California Roundup: eMeg On Top, Ex-Gay Overturned, Pot Shortage, and More

* Rasmussen bids up Meg Whitman: In a new poll, the former eBay executive turned Republican candidate for governor has an eight-point lead over Attorney General Jerry Brown. Whitman's 48 percent to Brown's 40 percent prompts Rasmussen to change its estimate of the governor's race from "toss up" to "leans GOP."

* Land of Nuts and Fruits can't cure teh ghey: A 60-year-old law instructing the state to research a cure for homosexuality will be eliminated by a bill currently on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. The bill leaves intact the mandate for the state to seek "ways to identify potential sex offenders."

* You can have my plastic bag when you peel it off my cold, dead head: American Chemistry Council, hot off its recent TV ad, is showering politicians with money to fight Assembly Bill 1998, the plastic bag ban. Sac Bee's Dan Morain explains how the ban will rook grocery store customers.

* After eight weeks, lawmakers have given up even pretending they're close to a deal on the budget.

* L.A. weed scare: New Los Angeles ordinance would put most of the city's marijuana dispensaries out of business. Of 169 dispensaries that applied to stay open under the law, only 41 have passed the city's restrictive test. The city attorney is suing to shut down the ineligibles. A prominent dispensary owner says the city has "screwed up one thing after another" -- including in this case its obligation to make sure at least 70 pot shops stay open.

Comments

[?]

"Regulate it" means "Subject it to kingly caprice and corruption." You begged for it, weedholes.

[HL Mencken]

Like I said, good and hard.

[SIV]

+10000
Fuckin' Hippies

[wayne]

all the more reason to pass prop 19.

I have been wondering if there are any likely constitutional grounds to strike down prop 19 if it does pass? Any of you lawyers have an opinion?

[Todd Flanders, Esq.]

...any likely constitutional grounds to strike down prop 19 if it does pass?

Pot makes baby Jesus cry...

[wayne]

yeah, that and a sharp slap on the buttocks.

[Confused Rev. Phelps]

GOD HATES BAGS!

[Isaac Bartram]

A 60-year-old law instructing the state to research a cure for homosexuality will be eliminated by a bill currently on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk.

The bill, however, will not eliminate jobs of the the eight thousand three hundred and fifty two unionized civil service employees who are pretending to research a cure for homosexuality.

[Ken Shultz]

Damn. I think we should start giving medals to people who eliminate government jobs--something, anything to encourage that. Pass something like a whistle-blower bill, where the legislators responsible get to keep 10% of the salaries they eliminate.

That might be our only hope--the only one that doesn't involve prolonged economic hardship anyway.

...'cause if there were a way to net an operating profit from government labor, somebody probably would have thought of it by now.

[SIV]

A 60-year-old law instructing the state to research a cure for homosexuality will be eliminated by a bill currently on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk.

Who says you can't end progressive programs!

[kilroy]

Plastic bags? You gotta be shittin' me.

[Ken Shultz]

The plastic bag thing is an environmental issue, especially on the coast. But inflicting a solution like that on everybody is pretty hard to take...

It's such a Whole Foods crowd issue, and those people inflicting their values on the rest of California in the name all that's good and holistic is a shitty thing to do.

It's like a wedge issue. Dems need Prop 8 kind of things to get their voters to show up too. Throw it in the pile with Terry Schiavo, gay marriage--anytime you can associate your guy with baby seals in the minds of voters...you do that.

[Mosquevite Sandwich]

I was at Target some months back buying something, or trying to buy something I couldn't find. I just remember I got a couple of small items, namely a pack of lighters to go with my decorative glass. The cashier asked me if I wanted a bag. I didn't need one, but before I could decline she offered up that it was $0.05 "cheaper" to not get the plastic bag. Alrighty then.

So, like any responsible American consumer, I bought a dozen Target Save the Earth canvas bags, went home, picked everyone's dogshit up in the neighborhood, returned the "green" bags to Target, and said I prefer the plastic bags.

[Ken Shultz's Gaydar]

It's really easy to spot a homosexual: anyone who is really militant about atheism. Anyone who is really adamant about anything is just substituting their staunch advocacy for their repressed queerness.

[Ken Shultz]

It kinda reminds of the "blowback" tirades we used to get from some of the Bush Administration's propaganda victims...?

You point out the reasons why terrorists did what they did, and some people will definitely accuse you of being sympathetic to the terrorists--even if you aren't.

Somebody tells me they're militant atheist to the point that they're justifying sheer bigotry--and I start speculating as to why someone would have such a big, bigoted reaction to something...

Really, there shouldn't be anything controversial about the idea that some gay people may be especially hostile to Christianity because Christians have openly advocated discriminating against them on issues like gay marriage...

It shouldn't be controversial to suggest that the people who are most adversely effected by something are the people who are most likely to be hostile to whatever that is. ...especially when you see someone like John arguing religion with people who will come right out and celebrate their bigotry.

Pointing out to someone like John that the reaction they're getting may not be about religion per se...

That isn't exactly taking John's side of the issue. Pointing out blowback to people who don't see it for what it is doesn't necessarily put anyone any side of anything. It is what it is. ...not that I think John understood any of what I was trying to tell him.

[Ken Shultz]

I give him kryptonite for atheists; he thinks it's a paper weight!

[smartass]

Eh, I loathe government, but it doesn't fuck me over any more than anyone else. I hate drug laws, but I don't use drugs and never have (I drink, but not much, and wouldn't bother with the risk if it was illegal). I support religious freedom but I'm not religious. Sometimes people can just honestly think that something is an evil, in and of itself, in their judgment.

[wayne]

semi thread jack. The LAT editorial by the six preivious drug csars has a comments section. I didn't count, but the comments are running at least 90% in favor of legalization. If this is a legitimate sample of public opinion, then prop 19 ought to pass by a landslide.

http://discussions.latimes.com.....0100825/10

[Ken Shultz]

Anybody who's been around in California long enough knows that passing a referendum, which theoretically is supposed to change things? ...doesn't mean shit.

It didn't mean anything for Prop 187; it didn't mean anything for the insurance initiatives; it probably won't mean anything on the marijuana initiative.

There's an old comparative politics saw that goes something like...

In the United States, if it isn't illegal, it's legal. In Germany, if it isn't legal, it's illegal. In France, even if it's illegal, it's legal, and in Russia, even if it's legal, it's illegal.

California's a little like France and a little like Russia. Even if it remains illegal, people are still going to do it anyway, and if it's legalized? Chances are it'll still be against the law somehow.

Referendums in California are like a box of chocolates. ...even when they pass, you never know what you're gonna to get.

[wayne]

KS, good point, but not always true. Prop 13, for example, really did limit property taxes.

Prop 187 is a bad example because it had clear constitutional issues. I don't see any for prop 19 at the state level. The fed level is a different matter, however.

[80sfan]

I hate Illinois Nazis

[wayne]

yeah, but the Indiana nazis are A-OK!

[Paul]

* L.A. weed scare: New Los Angeles ordinance would put most of the city's marijuana dispensaries out of business. Of 169 dispensaries that applied to stay open under the law, only 41 have passed the city's restrictive test. The city attorney is suing to shut down the ineligibles. A prominent dispensary owner says the city has "screwed up one thing after another" -- including in this case its obligation to make sure at least 70 pot shops stay open.

So when's this deluge of legalized substances a'gonna start?

[jtuf]

I'm pro-choice when it comes to cures for homosexuality, but I am glad that the state will no longer be funding research for it.

[Colin]

I'm not voting for Brown, but it seems to me that after six years of utter incompetence by someone who doesn't know what they're doing, people would at least want someone who knows what they're doing.

[Hugh Akston]

I think people were saying the same thing during the 2008 presidential election. How'd that work out?

[fendi bags]

In the United States, if it isn't illegal, it's legal. In Germany, if it isn't legal, it's illegal. In France, even if it's illegal, it's legal, and in Russia, even if it's legal, it's illegal.

[burberry scarf]

good point, but not always true. Prop 13, for example, really did limit property taxes.

[bags]

There's an old comparative politics saw that goes something like...

[lilly zhang]

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[burberry scarf]

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