Some online chit-chat engaged in by some FDL folk, this time concerning the future residence of George and Laura Bush:

Voice floating over from the other cubicle: President, first lady buying home in Dallas (AP via MSNBC). "Mrs. Bush's press secretary Sally McDonough says the Bushes will continue to spend time at their ranch in Crawford, Texas."

Watertiger: I call bullshit. That ranch is going on the market on 1/21/09.

Howie Klein: Ranch? The former pig farm was owned by the family of the drummer of L.A.-based rockers Building A Better Spaceship. His grandpa (the owner) was the local KKK leader.

Watertiger: That. is. AWESOME!

Rachel Maddow breaks down the results of post-Prop 8 polling: it wasn't about race, it was about education and income. If you were college educated and in a higher income bracket, you were much more likely to vote against Prop 8.

More results of the Public Policy Institute of California poll, from Robert Cruikshank at the California Progress Report:

• Evangelical or born-again Christians (85%) were far more likely than others (42%) to vote yes. 

• Three in four Republicans (77%) voted yes, two in three Democrats (65%) voted no, and independents were more closely divided (52% yes, 48% no).

• Supporters of Republican presidential candidate John McCain were far more likely than those who backed President-elect Barack Obama to vote yes (85% vs. 30%).

• Latinos (61%) were more likely than whites (50%) to vote yes; and 57 percent of Latinos, Asians, and blacks combined voted yes. (Samples sizes for Asians and blacks are too small to report separately.)

• Voters without a college degree (62%) were far more likely than college graduates (43%) to vote yes.

• While most voters (65%) consider the outcome of Proposition 8 to be very important, the measure's supporters (74%) are far more likely than those who voted no (59%) to view the outcome as very important. 

Mark Ritchie, Minnesota's Secretary of State, had said that he wanted the main count of the recount finished by tomorrow, and it looks like he'll get his wish.  Eighty-five of Minnesota's eighty-seven counties are done counting, and the last two are both over halfway done.

But, to paraphrase John Donne, when thou hast done, thou hast not done, for there is more.   In this case, the "more" is going to be reviewing the ballot challenges and the rejected absentee ballots.  (There's also the question of missing ballots, including 133 in Minneapolis alone.)  That will be going on right up until December 16, when the State Canvassing Board meets, and possibly beyond that.   That being said, the feeling of accomplishment is still in the air.   Most of the Coleman camp's efforts to muddy the waters seem to have stopped for now.  The main question is:  Will they try to sue anyone?  That's what could take this into January.  But simply pounding the table won't cut it here.

Meanwhile, there's an outside chance that Mark Ritchie could be our next Secretary of Agriculture.

Some online chit-chat engaged in by some FDL folk concerning David Broder's latest words of wisdom:

Voice floating over from the other cubicle: Broder concern trolling the choices of Gates and Geithner.

Eli: Wait... I thought bipartisan Villager centrism was supposed to be a *good* thing? Did Broder just change the rules?

Phoenix Woman: Silly Eli. That rule only works for Republicans!

Of course, if Obama had gone and picked Jack Reed for SecDef and Nouriel Roubini for SecTreas, Broder would be whining about how the PE was being uppity -- erm, exceeding his mandate by going too far left in a "center-right nation".

Eli: Republicans are required to be bipartisan and centrist? I was not aware of this.

VFOFTOC: Eli, by definition, whatever the Rs do is bi-partisan and centrist. It's like a commandment or something.

PW: Exactly. That's why it's OK for media outlets to have stories and roundtables that only feature Republicans as sources or experts, whereas any story or show with a Democrat source or expert is "partisan" and any story or show that has (gasp!) MORE THAN ONE is, y'know, Communist or something.

Thanks to the folks at GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) we have a whole new set of survey numbers about American opinion about the various rights that GLBT people might be worthy of. Surprisingly, it's not all bad news!

Here are the key findings (pdf) from the poll of 2,008 adults conducted November 13-17:

-- Three-quarters of U.S. adults (75%) favor either marriage or domestic partnerships/civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Only about two in 10 (22%) say gay and lesbian couples should have no legal recognition. (Gay and lesbian couples are able to marry in two states, and comprehensive civil union or domestic partnership laws exist in only five others and the District of Columbia.)

-- U.S. adults are now about evenly divided on whether they support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry (47% favor to 49% oppose).

-- Almost two-thirds (64%) of U.S. adults favor allowing openly gay military personnel to serve in the armed forces. (The current “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law bans military service by openly gay personnel.)

-- About six in 10 (63%) U.S. adults favor expanding hate crime laws to cover gay and transgender people. (Hate crimes laws cover gay and transgender people in 11 states and the District of Columbia, and an additional - 20 states’ laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)

-- A slight majority of U.S. adults (51%) favor protecting gay and transgender people under existing laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. (Existing non-discrimination laws cover gay and transgender people in only 12 states and the District of Columbia, and eight other states’ laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)

-- Nearly seven out of 10 U.S. adults (69%) oppose laws that would ban qualified gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. (In several states, gay and lesbian couples are banned from adopting.)

Of course, adoption and relationship recognition are decided on a state basis, not federal, so overall favorable national opinion matters less than for military service, hate crimes, and non-discrimination. President-Elect Obama promised to move on these three federal issues: getting rid of Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell, enacting hate crime legislation, and passing an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (iENDA).  He also promised to seek repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits federal recognition of state-sanctioned same-sex relationships, so the three-quarters of Americans who want those relationships recognized could also get their wish at the federal level.

How quickly will Obama move, faced with clear majorities who favor these issues? Will the economic meltdown consume all the energy on Capitol Hill and at the White House? Will there be quick consideration for campaign promises that affect human rights of actual Americans?

Yes, we can. You taught us to sing it out, Barack Obama.

Don't let us down, please.

Celebrities sing out for equal rights in this video from Funny or Die.  Awesome show tunes from Marc Shaiman on piano! Neal Patrick Harris delivers a stand out performance as the voice of reason.

For weeks now, in addition to urging a review of rejected absentee ballots and other ballot issues, Al Franken's campaign has been urging Minnesota's Secretary of State and the State Canvassing Board to find those ballots that were cast on Election Day but had gone missing during the recanvassing prior to the recount. And the local media, taking its cues from the Coleman campaign, has been essentially laughing off the Franken campaign's pleas:

But, Corbid said just because the numbers are off does not mean any ballots have disappeared.

"Can I tell them exactly what happened in those precincts? No," Corbid said. "But I think it's less likely that there's missing ballots and it's more likely that there was a group of ballots counted twice for some reason."

Corbid said ballots can be repeatedly counted after voting machines get jammed. If proper procedures are not followed, an already counted ballot can be rescanned.

[...]

Republican Senator Norm Coleman's campaign dismissed Franken's "hundreds" of missing ballots claim.

Spokesman Tom Erickson said the Franken side is clearly worried that Coleman is on track to win the recount, and is setting the stage to challenge the election results in court or in the U.S. Senate.

"When you make these wild accusations, as the Franken campaign is, you're not only insulting our dedicated elections officials but also insulting the entire electoral process here in Minnesota," Erickson said.

Well, guess what -- the Franken campaign was right:

The Minnesota Senate Recount in Ramsey County discovered 171 ballots that were not counted on election day. [The UpTake] spoke with Ramsey County Elections Director Joe Mansky who explained what occurred [see The UpTake's video above].

On Election Day, one of the ballot counters (a device that sits on top of the ballot box) for Maplewood Precinct 6 stopped functioning correctly. The ballot counter was replaced by election judges but was not reactivated. 171 ballots remained in their ballot box until today, when the box was reopened during the hand recount. Election workers quickly determined that there were more ballots in the box than on the machine tape record of election night results. The problem was traced back to the defective ballot counter and the results of these ballots wil now be included in the recounted totals.

This follows more good news for Franken: SoS Mark Ritchie's office has asked local election officials to examine an estimated 12,000 rejected absentee ballots to see whether their rejection fell under one of four reasons for rejection defined in state law. Ritchie's office asked that ballots that were rejected for something other than the four legal reasons be placed into a so-called "fifth category." In other words, since the canvassing board punted on this one, and since Ritchie doesn't want the screwed voters to have the courts for their only hope of relief, he's asking the counties to do what the canvassing board won't.

Nothing like a GOP cat fight:

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has some Republican-to-Republican advice for Gov. Sarah Palin: If you want to make a run at the White House, keep your hands off my Senate seat.

Murkowski, up for reelection in 2010, is nervously awaiting word on whether John McCain’s former running mate will run against her in the GOP primary. But she says Palin is the one who should be nervous.

“I can guarantee it would be a very tough election,” Murkowski said in an interview.

Palin is also up for reelection in 2010. She could run for a second term as governor, but the Senate holds some obvious attractions: a national platform, and with it the chance to beef up a thin résumé and rebuild damaged credibility on foreign policy and other issues.

But Murkowski says a run against her would be fraught with risk. If Palin lost, her stock would drop just ahead of a potential 2012 presidential run. And if she won, she’d be a backbencher in a chamber that is dominated by seniority — and would have to begin her presidential campaign as soon as she took office.

“If she wants to be president, I don’t think the way to the presidency is a short stop in the United States Senate,” Murkowski said.

Palin still holds an 80% approval rating among Alaska Republicans.  But Tina Fey was spot on when observed Palin was "not goin' back to Alaska" -- she hasn't  been there since last August.  (As Liddy Dole learned, that can be problematic come election time.)

 In the mean time -- meeeeoooow.

Tanya Hollander, accused of booking sexy romps for Elliot Spitzer as part of her gig at the Emperor's Club VIP escort service, found gainful employment managing a yoga retreat owned by the parents of actress Uma Thurman, that operates as as part of the Tibet House U.S, a  foundation which "aims to promote and preserve Tibetan culture." 

The Thurmans, who are Tibetan Buddhists, were unaware of Hollander's background when they hired her to run the Menla Mountain Retreat in the Catskills  And now they find themselves in a tricky position. Said Birgitte Thurman, Uma's mom:

We're extremely troubled to learn of her problems only now, and especially troubled that she withheld what's clearly pertinent information about her background. Clearly, had we been aware, we might have hired someone else.

When we interviewed and hired her back in July, we had absolutely no idea that she had any involvement in such a thing. She was referred to us through contacts in [New York] as a capable administrator, and it's an unfortunate situation for everyone since she's been doing a very good job for us.

Mmmm, wonder if those contacts knew about Tanya's downward dog, camel and one legged pigeon poses.

In the tag to her Today Show interview with Brad Pitt, Ann Curry reported that the actor told her that he and Angelina Jolie "will get married when everyone can" and that  marriage should be a right for all.

The focus of the interview was Pitt's efforts to rebuild New Orleans through the Make It Right Foundation, which is designing and building homes to be to be green and sustainable. The actor has pledged $5 million of his own money to the project, with another $5 million coming from "someone else." But Pitt hopes to make this a national effort:

This is really an adopt a house campaign. I’m asking for foundations, for high network individuals, for church groups, for corporations to come in and adopt a house. $150,000 will get a family back into their homes...

Individuals can participate too. Explains Pitt:

If they come on the website you can adopt a low flush toilet or solar panel, these are all sustainable…That’s my hope, yeah – if you go on and do that, I’m gonna get my dad a tankless water heater – I just spoiled the surprise – but that’s my hope here, it’s a call on the American people to come here during the holiday season – to come to our website, and to help these families get back into their homes.

And seriously, New Orleans is a travel bargain with awesome food, beautiful hotels and a wonderful vibe.