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Post by Otaku on Nov 5, 2008 12:31:50 GMT 8
Well, Obama did it! Congratulations!
I'm finally glad Bush is finished! He left with, I think, a 27% approval rating. I think he pretty much single-handedly sent the world into a recession.
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Post by dickflem on Nov 5, 2008 14:17:30 GMT 8
Congratulations indeed.
Goodbye Bush, possibly the worst thing to come from the USA since TV shopping channels. Although, I think Bush had a lot of help from the 3 stooges, that being his friends, Dick, Donald and Dad.
I hope your country can have hope that change can really happen.
I explained the significance of the result to my 3rd year students who are learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and Stevie Wonder in their text books at the min. They actually got really interested and it sparked a wider debate about how we talk about race and nationality in English and Japanese.
Day to remember
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Post by hellndie on Nov 5, 2008 15:12:30 GMT 8
We had our school concert today so we were on the bus.. my students were randomly singing and the driver suddenly turned on the radio. I was taking pictures of my kids and recording them singing a good bye song they wrote for me (my last week in this school... that was by far the best gift! =p) anyway then I heard "obama" and turned around. My JTE told me that Obama had just won the election! hahaa I got so excited and screamed on the bus. haha my students found out that Obama won and the whole class started chanting "obama, obama, obama!" lolz One of my student even said, "thank god it's obama"...!
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Post by Otaku on Nov 5, 2008 15:38:12 GMT 8
Hellndie, I think your students like Obama better because they can properly pronounce it and there's a city in Japan called 'Obama'.
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Post by junkdna on Nov 6, 2008 9:32:46 GMT 8
I caught a Barack Obama interview on the Jon Stewart Show the night before Election Day and he asked Obama if he was afraid of the Bradley Effect in as far as Obama himself is biracial, and might his white side not suddenly take over at the polls and vote for McCain instead, fearfully that a black man might be elected to office. Obama chuckled heartily and then replied that he's been training his hand not to vote for McCain.
I knew there was more than one reason I loved Obama. What a ham.
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Post by Otaku on Nov 6, 2008 12:25:39 GMT 8
I watched his celebration speech on TV last night. Damn good speech!
One of my favorite lines from it was, "We are not a red state. We are not a blue state. But, we are the United States."
I love watching him speak. He comes off really powerful...unlike the Bush.
I said I wasn't going back to the U.S. until Bush is out of office....damn, now I've got to get my butt back into gear. However, the recession wouldn't be a fun time to go back, either...
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Post by jed on Nov 26, 2008 14:45:56 GMT 8
America's first black president?
correction, 1st HALF black president!
people seem to forget he is just as much white as black
but, yes, congrats Mr Obama!
only thing is ... Bush was a convenient escape goat, who are they going to blame now?
LOL
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Post by Otaku on Nov 26, 2008 15:29:40 GMT 8
I knew it was just a matter of time until someone mentioned the 'half' thing. Hell, we all are a part 'something'. I think the deciding factor would be what 'square' you check on a survey. For Obama, he marks 'African-American'...or in not political terms, black. I don't know how much non-Americans keep up with American politics but Obama is stepping into a pretty sizable crappy situation. However, he is already starting to set up his administration and so far has been making all the right moves in regards to preparing the policies he is going to initiate when stepping into the White House. BTW, just because Bush isn't going to be in office any more doesn't mean people should stop blaming him...
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Post by junkdna on Nov 27, 2008 7:31:20 GMT 8
Actually, Obama is black, half or not, by US law, one drop of 'black' blood makes you full black. Catch the book WHAT IS BLACK? It draws upon the idea of this law to challenge ideas of racism in a day when you can't tell who is 'black'. Stunningly persuasive and extremely poignent. Wish I could find it at amazon, but there are literally thousands of books about the subject. Gonna have to try and google it later.
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Post by jed on Nov 27, 2008 8:01:28 GMT 8
BTW, just because Bush isn't going to be in office any more doesn't mean people should stop blaming him... LOL, probably very true yes, we all have our "definitions" but please don't take me wrong, I think its a great thing (that he won)
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Post by Otaku on Nov 27, 2008 11:19:36 GMT 8
Since we're speaking of world leaders, I would still have to say Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is still one of my favorite leaders. It's common for world leaders to speak English...that's not a big deal anymore, but when a leader's first language is English and they are fluent in a foreign language, that's pretty cool!
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Post by junkdna on Nov 28, 2008 7:41:10 GMT 8
Since we're speaking of world leaders, I would still have to say Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is still one of my favorite leaders. It's common for world leaders to speak English...that's not a big deal anymore, but when a leader's first language is English and they are fluent in a foreign language, that's pretty cool! OH!? Does Kevin Rudd speak Tazmanian Devil?
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Post by junkdna on Nov 28, 2008 7:49:57 GMT 8
BTW, just because Bush isn't going to be in office any more doesn't mean people should stop blaming him... LOL, probably very true yes, we all have our "definitions" but please don't take me wrong, I think its a great thing (that he won) Didn't mean to imply you weren't, jed I certainly think laws like this could have been born not with the idea of equality but rather the idea of segragation in mind. I don't remember the exact details of the book, but I remember it was an interesting (even if academic) read. What kind of disturbs me was the inequality of the laws on the books (a topic that was heavily discussed in my intermixed university classes on minority issues). That is to say, there are different laws. For example a person can't be less than half-blooded to be considered Native American by some tribes, but can be one-twelfth for others. Being of Native American blood (to the point that my cousin got a scholarship based on it), I was disappointed to find out that many tribes are very restrictive. But that's life. As jed said, everyone has their "definitions" (which is an excellent term for the situation).
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