He’s been our President-Elect for just over three days now, and already there’s signs that positive change is happening:

Barack Obama’s victory this week generated international acclaim, but the impact in Iraq was of a more practical nature.

As recently as last week, Iraqi officials were reluctant to sign a security agreement with the Bush administration, even with a troop withdrawal timeline, because they knew Bush would be gone soon, and weren’t sure what kind of commitment they could count on from the next president.

Then Iraqi officials saw what happened on Tuesday. Now, they’re feeling better.

Barack Obama may have been elected only three days ago, but his victory is already beginning to shift the political ground in Iraq and the region.

Iraqi Shiite politicians are indicating that they will move faster toward a new security agreement about American troops, and a Bush administration official said he believed that Iraqis could ratify the agreement as early as the middle of this month.

“Before, the Iraqis were thinking that if they sign the pact, there will be no respect for the schedule of troop withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011,” said Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a major Shiite party. “If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama.”

Jabeer Habeeb, an independent Shiite lawmaker and a political scientist at Baghdad University, put it simply: “Obama’s election shifts Iraq into a new position.”

It’s going to make a tremendous difference to have a man in office that other countries respect and trust. We could end up *gasp* leading the world again.

The world is full of crazy fuckwits. So is this country. So it wouldn’t be wise to expect miracles of the man. But he’s certainly off to a good start.

Just a quick update. For those who actually read them, there will be a new Press Start To Play next week. It’ll probably be a long one, so I may not include it in its entirety, or I may offer a download of the full article. Or I’ll just throw it all up there. We’ll see. In any case, we are doing a unit on music in my writing class (why we’re doing a unit on music in my writing class is, well, sort of a problem) and I chose to do mine on the history and evolution of video game music. It is a four or five page paper, which is why I am debating on how to transcribe it here.

So stay tuned for next week’s episode of Press Start To Play!

-Jsnf

Press Start to Play is a series of articles cross-posted between En Tequila and Modern Magic. A series about video games as an industry, an art form, and an experience.

(Please comment on the Modern Magic blog if possible)

From a gamer’s perspective, greater risk almost always leads to greater rewards.

From a developer’s perspective, however, apparently hand-holding is the way to sales, no doubt due to the softness of games these days (See “Game Over” below) but I still don’t understand some of the design choices developers make.

When a game takes away a big risk, such as penalties for dying, they also take away a big part of the rewarding gameplay. BioShock was the worst example of this, since whenever you die in BioShock, you almost immediately respawn in a nearby chamber, with all the regular enemies at the health you left them at, and you have all your gear. While, generally, you have a limited amount of health and power after doing this, there is no long-term punishment for dying. So once I realized that I could run up to a Big Daddy, beat him a few times with my wrench, get killed, and do it all over again until the rusty bastard is dead, it completely took away the fear of running into them. Seriously, when you come up against something that big your first instinct should be to piss your pants and run, but when you know there is no significant reason to, throwing caution to the wind is as simple as shooting at a Little Sister.

…Title her posts with things like, “Other news, Dana Hunter suffered heart failure.”

It makes back-reading co-bloggers fumble to not drop the beverage they were holding as they go through old articles they need to catch up on..

Dear Readers. Kaden here, Dana’s quiet co-blogger.

It seems that I was being a bit bold when I mentioned in my new blog, (Modern Magic Enterprises development blog) that I’m co-authoring, that I have been, as I said, outgrown by our glorious host Dana Hunter, and that I had resigned as co-blogger. I received the following in my inbox:

What do you do when a questionnaire you answered in 2006 becomes a huge fucking embarrassment plastered all over the internet?

A. Explain how your views have changed.

B. Stand by your answers and pander to the conservative base.

C. Ignore the uproar and hope it’s forgotten by election day.

D. Think everything will be solved if only you scrub that pesky page from the intertoobz.

Those who plump for option D should realize that their plan, while seemingly brilliant, has one fatal flaw.

Teh Google: It Never Forgets.

****

Brought to you by Citizens United for an Intelligent American Presidency. At the moment, it boasts all of one American. You can join this growing movement in the comments. Slogans welcome, as this is the best I’ve got so far:

“Because the world deserves a break from unrelenting stupidity.”

I’ve been so focused on national politics, keeping ye olde blog happily updated, and this bloody story that I very nearly missed the Washington State primary election. I’ve really got to keep better tabs on my political email.

It’s a damned good thing Washington state plumps for absentee ballots, or tomorrow would’ve been a clusterfuck. Damned good thing my roommate put the ballot where I could find it. Especially since she’s on it. This is the first time I’ve gotten to vote for someone I know in a statewide election. Just don’t ask me what I’m voting for – I can’t remember the official name of the position, but it’s basically sending her off to make sure Obama plants his ass in the Oval Office.

This also marks the first election in which I am delighted to fill in the little bubble next to a politician’s name. My Congressman, Jay Inslee, is up for re-election.

I’ve spent the entirety of this year wanting to vote for that man.

I come from Arizona, where your choice is a) a noxious Republicon or b) a Democrat without a hope in hell of winning the damned election. I’ve never been represented by a person who actually represented me. Then I moved up here, and started filling in petitions, and discovered what it feels like to have perfect trust in a politician.

Damned good, is how. Muy bueno. Tres bien, even.

I can trust Jay. Oh, I’ll grant you, there’s some things in his voting record he and I could quibble over, just as there is with any politician. For instance, that yes vote on that “Importance of Christmas and Christianity” bullroar, I could definitely give him some guff for (although he rather made up for it by voting against the National Day of Prayer). But that kind of thing pales in comparison to issues that matter. And on those, he speaks for me.

Use of Military Force Against Iraq: NO
Military Commissions Act of 2006: NO
Stem Cell Research bills: YES
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 NO

Oh, I could go on. SCHIP, Social Security, Minimum Wage, and a ton of other issues, but I haven’t got time for more than some highlights. It’s enough to show that on the most important issues, he’s got our backs.

Whenever I sign petitions, I get long, thoughtful emails from Jay explaining his positions and thanking me for my input. I’ve published one here. I should publish more. All I can say is, it’s pretty unique to get a little thrill of excitement when an email from a Congressman lands in my box. Other politicians for the most part just send a one or two paragraph response saying “thanks for participating in democracy, good on you, here’s some pablum that won’t tell you if I heard one fucking word you said and have a nice day.” Not Jay. I don’t get emails from him so much as treatises. I’m not left wondering if I’ve just been petitioning a brick wall. I know what he’s thinking, and why, and then he backs that up with his vote.

You know what that makes me feel like? An adult. A valued constituent. More than just a person who can be snookered into voting. I even get the sense that if he takes a stand against an issue I’m passionate about, he’ll make sure I understand why. And it will be well-reasoned, make sense, and even if we remain in disagreement, I can at least respect his position. That’s purely hypothetical, o’ course, because he’s been right in line with my own thinking on the important stuff since I moved here.

I appreciate being represented by a good, intelligent man who truly cares about this country. He does his job very well indeed. And that’s why I felt so damned good filling in that little bubble by his name. I even would’ve hauled my sorry arse out of bed early to vote in person if I hadn’t found my absentee ballot in the nick o’ time.

If Jay Inslee ever runs for President, I’ll be working my ass off for his campaign. Guaranteed. And it’s going to feel fantastic making sure he remains my Congressman for many years to come.

Yeah, I’m a fan of my congressman. However did you guess?

Let’s have a study in contrasts, shall we?

Folks waiting for a McCain campaign event to begin:

And folks waiting for an Obama campaign event:

McCain rally draws 75:

Obama rally draws 75,000:

I’d draw you a picture… only I rather think I just did.

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

If the transitions herein make no sense, please keep in mind that this nocturnal person has been hijacked into a day schedule and is operating on about 3 hours of sleep. I go back to nights next week.

Next week seems a really loooong way away.

But not quite as long as the Bush regime, which at this point feels like it’s going to last for another million years. Let’s see what kind of fuckery they’ve been up to today.

Oh, I see they’re trying to walk Prime Minister Maliki like a dog:

First, a rather odd statement released by U.S. Central Command on the Maliki government’s behalf suggesting Maliki was “misunderstood and mistranslated” — but the statement only came after the Bush administration leaned on Maliki’s office to help put a lid on this public-relations disaster for Bush and McCain.

But Maliki and his staff keep slipping the leash:

Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesperson for the Maliki government in Iraq, has had an interesting couple of days. After Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki endorsed Barack Obama’s withdrawal policy, it was Dabbagh who was forced to argue that the quotes attributed to Maliki were “not accurate,” even though they were entirely accurate.

The back-and-forth nature of the discussion led some to an awkward dynamic: the Iraqi government supports a U.S. withdrawal, but the Bush administration has explained to Iraqi officials that they’re not supposed
to support a U.S. withdrawal.

This morning, to help resolve any ambiguities, Dabbagh endorsed Obama’s timetable, too.

And so John McCain, to help out his buddy Bush, decided to explain to Maliki via the American media what Iraq really wants:

Given reality, the fact that the Maliki government wants a U.S. withdrawal timetable and has endorsed Barack Obama’s Iraq policy by name would seem to be bad news for John McCain and his presidential campaign. But the presumptive Republican nominee has a trump card to get himself out of inconvenient jams like these: “I’m John McCain.”

Take this morning’s appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, for example.

[snip]

Meredith Vieira asked McCain, “[I]f the Iraqi government were to say — if you were President — we want a timetable for troops being to removed, would you agree with that?” McCain responded, “I have been there too many times. I’ve met too many times with him, and I know what they want.”

Got that? The prime minister of Iraq and the Iraqi people may seem to want U.S. troops out of their country, but John McCain has been to Iraq and he “knows what they want.”

I knew McCain was going to have a rough time wriggling out of this one – I mean, it’s quite a lot of egg he took in the face, what with the Iraqis endorsing Obama’s Iraq strategy over his – but I thought he’d come up with something a little more clever. This strategy’s bold, yes. Bold and incredibly stupid.

It’s almost as stupid as what the wingnuts are saying to try to get around the fact that the Iraqis would really like their country back soon:

As I’ve mentioned before, Maliki, of the Shiite Dawa Party which opposed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq in the first place, has long-standing ties to Iran and Syria — and has expressed support for Hezbollah. The only thing that surprises me about this story is that anyone is surprised.

[snip]

Notice: No credit to or thanks for the efforts and sacrifices of the United States and our armed forces, much less the surge. In fact, Maliki’s major observation about American troops, other than that he wants them out of Iraq “as soon as possible,” is that he wants the power to prosecute them for “offences or crimes committed by US soldiers against our population” — a major sticking point in negotiations over a status of forces agreement.

Well, that’s an interesting argument. They’re trying to say Maliki’s got no right to say what he says cuz his party opposed a foreign invasion of their country, they have a relationship with their neighbors, and they’re not grateful enough for the rampant destruction and exploitation of their country and citizens freedom we gave them. And imagine the nerve of demanding the right to prosecute invaders for crimes against the citizens!11!!!1!

If this is all they’ve got to counter with, they’re in pretty bad shape. The sad thing is, at least 28% of the country listens to this drivel.

I’d ask Bill O’Reilly what he thinks about this, because it’s sure to be entertaining in a teeth-grinding, makes-you-want-to-slap-him-upside-the-head kind of way. But he’s a little too distracted by Gore’s unexpected visit to the Netroots Nation convention:

On his radio show today, O’Reilly claimed that Gore was now associating himself with the most “hateful group in the country.” “And I’m including the Nazis and the Klan in here,” said O’Reilly.” He then claimed that attending Netroots Nation was “the same as if he stepped into the Klan gathering”:

O’REILLY: Al Gore now is done. He’s done. Ok. He is not a man of respect, he doesn’t have any judgment. The fact that he went to this thing is the same as if he stepped into the Klan gathering. It’s the same. No difference. None. K, he loses all credibility with me. All credibility.

[snip]

But O’Reilly exposes the hyperbolic shallowness of his name calling when he claims that “these Daily Kos people” are worse than “the Nazis and the Klan,” but then assures his audience that they won’t “come to your house a
nd hurt you.”

Note to O’Reilly: The Nazis and the Klan actually hurt people.

America’s neocons, ladies and gentlemen. An endless font of raging stupidity, bloodlust, and whining. I’m sure Al Gore is just devastated he’s lost all credibility with them.

This is why, despite his FISA failure, I won’t hesitate to pull the lever for Obama this November:

The attacks of September 11 brought this new reality into a terrible and ominous focus. On that bright and beautiful day, the world of peace and prosperity that was the legacy of our Cold War victory seemed to suddenly vanish under rubble, and twisted steel, and clouds of smoke.

But the depth of this tragedy also drew out the decency and determination of our nation. At blood banks and vigils; in schools and in the United States Congress, Americans were united – more united, even, than we were at the dawn of the Cold War. The world, too, was united against the perpetrators of this evil act, as old allies, new friends, and even long-time adversaries stood by our side. It was time – once again – for America’s might and moral suasion to be harnessed; it was time to once again shape a new security strategy for an ever-changing world.

Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days, and
months, and years after 9/11.

We could have deployed the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11, while supporting real security in Afghanistan.

We could have secured loose nuclear materials around the world, and updated a 20th century non-proliferation framework to meet the challenges of the 21st.

We could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in alternative sources of energy to grow our economy, save our planet, and end the tyranny of oil.

We could have strengthened old alliances, formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance peace and prosperity.
We could have called on a new generation to step into the strong currents of history, and to serve their country as troops and teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and police officers.

We could have secured our homeland–investing in sophisticated new protection for our ports, our trains and our power plants.

We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges, laid down new rail and broadband and electricity systems, and made college affordable for every American to strengthen our ability to compete. We could have done that.

Instead, we have lost thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats – all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

[snip]

For eight years, we have paid the price for a foreign policy that lectures without listening; that divides us from one another – and from the world – instead of calling us to a common purpose; that focuses on our tactics in fighting a war without end in Iraq instead of forging a new strategy to face down the true threats that we face. We cannot afford four more years of a strategy that is out of balance and out of step with this defining moment.

None of this will be easy, but we have faced great odds before. When General Marshall first spoke about the plan that would bear his name, the rubble of Berlin had not yet been built into a wall. But Marshall knew that even the fiercest of adversaries could forge bonds of friendship founded in freedom. He had the confidence to know that the purpose and pragmatism of the American people could outlast any foe. Today, the dangers and divisions that came with the dawn of the Cold War have receded. Now, the defeat of the threats of the past has been replaced by the transnational threats of today. We know what is needed. We know what can best be done. We know what must done. Now it falls to us to act with the same sense of purpose and pragmatism as an earlier generation, to join with friends and partners to lead the world anew.

There’s absolutely no contest here. None. America may not be able to salvage a second chance from the ruins Bush leaves behind. If we elect McCain, we won’t deserve one.