Greg Laden's Blog

Post Election 2008, Liberals have the blues. Two kinds of blues.

First, we have BLUE STATES!!! Lots of them! Unsurprisingly, many of the submissions for this edition of the carnival are about the election. Second, we have the blues over Proposition Eight, which we Hate. Many of this edition's submissions are about this topic. In both areas, we find the usual insight and thoughtful writing.

We also have a third category this time around, called Honorable Mention. The COL is a selective carnival: Only a small number of posts get in each time compared to the avalanche of entries we normally receive. But this time around, because of the election, and because of my previously unannounced choice of a thematic carnival (it just worked out that way) this category may be a bit larger than average. But it is full of good stuff.

As you read the current carnival, please consider Stumbling, Digging, whatever, the pieces that you encounter that you enjoy most. We are all in this together and getting the word out requires your help. The most recent edition of the carnival is HERE at The Lay Scientist. You can submit an article for the next edition of the carnival HERE.

The Post Election Blues: Election 2008

We Are All Americans: Understanding the Wonder of This Election Through the Eyes of the World

Yesterday I was humbled by my country. Today I am humbled by the world.

I have watched with amazement as the world has watched this election. Why, I wondered, does the world seem to be waiting with bated breath for the outcome of a presidential election in a country not their own? Is it because Bush has been so detrimental to the world as a whole?

Partially.

However...

The Vine explores this question further.

Jon Swift: Obama's Disastrous Gaffe-Laden Press Conference. This (Jon Swift) is the only neocon yahoo we allow in the Carnival of the Liberals because he is, down deep, a moderate who is funny and writes well. "President-elect Barack Obama's honeymoon abruptly ended yesterday when he insulted Fox News, Nancy Reagan and dogs at his first post-election press conference. Conservatives, who had generously given Obama the benefit of the doubt in the days after the election, immediately pounced ... "

Why this year? Why did a more or less liberal Democrat win the presidency this year, even though most of what is going on now in the world is pretty similar to what was going on four years ago ... and eight years ago? Indie Times explores this question that I'll be you hadn't thought of: Fight Fire with Water: How Obama Won the Presidency

To be or not to be .... a Liberal? As we observe the Obama administration forming up, and we watch congressional hearings regarding the Auto Industry, and Joe Lieberman keeping his gavel in his hot little hands, it is impossible to not consider the meaning of it all. The Political Panorama columnizes this question.

A pragmatic primer o the Obama Economic Plan from Penny Pinching.

We Hate Proposition Eight

The biggest "holy crap, how did that happen" realization coming out of California's passage of Prop Eight is the fact that African Americans overwhelming supported this constitutional amendment to take away basic rights of the gay. The other holy crap moment is, of course, the fact that the proposition passed at all. There is a lot of very interesting and often insightful writing on this topic in Teh Carnival this issue, and I'm going to give it to you straight. Or whatever:

Correlation is not causation, OR: there are no racial essences, for fuck's sake. A political fable. at Uncommon Priors

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Fornicalia, there was a class in society that, by virtue of visible and genetically transmitted characteristics, has been the victim of systematic discrimination for hundreds of years. Even today, this class is mired in poverty by residential discrimination (some historical, some current), leading to lousy education, crime-ridden neighborhoods, etc. Let us call that class of people the Big Ears, for, we are given to understand, it is the bigness of their ears that the society in general uses as a marker for that class that may be discriminated against....

Greta Christana's got a double post (rarely allowed in this carnival but I'm letting it past this one time): Why We Care What Other People Believe: Religion, Race, and Prop 8 and Debating the Invisible, Arguing the Emotional: Religion and Politics

A lot of people are talking about the African American community supporting Prop 8. A lot of people are talking about how the black churches were overwhelmingly against marriage equality. A lot of people are really angry about it. Not so temperately, and not so nicely.

A little snark with your tea and scones? Authoritarian Evangelicals, Mormons Heroically Defend America Against Gay Aggression

... what happened at the voting booths yesterday was truly historic and inspiring. A dedicated, diverse group of Americans have overcome ethnic, partisan, and interdenominational barriers to form a holy coalition which heroically defended the institution of marriage against gay aggression. ...

Who's Bigoted Now? Still Tony Perkins. at Bay of Fundie.

Tony's greater offense is that he's painting an entire group of people - liberals - with the claim that there is a large streak of racism within them. The racist incidents that occurred in the aftermath of Prop. 8 were few, compared with how many people voted against the discriminatory initiative. Just as Fred Phelps is not a fair representative of fundamentalism, a smattering of racist epithets is not a true representation of people who believe in equal rights.

I am a little reluctant to note I believe I can fly at Rust Belt Philosophy. Oh, it's a good essay, but I don't like lite-green on dark-green type. And I do like paragraphs. But whatever:

On the left, protests have been staged against Mormon churches (which, for their part, have been giving Scientology a run for its money in terms of pure creepiness) and are scheduled nation-wide; on the right, writers like Glen Lavy are giving their best efforts to cast the vote as the closing act in a too-long drama....

The Honorable And the Mentioned: