Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt

When you reboot, might as well kick some ass in the process :)
(And yes, those who’ve asked/complained…I am working on the rest of the images :) )

Take a listen for yourself: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/09/07/ktvk.az.rally.church.ktvk

Sure, people are free to have their own thoughts and beliefs. That same freedom gives the rest of us the ability to point out when others ideas/beliefs are based on inaccurate information or even unreasonable fear and paranoia. Ignorance/hate based ideology, in the end, helps no one…

I’ve been watching closely the ever growing paranoia and fear that’s been accumulating by anti-Obama groups (and how it’s being used to further conservative agendas) and I can’t just not comment on it any longer. I applaud those who are taking the high road when it comes to all the nonsense (Obama being a Nazi, for example), but I just hope they don’t take too high a road and not realize how many people are seeming to jump on this bandwagon. (I listen to conversative radio often to hear the other side…sometimes it feels like my head’s going to explode)

With a number of schools not willing to show the President’s speech to school children, a common speech that past presidents have made, I fear the nonsense is far from being over. I worry that this balloon will pop in an unfortunate manner…

I’m still around…but my web focus has been centered elsewhere as of late. So, if you’d like to see what’s going on with me on the more recent tip, feel free to check out my Facebook and Twitter accounts. This blog isn’t dead by any means…I just need to figure out the best way to incorporate it back into my social networkiing life…

• What will win: Slumdog Millionaire
  • (Probably a given…)
• What should win: Slumdog Millionaire
• Possible Surprise Winner: The Reader
  • (Good, but not worthy of a nomination)
• Shoulda Been Nominated: The Wrestler, Rachel Getting Married

Best Actor
===================

• Who will win: Mickey Rourke – “The Wrestler”
• Who should win: Mickey Rourke – “The Wrestler”
• Possible Surprise Winner: None…seriously, it’s not even close
• Glad to see nominated: Richard Jenkins – “The Visitor”

Best Actress
===================

• Who will win: Kate Winslet – “The Reader”
  • (Boo…she was much better in “Revolutionary Road”)
• Who should win: Anne Hathaway – “Rachel Getting Married”
• Possible Surprise Winner: None…Too much talk about Kate going on…
• Glad to see nominated: Angelina Jolie – “Changling”
  • (Damn good performance)

Best Supporting Actor
===================

• Who will win: Heath Ledger – “The Dark Knight”
• Who should win: Heath Ledger – “The Dark Knight”
  • (I’m usually against posthumous awards, but he deserves it)
• Possible Surprise Winner: None
  • (No chance)
• Glad to see nominated: Josh Brolin – “Milk”

Best Supporting Actress
===================

• Who will win: I honestly don’t know…seems like a toss up…
• Who should win: Roll the dice…they all did quite well
• Glad to see nominated: Penelope Cruz – “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
  • (glad that movie is getting some recognition)

Best Animated Feature
===================

• What will win: Wall-E
• What should win: Kung Fu Panda
  • (not that Wall-E was bad, but Panda was killer)

Aren’t some surprises grand? :)

How many children are going to go to bed tonight and realize…truly realize, that when their parents say “You can be president someday”, it’s not simply talk?

This really does change everything…on so many levels.

Seeing so many people both here and around the world burst into spontaneous joy and celebration (the impromptu party outside the White House was fantastic)…such a incredible rush of relief…it was a wonderful sight to behold…

The Obama administration has inherited a mess of a country to work on…but they don’t have to do it alone. Significant change is rarely easy, but it is doable…and it’s considerably easier to accomplish when people work together. Through our own energies, we create our own reality. There’s no reason that we can’t take care of this. Hope and change ain’t just a bumper sticker…

Congratulations President-Elect Obama!

Congratulations to us all :)

Goodbye ceiling…Hello Sky…

-Jay

PS: On a completely selfish note, it does my heart good to see someone in the White House that is *exactly* like myself: a multiracial man of black/white mix. :)

If you think you’re candidate has got it in the bag, vote anyway! If you think you’re candidate does not have a chance, vote anyway! Remember how close it was in 2000? Remember when Dewey beat Truman? (Oh wait…)

If you wanted to vote, but get to the polls too late on Tuesday, and your state had early voting….you are a moron/fool/ignorant. Pray that your candidate was supported by those who took the time to cast a ballot…

I’m working the polls for the very first time on Tuesday. And it being my first time, the board of elections gave me the job of presiding judge; I actually have more responsibilities than anyone else in my precinct. (Fortunately, I get paid more…but who knows if it will be worth the trouble). I plan on writing all about this after the election. I will say that I’m already disappointed in a number of things I’ve seen (Did you know that if you’re an independent, you CANNOT work the polls in my county?)…and that my local board could stand to have a usability expert work with them on improving…well just about everything.

This is all just part of my ongoing love/hate relationship with politics…Cheerio!

I’m also not surprised that the conservative talking heads on radio & TV are magnifying this as far as they can. Not playing up to their base with the Obama-story du jour would be foolish for their careers (and their pocketbooks).

What I am surprised about is the number of people who are treating this as a new story. This is all old hat…Hillary Clinton used it in her campaign back in the day.  End Result: There was nothing to story when Hillary brought it up in the primaries. There’s still nothing to the story now that McPalin has brought it up either.

For those of you who want to know the full non-partisan story, please check out the widely respected FactCheck.org’s page on it:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/he_lied_about_bill_ayers.html

The sickness: the more people repeat something, the more some people think it’s true.

The tragedy: whenever it happens to be false.

2) McCain referring to Obama as “That One…” (WTF?!)

3) My condolences to all those drinking game mavericks who had “My Friends” as part of your game. Head to the emergency room right now!

Plus One:

4) Obama stayed long after McCain left and talked to all the people present…Right on!

Some notes:

• Expectation wise, Palin did better than expected. Since she’s been practicing for weeks now, you’d expect that. But when people are saying “At least she didn’t fall on her face”, it’s still not a good night. Expect diarrhea…end up with a solid floater…things are looking up.
• The minute Palin said she wasn’t going to answer questions the way the moderator or the Senator wanted her to, Biden auto-won. It was chuckle worthy watching her play dodge ‘em with some of the questions….
• Regardless of her performance, from a dude’s point of view, she was still bringing the hotness ;)
• Biden can certainly spin a yarn, but at least his yarn was chock full of experience and facts. I like the fact he was breaking things down in bullet points (”1….2….”). He could done down some of the rhetoric a bit. While politicos like myself appreciate the detail, the average American gets lost (CNN’s dial survey certainly verified that).
• Who would have thought that Biden would almost bring himself to tears? Thankfully, it was genuine…
• What’s up with Biden’s eyes? Was that fatigue or have they always looked like that?
• Ifil stumbled over her words a bit more than I would have expected. I wonder if the blogosphere got to her a little bit.
• As with most debates, neither candidate got all the facts correct…
• I need to sit down and read the transcript of the debate. I did one too many “WTF” in listening to the debate…
• Heard a great quote from WNIR’s Jim Midock just now: “I couldn’t listen to Caribou Barbie anymore.”