Belz.

EDIT: Fixed.

Proposition 8 – The Aftermath

SFist.com

Proposition 8 was a statewide ballot proposition in California, pushed by, among others, mormons throughout the state.  On November 4, 2008, voters approved the measure and made same-sex marriage illegal in California. In the aftermath of the vote, an intense focus on Proposition 8 has continued, with those who support same-sex marriage coming together every day since the election in rallies and protests. Three lawsuits seeking to invalidate Proposition 8 have been filed. It is not yet clear what impact the ban will have on the approximately 18,000 same-sex couples in the state.

Quote of the day.

From a reader at TPM:

I can’t believe Obama is already sitting down with an unpopular, aggressive world leader without preconditions.

[TPM]

Promise?

"I mean it. I'll walk out that door right now."

No, we believe you.

Bye!

[photo: MSNBC.com]

A bipartisan initiative I can get behind

This Colorado Senate race, between Bob Bacon and Matt Fries, may have been the best ever.  Despite all the partisan rancor, there is clearly room for a compromise between these two — a juicy burger.

Thursday Thought Bubble Contest

From the makers of the incredibly popular tolerable Tuesday Caption Contest, comes a mid-season spinoff…the Thursday Thought Bubble Contest!

Here’s your pilot pic…

Have fun. Be careful.

[photo courtesy of HuffPo]

What now?

Now that the 2008 election is over (or, almost over), we need some new content for the Ramble. 

First up, I nominate Markiteight to regale us with weekly Paterno stories between now and the end of the football season.  May the Nittany Lions be struck down at the hands of the Spartans should you fail at this task.

Closing arguments

Happy Election Day, Ramblers!

Here’s hopes you all got off your lazy asses and voted today. I got to my friendly neighborhood polling place at 6:30 this morning and refreshingly, everything went pretty smoothly. Sure, the line was all the way down the block, but it helped that a good friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in months stepped up at the same time. We spent the whole time catching up and it all flew by pretty quickly.

While waiting, I asked her if she had read her handy-dandy DC Voter’s Guide before heading out to the polls. She said she had skimmed it but didn’t find it very interesting. “Hmmm…you must’ve not made your way towards the rear of the guide…to the candidate statements, huh?”

If she had, she would’ve no doubt seen what both DCist and why.i.hate.dc had picked up on yesterday…the utterly hilarious submissions from a few of the people running for seats on the DC school board. The most notable being from a Ward 8 candidate, who managed to negate her several years of teaching experience with what can only be described as an incoherent Palin-esque blizzard of words, disguised as a run-on sentence. I handed my voting-buddy a copy of the guide and let her read it to herself. I made sure to watch her facial expressions, which showed the following journey:

curiosity > concentration > confusion > concern > shock > loss of half-swallowed coffee > fear

After composing herself, she said how great it would be to hear one of those monotone computer-generated voices read the statement, á la WarGames. Fantastic idea! Here goes…

Nothing like surrounding your children with the best and the brightest. Say what you want about Sarah Palin, but at least her nonsense word storms are restricted to things said verbally on the fly. These people had all the time in the world to sit down and write their statements and a good number of them failed to even proof their work. Or at least ask their kids to.

Um…Robert Wagner?

Now if we could only figure out who he works for…

[TPM]

Jitterbug.

Orange Mocha Frappacinos!!!

[Wonkette]

With friends like these…

You know, as this election rolls on, it’s clear that the big winner isn’t Obama.

It’s this guy…

Not only does he have fairly well-received hit in the theaters at the moment, but he also has plenty of material for his next conspiracy theory to lay down on cellulose (do studios still use cellulose?). Eh…whatever. Doesn’t matter.

My point is that this week has shown that there is a sinister and diabolical plan to undermine John McCain in his quest for the presidency. And with each day that passes, he is resembling more and more the title character of Oliver Stone’s brilliant 1991 tour de force, JFK.

“Like Caesar, he is surrounded by enemies and something’s underway. But it has no face. Yet everyone in the loop knows.”

Actually…it does have a face. This one:

If want to really sell it, you probably shouldn't forget that the image in the rear-view mirror is reversed.

Now clearly, this young woman has mental health issues and I truly hope that she gets some help. But Jesus. This on the heels of Joe McCain responding with a “fuck you” when told by a dispatcher that 911 wasn’t his personal traffic complaint line. With these kinds of “supporters” working on McCain’s behalf, Obama could probably shut down his whole operation today, use the money to pay off Joe the Plumber’s mortgage, then sit back and just watch the GOP ticket fizzle out on its own volition.

Need a recap of all the friends, family, surrogates, and supporters that have been outed as anti-American operatives who successfully infiltrated the McCain camp and brought it down from the inside? Look no further!

• Michelle Bachman – Crazy Minnesota congresswoman who called for the return of McCarthyism. You know, because it was just so much fun the first time around!
• Robin Hayes – Just as crazy North Carolina congressman who warmed up a crowd before a McCain rally by saying “liberals hate real Americans” and then denied it. And then denied he denied it. This is the same Robin Hayes, mind you, who in 2006 said the key to victory in Iraq was spreading the message of Jesus Christ. Yeah, that’s exactly what the locals have been missing all these years…organized religion.
• Randy Scheunemann – McCain foreign policy advisor and all around asshole, who emailed an Atlantic blogger to tell him his most recent post was “bullshit“.
• Ashley Todd – The young lady above who took an evening off volunteering for McCain/Palin to start a race war.

And of course, my personal favorite…

• Joe “911′s a joke” McCain – The brother of the candidate, who didn’t know that the Alexandria 911 call center subscribed to caller ID.

Take these folks and throw in all the republican governors, mayors, congressman, generals, and even former Reaganite McCain advisors that have jumped ship and are swimming to the SS Barry, and you’ve got a grade-A ensemble cast for Stone’s next big hit.

Eliza Doolittle.

Do-VERY-little.

Modern electronics: anti-American.

"As you all know, the magnetic tape head was invented by Satan. And Satan hates America!."

After reading this and this, I have a few questions…

1. How can a member of the US Congress have never heard of “Hardball”, which has been on the air in its current form for nearly 10 years?
2. Why would a member of the US Congress agree to go on a political talk show they’ve never heard of called “Hardball” without doing some light research or prep?
3. When are these morons going to recognize the existence of those new-fangled “audio and video recording devices” ?

It’s clear from her statement, Bachmann is a ways off on #3. But I think it’s safe to say she doesn’t understand the concept of still photography either, as evidenced here.

Drill Baby Drill.

Terry Tate is back. Thank god.

[Cajun Boy In the City]

also a h/t to Earthquake.

Truth to power.

The wall of power.

Yeah, so…we’ve been told you did something wrong. So we need to investigate. You know…Caesar’s wife and all that.

Well, I don’t recognize your authority on the matter.

See, thing is…we’re the body of elected officials that legislate in this state. We definitely have authority. It’s a checks and balances thing. You understand.

Hmm, yeah…I don’t think so. I’d rather be investigated by a lower-level body. You know, people that I appoint…that I have sway over. I think that’d be best. Yeah.

That’s actually a terrible idea. But thanks for the suggestion. Anywho…we need to get started. So if you could just answer a few questions for us…

Sorry. I’m busy. But good luck with that.

Are you sure you really wan-

I SAID THANKS BUT NO THANKS!!!

Ooookay…suit yourself.

10 minutes later…

Hi there. So…we finished our investigation.

Well whaddaya know! I finished my investigation, too!

I’m sorry? You conducted your own investigation?

You betcha! And after questioning myself, I’ve determined that I did nothing wrong. So it’s all good. But thanks anyway!

Uh-huh. Well here in the real world, we’ve determined that you actually broke the rules.

But you didn’t even get my side of story!

——

…aaaaand scene.