A rumor has been bouncing around for a few days that a decision has been made in the consolidated gay marriage cases that were heard by the California Supreme Court last month. One person at the law school mentioned it and I read the same rumor online: the Court will strike down the Family Code provisions limiting marriage to a man and a woman.

At the time, I didn't think much of it. Rumors about impending decisions in important cases are common and usually based on little more than counting justices based on their prior holdings. (For example, in this case I've picked three against, three for, and one whom I can't figure out based on earlier cases, the way he acted at oral argument, ethnicity, and politics. A nice, safe bet!) But a writer at Huffington Post made some pretty specific claims today:

Sources wishing to remain anonymous in the California Court System indicate that the court, which has until June 2, 2008 to issue it's marriage ruling, is considering issuing it on Friday, May 23, 2008, with the decision being written by Chief Justice Ronald George. The Court is readying itself for a backlash that may follow the rumored and bold decision. There is talk that the Court will not simply strike down Proposition 22, but will move the State of California toward full marriage, if not even granting full marriage rights for gays and lesbians outright.

It's probably just a wild-assed guess. He's left himself hedge-room with that "is considering" language and it's unclear what he means when he writes that the court will not "simply strike down" the Family Code marriage definition (Prop 22). If the court rules in favor of gay marriage, it will be because the Family Code provisions are unconstitutional under state or federal equal protection or due process clauses. If the Court relies on the federal constitution, it will have essentially passed the buck to the federal courts. If the Court relies on the state constitution, the ruling might actually stick...for a while.

Marriage amendment petitions are very common in California (there have been 13 separate attempts since I moved here). They don't usually get very far, but pro-gay marriage cases have a tendency to create strong backlash and not just against gay marriage. Several marriage amendment petitions are in the works right now, including one that would also forbid domestic partnerships. Virginia did the same thing in 2006 when voters adopted an amendment banning legal recognition of relationships which "approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage." For many, it isn't just a struggle over the word "marriage."

And, of course, it's an election year. Gay marriage was much discussed on the campaign trail in 2004, but people are still arguing about how much the presence of marriage amendments on the ballot affected the presidential race. McCain, Clinton, and Obama have all announced that the question should be left up to the states, so it's not clear that any candidate would get a bump from a pro-gay marriage ruling. McCain could possibly separate himself from the pack by picking a running mate who is firmly pro-traditional marriage.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:55 PM | Comments (183)
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Ray Midge informs me that the Village Voice, which must really be hurting for sales, has once again attempted to drive up online traffic by insulting right-wing bloggers. Eight (I think) blogs are rated according to "Stupid/Evil" ratio, and I am proud to say that this blog has been rated the least evil of the conservative blogs examined.

Mostly because of the 99:1 Stupid:Evil ratio. Which I guess this means this is the most moronic blog of all major blogs, which, quite frankly, isn't so much an insult as "brand identity."

Anyway, as the Village Voice has been so kind as to review me, I figured I'd repost a review of James Wolcott's egregiously vile chick-lit novel The Catsitters.

...

Reviewing George Galloway, friend of dictators, inciter of assassination attempts on Tony Blair, James Wolcott enthused: "a hero for out time."

Reviewing deadly hurricane, James Wolcott gushed: "I root for hurricanes. When, courtesy of the Weather Channel, I see one forming in the ocean off the coast of Africa, I find myself longing for it to become big and strong--Mother Nature's fist of fury, Gaia's stern rebuke. Considering the havoc mankind has wreaked upon nature with deforesting, stripmining, and the destruction of animal habitat, it only seems fair that nature get some of its own back and teach us that there are forces greater than our own."

In fairness, some critics have noted that Wolcott's retard-novel The Catsitters was, in fact, an attempt to convey the full horror and human misery of a Category 5 hurricane in prose, and, viewed in those terms, was an unqualified success. "Ther are indeed forces greater than our own," one reviewer wrote, "and among the greatest and most fearsome is James Wolcott's awful writing. Every page of his novel is a heartbreaking glimpse of the wreckage left by 100 mph drivel and twenty-foot high cresting cliches."

Let me review as much of this book as I can... which as it turns out is just the first page, because the book has long since been mulched and turned into other, better books. more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:23 PM | Comments (165)
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I'm posting this partly in defiance (see the above post) and partly because I just would have anyway.

Tokyo Gore Police. As I Watch Stuff notes (Content Warning for Gore), they're doing just a terrible job of policing Tokyo for gore. There sure is an awful lot of it.

An awful lot of it. more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:12 PM | Comments (16)
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Put it on his tombstone. This says it all.

"In a democracy, I realize you don't need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels. When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that's the dictator, because he speaks for all the people."

Guess who? Look for quote of the day for the idiot's mug.

Posted by: Ace at 08:58 PM | Comments (42)
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It's a right!

Really it is now.

She has a skin condition. Her own doctor said she couldn't work in a restaurant with the condition. Canada's out of control PC police says that McDonald's still had to accommodate her disability -- and found there was no correlation between hand-washing and the prevention of spreading germs.

I'm sorry -- who's politicizing science, now?

Thanks to Liberrocky.

Posted by: Ace at 06:58 PM | Comments (39)
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Sorry, when I'm tired, this is the best I can do.

So this woman bought some rats to feed to her pet snake. They escaped. And bred. And bred. So that ultimately the rats were infesting the walls and the smell of rat urine was "overpowering."

She doesn't understand why her pets were taken away from her.

She also says she turned to living amidst rat feces when the mill closed because "it was the only thing I had left in my life that made sense."

From this Nutty News site's videos on the left lower sidebar. more...

Posted by: Ace at 06:23 PM | Comments (15)
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I know that "breast" in breastmilk is redundant, but I choose to be redundant for impact.

I'd like a slice of that "Stacey." Mmm. Smokey finish. Camel Lights, I'm guessing.

Le Petit Singly is a farm that specializes in making cheese from women's breast milk. Are you imagining the milking process? Admittedly, that imagery makes me come to the conclusion that it's an absolutely bizarre and crazy world of cheesemaking in little ole Singly, France. But, no. I think the "donors" bring their milk to the farm, or something like that.

The cheese is produced exactly like it would be for cow's milk and apparently tastes like it has hints of hazelnut. I still have my doubts about its existence, though. The farm says the cheese is rich in vitamins and nutrients but I don't think these survive after being ultra-pasteurized. Also, they have an "AB" label, which is the official label for organic products. Does that mean that the women all grazed on organic?

Oh, the guy writing here smells hoax. I do too. I guess I should say that. This isn't, um, what's the word? True, maybe.

Thanks to dri.

Posted by: Ace at 05:33 PM | Comments (50)
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What's so controversial? Everything he said is 100% correct, especially that last part. more...

Posted by: Ace at 04:40 PM | Comments (35)
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Because they refused to hire him.

Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said Jeremy McIntosh, 27, was arrested Saturday night outside the Intimate Ideas store in Commerce Township, 25 miles northwest of Detroit. Damage to the store was estimated at $3,000.

In a (oddly) descriptive part of the report, Undersheriff McCabe reported that McIntosh was dressed in "facial makeup, lipstick, blue Capri pants, red 'flip-flops,' a flowery blouse and a matching flowery women's bra."

Matching. Flowery.

Oh well. I know I always express my career frustrations through felony property damage better when I feel pretty.

Rose goes in the front, big guy.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:30 PM | Comments (21)
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Sorry about the downtime, folks. One of the drives in the server went into crazy-failure mode last night. Fortunately it was the backup disk, so all the live data is fine, and we've only lost old stuff. Unfortunately, while it was failing it made lots of problems and made it really hard for me to log in and fix things.

So, situation normal right now, and I'll run backups to the mee.nu server until I can get the drive swapped out. We'll do that at 3AM on Sunday or something like that to avoid further interruptions.

And now I return you to your regular scheduled moron-blog.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 PM | Comments (12)
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