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While Norma Torres is enjoying the Democratic convention in Denver, I submitted a letter that she will probably need to reply back or issue a campaign advertisement to answer the claims.

Check it out here. Or at your news stand August 27th.

It is an edited letter of a piece I wrote for my site earlier.

The irony is I am now independent in this election now. I am a free agent to help effect this race now.  My letter in May helped Wendy defeat Ben in the primary, but I am not going to advocate the election of Norma nor Wendy this year. I just feel sorry for the voters this election year. Mediocrity on parade is probably the theme this election year.

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Open letter to the Yes on 8 canvassers in my neighborhood,

I am disappointed that you need to find solace in reducing personal liberty of your fellow Californians. Yes, you want to keep the definition of marriage back to its original tradition. However your support of 8 is destructive to thousands of same sex couples and their children living from your neighborhood to your city and county who depend on the rights and privileges that come with marriage. The Yes on 8 people would like to paint their campaign as pro-marriage and children instead of anti-gay. However their campaign is indeed anti-gay and anti-children even though both sides do want to share in the institution of marriage.

Just because your children hear about equality in marriage in school or in the news, does not mean that they will be turning homosexual on you. Yes, you would like to make sure your children would share in your prejudice, but to be honest I would like them to make up their own minds.

Pro 8 people have explained that churches could be sued for not hosting ceremonies of same sex couples, but most people have the common sense not to request ceremonies in non-affirming churches. Yes, churches have the right to religious expression. However if the building is used for secular purposes the building should be open to all in New Jersey public accommodations law.

In talking points from the Yes on 8 campaign, they said pastors could be sued for speaking against same sex marriage as hate speech. However we are not in Canada, people can say the most lame statements and not be fined or in jail.

To the religious groups spending their time walking my neighborhood, I ask a question to you. Are there better things to spend your time and money such as feeding the poor and teaching children how to read?

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Music not popular in the USA, August 25th 2008

Mylene Farmer has a haunting electro-pop song called Dégénération.

Think of it as a mix between the movie Species and the Fifth element.

Embedding is disabled for this song. However its a worthwhile video.

There is not that much music outside of America right now that is catching my interest, but I will let you all know as time goes on.

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Updates

I am working on two stories for the blog. I am looking to profile and interview the Libertarian candidate running for Assembly District 61 Michael Mendez. Then my second story idea is discussing the lack of plastic bag recycling in Ontario, California.

Right now there is nothing much on my mind right now. However thank you for reading.

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McCain, two steps backwards and one step forwards

McCain is not appealing for my vote. I just can not support him. He rather thinks that abortion is okay, but supporting LGBT equality is a bad thing when McCain decided to send a trial balloon to the media about having former Governor Ridge of Pennsylvania as his potential running mate. Yes, McCain is pissing off the pro-life voters and that is a bad thing when you want to cement the support from the party base.

Then McCain decided to release his technology platform and it also sucks hard too. He believes that the media industries such as the RIAA and MPAA should wage war on their consumers and net neutrality is not what he believes in. McCain is more of a slave to the big companies than the consumers in our nation.

The primary system has led to us having two of the worst nominees for the major parties in our country.

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Why I support marriage equality

I wrote this piece back in May when a local pastor I know submitted his column why Proposition 8 needs to be passed in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, which resulted in 330+ replies to his column.

By Matthew Munson

Back in 2000 I knew the fight for same sex marriage was going to be futile. The proponents of Proposition 22 were well-funded compared to an unprepared group trying to oppose the initiative. They knew that the 2000 primary was going to be the perfect time to bring in their base of voters because the Republicans were having a heated nomination fight. Yes, it is understood that 62 percent did support this initiative. However eight long years does end up changing the views of voters regarding this controversial issue.

Most Californians do see the importance for the recognition of partnership rights and during May 15^th, the California Supreme Court laid their landmark decision affirming the right that the right to marry is extended to gay and straight alike. In this case, supporters of Proposition 22 may say that the governor and the state Supreme Court may be violating the will of the people. However the courts are the checks and balances that prevent tyranny of the majority. Just as how Proposition 14 in 1964 was passed to allow discrimination in housing and rentals, it was repealed in 1967 with the US Supreme Court decision of Reitman v. Mulkey.

The dictionary is not a static book, the dictionary changes over time. The definitions of words including marriage evolve just as how generations have varied opinions of same sex marriage. The dictionary of today does include the mention of same sex marriage. The battle for same sex marriage is not for the validation of our behavior, it’s for equal rights for our relationships. It is about improving the lives for all families, straight and gay.

California has most of the rights and privileges extended to same sex couples with domestic partnerships. It is merely a symbolic victory in the state supreme court. Society may not be comfortable or accepting of the idea of the term marriage extended to same sex couples. However it’s integral for couples to be recognized as equal under the law. Federal law gives over 1,049 rights, benefits and responsibilities to opposite sex couples that are routinely denied to same sex couples, because of the Defense of Marriage act these benefits can not be confirmed. If straight allies are uncomfortable with marriage extended to same sex couples, then a parallel institution should be extended nationwide until society is comfortable for same sex marriage.

No one is going to force straight California to enter into a same sex marriage. Although it’s going to be a close fight, win or lose same sex marriage is inevitable. This decision was about civil marriage, if you want to have selective criteria about religious marriage you have the liberty to choose who can be married in your religious institution.

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Norma Torres is Ms.Sanctuary City

Ever since the murders of Jamiel Shaw in Los Angeles and the Bologna family in San Francisco the Sanctuary city policies have became a big issue this year. It is understandable that cities want to protect illegal residents from deportation when they want to use them for witnesses or to be able to have them to confide to law enforcement. However those who are held in violent crimes should not be afforded such courtesy.

However Republicans in Sacramento have tried in the current legislative session to cut off funding for cities that actively undermine federal immigration enforcement. Unfortunately this bill died in committee where Democrats would rather keep violent illegals on the streets instead of protecting innocent bystanders.

When it comes to next year’s legislative session, will Norma Torres keep illegal residents who commit crimes on our streets? Or do the right thing and deport them because they are also violating federal laws. However when we look towards past precedence where Torres was the biggest advocate in making Pomona a sanctuary city for the illegal residents who may reside in her city, it is not likely she will deliver on public safety.

For this election, investigate into her opponents and make up your own mind.

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Energy is the issue for 2008

Iraq and Republican corruption were the big issues that tipped the legislature to the Democratic Party. However 2008 may be more competitive than it should be thanks to the increasing costs of energy such as gasoline and natural gas.

It is ironic that advocates for the working American such as Congressman Joe Baca (D-CA), calls himself working Joe Baca support the Democratic leadership energy agenda which does not do anything productive in getting our energy costs to a reasonable level. Of course Hollywood and the environmental lobby could afford the five or six dollar a gallon gasoline, but the average American can not.

Yes we need to be environmentally sound and use alternative fuels, but they are not ready for prime time to be rolled out to our country. If we could rebuild Europe and get to the moon, we can become energy independent. As what Paris Hilton explained in her satire of the McCain advertisement, we need to use the best ideas from both candidates to get America moving. Explore for new fuel in an environmentally safe matter, conserve and use alternative powered vehicles and we will have progress.

If you want to find more information on the Republican Party efforts to get an energy initiative passed, click on the banner on my right sidebar on my site.

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Preventing a Blue County San Bernardino

If we want to make impact in the Post Postmus era, we should learn from the mistakes of the past so we could be effective in the future.

Here are some of my suggestions.

Such as no more pre-primary endorsements if the only candidates are Republicans, so we would prevent a Williamson type incident.

Transparency in the SBCRP, audits would be viewable by any registered Republican. Donors and volunteers should be able to find out the status of the party.

The resources of the CC shall be evenly spread across our ticket. No one particular race should get the lion’s share of the funds.

Undo the electing of the CC by supervisor districts, quorums still can not be met with the new system. We alienated many of our former CC members due to this new system. It was only a blind power grab.

Get respected leaders such as the Los Angeles County leaders Linda and Doug Boyd, and former State Senator Brulte to help come up with a plan to get our party back in shape.

I know it may be impractical during an election year, but some of these ideas should be considered for 2009 so we could rebuild.

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Why I will never go to Disneyland in a long time.

It is unfortunate that I have not been to Disneyland in 11 years. The price increases of their tickets prove how less of a bargain the park will be for many people in the economic climate of today. $69 for a 1 day ticket for one park makes me want to cringe. It used to be $56 in 2005, and now in 2008 they raised it to $69. If $69 covered both parks then I would consider that a sensible bargain.

My sister and father both like Disneyland, but I do not find buying an annual pass worth the investment. The annual pass costs around 2.5x the price of a 69.00 ticket, but I find it like a gym membership where I would barely go twice a year at best.

I know Disneyland counts on the holiday vacationers, but they are out pricing the average people who live around their park in Anaheim.  Disneyland used to be affordable, but expensive when I was a child. Now it is a unrealistic luxury to many.

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