To all those damaged and dead from the Iraq Oil Wars: This vote's for you.

Well, I voted early this morning, my opinion a tiny drop that dissolves into the tidal wave of Obama supporters that's going to sink the dinghy George W. McPalin in Pennsylvania. It's a delight to deny Whacky Mac and Taliban Palin the state they wanted so bad, the state they thought was key to their victory, the state they never stood a chance in, that they gave up on Michigan for. It's extra funny since McCain was lecturing Obama in debates about how much he knew about strategy and tactics.

Ah, what a pleasure to say no to McPalin, to fearlessly push a button (does that count as brave?) and defy those who would try to base their leadership on fear.

I'd like to dedicate that vote to every person who suffered under war criminal George W. Bush's Iraq War lie and this era of oil wars. I mean the thousands of dead Americans, the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, the millions displaced, the countless damaged. I see that vote I cast, tiny as it may be, as a step toward moving our country to a more responsible place, a place where prejudice has no part, a place where being smart is admired and not scorned, a nation not run by oil interests.

Hell, if being smart matters again, there is no telling what might happen. Maybe we can even get lots of people to see the logic behind becoming a nation where helping someone out is understood as the right thing to do, and anyone who tries to paste it with a supposedly scary label (like socialist) is pointed out as an idiot and challenged to define the label (which they always are unable to do.)

For all of you who died in the oil industry investment more commonly known as the Iraq War, I can't bring you back to life, but I can throw my tiny influence behind reversing the addiction that ended your life.

As a side note, it's bittersweet that Obama's grandmother passed away the day before her grandson won the election. Still, I can't help but think her death has a mystical air of confidence about it. She was so certain her grandson had the race won she knew it was okay to bow out.

Rest in peace, Ms. Dunham. We'll finish what you started.

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Larry Nocella is the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available on Amazon. For more info, visit his website at http://www.larrynocella.com/.