Readers: Heads Up

I'm going to be archiving my old MySpace blog on here, just FYI in case you get a slew of new posting emails tonight. Apologies in advance for any inconvenience.

Here We Go Again

Since I'm sure most of you have heard by now (it was the top Google News story all day) that the California Supreme Court is at it again - this time rewriting the definition of marriage against the will of 61% of the electorate - I won't bore you with much on the decision itself (here is an interesting analysis if you're interested). In fact, I won't be discussing the underlying issue at all. Partially because I'm still sorting through my own personal position on gay marriage. Mostly because my real outrage here is not about policy, but process.

I'm not so outraged by the decision itself as by the fact that 4 judges could overturn the will of 4.6 million citizens. As big of a fan as I am of the Constitution, that just really pisses me off. I also find it questionable (at best) that the Court decided to rule on this now, as opposed to, say, right after the law was enacted in 2000 (when, I believe, California's Constitution was the same as it is today).

The irony of all this is, of course, that the gay marriage issue will now be elevated back up to the level of political discourse and become a major campaign issue for the fall election, thus mobilizing a previously apathetic conservative electorate to come out and vote. Gotta love unintended consequences.

Another observation (going back to my being pissed off): I just have to note how blatantly self-contradicting and hypocritical Democrats/liberals tend to be on so many issues. It's really just absurd sometimes. One day they are demanding that we pull troops out of Iraq because "that's what the American people want," then the next day they are perfectly content to throw the democratic process out the window to appease a tiny but vocal minority within their ranks. Beyond being a tragedy, it's intellectually dishonest and amazingly transparent. You can't have it both ways, folks.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

More reading...
Court overturns same-sex marriage ban (San Jose Mercury News)
California Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage (ABC News)
Ruling injects hot new issue into presidential race (San Francisco Chronicle)
CA Supreme Court Imposes Same-sex 'Marriage,' Overturning Prop. 22 (Family Research Council Press Release)

The Great Divide

This is an incredibly fascinating look at the evolution of the social divides that exist in America. A definite must-read. Also, Fresno got a shout-out.

Demography is King - New York Times (By David Brooks)

"...Over the years, different theories have emerged to describe the educated/less-educated divide. Conservatives have gravitated toward the culture war narrative, dividing the country between the wholesome masses and the decadent cultural elites. Some liberals believe income inequality drives everything. They wait for an uprising of economic populism. Other liberals divide the country morally, between the enlightened urbanites and the racist rednecks who will never vote for a black man.

"None of these theories really fit the facts. It’s more accurate to say that the country has simply drifted apart into different subcultures. There’s no great hostility between the cultures. Americans have a fuzzy sense of where the boundaries lie. But people in different niches have developed different unconscious maps of reality. They have developed different communal understandings of what constitutes a good leader, of what sort of world they live in. They have developed different communal definitions, which they can’t even articulate, of what they mean by liberty, security and virtue. Demographic groups have begun to function like tribes or cultures...."

Death of the Rags Postponed

Classic. I heart the Onion.

Dying Newspaper Trend Buys Nation's Newspapers Three More Weeks

WASHINGTON—A recent glut of feature stories on the death of the American newspaper has temporarily made the outmoded form of media appealing...