Results tagged “california”

California voters, if you want to see a proposal to restore marriage equality in 2010, sign the petition. We'll need 600,000 signatures to place it on the ballot.

This morning the California Supreme Court announced a decision in favor of Proposition 8. Under the twisted web that is our state constitution, voters may "amend" the document with a simple majority, whereas a two-thirds vote of the legislature is required to "revise" the constitution. All but one justice agreed that Proposition 8 constituted an "amendment" and not a "revision."

This is a huge blow to civil rights in the state. Not only has a 50% majority succeeded in stripping a civil right from a minority group, but the State of California has officially sanctioned a conservative Christian definition of marriage. This is a clear violation of the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

I think churches should be free to define marriage within their congregations however they please. There are churches where gay marriage is accepted. They have just as much right to exercise that conviction under the law. The government and the state constitution is no place for this debate.

I hope our representatives in Washington will take a lesson from the financial problems that California faces. Our state, burdened with the expenses of our massive education and health care systems, is teetering on the edge of insolvency. Our State Controller, John Chiang, has been forced to delay payments to guarantee that the state has enough cash on hand to meet high priority obligations. Among other things, $2 billion in tax refunds will be delayed for 30 or more days.

Phillip Dominguez, a 47-year-old gun enthusiast, was arrested on Friday after police at a security checkpoint near Los Angeles International Airport noticed 16 pistols, four rifles, hundreds of ammunition rounds, and an assault rifle in the back of his truck.

Dominguez claims he was heading to a shooting range in San Bernardino, 75 miles away, with a friend flying in from Baltimore.

Even more surprisingly, it is legal to drive a truck loaded with weapons to the front doors of an airport terminal. Phillip was booked on felony charges because he failed to transport his licensed assault rifle directly to the shooting range as required by California law.