What is it to you?

Keith Olbermann Speaks Out On Prop 8

Op-ed from Joe Solmonese on Prop 8

You can't take this away from me: Proposition 8 broke our hearts, but it did not end our fight.

Like many in our movement, I found myself in Southern California last weekend. There, I had the opportunity to speak with a man who said that Proposition 8 completely changed the way he saw his own neighborhood. Every "Yes on 8" sign was a slap. For this man, for me, for the 18,000 couples who married in California, to LGBT people and the people who love us, its passage was worse than a slap in the face. It was nothing short of heartbreaking.

But it is not the end. Fifty-two percent of the voters of California voted to deny us our equality on Tuesday, but they did not vote our families or the power of our love out of existence; they did not vote us away.

As free and equal human beings, we were born with the right to equal families. The courts did not give us this right—they simply recognized it. And although California has ceased to grant us marriage licenses, our rights are not subject to anyone's approval. We will keep fighting for them. They are as real and as enduring as the love that moves us to form families in the first place. There are many roads to marriage equality, and no single roadblock will prevent us from ultimately getting there.

And yet there is no denying, as we pick ourselves up after losing this most recent, hard-fought battle, that we've been injured, many of us by neighbors who claim to respect us.

By the same token, we know that we are moving in the right direction. In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 by a margin of 61.4% to 38.6%. On Tuesday, fully 48% of Californians rejected Proposition 8. It wasn't enough, but it was a massive shift. Nationally, although two other anti-marriage ballot measures won, Connecticut defeated an effort to hold a constitutional convention ending marriage, New York's state legislature gained the seats necessary to consider a marriage law, and FMA architect Marilyn Musgrave lost her seat in Congress. We also elected a president who supports protecting the entire community from discrimination and who opposes discriminatory amendments.

Yet on Proposition 8 we lost at the ballot box, and I think that says something about this middle place where we find ourselves at this moment. In 2003, twelve states still had sodomy laws on the books, and only one state had civil unions. Four years ago, marriage was used to rile up a right-wing base, and we were branded as a bigger threat than terrorism. In 2008, most people know that we are not a threat. Proposition 8 did not result from a popular groundswell of opposition to our rights, but was the work of a small core of people who fought to get it on the ballot. The anti-LGBT message didn't rally people to the polls, but unfortunately when people got to the polls, too many of them had no problem with hurting us. Faced with an economy in turmoil and two wars, most Californians didn't choose the culture war. But faced with the question—brought to them by a small cadre of anti-LGBT hardliners – of whether our families should be treated differently from theirs, too many said yes.

But even before we do the hard work of deconstructing this campaign and readying for the future, it's clear to me that our continuing mandate is to show our neighbors who we are.

Justice Lewis Powell was the swing vote in Bowers, the case that upheld Georgia's sodomy law and that was reversed by Lawrence v. Texas five years ago. When Bowers was pending, Powell told one of his clerks "I don't believe I've ever met a homosexual." Ironically, that clerk was gay, and had never come out to the Justice. A decade later, Powell admitted his vote to uphold Georgia's sodomy law was a mistake.

Everything we've learned points to one simple fact: people who know us are more likely to support our equality.

In recent years, I've been delivering this positive message: tell your story. Share who you are. And in fact, as our families become more familiar, support for us increases. But make no mistake: I do not think we have to audition for equality. Rather, I believe that each and every one of us who has been hurt by this hateful ballot measure, and each and every one of us who is still fighting to be equal, has to confront the neighbors who hurt us. We have to say to the man with the Yes on 8 sign—you disrespected my humanity, and I am not giving you a pass. I am not giving you a pass for explaining that you tolerate me, while at the same time denying that my family has a right to exist. I do not give you permission to say you have me as a "gay friend" when you cast a vote against my family, and my rights.

Wherever you are, tell a neighbor what the California Supreme Court so wisely affirmed: that you are equal, you are human, and that being denied equality harms you materially. Although I, like our whole community, am shaken by Prop 8's passage, I am not yet ready to believe that anyone who knows us as human beings and understands what is at stake would consciously vote to harm us.

This is not over. In California, our legal rights have been lost, but our human rights endure, and we will continue to fight for them.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President, Human Rights Campaign

Why you should watch 30 Rock

Liz wants to adopt a baby. She is telling Jack about getting ready for a house visit from a social worker:

Liz: I got rid of all my Colin Firth movies in case they consider it erotica.
Jack: That man can wear a sweater.

Self-explanatory:

Jack: What do you take to fly?
Liz: Candy and magazines.
Jack: No pills. Nobody flies without medication any more. Why shouldn’t you enjoy the same luxuries as a dog?
Liz: Comanapricil? May cause dizziness, sexual nightmares, and sleep crime…
Jack: It’s very good.

Words don't do this scene justice:

Liz: [dressed as Princess Leia] I don’t really think it’s fair for me to be in a jury because I can read thoughts.
Judge: Dismissed.

Kenneth has lost respect for Jack because of a series of fake Olympic events, and Jack is trying to give him a hypothetical moral dilemma:

Kenneth: I don’t believe in hypothetical situations, Mr. Donaghy. That’s like lying to your brain.

Tax Exempt Status

While the LDS Church was not alone, their members contributed a substantial amount of time and money into the Yes on 8 Campaign in California. This aptly named website discusses the issue as it pertains to Mormons and as Mormons pertain to it.

Some Levity

"MARRIAGE BANNED FOR ALL MORMONS"*
The Associative Press

Yesterday in an historic and unprecedented move by the state of California, voters elected to end Mormon marriage. The proposition was passing by a narrow margin of 3% at the time this went to press.

"Clearly this is a victory for all Christians," stated John Pintofart, president of the Mormons Ain't Christians Coalition (MACC). "Everyone knows that God created marriage for a man and a woman," John quipped, "but the god of the Mormons ain't OUR God. Their god didn't even get made up until 54 years after the United States Constitution. To say the least, we are outraged by the demands of Mormons wanting the same marriage benefits as bona fide Christians."

And he doesn't stop there. "Everyone knows that God wrote the United States Constitution. Those Mormons can't just come along and make up a new religion and expect to have the same benefits under the law as Christian marriage."

Officals at LDS headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah did not answer our calls. Instead, they released the following statement. "These are challenging times, for sure. We're just so appreciative and so grateful for our our Heavenly Father and his angels that teach us to treat everyone with compassion. We're just so compassionate and loving. It is disappointing people would treat us this way, even though we are so nice. It's not fair. Still, we will continue to assimilate all cultures on planet Earth, space, and beyond."

While attempting to reach MACC a second time we discovered their phone was disconnected and their headquarters in California had burned to the ground. Following an anonymous tip, we found John Doe undergoing electro-shock therapy at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He was unable to comment any further.

* This is a fake article

If you ain't got that do re mi

Anti-gay marriage bans passed in Arizona and in Florida. In Arkansas, voters passed an initiative to bar all unmarried people, gay or straight, from adopting children or serving as foster parents. The votes are still being counted in California, but the outlook is grim. An unfortunate blues refrain to the historical victory hymn of President Barak Obama makes me instinctually want to spew out a rant full of expletives. Instead, I am posting a link to Andrew Sullivan's tempered response. He articulates the sorrow of the defeat, but reminds us to maintain our optimism and to keep fighting for equal rights.

David Foster Wallace Article Excerpt

The Rolling Stone web site excerpted a feature article The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace from their October issue. Also available online is an interview with David Lipsky, who began writing the story in 1996 when he spent a week with Wallace discussing Infinite Jest.

David Sedaris on Swing Voters

Even though Sedaris voted for Nixon when he was eleven, this article from the most recent New Yorker more than makes up for his prepubescent mistake.

Fear and Loathing, Thy Name is Michelle Bachmann

Senator Bachmann says of Obama: "I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views." Then she says: "I think the people that Barack Obama has been associating with are anti-American, by and large."

Watch the full interview here.

Here is a different video of documented anti-American behavior.

Dan Savage wants to barter with Sarah Palin

In a recent YouTube video, Dan Savage offers to be Sarah and Todd Palin's gay friend and their kids' "cool gay uncle." In return, all he asks is that Sarah and Todd talk to his son, D.J. about God while simultaneously skinning a moose.

Sounds fair to me.

Why I watch Californication

Hank, the main character and a prostitute are discussing the finer points of adultery. The prostitute claims that a hand job is not adultery. Hank disagrees, and the woman says, "Maybe you're right. Sometimes my whore logic gets all fucked up."

Quote of the day brought to you by Wake n Bake

"I think McCain is now down to seeds and stems" - Hendrick Hertzberg from the New Yorker's weekly political podcast.

Four Freedoms (At Least)

This morning, I received an email, purporting to be merely informative, but which contained a letter that was quite argumentative in favor of McCain. The author's main argument was that no one he asked could tell him what Obama would change. If this were true (which is highly dubious), I can understand being momentarily stumped. Many of us find Obama such a logical choice, that articulating the reasons is actually quite difficult. Voting for him as the next president makes sense on a such a visceral level that we have to consciously think of the reasons. Nevertheless, the man asked why people were voting for Obama, and I think one of the best summations of why I'm choosing Obama over McCain is his dedication to "the people," which is best represented by a famous speech delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his “Four Freedoms” speech, he argued that the foundations for a durable democracy were “equality of opportunity for youth and for others; jobs for those who can work; security for those who need it; the ending of special privilege for the few; the preservation of civil liberties for all; [and] the enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.”

1. National Security / Green Energy
2. Health Care
3. Financial Regulation
4. Social Security

One, two, three, and four. As demonstrated in one of the classic Seinfeld episodes, there is a good naked and a bad naked. There is also a good change (Obama and stabilizing the economy and restoring honor to the U.S.) and bad change (McCain and going to war with everyone who pisses him off).

I'm obviously biased, as every voter is. This is my argument for Obama, but I'm not dressing it up as an objective or purely factual one. For me, Obama is not perfect, (or Muslim (oops, that was a fact)) but he's the most suitable candidate for the job. John McCain, as I see him, is misogynistic, dishonest, condescending, erratic, and completely unfit for the job. McCain served this country once, but now he's slave to his own ambition.

For people who really just want to be informed, check out nonpartisan resources, such as factcheck.org.

Debate Trivia

1. Who was Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen talking to when he said, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."
   
   
2. What did Democratic Presidential Nominee Al Gore say he would put "in a lockbox" in a 2000 presidential debate?
   
   
3. Vice President Dick "Old Scratch" Cheney mistook factcheck.com for factcheck.org when telling people to verify information on Haliburton in a 2004 debate. What did factcheck.com lead to?
   
   
4. In a 1976 debate between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, what did Ford declare was not in Eastern Europe and never would be under a Ford administration?
   
   
5. When Ronald Reagan in a 1984 debate said, "I am not going to exploit for political purposes, my opponents youth and inexperience," who was he referring to?
   
   
6. In Bob Dole's first VP debate with Walter Mondale in 1976, what did he call the wars America fought in the 20th century?
   
   
7. In a 1992 debate, President H.W. Bush caught flak for doing what while Bill Clinton was speaking?
   
   
8. Which first general-election presidential debate was televised?
   
   
9. Ross Perot's running mate, retired Vice Adm James Stockdale, opened a 1992 debate with Democratic vice presidential candidates Dan Quayle and Al Gore by asking what?
   
   
10. In 1998, Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis saw his poll numbers plummet after a debate in which he gave a flat answer to a question about what topic?
    
    
11. Who asked the question?
    
    
12. What did Governor Sarah Palin say to Senator Joe Biden to break the ice before the first and only 2008 VP debate?
    
    
13. What two men participated in the first formal debate ever held between vice presidential candidates?

Answers:

1. Dan Quayle in the 1988 Vice Presidential debate.
2. Social Security
3. An anti-Bush site. (The site belonged to George Soros, billionaire Kerry support)
4. Soviet domination (In the following days, staffers said the president simply meant that the U.S. would never recognize Soviet control of Eastern Europe.)
5. Walter Mondale
6. Democrat wars (Dole continued, "If we added up the killed and wounded in the Democrat wars in this century, it would be about 1.6 million Americans, enough to fill the city of Detroit.")
7. Looking at his watch.
8. Kennedy/Nixon 1960
9. Who am I? Why am I here?
10. Capital punishment.
11. Moderator Bernard Shaw
12. Can I call you Joe?"
13. Walter Mondale and Bob Dole.

11-13: Political Genius
7-10: Political Scholar
4-7: At least you watch Jon Stewart
0-3: Bill O'Reilly Fan Club Founder

If the candidates were Bob Dylan songs

"Master's of War" would be the obvious choice for John Sidney McCain III. I can envision Obama singing it to McCain at the next debate.

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

Choosing just one song for Palin proved to be quite the challenge, but in the end, I decided to go with "Idiot Wind."

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads headin' south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

Although "With God on Our Side" is the constant cluck cluck of the sky-is-falling conservative christian rapture rhetoric, the first few lines of the song suit Obama just fine. "Changing of the Guards" is also apt.

With God On Our Side

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest

Changing Of The Guards

Gentlemen, he said,
I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes,
I've moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

Peace will come
With tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating
Between the King and the Queen of Swords.

For Joe Biden,

Up To Me

Everything went from bad to worse, money never changed a thing,
Death kept followin', trackin' us down, at least I heard your bluebird sing.
Now somebody's got to show their hand, time is an enemy,
I know you're long gone,
I guess it must be up to me.

If I'd thought about it I never would've done it, I guess I would've let it slide,
If I'd lived my life by what others were thinkin', the heart inside me would've died.
I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity,
Someone had to reach for the risin' star,
I guess it was up to me.

What Dylan song do you think best represents the candidates?

Palin's World Not as Friendly as Elmo's

"Some of his comments that he has made about the war…I think, in my world, disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander-in-chief," Palin told Fox News. She added, "some of the comments he's made about Afghanistan, what we are doing there, supposedly just air-raiding villages and killing civilians — that's reckless."

Obama should be disqualified? Two words, governor: Alaska secession.

Oh and such as furthermore, Obama was right.

Oh Snap, Joe Biden

From the 2008 VP Debate Transcript

BIDEN: Now, with regard to the -- to the health care plan, you know, it's with one hand you giveth, the other you take it. You know how Barack Obama -- excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you're going to get, a family will get?

He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That's how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your -- taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to the insurance company.

And then you're going to have to replace a $12,000 -- that's the average cost of the plan you get through your employer -- it costs $12,000. You're going to have to pay -- replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.

So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."

Found in Translation

First, the Germans gave us Schadenfreude to describe our shameful glee at other people's downfalls. Now, the Dutch have given us "plaatsvervangende schaamte." It doesn't roll off the tongue in quite the same way. On the other hand, it's a term that describes a difficult-to-articulate emotion that almost all of us have felt: feeling ashamed on someone else's behalf.

A friend mentioned it in relation to Palin, and it literally means "place-replacing shame."

Nick Walker, in his 2003 novel "Helloland," defines it as, "A shame in being human. You see someone acting foolishly or stupidly and you do not laugh at him, you do not feel Schadenfreude, instead you feel a sense of humiliation that this is how your species can behave."

Or, in the case of Palin, a sense of humiliation mixed with a dash of absolute fear that she could possibly hold the highest office in America.

Quote of the day

Conservative Georgia Rep. Paul Broun called the bailout "a huge cow patty with a marshmallow in the middle of it." For those of you who are scratching your heads, this scat-sweet combination is the less well-known cousin of the shit-filled Twinkie.

Political Trivia

1. Moveon.org was started by which two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs?

2. What is the name of the rhetorical device in which words are repeated in transposed order?
e.g., John Kennedy's famous line "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

3. What is John McCain's full name?

4. Which candidate did Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson endorse in a Rolling Stone article?

5. Ulysses S. Grant's presidency was seriously undermined by his first scandal involving what commodity?

6. Who was the first president to have a phone in the Oval Office?

7. Who was the second president to live in the White House?

8. What first lady started the White House Library?

9. What is Mother Jones's real name?


Answers:

1. Joan Blades and Wes Boyd
2. antimetabole
3. John Sidney McCain III
4. Jimmy Carter. The article appeared June 3rd 1976.
5. Gold
6. Herbert Hoover had a phone installed in the Oval Office on March 27th 1929.
7. Thomas Jefferson
8. Abigail Fillmore
9. Mary Harris Jones


8-9: Political Genius
4-7: At least you watch Jon Stewart
0-3: Bill O'Reilly Fan Club Founder

The Great Schlep

Sarah Silverman is a comic genius.

Nixon Redux

President Bush has compared himself to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Several members of the media have explored the similarities between Bush's economic policies and those of President Hoover.While I agree that Bush was profligate in spending his political capital on the war in Iraq and trying to privatize Social Security, it is still too soon to have a clear idea of how Bush's policies affected the latest financial crisis. After all those people who couldn’t afford mortgages didn’t approve their own loans. I think the brokers on Wall Street started to think to themselves, “that money isn’t going to steal itself.” (Maybe some of the Enron employees changed coasts.)

Bush is definitely nothing like Roosevelt (either one) or Abraham Lincoln. The connection to President Hoover is there, but who Bush really reminds me of is Nixon (minus the intelligence, smarmy though it was.) Perhaps it’s because there’s a small growl that escapes from my throat when I say either of their names. Maybe, it’s because both presidents’ laissez faire stances led to stagflation and their opaque administrations inspired distrust rather than respect. Although, I have no proof, I also highly suspect that both men kept those poor secret service guys busy with insominia-induced games. I’m guessing Nixon probably wanted to play card games. Bush? I’m pretty sure it was hide-and-go-seek. In the dark.

For everyone who hated Nixon, there were others who adored him, and so it was with President Bush. Many people spoke of wanting to sit down and have a beer with the newly saved, recovering alcoholic. Personally, whether or not the candidate would make a good drinking buddy is not a priority. I'm more into the candidate's qualifications, intelligence, moderate temperament, and what not. Which, in the Rovian "alternate reality" is, I guess, elitist. I don't want just any John, Dick, or George to be president. Poor George cannot compete with Nixon’s jowls though. Thank God for McCain. Full circle, people. Full fucking circle.

Kindred Spirits

GALLUP

Nixon - October 1973 - 29%
Bush - October 2005 - 39%

Songs of the Day

As a bonus, the songs from these podcasts are DRM-free. Simply, open up iTunes and go to Advanced - Subscribe to Podcast, paste the url, and click ok.

KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune
KEXP Song of the Day
MPR: The Current Song of the Day
Salon.com: Song of the Day

Eco-Alternative to AAA

Hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius have become a badge of environmentalism. Despite their higher gas mileage, however, they can still break down, get flat tires, and leave you stranded. If you have invested money into the hybrid for environmental reasons, why use an eco-inimical company such as AAA to help?

This May 2002 Harper’s article discusses AAA’s lobbying power, a power they use to fight against clean air, public transportation, and automobile safety. Check out the Better World Club for an environmentally sound roadside assistance auto club. They are endorsed by the Sierra Club and by Cartalk.com. For those of you who would rather buy a Cannondale commuter bike or a Mongoose touring bike, the Better World Club also offers bicycle roadside assistance via a membership in the League of American Bicyclists. This group, extremely active in the Washington D.C. area has made huge strides in cyclist rights, including a tax benefit to bike commuters and climate change proposals. Check out their website for more information.