About Damn Time

And, so, Al Franken has been declared the victor in the long, 8-month battle for the junior Senate seat in Minnesota, and he had these words to say:

"When you win an election this close, you know not one bit of effort went to waste. The way I see it, I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator, I'm going to Washington to be the second senator from Minnesota."

I have no idea what he really means by that statement except to say that I'm sure Hillary said something similar back when she got the Senate seat in New York. Political aspirations what?

The Democrats now control 60 seats in the Senate -- a filibuster proof majority -- which is as disturbing as it is exciting, but it also proves that Minnesotans love their outsider politicians, and 312 people in that state may be thinking, "What the fuck did I do on election day?"

Norm Coleman conceded and, I wonder, if that is, officially, the end of the 2008 election.

Megerle Resigns -- And there was much rejoicing

I have to admit, I haven't been following this story as closely as I should have been, but Wolfie over at Back2Stonewall.com has been doing such an excellent job, that I hope you all have been keeping up to date.

During the 2008 election, Covington City Commissioner Steve Megerle, along with two associates (Jerry Bramberger and Craig Johnson) paid for and distributed flyers out of the campaign fund outing fellow Commissioner Shawn Masters. Last week, they were found guilty of breaking Kentucky election rules that required full disclosure; that is, they did not put on the flyer that it had been paid for by the campaign. All three admitted guilt (read Megerle's and Bamberger's statements, both accepting full responsibility).

Not content to let it slide, the judge in the case dressed them down in court for their actions:

Hon. Kenneth Easterling, Kenton District Court: "To put a piece of literature in mailboxes or on cars is political bigotry. Nothing else, but political bigotry and it's shameful."

Content that justice had been served, Megerle refused to resign. Calls were made to rally at the next Commission meeting, people were making phone calls -- you know, all the good activist stuff that should be happening.

That is, until tonight, when Steve Megerle resigned via a statement.

From Back2Stonewall.com's post:

There was applause in a crowded commission chambers after his letter was read.

Megele couldn;t resist some last snipoing though wiritng in his resignation that: that he wholeheartedly believed if charges had been brought to remove him as a commissioner “I would have successfully defended them.” Megerle also wrote that he decided against fighting to stay on the commission “because I want the city to move forward without the distractions that I now realize will be created by others with obvious political agendas,”

I echo Wolfie's sentiment: BRAVO TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WORKED HARD ON THIS!!!!

Coleman vs. Franken -- Still Going

All right, Minnesota legislature.

It's time to step in. Either call it for one or the other or, more likely, call a special election. This has drawn on way to long, don't you think?

It's no longer even fun anymore.

Who's the Hottest Freshman Congressman?

The latest thing making the gay blog rounds is a poll over at Huffington Post asking who the hottest freshman Congressman is. The reason it's making the gay rounds is become Jared Polis (D-CO), the first openly gay freshman congressperson, is on the list (that is, he is the only person to be openly gay while being elected for the first time to the US House... everyone else came out after they were elected their first time -- baby steps, kids LOL).

I feel like I should vote for Jared Polis for solidarity reasons, but have you seen the Republican boy Aaron Schock???



Oh, honey, tell me about trickle down economics all night long.

Seriously, I have several questions that I'd like answers to.

Then we can talk about Reagan.

No joke. I'm just saying. I'm sure he would be interested.

We can't blame Bush anymore

I think I'll let this speak for itself (in toto). Comments are always welcome.

On Tuesday around noon, it became official: Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, and black people won’t have President George W. Bush to kick around anymore. Some of us may find that hard to do.

Just think of it: NAACP board Chairman Julian Bond won’t be able to give his annual anti-Bush tirade at the organization’s convention. No more cracks about Republicans being America’s version of the Taliban. No more NAACP Voter Education Fund “issue ads” all but claiming Bush supports lynching.

Bush-bashers who skewer him for supporting the No Child Left Behind Act will feel an emptiness inside, although they were on shaky logical grounds to begin with. Really, what can you do with otherwise intelligent people who make remarks like this: “No Child Left Behind is awful, and it’s underfunded.”

A columnist colleague of mine said pretty much that to NAACP Washington, D.C. bureau chief Hilary Shelton back in November. Shelton responded by agreeing wholeheartedly. Neither he nor my colleague quite grasped the notion that bad laws shouldn’t be funded at all, “under” or otherwise. By contrast, Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights did have enough integrity to point out that the NCLB law did have some good provisions.

The NCLB law was a bipartisan effort supported by none other than Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, a Democrat with some pretty liberal street cred. That didn’t stop the Bush-bashing when it came to NCLB and darn near everything else.

Remember when Kanye West popped off, in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, about how “Bush doesn’t care about black people?" That phrase soon morphed into “George Bush doesn’t like black people,” which strikes me as something distinctly different from “not caring” about black people. After all, the people who said little to nothing about the crimes committed against black folks in New Orleans by black criminals long before Katrina hit can also be accused of “not caring” about black people. And that would be virtually all of us, Kanye included.

We cared about the increasing rate of HIV positive infections among black folks only insofar as we could use them to bash Bush or former Vice President Dick Cheney. Remember the 2004 vice presidential debate, when Cheney admitted that he wasn’t aware of the increased rate of HIV positive infections among black women? Remember the outraged reaction?

“How DARE Dick Cheney not know about the increased rate of HIV positive infections among black women?”

Had we saved some of that outrage for the brothers who are infecting those sisters, maybe the rate of infection would be lower. But black folks getting mad at irresponsible black folks? No way. Too Bill Cosbyish.

It’s time for a bit of uncomfortable truth about the growing rate of HIV positive infections among black folks: Most of it is caused by people who willingly engage in the high-risk conduct that results in getting the AIDS virus. That would be unprotected sex and injecting drugs intravenously with an infected needle. What could former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney have done about people who willingly choose to engage in high-risk, irresponsible conduct?

Why, the same thing President Obama can do: Absolutely nothing.

Oh, there’ll be the usual claim that Obama can increase funding for sex education and kick the “abstinence only” education out the window. “Abstinence only” sex ed has been widely seen as a Bush brainchild, but writer Ta-Nehisi Coates reported in the December issue of Vibe magazine that it actually started under President Clinton, who funded it for $50 million a year. Coates reported that the funding under Bush increased to $176 million a year.

“Abstinence only” sex ed is seen as a failure and one that’s attributed to Bush. But the failure started long before he came into office. If federal dollars for public education resulted in a system where many black students achieved only a basic level in reading and math – meaning that the students could barely read or do math – then what could that same system teach them about sex ed? Why even trust the same system to effectively teach them about sex ed? If the system can’t teach them reading and math, chances are it can’t teach them about sex either.

The first – and really, the only – teachers of sex education should be the parents. Many of them choose to pass on it. Who can we blame for that?

One thing is certain: we don’t have Bush to blame anymore.

And here's another interesting piece.

No commentary. I'm just sayin'.

I want to make out with Barack Obama

Can I just say that?

My coworker is lodging an official complaint against that statement, btw.

Oh, and PS, what's up with Jill Biden's outfit for the inauguration???

Picture thanks to the ShoeMinx blog

PRESIDENT OBAMA's speech

It's nice to say that, isn't it? President Obama.

For the full work, go to the CNN article here:

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Oh, and to the text message I sent to people this morning... "Morning again in America" ... is it weird that I referenced Reagan when talking about Obama? 

And many many heartfelt thoughts to Senator Ted Kennedy and his family...

Congratulations, President Obama!

I'll be in clinical while the inauguration goes on.

Here's to a new age.

Election 2008 finally over (mostly)

The Minnesota state canvassing board has certified Al Franken as the newest Senator from that state by a margin of something like 215 or 225 votes... out of 2.9million.

It's like winning the presidency on a basis of 2000 or so votes, but smaller.

Congratulations, Senator Franken.

Norm Coleman, of course, is going to sue his tail of, but I think it's done. This is the last outstanding (major) election that we were waiting on in the 2008 election. The others -- Colorado Senate, New York Senate, etc. etc. etc. -- were not election results.

And so, finally, the 2008 election is over.

Kind of a bitch, isn't it? They wanted a filibuster proof Senate -- 60 seats for the Dems -- and they got... 59. Regardless, there's lots of play room. Lieberman often votes across the aisle, as do several southern Dems, while people like Olympia Snowe tend to be a lot more liberal Republican. It's imperfect, but, even if they had 60, it would be rare they could enact a filibuster block.

And for those who are pumped, here is the map for the Senate elections of 2010 from electoral-vote.com ... that is, these are the ones up for grabs. Color indicates strength of the party to win. Dark red means really likely Republican win, for example.



I know you're all breathless with antici...pation.

Richardson and Franken...

First of all, to the withdrawal of consideration of Bill Richardson from consideration for the role of Commerce Secretary, I say good for you. Though I love Gov. Richardson and think he would be amazing at the job, I think he is doing what is best for the country and showing the kind of intelligence and understanding that Gov. Blagojevich should have.

That is, bowing out when his personal issues seem to threaten his effectiveness as a public servant. From his statement via CNN:

"I do so with great sorrow. But a pending investigation of a company that has done business with New Mexico state government promises to extend for several weeks or, perhaps, even months," the statement reads. "Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact. But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process."

I think this just says that he is looking to future plans to run for something greater (Richardson for President in 2016?). Thank you, Gov. Richardson, for putting the country above your ambition.

Also, congratulations to Al Franken for, seemingly, winning the Senate seat from Minnesota! From the Nation:

The certification should come Monday, after a final review of the tally, and Franken will likely be named the winner by 225 votes.

"We are confident that since there are no ballots left to count, the final margin will stand with Al Franken having won the election by 225 votes," says Marc Elias, Franken's recount attorney.

I mean, it's close close close, but it works :-).

Congratulations, Sen. Begich!

It's been a hard-won fight, but...



Congratulations Sen. Begich from Alaska!!!

The reason I find this interesting is because Mr. Begich will be the only sitting member of the Senate without a college degree.

ELECTION 2012: Paris for President!

OK, honestly, is it so much to ask that my candidates agree with me as well as Paris Hilton does?

Well, minus the whole Fashion Police thing.

(Yes, yes, I'm setting my tags up for four years from now. )

GAY STUFF: The fight over Prop 8 goes on

Thank you, California, for helping me to belief that the fight is not over and activism is not dead.

(Picture originally from Pam's House Blend)

ELECTION 2008: How could this happen...

ELECTION 2008: Please continue to follow...

I am off to Below Zero for their election night party -- 1120 Walnut Street, if you care to join...

Please continue to follow my updates on my Twitter feed, which I'll be contacting via text all night long.

ELECTION 2008: And we're back.

Reports say that there will be really long, unmanageable lines all day at polling places across Ohio.

And rain. Lots of rain. Lots of it.

Oh, and Is John McCain president???

What a difference a year makes. Exactly two years ago, SurveyUSA ran a poll in every state and DC asking who would win in lots and lots of theoretical matchups in the Democratic and Republican fields... this is what the Survey looked like for an Obama-McCain matchup...

Obama, 28, and McCain, 501. We'll see how different that is tonight...

Anyways, back to our game...

DA RULES: Send a picture of yourself with a copy of your sticker from the voting booth and I will post it! Just email it to QueerCincinnati@gmail.com! Are you a blogger? Make sure you send your blog addy so that I can post IT too!!! That's all!!! (I do reserve the right to arbitrarily not include it... but everyone is welcome. .. that includes Republicans! So long as you demonstrated your AMERICAN RIGHT TO VOTE, you have the RIGHT to be celebrated today!)

JereKeys from JereKeys!!!


Loree from World's Best Burger!

From Jason at Let's Say You're Right...

From Jay over at Big Lug Land!!!

From Trevor Hoppe over at TrevorHoppe.com!!!!

QueerCincinnati.com's own vlogging Seeker, Cody!!!!!!!

And our newest friend -- our wordy boy in a floppy hat :-)!!!!


And Julie!!!!!

Keep sending 'em, but I gotta get ready to go out!!!!! AHH!!! IT'S ALMOST TIME!!! Will keep you updated on Twitter!!!!!!

Keep em coming folks! (And check out the first round!)

PS Barack just took Vermont. Duh. McCain carries Kentucky -- nothing surprising yet! Four other states close now: Georgia, Virginia, Indiana, and South Carolina.

ELECTION 2008: VOTED

SEND ME PICTURES OF YOU WITH YOUR "I VOTED" STICKER AND I WILL POST IT!!! QueerCincinnati@gmail.com

And, yes, it's true... I do know a lesbian who voted for McCain. The comment is: she loses her lesbian card.

This real American voted... here are some pictures from my day...

From this morning outside of Starbucks!!!!

My polling place... (no line, they said there was a crazy long wait this AM, but it had since quieted down.. there were sixteen places to fill in your ballot inside)

My dad's polling place (Mt. Pleasant, SC, outside of Charleston)

I was feeling a little left out. After all, I'm a young Ohio voter and no one had targeted me yet :-(. And then this was on my door when i came home!!!!!!!

Me with my sticker!!!

Kurtis with his sticker (Columbus, OH)

My dad's sticker (Charleston, SC)

My brother's sticker (Macon, GA)

Gerard from Hello, Gerard!!!! (Ohio)

Heather!!! (Kentucky)


Kelly from Kelly to the Max!!!! (Ohio)


Dougsie!!!! (Ohio)


Kate from Kate's Random's Musings!!!! (Ohio, beautiful, Obama supporter, and single... um... do any straight men read my blog? LOL)

Tiffanie-Marie, long time email bud (have we ever actually met, darling?)!!! (SC)

Deontre from Oxford, OH!!!

Where's YOUR sticker????

And make sure you add this to your twitter account today!!!

Hrm the rotation option isn't working on photobucket? Strange.

ELECTION 2008: Self explanatory

ELECTION 2008: ENDORSEMENT: After all of mine...

It's disheartening sometimes, since it seems that the world (well, QuimBob :-) -- I'm just messing with you, bud, thank you for your engagement) doesn't agree with your endorsements..

...at least the BlackFistBlog is on my side.

Well, mostly...

HA!

---

Tomorrow is election day, and I hope Obama wins.

Mostly, though, I hope this doesn't become the latest punchline in America's comedy known as racial identity politics. 

That all of this becomes reduced to a line from Christine Baransky in Cruel Intentions that "I gave to Colin Powell [therefore I'm not racist]."

Anyways, I'm tired. Have a good night :-).

---

And dammit everything is making me cry today. . . That's how tired I am...

Including this fabulous starbucks ad. 

Much love and sympathy to the Obama family. Obama's grandmother just passed away... a day before she saw it happen. Much love to them all.

ELECTION 2008: I can't wait

I have to share this with you this morning...

I am so excited about Tuesday I almost can't breathe. There is some sort of energy in me these last couple of days and it was hard to pinpoint until I found myself showing political websites to every one of my coworkers, whose disinterested stares and polite non-committal questions should have shut me up.

I can't believe it's almost here. This is by far the most exciting election I have been in with date... and I mark my first "interested" election in 1992, when I cheeringly ran up to my parents and proclaimed that I had VOTED for Bill Clinton (in our school's election) and now he's WINNING (ironically, the only time I've ever voted for a winning presidential candidate... I was a 2000 Nader voter).

I know it seems sometimes like it's been too much, that we've been dealing with this date in full drive since October 2007 when the Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani steamrollers were threatening to dominate the airwaves for the next year.

That never happened, and it's probably for the best.

John McCain is done. Period. Don't even try to argue it. With the combination of national polls showing Obama 6-13 points ahead in the popular vote and ahead by 3-10 points in ever swing state except Missouri and Georgia (and the fact that that's a swing state should tell you something, and the fact that early voting is done and... well, you can't change that vote)... there's little chance left.

I am so excited to vote on Tuesday I can barely speak, and I know I annoy people when I talk about it... I know I've annoyed so many of my readers by focusing on it so severely on this blog for the past ... in reality, it was this election that made this blog what it is...

...but, for all my jaded disinterest in the world, I have hope.

I have a tremendous amount of hope.

Such a simple little bauble... untouchable and unmeasurable, like faith or love. But I think we are all tired of numbers and dates and bills and laws... and we are all tired of having people point at us and tell us about plans and policy. I think, sometimes, we just need someone to say, "let's do this together, let's do this as best we know how, and let's be better." You can't point on a graph and say what the measure of that is...

...but when I hear McCain, I hear desperation, I hear the dream deferred I had predicted when Clinton lost. McCain's dream exploded. His was no raisin in the sun.

...and when I hear Obama, I hear better things ahead.

Thank you, Barack Obama. Thank you.