Arnold, you make a terrible parent

Maria, are you there? Do you not see that your husband is neglecting the children? Oh wait, your kids are being taken care of by a full-time staff. Sorry to bother you. You may be tending to your uncle who, even with full healthcare coverage and a malignant brain tumor, is still managing to fight for universal healthcare. Carry on.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the budget that he calls, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Way to incorporate movie trivia into your new gig, Mr. Governator.

Let's start with the bad, being the pessimist I have a tendency to be. The bad is obviously the fact that the governor made $500 million additional cuts that will affect child welfare, children's healthcare, the elderly, state parks and AIDS treatment and prevention, going well beyond the cuts that were part of the deal Schwarzenegger worked out with legislators. Alrighty.

Let's look at the good. The governor says the good part is that the plan does not raise taxes. Sorry, I think I just barfed in my mouth a little. Can we get micro for a minute and put this on a small scale? Arnold is dad, and he is telling Sally and Juan they cannot be properly taken care of because daddy makes so much money and he shouldn't have to pay for his kids' well- being because that wouldn't be fair to daddy. Daddy has worked hard taking all of those steroids to build his wealth, bi's and tri's. Oh and the elderly and the sick, it will all be over soon. It's not like there will be parks for you to sit and enjoy anyways.

Excuse me sir, but where is your foresight? Where is your understanding of prevention and hope? I don't know what it takes to run a state, or a family for that matter. But I do know that if you build a gaudy mansion made of steel and gold trim atop quicksand, shit's gonna go down.

Oh and the ugly? According to Governor Schwarzenegger, the ugly is that he had to make the cuts because lawmakers left town after failing to fully close the state's deficit. I guess Arnold believes in spanking too.

I hate Prop. 8

I hate it, hate it, hate it that the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8 - the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages. I think it's absurd. Just absurd. But what to do? Onward and upward.

This video is appalling!

Miss California tells Miss USA judge Perez Hilton that she thinks marriage should be between a man and a woman. I am appalled!

No, not at her answer. I expected as much from a beauty contestant. I'm appalled because it's 2009 and there is still a beauty pageant on television.

Prop. 8 Watch

There are several legal challenges to California's Proposition 8, and tomorrow (March 5th) the state supreme court will hear oral arguments.

Read the background here.

Watch the oral arguments on The California Channel beginning at 9 a.m. PT tomorrow.

Watch Equality California's new video about the court challenge.

California's Prop. 8 fight continues

On March 5th the California Supreme Court will hear arguments about the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and whether the 18,000 same-sex couples who got married before the November election will remain married.

In the meantime, the Prop. 8 actions and protests continue. California activists are using Freedom to Marry Day and Valentine's Day to voice their ongoing concerns, and the Courage Campaign created a video called "Fidelity."

Please, turn your attention to Oakland

I wanted to call everyone's attention to the fatal-shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III on New Year's Day by a BART police officer.

If you haven't already seen the video, this cell phone video captures the shooting.



Grant was buried Wednesday in Lone Tree Cemetery in the hills of Hayward, where he lived. Mercury News covered his funeral.



Since the shooting there have been ongoing protests in Oakland. Wednesday night's protest escalated with some vandals looting, smashing windows, starting fires and damaging buildings and cars. 105 people were arrested, and some businesses are closing early Thursday for fear that there will be more property damage.

Here's protest footage from Wednesday night.



The officer who fired the fatal shot has since resigned. Community members voiced their outrage at the BART Board meeting Thursday and demanded that the investigation of the shooting be turned over to state and federal authorities.

What are your thoughts, reactions or plans? Share them below.

Change takes time

Americans (myself included) have been high for the last week and a half. Even with the economic crisis, anyone who supports President-elect Barack Obama, or the Democratic Party, or a new approach to U.S. foreign policy, or the notion of a (probably lofty) post-racial society, has been high as a kite.

Why? Because President-elect Barack Obama told us that "change has come to America."

And surely it has. The American people have clearly articulated what they want from their Executive Branch.

But this afternoon, when I was driving through L.A.’s Crenshaw District and Leimert Park, I came down from that high.

I was on Rodeo Road (not to be confused with Rodeo Drive. L.A. locals will tell you the two are worlds apart) when I saw two LAPD vehicles descending on a street corner that I was quickly approaching.

The squad cars stopped, the car doors flew open and out jumped four, large white police officers. I couldn’t see why they were moving so rapidly.

Fearing that I might be driving into a hail of bullets, I slowed down as I got to the street corner.

The four officers were wrestling a man to the ground – a young, African American man wearing a white cap, a white t-shirt and light denim pants.

He was struggling with them a bit it seemed, but I couldn’t tell if he was resisting.

There was no judgment of the officers or the young man on my part. Who’s to say what was going on there? I was just driving by.

But the image stuck with me. Four white men dressed in dark blue suits. Extremely dark blue. Almost black. One black man in the middle wearing mostly white.

Aside from the color juxtaposition, the incident was sobering. I felt for my brother. He could have been wrong. He could have been right.

But I wished the young man were on his way home from school, or on his way home from work, or busy mowing the lawn for his grandmother. Just anything other than being wrestled to the ground by four police officers.

I felt as sad for him as I felt happy for President-elect Obama on election night. I hope you can understand that.

So, yes. Change has come to America. But real change will also take time.

Gay is the new black

In a statement released today regarding the passage of California's Proposition 8, which seeks to amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and woman, No On 8 said the following:

"We achieve nothing if we isolate the people who did not stand with us in this fight. We only further divide our state if we attempt to blame people of faith, African American voters, rural communities and others for this loss. We know people of all faiths, races and backgrounds stand with us in our fight to end discrimination, and will continue to do so. Now more than ever it is critical that we work together and respect our differences that make us a diverse and unique society. Only with that understanding will we achieve justice and equality for all."

In case you're wondering, the part about African American voters is in response to the fact that 70 percent of African Americans voted Yes on Proposition 8.

The theory goes, African Americans turned out in higher numbers to support their man, Barack. They got to the polls, and the socially conservative lot thought "gay people shouldn't be calling their unions 'MARRIAGE!'

Whether African Americans did in Prop 8 is being debated as I type. (Also check out Meg's post on Prop 8).

Either way, the theory was discussed well in advance of November 4th because a) African Americans were expected to come out in record numbers and b) our President-elect stopped short of calling gay unions marriage.

But I am left with this: California voted to elect an African American president while simultaneously voting to amend the state constitution to exclude gays from calling their unions marriage. Does that mean that gay is the new black?

Nanny wanted... potential for job growth

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed his children's nanny to a board that oversees the guide dog industry. The nanny's name is Lindsay Schnaidt and she will be a part-time state regulator. She will get paid $100 whenever the board meets, which is about 8 times a year.

Sure, we're not talking about a high-powered, high-paid position, but the cynic in me feels uncomfortable with this. I immediately think she blackmailed the governor into appointing her to this position in return for sealed lips about their affair, or an affair she knows about, or the weird bathroom habits he is hiding. (Please note that I have no evidence that any of this is true.)

One may refute this by arguing that a part-time regulator on the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind doesn't seem like a fair trade for eternal confidentiality, but I would say, well, what's next, Secretary of Child Care? Fine, that position doesn't exist, but hey, who says Arnold won't create the position for her. The nanny has expressed interest in serving California. She is clearly climbing the political ladder.

Maybe I picked the wrong career. I guess job growth in the nanny world doesn't just mean being promoted to mistress. Hmmm... I'm gonna go check out Craig's List.