It is pretty evident that we are not living in a red America and a blue America but in a Urban America and a Rural America. Every county with a major city, went to Obama. There is lots of election map pr0n (I love…) and here is my favorite map.

update: Via Raj comes this great cartogram:

90′s nostalgia makes the best campaign commercial

[Via Samip]

More brilliant hate:

[via, boingboing]

Below the fold, lies the best.

A remarkable PWNGE of some douche by Muslim supporters of McCain:

This past weekend, I visited Troy, Ohio. Besides farangi, the duo from the excellent fivethirtyeight.com were along for the ride. They were shadowing my attempt to convince just ONE ohio voter to cast her ballot for Obama because he is a Muslim. There really is nothing wrong with being a Muslim, man. I am telling you.

Below the fold, are some of the photos I took. You can see the full set here. You must also go to Brett’s site and see what he was snapping, as I was snapping him. Brett is a friend and I have been a jealous fan of his work for a while. So, go see it.

What is with conservatives and the word ‘pakistan’? First, there was that insane Christopher Hitchens letter juju. And now comes the cry that Pock-i-stahn is so not the Amrikan pronunciation. 

As a native speaker of Urdu, let me help you out: Pay-Armi-stan, Palin-s-TAN, Pick-a-side-an, Powpow-sometan.

In any case, lets learn how to pronounce Obama’s name, properly.

I’m the new blue blood, I’m the great white hope
I’m the new blue blood…

Ah Kingmaker, rejoice. But don’t forget that that pesky democracy comes with responsibilities…

Oh, here is some high school level political acumen.

Obama Photo Causes Stir, AP:

A photograph circulating in the Internet of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama dressed in traditional local garments during a visit to Kenya in 2006 is causing a dustup in the presidential campaign over what constitutes a smear.

The Associated Press photograph portrays Obama wearing a white turban and a wraparound white robe presented to him by elders in Wajir, in northeastern Kenya. Obama’s estranged late father was Kenyan and Obama visited the country in 2006, attracting thousands of well-wishers.

The gossip and news Web site The Drudge Report posted the photograph Monday and said it was being circulated by “Clinton staffers” and quoted an e-mail from an unidentified campaign aide. Drudge did not include proof of the e-mail in the report….

Ah, the joys of our enlightened, thoroughly modern society…Obama has no substance, ’tis true, but he does have lots of ‘color’ and he does like the Moslems and he hates the Jews. Yeah. Bring on the substantive debates…

Credits go to Daily Jang, and Daily Khabrain.

See Tick Tock Series … X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I for our journey so far.

A live-blog on the election results from Pakistan.

update, the morning: The morning – here – shows that PPP is within sight of a 2/3rd majority in the NA. The ANP will form a govt. in NWFP. In Baluchistan, PML-Q has most votes but between PPP and Independents and BNP there are enough votes to form a govt.

One: Musharraf got voted out everywhere. PML-Q, as I wrote earlier, was the only party that ran a campaign on their “record” and its major figures, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Sheikh Rashid, Wasi Zafar etc., were main characters in the Musharraf soap-operatic democracy. They are all out on the national scene. I think that the recent economic pains – lack of flour in the market, rising costs of water and electricity – had a lot to do with PLM-Q’s defeat.

Two: PPP is the only national party in the country.

Three: GO ANP in NWFP!! Our State Side Analysts will have to come up with a new storyline.

Just a few thoughts on Cover It Live – the liveblogging software: It works as advertised, is painless and has very nice interactivity with readers. I expect to make use of it in future panels and talks – should I go to one. A good bit of web 2.0.

The assumptions nested in our electoral punditry are astounding. What’s more astounding is that we do not question them, especially when they barely conceal true, noxious racialist thinking. Why, for instance, is Don Imus a pariah, when Dick Morris and Chris Matthews can proceed without pause with lines of questioning based on the assumption that blacks only vote for blacks, women only vote for women and rednecks will vote for anybody who’ll wave the Stars & Bars? At least Imus, while admittedly tone-deaf, was trying to be amusing when he called the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos.”

Since New Hampshire’s Democrats got wept away by Hillary’s histrionics, the big polling firms, whose self-esteem obviously has recovered since futzing-up two presidential elections in a row, have been navel-gazing: How could we have gotten it so wrong? they wonder. Many have begun to blame the “Wilder Effect,” which states that voters will lie if asked whom they support in a multi-racial election, because they fear not supporting the non-white candidate will cause them to appear bigoted. Some claim the Wilder effect was named for Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, whom polls cast as an easy winner in the 1994 race for U.S. Senate. Wilder went on to lose, despite the polls. NB: This is a completely true historical fact: The Wilder Effect was actually named for Gene Wilder, who was clearly the least favored of the pair in 1970′s Richard Pryor / Gene Wilder buddy movies, like Silver Streak and Stir Crazy.

The Wilder Effect is to margin-of-error what The Bell Curve is to IQ–a plausible explanation, but one that calls into question immediately the point of view and motive of the explainer. Is an explanation racist, as offered by a dottering old scientist, out of touch with modern racial sensibilities, and by virtue of his status, unused to necessarily qualifying his arguments so as not to piss off everyone within a quarter mile, a la James Watson? Is a provocateur’s jab sexist, like Larry Summers’ attempted discussion seeding that questioned female scientific aptitude? Why, probably yes. Yet Watson and Summers harmed none save extremely valuable and cherished disciplinary illusions, like the one that equates tact and education, and class illusions, like the petit bourgeois taboos against speaking frankly in terms of difference. For his part, Imus deserved to be kicked off the air, not because he was a racist, which may be so, but because his act was weak and unfunny.

But folks, noxious carcinogenic speculation–and our laziness in identifying and shouting it down–is one of the Republic’s primary problems. God knows why people say one thing and do another. But most of the time, notions that people act in certain predictable ways based on the color of their skins or the architecture of their genitalia are wrong and those who find such reasoning attractive should have their arguments fully vetted. It’s also wrong for us to allow America’s overpaid, under-thinking big-mouths to consistently prune and water the meme that people act in certain predictable ways based on the color of their skins or the architecture of their genitalia. It’s quite dangerous to do so, in fact. That James Watson declines in obscurity while Manhattan’s ignorant cable news presenters go about their destructive business is a crime against clear thought, common sense, and the notion that social norms ought to have any consistency at all.

The media’s pontificating talking heads and some sorry campaign managers trying to pull their candidates from the muck have got it wrong. They’re obsessing over the difference between two abstractions: change and experience, assuming those labels define the persons to whom they’re applied, and the voters enthusiastic about voting for them. True to narrow-casted form, some of the candidates are subscribing to the notion and attempting, like late travelers running to the gate of an on-time flight, to get to the plane before it takes off. It won’t work. It was too late years ago.

Bill, Mitt, Fred & Rudy are doomed. Here’s why: the “experience” they tout is evident all around us. Since 1970 (Gen X’s approximate starting line), America’s economy, culture and political institutions–in which all our seasoned candidates have thrived–have been in a progressive state of decadence. Real wages for most people have, at best, remained level. Depression, not recession, looms. Norman Lear has given way to the anti-Trinity of Terkhule, Bunim & Murray. Thinking people cannot, with any integrity, deny the major parties, inasmuch as they sit in legislatures local, state and national, present themselves as distinct for the purposes of election, then govern in unison at the behest of corporate campaign contributors. What’s good unravelled on their collective watch, and they deserve a reward for their experience.

Hillary, likewise, is hopeless, because–while it may be impolitic to say so–she is the least example of feminism’s success. She occupies her Senate seat as a reverse carpetbagger, and prior to that she was somebody’s wife. She has no experience to speak of other than living Tammy Wynette lyrics. A rural female Ohio county commissioner with a J.D., some time volunteering with non-profits and a dollop of law firm work has as much “experience,” except she won’t likely have had the money to move to Chappaqua, deep pockets to dig, the long coat-tails of a president who feels guilty for getting strange blow-jobs, nor general nostalgia for decent times amidst bad ones. Hillary’s touted experience draws attention to her resume, and that resume is quite distinct from her claims to having accomplished something, anything, other than give us a Republican Congress in 1994. If she thinks Bill’s experience is her own, as she likely does, that too comes under probably unwanted scrutiny: we can thank him for NAFTA, GATT, a living Bin Laden, and generating an eye-rolling fatigue that helped make Gore overcautious and under-elected. Her experience, as it were, is her problem, and unfortunately ours.

McCain, distinct from his four fellows, is the only viable traditionally Republican nominee not because his experience is any better, but because he is extremely uncomfortable telling lies. He has the worst poker face on planet Earth; the wince he exhibits when lying is truly a thing to behold. With McCain, we at least know when he’s shoveling; and, while he can at least acknowledge the brokenness of our system, though he is too ideologically wed to paradigmatically approved solutions to do the country any good. The world formed from the others’ “experience” has him hemmed in. It’s tragic and Shakespearean. But it is.

Neither Kucinich nor Paul should be forgotten, even as we mourn their candor-killed candidacies. Only grown-ups can handle Libertarianism, and even then it would take a good Democrat, or perhaps a fired-up, ready to go Dennis Kucinich, to speak for collective conscience and save Libertarians from themselves. America is ready for neither of these men, but it was delightful to see Ron Paul speaking in syllogisms so sensible they physically hurt the other candidates. It was not delightful this week not to see Dennis Kucinich. But we have the “experience” of the MSM pundits and their need to winnow the race to its protagonists and antagonists to thank for that, don’t we?

Edwards’ problem is irony–he has the right pedigree for populism, but accidents of fortune and the benefits of good preparation have made him filthy, stinking, disgustingly rich. This leaves him open to charges of great hypocrisy as he barks the truth and howls for change from the window of his Bentley. This is not the worst thing, when compared to the others–as P.J. O’Rourke advises, Americans prefer their populism from elitists, and preferably in small doses. Shots of his mother and father during the debate broke my heart, because they are my people: poor, southern whites who wear their class in their bent postures, discomfort with luxury, and the creases of their faces. Change is his experience. We should not fault him for having been a good trial attorney and astute investor.

Huckabee is also my people. He is our smiling, silver-tongued dark side. He has a life’s work of charming people to the altar of a denomination that broke from its northern counterpart in support of slavery. He is very bright, too bright, in fact, to believe the statements of faith promulgated by the Southern Baptist Convention, though I suspect he’s quite adept at believing and thinking with different hemispheres of his brain. He is the worst sort of liar, because he believes himself. The beliefs of such people grow stronger with each person they convince to abandon their own beliefs in favor of what truths the evangelists espouse. Huckabee means change, and while some of his changes might align with the progressive agenda, we should be moving ultimately away from theocracy, not slouching toward it. I know Huckabees, and I don’t heart them.

Obama, so far as I can tell, matches Hillary in every aspect of resume “experience” save years. Where she outstrips him leaves the gap many of us, with reservations (as elsewhere noted on CM), have filled with the support that so bewilders America’s chattering classes; he is unstoppable precisely because he is inexperienced, because he does not yet carry the taint of the Imperial Corporate Machine that fleeces citizen, subject and enemy alike; he is too young to have investments in their entrenched isms, ists, and grievances; he is too new a convert to consider his ascendancy ordained by Jesus; he is just naive enough to believe that, by building a mandate across parties, races and classes, that he might at last rouse the great and drowsy American spirit that once a century rises to correct the hundred years’ of errata preceding it. Hope is indeed naive, and Americans have perhaps decided at last that naivete about the possibilities of tomorrow, no matter how improbable, is preferable the beastly, apocalyptic guile that promises to drown us.

Ahistoricality kindly drew my attention to a recent poll on attitudes towards US, UbL and Terrorism in Pakistan in the wake of the October Earthquake undertaken by Terror Free Tomorrow. The poll was conducted over November 14-28, 2005 and has a error margin of 2.6%. It has a significant data pool [1450 adults]. Here is the pdf of the report. Below the fold is my reading of the poll.

The poll-report gives the following conculsions:

As I argued earlier, the memory of helpers will surely linger and help shape the public opinion in the years to come. In another recent post, I hinted that the response of Pakistani army to the victims of the 1970 cyclone in East Pakistan had an immense effect on the civil war that followed next year. So, it is obvious from both a historical and political context that the response to the Earthquake will have long reaching effects. This poll could be a harbinger of such tidings. Already, Hussain Haqqani and Kenneth Balen – advisor and president, respectively of the polling organization – put up an op-ed in WSJ saying [do catch the snipe at UN in the oped]:

Cheers, eh? I am not entirely sold that this polls shows a overwhelming positive outlook across Pakistan. If you look at the methodology, they say that the poll covered “disproportionately urban covering all Pakistani provinces”. Well, hate to break the bubble but the urban populations are not the problem here. Yes, they are a good indicator but with 60 plus percent of the population in rural areas, and the majority of religious activists operating in those areas, I just don’t think we can start making blanket Pakistanis loves US statement right away. The key questions Please tell me if you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable opinion of the United States? and I favor the U.S-led efforts to fight terrorism, OR I oppose the U.S.-led efforts to fight terrorism? get diametric responses: 46% favorable and 64% opposed. Again, that goes according to many, many polls that show that it is primarily the opposition to US foreign policy that drives the negative opinions and, despite of that, there remains favorable opinion of the US even in places like Iran or Saudi Arabia [at least the NeoCons always pointed to that for their 'greet us with rose petals' routine]. Pakistan, on the other hand, has always had strong pro-US sentiments in the populace. So, in that context, it should be noted that the opposition for War on Terror, actually, has grown since May 2005. I do think that the drop of support for UbL and suicide bombing is significant. How do we tie it to the Kashmir earthquake is not so clear to me. Obviously, the response of sectarian violence has more to do with it.

Most intriguing for the political future of Pakistan is question 9:

Here, you see that it is the Goverment of Pakistan that has risen to the top. Which is surely a good sign for The General but then, again, the cities is not where he has problems [that would be in Waziristan and Baluchistan]. And a bad sign for the MMA because they ended with a solidly unfavorable rating. I don’t see MQM in this poll, which is surprising.

Now, if only someone would go and conduct this poll in Azad Kashmir and NWFP, we will start getting an inkling. All that aside, I happen to agree that positive American contributions in Pakistan and elsewhere will lead to positive results. Grand gestures, included. In the meantime, the crisis in Kashmir continues.

My humble thanks to all those who voted for me in the Brass Crescent Awards as deserving of wider recognition. I can only say that while fame will inevitably bring the coke, the hookers and the Behind the Blog retrospective, I will never forget those that have sustained me in my humble beginnings. Commentators like shakir, danial, umar, cheeni, nitin, zack, ejaz, brian, deseperanto, sumana, deevaan and others make this blog possible. I thank them and everyone else for reading. In light of the recent notoriety (and taking my cue from Nitin, Caleb), I will put up my favorite posts in one place. Look for that in the right column sometimes soon.

“I haven’t had an orthodox blog, and I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!”

With heartfelt thanks to those who voted and with apologies to Sally Field. Just being nominated for the Koufax awards makes my Sunday.

I walked out this morning and the sun was shining. I felt better. The wind was clear and crisp. I felt better. I cried all night – big searing, gulping sobs – I cried in my sleep. Ever have those dreams where you want to wake yourself up by screaming? I tried last night but never succeeded. I mourned like a loved one had died. There is an idea of America constructed in my head, built by my associations with the land, the people, the cities. It died last night. A new America was born last night. An imperial America, a theocratic America, an America built by fear and loathing. This great nation that can destroy anyone cowers from shadows. It fears the gay man who will destroy its families. It fears the slut teen who will kill her unborn child. It fears the brown man who will detonate a bomb in the mall. It fears the secular intellectual who will corrupt the youth.

Faith is the opiate of the masses. Faith in the Man. Faith in Jesus. Faith in their lack of faith. Reason has no place, logic no permanance. Facts are just balancing weights.

I was prepared for a Bush victory. But this is not a Bush victory. This is a vindication. We lost comprehensively. This is their America and I just live in it by their good grace.

Since I suck at predictions, I will now predict the near future: We are going to Iran. There will be a draft. The Supreme Panchayat will overturn. Blues will not regain the country during my lifetime. Paul says Obama. Man must have hope, eh?

Life, though, must go on. I still have to teach the Crusades tomorrow. I still have to design some websites. I still have to put those job applications in. I still have a family to hug and love. I still have some very bright friends who will cry with me in their beers. I walked out this morning and the sun was shining. I felt better. The wind was clear and crisp. I felt better.

A chinese non-citizen friend is in Michigan driving people to vote. A indian non-citizen friend is in Missouri. Numerous first time “activist” friends are in Ohio. A dozen of us from Chicago will be in Milwaukee tomorrow. This is grand, this is momentous. I don’t necessarily know what it means. If Kerry wins, will we all go back to hip observors? If Bush wins, will we come un-glued? Actually, I was asked by Salon.com, what will I do if Bush wins. My reply. Special thanks to Katherine Mieszkowski for contacting me for the story.

Most of my readership is from the Sultunate of Brunei but, in case you are reading this and are eligible to vote tomorrow: Your polling place: www.mypollingplace.com. Or call 1-866-MYVOTE1. More details here.

There are things happening elsewhere. But I haven’t the time or mind to pay attention.

One more thing. Tomorrow when Tim Russert brings out his whiteboard and Tom Brokaw looks askance and Wolf Blitzer howls and Dan Rather (is he still around?) spuns Texan homilies, remember that the damn pundits don’t know jack and that every vote must get counted.