Election Day 2008

I think the most amazing thing about this year's presidential election is how many people voted. It's fantastic that so many more people were inspired to get out there and exercise their too-often taken-for-granted right. Still, it's surprising that almost half the country did not vote at all. That I don't understand.

Moving on, it was hilarious to watch the media try to make Election Night into a dramatic event. They used the phrase "too close to call" often, hoping to keep people engaged for as long as possible, even when Obama had racked up 206 electoral votes...with CA, OR, WA, and HI still not being included (their polls had not closed yet). Brian Williams would completely disregard CA, trying to pretend that it might go either way. lol At 8 pm PST/11 pm EST, when the West Coast polls closed, it was over: Obama won in a HUGE way!! I LOVE California's 55 electoral votes. Yeah, baby!!! And even sweeter, we stole Florida, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and most likely North Carolina from the Reds. Florida was the sweetest betrayal of all...WOOHOO!!!

In California, chickens were egg-static over the results of Prop 2. They were practically running around like their heads had been cut off. They now will be able to fully turn around in their cages, enjoying a little more freedom before the Grim Reaper comes to visit.

Yes, California voters seem to care more about chickens than about gay people. Might I propose that we gay people adopt Chicken Little as our new mascot? He can tell everyone, in typical melodramatic religious conservative tones, that the sky will fall if equality is not restored. And he can do it in a cute, wittle chicken way. AND to draw even more sympathy, he can give his speech from a newly-expanded cage that his fans gave him, where he can do a little twirl.

Yeah, I'm a little upset (make that a LOT upset) about the turnout of Prop 8. Religious conservatives and their American Family Association won this battle, but not the war. We WILL persevere, we WILL have equal rights. And the next state where religious conservatives WILL lose a battle is New York, thanks to an incoming Democratic government. 2009 will see more blows to the conniving, manipulative group who oppose the rights of others. Take that, Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, and the rest of ya! You will not prevail with your backwards traditions.

It is ironic that on a day when civil rights reached great heights for African Americans via Obama's election, civil rights for gay people were damaged once again. But Election Day 2008 is still a momentous, glorious day (if tainted by Prop 8), thanks to Obama, a growth in the Democratic Congress, and the defeat of other religious conservative ballot measures.

Here's to the next 4 years and to the heave-ho of Dubya!!!