Category: politics

Governor Schwarzenegger’s June 2, 2009, Address to Joint Legislature

A play by play, with commentary on Governor Schwarzenegger’s June 2, 2009 speech to California’s joint legislature

Governor Schwarzenegger
Governor Schwarzenegger

I’ve compiled all this from my live blog of the event on Twitter here.  I generally comment on the dealings of California’s legislature if you want to follow me.

At some point the video will be available of the speech here.

9:15am – Governor was supposed to begin at 9am, but no one here yet, rounding up legislators is like herding cats.

9:30am – And we’re go with Speaker Bass presiding, calling the absent members

9:30am – Before the governor speaks they’re going to work the file? a change of plans… Governor speaks at 10 now, no one is here, can’t work file

Assembly works file, passes one bill before constitutional officers, etc.  start showing up.

10am – everyone is in the chambers, constitutional officers, the board of equalization, senators and assemblymen.

Speaker welcoming them all now.

Governors has just arrived, standing and polite applause…  Definitely not as loud as it was last time he was here, in January.

Speaker announces massive reform movement this summer…   I’m hopefully, yet doubtful.

10:10am – Speaker passes baton to President Pro-tem Steinberg, who’ll intro Governor, thanking the budget conference committee, trying to fix $23 billion deficit.

speaking about timely, responsible, action on current deficit…  Now welcoming the Governor.

10:12am – Arnold has taken the stand, wants to talk about crisis, patting people on the back on how they fixed budget, until it broke again at ballot.

“Greatest economic crisis since great depression,” “Outdated state revenue system.”

Showing off fancy charts, says State’s revenue back to what it was in the 1990s, 24 billion deficit.

Feels bad about cuts, but says state has no money, and no credit.

Talking spending cuts, and what services Sacramento can provide and how.

Budget can’t be just about cuts, wants structural reform, quotes Churchill about crises.

Talking prison reform, and state/local interaction reform, eliminate dozens of state boards and commissions, i.e. waste management, boating, etc.

no redundant boards, won’t cut from health, and ed, without getting rid of bloated govt.  agencies…  Wants to sell state property now…

…To pay off State’s massive debt and lower our debt payments, government shouldn’t be in real estate business.

“State has run out of time, people have run out of patience.”

10:20am – Wants more reliable state income…  Says he wants some reform before summer recess in July.  Won’t take anything to voters.

Arnold quoting Krugman in NY Times, article here

Says people talking about how California broken, have written the State off… Trying to inspire legislators to great things

Says can’t hand off these problems to future governor or legislators.

10:28am – and he’s done, applause, applause…  Senators and Assembly Members don’t look too happy, just being polite.

Speaker Bass controlling how people leave the chambers.

No break for the Assembly they’re going straight into working the file after everyone has left the chambers.

Sea World at the Capitol – May 13, 2009

At first I thought it was unusual to see “wild” animals in a Senate chamber but after thinking about it for just a minute more it really seemed appropriate (especially if you’ve ever seen some of these Senators go at each other on the floor debating contentious legislation.)

This wasn’t a protest so I won’t be putting it under the Protest at the Capitol heading…  I don’t know why Sea World brought several of their animals to the Capitol before sending them to Southern California for the summer (another question, I forgot to ask there as well…)  At first I thought it was unusual to see “wild” animals in a Senate chamber but after thinking about it for just a minute more it really seemed appropriate (especially if you’ve ever seen some of these Senators go at each other on the floor debating contentious legislation.)  I think I saw all the animals that they brought into the Capitol, if there were larger animals on the grounds I missed them while working, so all the pictures and videos will be of smaller creatures…

That's me and that is a ? armadillo, I forgot to ask
That's me and that is a ? armadillo, I forgot to ask

When I first walked into the room there was a terrible screeching going on and on and on from one of the animals in a covered traveling case.  It turned out to be a black and white-ruffed lemur’s mating call, I don’t know who he thought he was an eligible mate in the Capitol…  I have to admit I enjoyed seeing wild animals while at work, (what other places of business have Sea World stopping by to show animals off?)  the coolest part was seeing the reactions of small children and kids as the looked at penguins and African porcupines, held an armadillo, and petted a lemur!

Here is an unedited video of them showing an African Porcupine:

Here is a short video of the penguins the brought in:

Here is footage of the lemur:

Here is some video of that look children get that I mentioned:

I doubt I’ll be seeing anything else as photogenic as these animals here this year!

Revisiting Same Sex Marriage

the essential civil right is not the right to be different — because difference, in this context, is the prerequisite assumption of bigotry — but the right to be the same.

With the recent legal activities in Iowa and Vermont, the Same Sex Marriage issue isn’t going away, as some proponents of Prop. 8 hoped it would after the proposition passed.  I stated then that people don’t stop fighting for basic rights regardless of how many times those rights are denied them. 

Now, this issue will be taken up and debated at the Federal level by the Congress.  Not because there is any politician brave enough to address the issue, but they’ll be forced to by the District of Columbia City Council who have proposed to recognize the same sex marriages performed elsewhere.  I’ve been thinking about the arguments against Same Sex Marriage as well and I agree with Peter Sagal, who lumped them into 3 groups:  It is against God’s law, it is against tradition, and it’ll destroy heterosexual monogamous marriages. 

I’ve covered these arguments in the past but thought that I’d do so again, if perhaps you missed it or didn’t understand.  The first one isn’t an argument at all, and is irrelevant.  What if my God told me it was okay?  What if he told me to kill kittens, and build giant obelisks to his glory?  It doesn’t matter. My and your personal religious beliefs aren’t an argument for denying people their rights in a secular nation that doesn’t recognize any religious belief as valid.  That whole ‘wall’ Jefferson talked about. 

Arguing marriages traditional place is also a poor argument, the whole liberal enlightenment movement of which the United States is probably the best product of is based on overcoming narrow-minded traditional beliefs, laws, processes, etc.  Slavery has a long tradition in the world, Misogyny does too, as well as genocide, torture, pedophilia, polygamy, etc.  The list could go on and on, these are all traditions that we’ve overcome and are better off for it!  I won’t mention the fact that what is presented to Americans as traditional marriage is younger than our country, but that can be for another time. 

The final argument that same sex marriage will destroy heterosexual ones is ridiculous on its face.  What is the divorce race in our Nation?  50%  How many more heterosexual marriages are loveless or festering wells of spousal and children abuse?  According to the Center for Health and Gender Equality 22% of women interviewed admit to domestic violence abuse.  This actual incidence of domestic violence is almost always under reported.  In some surveys the number has been as high as 50-70%!    It appears that heterosexual marriage doesn’t need any help being destroyed, heterosexuals are doing a bang up job all on their own.  All of this and I haven’t even begun to question how what two people do in the privacy of their own home effects what you do in the privacy of yours?  You might not like it, but besides not being comfortable with the idea of two men or two women raising children and having sexual intercourse it can’t do anything to your marriage.  What is much more likely to destroy it is money issues or infidelity.  Besides there’s no evidence to support this, the divorce rate in Massachusetts hasn’t spiked since the same sex marriage became legal, for the few weeks that it was legal in California the only statistics to see a spike was the rate of marriage…   They used this argument too when it came to giving Woman the vote, passing Civil Rights legislation, and abolition…  Nothing was destroyed then either…

Finally, those opposing same sex marriage will fail for one reason, the young don’t care.  It might take more years than it should, but it is inevitable.  Look at some exit polling from last year’s election concerning Proposition 8 in California:

           Yes   No

18-29 (20%)  39   61
30-44 (28%)  55   45
45-64 (36%)  54   46
65+   (15%)  61   39

As older voters die off and younger voters replace them and the LGBT movement continues to press for equal rights, laws protecting “marriage” will fall and the LGBT community will be able to enjoy the same rights heterosexuals take for granted.  As Andrew Sullivan stated, the essential civil right is not the right to be different — because difference, in this context, is the prerequisite assumption of bigotry — but the right to be the same.

Long Time No Post, Election Thoughts

I’m  still alive, it just so happened that I was very busy running the campaign of Mark Johannessen, who was running for mayor of West Sacramento, we lost.  When I took the job I really had no idea what all was involved with running a ground campaign.  Working on one as a volunteer does little to prepare you for all the stuff that goes on in one of these things.  I’d have been even more overwhelmed if the campaign hadn’t of had the services of a very good consulting firm (from what I hear, what do I know about political consulting?).

So, that explains my long absence, While I was busy trying to get my candidate elected the rest of the nation got Barack Hussien Obama elected!  I’m optimistic that perhaps some positive changes will occur in the United States, though expectations for our President-Elect are through the roof, and the crises he’ll be facing on day one are enough to bury the greatest of Presidents.  If I had a wish list of the things I’d like to see happen in the next four years it’d look like this:

  1. End the War on Terror, roll back all the laws passed because of it that have infringed on civil liberties
  2. End the War of Drugs and the militarization of our peace keeping forces (the police/firefighters/EMTs)
  3. Insure the Internet remains free and unregulated
  4. Re-examine the Fairness Doctrine and the consolidation of media, or free the airwaves!
  5. Stop growing the military-industrial complex
  6. Start providing policy that helps the majority of Americans as opposed to the privileged few
  7. Look into re-regulating of banks and credit markets,  a balance between the complete unregulation of the early ’20s and contemporary times and the over regulation of the late ’70’s

The only one of these I see happening soon is a scale back of the War on Terror, as to an end of it… Doubtful.  So, as a Democratic Progressive where do I go from here and what do I put my time and money into?  I’m thinking about applying for the grand jury here in Yolo County and trying to use it as it was originally intended:  protecting citizens from the government and trying to take it away from prosecuters and judges who see it merely as a rubber stamp for their actions… Speaking of activism, the greatest disappoint for me was the passing of Proposition 8 (and similiar bills in other states) and the loss of civil libertiess to homosexuals.  This bill is bigotry, dress it up however you like, and homosexuals and progressives are going to sit down as rights are denied to them.  I’m sick of hearing about tradition as well.  “Tradition” generally means backwards, patriarchal, and based on nothing more than silly old stories.  As a nation we’ve overcome traditional ownership (slavery), traditional suffrage (male property owners), traditional government (monarchy, oligarchy), and I look forward to overcoming traditional marraige.

It’ll be interesting to see where we go from here, as to moving away if things don’t work out just how I’d like, where would I (or you) go?  I’m an American, this is where I live, this is where my forefathers lived, It’s my duty to them and my progeny to make here a better place.

Next post won’t be so heavy, promise!

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