Morning Briefs and Outtakes on Water Wasting Councilman and other Topics

"Councilman Waterwaster with Mayor Waterwaster. BTW, what has Villaraigosa's interest??"

An act of civil disobedience or flat out lawbreaking??

Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith or else known as "Mitch Englander's boss", is taking on the DWP's draconian water restrictions as Rick Orlov reports in today's Daily News.

Add City Councilman Greig Smith to the list of scofflaws violating Los Angeles' water conservation restrictions.

In a direct challenge to the Department of Water and Power, Smith announced Wednesday he is violating the twice-weekly watering limitations -- and believes he is saving more water by doing so.

"And my grass is greener than it's ever been, and I bet I'm using less water," Smith said.
Smith said he waters his lawn for eight minutes, three times a week.

He proposed that DWP revise its conservation rules, which allow watering for 15-minute periods before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays only.

My first thought upon reading this was "what is former "Senator Jim Alger's" spin on this blatant act of lawbreaking by Councilman Smith?? But upon finding the website for his e-mail chat, errrrrr, radio talk show "Common Sense with Jim Alger", all I found was this. Maybe the "Do It Center" dropped its advertising??

But the bigger issue here is not whether DWP "blue shirts" will descend upon Smith's residence, but can we believe anything that originates as policy from DWP's General Manager H. David Nahai and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa??

After all, both Nahai and Villaraigosa have less than stellar records of preserving water at their respective residences, but then it was the gophers or faulty timers who were to blame, right Mr. Mayor??

Then there are those like myself who support practices that cut back on water waste, but wonder if the focus on the local drought, takes attention away from the man-made drought in the northern reaches of the state?? Can you say Delta Smelt Fish??

OTHER NEWS:

** LA Weekly's Christine Pelisek reports that the Los Angeles County District Attorney Office is mulling over whether to charge former City of LA Building and Safety General Manager Andrew Adelman with sexual assualt.

** The subject is Medical Marijuana and a interview with City Councilman Ed "Density" Reyes who gives his toke , errrr, take, on the issue of medical weed dispensaries, you may want to pass this one around.

** What is going on within the Los Angeles Unified School District Police force?? The "Weekly of Record" Max Taves has the latest in this brewing scandal.

** Can it be?? A proposed new football stadium in the City of Industry area, cleared a major hurdle when the City of Walnut dropped its lawsuit. Just hope that it is anyone but the Raiders that may call Industry their new football home.

** Did your kid learn this new song at school?? Hmmm, Hmmm, Hmmm.

** Why is it that the "Old Gray Westside Hag On Spring Street" and animal rights activists care so much about Elephants at the Zoo??

Your thoughts.........

Caption this......................

"A Public Scolding from your Dear Leader"

Your thoughts.....................

Sonia Sotomayor Confirmed to United States Supreme Court, Becomes First Hispanic and Latina on High Court

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor Thursday as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. The vote was 68-31 for Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first high court nominee. She becomes the 111th justice and just the third woman to serve.

Your thoughts......................

Political Expression from Los Angeles

"Political Art = Free Speech ??"

For many years since the start of the Reagan Administration, walls, construction sites, overpasses and underpasses in Los Angeles have been plastered with the "art attack" of Robbie Conal.

Conal's "plaster and paste" commentary come from a far-left perspective. Many will remember his "Contra Cocaine" and some of his other "plaster and paste" rendering of conservative figures Ronald Reagan, Oliver North, and Jesse Helms.

But today, local and national media have gone into a "double-standard overdrive" in seeking out the artist and group behind the Obama renderings which has been popping up in locations city wide.

And it did not take long for the race card to appear courtesey of Earl Ofari Hutchison.

Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson is calling the depiction, politically mean spirited and dangerous.

Hutchinson is challenging the group or individual that put up the poster to have the courage and decency to publicly identify themselves.

"Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery," says Hutchinson, "it is mean-spirited and dangerous."

"We have issued a public challenge to the person or group that put up the poster to come forth and publicly tell why they have used this offensive depiction to ridicule President Obama."

Memo to Earl,

What was wrong in depicting members of the Reagan Administration as front people for Cocaine Dealers ?? What was wrong in depicting George W. Bush as a trigger-happy warmonger in the Robbie Conal creation posted above ??

Nothing!! It is call "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION!! That includes the Obama "Socialist" creation which is right on!!

Your thoughts.....................

Is the two-party system the best we can do?

Parts 6 and 7 of 7:

Prop 8 and Obama and Jasmyne, oh my: Part one

My latest appearance on the Joey Panto show. I talk about Prop 8, Obama, Jasmyne Cannick and other racist 'journalists,' and more!

Hotsheet for Thursday

Watch it go. Mayor Villaraigosa’s favorite land developer, Meruelo Maddux (Nasdaq: MMPI), from nearly eleven dollars to eleven cents in 26 months. The Downtown News reports the company has “stopped making interest and principal payments on loans totaling $266 million,” and faces Chapter 11 if it can’t raise cash to service its debt.

On the ground, beyond the Bloomberg headlines, a certain Zen has set in at Westfield Century City. Like the calm before a storm. Ten-dollar Coral Tree paninis are no match for Subway’s $5 footlongs. Macy’s feels like a museum, frozen in time. Outside, a handful of shoppers scuttle from store to store, clutching unmarked bags, acutely aware. As I pass the future site of the aptly named True Religion—purveyor of $300 blue jeans—I can’t help but smirk. Inside, the muffled bang of a hammer, like forehead against the wall. Ten days ago, Santee Alley was jam-packed, and I spotted True Religion knock-offs for twenty bucks.

Last night, Michael Higby micro-blogged a flurry of updates from the Midtown North Hollywood Neighborhood Council meeting. Among the highlights: Wendy Greuel remains enthusiastic about CFLs, tree plantings, and woodchips, according to her emissary—oh, and the big news: you CD2 commoners will be granted the privilege of choosing her replacement. So will it be Tamar Galatzan or Cindy Montañez? I call this game Tony Tetris, where political offices blast open and Villaraigosa allies slide in. CD5 found a neighborhoodie … will CD2 follow suit?

In other CD2 news, Abby Diamond blogs that the Los Angeles Mission College is researching the possibility of opening a satellite campus on the former Kmart site, recently surrendered by Home Depot.

And finally, Civic Center Park is moving forward without all the bells and whistles (we’ll thank ourselves a generation from now); SEIU boss, James Bryant, is back under the LA Times microscope; and President Obama supports merit pay for teachers. Often, people just need to hear someone they trust say what they already know to be right. Who knows? Change we can believe in may yet come to LA Unified.

Special Inaugural Hotsheet for Monday

There are a number of public viewing parties of the inauguration of President Obama Tuesday with a large event set for LA Live hosted by the four scariest words in Los Angeles, Acting Mayor Jan Perry (who will be in charge of the city with both Mayor Villaraigosa and Council President Eric Garcetti at the official event in DC).

In the meantime at least two local blogs will have on the ground coverage of the events in DC; LAist has a crew en-route road-tripping while our correspondent Jack Witt landed at Reagan International this afternoon and will begin filing stories Monday.

It's been a while since we've heard from Big Mouth-Elect Joe Biden; the Barack Obama transition team has done a remarkable job of keeping the former Delaware Senator in the shadows. However it had to be too good to be true when the soon to be VP told the New York Times “I’m the most experienced vice president since anybody.” By the way Biden admits he hasn't even seen his new office yet. Oh it's going to be a fun four years!

With just a day left in office Republican lawmakers such as California's Dana Rohrbacher are urging President Bush to pardon Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. Even Democrats such as Reps. Bill Delahunt (D-Ma.), soon to be Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) support at least commuting what many feel are excessively long prison sentences. Compean and Ramos were convicted of shooting an allegedly illegal alien drug smuggler on the Mexican border in what some counter was a politically motivated prosecution. Considering how little time left Bush has as President the chances for Compean and Ramos are looking quite slim.

What to Expect in '09: Taking It To Our (New) Leader

January 20th, 2009. The swearing in of the United States' first (sorta) African-American POTUS is imminent. The world is heralding the new dawn. Enjoy while it lasts everyone... because 2009 is going to be a bitch!

The President-elect may hail from a half-African heritage, but he is far from 'the black guy,' that mere conversation raising the specter of Colin Powell, circa 1988, who, despite appearances, is not sorta-black, but actually, completely 100% African-American... from Harlem! Surprise! And really, doesn't anyone else consider 'Bubba' Clinton the first black president anyway? Obama's really led at least a semi-charmed life compared to either of them.

As that relates to our current financial mess: don't expect (as a shocking number of people seem to) that Obama will push for slave reparations, welfare, or any of those other cliched, poverty perpetuating implied-substitutes for '40 acres and a mule.' Expect the more naturally centrist Obama to justify the Bill Clinton and JFK comparisons while taking heed of the Jimmy Carter warnings. Expect accountability as well as user fees and other forward-thinking measures in lieu of increased taxes. Expect a renewed national dialogue about free trade agreements and the North American Union. Expect his economic team, comprised of mostly moderate, non-partisan global tycoons, to run America as if she were a business, and with any luck, a very profitable one.

Taxes are always a sticky issue whenever a Democrat is elected to the executive, and fear and paranoia run rampant. Contrary to the plentiful selective interpretations in circulation, only those making over $250,000 a year potentially have to pay a little more, and probably only temporarily. To those very lucky few who make this kind of coin, this will likely not necessitate a change in lifestyle, but will likely go to help a working single mom pay for day care - so they can come to work for you!

And remember, unemployment is still rising. Is it because taxes are too high as so many cry? Of course not: thanks to Dubya, the tax climate for business has been highly favorable for years, not to mention that some companies (oil companies come immediately to mind) have been seeing record profits. If you think Obama is a monster for considering higher taxes on the rich, remember that the only thing worse than Robin Hood is Uncle Scrooge, especially in a time of an ever-widening class-gap.

The Dow is hovering around 8500 points, a level unseen since the dawn of the Bush era. What will Obama do about it? I suspect nothing. Yeah, that's right. Nada. The memory of the American people is short indeed as we collectively forget every 4-8 years that the market regularly holds its breath in the downtime between administrations, just as it did after 9/11 (prompting Shopper-in-Chief Bush to encourage the American people to blow money at the mall in defiance of terrorism... ahh, sayonara Bushisms - I hardly knew ye!). It's natural and normal. Expect the new president to take a hands-off approach to the markets. It might be a bit of a cold war between business and policymakers for the first month or so, and what happens next will depend on who strikes first. Will energy speculators and other market bullies run rampant again or will the administration stare them down once and for all? Will policy turn against business and cause investor panic or will consumer confidence somehow rise? Stay tuned on this one. Only time will tell.

Integrity, honor, and habeus corpus will all be making plenty of appearances in 2009 as Leon Panetta takes over at the CIA and Eric Holder, a Deputy Attorney General under President Clinton, fights for, and ultimately wins, the big job at Justice. Gone are the days when torture is used arbitrarily to determine whether or not a foreign detainee even has any intel. I mean, isn't taking soldiers out of terrorist networks in and of itself an effective way to disrupt them? Remember, we don't need to do the impossible and kill all of the world's bad guys to win the War on Terror, we simply have to keep them running, and that's really all we can do. Coincidentally, this reasonable strategy was ignored in the brouhaha leading up to the invasion of Iraq, and ultimately the recent resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and hostilities between India and supposed anti-terror ally Pakistan.

What of Israel and Palestine? Remember when the so-called 'conventional wisdom' predicted that Obama would bail on Israel? Well he won't... at least no moreso than Bush 43, who, like many of his Republican predecessors, made no real major commitments to the cause, acting more like a steward of the status quo only to dump the problem on 'the next guy.' Obama is the next guy, and I'm inclined to believe that the President-elect isn't particularly happy about the flaming pile of dog shit that's been dumped on his front lawn. Prediction? On Israel, Obama will 'stay the course' in the face of a probable prodding to defend Israel by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Will Obama be a good president? I think we'll know the answer to that within 100 days as his ideals and mettle will be put to the test - the efficacy of many of his proposals realized or at least moving towards becoming so. With all the talk of hope, justice, and the American way (which is what in 2009?) throughout the campaign, Obama has set the bar particularly high in the direst of circumstances. Is it better to burn out or to fade away?

That was a question I've been asking myself a lot during my self-imposed blog silence of the last 6 weeks. I've decided against both... and here I am again. Welcome to 2009.

SMS

Barack the Magic Negro

Big furor over a video making the rounds, Barack the Magic Negro, a parody of Puff the Magic Dragon. The tune satirically takes makes the case from the point of view of Reverend Al Sharpton that Barack Obama is an "acceptable Black man" compared to himself.



Though the piece was initially distributed as part of what was thought to be a joke by some dinosaur Republicans down South, it's actually based on an essay about Obama in the LA Times almost two years ago.

The story by David Ehrenstein paints the President-Elect and then underdog candidate in the archetype of what's referred to as "the magical negro," which Wikipedia describes as a "mystical stock character in fiction who, by use of special insight or powers, helps the white protagonist get out of trouble." Indeed as Ehrenstein points out Obama as a real life "magical Negro" is "there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest." Certainly Whites can feel comfortable voting for Obama over previous candidates such as Sharpton or Reverend Jesse Jackson who have darker skin and unlike Obama's cosmopolitan upbringing had a more typical African American upbringing in "the hood" scare Whites, regardless of their degree of simpatico with their politics and can't bring themselves to vote for them.

This is a tough pill to swallow but Barack the Magic Negro - even if it was unintentional on the creator's part - brings up these uncomfortable realities about race relations. That even in a post-racial word many Whites are indeed drawn to the "magic negro" that they can warm to and hope erases any innate bias they may still have.

The good news is that as society becomes even more diverse old stereotypes will fall away and distinctions will blur. And to a degree, the election of Barack Obama helps to that end helping to erase the racism of some whom opposed him and the guilt of some of who supported him.

By the way Ehrenstein isn't thrilled with Barack Obama these days, primarily over his selection of Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration.

Same-Sex Marriage Issue Should not be Divisive

Democrats are trying to make hay over Republican (some) support for Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage in California.  Yet it wasn't that long ago (and conveniently forgotten) that Democratic legislators were squeamish about supporting efforts for allowing gay marriage in California which ultimately led proponents to court.  From our Hotsheet on May 23rd of this year:

Interesting article in the LA Weekly about the recent State Supreme Court decision permitting gays to marry in California. At the time the case was about to go through "tolerant" Democrats squirmed and wanted to stick it back in the closet. But it was Republican judges that made the difference.

Indeed, Republican jurists of the California court appointed by Republican governors were in the majority of the decision that affirmed same-sex marriage albeit for a short time.

At the same time Democrats are showing intolerance on the issue, Republicans need to drop it.  I understand how hard this is for some of you on the right and I've heard many times your tired old claim that giving gays and lesbians equal marriage rights is "re-defining marriage." (An argument I just don't get; I have yet to see how one gay marriage has impacted anyone's heterosexual marriage.)  If the Republicans want to win they need to take this energy and focus it on tax cuts, government and corporate accountability and economic opportunity for Americans (and getting the government out of the way of it). If you want the economy to continue to get worse, for taxes to go up and to give full control of the government to liberal Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Antonio Villaraigosa and others keep hating on the gays.

In a related story, in light of opposition to President-Elect Obama's choice of Pastor Rick Warren, an opponent of gay marriage, to lead the invocation at his inauguration, a liberal, bisexual blogger sides with Obama.  "Evilgrrl" states she is not supportive of Warren himself but takes the position that Obama has a right to choose whom he wants and that he's the most qualified to make this decison.  Though I too am in opposition to Warren's view on same-sex marriage (as well as other political views of Warren I would characterize as liberal, something more common around the new-age evangelical movement) I would agree.

That being said, Evilgrrl makes the comment "It's hard for me to like someone who is so opposed to a lot of the things I believe in."  That's sort of a recent development of late; something I think has come out of the divisiveness and hate that came out of certain elements of both Presidential campaigns this year.  We can't base our personal affection for individuals based on idelogy; if we did, we would have no friends.

America has to learn to be mature enough to agree to disagree.  Otherwise we're going to find ourselves on the opposite ends of a divided and torn nation not unlike what happened during the Civil War.  Let's talk through the issues, hear each other out and try to stay friendly.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Wednesday

Tuesday a judge reduced the bail for jailed suspected murder Esteban Nunez, son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, from $2 million to $1 million. Reports at press time are that Nunez has raised the bail and has been released.

After a bungled attempt last week by School Board President Monica Garcia to oust Superintendent David Brewer the LAUSD Board of Education voted 5-2 Tuesday to buy out the remaining term of his contract, for about half a million dollars. Brewer told reporters earlier Tuesday that he believed racism was behind his termination.

As reported by Joe B.on Mayor Sam Tuesday, the retail hardware giant Home Depot has revived a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the City to allow the Atlanta based firm to open a controversial branch in the foothill community of Sunland-Tujunga. Interesting comments from readers of the trendy real estate blog CurbedLA who don't apparently understand why residents of Sunland-Tujunga don't want this store forced on them.

Mayor Villaraigosa joined with mayors from other big cities nationwide asking President-Elect Obama for major infusions of Federal cash for "infrastructure" projects. Would that include things like Grand Avenue or LA Live? How about properly spending the money you collect already and you would have sufficient funds for basic needs. President-Elect Obama - watch out for these shady guys!

When times are tough here at home, Sheriff Lee Baca has a goofy idea to send 350 LA County Deputy Sheriffs to provide security at the inaguration of Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. next month. It appears that at least a portion of the expense would be borne by LA County leading Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich to question the wisdom of such a move.

LA CityWatch reports that the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition has re-elected President Leonard Shaffer over Mid-Town North Hollywod Neighborhood Council member Gary Barrata by "a lopsided vote" at their election meeting on Saturday.

Is Villaraigosa Being Considered for Secretary of Labor?

Probably not but given reports that some Latinos are not happy with Hispanic representation among President-Elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may be in the process of being looked at for Secretary of Labor.

The Washington Post lists the Mayor on a relatively distinguished short list of potential nominees to helm the Labor Department under Obama.

Also on the Post's list are current Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and former long time Michigan Congressman David Bonoir.

Though in the end I would be surprised if the Mayor were offered and accepted the post as the Mayor of the second largest city in the US and with a long time labor organizing background Villaraigosa could be considered a qualified contender for the post.  The Mayor is also serving as an "economic advisor" to the President-Elect which could help give him an inside track.

Smitten to C'est la vie

Los Angeles has done its part to offer some post-election therapy for the political junkies among us and those suffering from PEWS. The Pat Brown Institute had their full-day program last week and the USC Unruh Institute of Politics has their 2-day conference today and tomorrow (Joel Fox, Joe Mathews and Tom Elias are seated in front of me as I write this while Jim VanderHei of POLITICO moderates a panel of eight). Nevertheless, the hoi polloi have gone from smitten to c'est la vie.

Post-Election, The Audience Drifts Away

Paul Farhi
Staff Writer - Washington Post
Friday, November 21, 2008; C01

Americans became smitten with the high drama of the presidential election, but the transition of power is proving less than sexy.

Ratings for cable TV news and the number of visits to news Web sites built for weeks and then peaked on Election Day, giving the electronic media some of their biggest audiences in years. But since then, TV ratings and online traffic have fallen -- in many cases precipitously -- indicating that viewers and visitors have largely quenched their thirst for political news.

The ratings rise and fall suggest that the suspense and conflict of the campaign's closing days made for a far better story than the aftermath of President-elect Barack Obama's victory and the beginnings of his administration. The lone exception was broadcast news, which has held relatively steady through November.

The most pronounced declines were in traffic at popular news Web sites, which saw a steady increase for months. The tide crested as Americans went to the polls; MSNBC.com, which has been the most popular news site for several months, had 25.1 million unique visitors during the week of the election (it also reported 471 million page views on Election Day -- a record for the site).

Since then, millions of visitors have gone elsewhere, according to Nielsen Online. MSNBC.com's traffic declined by 25 percent, or by 6.4 million unique visitors, from its election week peak. Yahoo News lost 5.2 million unique visitors (21 percent). CNN.com, which scored the most traffic during the week of the election, deflated most of all, losing one-third of its 26.9 million visitors in the post-election week.

The story was similar for the cable news networks, which for months devoted huge swaths of their airtime to politics. Viewing of Fox News, CNN and MSNBC peaked during the week of the election. Fox News, in fact, became the most popular cable network of any kind in prime time for two weeks running, beating not just its cable news rivals but also the cable entertainment networks USA and TNT.

Read more. (emphasis added)

Analysis: Friday morning quarterbacking on Tuesday's election

Luckily for me, having my son always helps numb the pain. On Wednesday, I had intended to write up a more in-depth analysis of what happened the night before, but it was his birthday and so I spent it, as well as yesterday, with him. He got a bright red Razor scooter just like he'd asked, and so I just had to take him out to use it! Anyway, happy 6th birthday Vincent! Now with that out of the way...

Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama. Oh yes we did, girlfriend! FINALLY! Yet somehow, my pride still has not overtaken my uncertainty, and I feel much less hope than I'd hoped. Did we do the right thing? Is Obama really ready?

Read more »

Wimp!

UPDATE: I've taken a lot of heat for giving Sir Caruso heat for dropping out of the race. Yes, a lot of that was from the usual haters, but one reader, Heather made an incredible point that I simply failed to think of:

"He knows that Villaraigosa is a dirty, nasty, corrupt little man who will attack his family any chance he got."

Duh! I guess I was so used to both Barack Obama and John McCain having too much class to go after anyone's family that I forgot what happens here at home. And considering that I was wrong to call Rick a wimp though am still disappointed he didn't get in. My apologies

I'd still like to designate November 7th as "Weasel's Day" because even though Rick has good cause to pause, there's other folks who could have got in, would have had support and could have won. Now we got nothin'! But maybe Antonio found himself a job while he visited PE Obama.

Oh - and by the way - anyone who gets into politics (or blogging!) better be prepared to be called names.  Folks who run for office better have thicker skins that most people today.


It's Weasel Day! Rick Caruso woke up, saw his shadow and now there will be four more years of our 11% Mayor. Caruso proves his mettle and decides he can't beat damaged goods Antonio Villaraigosa for Mayor, or at least isn't up to the task, issuing the following statement:

"I have decided that the obligation of serving as mayor would put a burden on my family that is too much at this point in their lives and, as a result, I will not be a candidate in the upcoming campaign for mayor."

Currently, the remaining announced challengers to Villaraigosa include Westside attorney Walter Moore, San Fernando Valley activist and businessman David Hernandez and Venice based former radio executive and artist/activist Zuma Dogg.

It was also reported today that Mayor Villaraigosa is headed to Chicago to assist the Obama transition team. I guess Barack wanted someone other than Joe the Plumber to clean his toilets.

Just One More!

Obama Wins First Two Precincts

The New Hampshire towns of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location - who both open  and close their polls sometime around midnight on election day and are thus the first locations in US primary and general elections to cast votes - have given a stunning victory to Barack Obama for President.

In Dixville Notch, with 21 registered voters, Obama won by nearly 2-1, 15-6.  In Hart's Location Obama took 17 of the town's 29 votes with 10 for McCain and two write-in votes for Ron Paul.

Independent candidate Ralph Nader received no votes.

You Can't Fight Hate With Hate

In the discussion of the anti-same-sex marriage ballot measure, Proposition 8, much has been said against those who support the measure and hence wish to outlaw same-sex marriage rights.  And sadly much of that has been bigotry towards Christians, chiefly Mormons and Catholics.

It is true that a number of evangelical Christian, Mormon and Catholic organizations have supported the Yes on 8 measure.  It is also true that a number of religious organizations however have endorsed marriage equity and the No on 8 campaign (including Catholic and Mormon groups).

Which brings me to an important point.  One of the chief Christian churches that not only opposes Prop 8 but has a long (back to the 70s) and strong record of support for the rights of gays and lesbians and same-sex marriage.  That would be the United Church of Christ, the very denomination that both Barack Obama and I belong to.

Which to me makes it more disingenious that Obama does not support same-sex marriage and claims it for religious reasons.  While I take issue with Senator John McCain, Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin's stance on the issue, all three are members of denominations (McCain - Southern Baptist, Biden - Roman Catholic, Palin - Non-denominational Evangelical) that have a historic opposition to same-sex marriage.

Obama needs to come clean and say that he either opposes gay marriage for political reasons or personal reasons because our church doesn't hold the belief he says it does. Of course I was baptized into the church a good 24 years before Obama was so maybe he missed that Sunday School class.

Obama Supporter Says Barack Doesn't Have "Political Courage"

At a recent event New York Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler is asked how Barack Obama could sit in Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church for 500 Sundays listing to the anti-semitic, anti-American diatribes.  According to the tape Nadler say:

"My guess is knowing how politics works, this is not going to be complimentary to Senator Obama. Think of the history here. You have a guy who's half-white, half-black. He goes to an Ivy League school, comes to Chicago ... to start a political career. Doesn't know anybody. Gets involved with community organizing -- why? Because that's how you form a base. OK. Joins the largest church in the neighborhood. About 8,000 members. ... Why did he join the church? ... Because that's how you get to know people. Now maybe it takes a couple years, 'Jesus, the guy's a nut, the guy's a lunatic.' But you don’t walk out of a church with 8,000 members in your district. He didn’t have the political courage to make a statement and walk out."