Partly-baked ideas:  There was once a column (now, alas, no more) in a magazine I read entitled "Partly Baked Ideas".  These were random ideas tossed out by the writer -- not fully thought through, but put out there to stimulate further thought or discussion.  I don't know if any of them ever became fully-baked ideas or if any went on to real-world application, but I don't care.  Just the idea of someone tossing out ideas (and there were usually a dozen or so each issue) for others to pick up on was, to me at that time, unbelievably cool.

You might say Toad Hall is a place for my own partly-baked ideas.  (Actually, you might say that about anyone's blog.)  So here's one of my own.

Saving General Motors:  No, this isn't a sequel to Saving Private Ryan.  I recently read that GM is looking at going into bankruptcy.  Now, we know there are several types of bankruptcy, identified by the word "chapter" and a number.  The two this article talked about were Chapter 11 and Chapter 7.

Chapter 11 is the type of bankruptcy used by companies who want to keep in business but can't handle current debts.  Chapter 11 allows them to continue doing what they do.  Now in the case of manufacturing companies like GM, the company can continue to purchase the parts needed to make their wares via loans known as "debtor-in-possession" (DIP) loans.  Here's the problem, though:  Due to the current financial crisis, banks are either unable or unwilling to make DIP loans to anyone.  No DIP loan, no ability to purchase parts, and thus no production, and thus no income.

Which leaves Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  This is the one where the business goes out of business and sells off its assets.  The bankrupt company no longer exists.

In the case of GM, this is not a good thing, based on the number of people employed plus the number of peripheral businesses (all those parts makers, plus dealerships, plus garages, plus many others) depending on orders from GM to survive.  So what to do?

PBI:  The government has allocated $700 million to bail out the banks.  The Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, has recently decided to change the original concept of how to use this money and is starting to do something else with it.  So this $700 million appears to be in a very flexible spending account.

Take some of it -- say, $5 to $10 million -- and set up an agency that will provide the DIP loans to GM (and the other auto makers, should they need it down the road).  Set reasonable interest rates and repayment schedules.  Don't replenish the pot -- once the money's gone, it's gone.  But give the automakers the chance to change from what they've been making (which the public doesn't seem to want) to other, more in-demand types of autos.

Chrysler got bailed out, years ago.  They were able to change direction, stay in business, and repay their loan ahead of schedule.  Why not try it again?

Where were you? department:  I've recently viewed the Keith Olbermann "special comment" on Prop 8.  It's well-written, well-delivered, and appears to be heartfelt.

It was also broadcast one week after Election Day.

So where the hell were Olbermann's comments before the election, when they might have swayed some votes and done some good?

Right now, I have no use for someone being outraged over our loss in California who could have used his nationally-televised cable TV show to make a forceful statement against this repugnant referendum item.  Maybe I missed his earlier (that is, pre-Election Day) comments about Prop 8.  After all, I don't watch "Countdown" every single night.  But I was deeply involved in watching the news/comment shows on MSNBC for the two weeks or so running up to the election, and somehow I didn't hear anything like this from Mr. Olbermann.

Changing the subject (but still related to Prop 8):  It's reported that comedienne Wanda Sykes took the occasion of Saturday's protest in Las Vegas to announce that she was gay.

I've said before, the decision to come out is deeply personal.  No one has the right to insist anyone come out before they feel ready, just as no one has the right to insist anyone stay in the closet.  Ms. Sykes is a welcome addition to the ranks of openly gay and lesbian entertainers and celebrities.

Having said that, I only wish she had come out before the elections.  She is what was desperately needed in terms of outreach to the African-American community:  an out black lesbian, proud of who she is, who could put a human face on the issue of same-sex marriage and communicate what was at stake with authority within the community.

Like I said, coming out is personal, and no one -- not even me -- has the right to tell someone when and how to come out.  But oh, I can still wish.

Update on Prop 8:  They've still got 1.8 million votes left to count in California.  The Prop 8 vote stands at 52% yes, 48% no, with roughly 500,000 votes separating the two.  In my opinion (the only one that counts on here), since all the votes haven't been counted yet, Prop 8 cannot take effect.  Any same-sex couple that really wants to get married should still be able to.  After all, Prop 8 cannot take effect until the election is finally over, right?  So, go marry.

Department of Finger Pointing, Prop 8 sub-office:  Yes, they're still counting the votes in California (about 2.1 million votes are still uncounted as of the latest figures), but barring a miracle Proposition 8 -- removing the right to marry from same-sex couples -- will become part of the California constitution.  So, of course, it's time to lay blame and assign responsibility for the passage of this measure.  Let's see who the suspects are:

African-American voters.  While they make up about 7% of the state's population, they made up about 10% of the voting electorate this year.  African-American voters supported Prop 8 by roughly 70%.

Latino voters.  35% of the state population, 18% of the voters.  Latinos supported Prop 8 by roughly 53%.

The Mormons.  Reports vary, but roughly $20 million dollars were contributed by Mormons nationwide to the supporters of Prop 8.  

The Catholics.  The second largest religious group in terms of financial support, the Catholics (and Catholic-related organizations like the Knights of Columbus) contributed roughly $1.4 million.  Through what is alleged to be a strategic alliance with the Mormons, the Catholics presented a "familiar face" to those religious groups favoring Prop 8.

The "Yes on 8" people.  The wording of Proposition 8 did nothing but define "marriage" as the union of one man and one woman.  Pro-8 advertisements warned that churches refusing to perform same-sex marriages would lose their tax-exempt status, and that young children would be taught about homosexuality in school.  Both of these arguments were false, but it shifted attention away from the issue of using the state constitution to remove rights already defined by the courts as existing and towards issues that figured nowhere in the proposition's wording.

The "No on 8" people.  Ads were focus-grouped and tested to a fare-thee-well, and because of that relied heavily on arguments of fairness and equality.  All well and good, but the personal stories of those who would be affected by Prop 8 -- gay and lesbian couples and families, especially those whose relationships had existed for years or even decades before same-sex marriage was recognized as a right -- were not used.  The humanizing face that might have made a difference in the results didn't test well, or was thought to have a potential negative effect, and so was discarded.  Also, a heavy push for educating voters on what Prop 8 meant and why it should be defeated was not done.

So what's to be done?  Plenty.  Garden State Equality uses a phrase:  "All Roads to Justice".  That's what's needed in California now.  Go to the courts.  Go to the legislature.  Put forth the effort to educate.  Stage protest marches and rallies.  Block access to Mormon temples (which for now has the effect of blocking Mormons from marrying within their church rules).  Use your indoor voices and your outdoor voices.  Be imaginative, be persuasive.  Do something.

But there are things not to be done.  Do not smash property, even if it belongs to one of the opponents of same-sex marriage.  Do not think that all Mormons, or all Catholics, or all African-Americans, or all Latinos are "the enemy" -- there's plenty of evidence of members of all these groups who actively and passionately supported our right to marry.

The goal is attainable.  This is only a temporary setback.  It took some 58 years for "separate but equal" to be thrown out as a basis for discrimination by race.  It hasn't even been two decades that same-sex marriage has been a major issue.  It'll take work, lots of it, sometimes un-glamorous.  But the goal will be reached, because we've been to the mountaintop.

As some of you know, I love to ride trains.  I take them whenever possible, but most of the time I'm riding New Jersey Transit (NJT) from my local station here in Somerville to New York City.  But today I had an unpleasant trip.  The following note was e-mailed to NJT just a short while ago.

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My partner and I rode the Raritan Valley Line on Sunday, Nov. 9, on the 10:21 a.m. train to Newark Penn Station.  We boarded in Somerville.  We did not get to purchase our tickets until just outside of Union.  The car we travelled in was full, as I assume were the other cars in the consist.  There was only one conductor in our car for the entire trip.

It's bad enough that you've cut inbound morning service on the Raritan Valley Line.  However, you must have sufficient crew on board to handle the increased numbers of passengers on those trains still running on Sunday mornings.

Had I been a less honest person, I would have told the conductor that my partner and I had gotten on in Cranford or Roselle Park.  As it was, I paid the full fare and did not complain to the conductor, since I believe the poor service was not her fault.  Had we been going to any station prior to Union, we might well have ridden for free -- at least, one way.

If you're going to cut service, you must have sufficient crew to handle the influx of additional riders on those trains still in service.  Otherwise, you have to restore the service you've cut, or risk dishonest riders making part or all of their journey for free -- at NJ Transit's expense.

Election opinions.  C'mon, you thought I didn't have any?  Please.  

The new President.  Yes, I voted for Barack Obama (check previous posts for my opinions about Senator McCain and Governor Palin).  So yes, I'm happy.  But I'm also a gay man and a long-time activist, which means I have my own (small-'g') gay agenda for the incoming administration.

In the next four years, in return for the support of the queer communities, I expect to see either significant action on, or actual completion of, at least one of these four items:

1.  Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  DOMA denies legally-married same-sex couples access to a variety of rights and privileges accorded to opposite-sex couples at the federal level (including obtaining spousal benefits from Social Security and allowing gay and lesbian citizens the right to have their foreign-born, non-citizen partners stay in the US).  This Act was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by then-President Clinton, making it a bipartisan blot in the federal law books.  President-elect Obama is already on record for granting civil rights at all levels equal to opposite-sex couples for same-sex couples.  Repealing DOMA will prove he really meant what he said.

2.  Eliminate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT).  Right now we're fighting a war on two fronts, in Afghanistan and in Iraq.  We need every single available member of our armed forces we can lay our hands on -- including those with training in intelligence, expertise in Middle Eastern affairs, and fluency in the languages of those two countries.  However, if they are gay or lesbian and they are found out, the need to purge homosexuals from the military trumps the country's need for all able-bodied citizens to wage these wars.  Yes, the troops need to be drawn down (and eventually removed entirely) in Iraq.  Yes, we need increased troops and intelligence to once-and-for-all capture Osama bin Laden and destroy al-Qaida in Afghanistan, so that we can honestly declare "mission accomplished" and bring those troops home as well.  But until then, it is lunacy to remove people whose talents and abilities we need in order to mollify the fears of those in the upper echelons of the military that the deadly possibility exists that somewhere, sometime, a gay/lesbian service member will make a pass at a straight one, destroying the delicate cohesion of their unit and, ultimately, the entire armed forces of this country.

3.  Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).  This one has been promised to us by the Democrats but somehow always ends up being put in limbo.  When the Democrats aren't in control, they claim either the votes aren't there or the President will veto the bill anyway and they can't override it.  When they are in control, there are ever so many other priorities, and we can understand why ENDA just isn't a priority, can't we?  Now's the time to insist that, with a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress and a Democratic President, ENDA gets passed into law and finally freed from the labrynthine maneuverings of Washington politics.

4.  Remove the last vestiges of the travel and immigration ban on persons with HIV.  Giving credit where it's due, outgoing President Bush did lift most of the ban, but the Department of Homeland Security hasn't been given the green light to finish the job.  This is one area where the incoming President can just say "do it", and it will be done.

And what if this is not done?  Vote the bastards out.  The Republicans have shown in this election they do not want us.  The Democrats will have shown by their inaction that they only want us as cash cows and unpaid volunteer grunt workers.  The two-party system is not enshrined in law.  Maybe it's time to give serious, massive queer support to the Libertarians, the Greens, or the Socialists.  It's not throwing your vote away if, by giving your vote to either of the two so-called major parties, you don't have your issues taken seriously.

California's Proposition 8 was passed by a favorable vote of 52% of the state's voting citizens.  But it's not in effect yet.  Why?  Well, as of this past Friday, there were some 2.7 million votes that had yet to be counted -- early voters whose votes were received on Election Day, voters who used absentee ballots, and voters who had to use provisional ballots.  It ain't over yet, and may not be over until early December.  For more information, go to http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/c-status08/total_unprocessed_ballots08.pdf