"Neda," whose full name is said to be Neda Agha-Soltan, was fatally shot Saturday, allegedly by Iranian paramilitary forces, and her death was captured on a video that is now circulating widely on the web. While the banning of foreign journalists from Tehran still makes getting clear information difficult, sources say the young woman was a philosophy student born in 1982.

Blogger Nico Pitney says a rally commemorating her death is planned in central Tehran today, and that, "This could get explosive." An Iranian Twitter user agrees:

Soon Mousavi [the Iranian opposition candidate, whom the contested election results have declared the loser] will announce full national strikes, probably starting with Petrochemical - prepare for this... Expect food shortage - transport stoppage - money shortage in bank... Gov will respond with electric power cuts - prepare and have gas cylinders at home or gasoline for light/cooking... People of Iran - THIS IS THE DAWN - This is the new begining - have hope and prepare.

According to Time's Robin Wright, Iranian traditions of mourning and martyrdom — traditions also key to the 1979 Iranian revolution — are coming into play following Neda's death. Wright says,

the cycles of mourning in Shiite Islam actually provide a schedule for political combat - a way to generate or revive momentum. Shiite Muslims mourn their dead on the third, seventh and 40th days after a death, and these commemorations are a pivotal part of Iran's rich history. During the revolution, the pattern of confrontations between the shah's security forces and the revolutionaries often played out in 40-day cycles.

She also writes,

The commemorations for "Neda" and the others killed this weekend are still to come. And the 40th day events are usually the largest and most important.

Wright's article closes a with a reminder that the revolutionaries of 1979, who deposed the Shah and helped make Iran an Islamic republic, are now the ones in power, trying to quell revolution. "The revolutionaries exploited the deep passion about martyrdom as well as the timetable of Shiite mourning in whipping up greater opposition to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi," she writes. "With the deaths of "Neda" and others, they may now find the same phenomena used against them." If this is true — if Neda's death does herald "a new beginning" for Iran, let's hope it's the beginning of freedom, and not just another skirmish in a thirty-year cycle of bloodshed. And let's hope — even though this seems unlikely — that no more demonstrators are hurt in their pursuit of this freedom.

In Iran, One Woman's Death May Have Many Consequences [Time]
Neda: An Unintended Symbol [CBS]
The Making Of A Martyr [Daily Dish]
In Iran, One Woman - Neda - Becomes A Symbol [USA Today]
TODAY'S NEWS [Mir Hossein Mousavi Official Site]
Neda [Crooks & Liars Video Cafe]
Iran Updates (VIDEO): Live-Blogging The Uprising [Huffington Post]

Earlier: "Neda Is My Daughter, I Have One Just Like Her"

The film is based on the best-selling novel with the same title by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam. The 1994 book — which, by the way, was banned in Iran — tells the true story of the stoning of a young woman in a rural Iranian town. Soraya M. was the wife of an ambitious man who wanted out of their marriage, and found his freedom through accusing Soraya of adultery. The Stoning of Soraya M. follows Ali, the husband, as he schemes to get rid of his innocent wife. The film stars Aghdashloo as the victim's aunt and sole witness to the truth. The central tension of the movie results not from the title act, but rather from the struggle to bring the story of Soraya's death to the world outside their small village.

Yesterday Aghdashloo was interviewed by Ann Curry about her role in the film and her reactions to the Iran elections. She expresses her hope for Iran and her excitement about the possibility of political change. When asked for the "message that this movie tells us," Aghdashloo responds: "No matter what, we should do something. There must be a way to put an end to this horrific act of punishment... It makes me feel devastated, it makes me feel, to want to do something about it, and as an actor, this is the only thing I can do." She says the film accurately depicts the plight of women in Iran (and other countries) who are essentially "voiceless."

Michael Cieply, for the New York Times Media Decoder, argues that Soraya "has it all" with regards to timing. The film was originally released last September at the Toronto Film Festival but received second runner-up for the audience's choice award, which went instead to Slumdog Millionaire. Director Cyrus Nowrasteh's film will most likely fare better in America this year, but Nowrasteh admits that the movie may banned in Iran. "I don't think it'll be allowed to be seen there," he says, "but it probably will seep in via bootlegged DVDs — so I feel like it will eventually get seen and it will have an impact."

In his review for the Huffington Post Chip Hanlon calls Soraya fulfilling but emotionally draining, great in the same way as Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. He argues that the central death is moving and horrific without being overly gruesome:

While the stoning is not easy to watch, the director did a good job of downplaying the graphic nature of the scene while still conveying the fact that such punishment is specifically meant as torture — rocks must be small enough so as not to deliver death too swiftly, and the process can apparently take many hours to complete. Certainly, the scene had to be shown to do justice to all those victims who have suffered this fate and to accurately portray the immense brutality of this despicable form of punishment.

However, even as he stresses the importance of the film's message, Hanlon ultimately missteps by advising "women and gays" to view the movie: "Women must see it, and keep in mind that by Iran's constitution the life of a female is worth half that of a male. Gays must see it, remembering the horrible repression of homosexuals in such systems." While Soraya sounds like a must-see for me, and probably many other women, the central message of the film is something that should be heard by everyone, male or female. As Aghdashloo points out, many people are still unaware of the brutal violence perpetrated against women in the name of morality. She hopes that Soraya may help change this, but it will not be able to do so unless it is viewed as more than just a reminder to women and gays how good we have it in America.

The Stoning Of Soraya M. [Official Site]

"The Stoning of Soraya M.," A Film About Iran Whose Time May Have Come [Media Decoder]
The Stoning of Soraya M: A Brave New Film On Women's Rights In Iran [Huffington Post]
'Leave Your Second Thoughts Behind' [National Post]

[Tehran, June 12. Image via Getty]

An Iranian woman shows the ink on her finger after voting at a polling station in Tehran on June 12, 2009. Hundreds of voters were standing outside one of the biggest polling stations in uptown Tehran, an indication of a high voter turnout in the early hours of the presidential election in Iran. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

[Tehran, May 26. Image via Getty]

Iranian women walk past portraits Mehdi Karroubi, the reformist former parliament speaker running in the June presidential elections, in downtown Tehran on May 26, 2009. The name of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sprayed in black Farsi letters on the posters. In the Islamic republic's upcoming presidential elections, Ahmadinejad faces a challenge from former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and former Revolutionary Guards head Mohsen Rezai. AFP PHOTO/BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Those who prefer to defer reality:

• Our own Jessica Grose: "Psychotropics in large volumes. And volunteering at Planned Parenthood."
• Feministing's and The American Prospect's Ann Friedman: "Lunesta and High Life."
• Glamocracy's Fernanda Diaz: "I'll probably sleep for at least a week. My room is full of CHANGE posters, so if I open my eyes and see them, I'll just puke. Actually, I'll probably throw up anyway, due to the morning-after effects of the abuse of foreign liquors (I'm never buying American again!), Obama-themed cupcakes, and the nauseating vision of red states on TV. My life will turn into a giant cycle of sleep, cry, binge on Obama cupcakes and Russian spirits, repeat. Scratch that: Russian alcohol will bring too many painful Palin memories. I'll just stick to Cuban rum instead."
• Gawker's Alex Pareene: "I'll work on my impressions so that i can best join in on the new national pastime of crank calling the President of the United States. Or I'll begin my campaign to have Joe Liter of Bourbon' recognized as the true symbol of real American values." When I pointed out that a liter was elitist and European, Alex amended and said "It should probably just be Joe Entire Fucking Jug of Jim Beam,'" which, really, is what one would need weekly to get through 4 years of a McCain-Palin administration.

The über-realists:

• Moe Tkacik: "The trader [I'm seeing] is betting $15K on McCain to "hedge his grief" if Obama loses."
• Wonkette's Jim Newell: "I will hang a poster of Dick Cheney in my bedroom to commemorate the last time we had a good vice president."

The pragmatists:

• Racialicious' Latoya Peterson: "I'll be telling people, 'Call your expat friends.' You know, the ones who are wondering if they need to re-up their Peace Corps enlistment or are considering going rogue on their student visas? See if they have extra space."
• Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar: "If Palin wins that will mean two things: That McCain has won, and that Obama has lost. (Or a third thing: That the voting system is very, very broken.) Either way, none of that makes ANY sense for people in a thinking nation. So I will have no choice but to go back to Canada and ostentatiously hug a moose."
• Bitch Ph.D.: "Oh dear god. If McCain/Palin win? I think I'll try to talk my boyfriend out of suicide and call my old job in Canada and see if they'll hire me back. Or no, wait, I'll cancel the offer we just made on a house and start looking into buying property in Mexico. I think my husband (who works for the military, after all—I mean, his job would be secure) can probably commute from Mexico. It's only about 4 hours."
• Firedoglake's Lisa Derrick: "If McCain and Palin somehow squeak into the White House—and even my marginal math skills say that from an electoral college count that's not gonna happen—I will be coping the way any good girl should: by redistributing the wealth. I'll be purchasing my Marc Jacobs bags and desginer swag used on eBay and giving the difference to grassroots groups to support separation of church and state, along with burning candles and praying (yes, I suffer from cognitive dissonance!) that the voice of the people, via Congress and our will, can overcome the next four years."

The sarcastics:

• Feministe's Jill Filipovic: "Cope with Palin winning? Shit, I'll be thrilled. We'll have someone with a vagina in the White House and that means it's feminism for the win. We can all pack up our pants suits, go home to our cats, and pay for our own rape kits. It'll be like a feminist Mecca without all that 'equality' business. Also with less armpit hair."
• Pushback's Kay Steiger: "I'll buckle down and prepare for a long war in Iraq, since the only pulling out Sarah Palin believes in is a form of contraception. Luckily her experience shooting moose means there'll be plenty of extra food around for all those unplanned pregnancies."
• Pandagon's Amanda Marcotte: "Well, I suppose after a proper period of mourning, I would resign myself to having my hair done in a bouffant on occasion to make parody videos mocking Palin. But I'd have to learn to do it myself, because the novelty will wear off for my hairdresser in short order. I suspect, though, there won't be much occasion to make fun of her, because she will disappear from sight after her usefulness to McCain has ended. She'll spend more time in an undisclosed location than Dick Cheney, except that location will be disclosed and called "'Wasilla.'"
• Political writer and comedian Katie Halper: "All the holier-than-thou supposedly Democratic purists who refuse to compromise their Clintonian principles by voting for Obama better be prepared to become expert abortionists and provide free abortions. Not because Palin is going to get rid of Roe v. Wade. She can't do that as VP — although she probably doesn't know that — I'm talking about Supreme Court nominees. I'm also going to be upset, honestly, because I find her dynamic with McCain utterly disgusting and Elektra complex-esque. Mostly, I'm concerned, not for myself or for women or for the country, but for Trig, who will never get any sleep. Oh yeah, I'll also be upset because obvi, the real VPILF isn't Sarah Palin— it's Joe Biden. How many white men can pull off Al Sharpton's hairdo?"

The depressives:

• The Washington Independent's Attackerman, Spencer Ackerman: "I'm writing this from a Days Inn off in Leavenworth, Kansas, the sort of town where gas costs $1.90/gallon and the economic drivers in people's lives are the Army base and the federal penitentiary. Ever stayed on the second floor of a Days Inn? They always feel as if they've been cased out by drifters or serial killers. I suppose my coping mechanism, such as it is, in the event of a Palin victory would be not to resist when someone of that ilk kicks the door in."
• Salon's intrepid temporary Pennsylvania political correspondent Rebecca Traister: "I just spent several hours trying to come up with an answer for this question, and in flirting with the honest ("crying") to the darkly inappropriate ("securing a prophylactic abortion") to the generically wise-ass ("buying up science text books") I'm forced to confront something I didn't realize: that despite my nuclear-grade panic today, my sky-high anxiety as I traveled through Pennsylvania this weekend, and my general aversion to everyone else's jinx-y overconfidence, apparently, I cannot actually seriously conceive of an Obama loss. So I guess the answer is: I won't be coping. I'll be trying to find a good therapist."

The mental health professional:

• "I won't be around to give them advice because I will have jumped off the Tappan Zee Bridge. But, ok. I guess I can look down from heaven and see if my advice was useful."

Stay away from sharp objects. Allow yourself to have a mourning period. You're probably going to be depressed for a while, so give yourself space to grieve. However, you shouldn't stay in bed all day. Try to go about your life the same way you did before the election — go to work, see friends, etc. There will probably be stages of grief, but eventually you'll be able to get on with your life.

If you're really having trouble moving past your pain and anguish, volunteer for a cause you really believe in. Even if the government doesn't reflect your beliefs, you can find and support an organization that does.

Actually, that last bit is good advice regardless. If your interest in politics ends today, then so does the momentum for change. Every one of you voted for a Congressional candidate, many of you voted for a Senator, for state and local officials and for ballot initiatives. There will be an election next year, and the year after that, and the year after that for the rest of your life. The time, effort, energy and emotion that everyone put into this race — regardless of the actual outcome — can be channeled into doing positive things for your community and your political system. And, if you don't stay active and engaged in politics and your community, in 4 years and one day, I might have to email these people back and ask if they want to all go in on a rental somewhere where abortion is legal, alcohol is cheap, anti-depressants are covered by the national health insurance system and the citizens elect politicians we all don't have nightmares about living under.

MEGAN: So, Spencer, at what point tomorrow do you think that the Democrats will be well and truly freaking out to the point that crisis counselors will be called in to pry people off the ceilings and out of the fetal position? 2:30? I really feel like there's a big difference between not being cocky and trying to cope with loss in advance of ever actually losing.

SPENCER: I know nothing but pain and regret in presidential contests. In 2000, as I believe I've written on CH before, the refusal of the election to end at the agreed-upon hour led me to lose my chance at sex with a reporter for the U. of Oklahoma student newspaper. The less said about 2004, the better, but it involved a pizza that I no longer felt like eating. But my guess is that the first wave of Drudge-linked exits, probably around early afternoon, will be the firing pistol for liberal panic.

MEGAN: Side note: why do people trust Drudge so much?

SPENCER: It's not a matter of trust, it's a matter of speed. Drudge updates a lot and fills the void in the newsworld's soul. People go along with it — sensible people, even — out of a herd instinct. Now that lots of blogs update incessantly, there's a diminishing return. I haven't read Drudge in months. Whenever I hear people say "...didja see that Drudge ran Story X" I take that as a prelude to Story X's eventual discreditation, if that's a word.

MEGAN: Like Ashley Todd.

SPENCER: My guess is Politico is the new Drudge. Yeah, like Ashley Todd. GOD how I wish we were CHing during that Friday afternoon. The panic on liberal email listservs was really like nothing I've ever seen. People were furiously debating what to say about the story, or to say nothing at all. The consensus was that Ashley Todd really was going to lose Penn, Ohio and the remaining Bush states for Obama. But look liberals: it was a ratfuck, quickly exposed, and now they've got... what, exactly? Please stop clogging my inbox with imaginary reasons why Obama is going to lose.

MEGAN: It's Monday. It's the day before the elections.

SPENCER: In fact, can we make a checklist, Megan? Can Crappy Hour provide this valuable service? Can we be Ativan for the electorate?

MEGAN: Reasons why you should stop freaking out because it's kind of annoying? I'm down with that. Reason number one: the sheer level of Republican panic at the moment. If they didn't think that they were losing so badly, they wouldn't be pulling such stupid desperate shit.

SPENCER: I like how Bill Kristol is like, "conservatives will greet [an Obama victory] with our usual resolute stoicism or cheerful fatalism" when instead it's going to be a coded-racist cavalcade of Panic For The Republic. He's doing that Jew thing where we put on a happy face for the Goyim.

MEGAN: Speaking of panic for the Republic, Republican Congressman Chris Cannon and his equally tin-eared brother in law try to hire an British professor to "prove" that Bill Ayers ghost-wrote Obama's memoir but then backed out when the guy was like, you're full of shit but I'll take your money as long as we publish my results either way. The idiot brother-in-law (on whom Cannon, up for re-election in Utah, is trying to pin the entire caper) told Politico: "'This is no last-minute smear,' Fox said. 'I'd say it's a desperate attempt to save the republic.'" Like, this is the new Republican meme. Obama will be the end of America As We Know It. It's stupid, disgusting, sickening, race-baiting and, above all else, unconvincing. (Side note: Republican friends and acquaintances is of mine: stop emailing me that shit if you wish to continue being called a friend or even an acquaintance. It makes me want to smack you.)

SPENCER: So that's one reason to calm the fuck down. Perhaps the most important is this: the GOP turnout machine is nothing compared to the Democratic apparatus:

Republican spending on field staff has grown just slightly since 2004, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis covering reports from the presidential campaigns, as well as national and state parties. The GOP spent an estimated $22 million on personnel from June 1 to Oct. 15, compared to $19 million over the same period in 2004.

Democrats have increased their staff expenditures from $30 million to $56 million — and they employed an estimated 4,500 workers making more than $1,500 a month as of mid-October, the latest information available. Sen. McCain and the Republicans had about 1,100 at that point.

More than anything else, I'd think that should be the Irish in your coffeee

MEGAN: Well, I'm not even done with Republican desperation yet! How about Republibitch Julie Myers possibly leaking Obama's aunt's immigration status despite laws against it. She's desperate enough to fuck up her own legal status to try to score points for McCain.

SPENCER: Friends & housemates of mine, for instance, drove into Virginia to canvass for Obama at 2 pm. By 5 pm they were Twittering that the campaign took them as far south as Richmond. Clearly northern Virginia is locked up. In fairness, that's Tim Dickenson's guess as to who leaked the Auntie tape. But a more important question is this: if McCain is hitching his campaign's last hope to outrage over illegal immigration, doesn't that mean he's writing off the southwest? I don't see how you win NM, CO, NV and even ARIZONA if you start down the path of immigration-hysteria.

MEGAN: I don't know why you would bother so close to the election, except that your desperation to win — and win at any cost — in the face of an obvious and overwhelming loss has overcome whatever political sense you once had. At which point, man, you really are Joe the Motherfucking Plumber, just like McCain's commercial says.

SPENCER: Anyway, no one gives a shit about the immigration status of Obama's aunt. But everyone gives a shit about white people! And white people are more open to Obama than they were to Bill Clinton. So when Barack Obama becomes the first black president, white people will have a simple message: You're Welcome!

MEGAN: It does warm the cockles of my heart that the majority of white people aren't stupid racists. One more blow to the Southern Strategy, Republimorons. Yeah, we noticed you thinkin' we're all racists, it might only have taken 40 years, but many of us are sort of peeved that you think we're so stupid. Those that aren't, well, those are the people yelling the n-word at your rallies and the rest of White American would like to disavow them. We'd like to be Peach America, or Light-Brown America, which is a more accurate description of our skin tone, and they can be White America, as in the hoods they'll likely take up wearing again on November 5th. Actually, maybe we can just tag 'em with a big white "R" on all their clothes, so we know the Krazy is Komin' Kwik.

SPENCER: Do Crayola crayons still call the peach-colored crayon "flesh"? If so, THAT ALL ENDS UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA. [LOL -Ed.]

MEGAN: No, they stopped doing that ages ago. Maybe they can make an special Obama pack, with ALL THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW.

SPENCER: Also, every taxpayer earning over $250,000 will have to freestyle over the "A Milli" beat. Man, can I not wait for the Second Holocaust! This one will be a Holocaust I can believe in. Holocaust the shit out of me, Barack!

MEGAN: I keep saying this, but WHAT THE FUCK is up with all this Second Holocaust talk? Is this the new rapture plan or something? I forget what reason we're up to now, but I think the fact that the McCain campaign is serving up more idiot backbenchers to get chewed up on TV is another reason to not be so scared. When even their senior campaign people don't want to be associated with some of their new talking points or hurt their regular career prospects and serve up Michael Goldfarb, who Linkins says "prior to hooking up with the McCain campaign, lost many jobs to houseplants and particularly aggressive airborne diseases" and this Ben Porrit idiot, that ain't a good sign either.

SPENCER: Don't bait me into a Goldfarb-hookup-joke, Megan.

MEGAN: Do not use the words "Goldfarb" "hookup" and my name in the same sentence, Spencer.

SPENCER: Last reason not to panic: my friend Avi Zenilman — one of the few Politico employees who has to fear a second Holocaust — points out that all the big states except Florida have Democratic secretaries of state. Watch this become the seedbed for the conservative contention that the Negroes stole the election.

MEGAN: I mean, they are really only going to be talking about one "of them."

SPENCER: Oh wait one more reason not to panic: Our friend Angela Valdez reports for Salon about how miserable it is to phonebank for McCain.

A moment passes before I wince from the familiar screech of a disconnected line "ooo wee ooo."

And that's the first trend I discover. Not just that this particular land line is dead, but that land lines in general are dead. In my first half-hour, I make 20 calls and speak to two live people. Mostly, I leave messages. Over a period of several days I make a total of 100 calls for McCain. I reach eight disconnected numbers, 12 wrong numbers (including three fax machines) and 12 unanswered lines. I get a busy signal just three times. I leave 35 messages and reach one line that will not accept incoming calls and can only be used for outgoing calls. I speak with just 26 people. Fifteen of them hang up on me within the first 30 seconds and six others last a little longer but still beg off before I can finish my spiel.

Editors! You need to commission pieces from Angela Valdez. Remember when she exposed the seedy underbelly of GOP fratsex?

MEGAN: Poor thing! Phone banking sucks, that was my first legitimate job (for the American Cancer Society and $4.25 an hour) when I was 14. Soul-killing. It could be how I ended up a lobbyist, really. But this Republican walked door-to-door for Obama and liked it, which is even more heartening.

I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.

My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me.

SPENCER: That shit is CORNY. Starting tomorrow, the heart of America will be officially located at the Junction of Flatbush & Nostrand Avenues.

MEGAN: Aw, corny or not, it's sort of sweet. It's also reason number whatever: the sheer number of rats jumping off the Straight Talk Bullshit Express. That makes no less than 3 writers of the fucking National Review that have been like, fuck it.

SPENCER: We already did that reason up top! This CH has gone on so long that you've forgotten.

OH SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK! Larry Johnson just finally released the Whitey Tape! FUCK HE JUST LOST THE ELECTION!!!

MEGAN: Holy hell, is it morning again?

LATOYA: That it is. The theme for today is "King of Rock" by Run-DMC. Sucka emcees should call me sire! You can't see me, but I'm doing the wop at my desk

MEGAN: I am sitting on the couch I woke up passed out on. Still.

LATOYA: Ooooh — how was Happy Hour?

MEGAN: It was the hours after the happy part that did me in.

LATOYA: Ha — girl, know your limits. I'll join you next time, but I subscribe to the "drunk or sexy" school of thought. The goal is normally to either get fucked up, or sip and be pretty all night and I dress accordingly. I'm generally a sipper though, warning you now. Anyway, on to the news. The news has apparently caught on to the fact that we young'uns are bored with the election and just want it to end.

"By historical standards, the level of interest is extremely high across all ages. But those under 35 are much less likely to be tracking the election closely," Hawkeye Poll Director David Redlawsk said in a statement. "This suggests they're less engaged — and perhaps less likely to turn out, because those who pay attention are more likely to vote."

MEGAN: That's the ADD generation for you. They are not going to be happy if no one is declared the winner before Jon Stewart comes on. Also, I don't know that "not paying attention to the minutiae of the campaign" translates to "not going to vote." Maybe they're already decided and don't give a shit whether Sarah Palin spent $150 or $150,000 on her suits. Or, for that matter, how Obama is spending $150 million.

LATOYA: What Hawkeye is missing though is that us young'uns are also early adopters — and most of us have been riding this election since '07. We're just tired. And last time I checked we were 2 to 1 Obama. We just want to vote and get it over with. Oh, and I second that — if there is no winner for Jon Stewart and Stephen Corbert to mock, I'm going to bed early.

MEGAN: No one is more tired than me this morning. I need a vacation that lasts longer than intoxication, which is just a mini-vacation from Reality.

LATOYA: Yeah, we don't care. (And you do need a vacation.) We have other things to worry about, like losing our jobs because the economy is in the toilet. Fuck Joe the Plumber, can I hear from Lucy the HR Coordinator?

MEGAN: Lucy the HR Coordinator says update your resume and for God's sake spell-check the motherfucker.

LATOYA: Word.

MEGAN: Also, was there anything stupider to come out of anyone's mouth this week than to hear Sarah Palin say "Tito the Builder"? I don't know why I laughed so hard, but I did.

LATOYA: I must have missed that one, but now I'm perplexed. What did she says about this alleged "Tito?"

MEGAN: Tito got into a fight with a journalist at a campaign rally, but he might or might not still vote for Obama. Or McCain. He won't say, but he's mad as hell about Joe the Plumber. He might be a little crazy.

LATOYA: Can we please put some sane people on TV? And when I say sane, I mean "people who act like they got some sense."

MEGAN: Sane people don't make for good TV! Also, by the way, Tito's friend at the end thinks that an Obama win means Armageddon is coming.

LATOYA: Yeah, what else is new? The Armageddon has been on the way since 999. You know what should be on the news?

MEGAN: More Obama dancing?

LATOYA: This discussion Michelle Singletary is hosting:

Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary hosts an online discussion with Gary Weiss, author of "Wall Street Versus America: A Muckraking Look at the Thieves, Fakers, and Charlatans Who Are Ripping You Off," on Thursday, Oct. 23 at Noon ET.

MEGAN: Michelle's good, but she's so anti-debt she's against student loans and many mortgages, which is easy to say and FAR less easy to do.

LATOYA: Well, she's justifiably anti-debt. Depression era Big Momma's probably aren't playing on that front. Either way, she still has sense.

MEGAN: No, totally, I think her work is a good place to start, and I think the media on the financial crisis hasn't done a good job of communicating how it affects average Americans and what you can do to avoid ending up in a bad place.

LATOYA: Nope, they haven't. I need to keep tabs on Dubya though. No one is paying attention but this bama is still technically in charge for a few more months.

MEGAN: "Technically" is right.

LATOYA: I found out through a BBC Feed Bush is inviting the world's leaders to come and chat about the crisis. Since life imitates high school, this one is VIP Only:

The summit would be the first of a series announced after talks between Mr Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and EU Commission chief Manuel Barroso.

But the agenda is unclear and differences are already emerging.

Mr Bush said any plan must not undermine free markets. Mr Sarkozy said "hateful practices" must be abandoned.

Looks like Sarkozy is going to be banned from the cool kids table. And can we drop the free market bullshit? We don't have a free market if you can rig the game!

MEGAN: Well, he did say last week that we should reconsider the Bretton Woods agreement, which is the underpinnings of the sort-of-free movement of capital and the intellectual start of the WTO which lowered tariffs. But, Bush is the guy who just nationalized our financial services industry. I think they'll still manage to find something to talk about.

LATOYA: It's not nationalization when we do it. It's smart practices. When other nations do it, it's hindering the free market. sigh We need to switch topics, because I'll be on this for days. I'll start breaking out summary papers and abstracts.

MEGAN: I'm there with you! But, we could talk about Obama's trip to see his grandma. He seems like he comes from a really nice family and I kind of completely want to hang with his sister.

LATOYA: We could. His life just seems so damn normal. I don't understand how people keep saying "they can't relate" to the Obamas. I know that nonwhites have been completely otherized in this country, but I just can't see how after eighteen months of campaigning, pictures, photo ops, investigative articles, and the like, people keep saying crap like "I don't know him." It's not that you don't know him - you just don't want to see who he really is.

MEGAN: I think it is about him being so "other." Like, I think it's sort of hilarious and fucked up that white people think that there is some kind of "being black" that is so intrinsic to the fundamental identity of African-Americans in this country in a way that "being white" is not that it trumps every other identity (husband, father, brother, grandson, Senator, candidate) that a given African-American person has — because, really, as an Official White Person, I really, really, really rarely think about "white" when thinking about my identity. And I think the white people who do believe it probably do add "white" into their identity and think about it more and think about how it separates them from The Others and not in a good, introspective way.

LATOYA: I don't thinks whites think "white" — many of them think "normal" and that's what contributes to the othering.

MEGAN: For the record, I don't think "normal" because most people I know are nearly as fucked up as I am.

LATOYA: That's why you hear people say things like "I don't have race" or "I don't have a culture" — they do, it's just been normalized into the default, and everyone else has been pushed outside of this boundary.

MEGAN: Normal people are "other" to me. But I also think that you're right about the idea that "white" is conflated with "normal."

LATOYA: It is. And it's sad because now the Obama's have to go above and beyond to prove they are an All-American wholesome family when really, that's just what they are.

MEGAN: Because, really, on some level, Obama is super-normal, and yet some people continue to see him and his intact nuclear family and 2-income household as somehow different from their experiences. The thing is that there is no All-American wholesome family, we're a society riddled with divorces, broken homes, step-parents and general dysfunctionality. Maybe that's why the Obamas seem so abnormal: they're the normal we're told is normal and everyone else is just fucked up.