No Limitations

So, no one knows more than Dave...and my friends John and Brian, how much I hate...really hate, watching gory slasher movies. I don't mind reading the plot summary and the graphic details...I just don't want to see it. Knowing this, they remind me with occasional forays into scenes from the movie Hostel. Book me a Hyatt, please!

I think most people that are close to me also know that I am a big softy and will well up at the drop of a hat. It sucks. When the family finally sees their new home on Extreme Home Makeover, during various romantic comedies on those cold winter afternoons and when people with a heart bigger than most take the time and energy to give back. Turn on the waterworks.

It should be no surprise then that last night - and my eyes are welling up as I write this - the anxiety of the election turned into often surprising results. As results from Virginia, our former home state, were coming in, our anxiety increased. We poured over the returns county by county with Dave knowing most since he's a native. Red, red, red...but with some large blue counties not counted yet. And a judge earlier that day allowed the absentee votes to be counted up until November 14 - these would be mainly McCain supporters in the military. Optimism began to wane and I went in the other room to watch the Daily Show election night coverage.

A little while later, Dave woke me up all excited. They called Virginia for Obama! They called Virgina for Obama! I jumped out of bed and ran to CNN.com to check out the details. Sure enough...damn! Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virgina...I did the math adding in the west coast. There was no way McCain could win unless he was perfect in the remaining states. The way he sulked around on that stage during the debates....he's no Nadia Comaneci! Slim chance.

Then came the big announcement. Obama won. As Joe Biden would say, "Let me repeat that" Obama won! We were watching CNN and they made the call. I leaned over and gave Dave a kiss on the side of his head and he rubbed my shoulder. Without a word, we both knew that we were witnessing an incredibly historic event and stared at the TV thru clouded eyes.

The details started rolling in. Obama had 90,000 people at his November 3 rally in Manassas Virgina...where we used to live. Grant Park is expecting hundreds of thousands of people - even up to a million in the surrounding area. A spontaneous celebration of 15,000 in DC celebrating around the White House and up on U Street. People around the world celebrating and congratulating the U.S.- and being shown on TV like when they celebrated the Millenium turning from 1999 to 2000.

More importantly, was voter turnout. A whopping 64% of eligible voters turned out - the highest turnout since 1908...ONE HUNDRED YEARS! Almost 137 million people went to the polls according to the estimate from turnout guru Dr. Michael McDonald at George Mason University. Additionally younger voters turned out in droves! This generation that many viewed as apathetic - moved by Obama, war, the economy and the destruction of the environment. It just took the right motivation to awaken that sleeping giant.

The United States elected its first black President. Only 45 years ago in August 1963, Martin Luther King gave his stirring "I have a dream..." speech when civil rights were being pushed and at the beginning of a volatile time in our country's history - Rosa Parks in 1955, Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a ridiculous Loving vs Virgina in 1967 - all focused on expanding civil rights regardless of race.

This was a time when parents would tell their children when they grow up, they can be anything they want...astronaut, teacher, cowboy, nurse, even President of the United States. I'm sure some parents believed their own words and I'm sure some didn't. How could they believe? They were drinking from separate water fountains, getting bussed to different schools and told they couldn't live here or there or work here or there.

The world woke up this morning with a new hope. Regardless of how you voted in yesterday's election, things are different now. Things have changed. So tonight before you go to bed, kiss your child on the forehead and tell them that now you know for sure. They CAN be anything they want. There are no limitations.

Make Time to Vote

Don't take the polls for granted. You still need to get out and vote. get out of bed...get off the sofa...turn off the TV...go in late to work...work it into a Starbucks/DD run...walk the dog...take the kids...honk your horn...wear your sticker...take off your Ipod...read the amendments...understand what they say...NO on 8.

Ummmm...sure

VOTE!

Between Consenting Adults?

U.S. Representative Benjamin Sinclair (R-Ohio) has a plan to reduce ocular penetration levels in America by 5 to 7%. - The Ocular Penetration Act of 2007.

Get Angrier!

- from Aaron Sorkin and Maureen Dowd
GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

My Week

1. Some lady with some yappy little dog yelled at me this morning because my dogs wandered within 20 yards of hers, on the open beach, thus disallowing her dog to do his "business". I told her that if her dog attacks other dogs, then she needs to find another place to let her dog shit since the beach is open and free space for dogs to run. Then I made sure she had a plastic bag since I don't want that mess on my beach.
2. Larry Craig gave his farewell speech on the Senate floor the other day...finally. Apparently the the chamber was just about empty. What a disgrace he is to the institution, his state and to the country, although it did make for some entertaining videos!
3. Joe Biden hands down beat Sarah Six-Pack in the debate the other evening. Does she ever answer a fucking question that's asked of her?! In addition, I am "oh so happy" that she'll tolerate me. She's scary...and a bitch. *wink* The game was fun though!
4. This smell was coming from my foyer this past weekend. After thinking someone tracked in some 'debris' on their shoes, I did some investigating and discovered that some people are just pure trash. In a glass vase by the front door, someone had apparently yakked. Disgusting.

The sun is shining and its a beautiful day :)