Doppel Blog Tag! (Double blog day rhymes in German...sweet)

Ok, it is only kinda a double blog day. I started the previous post a few day ago, but only finished it today. Anyways two new posts available for viewing today...if anyone is still reading this given the inactivity of the blog of late. What could inspire the second post in a day? A change in the political landscape in my homeland, that's what! The democratic party won an election for the first time in over a decade. Democrats now have control over the house of representatives and they may get control over the senate too. As I write, the final deciding senate race is too close to call, but whichever party wins it will be in control. Polls have predicted this victory for several weeks, but there is something satisfying about actually seeing it come to fruition. The past 6 years, the Bush administration, mostly with its confrontational and divise do-as-we-say foreign policy, has done all it can to damage the image of Americans. While abroad, I've experienced the negative sentiments towards Americans from time to time. In a somewhat selfish sense, I hope that with today's shift in political power anti-Americanism will decrease, and I won't have to experience that uncomfortable awkwardness associated with my nationality nearly as frequently. Moreover, I hope, though don't genuinely expect, that America will return to being a more progressive place in which documents like the Constitution and Geneva Convention are actually recognized and adhered to. Only time will tell. Yep, election night 2006 was pretty satisfying; let's all hope that election night 2008 will bring similar good news.