Shakexpear King has been recieving a lot of accolades from fans and critics with his stint on Channel [V]'s EXHAUSTED.What really made him a hit with the masses is the fact that he worked really hard to stay awake to win the grandprize,but he was eliminated from the show,when a fellow contestant got the power to choose the one person,to be eliminated,and out of jealousy as was clearly seen,that contestant eliminated Shakexpear King out,to the chagrin of million of viewers of the hit show,where Vj,Juhi and Vj Gaurav were fantabulous on the show,there were eight contestants on the show and they were supposed to stay awake for 48 hours doing different tasks.
The sad fact is that first Anupama left,who happened to be a very good friend of Shakexpear and viewers loved theier chemistry,after she lost in a task round,later he was getting on well with Mizpah,and it was Mizpah who wanted to be eliminated because she could not stay awake anymore but when Shakexpear was eliminated everybody was shocked.Some corruptible use of power by the contestant babar
When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, hunting entered the national conversation in a way it hasn't since 2006, when Dick Cheney shot a donor instead of a quail. Palin, in fashioning herself as a leader for Joe Six-Pack America, has emphasized her prowess as a sportswoman. Her office has released photos of her with a dead moose, a dead caribou, and several dead salmon. She was recently spotted in Pennsylvania carrying a tote bag with the logo "Real Women Hunt Moose." One bowhunting company was so excited (or shameless) that it introduced a new model called the Sarah-Cuda in honor of the governor. Love the pink camo. While Palin and Cheney are both hard-nosed Republicans, they represent different aspects of the hunting tradition. Cheney, who favors canned hunts on private game reserves, shoots his beasts in the manner of aristocrats. Palin, gutting moose in her neighbor's basement, is an heir to the "potlatch" hunters of the Colonial era, who wanted meat for the cabin table. When Palin was running for governor in 2006, she told USA Today, "We hunt as much as we can, and I'm proud to say our freezer is full of wild game we harvested here in Alaska." And if you look twice at the reasons why Palin hunts, they resemble an ideal cherished by city-dwelling, New York Times-reading folks. Sarah Palin is a locavore, harvesting meat from her local "foodshed." She's also, of course, trying to harvest votes. Hunting has been a useful political symbol since Teddy Roosevelt. When Field & Stream posted Palin's hunting and fishing photos on its Web site, high-fives broke out among the assembled commenters. "You don't find people in Washington who would be seen with their hands on a bloody caribou," one wrote, while another dreamed, "Maybe if elected there's hope she will convert the White House pool into a trout pond?" Naturally, there were a few malcontents in the mix, suggesting that the photographed caribou had in fact been "gut shot" in ignominious style (i.e., the animal wasn't killed cleanly with a precision shot to the heart, lungs, or head). An anonymous commenter came to her defense:
For all you lefty city-slickers out there who are fixating on the blood back in the animals abdomen, that wound was from field dressing the caribou, the process whereby one incises the abdomen to remove the entrails and cool off the carcass quickly. Animals that are gut shot rarely leave a visible blood trail, as major blood vessels are not common in the entrails. So go back to sipping your lattes and gazing at pictures of your Ivy-league messiah. For you, meat comes from a grocery store. Please keep it that way, as we don't want you to handle firearms. Time to add "buying meat from a grocery store" to the list of liberal sins. Yet we can thank this commenter for capturing one aspect of the cultural politics of hunting in 2008. Hunters hunt for many reasons—family tradition, love of the outdoors, friendship, the challenge of stalking big game—but the sport has always had a "frontier" appeal. I'm a hunter, a self-reliant individual living off the land; here, have some of my venison jerky. Invoking the frontier theme, the major hunting organizations, such as the Boone and Crockett Club and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, all pay tribute to the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt championed hunting as a way to reinforce America's pioneer values, at a time (the 1890s) when the real frontier was closing. "The virility, clear-sighted common sense and resourcefulness of the American people is due to the fact that we have been a nation of hunters and frequenters of the forest, plains, and waters" is a typical T.R. exhortation. Roosevelt established the still-flickering idea that hunting teaches self-reliance and love of country. Perhaps it's this patriotic element of hunting that makes hunting advocates fear for the country when they see their sport in decline. In surveys done by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife service, the overall number of hunters has fallen from a peak of 19.1 million in 1975 to 12.5 million in 2006. Why? Historian Daniel Justin Herman, in his essay "The Hunter's Aim," floats the theory that the middle-class businessmen who went duck and deer hunting in great numbers in the 1950s found a new natural arena to display their manliness, courtesy, and deadly aim: the golf course. If you read around on hunting sites, the anecdotal blame falls on suburbanization, single-parent households, and restrictive gun laws—but the real bile is saved for video games. Chad Love, of Field & Stream, echoed the sentiments of his fellow hunters in a recent blog post, when he recalled his boyhood "back before the dawning of the 'Stoned on Electronic Entertainment Age.' " His remark was greeted with this typical Amen: "We don't let our kids play outside, yet wonder why they are fat, full of allergies and lazy." The decreasing number of hunters has only intensified the sport's hold on those who still do hunt. As Herman explained: "Hunting has become a counterculture among rural, blue-collar people. It's something that offends the snobs, the white-collar middle-class that has become so soft and opposed to the cruelty of animals." (For a glimpse of the extreme edge of this counterculture, watch an Exploding Varmints video on YouTube.) Herman also notes that the patriotic strain of hunting persists in the contemporary vogue for all-things camouflage. "Camo does double duty," he says, "I'm a hunter, and I'm ready to be a soldier when the call demands." The outsider status of Sarah Palin-style meat hunting (as opposed to the insider status of Cheney-style hunting) harkens back to the olde days. Herman describes how the Founding Fathers were mostly not hunters, as hunting at the time was deemed "too Indian." It was an insult to call someone a "buckskinner." In addition, early Americans justified the taking of land from Native Americans on the premise that the Indians were hunters who were just passing through—not farmers like the white settlers. It was after the Civil War, as America began to industrialize, that hunting became popular as an aristocratic sport pursued by gentlemen, i.e., "sportsmen," while subsistence hunters found game where they could. Roosevelt built his political career around the gun but also started the conservation movement that set aside land on which average Americans could practice the invigorating, country-affirming act of hunting. Gilded Age women followed their manly men into the forests, as hunting was one way for the "new woman" to exhibit her burgeoning sense of independence. Like most kids who grow up to be hunters, Sarah Palin was taught by her father—a hunting parent is the key factor in whether a child takes up the sport. Palin's dad, Chuck Heath, is a frontier-style, self-reliant pothunter. He recently bragged to the British Sun, "We raised our family to be able to support ourselves—90 per cent of our meat and fish we get ourselves." His comments are also in tune with our disastrous financial moment. Gun sales have been up this fall, and Tony Aeschliman of the Shooting Sports Association speculated that lack of work gives rural people more time to hunt and more incentive to "put a deer in the freezer." And by the deer carcass is where the shooters and the foodies meet. This week, the leading locavore, Michael Pollan, in an essay titled "Farmer in Chief," advised the next president, "You should support hunting as a particularly sustainable way to eat meat—meat grown without any fossil fuels whatsoever." digg_url = 'http://www.slate.com/id/2201955';
Share this article on Digg slate:http://www.slate.com/id/2201955 Buzz up! Share this article on Buzz In these divided times, I would love to propose a red state/blue state détente—you guys shoot the deer; we'll cook the venison in a lovely reduction sauce—but game markets didn't work so well in the past. A central tenet of preserving wildlife is that we must remove the economic value from an animal. Otherwise, extensive poaching and habitat destruction follow. So bringing back game markets on a massive scale wouldn't quite work, although Hunters for the Hungry is a worthy idea, and it's only slightly crazy to imagine city dwellers having "community supported hunters" in the manner of "community supported agriculture." There's also the whole moral question of whether hunting is a humane way to treat animals that I will gladly sidestep. Still, animal lovers, latte sippers, and muzzleloaders, please hold your fire for a moment and consider what we have in common: We may disagree about big, federal government, but we're starting to share an idea about small, local food.
Every so often I am reminded how primitive the Web really is. This usually happens after chatting with someone who works for Google. Recently, I interviewed David Glazer, who thinks about "being social" for the big G. He pointed out the caveman quality of socializing online in 2009. We have friends on Facebook, shared items on Google Reader, blogs on Tumblr, bookmarks on Delicious, and a login at the New York Times, with each of these sites requiring different passwords and user names. Barbaric. And while there are smart companies such as FriendFeed and Plaxo that unite these activities in one place, we are far from what Google describes as the Holy Grail: "Any app, any site, any friend." Glazer offers this mental exercise to understand how an online social nirvana might benefit you: Think of an activity you do on the Web in a solitary way, and then imagine how that activity would be better if the site knew about the other people that you care about. I read the New York Times every day. In Glazer's model, the Times would show me what articles my friends have read or give me a list of articles where they've left comments. That's kind of a cool idea, and one that the Times is trying to pull off with its Times People feature. Glazer believes that everything on the Web is better if it's social. Checking out a stock? It would be nice to read chatter from other potential investors. Baking a cake? Look at advice from those who have already tried the recipe. Tempted by a new restaurant? See if your foodie friends have eaten there already. The reason we don't do these things now is that the "barriers to social are too high." It's still too annoying to fill out all of those registration forms, and there's no universal way to manage your online identity and networks of friends. Google and its partners want to collapse the barriers to social and give each and every one of us an entourage. There's just one hiccup in this plan: Facebook, the place where many of us already have our entourage. The pre-eminent social network announced that it has 150 million active users worldwide. My Facebook story may be like yours: I joined on a whim, filling out a rudimentary profile on a lazy afternoon. Facebook took that information and, like a hostess powered by four vodka tonics, kept sending friends my way. (The site is a relentless shoulder-tapper.) Without trying too hard, I had 50 friends, and I soon got interested in managing that network, tagging people by school, workplace, hometown, and family. Facebook was nudging me to do something I would never normally do: map out the networks that link my world together. In an almost sneaky way, Facebook had become very valuable to me. It's my address book, only supercharged and more nuanced. Yet, as many Web commenters have pointed out, all of the work I've done on my "social graph" is held hostage on Facebook. I can't download it to my computer and take it with me. To offer one prominent example: When blogger Robert Scoble tried to scrape his Facebook data, Facebook closed his account. Mark Zuckerberg and the people who run Facebook, no dummies, fiercely protect the social graph that they have created with our help. They do this for the admirable reason of safeguarding our privacy and the practical reason that the network has enormous potential value. The entire business story of Facebook can be seen as an attempt to leverage this information in a way that doesn't feel like a home invasion. This is where Google and David Glazer come back in, and why 2009 might see some serious social warfare between Google and Facebook. Last May, the latter announced a service called Facebook Connect, a set of tools that made it easier for Web developers to let people log in to sites with their Facebook ID and share things on their Facebook news feed. (A good place to try this out is the video site Vimeo.) Three days later, Google announced Friend Connect, a set of tools that made it easier for Web developers to do the same sorts of things, except outside the realm of Facebook. A site such as Qloud lets you join and comment with a Gmail or Yahoo account. So far, so good. But Facebook blocked Friend Connect from accessing its data, and now we have two rival social networks. This may seem like an arcane, technical struggle, but I believe that a year from now, you are actually going to care who owns your social network. A lot of Facebook is flirting, photo sharing, and inane status lines, but we are also telling it how much we value certain people. I want to hear less about this person. I'm married to this person. Please block this person from ever contacting me in any way ever again. We are sorting out the entourage, or, to put it in a more utilitarian way, we are deciding which people are worthy sources of information. One of the stresses of being on the Web is the vast amount of available information. It's a condition that Clay Shirky has described as "filter failure"—we don't know what sources to let in or what new sources have potential value. (Read this great interview for more Shirky insights.) One obviously great filter is our friends. And one of my favorite places for the random videos and fun links without which the modern workday could not be endured is my Facebook news feed. But my little salon of procrastination is under enormous pressure, as Facebook has yet to figure out the whole making-money thing. I would be bummed if the site had to spam me with ads in order to survive, yet I was forced to stay on Facebook because I wasn't able to take my friend list to new pastures. Facebook also knows this and is trying to figure out how open to be. It has the advantage of a huge lead in the size of its network. (More people means more opportunities to find new friends for you.) Meanwhile, Google and its partners are gesturing: Come be free and frolic on our open platform. Google and Facebook have said that they will one day play nicely with each other, but a lot is at stake on the social frontier. Glazer put it best: "People are inherently social—killer user habits are built around connecting to other people." Killer user habits also make great marketing and advertising platforms. The hope is that as Google and Facebook compete, we are fitfully making our way toward the benefits of portable social data, a sort of command center for our online self. The advocates of this openness discuss such sci-fi goodies as geolocation and "ambient controls" that would let us decide, like a dimmer switch, how much social information we want to receive. (If you need to get something done, change the setting to "Hermit.") Keeping a close eye on your online identity might feel burdensome, like putting on a second set of clothes, but consider how much nicer it will be to manage how you look, rather than letting some algorithm do it for you.
When these frightful times of financial confusion and credit constipation become too much, I dial up Barack Obama on YouTube to suppress my anxieties. The Voice works like aerosolized Paxil on my limbic system, reducing my blood pressure and lifting my mood. If this president thing doesn't work out for him, I'm sure Obama could make a living recording evacuation tapes for the airline industry: "The aircraft … in which you are seated … is falling … at a rate that Bernoulli's principle … can not overcome. … As we crash … into the tarmac … please remain calm … unbuckle your safety belts … and walk in an orderly fashion … to the marked exits … to deplane." Obama smeared the American psyche with his oratorical ointment Jan. 8 as he implored Congress to pass his stimulus plan, which he doesn't call a stimulus plan. That would sound too down. In the Obama version, it's the upbeat "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." If you listen to the words, Obama promises a grim recession that "could linger for years," produce a double-digit unemployment rate, and destroy a "generation of potential and promise" if his package doesn't pass. But when I watched him in the video below, flanked by a pair of U.S. flags as if still campaigning for the job that he won two months ago, he made me feel oddly good about the challenges of coming economic Armageddon. Say, I said to myself, how does he do that? For one thing, he's better at remaining calmer and more deliberate in his speech patter than John Wayne in a firefight—and better at it than any politician since Ronald Reagan. If he's calm, I'm calm—even if my portfolio was last sighted burning its way to the bottom of the Bentley Subglacial Trench. Adopting a slightly scolding tone in today's speech without accusing anybody by name, he blamed such abstract scourges as corporate boardrooms, Wall Street, banks, "the halls of power in Washington, D.C.," and borrowers who took out loans they couldn't repay for the crisis. But like a dad who is tough-loving his wayward children back in line, he calls on us to "trade old habits for a new spirit of responsibility." Yes, we can be redeemed! Painting a sunshine-and-lollipop vista of fuel-efficient cars, high-quality health care, better schools, "new discoveries and entire new industries," a smart electric grid, and job security for cops and firefighters has a way of accentuating gain over pain. Avoiding talk about pain is one of his secrets. If there is a downside to Obama's "Recovery and Reinvestment"—or even a chance the Recovery and Reinvestment scheme won't work—he shares not a peep. How much will this Recovery and Reinvestment operation cost? Obama wisely avoids putting a price tag on it. But, again, it's not what Obama says that narcotizes the citizenry, but the way he says it. He can't possibly be certain that his plan will work, but he sells it as a done, settled deal, never showing a speck of doubt. Related in Slate During the 2008 campaign, Jack Shafer attempted to decode Obama's rhetoric and explained why nothing the press throws at him sticks. Continuity and this sort of "settledness" was a hallmark of Obama's campaign, and that strategy has evolved during the post-election period. At the exceedingly short press conferences that follow the introduction of some new administration hire, Obama often answers by saying he's answered that question before. Asked about the Iranian bomb on Nov. 7, he said, "Let me state—repeat what I stated during the course of the campaign." "Well, let me repeat a couple of things," he said on Dec. 11 when asked about Gov. Blagojevich's contact with his staff. When that didn't shake the reporters, he repeated his repetition. "In terms of our involvement, I'll repeat what I said earlier, which is I had no contact with the governor's office." Here are a few more examples of Obama's thanks-for-that-redundant-question response: "But as I have said consistently, I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders."—Dec. 1 "As I said throughout the campaign, I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office—responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control."—Dec. 1 "Well, keep in mind what I said during the campaign. And you were there most of the time."—Dec. 11 "As I have said repeatedly, I believe our government should provide short-term assistance to the auto industry to avoid a collapse."—Dec. 11 "With respect to the moratorium on off-shore drilling, what I said during the campaign was that I was open to the idea of off-shore drilling."—Dec. 15 [Emphasis added.] On the page, these Obamaisms read a little snotty, but on the tube, he sounds like a confidence-inspiring paragon of consistency: Everything is under control. All contingencies have been considered. The ship is sailing straight and true. The Obama pacification express slows, however, when the press corps refuses to let him determine when an issue is "settled," as happened at a March press conference. As this clip illustrates, the Tony Rezko controversy wasn't going to disappear just because Obama thought his answers had vanquished it. "Come on, guys, I answered, like, eight questions. We're running late," Obama said as he retreated. It so shattered my vision of Obama that my acid reflux was out of control for a week. Another way Obama stills the turbulent waters is by extolling bipartisanship, his old "there is no red-state America, there is no blue-state America" shtick. "American's security is not a partisan issue," he recently said. "I know we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and politics and work together as one nation. … I'm calling on all Americans—Democrats and Republicans—to put good ideas ahead of the old ideological battles, a sense of common purpose above the same narrow partisanship." Obama's endless hunt for common ground, his desire to bring Kumbaya moments to all, endears him to the multitudes. He's willing to work with everybody from the Republicans to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and even the Rev. Rick Warren, whom he has tapped to give a prayer at his inauguration. Defending his Warren invitation, which angered some gays and lesbians, Obama uncorked his stock explanation that we must be willing to "disagree without being disagreeable." According to the Chicago Tribune (Aug. 4, 2004), Obama borrowed the disagree/disagreeable trope from Sen. Paul Simon, who pinched it from "three dozen self-help books." I always blanch when Obama uses this construction because it deliberately marginalizes the views of anybody unwilling to match Obama's temperament—which is to say the rest of the planet. And I don't know which is more damning—the fact that Obama's cliché was plucked from a self-help book or that so many bobble-head in agreement whenever he uses it. "One of the keys to being well liked in Washington is to appear humble, which is why Washington is so full of people who are so unhumble when it comes to touting how humble they are. All of this comes naturally to Obama," Mark Leibovich wrote four years ago in an Obama profile for the Washington Post. If I understand Leibovich correctly—and I think I do—we like Obama because he's likable, and he's likable because 1) he knows how to be likable, and 2) he wants to be likable. Barack Obama, the ocean that refuses no river, will remain everybody's best friend until he makes his first tough decision. Only then shall we really begin to know him.
1. Guys hate sluts even though they have sex with them!2. "Hey, are you busy?" or "Are you doing something?" ~ two phrases guys open with to stop from stammering on the phone.3. Guys may be flirting around all day but before they go to sleep, they always think about the girl they truly care about.4. Before they call, guys try to plan out a little about what they're going to say so there aren't awkward pauses, but once he's on the phone he forgets it all and makes it up as he goes.5. Guys go crazy over a girl's smile when they’re attracted to them6. Guys will do anything just to get you to notice him.7. Guys hate it when you talk about your ex-boyfriend or ex love-interest. Unless they're going for the let-her-complain-to-you-and-then-have-her-realize-how-wonderful-and-nice-you-are method.8. A guy who likes you wants to be the only guy you talk to.9. Boyfriends need to be reassured often that they're still loved.10. Don't talk about your guy friends to your boyfriend.11. Guys get jealous easily.12. Guys are more emotional than they'd like people to think.13. Giving a guy a hanging message like "You know what?!..uh...never mind.." would make him jump to a conclusion that is far from what you are thinking. And he'll assume he did something wrong and he'll obsess about it trying to figure it out.14. Guys are good flatterers when courting but they usually stammer when they talk to a girl they really like.15. Guys hate asking parents for money to buy girls presents. So they come up with ideas like saving their lunch money for a week. But it never works because guys are always hungry so they end up asking the parents for money anyway.16. Girls are guys' weaknesses.17. Guys are very open about themselves.18. It's good to test a guy first before you trust him. But don't let him wait too long.19. Your best friend, whom your boyfriend seeks help from about his problems with you may end up being admired by your boyfriend.20. If a guy tells you about his problems, he just needs someone to listen to him. You don't need to give advice.21. A usual act that proves that the guy likes you is when he teases you.22. Guys love you more than you love them if they are serious in your relationships.23. Guys will brag about anything.24. Guys use words like hot or cute to describe girls. We rarely use beautiful. If a guy uses that, he likes you a whole hell of a lot.25. Guys think WAY too much. One small thing a girl does, even if she doesn't notice it can make the guy think about it for hours, trying to figure out what it meant.26. Guys seek for advice from girls not other guys. Because most guys think alike, so if one guy's confused, then we're all confused.27. Any guy could write out a rulebook or advice book for flirting, but no guy can write out a book about relationships.28. Try to be as straightforward as possible.29. A guy has to experience rejection, because if he'stoo-good-never-been-busted, never been in love and hurt, he won't be mature and grown up.30. If the guy does something stupid in front of the girl, he will think about it for the next couple days or until the next time he spends time with the girl.31. No matter how much guys talk about asses and boobs, personality is key.32. Guys learn from experience not from the romance books that girls read and take as their basis of experience.33. Guys worry about the thin line between being compassionate and being whipped.34. If a guy looks unusually calm and laid back, he's probably faking it and is spazzing inside.35. When a guy says he is going crazy about the girl, he really is. Guys rarely say that.36. When a guy asks you to leave him alone, he's just actually saying, "Please come and listen to me."37. Guys don't really have final decisions.38. If a guy starts to talk seriously, listen to him. It doesn't happen that often, so when it does, you know something's up.39. If your best guy friend seems to avoid you or is never around when you're with your boyfriend, he's probably jealous and likes you.40. When a guy looks at you for longer than a second, he's definitely thinking something.41. Guys like femininity not feebleness.42. Guys don't like girls who punch harder than they do.43. A guy has more problems than you can see with your naked eyes.44. Don't be a snob. Guys can be intimidated and give up easily.45. Everything in moderation. Put on makeup, wear perfume. Just not too much.46. Guys talk about girls more than girls talk about guys.47. Guys hate rejection, but they hate being led on even more.48. Guys really think that girls are strange and have unpredictable decisions and are MAD confusing but somehow are drawn even more to them.49. A guy would give his left nut to be able to read a girl's mind for a day.50. No guy can handle all his problems on his own. He's just too stubborn to admit it.51. Not all guys are assholes. Just because ONE is a jackass doesn’t mean he represents ALL of us.52. We don't like girls who are too skinny.53. We love it when girls talk about there ass.54. Always make sure you know what kind of stuff your getting into before making out with a guy , like whether it's a one time deal or not .55. Believe it or not shy guys are the most easiest to talk to. It may not seem right but trust me they will start opening up like books after you just ask them questions about their lives and unnoticeable tell them about yours.56. When a guy hits your butt it means that he wants you sexually.57. Even if they refuse it all guys are ticklish on the ribs.58. Guys love neck rubs and if he lets you keep doing it, it means that he really likes you or his neck really hurts.59. Guys will test the waters to see how far they can get with you. Even if he doesn't intend to it will happen. Know how far it is you want to let him go and he will respect that after you let him know a couple times.60. When a guy sacrifices his sleep and health just to be with you, he really likes you and wants to be with you as much as possible.
A list of 51 different things that girls wish guys knew1. When you see a girl with huge knockers, do not go "Damn!" and then laugh appreciatively to yourself - we can hear you. 2. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials. 3. If you don't act like soap-opera guys, don't expect us to dress like Victoria Secret models. 4. Mark anniversaries on a calendar. 5. There is no such thing as too much spooning. 6. Just because you L the C doesn't mean we have to S the D. 7. This is how we see it . . . Don't call = Don't Care. 8. Which also means that if we don't call, take the hint. 9. We like you to be a little jealous . . . but overly possessive is not necessary. 10. Putting things in our butt does not turn us on. 11. Return favors: we massage, you massage; we shave, you shave (and not just your face). 12. Foreplay is not an option . . . its a prerequisite. 13. We're allowed to be late . . . you are not. 14. Eye contact is key. 15. Don't take longer to get ready than we do. 16. Laugh at our jokes. 17. Three words . . . honesty, honesty, honesty. 18. Girls can be groupies. Guy groupies are stalkers. 19. We never have to wonder if your orgasm was real. 20. Do not start with us. You will not win... not kidding .. we ALWAYS win 21. Would you like it if a guy treated your sister that way? We didn't think so. 22. If you ask nicely, we usually answer the same way. 23. We will never have enough clothes or shoes! Ever!24. We have an excuse to act bitchy at least once a month. Come on guys...most of you have more PMS then us girls..25. Open the door for us no matter where we are . . . even at our house and getting into the car. I know it seems like a lot but is it that hard?26. We love surprises! 27. We liked to be kissed softly, not with an iron tongue. 28.Pay attention to the little things we do, because they mean the most. 29. Boxers and maybe boxer briefs sometiems . . . NEVER whitey-tighties, NEVER! 30. Clean your room before we come over. 31. Always brush your teeth before you see us . . . a fresh mouth and white teeth are a necessity plus we do the same for you. 32. When we use our teeth it means that you suck at going down on us, so we are just returning the favor. 33. Even though you are sometimes insensitive and hurt us, we still love you with everything we are. 34. Sometimes even when you think we hate you, we don't, we just want you to apologize so we can be allowed to love you again 35. Don't act hard around your friends because I won't make you hard tonight. AKA don't be an ass36. Sometimes "NO!" really means "NO!" 37. "Wife Beaters" are not an adequate form of fashion. 38. If we wanted to be on video tape, we'd be a porn star not your girlfriend. 39. Sensitive guys are great . . . but crying more than we do in a movie just isn't right. 40. Don't let ex-girlfriends cause drama, relationships are stressful enough!!!!! 41. It takes a special kind of stupid to forget birthdays. 42. Guys who are good cuddlers = guys who know how to satisfy a woman. 43. "Fat Chicks" have feelings too--all chicks have feelings. 44. Silent treatment + shoulder shrugs + tears + yelling + nasty looks = YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG! 45. If you are not a good dancer, please be self-aware. 46. Just because a girl doesn't pick up on the first ring doesn't mean she's not waiting by the phone. 47. You don't have to spend a lot, if it means a lot. 48. Don't say you love me if you don't mean it. 49. Don't lie to us . . . we will catch you...eventually we always catch you. 50. When the girls get together, we talk about EVERYTHING. Meaning my best friends knows everything about you. 51. Don't Make Promises You Can't Keep (Thanks to Katie Brown, good idea to add this one.)#52 - Don't tell your girl "I saw "this thing" that you would have loved and I was going to buy it for you..." or " I was going to buy you "fill in the blank"... but then didn't for whatever reason. If you didn't buy it we don't want to hear about it, all that does is create disppointment. Either buy it or shut up about it.53. A quote from Sex and the City submitted by MollyAdam: Well then c'mon....give me a BJ. Up and down a couple of times; you're done....its easy!!Samantha: Easy? You men have no idea what we're dealing with down there; Teeth placement and jaw stress and suction and gag reflex and all the while bopping up and down, moaning, and trying to breathe through our noses. Easy? Honey....they dont call it a job for nothing!!SO TRUE!!!!
Britney Spears' heavily hyped comeback will culminate with the release of "Circus" on Dec. 2., the same day she turns 27. And while you'd think her birthday would be a time for her to reflect on the choices she's made that have led her to her current circumstances -- her father in control of her life; custody of sons Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden James, 2, lost to ex-husband Kevin Federline -- she instead seems to be blocking out some of her past behavior.
"I didn't think my husband was gonna leave me," Brit tells Rolling Stone in a new cover story optimistically titled "Yes She Can!" (and somewhere, Barack Obama's press office sighs heavily). "Otherwise, I'd be with my babies 24/7. But since they're almost like twins, they both take care of each other. I think they look like me. They don't look like their father at all."
And even though Spears' own mother said last month that Federline "could have been a real pill about a lot of things, but he wasn't," the popster apparently doesn't think he's doing a perfect parenting job.
"And it's weird 'cause they're starting to learn words like 'stupid,' and Preston says the f-word now sometimes. He doesn't get it from us. He must get it from his daddy," finger-points Britney. "I say it, but not around my kids."
How quickly she's forgotten her memorable tirade against a paparazzo in July 2007 while driving around with her tots. In video of the incident, Spears rolls down the window of her Mercedes and, as her kids wail heartbreakingly in the backseat, tells the shutterbug, "Hey, baby. When are you gonna get on a diet? Have you ever tried Weight Watchers, you fat [bleep]? Why don't you run? You need to [bleeping] jog, you p***y. Yeah, run. Run, b***h!"
Anyhoo, Britney plays the proud mother in the carefully orchestrated sit-down ("We were never left alone together, and my questions had to be submitted ahead of time for approval," the reporter tells USA Today), marveling at how fast they're growing up and sharing a personal anecdote.
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"Every time they come to visit me, I think about how they're such special people," says Spears, who is allowed two visits and one overnight per week with her sons. "Like, they're going to preschool now! I went there to pick them up on Friday, and seeing them in their little classroom and seeing Jayden being bad or not listening? It's like, those are mine, and it's just crazy, you know what I mean?"
Bubbles Brit, "And the things that are coming out of their mouths right now -- they're learning so much, and it's new, and you never know what they're going to say, and they're so smart yet so innocent. They're obsessed with monsters, and every night we look outside, and we have to show them that there's no monsters out there. It's dark outside, but there's nothin' out there, you know?"
Speaking of things that go bump in the night, the days when she would drive aimlessly around into the wee hours with an army of paparazzi in tow are long gone.
"I feel like an old person now," sighs Spears, who compared her life to "Groundhog Day" in her new documentary, which debuts on MTV on Nov. 30. "I do! I go to bed at, like, 9:30 every night, and I don't go out or anything, you know what I mean? I just feel like an old fart."
Not that her life is completely devoid of fun. She reveals how she's gone on a few chaperoned dates, although neither resulted in a love connection.
"One of the dates I had recently, I was accompanied by my assistant Brett and my manager Larry Rudolph's friend Adam Leber," recalls Britney, who stepped out last week with a chiseled fella named Marco. "Right when we got there, we just knew it was just bad. He looked like an older version of Harry Potter, but skinnier. So I had to get dessert first."
And then there was a meet-and-greet with a gentleman who "was really, really tall and a lot older. We're trying to ask him questions, like, 'OK, you're into martial arts, so what kind of martial arts are you into?' And he was like, 'Oh, all kinds.' So we were just cracking up."
For now, it's all work and little play for Spears, who jetted to Europe on Monday to promote "Circus."
One unnamed track, which she says she wrote, is about "artistic expression and the masquerade of people acting and putting on shows," explains Brit. "Through that, you create your own world. The song talks about how other people are coming into this girl's world, but she didn't invite them in. So she's saying, 'Why are you here, if I didn't invite you?' It's complicated, but you can tell it's me who wrote it, because it's in my voice and there's a difference."
Still, she's worried about revealing too much of herself to the public, which has already been witness to her flashed lady parts and her ambulance-chauffeured trip to the hospital.
"It's scary to put yourself out there and be like, 'Oh, God, is that cool?' If you're not going to really go for it, you can't just go there halfway," says Britney. "But sometimes, when you go for it, you can't lose."
With exactly two weeks to go before Britney Spears completes her much-ballyhooed comeback with the release of "Circus," the publicity machine has cranked into overdrive with the release of some attention-grabbing (and, we're guessing, slightly out-of-context) excerpts from her new documentary.
"I have really good days, and then I have bad days," she admits in "Britney: For the Record" (via People and the London Sun), a 90-minute, behind-the-scenes look at her life since her epic and painfully extended public meltdown.
According to Spears, who turns 27 on the same day "Circus" is released, her current, closely monitored circumstances are kind of like being in prison -- or a Bill Murray movie.
"Even when you go to jail, you know, there's the time when you're gonna get out," sighs Brit, who is legally unable to make any major decisions (her father, Jamie, remains her permanent guardian until the court says otherwise). "But in this situation, it's never-ending. It's just like 'Groundhog Day.'"
And while Murray's character eventually changed and grew and became a better person by being forced to live the same day over and over again, Britney appears to chafe a bit from the more structured, less aimless-driving-and-gas-station-stop existence.
"I think it's too in-control. If I wasn't under the restraints I'm under, I'd feel so liberated. When I tell them the way I feel, it's like they hear but they're really not listening," says the popster, who also reckons there's a lack of "passion" and "excitement." "I never wanted to become one of those prisoner people. I always wanted to feel free."
But Spears, who lost custody of sons Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden James, 2, to ex-husband Kevin Federline following a January police standoff and her subsequent hospitalization, seems to realize the road to recovery -- both personal and professional -- is long and bumpy.
"If you do something wrong in your work, you can move on," she figures, "but I'm having to pay for a long time."
Brit hopes the documentary, which tracks three months in her life and debuts on MTV on Nov. 30, will offer a positive look at the strides she's made since her head-shaving, paparazzo-dating, gurney-strapped nadir.
"I wanted to make this film because I started to feel like I wasn't being seen in the light that I wanted to be seen in," she explains. "This is an opportunity to set the record straight and talk about what I've been through and where I'm headed."
Concludes the optimistic Britster, "I think I've learned my lesson now, and enough is enough."
Talk of Trouble and Public Tiffs Hits Lindsay and Sam
Posted Nov. 24, 2008
The good news is that the tabloids are treating Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson like any other Hollywood couple. The bad news is the inevitable rift rumors have begun.
According to the London Daily Mirror, the joined-at-the-hip honeys had a tiff Thursday night at the ridiculously opulent and star-packed kickoff party for the Atlantis resort in Dubai.
Lindsay, 22, was allegedly miffed because she felt Ronson, 31, who had been hired to DJ at the $20 million shindig, was focused more on her tune-spinning than on her.
The paper claims the underemployed actress "collapsed in a heap before storming angrily" to the DJ booth as the bash wound down.
"How many more songs were you going to play?" Lohan is said to have hollered. "How long does it take to pack? It takes five minutes. PACK!"
At that point, designer Matthew Williamson purportedly popped up to play amateur mediator, saying, "Now Sam, you speak first, then Lindsay, it's your turn."
This is the latest report of squabbling between the squeezes to surface, with similar tales emerging from their recent stops in London and New York.
They're "fighting like cats and dogs," a source tattles to the New York Post. "They fight every day, screaming, crying and yelling at each other. Sam and Lindsay are still very much together and very much in love, but drama just seems to follow Lindsay, and Sam hates it. She deals with Lindsay every day. And every day for Sam means questioning, 'Is this worth it?'"
Adds another source, "Lindsay is high-maintenance and a lot to deal with. Sam has always dealt with her. But it isn't easy."
The paper claims Lohan and Ronson are seeing a couples counselor in order to work through some of their ostensibly "escalating" problems, although a rep for the actress says she knows nothing about the supposed therapy sessions.
Romance Report: 'Full-On' Makeouts and 'Super' Flirtiness
Posted Nov. 24, 2008
If David Spade could find a way to bottle the seemingly irresistible pheromones he emits when among the opposite sex, he'd be so stinkin' rich he'd never have to co-star in another second-rate sitcom again. The funnyman, whose inexplicably impressive romantic history includes wooing Heather Locklear, reportedly offered the gift of saliva to Nicollette Sheridan at her 45th birthday party Friday night at Los Angeles hot spot Luau, the same place they were seen enjoying a "deep conversation" last month. Word is, Spade and the veteran "Desperate Housewives" vixen arrived separately and remained out of smooching range for part of the evening before coming together for some snuggle time. "They cuddled and kissed," a spy tells People. "They were full-on making out in a booth." But did that same spy share the sighting with several other media outlets? Us, OK! and E! News all just happen use the same "full-on making out" line in their reports of the birthday bussing, with the latter two also noting how Nicollette and David "cuddled and kissed." Anyhoodle, insiders say the two aren't an item, although People's eyewitness relays how Spade "winked at her and stood by her side while she blew out the candles on her cake." Sheridan, you'll recall, split with fiancé Michael Bolton in August, while Spade became a reluctant first-time dad in August when Playboy Playmate Jillian Grace gave birth to a baby girl.
Maybe Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Bosworth are just really tactile people, but their surprisingly demonstrative behavior at GQ's Men of the Year bash last week in Los Angeles raised more than a few eyebrows. "They were really close together and acted super flirty," a snitch tells People of the comely pair. "They just kept getting closer as the night went on." Later, the fat-free starlet, who began dating model James Rousseau soon after she parted ways with Orlando Bloom in 2006, joined the actor, who's been on-and-off with model Bar Refaeli for the last couple of years, at hot spot Bardot, where their newfound chumminess supposedly continued. "Kate was all over Leo," a clubgoer informs Star. "Her body language suggested that she wanted to be more than just friends and wasn't worried who saw. They spent the entire night together side by side, intimately whispering in each other's ears and squeezing each other tight." Adds the hawk-eyed, conclusion-drawing witness, "Leo and Kate acted as if there was no one else in the club. She was making sure his focus was solely on her, and the black skintight dress she was wearing certainly helped."
Nothing says "I'm single and loving it" quite like strapping on a shiny pleather minidress and matching spats, Bedazzling a policeman's hat, uncomfortably arching your back and striking a pose. At least that seemed to be Paris Hilton's strategy Sunday night as she showed off how well she's doing in the post-Benji Madden era by styling a shiny, airtight ensemble for a Pussycat Dolls event in Los Angeles. Speaking of the split, the starlet told Ryan Seacrest last week that she and Benji were just "taking a break," but the Chicago Sun-Times thinks there may be a ulterior motive behind the Ross-and-Rachel-like breather, namely, a romantic experiment. A Paris insider tells the paper that she wants "to know if she absolutely can't stand to be apart from him. ... That's her test to make sure this is the guy for her ... something she's never felt before with anyone." If true, she seems to be failing the test. The London Daily Mirror says she made a beeline for Los Angeles hot spot Villa on Friday night with pal Avril Lavigne after hearing her ex was hanging out there with twin brother Joel. But someone apparently tipped Benji off, because he made a hasty exit just moments before she arrived, allegedly grumbling, "Can't I have a night out in peace?"
You'd figure that British chef Gordon Ramsay wouldn't have a second to spare in his ridiculously busy life, filled as it is with his eatery empire and a gazillion different TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic. But Britain's News of the World claims the tongue-lashing- and four-letter-word-loving restaurant mogul, who has four kids with wife of 12 years Tana, recently carved some time out of his packed schedule to rendezvous at a London hotel with mistress extraordinaire Sarah Symonds, who is the author of the book "Having an Affair? A Handbook for the 'Other Woman,'" a how-to tryst tome that she promoted on "Oprah" last year. While Ramsay is remaining tight-lipped on the accusations (the tabloid contends the purported affair began in 2001 and continued off-and-on), a mole tells Metro.UK that he may sue. "There are so many holes in this story," insists the insider. "I'm not going to say what those holes are, but it is going to the legal team." The Ramsays, who were named Celebrity Family of the Year in 2007 (Ramsay received Father of the Year honors the year before), made a point to stand together in the wake of the allegations. "Everything is fine," the chef's spokesman assured the London Sun. "Life is good and it's business as usual for their marriage." The embattled pair reinforced that status quo statement by walking hand-in-hand on Sunday in front of photographers. The following day, Mrs. Ramsay showed no signs of turmoil as she took the kids to school. When asked how she was doing, she smiled and responded, "I'm good, thanks for asking." As for Symonds, she's also mum on the report, although she did declare late last year, "I am reformed. I would rather be alone than ever again have to face the utter loneliness a mistress feels in an affair."
One thing that apparently differentiates Paul McCartney's yearlong romance with American businesswoman Nancy Shevell from his ultimately disastrous relationship with Heather Mills, besides a distinct lack of drama: His onstage repertoire has expanded. The Times of London reports that when Shevell accompanied the Beatles legend to his concert in Tel Aviv last month, he performed "My Love," a song he wrote in honor of his wife, Linda, who succumbed to cancer in 1998. Seems Mills would "stomp out" if he played it, so he removed it from the set list; Nancy, on the other hand, was unconcerned when he dedicated the Wings ditty to Linda, and she looked on "adoringly" as he sang. "I just like being in love," Sir Paul reveals to the paper, offering no further details about Shevell, who accompanied him on a road trip across the U.S. over the summer. She's equally circumspect, but shrugs off a question as to whether his iconic status stresses her out. "I don't find it stressful," Shevell tells the paper. "I'm a cancer survivor, I run a trucking company and I've got a 16-year-old to raise. That's stress."
Looks like French actress-model Noemie Lenoir won't have to buy baby wipes in bulk. The New York Post says she steering clear of hygienically minded Terrence Howard, who reportedly serenaded her at a Miami bash a few days back. After the story surfaced, Lenoir was supposedly bombarded with cautionary tales. "Calls were flooding into her agency," a source tells the paper. "At least 50 women called to tell Noemie to stay away after seeing the Page Six item. She now wants nothing to do with him."
Celebrity Quotes: What Celebrities Are Thankful for This Year
Associated Press
Being rich and/or famous doesn't stop Hollywood from taking a moment to gorge on turkey and take stock of this year's blessings. The Associated Press asked dozens of celebrities what they're thankful for. Here are just a few samples:
"I am grateful for so many
... more things in 2008. I feel like there's a chance of real promise in this country." — singer Faith Hill. "I think we want to be, most of all, thankful for the fans. This year, they've been always sticking around for us, always been there for us. The fans are the best. They've come to every concert. They've slept outside (of) venues. And we can't thank them enough." — Joe Jonas of... more the Jonas Brothers. "Health. It's all about health. My health. My loved ones' health. We're all here. We're all OK. As I get older (starts to chuckle) we're all hanging on! What's going to happen next year? So far, we made it through another one." — musician Barry Manilow.
"I'm thankful that America actually stood up and did something quite extraordinary (with the election). ... I've been over here for 12 years and I have a green card and I've been delaying becoming a citizen because I was really troubled by the politics in this country, and sort
... more of befuddled by it." — Australian actor Simon Baker, "The Mentalist."
"Mostly it's my family. I think I've realized that mostly this year, because there's been so many crazy ups and downs, and so many different things, and I've always had the same family to come home to that will treat me like the same Miley as I was in Nashville. So, cool." —
"On a personal level, my family's health. And on a global level, I guess everyone still has hope, and I like that." — actor John Travolta.
"In 2008 my son was born, Zuma Nesta Rock. So, that is clearly the most massive thing for me. ... I lucked out because my wife is really good with him. So, right now (wife Gwen Stefani is) doing most of it. So, my life hasn't changed that much, drastically. But it's incredible
... more to have another little spirit right there." — musician Gavin Rossdale.
"I'm just blessed to have two very lovely children in my life, and health. It's something people don't think about a lot. I'm very lucky to be healthy and have healthy kids." — actress Reese Witherspoon.
"I'm most thankful that our country reminded everybody that we are a part of the world, and we're capable of incredible greatness in this country." — actress Mary Steenburgen.
"I'm grateful for all the times I laughed this year. That sounds crazy, but as you get older, you really take a moment and go, 'I laughed there, I had a sweet moment there. I took my kid to (hamburger restaurant) In-N-Out.' You know, I've to say, that's it for me pretty much
... moreat this point in my life: Just take those moments." — actress Rene Russo.
Madelyn Dunham, who watched from afar as her only grandson rapidly ascended the ranks of U.S. politics to the brink of the presidency, did not live to see whether he was elected.
Dunham, 86, Senator Barack Obama's grandmother, died late Sunday evening in Hawaii after battling cancer, which Obama announced upon arriving here Monday for a campaign stop on the eve of Election Day.
"She has gone home," Obama said, his voice tinged with emotion as he briefly spoke of her death at a campaign rally here. "She died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side, so there's great joy instead of tears."
Obama learned of his grandmother's death at 8 a.m. Monday, aides said, but appeared at a morning rally in Florida without making an announcement. A written statement was issued around 4:30 p.m., in the name of Obama and his sister, before he spoke at an evening rally in Charlotte. The delay was intended to allow his sister, who was six hours behind in Hawaii, time to take care of a few details before news of the death became public.
Dunham was the final remaining immediate family member who helped raise Obama during his teenage years in Hawaii. He called her Toot, his shorthand for "tutu," a Hawaiian term for grandparent.
Obama broke from the presidential campaign trail in late October to travel to Honolulu to bid his grandmother farewell. He spent part of two days with her, as she lay gravely ill in the small apartment where he lived from age 10 to 18.
While Dunham was too sick to travel to see her grandson on the campaign trail, Obama and other family members said that she closely followed his bid for the presidency through cable television. Yet she became a figure in his campaign, seen through images in television commercials intended to give him a biographical anchor.
Dunham, who grew up near August, Kansas, moved with her husband, Stanley Dunham, to Hawaii. In the early stages of his candidacy, Obama spoke wistfully about his grandparents, whose all-American biography suddenly was critical to establishing his own story.
For Obama, the loss came on the final full day of his presidential campaign. Campaigning in New Mexico, Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, offered their condolences Monday, saying: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to them as they remember and celebrate the life of someone who had such a profound impact in their lives."
His grandmother's illness had been weighing on him in recent weeks, friends said, which is why he insisted on interrupting his schedule to visit her last month. While she was gravely ill, aides said, Obama carried on a limited conversation with her. He kept the visit to one day, advisers said, partly out of her own insistence that people not create a fuss.
Even during the darkest hours of his presidential campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois held on to his improbable, unshakable conviction that America was ready to step across the color line.
On Tuesday, America leaped.
Millions of voters — white and black, Hispanic and Asian, biracial and multiracial — put their faith and the future of their country into the hands of a 47-year-old black man who made history both because of his race and in spite of it.
African-Americans wept and danced in the streets on Tuesday night, declaring that a once-reluctant nation had finally lived up to its democratic promise. Strangers of all colors exulted in small towns and big cities. And white voters marveled at what they had wrought in turning a page on the country's bitter racial history.
"It brought tears to my eyes to see the lines," said Bob Haskins, a black maintenance worker at an Atlanta church, where scores of college students voted on Tuesday. "For these young folks, this is a calling. Everything that Martin Luther King talked about is coming true today."
Tobey Benas, a retired teacher who voted for Obama in Chicago, also savored the moment: "I can't believe how far we've come," said Benas, who is white. "This goes very deep for me."
In a country long divided, Obama had a singular appeal: He is biracial and Ivy League educated; a stirring speaker who shoots hoops and quotes the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr; a politician who grooves to the rapper Jay-Z and loves the lyricism of the cellist Yo Yo Ma; a man of remarkable control and startling boldness.
He was also something completely new: an African-American presidential candidate without a race-based agenda. And his message of unity and his promise of a new way of thinking seemed to inspire — or least offer some reassurance — to a country staggered by two wars, a convulsing economy and sometimes bewildering global change.
Americans, of course, have not suddenly become colorblind or forgotten old wounds. But millions of white citizens clearly decided Obama was preferable to the alternative, even if some had to swallow hard when they walked into the voting booth.
"In difficult economic times, people find the price of prejudice is just a little bit too high," said Governor Michael Easley of North Carolina, a white Democrat. "They're saying, 'We don't care what your race is. If you can make things better, we're for you.' "
Easley said he knew big changes were coming when he passed a pickup on the road a few weeks ago. The white driver, who looked like he had been hunting, was wearing camouflage apparel and had a gun rack in his truck. Easley said he was sure he was looking at a McCain supporter — until he saw the Obama stickers plastered on the door.
"I thought to myself, 'We might be winning now,' " Easley said. "We could cross that chasm, we could cross the Rubicon this time."
Confident in the country's ability to move beyond racial politics, Obama had his finger on the pulse of a nation in transition.
Day by day, year by year, racial tensions have eased as black and white classmates giggle over scribbled notes, co-workers gossip over cups of coffee, predominantly white audiences bond with Oprah and people have grown accustomed to black executives on Wall Street, black movie stars in Hollywood and black cabinet secretaries in the Oval Office.
Still, the fact that Americans would be willing, at last, to elect a black president stunned many scholars, politicians and advocates for civil rights. They remain keenly aware of the nation's record of denying black aspirations — from the time African slaves were forced to these shores nearly 400 years ago, to the broken promises of Reconstruction, to the bloody resistance to the civil rights movement in the 1960s, to the last lynching of a black man in 1981.
"The history of the country is such that you wonder when, if ever, certain things will ever happen," said Representative James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who is 68. "You sit down and you say, 'How did the Lord allow me to be a part of all this? Why not my mother and father or their parents? Why me?' "
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard scholar of African-American history, said that the election rivaled the day in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and the day 101 years later when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Then Gates declared, "There's never been a moment like this in our lifetime, ever."
For older blacks, Obama's victory was particularly momentous. They marveled as they compared the scenes of white policemen beating black marchers in the 1960s to those from this year's campaign rallies where thousands of white people waved American flags and chanted, "O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!"
Richard Hatcher, who became one of the nation's first black mayors when he was elected in 1967 to lead Gary, Indiana, said he believed the election would reshape the perceptions that blacks and whites have of each other.
"That's the great hope," Hatcher said. "We do not have to be absolutely obsessed with the issue of race anymore. There's no reason why the vision of America cannot be real."
A century or so ago, such optimism was unthinkable. Before the Civil War, only two black people — a justice of the peace and a township clerk — had managed to get elected to public office in the entire country.
The prospects for black politicians were so dim that Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist, when asked what he might do as president, dismissed the question as absurd, saying, "No such contingency has even one chance in 60 million to be realized."
After black men won the right to vote in 1870, they sent 23 African-Americans to Congress over the next three decades. But by 1901, when the last black lawmaker of that era left Capitol Hill, Southern whites had disenfranchised blacks, using, among other devices, the poll tax, intimidation and violence.
By the time Obama announced his White House bid last year, though, white voters had elected black members of Congress, state legislators, mayors, even governors. This year, 70 percent of white adults surveyed in a New York Times/CBS News poll said the United States was ready to elect a black president.
Still, most of the political establishment — black and white — thought that Obama had no chance. Previous black presidential candidates had never drawn significant white votes. And Obama, only the third black lawmaker ever elected to the Senate, had an unusual biography — a white mother from Kansas, black father from Kenya, a childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia — and a relatively thin résumé.
But once the primary season started, it became clear that Obama had a persona and a message that resonated deeply with voters. Variously a soaring orator, a sober policy wonk, an urgent promoter of change and a steady leader, he displayed a gift for finding consensus that let him draw support from people who might disagree with each other.
African-Americans, wary at first of a candidate who had not emerged from the civil rights movement or the black church, soon embraced him. And though he struggled to win over white, working-class voters, many whites were attracted to a candidate who rarely talked about race and focused on their concerns about the war in Iraq, health care and the economy.
His biracial background may have reassured voters who might otherwise have felt uneasy, said Governor James Doyle of Wisconsin, a white Democrat. "He has understood that occasionally white people say things that can be hurtful and can still be wonderful, loving people."
Yet Obama also expressed pride in his African-American identity. Gates, the Harvard professor, called Obama "the postmodern race man."
"He can wear it, he can take it off, he can put it back on. It's just an aspect of his identity," Gates said. "People don't see him primarily as black. I think people see him primarily as an agent of change."
Obama is a student of history, and he turned to it in delivering the speech in March that many believed saved a candidacy threatened by his ties to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose 2003 "God damn America" sermon became notorious.
The senator spoke of the legacy of slavery, of black grievance and white resentment, and of the possibility of redemption.
"I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy — particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own," he said then. "But what we know — what we have seen — is that America can change."
"The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society," Obama added. "It's that he spoke as if our society was static, as if no progress has been made."
Civil rights leaders cautioned that much work remains to be done. But Lattrell Foster of Chicago, 32, who voted for the first time on Tuesday, was still close to tears as he considered the enormity of the nation's progress and vowed to tell his children about it. "Just like my grandparents told me what it was like during the civil rights movement," he said. "I feel like this night is a culmination of that history."
Why has America turned on Sarah Palin? Obviously, her wobbly television interviews haven't helped. Nor have the drip, drip of scandals from Alaska, which have tarnished her reformist image. But Palin's problems run deeper, and they say something fundamental about the political age being born. Palin's brand is culture war, and in America today culture war no longer sells. The struggle that began in the 1960s - which put questions of racial, sexual and religious identity at the forefront of American politics - may be ending. Palin is the end of the line.
This won't be the first time a culture war has come to a close. In the 1920s, battles over evolution, immigration, prohibition and the resurgent Ku Klux Klan dominated election after election. Those issues pitted newly arrived, saloon-frequenting, big-city Catholics against old-stock, teetotaling, small-town Protestants.
Then, in the 1930s, the culture war died. A big reason was the Depression, which put questions of economic survival front and centre. In the 1920s boom economy, politicians were largely free to focus on identity politics. By Franklin Roosevelt's election in 1932, that was a luxury leaders could no longer afford.
The other thing that killed the '20s culture war was generational change. Over time, Catholics and other immigrants left their ghettos and began to assimilate. The cut-off of mass immigration in 1924 ushered in an era of cultural consolidation in which the differences among white Americans came to matter less and less. When Democrats nominated a Catholic, Al Smith, for president in 1928, he lost in a landslide. But by 1960, when they nominated John Kennedy, he grabbed a far larger share of the Protestant vote, and won.
Something similar is happening today. Our era's culture war also began in prosperity. It was in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the high point of America's postwar boom, that African Americans took to the streets in vast numbers to demand equal rights. And it was in the early 1960s, as a result of the vast increase in postwar college enrolment, that students began challenging the conformity of American life. Middle-class baby boomers sparked the movements for women's rights and gay rights and the rise in blue-state secularism, all of which helped touch off this era's culture war. The relationship between prosperity and cultural conflict is not exact, of course, but it is significant that during this era's culture war we have gone a quarter-century without a serious recession.
Economic issues have mattered in presidential elections, of course, but not until today have we faced an economic crisis so grave that it made cultural questions seem downright trivial.
In 2000, in the wake of an economic boom and a sex scandal that led to a president's impeachment, 22 per cent of Americans told exit pollsters that "moral values" were their biggest concern, compared with only 19 per cent who cited the economy.
Today, according to a recent poll, the economy is up to 44 per cent and "issues like abortion, guns and same-sex marriage" down to only 6 per cent.
It is no coincidence that Palin's popularity has plummeted as the financial crisis has taken centre stage. From her championing of small-town America to her efforts to link Barack Obama to former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, Palin is treading a path well-worn by Republicans in recent decades. She is depicting the campaign as a struggle between the culturally familiar and the culturally threatening, the culturally traditional and the culturally exotic. But Obama has dismissed those attacks as irrelevant, and the public, focused nervously on the economic collapse, has largely tuned them out.
Palin's attacks are also failing because of generational change.
The long-running, internecine baby boomer cultural feud is not that relevant to Americans who came of age after the civil rights, gay rights and feminist revolutions. Even many younger evangelicals are broadening their agendas beyond abortion, stem cells, school prayer and gay marriage. And just as younger Protestants found JFK less threatening than their parents had found Al Smith, younger whites - even in bright-red states - do not view the prospect of a black president with great alarm.
The economic challenges of the coming era are complicated, fascinating and terrifying, while the cultural battles of the 1960s feel increasingly stale. If John McCain loses, the Republicans will probably choose someone like Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, or the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, to lead it back from the wilderness, someone who - although socially conservative - speaks fluently about the nation's economic plight and does not try to substitute identity for policy.
Although she seems like a fresh face, Sarah Palin actually represents the end of an era. She may be the last culture warrior on a national ticket for a very long time.
Peter Beinart is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Washington Post
Economic issues have mattered in presidential elections, of course, but not until today have we faced an economic crisis so grave that it made cultural questions seem downright trivial.
In 2000, in the wake of an economic boom and a sex scandal that led to a president's impeachment, 22 per cent of Americans told exit pollsters that "moral values" were their biggest concern, compared with only 19 per cent who cited the economy.
Today, according to a recent poll, the economy is up to 44 per cent and "issues like abortion, guns and same-sex marriage" down to only 6 per cent.
It is no coincidence that Palin's popularity has plummeted as the financial crisis has taken centre stage. From her championing of small-town America to her efforts to link Barack Obama to former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, Palin is treading a path well-worn by Republicans in recent decades. She is depicting the campaign as a struggle between the culturally familiar and the culturally threatening, the culturally traditional and the culturally exotic. But Obama has dismissed those attacks as irrelevant, and the public, focused nervously on the economic collapse, has largely tuned them out.
Palin's attacks are also failing because of generational change.
The long-running, internecine baby boomer cultural feud is not that relevant to Americans who came of age after the civil rights, gay rights and feminist revolutions. Even many younger evangelicals are broadening their agendas beyond abortion, stem cells, school prayer and gay marriage. And just as younger Protestants found JFK less threatening than their parents had found Al Smith, younger whites - even in bright-red states - do not view the prospect of a black president with great alarm.
The economic challenges of the coming era are complicated, fascinating and terrifying, while the cultural battles of the 1960s feel increasingly stale. If John McCain loses, the Republicans will probably choose someone like Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, or the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, to lead it back from the wilderness, someone who - although socially conservative - speaks fluently about the nation's economic plight and does not try to substitute identity for policy.
Although she seems like a fresh face, Sarah Palin actually represents the end of an era. She may be the last culture warrior on a national ticket for a very long time.
Barack Obama has made history by becoming the first African American to win the White House.
This is the full transcript of his speech to the nation in Chicago early this morning.
Hello, Chicago.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
'We are the United States': Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech in Chicago early today
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
See video of Obama making his acceptance speech here
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.
Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady ... Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us ...to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe ... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best - the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod ... who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
We did it: Alex Wong, 5, of Nevada, listens to Barack Obama's acceptance speech on television early today
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
OBAMA: There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
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 the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those - to those who would tear the 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 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.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
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