Sususudio 2.0? Vlogs?

“You strip me of my rights and I interrupt you. Who’s really suffering here?”

Go Dan Savage!

President-Elect Obama Collects Super-Man and Conan The Barbarian...

... comic books.

Racist Ends Forever

"The Strength of Our Nation"

"Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

- President-Elect Barack Obama

This is why I do not descend into juvenile hatred of America, because I do believe in what American represents. I believe that America is a beacon of liberty and democracy and hope. And in spite of the difficulty of keeping this belief in the past eight years, I have kept on believing in it, and I believe I have been reward tonight.

I have said privately before that the War on Terror was lost because it has alienated large portions of the world when America should have been winning them over. 

It seems to me that the new president-elect thinks along those lines as well, and I am just so overwhelmed with emotion. I have such hope now for the future of not just America, but the world. 

Today at various points, I have had sudden mini-attacks of panic when I remembered that as charismatic as Obama is, he is not magic. The new president would have to deal with not just the financial crisis but also two difficult and unpopular wars. I was seized with the same skepticism that plagued me back during the primary season, which did not allow me to embrace Obama as swiftly as many others did. 

But in tonight's speech, Mr. Obama addressed those issues so well. He was not triumphant, but seemed truly to realize the serious burden he is about to take on. 

Other than the above quoted passage, the other portion of the speech that really struck me was when he applauded all those who voted. 

"Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

How right he is that all of these demographics make up America. And how wrong the McCain/Palin campaign were to imply, through their use of the absurd expression "Real America" that some of them didn't make up America. The people gathered at the Obama rally, who were young and old and of so many more ethnicities than the people at McCain headquarters, they, not (just) "Joe the Plumber", are real America. 

Speaking of McCain, he gave a great speech as well, though his supporters were less than gracious about their loss. As he spoke, it struck me that this was a really nice man, a man of integrity who sold his soul, and got nothing in return. Had the man who spoke tonight been running this campaign, and not the negative, cheap shop-taking McCain we saw in the last few months, then the result might have been different. Or at least, he would still command the respect of far more individuals than he does now. 

Finally, I'd just like to say that I hope that tonight's result will bring a renewed belief in the power and virtues of democracy around the world and inspire more people to take active roles in their governments. 

As I have said on Facebook, I have never been so proud of democracy. 

Bradley Effect

I've been overhearing a lot of people saying that it might be difficult for Obama to win because of the so-called Bradley Effect, in which more people say they will vote for an African-American candidate than actually do. 

This may or may not be in effect in this election. However there is almost definitely a lack in polling of the "mobile vote" or voters who only use cell phones and not land lines. Since it is mostly young people who are cell phone-only users, and young people are more likely to vote Obama, this will likely make a difference. Cell phone polls have given Obama a nine-point lead, while landline polls only give him a five-point lead. 

So will the Bradley effect and the mobile vote cancel each other out? We'll have to see. 

Sarah Palin as stupid as Britney Spears

The Masked Avengers talk about their prank on Sarah Palin on a CBS morning show.
Apparently the only other person they have pranked who didn't realize it was a joke until the very end was Britney Spears.