Sorry for the lack of posts both here and on Akanè’s site. But we moved to our new home this past weekend, and we have yet to have internet enabled. Hopeflyy we will have internet in less than 24 hours, though - provided we get a few technical issues resolved.

Without a doubt, this is the coolest place I have ever lived. The reform work we did paid off in a big way. And we will eventually / probably re-do the kitchen and bathroom in a couple years. We don’t have all of our furniture yet, and the curtains are set to be installed tomorrow, so pictures will need to wait for a few more days.

Akanè’s site will have a great video update, too.

Just saw this choice quote from John Hinderacker:

“Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn’t raise his standards, he will exceed Bush’s total before he is inaugurated.”

Wait… What? Ae you kidding? Aren’t we talking about the same guy who has had the word Bushism coined in his “honour”?

Now that the election is over, lots of staffers for McCain are coming out and sharing some interesting tidbits about Palin. Things like: she spent way more than $150k or her wardrobe (which wouldn’t be such a big deal, except for the fact that she called out Mrs. Obama on her “expensive clothes” which only came from J. Crew), stories of temper tantrums and - my personal favourite - the fact that she thought Africa was a country. Palin has, of course, fired back, stating that the accusations are coming from “bitter people”. Uhm, seeing as how many many polls have shown that she is one of the larger reasons why McCain lost the election, it might not be too unreasonable for his supporting staff to be a little bitter with Palin. But that’s not the irony…

Here’s a choice quote from Palin just yesterday about the accusations regarding her: “If they’re an unnamed source, then that says it all. I won’t comment on anybody’s gossip, or allegations that are based on anonymous sources. That’s kind of a small, evidently bitter type of person who would anonymously charge something foolish [about me].” 

Interesting viewpoint Sarah. No, seriously. That is an admirable way to be. Perhaps, however, maybe you should not have made the focal point for countless stump speeches be founded  on virtually traitorous and wholly unsubstantiated rumours and gossip about your opponent. “Pals around with terrorists”? “Will be an end to Israel”? “Pals around with other terrorists”? “Want to bring Marxism to the USA”? Where was your high ground about rumours then? Kind of ironic, don’t you think?

Perhaps if you hadn’t been throwing unfounded and - dare I say it? - small and bitter rumours around so freely, maybe you wouldn’t have been a reason that McCain lost the election. Then maybe his staff wouldn’t have been so bitter with you and pointed out your *cough* “rumours” to the public. Man, there’s that irony, again.

Hopefully Palin will now retreat to the shadows where she belongs and stay there. Though, to be honest, I still want proof that the baby is hers and not her daughter’s. 

Now that the election is over, I think the site will return to games, animation and other (predominantly pointless) stuff. I am sure some of my 8 readers will be relieved. 

But I do want to give my thoughts on what has transpired.

Dirty campaigning: This was what upset me the most. And the majority of it came from the GOP. Between horrid voter suppression tactics (even still happening in Georgia), bullshit allegations (do I need to link to items about Ayers and Kalidi?) and an overall condescending tone throughout the campaign (“Community organiser? Ha ha ha!” /  ”He has an education?!?”) the party of “good moral people” seemed far from good or moral this time. I am glad I don’t have to listen the vitriol for a while now.

Country First: Really? I found it interesting that the party who said they loved America more made it an especial point to say that only some parts of the country were the “real” America. Fun fact: The areas that aren’t the “real” America are the ones which have been hit by the terrorists. Kind of sad that small town “real” America can stare NYC in the face and say that the loss of thousands of men, women and children didn’t mean as much to NYC as it meant to the cities which went unscathed. But the conservative party did a bang up job of trying to divide the country.

In all honesty, I don’t like being an “I told you so” person, nor a “How do you like it now?” person. But I have to say that I may find delight in being one to a certain sub-sect of Americans soon. You know the ones who told liberal people “If you don’t like the way American is run then you can get the hell out?” or “If you don’t support what Bush does then you aren’t being patriotic - because he’s the President, and he was elected, so you have to respect that”. Those people? Remember them? I wonder how kindly they’re going to take to the same remarks thrown at them when they bitch about losing this time.

The Race Thing: I’m not a racist. Never have been. My first best friend (Damien) was black. And this was still in the 70’s in the south. Because my skin colour has been different from everyone else’s, I never made it a point to judge people as inferior because they were darker than me. (If that were the case, then anyone except for crazy movie villains and some people from Scandinavia would be on my shit list.) And I have to admit that I am happy that a black man is our President for several reasons. Firstly, iIt shows how far our country has come in such a relatively short period of time. And more importantly, it shows that race isn’t as much an issue as it used to be. I think these are two distinct things. 

The fact that a black man is now the elected next leader of one of the most powerful and influential nations on Earth, one which enslaved blacks not that long ago shows the world both that the USA can mature and that it can move on to the point where the issue doesn’t matter any more. I really do not think that most of the people who voted for Obama did so because he was black. I think he was chosen because of the other ideals for which he stands - namely, being a person who wants to fight for the needs of the people of his nation. 

McCain’s campaign primarily ran on fear. Fear of the outside world. Fear of an energy crisis. Fear of an economic crisis. And fear of its opponent. It was almost entirely negative. McCain didn’t tell America what he stood for - he only said what he stood against - which was pretty much just Obama. McCain’s rallies and stump speeches spent more time talking about what Obama could theoretically do wrong, instead of what he would do right. Sorry, but merely saying “I’ll fix it” is not answer enough for people with an ounce of intellect.

And Palin, well, she was a straight up conniving bitch. Her whole routine was based on being an average American mom who was going to fight against “pork” and Washington corruption. I think the past few weeks has exposed her true self.

Obama’s campaign, on the other hand, has been about hope and change for the better. The “hope” routine did get a bit hokey at times, for sure. But America has lived in fear long enough. When you live in fear you jump at even the slightest of things. And America needs to be strong again for so many reasons. It needs to be an example to the rest of the world for good, like it has been in the past. And it needs to be a place where its own citizens can feel as though they have a future that is worth seeing. 

I don’t think Obama is the be all and end all of politicians. But he is my generation’s Kennedy, and has the potential to be our generation’s Lincoln.  He supports the sciences, which is so so so so so so desperately needed at this time. He wants to talk with the troubled spots of the world, not flex military muscle. He wants to actively get research going for fuels that don’t come from dead dinosaurs. And he doesn’t think Jesus is coming in his lifetime to judge the world.

And also, of some import, is the fact that he is a charismatic guy the rest of the world likes. A lot. America needs to take care of itself. It does need to look inward and fix its own problems. But other big problems are coming from external sources. And there is little question in my mind that when the rest of the world sees a dark skinned man leading our nation wanting to come and talk calmly and rationally that the rest of the world will want to do so. And you can blare your country music loudly and say that other countries don’t matter, but that won’t make it true. The world is getting much much smaller and we all need to work together. As a team. And I bet that the rest of the world would rather have Obama on their team than some old white dude who can’t lift his elbows higher than his nipples when he rattles his sabre for other countries in the Middle East.

I never cared about elections that much in the past. I had my preferences, but they were slight. I never really cared too much to blog about it back in the day, either. But this time I cared. A lot. And given that news stations from around the world tuned in to our election results more than in any other past election to watch the highest voter turn out in our country’s history end with a crushing defeat for old politics demonstrates to me that at least a few other people cared a lot, too.

Oh, and by the way… What’s wrong witch socialism?