Del.icio.us Links

links for 2008-11-12

  • Reagan worked his magic with tax cuts. Obama is trying to do the same with government spending. But stimulus packages are only supposed to keep the recession from getting worse or morphing into a mini-depression. I don't think anyone expects that $500 billion in hot money to return America to prosperity. Only time (and the private sector) can do that, especially with a downturn caused by a credit crisisa and deflating asset bubble. And four years may not be enough time for the Obama presidency to traverse that long road or complete that steep climb.
    +++++++
    Agreed. Symbolism over substance
    (tags: barack_obama)
  • The California Supreme Court's surprising announcement that it will quickly review the legality of Proposition 8, banning gay marriage, has prompted growing speculation that the four judges who found a right to gay marriage in the state Constitution in a May ruling will quickly throw Prop. 8 out. If that happens, watch out for a "barn-burner of an election — the biggest thing this state has ever seen," says recall election guru Ted Costa.

    Costa says he's already been contacted by some of the folks who would seek to recall Ronald George, Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno if Prop. 8 is scrapped. He thinks it's premature and risky because talk of a recall "would just (bleep) off the judges."
    ++++++++
    It will be NO problem gathering the signatures recalling the 4 Justices of the California Supreme Court that would vote to invalidate the will of the people.

  • The California Supreme Court could rule as early as this week on a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Proposition 8, court spokeswoman Lynn Holton said today.
    ++++++++
    If the California Supremes invalidate Proposition 8 all hell will break loose in California politics.

    Meanwhile, more than 40 Democratic state legislators filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of opponents of the gay marriage ban approved last week by California voters.

  • In a teleconference last week among more than 100 gay legal scholars and others who support gay marriage, the mood was dour. "This has cast a pall" over what had otherwise been a historic election on Nov. 4, said D'Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the National Lesbian Gay Law Association. Longtime gay rights advocate Dean Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and others on the conference call expressed concern that the gay rights movement had become too focused on marriage, and is now paying the price in other more critical areas. "Marriage was never our issue," Trantalis said. "It was thrust upon us by the other side, and they've done a very good job of beating us up over it."
    +++++++
    Gay activists should also rethink their attacks on churches and people of fatih. They are nt winning heats and minds to their cause.
    (tags: gaymarriage)
  • Sarah Palin, who started her post-campaign bid for rehabilitation with a series of high profile interviews this week, emerged from the 2008 election in an even more politically damaged condition than previously understood, new data show.

    In the national Election Day exit poll, fully 60% of voters said they did not consider her qualified to serve as president if necessary, while only 38% thought she would be ready to step in. Those figures were daunting enough, but new calculations from the exit poll provided by the NBC News political unit show that outside of the Republican base skepticism about Palin’s credentials reached even more imposing heights. While 74% of Republicans thought Palin was qualified, just 35% of independents and 9% of Democrats agreed, the figures (first aired on David Gregory’s 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Monday night) showed.
    +++++++
    Sarah Palin has plenty of time to mature as a politicla figure. Look for her to do GOP fundraising well into 2010 and do some travel.

    (tags: sarah_palin)