Bravo Barney Frank

Today, America has risen

I have a lot of work today and before I have time to truly write everything that I’m feeling this morning it will be too late, everything will have already been said. Nevertheless, I do want – need -, to take a few minutes to mark this beautiful morning.

Yesterday, on November 4th, 2008, We the People of the United States (if I may be sold bold as to borrow this famous phrase), elected Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

On September 11th, 2001, the United States suffered what is probably the most traumatic event in its history. Our country was literally knocked to the ground on that day. Action had to be taken; but unfortunately this action was badly directed by the Presidency of George W. Bush, launching the country, crawling and injured, on a tenebrous path.

And all the things that Americans have always held dear: liberty, justice, the presumption of innocence, being a guiding light for other countries around the world; all this and much much more, started slipping away.

Although the wound of 9/11 will never truly heal, today is the first day of America’s veritable recovery from this event.

The people of America have understood that the time has come to turn away from sorrow and fear and toward hope.

In a few months, we will swear into Office a man who is determined to get America off of this tenebrous path and bring the country back to the light.

Surely, history will insist greatly on the fact that on November 4th, 2008, the Unites States elected its first “black” President. Indeed, this is, in and of itself, a profound and symbolic event.

But I’d like to think that the true victory is elsewhere:

Today, America has risen.

Sarah Palin falls for prank Sarkozy call

The very serious French newspaper, Le Monde, reported today that Sarah Palin fell for a prank by a humorist from Quebec, Canada, who called Palin on the telephone saying he was French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

This is not the first time this comic, who is part of a comedy duo called “Les justiciers masqués“, has made a politician fall for this type of prank call and one of his other victims was … Nicolas Sarkozy.

Normally, I wouldn’t have paid much attention to this as virtually anyone could fall for this kind of thing, but a few details left me troubled and illustrate again Palin’s total lack of qualification for the post of Vice-President.

Le Monde reports that as the conversation progressed Palin didn’t catch on at all when the fake Sarkozy, complimenting her on her knowledge of international relations, recited two completely imaginary names for the Canadian and Quebecois Prime Ministers (and yes there are two: Stephen Harper is the Prime Minister of Canada and Jean Charest is the Prime Minister of Quebec).

Further on, the comic even went so far as to compliment Palin on a recent American pornographic film in which a Palin look-alike plays the main role, saying that he thought it was a biographical film on her life. Palin’s reaction according to le Monde: “Oh thank you”.

The call goes on and on for six painful minutes with Palin not suspecting a thing (and having no idea how to react) while the fake Sarkozy speaks of his “special American adviser” Johnny Hallyday, how he loves hunting from airplanes and killing baby seals, how his wife is hot in bed and how she wrote a song for Palin, and that’s just a start.

It was not until the comic himself told Palin that she had fallen for a prank call that the call was cut by one of Palin’s assistants.

• A red flag should have went up the second she received a call from “Nicolas Sarkozy”.
• Another red flag should have went up in Palin’s head as soon as the comic started complimenting her on her knowledge of international relations.
• A really big red flag should have gone up in Palin’s head when “Nicolas Sarkozy” gave her made-up names for the Canadian and Quebecois Prime Ministers.
• A humongous, gargantuan red flag should have went up when “Nicolas Sarkozy” started talking about a porno as being her life story.

I’m sure that Sarah Palin is a fine woman. But she must not be one 72 year-old heartbeat away from the Oval Office.

Vote November 4th.

Vote Obama-Biden.

Here’s the original article from Le Monde:

Sarah Palin piégée par un faux Sarkozy

Presidential newspaper endorsements

As we close in on the big day, November 4th, 2008, it might be interesting and enlightening to know which newspapers are endorsing which candidates.

The DemConWatch blog is tracking presidential endorsements from newspapers across America, and, when possible, linking to the concerned article.

As I’m writing this, the Obama/Biden ticket has received 181 endorsements and the McCain/Palin ticket 57.

For any still undecided voters, it’s an excellent take off point to get last-minute opinions, from the New York Times to the Ouray Plain Dealer, by way of the Anchorage Daily News, who, by the way, are all endorsing the Obama/Biden ticket (yep, even the Anchorage Daily News).

Wandering electrons congratulates the DemConWatch blog for this excellent initiative!

Presidential Newspaper Endorsement List at the DemConWatch blog.

Fact checking the first Presidential debate.

I’ve just spent the morning going through the various major U.S. newspapers to see what they had to say about the first Presidential debate held yesterday in Oxford, Mississippi.

The general impression seems to be that the debate was largely a draw, but if one were obliged to say that someone won, it would be Barack Obama.

A large part of the debate was on the current economic situation, and there the consensus is that Obama was largely more convincing than McCain. Polls have shown recently that the majority of Americans are more convinced by Obama’s ability to rescue the drowning American economy, and this first debate should only strengthen this trend.

The second (and originally only) subject was foreign policy and national security. This is largely perceived as McCain’s strong point and the press is unanimous that he showed much more confidence for these subjects than he did when discussing the economy. However, one of McCain’s main goals was to paint Obama as inexperienced in this field, and on this point the press feels that he failed somewhat in the task. Obama, although defensive, held his own on these two closely related subjects and convinced on his ability to manage these issues if elected President.

Of course, both presidential candidates didn’t hesitate to paint history to their liking. There’s of course a fine line between bending the truth to suit one’s needs and out and out lying, and I think it’s important for the citizen to be able to sniff out the nuance politique when necessary. Here therefore is a list of fact-checking articles from various major newspapers from around the U.S.

From the New York Times:
Check Point: The First Debate

From the Boston Globe:
Checking the facts

From the Washington Post:
Debate Decoder: September 26, 2008

From the Chicago Sun Times:
Fact checking the presidential debates

From the Los Angeles Times:
Fact-checking the debate

Good advice for independent and undecided voters

The good thing about having over 300 million Americans and over 6.7 billion world citizens, is that when you’re too busy to write something yourself, there is inevitably someone else who shares your opinion and does have the time to write.

Thus, dear undecided and independent voters, do please take a few minutes to read this article by Gary Kamiya at Salon.com:

An open letter to independent and undecided voters

More insider information on Sarah Palin

As a follow-up to Tuesday’s post sending you to an Alaskan’s point of view on Sarah Palin, McCain’s choice for VP, you’ll want to check out as well this article on the My Two Buck$ blog:

A letter from someone who has known Sarah Palin since 1992

The letter, by Anne Kilkenny, was originally posted as a comment to this article in the Washington Independent:

The Reform Candidate?

Be sure to read the whole thing (you’re in for about 10 minutes, tops).

I also found this humorous but frightening video on Wasilla, and Palin, at Slate.com:

Postcards From Palin’s Hometown

And then of course there’s just a slew of articles more or less everywhere on Palin, none of which make me confident in this woman. Au contraire, the more I learn, the more I think that this was quite simply the worst choice ever for a Vice-Presidential candidate.

McCain’s VP choice: An Alaskan’s view on Sarah Palin

Ever been to Alaska?

Me neither.

But I did spend a lot of time “just down the road”, so to speak, in Oregon, so I had a few friends who had spent time in Alaska. Listening to their stories it was clear that we “lower 48ers” don’t really know much about the Land of the Midnight Sun, or what goes on there politically speaking.

Ever heard of Sarah Palin before a few days ago?

Me neither.

Taking into consideration these two responses, it seems to me that it might be a good idea to have an Alaskan’s take on McCain’s strange choice for VP.

Luckily for us WordPressers, we have our very own Alaskan who has put up a very interesting post on Palin in Alaskan politics. Check it out at the Mudflats blog; it’s a great read:

What is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective.

Ah speak American, ah don’ need no furin larnguage

Putain ! Mais, où va mon pays natal ?

I’ve fallen behind on my “Blogging American Unreason” series and I’m sorry about that, but my work has been keeping me (too) busy.

But this just sent me through the roof.

Apparently, Barack Obama managed to raise the ire of right wing conservative groups by suggesting that it would be a positive thing for kids to learn a second language in school. His critics said that it was a hidden attempt of Obama to make America a bilingual country.

Non mais… Pardon, j’essaie de garder mon calme…

For the record, I think that America should “institutionalize” English as the official language of the United States through a Constitutional amendment.  It’s something that France and a number of other countries have done and it is an important element of national identity here.

But how can anybody, no matter how “conservative” they may be, no matter how “politicized” the question may be due to immigration problems (which, by the way, are not an American exclusivity), justify criticizing a man for encouraging investing in the intelligence of future generations?

And yes my fellow Americans, learning a foreign language will make you more intelligent, notably because you’ll realize that, by golly, other countries have good, que dis-je?, even brilliant ideas sometimes that America would benefit from imitating; that understanding other cultures can free you from your own cultural blinders and thus widen your horizons; that learning another language is learning another way of thinking; and that will all these advantages (and many more) in your pocket, reducing you to an obedient lamb, who accepts the deconstruction of everything you hold dear, for example your liberty, your justice and your respect of others, will become much, much more difficult.

Pourquoi donne-t-on une voix à ceux qui rendraient le citoyen américain idiot ? Il n’y a aucune controverse ; vous avez le droit—et le devoir—d’être intelligent. Être stupide et soumis, docile, n’est pas un état à souhaiter. Ne vous laissez pas manipuler ; assurez l’avenir de vos enfants et de votre pays !

l’Amérique, réveillez-vous !

(Pardon my French.)

Defending net neutrality

I ran into this via Noreen Seebacher’s blog post You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone.

Four Eyed Monsters.com is currently or soon will be fund-raising for a feature-length film on net neutrality called “Humanity Lobotomy”. You can check out the primer video below, which has already passed the 1/2 million mark for views.

If you can make a contribution to the project, you can go here. But even if you don’t have money to donate, you can at least call your House and Senate Representatives to encourage the protection of net neutrality from big business control.

Thanks Noreen and best wishes to the Humanity Lobotomy project from Wandering electrons.

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