Immigrant Services Hostage Situation; Gay Marriage Everywhere But California

Woke up today to this frightening news: Over a dozen dead in a hostage situation at an immigrant services center in NY state. They don't seem to know anything yet on the news, motive included, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is proof that The Ass Holes are dangerous.

In sunnier news: while we Californians will forever be shamed by our anti-gay marriage amendment and the state Supreme Court that looks set to uphold it, Iowa's Supreme Court today legalized gay marriage. They cited, you know, basic human rights: "The supreme court justices drew explicit parallels to civil rights struggles by blacks and women, holding that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was a violation of the equality promised in the Iowa constitution."

I assume this is the sort of thing a journalist would ask the President about at a press conference, no? Would love to hear him try again to recapitulate his totally incoherent stance on gay marriage.

Vermont also took steps yesterday, passing a bill that sent gay marriage to the Governor's desk. The Gov plans to veto it, and I don't know anything about the politics of the vote, so who knows if the General Assembly will override the veto.

Still, it calls into question California's inane system of amendment passing: whip everyone up into a frenzy of lies and confusion, then get us to pass something we probably don't even really agree with. The old-fashioned branches of representative government seem to have won out this week in VT and IA, Californian "direct democracy" just sort of an embarrassment again.

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