Straight Back - Fleetwood Mac
Orange Crush - R.E.M.
Evil Ways - Rusted Root
She's A Lady - Tom Jones
Love Is Just A Game - The Magic Numbers
Ben's Letter - 54 Seconds
I Save the World Today - Eurythmics
Upside Down - Jack Johnson
Inner City Blues - Marvin Gaye
Enjoy the Ride - Morcheeba
Be My Number Two - Joe Jackson
You Know It's For You - Bee Gees
I'm not one for the holiday season. Thanksgiving and Christmas have always been way too sanctimonious in my opinion, bringing out the worst in people and showing their penchant for the material in spades.Harvey Milk was known as the "Mayor of Castro Street", a pioneer and leader in every sense of the word, speaking out for the rights of gay people when it was a far more dangerous and rebellious act than it is today. It was a position that eventually cost him his life...Amen, Brother Andy...Amen!
Were it not for Harvey Milk I am fully convinced the gay rights movement might still be in the dark ages. We certainly wouldn't be on the verge of being able to marry. Long live his memory!
...isn’t it amazing just how impressive the people being named to key positions in the Obama administration seem? Bye-bye hacks and cronies, hello people who actually know what they’re doing.As I mentioned yesterday, some on the left are up in arms over Barack Obama's appointments (or rumored appointments) to his administration. Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State? Didn't people like me go absolutely bat shit over the possibility of the former first lady as the Democratic presidential nominee? How can a lefty like Obama name a centrist Wall Streeter like Timothy Geithner to run the Treasury? Robert Gates will stay at Defense? Hell, no!
...keeping Gates on would only worsen Democratic image problems on national security, as he would be the second consecutive non-Democratic Secretary of Defense nominated by a Democratic President. The message would be clear: even Democrats agree that Democrats can't run the military.President Clinton's second Defense Secretary was William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine, who served in that cabinet post from 1997 to 2001. Thus, if Mr. Obama keeps Gates on, there will not have been a Democrat running the Pentagon since late 1996, despite having two Democratic presidents in that 12-year span.
Some of us — especially those under 60 — have always wondered what it would be like to live through the kind of epochal event one reads about in books. Well, this is it. We're now living history, suffering one of the greatest financial panics of all time. It compares with the big ones — 1907, 1929 — and we cannot yet know its full consequences for the financial system, the economy or society as a whole.The key take away from Zakaria's essay is that we have no idea how long this will last or how deep it will go. My gut hunch is that most Americans (yours truly included) are oblivious to exactly how hard things are going to get. Perhaps we won't see the soup lines and 25% unemployment of the Great Depression, but I think we're all about to get knocked on our asses...hard. After three decades of living beyond our means, all of us are about to get a crash course in living within them, and I suspect for many (again...yours truly included) that will come with a severe case of shell shock.
I'm betting that, in the end, the world's governments will win this battle against fear. They have potentially unlimited tools at their disposal, especially if they act in concert. They can nationalize firms, call bank holidays, suspend trading for weeks, buy up debt and equity, and renegotiate home mortgages. Most important, the American government can print money. All of these tools have long-term effects that are extremely troublesome, but they are nothing compared with the potential collapse of the financial system. And Washington seems to have recognized that it must do whatever is required to shore up that system. Big questions remain. What will it take to stop the fall? How costly will it be? How long before the rescue plan starts to have an effect? But at some point, the panic that gripped world markets last week will end. Of course, that will not mean a return to growth or a bull market. We're in for tough times. But it will mean a return to sanity...
Since the 1980s, Americans have consumed more than they produced — and they have made up the difference by borrowing...
In 1990, the national debt stood at $3 trillion. (That sounds high, but keep reading.) By 2000, it had almost doubled, to $5.75 trillion. It is currently $10.2 trillion. The number moved into 11 digits last month, which meant that the National Debt Clock in New York City ran out of space to display the figures. Its owners plan to get a new clock next year.
The abandonment of any sobriety in this moment is disturbing. Everyone is acting as if the worst thing that could possibly happen is that we should all feel the full impact of the massive fiscal recklessness of the past decade.Update 2: Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is glad the grown-ups are back at the table to sort out this mess:
...The truth is: we had this coming. We deserve it. And we deserve leaders who are able to tell us that.
Seriously, isn’t it amazing just how impressive the people being named to key positions in the Obama administration seem? Bye-bye hacks and cronies, hello people who actually know what they’re doing. For a bunch of people who were written off as a permanent minority four years ago, the Democrats look remarkably like the natural governing party these days, with a deep bench of talent.After eight longs years of incompetent and adolescent leadership, the Obama administration will be a greatly needed breath of fresh air.
Tim Geithner, Secretary of the TreasuryIt's certainly nice to know that the competent grown-ups are running things again.
Larry Summers, Chair of the National Economic Council
Bill Richardson, Secretary of Commerce
Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
The Vatican has finally forgiven John Lennon for declaring that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, calling the remark a "boast" by a young man grappling with sudden fame.I mean...could that archaic relic of church be any more irrelevant?
The single biggest reason for the Proposition 8 loss was an ineffective and inept campaign strategy by the leadership of the No on 8 campaign. Despite raising record shattering amounts of money and volunteers who worked their hearts out, the overarching state campaign strategy was a huge flop.
Instead of running a diverse muti-message campaign of persuasion, the [No on 8] media message was emotionless, monotone and uncompelling. In short, the media messages failed to move or even educate voters about the issue and instead appealed to a single abstract principle - equality - that was not sufficiently persuasive or connected to the content of the proposition.
Worse, there appeared to be no effective Black or Latino strategy.
An effective target strategy would have been to send Democratic voters mailers with a picture of Barack Obama and other prominent diverse leaders who oppose Prop 8 and, alternately, to send Republican voters mailers with pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger and other prominent religious and conservative leaders who oppose Prop 8. This is textbook targeting.
Ads never even mentioned the subject matter of the proposition -- gay marriage or marriage equality -- ceding it to the Yes on 8 proponents to define for the electorate. The No on 8 ads never featured simple first hand heartfelt stories of gay and lesbian families talking about what it means to them and their children to have the legal benefits of marriage and conversely, what it would mean to have that right ripped away. They never featured our children and what the legal protection of marriage means to them. And significantly they did not reflect the diversity of our electorate.
The California Supreme Court today denied requests to stay the enforcement or implementation of Proposition 8, and at the same time agreed to decide several issues arising out of the passage of Proposition 8. The court’s order, issued in the first three cases that had been filed directly in the state’s highest court challenging the validity of Proposition 8, directed the parties to brief and argue three issues:Written briefs are due by the end of January, with oral arguments slated for March.
(1) Is Proposition 8 invalid because it constitutes a revision of, rather than an amendment to, the California Constitution?
(2) Does Proposition 8 violate the separation-of-powers doctrine under the California Constitution?
(3) If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?
Obama/Biden Obama/BidenThat's a margin of victory for Obama of 8,645,538 votes. (Ok, ok...you were right, Ben!) For comparison, George W. Bush LOST the popular vote in his first election by 543,895 votes and won his second by 3,012,497. Obama's margin also beats both of Bill Clinton's (1992 and 1996), as well as the first George Bush's (1988). You have to go all the way back to 1984 to find a bigger margin of victory in the national vote.
67,066,915
53%
McCain/Palin
58,421,377
46%
Nader, Barr, Others
1,653,986
1%
God keeps trying to get their attention. They, for their part, are shouting so loud for the acceptance of homosexuality, that they cannot hear the thunderous warnings of God: "Repent! For the judgment comes soon!"Jesus Christ! This guy needs a muzzle in a major way. Perhaps something in the shape of large, fat, uncut penis will do the trick!
The New York Post reports that out actor Cheyenne Jackson, who played 9/11 angel Mark Bingham in "United 93," has signed on to star in a Broadway musical based on "the lives and loves of Mormons."
Begich (D)
150,725
48%
Stevens (R)
147,004
47%
Others
16,970
(5%)
Senate Dems [voted to allow Joe] Lieberman to keep his plum spot [as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Oversight Committee] despite the fact that he has been a disaster at the post, and despite the fact that he endorsed efforts by the GOP to imply that Obama is in league with terrorists, suggested that Obama endangered our troops, and said Obama hasn't always put the country first.Harry Reid, the majority leader in the Senate, is such a fucking putz. This should have been a no-brainer. Not only should the chairmanship have been taken away from Lieberman, the traitor should have been kicked out of the Democratic caucus all together.
Worse, Reid is echoing an argument he knows is false: That this is only about retribution. Reid and his fellow Senators have made the political decision to leave Lieberman in a job that he was a disaster at, rather than make the good governmental decision to remove him for the good of the country.
...people on both sides of the same-sex marriage controversy confronted each other on Friday night, as police tried to keep the peace. Proposition 8 passed in a close vote and eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. Members of the gay community said that almost every Friday night, a Christian group meets at the corner of Castro and 18th Streets. They try to convert gays and lesbians into a straight lifestyle.Look...we all need to take one huge collective deep breath, close our eyes, and count to ten. Then, we need to calm down.
This Friday night, the message didn't go over well. Some gays and lesbians reacted by trying to chase the group out of the Castro. "Their rights were respected," said Joe Schmitz, an opponent of Prop 8. "They got a chance to go ahead and pray on the sidewalk and I had the opportunity to express my freedom of speech which is telling them to get out of my neighborhood." San Francisco Police officers in riot gear formed a line and escorted the religious group into a van to safely get them out of the area.
[The] incoming administration is unlikely to bring criminal charges against government officials who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists during the George W. Bush presidency.The current thinking on this is that President Bush will wind up pardoning those in question before leaving office, leaving moot the option of prosecution.
..."It's just not good for the intelligence community and the defense community to have people in the field, under exigent circumstances, being told these are the rules, to be exposed months and years after the fact to criminal prosecution," said former White House counsel Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr.
From the NY Times:Through war and recession, Americans have turned to Spam, the glistening canned product from Hormel, as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table. Now, in a sign of the times, it is happening again, and Hormel is cranking out as much Spam as its workers can produce.Even restaurants are getting in on it:
Jerry’s Place sells a Spamburger; Johnny’s “Spamarama” menu includes eggs Benedict with Spam; and, Steve’s Pizza put a medium Spam and pineapple pizza on the menu.And just in case you're wondering, Spam is a combination of ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, potato starch and a “hint” of sodium nitrite “to help Spam keep its gorgeous pink color,” according to Hormel’s Web site.
A brush fire roared through the foothills of Santa Barbara late Thursday, forcing residents in the infamous community of Montecito to evacuate as flames engulfed multimillion-dollar homes and more modest ranch-style houses.The Montecito area of Santa Barbara includes a large number of multimillion-dollar homes with ocean views, including Oprah Winfrey's infamous 42-acre estate, as well as the legendary Montecito Inn.
More than 100 homes have been lost, 2,500 acres burned, and 5 people injured, officials said.
"You can just hear the explosions ... of vehicles, homes," Michaelo Rosso told KCAL-TV as he prepared to leave his home in the area. "It sounds like the Fourth of July out here."
Two Obama advisers have told NBC News that Hillary Clinton is under consideration to be secretary of state.The press pool report from yesterday mentions that several minutes before Obama's motorcade left the transition offices, another three-car motorcade pulled out of the building. Sen. Clinton's office confirms she was in Chicago on "personal business" yesterday.
When I posted my endorsement for the House of Representatives last month, I predicted that third-party candidate Cindy Sheehan would surprise everyone with a stronger than expected showing. Nancy Pelosi (D) 72%Pelosi's 72% is her lowest showing since she first won the seat in 1988, and Sheehan's 17% is higher than any of Pelosi's Republican challengers since 1994.
Cindy Sheehan (I) 17%
Dana Walsh (R) 9%
Philip Berg (L) 1.95%
Write-In (NP) .05%
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Just one year after signing a $4 million a year deal with NBC, the network and Olbermann have parted ways...
I totally understand the anger, hurt and pain now roiling the gay community and our families...But it's important to keep our heads. I've been in the middle of this fight for two decades. It's important to remember that we have never had this level of public support for marriage equality before. In eight years in California alone, the majority in favor of banning marriage equality has gone from 61 to 52 percent. Meanwhile, California's legislature has voted for it, 18,000 couples are legally married in California, and legally comparable (if still unequal) domestic partnerships are available. Very soon, thousands of gay couples will be able to marry in Connecticut. The one state with a history of marriage equality, Massachusetts, is showing how good and positive a reform it is. New York recognizes Massachusetts' civil marriages.That 61% to 52% move from 2000 to 2008 leads me to believe that we are actually winning the war. We lost yet another battle, but the momentum is clearly on our side.
Calm down. We are not experiencing a massive, permanent backlash.
The next generation overwhelmingly backs the right to marry, and there is no sign of cultural reversal, even if we have suffered some electoral set-backs. If Obama has taught us anything, it is to keep our eyes on the prize, and not always to react impulsively to hatred, bigotry or simple ignorance by exaggerating its power over us. We are winning. We lost this one, by an excruciatingly small margin. But the whole point of this movement is education in support of toleration. Even though we lost, we persuaded many of something they barely thought about a short time ago...One thing we need to remember is dignity in defeat. That's how it becomes victory.
And we need patience and relentlessness in explaining our lives. And how human they are. It's not fair; we should have it all already. But we don't. And in a democracy, that means persuasion, not fiat.
Obama/Biden (D) 365Obama/Biden (D)More fun facts about this election:
65,445,394
53%
McCain/Palin (R)
57,446,223
46%
Nader, Barr, and other third party candidates make up the final 1%
Obama is the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to get more than 50% of the overall popular vote. Carter tallied exactly 50%. Clinton received 43% and 49% in his two elections (the presence of Ross Perot on both ballots lowered the vote totals for both major parties).
In his first election in 1992, Bill Clinton - a son of the South - made big plays for Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. He lost all three. In the '08 contest, Obama - an African American from the North - won all three.
Obama's 53% is the best showing since 1988.
Obama currently leads McCain by 8 million votes. For comparison, Bush lost the 2000 popular vote by 543,816 votes, and won it by just over 3 million in 2004.
McCain's current total, if it stands, will be lower than Kerry's 59 million four years ago, despite the addition of millions of new voters in this year's election.
What do want? EQUAL RIGHTS!
When do we want them? NOW!
Even in famously liberal San Francisco, we had to go through the process of trying to pass a simple domestic partnership law five times, and we lost twice. If you run up an unbroken string of victories in any battle for civil rights, that simply means you waited too long to get to work. Change that matters is never smooth or easy.I understand the anger and deep disappointment over the result of Prop 8. We all seemed to think that here in "liberal" California such an amendment would never pass. The resentment is deep and it hurts like a punch in the gut and a blow to the head. But what we can't do is let these emotions overtake us. Our community can't afford to stay angry. Yes...protest. Yes...let it be known from the Oregon border to San Diego County that we will not let this stand. But then...back to work.
It will be important to go over the campaign carefully and learn from our mistakes. But we need to resist the temptation to blame ourselves for the loss. The perfect campaign hasn’t been run anywhere yet. Thousands of very good people worked their hearts out on this, and they deserve our thanks. The victims of an injustice should never be blamed for failing to end it unless they don’t try. And you can’t say that we didn’t try, and try damn hard.
We didn’t lose by much. Eight years ago, on virtually the same question, we could only get 39 percent. On Tuesday, we got over 48. While our opponents may be celebrating now, the handwriting is on the wall. They won’t be able to hold on much longer. There are other states where we’ll be able to get marriage in the next few years, and others where we’ll get domestic partnerships and civil unions.
We’ll be back in California. And we’ll win. You can depend on it.
Obama/BidenA 7-point margin and about an 8 million vote lead for the Democratic ticket in the popular vote.
64,985,624 (53%)
364 electoral votes
McCain/Palin
57,125,842 (46%)
173 electoral votes
Obama/Biden 61.1%California has been reliably Democratic since 1992, but none of the results for Clinton, Gore, or Kerry were ever that massive.
McCain/Palin 37.1%
The crowds that gathered in the streets of Chicago, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and many other cities throughout our great nation, including a healthy crowd outside the White House, recalled those final scenes in "Return of the Jedi" where galaxy-wide celebrations ensued as the old evil empire was soundly defeated by the strong young leader of the progressive opposition. After eight long, dark years of leadership that was lawless, reckless, and incompetent, the voters of America, in record numbers and with hopeful hearts, cast their ballots in this election and said "enough!"The first black president hails from Illinois, the home of President Abraham Lincoln, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation.But now the work of governing begins. The minute he takes the oath of office on January 20th, Barack Obama will have his work cut out for him. The pile of wreckage the Bush administration will leave behind is bound to take several years to clean up. As such, President-elect Obama needs to name his key cabinet members before the end of this week. His choices for State, Defense, Treasury, Justice, and U.N. need to be named ASAP so that the preliminary work can be done to start confirmation hearings in the new Senate as soon as that body is seated in early January. The lower cabinet and sub-cabinet posts need to be named before Thanksgiving.
His victory in Virginia is especially sweet. The capitol of the former confederacy voted for a black candidate. That is history of tremendous proportions in and of itself.
Florida, another state of the old confederacy, is in Obama's column.
North Carolina, again...a confederate state...is still too close to call but Obama is leading there by about 11,000 votes.
Obama won Virginia and Indiana - those two states haven't gone Democratic in a presidential election since 1964.
Obama's 52% of the popular vote is the best showing for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964, and is the best showing for any president of either party since 1988.
As of 8:30am PT, Obama is closing in on 63 million votes nation wide. There are several million more votes yet to be tallied, but already, with those 63 million, Obama has won more popular votes than any president in our history.
Arizona and conservatism, full circle: The modern conservative movement began with the crushing defeat of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. That same conservative movement ends with the crushing defeat of Arizona Sen. John McCain - who holds Goldwater's seat in the Senate - in the 2008 presidential election.
Let me be clear: This will not stand. We will fight to overturn this with every fiber of our beings. It may take several years and it may take millions of dollars, but the tide is our side. Eventually, we will be equal.So we get back to work, arguing, talking. speaking, debating, writing, blogging, and struggling to change more minds. The hope for equality can never be extinguished, however hard our opponents try. And in the unlikely history of America, there has never been anything false about hope.Amen, my brother...Amen.
In what can only be described as a breath of fresh air - a much needed turning of the page - Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States tonight. The nation's first black president, who hails from Illinois, home of President Abraham Lincoln, put together an Electoral College victory that includes Florida and Virginia, two states of the old confederacy (one of which - Virginia - was its capitol), and eight states carried by George W. Bush four years ago.
