[courtesy of Blog for America]

The Los Angeles Times reports on a constitutional amendment initiative in California which would outlaw marriage equality:

Setting the stage for a political showdown, the California secretary of state today said an initiative barring gay marriage had enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 4 ballot.

The proposal would amend the state Constitution to define marriage as a union "between a man and a woman" and undo last month's historic California Supreme Court ruling, which found that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was unconstitutional.

Danny

Communications Director

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

A program approved by the state Air Resources Board years ago may allow automakers to drastically cut back on the number of clean-running carsthey manufacture in California. Automakers have been stockpilingcredits and may cash them in soon in the face of changing clean airrules by the board.

The recent state Supreme Court rulingoverturning California's gay marriage ban is unlikely to have a rippleeffect on other states, experts say. "While the California ruling isvery significant, a lot of states have already taken action on this,"said Christine Nelson, an analyst for the National Conference of StateLegislatures.

Americans are "sick and tired of the war in Iraq,"John McCain told a group of veterans on this Memorial Day. He went onto add that pulling out now would be a "mistake." Not unlike themistake of continuing to back an unpopular war in a national election.

There's more... 

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

As an attorney, my practice upon receiving a ruling from a court, in particular an appellate or reviewing court, has been to take the decision and read from the first page and not immediately go to the concluding paragraphs indicating how the court had ruled and who “won” the case. I have finished reading the court’s decision and the concurring and dissenting opinions and I’m glad I kept up my practice.

In a 4-3 ruling, the California Supreme Court ruled that, even though domestic partnership laws in our state give substantially the same rights and impose substantially the same responsibilities on those who choose to enter into same sex unions, that calling them by a different name—and not marriage—is discriminatory and violates the equal protection and privacy clauses of the California Constitution. My copy of the decision is full of yellow highlights.

When I got to the end of the Court’s decision, I came to the conclusion that, unlike the thousands of cases I have handled, no one really “lost” in this case. The Court explained in great detail how this decision takes away nothing from those, such as myself, who are married to a person of the opposite sex and who take pride in describing ourselves—and our son—as a family.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Congratulations, California! We have a budget. Well, it passed the Assembly at least; on to the Senate! Unfortunately, Democrats had to compromise on tax credits for teachers. The budget passed by two votes over the bare minimum shortly after 4 a.m. this morning.

Condolences, California. The bay area got shaken up this morning by a 4.2 magnitude earthquake. Some windows got broken, but no injuries have been reported. Judging from the video that television news is running, it seems that California only lost a few bottles of wine.

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court ruled that inmates' sentences can be upheld despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that California's sentencing law was unconstitutional. The Los Angeles Times reports that although thousands of cases may be reconsidered, trial courts are free to simply re-issue the original sentence.

There's more...

Image courtesy of Sacramento Bee.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

Today I am busy building out the Republican Choices, three candidates down eight to go. So you get a linky thread instead of a more detailed post. Lot's off stuff going on today.

by Todd Beeton [courtesy of Calitics: Soapblox California - Front Page]

As expected, he is mostly playing up his diplomatic experience. He's also laying out his priorities of what he'll do as president. 1st day in office: out of Iraq, no residual troops. 2nd day in office: announce an Apollo energy program. 3rd day in office: plan to revitalize education. Minimum wage for teachers: $40,000/year. 4th day in office: universal healthcare. 5th day: jobs program.

More over the fold and in the comments...