HopeSo it was an emotionally busy and exhausting week in the United States in general and in California in particular. My office was off in Cairo Egypt working on tweaking-the-Internet-meetings and our web team did a record amount of work on the website. That left me with little free time or energy. Between that and Election Day, which not only included the incredibly awesome election of Barak Obama for U.S. President (and I must say I supported Obama as a potential president back when I saw him speak at the DNC back in 2004. Not to brag but…) but the surprising passage of proposition 2 in California which ensures larger cages for farm animals  and the heartbreaking constitutional challenge to gay unions.

The ironic combination of those three election results has not been lost on us here in California with the bitter commentary that we expanded the rights of chickens while stomping on the rights of our gay community. In defense of the chickens, I must say I know of no animal rights activist who did not support gay marriage. The problems for proposition 8 were, to my mind, as such:

  1. Misleading proposition language on the ballot: many folk believed a Yes vote meant they supported gay marriage, not that they supported a ban on gay marriage. This confusing language is usually intentional on the part of the proposition’s proponents. They try to trick you into voting for stuff: get educated before you vote, people.
  2. Allegedly large amounts of money spent from the Mormon Church in support of the ban on gay unions. If this is true, it's a bit ironic considering other Christian challengers to gay marriage always claim a slippery slope which would lead to a Mormon-style bigamy. Gay haters (or Gayters as I like to call them) make strange bedfellows.
  3. Other homophobia in various communities.

And although this sucks royally, we have to keep supporting our community with each next step. This is no time to give up. This morning on the Stephanie Miller Show, the commentary-duo Frangela was on the air discussing the alleged lack of support in this proposition from the African-American community, calling on African-American civil rights leaders such as Al Sharpton to speak out against the proposition. Angela V. Shelton (one half of Franglea) has long been an advocate for gay rights and stated unequivocally that “No one is free until we’re all free.”

In other news this week:

Cher went on Access Hollywood…

…. to interview with Billy Bush (yes…a relation of King Bush).Attic

Cher was on Ellen: http://www.popcrunch.com/cher-ellen-video-110308/

  • Ellen did a great mashup of Cher songs in a video to introduce Cher
  • Oh my: those Cher boobs! 
  • I like that Ellen is diggin Cher and hoping this means her feud with Chastity is over. Feuds are stupid. Ellen even calls toddler Chastity ‘adorable.’ See? How can you be mad at Chastity for long?
  • Cher talks about liking 60s and 70s rock: Stevie Wonder, the Eagles
  • Cher seems happy and confident. She makes a face when talking about her and Sonny being at loggerheads that was great. Less guarded, very sincere-seeming. Although my friend Christopher mentioned that she didn’t seem very warm in this interview. Relatively speaking I think she was very friendly. She’s not your typical extroverted celebrity.
  • Cher insists her show's costume changes are fun and that her show is supposed to be fun, just silly. A week or so ago on the Cher list, fan Gregory likened the show to a Revue vs a Concert and that's a show-biz concept I think I can get behind.
  • Does Cher have carpel tunnel – what’s that black thing on her arm?
  • I tried to picture a cartoon Cher featured in a remake of Dumbo.
  • Cher will not be catwoman, but maybe a “grandma catwoman” someday.
  • Cher's working on a new movie named "Dropout" (not another one-word Cher movie!), a movie so new it's not even listed yet on IMDB. They will film this summer.
  • About farewell tours she admits, “I might be lying; I’m not sure.” On her last tour she claimed to have lowered her ticket prices due to all the turmoil and financial struggle she witness out amongst the peoples.
  • Cher states that she’s semi-single. Another article came out this week with Cher talking about the challenges of dating.

Cher also stated in interviews this week that she had allergies in Vegas and not cancer. This story was picked up all over as it was apparently quite a scoop:

Robert  Camilletti, Cher’s old beau is now a pilot.  

Someone blogged about style lessons we should learn from Cher including some, now outdated, commentary on her rack. 

A blog entry about Sonny & Cher: then and then in the YesterYearMuseum. I feel old today.

Cher scholar Robrt sent me this very awesome link of Cher singing "Sunny" with some hilarious Sonny scenery. And the real deal makes a surprising entrance at the end. What a kewl outfit and what awkward panning.

I bought a bunch of 70%-off fall junk at JoAnn's for my wedding next year. Since were having it in an old library (without books), we’re going to decorate it like a library in Fall (lots of fake leaves and books, old card-catalog drawers and library cards for everyone). Very nerdy.

Above are some awesome Ben Sargent cartoons from this week.