Hard News: History is now
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Cheers... we want "no" right?
California Proposition 8
"This measure would amend the state constitution to specify that only marriages between one man and one woman would be recognized as valid in the state. If passed, the measure would trump a May 2008 ruling by the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage."We (well, I) do indeed want "no" but I'm a little concerned at the moment, seeing how Florida's gone.
The actual numbers are
Yes 1,906,881
No 1,611,373With only 15% counted that's not a lot and could easily be overturned.
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mccain was a guy who could finally say what he wanted
I totally agree with that, but wasn't his crowd all class? Booing Obama's name.
Whereas Obama mentioned McCain and there was applause. -
Akamai's Net Usage Index for News set a new record today.
Biggest day ever for news websites, peaking at more than 8.5 million visitors per minute.
And that would seem to apply especially to Africa, where internet news traffic is running at 500% over normal levels.
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mccain was a guy who could finally say what he wanted, whereas obama was pressing himself into the presidential mould. i actually related to mccain more.
To guy who's saying goodbye always has an easier job than the guy who's saying hallo.
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I'm just in awe that a President-elect of the USA QUOTED SAM COOKE IN HIS SPEECH.
It's been a long time coming, but a change has come.Damn. Love it.
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Biggest day ever for news websites, peaking at more than 8.5 million visitors per minute.
That was when I felt choked, Still slow but innit?
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In the Senate race there are 4 seats still undecided but the Reps have 40 and I think the Dems needed 61 to be filibuster-proof, so that's not going to happen
In the House, the Dems have 237, Reps 153 with 45 still to be decided, so the Dems already have control, but the final numbers will be interesting for the composition of the various Committees.
Still haven't seen any results at all from Alaska but their polls only closed 3 minutes ago. It can't affect the total, but it will be interesting to see and it may have a bearing on whether Palin remains a player in the Republicans.
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yeah, not convinced by obamas speech. i thought mccain's was better.
I thought that too, then I thought . Was Obama thinking "Shit. I didn't REALLY expect that". I figure McCain has been rehearsing that speech for a while, he is not as stupid as his campaign made him out to be, he may well be glad it's over.. Obama, on the other hand, is moving forward into unknown territory. They said he wasn't ready, I would love to think he was. Time will tell.
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I only just caught the end of the Obama speech, and given how heavy that yoke of responsiblity must feel I thought it was damn eloquent.
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Anyone notice how much FOX is pushing that obama is centrist now and not a socialist lefty liberal like they were before the election?
how does anyone buy the shit they peddle?
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I only just caught the end of the Obama speech, and given how heavy that yoke of responsiblity must feel I thought it was damn eloquent.
First time gay people are mentioned in a Presidential acceptance speech? I'm throwing it out there.
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A little late to this discussion - just been watching the idiot box. Emma, I concur completely with your theory about the voting system in the States. Deliberately difficult. One of the things I had thought that would help Obama was that people would be more willing to get out there and vote in spite of the ridiculousness of the voting system. I will be interested to see what percentage of Americans voted this time, as opposed to last time when, if I remember rightly, voter turn out was abysmal.
John Key Hates Your Mother
Weird! Can anyone fill me in on that one means?
Other than being hilarious?
And a lot better than the opposite.
*shudders*
Still, my mother hates John Key, so it's only fair really.
Same, same. And he's my mum's MP - she has been so bummed for the last couple of years. Every time she drives past his electorate office, I think she has to struggle not to spit.
It's a shame we won't all be as excited on Saturday about out own election.
I'm not excited, I'm cacking my pants. And wondering why NZers are so determined to swerve to the right when Australia and now the States have gone back the other way a bit.
I have to go on an enquiry desk for 1.5 hours at 3.30, just as I'm starting to get really, really teary-eyed about how symbolically awesome this is (and I'm not even playing that Sam Cooke song). Great, that's all the students need: a crazed, crying librarian. 'May I help you?'
I love librarians. Crazed, crying ones, especially.
Last thoughts: the Fox commentators were so.....trying not to spew, I thought. And Craig, your poem was not random. It was perfect. I think you may be one of the only couple of out National people I know that I actually like. There, I said it. -
An amazing interview just on National Radio, with a disappointed republican called "bad eagle", who was ranting about Obama not being a patriot, that he is a third world marxist, not a black american.
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how does anyone buy the shit they peddle?
How about, 0900 BULLSHIT? Great business opportunity there. A bit like "TRUTH" or the "National Inquirer" but over the phone @ $3.00 per minute.
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More.."he's a perfect representative of all that is not american....he's a third worlder." This guy appers to be some sort of blogger, and claims to be a "newsman".
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OK, I missed everyone calling the election because I was on a bus. I just watched the Obama speech and cried through the entire thing. I think I'm having some kind of political-joy-meltdown.
My (New Zealander) aunt was married to an African-American guy (she's widowed now). She just called us to say that she rang her in-laws in North Carolina, and they said they thought they'd never see this day. :)
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It's all pretty thrilling really. I mean I've never lived in the States, know very few Americans, but I found myself crying, and punching the air a bit. He represents so much, doesn't he?
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Mark 60 votes will break a fillibuster (see senate rule XXII).
However, it seems pretty damn unlikely to me that the Republicans will stay on 40. With 97% of precincts reporting in Georgia, the Republian is 5 points ahead. I've no idea why they haven't called it ... busy with other stuff, maybe?
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Giovanni:
Good call on the gay thing - I noticed it in his speech and, possibly more meritoriously, he'd been using it in his stump speeches as well. So it was part of his platform as well as part of his victory.
On prop 8, its closed from 12-odd percent with 6% counted to a 6.5-odd gap with 32% counted. I'd start to worry if its much more than 5% with half counted.
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She just called us to say
I think I guess, how you feel. My bro on emails today seemed a bit anxious. I know they were pissed last election, ( I remember, I even did art.) when Bush got back in, but I would like to be in Seattle tonight.
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Graeme, for once I know an electoral thing you don't, muwhahaha!
The problem is that under Georgia electoral law, you need 50% to win the senate seat. A plurality doesn't cut it. So if the democrat can get the republican below 50% (which is only 0.9 away).... we have a runoff.
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I thought McCain and Obama made powerful speeches about reconciliation for all Americans.I wonder if McCain is already been offered a role in the Obama camp....just putting it out there.
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That's one powerful lineage we're talking about - the struggle of centuries, of slaves and lynchings, of untold thousands of lives sacrificed, of segregated schools and buses, of stirring calls to dream a better future, of riots in Watts and South-Central, of any means necessary, and now being able to see a face like yours in charge
Yes, this. (So nicely written, Sacha.) I think that's what's actually affecting me the most.
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I thought Obama gave a damn fine speech. McCain's was good and he delivered it well. But Obama's had a much tougher job to do - not just to celebrate, but to start making it crystal clear to people that the enormous challenges his government will face cannot possibly be overcome by government alone. The references to the sacrifices that Americans will need to make in order to turn around their country are a key part of starting to lower expectations and make people realise that it's going to take time deliver the improvements to American society that the people want.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the thinking behind the references to the sacrifices that need to be made stem from an article in Foreign Policy magazine this time last year. This discussed the extent to which Bush continued with 'business as usual' domestically (e.g. 'go and shop' in response to 9/11) at the same time as using the rhetoric of a Global War on Terror to eviscerate civil liberties and 'justify' torture and illegal detentions.
Obama's point is that the Bush government hasn't mobilised the population to face the challenges faced by the USA, but that he will do so in the next 4-8 years. Not surprising therefore that he would have done so in a restrained and sober manner. What also stands out from his acceptance speech, and that great finish to his final address in Virginia the night before, is that he really does get that social and political change will not be achieved from the top down, by the Fords, Boeings, Microsofts, Lockheeds or Merril Lynch's, but from the bottom up, through re-energising popular civic re-engagement in solving the problems of America - that each person needs to ask themselves not what their country can do for them, but what they can do for their country. A lesson that the NZ government would do well to heed, given the lip service large parts of it tends to pay towards consultation and public engagement.
I agree with Giovanni that referencing Martin Luther King is appropriate, but if you're Obama I don't think Craig's reference to Churchill is off-base either: America has been at war for longer than WWII on two fronts and is facing a massive financial crisis. America has, in effect, elected a different war time leader after 7 years of massive failure on the international front, and even longer economic and social failure at home. It's a serious time, so a serious acceptance speech seems appropriate to me.
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not bad for a nation founded as a slave owning republic
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