Archive for the 'California' Category

California Supreme Court To Look At Gay Marriage Ban

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in California, Law, Sexuality, Supreme Court

Well, they ruled on it once this year and looks like they’ll have to do it again thanks to the passage of Prop 8.
From AP:
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted three lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8. The amendment passed this month with 52 percent of the vote. The court did not elaborate on [...]

November 19th, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Quote Of The Day

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in California, Democrats, Republicans

“This dialogue about ‘we have to go back to our core values.’ What is that? How far does ‘core’ go back in history in America. Thirty years? Fifty years? Because we know that Teddy Roosevelt talks about universal healthcare. I think it’s all nonsense talk.”
- Arnold Schwarzenegger on This Week with George Stephanopoulos
Looks like Obama [...]

November 16th, 2008 | Permalink| 10 Comments »

On Gay Marriage

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in California, Constitution, Law, Sexuality, Video

Jon Meacham and Ashton Kutcher discuss Prop 8…

I agree with both of them, but Ashton more so. The idea that people voted on somebody else’s rights and relationships is crazy.
In the end, I wish the government would get out of the business of marriage and set up a separate civil union system so people [...]

November 16th, 2008 | Permalink| 13 Comments »

Alan Keyes Sues Obama For Proof Of Citizenship

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, California, Crazy, Keyes, Law, WTF?

Do far right conservatives really think that setting the bar so low for an Obama presidency is a wise move?
Because let’s go down the list of things that Obama has to prove: that he’s an American, he’s not a terrorist, he won’t take away people’s guns, he’s not like Hitler and that raising taxes [...]

November 15th, 2008 | Permalink| 47 Comments »

Jon Stewart On Prop 8 Passage

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, California, Marriage, Race, Sexuality, Video

As usual, he’s pitch perfect…

Yes, the idea that increased African American turnout may have helped passed this ridiculous discrimination so tragically ironic it hurts. I mean…69% supported this ban? In California?? Really???
Truly crazy stuff. And it proves, yet again, that discrimination knows no color and we have a long, long way to go before we [...]

November 8th, 2008 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

What Now for Gay Marriage Supporters?

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in California, Civil Liberties, Marriage, Religion

I thought California’s Proposition 8 would fail and California would become the first state where the voters themselves actually voiced approval for gay marriage. Obviously, I was wrong.
Turns out the progressive coalition that swept Barack Obama into office is not so progressive, at least not on the issue that many on the left consider the [...]

November 7th, 2008 | Permalink| 34 Comments »

Proposition 8 Opponents Won’t Concede

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, California, Religion, Sexuality

An interesting turn of events in California…
Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said 3 million to 4 million ballots remain uncounted statewide. “The fact is depending on the turnout model we are looking at millions of votes yet to be counted,” Kendall said. The race is too close to call. [...]

November 5th, 2008 | Permalink| 13 Comments »

California Bans Same Sex Marriage

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Bad Decisions, California, Law, Sexuality

A pretty shocking turn of events in California, as Proposition 8 narrowly passes.
LA Times has more…
As Proposition 8, the most divisive and emotionally fraught issue on the state ballot this year, took a lead in early returns, supporters gathered at a hotel ballroom in Sacramento and cheered.
“We caused Californians to rethink this issue,” Proposition 8 [...]

November 5th, 2008 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Schwarzenegger: Flip-flopping Is Great

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in California, Independents, News

Here’s Arnold’s POV on politicians changing their mind…
Flip-flopping is getting a bad rap, because I think it is great. Someone has made a mistake. I mean, someone has, for 20 or 30 years, been in the wrong place with his idea and with his ideology and says, ‘You know something? I changed my mind. I [...]

July 16th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

First Gay Marriages Happening In California

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in California, Marriage, Sexuality

And fittingly, the very first one was performed for a couple how had been together 15 years and helped start this movement in California.
Here’s their story from the LA Times:
In Los Angeles County, longtime partners Diane Olson and Robin Tyler were the first and only same-sex couple to obtain a license Monday. [...] Olson and [...]

June 17th, 2008 | Permalink| 10 Comments »

The Problem With Court-Mandated Gay Marriage

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in California, Law, Marriage

As you all know by now, the march towards universally allowed gay marriage continued today. From my understanding, the specifics of the California case create a legal pathway to gay marriage without actually mandating the legalization of the practice. So I want to be clear, this post is inspired by today’s ruling but is not [...]

May 15th, 2008 | Permalink| 24 Comments »

Obama Adds 4 Superdelegates Today

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, California, D.C., Democrats, Hillary, Super Delegates!!!, Washington

By the way, I’m adding “Total Delegates Needed To Clinch” to the totals below because Obama is getting within 100.
First, Rep. Henry Waxman and Rep. Howard Berman of California…
Senator Obama’s vision for change has inspired tens of millions of Americans,” Chairman Waxman said. “And he’s also proved that he has the experience, judgment, integrity, [...]

May 15th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Gay Marriage Ban Overturned In California

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in California, Law, Marriage, Religion, Sexuality

Well done…
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.
The case involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter- approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man [...]

May 15th, 2008 | Permalink| 18 Comments »

California Superdelegate Backs Obama

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, California, Democrats, Hillary, Super Delegates!!!

This time it’s Crystal Strait…
Strait, 28 years of age, the immediate past President of the California Young Democrats, and a member of the Democratic National Committee representing Young Democrats of America, is a powerful boost for Obama. She had been cited as an undecided delegate in an article as late as one appearing in [...]

May 11th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Californians Reconsider Hillary?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, California, Democrats, Hillary, Polls

At least that’s what this latest poll from SurveyUSA suggests.
From cbs5.com:
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ? California voters would change their February primary vote for Hillary Clinton to a vote for Barack Obama if the vote were held again, according to an exclusive poll commissioned by CBS 5.
While voters in the California Democratic Presidential Primary [...]

May 10th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Obama Adds Cali Superdelegate

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, California, Democrats, Hillary, Super Delegates!!!

So he’s +4 for the day against Hillary who gained one and lost one.
From MSNBC:
The Obama campaign announced that California DNC Member Ed Espinoza has endorsed the Illinois senator as well today.
The NBC delegate counts:
PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 273.5, Obama 266
TOTAL: Obama 1,856, Clinton 1,699.5.
* There are 255.5 undeclared superdelegates (about 50 of [...]

May 9th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Of salmon and trout and canaries in a coal mine.

By mw | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Bush, California, Cheney, Environment

Just in case anyone is not familiar with the meaning of the phrase “like a canary in a coal mine” this is it:
“Early coal mines did not feature ventilation systems, so miners would routinely bring a caged canary into new coal seams. Canaries are especially sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide, which made them ideal [...]

April 14th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

San Francisco Holds Secret Olympic Torch Relay

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in California, China, Olympics

Afraid that protests might disrupt the Olympic torch relay, San Francisco and Olympic organizers changed the route at the last second, leaving protestors and supporters staring at empty streets. Wow. What a farce. What’s the point of even having the relay if it’s going to be mainly hidden from view?
Much like China’s treatment of dissidents [...]

April 9th, 2008 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

California Called For McCain

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, California, Huckabee, McCain, Romney

Again, this is really, really early. I wouldn’t necessarily trust this right now because it’s late and I think they want to call it early for these candidates so they can go to bed.
If I were Romney, I wouldn’t concede this quite yet.

February 5th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Hillary Wins California

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, California, Hillary

They’re calling this really, really early. She’s leading by a wide margin right now, but there are still a ton of votes yet to be counted. In any event, call me very skeptical. I guess we’ll see…
Of note, California was called BEFORE Missouri.

February 5th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »