It was an awe-inspiring day all around, and I have to say this is an amazing day for the United States of America.  Barack Obama was officially inaugurated as the 44th President.  He is the first black president, one of the youngest presidents elected, and a heck of a guy.
This is one of those days where you should forever remember where you were, when President Obama was sworn in at 12:00 pm EST.
Some things you may have noticed:
Rick Warren
What a guy.  Seriously!  He’s pretty notorious and controversial, but he gave …

Earlier this morning, Fox News announced that Alan Colmes (pictured above) will leave the network’s popular Hannity & Colmes debate program at the end of the year.  Apparently, after twelve years of ’sparring’ with conservative counterpart Sean Hannity, Colmes is moving on “to develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network.”  Whatever that means.
If you’ve ever seen Hannity & Colmes, you know that despite its billing as a “debate talk show,” the program offers neither enlightening discussion nor insightful commentary.  Colmes, ostensibly the duo’s liberal half, …

To commemorate Barack Obama’s historic election on Tuesday, Common has released a track from his upcoming album Universal Mind Control. Called “Changes,” the song was written to “inspire the young world to believe that change can happen.” Common also envisioned it “as a great inaugural song for Barack Obama.”
Check it out:
Common – Changes (Universal Mind Control, 2009)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

On the eve of what is perhaps the most important US presidential election in a generation, the blogosphere is buzzing with commentary and prognostication. At 4080Records we’ve been following the race since the primaries, when it seemed inevitable that Clinton and Giuliani would be the candidates on tomorrow’s ballot. It has been a long and, honestly, exhausting two years. Tomorrow, once the results are tabulated and Obama is (hopefully) declared the 44th President, we will be relieved not only because Americans will have redeemed themselves, but also …

I post this using the plural because I want to cover developments in both the Canadian and American elections.
Canada
In Canadian Politics, quite a lot has changed in the last few days.  Elizabeth May, the only female leader of a national political party will now be allowed to enter the TV debates, despite earlier reports.  Originally, the leaders of both the NDP and the Conservative Party had opposed the inclusion of May in the televised debates.  Stephan Dion, the Liberal Party leader, comes off looking very well after being the only …

This morning, as I was recovering from the greatest live speech I’ve ever witnessed – political or otherwise, I thought the ‘08 presidential race had reached its emotional peak.  And then I visited Slate.com, and learned that John McCain had picked little known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.  McCain may not be my favourite politician, but the man clearly knows how to raise the stakes.  Palin is a stunning (pun intended), risky choice, and has added an entirely new twist to an already riveting campaign.
Just think of …

Black Guy Asks Nation For Change | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source
God bless the Onion.
They’ve hit comic gold once again by running this article about Obama. It’s a little older (published back in March) but it actually does a pretty good job of bringing out some social commentary on the way media handles matters and can tend to … knead the truth.
The point the Onion seems to be that it’s really not that difficult to spin a set of facts to concoct whatever story you’d like to. …