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In a rare moment for California, it is cold and raining this morning. But as I pulled up to my voting place, I noticed many people braving the rain (ok, in CA it’s more like a dirzzle), and the cold (it was a “freezing” 65 degrees!), many of them eager–almost too eager–to cast their vote.

In a rare moment of confidence and temerity for Democrats, there were folks along the street carrying Obama/Biden signs and chanting “O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA!” Don’t worry, crazy, nutjob Republicans, these guys were the requisite distance away.

In a rare moment, it seems people are truly aching for change, and a new, functional, productive direction in America. Let’s hope this rare moment in my home state of California translates to a rare moment of sanity across this nation the likes of which America has not seen in eight years.

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It’s about 8am in California and I just got home from casting my votes (oops…did I say votes? I meant vote… this isn’t Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004 after all).

Yes, I voted for the Great Savior Barack Obama. Unashamed. Unabashed. Not to sound cliched, but this country simply cannot endure four more years of the same; and truly, God forbid, something happens to John McCain and Sarah Palin became president… that won’t be a rare moment, but rather, a downright scary moment.

Let me take a moment to address my fellow Californians. My friends, (why does that phrase suddenly sound so”losely…”) Folks, please, please, seriously consider voting NO on Proposition 8. I understand there are deep religious beliefs involved, some strong morals some are standing on, but if we collective step back for just one rare moment, and looked at this proposition objectively, I think we can all see that it is simply wrong.

According to the official language of the propostion (from the State Department of California, not a biased side or the other), passage would “eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry and provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in CA.”

Passage of Prop 8 would actually change the Constitution of the state. This is a big deal. It would actually deny a group of people a right. Whatever you believe, however you feel, my friends, folks, looking at this proposition not through religious or ideological eyes, but through American eyes, we can conclude together that this initiative wishes to constitutionalize the deprivation of rights.

Look back at American history and examine the best ideals of this nation and its founding; we revolted because we felt we were being deprived of rights…certain unalienable rights. We pushed for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These truths, we claimed, were self evident. Why deny unalienable rights and happiness? Even in our daily pledge to the flag, we ended with a powerful thought: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Liberty. And justice. For All.

Many of us have learned through studies, and regretfully, some of us have experienced first hand, when liberty and justice for all wasn’t for all. There was a time when interracial marriages were illegal (and decried as immoral) unless the male was white, then everything was fine; Japanese-American citizens were rounded up and interned right here in California; shoot, for that matter, Chinese and Koreans were treated horribly because they looked Japanese.

We’ve seen these kinds of actions before…too many times. Believe what you belive, that’s fine. But same-sex marraige doesn’t change your life and it doesn’t deny you any of your rights. Why not offer them the same courtesy?

And to input discrimination (and hate) into the state’s constitution is just wrong. In our federal Constitution, we once had discrimination. Blacks were 3/5 of a person; Blacks were denied the right to vote; women were denied the right to vote. But we realized deprivation of rights was just unAmerican and we amended our minds, our hearts, and our Constitution.

This is no different.

Deprivation of rights is never right. Separate but equal, time and again, proves to be amazingly separate, but it is never equal.

Please vote No on Prop 8…

..or tonight, after work, I’ll have to go back a second time to vote dressed in my Mickey Mouse suit, carrying my ACORN-provided registration.