I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but we're, like, a month and a half away from the end of The Aughts. What? Huh? Already? Really? How did this happen? Where has the time gone? (Better question: Where has my hair gone? I'm almost positive I had a whole bunch of it at the start of all this.)

Anyway, it's true. The decade is coming to an end. This might not mean much to you if — like a number of my friends — you spent the majority of it sleeping or drunk (or drunksleeping). So, if you wanna bring yourself up to speed before this all shuts down, here's a seven-minute wrap-up from Newsweek. [Spoiler Alert: It's been a kind of shitty ten years.]

As you may or may not know, there's been this federal law on the books for the past two decades which banned HIV victims from international travel for some reason or another. It was written by homophobes back when human adults actually thought the disease was brought about by an ancient desert god who wanted to smite sinners because of who they chose to have sex with; it was passed due to the politics of fear and hate; and it had absolutely no basis in either science or reason.

Oddly enough, it just got repealed…

President Obama called the 22-year ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals a decision "rooted in fear rather than fact" and announced the end of the rule-making process lifting the ban.

The president signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 at the White House Friday and also spoke of the new rules, which have been under development more more than a year. "We are finishing the job," the president said…

The Senate finally voted to overturn the ban as part of approving legislation reauthorizing funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, in 2008, and President Bush signed it into law on July 30 of that year. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and then-Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.) led the process in the Senate.

Way to go, America! You got one right. I know that even a stopped clock is non-bigoted twice a day, but I don't want to dismiss this thing. This is a really good thing, and we probably all deserve milkshakes today.

But let's be clear here. The repealing of this nonsensical law was a bipartisan effort. But it's Obama's signature at the bottom of the document, and he'll probably get an undue amount of the credit/blame for this. Credit/blame that he doesn't really deserve. Right alongside the undue credit/blame he's gonna get for the gay-friendly hate crime legislation that just passed.

But, you know what Barack Obama can do for real for supporters of no-brainer civil rights, like, this afternoon? He can suspend Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the military with, essentially, a phone call. He can leverage some of his popularity in Maine and Washington to tip the scales in favor of the gay marriage referendums by issuing a simple statement. He can mention that he stands behind Arlen Specter in support of repealing the Orwellianly-titled Defense of Marriage Act.

Or not. He could also not do any of that.

I wonder which option he'll choose. I can't wait to find out!

Taken separately, John Kerry and Dick Cheney can be difficult to handle. But as a combo, they're sort of a balanced political yin and yang. Kerry bores you into a brain-dead slumber, but just before you fall completely into a coma, Cheney says something infuriating that jolts you awake and gets your blood boiling, but just before you have a stroke, along comes Kerry… The resulting inner-harmony is similar to the technology behind Segways.

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

Wow. We seem right now to be in a modern Golden Age of voter fraud allegations, don't we? And for good reason. It's so much less gory and blood-splattered than military coups. Well, usually.

So, while we're all waiting for everything in the world to get better and political power to be doled out fairly according to those who have earned it, let's watch some Daily Show clips…

September 17, 2009: Voter Fraud in Afghanistan

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

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The Democrats have been taking a lot of shit lately. Some say, despite having the White House and large majorities in both houses of Congress, the party has done little more this year than drop the ball on health care reform. But that's not fair. They're dropping the ball on so many other things too. Take the environment. Please!

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

Submitted by Ketchupman