Motley Moose – Archive

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

Those first few days were the worst. I was scared. I was depressed. I felt less than human.

Prop H8 had passed in California. And even though I didn’t have any immediate marriage plans, I nonetheless felt like all my future hopes and dreams were ripped away from me. I didn’t know what to do… Until I got active in working to undo the damage.

Yet even though I’m seeing progress in my new home state, I still have raw feelings about what happened in California last fall. I still have wounds that are only starting to heal.

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

H/T to Louise at The Blend for finding it!

Thankfully, No on 1 didn’t pull any punches in calling out the ugly and baseless lies that have simply been recycled from Massachusetts and California by the same far right Republican consultants that ran Yes on H8 in California. Still, they need our help to keep these ads on the air so that the truth isn’t drowned out by Yes on H8/Yes on 1’s lies.

Please donate whatever you can to help keep this and other No on 1 ads on the air in Maine. You can also help by signing up to volunteer. The poll numbers are very close, so every dollar and/or hour donated helps!

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

It’s happening…

All over again!

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

If this doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will.

Yes, I know this is Maine. But remember, this can happen anywhere. It happened here in Nevada. It happened in California. It happened in Oregon. It happened in Arizona. It’s happened in states all over the place, but now we have a chance to turn the tide in Maine.

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

Have you seen the new blatantly false Yes on 1 ad?

Oh OK, that wasn’t really it. But seriously, Jackie Beat would have SO MUCH FUN spoofing the real one! Yes, it’s really that lame.

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

OK, I did it. I found a way to get to the President and write to him on health care. I was just told by a friend that info@barackobama.com is the best way to write to President Obama. OFA staff actually read the emails that go there, and forward them on up. And since info@barackobama.com is the same email OFA uses to send fundraising requests and other “asks” in support of President Obama’s agenda, they can immediately tell that you are a donor and/or volunteer.

So I just wrote my letter. I’ll post it below if you need inspiration. But please, please, please write your own letter and make sure you send it before tomorrow’s big health care speech! There is still time to make sure our voices don’t get drowned out in the health care debate.

(And btw, send copies to your Senators and House members as well!)

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

This fall, Maine will face a special election. And no, this isn’t just any special election. Once more, LGBT families are under attack. This time, the same H8ful forces that stripped millions of Californians of their Constitutional rights want to do the same evil thing in Maine.

This must stop. We must stop the radical right’s assault on LGBT families, and we have a chance to do so in Maine this year.

(Also at OC Progressive & Nevada Progressive)

Late last week, we found out that Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wants to delay her committee’s vote on the Senate climate & energy bill and move it to September. And furthermore, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) supports this move as he’ll have more time to round up votes. However, we don’t really know if this is good news or bad news.

The delay bodes ill for passing a climate bill this year.  It shows leaders are not confident they would have enough votes to pass the bill and want as much time as possible to rally support. Boxer also noted that many key senators with a role in crafting climate policy are also leading the debate over health care, another major congressional priority for this year.

[…] Several environmental groups have written in to say that they think today’s announcement is good news for climate legislation.

“We don’t think that this is a problem at all,” said Josh Dorner, spokesman for Sierra Club. “In fact, we think it’s a good thing. It’s a huge organizing opportunity, both here in D.C. and in the field. It also shows they are taking the time to make some meaningful, positive changes to the bill.”

Environmental Defense Fund was equally optimistic. “From our perspective, this is the right decision,” said Tony Kreindler, media director for climate at EDF. “It gives senators more time to review and understand the historic bill just passed by the House. It signals a serious intent to seek agreements on key issues going forward.  And it gives Boxer and her colleagues on both sides of the aisle more time to reach those agreements. After all, the chairman has the ability to move forward today if the goal were simply to push any bill through.”

Honestly, I don’t mind the delay that much… So long as this delay results in a stronger bill with more votes in time for the international climate change summit in Copenhagen this December. Let me explain my thoughts some more after the flip.

(Also at OC Progressive)

What happens when you combine a Democratic fundraiser in North San Diego County, a homophobic right-wing neighbor disturbing the peace, and the San Diego County Sheriffs? Apparently, one BIG, nasty mess! Here’s the original TPM story:

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a fundraiser for Francine Busby, who previously ran for the deeply-Republican Fiftieth District and came close to winning in the 2006 special election and subsequent regular election, was raided by sheriffs after an unnamed neighbor made a noise complaint. Busby now calls it a “phony” noise complaint, and the article says that multiple neighbors said there was no great noise at all.

Here’s the twist: The fundraiser was hosted by a lesbian couple, and shortly before the sheriffs came a particular neighbor had shouted anti-gay slurs at the assembled crowd. “It was a quiet home reception, disrupted by a vulgar person shouting obscenities from behind the bushes,” Busby says.

As one neighbor told the paper: “We didn’t hear anything until the sheriff came, with eight patrol cars and a helicopter.”

And yes, the new developments are becoming more sordid by the minute. Details after the flip…

New Orleans may sink into the sea by 2100. Much of Florida may also be underwater by then. Drought will likely become the norm out West, meaning California could no longer provide the food we depend upon. Las Vegas may become downright inhabitable.

No, I’m not fabricating any of this. These will be the consequences of inaction if we continue to delay implementing the solutions we need to solve the coming climate crisis. But for some reason, may of our supposedly wise lawmakers in Capitol Hill are either willfully ignorant of the facts or downright lying about our future.

Seriously, we can’t allow any more of this.