Your message for today (not that most US citizens on my f-list need it)

Courtesy of Lazarus Long, transcribed by the late Robert A. Heinlein:
"If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for...but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against; by this rule you will rarely go wrong. If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires."
—In Time Enough for Love, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973

Whatever you do today, if you live in the United States and are of voting age and registered, please go and vote if you have not already done so. To borrow another less-famous right-winger's words: "If it's not close, they can't cheat!"

An election-night observation

As I watch the results coming in for the Presidential, Congressional and state races around the nation, I am struck by this thought:

Think of all the blessings one is privy to simply by virtue of winning the genetic lottery and being born in the United States. And I don't just mean material wealth, relatively solid infrastructure and natural beauty. I also mean things like being able to speak your mind in public, without fear of being arrested, fired from your job or otherwise having reprisals conducted against you or yours. Having access to some of the best and richest information sources in the world, free from censorship (of the government sort, anyhow) even if all you do is buy a newspaper each day. Simply being able to cast a vote and have a say in the selection of leaders and the framing of policy. These are all things we USAians take for granted, that people in many other nations of the world don't get to enjoy.

And all this amazing country asks in return for all this is that, once a year or at least every two to four years, you haul your butt off the couch and down to a polling place (not even all that far from your home, usually) on the first Tuesday in November to hit a few buttons on a touch-screen or mark a few boxes on a slip of paper with a #2 pencil. Ideally, of course, you should do more than that, but that is the bare minimum.

Forget the year, the century or even the millennium; folks, this is the bargain of the geological epoch. Regardless of your party affiliation or political philosophy, we all need to remember this...and all year long, not just on Election Day.

YES! YES! YESSSS!!!!

CNN and NBC have both just called the Presidential election, following the first results (at long last) from California. Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America with 284 electoral college votes. And the color barrier to the White House has, after two and a quarter centuries, been broken.

Thank you, God under all Your many names. Now give him a filibuster-proof Democrat Congress to work with and we're in business. And we can finally, finally begin making it up to the rest of the world for the eight years of the Bush Régime.

UPDATE, 11:20 PM EST: John McCain is now giving his concession speech and says he called Obama to congratulate him. He had to quiet a roomful of booing conservatives, but he showed the class he once had in the past before this election. It's really real. It's actually happened.