Yes On 8 Is BUNK!!

I've been listening and watching the latest ad campaigns here in Cali, and I can tell you, that compost pile that we call an ad campaign is growing by the minute.

One of the most egregious is the Yes On 8 campaign.

Flat out lies fill the commercials that claim that children will be taught about gay marriage in schools, that churches will lose their non-profit status, that we will lose our rights as citizens.

Whoever came up with this garbage is LYING!

Do not be fooled by out of state special interests.

First, Cali has very stern rules about teaching certain topics to our kids. I have to sign a form before my son can be taught ANYTHING about family relations or sex education. It's not an opt-out system, I have to opt-in or he doesn't get that class. Period. No exceptions to the rules.

Second, non-profit status is from the Feds, so all that blather about churches is another flat out lie!

Third, regarding rights? What about the rights of our family, friends, co-workers to have a permanent relationship with their loved one? To love and cherish through sickness and in health.

Yes, I know that the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, has Words on homosexuality.

However, I also believe that God NEVER says "oops".

People are born the way they are, including their sexual orientation. Again, God never says "oops". So if people are born that way, and God knit us together in the womb, well, then, hmmmm........?

So who am I to judge and condemn people who love each other and want to make the commitment of marriage? In our country, marriage is a legal and business relationship anyway. And it's better that two people marry than to be fornicating around with every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Tammy, Donisha and Harriet).

Don't believe the overblown BS that this desperate ad campaign is throwing at you. It's FULL of LIES.

Oh, and that stuff about how four judges went against four million voters? Well, some of us did NOT vote for a ban on gay marriage. So don't include us in those fake numbers.

And by that logic, our Brothers and Sisters of Color would not be allowed to marry whites. In fact, like my gggrandmother, a free person of color, I would not be allowed to marry a white man either. Because it was once against the law for a person of color, any color, to marry a white.

I'm not all white.

My parents would not have been allowed to marry.

My grandparents, neither set, would have been allowed to marry.

My great grandparents would not have been allowed to marry (actually, they passed for white so they were able to marry).

Thank God for the judges who rule upon the constitutional rights of the citizens of this country, going against the popular prejudices of the times. Thank God for judges who look above and beyond the rantings of the haters among us, and look to the Constitution first, not last.

And hey, you know, if you insist on voting Yes on 8, voting to ban gay marriage, well it will be a wasted effort on your part. Because even if it passes, the judges will rule again, based on the Constitution, and your ranting and raving and votes will be for nothing.

Don't fall into the trap of believing everything you hear on TV. Especially if the ad is way over the top.

The ad campaign manager isn't underestimating the stupidity of the audience. Do yourself a favor and don't believe the hype.

Yes On 8 is BUNK!!

Don't believe the hype.

NEVER believe the hype!

West Sacramento and the Broderick Boys

First, I should say that I have a Hispanic last name. I do speak a little bit of Spanish, but I am not Latina. I'm white and Native American, a born and raised California girl. And by my coloring I look white. My facial features aren't exactly white, but people look at your color before they look at anything else. So I'm identified by our society as "white".

In any case, my rant of the day is about the gang injunction in West Sacramento. The DA managed to get some doofus judge to ok a gang injunction against Latinos in our town, supposedly a gang, called the Broderick Boys. It was then overturned, so the cops and the DA are busy claiming that we're going to be overrun with crime if it isn't immediately reinstated.

Now, I live in Broderick. It's a nice little area. Very blue collar. Small 50s houses, all lined up in rows. Maybe three square miles total.

Once upon a time, this area was more gritty. Yes, that is true. I live over in what used to be known as the Mexican side of town. This is where the working class people lived, worked, died. But when the housing market started booming, a lot of people sold their houses and moved on. Then the local slumlords discovered they could make LOT more money by fixing up their houses and selling them. Some of the lower income renters lost their housing and had to move to other parts of Sacramento. Middle class people (like me) who were priced out of the market in other areas started moving in. The neighborhoods started getting fixed up, the little run-down houses got new paint, trees trimmed, remodeled. The older parts of West Sacramento, including the Broderick area, have become quite nice.

But, but, but, the Yolo County District Attorney thinks that there is a huge gang problem out here. So an injunction was secretly obtained. The cops had free rein to harrass anyone that they determined to be a Broderick Boy. We, the residents, didn't even know about this injunction for a couple of months. It wasn't until the West Sacramento Police Department went around notifying people that they'd been found to be members of the Broderick Boys and they couldn't do a lot of things that the rest of us take for granted, that the news started getting out.

Among the illegal restrictions of this injunction, anyone who'd been identified as a Broderick Boy had 10pm curfew, could not be seen drinking alcohol, could not be around each other or others known to be members of the Broderick Boys. They could be together at church or school, but they couldn't go there together. In other words, they were restricted from activities that the rest of us take for granted. By the terms of the injunction, people couldn't go to family events, hang out at the park, visit relatives. They couldn't even have Thanksgiving or Christmas get-togethers at their own families' homes!

So, who determines if you are or aren't a Broderick Boy? Take a wild guess. Yup, it's the cops. So anyone who lives in Broderick and has olive or brownish skin is at risk of being labeled a Broderick Boy. And on top of everything else, there is no way to appeal. If they decide you're a Broderick Boy, it's a lifetime sentence, without a judge or a jury.

Fortunately the injunction was overturned on appeal.

Now the DA is trying to get the injunction reinstated. Unfortunately for him, the residents of West Sacramento are now aware of the bigoted and prejudiced methodology that he used in the past, and we're fighting back. There is NO need for this injunction. The DA claims we need this to keep the citizens safe.

Hmmm, and what about the trampling of the Civil Rights of our neighbors? What kind of life will we all lead if this treatment of our neighbors is allowed? This will affect all of us here in Broderick in the end. Anyone who thinks differently is blind to the realities. The cops will have free rein to harrass anyone they want. All they have to do is label my neighbor, you or me as a gang member, and our freedoms will go down the tubes. It's a slippery slope and the DA is trying to push us right over the edge.

The good news is that we're fighting back. We still live in America and we still have rights -- freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to live and work side by side, white, Asian, Latino, Black. And we have the right to be free from the tyranny of a government and its agents that seek to divide us.

We will not be divided.

We will not be labeled by the color of our skin nor the origins of our ancestors. We will speak out against profiling and prejudice and bigotry and racism.

Now we're all in the same gang.

Now we're all Broderick Boys.

Links: http://www.reason.com/news/show/34073.html www.westsacramento-gang.blogspot.com/2005/06/from-martha-garcia-spokesperson.html www.aclunc.org/cases/cases_to_watch/california_v._broderick_boys.shtml www.aclunc.org/issues/criminal_justice/broderick_boys_injunction_continues_to_tear_apart_neighborhood