From the LA Times:

The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law.

The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over marriage rights for gays. Gay rights activists said they may ask voters to repeal the marriage ban as early as next year, and opponents have pledged to fight any such effort. Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.

By 52% to 48%, voters approved the measure reinstating a ban on same-sex marriage after the state Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling last May, approved such marriages. Left in limbo were about 18,000 couples who got married in California between May and November of last year. (Note: An earlier version of this post said voters approved by a 52-48 margin the measure reinstating a ban on same-sex marriage after the state Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling last May, approved such marriages.)

The skin on these teeth is getting thinner and thinner — a HUGE fight over this issue will be forthcoming at the ballot box.

GOTTA. GIRD. LOINS. NOW!!!!!!

On November 4th, we Californians can take back the meaning of MARRIAGE from the idiotic ruling of our state Supreme(ly stoooopid) Court and pass Proposition 8 that will amend the CA Constitution to reestablish marriage as a union between one man and one woman, which was the expressed will of the people in a previous initiative.

I’m not a big initiative guy, but I’m votin’ for this one!

Technorati Tags: Proposition 8

Only in California? You wish — ’cause when stuff about emissions and excess legislation happens out here, like a bad toe fungus, it migrates all over the place. Here’s today’s latest — forcing auto dealers to post a “Global Warming Score” on each and every new vehicle starting next year for the 2009 models. We already have an “emissions” label which I’ve never bothered to examine, so what pray tell is a warming label? I’ll let GreenBiz.com tell ya:

OAKLAND, Calif. — California is making it mandatory for cars to be labeled with global warming scores, figures that take into account emissions from vehicle use and fuel production.

{…}

The labeling law forces cars for sale to display a global warming score, on a scale of one to 10, which is based on how vehicles in the same model year compare to one another. The higher the score, the cleaner a car is. The score takes into account emissions related to production of fuel for each vehicle as well as the direct emissions from vehicles.

So what you say? It’s just a label and one can ignore it just like you do the smog labels, Okie. True. However, you have to take into account the mindset of the Anthropogenic Climate Change Hysterics — this is only the first step. A clue to their eager ambitions comes in one of the article’s following ‘graphs.

A law endorsed by the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety would make governments put a monetary cost on the emissions of vehicles they plan to purchase, and add that to expense calculations.

Yep — Whoops! There it is! “Monetary cost”, just another way to say TAX.

Warmies — they never met a tax they didn’t like. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

Technorati Tags: Global Warming Score, global warming, Anthropogenic Climate Change

Upon seeing the large, above-the-fold pic on today’s page 1 of the dead-tree edition of the LA Times my first thought was of rioting middle-eastern hoards screaming “Death to the Infidel” — hmmm, that first impression wasn’t all that far off. The caption:

SPEAKING OUT: Students march down Westwood Boulevard toward the UCLA Police Department to call for an impartial investigation of officers’ use of a Taser against student Mostafa Tabatabainejad in the campus library.

The 200+ student protest was in response to the student-tasing incident last Tues. evening that is well documented and commented upon over at Patterico and Michelle Malkin’s blog, and can be watched in full at YouTube.

What I find interesting about today’s LA Times’ coverage is that in the page-1 section, before the jump to the inside, the writers Winton, Rong-Gong Lin & Proctor manage to get in not only references to the Rodney King beating but also the recent riots at the L.A. County jail. That goes hand-in-hand with Patric’s description of the Times’ coverage earlier in the week.

P.S. In case you didn’t know, the chain of command goes through LAPD, of course. Stories like this L.A. Times piece lump this videotape together with two recent videos depicting alleged excessive force by LAPD officers. This allows LAPD to somehow be tarnished by the actions of the officers in the above video, even though LAPD had nothing to do with the incident. Describing the various videos in a single story shows that it’s a “theme,” you see. I think they teach this in journalism school.

I’ll admit that it is a hard video to watch. The guy gets tased 5 times, and the screams of pain are convincing. but just like with most of these “take-down” flicks, you never get to see what prompts the caught-on-memory-chip use of force. I recommend reading the police officer’s email that Michelle posts — here’s an excerpt:

What the officer did wrong was continue to ask the subject for compliance. I can tell by his (the officer’s) actions and his words that he is so afraid of doing the “wrong” thing that he has let the safety and well being of both himself and the others in the area become secondary. Police officers across the country are taught to take action quickly and most importantly “don’t’ do it like they do in California.” In other places without the PC police, that guy would have been jacked up and carried out in under 30 seconds, without tasers, noise, or video.

But, what say you Okie — why the snarky comment about the page-1 pic? Well, maybe this little ditty from CAIR?

CAIR: ISLAMIC LEADERS CALL FOR PROBE OF STUDENT TASERING

Southern California Islamic leaders are calling for an independent investigation into Tuesday night’s incident at the UCLA library where campus police apparently stunned a student with a “Taser” gun.
(…)
But the American-Islamic relations group says an outside probe’s needed to make sure the case’s “civil rights aspects” are taken seriously.

And, the trial lawyers smell blood — or rather, make that “big bucks”!

Just another fun day in LA. (db)

Technorati Tags: UCLA Library Student Tasing, UCLA Student Protest

Cross-posted over at Junk Yard Blog . . .

It’s getting to the point where I’m not sure how much more of this stupid crap an ol’ Okie can take. The CA legislature (dominated by its Democrats) is never a beacon of clarity and insight, but this last week has shown them at their worst.

First, as Capt. Ed reported:

The California Assembly passed a bill on a party-line vote yesterday that would eliminate private health care and force Californians into a single-payer state-run medical system. It now falls to Arnold Schwarzenegger to determine whether he will reverse his previous stand against state-run health care or adopt the Golden State version of HillaryCare[.]

Yeah, here we go . . . that ol’ Utopian single payer health care for everyone working so great in Canada that the seriously ill abandon their system and cross the border for care in the US, if they can afford it . . . now coming to good ol’ CA. All one has to do is look at the condition of California’s highways and freeways, the low ranking of its public schools, its crumbling energy infrastructure and continuous budget deficits to see that this state has about as much ability to run a single-payer health care system as I do to fly without wings. Not to mention how it will be funded — oh yeah, the legislative panacea for everything — raise taxes. As per the Capt.:

[Taxes would be raised] an additional 8 percent on the payroll tax that businesses pay and a 3 point hike on the state income tax.

That should keep ‘em comin’ to ol’ Cali’ . . . NOT!

Second: AB 523, which passed the CA legislature Thurs. eve. Think that you have freedom of religion? Well, maybe not in California — or at least maybe you are a second class citizen, or maybe, you’re not a citizen, or maybe, you just shouldn’t be allowed to have a TV station license — yeah, that’s the ticket! If you have anything to do with the CHRISTIAN religion, keep your grubby little theocratic paws off our TV stations out here in CA — that’s what the Democratic controlled Legislature is saying with AB 523. Hugh Hewitt puts it this way:

It seems obvious that the California legislature has engaged in a naked bit of religious discrimination, changing the rules relating to the sale of public assets so as to exclude a religious organization.

Imagine if public land was for sale, but the Congress forbade its sale to the highest bidder if that bidder was the Catholic Church.

Or if a local government offered grants to charities housing the poor, but excluded all such charities that were faith based.

The legislated manipulation of the rules relating to the sale of this station should not have to reach a federal court to be rejected. Arnold should veto the bill quickly, with a message back to the legislature that the First Amendment, both in its religion clauses and speech clause, prohibit the government from discriminating against religious speech.

So what if the bidding process was fair, and that the religious group’s bid was $40M (cash) and the next bid was $22M or so, much of that on paper, and so what if the monies would go to the CA college system (in dire need of funds) — the Left out here is so deathly AFRAID of Christians that they would rather eat a good 20-million-dollars that should be going to the schools just to stick it to the religious Right!

Third: In the land of Count Every Vote — Every Vote Counts! comes this brilliant piece of brainiac-Leftist nonsense. From the Opinion Journal comes the skinny:

[L]ast week the California Senate passed legislation to award the state’s Electoral College votes to the candidate who has received the most popular votes nationally–whether Californians chose him or not. A similar bill passed the Assembly on May 30, so it will soon be up to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign or veto the bill. Such a bill also passed the Colorado Senate in April, part of a national effort to change the way we choose our presidents. The mandate doesn’t take effect until enough other states sign on to provide a majority of electoral votes. If it were in effect in 2004, George W. Bush would have taken California’s 55 electoral votes, even though John Kerry carried the state by a margin of nearly 10%.

Now that’s rich! Trying to make an end run around the Constitution, those Democrats writing laws for the great state of California would have our Presidential election votes held hostage to the nation’s will at large. Regardless of how the people of CA vote, if the nation votes differently, CA voters get screwed! What a crap-load of me too ism. “If it were in effect in 2004, George W. Bush would have taken California’s 55 electoral votes” should be enough in itself to have put that one in the round file where it belongs, but noooooooo — it defies the Leftist “count every vote” mantra, it defies reason — unless of course, you hate the Constitution as the Framers designed it. Here’s how Patterico puts it:

Here’s how bizarre this law is: in 2004, Bush would have gotten California’s electoral votes — which he didn’t need, and which the state’s voters certainly didn’t intend.

In 2000, Gore would have gotten the electoral votes — but then, he got them anyway.

What a stupid law this would be.

Wish I could say, “only in California”, but as per the OJ, Colorado passed something similar in April. Election 2000 spooked the Left so much, that they want to change how we vote for the President, and they aren’t about to try and do it the Constitutional way, via Amendment — nah, that’s not their style. They like changing the culture and governance of the nation via judicial fiat, or by proposition, or in this case, by stupid state legislation.

Arnold needs to veto all three of these!

The Great State of California — Totally Stuck on Stupid! Go west ol’ man — go west! Wait — Hawaii’s worse! Arrrrrrgh!!!! (db)

Technorati Tags: California Legislature, AB 523, California Health Care, Electoral College

I don’t like Rob Reiner. I kinda enjoyed him as “Meathead” in All in the Family, but that was a long time ago. He’s a hard-core Lefty, and has no qualms about trampling on personal liberties, or severely taxing what he considers to be non-acceptable behavior (tobacco), to fund his own personal Leftist agendas. I’ve got a great ad hominem to use here, but this is a serious issue, so I’ll save that for another time when I’m feeling a bit more frisky.

This is all about CA Proposition 82, which would mandate government-provided preschool for all. Sounds good you say? Well, you haven’t seen the mess this state’s educational bureaucracy has made of K-12 then. A Rand study released in Jan. opens with this:

California’s public school system lags behind most of the nation on almost every objective measurement of student achievement, funding, teacher qualifications and school facilities, according to a new RAND Corporation analysis that is the first comprehensive examination of measurable dimensions of the state’s education system.

The study issued today chronicles how the state’s K-12 school system has fallen from a national leader 30 years ago to its current ranking near the bottom in nearly every objective category. It was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which is working to build support for improving California schools.

While the assessment of California schools is generally negative, researchers also note several positive trends, including significant improvement in student math achievement in recent years, and funding increases for school construction and repair.

Not much of a silver lining to that cloud! And now, ol’ Rob wants to put the same people that have screwed up K-12 in charge of all CA pre-school? Sweet! But that’s not the real scandal here. The San Diego Union/Tribune lays Reiner out, hard! [h/t: Hugh Hewitt]

It’s hard to fathom how a Hollywood actor-director-activist with an idealistic reputation for caring about children could make the transition to sleazy pol so quickly, but that’s just what Rob Reiner has done. His role in orchestrating the use of millions in taxpayer money to push his latest cause is beyond slimy and way past arrogant.

Reiner grabbed the spotlight in 1998 as the sponsor and leading advocate for the California Children and Families First Initiative, a successful ballot measure that placed a 50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for child development programs.

Now he’s leading the push for another measure, Proposition 82, which would mandate government-provided preschool. It was bad enough to learn in December that the First 5 California Commission – the agency created under Reiner’s previous initiative to distribute tobacco-tax proceeds – had spent $18 million in taxpayer funds on a “preschool for all” TV ad campaign while Reiner was trying to gather signatures for his “preschool for all” initiative.
(…)
As for Reiner, it used to be just a bit annoying to watch him in TV interviews offering himself up as a noble man. Now such a performance would have an emetic effect. He’s a scoundrel, not a hero – a scoundrel who owes California taxpayers $23 million. [emph mine]

Gotta love those guys that tax your behavior, and then use the money to advance their own personal causes. Maybe that should be the main definition of Liberal, ya think? But then there is this question. Why is Reiner still holding this office? He’s a hold-over appointment of Grey Davis, and Arnold can fire him at any time.

As Hewitt brought to our attention earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Times soft-peddled a supposed expose of this whole mess, but the LA Weekly is on the scent, and as much as I don’t like that rag, I wish the Weekly’s Bill Bradley well on this one.

Oh, and Arnold, I voted for ya buddy — Please fire Rob Reiner — today! (db)

Technorati Tags: Rob Reiner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Proposition 82, First 5 California Commission, preschool

Which is what we in California are probably going to be now for a long time!

Laer Pierce has more:

Schwarzenegger Turns Left

Ahnold has appointed a former top Grey Davis aide and former executive director of the corrupt Cal. Democratic Party, Susan Kennedy, to be his chief of staff.

How fitting, and how disappointing. The voters reject the entire slate of initiatives that would have begun the process of killing the monster Davis left, and Schwarzenegger responds by hiring the creature that fed the monster. He’s turned to the dark side … well, the grey side … of California’s political spectrum.

I’ve got a great new reader to this blog from Mustang, OK who recently remarked that our Gov. and I were the last two conservatives in the state. Not hardly, there are a lot of us — but that group has never included the Governator.

We worked hard to throw out Grey Davis and hoped that Arnie would ignore Maria’s lefty advice and steer the state in a new direction. Maybe it’s just not possible until the entire enterprise goes tits-up.

I hope not, but this action today is not a very good sign! (db)

I was having a discussion about this over dinner about a week ago. One of my friends was adament that Gardena, CA could not possibly let Nissan leave, it would be disasterous to the local economy. Well, scratch one for us out here. [h/t: Glenn Reynolds]

[Nissan CEO] Ghosn cited lower real estate and business taxes as major reasons for the move.

“The costs of doing business in Southern California are much higher than the costs of doing business in Tennessee,” he said.

And then Glenn, the Instapundit adds this:

Plus, housing is much cheaper for employees, and there’s no state income tax.

Doah! It’s a Homer moment for CA, that’s for sure . . . (db)

Have you ever awakened and found yourself in an alternate reality? Conservatives in California do so just about each and every day. Take today for instance. It was a doozy! Let’s count, shall we?

1. The majority of CA voters think it’s just peachy for an underage girl to walk into planned [un]parenthood and abort the nascent human life growing inside her — without any prior notification of her parent(s) or guardian.
2. The majority of CA voters think that it is OK for public-employee unions to “take” monies from their union members and spend it to support candidates and causes contrary to a union member’s wishes — even though these public workers work for us, the citizens of California, not for a private company.
3. San Francisco voters approved a total handgun ban, giving a great big nasty raspberry to the 2nd Amendment — and that’s not all.

The Washington Post reports on the San Fran ordinance, which by the way, the NRA has already filed suit against.

Voters approved ballot measures to ban handguns in San Francisco and urge the city’s public high schools and college campuses to keep out military recruiters.

The gun ban prohibits the manufacture and sale of all firearms and ammunition in the city, and makes it illegal for residents to keep handguns in their homes or businesses.

Only two other major U.S. cities _ Washington and Chicago _ have implemented such sweeping handgun bans.

With all precincts reporting early Wednesday, 58 percent of voters backed the proposed gun ban while 42 percent opposed it.

Although law enforcement, security guards and others who require weapons for work are exempt from the measure, current handgun owners would have to surrender their firearms by April.
(…)
The military recruitment initiative won with 60 percent in favor and 40 percent against.

The measure, dubbed “College Not Combat,” opposes the presence of military recruiters at public high schools and colleges. However, it would not ban the armed forces from seeking enlistees at city campuses, since that would put schools at risk of losing federal funding.

Wonder if this means that the Navy looking guy in the Village People has to bow out at on-campus events?

No wonder I couldn’t muster up much blogging energy today, not to mention that I worked at the Good Wife’s office all day, and then did client work this evening. But hey, that’s no excuse . . . it was after all “just another day in paradise.”

Can I wake up now? (db)

I just voted. Outside my polling location was a table set up with a slotted paper box marked as “Ballot Box”, and a pair of nice little old ladies running a “parallel election”. Further up the block sat Judy Alter, who I was told had paid for all this. But, what was it? I wasn’t the only one wanting to know. Another voter, a woman about the same age as the two at the table was giving them the grilling for sure.

“Who are you with? Who’s paying for all this? Why?”

“We’re non-partisan. That woman over there is paying, so far. We’re not sure that the computer-tallied voting is fair and accurate.”

Oh boy! Nutters, and close too, just a block away from Okie Central! But, like those that read the National Enquirer, I have an enquiring mind and just had to know, so I go over to Ms. Alter.

You guys are really non-partisan? You’re paying out of your own pocket? How are you going to publish the results of your study?”

Yes, I’m non-partisan. I’m paying, so far. We’re going to publish the results on our websiteStudy California Ballots dot com.

OK, tell me this. Did you think that there were problems in Ohio last Nov?

We have that study on our website. We also studied the New Mexico elections.

So I came back and checked them out. Non-partisan my day-glow Okie butt! Here are some of their fact sheets and articles:

Reports and Factsheets

“Myth Breakers, Facts about Electronic Elections” by VotersUnite.org
An electronic voting primer to educate election officials. 2005, 62 pages (pdf file).

No Paper Trail Left Behind: The Theft of the 2004 Presidential Election by Dennis Loo
Excellent analysis and facts from the 2004 election, and how they add up to a dramatic yet obvious conclusion

House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff:
“Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio”
Read the Congressional report that exposed the many rights violations of the 2004 election. Jan. 5, 2005, 102 pages (pdf file).

Florida Op-Scan Systems Hacked Three Ways by BBV Investigators
Diebold’s optical scan software proven to be riddled with vote-rigging hacks.

Overview of California’s voting systems and regulatory history

Web Link Collections

Elections research, in all media formats, categorized by subject:

* The Election Justice Center, up to date on national reform movements

http://www.solarbus.org/election/

* Fairness by Beckerman — Election news with an emphasis on Ohio

http://fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/

* Election 2004 and Election Reform, a thorough and well-organized guide

http://shadowbox.i8.com/stolen.htm

* Evidence of Electoral Fraud in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election: A Reading List

http://www.opednews.com/keefer_111504_readings.htm

And here are books that they recommend:

Bev Harris and David Allen, Black Box Voting — Ballot-tampering in the 21st Century, Plan Nine Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-929462-45-X, 264 pages. The best single book on electronic vote fraud, by the leading investigator.

Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld, Harvey Wasserman, Did George W. Bush Steal America’s 2004 Election? Columbus Alive, May, 2005, ISBN: 0971043892, paperback: 768 pages. Essays on voting fraud and suppression from frontline activist-reporters; includes the Conyers Report on Ohio.

James M. and Kenneth F. Collier, Votescam: The Stealing of America 2000, ISBN: 00963416308, paperback, 405 pages. A 30-year quest exposing the roots of modern-day electronic voting fraud, starting in Florida in 1970.

So, how can they accurately tabulate results when a lot of Republicans, like myself, see through their BS about non-partisanship and self-select to not participate? She answers that criticism here. I’m not buyin’ it.

You know, I don’t really mind a blatantly partisan protest or events, not even close to my polling place ’cause hey, it’s “The Peoples’ Republic of Santa Monica” now, isn’t it? But at least have the stones to admit that you’re a bunch of Bush Stole the Election lefties that are afraid big bad Arnold is gonna ram Propositions 73, 74, 75 and 76 down your throat!

Pathetic! (db)

One of the more important issues in this week’s special election out here in La La Land is Proposition 73, which mandates that an abortion cannot be performed on an underage girl until after 48 hours from parental notification. Here is how Yes on 73 puts it:

Parents Have a Right to Know

In California, if your daughter is under 18: She can’t get a flu shot, she can’t go on a school trip, she can’t have a tooth pulled, she can’t get her ears pierced, without your knowing it.

But an older boyfriend or school employee can take your 13-year-old daughter to an abortionist who can perform a SURGICAL or CHEMICAL ABORTION upon her without your knowing it.

HELP PARENTS PROTECT THEIR DAUGHTERS by promoting Prop 73, the Parents’ Right to Know and Child Protection ballot initiative, which will require a doctor to notify a parent or legal guardian 48 hours before an abortion is performed on their minor daughter.

Vote YES on Prop 73

Doug TenNapel takes it to the next level:

… some doctor performs an operation on my 12 year old daughter that invovles sucking my grandson down the sink without my knowing and there will be hell to pay.

As the Michael Ramirez cartoon in yesterday’s LA Times shows, a girl under 17 cannot get into an “R” rated movie with being accompanied by a parent or guardian, but they can walk into an abortion clinic and have the nascent human life chopped up and sucked right out of them. Just what the living Hell is up with that?

Protect your daughters — Vote YES on Prop 73! (db)

A lot of bloggers have written about the California legislature passing a bill yesterday that would allow same-sex marriage in our great state. This regardless of the fact that in an initiative vote, Proposition 22, that prevented the state from recognizing same-sex marriage, even if it had taken place in other states or countries. That’s the bad news.

The good news comes from Governor Schwarzenegger’s office, where he vows to veto this bill when it comes to his desk. Not that Arnold is opposed to same-sex unions, or even same-sex marriage for that matter, but he does respect the will-of-the-people as expressed by a state-wide vote.

Many of us believe that these things need to be left up to the states, including issues such as abortion. If a state’s population decides via the vote to allow these things in that state, all of us opposed can either work to overturn those laws, or move to a state whose laws reflect our own ideas and beliefs. Some of us are content to be a “Daniel” living in the lion’s den.

Thanks Gov. In the face of what’s easy, left and wrong, it’s a great thing to do what’s hard and right. (db)