What is most beautiful about who each of us is became a little brighter today, and what is ugliest about who each of us is became, simultaneously, magnified. I realized that while I should be proud and take pride in what has happened, I should refrain from reveling in this victory in a way that those who disagree with me have done in the past.

Reveling in our own successes as to rub it in the faces of others is what got us to the place where we are today. The amount of grace with which one accepts victory must be equal to that with which each of us deals with the challenge of defeat. It defines our character as individuals, how we behave in the shadow of changes yet to come.

This is the challenge of hope’s victory in this election. There are those who want to own this victory for their own selfish reasons. If it inspires us to see what is greatest within ourselves, I see nothing wrong with that. It is when it encourages us to embrace what is ugliest about our nature, the need to say and do things which would make us separate or apart from each other, that owning this victory in such a way becomes detrimental to us all.

I am enthusiastic in my exhaustion now. I am cried out. I am determined and focused. I see things with a clarity that I have not in quite some time. I want to capture this feeling and hang on to it forever, for all the days of my life. I want to encourage others to find that feeling within themselves.

Whatever seemed so impossible before now seems so possible. Whatever fear I may have seems so far away. My personal bon mot for many years has been (and those who know me well can testify to this) a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.”

Let us heal and begin the work we have started.

Here’s my favorite piece of Glenn Beck’s half-cocked argument.

I didn’t know about the secret white person code language, but I’m hoping there’s a secret handshake too.

I’d like to suggest to Glenn Beck that he actually do some reading about this thing called “semantics” and understand that yes, in fact, there is a tendency to use secret codes in order to avoid stating the obvious. You’re so scared someone is going to figure out that you have a deep ceded hatred of people for the color of their skin, you won’t say what is really on your mind.

Glenn, it would be nice to hear you simply call Senator Obama “the ‘n’ word” and get it over with. Anyone reading this column from you already knows you want to. Just do it and end your career for us all, nice and clean.

Commentary: Voting against Obama doesn’t make you a racist – CNN.com.

Kol Nidre (Prayer for Yom Kippur) in my Father's Shul by Israel Birnbaum

To all those who visit, I wish each of you an easy fast, a good Yom Tov and L’Shana Tovah for Tishri 5769.

Click here to be taken to the live webcast of Kol Nidre, beginning at 9pm EST (6pm PST), service to be rebroadcast on-demand after the initial broadcast.

If Palin is going to say this, it is now perfectly legitimate to point out that she repeatedly courted a secessionist group founded by someone who openly professed hatred of the American government, cursed our flag, and wanted to secede from the Union. Sarah’s husband, Todd Palin, was a member of this group, which continues to venerate that founder to this day, for years.

As you already know, the group is the Alaska Independence Party, which sees as its ultimate goal seceding from the union. Todd was a member, with a brief exception, from 1995 until 2002, according to the Division of Elections in Alaska.

And though Sarah Palin herself was apparently not a member of this group, there’s no doubt that she repeatedly courted this secessionist organization over the years. In 1994, Palin attended the group’s annual convention, according to witnesses who spoke to ABC News’ Jake Tapper. The McCain campaign has confirmed she visited the group’s 2000 convention, and she addressed its convention this year, as an incumbent governor whose oath of office includes upholding the Constitution of the United States.

(Palin’s Attack On Obama’s Patriotism Legitimizes Questions About The Palins’ Association With Group Founded By America-Hating Secessionist)

I would ask that before the McCain-Palin campaign begin pointing fingers at an individual who casually supported Barack Obama on his political rise, they should go ahead and embrace their connections to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Here are two people whom it could be argued have mishandled the powers vested in them by the people who elected them, using those powers to commit acts of white-collar terrorism against their own people for the purposes of shuffling monetary controls and power to themselves (and to their cronies and allies) — individuals and corporations whose actions have crippled our country’s economic infrastructure and cost people their life savings more than once — remember Enron?

You can’t put Obama in bed with a bad guy and at the same time pretend you’re not in bed with the two baddest guys of them all.

Let’s talk about the issues. People who have nothing to add to the discussion about issues talk badly about other people to distract the American people from what matters to us. “Swift Boating” must end now.

Obama accuses McCain of looking for distractions – CNN.com.

The candidates themselves are making the case for an Obama/Biden win through their own actions.

I’m wondering if it could be that the generation of my parents see McCain as a celebratory representative of what people are capable of doing even at age 72. While I respect the desire to identify with a candidate based on a superficial notion, using this reasoning to support a candidate is pretty frightening; age, or lack of age, is not a reason to select someone to be a leader of a country.

Of course, it could be that people cling to the soundbites that speak to supporting their notions. So-called “media bias” has become a talking point of the McCain campaign, used to support the idea that favorable coverage is being doled out to Obama and Biden. I agree that the media is culpable in this situation; and, by the same token, so-called “right-wing” media frequently, as Big Brother is want to, distort the facts and only focus on the pieces of soundbites that make their candidate look good.

Why wouldn’t they? There is a tendency by the media to focus positively on the Obama/Biden ticket, and with good reason: they have made themselves available. Palin’s two horrific interviews and McCain’s continued need to quote half-truths and lambast us with his record as a war hero are really just the kind of fuel that highlights what make Obama and Biden the clear winners in the upcoming election.

Republicans should rightly feel scared right now. Every time she opens her mouth, Sarah Palin becomes more and more a caricature of herself and a greater liability to McCain. To make matters worse, Tina Fey’s hilarious (and incredibly accurate) comedic portrayal of the governor isn’t helping; as MSNBC mentioned today, merely repeating the words that Palin said to Katie Couric in her interview last week (which happened on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live) is in and of itself a source of humor. McCain and Palin clearly are split on their own issues, and Palin has shown us she is obviously confused, distracted, and unable to communicate the talking points that the party is grilling into her.

McCain and Palin, speaking to Katie Couric about her comments to a voter on Pakistan, made the situation even more dire for the Republican ticket. During the interview, McCain stepped in and took the lead from Palin in response to Couric’s questions to the governor. They’re very far down in polling, by 5-8 percentage points across the board. Palin is being debriefed repeatedly in order to prepare for a debate on Thursday which pundits and voters already see as a slam dunk for Joe Biden. There are rumblings from the right wing asking for Palin to be removed from the ticket and replaced with someone who demonstrates more stability and ability.

For their part, Obama and Biden are taking every opportunity to let the soundbites and gaffes speak for themselves.

So with this mountain of evidence piling up, demonstrating the frightening realities of a Republican win in November, what’s with all the stickers East Memphis? Are you seriously better off now than you were 8 years ago?

Regardless of what we do, Tennessee has been labeled a red state by the media. Tennesseeans, and Memphians, probably accept this and feel like they are already marginalized. Nothing could be further from the truth. A strong showing by the Obama/Biden ticket on election day could do a lot to turn the media’s attention to how the larger crises in the United States have impacted the voting populace of our state.

I think that the focus on soundbites, angry rhetoric, one-liners and throwing punches by the Republican party and the political fabric of the media are merely pillars of a general belief that voters in the South are stupid enough to support anything they say because it carries the word “Republican” or “Democrat”.

I think these people who ignore the lies, ignore the half-truths and support their candidate no matter what really believe that you and me, well…we’re a bunch of dumb yokels down here in the South. They likely think that Memphis isn’t much of a city. Perhaps they tell themselves (and others) that Tennessee is really populated by a bunch of nincompoops who can’t think for themselves.

In every lie, there is a wish: that by telling the lie, it will somehow make it true. I find that more insulting than seeing the media slant favorably towards one candidate or the other. But there’s no better way to feed into their slant than to vote for your party’s candidate even though you don’t agree with the way they’re behaving or what they’re saying. You know the lies are there, and you can’t just throw up your future to someone whom you know is associated with a legacy of failed policy that has led to economic disaster.

The Dow Jones closed down -777 points today. The President is scheduling an address to the country for 7:45am EST tomorrow morning. We are spiraling towards another great depression, and everyone can sense it.

No matter how the right wing or left wing media tries to slant the talking points and jabs in favor of their candidate, there’s no denying that the Republican party has controlled the White House since 2001 and controlled Congress from 2000-2006, the formative years of deregulation which have led to this economic disaster.

If we don’t vote for the Democratic candidate, aren’t we saying that we’re okay with the way things are going?

So go ahead, Memphians. Sticker away with slogans of “Country First”. Show your support for McCain/Palin. Sip the kool-aid of your right-wing analysts and talk show hosts. All you’re going to do is end up wishing you’d saved yourself the trouble of figuring out how to scrape it off your bumper without scratching your car on November 5th.

8:02 that was a terse handshake

8:03 Obama talks about the economy. “The worst economic situation since the Great Depression”. He seems a bit stiff. God is he ever nervous.

— oversight
— taxpayers should be able to get money back
— none of that money should pad CEO bank accounts
— helping homeowners

8:05 McCain also seems nervous but a bit more together than Obama. He’s “feeling better” about the economy because Dems & Repubs are working together.

— loans to failing businesses instead of government taking over

8:08 Does Obama favor this plan? “I am optimistic about us coming together about a plan.” Obama asks how we got into this situation in the first place? He’s right.

8:09 “How is it we shredded so many regulations”

8:10 McCain says he warned about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, “a lot of us saw it, this trainwreck coming”. “We’ve got to also start holding people accountable”. It sounds like they actually fundamentally agree.

8:11 Obama counters slightly: “We need accountability but not just when its a crisis.”

8:12 Lehrer: “I’m just determined to get you two to talk to one another.” Everyone knows that McCain doesn’t like Obama.

8:13 McCain: “We gotta fix the system”, Main Street is paying, etc. “I have a fundamental belief in the strength of the American worker.” Yes, we know.

8:14 Fundamental differences? McCain: “Spending is out of control in Washington.” Earmarking is “A gateway drug”. Says Obama has asked for $930 million dollars in earmarks

8:16 Obama says he suspended requesting earmarks until the system cleaned up. McCain is asking for 300 billion dollars in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations in America. Obama wants to grow the economy “from the bottom up”.

8:18 McCain says Obama suspended his requests “after running for President”. Boy McCain is working overtime with the cliches. McCain claims Obama is asking for $800 billion in new spending.

8:19 Obama says he’s going to close corporate loopholes to pay for his programs which is where the $800 billion is going to come from.

8:20 McCain says businesses pay 35% tax, Ireland pays 11%. He wants to cut the business tax so we’re on par with countries where jobs are being shipped. “Senator Obama is a recent convert after asking for $932 million dollars of pork barrell projects.”

– Double dividend for every dependent child in America

8:22 Obama: 95% of Americans get a tax cut. Business taxes on paper are high in this country. But the loopholes are so heavy that businesses pay the lowest business taxes in the world thanks to loopholes.

He says McCain intends to tax health benefits. If you lose your health care, you have to go out on the market and buy it.

8:23 McCain talks about the energy bill with tax breaks for oil companies, Obama voted for, McCain voted against. Trying to paint himself as the fiscal conservative. Two tax brackets, two dividends.

8:25 Obama: I was opposed to those tax breaks (to oil companies). McCain is laughing at him. What an a-hole.

8:27 As President what will you have to give up in terms of spending? Obama: investing in alternative energies, education, science, infrastructure, eliminate programs that don’t work and make programs that do work more efficient.

8:28 McCain says “we have to cut spending”. Get rid of “cost-plus contracts” — oh like um, the ones in Iraq? We need “fixed cost contracts” and of course “defense spending”. “I saved the taxpayers 6.8 billion dollars by negotiating a contract between Boeing and DOD…”

8:31 Obama – “Right now we give 15 billion dollars to private insurers as subsidies to the health care system because lobbyists are able to shape how health care works” —

New Term Introduced: Google for Government, to show who is doing what and spending where in the government

8:32 McCain “How about a spending freeze”

Obama: “The problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a hatchet where you need a scalpel”

“We’re currently spending 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq when they have a 79 billion dollar surplus”

McCain: “We’re sending 700 billion dollars overseas” and “some of that money ends up in people’s hands that we don’t want” meaning terrorists.

8:36 McCain says that health care would be handed over to the Federal Government under Obama. Now he’s talking about spending restraint “We owe China 500 billion dollars”.

8:37 Obama: “John, It’s your President who you agreed with 90% of the time, saying you’re going to lead on controlling spending….when over the last 8 years that hasn’t happened, it’s a little hard to swallow.”

8:38 McCain: “I have disagreed with the President on _______ [issues].”

8:39 What are the lessons of the Iraq war? McCain:”The lessons of Iraq is you cannot have a failed strategy that can cause you to lose the conflict.” “The war was very badly mishandled.”

8:40 Obama: “The first question is whether we should’ve gone into the war in the first place.” Mentions Afghanistan, bin Laden, says he voted against the war at a time when it was unpopular. “I wish I had been wrong and they had been right for the sake of the country.”

“We have to use our miitary wisely and we did not use our military wisely in Iraq.”

8:43 McCain: “The next President of the United States is going to have to decide how we leave, when we leave and what we leave behind.”

8:44: Obama: “You like to pretend like the war started in 2007. It started in 2003.”

8:45 McCain: “Senator Obama doesn’t understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy.”

McCain is such a douche. He’s laughing at Obama. That doesn’t win him any points.

8:59 Every time McCain mentions something about his connection to the armed forces, you’re required to drink. Heavily. We get it, you’re a war hero and you understand how war works. Congratulations.

9:02 Obama attacked McCain on believing we can “muddle through” Afghanistan, and McCain attacks Obama for never visiting Afghanistan. McCain still believes there is a connection between Afghanistan and Iraq.

9:15 McCain is on the defensive heavily on the issue of sitting down with rogue nations. Apparently, Henry Kissinger said we should have sit downs with no preconditions with Iran — but not the President to do so according to McCain.

9:20 Obama and McCain fundamentally agree on how to deal with Russia, we’ve learned.

Here’s what I want to know: how long ago did they purchase the license to the song? How long did they know Sarah Palin was going to be the candidate? Surely Heart wouldn’t have agreed to license the song if they knew who was buying the license, would they? Might not be up to them but, regardless, they still use it to refer to “Sarah Barracuda”. I have another name for her that I won’t repeat.

Anyways, enjoy this column entitled “Cease and Desist, You Old Fart” by Ann & Nancy Wilson.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents—voters Obama can't win the White House without—agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Such numbers are a harsh dose of reality in a campaign for the history books. Obama, the first black candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a seminal moment for a nation that enshrined slavery in its Constitution.

"There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots," said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey

Poll: Racial misgivings of whites an Obama issue.

People: what year are we living in?

If you’re going to introduce race into the +/- for this Presidential race, please remember: we have, in elections around the country for many years, elected mayors, senators and governors who are of varying races, nationalities and skin tones all across this country.

If what’s keeping you from voting for the candidate that you want is the color of their skin and not the content of their character, regardless of what that skin tone is, your vote in this election is probably not required. If you can’t vote for the candidate you want because you’re that prejudiced, then stay home. No matter who is elected, you will always have no voice, because you can’t hear anyone else’s besides your own.

If you can see past whatever prejudice you have, please remember this: you not voting for your conscience means that someone else who is voting based primarily on their racial prejudice will control the future of your country.

And like it or not, the terrorists will have really won then.