, while a friend of mine kept feeding me live updates from Katie Couric and I frantically watched maps and liveblogging on several sites. It was a busy day here for a few hours. The votes came in much faster than I thought they would...and then the polls officially closed on the West Coast and the networks officially called the election as a win for Obama and the airwaves erupted with cheering from all across the nation, and the world!

McCain gave a very gracious concession speech. It reminded me of the McCain I came to love in 2000, the man who I thought I'd vote for if given the chance...a stark contrast to the man we saw during the course of this campaign. I remember how much it hurt to listen to Kerry's concession speech in 2004, so I can imagine what McCain's supporters are feeling tonight. I applaud him for stopping the booing from the crowd when he mentioned Obama's name. I know his supporters are feeling defeated tonight, and I'm sorry they are feeling that way...I'm not insensitive to their pain, but quite frankly I think we've earned the right to rejoice today!!

Watching Obama's speech I was struck by the difference in the crowd's response when Obama mentioned McCain..instead of booing we heard cheering. I'm glad Obama said what he did about McCain. His speech was beautiful, I sat here crying, deeply touched and unbelievably proud of our nation. I'm so glad that he will be representing our nation to the nations of the world! Can you imagine what it must have been like to be there in Grant Park tonight? I have to admit I'm rather jealous...but it's okay, because no matter where we are, Obama supporters the world over are celebrating with as much enthusiasm as those attending his speech did!

Today is Guy Fawke's Day in New Zealand (and many other countries in the Commonwealth). As is tradition, once the sun went down the fireworks started to fill the sky! We were driving to pick up a friend for dinner who had a rough job interview today, and I couldn't help remarking that even though I knew the real reason for the fireworks, it felt like all of New Zealand was celebrating with us. And let me tell you people--they are. People all over the world are celebrating with us this day! We sat and ate dinner at Denny's of all places, and I couldn't help but wonder what Denny's all across the US were looking like right about now. Packed full of exhausted supporters, faces awash in the euphoric high of realising their actions really do matter.

I imagine this will sink in more as the days go by, but right now I still feel like I'm in a bit of a daze. Part of me can't believe it actually has happened, and yet part of me knew it would happen all along. Why? Because of those of us who had the audacity to hope, dream, work, donate, vote, and believe that in the end enough people would be inspired to do those same things...and change the world.

That's right people....today, each voice, one by one brought change to our nation. Bask in it today...soak it all in...because tomorrow comes quickly and this journey is far from over!!

YES WE CAN.....YES WE DID.....YES WE WILL!!

Election Day!!

It's finally here, Election Day. 2 years in the making, eh? Seems like this race has gone on forever, and yet suddenly we find ourselves at the end of it.

It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I love this 'standing on the edge of something, about ready to jump and yet reluctant to take that one last step that will plunge you into midair' kind of feeling. I've had it before in key moments of my life and I truly feel that this is a key moment for our nation. Tomorrow we will make history. We will either have the first African American President, or the first woman Vice-President. Readers of this blog know all too well which one I'd prefer to see happen when the votes are counted, but even though I have my preferences, I fervently wish that everyone gets out and takes advantage of their right to vote.

As I picked up the laptop to hurry up and type this post before midnight, Chris joked "Oh I know what you're going to write, some patriotic, "get out and vote" post, aren't you?!" . Well yes Chris, that's exactly what I'm writing. I've said this all before, but I can't resist saying it one more time because I sense this is going to be the "big" vote of our generation. In 20 years will I be telling the story about this election and my vote in it as a way to encourage a future niece or nephew (or my own child) to be politically active and vote? Part of me thinks it's possible.

This election year has brought the American people a different experience from what we've had in the past. Unfortunately, we've seen a Senator who I used to have great respect for, throw all he said he stood for out the window and take a gamble on a VP choice just to try and sway the female, conservative vote, which to me is one of the most disgusting displays of sexism I've seen in a long time. But on the other end of the spectrum, we've seen a candidate who everyone thought was the underdog in this race create a grassroots campaign style that inspired many to give of their time and wallet in order to propel him closer and closer to the White House.

I don't know what Obama will be able to accomplish as POTUS, I don't expect everything he promised in his campaign to come true. His ideals have given so many of us what we needed most--hope. Hope that things can be better than they've been for the last 8 years. Hope that we really can do something to bring our country out of its downward spiral. Hope that running a semi-clean campaign could actually be a success. Hope that we as individuals really DO have the power to change the world.

Tonight I sit here with that hope. In the back of my mind I remember 4 years ago, how crushed I was when the results came in, how despondent I was, how much I feared for our country and what the next 4 years would be like. Looking at it honestly I can say some of my fears really did come true, and I grieve the things that our country has lost. But I choose to silence my inner doubter tonight and instead take a moment to let that hope and excitement flow through me.

We are here, we have worked hard, and I believe that if everyone gets out and votes, no matter how long the lines are or how frustrating the crowds are, we will see the fruits of our labor as the vote counts come in. We can win this race and set a new course for the next 4 years, YES WE CAN!

McCain on SNL?

Yeah, he did it. He went on SNL, and not just McCain either, his wife appeared too! Am I the only one who finds it a bit odd how all of them have showed up on SNL the last few weeks? Funny how the "biased liberal media" is evil, in the tank for Obama, and taking away Palin's freedom of speech (sorry, not over that one yet), but the campaign sure does make use of them as much as possible! Fucking ridiculous, I swear.

I love the dig at the Obama campaign for his informercial on Wednesday night, acting like the McCain camp is at a disadvantage because they are short on funding, as if we all are ignorant about the amount of money the RNC has. *snort*

He is a good sport about his appearances on the show, better than I think Palin was, but I still don't think he's the right person to have in the White House. The way his entire campaign has been run speaks much louder than any words he or Palin get out at their rallies.

I've heard some people are boycotting SNL for having him on the show, but considering how many times he's appeared before, and that SNL is supposed to be unbiased, I really don't think boycotting is going to do a damned thing.

So to all you who are boycotting SNL tonight, I have an even better way to make your voice heard: VOTE! And after Nov. 4th, remain politically active! The most effective thing you can do is to get active in a local organisation, help out your community, and engage in effective dialogue with both those who agree with you and those who don't! The POTUS affects our country, no doubt, but national change starts on an individual level. Want things to be different? Roll up your sleeves, give up a few hours a week, and work for it!

And for those of you who aren't boycotting, here are the clips. The first one is the opening, the second one is of "Weekend Update". When he said he was going to try playing the "Sad Grandpa, where I get on TV and say Obama is going to have plenty of chances to be president, it's my turn! Vote for me!" I really did burst out laughing...because seriously I think that's gone through his head for real, at least once.

Strange times we're living in...

A friend posted this on Facebook and I watched it and was actually speechless for a moment!

Good 'ole "Joe the Plumber" had a gem of an interview with Shepard Smith of Fox News. Apparently Joe thinks that a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel! When asked by Smith to back up exactly why he agreed with that statement, his response was something to he effect of '...I think everyone should go figure out what would make me say something like that!'

I need to remember that line the next time someone expects me to back up some claim I've made! *snort*

Have a look at the video, even better than Joe sticking his foot in his mouth as usual, is watching someone at Fox News actually defend Obama against those comments and seem rather unsettled with what he had just heard.



"Some things....well, it's just gets frightening sometimes."

Exactly Shepard, exactly.

Eric Hirshberg blogged recently on Huffington Post about the Conservatives For Change video he created after observing the conservatives in his life deciding to vote for Obama. Their reasons are all a bit different, but they reflect one thing IMO, a willingness to have an open mind and to judge the candidates based on who they are and what they say, not just what party they are with.



It's unfortunate that almost every conservative I know refuses to put aside party allegiance or one issue voting to have a calm discussion about the important things in this race. *sighs*

My brain hurts!

As interesting as the political news of the day has been (what with the fake claims from a McCain volunteer of being assaulted by a big, bad, black robber who carved a B into her face and with McCain's brother calling 911 and the police department to complain about a traffic jam and cuss at them) I've got more pressing matters on my mind. I've been sitting here trying to understand concepts that go way, WAY over my head. Why do money issues have to be so damned complicated, huh? I need some explanations in simple terms. Is there a financial analyst in the audience? Please?

Here is my dilemma, perhaps someone can shed some light on the mystery for me. The problem? Currency!! In preparation for moving to the US, Chris and I have been watching the currency values go up and down. A while back the NZ dollar was pretty high in relation to the US dollar, something like .78, which was great, considering often it's more like .64, meaning for every $1.00 NZ dollar we could buy $0.78 US dollar. Now, when thinking about this in pocket change, it doesn't seem like much, since that was a difference of about $0.12 USD. But imagine how it affects much bigger numbers, say $10,000 NZD. The difference in the two rates would then be about $1,200 USD!! Nice chunk of change, isn't it? So as you can imagine, we decided to convert much of our NZD to USD. Granted, we aren't rich by any stretch of the imagination, but every little bit counts if you know what I mean, so we were pretty happy to have shifted it over while the exchange rate was so good.

Happy that is, until now. With the market being so volatile and other countries feeling the shock waves from it all, things have definitely been affected down here. Working with similar figures to the above example but in the opposite direction, $0.56 USD will buy $1.00 NZD. Scale it up and that means you could buy $10,000 NZD for about $5,600 USD. And NZ banks pay a good amount of interest, far more than the US does.

Now, I'm not one to convert back and forth as the rates go up and down. It's too stressful. watching currency will make you insane! But, with some money experts in the US telling people to spread their savings over several banks and several accounts in order to protect it if they have a large amount in savings, I have to admit having our money in USD is a bit scary. The USD is doing fine now, but what if it drops? Good for other countries looking to buy USD, bad for those of us who have to spend USD! Is my money safe in USD? Would it be safer in NZD? The dollar here is not likely to go much lower. It may not rebound for a bit, but it hasn't been this low in years and since the interest rate here was cut from 7.5% to 6.5% here two days ago, the dollar is bound to climb up before long.

So I sit here wishing I had nails left to bite, wishing it wasn't a long weekend (Monday is Labour Day here), and wishing I knew a lot more about what's going on in the financial world. I don't want to make a ton of money, I just want to know that what savings we do have is going to be there tomorrow.

See why my brain hurts right now??

The best thing about an election year?

All the political comedy!

October Surprise?

As we head into the homestretch of this election season, many political commentators are on the look out for what they call the "October Surprise". The rumors are all over the place! Some think Dubbya will pull Osama bin Laden out of a hat right before election day, giving McCain a massive boost and carrying him all the way to the White House. Others postulate it may be a tape from bin Laden, ala the 2004 election, or perhaps even another terrorist attack on American soil, since that would be bound to boost McCain's ratings. Personally if any of the above happened I wouldn't be surprised. Those in power are often known for using skirmishes both in and out of the country in order to divert our attention from the things that matter, and I wouldn't put it past Dubbya or Cheney to get a good screw in before election day.

One writer jokes that perhaps McCain is going to come out and drop a 'flat tax' plan on us in hopes of wooing those in the money to vote for him. I'm still chuckling over that one.

However, the one I've been reading about most in the last two days is the purported upcoming endorsement by Colin Powell. Some say his endorsement wouldn't mean much, but Jon Soltz at Huffington Post wrote an interesting piece on why he thinks it matters to this election, and I have to say I agree with him in many ways. Although Powell obviously fucked up with the Bush Administration/UN "weapons of mass destruction" thing, he is still viewed by many to be a well respected military man with impressive foreign relations cred. Having someone like that back Obama would be significant, and his voice speaking out against the attacks coming from the Palin/McCain camp like Obama 'hanging out with terrorists' and being 'unpatriotic' would make some (at least a handful) of undecideds sit up and take notice.

Do I think it would make this election a slam dunk for Obama? NO. There are still a whole lotta ways this race could be lost, but it could make things a bit more interesting. What if Powell instead decides to endorse McCain? Well then, that would say a whole lot about the man, wouldn't it? For some reason I've always admired him, even while being part of the Bush debacle, and I've hoped a time would come that would allow him to redeem himself even just a little bit for the part he played.

I know what some are thinking, a man considered a strong Republican, coming out and endorsing a Democrat, and one as 'liberal' as Obama? Well I say, stranger things have happened (like McCain picking an unknown for VP!). I mean, just today I've read the scathing commentary on "Palin's Failin' " by none other than Peggy Noonan, news of conservative talk radio host Michael Smerconish out of Philly backing Obama, and the LA Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune have added their names to the list of papers backing the Democratic ticket.

Sunday morning, Meet the Press. Guess I'll wake up early Monday morning here to be greeted with his choice--or lack there of. He could come out and refuse to endorse anyone at all, go right for the center, but still, I'm holding out hope he'll do better than that. Time will tell I suppose.

What It's Like

I can't get over the "woman's life" air-quotes bull shit from last night's debate. To me, it was a glaring example of what I feel a lot of people in this world lack, UNDERSTANDING and COMPASSION.

For the last two weeks this song has been playing through my mind every day. Every day. I remember when it came out vividly because I was still a "pro-life, anti-abortion Christian". However, I was deeply struggling with the things that I'd been taught were "absolutely wrong", like homosexuality, sex before marriage, and abortion. I listened to the lyrics in this song and they really, really got to me. For an instant I was that girl, being ambushed by protesters while trying to get to the clinic, agonising over the choice I was left to make by the "man" who helped me get into this situation. Then I thought about a woman that was raped and how she would feel, pregnant with the child of her attacker. Or a young girl barely past puberty, her womb violated and impregnated by her father, uncle, the guy next door.

In putting on their shoes and walking for a minute, it all became so clear. What right to we have to judge that which most of us will never have to go through? What right do we have to take away their rights to their bodies? If it were me, would I want people to make that choice for me? NO.

And there you have it, the shift....that moment when the earth shifts beneath you and you know without a doubt that your perspective has been forever altered and you can't go back to the way you were before.

I sincerely wish people would take a moment to step outside their comfort zone and put on the shoes of another in a situation much different than the one they live in. Then maybe, just maybe they could imagine what it's like.

Never enough time in the day...

Yes, blog, sorry, don't have much time to now condense the political happenings of today into some snarky post that takes me forever to write! Between reading and cooking and obsessing over the dentist appointment tomorrow that has me freaking the hell out, I totally forgot to come here and have a good laugh over things!

So instead, here are some excerpts from my responses to the debate as I was watching/listening to it! I mostly do this so that a close friend of mine who finds my commentary amusing, can read it later as she watches the debates she recorded, and feel like I'm sitting right there running my mouth. Keep in mind this is on NZ time, so 2 pm is when it started. It may not be the most grammatically correct thing, but remember, I'm typing while watching, listening, yelling at the screen, and chatting on IM, so I don't think I did too bad...

2:04 He's just said angry 5 times. I predict this will be his word for the night!

2:20 Ohhhhh McCain, nice one! That's your "whoop his ass" approach, right? You're not Bush, but you've supported him 90% of the time!! Oh there we go, we're angry again. That's his catch line this time! "Americans are angry".

2:27 OH MY GOD he's playing the sympathy card! The "I'm not a racist, you hurt my feelings, I'm gonna cry now, you wouldn't do town hall meetings with me so all the mean ads are your fault, I had to air them 'cause you wouldn't come play by my made up rules!"

2:36 OH HE DID IT!! Slandered ACORN AND AYERS all in the same breath!!! SCORE! AND McCain said he doesn't care about any terrorists? *snort*

2:40 THANK YOU! God moderator, you rock! Thank you so fucking much, I could kiss you right now! --why is your VP pick better than the other party's.

2:42 She's a role model to women?? She's a reformer? "she makes me feel all tingly in my pants"

2:43 OH EVEN HE PLAYED THE BABY!! OMG, it's better than I even hoped!

2:55 YAY, PRECONDITIONS!!! Good thing I don't drink during these things, I'd be shitfaced long before now... Comes on McCain, say it, M-A-V-E-R-I-C-K! Please?? What, are we not your "friends" anymore?

3:02 John, I really hope your "whoop his you-know-what" strategy backfires on you, because your lame accusations are such BS. That's right, $5,000 won't pay for a $12,000 a year policy! Some of us have preconditions that make it so insurance companies charge us shit loads, and we're not asking for "luxuries".

3:05 SENATOR GOVERNMENT!! Woo HOO!!! That's a sound bite from this debate baby! Sounds like some sort of super hero.

3:11 Haha, equal pay for equal work! Obama supports, McCain opposes, because he doesn't agree with it and neither does his super woman, role model for all, PALIN.

3:12 Pro-abortion movement? Oh, see, you KNOW the truth on the matter, and you worked your weasel words to scare the pro-lifers and cause them to ignore his explanation! Fuck you McCain, really, fuck you. Yeah, the doctors were against it as well, because it was already on the books!!!! The exception of "in the case of a woman's life in danger" IS AN IMPORTANT CLAUSE!

3:14 Yes, PREVENTION through education, improve options for adoptions, and YES YES YES, NOBODY IS PRO-ABORTION!

3:19 McCain says 'this is the civil rights issue of the 21st century'. We've achieved equal access in schools? Competition between schools? How are people supposed to take their kids to better schools when they cannot afford it? No certifications for teaching for military members? Did I just hear that right? *scratches head*

3:21 Hahahaha... Bush's no child left behind left behind the money for it... Good one Obama!

3:27 McCain's closing word. "I have a record of reform, I take on my party all the time, I'll buck those Republicans at every turn if I have to, I'm good with your money, I spend it on what I want to, I can't say Senator Obama clearly most of the time because behind his back I call him Senator Osama, I'm a POW, my family has a history of serving this country, let me continue to serve, in fact you have to vote for me 'cause I was in the Navy and a POW, so I deserve it god damn it!" What a wanker.

3:29 Obama's closing. "No more of the same, we need change, I believe in the decency and generosity of the American people, I will invest in you, our best days are ahead, health care, tax cuts, better education, growing the middle class, this is what I've been doing in my career, this is what I'm going to do, this takes all of us, no matter what party, vote for me, I promise if I get to be president I will work every single day tirelessly on your behalf and on behalf of your children." Why do people find this scary?

3:31 Last word from Moderator. As my momma always said "Go vote now, it'll make you feel big and strong."

So there you have it! Register to vote people and then actually GO VOTE!!

Say it ain't so John!

Brainwashing their volunteers with misinformation before sending them out to rally votes for McCain? Why yes they do...at least one organiser does in Virginia!

It amuses me that people claim over and over again these lies aren't coming from the McCain campaign and that they are not inciting people to spread lies and cause panic.....and yet we read about that very thing in a Time article!

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

...when first we practice to deceive.* And deceive the McCain/Palin ticket has been doing up a storm in this campaign season, and particularly this last week.

By now we all know about the increasingly angry, aggressive crowds at some McCain rallies and most Palin participates in. I blogged about that a few days ago so I'm not going to rehash it again, but I've felt strongly that McCain and Palin both need to step up and calm down the supporters they've spurred on with all their misrepresentations of Obama. Listening to clips of some of their speeches (particularly Palin's) makes it clear that they are intentionally using those little weasel words to scare people into voting for them instead of "that one". The xenophobia has got to stop people!

Today I read this article about how McCain has recently tried to correct some of the angry shouting and panicked questions by supporters at his rallies, only to be repeatedly booed for trying to bring things back to a respectful place and explain to a supporter that Obama is in fact not an Arab. Sorry McCain, once you've opened Pandora's Box it's a bit difficult to stuff everything back inside.

What I find interesting though, is while McCain is putting on a show of trying to soothe the fervor, his campaign says it will continue to push ads that continue in the same vein as they have lately. And we've not seen Palin telling people they don't have to be afraid of Obama and that he's a good, respectable citizen--good on you Biden for calling her out on it too!

I'd like to believe that somewhere inside McCain is that same person that 8 years ago I had great respect for. I'd like to believe that he's genuinely concerned about the direction things have taken and is worried about the damage this rabid divisiveness will do to our country if and when Obama wins the election. I'd like to believe that he truly feels his campaign has stepped over the line and they need to get back on track. But I think I'm too jaded to. I'll still say kudos to the man for trying to correct some of the people at his recent rally. However, I think this is just a ploy to look good while Palin and others on his campaign continue to fan the flames in any way they can.

And speaking of Palin. Two days ago the McCain campaign attempted to pre-empt the expected findings of the ongoing ethics probe in Alaska by stating they'd done an investigation into the accusations made against her and their findings cleared her of any wrongdoing! Turns out the Alaskan legislative panel doesn't agree. And remember, this was a BIPARTISAN panel. I find it ironic that McCain wants to jump into a character and judgement debate with Obama, and yet the VP on his ticket abused her power as Governor to try and get her sister's ex fired! And not just her, but her aides as well as her husband. Oh yes. A vote for Sarah is a vote for her husband Todd obviously. Wonder what lovely things they'll get up to with the additional expansion of the VP role Sarah feels is needed. Cheney must be so proud of her.

And as if we haven't heard enough about the Ayers thing, apparently now the McCain campaign has felt the need to drag Michelle Obama into the whole mess! Even though McCain has stated repeatedly that the spouses should be off limits during the campaign. Come on John, do you control anything that goes on in that campaign anymore, or are you really that low??

Exactly. That's what I thought.

*quote by Sir Walter Scott

Wanted: Clever Title

(The hardest part of writing is the damn title, so I've given up changing it for today. One will come to me like 2 weeks from now I bet, unless someone else wants to name it for me! Anyway, on with the post...)

The way I see US politics, people usually fall into one of 5 categories (I'm sure there are more, but for the sake of this blog not taking me days to write, I'm gonna stick to these 5). Disciples, Intellectuals, Sheeple, Apathetics, and the Write-Ins. I'm sure most of us with a diverse friend base know people in each camp. People from every party fall inside these camps. There are Sheeple that will vote for Obama, there are Intellectuals who will vote for McCain. You will also run across articles, podcasts, videos, and blogs by people in all of these categories, isn't the internet great! *snort*

The Apathetic are the ones that either don't care about the election at all, hate politics, fail to see the reason for being politically active and voting, or they are so jaded about politics in general that they refuse to vote because they think it won't have any effect on the outcome. They may talk about The Man keeping them down, or they're too occupied with the latest episode of the OC to think about anything else. These are the people who won't vote. Unfortunately they make up a good portion of the population.

The Write-Ins are those whose candidate of choice either didn't get the mainstream nomination (Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, etc...), are a member of a 'non-mainstream' parties whose candidate will not be put on the ballot in some states (Libertarians, Greens, etc...), or they loathe all the people running so much that they'll write in their dog's name in protest. These people are politically active and will vote, just not for either of the main contenders.

The Intellectuals are those voters who make an effort to inform themselves of the candidates' positions on both sides. They're probably politically aware enough that they have opinions of their own and choose the candidate that is most in line with them, or they pick the lesser of two evils because they feel that while they don't fully agree with either side, one candidate would be more preferable than the other. They are likely to feel frustrated with people in the other categories for various reasons, a major one being that it seems the bulk of the population doesn't know how to use their brains anymore.

(One moment, fruit break, blogging uses up so much damn energy!)

The Sheeple. Everybody knows these. The Sheeple are those that vote with a party because their parents, pastor, best friend, or scary emails tell them to. They are the ones who think a salmonella outbreak from fresh tomatoes means they can't eat spaghetti and that we should ban all tomato products. One-issue voters often fall into either this category or are Disciples. The ones who think voting in Obama/Biden means all guns will be banned, or that voting in McCain/Palin will automatically ban abortion and 'stop the genocide of babies'. They will vote for a candidate because they look sexier in a suit, talk like the "average Joe Six Pack", are adorable, or are one specific race or gender. They refuse to talk politics most of the time because they really don't know much about the issues other than what MTV or Pat Robertson tell them, and they'll assume you're a Disciple for "the other side" if you try to engage them in logical conversation.

Last but not least, the Disciples. Disciples were at one time one of the other categories, but for whatever reason have taken the religion of politics to the extreme. There is no reasoning with them, they don't hear you, all they're thinking is how to "covert you" to their side. These aren't the people that will have a frank discussion with you about the flaws in both party's candidates, they believe their choice for President is in effect, the Messiah that will right everything that is wrong with this world and magically make the entire US into what they want it to be. Their eyes look just as glazed over as the Sheeple's do, in fact, many of them are Sheeple on steroids out to save your political soul!

Now that you're all hip with my lingo, I can ramble on in another blog about my mental musings these last few days.

Sticks and Stones Can Break My Bones....

....but words will never hurt me.

Or can they?

"Terrorist!"

"Kill Him!"

"Treason!"

A racial epithet yelled at an African American sound guy followed by "Sit down, boy!" amid slurs hurled at members of the media after Palin riles the crowd up with how unjustly she was treated by Couric in her interview.

That old childhood rhyme was off a bit. Certain words used carefully can incite people to react with violence, which DOES hurt us!

Now I'm not accusing McCain and Palin of openly encouraging the members in attendance at their rallies to scream the things above. If this was only one isolated incident I probably wouldn't be writing this. But it seems to me a pattern is starting to emerge as the McCain/Palin campaign "takes the gloves off" for the final days of this election.

One of the most concerning things to me is both McCain AND Palin have not addressed these incidents. Not once. Of the 4 comments listed above, at least two have been caught on video. How many others at events within the last week have not? These are people we are supposed to be voting for to lead our country and they can't pause their speech for a minute to say, "Now there's no cause to be yelling things like that. We may not agree with our opponent's stance on things, but calling them a terrorist or suggesting we kill them or that they are guilty of treason is rather over the top. We're all Americans and love our country. We can disagree with people and still show respect for them."

But no, of course we wouldn't hear that. Why, during tonight's debate when commenting on something Obama voted for instead of saying "Senator Obama" or "Barack", McCain instead pointed in the direction of Obama and said "...THAT ONE!"

Referring to a person you are running against as "THAT ONE" has some dangerous connotations. When we cannot look someone in the eye, refer to them by name, or acknowledge they are a human being that deserves to be treated with respect and decency no matter how much we disagree with them, we have begun to dehumanize them. Dehumanizing our rivals makes it that much easier to excuse hate crimes, names, slurs, and acts of violence against them. Think about how that tactic is used now and how it was used in places like Nazi Germany to transform the "enemy" from humans to "vermin".

Is this the kind of change the McCain campaign seeks to bring us? Violence, aggression, hate, fear of those different from us, lies? How sick has our country become that this is acceptable behaviour?

Perhaps this is the new McCain/Palin tactic? If they can't take the White House they'll make sure as many people as possible are so fearful of Obama that his days in office won't last very long?

Unfortunately in the US we have a tendency to kill the visionaries that seek to transform our nation. And to be perfectly honest that is a deep, legitimate fear that sits in the heart of this supporter of CHANGE.

Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Oh yes, it's been one of those days...wish fixing it were as easy as moving to Australia!

Chris has never heard of that book! What a deprived childhood;-P I loved it as a child and think of it every time I have a shit day. Today I tried reciting the book to Chris since parts of it are programmed in my head from my days as a pre-school teacher, laugh all you want to, I do one mean reading of Cat in the Hat! But alas I couldn't remember it all. Never fear, YouTube is here! Who would have thought to look there for children's books? Craziness. I checked out a few readings and found this one, which isn't what most people would call child friendly, but watching the first few minutes of it made me laugh and reminded me of something entirely different, a Mad TV spoof of Jackass.

But my favorite Mad TV clip is this one, it NEVER fails to make me laugh!



"I'm sick of The Man giving me the finger! Well here's your finger, BIATCH!! Take a picture!"

Guess he got poked in the tummy one too many times, can't say I blame him. LOL!!

Ahhh...after all that laughing I can almost forget the kind of day I had.

And I just realised tomorrow is the next presidential debate! Town Hall style. This should be interesting. Will we see McCain blow his top live on national TV?? One has to wonder...

Oooo...we're in trouble now!

While at a rally in California yesterday, Palin thought she'd share the quote by Madeline Albright she found on the side of her Starbuck's cup.

"There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women."

Except for that's not quite what Albright said. The correct quote is:

"There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women."

Freudian slip maybe?

As the crowd cheered in response to Palin's comment she then said, "Okay, now, thank you so much for receiving that well. I didn't know how that was gonna go over. And now, California, let's see what a comment like I just made, how that is turned into whatever it'll be turned into tomorrow with the newspaper."

Ahhh yes, playing that 'mainstream media are a bunch of bullies' card an awful lot aren't ya Sarah! And right on top of playing the gender card! That oughta get you triple points or something!

Damn you Starbucks for tripping her up! We know you put that quote there just so she'd misread it and misquote it at her rally that morning! Don't worry, we're on to you, we know you're gunning for Obama. ;-P

Next I suppose McCain will have to screen each coffee cup to ensure the quote has been blacked out before she gets a hold of it and we have yet another misquote on our hands. *shakes head*

Or, she could just say she meant to do that...you know, it was a joke, we just didn't catch on 'cause we're humorless or something.

It's okay Sarah, don't worry. I'll bring the marshmallows and you can bring the graham crackers and with all the women that'll be in hell with us there's sure to be chocolate around. We'll have ourselves a grand time around the ole hell fire!

Some people really should be smacked.

I cherish freedom of speech, freedom of religion and all the others freedoms that we're supposed to have in the USA (never mind the idiots constantly chipping away at those things). I myself am no longer affiliated with any organised religions even though I definitely grew up in them, so being non-churchy I often find myself in debates with people who feel that all religions are dangerous and should be banned because of the extremists they breed. Being the rabid liberal I am, I wholeheartedly defend what I believe should be everyone's right to practice the religion of their choosing and talk about it all they want, even if I don't agree with them. Extremists can form out of any ideology, that's no reason to start banning things. When we restrict the freedoms of others we are really imprisoning ourselves.

I guess that's why when people use their freedom of speech to spew such vile hatred about another person I get frustrated. No, frustrated is not a strong enough word. I get pissed, abso-fucking-lutely pissed off. You can disagree with someone's political views and/or the things they say and do all you want, but comments like the ones in the above video go way beyond disagreement or sarcastic ranting.

Meh. I'm so mad about it I don't even want it embedded on my blog, it'll pollute my space too much.

Now for what made me smile this evening:



Homer definitely should sue. :-P

Of course, tampering with the vote is not a laughing matter, but I think I'll save that topic for another time and go watch The Daily Show to try and rid my mind of other things I've seen today.

2 down, 2 to go!

I'm still trying to recover the brain cells I lost listening to Palin's ramblings that have nothing to do with the questions directed at her. Why the hell is it so hard to stay on point? I know the answer to that question, I mean, it's difficult to answer a question you don't have a canned response for, but really, WTF!?!

Her hairstyle amused me, had to let that hair down to seem even more the little woman next to the big, bad, Biden (plus it's easier to hide an ear piece that way). And the winking? Good god people, a candidate for VP winking at the audience repeatedly while spouting off folksy talk, cute little jabs, and why oh why do we have yet another person who cannot say NUCLEAR?? In all that debate practice could they not correct her on that?

Biden did as good as could be expected, in fact he did better than I thought he would. I'm proud of him, that practicing sure paid off. I mean, he did sigh a lot and laugh a few times, but can you blame the man? How frustrating must it be to have to debate with a person who several months ago hadn't a thought in her head about running as VP? I'm surprised he didn't totally lose his temper at some point and crush her for that "you're an idiot" voice she kept using over and over and over again with her condescending attitude! If he had spoken to her in the same way she was speaking to him, the media and the Republican party would have thrown a huge fit! But she can play the gender card, so gets away with whatever the hell she wants.

I hate that the moderator didn't push to get a straight answer out of her. But I guess that's not her fault really, her hands were tied thanks to McSame's whine-fest of the last few days over her book, as if he just now found out about it. *eyes rolling*

The scariest thing about the whole evening is that I know people who will come away from it with a glowing opinion of Palin because they aren't current enough with the facts to see through the lies upon lies she spouts off on a regular basis. Since after all, she said it on national TV, so it must be right....right?

When will people wake up and realise that we've already tried the "elect someone like your pal next door" approach and we got 8 bloody (literally) years of DUBBYA! Do we really want more of the same? I don't want someone in office like the soccer mom next door, I want some one who has spent a good part of their life in politics/law/community service. Someone who is smarter than me, more educated politically than me, who can pronounce the names of world leaders correctly, and who can say NEW-CLEAR instead of NU-CU-LUR!! I want someone who is calm, deliberate, open-minded, who doesn't foam at the mouth with the thought of going to war, who doesn't see all Muslims as the enemy, and who believes that we all deserve jobs with living wages, affordable health care, the right to decide what to do with our own bodies, and accessible education at all levels for EVERYBODY, not just the ones who have parents that can afford it!

I know, I know, I'm showing my idealistic tendencies, but I don't believe those things are so far out of our reach that we cannot attain them. They will be though if we keep electing power hungry idiots to the White House.

Quote of the Day

"I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently."



Isn't he just a ray of sunshine! And that's how he speaks to people just conducting an interview? I'd hate to see how he'd talk to a world leader he doesn't care too much for... As if 8 years of Bush haven't damaged our international standing enough, people want to vote him in to finish off the job?