Not a very happy ending

It was a bittersweet election night. Our country seemed to mature and evolve before our very misty eyes. Did America just overwhelmingly elect a black man to the most powerful position in the world? A man who speaks of turning the page of divisiveness and intolerance, calling for an end to partisanship and political gridlock? He says his hope is to heal the nation by uniting the people with a singular purpose "whether they be white, black, Latino, Asian or Native American, Catholic, Christian, or Jewish, rich or poor, gay or straight," to come together and find our common needs and desires as Americans who want only to care for our families and loved ones and help our neighbors along the way.

These were the things I was raised with in the Midwest called basic Christian values.

Needless to say, my euphoria was tempered when I learned that a majority of the state had pushed through Prop. 8 and, for the first time ever, a constitutional amendment that actually denies, not awards a section of our society basic rights that the rest of us enjoy. I doubt that punishing a group of people that happen to be different from you and I is what our newly elected leader meant when he asked us all to be more tolerant and accepting of each other.

Is this really starting off on the right foot? Shame on you, California. Blaine Ziolkowski Agoura Hills