The Fry Side

Okay folks, I’m shutting everything down for now. Work is over, I need to get the kids. I am not going to turn on the television or my computer again (except to play a video game) until 8 p.m. Central Time.

Or, y’know, I’ll let the boy watch the results with me. Early exit polls are coming up soon! Actually, I’m so sick of polls; I want results. So I’ll wait. Otherwise, I’ll just be biting my nails for hours on end while my wife keeps nudging me to stop.

My prediction: Obama. By a lot. As in carrying more states than anyone thought possible. Particularly in places where you can register the same day as voting (as you can out here).

Know hope, ladies and gentlemen!

Stop Hitting Refresh!

There aren’t any results yet. Turn off the computer.

Go vote. Already voted? Watch some silly videos. Eat a sandwich. Do some freakin’ thing.

This is your last chance, California. Please vote No on Prop 8.

Part of me really wishes I was still registered out there. I want so very much for this not to pass. So many families have finally, officially been created out there. Don’t divorce them for nothing.

I see the court’s ruling as a very good thing for families. Why? It creates more two-parent households. Anyone who’s anyone knows that raising kids is easier and gives kids better chances in life with two parents looking out for them. This, of course, is no offense to all those great single parents out there, it’s just the odds.

The big question: why take away the rights of those who want to create families? That’s what marriage does. It creates a new family, joining two lives together. It is a stable, loving, wonderful way to live a life if so chosen. And it is such a thing that is easily taken for granted by those who have always had a chance to live their dream.

Most of my life, I have known I wanted to be a father. It was just a part of who I am. My career, my life, everything else was uncertain. But fatherhood I knew I was always meant for. Don’t ask me why; it’s just a fact about me.

Now, I absolutely cannot fathom what a desperate life I would lead if where I lived told me that I was unfit to be a father because I have blue eyes. I am sure I would try to live in a place where I was allowed to raise children. However, how awful would that be if I was forced to raise children in a place other than near the family that raised me?

Worse yet, I cannot imagine having that right taken away. That my kids would suddenly no longer be mine, though I am still allowed to love and raise them. What if this decision to take away my kids was founded and funded by a small minority of religious people whose church I am not even affiliated with? Because I have blue eyes, the constitution of my state should be amended to say that I am unfit to be a parent.

Hell would be raised, I say.

The high court of California did not legislate from the bench. No law was passed allowing same-sex marriage. The court found that in reading the basic rights outlined in the California State Constitution, banning same-sex marriage was unlawful. That simple.

The court was right.

Now those who personally oppose same-sex marriage created Proposition 8 in order to alter the constitution itself in order to limit the rights of their fellow citizens.

Vote against reducing rights. Vote against breaking families. Vote NO on Prop 8.

Hey Everyone,

Go vote.

I already did. I lucked out and it was a short line. I dropped the lass off at daycare, then the lad and I stood in line for about 15 minutes. But he and I would have waited 45 minutes if we had to.

The lad behaved perfectly, and when it was our turn, I got to explain how I bubble who I wanted for each office (hint: for President, it started with an ‘O’ and ended in ‘bama’) and then he got to take the ballot and slide it into the counting machine. We each got an ‘I Voted’ sticker and are wearing them as badges of honor this day.

It is a huge thing that we do. It is an act reaffirming our beliefs in being a free people, the people who chose again and again to remain free. It is the defining and unifying aspect of our culture.

I’ve brought my son to our polling place before, and will again for certain. But I think this year will be the first that he’ll actually remember. It will be one for all of us to remember, no matter what.

Vote with reason. Vote with conviction. Vote.

I’m going to post this every day until November 4th.

I urge all my friends and family out in California to support families and vote No on Prop 8.

Thanks, Grandma.

Thanks, Uncle Dave.

Thanks, Josh (for the sentiment at least).

Thanks, Apple.

Thank you both, Ken and Rachel.

Thanks, Jolly.

Thank you, Bill Clinton.

I’m going to post this every day until November 4th.

I urge all my friends and family out in California to support families and vote No on Prop 8.

Thanks, Grandma.

Thanks, Uncle Dave.

Thanks, Josh (for the sentiment at least).

Thanks, Apple.

Thank you both, Ken and Rachel.

Thanks, Jolly.

Thank you, Bill Clinton.

And remember guys, a yes vote on Prop 8 is a vote for bigotry:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H3kxDFgmu8]

I thought this line was brilliant.

The people of the U.S.A. like to see themselves as the bastion of hope and freedom, fighting against evil and tyranny. That’s a great ideal, but I just want to point out at this time that you can’t play the Rebel Alliance when you are building the Death Star.

I’m going to post this every day until November 4th.

I urge all my friends and family out in California to support families and vote No on Prop 8.

Thanks, Grandma.

Thanks, Uncle Dave.

Thanks, Josh (for the sentiment at least).

Thanks, Apple.

Thank you both, Ken and Rachel.

Thanks, Jolly.

Thank you, Bill Clinton.

And remember guys, a yes vote on Prop 8 is a vote for bigotry:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H3kxDFgmu8]

I’m going to post this every day until November 4th.

I urge all my friends and family out in California to support families and vote No on Prop 8.

Thanks, Grandma.

Thanks, Uncle Dave.

Thanks, Josh (for the sentiment at least).

Thanks, Apple.

Thank you both, Ken and Rachel.

Thanks, Jolly.

Fukuyama Fuking Nails It:

I’m voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don’t work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.

McCain’s appeal was always that he could think for himself, but as the campaign has progressed, he has seemed simply erratic and hotheaded. His choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate was highly irresponsible; we have suffered under the current president who entered office without much knowledge of the world and was easily captured by the wrong advisers. McCain’s lurching from Reaganite free- marketer to populist tribune makes one wonder whether he has any underlying principles at all.

America has been living in a dream world for the past few years, losing its basic values of thrift and prudence and living far beyond its means, even as it has lectured the rest of the world to follow its model. At a time when the U.S. government has just nationalized a good part of the banking sector, we need to rethink a lot of the Reaganite verities of the past generation regarding taxes and regulation. Important as they were back in the 1980s and ’90s, they just won’t cut it for the period we are now entering. Obama is much better positioned to reinvent the American model and will certainly present a very different and more positive face of America to the rest of the world.

(Found via The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.)