charliechaplinfan wrote:
I for one am amazed that it is so hard for some of you to vote. Here all the primary schools are closed down for the day and these are used as polling stations, which means there is no need to wait in line to vote.
Once again, the location of my house lucks me out; the only polling station for Bellows Falls is our grand old Masonic Lodge, and that's just three doors down the street from my front yard. So I get to saunter down at leisure (today, I think it was at about 12:35), vote, and then saunter casually back the 400' to my front porch . . where I typically spend most of the election afternoon & evening on vigil for desperate voters who try to get away with blocking my driveway, for lack of any closer parking.
Wish that were the biggest problem I had, most days!
Lzcutter wrote:Best news, we still have paper ballots! I love paper ballots. We have the inka vote process where you mark a hole in the ballot. Instead of breaking the paper hole (and causing dangling chads), it makes a nice indelible black circle that can't smudge. I wish all states had this kind of ballot instead of touch screens and the like that too frequently break down, hic-cup and cause votes to flip and leave no paper trail in the event of a problems.
As for who I'll be watching tonight? I've been like a junkie these last six months. The last 90 days have been like mainlining heroin. I've been watching MSNBC and reading the Huffington Post obsessively.
Tonight I'll be sticking with MSNBC (though likely to do some channel surfing) because of Rachel Maddow, Eugene Robinson, Howard Fineman, Jonathan Alter and Richard Wolfe. Oh, and Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman.
I'll probably not give up Keith and Rachel in the months ahead but I look forward to detoxing from my political obsession and getting back to my real life.
Here in SF, the paper ballots are connect the arrow. I voted absentee 3 weeks back and will be glued to MSNBC and CSPAN. I love Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow, even if Keith gets a little over the top, there is still plenty of humor to get me through, and his guests and commentators are first rate.
Don't like Rachel Maddow. She has a smug look to me as though she thinks she's superior to everyone else. Plus she's so sarcastic sometimes that I feel like punching her in her pointed little face! She doesn't even pretend to be bipartisan.
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
I thought I would be in my 80s (many, many years from now) before I thought I might see this moment. I cried at the announcement. I cried at the acceptance speech.
The ghosts of Lincoln and the better angels of our nature, asking to help this country. The ghost of the Roosevelts, Teddy and FDR, bringing us together.
The ghosts of the Civil Rights Movement, Schwermer, Goodman and Chaney, Fannie Lou Hamer, James Farmer and, of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. The ghosts of the children who marched and the teenagers who protested the Jim Crow of the South and the Freedom Riders who fought along side them to end Jim Crow rule.
The ghosts of the Kennedys, JFK and RFK, and of LBJ, who believed that discrimination was wrong.
The idea that we can heal the division of this country and make it strong again and include all of us.
The outreach to those who voted differently, to make them feel part of the greater good.
The repudiation of negative campaigning, cultural wars and us vs them politics. The idea that we can again be a nation of togetherness is inspiring and incredibly moving.
I have hope for the first time, in more years than I can count, that we can and will overcome all the adversity before us.
I am proud to be a part of this historic election and hope that others feel the same way too.
I believe t is time to put aside partisan politics and come together to help heal and put this country back on course and hope I am not alone.
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
I thought McCain was very gracious in his concession speech. It was quite eloquent.
Three things on the night struck my strange. 1 - Washington DC continues to amaze with about (last I saw) 98% voting democrat. You'd almost think there would be more republican votes even by accident.
2 - After everything Jack Murtha has said about his own constituency (never mind his rant about the troops) those people still elected him. 3- Joe Biden was reelected as Senator from Delaware. Now the governor gets to appoint someone who didn't lift a finger over the Republican candidate who never could get Biden to campaign against her.
Chris
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
Well our news channels are full of your news. The person who was chosen was not a surprise but the amount of people who voted and how long people waited in line is something alien to us. Our news channels are feeling a great deal of admiration for the USA at the moment because of this and also because he is your first black president, a lot is being made of this and many would say rightly so. Myself, I think his biggest achievement is the hope he seems to have given back to the Americn nation and the world.
I was inspired when the radio clicked on this morning and I heard his rousing speech followed by McCain's eloquant concession speech.
I hope this thread doesn't die now.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
I believe all of you know I couldn't be more pleased, and Lynn - marvelous post, I do so wish I could write like you and moira.
Now, let's forget about color, which to me is the least important thing about this. He's an intelligent man, a young man, a go-getter, and a straight talker so lets get on with what has to be done - as of Jan. 21, that is.
Anne
Anne
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I was pleased as punch when I turned on the TV this morning to see the headline on Sky News "Obama Wins Election" I then got to see his victory speech and found myself getting choked up. It's a moment in history that I will never forget and am so grateful to be a part of. It's a new beginning for America and I'm glad it's turned out this way.
The true measure of this man is going to be on how he runs the country, not a campaign. On that he still remains to be tested. I hope for the sake of all Americans of every ethnicity, that he delivers on his promises.
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
I think he is going to be one of those transformational presidents that we have been lucky to have in our history.
I just want to send major props to the guys behind the website that kept my head from exploding and kept me from worrying late into the night about the outcome.
Nate Silver and the guys at Fivethirtyeight.com had the electoral college vote and the popular vote pegged within the days of the final debate.
These statistical geeks crunched the polling data 10,000 times before they would update their predictions. Chuck Todd at MSNBC first clued me into the website during the primary when he revealed that he was a big fan of the website and why.
When ever I got nervous and worried, I would check out their website and be reassured. When my friends were freaking out as election day grew closer, I was calm in my belief that Nate and the guys were right.
I still can't believe they were and that last night actually happened but I slept better leading up to the election because of those "geeks".
I suspect they will become the go-to guys for stats for the foreseeable future.
I'm looking forward to following their success story in the months ahead!
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
We know that the agenda and accomplishments of a President in the first 100 days set the tone for the Administration's term. Here's what we have to look forward to: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ch ... 417.column
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
The true measure of this man is going to be on how he runs the country, not a campaign. On that he still remains to be tested. I hope for the sake of all Americans of every ethnicity, that he delivers on his promises.
I think all of us would agree with you. At least it's knocked the credit crunch off the top spot of the news.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
So the media and others are not yet through with calling this a historic election, but maybe there are some who don't really understand just what that historic significance is - it wasn't just the candidates -- it was the voters, too.
Here's an excerpt from today's NY Times -- Gail Collins' Op-Ed column, which says just what I would have liked to have said, as a sister Baby Boomer:
Finally, on behalf of the baby-boom generation, I would like to hear a little round of applause before we cede the stage to the people who were too young to go to Woodstock and would appreciate not having to listen to the stories about it anymore. It looks as though we will be represented in history by only two presidents, one of whom is George W. Bush. Bummer.
The boomers didn’t win any wars and that business about being self-involved was not entirely unfounded. On the other hand, they made the nation get serious about the idea of everybody being created equal. And now American children are going to grow up unaware that there’s anything novel in an African-American president or a woman running for the White House.
It's been announced that the Inaugural theme is going to "A New Birth of Freedom" in honor of Lincoln's 200th birthday.
It is a line from Lincoln's wonderful "Gettysburg Address":
"That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth."
During Obama's first term, in April 2011, we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.
If Obama serves two terms, in April 2015, he will be president when we celebrate the 150 anniversary of the end of the War.
It was the largest voter turnout in 90 years when woman won the right to vote.
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
She doesn't even pretend to be bipartisan.
