Use this thread to discuss whatever. Self-linking is as welcome as hot chocolate on a cold day.

* * *

Okay, the smarmy news guy is annoying (especially at the end, when he gets all Paul McCartney on us). But I nonetheless found this story irresistible.

Also: Advertising photography, circa 1962. Then as now, the most common strategy seems to be: show happy thin white people possessing product, “good life”.

Also: The trailer for Charlyne Yi’s Paper Hearts, a semi-not-really documentary is astonishingly cute-looking (much discussion of this in the comments there). Via.

Post about what you want. It’s all about the love. Self-love (of the linking kind) is especially welcome.

* * *

This is a “Tweenbot,’ an art project. According to tweenbot’s creator:

“Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination. Because I built them with minimal technology, I had no way of tracking the Tweenbot’s progress, and so I set out on the first test with a video camera hidden in my purse. I placed the Tweenbot down on the sidewalk, and walked far enough away that I would not be observed as the Tweenbot––a smiling 10-inch tall cardboard missionary––bumped along towards his inevitable fate.

“The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers. Every time the robot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged.”

Neat! Curtsy: Brad at WendyMcElroy.com.

* * *

Also, via Boing Boing: “Danish photographer Peter Funch stakes New York City street corners out for two weeks at a time, taking pictures of passersby from the very same spot. He then uses Photoshop to composite the results into single images.” Very neat stuff.

Apparently Ann Althouse is marrying someone she’s known via her blog comments for years, although she met him in person only a short time ago. I don’t understand why this is something to make fun of; seems perfectly reasonable to me. There have been plenty of times when I’ve found Althouse unreasonable, terrible, and illogical, but on this occasion I think “congratulations!” is actually the appropriate response.

On the bright side, the controversy led me to this video (via Althouse), which is delightful:

Someone in Ann’s comments writes,

The video translates loosely to “Raising the roof at Antwerp Central Station”…with The Sound of Music…the Flemish have a strange sense of humor…

And then, via Obsidian Wings, this diagramtastic retelling of Little Red Riding Hood:

Post about whatever you like, with whatever links you want to share. Sluggo would want you to self-link!

1. I Repeat-Quit Using ‘Tranny’ To Insult Cisgender Women
2. Mary Anne Mohanraj Gets You Up to Speed, Part II. This one, also terrific, is more narrowly aimed at white writers writing characters of color.
3. New relationship initiative in California would convert civil marriage to Domestic Partnerships for everyone. The compromise both sides oppose!
4. How a children’s book (Sam Llewellyn’s Lyonesse: The Well Between the Worlds) uses fat as a symbol of corruption and evil.
5. Why we think we’re post-racial, and why it’s a dangerous desire.
6. Citigroup used bailout money to lobby against labor rights bill.
7. I am not a foodie at all. For one thing, I’d rather spend the money on comic books. But darn, the extremely elaborate and wildly original meal described here sounds like an experience.
8. The case against objective definitions of rape.
9. The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist. Really entertaining read. Via Boing Boing.
10. Billy Bragg and other rock stars speak out in favor of fans downloading music.
11. One-eyed filmmaker plans to install tiny camera in his empty eye socket. He thinks it’ll let him more intimate, natural footage when talking to people. This reminds me a little of Connie Willis’ short story “The Last of the Winnebagos,” which featured a photographer using a hidden camera to capture more genuine expressions.
12. Mzbitca considers Buffy Season one.
13. U.S. job situation now worse than in our previous five recessions.
14. Note to newspapers: “Rape” is not spelled S-E-X.
15. You know who didn’t cause the economic crisis? Women.
16. Bus bench in Netherlands publicly displays weight of whoever sits on it. It’s a promotion for a “health” club.
17. Intersectionality and violence against South African, and California, lesbians.
18. The Watchmen movie may disappoint, but fan culture does not.
19. Some horrible Bush administration policies that Obama is embracing; and in other cases, he doens’t continue Bush’s crimes, but he does cover them up. Obama’s a lot better than Bush, but a lot worse than he should be.
20. Bank ad featuring a trans women. And clearly being anti-trans bigotry. Neat.
21. California legislators propose legalizing pot for the tax revenue.
22. You’re right, Lisa, the way Vogue frames dieting, fat and “curves” is both sexist and racist. But I wish you had also pointed out that it’s a prime example of anti-fat bigotry (or “sizist,” if you’d like an “ist” word).
23. Really striking, huge-scale, anti-domestic-violence art project.
24. The argument against participating in Durbin II.
25. Gay marriage opponent jokes about same-sex couples being denied visitation rights in hospitals. Yeah, that’s a laugh riot.
26. Is food the new sex? Right-wing and wrong in a number of ways, but interesting if you can deal with that, essay on fat, sex, and self-indulgence.

You know one thing I really love? Great book design. Check out the elegant and striking cover design for the upcoming Nancy collection. Published by Fantagraphics, designed by Seth (who’s also a great cartoonist).

Once you’ve bought the book, xerox some pages on to thick-stock paper so you can play Five Card Nancy.

Update: Links # 5 and #11 have now been fixed.

Post as you will shall be the only law.

Self-linking is encouraged, because it’s blogging with someone you love.

* * *

1. Kentucky court denies rights to lesbian co-parent. Because allowing a co-mother to be ripped away from her child won’t be harmful to the child at all, right?
2. Ugly Betty and Affirmative Action.
3. “State’s rights” wasn’t always just a fig leaf to promote White supremacy over Black people. Sometimes, it was used to promote White supremacy over Native Americans too.
4. Social Class, Rape, and Intimate Partner Violence.
5. Does a flight attendant deserve ten years in prison because she gave her hair stylist discounted plane tickets in exchange for hair care, and unbeknownst to her, he was a drug dealer?
6. God Hates Figs. Awesome.
7. The US Army took a prostetic leg away from a prisoner and forced him to stand. You know the reason they hate us? Because we’ve earned their hatred, that’s why.
8. Good policy idea: subsidize people trading in old clunkers for new, cleaner-running cars.
9. Homeless taking over foreclosed homes. Excellent.
10. The economic crisis is all the fault of left-wing intellectuals.
11. Renee discusses “This Is Why You’re Fat” site.
12. Does racism end the death penalty? No, but the price tag might.
13. Little Light is missing living in the country. Not political, but lovely writing.
14. Mental Health and Promescuity.

Oh, and here’s a weird/creepy/gross animated video (via Boing Boing).

Use this thread to post whatever you want. It’s anarchy, I tell you, anarchy!

Self-linking is just blogging with someone you love, so go for it.

* * *

1. A post about a study of the way multiracial people put together their own identities.
2. If only rich people had voted, McCain would have won the election overwhelmingly. If only poor people voted, Obama would have won even more overwhelmingly.
3. You can now watch all of Sita Sings The Blues online! Thank you, PBS. (Just to warn folks: Not a good choice if you can’t stand works that veer into cultural appropriation, however.)
4. Womanist Musings interviews Melissa of Shakesville.
5. The Pudge Police are Coming!
6. The Tarnished Beauties of Blackwell, Oklahoma. Do you like old portrait photos? ‘Cause I do.
7. Bear McCreary, who composes the music for “Battlestar Galactica,” has written a long and enjoyable description of everything he did for the episode “Someone To Watch Over Me.”
8. Comparing old and new editions of “The Joy of Cooking” Much more interesting than I would have guessed.
9. Teen Beaten By Police Speaks Out
10. FAIR has a good piece arguing that the way the media talks about Obama’s race, mainly reveals a lot about how people in the media think of race.
11. Netanyahu refuses to accept Palestine’s right to exist. And, relatedly, Palestinians Now Allowed To Eat Pasta. Also, Hamas got everything Hamas wanted.
12. Man executed because of a stubborn, horrible judge and a computer crash.
13. The Aboriginal News Group is a new “international grassroots collaboration of First Nations blog-journalists.” Link via Ojibway Migisi Bineshii.
14. Brits use fataphobic, ineffective scare tactics to try and frighten children into being thin.
15. Whoops! I just had a positive link to the Rudd Center. So, to make up for it, read this post at Fat Chicks Rule!, because the Rudd Center likes to counterbalance its good points with suckiness.
16. More on disability phobia and the BBC children show host.

Post what you like, with you like, for as long as you like. Self-link-love has been approved by Jocelyn Elders.

1. “We’re Making A Better World“: how large governing organizations corrupt and crush individuals in Joss Whedon’s work. I wonder how this will play out in Buffy season 8?
2. Speaking of Whedon, check out the original script to the first episode of Dollhouse. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s much better than what was actually broadcast.
3. A sweet story illustrating one way equal marriage rights are important to families.
4. “For [NAACP president] Jealous, mass incarceration is the civil-rights challenge of this generation”
5. Interesting post about trans people who are vets. Two takeaway points: First, trans women are apparently more likely than cis people or trans men to have been in the armed forces. Second: The VA discriminates against trans people and often provides inadequate medical care.
6. Musician Amanda Palmer’s record label wanted to digitally alter this music video because Palmer’s belly isn’t  flat enough for them. Palmer refused, and Palmer’s fans are very cool.
7. How the GOP could try to appeal to Black voters
8. To One Judge, At Least, Migrants Have Rights
9. Iran and Women’s Rights
10. “If you don’t belong to the marginalized group in question lay the hell off the demeaning language.”
11. The 39 Stairs, performed by Sesame Street. Awesome.
12. Obama’s housing plan, nutshelled into a blog post. And it really isn’t all about giving money to irresponsible homeowners, contrary to the right-wing spin.
13. Chevron trys to sic its legal bills on poor Nigerians who sued Chevron. The word “assholes” is so inadequate. But more importantly, “If the risk of trying to vindicate legal rights is bankruptcy, legal rights are worthless.”
14. White people insisting on all-white proms.
15. Interesting discussion of whiteness and Jewishness in America (or “Amerikkka,” as the author puts it). Curtsy: The Primary Contradiction.
16. “Laissez-Faire Capitalism Has Failed,” by Nouriel Roubini. For “Alas” readers who aren’t familiar with him, Roubini is the person who can most rightly claim to have seen our current economic collapse coming. As Eric Martin says, “isn’t it about time we started heeding the advice of the people that have been right about the major economic devlopments of the past decade or so?”
17. Well-placed rage can be fun — watch this video of Lansing, Michigan’s mayor Virg Bernero being interviewed by some right-wing tool on Foxnews.
18. “I am a Bisexual. Yes. No.” It’s a question you have to answer when applying to be an adoptive parent in Florida.
19. Judge rebukes prosecutor for withholding exculpatory evidence, and orders man released from prison after 17 years. (Unsurprisingly, the victim of the prosecutor’s railroading is Latino.) The prosecutor plays up his conviction record and toughness to voters, of course.
20. On imperialism and being a marginalized American teaching English in Brazil
21. Prosecution’s bite mark expert in MIssissipi caught on video creating fake bike marks on corpse.
22. Lowering expectations of what the US can do in Afghanistan.
23. Lifetime appointments aren’t needed to preserve judicial independence.
24. Why making the rich poorer can make the poor (effectively) richer.

1. Please go sign the petition for single payer health care. And (more importantly), go see if your congressional representative is on this list, and if they are, contact them and ask them to co-sponsor HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.
2. The torture conducted by the U.S. government includes rape.
3. Dollhouse first episode reviews at What A Crazy Random Happenstance, Art At the Auction, Constant Thoughts, and Art At the Auction again. If you only read one of those links, I’d highly recommend the last one.
4. Oh, and this post, arguing that Echo from Dollhouse is thematically the opposite of Dawn from Buffy.
5. Headless fatties. (The first use of the term?)
6. The Connection Between Blacks As Apes And Police Brutality.
7. Imaginary Fat Toys As Cautionary Tales
8. Slut Shaming And The Politics Of Tight Clothes
9. Madinkbeard analyzes a panel from an old David Mazzucchelli comic, “Discovering America.” For my tastes, “Discovering America” is the single best-drawn comic I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, it’s long out of print, and copies are expensive.
10. I am bored by sports, but sometimes enjoy sports writing. This NYTimes Magazine article, about a great basketball player whose greatness is invisible to conventional basketball stats, is quite good.
11. Over at Fat Chicks Rule, in comments, an employee of the Rudd Center responds to fat activist criticism of the Rudd Center, and the fat activists respond in turn.
12. Celebrate Black History Month At Walmart.
13. I love this gastric bypass t-shirt. A shame it’s not available in sizes above XXL.
14. Ten Cartoons from Sean Delonas. I’ve seen them before, but the awesome extent of his bigoted asshattery becomes clearer when seeing them all collected together like this.
15. Reflections by an Arab Jew. (I know this and the above link came from “Alas” comments, but I’m too lazy right now to go find out who I should give credit to, so apologies for that.)
16. The 1965 Dewey’s Lunch Counter Sit-In’s. “It’s the first documented instance of people protesting over anti-transgender discrimination. …  It was an African-American GLBT production.” Curtsy: TransGriot.
17. The Case For A Public Health Care Plan. A public health care alternative isn’t just worthwhile as a trojan horse for an eventual single-payer system; it’s a necessary element of making private plans work well.
18. Immigrant in “detention center” denied health care because it was assumed he was faking, dies of cancer. I hope the family’s lawsuit is successful. And see also: Abuses Rampant In U.S. Detention Centers.
19. On The Indefensibility of the Filibuster
20. Boldly sacrificing Mexican lives in order to make it marginally more difficult for Americans to get high.
21. Hilzoy explains why the Democrats never make the Republicans actually do a filibuster — it’s much harder on the majority party than on the party doing the filibuster.
22. Why Michelle Obama’s Vogue Cover Matters
23. In France, heterosexuals are flocking to the “marraige light” alternative created to avoid letting same-sex couples marry. So much for preserving marriage.
24. Our taxes pay for “you can’t rape a slut!” abstinence only messages.
25. Anti-earmark ideology hurts the country.
26. Free book on free range kids. We’re raising our kids to live fearful, constrained lives, and we shouldn’t be.
27. More responses to “Why Tom Zarek Was Right.”
28. Rape victim blamed for mistaken ID caused by a racist justice system, bad police practices and a DA ignoring evidence.
29. How Not To Write Science.
30. The idea that one should learn standard English in order to not be discriminated against is poisonous.

1. Interesting discussion of Sandman, focusing on the debate between “accept that change happens, adjust, and do your work” (Death), “accept that change happens and drop out” (Destruction), and “refuse to accept change, refuse to adjust” (Dream). Via Amberite.
2. Louis Menand’s 2002 evisceration of Stephen Pinker’s The Blank Slate, and of evolutionary psychiatry psychology in general.
3. Zuky on the Native American roots of the Seneca Falls declaration of women’s rights.
4. Debate: Should Feminists Endorse The Basic Income? (Via Crooked Timber.)
5. Crooked Timber on the conservative case against equal opportunity.
6. Bernard Avishai divides Israel into five broad groups. I think his analysis is well worth reading. His conclusion, almost dadaesque when decontextualized: “ORDINARILY, THEN, TRIBE Three hates Four, condescends to Two, and doubts One; Two hates One, resents Three and (for different reasons) Four; One is afraid of Two, patronizes Three and hates Four; Four hates One, proselytizes Two, and is afraid of Three. All four are afraid of Five.”
7. Piny at Feministe on Carol Lay’s new diet book (which I wrote about here).
8. Jay Rosen on the “donut” of acceptable thought in the US news media:
   

   It’s easily the most useful diagram I’ve found for understanding the practice of journalism in the United States, and the hidden politics of that practice. You can draw it by hand right now. Take a sheet of paper and make a big circle in the middle. In the center of that circle draw a smaller one to create a doughnut shape. Label the doughnut hole “sphere of consensus.” Call the middle region “sphere of legitimate debate,” and the outer region “sphere of deviance.”

   I’d recommend also this interview with Rosen, in which he argues that for most journalists, “savviness” is the single highest value to which they aspire.

Self-linking is beautiful and healthy and in no way makes you a pervert.

Via Our Decent Into Madness, jewelry by Melanie Bilenker. She creates the lines by using individual strands of her own hair.

So, umn: Wow.

Anyhow, please use this thread for whatever you’d like; self-promotion is extremely welcome.

This is an open thread. Use it to post what you like, with whomever you like, for as long as you like. Self-linking is normal and natural and will probably be encouraged by the new administration.

By the way, I’m sick (I suspect strep throat), so my blogging participation is going to be reduced until I feel better.

Have at it. As usual, self-linking is welcome.

* * *

Here’s, from TheDieline, is an unusual idea for milk packaging (white, chocolate, and strawberry milk):

(Via Jenn’s twitter).

I also thought this Batman-themed milk container was super-cool.

This is an open thread; use it to post what you like, for as long as you like, with whomever you like. Self-linking is healthy and normal.

I ran across Pageofbats’ drawing on Flickr, and was very much taken with a series of beautiful black-and-white sketchbook drawings he’s posted. This one is called “In Heaven You Get All Your Old Dogs Back.”

Say what you will!

Link you will!

Self-link at will!

Use short declarative sentences I will!

• Have I recommended Linda Bacon’s Health at Every Size website? If not, then I really should have. It includes passages from her book Health At Every Size. Go! Read! Don’t diet!
• I’m late linking to this, but of the dozens of “Why are (some) black people homophobic” essays I’ve read, I think this is the most interesting and thoughtful. There’s some good stuff in the comments, too.
• Remember that drawing I did for Wonder Woman day? Well, it raised over $26,000 for feminist charities. (Not my drawing in particular, alas, but the event as a whole.)
• Paul Campos points out that measured by mortality, it’s healthier to be “overweight” — or even mildly “obese” — than to be “normal” weight. Via Fat Fu.
• Check out this photo of a tortoise named “Jonathan,” taken around 1900. Jonathan is still alive today and is believed to be the world’s oldest living animal.
• Really touching Ani song, “Present/Infant,” about physical insecurity and motherhood. Kate has the lyrics, and you can watch a video of Ani singing the song here.
• From Australia, this is what a real apology for racism looks like. I find it unimaginable that a US President would apologize to native Americans like that — but one ought to.
• Young women sometimes have sex lives! They must be punished!
• Very informative post on the Taliban. I really, really hope that Obama reconsiders his commitment to more troops in Afghanistan, which seems foolhardy at best.
• I really can’t describe how much I hate the settler movement in Israel.
• In Canada, 50 years of card check union elections and not a single complaint about union intimidation of employees.
• Anti-Immigrant sentiment is killing the Republican Party. I know you’re all weeping for them.
• David at The Debate Link and I had another round of our usual “what is anti-semitism” debate, this time over Hillel versus a Canadian PIRG.
• I find it commendable, but also off-putting, that Jim Davis and Paws, Inc. have thoroughly embraced “Garfield without Garfield.” They’ve even put out a book collection.
• A Kiss is a Kiss. Except when it’s two dudes kissing.
• Dear Oprah. Kate Harding on what she should have said during her two-sentence chat with Oprah.
• The Invisible Fat Man. Excellent guest post at The Rotund by Stefanie from Men In Full.

Please use this thread to post what you like, for as long as you like, with whomever you like. Self-linking is grand.

• When they think they’re talking in private, that’s when they really speak their minds about “homos.” Influential Oklahoma fundamentalist Steve Kern says: “Courts can force drug offenders into treatment centers and violent people into anger management. There’s no reason our courts can’t do that with homos.” Via Box Turtle Bulletin.
• It worries me that even smart, accomplished, nationally known right-wingers seem like paranoid loons with no reality in their grasp.
• Although I’ll be disappointed soon enough, for now I’m enjoying my Obama fanboyosity. So, via Stephen at Attempts, check out this cool photo gallery.
• And as Stephen says, worth it for the opening panel alone.
• This cover for “The Advocate” (”gay is the new black”) really is disgusting. Plus, it brings up the “evil or stupid?” problem. See Melissa and Portlydyke’s posts, too.
• Hey, wouldn’t it be great if we got government out of the business of inspecting claims of safety and soundness, and just let the private market handle it? I can’t imagine that going wrong.
• And now, some genuinely important news: A malaria vaccine looks good in testing. This could save millions of lives.
• From Flip Flopping Joy, and I’m quoting: “this link to a website where a young woman took pictures of her cervix every single day from the day menstruation starts all the way through the day before her next menstrual cycle starts. It’s pretty fascinating….” The photos are explicit and probably NSFW.
• Great Digby post on the odd relationship between the left, the right, and CIA.
• Ezra argues that Obama may be cannily moving the “mainstream” to the left.
• Even Jessica Abel isn’t thin enough to appear in magazines without photoshopping. UPDATE: Er, Alba. Not Abel.
• Good news: “The Kids In The Hall Are Making A New TV Miniseries!” Great news: Rather than sketch comedy, the new show’s format will be inspired by “The League of Gentlemen.”
• It looks like a handful of Democratic party anti-gay bigots have succeeded in keeping marriage equality off the New York legislature’s agenda. Fuck.
• School ties up black schoolchildren as pretend slaves, but then can’t comprehend why what they did was wrong. Aaaargh. White people.
• That depressing report on the shrinking job market? It’s seriously understating how bad things are.
• Yes, Favreau is a sexist asshat, but Hilary Clinton is right to downplay it in public.

This is an open thread; use it to post what you like, with whomever you like, for as long as you like. Self-linking is beautiful, baby, beautiful.

• Via Racism Review, the very welcome news that Obama has appointed Cecilia Muñoz as the next director of intergovernmental affairs. Muñoz is currently senior vice president for the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza.
• Jacob Levy argues that civility in the blogosphere declined when comments section became the norm, because “comments sections have encouraged intra-blog rather than inter-blog conversations…. conversations among blog authors across ideological lines started to fall off after comments sections came into being.” Interesting.
• “Atlas Shrugged, updated for the current financial crisis.” Curtsy Kevin Drum.
• This puzzle game is really, really pretty. I still don’t find it as addictive as this game, however.
• “‘Modesty Squads’ Faces Legal Scrutiny in Israel.” Good!
• Bush administration scrambles to destroy more workplace safety before they leave office. Disgusting. By the way, the victims of this will overwhelmingly be male; this is exactly the sort of issue men’s rights activists should be focusing on.
• Bush’s Torture Policy Kills Americans
• Global Warming May Be Even Worse Than Scientists Have Predicted
• Hunter At Random: Gay Rights and Civil Rights
• Dissenting Justice: When Judges Are Elected, Justice Can Be Compromised.
• Deltoid: The Bush Administration’s War On Math (and cover-up of the extent of Iraqi causalities) continues.
• The “No On 8″ campaign really seems to have totally failed at outreach to communities of color. In a way, this is good news. The bigger the problems with the execution of the “no on 8″ campaign, the more hope we can have that future, better-run campaigns will have better outcomes.
• Good debate on settlement legality.
• Is Silvio Berlusconi a real-world version of Lord Julius?
• “From my cell I scent the reeking soul of US justice.” Curtsy: Ta-Nehisi.
• From Boing Boing: “Minuscule is a co-production of French national TV and the Disney channel. It’s a combination of real world sets and CGI insects, sans dialog. Personally, I think the lack of dialog makes the creatures more humane, and adds incredible opportunities for visual humor. Few opportunities are missed, and few fail.

  There are episodes all over YouTube, and when those whet your appetite, please buy the DVD and support these comedic geniuses.”

Use the comments to post whatever you’d like, for as long as you like, with whomever you’d like. Self-linking is beautiful.

How did I not know about Dark Roasted Blend? What a neat blog of neat things! (And thanks to Our Decent Into Madness for leading me to it.)

One of my favorite DRB posts I’ve seen so far: A gallery of awe-inspiring photos of spider webs.

* * *

And somewhat politically, if you haven’t already read the much-linked Onion article “Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress,” then you’re not a real American. (Mandolin told me it was “so true it hurt.”) Sometimes, reading The Onion, I feel I’ve gotten the point and skip the last half of the article — but in this case, you should read to the the final sentence.

I don’t have time to compose a post, but I want to post some links.

I can’t resist quoting Darkrose at Pam’s House Blend: Blame the Brown People = Recipe for Failure

There’s no question that homophobia is a problem in the black community, especially the churchgoing segment of said community. And even though I understand why Obama (and all of the other serious Democratic candidates) weaseled on marriage equality, that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed in him for not taking a strong stand against 8.

At the same time, I’m frustrated and angry by the rush to pin this defeat on African Americans. It wasn’t a black group that put Prop 8 on the ballot, and paid the signature-gatherers and bankrolled the ads. Nor is it fair to say that Obama’s have-it-both-ways position meant that black voters were going to march sheeplike to the polls and vote as Obama dictated.

Writing off an entire race as hopelessly unenlightened isn’t going to help; in fact, a lot of the rhetoric I’ve seen in the left blogosphere tonight is only going to serve to reinforce the idea that “gay” = “white”, and that the gay community only notices people of color when there’s a comparison to the Civil Rights Movement to be made. And the Blame the Brown People push leaves those of us who are queer people of color marginalized by both of our communities.

And, in no particular order:

• The Kitchen Table: Black Folks And The Passage Of Prop 8
• Vivirlatino: More Prop 8 Black And Latino Blaming
• Bilerico Project: Black Voters Not To Blame If Proposition 8 Passes
• Bilerico Project: Our Choice on Prop 8 and African Americans: Reckless Carping or Productive Change?
• Pam’s House Blend: Ballot initiatives provide a wake up call to the LGBT community about race
• Bilerico Project: Race, sexuality, and Proposition 8
• Pam’s House Blend: Historically Black Homophobia
• Racialicious: Dan Savage on Black Homophobia (I don’t support Savage’s article, to say the least, but I’m linking this for the excellent Racialicious comment section.)

Edited to add more links: