Archive for May, 2008

28 May 2008

New Poll in California Favors Same-Sex Marriage

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article about a new poll that says registered voters are now in favor of same-sex marriage:

By 51-42 percent, registered voters said they believed same-sex marriage should be legal in California. Only 28 percent favored gay marriage in 1977, when the Field Poll first asked that question, said Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s director.

There are a couple of things I’m cherry picking from the piece:

It’s a “generational replacement, with older folks being replaced by younger voters very much in favor of same-sex marriage,” DiCamillo said.

Those younger voters “have grown up with people who are out in their lives, whether it’s politicians in the news or people they know,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, one of the groups opposed to the proposed initiative to ban same-sex marriage.

Among my circle of friends, we’ve been saying this for quite some time. It’s not really a nice thing to say, but it would appear to be true none the less. There will be less discrimination as the older generation (many, but not all, of whom have grown and lived with long indoctrinated prejudices) dies off and the more of the younger generation begins to make their voices heard with their votes.

And now for a voice from the opposition:

“The Supreme Court ruling only just happened,” said Karen England, spokeswoman for the Capitol Resource Institute, one of the groups backing a ban on same-sex marriage, which is expected to be approved for the ballot in mid-June. “Once we have the measure on the ballot, the campaign can change everything.

That would be her scrambling to spin this in their direction. “The Supreme Court ruling only just happened” – meaning it is now illegal to discriminate against someone based upon their sexual orientation in any way in California. The ruling was not just about marriage – it was about completely equal rights. And now these people want to continue to try to take away a right that has been recognized by the Court. These were not “activist judges” (if that term can even be applied to a judge, given the very nature of their job). These were people finally delivering justice to those of us who have been scorned, shunned and discriminated against.

Why is it not illegal to write discrimination into a constitution? Why is it not illegal to take away someone’s rights? What happened to justice and liberty for all?

21 May 2008

Morford on Meditation

Another lovely-crafted story from Mark Morford. This one on the scientific proof of the benefits of meditation. This particular quote of which he’s nailed the Northern CA attitude about it:

…Hell, here in NorCal meditation is so widespread and normalized it’s actually available in the Whole Foods bulk aisle. I do believe over in Berkeley and parts of Marin County you are actually required by law to meditate at least twice a week atop your handmade zafu cushion in your Zen rock garden next to your carefully restored BMW 2002 as you listen to slightly cheesy wind chime music on an iPod-enabled Bang & Olufsen 5.1 home theater system just before you pour yourself a nice glass of Sonoma chard, or the police come and politely take away your Tibetan Nag Champa incense holder for a month…

from SFGate

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15 May 2008

Justice is Served

The California Supreme Court has declared that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional! However the fight isn’t over yet, about a million bigots have gathered signatures to place an item on the November ballot to write discrimination into the California state constitution.

(05-15) 10:13 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.

from SFGate

more:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released a statement immediately after the opinion was issued saying he would uphold the ruling.

“Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling,” he added.

from The Sacramento Bee

8 May 2008

Sidewalk Sleeping

7 May 2008

Cookie Monster

Me know. Me have problem.

Me love cookies. Me tend to get out of control when me see cookies. Me know it not natural to react so strongly to cookies, but me have weakness. Me know me do wrong. Me know it isn’t normal. Me see disapproving looks. Me see stares. Me hurt inside.

From McSweeney’s

1 May 2008

Belief-O-Matic

So I took this religion quiz that my friend Guy linked to* on his blog. I thought some of the questions were a bit leading and some of the answers available for choice a bit too Christian centric, but I was actually impressed by the results. That the top 5 of my results were fairly accurate, especially the top 3.

Although I’m a bit freaked out that Scientology is in the top 10 of my results and I’ve never even heard of “New Thought”. And I’m a bit amused that Roman Catholicism ranked out at number 23 since that was the faith I grew up in. You can take the Belief-O-Matic quiz for yourself here.

* not linking to his blog because it’s not public.

1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Hinduism (85%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (85%)
4. New Age (67%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (66%)
6. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (58%)
7. New Thought (58%)
8. Scientology (58%)
9. Theravada Buddhism (51%)
10. Taoism (48%)
11. Liberal Quakers (34%)
12. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (31%)
13. Sikhism (31%)
14. Orthodox Quaker (30%)
15. Jainism (29%)
16. Secular Humanism (28%)
17. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (25%)
18. Reform Judaism (22%)
19. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (21%)
20. Nontheist (17%)
21. Eastern Orthodox (14%)
22. Orthodox Judaism (14%)
23. Roman Catholic (14%)
24. Bahá’í Faith (11%)
25. Seventh Day Adventist (10%)
26. Jehovah’s Witness (9%)
27. Islam (5%)
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