I'd like to take this opportunity to express my utter disgust at the crowd of shoppers who mobbed the doors of a Wal*Mart in Long Island yesterday morning, broke through the doors, and trampled a 34-year old employee to death. There is NOTHING that can be found in Wal*Mart that is worth crushing a human being for--none of you were in desperate need of food or medicines that could only be had in that store and nowhere else on the planet. Believe it or not, your kids will survive if they don't get Guitar Hero for Christmas.

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death (The New York Times):
...Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, who is in charge of the investigation for the Nassau police, said the store lacked adequate security. He called the scene "utter chaos" and said the "crowd was out of control." As for those who had run over the victim, criminal charges were possible, the lieutenant said. "I’ve heard other people call this an accident, but it is not," he said. "Certainly it was a foreseeable act."...

I strongly urge the detective and the county DA to pursue criminal charges against these people. There is security video from the store, so there should be no problem identifying them and providing evidence of their guilt. Nobody "accidentally" breaks a door down and kills a man. The Damour family will have an empty seat at the dinner table for the rest of their lives because of a bunch of stupid assholes wanted to save a buck.

It's 2008 folks, you don't get to be cattle anymore. Whoever went to that Wal*Mart yesterday morning and forgot to bring their humanity? I hope you rot in prison.

My dear friend Maggie of terrific blog Pandora's Tea Room has posted a thoughtful article about trying to communicate with her students about how historic this election is. She comes to the conclusion that we have moved so far from the days of institutionalized repression that many of her students don't see the idea of an African-American President as a very big deal...

On campus this historic election day (Pandora's Tea Room):
…I'm amazed that these young people are growing up without understanding the possibility of social change that has been (nearly) realized in the last fifty years. In fact, one student started comparing us to his more enlightened friends in Germany, saying "we're horrible and we're never going to change," and that at least did allow me to make my point.

...In a way it's good they don't see how amazing this is, because it means that it feels completely natural and reasonable to them. I just want them to understand that we can keep improving…

Well, we knew it was coming.  The Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania has seen fit to launch a last minute Reverend Wright ad to try and scare white people away from Barack Obama.  Once again the naked desperation of the Republican party is evident and the depths to which they will sink boundless.

I'm going to boil this down to quick bullet points:

• Reverend Wright preached at the Trinity United Church of Christ for 36 years and yet all we seem to see in the attack ads is the same few seconds of a couple sermons.  While I'm sure he was full of fire and energy as a preacher, I'm also quite sure it wasn't 36 years of nothing but these few excerpted seconds.
   
• Barack Obama has stated that he was not at the Church when these few seconds of vitriolic sermonizing took place.
   
• Barack Obama has condemned the statements made by Wright, and has subsequently left the church.
   
• Most importantly, Barack Obama is not Reverend Wright -- it's a little ridiculous how Obama is consistently attacked by the Republicans for things other people did or said.

There is more to Barack Obama than who his pastor was, and there is more to Reverend Wright than a few seconds of criticizing the USA.  As far as I am concerned Barack addressed this issue admirably in his speech A More Perfect Union where he discussed how there is fear and distrust on both sides of the racial divide--a divide we need to reach across if we want to progress as a nation.

...The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American...

Joe Biden, known for stumbling over his own words, aptly summed up my feelings on this particular issue of division while speaking at an event in Tallahassee, FL on Sunday:

...We've got to reach out, we've got to end this. Somebody's got to be big enough to stand up and end this...

As far as I'm concerned, Barack Obama has shown he's big enough to stand up and end this.  And this is why we hear about Reverend Wright, but not Pastor Hagee.  It's why we hear about Bill Ayres, but not the Keating Five.

The Obama campaign has been largely a positive one, and I think it is a prelude to a positive presidency--something we sorely need in these times.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given what a wackaloon theist McCain's screwhead VP pick is, but just in case it wasn't obvious... Sarah Palin supports a federal Gay Marriage ban--because her religion frowns upon it, it should be illegal for people who don't share her religion. Basically, because she is arrogant.

...in my own, state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that's where we would go because I don't support gay marriage. I'm not going to be out there judging individuals, sitting in a seat of judgment telling what they can and can't do, should and should not do, but I certainly can express my own opinion here and take actions that I believe would be best for traditional marriage and that's casting my votes and speaking up for traditional marriage that, that instrument that it's the foundation of our society is that strong family and that's based on that traditional definition of marriage...

Knuckledraggers love this witch. If McCain doesn't win, I expect we will be hearing from her again in 2012. Crooks and liars has the video and transcript of Palin's statement to CBN's David Brody.