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California voters ban gay marriage

Some reports said the increased african american turnout for Obama helped push this rights-banning constitutional measure through. Constitutions are meant to enshrine rights not take them away. I suspect the U.S. Supreme Court will one day resolve this.

Measure to provide better treatment of farm animals passes

Voters passed Proposition 2 as California became the first state in the nation to outlaw confining cages for egg-laying hens and ban restrictive pens for veal calves and pregnant sows. Because there are few veal producers in the state and the largest pork producer here voluntarily plans to eliminate small crates, the law will mostly affect the state's 20 million egg-laying hens. It does not go into effect until 2015.

Apple gives $100,000 to fight California gay marriage ban

Apple has joined Google in publicly opposing California's Proposition 8, a measure intended to ban the rights of gay Californians to legally marry, and has contributed $100,000 to defeat the measure. Both companies have a history of remaining politically neutral, but have chosen to take sides on this issue because it relates directly to the civil rights and opportunities of their employees.

San Francisco weighs prostitution proposal

San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K - a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex. The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

California asking voters to get on board the $45B bullet train

Promoters of Proposition 1A boast that the $45 billion project, featuring sleek trains reaching 220 mph, would be the nation's most ambitious public-works effort since completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Calif. judge rules against Sprint over fees

The fees that cell phone carriers charge customers who break service contracts took a big hit in a California courtroom when a judge said such charges by Sprint Nextel Corp. likely violate state law.

Social Investing: The Golden State's not-so-golden goose

Eight years later, Angelides is gone, but the state's two big pension funds are still wrestling with the fallout of the initiative. A recent report from the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), revealed that the $170 billion fund, the nation's third-largest, would have been $1 billion richer if it had stayed in tobacco stocks. Meanwhile, investments in California real estate are proving particularly painful for the nation's largest fund, the $230 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). Among other bad deals, it faces a loss of nearly $1 billion on one land investment alone.

Cindy McCain Pays Back Taxes on San Diego Condo

Via

HuffPo

: When you're poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you're rich, it's hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It's a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona.

BACKLASH: The Gay State-by-State Marriage Race (Second of Two Parts) :: EDGE Boston

But a virtual who's who of familiar right wing social conservative organizations have also converged on California and are making the overturning of the California court decision a priority. "There are a number of national religious right groups that are lending their resources to this effort," said Peter Montgomery, spokesperson at the People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington DC.

The Gay Marriage Race: Which State Will Be Next? :: EDGE Boston

excerpt from PART ONE OF THIS ANALYSIS PIECE AT EDGE PUBLICATIONS

Whither California, the nation? That's the question LGBT activists and just-plain folks across the country are asking. Will legalizing marriage in the California Republic set off a wave of such actions across the country? Judging from what happened in New York, it may already have. EDGE analyzes the move toward (and away from) gay marriage state by state and handicaps the race to be next in line to the altar.

Ellen DeGeneres, girlfriend plan to marry - CNN.com

Ellen DeGeneres is putting the California Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage into action -- she and Portia de Rossi plan to wed, DeGeneres announced during a taping of her talk show.

California legalizes gay marriage

he California Supreme Court narrowly ruled that homosexual couples have a constitutional right to marry, striking down laws barring same-sex nuptials and making the most populous state in the union the second after Massachusetts to legalize gay weddings.

California Supreme Court Overturns Ban on Gay Marriage

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in striking down the ban. "In view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship," Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote of marriage for the majority, "the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

Dethroned Miss California Files Lawsuit on Eve of Miss USA Pageant

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned or in this case dethroned. Christine Silva was crowned Miss California USA on November 25, 2007. For three days she reveled in her new title. Then the pageant committee called her in to say that they had recounted the judges votes and the real winner was actually Raquel Beezley. Silva was the 2nd runner up after all the dust had settled. After must wailing and gnashing of teeth, the disgraced woman has filed a lawsuit on the eve of the Miss USA pageant that will air tonight.

Environmental movement: First It Takes, Then It Gives

The Wall Street Journal today writes about the economic resurgence in Hayfork, California created by companies like Jefferson Forest Products, a sustainable timber company acquired a couple of years ago by Upstream21. Upstream21 is a holding company that buys small to medium-sized businesses and operates them in a socially responsible manner with regard to its employees, the environment, customers and other stakeholders. I invested in Upstream21 after researching social investing for my article in the Seattle Weekly, Investing for Change. It's possible to be profit-oriented and do well by our communities. In fact, that's a rule that Upstream has written into its bylaws.