Amazingly in this state of disarray we call California conservative lawmakers have enough time on their hands to COME OUT against a proposed day honoring Harvey Milk. In Friday's Los Angeles Times will be a story about how conservatives are calling on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto a day to recognize the many achievements of the slain San Francisco supervisor. Milk, the first openly gay elected leader, was gunned down in San Francisco City Hall back in 1978. A movie, "Milk," was made about his life last year and actor Sean Penn won the Best Actor honor at the Oscars for his portrayal of the gay rights icon.
According to the story (www.latimes.com), a proposal for a day to recognize Milk was passed by the Legislature on Thursday and is among more than a dozen gay rights bills offered in the aftermath of Proposition 8, last November's ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California.
The proposal, penned by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would make May 22 "Harvey Milk Day" throughout the state.
Leno told the newspaper, "There are days of special significance for John Muir, for the California poppy. Why would we not have such a day for this unique California hero?"
It's a very simple answer according to opponents - because Milk's gayness will ruin our children and brainwash them into a gay lifestyle.
Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, protested on the steps outside the Capitol on Thursday saying that "Harvey Milk is and was a terrible role model for kids... He was a public liar that twisted the truth while running for office about his military career... and was a sexual anarchist who had multiple boyfriends." Geez, there's never been a straight politician that didn't get accused of being a "public liar" (see all of them), or twisted the truth about his military career while running for office (see George W. Bush) or had multiple girlfriends (again, see all of them).
Opponents also say that honoring Milk would be endorsing homosexuality and schools might hold mock gay weddings and gay pride parades on campus. When I started writing this entry I wanted to be supportive of the proposed day, but now all this gay talk is making me want to blow a Republican. I can see what they're saying about how cock-eyed the idea really is and I refuse to bend over for the left. I quickly digress.
Not surprisingly, the Governator's office has been receiving waves of phone calls, e-mails and faxes for weeks from both gay rights advocates and conservative Christians so much so that Schwarzenegger's office has created a special phone line to handle the volume.
Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm a big fan of Milk, so my views are a bit biased on this whole controversy. He's a fellow graduate of the University at Albany and I've got to support my peeps. It just seems like there's too much shit going down here for these a-holes to worry about a celebration of Harvey Milk.
Alice Kesler of Equality California, a gay rights organization that fought Prop 8, made a great point in the Times story when she said, "When we honor civil rights leaders, we honor them for their public service, not for their personal lives. This is just a red herring."
Here's where things will get interesting. Last year, Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar proposal placed on his desk, but since then Milk's life has become even more publicized. In addition to the movie, Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, announced Milk would be one of a dozen men and women inducted into the California Hall of Fame this year. In July, President Obama awarded Milk the posthumous Medal of Freedom. It's going to be a lot harder for the Governator to veto it this year, but let's not be surprised when he does.
OUT IN THE FIELD: It was a decent night in Soledad even though the warm California sun nearly burned right through me. Luckily, a kind woman and her little son gave me a freezing cold bottle of water about halfway through. It's amazing what lengths I will go to in the spirit of registering people to vote. BTW, I was able to swing three Republicans tonight and had 11 new Democrats registered in all.
CURRENT HIT TALLY
TOTAL OF 67 NEW DEMOCRATS
10 REPUBLICAN KILLS
Do you really think that all of the problems that California has are the fault of too many Republicans, that "if only there were more Democrats things would be great!" ? California has been steered into the ground by every group of liberal imaginable, while being controled by democrats for decades. I suppose the reason is that they just haven't been allowed to do enough, but if they just passed more laws and raised taxes even more, than things will be perfect. Let me propose an alternative solution for California. 1) Lower taxes, this will bring in more productive people and more business, thereby raising state revenue, 2) lower costs by reducing the size and scope of government spending, especially social and environmental programs (which ironically are the cause of the massive wildfires every year, that people are not allowed to clear out underbrush from their propety because they might hurt some endangered rodent). Wait - this sounds like a small government, conservative solution! Notice I didn't say Republican. I think the Libertarian party has the best platform for fiscal disipline, also for personal freedoms. Check them out, I think that you'll find that their platform may mirror your beliefs (they don't mind the gays, but probably wouldn't extol a day for Milk either) and are not in the Robin Hoods business either, ie the Democrats stealing from one group and giving it to another.
ReplyDeleteHello Allan. The answer to your first question is Yes. Right now Democrats have the majority in the state Senate/House, but not the 2/3 majority we're seeking, so it would be nice to get that majority over the next two years along with a Democratic governor to replace the actor.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your next points, I found an great article for you to check out. It's about how Yale did a study of conservative thinkers and concluded that clinically it's impossible to argue with one because they basically lack any form of rational thinking. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402375_pf.html
On the final point, are you sure Libertarian is the way to go? Wasn't it started by a French anarchist communist? I came across that recently.
Allan how long has it been since you took Macroeconomics 101? You think the best way for CA to get out of the economic crisis is to reduce government spending because you believe in small government. Fine. But does reduced government spending increase economic well-being? If we measure economic well-being by GDP- which is measured by the sum of net exports, consumption, investment and GOVERNMENT SPENDING-then it follows that an increase in government spending, according to the aggregate demand and aggregate supply model, would increase the quantity of goods and services demanded at any price and therefore would shift the aggregate demand curve back toward the original equilibrium to the right. At this new equilibrium, we have higher output at ALL price levels. If governments increase spending fast enough- in CA's case raising taxes because it is currently broke-they can offset the initial downward shift in aggregate demand- where we are now- and move aggregate demand back to the right, thus lessening high unemployment and depressed levels of output.
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