Lexus IS Convertible #
I’ll always prefer the 2-seater Lexus SC convertibles, but the new 4-seater IS is also a sexy—if more adult—convertible. They’re around $40,000 – $45,000, way less than the SC (starts at $67,000).
May 26, 2009
More Prop 8 Reaction #
Indeed.
It essentially tells Californians that a right as fundamental as the ability to choose the marital partner of your choice is a kind of judicial lottery ticket — if you got in early, you win, but those who arrived a few days late lose. Sorry.
Also:
And it's morally permissible to carve out exceptions to constitutional rights for specific groups, as long as it's done by majority vote?
And one more:
So, if a majority of Californians voted to "carve out a narrow exception" to California's right to privacy and applied it only to Jews, would it be constitutionally acceptable? If Native Americans were accorded all the protections of the law by a ballot proposition, except the right to marry a non-Indian, would that be legal?
Another Prop 8 Reaction #
Seriously fucked-up:
[T]he tone of the opinion suggests that the justices themselves weren’t happy with it, but that they had to follow California’s unusual laws when it comes to amending its constitution.
California Prop 8 Reaction #
My feelings exactly:
I’m reminded again that people get to vote on my rights. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.
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Majority Rules
May 26, 2009
I’m eminently disappointed by today’s California Supreme Court Prop 8 ruling. Putting aside the gay marriage issue for a second, today’s ruling upholds the ability of the majority to restrain or eliminate the rights of the minority.
What will be next? Will the majority curtail when tall people can walk the streets? How about banning driving for bald people? Will we be required to wear Dodger blue when visiting L.A. from the Bay Area?
You laugh at these inane suggestions, but when all that is necessary to alter the constitution of the state is fifty percent plus one, you are in for some inane laws.
Isn’t this country all about protecting minority rights?
I guess I can’t fault the Supreme Court themselves. That lays with the fucked-up way California lets their constitution be changed. Taking away rights, or limiting how those rights can be exercised, should be done only after careful deliberation and a super-majority vote, and perhaps not even then.
Consider that Prop 8 barely passed (600,000 votes, less than 5% of the votes cast, and 2.7% of the voting California voting population). Six hundred thousand voters made this decision for 22 million people.
Just in case, I’m going to act short, keep my hair long and and limit my trips to Disneyland.
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Keeble & Shuchat Photo Expo & Sale #
Every year K&S offer a no-sales-tax "sale" on cameras, lenses and printers, and every year I scan the ad desperately looking that no, I don't need yet another lens or camera. Fortunately, the one camera I want, the Canon 5D MKII, is excluded from this no-tax sale. Whew. Close call.
Sheep Dip Scotch #
OK, I’m always willing to try a new scotch, especially one with a name like “Sheep Dip Scotch”. However, it’s $40 at BevMo, which is a tad expensive for an unknown scotch. (And the bottle at BevMo isn’t anywhere as cool-looking).
