LA Times Your Vote: Legalization of Gay Marriage in California
Did the California Supreme Court make the correct decision?
73.6 % Yes
26.4 % No
40028 total responses
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Escape from the LA Zoo
May 20, 2008
Bruno, a 29-year-old orangutan at the Los Angeles Zoo, tried to escape from his enclosure Saturday but was stopped in his tracks — after about 3,000 visitors were herded toward the exit.
Carnitas Are Not A Crime!
May 20, 2008Street vendors are the heartbeat of the city and represent the intersectionality of culture, cuisine, and identity. The County Board of Supervisors should not appease the nagging of restaurant owners during the recession, but instead let the market determine the price schedule for ALL eateries in the county.
Breakdown of State Court Justices
May 15, 2008|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban
May 15, 2008Civil Rights are Alive and Well, at Least Today they are!
In a 4-3 decision, the justices rule that people have a fundamental right to marry the person of their choice and that gender restrictions violate the state Constitution’s equal protection guarantees.
Governor’s May Revise
May 15, 2008Thursday May 15, 2008
“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attempted to forge a path out of the state’s financial mess Wednesday by offering concessions to both Democrats, who are demanding that schools and other services not be cut, and Republicans disdainful of new taxes,” writes Evan Halper and Patrick McGreevy in the Times.
“Both sides immediately declared that they wanted little to do with the governor’s budget proposal, suggesting that Sacramento is in for another long, unproductive summer.
“The $144.4-billion spending plan would restore $1.8 billion for schools while making deep cuts in welfare and healthcare for the infirm, legal immigrants and impoverished parents.”
We like to call those the “non-voters.”
“It would steer an $828-million windfall of gas tax revenue — the result of soaring prices at the pump — away from public transportation programs and into patching California’s $15.2-billion budget gap.
“The challenge that the governor and lawmakers face is daunting. The state has dropped $6 billion further into the red since January, when California was already struggling financially.
“The centerpiece of Schwarzenegger’s budget is a novel plan to ask voters for permission to borrow $15 billion from Wall Street against future earnings of the state lottery, and to temporarily raise the state portion of sales taxes — now 6.25% — by 1 percentage point if voters reject the proposal in November.
“As the deficit grew these past few months, I knew that we could not solve this crisis by cuts alone,” the governor said in presenting his proposals. ‘We had to get creative.’
“But state Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) called the revised budget ‘beneath a governor of this great state. It’s telling our citizens: This is it. Our best years are behind us.’”
ICE Raid in South Central
May 14, 2008Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the single-family, two-story home in the 10000 block of South Normandie Avenue about 6:30 a.m.. and arrested 61 Central and South American immigrants in the house due to citizenship status.
Be on the look out and be careful. These raids continue to devastate communities and tear up families. South LA has long been a site of INS agents, dating back to the horrid summer raids of 2004.
Latino Politics in Nevada
May 14, 2008Via racewire.org: Ruben Kihuen, the son of Mexican immigrants, is up for re-election in Nevada’s state assembly. The Dem has represented the 11th District since 2006, when he ran his first campaign a year after becoming a citizen. Kihuen made news most recently though because he endorsed and canvassed aggressively for Hillary Clinton, though the local Latino-heavy Culinary Union supported Obama. Clinton won the Nevada primary, but how Kihuen will deal with the difference in opinion between himself and his constituency is something to keep an eye on, says Bill Fulkerson of Plan Nevada, a nonprofit alliance of over 24 groups that works for progressive social change in Nevada.
Ruben Kihuen’s website: http://www.rubenforassembly.com/
Soboba Indian Reservation is Being Attacked by Sheriff’s
May 14, 2008
After reading about the issues plaguing the Soboba Indian Reservation, I had to take a minute and ask myself what year it is: 2008. The conflict between the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the Soboba Indian Reservation looks strikingly similar to the Indian Wars of the 18th century. So much so, I am alarmed and saddened that amidst all of the social and economic problems plaguing Indian Reservations today, they still must face police brutality and outright racism.
Essentially, a wild gun battle between Riverside County sheriff’s deputies and a pair of suspects on the Soboba Indian Reservation left two people dead and tribal members frustrated and demanding answers Tuesday.
“There are better ways to solve these problems than by bringing in the 7th Cavalry and wiping them out. I would say we are in a war right now,” said Robert Salgado, Soboba tribal chairman and a cousin of those killed. Chairman Soboba was refused entry into the crime seen by Riverside County Sheriff’s intensifying the disrespect felt by this community, on top of the mourning of two of their peers. In response to the Sheriff’s, Soboba states ”See why I’m angry? You see what I’m talking about?” he asked as he drove off. “If I was the mayor of L.A. and I was visiting a crime scene, they would have said, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ but they treat me with no respect. Do we look like gangsters?”
Moreover, after the land, natural resources, and livelihood was taken away by European settlers and their descendants, Native Americans have had few resources to deal with the isolation that their newfound ‘reservations’ provided them. They face issues of alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, and depression. Common issues plaguing today’s inner cities, but in this case they are socially isolated and all but forgotten, if it wasn’t for the creation of Indain casinos.
Salgado said he believes some of the tension stems from 2006, when he canceled a contract with the Sheriff’s Department that paid for deputies to patrol the reservation.
“We paid $400,000 and we didn’t see the benefits, so we did away with the contract,” he said. This explanation makes total sense: the sheriff’s department is pissed off they lost easy money for no work and have decided to harass the community in response to the loss of their contract. Are there no rules to regulate unprompted retalialtion and civil rights abuses?
The notion that these blatantly racist and discriminatory public officials can harrass, threaten, and even harm members of this community is beyond my own comprehension. Yet, I must remember this is the same country and same people that have colonized native people into laborers under harsh public policies that favor the rich and beat down on the poor. Now, two members of the Soboba Tribe have died, and tension is only escalating. Seems like the traditions of the wild west are still alive and well in the racist Inland Empire.
