While playing with Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker action figures today, Shane yells out in his superhero voice, "By the power of God, the Bishop, and the real Darth Vader!"

I'm pretty sure that the Book of Dicipline of the Unted Methodist Church doesn't spell out a "Darth Vader" position as something someone can be ordinated into, but hey I'm up for it!

At this point, "compassionate conservatism" is just a big joke. Especially after the reviling reaction to the stimulous package by the Republicans. Tax Cuts only? Are you kidding me? Everything from the Republicans for decades has been a big debacle just to help the rich get richer. Evidently, those rich people are supposed to fling money into the streets with their "compassionate conservatism" to help the rest of us "non-getting-rich" people. That hasn't worked out so good. In fact, after Clinton enacted his stimulous package back in the 90's, it looks to me that increasing taxes on the wealthy and providing programs and reforms is a great way to help everyone get ahead. Please, rich Republicans, notice that everyone, including you, were helped by that package, which got absolutely no Republican votes. So back off again already! It will be good for you too you know?

Things are looking a bit different these days. I was very moved by Henrietta Hughes' plea for housing to Obama yesterday at his Florida town hall meeting. I was further moved by Obama literally leaping down to kiss her on the cheek and ensuring that his staff contacted her. Then on top of that, I was further moved by Chene Thompson, wife of State Representative Nick Thompson, who offered Henrietta her own house to live in.

I was surprised to read this after just hearing that she was, once again, the voice of the Enterprise computer. She seemed like a wonderful person. The entire Trek universe and all who enjoyed it are mournful. I hope that she got a chance to see how the new film was shaping up before she left us.

I just saw this article from The Telegraph. If her expressionless botox face will never again not emote on screen, I'll be a happy man. I've always found her exessively creepy and very hard to relate to in her movie roles and in real life. To top it off she married Tom Cruise. Who can marry him and have any sense whatsoever? Of course, I'm pretty sure she may agree with me on that point now. But I wish her retirement well and hope it is very successful. That way, there will be less of a chance I'll have to see her act in a movie ever again :).

As with most American households, we drink a lot of pop. We go through a ton of it on my gaming nights where 6-10 people consume a lot of beverages. By the time all is said and done, I'll guess we go through around 160 cans per month. Even though we recycle them very faithfully (our recycling can is always chock full!), I still feel guilty for all the waste of having to ship all that liquid. It also still takes energy to recycle all those cans and bottles.

Recently I started using a lot of Crystal Lite to help me cut down. That is helping, except when I need a caffine boost and don't feel like coffee. I also miss the carbonation sometimes. So I started looking at different home soda solutions. I landed on www.sodaclubusa.com. They basically sell you a system that let's you create soda water using a special refilling system and gas cartridges. They also sell a ton of soda flavors. After it arrives, I'll post my reaction to their system and their soda flavors.

This is environmentally friendly  for a number of reasons.

First is uses reusable bottles.The model I purchased (Using a coupon code from retailmenot.com I saved $30!) is the Penguin plus package. Perhaps its the Linux penguin geek in me, but in reality, I thought that the glass decanters will last longer than the plastic.

The transcript can be found here.

"And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from
parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the
forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our
destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To
those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who
seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have
wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved
once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the
might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring
power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding
hope.

For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our
union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope
for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."

I wept after this point. Just think. We get to hear this man and his ideas in this manner for the next 4-8 years. I'm sorry grateful and happy. What a night!

Starting today this country is on a new path. One that includes all people in the hope for a better life. I hope my 20 month old son Shane can remember cheering for Obama tonight.

This isn't the end. This is just the beginning. The American people now have hope to redeem ourselves from the last 8 years. I love America! I'm so inspired right now and Obama hasn't even given his speech yet!

My wife just said, "I hope there are many more presidents like this for Shane to vote for when he grows up". Me too honey. Me too!

MSNBC has released its electoral voting map.

This looks cool and perhaps less boring than CNN/MSNBC (Fox?... They will be sooooo depressed on Fox tonight). I plan on checking them out tonight. Click on the link above or the graphic below to go to their site. Its being broadcast on Current TV on cable. Its 107 on my Comcast cable channel list.

I also found this really handy election results page on HuffingtonPost.com. It has just about every single results widget from all the major networks and web sites out there.

The Google Gadget seems to have gone down. So I removed it. Go here for the MSNBC Gadget on StephandChadSutton.com instead!