In today's pages: Gay marriage, green cards, oil, Saddam and sharks
The editorial board makes its first endorsement for the November election, coming out against Proposition 8 (sorry, I couldn't resist that one). No surprise there -- the board welcomed the state Supreme Court's ruling that gays and lesbians have the same rights to marry as heterosexual couples, and it opposed the initiative eight years ago (Prop. 22) that barred same-sex marriages in the state. This time, the board says, the stakes are higher because the state Constitution is involved.
It's a rare and drastic step, invoking the constitutional-amendment process to strip people of rights. Yet in California, it can be done with a simple majority vote. All the more reason for voters to weigh carefully what would be wrought by this measure.
Not content to take one unpopular position, the board advocates more green cards for immigrants -- in particular, highly skilled ones. With companies around the globe competing for the talent developed by U.S. colleges and corporations, the board argues, it's better to keep as much as possible within our borders, adding to our economy.
In opedville, history professor Jon Wiener of UC Irvine raises a red flag about 7 million documents taken from the once-ruling Baath party's archives after coalition forces routed Saddam Hussein's army. The documents, which Wiener says are likely to record atrocities committed by the regime and the names of secret collaborators, were taken by an Iraq-born Brandeis University professor, Kanan Makiya, and now are stored at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, despite demands from the Iraqi government for their return.
Makiya is best known not for his foundation or his 1989 book "Republic of Fear," but rather for his crucial role in convincing Americans -- particularly leading journalists -- to support a war to overthrow Hussein. "More than any single figure," Dexter Filkins wrote in the New York Times last October, Makiya "made the case for invading because it was the right thing to do."
Staying with the Middle East theme, but with more punch lines and less academic rigor, columnist Joel Stein makes a case in favor of U.S. dependence on foreign oil:
If being independent from foreign oil is good, so would being independent from foreign fish, foreign cars, foreign beer and foreign movies. Do you want to live in a world without Spanish mackerel, Priuses, Guinness or Mr. Bean?
Now that you mention it, Joel, yes we do. Not to be outdone in the laughs per paragraph derby, writer Joe Queenan laments how hard it has become to find an animal that it's safe to hate. Good thing it's still easy to find some that are safe to eat.
Considering that ProtectMarriage.com has decided NOT to appeal the ballot language, what chance do you really see for Prop 8 to pass? I just don't see a majority of Californians voting YES on a proposition titled ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.
Once the churches realize that Prop 8 is an almost guaranteed loser, are they going to do the right thing and let their members know? If not, what happens after Prop 8 loses by 40-60 (or worse), and then the members find out that the church leadership was privy all along to internal polling that predicted a crushing defeat? Do the members get their money back?
Or do they get stuck paying for ads that were run by a campaign that knew it was going to lose but ran them anyway!
Posted by: Chino Blanco | August 12, 2008 at 06:22 AM