i still can't quite believe it

there's a black family and a white family, President and Vice pres, hugging each other. on stage. oh my god.

and you can see that Michelle and Barack just love each other.

Come on up for the rising-Bruce Springsteen

via Shakesville

From this commenter

Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh

Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best intentions do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.

What we Lost

The LGBT related initiatives did poorly.
In Arizona, the same-sex marriage ban appears to be passing. With 99% of precincts reporting, the results were 56% to 44%. This initiative is currently projected to win; this is an initiative that needed 50% plus one vote pass -- the state itself was called for Obama.
In Arkansas, the ban on gay and lesbian couples adopting children appears to be passing. With 96% of precincts reporting, the results were 57% to 43%. As of this moment, this initiative has been called; this was an initiative that needed 50% plus one vote pass -- the state itself was called for McCain.
In Florida, the same-sex marriage ban appears to be passing. With 99% of precincts reporting, the results were 62% to 38%. As of this moment, this initiative has been called; this was a constitutional amendment that needed 60% of the votes to pass -- the state itself was called for Obama.
And in California, we had Proposition 8. As of this moment, with 89% of precincts reporting, the constitutional amendment to the California State Constitution limiting marriage to one man and one woman is ahead 51.8% to 48.2%. The constitutional amendment hasn't yet been called -- but the amendment needs just 50% plus one vote pass -- the state itself has been called for Obama.
Here in my odd world of California, there is a weird comparison of initiatives between California initiatives can be made between Propositions 2 and 8.
Proposition 2 is an initiative that was described in the initiative as follows:

The purpose of this Act is to prohibit the cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs.

So in my mind, perhaps the saddest commentary on "liberal" Californians sense of equality and fairness is to say that in my home state where, to this point, 63.3% of its voters found the mistreatment of farm animals something worthy of being legislated against, and 52.8% of voters believed eliminating the fundamental right of gays and lesbians to marry worthy of a state constitutional amendment.

They apparently re-elected Michelle Bachman and Ted Stevens AKA the convicted felon. BLINK!

For historical note

McCain's Concession Speech

Obama's Acceptance Speech

Hopefully, this will be the darkest hour before the dawn

Gay marriage banned in California

This week in blackness #12

Pres-Elect barack Obama

Flashback:
TWiB! #6 - AP -Yahoo says "race" will matter in Election

Back to teh courts we go....Legal challenges filed against Prop 8

Daily Kos

The San Francisco City Attorney is filing a legal challenge to Prop 8, the Constitutional amendment that appears to have passed (all votes have not been counted, but it's unlikely the outcome will change when they are) in yesterday's election, which eliminated the existing right of same-sex couples to marry. From the San Jose Mercury News:

The San Francisco City Attorney's office says he plans to challenge the validity of a ballot measure that would change the state constitution to ban gay marriage.
Spokesman Matt Dorsey says City Attorney Dennis Herrera will file the legal challenge in the California Supreme Court if the measure passes.

In addition, Gloria Allred announced she's filing a lawsuit on behalf of a married couple, challenging the Proposition's constitutionality.

MORE

So what happened? No on 8 was incompetent

Vioa: delux_vivens

Beware of teh hand when its coming form the left...

The No on 8 campaign lost this issue with their assumptions and prejudice. I got sick of not seeing any commercials at first, then of seeing commercials that made no mention LGBT people, then seeing commercials that equated it with other civil rights issues far too late in the campaign to be effective. I wonder if anything was even actively done to reach out to show folks in the rural areas of this state how this effects real people, or if they just thought that "those people" were far too ignorant to bother with.

Yesterday on KCBS was the first time I heard about a physical confrontation on the news. I knew it was the same group of folks because the MO was the same (wave signs in people's faces, use homophobic epithets). Imagine if that had actually gotten play earlier. I'd have loved to see a No on 8 ad showing the tactics of the "other side". Shame was a powerful tool during the civil rights struggles during the Jim Crow era. Too bad they were too timid to use it.
MORE

Postmortem

Bottom line, though: we shouldn't have to fight another round. It WAS...is...time for this to happen. I'm pretty disappointed in the No on 8 campaign--the organizing, fundraising, and particularly the messaging left a lot to be desired. I think the decision to make same-sex couples completely invisible in the campaign advertising was a big strategic error. I understand the reasoning behind it, but it permitted the opposition to steer the conversation away from Prop 8's very real and emotional impact. By refusing to focus on the people whose rights were being taken away, No on 8 accepted the idea that same-sex relationships and LGBTQ people SHOULD be invisible, SHOULD be "kept out of our faces," SHOULDN'T be "flaunted." It fought the battle on the enemy's terms.MORe

Just a note: Oh ye "No on 8" supporters who are screaming at black ppl because one exit poll based on 240 ppl told you that they went for Prop hate 70-30, tell me...did you ASK THEM FOR THEIR VOTE? Cause a quick look at your television advertisements? Would make that a resounding NO. ASK and ye shall RECEIVE, idiots. And this is apparently a perennial problem in the gay rights movement. Queer minorities and potential minority allies are sidelined and ignored, and then blamed when shit like this comes up. Make the effort, for god's sake.

Asian pop

BoA - Eat You Up [MV] Full Asian Version HQ

Koda Kumi - taboo

Apropos in terms of race. May its sentiments apply to lgbt issues asap

Via: blackfolk

I, Too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

More lawsuits against Prop 8

UPDATE! The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have filed a petition to the California Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8! From a breaking news release:

The petition charges that Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians. Proposition 8 also improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities. According to the California Constitution, such radical changes to the organizing principles of state government cannot be made by simple majority vote through the initiative process, but instead must, at a minimum, go through the state legislature first.
[....]
"If the voters approved an initiative that took the right to free speech away from women, but not from men, everyone would agree that such a measure conflicts with the basic ideals of equality enshrined in our constitution. Proposition 8 suffers from the same flaw – it removes a protected constitutional right – here, the right to marry – not from all Californians, but just from one group of us," said Jenny Pizer, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal. "That's too big a change in the principles of our constitution to be made just by a bare majority of voters."
"A major purpose of the constitution is to protect minorities from majorities. Because changing that principle is a fundamental change to the organizing principles of the constitution itself, only the legislature can initiate such revisions to the constitution," added Elizabeth Gill, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California.
The groups filed the lawsuit today in the California Supreme Court on behalf of Equality California and 6 same-sex couples who did not marry before Tuesday's election but would like to be able to marry now.
The groups filed a writ petition in the California Supreme Court before the elections presenting similar arguments because they believed the initiative should not have appeared on the ballot, but the court dismissed that petition without addressing its merits. That earlier order is not precedent here.
"Historically, courts are reluctant to get involved in disputes if they can avoid doing so," said Shannon Minter, Legal Director of NCLR. "It is not uncommon for the court to wait to see what happens at the polls before considering these legal arguments. However, now that Proposition 8 may pass, the courts will have to weigh in and we believe they will agree that Proposition 8 should never have been on the ballot in the first place."

The brutal truth.

From John Aravois: Magnanimity is nice, but lets not forget...

( WHAT. HE. FUCKING. SAID. )

Can we bring McCain up on charges of endangering the country?

The McCain camp seems rather invested in making sure that Gov. Palin goes down with the ship. But holy jesus, if this is true...Jesus Lord, we dodged a bullet

Cameron: I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lack the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We're told by folks that she didn't know what countries that were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being the Canada, the US, and Mexico. We're told she didn't understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled.....was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn't accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times that she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings...MORE

Did you get that? Its not only that she didn't know that Africa was a continent, SHE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND TEH CONCEPT OF THE WORD "CONTINENT"????? SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT COUNTRIES WERE IN NAFTA????????????? WHUT.

WTF was McCain THINKING? And how the HELL did we manage to elect such an profoundly ignorant person governor? Also, she really didn't read newspapers, did she?


*shudders*