I'll stop beating this drum after this post, but I stumbled upon the song below earlier today, and I wanted to share it. There's a good chance a lot of you have already seen this; frankly, I don't know how I missed it. Aside from the Hollywood glad-handing inherent in the video, I found the composition very moving.

Having watched it, the thing I've been thinking, is that this isn't about Obama. It's about us, as a nation, red state, blue state, doesn't matter.

And it's not about the election. It's about what comes next. What we do next.

And then there's this line:

"But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope."

That may be one of the most beautiful, patriotic sentiments I've ever heard.

( Video below the cut. )

( Last night, 9:30ish or so, watching Obama speak. )
I don't make much of a secret of my politics, but I do try to keep them - at least somewhat - off this blog.

Jen wept last night. Me, I'm tougher.

I waited until this morning.

And for those of you who might've voted "yes" on California's proposition 8, just a thought for you - substitute the word "Jewish" or "Catholic" or "black" or "Japanese" for the words "same sex."

And yes, it is exactly the same thing.

Cheers!

Finally! A candidate (to whom) I can (give my complete) support!




Silly Party in '08!

Well, I can't say I'm surprised by this turn of events.

Rarely are we plebes in the cheap seats treated to such high drama, though. Really does feel like a sweeps episode of the West Wing.

Edited to add:

From a second piece from The New York Times, this one an analysis of the day's events with regard to the two candidates. Boldface mine.

Still, by nightfall, the day provided the younger and less experienced Mr. Obama an opportunity to, in effect, shift roles with Mr. McCain. For a moment, at least, it was Mr. Obama presenting himself as the old hand at consensus building, and as the real face of bipartisan politics.

“What I’ve found, and I think it was confirmed today, is that when you inject presidential politics into delicate negotiations, it’s not necessarily as helpful as it needs to be,” Mr. Obama told reporters Thursday evening. “Just because there is a lot of glare of the spotlight, there’s the potential for posturing or suspicions.”

“When you’re not worrying about who’s getting credit, or who’s getting blamed, then things tend to move forward a little more constructively,” he said.

Ain't that the truth?

I told nealbailey to give it a week.

Two days left.

Edited to add:

Just keeps getting better and better.

Deny everything.

Gotta love the quote at the end of the piece. Meanwhile, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday criticized the United States for airlifting some 2,000 Georgian troops from Iraq after they were recalled home. Putin said that the U.S. move will hamper efforts to resolve the conflict.

This would be Prime Minister For Life We-Can-And-Will-Kill-You-No-Matter-Where-You-Are Putin. Time's Person of the Year.

I admit, my interest in Georgia stems entirely from my research for the Kodiak novels. But I can't look at this situation and not see a calculated, terrifying, and very dangerous escalation on the part of Russia to create a conflict, and, once achieved, to brutally execute an end-game a long, long time in the making.

They bombed Poti. And the only reason they didn't bomb Batumi is that it's right on the border with Turkey.

I dunno. I should probably just keep my trap shut on the subject, but I'm finding this conflict exceptionally distressing.

See, the thing is, this happens all the time. It just doesn't get reported.

I followed that link off of a piece by Bill West, at the Counterterrosim Blog. It's a good piece, though certainly nothing earth-shattering.

Be nice if the next POTUS had the political will and the intestinal fortitude to actually, y'know, do more than pay lip-service.

Sylvia Poggioli has been running a six-part series on Muslim women in Europe, focusing specifically on women in France, Germany, and Britain. The second segment aired this morning, focusing on a woman named Syran Ates, who is as terrific an example of courage, moral and otherwise, as I've encountered lately.

Of particular interest, at least to me, was Ates' assertion that "excessive tolerance" is responsible for the rise of "political Islam." It put into words something that I've been struggling to articulate for myself, and something which came up several weeks back in the discussion surrounding this whole thing. I think I found it all the more resonant because yesterday afternoon I did a very short interview for a Vegas paper promoting the Las Vegas Comic Fest, wherein the reporter asked me if I considered myself a neocon in light of Q&C and some of the more recent issues of Checkmate, something I most assuredly do not. The question was asked, I think, more so I could refute it than so I could confirm it.

In fact, if there's anything that terrifies me in this world, it's zealotry. And while I believe there are absolutes in the world, that there are issues of Right and Wrong, and of Good and Evil, and that writers, in particular, are obligated to work with these ideas in some way, shape, or form, no matter how lightly, I am, for the most part, very, very nervous of those people who have discovered The Way, and feel that, for whatever reason, they must foist this upon others.

Saying that, I also have to recognize zealotry in myself, those things that I brook no argument on, and ask no quarter regarding. Tolerance is a wonderful thing. I'm all for tolerance. To a point. I lose tolerance the moment it's not reciprocated, especially when that lack of reciprocation comes in the form of, say, blowing people up.

This is not confined to the Middle East or the Third World, obviously. We're as guilty of it in this country as anywhere else, though we're less prone to kill each other over our intolerances. But one look at the political state of the nation should tell you everything you need to know. Politics used to be the "art of compromise" (and please note the date of the article, and the subject matter) -- of crafting a deal where nobody gets what they want, but everyone gets what they can live with. Now? Now, it seems like it's all or nothing, where the loser will cheerfully salt and scorch the earth in defeat, and the victor punishes the loser for "making it so hard."

Nothing I'm saying here is new, I recognize that. Rather, the ramblings of a barely-caffeinated mind.

Also, I can't find a highlighter anywhere in my damn house. I think my kids have stolen them all.

I actually quite dig this, any implied snarkiness in the header aside.

I think the quote by Greg Kuntz says it all.