The Girl Scout Research Foundation speculates (unsurprisingly) that the inclusion of two female candidates—Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin—drastically affected young girls for the better.

I would guess that the election of the nation’s first black president has also increased girls’ confidence in their chances for success. Seeing an African-American family in the White House is a wonderfully concrete demonstration that glass ceilings can be shattered to smithereens.

Photo: Jezebel

Welcome to Babble Wrap! We’re bringing you headlines and links to parenting and other big stories in the news every weekday.

Full extent of Palin’s idiocy revealed
The US republican party’s post-election downward spiral continues with aides of John McCain saying that Sarah Palin did not know Africa was a continent. SMH
Paid maternity leave on the chopping block
We predicted it. Yep, paid maternity leave is likely to be cut from next year’s budget due to the global economic downturn. Sigh. It was a nice dream while it lasted.
SMH
Malia and Sasha Obama in the White House
How are those two little girls going to have any semblance of a normal life when their father is not just the American President, but also the first black American President? Talk ab out pressure. The Times
What’s your parenting mantra?
You know, the things you say to keep yourself going during the latest meltdown or catastrophe, to maintain balance, compassion, humor, or even the appearance of calm? Parent Hacks
Obama victory sparks baby naming frenzy – in Kenya
The U.S. election has triggered a new generation of mini Barack Obamas with parents in Kenya and the United States naming their newborns after the new president-elect. Reuters

A lot of us who celebrated Obama's victory last night felt a tiny twinge: as thrilling as it is to celebrate the country's first black president, when will we see a woman in there? I take heart in looking at the younger Obamas in action — smart, composed, powerful, and certain they can do anything at all they set out to do. Yes, they can — and someday, a girl very much like them will occupy the White House, not as a first daughter or first lady, but as another historic first. 

]

Welcome to Babble Wrap! We’re bringing you headlines and links to parenting and other big stories in the news every weekday.

Americans storm the voting booths
Americans have turned out in force to vote, as last-minute opinion polls confirm Barack Obama’s lead, but offer slivers of hope for rival John McCain in some key states. The Australian
Rudd and Turnbull weigh in on Obama win
“Forty-five years ago, Martin Luther King dreamed of an America where men and women will be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character,” Mr Rudd said. “Today, what America has done is turn that dream into a reality.” Mr Turnbull called president-elect Obama’s victory a “defining moment in history”.
SMH
No TV for under 2’s, says Harvard expert
Research has shown there are clear health links between media use and obesity and risk-taking behaviour in children, says Michael Rich says, a Harvard University expert in children’s health. The Australian
Jurassic Park author dies
Michael Crichton, author of more than a dozen best-sellers including Jurassic Park, and father of one, has died of cancer in Los Angeles, aged 66. The Age
Antonia Kidman quits New Idea
Antonia Kidman has joined the exodus of high-profile staff from New Idea magazine. Kidman’s advice column, Mothers Milk, was stripped from the embattled magazine this week, with insiders claiming she was keen to distance herself from the plagued publication. Daily Telegraph

Barack Obama is the first African-American President of the United States – shattering more than 200 years of history!  Obama received the 270 electoral votes he needed to be elected at 11 p.m. ET.  CHANGE we can believe in!

Velma Pate, a poll worker near Chicago, is old enough to remember segregation in America – a time she recalls, when she was not able to drink from the same water fountain as a white person.  She said, "I want to tell the American people that today we see God's hand and the sun is now shining in the darkness."

From NBC:

Obama, who led in nearly all public opinion polls, and McCain both launched get-out-the-vote efforts that led to long lines at polling stations in a contest that Democrats were also hoping would help them expand their majorities in both houses of Congress.

Americans voted in numbers unprecedented since women were given the franchise in 1920. Secretaries of state predicted turnouts approaching 90 percent in Virginia and Colorado and 80 percent or more in big states like Ohio, California, Texas, Virginia, Missouri and Maryland.

At New Shiloh Church Ministries on Mastin Lake in Huntsville, Ala., Stephanie Lacy-Conerly brought along a chair, expecting to stay for hours.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “It’s an historical moment.”

Indeed it is!  This is no doubt a very proud moment for Michelle Obama and their children.  It would have been so wonderful if Barack's grandmother had been able to hang on, but I'm guessing she's smiling down on her grandson.

A crowd nearing 100,000 people gathered in Grant Park in Chicago, awaiting an address by Obama. Hundreds of thousands more — Mayor Richard Daley said he would not be surprised if a million Chicagoans jammed the streets — were watching on a large television screen outside the park.

Congratulations!

[Source|Source]

Television networks have just called the election in favour of democratic candidate Barack Obama.

Obama only need 270 electoral collage votes to win and secured 297 to McCain’s 139 (predicted).

He makes history as the USA’s first black president.

Analysis to come.

[Source]

Welcome to Babble Wrap! We’re bringing you headlines and links to parenting and other big stories in the news every weekday.

Americans storm the voting booths
Americans have turned out in force to vote, as last-minute opinion polls confirm Barack Obama’s lead, but offer slivers of hope for rival John McCain in some key states. The Australian
Vote cast by Barack Obama’s grandmother will count
Saving grace – the absentee presidential vote cast by Barack Obama’s grandmother Madelyn Dunham before she died will still count.
news.com.au
Eight-year-old finds bag of guns
An eight-year-old boy has stumbled across several high-powered rifles as he was walking through a park in Sydney’s inner-west yesterday afternoon, police said. SMH
Mortgage rates cut again
Yesterday’s rate cut of 0.75 points – the third in three months – brings the total fall in the bank’s cash rate since September to 2 percentage points, undoing almost five years of rises. However, banks are refusing to pass on the full rate cut. The Age
Rape victim stoned to death in stadium
An Islamist rebel administration in Somalia ordered that a girl, 13, be stoned to death for adultery after the child’s father reported that she was raped by three men. SMH

The free world has a new leader, and his name is Barack Obama.

Well, not quite. But the image above shows what would happen if the world could vote. Three Icelandic guys are behind the project, which has now attracted 735,624 votes from 211 countries.

Australians have given Obama an overwhelming 92 per cent of the vote, while the worldwide average sits at 13 per cent for McCain and 87 per cent for Obama.

Rogue pockets of support for McCain can be found in the Southern European countries of Macedonia and Albania.

Well, this is truly sad news, for many reasons. Barack Obama's ailing grandmother, Madelyn "Toot" Dunham, died today. She was 86.

With just one day to go in this huge, huge election, Obama's sister Maya Soetoro-Ng announced the news.

Condolences, of course, to the Obama family. We're also shaking our heads that she won't get to find out just how far her grandson could go. Though, maybe she knew something the rest of us won't quite yet.

Here's a statement from Soetoro-Ng:

"It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother,
Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer.  She
was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary
accomplishment, strength, and humility.  She was the person who
encouraged and allowed us to take chances.  She was proud of her
grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the
knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. 
Our debt to her is beyond measure. 

"Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards,
well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time.  It brought our
grandmother and us great comfort.  Our grandmother was a private woman,
and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at
a later date.   In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to
any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer."

Photo: 

Sedaris cuts through the crap, so to speak, and lays out, in metaphor, the two options for these undecideds (and, really, all American voters this election).

From the New Yorker:

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and,
eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits
of broken glass
in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

But he's no starry-eyed optimist and expects neither candidate to work miracles once in office. However, one of the options may be less painful than the other. 

I wonder if, in the end, the undecideds aren’t the biggest
pessimists of all. Here they could order the airline chicken, but, then
again, hmm. “Isn’t that adding an extra step?” they ask themselves. “If
it’s all going to be chewed up and swallowed, why not cut to the chase,
and go with the platter of shit?”

Ah, though, that’s where the broken glass comes in.