We Shall Overcome

My heart was full and my sense of social justice was very pleased by the recent California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage for the state. And more good news followed this week - the voters of California seem loathe to overturn the Court's decision:

The Field Poll result, released today, shows the highest level of support in more than three decades of polling Californians on the hot-button issue of same-sex marriage laws. The poll found 51 percent of registered voters favor the idea of allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed, while 42 percent disapprove.

What this indicates, I hope, is "So goes California, so goes the rest of the nation." There's a long fight ahead, as eighteen states have passed various anti-gay, "defense of marriage" amendments to their respective state constitutions in the past two federal election cycles. Twenty-seven states include some form of restriction on same-sex marriage currently. It will most likely be a state-by-state battle to restore civil rights and equal opportunity for a minority that's been demonized and marginalized for far too long.

The crux of the matter here is not "special rights," as conservatives love to bray - it is simply recognizing equal rights for adult, tax-paying gay and lesbian Americans (living will designees, property inheritance, hospital visitation, etc.) as straight Americans enjoy. As far as the "threat to straight marriages" canard goes, I doubt the the "spectre" of Adam and Steve or Ellen and Portia getting hitched drove Vito Fossella to knock up his secret lover or Larry Craig to cruise airport bathrooms for dick or David Vitter to get in a diaper for a romp with a prostitute. And it sure as hell didn't prevent Bill Clinton from getting a squeezer from an intern in the Oval Office before he signed the repugnant Defense of Marriage Act into law.

Gay and lesbian citizens have fought for this country, they've been responsible for advances in medicine and technology, they've been captains of industry and have been the most grassroots of organizers. They've held elected office and have inspired the political structure from the outside.

I won't even begin to list the contributions gay and lesbian artists have made to the books we read, the music we listen to, the TV shows and movies we watch, the live theater that entertains us, the art we appreciate, the sculptures that impress us, the poems that inspire us, etc.

They are our co-workers, our neighbors, our friends, our classmates, our bar-mates and our family. They are us and we are them.

Idealist that I am, I imagine this time as analogous to the late 50's/early 60's, where a Supreme Court decision (Brown v. Board of Education) gave fuel to a nascent civil rights movement and a gradual shift in public sentiment in favor of desegregation. I trust it won't take Bull Connor and the Birmingham police turning hoses on protesters to move the national mood in favor of recognizing that same-sex couples deserve the same rights as their straight counterparts. Nor do I look forward to a Federal act, on the level of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, which inspires, in spite of lofty goals, generations of resentment and political polarization in less-tolerant segments of the nation. States must decide if they want to be on the right, or wrong, side of history.

I'm overjoyed for my business school classmates in California who have been waiting for this ruling for well over a decade and a half and for same-sex couples throughout the state who have been given overdue respect by the state's constitutional authority. I hope this movement spreads eastward and graces all the states in the union with equality for all of our citizens.

It is because I love them dearly and want only for this country to respect them as much as I do that I echo that old anthem -

WE SHALL OVERCOME

UPDATE: New York State is onboard. Thanks Gov. Paterson

Mayor Six-Pack

Sixteen years in office. Sixteen years as the chief executive of the city. The longest serving mayor in our city's history. The dominant political figure in WNY in parts of three decades.

It is difficult, in this era, to fully appreciate the impact of Jimmy Griffin's reign in Buffalo. Under his leadership, the city ended up with the Buffalo Hilton (now the Adam’s Mark), Waterfront development (most notably, townhouses), the Hyatt Regency, the General Cinema in the Market Arcade, a restored Shea’s Buffalo and the HSBC Bank Atrium, and the crown jewel of his administration - Dunn Tire Park.

I say it is difficult because these achievements are overshadowed by the failures of his administration and the rapid decline of the city's fortunes during and after his reign. Despite his constant promotion of the city and battles with the state and his own Common Council over funding, we sit 30 years after he took office faced with the following:

• A startling exodus from the city that has reduced our numbers to under 250,000
• Double-digit increases in the crime rate
• Chronic underfunding of the city's public schools
• Patronage systems installed in city departments, from the Police to the parks
• Neighborhoods, such as the East Side, ignored and allowed to rot for 20+ years

My own memories of Griffin are vague...though he was in office for most of the time I was growing up here, I left in 1989. I remember him as something of a political clown - someone who reveled in ginned-up conflicts with other officials so he could puff out his chest and show his loyal constituents what a "tough guy" he was. Whether he was walking off "A.M. Buffalo" after the interviewer had enough of his rudeness or sucker-punching the County Parks Commissioner outside the downtown ballpark or comparing Buffalo News reporters to convicted criminals, "Mayor Jimmy" never shied away from an opportunity to promote himself at the expense of others.

Of course, one would not expect a hardscrabble, bareknuckled neighborhood politician like Griffin to be the most progressive person in the room, but he seemed to revel in taking shots at groups who didn't put money in his or his cronies' pockets:

• On LGBT citizens: "They are fruits and queers. They're not 'gay' because that means happy, not homosexual."
• On Parks Department workers upset over the 1990 scandal: "They're malcontents and stool pigeons."
• On welcoming Operation Rescue to Buffalo: "An abortionist is probably on a level with reporters. I don't know who's worse or who is better."

I agree with Donn Esmonde's assessment in today's News that the positive legacy that Griffin leaves is tarnished by his pettiness, his self-aggrandizement and inability to compromise. He was, and is, beloved for his charisma, considerable charm (if he liked you or was trying to get your vote) and common touch. He may be our best personification of Tip O'Neill's line about "all politics is local". However, that "local touch" ultimately did little to advance the city or its people.

Nothing's Shocking

Hoo boy...the general election is going to be a cavalcade of mirth if this clip is any indication of the tenor of discourse to come in the fall. Of course, it would be unfair to paint the entire network as promoting this kind of garbage, because you would never, ever, ever find this kind of filth on their broadcasts.

Fox News: Fair and Balanced and Purposefully "Confusing" a Presidential Candidate and the World's Leading Terrorist and Wishing Death on Them Both:



UPDATE: Apparently, the Fox News personality, Liz Trotta , offered an "apology" for her disgraceful comment. I leave it up to you to judge the sincerity of her remorse:

Saturday YouTube Nugget

For Memorial Day Weekend:

Experience We Can Laugh At

Ladies and Gentlemen - your Republican nominee for President, Senator John McCain

My favorite part is where Joe Lieberman has to stage-whisper to him that Al-Queda is not, actually, in Iran. Brilliant.

God's Will

While we have been (and will continue to) enjoying the pundit blathering about how devastating and injurious Pastor Wright has been to the Obama campaign, John McCain's own crazy pastor, John Hagee, has been quietly telling his flock that the Nazi menace and the Holocaust was.....wait for it.....God's will. Praise be and lordy-lord.

I expect a week-long expose on this on the Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC....oh wait, that's right! They only care about crazy black preachers.

UPDATE: It's about goddamn time. We've only known about this insane clown pastor for, I don't know, half a year.

Kentucky Fried Candidate

Great night for Hillary, but Obama is within inches of the nomination....here's the straight dope:

(2,026 delegates needed to clinch the nomination)
Obama: 1,656.5 pledged delegates, 304.5 SuperDelegates = 1,961 Total Delegates
Clinton: 1,501.5 pledged delegates, 277.5 SuperDelegtates = 1,779 Total Delegates
Remaining Delegates: 86 pledged, 214 SuperDelegates = 300 Total Delegates

Obama needs only 64 delegates to clinch the nomination....Clinton needs 246 and, soon, the number of delegates she needs to clinch will be more than the total number of remaining delegates, pledged or otherwise.

Last night was a big night for the Clinton campaign as she trounced Obama in Kentucky by 35 points and a margin of 250,000 votes. However, that victory was rendered virtually meaningless as Obama picked up enough delegates (14) in Kentucky to clinch the majority of pledged delegates. He went on to win Oregon (no surprise there) by 16 points and regain almost 100,000 votes he lost to Clinton in KY.

There is no way Hillary can pick up enough delegates in the remaining primaries (Puerto Rico on June 1, Montana and South Dakota on June 3) to catch Obama. Her only hope is to sway enough SuperDelegates to overlook the facts that she's lost every conceivable metric in these primaries (popular vote, primaries, caucuses, and the only one that counts - delegates) and that her campaign released the news last night that she is $20 million in debt. An attractive combination to any Democratic SuperDelegate, indeed (/snark).

The Clinton campaign has morphed into Don Quixote on HGH....they are pulling out any and every justification for staying in the race, even though, as of 9 pm last night, the "race" was officially over. The cable news coverage was replete with these knee-slappers from Clinton surrogates:

1) "Hillary leads in the popular vote..." - uh, well yes...but only if you count Florida and Michigan, which actually don't count because they violated DNC rules for moving up in the primary calendar and had their state primaries voided as a result. They're also not counting sixteen four states that held caucuses instead of primaries (IA, NV, ME, and WA), all but three of which but Nevada were won by Obama. This is akin to saying that the New England Patriots scored more points in Super Bowl XLII, if you don't count the final touchdown the Giants scored in the fourth quarter. Or the field goal NY kicked in the 1st quarter. In any case, this point is meaningless because popular vote doesn't count - delegates do.

2) "Hillary is the stronger candidate in the general election..." - we can discount this right off the bat as the stronger candidate in general elections is usually the candidate who wins the party nomination. Apart from that, looking at the electoral map, Hillary won the Northeast and Rust Belt states that will reliably go to the Democrats in the fall (NY, NJ, PA, MA) as well as California. However, Obama started with a stunning victory in Iowa and proceeded to cut a swath through the Deep South (AL, GA, SC, NC, MS, LA) and pick up impressive victories in the Mid- and Northwest (ID, KS, ND, CO, NE, WY). Basically, Hillary cleaned up on states that will most likely go to Democrats in the General Election while Obama drove record turnout in states which haven't voted for a Democrat for President since the mid-1960's. Couple that with the assumption that putting a Clinton on the ticket makes the GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts of the GOP that much easier due to the Hillary-Hate on that side has to convince the SDs that Obama is the Democrats' best and only option.

3) "Hillary voters will rebel if she is not the nominee" - ah, the lamentations of the unfulfilled and bitter. TV pundits are making a lot of hay out of exit polls showing that between 20-40% of Hillary voters will not vote for Obama in the general election if he is the nominee. They will either vote for McCain or not vote for President at all. I'm not too concerned about this at this juncture because a) Hillary is still in the race and b) once we Democrats calm down and consider the spectre of a McCain presidency, cooler heads will prevail and the jilted Hillary supporters will return to the fold. How the Democratic convention plays out and how much of a role Hillary plays in it will go a long way to determining how her supporters will act. While I'm hoping she's not Obama's VP selection, she may extort that out of Obama and the party leaders in exchange for her dropping out of the race.

4) "The 'hard-working, white' voters who supported Hillary will never vote for Obama" - this, of course, is in reference to the 20% of Hillary voters in Kentucky and West Virginia who, in exit polls, admitted that race was a major factor in their vote. No, they won't vote for a black candidate, so fuck them. Let them continue voting against their own self-interest (jobs, schools, healthcare, energy, the environment) because they're scared of black people. Appalachia will benefit from a Democrat in the White House, just the same as everyone else.

So, we now look to the the big powow on May 30, where representatives from both campaigns will meet with DNC officials to discuss how the Michigan and Florida delegates will be seated and if Hillary exits the campaign with dignity or with guns-a-'blazing. Stay tuned.

Oh, and in response to the inane criticism that Obama's support is based only on a narrow coalition of young, snot-nosed punk kids and blacks:

Myrtle Strong Enemy, 101, waits for US Democratic presidential candidate and US Senator Barack Obama, (D-IL), to speak in Crow Agency, Montana May 19, 2008

UPDATE: had my facts wrong on the number of caucuses the Clinton folks are "dis"counting toward the popular vote total

Friday YouTube Nugget

From one of the greatest debut albums of all time, this is the Velvet Underground featuring Nico with I'll Be Your Mirror

A Change Has Come....

"Bush says gave up golf in solidarity with Iraq dead" - Mass Grave Rolling Ensues

Unbelievable .....Unbe-fucking-lievable:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he quit playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of Americans killed in the war in Iraq.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf," Bush said in an interview with Yahoo and Politico.com

"I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal," he said.


Personally, I think being a titanic fuckup, the "EPIC FAIL" of all American Presidents, during two wars sends the wrong signal, but hey....that's me.

George W. Bush - Sacrificing His Leisure Time For You Ungrateful Bastards

Desert Island Discs

This post was inspired by a comment I just left on Mr. Livingston's haughty blog (35 books on the Telegraph's list of Greatest Library? Congrats, nerd....I have 100% of the items from Penthouse's Greatest Bachelor Pad). I mentioned that I own all of the Top 20 albums which have been recognized as the Greatest of All Time (this site will suck you in worse than heroin - http://www.besteveralbums.com/overall.php) and it got me to thinking....while I enjoy and respect these landmark albums, do really listen to them anymore? I don't think I've sat down and listened to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, for example, in a good decade because I listened to it non-stop for the decade before that. Also, I find parts of The Joshua Tree excruciating.

So what, then, do I consider the greatest albums of all time? Placed in the context of a popular parlour game, which 10 CDs do take with me to the desert island to enjoy for the remainder of my time on Earth? The only rules are:

• no Greatest Hits
• no live albums
• rock n' roll only.....assume this island has a deep library of classical, jazz, spoken-word, etc.
• no movie soundtracks

1) Songs In The Key Of Life, Stevie Wonder (1976)
2) Odelay!, Beck (1996)
3) A Rush of Blood To The Head, Coldplay (2002)
4) Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix (1968)
5) American Beauty, Grateful Dead (1970)
6 Are You Gonna Go My Way, Lenny Kravitz (1993)
7) All Things Must Pass, George Harrison (1970)
8) Imagine, John Lennon (1971)
9) Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1973)
10) At War With The Mystics, The Flaming Lips (2006)

Feel free to add yours in the Comments...

Happy Mother's Day

to all you mothas out there

Friday YouTube Nugget

In honor of this week's primary results and the iminent nomination of Senator Obama as the first black candidate for President from a major party in our nation's history, I feel drawn to Sam Cooke's landmark song, A Change Is Gonna Come. Though only a modest hit upon its initial release in 1963, the song soon became an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement and has inspired generations of Americans in the years since. Legend has it that Cooke was moved to write the song after hearing Bob Dylan's Blowin In the Wind and desired to write a song of hope for the ongoing civil rights fight. Indeed, where Dylan's song asks "How many years can some people exist/before they're allowed to be free?", Cooke's song answers "It's been a long, long time coming/but I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will"

I'm sure I'll get much more dramatic and maudlin as we get closer to the Democratic convention and that moment when the first person of color steps up to the podium and accepts his party's nomination for President....for now, these are moments in history that I will treasure for life. I can only look back at the struggles and sacrifices made by those who came before us...and look ahead to a future of true brotherhood and community.

It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come....oh yes it will

More GOP "Family Values" in action: From Beer to Paternity

BEFORE

AFTER


OH SHIT


It shocks me.....shocks me when a member of the holier-than-thou club gets caught pants down, ass up, drunk in a car, yadda, yadda, yadda. This story, though, is right up there with Senator Widestance for pure deviant goodness. After all, it isn't often than a U.S. Representative compounds his drunk driving arrest by getting picked up by his mistress, who also happens to be the mother of his 3-year old daughter! Here's to you, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY)...you're doing a smash-up job representing the good people of your Staten Island and Brooklyn districts! No matter that you're a Bush-supporting war whore and a campaign fund embezzler. You're a bigger pimp than 50 Cent. Wowie!

Fossella's private life came under scrutiny after he was arrested for drunk driving last week in suburban Virginia. He has a court date next week, and could face jail time if convicted. Fossella told police at the time of his arrest that he was going to see his daughter in the area.

Fossella has three children with his wife in Staten Island, N.Y. Fosella says he knows there are questions about his political future. But he says right now any political decisions are "the furthest thing from my mind."

Of course "political decisions" are the furthest thing from his mind because his top priority now is avoiding castration while he sleeps thanks to his poor wife who just learned there's a new addition to the family!

Do I even need to guess where this paragon of virtue and morals stands on the issues of the day?
1) Woman's right to choose: 0% rating from NARAL, meaning anti-choice nutjob
2) Civil rights: voted for banning gay marriage and defining marriage as one-man, one-woman. Wasn't given the opportunity to define it as one-man, one-woman, one-mistress and one-bastard-child. Given a 7% rating by the ACLU and 0% by the Human Rights Campaign meaning if you like your civil rights, Vito don't like you.
3) Education: has consistently voted against funding for federal education, particularly grants for black and Hispanic colleges. He does support requiring schools to allow prayer (I wasn't aware that students were prohibited from praying). Perhaps young Vito was praying during the day in school where his class was taught that when you get marrried, you shouldn't be putting your sword in another woman's sheath....and wear a rubber, for Christ's sake man!
4) Families: 81% rating from the Christian Coalition, check....
Also voted YES on legislation on responsible fatherhood via faith-based organizations. Heh.

Rep. Fossella vows he will not give up his seat, not will he abandon his re-election campaign. I wish him the best of luck and advise that he should bring in John McCain for campaign events as much as he can....they can compare stories about fucking around on their wives for years.

Dear Senator Clinton:

You are free to leave the race at any time....but preferably sooner than later.

Yours,
Democrats Everywhere

http://hillaryis404.org/

Reminder: Today is NOT "Mexican Independence Day"

The Battle of Puebla, not the parking lot at Cozumel in about three hours

Nota bene, dear readers.....today's celebrations commemorate the initial victory of Mexican forces over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. This was a momentary triumph, however, as the superior French army continuted their advance and captured Mexico City and the nation within a year of this battle. Though it is mostly a regional holiday in Mexico and certainly not as important a national celebration in Mexico as Independence Day on September 16, it has been adopted in the United States as a celebration of Mexican-Americans (or Chicanos) and their culture. similar to St. Patrick's Day, Oktoberfest and Chinese New Year. As well as an excuse for Anglos to put on Frito Bandito moustaches and a poncho while doing their worst Speedy Gonzalez impressions and power-slugging Dos Equis until they puke on their sandals. Arriba!

From the Department of "Now There's a Headline You Don't See Everyday"

Candidate speaks at Hitler birthday party

I can faintly remember a time where a candidate's address to a Neo-Nazi group with members wearing swastika armbands on either side of his dais, a giant swastika flag in the backdrop and standing in front of a huge painting of one of history's greatest monsters was sufficient to get your ass kicked in the street without mercy, let alone political suicide in the midst of a campaign. I'm so glad to see times have changed.

There must be some interesting voters in Indiana's 2nd District if this clown got 30% of the primary vote two years ago.

Friday YouTube Nugget

I've been overdosing on Miami Vice episodes on Hulu.com (my new reason for existence) and this week's nugget comes from an episode I just finished watching. Apparently, there were some slimy characters selling drugs in Miami and to catch them, Don Johnson had to squint his eyes and smoke a lot of cigarettes while Philip Michael Thomas displayed the worst Jamaican accent in the history of recorded entertainment. Here's Honeymoon Suite and "New Girl Now"