A district judge in California has overruled the state's infamous Proposition 8. The proposition was passed in 2008 and amended the state constitution to provide that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
According to Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker, who made his ruling on Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who claimed the voter-approved ban violated their civil rights, the proposition "fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license." What's more, according to the judge, "Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights." Imagine that.
The text of the ruling is available in full at The Huffington Post.
August 5, 2010
August 4, 2010
The States Are Broke
"The states are broke, and like many consumers, they're borrowing big time to get out of their fiscal binds." CNNMoney.com reporting.
Imagine that. State governments are plunging into the red and the tax payer ends up footing the bill. Who would have guessed?
The article notes that "not every state is ratcheting up its borrowing" though. "Many states have strict laws governing their debt issuance. Some places, such as Nebraska and Wyoming, have virtually no debt." If they manage, why can't the rest?
The amount of debt that states are carrying spiked 10.3% last year to $460 billion, according to Moody's Investors Service. The debt is paid for through taxes and fees, making residents ultimately responsible.
Imagine that. State governments are plunging into the red and the tax payer ends up footing the bill. Who would have guessed?
The article notes that "not every state is ratcheting up its borrowing" though. "Many states have strict laws governing their debt issuance. Some places, such as Nebraska and Wyoming, have virtually no debt." If they manage, why can't the rest?
Obama's Disastrous Energy Plans Delayed
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has decided not to advance the Democrats' energy bill before the August recess. The bill will be reconsidered when the Senate returns about Labor Day.
This may delay Obama's disastrous energy policies but it certainly doesn't mean the end of them.
Predictably, Democrats are using BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to justify expanding government's interference in the energy sector. "It's a sad day," said Reid, "when you can't find a handful of Republicans to support a bill ... that would hold BP accountable for the worst oil spill in history."
Actually the bill wouldn't do that. The core of the legislation entails caps to be put on carbon emissions; something which would undermine supply-and-demand and drive up energy prices because the earth-saving but costly "green" energies, as wind and solar, are wholly unprofitable and inefficient.
Meanwhile, there are vast reserves of oil and natural gas waiting to be exploited underneath the Atlantic coastline, beneath the northern coast of Alaska, and on land, in Colorado and Wyoming. Combined, these regions hold over two hundred billion barrels of oil and two thousand trillion cubic feet of natural gas that are recoverable with today's technology. That's more than most OPEC nations. If fully developed, it would be enough to free America from the import of foreign oil for almost fifty years.
Yet the president believes that "drilling alone cannot come close to meeting our long term energy needs." Instead, his administration is set to subsidize currently unprofitable renewable energies, stifling necessary progress in these sectors at the expense of millions of Americans who will either lose their jobs, see their energy bills go up, or both. No wonder Senator Reid couldn't even find "a handful of Republicans" to go along with that.
This may delay Obama's disastrous energy policies but it certainly doesn't mean the end of them.
Predictably, Democrats are using BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to justify expanding government's interference in the energy sector. "It's a sad day," said Reid, "when you can't find a handful of Republicans to support a bill ... that would hold BP accountable for the worst oil spill in history."
Actually the bill wouldn't do that. The core of the legislation entails caps to be put on carbon emissions; something which would undermine supply-and-demand and drive up energy prices because the earth-saving but costly "green" energies, as wind and solar, are wholly unprofitable and inefficient.
Meanwhile, there are vast reserves of oil and natural gas waiting to be exploited underneath the Atlantic coastline, beneath the northern coast of Alaska, and on land, in Colorado and Wyoming. Combined, these regions hold over two hundred billion barrels of oil and two thousand trillion cubic feet of natural gas that are recoverable with today's technology. That's more than most OPEC nations. If fully developed, it would be enough to free America from the import of foreign oil for almost fifty years.
Yet the president believes that "drilling alone cannot come close to meeting our long term energy needs." Instead, his administration is set to subsidize currently unprofitable renewable energies, stifling necessary progress in these sectors at the expense of millions of Americans who will either lose their jobs, see their energy bills go up, or both. No wonder Senator Reid couldn't even find "a handful of Republicans" to go along with that.
The Real Face of ObamaCare -- Frightening
I write about Dr Donald Berwick, Obama's head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a self-confessed "romantic" about Britain's infamous National Health Service at the Atlantic Sentinel a few months ago. I already knew the quotes from this video but it's startling to hear them spoken by a doctor and an American; an educated man who, by all accounts, should be able to reason that his appeals to "humanity" and "civilization" are not objective standards; are not arguments to justify the collectivization of an entire industry as is happening with health insurance in the United States today.
(Note that I'm not going to retort all the mundane, irrational arguments and claims put forward by Dr Berwick in this short video or during the entirety of his 2008 speech. You can read this post of mine from May which does exactly that.)
(Note that I'm not going to retort all the mundane, irrational arguments and claims put forward by Dr Berwick in this short video or during the entirety of his 2008 speech. You can read this post of mine from May which does exactly that.)
Since the general civilization of mankind...
Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism.
James Madison, Speech at the Virginia Convention (1788)
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