So what. The Republicans won. So what.

I've lived through two terms of Reagan, one term of Bush I, VP Dan Quayle, Gingrich and the Republican contract on America, Bush II stealing Florida, Bush II invading Iraq, Bush II crashing the economy, the spectre of Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party. Lived through all of it, and I'm still standing.

You know what else is still standing strong, progressive values. Through that cloud of utter bullshit that I just listed, I saw the GBLT community go from being devastated by the AIDs crisis to being used as scapegoats for Bush II's 2004 election to now living in a time when they can legally marry. Progress happens when people are committed to it.

I've seen Jesse Jackson's 1984 campaign be pilloried by the mainstream to media, to riots in the streets after the Rodney King verdict, to a country torn apart over the OJ trial, to seeing an African American being elected to the presidency in 2008. Progress happens when people are committed to it.

I've participated in demonstrations outside of the South African embassy in 1985 protesting Apartheid and calling for the release of Nelson Mandela to seeing him become the leader of that nation and witnessing an entire nation weep at his passing.

The Republicans won big last night primarily relying on gerrymandering, racial tribalism, and crappy Democratic candidates abandoning progressive values left and right. Grimes was always going to lose to McConnell, so why not lay out a vision for a future of KY without coal. Run hard as a progressive and let your ideas take hold instead of trying to mince words in a futile attempt to win a piece of McConnell's voters. Democrats like Grimes should be working towards create their own voter blocs based on their vision of the future instead of pandering to a past that can never return no matter how many EPA regulations you abolish.

Listen, the Republicans will fail over the long term because they cannot deliver on what they promise. They cannot bring America back to some fictional 1950s paradise. They're on the wrong side of history no matter what happened last night. Cutting Donald Trump's taxes is not going to bring back factories to Akron, OH where someone with an 8th grade education can make a middle class living and his wife can stay home and take care of the children. That's a fantasy that's never going to happen. Nor will eliminating EPA regulations mean that dude working in a cubicle some where is going to become the next Mark Cuban. More likely cubicle dude will lose his job to outsourcing.

In the end, I say, "So what". Like Friday the 13th, I've seen this movie before and it's no longer scary.

Mr. Kotter tells his lovely wife a joke

R.I.P. Mrs. Kotter!

I love the PNC Bank jingle

I don't know why, but I love the jingle.

Where should I donate money to help fight Ebola?

I already donate to Doctors without Borders. Where else should I send money to?

ESPN: Jets get Percy Harvin

Here's the real lesson of the Ebola crisis

If we have to have a global economy, then we have to have global infrastructure that supports that economy with healthcare being a priority item. EVERY nation on the planet needs to have up-to-code healthcare facilities. Proper healthcare standards need to be enforced every where. It's not enough to have them only in developed nations.

We cannot put the globalization genie back into the bottle. Businesses and laborers go all over the world. A contagious disease any where can become a contagious disease every where.

Hopefully, Americans are finally understanding why healthcare should be a basic part of our infrastructure that we should all pay for and support, not some benefit sparingly doled out by corporations.

Google: We'll make you smarter ... if you share your data

On the night of the 2000 Presidential election, Nov. 7th... (My 20,000+ post)

I ran through the highs and lows of that night. I went to bed with the news that Gore was going to challenge the final results, but I knew right then and there that he had no chance. There was no way that he was going to get an honest vote count out of Florida with Jeb Bush. Heck, the entire establishment moved heaven and earth to secure his election.

I went to bed that night pointing to my Gateway desktop computer and saying to myself, "the internet will be our salvation". In 2000, most of the web was a conservative wasteland except for a few sites. My favorite at the time was Media Whores Online. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Whores_Online). It was a liberal blog that exposed the media slant for W.

From MediaWhoresOnline, I found Bartcop, another great lefty website that delivered the liberal, unvarnished truth. Bartcop became the first website that I joined and I posted frequently. In 2001, it was Bartcop that pointed me to an up and coming political forum called DemocraticUnderground.com'

I joined and chose the username, Yavin4, the name of the rebel base in Star Wars, Ep. 4. I chose it because darkness had taken over the Whitehouse. Both the Clintons and the Gores re-located here in NY, and in some ways, I felt like I was on a rebel base.

Over the years, I've posted here more than any other forum. The founders of this site and the community have really built a family-like atmosphere. Yes, we say inappropriate, hateful things to each other from time to time, but that's what happens when you bring highly passionate people into one place.

In the end, let me say thank you for 20,000 posts, and I look forward to 20,000 more.

I \u2661 the Lounge! n/t

The DU Sports forum member beat Michigan

If we formed a team, we could probably beat Michigan.