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McCain Concedes: Obama 338: McCain 155Apart from Dixville Notch and Hart's Landing, the first polls close at 6am Eastern, which is 10am AEDT - however, those are districts in states (Indiana and Kentucky) where other parts of the state don't close until an hour or more later, so not sure how useful they'll be at predicting what happens. No doubt that won't stop people extrapolating extravagantly. The rush of results for smaller states starts at 7am Eastern, 11am AEDT, while the biggies start to come in with Ohio half an hour later, Pennsylvania and Florida at noon AEDT. I'll be keeping tabs on what CNN, the BBC and SBS are saying and updating here when I get the chance. Add your own updates below ... Handy BBC guide to the timeline here. CNN declares Kentucky for McCain and Vermont for Obama (surpirse) Fox calls West Virginia for McCain (anither big surprise) South Carolina called for McCain No calls on Indiana and Georgia an hour after close ... (not good for McCain) Pennsylvania, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Hamshire for Obama. Oklahoma and Tennessee for McCain. Alabama and Arkansas for McCain. Obama is projected to take Michigan, Wisconsin and New York, while North Dakota is called for McCain, also Georgia.
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President elect - DRE 700
Hope this does not disappoint anyone but I don't think Obama actually made it. This tells the true story.
More urban myths - the 'hand sanitiser' incident
Slightly more credible than David Koche on Seven Sunrise this morning castigating George W Bush for using 'sanitiser' to wash his hands after first shaking hands with Barack Obama.
Kept returning to this 'fact', saying what an insulting grub Bush was, etc, etc..
It's actually an urban myth.
According to Senator Obama who met Bush at a function not long after being elected to the Senate, this is what actually happened...
A whole different spin to the urban myth, don't you think?
Is that so Eliot?
Eliot Ramsey: "Bush pulled the young Chicagoan aside and said: "Obama! come here and meet Laura. Laura, you remember Obama. We saw him on TV during election night. Beautiful family. And that wife of yours -- that's one impressive lady."
Bush is talking about a man who has campaigned against him for some 22 months!
"The two men shook hands and then, according to Obama, Bush turned to an aide, "who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president's hand."
Bush then offered some to Obama, who recalled: "Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt."
If that is Eliot's truth then, while it only demonstrates the vague attitude of G.W. Bush, does it really matter? Is anyone surprised?
I believe that the Bush Jnr. administration has been a disaster for America and the entire world but, for goodness sakes, who cares if Bush is worried about his hands? Fair dinkum.
He is down, his administration is despised - let him fade into the history books as his personal biographers will colour as required.
With my limited education I believe that the Greek myths always had a moral message.
So let's not knock them.
NE OUBLIE.
Beware Macduff
Lady Macbeth had a hand washing problem too, but she was sleepwalking at the time unlike GWB who was not - but may as well have been.
Wrong election
Ernest William: "Bush is talking about a man who has campaigned against him for some 22 months!"
Actually, at that stage Barack Obama had only just entered the Senate.
OK Eliot!
perhaps I got it wrong. My source was her friend Gail and even Oprah says she's nuts.
Nuts
Michael de Angelos: "My source was her friend Gail and even Oprah says she's nuts."
That's how these things start - as nuts.
I was right all along!
Those machines played up but thankfully the result is what it is.
The proof: Oprah Winfrey says she pushed the Obama button but McCain's name kept lighting up!
Urban myths
Michael de Angelos: "Oprah Winfrey says she pushed the Obama button but McCain's name kept lighting up!"
Not according to Oprah:
What was your source, Michael?
Dalmatians are good - aren't they?
Haha - the deed has been dunnith; sort of.
Got me paint, got me brush (went to the pub, got pissed - probably not a good idea, but just as well I did anyway), hung me stuff around me neck, and took off (with great difficulty) to fly to the WH.
I was there in no time (for some reason), and immediately got to work. In no time flat there were bloody big black zebra stripes all over the show. The B&WH - nee - WH, looked magnificent.
When it was finished I stood back to admire my handiwork (as we do) in complete awe at this really eye catching zebra looking thingy. That's when a couple of really angry guys, wearing little white cap thingies, came rushing over and complained about my artwork.
I simply replied I did it in dedicashun of Mishter Oshama.
These guys jumped up and down in delight (what a relief, I thought they were going to throttle me on the spot), kissed my cheeks, shook my wings and tipped the remaining paint all over me - when I objected to the latter they explained it was just a bit of good Aussie sport.
Aussie, what do you mean Aussie? I screeched.
Wangee Street Lakemba is as Aussie as you'll get around these parts, was the reply.
What a shame, the wrong white house. I always thought there was only one WH - live and learn hey.
PS. If you happen upon a dalmatian looking albatross please don't laugh - just pretend you don't know me.
What a great day
I sat and howled like a baby when I saw Jesse Jackson crying like a baby.
What a great day for all of us who remember the horrors of American racism in the 1960's.
Just think about this - if Obama's parents had married on the mainland it would have been illegal.
Mixed marriages were perfectly legal in most US states
Marilyn Shepherd: "Just think about this - if Obama's parents had married on the mainland it would have been illegal."
Actually, that's not true.
President-elect Barack Obama's parents, Barack Hussein Obama Sr and Stanley Ann Dunham were married in in Hawaii in 1960.
Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.
The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states.
But in the majority of states, including Hawaii which became a State in 1959 and most mainland states, mixed marriages were perfectly legal.
Eliot
The law changed 6 years after Obama was born. it was illegal for his parents to marry.
Marilyn, you are mistaken about US marriage laws
Marilyn, there wasn't a single law regarding inter-racial marriage across the United States, the laws in fact varied from State to State.
And it was not a new 'law' which made the ban on inter-racial marriage illegal in the minority of States where such bans applied, it was a Supreme Court ruling based on a Constitutional interpretation.
TheUnited States is a federation of States, and the various States have their own laws regarding marriage.
A case in point wasCalifornia 's recent law permitting gay marriage, which was overturned in a referendum during the recent election.
The law operated inCalifornia , but not in, say, Florida .
It was similar in 1960 with respect to inter-racial marriage, and you are incorrect to say no mainland states allowed inter-racial marriage. It is just plain wrong to say that.
The majority of states did permit inter-racial marriage at the time, in fact 32 of the 49 mainland states andHawaii .
This is how Barack Obama's parents, Barack Hussein Obama Sr and Stanley Ann Dunham, were able to get married inHawaii in 1960.
They could have been married in any one of 32 other States.
The Supreme Court's finding in Loving v.Virginia , declared Virginia 's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, unconstitutional, and so ended all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States .
Until that time, there were 17 States where Barack Obama's parents could not have been married, but 33 others where they could, and one where they did get married.
Can you see that now?
Wrong again
Eliot, Don't tell me Marilyn was wrong again.
Fiona: I suggest that you read David Roffey's comment, Alan.
Loving v Virginia was 6 years after Obama was born
Another great piece of fact-bending, Eliot.
So Marilyn was substantially right, on your own evidence. But still you claim you prove her wrong. Par for the course.
The really extraordinary thing is that some of those 17 states will vote for him in the electoral college.
Oh goody
Now everyone is ganging up on Eliot (encyclopaedia) Ramsey. Wonderful. Of course it was not really necessary to hit the link to know that his primary source would be that font of all accurate, sourced knowledge, Wikipedia. It seems to be the only reference source he has, or can use. It bears the same relationship to academic research as economics do to the real world: a form of Voodoo where no one cares whether the egg or the chicken came first, just as long as you can keep the chicken between your toes.
Now, let's get serious, as at 1967, the colonies that still had miscegenation laws on the books were: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. While Mr Obama's parents might not have wanted to live in any of those, had they done in 1960, they would have been sent to gaol. In Loving v Virginia the sentence was a suspended sentence providing they moved interstate. David Roffey is right: some of those colonies did vote for Mr Obama leading up to yesterday's result.
Why so picky, Eliot Ramsey? Argument got your tongue?
The answer to the beloved question
".... where no one cares whether the egg or the chicken came first."
This has been sorted actually; I saw a poster that answered that very question, can't find it on the net but it goes like this:
Chook and egg laying back in a big double bed. Chook looks dejected while the egg is smoking a cigarette through a smug grin.
The caption went something like this: That should put an end to that.
Or was it the chook smoking the fag? Damn.
Fiona: Maybe the fag was smoking the chook, Justin. Or the egg ...
Laid
It matters not who came first Justin.
As long as one comes..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-KrTTta4g
Only one?
Er - come again?
The true answer
Actually Fiona I'll let you in on an albatross secret. The answer to the beloved question is written.
When I was a young flapper me Dad gave me a copy of The (unabridged) Book of Everything. I lost it. Dad ever-so patiently rewrote the complete book (on the back of a cigarette paper).
I can still remember reading Dad's replacement before stashing it at the bottom of my nest. I then forgot about it till last week, around three in the morning and all out of tally ho.
Anyway before I did the deed I re-read that masterpiece, or so the old man reckoned, and will share it with you.
WHO CAME FIRST?
The Prime Incubator.
PS."That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
End
Passing strange
Let me see now:Alabama , Arkansas , Florida , Georgia , Louisiana , Mississippi , North Carolina , South Carolina, Tennessee , Texas , Virginia .
Yes siree, all Confederate states – you know, like, the ones that wanted to keep slavery.
Now, just why might this highly select group of States have retained – and enforced – miscegenation laws until 1967? Oh, I dunno ... any suggestions, Eliot Ramsey?
PS: I can do Wiki too.
It rather depends
David Roffey: "So Marilyn was substantially right, on your own evidence."
So long as you completely ignore 32 of the 49 mainland states as they were in 1960.
Imprisonment for 1 to 5 years
For those interested, here is Loving v Virginia. It's worth reading, and short. Unanimous, and not one of the harder decisions for the Warren Court.
As the law stood in when Barack Obama was born, each of his parents would have been subject to 1 to 5 years imprisonment if they married in Virginia. If they had travelled to Virginia, their marriage would have been automatically void.
Emotions released
So much emotion from so many people, Marilyn. And so much material to read and view to try to get a sense of what is happening. But given your reference to those dark days I found one item interesting from someone we are not used to seeing in the way she was seen in the wake of the Obama victory.
Condi Rice's reaction.
Obama is a bridge between the two
It is a great day for a great man.
It is a great day for America.
America cannot be accused of being racist any more.About 80% of Americans are white, and the majority voted for Obama. And, he ain't black anyway! He is half white and half black.. He has a foot in both camps.
The dawning of a new era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up2Ln_CrO7Y
Bloody Big Black Zebra Stripes will do
There you go: a black fella in the White House.
If I were Obama I'd immediately paint the WH in big black zebra stripes.
There you go: the American Dream is possible - even for a black fella. Could it be so here?
I'm off - to buy a load of black paint - hehehe.
Over
John McCain has just conceded.
It's neck and neck as they leave the gates
With 3% of precincts reporting , Indiana is 50/48 to Obama.
With 9% of precincts reporting , Kentucky is 51/48 to McCain.
From PBS, but the figures will have changed.