A Series of Tubes

This video still cracks me up:

My favorite part is the “some kind of special mustache”.

Update:  Arg.  The video went down.  Looks like this video is no longer online. Hopefully it will come back.

So Prop 8, the amending of the state constitution to make same sex marriage illegal, is most likely going to pass and there have been various responses.  There have been protest marches in LA and San Francisco and these marches have spread throughout California.

Prop 8 has not been officially certified, but counting the absentee ballots does not look like it will overturn the current support for the proposition.  Opponents of prop 8 are already filing legal challenges should prop 8 pass.  It looks like the city council in Santa Cruz will join the fight against prop 8.

Some organizers are attempting a boycott of pro prop 8 businesses.

My favorite response is organizing people to file complaints to the IRS to revoke the Mormon church’s tax exempt status.  The Mormon Church was instrumental in funding the yes on 8 campaign, including Internet ads that I saw show up on this blog.  Their support of prop 8 is why they have been specifically targeted in protests in Oakland and other areas.  The definition of a 501c3, a tax exempt organization such as a church, states that: “no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation”.  It is this portion of the 501c3 definition that the Mormon church has allegedly violated.

The theory is that if enough people complain, the church will have to start paying taxes because they are operating as a lobbying firm and not as a church.  I think I’ll spend part of my afternoon filing some papers with the IRS.  Check out http://lds501c3.wordpress.com/ if you have some time.

Well the treesitters had their 1 year anniversary today. They celebrated by having a gathering of people in the parking lot where the tree sitters are. There was a gathering of about 30-40 people and there was also some UCSC administrators observing from a distance away from the crowd. I ate my lunch on one of the benches over by where the gathering was being held. People would go in front of the crowd and try to explain why they supported the tree sit. There was a steady stream of people walking by the parking lot.

The people in the gathering appeared to be like minded and would clap at the end of each speech.  The people that passed by didn’t really know what was happening and I had to explain to more than one passerby that it was the 1 year anniversary of the treesit.  After I told people passing by that it was a treesitter gathering, none of them expressed support.  One person started yelling “get a job” as she walked by.  Another, after being told that it was a rally for the treesitters asked “Is that still going on?”

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So apparently CNN’s headlines are so great and wonderful that now you can get them on a t-shirt.  Some of these t-shirts are quite infomative.  For example, I know that polls and pundits have had their say about the election but I feel that a certain demographic is missing…

You see if we were all naked cowboys then the election might have come out differently.  I’m pretty sure that prop 8 would have come out different.

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The election is over and here is how Santa Cruz Voted with my comments at the end:

After Barack’s win there was literally dancing in the streets of Santa Cruz.

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