Post Election Day & a childbirth orientation at the Maternity Ward

I write this post today still in AWE of the events that transpired last night. While it ended up not being close(ish), I felt that it was up in the air until 11pm, when the West Coast polls closed, and suddenly Barack was over the top with the 270 Electoral votes.

However, upon thinking about it now, the immenseness of it all just blows me away! The states Barack took that Bush had in '04.... I can't name 'em all, but there must have been 9 of them. To see him take Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, FLORIDA, North Carolina (not officially called, but looks that way) , Nevada, New Mexico.. truly an amazing night

There is no way that I can write as eloquently as Vicki, and my good friend, and Vicki's BFF, Kayly did in their most recent posts. However, I too got teary at the fact that sometimes America, and Americans can fulfill their potential. This is something I think we did in choosing the 44th President of the United States. This time, we got it right.

My 81 year old father called up crying last night as well. He was blown away by Obama's victory, and this repudiation of the Republican Party.

53% or so of American voters actually thought that the past 8 Bush years were horrendous, that 2 wars were stretching us thin domestically and internationally; causing thousands of tragically needless deaths, and injuries. That this economic down turn we are in, was the result of a hyoooooooooge increase in the size of Government. Which is not what Repubicans are supposed to be about.

How anyone could still like Bush (most disliked modern day President), let alone vote for McCain and his phony war hero, "Maverick" b.s..... I don't know. Politics are a weird thing to discuss with those on the other side of the aisle..... It's difficult. I, for one, take it personally. I'm not gloating now with Barack Obama's win, but John Kerry's loss hit me terribly in 2004.

For the record, I do not buy McCain as a war hero, or a Maverick, or anything other than a spoiled rich guy (read the recent Rolling Stone article, as Kayly has suggested). However, kudos to him, for at least conceding with a certain amount of class that his campaign did not show during the heat of things. I will give him that .
Some folks, who I like, who are on the right are saying that "they are not working today, cause Obama is gonna pay their mortgage, put gas in their car, and give them free health care". It's sad that they can not find the appropriate words for how special this Election was. However, I won't diss them that much, because they are nice people.... we just fundamentally disagree.

From Joe Louis being heard on all the radios in Jewish and Black neighborhoods during the Great Depression, to Jim Crow to the murder of Emmett Till, to the successes of the Civil Rights Movement to the assassination of MLK, to the Watts and Newark riots... to last night

We accomplished something last night, us meaning us America. Seeing Condeleeza Rice get emotional was amazing.

In thinking about the future, Vick and I did a run through at St. Barnabas Hospital today. We checked out the Maternity Ward, and actually had a childbirth orientation. We got to look in, and see a very red faced, very cute newborn kicking his cute feets. I can't wait for Tobin Sincoff to enter this world.

His mother and I look forward to welcoming him to an America that today, is a little more hopeful, and offers unlimited promise to all who try hard.

Mr. T is Arriving Soon!

What begin as a regular old day at the old pharmaceutical workplace was jolted into something totally unexpected 2 days ago. Vicki called me at work, after just leaving her OB/GYN appointment. "Guess what?" my lovely bride asked me. "What's that?" said the sharp husband.

"WE HAVE A DELIVERY DATE NOW FOR MR. T!! HE IS GOING TO BE DELIVERED ON DECEMBER 4TH!!!"

It took me a moment to process this information. While, I knew T was coming, there was just a vague date of December 12Th. However, now, with a true delivery date set in stone!! I was blown away! I can't wait for him to come into this world. I will be the best Dad I can be! I promise. It was just surreal to finally get a date, set in stone. I know, that by the time December 4Th, 2008 passes into December 5Th, 2008; Vicki and I will be parents..

It truly is an amazing, amazing fact. I'm ready for the challenge! I am ready to support my beautiful wife to make sure she doesn't go totally insane w/ the demands of motherhood!! I promise :) You may have to excuse me if I seem like my head is in the clouds...... because, since Tuesday afternoon, it truly has been!!! I can not wait for this sweet little boy to arrive!!!

To talk about politics for a moment, I wonder if you guys watched the Obama infomercial? Vicki and I watched. I must say, I found it incredibly moving. The unique stories that were depicted of everyday working Americans really connected. I felt Barack Obama really explained his platform, and his reasons for being President of the United States over Senator John McCain.

I have to be honest, and let you know that the stories brought me to tears. The various stories of Americans, like the elderly retired African American couple in Ohio, where the husband had to go back to work at 75 yrs old (after working 30+ years on the railroad) at Walmart to pay for his wife's arthritis medicine, to the unemployed former Ford plant guy reading to his daughter in Kentucky, to the teacher in New Mexico. It showed ordinary Americans, struggling to keep their heads above water.

My 80 year old father from Florida called me after the program was over, confessing he was teary eyed too. "I think he (Obama) is going to be a wonderful President" he said.... "What an amazing piece of film".... I agree on both counts. Sure, the film was propaganda, but it rang true, and the production values were amazing.

I swear, I am sooooooo ready for November 4th!! I find myself constantly going to Huffingtonpost.com, and fivethirtyeight.com to make sure the polls are still going on Obama's favor..... my head will pop off my head and float away real soon w/ the stress. The day after election day can not come soon enough!!

Aside from campaign burnout, and the arrival of Mr. T soon, the other reason I can not wait to get past Election Day is that finally, after 17 years of waiting, Guns n'Roses "Chinese Democracy" will FINALLY be released!!!!! I wonder why NOW, why 2008 is the year that Axl Rose finally decided to put this opus out!! I must say that I've always had faith that it would one day see the light of day. Vick and I have been to a few of the later day (Buckethead version,and Bumblehead version) versions of the Gunners concerts. Axl still puts on an amazing show.

Mega props to the J.D. Salinger of Rock n'roll for putting this album out. I always knew you could do it, Axl!!!! Thank you :)

I love the Sunday New York Times!

There is this hyoooooge article in the Sunday Magazine called "John McCain- The Making (and remaking and remaking) of the Candidate". It is an incredibly well done article. Basically, it details the multiple directions, the multiple narratives that the McCain campaign has tried to undertake since the Republican Convention. Apparently, there is hyooooge infighting going on behind the scenes! People are pointing fingers at each other. My ol' buddy, Steve Schmidt (who is described as "glowering" "while smoking and checking his Blackberry") seems to have quite the bit of blame levelled at him.

Couldn't happen to a better con man!! I hope that this race ends, Barack Obama gets OVERWHELMINGLY elected to the Presidency, and Steve Schmidt, and Nicole Wallace of the McCain Campaign will NEVER be able to work in politics again!! I'm sure this is naive of me to think that, however. White collar crime, my friends.... No one is ever "untouchable". I'm sure some GOP thingamabob race will hire Steve-o to manage some campaign. That's alas the way the wind blows in DC.

The people in the McCain Campaign are already sending resumes' out, apparently. Kinda like rats jumping off a ship. Love it. Looooooove it!! McCain was on "Meet the Press" this morning, and swore to Tom Brokaw that "I promise you (Tom Brokaw) that you are gonna be up awful late on election night. We will win this." Chuck Todd, who was on the next segment was like "what Kool-Aid is THAT man drinking?" Todd actually showed a map to the 270 electoral votes where Obama could lose Pennsylvania and Florida, if he had to lose them. He's made serious inroads, serious leads in Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. Just amazing stuff.

Did anyone else see the cute 5Th grader asking Joe Biden what the Vice Presidency is about in Palm Beach County, Florida? I like Joe's answer, much more than Sarah Palin's. However, why doesn't he mentioned the tie breaking Senate vote that the VP has? Hey, Liberals, keep the faith! You know the writing may soon be on the wall when Karl Rove says McCain has a very steep hill to climb! David Frum, (Mr. Axis of Evil speechwriter) is even writing this election off as well. We shall see.

Of course, Joe Lieberman is now talking about how much he respects Barack Obama!

We have had a pretty groovy weekend. I've managed to chill out, relax, and get some quality nap time in today. I watched UFC 90 Silva vs. Cote last night. There were some decent fights (Thiago Alves vs. Josh Koscheck/Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin) so it was totally worth watching!! However, Anderson Silva, who is one of my favorite fighters, a guy who looks like he is totally dominating his opponents; phoned it in last night against Patrick Cote. Silva ended up winning in Round 3 (first time he has had to go to the 3rd round in the UFC) when Cote tore his Meniscus. However, it was NOT a great performance by "The Spider".

Finally, I have rediscovered a newer version of a show that I was waaaaay into when I was a teen! Yes, I have found "Degrassi-The Next Generation". Yes, I have to admit, it is a guilty pleasure. If you need to kill a half hour, and you want to see the issues that today's (Canadian) teens are dealing with, I totally recommend it. Also, fans of the Original "Degrassi Junior High" will be happy to hear that the character "Spike", yes the chick w/ the Mohawk, is back, is an adult, and HER kid goes to Degrassi now!!!

Yeah, I know I'm gonna be a dad in like, 6 weeks!! I have to chill out sometimes!!

Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins keeps on beating Father Time!

I gotta give a mega shout out to one of my favorite fighters. Bernard Hopkins, aka "The Executioner", who is 43 years old, went out, and DOMINATED 26 yr old Middleweight Champ Kelly Pavlik. Reports show that he basically dominated the entire fight. This does not surprise me. I will always remember his KO of Felix Trinidad at Madison Square Garden in 2001. Trinidad, who is Puerto Rican, had 20,000 New Yorkers at the Garden cheering for him. By the time he was KO'ed, the audience was eerily silent. Amazing sports moment.

Of course, the big news in politics today is that Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President on "Meet the Press" this morning. First, let me start off by saying that I do have some misgivings about Mr. Powell. After all, it was his speech in front of the UN, that made the US case for war in Iraq. We now know that the info he shared was not correct. Whether he literally knew it was incorrect, or if he thought the information was truthful, I do not know. However, it is a blight on his otherwise honorable list of achievements.

I must say that I found his endorsement of Obama incredibly nuanced, and heartfelt. Powell covered all of the bases. You could tell that he truly had agonized over the endorsement. From the ridiculous choice of Sarah Palin as VP, to the whole "Obama is a Muslim" myth, to the robocalls that the McCain campaign is doing (employing the same firm that smeared McCain w/ the black baby out of wedlock myth in 2000!); Powell hit all the bases.

I wish that more of our local, state and national leaders could speak as plainly, and as directly as Mr. Powell did today. He transcended race, political party, and personal agenda today. He deserves kudos!

It is AMAZING, I just found out that the McCain Campaign countered the Powell endorsement of Obama by announcing that Katie Barberia, a TELEVNOVELA actress in Florida had endorsed McCain!!! LOLOL!!!!

A final shout out to Chris Leben for a great fight on the Spike TV UFC card against Michael Bisbing. While Chris came up a little short, he showed tremendous heart, and determination. I hope that not only will he finish up all of the tattoo's that are on his chest, but that he will continue to find success in sobriety!!!

Starfuckers Incorporated

Well, apparently the McCain campaign in all of their erratic behavior actually intends for the race to be run this way. All of the hate speech, all of the stop/starts, all of the confusing behavior, they meant for it to be run like this. This is not just me scratching my head in liberal town. Such Conservative luminaries like George Will, Bill Kristol, Peggy Noonan even Tommy Thompson are saying "Hey Johnny Mac (go go go, Johnny) you better change this campaign around."



Former short list VP candidate, Florida Governor (and extremely tan man of Greek Extraction) Charlie Christ chose to go to Disneyworld today, rather than campaign for John McCain :) He said "If I get a chance to campaign later, I'll get to it". :) Can you hear an overweight lady singing somewhere, maybe? Not saying anything til the Republican concession speech on Election night.
However, Mr. Starfucker himself, Steve Schmidt, says that the McCain Campaign is about to pull off a "Rope a Dope"of Ali like proportions. We shall see, Stevie, we shall see. Y'know folks, I have to point out that it is VERY funny that Steve-O is so powerful politically, but he has no hair on his head! Can't Carl Rove do anything about that? Look at those shades perched precariously on his bald dome. Gotta love it!
Had a very mellow weekend. Enjoyed spending time w/ Vicki, and hearing Tobin trying to kick big time. I'm on a big British Mystery kick, and I'm really enjoying the latest John Harvey novel. It's gritty, and set in Industrial Nottingham! Gotta love that. "The Life and Times of Tim" is just laugh out loud funny! I mean, really, really funny.

"True Blood" keeps on getting better and better. It may be one of the most enjoyable hours on TV, period. It's up there with "Mad Men". I'm not sure what the whole Don Draper in Palm Springs thing was. However, it was awesome to see him potentially explore who he truly is.


Hows about Richard Lewis on "Countdown"?? Tell it like it is, Richard!!

Does Joe Lieberman Sleep at Night?

I found this Yom Kippur letter to Joe Lieberman's Rabbi's to be amazing. I wanted to share it with you. The following is taken from www.huffingtonpost.com:


Yom Kippur, 5769New York City
Rabbi Daniel CohenCongregation Agudath SholomStamford, Connecticut
Rabbi Barry FreundelKesher Israel CongregationWashington, D.C.
Dear Rabbis Cohen and Freundel,
Please forgive the presumption -- not only don't we know one another, I'm the kind of "cultural Jew" who makes even Reform Rabbis weep.
But as far as I can tell, now that Joe Lieberman and his family have moved from New Haven to Stamford, you, Rabbi Cohen, are his primary Rabbi in Connecticut. And you, Rabbi Freundel, lead the congregation where Sen. Lieberman worships in Washington.
Sen. McCain loves Joe Lieberman -- he wanted him as his running mate, if press reports are accurate.
Sen. McCain listens to Joe Lieberman.
Sen. Lieberman is, if you will, John McCain's rabbi.
So I thought I would write to you and ask you, as Sen. Lieberman's rabbis, to talk to Sen. Lieberman about the hatred that the McCain-Palin campaign is encouraging --- and the special understanding we Jews have of how that hatred plays out.
Why this public forum? Because I feel this is an urgent moment for American Jews. And because, in this moment, the men who can perhaps do the most to help us all -- Jews, Gentiles and Muslims alike -- should be identified and challenged to step up and do the right thing.
And make no mistake: Your voices do matter. If Joe Lieberman is the devout Jew he professes to be, you two are the most influential voices he can hear. He'd never listen to me. But to you -- how can he turn away?
I often think about Kristallnacht, that terrible night in Germany when it became unmistakably clear what the Nazis intended for the Jews. Almost a hundred Jews murdered, tens of thousands deported, windows smashed, businesses seized -- and hundreds of synagogues burned. Quite the "November surprise," if you will. But even after this horrific orgy of violence in 1938, there were many German Jews who didn't get it, who thought they were safe, who thought this was where it ended.
Now we know better. We say "Never again." But look around you, gentlemen. History does repeat, and in this case, with spooky echoes of Germany's darkest decade. A bad economy. A search for someone who can be dehumanized and blamed. The cries for "justice". And then....?
How would we recognize Kristallnacht if it happened today?
My fear: It's on the horizon, and coming closer every day.
Today "The Other" is Barack Obama. At a McCain-Palin rally the other day, there was a cry from a yahoo in the crowd: "Off with his head!" John McCain and Sarah Palin have not condemned that man. Indeed, they promise to ratchet up their "questions" about Obama in the final weeks of the campaign. At this point, it seems, they'd find nothing upsetting if the audiences at their rallies showed up with torches and pitchforks.
Jews, above all others, should fear this kind of hate speech. It may start with the demonization of one black man. Then it will move on to greedy Wall Streeters and "Jewish bankers" and a "liberal media" owned and controlled by Jews. [It's already happening: The Anti-Defamation League reports "a dramatic upsurge in anti-Semitic statements" on financial message boards on the Web. ] And then -- it sounds crazy, but it sounded crazy to many Jews in Germany -- the mob will come for us. Because that's where this goes. It's where it always goes. No matter where it starts, it ends with the Jews -- we're the ultimate "Other."
On your synagogue's web site, Rabbi Cohen, I note that you have a large family. Six daughters? Mazel tov. We have only one, but she is as precious to us as your girls are to you and your wife, and the thought of having her wrenched from my hand at some 21st century equivalent of a railroad freight yard -- it wakes me in the night.
I know I am asking a hard thing of you -- to confront Joe Lieberman and ask him to talk to John McCain, and, if McCain won't stop this madness, to call upon Sen. Lieberman to condemn his friend.
But maybe if I make this request both public and personal -- maybe if I invoke the images of Germany, just seven decades ago -- and ask that you do what you can to keep our children from harm, you will see how crucial this moment is to each and every Jew. And how much power you have to help us, all of us, who dare to hope for better from this country but find ourselves, in the middle of the night, awake and terrified.
A healthy and productive New Year to you and yours.
Jesse Kornbluth


Remember, dear astute reader, that the politics of deception, and slight of hand take one's eye off of what truly are the issues and problems facing our nation

Quick Note in the Midst of Yom Kippur

A hearty shout out to my Sons and Daughters of Abraham out there. Tonight into tomorrow is a very reflective and special time of year in the Jewish faith. I hope we all use the time wisely to reflect on our families, our health, and our nation.

Just a quick note here as I am still getting over the tummy bug as mentioned in my previous post. Not alot to talk about

I mean, I COULD go on for ages about the negative McCain ads, and the attack dog rhetoric of Sarah Palin. However, I can't deal w/ it right now. I"m spent. Steve Schmidt, and John McCain are prostitutes, and should be ashamed of Themselves.

It IS awesome that David Brooks of the Times called Palin a "Fatal Cancer to the Republican Party"... That' s hardcore stuff, "my friends"!!

The debate was underwhelming, but helped consolidate what a master politician Barack Obama is. He bobbed and moved, and was So presidential, so slick. To reference a 1990's boxing icon, he was a true Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whittaker! It was a great performance.

I believe that the McCain "That one" comment and gesture may be studied in years to come when students of debate learn what not to do when debating for the Presidency of the United States.. Much like Gore sighing while debating GW Bush, or Bush Senior looking at his watch while debating Clinton, etc.

On a pop culture note, Project Runway rocked tonight !!!!! Not to mention that I heard "Devil Inside" by INXS on the radio today! Talk about memories....