It's time for some random links and a good ole fashioned open thread.
Rather than having a blog, Capitol Weekly decided to post an email thread between the beloved around these parts Steve Maviglio and his counterpart in the SenateAssembly Morgan Crinklaw. Steve naturally starts his first response by paraphrasing an old SNL skits and calls Morgan an "ignorant slut". (Note: Morgan's employer corrected)
Another gay victory from the CA Supremes. No longer can doctors refuse to treat us because we are gay and their religion does not approve.
McClintock decided to be a whiney brat and refused to show up to the last debate with Doug Ose. About 180 well paying guests didn't get the smackdown show they had paid good money to attend. McClintock's excuse was that the also rans were not invited, that and he is sulking about Ose's attack ads.
The AFT just informed the Mt. Shasta Brewing Co., based in Weed, CA that they can no longer use bottle caps that read "Try Legal Weed". Evidently, alluding to marijuana on beer is not allowed. The town is named after a dude named Abner Weed and has nothing to do with pot.
That's all I got. Any FP'ers who feel inspired, go ahead and add to this thread.
Yesterday's decision by the California Supreme Court was historic because it set a huge precedent. Not because the Court found the ban on same-sex marriage similar to earlier bans on interracial marriage, nor because it said domestic partnerships are inherently unequal. What really mattered is that the Court ruled sexual orientation a "suspect class," which means that all laws that discriminate on that basis must now pass strict scrutiny - a crucial step forward in the rights of LGBT people.
But same-sex couples in California still lack the federal benefits of marriage that straight people take for granted - like Social Security and immigration - because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) precludes them from doing so. Marriage equality supporters must defeat a constitutional amendment in November that would repeal the Court's ruling, but they also need a President Obama. If DOMA gets repealed in 2009, gay couples in California will finally be equal in the eyes of the law.
An amazing thing happened this week. The Supreme Court, by a 7-2 margin, ruled that federal judges have the leeway to reduce sentences for possession of crack cocaine relative to powder. The disparity in sentencing, which has significant racial overtones, has long been unconscionably unfair. And get this: the US Sentencing Commission unanimously decided to make the guidelines retroactive which could result in thousands of convicts who were unfairly sentenced to be released.
See, there's a national sentencing commission that reviews information and makes recommendations based on logic and common sense, taking the hot-button issue of sentencing out of the political sphere. Yet here in California, we have been stymied at any effort to create such a sentencing commission, and all sentencing legislation moves in the direction of being more punitive rather than less. This is how our jails have become clogged with so many nonviolent offenders, who in the overcrowded environment without proper treatment and rehabilitation often return to jail more violent than when they got there in the first place. The executive branch of this state knows this, yet they refuse to reveal their documents and communications that would confirm it.
States have the ability to break free from the "tough on crime" box and actually change the tilt in favor of jailing more and more citizens for longer and longer periods. Heck, in New Jersey this week they voted to ban the death penalty. But the only way to see any early prison releases in California is when the state miscalculates their sentences.
The decision is important in two ways. First, it established that aesthetics are a legitimate public purpose, for which government may regulate and condemn land. This principle has encouraged increased governmental intervention to achieve aesthetic and environmental goals. Second, Berman made clear that the phrase "public use" in the Takings Clause did not mean that land condemned had to remain in government ownership or be used physically by the public. The Court seemed to hold that eminent domain might be used to advance any goal that government could pursue under any of its powers. Subsequent decisions have confirmed this broad understanding of Berman. Thus, under the Takings Clause, "public use" means only public purpose.
In Midkiff the Court virtually eliminated public use as a limit on when governments can condemn property. A public use is present, the Court held, even when the property is immediately turned over to private hands and is never used by the public. The requirement is satisfied whenever the taking is rationally related to some conceivable public purpose; it is the purpose of the taking, not the use of the property, that is important. This meant, the Court said, that the condemnation power is equal in breadth to the police power. The Court also held that courts should defer to legislative determinations of whether a purpose is a public one unless the determination is without reasonable foundation.
Both of these decisions set the precedent for Kelo. Follow me over the flip...
I saw Bill Maher on Friday in an interview with former Mexican President Vicente Fox, lamenting that Bill Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn't be able to face off as Presidential candidates due to Constitutional violations. "Isn't that sad," he said. For all his conceits as a free thinker, Maher represents a kind of baseline Hollywood groupthink when it comes to Arnold, reading the headlines and the magazine covers but never bothering to uncover the whole story. That story can be easily divined from this weekend's veto massacre. In addition to stopping the California DREAM Act, he vetoed needed legislation for the state's migrant farm workers, allowing them to organize through a "card check" system. He even disabled a bill that would have added a sunset clause to the card check system, making it ever harder for them to organize and support themselves and their families. Here's another bill that went down the drain:
In a decision handed down today, the California Supreme Court ruled that public employee salary information should be public information. The case pitted all sorts of interests against each other.
This was a significant week in Bill Richardson's campaign for President, with a major address on climate change and how to end the bloodshed in Iraq.
It was also a significant week for peace and stability in Korea and Asia - which highlights Richardson's expertise in foreign affairs and his diplomatic skills. With Richardson as President we get two for the price of one - a can-do leader on domestic issues and an experienced diplomat that knows how to bring people and nations together.
