Nov 05 2008
I’m a cynical bastard, but I cried tonight.
I cried listening to a political speech, a speech given by a Chicago politician. I cried standing in a noisy bar in front of a big screen TV with a bunch of other people who were crying, too, a lot of them.
I cried as this politician reminded me of what is best about this country, this species, this planet – reminded me that all things are, in fact, possible, and that we as a nation just proved that.
Nov 05 2008
It was a Friday in August 1974. Richard Nixon had boarded a helicopter on the White House lawn, flashed a “victory” sign and fled to avoid conviction on impeachment charges in the Senate.
At the local Liquor Mart, a warehouse-sized booze outlet, the aisles became so crowded by 9:30 a.m. that city police had to be called to monitor the line, which snaked out the door, around the building and down the block. They allowed more people into the store only as equal numbers came out, their arms or carts loaded with cases or kegs of beer and all other manner of alcohol. The aroma of cannabis wafted about here and there but did not spur the cops to arrest anyone as joints were passed along the line.
By 10:30 a.m., the shelves were going bare, and only the more expensive stuff was left, which seemed not to deter anyone.
After that, it was an all-weekend party. “Wasted” scarcely describes our drunkenness. Our partying was replicated around the country. In a way, that weekend marked the end of the ’60s, the era, not the decade.
Afterward came the letdown. Gerald Ford assumed the Presidency, and within a month, he had pardoned Nixon.
Nov 05 2008
Hello my friends!
I just wanted to share with you my joy over Barack Obama’s victory. It is the first time in years that I feel hopeful about the future – for my sons and for all of us on this planet. We have elected someone who is a real diplomat and genuinely cares about people, and I believe that America will help solve our global crises instead of driving them.
I was slow to get behind Obama because he is very much a centrist and to a progressive his policies on the war, climate change, healthcare, etc did not hit hard enough. But that is probably why we have him as our President today, so I am very glad. I am glad he will improve education and think this will be the key to a brighter future for our country. I pray for his long life and success.
This morning at about 4:30 am my eldest ran into my room and asked whether Obama was President, so I checked and found it was confirmed! Coincidentally it is his day for show and share at school and he is taking in a pin that he wore to a few war protests that shows children holding hands around a photograph of the earth from space. He said he wants all the children in the world to be happy. Cynical as I am, right now I can believe that his wish just might come true.
Love
Bikemom
Nov 05 2008
The Morning News is an Open Thread
| McCain concedes presidency, congratulates Obama Associated Press 3 mins ago |
Nov 05 2008
So what we have known is now official and “change” starts. Mind you the veils or more widely interpreted levels people are at figures into the future heavily.
http://www.proliberty.com/obse…
Adding to that I think our “democracy” here in the US has gone on for such a long time that the disruptive forces of marketing efforts and the info-tainment influence in our society has made the concept of governing ourselves by voting in responsible representatives impossible. Having lived in Germany, whose government was interrupted by WWII and as such has really only been functional since 1945 has had less time to corrupt itself. Their political landscape is more real and includes multiple diverse parties.
But what of the US. What directions do we go in now.
Nov 05 2008
 Muse in the Morning |
Words
 Lurking
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Nov 05 2008
i’ve got the bug that is going around new york and have managed to stay awake long enough to see obama’s awesome victory, but for this essay can only manage a cut and paste job from an email i just received. avaaz has a great idea for reaching out to obama – erecting a giant wall in dc with our messages on it. sorry no pretty hyperlinks, but i am just too beat. please, check it out, sign on and pass it on….
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Dear friends,
Obama’s win is a fresh start for US relations with the world. Let’s send a global message of hope and invitation to work together to the new President – it will be displayed on a giant wall in Washington DC.
After 8 long years of Bush – finally a fresh start!
Obama’s victory brings a chance for the US to finally join with the world community to take on pressing challenges on climate change, human rights, and peace.
After years, even decades of distrust, let’s seize this moment of unity, reconciliation and hope to send a message of warm congratulations and invitation to work together to the new President and the American people.
We’ve built a huge wall near the White House in Washington DC where the number of signatures on our message and personal messages from around the world will grow over the next several hours. We’ve also asked Obama to personally receive our petition from a group of Avaaz members. Let’s get to 1 million signers and messages to Obama! Sign on at the link below and forward this email to others:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/millio…
This is a time for celebration of democracy, but already the sharks are starting to circle – oil companies, war contractors, conservative lobbyists, and the powerful neo-con clique that brought us the war in Iraq are looking for ways to dim the prospects for change. Obama has promised national unity, and these interests will ask a high price for that unity.
Let’s act quickly to make sure the people of the world are heard as Obama makes crucial choices in the coming days on how to live up to his campaign promises to secure a strong global treaty on climate change, ban torture and close Guantanamo prison, withdraw carefully from Iraq, and double aid to make global poverty history. Rarely has a US President been more likely to listen to us.
We’ll make the point that on most of the pressing issues faced by Obama and the American people – from the financial crisis to climate change — we need to work together as one world to achieve change. Sign below and forward this message on:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/millio…
With hope,
Ricken, Brett, Alice, Iain, Paula, Paul, Graziela, Pascal, Milena, Graziela and the whole Avaaz team.
PS – Send us pictures of yourself for our wall – email it to [email protected]
PPS – Here’s a link to a report on Avaaz’s past campaigning – http://www.avaaz.org/en/report…
PPPS – And here’s a list of 10 of Obama’s campaign promises that concern the world – you can find his full platform here http://www.barackobama.com/iss…
* Reduce the US’s carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol
* Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months and keep no permanent bases in the country
* Establish a clear goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons across the globe
* Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center
* Double US aid to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses and Malaria
* Open diplomatic talks with countries like Iran and Syria, to pursue peaceful resolution of tensions
* De-politicize military intelligence to avoid ever repeating the kind of manipulation that led the US into Iraq
* Launch a major diplomatic effort to stop the killings in Darfur
* Only negotiate new trade agreements that contain labor and environmental protections
* Invest $150 billion over ten years to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015
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ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Sydney and Geneva.
Nov 05 2008
Yeah, and I saw that crazy Great White Bastard coming at me, bringing ten tons of total terror with him–and I was okay with it. See, despite my relatively young age, I have a long history of tightrope-walking, water-skiing, and chum-trawling over various toothy monsters in the sorry seas of American politics. I have now seen nine presidential elections (1976 to 2008), and was eligible to vote (and did vote) in four of those: ’96, ’00, ’04, and this year. All of them were vile showcases of the worst this country has to offer, with shameless pandering and sniveling by electoral whores of all stripes. I did my best to counter that with, naturally, some of the most refined and urbanely arrogant apathy this side of a white jazz musician convention. Only it didn’t work.
Nov 05 2008
To go from Bush to Barack….Really there just are no words. Congratulations bloggers, congratulations America, congratulations world.
Cue the female person of girth and prepare the laurel. Barring a miracle or a blatant cheat, it is all but over.
Welcome, President Obama!
H/T to Jed at Daily Kos
Nov 05 2008
Haven’t been able to sleep, certainly last tonight. Been functionally unable to talk about this election for the last week to ten days. I could not look at those I know who voted for hope today without tearing up. I have witnessed a lot of history in 64 years, written about our shared history, written about our candidate and yet this time I can not find the words. It’s not hero worship or some kind of weird transference caused by a decided lack of religion on my part, but none the less to be so deeply moved it is almost impossible to express. I believe this is true for many of us, perhaps all of us. Follow me below the fold and I will try to share some of those feelings with you.
