Ahira's Hangar

I haven't commented much on the US election because I just wanted to observe and listen. It's been hard to keep a level-headed perspective on it all, what with it being such a historic election with so much at stake. Besides, having devoted a lot of my "political" mental energy to the recent Canadian election, I needed a break from more speeches and hyperbole. Certainly, the hyperbole in the contest between Obama and McCain makes us Canadians look like bloody amateurs, eh?

For me, the "trumpet call" moment of this whole thing was when Colin Powell announced his support of Obama. I highly respect Mr. Powell - he must be one of those moderate Republicans you're talking about, duchess. If I may say so, I thought it was a disgrace how Pres. George W. Bush's administration seemed to throw away the tremendous asset it had in Powell.

(I remember a PBS Frontline episode a few years ago examining the quagmire of the Iraqi/Afghanistan war under Bush Jr, versus the success of the Persian Gulf war under Bush Sr. As I understood it, a key reason for the Persian Gulf victory was the military competence and organization under Powell's command. But with the invasion of Afghanistan, and then of Iraq, all that experience that Powell brought to the table was basically thrown out in favor of Donald Rumsfeld's new "vision" of a leaner US military that relied less on overhwelming numbers on the ground and more on high technology. So it was a shame that Pres. Bush's people relegated Powell to being more or less just a public mouthpiece for Rumsfeld's war.)

Oh, and, Av, didn't mean to ignore you. Yes, by direct democracy Saul meant a referendum-style process. I should maybe start a thread on its own about that, as he's got interesting things to say about the subject. Not very flattering things, but interesting all the same.

Haha, no worries. Yeah, I'd be interested to see the reasons for his opposition, since in general I tend to favour it as an actual democracy, more so than "representative" democracy.

(Only 6 days to the US election...thank gods...)

--A

ONLY ONE MORE DAY AND THE ELECTION WILL BE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While today here in Michigan we've been having hail and rain, tomorrow should be a perfect day - seventy and sunny. Since we do not have early voting here, that's great in case we have to wait in long long lines tomorrow. I know people who are actually planning on going to the polls with a sackful of bottled water and snacks, just iin case they run into a wait of hours.

I might see of I can get a free tea in place of a coffee.

Sadly, no Krispy Kremes near me for a free doughnut.

As if you guys needed any more incentive to vote!

I'm hearing that this election could have the biggest voter turnout in US history. You can bet I'll be glued to the TV tomorrow night.

It's saying the obvious, but I just hope it will be a clean election, without major controversies like what happened in Florida in 2000.

If my precinct is anything to go by, we will have a record turnout for voters in both in terms of percent voting and in numbers voting. I live in a very rural township - and I had to wait over an hour in lines to vote. Thank goodness they moved our district from the tiny township hall (which we shared with another precinct) to a church's pole barn (which we had by ourselves). As it was, people were out the door and the line zigzagged back and forth across the gymnasium floor once you got inside. We use those forms where you fill in the bubble for the candidates you want - like you would with a standardized test for school. At the end, you feed it into a machine which tabulates the results and stores the ballots. So no voting machines, and plenty of little booth area and tables to vote at, so the line actually moved very quickly for the number of people who had shown up.

Even if we had had to wait outside, the weather is perfect here in Michigan today.

Watching the news, states without early voting (like here in Michigan) have endless lines snaking out of buildings and into parking lots and streets. In Virginia they have these lines that look to have hundreds of people (if not thousands), standing outside waiting to get into their polling places, in a pouring rain.

The election workers at our precinct said that they had more than twice the number of voters this morning than they have ever had in a previous election at the same time of day.

I really hope that the new President and Congress - regardless of which party they represent - will expand early voting to the rest of the country so as to avoid the horrible lines braving horrible weather, as they are in Virginia this morning. Heck, here in Michigan it could have been heavy snow rather than heavy rain.

Congratulations to Mr. Obama on a tremendous win!

The first African-American President elect. That's really just hitting me now. The only other "unlikeliest moment" in history comparable to this that I can think of was when Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa.

Today of all days in the history of my country, these eloquent words must ring forth.



We can turn our backs on fear and devisiveness, illegal torture and detainments, and unjust war. We can reach out for hope - for unity - for justice. We can leave a past filled with horrors and prejudice behind us and turn towards a future filled with hope and freedom and equality for everyone.

And in news Avatar would approve - medical marijuana use passed by a landslide today in Michigan. The stem cell research proposal looks like it will squeak through. As someone who has seen far too much suffering and death, I am very happy about both passing.

No news yet on the gay marriage thing in California. I hope that since gay people can already get legally married there, that their marriages will remain legal. I cannot imagine someone telling you "Oh, by the way, your marriage is illegal now". How wrong that would be. And no word on my favorite ballot proposal in the whole country - California's Proposal R, to rename a sewage plant after George W. Bush.

And saw Danlo mentioning that he was a poll worker this year. Danlo, people like you ROCK!!!!! You make democracy happen for the rest of us.

danlo must be thrilled that Obama won New Mexico.

Hahaha, let alone the US.

Well, there we go...perhaps one of the most bitterly contested election years since the last one, and Obama is the president-elect of the US. Will anything change? Who knows. But we can hope huh?

--A

I wish you could have seen the news last night, Av. In cities large and small, all of the country, from coast to coast, people took to the streets in spontaneous demonstrations of sheer and total happiness. From dozens in Berkley, California, to hundreds in Seattle to thousands and tens of thousands in Washington and NYC to hundreds of thousands in Chicago - people danced, set off fireworks, jumped up and down, cried, and yelled for joy. People of all colors, races, sexes, and sexual orientations - come together.

Our country is still a mess. Two wars. Trillions of dollars in debt. A crumbling infrastructure, where our bridges fall into rivers and kill people. More young black males in prison than in college. Hundreds of thousands of more people in danger of losing their homes and their jobs and the shirts off their backs.

But today we have hope.

Was reading about the election in the Globe & Mail newspaper this morning. One of the columns discussed what Mr. Obama might do in his first 100 days in office - basically what options are realistically open to him, given the dire economic strait of the country his administration will be faced with. The article said that something like universal health-care will probably not be pursued immediately; instead, Obama will likely first do something like close down Guantanimo Bay, which would be a very popular move.

Hopefully he will pick the best people available to work on the economy - that is the most important thing, and everyone knows it.

And yes - closing Gitmo and returning the US to following international law on torture and detainment will be very popular in other countries, and among some people here (I know I would cheer), though the far right fear mongers and those who blindly follow them will hate him for it.

Other things he will hopefully do:
restore the basic right of posse commitatus
keep the good parts of the Patriot Act, and abolish the bad and unConsitutional parts

Bush has been a very busy horrid minion of Hell lately - quietly gutting as much environmental and consumer protections as he can before he gets out of office. He is trying to do as much damage as he can while under the radar. Most of this stuff will need to be undone, if possible. I'll try to find an article or two to post about it.

And - as many as three Supreme Court justices are expected to retire in the next few years - and those three are liberals. The new President must have a short list of replacements. While there might be no one available as middle of the road and intelligent and common sensical as the peerless Sandra Day O'Connor (a retired Reagan appointee) was, surely there are some moderates available with records outstanding enough for the Blue Dog (conservative) Democrats and the moderate Republicans (such as the two lady Senators from Maine) to approve. Keeping the Supreme Court balance moderate to slightly left on social issues might be the most important thing that Obama can do, other than attempting to fix the economy. Bush's two conservative appointments are very young, and will probably both be on the Court for decades. And they are both extremists. They need to be balanced to try to keep the Court somewhere in the middle, as it is now (about half and half with the moderates swinging back and forth depending on the issue).

Lastly - while Obama certainly received enough of a vote to be considered a mandate - his party did not. The Democrats made a few gains in the House and Senate, but not as many as you would expect given Obama's victory.

If Obama wishes to get anything done, he will have to muzzle the far left of his own party, and work extensively with the Blue Dogs and the Republicans. That means extensive compromise, and probably leaving hot button social issues such as gay rights and reproductive rights for women off of the table.