"Welcome to my hanging"

Just regular old Bushy unfortunate word choice or intentional (though weird) joke? I really hope its the former, cause I hate it when people I loathe display self-awareness. Takes all the fun out of mocking them.



Well, most of the fun.


Anyway, /cheer that Bush defiled my city for (hopefully) the last time. He joined us for the Army/Navy game (meh...at least it wasn't the Eagles) and then to the Union League to see the unveiling of the above portrait.

The Union League is like a trojan horse of Republicanism in the heart of our staunchly Democratic burg. It occupies a really beautiful building smack in the middle of our Avenue of the Arts and I'm pretty sure that no one who actually lives in Philadelphia ever enters it. Founded in 1862 to support the policies of Pres Lincoln, the club has now basically become a place for rich white men to fellate other rich white men that have been elected to public office. And such it was with Bush's visit!

Bush was added to the League's famous collection of presidential portraits. To the wonder of exactly no one, the collection includes only one democrat (Jackson) and all but two repubs (Harrison and Harding). Bush is the first since Hoover to be included on the wall 'o fame while still in office. He also recieved the League's "gold medal", which has been bestowed on only 37 people since 1862. Incidentally, Bush's Asshole Triumverate, Cheney, Rummy and Ridgey, have all received it too! Quelle suprise, no?

But really, Union League, who are you trying to fool? This ceremonial nonsense just reads as desperation from where I'm sitting. Showering honors on him as though he wasn't the worst pres EVER won't make his legacy any more impressive.


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ELATION IN WEST PHILLY

This was my street in the wee hours of this morning:

What the world series was to south philly, the prospect of a progressive pres-elect is for us crusty west philly liberals. Minus the looting. Seriously, this was one well-behaved, conscientious crowd. As we were joining the party, Darco and I saw a girl accidentally drop a bottle in the street...several people around her stopped their revelry to get down on the ground and pick up the glass. Every time someone put down an empty, someone else would pick it up and not just throw it away, but walk it down the street to the nearest recycling bin. Beautiful to see. Everyone was hugging everyone else and dancing and crying and congratulating each other. I nearly cried too- THIS is Real America to me. Although Darco and I bailed around 1am, the drums and chanting and happiness continued until about 4. I slept through it, but I think Darco wanted Real America to shut. up.

Really though, this is a huge day for us. After several weeks of "fuck we're so close, don't get cocky, don't jinx it, shutupshutup they could still steal it" and terrifying memories of 2000, this election ended up leaving no room for Republican claims that we stole it with voter fraud, despite their best efforts to lay groundwork with that ACORN nonsense. I don't think many people could believe that >7 million dead zombie graveyard voters or *gasp* homeless people were registered. Its clear, its decisive...no hanging chads, Katherine Harrises or Supreme Court interference. Obama is our next president. Best anti-climax ever, y/y?

I'm so thrilled that I find it hard to put this into words...we all know how momentus this is- for minorities, for women, for progressives, for environmentalists, for the rest of the world (who went roughly 75% Obama). Of course it's ironic that the event I am unable to adequately describe is the one that inspired me to start this blog, but hey. Lots of people started blogging in the dark days of Bush, goaded by the idiocies and the atrocities and the administration's flouting of constitutional rights, civil rights, human rights, laws and even his own damn presidential signing statements. There was definitely a shit-load of material there. But what can I say, I am of a more optimistic bent and so the awesomeness that is the Obama victory begets this blog of politics, feminism, philadelphia and, yknow, probs the random minutiae of my life.

And so today I leave you with my two favorite screen grabs from this year's debates. I always wanted to give these the lolcat treatment and now, by way of farewell, I finally do so. A thousand words, as they say...

Edited to add: It couldn't be all good news- chalk one up for the agents of conservative intolerance. Prop 8 passes. Cry.

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