… continued from Part I on Orange Juice – New Commie Girl and Ed Chau. Does it ever end?
T’was a bitter-sweet week for The Centrist: It was best of times. It was the worst of times. This week the California Supreme Court ruled that the voter-passed ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. Marriage licenses are expected to be available to gay and lesbian couples within 30 days. I think it’s terrific that there will finally be equality in the legal unions of hetero and gay couples, and I applaud the court’s ruling. There were no activist judges, there was only the constitutionality of law to decide, and decide correctly they did, any judicial follower must admit and probably expected, whether they are for gay marriage or against it.
However, as a Pagan, I still must argue that gay marriage not only doesn’t weaken marriage; it strengthens an already overly religious concept rendered meaningless by a 50% divorce rate, hence the bitter-sweet pill. When domestic partnerships were made legal they should have had equal protections under the law, not the church. An upcoming referendum will ask the voters of California if they’d like to add a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, thereby making the Court’s ruling moot. I could be wrong, but I don’t think it has much of a chance of passing since most voters are burnt out on the issue and don’t feel the need to go out of their way to enshrine discrimination into the California Constitution. We’re still a blue state, remember? Obviously, I’m following this story closely… more to come!
I took a poll on Topix last week asking how long people expected us to remain in Iraq. I answered ‘2 years.’ It seems I was very much in the minority. The poll is over and the results lost, but it seems many, many people really do think we’re going to be in Iraq forever. The interesting thing is that 100+ years was actually a choice in the poll. People are really taking John McCain literally aren’t they? I mean, I don’t like the idea of being quagmired either (giggity!), but I don’t think McCain would stay in the region for much longer or irresponsibly pull out (GIGGITY!). His 100 year comment was intended to convey that he will take as long as is needed to do the right thing. That all sounds well and good, so when we figure out what that is, I guess he’ll be ready!
Hillary was betrayed again when her well-deserved endorsement from NARAL went to Barack Obama. A related article in Time magazine asks whether Clinton deserves a monopoly on the feminist vote because she’s a woman. My personal opinion is that while I think Clinton deserves the endorsement, a true feminist will do what is best for the liberation of women, even if the best person to help achieve that goal is a man, so while I don’t agree with the endorsement, I don’t think gender should be an issue here. As a side note, I would like a see a female President, but it’s also true that it doesn’t have to be Hillary. The article at the first link, from Total Buzz, also mentions the defection of John Edwards from the Clinton camp. Some friends, huh? Fortunately for her the story was a non-starter due to the ridiculously long time it took Edwards to decide. In short, he lost his buzz.
… and witches oh my! Fox News reported on May 8th:
Code Pink is now resorting to witchcraft to beef up the number of its supporters protesting a controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center in Berkeley, Calif.
The women’s anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells and pointy hats Friday for “witches, crones and sirens” day, the last of the group’s weeklong homage to Mother’s Day.
“Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we’re going to end war,” Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com.
The group’s week of themed protests, which included days to galvanize grannies and bring-your-daughter-to-protest, appears to have done little to boost its flagging numbers.
This is the same Code Pink (different chapter of course) that protests the Iraq war on Wednesday nights at Orange Circle. A few weeks back OJ’s own Vern Nelson helped defend this group from an intruding group of anti-immigration, redneck nutjobs (Freepers), who were attempting to intimidate the women of Code Pink by showing up in large groups waving American flags and blasting God Bless America from their stereos. After his article was posted on OJ, Vern’s call was answered the following week when reinforcements for the women arrived and the Freepers were forced to wallow in their lowly minority.
What’s the point? For a group of women, they sure are aggressive, each seemingly having gone to the Cindy Sheehan school of protest. There is a difference between picketing and yelling slogans and attempting to use gimmicks and crazy schemes and get-ups to make your point. And this, again, is coming from a Pagan. I appreciate what they’re trying to accomplish, but it’s hard to take them seriously.
What do you think?
SMS
