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I’ve never been one for conspiracy theories. The 9/11 Truth movement? Not credible. Alex Jones from InfoWars? I’m from Austin, TX, and he’s been our town idiot with a cheesy cable access show for as long as I can remember. Nevertheless, there’s something curious going on in California with regards to their ballot initiatives. I don’t mean to suggest fraud, necessarily, but these questions need to be answered by supporters of gay marriage and gay rights if they hope to understand what went wrong.

As I write this, the No on Prop 8 organization has not yet conceded, clinging to the hope that projected turnout will yield additional uncounted ballots.

Unfortunately, I now believe that this is unlikely, given that projected turnout results nationwide were wildly inflated. States from every region are reporting lighter than expected turnout (Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, West Virginia, Wisconsin). With turnout projected at a low end of 130 million (and a high of 140 million), it’s looking more likely that we’ll just surpass 2004’s record turnout of 122 million. (Although it’s worth noting that turnout projections are all over the place right now as final results are certified, including absentee and provisional ballots.)

However, even supposing that turnout only barely increased nationwide (and actually decreased in some states), there are turnout results within California that are difficult to explain. For instance:

Why is it that turnout in San Francisco was barely 50%?

With no other city as invested in the outcome of Prop 8, and no other city in America with as large a gay population, what is the explanation for the fact that turnout fell dramatically there?

In 2004, San Francisco saw turnout of nearly 75%.

It’s certainly not the case that historically San Franciscans fail to show up at the ballot box.

What about other counties? Los Angeles saw much higher turnout of 65%. Although LA had turnout of around 79% in 2004, why did LA’s turnout decrease by only 14 points, while San Francisco’s decreased by 25?

What about the broader Bay Area? Of the nine county region, only one county (Solano) voted for the proposition. Alameda, the largest (by registration) saw turnout of about 55%. In 2004, turnout was 76% (PDF), a 21 point drop.

Between only San Francisco and Alameda, had they voted at their 2004 turnout levels, somewhere between 250,000 to 300,000 additional Yes votes might have been obtained.

Some might suppose that early returns on the east coast depressed turnout. I’m not convinced that this is the case. Certainly, Prop 8 was such a large and expensive campaign that most Californians knew about the initiative, even beyond the presidential election. Second, if knowing Obama was winning would discourage any voters, surely it should suppress the votes of McCain voters–who are more closely tied with support for Prop 8. (See chart–although it’s not a perfect correlation, generally as Obama’s win percentage goes up, Prop 8’s win percentage goes down.)

The GLBT community and its allies need to figure out what caused this precipitous drop-off in voter participation in this very important election if they’re to effectively mobilize voters in the future. Whatever the reason, these are questions that should be answered to better fight such ballot initiatives.

Technorati Tags: ballot-measures, civil-rights, civil-unions, election-2008, elections, gay-marriage, gay-rights, initiatives, lds, lds-church, marriage, mormons, prop-8, proposition-8, rights, same-sex-marriage, state-initiatives, voting

Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters: “An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the ‘hipster’ – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.”

Overwrought much?

It seems to me that claiming “hipster” is a sign of the coming societal apocalypse is handwringing at its worst. Every youth movement has had its critics, claiming it (whatever the current “it” was) exposed a dangerous bankruptcy among the youth of the day. Hippies were dead-enders, punks were nihilists, grunge and Gen-X were composed of slackers.

Only in retrospect can people look back and point to the truly innovative parts of the movement, and too often that retrospective view ignores the vast majority of the movement which was just a bunch of kids doing what everyone else was doing. Hipsterdom in this respect is no more or less a victim of this tendency.

Additionally, this is just false:

Hipsterdom is the first “counterculture” to be born under the advertising industry’s microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion.

Anyone who remembers the grunge explosion of the 90s surely remembers that within a season or two, even the catalogs of JC Penney’s and Sears were full of plaid shirts and baggy, ratty jeans. “Lumberjack chic” was adopted so rapidly by some of the biggest names in fashion and advertising that it quickly became a cliché, much to the chagrin of many a person in the American Pacific Northwest.

Countercultures and underground cultures are always a reaction against two things: what is going on in the broader society and the prior generation’s counterculture. If there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of, it’s this: the hipster scene is not the end of youth culture; its’ just another step along the road. The next “scene” will come along (and, probably, is already developing even as we speak).

Technorati Tags: culture, hipster, indie, society, youth, youth-culture

Hotline On Call: AFL-CIO Drops New Mailers In OH, MI, PA, WI: One of the mailers aims directly to dispel myths and rumors about the IL senator. The other features worker testimonials on Obama’s record on jobs, health care reform and workers’ rights.

Union officials tell On Call that the mailers mark the launch of a massive August campaign to clearly define Obama for millions of union voters, and to contrast the Democrat’s’ policies and plans with those of his GOP rival, John McCain.

(Via TPM Election Central.)

It’s good to see the unions step up to educate their members.

Technorati Tags: afl-cio, barack-obama, democrats, unions, workers

Feminists cry foul over Fat Princess - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games: She’s Fat Princess, the star of Sony’s upcoming video game of the same name. Debuting at last week’s E3 expo, the colorful Fat Princess is a capture-the-flag game with a twist: you can thwart capture attempts by locking the once-thin princess in a dungeon and stuffing her full of cake, thereby increasing her girth and making her harder for your enemies to haul back to home base.

Somehow abusing women makes for a good video game? C’mon, Sony, you can do better.

Technorati Tags: e3, fat-princess, feminism, sony, video-games

Judge removed after racial comment: A South Carolina judge who admitted calling crack cocaine addiction “black man’s disease” has been banned from the bench, the state’s Supreme Court said in an order Monday.

(Via MSNBC.com: Crime & courts.)

Wow. Just wow.

It’s nice to see that the state supreme court stepped in and did the right thing, but it’s still a shame that this could even happen. However, given South Carolina’s recent spate of freak-outs, it’s perhaps not that surprising.

Consider:

Study shows dementia patients recognize ‘elderspeak’: They may not be as sharp as they once were. Their memory may be failing. But people with Alzheimer’s can still sense when someone is talking down to them.

(Via McClatchy.)

When I was a teenager, I worked at a nursing home with an Alzheimer’s care wing. Quit a lot of people talk down to the elderly, even when they aren’t suffering from a form of dementia, even many family members. It seems to me that basic respect is owed to every person in a conversation, no matter their age or mental ability. I know I didn’t like being talked down to when I was a kid, I certainly don’t like it now, and I can’t imagine I would appreciate when I’m an octogenarian.

Technorati Tags: aging, alzheimers, cognition, dementia, elderspeak, health, medicine, respect

Americans United: Army Base Cannot Coerce Soldier Trainees To Attend Church Services, Says Americans United: “Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri offers ‘Free Day Away’ as one of only two opportunities for soldiers to leave the base during eight weeks of vigorous Army training. (The other day is the day before graduation, which can be spent with parents and guests.) During ‘Free Day Away,’ trainees are picked up by a bus sent from the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Lebanon, Mo., to participate in a day full of recreational activities, followed by dinner and a required church service.

Trainees are given the impression that the event is sponsored by the Army and that they must attend. If they do not attend, they have to remain on the base and continue with training, while those who attend the event have a break for the day.”

(Via Dispatches From the Culture Wars.)

All emphasis mine.

This is really amazing. That a base would so clearly incentivize a religious function without recognizing the incentive is incredible. I don’t have a problem with the retreat, per se, but if some soldiers are being given the day for leisure, all the troops should be given that same day off.

This program is just another example of the privileged position that Christianity holds in this country, without most Christians cognizant of their privilege.

For those who don’t wish to go off just a press release, a MO paper carries the story here, with additional quotes:

In a statement issued to media, officials said Fort Leonard Wood Chaplain Col. Roger Heath oversees religious activities to insure compliance with Department of Defense and Army regulations.

“All such religious activities are entirely voluntary and no individual is compelled to participate in any religious program,” the statement said.

Of course they’re not coerced, but that’s not the point. The incentive is the point. Incentivizing religious adherence is a form of endorsement, and, as we all should know by now, endorsement of religion is not something in which the government should be involved.

One more:

“There’s no way we could have made it 37 years if we weren’t doing things right constitutionally,” [Tabernacle Baptist Church Pastor Don] Ball said.

Really? Is it so hard to believe that unconstitutional behavior was allowed to persist for so long? Are there no examples of bad behavior on the part of government that was allowed to persist for decades?

(Hint: Dred Scott, mandatory school prayer, Jim Crow, etc., etc.)

Technorati Tags: americans-united, au, coercion, fort-leonard-wood, free-day-away, us-army

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 07/24/2008 | Obama sparks debate: Would Europe elect a black leader?: “Obama’s current tour — he landed in Berlin Thursday and was travelling to Paris and London — has provoked an intense debate among members of Western Europe’s racial and ethnic minorities: What are the chances of a minority politician rising to the top in their countries any time soon?”

This part was also of particular interest: ‘I think because of Obama a lot of people feel it’s more possible now here because they didn’t expect it in America,’ said Zachary Miller, a black man who hails from Ohio, lives in Paris and is vice chairman of Democrats Abroad in France and an Obama supporter.

Europe, despite its relatively liberal reputation, clearly has issues with race and ethnicity that it needs to address. Those issues are some of what prevents their recent immigrants from integrating with society, and must be addressed if Europe hopes to prevent violent extremists from finding a base of operations among a welcoming underclass.

Technorati Tags: barack-obama, britain, france, race, racism

House votes to boost bridge spending - Capitol Hill- msnbc.com: “The House overwhelmingly passed legislation Thursday aimed at improving the safety of the nation’s bridges, nearly a year after the deadly collapse of an interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis.

The vote was 367-55.”

(Via artsgal @ Newsvine.)

Good news. It’s about time that America invests in its crumbling infrastructure. Maintenance of our bridges, highway, and rail systems is very important for public safety. What happened in Minneapolis should never happen again.

Technorati Tags: bridges, capitol-hill, congress, infrastructure, minneapolis

Why the press is ignoring the Edwards “love child” story. - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine: “But if Edwards had an affair and lied about it, shouldn’t he suffer scrutiny akin to that of Craig? At least three-dozen daily newspapers in the United States published the Craig news the day after the Roll Call scoop, according to Nexis, but this morning not a single U.S. daily mentioned the Enquirer piece.”

The problem with this line of reasoning is that in the Larry Craig case there was an actual credible public record and a very credible witness: the police report of the incident and the officer himself. In the Edwards case we don’t have a similar credible record.

It would be, frankly, irresponsible of the media to play up the Edwards story at this point given the thinness of the record beyond the National Enquirer’s own reporting (which is, at best, hit and miss as far as credibility goes). Additionally, the National Enquirer has a vested interest in stirring up this story, possibly beyond what any actual facts gathered by the paper will support (increased circulation being an obvious one).

The rest of the media is rightly being cautious with this story.

Technorati Tags: hypocrisy, john-edwards, larry-craig, national-enquirer

Crossing the line on Steve Jobs’ health | One More Thing - CNET News.com: “One clear sign that this is an unseemly exercise: if those who keep pushing the issue feel they have to repeatedly apologize for seeming insensitive, they’re probably being insensitive. Yes, Jobs is the CEO of a $135 billion company that has dramatically changed the world of technology and made countless people rich. And, as I wrote the last time we covered this, Apple’s board of directors has a clear duty to avoid falling into a situation resembling Woodrow Wilson’s final days in office.

However, the only responsibility that Apple’s board of directors has to its shareholders is to make sure that Steve Jobs’ health is not a liability, and disclosing anything beyond that would be a mistake.”

(Via c|net.)

Steve Jobs is not a public official, and as I see it hasn’t given up his right to privacy simply because he’s a CEO. Jobs has also done as much as one could ask to ensure that Apple has the talent in place to continue should anything happen to him, with a large stable of talented managers in every division of the business.

Technorati Tags: Apple, henry-blodget, privacy, steve-jobs

Seeded at Newsvine:

I am stumped by how to excerpt the language on message boards and blogs.

Take a passage signed by zipthwung, an astute online commenter: “pornography if for the ruling classes and their violent vulgar all consuming appetites. Or their slaves.”

Technorati Tags: acronyms, grammar, initialisms, language, pluralizing-apostrophe

Seeded at Newsvine:

Obese women who carry most of their extra weight around the stomach are 70 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, an international team of researchers reported.

Technorati Tags: cancer, health, obesity, pancreatic-cancer

Seeded at Newsvine:

Taunting and bullying often goes unnoticed by teachers, and administrators have few policies in place to handle it. Only 11 states have enacted laws to protect schoolchildren from being bullied specifically because of sexual orientation.

Technorati Tags: bullying, education, GLBT, school, youth

Seeded at Newsvine:

BOSTON — Massachusetts may have been the first state to legalize same-sex marriage for its residents, but when California last month invited out-of-state gay and lesbian couples to get married, the potential economic benefits did not go unnoticed here.

Technorati Tags: california, gay-marriage, gay-rights, GLBT, massachusetts, same-sex-marriage

Seeded at Newsvine:

ROME (AP) - The Italian government was ordered to pay euro100,000 ($160,000) to a gay man who received a driver’s license for the disabled after he declared his sexual orientation on an official form, the man and a gay-rights group said Monday.

Technorati Tags: gay, gay-rights, homosexuality, italy, mental-illness

Seeded at Newsvine:

“I just think it’s bad form for the census to change a legal response to an incorrect response,” said Gary Gates of the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California-Los Angeles law school that studies gay-related public policy issues.

Technorati Tags: census, equality, gay-marriage, homosexuality, same-sex-marriage

Seeded at Newsvine:

France’s highest court denied citizenship to Faiza Mabchour, a Moroccan woman, on the grounds that she practices a form of Islam called Salafism, which requires a rigorous interpretation of the Quran.

Technorati Tags: france, islam, salafism

Seeded at Newsvine:

People of color appreciate Stuff White People Like because it makes visible the assumed invisibility of a certain type of white culture. In doing so, it opens the door to the admission that, yes, white culture is a distinct, often peculiar, and even varied phenomenon.

Technorati Tags: blogging, culture, race, racism, stuff-white-people-like

Seeded at Newsvine:

Their findings, said Standfort, appear to support theories that attitudes to homosexuals are more favourable in countries that prefer equality over inequality and where acting as an individual is preferred over acting in a group.

Technorati Tags: GLBT, homosexuality, income

Seeded at Newsvine:

Congress should repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center.

Technorati Tags: congress, dadt, dont-ask, dont-tell, gay, gays-in-military, GLBT, homosexuality, military

Seeded at Newsvine:

European Union citizens would prefer to elect a gay leader than have one they consider too old, a study released in Brussels has revealed.

Seeded at Newsvine:

After the California Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California began encouraging all couples to marry outside the church.

Seeded at Newsvine:

The border fence project has faced embarrassments–illegal immigrants employed to build the wall, a “Virtual Fence” project that cannot distinguish humans and vehicles from livestock and bushes–but those setbacks pale in comparison to its fundamental flaws.

Seeded at Newsvine:

A GOLD Coast teenager who wore a T-shirt by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth that reads ‘Jesus is a c**t’ has been charged with offensive behaviour.

Above the offensive slogan a nun is depicted masturbating.