A Horrible Callout
Prop 8 in Calirfornia, for those of you out of state or who live in a hole, was the proposition to not only repeal gay marriage, but allow the state constitution be changed to never let a measure be passed to vote them back in. Basically, it was a vote to deny further votes.

Mmm, extreme religious conservatism. Tastes like almonds, but then so does cyanide purportedly.

Now, putting aside the obvious fact that this irked basically the whole of California, my hometown of the North Bay in particular, it wasn't just the denial of human rights that had us in an uproar. For one, why is it that we couldn't do a damn thing via 2/3rd vote to make those in our state congress balance the budget that will now bite us in the ass on time, but we COULD vote to change the entire state constitution with it? Something has gone wrong with simple logic on that one.

Secondly, who wanted this proposition passed?

Well, depends on who you ask. According to Bill "I Have A Theoretical Peabody" O'Reilly, it was the black vote. The pan-handling Mercury news, who now offers subscriptions for a jelly donut and the old British equivalent of a farthing, it was the Vietnamese. And good ol' Fox News claims it was the Catholic Mexicans.

Like all bullshit, some of these did start as a grain of truth before arriving on the lips of the frontal-lobe impaired. All of the black people I've met do maintain a strong traditional family value system, which in shittier neighborhoods meant your kids usually made the right decisions. First generation Vietnamese were fairly conservative already, as the Republican party had been the ones backing South Vietnam during the war, and getting some of the refugees to American soil. And Mexican or not, Catholicism is still not really "at home" with the Friends of Dorothy.

So who voted this thing?

I'm inclined to go with Dan Savage on the assessment that it was simply "old people". This is problematic for me, because I don't harbor a lot of ill will on the elderly. They bitch about the weather, complain about their bodies, criticize their food, and rail against everything that's vastly different from when they were young. But hey, that's old people even if they LIKE gay people. You can't hate 'em for it, you can just maintain your own values in the face of it and try to vote against them. You probably have more birthdays left.

But old people didn't back this thing. So who did?

Actually, THAT was a lot of cracker-ass honkies.

The biggest proponent was none other then good ol' Mormonism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Spearheading the intiative, they were joined by other like-minded religious wing-nuts such as the Catholic Knights of Columbia (Edit: I've been asked twice if that was a white supremacist group on the name alone.) and the protestant Saddleback Church. But it didn't stop there, no no no...

The whole of the propositions contributors were brought forth under FOIA to be set up at the Antigayblacklist.com, where people are told who from where donated how much and to politely not give them any more patronage. Considering the NEW massive initiative in response to Prop. 8 to boycott the Sundance Film Festival at Salt Lake City, it seems to be working.

It would be a petty thing for me to go in and get the contact info of everyone who donated, and I am not a petty person.

I am however a practical person, and therefor only list the largest contributors in California below. By all means, pass it on. I won't have the flyers ready for weeks.

FIELDSTEAD & COMPANY ($95,000): P.O. Box 19061, Irvine, CA 92623 / (949) 474-1195

CONTAINER SUPPLY CO. ($250,000): TBertoglio@aol.com / (714) 892 - 8321

Jan Pinney, President of ISU FRANCES-PINNEY INSURANCE SERVICES, INC ($10,000): jpinney@isusac.com / 2266 Lava Ridge Court, Ste 200, Roseville, CA 95661 / (916) 773-2800

Scott Khunen, General Manager of RECYCLING INDUSTRIES ($28, 750): 389 Wilbur Ave Yuba City, CA 95991 / (530) 671-2215

J. Nathan Jensen of MORRISON-FOERSTER LAW FIRM ($10,000): njensen@mofo.com /12531 High Bluff Drive, Suite 100, San Diego, California, 92130 / (858) 720-7912

Michael Manning, cpa of QLOGIC CORPORATION ($20,000): (714) 668-5344

Greg Clark, president of CIRRUS FINANCIAL ($21,500): 4101 Dublin Blvd. #138 Dublin, CA 94568 / (925) 474-1400

Play nicely, kids. I'm gonna turn the other way while you do.