Holy crap. That's a big photo.

Tonight's (actually yesterday night's, now that I check the clock) second presidential debate between U.S. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama… well, how would you finish that sentence? The debate was supposedly held in the "town hall" style, although the voters in the audience had close to zero participation, and the candidates' repeated violations of the one-minute follow-up time limit quickly made a mockery of the format. McCain, who had performed surprisingly well during the first debate, suffered a major blow to his confidence this time around, appearing stiff and cranky and constantly clutching at straws. Obama, on the other hand, was more or less calm, collected, direct, and by the general consensus of political analysts, emerged with the upper hand. Both candidates' discourses were frustrating in terms of their constant finger-pointing and campaign nonspecifics, although I swear, one could easily start a drinking game for every instance of "earmark" in McCain's spiels. Like Tina Fey so marvelously suggested during the last episode of Saturday Night Live.

My favorite part was at the very end, when Tom Brokaw was concluding the debate and both candidates stood up to face the camera, only to obstruct Brokaw's view of the teleprompter.

Anyway… McCain? Floundering, thanks to the recent economic mess. That's what you get for catering to the wealthy five percent, you Republican.

INTERNET ACCESS DIATRIBE: As Fa has been infelicitously Internet connection-less for more than a year and has relied on the capricious munificence of the public library system for all of her cyberinformation exigences, and due to extenuating circumstances on the weekend following the commencement of the 2008 Summer Olympics (and the fact that no library opens its doors in the dead of night), she, unlike the millions of bloggers who already take this (personally) historically inaccessible luxury for granted, was not able to blog about the aforesaid 2008 Summer Olympics in a more timely fashion than conflicting library hours and various nettlesome errands could possibly allow.

The humble author also wishes a malediction upon those who churlishly snigger at Fa's tragic privation.

Now on to the main course!

Olympics, Olympics, Olympics! NBC, our national television network here in the U.S., has devoted practically all of its broadcast time to coverage of Olympic events. I've always been somewhat disdainful of organized sports, but competitions between athletes from around the globe? Displays of sportsmanship transcending cultural and political barriers? Commentary that for once doesn't pertain to that odious testosterone-fest known as American football?? I am all over this one, baby.

In addition, that opening ceremony was a glorious splurge. Incredible! Over 15,000 individual performers! The choreography, the training! The sheer engineering involved! If you haven't seen it, WATCH THE FRICKIN' CEREMONY AND PREPARE TO BE AMAZED. If you don't… well, then you're an effing pariah.

Commentary on the Parade of Nations: I actually stayed up to watch the entire procession — no problem when one loves seeing and learning about different nations and cultures. What was especially of interest was the reception of the various teams, measured by political sentiments and the volume of cheers/boos. The U.S. probably got the noisiest and most sustained cheers aside from the Chinese. Australia and North Korea also received warm welcomes. Iraq was cheered surprisingly loudly, in direct contrast with Iran, the only team I remember that was booed. And there were some tense moments when Team France filed out into the stadium, but the audience applauded them just as loudly as for the others. No jeers or violence from ultra-nationalists.

And is anyone else slightly ticked off that Taiwan is being forced to participate as "Chinese Taipei"? I looked this up online, and apparently this is nothing new. But still. They're not even permitted to use their own flag! WTF.

Also check out NBCOlympics.com for more streaming video and insanely extensive news coverage.

On another note, the ongoing armed conflict between Russia and Georgia that's escalated to war… does not look good.

I was at the library last night, and at around 8:45 pm, I saw this piece of news on Yahoo.

Obama has officially won the Democratic nomination. Yeah.

I'm glad that it's over, but I still feel a degree of sorrow for Clinton's loss. Unlike some bandwagon-hopping n00bs, I've supported Clinton 100% of the way, with no regrets. However, these last few weeks have opened my eyes to the fact that Clinton was fast approaching the end of the road. I still believe Clinton is the better candidate. But also unlike some n00bs who selfishly vowed to switch their votes to McCain if their candidate lost, I am whole-heartedly resolved to throw my support behind Obama now. We really can't afford to have any more division within the party. Especially since America would go to hell, figuratively speaking, if McCain were elected (for which my contingency plan would be to immediately move to Canada).

Again, I'm glad the struggle is over. But the "Dream Team"? Would Obama and Clinton be prepared to work together? Clinton certainly is open to the idea. But is Obama?

Imagine what it could do. It could completely unify the country.

For a fresher article, see this update.

In other news, I woke up at 9:45 am today. My first class began at 9:05. Oh shit, thought I, rubbing sleepers from my eyes. Oh fucking shit, thought I, realizing with a jolt that Father Dear was in the city taking Brother Dear to the clinic. But hey, I then marveled with inordinate cheerfulness, I got six hours of sleep. I later picked up a daisy at the side of the road while making the treacherous 45-minute walk to school.

The state primaries of Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Rhode Island yesterday have brought Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton a surprising turnaround — among her victories… Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island!

Election results here and here.

Samples from the comments left on Clinton's blog:

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!! HILLARY WON OHIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh happy day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO HILLARY GO!!!!!!

HILLARY WINS OH

HILLARY HILLARY HILLARY HILLARY HILLARY HILLARY
F O R P R E S I D E T

YES WE DID!

HILLARY = SUPERWOMAN

MY PRESIDENT — OUR PRESIDENT —– YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

Hillary's speech was brilliant. I love that she reminded everyone of Ohio's historical significance. No one has lost the OH primary and won the Whitehouse. I am so excited and inspired right now, and the confetti and deafening cheers were so exciting! I am alone at home, and I was cheering along with the crowd (my neighbors might think I am crazy lol). Thank you OH and RI, and I am optimistic about TX!

This…..

IS THE HAPPINEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

HILLARY I LOVE YOU AND I AM GLAD YOU DID NOT ANYONE KNOCK YOU DOWN!!

Ahem… that was a very selective offering, since the vast majority contained exclamations of "Praise the Lord!" and "God bless America!" and that kind of nonsense…

At any rate… very reinvigorating night for the Clinton campaign. Hopefully, the rest of America will realize that experience does matter…

[Edit] HAHAHAHAHAHAHA—!!! [/Edit]

"Life Cereal, made with whole grain Quaker oats, tastes good and is a nutritious choice for you and your family!"

Unfortunately, it tastes so fucking good that I usually consume half the bag at one sitting… and I think it ceased to be nutritious a long time ago…

Rehabilitation…? Yes, that would be nice…

Quiet, stupid shoulder demon!!!

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Hey, did anyone happen to catch NBC Nightly News (with Brian Williams) last night? He was reporting from Cleveland, Ohio, and right before he signed off, he mentioned something about Northeast Ohioans expecting eight to ten inches of snow later in the evening. (Tim White and Romona Robinson of the local Channel 3 News later refuted that claim, forecasting a meager one to three inches instead: "Eight to ten inches? What was that all about? He obviously didn't listen to our Betsy Kling!")

Haha… well, it certainly wasn't eight to ten inches, but for all intents and purposes, Brian Williams was right.

Which is sort of tragically funny at the same time, since I was earnestly planning to play hooky today.

Daddy: Hey, Jenny, you don't want to go to school today? The high school's closed!
Fa: … what? GODDAMMIT. *thoughts turn to the local school district* Wusses!

At which I threw open the window blinds, and realized that there actually was quite a lot of snow outside.

I devoured half a bag of Life cereal later that day.

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In other news, the last Democratic debate of our national primary season is TONIGHT!

Cleveland State University is hosting the event at 9:00 pm this evening, and both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be in attendance. Moderators will be Brian Williams and Tim Russert of NBC News.

Reportedly, since there was so much interest in volunteering at the debate, two separate lotteries were held to divvy up the slots!

Americans and Earthlings, prepare yourselves! History is in the making!