Happy Halloween

In case you missed it tonight.

What This Election is About

More Smears and Lies About Obama

From FactCheck.org, October 28, 2008

A new anti-Obama group runs a bunk-filled ad implying he'd give a driver's license to Mohammed Atta.

An upstart group calling itself the "National Republican Trust PAC" mixes a pile of false claims and the image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta to create one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign.

The spot falsely claims Obama has a "plan" to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, Obama has said quite specifically, "I am not proposing that that's what we do."

The ad implies such licenses would enable terrorist attacks. In fact, Atta wouldn't have needed one to carry out his attacks.

It claims that Obama's health care plan will apply to illegal immigrants. But Obama has stated quite clearly that his plan "does not" cover illegal immigrants.

The ad falsely claims that Obama's plan "gives illegals Social Security benefits," which is also flatly untrue.

Misrepresenting Obama's Tax Proposals

From FactCheck.org, October 26, 2008

New ads recycle old, debunked claims about Obama's tax plan.

Republicans are misrepresenting Obama's tax proposals right down to the bitter end. New radio ads from the McCain campaign and a TV spot from the pro-Republican group Let Freedom Ring are targeting voters nationwide with some of the same tax deceptions we've been hearing all fall, rolled in a bundle and flung through the airwaves. One of the radio ads features Hank Williams Jr., the other Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. But new packaging doesn't make the charges any less false.

Taxes wouldn't have gone up on "families" making as little as $42,000 under the budget resolution passed last spring, as the Charlie Crist ad says. Try $90,000 for a typical family of four. And anyway, that measure doesn't at all resemble what Obama's actually proposing to do.

The Let Freedom Ring ad claimed that Obama has "voted to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire," meaning "our income taxes will actually go up." But Obama only voted to let some of the tax cuts expire, and at any rate nobody's taxes are going up as a result of that vote. The group yanked this ad off the air rather than try to defend it.

Echoing a recent McCain theme, Crist says, "McCain knows that people don't want to 'spread the wealth,' " condemning Obama's use of the phrase when he talked to "Joe the Plumber." Actually, McCain has supported taxing high earners more than low earners. Not so long ago McCain said, "Wealthy people can afford [to pay] more." Obama's tax plan would "spread the wealth" more than McCain's, but it's not as though McCain wants to do away with the progressive tax system we currently have.

Mayanists for Obama

As an art historian of Precolumbian Mesoamerican cultures and a supporter of Barack Obama, I have to admit that I found this to be very cool. David Stuart, a world renowned Maya epigrapher from my alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, designed a Maya glyph that spells "Obama". You can now show your support for Obama with gear available from obamayanist at CafePress.


If you are wondering about the additional "a" at the end, this is a result of the way Maya words are constructed. This glyph block is created by four glyphs that represent individual syllables. The Maya syllables are either a vowel or a combination of a consonant-vowel sound. The Maya words therefore are formed with alternating consonant-vowel-consonant constructions. Also, the last vowel sound in the word is not pronounced, so if you only had the first three syllables, o-ba-ma, it would be read "obam". This is why the additional vowel of "a" is added at the end, so that when read the final vowel sound in Obama will be preserved.

Conservatives for Change

This is a documentary project featuring Republicans and Conservatives who are voting for Obama. These are real people, speaking in their own words. Go to: www.conservativesforchange.com

Equality For All

Yesterday I posted about the incredible beauty and love my sister and her new husband experienced at their wedding last weekend. Today I am asking everyone to help protect the right of all couples to be able to share the same experience. I can't imagine what it would have been like if the government told my sister that she could not wed the person she had chosen to spend her life with. Can you imagine not being allowed to create a legal bond with the person you love?

On May 15th, 2008, California became a state that grants equal protection and equal rights to same-sex couples. There is once again an effort by intolerant groups to write discrimination back into the California Constitution this November. Proposition 8 is an initiative on the ballot that, if passed, could eliminate the right to marry for same-sex couples. I’m asking you to do whatever you can to help defeat it.

VOTE NO on PROP 8

We all know how important it is to be treated equally and fairly. Same-sex couples in California now have the same rights and protections that all other committed and loving couples enjoy. I firmly believe that all couples who want to accept the responsibility that comes with marriage should be treated equally and be granted the same legal rights and freedoms.

The issue of equality and fairness is very important to me, which is why I am asking you to Vote NO on Proposition 8, the marriage ban. Our Constitution was designed to provide equal protections under the law for all of us in California, and it should not be used to legalize discrimination.

American's have come a long way toward ensuring equal rights for all people, but the fight is far from over. Your support is needed now more than ever. Please, Vote NO on Proposition 8 and tell others to do the same. Together, we can help stop this discrimination and ensure equality for all couples.



The factions supporting Prop 8 and the discrimination that this marriage ban would entail, see this as a moral battle. They believe they have the right to say which consenting adult couples are allowed to have access to equal rights and protections under the law. Prop 8 is not about "protecting the sanctity of marriage", it is about discrimination.

The right of religious institutions to make guidelines for who can be married in their organization is not threatened by the state granting equal protection and equal rights to same-sex couples. The separation of church and state provides religions the protection to decide how they run their institutions. Just as a Christian church can mandate that you must believe in Jesus Christ to join the church, it still has the freedom to decide who it will wed. Religions have the freedom not to wed same-sex couples and this is not threatened by the state allowing equality for same-sex couples under the law. Just as the state cannot decide who is married in the eyes of a religion, religions should not be able to decide who can be wed under the law. Prop 8 is unnecessary and accomplishes nothing other than discrimination.

Watch this video to get an idea of how this issue of equality and fairness is viewed by those supporting Prop 8, the marriage ban. This type of fear and hatred cannot be allowed to rewrite the California Constitution.



Join me and the broad coalition of organizations and newspapers that oppose Prop. 8—from the Los Angeles Times and La Opinión to the League of Women Voters, the California Nurses Association and the California Teachers Association.

VOTE NO on PROP 8

I Married My Sister

Last weekend my sister Melanie and Bill were married in Santa Cruz. It was a multi-day celebration culminating in a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the Chaminade. It was quite a party.

The happy couple gave me the honor of officiating over the wedding ceremony. I was sworn in by the state of California as a Deputy Commissioner of Civil Marriages for a day. Here are some photos from the weekend (click to enlarge).

Catherine and I met up with everyone Thursday night at Zelda's in Capitola for some lobster. As you can see in the photo we were a bit tired. I had taught that morning and then drove for about six hours. Everyone else that had arrived earlier in the day or the day before had been celebrating and wine tasting for several hours.


Friday afternoon we had the ceremony rehearsal followed by a dinner at the Crow's Nest with a nice view of the ocean at sunset.


Saturday morning I took Catherine down to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for a late breakfast. I hadn't been to the boardwalk in years, so I was wondering if the roller coaster would be as good as I remembered. The Giant Dipper is a wooden coaster built in 1924. It was still as fun as I remembered. The drop is pretty good with some sharp, if a bit jerky, turns. Catherine didn't seem to enjoy it. She was sure the coaster was going to collapse under us.


The ceremony went well. My sister looked amazing in her gown. The groom seemed a bit stunned when she walked out. He hadn't seen the gown, although they had taken some photos on the beach before the ceremony. She had bought two gowns unbeknown to him, one for the beach photos and one for the ceremony.


From left to right: my niece Lindsay, my father and mother (John and Margie), Bill and Melanie, my grandmother (Marie, mother's side), brother-in-law Eric and sister Monica, me, and my nephew Michael.


And the one woman that gave the bride some competition, my beautiful partner Catherine. We had a great time!


Here is the prepared text for the toast I gave at the reception:

As Melanie’s big brother I may have tortured her relentlessly when we were young, now I have the opportunity to make amends by saying something really nice today, but I can’t guarantee that there won’t still be a little torture included. (Some habits are hard to break.)

I am very blessed to have two sisters that I consider to be among my very best friends. You might not be aware of the exact moment it happens, when the teasing of childhood becomes the love and caring of true friendship, but when you are lucky enough to have that with your siblings as I do, you want to make sure that you never let it go.

Let me give you an example of when I realized we were as much friends as siblings. It was the summer of 1995, our niece and nephew, Michael and Lindsay, had just been born, and Melanie and I decided to travel for two weeks in the Yucatan peninsula to see some of the Maya ruins. Melanie was quite the trooper, following me through humid jungles and tropical storms, being eaten by mosquitoes and a myriad of other bugs, no make-up with hair pulled back in a ponytail, riding down bumpy dirt roads on buses packed with people, chickens and goats, and sleeping in $4 hotel rooms and hammocks on the beach. We were friends. We were equals. That was a wonderful summer that I will always remember dearly.

We learned a lot about each other, the world, and ourselves that summer. I think Melanie also gained an advanced appreciation for Mexican beer. We also saw a lot of amazing and beautiful things as we wandered through the ancient Maya ruins of Tulum, Uxmal and Chichen Itza. Climbing the stairs of the pyramids we got a small glimpse into their world. We learned about ancient traditions where men would be given intoxicants, dressed in elaborate costumes, and led up the stairs of the pyramid. Then there in front of a large assembled crowd the man would be sacrificed before an altar and his heart given as a sacred offering. Hmm, some might say this is a practice that continues on today. Bill, are you still with us?

But these two have nothing to worry about. They have already shown their ability to love and care for each other through great adversity. They can be confident in the knowledge that they can overcome anything together, for they have survived the greatest challenge and sacrifice of any married couple: a kitchen remodel. [remember the car that drove into their house]

I have kept an eye on Bill over the years. And I can say that he continues to impress me. Bill is a man of honor and pride who freely displays his respect, kindness and caring towards my family. I know without reservation that he loves my sister deeply. As a big brother this is important to know. Bill, please know that I could not be happier to welcome you into our family.

They say that when you get married that the two individuals become one, so your first duty as a married couple will be to decide which one. Well, I think we all know how that one will turn out. Sorry, Bill.

I love you both!

Everyone please stand and raise your glasses in honor of the happy couple…

As we stand here filled with many wonderful memories of the past, we create a beautiful memory of today, and wish you all the joy imaginable in creating your future memories together. Melanie and Bill, here’s to you. Prost!

A Touch of Tradition

This poster is hand printed from wood type that is over 100 years old. Cool.

Talk To Your Parents

I thought this was clever.

Oh, and while you are at it, if they live in California,
make sure they Vote NO on Prop 8.



It might also help your discussion with your parents along if you let them know that Ronald Reagan endorses Barack Obama.

Keating Economics

This is what happens when Mr. McCain decides to throw stones while standing in one of his seven glass houses.

Read full story at Politico.com:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday will launch a multimedia campaign to draw attention to the involvement of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the "Keating Five" savings-and-loan scandal of 1989-91, which blemished McCain’s public image and set him on his course as a self-styled reformer.

Pushing back against what it calls "guilt-by-association" tactics by McCain, the Obama campaign is e-mailing millions of supporters a link to a website, KeatingEconomics.com, that will have a 13-minute documentary on the scandal beginning at noon Eastern time on Monday. The overnight e-mails urge recipients to pass the link on to friends.

KeatingEconomics.com

JohnMcCainRecord.com

BarackObama.com

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, McCain is now saying the Keating Five investigation was a set-up, a witch hunt, a partisan smear job, and that he did nothing wrong. The problem is that this contradicts all of his earlier statements acknowledging his own bad judgement.

Last year he stated:

I was judged eventually, after three years, of using, quote, poor judgment, and I agree with that assessment.

And in his 2002 book Worth Fighting For he wrote:

I made the worst mistake of my life by attending two meetings, the first with the chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the government agency charged with regulating the practices of the nation’s savings and loans, and a week later with four bank examiners based in San Francisco who were at that time investigating the investment and lending practices of Lincoln Savings and Loan of Irvine, California, owned by my good friend and generous supporter Charles Keating.

This raises several problems for McCain: 1) Was he lying then or lying now or both?; 2) It was his confession of his wrongdoing in the Keating affair that he used to gain the reputation of being a "Straight Talker" and a "Maverick". He was supposedly a changed man after realizing his mistakes. But now he is stating that he never did anything wrong in the first place? So why did he apologize for his mistakes and poor judgement? And is there now really any basis remaining for the media to continue with the farce that McCain is an honest man?

UPDATE 2: More acknowledgments of guilt by McCain.

I created the appearance of impropriety so it was my -- I was guilty, and therefore did not represent the people of my state in the manner which they expected of me. [CNN, Larry King, 10/12/02]

The biggest mistake that I made in my life was attending a meeting with four other senators and four regulators because of the appearance of impropriety, and it is something that will always be a mark on my record, and something that people will judge me for the rest of my life. [GOP Presidential Primary Debate, 1/7/00]

Despite my recovery, the Keating Five experience was not one that I have walked away from as easily as I have other bad times. Twelve years after its conclusion, I still wince thinking about it and find that if I do not repress the memory, its recollection still provokes a vague but real feeling that I had lost something very important, something that was sacrificed in the pursuit of gratifying ambitions, my own and others', and that I might never possess again as assuredly as I once had. [McCain, Worth the Fighting For Page 204]

A Closer Look at John McCain

Rolling Stone contributing editor Tim Dickinson separates the facts from the fiction on the Republican presidential candidate. Watch the video that highlights the top Five Myths About John McCain and then read the ten-page article, Make-Believe Maverick, about his life and career.

Progress

"There's not a single good reason to vote against Barack Obama."

Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO