(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

The California Supreme Court announced today its deeply disappointing decision to uphold Proposition 8.

It's wonderful that the court recognized the legal marriages of the 18,000 same-sex couples married in 2008, but this is a very sad day for California.

But we don't have time to mourn the failure of the state court to restore marriage equality to California.

It's time to go on offense. To be fearless in our fight for equality by building a grassroots army 1 million strong. Starting right now.

In response to the court's decision, the Courage Campaign will hit the California airwaves in the next 72 hours with a 60-second TV ad version of "Fidelity"—the heartbreaking online video viewed by more than 1.2 million people, making it the most-watched video ever in the history of California politics.

We are launching this provocative new TV ad in the spirit of Harvey Milk's call to "come out, come out wherever you are" and proudly tell the stories of the people most affected by the passage of Prop 8—in moving images set to the beat of Regina Spektor's beautiful song.

More than 700,000 Courage Campaign members are ready to restore marriage equality to California. Will you help us get to "1 Million for Marriage Equality"? Watch our powerful new 60-second "Fidelity" TV ad and sign the pledge.

If you like TV ad, please contribute to put it on the air in Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco.

Marriage equality is gaining momentum across America.

On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court -- by a unanimous ruling -- made marriage equality the law of the land. Then the Vermont legislature overturned their Governor's veto of a marriage equality bill by a two-thirds margin on Tuesday.

And now the religious right is responding with a national TV ad filled with fear about a same-sex marriage "storm" gathering across the country.

This morning, the "National Organization for Marriage" launched a disturbing ad using actors to push lies claiming that marriage equality threatens personal freedoms. The ad is going up on the airwaves across America as NOM seeks to build what they are calling a "rainbow coalition" against equality.

We need your help to fight back right now against this deplorable ad. With many legal experts expecting the California Supreme Court to uphold Prop 8, our only option will be to place an initiative on the ballot to restore marriage equality. To repeal Prop 8, we will need to build a grassroots army for change in every county of California.

In response, the Dolby Family is challenging the Courage Campaign to raise $25,000 as a matching grant to fund Camp Courage trainings for marriage equality activists.

While NOM's TV ad uses actors to portray false victims, Camp Courage is mobilizing real people to speak from their heart, door-to-door across California.

Modeled on the "Camp Obama" training events that helped propel President Obama into the White House, Camp Courage uses the "Story of Self" to transform personal experiences -- each participant's unique inspiration for supporting marriage equality -- into compelling and authentic narratives that can persuade undecided voters.

Can you help us respond to these lies and distortions by turning fear into hope? Watch this despicable TV ad now and then contribute to support more Camp Courage trainings by helping us meet this generous $25,000 matching grant from the Dolby Family -- thus doubling their amazing donation.

(full-disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

And Ken Starr is to blame.

Yes, that Ken Starr. The prosecutor who led the campaign to impeach President Bill Clinton has filed a legal brief -- on behalf of the "Yes on 8" campaign -- that would forcibly divorce the 18,000 same-sex couples married in California last year before the passage of Prop 8.

News broke Tuesday that the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 5, and will then make a decision within 90 days on the validity of Prop 8 and these 18,000 marriages.

When Starr's legal brief went public in December, the Courage Campaign immediately launched the "Don't Divorce..." campaign, asking our members to send us pictures with a simple message for Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund.

Those pictures, and the heartfelt messages on them, inspired blogger Paul Delehanty (kid oakland) to send us a suggestion: Would Regina Spektor allow us to put the pictures to the words and music of her hit song "Fidelity"? So, we asked her and she said yes, very enthusiastically.

Regina Spektor's song, in concert with the pictures, shines a beautiful light on the 18,000 couples that Ken Starr wants to forcibly divorce.

Watch "Fidelity," the heartbreaking music video, and then tell the Supreme Court not to divorce 18,000 California couples. Tell the Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr's case, and let loving, committed couples marry. DEADLINE: Valentine's Day.

Sign the letter to the Supreme Court here.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

California faces financial "Armageddon," as Arnold Schwarzenegger bluntly stated a few weeks ago. And yet Arnold and his fellow Republicans rejected compromises by Democrats to rescue our state from a catastrophic budget crisis, unparalleled in the history of California.

Because of the ridiculous 2/3rds budget rule -- the super-majority required to pass a budget in the California state legislature -- and Arnold's failure to deliver even one vote from a small cabal of obstructionist Republicans, Californians may be getting IOUs in the mail next month instead of financial aid checks or tax refunds.

Many Californians are so overwhelmed by this paralyzing crisis that they've just tuned it out. As a result, Arnold is not being held accountable for his failure to lead.

That's why the Courage Campaign decided to try something a bit unorthodox -- raise awareness by using humor to highlight the absurdity of these IOU's, or what we are calling "Arnoldbucks."

We asked one of our members to see what would happen if he tried to use "Arnoldbucks" as legal tender at a few businesses in the area. You won't believe what happened. It's all caught on camera -- even a few security cams.

Watch the video and then spread the word and spread the Arnoldbucks. Download your own Arnoldbucks by clicking the image for a .pdf. Got any ideas on how you would use your Arnoldbucks, or other kind of actions we should take with Arnoldbucks? Let us know!

From the Courage Campaign.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the Democratic budget solution last week he gave a lump of coal to every Californian. His veto places the state in danger of bankruptcy as Arnold demands spending cuts and rollbacks of laws protecting workers and the environment. Arnold has become California's own Ebenezer Scrooge.

So we thought you might enjoy this special video we put together about Arnold's nightmare before Christmas. What do the ghosts of California past, present, and future have to say to the Governor after a year of failure? Watch the video and see!

Infamous prosecutor Ken Starr has filed a legal brief -- on behalf of the "Yes on 8" campaign -- to nullify the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California between May and November of 2008.

Yes, they really did go there after promising repeatedly not to do this.

It's time to put a face to Ken Starr's shameful legal proceedings. To put a face to the 18,000 couples facing forcible divorce. To put a face to marriage equality. Because, gay or straight, YOU are the face of the Marriage Equality Movement.

The Courage Campaign just launched "Please Don't Divorce" a community photo project. They will break your heart and have made me cry on more than one occasion.

Please click through the photos in the slideshow above and then submit your own photo, as an individual, a couple or in a group (perhaps with your family over the holidays). Take a picture holding a piece of paper that says "Please don't divorce us," "Please don't divorce my moms,""Please don't divorce my friends, Dawn and Audrey," "Please don't divorce Californians" or whatever you want after "Please don't divorce..." and send it to: pleasedontdivorce@couragecampaign.org.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

People in Rep. David Dreier's district think he is an independent, a moderate. That couldn't be further from the truth. Rep. Dreier has voted with Bush 93.6% of the time.

It's time perception meets reality. The Courage Campaign is launching our first ad in David Dreier's SoCal district, exposing the real Dreier to his constituents. The one who voted for everything from the war in Iraq to Dick Cheney's energy bill. Not to mention, he voted against expanding education benefits for veterans, extending unemployment benefits for those hardest hit by the economy, raising the minimum wage and the recent anti-gas price gouging bill. And that is just the short list.

The long list can be found on our new site that accompanies the ad: BushRubberStamp.com.

If you like the ad above, please consider making a contribution to help us get it up on the air on cable in the district. The Courage Campaign is a people-powered organization and we are depending on you to help us inform David Dreier's constituents.

Guest post by Julia Rosen. Julia is the Online Political Director for the Courage Campaign and an editor at Calitics.

It is not every day that something from a blog post ends up in the CBS Evening News, but then again using children with cancer to try and steal the White House is pretty egregious. A diarist at Daily Kos noticed that the dirty tricksters, who are advancing an initiative that would switch 20 of California's electoral college votes to the Republicans were using children's cancer as a bait-and-switch to get people to sign the initiative and place it on the ballot. The Courage Campaign sent a film crew led by Erik Love to go tape http://www.ballot.org/vertical/Sites/%7B26C6ABED-7A22-4B17-A84A-CB72F7D1... ">Arno's signature gatherers (pdf) and we caught them red-handed.

That video was featured in the weekend edition of the CBS Evening news. Watch the clip. It is a particularly good segment on the initiative. And special thanks to John for grabbing that clip for us.

The Courage Campaign has turned over the full-uncut video and documentation by Courage Campaign members that this is part of a pattern by these dirty tricksters. We have officially request a formal investigation into their apparently illegal signature gathering methods by the Secretary of State. Please help us keep the heat on these dirty tricksters by contributing on our ActBlue page (don't forget to tip!).

Guest Post by Julia Rosen. Julia is the Online Political Director for the Courage Campaign. She is also an editor at Calitics.

Let's start with the good news first, even though there is plenty of bad to come later, given the disgraceful behavior of California Democratic Party staffer Bob Mullholland, caught on video. In just five days, over 33,000 Americans, 90% or more Californians, joined the Courage Campaign call for the California Democratic Party (CDP) to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein for her pivotal votes to approve Judge Michael Mukasey as U.S. Attorney General and Judge Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals. These Americans were joined by the Courage Campaign, MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, CrooksandLiars.com and over 40 Democratic Clubs and progressive organizations from across California. With a week of non-stop organizing, this movement changed the conversation of the entire meeting of the CDP Executive Board.

Party Chair Art Torres spent about half of his speech on Saturday praising Senator Dianne Feinstein, acknowledging that people within the Democratic Party are upset with a few of her crucial votes. Of course, these weren't just any votes. They were votes contrary to core Democratic (and democratic) values like opposing torture, racism and homophobia. Despite the party chair's call not to censure Sen. Feinstein, the censure resolution was endorsed by the Women's Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and the Irish-American Caucus at the E-Board meeting. Unfortunately, it was never formally taken up or addressed by either the Resolutions Committee or the main body of the Executive Board. Members of the Resolutions Committee objected to hearing it, which meant it could not be brought to the Executive Board -- which was within their prerogative, given that it was a late resolution.

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