Your Time is Gonna Come

Lyin', cheatin', hurtin, that's all you seem to do
Messin' around, every guy in town
Puttin' me down for thinkin' of someone new
Always the same, playin' your game
Drive me insane, trouble's gonna come to you."

The leadership of the Mormon church strongly urged members to donate millions of dollars — some estimates reach $20 million — to pass Proposition 8, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This is all I gotta say to ya...
Your time is gonna come."

According to a New York Times review of the book The Mormon Corporate Empire, the church is worth more than $8 billion, and it has wide political power. Its strength is based on the devotion of six million members worldwide; three million of them live in the United States. The authors say their premise is ''that the Mormon financial/political enterprise is not simply an American success story but rather an ongoing crusade to reshape our society and its democratic institutions.''

So, all the ads that duped California voters into thinking Proposition 8 would victimize children were sponsored by a fringe religion in Utah.

I hope Californians keep that in mind as they consider their Winter ski vacations, their Summer hiking trips, and any stays at the Marriott hotel chain, which is owned by a wealthy Mormon family.

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Your Time is Gonna Come	Song by Led Zeppelin

Good Times Bad Times

From my house I can hear the people gathered in downtown Santa Cruz, cheering for President-elect Barack Obama. Horns are honking, passers by are whooping, and someone out by the high school is setting off actual, professional-quality fireworks.

And I'm glad, too. Glad for the country and glad for my neighbors who helped change the course of this great nation.

But while the thought of Obama as president-elect should be cheerful, my heart is heavy because the citizens of the once-great state of California have decided to enshrine fear and discrimination into the state constitution.

As of 5 Nov 2008, 00:45 PST, with 63.6% of the precincts reporting statewide, Proposition 8 was passing, 52.7% to 47.3%. This means select California citizens will be constitutionally forbidden to marry, despite the fact the California Supreme Court has said such discrimination is wrong. In other words, even though a group of judges — legal scholars — has evaluated California law and said that forbidding marriage from a specific group is illegal, the voters of California have overridden them to ensure such discrimination is constitutionally sanctioned.

This despite the fact that states such as Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York have voted to recognize the validity of all marriages, regardless of gender composition. So much for the idea that California is at the vanguard of personal rights and freedoms.

I never thought I'd see this once-great state fall so far.

It seems Californians have decided the separate-but-equal postulate put forth in Plessy v. Ferguson is actually valid. But that idea is 112 years old, and was soundly rejected in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. Regardless, the Mormon church has been able to convince a majority of Californians to deny basic societal rights to a small group of citizens. I'm sure they're proud of themselves.

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Good Times Bad Times	Song by Led Zeppelin