The Joy Thread

[iAmBaronVonTito]

i didnt get drunk and i didnt eat pizza, but listening to obama's speech gave me goosebumps.

one thing that brought me down was mccain's concession speech.  nothing to do with mccain, but more or less his supporters here in phoenix.  all he had to do was say, "barack obama, " and everyone BOO'd their little lungs out.  juvenile, classless nonsense in my opinion- what sore losers.

In all fairness, that almost always happens at concession speeches.

this is true, but it seemed pointless to use past elections.  however, it is safe to say that almost always this happens at debate rallys and concession speeches. 

[erika]

This thread needs more joy because it's the joy thread!

This brings me joy:

[John Junk 2.0]

they get sensitive when you call them on their hocus pocus bullshit and their child raping

You are being a prick.

And I'm not just saying that because I'm a child rapist.


In my opinion, the word "marriage" and the concept of "marriage" should not be anywhere on lawbooks because it's a violation of the separation of church and state.  Civil Unions between any two parties, regardless of sex or sexuality, with all the benefits of what we now call marriage, should be put into effect, and the word marriage should be left out of all federal and state legal language.  It's a religious ceremony.

Edit: I'm not actually a child rapist.

[A.M. Thomas]

In my opinion, the word "marriage" and the concept of "marriage" should not be anywhere on lawbooks because it's a violation of the separation of church and state.  Civil Unions between any two parties, regardless of sex or sexuality, with all the benefits of what we now call marriage, should be put into effect, and the word marriage should be left out of all federal and state legal language.  It's a religious ceremony.

I could get behind that.  Unfortunately, it seems we're pretty far away from it.

From Wikipedia:



██ Same-sex marriages
██ Unions granting rights similar to marriage
██ Unions granting limited/enumerated rights
██ Foreign same-sex marriages recognized
██ Statute bans same-sex marriage
██ Constitution bans same-sex marriage
██ Constitution bans same-sex marriage and other kinds of same-sex unions

What bothers me even more than same-sex marriage bans, though, is gay or single parent adoption bans.  With the number of kids in foster care and the number of parents who can't have kids (but want them), it's absurd to prevent any good and willing parent from adopting.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

In my opinion, the word "marriage" and the concept of "marriage" should not be anywhere on lawbooks because it's a violation of the separation of church and state.  Civil Unions between any two parties, regardless of sex or sexuality, with all the benefits of what we now call marriage, should be put into effect, and the word marriage should be left out of all federal and state legal language.  It's a religious ceremony.

I could get behind that.  Unfortunately, it seems we're pretty far away from it.

From Wikipedia:



██ Same-sex marriages
██ Unions granting rights similar to marriage
██ Unions granting limited/enumerated rights
██ Foreign same-sex marriages recognized
██ Statute bans same-sex marriage
██ Constitution bans same-sex marriage
██ Constitution bans same-sex marriage and other kinds of same-sex unions

What bothers me even more than same-sex marriage bans, though, is gay or single parent adoption bans.  With the number of kids in foster care and the number of parents who can't have kids (but want them), it's absurd to prevent any good and willing parent from adopting.

that's the truth.

[A.M. Thomas]

This thread needs more joy because it's the joy thread!

This brings me joy:

I've heard conflicting reports about voter turnout, but that is really awesome.  It brings me joy.

[Gilly]

That's really something since I've heard that the African-American turnout was only up 2 percentage points.

[Martin]

Edit: I'm not actually a child rapist.

I was this close to unfriend you.

[Martin]

This thread needs more joy because it's the joy thread!

This brings me joy:

Not to rain on your parade, I know it's a record turnout and it's awesome, and I know that the voter registration process keeps your numbers relatively low, but a turnout of "only" 66% would probably constitute a total political crisis over here. We usually end up around 85-90%, and when it's "down" to 80% people are up in arms about how it's the end of our democracy and so on.

What is the real idea/purpose of having to register to vote?

[Fido]

At least the US is headed in the right direction. I think 66% is still too low, but I never bemoaned that this rate of election participation is a crisis for democracy because it's been the case for so long here. It seems that people take it for granted that lots of Americans don't participate, and that's unfortunate.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

What is the real idea/purpose of having to register to vote?

voter fraud, multiple votes being cast, statistics, etc. 

[<<<<<]

I've always suspected that the electoral college sort of caps voter participation.  I mean, it can be really hard to convince someone to go vote when they live in a state that's "already decided" for the Presidential race.

[Sarah]

Now that a few more hours have passed, all the doomsayers are coming out to warn that Obama is either going to destroy the country or at least not live up to all his promises.  The first option deserves no attention:  at the least, Obama is no more likely to destroy the country than McCain would have been.  The second, though, inspires me to step on my soapbox.

First of all, even if Obama does no more than behave like a moderate Democrat (and I don't believe he will limit himself to this), the improvement over Bush will still be massive.  And even if it takes time for anything measurably good to come from his administration, this surely should not be a cause for disillusion.  One of the things that has moved me about this business is that I got the feeling millions and millions of people around the country finally believed that not only things would improve but they could contribute to those improvements.  Regardless of the extent to which Obama lives up to his promise, we can live up to ours.  We can change our behavior to make not just our own lives but the lives of everyone else, in this country and in the world, better. 

Rachel Maddow last night asked people to post on her Website their wish lists of what they would like Barack Obama to do.  Me, I'd rather see a wish list that itemized what we can do.

Note:  Apparently, my relief over the election has made me even more verbose than usual.  Apologies.

Another note:  I've long thought the electoral college should be abolished.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

I've always suspected that the electoral college sort of caps voter participation.  I mean, it can be really hard to convince someone to go vote when they live in a state that's "already decided" for the Presidential race.

Another note:  I've long thought the electoral college should be abolished.

i second both of these comments- the electoral college is a seriosuly outdated system that needs to disappear. 

[Gilly]

The only problem I have with a pure popular vote is that nobody ever looks like a real winner because most of the time it will be decided by 1 or 2 points. I'd be for a runoff vote though.