It is almost completely dark here at 5:00. I'm not loving the northern climes.

Oh god, why now? I've been away from the interwebs.

He named Lee Greenwood to the National Endowment for the Arts.

Six years of Mr. "God Bless the U.S.A."

On the upside, Obama gets to appoint the next chair for the Council.

Oh, go on with your bad self, Melissa Etheridge!

[link]

No same-sex marriage, no more tax dollars from Melissa Etheridge.

That's the defiant stand taken by the 44-year-old singer in a new blog post on The Daily Beast following the passage of California's Proposition 8.

Etheridge declares that if she's not "allowed the same right [to marry] under the state constitution as any other citizen. ... I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes, because I am not a full citizen."

....

Etheridge ends her blog with a message for Prop 8 supporters: "Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away."

What Barb said...

Two days after the election...two months before he has any actual power, Obama is bad for the economy. Not the lack of oversight and rampant greed has screwed into the ground? Really?

It's certainly possible, if stockholders think Obama's policies aren't going to encourage growth (or indeed if they think they will encourage growth, but less so than McCain's). That the crisis was permitted to happen in an environment of inadequate regulation doesn't really factor into it - that's done. (Trying to price stocks is a forward-looking venture.)

It emphatically doesn't matter that Obama's not in office yet. It's a done deal now, they know it's going to affect the future outlook.

Nonetheless, I doubt his election was a very strong influence here, simply because there was such little doubt about it. If the market has any jitters about Obama, it should mostly have been priced in before the election.

California has succeeded in pissing off Hubby, especially with the news that current legal marriages may be declared void. He's wondering if there are any other interesting legal questions that could be put into action, since such things seem to be so fluid these days. For example, it used to be legal in this country to hunt Mormons. The feds paid a bounty for them. In this day and age, however, Hubby recommends paintballs and fliers as the weaponry, if the Hunt-a-Mormon law has failed to be properly removed from the books.

Perhaps it's time to revisit all the laws that have been allowed to go by the wayside. Hubby also wonders if the Emancipation Proclamation was ever ratified by all the states. Otherwise, our new president elect should look to his status as a free man, or is he loose property?

So, my Hubby is on a tear now. He has a fearsome mind when he starts in on things. He has a very view of what falls under "traditional" values. His traditions tend to go back to things like the Dark Ages and Viking longboats.

I am skipping and skimming and tumbling over posts to let someone know that I had a really wonderful meeting with the Associate Dean for Academics and the Associate Dean for Finance at my job, and they were really wonderful and supportive, and listened to my ideas and comments on how to improve my department (which is currently just me!) I asked for the meeting and I prepared a challenges and opportunities statement and they treated me like a professional. I was very candid with them about the craziness that was happining with my Big!Boss and I have been SO reassured that my job is not on the line. This is the best I have felt in months about work related stuff-- because although I am an independant worker I was in way over my head-- I should not be deciding nursing curriculum as a person with a BA in theatre and english lit!

I also found out that fired Big!Boss knew for months that although credit bearing classes would be reporting to the Associate Dean for academics, there was no plan at all to change my role in supporting them, so I was crazy worried for nothing!

I am happy and proud of myself-- and I sort of feel that "Change that we can believe in" is a theme of my life right now-- inpolitics and in work (although the Prop 8 defeat just killed me). And, as someone in bandom, I do have to give a big shout out to Fall Out Boy who donated $50,000 to defeat Prop 8.

HMOG, the guy my brother is interviewing with out in Frederick soon? FREAKING GORGEOUS.

Even my brother is all "yeah, that jaw!"

Nice work, Sophia!

That's fantastic, Sophia! And good for you for making it happen.