It's
looking good. Out here in San Francisco, it's kind of felt (to me) like Christmas, all day -- the (probable) gift of gratification and affirmation, after so many months of talk, hope, contribution and angst.

I went to my borrowed shop space, which doubles as a Castro district polling place when necessary, to make sure it had opened, at 6:45 AM. Now, at almost 6 PM, the states are beginning to be called for one or the other candidate.

Pennsylvania for Obama is a biggie.

Gunning
For 364.


Good night.

whew!!!

what a relief.

McCain showed he was still a gentleman in his concession speech. When he told his supporters to quit booing, that was class.

Yup,,, his speech was nice but the outcome is what's important!
Happy days! Now, let's get back to what's really important....finding great and rare mid-century furniture.

Congrats on that
and thanks for the field report.

The news copters are still beating the air over the Castro, here. It's almost midnight. I guess there are probably street parties in every big city in the land ?

Yay for us ! Finally got one right. The last eight years have been hell.

You're right,
Olive. Last night the marriage ban (Proposition 8) was winning; this morning's news has it undecided. We can hope for its defeat. There was quite a bit of support for it from out-of-state religious interests, in particular the Mormon Church.

Fear masquerading as faith ?

And while I am on the...
And while I am on the subject, admitting my faith, I will also disclose (I have probably mentioned it before) that I was raised in Mississippi. I know a Christian from Mississippi is a taboo amongst design loving artist types who aren't from the deep south.

I would like to say that there have been times where Southerners and Christians have been mocked on this board. So for the record, I am both. We are not all the same!

For instance, I actually try and follow the teachings of Jesus, which translates to tolerance, love, acceptance, peace, etc. I love homosexuals and blacks. I hate war. I can't stand Bush. I love Tom Waits and the Velvet Underground. I dream about Alexander Girard and wish I had the biggest Charles Harper collection on the planet. Stem cell research is neat.

So - for the record - and I apologize for being off topic - but we are not all the same. God bless America and our differences!

Hope for change.

And a wish Sam Cooke had lived to hear that victory speech.

Amen
to that, and well said, Pegboard.

To Whitespike,, I could have written exactly what you said above
regarding gay marriage, J. Cale and the "Underground," Waitts, the whole lot of it. Although when I dream, I'm always at a dinner party with some of the giants of modern architecture and arts like Gropius, Johnson, Rothko , etc., then Pollock walks in and passes out drunk. I agree completely with Pegboard too and if anything I have written has come across as stereotyping of either the South or religion I apologize.

What I will admit to, is being full of mock, contempt, and derision when someone self identifies as "Christian" and that "Jesus is their savior" and then acts in a completely hypocritical fashion by both their words and their actions and displays nothing remotely resembling Christ like behavior. In that prior post I had asked where is the Christ like actions in bombing and killing, where is the Jesus like treatment of gays when Jesus ate with prostitutes and thieves and was promptly told that the Bible is symbolism, but apparently symbolism that can be selectively adhered to. From there flows my contempt.

As to stereotypes, yes not all people are the same and it is truly not fair to paint any group with the same brush, but sometimes one sees things that makes one scratch their heads. I live in the South and have seen some of the following on a daily basis: these two bumper stickers on the same truck with the Confederate flag in the back window; "Jesus Saves" and "When in Doubt Empty the Clip" Another bumper sticker "Israel can be Saved and so can the Jewish people if they accept Jesus as Lord" The first has a strange duality, the second is rather presumptuous to say the least.

And here is the one that truly took me aback, language I never heard while living in California nor the Northeast. I am in a 7-11 on the day after the election buying a newspaper, there are 5 white people in the store plus the clerk, the headline reads "A NEW ERA" and the woman ( about 30 years of age) in line behind me says; " A new era my ass, now that we got that F***'in "N word" in office we're all going to have to start praying to F***'in Allah, at least them little N's are gonna get a dog", maybe it'll bite their ass."

The clerk said nothing, 4 of the 5 customers started making similar comments, the other gentleman and myself walked out. There were four cars left in the parking lot as the other man and I drove away and two of the cars had the fish symbol that promotes biblical creation of the universe on the trunk lids. I wish I could say it was an isolated incident, I have witnessed many similar incidents in the 4 years I have lived here.

The way in which vast parts of the South voted, it has to be something more then the fact that JM was a prisoner of war. Segments of the GOP would like to amend the constitution so that a portion of American citizens are discriminated against with an amendment enshrined in the Constitution and that's a big head scratcher for me.