Obama Landslide?

Thanks to record breaking early voting turnout and historic turnouts of African-American voters, this election is turning quite interesting. Obama is competitive in states that haven't voted Democratic in decades and this election is being played save Pennsylvania on GOP turf.

<p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p>


The question is will Barack Obama have a blowout win on Tuesday, or will it be a narrow upset win (gag) for John McCain?

The map is interactive, so you can click on it and change states from one candidate to the other with the corresponding change in electoral votes.

Nightmare on Hillcrest Ave

Happy Halloween, peeps!

GLBT people aren't the only folks that like to celebrate what we jokingly call in the community the 'Gay National Holiday'

One fast growing tradition here in Da Ville is checking out a group of Crescent Hill homes by the reservoir on Hillcrest Ave. It's a must walk through destination for pint sized ghouls, goblins and costumed candy seekers of all ages.

For twenty years those homeowners in that stretch have done lavish decoration jobs for Halloween. It has grown so popular that they draw crowds of up to 20,000 people from all over the Louisville metro area to see them. Some of the owners bought their homes specifically so that they could participate in this annual neighborhood frightfest.

My favorite in that four block stretch of homes between Frankfort Ave and Brownsboro Rd is 'Dante's Disco Inferno'.

The owner of this house puts down an authentic flashing lights disco floor, has mirrored disco balls, has tombstones with death dates for disco and Tony Manero (John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever) and plays disco hits all night long. Usually people walking along that stretch will hear a song they like, stop and shake their booty's.

Themes range from the Peanuts gang Linus welcoming the Great Pumpkin to ghostly cemeteries. Freddie, Leatherface and various Hollywood horror monsters pop out from behind trees at inopportune times to scare you.

They spend tons of cash on candy, and sometimes to one up each other. One memorable Halloween Dawn and I stopped by this house that rented a 16 piece orchestra. They played Halloween and Christmas music as they served hot chocolate and passed out candy on a clear but cool night.

Others will show screenings of classic and current horror movies. The Peanuts themed one runs the classic 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' cartoon all night long.

Many of the homeowners say that the annual project has helped them get to know their neighbors and built a close knit community in the process. Neither they, the civic association or any group gives out an official prize for the best decorated home, but it's obvious there's a little bit of a competitive streak going when it comes to putting together these themed decorations.

And it's deeply appreciated by all of us looking for interesting stuff to do on Halloween night.

Last Sprint To The Finish

This marathon of a historic presidential race is racing to a climax. The candidates are crisscrossing the country hitting the battleground states, unleashing their last minute ads, doing rallies, unleashing their ground games to get their voters to the polls, making the GOTV calls.

In the GOP's case its 'suppress the African-American vote', unleash the dirty tricks and the right-wing slime machine. They know as Dr. King famously predicted:

"I can forsee the Negro vote becoming the decisive one in national elections."

For those of you that may not be frequent voters like moi, and want to know where you polling place is, you can check out the Obama website VoteForChange.com

The League of Women Voters also has a great non partisan website called vote411.org

Need directions to your polling place? Hit this Google website to get them. I tested it with my own address and my polling place popped up marked on an easy to read map.

And for those folks who still need convincing that Obama is the real deal and will be an outstanding president, send them the link to the Blueprint For Change.

Feel like making a financial donation to the Obama campaign? Here's the site.

People, I'm beyond ready for the long national nightmare to be over. On November 5 I want to wake up hearing the words 'President-elect Obama' broadcast on all the networks.

Let's make Robert Kennedy's May 1961 remarks come true.

"There's no question that in the next thirty or forty years a Negro can also achieve the same position that my brother has as president of the United States, certainly within that period of time."

It'll be especially delicious to see Faux News correspondents have to say the words 'President Obama' for the next four to eight years.

My Halloween Nightmare

What am I scared of this Halloween? It's not Jason, Chucky, Leatherface, Hannibal Lechter or the Klan.

It's hearing the words President-elect McCain or President Palin.



Talk about scary. This would be worse than any horror movie I've ever paid money to watch. This is a news report I don't want to come home to on November 5

Friends don't let friends vote Republican. Not when our nation's future is at stake.

Gene Linked To Transsexualism?

TransGriot Note: The Human Genome Project is the gift that keeps on giving. I always suspected as a reality based real-science person that there was a biological cause to transsexuality. Now an Australian study may have found the first evidence of a genetic link to the biological nature of transsexuality.

Deal with that right-wing Know Nothings.


by Melanie Macfarlane
Cosmos Online

SYDNEY: The first genetic link to male-to-female transsexualism provides new evidence of its biological nature, say Australian researchers.

"There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice, however our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops," said Vincent Harley a geneticist from Prince Henry's Institute in Melbourne and co-author of a new study detailing the find.

Gender identity

Gender identity, an inner feeling of being male or female, is usually identified at an early age. Transsexuals, however, identify with the sex that is opposite to their biological sex.

Early theories as to the cause of transsexuality suggested that it could stem from childhood trauma, but more recent research has pointed to family history and a possible genetic aspect. A study released earlier this year by researchers at the University of Vienna, Austria, hinted at a gene that may be involved in female-to-male transsexualism.

The new study, published today in the journal Biological Psychiatry, builds on previous research that highlighted some similarities in the brain structures of women and male-to-female transsexuals.

For the study, Harley and his team took DNA from 112 male-to-female transsexuals and 258 non-transsexual men. They looked at the sequence of three genes known to be involved in the action of sex hormones, and found that some male-to-female transsexuals carry a different form of a gene, called an androgen receptor, which modifies the body’s response to testosterone.

Androgen receptor

The researchers found that, on average, the form of the gene found in the transsexual group had a larger number of repeats of a short, repetitive sequence of DNA - making the gene significantly longer than the form found in the control group of non-transsexual men.

Though the researchers admit that the average difference in the length of the gene between the two groups was small, they said that the size of the study population was limited by the rarity of transsexualism. Nevertheless, "we think that these genetic differences might reduce testosterone action and under-masculinise the brain during foetal development," said co-author Lauren Hare, a geneticist from Monash University in Melbourne.

“This research suggests that extra-long copies of the androgen receptor (AR) gene potentially affect testosterone function in the brains of male-to-female transsexuals," said Andrew Sinclair, a geneticist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne who was not involved with the study.

Sinclair, who agreed with the authors as to the possible mode of action of the gene variant, said that, "these defective copies of the AR gene could severely reduce normal testosterone levels, resulting in a more female-like brain."

"This [study] supports the notion that transsexualism has a biological basis rather than being due to psychosocial factors in early childhood,” he added.

Limitations of study

Other experts, however, argued that the small study population limited the conclusions that could be drawn from the results.

"The investigators themselves point out that numbers in association studies are important and while the numbers in their study are modest, they are still potentially quite low," said Ron Trent, a geneticist at University of Sydney. "While statistically significant, [the results are] only just so and this is a weakness."

“This is still a small sample and the effects of the difference in androgen receptor are not black and white, so obviously there is much more to be done," agreed Jennifer Graves, head of the Comparative Genomics Research Group at the Australian National University in Canberra.

"However, I am perfectly sure it will turn out that there are important genes involved in sexuality," she said.

Call to replicate findings

Juliet Richters, a professor in sexual health at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, said that while the study does not identify the gene as a cause of transsexualism it might provide some comfort for those with the condition.

“It may be a matter of relief for transsexuals to have their condition identified as genetic, rather being blamed for making an awkward lifestyle choice,” she commented.

Despite the debate, the findings provide a good clue to go hunting for the many factors likely to be involved in transsexualism, said Harley, who now invites other research teams to attempt to replicate his findings.

I'm The Sidekick John McCain

TransGriot Note: Been a while since I've done one of my song rewrites. Got the idea for this one when I heard the latest attack on Obama concerning his Harvard education. This from someone mind you who graduated 894th out of 898 in his Naval Academy class.

Here's my latest rewrite, so enjoy.


I'm the Sidekick John McCain
(sung to the tune of 'If I Only Had A Brain)

I survived prison cell trauma
Not eloquent as Obama
And crashed too many planes
My scholastic record's spotty
And my attitude is snotty
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain

I stepped out on my first honey
For Cindy's Budweiser money
For that I have no shame
I'm conservative as can be
Supported the Bush policies
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain

My campaign is grossly failing
'Cause I selected Sarah Palin
For my VP running mate
I don't know economics
And my temper is atomic
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain

In this critical election
I expect massive rejection
'Cause Bush and I are the same
The working class gets slammed
And I want to bomb Iran
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain



Crossposted from the Bilerico Project

NGLTF Transgender Discrimination Survey

TransGriot Note; Babs Casbar sent me this survey because the NGLTF wants more POC input in it.

I'll refrain from saying what first popped into my mind because the survey is too important. I'll comment about what crossed my mind later.

Seriously though, to all my transgender readers who happen to be peeps of color, please consider taking the time out of your busy schedules to take this survey.

https://online.survey.psu.edu/endtransdiscrim/

Seven More Days

One week to go. Seven days. I'm climbing the walls waiting to cast my ballot in this historic election. And I'm wishing I could cast my ballot right now.

If you are in a state that allows early voting, please do so.

Be alert for the GOP trickery that will be deployed on Election Day.

Interesting Chi-Town Day

Hey TransGriot readers,
As you know I hit the road Saturday morning with Dawn to watch her fence in this year's edition of the Remenyik Open along with our other roomie Karen.

We bounced out of Da Ville a little after 6 AM EDT local time even though Dawn's check in for this event wasn't until 3 PM CDT. We decided we were going to partake in some of Chicago's cultural attractions and kill a few hours in the Field Museum.

As usual Dawn and I made excellent time while Karen slept in the backseat. As we approached Greenwood, IN (the southern 'burbs of Indianapolis) we discovered the gas price was only $2.30 a gallon. Since we had 3/4 of a tank we pressed onward under the assumption it would be at the same price or cheaper on the other side of Indy.

Wrong.

We painfully discovered that the closer we got to Chicagoland the higher the gas price got. In fact we ended up refueling in Merrillville where we paid $2.60 and I picked up my bag of Jay's Potato Chips. It wasn't $2.30 a gallon but it was cheaper than what we were paying in Da Ville, and I correctly guessed they were still paying over $3.00 a gallon in Chicago.

A few minutes later we crossed the Illinois-Indiana line and saw the first evidence of the extent of the search for Jennifer Hudson's young nephew Julian King. We passed an electronic highway sign with the description of the white SUV and plate number as we sped toward the Dan Ryan exit off I-80/94

We pulled into the parking garage underneath Soldier Field a little after 12 noon CDT and sauntered toward the world famous Field Museum. We were planning to kill about two hours there before heading off to Northwestern University.

After spending an enjoyable two hours checking out the various exhibits we headed back toward the car and shoved off up Lake Shore Drive in the direction of Evanston.

For those of you who haven't guessed by now, I'm blessed with a formidable memory. When it comes to road trips, some of my family members and friends have remarked that I'm better than a GPS unit. All it takes me is one time to travel somewhere and I never forget how to get there or need a map from that point.

I have relatives and friends in the Chicagoland area and have been there numerous times, so I know my way around the city. Dawn does as well since she was born there.

Since I was along for the ride last year, I knew where the SPAC was and called off the necessary turns from Lake Shore Drive onto N. Sheridan Rd and the NU campus. A few minutes later we were gliding into the parking lot in front of the SPAC in plenty of time for Dawn to check in for the tournament.

From what Dawn told me earlier in the week and on the trip up I-65 the competition in the women's saber division was going to be formidable. She's a C ranked fencer, and this tournament had two A ranked fencers, several B's and several C's.

This tournament also had in it a sistah competitor she has a friendly rivalry with from the Detroit area by the name of Ashlee McLemore. We last saw her in Columbus at the Great Lakes Regional Tournament with her sistah training partner Roberta Sims.

Dawn went 3-3 in her pool matches, but got bounced out of her DE 15-9. She wasn't too upset about it since this was her first serious fencing action since she finished third at the summer nationals in San Jose.

We had to get Karen back to Louisville since she had to work Sunday afternoon, but we weren't going to leave Chicago without hitting Giordano's and chowing down on one of their world famous deep dish pizzas. There was one in Rogers Park on N. Sheridan, so after we found a parking space two blocks from the restaurant we eagerly headed in to partake of it before hitting the road.

We caught up on the latest Chicagoland news and ended up taking four slices with us since we were stuffed. We usually order a partially baked one to take home, but forgot to do that when we arrived (we won't make that mistake again).

We discovered on the return trip that the gas station we passed that morning in Greenwood had dropped its price to $2.29 but didn't bother doing anything except switching off drivers. I'd taken us from Merrillville to that point and the lack of sleep was kicking my behind. We eventually ended up in Da Ville at 1 AM after a long but interesting day.

We'll be back next year for the Remenyik since it's one of Dawn's fave tournaments. I also hope that I'll FINALLY get to do a Chicago trip and spend some quality time with Jackie and Monica as well.

Rolling Towards The Remenyik Open

Dag, has it been a year already since the last Remenyik Open?

Hitting the road in a few hours. I'm heading back to Chicago with Dawn once again to watch her compete in this year's edition of the Remenyik Open Fencing tournament on the Northwestern University campus.

Of course, I'll tell y'all about my latest road trip when I get back.

McCain Campaign Worker Attack Story Busted

It must be hard to be a McCain supporter these days. Your candidate is losing badly to horror of horrors, an educated biracial Black man.

Your so called $150,000 designer clothed 'hockey mom' VP candidate has been relentlessly lampooned on Saturday Night Live and is considered seriously unqualified by a majority of the American people, including members of your own party and the previous Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

To top it off your usual slimy race baiting attacks aren't working.

Well, in a shades of Susan Smith moment, a young McCain supporter, College Republican and volunteer named Ashley Todd from Aggieland (AKA College Station, TX) claims that around 9 PM EDT she was beat up and robbed at a Pittsburgh ATM by a large Black man and had a backwards 'B' carved into her face because she was a McPalin supporter.

Predictably Faux News, Matt Drudge, the right wing blogosphere, and right wing talk radio jumped on this as 'evidence' of left wing 'hatred'. It neatly plays into the well worn conservative race baiting theme of white women being attacked by Black criminals. It even prompted statements from the McPalin and Obama campaigns.

Hold up, flag on the play.

Like Susan Smith's over a decade ago, the story started falling apart. I was suspicious when it was noted she was from College Station. Texas A&M is home to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. Translation, she's conservative.

The College Republicans chiming in only cemented the impression for me that this story smelled worse than a sewage treatment plant.

Details of this story also didn't pass the smell test. The 'B' on her face was carved backwards and was too neat. If she was struggling against a larger, stronger attacker the 'B' carving to her face would have been more uneven. In addition, an angry attacker would have left far more bruises and serious injuries than what she is shown in her picture to have suffered.

Since she was attacked at an ATM, the surveillance tape video would have showed this attacker, right? Wrong. When the Citizens' Bank ATM security tape was checked at the time she claimed the alleged assault happened, no large Black man in the tape.

Her bank card info also shows no account activity at that time or the location where she claimed she was robbed.

Surprise, surprise.

The Pittsburgh police noted the inconsistencies as well, She amended her story to add a sexual assault and claiming she'd been hit and blacked out. They gave her a lie detector test which she failed.

She later confessed to faking the story and will be charged with filing a false report

But once again, the McPalin forces and the GOP will do anything to win. The only thing they have left is race baiting. It's getting dangerously close to inciting violence for real.

Conscientious Stupidity

'Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

As I've mentioned ad nauseum on this blog, I despise stupidity. Whether it's the willful ignorance of the creation science peeps, the sheeple who swallow political lies in the face of overwhelming logical evidence debunking it or the peeps who brag about being uninformed, as a TK stupidity irks me to no end.

And this political season has been chock full of it.

One of the things I've been most concerned about over the last twenty years has been this anti-intellectual strain as the conservative movement rose to power.

It concerns me because the republic our Founding Fathers set up thrives when reasoned debate takes place and we rationally and thoughtfully discuss issues of importance to Americans.

But with poisonous partisanship injected into the public discourse, it has so contaminated the body politic that we have political gridlock as a result. Political discourse resembles a WWE wrestling match or playing the dozens back in the hood. And one of the things that really irks me is the lack of intelligence in some of our political leaders.

When I'm pondering who I'm going to cast a ballot for, I'm not looking at how well a person speaks (although that's a major plus after the last 8 years of an inarticulate dumbass in the White House) how cute they look in their $150,000 wardrobe, whether they can fly a jet or not or I can have a beer with them. The quality that's most important to me is do you have the intelligence to handle the complex job of being in that position?

But unfortunately we have so many people fixated on superficial crap that they overlook the fact that when it comes to being the president, intelligence counts.

Vietnamese Transgender Journey

TransGriot Note: As I and others continue to point out, being transgender cuts across all economic, class, and ethnic lines. We can also be found all over the globe and represented on almost every continent. Here's the story of Vietnam's most famous transgender person, Cindy Thai Tai

Transgender Journey

From Thanh Niem News.com

After years of living in shame and torment, Cindy Thai Tai underwent sex reassignment surgery and says she’s never felt happier.

Cindy Thai Tai is ecstatic with her new life, she says. After undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2005, Tai became one of just a few Vietnamese to speak publicly about her transsexuality.

“I make no secret about my gender transformation as I want people to accept me and others like me as we are,” says Tai. “There are those who are not brave enough to make their sexual orientation known in order not to be treated as social outcasts. I don’t want to be like them.”

Tai, whose full name is Nguyen Thai Tai, always felt different, even as a little boy.

He preferred girls’ clothes and games and felt he simply wasn’t meant to be a male.

As he grew up, Tai increasingly yearned to be a woman but was tortured by thoughts of becoming a social outcast if he were to reveal his true feelings.

Unlike countries such as Thailand, where transsexuality is more widely accepted, Vietnam remains conservative and transgendered individuals are commonly stigmatized. Yet the ' harder Tai struggled to engage in “normal” life, the more mental torment he suffered.

His family had wanted him to become a tailor, but Tai secretly had his heart set on becoming a dancer or make-up artist.

Eventually, Tai came out and told his friends and family he was considering sex reassignment surgery.

Over the next two years, Tai underwent four major operations costing more than US$30,000 at the Yanhee Hospital in Thailand – famous for specializing in gender reassignment surgery.

Tai says she is very pleased with the results and would rather have 20 years taken from her life than live unhappily as a man.

“The operation was a miraculous rebirth for me and I’m very happy to be the person I’ve long aspired to be. I regret not doing this earlier,” she says.

“Many think I underwent this major transformation to draw attention to myself or to please the men I love, but I did this totally for my own sake,” she adds.

“I know I’ll never cease to be an object of ridicule among gossip lovers… but I’m used to others’ inquisitive looks and malicious remarks and are no longer hurt by them.”

Tai is now a well-known make-up artist and has even taken up singing.

She captivates audiences with her mellifluous voice and contemplative songs, drawing inspiration from her painful past and journey to inner freedom.

“People probably come to my performances out of curiosity first, but they’re soon mesmerized by my songs,” she says. Tai released her debut album, Noi long co don (Loneliness) in late 2006, which won lavish praise from audiences.

In 2007, she released her second album, Tinh yeu da mat (The Lost Love), a selection of famous Vietnamese oldies mixed with dance, hip-hop and house – also a commercial success.

Tai is set to make another album featuring songs written by famed local composers. She has also acted in films including Saigon tinh ca (Saigon Love Story) and Trai nhay (Bar men) in which she was cast as a transsexual singer.

Earlier this year, Tai was involved in a sex blog scandal when a pornographic entry appeared on her blog.

She said the blog was opened and run by her former manager, and maintains she had nothing to do with the entry.

Tai is currently in a relationship with a German businessman who says she is more attractive and feminine than any woman he has ever dated.

The singer also plans to publish her biography, revealing her life’s journey and detailing the suffering and anguish she has endured.

“I don’t want to improve my image through my biography as many think. I simply hope that through my book people will understand more about transsexuals, empathize with us, and accept us as we really are,” says Tai.

Reported by Nhu Lich

There They Go Again...GOP Vote Suppression

As someone who has experienced firsthand GOP vote suppression tactics, I'm concerned about the bull that I'm hearing over alleged 'voter fraud' that's been peddled over the last week.






I'm even more concerned over the reports of people's tires being slashed at a North Carolina Obama rally and the weeks long nekulturny behavior being expressed at McPalin hate rallies.

The GOP is once again taking pages out of their reprehensible vote suppression playbook and if there's anyone who needs to be investigated for voter fraud, it's the Republican Party.

But to me that's a sign that once again, the GOP is scared and know deep down they're losing.

They know that masses of Americans have rejected their message and all they have left is firing up their bigot base. It exposes the bankruptcy of conservatism in terms of the fact they can't win a straight up debate on the merits of their arguments.

It shows the nation and the world their morals and the lie of their 'country first' slogan when they resort to brownshirt tactics, race baiting and obfuscation to win elections.

It shows that they know that Dr. King predicted that the Black vote would be decisive in national elections and the Robert Kennedy forecast that a Black president would be elected within 40 years.

But this time, your reprehensible BS ain't gonna work. People are tired of your narrow exclusionary vision for America and want something better.

And this time you're gonna be dragged kicking and screaming along for the ride.

Love You Rachel Maddow

One of the joys I got out of the start up of Air America was discovering a then little known progressive talk show host named Rachel Maddow thanks to Polar.

She's smart, intelligent, with an easy going sometimes humorous style that got to the meat of political issues. I began to listen to her more than Randi Rhodes, and I was happy when MSNBC and Keith Olbermann started having her appear on his show as a frequent guest commentator.

Now she has parlayed those guest appearances into her own show, and I'm loving it.

It is so much fun watching these intellectually challenged conservatives walk onto her show, think they can get away with their usual spin and lies, and she subtly uses her PhD in political science to dismantle them.

It's also a breath of fresh air to see another political commentary show besides Countdown that is entertaining and informative.





It seems that a lot of Americans agree with me as well because not only has she quickly garnered a sizable viewing audience, she's getting national politicians on her show as well.



I can guarantee you that it's one show Sarah Louise Palin will not be appearing on between now and November 4, if ever.

City Dwellers and People of Color Are 'Pro-American' Too

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe, we believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, pro-America areas of this great nation.

This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans: those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us, those who are protecting us in uniform, those who are protecting the virtues of freedom.”

Sarah Palin, remarks to a Greensboro, NC Republican fundraiser, October 16, 2008

The more I hear Sarah Louise Heath Palin flap her gums, the more I loathe her intellectually vacuous Dubya in drag behind.



And like you, Sen Biden, I'm tired.

I'm sick and tired of being told by white Republicans that because I was born and raised on the south side of Houston, I'm intelligent, I vote Democratic, I enthusiastically support public schools, support real science, believe that civil rights should be expanded and provided to all GLBT people, think the wall of separation between church and state is a good idea, and oppose the misguidedly wrongheaded and selfish GOP soak the poor economic policies that I'm 'unpatriotic and un-American.'

Frack you and every beer-swilling illiterate racist and latte-drinking Republican operative who defines being an American and patriotism that way.

We African-Americans love this country so much we've fought in every war since its inception to defend it despite the bulk of us not acquiring our own freedom until 1865. Even with that, we still had to fight 'pro-American' peeps another 100 plus years tooth and nail just to have our humanity and civil rights recognized.

We had to battle 'small-town' Americans whose values told them it was okay to hang people who shared my ethnic heritage from trees, twist Biblical scripture to justify those regressive attitudes and use violence against anyone who dared to protest that injustice.

The bottom line is that dissent is patriotic. I want my country to be better than when I found it for the next generation. That used to be a guiding bipartisan political principle that has gone by the wayside thanks to GOP conservatives and their sellouts pimping racial hatred for their own personal and political gain.

November 4 can't get here fast enough for me so that we can bury the 'Southern Strategy' once and for all and begin to repair the damage done to our country.

Obama IS Cool

When I was on the other side of the gender fence, there were many discussions conducted with Da Fellas in which the concept of being cool was discussed. You got just as many arguments amongst Black men as to who was cool and who wasn't.

Deborah Gregory in this BlackAmerica.web story touched upon it earlier in the campaign. EBONY magazine, one of our publishing icons put together their list of the 25 coolest brothers of all time that is still being debated within the African-American community.

Whatever you call it, having flava, being cool, it's obvious Sen. Obama has it. In addition to being probably the most eloquent substantive brother since Dr. King, Sen. Obama is agonizingly close to accomplishing a long cherished historic milestone in our tumultuous 400 year history as African descended people in North America.

While I wish that Sen. Obama had the type of America that George W. Bush walked into in 2001, to me the fracked up one he'll get on January 20, 2009 is more of a test of his abilities. If he can clean up this mess, it will ensure that the pool of potential presidents in future election cycles won't be just white males.

The nation (and the world) are about to get an 'ejumacation' in how grossly off the mark their perceptions of African descended people are and what we're capable of doing.

Best of all, he is an educated brother. He is a source of pride to young Black boys growing up and young Black men trying to do the right thing and get their education. In him they have visual proof of the rewards of getting advanced degrees.

They also see him standing tall, nattily dressed, calmly laying out his programs, speaking eloquently at rallies in which hundreds of thousands of people attend, thoughtfully answering questions, verbally laying the smackdown on people and looking coolly presidential all the way while doing it.

The other thing that is so cool about him is that he has a beautiful educated sistah standing proudly by his side as his wife that it's obvious he's still in love with with two adorable kids.

But it's that cool factor that enhances his thoughtful intelligence. There's a lot of things we have said about George W. Bush in the last eight years and cool is not one of them.

Coolness under pressure is one quality that is sorely needed when you deal with the tough job of being president.

For a nation desperately hungry for a leader that we can be proud of, Barack Obama is proving to be for those of us in the reality based world, 'That One'.

I'm John McKKKain And I Approved This Message

Dude, you really are losing it aren't you? Inquiring minds wanna know are you running for president or grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan?

Colin Powell Endorses Sen. Obama

In a possibly game changing announcement, former secretary of state Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president on NBC's 'Meet The Press' this morning.









This endorsement is huge, no matter what spin is coming from the GOP. This is what secretary Powell had to say in June of this year:



He said it best. This mess is going to require a generational change in leadership in Washington. The election of Obama would "electrify the world."

He's not kidding based on the comments placed here from residents of other nations on this blog and reading the poll results. This election would be a landslide if that were the case. But on November 4 only American citizens can cast their ballots in this pivotal election.

And the world is praying we get it right.

Show Me State Shows Up For Obama

100,000 people at a St Louis Obama rally held today at the foot of the Gateway Arch.



And how many peeps are the McPalin folks getting when they're not wearing their white hoods on the weekends?

My Local Races

The old political axiom is 'all politics is local'. I'm happy to hear that an Obama team armed with truckloads of cash is searching for more opportunities to put McPalin on the defensive.

I'm overjoyed to hear that Kentucky may get more love and attention and possible visits over the next two weeks as this historic presidential race comes to a contentious, nail biting close.

We're already seeing more Obama ads on the tube here in Da Ville since our local TV stations broadcast into southern Indiana. Indiana is rapidly turning into a meeting engagement in the overall fight for the magic 270 electoral votes.

We're also seeing ads for the latest fight between Rep. Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel for the Indiana 9th congressional district seat.

We have some hot races here in Bluegrass country as well. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader is in a fierce battle just to hang on to his senate seat with Bruce Lunsford.

It's also highlighted by the fact that Mitch refuses to debate Lunsford, which isn't sitting well with me and many Kentuckians anxious to hear what he has to say about his 24 years in the senate and the current financial mess that he and other Republicans deregulated us into.




Speaking of legislative reruns, Anne Northup is trying to regain the seat she controlled for ten years before she lost it in 2006 to Rep. John Yarmuth.

Yarmuth's not only beating her as of this writing, he's been a vast improvement over little GOP Annie and her vote in lockstep with Bush 90% of the time record.

He also has a 'A' from the NAACP on his congressional report card compared to Annie's 'F' grade. Yarmuth also supported Sen. Obama in the Democratic primary and if the current polling trends continue, Rep. Yarmuth will have a very happy birthday on November 4.

I've had the pleasure of meeting him and discussing issues with him at the numerous community events he makes time for. Since he's also a man of means, he donates his $150,000 congressional salary to various local charities as well.

We also have several Metro council races, judicial races, school board and state legislative ones to weigh in on as November 4th approaches.

As a proud TK, the school board ones definitely have my undivided attention. Two members who voted for the JCPS GLB employment policy, Stephen Imhoff and Larry Hujo are being opposed by Simonite candidates. Imhoff is my rep on the JCPS board so I'll have a say in that race while Hujo is Polar's rep.

Hujo's opponent has school age children in private schools and has openly stated the reason he's running is because he hated the policy that passed on a contentious 4-3 vote last year. I question why somebody who has kids in private school would run for the JCPS board anyway. It's like putting an anti-government zealot in charge of a government agency.

With the presidential election is the Super Bowl in terms of this election cycle, w also need to ensure that Sen. Obama has help in the House and Senate to turn his proposals into law.

We also need progressives at the state, county and local levels as well.

All politics may be local, but in order to begin to think and act globally and see the type of progressive change we desperately need after years of conservative regression, we have to empower people locally who have broad progressive policy visions as well.

Win, Place And Show Me The Money

I mentioned I spent a few hours in Lexington yesterday at Keeneland along with Polar.

We were doing our annual traditional trip to Keeneland to help Dawn celebrate her October 12 birthday but I was the one having a very good day.

I've been living here for seven years and yesterday was only my third trip to a racetrack despite living in Louisville and having Churchill Downs not far from me.

The only track I've been to is Keeneland, and to be honest it's actually prettier than the Downs. It's a beautiful facility on a large plot of land near the airport with ample parking and a parklike setting. It's especially beautiful in the fall with all the trees starting to turn.

My first visit occurred only two weeks after I moved here in 2001. Dawn and Polar knew I was still severely homesick and took me there just to get me out of my funk and being down about my situation. I had a memorably entertaining one in 2004 involving a humorous race call with a horse named Scripture.

When Scripture stumbled and fell out of the starting gate, the track announcer without skipping a beat replied, "Scripture kneels to pray at the starting gate."

Unfortunately Scripture's stumble was more serious than it looked because when the race was over the horse ambulance came out and whisked him off to the vet. I discovered later he'd broken one of his legs and had to be euthanized.

While nothing that serious happened on this trip, I did have something happen for the first time since I started coming to the track. I actually won money.

Usually when I go I make my win, place and show bets on a few horses and don't win anything, Polar's hit and miss while it seems like everything Dawn bets she cashes winning tickets on.

We happened to go on one of the themed racing days, so almost everyone in honor of Big Blue Day was wearing either UK colors or their own collegiate gear. We arrived there just after the second race concluded and in time to bet the third race. I'm still learning what to look for as a horse racing neophyte in terms of picking winners, and my luck held true to form in the third race.

But the fourth race was different. There was a horse named Galloping Home in this one, and I just liked the name. When I saw his workout times I liked him even better and bet him. I did have an anxious moment when he balked at being loaded into the starting gate. But once the race started he did his thing and lived up to his name by galloping home down the stretch in first place.

After doing the happy dance I cashed the ticket out and used some of my proceeds to bet on a horse called Dookie Duck in the fifth race. He finished in second.

Feeling adventurous, I decided to bet two horses since I couldn't decide which one I liked better in the sixth race between Sweet Ransom and Impressionism.

Impressionism just beat out Sweet Ransom for third place while everybody else chased a 61-1 longshot called Cure For Sale to the pole. If I'd bet that one it would have payed $128 on a $2 bet, but alas I didn't. I had to be happy with the $2.80 I won for Impressionism's not so picture perfect third place finish.

But that made the third straight race I'd won something on, and we decided to bet one more before we called it a day.

In the seventh race I once again bet two horses, Santana Strings and Natural Speed. Natural Speed showed it late, but just finished out of the money behind Santana Strings, keeping my money winning streak alive.

It's the best day I'd ever had on our horse racing jaunts, and we topped it off with the Nighthawk special at the downtown Lexington Columbia Steakhouse location.

While the day belonged to Dawn since we were celebrating her birthday, as Polar's car headed westbound on I-64 back toward Da Ville I began humming Ice Cube's Today Was A Good Day while pondering the wonderful one I'd had as well.