holding steady.™

I did it. Today, I cast not only my first presidential ballot, but a vote for an American candidate who has inspired the world. The Fine Gentleman from Illinois has made me a part of something huge and forever changed what we expect of our elected officials in this country.

I used to have a less enthused perspective on voting and the importance it should have to people. I got up early this morning so I could get a decent spot in line at my polling place, so my mood was less than stellar. But as I walked out of there, I had a grin on my face and a smile in my heart. Each step felt lighter than the last. Surely, voting gives you a renewed sense of empowerment. Though I tend to think that it’s so incredibly exhilarating to take advantage of this particular right. Personally, I think of the men and women who gave their lives over to ensuring that I, their descendant, would be able to go up and cast my vote without an ounce of fear.

Assuming (and praying!) that Senator Obama wins this election, the expectations will surge through the roof. The standards will be raised, not only for him, but for his successors and the Democratic Party. We’ve finally moved away from the unflattering portrait that conservatives have been trying paint of us, as opponents to the middle class, to values, to the strength of our nation’s defenses, to democracy, to families, and to success. They’ve been trying to pitch this same ball for too long, and it’s time to hit it out of the park.

A new morning is beginning, and it’s already complete.

i had completely forgotten about this website, annotatedrant.com.

i had also forgotten how funny it is. i have some favorite lines from some of these rants. ready? great.

“Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It’s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that’s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation.”
fuckthesouth.com

“And maybe he [John Gibson] was kidding when he wished, on air, that the French had gotten the 2012 Olympics instead of the Brits so the terrorists would “blow up Paris,” but it might have been just a touch over the top to call for it again on the day of the London train bombings. Classy move, asshole.”
fuckchristmas.com

“‘It is said that prior to the attacks of September 11th, our government failed to connect the dots of the conspiracy”? No, motherfucker, it is said of you that you failed to read the goddamn reports that said, “Here’s a terrifying dot, and here’s another terrifying dot, and there’s this big red line between them, so we might want to do something about that.’”
fuckthestateoftheunion.com

“But you’d be winning right now if Obama would have just done eighty seven town hall debates with you? Yeah, cause you really connected during the one you got. You know what you should do? You should get your wife’s company to sponsor some more debates! They could put up the cash, and give out free beer and auction off prizes and stuff, and maybe you could get other rich people to pitch in if you, like, promise to make their dad King of the Economy and mention his name over and over during the debate.
Damn! You already did that, didn’t you? How’d that work out for ya?”
fuckjohnmccain.com

campaign 2008 - c-span2

first thought (while watching lee huebner, clark judge and terry edmonds talk about the intricacies and politics of writing the state of the union): i wish i could do that job. writing for a candidate/president/leader that i believed in. these guys have written for nixon, reagan and clinton (in that order) and you can tell that they still stand behind every word they penned for their bosses. i wish i had that sort of indelible faith in a person.

second thought (while watching hubert humphrey’s acceptance speech): not only am i very proud to be a democrat, but i think i really like this speech. particularly the bit about there being three realities, that need be faced and confronted by the nation. and also the bit about the promise of America. i’ve been getting into reading more and more speeches, addresses and the like, so i’m not 100% sure how prevalent such discourse is…but i would invoke the promise of America every time i sat down to write.

third thought: i’m going to the next convention. if i have to kick someone in the face.

first, the fun:

john mayer,”why georgia“

**did you know that he did a cover of Kid A? did you know that it’s good?**

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second, as indicated by the title, i have some issues with the death penalty, or state executions, or capital punishment…or whatever you would like to call our tendency to do away with the lives of our citizenry. i love that we live in a free society, and i love that living under such circumstances affords us rights and luxuries that many other nations cannot.

it’s possible that i can’t see the other side to this issue because i’ve never had a serious crime (by the state of Florida’s measure, worthy of punishment by death): i’ve had occasion and blessing to live what many would call a privileged and sheltered life. but what people seem to forget is that “vengeance is mine” was said by God. we can’t even the score by killing someone who has killed another, no matter if it was a three-year-old boy or an auditorium of housewives.

human life is sacrosanct, in any and all forms. to kill someone as punishment is to paint the whole of that society with their blood, for we condone it when we have nothing to say.

here’s what i don’t get.

i don’t understand why all of the politicos with microphones seem to think that the “single-issue voter” model is still usable. i don’t know anyone who votes for a candidate purely on the basis of personal identification, or because they reflect their stance on one issue (rather than on a plurality of issues).

i really don’t understand when individuals in power DO back a candidate because of one particular policy approach. case in point: carol juneau, recently picked to be part of the “dean 25,” the group of people chosen to be a part of the credentials committee for the democratic national convention. a state senator from Montana, she declares her preference for hilary clinton based on her “strong native american platform.”

to that, i say, wtf?! do you have any other reason for supporting this candidate? and please, don’t say “it’s her turn,” because i’m still pretty unclear on that.

i’ve always been a fan of the united democratic approach to politics, and have been excited for this election ever since i voted (for the first time) in the midterms of ‘06. the parade of allegiances and the shameful self-aggrandizement i have seen since the start of this ordeal, more than a year ago, has just created an aura of despair for me. i kind of can’t wait for primary season to be over. it’s the democrats’ turn.

as seen on cnn’s this week in politics: “hillary clinton still doing well in one state: the state of denial.” -jay leno

they’re asking about the five best political films of all time. my picks (forgive their youth, due to the fact that i was born in 1987):

1: the contender (2000) - joan allen, gary oldman, jeff bridges, sam elliott, christian slater

a female senator (and former Republican) is nominated for the vice presidency by the Democratic president in his final term. true trench fighting and mudslinging.

2: the west wing (i’d like to consider the series, with particular emphasis on the last season, of 2005-2006) - martin sheen, allison janney, bradley whitford, rob lowe, richard schiff

the last season is a highlight on the presdential campaign, primary and general. an erudite wit encapsulates the writing of all seven seasons of this, my favorite show. i get a lot of my more clever one-liners from this.

3: good night and good luck (2005) - george clooney, david straithairn, robert downey jr., jeff daniels, patricia clarkson

a black-and-white montage of mccarthy’s speeches, interpolated between fabulous acting portraying the workings of the news station of edward r. murrow, the noted journalist.

4: charlie wilson’s war (2007) - tom hanks, julia roberts, philip seymour hoffman

a texas congressman, a sultry socialite and a quirky but resilient cia officer take on afghanistan. done by some of the same filmmakers responsible for the west wing, it’s no surprise that this movie is enjoyable, well-made and at times utterly humorous.

5: primary colors (1998) - john travolta, emma thompson, billy bob thorton, kathy bates

the thinly-veiled impressions of bill clinton’s 1992 presidential bid, as seen through the eyes of journalist joe klein, were penned into an anonymous novel, and made into this film. if one is to take the film at it’s face value, it’s well acted and entertaining. if one imbues the notion that the characters are based on actual persons….a lot of things make sense about the hillary clinton campaign.

p.s. i really like this website.

so, this morning i opened up my news reader, vienna (GET A MAC) to see what the what is. one of my bookmarked sites is politicalwire.com. guess what the big news is this morning…?

oh, that’s the right. the clinton campaign’s thought premise of the race for the democratic nomination as a foregone conclusion is suddenly looking less conclusive. obama has pulled ahead from what could be described as “chomping at her heels” (about ten points behind in every poll) to “head of the horse race (sort of)” (about three to five points ahead in every poll). within the margin of error, this race is now finally a race.

i’m sorry, mrs. clinton. obama’s for real… 

i’m in the middle of a study-session for the lsat, which I’m taking in a few weeks (september 29, to be exact), so i simply haven’t had the time i’ve wanted for the site. as an fyi, i’m working on the building of the main part of the site, which is basically an exploration of my political interests. those two things, plus i’m trying to find the end of a term paper i started writing, oh, six or seven (at this point, nine) months ago. now, so that i feel less bad about myself, here is a ported review of a book i read a few weeks ago, “a dirty job” by christopher moore. i’m going to take down a lot of old posts from my other blog and replace them with things that i hope are more interesting. so far, the idea is storylines based on freaky dreams that i’ve had.

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(originally written monday july 23, 2007 @ 01:17 hours)

So, yesterday, my inner voracious reader got a good workout while i was waiting to get my hair done at the beauty salon. The basic premise of the novel: an ordinary “Beta Male” loses his wife and is left with a newborn baby. Then he discovers that he is a “Death Merchant,” thanks to the guidance of a man who wears mint green suits. With the help of his lesbian sister, insane Chinese and Russian widow neighbors and his off-the-wall employees (a goth chef and online-dating-obsessed ex-cop), he raises his daughter while basically managing to keep the whole “I collect dead people’s souls” thing to himself. I mean, sure, there’s a whole creepy shadow-minions-talking-to-you-from-the-sewers thing that good ol’ Charlie Asher (the protagonist) has to deal with, but all in all, he maintains a relatively even-keel as he’s faced with the end of the world and the possible overthrow of all humanity by, well, Hell.

This book was maniacally comical. I judge a good novel to have humorous content when I find myself laughing so hard that I genuflect. I doubled over about forty times while sitting in the waiting area. And THAT was just based on the first hundred pages or so. Trust me, the last three hundred pages are even more hysterical, I just wasn’t in a position to bend, given that there was a squat Dominican woman attacking my head. Pick this one up, it’s totally worth it.