☺ Cecily ☺

"But for more than a year now, we have been treated to a p.r. campaign for our side of the tracks. There is what the world sees in Obama, and then there is what we see. Words like hope, change and progress might seem like naive campaign sloganeering in a dark age. But think of the way those words ring for a people whose forebears marched into billy clubs and dogs, whose ancestors fled north by starlight, feeling the moss on the backs of trees. The sight of the Obama family onstage that first night in Denver was similarly mind-blowing, an image of black families that television so rarely provides. With its quiet class and agility--the beaming beautiful wife, the waving kids--this campaign has confirmed us, assured us that we are more than just a problem." - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

African Americans have had to cope with disappointment since the days of slavery. With that come certain defense mechanisms, ways of guarding ourselves against disappointment...There is no sense in the black community of the kind of entitlement to the presidency felt by some Hillary Clinton supporters...So, yes, an Obama defeat would be greeted with a loud sucking of the teeth and a deepening of self-doubt. A loss would be hugely disappointing, and to put it crudely, it would also be more of the same. But it is also true that the biggest change has already taken place. The Obama campaign has been the anti--O.J. trial, a 24-hour ongoing drama about a black man cast not as a problem but, potentially, as the solution. - ☺ Cecily ☺

What a fantastic read. Really captures what is not said but felt deep inside. - Tsega Dinka

:( Anathem is my favorite book this whole year. - Tad - the Meme Maker

"The incredible thing about this sexual implement made in the likeness of the Democratic nominee for president is not that it exists—it's what took so long?" - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

where's the 'do not like' button when you need it? My eyes! The googles, they do nothing.... - WorldofHiglet

There's a Cindy McCain joke waiting to be played on this thread. - Jason Toney

"Over the years many a centenarian has delivered their secret for a long life. Not smoking, daily exercise, moderate drinking, being married (and sometimes not being married) have all had their champions. But, at the ripe old age of 105, Clara Meadmore could trump the lot: a life of celibacy." - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

So this is where Tyra and Miss J. got that whole "broken doll" thing from! - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

Awesome tune! - Kol Tregaskes

I'm a sucker. If only love could be like this in real life. - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

Sarah Palin needs a blanket party. - Monique(AwesomelySaucy)

Ahhh, as seen in Full Metal Jacket. - Jason Toney

Thanks for the explanation, Kyle. - ☺ Cecily ☺

"Iceland, in the words of its President, is facing the "very real danger" of national bankruptcy. If the situation deteriorates, Canada should invite the small island nation to join our confederation, just as we did 60 years ago with another island in the Atlantic facing bankruptcy." (Newfoundland, for those not up on their Canadian history.) - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

BLAMECANDALOL - Chris Hollander

"But what does their strategy say about what they think of you, the white voter? Judging from their messaging, they seem to be stereotyping white voters as closed-minded, paranoid, naive, xenophobic, and just a tad bit racist. And they are certainly connecting successfully with people who match this profile." - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

Do you bear any resemblance to these agitators? Probably not. Do you fit the profile of the racist and xenophobic white voter? Probably not. Then do you really want to support a candidate who thinks so little of you that his only strategy right now is to appeal to your basest human instincts of fear and hatred? - ☺ Cecily ☺

I love Carmen. - Erica Mauter

"There was always going to be a point of revolt and panic for a core group of Americans who believe that Obama simply cannot be president - because he's black or liberal or young or relatively new. This is that point. As the polls suggest a strong victory, the Hannity-Limbaugh-Steyn-O'Reilly base are going into shock and extreme rage. McCain and Palin have decided to stoke this rage, to foment it, to encourage paranoid notions that somehow Obama is a "secret" terrorist or Islamist or foreigner. These are base emotions in both sense of the word. But they are also very very dangerous. This is a moment of maximal physical danger for the young Democratic nominee. And McCain is playing with fire. If he really wants to put country first, he will attack Obama on his policies - not on these inflammatory, personal, creepy grounds. This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin." - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

"Barack Obama stands, however inchoately and however diffidently, for the notion that a common purpose is necessary for common problems, that "government," as it is designed in our founding documents, is our collective responsibility. It is this collective responsibility that built America into a great power without peer in the history of the world. And it is this collective responsibility that has succumbed to nearly thirty years of phony rightist populism, corporate brigandage, and the wildly cheered abandonment of a common American civic purpose. It is shocking that in America an argument for salvaging the common good is regarded as a radical notion by anyone, but that is where we are. And that is what Barack Obama seems to stand for." - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

"There is no evidence at all that anything will change under a President John McCain, who has already identified Roberts and Alito as his beau ideals of Supreme Court justices. He has made brave noises about torture and the extraconstitutional prerogatives of the executive, but President Bush and his men went on and did what they wanted anyway, and McCain walked away, begging for votes from fundamentalists who hate him, meeping his displeasure in ways that were barely audible. The virus will gestate and spread on his watch, all throughout the federal government. Bushism must be ripped out, root and branch, everywhere it has been established, or else the presidential election of 2008 is a worthless exercise in futility. Barack Obama may not be the man to do it, but John McCain, for all his laudable qualities, clearly is neither willing nor able to do so. - ☺ Cecily ☺

"I was at Obama's rally at Independence Square in Philadelphia back in April. When he mentioned Hillary Clinton's name, the crowd booed, and he told them to stop. Barack Obama intervened when his supporters booed his opponent. He called for civility. Yet, when faced with supporters who label senators terrorists and call for their assassination, John McCain and Sarah Palin said nothing. This is how evil spreads, from domestic violence to genocide. People in a position to stop it choose to do nothing." - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

Much of the time race is a subtext, barely below the surface. McCain's behavior in the first debate reminded me of the stories I'd heard and read about time when blacks had to step off the sidewalk when whites approached, and a black person didn't dare look another white person in eye. The "that one" comment reminded of the stories I'd heard about times when a black person couldn't expect a white person to call them by their name, but instead "uncle," or "auntie," or "boy," or "girl." (There's a reason why, during the civil rights movement, simply wearing a sign that read "I am a man, " was a real statement.) One more debate and it will be "that boy." - ☺ Cecily ☺

""It speaks to the fundamental belief of racism: despite all evidence to the contrary, you are inherently beneath me simply by virtue of the melanin content of your skin," Ciji McBride, a 33-year-old sales professional in Los Angeles, said Wednesday." - ☺ Cecily ☺