Mormon church officials, facing an ongoing investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, Friday reported nearly $190,000 in previously unlisted assistance to the successful campaign for Prop. 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.

Now there’s a huge surprise.

Up until Friday, the Mormon church had denied any direct financial support for the campaign beyond a reported $2,078 spent for bringing church Elder L. Whitney Clayton to California.

The report filed Friday contained few details about how the money was spent.

[...]

While the deadline for the report, which covers the period from July 1 to Dec. 31, is Monday, many campaign contributions by major donors and independent committees must be reported within days after they’re made.

The final reports are due today, because U.S. District Judge Morrison England late last week refused to exempt the yes-on-8 campaign from making their filings today.

If the Prop. 8 campaign was exempted from disclosure because of reports of harassments of individual donors, said Deputy Attorney General Zackery Morazzini, the same case could be made for any controversial initiative. Courts would have to “keep the entire California electorate in the dark as to who was funding these ballot measures,” he said.

Even if there have been illegal reprisals, that would be insufficient reason to grant a wholesale exemption for a multimillion-dollar initiative campaign, England said. He also rejected the Prop. 8 campaign’s argument that the $100 disclosure limit established in 1974 should be increased for inflation, saying some states require reports of contributions as low as $25 and the Supreme Court has never invalidated them.

[ref:Prop. 8 campaign can’t hide donors’ names]

Interesting to see what comes out today that the yes-on-8 campaign was so anxious not to have come out.

44 US Presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama morphed to the music Boléro by Ravel

Must admit that I don’t really know what each and every president looked like.

James K Polk was a surprise. He had a sly grin look about him. Reminded me of Baryshnikov somehow. Also reminded me of the They Might Be Giants song.

James Monroe I couldn’t’ve picked out of a crowd.

And then there were the “He’s on the $xxx bill” presidents.

John Tyler. Had I ever seen a picture of him that wasn’t in a heads-of-all-the-presidents poster?

Grover Cleveland looked like a well-fed beermeister.

Entertaining.

gekko talked about the smiling/not-smiling aspect of the morph. I was more fascinated by the facial hair. Chester Arthur. Whoa.

[hattip to gekko, who posted this link on Usenet but I’m using a link to her blog instead of a link to that post.]

A mashup of pro-Prop8 donations and Google maps.

Want to know if your neighbors donated to the Yes-On-Prop8 campaign? Here’s your click.

(None of my neighbors donated according to this site, but then I live in a very not-Republican sector of town …)

(Oh. Here’s a student who donated $500 to the yes-on-8 campaign. Gosh. I wish I’d had that kind of money when I was a student.)

Inauguration Day 2009.

You could be at the Main Library at 100 Larkin Street in the Koret Auditorium watching the live telecast.

OR

You could be at End Bush at Bush and Presidio (Tuesday January 20, 2009)

Meetup and STREET PARTY! at the corner of Bush and Presidio at the END BUSH sign.

Melissa Etheridge on the Rev. Rick Warren.

[...]

On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn’t sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher. He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection.

[...]

She tells everyone to chill.

[...]

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward all men and women… and everyone in-between.

Interesting information and links re the design of the Obama ’08 logo: how it was chosen, how it evolved.

Got this note from him today (that would be me and the zillion others on his e-mail list):

I’ve had an overwhelming response to this week’s “Obama:Progress” All Over Coffee piece. Since the original sold within the first few hours it was published, (including a backup waitlist) I decided to make a fine art limited edition print of this particular strip to honor this momentous time in history.

The full-color print is 16×22 inches, signed and numbered in a limited edition of 100, at $195 each. Produced by the fabulous printer SF Electric Works, these prints are of the highest quality.

Follow this link to both view and order.

If you missed Sunday’s Madonna, check it out. If you don’t know ALL OVER COFFEE or Paul Madonna, check him out.

Interesting blog post from Sophia Travis @ Pin the Tail comparing red/blue voting patterns in the south for the 2008 presidential election and cotton production in the same region in 1860.

What does this mean? All those old plantation owners’ heirs and assigns are Democrats?

[via tweet fr Tim O’Reilly]

I was reading this commentary in the Chron this morning — a commentary I agree with totally, btw.

LaDoris Cordell was a Superior Court judge in the south bay back when I lived in the south bay, so I was surprised when she mentioned she was lesbian.

That’s odd, I thought. I knew she was a woman judge, not all that common, and a black woman judge at that, even more uncommon, but I hadn’t realized she was a lesbian black woman judge. Huh. What do you know? Had I just not been paying attention? Was it just not important? Had I forgotten? (I’ve forgotten a lot of things.)

But then, I went to college, then to law school, opened a law practice in a black community, became a law school administrator, and then went on to a successful career on the bench. Along the way, I got married and had two wonderful daughters. I was perfect. And then one fine day, as these black voters would have it, I chose to simply throw it all away – to become an Untouchable? Ridiculous. I did not choose to be gay anymore than I chose to be black.

Ah. Penny drops. Cordell was married with a family when I knew of her, so I knew of the black woman judge aspect of her life but at that time, the lesbian side wasn’t front and center. I didn’t know and, frankly, had I known, wouldn’t have cared.

Good commentary.

I also liked Keith Olbermann’s commentary on Proposition 8 but for Pete’s sake, he can sure over-emote, can’t he? Easier to read his commentary than to watch it.