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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| California...(sigh) |
| 2009-11-18 |
| It’s hard to figure out exactly where John Marcotte is coming from. Here is what is clear: he took a logical idea, developed a cause around it, established a website, created a firestorm of support and just got authorization from the Secretary of State in California to move forward in getting signatures to put his cause on the ballot next November. His cause? Eliminating the right to divorce in the state of California, called the California Protection of Marriage Act 2010. In earlier interviews Marcotte has said a divorce ban is “the next logical step after Proposition 8 to protect the sanctity of marriage.” He believes if people supported Prop 8 but not this measure, they are hypocrites. His website, rescuemarriage.org, appears on one hand to be very supportive of the mindsets behind Proposition 8; but if you read closely you may notice the writer’s tongue planted firmly in his cheek while he drafted each of the essays on the website. What’s more comical are the comments on each essay. They go all the way left and all the way to the right, as people shift in their seats trying to figure out exactly where Marcotte is coming from while they feign support of a cause they don’t quite truly understand. A Facebook fan page was set up on September 1st and it already has 6,588 fans. He’s sold hundreds of shirts that say “You said till death do us part. You’re not dead yet!" and has been booked on both left and right leaning shows in an attempt to clarify his position. He is often questioned regarding his seriousness of the matter. The Facebook page says the group is “protecting traditional marriage by banning divorce.” In a recent interview, Marcotte was quoted as saying “People who supported Prop 8 weren't trying to take rights away from gays, they just wanted to protect traditional marriage. That's why I'm confident that they will support this initiative, even though this time it will be their rights that are diminished. To not support it would be hypocritical.” But is Marcotte anti-gay? Anti-anti-gay? Everything about him, his comments, his cause, his social networking - is completely ambiguous. Personally, I think he wants it that way to show how ridiculous we all are. A rally is planned at noon on November 14 at Cesar Chavez Plaza (J Street and 10th) in Sacramento, to launch the now official, state-sanctioned petition. The group must get 700,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the 2010 ballot. The proposed act would amend the state’s constitution, to eliminate the ability of married couples to get divorced. They could, however, still seek annulment (if they qualify). The measure is widely supported by proponents of gay marriage, to make a point that those who argued for Proposition 8 last year may not in fact, want their own rights taken away in order to “protect the sanctity of marriage.” The 2010 California Protection of Marriage Act’s Facebook page is offering ride-shares to the capitol area for the November 14th rally, so people can attend from all over the state in order to “meet like-minded folk.” It might be interesting to see just who these like-minded folk might be. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #12 Mr. Wife quivers when I use "millenia" in a sentence, too, GolfBravoUSMC. But I'd always thought he was laughing. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-11-18 19:22 |
| #11 TW, I love it when you talk naughty. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-11-18 18:18 |
| #10 That's why the concept of open marriage was invented a couple dozen millenia ago, Ebbang Uluque6305. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-11-18 13:25 |
| #9 Could be they're trying to confuse Kaliphornia voters who will most likely see another measure on next year's ballot that would repeal Proposition 8, which itself was only passed last year. They don't waste any time, do they? But just imagine all those gays stuck in marriages in a state where divorce is illegal and the only way out is to murder your "partner". |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-11-18 12:40 |
| #8 It seems the longer that Hispanic Children stay in state schools the lower their result Indeed. The link above is for ALL hispanic students in the CA public schools-- not just recent immigrant hispanics, or illegal immigrant hispanics, or economically-disadvantaged hispanics. It's obvious from the data that this demographic factor explains probably 80% or more of the collapse in CA public school performance in recent years. And yet the issue isn't even discussed, let alone addressed with honesty. |
| Posted by: lex 2009-11-18 11:45 |
| #7 It seems the longer that Hispanic Children stay in state schools the lower their result. Truly Social Education fits the normal meaning of social. i.e. to reverse the meaning of the next word. Californian State Schooling has net negative productivity, truly a triumph for the State. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-11-18 11:21 |
| #6 Like a dog license: good for 5 years, renewable annually thereafter. |
| Posted by: lex 2009-11-18 09:56 |
| #5 He believes if people supported Prop 8 but not this measure, they are hypocrites. There is no hypocrisy in the attainment of power. Power is self justifying. Just ask any special interest group. Actually, what's at work is democracy in that the majority, finally in history, get to define their culture, not minorities, be they elites or cults. The scorched earth approach would be to do away with all state recognition of marriage as an instrument of imposing obligations on any third party. Substitute contract binding the parties, but no one else. The state simply acts as arbiter of any dispute and protector of any procreation that is not of adult age to protect their own interests. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-11-18 08:34 |
| #4 "The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments." -- Friedrich Nietzsche |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-11-18 03:17 |
| #3 Gets even worse, Gorb. Per the San Jose Unified School District's supe, at least one-third of the hispanic illegals and their parents cannot read or write in English or Spanish. |
| Posted by: lex 2009-11-18 03:00 |
| #2 Hey, don't pick on them. The text books are in English, after all. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-11-18 01:15 |
| #1 Tee hee. Funny guy, that one. Meanwhile, the elephant in the room continues to be ignored by Tweedledum and Tweedledee and their media enablers. What could that elephant be? Take a look at CA public school scores by ethnicity and see if you can guess. Hint: guess which group a) scores about 65% below proficiency--and keep in mind that the "proficiency" bar is set extremely low in CA-- in language arts and about 75% below proficiency in math (and close to 90% below proficiency in high school science and advanced math) b) has seen its share of the total CA public school enrollment DOUBLE during the last 20 years, ie the period when CA schools collapsed and slid from best in the nation to 49th c) now comprises 50% of CA students overall and ca. 65% in Los Angeles And then ask yourself one simple question: why are we doing this to ourselves? For what social benefit? Decadence defined. |
| Posted by: lex 2009-11-18 00:56 |