California’s Proposition 8 is a ballot measure that aims to ban same-sex marriage — it is a regressive proposal that aims to strip equality from a minority population. It is revealing to see who is supporting each side of the contest.

The organizations trying to oppose Proposition 8 include Apple Computer, Sergey Brin of Google, the California Teachers Association, and the state Democratic party — anyone supportive of civil rights, progressive causes, or (to be honest) finding a profit in not discriminating against well-educated people in a technological workforce for irrelevant reasons, like what they do in the privacy of their bedrooms.

Who is supporting it? Yahoos and churches. Once again, on a basic civil rights issue, religion comes out fighting for the wrong side. For a great example of narrow-minded wretched biblical rationalizations, listen to Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church. He comes out strongly for Prop. 8, calling it a “moral issue” (which it is — too bad he’s fighting on the side of evil), and trying to argue why his sheep should vote for it…and the only reason he’s got is “because its always been this way”. Seriously — he repeats himself multiple times, and that’s the only reason he offers, again and again. Apparently, the “traditional, historical, universal” definition of marriage has always been “one man, one woman”. I don’t think he’s been reading his bible very carefully.

So, Californians, whose side are you on? 21^st century America, or the imaginary repressed Puritan America of the theocrats?

This is too much. Sarah Palin gave a policy speech today in which she claimed that she wanted more support for children with disabilities, more tools to test for disorders, and while also decrying the expense of scientific research.

Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? […] You’ve heard about some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.

I am appalled.

This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.

Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important.

This is where the Republican party has ended up: supporting an ignorant buffoon who believes in the End Times and speaking in tongues while deriding some of the best and most successful strategies for scientific research. In this next election, we’ve got to choose between the 21^st century rationalism and Dark Age inanity. It ought to be an easy choice.

Oh, the pressure. This somewhat tardy edition of the Carnival of the Liberals happens to be the last one before election day, which makes it important to bring up the issues we ought to be considering as we make our decisions about who we’re going to vote for…although, if you’re liberal, this is a year when the decision is remarkably easy to make. So here we go with an issues-oriented carnival.

Foreign policy: What do you think of the Bush Doctrine, the idea that we should unilaterally and preemptively attack anyone we think might be a threat? Here’s a better plan: Let’s be the good guys.

Health care: Compare and contrast Obama vs McCain on Healthcare. There are important differences in how they would improve the management of the country’s health.

Abortion: To a liberal, abortion is also a health care issue — we care about the health and autonomy of women, something Republican candidates don’t seem to comprehend. Consider McCain’s Legal Errors at the Debate, and Why They Matter.

Poverty: It’s a related issue. How do women break out of the entrapment of pregnancy? It’s a question of Poverty & Choice.

Homosexuality: Conservatives want to strip a significant minority of their rights, and in every election cycle someone gets the bright idea of rousing the right-wing vote by throwing anti-gay legislation on the ballot. This year, California has Proposition 8, a proposed law that would once again make whipping boys of the homosexuals. Read a Brief Analysis of the Yes on 8 Side — they’re really bringing on the sleaze.

Race: Every American election is about race, deep down. When Republicans rail against crime, or welfare, or immigration, it’s all about suppressing minorities further. Greg Laden’s Review of the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Exhibit on Race and Racism has a lot to say about the cultural effects of racial differences.

The economy: With the economy in its current state of crisis, with lending companies receiving massive bailouts, you might be wondering Are you stupid for paying your mortgage? After all, if Wall Street can be forgiven for errors and mismanagement, why can’t you?

Religion: I’m often told that religion is an institution that provides support for the underprivileged — it is a private, charitable source for public assistance. How can that be if, in their ignorance and dogmatic biases, the faithful dismiss important issues in health? There’s nothing like the fallacious belief that mental illness is the work of devils to deprive people of good medical care.

Patriotism: To a liberal, patriotism is not an unquestioning faith in the perfection of one’s country, but a recognition that a country can always be bettered and its flaws corrected. We have a perfectly horrid example of illiberal, unthinking jingoism right here in my home state, with Michele Bachmann and her Anti-American Paranoia. Let’s hope we can get her out of office soon.

In a similar vein, none of our candidates are perfect; there’s a lot I personally dislike about Barack Obama, for instance. What we have to do on 4 November, though, is balance our concerns about the issues in the election, and perhaps follow a harm reduction model of politics — let’s try to get a candidate in office who at least moves the government in a better direction. I think we all know what that means, and the choice is clear: despite his flaws, we need to put Barack Obama in office. Let’s make the country better. Not perfect, but better.

The next edition of the Carnival of the Liberals will be at The Lay Scientist on November 5th. Hey, that’s the day after the big election — that’s going to be an interesting one.

This is the top news story on Fox right now: a McCain volunteer says she was robbed at an ATM, by a black man of course, and then when the thief saw her McCain bumper sticker, he beat her up and carved a “B” for “Barack” in her face. It’s getting a bit…shrill.

It could have happened, but there are just a few odd details here. She claims the assailant used a knife — a very dull knife — to cut her cheek, but all there are are faint scratches, not real cuts. It’s also lettered quite nicely, not exactly like the work of an angry mugger on a struggling woman.

But the most glaringly obvious detail is that the letter is backwards. As if it were done in a mirror. Hmmmm.

Oooh, this has got to sting. The NRCC has pulled all of its advertising budget from the Michele Bachmann campaign. I’m shocked that even Republicans have limits to what they will support.

Someone has been targeting politician’s homes for vandalism: it includes both Democrats and Republicans, including Michele Bachmann and Norm Coleman and John Kline and Amy Klobuchar. Despite their different political affiliations, all of the spray painted messages on the homes have the same message: they call them “traitor” or “scum”, demand resignation, and reference the same bible verse. So all we know at this point is that they have one deranged source, and whoever it is is almost certainly not an atheist. The verse in question is Psalm 2, which is typical biblical noise about demanding that defiant kings must serve the lord.

By the way, this has been a vicious campaign season here in Minnesota, not that that excuses such behavior. Norm Coleman in particular has been awful: he’s running an ad all the time right now that outright calls Al Franken a “pornographer” and throws sleaze like it was confetti. I haven’t been able to find a copy of it on youtube yet, but here’s a critique of Coleman’s negative campaigning that shows one example.

I’ll be relieved when this election cycle is finally over…I just hope the Rovian slimebeasts don’t win, again.