Saturday Nite Open Thread

So how's your weekend been? Mine's been duller than usual. Oh my, what do I do with all this time at home? Hope you're all enjoying your holiday weekend, and we'll catch up more later. :-)

The Day After

Only 5 more days of 2008? Really? I guess time flies when one's having fun.

Hope you all had a great Christmas, and I hope you all come back in 2009. :-)

The President-Elect's Christmas Address

Happy Chrismahannakwanzakah

Have a blessed holiday, and we'll see you soon. :-)

Christmas Eve Open Thread

Has Santa been to your house yet? Aren't you excited? Enjoy the evening.

And please, enjoy the beautiful holiday tomorrow! :-)

Ideology Matters

Good discussion at Open Left on what we can really expect from Democrats in DC.

Purpose-Driven Bigotry

When are lies & outright hatred OK?

2012 Redistricting Reshuffle

Will California lose a House seat? Will North Carolina gain a House seat? Will New York lose 2 House seats? Will Florida gain 2 House seats?

Take a look at the current forecast to see where electoral power is moving to.

It's a Blunderful Life

Weekly Strategy Session: House 2010

Swing State Project has a great thread up today on possibly vulnerable House seats in 2010. This really got me thinking.
What Congressional races do you think we should invest in?

The strategy session is now open. Please come on in!

Party's Over

I'm usually not a huge Richard Cohen fan, but his column in The Washington Post today is simply brilliant. That's why I just have to shut up now & let you read the best part of what he had to say...

I can understand Obama's desire to embrace constituencies that have rejected him. Evangelicals are in that category and Warren is an important evangelical leader with whom, Obama said, "we're not going to agree on every single issue." He went on to say, "We can disagree without being disagreeable and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans." Sounds nice.

But what we do not "hold in common" is the dehumanization of homosexuals. What we do not hold in common is the belief that gays are perverts who have chosen their sexual orientation on some sort of whim. What we do not hold in common is the exaltation of ignorance that has led and will lead to discrimination and violence.

Finally, what we do not hold in common is the categorization of a civil rights issue -- the rights of gays to be treated equally -- as some sort of cranky cultural difference. For that we need moral leadership, which, on this occasion, Obama has failed to provide. For some people, that's nothing to celebrate.

The party's off.

Late Nite Open Thread

What's going on tonight?

Homophobia We Can Believe In?

Something to think about.

Rush Jumps the Shark. Again.

Ah, the joys of El Rushbo's Krazy Konspiracy Korner.

Love in Action

Last Saturday, about 30 of us local civil rights activists in Orange County went out to see "Milk". And afterwards, we were all inspired by the story of "The Mayor of Castro Street" to go out & make a difference outside South Coast Plaza.

And guess what? We kept going on Sunday! In fact, we took our message of love & equality directly to H8 headquarters. And believe it or not, there's not as much H8 here as you'd think.

Come along with me as I tell you about my weekend full of love & equality.

On Saturday, Courage Campaign sponsored "MILK + Love" events all over California to remind the state that the civil rights movement isn't over yet. And yes, I hosted the event in Costa Mesa. I received RSVP email after RSVP email in the 72 hours before the event, but I seriously doubted that 46 people would actually show up.

But lo & behold, we actually had over 50 people come to the candlelight vigil after the movie! And better yet, most passers-by were quite moved by our plea for equal rights. In fact, a family doing some holiday shopping stopped by to apologize for their votes for H8 as the husband & wife were showing the kids all the other loving families at the rally. They seemed to be crying once they met the married couples that the Yes on H8 campaign wants to divorce against their will. I nearly cried after they left.

Well, I guess that was good preparation for what would happen the following day. I woke up early Sunday morning to make the trek down the toll road to Saddleback Church. I wanted to make sure I'd be there in time for the 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM services. But oh my, I didn't know what I'd be jumping into!

Sure, I expected the few people driving into church who shouted expletives at us. However, I didn't expect a church member to walk down from the campus to apologize for the recent Rick Warren related controversies. She tried to tell us that Warren isn't a bigot. Someone from our group wanted to shout her down, but the rest of us speaking with her quieted him down. Then, a lesbian couple who was married this year explained to the church member how they're not treated equally under a domestic partnership even though it's "just like marriage". She had asked about compromising by "calling it something else", but she started to understand as we were telling her our own stories of discovering that there's no such thing as "separate but equal". The church member told us of her gay son & gay cousins, and I told her of my Christian friends. We cried, we hugged, and I gave her my card in hopes that she will continue the conversation we began yesterday.

Believe it or not, not everyone at Saddleback Church hates queer people. Sure, we got the dirty looks and the thumbs down and the expletives. However, we also discovered our fair share of thumbs up and amicable waves among both the passers-by along Portola Parkway and parishioners leaving church. I guess once they realized that queer people aren't so scary, they let go of whatever fear and hatred they once had. I mean, how could they look directly at the married gay couple that joined us later in the day and say that they should be forcibly divorced?

Really, that was the success of our weekend of action here in Orange County. We practiced what Harvey Milk preached. We showed the outside world that LGBT people are people too. We came out, showed our love, and asked our neighbors to join in sharing the love... And the civil rights!

It's so crucial that we remain out of our closet comfort zone in the coming months as the California Supreme Court determines the immediate fate of marriage equality and the voting public decides whether to reconsider their opinions in 2010. We must be out fighting for our rights. We must be out winning hearts and minds. We can't just expect California to fall into place, or for President Obama to magically make everything better. We musf make it happen!

So please, make sure Courage Campaign is ready for 2010. Make sure the ACLU can continue to win our rights in court. And most importantly, go out & put you love into action by telling everyone why equal rights for all matter.

Late Nite Sunday Open Thread

So how was your weekend?