NEW CALIFORNIA LAW DEMANDS COMMON SENSE "Get ready to remove your fingers from that tiny keyboard while driving. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed into law a measure banning motorists from text-messaging and e-mailing while operating a vehicle. The law, written by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, takes effect Jan. 1."
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi were recently wed in a very well-publicized ceremony in Beverly Hills. After that, DeGeneres took to her blog to decry California's Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that would eliminate same sex couples' right to marry and could possibly nullify all the gay marriages that came before it.
Yet despite all the good she's done for gay rights in California, there's rumbling coming from other Proposition 8 opponents who say DeGeneres needs to contribute more. Specifically, Ellen has yet to send a big, fat check to the cause, and insiders say that that omission has the potential to hurt both Ellen and Prop 8 in the long run.
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GOOD PEOPLE DOING GOOD THINGS "Brad Pitt donated $100,000 to fight California's Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that would take away same-sex couples' right to marry. 'Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,' the actor said in a statement."
PRISON GUARDS SEEK SCHWARZENEGGER RECALL "California's prison guard union said on Monday it will seek the recall of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after he ordered a pay cut for its members amid the state's protracted budget deadlock. 'We're going to move it as quickly as possible,' union spokesman Lance Corcoran said of efforts to launch a referendum to remove the Republican governor … The California Correctional Peace Officers Association must collect the signatures of more than 1 million registered voters to qualify the measure, according to the California Secretary of State's office. … The 30,000-plus-member union has long been at odds with Schwarzenegger, but his order in July to cut the pay of prison guards to the minimum wage sparked their latest confrontation."
With same-sex marriage in full effect out in California, the state's prison officials are busy trying to set things straight for gay inmates:
Beach blanket belligerence!
A group of paparazzi and the Malibu surfers who attacked them last weekend – to protect the privacy of Matthew McConaughey, say the surfers – have taken to Web site comment boards to taunt and threaten one another with promises of future attacks. What began as just standard American race-bating has become promises of a photographer vs surfer beach rumble, set to go down this Saturday. Unfortunately, we don't think there's enough time between then and now to come up with a way to knock Southern California into the briny depths, so, if you're in the area, go and watch these idiots smash each other's hollow heads like so many tan jack-o'-lanterns. And take pictures!
After the jump, some of the really witty verbal jabs.
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Gawd, is there anything worse than rich kids from California?
This weekend in Malibu, a bunch of tanned turds in board shorts chased some paparazzi down the beach before physically assaulting them and smashing their cameras. The surfers, upset that the photographers were filming Matthew McConaughey on their beach, also called the paparazzi "faggots" and demanded that they "get a real job."
"This is a real job," a photographer is heard to say in the video after the jump. "What do you do?" "I fuckin' drink beer and party," replies one young assailant. To which his friend adds, "WHOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Click through and weep for the future.
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It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: California officials have officially made same-sex marriage official!
At 5:01 PM, clerks began issuing the state’s first same-sex marriage licenses. And, as a proper institution, the ladies went first. Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who have been together 55 years, inaugurated the festivities in San Francisco, while Robin Tyler and Diane Olson did it up in Los Angeles county. The latter were the original plaintiffs in the case that led to California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ban on gay marriage.
Gay Star Trek star George Takei is very close to boldly going where few men have gone before: into a loving marriage with another man.
With the California Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage taking effect yesterday, Takei and his partner, Brad Altman, talked with The Early Show about being in the final stages of wedding planning, a process Takei calls "delicious anguish." Click through for the adorable video of the lovebirds.
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In the wake of California's decision to lift its ban on gay marriage, George Takei, the Japanese American actor who played Mr Sulu on Star Trek, has announced that he will soon marry his partner and manager, Brad Altman.
Takei and Altman have been together for 21 years and they love each other very much. Clearly, their wedding will be a tremendous blow to family values.
Huzzah! People in charge of laws that govern other, different people are finally starting to make sense:
The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.
The justices released the 4-3 decision Thursday, saying that domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.
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