So, Barack Obama is preparing to take office and George Bush is preparing to leave it. He has been to the White House for talks ith George Bush while Michelle Obama has had a tour of the place from Laura Bush.
It must be quite a moment entering the White House and thinking, "This is home for four, maybe eight years. I have seen the White House, never been in. I have been into a part of the Pentagon, or at least, a small part of it.
While big things have been going on in Washington, I have been working on my own big thing, the essay for my course. I have been working hard at it, which is why I have been on here for a few days now

So, Barack Obama has won and is the first African American to be elected President of the United States. It is good day for America, one in the eye for the 'old-money' brigade. Interestingly, we hear this on November 5, the day that Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night) takes place in the United Kingdom and else where. This is an event which commemorates The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605 (or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it is also known), in which, on November 5 1605, a group of English Catholics aimed to kill King James I of England and VI of Scotland along with his family and Protestant aristocracy by blowing up the Houses of Parliament. There was a report in the news not long ago about a couple of young men, youths, who were planning to kill as many blacks as they could, including Barack Obama. It would be dreadful if he was to be assassinated, as is the case with every president. I think he might have a good influence in America and also on the image of America in the rest of the world. The world seems very positive over the new president. I wish him much success during his time in office.

So, the big day, the day we discover who the new man in the White House will be. It is interesting, exciting even, the process the votes in different areas, but what really matters is the result. The result has a lot to do with future events in America and the world. Apart from their political differences there is a big difference in age. Bill Clinton was the third youngest man to enter the office at what was he, 46, if I am not mistaken. Barack Obama is a little older than that at 47, a quarter of a century younger than John McCain. So, the choice falls between a black man as president and a female vice-president (who is a mere 44). Maybe one day we will see a black woman as president. (I wonder what sort of president Oprah Winfrey would make.) We have yet to see a female president. I think the advancement of blacks and women in American society is a good thing, a positive development. I hope it continues.

I have been listening to stations on IACmusic, like for example Americana Music Circle. This station comprises the following songs:
Lauren Adams   'Smart Girl'
Lauren Adams  'Everybody Else'
Richard Thompson 'Tagalong'
Rosie Thomas  'Two Dollar Shoes'
Iron and Wine  'Woman King' (Wasn't so keen on this one)
Jon Batson    'Jon Batson - Song 65182' (This one did as if it was playing, but I didn't hear anything. Shy maybe?)
Other stations are, for example, 'Cookin Up Country', 'Hillbilly Heart', 'Folk Acoustic Americana', 'Texas Back Porch' and 'American Roots Radio'. There are so many listed. Many tracks are on more than list.
Anyway, after that I usually put on a CD. Last time it was Bob Dylan's 'Nashville Skyline'.
Another good source of Country music is AOL Radio. AOL is really trying to compete with other sites. It's doing a fairly good job I would say though not all the sites interest me. Spinner falls under AOL nowadays. Spinner had really good information pages, information over artists, albums, musicians who worked on the albums, producers, all linked, very comprehensive. It also had a music player you could download. It has changed a lot, totally even. I have not really been on Spinner much since the change.

I have been listening to the CD 'Foreigner The Definitive', great collection of Foreigner hits (plus one previously unreleased track!). At the back of the CD booklet is a call to support the ABTA, the American Brain Tumor Association. In 1997 the groups singer Lou Gramm had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor. I mention this largely as follow up to my last entry.
When I was a kid I had a teacher who had to give up teaching as a result of a brain tumor. He was a good reacher, great with kids of our age. He played guitar in class which I thought was really cool. It was what was called junior school. I remember at a school sports day, some time after his surgery, he came to visit. He had a sort of padded frame thing on his head. He looked quite different.
 There's some great music on the AIC Music site which you can listen to or buy. The site has various categories, like 'Country' for example, with pages, 'stations', with names like 'Folk Acoustic Americana', 'American Roots Radio', 'Texas Back Porch', 'Cookin Up Country', 'Hillbilly Heart', each containing a number of songs by various artists which can be clicked on and played individually or you can select to play all the songs on that page. Some songs appear on more than one page, and the are pages for the various artists. It's a fun site to explore.