New Era?

Or is this merely a fresh coat of paint on the same old crap we've seen for too long?  November 4th, 2008 had some ups and downs.

Good News:

Obviously, Barack Obama and Joe Biden win the White House over John McCain and Barbie Wannabe... I mean Sarah Palin.  I've ranted enough on this one, and I'll just say:

THANK YOU AMERICA FOR NOT BEING A MINDLESS WASTE OF VOTING PRIVILEGES!

Even though McCain still got way too many votes.  Especially in my home state of the 4Rs (Redneck Retardedism Run Rampant), otherwise known as Tennessee.  One day, I'll make it out of this backwards place.

Kay Hagan defeated Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina.  Dole spent the last couple of weeks smearing Hagan because she "associated with atheists."  I'm seriously thankful that this poor attempt at defining atheists as evil was met with a 9 point win for Hagan.  On the downside of this, Hagan ran from the atheists at full speed when the smear campaign started, instead of insisting that us atheists are people too.  Oh well, at least Hagan was the one meeting with an atheist instead of swearing we're evil people.

Colorado voted down an amendment to define a person as such at the moment of conception.  This was a measure that was made to circumvent Roe v Wade and was despicable at best.  Good job Colorado!

Washington State voted to uphold the legality of Physician-Assisted Suicide.  This isn't something I care deeply about, but it's nice to see freedoms being upheld, and know there is a place I can go when I can't take the pain any longer and want to be put out of the misery.

Michigan voted yes to amend to the state constitution to allow Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research with certain restrictions.  Even with restrictions, this is a great win for science and for the future.

Both South Dakota and (most likely, votes are still being counted) California voted down an Abortion Restricting proposition.  The restrictions are some that I feel comfortable with, but I still feel it's a woman's choice, and if women only had voted this choice in, I might be OK with it.  But I see it also as a starting block for the anti-abortion crowd to stand on, and we don't need to give these loons any of those.

Bad News:

Florida, Arizona, and even (so it appears, votes are still being counted) California all passed bans against gay marriage.  And Arkansas passed an initiative preventing gay couples from adopting children.  Shame on these states and their dedication to promoting intolerance and preventing freedom.

This infuriates me so much.  Why do these people care?  Because some old cryptic book barely implies they should, and their religious official says they should?  How about the fact that these people are preventing the pursuit of the American dream from people they've never met for something that is none of their business to begin with.  Anyone who voted yes to this, or even considered voting yes to this, the following is addressed to you specifically:

You complain that homosexuals are a threat to the American family.  YOU ARE THE THREAT.  You would prevent these people from having the freedoms guaranteed to them in the constitution because of a religious belief.  That violates the 1st Amendment.  You are the one who is unAmerican, not the homosexuals.  They aren't going against the Constitution, which is the heart of America. YOU ARE!  Stop your hate mongering.  Stop your Intolerance.  Stop letting your religion make your political choices for you.  Otherwise, you're basically the same as the people in Iran.  Their religion controls their government too.