California Sticks Its Finger in Conservatives' Eye

I'm really tired of the chauvinism displayed by George W. Bush and other residents of Texas who believe and say that Texas is superior to other states in some way. It's like people who go around saying that the United States is the best country in the world when they've never traveled abroad. They don't have a frame of reference to back their claims.

Last weekend I watched Tim Russert interview author Kinky Friedman who plans to run as governor of Texas. Kinky was bloviating about Texas and being a Texan so Tim Russert asked him why Texans think their state is better than the others and Kinky squirmed a bit and didn't really answer.

Texas doesn't have a university that merits ranking in the top 10. Texas A&M is ranked 14.

Their educational system is failing:

Fewer than 30 percent of the state's 7,908 campuses and fewer than 15 percent of the state's more than 1,200 districts received the top two ratings, exemplary or recognized, and the number of campuses earning the lowest rankings increased.

They allow people to carry guns, their prison system puts mentally handicapped people to death, in fact, they put lots of people to death. And they're proud of it, apparently.

My apologies to my friends who live in Texas and to other progressive residents of Texas. I once lived there (San Antonio) and I don't think anything would ever convince me to move back.

Having said that, I don't want to be chauvinistic about living in California but today I'm especially proud of my adopted state. Our state legislature is the first to ever approve gay marriage.

"A bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry won final passage on Tuesday in the California Assembly, marking the first time a state legislature in the United States has endorsed gay marriage.

The bill by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno passed by a 41-35 vote, with the help of four Democrats who had not voted for it when the Assembly had previously taken up the legislation.

The state Senate backed the same bill last week."

Take that George W. Bush. Take that Jerry Falwell. Take that Pat Robertson. Take that homophobes! California is not ruled by religious zealots!

Update: Gropenfuhrer Schwarzenegger (Bush-lite) vetoed the bill, wants the court to decide the issue. The court decides issues of law so if it had been signed into law, it wouldn't be an issue for the court unless religious nuts tried to challenge it.

I can't figure out why they feel so threatened by the idea of allowing gay people to marry - but then Rob and I were married by a judge in a civil union. In our opinion, religion has nothing to do with our marriage which is a legal contract giving us certain legal and property rights (tax considerations, etc.).

If religious wingnuts had their way, women would still be the property of men. They seem to believe they (religious nutjobs) have the right to decide who can marry (benefit from legal and property rights), whether women can control our reproductive functions and the new Chief Justice-to-be, Roberts, sees no reason why women should receive equal pay.